Chapter 32: Vytal Tournament Part 7

He looked around the "abandoned" warehouse complex and smiled. The three brainwashed survivors of Team SEAL were posted around the complex, making sure nobody could get in. In the event of an assault on one, the other two could rush to help while he stayed back in the main warehouse. He knew that he only needed to stall for time, but he wanted to do more. What he planned to do was capture everyone who invaded the area.

He checked the trap again to make sure nothing had malfunctioned in the few minutes between checks. He could picture the assault now: The Beacon teams would infiltrate the compound through the paths of one of Team SEAL. They would probably defeat the first and only be delayed slightly by the second and third. They would then rush to the middle in an attempt to find Blake. They would see the decoy in a chair on the other side of the room and move forward to save it. His trap would then activate and daze all of them. He would have ample time to string them up and transport them back to the base. It would all be so simple.

His reminiscing was interrupted by the sound of gunfire from the west side. He knew that the enemy had arrived and he bunkered down to wait for them to reach the center.

"Announcing Sun Wukong, Colton Canius, Aurora Hirosaki, and Krystal Rain of Team SCAR!"

"Announcing Tyson Hallio, Alex Chernykh, Nico Sesh, and Key Blade of Team TANK!"

The two teams examined the arena floor as they walked out. The trees and undergrowth provided multiple ways to stealthily approach the enemy. The pond in the middle gave another hiding spot to both teams' repertoire.

The teams directed their gaze from the arena and towards the other players. Sun examined the weapons that the other team had: Tyson had a mace and chain, Alex had an AK-47, Nico had a stygian iron sword, and Key had, you guessed it, a keyblade.

The timer hit the magic number of zero and both teams made a break for the pond in the middle. This would turn out to be a rather boring fight, as each player picked another one out and continuously engaged in hand-to-hand combat. Krystal and Alex were exchanging long range ammunition, Key and Sun were exchanging hits on each other, Colton and Nico were dancing around each other, looking for any opening, and Aurora was throwing C4 at a charging Tyson.

The explosions that followed the C4 were starting to do damage to the arena, as some of the undergrowth had caught on fire. This quickly transformed into a full-scale forest fire, with everything burning. The competitors continued fighting, oblivious to the raging fire around them. It was only when Krystal backed up and stepped onto the fire that anyone took any notice of it. She screamed as her leg was suddenly engulfed in flames.

Her Semblance tried to kick in but the fire tore through flesh faster than it could heal. Colton finally scooped her up off the ground and hurled her into the air. Aurora shot a well-placed shot that propelled Krystal into the lake and into relative safety. SCAR took a second to appreciate their work before Sun caught a bullet to the leg. They turned as TANK slowly approached, knowing that they would lose in a three on four fight.

Ruby crawled forwards and gestured for Pyrrha to move with her.

"Use your scope and scout out the compound." Ruby whispered.

"On it." Pyrrha muttered back as she scanned the area.

She called out where she saw any enemy before handing the sniper to Ruby.

"So there are three patrolling outside, and an unknown amount inside." Ruby said.

"Correct, from what I saw." Pyrrha responded.

"If only we knew what was inside."

"Shame we left Colton behind."

"I agree."

"Ready?"

"Hell yeah."

Ruby led the way over the crest of the hill, making sure that nobody silhouetted themselves against the night sky. She halted the group right outside of the compound and pressed herself against the barbed wire fence.

"Alright, everybody remember the plan?" Ruby looked around at the teams behind her for an answer.

Heads were nodded and she gestured for Hailey to make her way to the front.

"You're up, ready?" Ruby asked as she drew near.

"Of course." She replied as the rest of Team HEAT followed behind her.

Their job was to distract the first guard they saw, and they proceeded forwards to do just that.

"Hey idiot!" Hailey yelled as she brought the earth into a shield in front of her and her team.

Archer turned at the insult and unleashed a burst of gunfire into the earthen shields Team HEAT had in front of them. HEAT advanced slowly and Hailey gesticulated for everyone else to move further into the warehouses.

"Go!" She screamed as she made it far enough to lash out with her pistol at Archer.

Ruby continued to lead the way as they made it closer and closer to the center warehouse. As they rounded a corner, they were ambushed by Sandman and Everett. BOLT split off to deal with them and RWBY and JNPR continued forwards into the main warehouse. They burst through the doors and found themselves facing one person, who had taken the seat of honor in the back of the room. As they watched, the seat rotated and they saw Blake taped to the chair.

"It's a trap!" Hailey screamed as she and BOLT sprinted through the door.

But the warning came too late as a giant flashbang went off, stunning everyone in the room and disrupting their aura.

"I can't see!" Yang screamed.

"WHAT?" Omega shouted.

"I said, I can't see!"

"WHAT?"

"I SAID, I CAN'T SEE!"

"WHAT?"

They failed to notice a person standing on the railing above them, casually bringing his crossbow up to aim at Omega.

"I SAID- YOU KNOW WHAT? NEVER MIND!" Yang finally gave up as her patience snapped.

"WHA-?" Omega's scream was cut off mid-sentence as a crossbow bolt slammed into her.

Tyger's eyes cleared just enough to see his teammate fly across the arena, dead before she hit the ground.

"NO!" He screamed.

He stumbled towards her but got a prod from behind. As he turned towards it, he felt something smash into his head. Then the world went dark.

Krystal felt herself break the surface of the water and sink down into the water. She heard the sound of gunfire from above but took a second to heal her leg. The dark blue haze blended well with the water around her and she had to look closely to see it at all. Her tranquility was finally disturbed when she heard Colton scream out in pain. She heard it and propelled herself out of the water, intent on saving her boyfriend.

While Krystal had been recuperating in the lake, Sun, Aurora, and Colton were fighting a losing battle. Even the best of teams will be overpowered when outnumbered, and TANK was using their extra person to the fullest extent. There were only so many attacks that Sun could block and he was beginning to reach that limit. It would take a miracle to win the game now and, strangely enough, a miracle was what they got, but in a form none of them saw coming.

"Agh!" Colton cried out as a thrust from Key hit home.

Colton lost most of his aura in that single hit and he stumbled backwards in an attempt to prolong the game. Key advanced on him slowly, and Colton kept his backwards crawl going. He glanced at his two teammates and saw they were cornered by three TANK members. He knew this would be it and he raised Amber and Ember in an attempt to ward off the final blow.

There was a sudden eruption of water as Krystal flew out of it like a dolphin. She raised Toxid and shot four well-placed arrows in rapid succession at each TANK member. Then, while they were still distracted, she raced over to Key and drew back another arrow. Key turned to her and raised his keyblade to take her down, only to feel a force drive him to his knees.

"Never turn your back on your opponent." Colton lectured as he brought Amber down for the final blow.

Key's aura fell to the red and the crowd cheered. The finals now had the set teams, and everyone would be eager to watch it the next day. SCAR shook hands with TANK and then walked out of the arena to uproarious applause and support.

Pyrrha woke up to a tilted world. Everything seemed upside down. She had no idea how this had happened or even where she was. It was only after a few minutes of careful thought that it came to her. The attack on the warehouse complex, the subsequent flashbang, and her world turning to dark. Her eyes widened as she looked around and saw everyone strung up from the floor around her.

'That's strange, how are they hanging from the floor.' She thought.

She spent another few minutes contemplating this before she saw Vayla walk on the ceiling above her. She finally figured out she was hanging from the ceiling and she thrashed about in an attempt to break free. Vayla laughed a cold-hearted laugh and brought a remote into view.

Pyrrha felt herself being lowered until she was face to face with Vayla. The two looked at each other before Vayla pressed another button, bringing everyone else down to the ground as well. Pyrrha tried to activate her Semblance but found herself unable to. Vayla laughed again and pointed to the ceiling. Pyrrha looked up and saw a massive ASH set up above them. She brought her gaze back to Vayla and saw her walk across the floor towards Jaune. Pyrrha's eyes widened further as Vayla pulled out a .44 Magnum and pointed it at Jaune's head.

"NO!" She screamed in agony as Vayla started to pull the trigger.

Author's Note:
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