The Vytal Festival:

Ever since the team had gone to the escape room everyone had improved, the four were closer to each other, Celica still hung out with Team CVFY but she was spending more time with her own team, they had gotten on so well that Celica seemed to have overcome her social anxiety. It was a lot to deal with at first but day by day as the team got closer her confidence grew and now trusting her team she was happy to talk to them and strangers too even though she could get shy.

Not only did she gain confidence from the help of her team but more from one member of her team to be exact, Celica and Sylvia had been on a proper date after their first kiss and announced it to the rest of Team CSAL. Arthur and Luca weren't thrilled internally but they were happy more for Sylvia but still showed Celica that they were happy to hear the news but both did warn her not to hurt their team leader.

Celica said she wouldn't dream of doing that let alone think about it, things had been going well for Luca, he had become a little more serious but still the prankster often pranking the rest of his team and always had a joke at hand. Arthur hadn't changed too much, his anger was still there but he had more self-control as Celica had joined in their training, creating new team attacks as they had shadowed a Huntress in a Search and Destroy mission in the Emerald Forest.

That day the Huntress had to warn Luca she was seriously considering sending Luca back, the other members of Team CSAL had then drilled into him to settle down as they hunted down quite a large pack of Grimm. Their team attacks flowed well with each other and it even worked when Arthur and Celica were separated from everyone else as Arthur charged at the Grimm while Celica covered him with Snake's Echo which were her two pistols.

Sylvia and Luca had always worked well with each other as they had fought Grimm upon the borders of Menagerie before attending Beacon, it's how Sylvia grew up wanting to be a Huntress, not only protecting Menagerie but all of Remnant, traveling and doing it with her friends was awesome. It was just an added bonus that her crush on Celica worked out as Celica thought the same way and everything was picking up for Team CSAL.

Things were going so well for them as they complimented each other well in and out of combat that they decided to enter the Vytal Festival tournament. On the first day, they weren't scheduled to fight until later in the afternoon so they explored the fairgrounds, Celica and Sylvia had snuck off together playing games as Sylvia tried her best to win Celica a stuffed bear or one of the other major prizes

Sylvia came up short only managing to give Celica a small prize of a cheap metal pin of a diamond obviously fake, Sylvia was feeling bad but Celica quickly hugged her girlfriend and kissed her cheek thanking her and promising to treasure it forever as Sylvia cheered up and put the pin on Celica's shirt as the two then shared a kiss before they both agreed that they should both go find Luca and Arthur and get ready for their match.

They found Luca and Arthur on the edge of the fairgrounds heading toward the stadium, Arthur ended a call on his scroll as they approached, Celica and Sylvia paid no attention to it as the group all agreed they should focus on their upcoming match and come up with any last minute strategies and making sure their weapons were in tip-top shape and loaded to the top with dust.

Once they made sure their weapons were in order and loaded they put them back in their locker as they watched other matches knowing they should study other team's fighting styles just in case they came up against them, as they watched they also worked out who should advance to the two on two matches then the one on one matches if they got to the one on ones.

The team thought hard on that one, Celica had multiple ways of fighting so could match almost any fighting style, Arthur preferred to be up close and aggressive, Luca was another up in your face type of fighter and good at his fighting banter which could throw opponents off as he had done so in training. Sylvia had long-range weaponry and also the skill and the weapon for close combat.

The four at least decided to send Sylvia into the two on two matches and after a bit of debate and discussing things as a team should they decided on Celica to join Sylvia if they won the four-on-four match. Team RWBY had just won as the four looked at each other knowing that they would have to bring their A-game if they were going to move further in the tournament, Team RWBY had just shown why they were considered to be one of the best first-year teams at Beacon.

As the arena cleared the next match was announced and they looked up at the board as the first random team selected was Team CSAL, the four stood up ready to go get their weapons and ready to face whoever, before they moved they kept staring at the board as the random opponent was selected displaying Team CVFY. Celica slapped her hand to her forehead, out of all the teams to fight they were fighting a 2nd-year team that they could not get ahead of and some of her best friends.

Heading into the rooms as they grabbed their weapons they found Team CVFY ready and waiting for them, Celica stepped up to her friends wishing them luck but warning them Team CSAL wasn't going to go easy on them, Coco smirked saying the exact same thing. Luca, Sylvia and Arthur joined Celica in wishing them luck as they headed out into the arena, Celica knew though that Team CVFY were most likely going to be victors in this fight through having trained with them most of the year.

As the fight started Team CSAL quickly launched into an aggressive attack as Celica stayed back and ran towards the boundary keeping out of the fight. Yatsuhashi and Sylvia parried, blocked and dodged each other's longswords. Velvet was taking on Luca, Velvet wasn't even using any weapons to keep Luca at bay as she ducked and weaved out of the way of Luca's attacks.

Arthur charged at Coco and she was quick to respond using her briefcase to smash his chainsaw blade away before retreating as Fox distracted him while Coco transformed her briefcase into her machine gun. Fox ducked out of the way as Coco opened fire on a distracted Arthur attacking at his aura depleting it and eliminating him from the match as Fox ran toward Celica.

Celica blocked and parried his attacks stepping back towards the boundary though it was Clear Fox was forcing her back for a ring-out but as Fox went for a final strike Celica opened up a portal in front of him and sent him through making another portal appear on the ground out of the arena where Fox fell out of the portal and slamming his fist into the ground knowing he was out but accepted it as he smiled to Celica.

Celica had taken her mind off the action wanting to make sure Fox was alright and that's when she felt a kick to her back push her out of the arena landing on the ground having her been eliminated by ring-out. When she landed on the ground she saw Velvet smile at her yelling sorry but unlike her Velvet was keeping her wits about her keeping her guard up. It's when Celica slapped herself in the head again thinking she could have opened a portal that sent her back into the arena.

She shrugged as she watched the rest of the fight as Fox and Arthur joined her, Coco was now focused on Luca not letting him near while Yatsuhashi and Sylvia were going at it but Velvet was the one to switch between opponents, throwing in a surprise attack here and there and knocking them off balance as Luca's aura buckled after being hit by Coco's machine gun after Velvet had distracted him.

Sylvia found herself staring at Coco, Yatsuhashi and Velvet at the ready, she was tired, she was sure she could have beaten Yatsuhashi if it was just the two of them as she had more agility and speed but with all three she knew she was in trouble. She did the only logical thing and knew it wasn't their year as she surrendered. The match was declared and everyone withdrew their weapons helping others up and shaking hands as Team CVFY celebrated the victory.

Sylvia, Luca and Celica were a little concerned about Arthur possibly getting angry at Sylvia for surrendering but he had a small smile on his face, it shocked everyone as Celica thought that maybe had controlled his temper and accepted defeat, after all he was the first one eliminated so perhaps he already reflected upon it. They headed out of the arena ready for bed after that fight as they spent the rest of their day resting Sylvia and Celica remained awake and visited Team CVFY while Luca and Arthur slept.

The next couple of days had flown by, the team had gone off and done their own thing as the tournament went on, Sylvia and Celica had joined Velvet and Fox in supporting Yatsuhashi and Coco but sadly they had lost to Emerald and Mercury, they had left them alone to their team as Celica's parents had arrived to watch some fights and spend time with their daughter and get to know Sylvia more.

Luca and Arthur had told Celica and Sylvia that they were busy doing something and should be able to meet up later, throughout the day they had some lunch with Celica's parents as Sylvia tried to learn as much as possible from Celica's parents and any embarrassing stories. Celica was quick to try to put a stop to it but she couldn't stop her parents from telling Sylvia the story that she once burnt the frying pan on her first time trying to cook.

Celica made them promise not to tell Sylvia any more stories as they finished their lunch. Looking at the upcoming match they saw Pyrrha about to fight Penny and wanted to watch that but first they said goodbye to Celica's parents, Celica hugged them both telling them that she'd see them tomorrow, her parents whispered into her ear not realizing Sylvia could hear them but they both said Celica had a keeper.

Celica blushed thanking them and telling her parents she loved them and waved as they boarded the airship to head back to Vale. When the airship was gone Celica and Sylvia started heading to the arena keeping an eye on the fight but stopped in their tracks when Penny was ripped apart and a female voice was talking over the scenes as people started to panic and screams of shock could be heard.

That's when they saw the Grimm invade, Sylvia tried calling Arthur and Celica tried Luca but neither picked up, Celica messaged her parents to hurry home and take shelter having no time to check if they received it as they both called for their weapons. The lockers landed in front as they equipped themselves, Sylvia told Celica to help people at the fairgrounds and would most likely find Arthur and Luca there while Sylvia said she would focus on the spot where they were now as she could snipe Grimm before they got to the school.

Celica kissed Sylvia telling her to be safe before she ran off, Grimm were fast approaching the school and then small ships entered, Sylvia figured they were there to help but her eyes widened as Grimm dropped from the airships and members of the White Fang, switching from her Sniper Rifle to her longsword to protect everyone she thought off Grimm and the White Fang.

Celica was doing the same as she made her way to the Fairgrounds encountering Weiss and Blake fighting off Grimm. They seemed to be doing well so she pushed deeper into the school where she killed a few Grimm then stopped dead in her tracks coming to the sight of Arthur and Luca hopping off an airship with the White Fang, they weren't dressed as White Fang members as they grabbed their weapons telling a White Fang Lieutenant to get out of here as Celica watched on in horror hiding behind a stall.

When the White Fang Lieutenant left, Arthur and Luca ran into the school. When they were gone Celica came back the way she came frantically looking for Sylvia to tell her the news, defeating Grimm and the White Fang grunts along the way she found Sylvia, Celica was red in the face as she found Sylvia aiding with an evacuation, she grabbed Sylvia and without thinking she yelled Luca and Arthur are members of the White Fang!