"Ladies and gentleman, welcome to the 41st biannual Vytal Festival Tournament!" Professor Port announced loudly over the loudspeakers. "Joining me in the grandstand is Professor-"

"Doctor!"

"Doctor Oobeck!" Port finished, unimpeded by his slipup. "Barty, why don't we start the randomization process while you explain the rules?"

"Why, certainly, Peter!"

Reaper tuned out the rest. She knew the rules, and all she really needed to know was she needed to keep winning until the trophy was hers. You sure you're ready for this?

Not at all. This thing is uncomfortable.

We gotta wear it though.

I know…

"And it seems the randomization is complete!" Oobleck announced, drawing Reaper's attention back. "The first match of the tournament is team WBRN of Beacon vs Team BRNZ of Haven!"

BRNZ… Reaper searched her memory. Beanie girl… "Weiss, I have a plan." Reaper announced. The rest of team WBRN listened to her idea.

The contestants met in the center of the field. A look at May Zedong of team BRNZ confirmed Reaper's suspicions, and Weiss nodded.

City ruins rose behind team WBRN as a forest appeared behind team BRNZ. Port began the countdown. "Three… Two… One… Begin!"

May turned and ran for the trees, using her team's biome to her advantage. She jumped up to a vantage point and scanned the field. Roy and the Schnee girl… funny, I could have sworn her and the cat faunus were on a different team… May thought, scanning over Blake fighting Brawnz. who are the new two? Her scope found Reaper keeping Nolan occupied in a one on one, her weapon fully extended. A scythe… but black? I've only ever seen the red hooded girl use a scythe like that.

If that is the same girl, and that scythe is anything like her last one, that it's a sniper rifle as well. May realized. I can't have that. May settled on her first target, lining up her shot. She took a deep breath, exhaled, and pulled the trigger.

Instead of hitting its target, the bullet instead flashed off a pink and brown mass. A circle, split into alternating pink and brown slices. May looked over her scope and saw the circle fold and shrink, like an umbrella top being closed. Because that's what it is. May realized, cursing herself. She had forgotten to scan for the fourth WBRN fighter before firing.

Neo ran her hand down the marble white shaft, closing the umbrella with a smirk plain as day on her face. She sensed Reaper behind her and jumped, tagging in and taker her lover's place in the scuffle with Nolan. The boy was surprise by the sudden shift, but not nearly as surprised as May when she saw Reaper turn her attention towards her. A scope popped out of the Scythe's handle and the black cloaked woman winked at May before vanishing in a cloud of red petals.

May realized what this meant instantly, and frantically searched the buildings across from her for her opponent. Before she could even hope to find Reaper's location, she was slammed off the tree by a burn round. She hit the grass hard, but was back on her feet in but a moment, scanning where she heard her foe's shot. Seeing nothing, she elected to find a new nest herself, one Reaper hopefully wouldn't find so easily.

Reaper found herself a shadowed cubby in the ruins where she could scan out a nearby window. She took a curious look towards where she last knew where May was. Good. She's not stupid. This might be fun!

Can't wait till I can just smash shit.

"Be quiet, or you may not get a chance."

Point…

Reaper was glad she could devote all her attention to the task at hand. What she didn't know was it was already too late. While speaking to Ember, she had shifter her position slightly, putting herself in the light. A gunshot and a high-powered impact on her shoulder made her mistake clear to her. Reaper retreated into shadow, her heart pounding. Fuck! She is good. I can't afford to get distracted…

"Oh ho! Didn't see that coming, did she?" Oobleck shouted over the loudspeakers, catching Reaper's attention.

"I don't see why. Reaper does fine in my class." Port countered.

"Reaper, or Ember?" Oobleck pointed out. "For those of you at home who don't follow the latest crime news, our Reaper is an ex-criminal being rehabilitated at Beacon by becoming a Huntress. And through, um… personal details, it's possible she was distracted by her, eh… other self, Ember."

"Great, just give away my secrets…" Reaper lamented.

"Regardless, this is shaping up to be a rather unique fight!" Port cheered, Getting Reaper's attention once more. "I can't remember the last time I saw a tournament fight play out like this!"

"It seems both teams have fallen into a shared strategy." Oobleck commentated. "Though the quarrels are still going, it is clear they are holding back and saving their stamina. This is a rare occurrence indeed for a Vytal Festival Match. A long range shootout. A battle of wits and precision. A sniper fight!"

So we're the focus… I better get back to the fight. Need to find a new Nest. She's likely not still where she shot me from by now either. But I do have a massive advantage… I can flash to my next post without being seen. Reaper confirmed her decision and used her semblance to find a new post.

From across the field May found her next spot and began her scan. She got a shot of on her opponent, but the black cloaked woman was distracted. She wouldn't make that mistake again, which meant May wouldn't have that opening again. She scanned the field slowly, looking for any hint of Reaper.

There! A barrel pointed itself out a window. May steadied her aim and noticed that the enemy barrel was already pointed right at her. Her mind barely registered surprise before she was blasted off her feet once again.

Reaper smiled and cocked her rifle, disappearing again before May recovered. The Sniper from BRNZ jumped back onto her feet, frustrated with herself. Even if the girl from Beacon was better than her, she knew she couldn't be this bad! Her only shot so far was an opportunistic potshot. She frowned and found her new post. The only thing this girl's semblance gets her is unseen movement. The fact that I've never been shot the second I found a place to stop tells me she still has to look for me. I still have a chance. May took a deep breath, calming her mind. Anger would do her no favors. She peeked out of her hiding spot, putting her scope to her eye, and scanned.

Reaper found the next spot and smiled. This was going well for her so far. She looked out of her nest and examined the forest across from her. The matte barrel was safe in the nest, but Reaper began to grow impatient. She wasn't seeing May, and she was running short on places to look. She was sure she had already passed over that tree branch three times now…

From within the ruined city biome May smiled. So far, she had stuck to her teams 'side' in the forest. She was right to suspect the Reaper wouldn't expect her on WBRN's 'side' in the ruins. She took aim, took a deep breath, exhaled, and pulled the trigger. Reaper was blindsided by a Shock round to the temple, knocking her to the ground.

May quickly chambered her next round. If she could shoot Reaper again before she vanished, it could even the odds. Her scope focused on Reaper's location, and she saw… nothing. She jumped back, not wanting to be where she was. Her decision was none too soon, as a bullet zinged by where her own head was a moment before and dug into the wall. May turned and ran, keeping low and behind objects.

Reaper was furious at herself, standing on the edge where city ruins turned to forest. How could I not anticipate her switching biomes? Damn it… Reaper scanned the field slowly. She frowned, watching her team mates. Even taking their time and holding back, the battle was beginning to wear them. She had to finish this quickly, which meant some creative thinking…

May checked Her scope carefully. She knew she was a decent sniper, but sniping the mindless beasts of Grimm was different than hunting someone who could hunt back. She was curious if she would have faced off against another sniper last year if her team wasn't taken out so early… There! May focused at the top of a nearby tower. A black cape fluttered in the wind. She must be facing away from me. May took the shot.

The bullet struck the cape, which knocked away the stick that was holding it up. Her opponent was nowhere to be seen. May's eye widened. She stood in shocked silence, waiting for Reaper's next shot. But it never came. Maybe she couldn't track my gunshot… May turned slowly… and came face to face with the tip of a black barrel, a scythe extending downward from the tip. And on the other side of the gun, a smirking redhead that winked a silver eye.

May would take home many lessons from that fight. One of them would be how painful an exploding Burn round at point blank range felt against the face when fired from a powerful rifle. She was blasted right out of the ruin and all the way onto the center circle of the arena. She opened her eye and wearily looked skyward, seeing a dark figure approaching her. The enemy sniper had taken the time to collect her cloak, and it flowed behind her.

The cloak, the sniper, those silver eyes… there's no way it's not… "Ruby?" May asked.

Reaper stopped suddenly. May witnessed her eyes slowly shift and fade from bright silver to a burning red. One of them twitched. "That. Is not. MY NAME!" Reaper shouted, bringing down Brutal Thorn. The ground beneath May shattered, and she barely had enough aura to keep herself from breaking a bone as she fell out of the arena bounds.

"Oh my god! Someone go check on her!" Oobleck shouted.

"She'll be fine," Port assured, "but Reaper better contain her anger before she causes any real problems."

Damn it Ember!

"Sorry, boss…"

Well, it looks like you're in control now. Finish the fight.

"Sir, yes, sir." Ember replied dryly.

Neo smiled. Now that the sniper was out of the way, it was time for her to let loose. Nolan upped the ante as well, but even letting loose his full skill couldn't compensate for the fact that Neo suddenly had a long thin blade coming out of her umbrella. Nolan saw the weapon was sectioned all the way up the blade, providing a lot of weak points. He couldn't guess what the advantage was supposed to be, but he decided to try and break the blade.

He swung his baton down and managed to make the blade separate at the halfway point, making it angel at 90 degrees. He wasn't happy to see the blade spring back into place rather than fall to the ground. Especially since Neo used that fact to counter and force Nolan back a few steps. Nolan looked over the blade again, and Neo was tired of waiting. She hadn't had a chance to really test her new weapon before now. The sections came apart on their own, the blade stretched out with razor wire holding the pieces together.

As Neo strut, her bladed whip dragged along the ground behind her. The deadly petite liked to think that her fighting was very artful, almost like dancing. With spins and twirls and flicks of her wrist, Neo guided her whip. It felt less like she was using it and more like she was simply telling it where to go and letting it decide how it got there. It felt natural. It felt amazing. And Nolan never stood a chance, the boy's aura dropped like a stone against the elegant assault.

"An excellent weapon design by miss… uh… hey Barty, did you ever have Neopolitan's last name on your rosters?" Port asked his friend and colleague.

"Come to think of it, never, no." Doctor Oobleck replied. "I accidently called her miss Rose once. She didn't seem to mind."

"Well, anyway," Professor port continued, back in commentator mode. "An excellent weapon design held by Neopolitan! No doubt the handiwork of the actual miss Rose?"

"Yes, Reaper has a particular talent for weapon design. Her own Crescent- wait, I'm sorry, I mean Brutal Thorn, is also her design, and built with her own hands." Oobleck continued.

While Ember and Neo were finishing off their two opponents, Weiss was trying to figure out how to take down her own. A thought came to mind, an idea she had in practice weeks ago. "Checkmate!" Weiss shouted. Ember and Neo seamlessly took over Blake's fight against Brawnz, allowing to faunus to break away and assist her girlfriend. Once there, Weiss spoke again. "Blast off." Blake nodded.

Since Reaper came back, the now-smartass Rose had once stated that Blake was 'so ninja', she might as well carry her own smoke bombs. To the scythe master's surprise, Blake took the advice seriously. She used one now to blind Roy, and when the fog cleared, he was surrounded by 'Blakes'. Not just that, but these 'Blakes' were on fire. Weiss smirked and set Myrtenaster to Burn dust and launched a small fireball Roy's way.

"Oh, shi-" was as far as Roy got before the all the Blake copies exploded, each with the force of a large grenade. He was rocketed skyward and away, falling at an angle and landed at the edge of the arena. He stood shakily and took a step back, where Blake was waiting with her foot out. He tripped and fell the last few feet out of the arena and rung out.

Weiss caught up with Blake and smiled. "I think we got this in the bag." Weiss confidently assessed.

Blake nodded in agreement. "Let's go find the other two."

The heiress and the ninja found the two ex-criminals dealing with Brawnz in an… unorthodox way. Weiss was honestly surprised there weren't already buzzers sounded to announce some kind of un-sportsmanship type foul. The man's aura was draining slowly because Neo had her whip wrapped around his neck. He would be choking (or even dead, considering the blades) if it weren't for his aura. And while he was incapacitated, Ember had pulled a marker from god knows where and was currently scribbling on his face.

"Really?" Weiss scolded, making Ember look up.

"Come on, Weiss. It's actually not against the rules. We checked." Ember responded.

"You checked? You were planning this?" Blake asked, somehow still shocked by her old friend's new found antics.

"Yeah?" Ember replied as if it were obvious.

"Well, I'm sure it will be now." Weiss warns.

"So let us enjoy it while we can!" Ember argued.

"Ember!" Weiss shouted.

"Fine… I'm just gonna finish this mustache. It's very dashing." Ember told her leader. Neo nodded, likely in agreement to the fact the mustache was dashing. Once Ember capped the marker, Neo released Brawnz's neck with a sharp tug. He was only free long enough to be kicked by Ember, who shattered his aura in the process, effectively eliminating him.

The buzzer then sounded to announce WBRN's victory. "Ladies and Gentleman, what a way to kick off the tournament! Excellent tactical moves by all of team WBRN. Now let's just hope that wasn't a permanent marker…" Professor Port closed the match. "We have a few more matches left today, so be sure to get right back to the arena soon. For now, a short concession break."

The girls of WBRN couldn't help but smile. If this was only a prelude to how the rest of the tournament would go for them, then they had this in the bag. Ember caught a glint of gold in the crowd, and followed it to see Pyrrha.

Ember smiled. Our time will come, Golden Idol. Our time will come.

And the Vytal Festival kicks off!

I had an idea i wanted to run by you guys, part of my attempts to expand Black Reaper in more than just story content (and also a bit of a personal challenge). I want to try and make a number of one-shots based off of prompts from you guys, set in the Black Reaper AU. If you already have prompt ideas, don't send them yet. I want to make sure it's something you, the readers, will want to read. plus, if it is a go, i will have a few special rules.

Anyways, as always, Review, Follow, Favorite, and whatever else you can do to show your love! See you next week!