Chapter 23
Patch, Vale.
Ruby's silver eyes twinkled with a shine of tears, as her eyes fell upon the stone slab embedded into the cliff's edge. A stone engraved with her symbol as well as her name. The symbol she now bears as her own.
Raising her hood, Ruby was ready for another conversation with her. "Hey, Mom."
"Sorry that I haven't come by in a while. Well, things have been… things have been kinda busy." Ruby said with her hands crossed behind her back.
But then her eyes brightened up. "Ooh! Dad's here too! He's… y'know… Dad." Ruby said with a smile.
"He's still teaching at Signal, but he's told me he's gonna be going out on some mission soon! I think he misses adventuring with you. I miss you too." Ruby said, remembering her father's sleepless nights when she was little. It wasn't easy having two loves leave him, and she could at least remotely comprehend that feeling. Summer was her mother, and nothing could have changed that. Not in a million years. Not even her absence could take that away from her.
But then, Ruby changed the subject. "Haven't got kicked out of Beacon yet! So that's cool… I think being on a team with Yang helps. I keep her in line!" Ruby said to her mother with a giggle.
"That was a joke… She's actually a really great fighter! You can tell she's learned a lot from Dad. Well, so are Weiss and Blake. Oh! They're my teammates! Together we form Team RWBY!" Ruby said proudly with a smile.
"And yeah, before you ask, that does cause a lot of confusion…" Ruby stammered with an awkward giggle.
"Anyways, I made a bunch of new friends, too, and… let's just say odd teachers." Ruby continued, recalling Jaune and the others.
"Oh, we've also stopped some bad guys too! I guess it's like they say: like mother like daughter." She said with pride.
"I still wonder why Ozpin let me into the school early. But I guess he'll tell me one day. You know how he is. It's funny, the more I get to know him, the more he starts sounding like Uncle Qrow." Ruby noted, recalling Ozpin's cynical way of talking that reminded her of her favorite drunkle Qrow.
Hearing a dog bark behind her, Ruby turn around to see Zwei wagging his tail happily with her father standing against a tree, waiting for her.
"Ooh! Dad's here! I gotta go! He promised to drop me off at the Coliseum before he goes on his next mission! Wish me luck!" Ruby said hurriedly, lifting her hood and running to her father.
However, she remembered to turn back to the cliffside and smiled. "It was good to talk." Ruby said before leaving as white rose petals fluttered in the breeze into the valley.
Amity Coliseum,
TEAMS ROUND 1: RWBY VS ABRN
One thing Ruby always loved was watching the Vytal Tournament. Sure, the Festival itself was awesome, but to see all those students fight in the Amity Coliseum, it was something that showed her the spirit and adrenaline of a huntress's life.
She had always wanted to be in the ring, fighting her best and showing the world what she could do. But all that imagination back then absolutely paled to what she was feeling now.
All around her, she could hear the thundering roar of the crowd and she could feel the rush of energy and vigor that filled her body as she shot Crescent Rose at Bolin, who deflected the shot with his staff and advanced toward her.
The arena was an architectural wonder, a collaborative achievement of the four kingdoms and a revered place to many. The arena was kept suspended in the air via the massive gravity dust crystal built under the Coliseum, and the ring was specially designed with interchangeable biomes and environments.
Up above the ring, countless rows of seats lined the rim of the arena, encircling the arena and filled with crowds of ecstatic spectators. Camera bots flew over the arena, capturing the fight and broadcasting it to everybody watching, from the people in the arena to every home across Remnant watching the fight on TV, whether they are the nightclubs of Vale, luxury condos in Atlas, the pubs at Mistral or nomad caravans watching from the Vacuan deserts.
Ruby was overwhelmed by the thrill of all the eyes on her and her team, cheering them on as they took on the enemy team. She held a determined smile on her face as she ran forward to continue fighting.
Weiss summoned another ice construct with Myrtenaster, drawing breaths and drowning out the roar of the crowd as she engaged Nadir, using her glyphs to block the bullets from his machine gun.
Blake crossed her blades, pushing Reese's board off of her as she jumped up to juggle the skateboarder only for Reese to spin the board and fire it, knocking Blake back. Using her cat ears, she could hear voices in the seats above urging her to get up, and with a smile, she did and continued on.
Yang flipped into the air, narrowly missing the geyser of lava that gushed from the volcano biome. Crossing her fists to block another devastating punch from team leader Arslan, she retaliated with two gunshots from Ember Celica and rushed forward into battle.
High above the battlefield, two announcers were seated in an enclosed booth overlooking the stadium with a microphone and a camera set in between them. The first was a young woman with short hair and headphones and wore a sleeveless jacket unzipped to below her chest over a gray t-shirt.
The other was a young man wearing a demeanor and expression that showed that he would rather not be where he was at the moment. He wore glasses and a sweater over a buttoned-up shirt with rolled-up sleeves.
"Looks like we got another exciting match ahead of us today, folks! Don't you agree, Oobleck?" Ports asked his partner .
"Doctor Oobleck and Yes, I think this is gonna be one of the closest matches we've seen so far in the 4v4 rounds yet!" Oobleck said
"For the ladies and gentlemen just joining us, WELCOME TO THE VYTAL FESTIVAL TOURNAMENT!" Ports announced loudly, inciting a combined cheer from the crowd below.
"Now, let's get down to the rules." Oobleck continued, nodding to his partner.
"The tournament is divided into three distinctive rounds: Teams, doubles and singles. Age and school year are irrelevant. The only attribute tested in the arena is skill. Combatants are eliminated once their aura level drops below 20, or if they are knocked out of the ring." Ports said
"Right! In this first round, combatants will fight alongside their teams in 4v4 matches. The winners will then elect two members to represent them in the doubles round, where they will fight in pairs. The winners of that round will elect one of their members to fight in the singles rounds, where they'll fight through the final bracket for victory for their kingdom and their team!" Oobleck elaborated.
"Now, let us return to the match between Team RWBY of Beacon and Team ABRN of Haven!" Ports continued.
Down below in the arena, Reese Chloris circled the ice biome a second time, before accelerating on her hoverboard towards Blake, who stood ready with her dual blades. Smiling, Reese spun on her board and jumped, flicking the board towards Blade, who used her blades to deflect the attack.
Reese's board then came back to her, leaving the green-haired girl to punch the board back at Blake, who leaped with a kick, hitting it back again. Blake used this opening to engage Reese, slashing downward with Gambol Shroud and attacking relentlessly with her shadow clones, only for Reese to block her hits with her board like a shield.
Flipping backwards, Reese steadied herself on her board and rushed Blake. However, Blake held a confident smirk and waited. When Reese came close, she leapt back at the last second with an ice-infused shadow clone, leaving Reese vulnerable to a quick strike from Gambol Shroud, sending her into the air and cutting her board in half.
Thinking quickly, Reese grabbed both ends of her board and contract it into her dual pistols, firing down onto Blake as she rose into the air. However as she attempted to land, her footing gave way, causing Reese to crash onto the ice and to writhe in pain, causing Blake to cringe at the accident along with the audience.
"Ouch, that's gotta hurt." Oobleck noted from the commentator's booth.
"Someone should've been wearing a helmet." Ports added.
Over at the volcano biome, Yang slammed down with a fist, which was barely dodged by Arslan. The dark skinned girl leapt back on instinct, only for Yang to pepper her with rapid punches.
Swinging a kick, Yang missed Arslan as she ducked and swung a fist to deflect her own and used her momentum to hit Yang across the arm. Drawing back a fist, Yang did the same as both knuckles collided in a spectacular explosion, blowing away stray volcanic rock.
Both girls were knocked back from the blow. Yang pounded a fist into the ground to slow herself, while Arslan dug her fingers into the ground, trailing rubble as she got back up on her feet.
Yang then advanced with a kick, only for Arslan to hook her foot with her rope dart and pulled her in for a sharp kick into the ice biome.
Yang barreled across the arena, groaning while trying to get up to her feet. However, her feet wobbled as she struggled to stay upright on the slippery ice.
This only left Arslan to jump in with a drawn fist. Yang was nailed in the torso, grunting as she felt the sharp pain and was thrown backwards into the air and crashed into the ice.
Nadir Shiko smirked as he pulled out his gun to finish her, but all of a sudden there was a bright flash following a gunshot. Nadir looked below him to see his feet were frozen in place, encased in solid ice.
Growling in frustration, the pink-haired boy pulled out his machine gun in an attempt to break free, only for a red blur to intervene, smacking the firearm from his hand and sent skidding across the ice.
Ruby smiled to her sister. "Got your back!"
"Who's got yours?" A voice asked from behind. Ruby turned to see Bolin Hori twirling his staff, ready to attack her. She raised her weapon, but only smiled as a glyph appeared beside him. Weiss then appeared, kicking Bolin aside and launching him through the glyph and tumbling into the volcano biome.
"My BFF!" Ruby proclaimed proudly.
"No." She replied blankly.
But Ruby only smiled and pumped her fist. "Yes!"
Terraces
"Whoo! Go get 'em!" Team JKHL was seated with Team JNPR and Team TSKK, with Teams SSSN and CFVY nearby.
Liu Kang quietly watched from his seat, keeping his eyes on the movements of the fighters, his mind calculating the outcomes of the match.
Johnny was cheering wildly alongside Smoke and Kung Lao.
"Quite the match, wouldn't you agree?" Kitana asked Sonya.
"Couldn't have said it better myself." Sonya agreed with a smile.
Jaune looked down into the arena with wonder sparkling in his eyes. He had seen Team RWBY in action before, and he had to say, they were certainly a force to be reckoned with.
He saw Ruby in battle, wielding Crescent Rose with deadly efficiency and dexterity. His mind could barely imagine this was the same girl he had met that first morning in the courtyard.
But then he felt a hand on his shoulder, and turned to be greeted by Pyrrha's kind smile. "We can win this. I know we can." Pyrrha said to him, her green eyes twinkling with sincerity. With this, Jaune smiled and continued to cheer on his friends.
Arena
Bolin propped himself back up using his staff, looking up to see another glyph materialize in front of him. He stood up readying himself, but was caught off-guard by a quick blur slashing him across the face.
Weiss dashed past Bolin, striking him with her rapier, before using another glyph to launch herself back above the Mistralese boy, slashing below her and landing gracefully back on her feet.
Bolin stood ready, but Weiss cast a glyph in front of her, cueing Ruby to sprint forward and leap off of the glyph, launching her into the air. Ruby then brought up Crescent Rose and slammed it down on the boy, only for him to raise his staff and block the strike. Growling in frustration, Ruby pulled the trigger, pushing herself back with a shot and landing on the ground, holding her weapon steadily.
Bolin slowly got up from the sudden gunshot, but only smirked as he moved forward. Weiss narrowed her gaze and used a glyph to summon ice shards down at him, but Bolin only rolled and ran past Weiss. Ruby saw he was running her way, and slashed horizontally with her scythe, but Bolin jumped up over Ruby, passing her as well.
"What?" Ruby exclaimed in confusion.
Bolin then stopped at a nearby dust stalagmite, hacking off a piece of the fire dust crystal and tossed it to Reese, who grabbed the shard and stabbed it into her board, causing it to hum and glow orange.
Reese winked at a frowning Blake, before jumping on her board and speeding toward Nadir, still frozen in place. But as Reese passed him with her board, the energy from the fire dust melted the ice around Nadir's feet, freeing him and leaving him to run and grab his weapon from the ground.
Reese then turned her attention to Blake, leaping at her with her board and pushing Blake into a nearby ice crystal, stunning her. Using this opening, Reese came at her spinning her board and shooting off spirals of flame. Blake barely dodged the attacks with her shadow clones and tossed Gambol Shroud at a nearby ice crystal, pulling herself behind it.
Reese followed her, and looked around the corner to see Blake standing there, completely motionless. Reese smiled in confidence. How stupid was she to leave herself open like that?
Reese dashed forward and spun her board with a jump to deal the final blow, only to see Blake's image disappear, and Gambol Shroud being tossed from behind the ice wall.
Blake smirked when Reese bought her decoy and pulled on Gambol Shroud's ribbon, stiffening the ribbon and hooking Reese along it, knocking the air out of the skater girl.
As she fell to the ground, Blake quickly ran up behind her and delivered a sharp kick, sending her tumbling out of the arena and into the energy barrier that protected the spectators from the gunfire.
"Oooohh… double whammy! Reese Chloris is eliminated by ring out and aura level!" Oobleck announced, sparking cheers and jeers alike from the crowd.
"Ouch, that's gotta hurt." Ports added.
As Arslan skated by using her rope dart, followed by Yang who used her shotgun blasts to propel her across the ice, Nadir aimed his gun at Weiss, only for her to cast a glyph beside her, propelling an approaching Bolin forward, crashing into Nadir and disorienting the two of them.
Weiss then cast a glyph under their feet, swirling their bodies in the air alongside the ice around them, before the ice was reconstructed into a massive fist entrapping both boys in the ice.
Weiss drew back her glyph, causing the massive ice boulder to roll, carrying Nadir and Bolin with it inside. Arslan saw this happening and sighed to herself, throwing her rope dart into an ice crystal, pulling herself into the path of the boulder. She stomped a foot back and assumed a steady stance.
Focusing her strength into her arm, Arslan leaned back with her fist before punching forward with incredible strength, shattering the boulder into hundreds of chunks of ice, releasing the two dazed students.
Seeing their chance when the remaining three members of Team ABRN were together, Weiss called out. "Yang!"
With this, she clicked Myrtenaster's barrel and aimed, constructing a ramp made of ice. "NOW!"
Yang nodded with a determined grin and ran forward with a shotgun blast, skating alongside the inside of the ramp. Blake ran beside her, tossing one end of Gambol Shroud to her.
As Yang grabbed the pistol, Blake pulled with all her might and leapt on Ruby's shoulders, who fired a shot from Crescent Rose under her feet, pushing Blake upwards with the recoil and into the air.
Team ABRN was only coming to their senses when they looked up above them. They saw Blake coming towards them, who pulled on her weapon as hard as she could, launching Yang towards the three of them with a fiery yell.
Yang landed with a powerful swing, one that managed to connect with all three remaining fighters at once, sending all of Team ABRN into volcanic rock, stunned and unable to fight any longer. "Yes!"
With the buzzer's sound, the crowd went wild above them as the announcers began to speak again. "Triple knockout! This match belongs to Team RWBY!"
Ruby looked all around her, her thrilled brain unable to process the events ensuing around her. "We… did it?..." Ruby asked in shock.
Weiss, Blake, and Yang all smiled with excitement, Yang giving her a thumbs-up.
With this, Ruby's smile grew infinitely as she leapt up in the air with joy. "WE DID IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT."
Fairgrounds
"Is anyone else starviiiiinnngg…?" Ruby groaned tiredly with her shoulders slumped lazily.
"I… may have worked up an appetite." Blake said, only for her stomach to growl loudly showing that Ruby wasn't alone.
"Gosh, if only there was someway to get food around here… oh, wait…" Weiss said aloud sarcastically, reminding everyone about the massive fairgrounds with food stands around every corner.
The Vytal Festival was in full swing by now, with visitors from all over the world coming over to celebrate. All sorts of people walked past the four girls, whether they be small children, faunus, or the occasional security robot.
Ruby then patted her partner on the back with a smile. "It's okay, Weiss. I forget about the fairgrounds, too."
"I was being facetious." Weiss replied blankly.
"W-wha- Well, if you were hungry, then why didn't you say so?!" Ruby yelled in response.
"C'mon, I know just the place!" Yang said to the rest of Team RWBY, walking off and gesturing for her teammates to follow her.
Happily obliging, the four girls followed her, but then Weiss felt her scroll vibrate and ring in her pocket.
Pulling out her scroll, she took one look at the screen and hung up with an irritated growl. Like hell she would be having another "talk" with her father.
But just as they were about to head off, Ruby heard a voice behind her. "Hey! Might be hard to eat without this!"
Ruby turned to see Emerald smiling while holding out her… wallet… Her eyes shot open wide as she frantically checked her pockets with panicked whimpers.
Emerald only laughed at Ruby's antics and smiled. "Good to see you, Ruby!"
Ruby then finally calmed down and took her wallet from Emerald's hands. "Oh! Thanks, Emerald! Guess I dropped it! Ugghh, girl pockets are the worst!..." Ruby groaned.
"What's up, Em?" Yang said as she greeted the green-haired girl.
"Just left the stadium after your amazing fight! You guys were awesome!" Emerald replied, causing Ruby to gush with flustered babbles as her cheeks turned red.
"I heard your team progressed to the next round, too." Blake added.
"You know, I feel like we never see your teammates." Weiss noted. Emerald was pretty nice to them, but it seemed that the rest of her team was rather… reserved to say the least.
"How'd they do in the fight?" Yang asked her.
"Really well." Emerald answered.
"That's great! Uh, why don't we all go out and get some victory food together?" Ruby asked Emerald eagerly.
"Oh! Gosh, that's so nice of you! But my teammates are all kinda… introverted." Emerald said, she and Team RWBY turning to Mercury, who was… sniffing a boot.
"Really socially awkward…" Emerald added.
"Ooooh yeah… I can see that." Yang agreed.
"So… yeah! Looks like Merc and I are moving on to the doubles round! What about you guys?" Emerald said.
"Well, as the leader of this team, I thought long and hard about this decision-"
"We put it to a vote." Weiss interrupted Ruby blankly.
"B-uuuu-yes, b-but I decided we should put it to a vote!" Ruby interjected between her stammers.
"We voted for Weiss and Yang." Blake added with a smile directed at her friends.
"I will happily represent Team RWBY." Weiss said with a bow.
"Yeah! We're gonna kick some butt!" Yang added, pounding her fists together with determination, causing Emerald to chuckle to herself.
"Well, if Merc and I see you down the line, don't think we'll go easy on ya." Emerald said with a confident smirk.
This caused Yang to cross her arms with a matching smirk. "Wouldn't have it any other way."
"Alright. Well, we're gonna go catch some more fights." Emerald said to them before walking the other way.
"Have fun!" Ruby said as she waved her goodbye.
"See you later!" Emerald said as she walked with Mercury. Turning away from Team RWBY, her face soured.
"So, how're the new 'friends'?" Mercury asked her.
"I hate them." Emerald answered coldly.
"Orders are orders…" Mercury reminded her with a grin.
"It's just…! How can they be so happy all the time?!" Emerald grumbled in annoyance.
"Did you at least get what we want?" Mercury asked with a serious voice.
"It's the heiress and the bimbo." Emerald answered him apathetically.
"Hmm, alright… At least we know who we're working with." Mercury said as the pair walked off to meet up with Jack and Cinder. Everything was going according to plan.
Meanwhile
"Well, look who it is!" Johnny proclaimed upon seeing the team of four girls walking towards their table at the ramen stand.
Ruby smiled and happily waved to the members of Team JKHL, who were seated at the noodle shop, all of them happy to see Ruby and her team.
"Hey, guys!" Ruby called out happily, waving her hand with a smile.
"If it isn't our little team of victors! Sit down, sit down!" Johnny greeted them, gesturing to the empty seats next to theirs.
"That was quite the fight. We were all rooting for you." Sub Zero said to Team RWBY warmly, a slight smile appearing at the edge of his lips.
"Really? T-thanks…" Blake replied meekly as a red tint briefly graced her cheeks.
"And of course, you pulled through. I have to admit, you all put on an impressive performance for everybody today." Liu Kang noted with a prideful smile.
"D'oh stop it!..." Ruby stammered awkwardly as her face flushed red from flattery.
"Aren't you going to congratulate us?" Weiss asked Scorpion while smiling
"My Ramen will get cold if I do." Scorpion said flatly
"What?!" Weiss exclaimed
"It was a joke." Scorpion signed before smiling. "You all did well."
"Of course we did." Weiss said proudly causing Scorpion to roll his eyes as he continued to eat
"Man, I'm starving!" Yang exclaimed, patting her exposed belly for added measure, eliciting a loud grumble from her stomach.
On cue, the old man emerged from the kitchen to take their orders, taking out a pen and a notepad.
"I'll have a bowl of the regular, please!" Yang asked, having a large bowlful of noodly goodness, countless strings of dough swimming in a savory stock with slices of juicy pork and fresh vegetables arranged with a tantalizing temptation to Yang's nose and eyes as she beamed at the savory dish in front of her.
Ruby observed her sister's reaction with excitement, her silver eyes twinkling with childlike curiosity and anticipation.
"Ooohhh… I'll take the same!" She told the shopkeep before having a similar bowl of sizable proportions in front of her as she rubbed her palms together, ready to dig in as soon as possible.
"We'll take two more, please." Liu Kang calmly said, raising his hand. He and Sub Zero then smiled once the savory aroma of ramen filled their nasal chambers.
"I'll have something spicy. Oh! And a root beer." Johnny asked, receiving a bowl of his own along with a mugful of fizzling soda.
"Do you have anything with a low salt-" Weiss began to ask, before having another portion of ramen shoved in her face. "Oh! Umm… okay…"
But when the shopkeep turned to Blake, she only nodded once with a smirk. The old man nodded back and rushed into the kitchen, loud clattering of utensils and sizzling noises audible from the kitchen.
"Aren't you gonna order anything?" Johnny asked Scorpion, who just finished a cup of Ramen
"You know what?... I'm not really hungry right n-" Scorpion began before the shopkeep came back out of the kitchen, dropping off two brand-new bowls in front of Blake and Scorpion. Blake's bowl was filled with fresh tuna, while Scorpion's was filled with the best-smelling beef you've ever seen.
Both teens could only stare at their meals with glazed eyes, with Blake drooling waterfalls from slack jaws. "On second thought…" Scorpion managed to mutter in his haze.
Once everyone got their food, Weiss pulled out something from her pocket. In her hand was a shining credit card bearing her family's symbol. She smirked as handed the cash-filled card to the shopkeep to pay for everyone's meals, causing everyone to turn their heads towards the heiress in surprise.
"Aww Weiss, what's the occasion?" Yang gushed as the old shopkeep took the card to transfer its credits.
"Consider it thanks for sending me to the doubles round!" Weiss replied proudly.
However, a loud thunk on wood was heard as everybody diverted their gazes to Weiss's card stuck into the wooden table in front of her. They all heard the shopkeep clear his throat before pointing at the cash register angrily, with a bright display reading "DECLINED" flashed on it.
"WHAT?! How could my card be declined?! I was barely into my monthly allowance…" Weiss exclaimed in shock. She could have sworn she had that thing filled!
Noticing this, Blake subtly tried to take a piece of fish from her bowl, only for the shopkeep to abruptly take it away, much to her dismay.
"Nooooo!..." Blake moaned as she rested her head on the table with tears of despair trailing from her eyes.
"Maybe we could help?" A kind voice asked.
Everyone then turned their heads to see Team JNPR and Team TSKK walking towards them, looking as good as ever.
"PYRRHAAA!" Ruby exclaimed in joy, happy to see her Spartan friend in their desperate time of need.
"You don't have to!" Yang said bashfully.
"BUTSHECOULD!" Blake abruptly interrupted Yang, hoping to save her tuna.
"WHATSHESAID!" Scorpion uncharacteristically added, agreeing with Blake.
"Of course we would! We're friends, after all!" Kung Lao said
"Mind if we join you guys?" Jaune asked, eager to get in on lunch.
A Few Moments Later
Soon, sixteen teens sat contently in their seats, with a bowl in front of each, all of them completely empty.
Ruby sat in her chair, smiling contently with a hand on her chin, greatly satisfied by her meal.
Everybody else was also doing the same, patting their full stomachs with a blissful look in their eyes. Some like Weiss, Sonya and Jaune, however were groaning in discomfort as the contents of their stomachs threatened to burst out from their swollen bellies.
"Are you sure it was wise to eat before a fight?" Kitana asked Team JNPR with concern. They would be fighting in the arena next, after all.
"Of course! It will give us energy!" Pyrrha replied confidently as the shopkeep rushed around the table, cleaning up their bowls.
"BUUUUURRRRRPPPP" Nora let loose a loud belch from the depths of her digestive system, the thundering noise echoing throughout the fairgrounds.
"Ugggghhhh… if I barf, I'm blaming youuuu…." Jaune groaned with his face planted into the table.
"Ooh! Aim at the enemy!" Nora exclaimed excitedly with a crazed grin on her face.
"Of course! The perfect technique for "Vomit Boy!" Yang joked, causing her friends to laugh along with her.
"Nora, Yang, that's disgusting!" Ren added blankly.
"But no harm in letting it loose when you have to, am I right?" Smoke said to the pained blonde.
"Got it…" Jaune managed to reply through his nauseous voice.
"Well, we should be off!" Pyrrha proclaimed, pushing herself up on her feet.
"So, are you all sure you're ready?" Liu Kang asked Team JNPR.
With this, Nora jumped up with a cheerful reply. "Um… Of course! We got a world-renowned fighter on our team, what's basically a ninja, I can bench five of me, Jaune…"
"Err… We trained all year, our weapons are awesome, Glynda barely yells at us anymore, and uh… Jaune!" Nora chirped.
"Are… you gonna take that?" Johnny asked aforementioned boy.
"She's not wrong…" Jaune replied with a groan. He knew she was messing with him, but he also knew her words weren't exactly lies.
"I'm kidding! He knows I'm kidding!"
"Don't be so nervous! The worst that could happen is we'd lose! Then it's just a few more years walking around campus with everyone knowing we're failures, our friends'll slowly abandon us to preserve their social status, we won't be able to show our faces in class, nobody'll sit with us in the cafeteria, Ren and I have no parents, so we have no home left to go to!" Nora hastily said, her face slowly draining color as she listed off the numerous possibilities of a horrifying future of their failure.
"We'll be officially renamed Team LOSE-IPER! HAHAHAHAHAHA! HAHAHAHAHAHAAAAA!... AHHhhaaaaaaauuuuuuhhhaaaauuuhauuughhhh…" Nora cackled hysterically with a pale face before proceeding to sob miserably all over the table.
"So yeah… sounds great." Sub Zero noted.
"Don't fret! If anything, we should be looking forward to a fight with actual guidelines, and not…well, murderers." Pyrrha said with a hand on Nora's back, said girl still crying a waterfall.
"Yeah, we've all seen way worse before!" Johnny agreed with Pyrrha, chugging a swig from his mug.
"Let's see… Grimm invasions, violent extremists, destructive sociopaths…" Blake listed off, recounting their endeavors over the past few weeks during their little "investigation".
"And that's while we were all still in training! Oh, imagine what it'll be like when we graduate!" Ruby added on excitedly with both fists pumped with a massive grin.
"Maybe then I'll be able to pay for a meal…" Weiss groaned before the whine of a microphone played over the intercom.
"Would Team JNPR please report to the arena immediately." Oobleck's voice blared over the intercom.
"Yes, like they were supposed to several minutes ago?!" Ports irritated voice said after his colleague's.
"Well, seems like this is it!" Pyrrha said before getting up and walking toward the campus grounds with her team following suit, Nora still sobbing in despair and Jaune clutching his stomach.
"Go get 'em!" Ruby cheered as they saw their friends walk off.
Jaune then looked back at his friends and met Sub Zero's eye. The young assassin didn't say a word, but gave him a gentle smile and a subtle nod. With this, Jaune returned his gesture and joined his team with a more confident stride.
Amity Coliseum
Team RWBY walked into the Coliseum, eager to catch the next fight. Ruby eagerly pointed them towards their seats while her team giggled lightly at their leader's antics.
However, they didn't notice Emerald and Mercury turn the other way from behind them, walking off to the other side of the amphitheater.
Sitting down, Mercury watched the combatants step out to the battlefield as he munched down on a bag of popcorn.
"I wonder who's gonna win…" Mercury mumbled as he chewed down on his snacks.
"Tsch. As if we didn't already know." Emerald replied coldly.
"Oh, come now. Even if you know how a story ends, it doesn't make it any less fun to watch." Cinder said from behind them, dressed in a new combat outfit, consisting of a light brown sleeveless vest, jeans and bindings covering her chest. She picked up a kernel of corn from Mercury's bag, popping it between her fingers with her powers.
"Welcome back, ladies and gents! Our next bout of the Teams Round is about to get underway!" Oobleck proclaimed with vigor.
"Team JNPR of Beacon versus Team BRNZ of Shade!" Ports announced through the microphone.
"This oughta be a match to remember!"