Chapter 22: The Calm before the Storm

Disclaimer: RWBY belongs to Rooster Teeth and Monty Oum, I only own my OCs.

Team RXDY

One month later, the Vytal Festival arrives at last.

The festival is an international event held every two years in one of the Kingdoms in Remnant in celebration of the end of the Great War in addition to celebrating the diversity of cultures of Remnant. The festival was named after the small island of Vytal located north of Vale where the treaty was signed to signify the end of the Great War.

The Vytal Tournament is a major part of the Festival where teams from the four Kingdoms would fight in three rounds.

The first is a 4 on 4 and the winner of that match choose two of their team to go on for the 2 on 2 doubles round, the victors will choose one representative to fight the final 1 on 1 round. The remaining combatants will fight through a final to prove the victor. There are no specific brackets for age or schooling. The only thing that is put to the test in the tournament is skill.

Team RXDY is among the attendants watching Team RWBY battle Team ABRN (Auburn) from Haven Academy on a lava and ice biomes.

ABRN consists of the team leader Arslan Altan, Bollin Hori, Reese Chloris and Nadir Shiko.

Yumi shouted, "Go, Team RWBY! Own those fools!" While she cheers RWBY on, up at the entrance to the seats Ashton and Klawdia watch the two teams duke it out.

Ashton shook his head, "These children have no idea the dangers Remnant has in store for them when they graduate. The types of Grimm they'll eventually encounter beyond these school grounds. Should they graduate." Reese flies toward Blake on her hoverboard on the ice part of the biomes before thrusting it at the cat faunus, who deflects it back to Reese with Gambol Shroud. The green-haired human girl sends it to Blake with an open palm strike, Blake kicks it away the hoverboard spins through the air like a boomerang. Reese catches it in time when Blake pounces on her performing a series of slashes that Reese blocks, the two enter a clash until Reese backflips onto her hoverboard charging at Blake. The cat faunus makes her collide with an ice clone, backflipping away Blake uppercuts her opponent into the air slicing the hoverboard in half which was a pair of pistols, performing an acrobatic move Reese fires her dual pistols when she lands on the ice right on her tailbone causing some of the spectators to flinch.

Yang leaps at Arslan on the lava part, exchanging blows with her until their fists collide, generating a shockwave that knocks both combatants back. Coming to a halt Yang attacks once more going for a diving kick when Arslan uses bandages on her dagger to create a rope dart, wrapping it around Yang's foot to pull the blonde brawler in for Arslan to kick her onto the ice section. While Yang struggles to stand on the ice Arslan managed to land a hit on her, making Yang slide on her back. Nadir sees her prone position and points his assault rifle or SMG at her when his feet get entrapped in ice Dust courtesy of Ruby using Crescent Rose.

She said to Yang, "Got your back!"

Bolin asked her, "Who's got yours?" He twirls his staff in preparation to attack when a black glyph appears to his left and Weiss kicks him through it crashing into a boulder.

Ruby stood up, "My BFF!"

Weiss shook her head, "No." She chases after Bolin.

Ruby whispered, "Yes." Team RXDY nods at Team RWBY's performance thus far.

They show promise. Still a little rough around the edges but with a bit more polishing they can become a well-oiled fighting team. Perhaps RXDY can take them on a training trip when they graduate, iron out their weaknesses.

Bolin evades a team attack from Ruby and Weiss, leaps over a swipe from Crescent Rose much to Ruby's chagrin. He cuts a piece of the fire Dust crystal throwing it to Reese who inserts into her hoverboard. Winking at Blake she flies over to Nadir's location, thawing his frozen feet before returning her attention to Blake, pinning the cat faunus to an ice pillar and with a concentrated push blasts her through the pillar. Blake quickly recovers evading counterattacks and throws the bladed Gambol Shroud into the glacier using it to bring herself over there. Reese follows her seeing Blake's back to her and with a side smirk attacks her. What Reese doesn't know is she just attacked another clone, leaving her open to a trap by Blake. The cat faunus uses the ribbon of her weapon as a rope to catch Reese in mid-air and kicks both her and her hoverboard out of the ring, eliminating her from the match.

Xavier commented, "Pretty impressive performance by Team RWBY. Keeping the enemy team separated and using the environment to their advantage." Weiss uses an ice glyph to encase Nadir and Bolin in a fist of ice before it rolls down the ice part of the biomes. Arslan sees this. Rolling her eyes with a sigh, she uses her makeshift rope dart to bring her around to the projected path of the rolling ball of ice, placing her dominant foot behind her and concentrates her aura. She is able to break the object, freeing her teammates.

Weiss called out, "Yang, finish it!" She forms an ice wall for the blonde brawler to use.

Yang runs toward it using Ember Celica to propel herself, Blake meets her halfway tossing Yang one half of Gambol Shroud to her making the brawler pull it straight. Blake tenses her arms using Ruby as a springboard and rockets toward Team ABRN and pulls with all of her might sending Yang to them, landing a punch that sends the remaining three members of the Haven team out of the ring, giving Team RWBY the win. The crowd erupts with cheers.

Weiss asked, "We did it?" Ruby looks at her teammates, Yang gives her half sister the thumbs-up giving her the answer.

Ruby leaped into the air, "We did it!" The scene changed to the fairgrounds as she landed, "Anyone starving?"

Blake admitted, "I worked up quite the appetite." Her stomach releases a loud growl.

Weiss said, "Hmm, if only there was somewhere we could find food. Oh, wait."

Ruby placed a hand on the heiress' shoulder, "It's okay, Weiss. I forgot about the fairgrounds too."

Weiss said, "I was being sarcastic."

Ruby threw her arms in the air, "If you were hungry, why didn't you say so?!"

Yang gestured with her arm, "Come on, I know just the place." They start walking to the stand when Weiss feels her scroll vibrate. Bringing it out she sees it's her father calling, shaking her head with a scowl on her face Weiss rejects the call and puts it back in her jacket pocket.

Suddenly Emerald called out, holding Ruby's wallet, "Hey! Might be hard eating without this." Ruby scrambled about her attire wondering how it could've fallen out earning a laugh from Emerald, "Good to see you, Ruby." She walks up to the huntress in training, returning the wallet.

Ruby thanked her, "Thanks, Emerald. Guess I dropped it. Girl pockets are the worst!"

Yang greeted, "What's up, Em?"

Emerald replied, "Just left the stadium after watching your amazing fight, you girls were awesome!"

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

Weiss added, "You know, we never met her team."

Yang asked, "How'd they do in the fight?" Emerald looks at the sky with a raised eyebrow remembering how her team frankly owned the challengers with a disguised Neo stepping on the supposedly team leader's face.

Emerald returned her gaze to Team RWBY, "Really well."

Ruby said, "That's great. Why don't we get some victory food together?"

Emerald replied, "Oh gosh, that's so nice of you but my teammates are kind of…" She looked over her shoulder to see Mercury sniffing a boot, "...introverted. Really socially awkward."

Yang hissed through her teeth, "Ooo, yeah. I can see that."

Emerald smiled, "So yeah, Merc and I will be moving on to the doubles round. What about you?" The group is unaware they're being eavesdropped by Ashton and Klawdia.

Ashton knows Emerald is putting up an act making herself look friendly when in reality she's spying on them for Cinder. It makes him sick to his stomach to see the mint-haired girl being used as a pawn by Cinder.

Ruby cupped her chin, "As team leader I've decided who to represent us in the doubles round."

Weiss corrected, "We put it to a vote."

Blake answered, "We decided Yang and Weiss will progress to the double rounds."

Weiss bowed, "I will proudly represent Team RWBY."

Yang banged her fists together, "We won't go easy on you should we meet."

Emerald said, "I'd have it no other way. Well, Mercury and I are going to watch more matches."

Ruby waved, "Bye, Emerald!"

The mint-haired girl waved back, "Later." Turning around she gags and starts walking away with Mercury.

He asked, "How'd it go with your new 'friends'?" He adds air quotes on the friends part.

Emerald gritted her teeth, "I hate them."

Mercury shrugged, "Orders are orders."

Emerald growled, "How can they be so happy all the time?"

Mercury said, "At least we know who we're working with."

Emerald nodded, "The heiress and the bimbo."

A voice said, "Ara ara~, you two aren't up to something, are you?" Mercury and Emerald freeze in their tracks hearing that voice, slowly turning with fear etched on their faces the thieves see Klawdia approaching them with a seeming friendly smile.

Emerald faintly gulped, "H-hi there, Klawdia. Fancy meeting you here." The disguised T-Rex enjoys seeing the fearful look on Emerald's face, their interrogation still fresh in their minds.

Klawdia placed her arms behind her back, "So are you two plotting something sinister? Don't lie, please. I'm sure you remember what happened the last time you lied."

A bead of sweat ran down Emerald's cheek, "How can I not forget?" How right she is. The girl didn't get any sleep for a whole week following the interrogation, waking up screaming after seeing Klawdia's true form in her sleep.

Klawdia said, "Now, I ask again. Are you two planning something against Weiss and Yang?" The thieves swear they hear their hearts drop to the pit of their stomachs. Did she hear that part?

Ashton came over, "Knock it off, Klawdia. They got a match to prepare for." When Klawdia looks at him, Emerald and Mercury bolt out of there.

Once they reached a safe distance, Mercury commented, "That woman is scary. Dare I say it far scarier than Cinder when she's mad."

Emerald agreed, "I thought I was gonna have a heart attack. Those eyes of hers are downright terrifying." Lifting her hand up Emerald finds it shaking. Her heart starts racing and breathing comes out quicker with her pupils contract. Mercury sees his partner's state and grabs her shoulders.

He said, "Em, listen to me. You can't break here. We still have a mission to complete, if we fail we don't have to worry about Cinder being pissed but her." That brings Emerald out of her state of panic, Mercury is right. Facing an enraged Salem is far worse than facing Cinder's anger.

She mustered up the courage to say, "C-can we get out of here for a while? I need to get my act together for our doubles round." Mercury accepts the request, leading the mint-haired girl away from the fairgrounds.

Ashton whacks Klawdia on the head, making her cover the area he hit.

Klawdia winced, "Ow, why'd you do that for?"

Ashton lectured, "You could've blown your cover with that stunt! Do you wanna cause a panic and lead Grimm into Beacon grounds?"

Klawdia replied, "No."

Ashton said, "Please don't do that again."

The True Grimm lowered her head, "I'm sorry."

Ashton sighed, "Think before you act next time, okay?" Team RWBY heads for the food stand seeing the owner of Dust 'til Dawn.

Ruby orders a bowl of pasta, Yang orders the same and Weiss gets one as well despite her asking if there's any low-salt versions and Blake nods to the old man, who rushes back to the kitchen. The gang hears food being cooked and the old man dashes back out, sliding a bowl full of fish. Blake has stars in his eyes and a string of saliva dangling from her mouth. Weiss nods then hands the old man her card.

Yang queried, "What's the occasion, Weiss?"

The heiress said, "I'm in a generous mood." Suddenly her card is thrown back to her with the cash register saying "declined".

She asked, "What? Declined? How can my card be declined? I barely went into this month's allowance." Blake tries pulling her fish bowl to her when the Dust 'til Dawn owner rips it away from her making the cat faunus groan at the loss of her meal.

A voice asked, "Maybe I can help?" Turning their heads in sync, the team sees JPNR walking up to them with the female Spartan holding up her card.

Ruby cheered, "Pyrrha!"

Yang waved it off, "You didn't have to."

Blake quickly interjected, "But she could!" With the payment issue resolved, teams RWBY and JPNR rest from their meal except for Jaune who groans in discomfort.

He expressed, "I'm stuffed."

Pyrrha stated, "It'll give us energy for our battle."

Jaune lifted his arm to wave it, "If I hurl, get out of the way."

Nora suggested with a grin, "Aim it at the enemy!"

Ren replied, "Nora, that's disgusting."

Port said over the PA, "Attention. Will Team JPNR report to the arena for their match?"

Ooblock added, "Yes, like they should've several minutes ago?"

Pyrrha stood with her teammates, "That's our cue. Wish us luck." When Team RWBY gets up, they thank Pyrrha for paying for their meal and are just about to leave when Ashton pays them a visit with Klawdia. He removes his mask.

Ruby smiled, "Hi there. Who are you two?"

Ashton introduced, "Mine name is Stephen and this is my partner Klawdia."

Yang said, "You part of a team?"

Ashton shook his head, "No, beautiful. We are just travelers here to watch the Vytal Tournament. We came to wish you four good luck. But first, I'd like to speak with Yang alone. Do you mind? It'll be quick."

Blake shrugged, "I see no problem."

Ashton smiled, "Splendid. Yang, follow me." The blonde brawler does what he asks leading her to a secluded area.

Yang placed a hand on her hip, "So what's up?"

Ashton donned a serious expression, "Be on your guard when you face Mercury. Emerald will use her semblance to make you attack him making it appear as misconduct thus disqualifying your team from the tournament. So watch yourself. When Emerald makes her move, I strongly advise you not to retaliate. No matter how strong the instinct is. Don't take the bait."

Yang titled her head, "Okay, I guess."

Ashton's bright amber eyes gazed into Yang's lilac orbs, "I'm serious. Do not for fall it."

Yang raised her hands, "Okay, okay, I'll heed your warning. Sheesh."

Ashton nodded, "See that you do. Don't need you making a fool out of yourself on live broadcast." They return to Team RWBY's location.

Weiss asked, "I can take you're done talking with Yang?"

Ashton replied, "Yes. I told you it'd be quick. Well, better go cheer your fellow Beacon team in their match." A while later, Team JPNR stand ready for battle against Team BRNZ (Bronze) from Shade Academy. The enemy team was composed of their leader Brawnz Ni, Roy Stallion, Nolar Porfirio and May Zedong, all four were human.

The timer counts down and when it reaches zero the buzzer sounds, starting the match.

Teams JPNR and BRNZ charge each other.

A/N: Chapter 22 done.

Here we get the first round of the Vytal Tournament with Team RWBY defeating Team ABRN.

Later, Klawdia met Emerald and Mercury again, almost getting Emerald have a panic if Ashton hadn't intervened.

He later warned Yang of what those two are planning.

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