Hello, readers! WaterDargonMaverick returning to give you the newest chapter of "Sideline: Another Story". After getting through the first round, Fragment Hunter has enjoyed a day off to recharge and prepare for the doubles round of the Vytal Festival Tournament. Now let's see just who is going up against who and what the outcome will be for them.
Round 2, begin!
RWBY is owned by Rooster Teeth and was created by Monty Oum (R.I.P)
I only own the Original Characters that I use in this fic.
Please leave a review if you enjoyed this chapter. I'd love to read what you have to say about my writing.
The Vytal Festival was continuing in Vale and everyone was getting excited for the second round of the tournament. With team matches finished, the fights were now going to consist of two selected members of the previous round's victors battling each other. While waiting for the next battle to start, Sunset Blaze walked around the fairgrounds for what felt like the 5th time while the tournament was going on. Soon, she saw a casually-dressed Smoke Shadow pass by a stand and grab a magazine. Before she could stop him, Sunset saw the Raccoon Faunus pay for the item and walked off to read it somewhere. Following him, she saw him leaning up against a tree to read his acquisition. As he flipped through the pages, Sunset saw Bianca Coloratura was on the cover in an outfit she recognized from the photo shoot Fragment Hunter joined the Dove Faunus for. When he got to a certain page, Smoke saw that Sunset was standing right in front of him and he smirked. "Hey there, my burning love. Here to take back your treasure," he asked as he greeted the girl and referred to their previous night together.
"I'd appreciate it," Sunset remarked as she crossed her arms. Pulling the stolen bra out of his hoodie pocket and keeping it out of sight, Smoke handed it over to Sunset and the girl moved to behind the trees to put the undergarment on. "Don't look," she warned.
"I won't. You have my word," Smoke responded as he returned to his magazine. As Sunset quickly put her bra on, Smoke started to talk with her more. "I'd say something about what you didn't choose to wear today, but I'm more curious about what you wore for this shot right here," he said as he looked at a photo of Sunset in a flamenco dress made of red and yellow fabric along with a black belt that had a flower adorning the top. Along with the dress, the picture showed that Sunset had a blue rose in her hair, put on gold-colored bracelets, and wore gold-colored heels to go with it. "Did you keep it? Because you look fabulous in this picture," he asked as Sunset came into view and adjusted her clothes.
"Hm, yeah. Bianca was nice enough to give a few of us some of the outfits she made for the shoot we were invited to. She gave Azalea quite a few things, including the new jacket she wears now," Sunset explained.
"And man, does she look good in that outfit," Smoke remarked with a whistle as he pulled out his Scroll and brought up footage from the first round of the Vytal Festival. "I bet that Slate guy agrees with how they kissed like they did."
"I'd be lying if I said that I didn't want to kiss Azalea myself. Maybe even more than that," Sunset muttered to herself, but Smoke managed to hear her.
"So... you play both sides," Smoke asked as he looked at Sunset.
Sunset only rolled her eyes as she looked back at the Raccoon Faunus thief. "Oh please, pretty much all of my friends are attracted to Azalea to some extent. Especially after she showed off that new outfit," Sunset told Smoke. "Trust me. I've seen their dreams and they get... steamy."
"That's teenagers for you," Smoke remarked as he looked over at the fairgrounds.
Sunset glanced at Smoke and gave him a blank stare. "You're thinking of her right now, you tanuki," Sunset stated as she used her Semblance on him.
"Okay, caught red-handed so to speak," Smoke admitted. "As much as I'd like to know if she'd enjoy my company, I'm growing rather fond of you, Spitfire."
"Keep that up and I might have to do something about it," Sunset said as she smirked at the boy in front of her. "Well, I should go get a seat in the stands. The next fight is about to begin."
"I think I'll check it out from somewhere I can eat at," Smoke told Sunset before he took her hand and kissed it. "I'll see you around, Miss Sunset Blaze."
"What happened the nicknames I was starting to enjoy," Sunset asked with a sly look on her face as Smoke released her hand. The two only chuckled at each other before they went their separate ways.
In the battlefield of Amity Colosseum, Azalea and Layla were getting ready for their next battle. "So, who do you think we're going up against," Azalea asked her friend and teammate as she stretched.
"I'm not sure," Layla responded as she looked at her gun, Djinn Desire. "But they should get here anytime now."
"Hey, girls," called out a familiar male's voice. Looking at where it came from, the girls from Team FCSA saw that their opponents for the second round were Ebony Rain and Percival Ivory. "Looks like we'll be battling each other," Percival said.
"Wouldn't be the first," Ebony remarked as she looked at Layla, remembering their training session with Slate and Jenny. "Let's see who wins this time now that Slate isn't going to be doing trick shots."
"Oh, Slate does more than just trick shots if you remember his fight against Duke," Azalea stated. "Plenty more," she added with a grin on her face.
While Layla saw Azalea's expression, she ignored what the girl might have been thinking and realized something that she shared with the others. "Hey, so which one of us is the odd one out," Layla asked.
"Excuse me," Ebony asked while she, Percival, and Azalea looked at the girl.
"I'm the only human, Azalea isn't from Vacuo, and Percy's the only guy. So, which of us is the real odd one out," Layla explained while the fields were being chosen for the match.
The others thought it over and were curious about it themselves. "It's a matter of perspective, really," Ebony said as she gave her opinion on the question. "Let's figure it out when we aren't trying to fight each other."
"Yeah, I want to see which of us can beat the other," Percival said as he warmed up by shadowboxing for a few seconds.
Azalea and Layla smiled at the potential that the match had as the fields were selected. Instead of each side having one biome, the second round had two different areas that each side could battle in. On Azalea and Layla's side, the Ocean and Forest Biomes from previous battles in the previous round emerged. As for Percival and Ebony, the Urban and Desert Biomes rose from the ground behind them and the members of Team PRDT high-fived each other as they got their homefield advantage once more. "You ever think that the randomized areas and matches aren't entirely random," Layla asked as she looked at the battlefield.
"Considering how we fought my old bullies in the first round, kind of," Azalea remarked before she turned her attention to Percival. "Hey, may the best pair win, Percy."
"Same here," Percival said as he approached Azalea and did his signature handshake with the first member of Fragment Hunter he befriended.
"Once again, Percival Ivory shows good sportsmanship by shaking hands with his opponent," Doctor Oobleck commented. "Now if both sides are ready, the match will be starting soon."
All four contestants prepared themselves as Professor Port counted down. "3, 2, 1, begin!" At the signal, Percival used his Semblance to create several spikes on his right leg. Stomping down, he fired them at Azalea and Layla like missiles. Reacting quickly, Layla spun around and used her own Semblance to telekinetically redirect the attack back at Percival and Ebony. The Bat Faunus immediately put up her shield to block as many attacks as she could while Percival used his own spikes like stepping stones to get above the girls. As he jumped in the air, he extended his claws and tried to slash at Layla before Azalea blocked the attack. Azalea then countered by grabbing at Percival's wrist and throwing him into the cityscape. "And it looks like both sides are off to a great start," Port announced as Azalea followed after Percival as he bounced off the floor.
As Azalea and Percival traded blows through the Urban Biome, Layla and Ebony started to open fire on each other with their respective guns. Layla had to keep moving as she dodged Ebony's rifle, but Ebony was easily blocking the attacks from Layla's Djinn Desire. Choosing to switch things up, Layla ran off toward the Forest Biome and took cover as she added Dust into her weapon. "Okay. Maybe I can trick her," Layla said to herself as she finished reloading and looked at the Dust in her bracelets. Taking aim, Ebony fired a shot that took out a few small branches before the bullet was embedded in a tree trunk. Layla moved after seeing the damage and went up into the trees to hide.
Not seeing Layla around, Ebony called out to the girl. "You can't really hide from me, Layla," the Bat Faunus said. "You aren't exactly wearing something suitable for camouflage. A dancing act, sure. But not for hiding in a forest." As she joked around, Ebony managed to hear a few twigs snap above her and fired her rifle where she thought Layla was. After she did, she heard gunshots and raised her shield to defend herself from flames. When the fire started to spread through the Forest Biome, Layla used her Semblance to throw her scimitar at Ebony and force her out into the next area as the Bat Faunus avoided the blade.
In the stands, the members of Fragment Hunter were joined by Jenny and Twilight as they watched the battle. "Man, they're really giving each other a hard time," Jenny commented as she watched Percival throw a spike at Azalea, which then separated into a shower of smaller spikes. Azalea countered the attack by twirling Gladion around to block every spike before kicking at Percival.
"You can say that again," Silver remarked as Layla and Ebony soon made their way over to the Desert Biome. Layla used her Semblance to kick up a cloud of sand before using Fire Dust to send a flurry of glass shards at Ebony.
"Go, Layla," Vinyl called out as she watched the girl kick up more sand for another attack. But Ebony countered by using a Wind Dust cartridge in her weapon to fire a gust of wind that blew Layla back into the Ocean Biome. "Come on! You can do it," Vinyl shouted in encouragement.
As the battle continued, Terracotta only watched on as he kept an eye on Azalea and Percival, who began to move into the Desert Biome. "There's so much of us in those two," he thought to himself as he remembered what he talked to Aurora Celeste about. The two believed that Percival Ivory was the son of their old teammate, Orchid Tilia. "Let's see how they deal with opponents of each other's caliber," he said out loud.
When Azalea was faced with Percival and Ebony, she turned to look at where Layla landed and saw she was figuring out what to do while inside the shipwreck. Deciding to help out her friend, Azalea used her Semblance's flashbang ability to blind the two other Faunus. As they recoiled from the technique, Azalea made her way over to the shipwreck in the Ocean Biome and met up with Layla. "Got any idea on how to deal with them," Azalea asked as she separated her weapon back into twin batons.
"Maybe," Layla said as she looked at the water surrounding them. "How do you feel about aquatic sports?"
"I'm not against them," Azalea remarked as she placed her batons into her greave. "You've seen my swimsuits." The girls smiled at each other before Layla put her plan into action. As Percival and Ebony's vision returned to normal, they headed for the Ocean Biome just in time to see the water rise up and get sent forward. The students of Shade Academy watched as Layla used Water Dust with her Semblance to create a giant wave and Azalea jumped onto the top of it. "Surf's up!" Using her own Dust, Azalea stood on top of the wave as Layla manipulated the water so that it crashed down on their opponents. Percival and Ebony were swept away and soon got hit by Azalea smacking them with a lariat.
Percival got up first and laughed in excitement as he watched Azalea ride the wave Layla was controlling. "Man, you guys always make things fun for me," Percival exclaimed as he jumped onto the water himself, using his Semblance to create a spike board. Seeing Percival surfing on the wave, Azalea and Layla manipulated the water so that it moved all around the air above the Ocean Biome and even over a few other parts of the arena. "Let's see who bites it first," Percival said as he began to chase after Azalea. The two Faunus raced across the water and Percival started to fire numerous spikes at Azalea while Layla tried to keep the water constructs in shape. Ebony maneuvered over to the shipwreck to try and attack Layla, but the girls of Team FCSA were able to stop her. Moving the water toward Ebony, Layla allowed Azalea to hit the Bat Faunus at the same time Percival fired a large spike that split apart into a shower of needles. The needles hit Ebony in the back and Percival winced at what he did. "Sorry, Ebony. She dodged," Percival apologized.
"And now, I'm doing this," Azalea said as she jumped off the wave and struck Ebony with one of her batons when it ejected out of her greave. After dealing the hit and knocking Ebony into the water, Azalea changed the Dust setting to Ice and unleashed her Semblance's 'Flash Bomb' effect. Instead of light, a cold mist shot out from Azalea's body and froze a good portion of the water around the Ocean Biome. Ebony shivered as she was partially frozen in ice and watched as her Aura levels lowered quite a bit, nearly causing her to be knocked out of the fight. "Layla! Send her flying," Azalea called out as she put her twin batons together. Layla used her Telekinesis to send Ebony into the air and Azalea hit the Bat Faunus hard enough that she was sent flying out of bounds.
When Ebony landed outside of the Ocean Biome, she continued to shiver as Port and Oobleck gave their commentary. "With a brilliant use of teamwork between the ladies of Team FCSA, Ebony Rain has been eliminated from the match by double knockout," Port said.
"I'm sure that she could use a warm blanket right about now," Oobleck remarked as Ebony tried to move and get rid of the frost still on her body. "Maybe some coffee, too," he mused as he took a sip of his own hot drink.
"Man, that was hot," Slate exclaimed while he watched the replay from when Azalea started riding the water, showing off everything that the girls of Team FCSA did to knock out Ebony.
"We get it. You really like Azalea. Keep it in your pants," Rua teased as Pinkie giggled.
As Slate blushed and hid his face with his hat, Twilight Roseus turned to Cereza and the other members of Fragment Hunter. "I would have never thought of using Water Dust like that before," she said to the leader of Team FCSA.
"We originally made that technique for me and Layla to use together, but Azalea's new armor seems to help out with what we had planned," Cereza told Twilight. "I would have used my Semblance to run across the water while Layla confused the enemy."
"Sounds like it would've worked pretty well," Jenny remarked.
"I say it already did," Bianca said as she pointed at Percival staring down both girls. "Still, I'm sure he's going to be a tough guy to beat because of the last round. Silver got a few scars from him during their duel."
"And you know that how," Ivy asked with a knowing smile on her face as she spoke to the Dove Faunus, who only looked at Silver with a flirtatious gaze.
After the conversation ended, Pinkie and Vinyl kept cheering on their friends as their only opponent remaining was Percival Ivory. Terracotta kept watching alongside Aurora Celeste as the match continued. "Let's see what he'll do next," Aurora said as the two former members of Team NOCT paid attention to the battlefield.
Percival looked at Layla and Azalea as the girls regrouped with each other. "Man, that's pretty awesome," the Feline Faunus remarked as he laughed in excitement. "Now it's my turn to show off," he said as he channeled his Semblance to create a bone-like spike on his shoulder. Grabbing at the spike, he bent it and threw the object at Layla. The girl from Vacuo dodged the attack and only laughed as she thought the spike missed. Aiming her gun at Percival, neither member of Team FCSA saw the spike return and hit Layla in the back like a boomerang. When Layla was struck by the returning attack, Percival created spikes on his arms and legs as he started to do a series of flips. Cartwheeling at Layla with the blades on his limbs, he slashed away at Layla with enough force that knocked her into the Urban Biome.
Layla groaned in pain as she fell against some stairs and looked at the Aura readout to see that she was knocked out of the match. "A powerful attack from Percival Ivory has eliminated Layla Carbuncle from the match," Doctor Oobleck announced as Layla stood up, holding onto her arm. "Miss Carbuncle really should have watched her back, but I don't think any of us saw that coming."
"Well, Mister Ivory probably did," Port remarked. "Either way, we're now down to the heavy hitters of both teams! Let's see what both can do now that the field is all to themselves."
Returning to the center of the battlefield, Azalea and Percival stared each other down before Azalea used her Semblance to turn invisible. As the Feline Faunus looked around for her, Azalea punched and kicked at him from all different angles, dodging his claws as he tried to attack where he was hit. Thinking for a moment, Percival ran toward the border of the Desert Biome and grabbed some sand in each hand. Clapping his hands together, sand flew around the area and soon revealed where Azalea was hiding. "Found you," Percival said as he leaped at Azalea and grabbed her so he could deliver a headbutt.
Backing away from him after being hit and turning visible again, Azalea stomped her armored foot to eject her batons. However, she only did it to change the Dust settings to Wind and Gravity before putting them back into her greave. Azalea smirked as she used her Semblance to interact with the Dust she selected and wind started to swirl around her. When it did, Azalea began to float in the air with the wind lifting her up. Everyone watched as Azalea essentially began to fly and rush Percival for a haymaker before grabbing him and bringing him into the air so she could hit him with a bicycle kick. As Percival flew through the air, he was about to land outside of the arena before created a spike on his right arm and threw a punch. Keeping spike on his arm, Percival managed to fly forward and reach Azalea again. "When could you do that," Azalea questioned as she saw Percival flying with a spike rocket.
"...About now-ish," Percival admitted as he looked at his arm in confusion. "Honestly, I was trying to nail you with a spike as a last-ditch effort." As he moved through the air, Percival adjusted his spike so that it acted like a set of helicopter blades keeping him up rather than continuously moving. "I wouldn't say that I'm flying. More like holding onto my spikes for dear life as they move," he remarked.
"Either way, I think it's time we got back to battling," Azalea said as she flew toward Percival and nailed him with an ax kick. The Dust in her greave enhanced the kick and sent Percival crashing into the Forest Biome. Recovering from the crash, Percival roared as Azalea stopped flying and the two traded blow after blow, moving to each section of the battlefield until they reached the cityscape. When they did, Percival created two more boomerangs out of his spikes and threw them at Azalea. She dodged the makeshift weapons and deflected them with her batons as they returned, then she countered against Percival pouncing toward her by falling to the ground and kicking him off with both feet. "You're really tough, Percy. You managed to beat Layla and Team SLVR before."
Percival smirked as he jumped back onto his feet, then answered Azalea. "I'm just a natural at combat. Combine that with my training and large Aura reserve, then I can deal with all sorts of opponents." Looking at the readouts, Percival saw that both he and Azalea were nearly at the elimination mark before he spoke again. "But it looks like you're the toughest opponent I've had yet."
"Well, let's end this with one final clash," Azalea said as she looked at the readout for herself. Percival smiled as he and Azalea started running toward different buildings and went for the roofs of them. When they saw that they were a distance away from each other, they started to run and jump from the rooftops to get closer. Approaching each other, the two Faunus prepared for their respective attacks as Azalea made her greave spark with flames and electricity while Percival created a bone spike on his left leg that spun like a drill. The two shouted battle cries at each other as they went with their flying kicks, nailing each other and fell back down to the ground.
After Percival and Azalea crashed on the floor, both of their Auras shimmered as they broke and the announcers commented on what happened. "Unbelievable! It appears that our competitors have knocked each other out," Professor Port exclaimed. "After such an intense battle, it ended in a draw!"
"According to the rules and regulations, neither side will be advancing," Oobleck stated. "Which is good as there can only be eight finalists in the single fighter matches this year."
"But both Azalea and Percival have shown that if one of them still had enough Aura, they would have deserved a spot in the finals," Port said. "Let's hear it for our contestants, everyone!"
As the audience cheered, Percival laughed in excitement about the ending result of the battle. "That was awesome! I can't believe that's what happened," he exclaimed as he jumped back onto his feet while Azalea picked herself up. "Best match of my life," Percival said as he held out his hand to Azalea.
"It was pretty cool," Azalea said as she took Percival's hand and they did the latter's signature handshake. "I can't wait for us to battle each other again."
"Yeah, it would be fun," Percival agreed. As the two talked along their way out of the arena, Terracotta thought to himself and decided that it was time for him and Aurora to talk with Percival.
After the match, Percival was getting something to eat with his team when they saw Terracotta Gaia and Aurora Celeste approaching them. "Team PRDT. Congratulations on that battle with Team SAFR," Aurora said as she stood in front of them.
"Thank you. It would have been better to win, but we know what to work on for the 41st Vytal Festival Tournament in two years," Twilight said as she closed a book on Dust.
"Why are you here now," Ebony asked.
"We wanted to talk with Percival. Alone," Terracotta replied.
Listening to the Bull Faunus, the girls of Team PRDT decided to head off to check out the next match while Percival stayed behind with his bucket of popcorn. "So, what did you want to talk to me about," Percival asked after swallowing some food.
Aurora and Terracotta looked at each other before the latter spoke up. "We know who your mother is and we can probably get you to meet her," Terracotta said, causing Percival to drop his popcorn in shock.
Okay! I'm done with this chapter of Sideline and we have the first half of the doubles round completed! I thought that a draw between characters would have been an interesting end to a fight, so I went with this ending. As for the last line, I'll get to that eventually as part of the time skip that happens between Volume 3 and Volume 4. Until then, you'll just have to wait for the current "Volume" to end to see what happens.
For music that plays during this chapter, I was thinking that you could play your own choices. But when Azalea and Percival talk in the air, "Switch On!" from Kamen Rider Fourze plays for their duel with each other. I feel like that would be their battle theme for when they fight together or against each other like they have been.
I hope that you enjoyed this chapter because Sunset and Vinyl are going to get in on the action when I come back with this story. However, I'm also thinking of returning back to my "Go Go RWBY Rangers" fic because December is approaching and I want to keep writing that. Either way, I would love to see some reviews of this chapter and read what you thought of it. Oh, and why not share your own ideas for RWBY stuff like characters or Grimm. I might talk with you about them if I like them enough.
WaterDragonMaverick, signing out!