Told you we'd get another chapter out by the end of 2019. It was a promise I was able to keep for once, look at that. Here we are again and let's get this going, the Vytal Festival is finally here, and as a result, some other things are required to… occur, if you know what I mean. It's time to get moving along folks. Let's do this!

Beta & Co-Writer- CrowSkull

A Tale of Two Heroes

Chapter 50- Superstar Trouble

Pyrrha wondered why she was called into the headmaster's office so abruptly. It couldn't have been because of anything she did, all she was doing before was training with the rest of her team as practice for the Vytal festival tournament. They had their schedule already, and their first match was tomorrow. Nora and Ren were in the best shapes of their lives and while Jaune was quickly getting better and better he still needed that last push in order to truly be ready for a tournament like this. And she was more than sure that she hadn't caused any trouble before or throughout the entire semester. She wondered what she could have possibly done to be summoned to his office.

Miss Goodwitch was the one who came to collect her as well, and the aura that she gave off did not appear to be the one that she reserved for troublemakers. That relaxed her as she escorted her out of the training arena and on the path toward Beacon's tower and into the elevator that lead straight up into Ozpin's office. The elevator ride itself was mostly silent except for a simple tune that Pyrrha knew she was going to get sick of if she had to listen to it for any longer than the few minutes that it took to get up to Ozpin's office.

Seeing her friend Hector and Mister Urra alongside Ozpin was a surprise when the doors opened up finally into the headmaster's office. The two younger men smiled and waved at her, Hector sat in the seat adjacent to where she would sit and Mister Urra was leaning against the wall behind the headmaster. The combat professor urged her on with a gentle push and she entered the office.

"Hello, you've called for me?"

"I did." The headmaster gestured for her to sit down, and she did without question. Glynda stayed behind next to the elevator with her hands intertwined behind her back. "Do not worry, you are not in any sort of trouble. Neither is Mister Rivers over here."

"I see," Pyrrha internally felt relieved, getting in trouble right before the tournament would have been bad news. "If I may ask then, what need do you have of me?"

"We all have something that we need to tell you," Robert spoke up. "We were aware that you are pretty comfortable with Hector, and so we decided that it would be easiest for you to listen to what we are about to tell you with a friend to rely on."

Pyrrha's head tilted to the side in confusion toward Hector.

"It's uh… going to be a bit of a trip." Hector admitted. "I don't know how much help I'd be able to provide afterward, but I can at least promise to be a friend."

"I'm sure that whatever it is I will be able to handle it," Pyrrha assured them all. "Though, you have successfully stricken my curiosity. What exactly is it that I apparently need to be informed about?"

"Eager. Good," Ozpin chuckled softly. "Very well, we shall get this over with. Tell me, Pyrrha, what is your favorite fairy tale?"

"Huh?" Pyrrha recoiled, that was the last thing that she expected to come out of the headmaster's mouth, she wondered if this was some kind of prank at first, but both Hector and Mister Urra did not look like they were joking, and she doubted that the headmaster would be the kind either. "W-well… I don't particularly have a favorite, but I do remember a few that come to mind, assuming that is a serious question. I remember the 'Tale of the Two Brothers', 'The Lady in the Tower', 'The Man With Two Souls', 'The Grimm Reaper and the apprentice,' and-"

"What about The Story of the Seasons?" Ozpin cut her off politely.

Pyrrha's eyes widened slightly as a flood of memories invaded her thoughts. "Ah yes! I remember that one."

It was a decently long story of an old wizard who has given up on life being helped by four young women, each named after one of the four seasons. As thanks for making him enjoy life once again, the old wizard split his powers into the four women, granting them unimaginable powers with the intent to send them out to help others. It was a beautiful story that she remembered her mother telling her one time back when she was a child.

"And that is the story as far as I know," Pyrrha said once she finished retelling the fairy tale from her own memory.

"Indeed it is, now, let me ask you another question, Miss Nikos." Ozpin suddenly gained a much more serious expression as he leaned forward on his desk, his hands intertwining with each other as he stared down the champion. "Do you know where Mister Rivers and Urra come from?"

Pyrrha didn't know what to say. The question came out of nowhere, and when she turned to face Hector his face was just as serious as the headmasters, as well as Mister Urra. She never really thought about where they were from, which could come from an infinite number of places across the entire world of Remnant and its four kingdoms. She knew that apparently Team RWBY and HAMR both knew some kind of secret regarding the two, but it was their business and none of Team JNPR thought to pry on it.

"What do you mean?" Pyrrha asked, not knowing what else to say.

"Rob and I aren't from around here," Hector told her. "And it's not in the way you think. Neither of us is from Vale, Mistral, Atlas, Vacuo, or anywhere on Remnant really. We're from… somewhere else."

"I don't understand." Pyrrha looked down and scrunched up her brows, nothing was making sense. "You both are human, where else could you possibly be from?"

"We still don't know how we got here," Robert continued from where Hector left off. "To put it frankly, we are from a different planet or dimension. A place called Earth. And someway, somehow, we were taken from our lives and put on this world…"

"I ended up in the Emerald Forest right during Initiation," Hector continued, adding even more for Pyrrha to try and process. "And he ended up in Forever Fall, an old huntsman found him and helped train him, and I was found by my teammates and taken into Beacon."

"I, of course, knew that there was something off with them from the start," Ozpin explained. "They appeared human, spoke like us, walked like us, but I sensed something within them that I sensed nowhere else. Fear not for they are most certainly our friends and allies, but I can personally attest to them telling the truth here. By some… magical means you could say, Mister Rivers and Mister Urra were taken from their world and were placed here."

"This doesn't make any sense," Pyrrha muttered as she gripped her head and tried her very best to understand even a little bit of what she has heard so far. "What you are telling me… different worlds, dimensions, magic… are you telling me that it's all real?"

"Legends and fairy tales all start somewhere, Miss Nikos. In this case, many of those legends and tales are in fact true. I imagine that in the future hundreds of years from today, these two will give birth to yet another legend if they're true heritage was revealed to the public. But their tale isn't what is most important here," Ozpin cleared his throat to speak as clearly as possible.

"Every tale you've spoken of is true. Including the story of the seasons. There are four women in this world today with powers unimaginable, and for the first time in history, one of them was attacked and part of her power was stolen. The reason I brought you here today is not to simply tell you what is true and what isn't, and I am sorry for pushing this onto you while you are still so young and in development. You are needed, Miss Nikos. You were chosen to become the next fall maiden."

"Fall maiden…" Pyrrha remained silent for the next several minutes, processing everything that she has been told so far. Beside her, her friend who has just been revealed to be some kind of alien to her hesitantly placed a hand on her shoulder. His weapons were gone and holstered somewhere, so she felt his calloused and scarred hand rub her shoulder gently. He was still her friend, she told herself. He wasn't her enemy and even risked his life to save others multiple times. But his power was so strange, even to her. It didn't seem real. Honestly, he seemed really weak when she first met him, weaker than Jaune perhaps, and he didn't know how to fight. But rapidly he grew, and grew, and became stronger, and got better, and unlocked his semblance. The Kaio-something, he called it. It multiplied his strength, and from there, his rate of growth skyrocketed even further to the point where he might have been able to best her today. She's trained for years and years to get as good as she is now, and he was able to catch up to him in mere months. Which should have been impossible for any normal human...

The same went for Mister Urra, she didn't know him personally and only spoke to him on occasion and enjoyed his presence when he was helping train her partner. But he was also an anomaly, only he appeared suddenly and was already stronger than a lot of students, or at the very least more skilled and experienced. He also seemed strangely close to Hector, and now she knew that it wasn't because they were cousins like it was officially told around the school. They were the only two humans from their world that were placed on this world, and so they were the only ones in all of Remnant who could possibly understand each other. Shockingly enough, she believed them and the headmaster, they weren't from Remnant, but they were their allies regardless.

And if what they told her really was true, then that meant that the fairy tales that she was told as a child… how many of them weren't just fairy tales? Magic was real? Was it true that the fall maiden was real as well? A big part of her told her not to believe them, that this all was just some really well thought out prank that they would all laugh about tomorrow, but another stronger part of her told her; What if? What if they were telling the truth, and here she was having an existential crisis not doing anything to help their situation.

She became a huntress for a reason, she gripped her skirt tightly and hardened her resolve. Looking up at the headmaster and her two friends with newfound determination.

"I believe you."

"I am glad that you do, Miss Nikos." The relieved smile on the headmaster's face and the sighs of relief that came from Hector and Robert reaffirmed her decision. They really were banking on her persuasion.

"I wish this is where it ended though…" Hector sighed again. "Pyrrha, as much as I am glad that you believe us, but that was just the easiest part. Come on," He stood up and held out a hand to help her up, she accepted it and let him help her stand.

"The little conversation is not over quite yet," Robert said as he walked out from behind the desk and moved toward the elevator. Lastly came the headmaster, who stood up with his cane in hand and followed them all into the elevator. She was given more than enough space in the center of the surprisingly roomy space and watched as Glynda turned on her scroll and pulled up an app that was in the shape of a clockwork key. After waving it over the control panel for the elevator, the machine started descending, and then continued to descend even after they passed the ground floor, and then proceeded to descend deep underground.

"What is this…" Pyrrha asked the boy next to her, but Hector looked just as surprised as he did.

"This place is a lot bigger in person, huh," He said, matching her awe as he looked around the massive and wide room before them with an even longer hallway before them.

"You can simply refer to this part of Beacon as the basement," Ozpin told them. "This is where I keep a majority of the secrets of the world hidden from the people, and this is where the current fall maiden is being treated."

"Treated…?"

"Kept alive might be a more accurate description," Glynda uttered in a quiet voice.

"Remember what he told you before?" Robert began. "The last fall maiden was attacked by the same woman who kidnapped Hector. She stole part of her power and is now using that power to cause harm to others. Amber, I believe her name is, or was… is being kept alive down here."

"Hm," Ozpin didn't know that they knew that much, but he wasn't surprised that they did. He's been surprised enough times by those two and after learning about their interesting past he expected them to know a lot more than any normal person of Remnant would. "We are almost to the bottom."

When the ride finally ended the room Pyrrha found herself in was massive. Larger than any room she has ever seen or been in before. It was almost as if she was outside and breathing in fresh air, she didn't know what kind of technology was required to build such an addition to the school, or was it not technology at all? Was this room here created by what Ozpin revealed to her as magic? She might never know, but either way, it blew her away.

"About time you guys got down here," A deep gruff voice caught her attention, she looked to the right and saw a tall man with a scruffy beard and graying hair leaning against the wall near the elevator itself. His piercing red eyes stared right at her. "So, you're the one huh?"

"Who are you?"

"No one bothered to tell you about me?" Qrow chuckled fakely. "Name's Qrow, remember it because you're probably going to be seeing me a whole lot more depending on what decision you make tonight."

"I see…" Pyrrha felt uncomfortable, she's never met that man in her life but would apparently have to get used to him some way or another.

"Stop making our maiden candidate uncomfortable, Qrow." The General of the Atlesian military berated the red-eyed man. Pyrrha almost felt compelled to bow toward the man with well-earned respect, but the other headmaster simply smiled warmly at her and nodded.

"I am glad you have decided to come, I for one didn't have as much faith in Ozpin's last-minute plan offered to him by… the younger generation. But I am proud to admit that I was wrong, Miss Nikos, I certainly hope that you are ready to face what comes ahead after this."

"I am," Pyrrha assured the general. "They filled me in on this fall maiden, and about what happened to her."

"Good," Ironwood spared a nod toward Ozpin, Hector, and Robert, each of whom nodded back in kind. Accepting the minor praise from the general. "Then, if you would continue to follow us this way, please. It's not much farther than it seems."

Pyrrha nodded and continued to follow the older men and her combat professor. Hector and Mister Urra stayed at her sides, the latter on her left and the former on her right. She felt herself wrap her arms around her own body in some vain attempt to calm herself down. As calm as she was behaving, she was still freaking out within her mind. Just less than an hour ago training with her teammates to get ready for the tournament, and suddenly her entire world shattered and put itself back together piece by piece. Magic was real, Hector and Mister Urra were somehow dimensional travelers, maidens, and countless others that could actually be real if she really thought about it.

"Are you okay?" Hector's voice made her jump lightly. "I'm guessing that I might not be the most trustworthy right now…"

"No, no… it's not that." Pyrrha said as politely as ever. "This is just… very sudden. I'm still processing everything, I mean, are you really not from this world?"

Hector smiled sadly. "No, I'm not. I wish I knew how to explain how I got here but I can't. But just in case, I want you to know that our friendship is real, and everything I did here was of my own choice, and for what it's worth, I'd like to think I am the same kind of human as you and the others are."

"I would as well," Pyrrha smiled back, feeling just a little more calm now that she had someone to speak to. "How long did you know about all this?"

"Well… that's another bombshell I'm not sure you're ready to hear just yet."

"I was just told that most fairy tales are real, the existence of magic, and of seasonal maidens. I am sure I will be able to handle anything at this point.

From her other side, the young professor sighed. "Since the beginning…" He began. "We know about a lot of things that have happened, and that are about to happen, at least we did," Robert said, forcing himself to say it, he didn't want to, but he vowed to try and hide less, and so he did.

"In the most frank way, I guess you can say that we know the future… or at least a future." Hector continued.

"A future that concerns you, well everyone but specifically a lot about you," Robert emphasized.

"What do you mean by that?" Pyrrha felt chills flow up and down her spine. The worst thing about it was that she believed them without question. She felt like she could believe anything she was told right now. Hector and Robert looked at each other for a moment and then they nodded.

"You… I don't even know how to tell you this." Hector looked down with sad eyes, they flashed different colors as his emotions sparked, but they remained predominantly brown as he forced himself to pick his head back up and look at her. "I'll leave it at this for now; the choice you make tonight may or may not cause something devastating. I mean, either way, Vale is in danger, but-"

"In danger?" Pyrrha said a little too loudly, stopping and turning to face her peer with shocked wide eyes. Hector cursed to himself for revealing too much too soon. Everyone looked at them from the corner of their eyes, ready to intervene whenever necessary.

"Yes it's in danger, remember the people that took Hector, they are in Vale somewhere, and could very well be in Amity now. They will do whatever it takes to get to her," Robert said pointing at the injured fall maiden that was just mere meters away from them all now. "And I mean anything."

"This is why I said I was sorry for putting this on you so soon, Miss Nikos," Ozpin said, turning around to face the young champion. "Thanks to Mister Rivers and Mister Urra we have been warned of a potential attack, which is why I have decided to put things ahead of schedule. If you would come this way, this is what I wanted to show you."

Glynda, Ironwood and Qrow scattered about to make way for Pyrrha to move forward. Ozpin gently placed a hand on her back and pushed her forward toward the highly technologically advanced pod full of some kind of blue liquid, within this pod was a woman. Scarred in the face with short brown hair, she might have been beautiful if she wasn't so injured. There was a soft heartbeat monitor to the right of the machine, and Pyrrha walked forward and placed a hand on the glass. She felt so sorry for the poor woman, she didn't know if she was even technically alive, just her heart was being kept beating. Technically alive, sure, but what kind of life was this? Being held up in some pod full of some kind of liquid that just kept her heart beating.

"How long has she been in this state?"

"A year and six months, give or take," Ozpin answered. "This is Amber, the current fall maiden. As you can see, she is in a sorry state."

"Why won't you wake her up?" Pyrrha aggressively asked.

"Because if we do, she'd die." Ironwood piped in. "Believe me, I have tried everything I could. The damage Amber has sustained is more than just physical. She has lost aura, she isn't regenerating it, and we don't know what happens to the host once their power is stolen. It's never happened before, you see. I fear that if it weren't for this life support system, Amber would have died days after Qrow brought her back from where he saved her. This is the only way she stays alive."

"You forgot to tell her one thing Jimmy," Qrow interrupted, the general glared at him, but didn't say the nasty things that came to mind right away. "It also doubles as a sort of transfer machine. You see that empty pod over there?" The old huntsman pointed to a pod identical to Amber's. "You get in there, we push a few buttons, and we can transfer what's left of Amber's power and aura into your body. Making you the new fall maiden, or well, half of one anyway."

"It's true, I'm afraid," Ozpin said with a sigh when Pyrrha looked to him for confirmation. "It was a desperate time, and we had to look for a potential candidate right away. Which was why you are here, Miss Nikos. You have the individual skill that can be improved even further to defend yourself, and with our support, we can help keep you safe until the most immediate threats are dealt with."

"What he means," Hector spoke up before the headmaster can continue. "Is that he is offering you the choice to become the new fall maiden and that after we get through whatever happens during the tournament, we can look forward to a more pleasant future for you."

"We are leaving it to you," Ozpin said at last. "However, a choice has to made tonight. After what we've been told by these two…" He eyed Robert and Hector. "We can't risk waiting for you to come to a decision for any longer than a few hours. I'm sorry."

"I need to make a choice now?" Pyrrha asked with a shaky voice. Sadly, Ozpin nodded his head toward her. She started breathing harder, and looked toward Hector for support, he tried to open his mouth and say something, but his sad eyes told her something else. He didn't know what to say and even though that wasn't his fault Pyrrha did not like it.

"Why? I don't understand," She felt tears sting her eyes. "How… I'm still trying to process… I went to Beacon instead of Haven so I could avoid being put in the spotlight so often… I just wanted a fun life for years to come until I graduated… and yet…" She shut her eyes in anguish as she felt the tears break free and roll down her face. "Hector, you say you know the future. Be honest with me, what happens if I say no?"

"..."

"TELL ME!"

"Beacon is attacked," Hector said softly. "You make the choice anyway in the end, but it's too late. Cinder kills you, Ozpin, and plenty of people, and takes the rest of the power."

Pyrrha slumped her forehead against the glass and sobbed.

"So I don't have a choice either way, hm?" She said with a bitter chuckle.

"You do, it's just that decision must be made now, because later… there will be no time."

"Just in case we already have other candidates," Ironwood said. "Yang Xiao Long for one, she is powerful and is loyal to her peers. Coco Adel is experienced and has a loyal team more than willing to protect her. Perhaps Ashley Cain," Hector stepped up and glared at the general, but he quickly calmed down, he knew that if it had to be done, it had to be done. "She has very powerful teammates and friends with a strong relationship with Mister Rivers here, she is the second choice to you."

Pyrrha felt herself shaking as she thought. As much as she wanted a normal life, as much as she wanted friends and to become a normal huntress with normal goals, all of that would come with the price of damning some other girl to this fate. She couldn't do that, she just couldn't force another person to become this maiden just because of her own selfish and personal desires.

"Okay…" She breathed and wiped the tears from her face. "Okay… I'll do it, I'll become your fall maiden."

"This is your last chance, we could give you half an hour, but no more…" Robert tried to offer, he didn't like this in the slightest, his arms were crossed and he was secretly clenching his fists. "I'm sorry, but I don't think we have any more time…"

"I know," Pyrrha said flatly. She turned around and faced them all, her tear-stained cheeks made them all feel a pit in their stomachs, and for once Qrow had nothing to say to even attempt to lighten up the mood. "I'll do it, if I am going to die anyway, I'd rather have the power to at least stand a chance to beat Cinder a-and… save everyone… Hector."

He perked up at his name being called. He stepped forward when she beckoned him too, it was the least that he could do to offer his support when she placed her hands on his shoulders and rested her forehead against his. "You are my friend, right?"

"I am," Hector confirmed.

"Tell Jaune… and everyone else… I love them all. Just in case I go in there and come out a different person. I want them to know how I feel."

Hector wrapped one hand around her and squeezed, offering what support he could. He wished that he wasn't the only person that she could rely on right now. They weren't even that close. She sobbed again and they shared a minute-long hug that did little to calm her nerves. "I promise." He whispered back as they let each other go. Pyrrha smiled at him as he walked backward and away from her.

"Just so you know Pyrrha, the future has changed a lot, this is just another chance to change it again. From here on out, both me and Hector won't know what will happen, your life and your fate are your own, now more than ever." Robert said. "If that makes you feel any better…"

"If I make it through the festival, it will." Pyrrha smiled at him, Robert smiled back and continued to remain silent.

Ozpin stepped forward, Glynda, Ironwood, and Qrow all moved away. Leaving just the two of them alone together. "I am sorry for making you do this."

"You aren't making me do anything. I am doing this of my own choice."

Ozpin looked at her sadly, they both knew it wasn't true.

He directed her to enter the pod and closed the door to it. Leaving her locked in the same kind of pod that was keeping Amber alive. He proceeded to push the necessary buttons and functions until there was only one more step to officially begin the transfer process. His finger shook before he could press the final button and he balled that hand into a fist. To do this to such a young girl… even for a man as old as he, it was still so difficult.

"Are you ready?"

Pyrrha nodded her head.

"Say… say the word please."

"...Yes."

He steeled himself and pushed the button, the process began and he slowly watched as Amber's life, power, and remaining aura drained away and began to enter Pyrrha. The young girl screamed in pain, feeling something that had to be beyond human comprehension. It took several minutes of listening to her scream for the process to finally be complete.

When Amber finally died.

Ruby skipped happily and was practically shaking with excitement. Not only because of Team RWBY's first victory in a tournament like setting but because of all the awesome amazing super cool huntsman and huntresses around! She's never seen this many of them in one spot before. Everywhere she looked there was a hunter, and behind her Yang, Weiss, and Blake were equally as excited but were just better at hiding it. Psh, as if she'd pretend she wasn't happy to see them. All those weapons… she wanted to touch them.

"Oh my god oh my god ohmygoshicalYAAASS!"

"I think Ruby is broken," Blake whispered to her partner, Yang snickered back in agreement.

"Ruby, calm down!" Weiss exclaimed as she chased after her speeding partner and caught her by the hood. Ruby's legs kept kicking for a second before she realized she couldn't run anymore and pouted. "We may have won our first round but that is no excuse for you to be so obnoxious."

"But Weiss, you're all smiley and giggly too." Ruby pointed out.

"W-well," Weiss went red and dropped her partner. "I know how to not look like a fool while doing it!"

"Don't worry Weiss-cream, we'll keep it a secret from the others." Yang teased with a wink. The heiress humphed and looked away from her foolish teammates, because how dare they try and wrangle her in with the likes of them.

Their first round in the Vytal Festival went by without much issue. Team BRNZ proved to be challenging opponents individually, but their teamwork was their weakness. Team RWBY practiced fighting together constantly and even had experience in fighting some stronger opponents such as the White Fang and Roman Torchwick, not to mention the extra training they were able to work on with Teams HAMR and JNPR, even professor Urra had some things to show them. They won the battle as soon as one of the members of Team BRNZ were eliminated and were allowed into the second round. Where they would decide the duos at a later hour.

After that was Team JNPR's fight, they seemed to be able to handle their own enemies fairly well. Especially Pyrrha, who was fighting harder than Ruby has ever seen before. Single-Handedly, she took down half of the team by herself, and Nora the two others in one big lightning enhanced attack. Jaune too, seemed to be fighting back more aggressively and his growth is compared to when he first entered Beacon was impressive to watch. Even Weiss was impressed, and she was usually cold to him because of his constant pining after her. Once the battle was won, the next one was announced. Team HAMR would be next, and no one could wait to see how they were going to do in their battle against some team from Atlas called BRVO. With Hector regaining his new semblance, everyone from Beacon expected them to win.

Ruby stopped suddenly and Weiss clashed against her back, wincing, she asked what her teammate was doing stopping without warning like that. However, Ruby did not respond, her mouth was agape, her eyes were dilating with pure joy, and a low squeak started to rise in tempo the longer she stared at a woman none of them knew standing off to the side speaking to some other huntsman.

Yang peeked over her shoulder and immediately understood why her sister was so excited. "Oh no," She said, facepalming. "It's Ruby's idol."

"SCARLET TARKUS!" Ruby squealed as she sped ahead of her entire team. Leaving them desperately trying to catch up to her as she suddenly appeared in front of the red-haired woman.

"Woah!" The huntress leaned back as the much younger girl gripped her hand and started shaking it before she even realized what was happening.

"The legendary sniper huntress who has thousands of confirmed Grimm kills! I've watched all of the videos and read all of the articles about you, I even watched your own documentary on how to shoot and take aim! If it weren't for you I would have never gotten as good as I am now! EEEEEEEE-"

"Calm down, girl," Scarlet said with a chuckle as she calmly shook Ruby's hand. "I'm not what the media made me out to be," She leaned down and smirked, her yellow eyes winked at her. "I'm better."

"EEEEEEEEEEEEE!" Ruby squealed even louder.

"I am so sorry for that!" Yang exclaimed as she and the rest of their team caught up. "She took one look at you and bolted, her semblance is speed so you can imagine how annoying she can be when she gets excited like this."

"Ruby!" Weiss berated, Ruby winced and comically hid behind the huntress to get away from her. "Why would you do such a thing? You're the leader of a team of huntresses!"

"Team leader eh?" Scarlet asked, looking through the corner of her eye to the purple-haired man snickering at the scene before him.

"Oh no, don't be giving me that look right now." The man said, holstering his engraved weapon behind his back. "This is way too amusing."

"What Razz is trying and very much failing at is saying that he is also a leader," Scarlet said. "And unfortunately my partner."

"Razz Razzmatazz, at your service." The man said as he bowed over-dramatically, causing the girls to giggle at his antics. "I'll leave my wonderful and sociable partner here to talk to her fans, for I have been ordered to provide some protection to the rest of the people around us."

"Wait!" Ruby wailed as she sped in front of the man. "You're Razz? The Razz? Razzmatazz?"

"Say that three times fast and I'll answer any question you want."

To his surprise, Ruby actually managed it without getting herself tongue-tied. She did have a speed semblance after all.

"How'd you manage to keep your streak for so long? Where are your other teammates? How are you so good at everything? What's Scarlet's favorite food?"

"That's four questions, but I guess I can oblige you," Razz laughed. "Tell you what, since you're such a big fan of ours, why don't you and your teammates follow us around until the next round starts. We're on our break-"

"I thought you said you had things to do?" Blake asked.

Razz ignored her. "-and I am sure Scarlet would love to boast all about her shooting skills to the next generation."

"Tch, remember that I was the one to end that streak of yours Razz." Scarlet pointed out, irritated.

"Yeah, and remember it took you ten tries before you actually beat me," Razz fired back, winking at the fuming woman before turning back around and taking all the other girls except Ruby under his wing.

The young girl rocked back and forth on her heels as a wave of nervousness suddenly washed over her. Scarlet Tarkus was and still is a very popular Valean Huntress who graduated from Beacon eight years before Ruby even entered the school. Even as a child, due to her upbringing Ruby was obsessed with weapons and huntsman, and Scarlet was at the top of her list right beside her uncle. Scarlet was unlike any other huntress, who specifically only used a very high impact sniper rifle that fired powerful hollow point dust rounds that exploded anything that it was fired against. Even Goliaths and full-grown Nevermore. Her accuracy was so on point that she was regarded as one of the top huntresses of her time and still today. Beautiful, tall, with her hair a color that Ruby adored and yellow piercing eyes that intimidated her in a great way. She was everything that Ruby wanted to grow into. With the training and inspiration from Qrow, she combined her two idol's weapons into the sniper-scythe that she calls Crescent Rose.

Scarlet looked down at her and chuckled, beckoning her to follow as she walked off in a different direction from her partner and the rest of her team. "C'mon little one, it's been a while since a fan came up to me and I am sure you would like to get some tips and tricks from me… wanna go to the range?"

Ruby silver eyes widened with joy, all her nervousness suddenly gone.

"Yes!"

Hector took a deep breath as he walked out with his team to the center of the arena. In front of so many people, he found himself nervous. But after what happened with Pyrrha, he was much too preoccupied to even worry about that. Ashley noticed right away of course, and after being pushed he told them about what happened. Not everything, but enough to know that something deeper was happening around Vale. Somewhere in the crowd, he was reassured that Robert was making sure that nothing was going to happen, and if something did, he would be the first one in the arena to help him just in case they were attacked earlier. Along with many other dozens of huntsman confirmed to be under Ozpin's employment.

"Ready to go Boss?" Reggie asked him as he patted him on the back.

"Ready as I'll ever be I guess." Hector looked at the Atlesian team ahead of him, Team BRVO, or Bravo. He never looked up anything about them and didn't know how they fought, but he'd learn soon enough. They were a different sort of people that he expected from a place like Atlas, one of them even having a fork-like weapon that was very heavily enlarged and with countless modifications to it. The others were more generic with weapons like swords, guns, and both.

He looked down at his own hands and clenched his fists as he thought about everything that has happened leading up to this point. He was so weak when he first arrived here on Remnant, he had nothing to work with in terms of fighting, and look at him now… This rate of growth should have been impossible, but he was beginning to understand why. These memories, Hell, they both came from somewhere, and along with that was power and understanding of the styles of combat. It wasn't natural. He wasn't natural. The fact that he wasn't surprised about that should have concerned him more.

"Look alive," Michael said as he brought out one of his Kusarigama's. "The stage is about to shift."

Ashley gripped his forearm as he continued to think to himself. He looked toward his faunus teammate and smiled before getting ready to fight. This was the hardest part of the plan, just having to wait for Aaron or Cinder to make the first move.

"-Now that our contestants have arrived," professor Port announced. "We can now see what stage awaits them! Spin the dial Bart!"

The dial was a very large TV screen that had a variety of elements and symbols glowing on them. Soon, the first one stopped. It was a symbol in the shape of a snowflake. Then the second one stopped, and it was the same one.

"Ah, two snowflakes! You know what that means folks, it's time for an icy tundra!"

Hector nearly fell as snow suddenly fell and grew from the floor. Ice formed paths and caves were carved out. Snow-covered it all, and he immediately felt himself and the rest of his teammates shivering. The ones from Atlas, who were already used to the snow for obvious reasons, shook it off with ease.

Already, they were at a disadvantage, but not only that. All this snow sparked even more memories from within his shared mind. Memories of battle, death, blood, and countless Grimm. He didn't know who it was, but someone important to him- no, the person before him, died.

The memories made him angry. His eyes turned a blood-red and his aura began to spike. His aura becoming hot enough to melt away the snow around him.

"And Begin!"

And that was a chapter and a half for us to write. Damn, if you guys knew what we knew… Anyway, see you in 2020 if we're not able to write another chapter of this story again!

Realistically unless Gen decided to do a surprise chapter right tomorrow, or well… before New year, it won't be happening, but hey, we'll be right back in January. -CrowSkull

See you next week, next month, next year and next decade!

Please review and let us know what you think!

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