Players and Pieces

The sunlight was bright. Brighter than what Blake would say she was comfortable with. Likely due to the terrain that offered plentiful space and little shade. The area the four teams had embarked on was sun-baked, to say the least; withered plant life and assorted weeds littered the terrain behind the polished chrome barrier which surrounded the scientific facility they now approached.

Lambent.

The facility itself didn't look like much - a large metal cylinder that rose up from the ground a few stories into the air, its slightly warped but otherwise polished walls surely fabricated to disguise the building's presence from the distance between the wavy heat waves rising from the ground surrounding it in the midday heat. But the catgirl knew better. That cylinder was only the tip of the iceberg; this sort of building likely spread out underground over several square miles where external factors like temperature and humidity could be easily regulated. This sticky, stagnant air above ground was not likely to be conducive to a successful scientific environment.

"Psst. Blake!"

The ravenette glanced quickly at her focused leader as the red hooded girl silently motioned for her to circle around the rear of the building. Nodding in assent, Blake went forward, following the pattern of silence that the eerily quiet landscape had already instilled upon the teens. It really wasn't so surprising that it was the case, it only took a single glance at the new craters littering the area within the laser systems like the dead weeds around them to cause a certain measure of unease. However, in Blake's case, she preferred the unease. After all, it wasn't enough to trigger Gamer's Mind, and it did well enough to keep her mind from drifting to last night's events between Yang and Jaune.

Surely the lovable idiot hadn't actually thought it was a date, right?

"Wait," Blake mumbled to herself, suddenly going rigid at the thought, "Did I just use the word lovable?"

Surely, the powers above had also drugged her along with the introduction of her new semblance. However, as Blake circled the side of the building out of the sight of her peers, now shrouded in the shadow of the facility, she was surprised to see what looked like a single pole with a banner fluttering at the top in the distance. Blake's heart sank when she saw the white insignia on the black fabric.

"No... this attack, it wasn't by Grimm," she began as she readied to warn the others before stopping mid-step to slowly turn back at the fluttering banner.

Fluttering?

The curious catgirl took a step closer as she mumbled, "But there's no wind right now..."

Shifting Gambol Shroud onto her non-dominant hand but keeping it at the ready, Blake pulled up the Skill List window with the appropriate command to go over her options in the event of an unexpected skirmish as she decided to investigate.

DING!

[Skill List]

A Gamer's Mind

A Gamer's Body

Observe

Stealth

Sword Mastery

Blunt Weapon Mastery

Firearm Mastery

Kusarigama Mastery

Dual Wielding

Aura

Vecchian Recovery

Detect Bloodlust

Energy Bolt

Dust Proficiency

Sense Danger

Power Strike

Mana Arrow

Spinning Mana Arrow

"Decent list I'm putting together so far," she mumbled at the pale blue window in front of her as she began walking towards the lone staff to investigate, "I suppose the next two things I'll have to focus on are my ranged offensive capabilities. After the close call against Mercury, it'd be wise to focus on Spinning Mana Arrow... and Dust Proficiency while I'm at it..."

The catgirl clicked at the most recently acquired skill at the bottom of the list, bringing up the appropriate window to view.

DING!

[Spinning Mana Arrow (Active) LV3 - EXP: 87.31% / MP: 6]

A long-distance attack skill with increased piercing power by adding a strong spin to a mana arrow. Only possible for those talented in manipulating mana. Additional arrow provided every 5 levels. Automatic rapid fire unlocked at level 25. Infinite Spinning Mana Arrow unlocked at level 50.

"Oh. That should be something to look forward to," Blake remarked with a small smirk before suddenly stopping in place and looking up around her.

Closing the windows in front of her, Blake narrowed her eyes at the pole after suddenly feeling the wind pick up. Turning around, her eyes widened at the fact that there was no sign of her friends and at the realization that the sudden change in weather could only mean one thing...

"Well at a time like this I'd normally say something like 'Look what the cat dragged in!', but seeing that in this case the phrase would be oddly redundant..."

The familiar voice immediately causing the ravenette's fists to tighten with anger until her knuckles went white, Blake turned to see none other than Roman Torchwick sitting at a table beside the pole which had seemingly appeared out of thin air, the man himself sitting calmly at the far end slumped on an elbow while casually smoking a cigar, "I figured curiosity would get the better of you... again. Oh, and I see you've come out of the faunus closet. I'm so proud of you!~"

"How'd you break out of prison?" Blake snapped at the calm criminal who barely batted an eyelash at her as he puffed out a waft of smoke before flashing her a cocky grin, "How'd you even get here?"

"My oh my, what terrible manners I have!" he retorted playfully as he took his cane and shoved it under the table to push out a seat on its other side for her to sit on, "I completely forgot the part where I tell you about my incredible evil plan! Please sit, I'd love to explain exactly how my multi-colored henchwoman broke me out of that airborne fortress that stands for all that is right and just and blah, blah, blah..."

Blake grimaced, gritting her teeth as she growled at the memory of the girl in question, "Her. That psychotic b-"

"-Itchy little skidmark," Roman interrupted as he wiped off a small stain on his sleeve, "You have no idea how annoyingly dirty these tables get in an illusion barrier these days..."

"What... did you just say?"

Roman reveled in the heated turn of Blake's features from enraged to angrily surprised with a wicked grin before putting out the cigar on the tabletop and propping his face up on both hands over his elbows like a child, "Oho... little kitty forgot that she ain't the only one with hidden gifts, eh? How else did you think I became one of the best Dust robbers in all of Vale!?"

His grin grew even wider, and darker, as he added, "And how else do you think I'd be aware of the little stunt you pulled back at Beacon; you know, the one involving you practically wasting a certain associate of mine and leaving him in an accelerated illusion barrier to die?"

At that, Blake's expression suddenly softened from anger to mortification, the smug thief jumping on the opportunity to add with an accusatory whistle, "The bosses upstairs were certainly not happy with that little plot twist, I'll tell you that. Oh well~"

"No," she retorted softly, shaking her head, "He's only been in there a little under eighteen hours... that's, that's plenty of time for us to come back and recover him."

"Wroo-oong~" Torchwick replied with a sing-song voice from his seat, "Tell me, Mittens, for how long did you feel that chill in your spine that told you that you were in an illusion barrier?"

Blake thought about it, shifting her weight uncertainly as she realized that she had indeed felt an uncomfortable sensation aside from the horrid embarrassment at having been caught with Jaune inside her dorm in a compromising state before replying, "In all, I'd say almost fifteen minutes at most. Surely he needed time to set up a barrier that size if he was to have us blown out the side of the building without causing any real damage."

Shaking his head, Roman smacked his lips at her before pointing at her accusingly, "Nope. You little brats were only in there for three minutes... to anyone else outside the barrier. I'm surprised you haven't figured out that barriers exist that accelerate relative time; and here I thought you faking being a student would actually make you smart..."

"No, that's..."

"Completely possible!" Roman suddenly shouted with a darker countenance while slamming his open palm on the table, the sudden sound causing the girl to jump before he settled back down with a smirk and satisfied humph, "Which means you've left him in there, without food and water might I add, for about four whole days now~"

"No..."

"Oh, yes," he added with an unsettling smile before raising his hands in mock placation, "But don't worry - I didn't like the little chump as much as you didn't; you kids actually did me a favor by wasting him! HaHA! Hooo... the look on your face right now~"

He grinned at the catgirl clenching her teeth before she replied, "You motherf-"

"-Father Ozzie? Has he received the confession of your sins yet?" Roman interrupted with fake sympathy, causing the young woman's eye to twitch.

Unable to restrain herself any longer with her fists now balled at her sides, she finally yelled, "JUST LET ME CURSE, YOU MORONIC DUMBA-"

"-Aaas I was saying before," the criminal cut in a third time with glee, "This darker side of you just doesn't suit you, Blakey dearest... at least, not before learning just how deep you were in it with these furballs I'm cooped up with after our little skirmish at the docks. Now it sounds to me that the little kitty is relapsing to her old street-alley ways..."

"That's it!" Blake shouted, having completely lost her cool and cocking her weapon before pointing it at the unfazed antagonist's head, "Shut UP!"

"Hey hey, that's not a bad thing," he continued calmly as he settled back in his seat despite the gun pointed at his head, "As a matter of fact, that's why I'm serious about telling you about my 'evil' plan... remember?"

She narrowed her eyes at him, glaring daggers at the man who merely motioned at the seat across from him in turn, "Please sit. Your friend's lives literally depend on it. And you better not even think of using one of those little Mana tricks you've got up your sleeves... or else you might force me to use some of mine..."

After another long moment in the standstill, Blake finally lowered her weapon with a growl, yanked the seat back more and sat down in a huff.

"Heh, sometimes I actually forget that you twerps are still seventeen," Roman mumbled before adopting a more businesslike pose and folding his hands in front of himself on the table, "Anyway, down to the nitty-gritty. Like I mentioned, Mercury is dead. Reportedly paralyzed by your nerve attack."

I'm sure they're having a field day finding a satisfactory way to kill me over that, Blake mused sardonically.

"Contrary to what you may believe, they're actually not planning to kill you over that," Roman added matter-of-factly before pulling out a fresh cigar, "Actually, they're pretty impressed. So, they had me knock on Lambent's door and lure you kiddies over here to offer you a job."

"A... job?"

"There you go, you catch on quick," the pumpkin-haired villain stated while nodding with not-so-subtle sarcasm, "You see, on my side of Remnant, there's a particular use for people who can manipulate pure Mana like you do. A pretty hot commodity, so to speak..."

A raised brow from the ravenette before Roman quickly put his right hand over his heart and added, "Which is in no way a reference to your physical appearance. The people I work for have a pretty strict no fraternization policy and stuff. I'd hate to start our future business venture together off on the wrong foot! Or would you say paw? You people confuse me..."

"What makes you so sure I'd be willing to accept your offer?" Blake quipped sharply, her faunus ears flattening a bit on her head.

"The literal legion of misfits surrounding your friends as we speak, for starters," Roman noted simply with a small smile, "All hidden in illusion barriers just like this one! And we're not talking about the little humpty-dumpties you punks shoved off a wall at the docks a few months ago either... they're more, your caliber. Maybe not as high-quality, but these boys certainly make up for the difference in quantity! Upper management thought it'd be a nice bargaining chip to add to our little deal."

"You keep referring to others above you as if it were some sort of business."

"And that we are!" Roman replied with a flourish of the hand, producing a small card for her to see, "And we deal with much more than just Dust. Goods, information, requests... even lives. On my side of Remnant, we are known simply as The Company, the world's greatest business enterprise!"

"Kind of a lack-luster name for such a glorious 'enterprise,' don't you think?" Blake retorted flatly with a raised brow.

Roman didn't say a word, the same small smile plastered on his lips beginning to disturb the catgirl once more as he slid her the business card on the table without breaking eye contact, "I think you're stalling..."

Blake spared a gander at the small white card on the table in front of her with an intricate holographic silver insignia of an office building surrounded by what looked like the outline of a bird's head before giving her short, firm reply.

"I refuse."

After a single pregnant moment of silence, Roman leaned back on his seat before slowly shaking his head, "Pity."

"Don't cry too hard over it."

Standing up with a single puff of smoke, Roman cleared his throat before pushing in his seat as Blake stood as well, "Right. Lucky for you, Kitty, I've been instructed to let you leave to go help your friends, cuz those grunts will definitely be coming. Soon. And there's someone who'd just love to see you in action firsthand."

"Oh I'm sure they'll get a show," Blake remarked with an undertone of threat in her voice before arming her weapon once more and pointing it at Roman, "But what's to stop me from ending you right now while I have the chance?"

"Heh, 'have the chance.' Do you really?" the smooth criminal mocked with another puff of smoke, taking a long breath in as he pulled out his cigar in one hand and loosely leaned on his cane with the other before adopting an increasingly serious expression, "Go on, try it... Make. My. Day."

"..."

DING!

[You've detected a strong bloodlust.]

Blake's expression suddenly went blank at the sight of the notification as she whispered, "What?"

But promptly receiving the direction of danger coming not from the smug thief in front of her, but from behind, the ravenette quickly arched her back in a way only possible for a feline Faunus just as a slim blade stabbed through the space that her stomach had been occupying a second before. With a succession of quick twirls and gunshots, the catgirl then turned to counter the following volley of stabs from the now very visible Neo before the smaller girl leapt back in a flawless somersault to teleport by Roman's side. Taking the man in a side embrace, Neo smiled and used her free arm to wave at the fuming young woman with what looked more like a spirit-finger motion on her tiny hand.

"Well to be fair, only I was instructed not to harm you," Roman mused aloud with an ill-hidden grin, "No one ever said anything about her..."

"You little, piece, of-" Blake began with a slow roll of every word, only to be unexpectedly interrupted a final time by the silent henchwoman herself as she placed a single finger over her own mouth.

"-Shhh..."

And in the moment Blake froze in shock at the first clearly audible sound from the girl whom she had assumed couldn't make any, the duo teleported away in a shower of broken glass before the small illusion barrier crumbled down around her as well.

"Blake? Oh, there you are! Didn't see you there for a second."

The catgirl turned to see Jaune approaching her quietly, his relieved smile doing little to calm her frayed nerves as he continued while turning around to head back, "Thought I'd come by and check if everything was okay. C'mon, lets reg-"

"Jaune."

Halted by the sudden feeling of her hand holding him back by the arm, the young blonde glanced at her trembling hand before looking back at her with a worried gaze, "Blake... everything okay?"

"We need to warn the others. I think things are about to get really dangerous here."

Taking note of her strained voice, Jaune simply nodded, his jaw setting before turning to head back to the others with her. Catching sight of the group that was beginning to close in on that looked to be the main entrance, just a square slab of steel on an otherwise seamless building, Jaune called out to the group, "Guys, we gotta talk!"

"Can it, freshmeat!" Coco barked back in a stern rebuke, quickly making her way over with her team in tow to his location several dozen feet away from the entrance before nodding over the other team leaders to approach as well. Once Ruby and Cardin arrived, she continued more softly, "What is it? And keep it down!"

Jaune turned back to give Blake an unsure glance, her quick nod giving him leeway to reply, "I went back there to see what was behind the complex... and I think Blake found something."

Ruby's eyes of curiosity, Cardin's eyes of disdain, and Coco's shades turned to face the catgirl at once as she replied, "There was an attack on this facility... But I no longer believe it was by Grimm."

The crimsonette was the first to ask as the remainder of the groups converged on their position, "Then what was it, Blake?"

But no chance to reply was given before a sudden sound of an old record playing caused all the students to tense up in surprise. Scratchy and full of static, the lone guitar melody seemed to match the dying landscape as the simple intro played out over the still air.

"What in the world?" was all Coco asked with a final pop of her bubble gum before an equally raspy man's voice was heard over the same music track.

There iiis, a houuuse, in Vacuooo...

They caaall The Riiising Suuun...

And it's beeen the ruinnn of many aaa young boyyy...

And Ouuum, I knooow I'm ooone...

And just as the verse finished, the sound of the music converged into one source: a scroll set on speakerphone propped on the shoulder of a man in a bowler hat who now came around the side of the building. Catching sight of the students, he stopped whistling along with the tune and shut off the song before lifting the hem of his hat above his pumpkin-colored hair with a wide grin.

"Oh? Well hello there, kids! Sorry, but I already have my own religion! Come back when the missus is home!"

"Roman!" Ruby growled as she unfurled Crescent Rose to embed its wickedly sharp tip on the ground in front of her pointed at the man.

"Everyone... stay close together," Blake tried to whisper, the blonde knight catching her words and silently motioning for the teams to stay grouped.

"C'mon, I swear I'll be good this time!" Torchwick continued amiably as the remaining students aimed their weapons at him, "Jail ready does change a man!"

However, Coco took a step forward as she let her purse drop-shift into her signature minigun, "Roman Torchwick. By the power vested in me from Beacon Academy and my wickedly fashionable handgun, you are under arrest for your crimes against kingdom and humanity. Surrender now or face immediate incapacitation... with extreme prejudice."

"Hmm, big words, Honey," Roman replied with a courteous half nod, "I like that. But I'm afraid you're gonna need to save your ammo for what I've got coming..."

"Oh yeah? You and what army!" Ruby cut in before the second-year leader could speak, causing the criminal to facepalm in distaste.

"Guhhh... what does a villain have to do to get some decent banter in this place!?"

However, in their own group, it was Fox who now spoke up quietly with growing consternation, his head snapping back and forth all over the place as he began, "Er... something, isn't right. I sense multi... multiple heat signatures headed towards our location!"

"Where are they coming from?" Velvet asked with concern before Blake caught wind of it, too.

DING!

[You sense an acute source of danger.]

PING PING PING!

[Sense Danger's level has risen by 1.]

[Sense Danger's level has risen by 1.]



[Sense Danger's level has risen by 1.]

The catgirl gulped before replying.

"Everywhere."

"Well, I guess old clichés die hard after all, but it'll do," Roman compromised before turning up and giving the group his most dramatic flourish of his cane outwards, "This army."

CACACACRASSSHHHHH!

And like a wall of glass breaking around them, the group of students were suddenly mobbed by dozens upon dozens of White Fang soldiers clad in black and in their distinctive Grimm masks, each one yelling their animalistic war cries as Cardin was the first to bellow, "Alright boys, FORM UP!"

And following their lead, each team took their own particular form, team JNPR settling in first against the masses of oncoming insurgents as the two partners broke into pairs and Nora gleefully engaged Magnihild in grenade launcher form.

"Yay! This time I brought enough for everybody!~" she happily announced as her first projectile locked into place, "Here you go!"

shoonk... BOOM!

"Aaargh!"

"Aaaaah!"

"Whyyy!"

"Here comes another one!~"

shoonk... BOOM!

"Grk!"

"Aieee!"

"My leg!"

"Here comes another one!~"

shoonk... BOOM!

"Blargh!"

"Gack!"

"Noooo!"

Jaune took a glance to the side as he leveled his own small pack of Faunus with a debilitating shock attack to see Cardin's team taking a surprisingly gamer-like approach to their formation - a diamond formation where one fighter stayed ahead to tank while the two on either side shared the damage per second, the fourth fighter in the back reloading or providing cover fire until they were ready to switch.

"Alrighty, Dove," Cardin called out after clearing a small reprieve on their side with a literally earth-shattering mace-strike to the floor, "Time to sing these losers your favorite song! Ready? Switch!"

Leaping over the burly leader as he tumbled beneath, the perfectly coiffed blonde sheathed his weapon before straightening his pose, closing his eyes, taking a deep breath... and suddenly busting into a groove whilst running his hand through his hair.

"You've got me feeling emotions~ Higher than the heavens above...! You know the way to make me lose control~ When you're looking into my eyes...!"

"All set!" Russel yelled as he jumped back behind Dove to join Cardin.

Sky leveled a few more Faunus with his halberd before doing the same, "He's about to hit the sweet spot!"

"...You make me feel so hiiiiiIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGHHHHHHH!"

The unexpectedly crisp inflection building and building and building, Jaune and a few other students could only watch as the student activated his semblance and caused visible sound waves to knock down everything in its path for several hundred feet, the more sound-sensitive Faunus immediately dropping unconscious on the spot... but only to be replaced by dozens more.

Neptune and Sun, on the other hand, had been switching in and out between the four teams in their overall square formation, providing cover fire or an extra set of weapons when necessary until Neptune pulled back from team JNPR's side to call Sun.

"Hey, monkeyturd!"

"What, bluetard!" the simian faunus shouted as he leapt back from RWBY's side where the four girls each stayed mostly on their own to take out the insurgents, Sun having taken advantage to squeeze between Yang and Blake to take out his own number of baddies.

"Stop trying to impress Blake and help Coco's team! Back up that bunny-girl, she looks like she might need it!"

But both Sun and Neptune glanced at team CFVY's side right on time to see a particularly hefty warthog-faunus crash through Yatsuhashi's defenses only to be leapt on and incapacitated by a forceful scissor kick takedown from Velvet so hard that when she flipped the large body through the air headfirst towards the floor, the head of the poor fighter went into the ground upon impact.

"Nope. Nuh-uh. Bunny girl don't need no help."

"Nooo she don't."

Recovering quickly, Velvet rejoined her own team's formation to continue their defense against the oncoming waves. Seemingly disorganized, team CFVY had actually created the most efficient formation of all - Coco stood alone, mowing down waves of insurgents to part the incoming onslaught and funnel them to either side of her, one group meeting the impossibly fast twin blades of Fox while the other faced the combined might and metal of Velvet's and Yatsuhashi's lethal skill.

"Velv, love," Coco called out to her side just as the faunus-girl demolished another nameless assailant with a roundhouse kick to the face, "Remember what I said about saving up what you got in Pandora all semester?"

The second-year student looked down at the wooden box with the heart-shaped lock slung over her shoulder before looking back at her leader and nodding expectantly.

"I think it's about that time to open her up, don't you?"

Velvet turned to face another wave of White Fang soldiers with a smug grin as Yatsuhasi and Coco covered either side of her, the bunny-eared girl's eyes glowing an unnatural hazel as she began speaking out in an aura-warped voice.

"Es ist groB. Es ist klein! Vox Gott Es Atlas!"

With that, an amber aura set in over her body as if to reinforce every fiber of her body as the tiny lock on her box opened. Velvet and Coco traded a final nod of confirmation before she reached into the box and filled out a small object.

A single Topaz gem.

"Everybody get down!" the second-year shouted, every student turning to see what was happening and ducking as a wave of a dozen Gorilla-Faunus charged all four teams at once.

"Drohnen!"

SSSSSSS-kratkratkratkratKRAT!

And breaking apart into several pieces with a loud hiss, the fragments began to spin and dissolve into a multitude of bolt-like spears of energy that then flew through the air towards the oversized insurgents with the speedy cracks of thunder-like ferocity. Like bullets of light, each fragment hit its mark and each attacker went down without so much a grunt.

For a single moment, the battlefield stilled, every attacker reevaluating their targets before running in towards the powerful kickboxer with the rare magus-type Semblance. Even the ones on the other side of the group now furiously rushed the other three teams if only to get to Velvet. But the young woman herself, any past indication of insecurity or weakness long cast aside in the heated crux of battle, actually held and arm out to keep her teammates from reengaging the mass of insurgents as she pulled out a ruby from her box with the other.

Focusing her aural energy into the bright red jewel, she then held it out towards one full side of the oncoming attackers as it began to glow an ominous red.

"Zerstoren!"

Sparking into a single ray of red energy this time, the following whirlwind of heat blasted outward, charring and melting the land directly under it with a faint blue after-haze as it cast dozens of White Fang soldiers aside with varying degrees of serious burns.

Without any time to lose, Velvet then reached in for a third jewel, not even needing to look at it to sense its elemental affinity before guiding her Aura into it and directing herself to the other side of attackers.

"Mold-veðr!"

The pale green jewel quickly coalesced into pure energy, but instead of shooting out towards the insurgents, it went straight into the ground. A few soldiers paused, mistakenly thinking it had misfired... before with a single wink from the rabbit-faunus, an effect like a dozen Cardin mace-strikes compounded on the other side of the field, tearing up the entire landscape into jagged rock formations with a large quake which even sent rubble rolling over to an increasingly peeved Roman's feet by the building entrance.

Satisfied with her work, Velvet pulled out an amethyst gem as her teammates continued engaging the White Fang's dwindling numbers before turning and holding her arm out at Sun who was currently locked nunchucks to blades against a particularly aggressive Faunus who also sported a monkey tail.

"Gandr Shot!"

The blaster-like ray of orange energy made short work of the assailant, Sun throwing him off and giving her a relieved thumbs up.

"Thanks for the assist. I was kinda torn up inside with possibly breaking the whole Ape no hurt Ape rule I grew up with."

But with the passage of the battle, the speed with which the quantity of attackers dwindled was only matched by the speed at which the students' ammunition dwindled as well, each team rotating to save ammo and place their members more specialized with close combat in trouble areas. In the midst of those switches, Jaune and Blake had ended up handling the same corner, each one handling oncoming attackers in their own way... one with ranged aura attacks and the other with well-placed kusarigama slashes with the occasional gunshot.

"Holding up alright?" the young leader finally asked as he cleared out a small group of soldiers with a razor wind slash to the legs.

"Not very. I'm without my stat boosts I have when fighting Grimm. Low on ammo as well... I'll need more to stash in the inventory, and I was very much hoping to save the Dust rounds Weiss gave me as a last resort."

"Funny thing you mention that- watch your nine," Jaune interrupted himself, Blake turning left and placing a ranged slash on a particularly bulky rhino-faunus which left the attacker dazed enough for Yang to knock him out of commission with a short volley of whistling gauntlet shots, "I just had a thought. Remember how me and Weiss noticed my fighting looks like Dust attacks? My great-great gramps back in the War was one of the pioneers in Dust-infusion... some people say he was the only one in his time who survived a Dust transfusion into his blood before it was banned due to its mortality rates!"

"Jaune, don't you think this topic of conversation can wait until a more convenient time!?" Blake retorted with an almost desperate tone as she flipped through the air to add extra speed to her successive swarm of slashes onto another wave of insurgents.

But Jaune knew the desperation was not of frustration, but of mental exhaustion... beads of sweat had begun rolling down her forehead as it surely was the case for them all.

"No! Don't you get it!? Ignis Hastam!" the blonde leader continued as he shot back an assailant with a plume of flame from his sword, "It's in the blood, Blake! I've got Dust in my blood! Somehow, it must stabilize it in a way that it doesn't run out like normal Dust does, and my weapons can amplify it through my Semblance! What I'm trying to say is - instead of using your physical ammo, use the ammo you know doesn't run out!"

Pausing at the thought, Blake turned to give Jaune a quick nod before stepping back into the pocket between the teams, Neptune quickly filling in the gap and providing cover fire as she sheathed her bloody Gambol and focused her mana into her palm.

Looking up, she then focused on her first target as the pale blue energy now coalesced into a single spinning axis beside her.

"Spinning Mana Arrow!"

sssrak!

"Spinning Mana Arrow!"

sssrak!

"Spinning Mana Arrow!"

sssrak!

And with each command, an individual arrow targeted and hit a different White Fang soldier in the distance, incapacitating them as the energy tore through their limbs. But unsatisfied with the poor rate of fire, Blake only turned to direct herself at Jaune, "It's not fast enough! I need a better way to buff my skill!"

Turning to face her once before bashing a Faunus back with a shield-butt, Jaune turned to his partner quickly, "Pyr, I need a quick reprieve. Mind a little push?"

Nodding at her leader, the focused Mistrali squared her stance as Jaune stepped back to join the ravenette in the center, her crimson locks sticking to her grimy armor with her perspiration as her hand glowed and she thrust it forward towards the oncoming mob.

"Nyah!"

And with an irresistible invisible force, dozens of fighters were thrown back several yards by their armor and weapons as Jaune turned towards his fellow blonde.

"Sun! I heard your semblance involves something like making aura clones; how many of them can you make at once?"

The simian faunus pausing his onslaught with Cardin's team, switching back with Russel and giving the pair of students in the center a quick once over, he merely smirked.

"Lots."

"Can you aim them all at one soldier at a time without harming them?"

At that, Sun drew back in confusion before retorting, "Dude. That makes no sense, why would I wanna do that?"

But Blake's eyes suddenly widened in realization, looking at Jaune with an impressed smile before turning her sights on Sun, "Jaune, you're a genius. Sun, I need your help to line up as many clones as possible with each of my shots..."

"If her Semblance allows for TKs," Jaune then continued with a smug smirk, "It'll help her skill get stronger much faster since your clones would be giving her EXP!"

"Wait, it works like that?" Sun asked incredulously, receiving a quick nod from the catgirl before scoffing in reply, "You gotta be kidding me. Your power is so broken!"

"Broken? But I feel fine..."

"It's another gaming term," Jaune explained, placing his hand on her shoulder amiably with an understanding smile, "I'll explain later. But Sun, you're up. Aim for the guy at your five o'clock."

Turning accordingly, the Faunus-boy shrugged his shoulders before focusing on the target, quickly rolling his neck and loosening his shoulders before bringing his hands together in a prayer-like pose. And without a sound, a brief bright yellow glow surrounded him before spawning dozens of aural clones armed with several iterations of Ruyi Bang and Jingu Bang towards the surprised foe among the attackers.

Giving her a quick nod, Jaune watched Blake then hold her hand out to the side, the enthralling energy forming at will as she aimed her shot.

"Spinning Mana Arrow!"

SSSSSSSSrak!

DING!

[Spinning Mana Arrow's level has risen by 1.]

"It works!" Blake then exclaimed, turning to give Jaune a warm wide grin which he couldn't help but return in kind.

"Ummm, cool. Let's, you know, take out some more?" Sun interrupted after glancing back and forth between the teens with a faintly raised brow, Blake subtly shaking herself out of it and nodding in accord with Sun's statement as Jaune coughed to the side to hide a slight blush.

But just as they had predicted, it only took a few more repetitions before the following summoning of her skill wielded two arrows at once. With a smug smirk at the two readied arrows in the air, Blake's hit rate logically doubled as the following launches through dual arcs of Sun-clones in the air racked up skill points.

However, neither of the teens had noticed the man in the bowler hat beside the building keenly observing the entire unfolding of events with a wicked grin.

"Well how 'bout that..."

Stepping out from beside the building, Roman now held out his cane as he cried out with an aura-projected voice, "Alright, mutts! Heel!"

To the students' surprise, and small measure of relief, the remaining few dozen fighters stopped a fair distance from the teams as Torchwick continued, "Well as much as I'd like to see you all fall one by one against these boys, I don't have all day. So if you don't mind, to speed up the process, I've invited a few of my... bulkier friends!"

And out from behind Lambent suddenly strode out a dozen Atlesian Paladins, much to the students dismay, each mech entirely armed and ready for combat.

"I... don't think I brought enough grenades for those," Nora noted with a slight cringe.

"I don't think any of us have enough ammo for those," Ruby added, knowing full well how much it had taken for her team to take down even one of those armed constructions.

"Okay boys, new plan!" Roman declared as the students quickly loaded the remainder of their ammunition, "Take the faunus girl... the one with the cat ears. Kill the rest. We'll call it a day!"

Jaune and Blake traded a glance, the ravenette immediately understanding the blonde as she noticed his fist gripping the hilt of Crocea Mors tighter before shaking her head.

"Jaune, don't. You'll be rendered unconscious, and there's no telling how many more soldiers he has ready to follow..."

Stopping mid-step, Jaune opened his mouth to say something when the mechs spring forward with multiple lasers focusing on their new targets. However, the students paused in shock when what felt like an earthquake caused everyone to lose their balance.

CRRRRACK!

And with the crumbling sounds of scorched earth, the Paladins were suddenly held in place by an unexpectedly healthy root system that sprouted upwards around their legs, Sun and Neptune the only ones in the group with ear-to-ear grins on their faces. There was no need to ask them why when a figure suddenly blasted up out of the rock just as a hail of jagged red energy rained down on the trapped mechs, causing them to explode in huge fireballs all over the soldiers as well.

A second figure clad in red and white landed by the first, a large young man with tanned skin and green hair who was promptly approached by the grateful Haven students.

"You made it!" Neptune cried out happily as the fourth member turned to face Roman with a statement too feminine to be a guy's yet too masculine to be a girl's.

"Yeah, right on time, too. Looked like this prick was about to have your balls handed to you."

"Well's that still to be seen, kid! ...Or whatever you are," Roman added with a rare raised brow in confusion before clapping his hands together in excitement, "This is exactly what I wanted! Beacon's best players... against mine!"

Sun scoffed at the villain before shouting, "So much for that, douchebag! Was that all you got!?"

With that, Roman raised both arms up by his sides with a malicious grin, the students going wide-eyed as cloudy red portals opened up all around the borders of Lambent to spill out scores of much more ominous versions of the White Fang soldiers they had been fighting. Neptune only deadpanned at his partner before smacking him up the back of the head.

"You just had to ask."

"Uh, people. Several of these fighters have an unlocked Aura," Fox now stated from the midst of the main group with evident apprehension as the swarm of soldiers and dark mechs closed in on the students like locusts, "We're gonna need a plan on the pronto!"

But the student's turning to the second-year leader yielded no results, the fashionista momentarily frozen in place by the shock at the overwhelming numbers against them.

"Alright, that's it!" Jaune suddenly roared, taking Blake by the hand and practically dragging her to Coco's side as all eyes were riveted on him, "You heard that guy in the funny hat, they want Blake - which means we're setting up a perimeter! Blake and Coco, you two stay back to back; stick to long range and take out anything that comes at us from the air!"

He then turned to the remainders of teams CFVY and RWBY, pointing them each out in turn, "You three for a perimeter around Coco; Ruby, you three keep a perimeter around Blake! The six of you better stop anything from taking them out from the ground! Everyone else, cover your partner's back and form an outer perimeter around CFVY and RWBY; focus on anything with an Aura! As for the new guys..."

"Scarlet," the figure in red and white stated in introduction before pointing from underneath a white side cape to the tall muscled figure beside Sun and Neptune, "That's Sage. He don't talk much."

"Right. You two knock out any more robots that come our way!"

"Hmm, a guy with a take-charge attitude and a big sword?" Scarlet added with a suggestively raised brow, "I like it when they're feisty."

"Hey!" Yang shouted with what almost sounded like jealousy as her team formed their perimeter around Blake, her teammates giving her surprised glances before she added lamely, "That's uh... supposed to be, my line...?"

But with no more time to lose, everyone got in position, Cardin's and Jaune's team splitting into pairs along with Sun and Neptune as Sage took to the ground and Scarlet to the air. Thankfully, it didn't take long for the smell of Dustpowder from the firearms and the roars of attackers to snap Coco completely back into the moment, the minigun wielder turning her sights to the skies to take out any insurgents with flight-type Semblances from converging on their teams from above.

"Alright, Belladonna. I gotta reload in a sec, can you cover me?" Coco stated as she saw the magazine feeding her weapon finally running low.

"Yeah, I can get your twelve, and your three," Blake began in the midst of flying arrows before being interrupted by a pop-up window.

DING!

[Spinning Mana Arrow's level has risen by 1.]

Blake couldn't help a smug smirk as the notification preceded the appearance of a third spinning axis over her head, "And your nine..."

Coco idly glanced at the swirling energy above them both as her gun ran empty with a series of bullet-less clicks, "Good."

"Spinning Mana Arrow!"

sssrak!

sssrak!

sssrak!

"Spinning Mana Arrow!"

sssrak!

sssrak!

sssrak!

"Spinning Mana Arrow!"

sssrak!

sssrak!

sssrak!

The flurry of arrows flying through the air as Coco reloaded her weapon, Blake's improving aim and arrow strength was evident as each projectile passed through several assailants at a time, incapacitating them with the force of the blows. However, what made her smirk with what almost felt like pride was when she heard Weiss state in awe to their red-hooded leader, "I can't believe it... Arc's plan is actually holding up."

Several feet away, the scraggly Arc in question ducked back, lightly placing his hand on Pyrrha's bare shoulder and back to make her duck forward slightly as an arrow whizzed over their heads. The Mistrali enjoying the contact a little more than she'd care to admit out loud, she turned to face her leader after surveying the successful defense despite their low ammunition, "Jaune, the formation is working! I've already sent an emergency beacon to the Academy; we may be able to hold up our defense until then at this rate..."

However, her voice died down as she noticed that after his ducking motion, Jaune's attention had become increasingly focused on Lambent itself. Finally turning to see what Jaune was looking at, she heard him state grimly, "I'm not so sure about that. That guy looks like someone's talking into his ears... and I've honestly never seen him lose the color on his face like that before..."

And sure enough, Pyrrha caught sight of Roman just as he let his hand drop from his ear with a small tremble to snap his fingers into the air. In the blink of an eye, a girl decked in brown, pink and white appeared at his side only do disappear with him in her arms a second later.

"Jaune... something is about to go very, very wrong."

GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGHHHHH!

If the inhuman roar wasn't loud enough, the reverb of the shock itself was enough to cause everyone on the field to fall to the floor in pain. The after-effects of the supersonic roar like having a charge go off a few feet away, the students looked up to see a massive Grimm approaching Lambent.

"That is a lot of walking negativity approaching us," Yatsuhashi finally stated aloud, the students seeing the whites of his eyes for possibly the first time ever as the beast reared more and more pairs of crablike legs trailing behind it.

The Grimm was huge, more white armor than exposed black tissue, a sure sign for any Hunter with half a mind that this Grimm was clearly ancient. Every lower leg curved and sharpened to a point like a scythe, each of its dozens of steps resulting in the tips of the legs embedding themselves to the ground, the creature easily reared up to the height of thirty feet as a dozen legs on each side rose from the ground like a giant centipede. But what scared the students the most was that this time, instead of roaring as it had to make its presence known, it stayed still with animalistic clicks of its legs to survey the field beneath it.

This Grimm had gained the faculty of intelligence.

Now pointing their arms away from the students for a change, a small horde of Faunus began shooting at the Grimm, the giant creature not even taking a dent from the heavy firepower before making its way closer to the facility.

ssssssssssss...

ssssssssssss...

ssssssssssss...

ssssssssssss...

SSSSSSSSSS...

But slowly, surely, everyone present heard what at first was nearly unnoticeable hissing from the Laser-defense system gain additional lasers which began banding together into a giant ray of Dust-powered energy directed straight at the creature with a giant red beam. Once again rearing back, the massive beast held its ground against the increasing automated attack as the horde of Faunus and students within the perimeter watched in muted awe.

"Stupid Grimm, doesn't even know when to turn back," a lone White Fang soldier was heard in the distance with how silent the field had become other than the loud hissing of the defenses.

But as he watched, Jaune's eyes widened - and stomach sank - as he was the first to see the creature sprouting what looked like extra legs onto its foremost two limbs with sickening squelches, the creature holding out the awkward limbs in front of itself lamely against the impossibly hot beam as the extra limbs seemed to solidify into one. Finally, the students began regripping their weapons as the two new limbs solidified into giant curved blades with a near mirror-like finish... right in time to see the monstrous new ivory blades reflect the beam cleanly back onto the Laser-system generators.

"Wha- it found out where the generators were just by looking at the field!"

"That thing just grew out sickle arms like some kind of weapon!"

"That's no juvenile Grimm!"

The cacophony of statements and remarks growing into a mass of yelling and screaming, the army of White Fang soldiers turned their weapons to the Grimm as it easily crossed over the facility perimeter.

"Coco, do we engage?" Velvet asked worriedly as the beast continued toward the facility on all its legs, its previous form as to once having been a Deathstalker evident as it crawled forward like an arachnid that had grown dozens more segments and legs over time.

But as it took the blasts from the soldiers without flinching, the students' jaws dropped collectively as the creature suddenly reared up again with unexpected speed, swinging its claw with nearly imperceptible velocity to cleave dozens of insurgents in half. Taking the opportunity, Blake stepped forward, narrowing her eyes at the creature as she readied her weapons.

"Observe."

Grimm Reaper LV87

HP: 385400 (386000) MP: 14900

A legendary Grimm full of hatred for humanity.

Attracted only by the most concentrated pockets of negativity, this creature has gained self-awareness throughout its centuries of life.

A highly evolved form of Deathstalker, the Grimm Reaper has grown extra leg segments for extra offensive ability and to replace lost limbs or sections when necessary. Having lived through countless battles, its hardened carapace is invulnerable to all conventional weaponry. Its only known weak spot is the cranial joint on its minuscule head, a soft spot less than an inch in diameter.



Age: circa 1300 yrs.

Analyzing options against current Gamer level...

Recommendation: DO NOT ENGAGE

"That's well above the stats something its level should even have," Blake mumbled in silent surprise before turning to her peers with urgency, "Everyone, whatever you do, do not engage that thing!"

"And why not?" Cardin retorted with a cocky grin as he idly smacked his mace on his free hand impatiently, "We're way better trained than a bunch of... those guys. We'd be legends if we managed to take that thing down!"

Shouting words of agreement at their leader, team CRDL and even Coco nodded in assent before Blake took another step forward and turned to the group as the Grimm whittled down the field of fighters in front of them.

"No! Can't you even see that thing!? It's only weak spot is on its head, which is the size of a coin. A coin! Can anyone here even make that shot!?"

Upon seeing Ruby raise her hand, the wound up catgirl was about to have another outburst when Ruby quickly elaborated, "Um, B-Blake? You really might wanna step back here now..."

grrrrrr...

The color on her face fading, Blake cautiously stepped towards the group before turning to see the giant beast already looming over them, its main claws and rows of of minor legs stained with the lifeblood of its most recent victims. Its clicking sounds resuming with what the students finally realized was sadistic glee, the beast began taking a few steps forward as the students fell in line and stepped back with weapons at the ready.

"Easy," Jaune softly intoned as the powerful feeling of helplessness began weighing down the legs of the students, "Easy..."

But of them all, Sky was the first to crack, his breath picking up in shallow huffs as he glanced to the building behind them and back at the beast, "Oh Monty, we're running out of room! Guys we're running out of room!"

And to their horror, Sky tripped back against a fallen soldier, the sudden movement attracting the Grimm's attention as its tiny eyes focused on its next prey and it lifted its razor-edged claw up for the killing strike...

POW

A single gunshot.

And in a second, the entire beast lurched, its claws suddenly scraping at its head to rid itself of the foreign object now lodged in its skull but to no avail. With sickening cracks and squelches of dark meat and ichor, the entire Grimm's body began bursting at the joints with an unnatural glow. And just when the students could've almost sworn that some sort of Aura was impossibly surrounding its body, the energy imploded the creature, the only things left being the ivory chitin that once comprised its armor which now freefell to the ground like a mass of dried toothpicks.

Having looked amongst each other and confirmed that neither of them had delivered the impossible shot, the students slowly turned behind them towards the entrance of the abandoned facility to see the still-smoking barrel of an ornate rust-colored musket.

A musket which slowly mecha-shifted with steampunk-style movements into a normal walking cane in the hands of an emotionless Headmaster.

"Worthless bug."

Partly amazed at the incredible feat and partly amazed at their first time hearing an ill-toned utterance from the serene man, the twenty students could only gape as Ozpin looked over each of them with only a short sigh.

"To begin, I would like to apologize for your troubles. We had received a tip earlier this week that Mister Torchwick had escaped from prison and was scouting the continent for facilities of unknown operations. Knowing that Lambent is one of Vytal's most well-guarded facilities... and best kept secrets... I arranged with Miss Goodwitch to have myself transported here hours before there were any signs of enemy contact. Now that Roman has been found and the identity and extent of the forces he controls discovered, Valean forces, in conjunction with Atlas military, will be better able to grasp the gravity of the situation and the extent of the resources which will be necessary in recapturing him. You have all done your academies and kingdoms a great service today."

There was brief silence before Russel finally sputtered out, "Y-You... you just shot a really scary Grimm in the face."

"Yes. I did."

"But that was no ordinary bullet," Pyrrha then observed, her trained eyes seemingly scouring the man's cane for any more answers to the myriad of questions now rushing through her mind, "Dust-powered ammunition could never cause such a reaction in a Grimm, no matter how old it became. It was almost as if... as if..."

"It had an Aura?" Ozpin finished, the eerie silence surrounding the group in the wide area of the dead and dying only becoming painfully noticeable in the stagnant moment of pause that followed, "Two very astute arguments, each explicable with the same reply..."

Reaching into the inner pocket of his coat, the silver-haired man produced a small black bullet for everyone to see which strangely enough didn't glint in the sunlight. In fact, the small object didn't have any luster at all.

"This bullet is not crafted using Dust; it was created using dust ground from the bone of my own rib many years ago after an old injury with ancient methods that have since been all but banned from Remnant due to their questionable methods of creation and use - the bonding of living human bone with the smoke of a dying Grimm."

Another pause to let the students process the information before he continued, "This process seals the human's Aura in a shell tougher than any Grimm's hide; a bullet which can pierce through anything as if it were tissue paper... including the hardiest of Hunter's Auras."

"And that's why it was banned," Ren echoed aloud as he looked at the Professor with a nearly reverent awe, "A bullet which could pierce through anything... there's no telling what it could do."

"Oh no, the effects were quite known, once upon a time," Ozpin continued as he returned the bullet to its place, "Against a Hunter, even a flesh wound from a Genesis Bullet, as they came to be known, would cause violent reactions within their active auras, causing the instant crippling of their natural energy and likely death. Against a Grimm, the reaction is eerily similar; contact with their soft tissues ignites a virulent reaction within the very dark energy that animates it... the stronger the target energy, the more violent the reaction. Thus the Aura-like glow around the Grimm upon its death."

"Genesis Bullet... Genesis, since it came from your rib like the Origin story of man," Yang recounted as if recalling a childhood tale, to which the man nodded.

"Precisely, Miss Xiao Long. Now, I'm sure you must all be tired; I've taken the liberty of ensuring that ADA was kept at a safe distance in light of this very unexpected development. It will be here shortly to take your teams back to-"

"Unexpected?" Blake suddenly began, drawing the students' attention to the unusually sharp tone she was using, "Unexpected? I'm beginning to think it funny how many things have been happening all around Vale this year that you're so easily waving away as unexpected..."

"Now now, Miss Belladonna. As I said, I expected the escaped convict to try such an advance on a facility such as this; the activation of the emergency beacon only confirmed it, which is why I had a larger number of teams sent to investigate as I gathered information on his movements. I truly did not expect he could control the spatial anomaly which spawned the third and largest wave against you all..."

"Yeah... that was kinda weird," Yang echoed softly, a strange niggling at the back of her head returning as she thought about the eerily familiar red portals which had opened up at the time.

"Then why wait until the last possible second to intervene? Why watch as we all struggled to within a literal inch of our lives!?"

The Headmaster merely leveled a silent glare at the young woman, an awkward pause which surely would have been alleviated by a sip of coffee if the Professor had one, before replying, "Miss Belladonna, I understand you have your reasons to be upset. But if this were an actual mission, you wouldn't have been expecting any reprieve at all until the mission was accomplished, no matter the complications. Please rest assured that my actions, though sometimes misconstrued, are always for the greater good."

He then turned to look over the remaining students as he continued, "Be that as it may, I had full awareness of your situation and was ready to intervene in your favor, as you all can now see. During which, I was carefully observing each and every one of your styles and combat performance to note for improvements made throughout your time at Beacon. You can be sure that you've all passed this assignment wondrously and will be rewarded generously in the form of marks and rest periods at the academy."

As several students began mouthing a string of Yes's around Blake, the ravenette herself was momentarily distracted by the notification that popped up in front of her.

PING!

[Quest Completed!]

Completion reward: Exp 5000000.

One step closer to discovering the identity of The Red Queen.

DING DING!

[Your level has risen by 1.]

[Your level has risen by 1.]

[Your level has risen by 1.]

'That makes no sense. I still have absolutely no indication as to who this Queen might even be,' Blake mentally huffed before closing the window and turning up to call Ozpin's attention.

However, her action to speak was stopped by the sudden pressure on her arm, the catgirl turning to see the blonde knight giving her a tight-lipped benign smile.

"Later, Blake... We'll investigate more after we've gotten back and had a good rest."

She still wanted to speak, she knew she did... but unable to bring herself to butt heads with the well-intentioned leader, Blake let her heated anger ebb into a sympathetic warmth without a reply. However, as Jaune let his hand drop from her shoulder, the ravenette slightly raised that arm at the same time so she could catch his hand in hers, giving it a light squeeze to show her confirmation.

With a light smile, the blonde quipped to lighten the mood, "Remind me why we didn't end up on the same team again?"

Unable to hold back a grin, Blake didn't even notice team CRDL watching the entire exchange, the team members trading fist bumps with encouragement at Jaune's line while even Cardin with arms crossed couldn't help an impressed nod at the blonde's way with her. Further communication was interrupted, however, as ADA finally emerged over the horizon to land in a relatively body-free area near the group, the entrance of Lambent opening by some unknown means to permit the Headmaster reentry before Sun called out to him.

"So anyway, what's the big deal about this place, dude? You guys got some kind of super-sized world-ending Grimm down there or something?"

The remaining students hadn't thought much of it, preferring the promising refreshment of a well-deserved shower and warmth of a bed as the side door of ADA opened a few yards away from them, but their eyes slowly turned pair by pair towards the Professor in the vaguely suspicious moment of silence that followed just in time to see him reply with what almost looked like a ghost of a smirk.

"Poppycock."

With that, Ozpin turned and reentered the building to leave the students shrugging at each other in dismissal and beginning to enter the airship.

"Jaune, right?" Scarlet began at his side after he and Blake had separated to head towards their respective teams as the group approached the on-ramp, the blonde in question nodding before receiving a smirk from the Haven student, "I like you. Let's keep in touch, kay?"

The action happening right in front of her team caught Coco slightly off-guard, who finally leaned over to Velvet in curiosity.

"So is that Scarlet dude a chick or what?"

A/N: Ahhh, finally some good ole melee action! Work and stuff have seriously limited my writing time, so expect less frequent updates. However, I'll be focusing solely on TGG due to this, so also expect at least biweekly updates to this fic in the meantime! That being said, I did kick-start a new story I'd been meaning to write for months now, a reboot of a modern day AU called Remnants Reloaded! It's a two-shot for now, but feel free to check it out while waiting for the next update, yeah?

Anyway, a few blurbs in regards to the truckloads of reviews I didn't get the chance to respond to since last chapter (told you a PM is usually better, but I'll be catching up with individual reviews for the next few days):

Scarlett's gender. Don't. Just don't. I've already decided, and I'm already gonna have a field day with all the arguments for and against each gender in the next chapter, so feel free to save your questions and comments until then. Hehe.

Oobleck. Yes, I messed his speech up on purpose. It seemed to fit his style. No, I didn't mess up with the tea. I dunno which fanfic it was, but I remember a bout a year ago reading in someone's parody story Oobleck and Ozpin having a shouting match over tea being better than coffee respectively. Kinda solidified it for me since then. If it was clarified somewhere outside of canon that Oobleck drinks coffee, then that's a mistake I'm willing to live with :)

"My leg!" Yeah, the random grunt that gets Nora's grenade to the shin in the story? Totally a reference to the random guy in SpongeBob that shouts it all the time... it just felt so right at the moment :D One of the few Easter Eggs I'll be giving out for free heh

Velvet. According to Monty, she's a kickboxer. And a Mage. Is it so wrong that I drew some inspiration from a certain kickboxing Mage everyone knows and loves? You don't know her? You should. Her tsundere levels definitely trump Weiss' ;)

The song. No, not that one... That one. Emotions by Mariah Carey. Yep, I totally went there.

Lambent. Hehe... might I have over-hyped it a bit? Maybe, but trust me, that is not the last we will see of TGG's favorite cross-over place. It will become very important in the future.

So yep, other than that, TGG has just turned 5 months old! Dang! And with it, it has just over 450 reviews, about 800 favorites, and nearly 925 follows along with 80,000+ views and 17 communities! I know that's not a lot compared to the heavy-hitters out there, but it's thanks to you, dear reader, that TGG is currently knocking on the door of #15 most followed in the genre, right up there (ironically) with The Red Queen! *cries a manly tear* Can we get to 1,000 followers by six months!? I think we can, let's do it! :D

And like I said, the action writing was so fun that the crossov-omake I've already written out for next chapter will feature a crapload of it! To be specific (but not too specific), 7 evil bosses Jaune must defeat in his quest for love!

First person to guess the crossover gets one free request - shoutout, OC cameo, reference, etc! Or anything else that doesn't violate my anonymity... or morals :P

So while work takes me all over the place (and possibly London in the future, where I might even get the chance to meet Coeur A'A... though I'd probably have to pay like 1,000£ to his account to meet him haha [Just kidding Coeur, I love you man! I'll name my first kid after you if the wifey approves! All I have to do is get married first!]), I'll be sure to work out the next chapter, where there's more male bonding, female bonding, hetero bonding, and especially Knightshade bonding! Bonding for everyone! And a long awaited look into Blake's current stats. And everyone else's stats, for that matter. Oh, and not to mention that niggling in Yang's head? Maybe that, too. So until then, remember to Fave, Follow, and Review to show your support! Take care...

And Happy Reading!