The first few weeks of the semester seemed to fly by for new first-year students. Professor Maple had critiqued their fighting, McGouran made sure they knew all that they could about Grimm, and the students began to resemble actual teams. No longer were most of the teams bands of misfits, but, rather, groups with some semblance of organization. Arty showed signs of at least some will to lead, Roland attempted to cooperate, Timbre began to shed her celebrity status, and Sepia was… well, her growth could only be explained with one word… surprising.

The year-one teams were poised to accompany some of the year-two teams on a field mission to give them some time to learn from their upperclassmen in the morning. In addition, having four extra hands on a dangerous mission could mean the difference between failure and success. The team pairings would only be announced minutes prior to the mission for the year one teams to help them gain a better understanding of the nature of being a Huntsman or a Huntress. Overall, it all seemed a little more organized than Beacon normally appeared to be, which was a relief to many and a concern to others.

.

The night before the field missions, Team ARTS felt the same mixture of fear, anticipation, and excitement as the rest of the year-ones. All of ARTS had finally managed to bed down despite their shared anxieties.

Between the team, Timbre was already sprawled out and snoring with her headphones audibly blaring. Sepia seemed to be neatly tucked in her bed and letting out the occasional peaceful sigh. Roland laid with his eyes wide open and staring at the ceiling in thought. Arty, similarly, couldn't sleep. His mind went over the past day, going through every detail and thinking over every interaction that he had with other students. One that stood out in his mind was, as always, Alice.

"I can't sleep," Arty muttered, his eyes drifting to the sketches pinned to the wall next beside his bed.

"I never can," Roland kept his eyes glued to the ceiling, "I've been thinking about someone that really made me mad today this time around…"

Arty immediately knew. "Let me guess…" he rolled over and faced the Faunus on the opposite side of the room, "Alice?"

"Yep," Roland turned his head to address his partner, "I mean, her usual comments tick me off, but I can't stop thinking about what she said in Forever Fall back a few weeks ago. It just got to me, you know?"

"Yeah…" he sighed, "I was out in the courtyard working on getting my two-point perspectives with the pillars and the horizon and…" he saw Roland glaring at him, telling him to get to the point, "anyways, she came by and 'accidentally' dropped one of those, eh, cutting cards of hers right on my sketchbook. Went straight through. Would've sliced through my leg had it not been for my aura," he crossed his arms, "That sketchbook was nearly full too."

"Wait, she did something like that to you too?" Roland's eyes widened, "That little redheaded menace 'accidentally' jammed a freezing card into Writer's Block. I had to mix up a little of your Fire Dust paint and my ink so I could use that to help thaw my baby out."

Arty shook his head, "Isn't there like, a rule about that?"

"Not if it's an accident…" Roland crossed his arms, "I'm gonna 'accidentally' beat her to a bloody pulp one of these days…"

"To be fair, and I'm not defending her here, but I guess we did kind of… antagonize her with that whole text message fiasco. It really peeved her to get that kind of talking to and not be able to do anything about it, even if she and Navy did delete the message in the first place. It only makes sense she'd want payback," he scowled, "but she didn't have to ruin a day's worth of sketches…"

"Didn't you say that your sketchbook was nearly full…?" Roland questioned.

"I don't think the guy with a typing speed of a thousand words per minute has any room to judge how fast I can fill the pages of a sketchbook."

"Fair point…" the writer thought for a few moments. He smiled, remembering his early lessons with his Semblance, "You know," he began, "my mother used to have me type fairy tales from memory to teach me to use Inkheart. I remember how she would tell me to focus on the meaning that the stories held, and I would remember the words naturally, and she was certainly right."

"Wow. Looks like we won't be bored if we get sent out into who-knows-where tomorrow," he laughed, "'cuz you're full of campfire stories at least."

"Horror stories are best for that, and I know most of them word for word. You know, Call of Tcuhu, Faunus Cemetery, The Cask of Amontito. The works. Pretty much all of H. E. Loverust," Roland continued, "She pretty much let me read whatever I wanted, except for the Fifty Tints of Grey series… but then I read that to use as ammo if I needed."

"So in other words, you're a walking library. Got it," Arty smiled, "so, if you have all that info, how'd you fail McGouran's last test on Grimm weak points?"

"I remember things that I read, and I only read what I want to read," Roland said simply, "If you're like me when it comes to writing, you quickly come to realize that the Huntsmen that wrote that textbook haven't the first clue how grammar works. I nearly have an aneurysm when I try to read that stupid textbook… Unfortunately, the questions come from that one book directly… It is torture..."

Arty thought for a second. "Didn't… didn't you copy Timbre's notes?"

"Timbre is good at writing music lyrics, but those are pretty much all sentence fragments. You can see where I'm going with that," Roland cringed at the thought of her notes, "I'm just going to copy notes from someone like Frost next time. She seems… refined." Relying on someone else for notes wasn't a great idea, though. Maybe he could take notes by writing them into a story, or just go through and make a corrected version of the textbook.

"Her hand writing is nice at least. But why don't you copy from me or Sepia? You actually have regular interaction with us. ARTS and FREZ may be cool with one another, but I don't know if it's at the level of 'here, take my notes because you don't have any' quite yet."

"You doodle too much in your notes, and Sepia-" Roland was cut off by his own muffled screams as a pillow was pressed down over his face. He flailed about, but his assailant just kept pressing harder.

"I-i-is smothering you." Arty let his head fall back against his pillow, "awesome."

Right then, a second pillow was slammed down into Arty's face. Sepia stood between their beds, smothering one idiot with her hand and the other with her outstretched foot in order to reach both of them at the same time. They had woken her up, and she sought to make sure that didn't happen again. Ever.

Arty flailed his arms and legs. Somehow, the smallest member of his team, and arguably, one of the smallest people in all of Beacon, was strong enough to keep his face covered by the pillow. After what seemed like an eternity of not being able to breath, he was finally allowed a breath of air. That didn't last long as he was yanked off of his bed by the collar of his t-shirt. He slammed into the floor, his face pressing into the carpet before he felt his skin being burned as Sepia dragged him towards the door.

Arty clawed at the carpet in search of some kind of salvation from Sepia's wrath, "Timbre! Please! Help! Your partner's trying to kill me!"

Timbre snored away, unable to hear past the music playing in her ears.

"I'll break all your CDs!" Roland shouted as he pounded his fists against the floor. Apparently Sepia used her other hand to give him the same treatment as Arty, "Timbre! TIMBRE! TIMBRE!"

Timbre began to stir, giving Arty and Roland a glimmer of hope of escaping their situation alive. That glimmer quickly dulled as Timbre rolled over onto her stomach and continued to snore away. The two boys continued to kick and yell as they neared their door.

"Arty, whatever is on the other side, I just want you to know…" he looked to his partner, "your handwriting is the worst that I have ever seen. I mean, seriously man. Everest breaks every pencil he uses, and he still has better handwriting than you."

"Since we're in the confession mood," he looked over to Roland, "your quarter of the room has smelled terrible since we moved in and I've been too scared to ask why or how or for you to clean it."

"My eating habits are none of your busi- woah!"

The two were thrown out of their dorm and sent crashing into Team ANTE's door across from them. The door rattled at the impact of the pair, and the sound of the door of Team ARTS's room being slammed shut only served to further disturb the silence of the hall even further.

Team ANTE's door flew open. Alice stood there in a red nightgown, a sleeping mask pulled up onto her forehead, "What in bloody Remnant is goin' on out-" she noticed Roland and Arty on the floor in their pajamas, "Oh, why if it isn't Painta-Boy an' the Faunus," she huffed. She knelt down and, with the fakest sense of sincerity she could muster, said, "You see, you two, my team an' I would really like ta get some sleep before we go out on our field missions tomorrow. It's been a long week for the four of us, so, if you wouldn't mind… SHUT UP!"

"Ms. Crims?" A calm, hoarse voice rattled all three of them.

Alice looked dumbfounded as their headmaster stood before her. "P-P-Professor Alabasta!"

"Why are you screaming at Roland and Arty here at such an early hour?" Professor Alabaster asked whilst trying to hide his amusement.

"I… well, they w-woke up my whole t-team by slamming into our door, s-sir," Alice stammered.

Professor Alabaster looked down at the two boys sitting against the door. He tilted his head quizzically, "What are you two doing out here anyways?"

Roland made an attempt at making the situation sound better, "It was our fault. Arty and I were going over our game plan, but it woke Sepia up. She threw us out, and I do mean that literally," he summed up, "Arty was nervous about the mission, and I just straight up couldn't sleep. We thought that it would be good to try and use the time that we found that we had," he finished his lie with an awkward shrug.

The two of them looked up to Alabaster, waiting for his response.

"I see…" Professor Alabaster nodded, "Well, you two need to get some sleep. And Ms. Crims, you are in an academy for Huntsmen and Huntresses, so you might want to consider some earplugs if you wish not to be disturbed. This occupation isn't known for restful sleep." He began to walk away, but stopped for a moment, "It is known, however, for late night preparation and anxiety. Goodnight you three." He quickly disappeared around the corner of the hall.

Arty and Roland finally pulled themselves to their feet.

Alice scowled at the two of them. "I'm still not happy about this," she spat.

"Hey… Arty," Roland looked over to is partner, "since we have Alice right here, can you run by the hardware store and pick me up a winch? I think we'll need it to finally pry that stick from out of her-"

"And with that," Arty grabbed Roland by the arms and began to guide him back to Team ARTS's room, "we'll be going back to bed, goodnight Alice."

She humphed and shut the door.

Arty turned to Roland and began quietly chastising him, "What in the world were you thinking?!"

"Arty."

"I mean, she already hates us enough, do you really want to start another fight with her? I'm pretty sure Maple and McGouran hate us… well, besides Timbre, enough already."

"Arty," Roland repeated.

"I know, I know, Alice is kind of a horrible person, but regardless,"

"Arty…"

"What, Roland?!" He snapped.

"She locked the door." Roland said, jiggling the doorknob.

Arty got really quiet before jiggling the doorknob for himself, as if making sure Roland wasn't lying, "Oh…" Arty then walked a few steps down the hall, pressed his back to the wall, and slid down until his butt hit the ground, "Awesome… So, we either wake up the whole floor more than it already is… or we sleep right here on the floor."

"I'm cool with it," Roland laid down against the wall, "I got grounded a lot by my stepmom," his tail flopped up behind him, and he laid his head against it, "The tail helps."

Arty sat in stunned silence. He decided to let it go and tried to get some sleep.

.

The morning sun was streaming through the curtains. Timbre felt the warm light hit her face and her eyes fluttered open. The loud beats of rock music were still flowing from her headphones. She pushed the sheet off of herself, sat up, and stretched.

Looking over the room, she saw that Sepia was still sound asleep under the poster of Timbre herself. Timbre shuddered a little bit. "I'm never going to get used to that…" she muttered under her breath. As she threw her legs over the side of her bed, she noticed that Arty and Roland's beds were empty. She couldn't help but chuckle, "Wow. I guess those two actually got up early today." She decided to head downstairs and get some breakfast before a shower. That's odd… the door's locked. Timbre flipped the lock. We never lock the door… As soon as she turned the knob, the door was pushed open. Arty and Roland, still in their pajamas, fell into the room, their heads almost landing on Timbre's toes. They hit the carpet with an audible whump.

"Ow…" Arty moaned, keeping his eyes closed.

"Arty?! Roland?!" Timbre tip-toed around them. "What were you two doing out in the hallway?!"

"Sleeping," Roland stated simply with his eyes still closed.

She shook her head, "Why?!"

"Ask your partner," Arty said as he dragged himself to his feet. He rubbed his aching back and cracked his neck.

Sepia had already gotten up and tapped Timbre on the shoulder. She moved her hand so that it looked like a blabbing mouth

Upon closer observation, it was clear that Sepia was not a morning person. A massive tan t-shirt covered her from her shoulders to her calves. In addition, her hair was bunched up in a rat's nest comparable to an afro. Overnight, she had seemingly even developed dark circles under her eyes.

"Hello, Death," Roland looked up the the director from the floor, "you're looking lovely this morning. Is it the new haircut, or the seething hatred?"

Sepia flashed him an obscene gesture and rolled her eyes.

"Right…" Arty grumbled as he walked over to his part of the room, "I'm going to go take a shower, and then I'm going to ask Lurida to make me the strongest coffee she can..." he disappeared behind the door to the bathroom.

.

Meanwhile, Team GLXY were all mulling around in a sleepy haze. That is, except for Gavin, who seemed to be beaming. The chestplate, shoulder pads, and gauntlets of his armor sat on the table next to him.

Even in his casual black undershirt, it was apparent that he was still a massive man. He wasn't an Everest by any means, but he was certainly big.

"So, girls! Are you all ready to go on our super cool mission today?" Gavin grinned from ear-to-ear. For a guy whose color was black, he was certainly a ray of sunshine.

"Gavin…" Lurida looked up from the dorm kitchen's coffee machine. Her eye twitched ever so slightly, "I tell you this every morning. If you talk to me before I get my coffee, I am not responsible for what happens to you and that pretty face of yours." Her hands worked without her looking, and held an inverted energy drink can over the water reservoir in the coffee machine.

"Oooooooo, Lurida gon' see sounds today!" Yamuna cackled from the couch, "Do me a favor and throw a can in there for me too-"

"Yamuna, no. You remember what happened last time," Xannie glared at Yamuna over her glass of orange juice.

"I don't really care what happens…" Lurida tipped another can into her caffeinated timebomb, "She'll be like a nuke against those Grimm."

Their leader looked amused, but oddly proud. He took a bite out of a bagel and swallowed, "So do you girls remember the details on the mission? The Kokonatsu infestation over in Mikado Village?"

Xannie leaned against the counter, absentmindedly twisting her wrist back and forth. One set of her many neon yellow and silver bangles jingled together. "A few weeks ago, a few raiders attacked a supply caravan as it was leaving Mikado Village. The residents are now in fear of the raiders returning and they're pretty miffed at the fact they've lost an entire week's income. Mikado is known for being in an area with a high concentration of Kokonatsu. With the influx of negative emotions following the raid, more and more of the Grimm have been seen in and around villages, some even being so bold as to attack some of the residents," Xannie paused, "Gavin… are you sure first years can handle something like this?"

"Not in the slightest, but that's why we've got Professor Maple with us," Gavin explained, "Look, we can handle this, and them. We're respon… sible… Lurida, are you okay?" he asked, looking over at the disheveled girl in a purple and black skin suit.

Lurida leaned back against the counter, her eyes wide. She faintly trembled. Her fingers curled against the edge of the counter. A coffee cup sat empty next to her. She mumbled, "I… I just took my pulse. It's… a lot of beats per minute," she breathed deeply, "Oh man that wasn't a good idea…"

Xannie put a hand on her sister's shoulder, "Lurida, do we need to go to the infirmary?"

"They can't help me now," Lurida whispered, "No one can help me now."

"Xannie, you worry about this every morning. She'll be okay in a while," Yamuna waved off Xannie's concern, "Just, make sure she doesn't have a panic attack again."

"Right…" Gavin nodded slowly, "Anyway, Professor Maple should be bringing the first years around right about…"

"Now?" Professor Maple turned the corner into the dorm kitchen with her normal warm grin plastered across her face. Behind her was Team ARTS, walking single file like ducklings behind their mother.

Gavin stood to greet the instructor, "Professor Maple! How is life treating you?" he asked as he clasped his chestplate into place around his torso, "I'm sure that you've gotten Team ARTS pumped for their first mission, right?"

"You could say that…" Professor Maple looked back to Sepia, who was repeatedly signing the word 'kill'.

Timbre nudged Sepia, "Cool it with the enthusiasm, Sepia. It's making you look crazy."

"Yeah!" Arty replied to Gavin's question enthusiastically, "We had a bit of a rough morning… but we're ready to go now. So, what are we going to be doing today?" Arty rubbed his arm, "Something… relatively safe, I hope?"

"Well, there is a Kokonatsu infestation over in the Mikado Village," Gavin slid on a gauntlet, "but I think Xannie would be better at explaining this. She's got this whole deal memorized."

Xannie nodded, "Right. Well, you see, a few weeks ago-"

"Afewraidersattackedasupplycaravanasitasleavingmikadovillagetheresidentsarenowinfearoftheraidersreturningandtheyreprettymiffedatthefacttheyvelostanentireweeksincomemikadoisknownforbeinginanareawithahighconcentrationofkokonatsuwiththeinfluxofnegativeemotionsfollowingtheraidmoreandmoreofthegrimmhavebeenseeninandaroundvillagesevenbeingsoboldastoattacksomeoftheresidents." Lurida rambled, her eyes wide and glazed over.

Yamuna examined her teammate for a moment, "Are you gonna make it, Lurida…?"

"We need to go. We need to go now now now now now now," Lurida twitched as she tugged at the strap of the strange purple carrying tube on her back tightly, "If I stop, I die. If I stop, I die. If I stop," she gripped Professor Maple tightly by the shoulders and looked her in the eyes, "I die."

"Welcome to the world of Huntsmen and Huntresses… otherwise known as the land of no sleep and caffeine." Professor Maple muttered as she gently pushed Lurida away from her, "Gavin, are you absolutely sure that she is fit for a mission?"

"If we want to nuke them, of course. We'll give her another Blue Bull before we get to the village to, you know, keep her heart pumping." Gavin laughed nervously, "I'm kidding. She'll be fine once it all works out of her system."

"So, Arty, you ready to die?" Roland asked.

Arty watched as Team GLXY walked out of the door with Carmen. Xannie was rubbing Lurida's back as they walked. "At least I'm better off than Lurida," he shook his head, "Maybe I'll pass on the coffee this morning..."

Timbre followed their teacher and mentors, "Probably a good idea. I'd hate to see what trouble your trigger finger will get you into if you started twitching like that."

Arty imagined the scenario for a moment. "Yeah, nope, definitely doesn't need to happen."

Sepia ran over to the coffee pot and examined it for a moment. She poured a little into a styrofoam cup, then took a sip. Her eyes went wide as a shiver shot through her entire body. Her fingers tensed while she set it down and she went on following the group.

"How was it?" Timbre asked her while she caught up.

Sepia shook her head in disgust, 'Like battery acid.'

Arty looked to Roland and Timbre, "What'd she say?"

"Battery acid," they said in unison.

Arty nodded, "Like I said, I'm skipping on that."

"So, how far away is this village for us to have to take an airship?" Arty asked, holding onto his seat belt with white knuckles as the Kingdom of Vale passed below him out of the open door of the airship, "I'm uh, not exactly familiar with the geography of Vale."

"It's right over the mountains to the east, so it's not terribly far," Professor Maple pointed out the side of the airship. While the cliffs of Beacon could be seen becoming smaller and smaller, the tower remained prominent in the distance, "We take an airship because it's quicker," she explained.

Gavin smiled at the first year team opposite the cabin from him, "And we want to make sure you newbies get back in time for dinner! Can't fight the forces of darkness on an empty stomach."

"On a more serious note," Xannie cut in, "If you want to ensure the success of your first field mission, you're going to have to know how to fight a Kokonatsu."

Arty raised an eyebrow in confusion, "A coconut what now?"

"Ko-ko-nat-su," Xannie held out her hand with the palm up. A yellow holographic square appeared in the air before them. In the center was an outline of what looked like a fox with spines on its hind legs and shoulders. Firmly planted to its head was the tell-tale mask of a Grimm. "On their own, they're not a huge threat. It's when they're working together you should be worried."

"Why's that?" Timbre asked.

"If they're working together," Lurida added, now in an actually comprehensible speed now that the effects of the huge amount of caffeine had worn off, "it means that there's a much stronger and older Kokonatsu nearby." Lurida held her hand palm up below Xannie's hologram. Small purple lines began to form new tails in the yellow drawing of the Grimm. "As you may know, Grimm get more powerful and smarter the longer they're allowed to live. Kokonatsu show that progression through the addition of more tails, up to a maximum of nine. 1-3 tails aren't a big deal, 4-6 are troublesome, 7 and 8 are good-sized threats," she leaned back into her seat as their holograms faded.

Yamuna giggled, "You forgot nine."

Timbre looked towards the wolf Faunus carefully, "What about the ones with 9 tails?"

Lurida looked out of the open door. "I didn't forget, I just don't want to acknowledge that as a possibility."

"You're screwed if one with 9 tails shows up. They're like the mafia bosses as far at Kokonatsu go," Yamuna clasped her hands together and acted like she was wounded, "They got me, boss. That ol' Al Kokonatsu!" she joked as she fell over onto Gavin's leg. She went limp and stuck her tongue out to feign death.

Xannie shook her head, "With this much activity, we have to be open to the idea of a nine-tailed Kokunatsu," she looked up to Arty and his team, "If your team sees anything with six tails or more, you let Team GLXY and Professor Maple handle it, okay?"

Arty realized that her neon yellow eyes were on him as she asked that question. "Oh, uh, right. Six tails or more, got it," he fumbled.

'He can, but I'm taking the thing on,' Sepia signed to Timbre.

Roland caught a few words and nodded, "If worse comes to worst, we might have to hold off something with more than six tails, won't we? I mean, the last thing that we want is for something like that to get away and cause trouble later."

Lurida glared at him, "Roland, there is not a chance that any of you guys will be left alone. We've talked about this extensively, and we have a plan. Each of you will be paired up with one of us, like a buddy system."

"That's right, thank you Lurida," Gavin began, "Arty, you'll be with me. Maybe you'll be able to pick up a few things from another leader," he pointed over at Xannie, "Rhea o' sunshine, you'll be taking Timbre," he pointed a little further around her, "Grav, you'll be taking Roland-"

"Gavin, don't you dare," Lurida's eyes narrowed, "I am not taking the one that wants to fight everything."

"If he gives you trouble, make him float for a bit," Gavin continued on, "And Yamuna is taking Sepia."

"Awe yeah. I get the fun one," Yamuna pumped a fist in the air.

Maple leaned into the cabin from the cockpit, "Two minutes to landing, guys. You got your game plan ready?"

Xannie smiled and nodded. "Yes ma'am."

"Our game plan is fantastic, Professor!" Gavin gave a thumbs up, "We worked hard to make sure that we're the best for Team ARTS."

"You mean I worked hard. I did all of the research, then Xannie was the one who typed up the briefing and turned it in this morning. I did not sleep last night, Gavin." Lurida's voice was laced with venom. Her eyes were filled to the brim with rage.

"But I did have you oversee the research. We worked as a team to get where we are today," Gavin chuckled, "We're all thankful that you read up on everything. That way you can tell us what's up!"

"I don't want your blood on my hands, Gavin," Lurida growled, "Just stay quiet and we won't have problems."

The whole vehicle shook as it touched down.

Maple roared in excitement, "ARTS! GLXY! Welcome to Mikado Village!"

.

"Wow, this place got beaten up pretty badly, huh?..." Arty asked solemnly as they walked down the main road of the village. The cobblestones clacked beneath their feet. On either side of them, the windows were boarded up. Very few people walked around. Arty noted a few men working on repairing the top floor of a building that looked as if it had been burnt out. "I wasn't expecting so much damage to the town itself…" he stopped and went quiet as he saw multiple overlapping rows of deep black claw marks on the door of a candy shop.

"We told you," Xannie muttered as she surveyed the damage, "this village very rarely has so much trouble with the Kokonatsu despite being in the middle of their territory. They're organizing attacks all of a sudden for some reason."

Sepia pulled out her scroll and sent a group text, 'We should probably ask around. We might be able to learn what the largest number of tails the locals have seen on one Grimm. That way we can get an idea of what we're up against.'

Gavin stopped and turned to face his group, "That's not a bad idea, Sequins," he looked off towards one of the town's gates, where the burnt remains of the caravan were scattered around, "but we should also look around the forest outside of the village to see if there are any Grimm lurking around waiting for some senior citizen or little kid to step one foot too close into their new hunting grounds."

"You suggesting that we split up, Gavin?" Arty asked, pulling Palette out of his bag.

"That's exactly what I'm suggesting! Arty, Carmen, and I will go look around the outside of the village. The rest of you can decide amongst yourselves as to who joins us," Gavin put one arm on Arty's shoulder and the other on Professor Maple's.

"I need a breather after all that caffeine," Lurida told her leader, "I'm in no condition to fight just yet. Roland and I will stay here in the town and get information. I also suggest that Yamuna and Sepia go with you two. They're good fighters, and you might need them if you run into Grimm. Yamuna's senses might help too. If anything bad happens, then I'll be with Xannie. She and I work best together rather than apart."

Gavin nodded, "Right. Don't want to split up the Twinkle Twins Dream Duo."

"Gavin, if you call us that one more time, then I will have no option but to kill you," Lurida glared daggers at her leader.

Xannie laughed and nudged her sister playfully, "Ah, come on Lurida. You know Gavin has to have his nicknames for everybody. Besides, I actually kind of like 'Twinkle Twins'."

Despite the condition of their current location, Timbre, Arty and Yamuna couldn't help but laugh.

Roland crossed his arms, "Can we just get on with this? I'd like to get away from Gavin too."

"Agreed," Lurida nodded, "but, Gavin, please use the team attack names if you're going to use a nickname for us."

Gavin looked a bit let down, "Aw, okay then Meteor Shower!" he waved to his half of the group to follow him.

.

"Right," Lurida began, looking to Xannie, Timbre, and Roland, "Information… I'll search the Vale databases to see if they've published anything on what is going on. Timbre, run around and get people to come over to us so that we can question them on what they saw. Xannie, do the talking and keep them calm. Roland, take notes over what they say. Does all of that sound like a plan?" she asked while slowly sitting down on a nearby bench. She seemed beat from the caffeine crash.

The group split off as Lurida began tapping away at her scroll and holographic screen.

"Excuse me," Timbre said to an portly older man, "Hi, I'm with a group of Huntsmen in training from Beacon, and we're here to-"

"Wait a minute, aren't you Timbre Forté?!" The man shouted.

"Well, that's not-"

He turned and began shouting down the streets, "Hey! Everyone! Look, it's Timbre Forté!" he turned back to her, "I thought we'd never see you perform in person again."

"Well, I'm not here to-"

"Wait!" he began shuffling through his pockets before pulling out a pen and a crumpled piece of paper. He held them out to her, "Can I have your autograph for my daughter? Please!"

Timbre began to stutter and panic as a crowd of villagers began to crowd around her. Even with their village suffering from Grimm attacks, they still had time to gawk at a celebrity. She felt the people pushing against her, asking for pictures, autographs, and songs. She wanted to scream.

Her saving grace came in the form of three words, "Hold on folks!"

Timbre looked up and found Xannie standing between her and the crowd with her arms outstretched.

"Ms. Forté would be happy to sign autographs and sit for photos, if you will all kindly form a single-file line… and take a short survey of course." Xannie gestured for Roland to walk over.

"Xannie!" Timbre whispered harshly, "What are you doing?! We don't have time for trivial stuff like this!"

"I know we don't."

"Then why exactly are you setting up an impromptu signing?"

"Because it's not trivial."

"What the heck is that supposed to mean?"

"A Huntress must know how to be resourceful." Xannie held out a hand to Roland, "pen please."

After Roland reluctantly gave up one of his emergency weapons, Xannie handed it to Timbre, "I'm just taking the opportunity to get the information we're here to get," she winked. "Now play along and just sign your name a few times. You've done it tons of times before, right?"

"Well… yeah… but…"

Xannie clapped her hands together and smiled, "C'mon Timbre, I have a very good feeling that this will work well in our favor."

"If you don't do this, then it'll take longer to help these people. I know you want to seem like just a Huntress rather than a celebrity, but this village needs you to be both right now," Roland told his teammate, "Do you want to help these people, or save face?"

Timbre looked down to the pen held in her shaking hand. She had sworn to give up the life of a celebrity, especially after her last night as one ended in almost getting kidnapped or even killed. No. She gripped the pen tightly to stop the shaking in her hands. She sat down on a nearby stone bench, took a deep breath, and forced a big smile, "Hey everyone!" As much as it pained her, she shook hands, took pictures, and signed autographs.

Down the bench, Xannie had set up her holographic image of the Kokonatsu, asking a few questions about them and the maximum number of tails seen. Roland was rapidly clacking away at his typewriter as people responded to the questions before they got to meet Timbre. Xannie leaned over to Timbre, "You're doing great! We're getting tons of feedback, and nobody's reported Kokonatsu with more than five tails," she shook her head in disbelief, "from Lurida's research, I was expecting at least somebody to have seen one of the more dangerous ones."

Roland stopped typing for a moment, "Hold on…" he scanned over his notes for a few moments, "we've got good numbers on everything five and under, but then nothing bigger than that," he looked up to Lurida and Xannie, "Isn't that a little strange? I mean, I'm not an expert, but… why not even one six?" he scanned through his notes once again, "Not one… so that leads to another question. How smart exactly can these things get?"

Lurida was taken back, having not considered a few possibilities, "Hey, Xannie, can you give me a reading on the probability of a six tail or more giving orders to lower Kokonatsu?" she called to her sister, "Can you also give me the probability of each level, six tails through nine tails?"

Xannie held a her index fingers to her temples and closed her eyes. "Okay," she swiped a at the air and began typing out numbers and equations into her holographic screen. "Well, according to the stats we have… If every sighting on this chart was a different Grimm… then our percentages show that…" She swiped her hand horizontally, flipping the hologram around. On it was a pie chart. "43% have been 1 tail Kokonatsu, 28% have been 2-tails, 14% have been 3-tails, 10% 4, and 5% 5. The problem is, nobody here has seen one once it reaches pack-leader levels of awareness," she turned it back around and began adding more numbers, "with these numbers… if that many 4s and 5s are actively attacking villagers, something much more powerful has to be influencing them to do that," she tapped her head again, "There should be at least a few 7s or maybe even an 8 in order to keep all of these in check," she clapped her hands into the hologram and stood up, "If my math is right, that's the least we're dealing with. They're just hiding from us and giving orders from the sidelines. 6's are smart, but they're not geniuses. They can't do anything from the shadows. If they're the ones in charge, they're on the front lines."

"So if that's the case..." Roland looked over to Xannie, "Could a 9-tails take charge of all of those?" he asked, "From what I gathered with Yamuna's… performance earlier, they're a force to be reckoned with. They're like a mafia boss, right?" he tore off the long strip of paper. It rolled up into a scroll as if it were magic. "I've got my notes memorized, and based on them and your logic, these aren't just being kept in check. The times, numbers, all of this… it's too organized for basic Grimm instincts."

"Like I said," Xannie began walking through the square, turning back to look to her group, "We have to be open to the ide-"

A flurry of blades and violet light shot past Xannie's head, nearly giving her a new haircut. Lurida shot up from her seat and zipped past her twin with her arms held out wide. Six violet metal orbs with ring-like blades forming their equators spun in a circle in front of her. In the center of her newly formed ring of death, Lurida had captured a black fox dotted with spikes of bone. A bone mask decorated with red crevices covered its face, and four black tails waved behind the beast's back.

"Timbre, Roland! Get the villagers inside! Now!" Lurida shouted without so much as looking back. She made a box in front of her with her index fingers and thumbs, then expanded them to form a holographic screen with a cross in the center to serve as a reticle, "Aiming system activated! Charging, 97%! Target locked on. Xannie," her eyes narrowed on the Creature of Grimm, "cover me, there's three about to come down from the roofs," she ordered before three of her orbiters glowed with violet energy as they aimed where her eye was looking. She kept her focus and blasted the Kokonatsu. It tried to dodge, but was struck with a fourth laser when it leapt to get out of the way. A wide hole appeared in its side before it began to fade.

"Code Yellow, ambush by intelligent Grimm!" she barked to Roland and Timbre, who had managed to herd the villagers into the nearby inn. They both looked stunned by her display of power. Her eyes narrowed, "Don't just stand there! That means call Gavin and Professor Maple and get inside where it's safe!"

"Roland!" Timbre yelled to the Faunus, "I get that this is quite the show, but you need to get your tail inside now!" She watched as Lurida blasted a hole into the face of another Grimm, "They've got this, now we need to do our part!"

Xannie turned to the burned out building behind her. From the second floor, three pairs of burning eyes glared down at her, the forest of tails billowing behind them. She held her arms out to her sides with her palms facing out. The collection of neon yellow and silver rings around her wrists travelled off of her wrists and expanded, floating around her hands. She whistled a few times, "C'mon foxy, foxy, foxy. Come down and play!"

The three fox Grimm lunged down towards the girl with the floating rings.

A holographic panel appeared in front of her right hand. Her index finger began to rotate a small yellow circle. As she did so, the deployed circular blades began to spin faster and faster. She waved her right arm horizontally in front of her. The corresponding ring sliced through the three beasts without any resistance. The blade slowed and returned to her side, floating aimlessly around her, "How are you holding up, sis?"

"Been better!" Lurida blasted a one-tail and whipped around, "You ready for me to set up the field?"

"Well," Xannie sliced through another beast as many more took its place, "It'd be much more effective if Gavin and Yamuna were here… but," she spun her blades around to keep the dark creatures away from her. The rush of air from their claws and snapping jaws tussled her hair, "I guess now is a better time than ever!"

She looked to the row of shops where the villagers that once crowded the square now stood. In one window, she saw the anxious faces of Timbre and Roland, "I'm just worried about scaring the first years."

"Yeah, well I'm not," Lurida blasted one more Kokonatsu before shutting her eyes, "Xannie, cover me. I'll try to catch as many of these things as possible," she ordered, "Roland, Timbre! You guys and the villagers hold onto something!" she yelled. A few moments later, her feet slowly left the ground, along with Xannie's. The nearby Kokonatsu also began to levitate, sending them into a momentary panic.

"Xannie, Meteor Shower," she opened her eyes and smirked at her sister.

"On it!" She selected the four remaining rings around her wrists and the one around her neck, deploying them and slowly moving them off of her body. They arranged themselves in a larger ring around her and her sister.

Lurida, through a set of arm motions, placed one orbiter in the center of each of Xannie's rights, their blades interlocking. When Xannie began to spin the rings, Lurida charged her orbiter's beams. She aimed the reticle at the ground, then took a moment to look around. A glance to Xannie told her that she had the optimal angle of attack, and so she fired the orbiter and ring. It bounced off the ground once, through a Kokonatsu, off one of walls of a building, through another Kokonatsu, and finally came to a rest after striking a light pole.

There were still plenty of Grimm left struggling in their new zero-gravity environment, "Lurida, think we can corrale them and finish them all off at once?" Xannie grinned as she watched one of the Grimm, one with only two tails, squirming wildly in an attempt to wiggle itself closer to her. She put a boot against its face and kicked it away. In one quick motion, she guided one of their combined weapons into it, effectively quartering it.

"That'd probably be best," Lurida nodded. She held out her hands with her fingers spread out wide, "Line up the rings. I'll funnel them," she ordered. The zero-gravity field seemed to weaken around her and her sister, but all of the nearby Kokonatsu began drifting towards a center point ahead of them. Care was given to prevent any of them from getting too close to anything that they could jump off of.

"Lining up the rings. Charge up the laser, Lurida!" Xannie adjusted some sliders on her holographic hud panel while keeping a close eye on the steadily growing ball of writhing Grimm. The rings and orbiters separated with a clang, then began returning to their masters.

"Charging, 108% capacity. System overload imminent," Lurida rattled off while her orbiters grouped up together at the beginning of the tunnel of rings, "Commence alternating rotations… now!"

"Got it!" Xannie swiped the circles on both panels, making all of her cone of rings spin rapidly. Every other ring spun clockwise rather than counter-clockwise.

"Firing in 3…" Lurida's eyes narrowed, "2…" the orbiters glowed with burning violet energy, "1. Cover your eyes."

Xannie held a hand over her face as soon as the seven lasers fired. The rings focused the beams into a single, massive stream like the barrel of a cannon. It encompassed all of their ball of Grimm, and left nothing when the light faded. She dusted off her hands, guided her rings back into their respective places, and took a theatrical bow.

Lurida's orbiters were guided back into their carrying tube on Lurida's back, and the end of it snapped shut with an audible clap. She looked to the window of the inn to see a pair of stunned students and a crowd of amazed villagers. Stop gawking… she thought as she rolled her eyes. When she composed herself, she waved over her protégées, "Tell the villagers to stay inside, but you two need to come over here and give me a report on Gavin and the others!"

Timbre rushed over with Roland trailing close behind, "That was amazing you two! It never even occurred to me that we've never seen Team GLXY fight before! I never would've guessed you guys would have flying weapons and lasers and be able to turn off gravity an-"

Lurida put a finger over Timbre's mouth, "Timbre, please. Gavin's status."

"Well…" Roland shifted, "Gavin and his crew got ambushed too. Gavin's gone," he looked towards the forest, "Professor Maple is tending to Arty and Sepia, and Yamuna is trying to track where he went. One second he was there, the next he wasn't."

The twins were taken a bit back. Xannie was the first to express her shock, "Even in a fight, Gavin wouldn't be separated that easily."

Lurida looked back towards the forest, "And the timing of it all is too coincidental. They get attacked while we're too busy dealing with another group of Kokonatsu. They couldn't get backup even if they had called for it."

"And if Yamuna's having trouble tracking Gavin…" Xannie shook her head, "that's not good. No matter how far apart we are, she knows how to find us," she turned and began to run towards the forest, "We have to go help find him!"

"Not yet," Lurida shook her head, "Let them come to us. With this kind of organization and coordination… it's a 9-tailed calling the shots. It seems intelligent enough to separate the Huntsman that just showed up unannounced. It set up hunting grounds and attacked the village to divide whatever group came. If we leave the villagers unattended, then the Kokonatsu can get to them much easier. They did something serious to the second strongest of our entire group, which is a serious blow to our strategy," she paced as she thought, "We stay here until the others return, with or without Gavin. Then we regroup and reassess. We have to believe that this is now a worst case scenario situation. The mission now is to find and exterminate what we now believe to be a 9-tailed Kokonatsu after we regroup. Understood?" she looked around at the group.

"Got it," Roland nodded.

Timbre bit her lip. She thought Gavin could hold his own, but the concern showed by Xannie made her realize Gavin's disappearance was much more serious, "Right, I get that, but..."

Xannie kept looking between the forest and her group, "Lurida, we can't just sit here when nobody has any clue where Gavin is. It sounds like they're in some serious trouble," she put a hand to her head, nervously grabbing at her neon yellow hair, "I can't just sit here."

Timbre was stunned by how quickly the twins had gone from perfectly coordinated fighters to their current states, one trying to keep order, the other panicking. Timbre stomped her boot against the cobblestones, "Half of Team ARTS and Professor Maple are out there too. Xannie's right. We can't just stand by and let the Grimm divide them up even further. If the villagers stayed indoors until we kill your theoretical 9-tail, then we'll be done here and everyone gets out of this okay."

"We can just sit here, and we will just sit here," Lurida didn't so much as bat an eye at the arguments of Xannie and Timbre. They were bringing in emotions, but she knew Xannie could listen to reason. The popstar, she had no idea about, "We're people with strong auras, but those villagers are practically defenseless. If you two want to get them killed, then go help the others. If you don't trust that they can actually make it out of those woods alive, then, by all means, go after them."

"Our strong auras are the reason they're attacking!" Timbre yelled, "You saw how many Kokonatsu just attacked this square! According to the data you told us to collect, nothing like this has happened since the caravan got ambushed! Nothing happened until we got here, and now that we know that there's a bigger threat out there," she pointed to the forest, "then we know where we need to go and what we need to do!"

"You're really worried about them, huh?" Lurida rolled her eyes, "If you don't already know what the duty of a Huntress is, then you shouldn't be here in the first place. We are to lay down our lives for the people that we protect. Right now, we are protecting the people inside this village, and the other group is investigating the outside. These people's lives are in our hands," she sat on the bench that she had gotten up from before the fight. It would have seemed that her suspicion of Timbre was accurate. She looked over to the celebrity, "We die for these people, not our teammates. Now sit down and get ready for another wave of those things."

Timbre could only stand there and glare at the girl, "You don't think I understand what being a Huntress means, huh?" she turned to face away from her, "You may be fine leaving Gavin and Yamuna out there, but I refuse to leave Arty, Sepia, and Carmen. They're in trouble," Timbre slowly turned her head towards the gate, "and right now, they need help."

The group were taken off guard as Timbre began making a mad dash for the gate leading to the forest. She shot a wire at the top of the large arch and swung over the burned remains of the caravan that brought them there in the first place.

Xannie took a few steps in the same direction, "Timbre! What are you doing!?"

"Timbre!" Roland shouted and bolted off after his teammate, "Don't be stupid! Get back here and-" he was cut off as a large black fox jumped out from behind the wall. It flared out its tails, all six of them. Behind it, more dark figures began to creep out. The new wave had arrived, and Timbre was already long gone.

"Roland!" Lurida spring to her feet. He didn't have anything typed out. For him, he was practically defenseless, "Just hold-"

But she didn't have enough time before the new wave of Kokonatsu lunged.