Hey, readers! WaterDragonMaverick here with the next chapter of "Sideline: Another Story". Now, I've been working on my other story for a bit as well as watching more episodes of RWBY Volume 6, so that's some of the reason why I haven't updated this story in a while. But I at least had more time to plan out what I wanted for it and a few other chapters ahead.
Last time, Azalea and Layla of Team FCSA battled against Percival and Ebony of Team PRDT. After a tough battle from both sides, the match ends in a draw and nobody moves onto the finals. After the battle, Percival meets up with Terracotta Gaia and Aurora Celeste, who say that they know who his mother is and can probably get them to meet each other.
Now before I continue this story, there are quite a few things in Volume 6 I enjoyed a lot, but there's also one thing that heavily contradicts an earlier chapter and memorable moment for my characters in-universe. Near the end of the Volume, a gargantuan Grimm called a "Leviathan" showed up. It looks very different than my own and I actually like the design of the canon Leviathan a lot. So, I looked up a few things and I figured out a new name for my sea monster Grimm. I'll now call my crocodile/whale hybrid creation, a "Cetannin". The name comes from the whale constellation known as "Cetus", as well as a mythical creature called a "Tannin" which call be translated from Modern Hebrew language as "crocodile". Very fitting name, right? My characters will now call that monster by that name starting in this chapter.
Tell me what you think of the new Grimm name and everything else you read in the reviews, please. It always makes me happy to know that people respond to my chapters.
Let's dance!
RWBY is owned by Rooster Teeth and was created by Monty Oum (R.I.P)
The only things I own in this story are my own Original Characters
After hearing what Terracotta said, Percival Ivory dropped his popcorn in shock and it spilled all over the floor as he looked at the Bull Faunus. "Y-you're kidding, right," Percival asked in surprise. "He's joking, right," he asked Aurora Celeste. "Y-you guys know my mom?"
"Her name is Orchid Tilia," Terracotta said as he showed the young Faunus a photo of the woman on his Scroll. "She's a Gecko Faunus that was one of our closest allies in Beacon before she went off to explore Remnant as a Huntress. She was also my girlfriend during the first few years of Team NOCT's time at Beacon Academy."
"She also slept with most people she met and held us back a year by not studying since she was too busy," Aurora mentioned as she rolled her eyes. "I think that was her intention because we got to compete in the Vytal Festival one more time. But Noir wasn't happy at all."
"I wasn't exactly thrilled about it either," Terracotta remarked.
"She was sticking her tongue down your throat! I don't think you could have argued when you first learned about it," Aurora exclaimed as she started to sound like a teenage girl arguing with her brother.
"Do we really have to bring that up," Terracotta said as he remembered being a teenager and Orchid easily manipulating him with her flirting. Sighing and looking back at Percival, Terracotta calmed himself before speaking about his old teammate some more. "Back to the main topic, Orchid's habit of ensuring a warm bed during her travels has brought up a number of things for her. She loved enjoying life and making people happy, so that's why she did what she did. However, she's also the type to not realize the consequences of her actions until it's too late."
"We've heard that she became pregnant and wanted to at least make sure that the baby she had was healthy," Aurora continued. "I wouldn't be surprised if this happened more than once."
"I could have siblings," Percival asked as he heard what Aurora said and processed everything.
Terracotta nodded before he spoke more about Orchid. "She may have left you with your father, but it was because she had a job to do by being on the road and helping whoever she could. If she was going to stay with you, I think she would have loved you," Terra stated. "We've been in contact with her before and the last time we talked, she was in Menagerie. She's bound to have moved on by now, but I can help you look for her after the tournament ends."
Percival thought about everything he heard about his mother, he turned back to Terracotta and immediately gave his answer. "I want to at least meet her and tell her what I've been able to do as a fighter, like taking out a Cetannin with Azalea. I want your help, sir." Terracotta smiled as he patted Percival on the shoulder and the younger Faunus headed for the stands again. "Come on! Let's see who's winning the other battles," he called out.
Aurora smiled herself as she looked at Percival's excitement. "He's just like Orchid was when she wasn't jumping out of perfectly good cakes," she remarked.
"Are you ever going to let that go, Aurora," Terracotta asked as they remembered Orchid Tilia's 'exploits' during Team NOCT celebrating his 20th birthday.
While Percival was talking with Terracotta and Aurora, the Doubles Round matches went on and everyone was surprised by Coco Adel and Yatsuhashi Daichi's battle against Emerald Sustrai and Mercury Black. Sunset Blaze and Vinyl Aurum were still talking about the fight they witnessed as they waited for their opponents. "That match was too weird. How was Coco beaten like that? And something's up with Mercury if he could block enough damage from Yatsuhashi's sword like that," Sunset said as she thought about the combatants. "Plus, he was moving way too fast for someone in his year. What kind of training did he have?"
Vinyl only shrugged as she listened to Sunset talking about the fight from earlier. Using sign language, Vinyl 'spoke' to her friend and gave her input. "I don't really know, but something does feel wrong about him."
"We might as well focus on our match," Sunset sighed as she saw the two boys she and Vinyl were going to face off against. "Sun Wukong and Neptune Vasilias. Didn't expect to fight you guys," Sunset remarked as she looked at the opponents from Team SSSN of Mistral's Haven Academy.
"This might be a good one," Sun said as he greeted the two members of Team SAFR.
Vinyl nodded in agreement before Neptune spoke to the girls. "Ladies, you've got skills and really nice hair. You're as cool as me, Vinyl. Maybe when the match is over, we can check out the fairgrounds together?" Vinyl placed her right thumb and index finger on her chin, as if she was thinking. But Sunset knew what Vinyl was doing as she saw the position of her fingers. "You thinking about it? No problem. I can wait for you to give an answer," Neptune said. "I'm sure that if you agree, it'll be a nice time for the both of us."
Seeing that Neptune wasn't getting it, Vinyl facepalmed and turned to look at him. "Dude, I'm a lesbian," Vinyl bluntly stated as she threw her arms into the air. Hearing what she said, Neptune laughed in embarrassment while Sun laughed out loud with Sunset.
"Oh, well... I-uh-um... This is awkward, isn't it," Neptune managed to say as he rubbed the back of his head. Vinyl nodded as a reply while Sun and Sunset calmed themselves down. "You... wanna go check out cute girls after this," Neptune managed to ask and Vinyl smirked to answer him as she made a finger gun gesture. "Okay! Less awkward now."
"You can say that again," Sunset said as the battlefield started to randomize itself. Looking around, the two members of Team SAFR saw that their side consisted of a Swamp Biome that wasn't used in the team matches as well as the Lava Biome that consisted of volcanic rock and had geysers of lava that would erupt at times. "Well, this is an interesting combo," Sunset remarked as she saw the biomes.
Neptune whimpered as he looked at the swampy section of the battlefield, but Sun lightly punched him to snap him out of it. "Dude, be cool. It's smaller compared to the ocean from before," Sun told Neptune as the other two biomes were selected. Rising up from behind the boys of Team SSSN, the Desert and Ice sections appeared, prompting Sun to laugh happily at the fact he had a slight homefield advantage. "What luck," he commented.
"I wouldn't go saying that just yet," Sunset stated as she and Vinyl prepared their weapons.
"And with the battlefield ready, Sunset Blaze and Vinyl Aurum of Beacon will soon face off against Sun Wukong and Neptune Vasilias of Haven," Professor Port stated as the match was broadcast on television. Numerous establishments had the Vytal Festival playing, including a small juice bar in Vale called 'Fruits Basket' where a handful of people were watching the next match.
"It appears that the burning Lava and freezing Ice Biomes are just opposite of each other," Oobleck remarked. "And the Swamp Biome is between them on one side while the Desert section is the final location. I'm sure that none of our fighters want to get wet in the swamp."
"Especially not that Neptune kid," one patron said as they remembered Team SSSN's match against Team NDGO. Most of the people inside chuckled as they remembered Neptune's aversion to water during the Team Battles. One of the only patrons who wasn't laughing was a blond male with silver highlights in his hair as he sipped at a smoothie. "Hey, which side are you rooting for," the patron asked the blond.
The male finished his drink just as he was asked the question and turned around to reply. "I have to go with Beacon since I went there myself," he remarked as he asked the shopkeeper for an orange. "Let's see how those girls do now," he said to himself as he held the fruit in his hand.
Vinyl and Sunset prepared themselves against Sun and Neptune just as the countdown for the match began. "3, 2, 1, begin," announced Doctor Oobleck.
"Showtime," Vinyl and Sunset said together and separated to start their battle strategy while Vinyl's Rhythm Scratch played music for the match. Sunset started the battle by firing her sniper rifle at Neptune and Sun, forcing them to block the shots by spinning their trident and staff respectively. After Sunset put the boys on the defensive, Vinyl managed to get between them and used Rhythm Scratch to create clawed gauntlets so she could slash at them while preforming her dance-like movements. Her style was able to overwhelm Neptune, but Sun was able to block and redirect most of Vinyl's attacks. After kicking Neptune and using her Semblance to release an energy blast, Vinyl knocked him into the Lava Biome where Sunset was waiting. When Neptune was left on his own to fight the leader of Team SAFR, Sun swung his staff into Vinyl and pushed her back to the Ice Biome.
"Looks like things are already starting to go in different directions," Port announced as he and Oobleck watched the fights take place in opposite sides of the battlefield. "Let's see what each side will do."
Vinyl soon regained her footing on the frozen ground of the Ice Biome while Sun was easily staying balanced thanks to his monkey tail helping him. Sun skated over to Vinyl and separated his staff into nunchucks so that he could attack her from multiple angles. Vinyl used her hard light claws to try and block the weapon, but it was more difficult to do so on the icy terrain. Changing tactics, Vinyl created a platform out of a larger hard light disk and moved away. Seeing some Ice Dust crystals supplied for the battlefield, Vinyl grabbed one and used it with her Semblance. Sun saw that Vinyl was aiming at him and dodged, but Vinyl's shot was still able to freeze the end of his tail and mess with his balance. "Argh! That's smarts! Cold cold cold cold cold," Sun exclaimed as he fell onto his butt and smashed the ice on his tail by hitting the floor. While Sun dealt with his tail, Vinyl fired another shot in the direction of the Lava Biome and had the blast stay low to the ground. While the blast traveled, it created a rail of ice that Vinyl slid across like a skateboarder.
"And with some interesting tactics by Miss Vinyl Aurum, she's now moving toward the Lava Biome to help Sunset Blaze," Oobleck stated. "And it looks like she's coming in at the right moment. Neptune Vasilias is proving to be quite capable against the leader of Team SAFR." Oobleck's observations of the battle were proven right as Neptune's blasts of electricity were keeping Sunset on the defensive. She barely had time to counterattack with her own flames because Neptune was aiming at her hands whenever she prepared her Fire Dust jacket.
Vinyl's ice rail made it to the Lava Biome and melted from a geyser that was ready to go off, but the agile fighter managed to hit Neptune with a flying kick that knocked him away from Sunset as he prepared to attack her with his trident. "Thanks, Vinyl," Sunset said as she watched Neptune get up. With room to actually use her Fire Dust, Sunset released a flurry of small fireballs that attacked Neptune and started to singe his outfit, prompting him to panic and put the embers out. "Let's deal with this guy," Sunset exclaimed as she and Vinyl prepared their swords.
After seeing the girls head for him, Neptune soon noticed Sun clapping his hands together and create two copies of himself through his Semblance. As the clones struck Vinyl and Sunset, Neptune struck the girls with his weapon to shock them and knock them away. "Nice one, Nep," Sun remarked as he saw the girls get pushed back toward the Desert Biome and the center of the battlefield. Vinyl stood up and used her weapon to create hard light disks that she threw at the boys. Sun and Neptune used their weapons to deflect the attacks while the Monkey Faunus thought of an idea. "I think I know how to deal with her a bit," Sun told Neptune. After whispering his plan to his friend, Sun went for Vinyl and started to use his staff to knock her around, which forced her to use a hard light sword to try and counterattack.
While the two clashed with each other once more, Sun laughed as he performed an acrobatic kick that sent Vinyl flying into the Desert Biome. Crashing into a sand dune, Vinyl started spitting sand out of her mouth and prepared to use her hard light claws again as she stood up. But to her surprise and annoyance, sand got into Rhythm Scratch and made it malfunction. "Not cool," Vinyl said as she gave Sun an irritated look.
"It seems as though Miss Aurum's Rhythm Scratch has been jammed," Oobleck announced as Vinyl inspected her weapon.
"Oh, that was a horrible pun and you know it," Port retorted as he held a hand against his face.
Seeing that she couldn't repair her Hard Light Projection Braces in the middle of a fight, Vinyl turned to see Sun sending more copies at her, prompting her to use her Semblance and fighting skills to keep them away for as long as she could. After dealing with about 3 clones without any issue, Sun sent two more before running into the battle himself. Vinyl prepared to attack, but the first clone managed to grab her and throw her into the air. As soon as she was, the second clone gave Sun a boost toward Vinyl so that he could aim her at the Swamp Biome with a strong kick. When Vinyl splashed into the water, Sun called out to Neptune. "Now, dude!"
Hearing his signal while escaping Sunset's attacks, Neptune changed his weapon to its trident form and carefully made his way toward the Swamp Biome. Placing the electrified weapon in the water, Vinyl was shocked while she was still in it and got eliminated from the match. "And just like last time, Neptune Vasilias manages to use his weapon and the environment to his advantage," Port told everyone as he reminded them of Team SSSN's victory against Team NDGO of Shade Academy. As soon as Vinyl was dealt with, Neptune immediately ran from the swamp and regrouped with Sun as he spun his staff around. "Now Miss Blaze is going to have to fight alone."
In the stands, Fragment Hunter was discussing the battle as Sunset thought of what to do. "Ah, man. Poor Vinyl," Silver remarked.
"If she didn't crash into the sand, she would've gotten a better chance against Sun," Cereza added.
"She still did great with how she used that Ice Dust," Layla stated.
"Let's see if Sunset can handle this on her own," Celadon said.
"I'm sure she can make things even," Lapis voiced.
On another side of the stands, Smoke Shadow and his gang were watching the match with interest. "Let's see if she can do it," Smoke said.
Sunset looked at the boys and realized what she could do. Running off for the Swamp Biome, she dashed through the murky water until she jumped onto a log. "Let's see you boys come here and fight me," Sunset called out. "With Neptune's ironic fear of water, he likely won't be able to follow me in here. But we'll see if he'll actually do that," Sunset thought to herself as she waited for Sun and Neptune's next move.
Sun and Neptune watched as their opponent made her way deeper into the swamp before aiming her rifle at them. As the two dodged her shots, the Monkey Faunus made his way into the water and took cover behind a tree while Neptune started to shake nervously. "Come on, Neptune. I know you're scared, but we have to do this," Sun said.
"Okay, fine. I have something for situations like this," Neptune said. "I'd rather not use it with everyone watching, but I already made a fool of myself earlier," he remarked as he placed his goggles over his eyes. Pulling at a cord hidden on his jacket, everyone watched as they wondered what Neptune was doing. Suddenly, a pair of water wings inflated on Neptune's jacket and he stood ready to battle while everyone just stared at him.
Everybody was speechless at seeing Neptune Vasilias wearing water wings in the middle of a battle. The silence was soon broken as somebody started to laugh hysterically at the sight. In the stands, Weiss Schnee was laughing her head off as she saw Neptune's appearance. Soon enough, the stands slowly started to laugh as well until the entirety of Amity Colosseum was in an uproar at the scene they witnessed. "I... hehehe... have no words for-or-or-or this," Professor Port tried to say, but he was laughing too much.
After hearing everyone laugh at what just happened, Neptune slouched in disappointment until Sun came back and placed a hand on his shoulder. When he cheered up his friend, Sun silently pointed out that Sunset was having a laughing fit like the crowd and was open to an attack. Nodding in agreement, Neptune changed his weapon into its guandao form while Sun pulled out his staff and the two rushed Sunset while she was distracted. Hearing their splashing footsteps, Sunset saw the boys on the offensive and jumped out of the way. "Whoa! A simple pair of water wings and you're okay to battle in here," Sunset questioned as she dodged each attack. "Maybe you should've used them in the fight against Team NDGO."
"I didn't expect the Ocean Biome then, so I didn't have them in my jacket," Neptune said as he swung his weapon at Sunset. "After that match, I thought that it would be smart to have them ready for the doubles round. Impressed?" Sunset pulled out her sword and started to counter Neptune's weapon, but he was quick enough to change it into its trident mode in order to catch Sunset's blade. When he did, a current of electricity flowed through Sunset's sword and started to shock her. As Sunset screamed in pain, her Aura soon flashed a pink color for a brief second and she stopped screaming. "What's happening," Neptune asked as Sunset began to move his trident aside with her sword.
"Remember what Doctor Oobleck said about Nora's Semblance," Sunset told Neptune as she pulled a fist back.
"Not in the face," Neptune cried out as he knew he wouldn't be able to dodge Sunset's punch when her physical abilities were enhanced by channeling Nora Valkyrie's Semblance. Sunset swiftly threw a fiery punch into Neptune's stomach that sent him smashing through a tree, popping the water wings he had, and sent him back to the center of the battlefield. "Thank you," Neptune weakly said as his Aura fell down to 2% and he was eliminated from the match.
With Neptune and Vinyl knocked out of the battle, Sun and Sunset stared each other down as Doctor Oobleck spoke. "We're in the dead heat of the fight now. Both sides have lost their teammates and only the leaders of each team are left. Which of these two fighters shall be victorious," Oobleck said. After Oobleck made his statement, the two fighters ran toward each other and started to fight in the center of the battlefield. As Sunset swung her sword, Sun used his staff to deflect it before counterattacking with a punch to her face. After taking the punch, Sunset spun around and used the momentum to deliver a strong kick to Sun's abdomen. She could have sworn that she heard a good number of fangirls shouting 'Not in his beautiful abs'.
"Try this," Sun exclaimed as he used his Semblance to send a trio of clones at Sunset. When the Monkey Faunus did that, Sunset immediately thought of a way to counter it and used her Semblance to copy his. Clapping her hands together as her body flashed yellow, Sunset created three copies of herself and sent them toward Sun's in order to stop them. As the clones attacked each other, the vanished after getting struck and the real fighters continued their clash. Sunset decided to try and think of a way to deal with Sun, so she started used Azalea's Semblance to vanish. "Huh? Where'd she go," Sun asked.
Most of the audience was wondering what happened as well, but Port and Oobleck began to explain what they witnessed during the fight. "You're not seeing things and there's no cheating going on either," Port stated. "Miss Blaze has a very unique Semblance that her friends call 'Aura Empathy'. With it, she can connect with a person's mind and soul for a variety of abilities."
"Quite right, Peter," Oobleck agreed. "Sunset's abilities include mind reading and telepathy, sensing emotions, seeing through another person's eyes as if they were her own, and the ability to use another person's Semblance as her own or bestow them to others in exchange for using up more Aura than it usually would take the original user."
"Which is quite the problem for now because her Aura is getting dangerously low," Port remarked as he checked the readout for Sun and Sunset. Suddenly, Sun's Aura dropped a little more and everyone's attention was back on the fight as Sunset revealed herself and delivered a chop to Sun's neck from behind. After getting hit like that, Sun countered with a kick to Sunset's chest and started to use his nunchucks. With acrobatic movements and well-placed attacks from his weapon, Sun was able to prevent Sunset from even drawing her sword while he struck her from a variety of angles. With a final kick, the Monkey Faunus sent his opponent flying into the Ice Biome and she slid across the frozen terrain until she came to a stop. Sunset groaned in pain and was ready to fight again as she stood up, but Professor Port's announcement stopped her. "And with that final attack, Sunset Blaze has been taken out of the tournament because of her Aura level. The winner is Sun Wukong of Haven Academy!"
Looking up, Sunset saw that her Aura had been knocked into the red by Sun and she lost. Sighing, Sunset went up to her opponent and shook his hand. "Good match, Sun," she said.
"It was," Sun replied. "I might be feeling that kick for a while though," he remarked with a little laugh as he rubbed his abs.
"I'm sure a number of girls would be willing to help you feel better after that," Sunset joked. The two soon left the arena and met back up with their friends before heading to the fairgrounds to relax after a tough battle.
Back at 'Fruits Basket', the patrons were talking about the match that just ended. "Hahaha! Water wings? Seriously? Hahaha! Well, at least he didn't panic that much," one patron said as he talked about Neptune's actions at the Swamp Biome. "Too bad about Beacon losing," he said to the blond man with silver highlights.
"They put up a good fight," the blond commented as he paid for his food and drink. "The other team just put up a better one. No real need to get discouraged. You just have to keep moving forward when times get tough."
"Wise words, man," the patron said. "Where are you off to now?"
"Seeing family," the blonde stated as he turned to reveal his cerise-colored eyes.
At the fairgrounds, Fragment Hunter was hanging out with Team SSSN after the match. As they talked about a variety of things, Neptune and Vinyl flirted with a number of girls while the later shopped for collectible pins. Soon, Cereza saw Lucifer Fujita with a bag over his shoulder as he passed by the area. "Father, are you already leaving," Cereza asked as she approached her father.
"Indeed, child. My missions have ended and I have to get back home to Notremodo," Lucifer explained. "I promised Pierre that I would bring back souvenirs for him. You know how he can't exactly leave his home."
"I know," Cereza replied. "Perhaps my friends and I can visit soon?"
Lucifer chuckled as he turned to hug his daughter. "I'd love that very much, my child. I'm sure that Pierre would love to meet your friends if you came home."
"That'll all depend though," Cereza commented. "Safe travels, Father."
"Thank you, Cereza. I'll see you again when our paths cross," Lucifer said as he vanished and left a few feathers behind as an effect of his Time Mirage Semblance.
As Cereza held a feather in her fingertips, the rest of Fragment Hunter arrived. "Did your dad leave already," Rua asked as she noticed the feathers.
"He did, but we'll see him again. Especially if we go to my hometown of Notremodo in the east," Cereza answered. "It's one of the towns you see before the coast."
"Well, at least we'll have a stop to make before we visit Mirabelle," Azalea remarked.
"Come on, I wanna see Pyrrha Nikos battle," Pinkie said as she started to pull Slate back toward Amity Colosseum.
"Slow down, Pinkie. We aren't really in a rush if we can teleport," Slate reminded. Teleporting to the stands again, Fragment Hunter started to watch as Pyrrha and Nora were ready to face off against their opponents in the arena with Forest, Mountain, Desert, and Ice Biomes. "I'm sure Pyrrha's ready for anything that this tournament will throw at her."
And I'm finished with this chapter! Wow, this took a while. Now then, the first thing that's first is the things about the battle itself. For music, I thought that a good choice for the battle against the K-Pop inspirations of Team SSSN was some K-Pop music itself. Either that or the music that played during Team SSSN's canon battle with Team NDGO since it played during a short moment in Volume 6's first episode. The specific songs that I thought would work are "Pop/Stars" by K/DA or "Fantastic Baby" by Big Bang (which happens to be the band Team SSSN's appearances are inspired by).
Second, the battle itself is my own take on how Sun Wukong got into the finals with Yang, Mercury, Pyrrha, and Penny. Originally, there was supposed to be a battle between Sun and Neptune VS Pyrrha and Nora with several of the Biomes I had used in this chapter, but it got removed for time reasons and not being super important to the plot of Volume 3. The swamp area was key to the fight because Neptune's fear of water and the water wings would have been used, including everyone laughing at Neptune's little "transformation" after Weiss started busting a gut. I swear, I remember reading about these details before, so I'm not making them up entirely.
Third, that blond with silver highlights is important. You'll see more of him later on in the story.
Fourth, the areas I mentioned at the end of the chapter as Pyrrha and Nora's unseen battle are just a little reference to Code Lyoko I wanted to add because I'm also planning some antagonists based on that show as well. Be ready to see some interesting villains when the time comes.
With the Doubles Round over, we'll be moving onto the parts of the Volume that start going bad for everyone in-universe. That's right, we'll be seeing Fragment Hunter's view of Yang being used as part of Cinder's plan for the Fall of Beacon soon. It's also one reason why I had Lucifer Fujita leave in this chapter. I'm pretty sure that the guy who can stop time using his Semblance is going to easily deal with evil plans.
Let's see how our heroes will do when the good times stop rolling. Until next time, WaterDragonMaverick signing out.