A/N: Well folks, it's time. The match between the Blonde Brawler and the Galactic Guardian is about to commence. Who will win? The answer may (or may not) surprise you!

Update: 12/9/18. (WARNING: BIG spoilers for RWBY Volume 6) Hey Folks! I bring you an update FROM THE FUTURE! Just a little bit of re-writing in a certain part. In this chapter, Jaune brings up the names of his sisters. Now, when I originally wrote this, we had absolutely no idea about Jaune's sisters other than the fact that he had seven of them, so I went with the French colors naming convention and left it at that. But NOW? Not only have we gotten a picture of Jaune with all of his sisters, but we have also MET one of them in person, along with her family! So, I felt it only necessary to bend the rules a bit and tweak a few things based off of that picture in this chapter. This'll probably be the only time this happens though, so don't get used to seeing these big update posts. That being said, I now return you to your regularly scheduled program.

This is...

Chapter 9: Brawling on a Bet

...

As noon came to the island of Patch, the new residents of the Xiao-Long household had finally settled into their new abode. Team JNPR took the guest room of course, while Team RWBY shared Yang and Ruby's room. While the guest room had two sets of bunkbeds, Tai had to bring out another set he had in storage to put in his daughters' room in order to accommodate all of them.

"Like I said," Tai stated proudly, "I don't like to feel unprepared."

Sun felt nervous as he set what little stuff he had inside of Qrow's room, a small voice in the back of the monkey boy's head telling him that the drunkard would likely kill him if he ever found out he was occupying it. As for Ben, Gwen and Kevin, they had finally finished bringing in everything from the secret compartment in the Osmosian's car and down into the basement. After a quick lunch, the group decided it was time to head out and see what Tai's secret training grounds had to offer. The only one who didn't come with them was Max, who chose to stay and make dinner (a thought that made Ben and Gwen feel ill). As the group walked the forest path, everyone was doing their own thing. Gwen was giving Ruby more pointers on Pokémon as Nora listened in, with Ren, Blake, and Weiss all walking beside them.

"It takes HOW long to find a Ralts?!" Ruby exclaimed.

"Unless you get lucky and one shows itself in the grass, yeah, it takes a while." Gwen said as she gave a sympathetic smile.

"So how was WALLY able to find one so easily?!"

"In-universe answer? Luck. Real-world answer? Pre-programed to happen. And yes, it stinks. Every. Time."

While Ruby was expressing her frustration, Kevin was asking Sun about the how his bo staff worked. "Dude, these weapons are just beyond me. How the hell does that thing hold together?"

"Magnetic clamps." Sun answered. "They're inside the barrels."

"And it doesn't hinder the bullets in any way?" Kevin countered.

"Nope! Went through a bunch of tests to make sure I got it right... which may or may not have resulted in a few small explosions, BUT it was all worth it!"

From behind, Blake grinned and rolled her eyes. "Sun, it certainly says something about a person when they think being blown up is just a minor hindrance."

Sun placed his hands behind his head. "Aw c'mon Blake, a little fire and lightning Dust never hurt anyone."

"Except, you know, everyone." Blake retorted.

As the two playfully bantered back and forth, Ben, Yang and Jaune were walking up front with Tai, with Jaune pushing Pyrrha in her wheelchair, a feat that was somewhat difficult to do on the dirt path. "Tai, have you ever considered maybe clearing this pathway of debris once and a while?" Jaune asked as he and Pyrrha made a team effort to keep her wheelchair from jostling around.

"Y-yes," Pyrrha said as she tried to hold on. "It is rather d-difficult to keep steady."

Tai shrugged. "Sorry, never expected to have wheelchairs on this path. We don't have much father to go though so don't worry. So Jaune, Pyrrha, Yang tells me we'll be seeing your folks here soon."

"Indeed. My mom should be here in a day or two." Pyrrha replied

"While my family is going to be here in about two weeks." Jaune added.

Tai nodded. "Okay then. Jaune, your family is probably going to want to book a hotel in town. Pyrrha, I might be able to find some space for your mother. She's probably going to want to stay as close to you as possible after all."

"I appreciate that, Tai." Pyrrha thanked. "And I am sure she will as well."

As they walked further in, Ben decided bring something up to the blonde knight. "Oh yeah, Jaune, I just remembered something your dad mentioned to us at the docks."

"Really? What would that be?"

"He saw Yang's bike and he said that one of your sisters rides one."

"Oh yeah!" Yang added. "He also said she was a police woman!"

Jaune chuckled. "Yeah, that'd be Noire. She's been a cop for 'bout two years now. But she makes time for her biking hobby whenever she's off duty."

That further fueled Yang's fire. "Think she'd be up for a race when she gets here?"

"Oh I know she would. She'd do anything to show up a sports bike like yours."

Yang smirked. "We'll just see about that."

"So, Jaune," Ben spoke up, "what's the rest of your family like?"

From behind, Ruby looked up from the 3DS. "Hey yeah, I never have asked about your family before. Are they as cool as your dad?"

Jaune rubbed the back of his head. "Heh, well you really gotta meet my mom and sisters in person to get the full experience. I'll just say this for now: they're all really nice people, so don't be afraid to meet them."

"Why would we be afraid, Jaune?" Pyrrha asked as she looked up at him. "You said yourself that they're nice."

"Well... a few of them weren't exactly all that keen on me going out to Beacon when I got... accepted. Noire and her twin sister Blanche wanted to nail me to the floor to keep me from leaving while Verte, Azure and Violette had actually cried after they heard the news. The only ones who fully supported me on it were my two other older sisters, Saffron and Rouge, along with mom and dad of course."

"And we should be worried about your sisters, why?" Nora asked.

"Well, considering how overprotective they are, the fact that Beacon was nearly destroyed, and in addition to dad going home without me with him, they're probably going to be upset... and they may take their frustration out on you guys since, you know, I chose to stay with you instead."

Weiss waved it off. "Oh Jaune please, we had to handle much worse last night, I'm sure we can handle a few angry women."

"Weiss, you haven't had to grow up with them, I HAVE. When they're apart, they can't do much. But together, they are a force to be reckoned with."

"Oh don't be so overdramatic! We'll be fine."

Jaune shrugged. "Okay, don't say I didn't warn you."

After walking for a while longer, the group finally made it to the base of the mountain, stopping in front of a large boulder. "Well, here we are!" Tai announced as he spread his arms out wide.

Weiss strode up to the boulder and inspected it. "It's... a rock."

"Thank you Madame Obvious." Kevin called out. "Couldn't have figured it out without ya!"

Weiss narrowed her eyes. "Grrr, I know it's a rock! I just expected something more... discernable."

Tai shrugged. "Well where's the fun in having a secret training ground if it doesn't have a secret door, right?"

With a knowing smile, Gwen walked up to the boulder. "Let me guess." she knocked on it and the rock gave off an uncharacteristic metallic bang. "Yep, it's hollow. With a very convincing exterior."

"See? This girl knows what's up!" The Xiao-Long patriarch waltzed up to the boulder and pulled a key out of his pocket. He pulled on a small pebble that looked embedded in the rock to reveal a hidden keyhole. Tai put the key in, twisted it, and pulled it up to unlock a high-tech hand scanner. He placed his hand on the screen and a bright green bar of light went up and down his hand. It spoke; "Hand print recognized, Welcome Taiyang." Next to the panel, a large part of the rock began to part ways like an elevator door, revealing hallway that led into the mountain. Tai looked back to the group. "So, who wants to go in first?"

...

At the end of the hallway, the group entered into an adequate sized break room. In the corner was a decent sized refrigerator next to kitchen counter complete with sink, microwave and coffee machine with a cabinet installed above it, a water dispenser also sitting next to the counter. Not far from the small set up was four sofas arranged around a large coffee table, finishing the break room aesthetic. There was a door on the opposite wall, presumably leading to the actual training rooms.

"Huh." Sun spoke. "Well, I'll give you props for one thing, you don't have any kind of distractions in here. That's a plus."

Tai smiled proudly. "Yep, the point of a training ground is to train, so Qrow and I made sure it only had the basics"

Ren nodded. "Good, the less distractions the better."

Blake felt the need to ask. "So, does this place have any emergency exits?"

"Oh sure, it's in the back room with the sparring arena." Tai responded. "But I doubt you'll need to use it. This place was made to withstand quite a bit. But it never hurts to be prepared, so in the event of something bad happening, all of the doors are preprogrammed to open."

Ben nodded. "Got it, thanks Tai. So, where does the action happen?"

"Right through here." Tai opened the door and showed them what was inside; a big gym full of exercise equipment. The black rubber matted floors housed many types of weight lifting machines, treadmills, rowing machines, dumbbells and barbells, elliptical machines, exercise bikes, punching bags, heck there was even multiple large rubber exercise balls and small medicine balls strewn about the room. There was also a stereo with a pair of speakers in the corner.

Weiss gazed around the room with a bemused look. "Ha, wow, was this place designed by meat-heads or something?"

Tai quickly rebutted. "Hey, this place was designed by two guys in their twenties who just wanted a place to hang, work out, and maybe train their next of kin someday. What can you do, huh?"

Kevin looked around with a satisfied smile. "Well I think this place is pretty cool."

"I hear that my friend." Sun shared in the sentiment.

Weiss rolled her eyes. 'Case in point.' she thought.

As she looked around, Blake took notice of the large gymnasium doors on the other side of the room. "So I'm guessing that those doors lead to the sparring area?"

"Correct again!" Tai said as he yet again went over and opened the set of doors, revealing a big spacious room. The room housed a pair of circular arenas, both with a slight elevation of two feet and each around 30 feet in diameter. On the other end of the room, there was the emergency exit, plain as day. Against the wall was a set of metal bleachers that looked rather dusty, almost as if they hadn't been sat on in years.

Weiss gave a disgusted look at the seats. "Ew, okay I am NOT sitting on those until they're washed."

Tai chuckled. "Yeah, guess I didn't really need the bleachers, but hey I wanted to give this place an authentic feel to it ya know?"

"Man, this is a pretty big space." Ben admired as his voice echoed through the room.

"Well yeah," Yang grinned, "how else are we gonna be able to throw each other around in here? Gotta have space for that."

"Do you guys just toss each other regularly?"

"Oh all the time, our Aura's are able to protect us remember?"

"Oh yeah, forgot you guys had those. Usually when I get thrown around I just change into an alien that can take the hit."

Tai spoke his curiosity. "Hold on a second, you don't have a protective Aura? Seriously?"

"Nope, none of us have one of those." Ben answered.

"Well, that's not technically true." Gwen corrected. "Every living being has an Aura, it's just that humans from this dimension seem to be able to have ones that are much more powerful than the ones from our world. I mean, I myself can strengthen my Aura thanks to my Anodite heritage but other than that, no one from our universe can use Aura like you all can."

"Buuut, you ARE able to super charge our Auras with your mana!" Yang smiled.

"Something that I still can't believe is even possible." Blake added.

Gwen shrugged. "Hey, I acted on a hunch, what can I say?"

Tai laughed. "Haha, man you kids are too much. Mana manipulation, matter absorption, alien transformations, you guys got some crazy powers."

"Hey, let's not discredit everybody else here." Ben pointed out. "These girls have shadow clones, super speed, glyphs, enhanced strength, it's like something from out of a comic book or something! If I didn't have the Omnitrix I'd love to have any of those powers naturally."

"Aww, thanks Ben," Ruby said in appreciation, "that's really sweet of you to say."

"Yeah, nice words Green Boy." Yang smirked. "So, you wanna settle our bet here and now, or wait 'til later?"

Ben gave a determined grin back. "Oh I'd be more than happy to go a round with you, Goldie Locks. Let's get this started." The two went to the nearest arena and they each took a side.

Nora was visibly giddy. "Ooh this is gonna be so cool!" She zipped over to the bleachers and took a seat, everyone else following her lead. Everybody except Weiss sat down, the heiress keeping her promise.

"Alright." Tai announced. "This'll be a standard spar. Now, how this would normally work is that you two would duel while your opponent's Aura slowly depletes from fighting, first one to reach the red zone is the loser. But because Ben doesn't have an Aura that can be measured on a scroll, we'll just go with a simple ring-out rule. First one to knock the other out of the ring wins, that sound good?"

"Alright by me." Ben agreed on his side.

"Sounds good dad!" Yang hollered from the other side. "So, who's it gonna be this time, Ben?"

Ben activated the Omnitrix as he grinned to his opponent. "Oh, somebody you're already familiar with." He slammed it down and transformed into... "Diamondhead!"

Yang grinned. "Alright! Now you're talkin'! Glad you're giving me a challenge here Tennyson!"

Tai meanwhile was in awe. "That looks so friggin' cool! I've never seen anything like that!"

On the side lines, Gwen nodded to herself. "He made a good choice going with Diamondhead."

"And why's that?" Jaune asked.

"Because he knows how much punishment that Diamondhead can take. Sure he's not made of actual diamond, but his hide's still pretty tough to crack. Yang's gonna have to rely on more than brute force if she wants to take him down."

"I see." Pyrrha said. "But do not count Yang out just yet. If anyone can go toe to toe with Diamondhead, it is most definitely her."

Jaune shrugged. "I dunno Pyrrha, I think you could take him. Well, you know, when you're up on your feet again."

Pyrrha smiled. "Perhaps Jaune, but let's see how this plays out first shall we?"

Back on the battlefield, Diamondhead hit his left fist into the palm of his right hand. "Hope you're ready for this Yang, 'cause I sure am."

Yang activated her Ember Celica and did the same thing as Ben, cracking her knuckles as she did. "You bet I am, let's get this started."

Tai raised his arm. "Alright then, if both sides are ready..." He brought the arm down. "Fight!"

...

Yang and Diamondhead smiled as the word was given. The two opponents squared off, immediately letting out their battle cries. They charged at each other, both of them rearing back a fist. They met in the middle and flung their fists forward, the punches colliding with enough force to cause a small boom. They pulled back their arms and went straight into fisticuffs with each other.

Diamondhead seemed to have the advantage with his hard hands, but Yang was lighter than the Petrosapien, allowing her to dodge most of his hits while dishing out her own. She could see Diamondhead react to getting hit, but it didn't seem to make a dent in him. So, she decided to go with a different tactic; she did a double punch to Diamondhead's midsection, unloading a fire Dust cartridge from each of her gauntlets as she did, pushing him back several feet.

Diamondhead dug his heels into the ground to stop himself and let out a small laugh. "Ha! Nice, but you're not the only one that can shoot stuff from their hands!" He turned his hands into shards, ensuring to make them as dull as he could to avoid causing her serious injury. Diamondhead fired the shards at the Blonde Brawler, her violet eyes slightly widening at the action.

With multiple assertive grunts and cries, Yang fired off more rounds from her Ember Celica at the incoming crystal projectiles, knocking them out of the air and onto the floor of the arena around her. It went on like that for a few seconds before Yang realized Diamonhead's legs were slightly bent, causing him to stand with his legs apart. An idea quickly popped into her head, albeit a bit of a risky one. She ran forward, bobbing and weaving underneath the dullened shards. Once she was close enough, she went into a slide, going right under Diamondhead's legs. The Petrosapien had little time to react as Yang socked him in the back with another Dust round fueled punch, sending him back toward the other side of the arena, almost to its edge.

Diamondhead stopped in a crouch to prevent himself from going any further. Thankfully, weight was both a hindrance and an advantage when it came to him. He looked up from where he was crouched down to see Yang running toward him, her fists ready for another onslaught. As she began to pelt him with punches, the Petrosapien brought his arms up and made a crystal shield from his forearms, her hits going into that instead of his face. But he knew he couldn't stay like that for long, every impact moved him back half an inch closer to the arena's edge. Diamondhead jolted up and slammed the shield into Yang, sending her careening back several feet to the center of the ring.

When Yang landed, she looked at her opponent with an excited smile. "Not bad Ben! You're quite the fighter!"

"Thanks! Now let me show you another trick!" Diamondhead brought the shield down and slammed his fist into the arena, causing several large crystals to come surging out of the ground and straight toward Yang. As the crystals got bigger and closer, Yang was forced to retreat. She quickly dove to the side and the crystals went past her, stopping at the other end of the arena.

Yang looked up at the towering crystal spikes and said; "Huh, neat." She turned back to Diamondhead as he walked to the ring's center. "You're just full of surprises aren't ya?"

"I've been told. So, what's next?"

Yang smirked as she crouched down and put her fists to the ground. "This!" She fired her Ember Celica and propelled herself into the air, straight towards Diamondhead. Yang reared her fist back and let out a battle cry, intending to end this fight here and now.

Diamondhead's eyes widened as she came closer, but he also realized something; 'Hold on a sec, this is part of the same trick she used on Adam last night!' He did the first thing that came to his mind; dodge. The Petrosapien side stepped Yang and she sailed right past him, her eyes widening in shock.

Yang tuck and rolled along the arena floor and whirled back around to the crystalline alien. "Hey! How'd you see that coming?!"

"Easy, you did the same thing to Adam last night." Diamondhead answered.

Yang blinked twice in realization. "Huh, guess I did."

Suddenly, Yang could hear her sister shouting to her from the sidelines; "C'mon sis! You can do this! Don't let him psyche you out!"

"Believe me Rubes, I know!" Yang called back, her eyes never leaving her opponent. "He's just a tough nut to crack, that's all! Besides, I'm kinda enjoying myself right now." She was looking up and down the alien, looking for anything that resembled a weak point. Her focus was then brought to the giant crystal spikes jutting out of his back. 'Bingo!' she thought with a smirk.

Diamondhead smiled. "Heh, glad I'm giving you a good fight. And I'm also enjoying this myself." He widened his stance and brought his fists back up. "But now I think it's time to end our little dance."

Yang smiled right back. "Couldn't agree more!" Yang charged at Diamondhead and slid down again. She had formed a plan during that short interlude and she hoped he would take the bait. Sure enough, he did. Diamondhead bent over and blocked the gap under his legs by slamming his fist on the ground in front of him, intending to stop her. Yang's smirk grew. 'Hook, line and sinker.' Shestopped mid-slide, tucked her legs underneath herself and quickly jumped up over Diamondhead, catching him off-guard.

As she went over him, Yang grabbed onto Diamondhead's shoulder spikes. Just as she grabbed hold, she fired her Ember Celica to give her more force to her fall, her eyes changing from violet to red in an instant. When she landed behind him, her fall combined with the extra force provided by her gauntlets, along with her own enhanced strength, gave Yang just enough power to flip Diamondhead right over herself and send him careening out of the arena and into the nearest opposing wall, ending the match.

"Ring-out: Ben!" Tai announced. "The winner is YANG!"

As the bleachers erupted into cheers, Yang slowly lowered herself to the ground, propping herself on her arms and knees to catch her breath. The feat of lifting the heavy alien over her head had taken all of her strength, and she was exhausted from it. 'Note to self, don't try to lift Diamondhead again.' She looked up to see her opponent, in a daze and embedded in the wall inside a crater made by his own impact. She smiled at him. 'Good fight Ben, you really showed me what you're made of today.' she glanced off to she side as she added; 'I rather enjoyed our little dance.' Yang got up, dusted herself off and made her way over to Diamondhead, intending to get him out of the wall.

...

As Diamondhead's vision returned to him, he shook his head out of the daze he was in... only to find out he was stuck in a wall. "Wait... what the...?"

Suddenly, he heard Yang's voice call to him. "See? Told ya you'd get thrown around!" He looked down to see the Blonde Brawler, smiling up at him with her arms crossed, her eyes bright and jovial. "Gotta hand it to ya Ben, you put up one hell of a fight. Awesome job!"

Diamondhead blinked. "Did... did you just throw me?"

"Yep! How else did you get up there? Couldn't have done it to yourself right? That'd just be masochistic."

After a few moments, Diamondhead slowly let out a few chuckles, followed by all-out laughing. "HAHAHA! Oh my god! I can't believe you threw me across the room! That was awesome!"

"Glad you think so, now get down from there, you owe me a smoothie." Yang offered a hand of assistance.

"Heh, right." Diamondhead grabbed her hand and she pulled... only for him to not budge.

"Huh? What the heck?" Yang asked.

"Um..." The Petrosaipen tried moving himself around a little only to realize that... "Uh, the crystals on my back seem to be... stuck."

It was Yang's turn to burst out laughing as Diamondhead continued to try and pry himself off the wall. "HAHAHA! You big goof! Just change back!"

"Ah, right again." In a bright green flash, Ben was back to normal. He hopped down from the crater and landed on his feet, a grin forming on his face. "Yang, I have to say I did NOT see that coming. I've been tossed around a lot of times but your method was a first."

"Well, guess it's a good thing you were so hard-headed then." Yang joked.

"Ha, yeah, but that didn't stop me from getting all Ben-t out of shape now did it?"

Yang's eyes widened in surprise. 'A comeback? Huh, I don't usually get those. Better think of something to counter with quick!' She was pulled back out of her thoughts when she heard Ben speaking to her.

"Uh, Yang... what's wrong? Was it really THAT bad?'

"Oh! No no no, it was great! It's just..." she smirked. "I'm the Queen of Puns here mister, and you coming on to my turf like this is liable to make me Yang-ry."

Ben's smile grew 'And now a new game has begun.' "Oh, I apologize." Ben reached down and picked up a discarded crystal shard, holding it up to Yang. "I guess that fact wasn't so crystal clear to me."

Yang plucked the shard out of his hand. "Sorry Ben, but like most crystal," she grabbed the other end and broke the shard in half, "I like to shatter expectations."

Ben shrugged. "Aw well, I'm sure I have more Omni-Tricks up my sleeve to show you."

"Oh, I'd be more than happy for a rematch, you'd just better Watch your back."

"What, you think I'm yellow-bellied Goldie Locks?"

"Well, you're certainly looking green from all these puns. Sure you don't wanna stop?"

Before Ben could retort, Gwen got between the two and held her arms out in front of them. "YES, please stop! Before... you make... me puke." She looked back and forth between them to make sure her message came across. "Look, if you two want to make awful puns, could you please take them to a smoothie shop so that Ben can make do on his promise. Please?"

"Well Gwen, first of all," Ben pointed out, "our puns are not awful."

"Yeah, c'mon Red," Yang added. "Where's your sense of humor?"

"In a shallow grave, along with the puns." Gwen deadpanned.

"And secondly... yeah I should hold up my end of the bargain." Ben pulled out his Lien card out of his jacket pocket. "Looks like this little thing's gonna see its first use soon."

"Looks like." Yang agreed. "And thanks."

"Hey, you won fair and square. I've got nothing to complain about that."

"Cool, so what time is it now?"

Ben checked the watch function on the Omnitrix. "1:30, perfect time for a smoothie."

"Well then let's go! There's a place I know in town that makes great smoothies!"

"Lead the way." Ben turned back around to Tai. "Oh, and sorry about your practice room Tai, I'll clean it up later."

Tai chuckled. "Ben, it's really not a problem. I'm just glad I got to see you and my daughter put on one hell of a show for us! We'll see ya later."

Ben nodded and he followed Yang out of the secret facility, leaving the others to their own devices. Gwen meanwhile was smiling at the two as they left. 'Those two really are quite the pair.' she thought. She was pulled back to reality when she heard Ruby give out a sudden shout of joy:

"HAHA! YES!" She said as she held the 3DS aloft. "I finally found a Ralts! And it's... huh? Hey Gwen, what does it mean when a Ralts is pink, blue and sparkly?"

The shock hit Gwen so much that her legs suddenly felt like jelly, but she had to stay upright to make sure Ruby caught that Ralts.

...

A/N: And there you have it! Yang won! Now this won't be the only time the two spar with each other, because like Ben said, there are plenty more aliens in that watch that can give her a challenge. Now, if you will kindly excuse me, October has arrived, and that means it's time for some spooks! But first, Next Time: just how long can a conversation between two people last when they're drinking smoothies? Longer than you might think when the two are Ben and Yang. See ya!

P.S. Gotta love those lucky random encounters eh? A little story for you: every time I've played through regular Sapphire I have ALWAYS run into a shiny Zigzagoon. No joke, it's really weird.