"Team Leader Ruby Rose, would you be interested in participating in an intra-team dynamics and trust building operation with Team JPNR?"
Ruby blinked, cookie halfway to her mouth, trying to comprehend what Jaune had just said. "Huh?"
Weiss sighed, but had come to expect it from her leader. Give her something weapon related and she'd amaze experts. Anything else and it was hit or miss. "Dunce," she said almost affectionately. "He asked if you wanted to participate in team practices."
"I knew I shouldn't have trusted that word of the day calendar," Jaune mumbled to himself before leaning against the dorm room door. "Sorry about that, trying to improve my vocabulary. I can reel off a half dozen obscure archeology terms and their meanings, but Professor Sinopiatax still thinks my report writing skills are bad."
"Really, no report writing one-oh-one for you?" asked Yang from where she was lounging on her bed, scroll in hand.
"No Signal, remember?" And his Dad's report writing skills left a lot to be desired. There was a reason his mother was the one to write their reports, and there was no way he was asking her.
"Oh yeah." Yang paused, then suddenly sat bolt upright. "Hey, wait a minute, am I the only one who took that class?" She did a quick tally in her head. Ruby had skipped that year, Blake never did combat school either, and Weiss did whatever Weiss had done. "Oh, there is no way I'm checking all your work!"
"Well, at least Ruby has an excuse for her bad writing." Weiss ignored Ruby's cry of protest, continuing on, "and she's improving, what's your excuse?"
"The professor's sense of humor is about as dry as his writing and he can't appreciate a good pun. It's my job to change that by being a punny as possible!" Yang waited for the groans to die down before flopping back onto her bed.
"Ah, anyway, getting back on topic. You want to do some team training with us? One thing I learned from my parents is hunters end up working with a bunch of different people. I mean, my parents teams go on jobs with each other as much as they go alone. I thought we could get some practice in. I had booked some time in one of the combat arenas for my own team and I was thinking we should liven it up and…" Realizing he was babbling and at some point had stepped away from his cool pose leaning against the door jam, Jaune froze, then clasped his hands behind his back in an effort to get them to stop fluttering. He promised himself he'd work on that later; apparently stress and cute girls ruined all his efforts to stop that nervous habit.
Yang gave up all pretense of trying to look at her scroll, dropping it to the bed. "Your parents' teams? And you asked Ruby? This isn't some weird way of asking my sister out, is it?" Yang cracked her knuckles threateningly, and the fact she wasn't wearing Ember Celica did nothing to diminish the implied violence.
As if under a mind of their own, Jaune's hands came up to wave frantically in denial, and he considered the fact that maybe his subconscious was smarter than he was, or at least had a better sense of self-preservation. He didn't want Yang thinking he was after Ruby, which was a surefire way to waking up with a dead Nevermore in your bed as a warning. What she'd done to that third year who was hitting on Ruby was already legend. Not that he thought Ruby actually realized that was what the guy had been doing. "No no no, nothing like that. Just team building, honest. And Pyrrha's getting a bit tired of beating us up."
Ruby brightened up, not only was this a chance to show her leadership, but to hang out with their friends. "Team RWBY's up for the challenge." She paused, cocking her head to the side. "You know, I really feel like I'm talking in third person when I say that."
"Cool. We've got arena two booked for tomorrow after dinner. If we like it, maybe we can set up a regular thing?" Jaune tried to ignore the finger Yang drew across her throat behind Ruby's back. It was just training.
"So, what do you normally do at these?" Surprisingly it was Blake that asked the question, Jaune would have thought it'd have been Yang or Weiss. Then again, Weiss actually looked rather happy to be here training, or at least he thought she did. He had trouble reading people in general, and she and Blake were more difficult than most.
Pyrrha took a moment from making sure her greaves were properly attached to look up. "Well, we've been drawing inspiration from my previous trainings. We do free-for-alls, partner on partner, three versus one, dodging, hand to hand, combos, deflection, and some more...esoteric ideas Jaune came up with."
"Like the weapon swaps; you can't forget those! That was a fun practice!" Nora tried to hold back a giggle as she remembered that evening.
"Crescent Rose is my baby!"
"You're not getting your barbarian hands on Myrtenaster!"
As the twin shouts faded, the two partners looked at each other, Ruby's eyes shining with excitement at this moment of bonding. Weiss just sniffed and turned away to glare at Jaune, but didn't complain when Ruby stepped up next to her in a show of solidarity.
He raised his hands, then quickly dropped them as both girls shifted their grips like they were preparing to use those very same weapons on him. Letting his hands fall he took a step back, realizing as he did that his gesture of peace might have looked instead like he was making a grab for their weapons. Only to a cautious, person who depended on their weapon for their survival of course, but that described the entire school. "Whoa, easy there we only did that once, and that's cause I was afraid to touch Magnhild without making it explode."
"You did make it explode!" There was no holding back the laughter this time as Nora broke down at Ren's deadpan summary of the events.
"So, you guys had a blast? Huh? Huh?" Yang's pun was met with silence, even Nora's laughter stopping dead. "Oh, you all suck."
Pyrrha knew Jaune never wanted to talk about the practice again; he'd been horribly embarrassed afterwards when she'd approached him about what a wonderful trust building exercise it had been. That was when she realized he didn't know the connotations of sharing weapons like that. When recognition and reward depended on your ability to best your fellow classmates in the various tournaments and classes, allowing them the advantage of knowing your weapon's abilities was a serious sign of trust; she'd never allowed any but her family to handle Akuna and Milo. Afterwards she'd noticed he kept a closer eye, and hold, on Durandal, and had never brought up the idea again. Probably because the embarrassment of not knowing, but she thought he'd looked rather cute when he'd blushed.
So with that thought in mind she tried to get the conversation back on topic, earning a surprised look from Jaune. "It was good reasoning; now that we're a team if a comrade is knocked out we need to know how to handle their weapon safely, if only for transport. But I believe we had some training to do? Perhaps partner matches? JPNR versus RWBY?"
"Dibs on the Tin Can," laughed Yang even as Ember Celica extended down her arms, and ignoring Jaune's wince. "You ready for this partner?" Blake nodded, reaching up over her shoulder to loosen Gambol Shroud in its cleaver sheathe.
"Standard tourney rules?" asked Ren as he walked toward the other half of the arena, Nora humming cheerfully by his side.
"Yeah, I'll trigger the countdown when everyone's ready, my scroll's already linked to the system." Jaune sank down into a ready stance as he waited for the other two pairs to clear the middle line, mindful of the fact he was in the cut down version of his armor he used for training. Ruby gave him a cheery wave as a barrier slid up between the two halves, and with another tap of his scroll the countdown timer started.
Angling his elbow toward Yang, he nodded slightly as the countdown hit yellow, seeing Pyrrha's own small nod of acknowledgement.
The buzzer sounded and Yang launched herself forward with a laugh, Ember Celica boosting her charge towards Pyrrha. The redhead ran forward in her own charge, Akoúo̱ raised up in front. Then she juked to the side, intercepting the unprepared Blake as Jaune slid into her place, his own larger shield raised to block Yang.
The echo of twin shotgun blasts rang out as Ember Celica and his shield fired simultaneously. Yang came off slightly worse in the exchange, his shield absorbing the blast while she barely managed to twist her own arm to partially block the blow. But if anything the partial hit seemed to motivate her and she continued her assault, sliding slightly to the side in an attempt to get around his shield as her leg came up in a sweeping kick to brush aside his sword. He let her, noticing she was careful to make sure only the flat of the blade actually hit her leg before she completed her spin and followed through with a double punch.
A minute adjustment of his shield let him block it, and he stood his ground, anchoring himself in place with a trick his dad had shown him. The fact he wasn't flying backwards clearly surprised Yang, and he took advantage of that, twisting his sword back around to get in a solid hit across her torso before bringing his sword back into a defensive stance.
Yang had let the blow push her back, flickers of fire appearing around her for a second. But before she could charge Jaune stepped forward into range, striking out with several blows. He'd seen her fight in class, once she got momentum she was tough to stop, hitting hard and fast and keeping opponents off balance. He knew there had to be a trick there with her semblance, but he hadn't quite figured it out yet. But if he kept pushing against her, kept her from getting her bearing and regaining the initiative, he'd have a chance. She blocked, falling back a few steps as she did, and Jaune pursued, careful to keep his shield between them.
From the corner of his eye he could see Pyrrha and Blake dancing around each other in a series of blows, and he could hear the familiar rapid fire of Storm Flower and the boom of Nora's grenades from the other side of the wall. He didn't let it distract him, trusting Pyrrha to keep to the plan.
He brought his attention back to Yang, who backpedaled again to get space, her semblance glowing around her. The first clue he had it was a feint was when she seemingly teleported to his side, having changed her back step into a lunging jump and a midair redirection with Ember Celica. Jaune spun, trying to keep his shield between them, knowing it was too late and putting more speed in to try and compensate. It was a mistake, and just what she was waiting for. The moment his one foot was off the ground, she fired with her other gauntlet. Without the proper base to pull off his aura sticking trick, he felt himself get blown backward.
Now it was her turn to pursue, blasting forward to begin her assault. Trusting his aura enhanced armor he let her first strike hit right on the chest, the blow pushing him back and down. Yang's other arm was already coming forward for a follow up punch, a huge grin splitting her face, as he felt his foot touch ground.
He latched on, proper base or no proper base, pumping aura into the limb. His foot declared, 'I am here, and I'm not moving' and the world seemed to come to a halt. But it was only him, his leg feeling like he'd ripped it from the socket as his aura told the world he was staying where he was, and the world agreed, but only if physics got its say.
As the air was driven from his lungs by the collision with the floor he saw Yang fly by overhead, her grin turning into a look of startled confusion. Not allowing himself to rest he hauled himself up, and was there with a sword blow as she landed and recovered.
Meanwhile, Blake was having the hardest fight of her life. She'd taken on guards, human and robot, dozens of times before, always ending the fights swiftly and silently. But Pyrrha was on a whole other level, dodging blows Blake knew she couldn't see coming, and seeing through every trick she tried with her semblance. Not a single clone distracted her. It was almost like she was toying with her.
Dodging backward she threw a spread of throwing knifes, not designed to hit, but to give her a bit of breathing room. Pyrrha charged straight through a gap in the arc, as if knowing they wouldn't hit her, and denying her the second she needed to regroup.
Maybe she was sensing the dust? It wouldn't be the strangest Semblance she'd heard of. Pyrrha wasn't giving her a second to catch her breath, and even unloading Gambol's clip did nothing as she simply raised her shield. Then her spear lashed out, forcing Blake to dodge backward, her shadow clone taking the blow even as the spear changed to point at where she'd dodged to.
Maybe the ribbon would help, she seemed to have a bit more trouble with that. A plan in mind, Blake went to move forward, but was interrupted when pain flared in her back, throwing her forward. Pyrrha was waiting, Akoúo̱ smashing into her before she could regain her footing. Then there was blackness.
"Blake!" screamed Yang. Seeing her partner go down to shot she'd thought had been aimed at her made her semblance flare up, her eyes turning a deep red even as flames licked around her. At least now he'd get a better idea of what her Semblance was, figured Jaune as he and Pyrrha closed in on Yang.
"So, what we'd learn?" asked Jaune as he leaned on Durandal, letting the brisk air of the arena cool him down.
"Oh, I know, I know. Pick me, pick me." Nora bounced in place, arm in the air.
Well, he hadn't actually been expecting an answer, but he'd roll with it. "Yes Nora?"
"Having my grenades bounced back at me really hurts," she declared solemnly.
"Yes, yes it does," agreed Ren, hand going to rub a spot on his leg where his outfit looked a tad singed.
Ouch, having been on the other end of Nora's grenades enough times in practice, he could imagine how a surprise blow would feel. He figured Ren would be used to it by now though. "While that might be true, I was looking for something more along the lines of, Team Juniper rocks."
"Hey," snapped Weiss, "It was close!"
"Close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades." Now Pyrrha was getting in on the ribbing, even if her trash talked seemed rather dated.
But apparently it worked well for Nora, who continued the teasing with a stage whisper. "That's why I picked grenades."
Jaune basked in the glory of victory. Despite their team flags and odd synchronization, his team had triumphed over RWBY! "Hey, we're the winners. Winners have gloating rights, at least for a while."
Yang, Ruby, and Nora, all nodded as one. "Yeah, it's in the rules."
"But don't think we won't remember this next time," announced Yang. "It'll be our turn, and I'll send you to knighty-knight land Jaune."
"Hmp." Weiss just sniffed and turned away, though Jaune couldn't guess if it was the terrible pun, or the loss.
"And gloating is done now. So, seriously, what did we learn? Dad always said a spars useless unless you learn something from it." Pulling up Durandal, he slung it over his back. "Usually we do a review session watching the recordings after a fight and pick apart what we did good and bad. Pyrrha gives some great commentary."
"It's our version of movie night," added Nora cheerfully. "Ren makes the best snacks."
Pyrrha nodded in agreement, eyes losing focus for a second as she thought of the tasty, tasty snacks. "His snacks are delicious, they certainly makes the reviews much more entertaining than the times I did it to prepare for a match in the arena."
"Will there be cookies?" demanded Ruby, eyes narrowed at the thought they might not have the best of snack foods.
"There will be cookies," confirmed Ren. Jaune had already asked him to bake some ahead of time.
"Yes! Then Team RWBY is there!" With that she disappeared in the direction of the girl's locker room, leaving a fading trail of petals behind her.
"Great, now she's making decisions based on baked goods," moaned Weiss quietly, following after her. But she wasn't actually worried, the chance to self-critique their performance was worth it. She knew her foot had been too far forward during the one lunge.
As the others trudged off to get cleaned up before the review, Jaune sidled over to Ren, then realized what he was doing. They were the only boys, no reason to be discrete. "Hey Ren, so tell me, how close was it?"
"Very close. Our only advantage was we've been working together forever. The moment they get their teamwork together, I give them better than fifty-fifty chances of kicking our ass." He didn't actually look bothered by the prospect of it though.
"Yang was the same. If Pyrrha hadn't been there, I would've gotten pounded to paste eventually." And he knew it; her Semblance was nothing to laugh at, even if his gave a pretty good counter for it. But he intended to keep that secret for a little while longer; Dad had always preached the value of a good trump card. "
Well, we'll just have to keep getting better, won't we?" And Jaune was determined to do just that. Their two teams were the best of the first years, and he intended to keep it that way. He wouldn't be the first Arc to break that tradition.
"Please, he shot you in the back, that wasn't very knightly of him." Jaune froze at hearing Yang's comment, hands clenching at his side. "I mean, I would have expected something like that from Ren, or you."
"It was a perfectly acceptable tactic," answered back Blake. He could barely hear her compared to Yang's boisterously loud voice, and assumed she must be by the door.
"Well yeah. But he was the one telling us he wanted to be a knight. Isn't there some rule about fair fights or something like that? He was barely blocking my blows, if he hadn't hit you in the back like that I'd have crushed him and then we'd have won." Her voice faded away, which meant she was probably walking into her team's bathroom, but he didn't hear any of the others disputing what she'd said.
A new voice spoke, and he realized it was Weiss. "There's a reason Atlas named the robot series 'Knight...'" His breath caught in his throat at hearing that from her, even if the rest of whatever she said was too muted to make out. More murmurs came from the people inside the room as they moved about, but nothing loud enough for him to hear clearly except for the occasional odd word, like 'Honor.' But he could guess what they were talking about, he'd heard it all before.
He resisted the urge to walk away, to leave them alone. But he'd volunteered to wait and show them the room they'd commandeered for review purposes after they had gotten changed into their pajamas, and a promise was a promise. After Nora called it 'Movie Night' Ruby had insisted, and the other girls had gone along with her demand.
The fight had ended on such a good note he wouldn't have expected it from them. As he stood there, stewing in his thoughts, he realized he really should've, at least from Yang. He didn't think Ruby had a mean bone in her body, but the way Yang constantly teased people even when they clearly wanted to be left alone should have been a warning sign.
That shot had been a valid tactic! Pyrrha and him and been working on perfecting their teamwork since the start of term, and there was no reason not to use it there! They'd specifically said partner matches, not one on one duels; it was meant to simulate a fight. Here they were training to fight monsters, both Grimm and human, and only victory held honor, no matter the tactics used if they were within the rules of the engagement. That was the whole point of the sparring in the first place!
He'd thought they'd get that here in Beacon; that was the only reason he'd proposed the training in the first place. But they were turning out just like his old ex-friends that went to Signal. So what if he wanted to be a knight and didn't go to Signal? That didn't mean he was just going to roll over and let them win in a spar, that he wasn't going to take the obvious openings presented to him.
Every friend that turned on him after a match was just proof that the training he'd slaved through had worked. The victory was proof that all the pain had been worth it, had meaning to it. Or at least that was what he tried to tell himself. Pain flared in his hands, and he realized he'd clenched them so tight that if it wasn't for his aura enhanced healing, he was sure his palms would be bleeding. But the pain, accidental or not, had served a purpose, pulling him back from his memories to the present.
What did Yang know about honor anyway? She was just like all the rest, thinking they knew what it meant to be a knight based on stereotypes and fairytales. The door next to him opened abruptly, Team RWBY piling out into the hall. He resisted the urge to snap at them, demanding to know what had taken them so long, and instead just grunted out, "Come on."
He set a swift pace down the hallways to and stairs to the dorm lounge they'd borrowed for the night, pettily relishing in how the shorter girls had to rush to keep up with his longer stride. Pyrrha had already synched her scroll, and he could see their fight videos queued, along with a few of the recordings from their combat class for the week. No longer in the mood for snacks, he grabbed a bottle of water and slumped down in one of the chairs. Now he was angry at himself for taking out his frustration at the entirety of RWBY, because at least Blake had defended him.
He brooded some more in silence as the videos played, only half-heartedly listening as Weiss and Ren debated some finer part of their match as Ruby and Nora turned back and forth between the two like they were watching some kind of tennis match. Then the screens switched to his own fight, reigniting the smoldering ember of anger.
So caught up in his own thoughts he barely heard it when Pyrrha turned to ask his opinion on something. "Jaune, do you have anything to add?"
"Wha?"
"About the fight. You generally have good insight." Pyrrha was looking at him with some concern now. Besides herself, he was generally the other large contributor to their sessions, due to his own, in her opinion, rather harsh self-criticism. But with it came the ability to pick apart a sequence of moves and countermoves, pointing out when and where other paths could have been taken that would have changed the flow of the fight. She could only assume there had been something with his training in the past that drove him to so harshly judge himself. It almost reminded her of her fellow Great Names in Mistral, who had their families' expectations bearing down on them and felt they needed to live up to their legacies. She'd seen the same look on their faces in the past when she beat them in a match; the same obsessive reviews in the contender area between bouts. But now he seemed listless, like he wasn't even paying attention, when he'd been the one to push for the session in the first place.
Jaune looked at the picture frozen on the screen, and tried to guess what Pyrrha had just been talking about, too proud to actually ask and admit he hadn't been listening. "Blake, you forgot it was a partner's duel. If you were having trouble with Pyrrha, you should have called for help. Both you and Yang are fast enough that if you tried to get together, Pyrrha and I would have had trouble stopping you. But your evasions and dodges are top notch, you lasted longer against Pyrrha alone then any of the rest of our team did on our first tries, including me."
Blake nodded, taking the criticism and compliment as it was meant, and agreeing with it. She was so used to working with her old partner or alone that the switch to a brawler like Yang left her feeling slightly out of place. Maybe a few more training sessions like these would help with that.
"Sometimes keeping a superior fighter occupied trying to catch you is all you need to ensure victory. But if you can take them out as well, that's even better. Try some caltrops or mines next time," added Ren from his own seat. "Your dodges would have the enemy stepping right on them."
That comment made a thoughtful expression cross Blake's face as she considered it. She'd never used bombs of any type before, or even Dust really. It was too loud and flashy for most of her previous missions; she preferred her knives and Gambol Shroud. But now there was nothing holding her back. Maybe it was time to expand her tools.
The conversation died, and Jaune realized they were looking at him again. He knew he should probably talk about his own performance, that's what they were likely waiting for. But seeing that smirk on Yang's frozen face in the image was too much for him. He'd had enough of taking other people's jokes and criticisms, it was time to give his own. "You were stupid. When your partner went down, you did the worst thing possible and went berserk. My guess based on the aura meter readings is when you're like that you take hits just like normal, only your own strikes are stronger. You were facing two shield users; all we had to do was block you and bleed you dry, and that huge chunk of your aura you traded for that power up when you went berserk? It did nothing for you but let us 'kill' you faster. Better to have played it safer and tried to take out one of us with a surprise blow rather than telegraphing it ahead of time with that useless light show. All you did was give us warning to hunker down and prepare. But that assumes you have control over your semblance, rather than losing your temper at the drop of a pin."
There was silence in the room as Jaune's scathing review ended, the last few words seeming to hang around. "I call bullshit."
"What?"
"I said, I call bullshit." Yang flung her hair back over her shoulder and glared at Jaune. The fact she was just in her pajamas somehow made it even more intimidating. "Yeah, we're reviewing. But that? That wasn't a critique. That was you trying to burn me more than fire dust. What's your problem?"
"Problem? My problem is you! You made a stupid mistake, one that could get us killed in a real fight!" And you're a two faced liar, wanted to scream Jaune, but he managed to keep that to himself, if barely.
Yang's eyes were starting to flicker red now. "Real fight?! News flash, we were training!"
"Jaune, she's right." Jaune turned to his partner, a betrayed look on his face. Of all the people besides Ruby, he'd have thought she would side with him. That's what partners were supposed to be. "You are the one that told me you wanted these training sessions to work. This isn't like you at all. What's wrong?"
"What's wrong?! She's wrong! She's just like the others." Some part of his mind was screaming that Pyrrha hadn't heard what Yang and Weiss had said, that she didn't know, and that he should try and explain. But that was buried beneath the anger.
"What others?" demanded Yang? "I'm one of a kind."
"Oh, don't pretend like you don't know," he snapped, whirling back to face her. Now he had a target, and it all came pouring out. "You're popular, I bet you knew some of them before at Signal, and they even told you about their 'crazy' old friend. What, didn't make the connection until lunch that day, is that why you even asked in the first place? You're just like they were, asking about my dreams and then making fun of me! I heard you in your room!" He relished the brief glimpse of apprehension that appeared on her face; for once the tables were turned and it wasn't him being verbally attacked. "Not knightly, am I? Not honorable?" His chest was heaving, and he realized he was standing now. When had he gotten out of his chair? Everyone was staring at him, and he stumbled a step back, the idea of going for the door darting through his head.
Whatever his thoughts were, they must have shown on his face, because Yang was suddenly on her feet, a finger thrusting at his chest. "Oh no, you don't get to run after saying that! Sit back down!" The tone was so much like his mom he involuntarily found himself back in the chair. "That was your issue? Really? Jaune, I thought we were friends. By now you should know that's how I am! I tease and joke. And that's all I was doing; I lost so of course I'm going to joke about it! You know all your friends aren't just waiting to stab you in the back right?""
"Since when?"
The words were out before he could stop them. The flames flickering in Yang's hair abruptly died and silence filled the room. The hidden fear that they'd been making fun of his dream behind his back this entire time; that small itch in the back of his mind he'd never managed to get rid of after telling them his dreams at lunch and their too easy acceptance of it. It flared to life, fueling his words as much as the anger did, and they spilled out in a torrent.
"That's just how it starts, that's how it always started. First its jokes, then the insults, then the nasty messages. They dig up every little thing you've ever told them and throw it back in your face. They joke about how you'll never be a hunter, never succeed. That's its stupid, and it was time I grew up and stopped playing pretend? Well, newsflash for you! I'm here! I beat you! I earned my place in Beacon through sweat, blood, and tears, and I am not about to stop now!"
The room was still as he finished. Jaune's eyes widened as he realized what he'd done, what he'd admitted to. Their stunned expressions told him they'd heard what he said, and what he hadn't. Flashes of surprise, anger, and even...hurt.
This time no one stopped him when he ran for the door.
Scholar's Note:
In the aftermath of the Great War, the Kingdoms were shaken. Grimm were encroaching into areas deemed safe for decades, if not centuries, and core areas of the Kingdoms were at risk. Everyone was anxious, wondering if their leaders' rhetoric had been just that, empty words, if the war and skirmishes would begin again as soon as they got their houses in order. The question in everyone's mind was had they traded one set of tyrants for another?
The first act of the new Council in Vale had been to establish Signal and Beacon on two landmarks of the war that had stood bright and strong, even as their contemporaries in the other Kingdoms did the same. Their second was to introduce the combat arena. Here they could point to the new generation of Grimm killers, now called Hunters, and say 'Look at your brave protectors. See their strength. You have nothing to fear.'
And it worked. By the time the first class graduated from Beacon, Grimm concentrations and attacks were noticeably down in the area, as the people's fear had decreased.
This has since evolved into competitions and Tournaments throughout the Kingdoms, including the great Vytal games, but the idea originally dates back to the Mistral games. That coliseum is old, its ground stained by the blood of thousands through the centuries. And its foundation is even older. It's possible there might be a clue buried in its old store rooms and tunnels, hidden by fake walls or ancient sublevels, but I don't think so. The myths seem mostly centered in the Vale and Vacuo regions.
Author's note:
Well, I know this chapter is late by a week, but I assure you it was worth it.
Thanks to the amazing College Fool, it's twice as long as it was thanks to his ideas about how to improve the characters, which ended up expanding the chapter significantly and taking it several grades above what it had been.
And many thanks to LaughingLefou, who helped by betaing the chapter and as another sounding board for ideas and feedback.
I honestly do think that in the beginning, despite being powerhouses, that the partners of Team RWBY would fall to the Nora Ren combo, just due to the extensive teamwork and past that Nora and Ren imply having. I think this would be a short term thing, and very quickly RWBY would surpass them without additional training. Especially on stamina, as Ren's appears to be weak in the series. And a combo like Yang and Ruby, who do have a history of working together, would beat them.
Sinopiatax - Play on Sinopia, a color, and syntax, aka language rules. I had way too much fun coming up with that. Even if he will never make another appearance. Maybe.