"Chin up, Velvs, we'll be fine. It's a tournament, not a week long job in Mistral. What's the worst that can happen?"
Velvet Scarlatina sighed, running one hand down her face. "C'mon, Coco, we both know what happens when you say that sort of stuff! It jinxes you!"
"Whilst I do not believe in curses or jinxes, testing fate is always unwise, Coco," Yatsuhashi continued, running a stone down the end of his blade. "I believe we should treat our foes with the respect they deserve."
"Aw, come on, I'm just kidding. No need to get your ears in a knot, Velvs. Yats and I'll be fine. Promise," Coco remarked, tilting her shades to get a better look at her team. "Right Fox?"
Fox nodded.
"See, Fox says we'll be fine!"
"I'm a little worried, though. That team was merciless in their last match."
Coco watched as Velvet nervously tapped a rhythm on the box strapped to her hip.
"Relax, Bun-bun. We'll kick their asses and look good doing it."
"Yeah, I know. I'm just getting a little worked up, that's all. You know me."
"Come on, Coco. Our match is beginning. Wish us luck," Yatsuhashi spoke, and Fox gave his partner another nod, the solemn giant returning it as he strode out of the locker room.
Coco was quick to follow, but not before Velvet managed to get out one last remark.
"You'd better bloody keep that promise, Coco."
Coco smirked. "Your accent comes out when you're flustered, Bun-bun."
"And with that, Yatsuhashi is eliminated! What a turn of events!"
Coco's eyes widened. "What? But-"
She never got the opportunity to finish that thought as another took precedence, a flicker of brown and white amongst the greenery.
Coco twisted towards it, finger tense on the trigger. She wasn't scared. That wasn't what she was. She was acting more careful, that was all.
The girl, Emerald, her name was, she was fast. Or was she? She kept moving, vanishing, appearing, she was everywhere, nowhere, all at once. How was this even possible? Some kind of speed Semblance, a teleportation Semblance?
A heel met Coco's face with a resounding smack, driving her backwards onto one knee, the crumpled remains of her now-shattered glasses landing by her feet. "You bitch!"
Coco was quick to get back up, and this time she was less concerned about her surroundings, opening fire.
The rotating cylinder of barrels began to spin, faster and faster, and in less than a second Coco was blasting a stream of bullets out of the end, cutting through grass, shrubbery and even trees without much effort as she began to trace the flickers she saw.
Not once, in the near thousand bullets she fired, did she land a hit, or even see what she was firing at.
And then, in a single moment, everything went black.
Naruto tapped a beat down the pommel of Crocea Mors, waiting for his partner to be ready.
Something was bothering Pyrrha, that much was clear. She was distracted, somewhat distant and quite obviously unwilling to share what it was.
Naruto wouldn't push, of course. If something was bothering her Naruto had faith she'd come to him or at the very least Yang to talk about it. No sense in making whatever it was harder for her.
Maybe it was the result of their previous round and what had transpired, or maybe it was stress from not having performed on such a large stage in such a long time.
"Ready, Pyrrha?" He asked, as his teammate stepped out.
"Yes, I am," Pyrrha replied, and Naruto found himself lost for words.
"Then, uh, let's get going?"
Pyrrha accepted it as an order, one foot in front of the other as she began to leave, and Naruto was quick to follow, resting one hand against his sheathed blade.
Maybe he should ask if she was alright. Whatever it was, it was bothering her a lot. He'd never seen her so preoccupied with her thoughts.
"You alright, Pyrrha?"
Naruto watched and waited for a response from his biting of the bullet, only to have Pyrrha pause mid-stride, and consider her words very carefully.
"Yes, I'm fine. Just pre-match nerves, I suppose."
"You sure? I just want to make sure you're okay. If you don't want to tell me, that's fine."
Another deep breath and considered thought followed, before Pyrrha once again spoke. "Yes. Thank you for asking, though. We should go."
Naruto nodded. "Right. Don't want to keep the audience waiting, and all that."
It took no time at all to enter the stadium, and Naruto kept his attention on his opponents.
Sun and Neptune looked a little nervous, if just in the face of the two strongest first-years in Beacon. Especially when you considered that they were following up what seemed to be the strongest team from Mistral. Rough odds, on their part, but from the looks of things, they weren't going to let it stop them from trying their hardest.
"No hard feelings, right Naruto?" Sun asked, as the four stopped near the center of the arena.
Naruto allowed himself a smile. "Course not. Don't want you and Neptune to start hating us all of a sudden."
Sun spun his staff into a reverse grip, slinging it over his shoulder. "Oh, you're so on. I'm gonna wipe the floor with you."
Naruto shared a glance with Pyrrha. "Sounds like dibs. Wanna handle Neptune for us?"
Neptune suddenly gulped. "Hey, uh, Sun, wanna swap?"
Sun shook his head with such voracity that Naruto swore it nearly snapped off. "Nuh-uh. No way. Besides, you've got this. Just have faith!"
Their conversation was interrupted as the wheel began to spin, ticking through all the possible environments.
Naruto watched it tick down. Desert, Forest, Geyser Fields… Ocean. Not a bad combo.
"O-ocean?!" Neptune voiced aloud, suddenly even more terrified of the coming fight.
"Oh no. Nep, buddy, just don't freak out. Please," Sun quickly said, trying to console his partner, who looked as if he'd frozen up, as stiff as a board.
"And with that, we begin the final round of the doubles matches! Good luck to our contestants!" Port announced, and the horn sounded.
Neptune was faster than Naruto had ever seen, conquering a sand dune with such speed that even Pyrrha seemed shocked.
Naruto spared him no further attention as Pyrrha moved towards the blue-haired warrior, Naruto drawing Crocea Mors as Sun began to circle him.
"Alright, Naruto. It's just you and me. Blake says you pack a punch, and I've seen some of the stuff you can do, but eh. May the best leader win?"
Naruto shrugged. "I mean, it's not quite just you and me, but yeah. Best leader."
And with that, and a notification popping up that he definitely did not have time to read, Naruto blocked a blow that would have driven him to his knees had his shield not been there to receive it.
Sun really wasn't going to take this lying down, and Naruto was more than happy to oblige.
"You wanna see what I can do with my semblance, Sun?" Naruto asked as he narrowly avoided an overhead strike, spinning sideways.
"Course I do! I've been pretty curious!"
Naruto struck with Crocea Mors, blade meeting staff as Sun blocked it, and Naruto used the time it had bought him to leap backwards.
Sun, thinking he had the advantage, approached, albeit cautiously.
Callisto struck him in the side from out of a cloud of smoke and sent him sliding backwards, feet splashing as they cut a trail through the puddles of water that scattered across the ground.
"What? An Ursa?" Sun exclaimed.
"Is… is that a Grimm?!" Oobleck echoed, standing up in his seat in the commentator's box. "How did that…"
"Oh ho! Mr Uzumaki pulls out one of his tricks, revealing his semblance!" Port interjected to a somewhat uneasy audience. "Mr Uzumaki had the forethought to discuss it with me, so I could help alleviate any undue worries! That, ladies and gentlemen, is Callisto, Naruto's summoned Ursa!"
Callisto reared up on her hind legs, letting loose a roar.
Sun spun his staff once more. "It's just an Ursa. I've killed a lot of them, this shouldn't be any more difficult!"
Naruto smiled once more, pulling a glowing orb from his pocket. "Oh, sure. Of course, Callisto's a little different. About to be a lot different, too."
And with that, he threw the Greater Soul Orb into the air, where Callisto snagged it in her jaws, crunching down on the ball of pure energy.
Sun, and the audience, watched in awe as the large bear began to glow a bright white.
And then, within a moment, it was over, and where Callisto had stood was now a much larger, spikier bear, with far more plates of bone armor across the torso and back, and much more vicious looking claws.
Callisto, now a Greater Ursa Soul, let loose a much louder roar, and began bounding towards Sun.
For a split-second, Sun panicked. A single moment, which passed incredibly quickly before his training kicked in, and he met the bear, staff unfolding to form nunchaku, unleashing bursts of buckshot as he expertly evaded Callisto's sharpened swipes and bites.
Only for Naruto to come in from behind and deliver a crushing Shield Bash that knocked the poor monkey Faunus backwards, stunning him for enough time for Callisto to wrap him in her arms, in the most legitimate form of bear hug.
Naruto's pre-match preparation had come in handy, and with the colossal amount of Ambient Soul in the air from the thousands of people, well, he'd had a good lunch.
Sun struggled against the arms, before going limp, eyes closing.
"Unable to move, Sun?" Naruto asked, before widening his eyes, shield coming up just in time to block a glowing gold nunchaku that nearly knocked him out if he'd been without Aura. Another hit him in the side, and he found himself under attack by two glowing golden Sun clones.
Two more hit Callisto in her sides, causing the bear to have to release the Hunter-in-training, lest take the brunt of the hits. Callisto may have been tough, even tougher now, but that didn't mean she could hold out that long against a constant onslaught.
Naruto slashed one of the clones in half, watching it disperse into golden mist as the second one attacking him seemed to pull back inside Sun's body, and Naruto noted that in doing so the boy restored a good portion of the Aura he'd lost, most likely from creating the copy.
"Seems we've both got some tricks up our sleeves, huh," He allowed himself to remark, staring down the monkey-tailed fellow blond team leader.
"Gotta say, I wasn't expecting yours. That teddy over there knows how to hug."
Naruto let out a laugh. "Teddy would've been a pretty good name for her, to be honest. Though, Callisto's a little more… regal?"
Sun and his two clones readied their weapons once more. "Wanna get back to it?"
Naruto planted the end of Crocea Mors into the water-drenched stone. "First things first. Gotta say hello to the whole family, Sun."
Sun stepped back, wide-eyed, as a cloud of black smoke seemed to waft off of Naruto's shadow, and out of it stepped Cadejo, padded feet sending ripples through the puddles that they stood in.
Following him was Freyja, snuffling at the ground.
Ishara and Ouroboros emerged next, the snake curling around his leg and slithering up to act almost like a scarf, and Ishara crawling up his other leg to rest atop Ouroboros's head.
Finally, soaring into the sky, came Alcmena, the cry of the Stymphalian Soul echoing out over the stadium.
Naruto kept Electrus and Platinus unsummoned. He may have gone a bit overboard already, but there was no sense in continuing that trend. These six were enough.
A quick glance at his inventory told him he had only four more Greater Soul Orbs stored, but that he was fine with. He wanted to evolve all his summons, of course, but if he could only do four, he'd save the orbs, just in case they were needed. Some of his summons weren't exactly combat suitable in their current forms, namely Ishara and Ouroboros, but that didn't mean they were useless. The perks they brought were more than enough to prove that.
Of course, that didn't mean he wasn't going to do a little more showing off. "Alcmena, catch!"
With his exclamation, he threw the second Greater Soul Orb into the air, where the bird pierced it with her beak, beginning the transformation that he knew would draw all the attention.
Naruto shot forwards, blade arcing towards Sun, as the blond found his eyes drawn towards what had once been a small heron-like bird with bronze tips, one he was quite familiar with from his time in Mistral.
Now, however, it was much larger, which made the resemblance all the more similar, and as the slightly-smaller-than-a-Bullhead Alcmena soared over the landscape, Naruto landed his strike against one of the clones that had stepped in front of Sun right before he'd landed the hit.
Sun pulled back fast, his other clone leaping close to the fray, only to suddenly be taken down by four Cadejo's, and Sun soon found himself without any allies, whilst it appeared that Naruto's were only growing.
A bronze-colored feather knocked him off-course, his backpedalling no longer taking him away from Naruto but perpendicular, and Naruto seized the opportunity, lunging forward, only to miss as a hastily created clone detonated in front of him, coating him in dispersing Aura.
Aura that, Naruto noticed, did not go back into Sun, unlike the deaths of his other clones.
He'd dealt a significant blow with just that move, and Sun's hasty reaction. That was good, it meant that this fight would be over even sooner than expected.
Sun was still on the defensive, he'd backed up out of the geysers and into the shallow pool of water that was supposed to represent the ocean, looking around for something, anything, that would help him deal with the summoner that continued his approach, following him into the water.
Then, Sun realised that he had two weapons loaded with buckshot, enough to at least stall for time. Maybe Neptune would defeat Pyrrha in some kind of fluke, and rush over to help him.
Of course, that would actually be two flukes, Sun realised, as not only would Neptune have to beat Mistral's pride and joy in one-on-one combat, but also then spontaneously get over his fear of water.
"Guess there's only one thing to do. Go out fighting."
Neptune was a frustrating opponent to face, Pyrrha surmised. Not particularly difficult, just frustrating.
It was always the same with these new weapons, ones powered by Energy Dust instead of conventional rounds. She couldn't deflect the rounds, and had to either evade or block the energy, and the very heat of going near them was very slowly sapping her Aura.
To make matters worse, she had no proper traction or even footing to commit to any attacks. The sand, loose and dry, provided no resistance, and any moment she tried to brace, she found herself slipping.
It was unfamiliar terrain, something she was unused to in a tournament context. The Vytal Tournament really was something else.
That being said, Neptune was still yet to land any kind of attack aside from the occasional splash of energy rounds. He was as disadvantaged as Pyrrha, obviously as unfamiliar with the sand as she, but he held the timing advantage, now. Any time she tried to fire upon him he'd already be firing his weapon, and the fact that he did so prevented her from turning the tide and doing the same to him.
They were effectively locked in a stalemate.
That was, until a giant bronze feather nearly gutted Neptune, making the blue-haired teen yelp in surprise.
Pyrrha decided not to react in the same way, instead using it as an opportunity to open fire upon her now open opponent, and Neptune, despite being quick on the draw and using the newly arrived feather as cover, still took a few hits, lowering his Aura by a not so insignificant amount.
Now it was less of a stalemate and more of a game of keeping Neptune behind the cover whilst she tried to figure out the best method of dealing with him.
She had a few options. Continue to fire until she got lucky enough to hit him enough times to break his Aura, try for a flank and hope he didn't notice or relocate, push hard and fast and hope he didn't melt her Aura before she reached him.
Then, as with most good ideas, a good idea sprung into her mind like a dam had burst.
The giant bronze metal feather.
Now all she had to do was make it look like it was sliding because of the sand, and not because she was exerting an immense amount of Semblance-related Aura on it.
A single moment of doubt flickered through her mind as she considered the implications of potentially crushing a fellow Hunter-in-training, but they were quickly quashed by her competitive spirit.
She pushed herself further and further, one hand extended as the other kept her rifle trained on where Neptune was in cover, balancing the forestock on her shield, which she'd planted into the sand, having taken a cue from Naruto and his habit of planting weaponry into the ground.
And she could feel her entire Aura burning as she exerted her control over it. It was searing, rippling black, forcing the feather back further, the metallic edges of the feather bending, the sound of metal groaning as it sheared itself.
Neptune only realized what was happening when the metal began to curve inwards on him.
He tried to run, break free of the ever-enclosing threat of the soon-to-be-cage, but he hesitated, leaping a moment too late as the metal moved faster than ever as Pyrrha let out a shout of exertion, the feather slamming shut into what was effectively a tube, trapping Neptune by his midsection.
"And with that Neptune Vasilias is unable to move, and is eliminated!"
The sound of the announcement of Neptune's elimination was barely heard by either of the two competitors as they fought against one another, Sun finding himself barely able to find time to quip as he battled against the overwhelming number of foes that he faced, constantly pushing back against Naruto and his summons.
Naruto, for his part, continued to push, slashing away with a wild demeanour, keeping Sun on his toes.
Occasionally a large feather would drive Sun away from making a break for it for a better position, and any time he tried to create a clone either Cadejo or Freyja would disintegrate it, fangs biting down on it or tusks goring it.
He was on the defensive in the worst possible way. He was still taking hits. Every strike that collided with his staff as he blocked felt painful, sending a reverberation down his arms, and he was beginning to feel lethargic, almost as if his Aura was just slowly giving up on its own.
Sun knew from the start that he was going to lose, but this wasn't quite how he imagined it going down.
He'd imagined a tough-yet-well-intentioned standoff that would end in a near draw, one of the two leaders managing to best the other, only to be defeated by the remaining opponent.
But this, this was a meat grinder, and he was the meat.
His Aura was low, now, really low, and one more solid hit was going to put him out of commission.
"C'mon, Naruto! Make it a little fair, and finish me off on your own, huh?"
Naruto shrugged, and Sun watched, barely able to react in time as Callisto struck down on him, knocking his Aura into the red and driving him onto his back with a wheeze.
"Sorry, Sun. No hard feelings."
Afternoon celebration had turned to evening relaxation, and not only were AWBN and RRYN joined by SSSN, but Penny too, who Ruby had tracked down and invited, which made for a large group that had basically commandeered one of Beacon's courtyards to sit in, not nearly as noisy as they had been minutes earlier as their festivities died down.
"Trade secret semblance, huh. I knew you were hiding something, man," Sun remarked with a laugh.
Naruto couldn't help but laugh. "Not quite. I mean, I've shown it off a few times. I guess the rumour mill just never really picked it up."
Sun waved that off. "Nah, they probably have, I just don't listen to rumours. That's just a Mistral thing, though, learned that the hard way. We don't have many rumours in Vacuo."
Naruto absent-mindedly scratched the top of Cadejo's head, the wolf laid out next to the blond teen, panting in satisfaction.
"Once you get over the shock of them being Grimm-like, they're pretty cool," Sun continued. "Wish my semblance was a little more powerful, kept getting bitten clean through."
"I mean, don't feel bad. I was always going to have a numbers advantage over anyone I fought, you're just probably one of the only people who could actually last that long against an overwhelming force."
"You didn't tell me you got new ones, Naruto!" Ruby piped up as she walked over, Penny trailing behind her, the ginger beaming at the snake she wore around her neck. Ouroboros appeared to be patiently amused by Penny's antics.
"Yeah, that happened early this morning, down by the clearing. Figured I'd get it over and done with, couldn't see a reason not to, you know?"
Ruby sat down next to him, leaning against his arm. "And what you did with Callisto and Alcmena! They're so big now!"
Sun interjected. "Yeah, that was pretty surprising. When the bear got bigger, I went from a little worried to actually worried."
"I'd bring Callisto and Alcmena out, but they're a little too big to have inside Beacon. Plus, with all the Atlesian Knights wandering the place, I'm worried they might identify them as a Grimm and open fire," Naruto replied. "I can get away with Cadejo and Ouroboros, and maybe Ishara, but Callisto, Alcmena and Freyja are pushing it."
Penny passed Ouroboros onto Ruby's shoulders, where the snake coiled itself into the warmth of her hood, head peeking over her shoulder, tongue tasting the air.
"Friend Naruto, your animal companions are very impressive, and so is your fighting style! I was not aware you were so strong last we met!"
Naruto let out a laugh. "I wasn't, to be fair. I've been steadily improving over the months. I wasn't anywhere near this good when I started. Besides, you practically wiped the floor with CRDL this today. I'd say you're pretty strong yourself."
"I do hope it is either your team or Ruby's team that I fight in the third round. I would deeply enjoy the challenge!" Penny said, and Ruby's eyes practically gleamed. "Ooh, I wonder who's going up against who tomorrow!"
"Well, we're putting Pyrrha forward, or so her sponsors have requested. Doesn't really bother me to have to step back, and to be honest, I think I've had enough attention on me as it is. What about you, Ruby? Still sending Yang through?"
Ruby nodded. "Mmhmm! Yang's always itching for a fight, so why not give it to her, you know? Plus she's probably the strongest out of the four of us when it comes to people versus people fights, so it makes sense. The rest of us are more suited for dealing with Grimm most of the time."
"If we had've won today, I'd've been the one getting sent into the singles matches. We didn't though, and to be honest, that's kind of a weight off of my chest. No stress now, we can just chill out and cheer you all on, right Neptune?" Sun stated, looking over to his partner, who was relaxing with his teammates.
His nonverbal response of a single thumbs-up was all the confirmation Sun apparently needed. "He's a little worn out from today. Pyrrha trapped him in a feather."
"I noticed," Naruto remarked with a smile. "I did kind of order Alcmena to help Pyrrha out a little."
"Ooh, that's sly. Nice."
Idle chatter resumed amongst the crowd, before Naruto was struck by an idea.
"Hey, Sun, you're from Haven, what do you know about the last team, what were they called, EMBR?" Naruto asked, and the fellow blond began to think.
"I don't know all that much about them, to be honest. They're pretty secretive, keep to themselves a lot, and they're new. They only arrived at Haven a short while ago, around the same time the Economics Professor arrived. Professor Aurum, I think her name is," Sun answered, before shrugging. "Sorry I can't help any more than that. They're pretty mysterious. Kinda like Blake, but weirder."
Sun then proceeded to wince as Blake overheard him, glaring intensely.
Naruto scratched the underneath of Cadejo's head as he lost himself in thought for a moment. "I don't think there's all that much we can do about it then. Guess we'll just have to figure it out when it comes down to it."
"Pretty sure we're experts at that by now," Ruby remarked. "Especially you."
"Speaking of working things out, I'm gonna duck down to the clearing for the rest of the evening. I've got some stuff I've gotta figure out sooner rather than later. Enjoy the rest of your evening, all."
Naruto stood, Cadejo rolling over and happily barking as Ruby obliged the wolf, rubbing his belly.
"You need them, or can they stay up here for a bit?" Ruby asked, both her and Cadejo giving him the puppy-dog eyes.
It had no real effect on Naruto, but he relented nonetheless. "Sure, Cadejo can stay. I need Ouroboros though."
Ruby nodded, leaning back into the most comfortable position she'd ever laid in, head against Cadejo's back. "Man, I could go to sleep like this."
Naruto laughed as he stretched his arm out, the snake wrapping around the outreaching limb. "I've done it before, he's a comfortable pillow."
"I take it back," Sun piped up. "You're all weird."