Chapter XX
A month later, front of Beacon Academy:
Today, what many students of the region were waiting for is finally happening now: the Vytal Festival.
Since the day his arm was replaced, Simon practiced a lot when he wasn't in class to get ready for the festival; same thing with his teammates. For the instance, Emma had asked him to make her a new weapon that combines pistols with her dual swords. Simon accepted the task and he got to the Forge while he had a day off and he forged a weapon while he was visiting Signal again.
The weapon made up to the task Emma gave him. The weapons looked like normal swords but with a revolver by the hilt, making them recognised as HRRSs (High-Recoil Revolver Sword). When he gave them to Emma, she tested them in the training room. She noticed that she was fighting much faster than before because her bow was taking too much time to shoot, making it almost useless because of the speed of her enemies. However, she had to reload her weapons after twenty shot each, making ammunition an issue.
His teammates also noticed that he was much happier since him and Emma became a little couple. They've guessed that love can do everything, after all.
For a week, all classes were off to let the students enjoy the time they have while in the festival and to show their skills. The tournament will be host this year by Glynda Goodwitch and the inscriptions were in progress. This year, snow was falling to announce the arrival of winter, but most of the students kept what they had on them because the region of Vale was known to be a little hotter than other regions because it was close from the sea.
When they got outside, the team was going in the middle of the school, which was where all the stands and events were located. They've finally reached the tournament stand, which was actually the Beacon Arena, after passing all the crowd.
-You are all ready for this? , asked Simon.
-Yes. , said his teammates with a single voice.
He then opened the holographic screen on the table and wrote his teammates' name. There was also on the screen a ''Team Name'' section that opened itself when he wrote the names, making him write in it the letters ''SEAT'', which were designing his team. He didn't knew why there was one though.
An hour later, Beacon Arena:
The tournament was about to start when the inscription list was almost full, opening the stats screen and showing all the participants. Simon noticed that almost all of the most powerful teams were in it, mentioning the RWBY, JNPR and CRDL teams. There was, in total, 24 participants and all of them were in a team, showing 6 teams in total.
At the beginning, all of the participants were assigned 5 opponents. Simon's team were assigned to these opponents when two teams got eliminated, leaving the teams SEAT, RWBY, JNPR and CRDL:
-Simon Seablue: Weiss Schnee, Jaune Arc, Dove Bronzewing
-Emma Gemstone: Ruby Rose, Pyrrha Nikos, Sky Lark
-Anna Windcliff: Blake Belladonna, Lie Ren, Cardin Winchester
-Tyler Ironclad: Yang Xiao Long, Nora Valkyrie, Russel Thrush
Simon, then, shuddered at one of his opponents: Jaune. He already knew that he wasn't the best fighter in Beacon, which is the complete contrary of him, being one of the best. Still, who knows, maybe he trained himself to be better. But, he secretly laughed by Cardin's position; Anna will finally have her little revenge after all.
Unfortunately, the first opponents to be called were him and Jaune.
-Simon Seablue, Jaune Arc, please take your positions. , said Glynda, the ''referee'' of the tournament.
-All right, wish me good luck. , said Simon to his teammates while he was walking toward the arena.
When he and Jaune got to his positions, he took his weapon and got himself ready.
-Just, please, don't hurt me too much. , said Jaune.
-I'll try. Good luck. , said Simon.
Meanwhile:
In the city of Vale, a white van was roaming around the Industrial District. When it got to the Police Department, Violet got out of it and gave explosives to three other men, the explosives being C8s.
The men got in the back alley that was behind the department and saw two guards. When they got in front of them, the guards noticed something suspicious.
-Hey….wait a min- , said one of the guards before one of the men took a pistol out of his jacket and killed the two with a bullet in the head.
-We don't have time to lose, let's go before anyone sees us. Take the bodies. , said the man that shot the guards.
After putting the guards' bodies in a dumpster, they putted the C8 on the department wall and activated it. 30 seconds was enough for them to get away.
In the meantime, Violet was about to go in the front to make an assault, but she suddenly shook her head, looked like she was confused and got into the van before the others saw her go in direction of the airport to Beacon. But she now knows that she will be chased by the White Fang because a tracer was placed somewhere on her.
When the explosives blew up, three other white fans got in front and directly assault the department, killing all the officers that were in it at this moment.
-Objective completed, boss. You can send the Grimm unit. , said the men in charge of the operation.
-Perfect. , said Roman, who was on line with the men.
Meanwhile:
At the end of the battle between Simon and Jaune, something was wrong. Explosions were heard from afar in the city of Vale.
-What's happening? , said Simon.
-All students are reported to immediately go to the city of Vale. This is not an exercise! , said the school's interphone.
Simon and Jaune ran to their teams while everyone was running toward the front of the school.
-Follow me! Vale is getting attacked! , shouted Simon in direction of his teammates.
-What?! But my mother is living there! , said Tyler.
When they've got in front of the school, smoke was seen from afar, behind the cliffs. Also, a white airship with the White Fang logo on it was flying towards the city. Suddenly, a white airship came and dropped two Spider Droid and three Deathstalkers along with a lady in black clothes.
-No, that can't be her. , said Simon.
The lady that was over there was Alma Xin, the woman she was ordered to kill in the Shinigami cleaning operation. He knew that the White Fang would be able to revive her. But now, she looked like she never had what Simon did to her. She started to laugh when she took a look at the city of Vale from the distance.
-This city is pathetic, weak and infected with ants. This time, I'll make sure she perishes for good! , shouted Alma.
She then took a little detonator and was about to activate it when the detonator got shot, destroying it.
-''laughs'' You still want to stop me, Seablue? , said Alma.
Dust smoke was still going out of Lucem when Simon heard her.
-You can bet on it! Everyone, CHARGE! , shouted Simon.
-Go get them! , said Alma to his minions.
That is when one of the most important events in Vytal's history had begun.
The Shadow War.
To be continued…