First Matches
"Good morning! Today is another wonderful day, a cool 17 degrees Celsius with not a rain cloud in sight. Before we go ahead with our regular schedule, we'd like to dedicate the next number to all the lucky lads and ladies in the Vytal Tournament. We're rooting for you all, but if you're a Beacon team, know we here in Radio Vale 1 are really hoping you take home the crown this year. Go Beacon!"
"Heh, see? This is why I like this radio station!" Friesian smiled as the radio he and his team were listening to started playing a song that the Dullahan began tapping his foot to.
It had been two weeks since Amity Colosseum arrived at Beacon, and the days of the chosen contestants since then had been eventful to say the least.
The teaching staff, who had largely left the students to their own devices, began rigorously drilling the Tournament rules and all sorts of Tournament relative stuff into their heads. Most of the chosen teams also started training harder than ever before, pushing their members to exceed limits they may not have known they could. Well-known teams became more prominent, meanwhile, more obscure teams gained more attention.
And that was only in Beacon. Many of them, especially those who had already developed a reputation amidst the general public, found themselves being approached when they went to Vale. Some had people asking for selfies, while others had jerk-ass hooligans harrass them. If recognised in establishments, some owners offered special deals to them or did their best to show a Tournament contestant was using their services. It would surely raise awareness of their business, and do so tenfold if the contestants perofrmed well or won.
Today, all that buildup and preparation would all come together. For it was the first day of the Vytal Tournament.
They had a few hours to go before they needed to head over to Amity Colosseum, and the four chose to wait a little in the Academy's arena.
Friesian sat with a sandwich and listened to the aforementioned radio. A light snack, for he already ate a hearty breakfast and want to make room for any snacks available at Amity Colosseum. Grey was eating as well, though she was eating more than just a sandwich. Today was a big day, so the Werewolf chose to eat as much as she could and drank two coffees to keep herself up.
Akagi, unlike him and Grey, was instead applying makeup on her face. Like the rest of them, she wanted to look her best during the Tournament, and put on some red lipstick and dark eyeliner she had saved specifically for this occasion. Faen, meanwhile, was just sitting at the table with arms crossed and eyes closed. Likely meditating or contemplating on what was going to happen, or what had led up to all this.
Their unofficial fifth member had been here moments ago. Yasmin wished Faen luck and, by his insistence, the rest of FFOG as well before departing. She would not fight beside them, nor watch from the stands. She would instead remain in Beacon for reasons she did not care to elaborate on.
"Sho... *Gulp* So who do you all think will be the first team we fight against? I ain't got any preferences," Grey spoke after she finished scarfing down a burger.
"Someone interesting, I hope. It would be a terrible shame for our Tournament debut to be anything less than spectacular." Odori added, checking her appearance with a small pocket mirror. She looked pleased, but she reached over and tapped Faen's shoulder, grabbing the Elf's attention. "Faen, how do I look?"
"Hmmm. You look nice," the Elf said after cracking his eyes open for a second and closed them again. "And you know who I'd like us to face in the Tournament."
Grey and Friesian shared a look at the Elf's words. Team HONE was also among those who qualified for the Tournament, and that only added to the rivalry present between the teams. Anyone who knew of this relationship saw it as only a matter of time before they faced off against each other.
The Dullahan was not too big on this 'rivalry', for it was only Faen and Halvard who took it seriously. If FFOG and HONE were to fight, that would be fine by him. But they would be just another team to Frisian, and their fight would not be too personal.
"Good luck in the Tournament," a smooth, female voice said to FFOG.
Turning his head on the table, Friesian saw it was the leader of Team CMNE, Cinder, who had spoken to them. Stood behind her were Mercury, Emerald and, what's her face, N-something. He had met and interacted with Mercury and Emerald before and could say he was familiar with them, but this was the first time he was meeting the fourth member of CMNE. Probably the reason why Friesian failed to remember her name.
Team CMNE were also contestants in the Vytal Festival. So while it would be good manners to wish them well, Friesian kept in mind there was a chance the two teams might face each other in the Colosseum.
"CMNE, thanks for that. Good luck to you, too. But if we gotta fight each other, just know we'll be wishing you the worst luck instead." Friesian turned his body to face the four Humans, lowering the volume of the radio by a little.
"Heh, we totally understand. In fact, I'd say we'll be doing the exact same thing." Mercury stepped up and responded, giving the Demi-humans a confident smirk.
"You know, backing out of the Tournament is an option. If you don't think you can handle it, or are too afraid to lose, there's always a chance for you to leave. After all, a fight with us might see you coming out of it with a a bruise or several." Odori now added her voice to the conversation, playing with a table knife as she did.
"We won't be backing out. We've worked too hard to get to this point," Emerald answered the Kitsune. Sharing a pointed look with Mercury, the two appeared to be silently saying something to eaxh other, but what the Dullahan could not make out.
Talk like this had grown since the teams were announced. Even FFOG's friends in RWBY, AMRT, and JNPR had been making semi-serious banter like this from time to time. While the Tournament was supposed to be a part of a celebration of cooperation, as Headmaster Ozpin was so fond of mentioning, the competitive spirit of the youths could not be suppressed.
"I do look forward to seeing how you all do in the arena. The anticipation is almost unbearable," Cinder went on to say, though she may have been speaking to one of them in particular. She was looking at Faen when she spoke, and the two made eye-contact as the Human finished speaking.
"We shall not disappoint, you can be assured of that." The Elf replied to Cinder, his eyes not leaving her. His face was unmoving, but the look in his eyes was so intense Friesian wondered whether he could see Cinder's soul.
"I know you will not," Cinder cracked a thin smile at the Elf. With that she made a gesture signalling her team to follow her as Cinder turned from FFOG and began to walk to the cafeteria's exit. The rest of CMNE bid them farewell for now, although the N of the team was conspicuously silent, and left with their leader.
FFOG watched them all leave for a couple seconds, before returning to what they had been doing prior to CMNE approaching them. Well actually, no, not really.
"So... You've been making a few new friends. Interesting choice, too." The Werewolf member of the team 'innocently' remarked to their leader, who gave her a look as icy as the northern expanses of Solitas.
"Don't think too much about it."
"I'm not, just saying you were looking a little too fixatedly at Cinder." Grey leaned forward and did her best impression of the look Faen had worn. Putting particular emphasis in her eyes. To this the Elf covered her face with a hand and pushed it away from him, rolling his own eyes at Grey's behaviour.
A couple minutes later, FFOG were joined by another team. Team JNPR as a matter of fact.
Jaune had tidied his hair up a little, and apart from that looked the same. Pyrrha did not change her appearance at all, not needing to in order to appear as great as ever. Ren barely changed, neither did Nora, but obviously she had to stand out some way. Although not in any way related to her appearance, but something she was currently doing.
For, much to Friesian's amazement, she was carrying around eight cups of orange juice in her arms. How in the world she had not spilled any of it was a straight up miracle.
"What's up guys?" Jaune greeted the four Demi-humans before looking over to Nora. "Are... you sure you don't need help with that? I've honestly been scared that you'll drop it all on the way here."
"Don't worry Jaune, I got this!" The orange haired girl replied as she walked up to the table FFOG, and now JNPR, occupied and deposited all the glasses on its surface. All without spilling a single drop of the juice that so hazardously sloshed around with every movement Nora made.
"How in the utter hell..." Friesian heard Faen mutter to himself before trailing off. Seems he was not the only one who noticed.
"We decided to hold a toast before we all head over to Amity Colosseum. There wasn't a lot of options, so I hope you don't mind orange juice." Jaune shrugged his shoulders while giving FFOG a nervous smile, probably wondering whether they appreciated the act or not.
Well Jaune did not have to worry, for Friesian really liked the idea. Looking over to his teammates, he saw Grey was also pleased with the idea and had taken one of the glasses. Akagi also seemed fine with the idea of a toast, and had finally stopped playing with that table knife. Faen's face was unreadable, but the Dullahan chose to hazard a guess and say he was alright with it. If he was not, the Elf would have made it known
"A thoughtful gesture, although I do question why RWBY is not here. What of AMRT? Can they not join us at the moment?" Akagi asked JNPR. It certainly did strike Friesian as odd for the Humans to set a toast for them alone, and not invite the others.
"We asked, but they're busy right now. RWBY is in the locker room doing last minute checks on their weapons, while AMRT are preparing in their dorm. So it's only us," Pyrrha regretfully responded, but ended her words with a smile. "We should all be enough for a toast. And we can wish them all luck here."
"That's a shame, but, whatever. C'mon, the announcement might come along any moment now. Let's get this toast done," Grey slid glasses to the other members of FFOG as she spoke.
Together, the two teams took a cup each and stood up together. This was sweet, super sweet. Friesian took a mental note of what was going on, quietly wondering how he could incorporate a toast like this into their Dark Paths sessions. He tried not to force such events, but he liked moments such as this too much to pass it up.
"To a good Vytal Festival! And may the best team win!" Jaune proclaimed. To Friesian's ears the words seemed to now come naturally to the Human. Boy had he come a long way.
"Cheers!" The rest of them cried as one as they brought their glasses together with a loud 'clink.'
At other tables, some students raised their own glasses to their toast while a few teams imitated their action.
Soon as all had finished the yellow-orange liquid in their glasses, the group sat in silence. Their talk, jokes, and the toast they made temporarily dispelled it, but all the tension building up inside came up their stomachs and wriggled into their chests. It might have risen up to Friesian's neck and tied a knot inside his throat like it did for the others, if the Dullahan had one that is.
All of them were accustomed to fighting before crowds, but only one of them had fought before crowds anywhere near as large as that which would be in the Amity Colosseum.
Still holding his glass in both hands, the Dullahan began using the fingers of his left hand to rub the knuckles of his right. Feck he was nevous, and he was not in the atena yet. If Friesian wanted to fight at the top of his game, for there was a chance FFOG might be called to fight first, he needed to get himself together.
Without thinking Friesian began making popping noises with his mouth. The Dullahan did not know why he decided this was a good idea, and all it had done was draw the others attention to him. Looking back at his friends, he saw they too were nervous and silently coping in their own ways. There was really not much that they could do, and Friesian was in a bind as to what conversation topic he could use to help diffuse the tension, so he just sat that like his friends were doing.
Sat and waited.
For what felt like an eternity did this carry on. The two teams sitting together and anticipating the moment they were to be called to Amity Colosseum. After several minutes like this, it all came to an end when Beacon's PA system came to life.
"Would all competing teams please go to Amity Colosseum as soon as possible. I repeat, will all competing teams please go to Amity Colosseum as soon as possible." Professor Goodwitch voice spoke through the PA system. The words jolting the group out of their silence, and filling the seemingly still world with action once again.
Wasting no time, FFOG and AMRT stood up from their seats, some students who were not competing wishing them luck as they left. This was it. This was what they had been waiting months for.
If all went right, FFOG would come out of this having made their friends, teachers, and family proud. If they won, well, even better.
At Amity Colosseum, Team FFOG met up with their friends and got themselves seats at the area reserved for students. Prime front row seats to the arena.
For the first eight days of the Vytal Tournament, four matches of team battles would happen. Two in the morning, and the other two taking place in the afternoon. With the match ups being completely randomised, all contenders had to be present in the arena in case they were ever selected. Not that the Huntsmen-in-Training would have it any other way.
They would be there to watch all the fights and few wanted to miss out on that. Especially if the fights were between teams or individuals the students longed to see happen.
Among the first of the morning matches featured Team RWBY against Team ABRN of Haven Academy. The end result of the match was a clear victory for Team RWBY. Without a single member being eliminated. Their training had truly paid off, and it showed in the team cohesion and battle prowess RWBY displayed in their fight.
After RWBY, JNPR, and FFOG celebrated in the appropriate fashion in Beacon's fairgrounds, they all returned to Amity Colosseum to watch the next set of matches meant to take place that day. When the time finally came, the match randomizer chose a team from Shade and Team AMRT.
"Tranquility. Piety. Gallantry. Brutality. You will find all four in this team, ladies and gentlemen! Give it up for Team AMRT!" Port announced to the crowd, invoking a great cheer from them.
Standing together in a line, AMRT stood parallel to their opponents. Amarantha remained focused on the opposite team, paying little attention to the crowds. Monica was fidgeting with Mediatrix's lance grip, tense from all the attention being focused on them. Reuel looked on the opposing team, too, although he would occasionally waved at the crowds if he heard someone shout out his name. Tora was enjoying it all, casually threw his kanabo into the air and caught it with one hand, while the other slowly beat its fist against his chest.
"Quite a description, Peter. Facing off against them will be conquerors of the shifting sands of Vacuo, Team UMBR!" Oobleck spoke up and added to what his fellow announcer had just said. The screens across Amity focusing on AMRT's opponents.
There was Usoa Eirene; a Human female with tan skin, pale blue eyes, and grey hair tied into a bun on the back of her head. Over her chest she wore a metal breastplate over a sand brown top with wide sleeves, a thick white belt, grey pants that ended halfway down her shins, and dark shoes. For a weapon she wielded a two metre tall glaive, with images of feathers engraved into the polearms blade.
Maize was a tall Human female, strong too, but not enough to truly compare to Tora's height and musculature. She had light brown skin, long dark brown hair, and yellow eyes. For clothing it was light, consisting of a dark red sleeveless vest, a yellow and red skirt, sandals, bangles on each wrist, and a metal headdress resembling a jaguar covering her forehead with several colourful feathers protruding from it. In her hand she held a metal macuahuitl, its blades also made of metal.
The third member of UMBR was Bahram Atash. His entire head was covered by a helmet with eyeguards, which possessed a long horsehair plume at its top, and a chainmail hood linked to the helmet hid almost all of his face and neck. Over his chest he wore a coat of scale armour. Beneath all that he wore a deep red long-sleeved shirt, grey trousers, and brown armoured boots. In his hands he wielded a heavy gun with a retractable bayonet.
After him there was Rein Shafir. Another Human wearing a cavalier hat adorned with a deep blue feather atop his head, but did nothing else obscure any of his facial features. He had fair skin, short pale blue hair, and dark brown eyes. The long sleeves of his white shirt were rolled up just below his elbow, wore brown gloves, close-fitting trousers, dark shoes, and a deep blue cape worn over his left shoulder. His weapons were a basket-hilted sword with a gun attachment fixed into the guard in his right hand, and a small buckler shield in his left.
As both teams waited for the match to begin, they began to exchange words.
"'The Guardian Angel.' Never imagined it would be you and your team we would be facing." Usoa called to the team, taking her glaive and tapping the flat end of its blade against her breastplate in what AMRT believed to be a gesture of respect. Like their leader, the rest of UMBR regarded Reuel with respect, albeit a little begrudgingly with one or two of them.
"I am only another Huntsmen-in-Training, nothing more." Reuel humbly replied, just as a bunch of fangirls in the crowd called out his name and held up a sign with what looked to be an artistic image of him. To this the Angel awkwardly adjusted the fit of his cuirass and let out an embarrassed chuckle.
"Well, whatever the case, it'll be an honour to fight you." Usoa continued on, a look directed towards the fangirls.
"Teams! Are you ready?" Port called to the two teams in the arena, cutting off any further conversation the team might have made. Understanding their fight would begin soon, both teams looked up to the Colosseum's large display screens and watched as their two biomes were selected.
After a couple seconds, the biomes selected were shown to be desert and mountain. The former behind UMBR while the latter was behind AMRT.
"3... 2... 1... BEGIN!" No sooner were those words spoken, the arena erupted in a burst of action.
UMBR moved first, three of the four members rushing forward to engage AMRT. In a show that drew cheers from the crowd, Reuel spread his wings wide and sharply flapped them at UMBR, casting a gust of wind at them. It did not send them flying, but was strong enough to stall them for a moment. Enough time for AMRT to act.
Tora fired the first shot with Demon's Gate, the slug colliding with the flat face of Maize's Mazuahuitl which she raised just in time. She was forced a full metre backwards from the impact, and had to duck to evade a wide swing from the Oni.
As that was happening Rein and Amarantha fought. The latter twirled her trishula to deflect several bullets fired from the former's gunsword as she advanced toward him with lightning speed. Soon as she was close enough, Amarantha ceased twirling her trishula and thrust the weapon at his face. Rein used his buckler to block and push the trishula's prongs away, then tried to fire a few more shots from his gunsword.
Imagine the Humans' surprise when he felt something thick and scaly wrap around his angle and pulled him down to the floor. Soon as he was on the ground, Amarantha dragged him across the floor and threw him into the air using only her tail.
Monica moved to fight Usoa, leaping into the air and preparing to thrust her lance at the Vacuoan. She was, however, blasted out of the air as a projectile sped through the air and exploded in a black cloud as it struck the Vampire square in the collarbone. It had been Bahram. He had hung back and started firing his gun at Team AMRT.
"Ugh, damn!" Tora snarled as he took a shot from Barham to his shoulder. He was still fighting Maize and she used the chance to strike the Oni's knee with her macuahuitl, then followed it up by slamming her own knee against his face. Growling like an angered beast, the Oni jumped with one foot and launched himself backwards by using the other to kick Maize's chest.
Maize was thrown back, almost losing her footing, but recovered quickly. Doing a backflip midair, Tora landed on his feet and fired a shot at Bahram. The Human dove away from the shot and continued shooting at AMRT.
"Monica! Reuel!" Amarantha called as she twisted and spun out of the way of a couple more of shots from Bahram. Rein approached her from behind, trying to take advantage of the distraction, but his blow was blocked by Enlightenment's haft.
Hearing their team leader, both Vampire and Angel moved to act. Reuel stood in front of Monica, blocking a strike from Usoa's glaive aimed at his teammate with Ascalon, while also using a wing to shield Monica's from harm and sight. Behind the Angel's wing, Monica had transformed Mediatrix into its machine-gun form and began unleasing a storm of bullets at Bahram from behind it. Bahram ran from Monica's barrage, sprinting into the desert biome and leaping behind a large dune for cover.
Free from the danger of Bahram's fire for the moment, AMRT continued their fights.
Reuel did battle with Usoa, fighting aggressively to push her away from Monica as she suppressed Bahram. Their weapons weaving patterns in the air as they clashed. Both of them had significant reach thanks to their long weapons, nor did either possess some special gimmick with their weapons. So the outcome of their fight would ultimately come down to their skill as fighters and other natural abilities.
Their weapons clashing and entering a blade-lock, the two pushed against each other before breaking off a couple seconds later. Devising a way to land a blow, Reuel held Ascalon close and used his right wing to hide all of his body except his head. Usoa was already moving against him, going for a diagonal overhead slash.
One hand holding the greatsword's blade above the guard while the other remained on the grip, Reuel pulled his wing away and aimed the tip of Ascalon's blade at Usoa. Thrusting the sword forward, Usoa had little time to evade and remained committed to her attack. She attempted to twist out of the way, but Reuel struck true and stabbed the left side of her breastplate. As he dealt the blow to Usoa, her glaive came down on his head and slashed across the front of his helmet.
Recoiling slightly, the two almost immediately went back to fighting and clashed their blades once more. Footsteps and gunshots were heard, not from Monica's machine-gun, and the Angel felt bullets impact against his Aura. Pushing Usoa away, Reuel swung Ascalon in a wide arc behind him.
His steel did not strike anything, and a shadow came over the Angel. Rein had run up to Reuel and leapt over Ascalon's swing, as well as the Angel himself. As Reuel looked up to track Rein and held Ascalon in preparation for another attack, the Human's foot came down and kicked Reuel in the face. Stumbling backwards, the Angel then felt Usoa land a hard kick to his back, sending him tumbling forward.
Amarantha, who had followed after Rein, caught Reuel and helped him recover. The Human found he could not take the Naga on by himself, so had moved to get the aid of his team leader. Together now, the two members of AMRT and the two of UMBR engaged agaist their opposing pair.
Away from the central area and in the desert biome, Monica pursued after Bahram. Firing in short intervals, leaving him little time to counter her, Monica had been able to keep him suppressed for a while. Forcing him to not just stay in cover, but find new locations to shelter himself from her; such as a large rock, then another dune, and now a large rock formation jutting from the sand.
This could not be kept up forever, though.
For as Monica moved to the rock formation Bahram was behind, he jumped atop it and aimed his heavy gun at her. Raising Mediatrix's barrel toward him, Monica pulled the trigger, yet was dismayed to find she had emptied its magazine of all but a handful of bullets. Only a couple of her bullets struck home, however, and Bahram was able to endure them before retaliating.
It was then that Monica, and the watching crowd, came to the realisation that Bahram may have planned for this. Mediatrix gun-form had run out of ammunition and she was in an exposed position, the nearest viable cover several metres away. Meanwhile, Bahram still had ammunition and possessed a high ground advantage.
Without wasting any time, Bahram started shooting just as Monica attempted to rush at him. Dashing past and leaping over Bahram's shots, the Vampire made a good effort in closing the distance between herself and Bahram.
Finally reaching her opponent, Monica leapt up at him and swung Mediatrix in its mace form. A timely block with his heavy gun prevented Bahram from being struck and flung from the rock he stood upon. Now in close quarters, the UMBR member unsheathed his gun's retractable bayonet and turned their fight into a melee battle.
On the opposite side of the arena, Tora and Maize had taken their fight to the mountain biome.
Their fight was contained to the base of the artificial peaks for now, and dealt quite a bit of damage. Both to each other and the biome around them.
Maize, as with most people who dared fight him, decided it to be better to avoid getting struck by the Oni rather than try to tank any blows from him. Nimbly evading the large Demi-human, Maize proved herself a capable opponent against Tora, if it was not obvious from the start of the fight. This brought joy to Tora's heart, and would be laughing loudly right now if he did not have to concentrate so much on fighting the Human.
Throwing a two-handed swing at Maize, the Human was able to avoid it, but the tree behind her was less fortunate. With a great crash, Tora's kanabo tore through the tree, sending splinters flying everywhere. It was not one of the great trees of Emerald Forest, but certainly no mere sapling either.
Falling towards them, Tora dove to the right while Maize jumped to his left. Before the tree had hit the ground, Tora lunched himself over it with a great jump and brought a fist down at Maize. She jumped back, his fist striking nothing but the grassy floor. An opportunity before her, Maize chose to strike as well and swung her macuahuitl down on his head.
Tora moved in time to avoid taking the blow to his head as Maize intended, but was struck on his left shoulder close to the base of his neck. Unleashing a great roar, the Oni grabbed Maize by the neck and threw her into the air as he rose to his full height.
Charging like an enraged bull at his opponent, Tora's feet shook the ground beneath him as he sprinted toward her. Seeing this new ferocity Tora was displaying, Maize pressed a button on her macuahuitl's grip and transformed the weapon into its secondary form. The grip lengthened so it was half her height, and the metal blades of the club began to rapidly run along it like a chainsaw.
This did not cause Tora to pause his charge and rose Demon's Gate over his head. Maize sidestepped the attack in time and swung her chainsaw at him, getting past the Oni's defence and sending countless sparks flying as the whirring blades of her weapon cut away at Tora's Aura. As it protected his gut. Twisting his kanabo, Tora pulled its trigger and fired a slug at Maize's side, causing her to retreat a couple metres.
The two stood and faced each other for a few seconds, recovering their breath and overcoming the pain of the blows they had just dealt to one another. Finally, having recovered enough to fight, the Oni and Human threw themselves into the fight once more.
Watching from the stands, Teams FFOG, RWBY, JNPR and their other friends looked on as the two teams battled. Many of them cheered AMRT on, and while their voices were not the loudest in the Colosseum, it mattered not to them.
"You've got them in the yellow! Beat the snot out of them!" Ruby shouted, although she immediately freaked out upon noticing others in the audience had heard her and were now looking her way.
"Beacon! Beacon! Beacon!" Chanted Nora and Grey. As they did, the three held a Beacon flag in their hands like many other people in the audience, who were likewise chanting the name of Vale's Huntsman Academy. Shade fans were doing the same, although they were frankly outnumbered by the Beacon supporters.
"Come on AMRT! You gotta win! I made a bet on you, and if I lose I'll have to drink more of Weiss' disgusting coffee!" Friesian yelled, immediately catching the attention of the Schnee heiress sat only a few seats away from him.
"You did what?! And what do you mean 'disgusting coffee'?"
"Oh, I just said that to encourage AMRT, Glyph Girl. Hehe, no need to get mad or anything," Friesian quickly said upon hearing Weiss' angry tone.
Friesian's response, and his choice to use a silly nickname while addressing her, did nothing to diminish Weiss' annoyance toward the Dullahan. Still, Weiss was able to look past all that, for now, and returned her attention to the fight going on in the arena. She would have words with the Dullahan after this round was done.
Back over to the arena, AMRT and UMBR continued their fight.
The fighting between Amarantha and Reuel against Usoa and Rein had intensified. Both pairs staying close together as they fought in the centre of the arena. Exchanging opponents or fighting two at once.
At the desert biome, Monica and Bahram had taken their fight from the rock formation they previously occupied, and were now amidst the dunes once again. Bahram was no slouch in melee combat, and had landed a fair few hits on Monica with his gun's bayonet. Monica, her weapon's current form more suited to close quarters, had dealt more and was doing her best to not give him a chance to break off.
Across the arena, Tora and Maize were stil battling it out in the mountain biome. Their fight was the most ferocious of the lot, and some would say the most dramatic. Not only would the two perform some of fhe most daring attacks, but Tora was actively playing the crowd. Examples being to defend himself at the very last second or perform an attack that was most likely to get a reaction from the crowd.
Overall, both teams were fighting well and were certainly not boring the crowd at the moment.
Still fighting in the desert biome, Bahram was able to sidestep a downward swing of Monica's mace and pinned it to the sandy ground with a stamp of his boot. Using his free leg, the UMBR member attempted to strike Monica's face with his knee, yet she reacted swiftly enough to jerk away. However, this had caused Monica to loosen her grip on Mediatrix and that had been something Bahram was counting on.
The bayonet blade of her opponent's gun being thrust at her, Monica pulled away from the helmeted Huntsman-in-Training. In her retreat, though, Monica attempted to take Mediatrix out from under Bahram. So firmly planted was his foot on the mace, however, the Vampire failed to take it and drew away empty-handed. Now she was seriously in hot water.
With space to use his weapon properly, Bahram loaded new ammunition into his gun and locked the weapon into a different fire mode to what he had been using before. Still aimed directly at Monica, the inskde of the gun's barrel glowed bright and a great burst of flame erupted from it.
Engulfed by the flames, Monica let out a shriek before leaping high above the fire and landing atop a rock a few metres from Bahram. She emerged unscathed from the flames produced by Bahram, but had taken quite a hit to her Aura. Her Aura-meter dangerously close to turning red.
The Vampire was unarmed and needed to reach Mediatrix if she wanted to beat Bahram. However, while it had not left the spot where she was forced to leave it, Bahram stood between Monica and her weapon with his gun ready in hand.
Monica, seeing little other choice, focused on the dune behind Bahram and activated her Semblance. In an instant, just as Bahram unleashed another gout of flame, the Vampire vanished. A thin beam of dark blue light flew past Bahram and toward the dune, and the Vampire rematerialised where the beam hit the sands. Soon as she could, Monica scrambled for Mediatrix.
Surprising though he was by the Semblance of the nun, Bahram wheeled around and shot another burst of flame at the Monica before she could reach her weapon. Narrowly evading the attack by stopping in her tracks and leaping to the side, Monica's face took on a worried look as she Bahram began to advance on her. The fact she could not see what the facial expression behind his helmet was as he kept blasting fire at her unnerved the Vampire
In the same time as Monica was struggling against Bahram, the fight between Tora and Maize was reaching its climax.
Fighting with a ferocity that made many Oni watching in the audience or devices across Remnant proud, Tora hammered blow after blow at Maize with both his weapon and body. Maize was smart and agile enough to evade plenty of them, yes, but when she was not the Oni was capable of taking chunks off of her Aura with each successful strike. Even when his attacks did not land, they were impressive to many watching.
The terrifying strength of the Oni was enough to reduce small trees to splinters, tear small craters into the soil, and even crack the stone of the mountains.
Maize was not done though, still fighting in spite of all the might Tora displayed. Her macuahuitl's new form also proved effective in chipping away Tora's Aura, the two's Aura-meters were steadily heading towards the red with each strike that hit home.
Sparks flying everywhere as Tora used Demon's Gate to block the metal teeth of Maize's macuahuiuitl, the two stood there for a second. Taking a hand off her weapon's grip, Maize attempted to punch Tora, but her hand was caught by the Oni's own hand. Locked together, Tora broke them apart by shoving Maize back with a kick with his foot. Staggered for a second, Tora used the moment to rush forward and send Maize flying with a swing of his kanabo.
She recovered in mid-air and landed on her feet, the mountain to her back. Maize had no time to rest for Tora was upon her in almost an instant, leaping and trying to smash his kanabo down at her. Rolling right between Tora's legs as he landed, Maize used her hands to launch herself upward and kick both her feet at Tora's chin as he turned around. Thrown back a little, Tora was momentarily defenceless and Maize used the opportunity to her advantage.
Jumping into the air, Maize kicked him square in the chest and causing him to stagger backwards, his back coming against the mountain. Not giving the Oni time to act, the Human took her weapon and struck it against his midsection and kept it there. More sparks flew as the macuahuitl's chainsaw teeth tore at the Oni's Aura, which caused his Aura-meter to go into the red.
Spotting the state of his Aura-meter and how near the both of them were to the knock-out level, Tora decided he had to end it. Now.
Grabbing the macuahuitl by its bladed club end with one hand, Tora pulled the weapon away from himself, and, before Maize could act, kneed her right in the gut. At the same time Tora put his kanabo on his back, grabbed hold of the back of Maize's neck after he struck her with his knee, then slammed her front right in the mountainside behind him.
Still gripping her, the Oni pulled Maize back then suddenly pushed her back against the rock. Trying it again, he was stopped however when Maize pressed one hand against the rock to stop it, and struck back at Tora with an elbow aimed at his face. She hit him, but it did not affect him much.
Kissing his teeth at Maize's continued resilience, pulled her over his head and then slammed her against the ground. Releasing Maize from his grip at last, the Oni kicked her while she was still down. It was hard enough to send Maize flying and, as she was in the air, Tora aimed the top of his kanabo and fired a slug at the Human. The shot struck and Maize was sent several metres before falling to the ground hard on her back.
As she landed, Maize's Aura flared then sputtered out as she attempted to rise, but collapsed back down seconds later.
"And Maize is out!" Port's voice announced to the fighting contenders and the watching crowds. Sure enough, Maize's Aura-meter had turned red and gone below the knock-out threshold.
Among AMRT's supporters in the stands, a great cheer came at seeing one of its members take out one of UMBR's. Groans were heard, as were some boos, from those who supported UMBR. Either way, UMBR was done one, and
Not letting his victory over Maize get to his head, yet, Tora looked out and surveyed however the others were doing. The Angel and Naga still fought Usoa and Rein, and doing well by the looks of things. The Vampire's situation was of concern, however, for Bahram still kept her from Mediatrix while getting very close to tipping her Aura-meter past the knock-out line.
Spotting the predicament Monica was in, the Oni acted fast and put his kanabo away, then picked up the first tree he had felled earlier in his fight with Maize. The tree held in two hands like an oversized javelin, he did a short running start and threw the tree with all the strength he could muster. Flying through the air as though it were a fired from a ballista, the tree flew across the arena to the sheer awe of all who witnessed it.
Still blasting flames at Monica from his gun, Bahram noticed the incoming tree too late and was struck right in the torso by the tree's splintered base. Knocked off his feet, he was sent flying with the tree for a second before being crushed against a dune.
Monica, and Bahram especially, was stunned by the sudden appearance of the tree. A quick look out to its source had Monica spotting Tora giving her a thumbs-up from the other side of the arena, immediately causing her to understand everything now. She also saw Bahram had only a sliver of Aura left before his Aura-meter crossed the knock-out line, so got moving immediately.
Scooping up Mediatrix as she ran toward where Bahram was still pinned beneath the tree Tora had thrown. He was still conscious and had some energy in him, shown by how Bahram was pushing the tree off of himself. His gun was close by, but Monica gave him no chance to reach for it. Reaching him right as he had freed himself, Monica held Mediatrix's mace form in both hands and made ready to swing it down on her opponent.
"Um, sorry." The Vampire apologised before bringing the mace down and striking Bahram right on the forehead. This not only sent Bahram's Aura-meter right below the knock-out level, but it actually knocked him unconscious as well. She felt bad about what she did, especially when she saw the shock in his eyes as she struck, but it had to be done.
"And another one bites the dust!" Oobleck announced through his microphone, accompanied by the roar of the crowd at seeing another member of UMBR go down.
"Or the sand in this case," Port added to what his colleague had just said. "It is now two versus four. Will the remaining UMBR members be able to pull victory from the jaws of defeat, or is AMRT guaranteed to come out on top?"
At the centre of the arena, Usoa and Rein desperately fought on against Amarantha and Reuel. They were the last hope for their team to advance further in the tournament, so the two gave the fight their all. Both Angel and Naga knew this too, and would not relent either, both doing their best to subdue their opponents.
Springing high into the air with the assistance of his wings, Reuel brought Asclon down in an overhead swing, yet Rein was able to dodge the strike. The feathered heat wearing Human loosed a couple shots from his gunsword, although the bullets struck only one of the Angel's wings instead of his main body. Rushing forward, Reuel swept his wing outwards at Rein and thrust the other at him, not doing much to damage his Aura but it disoriented him for a precious few seconds. Which gave Reuel enough time to raise Ascalon and sweep its long blade against Rein's midsection.
Spinning on the spot, Reuel rose Ascalon over his right shoulder and, instead of swinging the greatsword, thrust its long hilt at Rein's face. Rein reacted into time, using his buckler shield to block Reuel's attack, and retaliated with stabs from his gunsword. He aimed at the unarmoured parts of Reuel's body, but was only able to land two hits on the Angel's exposed left upper arm before he was forced to retreat because of another swing of Reuel's greatsword.
A few feet away from the two, Amarantha and Usoa battled. Trishula and glaive clashing with loud rings of metal and bright sparks of light.
Catching the blade of Usoa's glaive between Enlightenment's prongs in mid-swing, the Naga redirected the weapon to her right, while her tail lashed out at Usoa from the left. The end of her tail shot up toward Usoa's face, yet she was able to tilt her head away from the attack in time. Their weapons still locked together by Amarantha, Usoa jumped and dealt a wide vertical kick to the Naga's head.
Having forced Amarantha to retreat, Usoa rose and swung her glaive at Amarantha after freeing it from Enlightenment's prongs. The Naga saw the attack coming and bent her human half backwards so her back was parallel to the floor, evading the glaive's swing by a hairs breadth. Springing back up with the speed of a striking viper, Amarantha gripped Enlightenment in both hands and thrust it at Usoa's chest. The Human blocked the attack with the haft of her glaive and struggled to push back against Amarantha.
Suddenly, gunshots began to be heard, and both Usoa and Rein began to be peppered by bullets fired from Momica, who had turned Mediatrix into its machine-gun form. Tora also joined in, sprinting forward with his head lowered to ram into the last members of UMBR with arms spread wide and ready to catch any he ran into.
Harried on multiple sides, Usoa and Rein broke away from the AMRT member they were fighting, evaded Tora, and stood together. Rein used both his gunsword and buckler shield to block Monica's gunfire, occasionally shooting back with his gunsword. Meanwhile, Usoa protected her teammate and struck back at the AMRT members who came close.
Both were resolute in their defiance of AMRT's probable victory, and those in the crowd who backed UMBR became louder about expressing their support of the Vacuan team. They were, however, outnumbered and AMRT began coordinating their actions.
From a short distance away Monica fired in quick bursts at the two, while Reuel moved in and struck at Rein as he attempted to block the incoming bullets. Between blocking Monica's machine-gun fire and guarding against Reuel's greatsword, the Human's concentration became split and led to several strikes from the two landing. Usoa would assist her teammate, but she had become preoccupied by Amarantha and Tora.
Thrusting and slashing at Usoa with her trishula, Amarantha kept her preoccupied. Tora darted in and out, slowly walking out of the reach of Usoa's blade like a predatory beast before leaping in when an opening appeared and exploited it. Forced to focus on the two, Usoa could only provide her teammate aid for a mere second before needing to defend herself from either or both of her Demi-human assailants.
When at last the two remaining UMBR members were forced to literally fight back to back, AMRT delivered the coup de grace.
All at once the team of four Demi-humans struck. Amarantha baited Usoa to thrust her glaive at her, giving Tora an opportunity to dash forward and hold the polearm's long haft, his grip unflinching as she attempted to free it. Reuel parried a slashing attack from Rein's gunsword and used the butt of Ascalon's grip to knock aside his shield wielding arm. Her target exposed, Monica aimed carefully and shot at Rein's sword hand, forcing the Human to drop the weapon as he retreated his hand in response.
Both unable to use their weapons, the Naga leapt forward and wrapped her tail around both of the Humans' legs and torso. This left the two open to Reuel, who stepped forward and cut Usoa and Rein on their cheeks with a wide sweep of Ascalon's long blade after performing an elaborate spin.
"And Team AMRT wins!" Port's voice boomed through the Colosseum's speakers, followed immediately after by the jubilant cheers of AMRT's supporters. Looking up to the fighters' Aura-meters one would see that Port had spoken true, and that Reuel's final cut had done enough to knock the Humans' Auras past the elimination mark.
Now the victors, Amarantha released Usoa and Rein from her tail, letting them fall to their knees in defeat. In a show of goodwill towards the losers, the team members of AMRT helped them to their feet and began to shake hands with the two. Maize joined them and began to strike up a conversation with Tora, while Monica had gone to the still prone form of Bahram and carried him with his arm over her shoulder.
Soon as they were all together, the arena floor reset to its standard form, the biomes retreating under the arena and the usual after match stuff began. This was the last match of the day, so plenty were already leaving the Colosseum but many stuck around. For AMRT, this was only the beginning and their friends in the audience knew it too.
"Hah! I knew they could do it!" Yang cheered, punching her fist into the air as she spoke.
"Impressive. Most impressive," Faen the Elf said, speaking for the first time since the fight had begun.
"'Impressive' is the least that fight could be described." Jaune said after hearing his fellow team leader's appraisal of what they had seen.
The others in their friendship group were also glad to see their friends had passed the team rounds, and without a single member being knock-out. That was really great to the Beacon students.
"That's another Beacon team through. I wonder, if things continue the way they are, will it be only Beacon teams in the final?" Odori remarked with a light snicker at the thought.
"Don't count on it, Beaconite. Your teams won out of sheer luck!" A disgruntled student of Haven spoke up from FFOG's right.
"Pure skill more like," Faen called back in response, receiving a cheer of support from others also from Beacon. Them raising their voices in agreement to what he had almost off-handedly said surprised the Elf, but took it in the stride. The Haven student grit their teeth and stomped out of the student seating area.
As the 'salty' Haven student, as Friesian described them, left the announcer officially announced the end of the day's matches and asked everyone to depart from the Colosseum. FFOG and their friends made to do just that, although they would linger a little so that AMRT could leave with them.
They would celebrate, as they had with RWBY's victory. And there was going to be plenty more occasions to do so, they were all sure of it.
Elsewhere, the behaviour shown by both AMRT and UMBR after their match brought a smile to Headmaster Ozpin's face,who had been observing the fight.
He was not physically present on Amity Colosseum to witness it all, but had watched it on his Scroll while sitting on a bench along Beacon's long avenue. He did not remain cooped up in his office all day, after all. Seeing as how most of the excitement was in Amity Colosseum itself, Ozpin was alone except for the few students and Atlesian security personnel who remained at the Academy.
Ozpin was glad to see that, so far, the Vytal Tournament was fulfilling that for which it was conceived. It remained a competition of skill, but behaviour such as this showed it to be a way for peoples from disparate places and backgrounds to come together. And how much more different could people get than with the match he had witnessed?
Silently, Ozpin hoped AMRT and UMBR could strike up a friendship, or attain a level of respect towards each other at least.
Satisfied with how the first day of the Tournament had gone, Ozpin stood up from the bench and set off for his office. There was still much work to be done, and he trusted his students and colleagues to ensure the Vytal Festival ran smoothly.
Sorry if the fight between AMRT and UMBR is rather disorderly. It has been a while since I wrote a large fight scene between several characters, and not primarily through the perspective of one of them. Not my proudest fight scene, but I did... decent. I think.
References and Meanings
Team UMBR
Usoa Eirene - First name is a given name derived from the Basque word for 'dove.' Surname is the name of an Ancient Greek goddess of peace. Both white doves and peace are associated with the colour white.
Maize - A shade of yellow. Name derives from the Spanish word 'maiz', which comes from an indigenous Caribbean word, used to describe corn. More specifically the grain that was a staple of cultures such as the Mayans and Aztecs. The Macuahuitl was a club with obsidian blades used by Aztec warriors.
Bahram Atash - Given name is a Farsi (Persian) name with some historical and religious associations, literally meaning 'smiting of resistance'. It is also the Farsi name for Mars. Surname is, as far as I have learnt, 'fire' in Farsi as well. For his gun, imagine its appearance to be like that of the Heavy Bowgun from Monster Hunter.
Rein Shafir - Given name does not have a meaning related to a colour, but is sounds like 'rain.' Surname means 'sapphire' in Yiddish, a Jewish language used by Jews in central and eastern Europe. Tried to make his name wound like 'rainshower', and I think I did a good job of it.
I will see you all when I next see you.