The screen shuffled through the second round teams, first landing on Team CFVY with the profiles of Coco, Fox and Yatsuhashi. "And it's Team CFVY of Beacon; represented by Coco Adel, Fox Alistair and Yatsuhashi Daichi. And their opponents will be.." Glynda said as the screen cycled again. It soon landed on the symbol of three swords meeting tips, the emblem of the Kingdom of Vacuo. Three profiles appeared on the screen, showing the three Hunters from Shade Academy. One the left was a scarred young man with short dark gray hair, blue eyes and wolf ears. On the right was a woman with green eyes, long orange hair and fox ears. In the center was a large man with chocolate brown eyes, hair and small, stubby ears. "Team VACU of Shade; represented by Vivian Lianna, Connor Gray and Uther Braun!" Glynda announced as the lights dimmed. The speaker suddenly played a generic hard rock track as the single remaining light illuminated the stairs in the Beacon section of the crowd.
As the repetitive guitar crunch went on, team CFVY headed down the stairway, dressed in all black. Coco was clad in her sunglasses and a flak jacket, Fox was wearing a parachute jacket and Yatsuhashi took the back in large bulletproof vest. "I didn't know they made bulletproof vests in his size." Ruby said, watching from the TV in the Olympus Gym that was at the end of the fairgrounds, Velvet watching from on a treadmill and smiling.
"Coco had it custom made for him. She's quite the seamstress…" she answered, Ruby grabbing her whistle and blowing it loudly.
"Run faster, Velvet! You got legs! You should know how to use them!" the junior Huntress barked out, Velvet yelping and picking up the pace. Velvet had brought up her concerns to Weiss during the nonconsensual pajama party, the Schnee heiress gathering the rest of what Ruby dubbed the "RoSchnee BelLong Alliance" (RSBLA), team CFVY and ANVL together to formulate a training plan for Velvet. All eleven Hunters would take turns over the next few days so Velvet could train for the finals, Team CFY holding up the team for the trios and doubles rounds. Velvet watched the fight as she ran, Ruby barking orders at her the whole time.
Fox was the first to go over the guardrail, doing a flip over the rail and rolling onto his feet. Coco followed up with a leap over the guardrail, landing feet-first and adjusting her shades, Yatsuhashi following by slowing climbing over the rail, jumping down and landing on one knee, fist dug into the floor. The two made it to the center, the spotlight following them all the way until the lights went back on, the hard rock track finally ending. By comparison, Team VACU entered wearing matching uniforms of orange and tan scavenger clothes. The team removed their weathered tan cloaks, handing them to the referee before engaging in the Meeting of Hands. "You know, when most people do a special entrance for these things, they usually do only one entrance…" Vivian commented as she shook Coco's hand.
"That's because most people ain't got style like my team." she shot back, Fox and Connor sharing a silent handshake while Uther brought himself chest-to-head with Yatsuhashi. Unlike many of these staredowns, it was Yatsuhashi who had to crane his neck up to look his opponent in the eyes.
"Oh my… I'm kind of glad I sat this round out. Poor Yatsu…" Velvet said, Ruby chuckling a bit.
"Yang could take him." Ruby replied, Velvet laughing and attempting to reach over to ruffle Ruby's hair, only to nearly slipped and fall off the treadmill.
"Ahh! N-no!" Velvet exclaimed as she scrambled to adjust herself.
"Hah! My hair will remain unruffled today! Now keep running!" the younger Huntress ordered, turning back to the TV to see the camera was turned to the selection screen, cycling to pick the first two fighters. The first fight ended up being Fox vs. Vivian. The others left the stage, which sunk away to reveal mostly water with the center surrounded by mounds of sand. The buzzer sounded that two began their fight.
Vivian moved at a fast pace, kicking up sand as she ran, hitting Fox with quick strikes and dodging before he could land a hit on her. "Okay, she's got speed. Now to find a way to cut her off." Fox thought, looking around at the island stage seeing mostly sand and few palm trees with fresh coconuts. "You have got to be kidding…" Fox said, jumping up onto onto the tree. Vivian looked up to see him grabbing a coconut.
"Heh, gettin' hungry?" Vivian asked before a coconut went flying at her. The fox Faunus quickly dodged as Fox jumped down, watching Vivian's movements carefully to see when and where she would strike again. Within seconds she went for another strike to his back, only for Fox to turn around and swing a coconut right at her head. The hard fruit connected with the side of her head, shattering on impact.
"Hah! Hit 'em with a coconut! That's a classic Ritters move!" Sebastian said, Glynda turning to him with what had become a familiar look of confusion.
"You hit a fighter with a coconut before…?" she asked before turning back to see Fox go behind the stunned Vivian, grabbing her by the waist and lifting her off her feet, falling back to drive her headfirst into the sand.
Fox quickly flipped back onto his feet, taking the time to think out his next move, checking the monitor to see his opponent's vitals. Vivian was currently in the orange and she'd probably come to within seconds.
"..I'm gonna have to pull a page out of the Coco playbook, aren't I?" Fox said as he grabbed Vivian's right ankle, twisting it while the fox Faunus pulled her head from the sand.
"Anh… my head… and now… oh no ya don't!" Vivian said, going for a kick with her free foot, only for Fox to block and continue twisting his opponent's ankle.
"Apply precise pressure. Don't want to break the ankle, just do enough damage to-" his thoughts were cut off by a quick kick to the head. Fox let go of Vivian's ankle, the Shade Huntress getting back up, leaning to her left as she moved gingerly to get some distance between her and Fox.
"Okay, let's see you dodge this!" Vivian said, reaching into a sack draped around her side, pulling out dozens of throwing stars into each hand and tossing them into the air on each side of him. He took pause for a second as he realized something. "I think you missed." Fox calmly stared, hand on his hip.
"Wait for it..." She mouthed, when suddenly a large gust of wind behind him began to blow a near tempest behind him. "The shurikens have wind Dust…"she said, Fox's eyes widening. quickly going for a second attempt at dodging. He took a few cuts from the shurikens, the stars coming to a stop between the two fighters. Fox watched carefully, seeing Vivian hold a glowing green crystal in her hand, which she spun, the shurikens spinning around in the air and sand being kicked up. Fox moved carefully as a tornado of sand soon formed in front of him. He took a deep breath, watching the shurikens slip in and out of the sand. The crowd in the stands and the viewers at home watched in anticipation as Fox charged in, leaping straight into the tornado. The shurikens cut him as he passed through, moving fast enough to nullify the efforts to dull them. The Beacon student made it through the tornado, catching Vivian off-guard as he launched a fast kick, knocking the wind crystal from her hand and following it up by connecting a shot to his opponent's head, knocking her out.
"Yeah! Go Fox!" Velvet said as she watched the TV screen, feeling a hard jab at her shoulder. "Ah! Weiss!" she exclaimed, turning to the Schnee heiress who had the dulled tip of Myrtenaster pressed into her shoulder, looking at Velvet with a hard stare.
"Focus, Velvet. You're here to train, not watch TV. Blake's not fighting you, so she can watch the tournament for you." Weiss said, turning to Blake who was sitting on a nearby bench with a book in her hand. Blake looked up from her book at Velvet and Weiss.
"Fox won the fight." Blake said, turning her eyes back to the book.
"..Thank you, Blake." Weiss said, rubbing her temples with one hand before walking back behind the white line on the training mat. "You won't be ready for the finals if you can't focus on the opponent in front of you." Weiss said, returning to a fighting stance. The rabbit Faunus picked up the practice sword at her feet.
"Oh man, here comes the bear dude!" Nora said with a grin as she watched the TV with Blake.
Velvet was about to turn her eyes to the TV when she saw Weiss charge at her again and quickly blocked. Velvet took to the offensive at this point, Weiss blocking each attack and counting in Old Valian. "Ein, Zwei, Drei, Miss. Ein, Zwei, Miss. Ein, Miss. Miss. Miss." Weiss said, Velvet missing a few swings.
"I'd hit better if you'd stop counting in Old Valian, it's throwing off my rhythm." Velvet said, missing another swing.
"Okay, let's try this again… One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Miss, One, Two, Three, Four, Five. Six, Miss." Weiss said, dodging an oncoming stab. "You're doing good, Velvet. It's like you taught me years ago, fighting is like a dance. If you're out of rhythm, you're gonna end up with a swollen foot… or decapitated. One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight! Nine! TEN! Halt!" Weiss called, dodging what would've been Velvet's 11th attack. "Alright, you're getting your rhythm down. Now for blocking. Block ten attacks from me and Blake. Go!" Weiss called, going for a swing which caused Velvet to yelp and block."...One." Weiss said with a smile, pulling back and going for a stab, which Velvet dodged.
"Two. Three. Four. Ooh, good jump! That's Five, Six. Hit." the Schnee heiress said a s she caught her former servant with a hit to the side. "Don't get discouraged. Every failure is just a notch on the belt of progress. You make a mistake and you learn from it." she said encouragingly, Velvet smiling and nodding before quickly blocking another strike. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Seven. Halt!" Weiss called, holding the tip of her throat. "You've been doing good, but I'm noticing that every time I go for an attack, you try to counter early. You didn't pay attention to what I was doing and I cut right through your defenses." she explained, Velvet nodding gently with the sword tip at her neck. "Don't. You need to make an opening before you attack, not force it. Your weapon is an extension of your own arm, but how good is it going to do if you don't have arms?" Weiss asked, pulling her sword away from the rabbit girl. "Fortsetzen!" Weiss cried, going for another stab, which Velvet dodged.
"One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Si-" Weiss counted until she felt the tip of her own sword get parried away, Velvet's sword at her neck.
"Halt." Velvet said with a smile, Weiss smiling back.
"Very good. Blake! You're up!" Weiss said, walking off the training mat. Blake marked her place, setting the book down and picking up a blunt Gambol Shroud and stepping onto the mat. Weiss took the empty seat on the bench next to Nora. "So, how's Fox doing?" Weiss asked, looking up at the TV screen to see Uther drive Fox down onto the sand. He turned to the screen, seeing that Fox was still in the orange, grabbed him off the sand by the legs, lifted him back up and threw him back down. The crowd was booing the nine-foot Faunus heavily but Uther simply smirked, grabbing Fox again and hitting him with another powerbomb. Fox, back barking in pain, struggled back to his feet, only to be grabbed again.
"Referee, call the match! Alistair can't take much more of this! This is barbaric!" Glynda shouted, Ritters tossing his headset off and getting up from his seat, walking to the door. "Sebastian! Stay in the announce table! You can't put your hands on a fighter!" Glynda said, having muted herself and turning to stop Ritters from leaving.
The referee soon came in after yet another powerbomb, yelling at Uther to back away and threatening to disqualify him. Uther put his massive hand on the ref's face, shoving him aside and going to grab Fox again when he was tackled to the ground by Yatsuhashi, the crowd roaring in approval. Yatsuhashi, wet and panting from swimming across the shallow waters surrounding the island stage, turned to Fox, helping him to his feet. "You alright, Fox?" he asked, Fox nodding and smiling.
"Good save. See you at Olympus Gym." Fox replied as a small boat rowed across the water to pick him up. Fox jumped on as the monitor put a red X over his profile and replaced it with Yatsu's. Uther came to his feet, flashing a wide grin as he towered over the Beacon student.
"Lucky tackle there, little man…" Uther said, pulling back a fist and throwing it, which Yatsuhashi quickly caught, a shockwave blowing away sand and creating small waves in the water. Uther tried for another punch, getting caught again. The two locked hands, Uther pushing down on the smaller Yatsuhashi. Yatsuhashi tightened his grip, fighting to hold himself above the sand as he feet started to sink. The two broke the hold, Uther quickly catching Yatsuhashi by the waist and tossing him over his head, the seven-foot student flying off into the water. The bear Faunus gave out a hearty laugh as Yatsuhashi resurfaced, charging right at Uther and punching him square in the chest. Uther shook slightly from the blow but stayed standing. "What? Is that the best you got, little man?" he asked cockily, rearing back and flooring Yatsu with a hard right, grabbing him and throwing him into the palm tree. Yatsuhashi uprooted the tree upon collision, the crowd looking on in shock and wondering if he was taken out as well.
"Oh no, this is bad... if Yatsuhashi loses this, we can say goodbye to even seeing the finals…" Weiss said with an air of defeat in her voice, Nora simply laughing gleefully. "Nora! How can you laugh about this? There's nothing funny about this!" the Schnee heiress shouted, appalled at Nora's brazen disregard for the severity of this situation.
"I'm laughing because you think Big Yatsu can't win this!" Nora said, Weiss looking at her with a look of deep puzzlement.
"Haven't you been watching the fight? Uther's bigger and stronger than Yatsuhashi. There's no way he can win at this rate." Weiss said. Nora crossed her arms, laughing louder than before as Velvet started to falter in her training against Blake.
"Ah, Weiss. So wealthy and so naive. A fight isn't determined on size and strength. No, the thing that wins a battle is your fighting spirit. Your will to keep going no matter what stands in your way. I've seen Yatsuhashi train and I can tell you one thing…" Nora said, watching as Yatsuhashi slowly got back to his feet. "He has immense fighting spirit." she finished, Yatsuhashi walking over to Uther, who had been celebrating an assumed victory, and hitting him with a hard forearm shot that sent the bear Faunus off his feet.
"Wh-what?!" Uther gasped out, coming to his feet to see Big Yatsu standing tall and proud. Uther, slightly shaken, returned to his usual arrogant self within seconds, holding out his hands and inviting another test of strength, which Yatsuhashi met. As with before, Uther held the early advantage, forcing Yatsuhashi into the sand. The Shade student, his confidence returning, began to taunt Yatsuhashi "Face it, kid! You're not the big dog here! So why don't you just give up?!" he shouted, ignoring the chants of "Yat-Su Ha-Shi!" coming from the crowd, led on by Coco.
"Because it's not about how big the dog is… it's about how much he's willing to give!" Yatsuhashi shouted back, forcing Uther's arms back and pulling himself from the sand. More and more, he began to take control of the hold, soon standing on his feet, Uther left in shock before being hit with a hard knee that knocked the wind out of him. Yatsuhashi took the exhausted Uther, tucking his head under his arm and hooking other arm under Uther's leg. He soon lifted the massive Uther up into the air, the crowd going silent at this feat of strength, holding him before falling back and driving Uther's head into the sand, knocking him right out and securing the win for Team CFVY. The crowd went ballistic, cheering excitedly as Yatsuhashi exhaustively stood back up.
"He did it! I can't believe it! He beat Uther!" Weiss said, hands at the side of her head and eyes bulging. Her surprise at the victory was broken by the sound of metal hitting floor, Weiss turning to see Gambol Shroud knocked aside with Velvet forcing Blake into a yield. Weiss smiled, glad to see that Velvet was getting better with each lesson.
"I'm glad she's at least a quick learner." Blake said, rubbing some of the soreness out of her wrist as she grabbed her sword, placing it back into its scabbard.
"Yang, you're up." Blake said, heading back to the bench. Yang nodded and cracked her knuckles, Velvet gulping slightly and thinking she was gonna have to fight Yang.
"Alright, Velvet! Time for a bit of hand-to-hand!" Yang said, walking over and grabbing a pair of gloves with foam pads on the palms. Velvet sighed in relief, grateful that she wouldn't have to get into a fight with the Boxing Club's best striker. "First time I ever wore focus mitts myself. Last time I saw these, I punched so hard I broke the guy's hand. Got a bit too into it..." the blonde admitted, Velvet's smile fading.
"I-I didn't want to hear that before I started punching you!" Velvet said, Yang chuckling and putting up her hands, bouncing lightly on her feet.
"Just follow my lead… man, Weiss wasn't kidding about the whole 'fighting being a dance' thing. Why didn't I think of that?" Yang asked, stopping her movement to contemplate before returning to trainer mode. "Alright, let's do this! Left jab!" Yang shouted, Velvet quickly doing a left jab which Yang blocked. "Good! Right jab! Nice! Left jab! Right hook! Uppercut! Right side kick! Left side kick! Sweep!" Yang ordered, Velvet following each step perfectly. "That's the stuff! Alright! Let's get some real challenges in here! Gimme roundhouse!" the blonde brawler said, Velvet taking a deep breath, swinging her leg and hitting the focus mitt. "Yeah! Other leg!" Yang said, Velvet hitting it again with her left foot instead. "Elbow! Left roundhouse! Uppercut! Uppercut! Left hook! Liver shot! Right jab! Double jab! Heh, Coco's been training you to fight, hasn't she?" Yang asked, Velvet smiling and nodding. "You oughta join the Boxing Club…"
"Coco's offered me a spot, but I don't really like fighting." Velvet explained, Yang tilting her head in confusion.
"Then why are you a huntress?" Yang asked in a non mocking tone, padded gloves on her hips.
"I want to protect people. The Grimm have been a plague on humanity since the beginning of recorded history, nobody knows how to stop it and to be honest… Life after living with Weiss was hard because I didn't know what to do besides live in fear, hoping my life wouldn't get cut short by a stray Nevermore, like… If I found someone to love, having a few children and get a home, before just watching helplessly as they die while I'm not able to do anything." She said, looking at the floor as everyone in the room just stared at her, completely baffled by hearing something like that coming from her. "I want to save everyone from that danger. I know I'm not tough, or strong, or even that important in the grand scheme of things. But if stopping Grimm is the best way I know to save people? I'd die 1000 times just to do it." Velvet said, Yang looking at her with her mouth agape before smiling.
"That's… really something, Velvet…" Yang said, the sound of the announce calling "KO!" coming from the TV. The group turned to see Coco with her arm raised and a missing lens to her sunglasses. The shades fell to one side and Team CFVY's leader looked furious, but there were still cheers among the collected training group. Team CFVY was advancing to the semi-finals. They had one last step to the finals. One more step to Velvet's moment. Ruby quickly tackled Velvet to the ground, hugging her.
"You're going to the finals! Yaaaaay~" Ruby said excitedly, disregarding the semi-finals in her excitement.
"Why are you squeezing so hard?" Velvet mumbled out a complaint from underneath the red cloaked girl.
"Ruby's strength is tied to how happy she is." Yang joked. As Velvet managed to pull herself and Ruby up, Weiss joined in on the hug, followed by Blake and, most painful of all, Nora. Velvet soon returned the full-on hug attack, which only grew larger as training had come to a stop that day.