Sorry that this one is a little late, but it's still one week later, so I kept my word ^^;
I am so excited to be working on my favorite volume (thus far). I hope you all enjoy!
There was a slight chill in the air as the winds blew, the yellow orange leaves dancing with the breeze. The sun was rising, casting its golden lights onto the cliffside. Ruby's cloak fluttered about her, the dying grass swaying against her boots as she stood before the grave. She smiled at the grave sadly, and lowered her hood.
"Hey, mom," she said. "I'm sorry I didn't come over sooner like I said I would. I…" Her shoulders sagged. "I've been through a lot lately." She smiled. "I brought Dad with me this time. He's doing okay, he's been teaching at Signal for a while now. He told me that he took up an offer for a mission, and that'll he'll be leaving soon to go do it." The smile wavered. "I think he misses going out on adventures with you," she said. Her voice broke as she spoke. "I miss you too, mom."
Her cloak rustled around her as the wind gently blew around her.
"I haven't gotten kicked out of Beacon yet, so that's good." She said with a forced laugh. "I'm glad I'm on a team with Yang, it's comforting having her around to help me." She smiled at the grave. "She's so strong mom, and not just from all the stuff she learned from dad." She sighed. "Weiss and Blake have really warmed up to us, but… things have gotten pretty strained between those two. Blake, she… turned out not to be who we thought she was, and Weiss took it pretty hard."
"Did you have problems like this when you were a team leader?" she asked. Her voice was uneven as she spoke. "Did…did you have problems with Raven? Were…did…did you love Dad before Raven left?" The wind blew around her, and she wiped at her eyes as they started to water. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't ask you about that." She took a breath, trying to think of what else to talk about.
"We stopped some bad guys, and saved people from the Grimm recently." She smiled at the grave, rocking back and forth on her heels. "You know what they say mom; like mother, like daughter."
"Professor Ozpin got in a lot of trouble for what happened in Vale when we stopped those Grimm. He called me up to his office the next day and told me how glad I was there to help stop the Grimm." She shook her head. "I've been wondering why Ozpin let me in early, and what would have happened if I hadn't been there." She shrugged. "I think he'll tell me when the time is right."
A dog barked behind her, and Ruby looked back. She saw her father leaning against a tree, smiling, Zwei sitting next to him, his tongue handing out. Ruby smiled at them and looked back at the grave.
"Dad's back, mom. I gotta go now; it's the Vytal Festival and he's dropping me off before he goes off on his mission." She pulled her hood up, and smiled. "Wish me luck," she said. She turned around and started to walk towards her father before stopping and looking back. She smiled sadly. "It was good to talk, mom. I'll be back soon."
She turned away from the grave, jogging up to her father's side. She could hear bird's cawing as they flew off into the morning sky.
Weiss crossed her arms as they stood in the crowded arena. The Vytal emblem spun on the large screens around the arena. She pulled out her scroll, impatient; why did it take the Headmaster's so long to get here? She pulled up the live feed of the parade going on in Vale. She smiled as she watched it on her small screen, she loved seeing the artistry in the Mistralian segments. Though the Vacuon Blue Sand Fire Spitters were always so exciting to watch too; were they going to perform this year? She cocked an eyebrow as the parade was minimized, and the news anchors took up most of the screen.
"Despite the damages done to Vale last month, I would say that the Vytal Parade is going along swimmingly, Lisa." Cyril said. Lisa gave him a look before turning to the camera.
"The Vytal Parade is indeed going along well, Cyril. However, the Atlesian warships in the air and Atlas soldier's lining the streets have many of the citizens in Vale on edge. Along with various Faunus Right's groups protesting the Parade and Festival over the new Faunus curfew laws passed by the Vale Council, and the continued refusal to recognize Menagerie as a Kingdom." Cyril's fake smile wavered, and he laughed awkwardly.
"Yes, well… let's hope the Vale Hunters are able to keep the Grimm at bay with all this negativity." He laughed again. He looked at his watch, and looked back up at the camera. "And it would appear that it is time for the teams competing in the Vytal Tournament to be announced, let's go live with our cameras in the Amity Colosseum." The camera feed switched to a shot of the crowd Weiss was in.
Weiss wrinkled her nose, and collapsed her scroll, putting it away and crossing her arms. They had stopped the White Fang, that curfew was not needed.
"You okay, Weiss?" Ruby asked.
"Splendid, thank you for asking," she said sarcastically. Ruby's expression fell and Weiss sighed. "Yes, Ruby, I'm doing fine. Thank you for asking," she said, trying to sound sincere. Ruby's expression perked up and she gave Weiss a smile. The crowd began to grow quiet as the Academy Headmaster's took the center of the stage, the screens switching to the individual emblems of the four Kingdoms; the gear and spear of Atlas, the dual axes of Vale, the tri blades of Vacuo, and the burning wick of Mistral.
Ozpin looked over the crowd, and adjusted his glasses before speaking.
"Welcome, future Hunters of Remnant. You all have put your names forward to compete in the Vytal Festival, to bring honor to your Kingdoms, and schools. Today, we shall decide who shall compete." Ozpin looked over at Ironwood, who nodded at him. He stepped forward.
"To prevent any type of bias from us, the teams shall be decided at random by a computer; four teams from each school. Those that are chosen are not allowed to back out." Ironwood looked over at Lionheart, who cleared his throat, clearly nervous. Lionheart stepped forward.
"I assume most of you are familiar with the rules, but I shall go over them with you all before we begin. There shall be three rounds; teams, doubles, and singles. All teams shall compete, and those who win in the first round shall choose two of their team members to compete in the doubles round, and from there, a single champion to compete in the singles. From there the remaining competitors shall battle in hope of bringing glory to their Kingdom." He wiped at his brow, and looked over at the Shade Headmaster. They rolled their eyes and stepped forward, resting a hand on their hip.
"If any of you are caught using anything other than the dummy rounds we issue out for the fights, or if you try and use an Aura Cutter or an Aura Piercer, you will be disqualified. Do any permanent bodily harm to a fellow competitor and you will be disqualified. Got it?" They asked. Weiss nodded her head, and so did the people around her. The Shade Headmaster grinned. "All right, let's get this show on the road!" They spun on their feet, facing a large blue holographic screen that had popped up behind the Headmasters.
The Mistral emblem slowed to a stop, and a multitude of names began to flash by the screen, slowing down after a moment.
AMEE
ABRN
IECY
CMSN
The crowd applauded, and Lionheart smiled as his school's teams took the stage, flanking him. Weiss cocked an eyebrow when she saw Mercury and Emerald and their two other teammates smirk back at Lionheart when they walked onto the stage. She shook her head and looked back at the screen as the Vacuo emblem slowed to a stop and names began to flash on the screen.
NDGO
BRNZ
SMMR
SESN
Weiss clapped politely, feeling a tad nervous as the Atlas emblem came to a stop; they would be the hardest competition.
FNKI
CMPT
SNWY
SLVR
Weiss was taken back as a team with a rainbow haired cat Faunus took the side near Ironwood, standing at attention. She smiled a bit as Penny walked into the crowd surrounding Ironwood. The Vale emblem slowed to a stop, and Weiss felt anxiety start to eat at her gut as the names flashed on the screen.
JNPR
CFVY
CRDL
RWBY
From the corner of her eye she saw Yang's partner stiffen. She looked over at her and saw terror in her amber eyes, her hand's shaking a bit. Weiss opened her mouth before shutting it.
She lied to you. She's a killer.
She walked by Yang's partner stiffly, resisting the urge to glance at her, to give her a reassuring smile and set her nerves at ease.
You can't trust her.
Weiss stopped herself from shaking her head as she climbed the steps, hearing the applause as she walked towards the crowd around Ozpin, her teammates trailing her.
You need to hate her.
She faced the cameras, giving the smile and wave she had perfected during her time with her family.
She wants you dead, they all do. Forget about her.
Fireworks began to explode in the air above the arena; greens, blues, whites, and yellows.
"Let the Vytal Tournament, begin!" Ozpin exclaimed. Weiss' smile faltered.
But I love her.
Blake watched her opponent as they weaved in and out of the ice pillars around them, the announcer's voices droning in her ear.
"I must say Doctor, I'm surprised at how close this fight between RWBY and ABRN is," Port said.
"Agreed! Oh my, it looks like Reese is going in for the kill on poor Ms. Belladonna. Let's watch," Oobleck said.
Blake stood her ground, her swords drawn, as Reese rocketed towards her. Reese smirked, and spun her body, launching her hoverboard at her. Blake deflected it with her sword, sending the hoverboard careening off. Reese smirked at her, sliding on the ice and towards her board. Blake scowled and lunged at her.
Reese snatched her board off the ground and spun around, catching Blake's swords. Blake sneered and swung at her, Reese catching each of her hits with her board. Reese's leg shot out, hitting Blake in the gut, causing her to stagger back and grunt in pain. Reese leapt back, tossing her board beneath her and landing on it, smirking.
Blake steadied herself on the slick ice, and threw a shadow clone in front of her as Reese sped towards her. Blake swung her blades as Reese hit the clone, causing it to disappear in a black mist. Reese grunted as Blake's blades connected, knocking her off her board and hitting the ice, hard.
Yang yelled, slamming her fist into Arslan's stomach, jabbing an uppercut and hitting her jaw before she could react. Arslan stepped back, dodging a blow as Yang swung at her. Yang sneered and spun her body, throwing a roundhouse kick. Arslan ducked low, swiping her legs in an arc. Yang leapt over the kick, and landed, spinning on her heels and yelling as she threw a punch. Arslan caught her, scowling, and threw her own punch. Yang caught it, grunting as they grappled. Yang's hair ignited, and she saw a flicker of fear in Arslan's eyes as Yang crushed her hands and lifted her into the air, spinning and tossing her with a yell.
She yelped as something around her ankle threw her off her feet. She looked down and saw a thin, nearly invisible wire wrapped around her boot, she looked up in time to see Arslan rise to her feet, and yank her hand back, a thin shimmer in the air. Yang grunted as she was dragged across the magma encrusted floor, the heat excruciating. She felt a chill as the magma was replaced with ice, sliding to a stop in front of Arslan.
Arslan slammed her foot down, and Yang grabbed her foot, snarling. She tossed her off and rose to her feet, ripping off the wire around her foot. Arslan leapt back up, and threw a punch. Yang blocked it, grunting as Arslan's other fist slammed into her face.
Mist was thrown up and Yang heard gunfire. She kicked Arslan away and spun around; Nadir was aiming at her with his rifle. She sneered and raised her fists. There was a clap of thunder, and the pillar of ice behind Nadir broke, collapsing onto him, burying him in ice and snow. She glanced over to where the shot came from and saw Ruby laying on an icy hill, aiming down the scope of her sniper rifle. Her sister raised her head and with a smile, shouted
"Got your back, sis!"
Weiss spun around when she heard Ruby fire a round. Bolin had climbed the small incline Ruby was on, his staff poised to strike. Weiss raised two fingers, summoning two glyphs. She jumped into the one in front of her and was launched forward, kicking Bolin into the one behind him, launching him onto a rock.
Ruby stared back at her in shock before getting to her feet, changing her rifle to her scythe.
"Thanks, Weiss!"
"Any time."
Weiss ran towards Bolin as he struggled to his feet, using his staff to steady himself. She put a glyph in her path, using it to lunge at him, stabbing at him as she spring boarded off her glyphs.
"White rose!"
Weiss landed, staring Bolin down, her sword aimed at him. She swirled the fingers of her other hand, summoning a glyph behind her. Ruby yelled as she was launched off it and towards him, swinging her scythe. He threw up his staff, catching the blow. Ruby fired, the kickback sending her shooting back towards Weiss' side.
Bolin grinned at them before charging forward. Weiss swung her sword, icicles shooting out of the ground. He sidestepped them, running past Weiss, and towards Ruby. Weiss spun around, swinging her sword again, icicles raining from the sky and in his path. She heard him laugh as he moved around them, ducking under Ruby's scythe as she swung at him, her scythe embedding itself in one of her icicles. She saw Nadir struggling out of the snow and ice farther ahead, grabbing his rifle. Weiss scowled and ran after Bolin.
Blake leapt towards Reese as she lay on the ice. Reese's eyes widened and she lunged towards her board, collapsing it into two pistols. Blake threw a shadow clone in front of her as Reese fired, the clone dissipating into mist. Blake landed, starting to retreat as Reese fired at her. She switched her sword to her gun, and fired behind her as she ran through the maze of ice pillars. Bullets whizzed past her, shattering parts of the ice as they hit them. She ran into a small clearing at the end of the arena; she snarled and looked behind her. She left a clone and ducked behind a pillar as she heard the hum of Reese's hoverboard.
Blake peeked around the corner, and saw Reese attack the clone, her face twisting with confusion as the clone dissipated. Blake sprang from the ice pillar, kicking Reese in the back, throwing her off her board and out of the arena. She heard Reese groan from where she landed, and saw her aura crackling around her.
"And a painful defeat for Reese by Blake; knocked out of bounds and reaching critical levels with her aura." Oobleck announced. Blake smirked and stalked away, heading towards her team mates as they continued to fight.
Weiss ran after Bolin, watching Yang chase after Arslan while Nadir fired at her. She threw up a glyph in front of Bolin, smirking as he was thrown forward and crashed into Nadir. Weiss jabbed her sword into the ice, summoning a glyph.
Ice began to rise from the ground, encasing the two men in a sphere of ice. The sphere began to roll away, the two men screaming. They struggled against the ice, and Weiss dug her sword deeper into the ground, tightening the grip her ice sphere had on the men, crushing them.
She saw a blur of movement on her left before Arslan slid to a stop in front of the ice sphere. Weiss narrowed her eyes, glancing at the score board; just a little more pressure and those two would break. She gasped, and looked back over at Arslan when she heard a thunderous crack; the sphere had shattered, and she could see Arslan in a stance, ice on her fist. She sprang to her feet, yanking her sword out of the ground.
"Yang!"
Yang's head snapped over at the sound of Weiss' voice. Weiss swung her sword, a wall of ice springing forth.
"Bees Schnees!" Weiss shouted. Yang nodded, sprinting over to the wall of ice, firing shotgun blasts to zip forward as she slid on it. She saw Blake running alongside her on the ground, they locked eyes, and Blake hurled her weapon at Yang, a ribbon tied to it. Yang caught it, and Blake swung the ribbon, helping launch her off the ice.
An animalistic scream came from her lips as she soared through the air, her fist raised. She slammed into them, firing multiple shotgun blasts, the force of the blow sending them flying back, and colliding with the ground. She landed on her feet, her fists raised when she heard a buzzer. She looked over at the scoreboard, all four of Team ABRN was grayed out. She grinned.
"And that's the match! With a stunning triple aura knockout by Ms. Xiao Long!" Oobleck announced.
Yang's grin grew as the crowd erupted in applause, and she flashed the aerial camera's a set of finger guns before looking back at her team mates. Ruby was jumping up and down with joy, Weiss had sheathed her sword, politely smiling and waving at the cameras. Blake eyed the cameras darkly, but managed to give Yang a smile when they locked eyes. She turned back towards the cameras, smiling at them.
There's no way they could lose this tournament.
Weiss rolled her eyes, smirking, as Ruby groaned as they walked through the fair grounds.
"Is anyone else starving?" Ruby asked, dragging her feet.
"I've worked up an appetite." She heard Yang's partner say.
"I'm sure you'll find somewhere to eat," Weiss said. She couldn't look at her, she wouldn't be able to handle the hurt look in her amber eyes. Yang gave her a look, her eyes narrowed, before motioning with her hand for them to follow her.
"I know a good place for us all to eat at." Ruby and Bla-Yang's partner, walked past her. Weiss huffed and took a step forward before freezing, her scroll ringing. Not that chime, not him. She pulled it out, her eyes widening.
Father.
The scroll shook in her hand before she scowled and closed her scroll.
"Hey Ruby!" A voice behind them called out. Weiss looked back and saw Emerald standing behind them, smirking, Ruby's crimson wallet in her hand. "Might be hard to eat without this," she said with a wink. Emerald giggled as Ruby began to frantically pat her dress down, pulling her pockets inside out. Emerald extended the wallet, and Ruby took it, nodding her head as she said.
"Thanks, Emerald. You know how girl pockets are." Emerald laughed.
"Just the worst. But I'm glad I got to see you guys; I wanted to congratulate you on getting into the second round. You were all amazing in that fight!"
"Ah, thanks. Your team was awesome too." Ruby said. Ruby looked back at them. "Do you want to get lunch with us? To celebrate? We hardly ever see Eon and Autumn, it'd be nice to get caught up with them." Emerald shook her head, and motioned behind her. Mercury was at a booth selling shoes and was-Weiss gagged as he lifted a boot up to his nose and started sniffing it.
"That sounds great but uh, yeah, my team mates are kinda weird."
"To put it lightly," Yang said. Emerald smirked at that.
"Mercury and I were picked to move onto the doubles rounds. How about you guys? You decide yet?" Ruby nodded.
"I decided-" Weiss cleared her throat, and Ruby sheepishly rubbed the back of her head. "I mean, as the team leader I decided it was best to put it to a vote."
"We voted on Weiss and Yang" Blak- Yang's partner said. Weiss did a mock curtsy as she said
"It will be my honor to represent this team." Yang smirked, punching a fist into her palm.
"We're gonna kick some ass!" Emerald chuckled, and started to walk away.
"If we end up in a match together, don't think we'll go easy on you." She said.
"Same to you," Yang said. They heard Emerald laugh and wave as she walked away.
"See you guys later!"
Her smile fell as she walked away from them. Mercury chuckled as he took her side, keeping pace.
"It's so nice to see you hanging out with your friends." Her nose wrinkled in disgust.
"I hate them. They're so freaking peppy all the time. How do they do it?"
"We've gotta follow orders, Em," he said, resting his arms behind his head. Emerald scowled.
"Doesn't make them any less annoying." She grumbled.
"Did you at least get what we wanted?" he asked.
"It's the rich bitch and the slut." He rested his hand on his chin, pretending to be deep in thought.
"Good to know who we're working with. I'll let Cinder and Neo know." She rolled her eyes.
Weiss took her seat on the stool of the 'restaurant' Yang had brought them to. It was a noodle stall, and her mouth watered as the smells of noodles, veggies, eggs, pork, fish, and various broths wafted by her. The old man running the stall looked at them, a small notebook and pen in hand.
"Miso for me," Yang said. The man nodded and looked at Ruby.
"I'll take the same." The man nodded and looked at Weiss. She bit her lip as she looked at the menu, Old Mistralian was so hard to pronounce.
"Shoe you?" The man cocked an eyebrow.
"Shōyu." Blake said.
"Thanks," Weiss mumbled, looking away from where Blake sat. The man looked over at Blak-that girl.
"Shio, extra fish, please." The man finished scribbling down their orders and went to the cash register, the total flashing on the screen. Weiss pulled out her wallet, and grabbed one of her several credit cards.
"Yo Weiss, you're paying?" Yang asked. Weiss nodded.
"Consider it as thanks for Ruby voting for me to go to the next round." Yang frowned as the man took her card. Weiss heard that girl next to her fidget in her seat.
"It wasn't just Ruby, Blake voted for you fir-" The man cleared his throat and they looked at him. He pointed at the screen angrily, CARD DECLINED, flashing in red.
"Declined? How is my card declined?" Weiss asked, taken back. The man set the card back down on the counter. She pulled out a different card, maybe Father had forgotten to pay that one off. The man took the card and swiped it. CARD DECLINED flashed on the screen in bright, angry red letters. "How is this happening? I barely use these!" Weiss said, drawing a third card.
"Maybe I could help?" A voice off to their side asked.
Jaune, Pyrrha, and Ren were walking over to them, Nora skipping, swinging her arms with her steps. Ruby threw her arms out, nearly hitting Weiss in the face.
"Pyrrha!" Ruby exclaimed.
"You don't have to do that, Pyrrha, we got this covered." Weiss heard a stomach growl, and B-the girl she lov-hated, said quietly.
"But she could." Pyrrha and the others laughed, and Pyrrha rested a hand on her lips as she said.
"After that fight, I think you all have more than earned a free meal."
"It cool if we join you?" Jaune asked. Yang nodded in approval and Jaune, Pyrrha, Nora, and Ren took a seat in the stools across from them.
Nora patted her stomach contently, her empty bowl of ramen pushed away from her. Jaune was looking a little green, Ren had that little smile of his whenever he was happy, and Pyrrha was still finishing off the last of her noodles. Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang all looked happy with the meal Pyrrha had paid for.
Ren rested his elbow on the counter as the old man came and collected their dishes.
"Are you sure it was wise to eat this much before a fight, Pyrrha?" he asked.
"Of course! Carbo loading is a time proven method!" Pyrrha said. Jaune groaned, resting his head on the counter.
"I'm gonna die if I fight this full," he complained. Nora smirked.
"If you do, I'm gonna use your body to beat the other team."
"Nora, don't be rude." Ren said.
"No, I'd probably do better in the fight if Nora did that." Jaune said, his voice muffled by his arms. Pyrrha rubbed his head, smiling.
"Don't worry Jaune, you'll do fine." He groaned, and held up a thumbs down. Ruby cocked her head.
"You guys think you're ready?" Nora nodded.
"Why wouldn't we be? We have the greatest fighter in Mistral's history, I can bench six of me, Ren's never lost a fight in his life, and uh…" she looked over at Jaune. Crap, what could Jaune do? "Jaune, can uh…yeah." Ren arched an eyebrow.
"Anything to say, Jaune?" Jaune shook his head. Nora made a dismissive gesture with her hand.
"He knows I'm just kidding. Love you, Jauney." She flashed him a smile, as he looked over at her, his face still rather green. "Don't worry so much, Jaune. The worst that could happen is we lose." She continued to smile. "And if we lose, we'll be stuck knowing that we dishonored our school, and everyone will think we're failures. Everyone we know and love will leave us, and we'll have to fend for ourselves, and we'll have to leave the school out of shame, and we have no one to go back home to and we'll be stuck having to live on the streets; cold and hungry and-" She felt her body go slack; the memories fading, and her mood starting to improve. She noticed Ren's hand on her shoulder, a pink shimmer around his hand. She looked over at him. He smiled at her, before his hand slipped from her shoulder. She smiled back, exhaling. Ruby, Blake, Yang, and Weiss were staring at her in shock at her outburst; this must be their first time seeing one of them.
"You okay, Nora?" Ruby asked. Nora swung her arm cheerily, grinning at them.
"Never better!"
"You're sure?" Yang asked. Nora nodded. She felt Pyrrha rest her arm on her back. Pyrrha rested her other hand on Jaune's head, stroking his hair.
"Stop fretting you two, we're going to do great. And besides, it's going to be refreshing to be in a fight with rules and regulations instead of dealing with monsters, and murderers."
Blake's eyes widened, her bow seeming to move on its own, her face growing pale. Weiss scowled, her ice like eyes darting towards Blake for a moment, before Weiss huffed and crossed her arms. Ruby laughed nervously, and Nora cocked an eyebrow as she glanced from Weiss to Blake.
"Yeah, we've fought a lot of crazy stuff haven't we?" Blake looked down at her lap, a faraway look in her eyes. "I can't even imagine what we're gonna experience once we all graduate and become certified Hunters." Weiss' nose wrinkled as her scowl deepened. Nora opened her mouth-
"Will Team JNPR please report to the Amity Colosseum for their match?" Port's booming voice came from the static filled speakers the restaurant had.
"Like they were scheduled to five minutes ago!" Oobleck's said, nearly unintelligible as the words came out in his usual fast paced manor. Pyrrha stood up, resting a hand on her hip.
"Looks like this is it, team. Let's go get 'em!" She said cheerily. Ruby waved at them, and Yang smiled at them as they stood up, Jaune nearly falling to the floor as he got out of his seat.
"Good luck!" Ruby said. Blake looked up from her lap, and gave them a nod. Weiss's scowl lessened and she sighed before saying.
"I'll try and find a way to treat you four after you win." Nora smirked; oh she just had to win the match now.
The colosseum was packed, people cheering as the two teams stood across from one another in the arena. Emerald climbed the steps, a large popcorn tub in hand, the buttery smell making her mouth water. She took her seat, Mercury sitting next to her. He stuffed his hand into the popcorn bowl, grabbing a fistful and stuffing it into his mouth. Emerald shot him a glare; how dare he touch her corn.
"I wonder who's gonna win," he said, butter running down his chin. Emerald rolled her eyes.
"We already know who's going to win you moron," she said.
"Oh come now, Emerald." Emerald looked behind her and saw Cinder take the seat behind her. Neo was already seated, a cotton candy bigger than her head in hand along with a giant soda. Cinder reached into the tub and took out a single un-popped kernel. Her orange eyes glowed for a moment before the kernel popped, becoming a delicious piece of popcorn. She popped it into her mouth. "Even if you know how a story ends that doesn't make it any less entertaining to watch." She said.
Emerald shrugged, and moved the popcorn tub out of Mercury's reach as she got situated into her seat. Maybe that team of idiots would be entertaining at the very least.
Jaune drew his sword, his shield extending into place. The team across from him smirked, getting their own weapons ready. The screens around the arena came to life, rapidly spinning through a variety of different colored symbols.
"I'm looking forward to this fight, Doctor. This is going to be the first tournament fight Ms. Nikos has been in in several years. Let's hope the rest of JNPR are able to keep up with her." Port said, his voice thunderously loud as he served as the announcer.
"Agreed, Peter. I am looking forward to seeing how Team BRNZ will perform in this fight, they have an impressive track record back over in Shade." The cocky look on the opposing team's faces grew at the mention of their name.
There was a ping, and Jaune glanced over to see that the symbols had stopped; a green tree on one and a white lightning covered mountain on the other. The ground shook as the outer bands of the arena descended into the ground. A thick forest rose up on the side behind BRNZ, and Jaune looked behind him as a mountain rose up. Dark clouds materialized above the mountain, lighting coursing through the cloud, and thunder booming as rain started to pour down. Jaune grimaced, his shoulder's slumping. He turned back towards the other team, Port's voice echoing around him.
"Three! Two! One! Begin!"
Jaune charged forward, his shield raised.
And that's it! Fight scenes are some of my weakest points so I hope I did that fight justice.