Chapter 153 - Intermission

Cinder Fall is sitting on her bed looking through files on her Scroll. Emerald Sustrai is lying on the floor also playing with her own device, and Mercury Black is doing push-ups beside her.

"Oh!" Cinder said widening her eyes looking at her device seeing the settings for the matches.

"What?" Emerald said while looking over with Mercury.

"Oh, nothing. We're just going to be making a slight, hmm... alternation in the plan." She said as she accesses a document regarding the blueprints of P.E.N.N.Y.

"What does that mean?" Mercury asked as he and Emerald share a somewhat concerned look.

"It means that this will be even easier than we thought," she said while continuing to look at the familiar image of a robotic redhead.

~~~

Within the headmaster's office at twilight, Professor Ozpin is facing the window, his back to the elevators when the doors open and Qrow Branwen steps inside, approaching his desk with a coffee mug in hand.

"You know, they are making you look like a fool and a coward," Qrow said while thinking about Shallot and Ironwood.

"His heart is in the right place. He's just... misguided. Shallot on the other hand is someone that I don't think will harm innocent people since he cares for those around him." Ozpin said.

"Sometimes, I'm not even sure Ironwood has a heart. He uses his semblance so much he's no different than a machine and only cares if he will get results no matter how it looks or who he has to use.

"Maidens choose themselves. I simply believe I've found the right candidate. Ever since the day I met her, I had the feeling she would be the one. She's strong, intelligent, caring... but most importantly, she's ready." Ozpin said he swirled his chair around to face Qrow.

"Do you mean the one that Shallot has given tips to that has helped her semblance more than what the teachers have taught?" Qrow asked as he has been gathering information and from what he could see Shallot was far more dangerous than Salem.

'With Salem, you could at least delay her with the silver eyes but Shallot will just overpower everyone around him.

~~~

Shallot was laying on the bed looking at his scroll after he got back when a notification came to his scroll. He looked at it seeing that Cinder was trying to rig the match and wanted Shallot to fight against Penny while Pyrrha would fight against Mercury.

"Oh, this should be interesting!" Shallot said while looking at the matchups.

Shallot then went and changed it around so Pyrrha will fight Penny and Shallot will fight Mercury so that he can beat him down in front of an entire crowd.

He was looking at the scroll then closed it after finishing on his side. He laid back on the bed while Ruby was sitting at the desk writing some notes down.

"Is Ruby finally studying without being coerced?" Yang said while looking over at Ruby who was studying some information on Grimm that could take over bodies wanting to know about the Grimm that they saw in one of Merlot's labs.

~~~

Pyrrha Nikos is seen entering the elevator of the Cross Continental Transmit System tower. She turns just when the doors close on her while giving an ambiguous smile. In Headmaster's office of Professor Ozpin, who is seated behind his desk across from Pyrrha Nikos, as the last rays of twilight come through the clock-decorated windows.

"Well, it comes as no surprise that they've chosen you to move on to the final round of the tournament. Your performance was exemplary." Ozpin said while chuckling as he gestures to her, The Long Memory resting at his side.

"Thank you, Professor Ozpin, but I would never have made it this far without my teammates," Pyrrha said as she knows that she got her starting ideas for training and Weiss has also helped with her training their group.

"I think that you have gotten where you have by relying on your talents," Ozpin said from his spot leaning against a column in the back of the room, arms crossed.

"I'm sorry, but I don't believe we've been introduced," Pyrrha says as she turns around and gets up from her chair, trying to be formal.

"Name's Qrow," Qrow said still being upset from earlier with Shallot and was still trying to calm down.

"Qrow is a trusted colleague of mine," Ozpin said while wondering what had gotten Qrow in a bad mood.

"Professor, if you don't mind me asking, why have you called me here?" Pyrrha asked looking at Qrow for another moment before addressing her teacher again.

"Please, take a seat," Ozpin said while smiling.

When Pyrrha took a seat, he puts his fingers up to his lips, leaning back casually into his chair.

"What is your favorite fairy tale?" Ozpin asked Pyrrha while looking out the window.

~~~

Shallot was looking out the window before standing on the windowsill.

"I'll be back in about 5 hours." Shallot said before flying off.

Ruby was sitting at the desk when Yang came overlooking the notes she was writing and also spent some time helping her find the information in the books.

Blake was on the bed reading a book that said Ninja Gaiden 2 on it. It was a gift for her from Shallot. She enjoyed reading the first one and was reading the second one now.

She looked up from her book toward Yang and Ruby before asking a question that she had.

"Do you think that Shallot is going to be a good father?" Yang asked looking at Blake's stomach while she looked at them.

"I was about to ask if you all were to get pregnant what would you all do, but since you asked I think he would be a great father. You already see how well he treats me and Neo now that we are pregnant. He looked he was about to kill the guy that bumped into Neo while they were walking." Blake said while putting her bookmark on the page she was on.

Ruby looked at her stomach then looked at Blake's.

"How do you feel since your pregnant?" Ruby asked Blake.

"Hungry most of the time. I eat a lot more than I used to." Blake replied to Ruby.

"I think we should get some sleep so we can watch Shallot dominate everyone tomorrow," Weiss said after pulling her headphones off her head.

"I think it's unfair that Shallot is the one fighting. I'm pretty sure Headmaster Ozpin knows that Shallot is the strongest." Blake said.

"Maybe that's the reason why. He gets bragging rights." Yang said while reaching under the bad pulling out a bag of chips.

Ruby's head snapped hearing the sound of a bag opening.

"Hey! Those are my chips!" Ruby called out before bursting into petals flying toward Yang and snatching her chips.