Sera grunted with exertion when she and Pyrrha crossed swords. They fought against each other, trying to gain the upper hand in the power struggle they were locked in. Gritting her teeth, she shoved against her opponent back to create some distance between them. Unfortunately, that's what Pyrrha was counting on, and she took the opportunity to sweep Sera's feet out from under her.

Her heart skipped a beat and her eyes went wide at the sudden sensation of weightlessness, but that feeling ended quickly when Sera's shoulder slammed into the ground.

"Gah!" she grunted.

Pyrrha let her scramble to her feet, an amused smirk on her face. "I keep telling you to watch your footing," she said in a sing-song voice.

"Yeah, yeah!" she groaned and raised her sword.

Pyrrha spun her short sword in her hand and smiled with amusement. She wasn't laughing at Sera or anything; she was having fun. "You have gotten better, though. Did that huntsman you traveled with teach you anything?"

"Not really," she said. "At least, not anything to do with fighting."

"Uh-huh," Pyrrha said. Then she ran at Sera again, and the amnesiac was forced to go on the defensive.

Pyrrha transformed her sword into a javelin and thrusted it towards her opponent. Sera used the flat of Igni's blade to knock the point of the javelin away, then brought her sword upwards in a powerful uppercut-slash. Pyrrha dodged backwards with a backspring and landed with her shield raised and javelin ready to strike.

Sera quickly sheathed Igni and brought out Jupiter. She slid a lightning Dust crystal into it and grinned as she pulled out a guitar pick. Pyrrha hasn't fought against her new weapon yet, so she had an advantage over the redhead. She put her fingers into the correct position on Jupiter's neck and played a chord. A bolt of violet lightning fired from the head of the guitar and blasted Pyrrha's shield, the electricity traveling through the metal and into its owner. Pyrrha clenched her jaw while her teeth chattered and tried to shake off the electric shock, but Sera was already on top of her.

The huntress hit a button on Jupiter and watched the body of the guitar transform until she was holding it in its axe form. She grinned and performed an overhead swing while Pyrrha was still stunned from the lightning Dust. Unfortunately for her, Pyrrha was quick to take advantage of her semblance. She waved her hand and diverted the path of Sera's axe to drive it into the ground instead of her.

"Hey!" Sera exclaimed.

Pyrrha slammed her shield into the amnesiac's chest and sent her backwards, wrenching Jupiter's neck from her hands and leaving its blade stuck in the roof of the building. The purple-eyed girl immediately drew her shotgun and fired it at Pyrrha, but the redhead simply raised her hand and froze all of the blast's pellets in midair and allowed them to fall to the ground.

Sera raised an eyebrow. "Really?" She moved the shotgun to her left hand and drew her sword once more.

Pyrrha shrugged. "You said to not hold back."

"True," she twirled her sword in her hand and paced back and forth, her eyes on Pyrrha. "So, I won't either!" she charged her teammate. She swung her sword, but it was only a feint. Pyrrha raised her shield to block the attack, but it never came. Instead, Sera used the remaining shell in her shotgun to blast Pyrrha's shield and knock it aside long enough for her to follow through with a true sword swipe. Igni caught her in the chest and made Pyrrha grunt at the impact.

"Clever!" she stated, recovering quickly. She swung her javelin, aiming for Sera's head, but the amnesiac managed to catch the blade with the barrel of her shotgun. Sera capitalized on the opportunity to swing Igni at Pyrrha again, the sword colliding with Pyrrha's side and pushing her away with the force of the attack.

Sera quickly reloaded her Boomstick and holstered it, in case she needed to use it again. She widened her stance and held Igni with one hand, its blade pointed at Pyrrha in an instant, the huntress shot across the ground and tried to hit her opponent with her Stinger move.

Pyrrha was aware of this move of Sera's, so she knew how to defend against it, but she wasn't prepared for how much faster the white-haired girl had gotten with it.

Igni's tip collided with Pyrrha's shield and it was all the redhead could do to stay on her feet. "She's stronger!" she thought to herself. Pyrrha quickly transformed her javelin into a sword and swiped at Sera, forcing her to dodge away. She pressed Sera, swinging her sword with the intention of bringing her aura down.

"Damn!" Sera cursed. "I can barely land a hit on her!"

She could barely dodge, too. Nearly every one of Pyrrha's attacks hit their mark, and each one chipped away at her aura. She tried to block and parry Pyrrha's sword, but she couldn't hold out for much longer. She started getting mad. Not at Pyrrha, but at the fact that she was performing so poorly.

The two of them continued to fight. Pyrrha pushed Sera to the edge of the building without her even realizing it. Sera deflected as many attacks as she could, but she was too outclassed. Just when she was about to try a desperate move to turn the fight in her favor, her foot slipped off the roof.

"Wha-?!" she exclaimed as she fell, her heart skipping a beat and a sense of panic overtaking her.

Fortunately, she stopped just before her other foot could leave the edge, and her arm was suddenly yanked upwards. Sera looked over her shoulder and at the dark ground far below her, then she looked up to see Pyrrha above her with a kind smile on her face. She'd caught Sera by the hand before she could fall, and Sera's foot that hadn't slipped was balanced on the very edge.

Pyrrha pulled her up and to her feet, and Sera could only laugh awkwardly when she was back onto the roof.

"Thanks, Pyrrha," she scratched the back of her head.

"You're welcome," Pyrrha smiled. "We can't have you falling off and perishing before you can fulfill your promise, can we?"

"Definitely not," she sheathed her sword. "I guess we're done for tonight?"

"Yes, I think so," she laughed. "You did well."

"Ah, shut up," Sera said. "You wiped the floor with me. Let's just get back inside, it's getting chilly up here."

"Very well," Pyrrha smiled.

Sera collected Jupiter from where it was embedded then headed inside. She panted lightly, but Pyrrha hardly seemed winded. At least, that's what Sera thought at first. While they walked, she noticed her chest rising and falling.

They made it back to RWBY's and JNPR's doors and said goodnight, then parted ways. Of course, RWBY wanted to know the details and why Sera had taken so long. She waved it off and said they'd taken her announcement well, and that she'd spent the rest of the night sparring with Pyrrha.

Since she was tired after the long day she'd had, Sera was going to bed. After all, she had class tomorrow. Much to her relief, her dreams were normal again. That woman, Salem, didn't invade her mind and ruin her sleep.

The next morning, she woke up well-rested and ready to start the day. She and RWBY attended class and got lunch, but once they were done with their daily responsibilities, it was time for Sera to get to business.

She hit the gym and worked out until she felt like her muscles were on fire. The poor girl could hardly walk to the showers. After a quick dinner, she spent an hour practicing with Jupiter. She did have to keep getting better at playing music, after all. Even if her arms were too sore to hold the guitar and her hand couldn't stop shaking. Once she was finished with guitar practice, it was time for her next sparring session with Pyrrha.

The next few weeks passed like that that. Apparently, the festival wasn't coming as soon as she'd expected. Class, then lunch, more class, sometimes team exercises, going to the gym, dinner at a random time, practice with Jupiter, then training with Pyrrha until Sera was too tired to move. The huntress even spent time with Yang to improve her hand-to-hand fighting. The blond taught her how to box and stay even lighter on her feet, as well as defending herself against just about anything.

"It'd be better if you had gauntlets like mine to take the hits," Yang had said after one of their sessions. "Without that, you'd have to be much more careful when trying to block something."

Sera thought for a moment, considering her words. "I might think of something. I can't be all attack and no defense, can I?"

Yang slammed her fists together with a fierce grin on her face. "Speak for yourself, Snowball."

"…I was."

At some point, Ruby and Yang had gone back home to Patch to visit their dad. They were only gone for a short time, but it felt like ages. In fact, they were gone until the very first day of the Vytal Tournament.

The time had flown by faster than Sera could imagine. She was kept so busy, there was hardly any time for her to rest, apart from when she slept. She had a mission, and she didn't intend on letting something like resting get in the way.

Sera had to get better.

Every day, she pushed herself. She fought harder and harder in every sparring match she found herself in. In Goodwitch's class, she began to outperform most other students. Team CRDL? She made a joke out of them. Cardin got so upset he stormed out.

Sera made less mistakes in a fight. Her instincts got keener. Her form improved. She got faster. Thanks to her time working out in the gym, she got stronger too. Not by an impossible amount, but it was at least significant. She felt like she was living in a training montage from one of those old fighting movies—which wasn't entirely inaccurate.

Before she knew it, it was time for the tournament.

. . .

"Sera! Sera, wake up!"

"Nnnngh," she rolled over and covered her head with a pillow.

"You meathead, wake up!" another voice shouted.

"Sleep," Sera murmured.

"Dude, get up!" Someone threw something heavy at her.

It hit her on the head, and she jumped up in an instant. "Hey!" she yelled. "What gives?!"

"The tournament is getting ready to start!" Weiss stamped her foot. She and Blake were fully dressed and standing near Sera's bunk with impatient looks on their faces. Ruby and Yang hadn't returned from Patch yet; they were supposed to arrive at the fairgrounds before the first matches started, and the rest of RWBY were going to meet them there.

Sera saw the expressions on her friends' faces and her heart dropped. "What!" she leapt out of bed. "How late are we?"

"Very!" Blake said. "The first match is starting any minute!"

"What!" she exclaimed. "Damn it! You two go on, I'll catch up."

"Are you sure-?" Weiss asked.

"You two are the ones competing, so go!" she pointed at the door. Weiss and Blake glanced at each other before dashing out of the room. Sera disappeared into the bathroom to get ready.

Ten minutes later, she burst out of the door and sprinted for the airships. By the time she got to the docks, she was exhausted. The huntress nearly collapsed onto the landing ramp that was about to close. Apparently, other students were running late, too. Including a certain other group of huntsmen.

"Sera?!" Cerulean Myst gasped. She and her team were standing near the end of the airship and looking down at her with curious expressions.

"Oh, hi Cerulean," she panted. "And you other guys," she said to the rest of team CSHL

"It seems like every time we see you, you're always in a hurry," the darker-skinned boy on the team, Antonio, said.

Sera laughed breathlessly. "If that doesn't sum up my time here, I don't know what does."

"Are you on your way to the tournament?" Cerulean asked.

"Yeah," she panted, her hands on her knees. "Overslept. Had to run."

"Where's your team?" she asked.

"Told them to go on," Sera took a deep breath, her breathing returning to normal.

Cerulean rocked on her heels and grinned. Finally, the airship took off and flew towards Amity Arena—the massive floating stadium in the sky. Sera could hardly believe that a piece of engineering like that could even exist, and they were having the tournament on it!

"So," CSHL's team leader said with a twinkle in her eye. "Would you like to join us to watch the first match? It's been a while since we've caught up."

Sera considered it for a moment. Why not? Surely the others wouldn't mind. "Sure," she said.

"Great!" Cerulean said.

Meallan suppressed the urge to roll his eyes. He didn't understand his leader's odd obsession with this girl. She was clumsy and annoying, so why go through the trouble? Who cares if they were each other's first friends at Beacon. Every time Sera came into the picture, the team was put on the back burner while all of Cerulean's attention went to the aggravating white-haired girl.

On the rest of the brief flight, Sera and Cerulean talked about how each of them had been and how far along in their training they'd come. When the ship arrived at the arena, the five huntsmen headed for the stadium to find good seats for the fight. Finally, they found some in the very front row and sat down. Cerulean grabbed a bucket of popcorn from a wandering concession salesman and offered some to Sera. She took a handful and nodded in thanks to the blue-haired girl, then turned her attention to the arena.

Fortunately, the first fight began right away. Sera was surprised to see that one of the first teams up to compete was the one with those weird students from Haven—Cinder's team. She was curious to see how they fought, especially that Magnus guy. He stuck out the most to her as a weirdo.

Sera was amazed at how the arena changed to make the match more interesting. A giant rotating hologram determined an environment, then the stage opened up to raise those environments into the arena. Just like in Goodwitch's class, the winners of the match were determined by which team was still standing with their aura above a set level. If a contestant has their aura meter lowered to the set amount of fifteen or they are knocked out of bounds, that person is out.

Long story short, Cinder's team wiped the floor with their opponents. It was almost cruel, and Sera was a little surprised that they weren't called out for some of their behavior. She was blown away by how well they fought, but there was something about Cinder's swords that seemed strangely familiar to her.

'Must have seen her sparring in Goodwitch's class. Yeah. Yeah, I think I have…' she thought to herself.

Before she could reflect on it further, the next match was starting. And this time, team RWBY was up.

Professor Port and Doctor Oobleck were the official announcers for the tournament, so their voices boomed throughout Amity for the entirety of the competition.

Sera shook with anticipation, an eager grin on her face. She could hardly wait to see how her team would perform. Finally, the four girls arrived on stage and faced off against a team of foreign students comprised of three boys and a girl. The guys didn't seem like that much of a threat, but the girl… She had an aura of power. Sera could tell just by looking at her.

The fight started well enough. RWBY separated and fought the other team one-on-one, which Sera curled her lip at slightly. They should've been working together! They could pummel these guys. Then again, seeing Yang fight that girl on the other team was extremely entertaining.

"Kick their butts, guys!" she cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted.

"They're doing quite well," Cerulean noted.

Sera shoved popcorn into her mouth as she watched the fight. "Yup, that's my team," she said proudly.

"Hey, we're your team, too!" a familiar voice said nearby.

Sera looked over to see team JNPR with Nora in the lead, her hands on her hips. Jaune gave a small wave and smiled awkwardly while Ren remained as stoic as ever. Pyrrha smiled warmly and waved in her direction. The four of them hurried to take the seats next to her. Team CSHL seemed indifferent about the new arrivals, but Cerulean analyzed Pyrrha as she sat next to Sera.

"Where were you?" Jaune asked. "We've been texting you for forever!"

"Really?" she blinked, checking her scroll. Sure enough, there were messages from all of them asking where she was in the stadium. "Well, you found me, so no harm no foul."

"Whatever," Nora shrugged. "How's the fight going?!"

Sera looked to the stage again. One of the boys from the opposing team had been knocked out and the other two were stuck in an enormous ball of ice rolling around the stage.

"Uh…" she said. "Good, I think? Yeah, those guys kinda suck."

Nora laughed out loud at the frozen ball.

"Well, it seems that Ruby and the others have this match in the bag," Pyrrha noted.

"Was there ever any doubt?" Sera grinned.

"Not really," Jaune said. "They're always doing impressive stuff."

Sera raised an eyebrow. "And how do you think you guys are going to do?"

Nora pumped her fists and grinned wickedly. "We've got this in the bag!"

The fight continued on. Everyone in the stands was cheering and applauding, and Sera couldn't blame them. Not a single member of RWBY has been eliminated while the other team, which she'd finally heard was team ABRN (auburn), was down one member and the others were barely holding their own.

"Are you not competing, Sera?" Cerulean asked.

"I can't," she shrugged. "Unless I replace another member of RWBY or JNPR. Even then, I'm not sure if that's against the rules or something."

"That sucks!" Cerulean frowned. "Are you sure there's no other way?"

"Pretty much. I mean—"

"And with a stunning knockout, team RWBY takes the victory!" Professor Port's voice boomed.

"Yes! Miss Xiao Long has eliminated the three remaining members of team ABRN with a single blow!" Doctor Oobleck added.

"What?!" Sera looked up at one of the many holo-screens replaying the last few moments of the fight. Sure enough, Blake had managed to swing Yang with the ribbon of Gambol Shroud so she could slam the other team out of the arena.

"Wow!" Cerulean said with amazement. "Maybe they don't need your help," she said to Sera.

The amnesiac shrugged. "They really don't. But jeez, that was cool! I have to go congratulate them!" She shot to her feet and hurried down the length of the arena. She wasn't sure where RWBY was heading, but she'd find them one way or another. "Bye, Cerulean!" she waved.

Cerulean's shoulders sank when the purple-eyed girl hurried off. She never got to see her friend, and when she did, it was never for very long.

Team JNPR took that as their cue to go after Sera. Even they could sense Cerulean's disappointment. Plus, they wanted to see team RWBY as well, so they hurried after their extra teammate.

"It was nice meeting you all!" Pyrrha waved as they left their seats.

Once they were gone and only team CSHL was remaining, Meallan sighed and patted his leader's shoulder. "You might as well just give up, Cerulean. I don't think she's aware of what you've been trying."

Cerulean shrugged half-heartedly. "Probably not. But the festival is as good a time as any to, you know."

"Maybe so," the electric blue-haired boy said. "But she seems kind of oblivious."

"…Yeah," the tanned girl said.

. . .

One quick flight to the fairgrounds later and Sera was absolutely elated to be at the festival. There were vendors, games, and more food than she could believe. She'd never experienced anything like it before. She wanted to look at everything, but finding RWBY came first. Finally, she saw the four girls sitting at a Ramen shop that said "Ichiraku" on the side of it.

Apparently, they were having trouble paying for their food. The chef threw Weiss's Lien card back at her and lodged it in the bar of the shop. Weiss did a double take at the blinking register that said "DECLINED." This disappointed Blake greatly. She'd been eyeing the enormous bowl of fish in front of her, her mouth watering.

"What?" she blinked.

Pyrrha ventured forward and said, "I've got it."

Team RWBY looked over to see Sera and JNPR approaching, and their faces lit up.

"Aw, Pyrrha, you don't have to!" Yang said.

"But she could!" Blake said, her face expressing just how desperately she wanted that bowl of fish.

Pyrrha laughed. "Nonsense. Consider it a reward for winning your fight," she offered a Lien card to the ramen chef. After saying their thanks, team RWBY dug in. Pyrrha bought bowls for JNPR and Sera, too. Even if Sera insisted that others didn't need to pay for her—Pyrrha ignored it and bought her a bowl of ramen.

They all ate together and laughed about how RWBY's match went. Yang just soaked in all the praise at how well she did to knock three opponents out of the ring.

"And… And then you just BOOM!" Nora cackled. "Slammed those jokers out of the arena!"

When Sera's bowl was empty, she sat back and sighed with content. The ramen had hit the spot, and now she felt like she could nap for hours.

"So, are you guys ready for your match coming up?" Ruby asked the members of JNPR.

"Oh, definitely!" Nora said enthusiastically. "I'm basically a walking tank, Pyrrha is pretty much invincible, Ren's a freaking super ninja and… Jaune." she said. "Our weapons are awesome, we've been training all year and… Jaune!"

The rest of them all looked at Jaune, who apparently was feeling sick after eating too much. His head was laying on the table and he groaned uncomfortably.

"Are you gonna take that?" Ren asked.

"She's not wrong," Jaune groaned, burping silently.

"Jeez, you okay?" Yang asked.

Then the team leader's eyes widened and he turned away from them, a sickening noise coming from his mouth as he vomited onto the grass.

"Eugh," Weiss frowned.

"Well… We do call him 'Vomit Boy' for a reason…" Ruby murmured.

The others glanced at each other uncomfortably as Jaune puked. Once he was done, he lifted his head and laid onto the table again, groaning.

"Team JNPR, will you please come to the arena—your match is starting shortly!" Professor Port's voice boomed in the distance from a loudspeaker.

"Yes! Like they were supposed to minutes ago!" Oobleck added. Jaune picked his head up, still looking as sick as ever.

"Uh… Jaune? Are you going to be able to compete?" Nora asked.

"I think I ate something spoiled…" he groaned.

The remaining members of JNPR all turned to Sera, who was currently playing with a set of chopsticks and clicking them together. When she noticed the sets of eyes on her, she looked up and knitted her eyebrows together.

"What?"