A/N Yea, sorry about the wait, life happens and some parts of this chapter saw a lot of iterations.
I dont own DxD or RWBY, and am only in this for the reviews, no cash earned off this.
Emerald's always happy–eager, even–to do things for Cinder.
That said, sometimes her mistress' orders feel like they aren't taking all of the facts into account, or assuming Emerald is more competent than she feels. Find out who the problem teams are planning on putting through to the doubles round.
Sure. No problem.
Easily one of the simplest sounding assignments she's ever taken on for Cinder.
All she has to do is make sure that the guy who can probably kill her with a stern glare doesn't realize she's up to something. Never mind the rest of his team and his "tourist" friends that are giving her the same chills she's been feeling since the Breach around Team JNPR.
Normally she'd open with a bit of playful pick-pocketing, force a bit of small-talk then get to the point from there. Which, no.
Just… no.
She doesn't need the migraine from trying to catch more than one person up in her Semblance today, and good as she is without it, doesn't want to test the freak's enhanced situational awareness to try that route without it.
Play distracted and 'bump' into them? No, the crowd's too thick to make that believable right now.
Maybe she could just walk up to them and start talking? That's a thing friends do, right?
Crap, one of the redheaded Schnee wannabe's hanger-ons, the white-haired brat, noticed her already. Emerald doesn't even make it another ten steps before the freak with the mullet follows the brat's gaze and starts ogling her. He isn't quite bending her over one of the market stalls with his eyes, but he's definitely undressing her with them.
Fuck it.
Here's to hoping she's still alive in fifteen minutes.
"Hey, Ruby! Wait up!" She shouts, jogging through the crowd and shouldering past anyone who doesnt move out of her way on their own. Also manages to snag a wallet out of some crying girl's purse and a roll of Lien bills out of a panicked-looking bookies back pocket. None of the big gangs in Vale go for disfigurement so he should be fine.
The naive kid startles and spins on her heels to face her. "Oh! Hey, Emerald. Umm, great job out there today?"
She slows to a halt in easy arm's reach of the oversized gaggle of teens, dopey, easy grin plastered across her face. Brothers, the things she does for Cinder... "You're one to talk, your team kicked ass in that last match."
Ruby–easy mark that she is–just starts sputtering and blushing with a pleased grin. Her bimbo of a half-sister returns Emerald's grin and shrugs lazily, "I mean, it's the first round. There's gonna be some mismatches."
Emerald forces an awkward laugh and goes to scratch at the back of her head. Idiots. "I suppose you have a point. I still think my team lucked out a bit."
[["Watts, you imbecile! You told me your program would get me unrestricted access to any systems it had infiltrated!" Cinder seethes into the burner Scroll.
There is a brief pause and she can barely hear a forced sigh. "And I was not lying, Cinder dear. Are you sure the issue wasn't between the user and point of access?"
The Scroll sparks as Cinder's palm goes bright orange from the implied barb, a wisp of smoke trailing from its back-plate. "Absolutely certain. If my team hadn't been as well put together as it is, the entire operation could have failed, and I'll be making sure to say as much to her once we reconvene after I have succeeded."]]
Nikos' eyes are gleaming. Her smirk, usually placid and gentle, just a bit predatory. "I'm glad that you aren't underestimating Raye and Onyx. They managed to stay just behind me on the Circuit for as long as they did for a reason. Your team probably wouldn't have done as well against theirs as you did against those poor Atlesians."
Emerald shrugs.
Having watched the Mistrali Champion's main tournament circuit rivals' match, she knows that the girl isn't just talking up her old friends. Still, Cinder has an in with either Raye, Onyx, or both of them. Boys tend to trip all over themselves for a pretty face and well-maintained figure. Which Cinder certainly has both of, and isn't above using when the situation calls for it. Not that Emerald understands what goes on in boys' heads, but she can understand their desire to get to know her mistress better. It hardly matters either way.
With Cinder stuck using that awkward lump of a sword she'd hauled out of a storage unit after the mess her infiltration of the CCT Tower had turned into, and Merc having to keep some of his Old Man's more useful techniques under wraps still, she isn't sure they'd have been able to beat them.
Not that it really matters. Between the faulty(?) virus and the several wildcard enemy combatants that leaves them with, the plan is... in flux, right now. "We'll see. I wouldn't mind getting put in the same category as the Invincible Girl if we do get matched against them next round." Hopefully it'll still be the Model's team her and Merc take out, but with a wildcard like those two on the table things are gonna be... tricky.
"Speaking of teams, where's yours?" The pretty-boy Devil–she thinks, at least–asks with what's probably supposed to be a panty-dropper smile on his face. The albino runt's piercing stare is messing with her more though. And the smirk that violet-eyed, big-tited mantrap is shooting her way is just complicating things.
Emerald winces. Not an exaggeration or show for once. "Oh, they're... around. They can be pretty, well..." She glances over her shoulder and Mercury is, thankfully, right where he's supposed to be.
And sniffing a boot.
What the hell, Black. The plan was for socially awkward, not Freaky on Main.
The redheaded Schnee-wannabe herself raises an eyebrow with an amused smirk. "Suddenly, I'm a lot more okay with some of Issei's... proclivities." The shrinking-violet type blondie giggles awkwardly at that, and most of the native girls take a big step away from the guy who's still blatantly checking her out.
"For real, why freak on feet when there's perfectly good T n' A to ogle!" The now named Issei exclaims.
Seriously?
The Bimbo takes a step forward and actually wraps an arm around her shoulders. Wait. Hmm… That smells… Nah. Cinder's cinnamon perfume smells better, honestly and-
No. Now's not the time, Bimbo's talking, "By the way, Em, you'll wanna keep the perv at at least arm's length. He figured out a way to get his Semblance to strip girls naked and isn't afraid to use it."
What.
"Hell yeah!" The brunette perv exclaims, passion burning in his eyes as he clenches a fist in front of his face and pulls it down to chest level. "With a slap and a snap all the beauties' bodies will be bared!"
The ginger psycho has an amused glint in her eyes as she side-eyes him, her expression otherwise deadpan, "Did you really just–?"
Something must have rattled loose in the freak's head, as he turns-finally-his gaze away from her to glare at the Bimbo, "Hey, what the hell, Yang! Why you gotta go narcing on me like that?!" When the blonde's reply is to silently level a cold, incredulous glare on him, he deflates a bit.
"Because you're the enemy of women everywhere." The Ex-Terrorist and the albino shortstack deadpan in sync. They both pause for a beat, before turning to look at each other in surprise.
The horndog completely wilts as the scrawny, blonde babyface pats him on the back with what has to be the most sickeningly sweet expression of this bunch. Or seen at all, honestly.
Seriously, these people are crazy.
Emerald disentangles herself from the Bimbo's grasp. Carefully, so as to not make it seem like she's eager to be away from the ditz. "A-anyway, it's gonna be me and Merc next round. What about you guys?"
Ruby hops ahead , diverting the perverted freaks attention from Emerald by simple dint of being in the way. Given enough time the horndog will probably find something to ogle on her, which, way to take one for the team but that's not gonna be enough to make her anything less than an annoying mark, and will hopefully take longer than Emerald will be here for. "Oh, um, well I thought long and hard about that and-"
"We put it to a vote." The Heiress cuts her off.
"After I deliberated heavily, we put it to a vote and after a long debate-"
"It took us less than a day after Ozpin announced that we were one of Vale's representative teams." Belladonna cuts her off again.
"Ugh! Fine!" The kid sags, bending over at her waist in a melodramatic show of defeat, letting her arms dangle limply as she turns her head to look back up at Emerald. "We had a vote and it's gonna be Weiss and Yang."
A loud commotion a few dozen feet down the alleyway of shops draws all their attention and saves her from having to respond. A few seconds later, her Scroll buzzes in her pocket. A 'time's up' text from Torchwick's tiny henchwench. Perfect. "Ah crap, Mint might have just started a fight and the boss is down in Vale. Mercury, we gotta go! Sorry to run off on you guys, but..."
"Nah, that's cool. The Team's gotta come first." Arc waves her off, the rest of his Team of freaks nodding in agreement. Saps.
Emerald pulls Mercury away from his 'inspection' and they start jogging off. Before their actually away from the marks, Ruby shouts, "Good luck in your next fight!"
"You too!" She cries back, offering an obligatory wave as she finishes dodging past more idiots, dragging the one she got saddled with along behind her.
They're all crazy and this job can't be over soon enough. And Mercury's constant joking about how she's settling along with her 'friends' really isn't helping matters.
Jaune can't quite put his finger on the why, but Emerald and Mercury puts him on edge. It definitely isn't the 'hiding something blessed on them' feel he'd gotten from Cardin at the start of the year, nor is it the feeling he gets when he has to play nice with enemies. It certainly isn't the 'I'm getting set up for something that's over my head' feeling he gets from Lord Bael's 'friends' either. He thinks. Still, he can't help but feel that their reasons for participating in the Vytal Tournament aren't the same as everyone else's, and that there isn't really any targeted malice to whatever motives he feels like their hiding, and that those motives probably aren't strictly theirs.
Something to try to bring to General Phenex or Ironwood's attention later, if he can.
The fourteen of them descend on the tent that the family(?) that runs A Simple Wok has set up on the festival ground, and, upon realizing that they'd take up literally all of the seating available, opt to order to go and to sit at one of the picnic benches set up in the makeshift food court.
When Rias' Peerage starts eyeing the eatery with no menu or prices on display warily, their King shrugs amiably and offers, "I'll handle the bill. It's the least I can do to thank our dear hosts for showing us around their kingdom." A few of her subordinates relax a bit at that, as do Ruby, Nora and Ren.
"Thank you, Rias." Weiss offers, with her team and Jaune's doing various echoes of gratitude. "If it were a few more days after my last show, I'd be happy to do so myself, but–"
Her Scroll starts going off in her pocket–that one sound bite of the main character from that movie about the stock market from a few years ago bragging about how illegal everything they'd been doing was–and Weiss cuts herself off, holds up a finger and stalks a few feet away.
"Father. I take it this is about the notification I got while I was sleeping?" She pauses to listen. "No, I set up a more comprehensive level of notifications several months ago. Those are the sort of thing that are automated to the point where a person cannot simply bribe them away." Another pause, and this time the person on the other side of the line seems to be screaming. "And I don't see how you're entitled to any of it. I paid my production crew, the stage crew were all festival staff and the rest of the work was done by myself alone."
Jaune can actually make out something about 'raised you' in the man from the other side of the connection in the terse, rapid-fire response. "No, that was mostly Winter and Klein." Weiss bites back harshly. Cold, even by her standards.
This time, the speaker can't have gotten any more than a dozen words in before Weiss cuts him off. "No, the generous amount of proceeds from the song that I marked to be donated will continue to go to the charity Grandfather set up. I know which one you were about to suggest I change that to, and everyone on Remnant knows that that is just a front for you and your friends to launder bribes and kickbacks."
Weiss boredly directs the Scroll away from her ear as the man on the other side of the line starts screaming so loudly that it sounds more like white noise than any words. When the voice goes quiet she primly returns the device to her ear. "Perhaps you haven't checked the news yet? I know it is very early in Atlas right now. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go. Something important has come up." At that, she hangs up the device and returns it to her pocket.
Mmm, she's going to pay for that later. Probably doesn't care right now, but she will…
When Weiss returns to the group, Blake casts an appraising look her way. "Let me guess, your dad isn't appreciative of you being financially independent?"
"And that he isn't getting a piece of the action from the sound of it." Yang adds, her arms crossed. Weiss just parks herself between her taller teammates, arms crossed and face set in a scowl before looking back over to Rias.
Jaune winces while Rias cocks an eyebrow, a curious look passing over her face just long enough for Akeno and Jaune to spot it. "I see." Whatever passes between the two causes the Schnee Heiress expression to soften a bit as she averts her gaze with a mild flush. "Well, think nothing of it, Weiss. After all, we're all friends here, are we not?" She gives Weiss a sweet smile that Weiss hesitantly returns.
All of the foreign Devils are still looking to the natives for guidance, and Yang takes the lead, stepping up to the stall's carry-out station, gesturing at their group and letting out an expectant 'eh'. The older man makes a grunt of acknowledgement, before dashing back to the kitchen portion of his tent.
He returns a few moments later carrying a tray of enormous bowls of savory beef ramen that look to be more noodle than broth, meat or vegetables. When he sets it down, Blake makes eye contact with him and nods, a gesture he returns.
His next return, one of the bowls on the tray has more fried fish than noodles, broth or anything else and Blake almost immediately starts salivating over it.
Koneko quickly perks up, eyes going wide and her jaw drops open before she turns to shoot her best 'puppy-dog-eyes' at the older man.
It... doesn't really work.
Koneko starts pouting, and the shopkeeper crosses his arms in response, unimpressed and unmoved. The old man must have a heart of stone.
Then something shifts on the diminutive girl's face, and the shopkeeper slowly nods at her. Did her eyes just… nah, must have been a trick of the light.
"Excuse me, do you have a low sodium–?" Weiss tries asking before the old man dashes back to the kitchen area again. The next tray of food has another bowl like the one Blake had been given, which Koneko snatches almost as soon as the tray touches the counter.
"Low calorie, maybe–?" Weiss continues, one finger held aloft, an almost desperately questioning look on her face.
Again, she is ignored as the shopkeep dashes off a final time to grab the last tray of bowls.
The Schnee heiress huffs irritably as she steps away from the counter. Crossing her arms as she glares at the contents of her bowl.
While Rias is paying, Koneko and Yang are pushing a few picnic tables together so that the fourteen of them can comfortably sit together. Once they all get settled in, Akeno is the first to speak up. "So, Weiss, what were you getting at when you told your… father, to check the news?" Rias shoots a warning look at Akeno, causing her Queen's expression to go contrite.
"It's fine, Rias, it's nothing that any of you couldn't find out easily enough with a bit of searching." The Heiress sighs. "Normally, at least a few news stations find a few chances to slam the SDC during the first day of the tournament. They aren't doing that this year." A rather bitter 'yet' is hanging in the air, and from the look of it, Weiss is fairly upset that that isn't something that's in her hands.
"Why is that?" Kiba asks politely after finishing a mouthful of noodles.
Weiss takes a dainty bite of her own meal and swallows before answering. "My Grandfather always made a point of making sure all participants in the Vytal Tournament were fully outfitted with top-grade Dust while they were competing. A tradition that my father stopped after the very first work condition riot to flare up once he started changing company policies, citing that the charity had become too great of an expense."
"And nobody bought it." Blake deadpans.
"That certainly squares with everything else we know about him," Rias nods, a humorless smile crossing her face at her first bite. "And the two charity organizations, if you don't mind me asking?" Team RWBY–Weiss included–begin to shovel in large and decidedly unladylike bites into their mouths. Nora and Pyrrha aren't much better.
Weiss shrugs, "The one I'm giving a share of my current proceeds to was set up by my Grandfather to help survivors from villages and settlements that were destroyed by Grimm attacks get back on their feet. Get children in orphanages, provide suits and connections for job interviews for adults, food for the malnourished… that sort of thing. They have a more-or-less unblemished reputation for keeping to their stated goals and being free of corruption."
Asia coos in awe as she looks at her with twinkling eyes, hands clasped together, "That sounds so wonderful, Weiss!"
The Schnee heiress ducks her head, face flushing at the honest admiration from the blonde. "Thank you, Asia. I've always thought the same." She offers a slight smile back.
Jaune pauses from his own meal to pull his Scroll out and do a quick check of his newsfeed. "And with everything Weiss has done over the last couple days, everyone's going on about how the SDC is supporting the Vytal Festival actively again, and how much of a philanthropist the Heiress already is." Weiss nods, a small but satisfied grin peeking through for a moment before downshifting to one of annoyance again.
Blake's expression shifts to match Weiss' own, "So he can't afford to let it get out that he punished you for this, but if he could have baited you into a more direct outburst…"
Weiss grimaces, and nods. Jaune would never say it out loud and unsolicited, especially in public like this, but it's good Weiss has changed her strategy. Started taking into account the 'long game,' as it were. She might be a little late in doing so, but at least she hadn't been born late to the game. Part of him wants to start digging to see what, or probably who had encouraged her to change up how she's approaching her self-assigned task of restoring her family and the SDC's honor and image, but that definitely isn't a conversation for today. For now, he supposes he'll just chalk it up to her interactions with Rias and Ravel, as, from what he's seen and she's said, her other high society 'friends' hardly count as such by any definition of the word, and are at best loose or nascent political connections in reality.
Before anyone can state just how likely it is that this won't be the last time Jacques will try to bait Weiss into doing something she can disinherit her for, Jaune notices a familiar aura, and two that he thinks he recognizes just out of his peripheral vision. Before he can turn to investigate, Issei starts choking on his noodles.
He bangs at his chest, ineffectually trying to dislodge whatever he'd gotten stuck. Asia tries to help by offering him his drink, but that just changes how his choking sounds. Finally, Koneko gives him a single, hard slap to the back, which dislodges the half-chewed wad of noodle and gristle he'd been choking on. He takes a deep shuddering breath, a big swig of punch, then settles in to gape across the table. A dopey grin caps off his dreamy expression as his meal sits forgotten on the table.
Rias raises an amused if slightly worried eyebrow. "Issei…?"
"Hi there~!"
Who…? Oh.
A pair of towering, voluptuous blondes parting the crowd as they approach from a dozen-ish feet away, one of them offering a friendly wave to the group. Jaune recognizes the pair from the last Young Devil's Ball. Raenella and Rusora, or Rune and Ruse, the Phenex twins that had been shut-ins up until that stretch of time that he'd been entirely too busy with things here on Remnant to keep track of politics back in the Underworld.
"Oh my…" Pyrrha utters dumbfoundedly as she looks the giant Phenexes over while Nora lets out a low whistle. The Twins stride up to loom over everyone at the tables. Not intentionally, but with their height it's hard for them not to. Whether anyone sat at the table were standing or not.
Like, seriously, what the fuck, they're taller than his father! It's probably got something to do with their lineage, but they definitely hadn't been that big when they'd formally introduced themselves.
The former has a pleased smile on her face as she looks over the group while her twin eyes Issei with naked, albeit placid curiosity.
The longer-haired Twin–Raenella or Rune–is the first to speak, practically crouching down to wrap her massive arms around Ruby and Yang's shoulders, bringing them into a light half-hug while offering a warm smile to the rest of their team. "Team Ruby, Team Juniper and Rias Gremory's Peerage all in one place! It seems we found where the party's at, sister!"
Okay, judging from the genuine smiles on the Rose-Xiao Long sisters' faces–Yang's anyway, since Ruby is too busy sputtering and blushing pressed up against the giant's pillowy frame–Team RWBY has at least met these two, probably even summoned them. Not gonna press, he already gave Ravel permission to form Pacts in what's tacitly his territory, and the Twins seem like decent enough sorts from what little he's seen.
Also, pissing off Phenexes, even a pair of relative unknowns like these two is generally considered a bad idea. That said, you don't become the aide to a Devil King by being weak or dumb either. Mama Arc didn't raise no fool.
"Indeed we have. Greetings to you all." Rusora–Ruse–offers in her flat voice with a courteous bow. The group reply with their own scattered acknowledgements and greetings.
Team RWBY are all welcoming–or at least not dismissive–in their own ways. Jaune's Peerage and team are all polite; but only he really knows who the Twins are, his subordinates having been too caught up in the pageantry of their first Young Devils Ball to really make any lasting acquaintances.
Rias' Peerage is more of a mixed bag. Koneko locks eyes with Ruse, the two briefly staring at one another before moving on. Akeno and Kiba stiffen but aren't outwardly hostile, though both are probably ready to spring into action if the situation calls for it. Asia is looking at the pair partly with a mix of open amazement and insecure jealousy. Issei, of course, can't take his eyes off them or apparently even form a coherent thought. Rias…
Well, her current opinion of their family is pretty clear to anyone who knows her, considering how rigid her expression has gone.
Rune rises from her position between the Remnantian sisters, looking over at the heiress of the Gremory House and her features brighten up visibly in a way not too dissimilar to what Jaune has seen on peoples faces after realizing they're waiting in line next to the Invincible Girl. Apparently Rias' naescent Idol status precedes her. "Lady Rias Gremory, it's an honor."
Rias looks up and up to Rune's face and glances neutrally to her twin, "Ladies Raenella and Rusora Phenex… Yes, I suppose you two would be here." She replies in an almost painfully mild tone that turns Rune's smile from eager to saddened. Right, no way that this could go catastrophically wrong. None at all.
That snaps Issei out of his ogling stupor, "Wait, what? They're who?" Asia's expression shifts to one of surprised worry as she starts scooting closer to Issei and Rias. Rias' Queen and Knight both share a glance, looking like they'd just had their suspicions confirmed. Taking cues from their King, both continue to refrain from taking any open actions.
Ruby and her teammates shift and share uncomfortable and saddened looks but don't move to interfere either.
"Okay, like, seriously, what is up with Phenexes and names that start with 'R'?" Nora half-whispers to Jaune.
Jaune looks over to his Rook and shrugs, "Devil families have plenty of their own traditions. Naming themes are one of the more common and tame ones, all things considered."
Nora glances between the giant twins, "Ringlets and hair drills too, apparently." She isn't wrong.
The giant blondes bend forward in polite, formal bows. Rune takes the lead as she rises just enough to be easily audible, "Please allow us to extend a formal apology on behalf of our House to yours in regards to our Uncle's inexcusable behavior and treatment of you and yours during your Rating Game and the…" she pauses, visibly grinding her teeth as she stamps down on her distaste. "FestivitIes that followed."
Ruse continues in her twin's stead. "Be assured, Riser has been strictly disciplined for his actions and the behavior that led to his public fall from grace. Grandfather and Lord Gremory are in agreement that an alternative method of strengthening ties between our Houses should be explored. The House of Phenex and House of Gremory have enjoyed the benefits of our unofficial alliance for far too long to let it be sullied by Riser's folly."
Rias considers the large Devils for a long moment, looking very much like she'd just bitten into a lemon before sighing and just as formally replying, "Then I accept your apology on behalf of House Gremory. And…You may feel free to call me 'Rias,' It may be a generation removed, but our stations are close enough for that level of familiarity to be appropriate in public settings." She offers them both a slight but sincere smile. "I'm not so petty as to let the actions of one man color my opinion of your entire House. We are more than just our family names."
Out of the corner of his eye Jaune notices Weiss looking at Rias in admiration and approval.
"Thank you, Rias." Rune replies, nearly trembling in delight. She straightens back up, offering a beaming smile to her senior Devil, looking like her birthday had come early. She raises her fist to her mouth and clears her throat, revealing a far less manic grin after doing so. "I could give a rousing speech about inter-house cooperation… However, seeing as we are attending a festival dedicated to cooperation rather than upper class niceties..." Rias favors her with a wry smirk in response, which turns the giant blonde's smile from something tentative to a more confident expression. "So long as you're willing to bury the hatchet...?"
Rias nods amiably at the taller girl. "I am."
Rune smiles warmly in response, "Wonderful! In that case…" She gestures to the gathered teenagers with an earnest expression on her face, a hand on her twin's shoulder. "I am Raenella Phenex, and this is my twin, Rusora, but feel free to call us Rune and Ruse. Let's all get along and try to play nice." The gesture of goodwill drains the tension that had been building since the pair's arrival handily. Everyone is clearly in agreement except for…
Ruse has also risen and returned her gaze onto Rias' sole Pawn. "Issei Hyoudou."
Issei flinches either from the intensity of her gaze or the fact that such a large girl is addressing him after he'd been undressing her with his eyes, "Y-yes?"
The giant blonde's unemotional expression takes on a slight smile after a moment of assessing him. Jaune blinks and she's no longer at her sister's side but looming next to Issei on his right, spooking everyone at the tables save Rune, Rias, Koneko and Yang, the latter of those nominally unsurprised still flinching a bit while Yang grumbles unhappily under her breath. That's definitely one way to announce that you have a combat-capable movement technique.
Issei practically startles out of his chair, "Jeez!"
Kiba is looking at the taller girl, clearly shocked, as he starts mumbling about her speed to himself. And it was speed, not a variation of teleportation magic. The ruffling of her dress and the… movement of certain parts of Ruse's body give it away. That and the flash of muscle Jaune had spotted through the slit in her dress. She'd worked for that speed, then built on it with magic.
Ruse reaches out to cup Issei's chin, lifting his head up slightly to look him in the eye. Issei freezes up at her large hand's engulfing touch. Asia silently fidgets and fusses, but doesn't intervene. The giant looks the Pawn up and down, before nodding to herself. "Your loyalty and dedicated service to your Master has also been noted." Ruse's smile widens a touch. "The cunning you employed to lay our uncle low was… mesmerizing."
Issei flushes, rubbing a hand behind his head. "Oh. Well, er, thanks. Thanks a lot!" The large girl holds his face in place and her eye contact with him for another moment before moving to re-join her sister at a more sedate pace.
Rune offers the Pawn a far less readable smile than she had his King, eyeing him up like a chef would a fresh cut of meat. "Cunning, gutsy and adaptable, ideal for a noble lady's sole Pawn, and just what our generation needs in my opinion." With her smile going a touch more rueful, she places a hand on the swell of her bosom. The horndog eats the gesture up like a starving toddler. And Jaune can't even tell if she did that on purpose. "We know your first impression of our family was… poor, but if you gave the House of Phenex a second chance, we would be ever so grateful."
The House or the twins he met less than ten minutes ago? Jaune really, really hopes he wasn't that clueless when he was first introduced into Underworld politics.
Rias' eyes narrow suspiciously at the exchange. Issei is, of course, too distracted by the enormous beauties to notice that.
Issei stares for just a moment longer than necessary before looking into her eyes and responding, "Uh, sure. Like Rias said, it's not your fault your, er, uncle's a massive jerk-o– ah, jerk." He corrects himself mid insult after noticing Asia watching him. Not threatening or admonishingly, but more in a Ruby-begging-for-cookies sort of way.
Not exactly smooth, but the person he was trying to impress didn't notice the slip so smooth enough, Jaune supposes.
Rune favors him with a wry smirk, taking a moment to mouth 'family' at the mulleted teen before moving on, "Splendid! You won't regret this, Issei Hyoudou." Rune turns her gaze back to Team RWBY who'd been happily watching the Devils drama unfold. "Speaking of making waves, the four of you made quite a few of your own earlier today." Rune offers the Huntresses-in-Training with a friendly wink.
Ruse picks up on her sister's line of conversation in the seamless way that only twins ever seem able to manage. "You have our congratulations for your first round victory."
"Agreed! You girls put on quite the show. Rune cooes with a giggle, before bending down to poke at Ruby's cheek teasingly. "Good for you~!" The comparatively diminutive girl pulls away and playfully swats at the offending digit with a giggle of her own in response. With an impish grin, Rune proceeds to grab the smaller girl and start tickle-poking her despite Ruby's protesting attempts to squirm away or shove the giant off; much to the amusement of her teammates and older sister.
"It was a commendable, if somewhat flawed, showing." Ruse agrees as she raises an eyebrow at Yang.
"We're working on it." The blonde brawler grumbles, blushing slightly and fussing with her hair. Honestly, Jaune doesn't think Yang's lapse in situational awareness with Arslan's Dust crystal gambit when Blake had been about to get Reese's surrender had been that big of a blunder. Then again, considering that it had been the only lapse in an otherwise flawless victory…
Wait… Is Ruse… teasing Yang? And Yang's just letting her? The flat gaze Blake is mockingly shoots her partner all but confirms that.
"Of course." Ruse replies smoothly before shifting her gaze to settle them on the petite white-haired girl who wouldn't be able to reach her waist standing. Her cool eyes take on a warmer glint as her lips pull into another tiny fond smile. "Koneko Toujou."
"'Sup, Big Bird." Koneko nods in reply with an equally tiny smile of her own. While her voice is still in it's usual monotone, the greeting is still the most friendly he's ever heard Rias' Rook sound. The pair then proceed to once again just, stare at each other for a drawn out moment before Koneko tilts her head expectantly. Ruse lets out a slight huff before approaching her from around the table, normally this time, thankfully, the size difference becoming painfully apparent as she stands next to the comparatively miniscule Rook. From there, Ruse gently reaches out with one of her large hands to softly and methodically stroke the diminutive girl's head, much to the clear surprise of everyone present save for both Rias and Rune who only look on fondly.
Asia, Nora, Yang and Ruby start quietly cooing and… Is Koneko purring!?
"Ahem. Part of the reason Karlamine and Isabela were allowed to go off by themselves is because you two were supposed to be escorting me!" Jaune hears with a bit of a harumph as Ravel stomps toward Rune, agitatedly fixing her dress, hair and generally looking like she had just fought her way through a thick crowd. Which she probably just had, considering she's closer to Weiss and Ruby in stature than her relatives. The filial resemblance becomes immediately clear to him now that the three are standing together. Meeting the Twins without any of their relatives present had made it rather easy for their faces to join the nigh-endless parade of names and faces that the Young Devil's Balls tend to become for him.
"Weren't you right behind us?" Rune asks 'innocently,' glancing down at her aunt.
Ravel shoots her giant niece the stink eye and takes a deep, deep breath as she prepares to lay into Rune before freezing up as her attention shifts just enough towards the tables that she can see everyone gathered at them and-once again-watching the drama unfold. The moment she spots a nervous Issei, her expression shifts from mild fillail annoyance to absolutely thunderous as she releases the air she'd been taking in on a more pressing issue. "HYOUDOU!" Or person, in this case.
"It's the grilled chicken's little sister!" Issei exclaims, which causes the youngest Phenex's expression to darken further. Yang and Nora snicker at the moniker, and even Rune appears amused though she tries to hide it behind a polite cough. Yang mutters something about 'Chicken-Legs' before snickering heartily into her bowl.
Rias heaves a sigh and bops him on the head. "Issei…" And just after Rias and Rune had went through all that effort to make amends, or at least start to…
Ravel looks ready to finish what she started during the mock Rating Game. Or maybe what her brother had started, going by her expression and the rising heat. "That's Ravel Phenex to you! This is why I hate inferior–"
"Ravel." Rune favors her diminutive aunt with a cross between a stern and pouty look. "You promised." Ravel growls and grumbles for a bit before going quiet again.
Rias looks to Ravel, bowing her head for a moment. " In the spirit of inter-house cooperation, I would like to extend my own apology, as well as my subordinate's for his own conduct towards your Head of House's youngest child in kind."
"I am?" Issei starts, then trails off when he realizes that not just Rias but all of the girls present save Ruby, Nora, Akeno, Asia and the Twins are shooting dirty looks at him. Ravel has gone so far as to stand behind Rune and is leaning around the giant Phenex's leg to continue glaring daggers at Issei. "Oh. I mean, I am, I am!" He repeats himself when the glares only deepen after his first attempt.
Rune carefully looks between the horndog, a grimacing Rias and glaring Ravel and quickly interjects, "House Phenex accepts your apology in the spirit it was offered." Going by the grinding of Ravel's teeth and the expression on her face she certainly does not.
As the tension starts fading, Rune takes a few more steps towards Rias, smiling disarmingly. "Before I forget, Rias, there is one other matter I'd like to discuss with you. If you don't mind stepping away with me for a moment? I was hoping to speak with you about, well, the future." Rias looks Rune in the eye for a moment before nodding and standing up, the two of them excusing themselves before walking towards a drink stand on the far side of the food court.
Grinning, Yang stands up to make her way over towards Ruse and Koneko. "So. Big Bird."
Ruse remains unruffled by Yang's teasing tone and use of a nickname that's probably something only Koneko calls her. Koneko's unamused expression as she turns to the shorter blonde is telling enough. "Yes, Ms. Xiao Long?" Ruse calmly queries.
"Hey, c'mon, it's 'Yang'! We've sparred, hung out, talked philosophy and had deep heart-to-hearts already! We're way past being all formal like that!" Yang waves the Devil off, a friendly grin firmly affixed on her face.
The taller blonde continues to gaze at her unimpressed while stroking Rias' Rook's head like some movie villainess would their cats. After considering the Remnantian girl for a few moments she hums gravely and replies "Your logic is sound enough, I suppose."
Koneko blinks owlishly up at Yang as she processes the exchange she'd technically just been part of. "You… you actually got in a spar with Big Bird… on purpose?"
Yang shrugs. "I mean, I was planning on sparring with whoever I summoned that night, Rusey here just happened to be it."
Koneko glances between the Devil and the human soundlessly before her eye twitches. "Were you dropped on your head as a baby?" The albino Devil asks, deadpan and completely serious.
_-*R-DxD*-_
((Elsewhere))
Taiyang sneezes violently as he scrolls on to the next picture in the slide. Him and a few other parents of contestants had been sharing memories and stories and this one had…
It can't have been taken more than a few weeks before Raven had left, and he knows that he deleted all of the pictures of her he'd had. But here it is, his ex-wife looking mortified and tired and confused holding up a grinning two-year-old Yang by her ankle in one hand, a dirty diaper rolled up in her other. It must have somehow made it to the Prism then got re-downloaded when he got this Scroll. He swipes on to the next one-an adorable shot of Qrow passed out on the couch with both of the girls passed out on him that Tai and Summer had snapped when they'd got back to the cabin from the date he'd been babysitting for them for-and makes a mental note to re-delete the one of Raven later.
_-*R-DxD*-_
"Nah, of course not, Mom was great!" Yang quips, and Jaune can't help but chuckle at how carefree his friends are (finally) acting again. He turns away, letting the three continue their talk.
"So! Pyrrha." Both him and his partner nearly jump out of their skin at Ravel's voice coming from the opposite side of the table she'd started on.
How did she…
Oh, right, she'd probably gone around the long way to avoid Issei. Ravel continues either oblivious to or uncaring about their mild shock, "How did meeting with Jaune's family go for you?"
"I'm sorry? I don't know what you mean."
Ravel gives Pyrrha a look at the redhead's attempt at obfuscation.
For a few moments it looks like his girlfriend is going to hold out. "I was across the courtyard from them when Jaune's family caught up with them. She looked like a deer trapped in a set of headlights." Blake interjects.
Jaune looks over at Blake, and his wondering both how and why she knows about the encounter must be written all over his face. Blake shrugs. "I'd just been cornered by my mom and… an old family friend who caught the very end of Sun and my date yesterday. I... might have been looking for an out." Jaune is about to ask how Blake knowing about that made it all the way to Ravel, before he remembers that Weiss, and now Ruby, have apparently been summoning Lord Phenex's youngest daughter for quite a while now.
Ah. Yeah, they... wouldn't have been much help in that regard. "Well, don't keep us in suspense, what's lover-boy's family like, Pyr?" Yang calls from across the table, waggling her eyebrows at the two of them.
"Oh, well, it would be rude of me to force everyone to listen to our story." Pyrrha tries to demure again.
Weiss of all people is the next to speak up, gently nudging the taller girl with her elbow, "Trying to fight it is only going to make them more curious, Pyrrha." She warns the other girl with all the sage wisdom of the person who'd been trapped at the center of the group's attention mere minutes ago.
Pyrrha sighs, and looks over to Jaune with a slight whimper. He just shrugs and gestures for her to continue.
_-*R-DxD*-_
((48 Hours Ago))
"Jaune, it's nice to see you again. Congratulations on your team making it into the Tournament. We need to talk." The giant of a man–a full head taller than Yatsuhashi if Pyrrha had to guess, and a few inches wider at the shoulders too–announces as he claps one of his massive hands on her boyfriend and team leader's shoulder. Eyes a few shades darker than Jaune's, blonde hair shot through with streaks of gray and cut in a high-and-tight, and he has a neatly trimmed mustache and goatee combo on his widely smiling face. Not that the expression does anything to soften his serious tone. His flannel shirt is buttoned up all the way and tucked into his jeans, its sleeves rolled up to his elbows.
Before either of them can properly greet, well, any of the arriving Arcs, Jaune's dad has wrapped the hand on his son's shoulder around his neck, and is leading the family's most recent Beacon student away from the larger group. The circle-shield hanging off his back is painted a bright sky blue, and has a broad disc in the same shade of gold as Jaune's Emblem with a deep arc carved out of its right side, and a broadsword's hilt poking over his shoulder from behind it.
"And what exactly do you think you've been doing with my brother?" A girl about Ruby's age demands, stomping up to Pyrrha and poking her in the chest with a rolled up magazine. The hand not holding the magazine has its knuckles wrapped with (mostly) clean white bandages. She's wearing a pair of charcoal cargo shorts that had probably been Jaune's at some point going by the zipper length, as had the navy-blue 'Eat, sleep, train, repeat' t-shirt she's wearing, if how it's unflatteringly hanging off her frame is anything to go by. Her eyes and hair are a shade lighter than Jaune's, she has an undercut on the left side of her head, and a deep emo-blade that almost covers the band-aid on her right cheekbone.
A girl with similar features and the exact same shade of hair and eyes-granted her hair is tied off into a pair of waist-length twin-tails-slaps a trucker-cap emblazoned with Signals emblem on its back over the girls head and yanks her back by it's bill. "That's the Invincible Girl, Jade. You aren't going to be intimidating her with a rolled up magazine." The tomboy's probable twin admonishes her as the now sputtering-and named-Jade Arc stumbles backwards while trying to regain her balance. "Or at all, really, considering you just finished forging your weapons last week." The blonde-haired, blue-eyed mini-Coco continues, pressing the hoop-glasses up on her nose with one hand, and inspecting the now free ones nails as she does so.
"What gives, Jasmine!" The tomboy squawks, shoving her more delicate-featured sister hard on the shoulder as soon as she has her balance back.
"And don't think for a moment that you being able to put on a good show while the cameras are rolling means you get a free pass with little Jauney." A scarred, muscular woman with hair the same color as Jaune's tied in a shoulder-length tail grumps at Pyrrha. She has a burnished steel buckler and punch-dagger on one hip, the shield emblazoned with a pair of arcs in the same shade as Jaune and his fathers emblems arranged to form an open circle on the buckler, and what looks like a kilij on the other hip. She's wearing a knee-length russet colored combat skirt, sleeveless black shirt and dark red leather vambraces that cover her forearms from wrist to elbow.
"Um. Hello…?" Pyrrha tries to greet the horde of blonde women, head swiveling from one to the next as they surround her.
"Aunnie Pyr!" a black-haired, pale skinned toddler exclaims, darting away from the scarred woman's side towards her, only to be scooped up by his mother(?)
Another older blonde, this one holding an absolutely adorable baby in one arm, the other wrapped around a bemused looking, deeply tanned and raven haired woman. "I told you you should have just carried Ambrosia the same way me and Terra have been Adrian, Honey."
The Huntress and mother turn to play-glare her sister. "That's easy enough for you to say when Adrian's still fun-sized like that, Saph. But give him a few years and a dozen or two pounds and then we'll see if you still wouldn't rather he just use his own two legs when that's an option." She then shifts the squirming toddler in her arms to rest on her hip and look down at him. "And we don't know that for sure yet, buddy."
"Sorry about the ambush, Nikos." A-finally-familiar voice interjects as Jaune's older-but not oldest, clearly-sister that's been taking missions at Beacon while she and her teammates work on planning her wedding, Aurora, adds herself to the circle of blondes. "I woulda told ya they all wanted to talk, but I was kind of out-voted." The girl, clad in her typical low-rise odd cargo-pants and crop-top has a bit of a sheepish grin on her face that looks at least partly apologetic. "And you girls can all calm down, I have it on good authority her and Jaune haven't made it past second base yet."
Whatever response Pyrrha would have made to Aurora's apology dies on her lips as her face goes crimson.
Less than a heartbeat later a girl with bright wavy blonde locks who is probably a few years younger than the twins that are Ruby's age in a frilly green dress bounds right up into Pyrrha's personal space, peering directly up into her eyes. "And why's that? I mean, if I had a girlfriend as hot as you I'd be all over her!" she pauses to tilt her head. "Oh, and did you think that maybe you could hook your boy-toy's favorite sis–"
A slightly taller girl in a baggy, form concealing Valean School of Engineering hoodie catches the youngest of Jaune's sisters by the shoulders and hauls her back. "Citrine, no fangirling overt our brother's girlfriend." She scolds, a blush barely visible from under the drawn hood and around the thick locks of sandy-blonde hair spilling out of it. "But, if you did have a few tickets to the next big event your manager has you showing up at..." the girl trails off with an awkward chuckle as she turns an empty pocket on her blue-jeans out with a self-deprecating chuckle.
The pair notice a half-dozen sets of admonishing gazes on them, and the younger of the two blinks a few times before she adds. "Umm, I mean, you'd totally better not break our brother's heart!" The mousey college student nods as aggressively as she can manage at that.
It isn't much, but she's trying?
A matronly woman in a conservative blue dress and purple jacket with long platinum-blonde hair spilling down her back and a few laugh-lines at the edge of her face gently strolls up to the group. "Now, girls, give the young lady some space. Though I will admit to being curious as to how exactly you and Jaune became an item. I love my boy dearly, but..."
"Jaune's dense as a box of rocks on a good day." The tomboy interjects bluntly, earning a chuckle from the more muscular older sister.
Pyrrha looks around her, and seeing no clear way to escape, nor any hope of being rescued by Jaune, who is still deep in conversation with his father, resigns herself to her fate. "He… may have had some help realizing certain things."
The youngest Arc excitedly waves her hands in a 'go on' sort of gesture, Saffron has a mischievous glint in her eyes, and even Mrs. Arc has a playful little grin on her face.
Bolstered ever so slightly, Pyrrha presses on. "A mutual friend of ours made a point of loudly complaining to me about the lack of honest suitors she had trying to secure her hand for the Vytal Ball while our teams were training together. When I began to commemorate…" She trials off, hoping that none of the women surrounding her press for more of that story.
"So who was the friend?" The twin in swanky looking black slacks, a sleeveless tan corduroy blouse and what are probably purely-for-show glasses presses as she thumbs the tabloid she's holding open to an article somewhere in the middle.
Pyrhha shrugs. "Oh, it was Weiss Schnee. Apparently she was being hounded by gold-diggers at the time." The Arcs share looks as Pyrrha pauses. "Well, more of them than usual."
The musclebound Arc-Honey-hands her toddler off to Mrs. Arc and crosses her arms over her impressive bust. "She better not have been counting Jaune in with them." Pyrrha shrugs. Weiss' thought process can be almost as hard to follow as Nora's sometimes. "Pretty big of you to be so calm talking about the girl your man had a crush on for most of the year."
"Considering the role she had in helping us get together, I'm willing to look past that. And she is quite beautiful." Pyrrha replies diplomatically.
Please move on, please move on…
Jasmine all but shoves the magazine into Pyrrha's face as she interjects "Well, the two of you look good together. And that does explain why these rags have so many shots of the two of you all done up when you've supposedly only been on the one formal date." Wait, when had the vultures gotten ahold of pictures from the ball? What does she mean by 'formal date'?
Saffron pulls her younger sister back with the arm not currently full of snoozing baby. "And you still haven't told us how exactly it was that Schnee got the two of you together."
Pyrrha chuckles and scratches at the back of her head. A few of the Arc women start tittering at that. Damnit, Jaune! "Well, Weiss offered to go to the ball with me-as friends!-if neither of us could find a date that was both honest in their desires and one we actually wanted to attend with. Jaune… may have realized a few things when he overheard that."
"He asked you out then and there, didn't he?" Mrs. Arc asks, a warm smile still on her face.
Pyrrha just nods, a slight pink tinge blooming to life on her cheeks. The mousey Arc pokes her head out from her hood a bit. "You did let him finish his sentence when he asked, right?"
"Yes?" Pyrrha offers. All nine sets of eyes surrounding her shift from curious to varying degrees of judgemental disbelief. "I'm sorry!" Pyrrha half-shouts after nearly a minute of them all silently eyeing her.
Jade shrugs, and shifts the hat her sister had put on her head off so that it's bill is pointed towards the ground on the shaven side of her head. She steps forward, her rolled up tabloid now open and folded over to reveal an 'alternative' shot of her and Jaune's kiss from their last date. A shot taken from behind and a bit later on after she'd started leaning into it and her hand had…
Oh no.
"Well, that almost explains why you've been getting so handsy with our brother." The tomboy accuses, a feral grin on her face.
"I'm sorry! I mean, that is…" Pyrrha scrambles for how to explain that away. "There were plenty of people who liked watching his morning runs back at the start of the school year and I needed to make sure they knew who he…" No, that's the wrong way to put it. She'll sound super possessive and his family will all hate her and everything will be ruined and-
A warm laugh cuts off her internal panic. "Well, an Arc is a real catch. If you don't stake your claim, someone else will."
"""MOM!""" A trio of now-blushing girls exclaim as the entire group turns to look towards the oldest woman present.
"Oh, don't act so shocked, girls. I broke plenty of hearts when I started making it clear that Solus was mine." she continues, an airy smile on her face and gaze just a bit far-away.
Terra nods in agreement. "I think there were a good half-dozen people that followed me an Saph on our first few dates looking all heartbroken. If you don't chase'em off early, you'll probably wind up having to literally fight them off, considering Beacons a school for Huntsman and all that."
_-*R-DxD*-_
((Present))
"I repeat, the next round of matches, beginning with Beacon's Team Juniper, and Shade's Team Bronze will start in thirty minutes. All competitors please report to the locker rooms." Professor Port's voice echoes across the festival grounds, cutting off Pyrrha's recounting of her meeting his family. Honestly, she'd gotten off pretty lightly all things considered.
A desolate wasteland of empty bowls is scattered on the table between them, most of them having polished off at least two helpings. Well, all of the locals had finished at least two helpings excluding Weiss, with Issei, Koneko and the Phenex Twins being the only visitors from Earth or the Underworld to have managed two bowls. "That's us." Jaune announces as he stands up, his team following suit.
Is it unnecessary to point out? Yeah. But manners are important and all that.
"Kick their asses, lover-boy!" Yang chirps as she starts stacking empty bowls. Asia groans something unintelligible over her mostly-empty bowl, and Issei echoes Yang.
Weiss nods primly. "Represent our academy well!"
Rune's new Scroll starts going off. "Shoot. Duty is calling for me as well. Best of luck, Team Juniper." Rune announces when those still seated shift to look at her as she gracefully rises from her slightly too small seat. The small twitch of her face betrays her discomfort; yeah, a near nine-foot giant would have some issues with more normal-sized furniture. Especially with her–ahem–sizeable behind. "Ruse?"
"Yes, I shall endeavor to nip whatever vengeance Ravel wishes to enact on Sir Issei in the bud." Her Twin drones back before politely dabbing her face with a napkin. The moniker causes the Pawn in question to visibly perk up, and Ravel to squawk an indignant 'Hey!' at her nieces as she turns her scowl on them.
Jaune chuckles at the byplay as the dull roar of the crowd drowns out whatever it is Ravel says next.
"So, Team Bronze. What's the plan, Boss Man?" Nora quips, bouncing along as they head for the colosseum.
Jaune looks over at the other guy on his team. "Ren?"
The taciturn teen shrugs, "They weren't Headmaster Rumpole's pick, or the popular vote from Shade."
"Pyrrha?" He presses. Of course, none of this is news to any of them, but talking it out helps with nerves. Like the rest of them joining Pyrrha in her usual routine for tournaments.
His girlfriend's expression is placid as she replies "May is almost as good of a shot as Ruby, and Nolan had enough confidence to challenge me in professor Goodwitches class instead of one of you at least."
That put them a cut above most of the other teams at least. Ever since the teams that would be competing in the tournament had been made public, the assumed best had started challenging each other in Professor Goodwitch's class. Or in their case, challenging whomever it was that the other teams thought was second to Pyrrha on his team in most cases.
The exceptions being Yang trying to fight as many of the other nominees as she could, Pyrrha's old Tournament Circuit rivals Raye and Onyx calling her out as often as the professor would let them, and Mercury and Nolan having the stones to challenge the Invincible Girl at least once. So their first round is good, but not truly a stand-out. "We hold back enough to cement our reputation as the best team in our year. We're just normal teenagers, not superhumans with centuries of growth still ahead of us."
"So… no breaking their legs?" His ginger rook quips, a too-innocent smile on her face.
"Nora." Ren deadpans, poking her shoulder.
The girl is completely unrepentant. "What? That would be holding back for me."
"It also wouldn't be in the spirit of the Vytal Festival to maim our opponents." Pyrrha admonishes the bombastic girl. Nora turns her best puppy-dog eyes on Jaune, which he pointedly ignores. From Pyrrha that might have worked on him. Maybe. Luckily for the rest of Remnant, Ren doesn't cave so easily.
It also would have been deeply disturbing, considering why she was trying that look on him. Jaune gestures at Pyrrha and grunts in agreement as they make their way towards the open field serving as airship docks for traffic flowing between the Festival grounds and Coliseum. The four of them fall into companionable silence as they pile onto one of the Bullheads headed up to the coliseum, the girls leaning into him and Ren respectively after they claim their seats for the short flight.
The service hallways leading from the landing pads to the locker rooms are eerily quiet, but with them being the first match for this block of bouts that's to be expected.
The Atlesian aesthetic of white paint, smooth lines and bright lights at least keeps it from seeming dungeon-like. They make it to the locker room where their weapons and-for combatants with armor that is a bit too obtrusive to be wearing outside of missions or combat situations-remaining gear is held.
The room isn't as big as Beacon's lockers, but considering that four full teams is the most it will ever need to serve, it's more than spacious enough. Nora pokes her head down the bank of lockers to the left of the one their things are stored in before announcing "All clear!"
Jaune nods, and pulls Mandatus out of the locker he'd been provided, checks its dart magazines and begins pulling the gauntlet onto his sword arm. "Nora, Nolan likes to use electric dust so he's yours. Pyrrha, you'll tackle the sniper." He glances over to Ren, who is fitting the bracers he had added to his kit just before the tournament started to his wrists. "Ren, do you want to deal with the claws or saws?" The smooth black metal seeming to seamlessly merge with his pseudo-gloves, a small gravity dust gem set into the back of each just below where they terminate at his elbows.
"Claws." The other guy on the team replies after pausing to think for a moment. "Reliably knocking ballistic circular saw blades out of the air would be a bit…"
"Much." Nora finishes for him. Ironic coming from her, but not wrong. He glances over to see that she now has her armored harness affixed over the sturdy blouse and combat skirt she prefers to wear into battle. Jaune steps over to Pyrrha and the two of them both do a quick check of the tightness of each others armors' straps and clasps. Not that either of them need the check, but it doesn't hurt to be cautious and…
Okay, Jaune is mature enough to admit to himself that it's just an excuse for them to share a quick moment before heading into a fight.
As the two of them step away from each other, a muted drawn out pinging sound filters across the room, and the red light set in the wall above the door leading to the arena shifts from red to orange. "Well, let's crush a team's hopes and dreams." He quips as the four of them set off towards their first win of the tournament.
"Jaune, do you really have to put it like that?" Pyrrha whines as she falls in to his right.
Ren steps to his left, and Nora to his left as Professor Ports' voice booms out over the arena as they walk from their locker room into the short hallway leading to the arena proper. "I hope everyone's ready for another great round of matches! This block is certainly going to start with what promises to be a truly thrilling match up!"
"Yes, the stalwart seniors from Shade on Team Bronze certainly will have their work cut out for them if they hope to advance." Oobleck adds, actually speaking slowly enough to be easily understood for once.
Ren shrugs. "If Oobleck isn't just embellishing for the alliteration then I suppose this is going to be us crushing their hopes and dreams." Pyrrha's pout doesn't deepen, but it stays firmly in place nonetheless.
"Yes, but will they be a match for the Team led by Beacon's Strongest Couple~?" Port crows, and Jaune can feel his cheeks heating ever so slightly as he lets out a groan. Pyrrha's pout has shifted into a slight scowl, and Ren is keeping Nora from glomping the two of them as they pass from the hallway into the currently bare arena.
All of the screens are already spinning as the battleground is randomized.
He knows that he won't be able to pick any of his friends out in the stands, but he can tell where his family is. The series of white pennants with golden moon emblems-and one plain one signifying another kid accepted into a combat school-with his at their center is a pretty dead giveaway. Honey and Jade both hanging halfway out of one side of the skybox's balcony to scream at someone a few boxes over only makes them that much more obvious.
The rest of his sisters and parents are all much more calmly cheering. The roar of the crowd isn't exactly new to him, some Rating Game formats are more in line with this than the back and forth Rias' and Riser's Peerages had had earlier this year.
But it is still enough of a novel situation to distract him from the urge to embarrass himself by waving to his family, or from focussing on all the signs being waved around with pictures of him and Pyrrha that everyone who had had a convenient chance to snap a shot with their scroll since news about them had 'escaped' Beacon's rumor-mills.
Nora clearly hadn't been ready for the crowd, and stumbles. Thankfully, Ren manages to catch her before what happened becomes obvious, but his eyes are a bit on the wide side as he helps steady Nora. Then they're at the very center of the arena, the randomizers having settled on mountains for their side of the arena, and a forest for their foes.
"May the best team win." Jaune offers as he shakes Brawnz's hand.
"Glad we agree on that." The smirking, tanned fighter quips at him, his tone making it pretty clear that he thinks that will be his team.
Pyrrha's hand clasps May's and the sniper flinches a bit. "You know what they say about pride…"She shoots back at the other team's leader, a predatory look on her face set over an eager smirk.
Nolan has gone pale, and Roy is as frozen in place as May. Brawnz's face shifts from cocksure to the dawning horror of realizing exactly who he had just called out, and that the Invincible Girl, mild-mannered as she usually is, certainly has to have at least something of a competitive nature to her to have become who she is. And that such a backhanded compliment of a boast was very likely to cause that drive to flare up in the Mistrali champion.
The arena's finish deploying, and Oobleck is instructing the teams to return to their respective sides. Jaune looks over to Pyrrha, considers the smile that is still on her face and mutters, totally deadpan, "Pyr, we have a plan."
"I know." She replies beatifically calm as she starts flourishing Miló, switching it between its xiphos, javelin and rifle forms with each full rotation in her right hand.
It wasn't all that much of a plan, but it's still valid and there. "Are you going to follow it?" He asks, feeling like he's chasing a lost cause. His sweet, kind, gentle girlfriend and partner is currently gone, having been replaced by the Invincible Girl, coaxed out of her place in the back of Pyrrha's mind where she lives by the rarest of delicacies: a new opponent who honestly believes they stand a chance against her with enough confidence to actually banter with her before a match.
And Brawnz's smirking bravado had been a far cry from the shaking, sweaty-palmed terror or hangdog receptions she got from most foes. Even her two closest rivals typically meet her in the center of the ring with a 'we-both-know-how-this-ends-but-I'm-trying-anyways' sort of expression on their faces.
Pyrrha flicks Miló into the air as it shifts back into its rifle form and slides Akoúo̱ onto her arm, then shrugs and smiles at Jaune as she catches her rifle and couches its barrel into one of the shields cutouts, dropping into a ready stance as Oobleck begins the countdown.
Jaune sighs melodramatically, "Well guys, let's not make it look like Pyrrha's doing all the work at least."
Ren and Nora both nod, grins on their faces as Port screams "Begin!"
All four of them launch themselves towards the targets they had decided on on their trip up to the colosseum.
Pyrrha rapidly snapping off a trio of shots from her rifle as they advance, body almost entirely covered by her shield. Jaune raises his gauntlet as Roy launches a trio of his bronzed saw blades during a flashy series of backflips that just keeps him even with his rapidly retreating team. Jaune can feel the tug of Pyrrha's Semblance minutely correcting his aim and he sends a trio of runed, gravity Dust-tipped darts in response. If he didn't already know what to look for he'd have completely missed Pyrrha nudging the discs ever so slightly in their curving, twirling trajectory so that his darts take them dead center, completely negating the attack.
Then it's his turn to duck behind his shield as May switches her focus to him, all of her attempts to harry Pyrrha having been caught on the taller redhead's shield or having missed entirely in the face of the return fire raining down on her team from her fellow riflewoman, and periodically Ren when he is able to sneak one of his StormFlower's barrels around the protective chevron his team had formed around him.
Jaune is the object of May's attention for even less time than Pyrrha had been, and for the same reason. As the shy redhead switches targets to Nora, Jaune's team is passing the wide open area at the arenas center.
She dumps a full magazine into the charging ginger. And Nora's stride is unbroken by the momentum, her semblance not even dipping below eighty-five percent. May turns and sprints deeper into the forest.
Jaune zeroes in on his target, not slowing down and shield-punching him in the sternum as they collide. He catches Roy's attempted counter on the flat of Crocea Mors blade. With a twitch of his ring-finger he puts a burn-dust tipped dart into the dark skinned huntsmans bare shoulder. He yelps, and his arm flinches back, allowing Jaune to drive his gauntlet clad fist into the other mans head, sending him stumbling to the side, allowing Jaune to right his stance and Pyrrha to streak past them, Miló already shifted into its xiphos form.
Over the other Huntsman's shoulder Jane can see a cackling Nora, adroitly dodging her wide, telegraphed swings. With each swing Nora takes another step forward, forcing the taller young adult back another few steps. Every swing of his cattle-prod is completely ignored by Jaune's Rook, an ever-increasing number of pink electrical arcs bouncing from one hand to the other as she presses her assault.
Jaune catches Roy's next attack on his shield and counters with a low slash from Crocea Mors, spilling the burly fighter to the ground in the same moment that a panicked shriek can be heard from the deeper woods.
Looking up, Jaune is able to catch a glimpse of Ren and Brawnz's furious duel. His Bishop and the taller, burlier man slashing at each other and dodging or deflecting each others strikes with near-blinding speed. Ren is clearly getting the better of it though, for every time one of the older man's claws catch fabric or skin Ren connects with one of his blades or is able to put a burst of fire from one of his machine-pistols into the man at point blank range.
Jaune swings down at Roy, who just barely manages to roll away from the blow and gather his hands and feet under him when he's face down. Jaune tilts his blade to the left, resting it on his shield arm and steadying his gantlet to better aim his dart launcher. More panicked screams echo from the forest followed by the sound of metal on metal.
Port says something about a disarmament and a ring out moments before a buzzer blares. Then Roy's muscles tense up, and Jaune twitches his middle finger, sending a Lightning Dust-tipped dart into the other Huntsman-in-Training's thigh, the muscle seize up from the shock and what would have been a dramatic leap forwards and to his feet is turned into a barely controlled tumble.
Roy still tries to retaliate, but his aim is badly off. For a moment the errant blade is obscured by a black haze, then it carries on its way to do it's level best to bury itself in Nolan's kidney. The impact sends the redhead stumbling when he should have been dodging and one of Nora's powerful swings connects with his gut, launching him skyward, and shrieking in a panic himself.
Roy almost gets back to his feet, but a slash to the back of his knees staggers him, and a pommel strike to the base of his skull puts the older student back on his hands and knees crawling away from the still calmly advancing blonde.
A bronze disc far larger than Nolan's blades streaks from the forest to ricochet off of the small of Brawnz's back.
Ren takes the man's staggering, wide-eyed yelp as an opportunity, shifting what would have been a simple leaning out of a jab's path into a sidestep. He catches the bigger guys trailing arm and bars it across his back before kicking down into his knees.
Nora has Magnhild's head planted on the ground, right foot planted on its head, left hand shading her eyes against the sun as she watches her vict-err, opponent's trajectory. Jaune keeps up the pressure as well, a steady barrage of gravity dust tipped darts kicking up plumes of dirt, grass and small stones and turning Roy's attempted fast-crawl into a prolonged tumble.
Jaune can hear the bulk of the audience gasp when Akoúo̱ connects with the side of the airborne redhead's head, cutting off his shriek, knocking him out and shifting his uncontrolled ballistic tumbles trajectory towards a stand of bushes.
In the same moment, Ren locks his opponent in place, one of his legs snaked around one of the kneeling mans, one of StormFlower's barrels buried in the armpit of the kneeling man's 'free' arm, preventing him from shifting it in any useful direction; the other pressed against his shoulder blades, contorting the Vacuan native into a truly uncomfortable looking position.
Lie Ren then proceeds to mag dump his weapons into the older man until his Aura hits the red.
Conveniently, that is when Roy's hand finds not grass, but a bronze and crimson greave. He looks up just in time for Pyrrha to rest Miló against his left shoulder, blade against his neck. Half a heartbeat later Jaune has Crocea Mors on the downed man's right shoulder, its blade against his neck as well. He goes perfectly still for a drawn out moment before announcing as loudly as a man with two swords against his neck can "I yield!"
By the time Port has announced that Team JNPR had won, Nora has dragged Nolan out of the bush he landed in. She puts a finger to his neck, clear and honest concern on her face before announcing "He's alright!"
The seven conscious contestants meet at the center of the arena to shake each other's hands, a slowly moving Brawnz even offering a rueful "I really brought that on us myself, didn't I?" He asks Pyrrha rhetorically as he shakes her hand.
Pyrrha shrugs, sporting what's easily the biggest smile Jaune's seen on her face since they met. "Well, if you ever feel like a rematch…" She trails off, the hopefulness clear in her voice.
Brawnz lets out a big, boisterous if a bit wobbly laugh at that. "If we can make it down to Haven for the next Vytal I'll have to take you up on that offer."
Both of his conscious teammates shoot incredulous looks at him, and are rather loudly and aggressively trying to convince him how much of a bad idea that is as Roy and Brawnz both sling one of their unconscious teammates' shoulders over their shoulders to carry-drag him from the arena, May hovering near him worriedly as they go.
As soon as they get back to their locker room, they all stop on the spot. His team's high spirits tank, smiles gone.
Professor Goodwitch is waiting for them there, a stern expression set on her face.
Oh Brothers, here it comes…
"The four of you did well. Truly an outstanding example of the quality of students we have here at Beacon." Wait, what? The four of them all just look back at the professor in varying degrees of shock as they notice a small smile on her face; Glynda Goodwitch is not one to hand out praise on a whim.
Professor Goodwitch presses up on the bridge of her glasses. "Either that or the four of you do your race credit."
…Oh, so she knows now. That's either going to turn out amazingly, or absolutely terribly. And they'll be stuck at ground zero either way most likely.
"Your presence has been requested in the Headmaster's Skybox once you've gotten yourselves cleaned up." She continues, tone still clipped and professional, the slight bit of warmth it had held while praising them entirely gone now. "Don't dawdle, as the Headmaster has several important guests who are not to be unduly offended or insulted."
No pressure then…
A/N: So, yea, a few quick notes. First off, since I had at least one guest review muck it up, I figure theres a few more of you that may have missed it: "Cheshire" is the alias Kuroka has been going by on Remnant. Fugitive on the run and all that. On OC's however, this chapter is the direct response to a very determined butterfly having a very thorough wingflap waaaaaaaaay back in the 'Flames' arc. Well, that and MasterPrince and Hybrid informing me that my old outline/notes for "phoenix twins or something' wouldn't cut it for what I was planning to do. We'll try to keep OCs to a minimum, but with how big both worlds are/set in their roles a lot of chatachters are, we're gonna have to add some, that's just how storytelling be. We'll do our best to make sure their properly fleshed out characters, dont take any shine from the canon crew y'all are here for, but we're gonna need them to make this work, and thems the breaks.
Loved it? Hated it? Suddenly aware that something has snuck up behind you and need someone to check what it is? Drop me a review, I live for that shit!
Beta'd by MasterPrince713 and Hybrid Theory
Cover art by Icario