Hey guys...man I can't even be super energetic right now, I'm sort of emotional.
All I can say to you guys is...thank you…
The support from the reviews that I received on the last chapter was incredible, and trust me, I love reading your reviews. A lot of the time I'll get a fanfiction notification in the middle of one of my classes and I'll check it...seeing a positive review just makes my day so much better, knowing people out there that you don't even know appreciate what YOU write is the best feeling I've ever felt.
I live in a very small town where pretty much nothing exciting happens, nobody from town becomes famous, but when I get all this support from people across the nation, even across the world, I feel like the king of the town. People like 5waydragon (I keep mentioning this guy.) even though I've never met him, he's pretty much a close friend at this point.
This fic has changed my life for the better, because now I know that even the small-town high-school student from the frickin' Midwest can become something, even if it's a fanfiction writer.
So once again, thank you guys for everything, it means the world to me.
Of course...the disclaimer: I do NOT own RWBY or any of the characters the folks over at RoosterTeeth have created.
But enough of the mushy crap...LET'S GET ON WITH IT!
Beacon Training Room
Jarryd, Ruby and Yang all stood together at the shooting range next to each other, Yang decided to be her usual self and gamble.
"Alright, everyone chip in five lien, whoever can take down every target in the fastest time gets the profits." Yang said with a smirk, leaving Jarryd and Ruby confused.
"Yang, do you need help with your betting obsession?" Jarryd asked, Ruby began to nod her head as well.
"Yeah, do you need help dealing with it, Yang?" Ruby asked her sister, who turned to them both with a scowl.
"It's not an obsession!" She yelled, pointing to Jarryd, then she pointed to her sister. "And no, I don't need help!" Yang yelled out, Jarryd just gave a sigh and pulled 5 Lien out of his pocket.
"Fine…" He set the Lien down, he then whispered to Ruby. "She's not going to give up, let's just go with it…" Ruby just nodded and put 5 Lien on the counter along with Yang.
"Sweet! All right, I'll go first!" Yang walked over to the range. "Jarryd get ready with the button and the timer." Jarryd did as told and walked over to a console, getting ready to press a button.
"Whenever you're ready, Yang." Jarryd looked over to Yang, who gave a nod. Jarryd pressed the button and 8 targets popped up, Yang didn't waste any time, punching the air, sending the shots her Ember Celica fired towards the target. One after another the targets fell. Once all the targets fell, Jarryd stopped the timer, and told her her time.
"9.34 seconds, Yang!" Jarryd yelled out, Yang's face lit up, already celebrating a victory.
"Well, you might as well give it up now you two, I don't think you can get much better than that." Yang boasted and Ruby walked up to the plate, Jarryd saw a big weakness.
"Damn, Ruby has a heavier weapon that takes a lot more time to fire, Yang tried to set this up so there would be no way she could lose…" He thought this a Ruby readied her weapon, giving the signal that she was ready. Jarryd hit the button again, 8 more targets popped up in different spots, Ruby immediately began firing, taking down the targets, but not at a faster pace than Yang. When all of the targets were down, Jarryd looked at the time.
"How'd I do?" Asked Ruby, who seemed to already know the answer, not as good as Yang.
"13.56 seconds…" Jarryd told his girlfriend, who then hung her head in disappointment, clearly not happy with her performance, Jarryd quickly rushed over to cheer her up. "Hey don't be upset, Yang rigged this against you, since you have the heavier weapon…" He whispered that last part so Yang wouldn't hear. Ruby looked up to her boyfriend.
"Then what about you?"
"I've got this…" Jarryd walked up to the counter and Yang went to the timer, Jarryd put a hand on both of his pistols, taking them out of their holsters.
"Ready?" Yang yelled towards him as he took a shooting stance, Jarryd gave a subtle nod as Yang pressed the button. Again, 8 targets popped up in new locations, Jarryd took a step forward and took aim with one revolver. He fired his shots quickly and accurately, about 3 seconds went by before 5 targets were down, Jarryd missed one shot with his first gun. He quickly switched hands and his stance as he fired at the remaining targets, quickly taking them down. Jarryd looked at Yang through the corner of his eye and saw her with a shocked face, he could tell he had beaten her. He gave a smile.
"What was my time?" He asked, very confident about his time. Yang sighed and looked at the screen.
"7.41 Seconds…" Yang muttered while looking away, Jarryd smirked and grabbed the Lien off the table, giving Ruby her share back.
"Ready to give up the addiction, Yang?" Jarryd asked with a clear smirk on his face, Yang got out of her depressed state and smirked right back.
"Not even close, waterboy!" Yang nearly shouted back as she walked up to the other two. A third voice entered the room.
"If you three dolts could hurry up, that'd be nice!" The three turned over to see Weiss and Blake standing at the door to the range. "The tournament round starts in half an hour, and Ruby's match is up first!" Ruby, Yang and Jarryd went wide eyed as the rushed out of the room and to the aircrafts and rushed inside one that already had a pilot.
"Stadium?" The pilot yelled to the team over the engine, they all gave a nod and were ready to leave until they heard another yell.
"Wait up!" A male voice yelled, causing everyone to look out the window to see Team JNPR running towards their airship, Jaune was looking like he was about to pass out. Jarryd signaled for the pilot to hold on as he opened the door, Team JNPR quickly poured in and took their seat, except Jaune, who fell to the floor exhausted.
"Easy there Jaune, you don't want exhaustion being the end of you…" Jarryd said with a slight chuckle, Jaune quickly got up and went towards a seat, the pilot yelled back to them again.
"Are we good to go?"
"Yeah, hit it!" Jarryd yelled back with a thumbs up as the aircraft took off. Team RWBY was still laughing at the hustle of Team JNPR, who were all breathing at a fast rate.
"Why were you four in a rush?" Blake asked, still slightly laughing at the now calm JNPR.
"There were other aircrafts ready to go, you know?" Weiss, who was surprising everyone by giggling, added on. Team JNPR tried to think of a good answer before Nora gave up and shrugged her shoulders.
"Because we're friends…?" Nora said, causing the rest of her team to put their head in their hand, everyone on Team RWBY did the same except for their leader.
"That's a pretty good reason!" Ruby yelled, everyone just looked at her with a cocked eyebrow, even Nora was confused. Ruby just looked around at everyone giving her a questioning look. "What?!" everyone facepalmed before Jarryd spoke up.
"Ok, whatever. So Pyrrha, you'll have to fight Yang next, how are you two feeling about it?" Jarryd asked the two females.
"I'm sure Yang is a difficult opponent, I won't be holding back out there just because we are friends." Pyrrha said with her same old friendly smile, Yang smirked in response.
"Good, I don't want you to hold back. Maybe if I win, I'll have my own face on a cereal box!" Yang yelled out confidently, everyone else either laughed or rolled their eyes.
"Let's not get too ahead of things here, Ruby and Jarryd are still in the tournament. If Ruby wins her next round and you win against Pyrrha, you two will have to fight. If you win against your sister, Jarryd might have won his last two matches and you face him." Ren added on in a matter-of-fact tone.
"This tournament is still anybody's game, none of you are guaranteed success. Pyrrha, Yang, and Ruby have the best chances to get to the final, as they only have one more person left on their half of the tournament other than them, but Yang and Pyrrha have to fight. those are still two to one odds." Blake started to explain, drawing everyone's attention. "Jarryd has the hardest road ahead of him, he has to take on the person that beat Weiss…" Blake's comment caused Weiss to give Blake a glare, the cat faunus just rolled her eyes. "Like I was saying, Jarryd will have to go through that guy and he will have to win one more round to get to the final." Everyone looked Jarryd's way, he had a blank expression on his face as he looked everyone in the eye. Jaune gave a small smile.
"The odds may be stacked against him, but if I've learned anything from your time at Beacon Jarryd, you're a guy who can defy the odds." Jaune said, everyone began to smile, even Jarryd. Yang joined in on the praise.
"Yeah, we've seen you do that way too many times…" Yang added on while laughing, Jarryd couldn't help but think of the stranger in the dark cloak, how the man told him he could change the future. He looked over at Yang, remembering the nightmare of her losing her right arm, he then saw everyone, recalling the other nightmare where they all had died in front of him. He looked away from them.
"We can talk about this later, when we are actually in the middle of the tournament, and none of you noticed that we're here…" Jarryd pointed to the window, everyone looked outside and saw that the aircraft had just landed, when they turned around, Jarryd had already opened the door, giving the pilot a thumbs up, he hopped down and began walking to their normal spots. Everyone else just looked at each other and began walking with Jarryd. Once they made it to their seats, they saw Summer and Taiyang already sitting together as usual, Summer's head on Taiyang's shoulder, Yang and Ruby's father eventually noticed the two teams and greeted them.
"Hey kids! For the first time in forever you guys made it here somewhat early, instead of just barely making it." Taiyang joked, the scowled at the comment.
"Keep laughing Dad, we're gonna take this thing all the way!" Ruby yelled while jumping onto a nearby chair. Taiyang and Summer looked at each other with a smirk.
"Well which one of you is going to win? You can't all win…" Summer joined in on the joking with her husband. Ruby tried to think of a comeback to her mother, but she couldn't think of a single thing and stayed silent except for one retort.
"Whatever Mom! You never won the tournament!" Ruby smirked at her clever response.
"Actually….I did." Summer calmly said with a smile. Both Ruby and Yang couldn't believe their ears.
"What!? When did you win the tournament, Mom!" Yang yelled out with her eyes almost out of their sockets, Ruby just stood in shock.
"Wait...have you two dolts never looked at the history of the winners of this tournament?" Weiss asked the two sisters.
"Really it's common knowledge, I'm surprised neither of you two have bragged about it…" Blake added on, actually agreeing with Weiss.
"Well then!" Yang yelled as she turned to Jarryd. "Did you know as well?" Yang asked her sister's boyfriend, whom everyone turned towards, waiting for his answer. Jarryd looked at Ruby, who was using her best puppy dog eyes, he then turned towards Weiss, whose eyes were narrowed, looking directly at him.
"I'm gonna have to plead the fifth on this one…" Jarryd answered, quickly sitting down, hoping for the conversation to stop. Luckily, Jarryd's prayer was answered as Professor Oobleck came on over the speaker for the first time that day.
"WELCOME BACK EVERYONE!" Dr. Oobleck's voice rung out over the stadium, hurting everyone within the vicinity ears.
"Gah! Son of a-" Taiyang started his curse, but was cut off by the continuation of Oobleck's screaming.
"THE FOURTH ROUND OF THE VYTAL TOURNAMENT IS ABOUT TO BEGIN!"
"Does this teacher of yours have any self-control?" Summer asked the team in front of her.
"Only when it comes to fighting…" Weiss answered with her typical scowl.
"Mom, Dr. Oobleck treats his coffee like it's the most addictive drug in the world." Yang gave her step-mom a small smile.
"So in other words Mrs. Rose...No." Blake gave the short and simple answer before it was Professor Port's turn to reintroduce himself.
"That's right Bartholomew! We have eight remaining students just itching to get back into the field of battle!" Professor Port said in a much softer voice, but still showing his enthusiasm through his voice.
"At least Professor Port isn't as loud…" Ruby said with a single sweatdrop running down her forehead.
"Seriously, why do all of our teachers have to be the quirkiest one's…?" Jarryd wondered.
"Hey Taiyang, don't their teachers remind you of…" Summer started to hint towards her husband, who immediately picked up one what she wanted him to say.
"Yeah, our old teachers when we went to Beacon, especially Mr. Lane." Taiyang laughed at the name of his old teacher.
"Wait, you had crazy teachers back in the day too?" Ruby questioned.
"Oh of course. In fact, they were probably crazier." Ruby's mother answered with a smile, Professor Port continued with what he was saying.
"In this round we will once again go in reverse order. So first up will be Cinder Fall versus Garrett Housley!" Port announced as two pictures of the combatants popped up on the screen, showing the girl who Jarryd and Ruby had run into in the Beacon hallway along with Mercury and Emerald. Cinder's picture appeared next to a young male with curly golden hair and glasses. Team RWBY took their seats and began to talk.
"Hey Weiss?" Jarryd looked towards his white-haired teammate, who looked back at him with her usual stern glare.
"What!? Can't you see I'm trying to watch the match!" Weiss responded, gesturing towards the battle in front of them, where Cinder had the clear advantage against the curly haired kid and was beating on him easily.
"Yeah, looks like you can learn tons from a kid being beaten into the dirt…" He replied with sarcasm under his breath. Before Weiss could retort, Jarryd asked his question. "I'm up next, and I have to fight that Harrison guy. You fought him, can you give me any tips as to his attack patterns or something like that?" Weiss's face softened after the question, and smiled when she realized he wanted her advice.
"That brute seems to focus on attacking the entire time, not even bothering to try on the defensive end." The heiress responded, still angry over the fact that such a hulking, dumb, brute could end up winning against her.
"He also hasn't used his semblance in any of his matches, so we have no idea what he can do." Blake added on.
"Well Jarryd, I'm sure if anyone can take that guy down, it's you." Summer said to Jarryd, putting a hand on his shoulder, Jarryd looked back and smiled at the woman considered his own mother at this point in time. Taiyang also smiled at his wife and looked down to his daughter's boyfriend.
"Hell, you beat that Andrew kid, I'll be extremely disappointed if you lose to that guy." As her father said this, Ruby smiled and nearly had tears in her eyes, watching her father and mother accept her boyfriend. She then snuggled up next to his shoulder. Jarryd smiled at Ruby's actions, then looked back towards the arena, where the match had just ended. Garrett was down on his stomach while Cinder stood over him, a confident, almost evil look on her face. As Jarryd looked, a flash of white came over his vision for a second, and replaced the scene in front of him with a different view. Cinder, wearing a long red dress, her eyes glowing as she was standing over a fallen down Pyrrha. This vision lasted for a few seconds before another flash of white brought him back to reality. Jarryd felt a sharp pain in his head, he cringed and held his hand to the spot that hurt, everyone around him looked in worry.
"Dude, you okay?" Yang asked as the pain ceased in Jarryd's head.
"Yeah...I'm fine, just a headache." He lied, hiding what he saw from the rest of the group before thinking to himself. 'I'll have to tell that stranger about this, that can't just be a daydream.' after he thought this, he heard his name called over the speaker.
"...Jarryd Starks VS Harrison Allen!"
Jarryd heard his name and immediately tried to get up, but Ruby held him back.
"Are you sure that you're ok?" Ruby said, referring to his false headache he had, Jarryd smiled in return.
"Yeah, it's already gone." Ruby smiled back and nodded, allowing Jarryd to get up, not before he received a pat on his back, he turned around to see a smiling Summer and Taiyang.
"Go get 'em, Jarryd." Summer said with a lot of confidence in her tone, Taiyang also gave the one dating his daughter encouragement.
"You've got this, Kid. Show 'em why you deserve to be here!" Taiyang almost yelled, this sudden outburst surprised Ruby, Yang, and even Summer, he hadn't given anyone outside his family that much emotion. Jarryd stood stunned for a few seconds, before giving Taiyang a smirk.
"Thank you. I won't let you down!" Jarryd replied before giving a salute and walking down to his starting position. He reached the tunnel as he remembered what Harrison looked like, a very tall, very macho man. He took his revolver and dumped all of his ammo out of the cylinder, and quickly replaced it with explosive rubber bullets. "Bigger they are, the harder they fall…" He repeated the famous line to himself before walking out into the light of the arena.
As soon as Jarryd made his physical appearance to the crowd, he felt a slight tremor from all of the applause and cheering that was occurring at the same time. He gave a small wave to the crowd as he reached his position, already across from him was his opponent, Harrison Allen.
Harrison's height seemed shorter from when he was watching his fights from the stands, he stood about a foot and a half taller than Jarryd, and he was the tallest member of Team RWBY, Harrison was also about twice as wide as Jarryd was. The two combatants stared at each other as the crowd silenced itself, noticing the tension between the two. Finally, Harrison spoke up in a burly voice.
"You've had a good run, lightweight, but you're about to get crushed!" Harrison exclaimed as he brought out his hammer. Jarryd saw a good opportunity to retort, which he took.
"Crush me with what? Your overly-large ego?" Jarryd said with a smile, causing a collective "oooh" to come from the crowd. Harrison only gave a grimace as Jarryd readied his sword, preparing a plan of attack in his head. After a few more seconds of awkward silence, Oobleck finally began the countdown.
"5...4…" Another awkward pause. "...3,2,1 GO!"
Harrison was confused by the sudden countdown of Oobleck, giving Jarryd a head start as he rushed Harrison and got in a hit, causing Harrison to stagger back, he quickly regained composure and swung his hammer sideways, Jarryd quickly backed up and avoided the oncoming strikes. Harrison then used a surprising burst of speed to rush up and kick Jarryd, sending him flying back a few meters. Jarryd quickly recovered and saw Harrison charging forward, he unholstered his revolvers, aimed straight for Harrison's chest, and fired.
The rubber bullets collided with Harrison's chest, the initial impact did not stop his movement, but after the bullet hit, a small explosion appeared where the bullet hit, sending Harrison back a bit as a second bullet had the same impact. Harrison turned back and looked Jarryd directly in the eyes, he smirked as his eyes flashed a bright red.
Jarryd was initially confused when he saw the flash from Harrison's eyes, but when he blinked, his eyes reopened to find himself no longer in the arena, instead of what looked like the depths of the sea. Jarryd looked around himself to find something that nearly made him scream, an entire herd of Aumakuas, all circling him. The shark-like Grimm then charged him all at once, Jarryd rapidly swung his sword around, trying to scare away, or kill some of the Aumakua, but his cutlass only passed right through them, nor were they trying to bite him. Something was off, but before he could think about what it was, he saw the biggest Aumakua of the group charge forward, peering at him with bright red eyes, Jarryd inhaled as he focused his strength towards the largest Aumakua he'd seen. Then it occurred to him what was wrong.
"Wait, how can I breath underwate-"
Jarryd couldn't finish his thought as his vision snapped back to the arena, and his eyes widened when the large Grimm that was in front of him changed into Harrison, halfway into his swing towards him. Jarryd didn't have time to react as the large hammer connected with the side of his head, causing Jarryd to black out for a few seconds and be thrown across the arena.
Jarryd's body landed, as he took a few seconds to recover, when he made it to his feet, he saw his aura had changed to yellow as he felt the side of his head that the hammer had hit. His head stung when he put his hand next to it, when he pulled it away, he saw his hand covered in a red substance, his own blood. He looked around to the crowd and saw many of them with looks of shock and horror upon their faces, his gaze landed on Ruby and the others, all of them had the same look as everyone else, horrified, except one person, Taiyang.
Taiyang had only been looking at him with a blank expression, like he was studying Jarryd, he then gave a warm smile and a quick nod. Jarryd remembered his promise to them, he wouldn't let them down. He quickly grabbed his sword again and looked directly at Harrison. Harrison's eyes flashed again as Jarryd stared, putting him into the same false reality as before. Jarryd kept looking forward, towards where Harrison was replaced by the huge Aumakua, repeating the same words in his head.
"It's not real, it's not real, it's not real…" Jarryd repeated quietly to himself as he started to walk forward at a leisurely pace. Harrison was shocked at what his opponent was doing, he shouted towards him.
"How...How are you not terrified!?" Harrison yelled as Jarryd turned his walk into a jog.
"It's not real…" Jarryd continued to say, getting louder as his speed increased.
"HOW ARE YOU NOT AFRAID!"
Jarryd didn't listen to any of this as he broke into a full-on sprint as the vision from Harrison's semblance went away, he was back in reality. The gap between Harrison and Jarryd quickly closed, Harrison went for another sideswipe with his hammer, hoping for the same result as before. Jarryd quickly jumped over the hammer and even over Harrison entirely, as he went towards the ground, he unholstered his pistols and quickly put two explosive rounds into Harrison's back, causing him to stumble backwards.
Harrison turned around just as Jarryd ran back up to him and slashed at the bigger student's chest, Harrison felt little to nothing from the blade as he raised his hammer over his head and brought it down. Jarryd quickly jumped out of the way and saw Harrison's hammer had dented the metal and was now stuck, with Harrison trying to pull it out. Jarryd took advantage of this and hopped on the handle of the hammer and balanced himself on it while he attacked Harrison with more rapid strikes, making Harrison's aura go down inch by inch as he got even angrier.
Harrison finally gave up on trying to pull out the hammer and pulled back his fist and punched Jarryd with enough force to send him flying back again, also dropping his sword and having his guns fall out of their holsters. Jarryd got back up just to see Harrison able to pull out his hammer from the ground and start to reach for Crimson Fury, most likely to throw it out of the ring so he could win. Jarryd quickly grabbed on of his water canisters and threw it on the ground behind him. He then shot a hand forward, making the water do the same, blasting himself in the back, and allowing the water to carry him towards Harrison. Jarryd shifted his body to the side so his feet were facing Harrison. Harrison had no time to react as Jarryd's feet met with his face, sending him back farther than any explosive bullet did.
Jarryd quickly grabbed his pistols and holstered them, then grabbed his sword, just in time to see Harrison get up. Jarryd noticed that the result of the water being used allowed puddles to be created everywhere, he was even standing on one, Jarryd smirked as he taunted a furious Harrison, asking his opponent to rush him, which he did.
Jarryd waited as Harrison kept moving closer, until he got within range and just ahead of another puddle. When Harrison had reached the place Jarryd had wanted him to, he shot himself through the puddle he was standing on, and appeared through the puddle behind Harrison. Jarryd had put enough force into the transportation, that he was being shot into the air, Jarryd grabbed Harrison's arms and sent him up with him, before kicking him back down to the ground once they reached maximum height.
Jarryd himself landed away from Harrison, who was still down on the ground, barely able to move, as he gathered up all the water he had used from the fight and hovered it right above Harrison, before sending it all down on top of him, bringing his aura down to the red.
The crowd stood silent for a few moments, waiting for something else to happen, when Professor Port uttered the words that many people were happy to hear.
"Jarryd Starks is victorious!" After Port said these words, there was no more silence, the crowd had erupted in applause and cheers once more. Jarryd didn't focus on the crowd however, as he remembered his head was still bleeding and his vision was going blurry. He used his aura to fix up the cut, then walked towards a bathroom so he could wash off the blood.
About 5 minutes later, Jarryd walked out of the bathroom, the blood completely gone from the cut, which his aura had healed. He knew Ruby and the others would be waiting for him, and he was right. Almost immediately when Jarryd came into view, he was mobbed by Ruby and Yang.
"Are you ok, bro?" Yang asked as Ruby wrapped her arms around Jarryd's torso, not wanting to let go.
"I'm fine, nothing a little bit of aura couldn't fix." He pulled Ruby off of him, and put his hand on her shoulders. "I'm ok Ruby, I'm right here…" He looked at Ruby's eyes and saw that she had tears in her eyes.
"I know…" Ruby said as Jarryd wiped away the tears from her eyes. "At least you won."
"Exactly, now calm down, after Yang, you're up!" Jarryd told his girlfiend, who's tears quickly disappeared.
"You're right, thank you!" She gave Jarryd a quickly kiss before they both headed back to their seats, Yang walked down to the tunnel to be ready for her fight against Pyrrha.
"You sure took one hell of a hit, Kid." Taiyang said as Jarryd and Ruby reached their seats.
"Yeah, I'll tell you right now that it didn't feel good at all." Jarryd replied while slightly laughing.
"I'd bet! You took that hammer to the side of the head at full force, I would expect that to "not feel good" you dope!" Weiss yelled with her arms crossed, Blake just nodded as she continued to read her book until the match started.
"All that matters is that he won…" Said Ruby, once again curling up in Jarryd's lap.
"I have to ask, what exactly did he do that made you start swinging all over the place?" Summer asked what everyone had thought during that moment.
"It must have been semblance, I looked in his eyes and all of a sudden I saw the thing I fear the most...I just don't know why he didn't use it until now." Jarry was never able to get the answer to his question as Yang and Pyrrha's names were announced as they both took the field. Pyrrha and walked up to each other and high-fived as a sign of respect and took their positions. Jarryd felt a buzz in his pocket coming from his scroll, he pulled it out and saw a message from an unknown person.
We have something to talk about, now. The message read, Jarryd looked at the message and wondered who sent it, he quickly replied.
Who is this? Jarryd waited for a few seconds before the answer appeared on his screen.
Maybe this will help you remember. Below the message, was a picture of a metal arm, and Jarryd immediately knew who it was, the stranger.
Where should we talk?
Walk around the stadium until you find a maintenance room, we'll talk there. Jarryd looked towards Ruby and quickly made up a lie.
"Hey, Andrew want's to talk to me for a little bit, I'll be as back as soon as I can." Jarryd told his girlfriend, who looked confused.
"This is the second time you've had to leave during Yang's match…" Ruby responded, sounding suspicious.
"This time, I'll be back before it's over. It was Ozpin last time, you know how he can be."
"That's true, just make sure you come back before the match is over."
"You got it." Jarryd gave Ruby a quick kiss on her forehead before walking down to the stadium's rotunda. He walked around for a little bit until he saw a door with the word 'maintenance' written on it, he went up to the door, looked around for anyone in the area and knocked after seeing the area clear. The door then opened as Jarryd stepped into the room and saw the same man who had been watching him ever since he arrived at Beacon standing in the middle of the room.
"Glad you could make it."
"What is it we needed to talk about?" Jarryd asked, the man waited a few seconds, to Jarryd it seemed like he didn't exactly know how to word what he was thinking.
"I know you had a another vision…" The stranger admitted, still with the stoic look on his face, even though the upper half of his head wasn't visible. Jarryd was shocked, he only had this vision about half an hour ago.
"Then you know what I saw right...Cinder-"
"Standing over Ms. Nikos with completely different clothing on and glowing eyes, yes I know all about it, it's a part of the future." The reply from the dark-coated man gave Jarryd surprising hope.
"Then you know how to prevent that?" Jarryd spoke with hope, knowing that Pyrrha could be saved from whatever fate this vision had in store for her.
"No, I do not."
Silence.
Jarryd was stunned, how did this man who was able to tell the events of the future, not know how to prevent this.
"But...you know how to prevent what happens to Yang, why not now!?" Jarryd said, hoping to get an answer as to why there was no way of prevention.
"Because you will be in the area at the time of Yang's incident, you won't be able to be there when Pyrrha is in danger, you aren't physically fast enough, even with the transportation technique I taught you…" The stranger told Jarryd, who was looking down at the floor, fists clenched in anger over the inability to do anything.
"But...But, there has to be a way!" Jarryd was interrupted when the stranger put a hand on his shoulder.
"Listen Jarryd, I can't tell you how to prevent what happens to Pyrrha because I don't know, but I can tell you that tomorrow is the day that everything will change." These words cause Jarryd to look up and remember what was happening the next day.
"The Tournament Championship?" The stranger nodded, proving his suspicions correct.
"Wait, I have an idea on how to prevent Pyrrha's fate…" The stranger said as Jarryd's eyes lit up with hope again.
"How!?"
"I'll tell you later. Balcony, tonight when everyone else falls asleep, be there. Now go, Yang's match should be just about finished by now." The stranger said, Jarryd smiled as he quickly left the room and ran back to his spot. Yang and Pyrrha looked to be exhausted as they were a short distance away from each other. Jarryd quickly took his seat next to Ruby.
"And I made it in time!" Jarryd yelled out as he quickly wrapped his arm around Ruby, who just smiled and snuggled into his chest.
Back on the field, Yang rushed towards Pyrrha, ready to send a flurry a punches from Ember Celica towards the red headed girl. Pyrrha quickly rolled out of the way and thought of a way to end the fight. Pyrrha focused her semblance on Yang's gauntlets, allowing her to control their movement, carrying Yang with them. Pyrrha shot her arm forward, flinging Yang out of the field of play, ending the fight.
"Pyrrha Nikos is the winner!" The crowd roared as Yang quickly got up, ran over to Pyrrha and the two have a hug of friendship before going back towards the tunnel.
"Aww...Darn it." Ruby said, slightly disappointed with the result over the fact that her sister didn't win.
"There's no real shame in Yang losing to this Pyrrha girl, after all I heard she has been the champion of multiple tournaments…" Ruby's father quickly told her, Summer then added her own piece of mind.
"And either way, Yang tried her best, that's all we can ask for, I'm proud of her either way." said Summe as Yang appeared from the stairway, still with minor bruises and cuts on her body.
"Phew, that was a workout!" Yang exclaimed with her usual happy tone, which was confusing due to what had just occurred.
"You aren't upset that you lost, Yang?" Weiss asked, thinking that if anyone would be the most upset over defeat, it would be Yang due to her being extremely confident in herself.
"No, not at all. At least if I lost, it was to someone I'm friends with, and who I'll root for to go even farther." Yang said, a big grin upon her face.
"Yang...That's surprisingly mature." Blake said, looking up from her book. Yang's grin quickly turned to a frown.
"Hey, what's that supposed to mean!?" Yang yelled out, much to everyone's amusement, even Blake was laughing at her reaction. Then the next fight was announced.
"For our last match before the semifinals, we have Ruby Rose VS Irene Chamelian!" Port announced, everyone looked towards Ruby, who looked extremely nervous.
"Well, I guess that's me...wish me luck." Ruby sheepishly said, getting up from her spot. Yang quickly pulled her sister into a hug.
"I know you can do this sis...go and show 'em what you're made of!" Yang said while holding Ruby tight, Ruby had begun to turn purple.
"Thanks...Yang...Can't...Breath…"
"Oh, sorry, my bad!" Yang said with embarrassment, putting a hand behind her head. Summer had gotten out of her seat and gave her daughter a big hug, but made sure not to choke her.
"My little Ruby, all you have to do is believe in yourself and you can do anything…" She then pointed out everyone to Ruby. "Your father and I believe in you, Yang believes in you, Jarryd believes in you, Weiss and Blake believe in you, but none of that helps if you don't believe in yourself!" Ruby was in awe of the effect her mother's words had on her, and the young girl began to tear up.
"Mom...thank you so much." Ruby said with a smile now on her face.
"You're welcome, honey. Now head down there before you get disqualified for not showing up." At her mother's word, Ruby sped down towards the arena, using her semblance to arrive right at her point to start the match, Irene was already sitting across from her, already studying Ruby as soon as she arrived. Ruby also did what Jarryd had taught her and looked at the equipment Irene had, her bo staff and the shorts and top she wore. Ruby thought that Irene would try to get close enough to use her staff, which appeared to have nothing else inside of it, and use hit and run tactics, Ruby began to plan her attack around this.
"The fight shall begin in 3...2...1…" Irene and Ruby both had their weapons at the ready, Crescent Rose was in it's sniper rifle mode.
"Go!"
As soon as Port gave the ok to start the fight, Irene immediately began rushing towards Ruby, who was firing off shots as fast as she could. Irene was able to dodge every bullet that came her way, Ruby quickly switched back to scythe mode once Irene was close enough. Ruby tried to hit with an overhead swing, but Irene flipped out of the way and hit Ruby in the back with the end of her staff, causing Ruby to stumble a little bit. Once Ruby had recovered, she grabbed her scythe and swung it towards Irene, who jumped over the large weapon and brought her staff down into Ruby's shoulder.
Ruby quickly sped away with her semblance, and set up another sniping position, firing more shots, which Irene avoided yet again and started charging. When Irene was about halfway towards Ruby, the scythe wielder switched Crescent Rose into it's scythe form and used her semblance you run towards her opponent. Irene had no time to react as the scythe had hooked onto Irene, Ruby had begun spinning around as her scythe held Irene, Ruby then stopped spinning which made the scythe let go of Irene and launch her into the air. Ruby switched Crescent Rose back to a sniper, aimed at Irene's flailing form in the air, and shot an explosive round at her, hitting with perfect accuracy.
When Irene crashed down to the ground, she was able to get up surprisingly fast, and an idea formed in her head, she smirked and began to speak.
"Nice hit, Riding Hood…" Irene said while getting into a running stance. "Now try hitting what you can't see…" Ruby was initially confused by her opponent's statement, until after a second Irene had completely disappeared in front of her eyes. Ruby looked all around her for where Irene might have gone, until she felt something connect with her stomach, Irene's staff, except Ruby still couldn't see Irene, but she didn't have time to find out as Irene's staff had hit Ruby's chin, sending her flying backwards.
In the stands
"What's going on with Ruby? Can't she see that she is right in front of her?" Weiss nearly yelled, referring to the sight everyone else was seeing, Ruby looking around helplessly as Irene was hitting her with her staff.
"I don't know, maybe we can see her, but Ruby can't…" Blake suggested, but Weiss wasn't buying the idea.
"Andhow exactly would that be the case?" Weiss retorted with her arms crossed.
"It has to be some sort of of semblance, there's no other explanation I can think of…" Jarryd answered to the best of his ability.
"A semblance that would only make her invisible to one person..that can't be possible, can it?" Weiss wondered in disbelief.
"A semblance can make anything possible...the problem for Ruby is that I can't think of a way that she can combat it, she'd have to be able to locate Irene for her semblance to become useless, but I'm not sure Ruby has anything that can help her with that…" Jarryd admitted with worry.
In the arena
Ruby had spent a good 5 minutes looking around for where Irene had kept attacking from, only to keep getting beat up on, eventually getting pinned near the edge of the arena. Ruby had been looking around again in front of her, looking for where her opponent could come from. Ruby then saw a staff plant into the ground right next to her.
"Peek-a-boo…" Irene quietly whispered in Ruby's ear. Ruby then turned to look at Irene, until Irene spun around her staff and kicked Ruby with enough force to send her flying out of the arena.
Everything had gone silent for a few seconds, people couldn't comprehend exactly what happened. After the initial shock had passed, Oobleck had given the announcement.
"Irene Chamelian is the winner!" Oobleck announced a lot slower than his usual pace, he almost talked normally. Irene stood in the center of the arena and began waving to the crowd, many of them were applauding, others did nothing. Ruby was able to get up and put her hood over her head, she then hung her head low, grabbed her weapon and walked off the field, this was the only thing Team RWBY paid attention to.
"I'll go talk to her…" Jarryd said as he jogged down the stairs and over by the tunnel, he looked around the area for Ruby, but couldn't see her, Jarryd kept walking, until he saw a shadowy corner that had a figure sitting in the shadow, wearing a black hood and combat skirt. Jarryd sighed as he walked up to the figure who he knew was Ruby, who had her head down, audible sobs could be heard. "Ruby…" Jarryd said, trying to get her attention. Ruby spoke, but didn't look up at him.
"Go away…" Ruby softly spoke, sobs in between breaths.
"Ruby, you know I can't do that…" Jarryd sat down next to Ruby and put a hand on her shoulder. "Come on, talk to me."
"I'm sorry…" Jarryd was confused by Ruby's statement.
"What're you sorry for?" He asked, Ruby finally looked up towards her pirate boyfriend, he could see her eyes red from crying and the tears running down her cheeks.
"I didn't win, I let everyone down. Mom, Dad, Yang, You, I let you all down!" Ruby yelled out, Jarryd turned his body to look her dead in the eyes.
"Ruby, do you even realize how much you've accomplished in these last few days?" Jarryd asked, Ruby looked up at him with genuine confusion. Jarryd smiled as he explained what he meant. "You have gotten past students who have been in this tournament before, you reached a point in the tournament some people can only dream about, and would kill to get to. Not to mention you are in your first year and that you are only 15! And I'm not even mentioning all of the other impressive things you've done this past year." Jarryd's words made Ruby look into his own ice blue eyes in wonder.
"Jarryd, I-" Ruby tried to say before Jarryd interrupted her again.
"I'm not finished yet. The scary thing is, Ruby...You can only get better from here! I bet next year you will wipe the floor with everyone who enters the tournament, including me. And furthermore, you did not let anyone down, your mom and dad couldn't be prouder of the woman and huntress you're becoming. Yang couldn't be prouder of how much you've grown in terms of maturity. I'm especially proud of you for many things. So don't beat yourself up over one loss." Jarryd finished his statement as he wiped a tear from Ruby's cheek. Ruby was speechless, the boy she had met only this year, yet had grown to love kept surprising her, she couldn't think of another appropriate reaction than to give him a kiss, which she did.
When the kiss broke, Ruby and Jarryd stared into each other's eyes for a moment before Ruby spoke up again.
"Thank you so much...can you promise me something?" Ruby asked, Jarryd smiled at her request.
"Sure, what's the promise I need to keep?"
"Promise me that you'll win the tournament." Ruby said, confidence back in her voice. Jarryd was surprised for a moment before answering.
"Well...That's gonna be tough…" Jarryd started to say, before Ruby started to pout and give the puppy dog eyes to her boyfriend. He gave in to her cuteness. "Alright, I promise...cure your cuteness…" Jarryd muttered the last part as Ruby hugged him and held him close.
"Thank you!" Ruby exclaimed, failing to notice that Jarryd wasn't able to breath.
"Ruby...Air!" Jarryd pleaded as Ruby let him go, a pink tint on her cheeks.
"Sorry! I guess that's one thing I inherited from Mom…" Ruby said, no longer crying. Jarryd laughed as he held out his hand.
"Come on, your parents will be wondering what we're up to if we don't get back soon." Jarryd said as Ruby took a hold of his hand and the two walked back to their seats. All eyes were on Ruby when she and Jarryd walked back. Yang quickly got out of her seat and hugged Ruby, without choking her this time.
"Are you ok, sis?!" Yang asked with genuine concern.
"Yang, I'm fine, Jarryd made sure of that." Ruby answered, gesturing to the pirate who sat down in his seat and felt his hair being rustled from behind, most likely a sign of appreciation from one of Ruby's parents. The tournament had been taking a 10 minute intermission before the semifinals would start. The time had passed quickly as Doctor Oobleck announced the next fight.
"For the first round of the semifinals, we have Jarryd Starks VS Cinder Fall, both students please assume your positions ASAP!" Oobleck yelled as fast as possible, he had most likely drank another cup of coffee during the break.
"That's my cue." Jarryd got up, brushed himself off and felt himself getting hugged from behind by Ruby. He turned back to face her and held Ruby's hand.
"Remember our promise, and go kick some butt!" Ruby said, Jarryd smiled again, taking in the encouragement from the one he loves. Jarryd nodded and gave Ruby a hug before jogging down to the tunnel again. Jarryd checked his weapons and ammo before walking out, he emptied out his explosive bullets and replaced them with regular rubber bullets. He and Cinder both reached their starting position at the same time. Jarryd looked at her attire, Cinder wore a simple pair of pants, combat boots, a brown vest and a lone pauldron on her left shoulder, her waist and chest were also wrapped with bandages. This look looked nothing like what his vision had shown, with Cinder in the red dress. Jarryd remembered that Cinder hadn't used any weapons in this tournament, only kicks and punches.
"Go!" Jarryd hadn't been paying attention to the countdown until he heard the signal to start. Cinder began to rush towards him, much like Irene had done to Ruby. Instead of shooting at Cinder, Jarryd unsheathed Crimson Fury and rushed towards the black-haired woman.
Jarryd took the first swing as he tried to hit Cinder with a side swipe from the right, Cinder jumped over the attack, but Jarryd anticipated this move. Jarryd took out one of his revolvers and aimed at Cinder while she was in the air and fired two shots. The rubber bullets both hit Cinder in the back, causing her to audibly gasp with pain, she landed on both feet and turned around, showing the scowl on her face as she charged yet again.
Cinder was able to avoid more oncoming bullets as she rushed the pirate, Jarryd tried to get her to jump again by using the same swing, But Cinder spun around it, and kick Jarryd's arm, knocking his gun out his grip and sending it towards the middle of the arena. Jarryd reached for his other revolver until Cinder kicked his knee cap and then his other arm, sending the other pistol to the same place as the first. Jarryd took to time to look at where his guns had gone as he readied his sword for close combat.
Cinder went in for a kick to the stomach, which Jarryd blocked with the side of his sword's blade. Jarryd was able to punch Cinder in the chest, Cinder stumbled a few steps before trying to hit Jarryd with a roundhouse kick. Jarryd ducked under Cinder's leg and quickly slashed at her side, connecting and creating a small cut along her side. Cinder didn't take lightly to this, as she kneed Jarryd in the chin and kicked his sword out of hand, which landed in the same spot as his pistols. Jarryd stood in shock as Cinder began to laugh.
"Now what're you gonna do without any weapons?" She taunted, Jarryd looked around for something to use, then an idea came to him, he grabbed two of his water canisters and poured them on the ground.
"You should know from my last fight, I always find a way…" Jarryd said as he put his hands into the two newly created puddles. The water seemed to crawl up his arms as the water surrounded his arm from his wrist down. Cinder didn't think anything of this, she ran towards Jarryd, who took a defensive position. Cinder then spun away from Jarryd as she rushed towards his weapons, looking to throw them out of the ring. Jarryd watched her run as he threw his arm forward, sending out a stream of water from his hand, he then swung his hand to the side, hitting Cinder in a whip like fashion and sending her flying away from his weapons. "Huh, neat…" Jarryd said, smirking.
Cinder got up, confused over what had just happened, Jarryd stood in awe over what he just did, he didn't waste time attacking again, he retracted his water whip (Which is what he named it in his mind), and held out both of his arms and aimed them towards Cinder. Out of the water around Jarryd's hand flew high-pressure water bullets, which to Cinder felt like a regular bullet on impact. These water bullets hit Cinder with incredible accuracy and power, causing her to step backwards a little every time one hit her.
Jarryd began to rush Cinder, while still firing at her using one hand, the other was wound up. Once the gap closed between the two, Jarryd slammed his wound up fist into Cinder's exposed stomach, but when he did, he sent out another stream out high pressure water from the hand that punched Cinder, sending her flying out of the ring. Jarryd sent the water from his hand back into their respective canisters, and walked over to grab his fallen weapons as Port made the announcement.
"Jarryd Starks is moving on to our championship round with a spectacular showing!" When Port said this, the crowd once again roared for the teen, who paid the applause no mind as he grabbed his weapons and put them in their correct place. He turned back to give Cinder a look of "I told you so" as he walked away. As Jarryd was walking back through the tunnel, he saw Irene standing by, looking at him with her trademark smirk.
"Nice moves out there…" Irene said with smugness in her voice.
"What are you doing down here, Irene?" Jarryd asked, even though when he asked he remembered the answer.
"Because I'm up next, duh. I'm getting ready to join you in the championship." She answered as she pulled out her wooden staff.
"I wouldn't be sure of that yet, you'll have to go through Pyrrha first, that's no easy task." Jarryd responded, his own smirk on his face now.
"Just watch me, pretty boy…" Irene said as she walked out onto the field. Jarryd scoffed at her cocky attitude and walked back up the stairs. He approached his team and smiled, saying what he was really thinking.
"Ok, I have no idea how I did that out there, but it was cool!" Jarryd exclaimed as Ruby hugged him.
"I don't know, but you did amazing!" Ruby yelled as she held him tight, Jarryd returned the hug as his other teammates surrounded him.
"I have to admit, that was impressive for a dolt like you." Weiss said with a small smile on her face.
"Using the water as an infinite source of power and ammunition was clever, did you just randomly think of that?" Blake asked in wonder.
"I just realized that since I can freely control water, why couldn't I create different weapons with it?" Jarryd answered with a shrug.
"Well whatever it was, you now have a championship to win, bro." Yang said, slapping Jarryd on the back as he went to sit down, the match between Pyrrha and Irene had already started.
Irene had been trying to get to get close to Pyrrha, having to avoid rifle shots and a flying shield along the way. Irene had used her staff to pole vault herself high into the air, coming back down ready to strike Pyrrha. Pyrrha switched her weapon to its sword form and blocked the staff. Irene then flipped over Pyrrha and hit her in the back, and kept hitting Pyrrha from all sides. Pyrrha had enough and threw her shield to where Irene was, hitting her and sending her meters backwards.
Irene smirked when she landed, activating her semblance again, and disappearing from Pyrrha's vision. Pyrrha looked all around but found no trace of where Irene was, until she felt the staff hit the front of her leg. Pyrrha quickly swung her sword in front of her, which did connect with the invisible Irene, revealing her to Pyrrha, who made the most of the opportunity and kept slashing at Irene, landing every strike. Irene quickly jumped away, as her aura entered the yellow, she formed a plan in her head as she turned invisible again.
Pyrrha looked around again, expecting to feel the staff hit her at any moment from in front of her, she then felt something tap her stomach and swung in front of her, except nothing happened. Irene then revealed herself, she was standing next to Pyrrha as the end of her staff was touching Pyrrha's stomach.
"Boom."
As soon as Irene said this, the end of her staff created an explosion sending Pyrrha flying out of the ring.
Everyone was shocked, THE Pyrrha Nikos had just been eliminated, also nobody knew that Irene's staff could do what it just did. It took a few seconds before even Professor Port or Oobleck could comprehend what had just happened.
"And...Irene Chamelian is the winner!" Port slowly announced, and the audience slowly began to clap. Nobody had been expecting Irene to win, especially not in the way that she did. Jarryd had been especially shocked, now knowing he had to face the girl in the championship round, which Dr. Oobleck announced next.
"The championship is set, tomorrow night we will have Irene Chamelian VS Jarryd Starks! See you tomorrow now please leave in a CALM FASHION!" Oobleck yelled the last part at the top of his lungs. Taiyang and Summer turned to the team of students below.
"Well, we'll be heading home…"
"But we'll be back tomorrow, you should prepare for tomorrow night Jarryd, this Irene seems tough." Summer said, Jarryd nodded as they gave Ruby and Yang one last hug before leaving. Team RWBY had left the stadium and were looking for an open airship. Jarryd then felt a tap on his back, he turned around to see Andrew and Jackson standing there, Irene wasn't with them tho.
"Nice job out there, dude." Jackson said, holding out his hand, which Jarryd shook.
"Hey guys! How're you holding up Jackson?" Jarryd asked, wondering about Jackson's condition.
"I'm fine, I should be ok for a while."
"Is this your team, Jarryd?" Andrew asked, the girls turned towards the two boys Jarryd had been talking to.
"Yeah, except it's really Ruby's team. But yeah, Ruby, Yang, Weiss, Blake, this is Andrew and Jackson Blink." Jarryd introduced the two groups to each other, the members of Team RWBY gave the two a wave.
"Glad to you meet you all." Andrew said with his gentleman voice, Jackson then butted ahead of his brother.
"What's up?" Jackson said before turning to Yang and looked at her hair. "And I must say, I just had to use this…'golden' opportunity to talk to you…" He referred to Yang's hair, causing everyone to sigh and facepalm, except Yang who started laughing histerically.
"I like you already…" Yang said, before she countered Jackson. "But make sure you keep looking, otherwise I'll be gone in the 'blink' of an eye!" This new pun cause both Jackson and Yang to laugh.
"Ok before this continues for another hour, where's Irene?...I would have thought she'd be with her team after she won." Jarryd asked, Ruby had frowned at the name of the person know beat her.
"We actually don't know, she keeps disappearing for a little bit after every round, we usually have to go find her, we're gonna do that after you leave." Andrew said, Weiss then walked in the front of the group.
"Which we should actually do right now, you, mister have to get your rest for tomorrow. You can't fight when you're tired." Weiss tried to lecture Jarryd.
"Well, I mean he can, but…" Ruby started to say, everyone turned towards her, completely missing the point of what Weiss said. "I'll just shut up now…"
"Yeah, we should be heading back to our dorms. Have fun looking for Irene." Jarryd said, shaking Andrew and Jackson's hand before they walked off, Team RWBY then found an airship to bring them home.
Later that night
Jarryd had managed to stay awake until everyone else had fallen asleep, he looked at the time, 11:24, he quickly got up and snuck out of the dorm without anyone waking up. He made his way out to the balcony and waited for the stranger to show up. About 5 minutes later, he did.
"Sorry I arrived late, this item was harder to get than I thought." The stranger said, talking about the item that could help prevent Pyrrha from being killed.
"Well...what is it?" Jarryd asked in anticipation. The stranger than reached into a bag and pulled out a piece of clothing, a shirt of some kind. "A shirt...what's that gonna do?"
"I'm sure you know the technique of people implementing dust into their armor and clothing, right?" Jarryd nodded his head at the question. "Well I happened to have one of the local tailors make this shirt, which will block much of the damage of many attacks that Cinder uses…" As the stranger told Jarryd the shirt's effects, he was confused by what he meant by Cinder's attacks.
"But when I fought Cinder, she only used kicks and punches, that's all she did in the tournament."
"She was holding back her true power...if she really wanted to, she might have been able to beat you by the tournament's rules…" The stranger resolved Jarryd's confusion.
"Ok, so what do I do with this shirt?"
"You need to get Pyrrha to put the shirt on." The answer given by the stranger made sense to Jarryd, since Pyrrha would be fighting Cinder, having something to defend against her attacks would help immensely. The stranger handed Jarryd the shirt.
"Thank you...Now I need to get some rest." Jarryd said as he began to walk away
"Why are you in such a rush?" The stranger asked, Jarryd turned around again and gave the man a smirk.
"I've got a promise to keep."
HOLY CRAP I'M EXTREMELY SORRY THIS TOOK SO LONG TO GET OUT
When I had released the last chapter, I didn't realize how busy I'd get with school work, I tried to work on this and school at the same time and just realized it wouldn't work. So I decided I would resume working on this when school got out….On June 8th...and I last updated in February…
But also believe it or not, this is the 2ND TO LAST CHAPTER OF VOLUME 1 OF THIS FIC!
Yes the next chapter will be the end of Volume 1 and will take place at the end of Volume 3 in actual RWBY lore (As you probably guessed)
But anyways, I'll try to get the last chapter out before Summer Vacation ends.
See ya next time!