As Evan walked into the room, he was rather nervous. Today was the day that he was going to meet the rest of his team. Even if he had to hide his true identity from everyone, he still wanted to do something to please the General. He owed so much to the man, so Evan felt he could at least compete in this tournament for his sake. After all, one of the primary reasons that he was in Vale currently, was to participate in the upcoming tournament.
Entering the wide open training space, he saw three figures standing near the middle of the area.
One of them was Penny, who had already noticed his presence and started waving toward him.
"Salutations, Evan!" Penny called out.
The first unknown figure was a girl with dark skin, short teal hair, and blue eyes. On top of her head was a blue beret. She wore a white button down shirt, long and black fingerless gloves, and a blue skirt. She looked at Evan with a neutral expression as she held her hands behind her back.
The second unknown figure was a boy with light skin, longer grayish/white hair, and green eyes. He wore a large tan trenchcoat, a white shirt underneath, and black pants. He looked at Evan with a bored and tired expression. The boy seemed as if he was going to fall over and pass out any second.
Walking down the steps, into the massive space, Evan gave a small wave to the trio.
"Hey there. My name's Evan. Evan Anderson. I assume that you're both the other two people on our team."
"Correct. My name is Ciel Soliel, and this is Henry White." The teal-haired lady said with a short bow as she gestured toward Henry, who gave a small nod of affirmation.
"For your information, moving forward, Henry is-" Ciel began to speak as Henry walked forward and waved her off.
"Yeah, yeah. I can handle my own introductions." Henry stated.
"It's not like you repeated all of this 46 times on the flight over." Henry grumbled under his breath.
"I'm from Mantle. I was selected by Ironwood, along with Ciel, to be a part of this team. My semblance allows me to make myself, my clothing, weapons, basically anything on my person, invisible. I can make other people invisible too, but it takes a lot out of me, and it only works so long as they are touching some part of me. It's practically useless on Grimm, since they can sense your negative emotions and all. But on people, it's rather effective to get the jump on them and take them by surprise." Henry explained as he scratched his neck.
"My main weapons are a silenced pistol, and an extendable whip like baton that I can use to knock people unconscious with. The pistol has both dust ammo to break through aura, and tranquilizer darts for once the aura's broken." Henry continued as he held up a gray pistol, and a white baton.
"Is that everything that you were going to say?" Henry said with a small amount of vitriol as he faced back toward Ciel.
"Essentially yes, but I would've explained in a more efficient way." Ciel responded back. Henry mumbled something once more before turning away and scraping his shoe on the floor.
"As for myself, my semblance can increase the defensive capabilities of anyone's aura. I can do this both up close, and from a moderate distance. My main weapons are a SMG with standard-issue dust ammunition, alongside a combat knife for up close encounters." Ciel quickly elaborated as she held up a blue and gold SMG and a teal knife.
"Seems like a pretty useful semblance." Evan replied, which Ciel seemingly ignored.
"Now then, Penny Polendina is a female student from Atlas. She uses-" Ciel began to state.
"I swear, if you mention her entire personal file, one more time, I'm going to…to…UGGHHH." Henry yelled out through his teeth as he held his hands out toward Ciel before his arms quickly drooped to the floor.
"I'm too tired to care right now." Henry replied irritatedly to himself.
"You really don't have to do that. Penny and I have known each other for a while. I'm pretty sure I know anything combat related, if that's what you were going to say." Evan pointed out, causing Henry to let a small, indecipherable prayer.
"There wasn't much on your file, but Ironwood informed us that you would elaborate on anything that we needed to know." Ciel added.
"Well for me, my semblance gives me the ability to fly at great speeds, with pretty much no downsides. I use these two gauntlets to fire energy at a distance. In addition, I can also use them to deliver powerful punches up close too. I would say that's about it." Evan replied back.
"If that's everything, then welcome to Team PECH…I guess." Henry said with his hands inside the trench coat pockets.
"Like the fruit? Ok. Wait, so does that mean Penny's the leader?" Evan questioned.
"Affirmative. Now that everyone's been acquainted with each other, I'd suggest that we begin with discussing the rules of the tournament." Ciel said.
"Now, each round requires us to either knock all of the opponents out of the ring, and/or lower their auras to a low enough level where they are eliminated from the match. The first round is a 4 versus 4 match. Afterwards, if we win, we will choose two of us to advance into the next round. At that point, it's a 2 versus 2 match. Then, the two remaining members choose one person to do the remaining rounds from that point on." Ciel stated.
"Seems simple enough." Evan replied as he crossed his arms
"Indeed, now let's discuss some combat strategies for the upcoming matches." Ciel continued on.
However, before anything else could happen, Evan felt his body be rapidly shaken. As the scene faded, Evan found himself back in the festival grounds with Team JNPR.
"Heya! Are you still with us, Evan?" Nora questioned as she let go of the young student.
"W-What? Oh, yeah…sorry. I was daydreaming for a bit there. Just thinking about my team and all." Evan explained as he walked forward.
"I suppose that's pretty natural. Your fight today is coming up right after ours." Ren said aloud.
"I'm sure you'll win, if that's what you're thinking about." Pyrrha replied with a smile.
Continuing ahead, the group sees Team RWBY being served various bowls of noodles under a small noodle house. However, the bowls were quickly taken away by the shopkeep as he pointed toward the register.
"Unbelievable! There's no way that my card could get declined?" Weiss exclaimed.
"If your a little low on funds, I'd be happy to lend a hand." Pyrrha asked as the girls turned toward her and the rest of the group.
"Hey Pyrrha!" Ruby happily said aloud.
"It's alright, you don't need to do that..." Yang replied.
"Yang, I'm running on empty right now and this stuff looks delicious! Come on..." Blake stated, as her eyes shined with hunger.
"After that first round of yours, I would say that you four earned it. " Pyrrha continued as she pulled out her wallet.
"Is it ok if we join you guys?" Jaune questioned as he reached for a stool to sit on. Quickly, the shopkeep returned the noodle bowls to Team RWBY as the old man returned to the kitchen to prepare more food.
"Sure! Although, you better limit how much Sparkler Hands is gonna chow down on! Dude will plow through your bank account if you're not careful!" Yang pointed out.
"Umm…Actually, you don't need to worry about me." Evan stated as he turned away from the group.
"Besides, I'm not that hungry right now." Evan lied. Just looking at those noodles had his inner Saiyan stir within him.
"Everyone's already given me so much. I don't want to take advantage of their kindness, anymore than I already have. It's not like I deserved their kindness after everything I did working under Frieza." Evan thought to himself.
Looking back toward them, he saw them all look at him in various states of confusion, shock, and bewilderment.
"What?" Evan questioned.
"You're not hungry?" Blake inquired as she pointed at him with a stunned expression on her face.
"Yes? What's so hard to understand about that?" Evan asked.
"But…But, you're like the hungriest person I've ever known!" Ruby sputtered out.
"Yeah, you eat through everything with the same vigor that Nora eats pancakes." Ren casually said.
"And that's saying something!" Nora pointed out as she briefly held her right hand up.
"That's it! The world's ending! The infinite black hole that is Evan's stomach has left him and is now making a beeline towards Remnant!" Yang joked as she held up her arms into the air.
"A-Are you sure that you're not hungry? It's really not a big deal if I buy you a few bowls." Pyrrha explained.
"Ehh…It-It's fine. Besides, Penny wants all of us to get in some last minute exercises before we do our match. I-I should go. Wish me luck!" Evan lied as he jogged off.
"That's bizarre. Evan's never turned down a chance to eat before." Weiss mentioned as she pulled her bowl forward.
"Maybe it's just pre battle jitters?" Jaune guessed.
"Hmmm…Maybe." Ruby skeptically thought aloud as she stared at her bowl.
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As Evan gazed at the massive arena around him, seeing the thousands of people cheering in the stands, he turned to face the enemy team. There was a black haired female with twin scimitars, a shorter and more muscular brown haired male with a morning star, a tanned red haired male with a large staff, and a taller black haired male with a massive hammer.
Tuning out the announcer's speech, Evan watched as the environment around them changed. Behind them, a large forest rose from the ground. In front of them, past the enemy team, was an icy tundra filled with snow and large glaciers.
Suddenly, the battle commenced. Flying into the sky, Evan launched numerous ki blasts at the enemy team, only for the brown haired guy to push them aside using gusts of wind. Penny unleashed numerous swords and began to swing them at the dual wielding lady.
The two clashed the blades together, while Ciel gave assisting fire in between their attacks. Meanwhile, Henry fired his gun at the hammer wielding man. As Henry retreated into the forest, the brown haired man pursued him alongside the red haired figure.
Lowering back to the ground, Evan ran forward as the man swung his morning star at him. Dodging the weapon, Evan began to punch away at his chest. The man's aura flared up as he was knocked to the ground, the man's weapon dropping to his side. As Evan prepared to continue the assault, he clutched his head as he was reminded of the green, multi-armed alien that he had killed, back before Planet Vegeta was destroyed. Taking the opportunity, the man grabbed his morning star and picked himself back up.
The weapon began to become electrified as he swung it at Evan. Taking the damage, Evan slipped on the ice and fell to the ground. In the background, he could hear Penny yell out his name. Looking up, Evan saw the man prepare to bring the weapon down on him.
"Why, couldn't we just be fighting Grimm. I don't need to worry about slaying them, they're just mindless, monstrous beasts that only seek to kill and destroy. These are actual people with thoughts, minds, and souls! What if I…rrrghhh…focus, Evan! You can't be afraid to finish the job! If you're not doing it for yourself, do it for Penny, or Elm, or Ironwood!" Evan thought to himself.
Firing a ki blast, while on the ground, Evan used the momentum to blast off and move away from the oncoming attack. Sliding on the freezing ice, Evan righted himself and stood back on the ground. Flying up toward the glacier at the edge of the arena, Evan slid down the side of the frozen hill, launching dozens of ki blasts at his opponent. As the brown haired teen pushed them all aside with his wind gusts, Evan focused on the individual blasts, keeping them from going out, as he had all of them float in mid-air. Leaping off the slope, Evan prepared to deliver a massive punch. Seeing the attack coming, the man held up his weapon, charging up an electrical blast. But before the man could swing Evan out of the sky, the young student focused and had all of the ki blasts zoom toward the brown haired man from every direction. Unable to stop them all, the man was forced to drop his weapon due to the pain from the attack. The teen's aura flashed violently, preventing any permanent damage from happening to the teen. Still mid-air, Evan soared through the air and delivered a punch to his opponent's jaw, knocking the man out cold. Looking toward the various screens, he saw his opponent's aura lower and reach elimination levels.
"That's one opponent down." Evan thought to himself, as he clenched his fist in triumph.
Looking back toward Penny, he saw her and Ciel knock the black haired lady's aura down to elimination levels as well, causing the lady to punch the floor in frustration.
"Evan, are you alright? I saw you just standing there, and that man got up and hit-" Penny quickly said, her voice full of concern.
"I'm fine. Let's just go help Henry and finish this fight!" Evan interjected as he began to sprint into the forest area of the arena. Behind him, he heard the footsteps of the two female teens following behind him.
Rushing across the battlefield, the trio maneuvered their way into the forest area. In the distance, Evan saw Henry dodging and avoiding his enemy's attacks. Using his invisibility, Henry kept getting potshots off on the two remaining enemy fighters as he used the surrounding trees as cover. Firing her SMG off, Ciel drew the attention of the red haired teen. Turning toward Penny and Ciel, the man split his staff into two smaller shotgun-like rods and fired off dust rounds from them. Evan turned toward the other enemy as he moved forward. Running up to assist Henry, the two fighters began to attack the black haired teen together. However, the black haired teen held out his hand and lifted Henry into the air, slamming him into a nearby tree.
Evan continued to wail on the enemy momentarily, only for his foe to hold out his hand again and push Evan into the ground. In his opponent's other hand, he brought the hammer down on Evan. Pushing against the attack, Evan raised his hands up to stop the assault. Grabbing the hammer, Evan pulled it, along with its wielder, toward him. As Evan did so, he punched his opponent in the gut, causing the black haired teen to fall to his knees. Suddenly, Evan felt the force acting on him release. Standing up, he held out his gauntlet against his opponent. Hesitantly slightly, Evan pushed ahead and began to charge up an attack in his gauntlet. But before he could deal the finishing blow, Henry appeared behind Evan's opponent. Extending his white baton, he wrapped it around the black haired teen's neck. For a few moments, the teen attempted to claw at and remove the weapon from his neck, but rather quickly, the teen passed out.
"Sorry, but I got to get at least one elimination this round. You shouldn't have hesitated back there." Henry stated as he hoisted the unconscious teen onto his shoulder.
Walking toward the edge of the ring, where the forest stopped, Henry tossed the black haired man out of the ring.
"And that's a ring out. Looks like we win." Henry said as he wiped some kicked up dust and dirt onto his trench coat. Turning back toward Penny and Ciel, Evan saw that they had taken down the red haired teen's aura to elimination levels as well.
As the crowds cheered, he heard a cheerful voice come from the loudspeakers.
"And that's the match! Team PECH is victorious!"
As Henry walked by Evan he turned to face him.
"You got my vote to have you move up into the next round." Henry muttered out.
"Why?" Evan questioned.
"Well, besides the fact that you did pretty good in that match, I'm under orders from Ironwood to have you and Penny advance into the later rounds. Plus, I've never left Atlas, and compared to that cold hellhole, this place is amazing. Can you believe that the temperature actually gets above freezing out here, consistently? I've put on a good enough show to please everybody, so now, I'm basically on a paid vacation until the tournament is over." Henry explained.
Putting his hand on Evan's shoulder, Henry gazed at the young student.
"Best of luck, out there. I'll be rooting for you in the stands." Henry finished as he walked away.
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And now we're into the Vytal Festival. I hope you can forgive me for the "punny" title. I should hope to have the next chapter published either this Thursday/Friday. Bye!