The crowd roared as another blow landed on one of the fighters in the ring, her aura dropping another notch on the giant scoreboard.
Blue Team remained silent in their perch high above the stands. Even though the shot was impressive, they risked detection at the slightest sound as they hung from cables directly above one of the many security stations near the top of the stadium. Though they had to worry about sound, the Spartans were protected from any curious eyes by a giant stadium light directly below them.
The teams in the arena seemed fairly evenly matched, with Team RWBY on one end, and another team John didn't know on the other, though he thought they were from Mistral.
Team RWBY looked like they were making some mistakes, but John thought they were doing well, though the other team was taking the advantage. The tide seemed to turn as soon as Blake managed to bait one of the opposing team members out of the arena using her semblance. It gave Team RWBY valuable room to maneuver, something that John had noticed they needed to function at peak efficiency. This strategy allowed them to work together extremely well as long as they outnumbered their opponents, but wasn't nearly as useful against larger groups, especially when separate.
The rest of the match proceeded exactly as John thought it would, with Team RWBY teaming up to take down the remaining foes with flair and efficiency, (for the most part) They moved to descend as their fight was next, and carefully picked their way down to the preparatory rooms to call Ozpin that nothing unusual had happened.
Blue team had to check their equipment through a couple of inspectors to make sure the weapons they wielded were up to code.
Linda carefully set her sniper rifle down on the pad as the tech carefully looked it over, (Think the Kraber from Titanfall 2 with some elements of the halo sniper), followed by a simple sidearm and a more unorthodox set of climbing axes. Their sharp edges and hard angles contrasted with the smooth lines of the sniper, the axes also had a cable that ran from the base of the axe to an attachment on her armored gauntlet.
The old woman who looked more like a librarian than a weapons tech looked up from her inspection, "I've never seen a loadout like this before, but it is all up to code, and very well cared for, good job young lady."
Linda nodded, "Thank you Ma'am." As she took her weapons and walked to the platform that would raise them to the playing field, before running her final checks and waiting for the rest of her team
Kelly was next, she sat down two exact copies of the sidearm that Linda had, and her spear, currently in the shotgun from. The tech took the spear holding it up to the light, and watching as it transformed.
She mused aloud, "Short range gun, long range melee, seems counterintuitive, but you are good."
Kelly took the weapon, "I find it works just fine for me Ma'am," as she followed Linda.
John moved to put his weapons down on the table, and the tech picked them up, only looking at the sidearm for a second, before spending not that much longer on the assault rifle that John had modified to be close to his chosen weapon from back home. She picked up his sword that he had collected from the stash at the fanatics' hideout,
"Hmm, a sword breaker, she ran her finger up one of the blades of the two pronged weapon, (think a steel version of the energy sword, but with the hilt of a normal sword.) I haven't seen one of these in a long time, they used to be illegal for these games, but they were forgotten in the most recent update of the rule set, and it is legal, so," she smirked, "go wreck em honey," John saluted and took his weaponry.
Fred stepped up, placing his rifle and an entire bandolier of knives, 10 to be exact. The tech just raised her eyebrows, he smiled sheepishly behind his helmet as he withdrew a giant Bowie knife from behind his back as well as three throwing knives, sparkling against the examination table's light.
She continued, "All of them,"
Fred pulled another pair that were concealed in specially made slots along the sides of his helmet.
The tech pulled one from the bandolier and flipped it expertly in her left hand as she ran her gaze over the others.
"Everything else looks good, this one, I see the shrapnel explosive in the hilt, sorry that is against the code, but I admire you, that is one I used long ago. Won me my first ever Vytal festival."
Fred nodded, then started the long process of re-sheathing all his knives as he walked to the arena floor.
Team RWBY was about to walk out of the arena to celebrate their win and get rested enough for the next fight, but Ruby turned around because she was curious about the next fight.
"Hey guys, you might want to see this next one." Ruby said as she saw what was on the board.
The others turned around and paused, Yang looked surprised, "is that—the chic who fought uncle Qrow on the roof?"
Weiss squinted down towards the arena floor, "yeah, yeah it is,"
Yang smiled, "I wanna see this fight, I can't wait to see her get whooped."
Ruby facepalmed, "you don't even know her, maybe there was another reason to be on that roof, besides I just want everyone to do well."
Team RWBY moved back to the seats they had sat in earlier, and the woman who was sitting with Emerald and Mercury, who they had met earlier, smirked, "back so soon? Was the festival too much?" Yang thought she was making fun of them, but the tone was too even keeled for that, so Yang just ignored her and sat down.
Kelly knew the crowd would be huge and loud, and had changed her audio reception to compensate, but the experience was entirely different to what she was expecting, and almost overwhelming. With the cheering from all sides, and all the people, all looking at her. She took a deep breath and focused on the team that had ascended opposite to them.
One girl was wearing a tight bodysuit and a full helmet that gave her a faceless appearance, covered by a sandy colored cloak that was split at the waist to allow for mobility, and in her hands, cradled a large sniper rifle, Kelly glanced over to Linda, and saw her and the other sniper had locked gazes and were having an intense staring contest as they analyzed each other.
Kelly moved on to the next target, or targets, as she saw the next two guys looked almost the exact same. They both wore all black garments, and had leather wrapped around key points as light armor. They each had a sword attached to their belt, though one was on the left side and the other on the right, she was betting that their strategy was to flank an opponent and force them to block attacks continuously and tire themselves out, before moving in for the kill. Kelly looked closer at the hilt of each sword, and saw a trigger mechanism on each, great, it's also a gun, she thought to herself.
Kelly looked at the third competitor, and looked shockingly upwards, he was taller than her, taller than John, he was probably bigger than Jorge. The giant of a man wore armor obviously styled from a samurai, and sported a giant greatsword to match, it was at least 4 feet long, and he hefted it with ease. Kelly shook her head.
John's voice came over TEAMCOM, "Kelly, can you handle the big guy, at least for a while, you're the fastest and something is telling me he is on the other end of the spectrum," Kelly flashed her acknowledgment light.
"Fred, I want you and me to take out the ninjas, and Linda, mirror the enemy sniper, she'll probably break for cover and try to pick us off as we are busy with her friends, I know this will be tough, but make her think she has the advantage on you, that will keep her focused on you and not us. The big guy will probably try to split us, so Kelly keeps him off Fred's and my back and we stay together.
Three acknowledgement lights winked on.
An amplified voice broke through the roar of the crowd as Professors Port and Oobleck activated the mic in their announcer's booth, "well Oobleck, we have some interesting contestants for this fight, we've got some very experienced veterans on one side, and on the other, mysterious newcomers that appeared last minute."
Oobleck spoke up, "why yes professor, the team from Mistrel won the previous Vytal festival, though they did have to replace two of their members. First of all," the board showed a picture of the sniper's hood and helmet, giving no clues to what the girl beneath may look like, "we have Caroline Teale, one of last year's winners.
The samurai helmet of the big guy was next, "Chi No Aka, which I believe translates to Blood Red, a very imposing name if I do say so," next were the two ninjas, "and the two newcomers to the team are the brothers Droz and Davis. Together they make up team CCDD, (Chilled)"
Port cleared his throat, "And on the opposite side of the Arena we have our mysterious strangers, Preferring to not give us last names, but oh well, I'm sure reporters will figure out who or what these mysterious fighters are in less than an hour after this fight."
The screen flashed to John's helmet, and Oobleck quickly said, "here we have the team leader, Sam," next was Linda's helmet, "the sniper, that is the one holding the giant rifle, Naomi," after that was Kelly's helmet, the visor being full face, made her stand out a little more from the others, "Adriana," Kelly winced inwardly at having to use the other Spartan's name, but it was necessary to make sure no one connected them with the strange Blue team that showed up suddenly.
Oobleck continued, " and last but not least," the screen showed Fred's helmet, "Kurt. Together they make up team SNAK (Snake)."
Port took the mic, "and now, we are selecting the terrain for this battle that is sure to be memorable, as all battles in the Vytal festival tournament are."
Holograms flared up around the arena, flashing with symbols like a slot machine. The side behind Blue team dinged and the holograms stopped on some sort of small building surrounded by flat ground.
The holograms on the other side of the arena also stopped, showing some sort of craggy rocks.
The metal around the edge of the arena opened up, leaving only a small platform for the two teams to stand on as terrain rose up to fill in the rest of the arena.
Behind Blue team a small building rose up out of the floor, it was simple, consisting of a few cube like structures mashed together to form a solid, if not very good looking, building, it was surrounded on all sides by shallow sand dunes on solid rocky ground, giving areas of sure footing directly next to unstable sand. Behind Team CCDD sharp grey rocks rose up, offering plenty of cover, but restricting movement.
Port spoke up again, "AHA, the outpost and the crags, now that is a new one. Our contestants will have fun with that,"
Oobleck started a countdown, "Teams ready?" Everyone nodded, "3,—2,—1,—FIGHT!"
The sniper, which Blue team had designated target 1, vaulted over a rocky ledge and vanished from sight, but Linda followed the slight sound of the flapping cloak as the girl ran for a new position and tracked it, before moving behind the outpost and clinging to the wall with one of her axes as she peered around the edge of the building with her rifle.
A lens flare caught her eye and she ducked away, just as a whistle sounded and a bullet zipped by where her head had been just a second before, she's good, Linda thought, but she hasn't faced a Spartan before. A slight smile crossed the red-haired Spartan's face behind the impassive mask of the helmet as she poked her head out in the exact same spot, and started teasing the other sniper to keep her occupied.
Kelly looked up at the big guy as he swung his sword downwards at her, he was surprisingly fast, but not fast enough as Kelly darted away, the giant man turned and started to walk over to the others who were fighting over on the other side of the arena.
Kelly murmured to herself, "ah, you aren't going anywhere unless I let you." She jumped up and stabbed her spear down into his armored back, it stopped a few centimeters away from the armor plate, his significant aura stopping the spear in its tracks. Kelly cursed as she saw his aura barely drop at all, and as he turned to look for the threat she pulled the trigger and jumped off his back, using her momentum and the lowered gravity to flip over his head and fired another shot into the snarling mask on the helmet. He stopped, finally seeming to consider Kelly a worthy opponent and raised his sword again and brought it down with the same crushing force as Kelly dodged out of the way again and tried chip away at his considerable aura.
Fred ducked another sword swing as John deflected the other brother's sword with his own, he thought one of the Spartans could easily take one of them in a one on one, but their teamwork was crazy good, and had both the Spartans unable to attack from the relentless slashes and stabs. Fred was currently against the right-handed brother, designated target 3, and the spartan told John, "Switch,"
An acknowledgement light came from the team leader.
John lowered his head, and Fred spun from his target, vaulting over John and using his back as a launchpad to send a knee flying into the left-handed brother, Target 4, knocking him back and giving John some space to isolate target three.
John emptied half his clip into the boy as he came charging at him, before swiftly uppercutting him in the jaw and sending him back towards Fred and target 4 taking his aura almost down to the defeated line.
Fred had managed to chip away at about half of target 4's aura with volleys of throwing knives and the knee to the face when target 3 regrouped with his brother and the two Spartans were put back on the defensive, blocking slashes and stabs relentlessly.
John gave the command to Linda, "take out the sniper, then help Kelly get the big guy so we can take out these two, feel free to use the big gun on him." Another chorus of acknowledgement lights.
John hoped the girls would be quick, as he felt himself and Fred slowly getting pushed back into the uneven footing of of one of the sand dunes.
Linda heard the command she had been waiting for, and cracked a smile underneath her helmet and she pushed the scope of her rifle around the side of the building, letting the link she had installed directly broadcast the scope's image into her helmet. The sniper had relocated once again, moving closer to Kelly and the big guy. Linda took a moment to aim and compensate for the reduced gravity of Remnant, before hooking one of her axes onto the lip of the building and stepping back.
She sprinted forward and launched herself over the top of the building.
Linda heard the crowd gasp, then a loud, whoooooooaaaaah, as she flew over the arena. She aimed her rifle and waited for the sniper's back to be exposed, and as she flew over the shocked girl, she fired two rounds, each impacting her aura and taking it almost to the defeated line.
The girl seemed more than a little surprised, but she spun around and dropped to one knee, and fired at the flying spartan, hitting her in the side of the helmet, knocking her off course. Linda came to a skidding halt, landing in a crouch among the drags of rock only a few feet from the sniper. Linda sprinted over to the recovering sniper, dodging a knife stabbing towards her neck, before throwing a vicious uppercut into the chest of the girl, launching her into the air, Linda threw one of her axes, and saw it dig into what was left of the girl's aura, and she tugged the cable downwards, sending the sniper face first into the dirt, knocking her out cold.
Linda turned and ran over to see Kelly take a hit from the giant samurai, sending her flying into the wall of the small building, and leaving a sizable dent. Linda thought it would be best to get this over with, the fight had gone on long enough.
She took a giant magazine out from behind her back, the thing was huge, about the size of an encyclopedia. She took the thing and set it where a magazine would normally load into her rifle, and hit a switch on the stock.
The rifle's barrel seemed to split and shift, forming into a much thicker version of itself, and the the chamber and magazine well started moving as well, shifting to accommodate the new rounds being loaded in.
Linda racked the slide, loading a giant round into the chamber, took aim at the samurai, and fired.
Instead of the usual crack! That sounded from her rifle, a deep reverberating BOOM! came instead, and the man was suddenly thrown across the arena, flying into the building Kelly had been slammed into before, and completely crushing in the wall.
The man tried to stand, shakily making his way towards the new threat, sword raised, but Kelly stepped in, sweeping his legs out from under him with a well placed kick, she jumped up onto his chest, her spear stabbing towards his chest, and fired her shotgun. His aura popped, and it exploded outward, blowing Kelly back and flooding the arena in an explosion.
Port spoke up from the announcers booth, "and here we have the first activation of a semblance, Chi's dead man's switch, when his aura blows, it explodes, as was evident."
Everyone remaining struggled to their feet. John was the first to recover, and he raised his sword, target 3 started to raise his own feebly, trying to fend off the blow.
John slahed quickly, cutting across the boy's chest and bringing his aura below the defeat line.
Fred had also managed to recover from the blast before his opponent, and threw a volley of throwing knives, cutting through the remains of his aura.
Oobleck suddenly announced, "and the winner is team SNAK! What an upset!"
The crowd roared, voicing their excitement.
The members of Blue Team holstered their weapons, and John offered his hand to Droz, who took it and stood up. Team CCDD regrouped, and stood in front of Blue Team. They saluted the Spartans, and the Spartans returned the gesture, followed by the Spartan smile, swiping a pair of fingers across the visor where the mouth would be.
Team CCDD walked back over to their side of the arena, but Chi stayed, walking over to Kelly, not saying a word, he deeply bowed, once he stood Kelly returned the gesture.
Each team returned to their respective sides, and began to descend to the preparatory levels as the crowd roared its approval.
AN: there you go, next chapter. I hope you enjoyed, as always leave a review with any questions/comments/concerns.
The name of the Samurai was simply a google translate thing, so I apologize if I got it wrong, I was running out of names. Also team CCDD is OC I didn't steal them, but Droz and Davis are references to Titanfall 2, Chi is a reference to the Oni Stalker from Tomb Raider, though less dead and insane, and Caroline is a reference to Carolina from RvB, also a RWBY Easter egg from vol 5, where Qrow is standing next to a bounty board and the name Caroline Teale is listed as search and destroy, right next to a Griffin, which I believe is a wife or daughter of one of the RT guys.
Linda's rifle, I figured why not use the mechashift tech that allows a scythe to also be a gun, to make a sniper rifle to be able to adapt to any type of cartridge.
Armor for the Spartans: picture Halo CE remastered armor, but with each Spartan having their own specialization, like Linda's helmet ends up looking like the Operator from Halo Reach with a bunch of bells and whistles, Kelly has a full visor like in 5, Fred's looks a little bulkier, that sort of thing.
Review responses:
Spartan 626: the eyes and ears part should be more relevant next chapter, I tried to take some inspiration from fight scenes of lots of things, stuff from Halo, Titanfall, RvB, and RWBY were the main ones, as well as my own writing style.
As for Ironwood, he will come up, and play a big part, but not till a little later.
ComparedDread12: armor, I think I answered that in the author's note, but picture Halo CE armor but with their helmets from Halo five, for differentiation and because I want to.
red october 700: I might work that in, thanks for the ideas, I know Ruby will probably think it is adorable as well, but we'll see.
As for the Mjolnir, you aren't wrong, and the aura would stop some, but it is a bit of a stretch, but you know, plot armor, he kinda had to survive temporarily.
I have never liked the bumblebee ship either, I think it takes away from the character of both Blake and Yang, there are some good explanations online but the gist of my reasoning is that both were hurt by Adam, and you don't have to have a significant other to take refuge in and stand together, it can be a good friend, a mentor, a parental figure, but I have found that that is rarely explored.
As for John and Linda, there are few ships for Spartans period, the few that there are, John x Cortana (never been a fan of that one after reading the books, Cortana is basically a copy of Halsey, Halsey is basically John's mom…) John x Kelly, (I could see it, but Kelly is basically his sister, and best friend, so idk) and John x Linda, (I can see it in the same way as the last one, but they weren't as close until around when Sam died, (14 years old) which is when this story takes place, plus it seems to just work better, both in canon and in fics)
Lucky rose might work, but I have a hard time placing Ruby in any ships, she's just too innocent.
StormSpartan21: yep, get that gluten free crap out of my face. A friend had me put that in there, and honestly it turned out better than I thought it would