A/N: Volume 3 OP: "The World" by Jonathan Young

Chapter 11

Ready, Set

The crowd roared with excitement as the halfway break came to an end and the first of the back eight matches was announced. The first eight matches were, as far as Emiya Shirou was concerned, fairly boring for the most part. Setting aside Coco Adel and Velvet Scarlatina versus Mercury Black and Emerald Sustrai, the only match that Shirou found to be of any particular interest was Jaune Arc and Pyrrha Nikos versus Cerdic Elroy and Violet Amerai. While it also hadn't been that much of a fight— Pyrrha could have very easily solo'd them— what made it interesting was that Pyrrha had played more of a supporting role to let Jaune shine. The young man proved his growth by showing that, while he couldn't solo them, he could handle much of the heavy lifting and could have easily taken either of them in a one-on-one bout.

That fact that it made it ridiculously easy for Pyrrha to keep her Semblance a secret was an added benefit.

Similarly, there were only two matches that Shirou was interested in for the back eight. The first was Penny Polendina and Ciel Soleil of Team CPER (Copper) versus Russel Thrush and Sky Lark (the fact that those two somehow managed to get through the first round said a lot and none of it was good). During the first round, Penny hadn't done much of anything, just hanging back and going in for the odd attack with two of her swords that she held in her hands. This had also let Shirou get an update on what Penny had been up to since the docks but there wasn't really anything of note. The second round was going to possibly be an even greater stomp than RWBY's bout with ABRN had been but the finals would hopefully prove interesting.

The second was, naturally, Blake Belladonna and Yang Xiao Long versus Flynt Coal and Neon Katt, the match that was about to begin. Their opponents had displayed some interesting tactics and abilities during the first round and had done extremely well when compared to the normal combatants. However, Blake and Yang held a massive advantage in that they knew very little about what Yang could do and absolutely nothing about Blake. What's more, even when factoring in reasonable estimates for Flynt and Neon's abilities under the assumption that they were holding back, the girls would have a fight on their hands but their chances of defeat were very slim and that was with some generous rounding.

"Llllllladies, gentlemen, and all those between; welcome back to the 40th Vytal Festival Tournament!" Dr. Bartholomew Oobleck announced over the PA system. "I hope you all are sufficiently glued to your seats as we're coming back strong with Blake Belladonna and Yang Xiao Long of Team RWBY from Beacon versus Flynt Coal and Neon Katt of Team FNKI (Funky) from Atlas!" The crowd roared louder as the two teams took to the stage and made their way toward the center. Team FNKI seemed to be the only students from Atlas Academy to not dress in that military-esque uniform and instead dressed rather fashionably in vibrant colors.

It was mildly interesting, if not surprising, to note that the only one who didn't wave to the crowd was Blake.

"Both of these teams had amazing showings in the first round! Team FNKI had been able to handily defeat their opponents, coming out of it with barely a scratch, but Team RWBY had one of the most one-sided matches in the history of this tournament! Was this the result of weak opponents or overwhelming capability? We're about to find out as the Jazz Magician and Living Rainbow take on the Burning Titan and the Mistress of Disorientation!"

Shirou raised an eyebrow at those titles. Dr. Oobleck hadn't introduced any of the other matches in such a grandiose manner. Not that the titles were necessarily inaccurate, mind, but it was rather out of character. Had someone spiked his coffee?

The roulette span and landed on a volcanic area, sandy desert, steaming geysers, and ruined buildings again. As the arena was shifting and morphing, the four combatants were having a little pre-fight banter.

"I hope you ladies are ready to give some effort 'cause you'll be blown away if you don't take this seriously," Flynt said as he twirled his trumpet.

Neon giggled as she twirled in place on her rollerblades, "Not that it'll matter either way. Big and busty over there won't even be able to lay a finger on us." Something that Blake took interest in was that Neon was also a Cat Faunus. However, unlike Blake, she had a pink tail. Given that Atlas was easily the worst place for Faunus to be, maybe coming out at Beacon wouldn't be that bad (not that Neon could easily hide her tail, of course).

"Excuse me‽" Yang said in offense. It looked like she was about to say something else but her partner cut her off.

"You two are pretty confident given the circumstances," Blake said calmly as she readied Gambol Shroud. "You haven't really seen Yang fight and you haven't seen me do anything. Given what our teammates did, do you really think we aren't as capable?"

"You tell 'em, Blake!"

Flynt scoffed and pointed at Blake with his trumpet, "We might not have seen you fight but it's not hard to find some info on the famous Team RWBY. We've got a fair idea what you two can do and know that we can take you."

"An idea is well and good but that was months ago. It's not like we've been lounging on our laurels ever since. You should be the ones being careful to not underestimate us."

"Don't listen to that faker," Neon said, causing Blake to raise an eyebrow. "She won't be able to hold a candle to you and I'll have that ditzy blonde seeing stars in no time!"

"I am going to pound you into the ground so hard." Neon stuck her tongue out at Yang which just further increased her ire. Any further banter was stopped as Professor Peter Port's voice started the countdown.

"Fighters all set. Ready? Three… two… one… begin!"

(A/N: Play "Break Through it All" from Sonic Frontiers)

Blake and Yang's plan was simple. It was clear that Neon was trying to get Yang to attack her which would leave Flynt to deal with Blake. This was, in theory, a sound plan since, thanks to what they observed and some quick math from Blake, Yang could very easily just plow through Flynt's attack even when adjusting for him holding back. Meanwhile, Neon was fast but Blake was about as fast if not faster and Neon's relatively linear movement thanks to using rollerblades meant that Blake would just clown on her. Their only hope for victory was to make sure those fights didn't happen.

Blake and Yang's plan was to give them exactly what they wanted. Sure, it wouldn't be that hard to just ignore their attempts to control the fight but then it'd be over in only half a minute and that was if they decided to take it easy. That wouldn't be fun for anybody and beating them when they thought they had the advantage would just make it all the sweeter. Yang had been worried that Blake would reject the plan due to inefficiency but it seemed that her girlfriend had a wicked streak since that smile she gave was downright evil.

Besides, this plan would let them show off that thing they had been working on for months.

There was a potential problem with Blake fighting Flynt in that his attacks were sound based and Blake was particularly weak to those thanks to her Faunus ears. It seemed that Neon had somehow guessed at this judging by that faker comment. They had already accounted for this, though, by Blake stuffing her cat ears with cotton and then using a combination of some scrunchies Yang had and carefully tying her bow to keep her ears flush against her head. It was rather uncomfortable but some sacrifices had to be made.

The instant the match started, Yang burst forward with a growl as she aimed a haymaker straight at Neon's jaw. Neon proved that getting to the second round hadn't been a fluke as she quickly started to skate backward and out of Yang's reach. Yang kept chasing her down, lashing out with various punches and kicks, but Neon kept managing to stay just out of reach.

"Easy there, busty. You get moving too fast and you'll topple over," Neon taunted as she smacked Yang's fist away with her nunchaku. Yang growled again as she stopped trying to chase her down and instead opted to just shoot at her. Neon laughed as she skated out of the way of some shots and smacked others away with her nunchaku.

Things changed when Yang fired not at her but at the ground ahead of her, kicking up a cloud of dirt and dust as they had made their way into the geyser region. Neon didn't even so much as blink as she did a front flip over Yang's attempted clothesline and smacked her in the side of the head with her weapon.

"Wow, I'm impressed! You do have a brain!" Neon said as she placed her hands behind her back and skated backward deeper into the region.

"If you think that was impressive then I'm about ta blow your mind!" Yang retorted as she kept up the pressure. She started chasing her down again but chose not to go in for any punches or kicks. Instead, Yang used carefully placed shots to corral Neon while also taking potshots at her to keep her distracted and skating backward. She then smirked as she saw Neon about to hit a geyser mere moments away from erupting and dashed forward with a superman punch that Neon easily dodged.

Instead of hitting the geyser as it started to go off, Neon quickly "cracked" her nunchaku like glow sticks, causing them to glow an icy blue before spinning around and striking the water as it started to gush out. It instantly froze and she used the temporary surface to trick off of it and land closer to the ruined city.

"I spoke too soon! You must be burning that thing up to come up with that! Shame that I'm four steps ahead of you," Neon said as she kept moving toward the ruined city.

"Do you only have two insults? I'm getting bored over here," Yang replied calmly as she resumed trying to chase her down, not bothering with gunfire.

"I'm just trying to stay on your level. I've never had to deal with a busty blonde before; talk about double whammy. Hey, how are you handling the academic portion of your studies anyway? Are you actually taking those tests or are you using your other assets?" Neon gave the sort of smile that really highlighted her feline features.

"Alright, that's it!" Yang yelled as her eyes flashed red. She launched herself forward with astounding speed using the recoil of her weapons and spun around as she aimed a hook kick at Neon's right temple. Neon's eyes went wide at this sudden speed and Yang's kick came within mere moments of connecting before Neon let herself fall into a backward roll. When she came up to her feet, she spun around to start skating forward and leaped to start grinding on a wall right as Yang's fist impacted ground where she had been.

Yang continued to chase her opponent down, firing shots at her all the while. The attacks proved as futile as always as Neon dodged what she could and knocked away the rest while using parts of the buildings to stay off the ground and on the wall. Even when Yang fired in front of her to try and destroy her path, she would just switch walls.

Instead of keeping up the shots, Yang jumped onto the roof of one of the buildings before using the recoil to increase her speed as she charged forward. When she was right in front of Neon, she punched the top of the wall as hard as she could aided by her shotgun blast. The wall Neon was grinding against practically exploded but Neon proved her skill as she didn't so much as slow down and bounded from piece to piece.

Having reached the edge of the quadrant near the center, Neon came back down and skidded to a stop, turning to face Yang as she landed a solid two or so meters away.

"I'll give you credit; you're better than I thought you were," Neon admitted.

"Same here. It seems we're at a bit of a stalemate. I can't hit you but you can't really hit me," Yang said as she brushed some dirt off of her pants.

"It sure seems that way but I know something that you don't," Neon said with a coy smile.

"Oh? What's that?" Yang asked with a raised brow as she put her hands on her hips.

Neon tossed her nunchaku into the air with a twirl and closed her eyes in focus. A visible aura that shifted between the colors of the rainbow surrounded her— similar to but not quite Soul Surge— and she caught her weapon as she opened her eyes and stared Yang down with supreme confidence.

"I never miss a beat."

Before Yang could question what that meant, Neon shot forward faster than ever, leaving a rainbow trail as she went, and caught Yang in the face with her nunchaku. While Yang was still staggered from the blow, Neon came back at her and caught her in the shoulder with another blow. Yang was surrounded by a veritable wall of rainbows as Neon came at her from every angle. True to what she said, Yang noticed that her movements were synced up to some unheard music and thus were happening at regular intervals. She couldn't really capitalize on this, however, as she was being constantly knocked around.

Eventually, Neon stopped her assault and charged her head on, her nunchaku a prismatic blur as she spun them around, before catching her under the jaw with it to launch her into the air. Neon then quickly tricked off of some nearby terrain to leap into the air after Yang and hit her in the stomach with a rolling smash that sent her meteoring back to the ground. For the finish, Neon fell feet first and landed on Yang's stomach causing her to cough up spittle before flipping off.

As Yang and Neon ran off, Blake stared down Flynt, weapon at the ready but unmoving. "Looks like your partner really does have anger management issues," Flynt said casually as he spared a glance at the other two. "I gotta thank you for making this easy." He looked to Blake for a response or maybe just an attack but was befuddled when she just stood there. "Hey, is there anyone home?" Flynt asked with some minor concern as he cautiously approached. Just then, Blake appeared behind him and smacked him in the back of the head with the sheathed Gambol Shroud.

Flynt staggered forward but managed to regain himself enough to turn around and blow through his trumpet, sending a shockwave of sound at Blake. Blake appeared to be blown apart by this but Flynt didn't let that phase him as he spun back around and blocked her next attack.

"The hell was that‽ I was over a meter away! Your Semblance can't reach that far!" Flynt complained as he and Blake disengaged.

"Yang's taller than me and very distracting," Blake said simply as she unsheathed her weapon. The instant Yang had taken off, Blake left a Shadow behind and followed Yang with barely any space between them. Between Yang being hard to ignore and Blake's own innate ability to go unnoticed, she had managed to effectively hide in Yang's shadow before moving behind Flynt. It had been tricky to find the moment to break off without Neon noticing but her girlfriend gave her the opening she needed.

"Fair enough but that one hit's all your gonna get!" Flynt brought his trumpet up to his lips and blew out another concussive blast. While dodging sound was simple enough (bullets were faster even without Aura amplification), his weapon amplified it with Dust and his Aura to create a cone-shaped emanation. The area of effect where Blake was standing was wide enough to make dodging the attack a tricky proposition at best. As it was, Blake barely had time to move to the side and dodge using her Shadow, the attack annihilating the clone.

Blake thought that she had a pretty clear opening. In the footage of the first round, Flynt had always remained stationary while attacking, relying on his teammates to get enemies in position and keep him safe. Imagine Blake's mild surprise when Flynt swung his head and weapon to retarget Blake without breaking off the attack. It was only a mild surprise, however, because this was something that they had allowed for in their plans.

Blake once again used her Shadow to teleport out of the way but Flynt managed to track her while backpedaling to keep away. Unable to use her Shadow again at that moment, Blake fired off three quick shots at Flynt's trumpet. Just as Blake could dodge bullets easily enough, Flynt could react even to her Aura amplified ones. He quickly made a minute adjustment to his aim and blew harder to increase the power to the point where the bullets were knocked off of their trajectory. It was a distraction that only lasted for the briefest of moments but that moment was all Blake needed to get her Shadow back and start running, her body held low to the ground and arms trailing behind her, a posture described many times in "Ninjas of Love."

Even though he was doing fine thanks to his incredible lung capacity gained from countless hours of training, Flynt still paused to take a breath as Blake started to circle him. Blake's form was flickering in and out of existence to him as he could barely keep up with her raw speed but he didn't have to keep up if he knew where she was going.

Flynt let out a string of stuttered blasts starting at Blake's current position and quickly moving ahead. When Blake stopped her sprint and jumped over the attack aimed at her with the aid of her Shadow, Flynt smirked behind his trumpet as she fell into his trap.

A clone of Flynt split off from him, the same in every way except with bits of yellow clothing where his were cyan, and let out the same string of stuttered blasts half an instant behind. Blake's eyes went wide as she threw herself to the side but her legs were still clipped by the attack sending her spinning and tumbling on the ground. A magenta clone emerged from him opposite the yellow one and the three of them let out a blast with Blake at the focus point. Blake threw herself forward on her hands and knees before using her Shadow to just barely dodge out of the way. She came out of her teleport on her feet and charged at Flynt with even greater speed.

While Blake was almost completely invisible to him by this point, Flynt wasn't even remotely worried. As he and his clones moved their focus toward her, he split off a green clone behind him facing the opposite direction right as he raised his head upward. When Blake predictably used her Shadow to try and get behind him, she was met with a direct blast from Green Flynt's trumpet. As she was sent hurtling high into the air, Flynt recalled all of his clones before sending them out in a diamond formation facing each other. As Blake came back down, she was helpless as she was caught at the focal point of all four blasts. Blake screamed in pain, the sound almost inaudible to Flynt over his trumpets, as Flynt dismissed two of his clones to send Blake flying away to the center of the arena.

"How ya holding up?" Yang asked from where she laid not that far from her girlfriend.

"Pretty good. How about you?" By this point, Neon had rejoined Flynt.

Yang casually got up and dusted herself off while saying, "Better than when we started. Our rainbow friend over there decided to give me a massage. Got some kinks out of my back and shoulders." Yang demonstrated her point by stretching her back and rotating her shoulders.

Blake got up as well and gave Yang an odd look, "You know that there are people who'll do that for you." Flynt and Neon's jaws dropped at the utter nonchalance of their behavior.

"Wait, wait, wait, hold on!" Neon shouted once she got her brain working again. "'Massage'‽ I was kicking your ass!"

"Yeah, and Blake took a full power combo hit! You can't just walk that off!"

Yang scoffed and gave them an incredulous look. "You think you were kicking our asses? Really? Check the Aura readout," she said as she thumbed at the large monitor showing the Aura levels of all the combatants. Despite their better instincts, the two of them did so and experienced a shock beyond shock.

"How is this possible‽" Neon shouted. Yang's Aura had barely decreased while Blake's hadn't changed at all.

"If you wanna step up to me, you better be able to take down a fortress wall!" Yang boasted as she thumbed her nose and started bouncing from foot to foot with her guard loosely up.

"That's interesting. Tell me, since when were you under the impression that you were attacking me?" Blake asked as she stepped out from behind a boulder in the volcanic area and the one standing near Yang faded away.

"No way! Nuh uh! There's no way I was fighting a clone the entire damn time!" Flynt shouted as he took a half step back, his skin paling.

"You were fighting a clone most of the time," Blake clarified as she walked to stand where her Shadow had been.

"But I hit you! Your clones disappear when I hit them!"

"No they don't. Fun fact: My Shadows need to take a fairly solid physical hit in order to be destroyed. Your sound-based attacks aren't physical and don't make a strong enough shockwave. Those Shadows disappeared because I wanted them to."

Flynt and Neon looked at each other with the sinking feeling that they were screwed.

"Ready, Blake?" Yang asked as she slipped into a more serious guard stance.

"Ready," Blake replied as she drew Gambol Shroud.

At once, the two partners dashed forward with Yang pulling ahead. As Flynt and Neon started to withdraw, Yang got in front of Blake and engaged the quick release on Ember Celica before holding her arms behind her and letting them fall off. Meanwhile, Blake tossed the two parts of Gambol Shroud up and over Yang's shoulders. As Yang reached back to grab Blake's weapon, Blake skillfully maneuvered her hands to slide into Yang's and engage them.

This little switch took a lot of time and more than a few accidents to get down reliably.

Up in the stands, Ruby Rose started to cheer wildly as Blake and Yang split off to go after their original opponents. Neon was skating backward away from Yang, more than a little uncertain of this new development, but was forced to turn around and focus on speed as Yang assumed the same stance that Blake's Shadow had used when circling Flynt and was now moving with speeds notably greater than before. Yang shifted the sword portion of Gambol Shroud into its gun form and opened fire, the higher fire rate forcing Neon to turn back around and focus on defense, deflecting more shots with her nunchaku than she had to before.

The second Neon turned around, Yang's eyes flashed red as she used what little strength Payback had built up to cover the three or so meters between them in an instant. Neon didn't have time to so much as blink before the cleaver smacked her square in the face and sent her tumbling. She managed to recover and roll back into a standing position but was forced back on the defensive as Yang came at her with a flurry of strikes. Eventually, Neon growled in frustration and took a hit in order to activate her nunchaku. This, in turn, forced Yang to retreat lest she get an arm frozen.

"All you did was switch weapons! How are you faster‽" Neon asked as she struggled to get her breath while keeping her weapon twirling around her to keep Yang away.

"Different fighting style, sweetie. I have to sacrifice speed for power normally but with Gambol Shroud? It's the other way around," Yang said confidently as she fired off a few shots at Neon just to keep her focused.

"Well, whatever! It doesn't matter what you do, I still never miss a beat!" The rainbow aura surrounded Neon again as she dashed forward with incredible speed once the ice Dust faded. Yang was once again surrounded by a rainbow blur as Neon attacked her from every angle but, unlike last time, Yang was keeping pace and parrying every attack.

"You might never miss a beat but I fight to the beat of my own drum!" Yang said as she parried Neon just so to break her guard before knocking her back with a strike from the cleaver. "What you did was cute but let me show you what a real combo looks like!"

Neon didn't have time to even recover before Yang was on her again, catching her in the chin with the cleaver before hitting her side with the sword. Using a level of speed that was impressive in comparison, Yang lashed out with an intricate series of strikes that kept Neon off balance while also making sure that she stayed on her feet. Yang kept up the assault until she had pushed Neon back into the geyser quadrant before hitting her in the chest with a spinning thrust kick. Neon only had enough time to blink before her world started spinning as the geyser under her erupted and sent her high into the air.

Yang leapt into the air after Neon, transforming the sword of Gambol Shroud into its kusarigama form. She tossed it up at her punching bag aided by recoil before grabbing the ribbon and pulling on it just right to make it wrap around Neon's ankle. Grabbing the ribbon with her other hand, Yang then started to spin parallel to the ground. Neon was dragged through the air in a full circle before Yang smashed her into the ground and went for the finish.

"Luna Divider!" Yang cried out as she came down on Neon to strike her in the stomach with a crescent kick. Neon coughed up spittle as her Aura completely shattered before passing out.

Meanwhile, Flynt wasn't having any better luck as he constantly moved around to try and keep Blake away while making the occasional blast. Instead of dodging with her Shadow, Blake used the greater recoil of Ember Celica to facilitate her moving out of the way with sideways flips. After one such dodge, when she was barely a meter from Flynt, Flynt split into four and hastily let out a quad blast. Having seen the attack coming, Blake grit her teeth and used the recoil to push herself forward, tanking the attack and plowing right through it to smash Flynt's trumpet with a right cross. Flynt's head jerked back from the impact and his clones disappeared. As it was, the only reason he didn't lose a tooth or two was because of his Aura.

With Flynt's guard broken, Blake caught his hands with an uppercut that knocked his trumpet away before hitting him in the side of the head with a spinning hook kick. As Flynt staggered in that direction, Blake was suddenly there to catch him in the chest with a left cross, firing the shotgun at the moment of impact. This sent Flynt flying but he barely moved before Blake used her Shadow to intercept him and knock him in a different direction with a body blow. Flynt found himself knowing what it was like to be a pinball as he was knocked this way and that by the teleporting Blake. She eventually brought it to an end by launching him into the air with an uppercut and then back down with an ax kick. As Flynt bounced painfully on the ground, Blake was right beside him again.

When Yang had proposed the idea, Blake had been hesitant to give a name to a random attack chain but eventually relented for her girlfriend's sake. She was now very glad she did. This was fun.

"Midnight Beatdown!" With that shout, she slammed both fists into his side with timed shotgun blasts. The result was Flynt being sent flying and crashing through the wall of one of the buildings. She knew it was over when Professor Port announced him being knocked out while Doctor Oobleck did the same for Neon. Blake and Yang had taken them out at nearly the exact same time.

As their victory was announced and the crowd went ballistic, Blake and Yang met up in the center. "Who's awesome?" Yang asked as she raised one arm up.

Blake raised the same arm and bumped their wrists together, "We're awesome!"

"Damn right!"

(A/N: End song)

OoOoOoO

Later that evening, Emiya Shirou found himself standing in Professor Ozpin's office when Qrow Branwen entered the room with a coffee mug in one hand. "I hope I'm not interrupting something," he said without a shred of apology in his voice.

"Not at all. We were just discussing something that's relevant to you," Ozpin said smoothly as he pushed his glasses back up. "Was there something you needed?"

"He's making you look like a fool, you know," Qrow said bluntly, not needing to specify who he was talking about.

"His heart is in the right place. He's just…" Ozpin looked off to the side as he tried to find the right word, "misguided."

"Sometimes I'm not sure if he even has a heart," Qrow said bitterly before taking a drink from the mug. "What was this about you two talking about something involving me?"

"I have found who I believe to be the perfect Maiden candidate. Ever since the day I met her, I had the feeling she would be the one. She's strong, intelligent, caring… but most importantly, she's ready."

"I'm not so sure about that, sir," Shirou cautioned. "Sure, of the girls I know, she is definitely all those things but her work ethic is… oddly lacking."

"What do you mean?" Ozpin asked with a tilt of his head.

"What I mean is that she's barely improved at all while here. A few months ago, the two of us sparred and fought each other to a standstill. If we were to spar again now, I'd be able to win with only some difficulty even when under the same restrictions. I think she's coasting on her past training and powerful Semblance."

"I know I did it myself just a moment ago but can we please not refer to someone with just pronouns when I have no idea who you're talking about?" Qrow complained.

"I'm talking about Pyrrha Nikos," Ozpin answered. "I will accept your observations as accurate, Shirou, but I believe that she'll start applying herself properly if she chooses to take on the mantle of Fall Maiden. That being said, do you have anyone you'd recommend in case Pyrrha declines?"

"Velvet Scarlatina of Team CFVY," Shirou answered after thinking about it for a moment. "She may very well be on par with Pyrrha at this point in terms of physical attributes and skill and she's comperable in every other category. What's more, she's dedicated to improving herself."

"Her showing against Mercury and Emerald was fairly impressive, all things considered," Qrow commented.

"Indeed it was," Ozpin agreed with a nod. "However, there is another attribute to consider and that's fame. If we wish our Guardian to be a shining light for the others, we need someone who the people already look up to. While Team CFVY does possess some fame and the tournament definitely increased Velvet's, the fact of the matter is that Pyrrha is far more famous and beloved."

Shirou hummed in thought while Qrow took another drink from his mug. "You've got a point," the latter said.

"I suppose you do," Shirou conceded. Fame was a very important tool when trying to rally people, after all. "Do you want me to be here when you talk to Pyrrha?"

"No, I don't. I suspect that she won't answer right away and you not being here might make her turn to you for advice."

"And you want me to tell her to become the Maiden?"

"I want you to give an honest answer, whatever that may be."

Shirou took a deep breath, "Alright. If that's all, I should get going. I promised Blake and Yang that I'd make them a victory dinner."

Ozpin smiled faintly as he nodded, "Very well. Enjoy your evening, Shirou."

A/N: And here we have the last purely fun fight in probably the entire story. No real stakes, no emotional things going on, just pure fun. The weapon switch was something that I had planned for quite some time as a fun little thing that'll have ramifications throughout the entire story since Yang now has some training in Blake's fighting style and vice versa.

If you're wondering just how in the hell Blake managed to hide in Yang's shadow, I refer you back to the stat sheets and to take note of how Blake has D- Presence Concealment. Blake's also been training a lot with her Semblance which is how they can move on their own. They can't actually talk, though. If Blake was talking, she was actually standing there (her appearing behind the boulder was specifically a misdirect on her part to freak them out). Her strategy involved very precise usage of her Shadows, swapping in and out with them as the need arose. I'm going to have a lot of fun with Blake's Semblance in the future.

I also decided to rename Yang's Semblance from Counterattack to Payback. I now its current canon name is "Burn" but I hate that name, just as I hate the current canon name of Ruby's Semblance. I'm also, like, 90% certain that Counterattack used to actually be its name along with Speed being the name of Ruby's.

Anyway, time for reviews! Only one worth responding to this time.

claudiojuarez621: What would be the point of that? Shirou knows that Weiss hasn't seen Winter in quite some time and is reasonably certain that Winter is the only one that Weiss actually likes. Combine that with Shirou and Winter having absolutely no preexisting relationship and there ya go.

Anyway, that's all from me so I'll see you next week!