I may have slightly overestimated my ability to come up with ice/winter puns... This is still a reference to it, but it is not a pun. I apologize for my failure.

"And Team Jabberwocky deals the first blow!" Port cheered from into his microphone. Some cheers followed, but a general confusion filled the rest of it as murmurs went through the crowd.

For good reason too. "The arena hasn't even been picked yet," Arthur sighed, shaking his head in resignation. "Please refrain from showing blatant favoritism as well. We all heard you last round." Seriously- the oaf could learn to think through his words a little. He was like a disease that rotted away at the mind with every word out of his mouth.

At least the audience seemed to enjoy it... Somehow. He was boisterous, and that might very well be enough when he wasn't the main attraction.

Speaking of... Arthur turned his gaze back to the contestants, now gathered on the small circle at the center of the arena. He knew little about either team- though he obviously knew quite a bit about the Schnee girl. It wouldn't do to ignore an heiress to his greatest political rival.

She had wisely rejected her fathers tutelage, and that had caught his interest. Perhaps she could be useful...

The chime associated with the terrain roulette pulled him out of his thoughts. Within seconds, one side of the arena had conjured a ruined cityscape. Dilapidated buildings- the structures too small to do more than imitate reality- stood empty and dark.

A quick whir of the lottery on the other side and a partially melted crag pulled itself from the depths. Orange and brown rocks glowed with scalding heat and flows of magma made their way into the ground.

The teams just walked- as one- into the city.

Smart.

"Begin!" Port sounded, as if it was necessary.

Team JWBY huddled within a 'skyscraper'- Jaune calling that since the light grey building was just one big empty room stacked up eight times. They were on the third floor now, crouched away from any of the many glass-less windows. Their team was out of sight, but they couldn't see the enemy either.

That was fine. Ambushing them wasn't a good plan, given that aura almost completely negated the instant takedowns they'd have been aiming for.

"I'll take to the streets," Jaune said. He turned to each of them, laying down a set of simple instructions. "Blake, stick to high places and try to take on anyone above. With your semblance and fighting style, you'd be good against any long range fighter they're trying to keep back. Yang, stay hidden in the buildings near me. If someone approaches from behind, bear down on them."

He turned to Weiss.

"Have fun."

To anyone else, that might have sounded sarcastic, but it wasn't. In this environment, her Dust attacks would be almost unstoppable. She couldn't bathe an entire arena in ice, but a street? How about roasting a floor of a building?

Enclosed spaces were a playground to Myrtenaster.

Jaune took a moment to place a pair of headphones on his ears. He'd tested it earlier, and he wasn't completely deaf. His power differentiated between outwardly caused sound and inwardly, so he could still hear his heart racing or his own heavy breathing.

He could also hear music- from headphones specifically. A simple click on his scroll and The Man Who Speaks In Hands began to chime away in his ears. The opening track set him on edge almost instantly, and the paranoia it brought might very well keep him safe in the coming moments.

With a nod, Jaune split from the group. He ran to one end of the building- the opposite side as his opponents- to keep their location hidden after his reveal.

And then he lept out into the open air.

Gravity took hold, sending him quickly downwards. He landed easily, rolling to his feet, and seamlessly transitioned into a sprint. He moved to the side, entering one of the larger streets, and barreled towards the enemy.

Crocea Mors, or the new version of it anyway, sang as it left its sheathe. He left his shield in that form, for now, as it could still surprise someone further in. Instead, he pulled it off his hip and wielded it like a second sword, albeit in a reverse grip.

The enemy- Team Osiria- remained hidden. Much like his team, they appeared to be inside.

All except for one. Ogen, as Port called him in his narration, calmly stood a good thirty feet away. He was a seven foot tall beast of a man, wielding a serrated axe in each hand and wearing only a lengthy kilt, brown leather boots, and a large dragon-adorned belt. He was clearly dressed for warmer weather, though he hardly seemed bothered by the cool breeze of the floating stadium.

He smiled, too, a vicious tilt to his lips that exposed sharp teeth where there shouldn't have been any.

And then Ogen charged, monstrously large strides carrying him forward at speeds that would have them meet within seconds.

Jaune took a deep breath, but kept moving towards the barbarian. He had taken this role, and he would damn well live up to it.

However, he only said he'd distract and outlast the target. He never said specifically how.

Ogen was more than a little surprised when Jaune simply rolled past his charge, leaving him barreling a bit further down the empty street. He gnashed his teeth, whipping around as he skid to a stop, and spotted his prey still running away. With a growl, he charged after, his muscular legs allowing him to make up the distance quickly.

Samirah watched as Ogen pursued his unfortunate target. He wouldn't need help, and would actually feel insulted if she gave him any, and so instead turned back to the streets. They were empty now, which was of no surprise. Her team was in the buildings too.

They acted as cover, but for both sides. While she stood by a window, exposing herself slightly, the others stood nearby, waiting for some kind of signal. While Ogen would never wait for someone to come to him, patience mattered a lot when dealing with unknown people.

Speaking of- the blonde girl showed herself for a second as she transitioned to the first floor of another building.

Wordlessly, Samirah nodded, signalling for the other two to move down. She, in turn, raised her rifle up to rest on the windowsill. Longinus took a moment to adjust to the wind and air pressure, but within seconds, it was ready to go.

She took a breath, lowering her eye into the scope. With her pace, she should show in three... Two... One...

Boom.

Longinus fired- the shot blazing through the air well beyond the speed of sound. Chaotic mixes of dust fought for superiority as it flew before, after a tense instant of silence, it landed, exploding into a rainbow ball of destruction.

Samirah lept backwards, her rifle transforming into the spear it was named after. She narrowed her eyes at the black haired girl before her- she'd ruined the shot, kicking the barrel up.

Then she'd have to go first.

Yang smirked as an explosion rocked the building beside her. It would appear Blake had found her mouse.

And she'd found two.

Ember Celica roared to life as she lunged forward. The two split apart, diving out of the way, but that only brought a smile to Yangs lips.

A wall of ice sprung up between her and one of the enemy. Weiss had found her opponent.

Ralis, as Port called him, took one look at her and wilted. Yang smiled, lowering her knees to enter a fighting stance.

This would be fun.

Jaune threw himself into one of the buildings, using the momentary cover to scramble back up to his feet.

Ogen surged in after him, just busting in one of the walls instead of using the empty doorway. Jaune didn't have it in him to complain, though, and simply raised his weapons into a ready stance. They were far enough away now... Even if he lost, Ogen would be too far away to assist his team before one of the others claimed a victory.

Now it was just him and the jacked viking. Great.

Noting that he'd stopped running away, Ogen paused, watching him carefully. He flourished his axes a little, spinning them in his hands with practiced ease. Then, without warning, his hand whipped forward and launched one at him.

Jaune raised his blade to meet the spinning ax, catching it on the edge. He swatted it downward, embedding it into the ground, before raising his sword back up.

Ogen had dashed after his ax, and his second swung downward with far greater force than the first. Jaunes guard crumbled almost instantly, and he was forced to sidestep to avoid Ogen's ramming shoulder.

As he moved, Jaune lashed out with his blade. It hit the mans defenseless back, but failed to do any real damage. That attack cost him, as he couldn't bring Crocea Mors out to block Ogen's backswing.

The ax caught him in the chest, and it stung slightly, but he was equally unaffected as his opponent. Ogen seemed to realize this, and with a brief duck to grab his other weapon, he lept back to create some distance.

Jaune was more than happy to oblige, the lull in the battle merging seamlessly with the tempo of the music blaring in his ears.

His opponents lips moved, though Jaune heard nothing of it. That seemed to upset him, and his axes were raised once more.

Smiling, Jaune charged.

It took a moment for Ogen to react, and that was all Jaune needed. As he entered melee, he spread his arms, the sheathe and blade of Crocea Mors forcing the offending weapons to the side. Then, dropping them, Jaune severed his own balance and moved downwards.

Ax heads met above his head uselessly, and Jaune took that instant to lunge for the mans hips.

The man didn't fall in to a tackle, but rather flipped over Jaune's back as his center of gravity was pulled over him. Jaune followed up, falling backwards to crash into the mans chest.

Neither seemed hurt by the maneuver, at least meaningfully, but that wasn't really the plan. Much like the weapon Nora's hammer was named for, Jaune was completely immovable to Ogen.

In the last moment of vulnerability, Jaune splayed his hands outward, and just managed to pin his arms as well. He smiled, noting his opponents complete inability to rise.

And that was how they stayed.

Samirah used Longinus as a lever to launch herself away from her opponent, gaining just enough distance to transform the weapon. The scope went unused as she popped two shots off and fell back.

Her opponent merely flipped up into the air, using the ceiling of the building as a platform with which to leap back into melee.

Growling, Samirah swung her rifle out in a wide arc. Her opponent ducked back, ever so slightly, so that the barrel passed by in front of her.

A pull of the trigger, and a tiny ball of chaos shot at her from point blank, but yet again, a phantom took the blow in her place.

Blake kicked up from below, landing a heel to her chin. With an audible crunch, Samirah flew backwards, crashing onto the ground some distance away. With her speed, however, there was no way her opponent wouldn't get there before she got up.

So she didn't bother to stand. Instead, she rolled to the side- narrowly avoiding a blade that embedded itself into the concrete beside her. Samirah took that instant to swing her feet around, using her arms to root her down and sweep her opponents legs.

The attack was an ineffectual as the last twelve, and it left yet another opening for punishment. Blake flung the ribbon of her weapon out, wrenching Longinus away with a harsh tug. Samirah grimaced, but was forced to leave it behind to escape a followup kick to her head.

Her opponent slid forward, blade outstretched in a way that left her massively over extended. It was a trap, obviously, but she was fast running out of options.

Leaping forward from all fours, Samirah skirted just past a sword swing from below which pierced into the illusion left behind as Blake shot up.

That left her towards her weapon, but with precious seconds before Blake took it away again. Frantically, Samirah barreled across the ground, clearing the distance between her and Longinus faster than she'd first thought possible.

As her hands wrapped around its haft, however, a ribbon made itself known around her throat.

Longinus flared with electricity as she swung it back around her, aiming it in the direction Blake had to be, but as it passed her midsection, her attack had been nullified once more.

A simple kick to her wrist had the weapon slipping from her grip and sliding a small distance away- too far with her neck still encased in black cloth.

"I yield," she groaned, allowing for Blake to uncoil the weapon from her neck. Recognizing the words, a giant X crossed out her name on the board outside the stadium, and she was marked as defeated. A flash of regret shone through her for her failure, but the result wouldn't have changed. She was screwed, and would only have lasted long enough for Blake to choke her out.

A sigh escaped Samirah as she looked back at Blake. Her semblance- The One Eye- had been completely outclassed by a simple problem: the clones. She hit them without fail, but that would never lead to victory against Blake.

Speaking of, the woman stood, gave her a brief smile, and disappeared.

Now if she was a ninja, she might have had a chance.

Yang whooped loudly as her punch sent another shockwave rippling through Ralis' shield. He was armed with a tower shield and bladed pistol, of a similar design to Ren's weapon, but he was clearly unable to deal with her sheer ferocity.

Which only made it all the more fun to beat him around.

An upward angled punch lifted the shield ever so slightly off the ground. It was enough, though, as Yang jammed one of her boots into the gap before kicking up.

Her opponent fell back as his shield was shot upwards, and though he kept hold of it, the actual defense of it was lost for a moment. Yang smirked, firing off two quick blasts from Ember Celica into his exposed side before dashing back in.

Ralis bat her first blow aside with his arm, and lowered his shield into the way of the second, but that left him unable to see her flip up and over him. He reacted quickly, spinning around to block, but a pair of blows to his left elbow and shoulder had him reeling.

She followed up relentlessly, ducking into his guard to place a blow under his rib cage before slamming a much stronger attack directly into his sternum. He shot back, lifting off the ground from the impact, and she was already upon him before he landed.

A spin kick sent his shield skittering away- too far for him to retrieve- and she kept too close for him to even achieve his balance. Ralis attempted to roll away, but another punch to the ground forced him to remain still for but a moment.

Yang pounced, cocking her fist back for the finishing blow.

That never came. An instant before impact, a burst of energy radiated from the man, throwing her backwards and giving him just enough time to climb to his feet.

Now standing, he eyed her warily, raising his weapon up before him defensively. It wouldn't protect him- not from her punches- but it could let him distract her long enough to get his shield back.

Despite how it may have appeared, she wasn't only a berserker, and she saw through that plan a mile away. Yang rose back up to her feet, and- a little shakily due to cartwheels she'd totally meant to do in the air- she circled around towards the shield.

Ralis took a moment to gauge her change in tactics, but with the briefest of glances towards his shield, he settled on going on the offensive.

As he approached, Yang relaxed. It was artificial, and they both knew it if his eyes were anything to go by, but he wasn't willing to give up even a trapped opportunity to bring his only real defensive option back.

However, even when he entered dashing range, Yang didn't attack. Instead, she lifted one foot, and stomped on the shield.

It flew into the air before her, and without a moments pause, she unloaded an explosive shell into its side.

He didn't have time to dodge, and with a metallic clang, his aura dropped into the red.

Weiss was having trouble.

Ordinarily, that would have sounded impossible, but she was. Despite having complete control over the environment, that didn't seem to matter to her particular opponent. She was clearly Atlesian, despite coming from Shade, so she likely transferred from the prep school she'd attended.

Which meant, with her fighting style barely changing since her arrival in Beacon, she knew everything she was capable of.

The girl ran circles around her, laughing all the time, as she used the ice walls and spikes as platforms and simply ducking for cover whenever something else came her way.

It was just so infuriating! And she hadn't even shown her semblance yet, either!

On top of that, Altairis' had a completely insane weapon design, on the level of Ruby's sniper-scythe, except with an incredibly specific purpose built into it. It wasn't ranged, exactly, but she had a set of claws built into the tops of her gauntlets. They could shoot out with lengthy tethers which she could use both as bladed whips or as grapples. They were also retractable, so whenever she was cornered, she could just shoot up towards one of the buildings.

Weiss conjured another wall of ice before her, blocking another swipe of the extended blades, but the cracks already spread across it like a spider web from the single strike. After the second, she was forced to use a glyph to shoot upwards.

Ice shattered outwards beneath her, but the height gave her a moment to at least get her bearings. A quick glance confirmed that at least Yang had won her fight by now- good- she just needed to get her opponent into a good position before her teammate revealed herself.

The universe seemed almost happy to oblige, with Altairis swinging in a wide arc to enter melee with her airborne self. Weiss feigned fear as she pointed Myrtenaster down where, at the last second, a spray of white reached to the floor.

A wall shot up between them, forcing Altairis to stop suddenly before she slammed into the construct. That was a mistake on her end, as not a second later, Yang appeared behind her to slam a fist directly into her back.

The force of the impact shot her through the wall of ice, and as it collapsed around her, a glyph formed beneath her.

It took a moment to trigger, as it always did, but that was fine; Altairis wasn't going anywhere.

"Oh! What an impressive ring out from Miss Schnee!"

Weiss smirked slightly at the narration before turning up to the screen. It seemed each of them was stable, even if her and Blake's Auras were both low.

Only Ogen remained, and they were more than able to deal with him as a team.

"What an incredible victory!" Port shouted, and Arthur had to agree with him for once. While only two of them had actually won a straight fight, they'd shown commendable strength and tactics and it was a team oriented battle in the first place.

Jaune getting help from all three of his comrades seemed a bit much for him, but he had certainly lasted a while. If only the interior of the buildings had cameras... The absence of footage left both them and the audience completely unaware of what had happened.

The boy didn't seem worse for wear, and both he and Ogen had taking barely any damage before the rest of team Jabberwocky arrived, so... Did they have a stalemate?

Arthur narrowed his eyes slightly, watching as he left the stage. He was someone to keep watch on, with their plans. Anyone who could keep someone as physically powerful as Ogen in place for that long could be a threat.

He couldn't teleport or anything else that ridiculous, and the last thing he needed was to be caught. Same went for Cinders underlings.

This would be a lot more complicated than he first thought... Though not impossible. He had a lot of resources at his disposal, even if many of the pieces didn't know it yet. Now if only he could identify the maiden candidate... Ozpin would surely have one by now, with the Breach and all that entailed.

He only really needed to convince one person to join him.

Only one.

Guests are tiring... Ugh... This chapter is probably coming out just past midnight, and I'm sorry about that, but most of you shouldn't be able to read it until morning anyway. Hopefully I'm not inconveniencing you.

So, this fight is meant to be 'mostly' a breeze. RWBY was always powerful, and arguably the weakest one in an arena setting is Ruby since her fighting style is incompatible with the main advantages of her weapon. With Jaune, now with Juggernauts helmet, in her stead... Yeah, they'd trash most teams, especially with a plan that actually works to their advantage.

Sorry if you expected a tight and close battle. The only fight that would be difficult would normally be Jaune vs Ogen, but a semblance that lets you to conditionally move faster isn't much help against a Mjolnir to the chest.

On a side note, no, Jaune will not win the rest of his fights like this. Ogen only lost due to A, surprise, and B, being an entirely close range fighter. Someone with better skills, foreknowledge, or a slightly more distant range would not be susceptible to the same attack.

Additionally, he needed to do more than just get him down. Ogen still had the ability to move his arms, and by extension the axes, so he had to hold down the arms until his team eventually arrived.

To anyone who asks, I added an Aura cost to Blake's semblance. She was never actually hit by an attack, unlike Weiss.