Amity Colosseum, Kingdom of Vale
"Ladies and gentlemen! Welcome back to the 53rd Vytal Festival Tournament!" A voice on a loudspeaker blared out. "In case you're just tuning in, let us tell you the rules!"
"Yes! The Vytal Festival is a tournament between the four Huntsman academies in Remnant! In this tournament, there are no specific brackets for age or schooling! The only thing this tournament measures is skill!" another voice yelled.
"The tournament is divided into three rounds: teams, doubles, and singles. In the team rounds, students compete in teams of four. The winning team then elects two members to proceed to the doubles rounds, and then from those two, one to enter the singles rounds. The winner of the singles round wins the tournament for their team, school, and kingdom!"
Meanwhile, in the pit of the colosseum, two teams were locked in a fierce battle. Team XNTW was facing down Team GRNE, a team from Haven. Each member of both teams were perfectly matched against an opponent that put them through their paces, matching them in style and skill.
Wren blinked to the left, reappearing with a hooking kick to his opponent's neck. The other fistfighter, Graham, caught the leg and spun Wren around with a push. He launched a flurry of rapid strikes, which Wren met with a flurry of his own, kicking up wind and dust clouds around them. Time to test this out, Wren thought. He grabbed Graham's hands and stomped his right foot down. It seemed to phase through the ground in a flash of green energy, and before Graham could react, he was knocked closer to Wren by a kick to his lower back. Wren followed with an uppercut, knocking his opponent into the air. He flickered up, axe-kicking Graham back into the ground, and flickered again, this time underneath Graham. As the Mistrali fighter came within Wren's reach, he slammed his knee into Graham's back, shattering his Aura. A buzzer heralded Graham's elimination from the tournament.
Meanwhile, Kira and Taiga dueled their own opponents, a shower of sparks and dust covering the arena as they clashed. Taiga vaulted into the air and tossed a barrage of burning knives at her and Taiga's opponents, only for the majority of them to clatter against a bright shield conjured by GRNE member Nigel. He and his ally Raja threw their own weapons simultaneously, Nigel's shield and Raja's discs bouncing around the rocky arena. They almost nailed Taiga, only to be shot down at the last second by Kira, rifle in hand and eyes burning with excitement. She reached into a pouch at her hip, withdrawing and scattering several dozen gold coins around the area. She holstered her rifle and pressed her thumb to her index knuckle, a massive explosion ringing out through the colosseum.
One buzzer sounded, but Nigel remained standing, protected by his shield. Kira drew one revolver and nodded to Taiga, pulling the trigger and holding it down. Taiga took off with a whoosh, as Kira fanned the hammer of the revolver, tossing it aside and drawing the other gun when the first ran dry. The rounds slammed into Nigel's shield, leaving cracks in the glowing surface. Taiga rammed into a staggered Nigel shoulder-first, spinning him around and dashing back through him, sweeping his legs with her swords. She sheathed the shorter blade and dashed back toward Nigel, accelerating and slamming a fist into Nigel's gut, sending him careening out of the arena. The buzzer sounded as he smacked into the wall with a dull thud.
Niko, on the other hand, wasn't having nearly as much trouble. While his opponent was powerful, she wasn't nearly as beefy as Niko was. He was able to pick her up and throw her around with little effort, eventually sending her catapulting out of bounds.
"Team XNTW of Beacon wins!" the announcers proclaimed, as the crowd cheered loudly.
-XNTW-
"Hoo yeah! That was great!" Wren cheered, pumping his fists into the air.
"And we get to do it again!" Kira joined in.
"No, we don't. Only Wren and I will." Taiga said as she bonked Kira and Wren's heads together.
"All of you, shut up. KAST is up against SLFR." Niko said.
"Wait, why are two teams from Beacon up against each other?" Wren asked, cocking his head slightly.
"One of the teams from Atlas dropped out before the tournament, and so did one from Shade, so they just set the two teams that would've fought them against each other."
"Huh. Weird," Wren mused.
As if… Niko thought, shaking his head.
-XNTW-
Khione strutted into the arena, the rest of her team trailing behind her. Walking to the center of the pit, she gazed intently into Sigurd's eyes. Sig extended a hand, and Khione reciprocated the gesture, shaking Sig's hand and smiling.
"Showtime, Azzie!" Khione called out, and the buzzer sounded, starting the fight.
Khione launched a hook kick towards Sig's head, and the younger fighter ducked underneath her leg, responding with a sweep that knocked Khione onto her back. Khione windmilled herself back onto her feet, jumping over Sig and landing behind him. She flicked her wrist and a large three-bladed throwing glaive expanded from her palm.
Sig extended his wrist claws, springing forward with his tail. Khione twirled around, parrying Sig's attacks with a rapidly spinning glaive. She leapt forward, butterfly-kicking Sig, sending him staggering backwards. She tossed her glaive at him, hitting him in the chest and catching it, throwing it again and backflipping, striking him in the chin. Sig growled, wiping his mouth as he stood up.
Azul was busy fending off Sig's teammate Rai, SLFR's second-in-command. Rai's bow made it difficult for the melee-focused Azul to fight back, as even the arrows that missed still chained lightning into Azul's body. If I can't turn the tide, I'm as good as done! Azul thought as they heaved their guitar-axe to the front of their body. They quickly strummed a single note, a loud A that sent a wave of fire out around Azul's body. They took advantage of the opening made and dashed forward, swinging their axe at Rai, slashing to the right, then left then up, tossing him upwards. Azul jumped up after him, colliding in midair, then grabbing Rai's leg and spiking him into the ground. Azul painfully landed on Rai's upper back, shattering his Aura as the elimination buzzer rang out.
Summer, meanwhile, swung away at Lin, only to miss each time as her body split apart like jelly, reconnecting and counter-attacking in one fluid motion. Summer's Aura was slowly breaking each time Lin slammed her fists into her.
"Trace! Switch!" Summer called out, catching Lin by surprise.
"Wh-" Lin stammered, only to be split in half vertically by an overhead slash from Trace's zweihander. She reformed quickly, feeling the strain on her Aura as she did so. Trace leapt back as the segments of her sword snapped forward, separating like a whip. She cut into Lin's jelly-like flesh, slowly lowering her Aura.
Summer now faced Faye. She recalled Faye's match against Ferris, noting that unless she drew a specific combination of tarot cards, she couldn't defend herself at close range. Thinking quickly, she threw her scythes towards Faye, curving their paths like boomerangs. They didn't hit the witch, though. Just as planned, Summer thought, as Faye quickly glanced behind her, only to find… nothing. No scythes.
Summer started sprinting towards Faye, opening two glyph portals behind her foe's legs. She leapt off the ground and slammed her boots into Faye's face as the scythes swept the witch's legs from underneath her. Both of them fell into glyph portals on the ground and reappeared some distance away as Summer continued sprinting towards the witch. She stuck her arm out and clotheslined her, leaving Faye on the ground. Summer turned her attention to helping Trace fight as the crowd went wild at the unexpected wrestling move.
She retrieved her scythes, throwing them once more. They cut through Lin's slime, separating her into three pieces. Trace kicked one of them away, preventing her from fully reforming. Lin's upper body reformed, simply grinning. The bottom segments of her body flowed into the ground, and the rest of her body followed suit. Suddenly, a tendril shot up from the ground, grabbing Trace's ankle. Another grabbed Summer around the waist, poking around her ammunition belt. It grabbed several dust crystals from her belt, a mixture of fire and ice. The tendril scattered them into the air, setting them off at the same time, simultaneously conjuring and melting the ice all at once, absorbing it into the ground and adding to the tendrils. Summer and Trace struggled, eventually cutting free from Lin's grasp.
Lin's body flowed back to the surface and reformed, although instead of legs she had an amorphous mass of translucent blue slime. Her arms elongated and whipped towards Summer and Trace, who dove to the side to avoid the tendril whips. Summer opened a portal, diving through and reappearing behind Lin. She and Trace now flanked the slime girl on both sides, and the crowd was only getting more excited.
"It seems Miss Faye isn't quite out yet!" one of the announcers exclaimed, much to Summer's shock.
"Behind you!" Trace called out. Summer whirled around just in time to cut open a portal to shield herself from a barrage of energy blasts from a reenergized Faye.
"Three of Cups to regenerate Aura, plus a Nine of Coins for a barrage…" Faye mumbled. She tore off the blindfold that obscured her eyes, now shining with a bright purple light. "Time to end this! Now, I- wait, wha-" Faye realized that all of her projectiles had completely vanished, no smoke or anything.
"Y'know, for the smart one on the team, you're pretty scatterbrained sometimes." Summer teased, opening a portal above Lin, sending Faye's attacks raining down on her own teammate. A buzzer sounded as the crowd went berserk.
"Wha- no, no, no! This can't be!" Faye shouted, stumbling and clasping one hand over her left eye. "Guh… only one thing left to do! Major Arcana!" she shouted, an array of 21 cards appearing before her. "Ten Card Reading!"
Faye rapidly selected ten cards from the twenty-one.
"Lovers!" A glyph appeared underneath Summer and Trace, anchoring them to the spot.
"Wheel of Fortune!" The glyph began spinning. "Tower!" The ground around the three fighters cracked and shifted, shooting upwards. "Sun! Moon! Star!" Three massive orbs of energy slammed into the area around Trace and Summer. "The World!" A bubble extended around the arena, accompanied by the sound of a clock ticking slower and slower. Everything around Faye froze in time.
"Magician!" The air heated up around them. "Emperor!" Lightning rained from the sky as time began moving again.
"Now, end this! Chariot!" Faye called out as an unseen force rammed into Trace and Summer, sending them careening out of the arena. Two buzzers rang out, and Faye fell to her knees in exhaustion.
Sig grunted in frustration. All of his teammates were out of commission. Dammit, Faye! Why'd you have to wear yourself out when there are two of 'em left standing?! He adjusted his glasses and chuckled. Khione, meanwhile, was taken aback by the sudden mood whiplash. Sig continued chuckling, breaking out into full-blown belly laughter.
"Bryn! Bring in my energy frame! I'm leaving this one to you!"
"On it, dear!" a female voice called out.
A massive pod slammed into the ground, just barely missing an approaching Azul. Sig crouched down and launched towards it, taking everyone by surprise by catapulting himself out of his exoskeleton and towards the steaming pod. He disappeared into the pod's interior.
Meanwhile, his empty armor began moving on its own, much to Khione and Azul's shock. Khione just barely blocked a swipe from the frame's wrist blade.
The steam cleared away from the pod, revealing a new exoskeleton suit. This one had more plating, made from a heavier metal. A cloak similar to Khione's hung from its shoulder. Otherwise, it looked the same as Sig's other frame. He leapt out of the pod, straight towards Azul and Khione, an aura of electricity following behind him. He moved fast enough to leave afterimages in the air. Azul parried Sig's attack with their axe, but was sent flying by an energy blast from its palm. Sig's tail shot outward, embedding into Azul's coat and yanking them back towards Sig. He launched an electrically-charged uppercut into Azul's stomach and leapt into the air, dragging Azul with him. When he stopped, his tail kept moving, cracking like a whip behind him and throwing Azul back down to the ground. A buzzer sounded as Azul skidded through the dirt.
"Azzie!" Khione cried out. The Bryn-controlled frame saw this opening and struck Khione in the leg, forcing her onto one knee.
"Sorry about this."
Bryn kicked Khione in the head, knocking her out as the buzzer rang.
-XNTW-
"Shit, that's brutal!" Wren yelled.
"You don't seem too torn up about your sister getting knocked out cold." Taiga said.
"It's her own fault. Besides, for the duration of the tournament we aren't even related! Old family fighting traditions!"
"Your family works in strange ways. I'll never understand the Branwens for the life of me." Taiga sighed.
"And that at the end just solidifies that having that kind of romantic bond with a teammate will simply work against you!" Kira practically sang.
"This from the girl who's on the same team as her twin sister." Niko grumbled.
-XNTW-
From the sides of the arena, Ferris smiled. He looked behind him and his face fell.
"Hey, Sharkboy! Get your head out of that meat bowl and get your ass over here!" he snapped.
Tobias sighed. "Fine, fine." he caught up to Ferris.
"We need to prepare for the next round. We'll be scoping out Avalon's targets."
"Sure, sure." Tobias said, pocketing his right hand. His stomach growled. Hungry. He thought. Then, in the back of his head, doubts bubbled to the surface. Ah… that's a good idea.
A/N: Thanks for reading this chapter! I hope you enjoyed it.
I don't really have much to say for this Author's Note. Uhhh… please leave a follow, favorite, and review if you feel like it!
That's all from me this time. Cyber out!
Thanks, and come again!