A/N: Good day to you all and welcome back to the story! It's the first week of August and you all know what that means! Yes, this is a very special month indeed, because this is the story's anniversary month! And what better way to kick off this special event… than with a bit of a tense chapter. Yes, this one's gonna be a rather intense outing this time, but bear with me here. Trust me, I have a reason for why the things in this chapter happen. So, buckle up, eyes forward, and let's jump into it. This is…

Chapter 102: Going Against the Odds

…..

If there was one thing that Exo-Skull was tired of, it was fighting these SAME blasted teenagers over and over again. It seemed that in every battle, at least ONE member of this "Team JNPR" would end up taking on either him or his pal, Thunderhog. And the worst part? It was almost always Nora, and when it was, she ALWAYS beat their asses! They had gotten lucky in Menagerie and hadn't encountered her or the rest of her team, but now, they were right back to it. 'We've gotta find a way to throw that little hussy off her game!' Skull thought to himself before he was suddenly kicked right in the face by a certain Invincible Girl. 'Ugh, and then there's THIS bitch!'

Pyrrha Nikos, the pride of Argus and survivor of Cinder Fall's wrath. She was ANOTHER pain in the backside, especially where Exo-Skull was concerned. While Nora was able to use Thunderhog's lighting attacks to her advantage, Pyrrha had a magnetic Semblance that allowed her to gain the upper hand whenever she fought Skull. Seeing as the mutant was always covered in metal armor, he often found himself getting pushed around by her whenever he faced her… that being all of once back when he was human. He got punched through a building by a little girl and it pissed him off. It didn't help that she had Jaune with her at the moment, the blonde keeping up the pressure with supportive fire and sword strikes in between the heavier hits she dished out.

The redheaded warrior and her knightly boyfriend were presently standing across from the massive rhino man, ready to head back into battle again after getting him away from Ben and Rex. "C'mon, Skull, don't start goin' soft on us!" Jaune challenged, a serious expression on his face as he drew Crocea Mors in its greatsword form. "You guys wanted a fight? Well, we're about to give you one!"

"Indeed." Pyrrha fell into her natural combat stance, furrowing her brows at the mutant. "If Salem wishes to escalate things, then so be it!"

Skull growled and balled his fists. "Ya know, you kids are REALLY starting to get on my nerves! If you two weren't so strong together, I'd—" Bing! A lightbulb suddenly went off in Skull's head. 'Strong… together…' His eyes moved from Pyrrha and Jaune over to Hog's fight with Nora and Ren. As expected, the warthog mutant was making sure not to charge up his Thunder Mace while facing the Pink Dynamo, instead opting to use it without generating any power. Nora and Ren were working side by side quite effectively, keeping the pressure on Hog with escalating attacks. Skull's eyes snapped back to his opponents… and he grinned. 'That's it!'

Without warning, his massive thrusters activated and began to power up. Jaune and Pyrrha weren't prepared for this, but they kept their respective stances. However, right at the moment they expected Skull to charge… he turned himself around, got on all fours and charged in the opposite direction, much to their confusion. "Huh?!" Jaune questioned. "What the heck was that?!"

"I don't know!" Pyrrha replied before shaking Milo at Skull. "Hey! Come back here and fight you scoundrel!"

"Not till I switch things up a little!" Skull shouted back before calling out to his partner. "HOG! Go back there an' grab the blondie, will ya?!"

Hog's eyes widened behind his visor. "WHAT?! Skull, what're you—"

"I've got a plan!"

"That's a first!" Hog fired back with a shrug. "But if you think it'll work, then I'll take it!" The pig mutant began to ran away from his own fight, rushing past Skull and over to Jaune and Pyrrha.

As one would imagine, Nora wasn't too happy about that. "HEY!" She lifted Magnhild over her head in indignation. "Get back here and fight me!" But it was at that moment that she saw Skull charging over as well, prompting her to grin eagerly again. "Eh, you know what? I can still make this work!"

Skull simply smirked at her tenacity. "Sorry, Valkyrie, but it ain't you I'm goin' after!" At the last possible second, Skull changed his course just slightly and ended up charging right into Ren, the green ninja crying out in pain as he grabbed on to the mutant's horn for dear life.

"REN!" Nora screamed. "Bring him back!"

Exo-Skull plucked the now-dazed ninja off of his horn and chortled. "Hehe, oh, I'll give him back… but not to you!" With all his strength, Skull tossed Ren like a human dart, his body flying straight over Nora's head. "HOG! Heads up!"

On the other side of the room Hog had made it over to Jaune and Pyrrha and had flung his mace at them, forcing them both to separate. But just as Jaune leapt off to one side, he heard a loud CLANG before his hearing and vision disappeared from him, having just been hit in the head with one of Hog's gauntlets. Pyrrha was aghast by the action the moment she saw it. "JAUNE!" She grit her teeth and made a mad dash for the pig man, who was now hoisting Jaune up as well. "Let him go!"

"Will do, girl!" Hog smiled before flinging Jaune away. The blonde knight passed Ren in the air, with both dazed boys landing by the other's partners.

The moment Ren landed, he groaned in pain, prompting Pyrrha to check on him. "Ren! Are you alright?!"

"Ugh, I think so." Ren concurred as he rubbed his head. "I feel like I got hit by a bus, but I'm good."

Back on the opposite side of the room, Jaune was about to make impact with the floor, but Nora shot up and caught him in midair, the two managing to fall safely. Nora landed in a crouch as she set Jaune gently to the ground, the knight groaning as he held his head. "Mind getting the number of that bumper that hit me?"

Nora sent him a cheery smile and a little laugh. "Heh, don't worry, Fearless Leader. Nora's gotcha." At the sound of heavy foot falls, however, the hyper redhead craned her head up and scowled to see Skull approaching them, forcing her to get back up and ready her weapon. "Okay, so what was the point of that, ya big bozo?!"

"The POINT is that now you guys won't be as affective against us!" Skull explained. "We switched up your usual tag partners, an' we switched ourselves around. too!" He jabbed a thumb to himself. "I'm safe from Warrior Girl's magnetic powers…" He then jabbed a thumb over to Hog. "An' Hog's far enough from you that his lightning won't reach!" Skull narrowed his eyes at the two as Jaune got up as well. "As far as I'm concerned, I'd say this is a pretty effective plan." A massive fist slammed into his palm. "An' if you think I'm about to let you switch back, then you're dead wrong."

Jaune and Nora both glanced at each other. They had to admit, they WERE more used to working with their respective partners than each other. Sure, they also worked together as a whole team, but they were still prone to staying near each other's partners during those times. After a few seconds of looking at one another, however, Nora's usual smile returned. "Well then, we're just gonna have to adapt!"

Jaune smiled and nodded in agreement. "Yeah, you're right!" He kept his hands secured on Crocea Mors and went back into his battle stance with Nora, calling out to Pyrrha across the way; "You hear that, Pyr?! We can't let this little switch up get the better of us!"

Pyrrha smiled as Ren got to his feet, the both of them readying their own weapons. "Of course! We will not fail!"

"Let's do this." Ren said. "Now!"

With that, all four members of Team JNPR charged at their respective opponents, though it only made Skull chuckle. "Heh, still got that tenacity, I see…" From his back, Skull pulled off his large gatling gun, the Executioner, and took aim at Jaune and Nora as they approached. "Let's see how long that lasts!" He clenched the trigger and the weapon began unloading its contents at the duo, forcing them to separate and charge at Skull from opposite sides. 'Focus on the hussy first, Skull. The wimpy blonde can come later.' Skull shifted himself so that he kept his suppressing fire on Nora, though the redhead was quickly able to use Magnhild to launch herself into the air and away from the incoming fire.

Landing just a few feet away from Skull, Nora took the opportunity to swing Magnhild at the mutant, pulling the trigger the moment her strike hit home. However, Skull was able to raise his arm, the heavy armor plating on it being more than able to take the attack. He WAS pushed back a little, though this didn't seem to satisfy Nora. "Grr, I HATE how heavy you are now, ya know that?!" Nora derided. "I can't smack you into the air anymore!"

"Are you callin' me FAT?!" Skull bellowed as he took aim with his weapon again. "Because if you are, then you're automatically dead!" He open-fired on her once again, but Nora quickly leapt into the air to avoid the hailstorm of bullets. But Exo-Skull wasn't about to let her get away that easily. "Oh no, ya don't!" Skull craned his neck up and fired his horn laser at the girl, but much to his shock, Nora actually swung herself in midair and hit the blast with her hammer, resulting in her merely being blown straight up toward the ceiling.

"AAAAAAACK!" Nora screamed before suddenly making impact with the roof, leaving a small indent in the shape of her own body. She smiled cheekily at this. "Heh, well, at least I'll have made my mark on Haven Academy!"

Skull grumbled and aimed his Executioner upward, only to be blasted in the back, making him stumble forward. "GRAH!" He caught himself on his free hand before whirling around to see Jaune behind him, the knight standing with his shield blaster pointed toward the mutant. Skull smirked and took aim with his massive gun. "And what do ya think YOU'RE gonna be able to do against me, small fry?"

"Not much…" Jaune admitted before reloading the blaster in his shield. "But I'll at least have to try. I swore that what happened at Beacon would NEVER be repeated, and I meant that."

"HA! Noble, but stupid." Skull open-fired and Jaune began sprinting, strafing around Skull while keeping his shield raised.

The blonde knight knew he didn't have the stamina to run from the bullets forever, but he didn't need to, not so long as he could give his teammate enough time to get herself free. "NORA!" Jaune called up toward the ceiling, seeing Nora freeing her arms and head. He raised his shield up to her and shouted; "I need you to bring the hammer down!"

This made Nora's eyes brighten up eagerly. "Oh, you want me to bring the HAMMER down?!"

"Yes! Why would you repeat that?!" Jaune asked as he just barely sidestepped another onslaught of weapon fire. "Gah! Just do it, please!"

Nora held Magnhild with both hands and called back; "On it!" She pulled her arms back and then swung them back down, making her hammer slam into the roof beneath her while pulling the trigger at the same time. The resulting explosion was able to successfully dislodge her from the ceiling and send her rocketing back toward the ground, a big grin coming to her face as she flew back toward the battle. "WOO-HOO!"

Exo-Skull whipped his head back up to see Nora and his amber eyes widened in confusion. "W-What the hell is this?!"

Jaune smiled and rushed forward, raising his shield up toward Nora's swinging hammer. "THIS is how we bring you down."

BANG! Nora's hammer collided with Jaune's shield, resulting not only in a loud sound reverberating throughout the room, but a rather large shockwave of explosive pink energy courtesy of the bomb let loose from the hammer's head. The shockwave was so powerful that it managed to knock Exo-Skull off of his feet. "WOOOOAAH!" The rhino man's heavy body slammed against the far wall and into the next room over, forcing him to let go of his gatling gun. He let out a groan and his head fell back, attempting to ride out the daze that had overcome him.

As the dust settled, Nora and Jaune stood in the middle of the room, the girl still holding her hammer against her leader's shield while they both caught their breaths. Once they did, though, Nora bounced up and pumped a fist. "That. Was. AWESOME!" She zipped over and gave Jaune a big hug. "Haha! I guess we really proved him wrong on that whole switch up thing!"

Jaune raised a single arm and pat her on the back, all while the other one hung limp at his side with his shield. "Heh, yeah, it's really great, Nora." He glanced down at his arm and winced. "Though, uh… I think I may have lost the feeling in my left arm."

Nora's eyes widened and she lifted the arm… only for it to fall back down. "GAH! Oh my gosh, I am SO sorry!"

"H-Hey, don't be." Jaune insisted. "I was the one who came up with the plan, after all." He worked to flex his left hand and the fingers began moving. "Besides, I think my Aura's already working to get the feeling back."

The redhead sighed as relief washed over her. "Well, that's good." She then spotted Skull's gatling gun and ran over to it, picking it up without much effort. "Now it's time for THIS thing to go bye-bye!" She spun around and tossed it out the open front door, leaving it to tumble down the steps to the outside. "Okay, now let's get over to Ren and Pyrrha to finish—"

BAM! Suddenly, Skull slammed his way out of the opposite room, making the hole he made even bigger. He glowered at Nora and went to all fours, his jet thrusters at the ready as he prepared to charge at her. "That… HURT."

"Well, DUH!" Nora said before flipping back and standing next to Jaune. She picked up Magnhild and shifted it into its grenade launcher mode, taking aim right at Skull. "And I'm betting THIS will hurt you even more!"

"Not a chance, girly!" The tip of his horn lit up, ready to blast it once again. "Not if I have anything to say about it…"

Jaune's eyes widened the moment he saw the horn and he got an idea. His arm had regained enough feeling to move on its own again, so he undid his shield and shifted Crocea Mors back into its greatsword mode, holding it as best as he could with two hands while his left one still felt rather tingly. "Nora, I've got a plan, but you're gonna have to trust me on this."

"Always do, Fearless Leader, what's your plan?"

"Without using any more of your grenades, I need you to hit me as hard as you can right toward Exo-Skull."

"…Okay, this time, I might be liable to question your sanity."

Jaune turned to her and nudged his head to Exo-Skull. "Just make it so that I fly just a little off toward his side when you hit me. That way I should be able to avoid him while pulling off what I want to do." He gave her a smile and a nod. "Trust me on this, I'm sure it'll work."

Nora stared into his eyes and saw that he was serious, though he was also confident in his plan. "Jaune, this has to be one of the most hairbrained strategies you've ever come up with. …I love it, let's do it!"

"Great! Let's go!" Jaune held his sword tightly as Nora put her weapon back into hammer mode briefly.

Across from them, Exo-Skull padded the ground with his hand as his horn began to glow more intensely, the thrusters on his back doing the same. "Bah! Whatever plan you've cooked up, it won't work! I'm NOT about to lose to you kids anymore, you hear?!"

Jaune simply gave a wink over to his friend. "Ready?"

"Whenever you are!" Nora said with an eager smirk.

"Alright…" Jaune waited until the moment that Skull was about to charge. 'Three… two… one…' Right on cue, the rhino mutant thrust forward on all fours with his rocket boosters blasting out, increasing his speed by a large margin. "NOW!" Jaune ordered, which Nora followed to the letter. Jaune felt himself immediately slammed in the back by her hammer and was sent careening forward like a speeding bullet, making sure to keep his body straight as he soared head first at Exo-Skull.

But the rhino was undeterred, his horn still glowing brightly for the big final blast that would finish them off. "It's no use, kid! You'll NEVER be able to—" SLICE. Skull's eyes widened the moment he heard the metal scrape against metal, a long, sharp blade briefly arcing past his eyes as Jaune's sword successfully cut through his bionic laser horn. "What?! NO! MY HORN!"

Jaune spun himself around in the air as he soared past Exo-Skull, landing and skidding to a stop with his armor sparking against the floor. "Nora! Go!"

"Wha?!" Skull whipped his head back around just in time to see Nora shift Magnhild back into its grenade launcher form, taking aim as the weapon's front hatch opened to reveal what was left of the grenades loaded into it. …And what's worse, he couldn't slow down and he was left without a laser horn to counter the attack. 'This won't end well.'

"Say cheese!" Nora pulled the trigger and sent a volley of grenades at Exo-Skull, the explosives all blowing up upon contact with the speeding mutant, successfully blowing him away toward the front entrance. Skull landed in a heap, cracking the marble floor beneath him as his head clunked against it, knocking him out cold. Nora spun her weapon around before resting it against her shoulder. "And that takes care of that!"

Jaune began to slowly stand up, with Nora jogging over to him to help steady him. "Heh, no kidding. Nice job, Nora."

She gave him a wink and a small hug. "Couldn't have done it without you, Jaune! Just goes to show we're a team through and through no matter who we work with!"

"Couldn't have said it better myself." Jaune clenched his left hand, his arm having gotten the feeling back in it fully. "But now, let's get over to Pyrrha and Ren to see if they need help!"

…..

"Ahaha! You little twerps are in trouble now!" Thunderhog guffawed as he began spinning his mace around, charging it up with electrical energy. Across from him, Ren and Pyrrha were standing at the ready, both with their weapons drawn. "Now that the Valkyrie Bitch is outta my way, I can FINALLY let loose some lightnin'!"

Ren's eyes widened and his lips pursed in anger. "Can I hurt him first? Please?"

Pyrrha had a pretty good idea why Ren wanted first crack at him, and it made her smile. The thought of the green ninja wanting to defend Nora's honor was just too precious to not think about, but she knew she had to push it to the side for now. 'Now if only he can actually get around to asking Nora out.' She gave Ren a single nod. "Go for it, I'll cover you."

"Let's see how ya handle THIS, huh?! Thunder! THUNDER! THUNDERHOG!" With that, Hog flung his mace forward and it slammed into the marble floor, cracking it and making it shake. From the weapon, multiple arcs of red electrical energy shot out toward Ren and Pyrrha, though the two were able to easily jump away from the blast. Hog grumbled and let out a; "REEET! Can't you kids EVER just stay STILL?!" He flung his mace again, this time towards Ren.

But before it could make contact, Pyrrha shifted Milo into its rifle mode and shot at the mace's head, sending it off course and making Thunderhog turn toward her. "And why in the world would we do that?" Pyrrha questioned. "That would simply be counterintuitive to what we want!" She began unloading more shots into Hog, the mohawked mutant bringing up one of his armored gauntlets to block any shots toward his face.

"Grah! Whatever! Just hold still!" Hog flung his mace at Pyrrha again, but just as it got close to her, Pyrrha raised her hand and activated her Semblance, stopping the mace in midair and, with a flick of her wrist, flung it away from her. This had the added effect of jerking Hog off his feet as well. "ACK!" He slammed against the floor face first, grumbling as his snout hit the floor.

"Your weapon is still made of metal, Thunderhog." Pyrrha reminded with a slight smirk. "I can simply redirect whatever attack you throw at me with it."

Hog lifted his head up off the floor and grunted at her. "Hmph, oh yeah?! Well let's see how you handle—" CRACK. "GAAAAAH!"

The pig man's head fell back down to the floor again as Ren leapt off of his back, the ninja having landed heel-first on Hog's spine. With a midair flip and twist, Ren landed next to Pyrrha so that he was facing toward Hog once again. "Thank you for not actually hitting him." Ren smiled to her.

"No problem." Pyrrha returned with a thumbs up.

With a push of a button on his weapon, Hog retracted the mace's chain into the handle, using the weapon to help hoist himself up. Once he was back on two feet, he holstered the mace and clenched his fists. "Alright, if I can't HIT my problems…" His left hand snapped up to his visor. "Then I'll just have to BLAST 'em!" With a quick succession of button presses, Hog began firing his purple laser beams at Ren and Pyrrha, the two quickly running to avoid them. With a bit of pain still shooting from the middle of his back, Hog decided it'd be best to go after Ren again first. It was the principle of the matter, after all.

BANG! Before he could follow the green ninja, he felt a bullet ricochet off of one of his big shoulder pads, making him glance over to see Pyrrha, still intent on keeping him distracted. "Still going after the same target, Thunderhog?!"

A snarl formed on Hog's pig lips before going up into a smirk. "You know what? You're right!" He stopped firing his laser and instead, smacked his fists together, generating more electricity in his gauntlets. "I should be focusing on the BIGGER threat!" He charged forward through Pyrrha's weapon fire before rearing both fists back, readying them for a double electrified punch. However, just as his hit was about to connect, Pyrrha used her Semblance again and stopped the fists in mid swing.

Pyrrha simply shook her head. "What part of my Semblance have I not made clear?"

However, Hog's grin only widened. "I think it's clear that YOU need to know when I'm not out yet!" Using all of the force in his fingers he could muster, Hog fought back against the polarity Semblance and opened his hands, sending out a blast of lightning at Pyrrha.

"AAAAAUGH!" The shock was brief, but enough to make Pyrrha lose her hold on Hog, the Invincible Girl falling to her hands and knees as she breathed heavily.

Hog stepped forward and slammed a fist into his palm, ready to finish her off. "Well, guess I found a chink in your defense. Now, get ready to get—" SHINK-SHINK! "GAH!" Hog lurched forward as a sudden weight was thrust onto his back, craning his head up to see that Ren had latched himself onto him. "W-What?! Hey! Get offa me!"

"Not a chance." Ren stated, keeping a hold of Stormflower as he kept its blades securely stabbed into Hog's thick shoulder pads. The warthog mutant began jerking all over the place, desperately reaching his arms back to grab a hold of Ren and shock him with his gauntlets. But the green ninja managed to stay just out of reach, moving his body up and down Hog's shoulders to avoid the electrified metal gloves. "I'm not about to let you hurt my friend!"

"Aw, well isn't that nice?!" Hog stopped jerking around and clenched his teeth. "But this is where YOU get off!" All at once, Hog slammed himself back-first onto the ground, making Ren's eyes widen at the sudden movement. At the very last possible second, he leapt off of Hog's back… but was then grabbed by the ankle, which pulled him back down toward the floor. The moment they made impact, Hog activated his gauntlet and sent a powerful shock through the boy's system, making him scream in pain.

"REN!" Pyrrha cried out as she made a dash to grab her rifle.

Hog chuckled as he stood up, deactivating his gauntlet before tossing Ren a few feet away. Stormflower clattered against the ground next to their owner before Hog took his mace back out, spinning it around again to generate one large blast of electric energy. "It's been fun, ninja boy! But now, I think I'm gonna zap you do DUST! Thunder! THUN—dah, you get the point!" Not wanting to waste any more time, Hog slammed his mace against the floor and sent out a rather powerful arc of lightning out, one that made a beeline right for Ren.

But right at that moment, Hog felt something suddenly jump off his shoulders, and all at once, Pyrrha vaulted up into the air and did a midair spin, her rifle converting into its javelin form as she did so. The moment it was done, the Invincible Girl thrust her arm forward and threw Milo straight toward the ground, its blade embedding itself into the marble with the aid of a shot of Fire Dust from the weapon's handle. Just then, the electricity suddenly changed course, arcing toward the javelin instead. All of the electricity began coursing through the long metal rod before there was nothing left, with Milo merely giving off a few small sparks.

"W-What?!" Hog exclaimed. "What was—"

"A make-shift lightning rod!" Pyrrha answered as she landed next to Ren. "Courtesy of yours truly!"

Hog snorted and his hand immediately shot back up to his visor. "Why you little—" CLANG! "RAGH!" In a blink-and-you'll-miss-it second, Pyrrha had thrown Akouo at Hog and hit him straight in the forehead, sending him stumbling back as a new wound opened up.

Pyrrha caught her shield on the rebound and helped Ren up, the latter picking up Stormflower. "You okay?"

"Yes, I am…" Ren nudged his head toward Hog with a grin. "Wanna finish him together?"

"Of course." Pyrrha concurred before they began sprinting toward Hog, the two leaping at him to accentuate their attack.

"You little shits are gonna PAY for—OOF!" First, Ren delivered a strong kick to Hog's gut before slicing at the pig man's arms, forcing the mutant to clutch at the wounds and cry out again. But before he could even try to compose himself, Pyrrha came in and hit him right in the face with Akouo, bashing the shield right into his snout, as well as his visor, cracking it just slightly. She had also used her Polarity on the shield to add even more force behind her hit, making Hog tumble all the way back into a far wall, the back of his head colliding with it first. Now thoroughly dazed, Hog groaned and slipped to unconsciousness, his body flopping against the floor with a THUD.

Stopping to catch their breath, Pyrrha and Ren smiled at each other before clasping their hands in unity. "Good job, Pyrrha." Ren complimented.

"Same to you, Ren." Pyrrha returned. "Honestly, I think Skull's plan may have been completely flawed from the very beginning."

"Yeah, no matter who works with who, we're still a pretty effective team." Ren concurred.

"GUYS!" The duo turned around to see Nora and Jaune coming their way, the Pink Dynamo quick to greet both of them with a hug. "That was SO awesome!" Nora made a throwing motion with her arm. "Pyrrha, the part where you made your weapon into a lightning rod at the last minute was SO cool!" She then raised a brow over to Ren. "As for you, mister, that back stomp may have been good, but you should really pay more attention when you latch yourself onto someone's back!"

A somewhat stunned expression came to Ren's face as his cheeks became tinged with red. It wasn't the FIRST time that Nora had scolded him by a long shot, but this felt… different, somehow. Like there was more concern behind her voice. Still, he couldn't just say nothing to her. "W-Well, yes, when you put it like that, I suppose not. I'll try not to get flattened next time."

Nora smiled gratefully. "Good, glad to hear that."

Jaune came forward and gave Pyrrha a quick peck on the lips. "You guys okay? We saw those shock you took."

Pyrrha pat his cheek reassuringly. "Oh, I'm fine, Jaune. And I'm sure Ren is, too…" She craned her head over to Milo, the javelin still sticking up out of the ground. "Although… I am a little concerned to retrieve my weapon."

"Oh, well don't worry about that!" Nora waved off before zipping over and grasping the weapon's long handle, effectively absorbing the access electricity from it into her own body. "Ooh, hehe, tingly." She pulled Milo out of the floor and handed it to her friend. "Here ya go, Pyrrha!"

"Ah, thank you, Nora." Pyrrha took her weapon and holstered it to her back with her shield… right before seeing a large ice wall get put up on the other side of the room. Standing behind it was Weiss, the heiress using the wall to separate her from her opponent. That being; Emerald. Meanwhile, not far away, Rex and Mercury were fighting as well, the two boys going at one another with a surprising ferocity. "Oh dear, it seems like we aren't out of the woods yet."

"Guess so." Jaune agreed before nudging his head toward the fight. "C'mon, let's back 'em up." With that, the team of four charged forward, unaware that a certain invisible alien lizard woman was directly behind them.

"Grr… just you wait you sciocchi sfacciati." Subdora grumbled to herself as her three eyes focused on the team. Not only had they beaten her beloved Farkas, but they had also bested his ingenious plan. This would NOT stand. "I believe it's time we start whittling down these heroes…" She grasped her blaster and shifted it into its knife mode, the long, serrated energy blade glowing brightly. She focused in on Nora and grit her teeth. "And I'll start with the cagna that hurt by beloved."

…..

As Team JNPR engaged in their battle with Thunderhog and Exo-Skull, Weiss and Rex had decided to regroup and take a second glance at the situation before them. However, with every new factor of this fight that they took in, the heiress grew more and more worried. It hadn't been ten minutes since Ben and the others had left and already there were multiple things that she was concerned about. One; Subdora was nowhere to be seen. Sure, the Merlinisapien was probably skulking around invisibly somewhere, but if anything, that just made Weiss even MORE worried.

Secondly; Michael Morningstar was gone. Now THAT was very worthy of her concern. Even in the single time that she had fought him, the energy vampire had proven that he was incredibly conniving and relentlessly brutal with the tactics he would use, all so he could get his way. And the fact that he wasn't anywhere to be found just made her internal alarms go off. "Ugh, where in Remnant did Morningstar sneak off to?!" Weiss mumbled as her eyes kept scanning the room.

"Search me." Rex shrugged from their impromptu hiding spot behind one of the stair cases leading up to the podium. It wasn't the best hiding place, but it served their purposes for now. "Last I saw, Qrow kicked him in the balls and left him in a mess on the floor. To be honest, the fact that he got up from that so soon is a feat in and of itself."

Weiss couldn't help but stifle a laugh at that. "Hmph! Okay, stop, this a serious situation, remember."

Rex just smirked at her. "Yeah, but I've got a feeling we'll be able handle whatever these guys have to throw at us. If we were facing either Viktor or Cinder, then I'd be a bit more worried." He jabbed a thumb over toward the battle. "But these guys? They're the worker bees. We can handle 'em."

"You really think that?" The sudden new voice caught Weiss and Rex off guard and their heads shot up, just in time to see Emerald and a very bloodied up Mercury jumping over the stairs. The duo landed just a few feet away from them, wearing similar smirks as they approached. "Well, well, if it isn't the heiress and her scuzzy boyfriend?"

"Boyfriend?!" Weiss exclaimed with a blush.

"…Scuzzy?" Rex questioned.

Weiss glanced over to him. "Well, to be honest, I wouldn't blame her at first glance. Your hair isn't exactly the most well kempt."

Emerald placed her hands on her hips. "See? You even dote on him like a—WOAH!" She was cut off when the heiress suddenly rushed forward with a thrust from Myrtenaster, through Emerald was quick to avoid the attack. However, this would also prove to be a mistake on Weiss' part, because the moment she missed, Mercury came in with a strong roundhouse kick to her midsection, blowing her back over to Rex with a blast from his boot.

"Weiss!" Rex shot over and caught the Weiss in his arms, a groan escaping her lips as she clutched her abdomen. "Are you okay?!"

"I-I'm fine." Weiss affirmed. "My Aura kicked in the moment he hit me." She craned her head up to him with a thankful smile. "But thanks for the save."

Rex returned the gesture. "Don't mention it. Now let's take these guys down, huh?"

Weiss stood up and took a firm grasp on Myrtenaster, giving the EVO a nod. "My thoughts exactly."

"You're welcome to try, Ice Queen." Mercury taunted. "But it won't be easy."

Emerald stepped back over to Mercury, glaring at their two opponents all the while. "He's right. You want a fight? Then you're gonna have to fight ALL of us…" All of a sudden… something strange happened. Mercury's body shimmered for a second before multiplying into several copies of the assassin, the duplicates surrounding Weiss and Rex until there were about twelve of them. All of the Mercury copies began crossing their arms and scoffing at Rex and Weiss, each one with the same smug grin on its face. The copies were so perfect, that they even had the bloody trail going from his forehead all the way down to his face.

Rex blinked in surprise. "Woah… is this HIS Semblance or something?"

"Actually, I think it might be Emerald's." Weiss said. "Each clone shimmered for a moment before they came into existence, so I'm guessing that they're all hallucinations."

"Ding-ding!" Emerald pointed at Weiss and smirked. "We have a winner. After Tennyson's annoying and rather humiliating assault on my stomach with that Ditto guy of his, I decided to try out something similar."

One of Mercury's clones jerked his neck, popping a few muscles. "But now that you KNOW our little trick…"

Another clone leaned forward and narrowed his eyes. "…How're you gonna find the REAL one?"

With a cheeky smile, Rex raised his left arm. "Like this." All at once, Rex's Smack Hand burst forth from his arm and he grabbed hold of Weiss with his normal arm, making the heiress give out a yelp of surprise. The EVO then jumped up into the air and slammed his massive metal fist down onto the floor, making it burst into rubble in an instant. All of said rubble then flew through the clones and made them dissipate… all except for Emerald and the real Mercury, who were both hit and sent stumbling back. Rex's Smack Hand deactivated and he landed, letting Weiss off as he did. "And THAT is how you handle crowd control."

Weiss herself was… very impressed, if she had to be honest. 'Wow, I didn't expect Rex to come up with a plan like that on the fly...' She trailed off when a new thought came to her mind, one that made her blush. 'But… why did I feel so… secure when he held me?' It was a skeptical thought, but one she couldn't help but think. 'This… this can't be happening. …Can it?'

"Weiss? Hey, Ice Princess!"

"Gah!" The white-haired girl was snapped out of her thoughts and refocused on Rex. Though now that she was gazing directly at his face, she couldn't help but blush just a slight bit more. "Sorry, I… I got a bit distracted."

Rex gave her a thumbs up. "No prob. Hey, I'm gonna go take care of Merc and put him to bed. Think you can stop Em from making all those hallucinations?"

Regaining her composure, Weiss gave him a single nod. "Of course. I've got her."

"Great." Rex raised a fist up to her. "Good luck."

Weiss's eyes went between Rex's face and his fist before reciprocating the gesture. "You too." With that, Rex activated his Punk Busters and shot right over to Mercury, picking him up with a fist to the gut before shooting up toward the podium, making the silver-haired assassin give out a rage-fueled scream.

"Mercury!" Emerald started after her partner, but was stopped by a glyph to the face, making her back up to stand face to face with Weiss again. "Oh, I see how it is. The rich girl wants to play with the lowly thief, huh?" Emerald took out her Thief's Respite and entered a combat stance. "Well then, let's see what kinda weight the Schnee name REALLY carries, huh?"

Weiss narrowed her eyes at Emerald and raised Myrtenaster at her. "I'm more than a name."

"Prove it! GAH!" In a mad sprint, Emerald sprinted forward, readying her sickles to attack. However, Weiss was prepared for this, using a glyph to give her a boost of her own. The two collided in the middle, with Emerald crossing her sickles to stop the thrust that Weiss had sent her way. From there, it was a duel of clashing blades, with Weiss matching her elegant and refined movements with Emerald's more wild and unpredictable ones. It almost appeared to be some sort of dance between two people whose styles were polar opposites. "C'mon!" Emerald shouted as one of her sickles grinded against Myrtenaster's blade, producing a brief spark against the clashing metal. "Is this all you got?!"

Indeed, Weiss knew this endless blade clashing couldn't go on forever, so she decided to take a different approach. "I'm just getting started." The heiress said before creating another glyph beneath her feet, this time using it to increase her jumping ability to leap a fair distance away from her opponent. Once she was far enough, Weiss spun Myrtenaster's barrel to the Fire Dust cartridge and created multiple bright red glyphs around her, all of which blasted out their own streams of flame at the thief.

Emerald's eyes widened and she ducked out of the way, though Weiss simply changed the glyph's direction to follow her wherever she went. 'Crap, this isn't good.' Emerald thought to herself before a new idea popped into her head. It was a bit risky, but it was one she had to take. 'Sure hope this works…' Going for broke, Emerald changed direction again, this time heading toward the fire instead of away from it.

Obviously, this took Weiss by surprise. "Are you SERIOUSLY that dead set on beating me?!"

"Yep!" Emerald replied before shifting Thief's Respite into their kusarigama modes, spinning the chained blades around at a rapid pace as she ran past the streams of flame. As she spun her weapons through the fire, though, she got the result she was hoping for; her weapons caught the fire on them. This made her grin sinisterly. "Oh, NOW we're talking! RAH!" With a mighty jump, Emerald shot toward Weiss and brought the chained blades down toward the Heiress, making her jump away from the attack.

'Shoot, she actually used that to her advantage.' Weiss gripped Myrtenaster tighter as Emerald continued toward her, the fire on the blades still burning bright. 'Okay, first, I gotta put THAT out… and I know just how to do it.' From a small storage pocket in her skirt, Weiss pulled out a vial of regular blue Dust, loading it into her weapon after exchanging the empty Fire Dust vial. "Hey Em! You seem a bit dehydrated!"

"W-What?" Emerald stammered before Weiss created a blue glyph in front of her.

"Have some WATER!" All of a sudden, a powerful geyser of water burst out of the glyph itself, making Emerald's eyes bug out as it burst at her. The thief let out a yell that was quickly drowned out by the gusher of water that enveloped her, effectively putting out the flames while also pushing her back several feet. Weiss pumped a fist after the water cleared, seeing that Emerald was splayed out across the floor and was completely drenched. "Yes!"

Emerald hacked up a bit of water and glared at the heiress, though she couldn't help but admit that was a smart move. "Not bad, Ice Queen." A devious grin came to her face as a new idea popped into her head… and made itself a reality. "But let's see how you handle this…"

Weiss was about to continue her attack when a familiar voice spoke up from behind; "Weiss!" The white-haired girl spun around to see none other than her older sister running over to her, her blades at the ready. "Hm, good work." Winter complimented as she directed her gaze over to Emerald. "It seems you've got her on the ropes."

"Winter?!" Weiss exclaimed. "I thought you were busy today! How'd you—"

"The same way that Kevin and the others did." Winter elaborated. "And I finished what I had to do today, so when I heard you were in trouble, I jumped at the chance." She faced Emerald and lowered her blade to the girl. "Now come on, let's finish this."

Weiss furrowed her brows in skepticism. "Alright… tell me, what DID you do today?"

Winter's eyes widened slightly. "I, um, I…"

"Wrong answer." Weiss swiped at her "sister" and made her dissipate into nothingness, sending a sidelong glance to Emerald all the while. "My sister had to go shopping for a picture frame and she had a long-distance date with Ben's older cousin today. Nice try, though."

Emerald let out a growl and grit her teeth. "GAAH! Seriously?! Is every girl finding a relationship around here OTHER than me?!"

"Pretty much, yes." Weiss leveled Myrtenaster back toward Emerald. "But even still, I had a feeling something was up. Your illusions are powerful, but if you don't know how a person acts, it's not perfect. And Winter would not act so casual, especially in the middle of a fight."

"Oh yeah, that reminds me…" Emerald quickly converted Thief's Respite into their revolver forms and aimed them at Weiss. "We WERE fighting, weren't we?!" She began unloading round after round at Weiss, only for the heiress to bring up more glyphs to shield her. Emerald began running and gunning in response, hoping that she would be fast enough for Weiss to slip up.

However, that proved not to be the case, as Weiss summoned yet another glyph in front of her, using it to bring up a gigantic ice wall to block Emerald's onslaught. Using this opportunity, Weiss stabbed Myrtenaster into the ground and created a summoning circle. She had wanted to go for the Arma Gigas right off the bat, but the more she thought about it, the more she was inclined to save it for later, just in case she needed it. So instead…

In that time, Emerald had run around the ice wall, glowering at her opponent the moment she saw her. "You REALLY thing a wall of ice is gonna… stop… me?" That last word came out more as a squeak when Emerald saw what Weiss had summoned; The Queen Lancer. The giant white and blue Grimm wasp was practically glaring at her as she hovered just above the ground, her large wings making a low, menacing buzzing noise.

Weiss smirked and shook her head. "No… but this might." She pointed Myrtenaster at Emerald once again and commanded the Queen to… "Attack!"

The Queen Lancer rushed forward and dove right at Emerald, the green-haired girl leaping away with a scream. But the Grimm wasn't about to let her get away that easily. Her insectoid head shot up and she took aim with her abdomen, firing off her stinger in an instant. While it didn't impale Emerald, it did catch her in the air and make her fall back toward the ground, hitting it back first with a heavy THUD.

It was then that Weiss used one of her regular glyphs again to give her another boost, the heiress rushing toward Emerald as the thief made to get up. With a strong knee to the face, Emerald was thrown for a loop and sent crashing back down onto the floor, the pain being too much for her to handle this time. Her head fell to the ground and she lost consciousness, securing the win for Weiss.

As she stood there with the Queen Lancer by her side, Weiss smiled down to Emerald victoriously. "See? The Schnee name isn't all there is to me."

…..

"Why—gah! THE FUCK—raugh! Won't you BUILD anything?!"

That was the question that had been lingering in Mercury's mind the moment he had been brought up to the podium by Rex. After being forcibly taken from Emerald, the assassin was both pissed at the EVO AND a bit worried about the state of his partner. 'Not sure about that last one, though. Em can take care of herself, so why—' SMACK! "GAH!" That momentary distraction cost him dearly as Rex punched him square in the face, making him stumble back a few steps. "Oh, COME ON! If you're gonna punch me, punch me with those giant arms of yours! I want you to give me everything you got!"

Rex was… confused, to say the least. He had figured that Mercury would actually be happy to face him like he was at the moment, considering what had happened the last time they fought. The young Latino shrugged and replied; "Hey, I wanted you to get a fighting chance, tipo. Especially after the way I just bodied you back at Amity Arena."

If possible, this only made Mercury angrier. "WHAT?! You think I can't handle your weapons?! You just got lucky at the arena is all!" He went into a combat stance and made a "come at me" motion with his hands. "Come on! I can handle anything you throw at me!"

Rex smirked and crossed his arms, shaking his head a bit. "Alright, dude, if you insist…" Tapping into the power of the Omega Nanite, Rex brough forth his Funchucks and began spinning them around, ready to attack. "Well, let's go!"

"Gladly!" With a ferocious battle cry, Mercury shot it boots off once again and rocketed toward Rex, which the EVO responded with flinging a single Funchuck at the silver-haired assassin. But just short of the weapon hitting him, Mercury side-stepped the Funchuck and jumped up onto it, crouching low to look at Rex right in the face.

"Huh, more of that speed. Impressive" Rex began to move his arm, intending on throwing Mercury off. "But not very smart—OW!"

The EVO was cut off when Mercury suddenly thrust himself off of the Funchuck and kicked Rex right in the face, making him stumble back a bit. "I think you'll find it was a VERY smart move!" As Rex continued to stumble a bit, Mercury began sending a volley of shots at him, the Dust rounds either making impact with the Funchucks or Rex himself. Once he was sure that Rex's defenses were down, he rushed forward and delivered an onslaught of multiple roundhouse kicks at Rex's body as well as the Funchucks, making the EVO topple backward while also breaking one of the two builds as well. "HA!" Mercury laughed. "See? I can handle your dumb weapons!"

But, much to Mercury's surprise, Rex stood up, keeping his stance firm and grounded as a small chuckle escaped his lips. "Heh, yeah… one of my builds." Tapping into the Omega Nanite again, Rex brought forth one of his Bad Axes, the bright blue blade glowing with energy. "Now what're ya gonna do, Mercurio?"

Mercury sneered and belted out a roar before charging at Rex, intent on finishing this before it could even begin. He launched up into the air and performed a flying kick, which Rex responded with reeling back his Funchuck arm. 'Just like I was hoping.' Repositioning himself in the air, Mercury tuck and rolled right underneath Rex's raised arm and immediately performed a round house kick to the EVO's back, unloading a Dust round to propel him off of the podium.

"GAH!" Rex grit his teeth as he landed on the ground level, a searing feeling coming from his back as he landed. 'Damn it, if he singed my jacket, Weiss is gonna be pissed.' He didn't have long to think about that, however, as Mercury came flying down at him with a spinning axe kick, one that he countered by raising his own Bad Axe at him. Mercury's foot connected with the axe's blade as it swung at him, but he let loose another shot and propelled himself away from Rex as soon as possible. He landed across from his opponent about twenty feet away from him, which made Rex raise a brow at him. "Jeez, you're a slippery one, ain't ya?"

"If I'm gonna be the living HELL out of you, I've gotta be!" Mercury said as he dashed forward again.

"Fair point." Rex admitted before deactivating his Funchuck and Bad Axe. "Maybe it's time I changed things around a bit." Going for one of his regular builds, Rex brought out his Slam Cannon and hefted it over his shoulder, the maw of the weapon instantly going down to scoop up some ammo from the marble floor. 'Eh, with what's going on here, I doubt they'll be needing this floor for a while anyway.' He took aim at Mercury and fired the huge chunk of debris at the assassin, hoping that he would take the bait.

Mercury furrowed his brows and a smirk came to his face. 'Really? This is the best he can do?' With another battle cry, Mercury delivered a swift kick to the incoming hunk of rock and marble, letting lose a Dust round the moment his foot connected. As expected, this effectively destroyed the huge chunk of debris… while also sending up a huge cloud of dirt and dust into the air, hindering Mercury's vision all around him. His eyes widened at what he had just done. 'Wait… this is…'

All of a sudden, Mercury heard the familiar sound of nanites powering up, followed by an iridescent blue glow that the dust only faintly obscured. From there, Rex leapt through the cloud of blown up rubble, his Blast Caster whipping away the dust as an eager grin plastered itself on his face. He had put his goggles over his eyes as well, just so he could see his unsuspecting prey. "¡Surpresa!" The EVO slung his large whip forward and wrapped it around Mercury, pouring on a heaping helping of energy through the build as well.

The massive charge made Mercury belt out a scream before the assassin was thrown across the floor, tumbling along before he managed to realign himself. He dug his heels in and stopped in a crouch, glaring at Rex through his now ragged bangs. "Oh, thank you."

That was… not the reaction that Rex was expecting. "Uh, what?"

"Because now I have a REAL challenge!" With another blast from his boots, Mercury rocketed forward and began running at Rex, avoiding the massive whip along the way. The silver-haired assassin darted over toward Rex's left side, mainly due to the fact that the whip wasn't on that side. 'I should be able to hit him…' The moment the whip lashed at him again, he let loose another blast from his boot, rocketing him upward in a big jump. 'I just gotta take my chances!' With a mighty yell, Mercury performed a midair flip and brought his leg down in another axe kick, hoping to blast Rex's exposed left arm.

But just as his foot came down, Rex quickly activated his Block Party and raised is above his head, the energy shield blocking the attack harmlessly. "Sorry bud, NOT today!" With another thrust of his right arm, Rex wrapped his whip around Mercury and threw him away again, though this time, he was able to land without trouble. "We could always stop if you wanna!"

Mercury growled and clenched his fists, frustrated that he was just being manhandled by this idiot. 'I have to find a weak spot! But where…' It was then that his eyes found the large energy dynamo that was on Rex's back, and an idea immediately popped into his head. 'Bingo.' With that, he dashed forward, much to Rex's surprise.

"Really? Again, hombre?" Rex gave another shrug. "Eh, suit yourself." He whipped the Blast Caster forward again, but this time, Mercury actually caught it, taking him aback even further. "…Okay, you're either really crazy or REALLY stupid."

Mercury narrowed his eyes at Rex silently. 'You're the stupid one if you don't plan your next move correctly.'

"Not gonna talk?" Rex quirked a brow. "Okay, then let's see if THIS will make you a bit chattier!" He whipped the Blast Caster back and began sending a ton of energy through it… but before it could take effect, Mercury had jumped off of the whip, allowing him to jump high into the air. "What the?!" Rex watched in bewilderment as Mercury performed a corkscrew flip before coming straight back down with his legs fully extended, almost like he was looking to stomp on something. It was at that point where the EVO saw where Mercury would eventually drop… and he immediately knew what was going to happen. "Aye, basura—AGH!"

BOOM! The moment Mercury's feet collided with the dynamo, he let loose two more blasts from his boots, effectively making the containment unit explode in a bright flash of light. Once his vision cleared, Mercury found himself laying right on the ground, a soft groan escaping his lips as his eyes searched for Rex. He finally found the EVO laying in a crumpled heap about ten feet away from him, with smoke billowing from his back while his forehead was very visibly bleeding. This made Mercury grin wickedly, a laugh escaping his throat before he turned himself over onto his back. "Hehe… hehehehe… HAHAHA!" He raised his arms up into the air in victory. "I did it! I beat that son of a bitch! HAHA!"

But right as he was celebrating, a familiar voice piped up from behind him. "Heh, not quite." Mercury's eyes bulged out of his skull and they darted over to see Rex, the EVO standing up to his feet shakily. "You might've blown up my build, but an explosion like that won't be able to kill me."

"WHAT?!" Mercury questioned. "How are you still STANDING after a blow like that?!"

"You honestly expect something created by my own nanites to be able to harm me?" Rex asked back before pointing at his bleeding head. "And before you ask, I busted this bad boy open when I hit the floor, so no, that didn't even count either." His finger redirected down to Mercury, more specifically, his lower half. "Besides, if anything, you're the one who came out on the shorter end here."

Mercury's eyes snapped down to his legs… or rather the scrap metal that used to be his legs. They were utterly mangled from his last attack, broken hydraulics, wires and joints sticking out every which way to Sunday. He clenched his teeth as he seethed in rage. "No… no! NOOOO—"

CRACK! Without using any of his builds at all, Rex came down and punched Mercury in the face, silencing him while knocking him unconscious. "Ah, shut up." Rex let out a tired breath as he rolled onto his back, staring up at the ceiling as he laid out next to Mercury. "Ugh, at this point, I'm waiting for the angels to just take me."

Right then and there, Weiss strode over and peered down at him, placing her hands on her hips. "What are you doing, Robo-dolt?"

"Oh hey, there's one now."

"I—" But it was then that Weiss process what the young man had just said. "Did… did you hit your head again?"

"Yeah, but this time, I think I have a concussion." Rex pointed at his head. "Also, I'm bleeding profusely."

Weiss pursed her lips and lowered herself down, sitting next to him. "I can see that. Sit up, let me see." At her order, the EVO slowly lifted himself off his back and came to eye-level with Weiss, the heiress setting her hands to the sides of his face for her to get a closer look. "Hmm… well, I don't see any mismatching pupil dilation, so that's good." She smiled and gave Rex a pat on the head. "Be thankful that your dome's so thick, Robo-dolt."

"Heh, not thick enough if I'm bleeding like this." Rex chuckled, which got Weiss to laugh a little as well. At that moment though, he felt something that told him to do something, though he knew that something also made him a bit nervous. Nevertheless, he followed his instinct's feeling and reached up, gently grasping Weiss' right hand in his left. "Hey, what about you? Are you okay?"

"U-Uh… yeah." To say Weiss was surprised by the sudden action was probably pretty accurate. It was a rather bold move, but oddly enough, she actually liked the feeling of holding his hand like this. Hers was practically a perfect fit in his own, and he held it as if it could break any moment, almost like porcelain. After a few moments, she cleared her throat. "Ahem, I, uh, I took care of Emerald. She tried to trick me with a hallucination of my sister, but I had a feeling it wasn't her."

"Glad to hear it." Rex smiled. "I just wish I could've beat Merc WITHOUT getting blown up."

Weiss reciprocated with her own smile. "Well, at least you're not dead, so that's good." Little did the two realize that they were slowly drawing nearer toward each other, their shoulders just inches away from touching. "…Rex, I—"

"HEY!" The two were startled out of their moment when a familiar shrill voice called out to them. Rex and Weiss whipped their heads around to see Team JNPR running right toward them, with Jaune and Pyrrha leading the pack while Nora and Ren were behind them. "Guys, you were GREAT!" Nora shouted with a wave. "We beat 'em all!"

Weiss and Rex grinned at the incoming quartet, but their smiles faltered when they suddenly noticed a change in Ren's demeanor. The ninja's eyes had widened and darted to his left, almost as if he had sensed something approaching them. His gaze then snapped back to Nora in a panic… and then he surged forward, pushing the Pink Dynamo out of the way. "NORA! Move—GAGH!"

The heiress and EVO shot up suddenly when they saw Ren suddenly arch his back in pain, all while Nora tumbled across the ground. Jaune and Pyrrha had immediately spun around as well, their eyes filled with fear as they heard their friend give out an agonizing shout. Nora rolled over… just in time to see Ren's Aura break and his face drain of color. It would be an image that would haunt her for the rest of her life. "Ren?! REN?!"

The ninja didn't respond, his body falling to the floor with a barely audible grunt. There, right on his back near his right hip, was a very clear stab wound, with red blood already pouring out of it and caking Ren's tailcoat. That was all it took to make Nora freeze up, her eyes open to the size of saucers as her mouth hung open in disbelief. The only thing that got her to unfreeze for a brief moment was a small shimmer in the air, followed by none other than Subdora appearing from out of nowhere. The Merlinisapien held her energy knife in her hands as Ren's blood dripped from its already red blade, a sinister smile having adorned her features. "Oops! Perdóname, but… did I do that?"

…..

The moment he had seen Subdora appear from out of thin air with her weapon bloodied, Jaune's fear and anguish were quickly replaced with righteous anger and unbridled rage. His teeth clenched and his running speed picked up to the point where he was pretty sure one of his knees had popped. But he didn't care. All he knew was that he HAD to get in there, save his friends, and then possibly murder Subdora. The moment he thought that last one, though, he quickly shoved it to the wayside. 'Ben will chew the fuck out of me if I kill her.' he reminded himself before pulling out his sword. '…But maybe taking her tail will do.'

With a loud, guttural battle cry, Jaune leapt up and brought Crocea Mors down onto Subdora, but the Merlinisapian was able to jump out of the way. Jaune ended up stabbing his blade through the floor, but he was quick to take it out and begin swiping it at Subdora, fending the Merlinisapien off as Pyrrha, Rex and Weiss began checking on Ren. "DAMN YOU! Damn you STRAIGHT to HELL!"

With every swipe of his sword, Subdora merely sidestepped and ducked beneath it, a small chuckle escaping from her lips. "Oh, it's his own fault, my dear biondo." she insisted. "My real target was la rossa pazza, but he chose to make quite the valiant sacrifice."

"SHUT UP!" Jaune brought his sword in for another swipe… only to be met with a massive back hand to his face, sending him rolling away as his sword clattered to the floor. He scrambled to his hands and knees and his head shot up… only to see both Exo-Skull and Thunderhog right back up on their feet. "You've gotta be fucking kidding me!"

"Nope!" Skull shook his head. "Ever heard of playing possum, kid?"

"Farkas!" Subdora jumped up onto Skull's shoulder and kissed his cheek. "Did you see what I did? That was for you, my darling!"

Hog crossed his arms and moved his eyes over to the unconscious Ren, nodding in approval. "Aw yeah! Great job, 'Dora!"

Skull wrapped an arm around his girlfriend and gave her a peck on the lips back. "He's right. Nice work, hon."

"You make me SICK!" Jaune spat as he got up to his feet, readying Crocea Mors for another round. "COME ON! I'll take you ALL on!"

Skull merely chuckled and pointed over to Ren. "Kid, ya might wanna focus less on us an' more on your friend… 'cause this might be the last time you'll ever get to talk to 'im."

Jaune gave the worst death glare that he could muster at the two mutants and sadistic alien woman… and then he turned right around and booked it back to the others. As much as he hated to admit it, he couldn't take them all on by himself. He was pretty sure he'd be bodied if he didn't have any backup with him. 'Besides, I'm needed elsewhere.' The blonde knight was booking it so fast toward Ren that he only just barely noticed that Emerald had gotten up as well, taking the opportunity to move over to the unconscious Mercury. 'Those two will have to wait. Right now…'

"REN!" Jaune slid to a stop, taking a spot behind his fallen friend. Rex was currently keeping his hands over Ren's wound, putting pressure on it to prevent any more blood from spilling out of his body. Pyrrha, meanwhile, had put her hand to Ren's wrist feeling for any kind of pulse. The knight immediately went to his girlfriend. "Pyrrha, talk to me!"

The moment he made eye contact with her though… he was stunned into silence. Pyrrha's expression could only be described as a mixture of intense worry and anguish, with two streams of tears beginning to fall from her eyes at what was happening. The Invincible Girl that Jaune knew wasn't there anymore. Now, it was only Pyrrha Nikos, a worried friend who was deeply concerned for her teammate. "Jaune, this… this is bad." she managed to choke out.

"The bleeding's not stopping!" Rex added with a similarly worried face. The EVO whipped his head to his left and called over; "Weiss! What's Nora's status?!"

Jaune's eyes bugged out. '…Nora.' He slowly craned his head over to see the usually hyper redheaded now doing nothing but staring blankly at Ren, tears already silently streaming from her eyes as Weiss tried to snap her out of it.

"No response!" Weiss said worriedly as she kept trying to bring Nora out of her shocked state. "Nora, please! We need you!"

Jaune's eyes went back to Ren as all of this suddenly hit him like a tractor trailer. Salem's forces had launched an attack at yet another of the Huntsman academies… and once again, one of his teammates had been put into mortal danger. "No… no, no, no, not again!" He reached over and placed his hands over Rex's attempting to put more pressure onto the wound. "Ren, come on, please!"

At that moment, Rex heard… a whole bunch of laughing coming from behind them. He whipped his head around to see Hog, Skull and Subdora all laughing it up as Emerald lugged Mercury over toward them, the green-haired thief being the only one not laughing. All the same, though, it managed to piss Rex off. They had just stabbed Ren, and they had the GALL to laugh? He moved his eyes back to Jaune, giving him a serious look. "Keep putting pressure on his wound, Jaune." He slipped his hands out from underneath Jaune's and he stood up, his arms glowing bright blue. "I need to go take out the trash."

Jaune furrowed his brows and nodded. "Good. Give them hell."

"That, I can promise." His jaw clenched and fists balled, Rex did an about face and marched over to the still laughing villains, who only paused when he shouted at them. "HEY! You think this is funny?!"

"But of course!" Subdora smirked. "We are ne'er-do-wells, you know."

Exo-Skull pat Subdora's shoulder lightly. "Exactly. Besides, we got some beef with that team, anyhow!" He focused over to Nora, who was still practically catatonic as she stared at Ren's barely breathing form. "And besides, I think we might've taken out two birds with one stone, hehe."

Thunderhog brushed his shoulder, as if he were brushing Rex himself off of him. "Two less punks to get in our way is alright by me."

That tore it. Rex let out a mighty yell and activated both his Bad Axes and his Boogie Pack at the same time, jetting forward the moment the massive wings erupted from his back. "FINE!" he roared as he shot at them. "Then let me return the favor!" Rex came down hard at the trio and slammed his Bad Axes down at them, the three only barely managing to clear away from him. However, the turbines on his wings suddenly repositioned and the two large grapplers shot out of them, grabbing onto Hog and Skull without a moment wasted. He knew he couldn't kill them, but he would at least leave them with one hell of a reminder to never try that again. "When I'm through with you, YOU'RE gonna be two punks we won't have to deal with for a while!"

But just as he was about to pull the cables back, Subdora leapt up and slashed her energy blade through both of them, successfully freeing her boyfriend and his best friend. "Not likely, idiota! Not if I have anything to say about—ERK!" She was cut off when she was suddenly rammed into by Rex, the EVO making her fly back right into Skull's chest. "Ugh, okay, this might be a bit more challenging than I thought."

Rex sneered and shot forward again, readying his Bad Axes for another strike. "You'd better believe it."

Just as the distance closed between them, Exo-Skull stomped up and grabbed hold of both axes, stopping them mid swing. "Sorry, pal, not happening!" he barked back. "My horn laser may be down and my weapon's outside…" He activated his jet thrusters and bellowed out; "But I'm still a goddamn RHINO!" With that, Skull burst forward, pushing against Rex's Boogie Pack in a bid for superiority. Rex added more power behind his turbines, determined to not let Skull overtake him. However, he didn't expect what happened next. "Hog, NOW!"

In a surprisingly swift moment, Skull side-stepped Rex and let go, deactivating his thrusters in the process. But Rex, wow was taken aback by the action, didn't have enough time to stop himself from careening forward, his thrusters still at max speed. Without missing a beat, Thunderhog stepped in front of Rex and slammed his mace into one of Rex's arms, effectively destroying a single Bad Axe. The pig mutant made to smash his weapon into the other one, but Rex quickly raised his axe and blocked the hit. "Really?!" Hog asked. "You're STILL fightin' back?! What the hell is keepin' you goin'?!"

Rex grit his teeth and answered; "I'll tell you what." In an instant, he exchanged his Boogie Pack for a Smack Hand and punched Hog off of him. "It's beating the ones who hurt my friends!" At that moment, he spun around and slammed his Smack Hand into something invisible, revealing Subdora as she tumbled away from him with knife in hand. "And don't think I've forgotten about YOU either!"

Subdora shook her head in disappointment. "Tsk, tsk, tsk, I am sorry to say that anger does not suit your features, robot boy." She began flipping her energy knife around in her fingers. "Perhaps I can… cut that emotion out of you."

Rex furrowed his brows and deactivated both of his builds… only to activate his Big Fat Sword a split second later. "Good luck with that."

As Rex engaged with the animalistic trio, things weren't going so well back over with Ren. It was at this point that the ninja's breathing began to slow, now unable to keep air in his lungs for any long period of time. Jaune kept trying desperately to keep his hand on his friend's wound and stop the bleeding, but whatever Subdora had hit in her stab, it was apparently something that bled a lot. 'I'm gonna hit her extra hard for that.'

If possible, though, the only thing that scared Jaune more than this was the expression on Nora's face. She just seemed… destroyed. Like her whole world had come crumbling down in an instant. All she did was stare at Ren with concern, fear, and sadness in her eyes, never removing them even for a second.

Jaune was pulled away from Nora's gaze when he heard Pyrrha speak up. "Jaune… he's hardly breathing." the redheaded warrior held down a hitch in her throat as she continued; "I… I don't know what we can do. We don't have Gwen to get him to somewhere safe, we don't have Ben to heal him with Swampfire… we don't have anything."

He could hear the helplessness in his girlfriend's voice, and it sent a painful wave of memories coursing through his mind. The image of Pyrrha pushing him into that locker came back into his mind. He thought that would be the last he saw of her, but thankfully, that wasn't the case. And now… he was face with the prospect that one of his best friends could be close to death yet again… even after he made that one single promise to himself.

"No! No, it wasn't supposed to be like this!" Jaune screamed, lowering his head to look at Ren's face the best he could. "I promised that no one else was going to die and I MEANT it, damn it! Ren, please, we can't lose you! Nora can't lose you! Please… please…" Jaune's eyes closed solemnly, sending a silent prayer to any deity that could hear him. 'Please, it can't end this way… it MUSN'T end this way.'

However, unknown to Jaune… something was happening. A white ethereal glow had suddenly started to flow from his hands, down into Ren's wound and throughout the ninja's entire body. This, naturally, was immediately noticed by both Weiss and Pyrrha, the two taken aback by what was happening before them. But what shocked them more… was the sharp intake of air that Ren took, making Pyrrha let go of his hand while Jaune's eyes snapped open in shock.

…And this was what got Nora to snap out of it.

The Pink Dynamo gasped and immediately scrambled over to her partner, screaming his name. "REN!" With heavy, ragged sobs, she grabbed the hand that Pyrrha had let go of and gripped it firmly in hers, a hopeful expression etching across her features as she began hyperventilating. She gazed down to the green ninja as he continued to take air back into his lungs, convulsing a bit as he did. "Is… is he—"

"I think so!" Pyrrha quickly grasped the other hand and found that his heart rate was beginning to pick up little by little. This made her smile reappear, though she didn't stop crying. "I—I think he's going to be okay! He seems to be stabilizing!"

"B-But how?!" Jaune exclaimed. "What's even going on?!"

Pyrrha's smile became even wider when he asked that question. "I… I think it's—"

BAM! The whole group were taken off guard when they saw Rex sail across the room and slam into a far wall, with Exo-Skull ramming into him for good measure. The Rhino mutant had since discarded the other part of his laser horn and instead settled for using his normal one, almost as if he had no problem potentially goring the EVO with it. Rex held him back, though, activating a single Smack Hand again to keep him at bay. From either side of him, though, Thunderhog and Subdora began closing in on him, their own weapons at the ready.

Weiss pursed her lips at this and stood up, gripping Myrtenaster firmly in her hand. She craned her head down to Nora and set her free hand on her shoulder. "Nora, I know you want nothing more to be at his side, but—"

"It's okay." Nora said, though her voice was practically unrecognizable without its cheery, bubbly bounce behind it. She picked up Magnhild and immediately transformed it into its hammer mode, a serious face having taken over her features. "Just so long as I get the lizard bitch, I'm in. In fact, just round 'em all up and let me take care of the rest."

Weiss blinked before nodding. "Um, yes, of course." She craned her head back to Jaune and Pyrrha, reaching down to lift the formers hand off of Ren's wound briefly. She was relieved to see that the stab wound had closed up and she gave Jaune a smile. "Whatever you're doing, don't stop."

"Trust me, I'm not about to." Jaune retorted before placing his hands back over Ren's back.

"Good." Weiss moved her eyes over to Pyrrha. "You'll be able to give them cover while Jaune does… whatever he's doing?"

Pyrrha stood tall and removed her weapons from her back, giving the heiress a resolute nod. "No one's going to even touch them."

"Excellent." Weiss nodded. "Make it happen, team." She went over and stood next to Nora, though not without giving the Pink Dynamo a side long glance. "Nora… will you be okay?"

She didn't get an immediate response, merely a small sigh from the once peppy redhead as she moved her head down. "…I will be, but not right now." When Nora raised her head again, Weiss could practically see the righteous fury behind the girl's aquamarine eyes, along with what appeared to be a small, pink glow in the middle of her pupils. "Right now… I'm angry. I want you to get those three assholes off of Rex and send him straight over to me, alright?"

It was at that moment that Weiss realized that Nora probably no longer saw Hog, Skull and Subdora as humorous punching bags. Now, she wanted them to hurt, and Weiss couldn't argue the reason why. "I'm on it." the heiress stabbed Myrtenaster into the floor again and brought forth her Queen Lancer once again, the beast letting out a loud buzzing roar. "Go get them!" Weiss commanded, which the Queen quickly followed through with.

The large, insectoid Grimm flew her way over to the four-way tussle and launched her stinger straight at Exo-Skull, knocking the rhino mutant away from Rex while also slamming him right into Thunderhog for good measure. "GAH!" The duo tumbled across the floor before coming to a halt, with Skull being the one on top of his partner. He picked himself up only to come face to face with the Queen herself. "AGH! What the hell?!"

Hog's eyes widened and he let out a rather high-pitched scream. "AAAIIIEEE! NO! No, not the bees! NOT THE BEES!"

Still taken aback by what happened, Rex slowly began to pull himself out of the wall he was bashed into. However, Weiss' voice suddenly put him on high alert; "Rex! To your left!"

Taking her advice immediately, Rex activated his Smack Hand and immediately grabbed Subdora, the Merlinisapien struggling against his grip. "Like I said, I'm not letting you get the drop on me." Belting out a mighty yell, he tossed Subdora right over to Hog and Skull, colliding head first into the former which sent them both back down in a heap.

"Rex!" The EVO's eyes widened and his head snapped over to see Nora… only to be met with an intense stare that could only be rivaled by White Knight himself. "Here! NOW!"

"No need to tell me twice!" Rex complied, running his way over to the two girls. He slid to a halt next to Nora and gave her a thumbs up. "Glad to see you're up. How's—"

"Ren's going to be fine." Weiss said as she nudged a head back over to the green ninja. "Guess who decided now was a perfect time to unlock their Semblance?"

Rex took a brief look at the scene to see a massive amount of energy flowing through Jaune's hands and into Ren, which made a smile appear on his face. "Heh, yeah, great timing." He refocused himself back to the villainous trio before them. "So, how do we handle these chumps?"

"Simple." Nora answered. "You're gonna supercharge me with that Blast Caster of yours. Weiss'll line 'em up and I'll take it from there."

Rex pursed his lips in thought. 'Well… I can't argue with a plan like that. If I did, I think she'd throttle me.' He smiled and gave her a thumbs up, the hand transforming back into his Blast Caster whip soon after. "Alright, let's do this!" The massive dynamo reappeared from his back and it instantly began crackling with a high amount of energy, which began flowing right into the whip. Rex wrapped his whip around Nora's entire body, the girl's muscles absorbing the electrical energy the moment it touched her.

Nora let out a few exerted grunts and a couple shouts as her body began absorbing the power. But she fought through the initial pain, which slowly began transforming into strength as it coursed through her. 'This is all for you, Ren.' She whipped her head over to Weiss and gave her the okay. "Weiss, do it!"

"On it!" Weiss raised Myrtenaster and ordered her Queen Lancer to; "Wrap them up!"

"What?!" Skull exclaimed before he felt the Queen's stinger slam into him again, this time latching in between the folds of his armor plating. "H-Hey! What's the big—GAH!" All at once, the Queen began flying around Hog and Subdora, pulling Skull with her as she wrapped her tether around the former two. In the end, she had managed to wrap the tether around all three of them and lifted the trio up into the air, flying around to build up speed.

"That's enough!" Nora cried out, which gave Rex the signal to free her from the Baster Caster's hold. By the time he had gotten done pouring energy into her, Nora Valkyrie was practically surging with pink lightning all over her body, the electricity arcing out in multiple directions in her vicinity. Her grip on her hammer was so tight that it made her knuckles turn white, and the pink lightning was even coursing through the hammer itself. But what was probably most intimidating were her eyes, the light blue orbs having been glossed over by pure, pink energy. Weiss and Rex could even see small arcs of electricity coming from her eyes as well. "DROP 'EM!"

Weiss quickly complied and gave the Queen her next command; "Release!" Upon her word, the Queen put on the braked and flung the trio right toward the front entrance, where Emerald and the now awake Mercury were watching on.

"W-What's going on?" Mercury stuttered as he saw Nora begin to make her approach.

"I don't know… but I think it's safe to say we lost." Emerald concluded.

As the animalistic trio picked themselves up, Skull's eyes widened as he saw the crackling Valkyrie moving her way toward them, with Hog and Subdora's faces paling in fear. "Uh… think it's too late to apologize?"

"Gee, what do YOU think?!" Hog snapped back.

Nora stomped her feet as she made her initial approach, but it quickly transitioned into a full-blown sprint, accompanied by a wailing scream of unbridled fury. "GRRAAAAHHHH!" Nora leapt up into the air, the energy flowing through her magnifying the strength of her legs by ten-fold. She pulled her arms back and sent every ounce of energy she had into her arms and straight through her hammer, making the weapon practically glow with electrical power. In a single swing, she slammed the weapon into Exo-Skull, making him bash right into Hog and Subdora… while also sending them careening through the wall behind them, putting a gigantic hole through the front of the Grand Hall. The only thing that could be heard from the trio were their screams of pain as they sailed through the air.

Emerald and Mercury could only stare at the scene, their mouths agape as Nora stood to her full height. There was still pink lightning arcing out of her, but it only seemed to be small crackles at this point. However, her eyes still had a pinkish glow to them, which was more than intimidating enough. Nora faced the two and pointed right to the massive hole she had made. "Leave… now."

"Message received." Emerald muttered as she began lugging Mercury out of the Grand Hall as fast as her legs could carry her. 'I only hope that Cinder can salvage all of this…'

Once she was gone, Nora let out a tired breath, her shoulders sagging as she dispelled the access electric power from her body. As she collected herself, Weiss and Rex ran over to her, to which she met them with a small, sad smile. "Hey guys."

"Nora, that… that was amazing!" Weiss said before enveloping the Pink Dynamo in a hug. "I don't think I've ever seen you take on that much power! How were you even able to handle all of it?!"

Nora returned the hug and let out a somewhat hallow chuckle. "Heh, I guess… I just had to, you know?" She moved her eyes up to Rex and reached over to him, pulling him into the hug as well. "And thanks for supercharging me like that, Rex."

"Hey, no problema, Nora." Rex assured. "Anything I could do to help."

"GUYS!" The three whipped themselves back around to see Jaune calling out to them, with Pyrrha having knelt back down next to him after the danger had passed. "You need to get over here! I… I think he's coming to!"

Nora felt her stomach do a flip before making a mad sprint back to her team, with Rex and Weiss bringing up the rear. "REN!" The Pink Dynamo slid down next to her friends, with Weiss and Rex couching down next to her. "Ren, can you hear me?!"

"Give him a little more time, Nora." Pyrrha advised. "He'll be a bit dazed when he wakes up, but… I think he'll be just fine."

"Yeah, I only wish this could go faster." Jaune lamented.

Weiss crossed her arms and sent him a sly grin. "How about, instead of complaining, you just be happy that you unlocked your Semblance when you did?"

Jaune's eyes widened at that statement. "My… my Semblance?"

Nora sniffled a little bit and sent her friend a grateful smile. "Yeah… how else do you think you're healing him, you big dummy?"

Jaune turned toward Pyrrha, the Invincible Girl wearing the same knowing grin that Weiss was while giving him a nod. The blonde knight then went back to his hands, only to come to a new realization. Before, it seemed that the ethereal power that was pouring into Ren was all glowing with a white color. But now, it had since shifted, becoming green instead while Jaune's hands remained with the white glow. "No… I don't think I'm actually healing him, per se. Our Aura is what heals our bodies."

Rex quirked a brow at this. "Okay… so what do you think you're doing?"

"It feels… it feels more like I'm using my Aura to amplify his." Jaune explained.

"So… you're an Aura Amp." Rex concluded. "That's pretty cool!"

Weiss' eyebrows shot up at that. "It's kind of like what Gwen does to help us heal and replenish our Aura faster…" Her eyes darted back to Jaune. "But… aren't you worried that you'll run out of Aura soon?"

"He doesn't have to." Pyrrha spoke up, bringing everyone's attention to her as she beamed at her boyfriend. She put a loving hand to his cheek and began softly caressing it. "I knew from the moment I unlocked your Aura that you had a lot of it, Jaune. I think you were always meant to have this kind of Semblance."

Jaune smiled back while leaning into her touch. "Heh, and I still believe you on that one." However, the moment was interrupted when a soft groan could be heard from below, with everyone's gaze moving back to Ren as he started to stir. "Ren!"

Ren's eyes began to open, though he still seemed to be in a bit of pain. "Urgh… Jaune? What… what happened?"

"You took a heavy hit, Ren." Pyrrha explained. "But don't worry, Jaune unlocked his Semblance just in time and you're being healed right now."

This got Ren's eyes to open just a slight bit more. "Oh… well, that's good news…" But it was then that his eyes snapped open fully, though he still seemed a bit groggy despite that. "W-Wait, where's Nora? Is she—ERK." The feeling of his hand being crushed in a vice like grip was all the answer he needed.

"I'm RIGHT here." Nora answered, a relieved sigh escaping her lips as she looked down at him. "And I took care of the idiots that hurt you." She ran her fingers through his hair to comfort him. "I'm not leaving your side for a second, so don't worry."

Ren let out his own sigh and set his head back down. "Hah, thank goodness." KONK. "Ouch! …And what was that for?"

"For not listening to me." Nora snickered. "Didn't I JUST tell you to be more careful?"

"Heh, you told me to watch out whenever I jump on someone's back." Ren retorted.

"Same thing."

"I'd hardly call it a similar circumstance—"

"Ren, honey, you're not winning this." Nora pressed further, making sure to tighten her grip on Ren's hand a bit more. "Please take the "L"."

Ren smiled despite the pain and let out a laugh. "Heh, alright, I'll be more careful. I'm just glad that you're safe."

Nora gave him a small wink. "Yeah, same." At that moment, though, she and the others began to hear loud screaming coming from outside, prompting their eyes to trail up to the giant hole she had made. As it happened, they were just in time to see Kevin spiraling down through the air in a cloud of smoke, the Osmosian shooting straight toward Viktor. "Uh… are you seeing what I'm—"

*BOOOOOOOM*

In an instant, the entire outside was now nothing but a massive explosion, one that managed to light up the inside of the Grand Hall in an orangey hue. A huge gust of wind blew right into the building, forcing the six teens to hunker themselves together to keep from blowing away. Once the wind had stopped, the group all turned back to the entrance… only to see that the entire quad was now one huge crater. They stared at it for what felt like a good few minutes before Rex broke the silence. "What the HELL was that?!"

But as he said that, a huge pillar of purple lightning shot up from the crater, prompting Weiss to stand up. "I don't know, but we'd better go find out!" With Rex hot on her heels and her Queen Lancer not far behind, the two made it to the entrance just in time to see a rather scorched Viktor having dug himself out of the crater and begin making his way toward the rest of the team.

But it was then that Rex noticed something else. "Hey, who're those four?"

Weiss followed Rex's eyes and was surprised to see what she found. "Team ABRN?! What're they—" But she cut herself off when she saw Viktor beginning to charge up power. "No time for questions! We gotta move!" She created another glyph under feet and shot forward, the Queen buzzing right behind her. She made it to the edge of the crater and pointed down into it, prompting her summoned Grimm to shoot its stinger down and stab Viktor right through the stomach, stopping his attack. At her command, Weiss had the Queen pull Viktor up and out of the crater, the Transylian landing right in front of her. She directed her eyes down toward her friends and asked;

"Alright… just WHAT in the world is going on out here?!"

…..

"Bottom floor; big doors and ancient relics." Rojo quipped as their elevator came to a stop. After a set of large, green gates opened in front of them, the four women proceeded off the lift and into the room. Though to call the place they were in a "room" was a bit inaccurate.

It was more like a huge chamber, a chasm which seemed to lead to nothing but darkness down below. The only flooring that was in the huge chamber was a platform that lead straight to the door to the Relic of Knowledge, with said platform having three cyan circles that became bigger and bigger the closer to the door they were. The circles were also connected by a straight line, and had the same symbol in each of them, one that somewhat resembled a fleur de lis. The only light to be had in the chamber was from either the blue lines that went down the elevator shaft… or from the massive tree that grew out of the stone outcropping that held the vault door. Said tree had large, beautiful orange flowers that illuminated in the dark, something that Raven couldn't help but be enraptured by. "It's… beautiful." she murmured to herself.

"Hm, it's certainly grander than Beacon's." Cinder off-handedly agreed. "I wonder what the extra effort was for?" She then sent a condescending grin toward Raven and gestured out toward the door. "Well? This is your vault. After you."

"Yeah, let's get movin'." Rojo nodded as she lugged Vernal with her. "Don't wanna waste any more time here than we gotta."

Raven sent both of them a glare before moving forward, scoffing as she did. The moment the ladies reached the first circle, however, it suddenly lit up in a bright, blue light, taking them by surprise. The light then traveled up to the last circle, finally illuminating the path. After that, something else happened; the tree's flowers began blossoming. The bright orange petals all opened up at once, with many of them falling off their homes and fluttering to the platform below. As she held out her hand to catch one, Raven couldn't help but feel a small smile tug at the corners of her lip. "Magnificent."

Rojo placed a hand on her hip while admiring the show. "Heh, yeah, almost makes you forget that we're forcin' ya to do this." Instantly, Raven's deadly scowl was back, shooting it over her shoulder to the bounty hunter. "Oops, did I let that slip?"

But right at that moment, as Raven was glancing behind her, she saw none other than Yang, Ben, Gwen and Ruby all lowering down on a platform made of mana. The moment they reached ground level, Gwen made the platform disappear and they all directed their eyes to the Spring Maiden, with Yang putting her finger to her lips. Understanding the message perfectly, Raven screwed her eyes shut and resumed her cold act, though she inwardly smirked at what was about to go down. "Whatever. So, remind me how this is going to happen."

"Hmph, that's simple." Cinder chuckled. "You're going to open the door," she gestured between herself and Rojo, "and then we'll personally retrieve the relic. You can have your pathetic welp back after."

Vernal screamed behind her duct tape covered mouth at being insulted in such a way, only for Rojo to deliver a strong punch to her kidney. "Ah, shut up an' take your lumps for a bit longer, hon." she chastised. "Words can't hurt ya, but I certainly can."

"You won't be doing either for much longer, I'm afraid." Raven commented as she turned to face the villainous duo.

Both women wore confused expressions, though Cinder's was mixed in with a bit of anger at the sudden defiance that Raven was exhibiting. "What?" the Fall Maiden hissed. "What do you mean?"

At that moment, a noticeable green flash from behind the two ladies lit up Raven's face, making the Spring Maiden smirk. "Call it a hunch." Suddenly, in the blink of an eye, Raven was gone, a black and blue blur having whipped around Cinder and Rojo and taken her away.

Cinder's eyes widened and she let out a gasp. "N-NO! It couldn't be!"

"AGH! The girl!" Rojo cried out, garnering Cinder's attention. Sure enough, Vernal was gone as well, having been plucked right out of Rojo's grasp. "DAMMIT! Tennyson! How did you even—" The duo whipped themselves around, expecting to find the Omnitrix bearer waiting for them… but instead were met with a huge blizzard of red petals blowing across their faces. "GAH! Little Red?!"

"That's right!" As quick as the petal blizzard began, it ended, with Ruby rushing back over toward her group. Once their vision had cleared, Rojo and Cinder grit their teeth as they saw Ruby and XLR8, along with Yang and Gwen. The former was giving them a sly grin while the latter three were gathered up with Raven and Vernal, the Spring Maiden holding her protégé securely in her arms on the floor. Ruby gave the two villains a toothy smirk and pointed down at their feet. "I know Nora's usually the one to say something like this, but… time to go BOOM!"

Rojo and Cinder's browed furrowed before looking downward… only for them to snap right back up again. There, right between them, were all of the explosives that Rojo had set, having been somehow cobbled together into one HUGE explosive. And the worst part? The timer had just hit zero. "Ah, shit—" BOOM! Rojo barely got out those two words before both she and Cinder were engulfed in a fiery blast, the smoke and flames obscuring their bodies from view.

After watching the explosion engulf the two, Ruby spun right around on her heel and booked it back over to the group, where XLR8 was currently working on cutting Vernal free. Ruby watched as the Kineceleran used his scissor-like hands to slice cleanly through the ropes that bound Vernal's limbs together, though from the expression that the bandit girl wore, she didn't seem to be relieved that she was being freed, more like she was freaking out. "Uh… is she okay?" Ruby asked.

"Don't worry." XLR8 reassured. "Just gotta free her legs and—" Snip. WHACK."ARGH! Hey!" Much to everyone's shock, Vernal had delivered a strong kick to XLR8's face, sending him stumbling back as she screamed in fright and tried to scramble away. But Vernal stopped squirming in Raven's grasp when Ben transformed back into his human form, the hero rubbing his slightly sore chin. "I was trying to free you, ya know."

"He's right, Vernal." Raven said as she carefully removed the tape from Vernal's mouth, allowing her to take in a few breaths. "Trust me, he won't hurt you."

Vernal's eyes darted around from Ben, to Ruby, to Gwen, and finally to Yang, though she slightly shrunk back when the blonde gave her a questioning glare. "S-Sorry." Vernal lowered her head. "I… I just panicked when I saw that… whatever that lizard thing was, and I thought we were under attack, and—"

"Woah, slow your roll there, V." Yang said with a raised hand. "Apology accepted. Just don't hit my boyfriend anymore and things will be okay." The Blonde Brawler lowered to a crouch and gave Vernal a nudged to the shoulder. "So, you good?"

"I… I think so, yeah." Vernal nodded. "…Thanks for the save."

Yang couldn't help but smirk at the hesitancy at the last sentence. "Saying "thank you" doesn't come easily to someone from the Branwen Tribe, huh?"

"Not exactly."

Gwen came forward and lowered down to a crouch as well. "Well, don't worry, we'll have you all patched up in a jiffy." The Anodite's hands began glowing and she rested them onto Vernal's shoulders, pouring a stockpile of Mana into Vernal to help heal her injuries. "This will probably take a while, so just hold still."

"Um… okay." Vernal complied before sending a confused look to the whole group. "I… I don't get it. You guys hardly even know me. Why show this much concern to someone you don't even know?"

Ruby lowered herself to eye level with Vernal, offering a kind smile. "Well, for one, you were beat up and captured by our enemies. We couldn't just let you stay like that, you know?" She then jabbed her thumb in Raven's direction. "And secondly, you're important to Raven, and the last thing any of us want is for someone so close to her to get hurt."

Vernal blinked a few times as she let that information sink in. "I… I don't know what to say, I…" But she trailed off the moment something was caught in the corner of her eye. Back where the explosion had happened, all of the smoke that had erupted from it was now swirling around, which could have only meant one thing. "Oh no."

The rescue team and Raven all snapped their heads up as well, just in time to see Cinder and Rojo emerge from the cloud of thick black smoke. And they didn't seem too happy. Rojo's cheeks were covered in soot, the bounty hunter having activated her visor to keep the smoke out of her eyes. As for Cinder, it was obvious that she was using her Semblance to control the smoke, her hands spread out wide as the particles began to superheat into multiple glass projectiles. With a scream of pure rage, Cinder sent all of the sharpened glass at the group, only for Gwen to take her hand off of Vernal for a brief moment and bring up a mana shield to block them.

Once all the projectiles broke, Gwen lowered the shield and went back to Vernal, though it was obvious that had taken a good portion of her energy. "Hah, Ben?! Now might be a good time to start phase two!"

Ben nodded and whispered; "Right." His eyes moved over to Yang and Raven. "Raven, when I give the signal, you and Yang are gonna escort Gwen and Vernal over to that door and get that Relic, 'kay? Ruby and I will keep the gals over there distracted."

"Got it." Raven gave him a thumbs up

"RAAAGH!" Cinder bellowed, her fingers clawing at her head in frustration as her eyes began to glow with her Maiden powers. "Is there ANYTHING that will get you pests out of our hair?!"

Rojo took Bloodstrike off of her back, holding the energy sword with both hands as she readied herself to fight. "How the hell did they even get DOWN here without the others noticing?! They were supposed to call us if anything happened!"

Ben smirked and stood up, placing his hands on his hips as he ushered Ruby to follow him. The Hooded Huntress obliged and brought out Crescent Rose, keeping her eyes on Rojo all the while. "Yeah, about that…" Ben pointed to his ear. "We sorta took out all their comms when you guys left." He gave a thumbs up and a wink to the Fall Maiden. "Thanks for that, Cinder. If you hadn't passed me, I wouldn't have—WOAH!" A massive fire ball flew by his head and over the ladies behind him, making impact with the large green gate. The gate itself melted on contact. "Yeesh, at least let me finish."

Cinder breathed hard, ragged breaths as her eyes dilated to the size of peas. This couldn't be happening. She had thought this whole plan up and Tennyson STILL managed to create holes in it! She knew that there was only one way to end this… and she would make sure she enjoyed every second of it. She kicked up the dust near her feet and mixed it in with the Orange Dust that was lining her clothing, gathering it in her hand in a large sphere of heat. "You think you're so clever, don't you, Tennyson?"

"A little bit, yes."

This only made Cinder grit her teeth harder. "Well then, try finding your way out of THIS!" With a masterful martial arts technique, Cinder sent he sphere of super-heated particles and Orange Dust out at Ben, the hero taken by surprise when it… landed around his feet harmlessly.

And Ruby seemed just as confused as the hero. "Uh… what was the point of that?"

Cinder's signature nefarious grin came to her face as she raised her hand. "…This." Snap! All of a sudden, the particles around Ben's feet all exploded into a giant mountain of obsidian crystal, the Omnitrix bearer belting out a pain-filled yell the moment it enclosed around him. Ruby, Yang, Raven and Vernal all stared on in shock and horror as Cinder created a huge, obsidian harpoon in her hand and chucked it at the mountain, the giant spear impaling itself through the crystal mass. Cinder immediately erupted into a fit of evil laughter at her actions, all while the color drained from the other ladies' faces. "AHAHAHA! YES! Finally, I got the better of Ben Tennyson! Now all that's left to do is retrieve the Omnitrix from his cold, dead…" She felt a tap on her shoulder and turned to see a rather worried Rojo, which immediately raised Cinder's suspicion. "What is it?"

"Uh, Cindy… did you forget that the Omnitrix has a life protection protocol?"

Gwen raised her hand. "Yeah, I was about to say the same thing."

The Fall Maiden's eyes bugged out in realization. She had let her emotions get the better of her again. '…God damn it.' She could only stand and watch as a green flash of energy shined from within the obsidian crystal… only for the structure to immediately shatter into a million tiny pieces.

Ruby used her hood and cloak to cover her from the small pieces before looking back, a smile coming to her face the moment she saw which alien Ben had turned into. "Oh… it's definitely on now."

Cinder and Rojo collected themselves before setting their eyes on the hero as well… and if possible, the form Cinder saw only made her angrier. This form… was one she was very familiar with. In fact, it was the first alien she had ever fought. "Hello, Cinder. Remember me?"

The Fall Maiden couldn't help but clench her fists as the tall, single-horned, crystalline alien stepped out of the remains of the obsidian prison he was put in, glaring at Cinder with his single, green eye. Cinder narrowed her eyes back at the alien, his name hissing from her lips;

"Chromastone."

…..

A/N: See? Told you this chapter was pretty intense. But to be honest, how else was Jaune supposed to unlock his Semblance? Now you might be wondering; "Why was it Ren?". Well, I knew it had to be someone close to Jaune for him to unlock his Semblance, so Rex was off the table. They're buds, but they aren't REALLY close. Plus, I had already prevented Weiss from getting stabbed earlier, so she was out of the picture. And finally, since Pyrrha's first life-threatening experience was stopped at the start of the story, I felt that she didn't need to go through another one. Plus, what reason WOULD I have to put her in one if she didn't die before in the first place? When it came down to either Nora or Ren, I knew that Ren would probably take the hit for Nora either way, so he ended up taking it. And to be honest, I knew a rage-fueled Nora would be able to dispatch the villains pretty quickly, so there was that to take into account as well. But all the same, Jaune has finally unlocked his Aura Amp, so there's one thing that stays true to the original Battle for Haven, albeit under different circumstances.

But it would seem that Weiss had stopped Dr. Viktor for the time being… though the doctor might not be finished yet. And huzzah! It's Chromastone again! Haven't seen him for a while… mostly because I was saving him for this specific event. It's time for Cinder vs. Chromastone Round 2! And with that said, NEXT TIME! We check back in with the team up top as a returning challenger presents itself back to them. But it seems that Weiss is MORE than eager to take up this new challenge the moment it reveals itself. Back down in the Vault, though, the battle gets underway while Raven, Yang, Gwen and Vernal make a break for the Vault. However, a certain energy vampire decides to finally make his move… and I think you can all probably guess what happens next. Thanks for reading everyone and I'll see you all next time! Stay safe out there!