"Ruby, what the hell are you doing there?!"

To explain what was currently going on, we're going to have to back up quite a bit. The previous night, Ruby and Blake had been planning the how-to's and such for getting back at Yang. Ruby could, in any number of ways, mess with her sister. Pulling pranks, while not something she took joy in, was something that Ruby excelled in, especially with her love of gadgets and weapons. Well, that or she could simply just cut all of Yang's hair off when she was asleep.

"But," Began Blake. "That would just end up resulting in a mess for everyone Ruby. No, you'd have to save the hair thing for another time. Like when me and Weiss aren't within a mile of you two."

"Fine. But I still wanna hurt her. Yang is always doing this to me!"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, Yang's a good big sister, you know? But she has a rather rough personality, and that causes her to sometimes ignore those around her for what she wants." Blake nodded, confirming she was listening. "A lot of what I like was inspired by Yang. Seeing as how we were always together, I picked up a lot of her tastes and habits. As such, we liked a lot of the same things, and had similar opinions regarding a lot. This sometimes led to us fighting over one thing or another."

"Like?"

"Well... Please, keep this a secret, alright? Promise me?"

When faced with Ruby's puppy-dog like eyes, and her quivering lip, Blake could only give in and promise her. One of these days, she would find out how to counter that stare. It was just so unfair.

"Back when I was in Signal, during my first year there in fact, I... well, I kinda had a crush." At this, Blake's eyes widened if only slightly. From what she knew of her, Ruby always seemed dense in matters of love, and had trouble just talking with people most of the time. Her having a crush is hard to believe. "He was a rather cool guy, ahead of me by two grades. He was a great smith, his weapon was so cool. The way he masterfully managed to incorporate three different weapons into a lance, each fully capable of utilizing different types of Dust rounds. It was so beautiful..."

Uh oh. Ruby was getting that look in her eye, the one that always comes out when she talks about weapons. Blake knew that if Ruby proceeded any further, they would be here the entire night. Quickly, she tried to shift the topic back on track.

"Well, what happened with him?"

"Oh, right. Well," As Blake quietly thanked her success. "I was going to try confessing to him on the day right before our Winter Vacation. The previous night, I had spent quite a while asking Yang a lot about guys, to which she gave me some very helpful advice. When she asked who it was, I told her, and she looked kinda... distracted. The next day though, when I was gonna try, I saw Yang ask him out, and he agreed."

"That fiend."

"Yeah. She knew how I felt, and yet she still did that to me. And it isn't only related to boys. She's taken my favorite foods, clothes, everything! She says it's a big sister's privilege mostly. Other times, she tells me to fight her for it. But I don't have the heart to fight her usually."

"Usually?"

"This time she went too far. Jaune is... Jaune is mine. I like everyone here, and I'm glad I made friends with them. But Jaune is special, he's just so nice. Yang taking him, its just too much."

And Blake agreed. Maybe it was the romantic in her talking, but she had a soft spot for this kind of spot. She agreed that Yang needed to be taught not to go so far, and she figured that the event would be a good venue for the fight between the sisters.

"Okay Ruby. Tomorrow, get up before six in the morning, and come meet me out by the fountain."

"Thanks Blake."

Which brings us back to the current situation. Standing before Yang was her baby sister. Scythe planted business end towards Yang, hood up, and for all intents and purposes looking like a rose-themed Grim Reaper, Ruby was staring down her older sister. A click later, and Crescent Rose jumped in her hand. Right by Yang's head whizzed a bullet powerful enough to rend Grimm apart.

"Ruby, what the hell?! And why are you here? I thought the third fighter was supposed to be-!"

"Never mind who you thought it'd be. I wanted to participate in the festival, but due to a certain someone, I can't. So I got myself put in this competition just for that."

From Ruby's voice alone, almost anyone could tell she was angry. As she was hiding her face with her hood, for what reason nobody could figure out, it was impossible to completely tell what kind of expression she had. But the venom in her tone made it obvious there was some sort of grudge being held here. Suddenly, rumors were flying through Scrolls left and right. Previous participants were messaging friends, spectators messaging their classmates and teammates. The rumor flew. The Rose and Xiao Long siblings were having an argument, and were going to settle it out at the Tri-Dust Competition. Both were well known across the student body for multiple reasons; being top among the freshmen class in combat ability, the older sister being a stunning beauty, the younger one having fought Roman Torchwick and won. Both had quite the number of eyes on them. And as the rumor spread like wild fire, more and more students showed up to the match. Even some teachers were beginning to stop by for a look. As the sister's stared each other down, it became evident that whatever the outcome, it would be bloody.

"Okay now Ruby, how about we both just calm down for a second. I mean, it would be nice of you to just let your older sister win and take home that nice pri-"

"-ut up..."

"Eh?"

"Shut up! You always try and use your age as a means to be victorious over me. Not this time, dearest sister. Now, as you've always wanted, we will fight."

"Hah! Come on Ruby, do you seriously think you can beat me?" Yang was spouting some rather challenging words, hoping to psyche Ruby out. No matter what, Ruby was no easy opponent, and Yang had never had a serious fight against her baby sister. Not a once.

"I'll ask the same of you."

"What?"

"Do you seriously think you can even touch me?"

With her last bit of provocation, Ruby disappeared into a cloud of rose petals and air. Wasting no time, Yang began to look around, putting her arms up to get a bit of defense going. But no matter where she looked, Ruby was nowhere to be found. In reality, Ruby was simply hiding in her sister's blind spot. Unlike Ruby who had tuned the finer points of her Aura, lacking strength and defensive abilities compared to Yang, Yang strengthened her physical capabilities, lacking the finer points. As such, she was rather poor at sensing Aura. So despite Ruby being so close, staying just a hair's breadth from Yang, Yang could not find her. Everyone outside of the arena watched this, and stared on in awe. As it were, Ruby could have taken many chances to attack Yang at this point, and they knew it.

"Argh, damnit! Come out Ruby!" Putting all of her frustration behind it, Yang smashed her fist into the ground, sending a large shockwave rippling through the ground. Typical Yang, and Ruby knew it. She expected something like to happen, and was prepared when it did. Using her semblance once again, Ruby jumped well off of the arena, landing opposite of Yang. "There you are."

"What, you were looking for me? I had my eyes on you the entire time, y'know?"

Yang could not come up with a retort. Ruby was fast, unfairly so. Yang knew no amount of training could give anyone that kind of speed. Then again, Yang also had confidence in her strength and endurance, two tested and true traits of hers that none had been able to match before. If it came down to it, she was confident that Ruby would not beat her.

Yang initiated the attacks this time, hoping to disrupt Ruby's rhythm and substitute her own. If she could control the flow of the battle, she would win easily. But Yang, being the most straightforward type of fighter there was, did not think about how her sister could leave her field of vision before she even crossed half of the stage. No, indeed it still came as a surprise to Yang when Ruby disappeared. But this time, Ruby did not go behind Yang. She was up in the air, looking to all as though she were some sort of deadly, angelic creature. One adorned in black and in red, and looking to all as though she was the reaper incarnate. But before another thought could pass through any of their heads, Ruby fired her scythe behind her, giving it momentum towards Yang. With a spin of her body, Ruby threw Crescent Rose at Yang, turning her beloved scythe into a storm of steel and death. Yang fortunately had the good sense to look up and, seeing the incoming monstrosity of a weapon, dove for dear life. A second later, a rather heavy thud told Yang all that she needed to; Ruby was serious, and this was going to hurt. But Ruby was separated from her weapon, and to Yang this was an opportunity. Ruby could only fight well when she had Crescent Rose. Or, so Yang thought.

Landing opposite her weapon, Ruby eyed Yang, and her scythe embedded just behind her sister. It would be a simple matter for her to retrieve Crescent Rose, and she knew it. Yang didn't, and Ruby knew that too. If anything, Yang never really paid much attention to Ruby's training with Qrow, and that would end up costing her. Yang, who'd always tried to remain in the spotlight, had given Ruby many, many chances to observe her style of combat, and even practice incorporating it into the martial arts and scythe wielding that Qrow had taught her. Ruby was paying close attention to Yang, down to the tinniest twitch of her foot. Any tell for when or how Yang would try to attack her. Most of what Ruby knew in hand-to-hand was self defense based, so she would let Yang make the first move. And were Yang smart, she would not.

She did. Deeming the opportunity too good to pass up, Yang charged at Ruby like a Boarbatusk, hellbent on smashing her out of the arena. Her right fist reared back, Yang prepared to give Ruby the mother of all haymakers when Ruby reacted. Before she ended up getting hammered like Magnhilde, Ruby side stepped her older sister, threw her foot in front of Yang's, and using her own momentum caused Yang to fall face first on the ground. Before Yang could even begin to get up, Ruby sent a swift kick at her sister's ribs, sending her flying across the arena, now opposite to where Ruby's weapon lay. With her sister out of commission for a sec, Ruby walked over, and picked Crescent Rose up out of the ground. Spinning it a couple of times to remove the debris, Ruby again took her usual combat stance. Scythe end planted in the ground, aimed straight at her opponent.

"Holy shit." "That was brutal." "Rose must be pissed."

Talk like that began, as after the beginning of the match, everyone had noticed Ruby's fighting style wasn't simply to win. Kicking a downed opponent was something most avoided, and yet Ruby did it without hesitation, even going so far as to send her sister flying. Everyone was thinking the same thing, and that was that these two sister's had some serious, unresolved issues.

Picking herself up, Yang stumbled a little. Despite her Aura being better suited for defense and offense, Ruby could utilize her Aura in a similar manner, in a roundabout way. As her semblance increases her speed by allowing her to move quicker, the same semblance utilized on her limbs allows her to create a heavier impact when striking. Due to the precision required to execute it, doing so is usually taxing on Ruby. It takes more to focus Aura onto one point than to just let it spread, after all, but the effect is much greater. When it comes to her legs, Ruby can circumvent this somewhat by putting her Semblance into full effect as it normally is, and making only the tinniest of movements, as though to begin running. It taxes her slightly less than the aforementioned method. In the end, it still did damage to Yang. Despite her Aura having been up, her ribs were feeling a bit tender. Then again, a kick at the speed of sound with Ruby's leg muscles and steel toed combat boots behind it, could have, without her Aura, left Yang coughing up blood by this point. It only showed how serious Ruby was.

Rubbing her side for a second, Yang took a second to try and think of some way to beat Ruby's overwhelming speed. In a competition of stamina and endurance, Yang wasn't too sure she could win. With how much Ruby ran around, she could no doubt go on for quite a while with her stamina. In terms of enduring attacks though, Yang undoubtedly had he upper hand. While Yang was thinking, Ruby took a step forward, positioning herself for a charge. Before Yang could shift into a more defensive stance, however, Ruby was upon her. Trusting her training and instincts, Yang put up her arms, blocking and incoming swing from Crescent Rose. Before Ruby could pull back and put space between them, Yang grabbed onto the scythe, holding it in place. Rearing her free arm back, Yang threw forward a punch that would knock most grown men out. Without much recourse, Ruby shifted Crescent Rose, twisting it in Yang's hands so that it could block the incoming punch. Unfortunately, Yang's brute force was enough that the impact still sent Ruby flying well away from her scythe, landing with a heavy impact onto the solid ground.

"Well, well. Seems like I've clipped some of the Rose's thorns, huh?" Yang tried making one of her signature lame puns, eliciting a collective groan from the entire crowd, and a facepalm from Ruby.

"Seriously, sis. Your jokes are terrible."

"Whatever. You know they're awesome, just like me."

With a heavy sigh, Ruby resumed her combat pose, now without her scythe. Crescent Rose, which Yang was very wary of now, was unceremoniously tossed out into the crowd. Before Ruby could worry too much about it, she heard someone from the crowd calling out.

"Don't worry Ruby, I've got Crescent Rose right here! She's safe."

It was Jaune. Ruby felt herself relax just slightly. She could trust Jaune to watch after her sweetheart for a while if need be.

With her sweetheart is trustworthy hands, Ruby again focused on the person in front of her. Unarmed, she wasn't too sure she could beat Yang and get away unscathed. But her training with her uncle Qrow had taught her how to fight in close quarters, and even use her semblance to it's fullest in such situations. If anything, she didn't even have to go close quarters with Yang. She could retrieve her scythe from Jaune. But the look in Yang's eye made it seem like she was anticipating that, making it so Ruby had to be a little more cautious about it.

Just to break the stalemate, Ruby did her usual disappearance, and Yang took the bait. Smashing the ground as hard as she could, Yang tried to do as she'd done before, and throw the godspeed Ruby off balance. Ruby, however, had seen this coming. Yang was always straightforward in a fight, and she ended up repeating things over and over again sometimes. The saying "When all you have is a hammer" truly applies to her. But unfortunately for Yang, Ruby wasn't behind her, nor in front of her, nor even above her. As fast as she could, Ruby had left the stage, retrieved her scythe from Jaune, and returned to the stage just as it settled. All so fast that not a single spectator had seen her even move.

"Well sis, seems like a rather thorny situation for you, hm?" Ruby quipped her own pun, along with a single raised eyebrow at Yang, as if to mock her.

"Ugh. Talk about terrible puns."

"You're full of them."

Taking their jabs at each other, it seemed the match had entered a light hearted dip in the action. Seemed, as a few seconds later, the clashing continued. Yang, nothing more than winning in her mind, charged straight forward, throwing out a flurry of punches and kicks, each with enough force to knock a grown man on his rear. Being well acquainted with her sister's style, Ruby was able to successfully parry and deflect each strike with Crescent Rose, using her footwork where necessary to avoid an incoming projectile. Despite it's weakness in extreme close quarters, Ruby was handling her scythe expertly by using her body as a fulcrum to spin Crescent Rose around,along with her footwork which she used to keep her own body moving in the same rotational style, keeping her scythe moving. Contrary to popular belief, Ruby was not weak at this range, and had in fact practiced extensively in case she ever fought Yang, or anyone with a similar style. The hours upon hours that Ruby had practiced, the blood, sweat, tears, and often times vomit that she had put into all of the training was worth it. All of it was, without a single doubt, worth it. And Yang could tell, as even she was beginning to realize that getting in melee range of Ruby wasn't going to be easy. She slowed her assault for a second, and took the chance to put some distance between Ruby and herself.

"Geez Ruby, are you a human or a blender?"

"Why not both?" Ruby answered, having stopped her spinning. Lowering her scythe for a minute, she gave a sarcastic grin to her sister, still taunting her. And bit by bit, Yang was growing angrier, and angrier. That Ruby was fighting on par with her was annoying on its own, but that her baby sister was outright mocking her midfight? Ruby could practically see the veins bulging from Yang's forehead.

"Just stand still for a minute, and let me punch your lights out, alright?"

"Catch me first~" Ruby said, a cute and wicked grin plastered across her face.

This was the last straw, and Yang exploded. Literally. Her hair burst into flames, and a ring of ash surrounded her, the arena being slightly burnt at the release of her semblance.

"Alright Ruby Rose. If that's how you want it, you and your big sister will have a nice long talk tonight, okay? Right after I catch you, and tickle that red right out of your hair."

"Heh. Bring it."

While the two sister's settled their differences in the ring, another person calmly walked through the crowd, searching for a blonde boy. Upon finding her mark, her hand shot out, grabbing him by the arm.

"Wha-?"

"Quiet Jaune, it's me."

"Blake? What do you want?"

"Did Yang leave her things with you so she could participate?"

"Uh, yeah?" Jaune answered almost questioningly, seemingly unsure of what Blake was doing.

"Purfect."

*Author's Note*

Well, hi there.

I don't know why or how, but I can feel most of you wanting to kill me. I'm sorry about the long wait. I was mostly focused on advancing my latest story, mainly because inspiration for that one is fleeting. I capitalize when I can on getting that out.

Anyhow, as you may notice, the styles I've grown into while writing a couple of my other stories are starting to bleed over here a little bit. If it gets annoying, let me know. I'll try to keep it in check.

Anyhow, not really much to say. Horrible puns, fighting, and sisterly drama. I suppose that summarizes this chapter, and I hope to see you for the next. Comments, criticisms, concerns, and questions. I'm fair game for all. Ciao.