Pokémon RWBY Chapter 10

She'd certainly hit it off with this Masamune guy. And she hadn't made herself feel like an uninformed idiot while doing so. Though part of that involved her not mentioning certain things, like being used to fighting monsters, not working with them. And she had no idea how that was really supposed to work even if she was willing to be friendly with the things. Part of her wondered if it was even right to call living creatures she could interact with in such detail, even if they couldn't really talk back, as 'things'.

"Sorry, I'm in more of a spectator mood than getting into the thick of it. It's already pretty thick in 'here'."

In a way it felt a little dishonest, but at the same time she couldn't help feeling amused by the irony. The kid reminded her of Blake yet Yang was the one who wanted to keep some secrets. All because she didn't want to deal with being considered different. Granted, she wasn't trying to avoid dealing with bigots and at worst she might feel humiliation, but she wanted to think this was about what Blake felt before she wound up revealing she was a faunus.

Still, even if she was holding back part of the truth they were having a good back and forth. "Oh I know the feeling. Sure, it can be fun going in front of a crowd and trying to get them to cheer you on, but some days being around people can feel downright 'crushing', and it's generally a bad thing when you're feeling crushed just as the buzzer rings."

It's a little worse when you get arrested just after a match. Though she'd still swear the guy attacked her after the match and got what he asked for. Not that she should reopen that can of worms to someone who hadn't even seen her go through that crap. "Yeah, when your head's not in the game or your heart's not feeling it you're just going to get sloppy. And if I think I'm just going to be sloppy then why embarrass myself if I can avoid it?"

His smile shifted into more of a smirk. "Then it's a good thing I'm feeling it. Doesn't matter if I make it to the championship or not, this is going to be fun. Me and my team are here to make an impact."

Oh, Masamune had a cocky streak. He 'definitely' would have fit in the Vital Festival, and unlike that Neptune guy it felt like more than just an act. She gave a matching smirk. "And I'm already looking forward to seeing what you've got."

Before their conversation could shift to another direction, one of Phyllis' vines let go of Yang's shoulder and gave her a light poke to the cheek. Huh, somehow managed to forget the little girl was still riding her bag. That same vine gestured back towards the entrance and when she turned her head to look, she had to blink.

The crowd was practically bubbling near the doors, with everyone but the people with the closest view pushing to get a look, and the ones with the best view standing stock still. And somehow, without a word being said or any physical force, they parted, revealing the man that had captured everyone's attention just by entering the building.

The first thing Yang noticed about him was that he was wearing armor. Finely polished armor, not quite reflective but that was more the fault of the material it was made of than a lack of diligence. A very dark, almost blue, almost purple. She couldn't really tell even with the lighting in there. Just that it wasn't actually black despite how dark it looked. She also didn't know what that specific kind of chest protector was called, but the horizontal strips of ceramic looked more than just decorative. They looked designed to prevent any kind of slash related damage and would probably make it tougher for any piercing weapons to reach the flesh underneath. His footfalls, while heavy due to the armor he was wearing, were steady and sure. He was used to wearing all that, from the grieves to the gauntlets. Though he didn't have a helmet to complete the ensemble, he had a simple but long white cloth, wrapping from the left side of his body to the top of his head, looking like a cowl, though she'd never seen one worn in that particular way. It didn't cover his face, just his scalp and ears.

The next thing she saw was the expression on his face. Narrowed eyes, like he was already concentrating and didn't want to bother paying attention to anything other than his goal. A stern frown, less an indication he wasn't pleased about anything in particular and more like he'd forgotten how to smile a long time ago. Age had left 'some' wrinkles on the edges of what was visible, but it was hard to call him an old man. Just like it was tough to call Glynda Goodwitch an old woman. There was more than plenty of fire behind those eyes, plenty of things he wanted to do in his life before he started slowing down.

He walked through without interruption, the din of the stuffed building nonexistent in either respect or fear, possibly both. At most one kid looked ready to try getting his autograph or something, took one look at that all too intense visage, and froze up. Wow. Probably someone 'very' famous. So as much as Yang may have wanted to ask who that was, it just felt like a bad idea right then and there. Then she'd come across as dense as Jaune or something.

The moment he was out of the entrance hall, it was like everyone remembered what they were doing and got back to it. Holy shit, not even Pyrrha would have had that kind of affect on people and she was about as famous as they got on Remnant. She was more intimidated by the effect he had on the people around her than his actual appearance. He looked like just any hunter with a unique sense of style, and radiated an intensity she'd come to expect from veterans who were all-business. Scarred but undeterred.

Masamune seemed to take a little longer to recover than the average person, but before he could say anything, a voice made him, Yang, and Phyllis jolt in surprise. "Am I correct in assuming you are Ms Xiao Long?"

Yang spun around so fast that Phyllis nearly went flying from the momentum, gripping her shoulder hard with a cry as she unconsciously got into a fighting stance. Or at least what counted as a fighting stance for her now, a lone arm raised near her cheek and knees slightly bent.

While the guy she turned to face was uncomfortably close, nothing about him looked in any way dangerous. Scrawny, unarmed, hands in his pockets, relaxed smile on his face, really the only reason Yang's danger senses were going off was because he'd seemingly came out of nowhere. "Ah, apologies for surprising you. It looked like you were done speaking to Mr Date there and I wanted to inform you that Professor Oak arranged for you to be in the VIP lounge."

He'd arranged for..the hell? She didn't even know she was going to 'be' here an hour ago. How did he know she'd come here? Was he responsible for the floating paper, the voices in her head?

Almost before she was done thinking it she shook the idea off. No way. The guy was painfully transparent. His version of subtle just veered into awkward, not creepy. Even if he somehow could pull crap like that, it wouldn't feel like his style. Not that some guy out of nowhere knowing her and the person she was talking to by name wasn't its own brand of creepy.

The tight grip Phyllis had on her shoulder seemed to make it all the more obvious that the little girl was even 'more' on edge than Yang, which somehow convinced her to physically relax if not mentally. Reaching with her arm to give a soothing rub to the bulbasaur's forehead, the blond gave the guy another appraising glance. Still nothing remarkable about him, at best he was wearing a uniform that she'd seen on some other people wandering around the building. So at the very least he seemed legitimate.

Hoping her voice was firm, she figured she'd stall for a bit just to see how the guy reacted. "Right..think I'll hit the bathroom first, though."

He was clearly in no hurry for her to go to the lounge, so that was reassuring. "The woman's room is that way, between the snack bar and the help desk."

Nodding, she took her time heading that way. He didn't follow her even partway there, just faded back into the crowd and went off to do other things. Trying to shake off any paranoia, Yang couldn't help chuckling to herself. Not too long ago she would have ignored anything off about any situation unless Ruby..or really any of her teammates were involved. Hell, she felt like her attitude these days was little better than when Blake decided sleep was for the lazy. At least Blake had the excuse that there were people who undeniably wanted to hurt herself and others were definitely out there. Whereas Yang was deep in the unknown and feeling as jumpy as a long tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs. Huh, she didn't remember if she'd ever said that one to Blake. Would that have made her exasperated, angry, or actually get her giggling?

Her train of thought derailed when she saw Katsumi exiting the lady's room. His expression shifted to deer-in-headlights horror. And then she found herself giving him a teasing grin. "Wow. Pretty bold there, kid."

The way he just sputtered was 'perfect'. Hurried but easier to keep up with than Dr Oobleck. She could easily imagine Ruby with her hand in the cookie jar and coming up with some flimsy excuses. "Na..no! I know what it looks like, but..I just couldn't find the men's room, and I 'really' had to go, like seconds away from crapping myself, so it's, like, do I risk getting accused of pervert stuff or stinking the place up before the first match even starts, and why are you grinning like that? Please don't hurt me!"

That just made her laugh. Not a full blown, bending over and running out of breath laugh but still pleasant. "Hey, it's fine. You're young enough to get away with that, just don't make it a habit, kid."

The look on his face was still a little nervous but, credit where it's due, he managed to crack a joke. "You sure? That looked a lot cleaner than the usual boys rooms."

That got her laughing again.

It felt more than a little awkward for Shingen to be sitting in the VIP lounge. It was one thing to watch the occasional old friend or promising youngster on television, it was another to actually be in a stadium again. He'd effectively retired three years ago, and while he still looked at his time in the game fondly, he had no regrets.

Still, his last conversation with Samuel was rather convincing. And it didn't hurt that Yang had made a good impression on him. She was a caring, nurturing individual who had a strong sense of responsibility that was stronger than her damaged self-esteem. So being here to effectively comment on various matches, answering whatever questions she had would be a pleasure. Even if the environment he was doing it in stung a bit.

At least he'd managed to get here without the crowd noticing. Last thing he needed was some fans of his wondering if he'd step out of retirement for at least a few matches. It's downright amazing what a trench coat, shades, and bowler hat could do to help the famous blend into a crowd, though he had to take them off once he got in the lounge. Downright stifling.

And even more amazing how downright popular Kenshin was. He was damned good, but he wasn't the type to try pleasing the crowd. Hell, he preferred to end his fights as quickly as possible, with plenty of one hit wonders. Aggressive, unrelenting, and anyone who wasn't good enough would be finished so fast you wouldn't be able to eat a second handful of popcorn. Just what made people enjoy watching mostly squash matches, anyway? Did they like to imagine themselves as Kenshin, a near unstoppable force? Or did they like to imagine getting to a level where they could enter the very exclusive club of worthy opponent?

His musings were cut off when the door opened, and the young lady paused, drinking in the sight of the VIP lounge. She didn't really look amazed by the room, more like amused. Nice that she wasn't easily impressed by an expensive set-up.

The first thing Yang noticed when she walked in was the red rug. It was a darker red than Ruby's cloak, more like a sensual wine than a cherry. The sort of red she imagined were bedsheets in Blake's more raunchy books. The surface looked like it was trying to seem similar to sand, but it didn't shift around like sand. It just felt like any other rug she'd walked on that didn't have enough slack to bunch up.

The wall with the door behind her and about half of the walls to the left and right were a shiny marble white. She grazed her fingers across the surface, expecting to feel smoothed out stone and it was too cold to be that. Too easy for her fingers to slide across the surface. Metal. And it was painted to look like rock. The dim lighting on top of that made it feel almost like she'd walked into a cave.

The other half of the two walls and the surface directly in front of them was glass. Tinted, probably not the kind of glass that the people on the other side could see through, and holy crap they had a view of three different arenas at once, all of which were open for business and filling up with thousands of people. In a way that view clashed with the false cave aesthetic, but the very expensive looking screens about twelve feet up at each section of window made more sense than if they were attached to the metal false-marble.

But the crown jewel were the chairs. Five of them with little control sticks so you could move them along the rails if you wanted to shift your attention from one arena to the others. Four of them looked pretty fancy, all leather and cushioned and able to lean back. But the center one, the fifth, looked like a freaking throne. Larger, more imposing, with a trio of birds carved to stare menacingly at whatever the guy in the seat was facing, an especially spikey, golden bird in the center and flanked by its smoother looking crimson and azure brothers.

The only other person in the room was the old store owner from before, sitting on one of the lesser chairs with a comforting smile directed at her. She smiled back and just 'had' to ask, "Do I need to worry about the guy who belongs on 'that' loveseat popping up? Because yeah, anyone who sits in chairs like that is a little tough not to mock. Sure, I've seen worse, but.."

That got him chuckling. "Oh no, he's apparently off on business. The man has a number of business ventures on top of him being a gym leader. So despite paying quite a lot of money of the single largest stadium on the planet, he doesn't really have the free time to actually watch these kinds of events live. At least not without several distractions getting in the way."

That was awkward. Didn't the professor say that gym leaders were unappreciated? What kind of "unappreciated" guy made a chair like that? Compensating for something, dreams of being a king, a flair for the dramatic? At least she had an opening question for him when she had to give him an interview, what was with that chair? And why did he make the VIP room look at least partly like a cave? So two questions then.

Putting thoughts of talking to a very rich guy with odd ideas of interior design aside, she set down her bag and thumbed Duncan's ball. "Well, if he's not here to object than there's probably no harm in letting this little guy stretch his wings."

As Phyllis got off the bag and felt the material the ground was made of, Duncan returned to the world in a flash of light, taking a look around the room until his eyes locked onto the fake birds on the chair. While it wasn't a hostile stare, it was still kind of funny. Too bad she couldn't read that expression. "Well there's not a massive amount of room in here for you to fly, but at least it's better than the insane crowds from earlier. Less likely to have to worry about something weird or crazy happening in here."

He turned to face her a moment, unmoving before giving a little squawk. She couldn't really tell if the emotion behind the noise was insulted or if the little guy thought this was a bad joke, all she could really say was it wasn't a pleased noise. "I get it, you don't want to feel constrained. Still, I can't help thinking it'd be better for you to watch all this with the rest of us than get a description or two of it later."

He very definitely scoffed at that, which in turn made her roll her eyes. It was like trying to convince Weiss to take a break from studying. Only with Weiss it was more a matter of convincing her to relax at all. Here, it was just that Yang felt life in a ball, no matter how comfortable or whatever it was, had to be less pleasant than being out and 'living'.

Something about the exchange seemed to amuse the old man a lot. "I suppose this is the one you mentioned was hurt earlier? Well whatever happened to him certainly didn't hurt his pride. Still, even if that's the case I think this old friend of mine can help him feel more at ease."

Pulling out a pokéball of his own, he opened it up and holy crap. The bird that formed from the flash of light made Duncan look like a baby in comparison. While not as massive as a nevermore, its wingspan was several times longer than the spearow's. For a moment Yang wondered if this was what Duncan would grow to become. Strong, sleek, a small rainbow of feathers on its head like a crown. Then she noticed the gut and couldn't help gawking. No way. Those annoying birds that kept trying to rob her on the road, those pidgey things, grew up into something that looked more hawk-like than Duncan?! How did 'that' make sense?!

The big bird didn't seem to give a damn that the room was much more constraining to him than the little spearow. He just stretched his wings out with a yawn, gave the old man a glance and nodded upon seeing a quick series of hand gestures. Then he walked to Duncan, lowered his head to stare eye to eye with the other bird and began a squawking conversation. Was squawking even the right word if they were talking? It's not like she knew too many other words to describe birds making noises at one another aside from tweet and caw.

Staring for a while at the conversation, noting that Duncan seemed respectful but uncowed and proud in his own right, Yang couldn't help mumbling, "Really wish I could actually understand what they're saying."

The old man gave a chuckle. "Oh don't worry. You seem empathetic enough to make due with a bit of a language barrier. Eventually they'll become easier to have a back and forth with when you become more experienced with them."

Then he decided to reach from his seat to the throne, grabbing a remote control from the fancy arm rest. "So, which do you think we should focus on? Little cup, Poké cup, or Prime cup?"

She didn't even need to think about it, the only two people she'd met under the age of fifty were probably among the rookies. Still, she made an exaggerated show of thinking about it. "Hm, probably the Little cup. Not that I think the other two would be boring or something, just that it's easier to catch the mistakes a rookie makes and talk about it rather than someone who's been at this longer than I've been alive."

He gave a nod of understanding at that as she took the non-throne seat next to him. "True, and I personally find there's a certain energy to people who are just starting out. Wild, untapped potential that just glows with enthusiasm. Whereas all too many at the Prime level are so set in their ways it's like they're all too predictable after a while. This should be fun."

"Welcome everyone to Viridian City, where we've got quite the show for you this week! I'm Billy the Brute Botatski sitting alongside Chester McTalley and we are eagerly awaiting the start of the Little Cup!"

"The tournament brackets have just been decided and there are no new entries being accepted at this time. Over five hundred eager young trainers want in on the prize and prestige, but only one can get the gold!"

"Well technically there's a prize for second place -"

"And in some ways that would be 'more' insulting than not getting anything at all! A constant reminder that you came close but couldn't pull off the biggest win!"

"Well for a lot of these young people this is their first competition so getting either would be quite the feather in the proverbial cap. With that said the first round of the first bracket is about to begin! Coming in from the white gate is Azul Oak, grandson of the esteemed Professor Samuel Oak! He's registered a squirtle, rattata, and a pidgey for his team!"

"From the red gate we have Stan Johnson! He's got a sandshrew, voltorb, and marill. Looks like he got a lucky first draw since two of Azul's three are weak to electric!"

"Type advantage isn't everything but it's certainly an edge! We'll see how far from the tree Azul's apple landed as he tries to overcome that edge!"

"Great, his first time and you already want to bury him in cliches."

The screen showed the trainer's name, pictures of the creatures they were registered with, and symbols that, if Yang was reading them right, were the "types" each creature landed in, and some of them seemed pretty self-explanatory. The squirtle was, of course, water, with a stylized white droplet with a dark blue background. The oversized white and red ball, how was 'that' a living creature, had a white lightning bolt with a yellow background next to it, probably electric. And of course its species name was "voltorb". Volt, orb, electric ball, whoever named that species as a whole wasn't feeling all that clever. The bird, pidgey, had a white feather with a bright blue background.

Yeesh, they loved using the color white as the actual image, didn't they? Not that there was anything 'wrong' with white, just that for some reason she couldn't help thinking the lightning emblem should have had a black background with a yellow bolt to better imply lightning piercing the darkness. And maybe turn that white feather red..

Other symbols, however, were less obvious. The rattata had a white star in a grey background..seemed a bit grandiose for an oversized purple rat, but maybe the star thing fit better with other creatures of that type..wait, didn't the dex claim that those things were "normal" type? When she thought "normal", it typically meant not very special, so why the star for its symbol?

The one next to the mouse-shaped creature with a section of skin that almost made her think of a cobblestone road, had a brown background and a small pyramid of white dots. Apparently it was called a "sandshrew". Huh. She'd seen a decent number of shrews back on Patch, and arguably roomed with one back at Beacon..too bad Weiss wasn't here to take offense at that. And those things had a 'much' more pronounced snout, definitely didn't have such larger eyes, not to mention a mouth with teeth that had a venom that made poor Zwei 'really' go out of his way to avoid the things whenever they were around. She very much doubted the pyramid thing meant it was a poison type, though, so..what?

And then there was the cute little blue ball creature with mouse ears, a weird tail that went from a thin little line to a small blue ball that part of her 'wanted' to think was fluffy but it didn't really look furry. Hell, The whole creature looked more like it was made or rubber than anything else. It had the water type symbol, and what looked like a white star above a pair of white wings with a pink background. It's not like the name "marill" told her what that second symbol was supposed to mean.

The old man nodded at the lineup for both trainers, approving. "Reasonably varied teams for both of them, and while Stan seems to have one pokemon to answer for two of Azul's, it's not overly lopsided. Tell me, which one do you think will come out on top of the opening match?"

Great, asking the girl who didn't have a clue how pokemon battles worked how this fight was going to go. That was about as bad as asking Blake what being in a rock concert was like. At best she'd just be able to guess that it'd be damn loud. Hm..only one thing really came to mind, the image of a boarbadusk getting ready to attack and the fact that one team had nothing but rounder creatures. "Yeesh, tough to say..Stan's team looks pretty round, so all three could just ball up and try spinning their way to a win or something. Not really seeing a common theme with Azul's though. Harder for me to guess what he's going to do with what he's got."

The old man, and at some point she'd 'really' have to figure out what his name was if she was going to be interacting with him outside of his store like this, made a "hmHM" sound, like a teacher who was impressed by a student's reasoning. Too bad she couldn't tell if it was a good impressed or just amused. "Interesting observation."

The klaxon for the match to start blared before he could say anything more, and Yang found her eyes completely glued to the action.

Author's Note: Right, couldn't do much work on the Modern Warfare LP fic while on vacation, kind of need my desktop for that. Still, I managed to chip away at this chapter and did some random stuff for a potential other fic that I got a random itch for. Not really enough material to post for that, though a good number of ideas I'm thinking of expanding.

One of the things I did during my little vacation was randomly watch some old wrestling events, which helped me start getting a better idea of how to pull off the action and the overall feel of the tournament. Don't' worry, we're not going to be seeing absolutely every damn match. And Yang's not going to be sitting just watching and reacting to matches until the tournament's done. I just figured that watching a long tournament and series of matches would give her some ideas how to actually go about making her growing team into something other than a pair of little critters that happen to fight by her side of their own volition. That's certainly going to make her respect Ruby's ability to get RWBY to work together the way she did even more since Yang is essentially going to be team leader for her crew in this world.

Next chapter, we get some action sequences. As tempted as I was to shove it into this chapter, it felt like I'd put enough words for one chapter for now.