Beta-ed by xenosaiyan
"An Action Duel?" Ironwood dryly remarked, his gaze unimpressed as Belladonna, Xiao-Long, Valkyrie, and Ren readied to duel amidst a glorified playground. "Really?"
"Come now, James," Ozpin chuckled at his expense, the two headmasters standing at one of the railings of the ballroom's second floor. Being, on paper, teacher chaperones to the dance, students gave the pair a wide breath, which would be useful if anything sensitive came up between them. "I never would have thought you an aura manifestation traditionalist."
"Hardlight manifestation is not what I take issue with," the general reminded his friend. Archaic Mistral dojos and prideful Vacuo pit duelists might scorn using technology to manifest monster bodies instead of aura, but Ironwood had never been one to shy away from new technology's potential to save lives. Hardlight dust bodies might have been weaker than aura bodies, but they could be utilized by easily mass-produced Atlesian Knights. "The Action Duel format has just never seemed like something that has a place in the academies to me. It's for Heartland's arcades and carnivals, not training for battle with the Grimm."
"I activate my field spell, Ritual Sanctuary," Ren evenly announced, his green duel disk's side opening up for him to gently place it inside.
If it was a real duel, his Stormflower's systems would activate to spread his aura over the wide range of his spell. But since it was an Action Duel, the linked-up duel disk instead sent a signal to the Heartland Entertainment Hardlight Dust Projector on the central stage next to Sun Wukong. The hi-tech machine blinked a bit and used its dust fuel to manifest a solid wedding cathedral on Ren and Valkyrie's side of the duel arena, mish-mashed with the circus and its colorful trapeze.
Valkyrie skipped and twirled up to the head of the central aisle, spinning in her pink dress like she was a bride awaiting her wedding bells. Meanwhile, Ren dove through the pews and snagged an Action Card that had fallen down when his field spell had displaced its ledge in the action field.
"With Ritual Sanctuary out, once per turn, I can discard a spell card in order to add a ritual spell or a Ritual Monster from my deck to my hand," he explained, revealing his Action Card to be an Action Spell before discarding it to yank something else out of his deck. "I search for Machine Angel Ritual."
"See?" Ironwood pointed out. "In a real duel, there wouldn't be a card just lying around to let him go plus one in his card advantage like that."
"I concur. Which is why we don't teach it outside entertainment dueling classes. We must prepare our students for reality," Ozpin said, before brandishing that infuriating twinkling smile of his gesturing out among the rambunctious crowd of hunting duelists. "But, this is hardly a class. They're children, James. Let's let them play the part. After all, it's not one they'll be able to enjoy forever."
"Point," Ironwood acknowledged. The general stood up and yanked his uniform straight. "I suppose I should get back to playing my part so they can then. You and Glynda have this covered, so I'll bolster my guards at Beacon Tower."
"Yes, the guards you posted at my CCT Tower, when I told you that I saw no reason to do so myself," Ozpin joked, a teasing chuckle under his breath. "Come on, James, it's a party. The world won't collapse if you relax for one night–"
"General! There you are! Quick, Penny's crash–oh, hi… headmaster…"
Ironwood turned to see Ruby Rose rushing to a sudden stop before him and Ozpin, dragging Penny behind her. A twitching, glassy-eyed Penny that was repeating a single ominous phrase. "Would you like to send a report? Would you like to send a report? Would you like to send a report?"
The general's face blanched with panic. Penny had crashed? A crashing Penny was in front of Ozpin? No, no, no! How was this even happening?! Penny was an Ignis, the most powerful artificial intelligence ever created, ever-evolving and improving every second. She hadn't crashed since literally her second day alive. What the heck could possibly have compromised his current systems so badly?!
"Good evening, Ms. Rose. My compliments on your suit. Mermaid G&F? They always do splendid work," Ozpin greeted. He cocked an eyebrow at the twitching Penny. "Are you alright, Ms. Polendina?"
"Would you like to send a report? Would you like to send a report?"
"Ah, post-Bartholomew paperwork stress disorder claims another victim," Ozpin sadly shook his head. "I was relieved when it seemed like she was the first teaching assistant of his to avoid the trauma, but I seem to have celebrated too soon."
Ironwood blinked at the headmaster seamlessly explaining away the strange sight before he got a chance to try to cover for her cybernetic twitching. He supposed that was a benefit to his leader being thousands of years old. He'd literally seen everything in every combination of weirdness, so by this point, anything strange just funneled into one of those previous experiences.
The bigger concern was why Ruby Rose was just as amazed at Ozpin's instant explanation as he was. She'd been at Beacon for over a semester, she knew Bartholomew Oobleck's insane written work demands, and, most notably, she was Qrow's niece. Insanity was in her blood. Her headmaster's theory should have made perfect sense to her.
Unless she already knew the truth was something else entirely. Penny's after-action report from the incident at the docks had said that the silver-eyed girl knew about Cyberse Clock Dragon, but how would she have learned about the Ignis' true nature? And moreover, why wouldn't Penny have informed him if she had? She understood the importance of her secrecy. The world was not ready, and though Ruby was no agent of Salem, he couldn't trust an excitable child to not let such a monumental secret slip out.
"She… uh… she's not used to being around so many people. She's usually cooped up with her dad doing research," Ms. Rose stammered out, looking desperately to Ironwood. "I figured if anyone knew how to fix–help! Help her! If anyone here knew how to help her, it'd be you."
Ironwood's eyes narrowed, his suspicions growing. But restoring Penny to a state when she wasn't spouting computer jargon was paramount. The duel was drawing most of the students' gazes as Ren summoned the angelic Diviner of the Herald (ATK 500/DEF 300) but all it took was one stray eye or ear to discern something that needed to remain classified.
The general knelt down to Penny's level and tenderly took the redheaded girl's spasming hand. "Penny, it's okay. Everything's alright. Stay strong, stay calm. Your friend Miyu would want you to stay strong, stay calm."
The code phrase fizzled through Penny's auditory circuits, triggering a system reset. Pietro hadn't been able to choose the wording, the Ignis's origins had complicated that, but he had been able to guide it to a healthy outcome for his daughter. It wouldn't wipe her memory or anything, but it would take care of an unexpected hiccup in her code.
Indeed, the peppy girl finally stopped talking about sending a report, a crackle of purple flickered across her eyes. They soon returned to their natural bright emerald hue, the rest of her face unsticking itself as Penny took a deep breath (which always confused the general since she didn't breathe, but Pietro assured him that the mechanical muscle motion was still calming for her systems).
"Thank you, general," she said, her smile returning to fluorescence as she turned to Ruby. "My apologies, Ruby. That suit is very aesthetically effective on you."
"Uh, okay," Ruby replied, cautiously poking the other girl's shoulder. "You sure you're okay? You're not gonna have another… uh, panic attack–"
"Oh, look," Ironwood slyly commented, glancing towards the duel arena. "Mr. Ren has just sent Herald of the Arc Light from his Extra Deck to his graveyard to boost his monster's level."
"He did?!" Ruby exclaimed, bolting towards the railing to look at Diviner of the Herald as its heavenly glow intensified. "Cool! He got that forge job working!"
Penny skipped over to join her in her spectating. "I was unaware Ren knew how to Synchro Summon."
"Oh, he doesn't, but he was helping Nora out with her Synchro Summoning research and he figured out that he could make a Synchro Monster to support one of his Ritual Monsters," Ruby explained. "You see, Diviner can send it from the Extra Deck straight to the graveyard, and when it hits the graveyard–"
"When Herald of the Arc Light is sent to the graveyard, I can add a Ritual Monster or spell from my deck to my hand," Ren declared from down below, pulling Herald of Perfection from his deck and showing it to his opponents and the crowd.
"That," Ruby finished. "It lets him do that. And get this, since Herald of the Arc Light is Level Four, sending it to the grave with Diviner's ability makes it Level Six."
"An impressive combination!" Penny praised. "Level Six is Herald of Perfection's level. Diviner can now be tributed for its Ritual Summon."
"Exactly!"
Ironwood sighed. He hadn't known Ms. Rose long, but it seemed his observations of her obsession with dueling were accurate. Fortunate.
"Her friend Miyu?"
Unfortunately, others could not be so easily distracted.
Ironwood looked up to find Ozpin having stepped back from the two young hunting duelists, his twinkling eyes looking over Penny's smiling face with mournful regret.
"Um, yes. Before the Lost Incident, she and Penny were friends," the general lied, not ready to tell his friend the truth just yet. Not until he had irrefutable evidence that the Ignis Project, like the Link Monster Project, was indisputably beneficial to mankind.
"I see. It does make her father's overprotectiveness of her make more sense," Ozpin mournfully mused. "To know that his child's friend disappeared like that, only to reappear and then…"
What had happened was left unsaid. They both knew what had occurred in the aftermath of The Lost Incident, what further tragedy had struck even after Arthur Watts had been sent to hell like he deserved. It was the night Ironwood had been fully brought in on the inner circle's activities after Fria had kept him at the fringes, never truly knowing why she bade him do what she had him do, for so long.
It was the night the general had learned just how far Qrow would go on Ozpin's commands, so far that Taiyang would finally refuse to go on any further missions with his former partner for the inner circle's machinations. It was the night Ironwood had first been forced to realize just what it meant to sacrifice anything and everything for humanity's future.
It was the night Ozpin had made clear that he meant it when he said that all Emperors must die, no matter how much it broke his heart to give the order.
"I activate my Ritual Spell, Dawn of the Herald," Ren proclaimed below. "I tribute my Level Six Diviner of the Herald to Ritual Summon my Herald of Perfection from my hand."
The angelic figure of Diviner of the Herald glittered away into sparks, only for its light to coalesce into a new heavenly figure only a moment later.
One large white sphere and one smaller white sphere, each orb littered with holes spewing beams of orange, green, and purple light. As the power inherited from their tributed companion solidified as a part of them, the divine globes were connected by a thick bridge, and their ethereal beings merged into one. Angelic wings of orange, green, and purple sprouted from the new seraphim's rear as it settled onto the sideways card that marked its defense position (ATK 1800/DEF 2800).
As the crowd ooo-ed and ah-ed at such a pristine and ethereal creature blooming onto the field, Ozpin and Ironwood flanked Ruby and Penny respectively at the railing. Both men on the side of the angels, whether those angels were unaware or otherwise.
RWBYRWBYRWBYRWBYYUGIOHYUGIOH
"Is that guy really using a Ritual Monster? Is he crazy?"
"No, he's just that good, dude. I hear he slaughtered the guy he proctored at the Promotion Exams."
"Plus, his monster is so beautiful! And he's not too hard on the eyes either in that suit. Mmm."
Under normal circumstances, Blake would be terrified for whichever person in the crowd was flirting with Ren within earshot of Nora. But given there was a hardlight dust barrier between her and them, she decided that there wasn't significant danger on that front… probably… she didn't think Nora could break through a hardlight barrier on her own.
But even as Ren used Dawn of the Herald to banish itself from the grave and return his tributed Diviner of the Herald back to his hand, Blake found herself fidgeting atop her trapeze ledge. Not because of the height, she'd dove off skyscrapers and leapt onto speeding trains before. But she never thought she'd be back in the Acrobatic Circus after so many years.
Her mom had helped pioneer Action Duels back when she was part of Mr. Diamond's circus, and she'd used them to great effect to raise people's spirits high in the early days of the White Fang. She and Sienna had dazzled the crowd as they leapt through the hoops, racing for Action Cards. Blake had practically learned to duel amidst its rainbow trapeze. She'd been a different person then, brighter, more hopeful. Gods, she'd had so much fun with Odd-Eyes on this field.
But those days were gone. Now, standing amidst such dazzling lights and a crowd ready to be entertained, she couldn't help but feel someone like her didn't belong.
"Since it was tributed, Diviner of the Herald's second effect now activates, allowing me to special summon a different Level Two or lower Fairy-Type monster from my hand or deck," Ren said, a card ejecting from the side of his deck. The pink-eyed man snatched it up and placed the new monster sideways on his duel disk, a cute pink cherub (ATK 300/DEF 200) flashing onto his field. "Cyber Petit Angel. Defense mode. And upon its summon, I can search out either a Cyber Angel Ritual Monster or a Machine Angel Ritual Spell Card. I choose Cyber Angel Natasha."
"Darn it," Blake grit her teeth, helpless as the suited man snagged one of his key Ritual Monsters to his hand. Worse, he swiftly activated Machine Angel Ritual and tributed the Level Six Cyber Angel Idaten from his hand to Ritual Summon the psychedelic three-armed centaur in defense mode (ATK 1000/DEF 1000). And since Idaten was tributed, its effect activated to boost every ritual monster on Ren's field by a thousand attack and defense points. Cyber Angel Natasha (ATK 2000/DEF 2000) and Herald of Perfection (ATK 2800/DEF 3800) serenely preened as they were reinforced by radiant halos.
"To end my turn, I activate Cyber Angel Natasha's effect," the disciplined Obelisk Blue declared. "Once per turn, I target one monster on my field and gain life points equal to half its attack points."
Natasha clopped its hooves, a sprinkle of dazzling sparks raining down on Herald of Perfection as Ren and Nora were surrounded by a soft glow. The orange, green, and violet lights of the spherical celestial reflected through the twinkling stars pouring down on it and spread a cascade of beautiful colors throughout the dance hall. The crowd gasped at the stunning display, even those who'd been doubting the ritual user now clapping in affirmation.
Nora & Ren: 9400 Life Points
Blake clenched her fists as she scanned her opponent's opening field. Most people didn't notice Ren given he didn't make an effort to stand out and was on the same team as The Invincible Girl. But he was an Obelisk Blue for a reason, dominating his duel entrance test and passing the written exam with high marks even with his limited opportunities for formal education growing up.
Adding to that was that while Nora specialized in unleashing the raw power Ritual Monsters were capable of, her partner preferred to make use of their surprisingly versatile effects to cut down the opponent's options. Cyber Angel Natasha was the perfect example of that, being able to negate any attack launched against a Ritual Monster without exception. Ren had stonewalled duelists into surrendering out of pure frustration with it. And with Herald of Perfection right next to it, capable of negating any effect so long as its duelist discarded a Fairy-Type as a cost, the defensive setup was nearly ironclad, and that was before Idaten had boosted them–
"Hey, partner. It's alright."
Blake whipped her head towards Yang, the muscular blonde as dazzling as the Fairy-Type's display in her glittering golden gown. She smiled reassuringly from her higher trapeze platform, speaking softly so the crowd couldn't hear.
"It's for fun, remember?" she teased her. "No need to tense yourself up about it."
Blake blinked in surprise, her amber gaze falling down to her fists, clenched and ready for battle. Slowly, the disguised cat faunus let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding, unfurling her fingers as she relaxed her muscles. This wasn't a fight to the death. Or even a duel with anything on the line. Heck, they weren't even using aura bodies. Why was she analyzing her friend like he was gonna throw her off a cliff if she didn't beat him?
"You good?" Yang asked.
Blake drew for her turn, calming herself as she looked over her options. "Yeah, I… I'm good."
"Then pick up the pace, Blake!" Nora hollered over with a beaming smile and excited cheer. "Come on! There's a tighter time limit on Action Duel turns than regular ones! We don't want to win because it runs out!"
The crowd chuckled at Nora's blustering challenge, but she had a point. Action Duels did have shorter time limits than traditional duels, it was necessary to make sure a duelist couldn't just spend ages running around after Action Cards the entire time until they got the exact card they needed. With that in mind, Blake snagged a spell from her hand and slipped it into Gambol Shroud.
"Pot of Greed!" she proclaimed, placing her hands atop her deck. When Ren made no move to stop her, she drew her two cards.
All the while, her amber gaze didn't leave the two cards in his hand, his own pink eyes watching her with a playful challenge, knowing exactly what was running through her head. He had two cards in hand, which meant at most, Herald of Perfection could negate two of her cards. He could knock out at least one at minimum given one of his cards was his retrieved Diviner of the Herald. Was his second card another Fairy-Type monster? Was it a bluff? What cards could she risk baiting him out with to find out? What about Natasha and its attack negation? How did she get around that too?
Such were the mind games running through Blake's head, the Odd-Eyed Bandit glancing over her hand to discern what was at her disposal. She could hear Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon's excited yipping from her Side Deck at her hip, where she'd stored it so as to not risk drawing it in the duel and revealing her identity. Perhaps surprisingly, it was egging on her analysis, encouraging her to test her friend's defenses to their limit.
A faint smile fluttered over Blake's lips. She supposed that dueling for fun didn't mean not dueling at her best. Ren and Nora were her friends and she owed them respect as her opponents.
"I place Performapal Seal Eel in my Pendulum Zone," the dark-haired girl called out, a pillar of light blooming up beside her, a sockpuppet seal floating up in a top hat.
"Aw, he's a cutie," Nora cooed, mirrored by quite a few members of the audience. "What's he do?"
Blake allowed herself a sly smirk, especially as Ren narrowed his eyes at it in suspicion. For the most part, the members of Team RWBY and Team JNPR knew each others' decks quite well after all their duels in class or for fun. But Blake's wasn't quite so well-known by her friends, not just because she'd only used X-Sabers for most of the first semester, but the simple fact that there were a lot of different Performapals with a menagerie of eclectic effects. She'd been surprised if even Ruby had memorized each and every one of her cards.
"I activate Seal Eel's Pendulum Effect," she announced, raising her arm above her black bow and snapping at her at her Pendulum Monster. "Once per turn, I can target one face-up monster on your field and negate its effects."
She thrust her arm towards Herald of Perfection and snapped her fingers again, her target clear. Seal Eel reached down and grabbed its own waist, yanking its body taut as it spewed a stream of bubbles at the majestic celestial.
Not surprisingly, Ren whipped out his Diviner of the Herald and discarded it to his grave. "I activate Herald of Perfection's effect. When you activate a spell or trap card or a monster's effect, I can send one Fairy-Type monster from my hand to the graveyard to negate the activation and destroy the card."
Herald of Perfection's tri-colored lights all changed to green, the green of a spell card's border. And since a Pendulum Monster in the Pendulum Zone counted as a spell, the celestial being flared its pillars of blinding effulgence to shred Seal Eel and its bubbles to pieces.
The crowd clapped at the unexpected reversal, but Blake's grin didn't dim. After all, it'd been perfectly expected for her, Seal Eel a necessary opening move to force her opponent to take action. With Diviner of the Herald discarded, Ren only had one card left in his hand. Maybe it wasn't a monster and he was out of negates. But even if he did have another Fairy-Type up his sleeve, he would have to be careful which of her moves he chose to negate, if any. After all, he wouldn't get to draw again before Yang and her power deck got a move, and if he didn't have any negates up his sleeve when she took her turn?
Well, Ren was a cautious duelist. And a cautious duelist kept a reserve when Yang Xiao-Long was on the attack. Which gave Blake the opening to cut him down to size before he realized what was happening.
"I set the Pendulum Scales with Scale 1 Performapal Monkeyboard and Scale 8 Performapal Duelist Extraordinaire," Blake announced, two pillars of light blazing beside her, her trapeze ledge framed by a monkey with a keyboard for teeth and a duelist shadowed by dazzling lights floating up in each column. "Then I activate Monkeyboard's effect. On the turn it's activated, I can add a Level Four or lower Performapal from my deck to my hand."
Monkeyboard cackled and spread its nimble fingers, cheekily wriggling them at the crowd. As some of the hunting duelists laughed at the silly display and some of them recoiled in disgust, the goofy animal in a suit and top hat played a jazzy melody across its keyboard teeth. The musical notes wafted out from its mouth and flowed into Gambol Shroud, allowing Blake to snatch Performapal Pendulum Sorcerer from her deck. Once she had it secure in her hand, she slid another spell into her duel disk.
"Then I activate the continuous spell Pendulum Soul and activate its effect to increase Monkeyboard's scale to two and Duelist Extraordinaire's scale to nine," Blake said, the continuous spell manifesting before her. Once the preparations were complete and a spectral pendulum swung between her columns of light, the dark-haired duelist stabbed her arm to the sky and snapped. "Rise from shadows, my monsters. Carve an arc upon the world and reclaim our destiny. Pendulum Summon!"
Four streams of light rocketed down from the arc of her swinging pendulum, crashing throughout the circus and taking the forms of a quartet of monsters: a man in crimson robes with a top hat and a pendulum (ATK 1500/DEF 800), a scorpion with a kaleidoscope for a tail and twin shields for pincers that huddling on a sideways defense mode card (ATK 100/DEF 2300), a smiling joker in golden clothing with a twirling violet baton and cards up his sleeves (ATK 2500/DEF 2000), and a fearsome magician with an enormous tower shield engraved with constellations (ATK 2500/DEF 500).
"Performapal Pendulum Sorcerer. Performapal Kaleideoscorp. Performapal Laugh Maker. And Xiangke Magician," Blake announced, throwing her arm around to present all her monsters.
"Holy moly! She just summoned a whole bunch of monsters in one move!"
"That's what Pendulum Summoning does, dude."
"But have you ever seen someone bust out four monsters at once with it? I thought this girl only just became an Obelisk Blue? She's awesome!"
Blake gulped up, fidgeting a bit as she listened to the crowd's praise. Normally when she got nervous from people's attention, she could quickly extricate herself from the situation and slink into the shadows. It was what she often did back when racist slurs followed her wherever she went. But now with the spotlights on her in such a public venue, that wasn't an option. Even if it was, the audience wasn't demeaning her. They were amazed at her move, awed and… and entertained.
"Always give a bow when you've managed a turnabout," her mother had told her when she'd inquired about Entertainment Duelings years ago. "Nothing fans the crowd's excitement more than for you to acknowledge them in those moments."
Blake's torso clenched, her shoulder beginning to lower to do just that… only to freeze mid-motion and pull herself back into a battle pose to continue the duel.
She… she was on a time limit. She shouldn't waste seconds on frivolous showmanship… should she?
"Since I Pendulum Summoned, my Pendulum Soul gains a counter. And for every counter on it, all Pendulum Monsters on the field gain three hundred attack points," the cat faunus informed the crowd. Her Laugh Maker (ATK 2800) cackled while Xiangke Magician (ATK 2800) flourished its tower shield, Kaleideoscorp and Pendulum Sorcerer huddling as they were all reinforced with a radiant glow. "Now I activate Pendulum Sorcerer's special ability! When it's special summoned, it can destroy up to two cards on my field. And then I can add an equal number of Performapals from my deck to my hand."
"Except you will not," Ren countered, flipping around the final card in his hand and tucking it into Stormflower's graveyard slot. "I discard Eva from my hand to the graveyard to activate Herald of Perfection's ability to negate your effect."
"Discard Eva–" Blake gasped, her amber eyes widening as she realized the implications of that move. But she didn't have time to dawdle if she wanted to keep the advantage, so she quickly pointed to her Xiangke Magician. "Xiangke Magician activates its effect! Once per turn, during either player's turn, it can target a light attribute monster and negate its effects until the end of the turn!"
"What?!" Nora howled, even Ren's eyes widening as Blake's spellcaster raised its tower shield.
Xiangke Magician twisted the inner and outer portions of its shield, its embedded constellation burning with bright power. Just as Herald of Perfection's lights and wings turned orange to negate the monster effect, Blake's wizard unleashed a meteor shower of seven stars to slice the counter to ribbons. With its negation stifled, Pendulum Sorcerer's artifact sliced it, and Performapal Monkeyboard apart.
Two cards popped out of Blake's deck, the cat faunus quickly snagging them into her hand. "I add Performapal Camelump and Performapal Changeraffe to my hand!"
"And I activate Eva's effect when it's sent to the graveyard. I can now banish up to two other Fairy-Type monsters from my field or graveyard and add the same number of Level Two or lower Fairy monsters with different names from my deck to my hand," Ren explained, two cards exiting his duel disk's graveyard slot. "I banish Herald of the Arc Light and Diviner of the Herald from my graveyard to add Cyber Egg Angel and another Diviner of the Herald from my deck to my hand."
Blake scowled. She'd gotten lucky that Ren and Nora had never seen Xiangke Magician in action before (she'd forged it during her last few weeks of obsessiveness). But otherwise, she'd been outfoxed by Ren holding Eva in reserve. She'd thought he was conserving a negate to hinder Yang, but he wasn't even planning for the duel to get to the blonde's turn. Nora's Black Luster Soldiers could get extra attacks on monsters, so he'd let Blake fill the field with Pendulum Monsters for her to rampage through, dealing more damage with each battle. It was a one-turn kill waiting to happen.
Which meant Blake needed to do the same before Nora got the chance to pull it off.
"I normal summon Performapal Changeraffe!" Blake yelled, smashing the card onto Gambol Shroud as she manifested a giraffe in an elegant jacket with resplendently braided hair (ATK 100/DEF 500). "When it's normal summon or special summoned, I can target one of your face-up monsters. As long as Changeraffe is on the field, that monster can't attack and its effect is negated. I target Cyber Angel Natasha!"
Changeraffe galloped through the air and sashayed in front of Cyber Angel Natasha, shooting the centaur-like mechanical fairy a flirtatious wink. Natasha's head quirked to the side, confused at the stylish animal trying to court her, collapsing to the floor of Ritual Sanctuary as she tripped over herself in befuddlement.
"Then I place Performapal Camelump in my open Pendulum Zone, and activate its effect!" Blake shouted, a camel with a round top hat on its head and a ribbon around its neck rising to be parallel to Performapal Duelist Extraordinaire in her glowing columns. "I target one monster on my field, and this turn it can deal piercing damage. While each of your monsters loses eight hundred defense points until the end of the turn."
Camelump blew sand from its nostrils, the scratchy grains pricking Performapal Laugh Maker in the rear. The golden joker let out a comical howl of pain, clutching his rump as he leap into the air, bounding through the circus' shining rings as the audience laughed.
Meanwhile, the sand continued to blow, biting into Herald of Perfection (DEF 3000), Cyber Angel Natasha (DEF 1200), and Cyber Petit Angel (DEF 0).
"Kaleideoscorp! Target Laugh Maker! Activate your special ability!" Blake commanded, pointing to his glittering monster as it bounded through the trapeze. "This turn, it can attack each of your special summoned monsters!"
Laugh Maker flipped through the trapeze hoops and flew into the air. As it flew above the second-floor balcony, Kaleidocorp snipped it with a thin beam of light from its tail. The laser vibrated Laugh Maker, a red light clone, and a blue light clone splitting off from the golden acrobat.
"Ooo!" Nora gaped at the shining display, along with most of the audience. "Still, it's not too bad. Gonna hurt a bit, but it's nothing we can come back from–"
"Battle!" Blake screamed, thrusting her palm toward Ren's monsters. "When Performapal Laugh Maker declares an attack, it gains a thousand attack points for each of your monsters that currently has higher attack than its original attack until the end of the Battle Phase!"
Nora paled as all three Laugh Maker clones burned bright gold (ATK 4800), each of the magicians brandishing a hand of playing cards. "Oh, not good. Ren?"
"Action card. Left hoop," Ren pointed out, taking a runner's stance in Ritual Sanctuary's center aisle.
Nora grinned, her pink dress fluttering as she bounded on top of Herald of Perfection. Just in time for the red light clone of Performapal Laugh Maker to thrust down its playing cards and cut Cyber Petit Angel to ribbons.
Nora & Ren: 4600 Life Points
Meanwhile, Blake darted down to a lower trapeze platform, twirling like an acrobat as she soared across the circus trampolines. She was closer to the action card Ren had called out than Yang was, and she was faster across this terrain anyway. Her partner was trying for another action card, but with how fast Ren was, she couldn't get to it before he got to the one he was after. It was all down to her to beat him to the one he was after, the one that was floating in the left ring.
And she could do it. He was exploding out of his runner's stance, his dashing suit hugging his lithe muscles as he charged down the center aisle and leapt into the air, Nora weaving her hands together as she tensed her knees atop Herald of Perfection. But neither of them would be fast enough to beat her to the left hoop. Not as the blue light clone of Performapal Laugh Maker rained its deadly playing cards down on Cyber Angel Natasha, the Ritual Monster powerless without its effects to protect it.
Nora & Ren: 1000 Life Points
Blake jumped into the open air and snagged the center hoop, her momentum flowing as she swung herself for the left ring. At the same time, the original Laugh Maker finally threw down its bombardment of playing cards.
Just as Ren's leap ended… with his foot in Nora's interwoven palms.
The partners moved as one, erupting in perfect synchronization. Nora heaved with all her gargantuan strength and Ren pushed up from her hands with all his honed dexterity. Together, they launched Ren into the sky like a rocket, his aura crackling from the wind resistance as he soared through the circus as a true daring acrobat.
Blake was blown back by the slipstream as he shot through the glittering ring and claimed the action card when her fingertips were only inches from clamping around it. The pink-eyed boy didn't waste a moment slamming the spell card into his duel disk, its magic flaring just as Performapal Laugh Maker's cards slammed into Nora and Herald of the Creation, the celestial fairy folding its wings it to shield the redheaded duelist atop it.
"During the Damage Step, I activate the action spell Twinkle Comet," Ren called out. "I target a monster on the field, and it loses a thousand attack points until the End Phase. You also lose five hundred life points."
Blake ground her teeth together as she careened through the air, watching in vexation as the glow around Laugh Maker faded (ATK 3800). She couldn't pull it off.
Blake & Yang: 7500 Life Points
Nora & Ren: 200 Life Points
Yang leapt through the air and caught Blake in her arms, arresting her careening fall and bringing her partner back to a stable trapeze platform.
The blonde flashed a teasing smirk. "Drop in around here often?"
Blake groaned and shook her head at the pun, only to take on a more morose look as the smoke cleared from her monster's attack, Herald of Perfection still present and standing. Across the circus highrise, she saw Ren had landed on a colorful platform across from them, banishing Machine Angel Ritual from his graveyard to activate its effect of preventing a light attribute monster's destruction.
"I'm sorry," the cat faunus groused, swinging out of Yang's arms and falling to one knee as she regained her breath. "I couldn't beat them."
"Sorry? You got them down to two hundred life points on your first turn," Yang pointed out, helping her back up to her feet. "And besides that, listen to that crowd!"
"Did you see that combo? They had more than nine thousand life points and she almost wiped them out!"
"That was awesome! But the race for that action card? How did they pull off that teamwork so fast?"
"The dude was like a rocket! And the girl was crazy strong! This duel is insane!"
Blake found she steadily regained control of her breath as she listened to the excitement buzzing through the crowd, like she was an Atlesian Knight and it was electricity recharging her batteries. The cheer, happiness, and wonder spilling out from the dance hall bled through her tense muscles and washed away all her ferocious clamor.
Honestly, she felt kind of silly for how deadly serious she'd been treating everything before.
"Hahahaha!" laughter boomed across the Acrobatic Circus, a familiar manic timbre epitomizing the bombastic joy of the audience. "I'm Queen of the Circus! I'm Queen of the Circus!"
Blake looked down at Herald of Perfection, its resplendent tri-colored wings parting to reveal a cackling Nora. She drew for her turn, ripping a card from the top of Magnhild.
Yet, when she spoke her next excited words, Blake didn't truly hear them. She heard the words of another, in another's voice. The voice of a mature short-haired cat faunus stretching out her arms to the crowd.
"Ladies and gentlemen! The fun has just begun!"
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"I activate Ritual Sancuary's effect!" Nora announced, sliding a card from her hand into the graveyard. "I discard Dracoback the Rideable Dragon to add the Ritual Spell Super Soldier Synthesis to my hand!"
"Woohoo! Nice move, Nora!" Pyrrha cheered! "An excellent use of Ren's setup!"
"Wait, I'm confused," Jaune confessed, her eyes narrowing at the field as he rubbed his chin in contemplation. "How come Nora can use Ren's card? Actually, why are their life points combined? I thought those and their fields were still separate even in a tag-duel?"
"You're thinking of battle royal-style tag-duels," Astral informed him. "The Showcase's matches seem to be two-headed giant–"
"You're thinking of battle royale-style tag duels," Weiss told him, the gorgeous heiress sliding up next to Pyrrha on the railing, her diamond white gown glittering under the light. "The showcase uses the two-headed giant-style that's more common in entertainment dueling than combat. The two duelists on the same team share a field and a graveyard, and can use each other's monsters for attacks, tribute, Synchro and Xyz material, etc."
"I was just about to say that," Astral remarked, though his playful smile at Weiss' words led Jaune to believe he was more amused by her echoing his explanation without being able to hear him.
"Right. Oh! Two-headed giant. Each team is a giant with two duelists as its heads! I just got that," Jaune said. "I think I remember that it's the standard style with Action Duel tag matches. Though, there's a bit of extra stuff to it for those."
Weiss raised a curious eyebrow. "There is?"
"Yeah, just to rule on how the Action Cards can be used. Only the most recent turn player on each team can activate one, so right now that'd be Blake and Nora, but their teammates can get the cards to them… I'm sorry," Jaune sighed. "You probably already knew that."
"I can't say I did," Weiss shrugged.
"You didn't?"
"My dueling education was more classical than anything. My father didn't find Action Duels a worthwhile area of study," Weiss grumbled. "I can't say I understand the appeal myself. Where's the strategy if you can just pull a new card out of nowhere?"
"I don't know. I think there's something thrilling about it. Knowing that even if a situation looks absolutely hopeless, there's still the slightest chance of turning things around," Pyrrha murmured. "The illusion that nothing's set in stone is enticing."
Astral tilted his head to the side. "I can understand the appeal of such an illusion. But in the end, reality is reality. It seems foolish to disregard that fact."
"It's just a bit of fun, Astral," Jaune shook his head.
Weiss glanced towards him. "He said something?"
"Just some stuff about reality being reality," Jaune said. "The usual Astral stuff."
The white-haired heiress smirked with fondness. "He does tend to be quite wise. If a bit flowery at times."
"What does my language have to do with flowers?"
"It's a figure of speech," Pyrrha explained to Astral, before smiling at Weiss with excitement. "Do you want to join us? We can watch the duel together."
"As long as you don't mind us rooting for opposite teams," Weiss snickered.
"No problem. We're all kind of rooting for all four of them," Jaune laughed. "We can do it together. Us, you, Ruby… hey, where is Ruby?"
"Yes. I can't imagine her favoring the other dance activities over a duel," Astral concurred. "Unless she's getting refreshments?"
"She ran off with Penny," Weiss revealed. "They may have been flirting. I'm honestly still not sure."
"I activate Super Soldier Synthesis! Now by tributing Chaos Valkyria from my hand and Evening Twilight Knight from my deck, I Ritual Summon my Black Luster Soldier - Super Soldier!"
The trio (secretly a quartet) turned their gazes back to the duel below, Nora's powerful armored warrior thundering onto the circus field (ATK 3000/DEF 2500).
"Muhahahaha!" Nora cackled atop Herald of Perfection. "Super Soldier's an earth attribute monster, so your star shield magician–"
"Xiangke Magician," Blake pouted.
"Yeah, that guy! He can't negate its effects," Nora carried on without missing a beat. "And since he's a Black Luster Soldier Ritual Monster that was summoned by tributing Evening Twilight Knight, he can banish one of your monsters! So goodbye Xiangko Magician!"
"Xiangke Magician!"
"Sorry. Can only banish one monster. Go, Super Soldier!"
The emboldened armored warrior let out a battle cry and thrust his lance forward. The sheer force of his martial strength streaked up into the circus trapeze, Kaleidoscorp and Changeraffe scattering from the shockwave as Xiangke Magician was blasted off the field.
"Alrighty! And with that out of the way, I'll banish Chaos Valkyria and Evening Twilight Knight from my graveyard to special summon Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning!"
Starlight flashed beside Nora, a vortex of cerulean power whirling through the air. Like a thunderbolt, a new warrior crashed into reality, brandishing a brilliant saber as the light glimmered off its imperious purple and gold armor (ATK 3000/DEF 2500).
"Woah! Check out that monster!"
"I thought Black Luster Soldiers were Ritual Monsters? Where'd she get that thing?"
"She must've forged it! She's the duelist that gave the Supersonic Sky Queen a run for her money in her promotion exam duel!"
Jaune grinned. The crowd was right on the money there. While there were other lesser-known Black Luster Soldier main deck monsters than its famous Ritual Monsters, Envoy of the Beginning was a custom forge job by Nora. Most of her deck was filled with Ren's dad's old cards, same as Ren used his mom's old deck, but that card was one she'd crafted herself, taking inspiration from her partner's gift to forge her own ace.
Though, ever since she'd told them about her God Card, Jaune wondered if she just wanted to make sure she still had something of her time growing up with Ren even if she learned how to summon the Divine-Beast and had to shift her deck closer to facilitating it.
"Since Evening Twilight Knight was banished, I can add another Ritual Monster to my hand. So while I'm getting another Black Luster Soldier - Super Soldier, I'll use Chaos Valkyria's banish effect to send Beginning Knight from my deck to my graveyard. But don't worry! I can't use Beginning Knight's effects for the rest of this turn," Nora cheerily assured her opponents, swiftly searching and milling the cards she needed before snagging another from her hand and placing it on her duel disk. "I normal summon Super Soldier Soul!"
An empty set of Black Luster Soldier Armor (ATK 0/DEF 0) clattered onto the field. Jaune practically felt the entire audience aside from him and his friends do a double-take at Nora's latest summon. He couldn't say he blamed them, given they didn't know the trick to it.
"I activate Super Solder Soul's effect!" Nora proclaimed, flipping around the Black Luster Soldier - Super Soldier in her hand and placing it in Magnhild's graveyard slot. "By discarding a Black Luster Soldier monster, its name becomes Black Luster Soldier until my opponent's next End Phase. Oh, and it gains three thousand attack points for that long too."
The armor suddenly came to life and stacked on top of itself into proper formation, an ethereal geist just barely visible within it (ATK 3000).
The audience nodded in understanding, a few clapping at the bait-and-switch of it all.
"I switch Herald of Perfection into attack mode! And then…" Nora whipped around as Herald of Perfection rose up from its sideways defense position card, somehow pinpointing exactly where Weiss was in the crowd and pointing a jovial finger at her. "Alright, Ice Queen! You're here this time! Now I finally get to show you what I can do with the cards you lent me. By crushing your team with them! Hahaha!"
Weiss pursed her lips in trepidation. "Um, what is she talking about?"
"I'm not entirely sure myself," Pyrrha confessed. "I've been a bit… tunnel-visioned for the last few weeks."
"Heheheh, that's one way of putting it," Jaune nervously chuckled. "You remember those Honest and Dark Honests that you lent Nora?"
Weiss' eyes narrowed. "I recall."
"Well, she kind of took them to the forge and did some… experimenting."
"Battle! Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning! Attack Performapal Laugh Maker!" Nora roared, a manic gleam in her eyes as her warrior in purple and gold armor bounded up the circus' trampolines, bolting for Laugh Maker. "I discard Envoy of Chaos, my new battle hand trap!"
"She made an entirely new battle hand trap?!" Weiss shrieked, the crowd fortunately too focused on the duel to notice unless they were close to her. "Nora, you better not have broken down those cards I gave you to make them! That was a very heartfelt gesture on my part!"
"Envoy of Chaos boosts one of my Black Luster Soldier or Gaia The Fierce Knight monsters by fifteen hundred attack points!" Nora grinned, discarding the monster card from her hand. "And, any monster it battles this turn gets its attack points reverted to its original attack points!"
"What?!" Blake and Weiss both screeched.
"Hahaha! That's one way to use a hand trap!" Yang cackled, the beautiful blonde leaping off to try for an Action Card, Blake quickly diving in the other direction to cover more ground.
In the meantime, a spritely specter of a young soldier in Black Luster Soldier's armor, flourished out of Envoy of the Beginning, a manic gleam in his eyes as he cast red and black lightning that crackled over the older warrior's sword (ATK 4500). Laugh Maker tried to deflect the incoming saber with his baton, but the boost from Soul Pendulum was ripped from him (ATK 2500). And his chest and torso were soon separated as well.
Blake & Yang: 5500 Life Points
"Yeah! And there's more!" Nora exclaimed, pumping her fist as her monster soared above the top of the trapeze. "When Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning destroys your monster in battle, it can attack another monster in a row! Luster Blade Attack!"
Black Luster Soldier let out a ferocious roar and plummeted down on Performapal Changeraffe, its heavy blade severing the fashionable animal's head. Envoy of Chaos' lightning exploded from the shining saber, the volatile tempest blowing away several action cards just as Blake and Yang closed in on them.
"One monster left!" Nora yelled. "Black Luster Soldier - Super Soldier! Attack Performapal Kaleidoscorp!"
The Black Luster Soldier with the bejeweled armor thrust forth its lance, Kaleidoscorp valiantly meeting the blow with its pincer shields.
Blake snapped her fingers at Performapal Duelist Extraordinarie, high in the glowing pillar of her Pendulum Zone. The mysterious duelist bathed in light above morphed into a ball of energy and shot towards Kaleidoscorp just as it began to buckle under Super Soldier's assault. "At the start of the Damage Step, I activate Duelist Extraordinarie's Pendulum Effect! I return it to my hand and banish one spell card from my deck. In exchange, my monster in this battle isn't destroyed and any battle damage I take is halved."
"It's in defense mode. You're not taking any battle damage anyway," Nora shrugged. "But nice move regardless. Super Soldier Soul! Finish it off!"
The armored geist rushed in the moment Black Luster Soldier - Super Soldier's attack was deflected. In the blink of an eye, the fallen warrior cut the friendly scorpion to ribbons.
Meanwhile, Jaune found himself blinking at the match in puzzlement, specifically at the celestial being Nora was standing on while Blake, Yang, and Ren all scampered about for Action Cards.
"What's wrong?" Astral inquired.
"Why didn't Ren negate Duelist Extraordinaire? He had the fairies in hand, right?" the leader of Team JNPR asked. "Am I missing something?"
"Duelist Extraordinaire's effect activates during the Damage Step," Weiss said, as if that explained everything.
Jaune sighed, feeling embarrassed once again. "That's something else I'm supposed to know, isn't it?"
Weiss winced, for once seemingly regretful for having accidentally come off as her Ice Queen self. "Don't be too hard on yourself. A lot of duelists don't know the Damage Step as well as they should. I bet half of these people watching know as much as you."
Pyrrha smiled and gave his hand a reassuring squeeze. "When a battle enters the Damage Step, only certain cards and effects can be activated. Those that specifically say that's when they activate or take effect like Blake's Performapal Duelist Extraordinaire are one kind. Counter Traps, which are Spell Speed 3, are another."
"The other usual category is cards or effects that specifically mention changing a monster's attack or defense points," Weiss said, shaking her head. "You don't know how many duelists my sister has beaten who didn't realize their negation effects wouldn't work when she activated her Limiter Removal during the Damage Step. There are benefits to a formal, in-depth education in dueling… that's it!"
"What's it?" Jaune asked.
"Blake!" Weiss fervently screamed. She leaned over the railing as far as she could before she hit the duel's hardlight barrier, her screech somehow heard above the duel and the crowd, several audience members turning towards the Schnee Heiress. "Blake! The Damage Step! Use the Damage Step!"
Jaune wasn't sure exactly what Weiss meant by that until he saw Blake snag an Action Card at the base of the circus, only to immediately conjure a shadow clone as soon as she glimpsed it. Semblances were perfectly legal in Action Duels, but it was a surprise that Blake's semblance's ability to tank a blow also let her not technically pick up an Action Card if she did so but didn't like what she got, if she was quick enough. It was a useful skill to avoid harmful Action Traps that automatically activated if picked up, but somehow he didn't think that was what the secret cat faunus was using it for now.
Whether due to Weiss' shouts or her own knowledge, Blake knew she needed an Action Spell that could activate during the Damage Step to survive Nora's final attack. Anything else would just get negated by Herald of Perfection. Which meant she needed a card that specifically said that was when it activated or one that altered attack and defense points.
And she didn't have much time to find it.
"Go Nora! Go Ren!" Jaune and Pyrrha both clamored, cheering their teammates on to victory as Blake and Ren both bounded off trampolines to reach an Action Card in the circus' central floating ring.
"Herald of Perfection!" Nora called, the celestial orbs beneath her merging their tri-colored lights into a single blinding white shine. "Direct attack!"
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Blake's eyes burned as Herald of Perfection's attack charged, but she kept them open as she raced through the air. She needed to be able to see the Action Card, needed to see what it was in the first moment she grabbed it, or else she couldn't conjure a shadow clone fast enough to not officially claim it if she couldn't use it.
But then again, would she have enough time to go after another Action Card at all if this one wasn't enough to save her and Yang? She didn't want the duel to end before her partner got a turn to play.
The wind raced through her hair as she flew up from the trampoline, Ren neck and neck with her. The two ninjalike members of Team RWBY and JNPR closed in on the Action Card…
… and Blake's fingers snapped around it first!
Only to be forced to dispose of it to a shadow clone when she saw it was Evasion. Ren flew through her phantom and seized the Action Card for himself, but with Herald of Perfection primed and ready to negate, it was just as much use to her in his hands as it would be in hers.
Herald of Perfection's pure white beam of light blazed toward her, ready to end the match once and for all–
"Blake! Catch!"
The cat faunus whipped toward the sound of Yang's booming voice, a thrown Action Card streaking down from the blonde's trapeze platform. Blake didn't have time to look at it, Herald of Perfection's attack about to make contact. She just had to trust in her partner, snapping the card out of the air and slamming it into Gambol Shroud just as celestial light crashed into her.
Only for a giant red zero to appear between the cat faunus and the blinding glow.
"During the Damage Step… I activate the Action Spell… Zero Penalty," Blake panted, rolling over the floor as she and Ren scrambled back to their feet. "Until the end of the turn, one monster on the field has its attack points reduced to zero."
"Dang it! I really thought I had you there," Nora exclaimed, snapping her fingers. "I end my turn. Now take your best shot, you ninnies!"
"Nora," Ren spoke up, dashing back to the Ritual Sanctuary side of the action field.
"Don't worry, Ren. They know I love them," Nora waved off, Herald of Perfection lowering her down to its master as Zero Penalty's effect wore off (ATK 1800).
"And we love you guys!" Yang grinned, drawing for her turn and leaping down through the circus' rings. She slammed a monster card down on Ember Celica as she gleefully bounced over the trampolines, joined by a cackling fiend with a tuning fork and little wings and horns (ATK 500/DEF 200). "My turn to play! I summon Soul Resonator! When he's normal summoned or special summoned, I can add a Level Four or lower Fiend-Type from my deck to my hand!"
"I discard one Fairy-Type monster to negate the activation of that effect with Herald of Perfection," Ren calmly replied, placing one of the two monster cards from his hand into Stormflower's graveyard slot.
Herald of Perfection's lights all flashed orange and flared across the circus field, obliterating Soul Resonator as its mistress landed on the ground with style in her flowing golden gown.
Yang sighed at her lost monster and stood up straight. She threaded her fingers together and stretched her arms back, like a prizefighter preparing for a round on a bag. The energy in the crowd was electric, a rumbling storm cloud just waiting to unleash its next thunderbolt. Half the hunting duelists from the four academies had just had their appetites wet by two turns of near obliteration and sudden reversals. Now the gorgeous girl who went blow for blow with The Invincible Girl was up to bat with all the confidence and swagger that they'd all imagined one way or another. A great time looking to get even better.
But Blake knew her partner a bit better than the audience drooling over her did. Yang, like Ruby and Nora, didn't stall when she was hungry to duel. She preferred to punch rather than posture.
She was nervous. Very nervous.
And given what happened the last time she'd tried summoning the monster she was about to go for, Blake could understand the trepidation.
"Odd-Eyes, I really hope your sister loves you," Blake muttered, rubbing her side deck with her dragon's card within. "Otherwise we're gonna find out if magic dragons can refuse hardlight bodies as violently as they can aura bodies."
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"Since I have no monsters on my field, I can special summon Vice Dragon from my hand with its attack and defense points cut in half. Then, since I've got a Level Five or higher dark attribute monster on the field, I can special summon Vison Resonator from my hand as well."
"Ooo! Vice Dragon plus Vision Resonator?" Ruby excitedly jittered, her sibling's craggy black dragon (ATK 1000/DEF 1200) and another cheeky fiend with a tuning fork (ATK 400/DEF 400) appearing before her. The girl in the dashing red suit instantly did the math in her head about what that could equal. At least, what it equaled when her sister was showing such uncharacteristic nervousness about trying to summon it. "Go Yang! You can do it! Bust it out!"
Beside her, Professor Ozpin fondly chuckled. "I had no idea you were so fond of your sister's Exploder Dragonwing, Ms. Rose."
"Oh yeah, Exploder is fantastic! The bile sack is so squishy and his firepower is incredible–oh wait, you mean what she's trying to summon right now?" Ruby deduced. "That's not Exploder."
"Really?" Ozpin genially asked. "Kuibelt the Blade Dragon then? I believe that is Ms. Xiao-Long's only other Level Seven Synchro Monster."
"That is the case," Penny chipperly confirmed. "Yang has not summoned any other Level Seven Synchro Monsters during her recorded matches at Beacon."
Ozpin raised an eyebrow. "You've watched them all, Ms. Polendina?"
"Affirmative, headmaster!" Penny grinned, heedless of both Ruby and Ironwood paling just a bit at the surprise in Ozpin's query.
"Uh, I made her watch them all with me!" Ruby quickly lied to keep the Beacon headmaster from knowing her friend just downloaded all of Yang's previous school matches into her head directly. "I wanted to show her how kick-butt my team is and… uh, got a bit carried away."
Ozpin's surprise shifted into a fond smile. "I'm glad to hear it. You know, Ms. Rose, when I first proposed moving you two years ahead, your father was concerned you'd have difficulty making friends among the older students."
"What? Me? Good old silver-eyed, Signer, not normal knees me? I'm a friend-making machine," Ruby nervously postured, desperate to shift the conversation away from anything threatening Penny's secret, while also keeping it natural enough that General Ironwood didn't suspect that she knew said secret (though given how he was looking at her after those "Would you like to send a report?" excuses, that ship may have already sailed. "Hey, professor, why would you say that only third-years can take missions to Mt. Glenn?"
"Mt. Glenn?" Ozpin said, his twinkling eyes focusing on her with new interest. "The area is quite dangerous."
"It's average Grimm population density is a level eight," Penny chimed in. "Normally, kingdom law requires hunting duelists to be sent in to bring it down to at least a level five given how close it is to the capital, but the Vale Council deemed the situation too volatile to tamper with and risk provoking invasion."
"Provoke invasion?" Ruby murmured, her brow furrowing in thought.
Could that be what Torchwick and his bosses were after? No, that didn't make any sense. A Grimm invasion of Vale would be catastrophic for everyone. If it got really bad, the city and everyone in it could be wiped off the face of Remnant. Torchwick was a thief. He couldn't rob anyone if there was no one to rob. He didn't get anything out of it.
Well, whatever they were doing, it was up to Team RWBY to stop them! And as Team RWBY's leader, it was up to her to get them there.
"Say, professor, do you remember that bet we made over my promotion exam?" Ruby slyly inquired. "Would you be up for making another one of those?"
"A mischievous suggestion, Ms. Rose. Very mischievous," Ozpin replied with a smirk. "What did you have in mind?"
Ironwood groaned, his face falling into his palm at his fellow headmaster's antics.
Ruby sniggered. "Well, now that you mention it, my team does really want to go to Mt. Glenn for our away mission."
Penny tilted her head in confusion. "Ruby, far be it from me to doubt Team RWBY's skill, but did you not lose the last extracurricular bet you made with the headmaster?"
"Well, yeah…"
"And this time there is far more than an academic track promotion in the cards," Ironwood spoke up. "You are incredibly talented, Ms. Rose, as is the rest of your team. But these missions are only assigned to third-years because third-years are practically fully trained hunting duelists at this point in their school life. Meanwhile, your teammates below just came a hair's breadth from losing to fellow first-years. They would have lost if this wasn't an action duel."
"So would have Ren and Nora on Blake's turn if it wasn't, and Ren didn't set up a weak defense," Ruby argued. "I bet that Blake and Yang won't lose to them. And if they don't, I say we should be allowed to accept a third-year only mission to Mt. Glenn."
"Done," Ozpin stated.
"Done?" Ruby exclaimed, whirling back around to face her headmaster. "Really?"
"You expected more of an argument?" Ozpin teased.
"Well, yeah," Ruby admitted.
"Congratulations, Ruby!" Penny hugged her, heedless of Ruby's gagging breath under her suit.
The general, on the other hand, looked very worried about Ozpin's call. "Penny, are you feeling alright? Fully recovered from before?"
The android girl released Ruby from her hug and snapped into a cheerful salute, the silver-eyed girl heaving for breath over the railing. "I am, sir! I am combat-ready! And dance ready!"
A flash of affection flickered over Ironwood's face before his sternness returned. "I'm going to take my leave and join the guards at the CCT Tower. Make sure you find your escort and stay with them. Understood?"
"Yes, sir!"
"An escort?" Ozpin repeated with morose sadness. "Come now, James, I know she's been involved in her father's Link Summoning research, but we're in the middle of Beacon. She's perfectly safe. Let her enjoy this night without soldiers looking over her shoulders."
"I tune Level Two Vision Resonator with my Level Five Vice Dragon!" Yang yelled from down below, cutting off whatever response Ironwood was about to fire back.
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Emerald snorted as she watched Yang's Vision Resonator break up into bright verdant tuner rings and arrange themselves with the Action Field's floating rotating acrobat hoops. "What do you think? Exploder Dragonwing or the blade dragon?"
Mercury chomped on a burger from one of the food tables, scarfing it down before grabbing a cookie from his still half-full plate. "Probably neither."
"Neither?" Emerald repeated, Vice Dragon dissolving into five glittering stars and lining up in the prepared tuner rings. "Those are the only Level Seven Synchro Monsters she's ever summoned."
"Probably bringing out something she hasn't summoned before. Blondie's not the type to stall like she was doing with that stretching. When she's confident, she goes in full force. Which means she probably isn't confident about whatever she's trying to bust out," Mercury explained, his steely gray eyes far more focused on his cookie than actually watching the Action Duel.
"Never looking back, flap your beautiful wings and strike the enemy at the speed of light! A whisper to a roar across the cosmos!" Yang chanted. The violet-eyed blonde took a deep breath and smashed her hands together. A pillar of blinding light crashed through her tuner rings, melding the stars within. "Synchro Summon! Level Seven!"
The column of light blazed out of the tuner rings and blasted off like a firework, streaking through each of the circus' hoops. The audience gaped and gasped, the dance hall's lights reflecting off the dazzling meteor as it blazed around the Action Field. The resplendent comet creature burned off speed until it could safely crash down behind Yang, a supersonic boom rippling from its impact and billowing its mistress' beautiful blonde mane.
Emerald's eyes widened at the gorgeous silver and blue dragon, starlight and the stuff of dreams glittering off its glowing crystalline wings. The thief found herself joining in with the rest of the crowd's stunned awe at the monster's muscular body, as glamorous as Yang's gown yet aerodynamic and fierce. Even Mercury found it impossible to keep his focus on his food, his jaw nearly dropping at the sight of the new creature (ATK 2500/DEF 2000).
Yet, Yang looked up at her new monster with a look of near euphoric relief, her gentle violet eyes misting up as she announced the majestic creature. "Clear Wing Synchro Dragon!"
The audience was silent for a long moment, rapturous wonder painting their faces. Down on the Action Field, Blake sighed in relief while Ren blinked in shock at the glittering dragon. Nora, as usual, was jittering up and down, salivating for a fight with this new challenge her friend had conjured.
Only one voice broke through the worshipping quiet.
"Yaaaahhhoooooo! Go, Yang! Kick some butt! That's my sister!"
Emerald's crimson gaze drifted back to Ruby, the silver-eyed girl cheering on her sibling with wild, hyperactive abandon. But the green-haired thief was more interested in Ozpin and Ironwood's reaction, both men of the inner circle looking upon Yang's new summon not just with the same wonder as the rest of the crowd… but also fear.
"The fourth dragon," Ironwood whispered, Emerald reading from the general's lips as he grabbed the second floor's railing and leaned toward the Action Duel.
The green-haired thief raised her fingers to her ear and clicked on her commlink.
"Are you and Mercury up?"
"No, ma'am," Emerald said. "But you're gonna want to go now. They're never going to be more distracted than they are now."
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everyone! Hope you all enjoyed my gift to you for this season! :D
You know, for someone who doesn't really like Action Duels or how they ended up being used at times later in Arc-V, I had a lot more fun planning this duel than I expected to. Had a lot of fun trying to make sure the Action Cards were of equal help to both sides and have everyone use clever additional uses or fun ways to get them. I'm glad I've only got plans for this one and two more though, because I don't think I could keep being creative with this format if it was continuous.
Didn't help that I couldn't find a consistent set of rules for how Tag-Duels operate. The real-life game uses one set of rules while a lot of video game simulators use another. In the end, I just tried to differentiate how this set of rules works compared to the Battle Royale Tag-Duels that'll be more common and were already seen with Ruby & Penny vs. Torchwick & Perry.
Remember to check out and add to this story's TVTROPES PAGE! I check my stories' pages often and I always enjoy it when they grow. Please consider it my Christmas present from you lovely folk! :D
Once more, Happy Holidays!
Thank you for Reading! I hope you enjoy what comes next!
Go Forth and Conquer!