Original upload date: 7/29/2020

Revised upload: 4/22/2023

I feel like I say this a lot, but I'm sorry about the late update. For some reason, the fight scene, which I usually excel at, took me way too long to wrap my mind around. Besides that, I removed a scene that wasn't actually necessary and basically focused the rest of the chapter on the ramen shop.

Please, feel free to follow and comment on predictions, thoughts, etc. I am always looking for new ways to improve my craft. Tell your friends!

Metal like Roses

By ReaderWarrior

I do not own Mistborn or RWBY.

Round One

The Amity Colosseum was alive with cheer and excitement. On stage, two new teams arose from the ground and both fell into their own combat stances. On one side, five girls readied themselves, while on the other, two women and two men prepared for their fight.

"All right! The combatants are set!"Professor Port exclaimed over the intercom system. "Team RWVBY of Beacon," a large cheer could be heard from the Vale visitors, "versus team ABRN (Auburn) of Haven!" Another loud cry, this time from the Mistral viewers.

Around the stage, holograms appeared and began to shuffle through multiple images. Both teams watched the screens as they slowed, one by one. On one end, a volcano icon appeared, and on the other was an icon of an iceberg.

Around the center stage, the outer ring sank down to reveal a new battleground surrounding the center. On the side with the volcano icon was a fiery stage with large red rocks, magma, and fire pits. Meanwhile, an icy stage mirrored the volcano with a frozen lake, snow-capped 'mountains', and large pillars of ice.

"Three!" Port counted down.

"Two!" RWVBY dropped into an attack position.

"One!" ABRN also fell into a stance, this one more focused on close combat than RWVBY's.

Vin had never been in a fight like this before. A fight for sport. She had always fought for life. For death. For freedom or revenge.

Now? Vin fought for her friends.

As Port and Oobleck commentated, teachers at Vale that Vin had heard about but had yet to actually meet, Vin took some time to study their opponents.

The leader, a girl named Arslan, had a dark complexion, platinum blonde hair, and olive green eyes. She wore a yellow robe with only one wide, loose-fitting sleeve over a black tube top. She also had black pants, shoes, and a red sash with embroidery. It looked as if she carried no weapon, but Vin was well aware of how easily looks could be deceiving.

Next to her was a Bolin. He had lightly tanned skin, amber eyes, and black hair. On his person, he wore two yellow sashes, one around his waist and the other over his shoulder, alongside a dark blue vest and gray pants with yellow lacing up the sides. He also sported black boots, fingerless gloves, and a dark-gray beaded necklace. In his hand was a long staff - thin, but almost as tall as he was.

Opposite Bolin, Reese stood proudly and held a strange glowing, metallic board. She was a young girl with light green hair swept to her right, teal eyes, and a fair complexion. She also wore two black facial markings on her cheeks. A dark purple hooded sweater covered a mauve sweater and she wore black shorts as well as knee pads and elbow pads on her arms and legs. Lastly, Reese wore black shoe-laced high-top sneakers.

Nadir was the last member of team ABRN. His long pink hair was tied back into a short ponytail, with an undercut of his natural ebony color. He had a dark complexion and blue eyes. His outfit consisted of a cream-colored, short-sleeved jacket with yellow details, a black, long-sleeved V-neck shirt, and cream-colored fingerless gloves. He wore black medium-length pants and cream-colored sneakers. In his hands was a large gun.

Guns, Vin thought. How uncivilized.

"Begin!" rang the voice of Professor Port.

Vin, Yang, and Blake ran forward to meet the charging ABRN. Behind her, Vin heard Ruby's Crescent Rose fold into a rifle quickly followed by a few quick shots. Cover fire, Vin realized as the other team started dodging left and right. She felt a pulse echo through her bronze quickly followed by Weiss zipping past them, riding across a trail of black glyphs.

In front of them, Reese tossed her board down and Vin was surprised to see it float and even more so when she jumped onto it and sped forward even faster. Arslan and Bolin ran faster to keep up with her newfound pace while Nadir moved behind a red boulder. A second later, his gun's barrel peaked over the top and flashed.

A bullet whizzed past Vin's ear, the steel-line moving almost quicker than she could react. It was too fast for her to Push, but did give her an advantage on ducking to the side. She dropped a disc to get airborne as both teams broke apart. From above, and with the aid of tin, she could see everything.

Reese and Blake met each other on the icy tundra. The girl flung her board at Blake but she easily ducked, only for it to curve back to Reese. Before it could reach her hand, Vin gave the weapon (if that's what you would call it) a small Push and sent it careening over her head. Surprise flashed across her face which quickly vanished as Blake fired at her. Reese ducked and ran back toward her board as Blake gave a nod of thanks before chasing after her.

On the other side of the stage, Yang was fighting ABRN's team leader with a pool of magma around them. Vin watched as Arslan gave a superhuman leap backward as Yang smashed the ground where she was just standing. Yang followed up her attack by leaping forward and raising her fist. Arslan followed suit and did the same. Both of the young women's fists connected with each other and a shockwave forms from each of their strikes.

The wind of the attack blew Vin backward just enough for her to no longer balance on her anchor. She calmly grabbed an iron-line and Pulled herself back up, using sensors around the stage to keep herself aloft. But, to be careful, she threw down a couple more discs to Push and keep herself like a tripod.

Now secure, Vin looked down to see that Yang and Arslan were also knocked back. Yang landed on her feet, regaining her composer first, as Arslan crouched with a hand leaving a trail along the black sand. Once again, Yang rushes forward with a yell. But Arslan had a quite literal trick up her sleeve. As she flipped backward, a cord flung out from her sleeve and wrapped around Yang's leg.

With a tug, Yang was thrown off balance. She fell on her back and her aura shimmered. Yang looked up in time to see Arslan jumping forward with her arm raised to strike.

Vin quickly let go of her Pushes and put herself between them. She lifted her arms into an 'X' and blocked the blow. Arslan was shocked by her new opponent and, as Vin pushed back, flipped backward. She growled mid-air and used the cord again, this time flinging it down like a whip atop Vin and Yang.

A Push moved Vin out of the way and a Pull brought Yang along with her. They fell out of the burning tundra and onto a frozen lake. Vin felt her legs wobble and tried to hold herself up but ultimately fell down. She cursed the Lord Ruler. Ice, apparently, was slippery.

Seeing her enemies were now off-balance, Arslan pointed her arm at Vin and smirked. A small steel-line appeared in Vin's eyes and she could just see a small device on her wrist.

The cord, Vin realized. She raised her hands and Pushed against it. But, thanks to the frictionless landscape, she slid back as her weight was pushed against Arslan's. The girl expected this and dug her heels into the ground, keeping herself still on the ice. Vin slammed backward into an icy boulder and her aura took a hit. Groaning, the Mistborn looked up to see Arslan about to attack.

Then, Yang used her gauntlets to slam into her and knock the girl sideways. The blonde grinned as she slid over to Yang and offered her hand. "Twice in one day? I'm starting to think you are getting rusty."

"Tired, more like," Vin countered, taking her teammate's hand and getting onto her feet - then quickly falling onto the rock for support. She glared at Yang, who was now trying to hide a smirk. "Don't-"

"Oh, would you look at that? I've got to go. Bye!" Yang then chased after Arslan to resume her fight.

Vin rolled her eyes and pulled out another disc. She dropped it to the ground and stomped on it, embedding the metallic coin in the ground so it wouldn't move. As she prepared to Push up and regain her airborne coverage, she heard something click behind her and froze.

Then, flaring pewter and steel, she lept and Pushed to the side just avoiding a bullet to the back of the head. Pulling out a handful of discs, she threw them at the source of the attack, visible by their steel-line. They dodged and Vin got a glimpse of the purple-haired Nadir once again pointing a barrel at her.

Bang!

Even with aura, Vin usually felt a bit of knockback. But there was nothing. She flared pewter and waited for a blow that never came. When Vin opened her eyes, she saw Nadir struggling to grab his gun as it slid across the gun with his legs now encased in ice.

A spray of discs flew from Vin's hand as she Pushed them, and then him, out of the stage.

"Nadir Shiko has been eliminated!" the voice of Port exclaimed as a horn glared. A roar of cheer from the Beacon side of the stage broke out and more than a few groans from Haven's."

Vin turned around and saw Ruby reloading her rifle. "Got your back," she heard.

"But who's got yours?"

Ruby rolled from her back to her front, taking her scope off of Vin as she turned to see Bolin raising his staff. The man had a confident smirk on his face. Though when the glyph formed next to him, it was wiped away and replaced with a deer-in-headlights gasp.

Weiss, leaping from toward the glyph, slammed her heels into Bolin's side and knocked him into it. With him under its control, the semblance launched Bolin over their heads and into the next zone.

"My BFF!" Ruby answered with a beaming smile.

"No."

Ruby got onto her feet as Weiss ran off and pumped her fist. "Yes." She started chasing after her teammate. A second later, Vin fell in chase next to her, their feet matching each other perfectly.

"What should I do?" the Mistborn asked.

"Stay up high. Try to keep everyone off-balanced, except us. If you start showing off too many of your powers, people might get suspicious. Maybe keep their weapons out of their hands?"

Vin nodded and checked the holo-board above them. Most of their team's aura levels were in the high greens, with the exception of Yang. But ABRN wasn't doing as well. They were all in the yellow and a few were creeping into the light oranges.

"Good luck," Ruby nodded as Vin flew away. She then turned back to Weiss and Bolin, who were now face-to-face and sword-to-staff.

Though Bolin didn't slow down his attacks, Weiss didn't back off an inch. In fact, she was the one pushing forward. As Bolin swung his staff around, Weiss lept from glyph to glyph and sliced at open spots in his defenses. It was like a whirlwind of snow.

Then she took a blow to her wrist and dropped Myrtenaiser. Ruby rushed in and quickly put herself between them, slamming her scythe into the ground and firing three quick shots.

"I'll handle this," Ruby yelled. She lifted Crescent Rose over her head and spun it before charging at Bolin. Weiss nodded and picked up her blade, a glyph forming at Ruby's feet. The red-hooded huntress smiled as she jumped onto it and used it like a springboard - flipping end-over-end. She sliced down on Bolin but he raised his staff and blocked it. A shockwave formed from the blow and Bolin pushed upward, throwing Ruby back.

She lands on her knees, rifle pointed up. She fired and Bolin jumped to the side. Another shot and he dodged right. Ruby smirked and fired to his right, making him leap left. Her gun clicked.

"Out of ammo?" Bolin asked, stepping forward.

"Don't need it."

Bolin frowned as a bright white light grew from his feet. When he looked down, he saw a glyph at his feet spinning. "Son of a-"

A block of ice encased him completely, freezing him mid-swear. Ruby turned around and held out her hand for Weiss, who had picked up her rapier.

"BFF?" Ruby smiled.

With a sigh, Weiss said "BFF" and returned the high-five.

Vin didn't see the end of Ruby and Weiss' fight, but she did hear the horn blaring to signify its end. "Bolin Hori has been captured and eliminated!" A small smile grew on her face.

They can protect themselves. All this time and I haven't even watched them fight. This isn't like with Elend, I don't need to keep an eye on assassins every moment. They have aura, semblances, and weapons of incredible imagination. I can almost…

Relax.

Vin paused as she floated upon her anchor - the stadium seemed to hush even with her tin-enhanced ears. Could she do that? Cinder and her allies were still out there, one of them had even hurt her. She rubbed her side where the wood pierced her. And yet with all that… she felt calm. No Lord Ruler. No koloss. No would-be emperors and kings.

This new life open to her was more of a life than Vin would have ever dreamed possible. Ruby with her optimism, Weiss with her drive, Blake with her compassion, and Yang with her heart. While they hadn't suffered as she did, they had been wounded. And yet they were still kind and happy and full of a light that hid their ashen darkness.

Could she still balance that worry for her friends and their worry for her? Could she protect them as they protected her?

Something caught Vin's eye. She noticed that Reese, engaged with Blake, had thrown her board. As Vin got ready to Pull it away, she was shocked to see it broke in half as Blake deflected. The surprise was that it was evenly cut and the two halves folded into dual pistols.

Is everything a gun? Vin's surprise didn't keep her from Pulling on the guns. She caught them as she jumped down and landed between Reese and Blake. Reese looked at Vin, then her own hands, then her guns in Vin's.

"How did-"

Before she could finish, Vin burned duralumin. One of the more powerful metals, duralumin would enhance whatever metals Vin was burning. Pewter, tin, bronze, copper, and steel flared to a ridiculous degree for one short moment as Vin used the enhancement to Shove the pistols into Reese's chest.

The girl didn't even have time to react. There was a loud Crack! in the air and suddenly Reese was flown backward, her aura shattering completely. There was a gasp throughout the crowd. Then, slowly, Reese raised a hand in surrender.

The stadium exploded in cheer. Valians stomped the ground as hard as a raging army of koloss - a sound Vin was all too familiar with. "Reese Chloris has been eliminated by aura anhiliation!" It was the other professor, Oobleck, who made the announcement.

Vin covered her ears and, thankfully, the sound quieted to a manageable cheer as the tin vanished in her stomach; as did the other metals she had been burning. This was the risk of duralumin. Her Allomancy was given newfound strength and power but only for a moment.

"Are you okay?" Blake asked.

"Fine. Headache."

The Faunus nodded. "And from last night? We got your scroll message. Honestly, I didn't think you knew had to use it."

Reaching for her belt, Vin grabbed one of her vials to refill the burned-away metals. "I went with Ruby and Yang to visit their mother's grave. I just… needed to get away for a while."

"Then why didn't you tell them?" Blake asked. "This tournament is a game, a sport. This-" she placed a hand on Vin's chest plate "is us. Your team. I know that it seems easier to keep putting something off, but Ruby and Yang would rather know."

Vin stepped back and swallowed the shavings. "I'm not trying to hide what happened. But… You know what it's like to have a burden that no one else needs to know."

Blake ran her hand through her hair, stroking the bow covering her Faunus ears.

"They need to enjoy their innocence as long as they can. Wouldn't you have given one more day to not feel someone's eyes burning into your skull, looking at you like you are less than ash in a drain? Knowing that he'd rather spit at you than shake your hand?" Vin tapped her chestplate. She pointed at the Allomantic symbol on it. "You all have me this as a sign of trust. Trust me. I just wanted them to enjoy one more day without having to watch every corner."

After a moment, Blake sighed. "I understand. But we tell them today."

"Today."

Before Vin could drop her discs, the stadium cheered and shook once again. "Arslan Altan has been eliminated," Port exclaimed, his own claps echoing throughout the Colosseum. "Team RWVBY is victorious!"

In perfect harmony, Vin and Blake rushed to the center of the stage, meeting back up with Ruby, Weiss, and Yang."

"We did it!" Ruby cheered, jumping up and down at hyper speeds even without her semblance. "Yang beat down Arslan!"

Yang smiled and put her hands behind her head. "Pfft. It was easy."

"After you got Vin's help," Weiss smirked.

"We all got helped by Vin, Weiss-cream."

Ruby grabbed each of the girl's arms and shook them. "Who cares! We won!"

As Ruby smiled and Yang basked in the cheer of a crowd most numerous, Vin knew she made the right choice. The center stage shook as it started to descend, taking them under the stage to a locker room beneath.

Now it was time to face that choice.

"You did WHAT?!" Yang roared, slamming her fist on the counter. They had decided to stop at a ramen shop. However, even though the stall was open, there was no service at all. It was an equal level of privacy while being outside. Vin and her co-conspirators must have thought that taking them somewhere public would make Yang less likely to cause a scene.

Like that's going to stop me!

They had told Yang and Ruby about what happened the night prior. How Vin got put on Mistral's most-wanted and went on the run. Then they decided to raid the embassy and she almost died!

"We decided to look into what was going on," Weiss clarified. "Jaune, Vin, and I went to Ozpin to ask for help, Blake took Pyrrha, Ren, and Nora to the Mistral embassy. Now, I don't know what you all heard, but Jaune and I learned that magic is real."

Ruby, whose silver eyes had gone dun as she stared blankly at a coaster, blinked. "Magic?"

Weiss and Vin nodded. "Not Allomancy or Semblancy," Vin said. "Magic."

"Have you ever heard the Tale of the Four Maidens?" Weiss asked.

"Yeah," Yang answered, the memory instantly calming her down. "Our mom used to tell it to us every night, except when Ruby wanted to hear about the Ever After. A lonely hermit was visited by four women. Each woman gave him a gift that relates to one of the seasons. Then, the hermit, who was actually a wizard, gave the four women powers relating to their gifts. Fall, Spring, Winter, and Summer."

"Apparently, each of the Kingdoms protects and is protected by one of the Maidens. Vale's Maiden, Fall, was attacked and her powers were stolen."

"By whom?" Blake asked.

"Cinder Fall."

It took every ounce of willpower for Yang to not destroy the table. How in Oum's name did Haven and Beacon let a terrorist into their school?! How did they let her try to kill Vin?!

And how could they let her get away?!

"Whatever magic she now has," Vin whispered, "it is more powerful than anything I have seen here so far. The pulsations I felt when she used it on the rooftop, it was similar to the power that sent me here."

Ruby gulped. "Didn't you say that it was a pool of godhood that sent you here?" Vin nodded. With a blur of her semblance, Ruby moved over to Vin and stood in front of her. The Mistborn looked up and, to everyone's surprise, they saw her eyes had a definite wetness to them.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I didn't want you to get hurt. I didn't want my home to follow me to you. I didn't… I-"

Ruby grabbed Vin's shoulders and pulled her into a hug. Vin clutched their leader and shook slightly. One by one, the other members of their team got up and joined in the hug with Yang doing so last. As angry as she was, she could understand it.

After all, if it meant keeping her sister safe and happy, she would swim to the Grimmlands and fight every beast she saw.

"Maybe we do our next team group hug before someone drops a revelation secret?" Ruby asked, stepping back and wiping away a tear.

Weiss giggled. "What about you, Blake? Find anything out in the embassy?"

"Some schematics for Amity Colosseum and an Atlas project for creating an artificial soul." She leaned forward. "It was called Project P.E.N.N.Y."

"What?!" Weiss and Yang gasped.

Vin leaned forward. "What's a penny?"

"Penny's my- our friend," Ruby answered. "And I already knew that."

"Whaaat?!" they again exclaim.

Ruby nodded. "Penny's a robot. Or, I guess, an android?"

" Whaaat?! " This time, Blake slapped Yang upside the head. "What was that for?"

The Faunus rolled her eyes but smirked softly.

"Is that everything?" Weiss asked. "Magic is real, Cinder is an evil Maiden, and Penny is a robot. Am I forgetting anything?"

"Pyrrha unlocked my aura," Vin added.

This time it was Ruby's turn to exclaim 'What?!'

"After I got stabbed, Weiss unlocked my aura to help me heal. There was a moment when I felt like I was one with the Well again, but I think that was the last of it. Residue, I guess."

"Does that mean you will get a semblance?" Ruby asked.

Vin frowned. "Maybe? I don't know."

"Who was it?" Yang asked. "Who's the dead man that stabbed you?"

"It doesn't matter. I doubt we'll be seeing her again. If a crew is smart, when they are found out they should bug out."

"'Her'? Cinder?" There was an edge to Ruby's voice no one had ever heard before.

"No, it was the green-haired one," Vin clarified. "Emerald."

Yang popped her knuckles. "Where is she?"

"If they were smart? A backup location." Vin started tapping a finger against the table and her eyes seemed to gaze at something far, far away. "I know plans like this. If an unknown variable were to happen and the crew was endangered, they would disappear. Depending on their goal, they'll either move on to the next or try again. Cinder was obviously sent here to do something but I scared her off. It is hard to plan for something when something completely impossible happens."

"Like a ninja lady arriving from another world with superpowers?" Ruby offered.

Vin gave a rare smile. "Yes."

Blake leaned forward and frowned. "I think Cinder mentioned someone called 'Salem'. Maybe that's whoever is in charge?"

"Maybe. But right now it's a matter of recovery for them. Unless they had a plan in place for this, it will take them some time."

"Then there's no reason to worry about it, right?" Ruby asked. She looked up as the owner of the ramen store, an elderly man with gray hair, a bald head, and a red apron over a collared shirt, lifted a shudder to open the store.. "Let there be ramen!"

Yang raised her fist in a cheer. "Yeah!"

Blake smiled and Weiss rolled her eyes. Vin, on the other hand, cocked her head to the side.

"What's… ramen?"

With an eerie glint in their eyes, Ruby and Yang turned to Vin. "You've never had ramen before?!" they exclaim simultaneously.

A blush that matched the colorful Fall leaves behind her rose to Vin's cheeks. She had never been one to turn down a quick meal, but something about Yang's smile made her worried. "Recipe advancement wasn't that much of a concern with an all-powerful tyrant trying to kill your people every day. We were lucky with what we got."

"Then," Yang said, "luckily you've got us! You should try the 'Dragon Volcano Heat Ramen'."

Vin shrugged "Okay" before ordering from the man. There was something hidden in the way his eyes widened at the sight of her. Like he recognized her.

Impossible, Vin thought. No one knew here outside of those attending Beacon. Though he could be a spy for Cinder…

She kept a close eye on him as he disappeared behind the counter and even more so through the mirror. It was difficult to tell what he was doing with his back turned but within a few short seconds, he threw out a large, almost ridiculously so, bowl of steaming noodles in front of her.

The man grunted and turned to Yang. "I'll have a bowl of the regular, please," she said. Another serving, this one not covered in orange and red spices, was thrown out in front of the blonde.

Ruby looked at her sister's meal and licked her lips. "I'll take the same."

Next to order was Weiss. "Do you have anything with a low salt, low-" Before she could finish, a bowl was thrown down at her space. "Umm, okay."

For the last member of their party, Blake gave a nod to the shopkeep. He nodded back and ran into the back room. Even without tin, Vin could hear sounds of utensils crashing, bowls clanging, and knives on cutting boards. The shopkeep returned and placed another large bowl in front of Blake. This one, however, was completely layered in fish.

Blake's eyes sparkled at the sight. She gasped in delight and a line of drool fell from the corner of her lips. Vin could even hear her heartbeat elevate to almost the same intensity as a bronze pulse. Weiss pulled out a blue card and held it up for the shopkeep. He took it and ran off.

"Aww, Weiss!" Yang gasped. "What's the occasion?"

"Consider it thanks for not being too upset at us for last night's extravagance," she answered. "And might it double as a bribe to send me to the doubles round."

"Doubles?" Vin asked. "What's that?"

Ruby slurped a noodle and smiled. "The competition is in three stages. Team vs team, two v two, and lastly a single's match. Tournament style till there is one representative from one team, and one school, to be crowned Amity Champion."

"But our team leader never said who she was picking to move on," Yang glared.

"Oh…" A large bead of sweat rolled down the side of Ruby's face. "Well-"

Weiss turned to the red-hooded girl with an open jaw. "You weren't going to send me?"

"Who were you going to send, Ruby ?" Weiss and Yang asked together. Everyone could taste the venom in their words.

"Well," Ruby tapped her fingers together, "I mean we can. But Yang is our strongest fighter. And Vin is… well, Vin. So I thought they could do it." She gulped and waited for a reaction. Before anyone could comment, Weiss' card sliced into the wood counter.

Team RWVBY looked up to see the shopkeep glaring at Weiss and pointing to a machine in the corner. On its front read 'Declined' in red.

"What?! How can my card be declined?"

Blake, for the first time since being given her food, looked at Weiss with pure terror in her eyes.

"I was barely into my monthly allowance," Weiss grumbled.

Foreseeing her food being taken away, Blake shifted her eyes back and forth as she slowly pulled her bowl closer to her chest.

Vin realized that the card Weiss used must have been Remnant's form of boxings. She reached into her pocket and grabbed the last of Ozpin's gifts, a black rectangle to match Weiss' blue one. The shopkeeper quickly grabbed it and vanished, reappearing a moment later to show the machine reading 'Accepted'.

Blake let out a sigh of relief.

As everyone began to dig into their food, the shopkeep handed back Vin's card and grabbed her hand. Vin tried to pull back, flaring pewter, but he didn't flinch. When she looked up to glare at him, she saw something in his eyes. He didn't just recognize her, he knew her. There was a recognition - a familiarity. The shopkeeper smiled and let go. He nodded at the ramen and then vanished into the back of the shop.

Vin turned to her teammates to see if they had noticed the strange encounter but they were all intently focused on enjoying the bowls in front of her. She mentally memorized the face, as well as the shop's location, and took a note to check on it later.

Though there was the question of whether or not she would do it alone or trust and tell her friends.

"So me and Vin?" Yang asked between bites. "I can work with that."

Ruby turned to Weiss, awaiting the storm of fury she might bring upon her. But, instead, Weiss just sighed. "I guess it does make sense."

"What makes sense?"

RWVBY turned to see JNPR walking up to them.

"Hey Jaune!" Ruby waved. "We're going to send Vin and Yang to the next round."

"That sounds like a very good choice," Pyrrha said, taking a seat on one of the empty benches. "Mind if we join you?"

A few minutes later, followed by some extra bowls for their sister team, RWVBY set down five empty bowls and groaned. To Yang's disappointment, Vin did not react to the spicy meal with screams or pleas for water. Instead, she ate them hungrily and said they were more delicious than anything she had ever had before. Though she was stuffed - everyone was fulfilled (except Nora, who could have eaten another bowl or two or five).

As soon as everyone was done, the shopkeep ran around to take them and placed a receipt in front of Vin.

Ren clapped his hands together after wiping them clean and turned to his group. "Are you sure it was wise to have eaten before a fight?"

"Of course," Pyrrha nodded. "It will give us energy."

Nora gave a long burp, earning many stares from the entire collection of students (and more than a few passersby). Jaune, who was already looking a bit green, clutched his stomach.

"If I barf, I'm blaming you."

The koloss-like girl smiled wickedly and slammed her hands on the table. "Aim it at the enemy!"

"Nora!" Ren exclaimed. "That's disgusting." He then turned to Jaune with a weak grin and added "But if you do feel the urge…"

"Got it."

Pyrrha stood up and gave a smile to Ruby and her team. "Sorry, but we should go get ready."

"Wait," Weiss said. "Did Jaune tell you about what we found last night?"

Face darkening, the redhead sat back down and nodded. "Yes. It's something we would have never thought possible."

"What should we do about it?" Nora asked. "I can go get my hammer-"

"There's nothing we can do," Blake countered. "Cinder is gone. She took the Maiden's power with her."

Ren nodded. "True. But I think we should all be on our guard in case something were to happen." Both teams nodded in agreement.

Ruby waved her hand as if to wave away the conversation. "Do you guys think you're ready?"

"Of course!" Nora exclaimed. "We've got a world-renowned fighter on our team, what's basically a ninja, I can bench five of me, and Jaune… We've trained all year, our weapons are awesome, Glynda barely yells at us anymore, and uh… Jaune!"

Ren leaned over to Jaune. "Are you going to take that?"

Still staring at the counter, Jaune shook his head. "She's not wrong."

Over on her side of the stall, Vin raised an eyebrow. Jaune views himself as the weakest link… But from last night, he proved himself quite well.

Nora waved a hand. "I'm kidding! He knows I'm kidding. Don't be so nervous, it'll just be a few more years of walking around school with everyone knowing we're failures. Our friends will slowly abandon us to preserve their social status. We won't be able to show our faces in class. No one will sit with us in the cafeteria. Ren and I have no parents, we have no home to go to. We will be officially renamed to LOSE-iper!" She then broke down into hysterical laughter as if the last of her sanity was dripping away.

As if she had much to begin with…

The laughter slowly turned into sobbing and she started smashing her head into the counter.

"So, yeah. We're feeling pretty good," Ren nodded.

Pyrrha placed a supporting hand on both Nora and Jaune's shoulders. "We'll do fine. If anything, we should be looking forward to a fight with actual guidelines and not… well, murderers."

"Don't sweat it," Yang said. "We've all faced worse before."

Blake held up a few fingers. "A Grimm invasion, violent extremists, a destructive sociopath, a possible terrorist attack, and magic witched."

"You've dealt with all of that?" Ruby muttered, her equivalent of a gasp.

"RWBY's name was already famous before we added you, Vin," Ruby giggled. "But that's all while we were still in training. Oh, imagine what it'll be like when we graduate!"

"Maybe then I'll be able to pay for a meal," Weiss growled.

There was a sudden screeching before Port's voice began to echo throughout the fairgrounds. "Would team JNPR please report to the battlegrounds immediately?"

"Yes!" Oobleck added. "Like they were scheduled to several minutes ago!"

Pyrrha sighed. "Well, looks like this is it." She and her team stood up. "We'll be seeing you around." They left, Jaune rubbing his stomach the entire way.

"Good luck," Vin said, followed by cheers from her teammates.

"You know," Yang whispered, "if we leave now, I bet we could score some pretty good seats."

"C'mon let's go!" An ecstatic Ruby lept from her seat and started making her way to the colosseum's entrance. The rest of her team moved to follow, but Vin stopped as she felt the shopkeep's eyes on her once more. He placed a paper in front of her, the receipt, and nodded.

Vin took it and frowned. She would definitely need to check on this again. But for now… Vin extinguished her copper and flared bronze. There were no pulses coming from the man, not even the ones she felt when someone was using their aura.

Maybe he is just a crazy old man.

Her teammates didn't go far without her and Vin easily caught up. As they walked together, Vin took a moment to study her surroundings. No. Not study. Appreciate. The leaves were turning beautiful oranges and reds, turning the already stunning green into something even more magical. Children were making piles of foliage and jumping into them, giggling and screaming and laughing as they popped up with leaves in their hair and coats.

Yang caught Vin watching this and chuckled. "Let me guess, that Lord Ruler guy outlawed Fall to?"

"I've never even seen something like this," Vin said. She picked up one of the leaves and even though it was dry and crumbled in her grip, she could tell it was more alive than an entire nobleman's garden in the Final Empire. "Everything was black and brown. The sun was red and the sky was filled with ash. Until Kelsier showed me a drawing of a flower, I had never even seen one before."

Everyone stopped to stare at Vin. Then they turned to look around them. Truly looked. For a moment, they could almost imagine what that kind of world would have been like but the scope of it was too much for them. It was just too alien.

Weiss shivered. "It sounds-"

"Horrible," Blake finished, rubbing her arms.

Ruby quickly grabbed Vin's arm and pulled her into a hug. "Hey, you're here now. That's what matters. Blue skies and green grass are here for you to enjoy everywhere. And we will definitely take you to the beach over the summer. But right now, we're going to route for our friends and watch them kick some butt!"

Once again, Vin found herself surrounded by screaming people. However, unlike last time, she was one of the spectators. She had doused a good majority of her metals, steel, iron, and tin (the excitement of the crowd didn't let their effects go without a bit of punishment) but habitually kept her bronze and copper on, as well as pewter.

So it was through normal eyes that Vin watched as JNPR rose to the stage. It was with human ears that she heard Valian's roar at the sight. And it was with her own strength that she clapped in cheer for them.

"Team JNPR of Beacon," Port announced as a second part of the stage arose. "Versus team BRNZ (Bronze) of Shade!"

Both teams unsheathed their weapons and prepared to fight as holograms flickered into existence above them. Like before, they began to shuffle before settling on two distinct ones. The first was a forest (their side of the stage fell away before returning as a field of grass and trees) while Jaune's team had one of a mountain.

When their side of the stage fell away, it returned with a large and slightly imposing mountaintop. And… Vin frowned. Were those clouds? How did they do that?!

"Three!" Port yelled

Nora chuckled and rested her hammer on her shoulder.

"Two!" Oobleck said.

After taking a defensive stance, Jaune began to study his enemies with a squint.

"One!"

And everyone cheered: "Begin!"

My first canonized chapter. I spent a lot of time making this true to the episode, with alterations. For one, which members of ABRN get knocked out and when. Vin would definitely have some effect on that. Also, since Mercury and Emerald no longer bump into RWBY randomly, it gives me more time for character interactions.

Also, may I just mention one thing? WE REACHED OVER 1K VIEWS! OMFGICBTIASHRN (props to anyone who can figure that one out). Seriously, everything, thank you so very much. I never expected to be able to reach this many readers in such a short amount of time. I honestly thought I would reach 1k views around chapter 50. So thank you all so very much.

As a token of my gratitude, I think I'm going to try writing another story. Now, I still need to decide if I want to be the 'Mistborn' guy or if should I do something that Katana of the Blade put into my head. Let me know what you guys think. And since I do not receive many comments, the first 3 votes towards one answer will determine which shall be created.

Be sure to tell your friends about this story! Be they RWBY or Mistborn Fandomers, I do not think they will mind. I try to give enough explanation to either side as much as I can.

Jerry12344321: Thanks. I like reading your comments on every new chapter.

Please, feel free to follow and comment with predictions, thoughts, etc. I am always looking for new ways to improve my craft.