And to finish off Round 1 of the Vytal Tournament! Before we go into Round 2, there will be a brief intermission full of character interactions.

Reminder: Please suggest 2v2 and 1v1 matchups for the second part of this Volume. It'll really help focus what battles I will write. Just remember that 1v1 matchups can't be from a losing team of a 2v2 matchup. Looking forward to your... many... (coughnotevenonecough) suggestions.

Disclaimer: RDF1 doesn't own RWBY, WATCH THE SHOW!

Hope everyone is staying safe in the current day and age of the Global Situation.

(Chapter Begin)

(Recap)

And then Ozpin asked me if I wanted to come to his school, to which I gave an enthusiastic yes," finished Ruby, "He said okay, and I got an early transfer."

"Silver Eyes and a Scythe?" pondered Pyrrha after everyone had finished their meal, "You wielding a Scythe like that makes you like the Grimm Reaper, but I've never read anything about Silver Eyes."

"To be fair, I'm an unintentional and unofficial third generation Grimm Reaper, if only by inspiration. My Uncle Qrow is one who taught me how to use a Scythe," explained Ruby, "But as for the Silver Eyes... It's more of a bloodline trait. I inherited them from my mom, Summer Rose."

"Team STRQ is one of THE best teams to graduate from Beacon," smiled Pyrrha, "Your parents were definitely in a league of their own."

"Our Parents AND Uncle Qrow that is," amended Yang, "I've been hearing rumors that Ruby is Qrow's daughter and that's just ridiculous."

"I know, right!" added Ruby, "Yang and I are Half-Sisters. The only way Qrow is my father is if Qrow is Yang's father too, and we know THAT's not true. Plus it kinda insults Taiyang as our Father, who's raised us nearly all on his own for the most part."

"Would Team JNPR please report to the Arena, like they were supposed to..." announced Professor Port, "several minutes ago!"

"This is your second warning. If you're not in the stadium in the next five minutes, you forfeit the round," added Doctor Oobleck.

"Yikes, that's us," said Jaune, as Team JNPR got up.

"Best of luck guys," said Blake.

"We'll be rooting for you," added Weiss.

"And we look forward to facing you in the finals if not before!" challenged Ruby.

"I look forward to it as well, Ruby," replied Pyrrha as JNPR headed off.

"So... Ruby," spoke up Blake, "What exactly is so special about Silver Eyes, especially as a Bloodline trait?"

"That, my dear kitty cat, is a story for another day," replied Ruby slyly, "It requires more of a demonstration than an explanation. By the Brothers may something like that never happen."

With that, Team RWBY made their way to the stadium, to cheer on their friends as they are in the next fight.

(Recap End)

As JNPR was making final preparations after making it in time to actually participate in the Tournament, Jaune pulled aside Nora.

"Nora, depending on how things go, I'm having you as our Plan B," informed Jaune.

"What's Plan B?" asked Nora, getting excited.

"You'll like it," smirked Jaune, "You get do what you always wanted... just make sure you don't actually cause bone breakage, okay. Don't need disqualification because of that."

"Oooh," grinned Nora, and saluted, "I got you, Leader!"

(AN1)

With that, Jaune and Nora rejoined Pyrrha and Ren as they entered the field to battle Team BRNZ.

Team RWBY entered and found good seats to watch Team JNPR begin their fight with Team BRNZ. Ruby couldn't fight the smile that reached her when watching Jaune's antics/tactics during the fight.

"Jaune's keeping control of the fight out there," she commented to her friends.

"He has made a noticeable improvement," complimented Weiss, "I do believe just last week, he managed to tie against Cardin."

"True, but that's nothing compared to Pyrrha," cheered Yang.

"To be fair, that comparison is highly scaled in Pyrrha's favor though," mentioned Blake, "Four Year Champion of the Mistral Tournament, remember?"

"Hehe, sure, but..." defended Yang lamely.

"I do believe we'll see something unexpected soon," grinned Ruby, seeing Nora make her way up the mountain.

While BRNZ was being aggressive and keeping up the pressure, Jaune managed to keep morale high. Thanks to a lucky weapon element, it gave Jaune an idea when he saw a Thunder Cloud brewing at the top of the mountain side of the battlefield.

"Nora, let's streamline this battle," called out Jaune.

"Circuit completion inbound!" joked Nora as she used the her boosted power to make super jumps.

"Ren, stealth out that Sniper as best you can," added Jaune.

"Alright," replied Ren, a bit nervous as he avoided another shot, "I'll do my best."

Ren sped off across the center battlefield, dodging incoming sniper fire. Ruby was far more accurate, and had heavier firepower, even for training, as to allow Ren the experience needed to recognize firing lines as he made his way across.

"Pyrrha, we keep their attention on us so Nora can blast them," continued Jaune, getting a nod from Pyrrha as they engaged against the other two active members of the team, the unfortunate electric baton member having been temporarily indisposed by Nora's impromptu power up.

"Thunder!" called out Nora, holding up Magnild, "THUNDER! THUNDER THIGHS HO!"

And with the last cry, a bolt of lightning striking her hammer, the power flowing all throughout her body. Nora then transformed her hammer back into her grenade launcher, but opened up the front, and launching all six grenades at once. Reaching into her pouch, she reloaded a few more before jumping back down, rejoining the others. The group of Grenades forced the sniper to jump to the side, barely avoiding the point of impact, and most of the splash damage.

Team BRNZ managed to regroup to continue the battle, only to see JNPR getting involved in their conversation.

"Alright guys, let's finish this with Team Attacks!" announced Jaune, "Ren, Nora: Flower Power!"

"Wait, what?" asked Nora.

"You know... Flower Power," said Jaune, "That's your Team Attack we've been working on."

"Jaune, we're not RWBY," informed Nora, "We haven't worked on Team Attacks all that much to work out everything."

"Wait, really?" asked Jaune.

"I'm afraid so," admitted Pyrrha, "Between Dancing, Team Training to not collide with each other, and studying, we haven't had enough time to work out much in terms of Team Attacks."

"That's... disappointing," sighed Jaune.

"Hey!" called out Brawnz, the leader of BRNZ, "What do you think you're doing!?"

"Well, I WAS going to have a flashy, awesome, team finisher to win the match with," informed Jaune, before bringing up a hand and pointed towards BRNZ, "But... since we never got that far... Time for Plan B: Nora, SMASH."

Nora Grinned while Lightning flashed in her eyes.

"Wait, WHAT!?" called out Brawnz.

Nora made a big jump before landing in front of them.

"FORE!" called out Nora, swinging her hammer and knocking all four of Team BRNZ out of the Arena and into the Shield Wall, before they fell down to the ground below the elevated portion of the arena, unconscious.

(AN2)

"And that's a Ring Out for Team BRNZ," announced Professor Port.

"Someone might want to check on them. They appear to have lost consciousness," added Doctor Oobleck.

The crowds were cheering with gusto for JNPR's Victory.

Meanwhile, in town, watching the battle on the Holo-sphere, a man in his early-to-mid forties took another shot of alcohol as he saw Jaune order Nora to 'Smash' BRNZ out of the Arena. This was Qrow, and he was finally back in town after weeks under cover on a mission.

"Well, their team looks to be working things out," commented the bartender, giving him refill.

"I will say this," said Qrow, downing the shot, before reaching into his wallet to pay for his drinks, "Having a Plan B is always helpful."

With that, Qrow stood up and headed out of the bar.

"Well, time to check in with family, and friends," remarked Qrow, before heading towards Beacon Academy, noticing a certain ship fly by, "And apparently I'll have to deal with 'Her' too."

Back at the arena, the final matchup for the day was INGO vs SSSN. Weiss and Blake were a bit more invested in this matchup than the sisters, especially given two of the members they had gotten to know over the past few weeks. Despite Neptune's flirtatious streak showing itself.

The match itself was a bit memorable, if only because it was humorous to see Neptune's ironic Aquaphobia show up when the Desert and Beach Battle Zones were selected. Sage ended up with a Ring Out, while Scarlet was unlucky with a hit below the belt, resulting in a disqualification by Aura Depletion. This left Sun and Neptune against three of INGO, before a poor decision on INGO's part left them open to Neptune's Electric blast that was amplified by the water. Winner: Team SSSN.

With that, the crowd, safely, headed out of the arena, looking forward to Tomorrow's Matchups. As RWBY was leaving, Weiss noticed the same ship Qrow did from the other side of Vale, and actually smiled a bit.

"What's the smile for, Weiss?" asked Ruby.

"She's here," replied Weiss, "I can't believe she's here."

"Blake, Yang, head on to congratulate SSSN for their victory. I'll go with Weiss to meet her friend," suggested Ruby.

"'Friend'? She is not a friend," huffed Weiss, "SHE is my Elder Sister, Winter Schnee. Specialist in the Atlas Military!"

"Winter? Is she close in Rank to Ironwood?" asked Ruby.

"She's one of his Specialists," informed Weiss, as Blake and Yang separated from them, "She speaks highly of him, so I would imagine he trusts her very much."

"And... how much do you trust her?" asked Ruby.

"With my life," said Weiss, "More than I do you, which is saying something because I've come to trust you more than I really should."

Ruby gave an embarrassed chuckle.

"Why?" asked Weiss, "Did you want to meet her?"

"Actually, yes. I would like to meet your Sister, Weiss," replied Ruby, a plan forming in her head.

(AN3)

Blake and Yang met up with Sun near the Infirmary, as Aura could only help so much from a shot below the belt. Sage was okay, and Neptune was listening to some tunes to get the battle out of his head.

"Congratulations Sun," said Blake.

"Thanks Blake," said Sun, fist bumping Yang before hugging her.

"Did you really have to dance like a fool out there, though?" asked Yang.

"Hey, don't diss a victory dance," countered Sun, in a teasing voice.

"So, think Scarlet will be okay for the next round?" asked Yang.

"He's bowing out, even if he didn't get hit there," replied Sun, "Neptune and I will carry on."

"Neat, look out for Ruby and me though, we're planning on winning this!" exclaimed Yang.

"So what's with Neptune flirting with INGO?" asked Blake.

"What?" asked Neptune, before noticing them, "Oh, sorry about that; that is my zen music after a fight."

"It's fine," Blake, "But what happened out there, and I don't mean your aquaphobia."

"I don't have aquaphobia," denied Neptune, "And what you mean?"

"Flirting with INGO?"

"Oh... that," realized Neptune, scratching his head, "Would you believe me if flirting is a natural hobby of mine?"

"Weiss wouldn't see it that way," informed Yang.

(AN4)

"Look, Weiss is wonderful," said Neptune, "And I want to get to know her more, but... I don't know, flirting is what I do. It's just something I do. I will try and work on it. But it won't be easy, especially considering our Team's fangirls."

"He's got a point," said Sun, "Though it's more of an act for me. Being a Monkey Boy can be entertaining at times."

"Well, we better leave you to rest up," said Yang, "I'm gonna save my strength for tomorrow. I'm not gonna let Ruby do the heavy lifting."

"Sweet, we'll wrap up here soon," agreed Sun, "Scarlet's gonna be fine in a bit. Looking forward to seeing you in the final rounds!"

"Same here," smiled Blake, getting a smile from Sun in return, before she and Yang headed back to their dorms.

(Chapter End)

Vytal Festival, Round One... completed.

Something of note: I've said early on that I was mainly focusing on Ruby's Perspective, but... that was a bold decision made a bit too early. While I'll still focus with Ruby's story, that doesn't mean I can't add any additional scenes going forward with Weiss, Blake, and/or Yang. I mean, Volume 4 had their stories separate until midway through Volume 5. I have a number of scenes I'm looking forward to writing down, and one of them is next chapter. That being said, you only have one more chapter before I start the 2v2 rounds.

I did actually get a bit of input finally, after a full year of no one suggesting anything. So one 2v2 round will be Sun and Neptune vs Coco and Velvet, with Coco and Velvet being the winners. I will also have Velvet vs Cardin in the 1v1 section.

Other team members that I want to go into the final round are Penny, Pyrrha, Mercury, and Ruby. So I will need more characters for basically fodder. I'm still open to more suggestions!

Author Notes...

AN1: A more tactical and methodical Jaune, since... well... he's being encouraged to think things through more effectively.

AN2: And the jokes and references galore for Nora! Seriously: Thundercats, Hulk, and a Golf shoutout. I'm just sad I never worked in a He-Man Reference. Maybe once she's charged up from the Electric Dust Baton, thing. "I HAVE THE POWER... to smash you!"

AN3: And that will start next chapter.

AN4: Is it wrong that I'm shipping Neptune and Weiss? Maybe, but since I'm not shipping any of RWBY together, I'm looking elsewhere for pairings. Blake and Sun are a good fit. I haven't really found anyone with Yang (it's probably why so many people are growing attached to Bumbleby even though it shouldn't be canon) just yet. Weiss has the best chemistry with Neptune from everyone I've seen so far, which isn't saying too much. And... Ruby... that's gonna be left for another time. I have plans with her.

One more reminder to keep safe as we go into 2021! Happy Holidays!

Thanks for reading.

Until then...

Later,

RDF1