A/N: Chapter 44 of REKT. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or teams of RWBY, they belong to Rooster Teeth and Monty Oum. What I do own are the characters and teams of my OCs: REKT, GTSY, KACE and DAZE.
Special thanks to the reviewers and to the readers who Fav/Alert this story, I really appreciate it.
Chapter 44: Never Miss a Beat
Inside the Coliseum...
Ruby couldn't contain her excitement because the first match we were watching involved Penny and it had been a long time since we've seen her. The ginger haired huntress was busy throwing her many blades at Russel and Sky who were running for cover; the two boys from Cardin's team soon found themselves at her mercy.
"It's been precisely thirty minutes, ma'am." Her teammate, a dark-skinned girl with a blue beret on her head, spoke and pointed to the watch on her wrist. She had short, navy blue hair and blue eyes. There was a gold mark consisting of an oval shape surrounded by four smaller circles in the center of her forehead. "I'd advise you to wrap it up."
"Oh okay! I knew I can count on you with time Ciel!" Penny nodded, grabbing the boulders with both hands to show the cowering the boys. They scrambled to hold onto the rocks when they were lifted up into the air, their eyes wide like dinner plates. "Hmm...this should do it!"
"Waaaaaaah!"
"Arrrrrrgh! Too high! It's too high!" Both Russel and Sky screamed before the android sent them crashing back to the ground mercilessly. They rolled off to the sides as the boulders broke into small pieces, all passed out with drool leaking out from the corner of their mouths.
"Thank you for a wonderful time." Penny spoke due to being sportsmanlike and staying respectful, giving a half bow as her team name was announced as the victors. From the shadows Cardin narrowed his eyes and bit his lips with frustration. His team barely scrapped past the team fights and now his two fighters were creamed by huntresses. The humiliation Pyrrha dealt them by herself in a mock battle still weighed heavily in his mind, so getting another loss to a girl staked another wound in his pride.
Jesus dammit...He watched as the medics rushed onto the field to tend to his injured teammates. Balling his hand into a fist he slammed it against the wall, feeling the light throbbing afterward. Can we still call ourselves huntsman? This is utter bullshit!
"Penny!"
"Ruby!" Penny exclaimed, turning around to see her friend with a smile plastered on her face. Taking a running start she all but tackled Ruby to the ground, the girl straining underneath the weight. Once they got their greetings out of the way Penny introduced her to Ciel. "This is my teammate."
"Ciel Soleil." Ciel did a half bow in turn before launching into a tangent of information. "Don't tell me, I already know who you are. You're Ruby Rose, 15, hails from Patch. Leader of Team RWBY. Status: questionable."
"So...Penny! You two were incredible out there! How do you control all those swords?" Ruby squealed, focusing her attention back on her friend. "It's so cool—"
"Penny! I believe it is best if we move on to our next location." Ciel interrupted, glancing at her watch for confirmation. "We wouldn't want to be running late."
"Could we have just a minute to talk?" asked the ginger-haired huntress after she shared a look with Ruby. "It'll be over momentarily I assure you." Nodding her head, the blue-haired huntress took a couple of steps back so she was well out of earshot.
"So, is she...your friend or..."
"Well, in a way. She's like Blake." Penny described, deciding that it would be the right course of action when describing Ciel. "But if Blake was ordered to spend time with you."
"Oh! So, basically Weiss." Ruby shrugged her shoulders as she made the connection.
"Precisely!"
"Hicc- achoo!"
"What kind of noise was that? Weiss...was that you?" Yang questioned, giving the heiress a knowing look. The two of them were preparing to go to the lower level where the participants are supposed to go before their match, but the blonde ended up talking to Blake for a little while longer. "Did you..Schneeze?"
"Did you just..." Weiss narrowed her eyes dangerously at the pun. She looked over to see Blake covering her mouth with a hand, no doubt smothering a laugh. "Just before our match too, I can't believe this!"
"Get going you two, wouldn't want to wait till the last minute to check your weapons and stuff." Blake smiled.
"Keep your eyes peeled then!" Yang spoke as she and Weiss stood up simultaneously, the ice heiress holding back the urge to stab her in the back with her fingers. "We'll knock the socks off everyone's feet!"
"Does she know about...you know... 'beep boop bop, does not compute?'" Ruby did some sort of ambiguous robot gestures. Penny shook her head, stating that Ironwood wanted to maintain her identity as a robot a secret. However she laughed as we recalled an incident with a magnet, but she played it off well enough to not get attention.
"She didn't know cause I hid it underneath a large hat!" The two of them shared a laugh. Penny smiled before continuing, "Ruby, there's something I've been wanting to talk to you about." She quickly glanced at Ciel who was still preoccupied with her watch before whispering, "I want to stay at Beacon."
"Penny, they'll never let you do that." Ruby's expression softened, knowing that deep down she wanted the ginger-haired huntress to attend the same school. "You'll have to do a lot of convincing just to get them on your side."
"I know. But I have a plan."
"It's been precisely one minute, ma'am!"
"Wow, she really does count every minute and every second."
"I'll talk to you more soon, Ruby." Penny smiled, waving goodbye and proceeded to follow Ciel out.
"So I take it that you and Penny had a good talk?" Blake questioned when Ruby came back, sitting down in her original seat. The younger of the two nodded her head furiously.
"Yup! But now it's time for that fight!"
Waiting Area...
"The next match would be beginning in 15 minutes!"
"Hear that?" Yang grinned, making sure Ember Celica was equipped properly on both arms. "We're up next!"
"Yeah, I heard that." Weiss sighed, giving herself a last minute check and locking in a new magazine of dust. Taking a deep breath she stood up and exhaled as slowly and in control as possible. "I'm ready whenever you are."
"C'mon then! It's show time." Pushing open the double doors the duo walked out and stood on the platform, looking around at the sea of students. To say they were shocked would be an understatement as the cheers echoed all around them. "Welp, standing here is definitely different from sitting up there!"
"Just remember to keep proper form."
"Alright." Yang drawled as she stretched out her arms, trying to ease off the giddiness and pump herself up. "You're from Atlas. What can we expect?"
"Well, seeing as their kingdom, academy, and armed forces are all merged as one, I think we can expect strict, militant fighters with advanced technology and carefully rehearsed strategies."
WHOOOSH~
"What the-?" Both fighters jumped as something breezed past them, making their skirts lift up slightly. Looking up they finally came face to face with their opponents, a dark-skinned male wearing a jazz style outfit and a lighter complexion female on roller skates. Then they noticed the faint rainbow that trailed out behind her before she came to a stop, twirling some weapon in her hand.
"Or...whatever they are. Honestly I wasn't expecting that."
"Hey!" The male called out to them, lowering his glasses till it rested on the bridge of his nose. His chocolate colored eyes were primarily focused on Weiss. "You're Weiss Schnee, right? The heiress."
"I am!" Weiss replied, putting a smile on her face in politeness. Wow, he's actually being friendly.
"I take it you're pretty good with Dust, then."
"I do my best."
"Yeah, so does my dad. Owned a little Dust shop of his own...'til your father's company ran him outta business." That's when the tone changed, and the male definitely didn't like her one bit. "We've gone through some tough times because of him. Guess you can say this match up was created by destiny."
"Oh...I'm sorry to hear that." The heiress had a sad expression on her face, glancing at the ground and didn't want to look him in the eyes. "Truly I am."
"Yeah, sure you are." He huffed, looking off to the side in a disrespectful manner. "All you rich kids say that whenever you get caught."
"Hey! Why don't you-?"
"'Hey! Why don't you-?'" Yang blinked when his companion started to mimic what she was saying in a high-pitched voice. The girl smirked and pointed, saying in her normal tone, "That's what you sound like!"
"Uhh, what?" Yang scratched her head in confusion.
"Hey, where did you get your hair extensions?"
"This is...my regular hair."
"Ooooh, really?" The orange-haired huntress quirked an eyebrow with disbelief.
"Yeah! Is that a prob-?"
"You should try rollerblading sometime!" The girl chirped, smiling cause she knows Yang was getting a little irritated. "It's super fun!" She demonstrated a neat figure-eight, all the while laughing at both of their confused looks. "It'd probably take you a while though, since you're so...top-heavy."
"Excuse me?!" Yang all but looked at her, baffled that her opponent commented on her above average breasts. "You take that back!" She wasn't going to let a comment like that go so easily. The terrain changed on both sides and the fighters were itching to get started as Port began the countdown.
"You ready Neon?" The man questioned, twirling his trumpet in hand. "Just like we planned."
"Never miss a beat Flynt." was the pepped reply.
"Is it just me or does the atmosphere seem a bit...tense?" I asked, watching as a plethora of Aura strings weaved around in my head to paint the fight. Neon definitely went after Yang while Flynt took on Weiss because he had some family business to settle. The rollerblading huntress was utilizing her strategy well, blowing Yang raspberries while rolling around the terrain with complete control. "Their opponents are actually pretty good."
"Seems like they did their research before the match up, probably the reason why they have the advantage at the moment." Kairos added. "That's genius."
"Why that little-Ugh!" The blonde grunted from a blow she couldn't even see as Neon hopped down and rushed her at a speed unparalleled to Ruby. Raising her arms in a defense position, she held on and took the attacks while waiting for a chance to counter. When the blows ceased she quickly reloaded the bullets and waited for Neon to come at her. The faunus merely shrugged her shoulders before changing her weapon's color to blue and rushed forward.
"Yahooooo~" Sliding underneath the extended arm that aimed to slug her in the face, Neon attacked before leaping back to her feet, the corners of her mouth twisted up into a smile. "Haha!"
"What the-?" Feeling something cold touching her skin Yang looked down and noticed that her right leg was encased with ice. She glanced at her opponent in wonder. "How'd she do that...?"
"Look! Now you're bottom-heavy, too!" Neon giggled, slapping her butt with a hand in a taunting manner. Riled up Yang slammed her foot down to get rid of the ice only to get her left arm frozen instead. Weaving around the ruined terrain Neon revved up her game, increasing the output of her speed and slammed both feet into Yang's unguarded front. The brawler careening across the floor and into a solid wall, a cry of pain escaping her mouth.
"God damn it!" She coughed, picking herself up and wiping the blood from her cracked lips with the back of her not frozen hand.
"You should cool off. Get it?" Neon smiled as she captured Yang's attention, watching the blonde's eyes turn red. Leaning forward, she sneered, "Cause you're angry."
"Too bad all that money can't buy you skills." Weiss on the other hand was getting riled up by Flynt. The smooth jazz player was having the time of his lift, watching her throw attack after attack that didn't seem to be effective against him. Changing up the pace, Weiss set up glyphs all around to boost her speed.
"Heh! How's that?" She asked, landing a few blows of her own. "Too fast for you right?"
"Not bad, but lets see you counter this!" Putting his lips to his horn Flynt made copies of himself, each of them playing his own copy of the horn. To not be confused, all four Flynts were marked by the different colored bands that went across his hat, the original one still having the light blue stripe. Positioning themselves so that their power merged as one, they managed to catch Weiss and throw her a few yards away. "And it seems like I got you."
"What was that?" Port questioned. "I've never seen that before!"
"It appears young Flynt has activated his Semblance, and quite a remarkable one at that." Oobleck explained, taking over the mic to address the masses. "Ladies and gentlemen! Feast your eyes on Flynt Coal's...Killer Quartet!"
"Oooh! Flashy eyes!" Neon chirped as she led Yang back to the middle of the arena, laughing at how serious the brawler was. "You know, you're actually kinda pretty when you're angry."
"Shut up, shut up, SHUT UP!"
"Huh?" Flynt looked over, seeing how much fun Neon was having as she skated around Yang. He had his foot on Myrtenaster, prevented Weiss from getting her weapon. "What's that all about?"
"I wasn't trying to say you should go on a diet. I was saying you really need to go on a diet!" Neon giggled, skating around and around her opponent.
"THAT'S IT! YOU'RE PISSING ME OFF!"
"Basically, you're fat. Fatty."
Yang, no! Weiss watched as Flynt, turning his back on her and using his Killer Quartet, pointed his trumpet at Yang who was too preoccupied with Neon to notice him. Rising to her feet and timing it just perfectly the heiress tackled him, holding onto the real one just as a lava geyser exploded from underneath.
"Weiss!" Ruby and Blake jumped to their feet with horror, watching the flames consume both competitors.
"It appears we have a double knockout on our hands!"
"In fact, it looks as though Miss Schnee's Aura has been completely depleted. She sacrificed herself to take out Flynt." Oobleck then narrowed his eyes to see better. "Wait a minute...what's this?!"
"What?" Yang watched as Flynt rose from the ashes, his Aura level only down to 16 and barely hanging by a thread.
"You did it Flynt!" Neon skated over as he walked off the lava biome, leaving Weiss where she lay unmoving on the ground. "Don't worry about her, she's easy." Then she whispered, "But kinda annoying."
Weiss...to sacrifice yourself...Curling her fingers into tight fists, Yang roared with everything she had within and began throwing punches. Pillars of fires erupted through the geysers to make Yang's use of her Semblance that more dramatic.
"Yo Neon, it's time to go!" Flynt knelt and played his trumpet, pulling Yang into the sound waves. The faunus grinned as she got in, approaching Yang at a fast pace. The brawler wasn't fazed since she's seen Neon's fighting style before so she was good at attack and defending. Cocking both arms she quickly got out of the wormhole and began to aim for Flynt's feet. One bullet became in too close for comfort and he misstep, forcing Neon into some rocky terrain and out of the way as she rolled away.
"Time for you...to stuff it!" Yang closed her arms like an alligator when she got close to Flynt to take him out first, sending the noise right back to the creator. With a yell, he tumbled back and his Aura went to 0, knocking him out of the competition.
"Ooooo! A sour note from Flynt! One more opponent for Miss Xiao Long!"
"You got this Yang!" Ruby cheered loudly. "Do it for Weiss!"
"Never miss a beat, never miss a beat." Neon was trying her best to avoid the geysers, definitely not having a solid surface to work on. "Never...miss a...beat?" Her front wheel tripped over a rock and she was sent rolling into a geyser, shooting up high into the air like an accolade on a pedestal. "Yikes!"
"There you are!" Cocking her fist back, Yang fired one bullet and it hit her mark directly. Hearing the buzzer and breathing heavily she had a minute to soak in the fact that she won before realizing something more important. Her eyes changed back to their normal lilac color as she ran towards her companion. "Oh crap! Weiss! Weiss! Are you okay?"
"Ugh..." The heiress came around, opening her eyes a bit as Yang cradled her. She was covered in soot and the only part of her that wasn't dirty were her eyes. She quickly coughed out some smoke from her lungs and replied, "I may not be singing for a while."
"You know, I'm not sure that was proper form." Yang smiled.
"Oh ha ha.." Weiss scoffed before coughing.
"What?! We lost!" The two turned to see Neon, picking herself up and looked like she was on the verge of crying. Flynt no too far behind, putting his hat on his head. "We lost, Team FNKI lost! That was...That was..amazing!" Even her eyes were sparkling in rainbow colors.
"...What?" She's just like Nora...talk about freaky. Both Yang and Weiss thought at the exact same time.
"Oh my gosh, you guys were super crazy awesome! We should definitely party together sometime! Right, Flynt?" She turned to her teammate, waiting for him to speak. "We had a blast! Most fun we've had in matches ever!"
"That was a gutsy move, Schnee. I dig it." He smiled as Neon wrapped her arms around his with a smile of her own. "Next time you or your team are in Atlas, let us know. Neon knows the best place for a good night out. So, what do you two say?"
"I think we'll like that. Thank you!" Yang replied as Weiss nodded her head in agreement. The four of them exchanged numbers with them so that the Atlas duo could follow through on their promise. Tipping his hat to them as a sign of respect, Flynt and Neon turned on their heels and left the battlefield to heal. Yang then turned to Weiss and said, "They actually weren't that bad. In fact, I think I like them now."
"Yeah, they really are something. I wouldn't mind fighting against them again."
"Well done, you two." Blake spoke as she and Ruby knelt beside them, smiling at both of them with were allowed onto the field since they were teammates; under normal circumstances, no one was allowed on the field unless they were medics. "I never felt so scared before."
"Weiss! That was really reckless! What were you thinking?!" Ruby said as she placed her hands over hers, her eyes boring deep into Weiss' who just smiled in reason. "Don't do that ever again or else I'll punch you!" Then she smiled and placed her forehead against hers, "But you were great out there, I'm glad you're okay."
"You could say, the ice queen was pretty...lit!" Yang chortled, carrying Weiss bridal-style and made her way off the field. Blake and Ruby flanked them on both sides protectively.
"Ugghhh, a pun? Seriously Yang?" Weiss stink-eyed her but paused to cough out the lingering smoke in her lungs. "You're killing me."
Next match...
"Well now that was one hell of a fight! Oobleck, I am literally kept on the edge of the seat!" Port uttered, crossing his hands on the desk. "Even my hands are sweaty."
"Indeed! I'm gonna need more coffee to keep up with all of this excitement." Oobleck shook his almost empty thermos and frowned. "Really now, I do need a refill. Can someone come up here and give me some coffee?!"
"Lets try and keep the hype going, Yang and Weiss already set the base." Kairos said, standing beside Timber on the field with her arms crossed over her chest. The two of them had left to watch the ending of the earlier battle on the monitor in the waiting area. The faunus left her ear muffs behind so her faunus traits were out in the open for all to see. "I can't wait to demonstrate my ability to be honest."
"I think we'll be fine." The archer spoke, lightly touching the mark on the inside of his wrist out of habit. "The cheering is making me kinda nervous."
"You have any idea who our opponents are? Not sure if I had the chance to take a look before we walked out."
"Not sure but we'll see who they are pretty soon." Timber turned to see the doors open on the other end. "And speak of the devil, here they come."
"This battle's going to be interesting wouldn't you say Elyon?" Kaeon mused to her companion as they made their way to the middle of the arena, her arms lowered to her side. She had her hair tied up into a high ponytail, the same uniform with accompanying short shorts, and instead of flip-flops she had on her regular heeled boots. Her team had breezed through the first round or two so she seemed a little on the bored side. "How're you feeling?"
"Feeling pretty good, considering who we went up against in the preliminaries. Can't wait to see who our opponents ar-Timber!" Elyon squeaked when she noticed him standing opposite of her. She placed both hands over her mouth and breathed out, "W-W-What are you doing over there?!"
"Seems like we were bound to be fighting against one another one way or another." He replied, scratching the back of his head with a hand. "Fate's so cruel!"
"Such terrible luck, they need to work on that randomize machine." She agreed with him, holding her hands in front of her. She also keep the same clothing style the last time I saw her and her hair was up as well. "I don't wanna raise my hands against you; I couldn't bare to see you get hurt because of me."
"I have no preference of who I fight, as long as it is exciting and doesn't end too quickly. I've met your leader when we first came to the area and I've been waiting for a chance to repay her for her hospitality. " Kaeon spoke, fixing Kairos with a sharp gaze. "So, as members of her team I hope you two don't disappoint me. I will find a way to have a battle with her in the near future."
"I feel the same way. Going against an actually leader is a real honor, so come at me with everything you have!" Kairos grinned with excitement. "I'm getting fired up!"
"Well now, with an attitude like that it seems we have to return it in spades." Kaeon turned to look at Elyon who looked back with an almost weak smile. "Don't fall behind okay?"
"Sorry, Timber. But you'll have to forgive me this once~" Elyon, stated after nodding her head to her leader with understanding, sending the archer the best doe-eyes she could muster. "Don't feel too bad when I kick your ass!"
"Fuck me..." He sighed with defeat, running a hand over his face before looking at his teammate. In a pitiful puppy voice he whined, "Kaaaaaiirosssss..."
"Don't come crying to me like that. Just treat her like she's any other opponent and knock her out fast at the start of the match." She frowned, her tail twitching back and forth with slight irritation. "Also you can't back out now that she has laid out a challenge. If you do anything like hold back or worse, not fight at all...well, we'll be having a really nice talk afterward."
"Yikes, he's going against his girlfriend. Didn't see that coming!" Efram spoke from where he sat in the stands, his hands placed on top of his knees. "Can't wait to see how he deals with it."
"Truly the luck of a draw, I surprised really. This would be a good trial for him to overcome." I nodded my head in agreement and focused on their opponents. But I haven't seen their abilities yet so this would be a good opportunity to see what they're capable of.
"On one side we have our ice terrain and on the other is the sun-baked desert wasteland." Port announced as the fields changed into their respected biomes. "What an interesting pairing don't you think Oobleck?"
"That's what makes these battles that much entertaining." The green-haired professor replied, nodding his head in agreement. "Let's see what these fabulous students can do! Are you ready? Three, two, one, begin!"
