I usually end up writing these in parts. I mostly write either during my study hall at school or more often, at one or two in the morning. Oh. By the way. I lied. I decided that I'm going to start some Yang X Reader romance. The next chapter is going to be a part of that and probably the one after that as well. It's actually done, I just want to save it in case I can't get the next real(ish) chapter done by next weekend. I also think I'm going to go back and make all of the previous chapters including this one be in first person. After reading my own writing and comparing it to other's, first person just seems a lot more natural and easier to read. Also I'm not the best writer but you get the point. That's all for now so enjoy!

As you stood in line for the check in, you did what pretty much everyone else was doing. Everyone in line was performing various tests on their weapons, stretching out, or showing off. After some simple stretches, you leaned back and watched everyone else. You made sure to pay special attention to the showoffs. You didn't understand why someone would reveal a technique or secret weapon before their fight. They were just asking for you to come up with a counter, and you did for most of the things you saw.
When you reached the front of the line, a man with an official Vacuo uniform was waiting for you.
"Hello and welcome to Vacuo!" he said in a boomingly cheerful voice. "I need your names, team name, and weapon names, please!" Yang introduced each of you as the man wrote all of your information down on a clipboard.
Yang, Weiss, and Blake each told the man the name of their weapons, but when he turned to you all you could say was, "I don't really have a name for these. They were a gift so I don't exactly have some kind of emotional attachment to them." The man took some time to inspect your weapons.
"Simple, yet effective." He said thoughtfully. He came across a strange marking on the hilt of your right hand scimitar and his eyes went wide. "Young man, while I'm sure that your weapons are more than enough to do the job, I highly recommend creating or buying one of your own. As hunters and huntresses, our lives depend on our weapons, and you wouldn't leave your life in the care of a stranger, would you?" You shook your head no. The man let you all in after pointing out the training area where competitors were bustling about doing the same things as those on the outside. As you walked around, you thought about what the man said, and he was right. Even though your weapons were a gift from officer Clay, they weren't really special to you in any other way. They were weapons, but not your weapons. You started to think of some way to create a new weapon, when you were interrupted by Blake.
"So whose going to fight alongside who?" she asked no one in particular.
"(y/n) and I could fight together" volunteered Weiss. Ever since your dispute ended, you had built up amazing synergy with Weiss. You were also both sword wielders, which made it easy for you to predict one another's movements and get in each other's way less often.
"Well that was easy, I guess we should get some practice in before the first round starts!" said Yang, obviously excited for the tournament. A few seconds later, a horn rang out, summoning all of the teams to the arena. "Or maybe not" said Yang.
You walked into the arena and felt small. The stands rose hundreds of feet into the air and the crowd was no small thing. It was amazing to think that a competition of this size took place every month. The same man who had checked you all in was walking around to every team to figure out who would be fighting alongside who. A woman with a microphone stepped out into the center of the arena and welcomed the crowd. Her long red dress flowed behind her as she strode out. After formalities and introductions she announced the rules, which you had already memorized courtesy of Yang. However, there was one new thing. In an overenthusiastic voice, the speaker announced that there were many more competing teams than usual, and that as a result two fights would take place at the same time until the quarterfinals, semifinals, and final took place. One would take place in a biome on one half of the arena, while the other would take place in a different biome on the other side of the arena. Soon the introduction ceremony began, and each team walked out onto the arena. First they announced the team name, then the names of the pairs, and then the weapon names. When it was team RWBY's turn to walk out onto the arena, they simply didn't mention your weapon at all.
Once the opening ceremony concluded, the teams were directed back to the training area, and the first two matches of the day were announced. There were several screens in all kinds of places in the training area, and there were dozens of people huddled around each one. Everyone watched the matches, some analyzing, others just cheering, but everyone was amazed by the impressive maneuvers different teammates could pull off. You even saw one girl throw a few daggers into the air and watched as her teammate leapt up and lashed out at them with a whip, hurling them at their opponents with incredible speed.
You and Weiss got called down to your first match after a while, and you stepped out onto the arena. Across from you stood your opponents, a big beefy guy wielding what looked like a double sided ax, and a scrawnier looking kid with a rocket launcher that looked way too big for him to carry. You recognized them as a few of the show offs you saw while waiting to check in. You knew most of what they were capable of. The randomly selected biome was a forest, and as the timer started to count down you explained a plan to Weiss that had just formed in your mind.
"Alright Weiss, as soon as that timer hits zero, run back into the trees as fast as you can." Weiss nodded, the timer hit zero, and you both sprinted off into the thick forest, your enemies chasing after you.
"So what's this plan of yours?" she asked, not even close to breaking a sweat, yet.
"Well you know that thing you do with your glyphs when you move stuff around?"
"Yeah, what about it?"
"Do that to me and stay out of sight. Every time you think they know where I am, get me somewhere safe." Without a word, Weiss leapt into a tree with impressive agility, and was out of sight in a matter of seconds. You found a tree with an enormous trunk and hid behind it, drawing your scimitars, attaching them to form the bow. You nocked an arrow, which had been modified to actually hurt whatever it hit instead of just paralyzing the target. You risked a peek, and sure enough there were your opponents, barreling through the forest. You drew the arrow back and the world went still for you. You decided that your first shot would go to the bigger guy. You looked for a crack in his armor and when you found one above his breastplate, you let the arrow fly. It landed with a satisfying thud and you looked to the scoreboard in the sky. Your new arrows had done their job, and the brute's aura level had gone down.
They didn't see you let the first shot go, but they stopped running and circled around, looking for any sign of a shooter. You drew another arrow, and aimed at the smaller guy this time. Your arrow hit him in the shoulder, exploding in a small display of blue light. You knew he had seen you, because he was looking you directly in the eye. He hoisted his oversized rocket launcher onto his shoulder and took deadly aim. You could do nothing but hope that Weiss had seen you and was finding a good position for you. You heard the missile fire and you shut your eyes only to hear it in blow up far in front of you a split second later. You opened your eyes and almost fell out of the tree Weiss had placed you in.
"This is whole shoot and run thing is pretty boring, you know" she whispered from a branch beside you. "Fine." You said back in a hushed tone.
"Want some fun? We take out the small one first." You leapt out of the tree and rolled forward from where you landed on the hard ground. You directly behind the little guy and right before he turned to see what had fallen behind him, you gave him a strong upward slash from your right blade. He was knocked forward from the impact and into Weiss who had slipped out of a different tree a bit more silently. She finished off the last of his aura with a perfectly timed stab.
You looked back to the bigger guy, who was rushing you with his enormous ax. There were two blade edges on each side of the pole, four in total. He took a powerful horizontal swipe at you, and you were able to parry the otherwise devastating blow with your left. The sound of metal on metal rang out and your weapons were locked together. He twisted the pole so that he could keep your left hand occupied with one ax head, but still try an upward strike with the ax head on the other side of the pole. You were able to block with your right, but you struggled to stay on your feet due to his immense strength pressuring you. He advanced and you stepped back, slowly at first until he was forcing you into moving where he wanted you. A loud snap came from above, and a branch from one of the trees came down onto you. It was thick and had been set on fire like much of the forest due to rocket boy's carelessness. The branch landed on you, depleting your aura.
You couldn't see what was going on over on the other side of the branch, but you could hear grunts and shouts from Weiss and her opponent. Eventually, Weiss pulled through and won you the round. The environment disappeared, and you stood up, the flaming branch gone. You walked towards the center with Weiss and you complimented your opponents on a good match. They congratulated you for winning, but didn't seem too happy to be going down in the first round.
You walked back to the training area with Weiss, preparing for the next round. The day went on, full of action and excitement. The tournament would be settled in seven rounds. You and Weiss had won your first, second, and third matches. It was announced that it was tome for the quarterfinals, and you were back out on the arena again. From the other side of the arena, you could see Blake and Yang starting to walk up towards the center.
"Oh this is gonna be good" you said to Weiss with a grin. They reached the center and it wasn't long before the trash talk began. You kicked things off with, "Wow I'm surprised that you guys made it this far."
Yang made an exaggeratedly fake offended gesture and said, "Well at least I can fight a tree."
Weiss pitched in by saying, "As impressive as that is, we've actually lasted more than thirty seconds in the arena." Weiss's remark was a reference to a match where Yang's aura was depleted before the battle had even gone on for more than half a minute.
"Hey that girl was fast. Really fast." Yang said in her defense. The countdown started from 10 and you all backed away. When the timer hit five, Weiss pulled you toward her and whispered, "You take Blake. I'll go after Yang." You looked at her, confused. Very, very confused. "Wait, what? Weiss that doesn't make any sense." The timer didn't wait so you stuck to the plan even though you had other ideas. Blake had some serious range on you with her weapon, and you couldn't shoot at her because of her semblance, and because you had no cover. The quarterfinals, semifinals, and finals all took place on open arenas without environments. Weiss might have been able to actually get a hit off on Blake with her glyphs. She also put herself at a disadvantage by deciding to fight Yang. You could easily keep up with her attacks since you were both dual wielders of sorts. Weiss would struggle with Yang once she closed in. With your weapon in its bow form, you took a few shots at Blake as she rushed towards you. She either dodged them all, or used her semblance to avoid your arrows. She wasn't slowing down so you switched back into scimitar form and got into a defensive stance. Even so, Blake was able to slash at you with gambol shroud at wicked speeds easily. She got more than a few scrapes on your torso while you couldn't get in range for a single blow. You desperately hoped that Weiss was doing better than you. However, your hope was shattered when you heard a loud buzzer sound. You looked up at the scoreboard and saw Weiss's face with a big red X across it. Yang took your moment of distraction to fire a pulse of energy at you, and you were knocked out of the ring.
Weiss found you and helped you back up onto the arena. You went back to the center of the arena and congratulated Blake and Yang on their victory.
"Lucky shot" you said, winking at Yang. She rolled her eyes and ignored your comment.
"Good match, but there's something important that you guys need to know. There were only three complete teams left in the quarter final, and they all lost half of their team, including us. Even if Blake and I don't win the final, we can still win as a team." They were being called back to the training area by the same man who kept appearing, seemingly running the whole tournament singlehandedly.
"We'll see you later. Wish us luck!" said Blake as they turned back to the training area. You and Weiss headed back to the arena seating to find Ruby and watch the rest of the tournament from the stands.
As you searched for her in the crowd of people, Weiss said, "I think you were right before we started to the fight. Maybe we should have switched." You weren't really upset about losing, it was more a lack of communication than a lack of skill. "And why is that?" you asked her. She described the matchup in the exact way you thought of it earlier, with you being able to keep up with Yang, and her being able to land a hit on Blake.
"Yeah that's exactly what I was thinking. It's fine though, like Yang said, we still have a chance to win."
You finally found Ruby and sat with her, watching the competition go on until Blake and Yang showed up again in the semifinals. You all cheered for them, sitting on the edges of your seats as the match came down to the wire. Yang had gone down leaving Blake to fight against two people, but neither of them had a particularly high aura level. They ran at Blake from both sides, but she was ready for them. She rolled to the right and took one out with a slice to the chest, and wasted no time on cutting down the farther one. The crowd went wild cheering for Blake and took quite a while to calm down. After the crowd calmed down a bit, the second semifinal match began. Just when the fight was getting good, the man who seemed to be organizing the event came up to you.
"(y/n) (l/n) and Weiss Schnee?"
"Uh…yeah that's us." You said rather confused as to why he would be talking to you since you were out of the tournament.
"Follow me" he said and left without checking to see if you came along. You raised a questioning eyebrow at Weiss, but she just shrugged. You were taken to a gate right outside the arena.
"Wait here until your names are called" said the man with a smile and he walked away as if this was perfectly normal. Weiss asked, "You don't think this means…?"
You shrugged and said, "Your guess is as good as mine. I guess all we can do is watch. Looks like it's Blake and Yang versus the reigning champs for the final." So the fight began with you and Weiss watching from up close. The Vacuo competitors looked as if they definitely deserved their spot at the top. The guy wielded a two handed broadsword which doubled as a shotgun. The girl was using a trident which seemed to work with dust somehow.
Needless to say, the fight was intense. The guy with the broadsword was as fast as he was strong, and Yang had a hard time trading hits with him, but eventually she landed a punch squarely in the middle of his chest and he went flying backwards, only to spring back up. Blake seemed to be having an easier time, the only issue being that it was nearly impossible for her to block her enemy's trident. She was insanely agile and Blake couldn't create any distance to use to her advantage. If she put her blade up for a block, she could only block two of the points and the other made it through to her skin. In the end, Blake and Yang had taken too much damage without return, and they fell to the champions.
After giving their congratulations, they were led to where you and Weiss stood watching.
"Well you had a good run. At least we tried right?" you said as they came over, trying to offer some consolation.
"Yeah sure, but why are you guys here? Shouldn't you be with Ruby?" asked Blake.
"That bald man with the glasses told us to be here" said Weiss. Your conversation was interrupted by the same lady who showed up at the start of the tournament.
"To begin, I would like to thank all of our competitors for putting on a spectacular performance." The crowd applauded and whistled their approval.
"I would also like to congratulate our very own team from Vacuo for winning the final fight!" Since most of the crowd was from Vacuo, the cheers were deafening. The two teammates were handed a trophy and lifted it into the air together, getting more cheers from the crowd. Once it had died down, the lady went on.
"However, this competition is entered by teams of four, and now it is time to crown a new team of champions. The overall winning team by ten points is…" Even though she had paused, you and the girls were already going wild. There was no possible way any other team could have gotten more points than you. Even though the team from Vacuo had won the final, Blake and Yang got a huge amount of points for getting that far. The Vacuo team's other half had also gotten knocked out of the tournament before you and Weiss. The lady turned toward where you all stood, and raised her arm. The gate opened and you were ushered out by the strange man who seemed to be everywhere at once. "Team RWBY of Beacon Academy!" Despite being mostly made up of Vacuo citizens, the crowd roared with applause. You reached the center stage, waving to the crowd and turning to see everyone's expressions. Even though they had lost the tournament overall, the Vacuo competitors were honorable in their defeat and shook each of your hands with smiles. The lady stepped over to congratulate you and handed you a trophy engraved with all of the previous winner's names. On the front, freshly carved were your names. Confetti cannons went off and music blasted from the stadium speakers. You looked over at Weiss and Yang with your eyebrow raised. Somehow you had gotten your point across and they each nodded their approval. You put on a big grin and handed the trophy to Blake.
"You deserve this, Blake. If you hadn't pulled of that 1v2 we definitely wouldn't have won." Blake accepted the trophy with a smile and raised it above her head. You saw Ruby in the crowd yelling something with a wide grin on her face. Overhead, on an enormous screen, a replay of some of your biggest moments during the tournament played, ending with Blake's big play you had mentioned beforehand.
With the closing ceremony over, you all walked off stage and through the training area earning words of congratulations from all of the other competitors as you walked by. You saw Ruby near the exit to the stadium and started to walk over to her. As you and the girls rushed over to her, you barely heard your name being said behind you. You stopped in your tracks, leaving the rest of the girls to run over to Ruby. You glanced around trying to figure out who was calling you when you saw the man who organized the event looking you dead in the eye. He motioned for you to come over, and you glanced over at your team. In their excitement they seemed to have not noticed that you were missing. You strolled over to the man.
"Congratulations on your victory, (y/n)" he said, wiping his glasses with his shirt as he spoke. "I think you could have done much better with a weapon of your own though. I know those weapons that you use now. My brother made them. I recognized his initials carved onto the hilt." You struggled to make sense of what he had just said. There was only one logical answer.
"Officer Clay is your brother?!" you exclaimed. The more you stared at the man the more you could see the resemblance. The man smiled, satisfied with his glasses, putting them back on.
"Yes, and he told me about a child he rescued from the streets one day about a month ago. He said he was going to make him a weapon and get him into Beacon. It looks like he did a fine job with you." You couldn't find anything to say, so you just nodded. "Anyway, I just wanted to ask if you could tell him that his brother says hello next time you see him."
"Yes, sir of course. I owe officer Clay much more than that for what he did for me."
"I also want you to get yourself a weapon that you're more comfortable with. Based on my brother's description of you a month ago, I'd say that you've gotten far more powerful."
"Yes, sir. I gave it some thought and decided that I'll get around to making my own one day." The man nodded his approval and gave you a smile and a clap on the back.
"Excellent. Go on then, it looks like your team is waiting for you. Celebrate with them." You turned and started jogging over to the girls, most of which were looking at you expectantly.
You looked over your shoulder and smiled, yelling, "Thank you for everything Mr. Clay!" He lifted a hand in farewell and you caught up with team RWBY.
"What was that all about?" asked Ruby, looking over you, towards the man. You smiled at the ground and shook your head.
"It's nothing. Come on we have a victory to celebrate!" you said, walking off toward the city to find a good restaurant, as the girls watched you walk off alone.
When you were out of earshot, Yang said, "You know, I'll understand how so many people know him if he's not from here."