Ruby was distressed.

She was borderline manic, rushing from each pile of the rubble and calling Zwei's name. We found the pup after a couple minutes of frantic, stealthy searching though he was in quite the situation as a couple of Beowolves were stalking him while he pranced around, sniffing what he could. He appeared oblivious to us, which was fine by me as so too were the Beowolves.

"Left or Right?" I whispered.

"Both!" Ruby lined up her rifle to start shooting with a flourish, and without thinking I stuck my finger into the trigger guard, blocking her from pulling it and putting our hands in awkward contact. She-

Divines, is she blushing? That had better just be anger over her pup.

"No guns, it would draw too many of them." I whispered furiously, withdrawing my finger. Good thing, too, if she had wanted, she could have broken the appendage with a twist and flick of her weapon. Not permanently - I shuddered at that thought again - but it would still hurt.

"Then what do we do?" Ruby said pleadingly. "Most of my styles depends on counter-force."

"Does all of it?"

"No, but-"

"Then no guns. Clear?"

She pouted, and had she been of an animalistic race I'd imagine her tail would be either fluffed out or flicking back and forth with annoyance. In that way, I preferred being friends with Khajiit. At least they had to be good at lying before it ever even worked, which stopped a lot from trying despite their reputation as rogues and thieves. Something to ask Oobleck about, whether faunus have the same animalistic mannerisms.

She did not, however, vocalize her agreement. "Fine, but if we don't kill them both at the same time, then the fight will also draw more."

I frowned. "I'll do it then."

I equipped my Nevermore equipment, feeling my being shudder as it adopted the dark properties. Two Boar's Tooth's came out of my inventory. I didn't put my as-of-yet unnamed weapon away, that stayed in its sheath. Just, after last time with that Zweihander… New techniques call for disposable weapons.

With my bonuses as they now were, I leaped into the air, reaching the top of the buildings as Featherweight ran out of time. Scarcely touching the roof, I pushed off again, going ever higher. When I reached the apex of my second jump, I donned the mask.

My vision narrowed and I could see the individual strands of midnight black hair that made up the flesh of a Beowolf. I could see as if it were the middle of the day, the Grimm alite as if I had just used Aura Whisper. As I began to fall, I let loose with both swords, throwing them one after the other with all my might.

The first whistled through the air, end over end, and slammed into the left one first hilt-first, to my dismay. Recalling I'd never thrown a weapon straight down before, I quickly lost all blame I had put on myself.

Besides, the second sword speared so hard through its target that it went halfway up to the hilt into the street after piercing through its bone-mask. Needless to say, it was killed instantly.

The other was frantically looking around, sniffing, and I prepared to throw another sword before Zwei himself charged the thing, clamping down on its tail. My eyes widened; A dog would last no time at all to a Grimm!

I threw my arms out behind me and fired off Flamethrower, sending myself plunging towards the ground. As the pavement rushed up to meet me, I tucked in my legs, angled my arms, and managed to flip myself over to slam into the wolf-like beast with all the force of a cannonball. In fact,

Through pulling a risky move, you've unlocked the skill Divebomb!

Divebomb (Active, Cost 50 AP) Lvl: 1

Attacking from a height advantage, you can make a bodily attack with the power of gravity on your side. On impact, you release that energy, crushing everything around you.

100% increase in personal gravity when attacking from above

25% AoE damage

Radius: 1m per level

The result of this was messy. The Grimm frankly splattered for lack of better term, and I fell through the street as it too shattered. I fell through a dark cave for but a moment before hitting the bottom of that and crumpling to the ground. From the cracks I heard, my legs would have been broken. With how much AP I'd spent on my leap and subsequent fall, it seemed that there wasn't enough to absorb the fall. Technically, my legs were broken for a brief second until the Gamer's Body kicked in.

I still felt the pain for that brief second. The feeling of both of my legs shattering, the phantom pangs of agony as my would-be leg bones speared through the flesh, and then… nothing.. I'm not proud of it, but I lost consciousness during that time. Wether it was a status effect, or just the largest amount of pain I'd felt in this body that was so unused to it, I'll never know.

When I woke, nothing but curses ran through my mind.

I was gagged.

I was gagged.

That mean there were people down here somewhere, and that they knew what I could do with my Voice. How?

I growled in discontent. A squeak from beside me and I saw Ruby was… Tied up? My heart dropped as much as it could before the damn Mind activated. That's when I noticed I was also bound.

It says much about a man that he would notice the gag before the bindings.

I glanced around, taking stock of where we were. Atop a ruined building, but… there were no stars. Underground then. Then I saw all the other buildings, and the large railway running through the middle. On one end of the chamber lay a tunnel.

"Oh goody, you're done your nap!" A familiar voice said with gleeful sarcasm, before a felt a boot plant into my back above my tied-together wrists. My eyes went wide as I went forwards and off the edge of the building. Bound as I was, I couldn't reorient myself nearly enough to land properly. I didn't even think hard enough to activate Featherweight which really threw me for a loop.

The dusty ground rushed up to meet me as my shoulder hit it with a wet crack. I screamed through the dirty cloth, bouncing once and rolling to a stop. I could see an indent in the ground where I had hit.

I began to knash my teeth, trying to work through the material in my mouth but I was making no progress.

My heart dropped as I heard Ruby also shout out in terror, and attempted to roll over to where I thought she would land.

I missed.

She also hit the ground, bouncing once as her Aura shimmered and faded. She lay motionless, and I felt rage take over for a few seconds as a small trickle of blood crawled down her face..

Roman Torchwick - for that was who it was - jumped down himself, one hand using a rope that extended the height of the building to slow his descent. My fingers fumbled with the bindings on my own arms to no avail, so when he came over to kick me with a sadistic charm on his face, all I could do was clench my muscles as a kick impacted my stomach, sending me rolling. My HP was down to about 4/5ths, and quickly regenerating.

"Resilient one, aren't you? I've got just the thing for that." In the whirling, spinning mass of dark colours that was my vision as I bounced across an uneven concrete floor, I caught glimpse of a red projectile before it slammed into my back.

I caught the same shoulder on one of the tracks, but the pain wasn't nearly as bad as falling off of the building was. I was holding onto consciousness this time, at least.

"Tie them up real tight, and throw them on the train. How about… Fourth last car?"

Train? What trai- oh. That train. It was at the end of the tunnel. I resolved to make myself dead weight, out of spite.

I stayed limp as a couple of nameless goons struggled to lift me. I did manage to take some pleasure in it, before realizing that they were wearing the same uniforms those idiots at the port were wearing.

The White Fang.

Something didn't add up here, at all. I puzzled over it as I was dragged across the rough floor alongside Ruby. I was dragged by my legs, though they had at least enough respect to drag Ruby by the arms. Even criminals wouldn't put a girl in a skirt into an awkward situation, it seems.

I tried to mumble something through the gag.

"What? Couldn't understand you big fella." Goon One, my current method of transport, stopped, reaching down to yank down the cloth. I briefly held out hope that they could be this stupid, but Goon Two slapped his hand away.

"Idiot, when the boss says to tie them up tighter, what makes you think it's a good idea to start uniting them?"

"Take it easy, Charlie, I was just curious." Goon One said, rubbing his hand where it was slapped. Auraless, then. "Besides, what's he gonna do? Bite me?"

"Uh hello? Don't you remember that show that came on for like a month? He's the guy that was breathing fire."

Goon One had the decency to look disturbed, glancing between my gag and his slightly red hand. "How would I remember that? You know I'm a curious soul, but things don't stick sometimes, you know?"

"Oh, trust me, I know. Now, how about a bit more of the shutting up and dragging?" Charlie, if that was his real name, chastised.

My captor huffed and dragged another couple steps, muttering under his breath.

"I heard that Allen." Charlie sang. That's when I noticed the mouse ears poking through his hood. Note to Torga, remember that faunus can hear better than you can.

I felt a jolt as my feet hit the ground, being dropped abruptly as Allen whipped around in indignation. "You know what? No! I've had enough of your shit. Carry them yourself!"

Charlie let Ruby down, much more gently than I had been, then stood in front of Allen. "My shit? This whole gang business was your idea!"

"You're the one that got us kicked out of Menagerie! I could have been a Doctor, and now I'm dragging kids through abandoned subway stations. Mom was right about you."

"Mom hasn't been sober since her wedding!" Charlie exclaimed, as a wet feeling brushed across my hand. I fought the urge to flinch. Our 'escort' was still arguing, so I chanced a glance.

ZWEI? How in… What?

He licked my hand, glanced at Ruby with a quiet whimper, then nudged me.

I know, buddy, but I'm all tied up here. I tried to communicate with facial expressions, and tugging at my hand-bindings. He began chewing on them, not very accurately as I felt the occasional scrape and single points of HP go down, but by this point I was back to full so such small losses were meaningless.

"That was one time!" Charlie protested, to what I did not know.

"That's not what the nuns told the village!"

"Wait, you're counting them as a group? Okay, maybe it was a bit more than one time."

"And the mail-woman."

"You know that wasn't what it seemed like."

"And the waitress."

"What, she was cute!"

"The Judge."

Charlie held up his hands at that one. "She came onto me."

"With 8 charges of negligent parenting, I find that hard to believe."

"Believe what you want, I'm the one who got it down to one."

"No, Charlie, that would be the lawyer you blew all of our money on. After which you still fled the country, so I don't know why you even bothered."

"I didn't think the lawyer would actually lose!"

"She didn't, you went fro-"

I tuned out their bickering, checking on Zwei's progress.

There was none, as the pooch was gone. Traitor…

A sharp crack roused me from my ruminations on the various punishments for the traitorous pup, as Charlie punched Allen in the mouth. They began scuffing, as children do back home.

Seizing the opportunity to access my inventory, I started yanking things out, desperately trying to find what I wanted righ- there!

Slowly, I drew the Ice Dust into my system.

Sadly, I forgot the skill 'Dust Eater' said 'Two types of Basic or one Lesser'; I also forgot that Ice Dust was Lesser. My final, most idiotic mistake, was not realizing that while I had put the Red Dust I was working with earlier into my Inventory, I still had some Blue left over, just sitting there in case I needed it.

They interacted in a very painful way. As the more complex Ice Dust tried to enter my… Bloodstream, I think. As it entered me, it hit the Water Dust I had in me, and I could almost feel as they rushed together. I did feel myself retreat inwards as the sound of rushing blood filled my ears. A numbness crept up my right hand, the one I was using, and I desperately tried to push out the Blue into my left, but as soon as the reaction began, I had lost control.

It was around that point the pain began. It felt as if icy needles were shooting out of my veins into the surrounding body, then those needles grew needles, and after that it was a savage, ice-cold pain. Never had I felt this heavy of a chill before.

My right hand seized up, finger by finger, freezing solid. My eyes went wide and I involuntarily let out a grunt of surprise and agony. The ice crept up my arm, reaching my elbow, and I knew I had to react fast before it got to my heart or I would have a hard time of things.

I need to get rid-argh… D… Damn, that stings. How can I do this… Maybe…

I turned on my Aura, the usual invisible shield forming around me as a wavy light blue with the twinkle of snow. Then, I used Conversion for essentially the first time.

I felt my energy drain, and the pain faded, though my HP didn't.

I cut it off for a brief second, anticipating the spike of resurging pinpoint pain, then layered on Double Strike and used it again. This time, my AP drained much faster and my-

Status

Confirming it with the window, my HP was rising.

Soon enough, my body was purged of the Blue Dust, as I converted it… back into my body? The mechanics of how that should have worked and how that did work were beyond me. Although my arm didn't thaw, the pain ceased. I still felt a chill down to my very bones, as if I would never be warm again, but it didn't hurt to exist so I considered it to be a benefit. At some point, Charlie had stormed off, leaving me alone with Allen who was chattering into a short range radio while stealing nervous glances at me.

Until he was hit by an exploding fireball, and was knocked into a nearby ruin.

Cavalry has arrived! I grinned, as Yang sped around the corner, her standard purple eyes now a fearsome red. Zwei rushed along at her heels.

I breathed a sigh of relief, only now feeling the drops of cold sweat that covered my body. Now that I had time, I pulled a dagger out of my inventory and used it to start cutting through my bindings. Yang, understandably, was tending to her sister.

I freed myself in short order, then handed Yang a Potion of Healing, telling her to give it to Ruby in sips until she stopped bleeding.

"Where the hell are you going?" She spat back. "We have words to be had!"

I worked my jaw and spat onto the ground; The gag had filled my mouth with dust. "Finding the guy who did that to your sister. Words can be had later."

"So, what, you're going to go fight the whole White Fang by yourself with a frozen arm?"

"That was the plan." I shrugged and turned again towards the train. "Besides, bastard kicked me off of a roof. That's my move."

Her protests fell on willingly deaf ears.

These fools are more harmless than bandits, I decided as I dispatched my fourth without using skills or drawing my weapon. My arm had beenGood for labour, not so much for fighting. Why do we need anything more than police when they don't have Aura?

A yell from behind me heralded the fifth arrival, and I sighed as he charged at me with a heavily telegraphed punch. I didn't play around with this guy, just catching the sloppy blow.

"Go home." I said sternly. "This isn't worth your life."

"Nice try, kid! We know that Hunter's don't kill."

"You sure about that?"

He had time to nod, and look shocked before his head parted from his shoulders. I wiped my blade on my clothes to clean it, then replaced it in its sheath. Phenomenal performance, for its first use. I paused for a moment, then shifted the weapon into rifle form, figuring I might as well get some practice in with it.

Unfortunately, this fifth guard, or gangster, or thug, or whatever they called themselves, would be the last one I had the chance to fight alone.

I staggered back, gunfire peppering my Aura. There were multiple people shooting from the roofs of various buildings, but considering I was so close…

I punched a hole through the rear of the train, a car I later learned was called a caboose, and found myself face to face with a large, wire covered contraption. It didn't move to attack, so I labelled it harmless cargo and proceeded to punch the next door. This car was identical, same cargo in the middle of empty space.

Something isn't right he-whoa! The train lurched, then began moving. Where in Oblivion could we be going? This tunnel can't seriously be long enough to need a train!

I leaned over the cargo, taking a closer look. It appeared to be two holding tanks, some sort of computer, and a bunch of wires poking out in every which way. I had no idea what it could be.

Then I had to smack myself, for forgetting about one of my more important skills.

Observe.

Chemical Bomb (Disarmed)

A bomb. Further levels in Skill:Observe required for details.

"Oh." I took a cautious step back. "Oh shit."

"Oh shit is right, Mr. Tall, Blonde, and Ugly." A voice spoke from an intercom. "Why don't you hop on off? This is an express train to hell."

"Hell... " I trailed off, waiting for Roman Torchwick, for that was who was speaking, to once again speak.

"Yes, you imbecile, hell. Eternal fire and suffering, yada-yada-yada, pitchforks and doom. Y'know, hell."

"Sounds fun. How long is the trip?" I replied absently, still looking around the train car for anything useful. "More importantly, do I need a ticket, or can I get the family and friends discount?"

I could almost see the sneer in his voice. "Don't worry, children ride for free. Well, one child at leas-" The intercom cut out.

"Huh. That's weird. I guess he doesn't like me." I said to nothing in particular, seeing nothing for it but to punch through into the next cabin, where another identical bomb was waiting for me. "Alright, either these things are just easy to build, or somebody has a lot of free time."

Upon closer inspection, I could see that in between the two cylinders of liquid sat a small, glowing cube, likely full of dust, and that dust glowed with a greenish-purple hue. I hadn't seen that colour before. The train lurched again, and through my trail of destruction I saw the caboose detach.

Why would you do something like that- A couple of seconds later, the train car exploded, damaging the tunnel and sending a wave of pressure my way, causing me to stagger a couple of steps back. It also served the purpose of giving the train a bit of an extra push, and not long after that, the next car detached, leaving me in the last car.

Prompt evacuation seemed like the best idea, but my only way off was into a tunnel that would be repeatedly blowing up.

The second option was to get to the front and deal with whoever was driving this thing, and/or stop them from detonating the bombs.

To be completely honest, I gave no shits about this abandoned tunnel. I just wanted a couple for myself. Just imagine, I start fighting that Goliath again, Richard drops one of those on it from the sky, and I gain levels like it's my first week again.

Have I been skimping on the danger lately? I asked myself as I punched out the wall and leapt on top of the train.

I was not alone.

Atop the car stood the rest of Team RWBY, along with Dr. Oobleck.

"Torga! You're alive! We thought you were stuck in one of the cars!"

"Ruby, I'm fine, but there's something stran-"

"No time!" The doctor shouted, pointing his club towards the front of the train as he shouted to be heard over the roaring wind. "Enemy incoming!"

Yang grinned and shot forward, sweeping the first White Fang grunt with a spinning trip and then punching and shooting him in the face at the same time. The man's corpse fell through a roof hatch, even as Yang's face blanched.

I shot forward to intercept the next one who was raising a pistol at her. He managed to hit me twice before I sliced off his arm, then front kicked him off the edge. We had no time for this. "These men made their allegiance clear!" I shouted. "No time to worry about-" Rifle shots peppered my Aura for a brief second before Weiss raised an ice wall to protect me, one that Blake leapt over and I heard grunts and shouts of pain coming from the other side.

Dr. Oobleck took cover behind the wall with me, as the rest of the team did too. "Mr. Arc is correct. These men may not deserve to die, but right now they're running this train towards our city with bombs. If it can breach the end of the tunnel, all of Vale will be open to the Grimm!"

"Take a life to save a life." I stated. "If you can't, then stay in cover and let those of us who can take care of things do so. Just note that if you don't fight now… well, I don't doubt Blake's ability but do you really want to leave her to fight them alo-"

The ice wall shattered as Yang got her shit together and punched through it, eyes blazing red. Ruby and Weiss looked at each other in apprehension, then raced off to where we could see the aura-enhanced streaks of her weapon from the midst of a group of thugs.

"Doctor!" I shouted, as he went to join them. Zwei ran after his owner, which was understandable, though a piece of me felt betrayed. "How do we stop this thing?"

"Get to the front, pull the brake lever!" He shouted in his quick-fire way, then took off after the girls. As an afterthought, he turned over his shoulder. "Try to get clear the cars, I'll send one of the girls down to meet you!"

"It's getting too crowded up there anyways.." I muttered, making sure they were fine before I went below.

With a shudder, the car I was on detached, and I had to make a running leap and use Whirlwind Sprint to cross the gap. The roars of the Grimm behind us were audible, even through the rushing wind and the noise and din of the train.

As I landed, I threw a full power strike into the roof, punching a hole in that I dropped through. This car looked much different, as it was full of boxes and there was no bomb present. Part of me hoped that they had run out of bombs.

I heard clanging and the sound of a powered tool revving from the next car ahead, and rushed forward to make my way there.

The path was open. I was easily able to run through the train car.

Then I couldn't, and the frilly umbrella stopping me made me mad.

In the blink of an eye I took three strikes to the torso and one to the leg, then was thrown bodily back along the car to where I had entered.

My assailant, if you could call her that… No, I couldn't think like that anymore, Aura was too much of a game changer. She was dressed in a smart looking white jacket and pants, and had odd hair that was half one colour, half another. Pink and brown. Her eyes were the same way.

"Great, more colour coded let me guess, your name starts with a B, a W, or a P, right?" I grunted as I picked myself up off the floor.

She cocked her head, smiled, and twirled the umbrella around on her shoulder.
Her surefire attitude was distracting, her looks were distracting, and a lesser man would have fallen for her right then.

I just really hated that umbrella, for reasons unknown. The frills, the deceptive weakness… It is an odd feeling to feel hate and desire simultaneously, but not one I'm unaccustomed to.

"Nothing to say? Not even a 'You'll never get past me?'" I tried, to which I received a raised eyebrow. I drew my weapon, the Hunter's weapon, and briefly considered which form to use for this fight. Nothing too big, as I wouldn't have the space to use it properly and she could likely dodge anyways with our speed difference.

I pulled out the standard sword, leaving the shield in sheath form by my side. I needed to feel this woman ou- I had to get a hold of her c-

I needed to see how she fought. There you go, good brain.

"So." I started, circling her as widely as I could within the confines of the car. She seemed quite content to let me, though her umbrella never stopped spinning over her shoulder. "You don't look like a faunus."

She began to grin, and I leapt forward in that moment, unleashing a flurry of blows. An overhand right, redirected, into a horizontal left which was dodged. I swung through with my momentum, shifting it into the harpoon form as I spun and sweeping along the floor. She gracefully backflipped out of the way with such precision, I had no doubt she was currently in control of the fight.

I launched the harpoon as I spun the weapon once over my head, trying to hit her with a Lash. She barely moved, smacking the speeding projectile just slightly to the side and grinning as it stuck into the wall behind her. I let go as I hit the retract trigger, sending the sword flying at her. I had no time to see her dodge of deflect, as I was upping out the shield. With it held sturdy in front of me, I did what I do best.

"Wuld!"

I felt a satisfying impact as I collided with her, and saw the brief shimmering of a pink aura before she flipped and somehow used the maneuver to kill her momentum. My sword was firmly stuck into the wall and my shield, while still a usable weapon, could not further transform without the blade.

Her grin had departed her face, and the umbrella was folded. A dull needlepoint protruded from the tip, and as she noticed me staring, she gave a little squeeze of the handle and a spray of liquid erupted from the end. The liquid began sizzling away at the metal floor of the train, convincing me to keep my distance.

With a snarl, I flung my hand out and went through the motion of releasing a Flamethrower.

Instead, an Ice Spike spell shot out of my hand, and I saw my Dust Battery deplete the slightest amount. I kicked myself for forgetting about it, resolved to check the new skill when I had the time, and began throwing Ice Spikes as fast as I could. The oddly coloured girl regained her smirk, and walked seductively towards me with half-lidded eyes, deflecting the spears of ice as if she were idly twirling her umbrella.

I grit my teeth and prepared to Shout again.

"Fu-"

Again, in the span of a binked eye, she was in front of me, and I felt my body penetrated multiple times over, even as a burning began to spread through my veins. I had no time to react as the tip of her umbrella entered my throat 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8- Enough!

You have gained the status effect Poisoned!

I saw my HP drop, and then stay where it was. With eyes wide I tried to bash her away with my shield, but that too was just deflected out of the way and the onslaught continued. I had around 15 points of Ice Dust left, so small bits of frost began to accumulate on my armour and the ground, though it had no effect on her weapon.

Luckily I was saved by the fiery blonde of Team RWBY. Not intentionally of course, she was flung clear through the car ahead of ours and flew bodily into my opponent.

"Yang! You alright?" I called out, hoping to the Divines that I wouldn't have to fight this girl and the hulking brute walking through the door with… A chainsaw sword?

"I'm fine! Asshole won't let me get close enough!"

I thought back to one of our classes together in Beacon. "Take a breather then go after the girl, I can deal with him." Yang was much faster than me, and every hit she took made her stronger. If she can stay away from the poison, it will easily become her victory. I, on the other hand, have more than enough experience fighting sword-wielders.

The pink girl removed herself from the remains of a box as weapons clattered to the floor. Pistols, rifles… Useful things against the Grimm, or civilians, but not so much against criminals with unlocked Aura. Ozpin, what the hell are you thinking keeping this to yourself…

"Deal with me, can you?" The giant faunus snickered as he hefted his sword. "How do you plan on doing that, blocking me to death?"

"Something like that, I guess." I answered, putting my shield back at my side and bringing out a Boar's Tooth. I had something like three of them left, as they'd been much harder to make after I lost access to the Omni-Foundry at Beacon.

"Fancy trick. I've always wanted to kill a Huntsman. I guess a little runt like you will have to do!"

With that, the battle kicked off.

Put simply, the woman was out of our league. Maybe with her own team-mates and being able to use their coordination, Yang could have stopped her. As it stood, the woman and the White Fang Lieutenant, for that's what he was, were a formidable team. He would keep Yang busy, and the woman would riddle me with holes. Every attempt to get past her ended up with me on the floor and taking more damage. I'd already had to chug back a health potion, leaving me with only one left.

When it was me against the brute, though, that was a different story. He was strong, and decently fast… But I was able to outright block his hits once I had gotten the other part of my weapon back. I resolved not to lose it again. The white blade was in its greatsword form, and I was thoroughly enjoying this part of the fight.

"Just… let… me.. hit… you!" Each word was backed up by a savage blow, though very untechnical ones. Overhand left, overhand right, stab, spin-slash, stab. A basic offensive combo that even a boy without a teacher would eventually teach himself. Luckily, I had a few teachers in my day that tore apart that very same self-learned combo like a stone through wet parchment.

So counter it I did. I ducked under the first and spun low under the second, pivoting and spinning back to avoid the thrust. When he began his spin, I strafed to end up to his right when he let out the final stab, and from there it was as simple as shifting my blade to serrated and dragging it along the backs of his legs. As the first intended and true hit I'd landed on him, it would have benefitted from my Ice Aura, had the woman not stabbed me enough times to deplete it. I was Dust-less at the moment, and it showed when instead of hamstringing the fellow, it just tripped him.

With a Snake flourish, I whipped my blade around and stabbed it down into his arm. This time the strike was true, and pierced right through his Aura, arm, and a good portion of the floor. To ensure he wouldn't move, I shifted the blade into Hammer form, then stepped back as he howled in pain.

"There," I answered, "That's how I'm dealing with you."

I turned to see what was happening with Yang, and received a kick to the jaw for my troubles. My HP was still not regenerating, though it was safe behind a wall of Aura Points. Which, themselves, were at around half.

You have levelled up! You have levelled up!

With a grin I saw my AP and HP shoot up to full, and a second wind flow into me. Yang was floored, though breathing. It would seem I had nicked one of the Lieutenant's major veins, because he was unmoving in a pool of blood. If I could get Yang up, then we coul-

The woman frowned, then raised an eyebrow. With a blink, her eyes switched colours and then she was upon me.

I had no weapon, nothing between myself and her lightning fast needle. She seemed to be out of poison, but my AP was still dropping faster than I could manage, and I wasn't able to do more than twitch before I was struck again, and again. I was hit repeatedly, at times it felt like there was no break between strikes and she was somehow managing to hit me twice at once, until she finished off her ridiculous combo with an impressive throw that placed me prone next to Yang.

What do I have that I can use… 20 Status points might help me catch up with her, but it would be wasted if it didn't work so that can be a plan B. I have a shout point but I may need that later, and besides, which shout would I even go for? Dragon Aspect wouldn't help, because she's still too fast, Elemental Fury might do something, though with as much as Aura helps, I'm already operating on that level. I have a few Dust types in my inventory.

That's it!

"Are you having fun yet?" I groaned out as I got to my feet.

The woman glanced at the corpse of her comrade, then scowled at me.

"Oh, I guess you don't like combat. Why fight then?"

She threw her arms out as if to gesture Um, duh?

"Right, right. No talking. Look, Miss Nameless Mute, there's two ways that this can g-" I received a kick to the head, then.

"Rude." I said from the ground, feeling my face where the kick had connected. I'd dropped my aura when the impact had hit, meaning I took damage to my HP but my AP was steadily rising. "I was going to try and make a deal with you."

Her steps faltered for the briefest of seconds and I took the opportunity to slowly roll onto my side, with my hands behind me. I began absorbing all of the yellow Dust I had left, and felt the tingle of electricity in the core of my being. I felt a desire- no, a need- to start moving and clamped down on it, continuing to absorb until Dust Battery read completely full. I continued talking to distract her from the relatively quiet and not very showy process. Without my Aura on, she shouldn't be able to notice a difference.

"So, I happen to be starting up a little thing. We need good fighters, and I'm certain both you and that orange-haired fellow fit the bill. We pay well, no relation to the Hunters, and all we're trying to do is beat the Grimm back into the sea. I'm on your side, in that way, because I doubt you want the Grimm to win."

An intercom blared to life. "You really are a daft one, aren't you? Have you forgotten what's happening? She's mute, not bloody stupid. Neo, finish those pesky children off and get up here, I've got company."

She grinned, and in a slow protracted manner drew a deadly sharp dirk from the handle of her umbrella.

"Fuck it." I grit my teeth, activated my Aura, then absorbed Green Dust with both hands.

The reaction was infinitely immediate. Wind started whipping through the train car faster than it had before, as my skin started to crackle and pop as electricity was loosed from my body. The pain, much more deep than when I had mixed the Water and Ice Dust, was like being struck by Nora's hammer at full power on each vertebrae a thousand times a second. My back arched and I probably would have screamed if my jaw wasn't clenched shut. As quick as the pain was coming, I was dismayed to learn that the Gamer's Mind couldn't dull it.

I was no stranger to pain, though.

I forced the Dust in, I made that Dust my bitch and was barely aware of the rapid levelling of my skill, Dust Battery.

Skill: Dust Battery has reached LVL100! Mastery Achieved!

Dust Battery (Passive/Active)

A skill only available to those with a predisposition towards dust, this skill allows the user to take Dust into their body to either store the Dust, or to activate it in the way of the ancients. Can absorb any 2 Basic or 1 Lesser Dust Type.

Grants Dust Bar

Dust Capacity 0/250

Evolve Skill?

"Y-y-y-y-eeesssss!" I shouted as loud as I could, which must have looked incredibly strange from either Yang or Neo's point of view.

Then, it all stopped.

Not just the pain, but the downward plunge of the dirk, the wracking electricity crackling from my skin, the breath coming out of my throat.

Skill Evolved!

Skill Dust Battery has been removed! Skill Dust Factory Acquired!

Dust Factory (Passive/Active) Lv1 (Cost:50 AP/Unit of Dust produced)

A skill only available to those with a predisposition towards the body storage technique, this skill is the next step in the progression of the art of Ancient Dust.

Dust Bars: 3

Capacity: 200 (+3/level)

Combination: 2 Basic, 1 Basic + 1 Lesser.

I understand, now.

Dust Battery was never the final skill. Even inferring from this, Dust Factory isn't the final skill either, I guess I just… forced it?

My plan was to gather a Wind aura to push her back, then see if I couldn't shoot lightning at her in the same way that I used Flamethrower to create Ice Spike. I could have done this without filling up the Battery; In hindsight, my idea was stupid. Luckily I have the VIT to just shrug off the actual damage but the feeling… that, I'll be remembering.

Three bars, lit up at the top of my vision. The one on the right was depleting, the one on the left was depleting, my AP was depleting.

My HP remained where it was.

The center bar was slowly filling up with a dark green colour flecked with gold. It was at about a quarter before I ran out of either of the other kinds of Dust, but everything was still slow. The dirk was falling slowly towards my face. I could see Neo's eyes wide, frantic, but not looking towards me. No, she was changing her trajectory and moving backwards, sailing through the air at such a slow speed that I was standing before she touched the ground again. This new dust…

"Observe"

Acceleration Dust (Lesser)

Accelerates natural processes. Useful for growing food, scientific experiments, and creating the perfect slow-cooked ribs in minutes.

Oh-

Now I knew what to do.

My shout point went where it went, and my mind never once thought that what I was about to do would be a bad idea.

"Tiik!"

The world shattered around me.

A/N: My loyal, and occasionally not so loyal readers.

Enjoy the next 7k. I'm going to be honest, getting Torga into a fight against someone clearly more skilled and faster than him has been an issue from the start. The issue with combat is that even if you're fast enough to keep up with combatant A, and Combatant C can keep up with you, doesn't mean combatant C can keep up with A. A can beat C, but not B, or C can beat B but tie with A, while B can't actually beat either of them. It's hectic.

On top of that, when blades are involved, the times are measured in milliseconds. Torga is sitting pretty at abou-

Actually, here! Have the stat block!

Name: Torga

Age: 17

Level: 27

Race: Human

Title: Dragonborn

Status: Healthy

XP: 36.95%

HP: 2290 (2519)

AP: 737 (810)

STR: 25 (47)

VIT: 50 (94)

AGI: 14 (30)

INT: 25 (27)

WIS: 51 (56)

LUK: 10 (11)

STAT: 20

As I was saying, he's sitting at around 30 AGI.

Just for reference, let's say that Aura-less humans cap out at STR=15, VIT=20, AGI=15, INT=30, WIS=50, and LUK=100.

So, where do you guys think I should put Torga's stats, and why? Keep in mind that his physical skill boosts are from Aura points, though the original skill plays more of a part than the Aura does. He could just dump INT and have massive stats. Thus, my math works to prevent that from being the best option. Shout-outs given to anyone who can decipher what boosts are having what effect on his skills, because if you can deduce that I'll let you have a character in the story. Torga will be needing recruits, after all, and I don't want to try and come up with all of them or they'll be bland I think.

Note that Acceleration Dust is not the same as Time Dust. I assume ACC is like when Weiss uses her Glyphs with the clock, whereas Time is Ozpin vs. Cinder style utter and complete domination over multiple aspects. Assuming time is a railroad, Acceleration is just your throttle, whereas true Time Dust just makes it so that your train can fly and move sideways too. It won't be heavily abusable, but it will be abusable, especially now that T can make it himself with enough Wind and Electricity dust. Money issues=solved!

My own issues, as an author, are a bit more complicated. I'm going away for a month. Hiatus from publishing is gonna happen, but not from the story. Seriously, I'm already typing up the next chapter, so don't get too depressed! If it makes you feel better, every skill I've given Torga will evolve if he uses it enough, and the effects are planned. It's tough writing a game, and then a story that takes place within that game, but gods-damned I'm having a blast with this.

Remember, All the World's a Game, and all the men and women need to look out for cheaters.

Keep it wonderful, guys and gals,

~HHR