Ruby breathed in deeply. She was holding her arms out so that the technician people could comfortably work with the microphone and the bunch of wires that came with it. In just a few short minutes she'd be out there and it would be her big moment. Ruby Rose's big moment. Summer Rose's daughter's big moment; the daughter of Vale's greatest ever champion.

Oh, Ruby didn't mind the comparison. She was proud of it and embraced it. Her mom was her idol, her closest confidant, her best friend and everything she aspired to be. She was used to it and it wasn't exactly a secret that she had attended Beacon Academy and had graduated recently. Neither was it a secret that she had only recently left home and departed for her own Pokémon journey. Ruby was even aware that there was a whole online forum dedicated to her but she didn't dare to take a glimpse at what people were writing about her. In short, she was used to it.

But then again, there were instances like this morning.

After she woke up and decided to look up on the internet at how the ticket sales for her match had been going, her bleary eyes had nearly popped out of their sockets at seeing the top trending posts on Chirper. Terra Cotta-Arc and her Stonehold Pokémon Arena had gone out of their way to mention that her next competitor was the daughter of Summer Rose and Taiyang Xiao-Long in a chirp and on their website. And now, the whole arena was packed full. All three-thousand-five-hundred-and-sixty-six available seats had been sold within just two hours. It made billions of Butterfrees flutter in her stomach for the rest of the morning.

"Alright, Miss Rose, you are all set up," one of the technician guys said. "The connection looks good. You should also be called to the arena any moment now."

"Thanks," Ruby replied and gave him a smile and a wave as he left.

Giving herself another once-over in front of the mirror, Ruby nodded and took another breath. She was ready. She could do this. Dressed in black pants, black sneakers and her red, lace rose-themed shirt over a tight-fitting red camisole, she felt good. She looked good. She was good.

Pulling her scroll from her pants, Ruby quickly checked her messages. Yang had taken a selfie with her mom and their dad and another girl with a large bow on top of her long and wavy black hair whom she didn't know, though none of them appeared to be aware of Yang taking that picture. They were all sitting in front of the TV, watching the stream. "Good luck from Summer, dad, me and Blake," it said below. She'd have to ask who that Blake girl was.

And then there was Uncle Qrow's message, who had just sent a thumbs-up emoji, which made her chuckle, and Auntie Raven, who told her to crush her opponent, which made her giggle.

She felt good. She looked good. She was good.

Ruby was ready.

The arena was tightly packed and incredibly loud. To her left and to her right as well as right in front of her and behind her, there were so many banners cheering for Terra Cotta-Arc. However, she also saw a banner or two strewn across bearing her name and cheering her on, which made her blush and grin. It was a nice feeling.

"I hope you don't mind the name-drop," Terra called over to her from her side of the arena, most likely meaning the fact that she was the Summer Rose's daughter. Even with microphones, it was difficult to hear one another.

Ruby waved her off. "It's fine," she said with a shrug. "I'm used to it. It was kinda sudden but you gotta make money, right?"

Terra grinned. "Very true."

"Is the Challenger ready?" the referee asked her before announcing the rules to her and the audience. It was, admittedly, a bit tiresome since she had heard it twice now, though Ruby could understand and appreciate the formality behind it.

Once he was done with that and both she and Terra had told him that they had understood everything, the referee turned to her. "Choose your Pokémon."

This was it. She grabbed Paras's Pokéball and threw it into the battlefield. "Go, Pinch!" She had spent a lot of time trying to come up with actual names for her Pokémon.

Terra raised a brow, smirked and released her own Pokémon. "You're going to start, Dust."

Ruby exhaled through her nose when she saw the Sandshrew emerge from the red light. She had expected Terra Cotta-Arc to mix things up and her expectations had proven themselves to be accurate. This would be tricky, but Paras had the type-advantage for sure.

"Begin!" the referee yelled over the noise of the cheering crowd, once the hard-light barriers had been erected.

Both Pokémon were sizing each other up for a moment, the eager, expectant tension covered the arena like a thick blanket and then Dust dug its claws into the dusty soil of the battlefield's ground and began with a Sand Attack. A cloud of sand, dirt, soil and dust was blown Pinch's way so that her Pokémon had to cover his eyes with his claws. He then walked backwards and out of the dust-ridden air while shaking his abdomen, releasing his Spore attack into the thick fog.

Sandshrew, however, emerged from the side and unleashed a wicked Scratch, scoring a hit on her Paras dead-on. Her Pokémon hissed in pain, as did Ruby in sympathy for Pinch because of the visible and deep gauges on the carapace, but the direct attack triggered the release of Poison Powder from Pinch's mushrooms, encasing Dust in the purple powder.

"Use Absorb, Pinch!" Ruby called out and her Paras followed suit immediately.

The mushrooms on Pinch's back were glowing as well as Dust, who yelped in pain as it was forcefully sapped of its strength. Then the glowing stopped. Dust was panting and the gauges on Pinch didn't look as brutal anymore and more like shallow scratches instead.

"You're doing great, buddy!" Ruby called out to her Paras, who wiggled his pincher-like claws as a reply. "Don't let up! Get close and personal!"

"Rollout!" Terra commanded her Sandshrew, who curled up in response and began its attack by spinning and rolling around the arena, much too fast for Pinch to attack.

"Try to catch it inside of your Spore attack, Pinch!" Ruby shouted over the noise of the arena. "Make as thick of a cloud as you can whenever Sandshrew gets close!"

Her Pokémon steeled himself, digging his four pairs of legs and his large, clawed front legs into the ground as much as he could. Sandshrew, meanwhile, spun rapidly around the arena and got closer with each lap. Ruby noticed, however, that, unlike Geodude's Rollout against Jaune and his Eevee, Sandshrew's Rollout looked very unsteady. Instead of rolling around in steady lines the way Geodude had done, Dust's lines were wavy. The poison was clearly doing its work.

Whenever the Sandshrew got close enough, Pinch would use Spore and after the third lap of doing so, there was a thick cloud of it on the battlefield right in front of her Paras. Dust, despite its unsteady and sloppy movements, was closing in once more with rapid speed and just as it rolled close to the plume of spores, Ruby suddenly had an idea.

"Use Absorb again!" she shouted at Pinch.

The mushrooms began to glow but the attack itself was too slow. The rolling Sandshrew got through the floating spores seemingly without any issues and smashed into her Paras straight in the face, an ugly crunch reverberating through the arena and prompting a loud 'oooh' from the audience while she flinched visibly, worry flooding her very being as she gasped.

Pinch got tossed through the air and landed heavily on his back, unable to move and clearly knocked out. Ruby could now see the large fracture in the carapace, reaching from the head to right between the mushrooms. That would take a while to heal.

The positive from the impact was that a burst of paralyzing spores had been triggered and it had managed to do its job well. As Ruby looked at Sandshrew, it was also lying on the ground with its eyes closed and breathing deeply, which didn't stop its body from spasming. Dust was poisoned, paralyzed and, in the end, also put to sleep.

"Paras and Sandshrew are unable to continue. It's a draw!"

Cheers swelled in the arena and Ruby knew that the audience was dying for a big showdown. They would get it but for now, she called back Pinch. Holding his Pokéball close to her heart, she thanked him silently for his hard work. He had done all she had expected of him and so much more.

"Nasty little bugger, your Paras," Terra commented, her next Pokéball already in her hand. "Young too. You've trained him well."

"Thanks!" Ruby grinned at her opponent and grabbed Staryu's Pokéball before releasing it. "Go, Gem!"

Once her Staryu was revealed from the Pokéball's red light, Ruby earned herself several oohs and aahs at the unique colluding of its shiny, leathery plating. Gem was pretty like that.

"Let's win this, Driller!" Terra released her Pokémon, which turned out to be a Rhyhorn.

Ruby's eyes widened at that. Rhyhorn was a tough-as-heck Pokémon to beat and was right up there with Onix when it came to raw strength and power. She had the type-advantage yet again but this time combined with no type-disadvantage. Pinch had always been at risk against the rock-type attacks.

"Bulldoze and Rock Smash, Driller!" Terra ordered and the Rhyhorn bulldozed towards Gem, hooved feet cracking the ground open as it did so, leaving a ruined battleground in its wake.

Staryu dodged and immediately fired a Confuse Ray on its opponent, the bright, shimmering ball of light dancing its way towards the rock-type. It hit its mark dead-on as Driller skidded to a halt. The Rhyhorn's usually red pupils shone in bright blue but with a violent shake of its head, it had immediately cleared its confusion. Ruby frowned as Driller was slowly and deliberately turning around. Once Gem was in the rock-type's field of vision again, it locked its eyes straight on her Staryu, churning at the ground with its stubby front legs. Then it charged again, the ground shaking and cracking under the violent Bulldoze attack once more. Just as Rhyhorn closed in on Gem and reared its head up, her Staryu dodged once more, landing a few paces away on two of its appendages positioned as feet and not a moment too soon; Rhyhorn smashed its head on the ground, resulting in a small crater where her Staryu had been standing just a moment ago.

And while Driller was again slowly and deliberately turning its rigid body, her Staryu used Water Gun, launching a stream of water directly at the massive Rhyhorn. It let out a grunt and rumble in discomfort, shaking the few droplets of water away and growling at Gem once it fell into its sight again. The Water Gun had not done as much damage as Ruby had hoped for and she had to wonder if this Rhyhorn was as young and inexperienced as Onix, Geodude and Sandshrew clearly had been.

"Goad it into charging through the destroyed bits of the battleground," Ruby instructed her Staryu, which gave a nod.

The Rhyhorn bulldozed again at Gem and her Pokémon repeatedly evaded the attack each time. Both Pokémon continued in that manner for another couple of times and Ruby was quite content with that, though Terra did not appear to share that sentiment.

"Rock Slide!" Terra called, pointing at Gem.

Rhyhorn dug its horn into the broken-apart ground and charged again, swishing its head back and forth, creating an avalanche of rocks, pebbles, soil and dust. Gem dodged again and hit it with a Confuse Ray for a second time but Rhyhorn shrugged it off once more with a violent shake of its head.

"Keep dodging," Ruby muttered, hoping that Staryu would somehow, miraculously hear her. She knew what she wanted to do but it needed a bit more time. Just a bit more time.

That Rhyhorn was strong for a Pokémon used against freshly licensed trainers. Several direct hits with Confuse Ray and Water Gun had been taken and shrugged off by it and it was still charging through the arena, tearing the battleground apart in the process.

That was for her advantage though. After another Bulldoze and another Rock Slide, which left barely any room to manoeuvre anymore, Ruby saw their chance.

"Use Water Gun on the ground!" she called out.

Gem went to work immediately, spraying as much of the battlefield as it could until the dug up ground darkened and turned muddy, which the Rhyhorn realized too late. As it charged, the heavy weight of its body proved to be too much for the softened ground. At first, its Bulldoze only slowed down but the relentless Water Gun from Gem had softened the ground so much that, a moment later, Driller sank into the watery mud. With its head and back barely held above anymore, it struggled to break free from its muddy prison. It was now easy prey for Gem.

The crowd realized it too and noise began to swell around the arena and her heart began to pound and her eyes began to sting. "Finish it, Gem! Launch Water Gun right into Rhyhorn's face!"

Gem's aim proved to be true and the powerful spray of water hit Rhyhorn right where Ruby wanted it. It couldn't dodge, it couldn't even tank it. Rhyhorn cried out as moisture from the mud was in permanent contact with its rocky body and now water hit it directly in its face and mouth. Terra was visibly struggling with herself until a look of defeat crossed her features.

"I concede," she finally called out in a clear, loud voice and Ruby couldn't contain herself anymore.

"Yes!" She jumped up and down as the arena broke into a mixture of rare cheers and polite applause. Once the hard-light barriers were turned off and Rhyhorn recalled to its Pokéball, Ruby – carefully – made her way across the muddy ground to her Staryu, picked it up and squeezed the heck out of its admittedly hard-plated body. "You were amazing!" Ruby praised it. "You and Pinch, you were both so amazing!"

"You as well," Terra told her with a grin on her face as she walked over to her, holding the badge between her fingers. "Congratulations. I was a big fan of your mom as a kid and I'm excited to see you follow in her footsteps in the future." She then handed her the badge and Ruby took it with her free hand and a beaming smile. "You've earned it. Well done utilising the battlefield and using my own destruction against me."

Ruby looked at her very first badge, its brown tones shimmering under the arena's light. Shaped distinctly like a valley between two mountains to depict what Stonehold Town was all about, Ruby took a moment or two to marvel at its beauty before turning to face the audience in the arena. She held the badge high and cradled Staryu with her other arm and just let the thrill of the moment, the thrill of her first arena win wash over her under the clapping and cheers of the spectators.

After her win, Ruby had been bombarded with messages from seemingly everyone. Yang had sent another selfie with their family and Blake – she really had to ask about that cute Blake girl – and Uncle Qrow and Auntie Raven had sent an emoji each. Then there were a bunch of other people from her Signal and Beacon days.

She had also dared to take a peek at the forum called rubyrosefans-dot-forum-dot-vl. It had taken her a whole five minutes to regret it. After her arena fight, there had been a thread posted analysing the details of the match – which strategies were used, how to better avoid using unnecessary attacks – which was surprisingly insightful. There was, however, another thread filled with screenshots of her during the fight and with comments wanting her to sit and step on them that had her face heat up so much, she had begun to sweat. After that brief foray, she had closed the tab and promised herself that she would only take a look into the forum if she was really curious.

In the official rankings of the recent graduates, Ruby had also risen to an upper mid-table spot after earning ten points for her two-to-one arena victory. It would have been fifteen for a two-to-nothing victory and five points for two double knockouts, which would have resulted in a draw and no badge. She would have lost ten or fifteen points for respective losses. Those ranked above her were Pyrrha – one rank above her – and other trainers, who had more matches under their belts. Weiss was one spot behind her and Jaune a few spots behind them because he had almost no official trainer matches. He spent most of his time sparring with Pyrrha. Each of them would need more official and paid matches if they wanted to climb the ladder.

Pyrrha had had the least trouble with Terra Cotta-Arc out of the four of them. Her Cubone and Oddish had handled Onix and Rhyhorn without much issue. She truly was on another level compared to the rest of them, which didn't mean that any of them were slouches.

Now, however, they were having dinner with Saffron Cotta-Arc and Terra in their home. After having heard of Jaune's suffering at the hands of his numerous sisters, they were all sitting at the dinner table, laughing about dress-up childhood stories, which had Jaune cover his ears in embarrassment. Weiss was feeding little Adrian while cooing at everything he did. She, Jaune, Pyrrha, Saffron and Terra were chatting among themselves.

"You kids are a good batch out of your year. This generation really has some real talent brewing across the kingdoms," Terra said. "There's Nebula Violette, Umber Gorgoneion and Dew Gayl in Vacuo. Then there's Neon Katt and Flynt Coal in Atlas. Sun Wukong, Neptune Vasilias, Sage Ayana and Scarlet David in Mistral. Not to mention the raw talent here in Vale."

Ruby nodded because it was true. She wondered how they'd all fare in the international tournaments when competing against the best of the best of Remnant. For now, however, she'd have to grow and train just as her team needed to.

"How are your Pokémon holding up?" Saffron asked while cutting up her piece of steak. Next to the table, there was a Pichu munching happily on its food, which Saffron had taken with her from South Vale when moving to the north.

"Pinch will need another day in the Pokémon Center for his chitin to fully mend," Ruby explained. "Then another day or two without battles, then he should be good to go. It really looked worse than it apparently was."

"Eve is doing well, the leg is basically healed," Jaune told his sister. "River is fit to go."

"Rusty and Pearl are both doing very well," Weiss said distractedly while wiping Adrian's mouth. "Who's a messy baby?" she cooed at a happily giggling Adrian.

Pyrrha snickered behind her hand at Weiss before answering. "Paleo and Evergreen are healthy and well."

Ruby had learned that Pyrrha had named her Pokémon as well, with Paleo being the Cubone and Evergreen the Oddish.

"And what's your next goal?" Terra asked them. "Riverdale would make sense. Rufus Indigo is a step up from me, but still very beginner-friendly. You can learn a lot from him; he's got heaps of experience."

"That was the idea, yes," Weiss said after Saffron had picked Adrian up to change his diaper. "We'd have to cross the Dusty Hills, which will be a pain, but I suppose it is part of the experience."

"Just be careful," Saffron urged them with worry in her eyes once she returned with Adrian in her arms. Ruby was amazed at the diaper-changing speed Saffron apparently possessed. "The White Fang is getting more active every day and the PokéShop Thieves have hit a mall in the City of Vale!"

"Delinquents," Weiss muttered under her breath.

Jaune waved his sister's worries off. "We'll be fine, Saff."

"My uncle is Vale's Master Investigator," Ruby explained. "If there is anything to worry about, he'll at least send me a message."

Saffron smiled, looking a bit more relaxed than a moment ago.

They resumed their dinner with idle chatter. While it was nice for the stress and pressure to be lifted off her shoulders, Ruby still couldn't wait for the next arena. The thrill of winning those matches was addicting, she had to admit.