Talking to the Moon

Chapter 7

The Tournament

"Alright, today will be broken up into 4 parts. The first round will be about consistency. The closest group of three shots will take that round. The second round will be multiple target shooting. Depending on where you shoot and which target you hit will decide round. We'll have short intermission after the second round. After intermission, we'll resume with blind shooting with normal archery scoring. And finally, we'll end with straight up archery. The best overall score takes the round. Now, without further delay, let's get started."

Immediately, all of the team huddled together and came up with a strategy. Trying not to seem like they were in a hurry, Weiss called everyone together and went over what she believed would be the best strategy.

"Alright, here's the plan. I want Blake on consistency, Coco will be on the multi-target round, and Pyrrha will do blind fire. I'll handle the normal shooting. Everybody good?" They nodded. "Alright, remember to stay strong and shoot straight." They did a break and hyped themselves up for their assignments. Right as Blake left the huddle, she was intercepted by Yang.

"Are you competing?"

"Yeah, I'm first."

"Oh, you got this. Just relax."

"I don't know. This is my first competition in a long time and starting was never my strong suit."

"Don't worry. I know you'll do great. I'll be watching the entire time." Yang smiled which caused her to smile back.

"Thank you Yang. I'll be relying on you for support."

Ding dong! That was the bell calling up the first competitors which meant it was time to leave. Yang patted her back as she made her way to the competitor's area. They all crowded a board that showed their order. Luckily, Blake wasn't the very first one, but she was still near the front of the lineup.

Right from the start, the competition was fierce. This round was all about consistency so as long as they shot three arrows nears each other, things would turn out fine. However, no one was able to hit their three arrows near the bull's eye. No one even got them inside the yellow area which was kind of strange, but Blake didn't mind this. When it was her turn, she stepped up to the line and took a deep breath.

Before she started, she took one more look into the crowd, but was depressed to see what she did. Yang was doing her best to concentrate on her, but she saw Neptune right next to her, trying to get her to talk to him. This angered her. She closed her eyes and looked at the target in front of her.

Don't mind him. Right now, it's all about you so don't screw this up. Blake took out an arrow and placed it on her string. She pulled it back and released. Immediately, the crowd gasped in shock. Even Blake was surprised at what happened. Her arrow barely made inside the white area. She clenched her fists and took another deep breath. It's all about consistency. She took out another arrow and released again.

This time, the crowd gasped again, but for different reasons. Everyone saw that her arrow hit her previous one, but was unable to pierce the target because she was so close to the other one. Now, it was time to finish this. She pulled out her last arrow and took her time with this one. She stared down the target and let a slow, deep breath. Once all the air left her body, she released her arrow and gave the crowd something to cheer about. Her arrow perfectly sliced through her first one, landing her team the victory for the round, even though there were still a couple more participants left in the round.

Once that was done, Blake stormed off to the picnic area where she threw down her bow and crashed onto the floor. She dug her face into her hands as she tried to make out what had just happened.

Why did I do that? That's not like me. I'm better than that. Why?

All of a sudden, a hand touched her shoulder which caused her to look up. Unfortunately, it wasn't the person she wanted to see at the moment. It was Neptune.

"Hey, nice shooting out there." She gave him a dirty look as she rose to her feet.

"I don't need to hear it from you." She pushed him to the side as she stormed off again. As she continued to wander off by herself, she was constantly thinking about what had happened and wondered if it was his fault for her loss in concentration. Because of her anger, she couldn't concentrate so she just wandered around until someone pulled her to the side.

"Hey Blake." She stopped dead in her tracks for that voice was so familiar. "Are you okay?" It was Yang, but Blake couldn't answer. She stood there with her back facing her. "It's okay. I thought you did great. You did end up winning the round for your team." Yang started to walk closer to her. As she did this, Blake was able to sense her presence which caused her to turn around and shove her face into Yang's chest.

"I'm so sorry Yang. I tried my best. I tried to do my best for you." Blake started to cry and Yang wrapped her arms around her body.

"I thought you did great. That's all that matters. You shot wonderfully." Blake left her chest and looked up into her eyes.

"Yang? It's okay. I still love you no matter how horrible you see yourself." Her heart skipped a beat as she lost all of her dignity in that instant. She fell back into Yang's chest and cried out a waterfall. After a few hours, the tournament finally came to an end. Everyone made their way back to the picnic area where Blake and Yang were already waiting for them.

"Hey Blake, good news is that we won the tournament. I took first in regular archery, Pyrrha took first in blind shooting, and Coco took second in multi-target shooting." Everyone started to snicker to themselves.

"Hey, it's a lot harder than it seems, okay? Jeez, you guys are all critics."

"Anyway, I'm glad to say that we all did a very good job and I'm looking forward to shooting with you guys at next weekend's individual tournament." Everyone pumped their fists in the air. With these results, that means that they don't have to compete until next week. The team celebrated their success as they packed their things and made their way back to the car. Before she could, Blake was pulled over to the side by Weiss.

"Hey, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"You kind of stormed off without any notice."

"It's okay. You don't need to worry about anything."

"Okay, well just so you know, I thought you shot very well. You shot for consistency so if you're dreading over the fact that you shot in the white, just get over it. You won us that round so hold your head high." Weiss rubbed Blake's head as she headed towards the car. For some reason, whenever Weiss spoke to Blake, it gave her a sense of reassurance. The way Weiss talked didn't seem that way, but to Blake, it definitely felt like more than just words.

The team piled into the cars and drove home. On the way back, things were really silent. Everyone was asleep except for the ones who were driving. The day was definitely a long one and everyone deserved a good night's rest. When they got home, everyone was immediately woken up by bright lights and doors opening and closing. Before everyone left, Weiss thanked them once again for their hard work. They thanked her back and everyone headed home.

"I'll see you guys later."

"Okay, bye." Yang waved to Neptune, but Blake completely ignored his presence. She had enough of him for one day so she just wanted to get home. Yang looked at Blake and saw that she was kind of down on herself.

"Hey Blake, would you like to spend the night at my house?"

"Um, I'd have to ask my mom, but I'm pretty sure she'd say yes if it was your house." She quickly called up her mom and she approved. They both smiled and headed to Yang's house with big smiles.

When they arrived, they quickly got ready for bed. There was no time to waste. They were both tired and wanted to get to bed as quickly as possible, but Blake still wanted to take a shower. She had worked a lot today and worked up quite a sweat so she didn't want to stink up her room. After she finished cleaning up, the two of them laid a couple of futons on the ground right next to each other, pulled out the blankets and pillows, and slipped into bed.

"Hey Yang, did you have fun today?"

"Of course I did. I never knew how intense archery could get. And everyone on your team is so nice, especially Neptune. Sometimes, he can be a little too nice though, haha." Blake immediately retreated from that conversation when that name was spoken. She turned onto her side and said no more. "What about you? Did you have a good time?"

"Yeah." Yang could tell that her answer was half-assed, but let it go. She wanted to know why Blake was acting so weird, but she knew that now wasn't the best time to find that out. It was late and they were both tired so she snuggled in and quickly fell asleep.

On the other hand, Blake was still awake, still thinking about her day as a whole. She got to spend a lot of time with Yang, but there were a few mishaps during the day. Her horrible misfire. Neptune continually talking to Yang. I think I know now what's he's after. He likes Yang and I'm starting to think that Yang likes him back. She sighed loudly to herself as she closed her eyes. I guess I'm just not good enough for her. She looked up at the window and saw the moon shining down on her.

"Anything? You go anything to tell me? No, huh? That's what I thought." She placed her head back on the pillow and did her best to fall asleep, even with the conflicted feelings inside of her.

End of Chapter 7

Ending Note: I apologize, but there will be no update this Sunday due to it being Super Bowl Sunday. I'm sorry, but I am a big football fan and need a day off every once in a while. However, I'll resume the updates the following week so there's nothing to worry about. Thank you all so much for reading this story.