The tournament had arrived,
The day the whole school year had been building up to.
The only thing anyone had talked about for ages.
The peak of the Vytal festival.
What could be the defining moment of their school experience or even their careers as Huntresses. And Ruby was bound and determined to make sure that her team was as ready as possible for the first day.
To do that she needed an early start, which was why she was up even earlier than usual. The sun had barely risen over the horizon when the young leader began blowing her whistle as loud as she could trying to rouse her teammates.
"Rise and shine, come on, come on!"
Weiss moaned and tried to bury herself beneath her pillows while Ruby leaned uncomfortably close and let loose with the whistle again before spinning around between the bunk beds shouting to the whole room.
"Get up, get up! The tournament is here. Adventure and excitement, prizes and prestigiousness."
Yang threw a heavy wool blanket down over her sister from atop her bunk, the sudden extra weight knocked Ruby to the floor.
"That's not a real word." Yang said, her voice still heavy with drowsiness.
The fabric didn't dent Ruby's enthusiasm one bit, "Who cares! Don't you know what day it is?"
"Monday?"
"…Well, yeah but-."
Blake and Yang both laughed at how flustered Ruby sounded for a moment.
"Of course Ruby," Blake replied
"You've only woken us up like this for the past four days." Weiss growled from beneath her sheets trying to get back to sleep even though she knew that was unlikely.
Ruby flung the blanket off her head sped to a desk grabbed a chair and stood dramatically on it, rose petals littered the room from her semblance usage. One hand on her hip the other pointed towards the closed curtains.
"Onwards! Destiny awaits at noon!"
Blake stretched, "I'm gonna take a shower," she said moving over to her luggage to look for combat attire to wear at the opening ceremony.
"Did anyone see my text books for biology?" Yang asked while scratching her hair and surveying the room sitting on the edge of her top bunk.
Weiss groaned some more and turned to face the wall, "Five more minutes." She quietly demanded bringing her sheets up close to her chin.
"HA!"
Jaxon slammed his fists on the cafeteria table in triumph the chess board bounced up and scattered the few pieces left standing.
The giant in orange before him simply shook his head, "I'm still ahead of you by like twenty Jaxon."
"Don't be a buzzkill bro."
Kad and Jaxon quickly set up the chess board again lining up the pieces and starting off. They had developed a play style quite a bit faster than normal, using both hands to move pieces quickly not even bothering with turns. But they still applied the rules for movement and victory. Jaxon tried to rush him early on fighting an aggressive battle of attrition so he could isolate Kad's king and other important pieces. Kad shifted his line back and forth waiting for the opening to punch through before Jaxon could react.
Once again Kad seized his moment, sending a bishop through a perfect opening straight into the heart of Jaxon's force and knocking over his king. Jaxon only took a moment to scowl before he grabbed all of his captured pieces and lined them up again.
"You could always surrender?" Kad offered before he took a sip from a glass of water he had nearby. Jaxon ignored him, already moving his pawns forward. Kad let him for a moment. Then sent his knights over his frontline taking a few pawns before Jaxon countered and eliminated the highly mobile threats.
The two of them continued playing for some time the hours rapidly ticking away.
Of course Kad was conscious of the schedule for the day. He fully expected Alicia to come around at any moment fretting about some little scheduling thing she didn't think they would remember. There was nothing to worry about. Half a dozen airships were already lined up outside to take the Beacon students and their guests down into the city for the opening ceremony. He had seen that all his team members had their combat clothes and weapons on and ready by the moment they scattered across the campus for the morning. Teachers would be coming around soon to make sure everyone who wanted to go would be on their way.
Everything was prepared.
They had time to enjoy their games uninterrupted.
"That's not how you play chess."
Or so he thought. A cold spike of energy shot through Kad's chest when he noticed their visitor.
Emerald was here.
He had been too focused on the game to see his old accomplice approach. Jaxon turned back to look at Emerald so he missed the look of surprise that crossed his leader's face. She was smiling at both of them, the same smile he had seen her wear many times when she had just stolen someone's wallet face to face without ever breaking eye contact with them.
Jaxon raised an eyebrow at their new found spectator, "Not how you play chess maybe." he said.
"It's a game of planning and patience." Emerald replied.
"If you're boring."
Emerald ignored his answer and spoke to Kad, "Cinder wants to talk to you."
"Isn't that nice." He took another drink, hoping she would leave.
"Now." The thief pressed on,
"I'm busy…that means get lost." Kad waved his fingers holding the glass dismissively. But Emerald didn't leave, she just crossed her arms and stood her ground.
Jaxon slowly turned, looking back and forth between Emerald and Kad.
"So is this the mystery girl?" Jaxon asked his leader.
"Which one?" he replied,
"Either."
Kad merely shrugged his massive shoulders. He knew full well Co'Balt's favorite theory about his disappearance late last term, and that Alicia would have talked to either one of their Faunus teammates about the 'ghost' Kad had been looking for a few weeks ago. It was just harmless speculation and it would do him more harm than good to clamp down on his teammates.
He looked back at Emerald again, "What is this about?"
"The tournament, you know."
"Do I now?"
He could see Emerald was getting angry, her lips began to rise in a silent snarl at his attitude and she angled her head slightly forward her red eyes locked on his own.
Once again Kad tried to ignore her, "Your move Jaxon." He said, hoping the cold shoulder would get rid of Emerald, but Jaxon smelled info and wasn't going to let go. He tipped over his own king and swung around straddling the bench, elbows on his knees and hands under his chin looking up at Emerald.
"So who's Cinder?" He asked.
In a roundabout way she answered the Faunus while still trying to stare down Kad, "Someone you really don't want to ignore."
"Stop being so dramatic, you're gonna give people ideas." He replied
Jaxon sat up swinging his arms around, his Faunus ears flattened back against his head in annoyance "I love ideas, why are you two ignoring me?"
Kad sighed long and resigned, he pulled his scroll out from a pocket on the inside of his jacket. She said Cinder wanted to talk. Very well.
Emerald's eyes widened as she sensed his intent, but she was thoroughly frozen in place by his brazen action.
But apparently Cinder's need for a conversation wasn't so great that she would answer a call. All Kad heard was a dull electronic tone before a burst of static and his attempt to reach Cinder failed.
"What do yah know? Nothing." He let the device carelessly fall from his hand to the table with a hard thud. He righted Jaxon's chess piece and folded his arms in front of his side of the board.
"Kad… Now." Emerald said,
"Emerald. No… If she wants to talk she knows where to find me." He replied voice full of mockery and sarcasm
That seemed to work, Kad didn't see the look on her face when she spun away and stormed out of the hall mumbling to herself. Jaxon turned back to the game and slowly moved a pawn forward. Returning to the more sedated pace of the game to question his leader a bit.
"Who's Cinder?" The Faunus asked,
Kad jumped a knight forward again, "Friend of mine from Atlas, I got in a spot of trouble and she had me patched up. I was running around with her and a few others for a while before I decided to come to Beacon."
Technically it was the truth. There were really only two details he needed to keep from Jaxon and his team. As far as they knew he had just been a drifter with skills who wanted to do some good by becoming a Huntsman.
"So Emerald…" Jaxon started to ask,
"Do yourself a favor and don't Jaxon," Kad warned him, "At best she's gonna steal your wallet. Try not to get within arm's reach of her."
"She seemed pretty pissed."
"I think she assumed a few things."
That he was too stupid to remember his role in the plan, and by proxy Cinder did too since independent thoughts were not usually things that crossed Emerald's mind as of late. Or she was trying to get him in trouble by making him bug Cinder.
Jaxon shifted another pawn, "So you think Cinder really wanted to talk to you?"
"No idea," Kad told him, moving his queen out into the middle of the board, "Doesn't matter any way. We'll probably see each other sometime today it can wait till then."
'She hot?"
Kad sighed briefly in exasperation. "If you beat me I'll tell you." He said while moving a rook across the board, "Checkmate."
Jaxon slammed his fist on the table again.
It took the entire competing student body from all four Kingdoms of Remnant exactly twenty minutes to fly down to the coliseum and assemble themselves, partner by partner, team by team and academy by academy,
The Vale arena put many academies to shame with its sheer size alone. It was easily recognizable as by far the biggest building on the edge of the 'high class' neighborhoods right along the river that ran through the city. Hundreds of feet tall, enclosing an enormous field able to hold any type of event that the Kingdom could think of.
There was a collapsible stage on the west end of the arena. Folded out at the moment to provide a place where the headmasters and chaperones for the hundreds of students lining up before them could rest and socialize for a moment. Letting the press get all of their photos for the next edition printed of whatever they worked for.
Those individuals were not the only VIPs on the stage at the moment. Several ambassadors, business leaders and Vale government officials were conversing amongst themselves waiting for the event to start.
Thousands were lining the stands several feet above the floor. The opening ceremony would be televised all over the world courtesy of the Kingdom of Atlas.
On the stage looking out, the students were arranging themselves the same way that they had for their field trip assignments, Mistral, Atlas, Vacuo, and Vale. A great deal of them had changed into their combat uniforms, practically the whole crowd. All of them waiting patiently for the moment.
A wave of silence washed over all of the people when the stadium clock set above the stage struck twelve with a deep metallic bell note.
All of the people on stage stood respectfully as headmaster Ozpin rose from his chair between General Ironwood and a another man with graying brown hair dressed in a long red coat embroidered with many twisting lines making his body features stand out. Cradling a long sword sheathed in a dark leather scabbard up between his legs with both hands on the hilt.
While there had been more than a little distrust between Ozpin and the council as of late they hadn't completely side lined him. He was still the tournament host and was expected to open the ceremony with a speech.
And so Professor Ozpin spoke, his deep voice echoing through the huge empty space through the speakers placed around the whispering crowd.
"Years ago like so many times in our history, our ancestors took up arms once more. But this time for a new purpose to answer a new challenge. A challenge that we could better ourselves without laying waste to our world, through competition. Many times we have held this tournament and no matter what ulterior motives we have had in competing we accept that this,"
He raised his hands in a broad gesture, pointing to the students, the crowd, and all of Remnant watching from afar.
"This is not a time for hatred and petty rivalries, it is a time of unity, peace, and understanding that we can look past the violence in our hearts and to a brighter future. So students fight well, good luck and let the Fortieth Vytal festival tournament officially begin."
All the students broke into howls and cheers many raised their weapons above their heads. Saluting their teachers, saluting the crowd and each other.
Applause and thunderous cheering roared through the stands drowning out the music that began to play through hidden speakers while the first elimination round match ups were posted on a holographic station that snapped into existence above the stage.
At the same time the calming students pulled out their preferred information devices and got a closer look at who they would face at what time. Weiss, Blake, and Yang all clustered around Ruby who was shifting down through her scroll to find their names in the list of hundreds.
"Everyone good?" Ruby asked her teammates.
No
Yang was definitely not alright although she tried her best to hide it.
She easily recognized her first opponent.
Raven.
Five minutes later Yang was pacing back and forth down a secluded hallway. She didn't know how Raven had gotten into the tournament, or how in the world she had managed to get herself paired up with Yang.
The tournament was starting off with two rounds of minor eliminations. She thought they were supposed to be random. Ruby and Weiss were up first in this round, her sister against an unknown Mistral girl and the heiress against Olivia from Beacon. Blake was out touring the arena with Sun. She had asked her blonde teammate to accompany them, but Yang had declined, lying and saying she was going to find some action in the gambling circuit she knew was probably around.
In reality she knew Raven would probably be looking for her, so Yang was going find her first, keeping to the edges of the crowds looking for the girl who had been stalking her dreams.
She felt a strong hand land on her left arm and was pulled aside into a cramped hallway leading to a service closet. Yang threw her arm back, breaking the hold and pushing herself against the wall, fists up ready to strike.
Of course it was Raven. Her dark haired doppelganger raised her empty hands peacefully, the shadowy tunnel made her pale face and red eyes the only distinguishable feature Yang could see.
Raven began, "I'm not here to fight Yang."
"Really…"
Raven tilted her hands and awkwardly grinned, "Well okay yeah, but it was the only way I was going to talk to you."
"I don't want to hear it, whatever it is." Yang replied.
"I know," Her stalker nodded, "But I told you I need help."
"'Something is coming' 'the walls are closing in' blah, blah, blah." Yang mocked her unwanted follower
"You owe me." Raven hissed, her voice threateningly low.
"Then I'll buy you a drink some time. I know this place that makes a great strawberry sunrise." Yang slowly began sidestepping toward the exit.
"Would you just listen to me Xiao Long!"
Yang froze in shock while Raven composed herself, after that outburst
She tilted up an eyebrow at the blonde Huntress, "How about a challenge?"
Yang was too stunned to say anything more than, "What?"
"If I beat you in the tournament tomorrow, you'll help me." Raven proposed,
"And if I win?" Yang cautiously asked,
"Well, then you win." Raven said with a grin. "Do we have a deal?" She asked holding out her hand.
Yang still felt something was wrong, but she wasn't going to pass up a chance to rid herself of this nuisance. She seized the offered hand as hard as she could in a bone crushing grip, returning the carnivorous grin she was getting from Raven.
"Bring it on…"
The dark Huntress smiled, released her grip satisfied with their deal. She raised her right arm parallel with her shoulder down towards the door. Yang blinked as the portal burst to life and when she opened her eyes once again, Raven was gone.