Chapter 21: Decisive Battle

Summer barely had time to breathe.

The fight had gone downhill almost immediately. Right from the start, Qrow's brute force had overwhelmed her, even moreso now that he was no longer controlling himself. Her strategy had essentially been simplified to "run away and occasionally shoot." She refrained from using her explosive arrows, so as to not risk hurting her friend.

I just need to get that Grimm out of his body, she thought desperately. "Snap out of it, Qrow!" she yelled, not expecting it to really help. "You don't want to fight me! You have to free yourself!"

"Don't tell me what I have to do!" Qrow spat at her. There was no indication that he wasn't saying this of his own free will. "I've always known what I 'have' to do, dammit. You're the one who's always in my way!"

"…What?" Summer asked, bewildered. What does he mean?

Caught off guard, she didn't defend herself from his next strike. His sword went her flying into the wall. "Ugh!" she grunted, staggering to her feet and retaliating with an arrow. Qrow turned into his bird form and avoided the projectile.

Summer saw Harriet out of the corner of her eye, watching the scene unfold with a look of callous amusement on her face. Impulsively, she pulled her bow back and fired an arrow at her. The rabbit Faunus just swatted it aside nonchalantly. Before Summer could make a second attempt, she was distracted by bird Qrow viciously pecking at her face.

Swearing, Summer began blindly firing arrows, but it was difficult to hit such a small, fast-moving target. Qrow lashed out his claws, striking her right eye, causing her to stumble and scream in pain. The shock of pain in her eye sent a bolt of adrenaline through her, and she straightened herself up and fired another arrow. As if her hand was guided by some unseen force, it struck Qrow in his wing, sending him spiraling down to the ground. He shifted back into human form as he struck the pavement, face first. "Ow…" he muttered.

"Qrow! Are you alright?" Concerned, Summer ran over to her partner. As she got close, she raised her bow in caution. "Look, I need to get that thing out of y-"

"Hrahhh!" With surprising speed, Qrow leapt up, and swung his sword in a massive arc, striking her directly in the legs. Yelling in pain, Summer fell clumsily on her side. Without hesitating, Qrow dashed up to her and tried to stab the blade into her. Summer rolled over to avoid it. "This isn't you! Come to your senses already!" she yelled again.

"Oh, just shut up already! You don't know anything about me!" Qrow hissed, charging at her again. Summer dodged to the side and speared him in the side with an arrow. Her partner retaliated by striking her in the face with a powerful fist, knocking her to the ground back-first. "Ugh!" Her bow fell out of her hand, landing slightly away from her.

Harriet gave a small laugh from the sidelines. "Well, this is entertaining, but I'd like to wrap this up quickly. My job is quite demanding, after all." She held out her hand and muttered a few words. "Come. Finish her off now."

Wordlessly, Qrow bent over and clasped his hands around Summer's neck. "Khhh…" she gasped for air. She struggled to break free, but her arm strength was failing her. Her vision was slowly fading. Dammit…she thought. What do I do…?

For a moment, she was sure that she was going to die. But instead of her body growing numb, she felt like it was getting stronger. Like something was pushing her back to the world of the living. Encouraging her to keep fighting.

I know this feeling, Summer realized with a shock. She'd felt it when her team had encountered R back at Pandora, when she had rescued that hostage from the Grimm. It was like some long-dormant instinct inside of her was being turned on.

Her strength returning, Summer felt the sensation in her arms coming back. She glared at Qrow, staring him right in the eye, and she swore she could see something else staring back, almost terrified. His grip on her neck loosened for one moment.

"Hrahhh!" Summer punched him in the stomach with all her strength. Screaming in pain, Qrow let go of her. Quickly, she got up and retrieved her bow and arrows. Turning around, she saw her partner on the ground retching out a black fluid. The Grimm!

Summer walked over to him and retrieved an arrow. Hissing, the rat Grimm began to materialize into its sold form. Before it could enter Qrow's system again, Summer brought down the arrow and plunged it into the thing's body. The rat Grimm gave a single pained squeak and lay still.

I did it! Summer thought, relieved. She waited for the rat to disintegrate into nothingness like any other Grimm. But it didn't happen. Instead, she felt it dissolve into a thick, black liquid that fell through her hands and onto the pavement, where it soon evaporated. What was left in her hands was a small grey rat that whimpered weakly before leaping out of her grasp and running away. What in the world…?

She heard Qrow coughing beside her, and turned around. "Um…are you okay?" she asked him.

"Ugh…Kah…" Qrow spat, before wiping his mouth and looking up at her with an awkward grin. "Shit. Sorry about that, partner. That's what I get for lettin' my guard down, I guess."

Summer breathed a sigh of relief. Thank god, he's alright. She helped him to his feet and turned her gaze to Harriet, who hadn't budged from her spot. "Well?" she snapped at her. "Was that good enough for you?"

Qrow readied his sword. "You really tried to screw me over, but now it's our turn."

"Hmm…you've definitely surpassed my expectations," Harriet admitted. "One day, Summer, you might be able to face the Grandmaster head-on. However…that day isn't today."

Behind her, a myriad of dark-red needles materialized out of thin air. Before Summer and Qrow could react, the projectiles flew at him and detonated upon contact. In an instant, all of their remaining Aura was depleted. Summer fell to her knees. "Gah…!"

"What kind of attack was that…?" Qrow growled in pain.

"Still, you did win your battle, so I'll uphold my end of the bargain," Harriet decided. "Tell me, do you remember how the Faunus War began?"

Why's she asking this…? "Um…it was because the humans tried to banish all the Faunus to Menagerie," Summer recited the story from her memory. "The Faunus rebelled, and when the humans tried to quell them, they ended up killing a young girl by accident…Violet. That's when the war started."

"I'm glad to see you paid attention in class, Summer," Harriet praised her with mockery in her voice. "But unfortunately that's not the whole truth. I find it funny to this day, you know. We-the Faunus-won that war. And they say history is written by the winners. I know all too well that that's not true, though. Humanity still managed to make us look like the real monsters…the animals who started a bloody conflict over a 'tragic accident'."

"What are you talking about?!" Summer demanded.

"If you want to know the rest," Harriet replied, "then make me lose. You'll have more chances, believe me. The Grandmaster wills it." She paused. "Now, then. Go."

"…Go?" Qrow asked, confused.

"There should still be time for you to get to your friends and aid them," Harriet said calmly. "Though knowing Heather and everyone else, they might have already dealt with Buck."

Summer didn't understand. "You're letting us go?"

"My master still has uses for you all," Harriet replied simply. "Summer. The fact is, both my master and Ozpin want the same thing out of you. If you seek to meet their expectations, you'll have to get much stronger. And one day I'll be the judge of that." She smiled. "I really did have fun during my time at Beacon, by the way. Goodbye for now-we WILL see each other again." With that, she teleported away.

Qrow ran over to his partner. "You okay?" he asked, helping her up.

"Y-yeah," Summer winced as she got back on her feet. "Harriet…I didn't realize she was capable of things like that. How…how am I ever going to be strong enough to fight her?"

"Eh." Qrow shrugged. "Still three more years at Beacon-we got time, I think."

"I guess we do. Hey…" Summer frowned at him. "Uh, how exactly did it feel? Being…possessed like that?"

"Possessed, huh? That's not really the right term for what it was, I think. I mean, my mind wasn't blank the whole time that thing was in me. I felt in control of my body…but sis was right, it does, well, exaggerate your more aggressive traits, I guess." Qrow rubbed his head, wincing. "I can't really remember exactly what I did before you helped me snap out of it, though."

"That fits with what happened to Jin." Summer was still staring at him. She remembered what Qrow had yelled at her.

"I've always known what I 'have' to do, dammit. You're the one who's always in my way!"

What exactly did he mean by that? What did he 'have' to do? Summer wondered if it had something to do with their…less than friendly interactions when they'd first met. But somehow she had a feeling it was more than that.

Still, those were concerns for another time. "Come on," she said to Qrow. "Let's get to the Amity Coliseum before it's too late." Her partner nodded, and soon they were on their way.

This is no Grimm, Raven realized.

The monstrous creature that had once been Buck looked like a particularly hideous Beowulf, but it was no such thing. Raven had enough experience with Grimm to know that they were primal beings, fighting with little to no sense of tactics or reason. Even elder, battle-worn Grimm could never hold a candle to human intelligence.

Yet here this…thing was, dodging and attacking with surprising precision. Every strike was aimed at what could be vital spots. Every move was carefully timed to avoid attacks and maintain an advantageous battle position. Even if there was no sign of Buck's consciousness left, there was no doubt that this monster was a thinking beast.

But a beast is still a beast, and can be killed. Unleashing all of her remaining Dust into her katana, Raven summoned her Aura, building up her strength. She would put everything she had into her next attack.

A short distance away, Tai had activated his Semblance. Glowing with golden energy, he pummeled the monster with flurry after flurry of swift, powerful punches. The beast let out an animalistic snarl and swatted him away with its giant arm. It immediately charged at Regal and Torrence, who barely managed to dodge in time.

Heather unloaded an entire magazine of bullets into its skull. Forming a quick analysis, she yelled: "Our attacks are definitely damaging it! Slow progress, but it IS getting weaker! Let's keep it up!"

"Right!" Torrence swung his axe, striking the beast's arm and making a noticeable dent in its ivory armor. A shower of combat knives were then embedded into its back, courtesy of Regal.

"Graaaaaaahhhhh!" The monster screamed. The veins on its body grew an even more violent shade of red. Its muscles began pulsating hideously, as if they were about to burst open. Raven shuddered as she felt enormous waves of raw energy emanate from it. It isn't going down without a fight.

Growling, the beast charged forward with even more inhuman speed than before. Caught off guard, Regal was flung all the way across the room from the blow, making a violent-looking crack in the wall. Groaning, he fell to the floor, unconscious.

"Regal!" Torrence yelled. Desperately, he swung at the beast with his axe, but the beast had learned from the last time. Its body shifted to avoid the blow, before swatting away the weapon almost nonchalantly. Without his axe, Torrence was left defenceless as the beast knocked him out with a single punch.

"It's getting more powerful off of the Promethian Ore's energy…" Heather murmured. "But that much raw power must take a hefty toll on his stamina. This could be our chance!"

"Then let me take it!" Yelling, Tai charged at the beast with his fist poised to strike. Snarling, the beast was ready to meet him. Concentrating all its energy into one point on its body, it swung its jagged arm towards the young warrior.

Their strikes met with a powerful crunch, sending invisible waves of Aura in all directions. Tai screamed in pain, before retaliating with his other fist. This blow struck the monster right in its hideous face, shattering its ivory skull and knocking it over on its back. Tai immediately fell to his knees, clutching his left arm.

Now. "HRAHHHHHHHH!" Raven let out a fierce battle cry as she leapt into the air, holding her charged blade over her head, before plunging it deep into the beast's exposed belly. The monster let out a horrific squeal of agony before it finally went limp.

Raven let out a sigh of relief. She turned to her comrades. "Is everyone alright? No one hurt?"

"Regal and Torrence are fine," Heather assured her. "They're out cold now, but they'll be up very soon. As for Tai…"

"Ughhh…" Tai moaned. His left arm was twisted at an unnerving angle.

"It's broken," Heather made the rather obvious observation. "That blow had so much force behind it that it temporarily disabled his Aura."

"How bad is it?" Raven inquired. Medical matters were one of her few truly weak subjects.

"Not that serious, actually. If he'd, theoretically, lost his whole arm, that would be a different story, but an injury of this scale will be healed by Aura in time. That being said…"

Heather pressed her hand to the broken arm. Her Aura-a light purple glow-began resonating. She was using her Semblance-the ability to speed up the healing of injuries. Within seconds, the arm was back to normal. "There," she sighed in relief. "Now, let's get-"

"GRAOOOOOOOOOOGHHHHHH!"

Without warning, the monster raised its head again. Raven realized too late the consequence of her carelessness. Before she could react, the beast grabbed her and Tai before beginning to glow an ominous crimson.

"What the hell?" Tai screamed.

"It's…it's…" Heather's eyes widened in horror. "It's going to self-destruct. It wants to take us all down with it!"

Raven struggled to break free, but in the beast's iron grip she was unable to reach her katana. The monster's body temperature was growing unbearably hot. No…this can't be the end…she thought despairingly.

In front of them, Heather stared at them. For a moment, she had a strange look of indecision in her eyes. "Don't worry!" she murmured, as if convincing herself. "I think I can stop him!"

She charged at the monster and grabbed it by a tuft of its black fur. Closing her eyes, she began to concentrate. Suddenly, Raven felt all the energy in the room…slowly begin to disappear. At the same time, Heather's Aura felt like it was increasing dramatically.

"Hrahhh….HRAH!" Heather yelled, expelling all her Aura as a single, tangible wave of violet energy that sent the beast crashing into the floor. Its grip on Tai and Raven loosened, and they quickly escaped.

Heather collapsed to the ground, all her energy gone. "Hahhh…" she gasped. "I...gave that a fifty percent chance of working without getting us all killed."

"Wh-what did you even do?" Tai asked skeptically. Raven said nothing. She merely stared at Heather curiously.

Before Heather could respond, the beast made a weak rasping noise from behind them. Turning, they saw it dissolving into black liquid, before evaporating. The ragged, battered form of Buck was all that remained.

"N-no…Absurd. This is…" he rasped, disbelieving. "The Ore….is…."

"Completely drained," Tai noted, examining the now-useless bomb. The crystal in the center had completely lost its orange luster, and was now a lifeless grey husk. "Thanks to you, it's no longer a threat. Nice job fixing it, villain."

"And…my…" Buck gasped. Suddenly, he got up. Frantically, he glanced around the room. "My armlet…the Black Yin…where is it?!" he screamed.

"The Yin?" Heather asked, confused.

"That black jewel, if I had to guess. I don't see it anywhere…perhaps it was shattered during the battle," Raven noted. "Your little protégé's also escaped."

"Simon? That little coward…" Buck snarled. "You may have beaten me, but don't believe for a moment that I-"

He didn't get to finish his sentence, as Tai knocked him unconscious with a blow to the head. "I think you've said enough, buddy," he sighed.

Soon after, Summer and Qrow arrived at the engine room, and Raven opened the door for them. They quickly exchanged stories of what had happened. According to Qrow, the riots in the city were more or less quelled now. All members involved had either escaped or were behind bars now. Raven had then called for the police. "They can clean up this mess better than us," she reasoned. She restrained the unconscious Buck with some rope just to be sure, though.

Once it became clear to everyone that the situation in Atlas had been completely resolved, everyone made their way out of the Amity Coliseum as discreetly as possible.

"And are you guys just gonna forget that I beat the shit out of that monster?" Tai asked incredulously. "C'mon, give me a little credit!"

They were all on an aircraft heading back to the airport. The seven of them had agreed to keep quiet about the whole incident. Unfortunately, Taiyang Xiao Long didn't really understand the concept of "keeping quiet."

"Shut up, Blondie," Qrow grumbled. "You want the other passengers to hear?"

"I mean, it's not like anyone would believe us even if they did hear," Regal pointed out.

Tai grinned. "You sure you're not just jealous Birdy? Because you didn't help at all?"

"In you damn dreams," he replied.

"Are you alright, Summer?" Raven asked her friend with surprising tenderness. Summer Rose, staring out the window with a glum expression on her face, just nodded silently.

Meanwhile, Heather sat slightly away from the rest of them. There was no one sitting near her, and no one was watching her. That's good, she thought.

Delicately, she rolled up her left sleeve all the way up. On the surface of her pale skin, near her lower shoulder, was a strange sigil. It was etched in a flawless, symmetrical curve that reminded Heather of the slithering movements of a snake. The sigil was glowing violet.

Heather felt herself sweating as she pressed her hand to her shoulder, repressing the pain. I must have overdone it back at the stadium, she thought. It hasn't acted up like this since the Emerald Forest. I'll have to ask Father about this...but no else must know.

She glanced up at Raven. What was it you said to Harriet? 'You're not the only one who has secrets'. Heh. If you only knew…

After the incident in Atlas had been defused, life went more or less back to normal. The apparent mastermind behind the events, Timber 'Buck' London, was swiftly arrested, and the now-harmless Promethian Ore was put in Atlas custody. Team HTHR and Team STRQ unfortunately dropped out of the Vytal Tournament due to apparent training accidents. The Vytal Festival continued to its end without further interruptions.

Several months later, it was winter. After struggling over the arduous exam week and many sleepless, frustrated nights, it was time for their winter break. Two whole months of free time before Summer and the crew were second-year students.

The day before the break began, all students threw a celebratory party, wishing well all the graduating Huntsmen as well as their own temporary freedom. Summer and Heather's teams also participated in the fun.

"Sho," Tai said, stuffing his mouth with mashed potatoes, "Whatchu guysh doin for sheh break?"

"I managed to rent a small place in Patch," Summer replied, sipping her apple juice. She smiled to herself. "Autumn and I will be living there for a while, I hope."

"Huh? Who's Autumn?" Regal asked, confused.

Summer laughed. "Um…a friend of mine. It's kind of a long story…"

Raven turned to Heather. "You think you'll be alright for next year? I hear the second-year courses are much more intense, and you no longer have a partner."

Heather's cheerful smile disappeared. "I think I'll be fine. As far as everyone knows, Harriet just transferred out of Beacon all of a sudden. I hear Atlas or some other Academy will be sending a transfer student over here for next year."

"…" Summer looked down at her empty plate.

"Come on, cheer up," Tai encouraged her. "Don't worry about Harriet. We're all gonna get much stronger over these next few years. Besides, I seriously doubt her plans are finished. We'll see her again, I'm sure of it. For better or for worse."

"…Yeah." Summer smiled at him. Tai always did manage to make her feel a lot better.

"Alright, that's enough talk," Qrow said in a slurred voice. Summer noted with annoyance that he was slightly drunk. He'd somehow smuggled in a bottle of whiskey from the senior students' supplies. "Whatever crazy shit comes our way next, we can worry 'bout that later. Let's just be glad we survived our first year in this hellhole eh?" Clumsily, he raised his glass.

Summer couldn't help but laugh. Qrow was right. Worrying was something to do later. She looked around at her teammates. They would go through much worse trials in the years to come, but they'd always make it through. Together.

She believed that. With all her heart.

"Alright then. Cheers," Tai grinned, raising his glass. "To the coolest team in Beacon!"

Thanks for reading all the way to this point, everyone! I'll release an extra chapter tomorrow (or on Sunday if I don't finish it on time) that serves as an epilogue to "Volume 1" of this series.

I'm planning to write the first few chapters of "Volume 2" before taking a break and working on other projects, like Fate of all Fools and the Monster Hunter crossover I'm planning. Look forward to those!