Chapter 15: Friendly Fire

Outside Training Grounds, Shade Academy

"Concentrate your power," Harriet Maroon advised, watching as her student slowly clenched and unclenched her fist, the green glow of her Aura enveloping her body. "If you simply let it all go to your head, one day it will be your downfall."

"Shut up," said Psycha. She was panting, sweat dripping down her brow as she glanced directly ahead of her, where Bubble stood perched on the ground. A s she clenched her fist, the mechanical bird slowly began to grow in size, until it was as big as a Creep. "There. See? I can do it myself."

"Your control over your Semblance is more consistent than before," the rabbit Faunus admitted. "But as of now, you can still only go directly to maximum size and back. It's very important that you use the full spectrum of your abilities."

Behind them, Psycha' teammates were watching the training session. "What's the point, huh?" Storm muttered. "All she needs is the biggest form and we can blow up anything in our way!"

Harriet shook her head tersely. "Such an attitude is incredibly close-minded. Versatility is the key to utilizing any power. And remember," she frowned at Pscyha. "That the size alteration is not your Semblance, it is the robot's. You simply take control of its mind and allow that power to be used."

"I know!" the young woman spat vindictively.

"What's up with that, anyway?" Locke asked curiously. "I thought only living beings could use a Semblance. How does a robot have one - or even have Aura?"

"Through the efforts of Professors Osmov and Polendina to build the first synthetic life form - and with some aid from our cause," Harriet replied. "Now then, Psycha. Continue with your training, and not only will you win the tournament, but the Grandmaster will surely be pleased." She turned and walked away.

"...Why should we trust you?" Moss asked suspiciously as she walked past. "What do you get out of this?"

"Does it matter what I want? Look at what my master has given you. Already you are far stronger than you once were. Is that not what you all wanted? To not be looked down upon as fools?" She gave the dwarvish girl an almost compassionate smile. "Soon, you won't have to close your eyes to the world anymore."

"...Oh...that's true…" Moss murmured uncertainly.

Harriet left Team PLSM there, and made her way into the Academy's main building. As she entered, she glanced at the television screen that was hanging on the wall. It showed the Amity Coliseum, and the sounds of crowds cheering could be heard as Professor Lawrence declared the victors of the current match.

"And with that astounding victory, Team HTHR moves on to the doubles round! What an astounding display of teamwork by all of them!" In the centre of the screen, Heather and her teammates were smiling, waving at the applauding crowd. "..." Wordlessly, Harriet stared at the television.

"Oh, excuse me, lady, are you lost?" Startled, she turned her head and saw a janitor glancing at her in amicable concern. "If you're looking for the student dorms, they're down the hall, that way." She pointed in the direction behind Harriet.

"A-ah. Um, thank you, miss. I'll be sure to remember that." Harriet flashed her a timid smile, and walked away in the direction of the dorms. After a couple of minutes, she reached the room occupied by Team PLSM, and opened the door.

"...Well, that's great to hear. Y'know, Fenrir's already met them, too. Well actually, he said he only saw Qrow, but same idea." To Harriet's surprise, Rok was lounging around on one of the beds, his Scroll held up to his ear. Quietly, she pulled the door back and leaned in, listening in on what he was saying.

"Sure, sure. But don't you think this is all going too well? I mean, I know we were supposed to go along with this stupid plan of theirs, but at this rate we're just gonna end up throwing ourselves down the shitter! The hell are we…" He paused, frowning as the person on the other end responded. "What, are you serious? Hmm, alright. I'll do as you say."

Rok turned off the Scroll. After a moment, he turned around, grinning mischievously. "Hey there, Harriet. Eavesdropping, huh? Isn't that more of a cat's thing than a bunny's?"

Harriet walked into the room. "And just what was that all about?" she asked coldly. "I can assume that when you said 'we', you weren't referring to the Grandmaster and her cause."

"Well, look at that. Turns out your stupid little brain's filled with more than just carrots," Rok chuckled. "Yeah, no shit I wasn't talking about Lady Salem. And don't be beat around the bush - you've already figured out that I've got my own agenda. When have I ever tried to hide it?"

"I suppose I assumed you were simply terrible at keeping secrets," Harriet replied.

"Aww, that hurts me, Harriet." Sighing, the young man stood up and, brushing himself off lightly, walked towards the door. "Don't forget," he hissed in her face. "You still need me. Thanks to Fenrir and I, you've practically got an army all lined up and ready to die. But as for you? I can tell you one thing for sure. Whatever my goal might be, I sure as hell have no use for you."

Giving her a mockingly polite nod, Rok walked away. He's certainly a nasty one, Harriet thought as she watched him go. It was true that she'd suspected that his loyalties didn't lie with Salem, but there was no denying that she'd never have gotten Fenrir's allegiance without his help. As Salem had taught her, she must take advantage of every possible tool...no matter how unreliable it might be.

Still, Rok certainly had something else on his mind. And Harriet doubted that whoever he was truly working for considered her to be a friend. At some point, it would undoubtedly come to a conflict. Whoever it is, it must be someone truly powerful...

"We will see," Harriet muttered out loud. "If you think you can outplay us, I welcome you to try."

Amity Coliseum

"So, um...do you think I've packed enough arrows?" Her fingers shaking slightly, Summer rummaged through her backpack. She hastily shoved as many as she could fit into her quiver. "...No, it's not enough," she said angrily. "I knew I should've bought that extra-large size quiver back at the weapons shop."

"You'll be fine!" Tai encouraged her, giving her a hearty pat on the back. "You've got Rae to back you up, so there's nothing for you to worry about!" The four Huntsmen were in the waiting room for the next match. The doubles round of the tournament had begun, and Team STRQ was preparing for their next match.

Raven was sharpening her katana, multiple large vials of Dust lying next to where she sat. "If there's a match to be prepared for, I would say it's this one," she noted. "We will be going up against Heather, after all."

Qrow sighed. "Of all the luck...can't we ever get the pushovers, just once? I'd say you've got this in the bag, but, well…" Giving up on finishing his sentence, he just shrugged his shoulders dejectedly.

"If you two both get her alone, you should be able to take her down," Tai suggested. "But she'll have Herman with her, and he's pretty good with that harpoon of his."

Raven glanced at Summer. "Well? Do you have a winning strategy in mind, team leader?" she asked, not maliciously.

"Um…" Summer hesitated. "Well, Tai's right. Heather's smart, and she's definitely skilled with her guns, but even she should struggle in a two-on-one fight. Herman's got that trick where he lets off ice Dust from his weapon to freeze nearby enemies, so I guess we should attack him from a longer range..."

Summer realized she was starting to ramble. "Anyway," she said firmly. "I'll try taking down Herman with my arrows. Raven, you should be able to hold off Heather by yourself. Once Herman's finished, we'll team up on her. Alright?"

"It's an adequate plan," Raven replied. She turned to Tai and Qrow. "The match will be starting soon. You two should get back to your seats."

"Fine," said Qrow. "Honestly, I'm pretty sure we weren't supposed to be here in the first place."

"We'll be cheering for you, ladies! Get us another win out there!" Tai winked at his teammates.

Once they were gone, Summer and Raven made their final preparations. When the speakers turned on to announce that it was time for the next match to begin, the two Huntresses glanced at each other meaningfully, exchanged a quick nod, before walking out onto the arena.

Heather and Herman stood on the other end of the battlefield, waiting for them. "Do you think you're ready?" Heather asked, pistols in hand. "I can assure you that we won't be holding back in this battle."

"Neither will we," Raven smiled, drawing Shadow Mobius. "May the strongest team win."

"Our next match in the tournament will be quite a special one! On the left, we have Raven Branwen and Summer Rose of Team STRQ. On the right, Heather Fox and Herman Whitehead of Team HTHR!" Professor Lawrence's boomed over the speaker. "Both teams have already proven to be formidable fighters, and no matter which of them wins, Beacon will have at least one team move on to the finals! This should be an exciting battle for us all!"

Both teams got into battle position. Summer drew her bow, keeping it at her side, eyes locked onto her opponents. The randomizer began to select the arena biomes, settling on Geyser, Lava, Ocean and Mountain. "Three, two one...let the match begin!"

Summer immediately aimed her bow at Herman and fired an arrow. The light-blond Huntsman deflected the projectile using his harpoon, and it exploded harmlessly in the ocean. Raven charged at Heather, katana in hand, launching a crest of wind Dust at her. Heather leapt over the attack, swiftly firing bullets that Raven blocked with her sword. The two begin parrying each other, with Raven swinging Shadow Mobius at blinding speeds and Heather blocking her strikes with the impacts of her gunshots.

"Here I come!" His harpoon held forward, Herman charged at Summer. The pointed weapon was surrounded by the glow of ice Dust, and she felt the temperature drop as he approached her. Switching to blade form, Summer blocked his lunging strike, only for frost to start forming around the edges of her swords, freezing them in place. Thinking quickly, she fired some bullets from their barrels, breaking off enough ice for her to wrench the blades away. Parrying him isn't going to be easy, Summer thought.

She turned and ran toward the Lava biome. Going back to bow form, she fired several arrows at Herman, luring him into following her. He retaliated with several ice crystals that he fired from his weapon, which he transformed from a harpoon into a sniper rifle. Summer avoided them, and, having reached the Lava area, leapt behind a large red rock. She noticed with some relief that Herman's projectiles evaporated in the heat as they approached her.

"Hey, no fair," Herman complained. Shrugging, he switched the clip in his rifle to regular ammunition, and fired at Summer when she poked her head out of cover. "Ugh," she grunted, ducking as a bullet flew by her head. "Hey, Raven! I could use some help!" she yelled, hoping her teammate would hear her.

Raven and Heather were still locked in their struggle, which had moved into the Geyser area. With an effort, Raven shoved her opponent away with a powerful thrust of her katana . She inserted a vial of fire Dust into the weapon's chamber, and slammed the blade into the hard ground, setting off a wave of heat that created large cracks in the surface. Raven leapt back as a rush of steam rose from the geysers, blinding Heather and fogging up her glasses.

Noticing Summer's plight, the dark-haired Huntress pointed Shadow Mobius at Herman, who had his back to her, unaware. She fired a concentrated beam of Dust energy that struck him in the back and launched him, yelling in surprise, straight into the Lava biome. He landed face-first right next to Summer.

"Thanks!" she yelled as she switched her weapon to its blade form. She ran at Herman, but he recovered quickly. Picking himself up, he parried her strike, bright sparks flying from the clash of sharp metal. He shoved the butt end of his harpoon into her stomach, and Summer stumbled backwards into a rock, clutching her chest in pain. Cornered, she held up her swords defensively as Herman thrust his weapon again, his harpoon finding itself inches from her face.

Suddenly, Summer felt a nauseous sensation flow through her body. She could feel her strength being drained away by some unseen force as she struggled to push the harpoon away. What's this feeling? she thought, flashing a glance at the scoreboard. To her surprise, she saw that her Aura had decreased by almost forty percent, despite not having taken any significant damage. Herman, meanwhile, was already down to half his Aura after a single hit from Raven.

"Hr...hraah!" She wrenched herself free and leapt back, placing one foot behind her and holding up her blades toward her opponent. I'm not sure what just happened...she thought. Herman's pretty tough, but I guess he just doesn't have much Aura. That was alright for her - all that mattered was taking him down quickly.

She let Herman come to her, harpoon in hand. She ducked, jumped back, and rolled away to avoid his next few strikes, shooting quick glances at his body posture to search for an opening to attack. Somehow, she knew it was something about his weapon that had drained away her Aura. I just have to avoid making contact with it. Go straight for Herman himself.

As Herman took another swing that missed her by a few centimetres, leaving himself exposed, Summer saw her chance. "Yah!" She thrust her blade at his abdomen, landing a strike that took off more of his Aura. Herman, stumbled back, grunting in pain, and glanced at the scoreboard. He was now at thirty percent Aura, and could take one more good hit at best.

"Ah well," he muttered. "Heather's doing her best, so I guess I should be a bit serious, too…" Shrugging, he raised his harpoon skyward. It began to glow with an icy blue light. A beam of ice Dust shot out from the weapon's tip, bursting in the air and sending a shower of ice and snow falling to the ground. Summer felt the temperature drop by almost thirty degrees, enough for the ice to not melt.

Herman swung his harpoon, and several miniature ice spears materialized from the glowing Dust in its tip. Summer deflected the first two projectiles, before running to the side to avoid the rest. She ran at Herman, who leapt around her strikes with surprising agility and retaliated with quick kicks and stabs. It seemed his Semblance was that he became faster as the temperature got lower.

Desperately, Summer tried increasing the aggression of her attacks, striking repeatedly and quickly in the hopes of striking Herman, but to no avail. The ashen-haired young man kicked her away, and she landed face first in the snow. "Ow," she complained, as she got up and ran away from Herman as fast as she could. She switched back to bow form and fired several more arrows, which he avoided easily.

Summer took several more steps back, firing off an arrow to cancel out another ice lance that Herman fired from his harpoon. Her foot hit something in the snow, and she looked down in confusion. Kicking away the snow, she saw it was the base of one of the lava plumes, which had been frozen over. Hmmm…

Herman had given up taking her out at long range, and was now charging at her with his weapon held out. Summer watched him approach, loading an explosive arrow into her bow and slowly aiming it toward the frozen plume.

Once his foot touched the block of ice encasing it, Summer let the arrow fly. Herman leapt over the arrow to avoid it, but as the projectile struck the plume and exploded, a large geyser of hot lava burst out from under the ground, engulfing him. Herman was sent flying backward, landing back first in the ice as the snow around him melted from the heat his body was giving off. The elimination buzz was sounded, signaling Herman's defeat.

"Excellent work by Miss Rose!" Professor Lawrence called out over the speaker. "The match is now two on one in Team STRQ's favour, but Miss Fox seems to be putting up quite well against Miss Branwen over there!"

On the other side of the arena, Raven was still dueling with Heather, and their clash had moved into the Mountain biome. "Raven!" Summer yelled, running toward them with her bow drawn. She fired several arrows, but Heather simply shot all of them out of the air with one pistol while effortlessly parrying Raven's katana with her other.

She really is good, Summer thought anxiously. She was already low on Aura as it was, and a quick glance at the scoreboard allowed her to see that Heather's Aura was still fairly high, just slightly more than Raven's. Still, she'd help out as much as she could.

Heather did a backflip, launching herself up the mountain. Once she had the high ground, she rested her feet on a ledge about a third of the way up and began firing bullets at Raven and Summer. The two Huntresses rolled away in opposite directions to avoid the barrage. Summer aimed her bow at Heather and began firing arrows to distract her, while Raven created a portal with a swing of her sword. She leapt through the void and emerged next to the gunslinger Huntress, engaging her in combat.

Summer aimed Phoenix Heart at the ground and, while leaping upward, fired an explosive arrow to propel herself in the air, toward the ledge where Raven and Heather were fighting. She switched her weapon to blade form midair, launching herself in their direction.

Heather leapt backward, avoiding Raven's strike. She switched one of her guns to its boomerang form and, without looking at Summer, threw it in her direction. Summer was struck in the chest by the sharp end of the weapon. A gunshot rang out, and she was mercilessly flung back down to the ground. A sharp pain rung through her body as she landed painfully on her back, and the buzzer promptly sounded to announce her elimination.

"Oh! And now it's down to one on one!" Lawrence announced. "This will be close indeed!"

Groggily picking herself up from the ground, Summer looked up to see the two Huntresses still doing battle. Every one of Raven's strikes, Heather would block almost telepathically, her weapons moving to parry the attacks before her opponent even initiated them. Meanwhile, Raven was agile enough to avoid all of Heather's shots even at such close range.

Summer had once heard a wise man say that fighting was similar to a dance. Every moment was rhythmic and impactful, and not a single move was wasted. She had never quite understood that sentiment until now. And just like a dance, even a single misstep would be enough to spell disaster for a participant...but in a fight, it was not a matter of avoiding such a mistake, but seeing who would make one first.

In this case it was Heather, who flinched just for a moment while aiming her pistol at Raven. Not willing to waste this advantage, the dark-haired Huntress was able to land a direct strike on her opponent, taking off a generous amount of Aura. While Heather seemed to recover, a ruthless fighter like Raven didn't hesitate to further exploit this weakness. They parried several more times, during which Raven landed even more powerful hits. Finally, she delivered a Dust-infused stab from Shadow Mobius that launched Heather off the edge of the mountain, eliminating her.

"Miss Branwen deals the decisive blow - Team STRQ is victorious!" As Lawrence announced their victory, the audience burst into cheers and applause. "Good job, Rae! You too, Summer!" Tai called from where he sat in the stands, clapping with a large grin on his face. Qrow sat beside him, also applauding, and a few rows above Latte Adel sat with his team, nodding approvingly at his friend's victory.

In the top row of the stands, Psycha Ozmov watched the audience members cheer and celebrate below her. She glanced at Summer and Raven in the arena, her disdainful face not betraying any emotion. Without a word she got up from her seat and turned towards the exit.

"Eh? Where you going, Psycha?" Locke asked, surprised. His leader didn't respond as she left the stadium.

Back on the arena floor, Heather and Herman were congratulating Summer and Raven for their victory. "You did well," Heather said, smiling. "Admittedly, I wanted to be the one winning the tournament, just as Aurora did. Even so, I couldn't be prouder of you."

"Come now, you're not our professor," Raven replied. "I'm surprised that someone like you would slip up like that. Injuries from training, perhaps?"

"Really, I'm just fine," Heather laughed, though her hand moved to massage her shoulder as she said it.

"Hah...sorry that you won't be going to the finals because of us," said Summer with a sheepish grin. "Don't worry, we'll give Beacon Academy a win for sure. You can count on us."

As the arena returned to normal, the four Huntsmen made their way to the exit. As Herman walked in front of her, Summer glanced at his harpoon. For a moment, she could faintly feel that strangely familiar sensation from earlier, like her Aura was being drained away. It lasted only a second though, and she quickly shrugged it off and continued walking.

Headmaster's Office, Shade Academy

"...Miss Ozmov," said Candor Thane, keeping his voice low in an attempt to calm his student down. "Please, restate what it is you want."

"You heard me the first time," Psycha replied. "All you need to do is get this over with and announce me as the winner."

"..." The headmaster stared at her in dumb astonishment. "Please, Psycha. You know I can't do that. There's still the doubles and the singles ro-"

Psycha shook her head. "I couldn't care less about any of that. Come on now, how much do you want, headmaster? Two million? Three million?"

"This is not a matter of money!" Thane insisted, his face contorted in anger. "If you are really so intimidated by the likes of Raven Branwen and the silver-eyed girl-"

"Intimidated? By them?" Psycha sneered. "Don't be so stupid - you know that no one poses any threat to me! That's why I want you to just declare me the winner right now - why waste everyone's time when they already know how this is going to end? So tell me, how much do you want? Daddy paid you five million Lien to get me into Shade, right? Well, I can give you double that right now, and he'll be none the wiser!"

"Miss Ozmov!" Thane yelled, slamming his fist on the headmaster's desk. A bottle of ink was knocked off and fell to the floor, shattering into pieces and staining the rug. "I already shamed myself enough when I accepted your father's bribery, and I refuse to sink so low a second time! You're lucky that I haven't had you expelled yet!"

"And you won't," Psycha said smugly.

Thane closed his eyes, and leaned back in his chair. "I have no time to deal with your whining. If this is truly bothering you so much, why not consult your father?"

Psycha flinched. "I've tried - he hasn't responded to my calls in months," she admitted, kicking the floor pathetically. "I-I have no idea what's up with him. Busy at the lab, I guess."

"...I see." Thane maintained his strictest possible tone. "Even so, my answer to you is clear. I will not allow you to cheat any further. Now leave."

"Fine!" Psycha spat. "Well, whatever. If you want to waste even more of my time with this stupid tournament, then go ahead! It doesn't change anything - I'll be taking home the trophy and that stupid medallion no matter what!" She turned and stomped out of the room.

Thane sighed. The headmaster was really getting too old to be bickering with his students - not that he had ever been particularly good at it. His eyelids sagging in fatigue, he glanced around his office. The shelves were adorned with medals and trophies, and weapons of all shapes and sizes, from rapiers to axes, were hung on the walls. All of them had belonged to him, of course. As a Huntsman, Thane had been peerless in strength...but that didn't always equate to being a perfect leader.

Still, he'd done his best - even when others ridiculed him as a fool behind his back, even as certain incidents had made him painfully aware of his own failings.

Times were simpler back then, he thought wistfully. Now it seems as though everything's just going to hell. Ozpin, old man - I hope this mad plot of yours works out...