Chapter 126. Vytal Festival Tournament Prelims

General POV

Team RWBY faced another team from Beacon to earn a spot in the final bracket in the Vytal Festival Tournament, and Silva watched them bored out of his mind. He could not participate because he was by himself and without a team along with Ilia and Emerald. Silva observed the team RWBY's match absentmindedly, with Emerald and Ilia keeping him company by sitting next to him.

The white tiger Faunus was only there to support Blake and Weiss, mainly as Yang is keeping things causal between them while Ruby is avoiding him. The team that stood against team RWBY was comprised of a shield-wielding leader that could attract attacks to him with his semblance, a raccoon Faunus girl that used a katana that released blast of elemental dust, a dove Faunus girl with white wings on her back that allowed her to fly and dive-bomb with her clawed boots, and lastly a violet hair girl that used Dust to replicate feats of elemental magic with her staff.

The shield-bearer had Yang locked down and was grinding away at her stamina and could not make use of her Semblance, Burn as the shield user just blocked her. Weiss faced the violet-haired girl as they flung waves of elemental attacks at each other. Blake was fighting the raccoon girl in a clash of swordmanship, which she was losing as the raccoon girl was the better fighter. Ruby kept on sniping at the dove-winged girl flying through the air to keep her off her teammates.

As Yang grew frustrated with her fight and Ruby noticed that and called out.

Ruby: Yang, Blackjack!

Yang got the message as Blackjack is the team attack between the two of them. Ruby switched her ammo to explosive rounds and fired near Yang, and the explosion knocked back the shield-bearer but triggered Yang's Semblance, making her strong enough to send the shield user flying as he got up. Yang then went to help Blake with her fight, and Ruby managed to take down the dove faunus then went to give Weiss a hand. In the end team, RWBY won their fight, and Silva got up to see his girls after their match.

Silva POV

I saw Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang come out of the stadium and head towards the fairgrounds. I went up and greeted them with Ilia and Emerald in tow.

Ilia: That girl gave you a hard time, huh, Blake.

Blake: Yes, she is someone I doubt I could beat one-on-one.

Emerald: It looks like you will be facing a third-year team in your next match.

Yang: I hope they won't be like that shield guy because that was an annoying fight.

Silva: Nice fights, girls, just a few more, and you can reach the final bracket of the tournament.

Ruby: Ah, yeah, thanks...

As Ruby awkwardly replied, Yang, stepped in to cover for her sister's complicated feelings for me, one part of Ruby still considers me a friend at least, and the other part of her is horrified by what I have done in the past.

Yang: So Silva, any recommendations for the fairgrounds for something to eat?

I immediately suggested my personal favorite for them to try.

Silva: I know a place that serves a pretty good seafood dish that I am fond of.

Yang: Cool!

Weiss: That sounds delightful.

Blake: A someone after my own heart.

Ruby: Sure!

I led them to the stall, and I made my order to the chef.

Silva: A spicy version for me.

The cook there quickly brought a bowl of cioppino with a strong fragrance that whets my appetite. The others made their orders.

Ruby: Ooo, a regular for me!

Yang: I will have what he is having.

Weiss: Do you have something milder?

Blake: Double the seafood in it for me, please.

Ilia: Same as her.

Emerald: Another regular.

I paid for their meals, and we all dug in and ate. I enjoyed the tomato sauce with a hot kick to it with the shrimp, mussels, scallops, and fish. Soon everyone finished eating, and Blake looked very pleased with her meal. Yang drank another glass of water to help with the spiciness, but that doesn't really help with spicy food, so I handed her my solution.

Silva: Here, this will help.

Yang: A biscuit?

Silva: Yeah, grains will help absorb the spiciness in your mouth, so it no longer burns.

Yang popped the bite-size biscuit in her mouth, and after she ate it, she asked me.

Yang: That was pretty good, and my mouth is no longer on fire. Did you make that biscuit?

Silva: Yeah, I always have a few on me when I want anything spicy, just in case it's too much to handle.

I hung out with the girls until towards the end of the day. As we all headed to our dorms, I stopped Ruby.

Silva: Ruby, can we talk for a bit, in private?

Ruby looked nervous and looked around for some help, but Yang stopped her.

Yang: Ruby, just talk to him, I did, and it helped me understand him better. I may not have liked or approved of what he did in his past, but he is still the nice, caring guy that first became our friend. Just give him a chance, okay?

Ruby: I guess so...

I gave Yang a grateful smile and led Ruby to my dorm room for some privacy. I whipped up a pair of milkshakes to help calm Ruby down, and I asked her.

Silva: Do you want vanilla or chocolate, Ruby?

Ruby: Chocolate...

I handed Ruby the chocolate milkshake and kept the vanilla for myself. Ruby kept quiet as she occasionally sipped her milkshake, and I waited for her to start and not rush her. After several minutes of awkward silence, Ruby asked me after building up the determination to face me.

Ruby: Why did you do it, Silva? Why did you kill all those people?

I sighed and told her truthfully without any falsehoods.

Silva: I did it for different reasons in different situations. With the assassins and bounty hunters, I either kill them to deter more of them in the future, or I let them go only to have to deal with them again. The cannibalistic village was a flat out abomination that should not have ever existed, and they tried to eat me. The cult was also monstrous to the degree that it should be wiped out, and the poor Faunus that was literally brain-damaged I could not help as there were too many to handle, and the only mercy I could give was a quick and painless death.

Ruby: But you're not a judge, jury, or even an executioner!

Ruby abolished me for my actions, and I replied.

Silva: No, I am not either of those things but let me ask you this, Ruby, what would you do as a Faunus in a few racist areas or somewhere far from the laws of the four kingdoms in my situation?

Ruby: I, ah, well, you see...

I smiled at her and told her gently.

Silva: Take your time Ruby. I am not expecting an answer anytime soon. There is no easy way to answer that question.

Ruby looked down, unable to reply right now as her mind was occupied with how to answer the question I had proposed to her. Ruby left my room with many questions on her mind, and I decided to relax for the rest of the day.

( The next day)

The next set of matches of Beacon for their four representative teams and team RWBY already finished theirs, and it's team PLAN's turn. The team that is against is made up of four guys. One had pinkish red hair with matching eyes, and his weapon was a bazooka equipped with an ax head. Another had blue hair and was carrying a gatling gun that was attached to a shield and a sword-whip. The other one had black hair with red highlights and used a machine gun that could transform into a sword. The final one had dark gray hair and utilized a double-ended naginata that could become an assault rifle.

Pyrrha was against the red-haired guy as he used his speed Semblance to move three times faster and keep Pyrrha off balance. Jeanne was having a hard fight with the blue-haired guy as he bombarded her with his gatling gun. Ren was holding his own against the black-haired teen with a Semblance that made him hover over the ground and move at high speed. The gray-haired one was having a hard fight against Nora as she was dominating her fight with him with her superior strength.

Nora then launched herself into the air and slammed her hammer against the arena, causing a small localized earthquake that knocked her opponent down. Nora used her hammer like a golf club and sent her opponent flying into the hard-light barrier. She then went to help Ren. Pyrrha was on the defensive against the res speedster, that looked like a comet as he moved, but Pyrrha noticed a weakness in his strategy.

The red comet human could not aim and move at high speed, so when he stopped to fire his bazooka, Pyrrha pulled off an amazing shot and hit the explosive shell with her rifle shot and causing it to explode on the red-haired guy. She then got close and hit him with a furious melee combo and put him out of the match. Ren and Nora teamed up against the black-haired guy as Ren harassed his flanks when Nora got up close, and personal the black-haired guy used a flashbang to disorient Nora then hit her with point blank shots.

Ren then got up behind the black-haired guy and slashed at his exposed back, but he was too late because Nora was out of the match along with the black-haired guy. Jeanne kept on waving her spear-flag that left behind a trail made by the hard-light Dust in the flag to block the blue-haired guy's assault. His gatling gun tore through her defenses, and he then used his sword-whip to trip up Jeanne then open fire on her at close range, putting her out of the match.

Ren and Pyrrha then met up to face the blue-haired teen. Blue then dropped his shield-gatling gun combo as it was out of ammo and revealed an arm-mounted machine gun where his shield was. He open-fired on Ren and Pyrrha, causing them to split into two different directions; he focused on Ren. Ren got hit and was tripped up and hit the floor where the blue-haired guy used his sword-whip to beat Ren. Pyrrha appeared in front of Ren and guarded him with her shield.

Ren quickly got his barrings and provided Pyrrha with firing support, and once their opponent's attention was directed elsewhere, Pyrrha threw her javelin-rifle at the guy and put him out of the match. Team PLAN won, but I still wished I could join in on the fun but all well I can find my own fun else where.