Pokémon RWBY Chapter 9

A Nervous Chance

Yang wasn't sure why she even came to the coliseum. Not only was she not in any way, shape, or form interested in the whole competition thing, especially with the Vital Festival still way too recent for her to put behind her, the creepy, disembodied voice of Pyrrha and the floating advertisement..

..but there was a part of her that, despite her misgivings, made her go there anyway. The lack of anything else to do, the lack of any idea where else to go other than back to that store. The fact that she didn't really want to even do the whole interview thing but felt like she was committed to it just because she couldn't definitively say no. Where she used to go with the flow because that was its own brand of fun, now she did because she didn't have any drive to really do 'anything'.

Still, even if she didn't really want to be here, just looking at the stadium from the outside was awe inspiring. The building looked 'massive', like it could fit two or three Vital stadiums inside it. Hell, it 'had' three transparent domes, probably an arena under each one. And it was 'swarming' with people.

There had to be at least hundreds on the outside, and none of the people seemed in any hurry to either sign up for the tournaments or buy tickets. Like they were sure they all had plenty of time to just hang around and meet new people, or just catch up with friends. For a moment Yang wondered how you were supposed to tell a trainer with a normal person..then she remembered that Professor Oak implied 'everyone', or at least a very vast majority of the population were trainers to one degree or another.

Well, at least that made it a lot less likely some major disaster like what happened at the festival could happen here. If even little kids could hold their own to a point 'and' there were no Grimm..

Still, just because her brain could rationalize nothing bad was likely to happen didn't mean her heart was convinced. She gave Phyllis and the freshly named Duncan each a look as she said, "Right..we're going in. Phyllis, Duncan, stay close to me. If the crowd is this big 'outside' than we're practically going to be drowning in people that mess."

Phyllis made a noise that could have been an affirmative, but Duncan made a..not so much an immediate distress squawk but an uncomfortable one. Yang was surprised she could even associate a difference in tone like that from a bird. "Yeah, I'm not too comfortable with the idea either little guy. And that's not even getting into the fact I'm going in there because a voice in my head and a magical paper pointed to this place and I don't have any reason not to go other than that was creepy. It's that the place looks obscenely crowded and last time I was anywhere near a crowd 'smaller' than that all hell broke loose."

Duncan made a few more noises and stretched his wings out before flapping them a bit. "What, you're worried about being able to fly in there?"

He nodded at that, getting off the ground to circle around her three times before giving her a questioning, if a bit imperious stare. "Yeah, you'd probably be pretty limited in there, even if the ceiling is high. Especially if I want you to stay close..hm. And forcing you to just stay on my shoulder wouldn't be right, either. Not when I don't know if anything bad 'could' even happen here."

She gave it some thought before grabbing the Pokéball she'd used on him earlier and asked, "Then do you mind getting back in this thing for a while?"

A quick shake of his head. Well, if he felt it was a better idea to get turned into a flash of light and stuffed in a ball than feel constrained flying in a crowded building than who was she to argue? He had more experience being in the ball than her.

With Duncan balled, and Phyllis giving her a nudge, Yang started walking to the door. Her eyes scanned the crowd as she moved through it. Colorful, people of all shapes, sizes, skin tones, clothes that all looked unique and stylish. Coco Adel would have been in heaven, even with the occasional person who looked outrageous. Especially the kid in the blinding orange jumpsuit. Not that she had a problem with orange. Just that it looked about as painful to look at as Jaune's onesie. And one shirtless guy was way too far on the thick side to get away with shirtless. Sure, it looked like firm muscle, not the flimsy result of overeating, but still. She didn't need to see a gut that looked like a globe.

No faunus though. Blake would have fidgeted over that, maybe check how firm her bow was and hope nobody noticed the odd twitch that didn't match the wind. No weapons of any kind, either. Ruby would have been at least a little dejected, even if everything else about all this would have made her downright pleased. From the numerous cute critters that some people wanted to show off to the souvenir kiosks to little kids just running around and having fun. She would have been downright infected by the atmosphere. Fun, energetic, no pressure, just jump in wherever you want. Hard to say how Weiss would have reacted. She loved cute things even more than Ruby, was always more smiley when there was some big event going on, but she also liked a certain amount of order. Would things here be a little too chaotic for her?

All Yang knew for sure was that as she moved by, too many conversations for her to count trailed off as nearby people noticed her. Not everyone but still a solid amount. And while some just mentioned she looked sexy and hot and other compliments, others..

"Um, are my eyes playing tricks or does she only have 'one' arm?"

"Yeesh, I thought I had it rough on the road. Was there an accident or did she piss off the wrong Pokemon?"

"Holy shit, what happened to her?"

..others just made her feel like a freak. What, so a purple horned rabbit thing and a bee bigger than a corgi were so normal that people barely gave them a glance but the one armed blonde? Stop the presses, most definitely the most interesting thing they've ever seen. Giving Phyllis a quick glance, it was obvious she was putting two and two together. With each jackass that just had to audibly gawk at her arm, the little girl visibly got more angry.

While it was oddly comforting to see the bulbasaur getting mad on her behalf, she didn't want Phyllis to get in trouble for lashing out at an insensitive moron. Kneeling down and laying her bag in front of the little girl, Yang whispered, "Sorry but I think we're going to need to move a bit faster. Do you mind getting on?"

Phyllis extended a vine to give Yang a comforting stroke across the cheek before climbing on. Lifting the bag, feeling vines go under her right shoulder, she got back to her feet and moved at a more brusque pace. Taking a moment to feel her cheeks and under her eyes, there were thankfully no tears. At least she hadn't broken down 'that' much. Still, the gesture was..nice. And her little impulse shifted the nearby conversations a bit.

"Holy shit she's strong!"

"Well back muscles are stronger than arm muscles."

"Then how do you explain how she got a big, stuffed bag like that with a bulbasaur riding it to her shoulder? The only thing that moved was her arm, and it wasn't moving fast enough for momentum to mean anything!"

"..um, she's strong?"

"Yeah."

If there was one thing Katsumi didn't see coming, it was how 'crowded' the stadium would be. Sure, he knew these kinds of events drew in a lot of people, from the high end competitors to absolute rookies, and he knew plenty of people enjoyed coming to see the various battles and whatever other contests there were going on. Hell, even when there wasn't some massive event there was always 'something' going on that involved one of the three arenas in this stadium.

For a moment he couldn't help wondering why Viridian had a stadium this massive when every other city only one arena inside. Sure, this was the closest city to the Plateau, but it wasn't the most populated. Though the sheer number of people here certainly gave that impression. He couldn't even see the signs on the wall that pointed to the men's restroom. He 'really' didn't want to piss himself after signing up for the Little Cup. That would be quite the sight, his mother seeing him wet his pants on live television. He'd never live that down.

Still, even in a building with tens of thousands of people constantly moving around, the universe had a very annoying sense of humor. Of all the people he had to see in the middle of the crowd it had to be Azul Oak. And that smug jerk just had to see him as well. "I thought I smelled something pathetic in here."

Don't show any weakness, try to stare him right in the eye.. "What do you want, jerk?"

His ugly, I'm-better-than-you smirk widened. "I wanted to scope out the competition before things got started. I know, not much point when I don't know most of the people here, but now? Now I'm hyped up, because assuming you don't get knocked out before I face you, I'm going to get to humiliate you in a way some teacher won't save your sorry butt."

It probably wouldn't feel 'humiliating', but it still wouldn't be pleasant to lose to Azul of all people. "It's not like you know what Pokémon I've got. Or anyone else. They haven't even decided on the brackets yet!"

And he just waved that all off like it didn't matter to him. "Details, details. What matters is you're here, and this just went from being a nice stepping stone on my way to glory to something 'very' satisfying."

Part of Katsumi wanted to ask what he ever did to deserve Azul going out of his way to constantly put him down in absolutely everything. Schoolwork, a random game on a playground, and now going out of his way to say he was gunning for the only person he even knew on a personal level in a building with tens of thousands of people and probably hundreds of competitors. The other..the other actually 'liked' that Azul was throwing down the gauntlet. It gave him something to aim for other than just a trophy that plenty of other people were probably pretty eager for as well. Something more personal.

Still, he couldn't really find the words to show he was starting to look forward to facing his fellow Pallet Towner. At best he could manage, "We'll see about that."

Storming off in a random direction, it took him a few seconds to remember he 'still' needed to use the bathroom. Well at least he saw a symbol for one..the ladies room. Yeah, he had some pretty iffy luck today.

For the hell of it, Yang picked up a form for the "Little Cup", taking a look at the requirements. Sure, she had no interest in actually joining in, but she couldn't deny she was still curious.

No age requirements, you just needed less than two gym badges. So that meant you could possibly have an old man who wasn't all that good or just someone who was actually good enough to gain those badges, however that really worked, but chose not to just for the sake of easy wins. Though there was one thing that really drew her eye. {Minimum Three Pokémon, Maximum Six}. So even if she wanted to she wouldn't have been able to get in on this. Ha, take that "destiny". While she didn't outright laugh, she just placed the paper back with the stack of with a giggle. If anyone noticed that she found something funny with the sign-up sheet, they either didn't give a damn because they were busy with their own things, or were too distracted by other things about her.

Still, she was here, and didn't really have anything to 'do'. Sure, she could try finding out how to get a seat in this jam packed place, maybe check if she could buy tickets or at least find a place to look at a big screen that showed whatever was going on. It's not like it'd feel right to leave just when she got inside and managed to push herself through the crowd. Now that she was in the middle of the crowd..she just felt so alone. She couldn't help but flash back to that first night at Beacon, when Ruby was writing a letter to her friends in Signal and just feeling apprehensive about being in a place she 'definitely' wanted to be in but felt out of place at.

While the circumstances were 'very' different for Yang right now, it was hard not to see the parallel. Here she was. In a very crowded room and far from home. Everyone around her was linking up with friends they knew from before, or meeting new people, or rushing to get where they definitely wanted to go. She was just..standing around. The closest thing to an anchor she had in the sheer tide of people was a small plant lizard thing that while very friendly she couldn't really have a two way conversation with. It wasn't the first time she felt overwhelmed in this new world, and it probably wouldn't be the last.

So she tried to gather herself, look around for other lone people who she could possibly try talking to. It didn't really matter about what. The tournament, the weather, where the bathroom was, whatever. Just something that..wha..for half a second, as she was scanning the crowd, she thought she saw a 'very' familiar bow. Head whipping in that direction, part of her felt crushed that it was just imagined. The other couldn't help drawing in a breath when she saw someone doing something very familiar. So familiar in fact that she couldn't help seeing a ghost of Blake in her yukata interposed on top of..

Leaning against a wall, sitting crosslegged with a book in hand, ignoring everything in the world around her..er, no, that was actually a boy. Jet black hair, a dark blue hoodie with a yellow crescent moon that curved upwards on the hood, but what really caught her attention was an eyepatch over his right eye. The kid couldn't have been any older than Ruby, but he was in his own little world over there. The crowd meant nothing to him, just the book in his hand. Without even thinking about it she started walking towards him, almost 'feeling' Ruby moving with her. Shaking her head a bit, she whispered to both herself and Phyllis, "Okay, I 'really' get the feeling something's messing with my head here. No voices but I don't think I'm actually crazy enough to start seeing ghost images of Beacon. If I was then I'd have been doing that 'way' before getting in here."

Phyllis gave her shoulder a comforting squeeze and a questioning..should she call that a hiss or a meow? Either way, Yang felt like saying, "Well, even if I'm just being pulled around right now, it's not like I've got anything 'better' to do than go along with it. Kind of annoying, and maybe creepy in its own right, but.."

She wasn't even sure why she was saying this aloud. At the very least it was clearly making Phyllis feel a bit uneasy, and just putting words to those feelings made approaching Not-Blake while she/he was reading just like she and Ruby did back in that first night of Beacon just made it feel like a bad idea. But what else 'could' she do? Go back to that store and start telling the old store owner she was getting creeped out? Maybe run all the way back to Pallet and lock herself in a random room in Professor Oak's lab complex and keep festering in her own insecurities?

Those didn't feel right to her, even if they were undeniably safer options. Despite her losses and lack of equilibrium in pretty much any definition of the phrase, at heart she was still Yang Xiao Long. The fiery brawler of Team RWBY. Even if she was physically mangled and emotionally reeling, she wasn't just going to run away now. Not when the images she was seeing here weren't actually scary in themselves. Just unnerving. Now if she saw all hell breaking loose like during the Vital Festival or that masked swordsman, 'then' she'd lose herself and scramble to get out of there.

As if hearing her thoughts, the phantom Blake lowered her book and gave Yang a half smile. The rest of the interposed feeling of being back in Beacon disappeared, but the phantom Blake remained just long enough to say, "Thanks for giving me a chance."

Given the way Phyllis shivered on her back, she wasn't the only one to hear that voice. But nobody else in the building reacted. Definitely creepy. But considering how screwed up her life was now, she could tolerate that kind of creepy. It still didn't change the fact that the night she'd first met Blake, she'd called her future partner a lost cause, so it's not really like she "gave her a chance". She just needed a moment to rub her eyes and mumble, "I really have to ask if this kind of weird stuff is normal around here or if it's just me."

It was a little awkward giving Phyllis a comforting head rub without shifting the bag, but somehow Yang managed it. And then she whispered, "Don't worry, That was a friend's voice. Well, a friend of mine who isn't actually here, but I wouldn't mind if she was, or if the other person who talked to us was here. I don't have any idea why we're hearing them, but better a creepy friend than something that's actually trying to hurt us, right?"

Phyllis made another uneasy sound, and Yang chuckled. "Yeah, really weirding me out too. First it's 'destiny', then we're apparently 'giving a chance'. So mixed messages on top of everything else. I miss the days when my life was simple. Wake up, go to class, maybe punch some jerks, and just have fun."

Bringing her arm back to her side, ignoring the annoying little twitch that told her she'd had it at a very awkward angle when she'd pet Phyllis, Yang breathed in deep before saying more to herself than the bulbasaur. "Well, maybe I can manage to have 'some' fun at least. Making friends is generally fun, and if nothing else that creepy ghost thing reminded me that I've done this song and dance before. Let's see if I can do this better than last time."

So she walked up to Not-Blake, replaying her and Ruby trying to talk to Actual-Blake. Just walking up and saying "Hello" in a sing-song voice wasn't going to be very endearing, it'd just be annoying. Especially if that was a very good book. Still, she needed to come up with 'some' way to get him out of that fictional world and interacting with her for at least a bit, so no matter how things went she was going to be starting an uphill struggle. She took a quick glance at the cover, trying to see if that would give her any ideas. {A Storm of Swords, Book Three of A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin}

..great, so looking before she leaped didn't really tell her anything other than this was part of a larger series of books. And the guy who wrote it 'definitely' didn't have a color themed name. That would never stop feeling strange to her. Guess she was going into this conversation mostly blind. Random compliments on appearance would just be another shallow distraction, and given her own feelings about people talking about her lack of an arm, asking about his lack of an eye was a definite no no. So she'd just have to make her opener something about a book she'd never read.

"Pleasant read?"

Where Actual-Blake might have arched an eyebrow at the interruption, clearly wondering what the point of it was, Not-Blake laughed as he pulled a bookmark out of his pocket and placed it inside, though he didn't shut the book just yet. "Depends on your idea of pleasant. In terms of writing it is 'excellently' done. I was just about to close it up just to digest how I feel about what just happened, actually. It is an emotional beatdown."

Giving a sardonically humorous huff at that, Yang gave a little smirk. 'Emotional beatdown', huh? "Yeah, I've seen and gone through plenty of beatdowns. The emotional ones are the worst. You can't just walk it off."

He raised his head to actually look at the person he was talking to, his eye skimmed from her missing arm to her face and all he did was give a little half smile. Yeah, this was definitely going better than her first conversation with Actual-Blake. "Nope, and you keep carrying around those scars for a long time. Well thankfully the beatdowns you get when you see characters you like getting hurt in a story isn't as bad as actually going through a disaster, or seeing someone you care about go through one. Still, yikes. Going from a nice, pleasant wedding to a complete bloodbath."

Oh that struck a bit close to home. A pleasant Festival celebrating relative peace in the world turned into a chaotic warzone. Hopefully he wouldn't comment on her little wince. "I don't suppose any of the characters you cared about managed to get out of that mess, did they?"

His eye scrunched in an exaggerated wince of his own. "Just the ones who weren't even there for the party. The bride, the groom, the guests, the family dog..yeah, the author has some issues."

Somehow, despite the fact that they were talking about something completely horrible, she just couldn't keep from smiling. "Oh..oh damn. Worst wedding gift ever. 'Welcome, I bring death, do you have any cake left'. I can't even think of any wedding where that'd go over too well."

He gave another laugh at that, "Well to be fair most of the people in it didn't have a lot of time to complain."

Why was it that talking about something that sounded like a major tragedy was so amusing? Especially when she was still a little raw from her own tragedy? Was it the idea that it wasn't just 'her' that got dealt a bad hand? Or just the fact that it was fictional so there was more of a sense of disconnect when she already felt pretty disconnected from the world around her? "Sounds like a book I'm probably not going to get into myself."

Closing the book and putting it in the pocket of his hoodie, he shrugged. "And I don't blame you. I'm just a little too hooked on it to back out now, though."

Standing up, he wasn't all that tall compared to her. He could have easily just stared right at her boobs if he didn't bother raising his head. Extending his left hand, he introduced himself. "The name's Masamune Date. And you are?"

She extended her own. That went a lot better than last time she'd interrupted a bookworm. "Yang Xiao Long."

Author's Note: And so the Golden Dragon of Patch has met the One Eyed Dragon of Oushuu. Not that Pokémon seems to have an Oushuu province in their version of Japan that I've seen.

This is another of the Sengoku inspired characters. I felt that something similar to the Sengoku Basara interpretation of the guy, Quiet and good natured off the battlefield for the most part and over-the-top brash when on the battlefield will be an interesting one to work with. Still not sure what his role's going to be like as a whole yet but I'd like to be able to pull off Masamune, Katsumi, and Yang joining as a party to go from one town to the next. While the old seasons of the anime had their issues, I still liked the Brock/Misty/Ash dynamic and want to see if a Yang/Masamune/Katsumi thing will bounce or just crash flat.

Anyway, that felt like a good point to end this chapter. Yang meets a potential friend, and has some more questions to ask on top of whatever the actual events of the tournament are going to be. Going to put the whole psychic watcher thing on hold, don't want that plot idea to tire itself out.

Next time, I'm going to have to come up with a way for Yang to start watching the tournament with the old store owner/Shingen, having various things explained to her as each round goes on. It wouldn't feel right for me to just have our creepy psychic prophet leading her to 'that', then Yang would feel less like a person who makes her own decisions as she makes an impact on the world around her, and more like a dog that's being pulled by a leash to whatever the plot requires of her. While I had a moment of thinking she could either head back to the store and watch on a TV with him or he just stumbles onto her and they walk into the stands..neither really feels right. I'm also not sure if she should focus on watching just the rookie trainers battle it out or get to witness some higher ranked matches in the other tournaments as well.

Anyway, until next time. Hope this was a fun chapter to read.