"Take me with you," she pleaded.
Rhodes sighed, his shoulders trembling with more weight than just the heavy duel disk he'd strapped onto his back. "We've talked about this–"
"I train until I'm seventeen and a legal adult, and go to a hunting duelist academy," she dutifully repeated, though with venom in her voice. "Or you could just take me with you."
"That won't give you a future," Rhodes refuted her. "You'd just join me in running."
"Better than staying here!" she insisted, thrusting her finger at the craggy web of scars surrounding her throat, peeking out from underneath the necklace and lightning dust crystal locked around her neck. "I'll run if it means I'll be free!"
"Running is not freedom!" her mentor snapped, whirling back around on her with eyes of blazing terror.
Out of instinct, she took a frightened step back, but he made no move to hurt her. He'd never strike her as the Madame did.
Instead, he just pointed to his own scar, a jagged, ugly wound that split across the right side of his face. "The man who trained me, who I trusted more than anything, gave me this the moment he found out I'd forged Number 104. When I escaped him, he sent my friends, people I went to school with, after my head. I have been looking over my shoulder, trusting no one, sleeping in shitholes like this because they don't ask questions, for years, and even then I know they'd slit my throat in a second if they ever found out who was chasing me!"
He finally noticed how scared she was at his raised voice. The rugged and weathered hunting duelist recoiled in horror at himself and stepped back with a deep breath.
He fell to one knee, making himself unthreatening as possible. "Running isn't freedom, little one. It's fear, forever and always."
Her face softened, her fingers clenching into fists at the fear lacing the voice of the only person who'd ever cared about her. She honestly hated him a little bit, for spouting high-minded ideals, for constantly telling her that she had to wait, for being able to come and go from The Glass Unicorn as he pleased while she had to remain and suffer the Madame's torture. But in the face of his utter exhaustion, the love she felt for him took over.
"If they won't leave us alone, then let's fight," she suggested, raising her old-fashioned, hand-me-down, duel disk. "I'll help you so you don't have to run anymore."
"Ha! They're not the kind of opponents you can help me beat, little one," Rhodes chuckled, a sense of despair marring the supposedly mirthful sound.
She pouted. "I'm stronger than you think."
"Not strong enough to match Oz's duelists," Rhodes insisted. "And even on the very off chance we did win, it would just let worse things have free rein on Remnant as a whole."
"Worse than the people who betrayed you?"
"Far worse. Things that threaten the world rather than just me."
"So you have to run to live or lay down and die? That's ridiculous!" she protested. "Without you, I am nothing!"
Rhodes froze, his expression's false mirth and its despair vanishing all at once, replaced with a look of deep paternal concern. At least, she thought that was what it was? It looked kind of similar to the looks some of the Madame's boyfriends sometimes gave her daughters if they were around long enough.
Her mentor reached around to the duel disk strapped to his back and withdrew two cards.
"Number 104," she gasped, her golden eyes widening at the sight of the black-bordered monster. She'd never been shown it before, the golden magician with three stunning interconnected rings. "It's magnificent."
"It's a curse. I forged it a lifetime ago. Before I left Mistral for Beacon," Rhodes scowled at it. "When I thought life was a circus and I was the ringmaster."
"Thought?"
"Hard to hold onto an illusion like that after picking a fight with and getting your butt kicked by Summer Rose," Rhodes smiled, a rare nostalgic fondness flickering over his face. "After that, I learned the real meaning of being a hunting duelist, of helping people and sacrificing for the greater good. Do you understand?"
"No," she replied, confused as to why he should have to give up such a powerful monster to be a good hunting duelist. "Besides, if it's so bad, why not just destroy the card instead of chasing you?"
"If only it were that simple. A monster like an Over-One Hundred Number isn't like most cards. My connection to the spirit, what it's turning me into, it won't be severed so easily," Rhodes glumly explained, his brow furrowing in thought even as he did so. "I have one idea for breaking it for good but… hopefully that'll be good news for next time I come here. This time, I have a gift for you."
He held out the other card, one that she had seen many times before during their practice duels. It and its copies were the cornerstone of his deck.
She looked up at him, her eyes filled with astonished disbelief that this could be real, that he was just giving her such a rare card. When he responded to her querying glance with a smile and a nod, she gingerly took hold of the lean and vicious black dragon.
"The Blue-Eyes White Dragons of the Schnee famously symbolize their pride and power. Because of that, people have been trying to figure out their dust formula and recreate them for themselves for ages," Rhodes explained. "In the process, some of them ended up making this monster. At first, they were furious that it wasn't as powerful as the Blue-Eyes, but pretty quickly they realized that its potential for tricks and evolutions was limitless."
"I've seen what it can do when you turn it metal," she sniggered.
Rhodes' smile grew at her childish joy. He ran his fingers through her obsidian hair and playfully ruffled her dark mane.
"You're like this dragon. Your potential is limitless. With training at one of the academies, you can become one of the strongest hunting duelists Remnant's ever seen. The good you can do for the world with your power is… incalculable," he praised her. "Don't let anyone ever tell you that you're nothing, Cinder.
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"Heroic Champion - Excalibur! Direct attack!"
"Oh snap!" Cardin Winchester cried, the warrior's gargantuan golden sword smashing down on him. The armored Ra Yellow was sent skidding across the battlefield smashing up against the hardlight dust barrier of the training arena…
… where the rest of his team was already groaning and semi-conscious.
Cardin Winchester: 0 Life Points
Russel Thrush: 0 Life Points
Dove Bronzewing: 0 Life Points
Sky Lark: 0 Life Points
Pyrrha Nikos: 4000 Life Points
Winner: Pyrrha Nikos
"Match!" Professor Goodwitch called, stepping onto the field as the hardlight barrier faded. "Well done, Ms. Nikos. You may be a first-year, but you should have no problems competing in the Vytel Festival Tournament."
"Of course, professor," Pyrrha nodded, the redhead's face stoic as her Heroic Champion faded from behind her. "Thank you."
"Ugh…" Cardin groaned, struggling to his knees while helping his teammates up. "Lucky shot."
"Far from luck, Mr. Winchester," Professor Goodwitch lightly scolded, reaching out with her semblance to gently guide the four duelists to their feet. "However, you should not dismiss your or your team's own improvements. Your strides in Xyz Summoning will enable you to bring your Number out in full soon enough. Now, Mr. Thrush…"
"Aw, yeah! Go, Pyrrha!" Ruby cheered, Nora hollering over with Team JNPR in the stands. The silver-eyed Slifer Red smirked down at someone else in the stands. "How about that? Four-on-one win, no life point loss. Need any more proof that Pyrrha's the best duelist in Beacon?"
Emerald threw up her most charming fake smile. "None needed. I heard some crazy stuff about Team CFVY, but nothing quite like that. The Invincible Girl is even stronger than her reputation said."
"Could have told you that from watching her on TV," Mercury snarked beside her.
Emerald whipped towards him with a glare. If he was going to snark, then he could at least come over and endure Team RWBY and JNPR's The Onomatopoeia Gang nights with her. She was the one who had to weather all the insipid singing and peppy cheer from the idiot twerps, sifting through all their relentless gossip about the Ice Queen holing herself up in the library or the White Fang deserter hammering in the forge day and night for any scrap of intel that might be useful. There was some, a few details on the Tag-Duel Showcase the blonde bimbo was planning for the dance and Team RWBY's dragons that the naive team leader was happy to brag about, but they were so unbearably happy all the time that the street thief could barely keep herself from trying to strangle them all.
But as she glanced up at the bleachers a few rows above and gazed upon Cinder in her elegant Haven Obelisk Blue uniform, she remembered what she was doing all this for. Her leader who'd gripped her tight and raised her up from nothing, who even now observed Nikos down below with her keen analytical eye.
"Are you kidding? Pyrrha's way more awesome to watch kick butt up close!" Ruby exclaimed.
"Not sure the rest of your team agrees," Mercury remarked.
He pointed to the other side of Ruby and Yang, where Blake was currently scanning through a dozen news articles and dust formulas while Weiss was skittishly shifting between glaring at her teammate and feeling guilty for glaring at her. And brushing off the scraggly Team JNPR leader when he tried to open a conversation with her. Which if his nervous excitement at the 'Gagaga Magician & Gagaga Girl' romance special meant anything, he was finally going to ask the 'bravest, smartest, and most confident girl' to the dance–
God cards freaking heck! These idiots and their asinine teenage drama had burrowed into her brain like Parasite Paranoids! She knew that the heiress' favorite Onomatopoeia Gang character was Gagaga Magician and the scraggly blonde had gotten her the limited edition Gagaga Magician bouquet specifically because of that, and she wanted to claw her own eyes out because of it!
"Weiss and Blake have their own things going on, handsome," Yang snipped at him. However, her violet eyes drifted back down to Nikos' stoic form, the Invincible Girl impassively looking on ahead as Professor Goodwitch continued Team CRDL's feedback. "As do others, it seems."
Ruby hummed at Weiss and Blake's stonewalled patterns. "Hmm… is this a thing their team leader should help them with? I could inspire them with their team leader winning an awesome duel?"
Yang chuckled. "Good instincts on wanting to help, Rubes, but I don't think dueling will solve all of this problem."
"No way! If I can take down a Dark Signer like a kickbutt hunting duelist, I can help my friends," Ruby grinned. "But who to duel? Any ideas, Emerald?"
The green-haired thief strained her smile trying to care as much as she had to. "Nikos is the strongest in Beacon, right? I mean, how many other duelists can match up to her as an opponent?"
"Well, Yang. And Penny, she's the strongest duelist from Atlas," Ruby murmured, her brow furrowed in consideration. "Someone's got to be the strongest in Vacuo. And Mercury, you're the strongest Haven first-year, right?"
Emerald snorted at that ridiculousness. As if Mercury could be called the best at anything when Cinder was in the same running.
Yang chuckled along with her, smirking at Mercury. "I seem to remember you saying you were only the strongest Haven first-year that wanted to come for the exchange program."
"Yup," Mercury shrugged, shoving his thumb back up at Cinder. "I know my limits. And the boss lady is beyond them."
"Beyond them?" Ruby repeated. "You dueled evenly with Yang."
"Allegedly."
Ruby rubbed her fingers together. "Interesting."
"Alright, we have enough time for one more duel. Who would like to take the field?" Professor Goodwitch called up to the class, Team CRDL and Pyrrha making for the locker room. "Ms. Belladonna? You've been rather docile for the past few classes. Why don't you–"
"I'll do it!" Weiss shouted, shooting to her feet. "I will duel for Team RWBY, professor."
"And I applaud your vigor, Ms. Schnee," Ms. Goodwitch politely replied. "But you've already dueled once today against Mr. Ren. Your devotion to your studies is commendable, but it is just important to rest from such efforts."
Weiss flinched back from the professor's words, even though they were hardly a biting critique. The heiress deflated and returned to her seat. Just as Ruby rocketed to her feet.
"I'll duel, professor!" the silver-eyed Slifer Red exclaimed. "I want to duel the strongest!"
A chorus of sniggers rose up from various students filing the bleachers, especially those from other academies, only for Professor Goodwitch's imperious glare to silence them all. Emerald only rolled her eyes at the pompous teenagers' dismissal of the Slifer Red who was younger than them all. They all underestimated the happy-go-lucky girl who had the position they all wanted as the partner and leader of the SDC heiress. Which meant they took any chance to look down on her, whether that be her track color or her naive demeanor.
Fools. Emerald looked down on Ruby too, but only because she'd done her research and gotten to know the red-hooded Signer (Cinder hadn't deemed fit to elaborate on what that meant yet). She knew she was better than the silver-eyed girl, but she doubted any of these pampered teenagers could beat her.
Professor Goodwitch raised an eyebrow at the leader of Team RWBY. "Ms. Rose, Ms. Nikos has just finished a duel–"
"No, wait!" Pyrrha yelled, suddenly dashing back from the locker room entrance. "It's fine. I'm perfectly willing to–"
"What? Oh, no, I should have been more specific," Ruby laughed, embarrassedly rubbing the back of her head. "No worries, Pyrrha, we're gonna duel eventually. But we're both gonna be at our best when we do!"
She shot a thumbs-up at Pyrrha. The Invincible Girl did her best to shoot a reassuring smile back at her, but Emerald had enough experience faking expressions to know that she was filled with dread. Her resumed measured walk towards the locker room might as well have been a desperate sprint.
"Well, Ms. Rose, my apologies for assuming," Professor Goodwitch said. "Who is your preferred opponent then?"
Ruby beamed, whirling around and thrusting her finger towards her chosen foe.
Mercury's eyes widened, something Emerald would have mocked if she didn't have a mini-heart attack herself.
"I challenge Cinder Fall!" Ruby proclaimed. "The strongest first-year of Haven!"
A new chorus of mutterings sprang up from the student crowd, shocked that the Slifer Red would have such foolhardy moxie. But the more worrying whispers were among the Haven students, some of them wondering if Cinder really was the strongest of their first-years. After all, they all barely remembered her being at the Mistral school during the last semester. This was of course because Cinder and Emerald only spent about a week there before heading to Vale to run the White Fang's operation, with Lionheart covering their tracks until they officially went to Beacon, so it would be very bad if any of the kiddies were given reason enough to care about that.
Like having their egos insulted by being called weaker than someone a Beacon Slifer Red could beat.
Still, the only reaction Cinder had to the peppy Signer's call-out was a brief cock of a curious eyebrow, followed by a confident smirk as she rose to her feet. "I accept."
Ruby's smile only grew, oblivious to the Leviathan that she'd just leapt into the jaws of.
"Very well," Professor Goodwitch said. "Get your duel disks and report to the field."
Ruby dashed off to the locker room in a flurry of rose petals, Cinder sauntering after her trail.
"So, your team leader?" Yang queried, watching the Haven Obelisk Blue's confident walk with great interest. "She really that good?"
"Better," Emerald insisted, glaring at Mercury when he was about to speak up to the contrary, likely to try to cover their tracks in the case of a loss by Cinder.
Because while there was zero doubt in their minds that Cinder would obliterate Ruby if she was dueling at her best, she wouldn't be dueling at her best.
Every time Emerald had seen Cinder duel before, her leader had heavily utilized her Fusion Monsters, even before she'd beaten Amber and taken her Legendary Dragon. She'd secure first-turn kills with Meteor Black Comet Dragon or bulldoze her enemy's defenses with Archfiend Black Skull Dragon. They were her primary weapons and she couldn't use them with Glynda Goodwitch and an entire class of hunting duelist students watching. She'd blow her cover the second her fusion spell hit the field.
Against most duelists, she probably wouldn't need one, but Ruby was strong enough to get into Beacon early, had magic thanks to her Signer powers, and had apparently beaten some mystical drone of Lil' Miss Malachite during that drama a few weeks ago. She wasn't an average hunting duelist.
Would Cinder throw the duel? Gamble the possible discovery through not living up to her hype against the certain discovery of using her Fusion Monsters to win? No, that didn't feel right to Emerald. The woman who'd saved her from the streets had too much pride for that.
"She'll win," Emerald told Yang with a voice of absolute certainty. "Cinder will never lose."
She only prayed this expression of hers was no illusion.
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Sleek obsidian hair, smoky golden eyes, and a tall, toned figure that was to die for? Yang had to admit. Mercury and Emerald's team leader looked good, the kind of mature beauty that Professor Goodwitch exemplified and only Pyrrha among their friend group could really aspire to. The golden-haired Obelisk Blue liked to think that that was the reason the Invincible Girl had lingered by the locker room entrance, her duel disk still on her arm as she watched Ruby and the Haven girl enter the arena.
But she worried that Pyrrha saw something that the sea of drooling students in the stands didn't, just like Yang did herself. For all she drank in the dark-haired girl's confident stride and her sharp duel disk seemingly made of black glass, she recognized an air similar to Mercury's apathy in her easy smirk. But where the silver-haired boy's demeanor was a mask to reinforce his disinterest, Cinder's seemed to be a shield to disguise a King Taijitu that had sighted prey about to be snatched up by its second head. A King Taijitu that, with the lighting of the hardlight barrier, Ruby was now trapped with.
"Duel!"
Ruby Rose: 4000 Life Points
Cinder Fall: 4000 Life Points
"Come on, you two sourpusses!" Nora called, shaking Weiss and Blake from their usual pattern with an excited grin. "Your team leader's dueling Haven's strongest first-year! Show a little excitement!"
Blake smacked Nora's hand away. "You realize she does this kind of stuff regularly, right?"
"Hard to get excited that she's challenged another powerful duelist the first chance she got," Weiss added, flicking the orange-haired girl off her shoulder. "It's what she does."
"Aw, come on guys. She's just trying to be the best hunting duelist she can," Jaune said, frowning at the menagerie of students from different academies disdainfully muttering about his first friend. "Besides, it's great watching her always show everyone else up."
"Not always," Yang murmured.
Her friends all turned to her, even Weiss and Blake surprised at her cautious tone.
"It's not like you to doubt Ruby," Jaune noted.
Yang's violet eyes narrowed as Cinder drew her starting hand of five cards. "I don't usually have reason to."
"I activate Cards of the Red Stone," Cinder calmly said, sliding her first card into her duel disk. "I send one Level Seven 'Red-Eyes' monster from my hand to the graveyard and then draw two cards. Then, I can send one Level Seven 'Red-Eyes' monster from my deck to the graveyard."
Weiss' head immediately perked up. "Red-Eyes?"
"Red-Eyes?!" Ruby squealed from below.
"Okay, Ruby's excited. Which means that monster is probably famous and/or terrifying," Jaune observed. "Any explanations?"
"Just watch," Yang advised.
"I normal summon Black Dragon's Chick," Cinder announced from the arena. A red egg manifested before her, its shell cracking apart until a cute black baby dragon popped its head out (ATK 800/DEF 500). "Then I activate its effect, sending it to my graveyard to special summon a Red-Eyes Black Dragon from my hand."
Fire blossomed around the egg-encased dragon chick, the little lizard shrieking as it was engulfed. The blaze expanded outward, growing fiercer and more brilliant until it formed into a muscular draconic figure. The conflagration was blown away, revealing the adult version of the Black Dragon Chick with a beak-like snout and piercing red eyes (ATK 2400/DEF 2000).
"Red-Eyes? Black Dragon?" Jaune murmured, turning to Weiss as Ruby hopped for joy on the dueling dais. "That sounds kind of like–"
"It is nothing like my family's Blue-Eyes White Dragons," Weiss snarled. "It is merely an ill-gotten knockoff of unworthy pretenders… maybe it has more in common with my family than I thought."
"Weiss," Yang sympathetically mewled, only for her teammate to turn away from her in a huff, the events at The Club still too fresh for any compassion.
"I set one card facedown and then activate Monster Reborn. With this, I revive one of the Red-Eyes Black Flare Dragons I sent to my grave with Cards of the Red Stone," Cinder said, a facedown flickering in front of her before the symbol of Monster Reborn flared to life. Another black dragon appeared, just like her previous Red-Eyes only with burning orange wings that glowed like hot metal (ATK 2400/DEF 2000).
"Awesome!" Ruby exclaimed. "What else you got?"
Cinder demurely smiled, the second King Taijitu head about to take its first bite from behind. She slid the final card from her hand into her duel disk. "I activate the spell card Inferno Fire Blast."
"Inferno Fire Blast?" Ruby repeated, her brow furrowing as she tried to recall whatever tidbit of information she knew about the legendary monster from her obsessive research. "If I remember right, that's your dragon's attack name?"
"It is. And that's why on the turn I activate this spell, Red-Eyes Black Dragon cannot declare an attack," Cinder revealed, flourishing her hand towards her vicious beast. "In exchange, I can target one Red-Eyes Black Dragon on my field, and deal you damage equal to its original attack points."
"What?!" Ruby shouted.
"What!?" Yang and the others chorused.
Cinder snapped her fingers. Red-Eyes Black Dragon opened its jaws, an enormous crimson fireball building within them. With an ear-splitting shriek, the lithe lizard thrust its head forward and shot the roiling orb of flames straight into Ruby's face.
The silver-eyed duelist was blasted off her feet, tumbling across the duel dais before smacking up against the hardlight barrier with a heavy thud.
Ruby Rose: 1600 Life Points
"Next, I overlay my Level Seven Red-Eyes Black Dragon and Red-Eyes Black Flare Dragon," Cinder smirked, not even waiting for Ruby to get back up.
She snapped her fingers again and a burnt orange spiral galaxy bloomed before her, its stars emitting a blistering heat like nothing Yang had ever felt from someone merely building the Overlay Network before, especially sealed behind a hardlight dust barrier. The two Red-Eyes dragons morphed into scarlet energy nodes, shooting down into the cosmic vortex with smooth precision easily equal to any work of Weiss or even Pyrrha.
"Oh dragon of ancient times of no rest, no love, and no light, smother the fools in lament. Swallow the shining light in darkness, to burn your enemies to an absolute crisp and become the embodiment of suffering. Xyz Summon!" Cinder chanted, her golden eyes twinkling as her galaxy was engulfed in a fiery supernova. "Rank Seven! Red-Eyes Flare Metal Dragon!"
A dark creature emerged from the heart of the dying star, a fiercer fire still blazing within its maw. A draconic monster of red-hot metal threw its head back and roared atop the Extra Monster Zone, its wings a blazing orange and its scales a jagged armor of razor-sharp steel, two glowing Overlay Units fearfully orbiting its striking form (ATK 2800/DEF 2400).
"So long as it has Overlay Units, Red-Eyes Flare Metal Dragon cannot be destroyed by card effects," Cinder divulged, mockingly gesturing to Ruby as the girl in the smoking Slifer Red jacket struggled back to her feet. "I pass the turn to you."
Yang let out a sigh of relief she hadn't realized she'd been holding, relieved that her little sister had lasted the turn. Then she scowled, furious at herself for doubting Ruby like that. But in the face of what had transpired, she couldn't logically find it within herself not to feel such trepidation.
"Woah, half her life points gone and an Extra Deck monster staring her down before she'd even started her first turn," Nora observed with shock. "That's usually what Ruby does to her opponents, not the other way around."
"Told you Cinder was the best," Emerald smugly cut in. "Ruby's good but she's out of her league here."
"Don't be so sure. My little sis has been known to punch above her weight class," Yang replied, trying to be supportive. She glanced around Emerald and frowned at her partner. "Are you seriously reading a comicbook right now?"
"I have faith in my team leader," Mercury dryly replied, not even looking up as he turned the page to X-Ray and Vav's next battle. "Or something like that."
Yang groaned. What was it gonna take for this guy to at least become invested in a duel? She'd seen hints of what he might have been able to be like at his best during his duel with Jaune, but it seemed like he'd just doubled down on his apathy since then.
Ugh. Whatever. This wasn't the time for his nonsense.
The blonde turned to Weiss, hoping the heiress wasn't too mad at her to provide an explanation about the monster bearing down on their leader. "Any intel on the Big C's ace, Ice Queen?"
Weiss shook her head. "The Red-Eyes Black Dragon's archetype is… mercurial. While its creators failed to copy Blue-Eyes' power, they ended up making a monster far more versatile than most. Gemini monsters, powerful unique traps, the spell card she just used, this Xyz variant may just be Cinder's personal addition to that legacy. If it isn't, I haven't seen this version before."
"So who knows what it's capable of?" Blake frowned.
"At least you two are finally paying attention," Yang whispered. Maybe Ruby's plan to fortify the team's spirits with an unlikely win might work after all.
That was, if she could win.
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"My turn! I draw!" Ruby shouted, ripping a card from the top of her deck. When she saw it and added it to her hand, her mouth split into a beaming grin. "I activate Graceful Charity! I draw three cards and then discard two cards from my hand."
The red-hooded girl yanked three more cards from her deck and then snagged Glow-Up Bulb and Phoenixian Cluster Amaryllis from her hand and sent them to her graveyard. With a quick glance over the rest of her arsenal, her smile only grew. Baobaboon, No Entry, Fragrance Storm, Lonefire Blossom, she had some of her most useful cards ready to pop off. Cinder's dragon was beautiful, but Ruby was certain that she could take it down–
"Flash Flare Fireblast."
"Huh?" Ruby's silver gaze whipped towards her opponent's dragon, just in time for the metal-coated creature to launch a searing scarlet fireball down on her. "Ah!"
Ruby Rose: 1100 Life Points
"Red-Eyes Flare Metal Dragon has another effect," Cinder gloated, her golden eyes glittering with mirth. "While it has Overlay Units, every time you activate a card or effect, you take five hundred points of damage after each one resolves."
"What?!" Ruby coughed, wiping the smoke of the fireball from her around her. "But that means I can only activate two more cards!"
"It does," Cinder coyly confirmed. "Choose wisely."
Crud, crud, crud, crud, crud! Ruby's entire playstyle was combos after combos to cancel her opponent's field's strength and boost up her own. She couldn't do that if she could only activate two cards or effects!
Well, she could if she had Book of Moon to switch Red-Eyes Flare Metal Dragon into facedown defense mode and therefore remove its passive effect from the board. But she didn't have Book of Moon in her hand!
And if she wanted to have enough life points left to use it if she did draw it, she needed to play defense.
"I set one monster in defense mode and lay one card facedown," Ruby said, the two flipped-over cards manifesting before her. "I end my turn."
"Haha! That's it?!"
"All that bluster about wanting to face the strongest and she can't even do anything."
"This is why you don't let a Slifer Slacker lead jewels like the Schnee heiress–"
"Quiet!" Professor Goodwitch snapped.
The students from the other academies swiftly shut their traps. The strongest huntress in the world did not suffer peanut gallery glib in her class.
Ruby wasn't usually one to mind getting trash-talked, it was part of dueling. But with how mercilessly Cinder had completely cut her off from doing anything, the extra demeaning had combined with it to bring back… memories. Memories of when she was complete garbage. And all of Signal knew it.
She loved dueling more than anything, always had, always would. The people she had to duel with?
Well, there was a reason she loved her family so much. Yang, dad, and Uncle Qrow were never too busy to duel with her when everybody else wouldn't stop being jerks about how 'it wasn't any fun beating someone who wasn't any challenge'. Even after her uncle had trained her up and she'd pretty much become the strongest duelist in Signal after her sister, they still wouldn't duel with her because they couldn't take losing to 'complete garbage'.
She'd never wanted to feel like that again. After the first few weeks of Beacon and plentiful dueling with her new friends, she hadn't thought she would.
"Draw," Cinder proclaimed. "I activate Red-Eyes Flare Metal Dragon's third special ability. By using one Overlay Unit, I can summon a 'Red-Eyes' Normal Monster in my graveyard and special summon it. Resurrect, Red-Eyes Black Flare Dragon!"
Red-Eyes Flare Metal Dragon devoured one of its orbiting Overlay Units and spat a wad of lava at the duel field, a portal to the fiery grave opening up. From its depths, Red-Eyes Black Flare Dragon rose back up, spreading its orange wings as they lit back up with crackling fire (ATK 2400/DEF 2000).
"I will then normal summon this Red-Eyes Black Flare Dragon so that it turns from a normal monster into an effect monster," Cinder declared, the dragon's flames spreading across its entire body. "Do you know how Gemini monsters work?"
"Of course!" Ruby responded, a bit of indignation in her voice.
Though, as the audience began confusedly muttering amongst themselves in befuddlement, she supposed the Obelisk Blue Haven girl's question wasn't unreasonable. Gemini monsters were a curiosity from the days before even Synchro had risen to prominence, monsters that were considered normal monsters on the field or in the graveyard, but if they were normal summoned again while already on the field, they became effect monsters. Understandably, they fell out of fashion quickly. Actually, Ruby couldn't remember any record of them ever being 'in fashion'.
"Battle," Cinder purred. "Red-Eyes Flare Metal Dragon attacks your facedown monster."
"Trap card open! No Entry!" Ruby exclaimed, her facedown back-row card screeching up. "All your monsters switch to defense mode."
"And you take five hundred more points of damage," Cinder calmly pointed out, her Xyz Monster spewing another fireball at Ruby even as it fell down to one knee.
Ruby Rose: 600 Life Points
"One card. Or one effect," the Haven girl coyly taunted the red-hooded girl, the smoke from the recent fireball fading. She raised a single finger to catch Ruby's silver gaze. "One more turn."
Ruby scowled, her fingers falling on the top card of her deck as she felt her breathing start to accelerate.
Why was this getting to her so much? Yeah, she always put her all into her duels, but this was just a training match. It didn't matter if she got creamed. Heck, she was in a tight spot against Lil' Miss all those weeks ago when her life was literally on the line and she hadn't felt this tense.
Because then she could still duel with all she had, however imposing the wall she had to climb. But Cinder and her Red-Eyes were limiting her options, boxing her in, taking away her power to fight back bit by bit. She could admire the technique and the skill it took to pull it off but… but…
… it wasn't exactly fun.
Ruby rabidly shook her head the moment such a ridiculous thought entered her head. What had gotten into her? She'd faced down mill decks, OTK decks, even FTK decks. They were all valid ways to duel. Cinder's strategy was no different. She was taking her seriously as an opponent. So she had to respond in kind.
She could beat this lock. She just had to get Book of Moon or one of her other cards like it that could flip Red-Eyes Flare Metal Dragon. It only dealt damage after an effect resolved, so if it was facedown beforehand, that would hopefully keep it from taking her out.
Her heart began to pound, adrenaline filling her as a joyous smile finally burst through her face. This? This was a duel.
Strangely, that smile was the first thing to make Cinder frown.
"My move!" Ruby cheered. "I… draw!"
The Beacon Slifer Red tore the top card of her deck away from Crescent Rose. Slowly, she turned it inward to spy her pull.
It wasn't Book of Moon.
Ruby smirked.
But it would do nicely.
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"I summon Angel Trumpeter!" Ruby proclaimed, slamming her drawn card down on Crescent Rose.
A dainty glowing flower shimmered into existence before the silver-eyed girl, a sparkling mist floating out from its petals (ATK 1900/DEF 1600).
"Yeah! Go Ruby!" Nora vigorously hollered. "Take her down normal monster to ex-normal monster!"
"Genius, normal monster means it's only got its attack points to work with," Emerald snipped. "And Cinder's dragons have her outgunned by a mile."
"Next, I flip summon my facedown monster, Baobaboon!" Ruby shouted from below, her set monster rising into her tree trunks with a baboon's head (ATK 1200/DEF 1000).
"Haha! Not anymore, Emmy!" Nora gloated. "You did good supporting your team leader, but Ruby's about to style on her!"
"What are you talking about?" Emerald spat, more fired up defending her leader than Yang had ever seen the friendly girl get. "Baobaboon doesn't have an effect when it's flip summoned, so she's right where she started–"
"Baobaboon's level three," Mercury pointed out, turning a new page in his comicbook. "Angel Trumpeter's level four."
"So?"
"And a tuner."
Emerald instantly deflated. "Crud."
Yang laughed at the partners' byplay. "You know, it's weird, I sympathize with you, but his snark is actually kind of amusing when it's happening to someone else."
"Glad to be entertaining," Mercury dryly intoned, his gaze never leaving his comic.
"Ruby's about to be," Jaune excitedly smiled. "Her comebacks are always awesome!"
"If she can manage it," Blake doubted. "She'll only get one shot."
Yang glanced at Weiss, waiting for the heiress to proclaim that "Ruby only needed one' or something like that, like she had at the promotion exams at the start of the semester. Alas, Ruby's ever-worsening situation had caused the heiress' skittishness to return in full, her eyes only seeing Blake's impatient apathy.
"Just watch," Yang gently insisted, filling her words with the faith she had for incredible little sis, the sibling she'd watched bloom until she'd no longer needed her to protect her. "Ruby'll pull through."
"I tune my Level Four Angel Trumpeter with my Level Three Baobaboon!" Ruby called, her monsters breaking down into four emerald rings and three twinkling stars. They formed into a single pillar as a column of blinding light shot through them. "Red like roses fills my dreams and brings me to the place you rest! The cold flame envelops the entire world! Thus, kindly scatter and bring me victory! Black flower, bloom! Synchro Summon! Level Seven! Black Rose Dragon!"
A deafening roar thundered through the arena, Black Rose Dragon throwing its head back as the effulgent monster stretched its majestic scarlet plumage (ATK 2400/DEF 1800). The crowd of students who'd been mocking Ruby moments before now gaped in awe at the silver-eyed girl's resplendent ace, the black flower fearlessly staring down Cinder's kneeling molten lizards.
Cinder herself merely quirked her head towards the new threat in curiosity. "So… is this your ace?"
"Yup!" Ruby gleefully confirmed. "And I'm activating its special ability!"
"Then be prepared to pay the price," Cinder warned.
Ruby flashed the older girl a challenging smirk, ejecting Angel Trumpeter from her graveyard. By banishing one Plant-Type monster from my graveyard, Black Rose Dragon changes one defense position monster on your field to attack mode and reduces its attack points to zero. Go! Rose Restriction!"
Thorny vines shot out from beneath Black Rose Dragon's flowery plumage and sheared across the duel field. The vivacious whips wrapped around Red-Eyes Flare Metal Dragon, the armored dragon shrieking as the fire of its metal scales was quelched by the plant restraints (ATK 0).
Still, Cinder snapped her fingers. And even bound, her dragon spat of fireball straight at Ruby.
Ruby Rose 100 Life Points
"Your last gasp," Cinder smirked, her facedown rising up at the same time a dark chain and dragon-shaped blade wrapped around Red-Eyes Flare Metal Dragon. "I activate Red-Eyes Fang with Chain. When this trap card activates, it becomes an equip card on one of my 'Red-Eyes' monsters. That monster can now make two attacks on monsters each Battle Phase."
"That's… completely useless for this situation," Ruby pouted, her brow furrowing in suspicion. "It does something else, doesn't it?"
Cinder elegantly gestured to her opponent with a mocking smirk.
Ruby steeled her face and pointed vigorously at her opponent. "Black Rose Dragon! Attack Red-Eyes Flare Metal Dragon! Black Rose Flare!"
Black Rose Dragon thrust its long neck forward and unleashed a stream of rippling violet flames toward the jagged metal dragon.
Cinder snapped her fingers again. Her Red-Eyes Fang with Chain card vanished in a flash of sparks.
The dragon-shaped blade spun like a windmill, a volcanic blaze lighting over its steel surface. The fiery weapon shot off from Red-Eyes Flare Metal Dragon, cutting through Black Rose Flare as its chain trailed behind. The spinning blade rammed into Black Rose Dragon, the majestic Signer Dragon screeching in pain as its mighty wings were bound in dark steel chains that soon lit themselves ablaze.
"Oh no!" Yang gasped.
"Black Rose Dragon!" Ruby cried.
"Once Red-Eyes Fang with Chain is equipped, it can be sent to the graveyard to activate a second effect," Cinder explained, the reflection of the chain's raging fire glittering in her golden eyes. "One effect monster on the field replaces it as Red-Eyes Flare Metal Dragon's equip card, with my dragon taking on the attack points of yours."
Black Rose Dragon shrieked as it was devoured by the blazing chain, the beautiful Signer Dragon incinerated into ash and funneled back onto Red-Eyes Flare Metal Dragon to lather its sharp metal scales (ATK 2400).
Ruby's eyes widened in horror as her dragon was turned into a new coat of paint. Yang wasn't any less mortified as she watched from the stands.
Nora nervously chuckled. "I mean… it's got less attack points than it had on its own. Silver lining?"
"It doesn't matter if it has less attack points. Ruby has none," Blake scowled.
"And not enough life points to play anything else," Weiss commiserated.
"It's over," Emerald proudly declared. "Like I told you. Cinder is the strongest."
"I… I end my turn," Ruby stammered down on the duel dais.
"Draw," Cinder smiled, not even looking at her draw. "Red-Eyes Flare Metal Dragon, attack her directly. Molten Flare Blast."
The Haven Obelisk Blue's dragon opened its mechanical jaw wide, crackling crimson flare building deep in its throat. With a shrill, terrifying whine, the scarlet fireball erupted across the field, crashing into Ruby. The Beacon Slifer Red was sent flying back, her tiny body slamming back against the hardlight dust barrier, spittle flying from her gasping lips as her aura shattered to bits.
Ruby Rose: 0 Life Points
Winner: Cinder Fall
"Match!" Professor Goodwitch called, the hardlight barrier falling as she strode onto the dueling dais. As Cinder made no move forward, the deputy headmistress aided Ruby in clambering back to her feet.
The bell rang then. None of the students were required to stay at that point, but professors made exceptions to a few minutes of lateness coming from Professor Goodwitch's classes just in case duels ran a bit long, as hearing the notes afterward was crucial. Because of that, most of the crowd stayed, looking at Ruby with the eyes of hungry predators, eager to hear the professor chew her out for being crushed.
Unfortunately, as Yang glumly noted, Blake and Weiss took the opposite approach. The former marched out of class and headed for the forges, while the latter scampered for the library as fast as she could. Ruby's effort to heal the rift between their team had failed.
"An excellent duel, Ms. Fall. You created a situation where your opponent's options were increasingly limited and steadily increased the pressure without overextending yourself," Professor Goodwitch praised the Haven student. "Your restraint with your trap card was especially prudent, holding it back until Ms. Rose no longer had the life points to afford a counter to it."
Cinder recalled her duel disk from its active position, her dragons' aura bodies fading as she gave the teacher the slightest of bows. "I aim to win, professor. As is the duty of a hunting duelist."
"An admirable ambition," Glynda complimented. "But be sure to keep it in check. Even victory can have its consequences, and a hunting duelist must be ready to weather them all."
The bespectacled woman turned to Ruby on those words, pointedly looking at the wincing Slifer Red. The crowd leaned in at the professor's look, hungry for blood. And as much as she was memorizing faces in the audience to possibly have to protect her sister from, Yang did get the teacher's undertones.
Ruby had never wanted or planned on being a team leader, despite the potential Yang had seen in her when the vote had occurred. And if she didn't want the job, she could have just let Weiss have it. But she had prized the duel above all, and she'd won because of that, become team leader because of that. Now, she had to be Team RWBY's leader. And though she was certainly willing to try, Yang's socially awkward little sis didn't seem to know how to tackle the parts of her duties that weren't dueling related. Which left her particularly unequipped to handle the schism that had formed in their team after their initial investigation.
And that was before she got crushed by Haven's strongest first-year worse than she had by anyone since Uncle Qrow had personally trained her. Seriously, Cinder hadn't taken a single point of damage, Invincible Girl-style. Yang glanced towards Pyrrha, still watching from the locker room entrance, her emerald eyes narrowed in concern at Ruby.
"You did well, Ms. Rose," Professor Goodwitch said.
"Huh?" Ruby asked, her query silently echoed by every student in the crowd looking forward to her being chewed out for trying to punch above her bright red jacket. "I got creamed."
"You will find that in the career of a hunting duelist, there will be many times when fortune does not smile upon you. You kept your wits about you and played the best duel you could despite the circumstances, and that will be a skill you require one day," Professor Goodwitch comforted her student. She turned around to the rest of the class, her eyes serious behind her gleaming glasses. "Let that be a lesson to all of you. Power will not save you from defeat forever. You will need strength if you are to persevere nonetheless."
The crowd of students all reeled back, the Beacon professor more terrifying to them than any of the dragons that had just graced the field.
Such was not the case for Cinder Fall. The moment all the teacher's notes were given, the Haven Obelisk Blue whirled on her glass heels and strode back toward the locker room, sparing an enigmatic smile for Pyrrha as she passed her at the entrance.
Yang watched as Ruby headed for the locker room soon after, the rest of the class hurrying to where they needed to go next. The students continued to mutter once they were out of Professor Goodwitch's earshot.
"That stupid Slifer Slacker. What was she thinking challenging an Obelisk Blue like that?"
"Maybe being voted into being the Schnee heiress' leader went to her head? She should have known she couldn't beat Haven's best."
"She couldn't even scratch her! It must have been awesome having last semester with someone that strong. And beautiful!"
"What?... oh! Yeah! I had a ton of classes with her back at Haven."
"I had more! She is incredible. As good as The Invincible Girl or 'The Second Coming of the Kaiserin'. You know, I think I sat next to her once."
Yang rolled her eyes. It seemed Cinder's dominating win had made her popular with more than just Emerald. Which would only make Ruby's situation worse with how similar this all was to her worse days at Signal. And given how much she'd be kicking herself for not being able to help Weiss and Blake…
Eh, screw it. Ruby may have been her leader and may not have needed Yang to protect her like she once did, but this mess with Weiss and Blake was the golden-haired girl's fault. It was time she cleaned it up. And maybe see what she could do to help Pyrrha out of her intense funk as well.
"Hey! Jaune!" Yang called as the blond Ra Yellow, Ren, Nora, and Emerald were about to head out (Mercury had already left for lunch). "Got a sec?"
"Sure," Jaune shrugged, waving the others onward as he walked back to talk to her alone. "What's up?"
"You're planning to ask Weiss out to the dance, right?" Yang inquired.
Jaune's face lit up as he nodded. "Yup! I've everything planned out. I got the Gagaga Magician bouquet, not easy to track down, but it's her favorite character and she's worth the effort. Then I'm gonna go with a romantic serenade. I can't sing as beautifully as she can, but I'm pretty good on my guitar–"
"Don't."
The blond boy quirked his head in befuddlement. "Don't play my guitar?"
"Don't ask her out to the dance," Yang clarified, raising a hand to keep him from speaking as he opened his mouth to ask questions. "I know, I know, you're not trying to gold dig with her. And you're not just trying to get with her cause she's hot, which I can tell you from experience is appreciated. But how did she respond when you tried asking her out after the promotion exams?"
"She turned me down," Jaune shrugged. "But things are different now!"
"Because she trusted you to backup Ruby at The Club?" Yang queried, recalling her own surprise at Weiss' choice back then but recalling Ruby's report that he had gotten the job done. "Just because she thinks of you as a friend and trusts you in a fight doesn't mean she suddenly wants to knock boots with you."
"Trusts me in a…" Jaune muttered, glancing down at his chest for a second, with Yang able to glimpse the faint outline of a necklace beneath his shirt. After that, his expression darkened. "I thought because… Huh, my dad used to tell me that all I needed was confidence to prove myself to a girl. But before my duel with Mercury, all I really did was fake it. And not well."
Yang shook her head. "Not well at all, Vomit Boy."
"Exactly. But then, I earned this," he said, holding up the sides of his Ra Yellow jacket. "Really actually earned this. I was terrified it was a flouke, that I was gonna crash and burn once I started classes on a more advanced track, but I didn't. I'm not top of the class, but I've been able to keep up. I've… I've really believed that I can do this. And if I could, maybe I could be worthy… ugh, I was being stupid."
"Yeah. But not in the way you think," Yang comforted him. "You're a good guy, Jaune. But this isn't about being 'worthy'. It's just Weiss' choice. Maybe one day she'll want to try dating you. Maybe she won't. But if she hasn't responded well to asking her out before, do you really think she's gonna do it now? You've seen how she's been lately."
"She has been in the library more than usual lately. Even skipping Onomatopeia Gang night," Jaune sighed. "Is there anything I can do to help her?"
"Leave that to me. Though there might be someone else you can help. After all, Ice Queen isn't the only fish in the sea. Another fish might want to dance with you."
"Fish don't dance. They swim."
"You ain't ready for that yet, Jaune," Yang said. "What I'm saying is someone might want to be asked to the dance by you? Maybe a certain redhead you're already friends with?"
Jaune blinked, numb and confused. "I'm pretty sure Nora wants Ren to ask her out, not me."
"You're right there. But you know more than one redhead."
"Penny? I thought you were pulling for her and Ruby to become a thing."
Yang ground her teeth together. "Another redhead. Possibly with green eyes."
Jaune pursed his lips, his brow furrowed in fervent contemplation. "... do you know another redhead I don't? Because I can't think of one with green eyes."
Yang struggled not to rip up one of the bleachers and break it over his head. "What about Pyrrha?"
"Well, yeah, Pyrrha," Jaune said, like it was obvious. "But I'm not gonna ask her out."
"Why not?"
"Because she'd say yes."
It was Yang's turn to blink in confusion. "Jaune, what do you think the point of asking someone out is?"
"Oh, haha. I mean she'll say yes for the wrong reasons," Jaune snarked. "Pyrrha is the nicest, most incredible person I know and I treasure our friendship and partnership more than almost anything. But it's also because of that that I know that she'd say yes if I asked her, instead of picking who she actually wants to go with from the… I dunno. dozens of guys and girls who'll probably ask her out."
Yang stared at him, struggling to come up with a way to compliment him on thinking of his partner first and wring his neck for not noticing the flashing neon sign that was her crush on him. But, either way would require telling him about said crush, and that was Pyrrha's secret to tell. So she'd have to play wingwoman subtly, while also setting up some other bits of her gameplan for helping Blake.
"Well, in that case, it might be best if you didn't have her be on your team's duo for the Tag-Duel Showcase," Yang suggested. "Keep the dueling pressure off her, just let her enjoy the night, you know."
"She has been more… intense since her duel with Blake's old White Fang friend. I mean, asking for a four-on-one training match is a lot even for her," Jaune noted. "I'll talk with her about it."
"Sounds like a plan," Yang smiled, giving him a friendly pat on the arm.
The pair walked off to join the rest of their friends as they waited for Ruby and Pyrrha to finish up in the locker room. Once they did, Yang would give her little sis a nudge in the right direction.
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"Thanks for accepting my challenge," Ruby said, reaching out her hand with a smile on her face. "Good duel!"
Cinder finished placing her duel disk back in her locker and turned to face the shorter girl. Her golden eyes glanced down at Ruby's offered hand, only to scan her from head to toe and back again. "I've had worse."
"Uh… yay?" Ruby answered. She awkwardly jutted her hand out again, hoping the older girl would get the hint and just shake her friendship offering already.
"But I admit, I expected… more," Cinder said, still not shaking her hand. "Mercury said that your dragon was something special. Surely that couldn't have been it? Or was he referring to another dragon, some other power you did not feel it necessary to use on me?"
"What?" Ruby stammered. withdrawing her hand and taking a few steps back. "No, I went all out against you. I promise, I tried my best–"
"And you overpowered her."
Ruby glanced back to see Pyrrha stomp up from behind her, taking a position between the silver-eyed girl and her opponent. She seemed to be squaring up with Cinder, emerald eyes to gold, which gave the red-hooded girl uncomfortable flashbacks to Yang getting similarly protective back at Signal.
Cinder meanwhile just looked amused at The Invincible Girl cutting in.
"You played well and you overpowered her," Pyrrha bluntly glared. "That's all there is to it. Leave her be."
"Overpowered?" Cinder chuckled. "Your reputation is well-earned, Ms. Nikos, but you seem to be mistaken in this matter. It's not about overpowering the enemy. It's about taking away what power they have."
With an elegant twirl on her glass heels, the Haven Obelisk Blue made for the door.
Only to pause a moment when Ruby piped up one more time.
"The Vytel Festival!" the Slifer Red called. "We're gonna duel again at the Vytel Festival! And I'm gonna show you everything I've got no matter how you try to box me in!"
Cinder turned her head back and stared at Ruby with utter disinterest. "I seem to recall Mercury mentioning your sister made him a similar challenge. Given the tournament's layout, it would be… unlikely that both your promises could be played out."
Ruby flinched, quickly realizing that the other duelist was right. The Vytel Festival was broken up into four rounds: the Leader Royale, the Scouts' Turbo Duel, the Tag-Duel semifinals, and finally, the team relay duel finals. If Ruby beat Cinder in the Leader Royale or vice-versa, then Yang wouldn't get to duel Mercury. But if Yang beat Mercury in the Scouts' Turbo Duel or vice-versa, Ruby wouldn't get to duel Cinder.
Which left only one solution.
"Meet us in the finals. Team RWBY vs. Team CMEN. An all-out duel to remember," Ruby challenged.
Cinder raised an eyebrow and shrugged. "If you're looking to be crushed, I'll gladly crush you."
With that, she sauntered off into the hall.
The moment the clicking of her heels disappeared into the school, Ruby slammed her fist into the closest locker.
"Errrgghhh!" she growled, all her frustration pouring out like a waterfall. "I thought I was past all this."
"It's not your fault," Pyrrha assured her. "All that talk about taking away people's power. Where does she get off–"
"What? Oh no, she was completely right about that part," Ruby waved off. "Your opponent's attack points, monsters… life points. Take that kind of stuff away, and it doesn't matter what's on your field. I duel the same way with Black Rose Dragon, my battle position shifters, and my effect damage. She's just better at it than me."
"Oh," Pyrrha remarked. "Then… why are you upset?"
"That duel gave me some flashbacks to some bad times at Signal," Ruby waved off. "But I should've been long past that stuff after Uncle Qrow trained me, let alone now! Everyone keeps telling me I'm not normal knees! I'm Team RWBY's leader. I'm a Signer with silver eyes. I beat a Dark Signer and everything. I should be able to handle this stuff, not get rag-dolled without dealing a single point of damage! I should be able to… to…"
"Ruby?" Pyrrha softly inquired, coming up behind her younger friend and placing a soft hand on her shoulder. "What's wrong?"
Ruby let out an exhausted sigh, rubbing her palm over her eyes to wipe away the misting liquid before it could become tears. "Like Ms. Goodwitch said, I didn't make any mistakes in that match. I'm dueling better than I ever have. But I still can't figure out how to forge a Polymerization or summon Starving Venom. And I still can't do anything to help Weiss and Blake."
Pyrrha winced. She gently guided Ruby over to one of the locker room benches, the two taking a seat beside one another.
"Do you remember when you asked me why I declined to proctor the promotion exams?" she inquired.
"Yeah," Ruby said. "But Nora showed up and Nora'd it before you answered."
Pyrrha nodded. "The reason I didn't volunteer was because… I didn't want to duel that day."
"Oh my gosh!" Ruby exclaimed, whipping her head towards her friend, full of concern. "Were you sick that day?"
"No, I… uh, I just wanted to hang out with everyone. Cheer on the others," Pyrrha sighed. "I love dueling, Ruby. But I don't want to live my entire life on the duel field. Do you understand?"
Ruby opened her mouth to comfort her friend, but she couldn't find any words for the job. So she could only shake her head. "Not really. To me, dueling makes sense. It's easy. It's fun."
Pyrrha groaned. "Forget it. What you want should matter. It should for one of us."
"One of us?" Ruby perked up with concern. "What do you mean?"
Pyrrha laughed, a bitter thing that sounded unnatural coming out of her. "I just… I want to be as much use to you guys as possible before we graduate and I have to leave."
"Use? Leave?" Ruby squeaked. "What are you talking about? Why would you have to leave?"
Pyrrha's face twitched, The Invincible Girl trying to find the words to convey whatever turmoil she was feeling. For a moment, it seemed that she'd found them, darkness warping her visage.
But in the end, she forced it away before she dared speak. She was only two years Ruby's senior but in that moment, her shoulders hunched and her face gaunt, she looked… so old.
"You might have to climb on a pedestal one day, Ruby," she said. "But… don't regret that today might not be that day."
Pyrrha steeled her breath and rose to her feet. Ruby didn't fully understand why, but watching her friend puff herself back up from the older, exhausted figure she'd been before into the bright and tall Invincible Girl she'd always seen before, the girl in the red hood suddenly felt very guilty.
"I'm sorry I called you, the night of our investigation," she sincerely said, standing up herself. "You wanted to hang out with your team, and I called you out to duel."
"Don't apologize for that, Ruby. You did nothing wrong," Pyrrha assured her, a weary, but still genuine smile ghosting onto her lips. "I could never have forgiven myself if there was the potential I could have helped you guys and I didn't. You and I… we're alike that way. Both destined to be hunting duelists, I guess."
The Slifer Red and the Obelisk Blue finally started walking out of the locker room, starving to rejoin their friends.
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The Glass Unicorn was ablaze. The Madame and her daughters laid dead at her feet, torn to shreds by her dragon, the monster she'd summoned when they'd discovered her cards and tried to take them from her. Besides their corpses glistened the shock necklace she'd finally torn from her throat, free at last.
"Without you, I am nothing," Cinder grinned, her fingers clutching her scarred throat as she gazed victoriously at her dead 'guardian', a gleeful fire twinkling in her golden eyes. "But because of you, I am everything."
Who knew winning could be so much fun?
Ironic timing of ironic timing, Rhodes had returned at that very moment, standing in the doorway of the basement, staring at the corpses in horror.
Cinder turned to him, excited tears gleaming in her gaze as she smiled with unrestrained hope for the first time in ten years. "I'm free."
Rhodes' face hadn't reflected her euphoria, only despair filling his face as he'd raised his duel disk. "No, kiddo. You'll be running forever."
In the moment, many emotions had flooded Cinder's fragile mind, drowning her in a sea of despair, betrayal, and loss.
But when she remembered that night, all she would remember was what she felt when she rose from those depths and raised her duel disk in turn: wrath.
The duel began. She summoned Gearfried, laying what defenses she could on her first turn.
Rhodes had pleaded with her before he'd gone, the flames rising throughout the basement. He'd asked her to just come with him, to come to Atlas Academy. He'd gone on about how they could talk to Headmistress Fria, how she wasn't one of the Madame's friends, like the local police he'd tried to contact to help her before. How she'd help her now that he was no longer tainted.
She'd told him to take his turn. He may have been willing to lay down and die, but she wasn't. Even if she couldn't beat him, she'd duel until her last breath.
He'd reluctantly gone. He called forth the Black Stone of Legend and tributed it to bring his Red-Eyes to the field.
But something had gone wrong. His black dragon had turned towards him and screeched in disgust before tearing its own aura body apart. Rhodes' eyes had widened in shock, the cornerstone of his strategy evaporated in an instant. Cinder was confounded by the sight as well, only getting the vaguest explanation from her own Red-Eyes as she drew it for her turn.
'He betrayed his potential.'
She hadn't wasted the opportunity. She'd used Ancient Rules to call her Red-Eyes Black Dragon to the field and together, it and Gearfried The Iron Knight had obliterated Rhodes' life points, the veteran hunting duelist left bleeding and dying against the wall.
Cinder had just stared at him, shellshocked. The flames consumed the basement around her as the weight of what she'd done, what she'd needed to do, crashed down on her shoulders.
"Go," Rhodes gasped, barely any breath escaping him as the smoke floated up. "Find–cough–find her. She'll–cough–save you."
Cinder didn't understand, but she scampered over to her teacher's duel disk and grabbed his cards. Even if he could not escape the blaze, she could at least save his deck.
But when she quickly glanced through the cards to make sure she hadn't missed one that would be left to burn, she found one glaringly absent.
"Number 104. Where's Masquerade?" Cinder stammered. She grabbed Rhodes' lapel lifting his fading face up to her own livid glare. "Where's Number 104?! What did you do with it!?"
"The crack… in the… world…" Rhodes murmured. "Had to be free... to go to Oz... so he'd help... you..."
His eyes rolled back in his head, never to open again.
Cinder's tears evaporated in the flames.
As the police sirens approached, a child ran into the Solitas night, as broken as the Glass Unicorn's shards.
Alright, we start the Dance Arc off with an adaptation of an episode that I find very underrated in hindsight: Volume 2, Episode 5. But instead of a brief Mercury vs. Pyrrha, we get to see Ruby vs. Cinder, which has the fun side effect of revealing Ruby's current limitations as a leader, as the way she thinks about the world ultimately proves ineffective at solving her problems and she struggles to understand how to handle that reality. Had a lot of fun bouncing her, Pyrrha, and Cinder off each other, especially getting to use her and Pyrrha's foil dynamic during their portion of the locker room scene.
Meanwhile, Yang recognizes that Ruby still needs her help in some ways and prepares to put her plan in motion to clean up what she sees as her mess in Blake and Weiss' emotional distress, while helping Pyrrha as best she can along the way.
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Thank you for Reading! I hope you enjoy what comes next!
Go Forth and Conquer!