As Yatsuhashi half paid attention to Sun, who was fighting a new opponent, the other two slipped away. The crowd loved Sun, it turned out. Each time he used his Semblance, the audience cheered, and Sun was eating it up. Meanwhile, Yatsuhashi kept an eye out for Umber while trying not to look too obvious.

There! He spotted her through the bars on the other side of the cage. Umber looked curious as he approached and eyed his armband with suspicion.

“Yatsuhashi? Didn’t think this place was your speed,” she said.

“I don’t have time for this. Are you working for the Crown?” he asked.

“Of course not. I’m just here to enjoy the fighting.”

Yatsuhashi nodded. “You’ve got something on your cheek.”

He reached for her face, but she knocked his arm away with her wrist. Yatsuhashi frowned.

“I don’t like doing this, but I’m trying to help,” he said.

“Hey!” Umber called to security. “Over here! This guy is harassing me.”

“No!” Yatsuhashi groaned. He tried one more time to reach her forehead, but when she deflected him this time, he grabbed her wrist with his other hand. He didn’t actually need to touch her head to use his Semblance, but it made it a little easier. He concentrated on erasing the last few seconds from her memory, since that seemed to be enough to break whatever control people were under.

Umber blinked and became unsteady, but he held her up. She saw him holding her wrist. “Yatsuhashi? Where’d you come from? This place doesn’t seem your speed.”

“It’s time to go, Umber,” he said.

“Go? But you just got here.” She lowered her glasses and looked him in the eyes. “Stay a while.”

Yatsuhashi couldn’t move. His limbs felt like stone. Umber had an amazing Semblance—too bad she was using it to serve the Crown. Of her own accord.

“Looks like we have a new challenger!” the announcer called. “Open the cage!”

Suddenly a couple of goons picked Yatsuhashi up and carried him as Umber backed up into the cage. They rotated him as she kept her eyes on his.

“That’s a big guy,” the announcer’s voice boomed. “Do we think he can beat our reigning champion?”

The spectators booed. Tough crowd.

Umber backed herself out of the cage and slammed the door shut before she tilted her mirrored glasses back down. “You’re gonna make a good addition to the team,” she said.

- RWBY: Before the Dawn, Chapter 12