Long before the end of the second month, Searing had replaced her qipao and pirate pieces with her armor. It was awesome, it kept Cardin from bullying anyone, and it had Yang's approval. The last reason was a big source of turmoil for her.

"Where's Discord when you need him?" Searing asked as she got in bed and opened her key.

Discord appeared on the screen. "Hi, Searing!"

"Oh, there you are."

"Is that any way to talk to your benefactor?" He chided.

"Yes."

Discord drew a line on his face with a red marker. "You wound me, Searing."

"What are you calling about?"

"Just to check up on you, of course. How are you doing? Having fun? Learning some good combat stuff? Any cute girls catch your eye?"

"Goodbye, Discord."

"You met Yang, didn't you?" His question stopped Searing from closing the call. "I knew it! And you've got feelings for her, don't you? The law of narrative causality or something has struck true!"

"Get to the point."

Discord put on a turban, summoned a crystal ball (complete with $5 price tag), and started looking into it. "You miss Yang, your savior. Every day that you're away from her, you find yourself wanting to be with her more and more. And the one you see everyday in your combat classes is an almost perfect copy in appearance. You can keep the two seperate, but it's not easy, and you often forget to do that."

"Are you saying that I want to spend my life with her?"

"You said it, not me. Also, I've noticed that you've only cracked puns around her here. Are you perhaps seeking her approval?"

Searing closed the call and closed her eyes. Her sleep would be plagued by Discord's questions.

"Alright everyone, this is the day you've been waiting for," Taiyang said. "Your first encounter with the Grimm. Since everyone is armed and trained, it shouldn't be that difficult. That being said, all of you are still novices, so don't get cocky. I've already drawn up a strategy." He pulled out his scroll and sent a message to his class's keys. "Find your position on the diagram. That is where you will be."

Searing opened her key and quickly found herself. "Professor, why am I all the way in the back?"

"You are the only one with long enough range to provide cover fire. You will be covering the front line's blind spots."

"But my semblance-"

"Isn't always necessary. Sometimes, your weapon is what gets the focus."

Searing wasn't happy with the explanation. "Alright."

"Now, the area we're going to is inhabited by simple Beowolves and Ursa. . ."

As soon as the class got off the bullhead at the designated area, they immediately followed Tai's plan and directions. Searing needed no instructions, as her spot was a tall tree marked with a red tag on its trunk. With the combined weight of her armor, cannons, and sword, she couldn't jump like her more lightly armored and unarmored classmates, but the branches were sturdy enough to support her all the way to a stand that had been installed in the tree a long time ago.

She unslung one cannon and watched her classmates through its scope, careful to keep her finger off the trigger. "Everyone's in position." She swept the area in front of them. "A few Beowolves, some Ursa. . ."

Her key rang and she answered, Yang's voice coming out of it. "Is there anything unusual ahead of us?"

"Nothing we weren't informed of," Searing responded. "Go ahead." The call ended and Searing watched as everyone but herself charged forward at the Grimm. The battle was underway in short order, and she watched as everyone attacked the shadowy beasts. She could barely hear the gunfire from her perch, and she found herself watching Yang more than anyone else.

Some minutes in, Searing was bored. Then, the key rang. She didn't look to see who was calling. "This is Searing."

"This is your pilot speaking," the voice calmly said. "There's a Nevermore heading your way. I've got it on my tail. If you can shoot it down, that would be very much appreciated!"

Searing drew back from the scope and looked around the skies, quickly finding the aircraft and giant bird chasing it. "Pilot, I can't get a good shot at it. If you can go straight up, I can get the shot."

"Copy that." As the pilot flew around, Searing turned up the power on the cannon, just to be sure. "Vertical in five!"

She found the bullhead, scoped in on where it would go, and waited. Seconds later, she took the shot. She felt the drain on her magic and aura when she pulled the trigger, and the Nevermore gained a nice, big flaming hole in its head. Only when it started dissolving did Searing report. "Kill confirmed, pilot. The bird is dead."

"Thanks, Searing. The skies are clear now." As soon as the call ended, another came through.

"Searing, what was that shot?" Taiyang asked with a hint of concern.

"A Nevermore chasing our ride," Searing reported. "The pilot was pretty calm."

"And that's the value of support fire. We're almost done down here." The crash of a tree falling came through, and Searing scoped in on the action. "Run, everyone!" Searing saw three kinds of Grimm, each in numbers. Rhinos, gorillas, and elephants, all running after the students and Taiyang. "Cover fire, Searing!"

"Better plan." Searing ended the call, jumped down, and stowed the cannon. After pulling the unpowered Crimson Breaker off, she set the ranged weapons and back holster armor at the tree trunk and ran towards everyone else.

She crossed the retreating line with a leap and flicked the sword on. The massive drain it demanded on activation briefly stunned her, but it did nothing to save the rhino grimm from being sliced in two. The gorilla behind it met a similar fate, and in that moment, the horde of powerful grimm decided that she was a threat that needed to be eliminated immediately.

Searing stepped further into the mixed pack, blade at the ready and semblance active. "Bring it on, you knockoff nightmare rejects!"

A rhino charged into Searing from the side and rammed her through three trees before tossing her into a fourth. Under the helmet, Searing smirked. "Didn't hurt!"

Up in the air, the students who had escaped (everyone that wasn't Searing) watched as Searing tanked hit after hit before effortlessly slicing some Grimm with her sword. "Professor?" One student asked.

"Yes?" Tai responded.

"I think my key's aura gauge is malfunctioning. Searing's aura is just sitting below half and not going anywhere."

Taiyang pulled out his scroll and checked it. "I'm seeing the same thing. Is it some feature of her armor or something?"

"Determination," Yang said.

"Determination?"

"I helped her name her semblance. Figured it out in our sparring sessions. The greater the odds against her, the more durable her aura becomes." Yang looked at the gauge as Searing tanked a Beringal slamming her face into the ground and a small sliver of her aura drained away. "I think she's enjoying it a bit too much, though."

"Maybe." The Beringal's arm was cut off by a lazy swing of the energy blade, and as soon as Searing was back up, she bisected it in full before charging at a Goliath's legs. "A better question would be what Sais, Beringals, and Goliaths are all doing here, and why they attacked us. Hey, cool pilot guy!"

"Yes?" The pilot asked.

"Got any cashews?"

"No."

"Nuts."

An hour later, Searing killed the last of the horde, depowered the blade, and opened her key. She was down to fifteen percent of her aura, and she started to feel the strain she had just put her body through. "Aagh," she groaned as she did some stretches and started walking back to the tree. When she got there, she saw everyone there, alive and well. "Oh, hi."

Taiyang stepped up and addressed the class. "Everyone, I'm sorry about the bad intel. We had no information on the big uglies there. But, thanks to Searing, they've all been dealt with. Let this be a lesson: there is no perfect plan, and you have to be able to adapt or be willing to run. Additionally, as our pilot explained earlier, communication and coordination is vital. If it weren't for that, we wouldn't be able to fly back to Signal.

"For our last week, we will be playing strategy games and you will be in groups of four. Yang and I will go around messing with the games, so you'll have to stay on your toes. Tonight, we will take it easy. Let's go."

The flight back was uneventful for Searing, caught up as she was with the growing aches and pains from the fight. Sure, she could have joined in the conversation, but her everywhere was hurting, even with her aura at work.

Behind the helmet, Discord's image popped up, and he was holding a sign that read, "Good job with your semblance out there." He flipped the sign. "We leave in two weeks, so you'd better give Yang a hug before then." He flipped it again. "I know you really, really want to." The last message was accompanied by him waggling his eyebrows at her.

Searing almost tore her helmet off to get him out of her sight. This brought Yang into focus. "Oh, hi," she got out with little energy.

"You okay?" Yang asked. "I mean, you're obviously alive and here, but what about up here?" She pat Searing's head just in front of the pony ears. "You were really taking a beating from those Grimm."

". . . Yeah. I was almost invulnerable."

Taiyang joined the conversation. "Not every wound is physical. Even with a defensive semblance as powerful as yours, cranial trauma is still something to worry about. That, and you seemed to be enjoying the Grimm beating you up."

"I'm fine. Really, I'm fine."

"I've heard veteran huntsmen and huntresses say that before. Look, if you need to talk things out with someone, Yang and I will be here."

A few days later, after the day's round of strategy games were done, Searing found Yang. "Hey, can we talk?" She cautiously asked.

"What's up?" Yang asked with a smile.

"I. . . I don't know how to start on this issue."

"Hmmm. . ." Yang thought for a bit. "Well, if you don't know where to start, how about figuring out where to end?"

"What?"

"My dad asks that when my sister or I have a problem. It usually works."

"Well. . ." Searing thought about it a bit. "I want to. . . I have a friend I haven't seen in years, and you remind me a lot of her. She's kind of a big deal, and she. . . She. . ."

"You have some feelings for her, don't you?"

A blush came over Searing's face. "Wha. . . Nononono, not at all."

"Yes you dooo~" Yang teased with a smirk. "I can tell~"

"You. . ." Searing gave a frustrated sigh. "Okay, yes, I might have some feelings for her. I just don't know what she'll think if - when I see her again. I don't want to just drop this on her, you know? But I don't want to let it gnaw at me when I get back either."

"Well, if you don't want to drop it like the bass, maybe you could just let it happen? Talk with her, see what she does, and be there for her. And hey, it could be that she likes you back. Just be confident and things should work out."

Searing took a moment to digest the words. "Thanks, Yang."

"Hey, no problem." Yang suddenly pulled Searing into a hug. Searing went stiff from the surprise hug, her thoughts racing as she panicked on what to do. Slowly, she returned the hug. "It's not that difficult. And hey, if she's like me, I'm sure she'd be fine with your cute pony ears."

"And if she isn't?"

"Just let her shout it out until she's a little hoarse."

Searing couldn't help but snicker at the pun as she broke the hug. "Is wordplay the mane form of comedy here?"

"If it isn't, it's certainly at the tail end of the show."

"Well, you've certainly left a mark on me."

Yang gave Searing a blank look. "I don't get it."

Searing took a step back to think. "Ah. Uhm. Well. . . How do I explain this?"

"Hey, not every pun is a winner." Yang checked her scroll when it pinged. "Hey, I gotta get going. My little sister's visiting, and she'll definitely keep me to herself if she can. Good luck with your girlfriend!" With that, she ran off.

Searing halfheartedly waved as Yang left. When the long haired blonde left, the short haired blonde sat down. "Girlfriend, huh," she quietly said to herself. "Yang Xiao Long and Searing Victory. I like the sound of that."

Off in wherever Discord was, the chaos spirit rubbed his mismatched hands together. "This is going to be great!"

The day to leave finally came, arriving with a chaotic knocking on the dorm door. "Yeah, yeah, I'm on my way," Searing groggily said as she got out of bed and opened the door. "Hi, Discord."

"Goooood morning!" Discord greeted with far too much cheer. "Got everything packed up?"

Searing looked back at her suitcases and the clothes spread out around them. "Not yet." Discord snapped and the suitcases came to life. Searing was mildly entranced by the one that was eating up all the loose clothes with both the utmost of care and a ravenous appetite. She became entranced when she saw it working on her armor and weapons. "Well, that's neat."

"Look at your feet."

Searing looked down and saw that, somehow, the other suitcase had gotten under her, and she was sinking into its fabric filled depths. It wasn't long before she was knee deep in it. "Discord!"

"Don't worry, my dear. It's totally harmless, I assure you. That being said though," -He pulled out a plunger from nowhere- "I do need to expedite the process." He planted the plunger on Searing's head and started pushing her down with it.

"Hey, stop. Stop stop stop STOP!"

"Okay." With one final push, Searing was fully in the fabric filled space and the plunger was off her head. Before she could do anything, Discord closed the suitcase, leaving Searing in the dark.

"Great. Stuck in a suitcase with no idea of my next stop. Sweet Celestia, I wish I had something to do." It wouldn't be long before she realized the comfort of her predicament and decided to go back to sleep.

Author's Notes:

Determination makes Searing's aura tougher when the odds are stacked against her. The greater the odds, the greater the toughness boost is. The main factors that activate Determination are allies and enemies. With more allies, the effect is lessened, further so if they are skilled, armed, and capable. The effect is also lessened if the enemies are weak and few. The opposite also holds true, as seen with her facing the horde.

Any armor and armaments Searing has does not affect Determination one way or the other.

Crimson Breaker and the Blasting Laser Cannons draw from her aura and magic. The draw bypasses Determination. Crimson Breaker takes half to activate, and stays active until turned off. The cannons draw a small amount for a regular shot, but can draw more for a stronger shot.