I don't own RWBY. RWBY is owned by Rooster Teeth and was created by Monty Oum. I only own my Ocs

"Begin!" Port said, but nearly every one stood still. The arenas they had clashed with each other

The course and rough sand of the desert and the green and lush grass of the forest

Too bad it didn't stop Adam or Aryl as they rushed each other

Aryl swung her spear, Flavus, at Adam, which was deflected back at her. She spun and used the momentum to swing harder at his left side. Adam jumped back before firing Wilt out of Blush, which Aryl only barely managed to block

Adam jumped forward and grabbed Wilt before throwing a strike straight downward. Aryl sidestepped. Adam, who was expecting this, fired Blush at her, causing Aryl to back up and take a few hits while at it

Aryl didn't advance, and neither did Adam

"I have to say, you're a lot better at fighting than I expected." Aryl said to Adam

"Well, I am the best at my respective fighting style. I'm a bit disappointed you were expecting less. As for my thoughts on your fighting, you aren't too bad. But I assume I have yet to see you at full potential." Adam replied

"Thanks for that." Aryl said back

"You're welcome." Adam said as their teams regrouped

Yang saw Vermilion and immediately recognized him. She didn't notice before because she was to busy mulling over what Adam said earlier

"Vermilion? Is that you?" She asked to be sure

"Of course it's me, Yang. I'm a bit disappointed you didn't recognize me off the bat." Vermilion confirmed

"Well, if it wasn't for some people, I would have." Yang said to him

"Hmm. As much as I'd like to talk to you, Yang. We kinda have a fight to get into." Vermilion pointed out the obvious

"I would gladly fight you." Yang said back

"Well, that was heartwarming." Weiss said

"We have no time for heartwarming, unfortunately." Verdant said before crouching down and focusing on Adam

"I couldn't agree more!" Adam said before jumping at him

Verdant quickly pulled up his trident, Virdi, to prevent Wilt from crashing down on him, and then proceeded to repel Wilt back. Adam swung to his right before quickly swinging to the left and jumping to slam Wilt on Verdant

Verdant barely blocked those strikes

Adam use his Aura to summon shadow copies of himself to attack. The first sent a strike upward into Virdi to knock Verdant of balance. The second swung from the left to hit him only for it to be blocked. The third swung upward again

All of the clones along with Adam combined to hit Verdant at the same time from the right, which knocked him back. Adam threw Wilt at the ground, causing it to ricochet and spin along Virdi. Wilt flew up into the air

Adam jumped on the shaft of Virdi and grabbed Wilt. Adam flipped Wilt around before using his semblance to create a shockwave by slamming into the ground

"Hoho! A shocking move from Adam!" Adam heard Port say

"Indeed! Adam's semblance, Moonslice, allows him to absorb energy from nearly any source and throw it back with up to nearly quadruple it's original power! However, it must be channeled through an object." Oobleck chimed in as Adam kept fighting

"Hehe, indeed! This is what makes Adam one of my favorite students! I think this makes this an astonishing bout we have ahead of us! Wouldn't you agree, professor?" Port asked Oobleck

"Doctor. And yes, Peter. I believe this match may be one of the closest we have seen in the 4-on-4 match ups!" Oobleck agreed

"For those of you just now joining us, welcome! To the Vytal Festival Tournament!" Port said before Adam finally tuned out

Adam unsheathed Wilt, struck, and resheathed 3 times within a second. Adam used his clones to confuse Verdant before appearing behind him and using his semblance to send an energy wave his way, sending Verdant backward when he blocked

Adam saw the blades on the end of Virdi turn red before a fire wave was sent his way. Adam brought Wilt up to absorb it before stumbling backward because of a gunshot. Because of this, he was hit with the fire wave and knocked onto his back

"Oh! That's gotta hurt!" Port reacted

"Indeed, Peter! Adam is now at a 67% Aura level! He won't last for long if he keeps this up." Oobleck added

Adam slowly got up to see that Verdant had shot him with the sniper transformation of Virdi

"That was a neat trick! But don't expect me to fall for it again!" Adam called out

"I wouldn't think you would! You don't seem like that kinda person!" Verdant called back

"Good! BECAUSE I'M NOT!" Adam shouted before shooting Wilt out of Blush at Verdant, who blocked it calmly

Adam ran up and hit Verdant in the head with the pommel of Wilt before kicking him away

Adam was about to charge up to Verdant when Azure stepped in front of him, swinging with her katana, Caeruleum, at Adam to keep him away

"Verdant! Go take that kid while I handle him!" She shouted at him

"Are you sure? He's no push over. If I had to say, the best first year out of any team." Verdant said back

"Just go!" Azure shouted

"That was a mistake." Adam said to her with his narrowed blue eyes

"Maybe, but at least I know that it's a mistake." Azure replied to Adam

Adam growled before rushing her and striking upward and created shadow clones that all sliced from individual ways before combining with Adam to send her back

Azure changed Caeruleum into a shotgun and fired at Adam. Adam, being Adam, absorbed all of the shots. Azure changed Caeruleum back into a katana before swinging at Adam multiple times

Adam blocked them all before absorbing the energy from them. Adam disengaged and sheated Wilt. Adam used the fire dust in his magazine again before unleashing a massive strike

Azure was sent flying through the rocks and sand at a pace that was hard to follow with the naked eye. Azure, amazingly, was still above the 15% amount of Aura required to still be in the match

'Her semblance either helped her or she has a shit ton of Aura.' Adam thought as he watched Vermilion pick her up

Adam charged at Vermilion. Adam swung upward and used his shadow clones to hit him multiple times in succession, and Vermilion slid backward

Vermilion ran to Adam and dodged some of his strikes before hitting him in the face. Vermilion then proceeded to punch Adam in the chest two times before grabbing his arm and putting it behind his back. Vermilion kicked Adam as hard as he could in the chest

"AAHH!" Adam shouted before turning around and blocking a flurry of punches. Adam blocked a kick before Vermilion used his other leg and kicked him in the face

Vermilion let off a scream before firing his gauntlets, Rubrum Garnet, at Adam multiple times. Adam absorbed all of them

'His gauntlets are a lot like Yang's. Maybe they're even inspired off of Yang's since she actually knows him.' Adam thought as he was deflecting blows left and right

Adam put his semblance into his boots and jumped above a rock before using Moonslice to cut the rock in half so it would fall on Vermilion. Adam's feet hit the rough sand of the desert

However, the one thing Adam didn't account for was Vermilion's semblance, Inhuman Strength

Vermilion lifted the rock up and threw it back at Adam, whom only barely managed to dodge it. Adam used semblance with wind dust to send Vermilion, along with a ton of sand, to the middle of the arena

Adam went in front of him before the rest of Team XASS formed around him. RWPY did the same

"It seems we're at a standoff." Adam said to them

"Yeah! So give up now!" Ruby added on. Adam facepalmed

"Hmm... it seems we are. However, we cannot afford to give up here and now." Verdant said

"I agree with my friend here, Adam. There's to much at stake for us not to win this fight." Aryl said to him, and the rest of RWPY

"Well, to bad! There's to much at stake for us as well!" Yang said to them

"How about..." Adam made sure he had their attention. "We both concede." Adam suggested

"What are you?! crazy?!" Aryl said to him

"Think about it. If there's ever a draw in the Tournament, then it's stated both teams move on to the next match. But, if both teams move past the doubles round, the fighters each team chose must fight each other in the singles round. So, if we both concede..." Adam stopped to let her fill in the blanks

"We both move on and get a chance to win either way." Aryl finished before smirking. "I have to admit, big guy. You're smarter than you look."

"Well, I do love knowledge as it can give you the edge in any verbal fight." Adam replied

"Hehehe. Alright, you ready?" Aryl asked

"Yes. Ruby?" Adam answered and then called for Ruby's attention

"Yes?" Ruby asked what Adam wanted, even though she knew

"You're gonna have to do this since I'm not team leader." Adam said to her

"... Ok..." Ruby said after some hesitation

"Then on 3, we'll both concede. 1, 2, 3!" Aryl counted down

"We concede!" Both Ruby and Aryl shouted at the same time

"Hoho! It seems both teams have conceded, professor!" Port said

"Doc-tor. And why yes indeed! This means that the round is a draw for both teams and must fight each other in the singles round if both teams make it there!" Oobleck said to the people who haven't watch the Vytal Festival Tournament before

"I can't wait to see that amazing battle!" Port added as both teams walked out

"Hey." Adam heard Aryl call to him

"Yeah?" Adam said to let her know he was listening

"Here's my scroll number." Aryl said before handing him a piece of paper

"Oh! Well, I don't have a paper with mine on it. But I can write it down if you have a piece of paper and a pen or pencil." Adam said to her

"Yeah, I do." Aryl said to Adam before handing him the materials. Adam wrote it down really quick before handing it back to Aryl

"There you go. It was nice talking to you." Adam said to her while handing her the paper with his number on it

"Thank you. It was nice talking to you too, and a good fight." Aryl said before walking off

"Yeah, a good fight..."

Hey everyone. I'm sorry it took so long to get this chapter out, but I was feeling very down for the past few days

And that is why I'll take this time to thank Before_hours_Writing and Jenni_thewolffaunus for consoling me and helping me to get better

Luine Mercury LWG: Yeah, this is kinda my thing now. But I hoped you enjoyed this chapters dust usage and just in general. With the love interests, it feels like Blake is just done to much for these types of stories to me, so I went ahead and changed it

GhostHaloRWBY: I would've made Blake and Adam a couple if this was the start of the story, but I can't now. It makes no sense by now. But, when I finish V3 of this story, I will go ahead and work on some of my other stories and I could pair Adam with Blake in one of those. If you want

But, other than that, I must say goodbye now

Love y'all and see ya later. I'll leave you with each characters bio

Name: Vermilion Sanguine

Age: 19 (fourth year)

Race: Human

Gender: Male

Hair Color: Maroon

Hair Style: his hair is swept to his sides and back to keep it out of his eyes. His hair is shoulder length

Eye Color: Maroon

Aura Color: Red

Skin Tone: White

Alignment: Chaotic good

Semblance: Inhumane Strength

Allows him to lift around 100 tons at once for an approximate of 10 minutes, but leaves his muscles sore to the point where he can barely fight. He can use this to deliver haymakers that can instantly knock out an opponent

Clothing: Wears a maroon combat jacket with faded blue jeans and black shoes. He has a shoulder pad on his right with Black gloves. He wears a necklace with red dust in it as well as pouches around his belt

Physical Characteristics: Vermilion doesn't have a whole lot to note as he has no visible distinctions or particular physical feats. The only thing to note is that he is an adept in acrobatics, but not much else

Birth Kingdom: Vale

School: Haven Academy

Greatest Friend: Aryl Xanthe

Greatest Rival: Yang Xiao Long

Love Interest: Yang Xiao Long

Personality: Vermilion Sanguine is someone who you don't want to aggravate. Being an absolute power house, he can easily put nearly anyone on the ground and has knowledge to boot. However, because of this, he has a very head headfirst approach to nearly anything. He isn't very protective of his friends and won't do very much, except for consoling his friends, unless he thinks it's absolutely necessary. He feels that people need to learn how to do things themselves, but not that they should be left alone

Weapon: Vermilion uses gauntlets a lot like Yang's. In fact, they were based off of Yang's gauntlets. Named Rubrum Garnet, these gauntlets were specifically designed to shoot shotgun slugs with red dust imbedded into the shell. However, they can use other dust types such as Ice, Gravity, and etcetera. It should be noted that the only dust type it can't use is earth because it causes the gun to jam

Fighting style: not only mimicking Yang's to an extent, Vermilion uses two styles known as Lethwei and Muay Thai respectively. He implements these for a combo of hard-hitting strikes. From headbutts to elbows, Vermilion uses these techniques to put a ruthless pressure on his opponent

Backstory: Growing up in Vale, Vermilion was a very outgoing person and loved his family to death. He didn't hang out with a lot of people however, as his dad was abusive towards him and he usually spent all of his free time getting abused or trying not to cry. He was told every time he cried to suck it up and get over it. This turned him into a person who hated asking for any help whatsoever. It wouldn't be until his mom had a divorce that they would move to Patch and apply him to Signal Academy, where he met Yang. He found himself in a peculiar situation with Yang as he was her rival and vice-versa. But he was attracted to her as she was the first to not judge him for anything he did. He ended up going to Haven 3 years early, where he was matched up with his team, XASS (xanthous). He would go on to be one of the best at Haven

[Line Break]

Name: Verdant Shamrock

Age: 21 (fourth year)

Race: Faunus (Fox)

Hair Color: Grey

Hair Style: Verdant's hair is kinda spiky but flattend on his head, showing his fox ears. His hair goes down to just past his ears

Eye Color: Blue

Aura Color: Dark green

Skin Tone: White

Alignment: Chaotic Good

Semblance: Weakness detection

Allows the user to see their opponents openings or faults in their stance. It also allows them to pick up on anything that may throw their opponent off. However, it is an active semblance and the user can be thrown off by fake cues

Clothing: Wears a dark green T-shirt with a black shoulder pad on the left that has a bandolier of pouches running across it. He has Black pants on with dark green shin protectors as well as kneepads with a pair of dark green boots

Physical Characteristics: Verdant has a robotic arm on his left after an incident involving him. He has no discernible characteristics other than his fox ears, which are grey

Birth Kingdom: Atlas

School: Haven Academy

Greatest Friend: Azure Lapis (Another Oc I'll do later)

Greatest Rival: Lie Ren

Love Interest: Azure Lapis

Personality: Being someone who's not only experienced a lot of heartbreak, but also betrayal, Verdant values honesty and trust over anything. If you've proven yourself to have these things to Verdant, you have his friendship and he will help you with damn near anything

Weapon: Verdant uses a Trident Mixed with a bolt-action sniper rifle named Virdi. Viridi can load dust rounds to apply an AOE to an area or to a specific person. The trident blades can also be imbued with dust as well to create special effects. For example, if the blades are infused with Ice dust, the thing it hits will immediately freeze or he can create a trail with the Ice as he's swinging

Backstory: Verdant grew up in the Atlas mines owned by SDC. He'd been beaten and neglected because of the simple fact he was a faunus. Even his own race neglected him. The only one who didn't was a bull faunus named Adam Taurus. While he didn't talk to Verdant, he was willing to help him. Verdant wouldn't really go through anything as traumatic as a brand until, one day, he was hauling unstable dust. He didn't know that it was unstable though. Regardless, he walked past a pair if guards that were beating a faunus because he wouldn't do his job. They activated their Auras and the dust reacted. The dust glowed super bright and, upon noticing this, Verdant backed up. He didn't know what was going on. A blur jumped out in front of him before a loud noise could be heard, and everything went black. He awoke to see that he was in a hospital. They had told him that the dust exploded and would've likely killed him if someone hadn't jumped in the way. However, he lost him arm and was very traumatized from this event. He ended up developing PTSD as a result. He had a robotic implant and was sent back to the mines soon after. The beatings, however, got worse as he refused to haul any dust. The overseers abused this as they would only give him these assignments, which they knew he wouldn't do it. He would go on to experience more of this before one of the overseers was tired of the way they were treated and released them. He ran as far as he could before stowing away on a boat to Mistral. He would go on to meat Azure and her family, which soon adopted him. Azure and Verdant developed feeling for each other, but refuse to tell the other what they think. Verdant applied to Haven with Azure and joined Team XASS (xanthous). Verdant still wonders who saved him in the mine on that fateful day. Little did he know, that it was Adam

[Line Break]

Name: Azure Lapis

Age: 21 (fourth year)

Race: Human

Hair Color: Dark Blue

Hair Style: Azure's hair is swept to the right and is shoulder length

Eye Color: Light Blue

Aura Color: Dark Blue

Skin Tone: White

Alignment: Lawful Good

Semblance: Insane Luck

Being an active semblance, this allows the user to give themselves extremely good luck when using it. However, upon deactivation, bouts of insanely bad luck will surely occur right after. There is really no counter to this semblance, but people can be skilled enough to bypass it

Clothing: Wears a blue long-sleeved T-shirt with a military vest over it and has pouches for magazines and/or dust. She wears black combat pants and has boots. She also wears black gloves

Physical Characteristics: has no discernible characteristics

Birth Kingdom: Mistral

School: Haven Academy

Greatest Friend: Verdant Shamrock

Greatest Rival: None

Love Interest: Verdant Shamrock

Personality: Azure isn't a very extraordinary person. She, rather, loves to be outgoing without really having anything traumatic happen. She cares for people like they are her family

Weapon: Azure uses a katana that can transform into a pump action shotgun. It's named Caeruleum. Caeruleum can be infused with dust as well as shoot dust rounds. Other than that, it can't really do anything extraordinary

Fighting Style: Azure uses the two Japanese sword arts known as Kendo and Kenjustu

Backstory: Azure didn't really have an interesting life. She grew up normally with no negative things that happened. One day, however, a little boy showed up on her doorstep. He had said his name was Verdant before passing out. She would care for him the next few days. She noted his robotic arm and felt sorry for him. She also grew close to Verdant. She would find herself blushing whenever she was near him. They became close friends and step-family as he was adopted by her family. They applied to Haven and joined Team XASS (xanthous)