Chapter 25 - Family Rivalries
"Weiss!" Ruby yelled as she chased her into the courtyard. "Slow down!". "How are they both so fast?" Matt asked Jason while they both tried to keep up. Once Jason and Matt finally caught up, they saw Ruby and Weiss standing with a tall girl wearing what looked like an Atlesian Military specialist outfit. When team MJ finally got near Weiss, some military robots were asked to leave them. Suddenly, Weiss was smacked by the taller girl, "Silence you boob!" She began to say, "I don't recall asking you about your ranking. I asked how you've been. Are you eating properly? Have you took up any hobbies?". Jason and Matt were now standing along with Ruby and watched the two white haired girls. "Are you making new friends?". "Well there are these guys." Weiss said as she turned around and saw Jason, Matt, and Ruby.
"I see." The taller girl responded. "You must be the leader of my sisters team. Greeting, Ruby Rose.". "Wait a second." Matt perked up. "Sister? I didn't know you had a sister!". "The name is Winter, I see you're also friends with my sister. Are you...Blake and Yang?". "No that's the rest of her team, we're from a different team." Jason said. "In fact, Weiss actually saved our lives.". "Long story short," Matt began to say, "they found us in the Emerald Forest, we had no memory, and now we're hunters...so...yeah!". "Well, I thank you all for taking an interest in my sister." Winter said. "Oh, yes, of course. The honour is in my...court.". "You have no idea what you're talking about, do you?" Jason asked Ruby, while all she could do was give a nervous chuckle. "I have business to attend, but since I am early, why don't I go to your living quarters?" Winter suggested. At this point, Winter and Weiss began to walk off, leaving Matt, Jason, and Ruby behind them. "I will...reconvene with you both at a later...juncture!" Ruby began to say, but was interrupted by Matt. "Just stop Ruby, they can't hear you anymore.".
Jason, Matt, and Ruby began to make their way back to their rooms, when a huge circle of people was spotted in the center of the courtyard. They all ran to see what the commotion was about, and saw Winter attacking some man who was fighting back with some form of sword. "Weiss!" Ruby yelled out as they all made their way to her. "What's going on?" Jason asked. "Some crazy guy just started attacking my sister!" Weiss responded. "Oh no!" Ruby said, sounding worried. "Who would do such a th-aaaaat's my uncle!". "Your uncle?" Matt asked. "Yup!" Ruby responded, which was followed up by "Kick her butt, Uncle Qrow!".
Qrow and Winter kept on clashing back and forth, neither of them letting up from their assault. Qrow finally made a bigger push, only for Winter to dodge, and attacked back using the hilt of her dueling saber hitting Qrow directly on his face. Qrow gave a quick smirk as he readied his weapon for a heavy attack. Winter reacted by creating a glyph, and launched herself in the air as Qrow's sword slammed on the ground, breaking the area around him. Qrow chased after Winter but she dodged, making him slice a lamppost in half. Winter flipped in front continuing her assault, and waited for Qrow to attack again. Qrow sliced, only for Winter to do a backflip and land on the sword, and kicked him in the head, sending herself away from him.
Winter landed on the side of a building, and began to run up the side. "She's fast…" Jason mentioned, complementing Winter's skills. Qrow let his blade tilt forward, before firing two shotgun blasts at Winter before launching himself up on the opposing buildings. Qrow continued firing shots at Winter until everything near where Winter stood went up in smoke. Winter then launched out, and revealed a dual sword from inside her original. Winter was now going at Qrow with full speed, only for him to block her attack, breaking the building beneath them, and launching them both to the ground. They continued going back and forth, trading blows before they knocked each other back. Qrow prepared his weapon again, but had a huge smile on his face, showing he was enjoying the fight. "I like this guy!" Matt exclaimed, "He enjoys fighting almost as much as I do!". Ruby responded with "Well he's my Uncle! That's probably why I have my fighting spirit!" as they continued to watch the fight.
Qrow prepared his weapon again, only for Winter to prepare a glyph, which summoned a flock of ice birds which charged directly at him. Qrow launched a shockwave from his sword directly at Winter, stopping her concentration, getting rid of the ice birds. Winter began charging up another glyph, which gave Qrow enough time to adjust his weapon, making it get a little longer. Half-way through the adjustment, Qrow put his weapon back, keeping in its original form. He gave Winter a little smile, before moving his finger in a way to tell Winter to come at him with everything she had.
Winter charged forward directly at Qrow, until she was interrupted while a few inches away from Qrow's neck. "Schnee!" A man known as General Ironwood yelled. Winter's face turned to shock as she looked behind her, and noticed the General with Penny behind him. "General Ironwood, sir!". "What in the world do you think you're doing?" Ironwood asked. "He started the altercation, sir." Winter responded, but Qrow got in a relaxed position and said "That's actually not true, she attacked first.". "Is that right?" Ironwood asked, only for Matt to run out and stand between Qrow and Winter. "Qrow was attacked!" Matt yelled out, only for Qrow to give him a questioning look. "And how do you know my name?" Qrow asked, only for Matt to give a nervous laugh as he pointed over towards Ruby. "Ah, alright. So you know my niece.".
"You." the General said as he made his way to Qrow. "What are you doing here?". "I could be asking you the same thing." Qrow responded. Ironwood was about to respond before he was cut off by Professor Ozpin, as he told everyone that if they wanted to watch a fight, replays of the earlier matches are still available. "Let's go." Ironwood ordered Winter as they followed Ozpin. Qrow was watching them walk off until he heard screeching, "UNCLE QROW!". Ruby launched herself onto Qrow's arm as he lifted, lifting her off the ground as well. "Hi." Ruby said. "It's so good to see you! Did you miss me? Did you miss me!?". Qrow got a huge grin on his face as he answered "Nope!" before he began to shake about Ruby's hair. Ruby was quickly dropped as Ozpin said "Qrow. A word, please.". "I think I'm in trouble." Qrow whispered over to Matt and Ruby. "Thanks for trying to bail me out kid, what's your name?". "The name's Matt." Matt responded. "Matt, huh? I'll remember your name. Catch ya later, kids." Qrow said as he walked towards Ozpin.
"Well...that was something." Jason said as he and Weiss walked over. "How dare you stand up for that mad man!" Weiss yelled at Matt. "Hey, I did what I thought was right." Matt responded, still getting glares from Weiss, until she turned towards Ruby, "And suddenly your recklessness makes sense.". "Look, as fun as it was with all of...this," Jason said as he looked around the destroyed courtyard, "we still have some matches tomorrow. Me and Matt are gonna hit the hay. We'll see you tomorrow.". Jason walked off leaving Matt with Ruby and Weiss. "What's gotten into him?" Weiss asked. "I think it has something to do with Mia." Matt responded. "He hasn't seen her in awhile, and is probably worrying about her. I'll go keep him company. I'll see you guys tomorrow.". Matt began to chase after Jason, as everyone made their way back to their rooms, preparing for another day of the tournaments.