The sparring facility in Atlas Academy had special exhibition matches going on between Ironwood's newest "honorary" Ace Operatives, and select student teams.
The poster on the outside of the observation room for the facility said as much.
The first match was called forth, that being Team JNPR(with Oscar as their fourth teammate) against the popular Team FNKI.
Flynt adjusted his hat and smirked at the four. "So, you four certainly got a promotion. I hear if we win, we get some extra credit, so how about you just throw this match for us." Flynt chuckled.
"You're not the only one getting evaluated here you know." Jaune stood his ground.
"Suit yourself." Flynt held his trumpet readily.
"Let's make this a fun match you guys." Oscar smiled towards everyone.
"OH MY GOSH! HE'S SO CUTE!" Neon exclaimed as she leaned over and pinched one of his cheeks.
"Please schtop…" Oscar grumbled as his cheek was pulled at by her.
"I don't intend to make this a fun match. I intend to win." Kobalt spoke seriously while glaring at Oscar as Nora shoved her away from Oscar.
"Hey! You leave cute little boy Oz-"
Ren and Jaune both glanced at Nora, shaking their heads as to not mention the whole Ozpin part.
"-car alone!" Nora corrected herself rather abruptly.
"What are you supposed to be with that outfit?" Neon asked Nora mockingly. "So tacky… And don't even get me started with those thighs, you'd probably just slip the moment you stepped into a pair of roller skates."
"What'd you say about my thunder thighs?!" Nora transformed her weapon into it's hammer form.
"Great…" Ren furrowed his eyebrows.
"It's kind of her thing." Ivory stated as he unfurled his whip.
The timer started ticking down as Nora's eyes firmly locked with Neon's, Kobalt's cold stare met Oscar's eyes, Jaune held his shield up in front of him ready for anything, and Ren aimed his guns at Ivory.
The room started projecting out some basic block geometry, with 5 block tall pillars, walls and various floating blocks that projected down from the ceiling.
As soon as the timer hit zero, the three other members of Team FNKI, leapt back while Flynt immediately activated his semblance and with a single strong note, the opposing team JNPR was blasted away, save for Jaune who held his ground with his shield.
"Guys?!" He looked back and realized he was the only one standing as the four members of FNKI came at him, prompting him to activate his new weapon upgrade as soon as Ivory made the first swing at him.
A brief gravity dust field projected out of his weapon, effectively knocking Flynt, Kobalt, and Neon slightly off balance, and Ivory defenseless as his pendulum whip was also suspended.
Seeing the advantage, Ren rushed forward, firing shots off at Ivory that hit him directly before he was able to pull his whip back to his side and block the swipe of Ren's Stormflower guns.
Kobalt quickly regained his footing and ran at Jaune, parrying a slash from the blonde's sword with his gauntlet, causing Jaune to stumble back.
Before Kobalt could take advantage of this opening, he was struck directly in the face by Long Memory's blunt end as Oscar sprang forward.
Neon had already recovered and blew a raspberry in Nora's direction, infuriating her more and prompting a chase through the section of the room filled with pillars, that Nora slammed her hammer through.
In the observation room, General Ironwood, Vine Zeki, and Elm Ederne were observing this match.
"So, you two were in charge of training three of these kids." Ironwood stated as he observed the match and watched Jaune tactfully hide behind a wall to avoid an attack from Flynt's trumpet.
"They've made some steady progress." Elm assured as she saw Nora smash her way through a wall to catch Neon off guard, and make her stumble slightly before she managed to catch herself.
"Yes, Lie Ren was a very interesting student. While his semblance isn't a useful one for a scenario such as this, he has still been able to make effective use of his aura in other manners."
As Vine mentioned this, Ren blocked an attack from Ivory's Pendulum Whip directly with his hand, his aura glowing as it was forced back toward the other male, striking him in the head.
The sudden sound of an elimination forced Ironwood's attention towards Oscar, who had managed to eliminate Kobalt, but got eliminated in the process.
"Does Oscar need some better training, sir?" Vine asked. "I can-"
"No." Ironwood shook his head. "Oscar and by extent Ozpin, is my responsibility. I'll admit, he's been an interesting case. He has no access to Ozpin's own abilities yet, despite my best efforts to get him to awaken them. He'll get there eventually. For now, he'll just have to put up with the lack of experience he has."
"Dammit, Kobalt, again?!" ivory seemed annoyed at his teammate getting eliminated before Neon sped past him.
"Hey Ivory, how about a little pick-me-up!" Neon smirked as Ivory sighed and threw his whip out at her, pulling her into the air as Nora was now firing grenades in her direction.
The grenades all hit the floating blocks and platforms in the room. "Yeesh, you must have really bad aim if you can't hit me with an explosion!" Neon mocked.
"THAT IS IT!" Nora yelled while running more after her.
"Nora, wait!" Jaune called out to her, now running after her. "I think I have a plan!"
Ren was caught reloading his weapons by Ivory who smirked when his whip wrapped around the other boy's hand.
Thinking fast, Ren fired out his weapon's knife blades, the wire zipping past Ivory's head when he ducked his head to the side.
Not willing to give up on that, Ren kicked the wire to the side, causing it to strike Ivory, knocking him to the ground and eliminating him from the match.
"It always comes to us to save these things, doesn't it Neon?" Flynt shook his head before he finally caught a good spot on Jaune thanks to Neon shooting him fast messages about the blonde's location on his scroll.
"Time to end this with style!" Flynt blew on his trumpet while activating his semblance, destroying the wall he stood in front of and sending rubble flying all over the place.
What he didn't realize was that he had accidentally just hit Neon with his attack, sending the cat faunus flying to the back wall of their arena.
"Neon!" Flynt called out before Jaune charged at him with his weapon transformed into it's claymore form, and slashed at his chest, shattering the stylish student's aura with that single strike.
Neon hit the ground hard, groaning while trying to catch her footing, only to see the looming shadow of Nora above her. She could only chuckle before gasping Nora's hammer came down on her face.
"OH EM GEE YOU GUYS! THAT WAS SO AWESOME!" Neon proclaimed as she was now rocking a black eye from where Nora had hit her.
"You guys seem like you'd be cool enough to party with." Flynt dusted his hat off. "Gotta say, Arc… You struck me as lame before, but I see now you've got some brains to back up that setup you got."
"You got lucky." Kobalt huffed while looking away from Oscar.
"Don't mind him, he's just very moody." Ivory assured the younger huntsman.
"Alright, I think it's about time we clear out before the next match starts." Jaune insisted while walking to the door.
The next exhibition match was called, with Team RWBY coming forward against Team FCSA.
"You know, just because you four got your licenses before us, doesn't mean you're any better." Ember taunted, the scar she got from the Vytal Festival notably looked more faded now, not to mention her temperament didn't seem quite as unstable as the last time Team RWBY saw her.
"Oh really now?" Yang cracked her shoulders and jumped up a bit to psyche herself up more.
"We've gone through our own share of adventures too, ya know." Alix boasted while spinning his two daggers in front of him before catching them.
"If you mean fighting some bad guys with help." Erika furrowed her eyebrows.
"Hey, we still did a lot of legwork and actually made a difference." Cyrus held his two axes firmly and stood in a fighting stance.
"You'll have to elaborate on that at a later time." Blake readied Gambol Shroud.
The arena formed around them, it looked to be more of a blocky cityscape than the random assortment of blocks JNPR had gotten.
The timer counted down… Ember unfurled her weapon's chain from her belt while Weiss locked eyes with Erika who readied a fighting stance, her boots notably lighting up slightly.
The timer finally hit 0.
Holding a hand forward, Erika dropped herself into a portal and seemingly vanished.
Ember swung her flying claw weapon straight for Yang, only to be blocked by Ruby who would start racing after Cyrus.
Running up a projected building, Cyrus fired off shots behind him towards Ruby before backflipping off the building, and looking at her with a smirk as she stopped.
She didn't realize it but a portal had formed directly where she was standing, and Erika threw a kick out at her that struck the side of her head, knocking her off.
Blake quickly came in for the save, catching Ruby and pulling them both towards a rooftop where they could observe more of the fighting.
Yang was firing off shots at Ember, who deflected by spinning her weapon around. Alix was keeping Weiss on the defensive with his long ranged slashes that nearly hit her as she dodged and blocked around.
"We have to deal with Cyrus and Erika first." Blake told Ruby as she watched Cyrus get dropped in by Erika to cut Weiss off.
"I think I have an idea." Ruby stood up. "Just follow my lead!"
Back to the fairytale
Back to the show
Backed to the wall
And there's nowhere to go
Ruby immediately put herself between Yang and Ember, swinging her scythe out to deflect an attack from Ember's weapon, allowing Yang to close the distance between herself and Ember, getting a solid punch on her face.
Hopeless and desperate
All paths adverse
Things looking bleak
And they're bound to get worse
Cyrus quickly sped right past Yang and fired shots off at her, only for her to mysteriously vanish as Blake had moved in, picking her up off the ground.
Helpless and doomed
And there's no way to win
Goals unachievable
Faith running thin
Lost and forlorn
Impossible odds
That's when you'll learn
You've been messing with gods
Weiss had managed to close the distance between herself and Alix who had now combined his daggers into their staff form, clashing directly with Weiss who fired out a single large icicle at him from the side with her semblance. Alix barely activated his phasing semblance in time to avoid the attack, not realizing that it sent the icicle hurtling towards Cyrus.
Send in your Grimm
Tear off my limb
Strike me with bolts of lightning
I won't die
Cyrus took the hit, but recovered as he started firing on the swinging Blake and Yang who were now firing shots off around him.
The battle seems unwinnable
But all we need's a miracle
We're going up
We'll never be denied
Blake dropped Yang right onto Cyrus's position only for a portal to open up directly under where Yang was landing, disorienting her as she fell through a portal mounted on a wall, getting kicked in the side of the face by Erika, who ducked into another portal and emerged from another one behind Yang, landing another successful kick on her, that sparked Yang's arm with a little bit of electricity.
A hardlight hexagon was kicked in Yang's direction, but it was deflected with a single punch as Yang grit her teeth in anger when Erika vanished into another portal.
Can't wish away the dismal days
Can't bring back what is gone
Ember wrapped her chain around Crescent Rose, pulling it and Ruby along with the intent of slamming her into a wall.
The younger girl simply smirked and released her weapon as she was flung into the air, landing herself on the ceiling before speeding herself up, and slamming down right in front of Ember, launching her backwards and into a wall that cracked from the impact.
Won't waste more tears on yesteryears
Instead, we'll carry on
We'll win we're sure we will endure
And though our goal is far
We'll be the ones to touch the sun
The triumph will be ours
Alix spun his weapon around several times to deflect Myrtenaster's blows from hitting him, not realizing Weiss had activated ice dust, and effectively froze his hands to his weapons now when he tried to transform them back. With a single upwards strike, Alix fell to the ground, his aura breaking from the hit.
Cyrus coughed and gagged from the smoke that surrounded him from the explosive rounds Yang had set off around him. Holding his axes out, he looked around, only to get surprised when Gambol Shroud hooked onto his shoulder and pulled him further into the smoke, and right at Blake, who struck him with Gambol Shroud's sheath, his aura being too low for him to continue in the fight.
Can't wish away the dismal days
Can't bring back what is gone
Won't waste more tears on yesteryears
Instead, we'll carry on
Erika had managed to keep Yang on her toes, but just looking at her aura levels, she realized she couldn't do that anymore, and when she jumped out of the next portal with the intent of finishing Yang off, she was caught off guard when Yang rolled forward. On the ground were several carefully laid out explosives around Erika. They detonated right under the girl's feet, the display showing her aura dropping to zero almost immediately.
We'll win we're sure we will endure
And though our goal is far
We'll be the ones to touch the sun
The triumph will be ours
Ember stood herself up, her eyes glowing as her semblance was activated again with her blood orange hair standing up and glowing like a bright flame.
"Ruby!" Weiss created a row of glyphs for her team leader to run on.
With Weiss's glyphs, Ruby sped forward at Ember who slammed her chain down right onto her, only for it to be another shadow clone copy courtesy of Blake picking her up again and tossing her up into the air, the main light in the room shining directly behind her.
Ember reeled her weapon back and was about to throw the chain forward when Yang caught it with her prosthetic hand. "I don't think so."
The triumph will be ours!
Ruby sped herself toward Ember with a shot of Crescent Rose, and slashed right at her, landing in front of her.
Ember's aura broke almost immediately from the hit and she fell to a knee.
Putting Crescent Rose away, Ruby held out a hand towards Ember, who took it. "Good match you guys."
"Not too bad yourselves." Ember chuckled as the rest of her teammates stumbled over, Erika looked notably covered in more soot than Cyrus did.
"Explosives?" Cyrus asked.
"Explosives." Erika grumbled as the rest of the group couldn't help but laugh and start talking a little.
"So her semblance is portals?" Yang remarked.
"Yeah, it's a long story. One that'd probably take at least 20 chapters to tell." Alix joked while winking coyly before Erika elbowed him.
"Right well, we can definitely see whatever you guys have been doing puts you leagues ahead of where we were hoping to be." Cyrus scratched the back of his head.
"Yeah, tell me about it." Blake looked over at the rest of the group.
Ruby was looking impressed by the image of a motorcycle Ember pulled up on her scroll. "I've got this beauty waiting for me at home." she pat her chest. "Hey, Yang! I challenge you to a motorcycle race when we get back to Vale!"
"Oh um… About that…" Yang awkwardly chuckled while approaching the other girl.
As everyone was busy conversing, Weiss was getting some criticism from her sister via instant messages, mostly comments about how she could improve her technique.
One last message was taking slightly longer to send. When it finally sent it read,
Weiss, father just did something that might have just promoted a spark to light the whole kingdom on fire…
Weiss immediately clicked play on the attached video, projecting it out of her scroll for everyone else in the room to see.
It was a press meeting from Jacques, with cameras and microphones pointed at him from a number of angles, it was clear he was outside of the Schnee manor.
"Sir is it true your missing daughter is now working for the Atlas military?!" one reporter blurted out before he raised his arms up to silence them.
"Now as I'm sure you're all aware, I've decided to run for the seat of councilman to oppose the policies General Ironwood has been imposing on our Kingdom. Policies that have not only crippled our economy, but only work to make us look worse to the rest of the world." Jacques stared right ahead at the cameras.
"Many of us have been suffering from the lack of shipments into and out of the kingdom… My family can speak from experience." he looked down with a tinge of sadness in his eyes before he took a deep breath in.
Down in the streets of Mantle, a man was walking over to a SDC owned store, and attempted to open the door, but it was locked. "Huh?"
"This is why, effective immediately I'm closing down all nonessential SDC operations."
Jacques explained as it only caused the reporters swarming around him to bombard him with a flurry of questions. He again silenced them by raising his arms up.
Inside of Robyn's campaign HQ, Robyn slammed her hand down onto a desk. "He can't do this! Does he have any idea what this will cause?!"
A regretful grimace formed on Jacques's face. "If I'm elected to office, I can promise you all that I will fix the damage General Ironwood has done, and our Kingdom will thrive as it always has before this tyranny! Tell me, who can you trust to get you your jobs back? Will Robyn Hill truly be able to help you?"
The streets of Mantle hadn't taken this news well, as a trash can was thrown through a window into the SDC shop that was closed and enraged citizens started flooding into the shop.
One of the happy huntresses was observing the scene from a vantage point, their hood was over their head. "Robyn, this is a lot worse than you think it is…"
Atlas ships soon were flooding onto various scenes like this all around Mantle...
Commentary: The last chapter of this fun little training/mission arc. I had a ton of fun with both fights, the second a little more than the first. By the way, the song used, wasn't just "Triumph" from Volume 5. Nah, for that fight what I had in mind was the Kairi remix of Triumph from Volume 6's OST, it's an underrated remix in my opinion, I'd give it a listen even if you don't like Volume 5.
Next chapter we finally start getting the plot moving again with an election party.