"Why didn't you tell me you were going to duel Pyrrha Nikos?!"
Yang chuckled. "Sorry, sis. The headmaster swore me to secrecy. He wanted it to be a surprise for everyone."
"You didn't even know I was going to be here until a week ago!" Ruby protested. "What? Were you just going to let me miss watching you duel one of the best hunting duelists of our generation?"
"Heheh, okay, you got me there. Not my most thought-out plan," Yang smirked. "And what do you know, I did better than anyone we ever saw face her on tv."
Ruby pulled Crescent Rose from her locker and strapped it onto her wrist. The duel disk flickered with light as it ran through a system diagnostic as the silver-eyed girl grinned at the other girl. "You still lost."
Yang shrugged, unaffected by her sister's teasing. She tugged her Ember Celica onto her left arm and grinned. "So? I got knocked down, but there ain't no hit I can't take. I'll just get back up and get her next time."
"Oh no, you don't," Ruby proclaimed, lovingly caressing her duel disk. "You already got your turn. Now, I get to let my sweetheart do the talking."
"Well, well, well," Yang grinned. "Someone's fired up. What happened to not wanting people to think you're special?"
"Who cares if I'm special or not? Everyone here is probably some super-special-awesome duelist! You're you! Pyrrha can Xyz Summon! And I think that Weiss girl can—"
"Can do what, you obnoxious dolt?"
Ruby's eyes widened and she whirled around to the familiar voice. Behind her, Weiss Schnee glared at her, her hands placed on her hips.
"Can… Xyz Summon?" Ruby finished weakly.
Weiss's crystal blue eyes narrowed. If looks could kill, Ruby would have been reunited with her mother.
Of course, then a far friendlier redhead popped out from behind the frigid girl and all the tension disappeared.
"I thought you were just a Synchro Summoner," Pyrrha said. "You must be very skilled to have mastered two different Extra Deck summoning methods."
Weiss hopped back, a red blush tinting her cheeks. "Oh, well, I am capable of Xyz summoning. My father specializes in it himself and was quite… adamant, that I become proficient in the art. But, as with generations of the Schnee family before me, I am a Synchro summoner. If we end up on the same team together, I will gladly leave the Xyz summoning to your greater expertise, Pyrrha."
"Oh. Well, that's just super," the Mistral champion said, a smile on her face that Ruby could just tell was fake. It was the same one she herself wore whenever dad said he'd made vegetables for dinner.
Yang seemed to notice as well. She threw on her friendliest grin and clapped Pyrrha on the back. "You've got good taste, P-money. First me, now the Ice Queen—"
"Hey!"
"—Only a matter of time before one of us eventually beats you."
Pyrrha matched Yang's grin, this one far more genuine. "Maybe. But I don't plan to make it easy for you."
"Wouldn't have it any other way."
"Hey! Yang!" Ruby pouted. "We just agreed that I could duel her next."
Weiss scoffed. "Oh, please. Why would Pyrrha waste her time dueling a child like you?"
Ruby glared at the other girl. "I'd do better than you would."
"Oh, please. The only one who could possibly do worse than you would be tall, blond, and scraggly."
"Hey! Jaune might not know everything there is to know about dueling, but he got here same as the rest of us! You don't get to make fun of him—"
"Ruby!" The four girls' heads turned, the blond boy himself rushing in panting. "I lost the paper they gave us! Do you remember which locker is mine?"
Weiss shot Ruby a smug smirk, the red hooded girl angrily glancing away.
"Um, I'm not sure, Jaune," she replied to her friend.
"Aw man, it's got to be around here somewhere," the blond moaned. "I left Crocea Mors and my deck in there."
Pyrrha raised an eyebrow. She pointed to the deck box on his hip. "But isn't that your deck?"
"Huh? Oh, this?" Jaune scowled and looked away from his belt. "That's… I don't even know why I brought that. The deck my dad gave me is in my locker. And that is the one I'm using. Also…" he held out his hand, flashing a smirk that he probably thought was charming. "Jaune Arc, nice to meet you, hot stuff."
"Oh, nice to meet you," Pyrrha replied, accepting the handshake.
After it ended, they both just stood there for a few seconds. Almost as if they were waiting for something.
"So…" Jaune said. "What's your name?"
Ruby's face fell into her palm, Yang bursting out into chuckles, while Weiss's eyebrow twitched over her forehead.
"Are you kidding me?!" the heiress screeched. "She's Pyrrha! Pyrrha Nikos! We just went over this yesterday!"
"What? She looks completely different from… oh," Jaune slumped, nervously rubbing the back of his head. "Sorry. You look really different without your riding outfit on."
Ruby cocked an eyebrow and glanced over Pyrrha. Her armor was certainly sparser than her brown bodysuit and her helmet had hidden all her hair but her distinctive red ponytail from view, but she didn't think she'd ever mistake the champion for anyone else. Then again, Jaune had never seen her out of the riding outfit, so maybe he just hadn't made the connection.
Luckily, Pyrrha waved off the misunderstanding. "No trouble. I'm sorry, I should have introduced myself anyway. You're trying to find your locker, right? Maybe we can help."
A card suddenly streaked past Ruby's face, the red-hooded girl leaping back in shock as it embedded itself in the edge between two of the nearby lockers.
"That's yours."
Everyone turned as the black-haired girl from the other day strode through them all to pluck her card from the gap. Oddly enough, she replaced it in the deck box at her hip instead of placing it in the deck she carried on her pitch-black duel disk.
"Oh," Weiss sneered. "You."
"What's the big idea?" Yang protested, getting in the girl's face. "You nearly hit my little sister."
The bow-wearing girl scoffed, flipping her long black hair as she turned.
"I didn't," she replied. "I hit what I aim at."
"Yang," Ruby said, pulling her sister back. "It's fine. But that card looked kind of weird. What was it—"
The girl was already walking away before she could finish.
Ruby groaned. "So, that's a habit of hers."
Weiss snorted. "Some people just have no manners."
"Who cares if she has manners? She was right! This is my locker!" Jaune cheered. He dashed over to the metal container and began fiddling with the lock. "Now, what was my combination again? My birthday? Mom's birthday? Dad's birthday? Saphron's birthday? Oh, come on! I always use one of those!"
He continued on for a few moments, trying combination after combination to no avail. Eventually, a black sheen of energy coated over the lock, the door swinging wide open a moment later.
Ruby raised an eyebrow, glancing at the others to see if she'd just imagined it. Yang and Weiss were glaring after the girl with the bow's retreating form, but Pyrrha… her hand was covered in a light coating of that same energy.
Was that her semblance? Something to do with manipulating metal? It'd explain her incredible handling on a duel runner. A duel anchor sealed both the user and target's aura into duel functions, but in a turbo duel, there were no such restrictions. It was frowned upon to attack your opponent in formal matches, but in a duel for your life, you used every trick you could.
The Invincible Girl's semblance was a huge subject of theorizing on fan forums (Ruby had stumbled onto a few looking for new duel disk specs), but was it really something so simple? Or just something she used so well that no one noticed? Either way, it wasn't Ruby's place to say anything.
"Yes! Terra's birthday! I knew it was something family-related," Jaune said. He pulled out Crocea Mors, a deck already loaded. As duel disks went it wasn't bad, but the white and yellow machine was clearly past its prime. It was bulky and scratched up, what little paint remained barely sticking to the metal. The manifestation projector, the part of the disk that simplified the creation of the cards' aura bodies, was two generations behind the sleek, top-of-the-line unit Ruby used in Crescent Rose.
Still, when Jaune strapped it onto his arm, he looked like a kid in a candy store.
"Alright," he said, an eager smile on his face. "Now what do we do?"
"Would all prospective students please report to Beacon Cliff for initiation? All prospective students, please report to Beacon Cliff!"
Pyrrha chuckled at the timing of the announcement. "Evidently, we go there."
"Excellent," Weiss declared. "Now we can finally get down to business. Coming, Pyrrha?"
The redhead's false smile returned as soon as Weiss addressed her, her emerald eyes flickering back towards Ruby, Yang, and Jaune. "Do you guys want to come with us?"
"Um, that wasn't what I…"
"Sure!" Jaune replied. "Let's go!"
"I'm in," Yang said, smirking at Weiss's sputtering face.
Ruby nodded and the five of them headed out of the locker room together.
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They arrived at the cliffs and were set up on a series of metal platforms, one person to each. Professor Ozpin started giving them a speech (partners with the first person you make eye contact with, find a relic at the ruins, don't get killed by Grimm, yada-yada), but Ruby wasn't really listening. Instead, she found her eyes drawn down a few sections where the mysterious black-haired girl was already shuffling her cards and dropping into a ready stance.
All she could think about was that weird card. It looked like a monster, with an orange background, level stars and everything. But there were two different text boxes for displaying effects. Maybe it was something special about the archetype? Ruby couldn't say she'd ever heard of 'Performapals' before.
But before she could wonder anything else, she was already launched into the air. Remembering her training with Uncle Qrow, she swiftly drew a card from her deck. Her duel disk had been set to hunting mode instead of duel mode (it automatically shuffled when that happened), so she'd been able to stack her deck with just what she'd need for her landing strategy.
"White Rose Dragon!" she called, slapping the level four monster onto her duel disk.
After many years of practice, her aura flowed near-instantly into her card, her disk's manifestation projector handling the most difficult parts of weaving the low-level monster's physical form. Her dragon materialized beneath her, a quarter the size of her ace, but still easily large enough to ferry her down to the Emerald Forest below. The beautiful creature spread its wings of pure white petals as they began their descent.
On the way down, Ruby glanced around the sky, hoping to catch a glimpse of the black-haired girl and her mysterious monster. It took a bit of searching. She saw a green-robed boy call up a strange blue lady with four arms and a crackling girl in pink summon a huge emerald baboon before she found her.
And yet, Ruby recognized the monster she summoned, XX-Saber Boggart Knight, a lizard warrior with a sword of gleaming steel. It was a solid monster, one of the foremost pieces in the popular X-Saber deck. But X-Sabers were hardly an uncommon sight. Their simple but effective battle style made them super popular with hunting duelists across Remnant. Even their Synchro monsters could be mass-produced like utility cards. There were probably at least a dozen prospective students using them that day. Was this girl one of them?
But then why had she had that 'Performapal' card? She'd put it into the deck box on her belt instead of the one in her duel disk, but why had she kept both on her if she'd only be using her X-Sabers?
Eh, she was probably overthinking it. Whatever the black-haired girl's deal was, it wasn't Ruby's place to stick her nose into it. Jaune had kept two different decks on him too after all.
Although, he had seemed to have… contempt for the cards he wasn't using. Was this girl like that as well? Was that why she'd thrown the Performapal into the locker so casually?
Ruby couldn't help but frown at that. Your cards, your deck, they were a part of a duelist's soul. Hating those cards, wasn't that like hating a part of yourself?
She could barely imagine something so horrible.
"Watch where you're flying, you dolt!"
"Huh?" Ruby stuttered, roused from her contemplation. She turned towards the familiar shrill voice, only for her eyes to widen. "Aaaahhhh!"
While she'd been meandering around looking for the black-haired girl, her White Rose Dragon had flown straight into Weiss's flight path. The heiress was soaring on the shoulders of two guys wearing dragon skulls on their heads, one of them of holding a guitar with three necks shaped like… dragons?
"What kind of landing strategy is that—"
"Get out of the way!"
Ruby stopped her questioning and yanked White Rose Dragon out of the way, the other girl soaring past her. It was only as the heiress neared the treetops that she began to wonder if the other duelist really knew what she was doing. She made to fly in and rescue her when both skull-wearing men disappeared from below Weiss, transforming into twin orbs of nebulous blue energy.
And then, the most amazing thing ever happened.
Weiss flicked her previous two monsters off her duel disk, into her graveyard, and slapped down a new card from her hand. The spheres of crackling energy, the aura used to form the other creatures' bodies, suddenly surged around each other, bolts of pale lightning singing between them as they merged into a single great sacrifice. A blinding glow erupted from the tribute summon and an ancient and powerful roar shook the Emerald Forest.
When Ruby could see again, her jaw dropped. Where had once been the tips of treetops was now flat, charred land and open sky. Sky dominated by the Schnee Heiress and the massive, magnificent, blue-scaled dragon that was now her stead.
"Blue-Eyes. White. DRAGON! Eeeee!" Ruby squealed.
Before the Extra Deck Summoning methods were developed, a duelist's best bet for dealing with powerful Grimm was to tribute summon higher level monsters, reusing the aura from the sacrifices to lessen the burden of the more powerful creature's energy requirement. After Synchro Summoning and Xyz Summoning became more widespread, most normal monsters fell into disuse for simply being too slow or outright unnecessary for the styles. One of the few exceptions was the legendary dragon passed down through the Schnee Family for generations, a virtually invincible engine of destruction that few had faced and lived to tell the tale.
Which of course meant to Ruby that it was one of the coolest things on Remnant.
"Fly closer! Fly closer!" the red hooded girl cheered, vigorously tapping her White Rose Dragon on the neck. "Come on girl, we've gotta get a better look!"
White Rose Dragon glanced over at Blue-Eyes White Dragon, the awesome beast gaining altitude as it prepared to soar off. A bead of sweat dripped down the floral drake, its wings shifting in the exact opposite direction of the Schnee mount.
Ruby pouted for a moment, only for a mischievous grin to overtake her face as a twinkle gleamed in her silver eyes.
"Oh, it's okay, girl," she said, gently patting her friend on her neck. "Approaching a monster like the Blue-Eyes is dangerous. I mean, I bet even Red Rose Dragon wouldn't be brave enough to do it."
White Rose Dragon's head shot up like a spring, the lizard's gaze immediately locked on the Blue-Eyes. It shot over to the gigantic dragon without a second's delay.
Ruby could only snicker at her monster's predictability. If she wanted to get White Rose Dragon to do something, she need only imply that her sibling would be able to do so. And same thing for Red Rose Dragon in reverse. She knew her monsters well. And now, she wanted to get to know Weiss's.
"Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh!" she cheered, her drake zooming her in front of larger dragon's maw. The hunting duelist leaned over her mount and swooned at the mighty beast's massive, shining teeth and majestic blue-eyes. "You're even more beautiful in person! The CCT pictures don't nearly do you justice."
The Blue-Eyes preened at Ruby's praise, only for a familiar white-haired figure to lean over its head, her eyes narrowed in vexation.
"What the hell were you thinking?!" Weiss demanded. "What kind of moron violates another person's flightpath like that? You could have killed us both—"
"Are those horns or talons on the side of your mouth?" Ruby excitedly asked the Blue-Eyes. "Ooo, or are they conductors to help aim your lightning breath? This is the best day ever—"
"What is wrong with you!?" Weiss screeched. "What kind of person watches someone else summon one of the most dangerous dragons in the world and decides they're going to go into firing range?"
Ruby finally looked up at her and cocked an eyebrow. "Why would I need to worry about being in firing range? I mean, after all, we're partners now."
"Partners!?" Weiss shrieked, glaring down at Ruby and her quivering White Rose Dragon. "What makes you think that I'd ever stupe to partner with the likes of you?"
Ruby shrugged. "Well, I mean, you don't exactly have a choice. First person you make eye contact and all."
"Wha—you—you…" Weiss sputtered, before she crossed her arms over her chest and snorted at the other girl. "I would never partner with such a loutish brat like you. I'm sure the headmaster will make an exception for your aerodynamic blunder—gah! Blue-Eyes!"
The brilliant dragon had shifted under the heiress, unsetting her footing and forcing her to cast her gaze downward. The shining creature was glaring up with its sapphire orbs, clearly displeased with its mistress's attempt to weasel out of the arrangement. The Blue-Eyes White Dragon was known to be a prideful creature, but also an honorable one. Even if Ruby hadn't stoked its ego with her adoration, it would not stand for fudging the rules. It was better than that. And so was any duelist it would accept as its partner.
Ruby's eyes twinkled with wonder. Honorable, high standard monsters were so cool! And, bonus, if Blue-Eyes was willing to work with Weiss, that meant she couldn't be all bad. She could even be a potential new friend.
Somewhere really, really deep down.
"Urgh! Fine!" Weiss huffed, pouting down at Ruby. "Be honored that the noble Blue-Eyes White Dragon has judged you a worthy partner for one of the Schnee lineage."
"Yay!" Ruby squealed, her gaze locking on the incredible duel monster before her. "Don't worry, Weiss! We're going to be the best partners ever!"
"My eyes are up here, you dolt!"
"But its eyes, its beautiful blue eyes, are down here."
"Urgh!" Weiss growled, only for a despairing frown to mar her lips a moment later. "You're just like everyone else. Just here for my dragons."
"Don't worry, Weiss! Your eyes are blue too!"
"That's not… let's just get to the relics."
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As Blake leapt through the canopy of the Emerald Forest, one deck locked in Gambol Shroud on her left forearm and her true cards secure in a deck box on her belt, she considered if just maybe she was overstepping herself.
She'd gone to all the trouble to buy an easy-to-use X-Saber deck because there was no way she could use her actual cards and not be recognized eventually, black bow hiding her ears or not. There was no way in hell she was going to abandon her deck outright but remaining hidden was crucial to avoid her significant former status in the White Fang being discovered and impeding her ability to become a huntress. Picking fights with the Schnee Heiress and helping some kid find his locker by dramatically throwing one of her cards at it was not productive to that agenda.
Fortunately, she now had the chance to turn at least some of that around. The distinctive, thunderous roar of the Blue-Eyes White Dragon confirmed that Weiss Schnee was a sizable distance away, and the nearby death throes of a pack of Ursa riving in a ring of flames confirmed that the cat faunus's preferred pick for her partner was close enough. Blake didn't know how much she'd be able to downplay her own dueling skill without risking failing her classes, so she needed someone of tremendous talent who'd make her look unimpressive by comparison to always be next to her, but not a person who'd have all the eyes of Remnant on them at all times like Pyrrha Nikos.
Of course, the exhibition turbo duel had helpfully provided a candidate of near-comparable skill to the Invincible Girl with far less media notoriety. And her shadowing (not stalking!) of Yang Xiao-Long in the locker room had confirmed that the blonde's personality was one that Blake could deal with for the duration of her term at Beacon. So after XX-Saber Boggart Knight had safely landed her in the branches, she'd dismissed the loyal monster and headed towards where she'd seen the shining synchro rings descending.
"Synchro summoning while she's just been shot off a cliff," the disguised cat faunus grumbled. "What kind of monster is this girl?"
She would soon see when she happened about a ring of blazing trees, a dozen Ursa Major charging towards the center as raging blazes covered their dark fur.
All the while, Yang Xiao-Long stood in the middle of the smoke-filled clearing, cackling like a maniac. Her Hot Red Dragon Archfiend stood proudly behind her, a bonfire surging over its right arm and its razor-sharp talons.
"Hahahaha! Come on boys! You can do better than that!" Yang taunted the Grimm, the creatures of hate rushing to the slaughter. "Come on, Archfiend! Roast them! Absolute Power Blaze!"
The demonic dragon roared and smashed its claw down in front of its master, its flames rippling out and bashing most of the Ursa into the dirt, their bodies disintegrating into black mud. All the while, the beast's mistress let loose truly terrifying laughter, her eyes blood-red.
Blake groaned. If the victims were anything but Grimm, she'd probably be disturbed by the display, but given they were the unrelenting creatures of darkness, it invoked only exasperation. Yang Xiao-Long had bucketloads of talent and an impressive ace monster, but she was naïve if she thought this was a game she could revel in. Ursa Major were hardly the mightiest Grimm in the world, and Blake had encountered many hordes on the frontier that could conquer even the blonde's archfiend without support. Even if the rules were looser than duels between human or faunus combatants, strategy was still imperative.
It was why the black-haired woman stuck to the shadows while her prospective partner cackled, taking the time to activate three copies of The Allied Forces spell card. Once the continuous magic was reinforcing her warrior-types, she summoned a Boggart Knight and used its effect to special summon an XX-Saber Fulhelmknight. With both of them out, she was able to bring forth XX-Saber Faultroll by its own ability for little cost to herself.
The three swordsmen glanced back at Blake and nodded respectfully, a gesture that the disguised cat faunus returned. They understood that their bond with her was not to the extent of her true deck, but X-Sabers were not known to be particularly picky with their duelists, a fact that only added to their popularity. So long as she led them well, they'd do as she asked of them. It wasn't the love she had with some of her other cards (she could feel one eager dragon in particular calling out from her deck box), but it was a healthy working relationship.
And after seeing what Adam's monsters' devotion to him had led them to sanction, she actually found it somewhat comforting that her monsters wouldn't help her if she proved herself truly incompetent.
"Attack!" she commanded, her three X-Sabers charging out into the flame-covered clearing and meeting the last trio of Ursa Major in combat. Boggart Knight met his opponent's claws head-on, but Fautroll and Fullhelmknight, both warrior-types and boosted twelve hundred attack points but the three The A. Forces spells, dealt with their enemies with a pair of swift flashes of their blades. Once finished, they turned and flanked their ally's foe, the swordsmen working together to finish the final Grimm.
The Ursa Major roared its last defiant breath and crumpled to the ground, dissolving into black mud as the X-Sabers pulled back to Blake, their wary eyes focused on the approaching demonic dragon, their blades not threatening but still on guard.
Hot Red Dragon Archfiend growled at the three swordsmen, but the mighty creature's mistress merely swaggered up to Blake with a carefree grin.
Yang glanced at the disintegrating Ursa and chuckled. "I could've taken him."
Blake rolled her eyes, dismissing all but her Fullhelmknight to conserve aura. With her partner established and her swordsman by her side, she turned towards the treeline.
"Ah, working on conserving aura, I gotcha," Yang called. "If that's the game, you should pull the last back too. Hot Red Dragon Archfiend can cover us. And when I get low, you can bust out Gottoms to take his place. Eh? You've seen my big gun, so only fair I get to see yours? Right? Right?"
"Ugh," Blake groaned. Keeping the biggest monster on watch at all times, trading off whenever one person's aura started getting low? She couldn't count how many times she or Adam had been forced to explain to new recruits just how bad an idea that was. A single powerful monster couldn't cover everywhere at once, so if the duelist powering it was jumped, the entire squad would be caught off-guard, potentially before they could summon any of their own creatures to defend them. Everyone needed at least a level three acting as a watchdog at all times.
"Oh, I get it," Yang said. "You can't synchro summon, can you?"
Blake's eyebrow twitched into her forehead, her tuner Fullhelmknight smirking at her from the side. The cat faunus ignored both her monster and her new partner and just leapt into the trees.
"Hey, it's nothing to be ashamed of!" Yang called, her dragon carrying her in its arms so she could keep pace with the ex-White Fang. "Just let me give you some pointers! We'll have you tuning like an expert in no time, partner!"
Blake frowned. Maybe this wasn't as good an idea as she thought. Teasing, exuberant types reminded her too much of her mother.
And she didn't need to synchro summon! Sure, she couldn't use X-Sabers to their fullest effect without it, but almost no one else in the world could use her actual deck. So there! And if that failed, there was always the card that Adam gave her—
No! No, that was… no.
She glanced down at her deck box, her mind shuddering at the memory of the spell she stored beside the cards she'd forged since childhood. The magic card had certainly made the White Fang's grunts stronger than most would be without them, but Adam had refused to tell her where he'd gotten them. And he'd only been getting worse since he'd added them into his arsenal, slaughtering…
No, that wasn't something she wanted to think about either. At least, with any luck, she'd have a better relationship with her new partner than she'd ended up having with her old one.
"Hey, it's a long way to the relics! How about a song?!" Yang shouted from behind. "Ninety-nine duel monsters cards on the wall! Ninety-nine duel monsters cards! Take one down, pass it around, ninety-eight duel monsters cards on the wall! Ninety-eight duel monsters cards on the wall…!"
Blake grumbled as Fullhelmknight smirked at the cat faunus. Every time she thought life had kicked her down all it could, it somehow found a way to drop a friggin' Colossal Fighter on her.
Maybe she should have gone with Pyrrha Nikos after all.
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Pyrrha was very pleased with her pick for her partner. Granted, her first choice had been to pair up with Yang, but she'd be lying if she said Jaune wasn't her second choice. The encounter in the locker room had been charming in its own way and, compared to Weiss's fawning, she preferred a person who hadn't known her name a few days ago.
Though, she'd be lying if the fact that his failed attempts to improvise a landing strategy had failed miserably, thus requiring her to summon Heroic Challenger – Spartan in order to keep him from splattering against the tree trunks. His own monster, a knight in resplendent shining armor, had merely flickered when he'd slapped the card on his duel disk, glaring at his master as he plummeted from the sky.
"What the hell, Bedwyr?!" Jaune screeched at his monster. "I get it, you don't like me. You have no reason to like me. But were you really going to let me go splat?!"
The other man only continued to snarl at the blond duelist, sweeping around and dissipating its own aura body.
"Argh!" Jaune groaned, shaking his head mirthlessly. The young man leaned against a tree for a few moments before looking up Pyrrha. "Sorry you had to see that. Thanks for saving me."
"Oh, no problem," Pyrrha assured him, glancing where his monster had stood a minute earlier. "Is everything okay?"
"Oh, yeah, sure. It's just… Noble Knights have really high standards and I… don't meet them in the slightest," Jaune sighed. "Last chance to back out. I won't blame you if you want to pretend we never saw each other and find a better partner."
Pyrrha flashed him a friendly smile. "Rules are rules. Besides, this is a school. We're all here to get better."
"Heh, yeah," Jaune chuckled. "Better—watch out!"
Pyrrha whirled around and gasped as a gigantic Deathstalker appeared out of nowhere and charged through the forest, whacking down scores of thick tree trucks as it approached. The Invincible Girl barely had time to roll away as its enormous black claw swept towards her, Heroic Challenger – Spartan dutifully leaping into the beast's path.
But this was no newborn Beowolf or fledgling Nevermore. The Deathstalker was bigger than a bus and as armored as a tank, its hefty golden stinger large enough to take down even six-star monsters with a single solid strike. Heroic Challenger – Spartan was brave, but it simply didn't have the strength to hold up against the Grimm's heavy blow, the warrior's aura body shattering into scattered flecks of light.
"Oh no!" Jaune yelled. The blond snatched a card from the top of his deck and slammed it down on Crocea Mors. "Noble Knight – Borz! I summon you!... any time now? Come on!"
Pyrrha winced as her new partner's monster failed to materialize. He claimed that his Noble Knights had high standards, and the Invincible Girl knew that several monsters did have such demanding requirements of their duelists, but to despise him so much as to not come to his aid in such a dangerous enemy? Why did they expect him to be? A saint? That was completely ridiculous!
Unfortunately, the Deathstalker wasn't giving the pair any time to breathe, swinging its claws around at Pyrrha. The redhead quickly swiped the top two cards from her deck, smacking the first one down on the duel disk. "Heroic Challenger – Double Lance! I summon you and use your effect to summon another to fight beside you!"
Her white-armored warrior flashed to life, its twin spears shining in both hands. The warrior's special ability eased the burden of manifesting its comrade, but the Deathstalker's relentless assault bashed the monster into the ground just as the second knight arrived on the field.
"Pyrrha!" Jaune called, his eyes flickering between her and the deck box on his hip.
Pyrrha grit her teeth as she drew another card, ready to bring out another monster as fast as she could. But as the Deathstalker bore down on her second Double Lance, she knew she wouldn't be fast enough to get a second Heroic Challenger out and Xyz summon a monster that could defeat the armored Grimm. She was trapped in a war of attrition that she just couldn't win, not if she couldn't get a bit of breathing room—
"Go! Gogogo Golem! Defense Mode!"
Pyrrha's eyes widened as a titanic golem of stone with bulky action figure-like arms suddenly blossomed in front of her and her Double Lance. The rocky behemoth knelt before the Deathstalker, holding firm as it caught the Grimm's stinger before its palms. While the titan might have been a level four monster, its special ability would along it to hold out against a few attacks that should have destroyed the creature. It was a solid defensive monster.
But who had summoned it?
The Invincible Girl took a brief instant to glance back at Jaune, her partner's fingers still lingering over the sideways Gogogo Golem card on his duel disk, the deck box at his side wide open.
Of course, being the well-trained combatant she was, she'd also already slammed her Heroic Challenger – Swordshield down onto Milo. With two level four warriors out and ready, Pyrrha wasted no time in manipulating her aura to open the spiral galaxy of the Overlay Network beneath her allies.
"I overlay Heroic Challenger – Double Lance and Heroic Challenger – Swordshield!" she shouted, her monsters transforming into nodes of orange light and swirling into the field of stars. I xyz summon, Heroic Champion – Excalibur!"
The spiral galaxy exploded with power and Pyrrha's most famous monster rose into being through a nebula of shining orange energy.
Towering over even the Deathstalker, Heroic Champion – Excalibur stood tall in spotless crimson armament, golden ornaments adorning its fearsome helm. A pair of yellow overlay units orbiting the knight as it ripped its massive greatsword off of its back.
Just in time, as the advancing Grimm finally battered down Gogogo Golem, tearing its arms open with its giant claws and spearing the titan's head with its bulbous stinger.
"Excalibur!" Pyrrha yelled. "Use your special ability! Use your overlay units and double your strength to wipe out that Grimm!"
The golden lights surged into the Heroic Champion as it consumed the monsters that had summoned it in the first place, boundless strength pouring into its muscles as the knight's chest puffed up.
With a single swipe of its mighty blade, Excalibur smashed the Deathstalker's armor wide open, the arachnid Grimm shrieking as it was mercilessly slaughtered.
The deed done, the scarlet champion pulled back from the disintegrating creature and turned towards its master. With solemn respect, Excalibur knelt to Pyrrha, who returned its show of honor by bowing to her monster.
"Woah."
Pyrrha looked up and watched as Jaune approached with awe plastered across his face.
"You really are amazing," he murmured.
Pyrrha smiled, placing her hand on her Heroic Champion's knee. "I couldn't have done it alone. Without you and Excalibur, I'd be dead."
No matter how strong a duelist one was, there was a reason hunting duelists were formed into teams. Ancient laws inherent in the very fabric of Remnant governed how aura and the duel monsters could be used in battles both between people and against Grimm. Governments across history and companies like the SDC or Heartland Corporation had all studied those rules of existence, searching for loopholes to provide humanity with new methods of survival. But a constant of the affair seemed to be that no matter how orderly duels between people seemed to be constrained to being, war with the Grimm would always be unpredictable. No single duelist would get lucky forever. Every aura ran out. The Grimm didn't.
Maybe that was another reason Pyrrha had chosen to be a hunting duelist instead of staying on the tournament circuit. In the field, she couldn't be alone.
"Heh, thanks," Jaune unenthusiastically replied. He nervously glanced down at Crocea Mors, removing Gogogo Golem from his duel disk. The blond narrowed his eyes at the monster, before sighing and stowing the card in the deck box on his hip.
"Summoning a monster from outside the deck in your duel disk," Pyrrha mused, dismissing her Heroic Champion – Excalibur. "Your aura control must be quite impressive to pull off something like that."
"My aura control? Impressive?" Jaune bitterly repeated. "Nah. I've just got a lot of it. When dad unlocked it… well, he was really surprised. Might have trained me sooner if he'd known before."
Okay, that was obviously a sensitive subject. And if her publicity manager had taught her anything, it was that you didn't get people to like you by blundering into matters that weren't your business. Maybe, something else to bond with her partner for the next few years?
"Your golem was very impressive," Pyrrha complimented. "Not many could hold off that Deathstalker like that."
"But if I'd been able to use the Noble Knights, I wouldn't have had to put everything on you," Jaune mulled. "Gogogo Golem is great, but… it's childish. It's literally a promo card from a kids' show."
"The Onomatopoeia Gang, right?" Pyrrha inquired, her brow furrowing in thought. "I think they asked me to guest star—"
"What?!" Jaune exclaimed, suddenly racing up to the champion and grabbing her shoulders with stars in his eyes. "You were on The Onomatopoeia Gang! How?! When!? I thought I'd seen every episode?"
"Well, um, they asked me to guest star," Pyrrha clarified. "The Heartland Corporation keeps close ties with many people throughout Mistral, so their production company extended an offer to me, but the scheduling didn't work out. I had to choose between being here or there, and I chose Beacon."
"Oh. Right. Of course," Jaune noted, awkwardly letting go of his partner. He nervously gazed at his duel disk and the deck within. "If we're going to be hunting duelists, we can't be kids anymore. I need to be worthy of a real deck."
"What?" Pyrrha said. "Jaune, I'm sorry, I wasn't trying to insult your golem—"
"You didn't," Jaune interrupted, letting out a resigned sigh before walking off into the forest. "Come on. Those relics won't find themselves."
Pyrrha flinched as she made to follow the blond, summoning up her Heroic Challenger – Assault Halberd to keep watch. She hadn't meant to offend, but it seemed her attempt to change the subject to something more palatable had just touched another cluster of nerves.
She wondered if any of the other new partners had made worse first impressions than her.
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"Blue-Eyes! White Lightnin—"
"Let's go, White Rose Dragon!"
"What?! Get out of the way, you dolt!"
Weiss could not believe this hyperactive child! It was bad enough that her new 'partner' was just another flatterer after her family name and the Blue-Eyes White Dragons that came with it, but apparently, she was also a reckless idiot!
The pair of them were closing in on the ancient ruins where the relics were kept when they were assailed by a massive swarm of Nevermores. Instead of hanging back and allowing Blue-Eyes White Dragon to unleash its Burst Stream of Destruction, Ruby had charged at the horde of Grimm on her tiny level four lizard, a smaller level three version with red plumage manifesting beside her.
Weiss's dragon had to hastily reorient its aim so that the White Lightning attack didn't vaporize her partner and her monsters as well as the enemy. It still scorched away the dozen Grimm on the enemy flank, but it could have wiped away the entire swarm if it'd had a clear shot. And given the fact that the giant Nevermores had all positioned themselves in the center and thus avoided the blast entirely, such was a vexing situation.
"Get back here, you dolt!" Weiss screamed. "You're completely out of line—"
"Summon your Lord of D.!" Ruby called back. "You've shown me your dragon! Time to show you mine!"
"My Lord of—what are you doing?!"
Lord of D., or rather, Lord of Dragons, was one of the monsters she'd tributed to bring out her Blue-Eyes. If it was on the field, all dragon-type would be immune to targeting effects. However, there was a common misconception among those unfamiliar with the card that it made those dragons completely impervious to other cards' effects. And since Ruby couldn't possibly be dumb enough to target her own partner's monster, that meant that she was planning to wipe out the Nevermores and didn't realize that it wouldn't protect her allies.
"Wait—gah!"
Weiss gasped as her Blue-Eyes lurched beneath her, one of the giant Nevermores having swooped around and smashed into the azure monster. Of course, element of surprise or not, enormous or not, it was still just a Nevermore.
In an instant, the Blue-Eyes White Dragon had swatted the avian demon's talons aside and sank its titanic claws into the beast's shoulders. With a mighty roar, the majestic familiar of the Schnee Family tore the giant Nevermore's wings straight off, ripping apart bone and muscles with sheer, indomitable strength before incinerating what remained with a burst of white lightning.
Unfortunately, that brief period of distraction meant Weiss was unable to warn her partner before she went through with her own plan.
"Synchro Summon! Black Rose Dragon!"
At any other time, Weiss would probably be thinking a multitude of thoughts. That the vibrant, rose-covered dragon was one of the most beautiful creatures she'd ever seen. That it was highly impressive that someone as young as Ruby was able to Synchro Summon so proficiently.
But at the moment, she was more concerned with the massive tornado building around her partner's beast. In her panic, Weiss had already drawn and activated Monster Reborn from her deck, only to widen her eyes in terror as she realized her tactical misstep.
"Go!" Ruby shouted. "Black Rose Gale!"
The growing tornado suddenly erupted outward, carrying with it a maelstrom of razor-sharp rose petals. The Nevermores, giant and otherwise, shrieked as the surging storm obliterating the Grimm and shredding them down to bare scraps.
But the attack wasn't aimed. Not in the slightest. The trees below, old and strong, were all blown into the dirt, a quarter-mile of forest flattened in an instant. Weiss yelled in distress, the wind tearing her off her mount as her Blue-Eyes wailed to the sky and shattered into nodes of light, even it unable to withstand the brutal onslaught.
And unfortunately, since Weiss had panickedly activated her Monster Reborn, and therefore selected its target before her dragon had been destroyed, she couldn't bring it back! The Schnee heiress growled as she tumbled to the leveled forest floor, summoning a set of glyphs to slow her descent and cushion both her fall, and that of her revived Lord of D.
"That insolent, impudent, reckless…" Weiss snarled, slowly rising to her feet as she dusted herself off, nodding in gratitude to her Lord of D. as the skull-wearing man gave her a hand up. She pulled out a new card from Myrtenaster, recalling that she had quite a few to get through before she reached a spell that could bring back her dragon. She summoned up a Keeper of the Shrine in defense mode to keep watch in case she was jumped.
Of course, her mind was not on Grimm as she furiously dug through her deck.
"—thoughtless, impulsive, inattentive idiot!"
"Hey, Weiss!"
"AAAHHHH!" Weiss jumped, barely registering the rose petals that flurried by her side. No, instead she saw her father, demanding her to stop shaming the Schnee name with her weakness appearing out of nowhere with his greatest beast at his side. His monster more savage than a supernova.
Reflex took over, trained from hundreds, thousands, of sudden 'training' sessions. Her arms flew out and her already strained aura screamed as the spiral galaxy of the Overlay Network opened up beneath her, Lord of D. and Keeper of the Shrine sweeping down into its depths as the summoning matrix exploded, a pitch-black shadow screeching up from the depths, its treacherous fangs crackling with violet electricity as it reared towards the heavens.
Neither Weiss nor Ruby had any way of knowing this at the time, but the moment that dragon's roar broke through the air, every Grimm in the Emerald Forest, even those who could not hear the cry, shuddered and wailed, fleeing to whatever holes they knew to hide within. The Creatures of Grimm were not made to feel fear, but that beast, and the new god they knew it could become, scared them.
It, and the king that was destined to rise and command it.
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"How about a little pony? Come on, you know you want it? Blake? Blake—woah."
Yang's never-ending chatter was finally cut off, but not by a cause that Blake had hoped for. The blonde had suddenly stumbled after picking up the white knight chess piece, propping herself up against one of the many stone pillars surrounding the ancient ruins.
"What the fricking hell…" she muttered. "Hey, partner. You feel that?"
Blake had no idea how, but she did. Some sort of wave, a surge of nausea and dread and power, flooding through her body all at once. Part of her had nearly wobbled and collapsed to her knees while the other part felt like she could suddenly run for miles without running out of breath. It was decidedly disconcerting.
Especially since part of it had encouraged the monster card sealed at her hip. Her signature beast, her ever-loyal and eager dragon, had sung ever louder its pleas to be released into the world, to dance and battle to its heart's content. And the moment the surge had come over her, Blake had even considered doing just that, almost as it was natural that her companion should join the cause of the cry in the field.
"Maybe a Grimm?" she spoke to her partner. "I've heard that some can affect people's emotional state. Maybe one nearby causes nausea. We've got what we came for. We should get out of here before it closes in."
"Yeah, good idea," Yang concurred, the hothead worryingly willing to listen to reason. "Let's move."
Blake nodded and the pair moved out, though the cat faunus was hardly at ease. Despite her words, she doubted the Beacon professors would allow any such Grimm to remain so close to the school. Whatever unnatural force had caused the wave, its source was something else. Something that had affected both her and Yang for reasons unknown.
She didn't want to think about what could possibly do such a thing.
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Far away from Beacon, beyond an ocean and across a continent of dark soil and a blood-red sky, an elegant woman with skin like ash glided across the courtyard of her gothic castle. Her long, black gown swept up the dust in its wake as she came to the edge of lake, bubbling with rich, inky mud.
She raised up her arms, crackling multicolored energy igniting between her palms and dancing over the lake. The woman took a deep, intoxicating breath as information rushed through her mind from raging magic before her.
"Beacon," she muttered, an amused smirk splitting her bone-white face. "How ironic, Ozma. They gather to you even as they craft the pieces of my new god. I wonder, is the one destined to be the king among their number? Do you shelter the one who will bring your era to an end? I suppose we'll find out soon enough."
The first move approached. Cinder may have failed take the entirety of Amber's power, but she had acquired the dragon Ozpin had entrusted her. Now she just needed to finish taking the mantle of the Fall Maiden, and she would be able to perform the Shining Evolution the Queen required of her.
To create the card of the king, the card that would merge four into one. The one that would be god.
Salem could not wait.
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Ruby had known that she wasn't the best at 'people'. But she'd hoped that her burst of excitement in the locker room after Pyrrha and Yang's duel had meant that things would turn out alright, whether she had normal knees or not.
Now, she and her new team were being marched towards the headmaster's office by Professor Goodwitch, and Weiss wouldn't even look at her. Yang had tried to encourage her that things were probably better than she thought, but her sister hadn't seen the white-haired girl in the Emerald Forest. She had never seen someone that furious, not even when Dad had found out she and Zwei tracked mud into the house.
And the worst part was, whether Weiss was crabby or not, Ruby knew it was all her fault. She'd rushed in against the Nevermores, she'd misunderstood what the Lord of D.'s effect did, and she'd startled her partner into xyz summoning that dragon. She'd just been so excited about seeing a Blue-Eyes White Dragon and had wanted to show off to the other girl, show her that she could stand on the same level as her with monsters that were just as awesome.
But that wasn't an excuse. And she really couldn't object to the cold shoulder treatment the heiress had given her since. The team assignment ceremony had been really awkward when the name had been announced. Seriously, Team RWBY? Was Ozpin trying to make the others mad at her?
The elevator dinged and Professor Goodwitch led the four hunting duelists into the headmaster's office, clockwork gears spinning above them on the ceiling. The man himself swiveled around on his chair to greet them with a playful smile and a twinkle in his eye.
"Team RWBY, my congratulations on passing initiation," the headmaster said. "Your showings were all quite exceptional."
"Thank you, professor," Weiss said, giving the older man a slight bow. "We promise to bring dignity and honor to this illustrious academy."
Yang rolled her eyes at their teammate's posturing and Ruby couldn't help but sigh herself. She agreed with the general sentiment of Weiss's words, but did she really have to make it sound so pompous?
Ozpin smiled at the heiress. "Thank you, Ms. Schnee. I have no doubt you all will. However, before the term begins, we have a slight logistical matter to handle."
"What do you mean?" Ruby asked. "We're all a team now, right?"
"You are," Ozpin confirmed. "But every team needs a leader."
Professor Goodwitch came forward and tapped a few buttons on her tablet, summoning up a holographic display of the four girls' school I.D. photos.
"Traditionally, the team leaders are decided via election," the blonde educator explained. "However, there have been times throughout history where said elections have been deadlocked. This is one of those instances."
Two small golden ticks appeared beneath Weiss's photo on the display… and under Ruby's.
"What?!" both girls exclaimed simultaneously.
"Me?" Ruby gasped.
"Her?" Weiss demanded.
"Alright, Ruby!" Yang cheered.
Blake just stood there shook her head. To think this mess had all started because Ruby had wanted to know what her card was.
Headmaster Ozpin coughed into his hand and drew everyone's attention back. "As per academy tradition, there is only one thing to do in order to break the tie and decide whether Ms. Rose or Ms. Schnee will be leader of Team RWBY."
"A recount?" Ruby nervously suggested.
"A duel," Weiss surmised. The heiress took a hissing breath in through her nostrils and turned towards Ruby with icy blue eyes. "I don't know how you got enough votes to equal me, but it won't matter."
"But I voted for yo—"
"I am not going to let a reckless child like you hold authority over me," Weiss declared, taking a threatening stomp towards the silver-eyed girl. "You've done nothing to deserve this. I have studied. I've trained. I deserve this. And I am going to prove it by crushing you into the dirt."
Ruby sighed. "If it's a duel you want, it's a duel you'll get. Bring it on."
Feels weird not writing a proper duel this chapter. But on the bright side, Ruby vs. Weiss is a match I'm greatly looking forward to.
Thank you for Reading! I hope you enjoy what comes next!
Go Forth and Conquer!