Apologies if this took long to get out, had mid-terms this week. To make up for it, here's a super duper long chapter this time, I could've split this into maybe two chapters but... after considering the crazy amount of stuff I'm going to be doing for volume 3, I might as well just start lengthening each chapter. Unless y'all actually want volume three to take up like a whole 15 chapters or so...
It also occurred to me that my brain has been spelling Pyrrha wrong this entire time on multiple occasions so I'll be going back through the chapters to fix that. Don't know if you get notifications when I do update the old chapters so sorry if it spams you.
Also scrolling through the reviews I realize I forgot to address this one from AurelLor, from way back when, about Adam being too OP. I think the reason I forgot about addressing it was that I thought about how to answer it without having to spoil anything for so long that I forgot? Idk if that makes sense but yeah, in this volume. Trying to stay spoiler-free for you as possible but Adam's situation was always going to be 'addressed' so to speak.
Also, link to my twitter is on my profile Twitter name: NovaFlareheat. It's not really for like gathering followers or whatever, it's like, if u wanna hmu and talk about the fic or something, I'm always happy to do so.
Chapter 31: The Ghosts of Our Past
Team ASHNRWBY's temporary vacation was finally over, and after a couple more days of rigorous training, it was time for the Vytal Tournament.
The esteemed tournament was held at the glorious floating arena of Amity Colosseum, a grand structure shaped like a funnel, hovering miles in the air, held aloft by the power of Dust, over the city of Vale.
Amity was a symbol of unity between the Four Kingdoms and serves as the sole venue of the Vytal Tournament, where students from the kingdoms' greatest academies could compete against each other, regardless of age, academic year or experience. It is the most esteemed tournament where the winner is revered amongst the greatest Huntsmen of their generation.
The tournament was broken up into three stages, first being the teams round, where trainee huntsmen teams worked against other teams to make it into the second round. Only the designated teams of four were allowed, no more, no less. Teams that made it through the first round were allowed to elect two representatives to enter into the doubles round, where partner pairs squared off to determine the ones eligible for the final round.
The singles round, where the true test began, the winners of the duos round would elect one person to fight in the final round, to declare the ultimate champion.
For the teams and doubles rounds, the arena would randomly be selected, ranging from a myriad of possible environment combinations. The state-of-the-art arena would simulate environments for each team, ranging from Ice and Lava to Forests and Beaches, challenging the Huntsman's nature to adapt to every environment.
"OOOOH I wonder what our opponents are like!" Ruby squealed as she bounced up and down in anticipation, their debut match was the first of the tournament, so she was hyped to make it a show stopper. ASHNRWBY had been split into ASHN and RWBY just like Ozpin had said they would be. They still retained their joint team status but operated under separate banners for the event.
As much as they would've liked to do otherwise, Ozpin insisted out of fairness, that RWBY be only allowed to use RWBY members and the same for ASHN.
The red leader's boundless energy was both adorable and wearing on everyone else. Nova flicked his girlfriend's forehead, "Red, chill, if you psyche yourself up too much you might choke, so just try to breathe for me okay?" he said trying to calm her down, much to no avail.
"I know but this is just all too exciting!" She responded practically flying off her rocker. They were standing at the entrance for the colosseum, having just got off the bullhead together. Staring down the grand gates that separated spectator from combatant, ASHN were slightly nervous for their friends.
"I'm not going to be out there on the field so I'm banking on ice princess to keep you in line." Nova pinched Ruby's cheeks lightly before turning to the heiress.
Weiss strong-armed Ruby, "Don't worry… I'll make sure she doesn't crash and burn." She sent him a friendly smile. She enjoyed being his partner in keeping their favorite hyperactive Rose in check.
"Kick as much ass as possible, right babe?" Hex said kissing the blonde quickly, only for her to be dragged closer for a deeper kiss.
"That was my good luck charm~" the brawler smirked as she left a rather dazed purplette, who just stood there dizzy and blushing.
"Make sure you don't lose before we get the chance to kick your asses in the next round," Nitro smirked tauntingly. Luna just smacked him for being a pest.
"Pay no attention to our village idiot, what he means to say is, good luck and we'll be rooting for you from the stands." Luna amended with a light smile, giving all of them a big good luck squeeze, and Blake an ear scratch, which was comical since Luna was so short.
The cat Faunus purred unconsciously and everyone snickered, "Classic Blake, I remember that from when we were kids so I told Luna to try it for herself." Nova said folding his arms smugly, proud that he was right.
Blake flushed in embarrassment and pouted, "We do not speak of this again…" she glowered making the two dragons flinch.
Ruby looked a little jealous, and Nova saw the semblance of a frown forming on her brow and he chuckled. "Don't worry Red, I can scratch behind your ears anytime… or prod you for a better sweet spot when we're alone~" he said with a deep growl into her ear, which made Ruby's entire face turn bright pink.
Yang's eyes widened, quite impressed with him, "Daaammnnn, first you sweet-talk our old man and now you're upping your teasing game? I think I might be rubbing off on you…"
Weiss made a gagging noise, "Bleh, you two can flirt after the rounds are over. I need her to concentrate!" she said picking up her red leader and dragging her inside.
"Yeah we should leave you guys to it, see you when you win," Nitro said high fiving the blonde. ASHN split off to find their seats, they'd asked Oz for reserved box seats away from the rest of the crowd, where the dragon family could relax without any unwanted attention. It was easily provided since the academy did owe the ASHNRWBY team a great deal, so this was just some small way of repaying them.
Inside the VIP box was a lot more luxurious than Nova had expected. Air-conditioned with what he hoped to be imitation leather, covered seats, and a fully stocked bar.
"When Beacon does posh… they really go all out don't they…" Luna marveled as she planted herself down on one of the chairs. "Toss me a bag of chips?"
Nova quirked his eyebrow, "Really? You could've done that before you sat down…" he grumbled while fetching her confections.
"Oh good you kids are already here," a female voice said as the person came through the doors. It was Elain, clad in a dark blue cardigan and orange undershirt, with black dress pants. She was actually wearing casual clothing instead of her lab coat for a change.
"MOM!" Luna squealed reaching up and hugging her, "I thought you'd be working in your lab today?"
Elain smiled and sat alongside her kids, "Couldn't miss the girls' first match now, could I? Besides, that skin-regeneration factor formula is going nowhere…"
"I told you that using the bio-toxin mix as your first test was too extreme. If you want to limit test the capabilities you need to ease the cell tissue into it and let it adapt over time, don't just toss the most volatile mix you can think off and hope for the best…" Luna responded shoveling some chips into her mouth.
Elain groaned, "I know that but the nanomachines should be able to handle it, it's just the epidermal organic tissue that's the problem…"
Nova had no idea what they were talking about and he didn't intend to try to understand either. He was a man of machinery and circuitry, not the anatomy of the organic body. He was just happy that they'd managed to grow close over that week-long vacation. Luna had taken a severe interest in her mom's work and the elder Flareheart was more than happy to entertain the young genius.
"Where's Uncle Qrow and Mast- I mean Uncle Randolf? Haven't seen either of them in well weeks..." Nova said, he still hadn't gotten over the concept that Randolf was indeed his uncle, even if he was mom's half-brother.
Elain rolled her eyes and lit a cigarette, "Qrow's still on his mission from Ozpin and Randolf's gone to pick him up. They should be back by tomorrow at the least."
"Are you allowed to smoke in here?" he asked curiously, batting away a few tendrils of smoke. Elain just shrugged, she didn't care.
"Shhh quiet you two… the match's about to start…" Luna said drawing attention to the arena.
"Today we have team RWBY of Beacon versus team ABRN of Haven!" The announcer that sounded way too much like Professor Port to not be him said.
"And what an exciting match it's expected to be! Two rookie contenders from their respective schools. It is certain to be a good fight!" The secondary announcer, which sounded like Oobleck, said.
RWBY had taken up positions around the map with ABRN ready to counter them on the half lava, half ice arena.
RWBY had gone with their initial strategy of divide and conquer. Blake used her shadow clone to deceive ABRN as she snuck behind and singled out Reese, the aquamarine haired girl in a blue hoodie, from her team.
"Well… that's an interesting weapon…" Nova observed. Reese was wielding… or rather riding on what looked to be a bladed hoverboard that held kinetic properties to return to its wielder.
She rode in and launched the board at Blake who effortlessly deflected it and shot a few rounds from Gambol Shroud at the girl. Reese easily blocked them with the board and made a few swipes at her opponent but Blake's reflexes just fair outclassed hers.
In almost an unfair instant, as Reese made a move for Blake again, she smashing into one of Blake's shadow clones, completely disorienting her, giving the cat Faunus enough of an opportunity to knock her into the air. Mid-flight, Reese morphed her board into a pair of guns and tried to get some potshots at Blake only for them to be dodged. This poor choice of actions resulted in Reese not being able to balance herself and fell flat on her butt, the impact looked painful enough for Blake to wince.
On the other side of the map, Yang was in heated combat with the enemy leader, Arslan, a dark-skinned girl with white hair, clad in a yellow and brown monk outfit. She wielded no weapon other than her fists making it the perfect matchup for the two brawlers.
They traded blow for blow in a blinding flurry of punches, each either connecting or dodging the other and as if to end their trade, they punched each other, connecting at the fists, the force creating a massive explosion of air pressure.
Yang, being Yang, lost her cool when her opponent refused to go down and in a rage launched herself blind at Arslan. The girl was prepared and caught her off guard with a deflecting guard followed by a hidden string that seemed to extend out of her sleeve and wrap around Yang, effectively disabling the blonde. Arslan used this opportunity to send a powerful kick to the side of her head and sent her spiraling into the ice of the map.
Yang tried to get up but her legs were shaking from the slippery ice and disorienting blow. Arslan capitalized on that moment and dealt a blow to her face sending her crashing face-first into the cold floor.
Arslan's teammate, Nadir, a dark-skinned boy with pink hair in a white jacket with gold accents, black undershirt, and pants, spotted the downed blonde brawler. This was his opportunity to take her out since her aura was already in the yellow, all it took was one more shot from his railgun.
He charged the blast only to be blindsided by a shot of ice dust from Crescent Rose. He groaned in exasperation at being completely disabled while Ruby just looked smug at hitting the shot.
"I got your back!" the red leader cheered to her sister.
"Yeah? But who's got yours?" The remaining member of team ABRN, Bolin, said appearing behind Ruby with his staff. He was wearing a yellow monk outfit similar to Arslan's.
He was ready to strike but easily smacked away when a black glyph appeared on his left and a certain heiress sending a flying kick to his face.
"I do." She said icily, then helping Ruby up.
"MY BFF!" Ruby squealed with a fist pump. Weiss deadpanned, "No."
"YES!"
The next series of events was Ruby and Weiss turning on the downed Bolin. He easily dodged Weiss' white glyph strike, but it was a distraction to set up for Ruby being launched into the air and slamming her Scythe down onto the man.
"NICE SYNERGY!" Nova cheered from his seat only to see Bolin turn out completely fine as he'd blocked that strike effortlessly. "Damn that guy's got power…"
Ruby grunted in frustration and shot him point-blank with Crescent Rose. He wasn't expecting that and ended up taking the full blast, however, he was far from being down for the count.
He dodged Weiss' ice attack and made a faint attack at Ruby, except instead of attacking her he faked to the left and went for a patch of Fire Dust crystals.
"OH COME ON!" the red leader yelled in frustration but Bolin was just smug. He broke off a piece of the fire dust and tossed it to Reese who caught it with a smile.
She looked at Blake winked and then injected the dust into her board, turning it's colour from blue to red. At that point, the catgirl had an idea of what was about to happen.
Reese got onto her board and rode over to Nadir and defrosted him, making him mobile again, before turning back to Blake and attacking her, this time the board had an explosive effect making it much harder to deal with compared to the last time.
Blake struggled against it for a bit only to realize she was no match for the power head-on. Deciding to opt for a new tactic, she threw Gambol Shroud into a corner of the arena pulling herself to safety.
Reese followed shortly behind and spotted a standing Blake, staring with her back turned. One would have assumed by now that Reese had learned how to handle Blake, but she went in for the attack anyway. The moment she reached Blake, the clone disappeared surprising her just enough for Blake to toss her ribbon across like a wire, effectively knocking Reese off her board, then swapped places with the shadow and sending her flying out of the arena with a kick. Knocking her out of the fight both in terms of aura and ring out elimination.
Meanwhile, Weiss was juggling both Bolin and Nadir simultaneously with her semblance. Trapping them in a gravity glyph sending them hovering into the air with no control over themselves. She then instantly changed it to a white glyph, summoning a hand made entirely of ice that grabbed the two men and locked them in a cold grip, in what was an incredible display of power.
"Holy shit… I didn't know Weiss was even capable of that!" Luna gaped at the monstrous power.
Nova just looked on in awe as the hand now solidified into a ball and began rolling the two disoriented males away.
"Indeed... the Schnee family semblance is a force to be reckoned with... especially in the hands of one as talented as Weiss," Elain said making note of the impressive skill.
Arslan groaned in exasperation, rushing forward and punching the ice-ball in a great feat of strength.
Weiss noticed the opportunity during the ball's explosion. "YANG NOW!" She called out to the blonde who was using her gauntlets to fire off rounds that allowed her to skate on the ice.
Weiss erected a wave-like ice wall that allowed Yang to use the skating momentum to ramp up onto. Blake, noticing the opportunity ran alongside Yang and tossed her the ribbon from Gambol Shroud, then running up and jumping onto Ruby's back, who then used a shot from Crescent Rose to launch Blake into the air, carrying Yang in tow.
The members of ABRN could only watch in horror as Blake effectively tossed a meteor in the form of Yang's semblance empowered punch, sending the three simultaneously crashing out of the arena.
"AND THAT'S MATCH EVERYONE. THE WINNER IS TEAM RWBY!"
The moment team RWBY exited the stage, they were bombarded with the greatest round of applause on the way out. Faunus and Humans alike from the four Kingdoms cheering them on as they exited the arena, and, standing ready to greet them were the most important people of all.
"You. Were. Amazing!" Nova said hyperactively, rushing over and picking Ruby up and spinning her around. The red leader was still disoriented from the fight, her aura quite low, so she looked a little dizzy.
Nova set her down gently and began scanning her for any signs of injury. She was, thankfully okay.
"Great fight out there babe, you punched the shit outta them." Hex commended giving Yang a tight squeeze. The blonde opted for a caring hug, just letting her body relax in Hex's arms. The purplette noticed her tired demeanor and smiled, gently caressing her face.
"D'aww, I guess you must be tired…" she smiled. Yang nodded silently nuzzling her face into the crook of her girlfriend's neck.
Suddenly a quiet growl came from Ruby causing her to blush, "I am starvingggg…." She groaned much to everyone's amusement.
"Ugh same," Luna complained with a growl of her own stomach.
Nova quirked his eyebrow, "Didn't you just scarf down three bags of chips?"
"Yeah but… I'm a growing girl, I need more sustenance!" she exclaimed raising a finger to the sky.
Elain laughed, "I agree, potato chips are not a viable source of nutrition."
Nitro gasped, "You dare undermine the power of the potato chip?! HEATHEN!"
The wolf Faunus just rolled her eyes, "I could really do with some real food myself. I've been eating nothing but boxed lunches for days… not that the cafeteria is bad...just that it's hard to take the time off to actually go eat you know?"
They all headed down to Vale to grab food while the remaining fights for this bracket were going on. They opted for the festival grounds on campus, where most of the concessions occurred. It looked like a standard fairground, equipped with various tent stalls loaded to the brim with goodies and overpriced accessories.
"Come on, I know just the place to grab some good food. Been frequenting here a while now!" Yang said gesturing for their band to follow her.
"It might be kinda hard to eat without this," A familiar voice said causing everyone to turn around. It was Emerald, holding what looked to be Ruby's wallet.
"WAH!" Ruby began frantically checking her person only to come up short. Emerald chuckled and handed her back the wallet.
"Good to see you Ruby!" she said with a smile.
"Yo! What's up Emerald?" Yang asked coming up by her sister.
"Just comin out of the stadium after seeing your amazing fight! You guys were awesome!" She complimented.
"Oh stop it!" Ruby said clearly enjoying the praise, "Shut your stupid face…"
Nov watched in amusement; Ruby's bashful side was several hundred levels of adorable.
"How'd your team do in the fight?" Nova asked, hoping to get some information. He didn't like Emerald… well, it was more like a very… very uncomfortable feeling. She showed no reason for him to feel this way… but he couldn't shake this instinct to enter fight mode.
Emerald, completely oblivious to his suspicion, stuck her head in the sky, "They did… really well…" she said as if that was putting it mildly. Come to think of it he'd never seen their other members, he knew Cinder but he'd never actually met her directly, and their fourth member was never seen.
"You know I've never actually met your fourth member… who are they?" He asked as innocently as possible.
"OH, she's… an enigma… you'll get to meet her if you make it through your match…" She said reply as vaguely as possible. Nova didn't like that… not one bit.
"Where'd you guys say you were from again?" Hex asked curiously.
"Haven." Came the short but instant reply.
Nitro's eyes narrowed, "Really? We went to Haven too… before we transferred here… how come I've never seen you before?"
Emerald had to bite back the urge to curse, "Ohh… it's because we're uh… first years… we only joined up last year…" she said with the world's fakest smile, knowing full well they did NOT look like first years.
Nitro was not buying it even slightly, "Well… that explains it…" he said trying not to start a conflict.
"Why don't we all go out and get some victory food together?" Ruby asked, completely ignoring the signs of Nova practically mentally screaming 'DON'T YOU FUCKIN DARE!' while he was making an 'abort mission' signal with his hand crossing his neck repeatedly.
Emerald looked pensive, "Oh uhh… my teammates are… really… introverted…" she explained, head gesturing to Mercury who stood a few feet behind her… sniffing a boot.
"Hm?" He looked like a deer caught in headlights.
They all felt their sweatdrop. "Understandable, have a nice day." Nova ended the conversation dragging his girlfriend off.
"I really don't trust those guys…" Nitro said as they walked off.
"You and me both brother…"
Yang led them across the green fairgrounds to a stall run by a rather familiar-looking old man.
"Hey isn't that the guy that owns From Dust Til Dawn?" Ruby pointed out looking at him closely. Yang squinted her eyes. "I don't see the resemblance."
Nova was quite baffled, "No… I'm with Ruby… hey, Mister don't you own that dust shop in uptown Vale?"
The man looked at him, and said "Hmm! Ugh!"
Nova felt his sweat drop, "Can someone translate, not sure if those were even words…"
"He said that it's his brother and he finds it offensive that you mistook him." Blake confirmed sitting down on the stools, "Didn't you hear him?"
Nova again looked bewildered, "How did you understand what he said?". Luna quietly uttered an apology to the man on behalf of her brother.
"What are you talking about he was speaking plain English to me…" Hex confirmed studying her leader.
"Nova, honey, do you need me to give you a check-up?" Elain asked prepared to use her semblance at any point.
Nova looked about ready to lose his mind, "Ruby, tell me you heard him grunt a series of noises too?"
His girlfriend just looked at him like he was crazy, "… It's okay Nova, I'm sure it's just the stress getting to you…" she reached up and pet his head.
Nova sat down next to her, utterly defeated, "Everyone's fucking crazy… I'm the only sane person here…" he said muttering to himself.
"Ookaayy… moving on… I'll have a bowl of the regular." Yang said confidently. In an instant, a giant bowl of noodles, too big for traditional human consumption appeared before her.
Ruby gawked, "I'll have the same…" another bowl.
"Do you have anything with a low salt-" Weiss was cut off when the exact same thing as Ruby and Yang popped out.
Blake just silently nodded, the man, understanding the non-verbal communication, also returned the nod. Instantly he zipped into the back and a series of strange unorthodox sounds could be heard.
"Did that sound like a drill? And… a chainsaw?" Nova asked completely horrified. No one else paid him any mind.
In just a short second later a bowl filled to the brim with fish and noodles sat in front of Blake. Her mouth-watering and Nova could swear he heard her heartbeat.
"I'll take the spicy triple deluxe," Nitro smirked and what appeared was a regular bowl topped with what appeared to be a mountain of chicken soaked in hot sauce. "This is going to be good…"
"I'll take the regular to…" Hex said not wanting to delve into the monstrosity that was whatever her brother was having.
"Gimme the beef special with the works," Elain said as if she'd been here a hundred times before. A bowl with a steaming pile of Mistralian styled beef came out. (Think Chinese beef)
The man gave Nova and Luna a serious stare as if analyzing them.
"I'll have ah…" he was about to say regular but instead the man came out with two bowls of the exact same thing as Blake, except the fish was filleted and sashimi-style, as if he knew exactly what they wanted.
The dragon siblings looked just as enamored as Blake.
Weiss smugly handed her card to the man.
"Aww Weiss, what's the occasion?" Yang asked.
The heiress smiled, "Consider it thanks for sending me to the doubles round." Just as the words left her mouth her card came flying back at her, wedging itself into the table like a throwing knife.
"WHAT?! How can my card be declined? I was barely into my monthly allowance…" she said distraught.
The man instantly took away the fishbowls making the two dragons and cat collapse onto the table comically.
"Maybe I can help?" a familiar voice said showing up onto the scene. It was the red-headed champion and the rest of Team JNPR.
"PYRRHA!" Ruby squealed.
"Nah you don't have to…" Yang responded with a smile.
"BUT SHE COULD!" Blake, Nova, and Luna simultaneously said. Elain felt her sweat drop, these kids and their obsession with fish was… ungodly.
"Well, I think you all earned it after that crazy battle." She returned.
"Pfft if I let you kids pay for my meal, I'd have failed as an adult. Shop-keep, my good man, here." Elain said tossing the man a card. In the instant the fishbowls left, they re-appeared, much to the overwhelming happiness of the other three Faunus.
"Mind if we join you?" Jaune asked as he and his team propped up next to ASHNRWBY.
"They're food's on me as well," Elain called out earning some wide stares from JNPR.
"What? Really? We couldn't possibly impose on you, Miss…" Jaune started, searching for the name of the kindly stranger.
"Doctor Elain Flareheart. Mother of these two trouble makers." She smirked gesturing to the two dragons who were so far into their meal they were completely oblivious to the world. "Thanks for taking care of my kids."
"Oh! You're Nova and Luna's mom? It's a pleasure to meet you! I'm Jaune, this is Pyrrha, Ren, and Nora." He explained.
Pyrrha smiled, "It's nice to meet you, Doctor. Your son's the greatest rival I could ask for. I'm hoping we meet in the finals."
Elain smirked, "That's if he makes it through the first round." She said ruffling Nova's hair, who just looked at her curiously.
"Yeah we need to prepare for ours as well," Ren said calmly.
"We've trained our weapons and skills so much, but no need to worry. The worst thing is we lose… there are just a few more years of us walking around with everyone in school knowing that we're failures. Then our friends will abandon us to preserve their social status… we won't be able to show our faces in class and no one will sit with us at the cafeteria. Ren and I have no parents so we have no home to go back to and we'll be officially renamed team LOSE-IPER! AHAHAHAHA…." Nora had started off strong but her speech eventually devolved into the most depressing thing anyone had ever seen. Nova and the others visibly flinched as she banged her head against the table.
"Uhh… Don't worry Nora… even if you lose we still love you?" Luna offered with a smile and the orange-haired girl practically tackled the blue drag, squeezing her.
"I knew I could count on you blue!"
"ACK! THE PAIN! I think… I see… the light…" Luna gasped for air, her face slowly turning blue.
"LUNA NOOOOOO!" Weiss said shaking her fist to the sky.
Elain watched in amusement at their theatrics.
"Team JNPR Please report to the battlegrounds immediately! Followed by team ASHN!"
Nova and the others finished up their food quickly and turned to JNPR, "Looks like that's our queue, our fight's after yours so give em hell." Nova flashed them a thumbs up.
JNPR's fight against team BRNZ was quick, it was to be expected since they had a hammer-wielding powerhouse, a ninja and the known world's greatest fighter. They practically didn't even break a sweat.
"Are we tagged in now?" Nova joked as he high fived Pyrrha as the teams swapped out.
The red-head laughed, "I guess so, try not to lose. I really wanna fight you in the finals."
RWBY sat in the stands, front row, amongst the rest of the teams.
"That was incredible!" Ruby squealed high fiving Nora, and shaking Pyrrha.
"Yeah, you guys were pretty awesome out there… even Jaune." Yang said.
"Thanks…HEY!" Jaune responded.
"Oh quiet down you… ASHN's about to start their match." Nora said pinching her leader and pulling him to sit down.
Nova and Luna had opted to don their old hoods and facemasks for this fight. Now was not the time for the reveal.
"Any idea who our opponents are?" Nova asked, turning to Hex. She was usually in charge to keep that type of information in check.
The purplette just shrugged, "Some guys named team TRKR(Tracker). Last-minute entry so we don't really have much on them other than they're supposed to be from Atlas."
Nova quirked his brow, no information? That didn't usually bode well…
"AND NOW PRESENTING TEAM TRKR FROM ATLAS!" Port's voice announced over the speakers. ASHN looked over to the opposite side of the arena to see a team of all guys showing up. Two Faunus, one had what looked to be large red and blue macaw-like wings on his back. He was clad in a bright blue jacket with a red undershirt and black jeans. His hair was a mess of blue and red and his eyes were a startling emerald green.
The second Faunus a pair of black ears, shaped like a fox. He wore a black trench coat with deep violet underclothes. His eyes were a piercing pink which contrasted to his midnight black hair.
Next to the fox, Faunus was a man with dark blue hair, brown eyes and wearing a white and black Atlas uniform. His face was covered by a mask that only showed his eyes… but Nova felt like he knew those eyes.
The man's partner was a pale man with rust-colored hair. His face was also covered by a similar mask but his eyes shown through, a bright gold. Again, those pairs of eyes sent shivers down Nova's spine.
"Combatants, Step onto the arena!" came the announcement, making the two teams step forward facing each other.
"I hope we have a good fight!" The macaw Faunus said cheerily, flashing Nitro a wink. He looked like the embodiment of purity, a trait that very few possessed.
Nitro blushed a bit, "Uh… same to you… May the best Huntsman win…" he clearly found the man attractive.
"Krome, stop trying to flirt with the enemy, we all know that we're going to kick these guys' butts and be onto the next round in no time." The other Faunus smirked, and Nova wasn't sure if the man was purposely trying to be an ass or if he was just that cocky.
"Ragnar! Krome! Stop your fraternizing and focus…" The golden-eyed man spoke, he must be the leader.
Nova narrowed his eyes at them but said nothing, he could feel the two masked persons glaring daggers at him and Luna and he didn't know why.
"We will now let the random stage selection begin," Port said pulling up a screen that rotated through the different combinations of environments.
"Please not deserts or rainforests, please no sand or rain…" Hex chanted with her fingers crossed. She hated cleaning sand out of her equipment and rain meant mud and mud meant getting her clothes dirty. She did not like that idea.
The screen eventually settled on Mistralian Forest and Swamp.
The arena shook violently and the floor opened up under them changing the area to a greenscape of trees behind team TRKR and a thick murky swamp with very few solid patches of ground behind ASHN.
The moment mud touched her shoes Hex began swearing violently. "FUCKING BULLSHIT! I WOULD'VE PREFERED SAND FOR FUCKS SAKE!"
Nova really hoped the live broadcasts would censor out that ungodly strong of words.
"Mistral Forests… that's ironic..." The brown-eyed man said with a light chuckle.
"Just like old times… right?" The golden-eyed man returned, this time he directed the words at Nova.
The dragon had no time to ponder the meaning of those words when Port announced, "MATCH… BEGIN!"
The moment Port finished his exclamation Krome took to the skies with his wings, distancing himself from the others, while Ragnar got down on all fours and tackled Hex to one side, pushing her into the murky swamp.
This left Nova and Luna squaring off against the two masked people.
"You know, I thought this was going to be a team battle, not four people going one on one…" Nova said sarcastically earning a pair of rolled eyes from his sister.
"You've turned into quite the joker, Nova." The golden-eyed leader said with a tone of voice that was a mix of seething hatred and laughter.
Nova was startled, completely shaken that this man knew who he was, "Who are you? How do you know me?!" he asked.
"Well now… That would spoil the surprise!" the man cackled before bringing out a pair of nunchaku, that looked ominously familiar. He ducked low so fast that Nova barely had time to bring up his guard before a palm was slammed into his chest sending him careening into the forest.
He crashed through a few trees before eventually catching himself onto one. The dragon stood in the center of a make-shift clearing created by the destruction of the environment.
Disoriented and dazed he dusted himself off, glancing rapidly at his surroundings, trying to find the location of his enemy, but the man was nowhere to be seen. His enemy had hidden himself in the treeline.
"Hehehe… Doesn't this feel… familiar?" The mad voice taunted. Nova turned his head just in time to see a shadowed dip through the trees so fast he could barely keep up.
"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?!" Nova yelled in anger, bringing up Asura, ready to strike at any moment. The enemy was incredibly fast and concealed themselves easily within the treeline… as if they were experts in this type of environment.
In an instant, the figure dashed from the trees aiming for Nova's blindside. The dragon was prepared for this attack and just as fast as his enemy, reacted by pulling the trigger on Asura, sending the ninjato blade directly in the patch of the man's strike, easily deflecting it. In that instant, Nova spun around, caught the blade and swung diagonally catching the enemy leader and sending him spiraling back into the treeline.
"OOohhh so quick, SO FAST! This is good! GOOD! Killing you Is going to be so much fun!" The voice called laughing maniacally from the shadows. He sounded like an absolute psychopath.
"Kill me?! Under tournament regulations, the match is over once our auras go below 15%" Nova called back, readying himself again.
"Do you really think they can see this far in the forest? Do you think I pushed you to this spot by chance?" this time the enemy's voice was like a seething whisper, raspy and deadly as if a demon clown was trying to speak English.
Nova bit his tongue, "They'll never let you walk out of here if you kill me!"
The response was dark and serious, like the man's personality had done a complete one-eighty, "I have nothing to lose hehehe…."
Nova was furious, "What have I ever done to you?! Why do you want me dead?!"
"Silly little dragon… if only your memory wasn't as bad as your temper…"
Outside the arena, RWBYand JNPR watched with nervousness as they witnessed Nova get knocked into the forest with the force of Nora on supercharge.
"WOAH! That guy packs a serious punch!" Yang pointed out, almost impressed.
"Pfft nothing our boy can't handle, the number of people on Remnant that could contest him are probably less than ten." Nora said with a dismissive wave.
Pyrrha bit her lip, "I'm not so sure… did you see their masks?"
Jaune tilted his head in confusion, "Yeah but… what does that have to do with anything? Nova and Luna are wearing their masks…"
"Call it a hunch but… those guys have something up their sleeves." Her hunches were never wrong.
Weiss made a humming sound, "Ruby… what do you think? You know him best…"
The red leader stayed silent, gripping the seat of her chair nervously. The fact that she didn't respond made them all unsettled.
Back in the arena Hex was playing a game of chicken with Krome. The winged boy was chasing her down left and right, the tech wizard could only dodge by a narrow hair.
Every chance he got, Krome would swoop down and attack, slicing through the air with his weapons, two pairs of blades that were attached his the lengths of his forearms, and the heels of his boots. He had complete control of every attack angle, since he was in the air, it allowed him to move his body any way he wanted without having to balance or angle himself.
He swooped in again but this time Hex was ready. She dived to her side and threw Loki by its chain, grabbing hold of Krome's leg and slamming him into the ground with a hard tug.
The bird Faunus was completely disoriented by the attack and was grounded. Hex used that opportunity to anchor Eres to the floor preventing him from flying away.
"Alright birdy… now that you're grounded… let's see how well you fair…" Hex smirked, tossing a few small cubes on the ground behind her back. She then rushed toward the startled Krome and began beating him senseless with a barrage of punches.
"OUCH! What an amazing rush of attacks from Team ASHN's Hex Magenta! How will Krome get out of this?!" Port announced.
Krome smirked, "I'll show you…"
In that instant, a bright red aura enveloped him, as Hex punched she found herself taking damage as well. It felt like she was punching broken glass. In a panic she instantly backed off, rubbing her fists tenderly. She didn't take any physical wounds because of her aura… but it felt like her fingers were cut to shreds.
The bird Faunus used this opportunity to wrap his right leg around the chain anchoring him down and fly into the air since his blades wouldn't cut through, he had to try another way. His aura transitioned over to his wings and he did a complex air summersault allowing his wings to slice the chains, freeing him.
"HOW?! BITCH YOU CUT MY BABY!" Hex screamed in frustration, backing up a little.
"Semblance, I can wrap my aura around my body transforming any part of it into a sharp edge, allowing me to cut through anything like paper. You just got a bad matchup." Krome laughed, though his face was pure joy. He wasn't taunting her, rather, he was wholesomely enjoying the competition, and Hex couldn't bring herself to be mad at him.
"Sorry about your weapon though… no hard feelings?" He offered with a slight smile before dashing toward her at blinding speeds, prepared to body slam her with all his might, combing the sharpness of his semblance with the momentum and speed of his flight.
Hex just stood stock still.
"HEX GET OUTTA THE WAY!" Weiss yelled from the stands, "Why isn't she trying to dodge?"
Yang and Blake simultaneously smirked, "Just watch… my girl's got a plan." Yang said giving Blake a knowing look.
The moment Krome thrust his hand out to hit Hex, the fist touched nothing. With the sheer momentum and speed of his dive, he was unable to stop himself before he crashed right through the hologram of Hex, into the swamp floor.
"Ughh… what happened…" he groaned barely getting up.
"Ultra-realistic holograms. You got duped, kid." Hex said with a smirk picking up the cubes she'd tossed onto the floor earlier. It always helped to have a contingency plan, a play she took right out of Blake's book.
On the other side of the arena, Luna was fighting down the golden-eyed masked man. Unlike his counterpart, he was mostly silent. He swung around a pair of Gunsen, which were bladed fans. Luna had to use Galaxia in its staff form to keep up with the speed of the man's combos.
"Who are you? How do you know my brother?" Luna asked as she ducked under him and swiped at his legs with her staff only for him to dodge it by jumping and slamming the fans down onto her head. Thankfully due to her semblance she took very little damage.
"I'm quite surprised you don't recognize my weapons by now little girl… they certainly did a number on your friends…" he said cryptically as he backflipped to gain distance before locking the fans together to form a large bladed disk, to which he tossed like a frisbee at her. Luna deflected it and it came spinning back to him.
"I guess… the winds of change really do have an effect on a person's memory… wouldn't you say? Princess?" Luna's eyes widened. That nickname, those weapons… only one person in her entire life ever matched these features.
"GALE?!"
Meanwhile Nitro was fighting his own battle against Ragnar. The hyper-speed boxer was spending all of his time dodging blasts of ice, fire, and blades. The fox Faunus Ragnar was using what looked like mechanical claws and waistband that emitted three elemental tails from his hind. Nitro assumed the tails were powered by dust since he could change their elements on a whim with the flick of switch in his wrist.
Nitro blinked and threw few uppercuts at the fox but he was too agile, easily dodging at the last second even if he couldn't see the fists coming. The Faunus fought on all fours, a style of combat Nitro had never seen before, it was incredible. Combining fist and leg attacks with his built-in fox's agility made for a seamless series of chainable combinations.
Nitro barely dodged as a flaming claw came smashing down, followed by a swift and deadly leg kick, and using the momentum of the kick, Ragnar transitioned it into a backflip that allowed the tails behind him to swipe upward and launch a barrage of fire, like a spinning wheel.
In a desperate attempt to gain distance, the red-headed boy used his rocket jets to push him backward, narrowly escaping the fox's range.
"Your… fighting style… is… unbelievable…" Nitro said in between bated breaths.
"Thanks… it's completely original!" Ragnar replied, switching to ice dust and bounding toward the brawler. Nitro inhaled deeply and concentrated. If the fox was on the attack… then maybe he wouldn't be able to dodge…
The moment the ice-claws were mere inches from his face, Nitro put his thruster s on full blast, sending his armoured fist crashing into the fox's jaw within a microsecond.
Back with Nova, the dragon had just about enough of this game of hide and seek.
"If you won't come out… then I guess I'll have to force you out…" Nova seethed, eyes still trained on his surroundings.
"And how pray tell do you hope to accomplish that? Hm?" The madman responded.
"How else do you force an animal out of the forest?" he paused for effect, "You set it on fire!" Nova then sheathed Asura and concentrated on his surroundings. If the audience couldn't see inside then it was safe to turn up the heat. In an instant, the temperature of the immediate surroundings rose and the grass began to dry up. The trees began to turn brown and suddenly there was fire igniting itself all around him.
"ARGH! YOU INSUFFERABLE…" The man was now forced into the open, as the forest around him burned. The heat was unbearable to any normal person.
"Incredible! The forest has caught fire! What an unexpected turn of events!" Nova could hear Port announce over the roar of the blaze, confirming that no one had seen him channel the heat.
"Now that you're out in the open…. I can finally shut that annoying mouth of yours…" Nova said with a dark smile.
The man laughed madly, "YOU CAN TRY! AHAHA-" His laughter was cut short by the feeling of scorching steel in the form of a scythe slamming into his jaw, sending him skyward, far out of the forest.
"Our combatants have finally exited the dense forest, it looks like the ASHN leader, Nova, has the upper hand!" Oobleck announced as everyone spotted the rising figures of the two team leaders.
"HEY LUNA! I GOT A HOT ONE INCOMING!" Nova yelled at the top of his lungs, jumping high into the air following the ascending enemy. At the moment they achieved maximum altitude, Nova reared Asura and smacked the man like a ball, sending him flying into the center of the arena, crashing into Luna's opponent.
"THAT WAS AWESOME!" Ruby cheered, finally looking more like herself, relieved that her boyfriend was safe.
Everyone else breathed a similar sigh of relief. The scoreboards showed that Ragnar and Krome were almost below the knockout threshold while the other two were still in the yellow.
Team ASHN barely suffered any damage with their least healthy person being Hex who was also close to the red stage.
"Nice shot brother, I think I'll do the same!" Nitro yelled tossing Ragnar at the center, Hex also followed suit, piling Krome with the rest.
They all regrouped, dusting their hands as if they had just finished doing chores. "I'd say we cleaned them up pretty nicely," Nitro said with a smile. Even though Krome and Ragnar were still above 15%, they were barely moving due to the damage. It made no sense to kick a man while he was down.
"GUYS BACK UP!" Luna yelled trying to move them out of the way.
"What's wrong sis? We totally just kicked their asses, Port just needs to announce that we wo-" Nova was cut off when the man he was fighting got back up from the smoking crater. His aura still in the yellow.
"IT SEEMS TEAM TRKR'S LEADER IS NOT OUT FOR THE COUNT JUST YET!" Port announced causing Nova to flinch. Were these guys normal students?
"This is bad… this is really bad…" Luna continued to chant, switching Galaxia to its axe form.
"What's got you so on edge sis?"
"Nova… the man I was fighting… was GALE!"
The dragon leader felt his entire body shake. Like a resounding quake had rocked him to his core… if this man was Gale then the one he was fighting…
"Gale?! As in Gale Rogue?! But we left those fuckers back in Mistral!" Nitro exclaimed.
The two masked members of TRKR rose from their downed states, their masks falling off and ASHN could clearly see now, the faces of Gale Rogue and Thorian Callus.
"You've finally recognized us… it took you so long I was beginning to feel very hurt…" Thorian said in mock sadness. His face was maimed and half torn, burn marks on his right eye dragging down over his cheek like a bad scar. "Even after you did THIS to me! TO US!" he gestured to Gale who was now standing beside him. His face was also torn up and scarred grotesquely.
"You two… how…" Nova was at a loss for words. He'd hoped never to see these faces again.
"Well after you left us out there, running with our tails between our legs… we scampered off to Atlas. Couldn't show our faces back at Haven, our benefactor at Haven gave us the necessary resources, all we had to do was disappear…" Gale said with a grim look, his fists trembling with rage.
"We were just waiting on the day our mistress, our queen, called on us again!" Thorian cackled with a clap.
"Your queen?" Nova asked eyeing them. "Who're you working for…" he didn't get to question further as Thorian let out a blast of aura knocking ASHN backward.
The TRKR leader then gave a silent nod to his partner and they picked up the downed Krome and Ragnar and viscously kicked them off the edge of the arena.
"What's this?! Team TRKR has turned on itself? After eliminating two of their own, how do they expect to fight two on four now?!" Came the announcement over the speakers.
Nova cursed as he helped Luna off the ground, "Turning on your allies again? What happened, you run out of use for them too?"
Thorian cackled madly again, "What can I say? Old habits die hard…"
"Those two were just pawns in our scheme… they didn't know who we were, sucks for them." Gale finished, the two of them now dashing toward team ASHN, but the quartet was prepared.
Hex was first, countering their dash with a shock from a line of electrode nets she'd dropped on the floor during the impact of the previous aura wave.
"This is for stabbing us in the back!" Nitro yelled as he let a fist connect with Thorian's face sending the unprepared man sky high.
"AND THIS IS FOR LITERALLY STABBING ME!" Hex yelled grabbing Loki and Eres and thrusting upward, embedding the blades into Gale's torso, though they didn't penetrate due to his aura.
ASHN expected the two to be way below the 15% mark but... unfortunately, they were still in the yellow.
"UGH FUCK YOU TWO ARE LIKE COCKROACHES! YOU JUST WON'T DIE!" Nova roared, his anger rising to the point where he was getting really pissed.
Thorian laughed maniacally, using the momentum of the fall to come bearing down a strike. Gale had thrown his chakram disk at Nova, but the dragon leader was far too pissed to be bothered. He let the disk hit him directly in the face and he didn't even flinch, the fiery scales of his body appearing only on the struck portion of his face.
Gale's eyes widened as both he and Thorian struck Nova simultaneously, only for him to receive no damage. Nova, on the other hand, gripped both weapons, refusing to let his enemy move. The dangerous look on his face was terrifying, it even scared Luna.
"I have just about had it with you spineless snakes... you gravely miscalculated by thinking you could take us down…" Nova said darkly as he forcefully kicked the two into the air, hooked Thorian with Asura and Gale with his right claw, and sent them crashing out over the arena. The last thing they saw was the dark smiles on both the enemies' faces.
"Our job wasn't to kill you…" they said simultaneously before they crashed.
"AND THAT'S MATCH! The winner, Team ASHN!"
"That was crazy! How the hell did you set the forest on fire?!| Nora exclaimed jumping up and down excitedly. "I always knew you were a born arsonist!"
Nova felt his sweatdrop, "Um... sparks from clashing blades?" He offered in some failed attempt at concealing his powers... and everyone bought it, except RWBY who already knew what happened. Nova's face was, tired... even though the fight didn't take much out of him physically... he looked mentally drained, the sight made team RWBY lose any vigor of excitement they had on congratulating them.
"We're kinda exhausted from the fight so we're heading back to the dorms..." Luna said brushing past her overly excited friend. Nova, on the other hand, made a gesture with his head to Ruby who got the silent message to follow them.
Once they were safely back in the confines of their dorm, Nova collapsed onto his bed. "FUCK!" He screamed into the pillow, alarming team RWBY who'd followed them in.
"What happened out there? Who made you use your powers?" Ruby asked worriedly, sitting on the bed next to her boyfriend, rubbing circles on his back. For someone to push Nova to use his Aspect powers, they'd have to be really strong...
"Yeah I don't think I've ever seen you guys this shaken up before... are you okay?" Yang asked looking to Hex. The tech wizard just rubbed her arms and leaned back against her own bed.
"The ghosts of our past come back to haunt us..." she replied earning a wide-eyed look from team RWBY.
Nova sat cross-legged on his bed, "Remember when we said that our old teammates betrayed us back at Haven?"
Everyone nodded. "Well turns out... they escaped to Atlas. Those two masked guys were Thorian Callus and Gale Rogue. I'd really hoped never to see them again..." he said almost terrified.
"What are they doing here? Aren't they like, wanted criminals?" Blake asked completely baffled.
Nitro shook his head, "They were supposed to be... but they said that someone at Haven gave them the resources to disappear... we're not exactly sure what they meant by that..."
"And they mentioned their queen... whoever that may be..." Luna finished, running her hands through her hair.
Ruby took Nova's hand and squeezed it for comfort, the dragon looked at her sweetly and squeezed back. "I don't know why they're here... or how they made it into the tournament... but what I do know is that we need to be ready... and someone needs to inform Ozpin that there's a traitor in our midst."
Hex nodded, she was already on the case, typing up a short report and emailing it to the headmaster.
"Is this going to affect you guys returning to the public scene?" Weiss looked at them curiously. Now that threats were rearing their ugly heads, maybe making themselves more known wasn't a good idea.
Nova shook his head negatively, "No... if anything it means we need to do this now more than ever. Our enemies know we're here, they've somehow managed to infiltrate this highly secure tournament. We need to fight back."
Round 1 of the tournament is over... and the chaos has only just begun.
Don't forget to leave a review and stay awesome. Next chapter is already in the works.
