What the hell was with this girl's fingers? Raven had to fight back a throaty groan as Pyrrha Niko's warm touch sent euphoric jolts through her pinions and right down her spine. Seriously, what was this? All that was happening was her back and neck were being stroked, but it left her nearly paralysed with how incredible it felt.
Until this moment, she hadn't realised that even before she died she hadn't experienced anything like this in the years since she left Tai. Not even a hug, or a hand on her shoulder. The most intimate contact she'd had with anyone was at best a hand shake, which was nothing like the spine tingling warmth just this girl's fingers were giving her.
Can I get Blake to do this for me? Raven wondered to herself, head sinking lower and lower at the soft, soothing pressure of those wonderful hands.
Then all of a sudden it stopped. Blake, whose shoulder Raven was perched on, jolted so suddenly that the bird was almost thrown off. Before she could say anything, Blake had dug out her scroll and started playing a clip from online. Having somewhat embarrassingly missed the conversation leading up to that point, Raven didn't quite understand the context of what she was seeing when three faunus were killed by a lynch mob, but she got the general idea when her host ran away with tears streaming down her face.
Damn. Raven cursed internally. How could she let herself get distracted like that?
Sprinting and enhancing herself with aura, Blake was out the front doors and across the car park in mere moments, blitzing down the street to who knows where.
"Blake! Stop!"
Nothing, no response. The damn brat wasn't listening. What in the Four Kingdoms was that stupid little cat thinking? With a curse, Raven winged upwards to glide along behind her host as the damned girl ran across streets full of traffic and down damp, smelly alleyways.
She was following for a good while. Blake ran without pause for several kilometres before she finally stopped, sucking in air and leaning forward with her palms on her knees. It seemed that somehow, despite her irrational state, she'd led them right to the apartment complex they were staying in.
Without checking her surroundings or saying anything, the teen started up the stairs and flinched when Raven landed on her shoulder. After several flights of stairs, they reached their floor, where Blake dug the keys out of her pocket and inserted them into the lock. Once inside the teenager collapsed onto the couch, head buried in her hands, while Raven took up roost on the armrest across from her to watch and wait. They stayed like that for a while, until she realised Blake wasn't going to be the one to start.
Maybe she should just pretend nothing had happened? Afterall, if Blake didn't want to talk about it then Raven didn't either. The last thing Raven wanted was to play surrogate mother to the brat, but it wouldn't be easy to find another potential host if things went wrong. To be sure, Pyrrha Nikos of all people apparently had the ghost sight, but she was a tournament winning celebrity. Somehow, Raven doubted she would so eagerly accept such a transparently faustian bargain.
Not to mention that Blake was the ideal candidate; as talented as she was desperate. The girl would be powerful when the time came to protect Yang, while still needing Raven. Finding someone else with those attributes, as well as an easily exploited desire for revenge, would not be easy.
Plus they had already made a deal. We share each other's ambitions now. Together they would protect Yang, conquer Menagerie, and exterminate the White Fang. That was what Raven had sworn, and no matter what else she honored her obligations.
Reluctantly, she opened her mouth to speak. Or beak. Whatever.
"What was on the video?" Hopefully a simple request for information wouldn't be misconstrued as some kind of emotional bridge.
Blake took a couple of rough breaths before she answered. "Those were my parents."
That was what Raven had figured, and despite herself she felt a pang of sympathy for the girl. She's not strong like you. Not yet. She reminded herself. Raven knew that grief could destroy a person when left unchecked.
"Alright. We kill the redheaded man," Raven declared. "We shall make an example of him. We'll see how he likes it when we cut down his loved ones in front of him."
Her proposal didn't have the effect she expected though. Rather than being distracted and fired up by the promise of revenge or even horrified at Raven's proposed method, Blake's face contorted miserably and she started sobbing all over again.
I must be missing something here.
Raven watched baffled until Blake was finally able to answer.
"His name is Adam Taurus… he-h-'' She swallowed. "He was the one who taught me the sword. My father introduced me to him, he was a friend… How could he do that? Who was that girl? Why did he…? Why help me escape Menagerie?"
Raven took a moment to consider those questions. They did paint quite a confusing picture... "He was your friend?"
Blake nodded, wiping at the tears running down her cheeks.
Hm… Raven needed more information. "And your tutor… Adam. Tell me, did he have access to your home?"
Blake nodded.
"...And were you with him the night of the coup?"
"... I was in his home. I… got into a fight with-" Her breath hitched, and she wiped a bubble out from under her nose. Ugh. "With my father and ran away to Adam's house the night earlier. The next day Adam came home and told me that Sienna Khan was targeting my family, and that I needed to run. He paid some smugglers to take me to Vale, where he has connections, but they just sold me to those slavers instead."
"Why did you run away to Adam's home?"
"H-he told me if I ever needed anything I should come to him..." She trailed off pathetically, unable to finish, but Raven didn't need to hear the rest anyway.
"...So to make this clear, a White Fang member with access to your house convinced you to run away from your parents, and the night after you do so, that same organisation is able to seamlessly enter your home and abduct your family."
"Oh, god," she gasped. "He was a spy the entire time." She grew even more pale. "No, he couldn't be. There was that girl in the video, the one they thought was me-"
"He gave her to them, after damaging her face to the point of being unrecognisable."
"But who was she?"
"Probably just an unlucky cat Faunus of your approximate height, shape, and hair colour." Raven shook her head. "He had plenty of time to prepare for this. If you didn't run away he was probably going to abduct you."
"But why?!" Blake shot to her feet. "What does he want from me?! And why did he kill my parents?!"
That Raven did not know fully, but she could guess somewhat. Sienna Khan had been planning on killing the Belladonna's and seizing power for herself for some time, so she planted a sp in their midst to wait for the opportunity to strike and take them all at once unaware Adam had his own ambitions. Keeping Blake alive and hidden was perhaps a contingency plan of some sort, or some kind of future power play.
When Raven finished explaining as much to Blake, the poor girl looked even more distraught. "My friend… He was my friend…" She said, "How could I have trusted him? Dad only let him into our home because I wanted a tutor. I did this… It's my fault…"
This wasn't useful. As the disgusting display of self loathing continued endlessly, Raven finally snapped and slapped her over the back of the head with a wing. "What are you talking about!?"
Blake looked up, shocked.
"He's the one that betrayed you! He was a snake lying in wait! Nothing but vicious filth, entering your home under false pretences and selling your family to their enemies! Not only that, but he did the deed himself, staining his hands with your parents blood, both literally and figuratively!" She spat. "Your friend?! Hah! If he ever held real love for you that just makes his crimes all the worse!"
"...Traitor?" Blake said, like it was her first time tasting it.
"That's right! We don't just kill him, we turn him into an example." Raven cooed.
There was a pause as Blake got her breathing under control.
"It was…"
"Murder." said Raven.
The room fell silent as Blake's eyebrows came together then she sniffled once and absent mindedly dashed her tears away with the back of her palm. She sat in total silence, no longer crying at all as her gears worked over this new, strange idea. It was true wasn't it? Raven could see the idea taking root as Blake's eyes narrowed on a distant place and time, and her jaw clenched briefly.
"...You're right." She whispered, sounding almost like she couldn't believe it at all. "They did this."
Raven could see that the girl was almost there. Just one last push… "Yes, and?"
Blake looked at her, then through her. "They should be punished."
There she was, Raven thought. A useful version of Blake who was ready to fight again. Not just that, but eager to fight again. Much better to focus that hatred on someone who deserved it then to point it inwards. What good was self loathing?
In the silence following her declaration, the only sound that could be heard was her heavy breathing, broken when her scroll suddenly rang. The number on the screen was Maud's, and Blake answered after another ring.
"Hello..." From where she was, Raven couldn't quite make out what the woman was saying, only the responses. "Uh, no I'm at home… Right, sorry… I ran… Yeah, I just ran… I know, I'm sorry… You don't have to worry, I'm fine… I'm just at my apartment… No-no, don't come over, I was just about to go to bed… Alright, sorry again… Good night." With that she hung up and dropped her scroll to the couch. She stood in silence while rubbing her eyes. "I actually am tired, I think I will go to bed."
It wasn't like she needed Raven's permission to do that. The bird was happy for her to get some sleep.
After showering, drying her hair, and brushing her teeth, Blake re-emerged from the bathroom in her yukata style pajamas and smelling of peach shampoo. As she went to enter the bedroom she hesitated at the door. "You said Adam was waiting to get me out of the house."
"I did."
"Does that mean…" Her voice wavered. "My family might have lived if I didn't run away?"
Raven had to put a firm stop to this line of thought. Doubt and self recrimination were worthless. "No. Sienna must have had her own plans. Eventually she would have struck, with or without you there."
Despite her reassurances, Blake still didn't look satisfied. "Are you sure?"
"Yes." Raven huffed in annoyance.
Still the girl lingered. What did the brat still want? "Would you…" She trailed off.
"What?"
"Nothing, just…"
It was obvious what she wanted, but was afraid to ask for. "Fine." Raven grunted, annoyed and flew past her shoulder to land on her pillow.
"Wha-?"
"You can pet me for a while." Raven magnanimously permitted, then added in a warning tone. "Just don't get used to it!"
"But that-" She closed her mouth, before smiling faintly. "Alright."
There was no way a proud and powerful warrior like Raven would normally consent to something like this. She was just doing the girl a favor. That's all it was. For the moment it wouldn't be helpful for the obviously troubled teen to be left alone with her thoughts again, lest she find a way to make herself responsible in her own mind. That was the only reason Raven permitted Blake to be so close.
Soundlessly, the teenager slipped under the cover of her bed to lay on her back, and Raven ducked into the warm nook between her hip and the mattress. The girl's hands were softer and smaller than Pyrrha's, and Raven quickly melted under the gentle stroking. It wasn't long at all until they were both asleep, Blake's arm fell to the side, fingers resting against the bird's warm body.
In the final weeks leading up to the start of the tournament, Blake and Raven still had a lot of preparations to make. Personal training was how they spent most of their time when they weren't working. Combining their auras was only so useful when Blake wasn't skilled with each individual semblance, and a lot of time was spent endlessly trying to find new uses for Blake's clones.
"A mere scapegoat cannot be all that it's good for." Raven shook her head. "Are you sure you can't give it weight somehow? If you could at least stand on it or use it as a platform, then it might be good for something."
"If I can, I don't know how." Blake thought the bird was being a little harsh, but knew better than to say it. "I've tried everything I can think of, but it's hard enough just making them move. I have to give them specific commands to get any motion from them at all, and it's too complicated to do that in a split second, usually."
All that got was a grunt of dissatisfaction and the ominous proclamation, "We'll see about that."
Another major thing they had to make ready was their finances. The prize money from the tournament was a lot, but apparently it would go straight into a bank account that they wouldn't be allowed to access until Blake was sixteen. It would be enough to pay for her tuition at Beacon, but it wouldn't get her into the combat school Yang was attending, Signal.
There was a pretty obvious solution to that, though. Mistral Casino was placing twenty to one odds against her coming first place in the tournament. At first, Blake was pretty tempted to hedge her bet and bet on herself as the runner up, but apparently after her aura showcase, a lot of people were considering her odds to be a lot better and the return was three to one, which was mere peanuts by comparison. In the end she agreed with Raven that betting their savings on herself was the smartest choice. They were already all in on this, anyway. There was no plan for what they would do if Blake got last place.
Tellingly, Pyrrha Nikos's odds were dramatically in her favour. A bet of a thousand lien on her would net a mere fifty lien in profits. Still, there were a lot of people betting on her who considered it basically free money.
The pair's plan ran into a big problem immediately when they weren't allowed into the casino in the first place.
"Minors aren't allowed in without a guardian." The concierge told them and showed them to the exit.
"Can I place a bet if I come back with an adult?"
The man shook his head. "No under age gambling."
The first thing they thought to do was to get Maud or Geoffe to place the bet for her, but both of them refused the second Blake tried to bring it up.
"Why not?" Blake demanded, the brown envelope full of cash in hand. "It's my money, isn't it?"
"It's illegal, for one thing." Geoffe replied. "For another, I just don't think it's a good idea."
After a few more failed attempts at persuading him, Blake decided to leave it alone and finished the rest of her shift without bringing it up again.
"It's okay." Raven said while she worked. "There's always another way…"
It was raining on the day Blake set aside for her journey downhill. Thick droplets of water spattered off her umbrella and into the muddy stream that hid the road and kept cars from using it. Most cars. On the narrow streets there was nowhere for anyone to duck when a vehicle passed and by the time she got to her destination, Blake was soaked and dirty.
Lil' Miss Malachite's hideout was the same as Blake remembered it. A dirty, two story establishment in the muddy valley at the bottom of the hill. The man at the door sneered at her bedraggled appearance.
"You alright, kid? Need me to warm you up?"
"Just tell Malachite I'm here to see her."
"She ain't got time to babysit, kid. Beat it. This is a busy time of year for us."
"What do you think I'm here for?" Blake snapped, and flashed the envelope she'd kept dry under her coat.
The man eyed her up and down before stepping aside and letting her pass.
Inside, the establishment was notably busier than usual with plenty of people looking to place bets on the upcoming tournament. Malachite wasn't at her usual table, but had taken over the second floor balcony while two of her goons kept anyone from coming upstairs. When Blake approached, one of them told her, "Take a seat, she'll be with you in a bit."
It turned out there was a line. Almost everyone who was in there that day was there because they were looking to place a bet with Malachite. Blake got a small cola from the bar that she sipped on slowly while waiting for the crime lord to be done with the grimey looking business owners and petty crooks in line ahead of her. It was a long hour of being stared at before Blake was finally allowed up stairs to see the woman.
"Lil' Miss Pie." The obese woman greeted her as She came into view. "I wasn't expecting to ever see you again, but I'm happy that I am." She waved a hand to a chair on the other side of her desk.
When Blake took the seat two goons moved up beside her to stand at each shoulder threateningly. "What's this for?"
"You're a fighter, right?" Malachite smirked, opening her arms wide and exposing her wobbling bosom as she did. Honestly, what did the woman think she had to show off? "It's just lil' old me. A girl can't be too careful with such a rough character."
It was a strange world where a grown adult could claim to be scared of a child with complete sincerity. "Alright, so how does betting work?" Blake asked, moving right to business. "Are you giving odds?"
"Yup. Why, you looking to take a dive?"
"No, I want to place a bet on myself." Blake took out her envelope. "I'm guessing everyone is betting on Pyrrha."
"Nah, I ain't accepting bets for that. I ain't stupid enough to risk those odds. If everyone bets on a sure thing then I'm only losing money." Malachite chuckles. "For your group we're mostly accepting bets on who takes second place."
Blake blinked at that, mind racing. "If I bet on me winning, what odds would you give me?
"Well, seeing as how last year Pyrrha didn't take a single blow for the entire tournament and she didn't even use her aura once, off the top of my head fifty to one feels about fair." Malachite's eyes narrowed on blink, giving her a considering look. "But you'd only make that bet if you know something I don't."
"Just wait, I'm doing maths." Blake held up her hand and thought about the numbers. What's the maximum amount of money I can spare to bet on myself? "When does betting close?"
"Day before the first match."
With two weeks left until the games started there could easily be three hundred thousand in the pot come game day. Even with Malachite keeping her ten percent that was more than enough for Blake to pay for the entry fee to both academies with plenty left over.
"Easy money." Blake laughed and passed the ten thousand lien to Malachite. "I've got this today and I'll be back with more when I have it."
There was a pause before the woman grinned artificially then handed the cash to the man next to her who wrapped it in a bundle, strapped Blake's fake name to it and put it in a vault. She turned to her book keeper and said, "Put Miss Pie down for ten thousand on herself. Free money for me I guess."
"No it's not." Blake scowled. "When I win, I want what I'm owed."
The woman eyed her for a long moment. "You're awful confident. You know something we don't?"
Blake just met her gaze, evenly. "And if I did?"
They stared at each other for a long moment. "I would be willing to pay for such information. A lot, in fact."
"Just how much?"
"That'd be worth at least twenty thou to me."
Blake weighed her options for a long moment. "...And if I were to bet all of that on myself?"
Malachite smirked. "Then I'll just get it all back if you're wrong, now won't I?"
With the deal struck, Blake told her what she knew and received another twenty thousand lien that she immediately bet on herself. The entire time Malachite had a wicked smirk, obviously confident she was getting the better side of the deal.
Blake left Raven at the table to eavesdrop on the unsuspecting gangsters, and headed up the street. Ten minutes later she heard the flapping of wings and a familiar weight settled on her shoulders.
"They didn't say anything about double crossing or cheating you, but that could change closer to the date." Blake nodded, but didn't want to say anything to her in public. For now at least it looked like Malachite was being honest with them, though Raven added. "But just in case of the worst, here's what we'll do..."
The end credits to Ruby's cartoon had only just started to play when Yang seized the remote and immediately changed the channel.
"My turn!" She crowed and turned the volume up.
"Okay, okay." Ruby pouted, leaning back against the couch. "You used to watch the Beetles with me."
"That's a show for kids, like you." Yang wrinkled her nose. "Grown ups like me like to watch cool stuff, like fights."
"I think they're cool."
"That's cause you're still a kid." Yang pointed out.
"Am not!"
"Are too."
As they bickered, a logo flashed on screen that read channel eleven, and minimised itself to the corner of the screen to reveal the end of the tournament's opening ceremony. As much as Yang liked to tease her sister, Booper Beetles was probably still more interesting than watching old men giving speeches while the camera panned over all the athletes standing in a line. Surprisingly, of the two sisters, Ruby was actually the one who was most excited by the ceremony.
"Oh, look at those weapons." She leaned forwards closer to the screen. "Is that a mechanical shark mace, or a flame thrower?"
"Hm… probably just a mechanical shark mace that can light on fire?" Yang guessed, looking at it more closely just as the camera cut away to the crowd gathered in the stadium. "They don't allow ranged weapons in this competition."
It was autumn over in Mistral, but in a nice change from the usually grey weather, the first day of the tournament looked relatively sunny. The stands were full of people of all shapes and colours. There were places where people of particular nationalities grouped together and wore matching colours like the Atlas silver and white or the warm brown and reds of Vacuo. The largest section of the audience was the blue segment representing Mistral, though mixed in were people bearing the copper coloured, horse hair crested Argusian helmets. No doubt they were big fans of Pyrrha Nikos.
Finally the ceremony was over and the competition could start. The format this year was the same as last year, with the under twelve division competing first, then with the older competitors arriving later in the day. The first part of the competition with eight matches per division was the largest, taking two days to get through, and anyone who fought today would have a full day's break tomorrow before they had to fight again. After that any competitor would be getting into one match per day until they won or were eliminated.
The under twelves were sometimes seen as the best spectacle for civilians. To the untrained eye it could be hard to make out what was happening in a particularly advanced fight, so having less intense battles at slower speed was easier for a lot of people to understand. That was what people said at least, but Yang thought it was total garbage. Everyone preferred bigger and more. Yeah, a lot of people couldn't understand the complexities of technique and footing, but absolutely everyone got it when a man was slammed into the ground so hard the stadium had to be repaired. That's what they were there to see: really cool violence! It wasn't that she didn't enjoy the under twelves, it's just that they were basically preview for years to come more than anything else.
When that was over, Yang couldn't help the very bitter hurt she felt at the name displayed in the first match. Cardin Winchester. Her jaw clenched with anger, and she glared resentfully at the boy on the screen who'd taken her spot in the tournament. The Kingdom of Vale as a whole sent just one competitor per year to the Mistral tournament, and that student was going to come from one of the Combat Schools. The position had been flat out offered to Yang at Signal, but her father had turned it down on her behalf, so instead the nod had been given to some meathead jock from Vale Combat School.
That should have been Yang on that stage! Why did her dad have to be so damn overprotective anyway?
As if summoned by her thoughts, the man himself stepped into the doorway, wearing shorts, a T-shirt, and an apron. In his hand he had a spatula, and the smell of waffles cooking in the kitchen wafted past him into the room. Despite the fact Yang was very much ignoring him, she noticed him glance at her a few times as the game started.
"What's that girl's weapon?" Ruby asked, fascinated as a black haired girl with a bow in her hair walked on stage, wearing a black jersey jacket with a brand name on the back in white letters. 'B.R.T.' The brand was also sprayed onto the duffel bag she carried with her, which was what had caught Ruby's eye. It certainly gave her a distinct look...
One of the things that was different about the Mistral tournament in contrast to the Vytal Festival was that it was privately funded. Competitors had their own sponsorships and the advertising during its duration was heavy handed to say the least.
Cardin Winchester stepped up to the stage wearing a suit of armour built for him by the school, with the Vale Combat Academy crest in the centre of the chest piece, front and back. In dramatic contrast to him and the other competitors so far, the girl looked less like she was there to fight and more like she was about to go to her local gym.
Their names both popped up at the top of the screen, Magdalene Pie and Cardin Winchester, along with a bar that measured their aura like a fighting game.
There were a few laughs from the crowd when Magdalene drew a wooden sword from her bag and turned to face her opponent.
"That girl brought a stick to a knife fight." Ruby grunted, disappointed at the dismal choice of weapon. "She's gonna get creamed!"
"Yeah." Yang agreed.
"Says the girl who fights with her fists." Tai pointed out.
She was still absolutely ignoring him, so the three of them fell silent as they watched the tv.
The first thing Cardin thought when he saw his opponent's weapon was, Is she making fun of me?
In his hand, the solid weight of his mace felt good, reliable. It felt powerful. There were no particularly fancy tricks needed to operate it, you just needed enough elbow room. It was a real tool for a real job, without gimmicks or overcomplication.
The Thrush family was a realistic one. In this world there were things that were real, and things that were not. The things that were real worked and the things that were not, didn't. The crushing weight of ten pounds of steel at its head would always be the crushing weight of ten pounds of steel. In the rain, in the mud, near the sea or in the mountains, his mace would always be performing at its best.
A wooden sword, though? That wasn't a real weapon. A person who swung it while enhanced with aura would smash it to kindling on the first impact, and with his body armour and aura, Cardin doubted he'd ever feel the blow.
Scoffing, he strode forward to the arena, glancing at her hip to where the duffel bag still hung. No doubt her real weapon was still in there, and the sword was a ploy. Every competitor had been issued a summary of the opponent's fight history and weaponry by the tournament organisers, but he'd only read up on the serious competition like Yatsuhashi, Porpura, and Pyrrha of course. He only vaguely recalled that Magdalene had no fight history aside from battling up through the qualifiers, but he couldn't remember her real weapon for the life of him.
Ah, whatever. If she just wanted to play silly games, he'd just have to show her how things worked in the real world.
The concrete arena felt firm under his feet, offering good friction and solid footing as he strode towards the starting position, while Magdalene mirrored him. She took up an Iaijutsu stance across from him, with her wooden sword held at her side with one hand in a reverse grip, like it was a sheathed sword or something. It looked utterly ridiculous to Cardin who sneered.
In the distance, the referee began a countdown from ten, and he limbered up his shoulders as he waited for the number to reach zero.
In his head, Cardin could already see how this was going to go. He'd go for a relatively straight forward, short overhead, and she would have to choose to block or dodge. If she dodged, he'd follow through with a backhand and force her away from him. From there he'd be able to play to his strengths by forcing her to fight at a range that suited his longer reach. On the other hand if she blocked, he'd crush her flimsy kindling, and power straight through to give her a full body blow with all his body strength.
Easy peasy.
The referee called the match start, and Cardin raised his mace high, noting the way in a fraction of a second she made a half step back and raised the wooden sword above her head, bracing with two hands, one at either end of the shaft.
Idiot. Cardin used her foolishness to raise his mace even higher and step forward, bringing his weapon down with leverage from his hip and back as well. In the fractions of a second before his weapon hit, he realised that there wasn't even a hint of panic in her eyes at all. In fact, she almost looked like she was smirking?
From the commentators' box, Manuel Flash watched as the girl, Pie stepped backwards, leaving behind a clone of some sort and immediately, smoothly stepped forward swinging her wooden sword up as she did. Thrush's mace broke through the clone's weapon and face, sending red aura everywhere as it dispersed and drawing a horrified look from Thrush as it did. Through the dispersing crimson, Pie's sword arced up beautifully, perfectly catching Thrush on the chin just as his head was coming down.
"Oh. My. Lord!" Manuel cried into his mic as the young man's head jerked upwards in a way that his aura might have saved him from losing a tooth, but it couldn't do anything to stop his brain rattling against the top of his skull. "Perfect uppercut to Thrush!" Manuel yelled as the boy's heavily armoured body dragged him to the ground, while his head bounced upward then snapped into the floor. "What a beautiful move from Pie!"
His co-commentator, Richard Rigsby jumped in. "It's not over yet. That was a great blow, but she's lost her sword!"
It was true, Pie's weapon had shattered on the first blow, but gracefully, the girl drew a new wooden sword from her bag and swung it into Cardin's temple all in one motion. This one shattered again, but the boy's aura dropped into the red and the buzzer rang, announcing his loss.
"And it's all over! It's already over! Pie ends it in two strokes!" Manuel yelled eagerly, jumping to his feet. "That was the shortest match we've had all day! My goodness, that was brutal."
"I don't think Thrush knows he lost, yet." Richard pointed out. "That was the exact same manoeuvre she used in the qualifiers."
"Can we bring that up now?"
"Always review the game tapes." Richard clucked his tongue. "Here it's up now."
On the screen in front of Yang and her family, the footage of Cardin's defeat played out in slow motion next to very similar footage of Magdalene pulling the exact same clone, then step back into an uppercut maneuver that she'd used on another boy.
Her dad whistled in approval. "See Yang? That's what I'm always warning you about. Don't just charge in."
Like Yang would ever fall for something like that! She scowled at her father, but her eyes were glued to the screen as Magdalene hefted her bag of wooden swords over her shoulder and walked out of the arena.
Immediately, a woman with a mic and camera rushed over to interview her. "Miss Pie! Miss Pie! Do you wish to comment on your win just now?"
"No, go away." The girl scowled openly at the reporter and strode last her.
"Anything at all, just a sound bite?"
Without saying another word, Blake strode down the tunnel and out of the arena.
The family looked at the screen in silence before the father spoke up. "Well That was a pretty bad showing for our kingdom."
"Yeah, I wonder who's fault that is." Yang shot him an annoyed look.
The man just rolled his eyes. "When does Pyrrha fight?"
"She's last for this division." RWBY answered. "They want to save the best for the final to keep everyone watching the whole thing."
"Sounds about right." He rolled his eyes. "Call me out when she fights, okay?"
"Yup!" Ruby agreed, and he went back into the kitchen.