“So, have you been getting better at using your eyes yet?” I questioned Ruby. The two of us were just relaxing in the library along with Weiss and Twilight, Yang went to workout not long after Adam and Blake left.

“I’m not sure. From what I can tell, my eyes seem to only react when there are Grimm nearby, unlike Adam who could probably do it on command since his light is connected to his keyblades.” My friend said, reclining on some bean bag chairs Luna had brought in. I still felt it odd that I can refer to one of the ruling monarchs by her name instead of her title.

“That’s too bad, maybe we should head into the Everfree when we get back to get some training in?” I questioned, earning a shrug from Ruby and a frown from Twilight. Weiss was busy reading.

“I really wouldn’t recommend that you two. It’s near Zap Apple season, and the Timberwolves become way more active and vicious around that time. And unlike the Grimm, they can regenerate unless you set them on fire, which is beyond dangerous in a dense forest.” She pointed out, earning a whine from Ruby and a sigh from me.

“That sucks, I really wanted to go do some training with Adam now that he’s awake.”

“Same. Though, I guess you want to spend some extra time with him, eh Penny.” I felt my face heat up again, still not 100% used to blushing.

“Well, I wouldn’t be adverse to it.” I muttered, earning a giggle from my friend. I pouted and lightly shocked her in response, the girl yelping and jumping to her feet. I just smirked at her halfhearted glare.

“Can you two please be quiet, I am trying to read.” Weiss snapped, but I could see the faintest of a smirk on her face. The two of us pouted to Ruby’s BFF, but left her alone and quieted down.

“So, how long do you think Adam is going to take before we head back to Ponyville?” Twi questioned.

“He said he was planning on heading back in a couple days. He just wanted to get some proper exercise and to see how the White Fang changed while he was unconscious. I know he was shocked by the new mechashift weapons as well as the fact you and the girls have scrolls.” I responded, earning a nod from the unicorn. I laid back and looked through the skylight above us, watching the clouds.

“It’s a shame friend-er Jaune, isn’t here. I feel like he could help me with unlocking my Semblance, no disrespect to you and your team Ruby.” I muttered, correcting myself. My mannerisms are still rather difficult to break, so I keep referring to the others from Remnant by how my processors categorized them.

“Yeah, I am wondering about that as well.” Weiss piped up, closing her book. “You have been going through everything Pyrrha had put you through. You even went through some of the exercises that I went through when my sister was teaching me. But you haven’t even got an idea what your Semblance could be?”

“None.” I responded sadly. “It’s almost like no matter what I do, I can’t figure it out! I know that Jaune unlocked his Semblance to save you Weiss, but I really wanna try to avoid that sort of situation if possible.”

“Well, maybe it connects in some way to who you are?” The three of us turn to Twilight. “I mean, I watched the show a while ago. Yang’s Semblance is connected to her anger, so she is hotheaded. Blake said her Semblance is about ‘running away’, even if that is debatable. Jaune is a White Knight, a support role, so his being Aura Amplification makes sense.” She turned to me. “Maybe your Semblance is connected to your personality or something.”

That was a good idea, but that doesn’t really help out too much right now. I am...a lot of things. I am learning to be human. I am rather...blunt, in my speech. I have trouble discerning how some people are feeling without my processors. I am not a machine anymore. Even Father or Uncle Ironwood didn’t have any idea about what my Semblance could be.

I sighed again and picked up a book I grabbed earlier about electronics and magic electrical energy. I figured I could at least learn a thing or two that would work well with my lightning magic. Ruby followed suit and picked up her scroll, going back to one of her games, luckily muted.

I think the four of us stayed there, enjoying the silence, when I perked up as I heard some hooves running past the door. I thought nothing of it at first, but became curious as more and more ponies ran past the doorways. I wasn’t the only ones as I saw the others slowly looking to the doors as a veritable stampede ran by.

The four of us glanced to one another before making our way to the door, seeing several guards running down the hall. I managed to catch one by the arm, a Pegasus mare from the White Fang.

“What’s going on?” I questioned. She looked back for a moment to nod to her allies before turning to me.

“Captain Taurus is about to get into a match with Miss Belladonna. We’re going to watch!” She got out of my grip and turned to the other. “Hey guys wait up!”

“Wait, what?!” Weiss yelled as we processed what we were just told.

“Damnit Blake!” Ruby yelled before we all ran down the halls as well. I frowned at what was going on, I knew it was only a matter of time before Blake or Yang did something. And I am more than worried now with Adam still not a 100%.

‘Adam, please be careful.”

Standing in the centre of the arena, surrounded by cheering ponies on all sides, Blake and Adam remained silent as they checked their equipment. The area was a little different than normal as it had several trees and raised ground into mounds for the fights. It also had a small pond that was about five feet deep.

Adam readjusted his Ember Celica as well as checking that he had two extra belts of shells for both, before double checking his swords. With that done, he adjusted his scarf and nodded to himself, lowering his mask.

Blake meanwhile, double checked her extra clips for Gambol Shroud, nodding as she still had a couple for Ice, Earth and Fire Dust she brought along, before adjusting her open jacket and unsheathing her swords. She held the katana and cleaver in a tight grip as she readied herself.

The duo stared at one another in silence, hidden silver reflecting amber, before turning to a unicorn and nodding, who nodded back and took out his weapon, a dust powered flintlock pistol and pointed up in the air.

“Begin!”

The loud shot was all the was needed as Adam rushed forwards, unsheathing his sword, swinging it at the other faunus, who blocked with her cleaver before trying to stab with her katana. Adam adjusted their position and blocked with his own katana before twisting and trying to get behind Blake. In response, she used her Semblance and jumped above and behind Adam, who jumped back in response, and began firing from his shotgun.

The feline easily blocked the shots with her cleaver before rushing her opponent. Once again the duo were clashing swords, but Blake was forced to use her Semblance again as Adam took out Manchar and slashed at her, before he crouched both blades held tightly. Blake copied him, the duo silent as they readied themselves.

With little warning, Adam focused aura into his feet and flew, but not at Blake. He landed on one of the trees in the arena, before jumping again, quickly becoming a blur as he zoomed around the feline faunus. Blake turned this was and that, trying to keep up with the other faunus who was speeding up with each jump, becoming a silver and red blur.

‘Dammit, he’s nearly as fast as Ruby.’ the girl thought to herself, dodging left as Adam swept by. ‘This is going to be harder than I thought.’

‘She’s stronger than before.’ Adam thought, jumping from one of the pillars towards Blake, the feline jumped away at the last second. ‘She was nowhere near this strong during the Fall of Beacon. Then again, that was a year ago. And I couldn’t get a good scale for her skills at Haven. Still, I won’t underestimate her.’

The duo continued this dance of blades for about another minute before Adam jumped up and tried to strike Blake with a downward strike. She rose both blades and blocked the attempt, leaving Adam suspended in the air for a moment.

Blake looked at Adam’s face with a determined grimace, before paling slightly as she noticed both his smirk, and the fact his hand was at an angle so if she looked at their blades, she would be staring down the barrel of his shotgun gauntlets.

With a mental slap to her head, she used her Semblance again, but infused some Fire Dust into it, leaving a clone of pure fire, which exploded when Adam shot his weapon, sending him flying to other direction.

Adam groaned as he skipped off the ground and to his feet, knowing that took a good chunk off his aura. He frowned to Blake as he sheathed his swords and got into the stance that was nearly iconic at this point. With only a moments pause he launched his sword with a shot, following it a second later.

Blake sent the sword into the air, but was surprised when Adam didn’t try to grab it, but unsheathed his other sword with a reverse grip and nearly stabbed her. A second later, he pulled back and caught his falling sword and began to try and slash Blake. The feline faunus defended herself well, barely getting a scratch here and there that healed up, before she jumped back and shifted her weapon.

With a shot from the pistol, she launched her weapon, which Adam sidestepped out of the way. With a pull of the ribbon and another shot, she tried to tie him up, but Adam backflipped out of the way, continuing to dodge and block as she began to spin around with her weapon. Each stray shot directed at him, he specifically blocked with his blade, building up his Semblance. Blake frowned as she saw this but continued, trying to keep up the momentum.

Which didn’t last long as Adam suddenly sheathed his sword and ran to her, extending his gauntlets and while Blake managed to get her weapon back, she wasn’t fast enough to block a shotgun propelled elbow strike to the stomach. Her body barely hunched over before she was hit by a right hook to the temple, followed by Adam placing his leg behind her and left clotheslining her, sending her flipping in the air a couple times before she landed on her back.

Adam jumped back and brought up his hands in a guard as Blake took a second to get her breath back, a hand on her stomach and messaging her neck. She turned and saw how Adam’s fighting style changed, showing a mix of martial arts and boxing instead of swordsmanship. Nothing she had seen before back in Remnant.

Blake gripped her weapons tightly, more on guard than ever, seeing his style isn’t like Yang, meaning she has no idea what he is going to do. Her frown deepened as Adam took half a step forwards, before she was suddenly forced to block several fiery shotgun blasts. Adam suddenly began to run around her, circling her as he released a shot every now and again.

Blake returned fire with her weapon, using Ice Dust ammo, but Adam simply jumped or dodged each strike, while taking note of each chunk of ice appearing on the field. Slowly, a new plan came together, which caused him to smirk, something Blake did not like at all.

On another pass, Adam suddenly jumped, and, while reinforcing his leg with aura, did a strong axe-kick to the floor, shaking the ground and sending the chunks of ice nearby into the air. Without a moment’s pause, he spun and kicked the ice towards Blake like a soccer ball, before seeming to teleport to the next chunk and doing the same thing.

Blake was forced to slash through the two torso-sized chunks of ice, and was understandably caught off guard when Adam suddenly appeared next to her and began to strike her. Now, Blake was no slouch without her weapon, but she was unbalanced and unable to defend herself as Adam proceeded to launch several rapid blows to the body, before preforming a leg sweep, sending her into the air, then roundhouse kicking her into the wall, causing it to spiderweb crack and sending all but her cleaver away from her.

‘D-dammit. He’s way too strong, nearly as strong as Yang. How?’ Blake thought to herself as her aura began to repair the damages, but still spat out some blood as she felt some of her ribs creak from the healing. Blake managed a glance to the back of her sword, where her scroll was, and saw her aura was already below half while Adam’s was still above eighty percent.

Blake’s ear’s were basically pinned to her head and she glared at Adam, who’s expression appeared calm as his eyes were hidden behind his mask, taking several deep breaths to calm his heart. She managed to get to her feet, and held her cleaver with both hands, her amber eyes displaying so many emotions at once.

“Wow, he’s really going all out.” Weiss muttered, standing in the royal section alongside the rest of her team, Penny, Twilight and the two Captain of the Guards, Midnight Blossom and Iron Frost. The two ponies had overheard the fight going on and brought the five females to the best seats in the house to watch. At first, Yang was about to storm the field and fight Adam herself, but a combination of Ruby’s authoritative voice and Penny’s lightning making her hair stand on end made the blond bomber go with them .

“Indeed, Captain Taurus isn’t exactly known for going easy on anyone, himself included.” Midnight said, watching the fight with rapt attention.

“One of his arguable qualities since he had been known to overwork himself, especially now that he is out of his coma.” Iron added, taking note of Adam’s strong fighting styles.

“I knew Adam was powerful, but it seemed like he should have used up more of his aura already.” Twilight muttered, watching the aura gauge on her scroll, glancing back and forth with each attack.

Penny and Ruby were oddly silent, just watching the battle between former partners. They both knew this was a very important fight, even if Adam wasn’t the one Blake worked with in Remnant, they knew she felt like she needed to beat him to move on. And that line of thinking was dangerous in Penny’s mind, while being necessary in Rubys.

Yang meanwhile was silently seething at the fact she wasn’t allowed to do anything but watch, her red eyes giving everything away. She should be in the field alongside her partner and cr-friend, fighting with her. Instead she was all but stuck to her chair, watching as Blake was fighting and losing to her opponent.

Penny noticed Yang’s grip on her chair, the magically reinforced metal being the only thing keeping it from shattering as the air around Yang slowly began to heat up. She frowned as she knew her friends thoughts, and was worried she would try and something to end this herself. Penny was not a fool. She didn’t like it and knew how dangerous this was, but she trusted Ruby to know what was best for her teammates.

That didn’t mean she wasn’t worried about her boyfriend. Far from it, she was very scared.

She wasn’t worried about him losing the fight. No, she was worried about him going too far. While Adam knew his limits as well as his opponents, he seemed to have a bad habit of hurting himself for others. His last fight was fresh in her mind as she thought this.

“You should retreat Blake.” His voice brought her back to the fight, watching Adam stay on guard.

“What?” The woman responded, his sudden statement catching her off guard. While they were hidden behind his mask, Adam’s eyes were narrowed to her own.

“I said you should retreat. It’s obvious that you can’t beat me as you are right now. Not alone.” He said, his tone not giving anything away while Blake slowly got angry.

“Shut up. I’m not running away, I am going to beat you.” She stated this as though it was fact. Without a moments pause, Blake ran at Adam and began to attack with her cleaver, slowly pushing him back. Meanwhile Adam blocked or deflected each strike with the back of his gauntlets, allowing himself to back up.

“You can’t win alone Blake. Not at this level.” Adam stated, his lack of tone only making Blake angrier. The duo had been walking back a bit and Blake noticed the rest of her weapon on the ground nearby. She disengaged from Adam as he tried to strike her with a left cross. He managed to get a hand on her back of her jacket, but she used her Semblance to get away, leaving her clothing in his grip as she rolled and grabbed her weapon, pointing the pistol at him.

She began to fire at him, while Adam retracted his gauntlets and deflected each bullet with his sword, allowing his Semblance to charge up again. Adam suddenly launched his sword at her, allowing it to spin in the air as Blake blocked it, the spinning blade forcing her back before he jumped over her, grabbing the blade and trying to slash her back. Blake again used her Semblance, trying to get above him, but was met with a shotgun blast to the chest, sending her back.

Blake groaned as she slowly got back to her feet, spots dancing in her vision from that last hit before glaring at her opponent.

“I never said run away.” He said right before launching his sword again, Blake sending it into the air before he jumped and caught it.

“I said to retreat.” Blake crossed her blades as his tired to impale her, before he twisted himself midair and kicked her dead centre in the chest.

“To run away is to give up, to surrender the fight and act like a coward.” Blake got to her feet, barely, and was beset again, this time by more melee.

“I said you should retreat.” Blake barely lifted her blade to block as right hook to the face, but got a fast straight jab to the chest again.

“To retreat is to fall back.” Blake raised her arms to block a kick, losing grip on Gambol Shroud, her stamina waning.

“To fall back is to save one’s self, and learn from the fight.” Blake wasn’t able to block a sudden right right cross to the face, causing some blood to escape her nose and disorient her, allowing Adam several quick jabs to the torso.

“To learn from the fight, is to learn to fight again, and to not fall for the same trick twice.” Blake was sure she blacked out as she felt Adam’s aura covered fist impact her chin, before, with a loud bang, a blast of burning gem ammo sent her into the air. She fell on her back, hard, hearing more than feeling as her aura finally shattered.

Blake looked up from her spot on the ground as Adam looked down on her, a frown on his face. Blake barely managed a glare as he lift his mask, his silver eyes not showing anything to her.

“What’s it going to be Blake?”

“I-I w-won’t run away.” She managed, trying to force her body to move. Adam sighed, before his belt in his gauntlet spun. Without any warning, Adam cocked back, his fist glowing red with his focused Semblance and swung down. Blake closed her eyes and turned her head, bracing for impact.

A loud crash was followed by a dust cloud being kicked up from Adam’s attack. Everyone in the stands was shocked, did he just land a fatal blow?

RWY were all frozen, the latter two thinking he went through with it, the temperature rapidly beginning to grow, while Ruby didn’t know what to think. Twilight was shaking, thinking that Adam lost it.

Penny....Penny was just blank. Her face was cool, and without a single emotion. The former android remained silent, nothing given away, as she watched the cloud slowly dispersing.

Once it was clear enough to see the silhouettes of the fighters, what they were able to see what shocking.

Blake waited. And waited. And waited. All she could hear was an incessant ringing from all four of her ears. Her nose could only pick up the smell of dirt and dust. Her eyes were clenched shut, waiting for her mind to process the pain. When she didn’t, slowly she inched her eyes open.

What she saw, was a black and red gauntlet, covered in aura, halfway imbedded into the ground half an inch from her head, it’s red glow dying out rapidly.

She blinked once. Twice. Thrice. Then moved her head to look up. Adam’s face was inches from her own, his mask resting behind his horns. His mouth was in a thin line.

But his eyes. Blake blinked again.

They were....warm. Soft. Adam’s eyes seemed to glow with so much security, and safety. Blake was taken aback, not reacting as Adam pulled his arm free from the ground, and went to a knee next to her.

“I didn’t say to run away, Blake. I said to Retreat.” He repeated, before smirking to her. “To retreat, is to go over what you learned. To realize your limits, strengths and weaknesses. To learn your opponent. To live to fight another day.” He glanced to the box above them. She followed his gaze and locked her eyes with a pair of lilac.

Yang was silent as her eyes went back to their original colour, the tears at the edges disregarded by her, but not by Blake. The faunus own amber eyes was able to see through her act, to see the pain, worry, fear, anger, happiness. All the emotions the blond actively tried to hide away

She saw everything in those pools of lilac.

Everything.

“To retreat, is to come back to those who will fight beside you. Those that will only make you stronger.”

Blake turned her eyes away, watching as Adam stood up, a smile breaking across his face as he looked down to Blake.

“So, what’s it going to be?”

Blake was silent, staring at this enigma of a man. He was so...different than him. So much like how he was before, yet not at the same time. He looked just like him, sounded just like him, fought just like him.

Yet he didn’t act like him. He didn’t talk like him. He didn’t fight like him. He wasn’t....

She blinked, then smiled. Like a puzzle, it was finally put together, finally in place.

“Yeah, I’m done. Time to go home.”

Because he wasn’t him.

“Did you really have to go that far Adam?” I scratched the back of my head, wincing slightly at Ruby’s glare. Not sure how, but her glare could probably make Salem feel apologetic if she could.

Blake was in the medical bay with a split lip, some fractured ribs and a minor concussion. Admitting I may have gotten a little too into the fight, but I know Blake was way too stubborn about certain things, so I decided to beat it into her head.

Call me thickheaded if you want, it works on some of my friends back on earth. A good spar does wonders for ones thought process. Even if I did ‘go overboard’.

I just rubbed my head, trying to avoid eye contact with Ruby and Penny as we were hanging out outside the medical bay. Weiss and Yang were with Blake right now, but the room she was in was only good for two to three visitors at a time.

I knew Yang wanted to see her first, and Ruby decided Weiss would go ahead of her. What was off was that Yang didn’t even glare at me or anything. It wasn’t like she ignored me, she just walked by when Ruby told her to go in.

Hopefully that means we’re getting better, but she was probably more focused on checking on Blake than trying to intimidate me.

“Well, it’s good to see that you aren’t feeling too bad.” Penny’s voice brought me out of my thoughts as she checked me over herself.

“Hey, I told you I was fine babe. If anything that fight made me feel better since I could use Moonslice to boost my aura.” I said, stretching my arms as I felt the absorbed energy in me slowly being released. Penny just rolled her eyes with a grin, showing she was going to drop it for now.

I sighed in my head. One of the things about our relationship is that we both like proper communication with one another, so I know we will be talking it through in depth later tonight.

Just hope the girls don’t try and eavesdrop.

Before long the doors opened again and Yang and Weiss stepped out. I smiled to them, then immediately raised a brow as I saw Weiss smirking while Yang seemed to be running on autopilot. She didn’t even greet the others and glare at me, she just went through the doors. And....was she blushing?

We blinked a couple of times before all three of us turned to Weiss, who just continued to grin impishly. We all looked back and forth between the former heiress, the doors Yang left from, and the doors to Blake’s room down the hall.

I wanna say I know what happened, but at the same time I didn’t want to assume.

“So...what did you three talk about?” Penny finally asked. Weiss turned to her, before glancing at me oddly, before smirking again.

“You know. This and that.” Was all the Ice Queen said before walking out the doors. I glanced to Ruby, who just looked lost, and suddenly I got déjà vu from when my sister Maria first brought her first boyfriend home.

That train of thought instantly derailed as I put the pieces together. Then facepalmed, earning the girls attention.

“Goddamn Bumblebee.”

Penny and Ruby glanced at one another before turning to me, but I just waved them off, shaking my head. The duo glanced to one another again before shrugging, and the three of us made our way to Blake’s room. Penny knocked on the door, and I swear I heard and ‘eep’.

“Hey Blake, can we come in?” Ruby questioned. I heard a small ‘come in’ and nodded to Ruby, who opened the door.

Walking in, I saw the window open, letting some fresh air into the room, before glancing at the sole occupant. Who currently had a pillow over her face.

The three of us blinked. At least that explained why her voice was muffled. I lightly tapped the top of the pillow on her face, earning a small whine as she took the pillow off her face, but still clutched it to her chest. I blinked as I saw Blake again. Aside from the small bandage on her lip and around her head and chest, she looked fine.

If you didn’t count the fact she was as red as a ripe tomato.

She slowly glanced to us, not leaving her position, and while the girls were confused and a little concerned, I just glanced back to the door, before looking at her with as straight a face as I could possibly manage.

“So how was it?”

Aaaand now she’s hiding her face again, a muffled groan echoing in the room. The girls looked to me again, but I just shook my head, nodding to Blake. They looked to one another before looking back at Blake as she removed her feathery cover and sighed loudly.

“So, Blake, how are you feeling?” Her team leader questioned, sitting on the bedside.

“Sore, tired.” She stated, before glancing to me. “Hey Adam? Thanks for the spar.” She then grinned. “Even if you went a little overboard.”

“Oi, we went through nearly as much back on earth. And we didn’t even have aura to heal and defend ourselves, so you have no room to complain.” I retorted with no real heat in my words before I grinned. “Seriously though, it’s good to see you acting like yourself again Blake. The whole ‘overly paranoid and ready to attack at a moment’s notice’ thing didn’t really suit you.”

“Oh like you can talk. Don’t think I haven’t seen the extra cautious glances you have been sending to me and Yang.” She responded, grinning as well. The two of us managed to share a small laugh before Blake winced, holding her side. I had to turn away as Penny and Ruby checked on her.

Those girls of hers aren’t mine to see.

After a minute or two, Penny tapped my arm, signalling it was okay for me to look. Blake was laying below the covers again, smirking like a cat to me as I rolled my eyes to her. It was as I was rolling my eyes that something random popped into my head.

“Huh.” The girls turn to me. “I just realized something.” I turned to Blake with a rather serious expression. “You and I have the same birthday, and we’re both going to be 19 when it comes to pass.”

“Wait, seriously? Your birthday is January 13th?” Blake said incredulously. I nodded, the other guys knowledge proving surprising at this moment. Ruby and Penny looked to one another in surprise before I shook my head and smiled softly to the bed bound faunus.

“Well, get some rest Blake. As soon as you’re good to go, we’ll all head back to Ponyville.” I said, patting the feline on the leg, who just nodded before something lit up in her eyes.

“Hey, I have been meaning to ask this while I was in town.” She began, slightly tilting her head. “But would the spa ponies do haircuts as well?”

I glanced around my room, making sure I was alone. I walked over to the open windows, slamming it shut before locking the window and closing the blinds.

I made sure the door was locked tight, before sitting in the centre of the room and focusing on the spell I learned earlier in the week. A small glow emitted from my horns before quickly covering the room, especially the doors and windows before the faint red and silver aura died out.

With a small breath, I placed my scarf and jacket on the rack nearby, before grabbing my scroll and setting it to Holoscreen mode, the light appearing on the wall before me. Going through the files, I found what I wanted.

With another deep breath, I pressed the button, and prepared myself.

The screen faded in, showing a small wooded area as the snow breezed by, the wind sounding through the screen. Dead centre on the screen, ‘Rooster Teeth presents’ appeared. It faded away as the screen cut to another area, showing ‘Rooster Teeth original series’. As it faded in the background a train horn was audible.

The screen cut to a cliff side before music cut in, the screen lowing and showing a train go by. As the final car nearly went off screen, a large Manticore Grimm flew in with a roar.

The Grimm flew over the train, spinning to avoid several sniper rounds, before crashing and rolling atop the train.

“Yah!” With a small red blur the Grimm rapidly dissolved, revealing Ruby as she spun Cresent Rose behind her. “Got em, now who’s next?”

Next Chapter: Chapter 30: Dragon Riders Estimated time remaining: 2 Hours, 59 Minutes