Disclaimer: See last chapter.

Morning Noodles

Morning came far too soon for Ruby. One moment she was up late trying to watch the last bits of the tournament yesterday and suddenly here she was instead now walking around with the sun up ready to board the first Bullhead to Amity Arena.

Of course, to get there from Beacon she needed to get through the Marketplace, the area where all vendors were allowed to sell their wares. It included her own shop, hopefully manned by Jasper today.

The blacksmith's son was good at selling weapons, but not so much the actual 'customer service' aspect of the job. Then again, Ruby wasn't the best at it either. The only thing she was really good at was making them, identifying them, making sure they wouldn't accidentally blow up and hit everyone else around them...

Okay, so maybe she did have some good values when it came to weapons. Because making sure they didn't explode on whoever used them and whoever was behind them was a good value.

But Ruby hadn't actually explored most of the Marketplace yet that most of the students enjoyed. Yang had texted her last night and explained that she and Pyrrha were going to be moving on the two's in the tournament, leaving Jaune and Blake to be in the 'other side' of the two tournaments.

How the tournament was set up was still unusual, in Ruby's mind. At previous Vytal Festivals, and most other tournaments in existence according to Pyrrha, it went from the four on four's to the two by two's to the one on one's. Slowly eliminating all but one contestant of each team.

They did supposedly usually only have three days for the Vytal Festivals Tournament, although this one was unique for having it last a week instead, allowing them to really spread it around. Beacon students and Flare students didn't have class, although Ruby felt bad for Pharos students. They did have class still, although one of their classes was inevitably 'watch the Vytal Festival'.

Ruby hadn't even known that Pharos was a thing before a few months ago. Apparently they took in most other students that Flare didn't, but because of that, the outlook was more of the 'dregs' rather than anything good. Velvet had come from Pharos, surprisingly. While the goal of every academy was to get into one of the four big academies, Beacon, Haven, Shade, or Atlas, they differed greatly on how they actually got there.

Flare was more combat focused, making sure their students would be able to combat the Grimm and enter Beacon. Signal was more survivalist, making sure their students could leave Vale if they so chose and make it to wherever they were going. Pharos was a bit more common ground, teaching a bit of everything rather than hyperfocusing on one or two subjects.

The Marketplace was huge, and everyone was already starting long before the Tournament bouts. There were some betting areas, closest to the Bullheads, if only to ensure that they received a constant inflow of people going to and from Amity Arena. Betting was one of the few things allowed on the arena floor, actually. Pyrrha even now had odds at one in ten at winning the whole thing; the highest for a single first year student. Yang's was somewhere in one in twenty five.

Team CFVY's bets were around one in five at winning the second year, although as Ruby walked by it she noticed that they weren't on the board at the moment. Had something happened in the bouts yesterday?

She'd have to check at some point, assuming she had time. Today was the third and fourth year bouts, so while they were plenty of exciting matches they weren't the 'flashiest' ones.

But these were the ones that made the most amount of money. They were the closest in terms of combat experience, and had the most amount of information known about all of them. These were also the ones that most of the merchants and other 'buyers' were watching. At least until the one on one's, in which that situation reversed.

After all, if someone made a poor showing in a Vytal Festival' Tournament in their final year, they weren't likely to be able to bag the highest paid jobs around. Most of the really bad ones were mostly just sent around for guard duty.

A small smell of bacon came underneath her nose, and Ruby started to look at some of the other vendors asides from the betting booths. Food vendors were plentiful, and she could find the Old Man's noodle place easy enough.

"Hey old man!" Ruby said instantly as the shopkeep turned around. He was a graying man, bald on the top of his head, and he barely answered a wave. But he was good at what he did, and he shopped around a lot.

As it was, he ran a dust shop, a noodle shop, a grocery store, and she was fairly certain he was also responsible for the pet food chain that she often went to for Zwei's specialty. He had no such links to it, but that didn't mean he didn't have some fingers in that pie too...

"Just one of the noodle bowls," Ruby asked as she sat down. Noodles weren't the best for breakfast but she was hungry, he was right there, and best of all his noodles were cheap. Less than six hundred lien for a heaping bowl? No one could even get that at a grocery store, and those were for premade noodles!

Instantly he shoved a massive bowl underneath her nose. She handed over the lien cards easily, enjoying the way the pasta slipped down her throat.

Someone sat down on the seat next to her. "One for me as well, if you would," the posh voice of Ozpin said gently. Ruby paused her slurping just long enough to look up at him. "Good morning, Ms. Rose. How are you finding Amity and the Vytal Festival?"

"Kinda back and forth."

"Oh?" Ozpin asked, handing over his own lien card to the shopkeeper as a bowl of noodles materialized in front of him. "Care to explain?"

"I mean, the fights are good, and the blacksmith's shop is cramped but it meets most of my needs easily."

"But there's other aspects that have you concerned."

"There are. The one week Vytal Festival' Tournament. Is that really a good idea? All of the others have been only three days. Can Beacon really afford that?"

"You don't need to worry about Beacon's finances, Ms. Rose. Between Glynda and myself we've run the numbers enough times that even James is impressed. Theodore and Leonardo not quite as much, of course."

"Who are those two?"

"Theodore Night and Leonardo Lionheart. Headmasters of Shade and Haven academies respectively, and my counterparts at them. The plans for the Vytal Festival' had never changed because all four headmasters need to agree on the changes."

"But you changed this one?"

"Well, I wanted more chances for the students to show off what they'd been learning, and I wanted to give them a break as well. They'd been learning quite well for the last semester."

"Is that wise given that Yang's in her first year?"

Ozpin let out a quiet chuckle. "I'm afraid that Miss Xiao Long is far from the worst student that I've seen. She's not even the most troublesome."

Ruby snorted. "That's a laugh. Didn't Ms. Goodwitch say that Yang was on par for the most amount of detentions a student's been set?"

"Yes, unfortunately that is true. However Glynda's much more uptight about the rules than I was in the past."

"Does that mean Qrow's record still stands?" Ruby asked without an ounce of hesitation. How had she got to this point, where she was speaking so informally with Ozpin of all people? By all rights she should be a stuttering mess.

Ozpin let out an easygoing laugh. "Qrow's record still stands, yes. Although to be fair to him, most of the trouble he got into wasn't necessarily his fault. After all, his Semblance is near uncontrollable."

"I don't think I've ever met anyone else with a Semblance similar to his."

"I have. In James' employ in the Atlas Ace Operatives, as they call them, there is a man with the exact opposite of Qrow's Semblance. Where Qrow is bad luck for everyone, this man's is good luck for everyone."

"Bad guys and good guys?"

"Everyone, yes. Which is why he trained as hard as he did to become the Ace Operatives leader, according to James. So that way even with his Semblance unbalancing the scale, he became good enough and strong enough to rebalance them."

Ruby gave off an interested hum as her noodles were replaced with another. "Really!?" She said excitedly. "I didn't know this was all you can eat!"

The shopkeep gave her a look before he glanced towards the back, where there was a small sign at the bottom that said, 'Buy one bowl get one free! No take-home boxes.'

"That's not even a loss for you is it?" Ruby asked. The old man stared at her before he smirked and shook his head no. Ozpin laughed next to her.

"It's always a wonder what you'll see in the Marketplace. Have you had much of a chance to wander yet?" Ozpin asked.

"Not yet. I was just getting hungry so I found the noodle shop," Ruby murmured.

"They are quite delightful, aren't they? As for the Marketplace, I highly suggest Browning's Jewelry if you're into that sort of thing. Makes a necklace for every team, a ring for every participant, and a bracelet for every team of two. I can also suggest you look up Daisy's Greenery, if you like to take care of plants."

"Do you? Like to take care of plants, I mean."

"Not as much, I'm afraid. I much more like clockwork," Ozpin answered. He brought his walking stick up, and showed her the small watch that was built into the handle.

Ruby admired it earnestly. It wasn't wood, so to speak, nor was it metal. It was some kind of hybrid between the two, and while it contained no dust it was certainly creating a connection between movement and something else in the handle. "What's his name," she asked quietly.

"The Long Memory," Ozpin answered after a moment. "A reminder of times gone by."

"You aren't that old Professor."

Ozpin couldn't help himself but to laugh. "I may be young, but I assure you I most definitely feel old. These old bones of mine are creaking every day now."

"Professor you just snuck up on me without any bones creaking at all, you're not old," Ruby answered without hesitation.

"If I may suggest one other shop, one that you may be quite familiar with. Summer's Weapon Shop. You seem to be doing quite well for yourself," Ozpin said.

"Lilac wanted the day to try to decompress, and she wanted to take over the ground store. Fortunately Jasper wanted something more exciting, so he's up here now."

"I don't think I recall seeing those names on any preparatory academy lists. Are they interested in Beacon, or just your unusual ammunition?" Ozpin accused gently.

Ruby froze. "I...uh...I...I'm sorryIgottogobye!" She stammered out before she started to head off the stool, her Semblance activating instantly.

"I'm not mad," Ozpin answered, interrupting. "I'm just curious as to what it was made out of. We inquired with Ms. Valkyrie yesterday, seeing two grenades detonate with enough force to send a large dust infused mountain into the sky."

"It wasn't that big. But wait, it was dust infused? The ground!?" Ruby stopped herself.

"All of the special environments are. Have you noticed that despite the dirt being flung up, there was little actual damage to the grounds? We do know what we're doing, after all. But now we need to retire the old mountaintop, for now. And ban Ms. Valkyrie from using those special grenades of hers."

Oh. Well that made sense. Well, Ruby had been worried that she'd been banned by them when giving them to Nora, and sure enough Nora had, but not her. Especially because those grenades were supposed to have been tested first, in the forest of Grimm, with Ruby right there for assistance.

"Sure, here," Ruby said, before she started going into detail on how she'd found the special materials that were on their own harmless, but added together, eventually created a ammunition that had Ozpin staring out into space with a large smile on his face. She had a feeling she had another large order going to be coming in soon at some point.

Relationship Goals

The Marketplace on Beacon was large, she knew that, but actually walking through it was another idea completely.

At Ozpin's advice, she did check the jewelry place although she wasn't one for jewelry at all. She found Team PABY's necklace, and although it was far too expensive for her to buy she enjoyed seeing the welds of gold and silver and bronze and iron. Gold for Jaune, bronze for Pyrrha, silver for Blake and an iron gold alloy for Yang. The rings too, which were made for individuals, were much the same.

The ones for Team SILV were interesting. Silver, obviously, for Weiss with a mix of white gold, a kind of blue topaz or some other mineral that Ruby was pretty sure wasn't actually a metal, a kind of green metal that looked like the mineral jasper and then some pink gold for Nora.

Team CFVY, too, had some strange metals and jewels in there. Most of them were a heavy brown, seeing as how that was the color for pretty much all four of them. Ruby had asked once and Velvet said that had been the group decision back in first year, and they'd never gone back.

The greenery was another place that Ozpin had suggested, so naturally Ruby went there next. The shops on the ground were all starting to fill up with people, and she doubted that she'd find such a good spot for noodles back at the Old Man's shop right now.

It was actually one of the bigger shops in the Marketplace, Ruby saw instantly. Hundreds of plants and flowers lined the sides, some of them large and tall and bushy and others were still in their infancy. Some promised fruit in the future; others were producing fruit now. Ruby dared not take any, although she had to admit part of her wanted to see if she could make some kind of weapon that would harvest fruit extremely quickly.

Just to see if she could.

As she turned from the Greenery, she started to walk towards the Bullheads for the first trip to Amity. She could stop by Summer's Weapon Shop if she could, just to see how things were going.

She was distracted a moment later as a familiar red head paced her by, a deep scowl on her face. Behind her was the gray haired Mercury, and the green haired Emerald.

Ruby blinked as she stopped, looking at their 'team leader' based on how they were walking quickly towards the Bullheads on Amity. Mercury, the gray haired man, noticed her first but simply winked towards her.

The black haired Mercury took a lot longer to realize she was there. She stared at Ruby, a small scowl on her face, her golden eyes piercing towards her own silver ones.

There was no glare of annoyance, but there was some other knowledge there that Ruby figured out. She didn't have any obvious weapons on her, although her red cloak, which was actually kind of a nice color Ruby would have to copy her at some point, was coated in dust that had been sewn in.

In an instant the moment was over, and the three of them were on the next Bullhead over to Amity. Ruby watched them go for a long moment. Mercury, the gray haired one, had most definitely recognized her. Emerald didn't appear to have, and the other one...there was almost a glare of hatred buried in there.

But what Ruby found most curious was that she didn't have any weapons. There was no huntress that would ever go to a tournament without weapons. Which meant she had other weapons on her.

Qrow's voice cut through her inner monologue. "Surprised to see you up so early kiddo. I knew you were up late working last night," he said next to her.

Ruby tried not to jump as Qrow appeared next to her. Judging by the way he chuckled darkly as he took a drink of whiskey, she didn't succeed. "I wasn't up all that late."

"One in the morning is considered late," Qrow answered. How did he know what time she went to bed? And besides, she was up until two this morning watching videos of the day's tournament.

"I've stayed up later," Ruby answered, trying to make herself seem older and smarter. "What are you doing out here?"

"What, can't an uncle see his favorite niece?"

"Do you want me to tell Yang you said that?" Ruby confirmed with a smirk. Qrow shot his hand to his heart.

"Oof, you wound me! You ask me, a paltry uncle, to choose between his nieces which is his favorite? Dastardly, I tell you. Dastardly!"

"Do you even know what that word means?"

"Looked it up in a dictionary once," Qrow admitted, his face quickly growing normal as he took another drink. "You know those three?"

"Met them in the shop. Mercury, Emerald, and she said her name was Mercury-"

"Which one, the green haired one or the black haired girl?"

"Black hair."

"Weird. Her name's Cinder, according to Peter and Bart. Although how they managed to get the school records from years back, I don't know."

Ruby chuckled. "Do they ever actually tell Ms. Goodwitch what they're going to say before they do it?"

A sharp voice responded right behind her. "They most certainly do not. I would greatly appreciate it if they started," Ms. Goodwitch's voice called out. Ruby turned to see the sharply dressed combat teacher walking up. "Good morning, Ms. Rose. And you as well, Mr. Branwen."

"Egads don't call me that," Qrow said instantly. "Makes me feel old. And ugly. And old."

Ruby rolled her eyes. "I was watching some of the videos that came out last night for yesterday's fights," she explained to Ms. Goodwitch. The blonde nodded.

"Yes, Ozpin wanted those out early this year for some reason. Fortunately James Ironwood has given us some of the faster recording cameras, courtesy of Atlas."

"James is all about that free money being thrown around," Uncle Qrow complained, taking another swig. "But hey, now you can watch at least something late at night rather than just stick around the forge all day. From what Yang told me you managed to spook Jaune quite a bit."

Ruby blinked at him for a moment. "Why? How?"

Suddenly Ms. Goodwitch glanced at Qrow, a knowing look on her face. "I see. Should I be remaking my bet then?"

"Oh no, no betting on the niece there Glynda. Nope, not happening."

Ruby stared at both of them. They were acting really weird all of a sudden. "What bet?" She demanded, her eyes narrowed. She did have Crescent Rose on her, just in case.

"Oh, nothing you need to worry about," Ms. Goodwitch said instantly. "Just...keep up the good work," she said, heading towards the same Bullhead that Cinder and her team went on.

"They're starting those bets early this year...I told Oz not to even allow those that aren't in Beacon yet..." Qrow complained before he took another swig. "Anyways, they had their fight yesterday. Not sure why they're going today, unless just to scope out the third and fourth years."

"Who were they against?" Ruby asked. "Maybe I can check out the video while I'm up there."

"Right, you still need to go up there...fortunately both kitty cat and the Arc kid aren't, otherwise I'm gonna have to get Taiyang and Ghira together for some drinks..."

"What are you talking about?" Ruby's eyes were narrowed. She had a feeling that Qrow was teasing her, but she couldn't quite tell why unless it was just to get a rise.

But the only reason that Ms. Goodwitch would join in..."Are you all making bets on who's getting together?" She finally pieced together.

"Oh you weren't supposed to know," Qrow smirked, winking at her. Ruby rolled her eyes again. First he kept making insinuations that she and Blake were together and now she and Jaune!? No, she didn't want to know. She didn't want to give him some more ammunition either...the metaphorical kind, she knew he needed .45's for Harbinger. She'd check out the shop later. She'd already met Ozpin down here, now Ms. Goodwitch and Qrow...a lot of the more famous hunters were here.

Ignoring Qrow's sputtering, she headed towards the bullhead herself. There was still plenty of room, with Ms. Goodwitch on one side and Cinder, Emerald, and Mercury on the other. A few other people were in the front, talking amicably amongst themselves.

She sat down next to Ms. Goodwitch. "I never honestly thought I'd hear the day you'd have a bet on a relationship between two students," Ruby deadpanned quietly.

"I have to do something to reign in Ozpin and Bart. Those two are by far the worst. They even come up with nicknames for each couple," Ms. Goodwitch answered just as quietly. "They'd never shut up if I didn't join in."

"So it's pragmatism then," Ruby summarized. Ms. Goodwitch gave her a side eye before she nodded. Ruby could understand; Yang asked her to do a lot of things too that she wasn't comfortable with.

Like trying to remake Ember Celica in under a week because she 'wanted to fight Pyrrha'. Ruby wasn't still mad about that, of course not! No...Ruby was furious about it.

She pulled up her scroll after a moment. The bullhead would only take around five minutes or so, but it'd be long enough for her to get some understanding of the other three whom she followed.

She made sure the sound was on mute, and it was on silent. No sense in taking chances for it, before she navigated to the video of Team CSMN, according to the subtitles as 'Team Cinnamon', versus their opponents, a 'Team BLUE'.

From Haven, apparently, so both teams knew each other. The video was only around twenty minutes long, compared to the thirty that most of the other were at, and Ruby skipped the beginning commentary to where the fight started, at the fifteen minutes mark.

Her eyes widened as she watched Team CSMN utterly obliterate Team BLUE. Cinder didn't need any actual weapons, her Semblance was making glass weapons such as arrows or swords. No wonder she didn't have anything on her person, and no wonder she had a coat covered in dust.

She could probably use that dust to invoke other elements within the weapons, so if she wanted an ice sword she could do that, or if she needed a thunder arrow just use some lightning dust and poof there it was! Although Ruby noticed that it was only simple weapons, rather than the complex weapons that mechashift generally was.

One part of her mind started to think tactically; if she was up against Cinder, how would she fight her? Long range and short range were generally both out, as Cinder had both arrows and swords for each one. She could probably make axes and lances too.

But what she couldn't do was mid-range, it looked like. In other words, the exact range that she'd want to be to use Crescent Rose, or any other weapon with a long shaft, such as a spear or lance. And as good as the swords were, they were still made out of glass, which was extremely breakable.

"Watching something interesting?" Mercury said, the one with gray hair from the other side. "You've been glaring at your scroll like you're trying to light it on fire."

"Just catching up on the fights. I usually don't have time to watch during the actual matches," Ruby responded instantly. He gave a smirk and winked at her again, as if he knew what she was saying was a lie. But it wasn't really a lie?

As soon as the bullhead landed, she used Petal Burst to head straight to the forge to get it warmed up. By getting it warm now, it wasn't going to take as long later, so that way she could forge the things that needed to be repaired quicker.

Which also meant she had some time to kill, and could do it by rewatching the other day's fights. She sat down in the chair, grateful to notice that it didn't stink of sweat and heat, turning on the forge and letting it get warmed up.

She put her scroll back on its charger and wall projector, letting yesterday's fights play out as if she was there in real time.

One thing I like about making the chapter titles long after I've written the chapter is that it allows me to know what's already coming up, so that way I can avoid using a title I'd really like until later on. Also, puns.

Until Next Time!