While the sun shone high in the skies above, the crowds in the stands cheered at the fight raging on. Blocking the sword strike with his gauntlet, Evan pushed it aside as he prepared a punch, only for it to be blocked by Pyrrha's shield. Stepping away from his opponent, Evan launched multiple ki blasts as he did so. Taking the damage, Pyrrha closed the distance and swung her sword at Evan's side. Sidestepping the attack, Evan kicked Pyrrha to the ground.

Before the teen could continue the attack, a massive scythe slashed Evan in the back. Turning around, he saw Ruby spinning her weapon before planting it firmly in the ground.

"Ruby? What are-" Evan began to speak.

But before Evan could continue, Ruby readied the sniper rifle attached to her scythe and started to unload the weapon into him. With each shot pushing him back, Evan charged up a large ki blast and fired it at Ruby's weapon, causing the weapon to go flying across the arena floor.

As the male student was catching his breath, Pyrrha was already back on her feet and continuing her assault. Throwing her shield at Evan, the young teen kicked it aside before ducking under the first sword strike that Pyrrha performed before proceeding to punch her in the stomach. Holding his arms close to his body, Evan was on edge.

Focusing, Evan sensed the air shift behind him. Pulling his arm back, Evan instinctively turned around and sent a punch careening toward his opponent. However, to his shock and horror, he watched as he turned to see Penny standing behind him. Unable to stop himself, he saw his hand pierced through Penny's stomach. As metal gave way under his strike, Penny's eyes widened as she looked at Evan with a mix of pain, fear, and confusion. The cheering crowd was quickly silenced as they sat and watched on.

Removing his fist from her chest, Evan saw numerous wires sparking and moving erratically about inside of her. Looking at his hand, Evan saw his fist coated in oil. Clutching her abdomen, Penny began stepping backwards as she fell to the ground in a heap, oil quickly pooling all around her. Looking around, he saw Ruby and Pyrrha staring at him in horror.

"Evan…How could you do this?! I thought we were friends!" Ruby yelled out.

"I-I didn't mean to do it! It-It was an accident! I'm…I'm so sorry!" Evan exclaimed.

"We never should have trusted you!" Ruby shouted out as she raised her scythe and ran up to him.

"You killed her! You monster!" Pyrrha yelled out as she proceeded to fire her rifle at him.

Dodging and blocking the attacks, Evan raised his hands to defend himself. However, his hands began to shake as ki began to build up in both hands. Instantly, a massive ki beam came out of both hands, eviscerating the two huntresses. The duo screamed out in pain briefly as their voices faded away, the only thing left being two piles of ashes. As the ki faded away from his hands, Evan watched as the black oil had spread to both of his hands before the liquid then turned a sickening blood red.

The massive crowd had begun to yell, hiss, boo, and rage at the teen as Evan looked all around the arena. Trying to wipe the blood off on his clothes, Evan found it impossible to do so. The crowd's voices increased in intensity as Evan covered his ears to block out their cries. Crouching down, he held his arms close to his body.

"Stop it…" Evan mumbled out.

The crowd only continued to increase in volume, as if their very voices were inside his eardrums.

"I said stop it!" Evan screamed out as white energy encompassed his whole body. A massive surge of ki shot out in every direction, consuming the crowd and the coliseum in the process. When the smoke cleared, he saw the entire coliseum ruined and destroyed, not a single person seemingly survived the explosion.

Staring up into the sky, he saw the yellow sun had shifted to a reddish tinge. Quickly, the sun began to expand in size as it covered most of the sky. Looking closer, he saw that it was actually a massive ball of energy. Glued to the spot, Evan watched as the massive sphere rapidly approached, reducing the large arena to nothing but dust. As the humongous ball consumed him, Evan screamed out as he felt the floor give out from under him as the sphere burned away at his body. The last thing he heard was the haunting laughs of Frieza as everything went dark.

Bolting forward, Evan woke up in a cold sweat. Rapidly looking around, he tried to calm himself down. Looking down at his hands, the young teen saw them shaking. Gazing toward the window, Evan saw that the sun still hadn't risen from beyond the horizon. Laying on top of his bed, Evan stared at the ceiling, unable to return to sleep.

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As Evan and Penny entered the arena, Evan couldn't help but gaze down at his armor. The clothing was nothing but a constant reminder of his past sins. Despite how well it fit his body and tail, Evan felt so uncomfortable wearing it for the world to see. Stepping into the middle of the arena, Evan saw two figures. One of them was a teen with a light-green mohawk and brown eyes. The teen wielded twin daggers with a cylinder full of dust in between the handle and the blade itself. The other teen had dark blue hair and brown eyes. In his hands, he held a halberd that had a gun barrel near the blade. Throughout the arena, loudspeakers went off discussing the match.

"And here we have our first match of the day: Evan and Penny representing Team PECH coming all the way from Atlas versus Russel and Sky representing Team CRDL from Beacon!" The announcer declared.

Suddenly, the arena began to shake as the environment changed once again. In front of their opponents, a mountainous area rose up. Behind Evan and Penny, a desert with numerous pools of water appeared. As the crowds cheered on, both teams prepared themselves for the start of the fight.

"Three, two, one, begin!" The announcer called out.

Rushing forward, Russel began to fire off numerous dust rounds at Penny, who proceeded to deflect them by pulling out and spinning her swords. Sky charged forward with his weapon, causing Evan to sidestep the initial thrusts and surge forward with a kick to the chest. While Sky's aura flared up momentarily to block the damage, the teen himself was sent flying toward a collection of large boulders in front of him and Evan.

Flying into the sky, Evan soared toward his opponent. Aiming his weapon into the air, Sky blasted off multiple dust rounds from behind a boulder, using the stone as cover. Moving from side to side, Evan dodged the blasts as he rapidly approached his opponent. Quickly, Evan extended one of his legs as he rocketed down toward Sky, reducing the large rock he was using to a collection of rubble. Before Sky could react and do anything, Evan began to wail on him with a series of punches and kicks. Using his halberd, Sky pushed Evan away and swung the weapon toward Evan's side. Instantly, Evan jumped into the air and landed on the weapon itself, much to Sky's shock.

Charging up a ki blast, Evan fired it at the teen, pushing him into a massive wall of rocks. Before Evan could continue, Sky used the gun attachment of the halberd and aimed it at the ground. Firing the gun off, Sky used the blast to boost himself into the air. As Sky held the weapon above his head, hoping to bring the halberd down on him, Evan leaped into the air and flew out of the way of the strike. Grabbing Sky, Evan proceeded to spin him around before chucking him out of the ring. In the background he heard the loudspeakers turn on.

"And Sky Lark has been eliminated by ring out!" The announcer declared.

Looking down at the ground, he saw Penny utterly tear through Russel with her numerous collection of swords. By the time Evan had reached back down to the ground, Russel's aura had already reached elimination levels. Once more the loudspeakers came to life.

"And victory goes to Evan and Penny from Atlas!" The announcer yelled out.

As the crowd cheered the two victors, Penny turned toward Evan, as she rushed in close and gave him a hug.

"We did it, Evan!" Penny exclaimed.

"Yeah…I guess we did." Evan said as he smiled back.

As the duo began to walk out of the open ring and into the interior of the coliseum, the two students were quickly approached by Ruby, who was beaming at the two of them.

"Penny! Evan!" Ruby exclaimed as she held her arms out.

"Ruby!" Penny replied as she immediately ran up to the young student and gave her a tight hug. However, being unable to prepare for Penny's warm gesture, Ruby lost her footing and the two collapsed to the ground in a heap.

"Why…" Ruby groaned out from the bottom of the pile.

As the two got back up, Ruby brushed the dust off her clothes before she energetically began to speak.

"Penny, you two were incredible out there! How do you keep control of all those swords? It was so cool!" Ruby gushed at the robotic teen.

"Well, the swords are all connected to metallic wires, which all connect to a compartment inside my back. The wires and swords are connected to my neural systems, so I can swing and redirect them as I please. It's honestly rather interesting!" Penny explained.

"I bet! And you, Evan! You were amazing out there! You were up there, flying in the sky and blasting people from above. Honestly I wish I could do stuff like that." Ruby continued as she turned toward the male teen.

"You think so…thanks, Ruby. Though you shouldn't cut yourself short either. You did pretty good in the preliminaries as well." Evan replied as he scratched the back of his head.

Walking further into the building, Penny turned toward Evan and Ruby.

"Since we're alone, there's something that I wanted to tell you both." Penny said before looking around momentarily.

"I want to stay at Beacon." Penny whispered out.

"Penny, they'll never let you do that." Ruby replied as she shook her head.

"I know, but I have a plan." Penny responded back with a smirk.

"Our next match will begin in 15 minutes!" The announcer's voice echoed throughout the halls of the coliseum's interior.

"Oh my gosh, that's right! It's time for Yang and Weiss's fight! Come on, there's some seats near the front row where we can go watch the match!" Ruby exclaimed.

"Sorry Ruby. We have to go see the General. But don't worry, we'll be cheering your friends on regardless!" Penny stated.

"Definitely." Evan added.

"Thanks, you guys…" Ruby replied as the two walked off.

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As the afternoon sun shined in the windows, Evan continued to practice inside one of the training rooms. While he did so, the teen reflected on what had happened today. Penny and Evan were once again congratulated for their victory, but Ironwood reminded the two that only one of them would advance to the next round. He told them that they needed to decide which of them would advance into the singles rounds before their next match.

"While it would be easier to have Penny move into the next round, do I owe it to Ironwood to continue onward? He doesn't seem to mind either one of us continuing onward, but what should we do?" Evan thought to himself. Before he could continue, he saw someone appear out of the corner of his eye. Turning around, he saw Penny standing at the top of the staircase.

"Oh, hey Penny. What's up?" Evan questioned as he waved toward her.

"Well, I've been thinking for a while about what would be the fairest way to choose which of us should be chosen to go onto the next round. I had asked Winter for advice on what to do, and she told me a sparring match between the two of us would be the best idea. Whoever wins the match would be deemed the strongest, and would be the one who advances onward. After careful consideration, I believe that this would be the correct course of action to take." Penny explained.

"W-Wait, you want us to fight?" Evan asked hesitantly.

"Indeed. Is there a problem with that?" Penny inquired as she tilted her head to the side in confusion.

"N-No…I suppose not." Evan replied.

"Great! Alright, I'm ready when you are." Penny added as she raised multiple swords into the air.

"Concentrate. I can do this. This won't turn out like that nightmare. This is the real world, I won't slip up here." Evan thought to himself as he got into a battle stance.

Holding his arm outward, he beckoned Penny closer with his index finger. Charging forward, Penny spinned her swords around her like a top, forcing Evan to leap over her. Landing behind her, Evan pulled back a punch, right as Penny turned around. Just as he was about to attack, Penny did a backflip, kicking Evan in the face and evading the attack at the same time. Shaking off the kick, Evan fired a barrage of ki blasts, forcing Penny to spin her swords in order to block and redirect the attack. Launching another ki blast at the ground between them, Evan created a large smoke cloud. Charging forward, Evan began to approach the smoke cloud. However, emerging from the smoke was one of Penny's swords, forcing Evan to sidestep the weapon as it continued forward.

Immediately afterward, two more swords emerged from the smoke and charged at Evan from different angles. Dodging out of the way of the first sword, Evan put his hands around the sides of the second sword, which was inches from his chest. Due to the sword's momentum, Evan was pushed backward, causing Evan to plant his feet into the ground to try and push back against the weapon. As dirt and gravel gave way under Evan's shoes, Evan managed to slow down the sword enough, allowing him to let go of the blade and continue on. Leaping into the air, Evan began to fly as he saw Penny appear from the foggy remains of the smoke cloud that he made. Launching numerous swords at him, Evan flew out of the way as they passed by him harmlessly.

However, as he moved past the weapons and approached Penny, Evan noticed the wires of the launched swords began to vibrate and move. By the time Evan turned around, the blades were practically in his face. Performing a crossed arm guard at the last moment, Evan was forced out of the air and back toward the ground. Repositioning himself as he collided with the floor, Evan turned back to face Penny and dug his hands into the dirt floor to slow himself down as he slid backwards. Standing back up, Evan ran back into the fight. As Penny launched multiple swords toward Evan, the young student jumped into the air and avoided them. Firing even more swords at Evan, the teen proceeded to punch them out of the way. As Evan landed next to Penny, he saw the wires begin to shake and vibrate once again. Spinning around in time, Evan kicked the returning swords out of the way. Continuing the motion, Evan turned back around and sweeped a surprised Penny off her feet and onto the ground.

As Evan pulled back a punch, he saw Penny's eyes fill with shock, as Evan launched the attack toward her chest, Penny flinched as she closed her eyes and looked away.

Stopping the punch right before he hit her, Evan backed away hesitantly as he was reminded of that gruesome scene from his dream. His hands shaking once more, Evan tried to stop himself as Penny got back up.

"I guess this means that you win Ev…Evan? What's wrong?" Penny questioned as she rushed forward to his side, a look of worry and concern covering her face.

"It's nothing. I'm fine, I'm fine..." Evan said as held his hands out and tried to give a smile back toward his friend. Reaching forward, Penny held Evan's wrist for a moment.

"You don't look fine. Your heart rate is skyrocketing. Please, won't you tell me what's wrong. The last time I saw you this upset was back when we talked in the library…Wait, are you having those thoughts again, the ones about your old memories?" Penny asked.

Evan's eyes lit up in alarm as he turned away from Penny.

"Evan, whatever it is that you're going through, I'm here. I can help. You trusted me before, after all. Just tell me what's going on."

"I-I don't want to tell you…" Evan stammered out as his voice trailed off at the end.

"Why? Why not?" Penny inquired.

"I'm afraid of what you might think of me if I do tell you." Evan explained, the teen clearly upset as he continued talking.

"It won't matter what you say. Not to me. You'll still be my friend, regardless." Penny stated as she reached her hand out to cup Evan's cheek, only for Evan to back away from her.

"This is different! J-Just stay away. I can't do this right now. I…I need some time alone." Evan replied back as he ran up the staircase and out of the room, leaving Penny alone in the large space.

"Why won't you open up to me, Evan? What happened?" Penny said to herself.

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With the broken moon shining through the window, a lady with black hair looked through several files on her scroll while she sat on the edge of her dorm room bed. She proceeded to examine a listing of all the current tournament fighters, showing that Penny had just been recently chosen as one of the individuals to advance to the next set of tournament matches. Looking through even more files, she saw something…interesting.

"Oh." The lady said in surprise.

Across the room two older teenagers, a girl with green hair and red eyes alongside and a boy with gray eyes and hair, turned toward the lady with vague interest.

"What is it?" The green haired teen asked.

"Oh, it's nothing, Emerald. We're just going to make a slight, hmm…alteration in the plan." The lady elaborated as she showed them the image on her scroll. The image depicted the blueprints of a robotic girl designated as P.E.N.N.Y.

"What does that mean?" The silver haired teen questioned.

"It means that this mission of ours will be even easier than we thought. It seems like my work over at the CCT is bearing unforeseen fruit." The lady elaborated.

"Heh, and here I thought all you got from that was a face full of concrete and an arrow through some hotshot's shoulder. Man, I remember when we came back from the dance, you were so confused how your usual bag of tricks didn't seem to faze him. You had to bring out some of those big guns of yours to put him down. I gotta say though, that dude puts on quite a show in those tournament fights. Glad I'm not on the receiving end of his fists." The gray haired teen joked aloud before Emerald forcefully jabbed at his side with her elbow.

"Ow…Come on Em, what's the big idea?" The guy questioned as he rubbed his side and turned toward Emerald.

"You need to show her some more respect, Mercury." Emerald said as she scowled at him.

"Calm down Emerald." The black haired lady stated casually, causing Emerald to turn toward her.

"He may have taken me by surprise once, but he'll fall like all the rest." The black haired lady finished with an evil smirk.

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Stepping out of the shower, Weiss dried herself off as she put on her nightgown. Entering the main dorm room, she saw Ruby and Yang playing a video game as Blake switched her focus from the book she was reading to watching the game unfold.

"Yes! I win again!" Yang yelled out as she held her hands up in victory.

"Awwww…and I almost got you that time." Ruby muttered as she sulked in defeat.

"Honestly, while I'm glad that our team won the match today, I wish that I would've known what I was getting myself into when I did that risky maneuver. Even after three consecutive showers, I'm still finding volcanic soot in spots that I would have never assumed that it could reach." Weiss elaborated as she approached the rest of her team.

"To be fair, the results speak for themselves. I don't think any of us thought that we would get this far into the tournament." Blake pointed out as she continued reading.

"She's got a point. At this rate, we might just win the whole dang thing!" Yang exclaimed as she hoisted herself up and into her bunk.

"Yeah! Imagine the headlines: Team RWBY emerges victorious and wins the Vytal Festival Tournament! Group recognized as best team of up-and-coming Huntresses." Ruby stated as she climbed up and into her bed while she held her arms out dramatically.

"You do remember that Yang is going to have to fight Pyrrha in that case, right?" Weiss said as she walked toward the room's light switch.

"Oh." Ruby and Yang muttered out in unison, their enthusiasm leaking out of them like air from a balloon, as the overhead lights of the room were turned off.

"I mean…second place isn't horrible." Ruby pointed out.

"Yeah…I suppose…" Yang affirmed.

"I'm sure that Yang will do her best out there, regardless of who she fights." Blake stated as she attached a small book light onto her novel.

"Well none of us will be able to perform at our best unless we get adequate sleep. These last few rounds will be the toughest ones yet." Weiss replied to the group as walked over to her bed and got under the covers.

"Hmmm…I guess you're right. Tonight we sleep, and tomorrow, we achieve victory!" Ruby said as she hid herself under the covers.

"Good night." Ruby continued.

"Night." Yang said aloud.

"Sleep well." Weiss stated.

"Yeah." Blake replied, already engrossed in her book.

As the group began to fall asleep, the four teens were suddenly alerted to the sound of someone knocking at their door.

"Uggghhh…Who is seriously up, this late at night? If it's Cardin doing some late night prank, I swear, I'm going to send him on a one way trip to Forever Fall." Yang groaned out as she turned about under her covers.

"Well, whoever it is, I'm not getting out of bed. After everything I did to help win the match today, I'm not lifting another finger until morning." Weiss

"Yeah." Blake muttered out, still transfixed on her book.

"Fine. I'll go do it." Ruby said as she pulled herself out from her blanket cocoon. Leaping down from her suspended bunk, Ruby approached the door, still somewhat tired and drowsy.

Opening the door, she was surprised at the figure standing in front of her.

"Penny? What are you doing here? It's like almost midnight." Ruby questioned.

"I had to go do something before I arrived. I apologize for showing up so late, but I had to come by because I needed to tell you something, something important. It's about Evan…" Penny began to explain to the teen.

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And that's the chapter! I think I did a pretty good job writing out the fight choreography for the Penny vs Evan fight. Now for the next chapter, I'm not sure how long it is going to be. If it's around the normal/average length of my previous chapters, then it should be out sometime this Saturday. If it's significantly longer, then you might have to wait until Sunday/Monday. Just wanted to let you all know that. I hope that you all are enjoying the story so far, and I'll see you next time!