The day, as it usually was around Vale, was bright and clear, the spring air thick with the tell-tale signs of a world awakening from its long, cold slumber. We finally found Team RWBY at a food booth, sat along a bar being served gigantic bowls full of some sort of noodle smell, a rich and savoury aroma, infiltrated the part of my brain dedicated to taste and led a revolution, declaring it must be tried now. I could do nothing but indulge it.
"Lunch?" Nora asked hopefully. I just grabbed her by the hand and started storming over to where four more seats remained. A couple seemed to be making their way for a pair of seats and Nora saw it just in time, sliding into one of the middle seats while I took the other. We ignored their protests. We ignored them completely, actually. The fellow got into a huff and was pulled away by the woman, pointing at the camera drone.
It was nice being recorded sometimes, and don't let Deanna hear I said that.
"Hi Torga!" Ruby called, peeking around a bowl larger than her head. "Did you see our fight?"
I opened my mouth to answer, but Pyrrha elbowed me again as she sat down. "What? I didn't even say anything that time."
She ignored me. "We thought your fight was excellent! Lucky us to not have been your opponents."
Ruby blushed and sat back, stammering and denying the compliment she had fished for. I couldn't help but smile in amusement, rather than grumble at Pyrrha. I did not agree with Pyrrha's first assessment, though I did with the second. The fight would have been great as a series of duels but the lack of team-work was telling. I wouldn't be giving our opponents tips until after the tournament, so I decided not to comment on the fight.
A flash of reflected light cut across the booth, and with a wooden thunk a card embedded itself into the counter. The proprietor gestured to a machine that was flashing the word Declined.
Weiss Schnee flinched with indignation. "What? I've barely used my allowance!"
I left her issue to herself as I looked over the menu. Seeing a lot of foreign words that didn't have any meaning to me, I handed the laminated card to Nora. Besides all the sweets she indulged in, we had pretty similar palettes and she was able to order me good food most of the time. "Should use the Beacon card. It doesn't have a limit."
Ren nudged me. "That's not just available for everyone, you know. Just orphans."
"Did you guys use it?"
"When we first got here, yes. There were a few months until the start of the semester and we needed somewhere to stay so Ozpin put us up in a hotel."
"I've got it." Pyrrha said over our whispers, pulling her own card out. "Think of it as a congratulations for a good fight."
"Us too?!" Nora asked, pulling out her puppy dog eyes.
"Of course! We need the energy if we are to fight today." Pyrrha assured us.
"Thank you, Pyrrha." Weiss grit out through a clenched jaw.
"Oh, it's my pleasure. I remember just last week my card was having issues. One would think we would be able to figure out a reliable method of carrying money, considering all this." She gestured at Amity as a whole.
"Yes!" Weiss said, latching on to the provided explanation. "Yes, my card must be having issues. I shall get a new one, and you will allow me to pay you back for this." She demanded.
Pyrrha simply smiled at her and nodded politely.
"What was that?" I whispered to her once the attention had gone elsewhere.
"Oh, nothing. I'm just… I'm happy. I don't mind, really."
I gave her a searching look, and though her eyes twinkled with some unknown secret, she did seem rather happy.
I relaxed, not having noticed I went tense. Something about the conversation between Weiss and Pyrrha had felt odd, but I put it behind me as a giant bowl was placed in front of me, filled to the brim with noodles and thinly sliced meat. The rich and savoury aroma made my mouth water and I spared Nora a glance to see her visibly salivating as she stared into her own identical bowl. "Good pick."
Nora Valkyrie nodded without a glance.
She turned into a blur the second Ren's food hit the counter, diving into the bowl with gusto and rapidly switching between drinking the broth and slurping up the noodles with a pair of sticks. Small splashes of broth were being flung from the scene, and I sighed, looking forward to see both Ruby and Yang doing the same. They appeared to be glaring at each other in a three-way contest of wills, the victor being the first to complete their food. I was mildly impressed at the coordination of eating so fast without looking at their food.
"Let them enjoy this." Pyrrha whispered to me as Ren cautioned the speed-eaters. "It's at least 3 days until doubles. If you must criticise them on their match, wait for tomorrow." I had no idea how she had known what I had already decided not to do, but that was Pyrrha for you.
I was still eating slowly when half the group was finished. Luckily, Weiss and Ren were eating at a more sedate pace so I was not left alone. I'd quickly discovered I very much enjoyed this dish, and was happy to savour it a bit longer when the most interesting topic of the meal had come up. Nora was busy rubbing her victory in through a self satisfied smirk, and largely stayed out of it.
"So what do you guys think of that civilian team?" Yang asked, leaning back and resting a hand on her stomach in satisfaction. "They were pretty tough, I didn't expect to lose Coco's team in the first round."
Blake spoke up, pushing- is that her third bowl - a stack of empty bowls away from herself. I briefly felt bad for Pyrrha, and annoyed at myself that I hadn't even noticed until now. "We shouldn't have, not to civilians without any training."
"Uhh… well they looked pretty trained to me. I mean, we've all seen Velvet fight, but she just got picked apart by that green-haired girl. Didn't even land a hit." Ruby started nervous, trailed into confidence, then finished with dejection.
"Yes, that was rather odd. It was probably just her Semblance."
Yang laughed. "Oh come on, a Semblance that makes your enemy miss? How would that even work?"
"You guys saw the match. What were they like? How did they fight?" I found myself very interested, as this would have applications towards my future plans. "They went right after us so we didn't get a chance to see."
Yang winked. "Sounds like a you problem, Loud-"
"- and again, for the eighth time, if Team Juniper could make their way to dressing room 2 so we could go ahead with the international event we are in the middle of!" The PA system cut off Yang before she could finish her tease.
Pyrrha flushed, and I startled. "Have they been calling us this whole time?"
"Yes." Ren supplied.
"And… you didn't say anything?"
"No. I thought you heard it."
I sighed. "Well, let's get cracking. You guys remember the plan?"
Nora laughed. "Which one?"
I grinned as we left for the stadium, wishes of luck briefly trailing in our wake and airs of confidence dancing around us.
The camera crew followed us into the dressing room, though I noted that Alan walked straight through and out the other side to the arena entrance, not pausing as he made his way up the stairs. Deanna explained that they did not have permission to stream the changing rooms, so the camera went, but she could still narrate what happened and record voices. She assured us that they wouldn't be recording showers as the water made for poor audio without rigging up the entire changing room to accommodate. I trusted her when she said she also wanted to give us some time to talk off camera, as she knows we're planning something and even if we won't tell her, she still wants to see us succeed.
"If you go up, so do I."
I found the sentiment touching if reminiscent of the hangers-on of the Jarl's courts. By the time she finished, my armour had been equipped for 5 minutes and it felt like we were wasting time.
I didn't like to wear my armour around, especially not when I could have it on in a matter of seconds by equipping it. It wasn't heavy, just movement restricting. I double-checked the strapping out of habit, even though the fit went well beyond snug and into almost perfect. I doubted I would ever need to use the other belt-holes ever again, no matter what I equipped beneath. Deanna had enough for me to focus on anyways.
"I assume you all want to win, so I won't insult you by telling you to throw the match. However, my producers have asked me to request that you make this match last a decent amount of time. We will likely be using footage from this tournament for commercials and season intros for the duration of the contract. We want sportsmanship more than we want victory."
The next five minutes were spent trying to explain to me what exactly sportsmanship was. I likened it to battlefield honour, and that was as close as they could get me before the announcers hurried us once again with the threat of disqualification and we were forced to enter the arena.
Bright light streamed into the entrance tunnel, the contrast between the outdoor light and the fainter change-room light causing me to squint and tilt my helmet down, using the armour as sun protection until my eyes could adjust. Pyrrha had drawn her weapons and adopted a different stance. It was a very confident strut, her hair bouncing in its binding and armour gleaming as she walked out. She had to be used to this, and sure enough as soon as she emerged into the light, a faint scream sounded.
Nora and Ren walked out next, side by side. The scream rose to an even higher clamour when Nora grabbed his hand and thrust it into the air, drawing a chuckle from Deanna. I paused before leaving, turning to look at her.
"They're the favourites. Forums are full of people wondering if they're together or just really good friends." She gestured to where Nora was holding his hand high, shouting out to the audience, which again was screaming. I frowned.
How disrespectful of an audience to scream like such. I straightened my head, ensured Rub'ys gift was snug and secured, then strode out myself.
It was awesome, in the literal sense of the word. It was one thing to observe from up in the stands, but now that I was down here, with all eyes on us, it was slightly nerve-wracking. The Gamer's Mind quelled that, but it didn't stop me from noticing how in view we were. The faint screaming wasn't screaming, but thousands of cheers coming from every direction. It took me a moment to realise my jaw had dropped open, and another to close it.
I looked at our opponents across the blank expanse of the arena. We faced off against three warriors and a smaller one wielding a rifle, bigger than Pyrrha's but smaller than Ruby's. Between the other three, they had some sort of skinny club, a pair of odd discs attached to gauntlets, and the last had a pair of clawed gauntlets. Short hair all around and nothing special in terms of the physiques, though the sniper was definitely not fit for a fist fight.
"Looks like mostly melee with long-range support." Pyrrha analysed. "Shall we go with the Fire from Above plan, or the Shuffle plan?"
I hummed. I had my new Dust bandolier looped around my armour, and I had it filled with Fire Dust. Pyrrha had her own as well, though she had opted for more of a spread of Dust types. Nora had a small bag full of Lightning Dust, and while Ren typically didn't use dust, I had given him a Super Wind Crystal. He assured me he wouldn't use it unless he had to.
"Let's see what the terrain is like." I answered, and Pyrrha conceded. Nora was gripping the haft of her hammer and bouncing from foot to foot with excitement.
I found myself excited too. It was not often that I knew my enemy before I knew my terrain. I would typically have to plan multiple strategies to take the various enemies into account, though I would typically always know where the battlefield would be.
Now, I was struggling to find ways to adapt a melee-focussed enemy to the wide range of terrains available. I had to concede the point that this was an effective way to emulate a random encounter, though I couldn't help but think it would be more realistic to be fighting Grimm.
Dragged out of my rumination by the chiming of the boards, I saw our terrain was a -
"Nora?"
Her excited shuffling had turned to gleeful bouncing, and every so often she let out a giggle. I could see why, as a thunderstorm started forming above a mountain peak. I too was excited for this. Our opponents ended up with a thick forest.
"So?" Ren asked.
"Know what? Nora, you remember your Queen of the Castle plan?"
"Really?!"
I nodded. "Just remember what Deanna said. I say we give them 5 minutes to try and win. Ren and I will Shuffle, then hand it over to you guys."
Nora deflated a little. "I have to wait?"
Ren sighed. "Should I just walk out of bounds then?"
I scoffed. "Yes, you have to wait, and not at the start. They wanted sporting, we can give them sporting."
I outlined my plan. Pyrrha thought it was mean, but I reiterated that if they wanted anything resembling a fair fight, this was the only way to do so without outright demolishing them or half assing our own efforts. She challenged me, until I let her know that the highest level on their team was 30 and she could probably defeat them all herself.
She sighed forlornly, and set herself into a ready position.
With a final chime, the fight began.
Ruby was a girl with many important and commendable hobbies. Her favourite had always been gunsmithing, though comics took a close second to that. It was part of why she was so intent on watching Torga fight. She'd been busy and scared in the Dungeon, but not here. Here she could watch how he used her masterpiece. Her face flushed.
'My second-best masterpiece. I would never betray you, Crescent Rose.'
Ruby bounced in her seat as the mountain came up. Torga always claimed his home was a mountainous land, and while Amity likely was much warmer than he was used to, she saw his head turn back and his shoulders loosen just the slightest bit.
She was good at spotting stuff like that.
The chime went off, and she watched with intrigue as the women on his team turned and scrambled up the mountain with haste.
Their opponents looked at each other, then split themselves as well, the sniper heading back for the trees while the three men rushed forwards. Torga gestured Ren to one of them, and set himself into a -
"Hey!" Yang shouted. "He copied my stance! How did he copy my stance?!"
With his helmet on it was impossible to tell, but from watching Yang, Ruby was easily able to imagine his smirk as he planted a foot and pushed off, fist reared back to punch. Featherweight, she thought to herself, noting how Torga seemed to float over the arena floor. Ren ran alongside him, StormFlower drawn and ready. He wasn't firing as he usually did on his approach, though, and Ruby furrowed her eyebrows.
Two of their enemies pushed forwards while the lighter skinned one tried to evade over the distraction with an admittedly impressive leap.
Ren switched enemies, sliding to a stop and darting diagonally to slash at the one charging Torga while his original aggressor had to check his charge to not hit his teammate.
Torga switched targets as well, planting a foot and leaping up for the one that was trying to slip past, armoured gauntlet wrapping around the boy's ankle and pulling him down out of his leap to slam into the off-balance one, sending the two tumbling to the side with more force than she would have expected.
Ruby moved to the edge of her seat. A double-ring out, not a minute into the match? Even that civilian team, which had oddly enough set the record for the shortest match in Vytal Festival history, had done so methodically, brutally dropping each enemy's aura to nothing before moving on to the next. Juniper - no, half of Juniper - were working almost as one.
The team from Shade wasn't quite done, as one man managed to dig his staff into the soil of the forest arena and caught his buddy. They looked up, and Ruby grinned to see Torga starting his slow walk while Ren was a blur, feet planted and hands moving at such a speed that his opponent wasn't able to even get an attack off as he was jabbed, palmed, and deflected with almost contemptuous ease. The impacts were hard, but she knew he could hit very hard with his hands. Was this Team BRNZ that strong?
She knew how intimidating Torga's battlefield approach could be, and didn't see his targets show any fear, so it was very possible that they were just that tough. That, or they didn't know anything about what was swiftly becoming his signature technique. He'd once told her that it was an almost unspoken rule among Skyrim's warriors, and from what he said, only among the elite. It was a manoeuvre so dangerous that it was all but guaranteed one of the participants would be defeated, thus reducing the effective users of the move.
Torga had never lost.
He said that if someone charged back at him, they would lose, though that was the safest counter, ironically. If they stood their ground, he could tackle them and they would lose. If they were to run, he would have already been ready to go into a sprint and chase them down. She'd bugged him and bugged him until he finally revealed how to escape the charge.
Charge first, and charge harder, or be faster. He then reminded her of his ability to sprint like the wind, and she realised why he was such a big fan of the manoeuvre. It let him engage on his terms, which was something she was all too familiar with having to account for given her rather specialised combat style. He'd also acknowledged that he would never be able to pull it off against her, which had made her flush with pride.
Her cheeks heated up as she remembered their talks of his strategies in a world without Aura. It was fascinating, almost like the stories she'd read when she was younger, except the hero was a brash teenager that she happened to know severely disliked warm weather. For all she knew, his bad attitude was just from the remnants of heat lingering after the summer.
Nobody told Team BRNZ that, though.
A flash pinged off Torga's armour, and he spared a gaze towards the forest but did not falter. Ruby fought back a grin, knowing that even if Crescent Rose didn't penetrate the armour, the kinetic energy of her rounds would at least make him stumble. This sniper seemed to be under-calibre. A death sentence against the Grimm, and Ruby re-worked her initial assessment of the team.
She spared a glance to the other half of Team JNPR to see Pyrrha looked bored on top of the mountain while Nora rummaged around in her bag.
She just had time to watch as Torga's charge culminated. The targets split, diving to each side. In response, Torga stopped. There was a pause, and the two Vacuans tensed, then Torga turned and walked away from them.
Ruby winced at the disrespect. The armoured man had an odd view on honour, and no doubt would have some way to spin this so he was showing it instead of insulting his opponents.
They yelled something, and Torga turned back over his shoulder to reply, before he pointed to the mountain. The one with the wrist-circles shouted and gestured wildly, but Torga just shook his head and pointed to the mountain again. The one with the stun-baton jogged off towards the mountain, and Torga got into his taunting stance. He tended to cross his arms and tilt his head in a way that made you just know he was unimpressed.
His opponent roared, closing the distance and striking with all his might. A loud clang reverberated around the arena, and the various cheers and jeers were dulled as a good majority of the arena struggled to comprehend what had just happened.
Torga hadn't moved. Hadn't even flinched, where his opponent had leapt back and was shaking his wrist in pain.
Torga uncrossed his arms to point at the mountain again. Reluctantly, his opponent went off to follow his partner, cursing all the while.
Torga, on the other hand, walked to the edge of the arena and stepped off, feigning surprise when the buzzer went off and putting a hand in front of his mouth as if gasping. He cupped his hands around his mouth and waited for the announcers to declare his elimination before calling something to Ren and pointing to the battlefield. A set of oversized glasses sat on the arena where Torga had stopped.
Ren disengaged and walked away from his own opponents with a gesture towards the mountain. He dodged the follow up shot and turned to look over his shoulder, eyebrow raised, and knowing him probably said something calm and with irrefutable logic.
Another glance to the mountain now had her see Pyrrha lazily blocking sniper rounds as Nora continued rummaging in her bag. Nora's hair seemed a little wild. Ruby hoped that she didn't forget whatever it was that she was looking for.
Another buzz sounded, and her neck cracked as she whipped her head around to see Ren and Torga standing side by side just outside of the boundaries, watching intently. Typically medical crews or coaches would move a contestant that had been knocked out, but considering both of their aura's were still mostly full, Ruby didn't see that happening. They had -where did they even -
"This is amazing!" Yang howled in laughter. "They're demolishing them!"
"Half of the team is knocked out." Blake deadpanned.
"You think they didn't plan that? Did you honestly believe Torga didn't see the edge of the arena? There was nothing else over there!"
Weiss huffed. "He probably couldn't see through that gaudy helmet of his."
Ruby tuned them out to place her full attention on the match. What was their plan?
"I assume you disqualified yourself on purpose." Ren said, looking out over the battlefield.
"I did." I nodded sagely through the oversized glasses with vibrant writing saying 'Go Team Juniper!' across the top. Our opponents looked rather demotivated as they scaled the mountain, and Pyrrha looked downright bored.
I saw the large screen shift to show Ren and I, and had to bite off a laugh at the image of a plate armoured warrior with fuzzy, sparkly oversized sunglasses.
"Will you tell me?"
"Sure. These guys are too low level, like we discussed at the start. Any two of us could have taken them easily. I chose Pyrrha and Nora-"
"Because they were already in the middle of their plan?"
"Sure." I didn't tell him that I felt like the final demotivator for our opponents would be a loss while outnumbering their opponents and to women. Vale seemed like they didn't differentiate much, but they did, they just liked to pretend they didn't for whatever reason. Either it would demoralise our enemies or it would make them think Nora and Pyrrha were so good, so beyond us, Ren and I felt like there was no point fighting. Nobody from Beacon would believe that, but if even one of the other teams did, it would make for an excellent advantage to have our capabilities unstudied.
Ren sighed. "And the actual reason?"
I paused. "Uh… They'll gain more XP this way?"
Ren scoffed. "What about us?"
I grinned. "Well, I wanted to run you through the Forever Fall Temple a couple of times tonight. See if we can't bump that agility a little higher. Isn't that what you spent your points on?"
He side eyed me while keeping his eyes on the fight. "Agility and Wisdom. Speed and reflexes for fighting, Aura efficiency and regen for mission length. I was getting pretty tired near the end of the Dungeon."
"Shouldn't you want vitality?" I asked. I know that personally I was able to fight a lot longer and with less tiring due to my vitality.
He held out two hands. "It's different. When I fight I use my aura in a lot of small bursts, usually not even fast enough to drain it. I don't get physically tired, more so fatigued from Aura usage. You mostly use your body's strength, so Vitality works for you."
Well, my Wisdom was also pretty high, so I doubted I would be able to contradict him with no way to differentiate. I focussed back on the match.
As per our Queen of the Castle strategy, Nora was still up at the top, using a broken - I called it modified - flashlight to convert her electricity Dust to actual electricity by short circuiting herself. Despite not being part of the plan, Nora had decided to hide her actions inside the bag I'd given her, and I made note to add that detail to the strategy. Something about the Queen's secret something, Nora loved the theme. Pyrrha was acting as the Knight, defending the Queen as she prepared. We would normally have had a Bishop and Fool role, for support and distraction respectively, but I felt we didn't need it in this case. In fact, this entire strategy might be overkill.
It would be more impressive if Pyrrha didn't look so bored. Considering her and I had been chosen to move forward into the doubles round, I figured I could make it up to her later. We hadn't decided on our finalist yet, so I would let her choose.
The first to crest the peak of the mountain was the one wielding claws, and I didn't realise just how skilled a fighter he was. He charged forwards and actually engaged Pyrrha in melee, holding his own for the scant seconds needed for the rest of the team to finish their climb. With Pyrrha distracted, a shot rang out from the forest, and then the mountain exploded.
As I watched a storm of lightning erupt from the peak, I sighed. "That's not good. Shot must have hit the bag."
"Just watch." Ren said confidently.
"She only could have gotten through half, at best." I said, referring to Nora. Ren knew.
"With their levels, did she need to get through any?"
I raised a hand to dispute, but then dropped it. "No, not really. I just wanted the plan to work. They seem fine."
"You can see them?"
"Party." I answered, keeping an eye on the status bars of Nora and Pyrrha. Nora was completely full, while Pyrrha had lost a quarter of her Aura in the explosion and had been knocked from the mountain. I saw her come flying from the cloud, smoke trailing behind her. Her eyes scanned quickly, and she tossed her shield ahead of her path, planting both feet on it in the air and kicking off to prevent herself from flying out of bounds. Her shield wasn't so lucky, and clattered to the ground outside of the ring, not too far from us.
I kept watch as I went to retrieve it for her, as it was now removed from the match.
A buzzer went off, the enemy with the stun baton having had his aura drained by the explosion. Their team leader and the one with discs remained, and managed to turn in the air to land back in the middle of the field.
Another shot rang out, and Pyrrha rolled to the side, barely avoiding it. She came up in a crouch, and with a split second to aim, sent her javelin flying towards the forest. I heard a yelp and the tree she aimed for shook, leaves falling as the canopy rustled aggressively.
"Your Queen demands an audience!" Nora shouted, hefting her hammer high above her head from atop the mountain.
Pyrrha dashed forwards with a grin on her face, ignoring her discarded weapons.
Considering we had all agreed to refrain from any semblance usage not critical to the plan, she could not - or would not - retrieve her gear as she usually did. I was pleased that she was sticking to it, and more so, enjoying herself. At least, if the honest smile on her face while she dodged through incoming fire was anything to tell by.
"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Deanna had asked with a frown on her face. "If it looks like you're pulling your punches, that could be much more disrespectful than simply crushing them quickly."
I shook my head. "It's not about pulling punches. If I could, I would compete this round without Aura, but they need it for tracking the fight."
"What? Why? That doesn't make any sense."
"Sure it does. Semblances are so varied, it would be impossible for us to predict our opponents, right?"
Ren nodded, already being on my side for this.
"So if we were to use our own semblances, no enemy could predict us, right?"
Nora agreed. "Yep!"
I shook my head. "And that's why. I have enough advantages - we all do - without using our semblances. Even without hers, Pyrrha could kick all of our asses up and down Beacon for hours. Ren can fight just fine without his own. I don't need to talk about Nora." The mentioned girl flexed her arms with a vicious grin on her face.
"That's still pulling punches." Deanna frowned.
Pyrrha stepped in. "What Torga is trying to say, and failing to do so, is that we… well, we are strong. We could go in and win, yes. But I believe our leader wishes to do so in a way where none could doubt our victory. Not without using our abilities, but only using them when we had planned to."
"Why would anyone doubt it? Thousands would see the conclusion of the match, not to mention the footage. What could you possibly be worried about?"
I grit my teeth. Nora answered for me. "Well… we met this jerk who thinks Torga has been getting fixed matches for the show." I turned, surprised she knew my actual reasoning. "If we win this way, we can go back there and break his legs!"
Ren sighed. "She means tell him off once it's clear we were in control of the fight from the start."
"Yea! Break his legs!"
I grinned at the memory.
"Wonder which one she's going to use." Ren pondered.
I knew what he was referring to. Shortly after I had filled my inventory with Super Dust Crystals - the ones I knew how to make, anyways - I recalled how Cardin had used his to unleash all of its power at once. So, I'd made what Nora lovingly called 'Fun Balls'.
I had made a bunch of small metal cages using the flash forge, and put a Super Dust crystal at the centre of each.
Pyrrha had a bandolier of said Fun Balls strapped diagonally across her chest.
"Probably best to start with Lightning for Nora's sake." I answered, watching as Pyrrha completed her approach. She ducked under a wide swing, delivering a kick to the offender's leg before brushing aside a claw slash with her palm. Pyrrha moved with the measured confidence she always did, even when surrounded and fighting at a frantic pace.
A duck under retaliation, a kick to the wrist, dislodging the disc from her enemies gauntlet. I saw a blur of motion, a series of strikes, then the disarmed warrior was grabbed by the shirt, and Pyrrha rolled back, planting her feet in his stomach and launching him up, utilising her Semblance to ensure his course was true. Straight to Nora, who giggled with glee.
The course was indeed true, and I saw the glint of metal clipped to the front of his shirt as the flailing teen widened his eyes in horror before-
The mountaintop exploded again with another burst of electricity, and a smoking figure flew out of bounds, crumpling to the ground and not rising. Ren and I stepped back as a medical team rushed by the outskirts of the arena to go and check on the poor guy. Nora cackled atop her mountain.
"Bring your Queen a proper present next time! Where is my next supplicant!"
Pyrrha was having more difficulty with the clawed one, which compared to the complete absence of difficulty with her normal opponents was telling. With no weapons on hand and only explosives to fight with, she was severely handicapped. I knew that she could just push the boy's weapons out of bounds, taking her opponent with them, but she was sticking to our little rule with more tenacity than I expected.
The leader smirked, and a feeling sunk into the pit of my stomach. Pyrrha felt something too, because she danced back in a zigzag pattern, avoiding the attack that never came.
Her opponent had retreated in the exact same pattern. The Mistralian Champion's eyes widened. She raised an arm, then flinched when the leader of Team BRNZ did the same.
Ren cursed. "Is that his Semblance? Copying?"
I cursed too. "Without her weapons or Semblance, this could get dicey. She's stuck fighting hand to hand, but he's got those claws. She'll take more damage from each exchange. We might need to switch tactics."
"No!" Pyrrha shouted over to us, and I flinched. Could she hear me? "I can take him. I want to take him!"
My mouth hung open for a moment. Pyrrha glanced over, and I saw such steel in her eyes I swallowed, then nodded. She returned it.
Pyrrha sank lower and began to circle her opponent, unsurprised when he echoed her movements. She got about a quarter of the way, then darted forwards, throwing arm strikes that were copied and blocked.
"What is she doing?" I asked, curious if Ren could see it. He shrugged. We continued to watch.
Pyrrha saw something, though, because her eyes narrowed and she stepped back, then threw a straight kick that she twisted and ended with a backflip. Her opponent did the same, though with a grimace. I imagine he wasn't as flexible as Pyrrha, and I briefly thought she would try and make him tear his own muscles for the defeat.
The important part was that when his foot flew past Pyrrha's chest, it was just close enough to knock one of the Fun Balls off the bandolier and high into the sky, where Pyrrha's leg had just barely grazed his shirt. Pyrrha twisted when she landed, taking off in a sprint for the forest. Her opponent cursed, body forced to turn around and head straight for the mountain. With a shimmer of aura, he cut off his Semblance and turned back around to pursue.
Which is why he was caught completely unawares as a Fun Ball came screaming down from the mountain top and erupted at his feet. My eyes widened.
"That's not part of the plan." Ren said in the closest voice to surprise he could manage.
A frantic yell erupted from the leader's mouth as the Wind dust propelled him upwards - straight to the mountain peak. I blinked. There was no way they did that on purpose, the aim required to use an explosion as a propellant would be ridiculous!
Right, Pyrrha.
Nora grinned, then hammered the boy with a two handed strike, sending him out of bounds and almost bowling over the medical team who was tending to the first.
A second buzzer sounded shortly after the first, and I glanced over to the forest to see the entire thing ablaze and Pyrrha leap from the flaming branches of a collapsing tree, dusting off her shoulder and shaking ash out of her hair. Nora jumped down from the mountain, a trail of sparks following her until she hit the ground and the aura billowed out in a show of pink sparks. The two met in the middle, and Nora grabbed Pyrrha's arm, thrusting it into the air and breaking the shocked silence across the arena.
My thoughts were drowned out by cheers, and I held onto my pride for as long as I could before the Gamer's Mind ripped it away.
That's my team.
"I thought we were supposed to wait 5 minutes." I chided at Pyrrha. Looking over the recording, the fight had lasted about a minute and a half. Short, but not quite as short as that civilian team's brutal victory.
Pyrrha's voice fell into a guilty but amused tone. "I apologise. I got… passionate."
"That is good. It meant you were pushed, and therefore you've improved. I found it particularly interesting how you managed to defeat that copy Semblance." Ren complimented
Her voice beamed with pride. "Torga keeps saying that our opponents -well, and allies - weren't fighting as a team. Nora and I defeated the copy Semblance." They really had. I'd figured Pyrrha just dropped the Fun Ball using her semblance, but she had taken my instruction as literally as she could. Nora had somehow managed to catch the ball with her hammer, spin, and launch it back down. They were magnetised to make it easier for Pyrrha, but not nearly enough to cling on at that speed. The Champion assured me that she had only used her semblance on her shield to prevent the ring out, then on the body throws to Nora. Everything else was pure skill.
They refused to tell me how they did the Fun Ball throw, which was fine by me. I was just excited for the next match where I would be more involved.
We were showering after our match. I personally found it odd that we would all share a change room, but that the showers were segregated between genders.
Not the washrooms. Just the showers.
The divide had a gap over top at least, so we were still able to talk to each other, our words echoing all around the tiled room. This served a secondary purpose of keeping the cameras away from us for a brief moment.
"So?" I asked expectantly. "Did it work?"
Pyrrha called out. "I got one!"
"Ha! I got two!"
I smiled, slightly worried. I too had gotten XP from that fight, which meant it had been split between us. I'd only fought the one guy, technically, but apparently throwing a guy at another guy meant I had helped to fight them both.
I also noticed that, while I typically didn't gain XP from sparring - which held true for Combat Class as well - I did in this instance.
"Are you going to tell us your level any time soon Torga?" Ren nudged me. I hadn't made any sort of big deal about us showering together and nether had he. The only one that seemed slightly hesitant was Pyrrha, but Nora had said she was showering whether she had her clothes on or not. I'd departed the changing room by then.
Again, separate showers, combined changing room. No sense.
"Well, what are you guys at?"
"Thirty-Four" Ren said flatly.
Nora gasped. "Ren, you're stronger than me!"
"No." Replied everyone except Nora.
"Ya-huh! I'm level Thirty-Three!" I noticed Ren's eyebrow raise just a fraction.
"Thirty-Five" Pyrrha answered.
"Damn. Alright, sure. I'm Thirty-Five as well." I admitted. "But don't think this makes us especially strong. For reference, Weiss Schnee was at level Thirty-Nine last week, and she's the lowest level on Team RWBY."
"Who's highest?" Nora asked, and I heard one of the shower heads on the other side shut off.
I moved over and carefully turned the water off on the shower I had been using. I'd long since finished cleaning off, but I had left the shower on full heat. The steam felt nice while we waited for the girls, so Ren and I were in our makeshift sweat lodge. Say what you will about the Khajiit, they knew how to relax and recuperate.
"That would be Ruby, believe it or not." I turned Ren's shower head shut as well.
"Really?" Pyrrha seemed intrigued. "I would have guessed her sister."
"Oh, Yang's a level below, still close. That's kinda why I want to get a little more training in before the next round, if we come up against RWBY it would be an incredibly tough fight I don't know we could win."
"Why not?" The other shower head turned off, and we were left with the sound of water drip drip dripping onto the tile. "We beat them once?" Nora seemed like she was genuinely asking, so I shook my head and shed the acerbic tone I had felt myself about to use.
"Yes, once. With how they fought in the first round, we might still do it again, but… well, we used teamwork and strategy while I think they weren't really taking us seriously."
"Hurry up and get changed!" Nora yelled, not commenting on my opinion and seeming to forget her question - or at least determine it unimportant. "It's cold in here, and I'm not coming out til you're gone!"
I shook my head. No sense.
"You know, this isn't really what I expected when you said you wanted to take us out to celebrate."
The sound of waves and rocking boats came from behind me, and with a deep breath I indulged in the sea air. "Richard tells me this is where he went when he was underage. He's got us a table, he said."
"Really? The Crow Bar?"
I sighed. "Nora, the list of establishments that fit our criteria is incredibly small."
She crossed her arms. "I refuse to budge on pancakes, and if I get pancakes, Ren gets syrup."
"I don't-"
I ignored Ren, gesturing. "Well, congrats. This is the only place in Vale that can both serve pancakes at-" I checked my scroll display in my HUD "-4 pm, and also serve proper mead to the younger folk. Which is completely legal by Vale's laws."
"I don't think it is…" Alan trailed off. He had at least changed into a nicer shirt, but remained clad in grey cargo pants on the bottom half.
I pulled open my scroll, going to the picture I had been sent of the relevant laws by Arthur Polendina, shortly after our win. At least someone remembered what it is that I was actually looking for. While I could technically go anywhere under these rules, Richard had recommended this place and I trusted him.
Well, what I was looking for apart from the whole 'Open an Elder Scroll for an Adventure and finding it' thing, of course.
"See, we're all given provisional Huntsmen Licences during the tournament's running hours. Non-licensed prize-fighting is illegal, after all. For us, it means that as long as someone is fighting, I can be drinking."
Ren rolled his eyes and didn't move. "So, we celebrate our victory in the same way most drown their sorrow."
"Now you're getting it!" I said excitedly, stepping through the open wall into the mostly empty establishment. A sole patron groaned when we entered, though I imagined it was just because we ruined his peace and quiet. Given what I saw above his head, that was a very fair groan.
Qrow Branwen
The Harbinger
Lvl. ?
I bit back a chuckle at my luck of finding a man named Qrow in a bar called the Crow Bar, and the lot of us pulled up at the bar, as I didn't see Richard anywhere. I flicked my eyes to the one small tv hung in the corner to see the end of a fight winding down. From what I remember of the schedule, there was only one left for the evening, so my time was short.
"Tch." Qrow made a noise of displeasure, but poured himself another glass from the bottle sitting in front of him and slammed it back.
"Mead." I said simply when the bartender came over to see what we wanted.
"I'll need to see an ID."
"Oh fuck off Samson, you know they're my kids." A familiar voice rang out as Richard sauntered into the bar, wearing his civilian jeans and leather jacket. "Shit, Qrow? That you?"
A groan came from my right, and a thump signalled a head hitting the wooden bar.
A/N: Bu- Wha- What about the dance?
Cinder's plans are different. Why? Well, because there's a team similar in power to STRQ and they're chilling in Vale. Not everyone knows about their semblances but you can bet Salem does, and therefore Cinder.
Mirian: "What are the odds that I stumble across the most integral part of our enemies plan at the worst possible moment? Pretty dang high."
Jakk: "Oh look, a piece of black glass. Let me just cast Scry, or even Legend Lore."
Arthur: "If you think Ozpin can see shit…" *Deploys thousands of micro drones*
Rassa: "So… the entire kingdom is going to panic in five minutes-"
Jakk: "Well I Wish they wouldn't."
You can see my point here, I hope. Don't expect the silly, convoluted plan. Cinder is competent in my fic. She has to be, or else the story is over. Torga wins. Immune to fire. Thick armour. Seriously, if someone wants to come up with an arena or situation where Cinder would have a chance in a one on one fight against Torga, feel free. I'd actually be really interested.
