Yang stood in the center of the field with Weiss at her side, stretching out her arms "Well, now it's our turn!"
"Just remember to keep proper form" replied Yang
"Alright" Her tone shifted to talk strategy "You're from Atlas. What could we expect?"
"Well, seeing as their Kingdom, academy and armed forces are all merged as one, I think we can expect strict, militant fighters with advanced technology and carefully rehearsed strategies" explained Weiss
At that very moment, a rainbow zoomed past the two surprised Huntresses-in-training, coming to a stop opposite them, revealing a Faunus girl with pigtails, roller blades and a cat tail swishing around her weapon next to a young man wearing a fedora and sunglasses, holding a trumpet in one hand. Neon Katt and Flynt Coal
"... Or whatever they are" stated Yang
"Hey!" yelled Flynt. Weiss looked over to him as he gestured at her, smiling "You Weiss Schnee, right? The heiress"
Weiss bowed her head, smiling at the recognition "I am"
"I take it you're pretty good with Dust, then?" asked Flynt
"I do my best" replied Weiss, shrugging humbly
"Yeah, my dad was good too. Owned a little Dust shop of his own" Flynt nodded his head, eyes hidden behind his shades, until his smile turned into a scowl "Till your father's company ran him out of business"
"Oh. I'm sorry to hear that" Weiss looked away, ashamed
"Sure you are" scoffed Flynt
"Hey! Why don't you-" snapped Yang
"Hey! Why don't you?" asked Neon, dropping her unflattering imitation as she pointed at Yang, smiling "That's what you sound like!"
"Uh…" mumbled Yang, dumbfounded
"Hey! Where'd you get your hair extensions?" asked Neon
"This is just my normal hair" replied Yang
"Ooh, really?" asked Neon
"Yeah! Is that a prob-" snapped Yang, getting annoyed
"You should try rollerblading sometime! It's super fun!" Neon cut her off and spun in place as she continued "It'd probably take you a while, though, since you're so... you know, top-heavy"
Yang looked down at herself as the holographic roulette began "Excuse me!?"
Ruby rolled her eyes from the stands whilst David tried to hold back his laughter "Oh, here we go"
The field opened around the four combatants, and up rose the volcanic area, sandy desert, steaming geysers, and ruined buildings
"Three! Two! One! Begin!" exclaimed Port
Right as it started, Flynt raised the instrument to his lips and blew, issuing forth a sound wave that blasted both Weiss and Yang back from the force. Weiss was able to create a glyph under her to stop sliding back, but didn't see Neon spinning into the attack and using it to push herself forward so she could charge at Yang in a rainbow burst of speed and push her into the city portion
Flynt stopped blowing as Weiss readied her Myrtenaster, a second passing until the musician started playing again. This time, Weiss used darker glyphs to move her forward through the cone of waves, making another one to get closer and closer so she could land a blow. Suddenly, however, Flynt stopped playing, and Weiss was forced to move forward, earning a kick to the back as she slid past. She crashed through a red Dust crystal, and Flynt grinned when he saw her lying in the area now spouting pillars of fire
Back in the ruined city, Neon managed to roll ahead of every blast from Ember Celica, skating on the railings and making faces at an irritated Yang. She continued to flip and slide over any terrain in her way
"Never miss a beat! Never miss a beat! Never miss a beat! Never miss a beat!" Neon chanted to herself
She eventually came down to the ground and charged at Yang, becoming a rainbow blur whilst hitting the blonde multiple times. Yang gritted her teeth, unloading the spent shells in her gauntlets, as Neon smirked and cracked her glow sticks, turning them blue. She came forward again, dashing past Yang before she even realized that it was now encased in ice
Neon giggled to herself "Hm-hmm! Look! Now you're bottom-heavy, too!" Neon mocked as she smacked her butt
David chuckled as Ruby glared at him "I'll tell Yang"
"Eh-heh no it's fine" replied David in a somewhat panic
Getting quite irritated now, Yang slammed her foot down and freed her entire leg, but was unable to stop Neon from freezing her left arm. She saw Neon rollerblading on rails and through archways, gaining distance until she sped forth and kicked Yang back into a wall, cracking it behind her
"You should cool off! Get it? Because you're angry" asked Neon
Not appreciating the pun one bit, Yang smashed her arm against the wall, once again shattering the ice and the structure itself
Meanwhile, Weiss and Flynt were facing each other in the burning section, Weiss spun in a circle with the blade to summon four glyphs that shot out a large ice chunks each, headed straight for her enemy. Flynt looked down and smiled, leaping forward onto his knees and blowing his horn just as a column of flame erupted right in front of him, diverting the fire to melt each of Weiss' frozen projectiles
Flynt got back up and twirled his trumpet "Too bad all that money can't buy you skill"
Weiss grimaced at him before revolving her hilt to use a white type of Dust. She aimed a stream of wind at Flynt, who matched her power with his own blowing, creating a standstill until Weiss used a mere gesture to form several more glyphs around the field. She quickly bounced off each one, striking Flynt with each attack, until he put his foot down and started playing once more. Weiss was still propelling herself around, but nothing prepared her for a second Flynt appearing next to the first, and then another, and another after that, each color-coordinated musician joining their waves of noise together to send Weiss flying back
"Whoa!" exclaimed Jaune
"I have to admit, that's actually cool. Though I now want to punch him for that" remarked David
"Why?" asked Ruby
"I... don't know, I just want to now" replied David with a shrug
Port turned to Oobleck in the announcer's box, both equally shocked "What's this?"
"It appears young Flynt has just activated his Semblance! And quite a remarkable one at that. Ladies and gentlemen, feast your eyes on Flynt Coal's Killer Quartet!"
The Flynts flip their hats around to the audience, then look up at the scoreboard to see Weiss and Yang down to half their Aura levels, but still in the game. He stepped forward, absorbing each of his duplicates as he prepared to finish this
His teammate was still giving trouble to Yang, using a ramp to outrun her now red-eyed opponent
"Ooh! Flashy eyes! Y'know, you're actually kinda pretty when you're angry" remarked Neon
Yang shook her head, eyes going back down to purple. She propelled herself forward using her shotgun blasts "Shut up, shut up, SHUT UP!"
Weiss was getting back up and saw her sword, reaching out to it only for Flynt to step on the blade. She looked up at him before their attention was drawn to their partners
"Get back here!" yelled Yang
"I wasn't trying to say that you should go on a diet, I was saying you really need to go on a diet!"
"THAT'S IT!"
"You're fat" stated Neon
Flynt looked back at Weiss before deciding to focus his attention on Yang, once more becoming four fighters and ready to blow her away. Weiss looked through the clones and saw Yang completely distracted, as well as a pool of lava bubbling away right in front of them. Without pause, Weiss jumped up and knocked the original into the magma just as it erupted several feet in the air
"What?" wondered Yang
"Weiss!" exclaimed Ruby and Blake
"It appears we have a double knockout on our hands!" announced port
"In fact, it looks as though Miss Schnee's Aura has been completely depleted! She sacrificed herself to take out Flynt! Wait a minute. What's this!?" exclaimed Oobleck
"This" turned out to be Flynt, wobbly and almost at his limit, but standing back up from the smoke
"Ladies and gentlemen, Flynt Coal remains standing!" exclaimed Port
Flynt began walking toward Yang, a look of pure anger on his face
Neon skated back over to her leader as he marched forward "You did it, Flynt! Don't worry about her, she's easy! But kind of annoying"
Yang finally reached her breaking point, fists clenching and ground trembling "Ooh, looks like Yang's angry! And you wouldn't like her when she's... upset" announced Port
Her scream of rage combining with the group of lava bursts from the rocks, she punched out several shots at the two opponents, who managed to dodge the blasts
"Yo, Neon, go!" ordered Flynt
He blew again to help Neon rush forward, and Yang met her in the waves of sound, using her shots to keep her from being pushed away as she attempted to get a hit on the girl. Failing that, she leapt out of the noise and blasted the ground where Neon was, then launching herself back to create some space. Her blasts almost got Flynt, who was forced to change the direction of his tune and direct Neon elsewhere, still avoiding the blasts and even rolling on the debris being formed, though with a noticeably more shaky stance than usual. Neon rolled up on a ramp made from the debris into the geyser biome. Yang landed on the ground away from her and ran right at Flynt, rocketing forward even as he used his Semblance once more to deliver a fourfold attack. Shooting behind her, however, provided the necessary boost to finally get close and claps her hands over the mouth of the trumpet. Less than a second of silence is broken by the musical backfire right in Flynt's face, becoming one person for the final time as he's knocked on his back and the buzzer rings
"Oh, sour note for Flynt!" exclaimed Oobleck
Yang slid back from the blast, searching for her remaining opponent as Neon tried avoiding the geyser spouts
"Never miss a beat! Never miss a beat! Never miss a…" At that moment, her front wheels caught on a crack in the ground, losing her balance and causing her to shed a few quick tears "...beat?"
Time caught up as she pitched forward, trying to roll up in a ball only to get caught in the blast of a geyser. She was helpless to do anything as Yang smirked, fires off a single shot, which hit her screaming target in an explosion of sparks and smoke, as well as a third buzzing sound
Yang continued to look enraged until she blinked her eyes back to purple and realized something "Weiss!" she ran back into the fire section and knelt next to her ash-covered teammate "Weiss! Are you okay?"
Weiss got up and coughed some smoke before weakly responding "I may not be singing for a while" she replied weakly
Yang looked both worried and relieved until she broke out into a joking smile "You know, I'm not sure that was proper form"
"Oh, ha ha" scoffed Weiss before suffering another coughing fit
In the midst of running with Ruby and Blake David checked his scroll and left the group, running to somewhere else
"WHAT!? We lost? We lost?" squealed a surprised Neon
Yang and Weiss' attention was drawn to her, now devoid of color, as she freaked out "Team FNKI lost? That was... that was…" color returned to the suddenly-overjoyed redhead as her eyes turned into rainbow sparkles for a moment "... amazing! Oh my gosh, you guys were super crazy awesome! We should definitely party together sometime, right Flynt?"
"That was a gutsy move, Schnee. I dig it" replied Flynt with a friendly smile
Yang and Weiss smiled at the good losers and saw the rest of their team coming to the injured heiress' side
"Good job, you two!" assured Blake
"Yeah!" exclaimed Ruby
The team stay like that, cradling Weiss in their arms and soaking in the cheers of the crowd
"Wheres David?" asked Weiss
"I don't know. He was just with us" wondered Blake
--
Back on the ground, still running "James!" yelled David, exhausted
A confused Ironwood turned around to see him "What is it David?"
"I… I wanted to say I'm sorry. For getting angry and-" stated David
"-No, it's okay. I was wrong" he cut him off "But I don't know what other plans to do"
"Nor do I… but I have something that will help in the future"
"Which is?" wondered Ironwood
"We make our way to atlas and do so by Argus. We also encounter a certain leader of that base" explained David
"Miss Cordovin" stated Ironwood
"Yep. And blah blah blah she originally doesn't let us in but. I have an idea, if certain things happen as I can't remember why she doesn't let them through but I also you, and basically because you're general ironwood she let's us pass, plus it's a nice way to get back at her for certain things she say about our family, I mean the group"
Ironwood smirked, and let out a small chuckle "I like it, if it's at a good time we can get it down. And no worries, I'll try my best to keep in touch with you after Beacon" he out his hand out
"Thanks, this will help a decent bit. If you see Jacques, don't tell him but when we get to Atlas I might have some strong words to tell him" David shook his hand
"Make sure they are words. You know his position"
"Words, as much as I want to I can't hurt him, unless Weiss gives me permission" assured David
--
David sighed "Yang"
"Yes?" wondered Yang
"Remember what John said about Mercury? A while back" asked David
"Uhhh… Oh, the illusion!" exclaimed Yang
"Yes, dodge don't attack" replied David
"Yup" Yang gave a cheerful smile and a thumbs up
"I need to talk with JNPR about the… Penny situation" David got up and walked to the door
"Oh. Hey, no need to worry, she'll make it" assured Yang
"I hope so" mumbled David, leaving the room to JNPRs "Hey"
The door opened to reveal Jaune "David! What brings you here?"
David noticed Pyrrha was silent sitting on her bed "I wanted to talk about something important"
David explained to the team of The fall of Beacon and Cinder, Mercury and Emeralds betrayal
"What?!" yelled Jaune
"That's not even the worst part" David breathed in knowing what he was about to say "Emerald creates an illusion which kills Penny, by Pyrrha's hand"
Pyrrha stood in horror and stared at her hands
"And Cinder she… she" David's voice grew weak and scraggly "She kills Pyrrha"
Nora and Ren looked over to Pyrrha, trying to comfort her as Jaune grabbed David by the shoulders
"Why didn't you tell us this sooner?!" yelled Jaune
"I don't know" replied David
"Jaune calm down" stated Nora
"No, he has every right to be mad. You can hit me"
Jaune let go off him and opened the door "Out"
David opened his mouth to say something but closed it and walked out, going to his dorm
"I told JNPR" he texted to John
"what" replied John
"About the fall"
"oh"
"and how did they take it?"
"Not well. Jaune got pissed, Ren and Nora tried to calm Pyrrha down who was panicking. I believe Jaune wanted to beat the shit out of me"
"can you blame him? and all things considered, that's actually quite well, don't you agree?"
"He kicked me out as well. I've fucked up"
"no, you did what you had to, saying nothing would just let the events occur again, now we can change things"
"wait for jaune to calm down and you'll be fine"
"If I told them earlier. There's so much I should have done which I didn't. This is not going to go well"
"there would be no need to make them nervous about it when they had to focus, but now they know, we need to move quickly to make sure they don't jeopardize everything"
"Yes. I also reminded Yang about Mercury"
"ok good, does pyrrha know about penny and em?"
"Yes, I did tell them of their deaths"
"right, so she knows to take it easy and just block"
"Or dodge"
"or conceding would be better"
"Eh?"
"giving up, surrender"
"Maybe"
"it would make her seem weak, but in the long run, it'd be better for everyone"
"suggest it"
"I guess"
"I'm in my room currently. Yang is in hers"
"preparing?"
"Yes"
"tell her I said good luck"
"I'll get to it. Just need to calm down after that"
"ok, I'll leave you to it"
"Sure"
"bye"
"hopefully this goes well"
"Hopefully"
David sighed and got up to RWBY's dorm again, where this time all four were waiting
"Oh David, we were about to head to the arena for the finals" stated Weiss
"Oh, cool" replied David, looking at the ground
"Still worried?" asked Yang. David nodded in response, "Hey, it's ok. I'll move out of the way and I'm pretty sure Penny will be fine"
"Let's hope" mumbled David
"Trust me" Yang ruffled his hair, leaving a small smile on his face before leading the group to the arena
--
"Now, for the moment you've all been waiting for! The one-on-one finals!" announced Port
In the center of the battlefield's stage, Yang smirked confidently, a few new faces mixed in with Sun Wukong, Penny Polendina, Mercury Black, and the troubled Pyrrha at the other end of the line
"Barty, why don't you explain the rules?" asked Port
"Ah, it's quite simple, Peter. Instead of a bracket system, each round of the finals will be randomly determined immediately before the match takes place!" explained Oobleck
"Much like any good hunt, there will be zero time to prepare!"
"Ah, yes, yes! Now, let's see who our first match will be!"
The energetic doctor pointed out to the screens above the stadium as the roulette started spinning, this time for competitors instead of biomes. The "random selection" was being watched by the owner of the Crow Bar, a group of Human and Faunus kids, the visitors and workers at the Cross Continental Transmit System, before it got back from the worldwide audience glimpsed to reveal the first showdown
"Yang Xiao Long and Mercury Black!" announced Port
"Break a leg, sis!" yelled Ruby, cupping her hands to make sure her encouragement is heard
Cinder, still smiling, got up from her place and began walking out, eyes on the battlefield
"Would all other combatants please leave the stage!" ordered Port
The rest of the lineup followed said orders, and Yang started walking up to Mercury in the middle as the floor around them opened once more, with a ring of spotlights rising up to automatically fix their lights on the remaining two
"You better not go easy on me" stated Yang
"You wish" replied Mercury, laughing darkly
Both brawlers faced the crowds one last time, then slowly started advancing on each other, arms raised defensively until their hands can almost touch, as the final countdown commences
"Three! Two! One! Begin!"
Immediately, Yang threw a punch, and Mercury spun his foot to meet it, creating a shockwave between the weapons that launched him back. He closed the distance quickly and aimed at her feet with his boot, but she leapt over it and fired off a shot of her Ember Celica that he rotated to avoid. They fight fist-to-fist for a moment, Yang getting in a fiery blast on him at the cost of him also landing a blow on her. She fell back on her feet when Mercury shot himself into the air to get farther away from her, looking up and smiling
Yang didn't relent for a second, launching shot after shot only for Mercury to dodge each of them, sliding around the stage on clouds of air until he attempted to come down on her with his leg. She blocked and pushed away the attack, but he went under her shotgun burst and managed to land a kick on her, though she still landed in a crouch, grimacing. She launched forward with a double blast and continued landing blow after blazing blow on him, right up to when he roundhouse kicked her in the back and attempted to hit her with his heel. She got out just in time and punched the ground trying to get him, but he leapt out and twirled to get a hit on her. One of his kicks seemed to pass over her, but then he brought it down hard enough to shatter the steel underneath, which Yang narrowly rolls backward to avoid
They exchanged kicks after this attack until Mercury hit her backwards, and he rushed forward only to receive a fist to his chin, then his torso, knocking him on his stomach. He got up right as Yang starts raining down fire again, causing him to somersault back until one explosion caused him to get knocked off of the stage. He saved himself by firing his boots downward and flying back in front of his enemy, unleashing a series of kicks that she deflected with her arms. She ducked under one attack only to receive another as Mercury jumped into the air to knock her back, and he followed it up with a shot from his boots. Yang avoided it effortlessly, not noticing it still hanging around behind her
Switching tactics, Mercury started shooting his foot out in every direction, each kick into the air accompanied by a silvery blast that were barely even aimed at Yang. She dodged each one coming her way and got in close through the circling barrage of shots, fighting with their fists again until Mercury kicked her into the air and knocked her right back to the ground, followed by the dozens of swirling shots that now converged right on to Yang
When the blasts stopped coming down on his opponent, Mercury got up from his crouch and grinned to himself, dusting off his outfit and seeming as happy as can be until the smoke from behind him erupted into flames. His momentary shock turns into another smile as he turned around to see the red-eyed Yang slam her knuckles together and come at him. Screaming, she landed a punch that sent him back, and she rushed up avoiding each kick and even taking one with no effect to pound at him with an unrelenting bombardment of left-right blows. He had enough time to let out a pained groan before she hit him in the stomach, his Aura sparkling up to try and defend him from the last hit to the face by the upset blonde. He landed on his back as the buzzer sounds over the roar of the audience
Yang lowered her fists and closed her eyes, breathing a sigh of relief before opening them back up to her usual lilac and raising her arms in victory
"What a way to kick off the finals!" exclaimed Port
"Yang Xiao Long wins!" announced Oobleck while the stage was enclosed by the stadium floor again
"Yeah! You did it, sis!" cheered Ruby, splaying her arms in excitement
"Way to go, Yang!" yelled Blake
"Please dodge" thought David
Yang wiped her brow with an arm "Better luck next time" she assured. She started walking towards the exit, getting pretty far away before Mercury seemed to get up outside her peripheral vision
"There's not going to be a next time, Blondie!" replied Mercury, sounding murderously angry
A sharp sound was heard in the sudden silence as Yang turned around just in time to see Mercury leap forward with a kick. Yang simply hopped to the side as the supposed Mercury flew past her, slightly confusing the audience
"Nice try bud" she mocked, giving a wink before continuing to walk away
David gave a sigh of relief as Weiss placed her hand on his shoulder "See? She told you she'd be fine"
"Y-yeah… thank gog" replied David. He got up as did the others and started to leave
--
David sighed in relief "Okay good. I… I actually don't know what to do now"
"Perhaps try work out the Penny situation?" suggested Yang
"Yes, actually that's good idea" replied David
"Maybe you should rest first, considering you missed an 'a' there" stated Weiss
"No it's fine, I'll get it done quick then come back" assured David, quickly leaving before anyone could stop him. He took out his phone
"I missed some things to say to you. I apologised to Ironwood and also agreed with a plan for Cordovin" he texted
"moustache guy right?" John replied
"nvm, sorry, caught up with exams and packing, and now, work experience"
"No, bitch face in volume 6. In Argus. Oof alright"
"yeah, pretty tired all the time rn"
"Yeah, we all are. Yang also dodged fake Mercury"
"aay, so chances are, we might avoid the fall altogether with this"
"Hah no. And well a third bUt when Flynt done his pew pew with his semblance on Weiss. I felt a little angry, I don't know why"
"is something happening here..?"
"Eh?"
"your angry at flynt when he hurts weiss, sounds like somethings going on"
"Heh please no"
"What's going on?"
"w like you dont know"
"Uhhhh"
"remember what winter said~"
"._. Hehe ok I'm glad I told Ruby to not tell Weiss or anyone"
"(mｰｰm) you have a cruush~"
"We don't talk about this. Shhhh"
"No, she's just like family I don't like people hurting my family"
"oh i so wish i had yang number rn"
"Shut up"
"nope im holding it against you forever now"
"send me pictures of the wedding"
"I won't let you come here"
"( ••̀ ) really"
"Yes. Now shush. It isn't a crush I just don't like people hurting my family"
"suurre, what about when yang got hurt, or blake?"
"Yes I was mad but... shut up"
"hey, look on the bright side, you'll piss off Jacques"
"Yes"
"so you're agreeing with me?"
"Never. Besides if I did have a crush on her I doubt shed reciprocate the feelings"
"you don't know"
"Yes, me an anti-social depressed boy and her a rich girl with family issues and other things"
"Ruby is helping you, and you have stuff going for you"
"your knowledge of our world alone could help shnee industries boom"
"Stop trying to be a wingman. I thought you wanted white rose"
"well it's better than cinder"
"Shush"
"nope"
"Yes. I'm currently going to sort out stuff with JNPR, hopefully they aren't as mad"
"about..?"
"Penny"
"not told them yet?"
"I have but I wanna see if we can sort it out more. Actually get a plan"
"right, better hurry"
"Yep. And we are going to have a talk about this quote on quote crush"
"ok gl"
David sighed a he put his phone in his pocket "I don't have feelings… do I? Ah no, even if I did she wouldn't like me back she likes Neptune" he mumbled to himself
Sorry it took so long to get out, I have no excuse other than I'm lazy