Chapter 35

Author's Note: This is an important announcement, please read.

From now on, uploads will no longer follow a set schedule and may differ from normal depending on where you live. This is because I am traveling to Europe from Asia, to visit family and also attend a week-long summer school program in the UK.

Thus, new chapters will be uploaded at random, whenever I have the opportunity.

But I have written several for this, and I'm really glad to say that the story is really shaping up nicely. I also am required to bring a laptop for school work there, so I can also write and publish chapters in the meantime!

I hope you'll forgive me for this, and once I'm back home I'll resume uploads in the same schedule until the story is finished! Thank you for your understanding, and I hope you enjoy this new chapter!

"Sector's all clear, bunch of drunks tried to jump the gate but we stopped them," Jack reported as he walked into the room.

"Cool. C'mere, check it out." Geoff replied as he stood by the floor-to-ceiling windows.

Jack walked past and whistled. "Damn. They've already started?"

"Those girls know how to fight." Geoff chuckled.

Stretched before them, the Amity Colosseum was filled with cheering crowds from all over the kingdoms, waving flags of Orange, Green, White, and Blue, in consolidation with their respective kingdoms.

Sitting in the middle was an enormous arena, with half of the floor being that of an icy ring and the other being full of lava, representing different biomes. And Team RWBY was fighting against Team ABRN of Haven Academy in Mistral.

The crowd winced as one of the ABRN team members slammed on the ice after slipping, and even Yang seemed to pause at the impact with a look of pity on her face.

"Ouch." Jack winced. "But shouldn't we be focused on security?"

"Ray, Gavin, all clear?" Geoff spoke into a radio.

"All clear. And we've got some top-notch seats up here." Gavin's voice came through the radio. Jack looked up to see the holographic projector hovering above the grounds, where Ray and Gavin perched just out of sight. Gavin waved at him before being dragged down by Ray, who was looking around with a pair of binoculars.

Ray also had his sniper rifle with him, as did Gavin, since they were on overwatch. But Jack knew that they were probably being laid against the ground on their bipods since they were watching the match below.

Jack also looked through his own binoculars. Sitting at the fighter's seats, which were placed in front of the spectators, were teams JNPR, SSSN, CFVY, and many other teams from the four kingdoms and Academies in Remnant.

"It's good to see you two joining us."

They looked to their right to see Oobleck smiling at them from the commentator's seat with Professor Port, who nodded politely at them.

"Good to meet you too. Is that thing on?" Geoff gestured to the cameras and the microphones.

"It's fine, they're off." Port chuckled, looking back at the arena. "I think everyone's focused on Team RWBY's imminent victory."

There was a flash from the arena and they turned to see Yang being pulled by Blake around an ice ramp that Weiss had created, being sent flying towards the three shocked members of ABRN like a glowing fireball. And with equal devastation, sending all three flying out the arena and out of the fight.

"And that's the match! Team RWBY is victorious!" Port announced into the microphone as he pressed a button.

"Bet?" Geoff grinned, speaking into his radio.

"Screw you, Geoff." Gavin groaned. "You only won because you called them first."

Jack chuckled as he shook his head. "This job is awesome."

"Man, this job sucks," Michael grumbled as he walked along the length of the myriad of tents set up for food and drink stalls outside of Beacon. "I can't even get a bite to eat."

"Diverting off the main objective of patrolling grounds can be punishable by immediate detainment."

"SHUT UP!" Michael snapped, whirling around and pointing at the four Atlas Knights following him. "STOP FOLLOWING ME!"

"Orders from General Ironwood. Objective one: Follow subject Michael Jones and prevent the destruction of property." One of the Knights replied.

"Oh, yeah? What am I gonna do?" Michael grinned, crossing his arms.

The second one held out an arm and a hologram showed Michael in a bar, fighting against other tenants and breaking chairs over people's heads in a drunken fury.

"Wh-Where'd you even get that?!" Michael stammered.

"That information is classified."

"Uh… That was three days ago." Michael waved his hand, face red.

The third one projected another, of Michael hopping around as he clutched his foot from a dropped crate. He then smashed into a tower of boxes and caused a mountain of food to smash to the ground in a mess around him.

"That was an accident!" Michael exclaimed. "And that was yesterday!"

The fourth one's hologram showed Michael holding a fist over a drunk man as he stood in a makeshift bar, with a dozen other drunks groaning on the floor. Michael sweatdropped at that one. It had only happened an hour ago after he took care of a complaint of drunks who kept harassing people.

"They deserved it." Michael crossed his arms.

"Your charges of unnecessary force have been overruled, but the next incident will result in immediate detainment."

Michael threw his hands up and tried to run, but the Knights followed him with no trouble. "LEAVE ME ALONE!"

Ryan and Jeremy watched from a nearby drinks tent as Michael ran past them before they tapped their cans together.

"Told you we should have stayed back." Jeremy chuckled, before looking to the side and grinning. "And hey, there are the champions."

Ryan looked up to see Team RWBY and JNPR sitting at a nearby tent, a sign with the words "A Simple Wok" written on the side. And as Jeremy and Ryan approached, they took note of the enormous bowls and the content/sickly expressions on their faces.

"You guys had your full?" Jeremy grinned as he leaned forward, slamming his hand against Jaune's back.

"Urgh…" Jaune groaned, hand over his mouth. "I think I'm gonna barf. I'm gonna blame you if I do."

"Ooh, aim it at the enemy!" Nora grinned evilly. Ryan smiled and gave her a fistbump in agreement.

"Nora, that's disgusting." Ren sighed, before patting Jaune more gently. "But, if you feel the urge…"

"Got it." He gave a thumbs up.

Pyrrha sat up as she stretched. "Well, we should be off soon. Will you two be watching?"

"Yeah, you guys think you're ready?" Jeremy pulled up a chair with Ryan.

"Of course!" Nora grinned, gesturing to each of her teammates. "We've got a world-renowned fighter on our team, one's basically a ninja, I can bench five of me, Jaune, we trained all year, our weapons are awesome, Glynda barely yells at us anymore, and uh… Jaune!"

"Are you gonna take that?" Ren looked at Jaune.

"She's not wrong…" He mumbled dejectedly. Pyrrha patted his back sympathetically.

"I'm kidding, he knows I'm kidding!" Nora continued ranting with rather mad laughter. "Don't be so nervous! The worst that can happen is we lose, that is just a few more years of walking around school with everyone knowing we're failures, our friends will slowly abandon us to preserve their social status, we won't be able to show our faces in class…"

They watched as the color slowly drained from her face as she got more and more worried, and still she continued.

"No one will sit with us in the cafeteria, Ren and I have no parents, we have no home left to go to, we'll be officially renamed Team Lose-iper!" Her mad laughter dissolved to sobbing as she slammed her head on the counter. Ryan, oddly sympathetic, rubbed her back as he pushed a diet cola in front of her.

"So, yeah, we're feeling pretty good," Ren spoke up, unperturbed, as he took the cola and shoved it back to him.

"Don't fret." Pyrrha smiled awkwardly. "If anything, we should be looking forward to a fight with actual guidelines, and not, well… murderers."

"Yeah, don't sweat it." Yang grinned. "We've faced way worse before."

"Let's see. Grimm invasions, violent extremists, a destructive sociopath… not you." Blake raised her hands as Ryan looked at her, before continuing to count on her fingers. "Bank heists, hostage rescues, questionably legal destruction of property, and seven insane new staff at Beacon from another planet."

"And that's all while we're still in training!" Ruby leaned back with a happy smile on her face. "Oh, imagine what it would be like to graduate!"

"Maybe then I'll be able to pay for a meal," Weiss grumbled.

"What was that?" Jeremy raised an eyebrow.

"My bank card froze." Weiss held up her card, the one that had caused so much trouble for her and Blake a few weeks before. "My account has been cut. I don't know why, but I think it's because of…"

Jeremy watched as she trailed off, but he decided not to pry.

"By the way, where are the others?" Pyrrha asked. "Are they not with you?"

"Oh, Geoff and Jack are at the announcer's stands, Ray and Gavin are on overwatch, and Michael was with us. But he's a bit… busy."

"With what?"

"Well…"

"GOD DAMN IT! IRONWOOD, YOU BASTARD! WHERE ARE YOU?! I'M GONNA BEAT YOU OVER THE HEAD WITH YOUR OWN ANDROIDS!"

They watched as Michael sprinted past with four Atlas Knights still following him. Yang, Nora, and Ruby immediately burst out laughing while the others stared at the sight blankly.

"When are you guys going to not be fooling around?" Weiss sighed, rubbing a hand to her face.

Ryan and Jeremy looked at each other before their eyes strayed above them. Ryan's Avenger flew high above the stadium, almost out of sight behind the clouds, but they knew that inside were some of Atlas and Vale's finest, operating the many surveillance cameras installed, and were on the lookout over the event. On top of that, their security force that was patrolling the stadium now had some new… toys to use. Ones that were a lot more powerful than their Remnant-made equivalents.

"You'll be surprised," Jeremy replied cryptically, before pointing with his thumb and looking at team JNPR. "I think it's your fight next, isn't it?"

"Would team JNPR please report to the battlegrounds immediately?" Professor Port's voice came on the intercom.

"Yes! Like they were scheduled to, SEVERAL MINUTES AGO!" Doctor Oobleck added, annoyed.

"Leg breaking time~!" Nora sang, jumping up and skipping away, with Ren following with a look of panic on his face and Pyrrha helping Jaune to his feet.

"Go get 'em!" Ruby called after them.

"You think we'll ever get to fight as awesomely as them?"

Ray looked up from his and Gavin's spot on the hologram projector. Floating above the arena, it proved to be the perfect spot for overwatch, as most would be distracted by the projections below, as well as the arena itself.

They laid on their stomachs and peeked over the edge at the fight between team JNPR and team BRNZ of Shade academy from Vacuo. The fight was tense and awesome. Really awesome.

"Well, I did. On the train. Saving your ass." Ray nudged him.

"Piss off." Gavin groaned, helping himself to a popcorn they were sharing between them.

They continued watching, but suddenly Gavin felt a shiver and looked around. He reached out and took a pair of binoculars before looking at the fighter's seats.

The first person it fell on was a boy wearing mostly grey with metallic grey hair and what looked like metal boots on his legs. Next to him was a green-haired girl whom he recognized from the Breach. Both were exchange students, from Haven.

Sitting behind them, however, were two students who caught his attention. The black haired woman sitting behind them was, with lack of a better term, hot. He felt his cheeks grow red as he looked at her.

But as his eyes strayed to the left, his heart stopped.

A short girl sat next to her, playing on a Scroll, with black hair and green eyes. But as he watched, those green eyes flickered up to stare directly at him. And as she smiled, she blinked, her green eyes turning into a heterochromic pink and brown.

"Dude." Ray nudged him, making him fumble with the binoculars. "You look like you've seen a ghost. You alright?"

Gavin looked back through the binoculars to see the girl - Neo - looking back down at her Scroll, eyes hidden.

"I'm fine." He replied. "Just… some bad food."

"Didn't we eat the same thing?"

"M-Maybe mine was undercooked?"

"Okay, that won't do." Ray looked back at the fight. "We'll put in a report to the canteen. Can't be giving out old food, right?"

'Well, that backfired.' Gavin thought nervously as he tried to convince Ray out of that lie. Besides, the known sidekick of one of the most famous criminals in Remnant wouldn't just waltz into a world-famous tournament with cameras everywhere, right?

Meanwhile, far below, Neo smiled to herself as she played on her scroll.

"What got you in a good mood?" Emerald looked back at her. Mercury did the same, and even Cinder looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

"Ugh. Sometimes, I wish you could talk." Mercury turned and crossed his arms behind his head when she didn't reply. "Would make things easier."

Neo continued to smile as she looked back down at her Scroll. Yes, it would…