AN: I'm on fire, people! Let's see how long this will last. Also, I hate writing appearance descriptions. Don't get me wrong, it's important to know how someone looks like, but as someone who's first language isn't English, I tend to not know half the words to describe something. And to be honest, I cheated by copying from RWBY wiki.
Ultimate Challenges
Team JNPR was now in the arena, ready to face team BRNZ of Shade Academy. As were their Blades…if they weren't sitting in the audience. As it turned out, team BRNZ doesn't have any Blades, so the Blades of JNPR had no choice but to sit in the audience and cheer on their Drivers.
Talos was annoyed at not getting a chance to fight in an arena as grand as this, but he took comfort in the knowledge that his Driver would make it into the Singles round and grant him the chance. Otohime was mildly disappointed at not being able to assist her beloved Ren, but moping about it will not help. Besides, frowning about something that was ultimately trivial to her does not suit her. Electra was just pouting about not being able to fight alongside Nora.
But the one who took it the hardest was Joana. She was down in deeper depression than Nora was a few seconds ago.
"Joana," Talos piped up in an attempt to comfort the knightess, "The festival happens every two years, maybe you'll get your chance then."
"That is not the problem, Master Talos," Joana said with a heavy sigh, "Should milord get hurt and I am unable to do anything about it…I am uncertain if I could take it." At the last part the knightess hugged herself in a useless effort to comfort herself.
"Your lord will be fine, Joana," Otohime said reassuringly, "If not by himself, then with the help of Lady Nikos."
"And Nora," Electra added in happily, "She can send their opponent's flying!"
Team RWBY glanced at the four Blades of their friends with varying levels of interest. Although Yang and Dragunov still haven't gotten over the mental image of the gallant knight, Joana, carrying the helpless princess, Jaune, saying stuff like, "My hero!". The two laughed again as that image formed in their heads.
"Will you two just knock it off already?!" Weiss snapped, getting really tired of the laughing brutes.
Ruby was also getting a little embarrassed of her sister.
Back in the Arena the countdown had ended, and Team JNPR and BRNZ charged each other, except May Zedong. A girl wearing a red and white jacket, blue tracksuit pants, and most importantly a beanie that covers her left eye. Although some of her dusky rose-colored hair was peeking from under it. After running into the forest field, she took a position in one of the trees and prepared to snipe.
Meanwhile, the rest of team JNPR was facing the rest of the enemy team. The four members traded a few blows with the opposing team, before May fired the first shot at Jaune who happened to move just in time for the shot to miss him. Looking toward the woods, Jaune noticed a slight flash of light reflecting from May's sniper rifle.
"RETREAT!" Jaune called out frantically, causing the rest of the team to get cover from the rocks of the Stormy Mountain side of the field. Nora and Ren got to cover first, followed by Jaune and Pyrrha who kept their shields up to cover their retreat, even as May let out a couple more shots which bounced off of the said shields.
When the team had reached moderate safety, Pyrrha had time to ask for the next plan of action. Jaune took one look at the field before formulating a plan. "Spread out! Try to keep moving!" the blonde knight ordered and the team did just that.
"Shouldn't they fight as one?" Electra asked in the audience while kicking her legs idly.
"Not in this case," Talos said as he looked at the spread-out team, "With them spread out like this, the sniper will have more difficult time picking a target."
"And if they keep moving, they cannot be picked off effectively either," Otohime said with a small smile, "If Jaune demonstrated this kind of intelligence in his studies, he would be better than Weiss." That last part was added with a melodious laugh.
"Milord is the greatest leader in the history of great leaders," Joana said, beaming with pride.
"…I seriously doubt that," Weiss, who heard the conversation, muttered under her breath, but she did admit that Jaune has clearly improved in combat.
This was proven when he blocked flying saw blades from Roy Stallion. A boy wearing green vest and loose white pants. He also had brown dreadlocks tipped with gold clasps and green eyes. The blocked sawblades returned to the large bracelets on his wrists, which can use to launch them for ranged attacks, or spin them for melee attacks.
While this happened, Nolan Porfirio, a dark red-haired boy, who wears a sky-blue jacket and ripped burgundy jeans, had managed to tase Ren with his cattle prod.
"Ren!" Nora cried out, before charging the boy with the intent to smash him with her hammer. Unfortunately, Nolan was able to avoid the attacks long enough to get a solid hit on Nora and tase her.
"Who-ho! It looks like one of my favorite students is ready to charge up her semblance," Port's voice echoed.
"Ahh, yes," Oobleck took over, "Miss Valkyrie's semblance allows her to produce and channel electricity directly into her muscles. This allows her to jump incredible heights, wield her mighty hammer or in this case, absorb Nolan's attack and send the poor young man flying."
"WHAT!?" Nolan exclaimed, realizing that he had just screwed up, before taking his distance from Nora. But too little too late, Nora had a savage grin as pink electricity crackled around her body. And then the ginger smashed her hammer straight into Nolan's crotch, sending the poor boy flying. Or…actually, she didn't quite hit him, but the shockwave of the swing still did the job.
Jaune saw this, before taking a look at the mountain top that had lightning clouds which crackled with electricity. "Nora! Get to the mountain!" Jaune commanded.
"You got it!" Nora saluted before running off to get struck by lightning. Yeah, that would sound insane if it were anyone else trying that.
In the audience, Dragunov had a savage grin as Nora was jumping up the mountain, "I feel sorry for BRNZ if Nora gets up there."
"Not as much as Jaune right now," Yang said in slight sympathy as Jaune blocked Roy's saw blades again which somehow made his shield hit its owner in the face.
"How does that even happen?" Roze asked seeing the shield bend in a way it shouldn't.
But it seems like no one heard him, they were too focused on Ren running towards the sniper, passing Pyrrha who was now facing Roy, while Jaune was now facing Brawnz Ni, the leader of team BRNZ. Brawnz was a young man with a black hair that was slicked to the left side and purple eyes. He wore a gray top which shifts to purple at the bottom and black pants with bronze kneecaps. His weapons are a pair of claws, one of them trying to get a hit on Jaune.
As Ren avoided a couple shots from May, he reached Nolan, who had recovered from Nora's attack. The two exchanged blows with Ren countering the prod with the blades of Stormflowers. Until he was able to knock the weapon into the air before forcing Nolan to turn around and hooking the blades over the prod and using it to get a hold on the red-haired boy. Which also allowed Ren to use May's team mate as a shield.
Sadly, this meant that May had to change targets, which in this case just so happened to be Nora who was almost at the top of the mountain.
"Nora!" Ren shouted, realizing that the bubbly hammerer was in crosshairs.
Jaune also heard this while having Crocea Mors' sword locked in a power struggle with Brawnz. "Pyrrha, up!" Jaune shouted, causing Pyrrha to dash towards her leader. Rolling over a saw blade sent by Roy, before sliding under his legs to and continue to Jaune. The blonde knight had just pushed Brawnz away, long enough to lift his shield so that Pyrrha could use it as a jumping platform. With that, Pyrrha was able to get herself and her shield between May's sniper rifle and Nora, just in time to take the shot meant for the carrot top.
Speaking of which, Nora had managed to get to the top and had now raised her hammer high. The lightning struck the hammer, and by extension, Nora who got a literal charge out of it. With that, she now had the strength to deal with team BRNZ by herself. But first things first, with this altitude, Nora fired all the grenades in Magnhild at once towards May's location. The payload approached the sniper in the shape of a heart, which made May groan at the sight of her approaching doom. And then that corner of the forest arena was blasted to smithereens, but May was able to get away from it to one of the trees that was just out of the blast radius. Unfortunately, she then started coughing from the smoke that came out of the burnt area, forcing her to get to the ground.
As the rest of team BRNZ had gathered around the center of the field, including Nolan who Ren had released to get away from the blast radius himself, glanced at their team mate with relief at her survival, Nora jumped off the mountain to hit the ground right in front of them with all her might. Creating a shockwave that sent the whole team into one spot.
Seeing their chance, Jaune gave what would be the final orders, "This is it, guys! Let's finish them with team attacks! Ren, Nora, Flower Power!"
"Wait, what?" Except Nora and Ren didn't seem to get it.
Jaune turned towards his team in confusion, "F-Flower Power." But neither Nora or Ren seemed to get it. "That's your team attack name," Jaune explained, hoping that it would explain everything.
"Since when?" Judging by Ren's question, it didn't.
"Guys, we've been over this! Ren brings the flower, Nora brings the power," Jaune said, now getting a little frustrated.
"How do I bring a flower," Ren asked, as he scratched his head.
"Not 'a flower', flour, silly," Nora said, like she knew what was going on, "Like in baking!"
"Why would I bring-" "It's your symbols!" Jaune interrupted Ren.
"Soo, what are we?" Pyrrha asked, even as team BRNZ was recovering.
"Pyrrha!" Jaune exclaimed.
"Sorry, I just want to make sure it's clearly defined," Pyrrha apologized.
As this argument was happening, team BRNZ looked on at the team arguing over something they couldn't quite catch and it was slowly getting irritating. Until Brawnz couldn't take it anymore and shouted, "Hey! What do you think you're doing!?"
This earned team JNPR's attention. "Trying to have a team meeting, thank you very little," Jaune shouted back.
"Yeah! Team ears only," Nora added in while pointing angrily at her own ear for emphasis.
"We're in the middle of a FIGHT!" Brawnz shouted back, clearly outraged that these guys would have a talk in the middle of a freaking tournament.
"AND WE'RE IN THE MIDDLE OF A CONVERSATION! WHAT DON'T YOU GET ABOUT THAT!?" Jaune finally snapped.
"Umm…Jaune," Pyrrha said carefully.
"…Yes, Pyrrha," the blonde responded with a sigh.
"…I think he means, that we're all in the middle of a fight," Pyrrha explained. And just like that, Jaune remembered where they were.
The crowd was jeering a little at the hold-up that the team caused with their meeting. Also, if the crowd wasn't jeering, they would be hearing the clanging of metal against metal, which was Talos banging his head on his own shield arm. Electra looked embarrassed at the situation. Otohime was shaking her head slowly while covering her eyes with one hand. Joana wasn't sure if this situation was to blame on her lord Driver, or his retainers who have forgotten the team names that they had rehearsed the last time they did team exercises.
"…Nora," Jaune finally said with a defeated tone, "Just…hit them with the hammer."
"Got it." Nora complied with a savage grin.
"Wait, what?" was the only thing Brawnz got out, before Nora jumped in front of them, and just like she was ordered, smashed the entire enemy team out of the field. Straight into the force field that separates the audience and the fighters.
"Looks like team BRNZ is taken out by a knock out!" Izuna shouted out cheerfully.
Which was soon followed by Port's equally excited tone, "Literally! Could someone go make sure that they're okay?" That last one was added with concern.
As the fight at the Coliseum were going on we see a bar at the Vale docks called Crow Bar. Here is Qrow, sitting down and having a drink, while also reveling at his freedom of a problem he finally got rid of. A problem he had the misfortune of finding on the mission he was previously on, that seemed hell bent on hunting him to the ends of Remnant. Which is one of the three reasons he was at this bar, to celebrate. The other two being getting drunk, and killing time.
"Those kids aren't half bad," the bartender said as he was cleaning a glass with a cloth.
Qrow gave a non-committal grunt as he drowned another drink. Him being able to be grumpy was a sign of being too sober, as far as he was concerned. "Another," Qrow ordered, without even slurring.
Back in the arena, another match was just about to begin. Which started with Oobleck talking, "The loss of team BRNZ is sure to hurt people of Vacuo. But this next one is sure to have them on the edge of their seats."
With that, Adenine took over, "Team NDGO is certainly a crowd favorite among Vacuans."
"But they're going up against one of the toughest, most testosterone filled teams in the tournament," Port continued, while flexing his arms for emphasis.
Then Izuna took over, "We're of course referring to…Team SSSN!" The team name was said in unison with Port.
With that, we move to the arena to see the said all-boys team, waving at the cheering crowd. Including Wu, who was allowed to be with them, due to the opponents having a Blade with them.
"Sun Wukong and his team are formidable, " Port explained jovially," And although he'll represent the Mistral academy, I'm sure his friends and family back at Vacuo are cheering for him.
In the crowd, we see a group of girls holding large pictures of Neptune and Sage that had pink hearts drawn on them. Then another girl lifted a picture of Sun's abs, which was circled with a pink heart. Finally, a single guy held a large picture of Scarlet, which also had hearts drawn on it.
"Good luck, Neptune," Weiss called to the boy.
In the arena, the said boy waved to Weiss' direction, before he turned to see team NDGO looking at them with unimpressed looks. Including a female Blade who had metal extensions coming down from her helmet in vague shape of hair. Neptune clicked his tongue, before speaking up, "Ladies." The boy was also somehow ignoring Wu knocking on his head lightly with his staff.
"BREAK HIS STUPID FACE NDGO!" And Weiss' yell made Wu give up.
"Idiot," the silver furred monkey Blade muttered at the guy flirting with anything that has breasts. Oh well, no fur off of his tail. Then his eyes fell on the female Common Blade, "So, you're the next to fall against the magnificent Emperor Wu."
"And Mr. Wukong has also become a Driver very recently," Oobleck added in, before turning towards Adenine, "Adenine, my dear, what do we know about Sun's Blade."
Adenine was all too happy to take her cue, "Unfortunately, not much. You see, Wu and Sun don't seem to get along with each other. Also…well, keep in mind that this is just a rumor, but apparently Wu stole underwear from a third year without her noticing."
"That's deplorable," Oobleck exclaimed angrily, "Waltzing into a room that isn't yours and going through someone's drawers is a breach of privacy!"
"Oh, no!" Adenine shook her head at Oobleck's words, "Wu didn't break into the girl's dorm, he stole the underwear that she was still wearing at the time."
"…You're joking," Oobleck said as his glasses slid down his nose to reveal the shock in his eyes.
"That's how the rumor goes," Adenine said with a shrug.
"We'll see about that, furball," the female Blade replied to the monkey's previous words as she brought forth a Megalance. All the while team NDGO were glaring at the monkey for his supposed crime.
"Although I must once again emphasize that this is just a rumor," Adenine said, but it didn't do anything to assure the female team.
"Now, please try to remember," Neptune spoke up, ignoring the banter between Wu and the female Blade. "Hands, above the waist," the blue haired boy said as he showed with his hands for emphasis.
"Ignore them," Sun said while patting Neptune on the shoulder and pointing at Wu with his tail, "For…yeah, they're idiots."
"Why don't you say that again to my face, Sunny-boy," Wu said while making Sun make eye contact with him.
"You're an idiot," Sun dead-panned throwing Wu on a loop for an instant before his glare at his Driver intensified.
"Why you little," Wu growled as Sage and Scarlet face-palmed at another argument between these two.
"Why was he our leader again?" Sage, a boy with dark skin and green hair, wearing a white long coat without a shirt and dark pants. He was also carrying a greatsword on his back.
"That's the billion lien question, right there," Scarlet responds with a sigh. True to his name Scarlet has a hair of that color, some of which comes down over his right eye. The boy also wore a military jacket draped over his left side with a white sleeveless shirt underneath. He also wears gray pants which are held up by a belt, which also holds his two weapons, a cutlass and a pistol.
"You guys," said Nebula Violette, the leader of team NDGO. Nebula is a girl indigo colored hair brushed to her left side and olive eyes. She wears a tight-fitting gray shirt with a long light blue coat over it. She also wears gray pants and dark-grey boots. "Did your Blade actually do that thing the commentator just said?" the leader of the four girls all but demanded.
"Uhh…that's…," Sun said hesitating to answer.
"It was an accident," Wu said like nothing was wrong, causing nine pairs of angry eyes to focus on him. "…Why is everyone glaring at me?" the self-proclaimed emperor asked, totally oblivious to his crimes.
"How can something like that be an accident!?" demanded Octavia Ember. A girl with long brick red hair. She wore a blue waist coat with coat tails at the back, and a crop vest of the same color over it. She also wears a cream-colored skirt with a brown open fronted layer over it and dark brown boots. She also brandished a kris knife at the team who were now wishing Sun never picked up that Crystal the silver furred monkey came from.
"It's an accident because-" "Shut up, you moron!" Sun snapped, "You're only making it worse than it already is, dammit!"
Before Wu could retort, the randomization of the field had started and on NDGO's side, a desert wasteland appeared. An artificial sun also appeared on the arena, which made several people in the audience to put shades on.
"Perfect! Homefield advantage," Nebula said with a grin as this would make beating these guys easier. If only for the satisfaction of putting the silver furred monkey in its place.
"Don't get too cocky," Sun retorted to them with a confident look, "That's my hometurf too."
"I hope I don't get sand in my shoes," Scarlet said, while looking down on his feet as he let his military coat fall off.
"Sand in your shoes?" Wu asked with an incredulous look, "Try getting sand in your fur." the monkey Blade pointed at his silver fur for emphasis.
"Guys, just be cool," Neptune chastised the two. And at that moment, their side of the field was decided.
"Hey, look! The ocean!" One of the girls of NDGO said, causing Neptune to turn to look at the sandy beach with a wrecked ship in horror.
"Uhh…what's wrong with Neptune?" Ruby asked in the audience seats.
"Oh, no," Blake muttered while covering her face with one hand.
"My lady, do you know something?" Nox showed on his scroll with a curious look.
"Neptune is…afraid of water," Blake voiced out. And sure enough, they saw Neptune having gone so stiff that a poke from Sun made him tilt in place.
"What a wuss," Dragunov said as he thought of more ways to terrorize the blue boy if he ever got the chance.
"Like you're one to talk," Yang retorted teasingly, "Mister ' I have to use a sponge to wash myself because I'm so scared of water'." And then the blonde laughed, even as her Blade was glaring at her.
"Hey! I do NOT fear water," Dragunov retorted angrily, "I just don't like becoming powerless."
"Whatever you sayyyy." Yang teased in a sing song voice before returning her attention to the fight that had the countdown starting.
"To be fair, Dragunov doesn't freeze up at the sight of water," Roze spoke up.
"THANK YOU!" Dragunov roared, throwing his hands in to the air, just as the match started.
And immediately, we see Neptune dashing past NDGO and on top of one of the rock formations in the desert side.
"Neptune!" Sage shouted at their team mate, "What do you think you're doing!?"
"Uhh…you know…just getting to the higher ground," Neptune called back nervously.
"On the enemy's side!?" Sun questioned, while Wu rolled his eyes.
"Yeah! They would never see it coming," Neptune then said, trying to sound smart.
"…He's not wrong." commented Dew Gayl. A dark blonde girl wearing a sleeveless green dress with an asymmetrical hem. She also wears a gold colored scale armor beneath the dress that covers her chest, neck and left arm. She also brandishes a spear with a green gem embedded on the blade, possibly a Dust crystal. But the most important fact about Dew is shown on the scoreboard. Namely that she's the female Blade's Driver.
"Open fire!" Nebula commanded and with that, team NDGO charged at team SSSN who also charged the enemy team.
The fight started with Gwen, a girl with curly black haired tied to the back of her head in ringlets, throwing knives in a ballerina like movement at Wu, who was deflecting each and every one of them with ease with his staff. Then the monkey Blade jumped and tried to whack her on the head with his staff. But the black corset dress wearing girl easily got away from the attack.
As Wu kept chasing Gwen, Octavia slid across the sand towards Scarlet who tried to slash her, but the red-haired girl bent backwards to avoid it, before sending a wave of fire from her kris at Wu who jumped over the attack. The monkey Blade only had time to see Octavia sliding away for an instant before having to block another volley of throwing knives.
Then we see Sage clashing with Dew, the two pushing each other, surprising Sage who knew he was strong. Dew smirked as she gave her Blade a nod," Let's do this, Tsuruba!" With that, Dew and the now named Tsuruba waved their respective spears together to create dust devils and send them towards Sage. Soon the dust devils surrounded the green haired boy before merging into a tornado that picked him off the ground and flung him outside the arena.
"And NDGO gains the advantage," Oobleck's comment was heard, which made the green haired boy look frustrated at the fact that his Aura was barely even phased in that fight.
Meanwhile Octavia faces off against the regrouped Sun, Scarlet and Wu. The kris wielder used the fire dust in the weapon to send another wave of fire at the two. Scarlet quickly covered his eyes while Sun ran to the right while Wu took off to the opposite side.
"Neptune!" Sun shouted to their aquaphobic team mate that hasn't even shot at anyone yet.
Still, Neptune decided to make himself useful and dropped off his perch with a confident grin he didn't have moments ago. Octavia responded to it by sending another wave of fire that created another burst of sand, but Neptune simply pulled his goggles over his eyes before shooting. Unfortunately, Octavia was able to block that, but what she couldn't block was Sun who jumped from a high sand dune so he could use the fake sun as a cover to get a surprise kick on Octavia's head. Which was followed by Sun and Octavia exchanging blows, kris vs staff.
Suddenly, another staff hit Octavia's hand hard, forcing her to drop her weapon, which Sun capitalized on. Hitting the brick haired girl on face, torso and her legs with Wu adding in a couple of his own strikes for good measure. Then the two monkeys thrusted their poles into Octavia's gut in almost perfect sync.
"And now we're down to three on three," Izuna commented as Sun looked at Neptune avoiding Gwen's throwing knives and Nebula was locked in what looked like a power struggle with her crossbow against Wu's staff. Scarlet just got caught up into tornado created by Dew again, which threw the scarlet haired boy toward the ship of the ocean field. At the sight of this, Gwen quickly threw several knives to get Wu away from Nebula so that they could go after Scarlet.
Speaking of which, Scarlet managed to land himself on the mast, though it took a moment to get his balance. During which, Nebula shot an arrow into the mast to use as a step ladder to get to Scarlet's new perch. Then the indigo haired huntress shifted her crossbow into a sword. With that, Nebula and Scarlet started swordfighting on the mast like pirates. At some point, Nebula managed to hit Scarlet in the face with the pommel of her sword, but the scarlet haired hunter responded with a kick in the face. Nebula moved to the other side of the mast with Scarlet following and the two clashed again, getting into a power struggle briefly, before Scarlet was able to break it and elbow Nebula in the face. Which caused the poor Shade student to fall off.
With his breather gained, Scarlet was able to survey the battle. Seeing Dew and Tsuruba sending multiple tornadoes against Sun and Wu, while Gwen prepared to throw knives at the two. With that in mind, the scarlet haired hunter took out his pistol and fired the bottom of it, a hook attached to a wire. The said hook catching Gwen by her leg. "Gotcha!" Scarlet said almost smugly before dropping down, dragging Gwen up to hang upside down. Which forced the girl to press her skirt down, lest someone gets an eyeful. Unfortunately, the armored part of her skirt, which also acted as a storage for her knives was upside-down too. Meaning that all of her knives that she had left fell out towards poor Scarlet who was directly beneath them. Luckily though, none of them hit, which made the terrified boy sigh in relief.
As this happened, Sun and Wu were caught up in the largest tornado Dew and Tsuruba created together.
"Oh, come on!" Sun cried out as he spun in the tornado uncontrollably.
"Sun! Grab on!" Wu shouted as he extended his hand-like foot to his Driver. The monkey Blade having much more control over his movements than Sun did.
"Eww! No!" Sun shouted in disgust at the thought.
"You wanna win or not!?" Wu shouted angrily, "You get outed, I get outed!"
"Fine! I get it!" Sun shouted as he grabbed onto the leg, while Wu did the same to Sun's arm.
"Whatever you do, don't let go until this tornado's gone!" Wu shouted before managing to maneuver himself and by extension, Sun, inside the tornado. From outside of the tornado, it looked like the two monkeys were goners, but then the tornado started acting oddly, it's rotation clearly slowing. Then, after a moment, the tornado is quelled, and everyone sees that it was done by Wu spinning his staff above his head counter to the tornado's rotation.
"It seems that Wu was able to counter the tornado using his staff to manipulate the wind counterwise," Adenine commented on the event, "Facinating, that's no small feat for any wind Blade. Advanced or not." Another term they had come to use to replace Rare Blades, because that would be implying that they are found and not made.
Dew and Tsuruba growled as they saw Wu and Sun landing on a small island with a palm tree. Sun looked up the palm to see coconuts, a devious grin forming on his face, "Hey Wu, how about some coconuts?"
The monkey Blade glanced at the said fruit before shifting it towards Dew and Tsuruba for an instant. "Waste of good food if you ask me, but fine," Wu said before briefly smacking the tree with his staff to drop a couple of the said fruits on Sun's waiting hands.
Armed with the nuts, Sun threw them at Dew, who countered them with Tsuruba's spear. sending them back with twice as much force. Thankfully the two monkeys ducked to avoid them, but poor Scarlet who was still recovering got one of the nuts in the face and the other one where the Sun don't shine. The look of absolute pain would have been priceless if it didn't drop his Aura beneath the line.
"Aww, nuts," Sun complained at this turn of events.
"Nuts indeed," Wu agreed as he glanced at their opponent. "Sun! Look out!" Wu warned just in time for him and his Driver to get out of Dew's and Tsuruba's way. The Driver and Blade wielding each other's weapons with Tsuruba having linked with her Driver.
"Two can play that game," Sun said with a smirk as he drew out Ruyi Bang and Jingu Bang. Or he would have, except his weapon wasn't where it was supposed to be at. "What the!? Where's my weapon!?" Sun cried out frantically as he looked around.
"Probably lost it in the tornado," Wu responded a little condescendingly before offering his own weapon, "Use mine. I'll improvise."
"Fine," Sun grumbled, a little disappointed at not having his own weapon's versatility at his side. However, before he could pull it back Wu whispered something into his Drivers' ear which made the said Driver grin evilly.
"Go get her," Wu said as he let go of his staff before linking with his Driver. With that, Sun dashed towards Dew and Tsuruba. Dew and her Blade started whaling on Sun, but the monkey Driver was able to keep up barely. Then, finally Dew brought the Megalance on a large overhead strike which Sun was barely able to block, right into the center bump along the staff. Then the unthinkable happened, the Megalance of a Common Blade cut through the staff of a Rare Blade.
"Oh, crap!" Sun exclaimed at the sight of the two halves.
"You broke my weapon you useless waste of space!" Wu roared angrily, looking just about ready to want to strangle his useless Driver.
This earned a smirk from the opposing Driver Blade duo. "Dew, I'll finish him!" Tsuruba boasted as she moved in to stab Sun who looked too shocked to do anything. Except Wu's Blade barrier blocked the attack.
"Gotcha!" Sun exclaimed with a sudden grin before swinging one half of Wu's weapon, and the currently center bump along that half split on it's own. Revealing a glowing blue chain attaching the two halves. Then the staff half-turned nunchuk wrapped itself around Dew's spear that Tsuruba was wielding before Sun yanked, and the weapon was torn off of the female Blades hands and flung off the arena. Unbeknownst to Sun, the spear joined his own staff at the bottom.
"What the heck!?" Dew exclaimed in surprise even as she herself tried to go for a stab, which was countered by the other half of the staff that also detached itself to become a nunchuk with a glowing blue chain. Smacking the blonde huntress' weapon aside.
"This is the power of my Trick Pole!" Wu shouted happily, revealing the name of his weapon. However, the monkey Blade happened to glance behind him to see a problem. "By the monkey peaches!" Wu exclaimed before creating a barrier to block a barrage of knives and an arrow.
Nebula had gotten back up and freed Gwen.
Sun realized the problem and started shouting to the last hope he had, "Uhh, Neptune! Could use a little help here, buddy!" As Sun shouted this, he and Wu started running with Sun using the nunchuks to block arrows while Wu was actually catching the throwing knives and throwing them back.
"Yeah! Uhh…it would be better if you came over here," Neptune called back, not wanting to get near the water, "I'll uh…guard this sector, we're in lockdown mode!" With that, the blue haired aquaphobic turned away from the liquid dread called water.
"There's nothing to lock down, you brainless blue braindead MORON!" Wu roared as he had to create a barrier to block an attack from all three remaining members of NDGO, "Now help us this instant, because I'm not a defensive Blade!"
"Yeah, lockdown, got it!" Neptune replied, still having his back turned.
Sun was just about to had it with his so-called friend, "NEPTUNE! I know you're afraid of water, but-" And then an electric shot was fired on Nebula who tried to jump over Wu to get to Sun.
"There! I helped, you happy now!" Neptune shouted, having fired the shot, "Also, I'm not afraid of water, and I have no idea what you're talking about!"
"NEPTUNE!" Sun shouted, finally losing it, as Wu's barrier finally failed.
"Okay, fine! just get out of the water," Neptune relented, as he stepped closer to the water, having his weapon in its electric trident form. Just as Sun and Wu barely got out of water, with Dew and Gwen helping their leader up in the water.
Just then, Neptune poked his trident into the water, sending an electric current, which shocked team NDGO. Except, Tsuruba managed to fight through the forced spasm, grab Dew and throw her out of the water and into the dry land.
"Ohho! Looks like we get to see another advantage of having a Blade on your side," Port commented on Tsuruba saving her Driver.
As Neptune took the trident out due to the remaining members of the team having their Aura dropped to critical, Dew got up with Tsuruba's spear with a look that said she wanted to avenge her team.
"Sun, let me finish her," Wu called out, extending his hand to get his weapon back.
"Knock yourself out," Wu said, handing over the nunchuks.
Then the monkey Blade combined the nunchuks back into their staff form, with the chained parts retracting to reattach the other ends together. "Now then, Trickster Style Super Art," Wu called out as he pulled out three long strands of his silver mane of a hair, the three strands stiffening into needles, which the monkey threw. Dew spun the spear to block the needles, but they were thrown to her left right and above. Then in a puff of smoke, the three strands were replaced by three Wu's that surrounded the green clad huntress. Then all four Wu's pointed the tips of their staffs towards the opposing Driver who had a pretty good idea of what was about to happen to her. Then, "4000 Years of Poking Hell!" and all four of the monkeys started jabbing her body with their staffs from all sides. Sun, Neptune, the commentators, even the audience winced in sympathy as Dew looked like a piece of meat being tenderized. After what felt like an eternity, the four Wu's finally stopped, causing Dew to finally slump down. But then the four gave one last whack on her head in perfect sync, effectively knocking her out.
"…Whoa…Now that was a knock-out," Izuna cheered, which also erupted the rest of the audience into cheers.
"Indeed," Oobleck said feeling a little sorry for the poor girl who was at the receiving end of what had to be a Special Art.
As Sun and Neptune started shouting about something to Wu whose clones had puffed out of the existence, team RWBY was looking in slight awe at the finisher.
"Yikes, that was brutal," Yang winced.
"I know! Isn't that great!" Dragunov exclaimed a little too happily for everyone else's comfort.
"That must have hurt…a lot," Ruby said, shivering a little at the thought of being at the receiving end of that.
Roze placed a comforting hand on his Driver's shoulder, "Relax, Ruby. Sun won't do that to you, because it won't be you facing him in the Pair or Singles rounds."
"But then he'll have to face me," Dragunov said confidently.
"You're not the only one there, dude," Yang countered with a playful glare.
"I thought that part was obvious," Dragunov fired back with a grin.
Yang smirked at that, before getting up, "Come on, let's go congratulate the dorks."
With that, the rest of team RWBY got off their seats due to that being the last match of the day. Except Blake gave one last look at the arena to catch Sun giving her a wink. The feline faunus couldn't help the slight warmth rising to her cheeks, "…Emphasis on dork." Blake said more to herself than anything else. But she wasn't the only one who noticed Sun's flirting. Nox was giving the monkey his patented cross-glare, not that the said monkey could see it from down there.
Team RWBY didn't get far, before they were faced by Emerald, who looked awkward for some reason. "…Hey guys," Emerald greeted with apprehension in her tone.
"Oh, hi Emerald," Ruby greeted with a smile,"…What's up?"
The mint haired red eyed girl took a deep breath before talking, "I came to apologize." This earned a startled look from everyone, including a surprised one from Nox. "Nox was right, I-I did steal your wallet," the girl admitted in shame.
Ruby was completely baffled by this, "But…but why?" Why would Emerald who seemed so nice steal her wallet.
"Because…I wasn't always a Haven student. I grew up on streets, forced to steal for a living until professor Lionheart took me in," Emerald said, having a fond look, "But sometimes…well, I was so used to it that sometimes I still do it out of reflex."
"Oh." Ruby mouthed out, feeling sorry for the girl. "I didn't know," the little red reaper then said.
"Why would you, I don't like talking about it," Emerald said with a smile to signal that there were no hard feelings.
"Okay, Nox this is your chance," Blake then said to her Blade who had a confused look. It did not sit well with Blake, "Apologize to Emerald."
"Why?" Nox showed on his scroll, earning an irritated look from his Driver.
"Do it." Blake commanded with a glare, making her Blade flinch before he stepped forward with a look of defeat.
"Emerald, I apologize for hitting you earlier." Nox showed on his scroll with a look that said he was not sorry at all.
But Emerald decided to let it slide, and the fact that he didn't apologize for brutalizing her wrist. "It's okay, I'll try to get rid of this habit," the green haired girl said with a wide smile. With that, Nox rolled his scroll back up before putting it back into his sash. "Soo, you guys excited for your Doubles round?" Emerald then asked
"Heck, yeah we are!" Yang said bumping her fists together with a grin.
"Which of you are going," Emerald then asked eagerly.
"As the team leader I decided that-" "We put it to a vote," Weiss interrupted Ruby, causing the team leader to blush in embarrassment. But that didn't stop her, "As the team leader I decided that we put it to a vote, and we chose-Umph!" This time Ruby was interrupted by Roze covering her mouth.
"Ruby, we are not revealing that," Roze spoke up while holding his struggling Driver, "Ruby, please, we've been over this."
"Over what?" Emerald asked, now looking worried for some reason.
Weiss let out a sigh as she answered, "Nox and Roze here had the idea of not telling anyone other than the tournament officials who we would send to the Doubles and Singles rounds."
"Surely you guys can tell me," Emerald then said, trying to not sound pleading, "I mean, aren't we friends?"
"Sure we are," Dahlia said with a small smile, before anyone else could answer, "But as Nox pointed out, until this tournament is over, everyone is an enemy."
"Besides," Yang piped up, "Nox made us swear by the things we care about the most to not speak of this. And I don't want to hear, excuse me, see him throwing a tantrum about us breaking it."
"I…I understand," Emerald said with a sigh. "Well, nice talking to you guys. See ya." With that, Emerald walked off. She went and told them a half-truth like Cinder told her and she still couldn't get any info because of those blasted Blades being smart. She can't stand those ignorant priviledged brats being so…happy all the time.
Meanwhile back at the Crow Bar, Qrow had just seen the match's end and gotten up to pay for his drinks as he sighted a peculiar looking airship flying over the docks. Time to cause a mess.
"We interrupt this program for this breaking news," the TV in the bar suddenly spoke up, revealing Lisa Lavender. "An airship scheduled to fly from Vale to Vacuo has had one of its engines explode.
For some reason, that piece of news made a chill grow up in Qrows spine.
"According to the witnesses, a small bird flew straight into the engine, causing the resulting malfunction to blow up the engine. Strangely, the debris of the explosion hit the flight control tower, destroying all the equipment inside. Miraculously though, there are no casualties in either the ship itself, or the flight control tower, beyond minor cuts and bruises." Lisa Lavender explained as the large airship in question was shown on the screen with one of its extension on fire, but it seemed like the passengers have already been evacuated. "Unfortunately, due to the damages inflicted on the tower, all flights have been cancelled until further notice." With that, the extra news ended.
"That's terrible and miraculous at the same time isn't it," the bartender said aloud, wondering how so much damage was done without anyone getting hurt. When the bartender didn't hear an answer, he turned towards his customer who had a look of utter despair on his face.
"…479," Qrow muttered slowly.
"Excuse me?" the bartender said in confusion.
"That ship's number was 479," Qrow clarified, now having a sense of dread washing over him.
"Did someone you know take that flight?" the bartender assumed with a worried look.
"That's a nice way of putting it, but now I gotta run before she finds me," Qrow said quickly before dashing out with all the speed a drunk guy could muster.
All the while the confused bartender continued cleaning another glass.
As team RWBY had just gotten out of the Amity Coliseum, Weiss looked up to see that same peculiar ship, which was now flying to Beacon. "Sh-she's here," Weiss sounded out happily, earning Dahlia's attention.
Then the ice bunny followed Weiss' line of sight to see the ship too. "Oh, Winter is here," Dahlia said, which was also heard by Ruby and Roze.
"Your sister is here?" Ruby asked, remembering the Atlesian Specialist who was colder than Weiss. And that's saying something.
AN: Can anyone guess what horror is chasing everyone's favorite druncle? Yeah, I'm a horrible person.
Anyway, it seems like Wu and Sun are starting to tolerate each other. At least. And Emerald tried a back up plan, which still didn't work. But here's the big question... Ozpin knows who to suspect, but hasn't done anything about it. Why is that? We shall see.
But for now, I'll see you all again.
