Hey everyone, hope your all ready for the weekend, cause its almost here. If you don't have plans you should make some so you don't waste your reprieve from work, school, etc. Any way on with Chapter 17!

Chapter 17: Team IV

Me and Velvet walked out of our dorm room and headed down the hall. Team JNPR and RWBY were also heading out; they were behind us as we went. I cast my awareness behind me and looked at the two teams. Weiss had recovered from her injury from the day before in combat practice. Ruby narrowed her eyes at the back of my head and grinned. Ruby, so young and so skilled, you're on my watch list. And my rival list… NO, stop, stay here and now.

I switched to Pyrra, who walked beside Juane. Ruby may have just got on my list as a rival, but Pyrra was someone I aspired to defeat. She was my goal, my grin stretched across my face. And I never give up on my goals… Damn it. Think of something else. I pulled my senses back to my immediate surroundings, and turned to Velvet as we walked outside into the courtyard.

Both teams stopped and looked at me as I stood before them. "Hold on a moment I need to do something." She looked at me and waited until team RWBY and JNPR exited. "Hey. Weiss, I would like to apologize about yesterday. Since I changed back to my old style of fighting my personality has also returned to how it used to be. I was more reckless and cruel back then and that's showing through slightly."

Weiss walked up to me and put one hand on her hip and pointed at me with the other. "I'm still not happy that you hold a higher ranking than me in class." Her tone was harsh and she made her point clear. She paused and lowered her hand before sighing. "But, you clearly proved that you're a better fighter than I am," She narrowed her eyes at me challengingly. "For now anyway, just be ready for more challenges in the future." I nodded and cast a glance over the rest of the group. I caught a nod from Ruby and a pat on the shoulder from Pyrra as they walked past. Velvet and I joined the group as well as everyone continued towards Beacon cliff.

All the other teams had arrived at the cliff before us. Upon our arrival Ozpin began to speak, Glynda was beside him as usual when he was making addresses. "Good now that you are all here we will begin. Since you have arrived, you have gained experience. The knowledge you wanted you have started to obtain. Now that you have gained a little of that knowledge, you will show me how much that knowledge has helped you progress. Some of you have taken the initiative and trained with your teammates outside of class, while some only seek the knowledge. Show me which choice will make you stronger."

He took a sip of his coffee and Goodwitch started explaining what was happening. "We are going to have a team based mini tournament that will place you on the team ranking system that we use here at Beacon to help motivate you to become the best you can be."

She tapped her scroll and paused for a moment before calling out the pairs. Team RWBY, JNPR, CRDL, and my own team were all placed against other teams that I didn't know the names of or know the people in the teams. The teams spread out over the side of Beacon cliff and fought. Velvet and I were the only group with two people. It was easy to see that our opponents were underestimating us, Big mistake.

Velvet drew her fans and I drew the two segments of my staff and connected them. Our opponents held two swords, a rifle, and an axe. The fight began and immediately the other team started talking about how they were going to defeat us. Velvet waited a moment, and then followed with her norm before charging forward. I followed close behind but moved to flank from the left side.

Two of the opponents, both with swords tracked me and the other two tracked Velvet. The rifle wielder shot at Velvets fans, knocking them off trajectory. She was on them a moment later, catching both of her fans before reaching them.

The two sword wielders descended on me and I immediately felt myself slipping. I stopped moving and let my attackers get within my range. You lose. I shot out my staff in a thrust and caught one of the legs out of the one of them before turning to the other and striking at his side. He blocked and slid his sword up my staff as he moved within his range.

He struck at he and I disconnected my staff parrying the attack easily before counterattacking with the other half. I turned around him as I struck and moved to the other as he got to his feet. I bashed against his side before hitting both of his shoulders with a powerful strike. He dropped to his knees and I kicked him to the ground before turning to finish his friend.

I cast my sense behind me and saw that he had regained his balance and was striking at me. It was a straight forward strike. He hasn't trained; he has been studying a lot, but not training. I ducked under his strike and kicked out one of his legs. He fell off balance easily and spun to add momentum to the finishing strike to the head. He dropped to the ground dazed.

Damn I barely managed to keep myself from bashing his head in. I need to stay in my head during this tournament; otherwise I'm going to seriously hurt someone. I turned back and found Velvet watching me, having beaten her opponents easily. We sheathed our weapons and looked over at the other battles. Team RWBY and JNPR were done, having beaten their opponents. Team CRDL was finishing up their battle. The eight teams that made up the first years all the ones that I knew had won.

The winners walked back to where Ozpin stood and waited for him to start the next round. Ozpin took a sip of his coffee and grinned. "It seems that I was right. Those that have taken the initiative and trained or fought since starting here are at the top." He cast a glance at the teams that lost, let this be a lesson to you." He turned back to us. "Now then, let's continue. The first round was over faster than I had anticipated. We may not even run into the afternoon."

Goodwitch stepped forwards. "Alright, second round team JNPR vs. team IV and team RWBY vs. team CRDL. We will not be doing a follow up match to determine who is third. We will be keeping track of points based on how you fight. The team that loses that has the most points will take third. Now take your positions."

Team RWBY and CRDL walked a short way off before starting. Team JNPR stood across from us and like normal Velvet preempted the attack. She charged forward and tried to separate the group like before. I bee lined Pyrra; control was gone as I reached her, your mine.

Pyrra noticed me and moved aside to draw me away. I vaguely heard Juane, calling out suggestions to his teammates, but I wasn't listening. I reached her and ducked beneath her strike, sliding into her legs and kicking them out from under her. She landed and immediately rolled to her feet, meeting as I got back to my feet. We started exchanging blows, I spun my staff around me and attacked as fast as I could, trying to find an opening in her defense.

But as always between her shield and sword form her defense was perfect. Almost as an afterthought I cast my awareness behind me and saw Juane swinging at me. Completely ruining my momentum I jumped to the side, catching his sword with the back of my leg. My aura flared to defend me and rolled to my feet and faced my two opponents. I cast a glance at Velvet as she fought Lie Ren and Nora Valkyrie. She was struggling to keep up with their combined attacks, but was holding her own.

I turned my attention back to my opponents and found Juane charging once again. What happened to Juane? I blocked his strike and counter attacked, but he used his shield to defend and allowed himself to be pushed out of the way for Pyrra to launch her spear at me. I whipped around and dodged it by the smallest fraction. Using the momentum of my spin I slid my hands to one end of my staff and slammed it against Juane's shield, sending him stumbling backwards.

"Juane," Pyrra charged forward and slammed her shield against my staff, staggering me slightly before reaching in the direction of her spear, as I regained my footing, she regained her spear and was attacking me with it. I blocked and counterattacked, she did the same and we went back and forth for a minute before Juane reentered the fray.

I started juggling them as they attacked in sync with each other, one after the other. Juane has changed, he can fight now. I noticed a similarity in his fighting with Pyrra's and the connection hit. She's been training him. Interesting. Juane lunged forward with his strike. I moved out of the way of his strike and struck at Pyrra, catching her in the stomach. She smirked and I narrowed my eyes. What are you smirking at, I just… No.

I cast my awareness around me and saw Juane, once again attacking my back. I tried to move out of the way and let him pass back in front of me so I could have them both in one spot, but he stood firm and didn't lung.

I was now sandwiched between them now that they weren't on the same side they attacked as fast as they could. I closed my eyes and used my semblance to keep track of them both at once. I disconnected my staff and used the two halves to make it easier to block them both. Occasionally I would dodge Juane and try to strike at Pyrra, but her guard wouldn't allow me to do so.

I spent a full minute between them; I took a few hits but otherwise managed to deflect of dodge their attacks. Finally I managed to break out from between them, panting slightly. I cast a quick glance at Velvet and found she had managed to work Ren into panting but with Nora's constant harassment with her hammer was giving her trouble.

We were in trouble, if I could use my wings I could potentially turn the tide, but even that was a slim possibility. I shot a look at Ozpin who was watching me at the moment. I silently begged him to allow me to use my wings. As if in answer he turned his head to see if people were around. I followed his gaze and saw that team RWBY and CRDL were done fighting. RWBY stood without panting and team CRDL was off to the side, most of them doubled over from being overworked.

He turned back to me and shook his head before sipping his coffee and raising an eyebrow. I immediately turned back to Pyrra and Juane and found Pyrra a foot away and thrusting her spear into my chest. I didn't have time to move or block as she threw me into the air with the force of her strike. Damn it. if I can't use my wings currently then I have no hope. Especially after that hit.

I flipped in the air and landed on my fee, only to find Juane charging me. With a cry he swung his sword and planted his feet. He may have trained with Pyrra, but he wasn't at the level where he could stand against me on his own. I deflected his attack with one the halves of my segments and attacked with the other. I knocked out his legs and kicked him away as he fell, just in time for Pyrra to continue her assault.

She jumped over Juane as he landed and started getting to his feet and attacked me. I reconnected my staff and started defending. I didn't know for sure where I stood, but I was sure I was at least a half the amount of aura I started with. If I take another big hit, I'll lose.

Pyrra managed to land a few glancing hits, but not anything that was doing any serious damage. Juane reenter the fray and this time came from a blind spot. "Pyrra jump," Juane's voice came from behind her. Pyrra followed Juane's command and I prepared to defend and attack. Instead Juane slid beneath her, knocking my feet out from under me like I had done to Pyrra.

Before I even hit the ground, Pyrra shoved her spear into my back, forcing me to the ground as she landed. I tried to roll away but Pyrra's spear kept me in place. Juane delivered a fierce strike to my back and that was it.

Pyrra removed her spear from my back and retracted it into a spear before reaching down to help me up. I felt energy shoot threw my veins as I felt the defeat. Damn it, I still couldn't do it. I took her hand and stood up, reconnecting the staff segments to my wings and felt my mind clear of the animalistic feeling.

Juane put a hand on my shoulder. "Good fight, you really held us off." He had sheathed his weapons as well and we all headed back to Ozpin. Velvet was already standing there beside Ren and Nora. Ren was panting along with Velvet, but Nora was her normal cheerful, energetic self.

"Congratulations team JNPR and team RWBY for reaching the top two. Head to lunch for an hour break and be back here afterwards for the final round." Ozpin sipped his coffee and waited for everyone to leave. I stayed behind with Velvet, when the others were out of sight I spoke.

"You are holding me back by not allowing me to fight with my wings. The more I fight without them the less affective I will be later, especially since I need to figure out how to use it with my wings." He remained silent for a moment.

"You made me a promise to keep them secret as long as possible. I will hold you to that promise. If you want to use your wings so badly, than prove to me that you have earned the right to. The condition is that you must beat Pyrra Nikos in a one-on-one fight. If you can do that, than I will allow you free reign on your wings."

Ok. Something I didn't mention at the top. Its almost 3 in the morning, at midnight I realized I hadn't done a chapter so I started writing. I put the page through a very rough editing because I'm trying to keep myself awake. Leave a Review and let me know what you think, likes and dislikes, Concerns and Phobias. I really appreciate what you guys have to say about this project of mine. I really enjoy writing it. Good night guys, Eternal out.