First Round

The tournament would start today. And team RWBY have done what they could to get in some last-minute prep time. However, Ruby had something to do before that, something that was long overdue.

"Hi mom," Ruby said to the gravestone of her mother, Summer Rose, which was overlooking a cliff. "I'm sorry I haven't come to talk lately. Things have been kinda busy," the little red reaper apologized, before brightening up significantly, "Oh! Dad's here too. He still teaches at Signal, but he's been going on missions lately. I guess he misses adventuring with you. I miss you too." At the last part, Ruby looked a little down. But then she brightened up again, "Haven't been kicked out of Beacon yet. I think being in a team with Yang helps…I keep her in line."

At that moment, a light snort sounded from a little behind Ruby. It was Roze, who Ruby had dragged here with her. She said she would introduce him to her mother, but Roze didn't expect this. Still he had been quiet until now out of respect for Ruby, but that comment about keeping Yang in line was just funny to him for more than one reason.

Though it seemed Ruby either didn't hear or mind her Blade letting out a sound as she kept talking, "That was a joke. She's actually a really great fighter now, and so are Weiss and Blake. Oh! They're my teammates. Together we form, team RWBY!" At the last part, Ruby seemed really happy before continuing again, "And before you ask, it does cause some confusion. Which leads me to the biggest news of all." At that moment, Ruby turned to Roze and waved him closer. The reaper Blade stepped forward with slight hesitation. "Mom, meet Roze, a guy who came out of a magical stone called Core Crystal," Ruby then introduced her Blade, clearly excited, "He's helped me when my baby Crescent Rose was destroyed." But then the girl stiffened a little, before quickly fixing the damage she did, "But it's okay, I was able to fix her. But that's not the coolest thing. The coolest thing ever is that Roze also wields a scythe and I'm the only one he allows to wield it. I'm sure you would love him…" Ruby trailed off as she felt a little saddened by her own words. But then she felt Roze wrapping a supportive arm around her, which seemed to help. "Well, anyways. Yang also has a Blade, that's what Roze and the others like him are called, his name is Dragunov, and he can be mean, but I think deep down he's nice. Anyways, I've made some new friends, and met some…let's just say weird teachers at Beacon." At the last part, Ruby let out a chuckle. But the two were interrupted by the sound of barking. Turning around, the two saw Zwei and Pochi sitting at the edge of the woods that lead to this cliff. And standing next to them is Taiyang a blonde man with blue eyes who was smiling at his daughter, but gave Roze a suspicious look.

Honestly, the man seemed pretty adamant about not letting a guy who looked to be in his twenties be alone with his daughter for even a second. But Ruby was able to assure her father that Roze is not what he thinks. It took her best puppy dog eyes, but the man was convinced although he gave the Blade a warning about trying anything funny with Ruby. But the man seemed genuinely happy when Roze didn't understand what that meant.

"Oh, dad's back," Ruby said before turning back to her mother's grave. "Gotta go! Dad's gonna drop me off at the tournament on his way to his next mission. Wish me luck!" With those words, Ruby turned towards her father as she unwrapped Roze's arm from around her shoulder before proceeding to pull him. Except, the reaper Blade didn't budge for a change. "Roze, we gotta go," Ruby complained as she tried pulling again while looking at her Blade's empty white eyes.

"…How soon does our match start?" Roze asked as he took a look at Summer's grave and the words engraved into it, "Summer Rose. Thus I Kindly Scatter".

"In less than an hour," Ruby replied, wondering why her Blade suddenly asked that.

"…Can I…talk to her for a moment by myself," Roze asked, pulling his hood over his head to hide his embarrassment at asking such a thing.

This made Ruby look surprised about the fact that he wanted to talk to her mother. But she smiled happily. "Okay, but don't take too long," Ruby said, before letting go of Roze and giving one last look at the grave, "It was good to talk, mom." With those words, Ruby skipped away.

When Ruby had reached her dad, Roze took the hood off his head, while kneeling on one foot in front of the grave. "Mrs. Rose…Summer? I'm sorry, I'm not sure how to address you," Roze spoke up, shaking his head a little at his uncertainty, "Regardless, as Ruby told you, my name is Roze. And I am her Blade that she awakened when she touched my Core Crystal, which made her my Driver." The reaper Blade smiled as he gave the grave a small smile. "As Ruby's Blade, it's my mission to keep her safe to the best of my abilities. Using my own weapon and supplying my power to Ruby, I can grant her combat abilities beyond her own." The reaper Blade chuckled a little at the last part, "Not to say she isn't strong on her own, but…it just makes her much harder to defeat. Which leads me to my point." At this part, Roze had a white-hot fire in his empty eyes, "No matter what happens, no matter what dangers might come her way, no matter what hardships she may face. I will be there by her side through all of it. So rest easy, knowing that I will protect Ruby with all my power, even if my very Core would shatter from it. That is my promise to you." At this part, Roze showed the glowing blue rose that was his Core Crystal. After these words, the rose reaper rose to his full height, before giving the grave one last smile before turning around and walking towards his impatient looking Driver and her father who was giving a skeptical stare. That was all the encouragement Roze needed to pick up his pace. After all, they had match to attend to.


The Amity Coliseum is perhaps the single greatest technological and engineering feat in all of Remnant's recorded history. Not just because of its sheer size, but also the fact that it was created through the efforts of all four kingdoms. It was designed as a stage worthy of displaying the skills of Remnant's future huntsmen and huntresses. Every two years, this massive floating colosseum would be moved to whichever kingdom hosts the Vytal Festival. Yes, "floating", because how else could the massive arena be properly moved from kingdom to kingdom. But believe it or not this isn't the most important thing right now.

The most important thing was happening inside the Coliseum. That being the current tournament match between team RWBY and team ABRN from Haven Academy.

Up in the commentator's booth were Peter Port, his brute type Blade, Izuna, Bartholomew Oobleck and, of course, Adenine.

"Woh-ho! It seems we have another heated battle in front of us, wouldn't you say professor?" Port commented as he looked towards his fellow teacher.

"Doctor!" Oobleck corrected, before continuing, "And yes, Peter. It's safe to say that this match is one of the closest on four to four rounds."

With those words, Izuna took over with his booming voice, which was helped by the microphone they were all using, "To those of you who only join us now, WELCOME TO THE VYTAL FESTIVAL TOURNAMENT!" Outside the booth, it seemed like Izuna's enthusiastic shout was a little too loud, seeing as many people were holding their ears.

"Izuna! Not so loud," Adenine scolded the brute, who looked suitably chastised. But the audience burst into slight laughter as they heard her.

However, Port would not stop just because of a minor hiccup from his Blade, "If this is your first time watching, allow us to break down the rules."

With that, Oobleck took over, "The tournament is divided into three distinctive rounds, Teams, Pairs and Singles." the eccentric doctor explained while lifting a finger to list each of the rounds. "Ages and schools are irrelevant, what we measure here, is skill," Oobleck finished his part while adjusting his glasses for the effect. Seeing as the inside of the booth was being broadcasted live to all four kingdoms.

"Correct," Port took over jovially, "The winners of the Team rounds will choose two of their members to advance to the Pair rounds, the winners of that will pick one of them to advance to the Singles round. And the remaining contestants will fight in a final bracket for a chance to bring glory to their Kingdom."

"Speaking of which," Izuna took over, more quietly, but still loudly, "Let's see how team RWBY of Vale is dealing with ABRN of Haven."

With that, we see Team RWBY fending off members of team ABRN to varying levels. Starting with Reese Chloris, a light green haired girl in a dark purple hoodie and black shorts, riding on a hoverboard with sharp blades at the corners towards Blake before jumping on the board and kicking it towards the hidden faunus. But Blake was able to kick the board away by its flat side before dashing at the hoverboarding girl with Gambol Shroud in the ready. Just before she could slash at the green haired girl, the hoverboard made a curve and returned, just in time for Reese to use it as a makeshift shield before flipping it around to slash at Blake with the bladed edges. The two exchanged attacks until Reese jumped on the board again and tried to kick at Blake with the board. But the black-haired ninja kitty wouldn't have it and sliced the board in half as Reese was also launched away a little while the two halves were close to her hands. But then the two halves that Blake "cut" shifted into hand guns with blades beneath the barrel. Reese grabbed the two guns and started firing until she landed on the icy field, slipping and falling on her butt. Painfully. Which earned a sympathetic wince from Blake, despite the situation.

It would probably be important to mention at this point that the massive platform that forms the arena is split into two fields, ice and fire. The "ice" part being a frozen field with several ice formations, that could provide cover. On the "fire" side, there was a volcanic wasteland with small deposits of fire Dust. Speaking of fire, Yang was facing off in a fist fight against Arslan Altan on the fire side of the field. The dark skinned, platinum blonde was evenly matched with Yang. Until she finally whipped out a rope dart to trip Yang before delivering a powerful punch to send her all the way to the edge of the fire and ice field. Yang got up to get some sweet vengeance on the combat robe wearing girl, but was thwarted by a fist that suddenly appeared from behind a large stone pillar. The said fist was wearing a knuckle claw and belonged to a brute Common Blade that had a horn on its helmet.

"Good job, Rykiri," Arslan congratulated her Blade, while Yang was flying into the ice field.

"Whoa, whoa!" Yang exclaimed as she was having trouble staying upright on the slippery ice. Unfortunately the blonde couldn't find proper footing before Arslan dashed towards her, having equipped her Blade's knuckle claws before delivering an even harder punch on Yang which was backed up by both Aura and ether. Dark, if the coloring is any indication. Which of course sent poor Yang skidding further into the ice field, right past Nadir Shiko, a pink and black haired boy with dark skin, who aimed his gun at the momentarily open Yang. But it was not to be, because he got shot in the legs with ice Dust, rooting him in place and dropping his weapon in surprise. Unfortunately, all he could do now was just mope about his luck.

That is, a luck with a sniper-scythe that just shot the ice Dust. "Got your back!" Ruby called out cheerfully as she took another look into the scope.

"Who's got yours?" Asked a male voice from behind Ruby, which made the little red reaper to turn around to see Bolin Hori, the final member of ABRN. The black-haired young man twirled his staff in preparation to attack Ruby.

"I do." And Bolin's aura took damage from Roze's ether-based shots. "And not just me either," Roze said smugly as he took a break from shooting, which allowed Bolin a moment to recover. Long enough to get blindsided by Weiss who used two launch glyphs. One to get a high-speed drop kick on Bolin, and another to add force into Bolin's initial launch.

"My BFF!" Ruby cheered loudly. Only to earn a cold, "No" from Weiss. But that didn't stop Ruby from pumping her fist in victory.

We switch to the commentators to see Adenine clearing her throat, "To those of you who haven't heard yet, us Blades, that have been bonded with students of any school, will be participating in this tournament. Now allow me to break down how this works." With this, Adenine directed the camera's attention to the scoreboard, which displayed the fighter's Aura levels in real time as well as Ruby's and Arslan's portraits having a portrait of their respective Blades next to them. "As you may know, us Blades are weapons awakened from special Dust crystals that Atlas has created by mixing multiple Dusts with multiple Aura samples. However, despite that, we do not possess an Aura of our own."

"But we still recover from any injury inflicted upon us," Izuna continued, spouting the cover story that they had "agreed" upon. "Because of this, Blades don't get outed from being beaten."

"But that's not to say that Blades cannot be outed period," Oobleck added in, taking over the explanation for the moment, "As you might know, the team members are taken out when their Aura drops beneath the point where it can no longer protect them reliably, or by pushing them out of the ring. However, the Blades are a bit of a special case. While they won't be out no matter how many times they are hit, they can be pushed out of the ring."

With this, Port took over the last portion of the explanation, "It's also important to note that if a Blade is ring outed, their respective Driver isn't out. But if the Driver is outed through previously established rules, so is the Blade. This is due to-" The microphone was then snatched by an overly eager Adenine.

"The reason this rule is implemented is because a Blade is bound to their respective Driver, but should the Driver die the Blade will revert to their Crystals so that a new one can bond with them. This rule is a simulation of that," Adenine finished happily, despite the context of the rule.

It certainly didn't affect the audience negatively as there were excited murmurs among them. A Death Match without "Death" was the most common interpretation of this.

"Which leads us to the most important part," Adenine continued, while Oobleck was trying to retrieve the microphone to no avail. "The number of participating Blades. In the tournament, each team can use any number of Blades that their team possesses equal to the number the opponent has. In this case, team RWBY has four Blades in total, but team ABRN only has one. Meaning that team RWBY were only able bring one of their Blades to the arena."

Then Oobleck finally snatched the microphone, "But it's also important to note that neither team is allowed to borrow Blades outside of their teams."

"Not that they would work for them anyway," Izuna added in over Ooblecks' shoulder, "Blades can only truly work with the Driver that bonded with them. It would be like trying to borrow someone else's semblance. Impossible."

This was also the reason why three of the RWBY Blades were sitting in the audience instead. With Dragunov still grumbling about not being allowed to get in on the action.

"Stop grumbling you will get your chance," Dahlia said, getting tired of Dragunov grumbling about only getting a shot during the Singles round. Assuming anyone who had a Blade was in there by the end of it. The Blades had a heated argument earlier about who gets to go in which rounds. How did they decide it then? Through Rock Paper Scissors, and Roze won the first round, which is why he's down in the arena now. After that, Dahlia and Dragunov had a match to decide which one of them would accompany Weiss and Yang during the Pair rounds, and the fire Blade lost.

Honestly, the one who had the right to be miserable is Nox, because he would not get a chance to fight in the arena. If only team ABRN had two Blades.

Back in the fight, Roze, Weiss and Ruby tried to three-man Nolan, but the boy was able to avoid all of their attacks as he made his way to small fire Dust crystal formation before smacking off a piece of it with his staff before throwing it towards Reese. The hoverboarding girl inserted the dust into her hoverboard, turning its glowing green parts into glowing red. With that, Reese rode her hoverboard past Nadir, with the board releasing enough heat to free her team mate from the icy leg lock. Then the green haired girl returned to fight Blake. Spinning the board as Reese jumped to push the black-haired huntress back before taking some altitude to smash the board on Blake.

But Blake was able to roll out of the, leaving a shadow clone to confuse Reese for the moment before running behind an ice formation. The green haired hoverboarder gave chase, turning the corner to see Blake in an ideal spot to knock her off the ring. With this thought in mind, Reese accelerated, approaching the black-haired girl from behind before jumping and spinning the board. Only to realize that she just hit another clone which promptly vanished. But the girl didn't have time to contemplate more on that, because Gambol Shroud's katana flew from behind the frozen arc at the opposite ice pillar, anchoring itself on the pillar before Blake pulled on the ribbon attached to it. Which soon resulted in Reese hitting the said ribbon in high speed, knocking the air out of her. And to add insult to injury, Blake had run behind the girl from the other side before kicking the green haired hoverboarder off the ring and into the wall below.

"Ohh! A double whammy! Reese Chloris is taken out by both ring out and Aura level," Port commented, which made Reese look towards the score board to see that her Aura had indeed dropped below the critical line.

"She really should have worn a helmet," Oobleck added in, causing the girl to slam her hands on the ground at what felt like adding insult to injury.

Back in the arena, Weiss had used her semblance on a large scale. She trapped Nolan and Nadir into a fist made of ice, before the said arm morphed into a ball and started rolling out of the arena.

Arslan noticed this and rolled her eyes with a groan before shooting out her rope dart before propelling herself to the front of the now approaching ice ball. Taking a firm stance, the platinum blonde martial artist prepared herself to shatter the ball.

"Oh no, you don't," Roze shouted as he dashed in to slash at Arslan who didn't even seem to register the danger.

"Right back at ya!" Rykiri shouted back, having dashed in to intercept the reaper Blade with a well-placed clothesline. This caused Roze to be knocked over with slight daze. Then the knuckle claw wearing brute had a devious idea at the sight of Roze's cape. "How about a small flight to the outside on Air Capes," the brute Blade joked before grabbing the red cape and used it to fling Roze out of the ring. Or he would have, but then the cape turned into sparkles of light before shattering and disappearing. "What!?" Rykiri exclaimed before turning back towards Roze who had gotten back up. Except the reaper Blade now lacked his cape, only having his leather jacket with its silver lines and roses at parts of them. And his black pants and combat boots. Most importantly though, his Core Crystal was now out in the open. The reaper Blade quickly brought the shorter red blade of his scythe on Rykiri's face, before shooting the brute on the chest a couple times. Finishing the combo off by drop kicking the brute in the chest, causing him to fall over.

"Did you seriously think that someone grabbing my cape never crossed my mind?" Roze asked the still recovering Blade as new sparks of light formed around his neck and back, forming a new hooded red cape on him.

Ruby saw and heard this, taking this information into her head for later use. Then again, her cape was a gift from her mom, so abandoning it is never an option like with Roze.

Unfortunately, a large sound of something shattering on impact gained Roze's and Ruby's attention. Arslan had shattered the ice ball with one punch, releasing her remaining team mates.

"Yang!" Weiss shouted, earning the blonde's attention. With that, Yang rang through the field before jumping on the ice curve that Weiss made. Then the blonde grabbed onto Gambol Shroud's ribbon that Blake had passed on. The black-haired member of RWBY pulled on the ribbon to grant Yang some extra momentum as she was now launched at Arslan who was picking up her recovering team mates. Then, Rykiri regained his eyesight, which was temporarily disabled by Roze, only to see Yang punching his Driver and her team at the opposing end of the arena. As for Roze, he had to duck beneath the propelled trio to avoid getting caught up himself.

"And that's the match!" Izuna's enthusiastic shout echoed throughout the Coliseum as the remaining Aura of team ABRN was used up on their rough landing.

"Darn it!" Rykiri shouted while slamming a lone fist into the ground, shaking the immediate area around him.

"We…we won," Ruby mouthed out in slight disbelief, having entered to the center of the ring, which was a neutral ground with a tiled floor. The rest of the team around her gave varying nods of acknowledgement.

"WE DID IT!" Ruby cheered loudly as she jumped high, before dropping back down into a slump, "Urgghhh…Is anyone else starving?" The team was now outside at Beacon grounds where the fairgrounds had been set up.

"I may have worked up an appetite," Blake said, before a very loud growl was heard.

"Drag?" Yang asked, turning to her Blade with a questioning look.

The said fire Blade had a smirk, "Wasn't me, Yangie." Then the stone covered Blade glanced at Blake who was holding her stomach with an embarrassed look.

"Gee, if only there was somewhere around campus to get food around," Weiss said, before waving around the fairgrounds they were in the middle of, "Oh wait!"

Ruby put a supportive hand on Weiss' shoulder," It's okay, Weiss. I forget about the fairgrounds too." The sad thing is, the red reaper was serious. Which earned a giggle out of Dahlia and caused Roze and Dragunov to cover their mouths in a poor attempt to hide their laughter.

"I was being facetious," the frosty heiress snapped.

"Well if you were hungry, why didn't you say so!?" Ruby exclaimed, earning full on laughs from Dahlia and Dragunov. Roze was still trying not to laugh, and was failing miserably.

Yang shook her head, before deciding to break this up. She wanted to get something into her tank too, after all. "Come on, I know a great place we can get some food. Follow me," the blonde said, waving her team mates to follow.

"Hey!" They didn't get far, before a shout interrupted them. The team turned around to see Nox holding Emerald by her wrist. Painfully if the mint haired girl's struggling was anything to go by.

"Nox, what're you doing?" Blake demanded, hoping that her Blade had a reasonable excuse. Instead of answering, the dark Blade snatched something from the hand he had caught and showed it to everyone else.

"That's my wallet!" Ruby exclaimed, patting around her combat skirt to find that it was indeed missing. "Did I drop it?" Ruby asked as she retrieved her wallet from Nox.

"Yeah, and I was trying to give it back when-OW!" Emerald exclaimed as Nox tightened his grip on her wrist.

Then the dark Blade drew out his scroll before showing it to the team and their Blades, "She is lying! I saw her take the wallet out of Ruby's pocket."

"Why would she do that," Blake asked, not believing her Blade.

"I do not know. I cannot comprehend the mind of a lowly thief." Nox showed on his scroll while glaring at Emerald. Then the dark Blade clutched his eyepatch covered left eye in pain, before letting go of the red eyed girl's wrist and back-handing her to the ground.

"Nox! Stop it!" Blake shouted in outrage, causing the ninja Blade to stop in his tracks. "What's wrong with you!?" It wasn't just Blake who had that thought, but the other girls too. He already had caught Emerald by the wrist, why was there a need to hit her too.

"She attacked me!" Nox showed on his scroll with a look of outrage.

"How?" This time it was Roze who asked calmly, "From my perspective it looked like you hit her for no reason."

The dark Blade looked hesitant to answer, before rolling out more of his scroll, "I do not know. I only know that my left eye started throbbing hard, and I know that my eye does not simply do that."

Roze held eye contact with the dark Blade. A star decorating an amber iris meeting an empty white void. "I believe you," Roze spoke up finally.

"That's it?" Weiss asked in outrage, "You're just going to believe that Emerald made his eye hurt magically?"

"No," Roze replied simply, "But something did, and maybe Nox thought that something was an attack from Emerald." Then the wind Blade gave Nox one last look before firmly asking, "Nox…are you sure it was Emerald who made your eye throb?"

"Who else could it have been?" Nox showed with a firm look in his eye.

"I should go," Emerald quickly said before running off.

"Emerald, wait!" Ruby shouted after her, ready to run after her when Yang grabbed her shoulder.

"Let her go, Ruby," Yang said with a sigh, "We can apologize to her later when she's had a chance to calm down." The girl did look a little shaken, by Nox's sudden strike.

Ruby looked a little down in worry for the poor girl, but then she felt Roze's hand patting her head. "Ruby, we both know how Nox is when he perceives something as a threat. Let's just forget this for now and get to eat," the reaper Blade told his Driver with a reassuring smile.

"Yeah, let's go," Yang said while taking the lead to where she wanted them to go.


Meanwhile, Emerald had ran behind a stall, nursing her wrist and trying to breath calmly.

"What was that?" Asked a disbelieving Mercury, "How the heck did you get caught, miss Master Thief?" The cocky grin he had did not help.

"You weren't there, moron! That Blade practically caught me red handed, even though I did everything perfectly," Emerald shot back while looking at the slight bruises that were now forming from Nox's iron grip.

"Did you at least get what we needed," Mercury asked, still giving that infuriating smile of his.

"Like hell I did, that thing hit me," Emerald said while also caressing her hit cheek.

This response made Mercury laugh, "Really? You get hit once and then you run away?"

"He resisted my semblance, jackass!" Emerald almost shouted, which immediately made Mercury stop laughing.

"That thing did what?" Mercury asked in slight worry, because as far as he knew there is no defense against Emerald's semblance, "How?"

"I don't know, he just clutched that eyepatch when I tried to use my semblance out of panic, and then he hit me," Emerald explained as calmly as she could.

"This could be a problem," Mercury said, before remembering another thing, "Also…Cinder won't be happy about this."

And that thought made Emerald more scared than when she felt a chill of death crawling up her spine when the dark Blade caught her wrist.


With team RWBY, the team had gathered around a small noodle stand. Team RWBY took a seat on the four seats at the front, while their Blades took seats on the side. Except Dragunov who opted to stand in fear of the seats not being able to withstand his weight.

"I'll have a bowl of the regular, please," Yang ordered, and a huge bowl of noodles appeared in front of her.

Dragunov scoffed at his Driver, before giving his own order, "You got anything spicy? Something that would knock out a normal man?" The draconic Blade received a pamphlet in front of him, while the shopkeep, an old man with balding head, had a questioning look. Reading through what was essentially a warning, Dragunov gave his answer, "Sounds interesting. I'll take that." With the order given, Dragunov was handed a same sized bowl with noodles that had dyed red from the soup that accompanied it. The fire Blade took a whiff of the vapors with a savage grin forming on his face, "Stronger than any man, huh? We shall see."

Ruby gave the fire Blade a weird look before turning to the shopkeep. "I'll take the same thing she took," the silver eyed girl said while pointing to her sister happily. She still felt a little bad for what happened to Emerald, but there was no use moping about it. Nox would just have to apologize later. Roze took a look at the huge bowl Ruby ordered, before ordering the same one.

With Weiss, she looked at her two team mates with an uncertain look, before hesitantly asking, "Do you have anything with low salt?" The response came in the form of a giant bowl of noodles appearing in front of her.

"I'll take what she's taking," Dahlia ordered, having a similar bowl appear in front of her.

Which left Blake. She was still a little appalled at Nox's behavior, but decided to not let it ruin her meal. But instead of speaking up, she gave the shopkeep a nod. Which made the man disappear into the small building behind the booth to do…something noisy, before a new bowl of noodles appearing in front of Blake. This one having a layer of fish on top of it. The sight of it made Blake drool as her pupils were replaced by stars.

Finally, Nox took out his scroll for the old man to read. After reading it through once, the old man pointed at the scroll with a questioning look. The dark Blade answered with a firm nod. With a tired sigh, the old man disappeared into the building again, before once again doing something. Then he came back out with a noodle bowl similar to Blake's, but instead of fish, there were slices of reddish black sausage slices on top of it. The sight made Nox's eye take on the shape of a pulsing diamond, while the other Blades could swear his claws were longer than usua right nowl.

Then Weiss whipped up her personal Schnee Dust Company debit card. Which the shopkeep quickly took.

"Aww, Weiss, what's the occasion," Yang asked.

"Consider it thanks for sending me to the doubles round," Weiss said happily, which was soon spoiled when her card was thrown on the booth like a throwing star.

The shopkeep pointed at the cash register with an annoyed look. The register had the word, "DECLINED" blinking on it.

"What!? How can my card be declined? I was barely into my monthly allowance," Weiss exclaimed with a baffled look. During this, Blake was discreetly trying to bring her bowl closer to her, but the shopkeep snatched it, making the cat faunus slump in deep sorrow.

A similar thing happened with Nox who was just about to dig in, completely oblivious to what was happening around him, before his prize was snatched from under him. This caused the dark ninja's pupil to shift into X as he readied himself to pounce on this impudent thing that denied him his meal. Thankfully Roze grabbed him by the arm, shaking his head frantically at what the dark one wanted to do.

However, Dahlia had a look of realization as she remembered a little something that happened a few moments ago. "Weiss, I think it's your father," the ice bunny said with a frosty look as she remembered the man calling Weiss, with the girl not answering.

"That sick son of a-" "Maybe I can help," Pyrrha said, interrupting Weiss' beginning rant. The team turned to see the Mistral Champion and her team having just arrived along with their Blades.

"Pyrrha!" Ruby cheered happily at the sight of their savior.

"Aww, you don't have to do that," Yang said with a smile.

"But she could!" Blake exclaimed with a desperate look. Nox was also nodding his head rapidly in agreement, his eye reverting to its normal star shape.

"I think you all deserve it," Pyrrha said, having planned to help them out regardless.

"Mind if we join you guys," Jaune then asked.

"Milord, we are supposed to-" "Ignore the stick in the mud and let's eat!" Nora said happily covering Joana's mouth in the process.

"Yeah!" Electra agreed with her Driver.

With Joana's protests silenced, the two teams and their Blades started eating. Even Joana, though she was not happy about it, despite the noodles being delicious.

Which was shown on team RWBY's content looks when they had finished, except with Weiss who felt a little stuffed. The Blades of RWBY had similar expressions on their face, with Dragunov letting out breaths that distorted the air from the heat that his bowl gave him. And then there's Nox who looked like he was in heaven.

On team JNPR side, we see Jaune who looked just about ready to burst, Pyrrha who looked mildly uncomfortable as she pushed her empty bowl away, Nora who was patting her belly happily and Ren with a content look. As for their Blades, Joana had no expression beyond her usual neutral look, Talos was also non-expressive due to his helmet that the earth Blade didn't remove even to eat. How he does that, is beyond anyone. As for Electra, she was patting her own tummy with a happy look, which doesn't explain where that massive amount of noodles went to in that tiny body of hers. Finally, Otohime put her chopsticks at the top of her own empty bowl before tapping away around her lips with a napkin. She didn't look any worse for wear than Joana did after that huge meal.

"You have our deepest gratitude," Otohime told the shopkeeper with a small bow of her head and a grateful smile. The grumpy looking shopkeep seemed to brighten up as he gathered the used bowls and moved them inside to be washed.

Then Nora let out a loud belch, which earned the carrot top a highly disapproving look from both Joana and Otohime.

Ren just took it in stride like he did most things with Nora. Though he did wonder about something, "Are you sure it was a good idea to eat before a fight?"

"That is what I myself asked earlier," Otohime pointed out with a small smile, not that she was complaining now.

"Of course," Pyrrha said cheerfully, "It will give us energy."

But then Jaune put his head down on the counter, "If I barf, I'm blaming you." the blonde knight was of course referring to Nora's belch.

"Ooh! Aim it at the enemy!" the said hammerer exclaimed with an evil grin.

"Lady Nora, please!" Joana exclaimed in disgust while lightly caressing her lord Driver's back.

"Nora, that's disgusting," Ren added in, earning a happy look from Otohime. "But if you do feel the urge, then-" "Got it!" Jaune interrupted Ren, not wanting that sentence to be finished, and Otohime lost her smile at her Driver actually agreeing with the orange haired beast.

"So, you guys feeling ready for the tournament?" Ruby then asked happily.

"Of course!" Nora said cheerfully before starting to make a list, "We got a world-renowned fighter with us, what's basically a ninja, I can bench five of me and…Jaune!" As Nora went through her team mates, her hesitation at Jaune made Joana glare at her. "We also got a mini-tank that can supercharge me anytime I want!" At this part Electra waved happily at being mentioned. "Talos is a walking bulldozer!" The said metal Blade did not look like he appreciated the crude comparison. "Joana wields an awesome weapon!" The light Blade looked like she was insulted instead of complimented. "And…her." The last part made Otohime stand up with a look of suppressed fury.

"Your hesitation when talking about Jaune, I can understand. But your inability to find a good quality out of me is unacceptable!" the water Blade said with a glare that promised unspeakable horrors upon Nora.

"What did you expect! You're not a nice person!" Nora shot back, which prompted the water Blade to summon her ether cannon and point it at Nora.

"You have slandered me for the last time," Otohime said with a warning tone as they heard the cannon coming to life.

"Otohime, stop!" Ren shouted in distress, causing his Blade to flinch before putting her cannon away.

"My apologies Ren. I should have not reacted to the wretched beast," Otohime spoke with clear remorse, which was ruined a little by her words. Then the water Blade sat down, much calmer than before. Which was more than could be said for Nora.

But she soon found something to be happy about, "So where was I? Oh, right! Glynda barely yells at us anymore, Jaune. Our weapons are awesome…and…Jaune?"

"Are you going to take that," Ren asked their still downed leader.

"She's not wrong." Was Jaune's muffled reply.

"Milord." Joana sounded out in sympathy as she returned to rubbing his back comfortingly.

"I'm just kidding! He knows I'm kidding right," Nora explained quickly, before deciding to cheer their leader up, "Don't be so nervous. The worst that can happen is that we lose. Then it's just a few years of walking around school with everyone knowing we're failures. Our friends will slowly abandon us to preserve their social status. We won't be able to show our faces in class. No one will sit with us at the cafeteria, and Ren and I have no parents so we have no home to go back to. We'll be officially renamed team Losiper!" And the increasing depression Nora was driving herself into got to her as she started laughing insanely at first, before planting her face on the counter which turned the laughing into sobbing.

"Nora!" Electra cried out in concern, dashing in to hug her Driver's waist, while the said Driver hugged her Blade's head. Nora's little breakdown had varying reactions. Pyrrha and Ren were used to this, so they didn't think much of it. Jaune was still recovering, Talos looked up while letting out a weary sigh. Joana wasn't sure how to feel about this, and Otohime took great satisfaction at the insufferable orangette's suffering.

"Soo, yeah. We're feeling pretty good," Ren spoke up as if Nora wasn't crying in front of him.

"We'll be fine," Pyrrha said, patting both Nora and Jaune in the back comfortingly. "Besides, we should be happy to be in a fight with actual guidelines, and not…murderers," Pyrrha felt like that needed to be added.

"Yeah, we've faced far worse," Yang agreed with a dismissive wave.

"Let's see, Grimm invasion, violent extremists, destructive sociopathic criminal," Blake listed on her fingers.

"Don't forget a mad scientist, mutated Grimm and a freaking sauros," Dragunov added in with a grin.

"And that's all while we're at training!" Ruby chimed in cheerfully, "Imagine what it'll be like when we graduate!" the little red reaper squeed at the last part.

"Maybe then I'll be able to pay for a meal," Weiss said with a downed look.

This earned an evil grin from Yang, who opened her mouth to speak up before getting a small pebble on her forehead. "Hey!" Yang shouted as she glared at the culprit.

Dragunov was making a zipping motion across his mouth. He did not want the world to know about his ability.

"What was that about?" Roze questioned the fire Blade.

"Personal business." Was the only answer the wind Blade got before speakers around the area came online.

"Would team JNPR please report to the battle rounds immediately," Port's voice echoed around the area.

Which was followed by Oobleck, "Yes. Like they were scheduled to do several minutes ago." That last part was emphasized so much that most of the team quickly got up.

"I did try to tell you," Joana said while giving Nora a look, before glancing at her lord Driver, "Do you require assistance, milord?"

"I guess it can't do any harm," Jaune said, slowly trying to get up. Which was interrupted by the knightess suddenly picking him up into a bridal carry. "Hey!"

"My apologies, but I would rather risk your embarrassment at being carried than at that-which-I-shall-not-speak-of." Joana said with an apologetic look as she began to carry her Driver with comical ease. Jaune wanted to protest, but his stomach wasn't feeling so queasy like this so he decided to grin and bear it.

"Go get them!" Ruby cheered after them, despite looking unsure about Nora walking while still hugging Electra. She was also unsure if she should laugh at Jaune or feel sorry for him.

"Thanks, we will," Pyrrha called back, with a confident smile.

As soon as the team had gone a fair distance, Yang and Dragunov let loose with their laughter.

"I thought it was princesses that get carried," Yang chortled out.

"Well, if Jaune wore a dress he just might qualify," Dragunov added slapping his knee in laughter.

All the while Weiss rolled her eyes at the two's antics, while Dahlia shook her head. Although the ice Blade did have a thoughtful look. "Jaune did look surprisingly beautiful," the amount of seriousness in her tone gave the fiery Blade Driver duo a pause. And made the other heads turn to her with a concerned look. "He did have legs that some women would kill for…It's almost wasteful that he was born a man," Dahlia added with a small sigh.

Which made Yang and Dragunov laugh twice as hard, while Weiss was giving her Blade a concerned look.

"Umm…Dahlia, are you…Do you…have…romantic feelings for Jaune?" Weiss wasn't sure if she could handle it, if her Blade answered yes.

"No, why would you think that?" Dahlia asked with a genuinely confused look.

"Never mind," Weiss said quickly, feeling relief washing over her.

"Shouldn't we go to watch their match," Roze broke the awkward atmosphere, being the only one who wasn't least bit phased by this topic. He probably didn't understand what was going on.

At this reminder, the team and their Blades got a move on. With Yang and Dragunov still letting out chortles at the mental image of Joana carrying Jaune. With the blonde boy wearing a princess dress.


AN: And here it is. Blades are officially part of the tournament, if the teams that have Blades face a team that also does.

Nox is resistant to Emerald's semblance. And Jaune can't get a break from being embarrassed.

Some people have asked me how long it's going to take for the teams to realize that they can have a second Blade. To those who have played Xenoblade Chronicles 2 Rex wasn't too eager to get another Blade to "replace" Pyra. But he was convinced to do so when he was told to think of it as taking pressure off of her. It's a similar mentality here for most. But then there are cases where teams have only one Blade. Why? As Ozpin himself said, they don't know much about Blades. A concern he would share with the other headmasters. There are other reasons too, some of which I will address later.