We back to smol town for a chapter, Dont worry. Monday is a doozy.
After Ruby's Breakdown, she requested several days off, and spent nearly every waking moment spending time with her daughter. Ruby had come to some... Realizations, about her past and how it affected her.
Ruby had come to the conclusion that ignoring her extremely blatant emotional issues was, in fact, a bad idea, and attempted to call Theodore to tell him she wanted to restart her old therapy sessions. Strangely, the call just wouldn't go through, Ruby thought this odd, but didn't think much of it. maybe Theodore was just busy?
The Tournament had progressed to the Finals round at this point, with 8 students waiting to fight it out for the title of champion, Currently on the stage was 4 Students, awaiting the beginning of the semi finals match. Neo and Yang stood alongside Penny, as well as a mystery character from Mistral all awaiting the next match to be called, the first bout was called up, Neo vs Penny.
Neo and Penny both readied themselves as the stage rose, awaiting the signal to fight, it was then that Penny noticed Neo was not beginning this fight with 100% aura, in fact, the girl had a little less than 92%. Penny looked at the girl curiously, and her eyes widened as Neo took a swig of her canteen and her aura went up to full. Penny took note to ask after the fight and entered her ready stance once more.
"Begin!"
Immediately, Penny was confused, She knew her opponent was capable of creating illusions, but her mechanical eyes had thermal vision, she should be able to see right through Neo's illusions. Meanwhile, Neo was in her hypercube, quickly dashing to behind Penny to get in an easy strike.
Penny noticed at the last second that Neo was behind her, midway through a swing of her scythe aimed directly at the back of her head. Penny made to duck but was too slow, taking a direct hit from Neo and sending her from full aura to about 91%.
Neo went bug eyed, 91%? After a hit like that? That would've taken at least 15% off of my Mother! How much aura does this girl Have? Penny, not caring for Neo's surprise, went on the offensive, bringing her floating array of swords to bear as Neo quickly threw up an illusion and dodged, only to be surprised when the blades changed course. The first two blades missed Neo, but the rest struck dead on, sending the girl all the way from about 89% down to 71%.
Neo furrowed her brow and slipped into her hypercube once again, moving around Penny so that she couldn't track her. Neo looked at the board, 70% to 88%, She would have to get fancy.
Neo brought her scythe out and started a charging blow, Exiting her hypercube at the last second, Neo Struck Penny dead in the stomach, taking 10% of her aura with her, Then just as soon as she appeared she disappeared once again.
Penny was well and truly confused, Where did her opponent keep disappearing to? It's not like her illusions blocked heat, and they surely didn't block sound when she used them earlier in the fight, so how was Neo avoiding detection?
Penny was ripped out of her thoughts as a bullet came out of literally thin air. Followed by a swipe at her feet. Penny was struck in the fact by the bullet, and then she was literally swept off of her feet, Penny hit the ground on her back and quickly rolled left to avoid a downwards strike with Faceted Crescent's sword mode. Then after executing that quick flurry of attacks, Neo exploded into Rose petals, and in the cloud, the girl disappeared once again.
Inside her hypercube, Neo fell to the ground, gasping for air. Making the jump from the real world to the inside of her hyper cube was taxing, she was at 50% aura from making the jump so repeatedly. But her efforts were not without merit, while Neo rested at a clean 50% Penny was at 38%. After taking just a couple seconds to get her bearings, Neo readied herself for more, and Hoped for Penny not to notice what she was doing.
Draw 5 out of a freshly shuffled deck, What are the odds you get at least 1 face card?
Rudely Ignoring me, Neo jumped back into the fray, making strategic attacks to corral her opponent. Neo hopped in an out of her hypercube, until she reached the edge of it. When making the hyper cube, Neo did not have enough aura or willpower to make the cube the size of the whole stage, so she settled for just 80% of it, mainly the middle. As she reached that point, she accidentally stuck one foot out of the edge of the cube, allowing it to slip into the real world.
What the entire stadium saw would be talked about for a long long time after this tournament ended.
As Neo's foot slipped out, The entire frame of the Massive hypercube briefly became visible to the eye. On international television, Neo's hypercube was prominently displayed for 3 and a half seconds, the massive frame of it surrounding the stage, and several of it's cells' content on display, as well as the girl herself briefly becoming visible with her foot on the border of the cube.
Just as quick as it had begun, Neo pulled her foot back into the cube and it popped out of sight once again.
In the stands, Neo's team stood wide eyed, with only Scarlet understanding what had just happened. Scarlet had been given the cold shoulder recently due to her tactless words to Neo's mother, though Neo had assured her she still held the title of best friend, she was currently 'in the dog house' as Neo put it. Aurum, who was sitting next to them wore a proud smile on her face, My daughter truly is something else.
Queen on draw number 2.
The fight was currently at 38% to 18% in Neo's favor, Penny held a relentless defense, her blades swiping at any sign Neo might appear. Penny had her back to the edge of the arena, and was so focused on stopping Neo from appearing... She forgot about the ledge
Neo shot from inside her hypercube, the bullet flying through the air and passing through the barrier of the hyper cube, showing it to the world for all of a millisecond before it hit home on penny's forehead, Simultaneously knocking her over the edge and taking her aura below 15%. A double knockout.
On to the Finals... Team RWBY of Beacon, versus Team NSVD of Shade.