Chapter 25: Tournament End and Swap

The three make it just in time for the semi final rounds of the practice tournament as they begin. The fights went fairly smoothly as Gris had some trouble with his opponent when it was his turn to fight. The opponent was a guy with twin fighting batons that also act as shotguns. He was fast enough to barely keep up with Gris. The fight ended with Gris finally gaining the upper hand by outmaneuvering and striking down his opponent by chaining his attacks together in perfect timing. Panting from exhaustion and exertion, he walks off the stage and Ruby hands him a water bottle, which he takes, and smiles at her before opening and drinking it as he went to take a seat to rest. "That one was tough," commented Yang, "It was the first time I ever thought Gris would be beaten." Ruby was about to say something to her sister and he stopped her with a touch on her shoulder, "She has all the right to say it, besides it was pretty true as I thought he would gain the upper hand very quickly." Weiss smiles, "Thankfully, you managed to get an opening as you were staying on the defensive as far as I saw."

Blake took up a seat next to him, "You're one of our best fighters but please be careful." He places a reassuring hand on her shoulder, "I will and right now we made it this far so let's win this." There was no cliché cheers like the classic "all hands in...1, 2, 3 (Insert cheer here)" kind of thing, just cheerful smiles and nods in agreement. The rest of the semi-finals of the practice tournament went by fast as did the break. It's already nighttime as the final round begins. Ruby came first with the battle lasting about as long as a surprising 10 seconds. Everyone else took at least 5 or 10 seconds longer than the other except for Gris. He had particular trouble as his opponent almost towers over him by a foot and a little bulky and armed with a halberd mixed with a high caliber pistol on the end. His teammates are cheering him on telling him to keep it up in this fight. His opponent did a good job keeping Gris away and brought him to 75 percent in the process. Gris switched to defensive tactics dodging the boy's attacks. He eventually found an opening in his opponent's attacks and he readied up for the next strike. The attack came as he expected and Gris batted the long-armed weapon aside and struck fast with a flurry of blade strikes. The match ended with Gris being the victor and he fell to his knees from exhaustion having won the match. Ruby and Blake ran to his side and helped him off the stage.

As he was seated at the break area Gris looks at the two and said, "I'm just wondering, but what exactly were you talking about back there before we ran back here?" They blushed when he asked this and they looked at each other and Blake spoke up, "J-just thinking about swapping for a little while." Gris looked at Blake then at Ruby as he sounded a little hesitant, "W-was that really what you two talking about back at the courtyard?" Ruby nods a little, "I-I just thought that she could spend some time with you that's all." Gris sighs, "Okay, only for a few days, but are you really sure about this, Ruby?" Blake sat next to him and Ruby said, "I might have to keep an eye on you, Blake, just in case." Blake nodded in agreement just as Glynda called the team to the stage. Just as they walked on Glynda smiles at them as she says, "Congratulations to team RWBY+ for winning the practice tournament. You all have demonstrated that you are more than qualified for the upcoming festival tournament. Now that this is over you may return to your dorms if you haven't already." Everyone who didn't leave early left, including RWBY+. Everyone was exhausted as they reached the dorms. Thankfully, it's the weekends tomorrow so the team could finally take a break. Gris crashed onto his bed just after removing his coat and gear leaving his pants and shirt and quickly fell asleep as he rested his head on the pillow.

The next morning, Gris woke up and decided to go make some coffee since he was still tired. He bought some vanilla cream and some excellent medium roasted coffee and cane sugar a while back but never gotten the chance to have a taste. He began brewing it in the coffee machine and soon a strong, yet, pleasant aroma of hot coffee begun coming from it as it did its job. When the pot was full he began mixing it the way he takes it; cream and 2-3 sugars. Ruby came in next walking almost like a zombie as she is struggling to stay awake. Gris smiles at her in amusement and then said as he went to get another mug, "Morning Ruby, want some coffee, how do you take it?" She nods murmuring sleepily, "Cream and 5 sugars." He nods and adds what she wants as he thinks, "hmmm that seems to explain a lot about her speed." Gris hands her the coffee and they both sit at the table and drink their morning coffee. Gris spoke up, "I'm guessing I'm not the only coffee person here." Ruby quaffed her coffee before she spoke, "Pretty much so, it's great to have coffee especially when you need it." He smiles and nods in agreement as he took a sip and changed the subject a bit, "So how was my fighting yesterday? I'd say you were is amazing yet there's always some room for practice, leader." Ruby sort of looked at him for being called 'leader' but it was appropriate as she said, "You were great as well, though that last guy really gave you some trouble." The two went back and fourth as they talked.