After finishing removing a sulking Ruby from the ceiling, however strange and amusing this situation had been, which would no longer be the case when Professor Goodwitch found out about it, the team was ready to start acting.
The plan was relatively simple.
Find Vegeta and make him take responsibility for what had happened, even if only a little, and help out.
Considering that he could fly and make a Bullhead eat dust without even trying, Vegeta would be able to move from battlefield to battlefield around the world in a matter of minutes!
That prince was an absurd monster like that, and if he could cause this disaster, he could also solve it just as easily.
At least, that's what they wanted to believe, including the possibility of him helping.
However, for that to happen, they first needed to get to him in Vale, and that was where the initial difficulty of this plan lay.
Considering that there wasn't a single Bullhead available for travel and that the students were basically forbidden to leave the school, everyone had to be ready if necessary, then the girls would have to do the unthinkable at any other time and travel by land.
Breaking the rules, on the other hand, was already something common and recurrent by this point, so it didn't matter... probably.
Helping people and containing these Grimm came first.
With that decision in mind, they finished their preparations by picking up their weapons and dressing in their combat outfits, where Yang surprisingly wore something that covered her entire body and most of her normally exposed skin, with pants instead of the usual shorts, along with a two-tailed coat, helping to hide some of her endless femininity.
Unfortunately, Yang was a beautiful and overdeveloped woman, causing her clothes to hug her form in an unobtrusive way.
Unless she wore a cape capable of covering her entire body, her efforts only went so far.
Regardless, this change only served to show that she was trying to change and how affected she really was by her encounter with Vegeta.
If it were up to her, Yang would never wear such a revealing outfit again.
Men around the world, with the exception of her father and uncle, were surely crying at this news.
Or so Yang and her ego, a part of her that refused to die completely, wanted to believe.
That surprise aside, it wasn't long before they were all ready and sneaking out of the bedroom window to do something they shouldn't have.
Again, this wasn't the first time, but the decision to use Emerald Forest as a starting point, going all the way through the valley before finally arriving at the city walls, certainly was.
That, and it was an extremely reckless thing to do.
Even under normal circumstances, this would be an arduous journey filled with danger. Given the current situation, with all the Grimm being active at levels of total lack of control, it made this plan something akin to a suicide mission.
The weakened state in which Yang found herself due to her lack of care and proper nutrition over the last few days only made things worse.
Every step she took was one that left her on the edge, not to say afraid, which was certainly a delight for the Grimm and could attract them like flies to honey, as she wished that nothing bad would happen and that this trip would end as uneventfully.
Theoretically, it should be possible since the Grimm were moving towards places with large concentrations of people and negativity.
Beacon might have a hundred people afraid of having to join the battle and worried about their families, but that didn't compare with the hundreds of thousands present in the entire city of Vale.
In that case, the forests should have fewer Grimm than usual.
Or so Yang hoped.
Otherwise, how could she really help and not hinder?
As much as Ruby and Weiss claimed to be completely recovered, which Yang doubted very much was really true, she didn't want those two to use the power Vegeta had given them, as it could very well put them back to bed.
Worse still, it could make them collapse from weakness in the middle of a fight.
This was one of the reasons why, if possible, Yang would have liked to ask Team JNPR for help, but unfortunately, they weren't in a position to do so, and all the girls on the team agreed that this was a problem they had caused and needed to solve without involving or harming anyone else in the process.
A decision that proved to be correct when they encountered the first Grimm, maddened by the light of life halfway through the Emerald Forest... Grimm, whose pieces started flying around immediately afterward.
Suddenly, all her fears disappeared to be replaced by pure shock.
"Strong..." was all Yang could say as she looked at her little sister and Weiss in admiration and an inevitable hint of envy. "I already knew they'd gotten stronger, but... that much?"
It was enough to remember when the princess grabbed her arm and made Yang unable to let go on her own, even when she had her Semblance active to strengthen her beyond her limits, that this display of power became less absurd.
Except that, as understandable as it was for them to have reached this level, given the boundless origin of this power, their speed was simply ridiculous!
At this moment, Yang could barely keep up with these two with her eyes!
They looked more like two red and white blurs than anything else.
Ruby and Weiss, when using their Semblences, could already easily be considered the fastest in the school, especially the princess with her broken time dilation ability. Now, their performance has probably reached a global scale!
What's more, they were claiming that position at the top of the world without even needing to make use of their unique abilities!
"And... they're barely trying," Blake added as she lowered her weapon, being sure that she wouldn't even have the chance to use it. "Can you imagine how much stronger they'd be if they got into that Supermode?"
It would definitely make these two the strongest girls in the world!
"Supermode?" Somehow, Yang managed to turn her attention away from the massacre taking place in front of her and focus on her partner, who was just as dumbfounded as she was. "What are you talking about?"
For a second, she was confused about what Blake meant by that, but it was enough to see Ruby and Weiss standing side by side in a smiling combination of red and white, being so beautiful that not even the Grimm being killed around them could destroy this scene, for Yang to understand.
"I mean, when they looked like goddesses who had descended upon Remnant," Blake didn't mind clarifying, even though it was no longer necessary, given her partner's look of realization. It's hard not to remember that day. Especially because of what Vegeta had done. "Weiss's hair turned blue at the edges, and Ruby's hair grew longer. What's more, Weiss had a Glyph hanging over her head emitting cold capable of freezing the ground beneath her feet, and Ruby's eyes seemed to be burning with silver fire while their Aura was as visible as yours when you use your Semblance, Yang."
There were also the rose petals that looked like flames of fire being emitted by Ruby's Aura and snowflakes sparkling around Weiss like crystals, each one more beautiful than the other.
To be able to affect a monster as powerful as Vegeta in an even more profound way than Yang had, someone who could certainly have any woman he wanted in this world, one way or another, and leave him completely awestruck, had to be a beauty that transcended, something almost ethereal.
Fortunately, he wasn't a bad man.
If any of the countless pieces of garbage that existed in this world had been in his place, with all that power, he would have lost control of himself and tried to force his way with them without even hesitating.
Even remotely imagining such a scenario only fueled Blake's desire to gain power, not for herself, but to be able to help her friends and anyone else who needed it.
Staying behind and only being able to watch when these two were in bed until a few hours ago only fueled that desire.
Blake wanted to be there too, smiling and fighting against the darkness of this world like a hero.
"Yes, you're right..." Yang eventually forced herself to smile weakly, unable to say or do more than that. Why am I feeling like this?
Anxious? As if all this isn't a good thing?
If anything, Yang should be happy for her little sister.
However, just by thinking about Vegeta, the answer to this feeling became obvious.
Not for the expected reason, but for the fact that this man, a person who held enough power to destroy the world, was keeping himself hidden and had even asked them not to reveal anything about him as one of the conditions for learning under his tutelage.
There had to be a bigger reason for that.
Because of her resentment, inevitably, Yang could only imagine bad reasons; that Vegeta was wanted, or an experiment that had gone too well and escaped.
At the same time, however, there was the idea that he was simply tired of being used as a weapon and wanted to be left alone.
Given the power he had, it was only the natural course.
People like him, anomalies so to speak, are either used until they break or...feared and perhaps even discarded.
In the end, the existence of a Huntsman or Huntress came down to that.
Ruby had a different and extremely naive perspective on Hunters, believing them to be the same as heroes...the same as Summer Rose.
So, even knowing the risks, Yang and her family reluctantly ended up supporting her dream.
That's why, when Ruby had been recruited to join Beacon two years earlier than usual, Yang was happy for her.
How could she not be?
After all, Yang would be close by, following her little sister every step of the way and even helping her, as she always did.
What's more, regardless of whether Ruby had joined Beacon two years earlier, it would still take her four years to become a Huntress, and by then, she would have grown into an adult woman more than capable of looking after herself.
Unfortunately, that was no longer the case, not with the power she had obtained, which led to the current questioning of what would happen next.
Would Ruby also finish Beacon faster than she should have, perhaps even immediately after her new powers were revealed to the world, and become a Huntress?
Would her little sister be turned into a weapon under the title of hero?
Thinking about Summer and what happened to her while walking that same path made Yang sure that she couldn't let Ruby suffer the same fate.
While Weiss was there, fighting alongside Ruby as a partner and equal, that was nowhere near enough to reassure her.
On the contrary, considering the change in this princess's smile, which was rapidly becoming sadistic as she delighted in the power she had gained and brutalized the Grimm around her with such ease, it was obvious that the bad side of her was starting to show again.
If she kept this up, this girl would really become a bad influence on Ruby.
I need to get my hands on that power, too. Suddenly, Yang had another reason to look for Vegeta besides forgiveness and a chance at redemption. Only then can I be sure that Ruby won't end up killing herself chasing her delusions.
That's if someone doesn't try to kill her before then, out of fear or to study her explosive increase in power.
Only someone stupid would believe that sick things like that didn't happen to anomalies.
The world was such a fucked-up place, full of desperate people looking for a light at the end of the tunnel that could help turn the tables in this endless war against darkness.
In fact, if Vegeta's identity were known, it wouldn't be strange to find out that there was a bounty on his head, especially after what he'd done... because of Yang and her inconsequential provocation.
Once again, she regretted her actions and choices.
No matter what the other girls had to say, the fact that Yang had started it all remained unchanged.
However, even knowing this, she would also accept what had been said earlier, about it not being entirely her fault, and stop drowning in this feeling of guilt that only hurt her.
Besides, now Yang needed to focus on what was happening in front of her and be the rare voice of reason in this troubled team to warn them of the hidden dangers that came with this new power.
If they were lucky, there were no cameras in this section of the forest, and everything that was happening would be kept secret. If not, they had to pray that no one would have time or remember to check the footage.
An inevitable result of the attention that the chaos around the world was attracting.
Meanwhile, unaware of her teammates' admiration and concern, Weiss was lost in a world of her own as she experienced how incredibly strong she had become!
Her rapier, Myrtenaster, could normally be considered a light weapon, especially compared to a monster like Ruby's scythe, Crescent Rose. Even so, it was still a weapon made from the most precious metals in this world and weighed enough for a normal person to be unable to handle it freely.
Now, such a weapon seemed to have disappeared from her hand!
If it weren't for her sense of touch, Weiss would doubt that she was actually holding anything.
Even better than that was her own body, which seemed as light as a feather!
Every command was met with an immediate and much more efficient response.
In all honesty, Weiss found it hard to keep up with this freedom of movement, where even jumping meters off the ground without using her Semblance required no effort at all.
What happened to Ruby earlier was a prelude to what was to come.
Fortunately, she was used to aerial maneuvers and could handle it much better than the euphoric girl accompanying her in this one-sided fight.
For the first time, it seemed that it was humanity that was hunting rather than being hunted.
Honestly, it was about time, and Weiss was loving the honor!
Have these things always been this slow?! She had a smile that could only be described as predatory and full of derision as she watched the laughable effort of a Beowolf, leaping towards her with everything it had and missing its assault by what felt like a mile! And fragile!
In the next second, she was slicing this thing in half, horizontally from the head all the way down to the tail point, bone armor and all, like paper!
Myrtenaster wasn't even a suitable weapon for trying to do that kind of thing!
Suddenly, everything she'd been through in the last few days, be it sleeping almost all day like a diseased person, the humiliation of having to eat absurd amounts of food to try to satisfy an endless hunger, and even being unable to stand up on her own, was proving to be a small price for the power she'd obtained; the power she hadn't even begun to use!
Just how much stronger wouldn't I be if I unleashed it all?! The idea was tempting, and even though she knew she could end up in bed again, Weiss couldn't stop thinking about it. I really would be almost like a goddess!
Because that's exactly how she felt that day!
Then, as if to give her a chance to relive that moment, a gigantic Ursa Major emerged from within the forest in full fury, more than capable of making the ground shake with every step it took with its colossal weight.
An alpha, huh? Given the force behind this thing's attacks, breaking trees like they were little dry twigs, Weiss had just gotten the challenge she wanted. "Perfect."
There was no sarcasm in her words; her growing smile reflected that as she held her ground and waited for this thing to approach.
"What the hell is she doing?" From afar, Yang continued to watch this madness unfold and didn't like where it was going. "Don't tell me that..." She didn't finish, her fear proving real soon after when that Ursa Major was approaching the princess, who, instead of moving away, only smiled like a psychopath! "That crazy bitch!"
Was that stupid girl trying to kill herself?!
"Damn it!" Blake was also alarmed, then drew her sword again as she began to move to stop what was about to happen. "I think the power's gone to her head!"
"You think?!" Yang was sure that was exactly the problem, and soon followed her partner to intervene in what could only be described as a suicide attempt! "Weiss, move your ass out of the way right now!"
Her warning cry echoed along with a shot from her Ember Celica, hoping to bring this girl back to reality and buy some time by hitting the Ursa in the head, only for the unexpected to happen.
Not only were her words openly ignored, but a Glyph appeared out of nowhere to block her attack!
"She just...protected the Grimm?!" Blake couldn't believe her own eyes! "This girl has gone mad!"
For nothing else could justify such recklessness!
"If she survives this, I'll kill her!" Yang had red eyes and flames of fire burning in her hair, her Semblance fueled by pure indignation. And that prince had the nerve to say that giving me power would be a bad thing!
What about Weiss, who was acting crazy, then?!
This only proved that Vegeta had made yet another mistake, and unfortunately, Yang couldn't nor did she have time to be happy about it!
Not far away, Ruby was busy with her own fight as she faced a giant King Taijitu for the first time; a Grimm who was proving to be a little more complicated to deal with than the Beowolfs she had cut up like butter, without even needing to make use of her ammunition, when she heard the commotion along with the agitated voices of her teammates.
"What's going on?" She was so immersed in fighting, in getting used to her new strength and testing what she could do now that she hadn't even noticed the changes around her until now. "Weiss?"
Her partner and best friend were kicking some ass, just like her, before coming face to face with the biggest Ursa Ruby had ever seen!
Normally, this would be cause for concern and even despair, justifying the reaction Blake and Yang were having.
However... this thing was nothing compared to their Bestie!
"Hehe," Ruby couldn't help but disregard the seriousness of the situation as she let out a small laugh and flashed one of her most vibrant smiles. "Weiss is about to let her flame burn brighter!"
Something Yang and Blake had no idea about!
Ever since Vegeta had unlocked their Ki, Ruby had been able to sense other people.
At first, this was only for her best friend, who was the biggest presence and most similar to her own, even when they were both still in bed sleeping almost all day.
Soon after, Ruby began to sense and identify other people, such as Professor Goodwitch, before she even entered the room to fix the things they had broken, followed by Pyrrha, who was in the next room.
Eventually, Ruby was able to sense Yang and Blake very easily, too, and soon was even able to locate and identify almost every student in Beacon!
Best of all, Weiss could do the same!
What's more, her best friend had a presence that easily outshone the invincible girl and the Deputy Headmistress.
This could only mean that Weiss had become as powerful as these incredible women.
However, that was before, when they were weakened to frightening levels. Now, the flame that Weiss emitted was on a completely different level, and Ruby could only respond accordingly.
After all, they were the same!
"Let's go!" Ruby leaped meters into the air to avoid the fangs of one of the snake's heads that came out from under the ground and smiled as she let her Ki burn stronger to fill her with power! "To show what the strongest team can do!"
That nothing and no one but Vegeta could stop them now!
Her Aura became visible in a dark red hue, and her eyes blazed with silver light as her hair grew back past her shoulders; a detail that went unnoticed in contrast to the petals of her Semblance that circled her body like flames of fire!
In the same second, the whole world changed as it became insanely rich in detail, devoid of sound, and everything seemed to have almost stopped moving.
Everything except Weiss and me! Her smile grew even wider as she maneuvered in the air and landed her feet against a nearby tree that shattered as she used it as a support to throw her against King Taijitu's white and black heads! Time to end this!
Then her scythe danced in her hands like a whirlwind of flowers to cut almost a hundred times in the blink of an eye!
Ruby then landed on the ground, and the world returned to normal as the giant two-headed snake froze in place before starting to fall to pieces.
In the end, she didn't even have to try to make use of those energy blasts that Vegeta had shown before, and that was kind of disappointing.
"What about you, Weiss?" Ruby put her dissatisfaction aside and focused on her Bestie with her silver eyes shining with more than just power. "What are you going to show me?"
Something extremely cool, she was sure of it, and she couldn't wait to see it!