(A/N)

Hello and welcome to NCRS Volume 3!

It's been a long time since I've worked on this series. I hope you guys are ready for this volume because I got a lot of ideas that are pretty fun.

I'm glad that all of you enjoyed the Christmas Special from last year. I wanted to make it a filler chapter, but make it connected to the story at the same time.

As usual, there will be a new opening, but it'll only appear once in the next chapter since some people complained that the opening got in the way.

To recap what happened in Volume 2, Team NCRS, RWBY, and JNPR prepare themselves for the New Semester at Beacon Academy. During their new semester, they met Sun and Neptune of Team SSSN from Haven Academy along with Atlas Academy's top students, Meryl Silverburgh, Jin Kisaragi, Noel Vermillion, and Tsubaki Yayoi of Team MJNT. However, despite having fun and memorable moments like the Beacon Dance and their Christmas Party along with Natsu and Blake discovering that they're family and know each other from childhood, they've encountered Roman, The White Fang, Liquid, and Cardin again in Mountain Glenn with their new accomplices, Hazama, Sephiroth, and Neopolitan. And even though they have defeated their enemies and Roman was arrested, Sephiroth warned them that Remnant will soon be consumed by darkness.

What is this darkness that Sephiroth is looking forward to? Will our heroes be able to conquer them?

To find out the answers, let's get started!

Vytal Festival

Patch

Ruby walks up to a gravestone with a flower symbol and the words [Summer Rose / Thus Kindly I Scatter]. She removed her hood and looked down at the gravestone.

"Hey, mom." Ruby said with a mixture of happiness and sorrow in her tone. "Sorry I haven't come by in a while. Things have been pretty busy. Oh, Dad's here, too! He's, uh, you know. Dad. He's still teaching at Signal. But he told me that he's going to be on some mission soon. I think he misses adventuring with you."

"I haven't gotten kicked out of Beacon yet." Ruby joked awkwardly. "So that's cool. I think being on a team with Yang helps. She's actually a really great fighter! You can tell she's learned a lot from Dad. Oh, so are Weiss and Blake. They're my teammates. Together, we form Team RWBY! And yes, before you ask, that does cause a lot of confusion."

"Anyways, I made a bunch of new friends, and then I met some well… interesting teachers." Ruby said, rubbing the back of her head. "We've also stopped some bad guys, too. I guess it's like they say: "like mother, like daughter"! I still wonder why Ozpin let me into the school early. But uh, I guess he'll tell me one day. You know how he is. It's funny, the more I get to know him, the more he's starting to sound like Uncle Qrow."

Ruby heard a bark, causing her to turn around to see Zwei and a man with blonde hair and blue eyes while wearing brown cargo shorts, black shoes, a red bandana on his left arm and a brown leather vest over a tan dress shirt. This is Taiyang Xiao Long, the father of Ruby Rose and Yang Xiao Long.

"Oh, Looks like Dad's back! I gotta go! He's dropping me off at Beacon for the tournament match before he goes on his next mission. Wish me luck!" Ruby puts the hood back on and starts to walk away, but turns before saying- "It was good to talk."

Beacon Academy, Dorm

Natsu is currently leaning against the railing of the balcony while letting out a yawn. He looks up in the sky before taking out his locket, smiling a bit before it turns into a frown.

"Rare to see you up early." The dragon faunus turns around to see Snake standing at the entrance.

"Hey Snake." Natsu waved as the stealth soldier walked up to him. "I couldn't sleep, so I thought I might get some air. Are Cloud and Ragna still sleeping?"

"Yeah, but they'll wake up soon." Snake said, leaning his back against the railing. "You thinking about the Vytal Festival?"

"Yeah, I can't wait to fight." Natsu grins before he starts to frown. "I just hope my dad will see me fight… wherever he is."

"He will." Snake reassured, crossing his arms. "I can guarantee it. Just be thankful that you still have your family."

"I'm still surprised that me and Blake are related." Natsu laughed lightly.

"Not all relatives have to look the same." Snake stated. "Ruby and Yang are a good example."

"That's true." Natsu said, getting up and turning to his partner. "Snake?" He called while holding a hand out. "Let's win the Vytal Festival: For our friends, family, and Beacon."

Snake raised an eyebrow before letting out a small chuckle with a soft smile. He grabbed Natsu's hand and exchanged a brief shake and hug.

Amity Colosseum

Crowds are cheering in the stands, visitors from all over the world to see the Vytal Festival.

In the field of volcanic earth and icy glaciers below, Ruby fires and swings her Crescent Rose at an off-screen target as Blake exchanges blows with Reese, the blades of her Gambol Shroud colliding with the hoverboard of her opponent until she flips away, readies herself, and charges in again.

Weiss waves her Myrtenaster as the sound of her mystical power is heard, and finally Yang dodges the explosive force of Arslan's fist before returning fire with her own Ember Celica.

"Hello! It seems that we have another astonishing bout ahead of us!" Port said with pride, sitting next to Barret and Oobleck. "Wouldn't you agree, Professor Oobleck and Wallace?"

"It's DOCTOR Oobleck." Oobleck corrected. "And yes Peter, I think it's safe to say this match may be the closest we've seen of the four-on-four round of the tournament!"

"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the VYTAL FESTIVAL TOURNAMENT!" Barret shouted as fireworks occurred. "We're all live in the Amity Colosseum and if you're new to this, prepare for some wisdom to be dropped upon you."

"The tournament is divided into three distinctive rounds; teams, doubles, and singles." Oobleck explained. "Age and school year are irrelevant! In this tournament, your only attribute being tested is skill."

"Correct!" Port agreed. "The winners of this battle will elect two of their members to represent them in the doubles round, followed by the winners of that round choosing one member to advance once again. The remaining combatants will then fight their way through the final bracket in the hope of achieving victory for their kingdom!"

"And yes, Peter, these certainly are some spectacular spectacles on which to spectate on! I don't think anyone tuning in around the world is going to disagree with me on that!" Oobleck stated while Team NCRS and MJNT are watching from the balcony.

"But enough chit chat." Barret spoke up while JNPR, SSSN, and CRME are watching from the spectator seats. "Let's get back to our current fight: Team RWBY of Beacon Academy vs Team ABRN of Haven Academy."

Reese steers her board through the ice. She twirls herself until the board gets launched at Blake, but she's able to knock it away, only for Reese to direct it back at her opponent. Blake blocks it again, but the board rotates back to its wielder just in time to defend Reese as Blake delivers several slashes and kicks.

Reese deflects each attack and spins her weapon around until she can flip away and ride it again, rushing towards a smirking Blake. She collides with the frozen shadow clone and Blake uses his opportunity to slice the board in two, only for the halves to become dual katars that in turn fold up into bayonet-bladed revolvers. Reese manages to fire off a few green rounds before her tailbone collides painfully on the cold ground, causing Blake to wince with sympathy.

Yang lands mere feet away from Arslan, who backs away before being pounded by a flurry of punches and kicks until she delivers her own hits, ending with the two smashing fists and creating a shockwave of force from the impact.

Yang and Arslan are both thrown back, but Yang reaches her and tries delivering more blows before Arslan uses her rope dart to tangle up her blonde adversary and land a kick of her own to send Yang skidding on the ground. While Yang tries to get her balance back on the slippery surface, Arslan rushes forward and knocks her back even further.

Nearby, Nadir Shiko tries aiming with his assault rifle at Yang before a sudden burst of frosty blue explodes behind him and leaves the whimpering gunner in a block of ice up to his thighs.

"Got your back!" Ruby shouted while holding her sniper.

"But who's got yours?" Ruby looks up behind her as Bolin twirls his staff, right when a black snowflake glyph appears to his left and Weiss kicks him through it into a rock.

"My BFF!" Ruby cheered with delight.

"No. And focus on the match." Weiss said coldly as she ran off.

"Yes." Ruby whispered herself while she pumped her fist.

[Play It's My Turn - Casey Lee Williams]

Bolin crouches with his weapon as he sees a white glyph appear in front of him. A second later, Weiss dashes by and slashes at him, then leaps up and attempts an aerial attack, which he's able to block. Weiss readies her sword while preparing a glyph behind her, and Ruby uses it to launch herself straight up and come down spinning on Bolin, who manages to block the curved blade Ruby grimaces and blasts herself away to Weiss' side.

Bolin rushes at them, rolling away from the shards of ice that rain on him and jumping over Ruby's swing as he continues running before managing to reach an orange crystal deposit and slice off a shard, which he throws to Reese over in the icy half of the stadium.

With Dust in hand, Reese fuses it with her board, turning the aqua lights to a crimson shade. She winks at Blake, then uses the board's heat to free Nadir from his icy snare. She comes back to Blake and slams her board into her enemy's blade, but propels herself backwards and knocks Blake through a frozen pillar.

Reese attempts to use her board to slam her foe into the ground, but when she dodges that, she spins around in a flaming arc that Blake narrowly misses thanks to her shadows. Seeing the situation that she's in, Blake launches the pistol part of Gambol Shroud at a nearby glacier and launches herself behind it, as Reese follows her and sees the black haired girl with her back turned to her under an arch.

The hoverboard user grins before riding in to deliver a flaming spiral at the shadow clone, only to see the ribbon Blake is launching to trap her opponent a moment too late. She pulls tightly and causes Reese to slam body-first into the string, only to use a final kick to knock her out of the stage. Reese crashes into the wall of the stands before landing on the ground, defeated.

*BUZZ*

"Damn, what a combo!" Barret shouted.

"Reese Chloris is eliminated by ring out and Aura level!" Port announced.

"Oh, she really should've worn a helmet." Oobleck added.

"Not bad." Snake said to himself with an amused smile.

"That's how you do it, Blake!" Sun cheered, only to get nasty looks from Scarlet, Sage, and Neptune as the monkey faunus sweatdrops and laughs awkwardly. "I mean uh… hehehe. You can make a comeback, ABRN!"

Arslan uses her rope to swing around and avoid Yang right behind her, using shotgun blasts to propel herself forward.

Nadir aims his rifle at Weiss as she summons another glyph and launches Bolin at him. The two teammates are helpless as Weiss creates a whirlwind from underneath them and slamming the two together until she forms a giant ice fist straight up from the ground to trap the two.

It reforms itself into a ball that rolls around the field, and when Arslan sees her team in this state, she rolls her eyes, annoyed, before changing direction and sliding into the path of the ball. She readies her stance and drives her hand into the sphere, which cracks under her power and frees her allies.

"Yang!" Weiss called out as she created an ice slide. "Now!"

Yang smirks as she blasts herself forward and skims over the wall of ice, catching Blake's pistol as her teammate uses Ruby as a launch pad to jump off of towards the remaining members of ABRN. The three only have a second to look horrified as Blake whips a screaming Yang around to land a devastating punch that sends the trio flying into their elimination.

*BUZZ*

"YAY!" Ruby cheered loudly.

"Nailed it." Yang cheered while pumping a fist.

[Song Ends]

"And that's the match! Team RWBY is victorious!" Port announced as the crowd cheered.

"We did it?" Weiss asked, surprised by the results.

Festival Grounds

"WE DID IT!" Ruby cheered as she jumped up in the air before landing next to her team, holding her tummy. "Is anybody else starving?"

"I may have worked up an appetite." Blake said calmly, only for her stomach to growl as she holds her tummy with an awkward smile and a blush.

"You definitely got Natsu's appetite." Yang giggles, but stops when the black haired girl glares at her.

"Gee, if only there was somewhere on campus to get food around here." Weiss said sarcastically. "Oh wait."

"It's okay, Weiss." Ruby comforted by placing a hand on the heiress' shoulder. "I forgot about the fairgrounds, too."

"I was being facetious." Weiss stated, knocking Ruby's hand away.

"You could've said so from the beginning!" Ruby panicked.

"Come on. I know just the place." Yang said as Team RWBY followed her.

Weiss felt her scroll vibrating in her pocket, prompting her to take it out to see her father calling her. She glares at her scroll before putting it away, ignoring the call.

"Hey Ruby! Is this yours?" Arius called out as he's holding a red wallet with a flower symbol on the pouch, prompting Ruby to turn around and panic as she checks her pockets while the disguised man laughs in amusement. "Here you go. You should be more careful with your stuff. I won't always be around to bring them back to you."

"Thanks Arius." Ruby said, grabbing her wallet and putting it away. "Oh. Guess I dropped it. Girl pockets are the worst!"

"Maybe you should get a purse or better pockets." Emerald said, standing next to Arius.

"Hey Em, Arius. What's up?" Yang greeted as the rest of Team RWBY walked over.

"Just left the stadium after your amazing fight." Emerald said with a smile. "You guys were amazing."

"Oh shutyourstupidface." Ruby mumbles awkwardly with a blush.

"I heard your team progressed to the next round too." Blake said, looking at Arius and Emerald.

"How'd they do in the fight?" Yang asked, making the two recall their fight.

[Flashback]

Emerald tilts her head up in thought, remembering how she blasted opponents with Thief's Respite, then slashed behind her as Mercury Black kicked out a shotgun blast with Talaria. Cinder Fall did the same with her own target, landing the poor soul at the feet of their teammate.

"You think that a headfirst charge will help you achieve victory?" Zeref asked as his eyes closed before opening them, showing that his irises turned red. "That'll lead you to your demise."

The male gasps before Zeref throws a punch at his face, knocking him out.

[Flashback Ends]

"We did very well." Arius answered with a smile. "We'll be moving onto the Doubles Round."

"That's great. Uh. Why don't we all go and get a victory food together?" Ruby suggested.

"That's so nice of you, but our teammates are all kind of…" Emerald and Arius look back at Mercury as he sniffs the inside of a boot, looking perplexed after he does so. "...introverted. Really socially awkward."

"I was about to say weird, but you nailed that description very well." Arius whispered to the green haired girl.

"Ooh, yeah, I could see that." Yang said with disgust. "Arius, will you be fighting in the Doubles Round?"

"No, but Emerald and Mercury will be though." Arius answered, looking back at Team RWBY. "What about you?"

"Well, as the leader of this team, I thought long and hard about this decision." Ruby said with pride.

"We put it to a vote." Weiss said.

"Yes, so, but I decided that we should put it to a vote." Ruby laughed awkwardly.

"We voted for Weiss and Yang." Blake said.

"I will happily represent Team RWBY." Weiss said while bowing.

"Yeah, we're going to kick some butt!" Yang cheered as she pounded her fist together.

"Well, if Mercury and I see you down the line, don't think we'll go easy on ya." Emerald laughed.

"Wouldn't have it any other way." Yang smirked.

"Alright, well we're going to catch some more fights." Emerald says as she starts walking away.

"Have fun!" Ruby waved as Team RWBY, with the exception of Blake, left.

"Hey Arius, have we met?" Blake asked, squinting her eyes.

"Before Beacon, I'm afraid not." Arius answered nervously.

"Sorry, it's just that I felt like I've seen you somewhere before." Blake said, placing a finger underneath her chin.

"Blake! Come on!" Yang called out.

"Coming!" Blake shouted back and turned to Arius. "See you around."

Zeref simply waves as the black haired girl catches up with Team RWBY before he walks over to Emerald and Mercury, who is holding a boot.

"So how are the new friends?" Mercury asked.

"I hate them." Emerald confessed with anger.

"Emerald, stay calm. We're doing this to gather intel." Zeref stated.

"I just don't get how they can be so happy all the time!?" Emerald shouted.

"Did you at least get what we want?" Mercury asked.

"The heiress and the bimbo." Emerald listed.

"By the way, what should we do with the NCRS team?" Mercury asked.

"Don't worry." Zeref reassured. "We got other plans for them."

Noodle Hut

Team RWBY are currently sitting at stools at the Simple Wok hut, getting ready to order.

"I'll have a bowl of the regular, please." Yang said as a large bowl of noodles slides in front of her.

"Oh! I'll take the same." Ruby said as another large bowl of noodles slides in front of her, causing her to clap her hands.

"Do you have anything with a low-salt?" Weiss asked a large bowl of regular noodles instantly slides in front of her. "Um... thanks."

Blake merely gives a nod and smile to the Shopkeep, who returns the gesture as he rushes through one door of his shop and comes out the other to leave a large bowl of noodles topped with fish in front of her.

Blake's eyes turn into stars as she drools over her order. While Weiss looks strangely at her teammate, she gladly offers her Schnee Dust Company credit card to the Shopkeeper.

"Aw, Weiss! What's the occasion!?" Yang gushed.

"Consider it thanks for sending me to the doubles round." Weiss smiled until the card flung back at her.

Team RWBY looks up at the Shopkeeper, who angrily points at the register as it beeps with the word [Decline].

"What!? How could my card be declined?" Weiss asked, completely dumbfounded. " I was barely into my monthly allowance."

Blake quietly and slowly pulls her bowl of fish and noodles to her, only for the Shopkeeper to instantly take it away from her. "My fish!" She cries in defeat.

"Maybe I could help?" Team RWBY looked up to see Jaune, Pyrrha, Nora, and Ren approaching the stand.

"Pyrrha!" Ruby cheered with delight.

"You don't have to do that." Yang said.

"But she could!" Blake said in an urgent tone.

"Well, I think you all earned it after that battle." Pyrrha said with a smile.

"Mind if we join you?" Jaune asked.

"That's fine with us." Ruby answered with a nod.

"Is there room for four more?" Team RWBY and JNPR turned around to see Natsu, Snake, Cloud, and Ragna.

"Hey boys." Yang waves with a wink.

"Congrats on moving to the doubles round." Snake said with a smile.

"Here." Cloud walked over to Weiss and held out a blue cotton candy stick to the heiress. "I know it's not healthy, but consider it a gift for winning the Team Round."

"Seriously? Right when we're about to eat noodles?" Weiss asked with an angry look, but saw the others making various faces from smiles to teasing smirks. The heiress blushes and swipes the cotton candy from Cloud's hand. "Well, at least you're very thoughtful."

"Aww, love is so cute." Nora gushed, causing everyone except for Cloud, Weiss, Ragna, Ruby, and Natsu to giggle.

"Get a room, you two." Ragna spoke up, rolling his eyes.

"You're just jealous because you're not in a relationship." Cloud teased back with a smirk.

"It's because I got no time for that shit." Ragna said with a tick mark.

"Guys, save that for later." Snake sighed as everyone sat down and ordered their food.

Later on, the bowls are empty, and each student is either content with their meal or holding their stomachs sickly.

"Are you sure it's wise to have eaten before a fight?" Ren asked, looking at the red head.

"Of course. It gives us energy." Pyrrha answers as the Shopkeeper collects all of the empty bowls.

Nora lets out a large burp, prompting Snake and Ragna to swing their hands to wave away the after stench.

"Ugh… If I barf, I'm blaming you." Jaune groaned as he splayed himself over the counter.

"Oh! Time to aim at the enemy!" Nora grins with excitement.

"Nora… That's disgusting." Ren shook his head. "But if you do feel the urge…"

"Got it." Jaune said weakly while giving a thumbs up.

"Well, we should be off." Pyrrha said, standing up from her stool.

"Are you guys ready to kick butt?" Natsu asked.

"Of course!" Nora answered. "We've got a world-renowned fighter on our team, one's basically 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 going to let her say that about you?" Snake asked.

"She's not wrong." Jaune sulked.

"I'm kidding, he knows I'm kidding." Nora laughed. "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, 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!" Nora's laughter turns into sobs as she sulks on the counter along with the blonde knight.

"Yeah… We're feeling pretty good." Ren said in his usual tone.

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

"Yeah, now that you brought that up, we all went through a lot." Cloud recalled.

"Let's see, Grimm invasions, violent extremists, a destructive sociopath." Blake listed with her fingers.

"And that's all while we're still in training!" Ruby added "Oh, imagine what it would be like to graduate!"

"Well, all I know is that it won't be boring." Ragna admitted with a small smile.

"Maybe then I'll be able to pay for a meal." Weiss mumbled quietly.

"Wait, is something wrong?" Cloud asked in concern.

"I-It's nothing." Weiss answered.

"Would Team JNPR please report to the battlegrounds immediately?" Port asked over the loudspeakers.

"Like they were scheduled to, several minutes ago!" Oobleck added.

"YOU FOUR BETTER BIGGITY-BOUNCE YOUR A**ES OFF SOMEWHERE OR I'LL BRING YOU A**ES HERE BY KICKING YOUR A**ES!" Barret shouted, prompting everyone to cover their ears before pausing for a few seconds. "...Also good luck in your round."

"Does Professor Wallace ever not swear?" Yang asked in annoyance, removing her hands from Ruby's ears.

"Well, it looks like this is it." Pyrrha said as Team JNPR got up and made their way to the airship.

"Go get 'em!" Ruby shouted with encouragement.

"So when are you four fighting?" Blake asked, looking at Team NCRS.

"We'll be going last." Natsu answered with a grin. "You ready to cheer for your cousin?" He asked, earning a simple nod from the girl.

"Don't get too confident." Snake told Natsu before smiling. "But let's make sure we give it our all."

Amity Colosseum

Team RWBY and NCRS enter the Coliseum through one of its tunnels and head to their seats as Emerald, Zeref, and Mercury did the same from behind.

"So, who do you think is going to win?" Mercury asked, eating a container of popcorn.

"Like you don't already know." Emerald tisked.

"Oh, come now." The three looked over to see Cinder, grabbing a kernel from Mercury's container as she sits next to Zeref. "Even if you know how the story ends, that doesn't make it any less fun to watch."

"I suppose surprises are rather interesting if you look at them from a different perspective." Zeref said, adjusting his glasses while Cinder's eyes glow with her fingertips and the kernel finally pops before she eats it.

"Team JNPR of Beacon Academy versus Team BRNZ of Shade Academy!" Port introduced as both teams entered the center of the stadium.

A circle of holographic roulettes start spinning frantically through various symbols and colors before finally landing on a green pine tree and gray thunderstruck mountain. With these random selections, half of the field opens to reveal a tree-filled forest, while the other raises a small rocky outcropping to fill in the circle.

"3… 2… 1…" Barret counted down as both teams readied their weapons.

"Let's do this, guys!" Jaune shouted, holding his sword up.

"BEGIN!" Barret shouted as Team JNPR and Team BRNZ charged in to attack, except for May Zedong as she climbed up a tree.

Brawnz delivers a knee kick to Pyrrha's shield that sends her skidding back, right before she blocks the claws on his fists with her xiphos. She jerks her sword away and makes him leap back, just as the sniper jumps up into the branches of the forest with the bladed butt of her sniper rifle.

Ren readies his StormFlower to attack Nolan, who almost gets blindsided by Nora's swing with Magnhild before he ducks under the attack and attempts to hit her with his cattle prod.

The sniper girl finally takes aim from her spot and manages to fire off two rounds near Ren, destroying the rocks behind him. Jaune manages to block Roy's buzzsaw gloves with his own shield before he notices the bullets flying and sees the glint of the gun in the leaves.

"R-R-Retreat!" Jaune ordered as he and the rest of Team JNPR leaped over a pile of rocks for cover.

"What do we do?" Pyrrha asked as Jaune poke his head out for a brief second to see the melee fighters.

"Spread out!" He ordered. "Try and keep them moving."

Team JNPR came out of hiding and followed Jaune's order as he blocked Brawnz's punch with his shield.

May gets even higher in the tree and smiles from behind her scope as she looks at the fight below.

Brawnz and Pyrrha continue to brawl while Nolan slowly advances on Ren when he slides into his path. The prod-wielding warrior looks back at the trees and nods to his hidden ally, who shoots at Ren's feet again and makes him jump around trying to dodge them.

Just as he lands, Nolan hits him upside the head with his weapon and is able to miss the retaliatory kick with another blow to the knee and a final hit to the chest using the business end of his prod as electricity shoots through Ren's body before he collapses to the ground beside his childhood friend.

"Ren!" Nora cries out before growling as takes a swing at Nolan, who promptly dodges it and again unleashes his weapon's power into her corset, though this causes a quite different reaction from the grinning ginger head.

"Oh-ho! Looks like one of my favorite students, Nora Valkyrie, is charging up to use her Semblance." Port said.

"Her semblance?" Nolan repeated.

"Yes." Oobleck nodded. "Ms. Valkyrie's Semblance lets her produce, as well as channel, electrical energy straight to her muscles! This allows her to jump explosively into the air, wield her mighty hammer, or in this case, absorb Nolan's attacks and send the young man flying!"

"Wait what!?" Nolan gasps before he looks at Nora glows with pink electricity before her hammer hits head-on and Nolan bounces back across the field, crashing through a rock and staying there when he's stopped moving.

Jaune looks back at the mountaintop on his team's side as a dark storm cloud appears over it, crackling with lightning. "Nora, get to the mountains!"

"You got it!" Nora saluted before rushing up the mountain.

"Ren, try and distract the sniper." Jaune orders as May's shot misses the ninja.

"Sure, why not." Ren said sarcastically as he dodged another shot from the sniper.

Roy throws the saws from his gloves into Jaune's shield, which still manages to bend the metal and slam the leader's own defense in his face before the weapons return back to their master.

Pyrrha gets up close to him, and he delivers a series of spinning swings with his arms into Akoúo̱ as Jaune shakes off his disorientation and charges into battle yet again.

"Yeah! Go get 'em, Jaune!" Ruby cheered.

"Well, he's certainly improved." Weiss admitted.

"Yeah, but he ain't got nothing on Pyrrha." Yang added.

Pyrrha delivered a kick to Brawnz as she deftly dodged and blocked Roy's disc, throwing her javelin to distract the latter while she somersaults back to use both feet in landing a blow on Brawnz.

May attempts to shoot Ren while he dashes his way toward her position, leaping out of the way of her shots, the flying saws, and even sliding under Pyrrha before he runs at Nolan, weapons blasting until he's close enough to start swinging his blades away.

Ren ducks and reflects each of Nolan's attempted hits until he manages to hold it in the pistol's blades and double kicks his opponent, giving him the opportunity to catch Nolan's weapon on his own as the prod is forced behind Nolan's head and leaves him trapped. Ren hides behind Nolan to avoid getting sniped by May, who stops aiming at him and lifts her barrel up to another target.

"Nora! Hurry!" Ren shouts as the girl is almost at the top.

"Pyrrha! Up!" Jaune shouted in an urgent tone after he blocked Brawnz's claws.

Pyrrha rushes towards him, dodge rolling to avoid a launched saw until she bounds over Brawnz and lands on Jaune's shield. He manages to throw her up into the air with her own shield raised to block the kill-shot aimed at Nora.

Nora lifted her hammer up in the air as it absorbed electricity before he changed it back into grenade-launching form and popped the front off to reveal six explosives that shoot out over the field in a heart-shaped formation onto the sniper.

May barely has time to gawk before she leaps over to a nearby tree just as the one she was in goes up in pink flames, leaving only a giant scorch mark billowing smoke to block out the coughing sniper's view. She jumps down from the branches just as her three teammates look up and behind them at Nora coming down on them like a meteor, slamming her hammer into the ground and sending the enemies back at the feet of their disoriented teammate.

"This is it, guys! Let's finish 'em with team attacks!" Jaune said as he raised his sword as he called out- "Ren! Nora! Flower Power!"

"Wait, what?" Nora asked in confusion.

"F-Flower Power." Jaune reminded while turning to his perplexed teammates. "That's your team attack name."

"Since when?" Ren asked.

"Guys, we've been over this." Jaune said gesturing at his teammates, not noticing the other team getting up, ready to fight again. "Flower Power is Ren and Nora: Ren brings the flower, Nora brings the power."

"How do I bring a flower?" Ren asked again.

"No, silly, not a flower!" Nora said. "Flour, like in baking!"

"Why would I bring that in a fight?" Ren asked yet again, even more confused than before.

"N-No, that's your symbol." Jaune said.

"So, what are we?" Pyrrha spoke up.

"You too, Pyrrha!?" Jaune asked in disbelief.

"Sorry Jaune. I just want to make sure it's clearly defined." Pyrrha apologized.

"Pyrrha, you and I are Arkos." Jaune reminded her while Team BRNZ and the audience looked more confused than their opponents. "It's that thing when we take our shields? Remember?"

"Arkos?" Pyrrha asked.

"Yeah, it's our last names put together." Jaune said.

"R-Right. Now I get it." Pyrrha nodded with a small blush.

"Wait, you don't like it?" Jaun asked.

"No, no. I like it." Pyrrha reassured with a nervous smile.

"Ooh, someone's turning red~" Nora teased.

Meanwhile, Team RWBY and NCRS, with the exception of Ruby and Natsu, sinked their heads down in embarrassment while Team JNPR continued to argue.

"Are they seriously arguing in front of the entire world?" Weiss asked with a sigh.

"There goes Beacon's reputation." Ragna groans in embarrassment.

"Hey!" Brawnz spoke up, catching Team JNPR's attention. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Trying to have a team meeting. Thank you very little." Jaune said with a hint of annoyance in his voice.

"Yeah! Team ears only!" Nora shouted at Team BRNZ.

Brawnz looked back at his teammates, who gave him a simple shrug, before he looked back at Team JNPR, completely annoyed. "We're in the middle of a FIGHT!"

"AND WE'RE IN THE MIDDLE OF A CONVERSATION! WHAT DON'T YOU GET ABOUT THAT!?" Jaune shouted back in anger.

"Uhh Jaune?" Pyrrha spoke up.

"What is it, Pyrrha?" Jaune asked in an annoyed tone.

"I think that he means that we're all in the middle of a fight." Pyrrha said, gesturing over to the audience.

"Ugh…" Jaune groans in embarrassment, putting his sword up to his forehead. "Nora, just... hit them with the hammer."

"Got it." Nora grins with excitement as she jumps over in front of Team BRNZ, then brings her hammer around to collide with all four screaming fighters as they soar straight into the force field surrounding the arena's rim, sliding down to the ground with arms and legs in bent positions they really shouldn't be.

*BUZZ*

"And Team JNPR wins by knockout!" Barret announced before wincing. "Damn, I think Nora went a little overboard. Can someone get a medic down there?"

Crow Bar

At the bar, a gray-haired figure in a tattered red cloak is sitting at the counter with a collection of empty glasses to his side. He takes a swig from another drink as he looks up at the screen above, displaying an image of the victors with the caption [Team JNPR Defeats Team BRNZ!]

"Huh, those kids weren't half bad." The bartender admitted.

"Meh." The drunk man said as he took a sip from his cup.

(A/N)

And that is it for the first chapter of NCRS Volume 3!

I hope that you guys enjoyed the chapter. I wanted to add some dialogue in between fights to get better reactions along with some funny moments here and there. I also want to thank The Third Dragneel and Earth Dragon Arnighte for the edits.

I was originally going to have 4 fights in this chapter, but I decided to shorten it up to 2 fights instead. The last two fights for the Team Round will definitely be good, especially the one with Team NCRS, so keep an eye out for that.

I will show the Volume 3 opening once next chapter, so keep an eye out for that.

Next Time: NCRS vs LGTS