Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY. It's been a while since I've typed that particular sentence.

I crouched, staring at the man in front of me. His armor gleamed in the light, just shy of blinding. Even Remnant isn't immune to the allure of the knight in shining armor. Beside him stood a girl in brown leather, a pair of pistols in her hands. Off to the right stood a girl with gray hair who was carrying a sledgehammer, and her partner, a girl in green with an urumi.

Silvester Argentum, Tanya Tanner, Isiday Farrella, and Liana Holly. Team STIL.

"Begin!" Goodwitch announced.

I immediately jumped out of the way as Tanya opened fire. Literally, her guns shot fire. And lightning. Freaking Dust users. Rebecca vanished as half a dozen copies of her sprang into being. Lily stepped behind David, her rapier spinning up. She'd met with Nyx before the match. Even I was worried about what that meant.

Silvester rushed towards David, his sword coming down to meet David's axe. A shockwave rippled out from the point of impact as the Paladin of Team Steel went up against the Giant of Team Emerald.

I heard the rattling of a chain, then promptly teleported away as the head of Isiday's hammer passed through the space I'd been occupying a moment ago. It retracted back to her and she grinned at me as I landed. I heard a noise of surprise from the other side of the arena as Liana's urumi wrapped around something in the air. A moment later Rebecca dropped her cloak as she focused on keeping the whip-sword's edges away from her skin. David and Silvester were locked up, neither side making any headway as Silvester's Semblance neatly countered David's massive strength. Meanwhile Lily was occupied keeping Tanya from shooting us all with those energy blasts from her pistols. Bullets of fire were met with walls of ice.

Isiday winked at me, then the world shifted. Crap. Time Semblances are just plain not fair. The world started tracking again a second later, but I'd been dropped out of the fight for several, and David was under heavy assault. He'd been holding his ground just fine against Silvester, but that's not hard. The guy's defense is all but impenetrable, but offense isn't his job. Isiday, on the other hand...

Right, priorities. Rebecca first. I teleported over to where Liana had Rebecca tied up. Figures Liana would be able to find her. After all, Liana's used to not being able to see her enemies. Also, maybe teleporting behind her wasn't the best idea, because the moment I appeared she jumped, releasing her hold on Rebecca, flipped over me, and kicked me into my partner. We went down in a pile, then rolled apart just before the whip came down.

There was a reason team STIL held the crown.

There was also a reason we were the challengers.

Rebecca fired a dart at Liana who promptly sliced it in half with her urumi. How she does that when she's blind, I have no idea. I ducked under the whirring flexing blade before coming up in a kick. She caught my foot with her sword and tied up my leg, holding me motionless and off balance. Which was when Rebecca fired her second dart. It struck Liana in the chest and detonated with an unbelievable racket. Both Liana and I staggered away, ears ringing from the cacophony. Rebecca rushed in and delivered a brutal series of attacks to Liana. Even deafened and debilitated, the whip-wielder put up a good fight, but the odds were not in her favor. By the time I'd managed to get the ringing in my ears to clear, Liana was down.

I glanced over just in time to see Isiday blur and her hammer smashed into David, hurling him across the ring. He fetched up against the wall, his Aura deep in the red. Three on three. Great.

Lily backpedaled to get away from Isiday and Sylvester. Now unopposed, Tanya fired bolt after bolt of energy at me and Rebecca, forcing us into dodging. Even with our Semblances, Rebecca and I were hard pressed by Tanya's barrage. Seeking shots will do that to you. Tanya had to go down. I spun into a roll and teleported to the ground in front of her. A quick tuck and roll yanked her legs out from under her as I came up behind her. Still, she's not considered the fastest shot in Beacon for nothing and I took a faceful lightning for my trouble.

I staggered backwards as Rebecca dropped out of invisibility to bring a devastating kick down on Tanya. The gunslinger caught Rebecca's boot with the blades on the bottoms of her guns, then flipped upright, kicking Rebecca in the chest in the process. My partner overbalanced and fell as I rushed in with Talon and Molnair extended. My weapons clashed against Tanya's blades in a running fight. I drove her backwards, beating away at her Aura.

Suddenly my Aura tingled and I ducked. Rebecca's limp form hurled over me and slammed into Tanya, taking both of them down. I cursed myself for losing track of the rest of the battlefield as I teleported away from Isiday's recoil-assisted sledgehammer blow. Freaking time manipulation shenanigans.

Two on two. Isiday and Silvester were still up, as were Lily and me. Great. Just great. Silvester was pressing Lily hard, forcing her to retreat again and again. She needed help. On the other hand, Isiday was probably the most dangerous member of Team STIL. The good news was that she'd burned a lot of Aura imprisoning me and accelerating herself twice.

Odds were she could still take me. Crap.

Then Lily took the decision out of my hands. A massive explosion of fire rippled out from Lily's position and covered the whole arena. Using my Aura, I quickly yanked the air around me into crude dome-shaped shield. The fire broke around my emerald-hued barrier like a tsunami breaking around a rock. When the flames faded Lily was on the ground and Isiday was plastered against the wall, her sleeves smoldering slightly. Silvester opened his eyes and lowered his sword from its defensive position. His armor looked a little scorched but his Aura was still in the high yellow. Mine was in a similar state, though I was worse off.

Silvester and I squared off.

"Lily's alright?" I asked.

"I think so," Silvester said. "I almost had her, but then she did... whatever that was."

"Scorched Earth," I said. "Lily and Nyx came up with the idea. I didn't really approve."

"Aren't you the one who's famous for blowing yourself up?" Silvester asked.

"Yeah, but that's me," I said. "She didn't hurt herself, did she?"

"She still has some Aura left," Silvester said, gesturing at the screen with his sword. I checked. Yes she did, but only just. I let out a breath I hadn't even realized I'd been holding.

"Are you ready?" he asked.

"Let's do this," I said.

Silvester opened the fight with a weapon shift. His sword split down the middle, revealing a barrel. I jumped just as a blast of white-hot plasma obliterated the space I'd been standing in. I returned fire, bullets pinging off his armor. I teleported in spun to slash at Silvester. He caught Molnair's blade on his sword before his free hand grabbed Talon's spike and pulled me in. His armored knee rose and slammed into my stomach like a battering ram. I staggered back a bit and he clubbed me over the head with the pommel of his sword. I tripped and fell to the ground, blinking away stars. My vision cleared to reveal the point of Silvester's sword hovering an inch away from my nose.

I teleported back and up, flipping in the air as I fell. Another quick teleport and kicked backwards, slamming against Silvester's back. I brought my second foot up and pushed off his back in a flip that left me standing facing him as he turned.

This was one of my worst case scenarios in planning. Isiday's probably the most dangerous member of STIL, but Silvester's all but impossible to actually bring down. As long as his Semblance is active he can't be moved without his consent. He calls it Unyielding. Combined with an Aura that gives even mine a run for the money and he's probably the single toughest person in Beacon to take out of the fight. Worse, he's all but invulnerable to any single attempt at a knockout blow. The only way to win is to grind him down until his Aura hits the red.

He had more Aura left than me. His fighting style is much better at battles of attrition than mine. I'd already lost.

But that didn't mean I was going to give up without a fight.

I dodged another blast of plasma as I opened up with my machine guns, bullets clattering off his armor. More plasma blasts chased me as I dodged around the arena. Both magazines clicked on empty and I switched to the secondary magazines. Incendiary bullets, shock rounds, and ice shots hammered into Silvester. And still he stood there, taking all the abuse I hurled at him without so much as flinching, returning fire all the while.

Finally my luck ran out. A lance of plasma struck me in mid jump. The impact hurled me onto my side as the heat punched me in the chest. I hit the ground on my side and skidded across the floor. My Aura flared in protest as I rolled to a stop. I glanced up. My Aura was still in the yellow, but only just. Silvester's Aura was about two thirds of the way to the red. I rolled onto my chest and lifted myself to my hands and knees.

Silvester's clanking footsteps filled my ears as he came over to my spot on the floor. I glanced up, expecting to see the sword that would finish the fight. Instead I saw an armored hand, reaching down to me. I looked at it for a moment, then reached out and took it. I was pulled up and placed on my feet. I looked up at Silvester.

"You could've won right there," I pointed out.

"I'm pretty sure I've already won," he said. "You fought hard. I'm not interested in ending the fight by stabbing you while you're on the floor."

"I appreciate it," I said. "You know I've won fights from this position."

"I'll take that risk," he said. "Though I'd rather you didn't destroy my weapon."

"Fair enough," I said. "I think we can call it here."

"Yeah," he said. "Good fight." He clapped me on the shoulder.

"And that's the match!" Goodwitch said. "Team STIL wins!"

"What?" I said, looking up. I glanced at the screen. My Aura was in the red. "Seriously?"

"You were about to surrender anyways," Silvester pointed out.

"Yeah, but still," I grumbled. "You beat me by clapping me on the shoulder. Seriously?"

"There are worse ends to fights," he pointed out.

"I suppose," I said. "You know we're going to want a rematch at some point, right?"

"I'll look forward to it," Silvester said.

All eight of us, MRLD and STIL, sat together for lunch. Everyone with the exception of Silvester was nursing bruises. Aura's good, but it's not perfect. I gingerly sat down with my lunch, my ribs protesting as I did.

"That was a good fight," Tanya said.

"Yeah," Rebecca said, rubbing the spot on her shoulder where Isiday's sledgehammer hit her.

"Quick question for you," Isiday said, looking at me. "How'd you break out of my time lock so fast?"

"How did I do what now?" I asked, spearing a meatball with my fork.

"Break out of my time lock," Isiday said. "That should have taken you out of the fight for half a minute. Instead you were only out for ten seconds. How'd you do that?"

"I... didn't," I said. "I mean, I didn't do anything. It just sort of happened."

"Huh," she said. "The only other person I've seen do anything like that is Teala, and she's got another time-affecting Semblance."

"Weird," Lily says. "Kevin's Semblance doesn't do anything with time."

"Not... directly," I said, thinking for a moment.

"What does that mean?" Liana asked.

"Um," I said. "Well, space and time are kind of the same thing. Sort of. It's complicated. Anyways, I already know my teleports aren't restricted by the speed of light, so, um, maybe I'm doing something with spacetime?"

STIL gave me a series of odd looks.

"Kevins Semblance has been studied by a research firm," David supplied. "He spends a lot of time talking to researchers."

There were noises of understanding from Team STIL. Oh. OH. Good catch there, David. And bad job me, not remembering Remnant doesn't really have the same degree of theoretical scientific knowledge as Earth.

"So your Semblance does affect time," Tanya said.

"Maybe?" I responded. "Would that explain what happened?"

"Probably," Isiday said. "It's the only explanation I can think of anyways."

"But I didn't do anything," I said.

"You don't have to," Isiday said. "Semblances are complicated things. Sure, there's the obvious main ability, but there's usually more to it than that. Most people don't have any idea how little they know about their own Semblances."

"I know I've learned a lot about my Semblance over the years," David supplied. "Though mine is pretty simple."

"There's no such thing as a simple Semblance," Tanya said, shaking her head. She glanced at the clock. "We should get going."

"See you later," Rebecca said.

"Later," Liana said. "Oh, and Lily?"

Lily looked up, keeping her mouth very carefully still. She had a rather colorful set of bruises on her jaw from where Isiday hit her.

"You burned favorite hairpin," Liana said.

Lily snorted, then winced in pain.

"Get better soon," Silvester said. He and his team headed off for their next class.

The four of us dragged our battered selves back to the dorm and flopped down on our beds. There wasn't much conversation, we were all too badly dented for that. I lay back on my bed and pulled out my scroll. Nyx had sent me a copy of Doctor Byss's journal. I opened the file and started to read. Just what was he up to that was worth the risk of attacking a Beacon team?

A/N: It lives! Wow, it's been more than year since I last updated. I'm sorry about that, and hopefully I'll be able to get the next chapter out faster, but I make no promises. Sorry, but I've got too much going on in my life right now to make any guarantees or even guesses as to when I'll have the next one written.

Still, it's back!