A/N: If you don't care about the topic of the schedule release, skip to the start of the chapter, otherwise continue reading, it's quite a lengthy announcement.

I realized that having a 'schedule' is inefficient, mainly because it's bout to fail, it may be a cursed thing or something. Basically from now on, there is no schedule, the updates will come when I finish writing the chapters... Now, not a lot will change, it will still stay mostly weekly, except it won't be on 'only' Fridays, you see this is how I did things:
Friday - Upload.
Saturday - Free day.
Sunday to Friday - Write one chapter each day, that adds up to 6 and again upload at the end of Friday.
And repeat that process, and that's exactly how I will continue on doing things. But you see, sometimes, when I feel really great about what I wrote and want to continue writing, I do exactly that, so on those days, I write a full chapter and a half, if not two. Then there are opposite days, where I write only half a chapter. So basically the timing sometimes changes. Therefore, no more updates on 'Friday', the updates can now happen on any day of the week, but I still suspect that it will most likely happen on Weekends, more time to 'check' for big mistakes and actually upload, because it takes about 30+ mins to upload the chapters even, over the three different sites. Thank you for reading this, now... Continue on reading the chapters... Yeah!

~ Practice in the night ~

Narrator POV:

Grimmerin knocks on the door a few times and waits for it to open or for somebody to call out from the other side.

This time, the door was opened, therefore allowing Grimmerin to see Cinder on the other side, who was already waiting for Grim.

"Emerald is ready to go" Cinder states, turning back and walking to the bed to sit down.

"Good, the less waiting I have to do, the better" Grimmerin says back, not even thinking of going inside the room "But what did I say to call her?" She asks instead.

"Emi is ready to go" Cinder says again.

"Better, get some practice in calling her that, to get used to it... now, where is she?"

"I am here" Emerald says coming into the view of Grim from a side of the room that was not visible from the outside of the room.

"Okay, let's go, follow me" Grimmerin says turning around and starting to walk away. Before stopping in her tracks, causing Emi who was already following to bump into her back, normally Grim would say something to that, but she doesn't pay attention to what happened, instead of turning around to face Cinder again, who's looking back at her.

"What is it, Grim? Or it that Crystal wants something?" Cinder asks.

"It's Crystal... You see, a few nights back, I saw something interesting, that something subsequently also picked Crystal's curiosity and I... Well she needs information about it"

"What might that be?"

"I am sure that you already know about Romans' high jinks with the paladin and a certain team beating it into a pulp"

"Indeed, I do"

"Obviously... Anyways, Roman apparently has a new henchman or an old but a secret one, even I haven't seen her around him, which is a surprise..."

"So, Crystal wants every bit of info I can gather on this new henchman"

"Yes, her name is Neo, at least as far as we know, that's all we heard. But we do know how she looks like, she has about half pink and half brown hair, some white parts on the pink part of her hair. Carries an umbrella for a weapon, has heterochromatic eyes and she's also small quite the tiny little thing. We reach about a full head and a half more. Oh and for some reason, she has a chain around her neck"

"A chain around her neck?" Cinder repeats the last part.

"Yeah... It was strange, that's the most important thing that Crystal wants to know about"

"Okay, I'll get that information for Crystal. Why does she want to know about this 'Neo' anyway?"

"If it were me, you wouldn't get an explanation, I order you to do something and you do it, less hassle that way, you get a task and do it without any chance to deviate from it. But Crystal on the other hand would explain everything to you... But oh wait, I am in control right now. So just do it without questions asked"

"Of course" Cinder says back.

"Now, I and Emi will go an-" Grimmerin's head gets uncomfortable again, quickly too and she's forced to raise one of her hands and put it on her right temple "Stop that, Crystal" It only gets more uncomfortable, not stopping whatsoever "What's the point of her knowing why she needs to do it?" Grim asks out loud, for Emi who's witnessing it all, it's strange behavior, while to Cinder this is nothing new, she already knew that this will happen. Of course, Emerald also soon understands what's going on.

"FINE!" Grimmerin says louder than before and all of it stops, she breathes in to calm down. She looks at Cinder again and she swears to herself that she noticed a small smirk directed towards her, which quickly disappeared, she wants to call it out, but she rethinks that idea and instead goes along with what Crystal wanted, the faster she gets it done, the earlier she can leave.

"Ahem, as I said, Crystal just can't say no to you... Annoying... So, basically, believe it or not, Crystal wants information about Neo, because a long time ago, before she enrolled into Beacon, she saw her one time in Junior's club and for the first time, her instinct gave a person 10/10, which was Neo... That's why she wants information"

"Oh... That's unexpected... Even Salem was lower than that..."

"I know, right? She might not take the news well, but... That's no business of mine"

"Right... Okay, I understand, the task shall be accomplished"

"It better be, unlike Crystal, who would smile and say that it's fine, if you were to not succeed, from me, you will only ge-"

"Punishment and pain, yes, I know" Cinder cuts Grimmerin off, getting an intense glare from the Faunus in return.

"Whatever, I'll allow this disrespect right now, because we are already behind schedule to train, so be glad... Bye Cinder" Grimmerin states and continues walking away, not waiting for Cinder to say farewells of her own.

Emi stands in the same spot looking back and forth between her leader and her... training buddy? No... She's closer to a drill sergeant and they haven't even started to train.

"Go... Don't keep her waiting, she's already in a bad mood" Cinder says and Emi nods and starts walking away, before Cinder calls to her again, causing her to stop again "Emi, remember, don't disobey her and don't question her... If she gives an order that you can't fulfill... Call me, I will try to change her mind, but I can't promise it will work... Good luck"

"Yes... Thank you, Cinder" Emerald says back to her leader and follows after the Faunus.

Grimmerin walks in silence as Emi follows after her. The duo walks outside, Emi sees a motorcycle stationed right in front of them, for a moment she thinks that they will walk around it, but she gets slightly surprised as Grimmerin sits down on it.

"Now, did Cinder warn you about me again, is that why you were so far behind me?"

Emerald doesn't answer, not wanting to give away Cinder.

"First thing... And you're already not following any of the warnings she gave you... I won't ask again, did she, or did she not warn you about me, just now?"

"Yes, she did" Emi finally answers, understanding that even something as little as this, might get her into trouble.

"Of course she did... Anyways, get on the back and let's move" Grim slightly points to the backseat and looks forward, she had a few days to train her skill at driving this thing, it wasn't as hard as she thought it'd be. Emi sits on the vehicle, she'd like to ask where they are going... But she feels as if that would be a mistake.

"Okay, hold tight, this thing can go pretty fast and there's no way in Grimm, that I'd ever go slow" Grimmerin says and just as she does, she starts the engine up and just goes. barely giving any time for Emerald to react, of course, they can move almost as fast, it's just the initial acceleration from nothing, which caused her to accidentally grab one of Grim's tails.

"Do not TOUCH the tails" Grim says darkly, causing Emi to release it and instead grab the back of the bike, holding her arms behind her back.

And now they drive in silence to their destination, the forever fall forest, the edge of it, to have as much privacy as one can in the middle of the night.

Eventually, they arrive at their destination, getting off of the bike and walking some distance away from it, to start practicing.

Grimmerin looks around for a bit and nods to herself in approval "Okay, this is good enough. Now" She turns to look at Emi "Time to set some ground rules, you are to follow them, understand?"

"Yes" Emerald answers immediately.

"Okay. First, you are to never tell anybody about what and how we train here, of course, you'd probably never do it anyways, except for Cinder and that useless man in your team. But with this, you can't tell even them. Second, I am sure that Cinder has already warned you, but I will reiterate it, you are to follow my orders without questioning them, if I tell you to do it, you do it. And third, the most important one, don't you dare complain, I don't want to hear any of it. Do you understand all of these?"

"Yes, I do"

"Good, now, before we begin, to make this more 'fair', for you, since without any incentive to train to full capacity would be detrimental, yes, fear can do that, but fear isn't everything. We will try three times every day of the weekend. For every time that I fail to transfer your 'illusion' back at you, you'll get a one-order pass. Basically, if you don't want to follow an order, you can use one of these 'passes' and you won't need to do it, without any repercussions. We will start small and get bigger and stronger as we go along, go it?"

"Yes"

"Now..." Grimmerin stops herself from continuing, seeing some confusion on Emi's face "What is it?"

"What happens if you succeed in doing so?"

"Right... Hmm... You will have to do something to Cinder, obviously without any complaints or questions"

"But-"

"But nothing, what did I say? Now, begin" Grimmerin says cutting off Emi's complaints.

Grimmerin waits for something to start, but nothing happens, she stares at Emi for a moment "What is it?"

"Why do you treat Cinder like that? She's your girlfriend isn't she?" Emi asks the Faunus.

The Faunus in return hardens her gaze at the green-haired girl "That's none of your concern, now, I said to begin"

Emerald shakes her head in refusal "No"

"What? Care to repeat that?"

"I said, no, the way you treat Cinder isn't acceptable, forcing her to 'slap' you so you could use your semblance on her, spying on her, she is your girlfriend, that's just wrong and disgusting and now you're also planning to make me do something to her without her knowledge, she isn't a toy for you to toy with"

The Faunus looks at the girl with a blank gaze "She's quite important to you"

"She is and I don't like how you're treating her"

"Hmm... That so?"

"Yes"

Grimmerin quickly gets close to the girl, grabs her by the throat with both of her hands, and lifts her off the ground. Emi immediately trying to get out of the hold, to get back some air.

"Now, listen here, stupid girl, I don't give a damn about what you or anybody else thinks, got that? So, this is what's going to happen. If you survive me squeezing your throat for as long as I talk, well, congrats you get to live, but if you can't... Well, congrats again, you won't get to live" Grimmerin says madly smiling at the terrified eyes of the girl, which causes the Faunus to tighten her hold on the girl's throat for a moment, before easing up, so she'd be able to hear everything that Grim has to say.

"Now, I will tell you something... Cinder is not my girlfriend, I am not her girlfriend. Crystal is. I am Cinder's superior. She is to follow every single of my orders when I instruct her to, I am permitted to punish her otherwise. So, If I order her to literally lick my boots and for her to say that it's her place to do so, she will do it, if I order her to take whatever it is that's coming to her from you, due to me succeeding to transfer the illusion back at you, she will gladly do so. Do you understand that, you stupid idiot? Of course, Cinder won't like any of it, but for her to not do it, she'd have to usurp the 'throne' so to speak from me, but that's impossible for her to do. Now, you... You had rules and warnings, from me and Cinder and you just break all of them immediately. Complaining and questioning me... Wasting my time of explaining that to you, how dare you? I can kill you at any time I wish, this training is not necessary, if I really need it, I am sure I can find a replacement eventually, you are NOTHING to me, as is everybody else in this pathetic world, the only one I even remotely care about is Crystal and that's only because she agreed to let me out to live the way I want to for a while at random points in time. Even if she dislikes the way I do things and complains most of the time, why? Because she is the only one who can even begin to understand what it feels like to be locked, imprisoned, and not having any control of your life and you can't even begin to imagine how it feels to be stuck in somebody's head, viewing everything that the body you are a part of does, without any of your input, it's is worse than death or any kind of torture. Thus Crystal allows me to live, instead of fighting me for control of this body, which could be bad for both of us. Do you get it? I DON'T CARE ABOUT ANYTHING, if Cinder died right in front of my eyes, I wouldn't bat an eye, but because of Crystal, I wouldn't allow such a thing to happen, so be thankful for Crystal, that your precious Cinder is even allowed to breathe"

Grimmerin resumes squeezing even harder, seeing the girl's fruitless attempts to get out of her hold finally cease as the girl's eyes go to the back of the girl's head, the girl's about to lose consciousness and probably more than that. But Fortunately for her, the Faunus has said everything she wanted to, thus releasing the girl, who falls to the ground, grasping her bruised throat and gasping for air.

Grimmerin waits for a minute for the girl to get back her bearings and as Emerald finally looks at the Faunus, Grim opens her mouth again "That... That was your last chance, once... Disobey, question, or complain to me, once more and the next time Cinder and that worthless trash of a human teammate of yours will see only your detached head. But not before, I rip out your tongue and then feed it to you and wait for you to bleed out right in front of me while I am on a call with Cinder. Do you understand?" Grimmerin asks while gazing at the green-haired girl on the ground.

After not receiving an instantaneous answer, she steps closer to her, bends over, bringing their faces closer to each other, Grim grabs the girl's jaw, forcing her to look at her eyes and asks again "I asked you a question, now answer"

"I-I d-do, I understand" Emi answers with fear in her eyes. Receiving an answer, the Faunus releases her hold of the girl's jaw and steps back.

"Now, stand up and... BEGIN the training"

Emerald scrambles up to the ground while saying fast "Yes, yes, okay"

"Good, whenever you're ready, go ahead and do your thing" Grim says and waits for something to happen again... And this time, something does happen, something she could've never expected.

The Emerald she was looking at just disappeared from her view, only seeing a tree in front of her. She looks around, not seeing the girl at all, she enhances her nose to try and smell her and she does, behind her, so she looks behind, only to see far away, the girl is leaning with her back facing the motorcycle that's barely in the view.

Grimmerin blinks in confusion several times, then looks back at the tree... In whose place Emerald was supposed to be in... The Faunus smirks insanely. Enhancing her leg muscles and quickly running back to the girl and the vehicle.

"Well, well, well... You played me, congratulations" Grimmerin says clapping slowly, once she gets close to the girl, she throws one last look at the girl's throat, not seeing any marks, which only makes her smirk turn into a smile of approval.

"Now... Normally if we had an audience watching what happened, most of them would think that because you did something like that, I'd be mad or try to punish you... But they'd be wrong, I am actually going to praise you a little bit, there isn't a better way to training than what you did just now, because if I was expecting something to happen, I could be ready to counter it... But because I had no idea of it happening... Well, I had no intention of even using my own semblance. Besides, if I am not wrong, it happened after I said 'begin', so all is fair"

"Thank you... I guess" Emerald says back at the 'praise'.

"Mhm, now, let's go back to that tree and continue our training, but this time, let's do it properly, warn me before you do it, so I could have at least a slight idea of it happening. But at least I know, that you're definitely at least useful to Cinder. Oh and you also got yourself one order pass, so good on you"

"Okay" Is the only thing that Emi says and follows after the Faunus again.

"I know, I know, you obviously think that I am crazy/insane, but you wouldn't be the first or the last one to do so, but just like I said in that 'illusion', I don't care. But because you somewhat made an impression on me, your 'spunky' attitude included, I will lay off of ordering Cinder for a while, at least until our plans for Beacon are over... But that doesn't apply to what I said before our training began and that is?" Grimmerin throws a glance at the girl behind her.

"Me doing whatever you say to Cinder..."

"That is correct, that stays, now isn't there something you're supposed to say when somebody's nice?"

"... Thank you, Grimmerin"

"You're welcome. Now, let's continue" Grim says and turns around to face the girl.

"Right" Emerald says and readies herself.

"Oh, wait for a moment" The Faunus quickly says, prompting the green-haired girl to tilt her head to the side.

"There's something I need to do first" Just as Grimmerin finishes saying that, strikes the tree that was 'Emerald' in the 'illusion' with her tails, smashing it to pieces, the top half of it, falling to the ground, while there's nothing left of the bottom half.

Emerald blinks at the 'situation' and only thinks if the Faunus might be a sore loser... She of course would never dare to say that out loud, because she might actually meet her doom if she did so.

"Ahem... Now, we are perfect to continue" The Faunus says as if nothing had just happened.

"Uh... Yes, of course" Emi is forced to reply without bringing attention to the destroyed tree and do her thing.

"On the count of three, I will activate my semblance" Emi says, Grimmerin nods in understanding.

"1, 2... And 3"

~ End of Chapter 23 ~