Previously, on the Defenders of Remnant...

Fisk snarled before gripping Taskmaster's body with both hands, then in an instant bringing his back smashing against his knee.

"I… I can't move…"

"And don't think you ever will again. Your days as an assassin are over. Give Miss Fall my regards."

"So are we gonna talk about the other night?" Taskmaster asked Cinder.

"Not the time," Cinder replied.

"Yeah, because you're really professional normally," Taskmaster remarked.

Cinder turned on her heel to face him, her smirk replaced with an annoyed frown. "Not. Now."

"We kidnapped Mason again and forced him to give a diagnosis, as slow as that came. His guess was the damage was beyond repair, at least by your world's standards," Cinder answered.

"So I'll never walk again…"

"Unacceptable. I ordered Tinkerer to devise some kind of device to help, some kind of spinal implant or something that can pull your bones back together. Remnant isn't Earth. We can find a way."

"The Vytal Festival! Oh, this is absolutely wonderful!" Weiss exclaimed in enthusiasm.

"I heard that students visiting from Vacuo will be arriving by ship today, and as a representative of Beacon, I feel as though it is my solemn duty to welcome them to this fine kingdom," Weiss answered

"She wants to spy on them so she'll have an upper hand in the tournament," Blake said.

"So your dad, then," Peter finally spoke. "You said before you had a rough childhood.

"I… apologize," Weiss said softly.

"No, no, I get it. Family can be rough sometimes.

"Now you can forever say that you saved Spider-Man."

"No. We saved Peter Parker," Blake replied with a smile. Peter smiled back, his mood fully changing to a more positive one. They met eyes, and a familiar sensation flowed through the both of them: a calming wave of serenity accented by a spark of confusing motion. It was the same feeling they both had when they met eyes like this back at the dance weeks ago. Neither knew what the feeling was, but that didn't make them tear the gazes away from each other either.

He pulled his sleeve up to see a dark black burned cut in his arm. It was an injury he'd taken when the collider exploded, a piece of debris cutting just into his arm, not dangerous. Or so he thought. The blackened skin was unexplainable.

"Wh-Who's there?" Peter asked.

"Strange. People of this universe shouldn't hear or see me. But you aren't of Remnant either, are you?" The voice said.

"I'm going crazy…" Peter spoke to himself, feeling unnerved.

"I assure you, you aren't crazy, though how we're connected, I'm not sure. Normally only those in my realm needing a new purpose can hear my words. Are you seeking purpose?"

The Defenders of Remnant

Chapter 37: Making the Rounds

Frank took a seat at the head of the table as the sound of clinking plates and utensils came from the kitchen. He reached over and grabbed the cold can of beer to his right, cracking it open and taking a swig of it before a dark haired woman came out of the kitchen and began to set platters of food down, setting the table for a full family.

Maria Castle. His wife. "Hey, honey," She softly spoke with a toothy smile.

"Hey you," Frank replied with his own smile. Maria leaned down and kissed her husband before stepping out of the dining room and yelling up a flight of stairs.

"Lisa! Junior! Dinner's done, come on!"

"Coming, mom!" A child's voice replied. Maria re-entered the kitchen and the thumping and drumming of small footsteps on the stairs were heard. Soon enough, two small children rushed into the dining room, clambering atop opposite chairs.

Lisa and Frank Castle Jr. His two children. His daughter took after her mother in terms of appearance, while Frank Jr. already had the makings to be a spitting image of his father. Mario came back and set silverware down for the children and began to actually make plates for the family. Frank smiled widely at what, to him, was a perfect world.

"You have a nice family, Frank," A man said. Frank turned to his left to see Marc Spector.

"Marc?" Frank questioned.

"I had a family like that. Well, then I died," Marc chuckled. Blood suddenly stained his shirt, an open wound in his chest bleeding profusely, his eyes now whitened. "What'll Marlene think?"

"Marc, I-" Frank started to say, but when he tried to get up from his chair, he found they were tied to the arms of the seat. He tried to pull them free, but they were stronger than steel.

"That's right… your family died too, didn't they?" Marc said.

"What?" Frank looked up and saw that three masked men with firearms stood behind each family member, pressing the barrels of their weapons against their skulls. "What…? No.. No no no no!"

"You didn't save them either," Marc frowned. "What, is my family next, Frank?"

"Marc, please, please don't-" Frank begged, on the verge of tears. He needed to protect them, protect this reality. They were here, alive, he needed them. The three masked men cocked their guns, priming to fire. "No no no no no no no no!"

BANG!

Frank shot up with a start, his entire body drenched with sweat. The familiar hums and sounds of the Atlesian flagship all came to him at once. He was in his cabin aboard the vessel. His specialist uniform was hung across the room, with his rifle propped up against the wall next to it. He was breathing heavily, the panic and fear of the dream still weighing on him

He hadn't even finished calming down when his scroll chimed with a call. Frank evened his breath enough before picking it up and answering. "Hello?"

"Good morning, Specialist Castle," Ironwood said. "Sorry if I woke you."

"You didn't. What is it?" Frank asked.

"I wanted to give you time to rest, but if you're up, Penny was wishing to take an airship up to Amity before the first match: Team RWBY of Vale vs Team ABRN of Mistral. You are her bodyguard, so I expect you to go up with her, and supervise her."

"Yeah, yeah. I'm getting up," Frank groaned.

"Good. She's waiting for you in bay 2. Oh, and before I go, Frank?" Ironwood said.

"What?" Frank frowned as he threw his legs over the side of the bed.

"Tonight, you will be meeting another operative on the bridge. She'll be arriving shortly after the match, but will have business to conduct during the day. I thought it best that my two highest officers finally meet," Ironwood answered.

"Another specialist?"

"Indeed, and your only equal in the entire Atlas military. I trust you two will get along. Until tonight, Specialist Castle." The call then ended, and Frank tossed his scroll aside, the heavy weight of exhaustion bearing down on him.

Cinder entered Anthony's room to see him propping himself up on the bed, a strained look across his face as he did so. He was looking up at a TV monitor, watching the tournament as it occurred. The first match had begun: ABRN of Mistral's Haven Academy, and the thorns in their sides, Team RWBY of Beacon.

"Anthony, you shouldn't be up," Cinder frowned.

"And you should be on c-campus playing student, yet here y-you are," Anthony groaned in reply. Even sitting halfway up set his nerves aflame, pain pulsing at the rate of machine guns throughout his body.

"I wanted to check up on you first. You're watching the tournament?"

"Need… t-to learn. In just a f-few days, most if not all of th-them will be dead. I'll watch… and let them give me i-information," Anthony forced through his teeth. His pain became more evident the more he spoke, becoming more and more difficult to hide.

"If you force yourself, you won't recover before the Fall," Cinder warned.

"I won't be recovering n-naturally at all. Where is M-Mason with the implant?" Anthony asked.

"It will be finished soon. But you have to be patient. We need this to go off without a hitch," Cinder furrowed her brow.

"I know that. Y-You know I know that."

"Then treat it as such. If you truly want to join me among Salem's circle, then you must follow the plan to the letter, part of which now is putting as little strain on your body as possible."

"Yeah yeah, I know…"

"Anthony," Cinder repeated sternly.

"I got it," Anthony cut back.

"I'll give Mason a much needed push. Some incentive to hasten his work," Cinder said.

"The incentive being…?"

"Well, if he wants to keep his life, he'll have it done in the next few days," Cinder flatly replied.

"B-Bold of you to assume that once I'm w-walking again, I'll be sparing his life," Anthony grunted. "He's p-proven he can't be trusted."

"Like you did to Fisk when you killed Bullseye?" Cinder raised an eyebrow.

"Touche."

"And that's the match!" One of the announcing voices, Professor Port, said on the TV, catching both Anthony's and Cinder's attention. "Team RWBY is victorious!"

"I have to get to Beacon with Emerald and Mercury before the next match begins. I trust you will still be watching?" Cinder questioned.

"About all I c-can do…" Anthony sighed, shutting his eyes momentarily. He expected Cinder to leave then, but instead she did something… unpredictable.

Cinder walked over, her heels tapping against the floor as she did, and Anthony felt the brush of her lips against his forehead. He opened his eyes and looked at her in confusion. "You asked me if we would talk about that night we spent together after the train crash. Well, follow the plan long enough for Beacon to fall, and we will. See you soon." Only then did Cinder take her leave, leaving Anthony bewildered in her wake.

"We did it!" Ruby cried in excitement, leaping up into the air with a wide toothy smile across her face, then all the joy shrank from her as her stomach growled impatiently. She landed and immediately hunched over. "Is anyone else starving…?"

"I may have worked up an appetite," Blake smirked a bit. Then her own stomach growled like a starved animal in of itself.

"Gee, if only there were somewhere on campus to get food around here," Weiss said sarcastically, dramatically putting her arms out, before gesturing to the dozens upon dozens of food stalls covering the Festival's fairgrounds. "Oh, wait…"

"It's ok, Wiess, I forget about the fairgrounds too," Ruby patted her shoulder, not catching the sarcasm at all.

"I was being facetious," The heiress deadpanned.

"Well, if you were hungry, why didn't you say so?!" Ruby exclaimed.

"C'mon, I know just the place!" Yang waved to her teammates before taking the lead. The team began following the golden-locked brawler, ready to chow down after an intense match. ABRN hadn't been a joke, a tough battle for sure, but Team RWBY managed to come out on top without any casualties of their own in the match, wiping ABRN clean during the battle, meaning the next round of the tournament for them would involve two of the team progressing forward, and if they win that match, one of the two will participate in the solo finals of the tournament and represent Beacon, aiming to claim total victory for the academy.

While Ruby and Blake went to catch up with Yang, Weiss's scroll began to chime, and she stopped to pull it out of her skirt pocket. The contact on the screen read "Father". Weiss's smile changed to a harsh frown in an instant, and she rolled her eyes and shook her head before quickly shoving it back into her pocket.

"Dad problems again?" Weiss heard behind her. She turned to see Peter standing behind her, looking somewhat worse for wear. He clearly hadn't slept as much as he needed, he looked exhausted. Something else Weiss noted was that his right fist was uncomfortably balled up, as if his arm was in pain.

"I-It's nothing. What about you? You look tired."

"We did stay up late to watch the launch of Amity," Peter reminded. "Besides, I'm still trying to wind down from the other night, I guess. I saw the match though. You guys did great!"

"Thank you," Weiss smiled as the two of them continued walking, catching up to the others. "We appreciate the support."

"Maybe that's what he was trying to do to? Give his own praise?" Peter asked, gesturing to the scroll in Weiss's pocket. Then the smile was gone again.

"That's very… optimistic of you, Pete. But my father didn't want me to become a huntress in the first place. I highly doubt he called to give me a congratulations," Weiss sighed. "I'm surprised he took the time to call himself instead of having an assistant do it for him."

"That bad, huh?" Peter asked.

"You have no idea…" Weiss muttered. Peter was about to comfort her when his Spider-Sense pulsed through his skull, making an already existing headache even worse.

"Hey!" Another, female voice sang. The entire group stopped and turned to see Emerald holding a bright red wallet with Lien cards poking out of the slots. "Might be hard to eat without this."

Ruby's expression turned to surprise as she frantically searched her pockets for her own wallet, realizing it was the one in Emerald's hands now. The frantic search seemed to force a chuckle from Emerald's lips. "Good to see you, Ruby."

"Oh, thanks Emerald!" Ruby graciously thanked before taking the wallet back and pocketing it once again. Peter's expression hardened, though. Almost any time he crossed paths with Emerald or her partners, every part of his body went on high alert. This left him with no trust for her or her team. He'd play nice since Ruby in particular seemed to get along with them well enough, but at no point did he consider them friends. "Guess I dropped it… Girl pockets are the worst!" Ruby sighed.

"What's up, Em?" Yang greeted with a chipper tone and warm smile. Yang trusted them too. Which somehow made him trust Emerald even less, perhaps since more of his own friends seemed to believe whatever front she was putting up.

"Just left the stadium after your amazing fight! You guys were awesome!" Emerald almost cheered. At this point, all of the team had stepped closer to converse, and Peter did so as well, but he hung behind the girls of Team RWBY. He didn't want to put Emerald off and make her suspect anything.

"Oh, stop! Shut your stupid little face…" Ruby squealed with a slight blush on her face, really loving the praise she'd been getting for the victory.

"I heard your team progressed to the next round too," Blake noted.

"Y'know, I feel like we never see your other teammates," Weiss said.

"How'd they do in the fight?" Yang asked.

"Really well, from what I saw," Peter answered for Emerald. "Seemed like a stomp."

"That's great!" Ruby smiled. "Why don't we all go out and get some victory food together?"

"Oh! Gosh, that's so nice of you, but my teammates are all kind of…" Emerald looked over her shoulder, and the others followed her vision, to see Mercury at one of the merchandise stands sniffing a random boot from the shelf. "... introverted. Really socially awkward."

"Oooh, yeah, I can see that," Yang replied.

"So, who do you have going on to the doubles round?" Peter asked.

"Merc and I are moving ahead," Emerald answered. "What about you guys?"

"Well, as the leader of this team, I've thought long and hard about this decision-" Ruby started to say, but Peter tapped her arm to get her attention before shaking his head. Even if Emerald was a friend and meant well, it wouldn't be wise to let your team lineup out to a possible opponent. That was without Peter's mistrust of Emerald and her team. He, however, played his mistrust off with a smile.

"Y'know, Ruby, you might end up fighting her. If you wanna beat her, you should keep your cards close to your chest," He warned, playing it off as brotherly advice.

"It's a fair point. We don't know who our opponents will be until the day of," Blake added. "They could end up being our friends, like JNPR or even Emerald's team."

"I guess you're right," Ruby rubbed the back of her neck. "Sorry Emerald, but we wanna try and play it safe." Peter watched Emerald for a reaction. Her smile stayed, but he noticed her fingers curl a bit and the edge of her lips twitch. She was trying to bait information. He felt right in his decision to intervene. But the tells were gone as suddenly as they appeared. Even Blake didn't notice them, but she also wasn't looking.

"Don't worry, I get it. Still, if we do end up facing you guys down the line, don't think Mercury and I will go easy on you," Emerald chipperly replied.

"Wouldn't have it any other way," Yang smirked confidently.

"Alright. Well, we're gonna go catch some more fights," Emerald said before starting for her partner and waving goodbye.

"Have fun!" Ruby smiled as her own team turned to walk away, Peter in tow.

"See you later!" Emerald replied. Peter glanced over his shoulder, however, to see Emerald and Mercury talking, noticing Emerald's positive mask was gone. He smirked to himself in pride. He only wished he had Matt's powers so he could hear them from this far away, over the crowds filling the fairgrounds.

"So how are the new 'friends'?" Mercury asked when Emerald approached.

"I hate them," Emerald flatly answered.

"Orders are orders," Mercury shrugged without care.

"It's just… how can they be so happy all the time?!"

"Did you at least get what we want?" Mercury questioned.

At this, Emerald groaned in frustration. "No. That Parker guy cut in before they answered. I don't think he trusts us. He's smart."

"Think he's onto us?"

"If he were, we'd be in Atlas cells by now. I think he suspects something though," Emerald sighed.

"If he hasn't caught on yet, he won't until it's too late. Not too smart if you ask me. He's got a nice voice though, kinda reminds me of someone," Mercury said laxly.

"Cinder isn't gonna be happy…"

The five of them took a seat at one of the food booths littering the fairgrounds, a small noodle stall with twelve seats, four each on the front and sides. The team took up the front four, while Peter sat one of the four on the right-hand side.

"I'll have a bowl of the regular, please," Yang ordered. The old man behind the counter slid her an enormous bowl of noodles. The bowl rocked to a stop in front of her. Ruby eyed the bowl with interest.

"Ooo! I'll take the same!" She ordered. Another ridiculously sized bowl found its place in front of the team leader.

Weiss eyed the incredibly large servings with caution. "Do you have anything with a low salt-" She was cut off when the old man dropped the same thing in front of her, regardless of her request. "Um… okay…"

Blake was different though. She and the old man met eyes, and with a simple mutual nod, he rushed through the back kitchen area of the stall and placed in front of her gigantic bowl of fish. Blake gazed at it drooling and starry eyed, with Peter cracking up quietly next to her. "Bet you guys are happy we just snacked last night," Peter noted.

Weiss also eyed up the small bowl, but then offered her Lien card up to the old man, who promptly took it to scan it.

"Aw, Weiss, what's the occasion?" Yang asked.

"Consider it thanks for sending me to the doubles round," Weiss smirked.

"Are you not eating anything, Peter?" Ruby asked.

"Nah, not very hungry," Peter answered. Not a full lie, he didn't have an appetite at the moment, but his injury was still bothering him. He hadn't heard the voice again since yesterday, but that didn't mean he wouldn't hear it again. Besides, it still hurt like hell.

Weiss's card was thrown back at her, lodging into the wooden tabletop in front of her, catching all five of their attentions. They looked back up to see the old man with an annoyed frown on his face pointing to the card scanner, which in red text read Declined, with large exclamation points bookending the word. "What?! How can my card be declined?" Weiss exclaimed. "I was barely into my monthly allowance…" Blake tried to take the bowl of fish and book it, but the old man swiped the food from her just as suddenly as he had given it to her, leaving the faunus with a saddened expression.

"No…" She cried.

"Maybe I can help?" Pyrrha asked as Team JNPR approached the stall.

"Pyrrha!" Ruby cheered.

"Aw, you don't have to," Yang replied.

"But she could!" Blake said frantically. Peter let out a hearty laugh at Blake's expense, earning a slug in the arm from the cat faunus, but still he chuckled and smiled.

"Well, I think you all earned it after that battle," Pyrrha smiled.

"Mind if we join you?" Jaune asked.

"Not at all, guys. Come on in," Peter said. Pyrrha and Jaune took the immediate seats next to Peter on the right side, while Nora and Ren took the ones on the corner next to Yang's on the left. Pyrrha paid for food, and both teams of huntsmen began to dig in, with Blake even getting her fish back. The teams ate and talked between each other, with Peter discussing when prompted, but his eyelids were heavy and his body exhausted. He didn't sleep again, so he knew he needed to take it easy today.

"Are you alright, Peter?" Pyrrha asked.

"Hm?" Peter said, coming out of his autopilot state. "Oh, yeah, just tired. I've had a hard time sleeping the past couple days. Had a hard hero day the other day, still haven't fully decompressed."

"I understand," Pyrrha nodded. "If you need help with anything, please feel free to ask."

"It's appreciated, Pyrrha, but I'm fine. I'll call if I need it though," Peter replied. He always felt awkward talking to Pyrrha. She resembled MJ so much, it always brought her to mind. He hid it well, and was still social with Pyrrha, but he couldn't help but think about it.

"So, I picked up on what you were doing with Emerald before," Blake cut in, finished with her fish. "You don't like her, do you?"

"What makes you say that?" Peter asked, trying to dodge the question.

"Anytime we interact with them, you're distant, and you're always eyeing them up, like you're waiting for them to do something," Blake answered. "Even earlier, you didn't talk as much as you normally do, and when she asked who we were sending to the doubles round, you stopped Ruby from answering."

Peter sighed. "I don't trust her, or any of her team. They feel like they have an ulterior motive. And when I met them the first time, my Spider-Sense was kicking up a storm. Since then, I've kept my guard up with them around."

"Now that you mention it…" Pyrrha said, catching Peter's, Blake's and Jaune's attention, "Mercury challenged me to a sparring match a few weeks ago, before the train attack. It felt like a normal fight at first, and he was very skilled, but just when I was gaining the upper hand, he backed out suddenly, saying he obviously didn't stand a chance against my renowned abilities."

"He could've just realized he wasn't as good as you," Jaune suggested.

"Normally I wouldn't doubt that, but… it felt more like he was testing me, if that makes sense," Pyrrha said.

"Testing people, probing for information; seems to me they're trying to find out the strengths and weaknesses of everyone they can," Peter deduced.

"Maybe they want advantages in the tournament? Both of those things add up to that," Jaune suggested again.

"It's possible," Blake agreed, "But even then, pretending to be friends for their gain doesn't paint them in a good light."

"My spider-sense wouldn't light up like that for something as small as just the tournament. It does it for actual danger," Peter shook his head.

"You never did fully explained that power to us. What is this 'spider-sense'?" Jaune asked.

"It's not exactly one thing. It's an increase in base reflexes, kind of like muscle memory. It's a proximity alarm if anyone's in my surroundings. It's also a warning if an actual threat is near me, and it went crazy when I met Emerald's team the first time. Whoever they are, they are not friends, I can promise that."

"Then why don't you tell everyone else?" Jaune asked.

"I might tell Yang, but Weiss has her own problems right now, and Ruby doesn't need to be watching her back like I do." Peter looked to the rose-colored huntress, who was talking with the others, smiling wide and laughing heartily in between slurping down her noodles. "She's so trusting, brave and kind. She's the perfect kind of hero. She can be the best of us all. I don't want her to think she shouldn't look for the goodness in people."

"Well said," Pyrrha nodded with a smile. "So you think there is good in them?"

"There might be, but if their goal puts people's lives in danger, that hope isn't the first priority, saving the people they put in danger is," Peter said.

"That's… understandable."

The rest of the meal was enjoyed in somewhat silence for them. Soon, everyone had finished their ludicrously sized meals, feeling full to the brim. "Are you sure it's wise to have eaten before a fight?"

"Of course!" Pyrrha answered. "It will give us energy."

Nora let out an earth-shaking burp that cut into the conversation. Peter swore he felt his seat rumble during it. "Ugh, if I barf, I'm blaming you," Jaune groaned with his face against the counter.

"Oh, aim at the enemy!" Nora suggested deviously.

"Nora, that's disgusting." Ren frowned. "But if you do feel the urge…"

"Got it…" Jaune whined with a thumbs up

"Well, we should be off," Pyrrha said, standing readily from her seat at the counter.

"So you think you guys are ready?" Ruby asked.

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

"Are you gonna take that?" Ren asked.

"She's not wrong…" Jaune whined, still face down on the countertop.

"I'm kidding, he knows I'm kidding," Nora waved him off. "Don't be so nervous, the worst that could happen is we lose, then it's just 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-" From here, Nora began to break down into an anxiety-ridden nervous wreck. "-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 left to go to, we'll be officially renamed to team Lose-iper!" Nora then smacked her face down onto the countertop as well, tears of anxiety and overthinking welling up.

"Wow, what a rousing victory speech, Nora…" Peter deadpanned. "I feel inspired."

"So, yeah… we're feeling pretty good," Ren followed up.

"Don't fret," Pyrrha said as she patted both Nora's and Jaune's backs. "If anything, we should be looking forward to a fight with actual guidelines and not… well, murderers."

"Yeah, don't sweat it. We've all face way worse before," Yang reminded.

"Let's see," Blake began to count off, "Grimm Invasions, violent extremists, a bunch of destructive sociopaths…"

"And that's while we were all still in training!' Ruby exclaimed. "Oh, imagine what it'll be like when we graduate!"

"Maybe then I'll be able to pay for a meal…" Weiss muttered.

The grounds' PA system screeched to life immediately to relay the voice of Professor Port. "Would Team JNPR please report to the battleground immediately?"

His voice was promptly followed by Oobleck's, the other announcer of the tournament. "Yes, like they were scheduled to several. Minutes. Ago."

"Well, looks like this is it," Pyrrha stated proudly. The four members of Team JNPR got to their feet, albeit Jaune was slow and stumbly, and started back for a bullhead to Amity Arena.

"Go get 'em!" Ruby cheered them on.

"We should be heading on up too," Yang suggested.

Emerald and Mercury sat in two seats in an open space that was calmer and more empty than the ones filled with crowds of cheering bystanders. Emerald didn't want any distractions, while Mercury just wanted a clear view of the fight.

"I wonder who's gonna win," Mercury said with a mouth full of popcorn, a large bucket of which sat in his lap.

"Pssh. As if we didn't already know," Emerald said.

"Oh come now," Cinder said as she stood behind them in her student outfit, a tan waist-long vest with a brown leather pauldron on her left shoulder, gray leggings with high gray boots, black fingerless gloves, and bandages wrapped around her midsection, abdomen, and forearms. She reached over the chairs and plucked an uncooked corn seed from Mercury's bucket. "Even if you know how a story ends, that doesn't make it any less fun to watch." She used her power to make her fingers heat up the corn seed until it popped between her fingertips, then popped it into her mouth. She then took her seat behind her underlings and prepared to watch the match.

"Team JNPR of Beacon vs Team BRNZ of Shade!" Port announced. Holographic dials began spinning on both sides of the arena, determining what the terrain of the battlefield would be. The dials spun and spun, before finally settling one two. The dials on BRNZ's side of the battlefield landed on a green image of trees, indicating a forest, while the dials on JNPR's side showed a silhouette of a mountain under a storm. The white metallic ground outside the center circle opened, and from the openings rose the respective landscapes of each side.

"3… 2… 1… Begin!"

Anthony watched the fight intently. RWBY had won with a clean slate, but that wasn't enough for him. He needed to learn more, watch more. Neo was able to 'convince' Mason to give Anthony the bios of all the combatants he could get, so he read up on this 'Team BRNZ'.

The leader was Brawnz Ni, a tanned-toned young man with dark purple eyes, thick eyebrows and black hair that graduated to gray and was swept to his left. He wore a sleeveless top that graduated from gray to purple top to bottom, a purple scarf, black pants with bronze kneecaps (fitting, Peter thought) and a bronze belt buckle, black boots with studded straps and another purple scarf wrapped around his right leg. His weapons of choice were claws wrapped to his hands.

Close combat fighter. Most likely used in tandem with his pieces of armor to swiftly use defense and attack simultaneously. Most likely proficient at short range and light enough to close distance at mid-range, but long range opponents put him at disadvantage, Anthony thought, analyzing as much as he could before a movement was made.

Second was Roy Stallion, a dark-skinned young man with green eyes, and brown cornrow dreadlocks tipped in gold clasps. He wore a green vest buckled closed on his left shoulder over a black t-shirt and loose white pants rolled up to his knees. He also wore a pair of fingerless gloves with white armor pieces and olive canvas sneakers. Attached to his gloves' armor were his weapons: hand-sized circular saws that, according to the provided bio, worked as both attached melee weapons or could be fired for range.

Versatile, more so than their leader. Weapons are showy, immediately placing him as an offensive fighter. Most likely uses intimidation in battle to overwhelm non-Grimm opponents. Can control an encounter by switching between short to at least mid-range, but missing his longer range by firing his saws would immediately put him at disadvantage. Evasive or tanky opponents prove to be his weakness.

The third member was another young man, Nolan Porfirio. He had messy dark red hair and bright pink eyes. He wore a deep sky blue jacket with a black hood and rolled up black sleeves, open over a white shirt with long rolled up sleeves. He also wore a pair of sunglasses that hung from his collar, a pair of ripped burgundy jeans, black shoes and black fingerless gloves. His weapon. His weapon of choice was a cattle prod.

The defensive fighter of Team BRNZ. No endgame options for finishing an opponent. Not directly dangerous, only works well among the foil of the rest of his team. The least threatening member of the team. Hell, one of the least threatening Huntsmen I've ever seen. Cattle prod provides slightly more reach than his leader's claws, but not as devastating. Records show he has the strongest aura of them all, though. Contributes to a defensive or tank fighting style, might actually pair well with his weapon. He can take the hits long enough to incapacitate an opponent of equal footing.

The fight began before Anthony analyzed further, and while the previous three members of Team BRNZ rushed forward to meet JNPR directly, their final and only female member ran the opposite direction into the trees.

May Zedong was a girl with light tan skin, dusky rose hair and gray-blue eyes, the left of which was covered by a black beanie atop her head. She wore a red and white hoodie with blue tracksuit pants, a large black scarf and red canvas sneakers. Her weapon of choice was the only double-function weapon of her team, being a sniper rifle that could also act as an axe.

Arguably the most dangerous member of the team. Weapon choice means battlefield control no matter the encounter. Axe for close to mid-range, rifle for long range. In a team based encounter, she can afford to put distance between her and her opponents and put pressure on enemies while her squadmates engage in close-combat. Truly a valuable member, but given the expertise likely leans on long-range over the alternative option, open areas or loss of cover remove her advantage entirely. Snipers need camouflage or hiding spots to be effective for more than one attack, and the close-range nature of the rest of her squad means an enemy long-ranger could take advantage of her, and vice versa. Mobility would have to be essential for her.

All of this deduction and analysis was made simply off their bios, appearances, and weapon choices, but that's all the Taskmaster needed. Seeing them in action would be beneficial, but you only analyzed so many fighters before understanding the basics of weapon choices and fighting styles and how they correlate. The fight is where you learn the smaller things though. Unique moves, the unorthodox applications of abilities that only came with the owner's creativity. Basics were for analysis. Everything else was where Anthony learned. And with this fight, he would learn as much as he could before, inevitably soon, they would all fall.

May rushed toward the treeline and used the hook of the axe part of her weapon to swing up onto the tree branch and get herself on top into a hidden position. She aimed her rifle, more intending to disrupt the other team so hers can win. She fired two shots off that just missed Ren and obliterated a large boulder just past him.

Jaune used his shield to block a double strike from Roy, and while on the defensive noticed the sniper shots. He glanced past his immediate opponent into the treeline and saw the glare of May's scope among the tree leaves. "Retreat!" Jaune commanded. He fell back into group with the rest of his team. May now seriously started aiming to hit her targets, but once JNPR had grouped back up, Jaune and Pyrrha took the back, using their shields to block any oncoming gunfire. The four of them fell back into the terrain that had risen on their side, taking cover behind a line of large rocks, just big enough to provide protection from May's attacks.

"What do we do?" Pyrrha questioned over the cracks of gunfire and roars of the spectators. Jaune peeked over the rocks and saw Brawnz, Roy and Nolan rushing to leap over their cover. He recognized their tactic; force his team into the open so May could pick them off.

"Spread out! Try to keep moving!" Jaune ordered. His teammates bolted from their hiding spot, while Jaune raised his shield again as Brawnz leapt over the rocks.

Ren slid out of his cover to come face to face with Nolan. Nolan glanced over his shoulder to the far off hidden May, who was watching him through her scope, and nodded. May smirked and began firing at Ren's feet, trying to put him off balance. Ren acrobatically flipped and dodged to avoid each shot, but Nolan closed the distance quickly, connecting a swing with his weapon to the side of Ren's face. Ren recovered, his back now to his opponent. He swung his right foot around and upwards, but Nolan ducked down to avoid the high kick and struck Ren's grounded leg. Ren swung the other way to reply, but the end of Nolan's cattle prod made its home in Ren's chest, delivering enough voltage to stun him and send him flat onto the ground.

"Ren!" Nora cried. She then glared angrily at Nolan and furrowed her brow before taking a massive swing with Magnhild. The Hammer whooshed through the air, missing its target as Nolan ducked again, and Nolan drove the end of his weapon again into Nora's torso. But instead of collapsing, Nora just smirked and tanked the electrical current.

"Woah-ho! It looks like one of my favorite students, Nora Valkyrie, is charging up to use her semblance," Port exclaimed enthusiastically.

"What?" Nolan questioned.

Oobleck elaborated on Port's announcement. "Yes! Miss Valkyrie's semblance lets her produce, as well as channel electrical energy straight to her muscles. This allows her to jump explosively into the air, wield her mighty hammer, or in this case, absorb Nolan's attacks and send the young man flying!"

"What?!" Nolan exclaimed looking back at the angry, and now supercharged, Nora in front of him. He quickly pulled back and put his hands up in surrender, but Nora smirked devilishly, and slammed the face of her hammer into Nolan's torso, sending him skidding and bouncing across the arena until he collided with a large rock back in the forest section of the battlefield, completely destroying it.

Jaune watched the display, then heard the crackling of thunder. He looked up the mountain on their side of the arena to see a lightning storm forming at the peak. "Nora! Get the mountain!" he commanded.

"You got it!" Nora saluted before speeding off to reach the mountain's peak.

"Ren, try and distract the sniper!" Jaune ordered his other teammate, who had just recovered.

One of May's bullet's narrowly missed Ren's head, and he sagged his shoulders. "Sure, why not," Ren replied sarcastically before speeding forward. Not that I haven't been doing that anyway… He rushed across the battlefield, weaving between the battle as Jauen and Pyrrha met against Brawnz and Roy. Once past that, he leapt from side to side to avoid May's gunfire, reaching the forest landscape quickly, and coming face to face with a freshly recovered Nolan.

Ren fired his weapons to unsteady him, then slashed down with the blades on his firearms. Nolan countered each melee attack with equal force, then went in for a high strike. Ren held back the cattle prod with his blades, and quickly kicked both sides of Nolan's ribcage, putting him off long enough to hook the curves of his blades around the cattle prod and use Nolan's own weapon against him, bringing it down around Nolan's neck and tightening his grip, now holding Nolan hostage like a human shield.

May hesitated for a moment, then aimed for a new target, one higher. Ren didn't need to turn to know who she was aiming for now. "Nora!" He called out.

Jaune heard Ren's call as he held back Brawnz, and looked over his shoulder to see Nora still climbing to make her way to the peak of the mountain. With Ren occupied, he'd need to rely on his redheaded teammate. "Pyrrha, up!" Pyrrha heard the command, and rushed to reach Jaune's position. She swatted away Roy's buzzsaws before sliding under her assailant. She got her feet just long enough to launch upwards and over Brawnz. Jaune faced his shield upwards moment before Pyrrha landed gracefully on top of it, and Jaune put all his possible strength behind launching her up into the air.

As Pyrrha flew upwards, she curled behind her shield and faced it in the forest's direction, reaching just the height needed as May took her shot. Instead of hitting Nora, the sniper round bounced off of Pyrrha's shield and sent the prodigy huntress flying backwards through the air.

Nora reached the top of the mountain and raised her hammer upwards to the artificial clouds above her. A lightning bolt hit her hammer which conducted the electricity into her body. She transformed Magnhild into its grenade launcher formation and fired a full barrel towards the forest, towards May. The pink smoke trails formed a heart just before it consumed May's wooden cover into flames.

May herself quickly leapt to another tree, just outside of the blast radius, but now the entire landscape was compromised. The wand was burned and aflame, and a solid wall of smoke began to rise to the treetops. May coughed heavily and leapt down to ground level, knowing height was no longer an advantage she had. The rest of Team BRNZ was so starstruck, they didn't realize Nora had leapt off of the mountaintop and was charging an attack until it was too late. Nora smashed her hammer into the ground, the force and shockwave of which destroyed the ground it struck and sent all of May's teammates flying towards her.

"This is it guys! Let's finish them with team attacks!" Jaune exclaimed. "Ren, Nora, Flower Power!"

"Wait, what?" Nora asked, immediately draining all the gusto and pride from Jaune's voice. He wheeled back around to face his teammates.

"F-Flower Power," Jaune repeated. All three of his teammates looked at each other and shrugged in confusion. "That's your team attack name."

"Since when?" Ren asked.

"Guys, we went over this!" Jaune whined. "Flower Power is Ren and Nora. Ren brings the flower, Nora brings the power!"

"How do I bring a flower…?" Ren questioned, scratching his head.

"No, silly! Not, 'a flower', flour! Like in baking!" Nora declared, as far off the mark as she was.

"Why would I bring that?"

"I, uh, no! It's your symbol!" Jaune corrected.

"So… what are we?" Pyrrha asked.

"Pyrrha!"

"Sorry!" Pyrrha apologized. "I just wanna make sure it's clearly defined."

"Pyrrha, you and I are Arkos. It's that thing, where we take our shields, remember?"

"Arkos?" Pyrrha repeated.

"Yeah! It's our names put together?"

"Right! No, I get it…"

"What, do you not like it?" Jaune asked.

"No, no, it's… good?" Pyrrha said in a non-reassuring tone.

"Mmm, I sensed hesitation!" Nora smirked.

Team BRNZ, on the other hand, was dumbstruck by JNPR's sudden ignorance of the battle before them. "Hey!" Brawnz exclaimed. "What do you think you're doing?!"

"Trying to have a team meeting, thank you very little," Jaune answered.

"Yeah! Team ears only!" Nora replied angrily.

"We're in the middle of a fight!" Brawnz yelled impatiently.

"And we're in the middle of a conversation!" Jaune snapped. "What don't you get about that?!"

"Um, Jaune?" Pyrrha cut in.

"Yes, Pyrrha?"

"I think he means that we're all in the middle of a fight?" Pyrrha pointed out, highlighted by boos and negativity from the crowd of spectators anxious to see the outcome of the battle. Jaune just sighed heavily.

"Nora, just… hit 'em with the hammer…" Their leader hung his head in disappointment.

"Got it," Nora smiled deviously.

"Wait… what?" Brawnz questioned. Before anyone could question further, Nora leapt in front of Team BRNZ, charged up an attack, and struck all four members at once, sending them blasting off into the coliseum's barrier, knocking all of them out. cold at once.

"And with that, it appears team JNPR wins by knockout! Literally," Port commented. "Seriously, can someone go make sure they're ok?"

"Well, that was the most JNPR way to win, I guess," Peter remarked.

"Hey, at least they won," Yang said. "Jaune really stepped up his game."

"Yeah, maybe he could work on some of that teamwork though," Ruby added.

"Who's up next?" Yang asked.

"Sun and Neptune's team," Peter answered.

"I wonder how well they'll do," Weiss said.

"Don't get your hopes up," Blake said. "Knowing those two, it could go either way."

The next few matches were almost embarrassing to watch. Team JNPR had started arguing in the middle of a fight, but even more ridiculous, BRNZ was wiped in a single swing. Then SSSN vs NDGO. The blue haired one, Neptune, was hydrophobic and cost the standings for two of his teammates. Sure, he took out most of NDGO on his own, but it was a matter of circumstance. It was laughable. Are these the kinda students Oz and the others are training nowadays?

The bartender whistled in amazement while cleaning a glass in his hand. "Now that was a match."

"I will say, those kids do get creative," The man sitting next to Qrow said.

"Pbbt! That was a mess," Qrow shook his head, a slight slur to his words as the alcohol in his system started to take hold.

"Come on, man!" The bartender said. "You didn't like them, the Vale kids, or any of the rounds before that. What fight are you here for?"

Qrow heard the hum of airship engines and looked over his shoulder outside to see an Atlesian ship flying in, towards Beacon Academy. At thai Qrow smiled a bit. "That one," he answered. He stood up and slammed his drink before tossing a few Lien cards onto the counter and stumbling out the bar. "Happy Vytal Festival." The man who was next to him stood up as well and joined him.

"Y'know, I have a healing factor, and even I'm concerned with the amount you drink, Qrow," He said to Qrow.

"Ah, don't get your panties in a bunch, Logan," Qrow slurred. "If I couldn't handle my liquor, I'd be dead already."

"Which begs the question, who are you trying to pick a fight with?" Logan asked.

"Don't worry about it, I got it," Qrow assured him.

"So, you didn't seem too worried about your nieces in the arena today," Logan noted.

"I knew they could handle themselves, I trained 'em. I'd be surprised if they lost to any of the chumps the other schools threw their way," Qrow said.

"Uh-huh. Whatever you say," Logan replied.

Music filled the stadium and the spectators cheered after Team SSSN's victory, and while their teammates were down for the count, Sun and Neptune celebrated their victory by dancing in the arena.

"Uuugh, that was so close…" Ruby sighed in relief, glad their friends narrowly won.

"I don't know whether that was impressive or embarrassing," Peter commented.

"Ditto," Weiss added.

"Looks like the dorks made it to the next round!" Yang smiled. Blake smiled a bit and looked down into the arena. They were on a lower row, so Sun ended up spotting her. He stopped dancing and winked at her while shooting finger guns her way. Blake blushed and bashfully looked away with an even bigger smile on her face. "Emphasis on dork," She said. The expression on her face, for some reason, made Peter's heart sink a bit, though he couldn't figure out why.

"That concludes the matches for today," Oobleck announced. "Please leave the colosseum in A CALM AND ORDERLY FASHION."

"C'mon, let's go congratulate 'em," Yang waved to her teammates and Peter. The five of them got up and started for the nearest exit to the exterior landing pads. Weiss, however, stopped when she eyed what she recognized as a military Atlas shuttle flying by. Ruby ended up bumping into her when she stopped.

"Uh, what are you doing?" She asked. A wide smile grew on her lips as well of excitement and happiness filled up inside her. "She's here…"