Ep. 32 - Tournament Starts Again, Time Passes By

And so, the night passed and a brand new day began. I woke up to the best sight in the world, which can be translated as three naked girls lying on top of me.

'This is life! So glad I ended up here almost a year ago! So… What am I doing today again? Ah, yes. Bringing Raven to Taiyang and introducing myself as the new son-in-law. That will be fun. I will also contact Ozpin and Ironwood to get some details on the tournament, just because it would be nice to win during our first year. I also would like to fight Pyrrha in an official match where we hold nothing back. That is something I wanted to do since I got the notice saying she won against Penny. 'Sorry my robotic comrade, but I'm rooting for the redhead. Wait! They're both redheads… Orange-head maybe? Well, I'm rooting for Pyrrha.'

When everybody woke up, we had breakfast on the rooftop garden. Yang was getting a lap pillow from Raven, quite the plot-twist. Listening to her mother's worries has allowed Yang to be much more open to her. Me showing her the footage of Qrow's sermon might have helped a bit, but I will hog the merit.

After breakfast, Raven was raring to meet Taiyang after so much time, so I got in the ship with the same group as yesterday, plus edgy-mom. I checked with a quick scan that Taiyang was in his house in Patch, then I flew there at a relaxed pace. We arrived in just under ten minutes. I saw my father-in-law storm out of the house to look at the ship, then we trasmated to the ground. At first he was surprised to see so many people, then he noticed Raven and a touching reunion ensued. It was way too 'sweet' so I zoned out. 'Wait, what did you say? I act worse with Weiss and recently Yang and Ruby as well? That's different! Looking at people being lovey-dovey is annoying to look at. Being lovey-dovey instead is nice and puts a smile on my face.'

Anyway, Taiyang spent a lot of time catching up with Raven and asking a LOT of questions related to why she left and why she didn't at least visit once in a while. After that, Taiyang was just too curious about the rest of us, so Qrow introduced Winter, while I introduced myself as his son-in-law. He chased me around the house a couple of times before giving up and asking who was my girlfriend. My answer was straightforward: "See those three beautiful girls over there chatting and enjoying pastries with Winter and Raven? All three of them. Actually, Weiss is my fiancée, since I gave her a ring and we agreed to marry after graduation."

His face was golden! He actually took a pistol from God knows where and started shooting at me! It was fun when I actually bit the bullet and spit the halved piece of lead out. In the end, he limited himself to staring at me after Ruby and Yang explained why they fell for me. I was curious as well, since I only knew the drunk version, which meant they were jealous and chose me because I was caring for Weiss. In reality, they liked me since here in Patch, though they themselves realized only after the start of Beacon when I started paying attention to Weiss (*sips tea* I dare say this man was simping). Then, they were attracted by my actions and that sealed the deal. Taiyang had to accept after Yang told him about her birthday date spent fishing and fighting on another planet. Maybe the fact that he recognized the ship to be the one shown by Ozpin's dreadful video-editing skills played a part.

Anyway, that happened. I contacted Ozpin and Ironwood and they said that the tournament would start again next week since the situation calmed down and restarting the Vytal Festival would actually help smoothen out most conflicts. Worldwide traditions are really useful distractions. Anyway, since 8 of us remained, the tournament would last two days: Tuesday and Thursday. The first day would be to select the best four, then there would be the semi-finals and finals on Thursday. The final would be in the evening with a huge array of fireworks and parties for the winner, though I knew that both me and Pyrrha would prefer staying with our friends. What? I am being too presumptuous already saying that me and Pyrrha will win? No, I am fully knowledgeable about both of our strengths and I KNOW that it's only one of us that can win the tournament: yours truly. It's only natural: Pyrrha is a very strong student, while I am a Guardian and a robot made out of indestructible metal with nearly infinite Light and Aura. Yeah, it seems obvious that I'll win, though I will turn off my Akashic Engine to make things fair. If anyone other than Pyrrha faces me in the finals or at least the semis, I'll crush them, excluding Sun. Sun is cool.

At any rate, the tournament will start again, while Ren and Nora's birthdays are tomorrow and Monday! They decided to do something with a deeper meaning for them and visit their hometown. They asked me to leave them the ship for the day, to which I happily obliged. MoonRay will handle actually piloting, though I think I should teach my friends how to pilot the ship in case of an emergency. They didn't want anything flashy, just a day to remember their past and how far they have come, though Pyrrha proposed to still prepare a cake for them since a birthday is a birthday.

And so, here we are: the tournament finals.

I will skip my quarter-finals match as it was way too boring. For my semis, I fought with Sun. Since his weapon was a staff, I made one as a light construct. Basically an 'Arc Staff" without the shiny lightning. It was honestly an entertaining fight. Sun is very nimble, perks of being a monkey faunus, and his strikes were very precise. I was kinda new to fighting properly with a staff, so Sun pointed out some mistakes in my form, while I pointed out some improvements in his movements and attacks after I saw them. It was my longest fight in this tournament because we treated it more like a spar. In the end, Sun finished his aura. Before leaving the arena, we bowed to each other. Seems like it's a custom from his hometown, so who am I to say no?

Anyway, finals! Finals, finals, finals… Oh yeah, now I remember what I wanted to say. Pyrrha is my opponent! This will be fun. When we were called to the arena, we both smiled. She had her usual shield and 'Polaris Lance'. I instead opted to use the 'Last Word'. Yes, this will be a throwback to our first spar and it will be fun!

We took our positions and waited for the countdown to end, the arena completely silent. The public understood that this was something serious, though we wouldn't kill each other.

She took a defensive position to begin with, probably since while Gun-Fu-ing I usually start with some opening shots then close the distance. Smart choice.

When the battle started, neither of us moved. Whoever moves first would give the other a tip on how to fight, which obviously wouldn't be good.

Seeing no other way to, you know, start the fight, I tried to go for a feint. I moved my gun to point at her foot, while my eyes were set on her shoulder. Now, most would usually shoot where they look at, but Pyrrha knows perfectly that I don't conform to the norm. She remained on her toes while I shot… her face/helmet. I quickly flicked my wrist upwards so that she wouldn't have much time to think and go for the instinctive reaction of all shield-bearers: cover herself with the shield.

That blocked her view for a split second, which I use to close in. She didn't sit still though. She noticed her instinctual reaction, so she used her rifle to shoot everywhere in the arena. I had to slide under a couple of lucky shots that came my way. That slowed me enough to give Pyrrha the time to defend and restore her eyesight. She transformed her rifle into spear form and closed the remaining distance. I strafed to her right, so that blocking my bullets would be harder and interrupt her flow. I shot two times towards her center of mass then went for an elbow strike.

She actually intercepted the bullets with her spear,leading me to think that she held back during our spars. My elbow strike was dodged easily. To my surprise, she teleported to my left and struck me with her shield.

"I actually forgot that I have already modified the bracelets. Good hit."

She smiled, then we started again. Shot to the foot, shot to the shoulder, shot to the head. None of them hit, Pyrrha moved her foot and shoulder just enough for the bullets to pass through. She tilted her head backward to evade the last bullet. While reloading she went for my gut, leg, and neck. I twisted my body and none of the strikes hit.

I teleported to the left, shooting two times center mass. They were blocked by her shield, which I Sparta kicked to make her lose her balance. While stumbling, she snuck in a strike, which I moved off course with a palm strike from below.

We continued dodging blow after blow and trying to shave off enough aura to get the other to be eliminated. This lasted for almost half an hour. All the while, the entire place was silent, with the exception of some 'Ooh's and 'Aah's. Everyone was on edge due to the fight that was pretty much professional level. Our friends were happily munching on some popcorn and discussing who would win in the end. They were captured by the cameras and there was no doubt that teams RWBY and JNPR would be used as an example of good sportsmanship.

Anyway, I'm using a lot of 'anyway's today. The match was pretty much a stalemate until we both decided to use some tricks: Pyrrha tried destroying the terrain and enveloping the debris in metal filings she had brought along, while I made a small barrier attached to my arm. Pyrrha used the debris covered in metal filings as distraction, while my barrier did not consume aura and could endure almost any attack. I stayed very up close and personal so that her long spear resulted difficult to use effectively. I started punching out with my gun and firing bullets from point-blank range. Pyrrha did strike me a couple of times on the leg, which shaved off a lot of my aura.

In the end, I finished it with a series of shots between the chest. The aura meters on the display showed 11% for Pyrrha and 16% for me. I reactivated my Akashic Engine and my aura meter jumped to 100% immediately.

"That's definitely cheating." said Pyrrha, laughing.

The public went ape-shit crazy over the fight. It truly was one of the best they could experience. It wasn't particularly flashy, but still had a certain beauty.

Me and Pyrrha shared a handshake then hugged. Nothing particular, she was just happy to have fought with me in the finals. We were also joined by the rest of teams RWBY and JNPR, and Sun.

Now I am sure that Jaune's sisters were somewhere in the stands because there was a shriek when Jaune kissed Pyrrha. Well maybe it was a combination of Pyrrha and Jaune's admirers.

'He'll have a lot to explain to his parents this Summer. Eh, I'm sure they won't complain too much about Jaune's decision now that he also participated in the doubles with Pyrrha. People take participating in the festival as a sign of honor so… Should be fine.'

Anyway, time passed quite quickly. I have already brought the world to a decent point. No more Grimm were being created, though there were millions that remained worldwide, Salem's supporters were going to be dealt with by Atlas elites because I couldn't care any less right now, the White Fang basically disbanded since now people know that they are exactly the same with some extra fluffy parts and better senses, and Beacon didn't fall. This means… School. I spent the next three years with my friends studying and going on missions, all while making sure we had plenty of rest and fun. Team RWBY and JNPR participated another time in the Vytal Festival's tournament. This time, the final match was the 'battle of the titans'. Yang and Nora blazed through the tournament with sheer power, though they displayed amazing skills during their match. In the end, Nora won since she managed to stun Yang with her hammer and throw her out of the arena. Our teams were already quite famous because of the first year's tournament and this match cemented our position as the best in Remnant. The fact that we actually used my spaceship to move quickly has also convinced people that we were the ones that caused 'The Screeching', so our popularity grew massively. I mean, everyone in the group was strong as hell, had excellent equipment, was cool/handsome/beautiful, and even had good grades. What else could you ask from life? Health? We got it! Wealth? Do you even know who you're talking about? And, let me tell you, Huntsmen earn quite well. Friendship? We are inseparable! Sun even transferred to Beacon and Ironwood allowed Penny to stay with us! Love? Except Penny, we're all in a relationship. Happiness? Ask me again later, I was laughing too hard.

At any rate, after our studies at Beacon we were the two single best graduating teams in the world, probably among the best in history.

Onwards to other stuff. Taiyang and Raven married again, and they're actually having a child soon. This time Raven won't escape, so everyone is happy and excited. Qrow and Winter decided to get married, though the date hasn't been decided yet. Oh, Qrow stopped drinking, so good for him. He still keeps his flask on him 'to remember'. Ozpin and Salem are in an ambiguous relationship since he will still die of old age and change bodies, so it is quite strange for any woman. Plus, Salem still has her Grimm body.

Personally, I gave rings to Yang and Ruby, who were jumping up and down like little girls. Well they kinda are little girls, at least internally. They haven't gone through all the sad stuff in canon after all. Jaune and Ren also gave their own rings. That day was a fun one with all kinds of metal stuff floating around and static electricity going crazy. I was actually thrown into Vale, but those are details. The shopkeeper was not amused, but some gold made him forget about the incident. Sun still needs to convince Blake's family, but he has serious intentions, which made her extremely happy.

To stop talking about love life, the global amount of Grimm has decreased steadily. They were currently acting like common animals, but the people didn't feel safe with those monsters around. Who could blame them? Grimm have caused so many deaths and ruined so many lives that extinction was the only possible outcome. Next month, there will be a worldwide assembly of Huntsmen to get rid of as many Grimm as we can. Obviously RWBY and JNPR will be participating. Oh, to this day I don't know what happened to that group of Grimm I tagged before purifying the core. Those guys were heading towards the wyvern, but I lost signal at some point. It wasn't due to faulty tech, so probably someone eliminated the group before me.

Our chalet in Forever Fall was refurbished to become a proper HQ with almost impenetrable defenses. The original chalet still stands in the middle of the structure and it is used as a peaceful hideout to just relax and forget about everything else. Pretty nice.

And so, here I am, enjoying the summer sun with Weiss, Yang, and Ruby. Can I just say it here that they have grown really well? Weiss had a more mature face after three years and became more 'top-heavy' to use the same words of Roller-Blades girl. Yang matured as well. She didn't change that much physically except for her face. She looks more serious. Keyword here is 'looks'. Ruby went from adorable to budding bombshell.

'Is everyone beautiful in this universe? I doubt there is anyone ugly here. Well, if you count the very few Mil-tan rip-offs as female then there's them. That thought will offend a lot of people, won't it (*sips tea menacingly* indeed it will).'

Then, after four years of not thinking about it, I had a revelation.

"Hey MoonRay, did I seriously get only one engram all these years?"

"Hell no! I just stored them all in your ship, in a separate area. You seriously just thought about that? I thought you were supposed to be the smart guy."