The next day. Team RHPD met in the stands near Team RWBY and JNPR. As they each sat down, Julius looked over to Hector, who still had what looked suspiciously like a pink lipstick mark on his cheek.
"Quite the party last night, huh?" he asked.
"Don't ask," Hector said, "That Neon girl was okay, but she just really like trying to hit on me."
Julius and Slayer stifled a laugh.
"How'd your date with Blake go, Julius?" Penny asked.
"Not too bad. It was pretty calm."
"Even when you two kissed?" Penny asked. Both Julius and Blake turned beet red.
"How did you…?" Julius began to ask.
"Slayer and I saw you two when we were on our own date."
"Penny," Slayer said, shaking his head in frustration, "I told you NOT to bring that up to them."
"Guys, shut up!" Ruby shouted, "The fight's starting!"
Sure enough, fight was about to start. It was between Coco and Yatsuhashi against Mercury and Emerald. This could be an interesting fight.
The Colosseum chooses four fields to rise up from below in quarter sections: A patch of tall grassy plains which has a single tree and some rocks; the ruins of a city, complete with buildings holding shattered windows and rubble among the pavement; a hot spring containing geyser spots along a small river and some blue Dust crystal growths; and a familiar section of dense forest.
"Three, two, one, begin!" Port said.
Instead of charging forward, Mercury and Emerald slowly walk back into the tall grass and disappear behind the leaves. Coco and Yatsuhashi smile at each other before the leader pops out her Gatling gun and begins mowing down the field as the crowds of sunglasses-wearing fans roar their approval, even when bullets nearly hit them from the other side of the forcefield. Coco lets up as she and Yatsuhashi realize the two opponents aren't in the plains section anymore.
"Look out!" Blake called out.
Mercury drops from the sky, aiming for Coco, but Yatsuhashi pushes her out of the way and blocks the boots with his blade, pushing him back. Coco opens fire at him again, though Mercury is able to outrun each shot.
But as he watched, Julius sensed something was not right. Where was Emerald?
Mercury reaches the two and kicks away Coco's weapon while dodging Yatsuhashi's blade, then delivering a double blow to the giant warrior before jumping over Coco's continued barrage of bullets. He lands on the barrels and kicks her in the face, leaping over another of Yatsuhashi's swings, only to let himself be hit so he can get behind Coco and force her to press the muzzle up to her own teammate. Everyone stands still until Coco compresses her weapon back into its handbag form and tries to hit Mercury with Yatsuhashi, but he deftly jumps back and launches two blasts from his boots that the members of CFVY deflect.
Coco is unfazed by the one shot, but looks surprised at the dozens of them now spiraling around the handstand-spinning Mercury until he sends all of them at his enemies, a barrage of light and smoke surrounding them that provides the perfect cover for Mercury to appear behind the two. He grabs the both of them by their arms and delivers a flurry of kicks that knocks them back. Then a chain comes out from the forest trees to wrap around Coco and pulls her back.
Yatsuhashi reaches out to her in vain "Coco!".
Despite his cry, Coco disappears into the trees, leaving him to endure a blow from Mercury before being able to grab and throw him into the hot spring area. He jumps high in the air as Mercury's still sliding back, but his blade only comes down on his opponent's boots, the shockwave from this clash causing the water to fly back, the earth to crack underneath, and multiple geysers to form around them.
Mercury fires his boots and gets out of the hold, aiming a swipe at Yatsuhashi's feet that misses, then ducking around each of his sword's swings. One of his kicks lets loose some stones from the ground, which Mercury kicks into Yatsuhashi and leaves him at the mercy of another foot-happy assault. This leaves his head in a small super-heated geyser, erupting and causing him to scream in pain as he frantically gets up, opening his eyes just in time to see Mercury coming at him, delivering the final blow.
Not long after, Coco is sent flying out of the forest, unconscious and missing her glasses.
The members of RHPD watched in shock.
"That was…" Julius began.
"Brutal." Hector finished.
"Never seen someone fight with just their feet," Slayer said, "That was interesting to see."
"We should go see how they're doing." Julius said, standing up, "Come on!"
A few minutes later, RHPD made it down to the arena exit, where Velvet and Fox had propped Coco and Yatsuashi on a bench and were trying to help them rest. As Coco took a swig from a water bottle, she noticed RHPD's approach.
"Hey, flyboy," she wearily said.
"You guys okay?" Julius asked.
"Were fine now. The weirdest thing happened, though. I saw Yatsuhashi join up with me in the woods, but he suddenly wasn't there."
"That is weird." Hector said, "It's probably just a hallucination caused by stress in battle. I've seen it happen before."
"I don't think so, this was much more potent. I think one of them was using an illusion semblance."
"Probably," Julius said, "Sorry about your glasses, by the way."
"Don't sweat it. I got some extra pairs." Coco said, then looking at Hector's mask, "You, however, could use a new look. What even IS that?"
"What? This?" Hector said, taking off his mask, "This is my combat mask."
"Let me see." Coco said, taking the mask and trying it on herself.
"Good lord!" She said, "how do you see out of this?"
"Do you have a better idea?" Hector asked.
"Oh yeah, I do. I'm gonna take you somewhere in town where we can widen these eyeholes a bit. That should help you see better."
"I think this is a good time to say Coco is a bit of a fashion nut." Julius said.
"Now you tell me…" Hecotr said.
"Team RHPD," Port's voice came over the intercom, "Please send your two members to the arena for battle."
"And do hurry, for the love of goodness!" Oobleck chimed in.
"Well, looks like we're gonna have to do that later," Hector said, "Penny and I gotta go fight."
"Alright," Coco said, "I gotta rest some more anyways."
"Good luck, you two." Julius said, "Slayer and I will be watching."
"Thank you, Julius." Penny said. Then, she and Hector walked out into the arena, with Penny giving Slayer a flirty wink before leaving.
Julius chuckled, "You and Penny have grown pretty close, it seems."
"I could say the same for you and Blake." Slayer replied.
"You guys kiss yet?"
"No, not yet."
Julius shrugged: "Oh well." He said. Then, turning to Team CFVY, "You guys can sit with us if you want, we have enough open seats."
"That would be great," Coco said, "Thanks."
"Anything for good friends." Julius said, and he helped lead them back to the seating area.
…
The scene switches to Port and Oobleck in the announcer podium.
"Well, we've had a very eventful doubles round so far. Team CFVY's loss was more than likely unexpected by many." Port said.
"Indeed," Oobleck said, "But this next fight just might be the real showstopper of the bunch."
"I personally say it will be," Port said, "Though this team was a bit of a makeshift and not quite an official team, Team RHPD proved that it was a team to watch nonetheless with their firepower and teamwork."
"Ah, but let's not ignore their opponents so soon," Oobleck chimed in, "Team DRMS from Beacon has undoubtedly been one of the bigger fan favorites in this tournament so far."
"That they have, Oobleck. Despite being an all faunus team, Team DRMS proved to be a well-oiled machine in the team battles. Now, the two star players will meet face to face in epic combat."
"And here they are now," Port announced as the two pairs appeared onto the stage, the crowd going wild.
"We have Penny Polendina and Hector Amitola from Team RHPD going against Romulus Lupin and Darius Barton of Team DRMS. This will be sure to be a fight to remember folks." Oobleck said. As Hector and Penny walked on the circle they faced Darius, a lanky boy with dark grey hair and pale skin contrasting his dark jacket and grey undershirt. His eyes, however, looked sharp and focused, like an eagle's, and a katana was sheathed on his back while a hatchet was seen holstered on his pant leg. There was also Romulus, who was a bit bulkier and more tanned then Darius. He wore a red jacked with black combat pants and had a rifle slung across his shoulders. His faunus heritage was also more obvious as he had wolf ears sticking out from his ruffled black hair.
As they waited for Oobleck to signal for the match to begin, Darius looked intently at Hector.
"That mask," he said, "White Fang?"
"Former White Fang," Hector replied, "I don't work with them anymore."
Darius only nodded and said: "I see."
Hector got a closer look at the two; it was obvious Darius likes getting up close and personal while Romulus like being farther away. Just then, the arena began reforming; one half being a series of differently positioned platforms that glowed purple with gravity dust, the other half being a forest.
"Penny," Hector said, "You go for Darius. I'll handle wolf ears."
Penny nodded: "I'm combat ready." she said, deploying her blades.
"You got this, Penny!" Novus yelled from the stands.
"Kick their asses, Hector!" Julius shouted.
"Get em, Penny!" Ruby shouted.
"3, 2, 1, begin!" Oobleck said over the speaker, and the two groups charged at each other. As Hector watched, Romulus darted for the trees, and climbing one, brought out his rifle and aimed at Penny, who was already sparring with Darius. Darius was surprisingly holding his own, using his katana to deflect hers while using his hatchet to try and get his own swings in. Hector then focused his attention on Romulus, using his semblance to turn invisible and running towards the tree the wolf faunus was perched. However, as he got closer, he noticed he was flickering in and out of visibility.
"What's going on with Hector?" Blake asked.
"I don't know." Julius replied, "It looks like something is neutralizing his semblance."
Hector was realizing this same thing too, just as he got hit in the face with a rifle round from Romulus.
Romulus chuckled to himself: "Yeah, you thought."
Hector quickly jumped up into another tree to hide, trying to get his semblance to work again.
"Looks like Amitola is in for a hard time," Port said.
"Indeed," Oobleck said, "Unfortunately for the stealth master, Romulus's semblance neutralizes all other semblances around him."
Hector heard this over the PA and growled in frustration; looks like he was going to have to do this the old fashioned faunus way. He may be a enhanced soldier now, but he was still a chameleon faunus, and he could still change his skin color; quickly, he changed it to match the shade of the trees. Romulus had turned his attention to helping Darius, who was still busy holding off Penny's attacks. Darius managed to block another attack, but Penny began to anticipate what he would do next, and directed another blade that knocked his hatchet out of his hands, sending it skittering across the floor and being caught in the range of one of the gravity platforms, sticking to it. Just as Penny was about to strike again, Romulus fired a shot that hit her square in the chest, causing her to stumble back.
"Thanks, Romulus!" Darius called, turning to run towards his hatchet. Unfortunately for him, penny recovered faster than he was expecting, and she jumped at him as he ran, blades spinning wildly. Shouting in surprise, Daius deployed his last resort and used his semblance, summoning holographic wings and hovering over to his hatchet. Picking it up, he had just enough time to see Penny charge at him at an unbelievable speed.
Meanwhile, Romulus was busy trying to make another shot, but this girl was faster than anything he had seen. No sign of the faunus guy, which might be a problem, but oh well, one problem at a time. Unfortunately, Hector was the bigger problem, as he used his chameleon ability to sneak through the trees and up behind him.
"Surprise," Hector said before tackling Romulus out of the tree, sending the two crashing down. Romulus quickly got up, only to realize his rifle had fallen out of his hands and landed a few feet away, and Hector was not going to give him the chance to get it. Before he could react, Hector pounced, deploying his arm blades and driving them into Darius's chest knocking him to the ground. As the wolf faunus attempted to get up, Hector wrapped his tail around Romulus's torso and then front flipped, tossing Romulus out of the arena and into the wall.
"And with that, Romulus Lupin is KO'ed by both ring out and aura level." Port announced.
"Quite a show of brutality on Hector's part I might add." Oobleck said.
Once he was sure Romulus was gone, Hector looked over to see Penny and Darius having taken their fight to the platforms, practically running up the walls as they jumped from platform to platform while parrying each other's sword strikes. Checking to see if his semblance worked, and sure enough, it did, Hector ran to the platforms, turning invisible and running up the nearest platform.
Meanwhile, Penny, was staying strong as she parried Darius's katana and hatchet., but now, Darius was hovering with his semblance, which made him a harder target to hit. Eventually, just as Hector arrived, Darius knocked Penny's blades temporarily to the side and brought his hatchet down on her head. When it did, the strangest thing happened; Penny's aura flickered as it took the blow, but the hatchet the broke over her head. In the stands, Julius, Novus, and the others looked in shock at what just happened.
"What in the…?" Julius said.
"Is that her semblance?" Weiss asked.
"Possibly. She hasn't told me much." Novus replied.
Down in the arena, Darius was just as surprised and briefly stopped his attacks he stumbled back in shock.
"How did you…" he began to ask, only for Penny to retaliate by sending her blades spinning at him and launching him back towards Hector.
"I got it!" Hector said, deactivating his semblance and jumping onto Darius's back. Shouting in surprise, Darius flew around wildly as Hector got him in a chokehold. Unfortunately for the both of them, Darius became too weakened from overuse of his semblance and dropped off the edge of the arena, sending the both of them crashing to the ground as the alarm sounded the end of the match.
"Quite the crash landing at the end there." Port said, "And quite the sacrifice by Amitola, but it has paid off as RHPD moves onto the next round.
Penny noticed from where she stood and began dancing around excitedly at the victory, her friends from RWBY and RHPD cheering from the stands.
Down in the arena, Hector stumbled as he got back up, slowly regaining his senses. As he did, he noticed Darius slowly start to get up as well, and walked over, extending his hand for the eagle faunus to take, which he promptly did.
"Good game." Hector said as he helped Darius stand up.
"Yeah…" Darius said, out of breath, "You too…"
"Come on," Hector said, wrapping Darius's arm around his shoulder, "Let's get you out of here."
…
Back down in the arena exit, Hector brought Darius to the rest of Team DRMS, with Romulus walking up after him.
"I'm sorry about your axe," Penny said.
"No sweat," said one of the DRMS members, a boy with dark raven wings, "This wouldn't be the first time that thing's broken. You guys did pretty good."
"You too," Hector said and Julius, Novus, and Team RWBY ran up to congratulate Hector and Penny.
"Dude," Julius said high-fiving Hector, "That was some good improvisation back there. Your face alright?"
"Eh, it's been better." Hector replied.
Meanwhile, after Ruby and Penny shared a high five, Penny ran over and embraced Novus.
"Amazing swordplay, Penny." Novus said, "I'm impressed."
"Thank you, Slayer." Penny replied.
"Hey, can we talk in private later?" Novus said, "There's something I need to ask you."
"Of course."
Back with Hector, Yang walked up, giving him a fist bump.
"That was some pretty hardcore fighting back there," she said, "I like it."
"You either teach them the hard way, or not at all." Hector replied. Yang smiled, then did something no one expected; she leaned over and kissed Hector on the cheek.
"You may be new," she said, pulling away, "But I'm starting to like you more already."
Hector turned red as Yang walked away. Julius and Ruby could only stare in disbelief.
"Did she just…?" Hector began to ask.
Ruby only nodded.
"Ooookay…" Julius said, "Did not see that coming."
"Neither did I." Hector said.
"I'll talk to her later," Julius said, "Let's just get back to our seats for right now."
"Agreed," Ruby said, and the two teams went back to their spots in the stands to watch the remaining fights.
…
Meanwhile, Roman was reclining on the bench in his cell as he watched the fight unfold on the projector screen. Dr. Hayden sat with him.
"Hehe. Oh, if only I was there with them." Roman said.
"You would certainly be a tough opponent, considering what you've been taught." Hayden said.
Roman sat back up: "Ah, it's no big deal. I know I'm in here for a reason, and what's soon to happen. That's the thing I like about Julius; he never keeps me in the dark about his plans. He tells me what's going to happen, then fills me in completely on how I can help; helps me run things smoothly. Unlike Cinder and her little gang."
"And that's the only reason?" Hayden asked.
"Well, he also did save my life, and Neo seems to like him a lot. There's quite a few reasons."
"I see."
"Can I ask why you keep visiting me, doc. I'm honestly surprised the old general has let you down here so many times, and I know you're not just here to bring some entertainment."
"Ironwood has learned not to question my actions. As for why I keep coming here. It is to fill you in on what is going on via the tournament. It was also to give you this."
Hayden hands Roman a small scroll. As Roman looked at it, he could see the shimmering image of a white knight chess piece on the screen.
"You'll know what to do with it when the time comes," Hayden explained, "For now though, you must keep it hidden. I'd tell you more, but this is not the place to reveal such things."
"Fair enough, I guess."
Hayden then stood up: "I must leave now, but we will talk later."
"See ya later, doc." Roman said. Once Hayden left, Roman looked at the scroll and cracked a smirk; he had the feeling that whatever this was, it was going to throw a BIG monkey wrench in Cinder's plan, and he relished the thought of being the one to throw that wrench.
Author's note: Team DRMS is a team made by a friend of mine that he allowed me to bring to life in the story. I am also still open for ideas concerning OG weapons for Novus.