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To Thrive and be Victorious

CHAPTER 3

After minutes of flying that almost made me lose my lunch, we arrived at the Coliseum. We entered the arena and proceeded to the seats so we could watch our friends fight. I noticed Mercury and Emerald walking to the other side of the arena, I still had a weird feeling about the two but I thought it was just being paranoid so I carried on and sat down beside my team.

The stage was still empty and some seats were still vacant, so there were still a few minutes to spare before the match began. "You know, I've been thinking." Nora suddenly began, grabbing all of our attention. "Maybe we should sell the movie rights about us after we graduate."

Ren curiously raised his brow at her. "Movie rights?"

"You heard that right! Since we are getting more and more famous, we should get someone to make a movie about us! It would be about our exploits in Beacon. There would be drama, action, comedy, and romance!"

I wasn't sure what to think of that. I feared that someone would actually do that if I go too far since I plan on fading into obscurity once I graduate. By then, I already had my fun and I don't think anyone would want to watch a movie about me when we reach that point. Plus, I think our fans might focus too much on the romance aspect a little too much…

"Sounds like an okay idea. Who would play us then?" I asked, masking my doubts about it.

"Uh, us maybe? Why don't we just play as ourselves?" she shrugged.

"It might be a little fun, but acting is actually more taxing than everyone thinks." Pyrrha pointed out. "It takes more than just talent to act, you also need patience and willpower as you will have to endure hours of doing the same take repeatedly. Trust me, I have been in enough commercials and made a few movie cameos to know that. [1] A thirty-second clip can even take forever to shoot, I have lost count of how many take my last commercial took."

So I've heard, Noire and Blanche would tell me some horror stories that happened on sets. Let's just say that after they told me those, I crossed out acting as one of the professions that I planned to pursue. I was also rather surprised by Pyrrha actually making appearances in movies. I know it should be expected because she's a celebrity and all, but it was still surprising to hear. "You've cameoed in some movies?"

"Yes. It still feels strange seeing myself in one, even if it's only for five seconds or so."

Nora rubbed her chin and contemplated. "Hmm. You might be right about that. But still, someone's gotta make a movie about us. It would make a ton of money putting the Hero of Beacon on the big screen. Wait, scratch that, forget Hero of Beacon, Jaune will be the Hero of Remnant by then!"

Geez, I hope not because being the Hero of an academy is already more trouble than it is, I thought. I couldn't even imagine how much of a nightmare that would be. "Someday, Nora. Maybe someday." I mumbled while I hope it never happens.

Minutes passed and there still wasn't a match. To pass time, Pyrrha filed her nails, Ren took a nap and Nora was playing games on her scroll and I just sat waiting for the match to start. I eavesdropped on some of the audience out of boredom but I couldn't make out what they were saying because they were muffled by the chattering around the arena. What I did hear was a nearby hotdog vendor who was trying to sell some hotdog sandwiches.

"Hotdog! Hotdog! Get your tasty, juicy, thick, foot-long hotdog here! It also comes with a special sauce! My wife loves eating em' every morning and every night, and I know you will too!" He was a slightly-overweight balding man in his thirties to forties wearing a red-collared yellow polo shirt, beige shorts, and an apron while a tray full of hot dogs was strapped to him. He then spotted us as he walked down the stairs. "Hey, aren't you the guys who won the last match? I heard victory can make you hungry. How 'bout some hotdog?"

"No thanks, we just ate. But we'll consider it some other time." I politely declined.

He looked disappointed but he seemed to understand my decision. "Well, that's a bummer. But I'll be sure to come by then." He left and went back to wandering around the arena for potential customers.

Finally, after waiting around for a little longer, Doctor Oobleck and Professor Port began appearing on every screen around the arena and started to announce the match to the excitement of the audience.

"Welcome back, ladies and gentlemen; civilians, huntsmen, and huntresses alike, to the Vytal Tournament!" Professor Port announced as the crowd cheered. Nora in particular, shouted more loudly than most of the audience that she woke up Ren.

"Previously, fan-favorite Team JNPR defeated Team ABRN with a dashing display of skill and synergy; they will proceed to the double rounds! Now will their fellow schoolmates from Beacon be able to do the same, or would the honor go to the opposing team from Vacuo instead? We shall find out."

Doctor Oobleck then followed, "And before we begin, we would like to thank Crunch Bite for sponsoring us. You can purchase a monthly subscription to their channel for only a hundred lien a month[2] and be the first to see their upcoming show, Rator Kings! Do not miss out when it premieres. Here's an exclusive trailer!"

Naturally, I heard a few annoyed moans from some of the audience near me, including Nora. Couldn't blame them, I almost groaned myself. It seemed like the posters and banners advertising it on the coliseum's corridors weren't enough but it beats sitting through boring generic pop concerts (no offense, Noire and Blanc.)

"Oh no, not these ads again!" Nora grabbed her hair as if she was ready to rip it off.

The roof of the arena closed, shrouding the arena in darkness as a holographic screen appeared in the center and began playing the trailer. I looked around and saw a mixture of boredom, disinterest, and maybe a few who actually looked interested in the show. Not sure if I'm going to see it myself, but if I was to watch this myself, then it would be because ads like these annoyed me into seeing it. Don't get me wrong I love mecha action as much as the next person, but I'm not in the mood to see one especially since I already saw too many robots in real life, some of which even tried to kill me. That, and I didn't like how shoddy the frame rate was.

The lights went on back as the roof opened, and the screens went back to showing Professor Port and Doctor Oobleck in the press box. "And on to the match!" Professor Port announced.

The audience became excited again as competitors began emerging from the player tunnels with their weapons ready as the professor announced their presence. The crowd cheered at whichever team they were rooting for, with some boys audibly whistling on Team RWBY and girls squealing at the sight of the guys of Team BRNZ (Bronze).

Team BRNZ consisted of three guys and a girl. The boys—namely Brawnz Ni, Roy Stallion, and Nolan Porfirio, were all using melee weapons. Some claws, saws, and a cattle prod respectively to be exact. I remember Roy, the guy with the saws on his gauntlet, he was that guy who lost to Sky Lark because he was having trouble fighting with someone with a polearm.

The girl, May Zedong, meanwhile, was carrying a sniper rifle that looked straightforward and simplistic in a world where having flamethrowers and chainsaws installed on Helvetican army knives is the norm. What I found strange about her is that she is wearing attire that wasn't appropriate for a place like Vacuo. I'm guessing that she started wearing those once she got to Vale as she isn't used to places that aren't warm such as the desert or something.

The screens around the arena began focusing on Team RWBY. "From Beacon Academy, we got the most-acclaimed all-girl freshman team, showing what a sisterhood of Huntresses should be like. Ladies and gentlemen, Team RWBY!"

"Don't let their attractive looks fool you, folks. These girls are known for their exceptional skills combined with their harmonious teamwork. There is a good reason why they are viewed with high regard in Beacon, including the staff and their upperclassmen. These are the kind of Huntresses that let the emotionless Grimm experience the taste of fear." Doctor Oobleck added.

"Good luck girls!" Pyrrha shouted to them as the four waved at us.

"And from Vacuo. We have one of the roughest, toughest quartets of Shade Academy. Known for bold close-quarters combat whose combined strength was enough to break a Beringel. Give it up for Team BRNZ!" Professor Port said as the Team BRNZ's fans started cheering for them. "Two offensive powerhouses against one another. Which of them will prevail?"

Both teams went into their combat stances as the screens began shuffling off the arena's environment. It landed on an icon of a tree with a green glow and what appeared to be a mountain on the other.

A mountain with a few trees littered it began emerging one half of the arena while a short forest surfaced in the other, it had a lighter shade of green compared to the other biome. Seeing how relatively simple the environments were compared to what we got, these girls were pretty lucky in my opinion. You could even say I envied them.

"Three… two… one… Begin!"

The competitors engaged against their opponents. Meanwhile, May Zedong the sniper girl ran to the forest to provide sniper support for her teammates. She sprung to a tree, using her rifle's stock which also functioned as an axe-head to swing her to a branch.

Yang engaged in a fistfight with the opposing team's leader, Brawnz. She blocked his claw strikes with her gauntlets as she stepped back before firing a few shots which he dodged. Weiss was meanwhile fencing with Nolan as they avoided their opponent's swings. Blake and Ruby both took on Roy, who was doing his best to hold off both of them. He leaped away from Ruby's scythe before strafing back and firing one of his saws at her. Ruby spun her weapon, deflecting the saw away as it flew back into Roy's vacant gauntlet. Roy proceeded to focus on Blake, who was blocking his melee attacks with her sheathe and katana. She stepped back and used her weapon's whip to sweep the floor and have him fall to the ground.

Professor Port provided commentary as usual. "Team RWBY is now battling against the close-range combatants of Team BRNZ, but where is May?"

Suddenly a gunshot flew near her and hit a nearby rock, breaking it into pieces of rubble. I forgot to mention that May's weapon was actually an anti-material sniper rifle that used fifty-caliber bullets, meaning it could ignore things such as armor and aura that a single hit would be an instant knock-out. Never underestimate the power of rudimental weaponry, as if my choice of weapons hasn't made that clear enough.

Blake managed to quickly detect the source before nodding to Ruby who used her semblance to soar to the mountain. Blake flipped back and stood still. May fired at a seemingly idle Blake, only for the bullet to fly through her as the shadow clone faded away. Ruby stood in the middle of the mountain and folded away her scythe before firing at May. The shot unfortunately missed and hit the trunk behind her, and May began to shoot back. The two then engaged in a sniper duel, trading shots with each other as May jumped from one branch to another while Ruby zoomed around the mountain.

"Ho, ho, looks like the snipers of both teams have found themselves in long-range combat against one another." Professor Port remarked.

"But wait, look at this!" Doctor Oobleck suddenly interjected as he spotted something that caught his attention in the arena.

It turned out that the sniper duel was actually a diversion to keep May's attention away from Blake as she sneaks into the forest. Blake used her weapon's ribbon to grapple herself to the tree where May was standing on.

Blake snuck up behind May and the latter did not notice anything until she looked back and saw Blake swinging her weapon toward her. She quickly blocked it with her rifle but she was then pushed out from the tree. May fell on her back and saw an image of Blake leaping toward her. She hastily began firing, only to find out that it was another decoy. She glanced at her side and saw Blake aiming her pistol at her from another branch. Blake fired at May as she began rolling away while changing her weapon's magazine.

Blake jumped down from the tree and stormed toward her while she continued to shoot. May stood up and returned fire, forcing Blake to zig-zag around as she ran. When Blake got to her range, May started treating her weapons as an axe and she deflected Blake's strike before the two began clashing in melee.

"That was an interesting turn of events, folks!" Doctor Oobleck commented. "It appears that Ruby Rose and Blake Belladonna stopped May Zedong from providing sniper support. Now she is being occupied in engaging in close combat with Blake Belladonna."

"Speaking of close-range combat, how are the others doing?" Professor Port asked.

Both of the commentators shifted their attention to the others who were in the mountain biome. "Yang Xiao Long appears to be engaged with both Brawnz Ni and Roy Mustang in a two-on-one battle. I was curious to see if Yang would reign as the superior brawler or if the combined strengths of Brawnz and Roy prevail." Doctor Oobleck said.

Despite being outnumbered by those who are supposed to be proficient fighters from a high-temperature hellhole, Yang looked like she had the upper hand. She jabbed Brawnz, staggering him before she spun and delivered a kick to Roy behind her. Roy stumbled back, so he launched his saws toward her. Yang blocked them away with her gauntlets before ducking away from a hook punch from Roy. She turned back and the two went back to trading punches with each other.

Weiss was still engaged with Nolan. She darted back and summoned a glyph as he rushed towards her. Turns out, that glyph ended up launching him to the air before Ruby flew in and slashed him away across the arena. While Blake continued fighting against May, she saw Nolan falling toward them. As May raised her axe and was about to strike, Blake bolted away and left still a clone made of stone[3]. May ended up hitting the stone before she stepped back when she saw Nolan falling toward it. He landed on the stone decoy and broke it into pieces.

Ruby could be heard audibly yelling "Ladybug!" as she descended toward the two with her scythe ready. Blake came out behind a tree trunk and dashed toward her opponents. May hastily aimed at Blake but before she had any chance to pull the trigger, Blake managed to slash her while running through. When Nolan got up, Ruby did the same to him. Blake and Ruby slashed May and Nolan back and forth until their aura gauges reached below fifteen percent and the two could barely do anything other than getting helplessly sliced down.

"May Zedong and Nolan Porfirio have been defeated by aura!" Professor Port announced.

"And who can blame them? One would have to possess significant reflexes to avoid or counter such team-attack by two agile huntresses with the likes of Ruby Rose and Blake Belladonna."

"What will the remainder of Team BRNZ do now that two of their own have been defeated? This fight already feels decisive for Team RWBY unless they find a way to turn the tide of the battle!"

While Yang was still having a fistfight with Brawnz, Roy shifted his focus to Weiss. He tried throwing both of his saws at her as she summoned a barrier in front of her that reflected them back toward him. Roy simply caught his own saws with his hands and dashed toward her. He flailed his saws around toward Weiss as she swung her weapon to block them. Roy jumped and managed to knock her back after performing a dropkick to her face. Putting his saws back to his gauntlets as he starts revving them up he hopped toward her. However, Weiss was able to summon a black glyph and propelled him to Yang and Brawnz while they were still fighting. Yang rotated back and punched him away to the ground along with his remaining aura, effectively knocking him off the match.

Brawnz was the only one left, and he understandably did not take that well. He suddenly roared to the sky and activated his semblance—Berserk. Yang turned back to him and struggled to block his attacks as they became faster and stronger. After several blows to her stomach, Brawnz hit Yang's face and knocked her off to the ground with only a few of her aura left before she was out of the match.

He stepped in an attempt to finish her off, but before he was able to do so, Weiss began absorbing lighting dust as a golden clock appeared below her. He then turned and saw Weiss storming toward him with inhuman speed. Weiss blurred as she rapidly thrust her rapier at Brawnz as sparks followed her. But despite her speed, he still was able to retaliate with a strike that was just quick enough to promptly disable her time dilation. Branwz then lunged at her and tried to clobber her with both of his claws. Weiss strafed back and raised a glacier of ice only to be broken almost effortlessly by him. He punched her in the stomach knocking her back until she hit the mountain's base behind her. I don't know why, but I feel somewhat enraged after witnessing that, and made my support for Team RWBY stronger when I normally don't put much investment into tournament matches that don't involve my team.

Blake and Ruby tried to rush in and help but stopped once they noticed Yang rising from the ground with her hair glowing. She began to march toward Brawnz. He turned to her and saw her crack her neck. Brawnz foolishly charged toward her and tried to throw a punch. Yang ducked down and threw an uppercut to his jaw. And with that one single punch, Brawnz was sent blasting out from the stage until he hit the arena's hardlight ceiling.

"And that's the last of Team BRNZ. Team RWBY is victorious!" Professor Port declared, followed by cheering from the audience.

Brawnz started falling to the ground. Since his aura was dangerously low, emergency drones flew in and caught him mid-air with a net. They then flew down and dropped him next to his teammates that were staying in the corner after being defeated.

Better stay prepared for Yang then, especially with my plan to counter her dangerously overpowered semblance. There's a small chance that we might end up being matched against each other. I should remember that even Pyrrha struggled against her, even though they've only fought in a food fight with no real weapons.

Team RWBY gathered together in the middle of the arena, celebrating their victory as they waved at the cheering audience. Yang's semblance deactivated and gave her sister a high-five before the latter bounced into the air. So they're going to the doubles round with us. Good for them. While I wish my sister team nothing but the best, I also wish for them to never compete against us and this exactly showed why.

Who could be next then? I asked as I checked the bracket on my scroll to see the contestants of the next match. The answer was… pretty amusing to say the least.

'Team SSSN of Haven vs. Team NDGO of Shade'

Oh brother, aren't I in for a treat, I thought.

=o=

1. A few notable movie appearances of Pyrrha include: The Clash of Class, The Grimm Brothers, Praying With Fire, Mistrali Valentines, and Pumpkin Pete's Adventure Burrow.

2. That was before their infamous decision to increase the prices, and I shall leave it at that.

3. Blake's weapon—The Gambol Shroud—contains a module that allows her semblance to create elemental clones through the use of dust. It produces its substance after determining Blake's posture through her aura.

During the intermission before the next battle, Team RWBY sat beside us. Yang, in particular, was drinking a bottle of water to cool her head down from the temper she had from her semblance, as well as having an unopened soda can on her seat's cup holder.

"You guys really showed them back there, huh?" Nora asked the four.

"Yeah, to be honest, I was worried about what I did to that Brawnz guy. I think I must have hit him a little too hard. Thank The Brothers for those drone thingies, his aura wouldn't be enough to save him from that fall." Yang said with a chuckle before opening a soda can and taking a drink. "But hey, at least they'll get a medal with their team's name on it."

"You know that victory feels so good when Yang makes a joke that isn't atrocious for once," Weiss remarked and I found myself agreeing with her on this one. Its clever use of wordplay rather than just making puns for the sake of it makes it one of the better quips she made

The screens emerged once again as it shows Doctor Oobleck and a montage of knockouts from the previous match before it transitioned to a still picture of the victors. "Ah, well, Vacuo fans are sure to be hurting after that one, but this one will have them on the edge of their seats!"

The feed cut to Professor Port as he began announcing the new challengers. With a picture of Team NDGO. I have to admit, I never got tired of seeing their pretty faces, even if they themselves being huge fans of me made it a little awkward. "Team NDGO of Shade is certainly a crowd favorite, but these lovely ladies are going against some of the toughest, testosterone-filled teammates we've seen so far! I'm of course talking about... Team SSSN!"

Yeah, as a friend of two of them who had once tried to flirt with all of the girls on the opposing team the other day, I was not sure who to root for here. Even though Sun and Neptune tend to act like buffoons, they're actually pretty okay guys, and there weren't a lot of reasons for me to hate them. But I wouldn't say I want them to win this match nor did I wish for them to lose.

"Sun Wukong and his team are certainly a force to be reckoned with, and although he'll be representing the Mistral Academy of Haven, I'm sure his friends and family back in Vacuo will be cheering him along!" Professor Port remarked as high-pitched squeals of girls (as well as a few boys) roared around the arena, some of them even holding signs and posters, as Sun and his team entered the stage and faces their opponents. I almost forgot that Sun, Neptune, and their teammates were actually popular enough to have adoring fans. It begs to wonder where their admirers were when they needed them back at the dance.

"Good luck, Neptune. I guess…" Weiss cheered unenthusiastically as Neptune waved at the crowd, even sending some flying kisses that made some of his more adoring fans faint. He then turned to his opponents and noticeably started to flirt with them, despite making it clear that they weren't interested

Weiss' expression went from lukewarm to spiteful in a matter of seconds. "BREAK HIS STUPID FACE, NDGO!" She stood up and pointed her finger at him, with some of the viewers beside us staring at her in bewilderment. So, I have to give the guy some advice to ask out a girl he likes and finally start dating her, only for it to come to this in the end. What a shame.

I noticeably saw Team NDGO roll their eyes at him. They looked back at the audience and began happily waving when they spotted me. I smiled and waved back. I could even see their faces turn slightly red for a moment. We both kept waving until Pyrrha cleared her throat and I went back to sitting upward.

The selection of environments shuffled until it stopped with an orange icon of the sun above a desert. Dunes that stood on a sandy surface began emerging behind Team NDGO's half of the stage as the artificial sun began shining above the arena's transparent hardlight ceiling. Some viewers pulled out and wore their shades while others who did not expect it were blinded by the light. I guess Sun and the girls are going to feel at home with this one.

"Would you look at that? Hot gals going at it against hot guys under hot weather. I guess you can say this is going to be… hot!" Yang jested, who was wearing her aviators. She was already back to making bad jokes, and I'm pretty sure that quip also made some people's heads hot because of how terrible it sounded.

The ice queen beside her was still lamenting about her 'boyfriend' if she could still call him that. "Ugh, I still wonder why I even dated someone who is afraid of water."

"Neptune's afraid of water?" I raised my brow.

The environmental roulette on the other half of the stage then selected an environment represented by an icon of a palm tree and a wave behind it. Neptune turned his head toward the images and appeared to be frozen in horror.

A small beach with a pirate ship wreckage appeared on that side of the arena, and Neptune was on the brink of almost fainting, which he didn't luckily for his team as it would have knocked him out from the match even before it started, but looking at Neptune, he looked like he wished he was knocked out.

I stared at him beyond belief with a hint of faint amusement. "I see now…"

Neptune Vasilias. Hunter of Grimm. Self-proclaimed genius. Inventor of weapons. Robber of some hearts. Victor of board games. A musician with a synthetic singing voice…is frightened by bodies of liquid. It was when I thought that the match was going to be more entertaining than I expected. It's not that I hate Neptune, I think he's a decent guy beneath that obnoxious BMOC-wannabe persona, I just find this to be quite amusing.

In fairness, the sea isn't exactly our friend. Don't get me wrong, I like swimming on the beach as much as the next guy, and I don't need to wear any dumb floaters to do so. I just have to remember to NOT venture far out into the ocean, that's when you start encountering sharks and aquatic Grimm. The kingdoms made some parts of the ocean restricted from civilians for a good reason.

That still does not make whimpering over bodies of water that have more than a gallon less ridiculous.

"Three, two, one, begin!" Doctor Oobleck announced with all the contestants in their fighting stances, except for you-know-who who has his body pressed together as he stood. Glancing at his fans, they seemed very confused at his sudden anxiety.

As the match began. Neptune began dashing towards the highest rock on the biome behind Team NDGO and climbed at its peak at a pace that could possibly even rival Ruby's semblance. He was quick enough that it took a moment for Team NDGO to realize that he had already run past them and stared at him in confusion.

"Neptune, what are you doing?!" Sage yelled at him loud enough for the audience to hear.

"Uh, you know, just gaining the higher ground!" he answered, barely hiding his frightened tone.

"On the enemies' side?!" Sun shouted while remaining puzzled over whatever his teammate was doing.

"They would never expect it!" Neptune replied, To be fair, no one did.

Team NDGO shrugged it off and the battle carried on with Neptune staying on the rock. I'll keep this brief, the battle initially started seemingly in Team NDGO's favor—with Sage getting knocked away from the ring less than thirty seconds after the match started. It was one of the quickest KOs in the tournament. The reason why it wasn't exactly the quickest of all time was that it was nothing compared to the current record holder where the match ended as soon as it even started. [1] Scarlet would later get knocked out as well—after a coconut hit his own coconuts as it drains his remaining aura. Ouch, calm down ladies.

Team SSSN was able to make a comeback, however. Sun was able to put Octavia on a beatdown and convince Neptune to stop whimpering above the rock and make himself useful. Neptune was even able to eliminate the rest of Team NDGO by electrocuting all of them as neat as you please while they were still in the water, which might or might not have given them a good reason to fear pools of water as well.

"Ma' man!" Nora cheered as she witnessed Nebula, Dew, and Gwen getting electrocuted.

"That has got to hurt," Ren said, nonchalantly as always.

"Luring your opponents to a body of water and then electrifying them. Not bad," Pyrrha remarked. Not bad indeed. I only hope this doesn't get dumb kids to copy them after watching this.

"And with that, Team SSSN moves on to the doubles round!" Professor Port declared. "You know what I call that victory?"

"Shocking?" Doctor Oobleck answered. Of course, someone would say that, what a shock. No wonder why Yang gets along with Professor Oobleck.

"No, well earned. What you said is stupid," Professor Port replied.

Well, after all the shenanigans with Neptune and sUN, I guess they really earned it. If you think about it, Neptune would really have been the smooth MVP of this match had it not been for his fear of water. He would have looked far cooler when he defeated his opponents the same way without the whimpering.

Sun and Neptune waved at the audience before celebrating their team's victory by dancing to the upbeat music in the background, with Sage and Scarlet giving thumbs up at the side of the arena, the latter was still holding on to his injured crotch. Looks like he won't be making babies for a while. [2] Meanwhile, emergency drones lifted Team NDG_ out of the water before drying away the electrified water from their bodies and escorting them out.

And that was the match. This day might not be a good day for Vacuans since Shade two of their teams had just lost a couple of matches in a row, but at least they still have other teams to represent them.

"That was close," Ruby as she sighed for air.

"Looks like the dorks made it to the next round!" Yang remarked.

The two victors were still dancing on the stage, being watched by an amused audience. Looking at Neptune doing an awkwardly eccentric dance made me understand why he was too embarrassed to dance that night, but it appeared that he could no longer care less. Good for him, I guess.

"That concludes the matches for today. Please leave the coliseum…" Doctor Oobleck ordered before suddenly raising his voice, scaring the blazes out of unsuspecting viewers. "In a calm and orderly fashion!"

"Come on, let's go congratulate them," Yang stood up and led everyone out of their seats.

After a minute or two, we arrived backstage where we saw Team SSSN being congratulated by fellow students and even a few staff members.

"Thank you, thank you, you're all very kind," Sun said to them while being surrounded by his fans

"Team SSSN is on a roll, folks! Everyone should give it up for us 'cause we're untouchable!" Neptune bragged.

"Yeah, that's what the ladies also call you," Sun cheekily grinned.

"Isn't that ri—" Neptune's smile disappeared after he realized what his partner meant. "Hey!"

"Hey, guys, great work out there!" Ruby complimented them as we approached them.

"Yeah, I love how you zapped them all at once while they're in the water!" Nora chirped.

Neptune scratched the back of his head. "Yeah… I did."

"Aww, gee, thanks. I really hope everything we did back there was worth it for you guys," Sun said.

"Oh, trust us, it was." I nodded, it reminded me of the effectiveness of combining the right elements to win in combat. It was one of the few things I paid better attention to in dust class as I actually wanted to know more about elemental combinations that I could use to my advantage.

"Congratulations, Neptune." Weiss stepped with a smile on her face.

"Oh, that was nothing, Snow Ang—" His ear was suddenly grabbed by Weiss as she pulled his head next to her eye level.

"Be honest with me, am I not good enough for you?!" Weiss furiously asked, fuming with anger. Well, this is going to be painful to watch, I thought as the others looked either confused or as equally uncomfortable as I was at the drama that was unfolding before them.

Neptune just stared in confusion, "Wha—what?"

"You know what I'm talking about," she glared at him.

"Okay, okay!" Neptune said as Weiss let him go so he would be able to explain himself. He then cleared his throat. "Look, I really like you, okay? But as a ladies' man, you know I have to give the other girls some appreciation."

Good grief, he was only digging his own grave. I felt terribly sorry for him, especially since he had to deal with an aggravated Ice Queen. Her teammates and I can definitely tell you how it is. That being said, he was not helping his own case here.

Weiss's right eye twitched. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Neptune stuttered over his abysmal reply. "I—I mean, to be honest. It's just… We're not exactly… uh."

"Not exactly what?" She put her fists on her waists as she leaned toward him.

"It's… uh…, it's really hard to put it nicely…" Neptune nervously said, "Especially with all the people watching."

"I think I already know what you're trying to say," Weiss sighed disappointedly, "I always wondered why you left me on our date to flirt with another girl, now I know why." [3]

"Did you really have to say that in front of everyone? Look, Snow Angel, I'm really so—"

"Don't 'Snow Angel' me! If we're really going to be transparent with each other, then I'll let you know that it actually infuriates me when you call me that!"

Neptune nervously glanced to his side. "Look, can we discuss this later? I want to be honest with you, I really do, but this isn't exactly the best place to talk about us."

"Fine, but not because you said so, it's because I'm about to meet with someone who is more important than you, you unfaithful hydrophobic worm!" She yelled before marching out of the exit.

Ruby followed her partner out. "Hey, wait for me!"

Neptune just stared frozen at Weiss dumbstruck along with everyone in the room. Once Weiss was out, everyone was looking silently at Neptune with bewildered expressions. It wasn't until Sun decided to comment on the matter that the silence was broken. "Ouch."

"That was… certainly something," Pyrrha said.

Nebula and her team stepped in to make a half-mocking remark before leaving as well. "I hope you enjoy being part of the Champion's Club, water boy," she sneered.

"Ugh, I knew this would happen," Neptune murmured before he started hitting his own forehead. "Stupid, stupid, stupid!"

At least some of his fans would be happy to learn that he's probably single again, I silently quipped. I tried to cheer him up while patting his back. "We all make mistakes."

He covered his face for a moment. "It's just… I should have told her sooner. It would have hurt her a lot less, and not to mention, this would have been a lot less embarrassing."

"You should have told her what?" I asked, even though it was already obvious what was going to happen with their relationship. I thought I'd just ask.

"It's nothing. Just something between the two of us," he sighed.

That was completely understandable. Although I was curious about how they were doing, I wasn't too interested in other people's personal relationship issues anyway. "Oh, okay."

"Hey Jaune, you're not busy tomorrow are you?" Sun suddenly asked.

I turned to him with a curious expression, wondering what they would need me for this time before giving him my answer. "Aside from practicing for the doubles round, I don't have anything else planned. Why?"

He took a sigh of relief as if I just saved his life or something. "Oh, good. We're going to need you to come with us to the city tomorrow for something. It's very important."

More favors, I thought. I decided that whatever it was, it couldn't hurt. At worst I'll probably just end up babysitting these two again. "What is it then?"

"We really can't tell you right now, so we'll tell you about it tomorrow," he said with a slight grin on his face.

More suspense and secrecy, things that I didn't need at the moment. Whatever this was, it better be worth my time because I was getting really tired of playing hero just so everyone could keep kissing up to me. If only I wasn't at a point where refusing wouldn't put me in a good spot. "Alright…"

"Great!" Sun smiled before turning to everyone, "Well folks, I think we've put on enough of a show for today. So we'll be going now."

Sun and Neptune then left the room. Since there was nothing else for us to do in the Coliseum we left as well.

I wondered what Sun and Neptune needed me for. Get another date for Neptune I guess? Whatever it was, it shouldn't be that bad since these two are too harmless (or too dumb) enough to put me in trouble. The day during the investigation didn't count because it was mostly the girls' fault that I got dragged in there.

=o=

1. The record holder during that time was the singles match between Zahra Azar and Cole Whittaker during the 34th Biennial Tournament. It was infamous for lasting for only 0.81 seconds with Azar coming out as the victor. This was due to Whittaker being vulnerable to fire, the element of Azar's weapon.

2. Given the type of man Scarlet is, he never has and never will, and not because he doesn't want children, mind you.

3. We went on a date to Vale's pier area. He once left me on a bench, claiming that he'll return because he needed to distance himself from the sight of the sea for 'a few minutes.' When I waited for too long, I went to check on him only to find him trying to flirt with a random girl at a sushi stall. I returned to Beacon immediately after witnessing that.

4. The Champions Club was the moniker of the fanbase of the two-time Vytal Champion Raul 'The Doc' Gilette who was later exposed to be an adulterer, which lead to the name Champions Club to be associated with infidelity.