The roaring of the crowd echoed through the walls, seeping into the colosseum's very skeleton.
The members of team Ruby were in their locker rooms, getting ready as Professor Port and Doctor Oobleck pumped up the crowd.
It was just the four of them, and things were quiet. Excitement threatened to bubble over, but they held it back for now.
Ruby checked her ammo, Weiss filled Myrtenaster with dust, Blake strapped Gambol Shroud onto her back, and Yang made sure Ember Celica was fastened onto her wrists tight.
The crowd cheered again, and the teachers began explaining the rules.
That was their cue.
...
…
"On your left!"
Yang barely got her arms up in time to block a kick blasted into her face and sent her crashing to the ground like a sack of bricks.
For what felt like the hundredth time that day Yang was acquainted with the taste of grass as her face made a dent in the ground and he groaned. She rolled over onto her back and glared up at the sky.
The bright rays of sunlight were taunting her, she was sure. Where did they get off being so warm and nice when she was getting her ass kicked?
Another groan escaped her as her obsidian draped over her eyes and she did her best to ignore her dads laugh as he stood above her.
Yang let out a huff and kicked herself back up onto her feet, massaging her shoulder as she straightened up.
Her dad practically slumped as she did so.
"Seriously?" he sighed. "We've been doing this for hours. How do you look as fresh as a daisy?"
She laughed, but chose not to answer. Instead looked towards the rest of her team.
Weiss was perhaps the most active right now; in that she was getting knocked around by Qrow. The heiress' face was flush and her breathing heavy as she fended off Qrow's harbinger with Myrtenaster. She was being pushed to her limit by Qrow but didn't complain once, which Yang had to admit wasn't easy.
Uncle Qrow's weapon was one of the hardest to get around, and he was so much better than any of them.
Yang grinned as she watched Weiss roll under a slash and lash out with her heel to the Huntsman's legs. She's picked it up from Qrow's constant thrashings and the blonde was positive Weiss' private tutors back home would have sneered at the tactic.
They might have also glowered at her state of dress, but Weiss had gotten past that remarkably quick.
She wasn't wearing her combat attire. None of them were in fact. The whole point of this training was that they worked with the bare basic of what they had, changing and growing from the roots. If that meant changing their outfits so be it, so in the spirit of that they'd all had to wear matching sportswear.
And yes, she called it sports where is only to appease Weiss.
She still laughed at the memory of the heiress' horror when they'd gone shopping for them and Weiss had seen…. Well, how cheap they were compared to what she would normally buy.
Yang thought that Weiss might have hit the revelation that she was pampered now, if how she'd acted recently was anything to go by.
Like, it had only been two weeks so far, but the blonde could already tell her family was having an… influence of Weiss.
Blake too obviously, but it wasn't as pronounced, just the Faunus girl being more vocal and stuff. She was still technically recovering from what happened, this whole thing was basically healing for her.
Weiss though?
"Son of a bitch!" Weiss growled as she was launched onto her back for the third time in under a minute. It didn't stop her momentum, and the heiress let it carry her backwards back onto her feet before lung'ing in again at her uncle with more ferocity than before.
Yeah… Weiss was far more vulgar when she got worked up. Personally, Yang thought it was awesome. Weiss swore like a sailor and it was common for her to banter with the brawler a lot more when they were just having fun; watching TV, playing video games or sparing.
And, of course, she also fought a lot dirtier and was proud of it, judging by the way she elbowed Qrow in the face.
"Ow! Seriously?"
Yang laughed and turned to her dad. "We can take a break if you want old man."
He rolled his eyes and waved her off, not even deigning it with a response as she turned to jog over to Weiss. She didn't plan on interrupting the spar, so she circled around and over to the others.
Blake was currently in the middle of her sets, another hundred push-ups, with Ruby sitting crosslegged on her back and counting them out.
Conditioning was the name of the game for Blake. She needed to build her body up, especially her left side in order t match the intensity of what they were doing.
Still, Yang thought it was cute, especially the way Blake's ears moved forward and back as she pushed herself up and down.
She gave a little wave to Ruby as her sister noticed her approach and plopped down next to her as the younger girl got off of Blake, giving her a rest.
The Faunus dragged herself into a sitting position beside them a moment later and with a red face glared at her girlfriend.
"How?" she panted. "How have you not even broken a sweat yet? How is that fair?"
Yang smirked and gave a little shrug on badness. "What can I say kitten? I'm just that good."
Of course, Yang knew the actual reason. She knew that not too long ago, that same workout would have made even her tired. Her dad may have been what she considered past his prime (Though she was sure he would disagree) he was still far better conditioned that Yang was. Far stronger too.
At least before Glenn that was.
Yang's hand ran over her chest, over the thin scar right at its centre. The heart that wasn't her own, the heart that wasn't human beat steadily.
She hadn't been sure at first, despite Merlots words, but over the course of the weeks she'd noticed the difference.
Yang had been changed. She wasn't tired.
It wasn't like she was restless. She had no problems sleeping, but it was like, when she fought, when her blood rushed through her veins she felt stronger. Way stronger. Her stamina felt endless and she could hit harder than she'd ever done before.
Obviously she still felt fatigue, a few days ago she'd asked Ruby to help her make sure just out of curiosity. They'd done laps around the islands. After training Yang had circled the landmass again and again.
She'd dropped eventually, but not until the sun had been down for a long time.
She wasn't sure if she felt that was a good thing or not yet. While the extra mileage was appreciated, she thought it was a good idea to not feel invincible. She'd gotten in trouble for that already before.
Blake didn't know any of this though. She didn't know about Yang's transplant, nor about how she spent hours every night scouring through the Grimoire she'd been gifted, as well as the Odyssium every chance she got.
She didn't know though, so Yang just smiled and let Blake grumble about the unfairness of it all.
She did so, right until Weiss was knocked onto her back again, right in front of them. To her already massive credit, she tried to get up again, but her body wasn't having it, and she collapsed onto the ground again.
"You okay Weiss?"
"Ugh…"
"I think we should take that as a no." Ruby giggled.
"Don't know what you find so funny." Qrow smirked. "It's your turn, get up here.
"Please no!" Ruby groaned.
Despite her complaint the youngest of the team did stand up, Crescent Rose opening up before her and moving further to stand across from her Uncle.
What the supporting members of team RWBY watched of their glorious leader was a prompt butt-kicking, and Ruby being sent to the ground far too easy.
Weiss, after having caught her breath and taken a sitting position beside Yang, stared down at her partner.
"What was that?"
"Leave me alone." Ruby whined. "I suck when it comes to fighting people."
Yang blinked. "Um… what? Be serious Rubes, I've seen you in combat class. You're great, not to mention you take on thugs and Grimm like it's nothing."
The younger sister huffed as she sat up, rubbing the back of her neck where she'd fallen. "Yeah, but that's because on a pure skill level only one or two people in combat class come close to me, and I'm designed to fight the Grimm."
"Uh?" Weiss blinked.
"That's a bit arrogant of you don't you think?" Blake asked with a raised eyebrow. "To say you're above everybody else in terms of skill? Surely you'd be even higher in terms of score if that was true."
This time it was Qrow who spoke. "That's where you're wrong kiddo."
The Faunus looked confused. "What do you mean?"
Qrow glanced over to Taiyang, who was walking towards them now. "You wanna take this one?"
"No, you go ahead. The blonde shrugged. "If you make any mistakes I'll correct them."
"Right." Qrow sighed, running a hand through his hair and sitting on a tree stump close by. (One he's cut down the day before) "Well kids, I guess it's important for you to know now, and it is something of a teaching opportunity. Ruby, you listen too, no harm going over it again."
"yeah, yeah."
He rolled his eyes. "Kay, so I'll just be blunt to save time, but you should know that when it comes to a fight, skill isn't as applicable as you think it is."
The three girls looked confused by the statement, so he continued. "Listen, skill is good, it's great in fact, but you're always going to have someone better than you, and if skill is all you have when you go up against them then you're screwed."
Weiss frowned. Cleary she didn't like the idea of skill not being enough. Qrow wasn't bothered though. He just took a pause to drink from his flask before going again.
"Strength, speed, agility, intelligence, cunning and brutality: these are all things important in a fight. If someone's better than you, then maybe you're strong enough to make up the difference, or faster, or smarter or you just fight dirtier… but there's one thing that I think is the most important."
He paused again. Yang rolled her eyes. "And that is?"
He glanced at all of them. "Compatibility."
Blake blinked. "And that means?"
"Ruby?" the older Huntsman promoted. The girl sighed, hoisting her weapon to stand up above her.
"Crescent Rose is an awesome weapon. She's deadly and blends with both my build and my semblance… but it isn't versatile, at least not for people."
"Right." Qrow nodded. "Ruby's scythe is good. It's one of the best weapons against Grimm, both up close and at range. The problem comes when she's against people."
"But again," Weiss argued. "Ruby hadn't had trouble with people in class before, let alone against people like the White Fang."
"That's because she's better than them." Qrow affirmed again. "Listen Ice Queen, I'm gonna lay it out straight for ya, I looked at the roster for your class this year and I know for a fact that Ruby's the most experienced out of all of you. She's the best too, but-" he said before they could argue again. "Ruby has a problem. You see, a scythe – and Crescent Rose as a whole – is a great weapon against Grimm like I said, because it's a mid-to-long ranged weapon."
"But it's not close ranged." He pressed, highlighting that specific sentence. "think about it, out of all the students in your class, how many don't have something in their weapon that lets them get up close and personal?"
They shared a look. None. None that they could think of. All three of them at something like that. None of them could think of a single weapon that didn't allow for close combat. Even longer ranged ones like Nora with her hammer or Neptune with his glaive were usable close up without much problem. A Scythe though…
"Even my weapon has close range." Qrow said. "Harbinger is a scythe like Ruby's, but it's a slugshot and a sword. It covers all three ranges. So that puts Ruby at a disadvantage when up against people."
"Because almost everybody has some kind of close range style." Yang realised with wide eyes. "Ruby's fighting style and weapon just isn't compatible with others."
"Exactly." He nodded. "If Ruby was at the same skill level as others in her class, she'd lose ninety percent of the time. The thing is, she's better. Speed is great yeah, but even at baseline there's a huge skill gap between her and her opponents."
"But instead of trying to bridge the gap Ruby works at making it as large as possible." Weiss whispered, looking at the scenario anew. "She has to make sure she's so much better than other people, that even with their fighting style giving them the advantage it's not enough to beat her."
"Exactly." He grinned. Weiss went silent, a complicated look on her face as her eyes roamed over to her partner.
She looked away a second later.
Ruby didn't even notice, because Yang's arm was slung over her shoulder at that moment. "Heh, my sister's pretty awesome isn't she?"
"Cut it out." Ruby blushed, embarrassed even at the simplest of praise.
"Well there you have it." Qrow nodded. "For the crowds of punks you guys have thought that skill gap example the Ice Queen mentioned holds up too. Ruby, not to mention all of you, are just in a whole different league than them."
"Most of the time." Weiss mumbled. "I was almost beaten during our mission in Mountain Glenn. Ilia almost me."
"Again," the Huntsman pointed out. "Compatibility; her being a Faunus was the obvious advantages, where you had to rely on flashes of light in the cavers darkness she could see fine. She could also blend in and her weapon was better in that situation than yours. You didn't have time to use any advanced techniques because her whip stopped you from making the distance you needed."
He shrugged. "You were probably better, even with her training she was young, maybe even your age. If you had something to work around some of your weaknesses I bet the situation wouldn't be the same."
He looked pointedly at all of them. "Remember, compatibility. You'll have the perfect time you see what I mean at the tournament. Some people might be weaker than you, but have the right abilities to beat you, while others might be stronger, but not be suited to fighting you." He glanced at Tai. "Anything you want to add?"
"No," the blonde laughed. "I think you got all of it."
"Damn straight."
"There's still a problem with all that though," Blake grumbled as she crossed her arms. "Like you said, there's always going to be someone better than us, and if compatibility is a big thing, but sometimes we still have to fight anyway. What are we supposed to do then?"
"Well," he said. "That's your job to find out isn't it? You're all going to be Huntresses one day, It'll be your prerogative to find ways to beat people even with the odds stacked against you."
"I think I have a few ideas for that." Weiss mumbled. "Should we get back to it?"
…
…
Yang cracked her neck loudly as the made there way down the hall. In the distance was the light of the open coliseum, and with every step the crowd got louder and louder.
"You guys ready?"
"Of course," Weiss smirked. "I think it's about time anyway. The media has been talking about us quite a lot, we should show them how good we really are."
"Oh~ cockiness from Weiss." Ruby laughed. "I like it."
Yang glanced at her partner last.
Blake noticed. She looked down, fixing the cloak she'd long white coat she'd decided to borrow. It hid most of her arms and legs, and only on very close inspection would someone notice the pitch-black skin beneath.
"Ready." She nodded.
"Ladies and gentlemen, the first battle of the Vytal festival begins now, and let's start off by greeting the first pair of teams. All the way from Haven academy; Team ARBN.
And, for our very own school here at Beacon-"
Ruby bounced excitedly on her feet. "Guess that's our cue next!"
"Team RWBY!"
…
…
"What is it?" Ruby asked her partner as she peered over her shoulder.
"A diagram." Weiss hummed.
"Of… a knight?"
"It's… something my father dug up from the Schnee archives. These plans I mean. It's called Arma Gigas. Before I came to Beacon I had to fight it. That… was sort of like a test, whether or not I could be accepted there."
Weiss was half afraid that her partner would ask why her father had sent something like this against her, but, Ruby being Ruby, she was instead focused on the design.
Honestly, Weiss had looked through the references of it in her family library recently, having requested a copy via CCT. There was an idea for a design of armour far more simple, yet pointed at the helm. However the one she had fought had adorned a rounded helm with two terrifying black sockets where spiralling white eyes had seeped through.
Not to mention the sword it had wielded had been less detailed, less defined and far more like a massive slab of steel
All in all, the version she'd combated had been… much more intimidating.
However…
"It was essentially a suit of specially designed armour used to trap possession Grimm in it and somehow bend them to our will."
"That's…" Ruby whispered. "You're telling me you family used to have like, an army of giant knights as its own personal army? That's so cool."
"I... suppose it is." Wiess admitted. "It's not clear where they came from or who came up with the idea, but when it was unearthed my father got to work on using it."
"Is it that what you're gonna do? Build one for yourself?"
"…Not quite."
…
…
They stepped onto the area floor. Ruby and yang stared wide-eyed at the massive crowds of people all around them. Hundreds, no, thousands all watching them. Weiss found a lot of amusement in that. She was used to the attention, but seeing it in such an innocent way from the two of them made her smile.
Blake watched it all nervously.
…
…
Weiss stared at the scene before her, frozen like the ice she was usually named after. Ruby didn't know what to do, stiff in the same way, but no small amount of worry in her silver eyes… even as they bore into the… thing before her.
Yang couldn't take her eyes off it.
Blake was shaking, staring at where she had just been. They'd been practising with their semblances. Everything had been going fine.
Until Blake had tried to use a clone.
Her left side had dragged her back. The clone that had formed didn't even last a second, splashing down in a puddle of… Thick. Wet. Tar.
The residue still dripped for Blakes left, the darkness of her Grimm-like skin writhing horrifically.
Blake could only stare at her hands. And then she looked up, scared.
"I…" she tried shakily. "I can't use my semblance."
…
…
Blake took a breath and shook her head. There hadn't been an incident like that in three weeks. She hadn't tried it in that time. She could still fight without it. She'd practised with that very idea in mind. She was fine.
She was fine.
They were at the centre of the stage now, team ABRN just across from them.
Blake couldn't tell; where they first years? Second years? Older? She didn't think so, judging by how they looked around at the crowd in awe too, though she couldn't be sure.
The Faunus did here best to analyse them.
Two male, two female. The guy with pink hair held a gun, so long range, though that could be a ploy. The girl with green hair, Reese was on some sort of… hoverboard? She was using gravity dust then. The other two looked fairly simple; a staff and… dagger maybe?
The leader, Arslan smiled. "So, first match of the tournament, excited?"
"You bet." Ruby grinned. "Ready to give em' a show."
The older girl laughed. The crowds around them were too far away, not to mention too loud to hear what they were saying. They probably wouldn't be able to hear them at all throughout the match, more likely relying on the professors for commentary.
"Uh, if you don't mind my saying," Arslan conversed casually while glancing at Ruby. "you… look a little young. That a normal thing for Beacon."
"No." she laughed, around them the stage began to change, one half rising into an icy battle scape, the other scorching hot magma. It wasn't really lava, but it would still do damage to their aura's. The whole arena was made of dust. "It's just me."
It gave them an advantage.
"That's pretty cool." The leader of team ARBN admitted as the timer signalling the beginning of the round began. "No hard feeling fighting someone so young right?"
"Right!"
Ruby smiled, but out of the corner of her eyes, she shared a look with her team.
They'd seen through it.
Team ARBN had their targets.
"5… 4… 3… 2… 1..."
"Begin!"
There was one more thing team RWBY had practised over the summer.
Before, they'd just never gotten around to it, but with all the free time they had?
"Freezerburn!"
It was the perfect chance for something Ruby had dubbed team attacks.
Yang was already slamming her fist into the ground, before the ice had appeared beneath her, but Weiss was just as prepared, and before the enemy team could react there was a blast of ice, in the centre of the arena.
They'd seen it at the beginning. Arslan had tried to hide it, but her eyes had flickered over to Yang more than once. She wanted to fight their resident brawler. If they'd done their research, then they knew she was strong. That meant Arslan was strong.
In a straight-up fight, Yang might have had to focus on Arslan enough to split herself off from the group.
But that would have been playing to their strengths.
Ruby and Blake dashed forward, zeroing in on a wide-eyed Arslan, who no doubt expected them to go for her more fragile teammates. They might have, but the terrain had changed that.
After all, it was about compatibility.
Blake fired off a few rounds from Gambol should as Ruby ran past, hooking the blade of her weapon around the other leaders arm and pulling the trigger.
It yanked her back, sending her tumbling but she managed to recover quickly.
Not quick enough though, because Blake had already swapped places with Ruby.
Arslan made to strike out, but was forced to instead shield her face as Ruby fired off a sniper round.
That tiny second where she lost visibility was when Blake moved in, cleaving at monks exposed stomach and bashing the pommel of her katana against her opponent's knee, giving her time to leap back out again.
The lone fighter might have shouted out a curse but it was lost in Blake's gunfire as Ruby charged in again, rose petals swirling behind her.
Across the field Weiss deflected a blow from Reese with a steady hand.
The green haired girl clearly hadn't expected to fight her. Or maybe she was hoping not to. Weiss hadn't decided on an opponent until two things had happened almost at the same time:
She'd seen Reese board.
And the area had been filled with dust.
Reese leapt off her board as Weiss stabbed at it, and for a moment she thought she might have actually sliced it in two, but then the gunslinger grabbed the two pieces and began firing.
Before Weiss' might have decided to defend, create a barrier of ice to block it.
"Never cut off your vision when fighting an enemy faster than you," Qrow had told her. "Instead, focus on counterattacking, stop them from using their speed to their advantage and capitalise of whatever weakness they might have."
So instead, Weiss matched the hail of bullets with a wave of fire, cancelling it out and driving through.
Reese gasped and twisted her body in the air to avoid the flames. Weiss smirked.
She couldn't move as effectively in the air, and with her weapons activated instead of her boards it gave the heiress the perfect chance;
To change the battlefield.
Reese should have run.
Weiss' family after all, were known for dust, and she was a master of it.
There was an explosion to her right, and she smiled as Yang chased after her opponents.
The blonde grinned, ducking and diving through Nadir's shots. She'd guessed right, the guy didn't have any close range specialities. That was rare, and definitely a mistake. Yang moved in to destroy him as brutally as she could.
And she wanted it to look like that.
The idea was simple. If she took out Nadir, their team would be one member down and she could help the others. If that was the case, it was a success. The other option, was just as effective though, and it seemed to be the one they'd gone for. She ducked under Bolin's staff as she swiped at her and set a jab into his side with her left fist.
The fact was, Yang had forced their other member to defend their long ranged teammate, which in turn took the pressure off her own team.
As it was now, it was two on one.
It was two on Yang.
It was still bad odds for them.
It looks like they hadn't done all their research.
Yang could take a hit, she always had been able to, but the thing was, when your body was toughened, so was your aura. They grew in tandem, and after their training, even Weiss, the most fragile of them all when it came to vitality, would be able to manage anything the two guys in front of her could ever hope to dish out.
Against her?
It tickled.
Her fist certainly didn't though, as she buried it into the staff wielders stomach and sent him flying back. To his credit he managed to right himself in the air and aimed his feet to the ground as he came back down.
Unfortunately for him, Yang wasn't the strength type he was used to. She wasn't slow like Arslan.
She was fast.
He was gifted that nice little titbit as she delivered an uppercut right where he landed and grinned as he pinwheeled upwards.
Yang didn't even wait to see him land. He wasn't out yet, but he was dazed, which gave her plenty of time to focus on the other one.
And judging by the way he swallowed, he knew it two.
Back with Ruby and Blake, they had managed to whittle her down to about half judging by the screen above, but now the Haven student was getting annoyed.
No, that wasn't quite right; she was getting knocked around, unable to even get a hit in against her much faster opponents and by the looks of it the rest of her team was doing just as badly. She was being made out to look like a joke.
She was pissed.
The red one blurred into a flurry of rose petals, actually flying into the sky and peppering her with sniper shots from above.
She landed next to the Faunus far enough away from her that she couldn't follow without being practically erased by bullets.
"You know what to do?" The younger one grinned.
"Just give the word."
"Black Thorn!"
And then she was gone.
No, not gone. Arslan gasped as rose petals surrounded her. The girl wasn't gone. She was sprinting around her so fast she couldn't see her!
The wind picked up from the red Ruby's terrifying speed and she was getting faster, faster, Crescent Rose firing behind her to boost her even faster.
Wait, what about the other one?
Arslan's eyes snapped to the Faunus, but right at that moment Blake smirked and a mass of roses surrounded the dark-haired girl.
The close-quarters fighter gasped again as Blake disappeared, and the hurricane of roses was stained black.
Inside the hurricane, Ruby grinned.
She'd gotten the idea a while ago. When she'd managed to get free from that mutated Grimm in Mountain Glenn she'd used her semblance, but it had been different.
So she'd experimented.
Ruby could cloak herself in rose petals, and even split off from the main mass. To an outsider, it looked like she'd split into several pieces, where in reality she made decoys of the same mass and shape as her.
Her semblance had also improved in another aspect too:
She'd gotten faster, able to affect the battle around her more and most importantly.
She could use her semblance on other people. She could carry them and they still had full control, unaffected by the speed themselves.
Black thorn had been an attack thought up in lieu of that.
How it worked? Well.
Arslan soon found out when three masses of rose petals shot out from the hurricane walls, right towards her in three different directions. They crashed into her, empty of any people, but the force making her stumble back as the petals blinded her.
She didn't see the flurry of red and black until it was on top of her. And when it was,
It was like a blender.
Arslan cried out as Blake struck; Gambol Shroud slicing into her aura and insane speeds. The petals washed over her, and the black blades chipped away at every part of her body as they did so.
The girl was launched back, landing badly on her shoulder and scrambling to her feet.
"Stop running already!"
Ruby's response to that was to slam Crescent Rose into Arslan's stomach and for Blake to wrap her ribbon around the fighter's legs, immobilising her and sending her tumbling to the ground.
"Ragh!" she roared, lashing out as she fell. Ruby didn't manage to get away in time from the counter and was hit square in the chest. She was sent rocketing back and only managed to stay on her feet thanks to Blake catching her.
The younger girl winced and rubbed the place she'd been hit.
It wasn't too bad, her aura still over ninety percent. The big deal was that all that damage had been delivered in one hit.
Arslan threw out a laugh and climbed to her feet.
"Alright then," she said. "It's time to turn this around."
"No," Ruby smirked. "It's time to finish it."
The leader of team ARBN blinked but confusion quickly gave way to shock when she caught the board in the corner of her eye.
"What!?"
All three of her teammate's names were greyed out. They'd all been eliminated. But that meant-
She didn't get time to finish that thought as a wall of ice shot up behind her, as well as to her left and right. Arslan swore as Weiss appeared on her right. She'd been boxed in!
"Well isn't this fun?" Another voice came, and Arslan snapped around to face the blonde who strolled up to her with relaxed ease. Had this one taken out bother her teammates?
She growled, and lashed out with a lightning-fast punch. She could still do this, at least if she could take down one or-
A strangled gasp left her lips as her eyes widened.
The brawler, Yang, hadn't dodged her attack, she hadn't even taken it.
She'd caught it! In that strange right hand of her, she caught it in the palm of her hand!
And had wretched it down all the while looking like she didn't even feel the strain as Arslan struggled against it.
How strong was this girl?!
Yang grinned. "Well it looks like I've got this situation in hand."
Around her the other three girls groaned.
"Yang please."
"Don't embarrass us."
"You idiot."
The blonde shrugged. "Bah, everybody's a critic." And then delivered a punch so hard and fast into Arslan's chest she didn't register what had happened.
She did register the buzzer however, and the announcer declaring her as defeated.
She'd… lost?
She'd lost… to a pun?
…
…
"We rocked that fight!" Yang cheered, fist pumping the air as team RWBY made their way through the crowds of people visiting the festival stalls.
They were all in a good mood. They'd expected the fight to be one they could handle, but team ARBN just hadn't been prepared for them. Team RWB had been in control the whole time.
Weiss' self-satisfied smirk gave away her own thoughts on it.
"We were fantastic if I do say so myself."
"The doubles will be different." Blake warned. "It'll be two on two, and our opponents will definitely be better fighters. But," a smile spilled across her face. "I think we did pretty good this time."
"Oh yeah!" Ruby laughed. "Did that training pay off or what?"
Weiss nodded. It had. Though that wasn't all of it.
Team RWBY had fought people many times already; from criminals to terrorists and upperclassmen in training. They'd gone on two missions that she was positive no other teams would have experienced for a good few years yet. Yes, mountain Glenn had been awful, but she knew it had done something more to them than just what could be seen on the outside.
It had broken through a wall for all of them, and because if it, they'd improved in leaps and bounds.
ARBN hadn't been a bad team, and individually they were skilled.
But they didn't have the experience they did, and Weiss was sure, they were just on another level.
Though... yes, getting knocked around by Qrow over the summer had definitely sped things up, but she 'd never admit it. The man was insufferably smug when he received even the tiniest amount of praise.
At that moment Ruby's stomach growled. Weiss rolled her eyes as the younger girl blushed. "Maybe we should find somewhere to eat before our team leader turns on us."
"Weiss!"
Yang laughed. "Sounds good, I saw a place further on that looked good. Wanna eat there?"
"Sure," the Heiress shrugged. "I'll pay."
"Yay!" Ruby mock-cheered. "Weiss' money is the best!"
"Oh really?" Weiss hummed. "Is that what's been attracting you people? Maybe I should give it all away. Maybe I'd get some peace an quiet for once."
"Pft, yeah right," The younger girl said. "You can't get rid of us that easily. We're friends now, you're stuck with us."
"I suppose that's true," the Schnee admitted, before a smile spread across her face. "You're right Ruby, you've grown on me."
"Yes!"
"Like a fungus."
"Aw…"
Blake rolled her eyes at the antics of the pair and laughed. Weiss caught it, and could tell what she was thinking just by the mirth in her eyes.
Really, the two of them should never have gotten along. Even more than the difference of Weiss being a Schnee and Blake a Faunus (a few decades of hatred between them that was nothing more than a distant past for the two of them) Ruby was just so exuberant in terms of her demeanour, and her personality, was almost definitely the opposite of everything a member of the Schnee line should have looked for in an acquaintance.
But, she'd thought of it like that hadn't she? An 'acquaintance' was the word she'd used.
Her father had introduced her to people throughout her life; as business partners, hairs or potential suitors. She'd always been polite with them, like a good, obedient little girl. As she'd gotten older, more rebellious, things had changed slowly. Weiss had started to realise that people didn't care about her. They cared about the Schnee name.
She knew people, but she wasn't friends with them.
Weiss glanced at Ruby as the girl in red clutched at her arm, smiling and laughing.
Yes… Ruby didn't care about her family name. Neither did Yang, or even Blake.
They saw her as her. She was Weiss.
They were her real friends.
A content smile split her lips.
Yeah… it was just another reminder… her team. They were the best thing that had happened to her.
She shook her head. Now wasn't the time for sappy feelings. Now was the time to eat!
"There it is." Yang said, pointing to a stall over to the side. Noodles was it? Alright then.
The made their way over to it and sat down on the chairs laid out. Yang made a motion at the man there who nodded and made his way to the back to get their meals.
Weiss noticed Ruby's eyes narrow.
She nudged her teammate. "What is it?"
"I dunno." Ruby said. "I just… I recognise that guy from somewhere."
Before she could ask more there was a blur as the old man came back out, massive bowls of noodles landed in front of them. (One with fish in them for Blake, who practically drooled at the sight.)
"Thank you." Weiss snooded. "How much do I owe you?"
"Hey guys."
They turned to the voice of a familiar blond.
Though there were more than even they expected:
Team JNPR was there, but so were Cardin – who sent Ruby and Yang in particular a nod – and Coco who smirked and waved at them.
"Hey first years." She smirked. "Enjoying your win?"
"You bet!" Yang grinned. "The first win for Beacon. You guys better keep it up."
Coco laughed. "Oh I plan to, can't let you get all the glory."
"Please, you can have it all," Weiss scoffed. "It would make things far easier on me."
"What?" Cardin asked. "Are you of all people hating the spotlight now?"
"Ugh, not the spotlight," she groaned. "Just the media."
"Ozpin told us about a reporter looking to interview us." Ruby explained for their benefit. "After the news about Mountain Glenn got out people started hearing our names." It had died out recently. People lived on twenty-four-hour news cycles, but even so it was a big deal, and one in particular had been persistent.
"Apparently we were supposed to have it last week with Lisa Lavender, but I asked Ozpin to hold it off a bit longer."
"I can understand that," Pyrrha agreed with a sympathetic nod. "Reporters don't usually understand, but I can see why you wouldn't want to relive those memories."
"Yeah, yeah you two can cry about it over some food." Coco grinned, pulling up a chair with the others. "You're payin' right Schnee?"
The heiress' answer was to pull out her credit card and hand it to the owner.
"You know, I may oppose the current Schnee name," Blake admitted, licking her lips as she eyed the fish in front of her. "But I can appreciate their money."
And right as she said that, Weiss' card came flying back. Pyrrha eeped as it embedded itself dangerously next to Weiss' hand.
"W-what?!" the snow-haired girl cried. "What is the meaning of-" she was cut off as she saw behind the old man, big red letters:
Declined.
"W-what?" she whispered.
Her teammates shot her a worried look.
But… I…" Weiss' head suddenly whipped left, where she saw everyone looking at her, some with worry, others with sympathy and some confusion.
She felt herself wilt in embarrassment.
Ruby bit her lip.
"Perhaps," Pyrrha interjected. "Perhaps I could pay. I have plenty of lien to spare."
"I guess I could too." Coco offered. "We'll split."
"Sorry." Weiss mumbled, the embarrassment seeping into her voice as she looked down.
"So… anyway," Jaune said, trying to ever so gracefully move away from the awkward situation. He scratched the back of his head. "We're up next. After seeing your fight I'm kinda nervous. I think I might make a fool out of myself in front of so many people."
"You will be fine Jaune," Ren assure him. "You don't give yourself enough credit."
"Yeah!" Nora laughed. "Jaune's gotten really good, especially over the summer. I can't wait for you guys to see our fearless leader in action."
The blond coughed at the praise. "I'm not that good."
"No, sparkies right." Cardin agreed, sending an approving nod Jaune's way. You've been practising a lot. Russel and the guys would agree with me if they were here. As long as you don't jump headfirst out of the ring you'll be fine."
"Aw~!" Nora cheered, wrapping an arm around Cardin's broad shoulders. "That's so nice of you Cardy! To think I planned on breaking your legs."
"You… what?"
They laughed as Nora continued her antics.
As they eat, Coco spoke up.
"So, first years, don't think I'm here to say hi. We got something we need to do."
"Oh yeah?" Jaune asked. "What's that?"
"Party hard obviously." Coco grinned. "All of us, CVFY, JNPR, CRDL and RWBY are gonna get wasted."
"Hell yeah!" Yang cheered.
"I don't know," Jaune mused, though there was a tiny smile on his face, "I don't think someone as dainty as the Ice Queen could handle it."
Of course, because of the fact that the teams consisted of Nora, Wuby and Yang (Basically children) as well as from the good mood, there was a cacophony of 'ooh' and 'ahs' from the peanut gallery.
"Bite me Arc."
"Oh so cold." He snarked. "I'd tell you to cool off but I'd be afraid you'd turn into an ice cube."
Weiss baulked and turned to his partner, who was her giggling behind her hand. "When did Jaune turn into a female version of Yang with all the awful jokes included?"
"Hey!" the brawler squawked.
Pyrrha smiled and shook her head. "Whatever do you mean Weiss? Don't be so cold."
The heiress' eyes narrowed. "What's going on? What are you doing?"
"Oh~" Nora giggled. "No need to be so frosty."
"What?"
"Yes, just chill out Weiss."
"…"
Everybody turned to Ren, who blinked suddenly at the stares he got. "What? I can do it too."
"I know you!" Ruby suddenly yelled out. It was her turn to receive stares, though she ignored them in favour of pointing at the old man behind the stalls.
"You're the guy who owns Dust till Dawn. I saved your shop from those robbers!"
Ruby was about to pester the old man, probably asking him why a dust store owner was suddenly selling noodles when a loudspeaker sounded.
"Would team JNPR report to the stadium. Now!"
"Welp," Jaune smiled. "Wish us luck."
They waved as the four got up and left, and soon after team RWBY did the same. "Come on," Weiss said. "We should watch their fight and support them."
Blake smirked. "And definitely not to spy on the competition right?"
The Heiress crossed her arms. "I've got nothing to hide."
They laughed, rushing to follow after JNPR in time to see their fight, Cardin and Coco waving them off.
And, up above, all the way in the sky.
A raven watched them with crimson eyes.
...
...
First round of the Vytal festival is underway!
Now, I know that some of you were looking forward to a training arc, or at least a few chapters along those lines. but I felt it would be better to show you the results of the training as they happened. You can't really get an 'oh wow' moment when a character reveals their abilities to people when you as a reader already know what they are.
So, I'm going this way, hopefully it worked out.
And, speaking of things working out how was the fight? I'm trying something a little new, that being splitting between fights if they happened at the same time to not only draw them out but also to give them the feel of being more heavy or important. Did it work? Let me know.
Also Have I mentioned how much I love Shirow Miwa's art? I think I have but I'll say it again. I love it, and for reference of the distinction I made on the Arma Gigas, look to his drawing of it. it should be easy enough to find online.
Damn I love his art. I wish I could be that good.
I've got a few more things I want to talk about, but I'll save them for next chapter, once I've composed it in a way that makes sense.
Other than that, what did you think?
Did you like it? Hate it? Let me know, tell me what you think.
And of course if you did like it, be sure to follow, favourite and review. It lets me know I'm on the right track and I always love reading reviews, I do read them.
That's all I've got for now, things are about to get heavy, it is Volume 3 after all.
Bye!
P a treon . com (slash) WSpectre