Knightmare Lord: I was going to say this is Mortal Kombat so anyone can die, but I'm going to go out of my way and say I won't be killing Jaune and Pyrrha, at least not this early in the story.
Chapter 29
Amity Coliseum, Finals Round 1
"Good evening, folks! It's the moment you've all been waiting for! The one-on-one finals!" Ports announced, causing the crowd to cheer as loudly as possible as the finalists all stepped onstage.
Yang walked among them, seeing Sub Zero, Penny, Sun, Mercury, and an uncharacteristically shy Pyrrha, grasping her arm softly as she gazed downwards. Yang wondered what could be the cause of her change in attitude, but she was quick to bench these thoughts as she looked around her at the crowd cheering, catching a glance of her friends cheering her on, causing her to smile and wave back to the crowd.
"Oobleck, why don't you explain the rules to our faithful crowd?" Ports asked his partner.
"Well, Ports, unlike the previous matches, the combatants will be fighting on a blank stage, which means no environmental advantages or disadvantages. In addition, final matches will each be determined immediately before they take place." Oobleck explained.
"Right, and that means any fighter can be picked at anytime, which means zero prep time! Now let's get down to business and find out who our first fighters will be!" Ports announced, cueing the roulette to spin on the jumbotrons, rolling the wheel to determine the next set of fighters.
Everybody held their breath as the roulette spun, before the left roll stopped on a familiar face, followed by the right.
"Sun Wukong VS Kuai Liang!" Oobleck declared, inciting the deafening roar of the audience.
"I'm screwed." Sun declared
"Would all other combatants please leave the stage?" Ports announced, cueing the other finalists to walk off the stage and enter the side exit.
Before Yang made her leave however, she managed to land a light slug on Sub Zero's arm, grabbing his attention and leading him to turn towards her.
"Win one for Beacon, alright?" Yang said to the Assassin with a wink, leading him to nod in return.
"You have my word."
Smiling at his response, Yang bumped fists with Sub Zero before exiting the arena.
Sub Zero then turned to the stage, linking eyes with the members of Team RWBY and his own Team JKHL. Ruby and Johnny were cheering like madmen, Weiss, Scorpion and Liu Kang watched in anticipation, their minds analyzing the outcomes of the match, and Blake only looked back at him.
Her eyes flinched upon noticing him stare back, but only for a moment before her lips curled into a small smile.
Sub Zero returned the smile before turning to face his opposition on the other side of the ring, who stood ready with a nervous smile, his tail swishing behind him.
As the two advanced towards one another, the two of them could feel the arena beneath them rise into the air, lifting them for the whole Coliseum to see.
In addition, an outer ring rose from under the arena floor, casting spotlights on the stage.
Eventually, the two of them met at the center, staring at each other for a minute before addressing each other.
"Hope it's not too much to ask that you go easy on me?" Sun joked
Ezio chuckled lightly and replied. "I'll think about it?"
With that, Sun only laughed out loud.
Chuckling lightly to himself, Sub Zero creates a Katana of Ice, watching Sun unsheath his staff, holding it behind him as he locked his upper body in a ready stance.
"FIGHT!"
Sun moved as quick as lightning, feeling Sub Zero's sword brush the fabric of his shirt. Sub Zero's strike was swift, almost catching the Faunus off-guard, causing Sun to silently thank his stars.
"So much for going easy on me." Sun said creating some distance
"Very well, I will refrain from using any of my powers except my sword. Happy?" Sub Zero asked
"I've got mix feelings about this but okay." Sun said, before smiling. "So what's up with you and Blake?"
"It does not concern you." Sub Zero said bluntly
"It kinda does since I have a thing for her as well. Who knows, maybe if I beat you I might have a chance with her." Sun smirked causing Sub Zero to roll his eyes
With small talks out of the way, Sun rushed in spinning his staff as he began to attack his opponent. Sub Zero stood calmly as he started deflecting Sun's attack. This continued for a few minutes before Sun pulled back to change his strategy.
Channelling his semblance, Sun created four light clones that rushed towards Sub Zero. Seeing this Sub Zero engaged the first clone, blocking and dodging it's attack before cutting it down, but what Sub Zero had not anticipated was for the clone to explode after defeat knocking him back.
Seeing this Sun smiled slightly as he was able to surprise Sub Zero. Narrowing his eyes, Sub Zero began engaging the remaining three clones, blocking and evading their attacks while silently observing Sun for an attack. As the battle continued, Sub Zero noticed that Sun wasn't moving from his location at all.
"A draw back to his semblance." Sub Zero noted before a clone exploded close to him, but luckily for him he had anticipated and dodged out of the way.
In a last ditch effort to defeat his opponent, Sun made his clones tackle Sub Zero before exploding. Finally catching his breath from the use of his semblance, Sun watched the dust from the explosion cleared as Sub Zero walked out coldly. He's Lin Kuei attire slightly burned, but outside that he looked fine.
"Seriously, how tough is this guy." Sun thought in frustration
Deciding not to play around anymore, Sub Zero rushed Sun in a burst of speed as he used his free hand to grab his opponent faster than he could react before slamming him to the ground creating a massive crater.
Cringing from the pain, Sun managed to roll to his feet before barely blocking a sword strike from Sub Zero. The remaining minute was spent with Sub Zero attacking Sun, who defended most of his opponent's strikes but was receiving various cuts from attacks he could not block.
Closing the distance once again, Sub Zero kneed Sun in his gut stunning the Faunus before grabbing him by the shoulder to deliver a skull crushing headbutt. Pain shot through Sun's body as he tried to keep his balance, but Sub Zero wasn't about to let him recover as he quickly grabbed his opponent by his face before slamming him to the ground effectively knocking him out.
"And that's the match! What a way to kick off the finals!" Ports announced as the crowd cheered madly.
"Kuai Liang is victorious!" Oobleck declared as spotlights flashed on the Assassin, causing the crowd to cheer for their champion.
Sub Zero watched Sun as he was carried away on a stretcher. While the faunus was quite the joker and could be somewhat obnoxious when he wanted to, Sub Zero could not deny that the boy had talent.
Terraces
"Yeah! I knew he'd win!" Ruby cheered, whooping at the top of her lungs as she raised her fists to the sky.
"Yes, with his skill, I hardly ever doubted him." Liu Kang admitted with a smile.
Johnny applauded his friend, cheering loudly as well, but turned to see Blake with a delighted face, but oddly calm.
"Yo, Blake! What's with the face?" The Actor asked his friend.
Blake snapped out of her trance and immediately jerked her head towards Johnny, her face red as she waved her arms about frantically.
"Y-y-yeah? W-what is it?!"
After a second, Johnny quickly guessed the reason for her behavior and sneered sinisterly. "Aaahhh! Wanna see him swing his sword for you under the sheets, I see!"
With that, Blake's face turned as red as Pyrrha's hair with a sweat dripping down her forehead as her brain lost control of her imagination. Before she knew it, her hands were around Johnny's neck, shaking him back and forth rather violently.
"WHY YOU FILTHY DEGENERATE! IT'S NOT LIKE I LIKE HIM THAT WAY!" She yelled furiously at the blonde-haired Actor, causing his head to spin and coarse gargles to escape his throat.
"Oh, look. Round two." Scorpion sarcastically remarked.
"But… isn't the stage empty?" Liu Kang asked, slightly confused at his friend's words, prompting Scorpion to sigh at Liu Kang's inability to detect sarcasm.
But sure enough, the next match was about to begin as the screens fired up once more.
Amity Coliseum, Finals Round 2
"Well, that was one hell of a match, wasn't it, Ports?" Oobleck asked over the microphone.
"Indeed. Looks like Beacon's students are on the road to victory! But as always, there can only be one victor, so don't lose hope, Mistral! We've seen real competition from you!" Ports cheerfully commented.
"That being said, let's see what our next matchup will be!" Oobleck announced, gesturing for the roulette to spin as the crowd waited in anticipation.
The roulette spun once more and everybody held their breath, waiting to see the next fighters chosen. Sub Zero and Sun had joined their teams up in the terraces, greeted by congratulations and pats on the back for their battle.
Meanwhile, Cinder, Kabal and Emerald sat in their own seats, watching as the next combatants were chosen. Not that they wanted to see who they were. After all, they already knew how this was going to end.
The roulettes slowed down, landing on a new pair of finalists as the crowd's cheers spiked up in volume once more.
"Yang Xiao Long VS Mercury Black!"
"Would our fighters tonight please make their way onstage immediately?" Oobleck announced, as the two finalists entered the arena from opposite sides of the Coliseum, leading the crowd to cheer deafeningly.
From the sidelines, Teams RWBY and JKHL were ecstatic once they heard another one of them was to fight. Ruby was most excited, considering her own sister was about to enter the ring.
"Break a leg, sis!" Ruby called out loudly, excited for the match to begin.
"You'd better keep this streak going! Fuck up his ass for us!" Johnny yelled out
"This will be interesting…" Scorpion muttered, catching Blake and Weiss's attention.
"Both of their weapons function very similarly, but in terms of technique, they differ greatly." He continued, prompting Blake to nod in agreement.
"Yeah. Yang doesn't do well against kicks, but her Semblance has the potential to turn the tables in an instant." Blake added, watching her partner walk to the center stage as the arena hovered into the air.
As the spotlights flashed on the stage, Yang turned to her silver-haired opponent and smirked. "Gonna go easy on me, tiger?"
In response, Mercury only scoffed. "Heh. You wish!"
"Good. You'll be glad you didn't." Yang said with a grin, cracking her knuckles as she prepared for the match to begin.
Flicking her arms down, Yang unfurled her bracelets into her signature gauntlets, assuming a combat stance as she neared Mercury.
Mercury was the same, with his boots close to the ground and his arms crossed in front of his face like a kickboxer
"FIGHT!"
The fight begins when both Yang Xiao Long and Mercury Black landing their first blow on each other, with Yang throwing the first punch in a haymaker and Mercury launching a jumping back kick. Mercury then rushes in, and attempts to aim for Yang's foot with a running jump back kick, but the latter leaps in the air behind him and attempts to land a shot with Ember Celica in a right jab.
The two each land a spinning back fist each that are both blocked, with Yang's subsequent left hook and jab are then continuously blocked by Mercury's forearms, while Yang ducks under Mercury's left hook. As Mercury prepares a palm strike, Yang fires off another jab, while her opponent shoots off a front kick, sending each other backward, only stabilizing themselves through a backflip.
Smirking, Mercury later dodges a barrage of rounds from Ember Celica while closing the distance, jumping into a downward axe kick blocked by Yang. He then leaps into the air to evade a low roundhouse and spinning back fist with a Dust blast, before delivering a kneeling flash kick to his opponent.
After she lands on her feet, Yang immediately boosts herself towards Mercury and attempts to launch several charged jabs at Mercury, who continues to block with his arms, before the two exchange a spinning back high kick. Mercury then forces Yang back by striking the back of her knee with a low side kick, before forcing her away with a front flip that sets up his Capoeira-style macao kick.
As Yang punches the ground, Mercury uses the momentum to perform a breakdance air twist, balance himself on one hand, and land two more chapeu de couro kicks to Yang, who continues to block the attacks. He then launches a spinning back high kick, with his right leg that pivots into an axe kick with the instep, cracking the pavement as Yang is forced to backflip away.
Mercury then launches a back kick, before dodging Yang's spinning back high kick as he sets up his next offensive combo. The spinning high back kick, followed by a regular spinning back kick and spinning jump back kick, forces her on the defensive, propelling himself upward as Yang staggers back from blocking the blow with her forearms. He then recovers from his perfect split landing breakdancing into a windmill flair and rushes in, only to see his roundhouse blocked with her arm before he suffers an uppercut into her left elbow strike, followed by her right jab.
After he falls flat on the ground, he finds himself shocked as he is forced to backflip away from the following salvo of rounds fired from her jabs, until one round nearly sends him off the arena, forcing him to propel himself back up the stage using air blasts from Talaria.
The silver-haired fighter then immediately launches a lightning-fast flurry of kicks, starting off with a triple turn kick at the legs, followed by two roundhouses and a front kick at the blonde's sides and arms. He then performs a spinning low back kick to force Yang's foot back, before landing both a high and regular roundhouse at her arms. Yang is forced to duck under his hook kick as she sees her left arm repelled by his front kick, which also blocks a round from Ember Celica. The following roundhouse thwarts a second left jab before forcing Yang back with a low roundhouse to the legs as she ducks underneath his spinning high hook kick before she attempts another jab.
Yang is forced back with Mercury's jumping side kick before she somersaults past his Dust round through a spinning axe kick. Smirking, Mercury then begins firing roundhouses in the air from Talaria, with his adversary closing in. Mercury is still able to block a right jab, before responding first with his own jab followed by a front kick leading to an axe kick, before sending her flying with a high side kick, and finally knocking her down by finishing his combo with a 540-degree bolley roundhouse. This leaves her vulnerable to all of his rounds crashing down from above.
Just as he confidently walks away, brushing off his clothes, Yang, fueled by rage, begins her assault as Mercury mouths inaudible words. Her first haymaker sends Mercury back, later dodging his subsequent high roundhouse, spinning high roundhouse and turn kick while landing rapid-fire fisticuffs bobbing and weaving into a Dempsey Roll technique. Her body uppercut and subsequent haymaker punches then proceed to break his Aura and knock him down on the ground, securing Yang's victory as she celebrates by raising her fist in the air.
"Better luck next time." Yang said to her fallen foe before walking away
However, it appears that Mercury launches an underhanded, surprise kick at her, forcing the victor to retaliate and fracture Mercury's leg.
As Mercury clutches his leg and cries out in pain, Yang attempts to trash-talk and justify her actions. However, the camera reveals that Mercury was merely walking towards her before she landed the hit, drawing the shock and ire of every single spectator in the arena.
As Emerald Sustrai rushes to his side, two soldiers, along with six Atlesian Knight-200 units order Yang to stand down
"What did I do?" Yang thought with dread