Just got through with re-reading all of my chapters. I did some decent work towards the latter half. I don't remember most of the scenes I wrote, which was entertaining because it felt like a new book. Only issue is if I want any more I have to write it. So here you go.
The Vytal Tournament was definitely going well. Round One, as agreed, RWBY was fighting with my absence. But it didn't matter.
These tournaments were meant to be opponents of near-equal skill and strength level facing off with slim victories. The fight in front of me, however, was more akin to a group of marines fighting a backstreet gang. Painfully one sided.
Between the unpredictable rune and glyph combinations Weiss performed, Ruby's Velocity form, Yang's 'Berserker' as Ruby named it, and Blake having a somewhat decent hold on her Independent Clones, the other team was struggling to even keep their ground, let alone advance.
If one were to judge the fight based on aura alone, it would seem much closer. While RWBY was dealing quite the damage to their opponents, the amount of aura that their individual abilities used was staggering compared to their typical consumption, leaving each only about 10-20% above their opponent.
Still though, the fight was over in half the expected time. A green-haired woman with a hovering board as a weapon was unable to withstand Blake's continued assault with her Independent Clones, turning a 1v1 into a 4v1, floating numbers and advantages like oil on water. She was overwhelmed.
An agile and sturdy garrote user at first had Yang at a disadvantage, but with the activation of her Berserker, strength overcame agility in close combat. The fighter, though experienced in a variety of martial arts, was no match for simplicity honed to perfection.
Weiss and Ruby switched positions, the heiress opting for long range rune-based missile while Ruby dominated close-quarters with Velocity. Both of their opponents were unimpressive, leaving easy openings and showcasing low durability.
The fight ended and the crowd cheered. I, however, watched and observed silently during the entire ordeal. The team had grown swiftly beyond my expectations, and along with the impending bomb that JNPR posed even without my guidance, I knew that the day I made my move would be a challenging one indeed.
The thought propelled me complacently to the festival's food stalls, where the smell of noodles and fresh broth mingled sickeningly with the scents of sugar-filled treats for children. The strangest of cultural combinations that resulted in something less than the sum of its parts.
Still, a body has to eat, so I ordered a large beef bowl for myself and sat with my team. While they ordered, all of them spoke to me about the well earned victory, and I made some comments of how far their training had taken them, but also garnished those compliments with educational comments and complaints on their few flaws.
As we talked, a familiar green haired and dark skinned woman sauntered up to us, imparting her unwanted presence into the group of us.
Ruby's eyes widened a bit and her mouth stretched into a smile. "Hey Emerald. Long time, no see!"
Emerald straightened up and I felt her hand brush my side. When I glanced at her I noticed that my wallet had been stolen from me. But with as close as she was, a counter-attack wouldn't be hard.
"Yeah, it has. Hey, me and my team just got back from the stadium after watching your amazing fight. You did great out there." Emerald showered Ruby in compliments and she cracked like an egg, devolving into shy kid-speak. I leant slowly back on my seat to better get a look at the back of her combat leggings. Purely for thieving purposes, of course.
"Thanks. What about you? How did your team do in their fight?" Yang asked while Ruby mumbled to herself giddily. I caught sight of a silver-colored wallet and a burner scroll. As she spoke I deftly hooked both of them and drew them into my cloak.
"Really well." Emerald answered after a moment of pondering the viscous defeat they had forced onto the opposing team. It really was something to behold. I had caught the commentary through an earpiece I owned.
"That's great. Hey, how about we all go out and get some victory food?" Ruby posed.
Emerald leaned back a bit and a face of shock and regret filled her features all too perfectly for my liking.
"That's… Really nice of you. But my team is a bit… Introverted. Really socially awkward." As she spoke she leaned her head over to a silver haired man sniffing intently into a pair of boots, seeming unsatisfied with the results, and went for a different pair.
"So yeah. Looks like Murc and I will be moving up to the doubles round. What about you guys?"
Ruby pepped up and began to speak before stalling and then tapping me on the arm.
"There's been a bit of a change of plans recently. We were going to go with Yang and Weiss for round two, but after a little more thinking, we've all decided it would be best to have Darren solo the doubles round." All meaning all of them, and this was news to me.
Ruby spoke apprehensively as if I would suddenly up and reject the idea. I might have, if not for the immediate emotion on Emerald's face. Faux excitement first, but a thinly veiled mask of caution and stress.
"That'll be a challenge. You sure you're up for it?" Her question posed to me, and I took the opportunity to show her that I was.
Smoothly, I slid the burner scroll and her wallet from my jacket and flaunted them in front of her. The reaction was immediate and truthful. Her red eyes widened first in surprise, then anger and disbelief, and finally a cold resentment found a place to call home.
"What? It's only fair after you nicked mine. Although a bit of an uneven trade. I was nearly empty and it seems you've had a productive day." I counted out a dozen 100-lien bills from the wallet to accentuate my point.
She grasped at her side once to make sure I hadn't pulled any illusion on her. Then, she politely held out my wallet. I tucked the bills back in, save for two that I tucked into my sleeve, and we traded our items back to their rightful owners. Of course mine didn't belong to me. It was previously owned by one Timothy Andres.
"Good trick. Where'd you learn pickpocketing that well?" Emerald asked me. I shrugged.
"Didn't really. Your only about my 4th victim to date."
My words had the intended effect of reigniting her anger into something very thinly held beneath a guise of pleasantries.
Emerald spouted a few more bits of nonsense about her and her team moving onwards, gave us all a wish of luck, and briskly left.
Our attention turned quickly to the food ordered. Many of us stayed simple and ordered noodle bowls of absurde carnival size. Blake had requested some special that topped it off with a variety of fresh fish in half a dozen different species. Her eyes dilated and the second she was to dig in, the shopkeeper tapped harshly on the register three times.
"Right." Weiss said, and produced a glimmering blue credit card. The shopkeeper swiped away from her.
"Aw, Weiss, you don't have to." Ruby said.
"Call it a celebration for our handy victory, and a personal thanks to Darren for helping us total the competition."
How nice. Just as all of us were preparing to dig into the massive bowls of noodles in front of us, a shrill whistle followed by Weiss' card impacting the table in front of us stopped the team dead in its tracks.
The shopkeeper grunted, and elbowed the register, showing 'Declined' in red letters. Blake made some quiet despairing noise and tried to stealthily pull her bowl towards herself before it was swiped away from her. Startlingly fast movement from a simple shopkeeper.
"How can my card be declined? I was barely into my monthly allowance." Weiss spoke to herself.
Footsteps approached us from the right, familiar with metal clanking. I turned to see JNPR, every member looking in decent health, if a bit tired. Except for Pyrrha.
"Maybe I can help?" She said, her voice confident and true as if her hardships had never landed on her.
As she produced a red credit card, her hand did not shake. Her entire physique was different as well. She did not lose muscle mass, as my first glance intuited me. Instead I saw that what muscle she had was simply more taught and shrunken, tempered like steel. Her skin was nearly glowing and only marred by a few fresh scars from burns and cuts. She wore them proudly in between her armor.
"Pyrrha, you don't have you." Yang said gently. Blake immediately popped upwards, speaking as if the lien in her card might be her salvation.
"But she could!" Smiling, Pyrrha passed the card to the shopkeeper.
"Well, call it extending olive branch. We've been a bit distant from your team recently, and we're sorry. We have no trouble with you at all. So do you mind if we join you?" Pyrrha spoke emphatically, and it confused me. Just a week ago she was nearly a shambling wreck who had likely been trapped in her Focal Point, and the rest of her team had been injured greatly. Ren shouldn't have even been walking around.
I switched to an Aura view to get a better look at Pyrrha. What I saw surprised me. Instead of churning slowly beneath the surface like most aura, here waved around in great swaths like the arms of a hurricane, briefly passing each piece of metal and recognizing it.
Three-Dimensional sight based on ferrous metal particles. Not only that, but a significant boost to her aura itself. Worse yet, I recognized the movements. She hasn't left the Focal Point at all, still well within its grasp, but without any of the telltale adrenaline rush and shaken composure. I wondered if she had mastered it yet, or if she even knew what was happening.
To me, it seemed her self-awareness and confidence had skyrocketed, and her constant minuscule use of her semblance gave her a sense of ownership of the air around her. Not untrue, given the volatile and fundamental nature of it.
Regardless, their group joined us to eat and the shopkeeper grunted happily as credits transferred, returning Blake's bowl. She gazed at it starry-eyed before ravenously consuming it.
"So, no trouble with me as well?" I posed to JNPR. Pyrrha paused, a bite halfway to her mouth, before setting it down.
"Well, if I can speak clearly…" she asked, and I waved my hand.
"You were the cause of my momentary… destabilizing. And that warrants some mal-feelings. But…" She trailed off, and Jaune, most surprising of all, picked the trail up.
"But you were also the one who picked up the pieces. You helped when no doctor could, and you did it well. And you stood up to all of our anger in the field." Jaune finished and Nora picked up.
"And I wasn't all the way unconscious after the bang. I saw you carrying Pyrrha out after."
Pyrrha finished their train of thought. "So, between the ill feelings and equal appreciation, I believe the term is 'start back on square one'?". Pyrrha extended a hand to me across the dining space.
Humans. They always surprised me. I thought I had broken her and her team's trust forever. Yet, here they sat, willing to start over. And all of them in full armor and gear, alluding that they may be fighting their next match just a week after a total collapse.
I shook the hand offered to me. I noticed my team silent as I did so. "Sure. So, you're fighting your match today?"
"Yes we are. I believe all of us are in decent enough health, and we all learned quite a bit from our bout with you. Facing an individually stronger opponent as a team helped us realize a few flaws. And I've learned quite a bit myself."
"Oh I bet you have. I think I'll watch." I told them. Jaune cracked a small grin in my direction.
"Don't get any ideas for trying to take me down yet. I still want a rematch. One on one."
An idea sparked within me. "Actually, Jaune, how much time is there before your next match?"
He answered me, about four hours. Not enough.
"Why?" He asked.
"Program my number into your scroll. I've recognized that sword and shield of yours, and I was wondering if you ever realized that there was an armor to go along with it?" Jaune's surprise, curiosity, and partial distrust were obvious.
"I've never heard of it. It's been generations and we've only had just these."
"Well. Not everyone knows everything. I stumbled by it on chance. Call for me after your match." I knew that every Hunter was as good as their gear. If the impenetrable Crocea Armis was as venerable as the history showed, Jaune might pose a most difficult opponent if properly equipped.
That, and I knew my time was drawing short. So much to do. In another week and three days, the duos would occur. Judging by Emerald's reaction when she heard I would be fighting solo, I had something to talk with Cinder about.
Final preparations had to be made.
"Right. I'm gonna be thinking about that the entire fight." Jaune said as he programmed my number and tossed my scroll back. I chuckled.
I ate neatly and properly, as did Weiss, Pyrrha, and Ren. The rest, however, gorged themselves fleetingly on their meals, much to their own complaints. Blake was satisfied, Nora nearly unconscious, and Jaune regretted having put that much food into his system at all.
"I'm going to step away for a bit, got a call to make. I might see you at the match." I told my team, before tipping the shopkeeper for some quite excellent food, and leaving.
I stalked into a thicket if the woods and phoned Cinder. She picked up nearly immediately.
"Oh, Darren. I am… Enamored as to why you are calling me." She sounded confident through her mask, but I know she was still shaken after I revealed my true nature to her. A proper and right fear.
"Had a talk with your illusionist. She seemed perturbed that I am participating in the duos rounds as a solo combatant. Something wrong with that?"
She paused on the line before speaking.
"N-Not much. A bit of a wrench is all. Nothing I cannot work around." Liar.
"Sure. Except I don't know what your work is, why that is a wrench, or what you're planning. Listen to me three times. I can play a part. Our goals already coincide, I just need to know my lines."
"R-Right. Well, if you're willing, I need you to do something for me."
Cinder's plan was for the members of RWBY that participated in the duos round to handily win, and without making a scene. With the training I had given them, that was sure to happen.
The issue arose in the singles round, where they knew a member of her team would face a member of ours, previously me. The goal was for me to make my appearance then, and using a bit of illusion and video editing, start a fire of disaster in the stadium that would draw in Grimm with the emotional backlash.
Then, the fireworks would start.
"I'll switch to singles. It gives me more time to prepare. The previous choice was Weiss and Yang. That'll probably be who fights in the duos."
"Well, that's certainly helpful. Thank you, Darren." She sounded relieved.
"Thank me by keeping me more in the loop. If you don't, you might get caught in the crossfire."
She heeded my warning and quickly hung up. My business done, I stalked back to my team.
"Switch me back out for Singles." I told them.
"Why? You've already shown you can solo a full team. You in duos is a guaranteed win." Ruby asked me.
"Because it's a garunteed win either way. Any one of you is stronger than the competition at this point. I think it'll be a bit more of a show as a one on one. Personal preference, really."
Ruby frowned. "Alright, I guess that's fine. The main reason we wanted you in duos was to give the single fighter more time to train."
I shook my head. "One week or two won't make a difference, at least for most of you. Weiss is the only one at this point I can make any great progress with. Tommorow, Weiss, I'll let you in on the advanced rune sets and the physical augmentation forms."
Weiss perked up at this. I had been denying her the more complex sets for quite a while. She was had been unsteady with the intermediate runes for a while, but I figured her flawless performance in today's battle proved her enough.
"Great!" She said victoriously. Ruby caved and switched my spots, having to make a few calls herself.
I left soon after sending a message to Neo. We were nearly done preparing our fireworks, and I needed to drag the Crocea Armis out from the depths of the Black Box.
A pity I couldn't stay to see the match JNPR fought, but I had much to prepare with little time.
And there you have it. First chapter in a long, long time. No combat in this one, which is my writing strongsuit.
As you can likely tell; we're nearing the end of the story with our place in Volume 3. In looking forward to the next one. See you later.