Today's the day! It is the day that the team gets to fight their first opponents! Anyway, things might end up getting a little random from here on end (I apologize).

To be honest, I wanted to end this story at 50 chapters. But seeing as people love this story (over 6,000 views (hell yeah!)), I'll continue it. Enjoy!

I shivered with anticipation, sitting in the team locker room as the announcers announced our individual team seeds. Closing my eyes, I remembered all the events of the entire year; the creation of my team, meeting Ruby again, fighting gigantic Grimm, and of course, my many, many duels. I even remembered the two instances when I almost died by the hands of the former team MGNM. Then my first kiss with Ruby. Our first night. Our Christmas date.

A smile crept up on my face as I felt a hand touch my shoulder. Looking up, I saw Sierra smiling back at me. I glanced to the side, seeing Hotel cock what looked like a spear with a grove and bullet barrel as he looked at me as well, giving me a thumbs up. I felt Lima press her back against mine as Sierra said, "Hey team."

We all looked at her as she stated, "Even if we don't win it; even if we don't make it past the first round."

"Just remember," she finished, "we still have another year."

Another year. Ah, right. We're graduating early.

I leaned my head back, feeling Lima's head bonk lightly into mine as I said, "Until the end…partner."

I raised a fist, feeling her tap it as she said, "…agreed…."

"Alright then, SHLD!"

Hotel stood up. I reciprocated as Lima jumped over the bench. Sierra stuck her hand out and said, "Just in case we don't see each other over the summer, team motto time!"

Oh, great.

"SIERRA!"

"HOTEL!"

"LIMA!"

"DELTA!"

With that, we put our hands over each other's, raising them up as we cried out.

"SHLD!"

"…and from Beacon Academy, team SHLD!"

The doors slid open.

I winced a bit as my eyes adjusted to the light. The crowd roared as we slowly walked into the arena, the sun shining brightly overhead. I felt adrenaline surge through me as we walked out to where we were to stand; approximately ten meters away from our opponents. I could just barely make out the outlines of our opponents as the announcer said, "Both teams will each have their own individual aura levels! There will be a five minute time limit! Whichever team loses all their members, or whichever team has more teammates with more than zero aura by the time the time limit has been reached will be the winner!"

"Delta."

I turned to see Sierra, who had just as an intense look on her face.

"I did some research; there's a shield user among our opponents. He's most likely to charge."

"Right," I replied, my sword handles clicking into place.

"You wanna charge? Or should Hotel go after him?"

I glanced back at Hotel, who walked up to us and said, "I'd like to match power against power."

"I like those chances as well," I replied as I heard him cock his new weapon he had called Gae Bolg Replicant. Why he had called it that, I wasn't really sure. However, I glanced up at the stands, hearing one particular voice in Ruby, spotting her quickly in the sea of people.

"LET'S GO, DELTA! LET'S GO SHLD!"

I smiled, glancing back at our opponents, suddenly hearing Lima say, "…sword user…one-and-a-half to two feet long…fist fighter as well…."

Single sword...short to medium length…uses his opposite fist as well. This is gonna be a first for me.

"Sierra."

I turned to face her, drawing my sword.

"I'll neutralize the sword user."

She nodded as I heard Lima change her weapon to rifle mode. I turned back as the announcer said, "BEGIN!"

With that, Hotel took off with a cloud of dust as did one of our opponents. A loud clang filled the air as I spun around, throwing my sword at them as Hotel began barraging him with what looked like twirls of his weapon.

Who would've thought the big man could move.

I teleported straight to him, grabbing my sword as I used my momentum to swing on the opposite side of the shield. The shield user's eyes widened as he turned to me, but was unable to move his shield from Hotel's barrage of physical strikes and bullets. Suddenly, though, I felt something connect with my chest, sending me flying as my aura dropped some, hitting a wall.

"Delta!"

I quickly got back to my feet, raising my sword as it connected with metal. I quickly glanced up, seeing a fist heading head long for my face. I moved to the right, hearing it crack against the wall as I forced my opponent off of me, throwing him back quite a ways. The man back flipped away as I quickly gained on him throwing my sword to where he would've landed. I teleported, picking my sword out of the ground it stuck out from as I swung at him. He turned his face, widening his eyes in surprise as he somehow managed to twist his body from my sword's trajectory, landing just in front of me and jumping over me. I made to follow, only to see a knife fly past me.

Leaning back, I narrowly dodged what looked like an arrow as it cut off some of my bangs. The sword user suddenly capitalized, only to block what sounded like a bullet as Lima ran up to me, flipping me back to my feet, taking one of my swords as she charged at my opponent, her rifle back in axe mode as her weapon met with his sword. He raised his fist, unaware of my semblance as I quickly teleported right to her, my hand over hers on my sword as I raised my second sword, landing a blow on his wrist. His arm flew upwards and away from Lima as she let go of my sword, throwing her axe at the archer that was firing at me just a moment before.

I gripped my sword that she had let go of harder, twisting around and landing a double slash on his body. The man grunted in pain, making for a stabbing motion with his own sword. I raised my swords again, seeing sparks fly as the blade narrowly missed my face. I winced, making a slash down the length of the sword as he suddenly punched me in the jaw. I flew back a ways as he suddenly jumped up, his sword pointed downwards as if to stab me. I rolled to the side, seeing a glint of silver as the man landed, suddenly getting pelted in the side as one of Sierra's knives landed just several feet away from me. I sheathed one of my swords, running over to pick up the knife as I saw Hotel's flurry of attacks finally penetrate through the shield user's defense.

Picking up the knife, I heard Sierra yell, "Heads up!"

With that, I kneeled, tossing the knife upwards as she jumped over me, throwing the knife at the sword wielder. However, that wasn't the only trick. I glanced at my opponent, seeing a storm of knives flying towards him. I could see him gasp as he faced the wall of knives, deflecting several with his sword and even catching one and used it to help with deflection. Suddenly, I teleported behind him, my hand gripping his as I said, "Peek-a-boo."

I pointed Alternate Echo to him, shooting my sheathed sword as he went flying forward, gripping his back in pain as I picked up my second sword, glancing up at the jumbotron, revealing him with zero aura left.

"One down," I said, "three more to go."

Suddenly, Lima landed next to me as the archer suddenly had his weapons into dual blades. I raised an eyebrow in curiosity as Sierra said, "That's their leader if I recall."

Lima propped onto her elbows as the man suddenly changed his weapon into a bow, firing three arrows headed right for my partner. I watched in slow motion as she was frozen, almost afraid.

Suddenly, Sierra kicked her out of the way, getting the arrows to her shins as she cussed out loud, dropping to her knees. She grimaced in pain as I turned my attention back to the archer, seeing glints of black heading right towards me.

Instinctively, I raised my swords, deflecting two, then spun and took out another, jumped over one, cut another one down, then felt the last one scrape against my cheek. I grimaced as the archer was suddenly in front of me, his weapon in dual sword mode. I widened my eyes in surprise as I jumped backwards, only to be too late.

Suddenly, the area around me turned gray as I landed on my back, rolling out of the side as the color began to return. Just as quickly, I turned in time to see Sierra stabbing a knife where his heart would be, causing him to let out a scream of pain. I quickly looked up at the jumbotron, seeing his aura drop to half.

Turning back, I watched as Sierra gave him a knee to the stomach as Lima reappeared, swinging her axe at the man's face. I was about to grin until I felt a presence behind me, raising my swords to an "X" on my back as I turned around, seeing someone with a battleaxe.

It was then that I heard a "K-CHK," causing me to roll out of the way as an explosion filled the area I was just standing on. I quickly rolled out of the way, regaining my posture as the man, apparently with a polearm, cocked his weapon.

It looks just like Hotel's….

I shot a quick glance at where my spear/lance-using teammate was, suddenly seeing him whiz past me as the two got into it. I glance back to where the shield user was sitting, his aura apparently at zero as well.

Jeez Hotel….

The two got into it as I turned my attention back to the archer, who was easily fending off the two girls. I sheathed my swords, firing both of them at the archer, who had just kicked Sierra away, teleporting to one and engaging my sword against his bow. He grimaced, releasing his weapon into sword mode, making for a slash towards me. I smirked, teleporting to my second sword flying behind him as I tagged him on the back, hearing him let out a gawk. He regained his balance, making for a slash towards me, only to get blocked as Sierra appeared in front of me with a knife in her hand. I got back to my feet, going for his other arm, feeling metal clash against metal. I felt myself grin as Lima suddenly appeared, smacking him with the butt of her axe which was now a rifle. Spit flew from the man's mouth as Sierra and I exchanged blows on him, her slashing him, then switching to me.

His aura quickly reached zero as we turned our attention to Hotel.

Who had apparently just finished on his end.

What a fucking show off.

He twirled his lance around his body as the crowd roared. I looked up, seeing that we had shaved off four minutes. I smiled as Sierra sighed and said, "Well done, team!"

"TEAM SHLD HAS WON THE FIRST ROUND!"

The crowd roared again as I looked up to where Ruby was sitting, seeing her scream her head off.

I guess it's a good thing that team RWBY has a first round bye then.

I grinned, walking up to Hotel and giving him a fist bump.

"Man," I said, "you made short work of them."

"It's my semblance," he replied, "those guys didn't have any endurance."

"Regardless…."

We both turned to face Sierra, who pointed up to the jumbotron. I widened my eyes in amazement at the level my aura was at. It was three-quarters of the way down. I could feel Sierra's deathly glare on me as Lima walked up to me, kissing my cheek as she said, "…careful…."

I groaned.

I was probably gonna get punished tonight.

Hope y'all enjoyed the fight!