Walking through a main set of doors into the stands of the Amity Colosseum, all four of the MACE girls seemed to smile at the roaring crowds. It was one thing to be in the middle of the arena and hearing them cheering, but to be right smack next to them was utterly amazing.
"This is madness." Kris munbled, looking all around. "I had no idea there was this many people who came to see the tournament. Not to mention all those people around Remnant watching."
"No kidding." Cheyenne glanced over at Kris and Elise. "You two ready for this? We need to kick some serious butt in the double rounds to make it to the finals."
"I know I'm sure as Oum ready for this!" Elise grinned, pointing at herself with her thumb.
"Who ever takes out someone the fastest gets to move ahead to the final matches." The redhead flashed a smile over at Elise. "Deal?"
The brunet held out her hand, shaking the younger girl's. There was a silent glare before she shook it off and smiled. "You're on. Just don't be sorry when I claim victory for us."
"Both of you," Kagami nudged the two of them forward. "You guys need to get down there. We don't want to be a reason for a late match."
"Wish me luck!" Elise patted her back, twirling around as she bolted away.
Cheyenne rolled her eyes, crossing her arms with a faint chuckle.
Kris blinked a few times, watchig as Elise ran off. Her eyes then met the woman in blue who had been staring at them the other day. "Hey," She nudged Kagami, whispering. "It's the person again."
Kagami blinked a few times, crossing her arms before her eyes narrowed. "Okay, once is a fluke, twice is a coincidence, but three times we will have a problem on our hands." She looked down at the red head. "Okay?"
Kris nodded back, eyeing the woman once more.
"Now you go show them why we're the best." Her leader smiled, pushing her forward.
"Yeah, yeah!" She called out, running off to head towards the entrance of the arena floor with Elise.
Aero watched the team split in two, her eyes narrowed as she leaned against a wall. Quietly, she started to speak to herself. "You guys may work well together... but when the four of you are cut off, when you guys are divided... you are going to fail." She sighed, pushing herself up from the wall and heading towards her seat. "Divided you'll fall."
"Ladies and gentlemen of Remnant!" Oobleck announced over the sound system, speaking as rapidly as always. "It is time for our next double round! And here we go!"
"First up," Port raised his bushy eyebrows up. "We have Elise Spruce and Christmas Eve representing team MACE from Beacon!"
"And their opponents, the masters of archery, Artichoke King and Robin Russet, representing team ARRW from Shade!" The green haired man shouted, looking down.
"The name is Kris, not Christmas!" The small red head snapped, waving her arms rapidly around.
"And my name is Artie, not Artichoke!" A large and well built man shouted. He had fair hair that was brushed back with grease. He had a dark green hoodie on, extra fabric and plating on his shoulders and elbows as well as a guard across his left forearm. Across his back was a large wooden bow, a large blade strapped to the front of it along with a quiver. He had a pair of dirt brown jeans on with plating on his knees and heavy duty brown boots.
"Hot damn..." Elise muttered, her eyes wide at him. "That guy is... damn." Her arms had fallen and dropped down at the sight of the blonde crimson archer.
"Alright you." Kris reached up, pulling down on Elise's ear with an annoyed look. "Ignore his looks for five seconds. We have a match to win."
"Calm down, Artie." A man with darkened skin walked up. He wore a white long sleeve shirt with a brown vest over it followed by the same color belts across his chest. His left sleeve was rolled up, his slightly unbuttoned shirt showing an x shape scar on the right side of his chest as well as a similar looking scar on his right side of his face. He had on a pair of brown gloves and a golden plate across his right shoulder. He brushed his brown pants a bit before raising a hand to adjust his hat with a green feather on it. Like his teammate, he too had a bow and quiver on his back.
"Shut up, Robin." Artie crossed his arms, grumbling to himself.
"Holy Oum hot damn mother of pearl..." Elise's mouth gaped open, her eyes glittering over with the look of pure lust.
"Oh for the love of..." Kris sighed, reaching up to rub her face. At least the reckless farm girl had one weakness: sexy men who have bows and arrows.
"Well let's get things started!" Oobleck called out.
The randomization started, the first landing on a lighting mountain. The second was on a forest. The last two was an ice world and a beach with water. The arena split apart, falling down and rising up with all four different grounds for battle.
"And in three... two..." Port leaned forward on the announcer table. "One! Begin!"
As the two men bolted away towards higher ground, the two girls followed them. Up in the stands, Kagami was sitting next to Cheyenne. The Faunus blinked rapidly at the two men down below. "I can't lie... those guys are really hot..."
"You know," A man with long , nearly grey but still blonde hair with a braid leaned forward, giving a genuine smile. "Those are my teammates you are talking about." He softly chuckled, pushing up the sleeves on his long grey coat.
Cheyenne blinked a few times, her face going a shade of red.
Kagami seemed to smile slightly, turning around backwards to face him. "Let me guess, you have a bow too."
He gave a nod, leaning back. "Indeed I do. Rsenic Nanolas." He held out his hand, shaking Kagami's with a strong grip. He then pointed to his side at a man dressed in a purple tactical jacket and purple pants. He had brown hair cut extremely short. "That's Wint Royal. He's from Atlas so his name starts with a w but sounds like a v."
Wint blinked, looking up from a large bucket of popcorn. "Huh?" He muttered, swallowing a mouthful. "Oh! Yes! I'm Wint!"
Rsenic rolled his eyes, leaning back and holding his hands together on his lap. "For someone from a military Kingdom, he really doesn't have many manners."
"And he uses arrows too I'm guessing?" Cheyenne raised an eyebrow.
The man with long hair nodded, glancing at his teammate in purple before looking forward. "All four of us do, hence the name ARRW for us. Artie is definitely the best of us though."
"I wouldn't say that." Wint pointed at himself. "I am definitely better than Artie. Robin is probably the best."
Rsenic shook his head. "I can best Robin and you. I can't do so with Artie."
Cheyenne blinked a little, slowly looking forward. Her face went a little more red as she glanced at Kagami. "The four of them are REALLY cute." She muttered to Kagami.
The jade haired girl rolled her eyes, glancing back at the arena floor. "I guess if you guys say so."
On the battle grounds, Elise jumped back, getting out of the way just in time to miss an explosion from an arrow. "This is impossible!" She shouted, ducking down as an arrow flew over her head. She stepped behind a tree, taking a deep breath to rest.
"No duh!" Kris snapped, using her twin candy cane blades to block a long staff. She stumbled back, grunting softly as she caught her balance.
"Just because you are a girl and younger than me," Artie aimed straight at Elise with three arrows, each with a different color of Dust in them. "Doesn't mean I am going to be nice to you!" He snapped, firing.
Elise jumped out of the way of a first explosion. The second arrow was ice, hitting her feet and incasing them. "Shoot..." She mumbled, eyes widening before the third arrow struck, an explosion lighting up around her.
"Elise!" Kris called out, grunting as she was pushed back by the staff. Her head shot up, eyes narrowing as she brought her weapons around in a slash.
Instead of blocking, Robin pushed his staff into the ground, launching himself upward. His staff morphed back into a bow. He immediately grabbed an arrow, shutting one eye before he fired.
Kris gritted her teeth, holding her weapons in an x to catch the arrow headed straight for her. She side stepped, the arrow making a ting against her weapons. She sighed softly, looking down at her catch. Her eyes then widened at the flashing light on it. "Hell!" She shouted before it exploded on her.
"Welp." Cheyenne took a deep breath, sighing softly as her head dropped. "This isn't going to end well."
Kagami gritted her teeth a bit, her legs bouncing up and down. Her head then quickly turned back to face Rsenic and Wint. "Your leader, Artie. I see he has a blade on the front of his bow, but what happens if he is disarmed with that and has to fight hand to hand."
Rsenic blinked a few times before he chuckled softly. "He would attempt to use hand to hand, but to be honest Wint is way better when using his bow as a weapon."
"So he would be at a lost?" She asked.
He gave a nod. "It's happened twice before. He isn't too well without his dagger."
"And Robin..." She glanced back at the arena, eyes narrowing before she looked back. "He seems to much of a gentleman. It would be pretty easy to say he actually hurt me and have him let down his guard for concern, wouldn't it?"
Wint was the one to speak up this time. "Yep, sounds about like him. He and Rsenic are definitely the most chivalrous of the four of us."
"And you're not that bad at reading people." Rsenic added.
Kagami simply nodded, leaning forward a bit with a clenched jaw. "Call it a gift. I just hope Elise and Kris can see it too. No offense." She smiled back. "But I still want to win."
"None taken." Rsenic gave a nod.
"Switch!" Both Artie and Robin called out, high fiving each other as they switched sides.
Elise stood up slowly before she grunted as a staff struck her, sending her skidding across the ice with a throbbing pain in her back.
Kris groaned, looking up to see a green figure. "Damn..." She muttered.
Artie smiled at her, loading three arrows into position. When he fired them, the tip of each blew off and a large red fist formed. Kris grunted as a fist struck her face, sending her back. She was then struck in the stomach, all the air being pushed out of her lungs. The last one struck her face again, sending her flat on her back with weapons scattering. "Why the hell is this so impossible..." She groaned.
Elise struggled to stand, the ice underneath her feet making it difficult. Standing up in a set of trees on the ground next to the ice, Robin raised his bow. He quickly fired several arrows, not aiming for Elise but instead aiming for the ice caps above her.
Elise blinked a few times, seeing the arrows strike. Her eyes then widened, seeing it begin to crack. She scattered on her feet, trying to get away but it was too late. The ice came crashing down like an avalanche, burying her underneath.
"We are so screwed." Cheyenne muttered, shutting her eyes as she dropped her head down into her hands.
"I..." Kagami trailed off, sighing. She may have felt awkward around Cheyenne right now, but she had to agree. "Yeah. We've lost." She looked back at the two behind her. "Don't think this is over though. We'll beat you senseless during the next tournament."
"Hey," Rsenic held up a finger. "Nothing is over till it's over." He added in with a smile.
Two dings then went off. Wint sighed softly, leaning in towards him with a grin. "I believe it is over, buddy."
In the center of the arena floor, Kris and Elise were back to back to each other, sitting in the ground with heads swaying. Their eyes were swirls, chibi Grimm dancing around in circles around their heads.
"I... am cold... and hurt all over..." Elise quietly mumbled.
With smoke and ash all over her, Kris nodded ever so slightly. "I hurt... all over too..."
"One of Kagami's plans would have been very useful right about now..." The brunet mumbled.
Kris sighed, slowly sliding down to lay on the floor. "I agree..."
"And that's the match!" Port called out. "ARRW has taken yet another win for the tournament this year!"
"I belive someone should go and check on the two girls down there." Oobleck took a sip of coffee. "I do believe they are not getting up."
"Aw, yeah!" Artie high fived his teammate with a grin. "Victory number two! Just a few more to go!"
"One step closer to being crowned champions, mate!" Robin smiled from ear to ear.
"You know," He patted him on the back before snatching his hat away. "You should do the honors of going into the single rounds."
"Really? You think?" He snatched his hat back, readjusting the position of the feather before he put it back on. "I would think you would want yourself."
He gave a smile, walking off with his teammate. "A true leader is someone who knows when he can and cannot do something."
Robin smiled, crossing his arms. "You just don't want the blame if you lose."
"Yep." Artie simply nodded back.
Around half an hour later, Elise burst into the dorm room followed by Kris. "This is awful!" She shouted. "We were so close yet so far!"
"This isn't faaair!" The red head groaned, brushing off her arms.
Cheyenne rolled her eyes, stepping isnide quietly. "You guys are overeating. You win some and you lose some."
"But I wanted to win!" Both Elise and Kris shouted back.
"Why don't the two of you just relax." Kagami softy smiled, shutting the door with her foot while her hands were in her pocket. "We still have another chance to win in two years."
"I still wanted to win." Kris pouted, arms crossing.
"Come on." Cheyenne gave a caring smile, looking at her teammates who just got done fighting. "I'm sure you guys need your rest. I know it's not that late, but still, the fair grounds will be closing soon enough."
Kagami was going to say she agreed with Cheyenne, but instead remained silent. She didn't feel like agreeing with someone who was most likely against her at the moment.
"Fine, fine." Kris rolled her eyes, rubbing her arms a bit. "I am pretty tired." She yawned, stumbling towards her bed before plopping down in the lower bed. She grunted, shifting around softly before she found a comfortable position to rest in.
"Okay... I am tired too. Those... REALLY hot guys were pretty strong." Elise chuckled, crawling up to her bed. When she did, something fell down from her bed that made everyone in the room freeze and look.
Elise glanced down, seeing Kagami's leather book flat on the floor. "...shit..." She mumbled to herself. She quickly jumped down, her head darting towards Kagami. "Listen! I can expalin!"
Kagami blinked a few times, her heart skipping a beat as she looked up. Kris sat up herself, she even stood up eyes widening. Cheyenne glanced between the book and Elise before she looked at Kagami.
This, this right here was the turning point in their lives as a team. Little did the four of them even know how much things were about to crumble. They had spent the past year with each other, seen the ups and downs of each of their lives. They had fought together, lost together, they had seen the stars above and miracles unlike any other. They had told each other secrets, ones they could trust no one else with. And now, now they hit a breaking point. The hit the most critical point in any friendship, in any team. It was time to test the trust that held their team together like glue. This glue though, it was not strong enough anymore. At least, at this moment, everything that held them together as a team, as friends, was not strong enough.
Everything was about to fall apart.