"So this is how you guys have been getting around?"
"It wasn't nearly this spatious though." Blake said when looking out the windshield.
Jaune was one of the most excited as he stood near the center of it. "We can actually walk around with plenty of elbow room, now."
With a sigh of relief, Weiss sat in a chair. "And now we have more than enough seats. I was getting tired of just standing around or switching spots midflight."
Pyrrha looked at the wider, longer wings on the ship. Specifically what was beneath them. "It appears we have more weapons, too. I think those are canons."
Donald sat at the front where the steering wheel was but noticed a package saying 'From Cid' on it. He opened it and found a small book. The information inside was quickly read by him as he said, "They are. Cid gave us instructions about how to use them and it shows the way to work the warp function. Apparently we need use the map he installed so we can tell where we've already been. And we need to be perfectly still for several seconds or else it won't work."
"Guess that means we won't be able to use it if we get into any fights while traveling, huh?" Ruby pointed out.
Sora didn't seem bothered by the idea and sat in one of the newer seats. "Come on, we're traveling through interspace. What are the odds of that happening?"
Something near the control panel blinked. A small square button that slowly turned into the words 'PUSH ME'. Curious, Yang did just that. In the next moment, a translucent screen emerged over it, looking like a video with Cid in it. "Well, ya'll like what I did with yer vessal?" he said with a smile as he walked to a counter, making a cup of piping hot noodles.
"Whoa!"
"Wak!"
"Wow!"
The unanimous reaction of surprise from Sora, Donald, and Goofy made their hunter friends blink with confusion. Had they never seen something like this before? "Whoa! Cid?! How'd you get in there?!"
Sora's ridiculous sounding question drew reactions ranging from giggles from Ruby, Pyrrha, and Yang, dull surprise from Blake, visibly confused surprise from Jaune, and... "He's not IN there, you dunce! Have you never seen a video screen before!?"...the usual sort of reaction from Weiss.
"Vid...eo...screen?" Sora's confused response was all the answer Weiss needed. And her response was a near sputter of utter disbelief. Which Donald shared as he frowned up at Sora. "What?! I really haven't seen this kind of thing before!" he protested in the wake of the judgmental looks he was getting.
Cid didn't seem to react to anything going on as he simply kept talking like nothing was happening. "Yer gummi ship's in absolute perfect condition! Go get em, tiger!" With that little well-wish, Cid's face vanished from the screen.
"Wait a minute, where'd he go!?" Sora asked, unintentionally compounding his ignorance with technology even further.
By now, the laughter of his huntress friends couldn't be contained. Ruby broke out in a fit of giggles, Pyrrha started laughing heartily, and Yang was snickering unsubtly. While Blake was quiet as ever, her lips ever so faintly quivered, trying to repress her own amusement at Sora's technological innocence. Weiss on the other hand, groaned and threw her hands up and slumped in her seat. A gesture mirrored by Donald. It seemed that was one strike too many for them in regards to Sora's ignorance. They just didn't want to deal with it anymore.
Jaune and Goofy however decided to be more sympathetic to the embarrassed lad and gently lay their hands on his shoulders. "Don't sweat it, Sora. I get this is all new stuff for you." the blonde huntsman in training said with a smile. "Yup. I'm sure you'll pick it up in no time." Goofy said with a nod as the giggles and laughs finally died down. Suffice it to say, it didn't do much to banish the embarrassment Sora felt.
But he was distracted by that embarrassment as suddenly, the button suddenly started flashing again. Jaune exchanged a curious look with Sora, Donald, and Goofy before he pressed it. Suddenly two little friends Donald and Goofy knew. "Chip? Dale?" the former asked in surprised confusion.
"Awwww! You know this cute little guys?" Ruby said when coming to get a closer look at them. "They talk, too! Talking chipmunks! It's so adorable!"
Goofy seemed curious. "How did you fellahs get a hold of us?"
The black nosed one, Chip, spoke first. "Cid is a fellow gummi engineer like us. We've met him once or twice and he told us you guys got some new instalments. So we hooked up a comm link to the gummi ship."
"Yeah," the red nosed one, Dale, said and continued explaining. "Now we can update you guys on stuff. Like with the Olympus Coliseum you guys went to before."
"Did something happen?" Pyrrha asked in mild worry.
Chip shook his head with a smile. "Nah, nothing like that. There's a new tournament going on there right now."
"I hear there's big prizes for the winners." Dale said after his coworker and friend.
Blake and Yang both looked at each other, not aware of the Coliseum in question. Despite not being there like her teammates however, "A tournament, huh? Sign me up!" Yang was unsurprisingly fired up at the idea. A sentiment which caused her friends to sigh, and Weiss to look at her with disbelief. "Yang, we don't have time for a tournament. Did you forget we're kind of on a time table to stop the Heartless from devouring the rest of the worlds?"
Blake however, deep in thought, realized some merit to Yang's suggestion. Before Yang could start arguing with the Schnee heiress, Blake chose that moment to share her own thoughts on the subject "But what if the prizes include more munnie? If it does, then the next time we visit Traverse Town, we can restock on our supplies before heading out again. Yet again, before Weiss could argue, Pyrrha interjected. "Blake's right, Weiss. Plus, think of it like training in a way. It will prepare us for the challenges to come."
By now, the Schnee heiress realized that she couldn't argue. Not just because everyone was of the same mind, but she also realized the merit of the plan. "You...Alright, those are very good points, I suppose," Weiss said, resigning to her friends' logic. And at the very least, as per what Phil said, they didn't have to worry about death or crippling injury while fighting there. "Alright. Back to the Coliseum then."
"Woohoo! Let's get going!" Ruby cheered, pointing out toward the horizon again. This time with a cheerful 'BARK BARK' of agreement from Zwei. A gesture which drew a groan from Weiss, a blink from Blake, and a smile from Yang. Yup. Team RWBY was back together again.
"So uhh...which of these things does that warp thing you mentioned, Donald?" Sora asked, around with the controls again.
The duck in question sighed hopping up off his seat toward the controls. "Why did I even let him have it?" he grumbled to himself as he marched up to the pilot's seat. "It's this one." he said, pushing the button immediately...Something which turned out to be a mistake to do while unprepared.
"WAAAAAAAAAK!"
For an instant later, the gummi ship lurched forward before it was gradually surrounded by a sea of colorful lights. The force of which surprised the group, forcing them to hang onto their seats. Well...those of them who were IN seats. Donald on the other hand, ended up sailing to the back of the ship, impacting against the wall near Jaune's head.
"Whoa! Thanks, Donald!" Sora said, a bright smile touching his face as they zoomed at what could only be described as faster than light. Donald of course...was simply grumbling in his quacking fashion as he recovered from the impact. Something about Sora and technology, it was hard to tell with him when he got to grumbling like this.
But sure enough, mere seconds later, the group found themselves before the Olympus Coliseum. Minus the disheveled, undignified positions those who were standing ended up in, it seemed the upgrade Cid provided did its function indubitably well. "Whoa!" "It really worked!" Sora and Ruby both exclaimed as they arrived at their destination in record time.
"Huh. So that's the place, huh? It's got an interesting look to it. Kinda reminds me of some of those pictures of ancient Remnant civilizations professor Oobleck lectured us on. Just less boring." Yang said, looking out at the Coliseum.
"You probably shouldn't say that around him if we ever see him again." Blake interjected. If there was anything they didn't need, it was a lecture from Professor Oobleck.
As they landed at the Coliseum, the group wasted no time looking for the Satyr coach. Blake found herself a little put off by how bright and valorous, for lack of a better term, everything was. Yang on the other hand was already getting pumped up for the tournament that awaited them.
Goofy saw a new notice upon the sign in front of the arena. Curious, he walked over to read it, followed by everyone else. Squinting at the words, he tapped his chin and read them out to everyone. ""The Phil Cup. Winners earn munnie as they progress and along with the highest bid at the end, are awarded the 'Phil Cup Plaque' as proof of the championship."
"Phil Cup? Really?" Weiss said skeptically with arms crossed. "How full of yourself can you get?" Her statement drew a raise of the brow from Blake who pointed out, "Says the girl whose family company is their last name?" The Schnee girl sputtered and glared with embarrassed indignation at her teammate, but refrained from saying anything.
"I mean, he is a trainer of heroes. You saw how buff Hercules was." Jaune interjected, heedless to the exchange between Weiss and Blake. His words seemed to catch Yang's attention as the sunny pugilist turned to Jaune and Pyrrha with a curious inquiry of, "How buff are we talking?"
"See those statues of the gladiators?" Pyrrha said with her ever-present smile and pointing above them. "Like that. Only more."
A sly smile and narrow eyes crossed Yang's visage. It went without saying that she was imagining Pyrrha's description of Hercules. Especially as her voice almost seemed to take on an approving purr of all things. "Sounds to me like he should be called 'Hunkules'."
Ruby, rolling her eyes at her sister's boy-crazed thoughts. Nevermind the embarrassment that Weiss and Blake felt toward the promiscuous comment of hers.
Trying not to dwell too much on it, the group decided to head into the vestibule, followed by the fortunately fantasy ceasing Yang. As they entered, they found Phil inside, looking over a parchment. Yang was surprised and asked, "Is he a Faunus?"
"We thought the same thing when we first met him, but apparently he's not." Ruby said with a shrug.
Hearing the familiar voices, Phil turned from the parchment he was looking at and smiled. "Oh hey, gang. Nice to see ya again..." His eyes went wide as he saw Yang, and after a sudden, swift, up and down once-over, he suddenly put on a...charming, to put it kindly, smile. On top of that, he began speaking in an attempted suave tone, almost like what Jaune would do in his failed attempts to impress Weiss. "And I see you've got yourselves a new lady friend. What do they call you, goldielocks?"
Blinking with wide eyed surprise and cringing at the realization, Yang stepped back with an uneasy look to the sides, before looking back to the stubby legged goat man. "Uhh...Yang Xiao :ong?" she replied, fearing that she would come to regret answering that.
"Yang Xiao Long," Phil said with a hum as he stroked his beard, smiling in a manner he likely fancied devilishly charming. "Unique. Exotic. I like it~."
Sora, Donald, and Goofy all shared mutually disturbed expressions at Phil's sudden flirtations. Of course, their reactions weren't nearly as prominent or specific as everyone else's.
By now the girls were most definitely creeped out, seeing this side of Phil. Ruby was rapidly mumbling something along the lines of, "Ugh, gross. Grossgrossgrossgrossgrossgrossgross..." Weiss had to avert her eyes completely as she pinched her brow, as if to purge some disgusting image from her mind. Not exactly the best introduction for Yang, or Blake either as her eyes narrowed furiously, twitching with barely held annoyance.
As for Yang herself...she was starting to miss Professor Port's little winks in her direction. That was preferable to THIS. And...that was something she'd never have imagined thinking. Yeeeeaaaah not a good first impression at all.
Pyrrha's hand found her mouth, shocked at her and Jaune's new coach's unexpected demeanor. She certainly couldn't remember him doing anything of the sort with her. Or did he? She couldn't remember. Though that was likely because she was far more focused on a certain blonde boy beside her to notice any advances of Phil's.
And speaking of said blonde boy, "Ugh, what the heck, Phil? Why would you do something like that to a girl you just met?"
His revolted words caused Weiss to turn away from her disgust and instead glare at him. Was HE really lecturing someone else on flirting crassly with a girl he just met? "Hello, Pot. Meet Kettle." she muttered, coining Blake's recent burn toward her, not daring to say it out loud lest their faunus companion call her out on it.
Seeing Yang nearly about to blow a gasket from the stubby fat satyr's flirtations, Sora chose to intervene. "Uhhhh, Phil?" Sora called out, trying to get Phil's attention. Both for Yang's sake, and the flirtatious satyr if Yang's flexing leg was any indication. "We uh, heard that the games are back."
"Hm?" Phil said when turning to Sora, not noticing how Yang was looking less than thrilled about his advances. "Oh right, yeah. We finally got the arena all fixed up after the damages from your guys' fight with Ceberus. Now the stage is clean and symmetrical again. Which means we can have people fighting monsters again. Or in this case those black creatures with the glowing yellow eyes."
Everyone perked up at the sound of what specific opponents Phil was talking about. The Heartless were still around in this world? Not only that, they were competing in a competition involving fights. They seemed more like wild animals that would relentlessly attack others to gain the hearts from them. If everything before hadn't proven the Heartless were indeed being manipulated by somebody then this proved it. They couldn't possibly do something this intellectual by themselves. Was it Maleficent though? From what Leon and the others said, she was responsible for their world being lost when a flood of Heartless came to it. Also because of the data from Ansem's report likely being in her possession.
Sora and everyone else shared looks to each other before silently nodding in agreement. "Then we'd like to sign up."
Somewhat reluctant, Phil shrugged. "Well, I did make you all junior heroes so I suppose that makes you good enough to enter," he said when walking to the coliseum. "Just don't cry if you end up losing in the first round."
Donald patted his foot with arms crossed, looking annoyed and with the tone to match as he grumbled, "He still doesn't think we're hero material." Though Jaune was just as frustrated with Phil's stubbornness as Sora and Donald, he didn't let it get to him as he turned to Sora. "Well, now's our chance to prove him wrong. Right, Sora?"
Sora grinned and turned to look at Jaune, Ruby, and everyone with a nod. "Yeah! Let's all go out there and kick some Heartless butt!" An idea that got a mutually cheerful response from Jaune, Pyrrha, and Team RWBY. Or at least amounts of cheer that fit with each individual person. Particularly Team RWBY.
A jubilant cheer and air fist pumping from Ruby, a smile and a flick of the side-ponytail from Weiss, a shrug and a half-smirk from Blake, and a firstbump with unquenchable excitement from Yang.
Jaune's little attempt at flourishing his sword only resulted in a goofy stumble. One that fortunately Pyrrha managed to salvage a bit of his dignity from as she kept the sword from flying out of his hand at least.
"Hold yer horses, kids!" Phil's sudden announcement stopped them in their tracks as before they could storm into the arena. "Ya can't ALL get in the arena together."
"What?! Why not!? I was looking to throw down!" Yang protested.
"Just hold up, sweetheart. Lemme explain. The rules state that only up to four warriors can fight against whatever monster, or monsters, they're up against. And if you and the black beauty over there are any indication, you two got just as much experience as the rest o' yer friends." His comment made Yang and Blake look amongst their teammates and themselves...with Blake trying to ignore the 'black beauty' comment. It was true they had more experience overall.
"See where I'm goin' with this? So to keep things fair for the rookies here," Phil continued, pointing his thumb at Sora, Donald, and Goofy. "You'll tag in and out with each other every round."
"How does that make it fair if the rounds may not be equal to how many of us there are?" Blake asked, unable to ignore the apparent oversight Phil was making. But fortunately for Phil, he'd thought about it. "If there's a different number than the competitors, then you'll start with someone else for the next tournament. Anyhow, if ya manage to beat all opponents and win the cup, you'll all get the trophy and the prize together. Team effort and all that, yeah?"
Everyone exchanged a look with one another as the terms of the tournament were presented to them. While they wished they could fight alongside one another at once, the more experienced huntresses realized the merit behind Phil's words. After all, they had much more experience than everyone else here...no offense to Sora or Jaune of course, and Phil genuinely seemed to want them to get stronger and prove they were heroes. So with a mutual smile and nod, from everyone else, Sora turned to Phil and said with every ounce of confidence he had,
"We're ready to fight, Phil!"
