Chapter 1: … The Next Begins (Part 1)

Disclaimer: I. OWN. NOTHING! (Aside from the original character designs)

…

Ruby opened her eyes tiredly to see that there was nothing in front of her. She looked around and saw that she was the only one in an endless, black void.

'Where am I?' Ruby wondered. 'The last thing I remember was being with my friends, waiting for the end, but…' Ruby tiredly looked at her hand and saw that it and her body were cloaked in a veil of white light. 'Why am I here… Why didn't I pass on.' Ruby thought sadly, as she closed her eyes in sadness. 'Why couldn't I finally be at peace… is this void a cruel punishment for not stopping Salem, am I going to be alone here?' Ruby asked herself, feeling like she wanted to cry.

'I'm so tired, I'm so sleepy. I just want… to sleep in peace…' Ruby thought to herself.

"Don't yield."

Ruby's eyes widened when she heard what seemed to be a feminine voice speaking to her. 'What the heck was…' Ruby's thoughts were cut off by that same voice.

"Do not yield to your loss, let this ending write… a new story."

It was then that a spark of light-red light shimmered in the distance. 'A… a light?' Ruby wondered as she reached for it. 'Is this the part where I pass on?' She asked and secretly prayed as the light got brighter and/or closer.

"Let your soul manifest, let it empower you..."

"AND RISE AGAIN!"

The sight of a human girl turned to look at Ruby as the girl herself noticed a faint smirk on the face of the girl.

Ruby felt a warm feeling around her as her eyes suddenly shot open as she sat up and looked around herself. "What the…" Ruby muttered as she was gobsmacked at what she saw.

It was a bedroom of some kind, with a white ceiling and walls with furniture in it. It consisted of a red and black-striped dresser, a closet with white and red-patterned shutters on it, a mirror with black borders, and a desk with a main desktop and a shelf above it with various stuff on it, including a lamp, a case that seemed to have a logo of some kind on it and what looked like a card deck case leaning on a weird device with a wrist attachment on the underside that… she somehow knew was FOR those cards she noticed.

She looked down and noticed that she was on a bed with brown wooden structure and red line-like detailing strewn about it, with a red and black spotted blanket over both the mattress she was apparently sleeping on and, by association, herself with a pillow in a red pillow case behind her.

Ruby didn't know what to think of this as she pulled the blanket off her in sheer confusion as she looked down and saw what she was wearing specifically.

From bottom to top, she wore a pair of pink loose fitting pants with red lines on her left leg and black spots on her right, and a black tank top that hardly did a good job at hiding her… suddenly larger than what she was used to chest, which looked to be similar in cup size to Yang's only smaller.

She felt them with her hands and found that they were completely real, and that only made her more confused. "What is all this… Why am I sudden-" That was when she looked over to her desk, how she knew it was hers was beyond her at the moment, and saw a picture frame on it. She raced over to it, to also find a cellular device similar to a Scroll lining next to it while connected to some kind of charger.

She picked up the picture frame and found something that shocked her, it was a family of four people, two adults and two little girls who only appeared to be about 10 in terms of age.

One of the adults was a woman with incredibly long black hair tied in a ponytail that went all the way down to her tailbone, blue eyes, and was wearing casual-looking clothing, consisting of a white blouse, a red jacket with a poofy collar, and a pair of blue jeans with a set of black slip-on shoes on her feet.

The other adult was a guy that had spiky crimson hair and eyes that she somehow knew that both were violet despite the man's eyes being closed. He wore a black T-shirt with the depiction of a white dragon on it and khaki shorts with white and black sneakers.

What caught her attention the most were the kids in the picture, one being a young girl with black hair tied in pigtails with poofy ends and blue eyes. Along with a blue dress with green bubble-like spots on the tips of the skirt, and red and white sneakers on her feet.

And there was the other young girl in the picture, who she knew was 10 years old with red hair that was fairly long, just going past her shoulders with one strand of hair being black and looking like it was growing in a bit as it was shorter compared to the rest of her hair. She wore a red T-shirt with a pair of black shorts and green slip-on shoes.

But the thing that gave her a sinking feeling was the color of the girl's eyes. Her left eye was blue… but the other was violet, just like the man's was supposed to be in the picture.

"I don't understand… is this picture…" Ruby looked at the picture intensely, until she saw a reflection of herself in the glass on the frame… and saw something she needed confirmed.

She put the frame down, and raced to the mirror that was in her room and finally saw her reflection for the first time in the three minutes she's been in this room, only to somewhat wish she hadn't for some reason.

Her reflection saw her wearing the same clothing she wore when she was sleeping, and also showed that her hair and eyes were exactly like the little girl in the picture, only that her hair was longer, reaching her tailbone area with her black strand of hair being long enough to reach past her left shoulder as another much shorter black strand of hair was on the right side of her face, with said face being the same as she always had known it. "Oh my gosh…" Ruby muttered as it slowly dawned on her what could have happened. "It's like… I'm a completely different person or something?" Ruby asked herself.

That was when she suddenly realized something. "Wait a minute… I wake up in a bedroom of some kind, I find that my appearance has completely changed, so why… Why am I not screaming or freaking out right now." She asked herself aloud. "Okay, just… try to stay calm. For now… let's go over the facts…" Ruby said to herself.

"First off, Remnant wound up getting destroyed along with everyone on it, secondly, there was this void I woke up in afterwards where I heard some strange voice talk to me, and then all of the sudden, I find myself waking up here in a new body. Like I was…" Ruby held her thoughts in place as she stopped to think on her next word…

"Reincarnated?" She muttered as she looked over to her desk, and sorted through the assortment of stuff on it. She picked up the cellular device and turned it on, showing a screensaver of a dragon with magenta wings that appeared to be styled to look like rose petals.

She then noticed the phone was password-locked by a five digit code, but she didn't think anything of it as she… somehow knew the code to the device, which she somehow remembered was called a smartphone.

She looked at the time and saw that it was 9:30 AM, and that there was a picture of three girls acting as a screensaver. Which made her feel odd as she felt… some form of familiarity from the three of them.

"Wendy, Sae, and Ryuko…" She muttered out, realizing immediately what those words meant. "These are… my friends in this… world…" Ruby thought until she had a thought.

She lowered the smartphone and searched through her own mind, trying to find some answers to her question…

Which was when she found something in her mind. Memories of things that happen in the average teenager's life. Family bonding, birthdays, school, and friendships being made, the friendships that she felt the most thankful for, for some reason, were the three girls that were depicted on that smartphone.

Which, while giving her some more questions, answered a big one for her. "I died… but was reincarnated in a new world… and a new life." Ruby confirmed as she closed her eyes and sighed. With one more thing coming to her mind at that moment.

"Yui Akabane." Ruby said aloud. "That's my name in this world." She noted as she remembered something involving those three girls on her phone. "I have plans on meeting up with those three today." Ruby said before walking up to her dresser, planning on getting dressed for the apparent day she had ahead of her.

'I'll think on how to deal with this later, right now, I've got to try and… blend in.' Ruby thought to herself as she pulled out her clothes for the day ahead.

Which shocked her as she saw how cool the clothes she somehow had in mind admittedly looked. "Wow, nice wardrobe."

(Two minutes later…)

The door to the room Ruby was in opened as she walked out slowly with a new set of clothes on her person.

Which consisted of a black T-Shirt with a rose-like decal on her heart area with a red jacket with a breast pocket on the left side over it. A black and red-striped skirt on her lower torso that had pockets and was held up with a red belt with a black buckle on it and her deck clipped onto the side. For her legs, she had on a pair of black leggings that stopped at the middle of her thighs.

As for accessories, she also wore a silver pendant with a blue jewel embedded into its center, a white ribbon on her right wrist. And, on her right thigh, a brown leather holster on her thigh with that weird device that wasn't her smartphone attached to it, which she knew was called a Duel Disk somehow.

She also had a mahogany colored satchel on her chest wrapping over her shoulder holding some personal stuff like house keys and a wallet with an ID and some of this world's currency.

She straightened out her jacket and tried to look as calm as possible, until she heard something from below.

"Cooking?" Ruby assumed as she walked towards the sound, which was down a staircase at the end of a hallway that the room she came out of was in.

Ruby had a subconscious feeling on who it might be at the source of the sounds coming downstairs, but swallowed what nerves she had as she walked down the steps.

When she got to the bottom, the oddly familiar smell of eggs and bacon came to her as she followed the smell to its source. Which lead her to the kitchen of this house she was in as she found another mature-looking woman standing there.

She looked to be in her early forties, with a blue loosely fitting long-sleeved shirt with her left shoulder open, black soft-looking shorts on her lower torso, and white slippers on her feet. But what stood out to Ruby the most was her hair, which was in a black ponytail long enough to reach her tailbone area, and her eyes, which were blue in color.

Despite Ruby not actually meeting her, she knew her name immediately and who she was somehow. She was Aya Akabane, her mother in this life she found herself in.

Aya looked over in Ruby's direction and smiled. "Well, hello there Yui, you sleep well, sweetheart?" Aya asked with a smile and in a motherly tone.

Ruby sighed as she looked at her apparent mother and answered. "Honestly, not too well. I had… a bad dream last night." Ruby admitted, going along with the name.

"Oh, is that so? Do you want to talk about it?" Aya asked her.

Ruby hesitated for a moment, but thought about it a little. 'She is my mom in this life. So… maybe a little talk with her could help, but…' She thought to herself as she spoke up. "Not really, I can't remember too much from it anyways." Ruby answered with a light chuckle.

Aya raised an eyebrow, but nodded. "Alright then, breakfast is nearly done. So if you remember much, then don't think too heavily on it." Aya told her as Ruby nodded.

Ruby took a seat at a table near the kitchen as Aya began talking to her. "So, that nightmare aside, are you ready to have some fun with your friends today, Yui?" Aya asked Ruby.

Ruby, or rather, Yui went along with the name as if it were always part of her and spoke up. "Yeah, we've got a lot planned today, and I will admit I'm pretty excited to see them." Yui said in response.

"Well that's good, with you going into the busy parts of Hoshido City, you'll have just enough fun today and the rest of the week before you go back to Duel School." Aya said with a smile.

Yui sat there and thought about those last two words. 'Duel School, I remember that, it's supposed to be…' Yui thought before speaking. "Yeah, something tells me Gemini Duel School is gonna be a fun place this year." Yui responded.

"I'm sure it will, now then. Breakfast is ready, so eat up and get ready to head out for the day, okay sweetie?" Aya asked Yui as they both had smiles on their faces.

"Understood, mom." Yui answered back as a plate of eggs, bacon, and buttered toast was set in front of her.

'I'm… not sure what I did to deserve this life, but if I have a family with a mother like her in it… Why not enjoy it while it lasts?' Yui, or rather Ruby, thought to herself.

(After breakfast…)

Ruby was now standing outside of a two story house, which was obviously her family's house in this world, with a pair of black shoes with red undersides on them on her feet as Aya was just outside the door to see her off. "Welp, have a nice day, sweetie." Aya smiled as she gave her daughter a hug.

"Don't worry, I will. You do too, mom." Ruby said as she opened a gate in front of her house and ran down the road. "Later!" She exclaimed as she ran.

Aya smiled as she walked back into the house, at least after saying one last thing. "Now then, to get ready for my own outing of the day."

Ruby was picking up speed as she dashed down the road and past the houses as she knew where exactly she had to go and how to get there. "I remember them, the voices… of Wendy, Sae, and Ryuko." She said as she panted like a dog while she was running. "If I'm right, then that could potentially mean that…" Ruby said as she kept running down the road before making a right turn.

… Only to accidentally bump into someone on her way. "Oh sorry, kinda in a hurry." Ruby apologized as she continued running.

Completely unaware that the person she had bumped into had pink hair tied in long sharp-ending pigtails. "Hmmmm…" The girl hummed as she walked away in the opposite direction ruby was running.

(After about 5 minutes worth of running…)

Ruby was now slowly and tiredly trekking her way to her destination as she was now completely out of breath. She looked at a sigh with weird characters on it as she sighed in relief and smiled. "Whew… made it. Sakura Star Park. The place where I was meant to be today." She said to herself as she hunched over in tiredness.

"Damn, and I thought I was lacking in physical strength before I kicked it." Ruby muttered as she panted. "I really need to get this body into a shape that I can get used to." She before hearing someone else talk.

"Tell me about it."

That voice made her freeze in her tracks as she turned to the source to see three people standing underneath a Cherry Blossom tree as some petals fell from it.

One petal in particular fell into the hand of a girl with green eyes and white hair with blue strands speckled across it that reached her tailbone area in a long braid with a blue bow wrapped around the starting base of it on her head. She wore a white blouse with three blue stripes on the bottom and blue jeans on her lower torso with slight rips in them, with black fingerless gloves on her hands and black slip-on shoes with white socks on her feet. She also had a backpack on her back that seemed to have quite a fair amount of stuff in it.

The other two, she recognized as well. With the girl on the first one's right having short jet black hair just barely reaching the top of her shoulders with purple eyes with glasses over them. She wore a lavender shirt that left her midriff open and blue short shorts that didn't leave much to the imagination in terms of her admittedly attractive… features. She also wore a black leather jacket and a black choker on her neck. And with her was a black bag that can be slung over her shoulders that had a wooden sword sticking out of it and a Duel Disk attached to her waist.

The girl to the right of the second one was not like the others in terms of look, as she a bit more short compared to the others and had blonde hair tied in two long pigtails that spiraled were tied with red small ribbons as they ran downward till they reached her thighs and blue eyes. She wore a black blazer shirt with white lining and sleeves that were poofy on the shoulders with a breast pocket over her heart that had four differently colored star-like pins attached to it with red, white, black, and yellow colors. She had around her neck a yellow tie with a black star on the end of it, and on her lower torso, she wore a black and yellow skirt with black shorts underneath and white knee-length socks with black slip-on shoes on her feet, she also wore a bracelet on her right arm that was black with four triangular spikes on it.

Respectively, these three are Ruby's friends in this world. Wendy Shirogane, Sae Yatogami, and Ryuko Hinoka.

But the looks they had in their eyes, she felt that they meant more than just a simple "Good to see you again". She knew that… they were them.

Ruby gulped as she spoke the names and hoped they'd respond to them. "Weiss… Blake… Yang?" She said with tears in her eyes.

Wendy stepped forward up to her as she smiled and lowered Ruby's forehead, and gave it a kiss that made Ruby flash to that point before Remnant was destroyed.

Both her and Wendy meant as Wendy herself spoke. "Yeah… it's us… Ruby." Wendy confirmed with a tear running down her eye.

Ruby looked around quickly and registered that there was no one else around just as fast. And in a spur of the moment, inhesitantly kissed Wendy… Weiss on the lips.

Tears ran down both their eyes as they slowly melted into each other's warmth as they held the kiss for ten more seconds before breaking it as Ruby backed up and looked at them. "Sorry, Weiss. I- I just was so afraid that…" Ruby didn't finish her sentence as Wendy cupped her cheek in her hand.

"It's okay, Ruby. You don't need to be afraid… not anymore." Weiss reassured her.

"Yeah, she's right." Sae, or Blake, agreed. "There's not much we have to be afraid of here."

Ryuko, or Yang, nodded as she smiled. "No life-threatening monsters or psychopaths, no crazy gods of trigger-happy destruction, nothing like that." Yang said with a smile.

"Yeah… you all are right. We finally have a chance to live… a normal life." Ruby said with a smile.

Only for Yang to ruin the moment. "Except for the fact you are somehow bigger AND taller than me." She said with a slight pout.

Record scratch

That was when Ruby looked at her own body, then at Yang's, and saw what she meant.

Ruby had the bust and height Yang had in their previous life, while Yang's body was about as feature-filled as a washboard.

Weiss snickered at the realization as she began to laugh aloud, followed quickly by Ruby and slowly by Blake. "HEY, it's not funny!" Yang exclaimed as she saw their faces and the laughter, before giving up and joining in, just glad that they were together.

That Team RWBY was still together, even after death tried to separate them.

(After they all had sat down…)

Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang, all in their reincarnated selves, sat down at a wooden table as they talked.

"Okay, so first off, let's examine the facts." Ruby said as they all nodded in agreement.

"First things first, we all DID die, right?" Yang asked with a tone that portrayed how badly she wanted to know.

"I'm positive we did. But if that's the case, then what's up with this world we're in right now?" Blake asked. "Is it like… some kind of dream after death?" She theorized.

"I don't think it's that. I tried pinching myself over and over when I woke up. So either this is a really tough dream to wake up from, or it's a hundred percent real." Weiss answered.

"And the people here, you three woke up to… your families in this world, right?" Ruby asked. "I woke up to find my mother making breakfast for me." She admitted.

"Yeah, we all have families that seem to hold us dear in this world." Weiss said.

"I know what you mean, I woke up to my older sister in this world using an elbow drop just to wake me up." Blake admitted.

"Whereas I have an admittedly shy younger sister who tried to nudge my snoring ass out of bed." Yang added.

"I was able to wake up on my own accord, but I woke up in a large manor of some kind, and my family is just as big as what I had in my past life." Weiss told them.

"How big IS your family?" Ruby couldn't help but ask.

"Well, there's me, who's the second oldest, then my older brother and younger sister, and my parents who… aren't at all hurtful or strict, not by much at least." Weiss answered.

"Wow… do you all get along?" Yang asked, unable to forget how rough Weiss's family life in her past life was to her.

Weiss thought on that, but as she did, tears started to run down from her eyes as she subconsciously held her hand up to her mouth.

Ruby was concerned for Weiss as she waved her hand in front of her face, which snapped her out of it. "Oh, ummm… sorry, it's just…" Weiss sighed as she dried the tear on her face.

"Yes, my family does love me… VERY much so." Weiss answered with a smile.

Her friends smiled at the sight of Weiss seeming joyful on this topic. "Glad to hear it Wei-" As Ruby Weiss's name, a thought crossed her mind. "Or should I say… Wendy?" She spoke as they all looked at her.

"I just realized that, if we're gonna live in this world, should it truly be a real thing, we're gonna have to adapt our new names for these lives to what we call each other." Ruby told.

Blake realized exactly what she meant. "She's right. For instance, I'm Sae Yatogami in this world. My family called me that when I was speaking to them, and I was able to respond like it was second nature to me." She noted.

"Oh right. My family called me Ryuko and I was able to respond to it like I've been doing so my whole life." Yang added.

Weiss couldn't help but tilt her head at that. "That happened with me and my name in this world too. Which is… really weird admittedly." Weiss said. "How could that even be possible? We were brought to a new world, yet… we have memory of our lives in this world like we've always lived them." She analyzed in depth what happened to them.

"Maybe… a second chance?" Ruby suggested.

Every one of them was silent until Yang spoke. "Well regardless, here… is what. We. Know." She said while standing up.

"We all died. Were reincarnated in this world with both our old memories and memories of this world. And we have extensive knowledge on how we ought to live in this world." Yang listed off.

"This is like… as Ru- Yui said, a second chance. The best kind of second chance we could get, I say we don't sweat all the major details and live these new lives to the fullest!" Yang, or rather Ryuko, stated.

Blake, or rather Sae, nodded in agreement. "I agree, we don't have to worry about stuff like the Grimm or even Salem in this world. So what could stop us from enjoying it?" She asked with a smile.

Ruby and Weiss, or Yui and Wendy, looked at each as Wendy spoke up. "Wherever you go, I'll follow you." She solemnly said.

Yui nodded as they all stood up. "Alright, we're Team RWBY in spirit, but in this new life we have. We're Yui, Wendy, Sae, and Ryuko." They all smiled in understanding. "Let's live these lives… TO THE FULLEST!" Ruby exclaimed as she punched the air.

"YEAH!" Weiss, Blake, and Yang exclaimed as well as they punched the air too.

"I say we just keep our old names for when we're alone. But aside from those times, we use our new live's names." Weiss suggested.

"Right, now that that's settled…" Ruby said before pulling out that deck case of cards she knows a lot about somehow. "You all are aware of Duel Monsters, right?" She asked with a raised eyebrow.

The three of them raised an eyebrow as Yang answered. "You'd better believe it." She said as she, followed by Weiss and Blake, pulled out a deck case similar to Ruby's and placed them on the table. "In fact, from what I remember, this simple card game is a really popular thing in this world, and the reason why…" Yang looked at her friends as Blake spoke up.

"Why we're all friends in this life..." She said as she looked at the deck in slight amazement.

Ruby looked at the deck in her hands, and smiled as she knew what it was she wanted to do today for certain. "Okay then, if this card game is the reason for why we're even standing here knowing each other, then I think it's safe to say that we ought to get a touch more acquainted with it." Ruby stated.

Weiss nodded as she knew what Ruby was suggesting. "There's a dirt based dueling field with bleachers at where we're going today. I say we see the sights of the city while we make our way there." Weiss suggested as she stood up.

"Alright then, and if get rough on the way there, I'll back you all up the best I can." Ryuko said as she flexed her arms.

Sae smiled as she grabbed her stuff and stood up. "Well then, let's be off." Sae suggested as they all nodded.

(2 hours later…)

On their way to the dueling field that had been mentioned. Yui, Wendy, Sae, and Ryuko had decided to get a quick reminder of the city they were in, which happened to be named Hoshido City.

They took a look at the sights it had to show them, such as riding a train that showed them a lot of the city in a short amount of time, walking down a path comprised fairly large green-leaves trees parallel to a lake with fish in it, which Blake was somehow able to resist jumping in after them.

Then they stopped at a place to eat, specifically what was Ryuko's favorite spot for Ramen, a restaurant called the Dragon's Refuge, and then they stopped at an Ice Cream store Wendy personally liked for dessert.

As they were walking to the dueling arena Wendy mentioned. They were discussing things that they had looked up on the internet of this world. "Man, still can't get over the fact that maids are a fetish to some people, don't you think that's weird?" Ryuko asked.

"Yeah, it sounds weird, but I can… sorta see why people would like them." Yui admitted.

"I remember having maids in my family's mansion, so I'm wondering what some people around me would think of that." Wendy wondered.

"They'd probably be clinging to your feet, begging you to take them home with you." Sae joked.

A tick mark appeared above Wendy's head as she spoke. "And if someone actually has the guts to go through with that, I'd probably break their legs in response." Wendy said through gritted teeth.

Ryuko and Sae laughed at that, but Yui flashed back to the sight of Nora and Ren with their weapons drawn.

"If you don't go on without us, I'll be the one to break your legs myself!" Nora's voice angrily ordered them.

"Yui?" Yui snapped back to reality upon hearing Sae's voice. "Are you alright? You zoned out for a moment there." She asked her.

"Oh sorry, I was just…" Yui sighed as she spoke up. "I just thought of Nora." Yui told them.

Wendy wondered why, but realized her blunder on what she said. "Oh my g- I'm so sorry, it just came out and-" Wendy's apology was cut short.

"It's alright, I'm fine, but now I can't help but wonder…" Yui sighed as she looked up to the sky. "Did other people from Remnant get reincarnated in this world besides us?" Ruby wondered.

Wendy, Sae, and Ryuko thought on that question as well as Wendy spoke. "That's certainly a possibility." She answered.

"I don't think we should rule it out, now that you say that." Sae agreed.

"There's gotta be some people we know from our past lives that could be in the same scenario we're in, Jaune's as tenacious as they come, so are Nora and Ren, maybe team CFVY as well?" Ryuko suggested.

"Betcha Glynda is here as well." Sae smiled.

"And maybe…" Ruby trailed off as she thought about a certain amazon themed girl that had died far before they even knew of Salem's existence. "Pyrrha."

Her friends gasped at the thought. "If both her and Jaune got reincarnated in this world…" Wendy muttered.

"She'd explode from happiness, and maybe sadness." Ryuko finished.

"Well, we can always hope for it, right?" Ruby asked.

Her friends looked at her with uncertainty, but Wendy smiled as she placed her arm on Ruby's shoulder. "I'll hope with you, it might not happen, but we least have each other." Wendy said optimistically.

Sae and Makoto looked at each other and nodded. "We're with you on that all the way." Sae said.

"Without a doubt." Makoto added with seriousness in her voice.

"Thanks guys." Yui thanked her friends for their support as she thought of one more person that could be in this world.

Ruby's breath halted as her whole world froze, it was barely a second in real time, but . As she couldn't stop to think of the one person she thought that practically deserved to come back in this world.

"Do hugs always make you feel this-"

"This deck is now mine!" Yui snapped out of her thoughts as she realized that they were at the dueling field Wendy mentioned.

The field itself was red on one half of the field as the other was blue, with four sets of gray metallic bleachers all with children and teenagers… who were all frightened at what was going on at the field itself.

It was a girl about an inch taller than Yui herself with green hair in a bob cut and hazel eyes. She wore a lime green Turtleneck and blue jeans with tears in them, black sneakers, and had two black triangular markings on her right cheek. She also had a Duel Disk on her left arm that was jet black in color.

Yui recognized this lady by her signature outfit and brash attitude. This was Dahlia Onnamuri, a common bully that she has butted heads with before her in this life.

But it was who she was standing over that set off some red flags for her.

It was another girl with black hair in a similar style to the one Penny had when she saw her in Atlas in her past life, only not as wide or long, and blue eyes. She wore a black T-shirt with green spots around the collarbone, and a red skirt with a small sword logo on the edge of it.

Yui gasped at the sight of a visible bruise mark on the girl's cheek. "Sis!" She cried as she ran up to the girl.

The girl that Yui knew was her sister in this life, Miki Akabane.

Wendy gasped when Yui said that. "Oh no…" She muttered as she ran to catch up with her alongside Sae and Ryuko.

Yui knelt down to Miki as she spoke to her. "Miki, are you alright?" She asked.

Miki looked up to Yui as she wore a sad expression on her face. "Yeah, I- I'm alright, but I cou-" She was interrupted when Dahlia spoke up.

"Bah, fine, coulda fooled me, little miss weak knees." She remarked. "I was able to beat you in a duel, and just like we agreed on, this deck of yours is mine." Dahlia said while holding a green deck case with a sword logo on it by her own face while winking and sticking her tongue out.

"Wait a minute, Miki would never set that kind of stake on her own." Yui commented, using her memory of this world and her life in it to recall that fact. "Did you force her to go along with it?" She asked, glaring at her.

"Oh, what difference does it make, she lost the duel so her deck is mine as per our agreement." Dahlia said while spinning Miki's deck on her finger.

"Agreement? I only went along with it so you'd stop hurting everyone here in a duel." Miki said with a glare at her, until one from Dahlia shot her own at her, making her flinch at the scowl she gave all the while.

"Sticks and stones, runt." She said while tossing Miki's deck up and down in her hand with her eyes closed. "I mean, unless your precious big sis wants to put her deck on th-" Dahlia suddenly felt her hand get lighter as she realized that Miki's deck wasn't in her hand anymore. "What th-" Dahlia opened her eyes to see Miki's deck in Yui's hand.

"You left your guard wide open." Yui snarky said with a wink as she handed Miki back her deck.

Dahlia's right eye twitched as she could barely comprehend what had happened. Until a new fit of rage slammed into her like a speeding train as she growled, she opened her mouth to say something, but couldn't when Yui beat her to it.

"How about a duel against me?" Yui asked as Dahlia raised an eyebrow. "If you beat me in a duel, I'll give you my deck in exchange for letting Miki keep hers, if I win, however, you drop this whole deck betting business, and leave my sister alone." Yui said as she had an adamant expression on her face.

Dahlia's eyes widened as she soon smiled maliciously. "Now you're talking my language. And that's perfectly fine by me, I've had my eye on that deck of yours ever since you beat me last time." Dahlia said as she backed up to the end of the red side of the dueling field.

"Guys, would you kindly get my sister off the field and stand back. I don't want her or anyone else to get more hurt than they have to." Yui asked her friends before looking at Dahlia. "Well… anyone beyond what's necessary." Yui said with a wink.

"You got it." Ryuko said as she wrapped Miki back on her feet.

"Yui, are you sure you want to take this bet?" Miki asked Yui, with Wendy answering for her.

"Don't worry, Yui can handle a simple playground bully like this." Wendy reassured her.

Wendy, Sae, Ryuko, and Miki, alongside with a couple other teens and kids were sitting at the bleachers as Yui and Dahlia were standing on opposite sides of the dueling field. The blue side for Yui, and the red side for Dahlia.

Dahlia only smirked as she readied the Duel Disk on her arm which generated a yellow energy tray with a black interior. Yui noted this and was secretly amazed. 'Wow, these Duel Disks are incredible.' She thought, while quickly looking through her memories and found ones based on her own Duel Disk.

She pulled her Duel Disk off the holster on her leg and tossed it into the air. Instinctively, she also pulled her dueling deck as the Duel Disk came down while she raised her right arm up. The Duel Disk attached to her arm as she spotted her deck into the slot.

"Duel mode. Standby…" The Duel Disk spoke in a monotone voice as the top part of it lit up with a red circle that had a black center with a silver horizontal line in it. "Duel Mode active." It stated as Dahlia smirked.

"Say goodbye to your current dueling life, Yui!" Dahlia exclaimed while pointing at her, before taking the top five cards on the deck in her own Duel Disk and putting in her hand.

"In your dreams, Buster!" Yui shot back at her as she did the same with her deck and its cards. 'You have no idea what I've gone through girly. Cause my dueling life… IS JUST GETTING STARTED!' She before they both locked eyes and shouted…

"DUEL!"

To Be Continued…

...

Welp, here's the updated form of my chapter 1, in the form of a part 1.

I figured it'd be best to split this chapter into two parts because if I crammed the whole contents of the chapter into this one chapter, I'd have a lot harder a time to post the chapters at all, I'll try to limit how often I do this, but no major promises.

Regardless, expect my next update to be in the form of the Duel for this fanfic and a completely new RWBY x Future Card Buddyfight fanfic.