Chapter 7: New Challengers

"3… 2… 1…"

"Come on guys," Jaune shouted, raising his sword in the air.

"Begin!"

All members of JNPR ran at BRNZ, but only three of them charged as their beanie-wearing teammate, May Zedong, ran back towards the forest. In the middle of the ring, BRNZ's leader, Brawnz Ni sent a knee kick to Pyrrha's shield, making her skid back. May used the bladed butt on her sniper rifle to climb to the top of a branch as Ren got ready to attack Nolan Porfirio, who was busy dodging Nora's hammer.

Jaune blocked Roy Stallion's buzzsawed fist as he noticed a bullet fly near him. He looked up and noticed a glint of a gun in the leaves of a tree.

"R-R-Retreat," Jaune shouted, as he and Pyrrha blocked May's bullets for Ren and Nora. They all went behind a boulder as May kept firing.

"What do we do," Pyrrha asked. Jaune looked over the boulder as he saw the rest of BRNZ charging at them.

"Spread out! Try to keep moving." He and Pyrrha started to battle Brawnz and Roy as Nolan walked up to Ren and Nora. He glanced back and nodded to May as she smirked and aimed at Ren's feet. Ren had to move as May fired, making Nolan move quickly towards him. He whacked Ren with his cattle prod as he tried to block. But, Nolan thrusted his weapon forward as an electric spark went through Ren's body, stunning him.

"Ren," Nora shouted as she swung her hammer at Nolan. He dodged it and did the same thing to her, but was met with a different action.

"Oh-ho! Looks like one of my favorite students, Nora Valkyrie, is charging up to use her semblance," Port said.

"What," Nolan said, scared.

"Yes, Ms. Valkyrie's Semblance lets her produce, as well channel, electrical energy to her muscles," Oobleck replied, "This allows her to jump explosively into the air, wield her mighty hammer, or in this case, absorb Nolan's attacks and send the young man flying!"

"What?!"

Nora moved back, flexing her arms as Nolan saw his electric charge go through Nora's body. He backed away as Nora quickly moved forward to him, sending him flying back.

Jaune looked up at the mountain to see dark clouds forming.

"Nora! Get to the mountain," he ordered.

"You got it," she complied, as she sprinted away.

"Ren! Try and distract that sniper!"

Ren dodged another shot, saying "Sure...why not?"

Pyrrha and Jaune went after Brawnz and Roy, as he threw his buzzsaws at Jaune. Jaune blocked the first one but the next one made his shield get knocked into his face. As he shook his head to regain consciousness, he saw Pyrrha sparing with them and charged in.

"Yeah! Go get em', Jaune," Ruby said from the stands.

"Well he certainly improved," Weiss replied.

"Yeah, but he ain't got nothing on Pyrrha," Yang said, as everyone saw Pyrrha taking on Roy and Brawnz.

"Whoa," Legion started. "If I was a human, I would have a hu-"

"Shut up," Weiss scolded.

"What? It's true."

Nolan stood up and ran at Ren, as the ninja grabbed his weapon. He got it to where it was at his neck, leaving him trapped. May couldn't get a clear shot at Ren when she saw Nora climbing the mountain.

"Nora," Ren shouted.

Jaune saw May looking at Nora and put two and two together.

"Pyrrha! Up," Jaune ordered. Pyrrha made her way to her leader as she jumped on his shield and was blasted into the air. May fired as Pyrrha blocked the shot with her shield, flying back.

Nora stood at the top of the mountain, bringing out her hammer and letting it absorb the lightning. She changed it to it's gun form and fired at May. May groaned as she say a barrage of grenades form a heart. She jumped out of the way as the grenades exploded, leaving a trail of smoke.

As the rest of BRNZ saw their sniper jumped down, they heard laughing. They turned around and saw Nora jump from the mountain and smash her hammer into the ground, making BRNZ fly back.

"This is it, guys," Jaune started, "Let's finish 'em with team attacks! Ren! Nora! Flower Power!"

"Wait, what," Nora said, as his teammates looked at him questionably.

"F-Flower Power. That's your team attack name!"

"Since when," Ren asked.

"Guys, we've been over this! Flower Power is Ren and Nora! Ren brings a flower, Nora brings the power!"

"How do I bring a flower?"

"No, silly, not a flower," Nora said. "Flour, like in baking!"

"Why would I bring that?"

"I- Uh- No, it's your symbol!"

"Sooo, what are we," Pyrrha asked.

"Pyrrha!"

"Sorry! I just want to make sure it's clearly defined."

"Pyrrha, you and I are Arkos. It's that thing, where we take our shields? Remember?"

'"Arkos?"'

"Yeah! It's our names put together!"

"Right, no, I get it…"

"What, you don't like it?"

"No, no! It's... good?"

"Mmm, I sense hesitation," Nora said.

As they were having their conversation, BRNZ was staring at the confusingly.

"Hey," Brawnz shouted, catching JNPR's attention. "What do you think your doing?"

"Trying to have a team meeting, thank you very little," Jaune shouted back, sounding annoyed.

"Yeah! Team ears only," Nora added, pointing to her ears to prove her point.

"We're in a middle of a fight!"

"And we're in the middle of a conversation! What don't you get about that?!"

"Um...Jaune," Pyrrha said.

"Yes, Pyrrha?"

"I think he means we're all in a middle of a fight…" The crowd roared loudly, proving her point.

"Ugh... Nora, just... hit them with the hammer."

"Got it," Nora said, smirking evilly at BRNZ.

"Wait," Brawnz started. "What?"

Nora jumped into the air and landed next to them, as she brought her hammer up to smack them out of the ring, as the bell rang.

"And with that, it appears Team JNPR wins by knockout, literally! ...Can someone go make sure they're okay?"

Out in Vale, a gray haired man in a tattered cloak watches the tournament in a bar. He looks up at the screen and sees that JNPR had won.

"Hey, those kids aren't half bad," the bartender said, cleaning a glass as the man grunted.

"Ah, well, Vacuo fans are sure to be hurting after that one, but this next one will have them on the edge of their seats," Oobleck said.

"Team NDGO of Shade is certainly a crowd favorite, but these lovely ladies are going against some of the toughest, testosterone-filled teammates we've seen so far! I'm of course talking about... Team SSSN!," Port said. "Sun Wukong and his team are certainly a force to be reckoned with, and although he'll be representing the Mistral Academy of Haven, I'm sure his friends his friends and family back in Vacuo will be cheering him along!"

"This should be a treat," Legion said, as he gave bags of popcorn to his team.

As Neptune waves at the crowd, he finally saw his opponents up close as he smirked.

"Ladies," he said.

"There he goes again," Yang said, groaning. "You know, he was flirting with me the other day."

"Yeah. I saw and had to fix the aftermath," Legion said.

"Alright, girls, try and remember: hands above the waist," Neptune continued.

"Ignore him, for he... Yeah, he's dumb," Sun said, as Neptune gave them a sparkling wink, giving NDGO disgusted faces. As they waited, the first section of the ring turned into a desert terrain.

"Alright! Home field advantage," one of NDGO's, Nebula, members said.

"Don't get too cocky! That's my turf, too," Sun said.

"I hope I don't get sand in my shoes," Scarlet said, looking at his shoes.

"Be cool, man," Neptune whispered to him.

"Hey! The ocean," Dew said, pointing behind Neptune. He turned around to see an image of water on the screen. He whimpered, looking terrified.

"Uhh, what's wrong with Neptune," Ruby asked.

"Oh, no," Blake said, as the second section was a water terrain with a shipwrecked pirate ship. "Neptune's ... afraid of the water." Everyone looked shocked as Legion tried to hide his laughter.

"Don't laugh," Weiss said. "Your secret…"

"Sorry, I know...it's just so ironic…"

"Three, two, one! Begin!"

As soon as the last word was said, Neptune zoomed past the enemy team and skid up the mountain behind them.

"Neptune, what are you doing," Sage shouted, calling for his fleeing teammate.

"Uh, you know, just gaining some higher ground," he answered.

"On the enemy's side!?"

"They would never expect it!"

"He's not wrong," Dew said, looking at her team.

"Open fire!"

Team NDGO goes forward into their turf as Team SSSN followed them. Sage, with his sword raised and Scarlet having ditched his coat. He came up on Octavia Ember, who emerged from a nearby arch and tried to slice her with his cutlass. She ducked under the swing and continued sliding away, past the middle of Dew and Sage getting ready to rumble.

Sage raised his giant blade overhead, only to get knocked back by Dew's spear. He glanced up in time to see the blonde wave her weapon over the sand to create three small twisters that kick up dust in Sage's face. He looks around as they surround him, but doesn't realize the danger until they coalesce into one big tornado that picked him up off the ground. With his weapon torn out of his grip and screaming in panic, he's totally helpless as the winds throw him and his blade out of the arena.

"And NDGO gains the advantage," Oobleck said.

Octavia slid in front of Sun and Scarlet, who ready themselves to fight her just as she spun her sword around and produced a wave of flame that kicked up dust in their faces. Sun managed to jump out of the cloud just in time to call for his replacement in fighting the redhead.

"Neptune!"

Seeing his leader run from the duel, Neptune leaped down from his position and cocked his gun. Octavia attempted to use another fire attack to blind Neptune, but he simply put on his goggles and fired a bolt as his opponent, who blocked it with her blade right before seeing Sun leap out of nowhere to deliver a neck-snapping kick to her face. Now furious, Octavia brings her blade onto Sun's staff as he spun it all around his body while hitting several parts of hers. He ended it with a jab that knocked Octavia on her back in the sand.

"Oh! And we're down to 3-on-3," Port said excitedly.

Sun looked at Neptune fighting with Gwen Darcy as she circled him with her flying knives and Scarlet attempting to go weapon-to-weapon with Dew. She merely called upon another sandy cyclone to lift Scarlet up, and he revolved around the spiral until it launched him over the shipwreck. It seemed like he was out of the match, but he extended his arms and managed to dive onto a part of the mast, almost losing his balance once the pole's under his feet.

He eventually found his balance right when Nebula charges to the ship, launching an arrow with her crossbow at the mast, using it to jump right up to where Scarlet is. She folded up the sides of her weapon into a blade to cross swords with her opponent, the both of them ducking and missing or getting hit by the hilts until Nebula slammed her metal over Scarlet's and forced him to lean back on the post.

Luckily, he managed to get his sword back out from the trap and feign a swing at Nebula's feet before knocking into her with his elbow, causing the NDGO leader to fall into the sand below.

From his position, Scarlet saw Gwen continue to throw her knives. He smirked before whipping out his pistol and shooting the hilt guard as a grappling hook to get her by the ankle.

"Gotcha," he said. He used the cord to lift Gwen into the air while he slowly came down to the ground, only to land directly beneath her as she attempted to protect her modesty while knives start raining down from her dress. Scarlet quickly adopted a pose that somehow allowed him to miss every single blade that came crashing down into the sand at his feet. He gave a sigh of relief when it was over.

His luck doesn't hold though, when Dew leaped near Sun, causing the monkey Faunus to find his new improvised weapons, in the form of two coconuts he knocked out the palm tree beside him, which he threw at his opponent only to get them knocked right back at him, now spontaneously catching fire as they travels. Sun narrowly missed them both, but Scarlet got one straight to the face, and the other landed in a place that made him squeal in unimaginable pain as he dropped to the floor, eliminated from the match.

"Nuts," Sun said, sighing.

"Ooo, right in his knob," Legion said. Sun turned to see Dew making multiple watersprouts, as he began to dodge them.

"Neptune? Could use some help, buddy," Sun called out to his partner, who was standing near the empty section.

"Uh, you know, uh, it would probably be better if you came over here," Neptune said. "Yeah, I can guard this... sector! We're in lockdown mode!"

"What are you talking about? There's nothing to lock down!"

"Lockdown! Right! You got it!"

He jumped away as Dew stabbed her staff into the ground. "Dude, I know you're afraid of water, but you gotta-" He stopped yelling as he saw Dew get shot mid air by one of Neptune's bolts.

"There! I helped! Are you happy now!? Also, I am not afraid of water, and I have no idea what you are talking about!"

Dew managed to get back up as Nebula and Gwen join their comrade, lifting their weapons and ready to fight once more.

"NEPTUNE!"

"Okay, fine! Just get out of the water!" Neptune jumped over to a spot near the coastal line next to Sun. He unfolded his weapon into its trident form before tip-toeing forward and, eyes closed, plunged the sparking prongs into the water. The energy surged through the deep until the remaining members of NDGO were electrocuted and kneeled in the water, smoking and defeated with the sound of the buzzer.

"And with that, Team SSSN moves on to the doubles round," Port said, as he turned to Oobleck, "You know what I call that victory?"

"Shocking," the doctor happily said.

"No, well earned. What you said is stupid."

Oobleck turned away, frowning.

"Now that was a match," the bartender said excitedly.

"Heh, that was a mess," the grey haired man said, his words slurred.

"Come on man, you didn't like them, the Vale kids, or any of the rounds before that? What fight are you here for?"

The man's scroll beeped as he saw a notification.

'Winter Schnee spotted in Beacon'

"That one," he said, as he stood up, slightly wobbling. "Happy Vytal Festival!" He placed the lien on the counter and walked out. The bartender picked up the man's glass, and accidentally dropping one.

"Aw, gee darn it…"

"Aw, that was so close," Ruby said, sighing and laying back in her chair.

"Looks like the dorks made it to the next round," Yang replied. Blake turned to look at the ring and saw Sun and Neptune dancing...well, Sun dancing well. He turned and saw Blake staring at her and winked, making her blush.

"Emphasis on "dork"," she said.

"That concludes the matches for today. Please leave the Coliseum IN A CALM AND ORDERLY FASHION," Oobleck said loudly.

"Come on, let's go congratulate 'em," Yang said, as they got up.

As they walked away, Weiss overhead a conversation.

"Hey, have you heard? Winter Schnee is at Beacon."

"Really? Second time's a charm I guess."

"You guys go on ahead," Weiss said, "I'm just going to walk around Beacon for a bit."

"I'll come too," Ruby started.

"No no, it's fine."

"As your leader, you don't have a choice." Weiss groaned as they walked out of the stadium.

Hello Readers. I hope you all liked this chapter. And I hope you loved the special previews. If you don't know what I'm talking about then you missed the limited time previews of my new stories. The titles are RWB2Y: Crimson, and The Metal Qrow. Good news is that school is out for me soon! I get to work more on my stories! I hope all of you have a great summer! Reviewsare welcomed and I'll see you again next time.