In Memorial of the Fallen: a RWBY RP [IC Thread]

[Charlia]

Playing hide-and-seek, huh? Charlotte thought, frowning. With their weaponry, I don't think I could win a direct fight... probably best to be support at the moment. Let the others take them down.

Pity. I was hoping for a good fight.

"If you can't find them, let me know," she replied quickly to Mentari's call. I'm pretty sure I can make them reveal themselves.

I'd rather not, though... so let's hope they can handle it.

She kept glancing around, keeping an eye on her teammates and trying to spot their opponents. If they get close enough, I might be able to do some damage... but it'd be too easy for them to just take me out from farther away.

I already don't like them. Too bad my best attack is the one I'd prefer to avoid using...

Let's see what they do.

[Yekrenia]

Beacon Academy, Cafeteria Hall, Hannah Clones, Delta Squad

To say the Vytal Tournament was exciting was just only the tip of the iceberg for Delta Squad (aka, Yellow Team). The five remaining Hannah's clones were relaxing in the cafeteria hall, and judging from their yellow coloured armbands on both their arms and the yellow coloured covering of their heavy goggles on their stahlhelms, the clone Hannahs were part of their own team like the previous three clone Hannah teams. Considered as the most analytical and intelligent of the other clone Hannah teams, Yellow Team had calculative personalities that allowed them to retain superior learning capabilities than their sister teams; however, Yellow Team was tasked with one additional task that challenged Hannah's cloning semblance.

"Zis kampf ist intens'. (This fight is intense.)" One of the moderately high-pitched voices of a clone Hannah remarked with an extremely heavy accent in her pronunciation.

"Good Oum, du verse-craft ist so bad lik'vis'. (My god, your grammar is so bad like always.)" A second slightly low-pitched clone Hannah without her stahlhelm chuckled with a painfully thick accent as well, "I am sorry, but du verse-craft ist immer verst and verst. (I'm sorry, but you're is getting worse and worse.)"

"So is yours, Tangum." Delta Leader nodded back to the second clone (now named Tangum); however, the same thick accent remained, but at least the grammar and pronunciation was perfect compared to the other clone Hannahs of Yellow Team, "Speaking of such, you both need to read and practice more words after our upcoming mission."

"You mean zis mission?" A third low-pitched voiced clone Hannah pondered to Delta Leader to confirm what her team leader said was correct.

"Ja. (Yes/Yeah.)" Delta Leader replied with a kurt nod as she sat with a paper cup of coffee in her right hand and looking up at the holographic screen on the wall, "And as a fast correcting tip of your word-craft, the word, 'zis', is pronounced as, 'this', as in 'thing'."

"As in like this..." The third clone imitated the sound that her team leader demonstrated, "This? This? This?"

"Ja. (Yes/Yeah.)" Delta Leader nodded with a slight smirk, "But do not press your tongue so hard or you will bite that off."

"But du kan't eat du very tongue, kamrade. (But you can't eat your own tongue, comrade.)" Tangum said with her ever so terrible pronunciation.

"I know that very well, Tangum." Delta Leader grumbled with her voice speaking in a near artificial manner, "That saying is a myth, or we choke on ourselves."

All the clone Hannahs of Yellow Team chuckled out loud, though it wasn't long until the last clone Hannah cleared her throat multiple times that she gave a notification to the entire team, "Um...Kameraden, I vish to not kill ze fun, but ze mail is here."

"Hmm?" Delta Leader muttered unintelligibly as she and the other clone Hannahs turned around to see Ashley Caldwell standing with the envelop in her left hand, and... a take-out container of food in her right hand?

"Mail call! On your feet, comrades." Delta Leader announced nonchalantly as she and the other clones stood up from the cafeteria seats before receiving the envelope from Ashley and opening it momentarily as she leaves the cafeteria.

"The machine gun is...considered...as the weapon that...brought...the end of...cavalry charges...and line...formations...in an age of...musket...warfare. Your team will be armed with a machine gun, and you will be...provided...with half a...dozen...boxes of...ammunition...and a belt...already...loaded in the gun; however..., you will only be armed with only one machine gun. Through the...entire...match, your team will be...unable...to resupply on...ammunition..., so you will all have to...conserve...your...ammunition...as much as...possible...until you win or lose. Else so, make haste to the...outer...Emerald...Forest and lock and load. Await further orders when ready." Delta Leader read what was on the letter in a slow fashion, almost as if she was a machine.

Upon finishing the letter, Delta Leader folded the letter with the envelope on the outside only for Tangum to question the letter, "So let me get zis right. Ve ar' armed vi' a machine gun?"

Delta Leader nodded in confirmation at Tangum and allowing her to continue, "And ve are given bokses for ze gun?"

"Ja." Delta Leader nodded again, but her voice seemed off.

"And ve can't get more of...ze bullets fur zis gun?"

"Yes." Delta Leader suddenly responded in a sharp tone the moment Tangum asked her last question.

"So...vait..." The first clone questioned baffled by the revelations in the letter, "Zat leaves one of ours armed vi' ze gun."

"I am...afraid...that is the...conditions...of this match for all of us." Delta Leader sighed as she took a sip of her coffee while holding the envelop in her other hand.

"One gun fur us all?" The first clone Hannah whined, "Ho' ist zat fair?"

"I do not 'now that." Delta Leader shrugged, "But..., for now, we must go. Any other...questions?"

No words came from the other clone Hannahs of Yellow Team before Delta Leader placed the envelop in her right ammunition pouch before continuing her commands, "Okay, let's go."

All the clone Hannahs of Delta Squad replied back quietly yet obediently before Delta Leader took one last sip of her coffee before walking towards a waste bin near the exit and throwing the cup while heading to the designated meeting point. Tangum grabbed the small remaining half of a tuna sandwich and finished it in one bite before putting her stahlhelm back on her head and jogging off with Delta Leader. The other clones made a couple brief stretches or put their stahlhelms back on before doing the same like Tangum and Delta Leader, though not before grabbing all their plates and taking back to the serving counter before taking off.

Delta Leader's mix-match chatter definitely got the attention of nearby students, and this was not the first time that such awkwardness was achieved. The English-speaking clone Hannahs are by far the most challenged out of all the clone Hannah teams, and to resist the urge to speak in Hessian or any of the other languages spoken by the clone Hannahs and Hannah herself. Sometimes nearby students would chuckle or give Yellow Team weird looks whenever they spoke, but that was at least amusing to watch for some who were listening nearby...

[Parcia]

Vytal tournament, Over Beacon Academy
Jackson Violer

He had picked this seat for a reason. It was high up in the stands, were the people begin to thin out ever so slightly. He feet were up on the chair in front of him, much tot he annoyance of the spectator, but the sight of a weapon holster on his hip, even if empty, told the person sitting next to the chair his feet rested on that it would not be a good idea to mess with him.

So far, it was a good fight. The other students fighting showed much skill in their respective styles of combat and he was genuinely involved with the fights. For once, he was having fun. He reached in to his pockets and retrieved the hand rolled smoke. It wasn't actual tobacco, no, his mother would have killed him. It was a mixture of herbs and spices his mentor had taught him to use during his training, a blend meant to promote tranquility. Normally, it was burned in a small wooden bowl in a small, closed room. "Meditation blend" he called it.

He brought up his other hand, producing a small, silver plated flip lighter and lit the roll. He took a long drag, and cheered with the crowed but stopped himself. He looked up to the sky. He felt...something, it wasn't something tangible, more of a hunch.

He felt as if...as if something was going to happen, something that would be bad. He shrugged it off, his hunches had been wrong before, and it could simply be a expired herb simply giving him the feeling.

He took another drag and set his gaze back down to the field.

[North Arkana]

Outer Emerald Forest, Hannah Blikdase

From the day the first governments were created from the fingertips of man and faunus alike, there has always been the controversy of the individual and the group. The power and authority of one person proves equally destructive as the collective masses, though one has to question who wields the greater legitimacy and as well as the rights to rule. A sole leader who wields supreme power over their people can execute decisions in an instant despite the questioning and doubt that sprout from time to time in hardship; however, a leading group -
despite its inflexibility to making decisions - can lead just as adequately like a hydra, with the beheading of a single head succeeded by the growth of two more heads in its place.

For the first time in Hannah's life, she had come to appreciate the fact that she was now bearing her ordinary attire in a very formal fashion. Instead of her ordinary anklet boots and stalhelm, she was now wearing brown leather jackboot, a brown leather Sam Browne belt (with the strap going across to the right of her torso) and a matching olive green dress tie underneath the strap, and an olive green patrol cap on her head. Her emblem of a black and white roundel was sewed into the frontal centre of her patrol cap, and she had her former sergeant rank patches on her shoulder and upper forearms; something that Hannah could never be so proud and sad of without remembering her times in the Mistralian militia.

Dressed intentionally for both symbolic and authoritarian purposes, Hannah wanted to differentiate herself from her clones, and as well as importantly distinguish herself as the teacher rather than as the student. Since the early morning, Hannah had been busy conducting specialised live training exercises not specifically upon herself, but rather upon her clones generated from her semblance. Hardly anyone - including the other members of team (except Ashley) - had seen the militarised feline Faunus throughout the day, and this was a good thing since Hannah not wanted to be left alone while training for the tournaments, but she also didn't want to scare people with the impression that she was a military drill sergeant on campus (as if the Atlesian military presence was bad enough).

Residing near the cliffs of the outer Emerald Forest, Hannah couldn't help all day but find herself in being in the shoes of the other professors and instructors who once stood for every initiation that took place for the first year students; however, Hannah was not in this exact location for an initiation. A throat microphone was gently coiled around her neck, with a wire from the back of her microphone diverting up to both of her earpieces. Her scroll was in both of her hands, with the footage of a small pond in the outer areas of the Emerald Forest, but this location in the outer Emerald Forest was not the destination in mind that she had her sights fixed on.

Swiping through the dozen other footage cameras that were set up in a discreet yet effective manner, Hannah eventually came upon the footage of a pair of rock formations residing north of Hannah's location on the cliffs. This footage was Yellow Team's spawning location, and it was only east of Red Team's spawning location, and north of Green Team's spawning location; however, there was a problem not from the spawn itself, but the actual team. The only way that Hannah knew that each team of clones had arrived to their spawning locations was a notification on her scroll that indicated each team's presence in the training grounds, and while Hannah had gave Ashley only twenty minutes to send each letter to all four clone teams, Yellow Team was running unusually late.

Twenty minutes was plenty of time for anyone to walk or jog to the dorms, courtyard, fairgrounds, and the dining hall when coming from the edges of the Emerald Forest. While Hannah did not have a wristwatch, she only needed to glance at the time on her scroll to know that only twenty five minutes have past since she had sent Ashley away to deliver the messages to each clone team, but Yellow Team's absence was a major problem. There had to be a reason as to why Yellow Team had not arrived just yet, and it could not be the fact that Ashley gotten lost finding Yellow Team, since they were in an obvious location on campus; however, it didn't take long for the militarised feline Faunus girl to come to a silent conclusion that Ashley was to blame for Yellow Team's absence.

Throughout the day, every clone team had no trouble making to their destinations, and they were punctual like the gears and pistons in a well-oiled war machine, aside from each five minute delay for every time Ashley delivers the letters to each clone team. However, being that twenty five minutes had already passed, Hannah was not just worried about Yellow Team, but she was also annoyed that there would be such delay in such training, and she needed Ashley before the training could start up again. Without Yellow Team, the live combat training cannot start, and nor can the training even begin without Ashley, since she is needed as an extra observer and trainer for the clones anyway.

So without any hesitation among her growing impatience, Hannah wasted no time to dial Ashley's number and find out what the hell is going on.

Outer Emerald Forest
Reina de Mazelle

Technically, and officially, speaking, Reina de Mazelle, Assistant Professor of Combatives, was absent without leave, having long ago stopped actually being present for the classes she had been assigned to teach. Unofficially, she already considered herself resigned from her position, for reasons of her own, which would never have gone over well with Ozpin and his attack dog. Whatever the causes, she still lived in her room, leaving through the window more often than the door, and rarely spent any time actually within the built up area of the school grounds. Other than during the initiation test, the Emerald forest was normally quite empty of other people, so discovering what seemed to be groups of identical persons, tromping through the woods, was mildly unexpected. Being a school of Huntsmen and Huntresses meant it wasn't impossible to find other people in the forest wandering about, but during the Vytal festival Reina had expected the students to remain clustered by the coliseum and fairgrounds.

The multiple groups were all apparently waiting for some sort of signal, and Reina couldn't help but wonder if this was some kind of Atlas training operation with strange new androids. Alternatively, her past could finally be catching up with her, and she might be called to uphold her end of the bargain. In any case, if these groups, squads perhaps, were assuming these positions, it was reasonable to guess that someone may be directing them from somewhere. In Reina's mind, if one was to be observing and directing training in the Emerald Forest, the place you'd do it from would be cliffs, just like how the teachers did during initiation.

Using her semblance to conceal her presence against cursory inspection, Reina made her way towards the cliffs, intent on sniffing out whoever it was watching over this strange collection of people within the Emerald Forest.

[Yekrenia]

Outer Emerald Forest, Hannah Blikdase

From the day the first governments were created from the fingertips of man and faunus alike, there has always been the controversy of the individual and the group. The power and authority of one person proves equally destructive as the collective masses, though one has to question who wields the greater legitimacy and as well as the rights to rule. A sole leader who wields supreme power over their people can execute decisions in an instant despite the questioning and doubt that sprout from time to time in hardship; however, a leading group -
despite its inflexibility to making decisions - can lead just as adequately like a hydra, with the beheading of a single head succeeded by the growth of two more heads in its place.

For the first time in Hannah's life, she had come to appreciate the fact that she was now bearing her ordinary attire in a very formal fashion. Instead of her ordinary anklet boots and stalhelm, she was now wearing brown leather jackboot, a brown leather Sam Browne belt (with the strap going across to the right of her torso) and a matching olive green dress tie underneath the strap, and an olive green patrol cap on her head. Her emblem of a black and white roundel was sewed into the frontal centre of her patrol cap, and she had her former sergeant rank patches on her shoulder and upper forearms; something that Hannah could never be so proud and sad of without remembering her times in the Mistralian militia.

Dressed intentionally for both symbolic and authoritarian purposes, Hannah wanted to differentiate herself from her clones, and as well as importantly distinguish herself as the teacher rather than as the student. Since the early morning, Hannah had been busy conducting specialised live training exercises not specifically upon herself, but rather upon her clones generated from her semblance. Hardly anyone - including the other members of team (except Ashley) - had seen the militarised feline Faunus throughout the day, and this was a good thing since Hannah not wanted to be left alone while training for the tournaments, but she also didn't want to scare people with the impression that she was a military drill sergeant on campus (as if the Atlesian military presence was bad enough).

Residing near the cliffs of the outer Emerald Forest, Hannah couldn't help all day but find herself in being in the shoes of the other professors and instructors who once stood for every initiation that took place for the first year students; however, Hannah was not in this exact location for an initiation. A throat microphone was gently coiled around her neck, with a wire from the back of her microphone diverting up to both of her earpieces. Her scroll was in both of her hands, with the footage of a small pond in the outer areas of the Emerald Forest, but this location in the outer Emerald Forest was not the destination in mind that she had her sights fixed on.

Swiping through the dozen other footage cameras that were set up in a discreet yet effective manner, Hannah eventually came upon the footage of a pair of rock formations residing north of Hannah's location on the cliffs. This footage was Yellow Team's spawning location, and it was only east of Red Team's spawning location, and north of Green Team's spawning location; however, there was a problem not from the spawn itself, but the actual team. The only way that Hannah knew that each team of clones had arrived to their spawning locations was a notification on her scroll that indicated each team's presence in the training grounds, and while Hannah had gave Ashley only twenty minutes to send each letter to all four clone teams, Yellow Team was running unusually late.

Twenty minutes was plenty of time for anyone to walk or jog to the dorms, courtyard, fairgrounds, and the dining hall when coming from the edges of the Emerald Forest. While Hannah did not have a wristwatch, she only needed to glance at the time on her scroll to know that only twenty five minutes have past since she had sent Ashley away to deliver the messages to each clone team, but Yellow Team's absence was a major problem. There had to be a reason as to why Yellow Team had not arrived just yet, and it could not be the fact that Ashley gotten lost finding Yellow Team, since they were in an obvious location on campus; however, it didn't take long for the militarised feline Faunus girl to come to a silent conclusion that Ashley was to blame for Yellow Team's absence.

Throughout the day, every clone team had no trouble making to their destinations, and they were punctual like the gears and pistons in a well-oiled war machine, aside from each five minute delay for every time Ashley delivers the letters to each clone team. However, being that twenty five minutes had already passed, Hannah was not just worried about Yellow Team, but she was also annoyed that there would be such delay in such training, and she needed Ashley before the training could start up again. Without Yellow Team, the live combat training cannot start, and nor can the training even begin without Ashley, since she is needed as an extra observer and trainer for the clones anyway.

So without any hesitation among her growing impatience, Hannah wasted no time to dial Ashley's number and find out what the hell is going on.

Outer Emerald Forest
Reina de Mazelle

Technically, and officially, speaking, Reina de Mazelle, Assistant Professor of Combatives, was absent without leave, having long ago stopped actually being present for the classes she had been assigned to teach. Unofficially, she already considered herself resigned from her position, for reasons of her own, which would never have gone over well with Ozpin and his attack dog. Whatever the causes, she still lived in her room, leaving through the window more often than the door, and rarely spent any time actually within the built up area of the school grounds. Other than during the initiation test, the Emerald forest was normally quite empty of other people, so discovering what seemed to be groups of identical persons, tromping through the woods, was mildly unexpected. Being a school of Huntsmen and Huntresses meant it wasn't impossible to find other people in the forest wandering about, but during the Vytal festival Reina had expected the students to remain clustered by the coliseum and fairgrounds.

The multiple groups were all apparently waiting for some sort of signal, and Reina couldn't help but wonder if this was some kind of Atlas training operation with strange new androids. Alternatively, her past could finally be catching up with her, and she might be called to uphold her end of the bargain. In any case, if these groups, squads perhaps, were assuming these positions, it was reasonable to guess that someone may be directing them from somewhere. In Reina's mind, if one was to be observing and directing training in the Emerald Forest, the place you'd do it from would be cliffs, just like how the teachers did during initiation.

Using her semblance to conceal her presence against cursory inspection, Reina made her way towards the cliffs, intent on sniffing out whoever it was watching over this strange collection of people within the Emerald Forest.

Red Team / Alpha Squad

The sound of Red Team rustling through the forest to their spawning area grew louder and louder in a matter of slow seconds before Alpha Leader emerged from the foliage in an army crawl. The Red Team spawning area was situated just a few clicks northwest from a desolate pillar formation, and while the outer Emerald Forest took place on the cliffs, chicken wire fences were nailed onto the tree trunks with wooden boards to prevent anyone else from getting in or out of the training area without crawling underneath and through the foliage. Red Team had no trouble in making their crawling entry to their spawning area; however, what Alpha Leader saw next after getting up made her frown.

Not too far in front of the fences, there was the usual faded khaki cloth tarp on the ground that was protecting Red Team's assigned weapon of choice. Upon uncovering the tarp, Alpha Leader's fears were confirmed that Red Team's assigned weapon of choice being a pistol; however, the pistol in mind was not any other ordinary semi-automatic pistol. Among the tarp was an ample collection of large caliber five-shot revolvers with identical scopes on top of each cylinder frame, and it was hear that a disappointed remark seeped out...not from Alpha Leader, but from one of the low pitched voices of a clone Hannah.

"Also sind wir mit diesen Müllrevolvern fest, huh? (So we're stuck with these garbage revolvers, huh?)"

Red Team was crouching around the tarp as usual from their previous training sessions, and it was obvious from their murmuring that disappointment spread like a gunshot heard around the world; however, Alpha Leader was quick to ignore her troops' complaints and proceed to recover an envelope from underneath the revolvers to find a letter underneath that read:

"Ob man es mit einer Handkanone oder dem so genannten "Six-Shooter" nennen soll, der Revolver war die Waffe der Wahl für die Pioniere und Entdecker in den Tagen vor der halbautomatischen Pistole. Diese Trainingseinheit basiert auf Genauigkeit nicht Feuerrate, so dass Sie jeden Schuss zählen. Ob Sie sich als "Cowgirl" oder ein Scharfschütze fühlen, denken Sie daran, dass diese Revolver Single-Action-Hämmer, was bedeutet, Sie müssen den Hammer zurück für jeden Schuss, den Sie nehmen. Außerdem gibt es ein Ladetor auf der linken Seite des Zylinders, und ja, du musst jede Patrone ausgeben, bevor du einen neuen in den Zylinder steckst.

Viel Glück und gute Jagd sobald das Spiel beginnt."

(Whether one is to call it a hand cannon or the so-called, 'six shooter', the revolver was the weapon of choice for the pioneers and explorers in the days before the semi-automatic pistol. This training session will be based around accuracy not fire rate, so you are to make every shot count. Whether you choose to act as a 'cowgirl' or a sharpshooter, do take in mind that these revolvers single-action hammers, meaning you must charge the hammer back for every shot you take. Plus, there is a loading gate on the back left side of the cylinder, and yes you have to dispense every cartridge before inserting a new one into the cylinder.

Best of luck and good hunting once the match begins.)

Once Alpha Leader finished reading, there was a brief silence among Red Team...at least until one of the slightly high pitched voice of a second clone Hannah spoke up, "Ah, das ist B*******. (Ah that's bull****.)"

"Ich weiß nicht, Bobcat, aber diese Revolver sind so kräftig wie ich. (I don't know, Bobcat, but these revolvers are as hefty as me.)" A third clone Hannah surprisingly smirked as she took one of the revolvers and weighed it in her hand.

Heftig genug, wo die Waffe nicht in dein Gesicht fliegen wird? (Hefty enough where the gun won't fly in your face?)" The second clone Hannah - now named Bobcat - scrutinised out loud in response, "Ich meine, ich verstehe, dass diese Waffen einen Motorblock knacken können, aber ich bezweifle, dass irgendwelche von unseren Gesichtern nach dem Brennen eines davon bleiben werden? (I mean I understand that these guns can crack an engine block, but I doubt either of our faces will remain after firing one of these?)"

"Nicht wenn du es in deinen Arsch gefeuert hast. (Not if you fired it up your ass.)" The voice of a high pitched voice of a fourth/final clone Hannah obnoxiously joked to Bobcat.

"Nun, Ich mag dich sehen versuchen, wenn Ihr Gesicht Hamburgerfleisch ist. (Well, I like to see you try when your face is hamburger meat.)" Bobcat sneered with a vengeance, though it was immediately after her response that the fourth clone unleashed a feral feline growled.

"Mustang, Bobcat, das ist genug. (Mustang, Bobcat, that's enough.)" Alpha Leader barked at both clone Hannahs before resuming with a stern voice, "Jetzt hör auf, Kameraden. Wir haben die geniale Feuerkraft und Genauigkeit auf unserer Seite, aber Feuerrate wird uns enttäuschen. Also hier ist was wir machen werden. (Now listen up, comrades. We have the awesome firepower and accuracy on our side, but fire rate is going to let us down. So here's what we're going to do.)"

---

Blue Team / Bravo Squad

"Er du seriøs? (Are you serious?)" One of the slightly high pitched voices of a clone Hannah remarked as she weighed the shotgun in her hands, "23mm er nok til at smadre en bilmotor til ingenting. (23mm is enough to smash a car engine to nothing.)"

"Faktisk er dette et stærkt haglgevær, men længden vil byrde os i stærkt skovbevoksede eller indendørs områder. (Indeed this is a powerful shotgun, but the length will burden us in heavily forested or indoor areas.)" Bravo Leader said back in her ever so calm and gentle voice.

"Nå, kammerat Hannah fortalte os, at denne session kun er fokuseret på nøjagtighed. Det er ikke som at skyde penge. (Well, comrade Hannah did tell us that this session is focused solely on accuracy. This isn't like firing buckshot.)" A second slightly low pitched clone Hannah added, with her voice being as calm and reserved like all the other clone Hannahs of Blue Team.

"Åh nej, det ville bare være dumt. (Oh no, that would just be stupid.)" The first clone Hannah nodded her head, "Jeg mener, jeg hader at sige det på den måde, men det ville fuldstændigt besejre formålet. (I mean, I hate to say it that way, but that would completely defeat the purpose.)"

"Det er du ikke galt, Bailey. (You're not wrong on that, Bailey.)" A third neutral pitched clone Hannah agreed humbly as she rested her shotgun in her arms close to her torso, "I begge tilfælde må du indrømme, at vi i det mindste kan konkurrere imod de fleste andre våben med hensyn til at stoppe magten, uanset om vi bruger buckshot eller slug. (Either way, you got to admit that at least we can compete against most other guns in terms of stopping power, whether we use buckshot or slug.)"

"Ja... (Yeah...)" The first clone - Bailey - sighed nonchalantly, "Vi vil se om det. (We'll see about that.)"

---

Green Team / Charlie Squad

The metallic sound of five 7.62x54mm cartridges gently slid and clicked into the gun before the empty feed clip was removed and the bolt was closed with a series of satisfying clicks. Birch was lying prone on the ground as she pointed her bolt action sniper rifle downrange at a bunch of trees, and while there was no scopes added to the rifles, she had no intention of pulling the trigger just yet...at least, that was her agenda.

Standing behind was the fourth clone Hannah of Green Team - named Oak - who was pointed her identical rifle downrange at the same target as what Birch was looking at. To Oak and her fellow peer's left, there was Sparrow crouching alongside at the same target as well, with another fellow clone Hannah standing behind Sparrow in the same manner like Oak. While all four team members of Green Team were seemingly frozen in place, it did not take long for Charlie Leader to finally speak up from behind them.

"Genoeg met de poseren, kameraden. Je bent niet in een modeshow. (Enough with the posing, comrades. You're not in a fashion show.)"

All the clone Hannahs of Green Team groaned or murmured inaudibly; however, all of the clone Hannahs regretted their actions when Charlie Leader gave the explanation, "Daarnaast hebben we een minuut tot de wedstrijd begint. Dus maak je klaar. (Besides, we got one minute until the match starts. So get ready.)"

"Ja meneer! (Yes sir!)" All four of the clone Hannahs of Green Team said in unison as they got out of their posing and stood up before walking about for a momentary stretch.

---

Yellow Team / Delta Squad

"At best, zis gun ist like Trofastegin." Kilo remarked positively as she weighed the machine gun in mind in her hands.

"That is...precise, for the lack of words." Delta Leader agreed in near perfect English as she was holding a box of ammunition in each of her hands, "Which is also...to consider...that the...ammunition...boxes...are lighter than any of us had...expected."

"Vell... (Well...)" Tangum sighed with a neutral voice tone as she too was carrying a couple boxes of ammunition as well, "Zis not bad. (That's not bad.)"

"Und, du 'no..., (And, you know...)" The low-pitched voice of Symmetry added as well as she placed an ammunition box down on the ground and held up a pair of binoculars hung around her neck, "Ve got a pair of scopes to...improve...our...accuracy."

"You mean...binoculars?" Delta Leader questioned with a correction in mind.

"Uh...yeah, if...that...is vat...this...is called." Symmetry replied back while utilising the correct pronunciation with her articles.

"Zat ist binoculars, stupid." The moderately high-pitched voice of Quotient corrected with a sharp tone to her voice, but her offensive remark was only met with a brief giggle from the other clone Hannahs except Delta Leader herself.

"Come on, Quotient, we are still learning here." Delta Leader nodded with sympathy, "After all, this is a school. Am I not right?"

Suddenly, there was an awkward silence among Yellow Team, only for Delta Leader to say an exotic word in an attempt to neutralise the awkwardness, "You know...touché?

For a moment, all four clone Hannahs frowned, with only Quotient questioning back her team leader with a thick and heavy accent as usual, "To...shay?"

"Touché." Delta Leader repeated with her tone slightly increased in volume.

"Touché?" Symmetry repeated, only except her voice was in a questioning tone.

"Touché." Delta Leader said slower yet with her tone now in the verge of becoming sharp.

"To...?" Kilo repeated the word before stopping midway before making a startling realization. Looking back at the faint towering structure of Beacon Tower in the distance, Kilo was silent for a very long moment as she eventually turned her head back to her four sisters before taking a double take at the Beacon Tower. Then, there was eureka.

Kilo's face swiftly contorted into giggling, whom the other clone Hannahs except Delta Leader could not understand at first...at least, until they saw the Beacon Tower in the distance beyond the forest.

"Ja! Touché!" Quotient giggled as she and her other fellow sisters giggled before Delta Leader joined in among the happy hysteria.

---

The Real Hannah Blikdase

Watching Yellow Team giggle on her scroll was probably one of those brief good moments that Hannah herself can smile at her specialised training of her semblance. Her clones were definitely conforming well to their assigned personalities and mindsets, and Yellow Team seemed to be the most socially dynamic since they were able to utilise English very quickly despite the mix-match Germanic speech integrated along the way. Though she was surprised to find that Yellow Team happened to create some of their own words in English, such as, Verse-Craft (Pronunciation), Word-Craft (Grammar), and Wasserstuff (Oxygen).

Watching Yellow Team speak English was little bit like watching her own kids grow up, but Hannah would not exactly admit that so openly, considering that the specialised semblance training is to study how her clones react and behave to combat situations when assigned their own personalities and mindsets. These were soldiers indeed, not children, and to call them her own kids was more awkward than the silence that Yellow Team was submerged within just moments ago on screen. Nevertheless, the last minute of the session beginning was only ten seconds away, and Hannah to get back on task.

"Mission beginnt in 10 Sekunden. (Mission begins in 10 seconds.)" Hannah began over her throat microphone before pausing and counting down the last seconds, "Fünf ... vier ... drei ... zwei ... eins ... beginnen! (Five...Four...Three...Two...One...Begin!)"

Her instructions were simple and clear to all the clones, and it did not take long for all four teams to advance into the first round of the session.

"Hmm..." Hannah murmured inaudibly to herself as her feline Faunus ears began to subtly twitch in her patrol cap.

Somebody was coming behind her, though there was not much to worry about since the only other person allowed to observe the training was Ashley Caldwell; however, something did not fell right.

The presence was unfamiliar for the moment, with Hannah having to take off her patrol cap and letting her feline Faunus ears perch up like radio antennas.

She was quick to look behind her to find no one emerging from the forest, yet that did not mean she could let her guard down just yet...

[North Arkana]

The Real Hannah Blikdase

"Hmm..." Hannah murmured inaudibly to herself as her feline Faunus ears began to subtly twitch in her patrol cap.

Somebody was coming behind her, though there was not much to worry about since the only other person allowed to observe the training was Ashley Caldwell; however, something did not fell right.

The presence was unfamiliar for the moment, with Hannah having to take off her patrol cap and letting her feline Faunus ears perch up like radio antennas.

She was quick to look behind her to find no one emerging from the forest, yet that did not mean she could let her guard down just yet...

Reina de Mazelle

Reina can't help but grin a bit when she sees that her target has taken notice of there being some sort of presence or another observing her.

She suspects I'm behind her, at least, notes Reina, observing the twitch of the ears, though she must not be sure if there's actually someone else here who she doesn't know. If she's a student from one of the other schools, it shouldn't be a problem, even if I reveal myself, but if she isn't... I think I'll just wait to see if she can actually figure out I'm watching her. If she's not a student then... it'll all depend who she's working for in that case.

[Yekrenia]

The Real Hannah Blikdase

"Hmm..." Hannah murmured inaudibly to herself as her feline Faunus ears began to subtly twitch in her patrol cap.

Somebody was coming behind her, though there was not much to worry about since the only other person allowed to observe the training was Ashley Caldwell; however, something did not fell right.

The presence was unfamiliar for the moment, with Hannah having to take off her patrol cap and letting her feline Faunus ears perch up like radio antennas.

She was quick to look behind her to find no one emerging from the forest, yet that did not mean she could let her guard down just yet...

Reina de Mazelle

Reina can't help but grin a bit when she sees that her target has taken notice of there being some sort of presence or another observing her.

She suspects I'm behind her, at least, notes Reina, observing the twitch of the ears, though she must not be sure if there's actually someone else here who she doesn't know. If she's a student from one of the other schools, it shouldn't be a problem, even if I reveal myself, but if she isn't... I think I'll just wait to see if she can actually figure out I'm watching her. If she's not a student then... it'll all depend who she's working for in that case.

Green Team / Charlie Squad

If there was anything to considered the best about forests, it would have to be the trees themselves, with their trunks providing the necessary protective height for birds and mammals from being eaten by the creatures below the forest canopy.

Birch was grateful that her team colour was green, since it not only matched with the surrounding environment, but the colour itself would be almost indifference from her olive green attire when in the sunlight.

With a bolt action rifle the assigned weapon of choice for Green Team, hunting season was in full swing; however, as expected of Green Team's freedom of movement and creative thinking, everybody trudged to their targets alone.

Birch was no different from the rest of her team, as she too went about her own way hoping to take a shot at one of the other three clone Hannah teams; however, there was the itching chill of someone constantly watching her every move.

While the Outer Emerald Forest was free of Grimm, the trouble of trudging through a forest was the inability to see any clear targets without running into foliage and/or poor lighting.

Though she was difficult to detect like her fellow sisters, Birch couldn't help but look behind her before coming along a fallen mess of tree branches and swiftly crawled under them with her rifle slung on her right shoulder.

The sound of the birds chirping and singing sporadically was serine and angelic to the Human and Faunus ears alike, the sound of gunshots were deemed to occur in any minute as all remained quiet.

Birch walked peculiarly through the forest with her rifle slung on her right shoulder, with her cautious and slow steps staying true to an infamous walking technique called, the Fox Walk.

Anyone could be hiding in the bushes or behind a tree wherever Birch may be, so to walk like a fox was the only way to ensure that she can get the drop on her foes; however, attacking her foes head-on was not something that she had in mind.

She needed to get high up and get a view of her surroundings, and most of the trees she trudged past were either too small or did not have branches strong enough to support her weight.

Though that all changed as she eventually walked to the left of a tall tree, and it didn't take long for her to stop and look up to find that there were thick branches that she can use to perch up on.

Looking around to make sure no one was around, Birch took a few steps back before jumping up to the tree and grabbing a pair of branches before lifting herself and the full weight of her field equipment and rifle on her back.

Her ankles and calves were safely protected from the rough bark of the tree itself and the rustling of the tress thanks to the gaiters wrapped around her ankles and calves, which also protected her shoe laces from the foliage as well.

The tree was no taller than a nine story high building, though it was enough for the clone Hannah to use as a vantage point as she climbed to the top of the tree after a few minutes going by.

So far, there were no gunshots just yet, though she was only getting started, since upon climbing up to the top branch, she sat herself down on the branch, dangled her rifle on the branch by the sling, and take off her load bearing equipment.

The branch didn't offer much space for a hump of load bearing equipment, though it didn't take long for Birch to hang her equipment on another branch below before grabbing her rifle again and pulling off something unexpected for a clone.

Knowing that she would be detected, Birch took her heavy goggles off and placing the green covering over her mouth and nose; however, it was only afterwards that she laid on her stomach without scratching herself and began crawling on the branch.

Like a leopard residing peacefully in a tree, Birch crawled slowly and gracefully further out onto the branch before stopping midway and straddling her legs onto the tree branch just as she brought her rifle into her right shoulder.

Though as she fixated her sights upon the openings of the forest, the distant sound of gunfire erupted far ahead of her in the forest, and it didn't take long for Birch to see the flashes of gunfire from the openings of the forest she saw in front of her.

There were five openings in the forest canopy, with two to her left, and three to her right; however, the holes in the forest canopy were between 600 to 800 yards, which while it was in the range of the rifle, shooting without a scope was going to be tricky.

Though without a moment too soon after the first burst of gunfire, Birch's feline Faunus ears itched just as she could've sworn she heard something down at the bottom of the tree she was up in.

Craning her head to the left to look down, there was Yellow Team all bunched together at approximately 100 to 200 yards from the tree that Birch was situated in, and it appeared that Yellow Team was unaware of her presence since they had their backs turned to her.

And while there was the foliage that partially obscured a couple of the clone Hannahs of Yellow Team, Birch realised that she had prey that was in comfortable shooting range of her bolt action rifle, and it was here that she swung her rifle over the branch and fired at the only clone Hannah wielding a gun.

The other clone Hannahs - whom were strangely unarmed much to Birch's surprise - quickly took cover behind a tree to their right as their fellow comrade and the machine gun fell to the ground with a brief sympathy of thuds and rustling.

No blood or gore was apparent since the cartridges were of a special lighting dust ammunition that specifically paralyses a victim in way that simulates being shot with real ammunition, in which case Birch's first kill was struck in the back of the helmet.

Without wasting a moment, Birch cycled the bolt with her right hand before realigning her sights upon the unconscious corpse of a clone Hannah from Yellow Team, with the fear already apparent within the other team members down below.

---

Hannah Blikdase

If angry was to describe Hannah's mood for Ashley's tardiness, that would just be an overpowered exaggeration that would only mask the true personality of a stern and collective individual.

Ashley was running late, and Hannah couldn't just simply go after her best friend, since not does she have her clone selves to monitor in their training session, but there is this strange presence that stalks her.

Initially, Hannah thought such a presence came from Ashley herself; however, after about a few minutes, Hannah knew that Ashley wouldn't just simply stall for no reason and stalk her best friend.

Whoever was watching Hannah seemed to do it with the intent of stalking, though in Hannah's textbook, this kind of stalking was something only found in snipers or assassins, and there was only one person that Hannah knew in Beacon that would do such a thing.

This wasn't a student whom was obsessed with her, and if that was the case, Hannah was quick to place such a creep (male or female) back in their place; however, Hannah was slowly processing each person possible that would stalk people, and it was only after a moment that she found the name of the particular stalker in mind.

"Professor...," Hannah spoke with professionalism and respect permeating from her words despite her varying [Germanic] accents, "The only people allowed to see my training sessions are teachers and the headmaster himself. That is...unless you have some students following you, then I ask that you send them away ASAP."

Though upon giving out such a stern greeting to Professor Reina, Hannah's ears twitched again, not out of anger, but to the distant sound of a sniper rifle discharging in the distance, which subsequently triggered an electronic beep on Hannah's scroll.

While Hannah didn't look at the screen just yet, her scroll showed that one of the clone Hannahs in Yellow Team was dead; however, because the bullets are technically non-lethal, the clone Hannah in mind - whom happened to be Kilo - was knocked unconscious to simulate a kill.

Even so, the live combat simulation had only just begun...

[North Arkana]

Hannah Blikdase

If angry was to describe Hannah's mood for Ashley's tardiness, that would just be an overpowered exaggeration that would only mask the true personality of a stern and collective individual.

Ashley was running late, and Hannah couldn't just simply go after her best friend, since not does she have her clone selves to monitor in their training session, but there is this strange presence that stalks her.

Initially, Hannah thought such a presence came from Ashley herself; however, after about a few minutes, Hannah knew that Ashley wouldn't just simply stall for no reason and stalk her best friend.

Whoever was watching Hannah seemed to do it with the intent of stalking, though in Hannah's textbook, this kind of stalking was something only found in snipers or assassins, and there was only one person that Hannah knew in Beacon that would do such a thing.

This wasn't a student whom was obsessed with her, and if that was the case, Hannah was quick to place such a creep (male or female) back in their place; however, Hannah was slowly processing each person possible that would stalk people, and it was only after a moment that she found the name of the particular stalker in mind.

"Professor...," Hannah spoke with professionalism and respect permeating from her words despite her varying [Germanic] accents, "The only people allowed to see my training sessions are teachers and the headmaster himself. That is...unless you have some students following you, then I ask that you send them away ASAP."

Though upon giving out such a stern greeting to Professor Reina, Hannah's ears twitched again, not out of anger, but to the distant sound of a sniper rifle discharging in the distance, which subsequently triggered an electronic beep on Hannah's scroll.

While Hannah didn't look at the screen just yet, her scroll showed that one of the clone Hannahs in Yellow Team was dead; however, because the bullets are technically non-lethal, the clone Hannah in mind - whom happened to be Kilo - was knocked unconscious to simulate a kill.

Even so, the live combat simulation had only just begun...

Reina de Mazelle

It's with a small chuckle that reina drops the concealing power of her semblance, dropping from a tree branch behind Hannah where she had sitting, watching the individual now confirmed to be a student.

"I had been wondering who would ever seclude themselves away in the forest in the middle of the Vytal Festival," she says, with a teasing lilt to her words. "No need to worry though, I'm alone, as usual. I'm not the kind to drag an entourage around with me wherever I go. I don't know whether that kind of sentiment would apply to you or not however."

Reina gestures towards Hannah's scroll. "Busy, are you? Not one for the crowds and noise of the festival, I suppose, you'd rather prepare for whatever comes next, and demonstrate that you can deduce who among the people at Beacon would be most likely to be watching you at a time like that," she says with a casual tone.

She rests her hands on her hips, close enough to have her weapon within easy reach, while maintaining a relaxed stance. Ozpin and his ilk were smart enough to know that her absence for so long could mean something, and Reina had no idea who among the students might just be more pawns in that man's games.

[Yekrenia]

Hannah Blikdase

If angry was to describe Hannah's mood for Ashley's tardiness, that would just be an overpowered exaggeration that would only mask the true personality of a stern and collective individual.

Ashley was running late, and Hannah couldn't just simply go after her best friend, since not does she have her clone selves to monitor in their training session, but there is this strange presence that stalks her.

Initially, Hannah thought such a presence came from Ashley herself; however, after about a few minutes, Hannah knew that Ashley wouldn't just simply stall for no reason and stalk her best friend.

Whoever was watching Hannah seemed to do it with the intent of stalking, though in Hannah's textbook, this kind of stalking was something only found in snipers or assassins, and there was only one person that Hannah knew in Beacon that would do such a thing.

This wasn't a student whom was obsessed with her, and if that was the case, Hannah was quick to place such a creep (male or female) back in their place; however, Hannah was slowly processing each person possible that would stalk people, and it was only after a moment that she found the name of the particular stalker in mind.

"Professor...," Hannah spoke with professionalism and respect permeating from her words despite her varying [Germanic] accents, "The only people allowed to see my training sessions are teachers and the headmaster himself. That is...unless you have some students following you, then I ask that you send them away ASAP."

Though upon giving out such a stern greeting to Professor Reina, Hannah's ears twitched again, not out of anger, but to the distant sound of a sniper rifle discharging in the distance, which subsequently triggered an electronic beep on Hannah's scroll.

While Hannah didn't look at the screen just yet, her scroll showed that one of the clone Hannahs in Yellow Team was dead; however, because the bullets are technically non-lethal, the clone Hannah in mind - whom happened to be Kilo - was knocked unconscious to simulate a kill.

Even so, the live combat simulation had only just begun...

Reina de Mazelle

It's with a small chuckle that reina drops the concealing power of her semblance, dropping from a tree branch behind Hannah where she had sitting, watching the individual now confirmed to be a student.

"I had been wondering who would ever seclude themselves away in the forest in the middle of the Vytal Festival," she says, with a teasing lilt to her words. "No need to worry though, I'm alone, as usual. I'm not the kind to drag an entourage around with me wherever I go. I don't know whether that kind of sentiment would apply to you or not however."

Reina gestures towards Hannah's scroll. "Busy, are you? Not one for the crowds and noise of the festival, I suppose, you'd rather prepare for whatever comes next, and demonstrate that you can deduce who among the people at Beacon would be most likely to be watching you at a time like that," she says with a casual tone.

She rests her hands on her hips, close enough to have her weapon within easy reach, while maintaining a relaxed stance. Ozpin and his ilk were smart enough to know that her absence for so long could mean something, and Reina had no idea who among the students might just be more pawns in that man's games.

Hannah Blikdase

The thud of footsteps landing onto the grass confirmed Hannah's suspicions of the person in mind that was stalking her, and it was in fact Reina de Mazelle out of all people that Hannah would suspected of stalking.

Time and time again, Hannah had always been hearing rumors about Reina, ranging from her manipulative behaviour and constant leave of absences, which racked quite a record for a professor of the most prestigious academies in Remnant.

Hannah was no stranger to those with manipulative personalities, and Reina was no different from the one man that seemed hellbent on killing his family to satisfy his life of drinking and abuse.

Her predecessor - as Hannah called rather than by its family name - was quite an abusive parent as much as it was a scumbag of the earth that deserve to die from their own self destruction via alcoholism.

Even so, some of Hannah's commanding officers in her past had manipulative traits, with one of such commanding officers even attempting to tell Hannah and some of the other troops to retrieve a package, which was in fact a bomb that needed to be disarmed in secrecy; however, the only reason why Hannah survived from the bomb was the fact that she was stricken to a medical bed after being shot in the left shoulder a couple days ago.

While Reina de Mazelle was not as extreme or brutal like some of Hannah's past commanding officers, the one thing that Hannah knew to some extent was the fact that Reina came from a cruel upbringing; however, that is yet to be confirmed, but it is worth noting in the meantime.

So when Reina made her presence clear to the military-trained feline Faunus, there was nothing that intimidated Hannah from Reina's looks, and despite being 5ft and 7in tall (which was about as tall as a fellow peer she knew about named, Blake Belladonna), Hannah had seen far intimidating individuals that only belonged from the opposite gender.

Reina's dialogue did carry the hint of a teasing voice, and while the words were harsh in context, Hannah only seemed to reply back to Reina's first words in a nonchalant manner while retaining her stern presence to equal her superior, "You can never be to careful with keeping your training a secret. After all, a spy would see a training or testing site as a profound intelligence breakthrough, and it only takes a couple pictures and written coordinates to convince military commanders to strike where the enemy tests their new toys."

Then, it didn't take long for Hannah to see that Reina gestured to Hannah's scroll and comment on how she went through intelligent measures to train rather than watch the tournaments; however, Hannah was quick to respond after Reina's complimenting.

"That's funny you said that, because I only learned how to do that after clearing buildings far too many times. Just imagine yourself, going from room to room, building to building, with a gun in your hands, a few comrades either in front of you or behind you, and then having to hear footsteps the floor above you or in one of the many other rooms around you, not knowing that some Arschloch (Asshole) will get the best of you. Regardless if you're entering a room or not, you always have to be on your feet when you're in confined spaces, professor."

[North Arkana]

Hannah Blikdase

The thud of footsteps landing onto the grass confirmed Hannah's suspicions of the person in mind that was stalking her, and it was in fact Reina de Mazelle out of all people that Hannah would suspected of stalking.

Time and time again, Hannah had always been hearing rumors about Reina, ranging from her manipulative behaviour and constant leave of absences, which racked quite a record for a professor of the most prestigious academies in Remnant.

Hannah was no stranger to those with manipulative personalities, and Reina was no different from the one man that seemed hellbent on killing his family to satisfy his life of drinking and abuse.

Her predecessor - as Hannah called rather than by its family name - was quite an abusive parent as much as it was a scumbag of the earth that deserve to die from their own self destruction via alcoholism.

Even so, some of Hannah's commanding officers in her past had manipulative traits, with one of such commanding officers even attempting to tell Hannah and some of the other troops to retrieve a package, which was in fact a bomb that needed to be disarmed in secrecy; however, the only reason why Hannah survived from the bomb was the fact that she was stricken to a medical bed after being shot in the left shoulder a couple days ago.

While Reina de Mazelle was not as extreme or brutal like some of Hannah's past commanding officers, the one thing that Hannah knew to some extent was the fact that Reina came from a cruel upbringing; however, that is yet to be confirmed, but it is worth noting in the meantime.

So when Reina made her presence clear to the military-trained feline Faunus, there was nothing that intimidated Hannah from Reina's looks, and despite being 5ft and 7in tall (which was about as tall as a fellow peer she knew about named, Blake Belladonna), Hannah had seen far intimidating individuals that only belonged from the opposite gender.

Reina's dialogue did carry the hint of a teasing voice, and while the words were harsh in context, Hannah only seemed to reply back to Reina's first words in a nonchalant manner while retaining her stern presence to equal her superior, "You can never be to careful with keeping your training a secret. After all, a spy would see a training or testing site as a profound intelligence breakthrough, and it only takes a couple pictures and written coordinates to convince military commanders to strike where the enemy tests their new toys."

Then, it didn't take long for Hannah to see that Reina gestured to Hannah's scroll and comment on how she went through intelligent measures to train rather than watch the tournaments; however, Hannah was quick to respond after Reina's complimenting.

"That's funny you said that, because I only learned how to do that after clearing buildings far too many times. Just imagine yourself, going from room to room, building to building, with a gun in your hands, a few comrades either in front of you or behind you, and then having to hear footsteps the floor above you or in one of the many other rooms around you, not knowing that some Arschloch (Asshole) will get the best of you. Regardless if you're entering a room or not, you always have to be on your feet when you're in confined spaces, professor."

Reina de Mazelle

Reina smiles in a way she hasn't years, a genuine smile that shows she's pleased in a way beyond that of a manipulative or sadistic satisfaction. Why? Because she's met someone in a school full of idealistic little fools who also is willing to see that the most dangerous enemy is other people. Of course, realists, while the ones she likes the most, can still be aflicted with foolish notions of things like loyalty and duty, which prevent them from actually acting on the recognition of how diseased the world was.

"It's nice to hear something like that from a student of all people," she says. "Beacon is a school packed full of idealists who wouldn't recognize where the real dangers are even if they found themselves on the business end of a cannon. You, you know that the Grimm aren't necessarily what will end up getting us all killed. I like that."

She turns to gaze towards Beacon, and the Amity Coliseum hanging in the air over Vale. "I've been stuck in the ranks of a bunch of one group of idealists with too much loyalty and not enough brains before, only to trade that for a second one with the same problem. It's a pay check at least, but training Huntsmen and Huntresses has always felt a bit.. wrong, I suppose. The combat training at least, pitting the students against each other, both in class and this festival. Makes you wonder what the real targets of the training are."

Reina stares are Hannah with a relaxed expression. "But you've already thought about that kind of thing before, haven't you?"

[Stormwrath]

Amphitheater

All of sudden, Pyrrha could see that the air around her was being dimmed by what appeared to be soot. This was pretty bad. She needed to get this thing off of her so she wouldn't be struck where she wasn't looking. But she could feel something that was wrapping around her hand like a snake coiling around its victim. Oh no.

Her grip on Milo was loosened and she could feel her sword slip past her fingers and thrown away like rubbish. The dark cloud disappeared, and she could finally see again, but she couldn't see her trusty blade anywhere. Not on the arena, the seats, nowhere in this room. To add to her problems, she looked down for a brief moment and saw that her legs were invisible. Pyrrha could see the luster in Lucius' eyes even through the piercing glare of his now visible helmet, and the devilish smirk that slipped out of his mouth. The fiery-haired woman bit hard on her lip. He had clearly planned this from the beginning. All he had to do was disable her two most formidable weapons in combat—her weapon and her fleeting legs.

Now she was rendered helpless. Or was she?

Pyrrha glanced at Akouo and tapped her right foot twice on the floor, or whatever was left of it anyway. She knew that she would be a little slower than she normally was, what the Latin probably wanted anyway, but she can still do this—she wasn't going to give up just yet. She took her first few steps slowly before picking up some speed. Once she was close enough to hit him, she first knocked his counterattack away before following up with a spin and a kick. Her first two tries were near misses, but then she rebounded her leg with a quick and hard swing, finally landing it on his temple. She may have slipped her heel against the ground, but she was able to keep her balance. Now if she could keep up her offensive and prevent him from getting at her face.


Coliseum
RSIA vs. CMCL

Once Lucas had gotten off of the sandy floor, he would be seeing the silhouette of a wavy-haired woman with a whip held firmly in her hand and a devilish grin in her teeth. Sorokina took a few steps closer and leaned in, smiling, "Looks like I got you now."

But then she raised her head to the sound of the air singing, seeing a sword coming at her head. The blade nearly missed her cheek by a few inches, but the Vacuan didn't flinch in the slightest. In fact, just as the blade had passed her by, she had just glanced at her attacker. So that's who it was. Sorokina glanced back and saw that her victim had slipped out of sight. Eh, he won't be much trouble. She then dashed toward Mentari, countering her floating weapons with her amazingly precise whipwork. But before she could crack her whip on Mentari's jacket, Lucas came around just in time to block her attack.

"Hey!" Sorokina was irked. "Don't get in the way, Viking guy!" She flicked her arm and whipped Lucas in both legs. As she brushed her red hair with her fingers, she realized that he was going to be more trouble than she first thought. And that was just a few seconds ago! She continued to lash Lucas, but he wouldn't budge one bit. But then she saw an opening and decided to go for it. Just as she was about to deliver her attack, Rusty came out of nowhere and thrust a polearm at him.

She glared at him and puffed her cheeks. She was more annoyed that he'd also get in the way. It's always the large ones, isn't it? "Rustislav," she reacted in her native tongue. "Find someone else to fight, I could've struck you."

"And leave you outnumbered and outmatched?" Rusty responded. "Not a chance. You fight the girl with the floating swords, I fight him. And besides," he smirked, "You should try harder than that."

Reluctantly, Sorokina nodded and dashed towards the rear, fending off Mentari's swords the best she could with every flick of her arm. It may perhaps be best to leave that big guy to her cousin. After all, Rusty was meant to go toe-to-toe with people his size. If there was any compensation, she gets to use her tricks on a Nachtmann. The girl flicked her arm again, hitting one of the swords. Once the whip touched the blade, a faint pulse surged from Sorokina's hand, travelling down the length of the lash and onto the metal of the blade. The sword fried and dropped to the ground.

While the others were engaging out in the open, Alexei preferred to keep himself hidden. The swamp offered him enough cover to crawl around without anyone even noticing—perfect for the kind of tactics that he would use. His target? The unsuspecting Charlotte, who was just standing there with her staff held close. He stopped by a thick patch of grass and loaded his musket with gravity Dust rounds. Once his sights were on her, he pulled the trigger and fired. He waited for a few seconds before firing a second round at her.

That should be enough for him. Time to move on to his next target. Alexei was thinking of going after that cat-eared fellow next, so he slipped back into the swamp and began moving to his next location.


Leif Spruce

He had gone back and forth across the fairgrounds several times now, but there was no sign of Ashley anywhere. Leif could feel his legs begin to cramp with each and every step, and his throat grow tired from the yelling. He had already asked a lot of booths on the whereabouts of a certain jacketed teenager with a white hat, to no avail. And he also came across two other people who were called Ashley, who turned their heads at the mention of their names—which made it all the more awkward. But he had to keep looking.

"Ashley? Ashley?" he cupped his hands around his mouth. But she was still nowhere to be found. He was starting to feel deja vu as he had circled all the way back to where he started, right in front of the paintball grounds. Maybe she had already left the fairgrounds, he thought. But if I were Ashley, where would I go to?

Leif thought that maybe she was hungry, and that she already went to Voice of the Sea. But then, that's what where he was already gonna eat out, and Carmina would probably text him if Ashley had shown up again. So that one was off the list.

He then thought that maybe she had gone to the cafeteria. But she did say that she wanted to try eating out, so it wouldn't make sense that she'd suddenly change her mind. That was unlike her. But then again, it couldn't hurt to check if she did, would it? Yeah, she could have gone there or something.

And so he went to the cafeteria, hoping that he would find Ashley there. He was starting to regret not staying around with Jackson and Carmina for the food to arrive. That would've helped him last longer. Thinking about that caused his stomach to growl like an agitated cat. But alas, she was nowhere to be found. Not even the few people that actually came here to have lunch seemed to make looking for her any easier. And so with a small frown on his face and an intense rumble in his tummy, he went out of the hall.

The next place that Leif thought he should go to next would be the Emerald Forest. You know, because why the fuck not? He had already exhausted himself trying to figure out Ashley's steps—might as well go there before giving up and going back to eat his lunch. Sighing, he took a step forward and made his way to the forest. Fortunately no one had noticed him sneaking in, for those woods were off-limits to students that weren't on assigned missions.

But as he was sheltered by the shade of the trees, Leif could hear distant footsteps. Someone must be here, probably a team out on a mission. "Oh no," he started to panic. "Wh-what should I do now? I'm dead if they find out I'm here!"

Leif then caught a glimpse of a large bush that he could use to hide himself, so he ran towards it and dove into the foliage. He kept himself crouched behind the bush, waiting until they had passed him by. Once the footsteps had stopped, he slowly moved to the side of the bush to get a peek. What he saw didn't seem to concern him at first—they were basically a team in military uniform pausing to ready their weapons. But then he looked closer and saw that they all had striking resemblances to Hannah. And that's when it hit him. Those people weren't members of a squad, they were all her. Carmina was actually right!

Leif knew that he should probably tell Jackson and the others about what he saw—maybe they could work a strategy around that in order to counter the clones. But then this would be a great opportunity to observe where these clones were going to go next. Whatever the case, both situations required that he keep his head low.

[Yekrenia]

Hannah Blikdase

The thud of footsteps landing onto the grass confirmed Hannah's suspicions of the person in mind that was stalking her, and it was in fact Reina de Mazelle out of all people that Hannah would suspected of stalking.

Time and time again, Hannah had always been hearing rumors about Reina, ranging from her manipulative behaviour and constant leave of absences, which racked quite a record for a professor of the most prestigious academies in Remnant.

Hannah was no stranger to those with manipulative personalities, and Reina was no different from the one man that seemed hellbent on killing his family to satisfy his life of drinking and abuse.

Her predecessor - as Hannah called rather than by its family name - was quite an abusive parent as much as it was a scumbag of the earth that deserve to die from their own self destruction via alcoholism.

Even so, some of Hannah's commanding officers in her past had manipulative traits, with one of such commanding officers even attempting to tell Hannah and some of the other troops to retrieve a package, which was in fact a bomb that needed to be disarmed in secrecy; however, the only reason why Hannah survived from the bomb was the fact that she was stricken to a medical bed after being shot in the left shoulder a couple days ago.

While Reina de Mazelle was not as extreme or brutal like some of Hannah's past commanding officers, the one thing that Hannah knew to some extent was the fact that Reina came from a cruel upbringing; however, that is yet to be confirmed, but it is worth noting in the meantime.

So when Reina made her presence clear to the military-trained feline Faunus, there was nothing that intimidated Hannah from Reina's looks, and despite being 5ft and 7in tall (which was about as tall as a fellow peer she knew about named, Blake Belladonna), Hannah had seen far intimidating individuals that only belonged from the opposite gender.

Reina's dialogue did carry the hint of a teasing voice, and while the words were harsh in context, Hannah only seemed to reply back to Reina's first words in a nonchalant manner while retaining her stern presence to equal her superior, "You can never be to careful with keeping your training a secret. After all, a spy would see a training or testing site as a profound intelligence breakthrough, and it only takes a couple pictures and written coordinates to convince military commanders to strike where the enemy tests their new toys."

Then, it didn't take long for Hannah to see that Reina gestured to Hannah's scroll and comment on how she went through intelligent measures to train rather than watch the tournaments; however, Hannah was quick to respond after Reina's complimenting.

"That's funny you said that, because I only learned how to do that after clearing buildings far too many times. Just imagine yourself, going from room to room, building to building, with a gun in your hands, a few comrades either in front of you or behind you, and then having to hear footsteps the floor above you or in one of the many other rooms around you, not knowing that some Arschloch (Asshole) will get the best of you. Regardless if you're entering a room or not, you always have to be on your feet when you're in confined spaces, professor."

Reina de Mazelle

Reina smiles in a way she hasn't years, a genuine smile that shows she's pleased in a way beyond that of a manipulative or sadistic satisfaction. Why? Because she's met someone in a school full of idealistic little fools who also is willing to see that the most dangerous enemy is other people. Of course, realists, while the ones she likes the most, can still be aflicted with foolish notions of things like loyalty and duty, which prevent them from actually acting on the recognition of how diseased the world was.

"It's nice to hear something like that from a student of all people," she says. "Beacon is a school packed full of idealists who wouldn't recognize where the real dangers are even if they found themselves on the business end of a cannon. You, you know that the Grimm aren't necessarily what will end up getting us all killed. I like that."

She turns to gaze towards Beacon, and the Amity Coliseum hanging in the air over Vale. "I've been stuck in the ranks of a bunch of one group of idealists with too much loyalty and not enough brains before, only to trade that for a second one with the same problem. It's a pay check at least, but training Huntsmen and Huntresses has always felt a bit.. wrong, I suppose. The combat training at least, pitting the students against each other, both in class and this festival. Makes you wonder what the real targets of the training are."

Reina stares are Hannah with a relaxed expression. "But you've already thought about that kind of thing before, haven't you?"

Hannah Blikdase

Much to Hannah own surprise, she couldn't have agreed any greater by the fact regarding the inexperience, ignorance, and foolishness of the students enrolled at Beacon to become the next generation huntsmen and huntresses.

Of course, Reina's word may be as blunt as a rusty trench knife, though her words are not wrong; however, Hannah was quite skeptical of Reina's use of the word 'idealists', considering that these students have yet to know the cruelty of this world.

On the other hand, Hannah couldn't help but form a faint yet genuine smile as she received a compliment from Reina regarding the fact that she had been through hell and taught that mankind and faunus-kind alike can be as destructive as Grimm.

Then, Reina happened to mention about the job as a professor of Beacon Academy, and she also added the fact about training students, whom she deemed as...wrong? Though it was true, Hannah couldn't help but ponder about huntsmen/huntress training and what the purpose was to train 17-year-old to 20-year-old people how to fight.

If being in the militia taught Hannah an important lesson, she could understand that these kind of young people are easy to indoctrinate than adults, though the downside with using people of this kind of age is their undeveloped psyche and inexperience to trauma.

Hannah had been in this situation beforehand, if being forced to go into boot camp and then pick up a gun to shoot both opposing raiders/mercenaries/clanners and Grimm alike wasn't a clear indicator of this firsthand experience.

Back then, she had been transformed from a worthless 9-year-old feline Faunus girl to a cold-blooded soldier; however, what she lost in innocence, she gained experience and maturity that most other children her age would only encounter by the time they became teenagers.

Beacon Academy was like paradise compared to the hellhole mining town that Hannah was forced to defend and eventually deem residence until her desertion, but it was from Reina herself that Hannah was grateful that she been taught how to deal with fear and intimidation in the line of fire.

The students at Beacon Academy have yet to experience the harsh reality of combat and people alike, and Hannah couldn't help but recall the many ignorant yet lesser conversations exchanged between students upon how they were going to change the world to be a better place, which made Hannah nod in frustration every time.

Though as Hannah finished her nodding, she saw Reina look back at her with a relaxed facial expression before asking a question regarding huntsmen/huntress training and exchanging one job for another only to find it being all the same.

"I suppose so, though I doubt that any military can accepted an Eisenkatze (Iron Cat) like me." Hannah softly replied with her varying [Germanic] accents in her pronunciation of words, "There's no way I can become an instructor for the Atlesian military, I mean I can withstand the cold, but you and I know that the Atlesians abuse our kind like no tomorrow. I can't go to Vacuo because of the sand and heat, and I can't go back to Mistral..."

Hannah suddenly stopped as dreaded cold silence swiftly clouded Hannah, only for her to continue with in a low yet depressed voice tone; however, she never realised at that moment that she was speaking in Hessian, "Ich werde nicht diese Tage wieder zu wiederholen. (I am not going to repeat those days again.)"

Though it was upon clearing her throat that she continued back in English before turning back to Reina, "Sorry, Professor. There is...something about Mistral that I can't stand, but it goes to the similar effects of Atlas, if you..."

Suddenly, the same electronic beeps sounded from Hannah's scroll and she was prompted to check only to find that two out of five members of Red Team have been eliminated; however, it wasn't long that a clone Hannah from Blue Team fell victim to Red Team's wrath.

At the same time, Hannah swiped through the footage to eventually come upon the scene of Blue Team hiding behind their own trees and fire their shotguns blind amid the sound of Red Team's revolvers going off and having their bullets either strike a tree or whiz past Blue Team.

So far, Green Team has not last a single member just yet; however, it was upon thinking about Green Team that Hannah was reminded about Yellow Team's situation, whom had just lost one of their members to Green Team not long ago.

Swiping through the footage, Hannah stopped at the closest angle as she could get to Yellow Team, and found that they were cowering behind their own trees, which was off to the flanks of the 'deceased' clone Hannah of Yellow Team; however, Hannah could only grumble for a moment as she saw that Yellow Team's assigned machine gun was lying next to the corpse.

"You better find a solution for your team, Delta Leader." Hannah thought to herself quietly as she watched one of the clone Hannahs peaked around the corner of the tree before being forced to take cover as a bullet whizzed past the tree and kicking up a tiny plum of dirt, "Staying pinned forever will allow Green Team to pinpoint your location. They could be anywhere by now."

---

Green Team / Charlie Squad

If anyone where to see up close to how Birch was feeling, she had the biggest cat smirk on her face that would make the sickest of psychopaths fall in love with her upon first sight; however, she had to mindful of how much ammunition she had in her rifle.

There was only three cartridges left in the rifle, and while accuracy mattered for this training session, Birch had to make sure Yellow Team is pinned long enough where another team or her own fellow comrades can pick off Yellow Team like fish in a barrel.

Though she could pick off Yellow Team one by one, sniping without a scope was tricky, though the opposite could be said about having a scope, since trying to snipe in a forest would mean extra care to the scope and hoping not to damage it while in combat.

However, it wasn't long until another member of Yellow Team foolishly peered around their own tree, but much to Birch's disappointment, the fool who peeked around the tree didn't stay for too long for Birch to take a shot.

Unfortunately for that foolish Yellow Team clone Hannah, Birch couldn't resist the urge to shoot and decided to take her chances by firing at the tree the fool was hiding behind, with the bullet burrowing through the tree like a drill.

Instantly, the pained cry of the fool could be heard as she slumped to the right and clutching her stomach, which followed with the foolish Yellow Team clone Hannah in groaning and yelling in pain as she laid on her stomach.

Birch was quick to end the fool's misery upon cycling the bolt action of the rifle and then shooting the fool in the back; however, due to Birch's calculative excitement, the non-lethal bullet ended up striking the fool in the neck.

Though as Birch eliminated her second kill, she noticed that the fool happened to drop a couple boxes of what looked like ammunition boxes, and judging by the placement of the machine gun that laid next to her first kill, it all made sense that Yellow Team's assigned weapon of choice is an infantry support weapon; a light machine gun.

Unfortunately, as Birch looked back at her first kill, the devilish smirk on her face instantly collapsed into a blank expression as she realised that the machine gun in question was missing.

"Oh f***, waar ging je heen? (Oh f***, where did you go?)" Birch cursed to herself inaudibly as she craned her head around in an effort to locate the new owner of the machine gun.

Suddenly, as she looked around while keeping an eye on the pinned members of Yellow Team, bullets began to come out of nowhere...not hitting Birch, but the branch that was supporting Birch and her load bearing equipment.

Wood shards and metal fragments spewed from behind her, and it was upon looking back that large bullet holes had quickly weakened the joint that connected the branch to the tree, and it was only after fifteen bullets made their mark that Birch's fate was sealed.

"S***!" Birch cursed out loud, only for her words to die in vain as the branch bent forward and plunging Birch to her doom as she, her rifle, and her load bearing equipment fell from the branch.

Birch barely had a chance to yell in fear as a couple sickening thuds became the only sound of her hard landing into the forest below, with her rifle clattering loudly before disappearing into some bushes, and her load bearing equipment slumping loudly as well between where she and her rifle landed.

Birch was unresponsive, and didn't help with the fact that her eyes were frozen wide open as she laid on her stomach with her head looking to the left, while her right arm was extended forward and her left arm was curled in front of her, indicating a broken elbow.

Luckily, Birch's chest was still expanding and deflating, indicating that she was still breathing; however, in the posture that she was in, she was paralyzed from the neck down, which translated into a kill according to the training session.

[North Arkana]

Hannah Blikdase

Much to Hannah own surprise, she couldn't have agreed any greater by the fact regarding the inexperience, ignorance, and foolishness of the students enrolled at Beacon to become the next generation huntsmen and huntresses.

Of course, Reina's word may be as blunt as a rusty trench knife, though her words are not wrong; however, Hannah was quite skeptical of Reina's use of the word 'idealists', considering that these students have yet to know the cruelty of this world.

On the other hand, Hannah couldn't help but form a faint yet genuine smile as she received a compliment from Reina regarding the fact that she had been through hell and taught that mankind and faunus-kind alike can be as destructive as Grimm.

Then, Reina happened to mention about the job as a professor of Beacon Academy, and she also added the fact about training students, whom she deemed as...wrong? Though it was true, Hannah couldn't help but ponder about huntsmen/huntress training and what the purpose was to train 17-year-old to 20-year-old people how to fight.

If being in the militia taught Hannah an important lesson, she could understand that these kind of young people are easy to indoctrinate than adults, though the downside with using people of this kind of age is their undeveloped psyche and inexperience to trauma.

Hannah had been in this situation beforehand, if being forced to go into boot camp and then pick up a gun to shoot both opposing raiders/mercenaries/clanners and Grimm alike wasn't a clear indicator of this firsthand experience.

Back then, she had been transformed from a worthless 9-year-old feline Faunus girl to a cold-blooded soldier; however, what she lost in innocence, she gained experience and maturity that most other children her age would only encounter by the time they became teenagers.

Beacon Academy was like paradise compared to the hellhole mining town that Hannah was forced to defend and eventually deem residence until her desertion, but it was from Reina herself that Hannah was grateful that she been taught how to deal with fear and intimidation in the line of fire.

The students at Beacon Academy have yet to experience the harsh reality of combat and people alike, and Hannah couldn't help but recall the many ignorant yet lesser conversations exchanged between students upon how they were going to change the world to be a better place, which made Hannah nod in frustration every time.

Though as Hannah finished her nodding, she saw Reina look back at her with a relaxed facial expression before asking a question regarding huntsmen/huntress training and exchanging one job for another only to find it being all the same.

"I suppose so, though I doubt that any military can accepted an Eisenkatze (Iron Cat) like me." Hannah softly replied with her varying [Germanic] accents in her pronunciation of words, "There's no way I can become an instructor for the Atlesian military, I mean I can withstand the cold, but you and I know that the Atlesians abuse our kind like no tomorrow. I can't go to Vacuo because of the sand and heat, and I can't go back to Mistral..."

Hannah suddenly stopped as dreaded cold silence swiftly clouded Hannah, only for her to continue with in a low yet depressed voice tone; however, she never realised at that moment that she was speaking in Hessian, "Ich werde nicht diese Tage wieder zu wiederholen. (I am not going to repeat those days again.)"

Though it was upon clearing her throat that she continued back in English before turning back to Reina, "Sorry, Professor. There is...something about Mistral that I can't stand, but it goes to the similar effects of Atlas, if you..."

Reina de Mazelle

Reina raises an eyebrow, just slightly, at Hannah's words. It seems this little cat was only a few steps away from being in the same place as a certain foul-hearted fox.

"There's a lot of things I've learned about during my... formative years, between the lying, cheating, stealing, breaking bones, and cutting the occasional throat, to make my way across Remnant to Signal, and then to this school," Reina says in a measured tone, carefully watching to see what kind of reaction she brings. "One of the things I learned about was forestry of all things, silly, I know. If there's a forest which has been infected with a relentless rotting infection, spreading among the trees, so deeply embedded that the forester can't stop it, then sometimes the only option left is to burn it down, and grow a new forest."

She pauses, carefully examining the way Hannah has reacted, and when she resumes, Reina speaks slowly, clearly, and purposefully. "It could be argued, perhaps, that the current state of these kingdoms, and their councils, which we have accepted as being our homes and rulers for so many years without question, is akin to that of a rotting forest which most have refused to recognize for what it is."

[Former Citizens of the Nimbus System]

Amphitheatrum

At first, Lucius Aurelius thinks that he has pushed Pyrrha further off balance than he had initially anticipated. Her motions are slow and careful; when she moves to engage, she is clearly far slower than before. This is not the warrior who won the Mistral Regional Tournament four times. She must not be as in tune with her body as I thought - or has she simply given up? That would be disappointing… He is almost regretful as he draws back Ultor for a stabbing strike at the point of contact.

He is not left regretting for long.

Pyrrha’s slow charge gives way to an onslaught. She easily bats aside his attack with her shield before swinging at his torso with her foot; the kick is visible to him, her whole form perceived through the display inside his helm from the thermal imaging cameras built into the same, and he catches it on his own scuti. The second kick also finds his shield - and, the first two having apparently been there to lure him into a false sense of security, the third strikes past his lowered defences to land solidly against his head. Instinct and the perfectly logical desire to not be concussed flare the Latin’s Aura flaxen yellow once more and he is flung backwards for the second time this fight.

Two emotions flash through Lucius Aurelius’ mind as he skids backwards: irritation at his inability to block the blow comes first, accompanied by a slight worry given that, based on his display’s output, his Aura is now more than half-depleted, but is quickly subsumed by the joy of the fight, of this contest and clash of arms, of the knowledge that with every sword thrust and parry he hones himself to fulfil his purpose. His gaze fixed on his foe - So, that is what she can do with a shield alone! - his savage grin returns to his face with a vengeance.

Invidia, guide my blade!

Horatius becomes Coriolanus; Lucius Aurelius first enshrouds Pyrrha’s head with another blanket of opaque air and then, scutum held close to his body and a cry of, “Mistrali!” on his lips, charges, rapidly closing with his Hellene foe and aiming to crash into her at full tilt, the plan being to first disorientate her with that and then to use the opening to unleash an Aura-crushing, bout-ending flurry of stabs with Ultor.

[Sonitusia]

Mentari Nachtmann
Amity Coliseum

Mentari watched as the larger combatant, with his polearm blocking Sorakina, entered the fight. Obviously he intended on fighting Lucas, turning a number advantage back into one-on-one fighting. However, as the fight turned towards the red-headed girl, Mentari bore witness to one of her blades being zapped out of the air, landing on the ground in a smoky mess. Some sort of electric or short-circuiting semblance, I can't keep fighting her like this then.

The three remaining blades suddenly stopped right before Sorokina, their formation like an 'X', before suddenly blazing as bright as the desert sun that hovered above them. Giving it a moment to work on Soro's vision, the Nachtmann raced forwards, grabbing the fried blade off the sand, then slamming it onto the hilt of one of those floating. They began to deform back into Eclipse, dual forked swords, as her semblance was cut off from the weapon, and she began her onslaught once more, this time at a range close enough to make the girl's whip difficult to maneuver. Starting with one slash from each sword, she tried to keep the red-head close enough by dazing her; for every few strikes, she'd burst her semblance through the blade, a blinding barrage of light she had practiced for quite some time.

"I hope you're willing to repay the costs for damaging Ray 03," Mentari said, with a hint of annoyance yet at the same time curiosity, when she got close enough, "It took quite a large chunk of my allowance."

Luckily for now, she wouldn't need any of the electronics currently installed on the blades. From the corner of her eye, she could see Ray 03's GUI flickering back to life, as the reserve hardware got back into action. It wouldn't work as one of the drone blades, but she could use it for other functions.

[Parcia]

Jackson Violer

His day was going pretty well. The fights were entertaining, especially the one between Nikkos and one of the other students, his name escaped him, was particularly popular among the other fans.

Then his scroll beeped and vibrated in his pocket. Retrieving it, he pulled the two ends to their full length and immediately wished he hadn't.
WF: I have a lead, meet at said Cords in...15 minuets. He hesitated. His mind, the cold, calculating part of him told him to close the scroll, put it away, and enjoy the rest of the fight, it told him she was likely dead and there was nothing he could to about it and that he needed to let her go, to let it all go.

His heart, the part of him some would call human, told him to answer, to go to where ever the coordinates lead to, that this might be his only chance to find her for a long, long time. In the end, he looked up were the grid coordinates lead him: The Forest.

10 minuets, and one awkward scroll conversation later...

He had just entered the forest around Beacon, and already his skin was crawling. He was a bit spoiled by his homelands vast sight lines and unobstructed views. The clutter of the forest was something that rubbed him wrong as he strolled through it. The fact it was infested with Grimm was just an added bonus. He had stopped by the locker rooms long enough to retrieve his sword, which sat in its sheath on his belt, as well as his pistol, which sat in its holster on his other hip. His contact was only a few hundred yards in front of him and closing.

He heard the snap of a twig off to his left and he froze, his head turned towards the sound. A figure walked out from the bush. A lithe form, clad in familiar Red and White clothing, with a familiar mask. He breathed a sigh of relief and spoke. "You have what I want?" The figure nodded and answered him. "You have the lien?" He nodded and reached in to his pocket, handing her the money.

He tensed as she reached for a pouch on her belt, revealing a small datacard to him. When he reached for it, she smiled and pulled it away from him. With in a few milliseconds, his gun was drawn with his off (left) hand and the barrel a few inches from her masked face. His eyes narrowed but she spoke before he could. "You really are one of the fastest guns in Remnant...Alright, no harm meant, I just wanted to see if the rumor were true." He reached out and dropped the card in to his hand.

He sighed and lowered the gun. "I have killed people for a lot less then that, you know." She nodded while counting out the money. "So have I, like I said, just wanted to see if the rumors were true." He turned away from her, though he kept his gun ready. He heard the sound of foot steps fade off in to the forest and turned to were she had stood, seeing no sign of her.

He looked down in to his palm, eyeing the little stick of plastic and circuitry. Had it been worth it, to throw in his lot with the worst of his own kind? He didn't have a lot of time to think about it though, because bullets started flying. He didn't scream, didn't yell out, he dove to the forest floor, gun drawn and waited.

He counted at least 2 different weapons. "Shit..." he muttered under his breath. What had he walked in to?

[Kuhlfros]

Lucas Blixsen
Amity Colosseum

The spear rammed into the shield but it made no progress in pushing Lucas back, just as the whip did little to him now that he was solidly in place. These Ruskies really wanted to split back to PvP. Big guy wanted to take Lucas on, axes were a primarily offensive weapon, and spears were primarily defensive. Lucas' best bet on beating him would be using his shield and make the spearman go on the offensive and then counter-attack.

Spears were meant to keep people at distance, and Lucas was a big enough target, it would work...but a certain cat behind him was small and quick enough to get by. He glanced back and said

"Keep this guy busy for the moment and you have a deal" He responded to Chess, delivering a manic grin in response.

He pressed the trigger on his shield allowing a concussive blast for a momentary distraction so he could pull away from the fight and move towards Charlotte, who was separated from the other teammates but not too far away since she was working to get behind the shield too.

The first shot from the hidden shooter (from the grassy knoll) had gone off before he could reach Charlie, no helping it, but he managed to get his shield in front of the second shot. The gravity round pushed him back in the mud for several yards before coming to a stop. Lucas didn't manage to find exactly where the musketman was hidden from in the swamp but he'd be a problem for later.

He bolted (get it? Lightning) back to where Chess was and prayed the timing was right that he would slide under Chess as he jumped. Chess would land on top of Lucas' shield and then Lucas was push upwards with a concussive blast as Chess jumped up to give him plenty of airtime as Lucas returned to take on Rusty the Spearman. He returned his shield in in front of him and kept his axe poised from behind.

[Yekrenia]

Hannah Blikdase

Much to Hannah own surprise, she couldn't have agreed any greater by the fact regarding the inexperience, ignorance, and foolishness of the students enrolled at Beacon to become the next generation huntsmen and huntresses.

Of course, Reina's word may be as blunt as a rusty trench knife, though her words are not wrong; however, Hannah was quite skeptical of Reina's use of the word 'idealists', considering that these students have yet to know the cruelty of this world.

On the other hand, Hannah couldn't help but form a faint yet genuine smile as she received a compliment from Reina regarding the fact that she had been through hell and taught that mankind and faunus-kind alike can be as destructive as Grimm.

Then, Reina happened to mention about the job as a professor of Beacon Academy, and she also added the fact about training students, whom she deemed as...wrong? Though it was true, Hannah couldn't help but ponder about huntsmen/huntress training and what the purpose was to train 17-year-old to 20-year-old people how to fight.

If being in the militia taught Hannah an important lesson, she could understand that these kind of young people are easy to indoctrinate than adults, though the downside with using people of this kind of age is their undeveloped psyche and inexperience to trauma.

Hannah had been in this situation beforehand, if being forced to go into boot camp and then pick up a gun to shoot both opposing raiders/mercenaries/clanners and Grimm alike wasn't a clear indicator of this firsthand experience.

Back then, she had been transformed from a worthless 9-year-old feline Faunus girl to a cold-blooded soldier; however, what she lost in innocence, she gained experience and maturity that most other children her age would only encounter by the time they became teenagers.

Beacon Academy was like paradise compared to the hellhole mining town that Hannah was forced to defend and eventually deem residence until her desertion, but it was from Reina herself that Hannah was grateful that she been taught how to deal with fear and intimidation in the line of fire.

The students at Beacon Academy have yet to experience the harsh reality of combat and people alike, and Hannah couldn't help but recall the many ignorant yet lesser conversations exchanged between students upon how they were going to change the world to be a better place, which made Hannah nod in frustration every time.

Though as Hannah finished her nodding, she saw Reina look back at her with a relaxed facial expression before asking a question regarding huntsmen/huntress training and exchanging one job for another only to find it being all the same.

"I suppose so, though I doubt that any military can accepted an Eisenkatze (Iron Cat) like me." Hannah softly replied with her varying [Germanic] accents in her pronunciation of words, "There's no way I can become an instructor for the Atlesian military, I mean I can withstand the cold, but you and I know that the Atlesians abuse our kind like no tomorrow. I can't go to Vacuo because of the sand and heat, and I can't go back to Mistral..."

Hannah suddenly stopped as dreaded cold silence swiftly clouded Hannah, only for her to continue with in a low yet depressed voice tone; however, she never realised at that moment that she was speaking in Hessian, "Ich werde nicht diese Tage wieder zu wiederholen. (I am not going to repeat those days again.)"

Though it was upon clearing her throat that she continued back in English before turning back to Reina, "Sorry, Professor. There is...something about Mistral that I can't stand, but it goes to the similar effects of Atlas, if you..."

Reina de Mazelle

Reina raises an eyebrow, just slightly, at Hannah's words. It seems this little cat was only a few steps away from being in the same place as a certain foul-hearted fox.

"There's a lot of things I've learned about during my... formative years, between the lying, cheating, stealing, breaking bones, and cutting the occasional throat, to make my way across Remnant to Signal, and then to this school," Reina says in a measured tone, carefully watching to see what kind of reaction she brings. "One of the things I learned about was forestry of all things, silly, I know. If there's a forest which has been infected with a relentless rotting infection, spreading among the trees, so deeply embedded that the forester can't stop it, then sometimes the only option left is to burn it down, and grow a new forest."

She pauses, carefully examining the way Hannah has reacted, and when she resumes, Reina speaks slowly, clearly, and purposefully. "It could be argued, perhaps, that the current state of these kingdoms, and their councils, which we have accepted as being our homes and rulers for so many years without question, is akin to that of a rotting forest which most have refused to recognize for what it is."

Hannah Blikdase

To say that Hannah was sympathetic was just an exaggeration, considering that the words she heard from Reina included a handful of questionable acts that would normally send a chill down an ordinary person's spine.

The very thought of Reina's words of deception, cheating, and harm didn't scare Hannah, they have in fact initiated a pondering yet withdrawn facial expression that Hannah hid by facing her back towards Reina.

There was a point in the military-trained cat girl's life that she had either resorted to such measures to stay alive or witness during her lost and miserable times as a vagabond in the Mistralian streets.

If one were to metaphorically look inside Hannah, her heart had seemed to suffer a tear that allowed for her boiling blood to seep ever so slowly and painfully just moments after recalling her past.

She was 7-to-9-years-old at that point in her life, and one might simply scoff this kind of past as something imagined out of a crime-horror novel; however, the legitimacy of the truth is sometimes scarier than fiction.

From surviving on the streets of multiple towns and villages, to eventually finding herself in the desolate wreck of a Grimm-infested convoy to a war-torn mining town, Hannah found some details that she shared in common with Reina, though she never wanted to tell the story, not even to Ashley herself.

Though the difference between Hannah and Reina was clear; one survived and killed using deception to make ends meet, while the other survived and killed to seek greater fortune and preventing the other scumbag on the other side of the front line from taking her life.

From these details, Hannah came to realisation that she and Reina have came from similar origins; however, as she imagined from the will of two Faunus girls, there was a clear distinction between good and evil.

One girl became a soldier, while the other became a manipulator; however, if fighting on the battlefield didn't teach Hannah anything, there was always more evil than good depending on whose side you were on.

One might think that evil is always those affiliated with destruction, but there is the surprising case scenario where evil turns out to be the good guys all along, with their outward appearance being bastardised and demonised by the one faction that was suppose to guarantee peace and order for all.

Unfortunately, this could never imply to Grimm, as mankind and faunus-kind alike have been forever been struggling to vanquish the wrath of Grimm for Oum or any other god knows how long.

Though as Hannah seemed to mentally shroud herself in a determined train of thought, it didn't take long for the blank and withdrawn face to instantly reform back to a stern and professional scowl; however, it was at that moment upon turning back to Reina that she heard her speaking slowly yet purposely about the kingdoms and how it related to...a rotting forest?

That was quite a change of topics...or at least that was what Hannah thought as she recovered from her oddly deep yet brief train of thought, seemingly catching only the essential details of Reina's metaphorical speech; however, Hannah had a response on hand.

"Not unless you were to instigate a purge." Hannah suggested, with her voice mixed with a grim yet optimistic ambiance, "Nothing can stop the infection for sure, but you can rid the traitors who do nothing to stop it or help the infection spread even more. And when you do find the rats, follow their trail and sift through their mess, as they may hold the key to purging the virus. Besides, you never know that the infection after all could be...premeditated...by the very individuals you trust that take care of you. The same can go for the military, where you have good soldiers, but incompetent or corrupt officers."

[North Arkana]

Hannah Blikdase

To say that Hannah was sympathetic was just an exaggeration, considering that the words she heard from Reina included a handful of questionable acts that would normally send a chill down an ordinary person's spine.

The very thought of Reina's words of deception, cheating, and harm didn't scare Hannah, they have in fact initiated a pondering yet withdrawn facial expression that Hannah hid by facing her back towards Reina.

There was a point in the military-trained cat girl's life that she had either resorted to such measures to stay alive or witness during her lost and miserable times as a vagabond in the Mistralian streets.

If one were to metaphorically look inside Hannah, her heart had seemed to suffer a tear that allowed for her boiling blood to seep ever so slowly and painfully just moments after recalling her past.

She was 7-to-9-years-old at that point in her life, and one might simply scoff this kind of past as something imagined out of a crime-horror novel; however, the legitimacy of the truth is sometimes scarier than fiction.

From surviving on the streets of multiple towns and villages, to eventually finding herself in the desolate wreck of a Grimm-infested convoy to a war-torn mining town, Hannah found some details that she shared in common with Reina, though she never wanted to tell the story, not even to Ashley herself.

Though the difference between Hannah and Reina was clear; one survived and killed using deception to make ends meet, while the other survived and killed to seek greater fortune and preventing the other scumbag on the other side of the front line from taking her life.

From these details, Hannah came to realisation that she and Reina have came from similar origins; however, as she imagined from the will of two Faunus girls, there was a clear distinction between good and evil.

One girl became a soldier, while the other became a manipulator; however, if fighting on the battlefield didn't teach Hannah anything, there was always more evil than good depending on whose side you were on.

One might think that evil is always those affiliated with destruction, but there is the surprising case scenario where evil turns out to be the good guys all along, with their outward appearance being bastardised and demonised by the one faction that was suppose to guarantee peace and order for all.

Unfortunately, this could never imply to Grimm, as mankind and faunus-kind alike have been forever been struggling to vanquish the wrath of Grimm for Oum or any other god knows how long.

Though as Hannah seemed to mentally shroud herself in a determined train of thought, it didn't take long for the blank and withdrawn face to instantly reform back to a stern and professional scowl; however, it was at that moment upon turning back to Reina that she heard her speaking slowly yet purposely about the kingdoms and how it related to...a rotting forest?

That was quite a change of topics...or at least that was what Hannah thought as she recovered from her oddly deep yet brief train of thought, seemingly catching only the essential details of Reina's metaphorical speech; however, Hannah had a response on hand.

"Not unless you were to instigate a purge." Hannah suggested, with her voice mixed with a grim yet optimistic ambiance, "Nothing can stop the infection for sure, but you can rid the traitors who do nothing to stop it or help the infection spread even more. And when you do find the rats, follow their trail and sift through their mess, as they may hold the key to purging the virus. Besides, you never know that the infection after all could be...premeditated...by the very individuals you trust that take care of you. The same can go for the military, where you have good soldiers, but incompetent or corrupt officers."

Reina de Mazelle

"Things are reaching a boiling point, you know. If a purge or disaster of some kind was ever to happen, I think we're the closest we've ever been since the great war," she says, looking back towards Beacon and Vale. "There was already enough unrest thanks to that train incident, which was only inflamed by the military occupation from Atlas. The Vytal festival has calmed things down, if only momentarily, but I can only imagine a tournament where the kingdoms pit their students against each other might make things even worse, if even the slightest accident occurs."

And an accident WILL happen, Reina thinks to herself. She wouldn't have it happen any other way.

She looks to the ground for a moment. "There's a lot of things which could go very wrong, very soon. I suggest you make sure you're prepared, and you know who to trust."

[Yekrenia]

Hannah Blikdase

To say that Hannah was sympathetic was just an exaggeration, considering that the words she heard from Reina included a handful of questionable acts that would normally send a chill down an ordinary person's spine.

The very thought of Reina's words of deception, cheating, and harm didn't scare Hannah, they have in fact initiated a pondering yet withdrawn facial expression that Hannah hid by facing her back towards Reina.

There was a point in the military-trained cat girl's life that she had either resorted to such measures to stay alive or witness during her lost and miserable times as a vagabond in the Mistralian streets.

If one were to metaphorically look inside Hannah, her heart had seemed to suffer a tear that allowed for her boiling blood to seep ever so slowly and painfully just moments after recalling her past.

She was 7-to-9-years-old at that point in her life, and one might simply scoff this kind of past as something imagined out of a crime-horror novel; however, the legitimacy of the truth is sometimes scarier than fiction.

From surviving on the streets of multiple towns and villages, to eventually finding herself in the desolate wreck of a Grimm-infested convoy to a war-torn mining town, Hannah found some details that she shared in common with Reina, though she never wanted to tell the story, not even to Ashley herself.

Though the difference between Hannah and Reina was clear; one survived and killed using deception to make ends meet, while the other survived and killed to seek greater fortune and preventing the other scumbag on the other side of the front line from taking her life.

From these details, Hannah came to realisation that she and Reina have came from similar origins; however, as she imagined from the will of two Faunus girls, there was a clear distinction between good and evil.

One girl became a soldier, while the other became a manipulator; however, if fighting on the battlefield didn't teach Hannah anything, there was always more evil than good depending on whose side you were on.

One might think that evil is always those affiliated with destruction, but there is the surprising case scenario where evil turns out to be the good guys all along, with their outward appearance being bastardised and demonised by the one faction that was suppose to guarantee peace and order for all.

Unfortunately, this could never imply to Grimm, as mankind and faunus-kind alike have been forever been struggling to vanquish the wrath of Grimm for Oum or any other god knows how long.

Though as Hannah seemed to mentally shroud herself in a determined train of thought, it didn't take long for the blank and withdrawn face to instantly reform back to a stern and professional scowl; however, it was at that moment upon turning back to Reina that she heard her speaking slowly yet purposely about the kingdoms and how it related to...a rotting forest?

That was quite a change of topics...or at least that was what Hannah thought as she recovered from her oddly deep yet brief train of thought, seemingly catching only the essential details of Reina's metaphorical speech; however, Hannah had a response on hand.

"Not unless you were to instigate a purge." Hannah suggested, with her voice mixed with a grim yet optimistic ambiance, "Nothing can stop the infection for sure, but you can rid the traitors who do nothing to stop it or help the infection spread even more. And when you do find the rats, follow their trail and sift through their mess, as they may hold the key to purging the virus. Besides, you never know that the infection after all could be...premeditated...by the very individuals you trust that take care of you. The same can go for the military, where you have good soldiers, but incompetent or corrupt officers."

Reina de Mazelle

"Things are reaching a boiling point, you know. If a purge or disaster of some kind was ever to happen, I think we're the closest we've ever been since the great war," she says, looking back towards Beacon and Vale. "There was already enough unrest thanks to that train incident, which was only inflamed by the military occupation from Atlas. The Vytal festival has calmed things down, if only momentarily, but I can only imagine a tournament where the kingdoms pit their students against each other might make things even worse, if even the slightest accident occurs."

And an accident WILL happen, Reina thinks to herself. She wouldn't have it happen any other way.

She looks to the ground for a moment. "There's a lot of things which could go very wrong, very soon. I suggest you make sure you're prepared, and you know who to trust."

Hannah Blikdase

The militarised feline Faunus girl unleashed a quiet deep breath before shrugging back, "I've been through a war already that lasted seven years for me. How bad can a Second Great War be?"

Shortly after her questioning, Hannah placed her patrol cap back on her head with her right hand; however, she wasn't exactly finished quite yet, "I mean, if it includes being shelled to nothing or going up against entire platoons of mechanised infantry, then I must say that I am grateful for once that I've been through hell already. Though make no mistake, professor, a Second Great War will be a long and grueling one compared to the first, and I wouldn't be surprised that I would eventually have to command my own infantry and machines alike on the battlefield. I never thought I would say that, not from a soldier like me. Which..."

Then, Hannah swung her left hand to show the screen of her scroll showing the current footage of the four clone Hannah teams fighting each other; however, a few electronic beeps were quick to follow, indicating the lost of a few clone Hannahs; another from Red Team (2 out of 5 remaining), one from Green Team (4 out of 5 remaining), and another from Yellow Team (3 out of 5 remaining).

"...is why I rather train most of the time than watching the tournaments. Whether it be the tournament or war that comes first, I cannot emphasis any greater about my semblance. This is because when the time comes that a bullet would take my life or I am out of reach in the line of duty, my own selves would have to know what to do on their own, as well as tell everyone that I will always be there to lead the way in any future war to come."

---

Ashley's Scroll

The soft electronic sounds of Ashley's scroll coming to life were all but muffled as it laid in the pocket of some unknown student, and it wasn't long that the beeps indicating a kill for every clone Hannah in all four teams.

Red Team's numbers were looking bleak, with only two out of five members remaining, while the other teams had at least three to four members remaining; however, Ashley's scroll would eventually get that unnamed student's attention...

[North Arkana]

Hannah Blikdase

The militarised feline Faunus girl unleashed a quiet deep breath before shrugging back, "I've been through a war already that lasted seven years for me. How bad can a Second Great War be?"

Shortly after her questioning, Hannah placed her patrol cap back on her head with her right hand; however, she wasn't exactly finished quite yet, "I mean, if it includes being shelled to nothing or going up against entire platoons of mechanised infantry, then I must say that I am grateful for once that I've been through hell already. Though make no mistake, professor, a Second Great War will be a long and grueling one compared to the first, and I wouldn't be surprised that I would eventually have to command my own infantry and machines alike on the battlefield. I never thought I would say that, not from a soldier like me. Which..."

Then, Hannah swung her left hand to show the screen of her scroll showing the current footage of the four clone Hannah teams fighting each other; however, a few electronic beeps were quick to follow, indicating the lost of a few clone Hannahs; another from Red Team (2 out of 5 remaining), one from Green Team (4 out of 5 remaining), and another from Yellow Team (3 out of 5 remaining).

"...is why I rather train most of the time than watching the tournaments. Whether it be the tournament or war that comes first, I cannot emphasis any greater about my semblance. This is because when the time comes that a bullet would take my life or I am out of reach in the line of duty, my own selves would have to know what to do on their own, as well as tell everyone that I will always be there to lead the way in any future war to come."

Reina de Mazelle

"It won't be a war, it will be a cataclysm," Reina says quietly.

Maybe it's guilt, maybe it's regret, maybe it's hedging her bets, the ability to claim, "I tried to warn people without blowing my cover", but Reina could tell her her willingness to go ahead with Cinder's plan was fading, at least a little. The ideals were right, they were really what was best once you get down to it, but the cost of it, the cost which would be taken from the school where'd she'd been working and living for years, maybe the cost would end up being too much.

No, it was pointless to try to back out at this point. For all Reina was capable of, there were much bigger fish in the sea than her. She'd get eaten alive if she abandoned Cinder's plan, nevermind potentially betraying her.

[Yekrenia]

Leif Spruce

He had gone back and forth across the fairgrounds several times now, but there was no sign of Ashley anywhere. Leif could feel his legs begin to cramp with each and every step, and his throat grow tired from the yelling. He had already asked a lot of booths on the whereabouts of a certain jacketed teenager with a white hat, to no avail. And he also came across two other people who were called Ashley, who turned their heads at the mention of their names—which made it all the more awkward. But he had to keep looking.

"Ashley? Ashley?" he cupped his hands around his mouth. But she was still nowhere to be found. He was starting to feel deja vu as he had circled all the way back to where he started, right in front of the paintball grounds. Maybe she had already left the fairgrounds, he thought. But if I were Ashley, where would I go to?

Leif thought that maybe she was hungry, and that she already went to Voice of the Sea. But then, that's what where he was already gonna eat out, and Carmina would probably text him if Ashley had shown up again. So that one was off the list.

He then thought that maybe she had gone to the cafeteria. But she did say that she wanted to try eating out, so it wouldn't make sense that she'd suddenly change her mind. That was unlike her. But then again, it couldn't hurt to check if she did, would it? Yeah, she could have gone there or something.

And so he went to the cafeteria, hoping that he would find Ashley there. He was starting to regret not staying around with Jackson and Carmina for the food to arrive. That would've helped him last longer. Thinking about that caused his stomach to growl like an agitated cat. But alas, she was nowhere to be found. Not even the few people that actually came here to have lunch seemed to make looking for her any easier. And so with a small frown on his face and an intense rumble in his tummy, he went out of the hall.

The next place that Leif thought he should go to next would be the Emerald Forest. You know, because why the fuck not? He had already exhausted himself trying to figure out Ashley's steps—might as well go there before giving up and going back to eat his lunch. Sighing, he took a step forward and made his way to the forest. Fortunately no one had noticed him sneaking in, for those woods were off-limits to students that weren't on assigned missions.

But as he was sheltered by the shade of the trees, Leif could hear distant footsteps. Someone must be here, probably a team out on a mission. "Oh no," he started to panic. "Wh-what should I do now? I'm dead if they find out I'm here!"

Leif then caught a glimpse of a large bush that he could use to hide himself, so he ran towards it and dove into the foliage. He kept himself crouched behind the bush, waiting until they had passed him by. Once the footsteps had stopped, he slowly moved to the side of the bush to get a peek. What he saw didn't seem to concern him at first—they were basically a team in military uniform pausing to ready their weapons. But then he looked closer and saw that they all had striking resemblances to Hannah. And that's when it hit him. Those people weren't members of a squad, they were all her. Carmina was actually right!

Leif knew that he should probably tell Jackson and the others about what he saw—maybe they could work a strategy around that in order to counter the clones. But then this would be a great opportunity to observe where these clones were going to go next. Whatever the case, both situations required that he keep his head low.

Yellow Team / Delta Squad

The remaining members of Yellow Team - Delta Leader (Pentagon), Symmetry, and Quotient - approached the Green clone Hannah's body, with the Symmetry holding the machine gun in a low stance while keeping her eyes on the unconscious corpse.

Though as coordinated ahead of time moments ago, Symmetry stopped a meter in front of the body before nodding her head at Quotient to her right to go ahead and check the body for any life signs.

Quotient gave a kurt nod in reply before cautiously walking towards the lifeless clone Hannah body in front of her and crouch down to check to find no life signs; however, Quotient was much surprised to find that this lone Green clone Hannah was still alive.

"Hmm, 'ow 'bout zat? (Hmm, how about that?)" Quotient muttered as she found a pulse upon the Green clone Hannah, which seemed to be audible enough to get Delta Leader's attention.

"Any luck with the...bandit?"

Quotient looked back at Delta Leader and nodded back in confirmation while in the process of standing up, "She ist much livin', sir."

"Do you mean to say, 'She is alive'?" Delta Leader questioned.

"Ja. (Yes.)" Quotient nodded as she fully stood up.

"Okay, we are not in big trouble just yet then." Delta Leader sighed, with relief being obvious among her words.

"Still, ve hav' a body to move after zis." Quotient complained, yet her words were that of concern than annoyance.

"No, sorry, but that is Green Team's problem." Delta Leader nodded her head in sharp disagreement, "I mean, she is one of our sisters, but...she belongs...to Green Team, not us."

"Speaking of Green Team, ve have to go un' find ze others. Ze be out'n'bout if ve not move soon." Symmetry suggested as she lifted the machine gun and slung over her right shoulder.

However, much to their surprise, Delta Leader said otherwise, "That is true, but because they are going to shoot us from long range, I think we should...settle in...and hide for some time."

"Is zat a bit...um, co'ardly? (Isn't that kind of cowardly?)" Quotient asked with a slight frown on her face as she walked back to Delta Leader (Pentagon) and Symmetry.

"Truth be told, that is correct. But we are not about to get turned to hamburger meat by Green Team's...long range...abilities." Delta Leader added to her disagreement.

"Oh un' sir, not to...forget any-zin', but ve are armed vi' zis machine gun, un' zat is not much for us all." Symmetry groaned, though her words carried worry and concern that only reinforced Delta Leader's point.

"Which...that is why...we are going to camp around here." Delta Leader said as she pointed her right index finger below her chest at Symmetry for a moment, "We are going to wait in the area and see if Green Team will come to us. If not Green Team, than we will just finish off the other teams who come upon us."

"Okay..." Quotient shrugged, which that was only after looking around for a moment before looking back her fellow sisters, "Let us move."

Pentagon, Symmetry, and Quotient didn't have to exchange another word as they made a couple nods before turning around and jogging back into the direction of Tangum and Kilo's bodies, whom were still much alive like any other clone Hannah shot by the non-lethal lighting dust ammunition.

---

Blue Team / Bravo Squad

"Bailey, Palisade, løbe! (Bailey, Palisade, run!)" Bravo Leader (Citadel) barked at Bailey and Palisade, whom were both stuck behind a fallen tree just a fifteen meters to Bravo Leader's left as she hid behind a tree, "Jeg dækker dig! (I'll cover you!)"

Bailey and Palisade stayed true to their commander's orders despite the thunderous sounds of Red Team's revolvers going off downrange, and both blue clone Hannahs were careful to keep their heads down as they crouch run from tree to tree.

At the same time, Bravo Leader narrowly lost her life as she ducked down upon peering around the left corner of her tree, dialed her sights on one of the two remaining red clone Hannahs, and fired a single shot before pumping the action again.

The 23mm slug closed the 55-meter gap between Blue Team and Red Team, and the slug was fortunate to hit its intended target in the armpit of the right arm and knocking to the ground with an interesting kick to it.

The unfortunate red clone Hannah flew backwards before slamming its back into a tree, while the revolver in its right hand flew above the unfortunate red clone Hannah and disappear to the right side of the tree.

Bravo Leader was quick to pump the action of her shotgun before attempting to finish off the red clone Hannah with a shot to the center of mass; however, as she subsequently finished off the wounded red clone Hannah, the last red clone Hannah seemed to got the best of Bravo Leader.

The loud sound of a bullet bouncing off metal could barely be registered by Bravo Leader as she was suddenly pushed backwards from one of the 12.7mm pistol cartridges fired by the revolver of none other than Alpha Leader.

The shotgun flew out of Bravo Leader's hands and disappeared amid the foliage, with nothing but the sound of her ears ringing and the entire world all around Bravo Leader becoming nothing but a faint distant world.

The gunfire and shouting of the other clone Hannahs alike were all but gargled and distorted beyond recognition, and it didn't help that a splinting headache had struck Bravo Leader as she struggled to crawl back to the cover of her tree.

The only sound that she could properly register was the loud panting of her own breath while she crawled on her left and right forearms, much like a lazy army crawl...only except she was merely dragging the weight of everything below her chest.

From her load bearing equipment to her shoes and gaiters, she suddenly felt like she was dragging a small boulder tied to rope around her ankles, and it was only in a matter of seconds that she too would be knocked out of the fight.

Though as she got to cover behind her tree, she barely managed to turn herself around and sit up...only to find the sight of Bailey standing up and peering around the corner of the last tree to Bravo Leader's left and let off a couple salvos.

Then it suddenly occurred to Bravo Leader that Palisade was shouting towards her direction; however, it was merely useless since Bravo Leader's only concern was to relief the headache that threatened to immobilise her.

She leaned back hoping that she could lie down, only to find that the back of her stahlhelm inaudibly clunk onto the rough surface of the tree and allowing Bravo Leader to rest her eyes and catch her breath.

Unfortunately, her rest was momentarily interrupted as Palisade's voice grew closer and rang with increasing clarity, an indication that the ringing in Bravo Leader's ears was dissipating ever so slowly, "Kammerat, svar mig. (Comrade, answer me.)"

Bravo Leader almost lazily turned her head to Palisade, whom was hiding behind a tree to Bailey's right, and tapped the front of her stahlhelm with her left hand that was formed into a fist.

Instead of her fist coming into contact with the protective blue fabric of the goggle covering on her head, the soft sound of metal clanging against her left hand knuckles was audible, indicating that Alpha Leader shot her goggles off her stahlhelm.

In fact, Bravo Leader took a moment to realise this revelation as she slip her chin strap with her thumbs and take her helmet off her head to inspect the damage inflected upon her stahlhelm.

Unbelievably, her stahlhelm still retained its curves despite the fact that there was a burn mark and smeared molten metal fragments found at the front of her helmet, though it mattered less since the inside of the helmet and the liner underneath was unaffected.

"Kammerat, vi fik den sidste af dem. Vi er alle klar. (Comrade, we got the last of them. We are all clear.)" Palisade informed, whom her voice got Bravo Leader's attention back to reality.

"Er du sikker, Palisade? (Are you sure, Palisade?)" Bravo Leader questioned back upon turning her head to the left, seeing that Palisade and Bailey were at ease at their own trees, considering that the gunfire had fell silent.

"Vi er sikker på, kammerat. (We are sure, comrade.)" Bailey replied with her shotgun pointing down at the ground, whom she was inserting a few more fresh shells as silence returned, "De røde er døde. (The reds are dead.)"

Bravo Leader slowly let out a sigh of relief before standing up and putting her stahlhelm back on her head; however, that was while she let out her words of relief, "Et øjeblik troede jeg, jeg var en... (For a moment there, I thought I was a...)"

Suddenly, a shot rang out and Bravo Leader barely had time to register the report when a bullet whizzed past her while slicing a tiny chunk of the tree off and sending pieces of wooden shrapnel all over the place.

Bravo Leader flinched and stumbled backwards towards the safety her tree and pressing her back against the tree, with nothing but a face full of surprise and anger towards Bailey and Palisade.

"Bailey, Palisade, hvad er der med dig? (Bailey, Palisade, what's up with you?)" Bravo Leader cursed at her two remaining troops, but her voice tone was calm and stern as expected of Blue Team's stoic personalities, "Du begge sagde det var klart. (You both said it was clear.)"

"Vi fik den røde, kammerat. (We got the reds, comrade.)" Palisade shouted back as she kept the collective caution to stay within the cover of her tree, "Men det skud er ikke en af deres egne. (But that shot ain't one of their own.)"

---

Green Team / Charlie Squad

Oak laid prone in a formation of bushes as she cycled the bolt action on her rifle, with her visual appearance masked by her load bearing equipment laid to rest behind the bush, and the green covering that masked her mouth and nose along with her stahlhelm covering the top of her head.

Just like all her sisters in Green Team, she was practically using the environment to their advantage to pick off the three opposing teams, and stealth matter much considering that her she had been watching Red and Blue Team slug it out for the past minutes.

Red and Blue Team's confrontation was approximately 700-meters away, and Oak happened to so got the front row seats, since Red Team had literally walked right past her just moments before the fight broke out.

So with Red Team eliminated from the match, Blue Team was now easy picking with only three of the members left, including the fact that one of their fellow comrades had just recovered from being shot in the head and was unarmed.

Unfortunately, because Green Team was not equipped with scopes on their assigned weapon of choice, Oak was much surprised that she missed the unarmed blue clone Hannah downrange, not to mention that the iron sights made long range shooting hard.

Oak was not going to be defeated by her miss; however, considering that Blue Team could now be onto her, Oak had two choices that she had to consider as she stared downrange watching if Blue Team was ever going to pop out again.

Oak could wait and take another shot at Blue Team if they dared to peer from cover again, or she could make a run for it and get to a better position to pick them off, though this was going to be said than done since she be in danger of running into Yellow Team.

Yellow Team could be anywhere in the Outer Emerald Forest, and there was the chance that she could either be gunned down upon confrontation, or she would subsequently bump into them like a blind shot in the darkness.

Though before Oak could make a clear decision, one of the blue clone Hannahs to the left downrange peered around the corner and pointed what looked like a sniper rifle of their own, indicated by the telltale shining glint coming from the weapon downrange.

"Dat is niet eerlijk. (That's not fair.)" Oak muttered to herself irritated by her findings with Blue Team's assigned weapon of choice, no...it was in fact the audacity that they too have sniper rifles with scopes on them.

Oak was quick to line up her iron sights on the glint and all she had to do was pull the trigger, unleashing the wrath of a full-sized 7.62mm rifle bullet scud and allowing it to cross the 700-meter gap in a second with catastrophic results...at least...

The unfortunate blue clone Hannah downrange, as a matter of fact, managed to stumbled back to cover as the goggles and covering on their stahlhelm flew off like a tightly wounded rubberband suddenly cut at one end.

Oak craned her head slightly upward to expect a kill, but she was instead greeted with the sight of goggles and blue covering to smash into a tree and disappear out of sight behind another tree.

"Bulls***..." Oak cursed under her breath with an extremely thick and heavy accent, coupled with a frown on her face only indicated by her eyes, with the rest of her face masked by her green goggle covering and stahlhelm.

She couldn't believe that she missed again, and it was here that she realised that she can't stay in the same place forever, with her second shot now giving Blue Team a clear beacon of her whereabouts.

So with no more time to waste for another miss, Oak didn't bother to cycle the action in her rifle as she crawled backwards and disappearing behind the bush, only for her silhouette to be visible as she put her load bearing equipment back on and vanish into the forest with her rifle in both of her hands.

[Sterkistan]

Zac An
Unassigned
Beacon Academy Landing Pad
Vale

---

The airship rocking as it descended shook Zac from his slumber, he turned his head, the clouds parting to show the beautiful, lush green landscape of Vale. He stood, grabbing his bag, belt and weapon Maxim; which was currently stored in its portable form. Before walking out onto the deck, breathing in the cool air. A big difference from the dry, hot air of Vacuo, but Zac was okay with that. He looked over the sprawling forests, down at the City, and further along to the gen of Vale, Beacon Academy. Zac fished two notes from his shirt pocket, one displaying the acceptance of his exchange offer, as well as the details of said exchange program. While the other was a note from his father wishing him well.
He read through the notes, smiling as he finished the one from his father. He wouldn't let him down.

The deckhand walked up onto the deck as the airship descended to the Beacon landing pad. Zac picked up Maxim by it's carry strap and slung it around his shoulder with his other bags. As the ship landed, Zac stepped off onto the pad taking in the sights of Beacon, as well as the Vytal festival arenas floating around above the skies of Beacon.
He walked off the pad, looking around to find where he needs to go next.

[Servanity]

Crim was walking along the landing pads watching as all the ships came in. Sanguine sat comfortably on his shoulders only letting off a slight hum letting him know that the powerful sword was there. It was a beautiful day the sun was high in the sky and birds flew without a care in the world. Then Crim noticed the last of the ships coming onto the landing pad and a young man in a odd hat carrying what must be his weapon. "Interesting. He must be new." Crim thought to himself as he threw his hands in the pockets and made his way over to where the man stood.

[Sterkistan]

"Interesting. He must be new." Crim thought to himself as he threw his hands in the pockets and made his way over to where the man stood.

Zac An
Unassigned
Beacon Academy Landing Pad
Vale

---

Zac noticed the man approaching, and he half-turned to face him, "Uh, hi."
He looked at the weapon the man was carrying a sword; fairly large and letting off a powerful hum.
"Nice sword," if there was one thing Zac could make conversation about, it was weapons.