Disclaimer

RWBY is owned by Monty Oum/Rooster Teeth

"WELCOME EVERYONE… TO THUNDERDOME X!"

The crowd cheered as the camera zoomed out to show the arena, a huge ring surrounded with a high fence. Around the ring were several levels of lockers.

"THERE'S ONLY ONE TRUTH IN THE THUNDERDOME: TWO ENTER, ONE LEAVES!"

A picture of a Huntsman standing atop his fallen foe flashes on screen.

"THE VICTOR GETS TO CHOOSE FROM ANY LOCKER THEY WISH!"

The camera pans across the lockers until it stops on the silhouette of a Huntsman opening a locker, and pulling out a vial of dust.

"SOME LOCKERS CONTAIN ITEMS TO AID YOU IN YOUR TEAM'S NEXT MATCH! OTHERS…"

The scene replays with him pulling out a stick.

"…NOT SO MUCH. SOME ARE EVEN…"

Scene replays once more, this time a boxing glove on a spring launches out and hits the Huntsman in the face.

"…DANGEROUS!"

The scene switches to a golden tower with a base of shiny black stone.

"THE ONE WHO SURVIVES TO THE END WILL RECEIVE THE COVETED 'TOWER AWARD', AND A CASH PRIZE OF TEN-THOUSAND LIEN!"

The crowd cheers again.

"SO REGISTER NOW!"

Ruby's eyes were as wide as saucers, and she sprinted through Beacon, a trail of rose petals behind…

"I'm surprised the city allowed this," Weiss said as she looked over her scroll, "I mean, look at this! Literally anyone can enter so long as they have a team and sign the waiver!"

"It could be a way for the school to scout out talent," Blake offered, "Not everyone with potential has the chance to get into the Academies. Or maybe it's to prepare for the Vytal Festival?"

"I'm more concerned about Ruby," Yang gestured to her sister, who was watching the screen in their room that showed the logo of the tournament, which was a green star with a black joystick in the middle, and the star was surrounded by a green circle broken into four parts, "She's way too excited about this, even for her."

There was a red blur and she was suddenly in the middle of them, "Ten-thousand lien, Yang! We could do so much with all that money! I could get all those upgrades for Crescent Rose," she pointed to her sister, "you could get those new parts for your bike," she pointed to Blake, "you could buy all the books you ever wanted," she pointed to Weiss, "and you could… um… buy something fancy?" She offered with a weak smile, and the three stared at her for a moment before Yang put her hand to her chin.

"I could definitely boost Bumblebee's performance…"

"That new 'Queen of Dust' novel is coming out soon…" Blake added.

"…And I suppose I could use some new shoes…" Weiss finished with a sigh, "Alright, where is this 'tournament' being held?"

The 'WBY' of team RWBY stared in shock of the huge arena that was definitely not part of the city yesterday. It looked to be made of stone, and there were several other teams in line at the entrance, some they recognized from Beacon.

"When was this built? I mean, we would have heard of something like this being constructed, and they would have advertised the tournament then, right?" Yang looked to her teammates, and Weiss took out her scroll.

"…According to the news, it was built… last night!?" Weiss shouted in shock, and she continued reading, "It was paid for by a foreign benefactor, in gold and gems, to, and I quote, 'Make sure we had a good Let's Play for Friday.'"

"So, what, this place was built by some rich weirdo?" Yang asked, but before anyone could respond there was the sound of a megaphone turning on. They looked towards the entrance to see someone in full green armor holding the megaphone to where their mouth would be.

"Attention contestants," He shouted, "You have twenty minutes left to register."

They were led to a simple room to wait for their turn in the tournament. It had a long bench for them to sit on, and in the left wall was a screen showing the tournament logo. Near the entrance to the room were locked doors that led to the rooms beside them. They didn't really know why they were there, but Weiss was going to take the opportunity to ascertain the strengths, weaknesses, and strategies of the other teams.

"You mean eavesdrop?" Yang smiled as the heiress blushed from her position by the left door.

"Of course not! I was merely-"

"Gav- GAVIN!" Came a shout from the door, and Weiss stepped back as there was the distinctive sound of a fire coming to life.

"AHHHHH!"

"GAVIN!"

"GAVIN YOU FUCKING MORON!"

Weiss slowly backed away as the shouting and screaming continued…

"Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to Thunderdome X!"

A man in green armor appeared onscreen as the sound of a crowd cheering played, "Hello everyone, I'm Geoff, and I'll be your host! Now, I'm sure you're all eager for action, but there are a few rules I have to explain first."

Eight team names appeared on either side of him, a tournament bracket connecting them, "Each team will have one of their team members selected at random for combat. The winner will choose one locker to open, containing something to help them, something useless, or elimination from the tournament, and they're allowed to transfer whatever item they find to another teammate. This pattern will continue until there are only two contestants left, the final members of their teams." The names disappeared, "Now…

"LLLLLLLEEEEEEEEEEETT'S PLAY!"

Two bars appeared on either side of the screen with a green 'vs.' between them, and the team names rapidly appeared and disappeared.

"Our first match will be," the names on the left stopped "Team RWBY! Versus," the names on the right stopped, "team IRON! Now, let's see who our contestants will be!"

The letters in the names rapidly lit up one after the other, before they slowed, "From team RWBY we have," Bing! "Yang Xiao Long! From team IRON we have," Bing! "Nero Caesarus! Contestants, to the ring!"

The door to the room opened, and Yang stretched, "Welp, ah, guess I'm off."

Yang made her way to the ring, looking around the arena before she heard a loud thud and looked towards the other entrance. A boy with blonde hair styled into a tall, thick Mohawk was watching her with blue eyes. He had simple steel chest and shoulder armor, with a red shirt underneath, red shorts, and sandals. He had a spear as long as he was, and a tower shield painted red with a golden eagle. There was a grinding noise and two walls rose to block off the entrances.

"Alright, in three!" Geoff announced, and Yang cracked her knuckles as Nero pointed his spear towards her and crouched behind his shield.

"Two!"

Both fighters tensed.

"One! FIGHT!"

AN: Was originally an one-shot, now a multi-chapter story.