The Tournament was being held in a brand new stadium build recently by the Vale government as a way to show off how healthy and modern the country was. The unique design in the form of overlapping trees and leaves gave it a rare beauty, while the use of the most modern technology made it the most advanced building ever made.
The multi-use arena had several rings for the battles, but the main ring was the biggest and held up to twenty thousand people. The opening ceremony happened there with several foreign dignitaries giving speeches. The first year students from the four Hunters school would fight on all of the arenas at the same time, with Pyrrha Nikos fighting in the main arena right in the first day.
The first day of the tournament worked as expected for the group. With the exception of Neptune that lost to Weiss, they all won their matches. Jaune and Saber fought together from the beginning and overwhelmed their first opponent. Jaune decided that going all out in the very first match would make the other competitors scared of them. It kind of worked as Sun hit his head in the round table at the club once again.
"I can't believe I am against the blonde duo already." He lamented as Neptune patted his back. The demonstration of what the combined knight force could do was enough for everyone to put Jaune as a favorite for the title.
"Hey, we promised to give our all already. So I expect you to make this fun." Jaune said trying to look confident, and for the first time in his life it was working.
"Well, I am pretty sure you all will have fun watching me and P-money getting all sweaty." Yang teased, and Pyrrha got really red like her hair.
"Oh my god, Yang! How can you make such an event sound dirty!?" Weiss complained as Yang laughed her ass off.
"I think I am just glad I will fight such worthy opponent as you, Yang." Pyrrha was actually happy she will finally be able to fight with all her might the next day. Yang just gave her a wink, but was also eager to test her might against the Invincible Girl.
"And you got to fight Emerald, right Weiss?" Ruby asked and Weiss grinned.
"Yes, I am eager to see what she is really capable off. She had an easy victory yesterday. But that Mercury guy was weird. Was almost like he was bored."
Everyone remembered that one fight. It was almost like Mercury could have finished it anytime he wanted, but instead chose to play with his opponent. Pyrrha felt something similar the day she had to fight against him on class, like he was just testing her.
"Come on, we will deal with one opponent at a time. Let's all go to sleep." Jaune finished the talk and they returned to their rooms.
…
"Are you sure about it, Caster?" Blake asked her servant while they observed Jaune and Saber from afar.
"Yes, Master. You can trust your wife." She answered with a big smiled, making Blake sigh and shake her head.
"Didn't we talk about this already? You are not my wife, Caster." Blake was annoyed over Caster overly displays of affection. The Servant was too touchy, and too fond of using certain names to refer to their relationship.
"But Master, your Caster just wants to please you!" Caster started to hug and rub her cheek on Blake's, making the cat girl push her off a little. "Master is rejecting me…"
"Caster, I am not rejecting you, stop crying." Caster immediately smile, making Blake wonder what kind of mess she got into. "All I want to know is if you are sure Jaune's link with Saber is incomplete."
"Yes, it is. Tamamo can feel that the ritual wasn't properly performed. Saber is only using half of her full power." Blake admired that even only using half of everything she could, Saber still was a hard opponent to defeat like that.
"And there is a way to fix it?"
"Yes, Master and Servant need to complete their magic circuit. To do that, it is needed to perform a new ritual." Caster explained, than blushed and held her face with her hands. "They need to consummate it."
"Caster, please tell me you don't mean what I think you mean."
…
"So, it will be tomorrow?" Mercury asked Cinder as he fixed his clothes.
"Yes, Adam will make his big entrance on the stage, and that will force Ironwood to act. While he is too busy dealing with the White Fang, Emerald and I will free Roman, and you will make sure that Pyrrha Nikos is defeated on live broadcast." Cinder explained as she messed with a computer terminal. "As soon as the might Atlas military is defeated by their own new weapon, and the people see their champion fall, they will be hopeless, and will be easy to take what we need."
"Any chance those kids might interfere? The red one is especially fond of messing with our businesses." Mercury added and Cinder smiled.
"They will be too busy fighting the White Fang and the Atlesian weapon to mind us. Emerald, do the young Jaune Arc and his Saber could interfere in our plans?" Emerald used a rigid expression, as if she didn't want to be there, yet answered right away.
"Not if his girlfriend is in danger. If he sees Pyrrha in danger, he will go help her instead of messing with your plans."
"And you are sure you can take care of both of them, Mercury?" Cinder turned back to the boy once again.
"Yeah, since he is such an amateur. If it was not for that Aura construct, he would be of no interest at all. And we have exactly what we need to deal with both miss cereal box and the other girl, one stone for two rabbits." Mercury smiled as he patted a small black box, Cinder's eyes glowing satisfied.
…
Jaune checked his armor and weapons once again. He had the luck of having the first battle of the day, since from now on all battles would be held in separate time slots. His family couldn't come, and somewhat he was glad about it. They could be a bit too much to deal with.
"Do not worry Master, we can win." Saber said once again, and Jaune smiled.
"Of course we can. We are going there and fight to the best of our abilities, maybe even better than that." The bravado made Saber laugh a bit, but more of the proud feeling she felt over Jaune than anything else. The rest of the boys in the men's lockers were completely uncomfortable with the girl's presence there, no matter what they told them she was.
They becoming even more surprised as Blake Belladonna entered the locker room ignoring them all.
"Jaune, I need to talk to you." The boy shared a look with Saber and then back to Blake.
"You know this is the guys' lockers?" was the first thing that came from his mouth.
"They have nothing I don't saw before, neither am I impressed." The blunt statement hurt a few egos inside the room. "It is important."
"Ok, sure. But I don't think…"
Jaune Arc and Sun Wukong, please proceed to the arena.
"… We have time to talk before my match. I will talk to you as soon as we end this." Jaune got up and put his sword and sheath-shield on his belt. Saber disappeared soon after.
"OK, but promise me you will come direct to me. It is about Saber and you." She walked away as soon as they left the lockers. Jaune just followed her with her eyes curious to know what Blake new about Saber.
Maybe all that research she was doing finally returned the result she expected?
"Looks like that, Saber. I am sure we will know all about it soon."
…
Adam Taurus knew how humans thought. They were too proud of their own achievements to look at their fails. And today they would learn in the hard way they weren't at the top. The Tournament arena was heavily guarded, and no one could enter undetected.
If they used the known entrances.
So many Faunus worked building the place that sneaking some agents between them and convincing them to create a secret entrance was too easy. The fact that all that happened even before the Breach was just perfect, as all the extra security wasn't focused on the arena itself. In the end, everything was going according to the plan as the White Fang took down the thin fake wall that separated the hidden passage from the stadium.
When Roman and Cinder appeared and started providing them with resources, Adam knew to not fully trust them. They were humans after all. But the power they gave them was needed, and now they would show them the power of the Faunus.
"Adam, we wait your order." A masked White Fang soldier spoke.
"When the first fight starts, we act." Adam ordered.
…
Cardin smiled as he looked down the main arena. Jaune Arc would be the first to compete, and with a Faunus to boot. He was eager to show his power against the blonde night and he would show it in national television. He didn't care about the consequences. He didn't care about Beacon anymore. All he could see is that he would have his revenge and nothing could stop him and his new toy.
…
"See Ozpin, no one will be able to interfere with the Tournament." Ironwood said to Ozpin over the communication link. Ozpin just sipped on his mug. "That is what a display of power can do."
"While I appreciate your confidence, James, I would like to remind you this is just the second day of the tournament. I would keep my eyes on the security system if I was you."
"I guarantee you Ozpin, nothing will happen. Your children won't need to lift a finger except to cheer at each other and compete."
"That we shall see and hope for, James."
…
Jaune stood in the middle of the arena waiting for Sun, who was fashionable late. Or better yet, was being so late that was on the brink of being disqualified. While the prospect of not having to fight a friend was appealing, the other side of that coin was having people complaining about him advancing to the next round without a win. But soon enough Sun appeared, panting and finishing eating a banana.
Jaune and Saber groaned a little at the scene as the judge complained to Sun about his tardiness. But they finally smiled at each other as Sun shook hands with the knight. The announcer made a big fuzz of that, calling Jaune the biggest surprise of the tournament, the heir to the Arc legacy and even the charming knight. But the screen showed a lot more of Saber than him, and both felt annoyed about it.
As soon as the bell rang, Sun jumped on Jaune that prepared to block the attack with his shield. But an explosion made both of them stop and Saber appear. Then several explosions could be heard around the stadium, all close to the exits. From them several armed members of the White Fang appeared attacking the few soldiers located inside the arena. The Atlesian automated soldiers didn't responded to the soldiers' orders, instead going after anyone trying to fight back.
"Master!"
"Yeah, I see! Sun, our battle is postponed. Let's go help the people!" Jaune ordered and Sun disappeared in a few jumps. Saber became invisible again to move easier. But as Jaune motioned to follow him the wall separating the arena from the bleachers exploded, and from them came a black knight involved in living shadows, a threatening red light coming from his visor. Behind him appeared a face Jaune knew well.
"Cardin!"
"Well, Jauney boy, let's see who is the better knight? You? Or Berserker?"
…
Blake couldn't understand what was happening. The White Fang was attacking the event, where the military power of the kingdoms was concentrated, and also so many Hunters, both full-fledged and in training. She wondered what he expected to achieve there, but all she could imagine is that once the surprise past, the White Fang would be decimated.
That is when she saw Adam Taurus, her former mentor and partner walking towards the PA system room. It was her chance to talk to him, to try to make him seem that what he was doing would doom all the Faunus. She mentioned to move but Caster called for her, leaving her hidden state.
"Master, your friend is in trouble!"
Blake looked at the arena and saw Jaune still there, sword and shield ready as a man wearing a black armor stood menacingly against him, with Cardin Winchester behind. She knew that black knight wasn't normal and exuded a horrifying aura, one of madness and death.
"He is a Servant! A Berserker! Your friend has no chance against him, unless Saber finishes the summoning ritual!"
Caster warning made Blake freeze. Jaune was her friend, but if she didn't stopped Adam, the entire Faunus race could be blamed for that incident. Yet, if she didn't save Jaune, she would never be able to look at Pyrrha, his team, and even her friends in the face ever again. Caster noticed her conflict.
"Tamamo will do whatever Master wishes."
"Ugh. Let's go Caster!"
…
The screens and scrolls of everyone in the stadium and all around Remnant changed to the logo of the White Fang. They have hijacked the communication systems. After a few moments, Adam appeared wearing his Grimm mask, sword on hand.
"We are the White Fang. For too long time the Faunus have being oppressed by the government, by the humans. This ends today. Our demands are with your leaders, and they have 24 hours to comply, or every single human in this stadium will suffer the consequences."
General James Ironwood saw the demands appearing in his monitor and punched it. The automated drones he was so proud of were now in control of the White Fang, somehow they interfered even with the military communication. He couldn't simple take them down with the airships, and he didn't expected the many students down there could take them too. He needed to use his new weapon.
"Penny?"
"Yes, general." The artificial girl asked with a worried expression in her face.
"Are your new add-on properly installed?"
"I am combat ready." She declared, her new outfit, a tight combat armor, glowing green.
"Take the White Fang down, no matter how."
"Understood."
…
Pyrrha needed to reach Jaune. Ren and Nora were already fighting the white Fang inside the corridor, as were most of their friends. She knew the boy could defend himself of one or two assailants, but she wasn't so sure about a whole squad of them. She entered the arena and saw Jaune confronting the mysterious black night, but at that moment she couldn't see Cardin.
She tried to rush towards him but a White Fang member stopped her. He was clad as all of them, white and red robes and a Grimm mask. But somehow he moved differently, familiar, like she had already saw him before. She readied her spear and shield.
All the monitors started showing her against him.
A weird feeling filled her body, like something was disconnected from inside her.
As the man attacked first, she realized.
My Semblance... it is not working!
…
Roman waited.
For days he has being held in that tiny cell, as he waited for the plan to be set in motion.
If the commotion outside was a sign, it already started, and the proud soldiers and nations that grew complacent and so sure of their power were panicking. The people would lose their trust on them, and with no one to fall back to, they would gladly accept the hand extended from the queen. And he would soon receive all the promised riches he deserved for his part on the play.
The door opened and he saw Emerald and Cinder smiling, with his clothes and weapon on hand. He laughed and accepted them, soon getting dressed.
"You two took long enough." He complained.
"It is not our fault you got yourself captured. Come on, let's go. Neo can't keep them busy forever." Emerald rushed, but as they walked, Roman looked at one of the screens and stopped. "Is that guy in black part of the plan?"
Cinder and emerald looked at the screen.
While it was fixed in Pyrrha fighting a disguised Mercury, on the side there was the image of Jaune and the black knight. Cinder didn't like that. An unknown element in her plans, but now was not the time to wonder about that, she would let Adam deal with whatever it was.
Emerald looked at the menacing figure, and surprising herself, wished that the knight could be safe.
…
Ruby defeated another White Fang member as her mind wandered to her friends. They were yet to find Blake, and last she saw of Jaune he was still in the arena. Their scrolls were only showing Pyrrha fighting the mysterious white Fang member, so she couldn't call Ozpin and Beacon.
As they finally reached the bleachers, they saw people being round up by the White Fang, even the Faunus. The drones the military were so proud of helping them. Above, they saw Ironwood's airship approaching and something fell from it, hitting the ground in front of team RWBY with full force. When the dust settled an armored Penny appeared in front of them.
"Penny? Is that you?" Ruby asked as a smiling Penny turned around.
"Yes, friend Ruby. Stand back. I will finish the White Fang."
Penny's swords flew off her back, but she stopped for a second, her armor changing from its green light to a red one.
"Friend Ruby, I recommend you to run."
"Penny?"
"I am combat ready, but not in control of my own body…" Penny said in almost a lament as she turned around, even her eyes glowing red.
…
"This is greatly interesting, Kotomine. I couldn't ask for a better entertainment myself." Archer said as he watched from a hidden corner of the stadium. "It have being too long since the last time I saw such epic battle unfolding in front of my eyes."
"And I guarantee you, King of Heroes, this is just the beginning. Soon, the glory of the Holy Grail War will return." Kirei stated as he laughed at the pieces in his game falling together.
...
"Berserker, I think it would be appropriate if you break Jauney boy's legs." Cardin ordered his Servant, that didn't move. "Hey, I gave you an order!"
"It seems your skills in making friends are still lacking, Cardin!" Jaune shouted, as Saber appeared by his side.
"Master, thou take care of the ignorant fool. I will deal with his Servant."
"Arrr…tho…..riaaa!"
In a sudden movement Berserker jumped against Saber.
Saber wondered who could be that Servant that knew her name.
A flash of light was seen as she clashed with the black knight.
…
A.N. : Next chapter I will have so much to deal with, and I can only blame myself. XD
So, I will ignore the events in Fate/zero for storytelling reasons. Saber would defeat zero Berserker easily if she already knew who he is. On the other hand, maybe not in the next chapter but the one after, I will have a bit of exposition about where this story is going to. ^^