Wow, I cannot believe I made that stupid mistake and wrote a different word instead of cooks. Must have been thinking about Black Lagoon, more specifically where Revy tossed a grenade at several bad guys who she called said word. I apologize for that.
Anyway, its time to begin Volume 3: Now for those of you wondering about Pyrrha's fate, that is still up in the air for the moment, same thing goes with Amber's fate. As for the rest of the Volume, I'll keep that secret for now and I can assure you that Neo is on the right side.
Anyways, onto the reviews.
Darth Cody: Thanks for catching me on that spelling error. That wasn't my intent. But I am glad you liked the whole Cup Check part. I swear, every time I watch that scene, I can't help but laugh my ass off. I always find nut shots to be the funniest. I do agree that the whole Nuts and Dolts pairing is a good one as well and I also agree with you about not liking Ruby x Roman, Ruby x Yang and Ruby x Adam pairings. Glad you like the Ruby x Galen pairing cause that's what I was aiming for when I started this story.
StarWarsLover1998: I think Salem was lying to Ruby about her mother's death. Warfare is based on deception as said by Makarov from Modern Warfare. That being said, until I see some actual proof that Summer was actually killed by the Grimm Witch, I'll believe it. So in regards to my story, she's in hiding.
Chaotic Skunk Demon: Yeah, a double-bladed lightsaber does sound like a good choice for Ruby, but it won't be an ordinary double-bladed lightsaber. Glad you liked the date with Ruby and Galen.
IceBite: I can't make any promises about the outcome of Volume 3, but you'll just have to wait and see.
Monster King: Thanks man, but please tell me what it is that you like about the story.
Luffy L Deathwalker: Yes, it is the calm before the storm. Trust me, Ruby will learn how to control her abilities and about Summer. I'll have to work on that last part until we have more information about her.
Spartan-626: Glad to hear from you again and sorry if I was being a bit… whatever the word I'm looking for is. Glad you like the whole date chapter, I actually took a cue from the Gundam Seed/Gundam Wing story; Journey to a New Battlefield by operation meteor, specifically the parts where the Archangel captain and perfect soldier went on a few dates. I'm not sure if I told you in advance about pairing Arthur with Weiss, but in the event I didn't I wanted to keep it a surprise. Now like I told another reviewer, until I actually see Summer's body or some kind of proof indicating that Summer is actually dead, she's still alive but somewhere in Remnant.
Terra, the guest review: I haven't actually read Alice in Wonderland for years, so you'll have to forgive me if I have no idea what you are talking about. Now in regards to the whole Jojo's Bizarre Adventures, haven't watched that anime.
All right, lets get going. Disclaimers are the same as before, please enjoy.
Chapter 32: Round One
Flowers in one hand and his other on Ruby's shoulder, Galen watched as his girlfriend lowered her hood and smiled, looking down on her mother's grave as petals billowed in the breeze. "Hey, mom. Sorry I haven't come by in a while. Things have been… well, things have been, pretty busy." Ruby began, trying to hold back her tears. "Oh, Dad's here, too! He's uh, you know… Dad. He's still teaching at signal. But her told me that he's going to be on some mission soon. I think he misses adventuring with you." She said with a forlornly look. "I miss you too."
"Haven't gotten kicked out of Beacon yet! So that's cool. I think being on a team with Yang helps. I keep her in line… That was a joke. She's actually a really great fighter! You can tell she's learned a lot from Dad! Oh, so are Weiss and Blake. Oh! 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, met some… let's just say odd teachers! Oh! We've stopped some bad guys, too! I guess it's like what they say: like mother, like daughter! I've also met someone who means a lot too me, and who told me that you're alive." She added as Galen stepped up and placed the flowers by Summers grave.
"Summer, its me, Galen Marek. I kind of told Ruby that you're still alive, but I don't know where. I'm sorry, but I couldn't hold it back anymore. I hope you can forgive me. Your daughter… Your daughter is really something else. She's strong in the force and has the potential to be a great Jedi as well as a huntress. I promise I'll protect her. Not sure if you've heard, but I've become known as the Demon Lord of the Round Table due to my skills as a pilot. Your daughter's also proven that she's more than willing to fight the Empire." He spoke. "I don't know where you are, but I promise you that I will reunite the both of you in the future."
"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 added before a bark from the ever-adorable Zwei alerted the two of them along with the sight of Taiyang behind them. "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!" she exclaimed, before putting her hood back on and started to walk away, but turned around to deliver a final message to her mother. "It was good to talk and I hope to see you again." She added before she jogged back to her family with Galen.
Suspended high above the kingdom of Vale, the Amity Colosseum erupted with cheers from the crowds in the stands as down in a field of volcanic earth and icy glaciers, Ruby fired her beloved scythe at a member of Team ARBN from Haven Academy while Blake exchanged blows with Reese Chloris. Gambol Shrouds blade and Reese's hoverboard collided with each other before the light green haired girl flipped away and charged at Blake again.
Behind Reese, Weiss waved her rapier as she used her glyphs while Yang dodged an explosive force from one of Arslan Altan's fists with her own fist while above the action, two familiar teachers sat in the sportscaster room with a microphone between them watched the battle. "Hello! It seems that we have another astonishing bout ahead of us! Wouldn't you agree, Professor?" Port asked his fellow commentator.
"Doctor." Oobleck replied annoyed before he brightened up excitedly. "And yes Peter, I think its safe to say this match may be the closet we've seen on the four-on-four round of the tournament!" he added.
"For those you just now joining us, welcome to the Vytal Festival Tournament, broadcast live from the Amity Colosseum!" Port announced, waving his arm and gesturing to the entire event as people from all over the world watched the on-going match. Whether they were Faunus, Human or alien the tournament was something everyone was enjoying. As shuttles transported people to and from the floors of the structure, explosions were seen throughout the battlefield as Port and Oobleck began to explain the rules for those who were watching the tournament for the first time.
"The tournament is divided into three distinctive rounds; teams, doubles and singles. Age and school year are irrelevant! In this tournament, your only attribute being tested… is skill." Oobleck explained, holding up the appropriate number of fingers for each explanation as a hologram to his side illustrated the rules.
"Correct! The winners of this battle will elect two members to represent them in the doubles round, followed by the winners of that round choosing one member to advance again. The remaining combatants will then fight their way through the final bracket in the hope of achieving victory for their kingdom." Port added as another hologram popped up, doing the same thing before it showed a victorious figure with a sword raised and wearing a crown.
"And yes, Peter, these certainly are some spectacular spectacles on which to spectate on! I don't think anyone tuning around the world is going to disagree with me on that!" Oobleck stated, pushing his spectacles up as people from all over the kingdoms watched the ongoing match.
"Ahh, and why would they?" Port said with a hearty laugh. "Now, lets get back to the match between Team RWBY of Beacon, and Team ABRN of Haven!"
Back in the arena, Reese steered her board through ice part of arena, twirling herself before launching her board at Blake who moved to block the attack. Reese's board rotated back to the wielder to defend them as Blake delivered several slashes and kicks which Reese deflected, spinning her board around before flipping away and riding it again, rushing towards a smirking Blake.
What she hit was an ice-based shadow clone which allowed Blake to slice to the board in two, only to realize that the board was actually a pair of dual bayonet-bladed revolvers. Reese fired off a few rounds before she collided into the ground, a sight that Blake winced with Sympathy.
Yang on the other hand landed mere feet away from Arslan, who backed away before getting pounded by two quick fists. Both girls dodged the others kicks before Arslan managed to deliver a hit on Yang which was followed by a series of hammer blows. Yang was quick to defend herself and retaliates, the clash of their two fists creating a shockwave that threw both girls back, with Yang trying to deliver a couple more blows before Arslan flipped out of the way and used her rope dart to tangle up her adversary's leg, landing a kick that sent Yang skidding on the ground and into the ice zone. Yang quickly tried to regain her balance, but Arslan rushed forwards and knocked her back even further.
Right into the sights of Nadir Shiko's submachine gun. Before the boy could even pull the trigger, a frosty blue explosion behind him encased his lower body in ice, causing him to whimper. "Got your back!" Ruby shouted to her sister, looking up from her sniper scope.
"But who's got yours?" Bolin Hori asked from behind Ruby, twirling his staff and would have hit Ruby had a black snowflake glyph appeared on his left before Weiss kicked him through the glyph and into a rock.
"My BFF!" Ruby exclaimed.
"No." Weiss stated with a deadpan response, but Ruby pumped her fist, whispering 'Yes' to herself as the battle continued.
Bolin crouched with his weapon as a white glyph appeared in front of him before Weiss dashed in and slashed at him before leaping up and went in for the aerial only for Bolin to block it. Readying her sword while preparing a glyph behind her, which Ruby used to launch herself straight up and came down spinning her scythe at Bolin who managed to block the blade. Ruby grimaced and blasted herself to Weiss's side as Bolin rushed towards them, rolling away as shards of ice rained down on him, jumping over Ruby's swing and continued to run. "Whaaat!?" Ruby shouted.
Reaching for an orange crystal deposit, Bolin sliced a shard off the crystal which he threw to Reese in the icy half of the stadium. Reese caught the crystal which she promptly fused with her board, the turning it from an aqua light to a crimson shade. Winking at Blake, the teal eyed girl used the heat from her board to free Nadir from his icy snare before coming back around and slammed her board into Blake's blade, propelling herself backwards and knocking Blake into a frozen pillar.
Reese was prepared to use her board to slam Blake into the ground, but Blake dodged the attack forcing Reese to spin around in a flaming arc that Blake narrowly avoided thanks to her shadows. Deciding to change tactics, Blake launched the pistol part of her weapon at a nearby glacier and launched herself behind it. Reese followed Blake and grinned as she flew on her board and was about to deliver a flaming spiral at what she thought was Blake, only to see a ribbon that Blake had launched, trapping her. Pulling tightly on the ribbon, Blake caused Reese to slam body-first into the string before a final kick knocked Reese out of the arena, eliminating her from the tournament. "Ooh, a double whammy! Reese Chloris is eliminated by ring-out and Aura level!" Port announced.
"Oh, she really should've worn a helmet!" Oobleck added.
As Reese slammed her fists down in defeat, Arslan used her rope dart to swing around and got behind Yang, who was quick to propel herself forwards by a shotgun blast to keep up with the girl. Nadir had his submachine-gun aimed at Weiss who summoned another Glyph that sent Bolin into his teammate before the heiress created a whirlwind underneath them, slamming both Haven students into each other before they found themselves in a giant fist which then formed into a giant ice ball that rolled on the field. Seeing her teammates in such a state, Arslan rolled her eyes, annoyed before she changed directions and slide into the path of the ball, driving her hand into the sphere which cracked underneath her power.
"Yang! NOW!" Weiss shouted, creating a large frozen slide. Knowing what to do, the blonde brawler blasted herself towards the slide, skimming over the wall of ice, catching Blakes pistol while her teammate used Ruby as a launch pad, jumping towards the remaining ABRN members, who had only a second before they looked on, horrified as Blake whipped a screaming Yang around, who landed a devastating punch that sent the trio flying into elimination.
"Yes!" Yang cheered as the buzzer sounded, ending the match.
"Oh, that's got to hurt!" March said from the stands.
"And that's the match! Team RWBY is victorious!" Port announced, while Weiss looked around in surprise while Ruby leapt into the air screaming 'WE DID IT!' Galen smiled at his girlfriend's victory, proud of her.
A little while later, both teams made their way to the fairgrounds set up in Beacon. "Is anyone else starving?" Ruby asked, hunching over. Blake tried to look cool, with her arms behind her head, but her angry beast of a stomach growled so loudly that it embarrassed her.
"Gee, if only there was somewhere on campus to get food around here. Oh, wait." Weiss said with sarcasm, shrugging her arms and gesturing to the myriad of tents and small shops wreathed in colorful flags. Yatsuhashi flexed his arms in front of a pair of girls, while a pair of AK-200's walked past them on patrol.
"It's okay, Weiss, I forget about the fairgrounds, too." Ruby said, putting a hand on Weiss's shoulder, much to the annoyance of the heiress who claimed she was being facetious. "Gah! Well, if you were hungry, why didn't you say so!?" Ruby said, freaked out.
Yang was quick to suggest a place that she knew of and both teams started to follow the blonde brawler, but Arthur heard the ringtone of his girlfriend's scroll. A brief glance in Weiss's direction along with her glare, told him it was her father who she completely ignored, not that Arthur could blame her.
"Hey! Might be hard to eat without this." Emerald said from behind, holding a red wallet filled with Lien in her hand, causing Ruby to frantically pat her outfit in a panic. Galen was quick to grab the wallet from Emerald who he was still suspicious of, along with her teammates. "Hey!" Emerald said defensively.
Galen said nothing and handed Ruby her wallet back who believed that she had dropped her wallet, thanking Emerald for picking it up as Yang asked Emerald what she was up too. "Just left the stadium after your amazing fight! You guys were awesome!" Emerald said, trying to act friendly. Ruby blushed and mumbled in embarrassment while Blake mentioned that Emerald and her team had progressed to the next round as well.
Something that made Galen more suspicious of the three-person team, since they won their match by forfeit when their opponents failed to show up for the match and were found beaten and bruised in the city, by Fives, Echo and Hevy who were patrolling the city. Even more so was that their fourth teammate called out sick just before the tournament. "Well, a win's a win, so why don't we all get some victory food together." Ruby asked, braking Galen's thoughts.
"Oh, gosh, that's so nice of you, but my teammates are kind of…" she began, looking back to Mercury who was sniffing the inside of a boot, perplexed. "… introverted. Really socially awkward." She finished, getting Yang to nod in agreement. "Oh yeah, looks like Merce and I are going to move on to the doubles round. What about you guys?" she asked, changing the subject.
Before Ruby could answer, Galen stepped in. "Why don't we leave that for a surprise. It would make the match much more interesting when you find out at the last second who your opponents are in the doubles round and before you even ask, my team and I still have yet to have our match." He said with narrowed eyes.
Emerald was quick to back off and said that she was going to check out some more fights, which Ruby told her to have fun. Once both teams were out of sight, she dropped her friendly act and finally showed her true self. "So, how are the new friends?" Mercury asked.
"I hate them." Emerald answered with a scowl.
"Orders are orders." Mercury reminded the green haired girl.
"I just… how can they be so happy all the time!?" she asked, mashing her fingers together in anger.
"Did you at least get what we want?" Mercury asked.
"No. Seems that Galen might suspect who we really are. If that's the case, I don't think we can keep up the act much longer. But we still have to proceed with the plan and lets just hope those lessons you got will pay off." She answered.
"Let's hope so." Mercury said in agreement.
While the two 'friends' walked away, the two teams they were talking about had taken a seat a noddle bar called 'A Simple Wok' ready to order, except for Galen who wasn't feeling all that hungry. "I'll have bowl of the regular, please." Yang said to the owner who slid a giant bowl of noodles to her.
"Oohhh… I'll take the same." Ruby said after staring at Yang's own meal for a few seconds, getting the same thing. Weiss however wanted something with a low-salt count only to have a regular bowl slide in front of her. The same was given to Arthur and March, while Rose just asked for a drink for herself and her dog who arrived a day ago. As for Blake, she gave a nod and smile to the shopkeep who returned the gesture before rushing through one of the doors of his shop and came out the other with a large bowl of noodles topped with a fish, making Blake's eyes light up as she drooled.
Though she looked strangely at her teammate, Weiss offered a Schnee Dust Company credit card to the shopkeep, her way of saying thanks for being sent to the doubles round. Her joy was ruined when the card was suddenly flung back at her, the shopkeeps register beeping 'Declined' while Blake looked around panicked and attempted to slide her bowl away, only for the shopkeep to disappear with her food, making the poor girl slump in defeat while Weiss was trying to figure out what just happened.
'It appears that Jacques will do anything to get his daughter to anything to get his daughter to talk to him. That man is nothing but a disgrace to the name Schnee. His daughters and nephew are more worthy of the Schnee name then he ever will be. However, its still unclear about his son.' Arthur thought to himself.
Before the Knight of Atlas could pay for the food, Pyrrha arrived with her team, also wanting to have a meal before their own match and some time later, the students that ordered from the shop had finished their meals, some holding their stomachs in a sickly manner. As the shopkeep quickly gathered the bowls and vanished, Ren asked a question. "Are you sure it's wise to have eaten before a fight?"
"Of course! It will give us energy!" Pyrrha answered as Nora gave a hearty belch, followed by March who belched even louder.
"If I barf, I'm blaming you." Jaune said to his teammate splayed over the counter, equally sick.
"Ooh! Aim it the enemy!" Nora said with evil grin, only to be rebuked by Ren who called her idea disgusting. When Ruby asked them if they were ready for the tournament, Nora had only this to say. "Of course! We've got a world-renowned fighter on our team, one's basically a ninja, I can bench five of me and Jaune's really stepped up his game. We've trained all year, our weapons are awesome, Glynda barely yells at us anymore, and uh… Jaune's really stepped up his game!" she claimed.
"Are you going to take that?" Ren asked his leader.
"No, I'm not." Jaune answered.
"I'm kidding, he's knows I'm kidding." Nora assured before she began to talk quickly. "Don't be so nervous! The worst that can happen is that 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!" she stated as to Galen's surprise her color slowly drained as the more worried the girl got, her mad laughing turning into sobs before she slammed her head on the counter.
"So, yeah, we're feeling pretty good." Ren said unperturbed.
"Is she going to be ok?" Galen asked.
"She'll be fine. Besides, if anything, we should be looking forward to a fight with actual guidelines, and not, well, …murders." Pyrrha assured, still a bit shaken by the death she had seen during the Round Table battle.
"Yeah, don't sweat it, we've all faced way worse before." Yang added.
"Let's see. Grimm invasions, violent extremists, a destructive sociopath, a galactic empire, the remains of an army of advanced machines…" Blake counted off with her fingers.
"And that's all while we were still in training! Oh, imagine what it would be like to graduate!" Ruby added with excitement while Weiss mumbled something sarcastically to herself as Port and Oobleck called for Team JNPR to report to the stadium over the intercom, like they were supposed to do several minutes ago.
After hearing that announcement, all three teams were quick to make their way to the Coliseum which had been readied for the second match of the day. To the people of Remnant, the Vytal Festival was a time to bring the four kingdoms together, but what they didn't know was that in the farthest reaches of space and hiding in plain sight, a war was coming and it would be like nothing the likes the planet had ever seen before as the match between Team BRNZ of Shade and Team JNPR kicked off.
And thus, the Vytal Festival has begun.
Now I am sure many of you are wondering what will happen to Pyrrha and Boba Fett is up too. Well, those questions are going to be answered at another date, but I can assure you that its going to be quite different for Pyrrha.
Speaking of dead characters, I don't know how many of you saw the latest episode of RWBY, but I for one am hoping that a certain character that we know hasn't really kicked the bucket like we all saw. Yet its another reason to hate Cinder for what she's done.
Now onto the matter of Galen and the opponents he and his team will be facing. I've given some thought to that an came up with a team for them to face in the next chapter. It's a secret for the time being. But you'll enjoy the fight.
Now, before I end this chapter, I want to know one thing. Should I skip the fight between Team SSSN and NDGO or include it? Give me an answer in your review and I'll see you all next time.