The Badge and the Burden

Equivalent Exchange

At this time, Beacon Library, Yang's POV

"Trap card!" Jaune exclaimed valiantly, wiping out the last of my troops, leaving only him and Ruby to battle.

"What? You looked like you had nothing left!" I pouted, suddenly realizing he had one of the best poker faces at Beacon when it came to games like this.

"I forfeit. It's getting late, and I need some sleep." Ruby yawned, giving Jaune the victory.

"Yes! Now I can go tell Weiss that I was able to be strategic enough to beat Yang Xiao Long, the master of Conquerors of Remnant!" Jaune exclaimed quite proudly, walking away with Ruby and I, leaving the board behind.

As we walked, I pouted a bit. I had never lost a game. Right after Jaune turned to go into his dorm room, Ruby pulled me off to the side.

"Hey Yang, can I ask you a question?" She said, looking a bit sad.

"Sure thing sis, what is it?" I replied.

"Whenever I use my semblance, it tires me out. Not like, uses up my aura. I mean it uses my actual energy, through my aura." She said, kicking at the dust on the floor.

"Oh, everyone has things like that. I think Blake likes to call it Equivalent Exchange or something like that. To be able to use your semblance, you need to give something up in return! For example, Weiss' shortness-" I began to say before being interrupted by a large scream from our dorm.

"Yang, what did you just say?" Weiss shouted, causing Ruby to go into a panic.

"I said your cinnamon rolls are tasty!" I shouted back, not thinking she would know.

"Oh, well thank you!" Weiss replied through the wall, prompting me to give Ruby a fist bump.

"Let's go back to the library, we can talk more there." Ruby suggested, leading me to the library.

"Hey, didn't you leave your board game there?" I asked, seeing Ruby was no longer next to me. I think she realized it a bit before I did.

When I got to the library, Ruby was just finishing packing up the game.

"Anyways, as I was saying, a bit of you is taken for you to be able to use your semblance. Weiss' shortness and Blake's moodiness are probably what happened with them. For you, it's how your semblance saps from your energy, and not your aura!" I exclaimed, always happy to make fun of Weiss' height whenever possible.

"What about you? What did your semblance take away from you? Your lack of judgment when making jokes?" Ruby snickered, and I crossed my arms.

"My puns are barely bad. You're just not mature enough to have a sense of humor as good as mine!" I said dramatically. "And what my semblance took from me kind of makes sense. Whenever my semblance flares up, or whenever I get hurt more, I kind of lose my sanity or judgment. That means the stronger I am, the less clearly I can make decisions, so I usually just charge into battle."

"Oh, that makes sense. Blinded by anger, I think the saying goes. Is it possible to gain things from your aura and semblance?" Ruby asked me, prompting me to think.

"On rare occasions it does, but they're usually things that everyone has, just a bit stronger. You should ask Ren tomorrow. He's an expert on this stuff." I said, yawning. "For now, I need some sleep."

"Remind me to go ask Ren tomorrow about semblances." Ruby said, typing it into her scroll as a reminder.