Chapter Twenty-Five: The Tournament Begins
"You were amazing out there!" Phoenix cheered as he ran up to team RWBY, who had just won their first fight in the tournament.
"Thanks Phoenix. Maybe you could congratulate us by getting some food," Yang replied.
"If only there was somewhere to get food," Weiss said as she looked around the fairgrounds which were covered in different food stands. "Oh wait."
"It's okay Weiss, I forget about the fairgrounds too," Ruby said, oblivious to the joke.
"I was being facetious!"
"Well if you were hungry why didn't you say anything?"
"Come on you two, stop fighting. Let's get some food. Phoenix's treat," Yang said, ignoring the fact that Phoenix hadn't agreed to anything yet.
"First I'm a cooking utensil, then lighter, now I'm a wallet," he groaned.
"Kinda hard to be something you don't have," a new voice said from behind them. When they turned around to see who was talking, they saw a girl with green hair and red eyes holding Phoenix's wallet.
"How the bloody hell-? Never mind. Thanks for finding this…uhh…"
"Emerald," she answered as she handed him his wallet.
"Thanks Emerald. Random question, have we met before. You look pretty familiar."
"We saw each other when you met my team leader, Silver," she explained.
"Ah, yes. I remember seeing you in the tournament. Mind if I ask who you're sending to the doubles round?"
"Mercury and I," she answered, pointing to her teammate who was sniffing a boot.
"What about you."
"Well, as team leader, I thought long and hard about this decision," Ruby said before being interrupted by Weiss.
"We put it to a vote."
"I decided to put it to a vote," Ruby retorted.
"We voted for Weiss and Yang," Blake said, wanting to keep Ruby and Weiss from wasting more time on this.
"I will happily represent team RWBY," Weiss stated, followed by Yang who declared they were going to kick some butt.
"So since you saved our only means of paying for food, want to get some with us," Yang asked.
"Well I would but…" Emerald said, gesturing to Mercury, who was still sniffing boots.
"Got it. Fair warning, if they see you down the line they won't go easy on you!" Phoenix called back to her as they walked away.
"For the record, he isn't our only means of paying for food," Weiss declared.
"Why Weiss, did you just volunteer to help me pay for the meal? Thank you," Phoenix replied.
"I never said- how did you- Gaaaa! Fine…"
"So much for me having some help paying for this," Phoenix groaned as Weiss's card was thrown into the counter after being rejected.
"How could that be? I was barely into my monthly allowance," Weiss asked no one in particular while Blake slowly pulled away her bowl of fish and noodles, hoping the chef, who looked suspiciously like the janitor and the owner of "Dust Till Dawn", in hopes of him not taking it back. Her efforts were, however, in vain.
"Perhaps I can help pay," Pyrrha said as she and her team approached the stand.
"You don't have to," Yang replied.
"But she could!" both Blake and Phoenix countered.
In a matter of minutes they'd all eaten all their food.
"Are you sure eating before a fight is a good idea?" Ren inquired.
"Of course. It will give us energy," Pyrrha declared.
"I barf I'm blaming you," Jaune groaned, clearly having eaten too much.
"Ooh! Aim it at the enemy!" Nora suggested.
"A disgustingly useful tactic. The only downside I can see is half of Remnant will be calling you Vomit Boy, and the other half will call you The Puking Paladin. The disagreement on your nickname will plunge Remnant into a new war," Phoenix joked, getting laughs from team RWBY.
"So, you guys think you're ready?" Ruby asked after they finished laughing.
"Of course! We've got a world renowned fighter on our team, what's basically a ninja, I can bench five of me, and… Jaune. We've trained all year, our weapons are awesome, Glynda barely yells at us anymore, and…uh… Jaune."
"Are you going to take that," Ren asked, looking at his leader.
"She's not wrong," he groaned.
"I'm kidding. He knows I'm kidding," Nora said.
"Same goes for what I said," Phoenix added.
"Don't be so nervous. The worst that could happen is we lose," Nora stated before going into a rant about how their defeat would ruin their lives.
"So… yeah. We're feeling pretty good," Ren finished.
"Don't fret. If anything we should be looking forward to a fight with actual guidelines and not… well… murderers," Pyrrha comforted them.
"Speak for yourselves. I've still got work to do. My list includes dealing with the usual criminal activity in Vale, whatever the White Fang are planning to use those Grimm for at the festival, and my sociopath of a mother," Phoenix replied.
"Come on Phoenix. Enjoy the festival. Ozpin's got this," Ruby argued.
"I suppose…" Before they could continue team JNPR was called to the area.
"Well, it looks like this is it," Pyrrha declared as she and her team walked off.
"Go get 'em!" Ruby cheered as they left.
"Come on. Let's go get some seats," Yang said as she got up.
"You go on ahead. Ruby and I will catch up," Phoenix responded.
"Planning some sort of date?"
"I thought you got all those jokes out of your system this morning," Phoenix groaned as he recalled the seemingly endless taunting once Yang found out about him and Ruby. She also made sure to let him know that she'd kill him if he hurt Ruby.
"You should know I never run out of jokes!" she called back to him as she and the rest of team RWBY walked away.
"So why'd we stay behind," Ruby asked.
"I didn't want to have to put up with Yang when I gave you this," he replied as he handed Ruby a small box.
"Awww, thanks Phoenix," she said as she hugged him.
"Save the thanks for after you open it."
"Oh, right." Inside the box there was a necklace of a rose studded with rubies.
"A ruby rose for Ruby Rose," Phoenix explained. "I know it's cheesy, but-"
"I love it," Ruby cut him off as she hugged him again.
"That concludes the matches for today. Please leave the coliseum in a calm and orderly fashion!" Professor (Doctor) Oobleck ordered over the intercom in a voice that didn't encourage anything calm or orderly. As team RWBY and Phoenix were walking out Weiss suddenly stopped, causing Ruby and Phoenix to bump into her.
"Uh… Weiss? You in… there?" Phoenix asked, becoming quite when he saw the ship flying overhead.
"She's here!" Weiss exclaimed as she ran off. Ruby and Phoenix ran after, Phoenix glad for an excuse to get away from "the giant floating death trap that's a disaster waiting to happen" AKA the colosseum.
"Weiss, what the bloody hell is going on here?" Phoenix asked as he and Ruby chased after Weiss, who'd run all the way from the colosseum to where the ship had landed, excluding the flight from the area to Beacon.
"Winter," was all she said as she looked at the person who emerged from the ship.
"Great, now there's two of them," Phoenix joked, earning a glare from Weiss.
The three of them ran up to Weiss's sister as Weiss exclaimed, "Winter! I'm so happy to see you!" before quickly catching herself and returning to her usual demeanor. "Your presence honors us."
"Beacon… it's been a long time. The air feels… different," Winter said as she approached them.
"Well it is fall so…" Ruby started to say before Phoenix finished for her.
"It's probably a bit colder." Weiss responded by punching both of them in the shoulder.
She then proceeded to ask Winter a series of questions, the answer to all of which was, "Classified."
"Well… this is nice, I think," Ruby said.
"Imagine what their family reunions are like," Phoenix joked again, this time earning glares from both sisters.
"And just who are you?" Winter asked him.
"Phoenix Fall."
"So… you're Ozpin's brat."
"Hey!" Ruby yelled before Phoenix told her it was fine
"The one and only," he replied with a smirk after he'd calmed Ruby down.
"Anyway, you're going to love it here," Weiss declared as she started rambling about how Beacon was different from Atlas.
"I'm more than familiar with how this kingdom handles its bureaucracy. That is not why I'm here."
"I'm sorry."
"Nor did I come here to watch my own blood fail so miserably in battle, but it appears I have no choice in the matter."
"But we won," Weiss replied, confused.
"Only a novice would refer to that as a victory. I counted at least three strikes missed."
"Why don't we see how many strikes you miss against me," Phoenix countered, getting even more annoyed with her than he was with Weiss when he first met her.
"Why you insufferable little-" Winter said as she reached for her sword.
"You'll have to forgive him. He isn't very good with people," Weiss stated, not wanting a fight to break out.
"Very well," she stated, though she still clearly wanted to teach Phoenix a lesson. "Leave us," she ordered to the sentinels accompanying her. "How have you been?" Weiss proceeded to discuss how her classier were going, but was interrupted by a slap from Winter. "Silence you boob! I don't recall asking about your ranking. I asked how you've been. Are you eating properly? Have you taken up any hobbies? Have you made any friends?"
"Well there's Ruby," Weiss said as Ruby poked the lump that had formed on Weiss's head.
"Well, as riveting as all this is, I think I'll get going. See you later Ruby!" Phoenix called back to Ruby as he left.
"I leave you alone for a few minutes and this is what happens?" Phoenix groaned as he gestured to the fight going on between Ruby's uncle Qrow and Winter. The fight raged on for a couple more minutes before General Ironwood intervened.
"What in the world do you think you're doing?" he demanded to know.
"He started the altercation sir," Winter stated.
"That's actually not true. She attacked first," Qrow corrected from behind her.
"Is that right? And you. What are you doing here?" Ironwood asked, glaring at Qrow.
"I couldn't be asking you the same thing," Qrow retorted. Before Ironwood could respond, Ozpin intervened.
"Now now everyone. There is a sanctioned fight happening just around the corner at the coliseum that I can assure you has better seats and popcorn."
"Didn't Oobleck say that the fights were over for today?" Phoenix asked Weiss, who simply shrugged in response.
"Break it up everyone!" Glynda ordered, "We will take care of this mess."
"Let's go." Ironwood said as he walked off with Winter, and for some reason, Penny. After they left Ruby lunged at her uncle, squealing his name and clinging to his arm.
"It's so good to see you! Did you miss me? Did you miss me?" She asked ecstatically.
"Nope," he replied jokingly.
"What's an old timer like you doing here? Shouldn't you be at a retirement home?" Phoenix joked as he walked up to Qrow.
"I could ask you the same question. The 'what are you doing here' one not the retirement home one. Last I checked you were hiding out under some old warehouse," Qrow retorted in an annoyed tone. After a moment of silence they both started laughing.
"Hold on. You two know each other? You've mentioned Uncle Qrow a couple times, but I thought you'd just heard of him," Ruby interjected, confused.
"Your uncle and I have had a couple 'business meetings'," Phoenix explained. Ruby, however, still had a confused look on her face.
"We've met up a couple times while I was working."
"Ooohhhh."
"Qrow, a word please," Ozpin requested as Glynda repaired the courtyard.
"I think I'm in trouble," Qrow whispered to Phoenix and Ruby.
"You did destroy our courtyard," Ruby pointed out.
"And you showed up to a school drunk," Phoenix continued.
"If that was an issue I wouldn't ever be able to come here. I suppose I should be going," Qrow said as he walked off.
"When you see Winter tell her she missed at least three strikes in your fight! You can thank me later!" Phoenix called out to Qrow, who nodded in agreement.
"And suddenly your recklessness makes sense," Weiss said as she approached Ruby.
"You're just mad cause he whooped butt," Ruby replied.
"That was a tie at best!"
"Qrow was holding back," Phoenix pointed out. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go find out what they're talking about."
"What! But-?" Weiss exclaimed before being cut off by him.
"Don't act like you're any less curious than me Ice Queen."
"That doesn't make it any better."
"Whatever. See you two later. Bye Ruby," he said as he walked away.
And with that, as the title suggests, the tournament begins. If you have any ideas on something that I could write about let me know. In the meantime, thanks for reading!
