Chapter Fifty-Three: Never get into a QADJ match

Danny stands with her team, smiling and staring at the large crowd gathered to see their first fight in the Amity Colosseum. Eight teams have been selected from Beacon to go to the twenty-ninth Vytal festival in Vacuo, and Danny's team is one of two first year teams from the school.

Abigail tries to hide behind James, him being the tallest team member. As the other team walks onto the platform, Danny smiles and waves. The crowd goes wild. Their opponents are a Vacuo team. Qrow slouches further, hands in pockets as he rolls his eyes.

"Aw," Danny nudges him and her team looks over. "Smile, this is going to be fun!"

"We have a very different definition of 'fun'," Qrow tells her, raising an eyebrow.

"Danny," James starts, ready to scold her.

Danny just squeals and ignores him. She shouts across the platform at the other team. "Nice to meet you! I look forward to battling you guys!"

The three guys on the other team chuckle, and the lone girl smiles and waves back. "Same here!"

The aura meters go up on the overhead and the announcers – which only the audience can hear this round – stumble a bit.

The crowd mutes a little, falling into a faint mumble. One of the guys on the other team points out why. "Why's your aura only at fifty?"

Danny blinks, taken aback. She can feel Qrow stiffen beside her, but she glances at the meters for only a moment while she shrugs. She barely notices as Abigail peaks around James to glare at the strangers. She barely takes note of James' hand hovering over his gun. Danny is used to this, and she's forgotten that others are not. She's forgotten that having a broken semblance isn't normally taught in school, like it's been mandated to know of now at Beacon.

"Don't worry about it," Danny says, giving a winning smile to her opponents. Qrow's eyes sharpen and he shrugs his hands out of his pockets to slide along his weapon on his lower back. Danny readjusts her grip on her basket as the stage starts to change biomes. "It's always been like that."

The other team seems slightly unnerved, but they readapt their stances as the biomes finish settling. Danny looks around and smirks.

The countdown starts above their heads.


A/N: Thanks for reading!

Thank you, xenocanaan, for your review! I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

Have a great day