RWBY: MRRN
Volume 3, Chapter 12: Never Miss A Mark
Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY. All rights go to Rooster Teeth.
"Nasser, this is going too far," Math told his rebellious teammate in their dorm. "I don't like Sun's kleptomania either, but-"
"But what?" Nasser interrupted. "He keeps stealing from everyone and acts like nothing happens. For Gods' sake, he needs to grow up and stop being such a bonehead!"
"And you need to grow up and stop being derogatory towards everyone!" Math shouted. "Violence doesn't solve everything. If it did, the world would be far more hostile than it already is."
"What does that have to do with Ass Wukong?" Nasser questioned.
"It means we cannot always turn to violence to solve our problems," Math answered. "Trust me; if Sun keeps up this behavior, then let him suffer the consequences. You don't need to go down with him."
"I won't," Nasser claimed. "Because I'm not the one stealing everything and constantly breaking the law! And I'm especially not responsible for the Paladin Incident." Math's eyes widened.
"That's low, even for you," the swordsman replied.
"Well, it's true," Nasser claimed again. "While Sun was too busy having fun and then leaving Team RWBY to fight Torchwick themselves, people got injured and killed. Still, he acted like he did nothing wrong. I may be a jerk, but at least I have a sense of morality. Too bad the same can't be said for that filthy monkey!"
"I heard that!" Sun called out from the window, hanging from a branch. The minute Nasser saw him, his expression changed from annoyance to absolute anger. He was about to walk over to the window, but Math stopped him.
"I do care about what happened!" Sun claimed as he leapt into the room. "I admit, I screwed up bad. But I didn't mean for those people to die."
"I know, it's all Torchwick's fault," Nasser mocked. "That's all you said when you got busted by the VSU. I wish they had taken you away by now. You don't deserve to be a Huntsman."
"Oh, I don't deserve to be a Huntsman?" Sun challenged. "I'm not the one being a complete jerk to everyone!"
"Well, I'm not the one-"
"STOP IT!" Math roared, nearly toppling both of them. They both looked at Math, who they could easily tell that he was fed up with their fighting. Nasser had never seen his team leader so angry before…it honestly scared him.
"When are you two going to grow up and stop being idiots!?" he questioned angrily. "Neither of you are saints, so don't act like you're better than the other!"
"Whoa, whoa," Nasser responded. "Math, calm down."
"Do not tell me to calm down," the swordsman spoke in a low growl. "If you two want to be at each other's throats, then do it somewhere else! If you two want to get kicked out of the Academies because you're not willing to stop fighting, then go ahead! It's obvious neither of you will listen."
"Math-" Sun tried to talk.
"GET OUT!" he roared. Both of them looked at each other and back at Math, who seemed ready to rip their heads off if they didn't leave. Finally, they both walked out the door and closed it behind them.
"Has he ever been that mad before?" Sun asked.
"No," Nasser answered. "Math may get annoyed or upset sometimes, but that…that's not usually him."
"Maybe…maybe this fighting between is getting out of control," Sun suggested.
Nasser remained silent. He didn't want to admit it, but Sun was right. By now, almost everyone in Beacon knew about the enmity between the two of them. The knife user lashing out the way he did towards the leader of Team SSSN the other day had been talked about quite a bit.
They now couldn't look at each other without getting angry, especially Nasser…because every time Sun stole from him, it reminded him of Cassim's betrayal. The knife user said nothing as he walked away, but Sun caught a mixed look of regret, sadness and anger before he turned away.
Math let out a loud yell before slumping onto his bed and burying his face in his hands. He felt everything was piling on him; his teammates' issues, his conflict about his father, his growing distrust for Ozpin…worst off, he felt as he was incapable of solving any of these problems.
What could he do to alleviate the problems Robin, Ruo and Nasser were facing? He couldn't make things better between Robin and Dearg after all the years of anger between the two. He couldn't bring Ruo's father's murderer to justice when he had no evidence. He couldn't prove to Nasser whether his brother was truly sorry for his past or if he was still the same.
Even though he had promised Pyrrha to let Donovan go, it was much easier said than done. He had done everything he could to stay away from anything related to his father, but it was still coming back to haunt him. He honestly didn't know if he could keep his promise to Pyrrha.
He had been suspicious of Ozpin ever since the mission. He didn't want to believe that the Headmaster he had trusted, who had accepted him into Beacon when the Aurum turned him away, would intentionally send him and his team against foes they weren't prepared for.
Just then, there was a ring in his pocket; it was his scroll. He pulled it out to see the number belonging to Forest Kotka. He thought about hanging up, but didn't want to be rude towards him, so he answered.
"Hey, Forest," Math greeted.
"Hey, son," Forest replied. "You sound a bit under the weather. What's wrong?"
"I can't," Math responded. "I know you've got a lot on your plate, so-"
"I'm never too busy to talk with you when you need someone," Forest assured. "Now talk to me."
Math let out everything like a flood. He told Forest everything that was bothering him; his feeling of being unable to help his teammates, his conflict about seeing his father, and his growing distrust for Ozpin. All the while, Forest listened, only talking when Math asked him something. By the time it was done, there was silence.
"Math," Forest spoke gently. "You've always had a big heart and you want to help others. However, sometimes you can't do anything to fix other peoples' problems; at those times, you just need to let them handle it themselves. Trying to get involved could cause more harm than resolve."
"Everyone's been on edge ever since all these things came up…including me," Math admitted. "I honestly don't know what to do about Donovan."
"You're old enough to make your own decisions," Forest responded. "If you're wanting my opinion, however, I agree with your mother. You should just forget him. All he'll do is hurt you more than he already has."
"I just have questions to ask, things to say…" Math spoke, but derailed from his sentence.
"And all he'll probably do is deflect the blame as he always has," Forest reminded. "If you want to go see him, then that's your choice. But if you do, you should be prepared mentally."
"I don't know," Math confessed.
"Yes, you do," Forest responded, knowing his student better than that. "I have to go now. When I get a chance to see you, I'll let you know. In the meantime, do well in the Doubles' Rounds."
"Will do," the swordsman assured.
"Take care then, son," Forest spoke.
"You too," Math replied before hanging up. As he put the scroll in his pocket, he whispered the word 'Dad'.
-0-
"Welcome back to the Doubles' Rounds!" Oobleck announced. "Let us see who is fighting today!" The images rotated as usual, landing on Math and Robin and two students from Atlas.
"Mathdon and Robin of Beacon against Copper and Phillip of Atlas!" Port announced. "Retrieve your weapons and ready yourselves for combat!" Everyone walked down with Math and Robin to wish them luck on their match. When everyone left, Nasser stayed behind.
"Math," he started. "Sorry things got real out of hand yesterday."
"I should be the one apologizing," Math claimed. "I shouldn't have snapped at you like that."
"Did Nasser just apologize?" Robin questioned, rarely ever hearing his teammate apologize.
"Well…do good out there," Nasser spoke before leaving to sit with the others. Math and Robin walked onto the Arena to see the two students from Atlas walk forward from the opposite entrance.
One had a semi-muscular built with shaggy brown hair, brown eyes, and a cowboy-like appearance. His weapon was a revolver on the right side of his belt and a whip on his left, appearing to be able to have Dust infused into it.
The other seemed far more professional with his brown hair properly combed to one side, his face clean-shaven in contrast to his teammate and Math and carried the presence of a soldier. His weapon appeared as a suit of tech-like armor similar to the appearance of an Atlesian Knight with reinforced gauntlets, a jet pack and a helmet in his hand.
"Hey, I know you," the cowboy, Copper Hanks, called out to Math. "You're Mathdon Kendrick." The swordsman raised an eyebrow in confusion.
"I didn't know I had a reputation," he replied.
"I've heard about you," Copper repeated. "You're the only one who ever managed to go toe-to-toe with Pyrrha Nikos. She's quite the beauty."
"And she's spoken for," Math informed Copper.
"Easy now, I'm not trying to steal anyone," Copper assured.
"We can worry about girlfriends later," Phillip Grunaugen interrupted as he placed his helmet on his head. "For now, we have a match to win."
"Just having some friendly conversation, General Phillip," Copper teased. The biomes were chosen for the match; ice, forest, ocean and desert.
"Alright, home field advantage," Copper smirked as he looked at the desert biome.
"You're from Vacuo?" Math asked.
"Sure am," the cowboy answered before drawing his pistol and whip.
"You take Phillip, I'll take Copper," Robin insisted, to which Math agreed as the two members of MRRN prepared their weapons.
"3, 2, 1…BEGIN!" Oobleck announced.
Almost immediately, Phillip activated his jetpack and charged at Math, knocking him into an ice wall. Math was able to recover in time to block another attack with Dionach, though he was still pushed back several feet.
Copper pulled out his revolver and shot three times at Robin, which he evaded each one with his great agility. The archer nocked an arrow and fired at Copper, but he deflected the attack with a swipe of his whip. It was followed by him striking his weapon at Robin several times before managing to wrap it around his ankle and throwing him over to the desert biome.
Phillip hovered above Math at the ice biome, changing his gauntlets into a laser-like weapon. The swordsman brought up his shield and blocked the immense force of the laser, bearing down on him like a great force. It continued for several moments until it suddenly stopped; Math looked up to see that the laser weapon had overheated.
The swordsman imbued Claiomh Solais with an Aura Sword and threw it at Phillip; even he blocked the attack, Math used his Semblance to bring the blade on him from behind, knocking him out of the sky. The leader of MRRN rushed to him as he retrieved his sword and swung at him, but missed.
Phillip delivered an uppercut blow to Math's jaw, knocking him back. He delivered punch after punch at Math, some of them hitting his shield, others landing on him. The swordsman threw his shield, hoping to disrupt Phillip's attack rhythm; instead, the Atlesian ducked and swept his leg at Math's feet, knocking him on the ground. However, as Phillip got up, Math quickly struck his legs with his sword and charged him into an ice wall with Dionach.
On the desert biome, Robin evaded Copper's whip strikes and revolver shots. He nocked an arrow onto the bowstring and fired at the cowboy, but it flew right past him. This left him open to getting his arm shot with an Ice Dust arrow and in the torso with a Fire Dust one. The explosion knocked him back and against a rock.
"Nice one," Copper complimented before breaking the ice on his arm and reloading his revolver. He then charged at Robin, leaping over him and dodging two arrows from the archer; the cowboy then unloaded two bullets onto him before he could turn around. Copper then attempted to strike him with his whip, but Robin caught on in time to dodge the attack by doing a backflip.
"Sorry, fella, but you're not winning this match," Copper claimed. "I never miss a mark."
Phillip grabbed Dionach and fought in a strength tug-of-war with Math, who was pushing the shield against the Atlesian. Math deactivated his shield and swung at Phillip, landing a powerful hit on him that caused his green Aura to shimmer.
"How long did it take to make that armor?" the swordsman asked as he swung at Phillip, who caught the blade with his hands.
"Nearly eight months," the armor user answered with a strained tone. He dodged to the side, then activated his laser. This time, Math didn't bring up Dionach in time and was sent flying into the ocean biome.
"Whoa, that laser Mr. Grunaugen has is definitely a powerful one," Port announced.
"Indeed, it is," Oobleck agreed. "I'm very curious to see how Mr. Kendrick will handle him."
"You can beat him, Math!" Ruby cheered from the bleachers. "Do it for Pyrrha!" The redhead immediately blushed at what Ruby said, knowing Math would do just about anything for her.
Robin made his way to the forest biome and quickly took cover in the trees with Copper following after him. The cowboy reached the center and looked around, hoping to find his opponent.
"Come out, come out wherever you are," Copper called out. He knelt down on one knee and placed his hand on the ground.
"What is this?" Oobleck asked.
"Mr. Hanks's Semblance, of course," Port announced. "His Semblance allows him to detect motions from over 100 paces away. This makes him very hard to sneak up on."
Robin moved, alerting Copper to his location. He aimed his revolver and fired several shots at the archer; all of them hit him, causing his red Aura to shimmer.
"It appears Robin is having difficulty against Copper Hanks," Port pointed out. "He used this strategy against Nathan Mavro in the Teams' Rounds. It may not work so well against Mr. Hanks."
"Then I'll change it up," Robin whispered as he leapt out of the clearing and slashed at Copper with the razor edges of his bow. However, the cowboy dodged in time to unload another bullet onto his Aura.
In the ocean biome, Math got up as he saw Phillip charging at him with his jetpack. The swordsman activated Dionach just as the Atlesian made contact with him, bearing down on his shield as his jetpack kept him in the air. He was using all of his force to push Math back…but he was barely moving a foot.
The leader of MRRN retaliated by pushing back at Phillip, making the armor user put more power in his jetpack. However, this left him vulnerable to Math attacking him with a strike imbued with one of his Aura Swords. He was sent flying into the ship of the ocean biome.
Math leapt across the islands to reach his opponent. Just as he reached the ship, Phillip rose up and tightened his fists before bringing them up.
The swordsman swung at Phillip, ducking to avoid the attack before kicking at his torso; Math blocked it with Dionach, along with a roundhouse kick from the armor user. Math threw his sword at Phillip, who deflected the blade and rushed at the swordsman.
Just as Phillip was about to kick at him again, Math used his Semblance to bring his blade back and strike his opponent in the back, knocking him into the water. Math took this quick moment to look up at the Aura monitors; he was at 54%, Phillip was 47%, Copper was at 75%, and Robin was at 24%.
"Oh, man," Math whispered. "He's not doing so well against Copper. I have to deal with Phillip and help him out."
"You're not going anywhere," Phillip called out as he charged at him once more, both of them flying into the center part of the Arena. A loud ring was heard, meaning one of the opponents had been beaten.
"Robin Kendrick is eliminated by low Aura level!" Port announced. "It's now 2-on-1."
"We've got this," Copper claimed as he emerged from the forest biome.
"Oh, man," Nasser spoke. "You can think he can handle them?"
"He can," Pyrrha replied firmly, having complete faith in Mathdon's combat abilities.
Phillip again charged at Math, who used Dionach to knock him to the side and stumble to his teammate. Copper leapt over him and unloaded three bullets at Math, prompting him to charge and raise his shield to block the bullets.
Copper slid to the side to hit Math's unguarded flank, but the swordsman caught on in time to activate Claiomh Solais's shotgun mode and fired at the cowboy, dealing significant damage to his copper Aura.
Phillip kicked at Math, but he raised his shield and blocked the attack, though it did knock him back a little. The swordsman dodged another attack before slashing at Phillip's torso, causing his green Aura to shimmer from the impact. The leader of MRRN imbued his weapon with two Aura swords and slashed at Phillip once again, annihilating the remainder of his Aura.
"Phillip Grunaugen is eliminated by low Aura level!" Oobleck announced. "The match is officially a 1-on-1."
Copper leapt at Math, striking at him with his whip; even though it struck Math, it seemed to not do much damage to his Aura. The cowboy aimed his revolver and fired three shots at Math, which he deflected with his blade.
Math threw his weapon at Copper, but he dodged the attack and unloaded the rest of his bullets at his opponent, all blocked by Dionach. However, the cowboy hadn't seen Math's Semblance in the match and caught on too late what Math was doing.
The swordsman raised his shield, then used his Semblance to throw his sword into Copper, slamming him into Dionach. With only enough Aura left, Math grabbed his sword and slashed at the cowboy, eliminating him from the match.
"Mathdon Kendrick wins against Copper Hanks and Phillip Grunaugen!" Port announced. "A true display of swordsmanship, skill and determination."
Everyone cheered for Math. Ruo and Nasser leapt up and cheered for their leader, impressed by him taking down both Copper and Phillip. Ruby and Yang loudly changed "Mathdon! Mathdon!", soon followed by several others. Pyrrha cupped her mouth and cheered for her boyfriend as well, clapping excitedly. She knew he could do it.
With the match over, Math rushed to the forest biome to check on his cousin. He found him leaning against a tree, his Aura completely depleted.
"You okay?" he asked as he ran over to him. "Do you need medical attention?"
"I'll be fine," Robin cockily assured. "Nice job out there."
"You did good too," Math complimented. The two of them walked out of the forest biome to see Copper and Phillip get onto their feet and look at their opponents, the armor user taking his helmet off.
"You two did very well," Phillip saluted. "I hope to fight you two again."
"Same here," Copper replied. "Honestly, Math; no intention of stealing your girlfriend."
"I believe you," Math assured with a smile.
-0-
"Dude, you were a badass out there!" Nas complimented. "Was that armor really tough?"
"It was," Math answered. "Phillip's armor is definitely no pushover."
"Is that even allowed?" Weiss asked. "The use of that kind of armor, I mean?"
"Maybe, considering they didn't call off the match," Ruo pointed out. "The rules do state that if any of the combatants are using weapons deemed unfit for the tournament, the match can be called off."
"What about you, Robin?" Yang asked. "You feeling alright?"
"I'm fine," Robin assured. "Just a few bumps and bruises."
"Well, there's still two more matches today," Yang reminded them. "I hope Weiss and I get to go next. I think it's 'vytal' we-" Ruo cut her off by kissing her strongly, to which she quickly sunk into.
"Thanks, Ruo," Math spoke.
-0-
Ozpin, Qrow and Glaucus were in the office, looking at a recording of the match between Mathdon, Phillip and Copper earlier today.
"He's not ready," Glaucus stated. "Math is strong, but he's not ready to be part of our conflict."
"Our Maiden will need a guardian for herself," Ozpin spoke. "There's no one more qualified than Mathdon Kendrick. He's strong, caring…and he loves her."
"He's been suspicious of you ever since the mission up north," Glaucus added. "If he feels that you're not telling the truth, then what's to stop him from thinking he needs to protect Pyrrha from YOU?"
"After we explain the situation, I'm sure he'll understand," Qrow responded. "From what Yang and Ruby told me, he's pretty mature."
"But this will all be new to them," Glaucus replied. "Salem, the Maidens…I still don't like this."
"Neither do I," Ozpin agreed. "But we're running out of time. We may not be able to save Amber, but we can at least make sure her powers are put in responsible hands."
"It is far too much of a risk," Glaucus insisted. "You said it yourself; we're not sure if the machine will work. Why won't you accept my idea of asking Forest?"
"Because he turned his back on us," Qrow dismissed. "Ozpin made him a part of this and how does he thank him? By badmouthing him and leaving him just like Raven did."
"At least he's still fighting," the Gray Wanderer pointed out.
"Let's say we do ask Forest for help and he agrees," Ozpin replied. "What then?"
"Once he's found the woman responsible for stealing the Maiden powers, we lure them somewhere where we can trap her by having her 'accidentally' find out where Amber is," Glaucus answered. "The Emerald Forest or Forever Fall would be an ideal place to lure her. No witnesses, no risk of civilian casualties…we'd have her right where we want her."
"And kill her?" Qrow asked, not liking the idea of it.
"If it's necessary," the Gray Wanderer answered.
"While it is a good plan, I don't think the assailant would be dumb enough to fall for it," Ozpin spoke. "She'd probably guess we'd never put Amber somewhere so far away from our reach."
Glaucus groaned. Both plans were risky, but he felt his would be a much better one since they'd have a chance to get the other half of Amber's power back. The machine was far too unpredictable; for all they knew, it'd may just give the assailant the rest of Amber's powers.
"We need to tell them everything," Glaucus insisted once more. "We're asking them to put their lives on the line for our conflict, to sacrifice everything for us."
"I know," Ozpin replied. "We must not let the Maiden powers fall into Salem's hands. If we do, there's no telling what hell will be unleashed on Remnant."
Author's Notes: I thought this would be a bit of interesting trivia concerning the teams in the Vytal Tournament.
TEAM SNOW- Martial Arts
Shiro Kimura- Kenjutsu (Sword Martial Arts)
Nathan Mavro- Shurikenjutsu (Shuriken Martial Arts)
Odin Crimson- Jujutsu (Unarmed Martial Arts)
Winston Grey- Kamajutsu (Kama Martial Arts)
TEAM PLTM- Sci-Fi Characters
Platin Reynolds- Malcolm Reynolds (Firefly)
Luke Sky- Luke Skywalker (Star Wars)
Terrence Silber- Terminator (Terminator)
Meralda Ripley- Ellen Ripley (Alien)
Copper Hanks- Woody (Toy Story)
Phillip Grunaugen- Buzz Lightyear (Toy Story)
I hope you found this trivia a bit entertaining. Continue to read and write, my fellow writers!