"Oh ho! It seems that we have another astonishing bout ahead of us! Wouldn't you agree, Professor?"
"Doctor. And yes Peter, I think it's safe to say this match may be the closest we've seen of the four-on-four round of the tournament!"
"For those of you just now joining us, welcome to the Vytal Festival Tournament, broadcast live from the Amity Colosseum!"
The air shook from the force and the ferocity of the cheer that ripped through the area, both felt and heard in the city and school below, and even in the wild forests; an explosion of voices calling out in support to their fighters or simply to hear themselves roar.
Sitting in their seats, not adding their voices to the thunderous din were Ruby Rose and Blake Belladonna. Both were cheerless, their mouths set in frowns and their eyes staring at the arena below sad and longing.
Ruby, still recovering from her ordeal a month ago was dressed in a simple long sleeve shirt and skirt and her hands gloved. Watching the fight below she raised her hand to her face, feeling the skin under her left eye. The entire side of her face and head, from her hair to her neck was covered in ugly red burn scars, a small patch sitting under her right eye. Her left eye, once a brilliant, bright and innocent silver was now a eerie milky dead white, staring blankly at doctors and the teachers at Beacon had brought her eye patches to hide the eye, as she could no longer see from it, but Ruby had refused them. This was what she looked like now, what she had to live with, let the world see.
Ruby sighed and dropped her hand, and winced in pain as it hit her thigh, getting Blake's attention.
"You did it again?"
"Yeah," Ruby said embarrassed, rubbing the sore spot with the arm that caused it. "I did it again."
"You're still not used to it yet, are you?"
"No," Ruby replied, holding up her left hand and taking off the glove. Blake watched as Ruby flexed and turned her cybernetic hand, a pain of guilt and sadness in the Faunus's heart. Ruby had lost her entire right arm, right up to the shoulder, last month as part of a surgery to save her life. Another reminder of the ordeal they all went through, and another thing that Ruby would have to live with.
"You'll, get use to it," Blake said, her voice cracking. Ruby nodded dolefully, putting the glove on and looking back to the fight. Blake continued to watch the younger girl wistfully. She knew what the team leader wqsa going through, she could see it on her face everyday, hear her screaming and calling out at night as she suffered a nightmare. So much did the Faunus want to take away all the pain, all the suffering Ruby was carrying around. So much did she wish she could take away the memories of what happened, or even go back and stop it.
But she couldn't. Ruby had to live with the memories, the pain and anguish, and Blake had to live with the fact that there was nothing she could do for her friend other than be there for her.
"Blake?"
Blake jumped; she had zoned out thinking, wishing, about Ruby. "Yeah, Ruby?"
"I wish we were out there," the team leader said, gesturing to the arena. Blake looked down and felt another longing twist in her heart. She did also wish that team RWBY could have taken part in the tournament, shown what they were capable of.
"So do I Ruby."
"Ahh, and why would they? Now, let's get back to the match between Team APCS (Apocalypse) of Beacon, and Team ABRN (Auburn), of Haven."
Reese Chloris charged across the icy field on her hover board quickly, kicking up clouds of snow and ice behind her. In front of her, covered in dense swirling fog with only her head and shoulders showing stood her opponent, watching the ABRN skater approaching. With a flick of her head Setsu Todai-Brown whipped her black hair out of her hazel eyes, her long maroon ponytail swinging behind her.
Reese got in close, spinning once and throwing out her board. Setsu waited, moving her body slightly, the fog for a second billowing out before contracting again. Just before the board hit her she twisted her body out of the way, the piece of technology and plastic clipping a lock of hair as it went past. Turning her head Setsu looked at Reese as her arm appeared from the fog, wisps and small clouds falling from the limb. Slung under her arm, attached at the wrist and just before the elbow was a pale green boxy SMG, the trigger being a handle in Setsu's hand, with a small needle-like blade extending from the underside of the barrel and a larger blade extending from the back, reaching all the way to Setsu's shoulder. Attached to the bottom of the gun was a large green sickle, the point and inside curve facing up towards the barrel and Setsu's hand.
Reese looked down the barrel of the gun aimed at her, blanched and took off running. Setsu jammed down on the trigger, fire erupting from her gun kicking up clouds and shards of ice and snow in Reese's wake.
The clip ran dry, the gun clicking before Setsu dropped her arm back into the fog cloud.
She blinked, her hazel eyes losing their glow. Slowly the fog hiding her from full began to thin, holes forming in the shifting grey surface revealing clothes of dark and laurel greens. She stood at 5'7 lithe and narrow in the body, with the only skin showing being her hands and around her eyes; the rest of her pale face was hidden beneath her fringe and a laurel-green and black skull mask. Dressed in a ragged and worn gentleman's coat in shades of light and dark green over a pair of black leather pants and a pair of knee-high dark-and-light green boots, one would think her for a masked pirate. A large black belt circled her waist, held in place by a green skull clasp and with several clips of SMG ammo hanging and swinging with her movements, giving the girl-in-green a continuous rattle.
"Oh ho. It seems miss Todai-Brown is stepping out of her shadows for the first time since the battle began."
A roar of cheers went up from the crowd, some chanting her name or screaming 'the Green Lady of Death'. Setsu raised a hand lazily and scratched her head with the sharp end of her sickle blade, watching Reese skid to a stop and start running towards her. The skater girl of ABRN smirked as she got closer, twisting her body and pulling back her arm ready to sock Setsu in the face.
Setsu waited, watching till the last possible second before standing back avoiding the punch and letting Reese run past her.
Reese didn't stop moving. Running over she grabbed her board and snapped it in half, turning back to Setsu with the halves, now formed into pistols and opening fire on the girl-in-green. Setsu stepped to the left, spinning once as she went and raised her weapon, the one still loaded, and returned fire.
Her bullets bounced uselessly off of Reese's reformed board till the gun clicked twice, out of ammo. Behind her shield Reese smirked and threw down her board, jumping at top and charging Setsu.
Setsu looked to both her weapons, out of ammo with no time to reload, and took a step back, facing her whole body at her opponent. Reese smirked again, drawing close. Setsu raised her hands, pointed her weapons and let go off the triggers. From her open hands erupted twin jets of thick rolling fog that blanketed Reese. The skater girl cursed and began batting at the fog in her face, veering off to the left and missing Setsu.
"What a wonderful semblance she possesses. The ability to generate a fog of varying size, but the same thick consistency that renders anyone caught in it blind. Truly an excellent way to control any match."
The fog stopped and Setsu spun, grabbing a clip from her belt and loading it into her right gun. A few wisps of cloud trailed behind Reese as she made a wide turn, slowing to a halt, a determined look on her face. Setsu raised an eyebrow in challenge and held up her empty weapon, her other hand reaching for another clip. From the bottom of her jacket and her shoe fog began to billow out, growing thicker and thicker as it covered Setsu, but not spreading out to cover the field.
"While miss Todai-Brown cannot control the direction of spread of her fog, she can make it cling to her body regardless of the size of the cloud, effectively cloaking herself at all times."
Reese looked at the big screen; she knew that the announcers were teachers at Beacon, but did they have to talk so much about their students so much?
Shaking her head she looked back to Setsu, now completely covered in fog, and jumped off her board, the high-tech vehicle jumping up into her hand. Pressing a button the board separated, half launching itself through the air to her other hand, both pieces shifting into pistol form. Reese smirked and trained her weapons on the cloud of fog, opening fire. Bolts of green Dust plasma bounced off steel, Setsu having raised her arm and weapon to cover her face and body. Her other arm she raised, pointing at Reese, and the fog erupted outwards, consuming the girl in green and almost Reese if she didn't jump backwards. Bullets erupted around the fog, hitting the ice around the skater girl kicking up puffs of snow. Reese continued to fire in short bursts into the fog, the green balls of plasma burning holes into the fog, only for the holes to close shut as soon as they open.
The bullets coming from the fog suddenly stopped, the cloud falling silent. Reese stopped firing, waiting to see if and how her opponent would act. Nothing happened, the fog remained silent, the only movement the slowly swirling of the cloud.
Reese took a step towards the cloud and stopped, waiting. Again nothing happened.
She took another step, stopped and waited. Again, nothing.
Slowly Reese approached the fog, weapons raised ready to be used, until she stood right at the edge of the cloud. She inched one pistol closer, finger easing on the trigger.
Setsu's arm shot out of the fog, grabbing Reese by the shirt and pulling her into the consuming cloud, the skater girls pistols firing in shock.
"Ooooh, miss Chloris fell for miss Todai-Brown's trap and has been lost in the fog."
"Do we have any thermal cameras? No? Well that is an unfortunate sufferance. The continuation of an exceptional fight between these two Huntresses-in-Training and we cannot even witness it. Perhaps a note for the next festival Peter?"
"Indeed Bart. And it seems that team APCS won the pot of gold when it comes to their semblances, wouldn't you agree?"
"Quite. The three known semblances of the team allow them to easily dominate any fight they take part, and make it difficult for their enemies."
"Quite so. Let's take a look at team Leader Alexander Patrick-Brown, and his rather unique semblance."
Arslan spun around an outcrop of red crystals, her rope dart retracting inside her one sleeve. A gun went off, pellets chipping the crystals as a double-edged sword came over her left shoulder, just missing her platinum hair. Arslan kicked at the crystals, the outcrop shattering, and turned around throwing a punch. Fist met dust-hardened steel, the impact blowing away the crystal shards in the air. Her opponent having blocked the fist with a red revolver shotgun.
Behind the gun Alexander grinned. He was tall at 6'1 and athletically built with tanned skin and short spiky maroon hair with a widow's peak; his left eye was hazel in colour while his right was dead milky white. He wore a maroon leather jacket with an attached leather square shoulder guard on the right, an orange bandana, simple grey shirt and black leather pants, plate boots and greaves, and a pair of orange vambraces and a gauntlet on his right hand. Two belts crossed his chest, one black and one orange holding the leather shoulder pad in place.
Alexander held out his other weapon, another revolver-shotgun with a double-edged sword as long as the gun extending from under the barrel. Alexander pressed a button on the handle of the second gun. With a hydraulic hiss the blade retracted into the body of the gun, coming to rest as a bladed underside and hiding the majority of the blade.
Alexander pushed Arslan back and aimed both of his guns at her and fired. The gun in his left hand kicked, the recoil pushing it up towards the sky as he fired his second gun, bring the first back down as the second rose, and repeated the cycle. The buckshot bounced harmlessly off of the platinum-haired fighter and pushed her backwards, scrapping shallow trenches in the dried-lava rock. Narrowing her eyes Arslan charged Alexander, throwing several punches and swings at him, and even throwing out her rope dart to try and trip him up.
But every blow was met or deflected, the rope dart kicked aside or simply avoided. Alexander with a smirk on his face counted everything Arslan threw at him, either blocking or deflecting with his weapons or not being in the way.
The way he fought, the way he moved, every action he made perfectly defeated all of Arslan's attacks, never letting a blow land on him, while dishing out his own attacks that did land and hit. It was as if he knew how she would move, where she would attack or throw her weapon. It was as if Alexander knew Arslan's next move before even she did.
The two combatants jumped apart and began to circle. Arslan had her face neutrally calm, one eyebrow raised in question and in interest. Alexander, still with his smile, let out a breath through and tucked one gun under his arm to reload the other.
"I don't think miss Atlan is use to such a solid defence, not even being able to land a single hit."
"Indeed a frustrating pickle for one so skilled. But this is the challenge presented when facing the Warlord of APCS, a nickname he asked us to use."
Alexander finished reloading both of his guns and raised one to rest on his shoulder, the other keeping by his side. The two stopped circling, Arslan widened her stance, keeping her arms loosely at her sides. Alexander's smile widened for the briefest of seconds and bowed his head respectfully, holding the gesture for a few seconds before raising again and charging, guns whipping up and firing.
Arslan charged in kind, covering her face with her arms tanking the buckshot closing the distance quickly. Stepping up to each other Arslan knocked Alexander's guns aside and struck out at his chest, aiming for his solar plexus.
This time Alexander took the hit, the blow impacting on his shoulder. Ignoring the pain Alexander extended his swords and swung, one at Arslan's head and the other at her legs. The blades hit, Arslan unable to block, but hit her aura, draining her aura dangerously low. With a growl Arslan looked at Alexander glowering; she decided she did not like this man. Grabbing onto one of the blades as Alexander withdrew she punched the blade, the entire weapon flying to the right out of his grasp and somewhere into the arena.
CLICK.
Cold metal pressed against Arslan's forehead, drawing her attention. Behind his gun Alexander smirked, he had her. There was no way he could miss, and at this range he could knock her out, or at the very least drop her aura and put her out of the match. Arslan knew that, knew she was trapped.
"You can't win with me, sorry," Alexander said in a raucous voice, the trigger of his gun creaking in anticipation as he pulled down slightly on the trigger.
"Oh no, it seems that miss Atlan is really in a jam now. Thanks to his unique semblance mr Patrick-Brown has her completely at his mercy."
"For those that could not see any signs of mr Patrick-Brown's semblance let us explain it to you. Mr Patrick-Brown's semblance is classed in the clairvoyant or precognitive class, or the ability to see into the future and react accordingly."
Arslan went wide-eyed. 'That was his semblance?' That such an ability existed was simply amazing; to fight it however was an absolute bitch.
"Now before you go asking for tomorrow's lottery numbers take note that mr Patrick-Brown's semblance is not true clairvoyance. His records put his limit of sight at five seconds into the future, and only applies to the art of combat."
"What this means is that in a fight or scuffle, mr Patrick Brown can see the movements and attacks of any opponent before him, and react offensively or defensively, allowing him to know an opponent's next move before even they do."
"Mr Patrick-Brown's semblance does however have two key weaknesses. One is that it does not improve upon any of his other senses."
Behind his gun Alexander smiled, easing down on the trigger. With the force of a kicking horse something hit the APCS leader in the side, knocking him away to the ice biome, his gun going off and a shrill buzzer filling the air. Arslan, sighing in relief looked up at the scoreboard and saw a big red X flashing on Alexander's picture, his aura dropping below the limit.
"Meaning it does not give him eyes in the back or sides of his head. And it consumes aura at an exceptional rate. And unlike his sister who is better-trained in aura control, mr Patrick-Brown doesn't save anything in reserve, handling a fight with a headstrong and end quickly mentality."
"Hmmm," Arslan smirked as she rose to her feet, looking to her left. Her teammate Bolin, his weapon resting behind him, nodded to the platinum fighter with a faint smile.
"I've got your back."
"So who's got mine?" a voice questioned behind the two. Bolin and Arslan spun around, the staff-wielder spinning his weapon around to his front, the fighter holding out her arms ready to strike. In front of them stood a fair skinned horse Faunus, an uneven smile on his face and a pickaxe slung over his shoulder. Standing around 6'3 he was lean and muscular with a silver-grey mohawk with the bottom tied up in a long ponytail, clear mirthful dark-grey eyes and a black symbol tattooed on the left side of his shaven head. He wore a baggy black jacket with no sleeves, a grey tank top and shorts, with a folded over cuff of a gentleman's jacket on his right wrist. He wore no shoes as his feet ended in smooth black hoofs, his legs bent backwards just below the knee with a second joint.
His weapon was two-thirds his height with the bladed head wider than his shoulders. The body of the weapon was divided in two sections with the appearance of a shotgun that had folded out into a staff. The top half was bulky with the main body of the gun, the pump and the bullet chamber, while the lower half was slimmer with the trigger and the stock. A thin grey handle connected the two sections, a part of the two half sitting as a handguard, with another thin grey handle besides the gun trigger. The head of the weapon was a curved black bar holding the knife-like blades, three rectangular holes sitting in the black blade back. On the bottom of the weapon sat a bladed triangle with the centre left hollow.
Arslan and Bolin lowered the stance and looked from the man to each other then back, charging forward. The man didn't move to defend himself or attack, his hand holding his weapon didn't even twitch. Instead the man looked up nothing, a look of realization dawning on his face.
"Oh yeah. Her."
The man stepped to the side, just an inch, as an arrow with a glowing orange head flew past his ear and hit Arlan dead in the chest. The arrowhead exploded, knocking the platinum-haired fighter flying into the ice field out of sight as the elimination buzzer sounded above; the sound of a thud came from where she had landed, along with an 'oof' in Alexander's voice.
Bolin skidded to a stop and looked to where his team leader had just been, then looked to the man. With a cheeky grin the Faunus pointed behind him at one of the larger rocks and bolin looked up.
Frozen in a block of ice, only his head free, was Nadir, pouting and looking up at the woman standing on the block, a longbow in hand aimed right at Bolin.
Bolin's jaw dropped in disbelief at Nadir's condition; how the hell had the idiot gotten himself frozen in a block of ice? The staff-user looked up at the scoreboard. Nadir still had plenty of aura left, which was good; The idiot was just trapped.
"She's good ain't she?"
Bolin turned back to the Faunus, but kept an eye on the archer on the rock. With a smirk the Faunus moved his pickaxe to his side and turned to look up to his teammate, screaming "MY BFF!"
"Shut the hell up Cid!" the woman, the emerald-eyed Pacifica Yale, yelled as she stepped off of the block of ice, and kicked it down the side of the rock, Nadir screaming as it went. Cid turned around, his back to the incoming threat and shrugged. Bolin looked between the three, Pacifica, the block of ice, and Cid, not sure which one he to watch for fear of being hit by one of the other two.
The block of ice hit the bottom of the rock and closed in on Cid and Bolin, Nadir's screams getting louder. Bolin tensed up, ready to jump out of the way. Cid on the other hand closed his eyes and pointed at the sky.
"Commentators please," he said, the jumped up and spun, swinging his pickaxe at the ice block as it rolled over where he had been, shattering it and freeing Nadir. The pink-haired man however did not drop to the ground. The momentum of the ice block carried him forwards into Bolin, sending both sprawling on the ground.
"Watch it!" Bolin growled climbing to his arms and knees.
"You watch it," Nadir grumbled back, looking green around the gills. He tried to climb to his feet, only to kiss face with the ground again. Bolin had better luck getting up, and looked to Cid, again standing with his weapon at his side and a uneven smile on his face.
"Unbelievable! Using one's own teammate as a weapon against them. What a brilliant tactic."
"And an excellent show of teamwork between mr Oxford and miss Yale. Of course the whole tactic hinged on the use of intimidation and hesitation instilled in Hori, and the use of mr Oxfords radar sense semblance."
"Ah yes, the sixth sense allowing one to know what is around them at all times. Something I wish I had with me when engaging in battle."
"Ok," Bolin said, glancing at Nadir who had finally climbed to his feet. "Him first."
Nadir nodded and lifted his rifle, aiming it right at the Faunus.
Bolin charged first, Nadir following on his tail firing as he went.
On the other side of the arena the fog cloud dissipated. Reese and Setsu both rose to their feet, the skater girl holding her pistols trained on the girl in green. Taking a step back Reese smirked and opened fire. Setsu spun around backwards, the bolts of green Dust plasma missing her, and charged, throwing her weapons out to her sides like wings, the blades humming in the wind. Reese brought her pistols around, a few rounds hitting her opponent in the shoulder as Setsu got in close. Raising her arm, rising to the tips of her feet she brought it down at Reese's head. Sparks flew as Reese got her gun up, blade meeting blade. Pushing off Setsu swung her second weapon forward, aiming at her opponent's side with the needle-like blade.
Reese jumped back out of the way and threw her weapons down, forming her board. Setsu narrowed her eyes, a silent growl, and charged forwards, swinging her sickle blades in an x in front of her.
Reese managed to get on her board and turn around, leaning forward to avoid Setsu's attack. She zoomed off, heading to the edge of the arena before turning around. Sestu stayed where she was, dropping her weapons to her sides in the centre of the biome, watching. Reese smirked and charged picking up speed and kicking up a cloud of ice and snow behind her. Setsu waited till Reese got close, seeing what she was doing before releasing the skater girl was aiming to run her off. Setsu crossed her weapons in front of her, blocking Reese's attack, but was pushed backwards through a large piece of ice and to the ground. Reese had been dismounted in the attack, and she charged her downed opponent grabbing her board and jumping in the air to land on her.
Setsu rolled as Reese landed, and fog began rolling off of her body filling the air in its thick cloudy embrace. Reese circled once inside the cloud before finding the edge, and began circling looking for her opponent.
The fog started expanding, soon covering the whole of the ice biome and forcing the other fighters into the other. Reese continued to monitor the cloud, pacing back and forwards in front of it craning her neck trying to peer into the thick cloud. Suddenly the centre parted, blown away from within leaving a long corridor with Setsu standing at the end against the back 'wall' of the cloud. Reese grinned and charged, picking up speed to run her opponent down.
Setsu didn't move, not until the last second just before Reese hit her. She dropped, the skater-girl of Mistral sailing over her head, and brought her weapons up and fired directly into the underside of the board while the very tip of the two sickle blades grazed Reese's legs.
Reese yelled in surprise from the pain and from suddenly having her board buck under her Reese and her board separated from each other as they entered the fog cloud, then out the other side flying over the edge of the arena. The words 'son of a bitch' came to mind as Reese slammed into the ground, outside the arena and out of the fight.
"Oooh, a double whammy. Reese Chloris is eliminated by ring out and aura depletion!"
Reese rolled over and looked at the scoreboard, watching her aura level fall below the red line as her picture began to flash with a red cross. Her mouth dropped in surprise, then scrunched in anger as she slammed her fist on the ground.
"Oh she really have worn a helmet."
"Now it's down to three on two. Who will emerge from the arena as victors?"
Setsu looked up at the big screen showing the two professors and shook her head, laying down and taking a big breath for emphasis.
"It would seem that miss Todai-Brown is tired, so it seems rather it is down to two on two. A bit more even fight wouldn't you say Peter?"
"Indeed it is. Let's watch."
Bolin chased after Cid, swinging his staff at the Faunus's head body and legs. Yet Cid dodged each attack, dancing his way around the jabs and swings. With his eyes closed.
Cid growled, his face red.
"Are you even taking this serious?" he shouted, still trying to hit the Faunus. Cid stopped his dance and turned to Bolin, opening his eyes.
"My teammates are such sourpusses. I'm the only one who knows how to have fun," he answered, catching Bolin's staff with his pickaxe. "I'm not ,messing with ya on purpose. I'm just having fun."
The two jumped apart, Bolin landing in a crouch his hand on the ground with his staff thrown behind him. Cid on the other hand landed on his feet standing, taking a step back to save himself from falling.
"Superhero landing!" the horse Faunus yelled as Bolin rose to his feet, raising an eyebrow in question.
"It always looks cool when someone does that," Cid babbled as he compacted his pickaxe and put it away on his back.
"But I heard it's impractical or something and painful on the knees." Cid pressed a button on his weapon and the blades folded out, a loud clicking noise coming from the device. He grabbed the blades by the black crossbeam and pulled, the head of the pickaxe turning into a pair of kukri knives. Flipping them around Cid slid into a martial stance, blades facing towards his elbows.
Bolin, his face no longer red, ran at the Faunus aiming his staff at Cids legs. Cid caught the blow and punched at Bolin's shoulder, aiming to slice across his chest. Steel bounced off of wood as Bolin pivoted his staff across his front. The two continued to trade blows, neither landing a hit on the other. Bolin's staff defence was too quick and fluid for Cid's knife strikes, and Cid would deflect, catch or dodge all of Bolin's attacks, even when they were in his blindspot.
The two jumped apart again. Bolin looked to the scoreboard and saw that he and Cid were pretty even on aura at around 31%. Cid's teammate Pacifica however was still around 60% while Nadir's was steadily dropping.
"What the hell is that idiot doing?" Bolin shouted looking to where his teamate was last. Nadir looked back at him with pleading eyes, again trapped in a block of ice.
Bolin's jaw dropped.
"AGAIN!" he yelled at his teammate. Nadir flinched and tried to defend himself, but he was too far away for Bolin to hear, and behind him Cid laughed. Bolin's face turned bright red and his raise in body temperature evaporated the chill air around him.
"WHAT IS SO FUNNY!"
"Look at the ground behind you," Cid replied pointing behind the staff-user. He turned to look. Littering the ground between him and Nadir were arrows with glowing orange heads and fletches, just like the arrow that had knocked Arslan out of the fight. Bolin looked up to his teammate, the gears turning in his head, then around the area. He could not see the Archer anywhere.
'Why waste arrows laying them on the ground?" Bolin questioned, raising his staff. 'What are they-'
"HAVE A NICE TRIP!" Cid yelled as he flew in and kicked Bolin in the back, knocking him over. Bolin grunted in pain as he hit the ground, right on top of three of the arrows. The staff-user felt the arrowheads starting to heat up, so scrambled to his hands and knees looking down. The arrows heads were glowing more intensely, growing brighter and brighter as they changed from orange to white.
Bolin paled. The arrows heads were made of Demolition Dust, and he had landed on three of them.
"SON OF A BI-"
The arrows exploded, rocketing Bolin up into the air and out of the ring. The explosion also triggered the nearby arrows, starting a chain reaction leading to the trapped Nadir. The pink-haired young man struggled in vain as the explosions drew closer. He tried to scream, but the bottom half of his face was frozen.
The explosion shattered the ice as it picked up the young man. Now screaming, and threw him into the shield protecting the audience.
"Wo-oh! An explosive chain reaction claims both Bolin Hori and Nadir Shiko, eliminating team ABRN and making team APCS the winners!"
The stadium erupted into noise, everyone cheering regardless of which team they supported. In the arena Cid picked himself up from where the explosion had thrown him and held up his arms to the crowds, a massive grin plastered on his face. Stepping up behind him Pacifica shook her head and turned to Setsu as she walked over, supporting both Alexander and Arslan.
Sitting in the crowds Blake applauded the two teams and looked to Ruby. The younger girl sat with her hands in her lap, looking sullen except the slight smile on her face.
"Both teams fought well,: she said looking to Blake. "That was fun to watch."
Blake smiled, feeling a burden lift from her chest. She had been worried bringing Ruby to watch the fights rather than on their scrolls would bring out the bloodlust from months ago. But it didn't and Ruby had even smiled.
Blake felt that the Ruby she l-knew was coming back.
"Let's get out of here," Ruby said, standing up to leave. Blake smile dropped.
"Don't you want to watch the rest of the fights? JNPR will be on soo-" 'Oh," Blake realized. 'That made sense.'
The two joined the crowds heading to the exit, ignoring the people following them closely.
"I wonder where Yang went," Ruby said as they stepped out of the sunlight. Blake groaned, hoping not to get another phone call from the police.
Junior let out a sigh of relief as Blondie left. Even during closed hours she showed up demanding information and threatening to destroy the bar if she didn't get it. After the fourth time however they became empty threats, the fire dying in her eyes dowsed by a deep sadness.
Junior once feared her. Now, he pitied her.
The club owner sighed again. He had never felt so inclined to dig up information before. Pulling out his scroll he started dialing in some numbers, every now and then glancing at the name burnt into his bar.
Weiss Schnee.
Hello again.
I'm sorry if people are waiting for the second chapter of A Tale of Two Shepards, especially as it's so short and nothing really happens. But the program I was using to record the game as I played stopped working, and since there isn't a good version of both conversation tree's online, I'm waiting.
ANYWAY. Here is the first chapter of the second installment of my RWBY Bloodied Series. The Stained Festival (Literally did not have a title until writing this note). I'm sorry that it is largely my fan team APCS, but I wanted it to start out with a fight, and they will be important later on. So once again, I'm sorry for that.
Anyways. Hope you enjoy. Please leave questions, comments, and concerns. And I will see you, in the next chapter (My friend is still in love with Markipler).
Bye bye.
LordTomyh
