A/N: And I'm back with another chapter. Who's happy!? "cricket noise". Right, sorry for not working on this one due to CERTAIN other stories I've been working on. And it doesn't help that this arc is like halfway through. I really need to set my priorities straight. In any case, hope you enjoy the chapter and hopefully you don't have to wait another six months to a year for the next one.

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters from the anime, manga and games they are from. They all belong to their rightful creators. The OCs that appears in this story belongs to me.

Seven Heroines

Chapter Fifty Five: Personal Goals

In a cave located on a cliffside, one of the two Faunus individuals was pacing around while the other was just sitting on the ground with her eyes closed. The one who was pacing gave a frustrated groan. "Where the hell did that bitch go?! We take our eyes off her for one second for our rest and the next, she just goes up and runs out on us!"

The second of the two was rather calm, unlike her companion. "Perhaps instead of complaining about it, why don't you go search for her Bouquet?"

Bouquet stopped paced and turned to the other girl while giving her a glare. "Because, Himari, I don't know which kingdom she went to. There are only two obvious ones and I don't know which one she went."

Himari still didn't what the problem was. "You can just track her by scent. Did you forget that already?"

The other Faunus girl scoffed a little at the catgirl. "Trust me, I'd be doing that already but you know how her kind is like. Tracking them isn't as easy you think, even with an enhanced sense of smell. Besides, she must've planned this. The whole time when we were traveling, she kept her distance from us so she was aware I would track her down when she did this."

Himari opened one eye to look at Bouquet. "Whatever she has planned, I'm sure it's on the orders of Lady Rias. Her goal has to coincide with ours for whatever that goal is."

Bouquet was still wondering about that. "The only question is what her end of the deal is. We were never told that." She walked up to the exit and saw the sun was going down. "I don't have time to deal with this. Sooner or later, she'll come back for whatever she's doing. I'm not waiting any longer." She turned around to face Himari. "Don't you have something do too?"

Himari closed her eye once more and sighed. "I'm biding my time until tomorrow. Until then, I'm staying here."

That was the incentive Bouquet needed to know and turned away from her companion. "Fine by me. In the meantime, I have a certain bitch I'm dying to reunite again. See ya later." She jumped out of the cave entrance.

Himari took note of the last words the other Faunus girl had said before her departure. "Reunite, is it." She opened her eyes and looked down to stare at her hand while her other one gripped her sword tightly. "I've waited three years for this reunion. I can wait one more day. I can wait for you, Blake."

B

A hooded cloaked figure was standing in front of one of the Gallate's walls and was looking up at the top of it. All she thought was how amusing it was to her. "So they think this wall is enough to keep out the forces Lady Rias has at her disposal. How cute." She crouched down and propelled all the way to the top of the wall. She landed without a hitch and turned around to briefly enjoy the view. "What use are these if I'm able to make it through here easily." She turned around to face the city off in the distance. "Now let's see if that brat is here." She jumped off the wall and made her way to Gallate. While doing so, she remembered the conversation she and Rias had before embarking on this little quest with Bouquet and Himari.

F

"Why do you want me to go along both Bouquet and Himari?"

Rias smiled at her while sitting on a throne while two girls wearing nothing were fanning her. "You see, Gallate and Biscotti will be having their anniversary festival so I decided it might time for Himari to return from whence she came. Bouquet has her own reasons for going to Biscotti."

She still didn't understand her queen's motives. "But what does that have to with me?"

Rias chuckled lightly. "During this war, it's important to study each of your opponents and what their routine is. One, in particular, is Himari's dear old childhood friend who pays a visit to her 'grave' for the last three years ever since my attack on Gallate. Himari herself requested I would keep tabs on her and let her know how she's been doing since that time. What's more is that the one you're looking for just so happens to be on the same team as her."

Hearing that caught her subordinate's attention. "Is that so? So if this friend is on the same team as her…"

"Chances are this girl you're looking for might be there. I can imagine Himari's friend's teammates would be curious about this year ritual and would investigate." Rias studied her subordinate's eyes. "If I'm correct about this, your kind can sense each other when you're in a close enough distance. Would it apply to the person you're searching for?"

She chuckled at the question. "Of course. She is one of us even if the brat is a half-breed. She may have escaped me once but I will make sure that will not happen again and this time, no one will stop me."

Rias was very glad to hear that kind of enthusiasm from her subordinate. "Good. Himari and Bouquet will be leaving soon. It would be wise you'd prepare for the journey and my only order for you is to pursue your person of interest. You will not interfere with Himari's agenda since this is very special to her. Do I make myself clear?"

Her subordinate kneeled before Rias while her head was lowered. "As you wish, Lady Rias."

F

She landed on the tip of a spire on a building so she could have a clear view of her surroundings. She looked down to see all the festival activity the Faunus of Gallate were partaking in. "Look at them. They're quite enjoying themselves. They might as well for what time they have left because after what Lady Rias has planned…" She stopped from speaking of that particular topic anymore. Right now, she only had one objective to fulfill. However, already she encountered a problem. She scanned the whole area and narrowed her eyes. "We already would've sensed each other by now." She growled a little at that small fact. "Don't tell me she's not in the vicinity of this damn place. If not, then where the hell-" It was then something came to her. "Could it be... she's in that other kingdom? But then why would she be there?" She groaned at the predicament she's in now. "If she is there then I sure wasted my damn time getting to this place." She sighed to herself to calm down. "Relax. It's not as if she's out of my reach. I'll simply go to the other kingdom and this business of mine will finally be over with."

She was about to leave when something, in particular, caught her interest off the corner of her eye. She focused her sight at the direction she turned to and saw her next target. "What do we have here?" She jumped off the spire and went over where her new target was for a closer observation. She was aware the Faunus could sense danger as that's their natural instinct so she had to hide her presence. She landed on a nearby rooftop and smiled at the group she was overlooking. "It's strange to see a bunch of humans in a place like this. Especially her. Judging from what Lady Rias described from before, there were two girls that caught her interest. One is silent with clear blue eyes and other with long brunette hair with green eyes. I never expected to see them here but it seems my coming here was worth it after all." She continued to look at IF and the other two heroines along with Yang, Coco, and Velvet all having fun at the festival.

B

Over at Biscotti, Erza and company were enjoying the festival as best as they could. However, they were on guard for whatever Rias has planned. Despite Aisha enjoying the festival herself, she couldn't help but feel a little anxious. "Is this really the right thing for us to do? I mean we're taking this so lightly even though there's the risk of an attack."

"It's not healthy to dwell on such things." Aisha turned to Erza who was enjoying a few strawberry cake pops. "It's true we have to be on guard but there's nothing that says we're not allowed to enjoy ourselves in the meantime. When and if whatever happens, we'll be ready at a moment's notice." She quickly ate one of her cake pops whole and squealed in delight. "So good!"

Aisha chuckled lightly as she admitted Erza had a point. If she continued to worry about such a thing, she'll age a little faster than usual which was something she would rather not have. Aisha looked at the busy crowd of Faunus who seemed to be enjoying themselves as well. She was wondering about something. "How do you think the others are doing?"

Erza ate another cake pop and thought about it. "They should be doing fine. We did split up into groups to cover more ground."

The other heroine hoped so. She had a slight worry about one particular group. "I hope Jo and Rock are getting along with those other girls from Queen Alita's group."

Erza didn't seem too worried at all. "If I remember right, Jo wanted to go along with them because of their particular weaponry. I admit I'm curious myself. In any case, they should be getting along just fine." Aisha hoped so that was the case. "Let's keep moving." Both heroines continued their patrol.

B

In the forest near the festival grounds, the second group comprised of Jo, BRS, Ruby, and Weiss were gathered together with some business of their own. That business was Ruby bringing out her weapon and suddenly transforming it into a giant scythe. She displayed her mastery of her weapon by twirling it around while moving her body along with her weapon before impacting the front end of the blade into the ground. The way she showed off her weapon reminded Rock of someone she knew who used to wield a scythe and that's what was slightly painful to her. Ruby smiled at the two heroines. "What do you think?"

Jo didn't show it but she was very interested in the large scythe Ruby had. "Honestly, pretty badass."

Ruby smiled at the compliment and thought to sweeten this a little more. "If you it's cool now, it also doubles as a high-end sniper rifle." She cocked her weapon which made a sound Jo was very familiar with.

Jo was liking the weapon more now. "So you have a scythe that doubles as a sniper gun. I can imagine how much damage you do with something like that. How'd you get it?"

"I built it." Ruby replied.

Jo was surprised to hear that answer. "Seriously?"

Ruby nodded at the other girl. "And her name is Crescent Rose." Jo thought it was weird that the younger girl gave her weapon a name but then again, she used to pilot a giant robot called Django.

Weiss decided to take over the explanation. "Remember what Brioche said about Forland having the most artillery? This is what she was referring to. Forland manufactures custom-made weapons such as this and there is a variety to choose from." She drew out her rapier to present as an example. "Not all weapons do come with the gun esthetic. Mine has a rotating dust chamber that can perform various attacks depending what dust is in the chambers."

Jo raised an eyebrow at one particular subject. "Dust? You mean that stuff that collects on a lot of things not used in a long time?"

Weiss sighed and shook her head. "No, that's different. Dust are a certain kind of stone that have different elemental properties and they're quite abundant in Forland. All of our weapons can utilize them in different ways depending what weapon you're using. In Ruby's case, she can shoot bullets comprised of different kinds of dust. With me, it attacks with what dust I have in my chambers. Are you following me so far?"

Jo seemed to understand the most of it. It did involve weaponry. "You use these dust things to pretty much beat the crap out of your opponent with your weapons."

The answer seemed good enough for Weiss. "A crude way to summarize but basically yes." She put her weapon away.

Ruby lifted her scythe and reverted into its gun form to place it behind her lower back. "What kind of weapons do you use? I mean we saw that one girl, Erza, I think, use different kinds of armor and weapons and that other girl used different weapons too."

Jo lazily remembered the kinds of weapons her companions used. "From what I know, a sword that uses lightning, two handheld short swords things, and a spear sword."

Weiss was unimpressed with the other girl's description. "Really? You could've gone into more specifics."

Jo just shrugged at her. "That's what they are. And her…" She glanced over at Rock. "She uses a sword too and one giant ass cannon."

Ruby became interested in that "Really? Can I see it?" Rock looked back at Jo and she nodded at the silent girl. Rock took that as permission and looked back at Ruby while extending her hand in front. In the next second, she materialized her Rock Cannon in front of Ruby. Already she had stars in her eyes. "That's so awesome!" She quickly inspected the weapon closely all over. "This is really awesome! How does it work? What's the rate of fire? How much damage and range can it do?"

Jo didn't know what to say about this particular scene. The only other time she's seen someone this enthusiastic about something was a certain young girl she knew who was into computers. "Ruby's a weapon enthusiast in case you couldn't tell." Weiss explained.

Ruby stopped her frenzied inspection as Rock dematerialized her cannon and Ruby turned her attention to Jo. "Oh yeah. What do you use."

Jo just pulled out her guns to show her. "Desert Eagles. They're not fancy like the other weapons but they always come through for me."

The younger girl gave the heroine a small smile. "That's cool. Doesn't matter what weapon you have as long as you can depend on it."

Jo looked at her guns closely. "Depend on, huh?" She remembered all the fights she had to go through using Django.

"Is everything alright?"

The gunslinger had her train of thought broken and looked straight at Ruby. She put her guns away as if nothing bothered her in the first place. "Yeah, nothing's wrong." Jo turned away from the rest of the group and looked at the direction where the festival was. "Let's get back on track of what we were doing." Jo proceeded to walk over to where the festival was. The other three girls just looked at each other for several seconds before following the gunslinger back to the festival.

B

Touka had never thought she would have this kind of day when it started. First, she and Karura met with the seven chosen heroines, then they went on their separate paths for the first time in a long time, and then not only she met the Brioche D'arquien but also both the queen and archqueen. And now, she was walking around in the festival with Brioche with her now graduated pupil Yukikaze who was a little ahead of them. Whether it was fate or coincidence, she'll have one great story to tell Karura. "Touka, was it?"

The Evenkurugan's train of thought was broken and turned her attention to Brioche who was smiling at her. "Uh, yes?"

The other Faunus woman chuckled lightly at Touka's reaction. "I would like to ask you how is it that you were able to meet Aisha and the other heroines. It seems quite odd even for an Evenkurugan to be traveling with them."

Touka chuckled awkwardly at the question. "We first met on the boat traveling to Flognarde with a companion of mine so it was purely coincidental. She went with the other group headed to Gallate."

Brioche became interested in knowing more of Touka's companion. "Oh? I never expected an Evenkurugan to be traveling with another. She must be quite the warrior to gain your respect. What's her name?"

Touka didn't mind telling Brioche. "Karura. She's a tiger Faunus who wields a massive sword. Five people couldn't carry it but she could with ease."

Brioche wasn't too surprised that a tiger Faunus was capable of such a thing but was still interested nonetheless. "I'd like to meet her. I would also like to see how she would fair in a fight. You as well. I would like to test myself fighting against you."

The Evenkurugan was surprised to hear that. From Brioche, no less. "Even if it's against you, I would gladly take up that offer. It's not every day I would get challenged by Flognarde's strongest."

Brioche was feeling the same way. Unfortunately, they couldn't fulfill that wish just yet. "I can say the same about you. It's a pity we're in a situation like this."

Touka hadn't forgotten about that. "Indeed. For now, it's best to be on our guard for whatever comes our way." They both saw Yukikaze enjoying herself buying various trinkets from the booths and smiling. The Evenkurugan was a little curious about the fox Faunus. "So how is it she became your pupil?"

Brioche smiled sadly as she remembered the first time she encountered Yukikaze. "She was but a small girl when I first met Yukikaze. I found her lying unconscious near a large rock in the forest while I was passing by. Her forehead was bloodied and so was a small part of the rock. There was also a hill behind her so I assumed she must've tripped and fell and hit her head on the rock. I took Yukikaze with and nursed her back to health. It took only a day for her to regain consciousness and I asked her a few questions. What was strange to me was that she couldn't remember anything before hitting her head or what she was doing in that area. Just her name. When she was well enough, we came back to the spot to where I found her and I investigated the area a little more but couldn't find anything. Since Yukikaze had nowhere else to go, I decided to take her in and train her. Several years later, I encountered my next two students, Blake and Himari, at a small village in Gallate. Like before, I was just passing through when one of them tried to steal my wallet. The rest after that was as follow. I took them in as well, trained them, then Rias' attack happened and not only I lost Himari but Blake decided to leave when her training wasn't complete. Only Yukikaze remained and she was the only left. I suppose it's some kind of twisted circle now that I think about it. I started with Yukikaze and now, it ends with her."

It seemed life dealt a cruel hand to Brioche. She saved innocent souls only to lose two of them. They saw Yukikaze running toward them with an item in her hand. "Mast-I mean, Brioche." She stopped in front of the Faunus women and presented the item to her former master. "Look."

Touka examined the item closely. "It's a bracelet." And it was a beautiful one with amethyst stones embedded into the metal with small chain links connecting the entire object.

Brioche smiled as she guessed it was a present. "It's quite lovely. May I know why you're it to me?"

Yukikaze chuckled awkwardly while smiling at the other Faunus woman. "It's sorta like a thank you present. For everything you've done for me. I know it's not much but-"

"It's fine. Thank you, Yukikaze." Brioche reached for the bracelet and gladly took the present. It was that moment all three felt a strongly immense power. It lasted for a brief second before going away. All three were now on guard while locating where they sensed the source. "You felt that, didn't you?"

Touka was on edge and was almost reaching for her sword. "Yes but only for a second. Why hasn't anyone else notice?"

Yukikaze looked around and it seemed no else was reacting to what they felt earlier. "It doesn't seem like it."

Brioche figured out why they weren't. "That power was directed at us. Someone wanted to be known by us for what purpose, I don't know." She looked at a direction to where she thought where the power came from. "Whoever they are, they made themselves known. I hope I'm wrong but it may be…"

Touka could guess the rest of what the other Faunus woman was going to say. "How though? They couldn't have gone through without raising alarms."

There many questions with no time for answers. They had to come up with a plan of action and Brioche had one. "Touka, Yukikaze. Run back to the castle and tell the guard. I will pursue whoever this and send a signal of my location once I caught up with the enemy. I'll hold them off until reinforcements arrive."

It was a sound plan but Touka had an offer. "How about I come with you? We'll stand more of a chance?"

Brioche shook her head. "I respect you as a warrior but I can't take any risks. We fully know who the enemy is and what they're capable of."

Touka didn't like she got the short end of the stick but would respect Brioche's decision. "Very well. We'll head to the castle now. If we see any of the other groups, we'll let them know."

The other Faunus smiled at the plan. "Good. I'll be heading off now."

Yukikaze glanced at her former master. "Good luck…Brioche."

They went running off in their separate ways. Brioche followed to where she and the others sense the power. "Even if it was only for a second, I'm sure whatever I sensed was coming from this direction. They must be running if they know I'll be chasing them." Brioche went out of the festival grounds and into the forest beyond. She could still follow the aura trail the perpetrator was leaving behind. The Faunus woman underestimated how swift her target was. The chase lasted a little more than Brioche wanted it to and the sun was setting on the horizon. The dark shadows of the trees made it more difficult to see but didn't impede on Brioche to continuing to pursue her target. Finally, Brioche was sensing she was getting closer to the source of the power. She finally arrived at a large circular clearing near the wall and saw and a single figure at the opposite end. A distinct feature Brioche noticed were the animal ears her target had that were very familiar to her. "She's a fox Faunus like Yukikaze?" She narrowed her eyes at the suspect. "Identify yourself, immediately."

All Brioche heard was a groan. "Damn, and here I thought Yuki would be the one chasing me but instead, I get you." She turned around and stared directly at the other Faunus. "On the bright side, you and Yuki seem close." She chuckled darkly at the fact. "I suppose this works out for me too considering how much she's fond of you, Brioche D'arquien."

Brioche wasn't surprised her target knew her name. What did surprise her was that she knew her former pupil's name. "How is it you know Yukikaze?"

Her target growled deeply while glaring at the other Faunus. "I'm not at liberty to tell you that. What I will tell her is how much I hate that stupid bitch in heat. She's been living a happy life with you while I was thrown away like dog scraps! I will never forgive her for what she's done to me and I'll make sure I'll pay her back double the pain and suffering I've endured all these years!"

Brioche had even more questions now about the girl in front of her. "Something Yukikaze did to her?" She doubted she'll get the answers to those but she had other questions to ask. "Then answer me this. Are you not part of Rias' army and if you are, how is it you were able to bypass our guards?"

The other Faunus laughed at her questions. "I'll humor on those. What you say is true. I am from Lady Rias' side and as for your guards, I just walked right through the front door. They don't suspect anything from their own kind."

Brioche should've suspected as much. She and the rest of the alliance didn't think Rias would have Faunus of her own under her control. "And what does Rias want with both Biscotti and Gallate?"

Her target laughed again at the questions. "Lady Rias has nothing to do with them. At least not yet. This is more a personal score kind of deal and my score is with Yuki. I'm afraid that's all the questions I'm going to answer to you. Too bad."

Brioche thought differently about the situation. "Is that so?" She glanced down at her hand and noticed she was still grasping the present Yukikaze gave her from before and put it in her pocket. She then reached the handle of her sword and drew it out. Light enveloped the blade and she swung upward at the sky. The light came out of the sword and once it hit its maximum height, it exploded into a massive sphere of light. Brioche lowered her sword. "That signal up there will let the rest of my comrades know of our location. Until they come, I'll be holding you off. You have nowhere else to run."

The other Faunus girl just grinned wickedly at her. "Who said I was running? I just wanted to get away from any annoyances and you followed me like a dog chasing a nice juicy steak."

Brioche narrowed her eyes at her enemy. "So she did let us know of her presence purposely and lead whoever would chase her astray from others. She's not some mere grunt from Rias' army. No, she's someone higher up. One of the Devils of Darkness or perhaps…" She hesitated to finish that thought. "No, there are only supposed to be eight in total. She couldn't be a Hell Elite. Could she?" Brioche had no time to question herself on these kinds of matters. All she needed to focus right now was hold off the enemy before her. "In honor for Biscotti, for Gallate, for Flognarde, and all the Faunus that had suffered and were lost…" Brioche pointed her sword at her enemy. "I will defeat and apprehend you!"

Her target just cackled while applauding the other Faunus. "Alright then! Now we're getting to the good part! Fighting you is going to be one hell of a test for me." She raised her arm in front and an immensely powerful dark crimson aura surrounded her. Brioche could feel how terrifying her aura was from where she was standing. A crimson gleam could be seen in the other Faunus' eyes. "As a kindness from me, I think I will tell you my name after all since I am going to fight Flognarde's strongest. I am the newest member of Lady Rias' Hell Elite. I am the Desire of Vengeance, Bouquet!"

Hearing that confirmed Brioche's fears. Her opponent, Bouquet, was indeed one of the Hell Elites. This was a fight she could not and cannot lose. She pulled her sword and it glowed brightly and as fiercely. The two Faunus stared each other down before running towards each other while yelling. They met in the middle and Brioche swung her sword at Bouquet while Bouquet threw her arm forward with her aura enveloping it. The two attacks clashed and bright lights from either side overtook them both.

B

In Gallate's festivals, IF immediately turned around while feeling a little panicked. Sora and Raidy noticed the sudden reaction. "Is everything alright IF? You've been doing that for a while now"

IF scanned the whole area for a few more seconds before turning back to her friends. "Yeah, everything's fine Sora. I keep having that weird feeling of something was watching me."

Raidy didn't think that was so strange. "We are in the middle of a festival. Maybe someone from the crowd keeps accidentally looking at your way."

The younger girl highly doubted that. "A random passerby wouldn't make me feel on edge several times in a row. It was something else but I don't know what it is."

"Maybe you're confusing paranoia for your imagination." Raidy stated.

IF shook her head at the statement. "No way. With what I do back in my world, you tend to get a sixth sense for these kinds of things and I know there's something out there."

Sora and Raidy looked at the same direction IF was moments before to see if they could catch something but the crowd of Faunus made it difficult. Raidy came to an assumption. "Even if there is something out there, I'm sure whatever it is won't make a move just yet. Even if they do, we'll be ready to take them on."

IF appreciated Raidy's words but was still a little doubtful. "I hope you're right. I'm starting to think splitting up with the others a while back may have been a bad idea."

Sora thought differently of their previous decision. "We have to cover more ground anyway. I just hope Karura isn't giving Yang and the others any trouble."

Raidy had nothing but positive thoughts on that subject. "I'm sure they're doing just fine."

Sora hoped that was the best-case scenario. "Yeah, what Raidy said. Anyway, come on. We're still on a mission." The other two heroines nodded in agreement and continued to walk around the festival. However, IF still couldn't shake the feeling that something was watching her.

B

In another part of the festival, a boom occurred at one of the booths. The vendor of the booth had a frightened look on her face as there was a considerable hole through the back where some stacked bottles were. In front of the booth was Karura who had a smug smile. "Sorry about that."

Yang, Coco, and Velvet didn't know what to say in a situation like this. Some Faunus nearby had the same reaction as them. After several seconds had passed, Coco finally spoke. "I think we should get going now."

"Yeah, good thinking." Yang quickly agreed. All three girls left the scene as fast as possible. Karura wasn't as thrilled and left as well following the group from behind. The second group continued to walk through the activity of the festival while keeping a lookout for any suspicious activity. While still on their patrol, Yang sighed at what their new Faunus friend had done. "You didn't have to throw the ball that hard you know. I won't be surprised if we have to pay for that and I'm pretty sure it'll suck."

Karura just shrugged as a response. "Whatever. We have more important things to do like stopping whatever is coming at us."

Velvet's ears flatten upon hearing that. "Do you think it'll happen again? I mean, it's still a little scary to think about it."

Coco wrapped her arm around the rabbit Faunus. "Don't worry about. What happened back then won't happen now. We're more prepared so we'll kick some serious ass." Velvet's ears perked up a little more after hearing that and smiled at the other girl.

Karura noticed how the two girls were acting toward each other. "You two are together, aren't you?"

Coco looked back at the tiger Faunus with a slightly annoyed look in her eye even though her sunglasses covered her eyes. "You got a problem with that?" Tiger Faunus or not, she wouldn't hesitate to teach her a lesson or two.

To her surprise, Karura shook her head. "Not really. It's just rare to see a human/Faunus couple such as yourselves." Coco accepted the answer and looked forward again. The tiger Faunus studied the group she was with a little more. "Aside from the bunny, since the lot of you are from Forland, I gotta know something. What are the fighters like?"

This time, Yang looked back at Karura. "First of all, Velvet was born in Forland. It's her parents that are from Flognarde. Second, I'd say they're pretty good. We're no slouches when it comes to a fight. We even hold a tournament every year to show off which weapons can do."

Karura enjoyed the idea. "Really now? Is it only exclusive to you or can others join?"

Coco decided to answer the question. "Others can join. Hell, the Vytal Festival as we call our tournament does attract fighters from the other kingdoms."

The Tiger Faunus now grinned upon hearing that. "Well, damn. I suppose I'll drop by at Forland the next time this tournament starts up. It sounds like a fun time. Maybe I'll take Touka along with me too."

Yang became curious about the name. "And who's Touka?"

Karura didn't waste the chance to explain. Anything involving Touka was always fun for her. "A traveling buddy of mine. We both came from the other side of the river to enjoy the festival but…obviously, that plan went out the window." She almost forgot an important detail. "Oh yeah, she's also an Evenkurugan."

Yang appeared to be confused when she heard the name. "An Even-what now?"

Velvet immediately recognized the name. "An Evenkurugan?! Really?"

Coco heard of the name too. "That's something."

Yang was the only one who was out of the loop and was more confused. "You two want to tell me what you know because I sure don't."

Coco turned to the other girl. "Evenkurugan are pretty famous in Flognarde for their skill in battle. They were even involved in the war between the two lands one hundred years ago and they date even farther than that. Seriously, how do you not know this?"

The other girl just rolled her eyes and looked forward. "Well, sorry. You know history isn't my thin-" Yang stopped walking as did the rest of the group with a look of shock on her face.

Karura tilted her to the side in confusion. "What's up with you?" Yang didn't reply to her and started to run. "The hell are you going?!" Coco, Velvet, and Karura chased after the blonde through the crowd. They pushed through the other Faunus in the crowd while Coco and Velvet were apologizing. Karura just said "move it" and "get out of the way". She became quite frustrated in the situation she was in. "Damn it. I could catch up to that girl easy if it weren't all the people in front." It wasn't long until they lost sight of Yang in the crowd.

Speaking of Yang, she was panting heavily while running and bumping into multiple Faunus. She had a reason doing so. "I saw her. I know I saw her. She was wearing that same black cloak from before." As soon as she saw that familiar cloak, Yang knew who it was wearing it. She made it a priority above all else and lose focus on where that cloak was going. Little by little, Yang was closing the distance between the two until she was right behind. Yang reached her hand out and grabbed the shoulder of the person she chasing tightly. Both of them stopped while the crowd continued to walk pass them. Yang narrowed her eyes at the person in front of her and gripped tighter before finally speaking. "It's about time I was finally able to catch you…Blake."

Yang let go as Blake turned around to face her teammate and removed her hood to fully reveal her head and what caught Yang's eye was that Blake wasn't wearing the ribbon she gave the Faunus girl. Her cat ears were on full display for anyone to see. Blake stared at Yang in the eye before finally speaking. "Hello, Yang."