I do not own RWBY or any of the characters.

Trouble

Fox walked into the arena and stopped, Ava stopping beside him, sighing knowingly. Across from them, Sun and Neptune also stopped, Sun grinning and Neptune having a reaction similar to Ava's. The two teams walked tot he center, stopping as each of the four sections of the arena changed, in stead of only halves this time. One, was a volcanic lava field. One was a desert. One was an icy plain. And the last, was a forest.

"So, Fox," Sun grinned. "How about we make this a little more interesting?"

"What do you have in mind?" Fox asked.

"The winner gets to ask Blake out on a date, and the loser's not allowed to interfere or flirt for a week," Sun said.

"As much as I would love to make that bet and then thoroughly whoop your ass," Fox said. "I'm not an idiot, unlike you, it seems. I'm not going to bet Blake as a reward for a fight that you and I both can honestly say you will not win. Even you aren't stupid enough to think that you can outfight me, Sun. And while I could easily win the bet, it's not my place to try and dictate who she talks to, or who talks to her. I don't own either of you, and I'm not going to try to control either of you."

"Fair enough," Sun said, extending his staff. "Then how about the loser has to wear a dress for a week."

"Also a no," Fox said, spinning his weapon into a sword.

"Can we fight now?" Neptune asked.

"Ava, Neptune's yours," Fox said.

Ava nodded, slamming her briefcase into his gut before he could react, then spinning and throwing him away, chasing after him, suddenly spinning a double-bladed staff in her hands. Fox slashed at Sun, who flipped into the desert. Fox chased him, slashing at him rapidly, Sun deflecting the slashes, slamming his staff, or its nunchucks form, into Fox rapidly as he did. Finally, Fox spun past the staff, catching it and spinning, hurling Sun away. Sun flipped, landing on his feet, then leaned to the side, catching his staff as it streaked past. Fox reached him a moment later, energy flashing over his arms before Sun began to spin the staff around himself, striking with blistering speed. This time, however, Fox was able to deflect most of the blows, dodging others. As they fought, Sun leapt and flipped around the desert, Fox never more than a few feet behind him. Eventually, they reached the edge of the desert and Fox blocked the staff, kicking Sun and sending him sprawling onto his back on the ice, skidding backward. Fox skated after him, Sun spinning and flipping to his feet in time to swipe at Fox's feet while ducking under a slash, Fox jumping over the staff.

As Fox landed, both took off, skating around in a circle then back at each other. When they met, it wasn't with their weapons. Both slammed a fist into the other's jaw, flipping them onto their backs. Sun rolled away as Fox flipped to his feet. Then, Fox leapt at him, Sun flipping over him and allowing Fox to land on his stomach, sliding across the ice with a hand supporting his chin and the other drumming his fingers on the ice as he went. He flipped as he reached the center, landing on his feet and setting his sword down, blocking Sun's staff just before Ava crashed down on the ice, her hammer shattering it, Neptune having only barely avoided the hammer. Not that it mattered. Within a second, Ava has spun and drilled the end of a bo staff into his gut, lifting him before she propellored the staff and slammed it into his face, sending him hurtling out of the arena.

Fox ducked under a swipe from Sun's staff and stood, swinging an uppercut, which Sun leaned out of the way of. Then, as Fox was standing fully, Sun slammed both of his nunchucks into Fox's gut, hurling him backward. Fox flipped, landing hard and rolling to a stop, Sun laughing and kicking his sword away. Fox could, of course, use his other sword, but his anger was starting to get the best of him.

"You know, I never understood why you were so ashamed of what you are," Sun said. "After all, I show my tail, and I'm accepted. Velvet doesn't hide her ears, and everyone loves her. But you...you're afraid. Why? What happened to make you so ashamed of yourself?"

Fox grit his teeth. Who was Sun to lecture him about being ashamed? He wasn't ashamed. He just didn't want to deal with it. However, Sun's comments had finally pushed the wrong buttons. Fox's hair began to stand on end all over his body, even on his head. His ears stood up, angling forward, and his tail reached up out of the back of his pants. There was murmuring through the crowd, but it all died down as Fox growled, crouching, fingernails extending into claws.

"Shut the hell up, Sun," Fox growled. "You don't know anything! You don't get to tell me I shouldn't be ashamed! YOU WEREN'T THERE! ! !"

Fox shot forward, Sun swiping at him with his staff, only for Fox to catch it and turn, swinging Sun over him self and slamming him down, then hurling the staff away. Fox shot forward as Sun stood, drilling a punch into Sun's jaw and flipping him backward. Sun bounced once before Fox slashed with his right hand's claws, the claws grating at Sun's Aura. Sun shouted in surprise, flipping and landing on his feet as Fox retracted the claws, streaking forward again. Sun flipped over his first punch, but Fox planted a foot and leapt the other way, slamming both fists down into Sun's shoulders, smashing him into the ground. Fox flipped, landing on his hands and feet and growling, only to stop as Ava seta a hand on his shoulder.

"Fox, that's not you," Ava said. "Come back."

Fox blinked slowly, hair slowly falling back into place and ears laying down flat again. He stood, sighing and looking back at his tail. "Guess the secret's out."

"It's alright," Ava said. "Are you okay?"

"I'll be fine," Fox said. "Thank you."

She smiled, nodding, and Fox turned back to Sun. Sun pushed himself up, dusting himself off and sighing.

"I'm sorry," Sun said. "I didn't mean to piss you off and make you go feral. I don't know what happened to you, but clearly I can't understand."

"No," Fox agreed. "You can't. You ready to finish this?"

Sun grinned and nodded. Both charged, beginning to strike at each other barehanded, both blocking and dodging pretty much everything. Now that Fox was calm, they were pretty evenly matched. Finally, Sun's tail caught one of Fox's arms and his hand caught Fox's other arm. Sun jumped, kicking Fox in the chest and throwing him back. Fox flipped, landing on his feet and glancing at the Aura tracker above the arena. Sun had recovered his aura to about forty percent. Fox's own was bordering on ten percent, at which point he would be eliminated.

He rolled his eyes, cracking his knuckles and looking back at Sun as Sun picked up his staff, spinning it. Fox raised a hand and Ava tossed him his sword. Then, Fox spun it into a bow. Sun sprinted forward instantly, having no intention of being shot. He leapt at Fox, stabbing with the staff and kicking at the same time. Fox ducked under it, then grabbed Sun's tail with his free hand, pulling the Bow's string back and trapping Sun's tail inside of an arrow.

"No please!" Sun said. "Anything but that!"

"Have a nice flight," Fox said, letting go.

A moment later, the arrow exploded into a shower of sparks against the barrier, Sun slamming into it as well before falling now that his tail was free. The crowd erupted into cheers and Fox sighed, collapsing his weapon and putting it away before he and Ava walked out of the ring, Neptune and Sun both limping out as well. Almost as soon as Fox was out of the arena, Blake met him with a hug.

"Are you okay?" Blake asked, worriedly.

"I'm fine," Fox smiled. "I think I might have broken Sun's pride, though. Or his dignity."

"He'll be fine," Blake said. "Fox, are you sure you're okay? Whenever a faunus goes feral, it's...bad."

"Blake, I'm fine," Fox said, cupping her cheek for a moment before taking his hand back. "He just said the wrong thing, but I calmed down. I'll be fine."

Blake nodded, sighing, and hugged him again. "When are you going to stop worrying me?"

"Maybe after I kill Cinder for real," Fox said. "Anyway, if you wouldn't mind turning away, I'm going to hide my tail again."

Blake nodded, turning around and Fox quickly shoved his tail back into his pants. Once he had, he, Blake, and Ava returned to the stands, their teams having sat with each other today. After a few more fights, including Weiss and Yang against a pair of jazz, or maybe disco, rejects, a fight that during which Weiss tackled a Dust-trumpet playing opponent into a geyser to try to take out, the finals began. Fox said his goodbyes before heading back into the arena. Unlike the rest of the matches, they would only find out who they were fighting when they had to fight them. No time to plan or prepare, and no breaks. First up, however, was Mercury and Yang. He could honestly say he was not looking forward to the match.

The fight was brutal. No question. Their weapons functioned about the same way, but where Yang's gauntlets allowed her slightly more maneuverability, speed, and variety, Mercury's boot versions gave him a slight advantage of power. He knew how to use his weapons, too. Whatever speed Yang should have had, he was able to match, her variety he was able to actually beat, and her maneuverability just wasn't enough. Eventually, the fight seemed to end when he slammed her into the ground before a tornado of white Dust energy blasts crashed down on her. However, it simply activated her semblance, allowing her beat him senseless in a matter of seconds. Once it was over, she calmed, Mercury pushing himself up to his feet as she was passing him. Then, as she was walking away, she suddenly turned, Fox catching a look of surprise, then irritation in her eyes, before she punched, firing a blast of Dust Energy into his knee, shattering it. Fox's mouth fell open as everyone in the crowd watched on in horror, a collective gasp ringing out around the arena.

Within seconds, two security guards had their guns trained on Yang, along with six robots. Yang looked around at them in confusion. Fox stood. She didn't know. She had no idea what she had actually done. At least, not until she looked up at the screens above her, which were replaying her attack. He watched more confusion blossom on her face. Fox turned, leaving the stands quickly, the others all following. A few moments after they left, everyone else began to do the same. They headed back to the school, Team RWBY meeting Yang in their room, Ironwood and a pair of robots waiting. After a few minutes, Ironwood left and Fox walked in.

"Yang, what happened?" Fox asked.

"You saw," Yang said.

"Yes, I did," Fox said. "But what I didn't see is what I'm concerned with. What did you see?"

Yang stared at him for several moments before sighing. "I saw him stand up when I wished him better luck next time. He said, 'Not gonna be a next time, Blondie,' and then he attacked me. So, I attacked back."

"So it wasn't just what you saw?" Fox asked. "You heard him too?"

Yang nodded.

"Okay," Fox nodded.

"What's going on?" Yang asked.

"I think it's Emerald," Fox said. "I think she has the ability to create illusions, but only for one person at a time, maybe more if she strains herself."

"Like the illusion of Mercury attacking me to make me break his leg," Yang said.

"Or the illusion of you killing Cinder," Blake said.

"Exactly," Fox nodded.

"Well, if Cinder really is still alive, then we might need to deal with that," Leon said. "Like, right now."

"We'll never find her," Fox said. "She has Neo, the girl that helped Torchwick escape last time, and she has Emerald, if I'm right. She'd have to find us. Which would ruin her plans. I need to find Ozpin. Maybe he can explain what this bitch is after."

"Maybe," Wulfe said. "Let's go."

"No," Fox said. "I'm sorry, but this is something I have to do alone."

"Why?" Ava asked.

"Because I know Ozpin," Fox said.

"We all do," Leon argued.

"No," Blake said. "He's right. He has to take care of this himself. The rest of you should head to the arena and try to stop whatever Cinder has planned."

Everyone looked at her before Fox sighed. "Okay, I'm leaving now. If all goes well, I'll meet you all at the arena."

They all nodded and Fox left, jogging through the hallways.

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