So, Volume 9 has ended and I have heard from some that watched it that it was good, which is excellent to hear! I am thrilled that you all enjoyed it! :)

Now, onto the card game fanfiction!

Ruby always loved a good duel for many reasons. The awesome, majestic monsters, the ingenious tactics, the meeting of two duelists' souls as they clashed their spirits.

She had a sneaking suspicion that most of the crowd in the current arena was not looking forward to the upcoming match for similar sensible reasons.

"Coco! We love you!"

"Duel your heart out, supersonic sky queen!"

"She's a cheetah on the plains, she's a highway star…"

Well, 'sneaking' might have been an overstatement.

"Are they playing a theme song?" Ruby queried. "Wait, is that a thing top Beacon teams are supposed to have? Should I start writing a theme song?"

"I don't know," Pyrrha admitted. "I can put you in touch with some Heartland jingle writers if you want?"

"Thanks. But I'm pretty sure Weiss would complain if we had her family's 'competitor' write it," Ruby smiled, before cocking an eyebrow at the duelist awaiting Nora below as her admittedly rocking theme song filled the arena. "Though Yang might vote for whoever wrote hers."

A fitting thought given that Coco held herself with Yang's swagger with clothes that looked like they were bought with Weiss' money. Sleek black pants, an elegant yet functional brown sweater, an unbuttoned dark blue Obelisk uniform jacket draped over her with class, all topped with dark sunglasses and a scarf? Ruby maybe not have cared much for fashion like her sister did, but she'd learned enough from her sibling to know that the leader of Team CFVY looked good. With a bandolier of decks around her waist and her bulky purse slung over her shoulder, the second-year Obelisk Blue's easy confidence was infectious.

Faced with such an imposing crowd favorite of an opponent, Nora, of course, dashed out of the locker room and onto the duel field with her rugged Magnhild duel disk already deployed over her forearm.

Doctor Oobleck, the referee for the duel, nodded to Coco. The leader of Team CFVY raised her arm to the sky with an open palm… and then closed it into a fist.

Her adoring fans immediately went quiet, theme song included.

The Obelisk Blue fashionista swung her purse around her body, sticking out her arm as her accessory transformed into an exquisite black and gold duel disk. Finally, she dipped her sunglasses a fraction to get a good look at Nora.

"Hi! Nice to meet you! I'm Nora," the redheaded Ra Yellow introduced herself, a battle-hungry grin splitting her face. "I'll be the one kicking your butt today."

Coco stared at her for a long moment, only to break into a genial smile. She pushed her sunglasses back up. "I like your spirit, freshie. Give it your best shot. But don't think I'll be going easy on you."

Dr. Oobleck shot her a lightly scolding look. "Ms. Adel…"

"Within the parameters of the test. Don't worry, doc, I'm not gonna rain Extra Deck monsters on her," Coco reassured the professor, before turning her gaze back to Nora, her fingers grazing over her bandolier of deck boxes. "But, which deck I use is actually up to you, freshie."

Nora tilted her head in confusion. "You've got multiple decks?"

Coco shrugged, gesturing to her fashionable ensemble. "An outfit fitting for one situation can be a faux pas in another."

Ruby didn't know what a 'faux pas' was, but she vigorously nodded along to the older student's words. "More decks means playing more cards. Playing more cards means experiencing more awesome cards. It's simple science."

Pyrrha chuckled. "I suppose it is. Though why don't you do it?"

Ruby deflated and smushed her chin down into the railing of the stands. "Simple economics."

As Weiss was so fond of reminding them all, dust wasn't cheap, and therefore the cards made from them weren't either. Ruby's family wasn't poor and her dad and uncle's connections gave her access to plenty of dust for her many forging experiments, but creating multiple decks was an expensive endeavor. Plus, as Uncle Qrow had kept reminding her when she'd brought the idea up during their training, creating multiple decks meant mastering multiple decks, learning their cards and combos inside and out, and not confusing them with each other. Given how he'd been trying to help her 'get good' from the complete garbage she'd been before he'd taken her under his wing, she'd reluctantly agreed to his decree that she stick to mastering one deck.

Being able to duel with multiple decks took money to make them, and talent and dedication to master them all. Coco Adel clearly had the cash, but did she have the skill her team's reputation implied?

"The Wind Deck! It's the classiest!"

"No! The Fire Deck! Show the freshie what real firepower can do!"

"If she wanted to do that, the Earth Deck would be the best! Gustav Max to the max!"

According to her raving fans, she did.

Coco paid them no mind, keeping her glasses-covered gaze on Nora. "Consider this part of your test. None of these decks are gonna make for an easy match even without their Extra Decks, but part of being a hunting duelist is knowing how to pick your poison. Sometimes there are no good options."

"They're all strong, eh?" Nora queried, stroking her chin in thought. A manic smirk spread over her face. "Which one's the strongest?"

Coco pointed down to one of her deck boxes. "In this situation, my wind deck."

Nora raised Magnhild. "Then that's the one I'll crush."

"Crush?!"

"How dare you!?"

"Disqualify this urchin for insulting the queen!"

"Silence!" Professor Oobleck roared, glaring the crowd into quiet even as they all glared daggers at Nora.

Ruby cringed. "Why do I get the feeling that we're the only ones rooting for Nora? Seriously, Jaune's crowd was friendlier. And that's Jaune!"

Pyrrha sighed. "There's always an audience favorite in tournament matches. Though I admit I wasn't expecting a testing duel to have a similar atmosphere."

Coco loaded her Wind Deck into her duel disk and glanced up at her adoring public. "You all, I appreciate the support, but no heckling the freshie. Win or lose for me, this is gonna be a good clean duel."

"Yes, Supersonic Sky Queen!"

"She's so considerate! And cool!"

"Give her the win automatically! She deserves it!"

Dr. Oobleck frowned at Coco, who could only manage an embarrassed wince before looking back to Nora as the hardlight barrier flared to life. "Sorry, freshie. Didn't mean to make you a heel."

"Eh. Don't worry about it," Nora replied with an excited grin and a few cracks of her neck. "I've played the part before. Remind me to tell you about the time I waterboarded this shady Branwen bandit for intel when his buddies kidnapped my man–I mean, partner. Yeah, partner. We're not together-together like that."

Coco's smile grew wider. "Oh, I definitely like you."

"Duelist Nora Valkyrie, are you ready?" Dr. Oobleck asked.

"YES!" Nora howled, clenching her bulging biceps.

"Then let the Promotion Exam match begin!" the doctor declared. "Duel!"

Nora Valkyrie: 4000 Life Points

Coco Adel: 4000 Life Points

"Good luck, Nora!" Pyrrha called. "Do your best!"

"Kick her butt, Nora!" Ruby yelled. "Make her beg for mercy!"

The passionate shout earned her more than a few dirty looks from Coco's fanclub and their signs with her face painted on them, but Ruby tried not to pay them any mind. The Ra Yellow tests had started, so the Obelisk Blue members of Teams RWBY and JNPR, aside from Pyrrha who was exempt for some reason Ruby still didn't understand, had to proctor their duels. There was no guarantee that even Ren would finish up in time to come watch any concurrent match. Jaune was still in the infirmary and Blake was off prepping for her duel in her angsty loner way, so Ruby and Pyrrha were all the support that Nora had. They had to match the energy of the entire rest of the crowd rooting for Coco!

Especially if CFVY's leader lived up to her team's hype.

"I'll start us off," Coco said, sliding a spell into her duel disk. "I activate the continuous spell Hysteric Sign. When activated, I can add a copy of the spell Elegant Egotist from my deck or graveyard to my hand. Then, I'll normal summon Harpie Channeler."

A redheaded woman with bird claws and talons manifested onto the field with an elegant flourish. Wind swirled around the confident lady, raising her tribal staff up with arms draped with splendid black wings (ATK 1400/DEF 1300).

Ruby's brow furrowed in thought. "Harpie… Harpie… where have I heard that before?"

"Harpie's Feather Duster," Pyrrha filled in.

"Right!" Ruby snapped her fingers, recalling one of the most sought-after spells in the world, both for its power and the insane difficulty in forging it. "Wow, she's actually using its archetype. Don't see that too often. Though without being able to access its Extra Deck, she has her work cut out for her."

"She is lacking in overt power, something Nora's deck has in spades," Pyrrha concurred. "In theory that should give Nora an advantage, but if Team CFVY is as good as their reputation suggests…"

Ruby nodded as The Invincible Girl trailed off. Handicap to the second-year Obelisk Blue or not, this was not going to be an easy duel.

"I activate Channeler's effect. By discarding another 'Harpie' card from my hand, it can special summon another Harpie monster from my deck in defense mode," Coco announced, slotting a card into her graveyard, as another winged woman, this one violet-haired with colored perfumed mist fluttering about her emerald plumage, knelt on a sideways card in front of the duelist. (ATK 1400/DEF 1300). "My newly summoned Harpie Perfumer lets me add one spell or trap from my deck to my hand that specifically lists 'Harpie Lady Sisters' in its text. I choose Harpie Lady - Phoenix Formation."

"Phoenix Formation?" Nora spoke up. "That sounds badass! I mean, not great for me. But still badass!"

"That it is. Though right now, I'll activate the Elegant Egotist I snagged before, letting me special summon Harpie Lady 1 from my deck," Coco said, a redheaded birdwoman with green wings and a scant outfit flourished onto the field (ATK 1300/DEF 1400). As soon as she appeared, she conjured a fierce wind under her wings (ATK 1600) and even those of Harpie Channeler and Harpie Perfumer (ATK 1700), "As long as Harpie Lady 1 is on the field, all Wind monsters gain three hundred attack. Then, since I have two or more Winged-Beast monsters, I activate Wing Requital! I pay six hundred life points and draw two cards."

Coco Adel: 3400 Life Points

"I lay one card facedown and end my turn," Coco continued, a glow emanating from her graveyard and popping a card out from her deck. She snatched it up and flipped it around to reveal another Harpie Channeler. "During the End Phase, the Haripe Harpist I discarded for my Channler's effect activates its effect in the graveyard, letting me add a Winged-Beast with fifteen hundred or less attack points from my deck to my hand. Your go."

"Draw!" Nora announced, ripping the top card of her deck out with so much force that a minor razor-wind slashed out from the motion and crackled against the hardlight barrier. She quickly smashed her drawn card into her duel disk, revealing it to be Graceful Charity. The energetic girl drew three more cards, ditching two from her hand to the graveyard.

Then, the redheaded Ra Yellow grinned, an extra slot popping out from Magnhild's side as she smacked one of her newly drawn cards onto it. "I activate a field spell! Gateway to Chaos!"

Magnhild's warning lights flashed as the duel disk's systems set to work, reflecting Nora's aura into the air above her and Coco to form a blinding blue portal that stretched the arena's hardlight barrier to its limits. Even the Team CFVY leader's fanclub gasped at the sight of the gateway.

Coco whistled in appreciation. "Battlefield implementation of a field spell. Nice. Not all Ra Yellows get that down after only one semester."

"Thanks. Ms. Goodwitch really put my paces until I could do it," Nora called back, snagging a card from her deck. "Gateway to Chaos does a few things, but when it's activated, it lets me grab a Black Luster Soldier Ritual Monster or Gaia the Fierce Knight monster from my deck to my hand. I pick Black Luster Soldier - Legendary Swordsman!"

Mutterings flared up from the crowd at the mention of the Team JNPR member's chosen monster, those that hadn't already seen Nora duel in class stunned by her deck.

"Did she say Ritual Monster? Is she serious?"

"Is she gonna be okay? Going up against Coco with those relics?"

"I mean, she said Black Luster Soldier. That's a powerful one, right? I got lost in the prof's lecture."

Pyrrha sighed as the whispered words reached the champion's ears. "Business as usual, it seems."

Ruby nodded. Ritual was outdated as a summoning mechanic when Synchro became the standard of the kingdoms, let alone the modern day where Xyz had overtaken it in Atlas and Mistral. A few decks still had one or two splashed in like Weiss' Paladin of White Dragon, but aside from historical enthusiasts, most of Remnant didn't give the style a second thought, let alone hunting duelists who had lives depending on them in the field. And even with some improvements made to it to mitigate the cumbersome weakness of needing the Ritual Monster, Ritual Spell, and tributes in hand all at once, most found it simply too slow to use against an onslaught of Grimm.

Ruby didn't agree with thinking the summoning method was useless on principle, but she could admit she'd been surprised when she'd first seen Nora and Ren field it in Ms. Goodwitch's class. She didn't know how the pair had come to use it, but given the cheerfully nightmarish anecdotes about their past that Nora often mentioned, she had a feeling the orphans hadn't exactly had much of a choice in what cards to use.

"I normal summon Manju of the Ten Thousand Hands! His effect lets me add one Ritual Monster or Spell Card from my deck to my hand," Nora continued, a monstrosity with as many arms as promised appearing before her (ATK 1400/DEF 1000) and plucking another card from her deck. The excitable member of Team JNPR held out her palm and gleefully high-fived at least a hundred of Manju's hands before her monster tossed her the chosen card. "I pick Super Soldier Synthesis!"

"Yeah! Nora!" Ruby yelled. "Bring out the big guy!"

"Seconded," Coco remarked, the fashionista's confident swagger not flagging even as she raised her duel disk for a clash. "Gotta admit, I'm looking forward to seeing the old-school style in action."

"Ask and you shall receive!" Nora shouted, slamming the spell into her duel disk. "I activate Super Soldier Synthesis! I send one dark monster and one light monster, one from my hand and the other from my deck, to the graveyard whose levels total eight, and in return, I can Ritual Summon a Black Luster Soldier Ritual Monster from my hand or graveyard. So Beginning Knight and Evening Twilight Knight go to the grave and bring out Black Luster Soldier - Super Soldier!"

A twinkling blue star lit up inside the Gateway to Chaos, but most of the duel's onlookers were focused more on the small suit of purple and gold armor glimmering on the field. A light began to burn off of the metal, the combat suit bending inward more and more like a chunk of coal being crushed into a diamond.

And what a diamond emerged, a gallant, blue-skinned knight adorned in the most resplendent armor to ever grace Remnant. Ornate purple steel inlaid with the finest of shining rubies, crimson flags flying from its back as the warrior within flourished his shield and sword (ATK 3000/DEF 2500).

There was only one word that came from the Team CFVY fanclub then.

"Woah."

"I'll say," Coco concurred with a wolf-whistle. "That dude's got style. Makes me almost regret blowing him to pieces."

"Darn tootin' he does!" Nora grinned. "No one rocks kickass armor like Black Luster Soldier–what was that about blowing him to pieces?"

"I tribute Harpie Perfumer to activate my trap card, Icarus Attack!" Coco proclaimed, her birdwoman vanishing as her facedown flipped up. "Two cards on the field are destroyed."

A pair of lightning bolts seared down through Gateway to Chaos, one of them crashing into Black Luster Soldier - Super Soldier and blowing the mighty warrior to smithereens.

"No! Black Luster Soldier - Super Soldier! Manju of the Ten Thousand–oh, he's fine," Nora said, noticing that only one of her monsters had been obliterated as only one new star was added to Gateway to Chaos. "Wait, it was two cards, not up to two, right? What was the second one you destroyed?"

"Hysteric Sign," Coco revealed, casually pointing to her now absent contentious spell.

Ruby frowned. "That can't be good."

"It isn't."

"Wah!" Ruby leapt back, Pyrrha catching her as she whirled to the unexpected voice on her other side. "Ren!"

The pink-eyed Obelisk Blue nonchalantly waved at his friends, as if he hadn't just practically materialized from a puff of smoke (minus the smoke). "Ruby. Pyrrha."

"How did you do that? That whole sneaking up on me thing?"

Ren tilted his head, befuddled. "I walked."

"More importantly, what are you doing here?" Pyrrha asked her teammate. "Didn't you have a match to proctor?"

Ren nodded. "I did."

The stoic Obelisk Blue turned towards Nora's duel without another word, softly smiling as his partner used the effect of her destroyed Ritual Monster to summon Arisen Gaia the Fierce Knight (ATK 2300/DEF 2100) from her deck. Not even noticing how Ruby and Pyrrha continued staring at him, awaiting elaboration.

"Ahem, Ren?" Ruby coughed. "If you have a match to proctor, why are you here?"

Ren turned to them and cocked an eyebrow, seemingly confused for a moment. However, it wasn't long before the wheels turned in the intelligent boy's head and his smile returned to his face. "I did."

"Yes, we know you did… oh, yeah, I get it," Ruby nodded, figuring out the syntax misunderstanding that had gone down. "Wow, that's actually badass. Weiss and Yang haven't even finished theirs yet."

Pyrrha's eyes narrowed. "You didn't go all-out just so you could come watch Nora's duel, did you?"

"No, my opponent was not inventive enough to require that," Ren replied. "Natasha stonewalled his attacks and Dakini was easily able to subvert his ace's protections. One benefit of Ritual Monsters being forgotten by many is that many people have forgotten how to be creative in countering them."

"Arisen Gaia the Fierce Knight! Attack Harpie Lady 1!"

The three hunting duelist students whipped back to the match, the horse-riding knight plowing its lance through Harpie Lady 1.

Coco Adel: 2700 Life Points

"And since your numbered birdie is gone, the boost it gave to your wind monsters is gone too," Nora pointed out, Harpie Channeler falling down to the ground (ATK 1400). "Manju! Attack! Smash that birdperson!"

The warrior of ten thousand hands roared, stomping across the field toward its foe. Harpie Channeler shrieked and raised its staff to counter the threat, striking at the creature's throat just as it was ripped apart by three dozen arms.

"Why'd she go for mutual destruction?" Ruby mumbled.

"Manju of the Ten Thousand Hands' purpose is served after it uses its search effect. Using it to destroy a monster that can summon from the deck was a strong move," Ren praised his partner, raising a finger to the sky. "Especially since it puts Spell Counters on that."

Ruby followed his arm up to the Gateway to Chaos, five twinkling stars bobbing in and out of the blinding firmament.

"It gets one spell counter for every monster sent to the graveyard from the hand or field," Pyrrha informed her, a grin spreading over The Invincible Girl's lips. "Hold onto your hats. You haven't seen anything yet."

Ruby blinked. "I'm not wearing a hat."

"Turn of phrase," Ren clarified. "Though, your hood can substitute if you wish to take it literally."

Ruby eagerly grabbed her hood and loomed down at the duel as Nora set one card facedown. She'd seen the berserker of Team JNPR do some awesome stuff in class before. Black Luster Soldier - Super Soldier, Black Luster Soldier - Legendary Swordsman, Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning, when came to raw power, the energetic redhead could compete with Yang and Weiss's decks. Heck, already she had Coco on the defensive in spite of the Team CFVY leader's formidable defense.

She couldn't wait to see what came next in this duel!

"I activate Gateway to Chaos' effect!"

RWBYRWBYRWBYRWBYYUGIOHYUGIOH

"By spending three Spell Counters on it, my field spell lets me add a Ritual Spell from my deck to my hand," Nora announced, snagging her chosen card from her deck. "So I'll grab Advanced Ritual Art. Then I'll banish the Water Enchantress of the Temple!"

"One of the cards you ditched with Graveful Charity?" Coco asked to confirm.

"Yup! Its effect lets me search the spell card Rite of Aramesir from my deck," Nora nodded, snagging yet another extra card into her hand. "With that, I end my turn!"

Okay! Not a perfect first turn, but she could work with it. Her opponent took out her Super Soldier, but her Main Deck monsters didn't seem too strong, so, with any luck, Gaia could handle them until the next turn came around and Nora could unleash Legendary Swordsman to clear away the rest of Coco's field and life points. The hyperactive Ra Yellow honestly liked her upperclassman, if not to the extremes of her fan club, but it would be so satisfying to finally make her sweat a bit through that cool-as-a-cucumber attitude.

Besides, if the leader of Team CFVY proved to be as strong as the rumors said, maybe he would see her as a worthy opponent and finally let Nora call him out. Maybe. Hopefully–why was a pink magic sigil suddenly glowing in front of Coco?

"At the end of your turn, the effect of Hysteric Sign in the graveyard activates," the leader of Team CFVY explained. "On the End Phase of the turn it's sent to the grave, I can add three Haprie cards with different names from my deck to my hand."

"Three?!" Nora squeaked. What kind of card let someone search for three others without some big cost?

"I'll take Harpie's Pet Dragon - Fearsome Fireblast, Harpie's Feather Storm, and…" Coco paused for dramatic effect, shooting Nora a smoky stare through her sunglasses as she plucked the last of the three from her deck. "... Harpie's Feather Duster."

Nora let out a nervous groan as the crowd broke out into thunderous applause. Even growing up in the wildlands of the Mistral frontier, dodging bandits and gangsters while scraping together whatever cards she could to support the deck Ren gave her and the one card she'd already had before they'd met, she had heard of Harpie's Feather Duster. The redhead's eyes flickered down to her facedown trap card before jumping up to her Gateway to Chaos, knowing her defenses were about to become much less secure.

"Draw!" Coco proclaimed, only to immediately stow the card into her hand and elegantly swipe her legendary spell into her duel disk. "Then I activate Harpie's Feather Duster! Every spell and trap card on your field is blown away!"

A ginormous feather duster swept down from the sky and smashed through Nora's facedown trap. The fluffy cleaning device then twisted back up and tore the Gateway to Chaos in two, the majestic field spell completely obliterated by the supersized cleaning device.

"I normal summon another Harpie Channeler from my hand. Then, since I have a Level Six or lower Wind monster on my field, I can special summon Harpie's Pet Dragon - Fearsome Fireblast from my hand in defense mode," Coco announced, a new Harpie Channeler (ATK 1400/DEF 1300) appearing before her and soon joined by a red dragon decked in chains (ATK 2000/DEF 2500). "I activate Harpie's Feather Rest, cycling three Harpie Lady monsters from my graveyard back into my deck and, since I have a Level Six or higher Harpie monster, I draw two cards."

Nora did some quick math in her head, raising a hand in confusion. "Uh…"

"Harpie Channeler and Harpie Perfumer count as Harpie Lady on the field or in the graveyard," Coco explained, returning the three monsters in her graveyard to her deck and drawing her two extra cards.

Nora lowered her hand.

"I discard one Harpie monster to activate Harpie Channeler's effect to summon a Harpie Lady 1 from my deck in defense mode," Coco continued, placing a card in her graveyard before sliding two spells into her duel disk. "I'll also activate two Elegant Egotist to special summon two more Harpie Lady 1 from my hand, but in attack mode."

"Wait a minute…" Nora muttered, furrowing her brow in thought as her opponent's trio of new monsters flew onto the field, one forcibly placed in defense mode on a sideways card while the other two floated up into attack position. "Harpie Lady 1 gives all wind monsters three hundred extra attack points. You've got three now. So that means each wind monster gets… nine hundred attack points!... which actually isn't so bad."

Coco cocked an eyebrow over her sunglasses as Harpie Channeler (ATK 2300) and the various Harpie Lady 1 (ATK 2200) were lifted up by fierce gusts of wind. "Oh really?"

"Your dragon and one of your Harpie Ladies are in defense mode," Nora smirked, sparing a glance for a certain card in her hand that would deal with the threat of mutal destruction. "Are you gonna try to ram your Harpie Channeler into my knight to get a shot at the win?"

"Well, you don't have any spells or traps, so it'd probably work. But where's the style in that? My ladies are too stylish to throw away when I don't have to," Coco said, an extra slot popping out of her duel disk. "So instead, I think I'll flatter you by copying your field spell move. Harpie's Hunting Ground! Activate!"

The Obelisk Blue's emitters flared to life and reflected her aura throughout the arena. A flat plain of dirt and dried grass flared across the dueling arena, the various harpies soaring into the sky and hissing as they took the perfect position to divebomb Nora's Arisen Gaia the Fierce Knight.

"As long as Harpie's Hunting Ground is on the field, all Winged-Beast monsters gain two hundred attack and defense points," Coco revealed, her trio of Harpie Lady 1 monsters preening their claws (ATK 2400) as Harpie Channeler soared forward (ATK 2500). "Harpie Channeler attacks Arisen Gaia the Fierce Knight!"

A roar of victory went up among the crowd.

"Go Supersonic Sky Queen!"

"She's so stylishly brilliant!"

"That Ra Yellow put up a good fight, but Coco's not Team CFVY's leader for nothing!"

"No, she isn't," Nora muttered, grinning with respect as Harpie Channeler dived towards her monster.

A team leader wasn't necessarily the strongest duelist on a team, Nora's own fearless leader was proof of that (she loved Jaune, but he'd never won a single practice duel against any of the rest of them). But it wasn't uncommon for them to be the best of their crews either. They had to at least be strong enough for the rest of their teammates to lean on.

Nora knew how valuable it was to have a person like that. After all, she'd spent years leaning on Ren, relying on his calm cleverness and limitless focus to keep them out of danger. She never would have survived Kuroyuri, let alone the years on the frontier afterward, without him. Heck, modifications she'd made with cards she'd scrapped up over the years aside, her very deck came from him.

And now that she'd joined Beacon and gotten even more friends, she'd come to lean on them as well.

"I discard Dark Honest from my hand!" Nora declared, flipping around the dark angel card and sliding it into Magnhild's graveyard. "When your monster battles my dark monster, it loses attack points equal to its current attack!"

Black wings sprouted from Arisen Gaia the Fierce Knight's horse, its feathered limbs unleashing a hellish gust. Harpie Channeler's descent was halted mid-dive by the fierce miasma (ATK 0), its mounted target leaping into the air and spearing the birdwoman with his lance.

Coco Adel: 400 Life Points

"Yeah!" Nora cheered, pumping her fist and whipping around to her friends' section of the audience. "That one's for you, Weiss! Told you I could do great stuff with it–and she's not here."

"Nah. She's still dueling," Ruby confirmed for her absent partner. "We're here for you though!"

"That was a great move!" Pyrrha eagerly added. "You'll survive the turn now! Hopefully!"

Nora flashed them a thrilled thumbs-up, basking in Ren's bright smile beaming her way (well, not technically beaming, but she knew him well enough to understand his equivalent). She was thrilled to have her other friends present to cheer her on, but she always felt better when her partner was around to watch her duel, even when they weren't teaming up in a tag-duel or battle royale match. Though, she did feel sorry for the poor student who'd pulled him for her proctor. Even if he couldn't access the monster in his Extra Deck (if he ever decided to play it anyway), her partner was, in Nora's completely biased opinion, completely infuriating to duel against. All his unconventional counterplays and rapid resource recycling and ritual spells that provide protection from the graveyard–

… yeah, that poor Ra Yellow who got matched against him.

"Nice move, freshie," Coco complimented, drawing Nora's attention back to the duel with genuine clapping. "But unless you've got more of those bad boys in hand, I've still got two more Harpies ready to go."

The leader of Team CFVY snapped her fingers. Her two attack mode Harpie Lady 1's shrieked down from the sky, the first of them slashing Arisen Gaia and his horse to pieces.

Nora Valkyrie: 3900 Life Points

Nora flinched as the backlash buffeted her aura, raising Magnhild to shield herself as the second Harpie Lady 1 brought down her claws for a direct attack.

Nora Valkyrie: 1500 Life Points

"I set one card facedown," Coco announced, a cheer going up from her fans. "I end my turn."

"My move! Draw!" Nora yelled. "I activate Pot of Greed!"

"And I'll chain Harpie's Feather Storm," Coco cut in, sliding a card from her hand into her duel disk, a trap card manifesting before her and blasting a cyclone of feathers into Nora's face.

"What the–" Nora grunted, her eyes widening. "That's a trap card! How did you–"

"Harpie's Feather Storm can be activated from my hand if I have a Harpie monster on my field. Trap card or not," Coco unveiled with a smirk, a glint in her gleaming sunglasses. "Due its effect, any monster effect you activate this turn is negated."

"What?!" Nora squealed.

"What!?" Ruby and Pyrrha gasped from the audience.

Ren's brow furrowed with concern. Nora felt his worried gaze on her back as she pulled her two extra cards from Pot of Greed, her mind feverishly thinking of a way around the powerful floodgate that had been unleashed upon her.

It wasn't completely impossible to circumvent, especially since she already had Advanced Ritual Art and Black Luster Soldier - Legendary Swordsman in hand. But since Coco still had one more facedown, it was possible that her warrior would be wiped out by another Icarus Attack before it reached the battle phase where it'd be protected. The leader of Team CFVY was living up to her reputation in full. Nora needed another big gun if she was to overpower her. And she did have one.

But the question was if she could summon it?

Coco was clearly a worthy enough opponent to satisfy his battle lust. But that didn't mean he would let Nora summon him. Heck, despite her efforts to learn how to Synchro Summon since arriving at Beacon, eagerly accepting all the advice she could get from Ruby, Weiss, and Yang, she still didn't know if she could perform a regular summoning, let alone one of him.

Her conflicted turmoil must have spilled onto her face, because the Team CFVY crowd broke out into muttering as she failed to make a move.

"Why isn't she doing anything? Is she stalling?"

"Nah. Coco's just got her in too tough a bind."

"Poor kid. She's dueled well. But she's just outmatched–"

"Go! Nora!"

Nora's eyes widened, Ren's voice filling her ears like sweet music. She whipped towards where her friends stood, spotting her partner actually beaming at her. Pyrrha and Ruby looked at him in shock and befuddlement, probably never having seen him speak so loudly, let alone outright shout.

The redheaded Ra Yellow duelist grinned, plucking the card to start her combo from her hand. "I activate Rite of Aramesir!"

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"Rite of Aramesir summons a level four Adventurer Token to my field and activates the continuous spell Fateful Adventure from my deck!" Nora shouted, a copy of herself in armor manifesting in front of her (ATK 2000/DEF 2000) as a loaded baggage train appeared as her contentious spell. "Fateful Adventure also lets me add a monster that mentions an Adventurer Token to my hand, so long as I then send a card from my hand to the graveyard. So I'll grab another Water Enchantress of the Temple, discard a card, and then summon it."

Ruby cocked an eyebrow in surprise as a dainty robbed sorceress danced onto the field (ATK 1500/DEF 1200). "An Adventurer Token engine? In a ritual deck?"

"It does provide tributes," Pyrrha mused. "Though there have to be more efficient ways to do so."

"In the wilds, one makes do with what can be gotten," Ren explained, his eyes narrowing as he watched Nora's moves. "I wasn't able to find the entire Black Luster Soldier deck after…"

"After what?" Ruby queried when the other Ritual duelist suddenly went silent. When the pink-eyed boy said nothing more on the subject, she could only sigh. "Okay, talkative Ren is a temporary thing, gotcha."

"I activate Monster Reborn!" Nora yelled from below, a shining golden boar howling onto her field (ATK 300/DEF 100). "Nordic Beast Gullenbursti!"

"Gullenbur–what?" Ruby failed to pronounce. She glanced at Pyrrha. "I love researching monsters, but that's a new one."

"I confess, I've never heard of it either," the Invincible Girl murmured. "Ren?"

Ren's lips pursed together for a moment, before finally allowing, "It's a tuner monster."

"Tuner?" Ruby excitedly grinned, remembering the pointers Nora had often sought from her about Synchro Summoning. "Go, Nora! If Jaune can Xyz Summon, you can Synchro Summon!"

"That's not exactly logical, but I agree with the spirit!" Pyrrha cheered. "You can do it, Nora–"

Ren gently grabbed his friends' shoulders and pulled them back from the arena's railing to their chairs, which he produced to duck behind. "In case she can't, we should take cover."

"Huh?" Ruby blinked. "Ren, it's just a Synchro Summon. Even if it doesn't go as planned, the hardlight barrier can–"

"Level Three Nordic Beast Gullenbursti tunes Level Three Water Sorceress of the Temple and my Level Four Adventurer Token!" Nora commanded, stepping into a solid stance and thrusting out her muscular arms as the crowd broke out into frantic mutterings.

"Synchro Summon?"

"Is she serious?"

"She's only a first-year–"

"Quiet!" Coco ordered her peanut gallery, shooting a broad smile at her opponent as Gullenbursti transformed into three emerald tuner rings. The Adventurer Token and Water Sorceress soon did the same, lining up through hoops and morphing into twinkling blue stars. "Bold move, freshie! Come on and show me everything you've got!"

"You got it!" Nora grinned, though her face soon scrunched up with titanic effort as her stars slowly started to hum at the same frequency as her tuner rings. Strangely however, the closer the buzzing became, the more crackling static began to fill the air. "The gates of the star world open, so come and join me in my castle! We'll crush our enemies, bring them to their knees…urgh… raise your hammer… grh… and shake the world with… a roar… of… thun… der–Ah!"

The frequencies of the tuner rings and the level stars of the other monsters came together. They matched perfectly. A pillar of light should have shot through it and Nora's Synchro Monster should have come down to unleash its power in full.

That did not happen.

The frequencies came together, but instead of a pillar of light, a blurry image of an utterly gargantuan bearded man flashing through the sky. Not just within the arena's hardlight barrier like the Gateway to Chaos, but throughout the entire firmament of the room. Which should have been, you know, impossible!

In the brief moment of its existence, the bearded titan's imperious gaze fell upon Nora. Only for its horned head to turn away as a matter of course.

The image collapsed in on itself and a thunderous tempest of lightning erupted forth as its death wail, the hardlight dust barrier smashed to pieces. The crowd scrambled for cover from the tempest, though fortunately the shield had done its job and prevented the worst of the storm from escaping, even if it didn't survive the effort. Coco and Professor Oobleck dashed away from the storm's strikes up close, both of the hunting duelists completely bewildered as they stampeded to safety.

Nora was not so fortunate. Already having put all her focus into the attempted summoning, the redhead had no time to dodge when a lightning bolt seared down and blasted her across the room. With the hardlight barrier down, she was sent flying out of the arena and across the room, crashing into the wall next to the locker room as cracks spread across the metal.

"Nora!" Ruby shouted.

Ren and Pyrrha didn't even bother with screams of concern, both Team JNPR members leaping over their seats and rushing to the railing of the stands. It was only because Professor Oobleck, speedster that he was, had already dashed over to her side and started checking over her vitals.

"Doctor Oobleck!" Pyrrha yelled. "Is okay–"

"Gosh dangit!" Nora screeched, sitting up with a groan and punching the floor. "Every time with that guy!"

Ren let out a sigh of relief. Meanwhile, everyone else had the sensible reaction and gaped at the red-haired Ra Yellow in stupefied shock. Coco's sunglasses cluttered to the ground, the stylish fashionista's easy confidence evaporated as her chocolate eyes widened at her opponent.

"Every time?" the leader of Team CFVY stammered. "You just got struck by lightning!"

"Yup," Nora casually confirmed, hopping back to her feet and cracking her neck as sparks fizzled over her skin. "First time it happened, I unlocked my semblance. Now, that was a crazy Thursday."

Coco stared at her unblinking for a long moment. Only to break out into wild laughter. She kicked her sunglasses up into her hand and slipped them back onto her face. "I knew there was a reason I liked you! Come on, Nora! If you're up for it, let's finish this!"

"Ms. Adel!" Professor Oobleck spoke up, heedless of the spirit in the older student's voice or the fact that she'd used her opponent's name. "The hardlight barrier is down."

"So we'll be extra careful," Nora waved off, dashing back onto the elevated dais of the duel arena. "This duel ain't over just because the dust generator overloaded."

"Nora, what about the man in the image?" Pyrrha worriedly asked. "The giant with the beard and the horns?"

Nora paled as she whipped up to her teammate. Though, strangely, Ruby noted, the rest of the crowd, including Coco and Professor Oobleck, seemed utterly perplexed by the Invincible Girl's words.

"Giant?" Coco said. "The hardlight dust barrier overloaded. It's really rare, but it happens. The lightning admittedly unusual, but sometimes Extra Deck monsters add a bit of their own flavor when they aren't successfully summoned."

Ruby frowned. Had they not seen the giant? They certainly shouldn't have been able to miss it. It hadn't even been summoned and its pressure had permeated the entire room.

Hmm… she and Pyrrha had both seen it. So what did they have in common… magic! Ruby had her dragons and Pyrrha had Number 101! The giant must have been invisible to anyone without magic!

"What?" Pyrrha mumbled. "But what about–"

"Nothing of importance," Ren gently prodded, pulling his teammate back from the railing. "Don't be discouraged, Nora! You still have life points!"

"You know it!" Nora grinned, sliding a spell card into the slightly singed Magnhild, the aura body of the green-bordered card manifesting before the muscular duelist. "I activate Advanced Ritual Art! Now, by sending a normal monster from my deck to the graveyard with a level equal to that of a Ritual Monster in my hand, I can Ritual Summon that monster! So I send Rabidragon to the grave to call out–"

The spell card's aura body flashed a blinding white light, a warrior clothed in purple and gold armor bursting from within and brandishing an enormous two-handed greatsword (ATK 3000/DEF 2500).

"-Black Luster Solider - Legendary Swordsman!"

"As spectacular as the other one. I was going to save this for the attack, but after you tried busting out that huge Synchro of yours, I'm thinking caution might be the way to go," Coco said, hitting a button on her duel disk and flipping up her facedown. "I activate my continuous trap card Mirror Wall. All your attack monsters have their attack points halved."

Nora pouted. "By any chance, is that an activated effect?"

"Nope. Static. It's active as long as the card is faceup."

"Dang it. Black Luster Soldier - Legendary Swordsman keeps you from activating cards or effects during the battle phase," Nora mumbled. "I end my turn."

"My draw! During my standby phase, Mirror Wall is destroyed since I can't pay its two thousand life point maintenance cost," Coco said, her trap card exploding a she stowed the pulled card into her hand. She swiftly selected another from her arsenal, flipping it around to reveal the sigil of a fiery bird. "Remember this?"

"The badass card!" Nora exclaimed, only to flinch in realization. "Oh, it really isn't great for me, is it?"

"But still badass," Coco replied, sliding the card into her duel disk. "If I control three or more Harpie Lady or Harpie Lady Sisters, I can target monsters you control up to that number and destroy them. And you take damage equal to the highest original attack points among your destroyed monsters."

Ruby paled. "Oh no."

"Nora!" Pyrrha yelled.

Ren fiercely frowned.

Nora glanced at her Black Luster Soldier - Legendary Swordsman, standing tall and noble… with three thousand attack points.

The three Harpie Lady 1 monsters screeched and soared through the air, elegantly spinning and dancing around each other as a sapphire bird of pure flames blossomed around them. The phoenix gave a shrill cry and dove down to Nora's field, bathing the Ra Yellow''s monsters in a raging fire, Black Luster Soldier - Legendary Swordsman screaming in agony as it was burned to ash.

Nora Valkyrie: 0 Life Points

Winner: Coco Adel

Nora fell to one knee, her aura breaking with her defeat as her and her opponents' remaining monsters fading away, Harpie's Hunting Ground vanishing as the duel arena returned to normal.

Coco took a deep breath and swaggered across the field. With an earnest smile, she lowered down a hand, one that Nora gladly accepted.

"Dang, I thought I had you a few times there," Nora shook her head as her upperclassman helped her to her feet. "All that with no Extra Deck. You're as good as they say."

"And you are magnificent," Coco replied.

She spun Nora towards the crowd and raised her underclassman's arm in adulation. As soon as she did, every supporter of Team CFVY in the crowd rose to their feet and started madly clapping in respect.

"Alright, Valkyrie! That was awesome!"

"Never imagined could push the Supersonic Sky Queen that far!"

"All that after one semester?! She'll be an Obelisk Blue after the Vytel Festival for sure!"

Ruby smiled at the earnest applause, eagerly joining in along with Pyrrha and Ren as Nora lit up from the praise.

"Come on, Yang! We're already late!"

"Don't get on my case, Ice Queen! You've got speed glyphs and you're still barely keeping up."

Ruby and Pyrrha turned towards the nearby entrance from the hall, Weiss and Yang bursting into the room and crashing into the stands' railing.

"Aha!" Weiss exclaimed, disregarding her unladylike crash and leaping to her feet. "We made it… after the duel is already over. Darn it!"

"Seems so," Yang remarked with a sigh. "Told you that you should have blown the mohawk kid away when you had the chance."

"He had a facedown! I was being reasonably cautious!" Weiss protested.

Yang chuckled and turned towards Ruby and Pyrrha, noting Ren's smiling face. "So Ren is smiling bigger than normal and everyone's applauding. Did Nora win?"

"No," Ruby smiled. "But she did kick butt. And in the end, isn't that what matters?"

"Technically, no," Weiss said.

Pyrrha slyly smirked. "She used your Dark Honest to great effect."

"Yes!" Weiss screamed, both arms thrown into the air. "That's my friend!"

Ruby laughed, the atmosphere joyous as Nora and Coco basked in the aftermath of an awesome duel.

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"And then she was like BAM! Giant mega ultra fire chicken!" Nora recounted in between ravenous bites of some celebratory pancakes Ren had made for her. "Man, I wanted a legendary battle and I got one."

"From the sounds of it," Yang grinned, catching a tossed grape from Pyrrha in her mouth.

The two trios from Team RWBY and Team JNPR had made their way to the cafeteria for a bite to eat before the regular Ra Yellow duels ended and Blake and Ruby's matches began. Which had of course led to Ruby and Nora eagerly recounting the latter's duel to Weiss and Yang, with only… minor embellishments.

"It seems like you fought an exceptional match," Weiss complimented. "Thanks in no small part to the Dark Honest I gave you. Though, I'm sorry the tips on Synchro Summoning were less effective."

"Eh, don't worry about it," Nora waved off. "I'll take as much time as I need to master Synchro Summoning and finally summon that guy."

Pyrrha raised an eyebrow. "That guy?"

"Got a specific monster in mind to summon?" Yang asked. "Some kind of super-mega Synchro Black Luster Soldier?"

"Nah. There's no Synchro Black Luster Soldier. I think," Nora mumbled between munching. "My Black Luster Soldier cards actually used to be Ren's dad's."

Pyrrha turned to Ren, surprised. "You never mentioned that Nora has your father's cards."

Nora paled, turning to her partner as if she'd said something she shouldn't have. However, Ren only winced for a moment and shot her a reassuring smile before looking back at Pyrrha. "Those that we could find. Similarly, my deck used to be my mother's. Though Nora has added more of her own touches to her version over the years than I have mine."

"Aw, that's sweet," Ruby said. "Ooo, was that Synchro Monster one of the cards you came across in the wilds?"

"Uh, not exactly," Nora said.

"I'd imagine not. A few Adventurer Token cards might be found in the wilds, but a Synchro Monster? Unlikely," Weiss dismissed. "Though, from what I've seen with you on the training Colossal Fighter the school provides, it would take quite the Synchro monster to deny your manifestation."

"Well, you know," Nora shrugged. "It is a Level Ten."

"Level Ten? That's a juggernaut," Yang said. "Can I take a look?"

Nora made to pull the card out of her deck, only to pause and glance at Ren. Her partner shrugged and bowed his head deferentially to her. Nora grinned, pulling the card from her Extra Deck and handing it to Yang.

"Let's see, Level Ten, yup. Attack, thirty-five hundred, impressive. Type, d–" Yang's violet eyes widened, her face frozen up like a scroll's system stuck on a big update. "D–d–d–di–div–"

"Oh, give me that," Weiss snipped, swiping the card from her teammate and taking a look herself. "Div–d–d–di–di–div–div–"

Ruby tilted her head in surprise and leaned over her partner's shoulder in curiosity. Only for her silver eyes to bloat up like saucers as her voice came out as a hoarse, disbelieving wrasp. "Divine-Beast."

Pyrrha, composed, perfect Pyrrha, immediately shot over to the other side of the table, her eyes emerald eyes wide. She slammed her hands over Weiss and Ruby's mouths, Ren lunging across the table and doing the same for Yang. Both Team JNPR members glanced around the cafeteria, the pair letting out sighs of relief when they saw that none of the surrounding people had heard what was said.

"You have a God Card?" Pyrrha whispered to Nora. "How? Where in the world did you get this?"

"Did you forge it? Like we did with our dragons?" Ruby asked, pulling Pyrrha's hand from her mouth but being careful to keep her voice just as quiet as the champion's.

Divine-Beast cards, God Cards, were the stuff of legend, three monsters in particular serving as some of the most popular creation myths across Remnant, creatures of such dominating power that their full strength could not be manifested with mere aura. Some legends went that long ago the three Gods Cards grew disappointed with humanity's division and hid themselves away. Others said they were entrusted to three great immortal duelists by the gods who'd made them, each duelist guarding them with a dragon capable of mythic acts in their own right. Which, if any, of the stories were true was unknown, but the tales endured enough for the Hunting Duelist Academy tracks to be named after them.

But one thing that was consistent in all the stories was that where a Divine-Beast card went, calamity followed. People craved power, and what power was greater than a God Card? To defeat the current holder of the card and prove oneself worthy was a prize many would die seeking. And many had died seeking it. So the legends said. But if Nora had been chosen by this God Card, allowed to forge it so she could wield it for all that was good–

"No, I didn't forge it," Nora quietly confessed. "It didn't choose me for anything."

Yang removed Ren's hand from her mouth and shot her friend a sympathetic smile. "That it's got terrible taste. Heck, another semester of Synchro training and you'll have that guy begging to be summoned by you."

"With any luck," Weiss mumbled, the heiress's eyes still mesmerized by the card even as Ruby passed it back to Nora. "Seriously though, if you didn't forge it, who did?"

"Oh… um…" Nora wilted, uncharacteristically skittish. "It was… no one. Just someone I knew before I met Ren…"

Nora paused, a weird gray miasma shading her body's color. The redhead regained control of her breath and looked up in gratitude at Ren, her partner returning to her side and clasping her hand for strength.

"If you want to tell them, tell them," he softly encouraged her.

"But only if you want to," Pyrrha hastily added, biting down on the burning curiosity in her eyes. "You don't have to tell us anything you're not ready to."

"Yes, that is true," Ruby managed to bite out, sneakily stabbing a fork into her aura-shielded thigh to remind herself to remember the lesson she'd learned on Patch, follow Pyrrha's example, and not press her friend on where she got her literally mythic card. Nora's emotional state was a hundred times more important, no matter how much the silver-eyed girl wanted to drool in curiosity. "Only what you're ready for."

"Thanks, but you guys are my friends. You, Jaune, and Blake, I trust you completely," Nora said, squeezing Ren's hand in thanks. "I… got it… from my mom."

Weiss cocked an eyebrow. "Your mom?"

Nora pointed to Ruby's arm, the one with her Signer Mark hidden under her sleeve. "She had a mark like that, but it was green and in her eye. My memories from back then can be a bit blurry, but I think she called it a Rune Mark."

"A Rune Mark?" Pyrrha mumbled.

"Sounds like yet another mysterious magic thing to add to the research pile," Weiss groaned as Nora stowed the God Card away in her Extra Deck. "Still, you'd think if its version of a Signer gave it to you as a gift, it'd help you out in summoning it."

Nora glanced away. "Heh, yeah. A gift…"

Pyrrha frowned, noticing the nervous timbre in her teammate's voice. But when she opened her mouth to query her friend, Ren gently helped her to her feet.

"Come on, a sugar crash post-defeat does no one any good," Ren teased his partner. "You're going to need vegetables if you're going to help Jaune through this semester's Ra Yellow classes."

"Ugh, vegetables," Nora frowned, letting out a depressed groan as she was led towards the cafeteria counter. "Do it for Jaune, Nora. Gotta back up the fearless leader."

Nora waited a few moments until she and Ren had strode away from the others' table. When she was sure they were far enough away not to hear them, she let out an exhausted sigh.

"Thanks," she said to her partner. "For the support back there."

"Always," Ren solidly assured her.

They reached the vegetable section of the cafeteria serving counter, he grabbed a plant and began to shovel the green stuff onto her plate. Nora then grabbed the plate and shoved the green stuff all off, replacing it with buttered baked potatoes. Ren frowned at her.

"Starchy vegetables will not help your sugar high," he reminded her. "The green ones have the nutrients you need."

"And all the terrible taste that I don't," Nora insisted. "But, I know we've never really told anyone about our pasts that much and especially not our special cards–"

"The God Card is yours. Your past is yours," Ren reassured her with a caring smile. "Whatever you want to tell anyone about that, even if it includes bits of mine, is yours to tell. And no matter the reaction, I will always have your back."

Nora felt her heart skip a beat, turning away to hide a light dusting of pink on her cheeks. She put back one of the baked potatoes and took a spoonful of greens onto her plate.

"Hehehe, thanks," she giggled. "And hey, they took the God Card things well. Maybe we should tell them about… you know."

Ren frowned. "... no."

"Oh come on, Ren," Nora argued. "I know we don't have a lot of experience with, you know, 'people we can trust', but I trust them. I know you do too, even with everything that's been going on. They're our friends. I mean they're keeping a few things to themselves, but hey–"

"-so are we," Ren finished her thought. "I do trust them. Aside from you, I haven't felt so comfortable with anyone since… home."

"So why not tell them?" Nora insisted. "Maybe they can help us. And maybe we can help them."

"You heard what Mr. Xiao-Long said on Patch," Ren reminded her. "These things are dangerous, and so is the wrong people knowing about them. So is anyone knowing about them. Until we know more, it may be best to keep the circle small, for our sake and theirs."

Nora frowned, but didn't argue. She didn't agree with her partner, but he supported her choices even when he didn't agree with them. He had her back, and she had his. That's the way it'd been since the day they met, since they'd stumbled through the ruins of Kuroyuri after the Nuckelavee's rampage, and scavenged what they could find of his parents' decks, running into the wilds when Lil' Miss Malachite herself rolled into town hours later. They were family.

But couldn't that family grow?

The pair made their way back to their friends' table, finding everyone crowded around Yang's scroll.

"Ooo, is Jaune healed up?" Nora queried.

"No. But Blake got word of her duel time. And her proctor," Yang said. "Do you think the other members of Team CFVY are stronger or weaker than Coco?"

"Funny you mention that. I actually asked her about that when we went back to the locker room," Nora replied. "She said that they're all close to the same level, but if there was any one of her teammates she wouldn't want to have a life-or-death match with, it'd Yatsuhashi Daichi… Blake drew Yatsuhashi, didn't she?"

Yang held up her scroll, the image of an imposingly bulky Mistralian Obelisk Blue on display. "Just our teams' luck, eh?"

"Oh come on, maybe it's not that bad," Ruby suggested. "I mean, he might just be a really bad matchup for Coco to fight, right?"

Pyrrha shook her head. "The Daichi Family Dojo is famous throughout Mistral for its unique dueling style that eschews spells and traps."

"See," Ruby said. "They don't even use spell and traps–"

"They're renowned for how their unique Superheavy Samurai archetype has defeated numerous legendary Grimm and powerful duelists without spell or trap cards," Pyrrha clarified. "And for, being founded in pre-Great War Mistral, being… exceptionally racist against the faunus."

Ruby deflated over the table. "Yeah, this could be bad."

Well, on one hand, I was successfully able to keep this to one chapter that is less than 10K words. I mean, only like three hundred short of 10K words, but I'm counting it as a win. For Nora's God Card being a Divine-Beast instead of its type in the real-life game, the various God Cards are ones that I will make slight exceptions to my usual rule of only using cards' TCG/OCG stats and effects. I'm not going to make them as 'make up whatever effects they want on the fly' as in the anime, but I will be giving them a bit more of the protection from there to amplify their in-story stature.

It was nice to finally give Nora and Ren a little spotlight, even if Nora got hit with the downside of the Risk theme of this arc. She wanted to face Coco at her strongest for the situation, and she did. But Team CFVY's reputation was not unjustly earned.

Still, I really enjoyed diving into how harsh Renora's pasts really are and each of their different reactions to that harshness. Nora, left behind by even her mother, had someone come out of nowhere to protect her from a nightmare, which led her to more easily trust new people who might end up being unexpected friends like Ren. Meanwhile, Ren had everything ripped away from him by the Nuckelavee and has more difficulty fully trusting people in fear of making the wrong choice and endangering the new family he's made for himself in Nora. He does view Jaune, Pyrrha, and Team RWBY as friends, the truest friends he's had since Nora, but he's still only known them for one semester and some change at this point. He's not quite ready to put ALL his cards on the table, metaphorically and literally, especially with all the mystic-y stuff that's been more openly going down in this version of events.

Remember to check out and add to this story's TVTROPES PAGE! I check my stories' pages often and I always enjoy it when they grow. :)

Thank you for Reading! I hope you enjoy what comes next!

Go Forth and Conquer!