The Tournament has Begun

While it felt like a long time coming for many of the students, the Vytal Festival had begun which meant that the tournament was underway. The beginning match was between Beacon Academy's very own team RWBY against team ABRN of Haven Academy. The crowd cheered as they watched the two teams fight against each other.

However, two members of the audience were not cheering as they watched the match. Over at the east entrance of the Amity Colosseum, Agito observed the match with little interest since all he was seeing was children play fighting. He rolled his eyes when he saw how the Belladonna girl was able to lure the skater girl on the hoverboard to an obvious trap causing girl to fall and land on her rear.

'This is just embarrassing,' Agito thought as he turned away to leave.

Over by the south side, Sho was watching the match with team JNPR, who were cheering for their sibling team while Sho was impassive. Ren noticed how silent Sho was during the match.

"Is there something wrong Sho?" Ren asked his team's friend while Jaune and Nora continued cheering for team RWBY.

"No, I'm just feel like the training everyone did with Aptom was wasted," Sho told Ren.

"How so?" Ren inquired, his attention now on the young Guyver.

"This match should have ended a lot sooner," Sho told Ren. "Out of everyone on the opposing team, there was only one that was a skilled enough fighter," he continued talking. "The two guys on the team barely landed any hits, and the girl on the hoverboard has quite possibly the most impractical weapon with how it needs to split apart in order to turn into a pair of guns causing her to lose her mobility and when it's a hoverboard it has no offensive capabilities," he pointed out a couple of problems with the match. "Those three practically need their leader to hold their hands during the match, which makes it difficult for her to focus on taking on Yang," he added.

"Perhaps team ABRN had inadequate training," Ren suggested.

"And Ruby and the others are not taking advantage of team ABRN's shortcomings," Sho said as he watched Weiss encase the remaining members of team ABRN in ice while Yang got ready to send the team out of the ring. "All they're doing is playing around," he pointed out as he stood up to leave.

"Where are you going Sho?" Ren asked.

"I'm going to get something to eat," Sho answered as he left team JNPR.

As the match between team RWBY and ABRN reached its end, the next two teams, oddly enough both were from Beacon and they were waiting to be called up. One of the two teams was a team of third year students composed of Faunus while the other happened to be team CRDL. Cardin was getting himself pumped up for the match before looking at Dove and Sky sharpening their weapons. When he turned his attention toward Russel, he saw his green haired teammate munching on a burger much to his annoyance.

"Seriously Russel," Cardin said as he approached Russel. "We're about to be called up and you're eating right now," he scolded his team's resident Zoanoid.

Russel finished the burger before turning his attention to Cardin.

"Hey, I only had a bagel for breakfast," Russel complained. "Guy's gotta eat," he added.

Cardin grumbled something under his breath before he heard Port's voice calling out for the next participants of the tournament.

"Let's go guys," Cardin told his team as he swung his mace over his shoulder. "We have a match to win," he added.

"Don't be so sure," a member of the third-year team told Cardin, the boy's horse tail swaying side to side.

"Yeah, it's time we put you boys in you place," the female goat Faunus agreed with her teammate.

Cardin glared at his upper classmen for a moment before leading his team toward the ring with the other team right beside them. His distain toward Faunus hasn't wavered, if anything it grew, especially after what his team had gone through during their first mission a semester ago. The rest of his team shared their leader's distain, though the degree of which varied from each of them.

As the two teams made their way to the arena, they walked pass a cheerful team RWBY and a dejected team ABRN. Once the girls spotted team CRDL, they stopped talking while the team of former bullies ignored them as they walked on by.

"Do you think they'll win?" Ruby asked her friends.

"I honestly hope they don't," Weiss said, however the tone in her voice was filled with doubt. "But with what Russel is, they have the advantage," she pointed out.

"I hate to say it, I really do…" Yang joined in. "But having someone like him on their team makes it easy for them to get to the finals," she added.

"Because of what Sho said before?" Ruby asked, remembering Sho's tale.

"That and because of how Russel was the only one who was able to last longer than any of us against that friend of Sho's," Weiss answered, remembering how Aptom dominated over them.

While her team continued talking, Blake kept her eyes on Russel as she remembered the first conversation, she ever had with him.

Flashback

"Okay, what's so important that you needed to talk to me about?" a tired and very annoyed Russel asked Blake.

The two of them were standing outside of their dorm. It was around ten PM, so there weren't any students roaming around outside, giving them the privacy Blake wanted.

"Russel, I want to say that…I'm sorry," Blake told Russel as if it was the hardest thing for her to say. "I'm sorry that I only saw you as a monster because of your heritage and I'm sorry for thinking of you being just like Aptom," she continued her apology. "I realize now that I was acting no different from the people who treated Faunus like second class citizens and I tried to justify it like other people have," she added as she looked Russel straight in the eyes.

"Uh…" Russel was at a loss for what he was being told.

"I hope you can forgive me for…" Blake tried to continue her apology.

"I'm actually surprised you even knew my name," Russel cut Blake off. "And to be frank, I don't give a fuck of what you think about me," he told Blake.

Blake's eyes widened in shock by Russel response.

"You're apologizing to me because you thought you wronged me in some way, when you never even did anything to me," Russel told the Faunus girl. "In the past semester you've never once acknowledged my existence and simply lumped me with Cardin because of his bullying. Bullying, which I willingly took part in because I'm a moron who liked messing with people. But after Cardin and the rest of us dropped the bully act, you and everyone else in this school still saw us as bastards who should have never of been here. And you know what, I can live with that because we deserve it," he admitted.

Blake tried to say something but Russel wasn't letting her talk.

"Now that we all found out that I'm a Zoanoid, you're acting like I'm being discriminated against like some of those Faunus that bitch and whine about how they're being oppressed," Russel said, which started to anger Blake.

"How dare…" Blake tried to argue with Russel but he cut her off again.

"But I don't care," Russel reiterated as he looked into Blake's eyes. "You're only apologizing because you feel like you're behaving like Cardin and you can't stand it," he told her. "You can't stand the thought that you and Cardin have something in common so you're doing this social justice warrior bullshit and decided to apologize to show that you are compassionate to someone of a different race, but you're only doing it to make yourself feel better because now you can say 'At least I'm not as bad as Cardin' right before going to sleep," he finished.

Blake was stunned, this did not go as she had planned it in her head. In hindsight, she should have seen it coming because Russel was right in that she never once acknowledged him and simply saw him as nothing more than one of Cardin's lackeys. She had no idea that Russel was aware of his actions and acknowledge them. Such a way of thinking made Blake feel very childish and narrow minded.

"So why don't you take that apology of yours, and shove it up your ass," Russel told Blake as he headed inside the dorm, leaving Blake alone.

End of Flashback

"Blake…Blake," Yang called out to her partner.

"Huh…. sorry what?" Blake finally snapped out her trance.

"I said, we're heading down to the festival grounds," Yang told her. "Let's get going," she added as she pulled Blake with her to the exit.

Festival Grounds

After sending a few minutes looking at all the stands, Sho found a noodle stand to get a meal. He ordered a simple beef bowl and waited. As he waited, the Guyver of Beacon Academy heard a familiar voice.

"Hello Sho," Sho looked up to see Velvet sitting adjacent from him along with her teammates.

"Hi Velvet, Coco, Fox, Yatsuhashi," Sho greeted team CFVY.

"How are you enjoying the Festival?" Velvet asked the first year.

"It's not so bad," Sho answered. "Kind of strange seeing some of the culture of the other kingdoms," he added.

"It is a little overwhelming," Fox agreed with Sho before placing an order.

"A shame you decided not to participate in the tournament though," Yatsuhashi said as he looked over Sho. "I've heard so much about your armor semblance, I would have liked to test my skills against it," he told the younger boy.

"I'm sorry about that, but I made that decision so that the tournament would be fair," Sho told the larger boy. "Though I don't think that would matter anymore," he added as he looked at one of the large floating monitors displayed the next match.

Oddly enough, Coco had been silent which Velvet noticed.

"Uh…Coco, are you okay?" the bunny girl asked her team leader.

"His taste in clothing…it's so bland," Coco said out loud.

"Coco!" Velvet yelled, shocked that her leader would be so crude, then again being the fashionista that Coco was, Velvet shouldn't have been so surprised.

Sho on the other hand, he waved off Coco's comment before his bowl of beef flavored noodles was presented. He placed his hands together before closing his eyes, much to the confusion of Coco, Fox, and Velvet. Yatsuhashi on the other hand smiled, happy to see someone else who adheres to the old ways.

"Itadakimasu," Sho said before reaching for the chopsticks with his right hand and picking up the bowl with his left hand.

"Wow, and I thought Yatsuhashi was old fashioned," Fox commented.

"Really?" Sho asked after slurping up some of the noodles. "It's pretty common back home," he told the dark-skinned boy before noticing one of the floating monitors displaying the next match. "Looks like team CRDL's up," he changed the topic.

That got the attention of team CFVY as they looked at the monitor. Despite how much the all-male team mellowed out, Coco still held a great deal of resentment toward them.

"Good, they're up against team JADE," Coco said. "They won't make it past the preliminaries," she added.

"I'm sure they'll do fine," Sho said as he continued to eat.

"What do you mean Sho?" Velvet asked, confused as to why he would be supportive of her old bullies.

"Just watch and see," Sho told the Faunus girl. "I'm sure Russel won't disappoint," he added.

Amity Stadium

"Now this is shaping up to be an interesting match," Port said as teams CRDL and JADE stepped onto the area.

"Indeed, third-year team JADE has quite the reputation within Beacon for their impressive success rate in regards to their missions," Oobleck said before turning his attention to the other team. "First year team CRDL will have quite the uphill battle," he added.

As Port and Oobleck continued giving the audience the rundown of the two teams, team NDGO watched from the sidelines.

"TAKE 'EM DOWN RUSS!" Nebula cheered much to her team's embarrassment.

"Nebula, you do know that we're supposed to cheer for any team from our school, right?" Gwen reminded her leader.

"We're also supposed to support anyone else who's from Vacuo," Nebula told the knife thrower. "And Russel is still one of us," she added.

"She does know there is a good chance that we might end up fighting him if we make it past the preliminaries, right?" Dew whispered to Octavia.

"Then it's a good thing she's dating him," Octavia whispered back. "She can just tell him to forfeit or she'll dump him," she joked causing the two of them to giggle.

"Or I can have him throw the two of you back to Vacuo for even suggesting that," Nebula said as she towered over the blonde and redhead.

Dew and Octavia turned to see Nebula glaring down upon, a black aura emanating around their leader's body that fill the two of them with a feeling a dread. The scariest part for them was how they knew that's not what Nebula's aura looked like.

"Or do you two prefer that I just dig my hands into your guts and pull out your charbroiled stomachs?" Nebula asked as her hands became coated in searing hot purple plasma.

Dew and Octavia tried to sink into their seats while Gwen backed away from her teammates.

"Uh…Dew, Octavia, I just want to two of you to know this," Gwen said, drawing the attention of her teammates. "Dew, I'm proud to be your teammate and Octavia, as your best friend I just want you to know…I call dibs on your Achievemen collection," she told the two doomed girls.

Back in the arena

"This has been a long-time coming, boys," the leader of team JADE said, her Jaguar tail waving behind her.

"It's time we put you, racists pigs in your place," the horse Faunus member of the team said.

Team CRDL was silent when their heard that comment. Instead they were focusing on the monitor as the selection for the field was being decided.

The forth member of team JADE, a coyote Faunus looked to the crowd and saw Nebula, having finishing putting the fear of bodily harm into her teammates, return to her seat and began cheering Russel on. He glared at the purple haired girl, thinking she was like Russel, a racist human that looked down upon his kind.

"Wish that purple haired bitch would shut her damn mouth," the coyote Faunus said out loud, catching Russel's attention. "Noisy humans are so frustrating," he added.

Russel glared at the coyote before taking a step forward, but he was held back by Dove.

"Cool it Russel," Dove told his teammate. "Just wait until the match starts," he added as he looked to see the fields were finally decided.

"I'm gonna rip 'em apart…" Russel growled as his eyes started turning yellow.

On the half that team JADE was on, the field took on a forest setting while CRDL's side a frozen mountain setting. Team JADE looked at their field and were giving each other looks that silently told them of what strategy they would be using.

"The field has been decided, now let the match begin!" Port said aloud as everyone cheered for the match to start.

Team JADE leapt back into the forest while Cardin, Dove, and Sky got their weapons ready. Russel on the other hand threw his daggers onto the ground.

Back with Sho and team CFVY

"What is that idiot doing?" Coco asked as she watched the screen.

"I think he's forfeiting," Fox answered as that was the only reason he could think of as to why Russel dropped his weapons.

"Russel's deciding to end the match quickly," Sho said as he made a small prayer for team JADE.

Over where teams RWBY and JNPR were eating

The rising star teams of Beacon looked at the monitor and realized what Russel was going to do.

"He can't be seriously thinking of doing that," Jaune said, horrified by what may happen.

"I think he is," Ren said, equally horrified.

"Still wish I can transform into a monster too," Nora lamented as she started daydreaming of turning into powerful monster that channeled lightning as a breath weapon.

"But if he does change forms now, it'll cause a panic," Weiss said. "Nobody has ever seen…Russel's kind before," she added.

"I'm pretty sure he doesn't care," Blake said as she looked away, not wanting to see the potential slaughter that will befall her fellow Faunus.

In the arena

"Alright guys, let's head…" Cardin started talking but he stopped when he saw Russel practically flew pass him. He didn't even have time to react as he felt his mace leave his hand while Russel started Zoaforming.

The audience watched in a mixture of awe and horror as they watched Russel's body rapidly change from a human into a green bird like reptilian monster before he vanished into the forest.

"…Uh…. everyone saw that right?" Port asked as he tried to figure out what just happened.

Inside the forest, team JADE was in their positions and were ready for what they expected from team CRDL. They expected the boys to charge into the area until they were in the middle, which would be when they ambush them and win.

"They should be entering right…" the goat Faunus started to say until she felt a sudden pain on her right side.

The next thing the girl knew, her body was flying out of the forest before slamming into the forcefield that enclosed the arena. She could feel her bones snapping from the impact of the collision before dropping onto the arena floor. Her image fade and her aura meter dropped to zero in an instant.

"What in the world was that!" the horse Faunus shouted as he stood up just in time to see Cardin's mace flying toward him.

The mace struck his chest, causing the Faunus to fall to the ground. He tried to get up, but couldn't when this gigantic green blur landed on top of him. His arms were pinned by the creature's talon feet. He could only look up as the creature looked down upon him as its long whip like tail moved to the right before striking near his face with its bladed tip. The horse Faunus was starting to shake in fear as this monster continued to look at him.

Finally, the green beast released one of the boy's arms, but the Faunus was too scared to move. Unfortunately, the creature planted its foot onto its prey's face, lifting the boy's head slightly before slamming it down with enough force to knock the boy out.

Outside of the forest, the rest of team CRDL could hear Russel let out his hawk like cry before seeing the horse Faunus get thrown out of the forest. The three of them looked at each other as if they were debating on what to do.

"Anyone who wants to leave this to Russel, say Aye," Cardin said to the only other members of his team.

"Aye!" Dove and Sky said without a second thought while the screams of the last two members of team JADE could be heard.

"Guess that means the next order of business is figuring out what to eat after the match," Cardin brought up.

"We can always try out that Mistral stand," Sky suggested. "I've been hearing good things about it," he added as the leader of team JADE was crawling out of the forest only for Russel to grab her leg and drag her back.

"Somebody, help me!" the leader screamed in terror as she disappeared back into the forest and Russel's mercy.

Or lack thereof.

"I don't know, I'm kind of craving Atlesian," Dove said, ignoring the cries of the poor Faunus girl that was being swung to the ground repeatedly by Russel.

The majority of the audience on the other hand were mostly silent as they watched Russel finish swinging his opponent around like a rag doll. The students of all four academies looked on, as they had just watched someone turn into some sort of other worldly monster and in less than five minutes took down three members of a third-year team like they were fresh out of combat school.

"WHOO-HOO, GO RUSSEL!" Nebula cheered as Russel turned his attention toward the coyote Faunus that insulted her, oblivious to the fact that said Faunus called her a bitch.

The coyote Faunus was backing away as Russel advanced upon him. The poor boy had no idea on how to fight a Zoanoid, and at this point he felt like he was facing off against a demon that emerged from the underworld. The fact that Russel was supposed to be one of the weaker members of team CRDL no longer mattered since he just took down the Faunus boy's teammates single handedly.

"I…I…give…" the coyote Faunus tried to surrender but Russel grabbed him by his shirt, pulling the poor boy close his bird like face.

"Nobody calls my Nebula a bitch…" Russel growled out. "Unless they're either stupid or have a death wish," he added. "So, which are you?" he asked, his yellowing peering into the Faunus boy's very soul.

"I'M STUPID, I'M STUPID!" the last member of team JADE cried out in fear, wetting himself as his mind thought of all the ways Russel could mutilate him.

"Damn straight you are," Russel said before tossing the Faunus up in the air before striking the boy with his right claw, tearing through the clothes and aura protecting the Faunus boy's body.

That one strike instantly dropped the coyote Faunus's aura to zero. The Faunus was lucky that Russel's attack wasn't deep as the claw mark only broke his skin.

The crowd was silent as they looked at the creature that stood there, waiting for someone to say something.

"YEAH, THAT'S HOW YOU DO IT!" Nebula's voice broke through the silence as she cheered for Russel's victory.

Hearing their leader cheer her boyfriend on, the rest of team NDGO joined in, which managed to get a few other students from Shade to join in the cheering, either because Nebula was cheering or because they didn't want to get on the Zoanoid's bad side. There were even a handful of civilians that were cheering for the Zoanoid as they came to the conclusion that was simply just Russel's semblance since nearly every huntsman and huntress had some crazy super power that goes against logic.

Back on the arena, Russel just let all the cheering sink in. It was a whole new feeling that he never truly experienced. Once his eyes focused on Nebula, the sight of her cheering for him was enough for him to swell up in pride over his victory as he raised his arms up and let out a victory cry.

Festival Grounds

Sho had finished his noodles while team CFVY continued to look at the screen in disbelief at the sight of Russel's Zoanoid form and his victory for team CRDL. He noticed how Velvet was practically shaking in fear, seeing how the opposing team was a full Faunus team. He remembered how the poor rabbit Faunus was picked on by Cardin and now that Russel showed his Zoanoid form to everyone, he suspected the girl to be scared that Cardin would simply have Russel attack her in that form. And given what he and team CRDL saw in that village, he wouldn't be surprised if Cardin did. It probably didn't help that Russel's Zoanoid form had predatory bird like characteristics and last he checked, large birds of prey also have rabbits in their diet.

Sho shook his head at that thought because of how stereotypical it was as well as degrading. He also had faith that Cardin wouldn't go through with it.

"That was brutal," Fox said, remembering how Russel mercilessly took down the team leader.

"No, I'm pretty sure Russel was going easy on them," Sho told the second-year student. "I feel bad for anyone who would face Russel if he went all out," he added, remembering how team CFVY doesn't know about Lisker and Aptom.

"How so?" Yatsuhashi asked, his eyes focused on the green creature still on the screen.

Sho stayed quiet for a while as he thought about Yatsuhashi's question.

"Because Russel adapted his that form faster than I thought," Sho finally answered before taking his leave. "If your team does face off against Russel, then I wish you good luck," he added.

Junior's Club

"So, the kid's getting better now," Aptom said before taking swig of his drink. "Good," he added.

Junior was silent as he stared blankly at the floor of his club.

"Though, I have to say what comes later will be even more entertaining than this piss poor excuse of a tournament," Aptom said, setting his glass down and getting up. "Just a little friendly advice Junior, start packing up and set up shop in another kingdom," he told the owner as he made his way to the exit. "By the end of this week, Vale's going to get a whole lot more interesting," he finished telling the man.

Junior didn't say anything, he was just so happy to know that this…thing had left his club.

"…Boss…" Melanie said, she and her sister had finally stopped shaking now that Aptom had left. "We're ready for that two-week long vacation," she told Junior with Miltia nodding her head.

Junior nodded his head, not really caring about them taking vacation. No, Junior was still having a hard time wrapping his mind around what he saw before Aptom finished his drink.

Throughout the floor of his club, Junior saw the scattered uniforms of the White Fang members that had made the mistake of picking a fight with the former Lost Number Commander.

Amity Colosseum

Up in the Atlas VIP box, General Ironwood couldn't believe what he had just seen. He remembered how he saw Russel Zoaformed when he observed the collective group of teams RWBY, JNPR, CRDL, SSSN, and NDGO had faced off against an apparent comrade of Sho Fukamachi. Since that was the boy's first time doing so, it was natural that Russel had no idea how to control that form and was soundly defeated by that creature the kids were up against. But now, James can see that not only had Russel gain control over this battle form, the boy was able to fight on a level that could only be matched by a fourth-year student of any academy. He could easily tell that Russel was relying on his battle form's appearance to shock his foe's before overpowering them with his improved strength and speed.

'If we have that kind of power in Atlas…' James thought of the possibilities of having an army of Zoanoids that would fight alongside the Atlesian Knights and Paladins.

Over another section of the colosseum, Neo had just finished recording the match so that Lisker would be kept informed of what was happening. The silent girl had a horrified expression on her face that lasted for a second before smiling at how savage the Zoanoid was during his match. While there was no sense of style in Russel's attacks, Neo could appreciate the simplicity in his efforts. Plus, if things were to go bad for her and Roman, she could use this monster to distract Cinder and her lackeys while she makes off with her friend.

Festival Grounds

After saying goodbye to team CFVY, Sho continued to explore the fair grounds. He had walked past a stand where he met an odd yet sweet girl named Penny and her friend Ciel, who had her eyes practically glued to her watch. Penny had greeted him in her usual manner, which Sho felt was strange but talked with her regardless for a while until Ciel told Penny that they were behind schedule for some reason. After waving goodbye to Penny, Sho continued on his walk to explore the festival grounds.

'Strange girl…" Sho thought to himself. 'Hard to believe she's also competing in this tournament,' he mentally added.

"Excuse me," a female voice called out to Sho.

Sho turned around to see a young woman approaching him. At first glance, Sho could see that she was a very beautiful with fair skin and black hair. She wore a beige sleeveless jacket with a sarashi wrapped around her chest and a pair of gray pants. Once the young woman reached him, Sho noticed that her eyes were an amber color.

"By any chance are you Sho Fukamachi?" the woman asked him.

"Yes…" Sho replied, a little wary. "How do you know my name?" he asked.

The woman smiled at him.

"I've heard a lot about you," the woman answered. "My name is Cinder Fall," she introduced herself.

Author's Note: I've finally reached the volume three arc of the story. Overall, this went about as close to what I originally pictured it. The only real change to my original plan was the bit with Russel and Blake's little conversation. That was added in due to positive feedback on how Blake got called out on being a hypocrite. When I originally wrote that chapter, I was expecting some readers being outraged because of how Blake is still a popular character, despite having quite possibly the worst character development during the first five volumes, which took a turn for the worse come volume six. Then again, the RWBY series seems to be facing a loss in identity which got so bad that I decided not to watch volumes five and six. But I did keep myself up to date by reading summaries and watching reviews on YouTube. Not the most reliable sources to base my opinion on the direction the series is going, but since this story is going in a completely different direction, I don't really see the need to follow those volumes aside from implementing the backstory to Ozpin and Salem's origins just for the sake of giving Ozpin a reason to not believe what Agito told him a couple of chapters back. Also, I find origin to be so damn cliché that I thought Miles and Kerry read one too many RWBY fanfics.

On another note, I have to say I actually felt bad for Adam because of how Miles and Kerry ruined Adam's whole character before they killed him off. In the first two volumes, Adam was built up to be this major antagonist that would cause a bit of a rift within team RWBY due to how much he consumed Blake's life as well as how he and the White Fang were a major part in the whole discrimination issue. When he appeared in volume three, Adam displayed just how powerful he was when he sliced Yang's arm off, showing the viewers just how far his skills are compared to team RWBY. Then the guy's whole character went downhill when Miles and Kerry decided to go with the crazy ex-boyfriend for the sake of shipping Blake with Sun, then Yang.

Ironically, Adam's character was destroyed because of Blake.

Are we sure Qrow is the one with the bad luck semblance? Because I'm starting to think it's Blake that has it due to the cat ears and the whole being named after the color black.