139

Chapter 139:

Even though the next day was a break-day between tournament rounds, there was a palpable excitement in the air throughout the festival grounds. With the semifinal participants having been decided, expectations for the next round were high. There was some degree of disappointment that Shade Academy had been knocked out of the running for the current tournament. However, given that Sun, while a Haven student, hailed from Vauco, people from his homeland were still excited about the possibility that he might be the one to win the title.

However, Ruby and Natsuki were the real objects of interest, as far as the media was concerned. Ruby still had lingering traces from her brief fame, after that viral sparring match against Pyrrha. Even after her interview with Lisa, so many months ago, there were still tantalizing blanks in her history. Natsuki, on the other hand, was the subject of even greater speculation. After all, she and her teammates had come out of absolutely nowhere to fight their way all the way into the semifinals. With no Academy or known background, they were pretty much the perfect example of mysterious strangers who had arrived to throw things into total chaos...sort of.

A fair few people were miffed about these unknown and unaffiliated people displacing participants with known histories. However, the majority were excited by the appearance and performance of this unexpected dark horse, who'd unseated contenders from the established Academies. Above all else, everyone wanted to know who the members of Team MNPS were, and where they'd come from.

Thanks to that, they'd received more than a few requests for interviews. Of course, with all of them, save for Oscar, lacking scrolls, they were hard to get in touch with. Fortunately, the regulations concerning the festival grounds prevented reporters from staking them out. Instead, the real risk came when they went into Vale. But it was rather easy to get lost within the throngs of people, allowing them to slip past even the most persistent reporters unnoticed.

"Are you sure about this?" asked Ruby, looking worriedly at her friends from Leng, along with Oscar.

"Well, at some point, we will have to explain the truth," said Ozpin, looking over the small, but eclectic group of people that had assembled in his office. "Conducting an interview with Ms. Lavender would be our best opportunity to do that."

"I'm a bit worried though," said Ruby. "After Ayers..."

"The remaining two Council members are not so hostile as he was," said Ozpin. "That having been said, they are still fairly close-minded." He smirked. "However, I have received more than a few questions from them about where Team Meconopsis came from. It would seem that their performance has aroused a great deal of curiosity."

"That's good," said Ruby, "I think..."

"It is," said Ozpin, chuckling. "James and I have been meeting those inquiries with polite deflections for the time being. However, the time will soon come for us to come clean."

"So you're thinking about the day after the semifinal round?" asked Ruby.

"That would be for the best," said Ozpin. "Should Ms. Shinomori advance, it is customary to hold an interview with the finalists to begin with. Should she fall out there, curiosity will undoubtedly remain. For someone without a known background to make it this far through the tournament is a remarkable achievement, especially since she and her team's involvement was decided on with such short notice."

"It would certainly stoke interest in the Mibu," commented Miyu, canting her head.

"Even if the Council disapproves, they will have a great deal of difficulty censuring people's curiosity, after a Mibu has achieved such a remarkable feat," said Ozpin.

"Though I imagine that pulling such a move would undoubtedly earn you a great deal of their animosity," commented Sasame. "After all, those with power typically do not like being slighted or outmaneuvered, and I suspect the members of Vale's Council would see it as both, even if you only intended the latter."

"I will be spending a great deal of what goodwill I have left with them," said Ozpin with a small sigh. "Having housed Kyo at Beacon for so long, I am treading on thin ice as it is. However, with this, I believe they will not have the wherewithal to remove me or oppose an exchange program with the Mibu."

"So how will this work?" asked Setsuna. "Are they going to have all three of us there?"

"All four of you, actually," said Ozpin.

"Huh?"

It was Oscar who'd blurted out that surprised noise. "W-wait...they want to interview me too?"

"That they do," said Ozpin, chuckling softly. "That's not much of a surprise, Mr. Pine. You do have a public footprint...but a very small one. Your training under Ms. Calavera is an informal arrangement, so, as far as anyone knows, you are a young man from a farm in Mistral, with nothing to suggest that you have any connection with the world of Huntsmen and Huntresses. There is mention of the loss of your parents, due to a Grimm attack on your original home, but that is relatively minor, in the eyes of most people."

"Yeah...minor..." muttered Oscar, his eyes lowering. Beside him, Natsuki rested a hand on his shoulder.

"I do not mean to disparage your loss," said Ozpin calmly. "While severe to you substantially, it is also nothing new. There are countless people the world over who have lost family to the Grimm. Amongst students at the Academies, there are more than a few who were spurred into their current careers by such losses. So please do not take it as an insult."

"Well...that makes sense," admitted Oscar with a small shrug. "But still...they want to interview me too?"

"In some senses, your performance in the first round was even more remarkable than that of your teammates," said Ozpin, chuckling. "Given that Ms. Rose has had the better part of her first year to establish herself, the idea of fifteen-year-olds holding their own against other students is not so odd now. However, someone who is only thirteen managing much the same is quite remarkable, and a laudable feat."

Oscar blushed, while Natsuki giggled beside him. Ruby giggled too. Sasame wrapped her tail around her front, using it to hide her smile, while Miyu and Setsuna looked on fondly.

"W-well...what do I say?" asked Oscar. "I mean...I was just picked to round out the number of team members, really. Wouldn't having me at the interview distract from the whole thing about the Mibu?"

"It might be a small distraction, but minor overall," said Ozpin. "In addition, I think it would be a wonderful opportunity to establish yourself. You have been personally trained, but have no standing record at any known Combat School. With your achievement in the tournament, even if you only participated in the first round, you can practically be counted on to have carte blanche to attend whatever institution you so choose.

"I myself am more than happy to extend an invitation for you to attend Beacon in at least two more years. I would actually be willing to invite you in at the beginning of next year, but Glynda has made it clear to me that she will be drawing the line at Ms. Rose's current age."

"Um...wow..." said Oscar, awed by the idea.

"I think it'll be great to have Oscar there too," said Natsuki, beaming.

"Okay..." said Oscar, before shivering. "What's Auntie Em going to say about this?"

"She might be a little concerned," commented Sasame cheerfully. "But it is the natural consequence of someone performing such a remarkable feat that they be lauded for it. So it isn't something that you need worry about her complaining about...at least not to you."

"That's good...I guess..." said Oscar, still a bit dubious at the notion.

"That having been said, I recommend that Ms. Rose also attend the interview," said Ozpin.

"I figured you'd say that," said Ruby.

Ozpin smiled at her. "Well...you are the original representative of the Mibu present in Vale, even if you were originally born in this Kingdom."

"Won't that make people upset though?" asked Ruby. "I mean, it might sound like I was conspiring with Natsu-chan to help her and the others get this far."

"That kind of speculation is likely to happen in any case," said Ozpin. "However, under even loose scrutiny, it won't bear fruit, given that there is virtually nothing you could have done that would have given your friends a leg-up on the competition. The closest thing to favorable treatment they received was knowing that they would have until the last match of the first round to prepare themselves. Once their circumstances are laid out, I do not think it will be hard for people to accept that minor allowance."

"I hope so..." said Ruby worriedly.

"For the time being, don't trouble yourself over it too much," said Ozpin. "You and Ms. Shinomori have the next round to prepare for, however much preparation you think you do or don't need."

"Right..." said Ruby, the others nodding their agreement.

With the arrival of the next day came the semifinal round of the tournament. The four remaining participants reported to the locker room, taking only one between all of them, and waiting eagerly to see who would be called out to fight who. Even within the room, with them and a selection of their friends, the air was charged with excitement, practically crackling to the extent that eyes occasionally went to Ruby to check that she wasn't unintentionally using her lightning.

Finally, the appointed hour arrived. The rest of their friends left to see themselves to the seats, while the four semifinalists awaited with bated breath to see who would be called to the first match of the evening.

After a few minutes of warming up the crowds, Port and Oobleck began the participant selection. When the two portraits appeared, a quartet of sharp intakes of breath were audible in the air of the locker room.

Penny Polendina and Sun Wukong were the first pair.

"Um...Wow..." said Sun, his eyes going wide.

"I look forward to a sen-sa-tional match," said Penny, grinning at him.

In the meantime, Ruby and Natsuki's eyes had simultaneously widened, their gazes immediately going to each other as the implications of the matchup sank in. Then they broke into grins, giggling excitedly. Setting their own impending match aside, Ruby went to Sun and patted his arm. "Good luck out there," she said.

"Yeah," agreed Natsuki.

"You aren't going to wish me luck, Ruby?" asked Penny, sounding slightly disappointed.

"I really don't think you'll need it," Ruby pointed out.

"She's not wrong," Sun conceded, easily remembering just how overwhelming Penny had been in all her previous bouts. Even he was under no illusions that this was going to be an easy battle for him.

"This is gonna be awesome to watch!" declared Natsuki.

Penny and Sun quickly made their way out to the ring.

Once they'd taken their positions, the pair waited for the inner-ring to rise up. Once there, Sun felt his nervousness compounded. He would have liked to have the biome system at the very least, as different terrains might have given him an edge that could make up the difference in power between him and Penny. With her extremely mobile weapons, Penny likely had command of the entire space encompassing the much more limited area of the inner-ring, making it so that there was no place Sun could move to secure a respite from the relentless attacks that were sure to come. In addition to his opponent's capability, conditions were undoubtedly in her favor as well.

Nonetheless, Sun adopted a confident smile, drawing his staff and deploying it to its full length with a spinning flourish, before settling into his starting stance, with the shaft of weapon extending up behind his back at an angle. Meanwhile, Penny deployed her own weapons, her wired swords levitating out of her backpack, arraying themselves behind her to either side, like the feathers of a pair of invisible wings, the wires themselves virtually invisible, only occasionally appearing as the lights from above glinted off them.

Finally, the signal to begin arrived.

Realizing that leaving Penny at a distance would only wind up with him at a disadvantage, Sun determined that his only hope of beating her was to get in close. Given that his weapons, even the guns built into the nunchucks that made up his staff, were primarily close-range in nature, he knew full-well that he wouldn't have a prayer, if Penny managed to keep him at a distance. As such, the instant Oobleck's shout of "Begin!" echoed through the stadium, Sun charged forward.

It came as something of a surprise when Penny did the same. Separating out six of her swords, Penny converted them to their gun-modes, forming them into sets of three at her hips, where they revolved around one another, their barrels pointing down and behind her. A second later, jets of green energy sent her rocketing forward, just as they had during the beginning of CPPR's match with Team CRDL.

Sun's eyes widened in dismay, but he held his course. It was a startling reminder that, while she was dangerous at range, Penny could be just as, if not more, devastating up close and personal, where she could bring her prodigious strength into play.

While she'd deployed six of her blades for propulsion, four remained. Those Penny launched ahead of herself like arrows, the swords flying point-first at Sun's body. Sun quickly deflected them with swift spins of his staff, refusing to let his opponent check his momentum, determined not to be caught flat-footed by her moves. When they closed into melee range, Penny kicked off the floor, sending her body into a flying spin, while recalling the blades she was using for propulsion, returning them to their sword-modes, and sweeping them around her body, directing them down in a series of successive slashes. Sun quickly raised his staff to counter, finding his own momentum fully checked by the power behind Penny's attacks.

Still, Sun refused to be cowed. As the swords' edges glanced off the shaft of his staff, stopping his forward movement, then sending his feet skidding backwards, he immediately transitioned to a strike of his own, swinging his staff straight for the side of Penny's torso. However, Penny just as quickly brought the trailing blade of the ones she'd just used to attack up to intercept Sun's staff, stopping his swing cold.

A whirring sound reached Sun's ears, and he caught the light glinting off the wires extending from Penny's back...and past his own body. His eyes widening, Sun felt the movement in the air behind him, and he immediately jumped into a spinning flip, managing to slip between two of the blades that Penny had drawn back from behind him, while batting aside the remaining two with his staff. Penny quickly pulled back the four swords she'd launched to join the other six, which she set to revolving like the spokes of an invisible wheel, before sending the entire formation flying straight at Sun. His feet touching down, Sun barely had any time to see Penny's next attack coming. He allowed his legs to go limp, this body dropping backwards, so that the whirling edges of Penny's weapons cleaved through the air mere centimeters away from his face, the entire formation flying past.

Instead of falling all the way down to the ring, Sun's descent halted abruptly, his body propped up by his tail. Pushing off, he launched himself at Penny, aiming to get to her before she could recall her swords, determined to land a blow. However, his eyes widened again, and Penny crossed a pair of swords, held in her hands, to intercept the descending shaft of his staff, stopping his attack again, revealing that she'd had not ten, but twelve blades at her disposal (and she might have more, for all he knew). Despite his surprise, Sun wasn't about to let Penny trip him up so easily. Even as his staff made contact with her crossed swords, he unlocked its length, the staff separating into two sets of gun-chucks.

Before Penny could react, the force of the blow she'd been fending off seemed to vanish, while Sun deftly spun the weapons in his hands, aligning the barrels of one of each shotguns with Penny's torso, and squeezing off two shots in rapid succession. Both shots struck home, eliciting a startled squeak from Penny, who stumbled back.

Sun immediately pressed the attack, prepared to launch his well known continuous attack, simultaneously striking with one end of his weapon, while firing the other, using the spinning and twirling movements to switch guns, while chambering fresh rounds in the others. The fierce, bewildering onslaught had overwhelmed many an opponent, and with only two swords in her hands, Penny would be hard-pressed to keep up.

Except that her other swords were now returning, arrowing in at Sun from behind. Six of them dived straight for his back, while four spread out through the air in a wider radius, transforming into their gun-modes. Sun countered the incoming swords, batting them away by whirling his gun-chucks around his body, even deflecting a pair of them with well placed shots, firing from his left hand, which he'd angled under his right armpit, while hitting another with a shot from his right hand over his left shoulder. Doing so had barely even checked his offense against Penny, until the four guns hovering at the fringes of the fight opened fire, sending streams of green energy lancing down at Sun from different directions.

Sun jumped and flipped, managing to dodge between the beams Penny's guns fired, even as he continued to bat away her swords, while doing his utmost to keep close to Penny, which would limit the angles her weapons could attack from, so that they didn't hit her own body. However, with the intense multi-vector attack he was subjected to, Sun's own offense was undermined by his need to evade and defend, preventing him from fully subjecting Penny to his usual attack-pattern. At the same time though, his fantastic skill and agility kept any of Penny's own attacks from landing, and the two of them were engaged in a frantic stalemate, neither managing to land a blow.

It was a sight to behold. Sun was a spinning blur, spinning and flipping continuously, his weapons red and gold blurs around his body, their swift movements punctuated by gunshots. Penny's swords were green and gray blurs of their own, converging on Sun's body from all directions, while the four guns orbited around the battle as a whole, continuously changing their elevation in order to alter their angle of attack to try and catch Penny's agile opponent off-guard. Sparks flashed where blade met flail or bullet. Penny herself didn't remain disengaged from the match, instead stepping right in, wielding the swords she gripped in her hands with her signature raw power. Sun frequently evaded or deflected her attacks, rather than try to block outright, knowing that any such effort could send him flying away, sure to build a distance between them that would allow Penny to maneuver her weapons more freely. His spinning and flipping sent him moving around Penny, the girl doing her best to turn and follow him, even as her swords continued their onslaught.

The crowd roared their approval. This was a match worthy of the tournament's semifinals. Both contestants were displaying their best skills, and putting on a show that had everyone on the edge of their seats.

In one of the skyboxes lining the upper rim of the arena, Ironwood and Pietro watched with bated breath.

"I wasn't expecting Penny to struggle so much," said Pietro. "This boy has just as much potential as that Bronzewing fellow."

"Sun Wukong has been involved with some of the same investigations and battles as Team Raspberry and Rainbow," commented Ironwood, pulling out his scroll and opening up a profile on Sun. "On top of that, being from Vacuo, he has a degree of experience that belies his age. His records at Oscuro Academy are rife with minor disciplinary infractions. However, aside from that, his assessments were stellar, with his combat capability noted to be best in his year."

"Quite the achievement," noted Pietro. "Vacuo's Combat Schools are extremely competitive, even by the usual standards of such institutions."

"Sun-kun is quite the breath of fresh air," observed Kyo, who was sitting just a few seats down, next to Amber. "He was quite entertaining to spar with."

"I don't suppose you got around to teaching him the same Aura-techniques you've taught your sister?" asked Ozpin, sitting another seat down, right at the end of the row.

"Sadly, I did not get the opportunity," said Kyo. "It's a shame. I get the feeling Sun-kun would be quite the adept student."

"He seems like the kind of guy who'd have a hard time standing still long enough to master Temper though," said Amber.

"You think so?" mused Kyo. "He strikes me as the kind of person who, with the right motivation, would be capable of almost anything."

"Still, I can't imagine this stalemate lasting much longer," said Ironwood, returning his attention to match itself. "However skilled he may be, he has no hope against Penny in a war of attrition."

"Very true," agreed Pietro. "A pity, really."

"And yet, we might be in for a surprise or two," said Kyo, chuckling to himself. "Surely, Sun-kun is well aware of the disparity in stamina between himself and Penny-chan. I suspect that, before the balance shifts, he will make a move to strike decisively. Whether or not he can make that work will be what truly decides the match between the two of them."

Yang found herself leaning forward in her seat. "Dang! Sun's putting up a hell of a fight."

"He's doing much better than I expected," said Ciel. Hearing a disgruntled snort from Neptune, she winced slightly. "I didn't mean to disparage his skill," she said quickly.

"Penny's a handful, especially one-on-one," added Piper.

"Although, the nature of her weapon actually makes her more adept at fighting groups of opponents than individuals," commented Rain. "Mr. Wukong is definitely employing the best possible strategy to use against her."

"He won't hold up much longer though," said Scarlet worriedly.

"Yeah," agreed Sage. "She's not giving him an inch. He can't keep up that level of concentration and movement forever. But Penny doesn't look like she'll be running out of steam anytime soon."

And she won't, thought the members of RASP, RYNB, and CPPR together. Penny's android body seemed to possess limitless stamina. If there was a limit to her power supply, none of them had ever seen her reach it. It certainly seemed impossible that she would run out of energy in a match against a single opponent, no matter how frenetic the pace was. Of course, if she was being pressed by the pace of the match, then the strain had to be all that much greater for her opponent.

Yang glanced over at the three members of team MNPS, in the seats next to her, along with Sasame. They were all watching the battle with interest. They lacked the personal involvement that CPPR, SSSN, RASP, and RYNB had in the match's outcome, but they were engrossed by the sheer spectacle of it. Sasame in particular leaned forward in her seat, her tail wagging energetically behind her.

"I'm a bit surprised that this match is still going," commented Ashley softly, leaning over to whisper her words into Weiss' ear.

Weiss nodded. "I always find myself underestimating Sun," she admitted. "That boy is amazing, if he's able to keep up this level of combat for this long."

They glanced over at one member of their group who'd remained completely silent throughout the whole conversation. Blake hadn't said a single word, in sharp contrast to the others, with even Ren chiming in from time to time. Blake didn't even appear to notice what anyone was saying, the entirety of her attention riveted to the arena, and the two figures battling it out within, her knuckles white from the pressure her fingers exerted, as they clenched around the ends of the arms of her seat. She had leaned forward, eyes fixed on Sun, ears standing upright beneath her bow, excited tension in every line of her body, throat bobbing and breath catching with every close-call and near miss. Anyone who thought of bringing her into the conversation was quick to notice her complete engagement...and swiftly think better of the notion, not wanting to distract her.

Yep...she's got it bad, thought Yang with a wry smile.

Sun knew he couldn't keep this up much longer. His arms and legs were burning from the exertion. His throat was scorched by each breath he took, his mouth drier than the deserts he'd once called home. His eyes throbbed from dealing with the constant kaleidoscope of whirling images caused by his frantic flipping and spinning, barely able to follow the movements of the swords around him. For the most part, he'd given up trying to use his eyes entirely, instead relying on feeling and hearing the swords come at him. It was a trick he'd learned back in Vacuo, one of the most essential elements of learning to survive and fight in those wastelands...Listen to the voice of the desert.

Of course, this was not desert. But the principle was the same. In Vacuo, winds could whip up storms of sand at a second's notice, the blurring clouds of airborne particles obscuring the space around one mere feet in front of one's face. Those who learned to fight in such environs quickly learned not to rely solely upon their eyes. Thanks to his practice in that, Sun was able to keep Penny's swords and guns at bay...for now.

But he knew it wouldn't be long now. All it would take was a single tremor, a misplaced step; even the smallest degree of faltering would leave him wide open, and Penny would immediately go on the attack without reservation. So, before his focus gave out, Sun had to make his move.

Diving past Penny once again, Sun wrapped his tail around her leg. It took all his strength to yank her foot out from under her. He was shocked by just how heavy the girl's deceptively small frame was. But still, with a grunt of effort, he managed it, making Penny squeak as she stumbled forward. Sun flipped away behind her, grimacing as the edge of one of her swords clipped his Aura right where his neck met his shoulder, followed by a beam from one of her guns searing the side of his torso. But this was his chance.

A deft movement of his hands allowed Sun to bring the handles of his respective weapons together, grasping both guns that made up his gun-chucks, so that the barrels aligned, before holding them up in front of him, bringing both sets of barrels almost right up against each other. Sun triggered all four guns at the same time. The discharges of the Dust-rounds merged together into a single, powerful bolt, which flew straight at Penny. However, the slight delay caused by how unexpected her weight had been had slowed Sun's movements down enough that Penny was able to see his attack coming, even while she recovered from her stumble.

Penny swiftly countered, using the slight opening to recover all ten of her attacking swords, which arranged themselves into a rapidly revolving wheel-formation in front of her, catching his shot, and dispersing it with her rapidly-moving blades.

Except that that was what Sun had been banking on. He'd seen this particular defense of Penny's plenty of times before. As such, he knew that this would be the ideal time to strike. Even as his shot splashed against her defense, Sun quickly rejoined his guns together to form his staff once more, then lunged forward, thrusting his staff forward as though it were a spear, aiming it directly through the center of Penny's defense-formation, the minute opening between the inward-pointing handles of her revolving swords.

His staff rushed straight for her unguarded-stomach...only to come to a halt, less than an inch away from hitting its target. Sun grunted, caught by surprise at having his attack suddenly stopped, arms screaming from the strain, feeling as though something was pulling hard against the force of his thrust.

Then his eyes caught a glint of light from above, the light reflecting off several silver lines, which now spiraled around the shaft of his staff, before extending out to meet the handles of Penny's swords. Crap! thought Sun, realizing that he'd completely forgotten about the wires.

He had just enough time to catch a triumphant smile flash across Penny's face, before she moved her arms, directing the sword-wheel to fly upwards. Sun's grip had been weakened by having his attack suddenly stopped, so Penny's sudden move quickly wrenched the staff out of his hands, sending it spinning up and into the air.

However, Penny's triumph was short-lived. Even as the staff left his grip, Sun was already countering...by bringing his hands together in front of himself, clasping them together as though in prayer.

In her peripheral vision, Penny noticed a golden flash, emanating from somewhere behind her. Her proximity sensors went off. But, by then, it was too late. She felt a foot slam into the small of her back, sending her stumbling forward. Then another flash appeared behind her, a golden clone of Sun himself strobing into being, already going into a roll so that Penny's stumble threatened to send her collapsing right onto it. The clone's roll allowed it to plant its hands, before it kicked straight up with both feet, right into Penny's sternum, the power behind the hit launching her upwards, despite her substantial weight.

While flying upwards, Penny was alerted by a flash from above, accompanying the appearance of yet another clone, this one holding a replica of Sun's staff, which it brought down in a two-handed hammer-blow...right across Penny's back, sending her rocketing back down, where the second clone to appear leapt back to make room for a fourth clone, which also had a staff. Raising the staff up over its head resulted in Penny's stomach slamming down against the shaft, her body folding over it. Were she a normal human, with actual lungs, Penny would have had the breath driven from them in an instant.

Penny's momentum ultimately caused her to flip forward over the staff. Despite the impacts she'd just taken, she still reacted with perfect alacrity, holding out her hands to catch her fall, and going into a roll that would bring her back to her feet. Except...when she came back up, it was just in time to meet a fist to the face from the second clone, the punch sending her stumbling back towards the fourth, which wasted no time slamming its staff into the back of her head.

Penny cried out, but was left defenseless when the first and third clones joined the fray, the third descending from above to slam its staff into the top of Penny's head, while the first stepped past the fourth to swing its leg around in a roundhouse, right into Penny's stomach. The four clones quickly arrayed themselves around Penny, launching a continuous offense that sent her reeling from one to the other.

Standing aside from the melee, Sun remained where he was, hands clasped together. A strained groan emerged from within his clenched teeth, his legs beginning to tremble. Creating, maintaining, and controlling so many clones at once was pushing his strength to its limit. At this point, he was simply trying to overwhelm Penny with a continuous attack, hopefully bringing her Aura all the way down before she could find her footing and counterattack, and before his own strength gave out.

However, Penny wasn't going to let herself be stymied so easily. One of the major advantages of her android body was that she wasn't distracted from controlling her weapons as easily as a human in her position would have been. Even as she was being battered by Sun's clones, her wires were already unwinding from being wrapped around Sun's staff. A few seconds into the attack, she'd managed to untangle them completely. The next, she sent her swords arrowing down in a rain of blades, several of which ran through Sun's clones.

Sun grimaced, releasing his hands and jumping back. A shadow flickering above prompted his eyes to widen, and he marked the arc his staff traced through the air as it tumbled end over end. Fortunately, Penny had just been concerned with freeing up her swords, otherwise she might have given thought to sending Sun's weapon flying out of the ring entirely.

However, he could see his time was limited. In front of him, Penny hadn't bothered resuming her previous attacks. Instead, she'd collected her swords in front of her, shifting them into their gun-modes, and set them to revolving in a cylindrical formation that he remembered all too well from the battle at the docks.

Penny adopted a different pose this time, holding her hands up together, off to one side, so that her wrists were pressed together, palms facing outwards, the fingers of her left hand oriented upwards, while those of her right were oriented downwards, the digits of both hands curled slightly so the tips pointed forward. Specifically, it reminded Sun of an attack-pose from an anime he'd seen in Mistral...though he couldn't quite place it.

Although that realization was secondary to the crackling orb of emerald energy, rapidly growing in intensity in the center of Penny's gun-formation. Reaching up, Sun snatched his staff out of the air with no time to spare as Penny thrust her palms forward, unleashing a powerful beam of energy that lanced out at him. Having no time to dodge, Sun spun his staff rapidly, catching and dispersing the energy of Penny's attack. However, the raw force behind it sent his feet sliding across the ring, Penny's attack gradually pushing him towards the edge.

Groaning and straining, Sun resisted with all his strength, while maintaining his spin. The energy of Penny's attack crackled outwards from where it met his staff, washing outwards in a curtain of emerald light, which was quite beautiful to look at. However, it completely swamped Sun's vision, preventing him from seeing what Penny was up to as she changed gears.

Still holding her right hand up against her energy attack, Penny lowered her left hand, then held it out to the side. Three of the guns left the main formation, before forming a smaller one down and to the left of her, another, smaller orb building between them. Naturally, the pressure of her original attack slacked as a result, and Sun's backwards skid came to an end, Sun now able to hold his position. However, he still couldn't see what Penny was doing, assuming that her attack was running out of steam.

Penny's new attack shifted at an angle that would allow it to shoot past the barrier of Sun's spinning staff. The energy between the barrels of those three guns rapidly intensified to the point where Penny was ready to fire. A second emerald laser lashed out at Sun, threatening to catch him in the torso, and blast him off the edge of the ring at an angle.

However, at the last second, Sun caught an inkling of the threat. It wasn't any specific cue that alerted him. Instead, it was that same skill that had enabled him to keep up with Penny's intense multi-vector/multi-range attack before, the skill he'd cultivated in the wastelands of Vacuo. Listen to the voice of the desert.

Abruptly, Sun knew he couldn't stay where he was. Pushing with all his strength, he shifted his spinning staff to the side, angling how he deflected Penny's original blast, then throwing himself aside with all his strength, the pressure of Penny's own attack aiding his movement, sending him flying off to the side, just as the beam of her second shot ripped through the air where he'd been standing before.

Sun landed in a roll, coming back to his feet, staff held at the ready, already shifting forward in preparation to charge in and resume the fight. Penny turned to meet him, her guns unfolding back into swords, angling to intercept...when Sun fell forward, landing flat on his face. Hitting the floor of the ring, he didn't move again. His staff clattered off the metal floor, rolling to a stop a short distance away.

Penny gasped, retracting her swords, then rushing to Sun's prone form, her sensors already telling her what the tournament staff were working out for themselves. Sun had passed out from exhaustion. Even though he'd still had a small amount of Aura left, before he'd be disqualified, he'd pushed both his body and mind past their breaking point. As a result, he'd simply lost the ability to continue fighting, everything going black for him.

Carefully, Penny rolled Sun over onto his back, checking his condition, before sagging in relief when she was able to determine he wasn't in any real danger. Already, Port and Oobleck were calling the match, informing the audience of what had just happened. The inner-ring was descending, and Penny could see the medics already rushing towards them with a stretcher. She helped them load Sun up, and then watched as they made their departure.

"Dang...that's gotta be a hard way to go," said Yang, wincing in sympathy.

"I don't know," said Piper. "As ways to lose go, that's pretty badass. He pushed himself past his own limits so much that he simply ran out of steam before Penny had a chance to knock him out."

"Regardless of how his match ended, there is no question that the fight he put up was indeed a worthy one," said Rain. "Mr. Bronzewing did not press Penny that hard in their fight."

"He has every right to be proud," added Ciel, smiling as she looked down at Penny, who'd been too busy worrying over Sun to realize that she'd won just yet. When it finally dawned on her, she glanced up towards the crowds in confusion, looking almost lost by the fact that they were cheering for her. Once the truth sank in, she let a small grin spread across her face, before giving the audience a shy wave.

"We all knew that fight was an uphill one for him," said Sage. "And no one can say he didn't give it his all."

"No kidding," said Jaune. "I thought Penny had him there for a second, at the end. But he still managed to get out of that."

"And he was willing to keep going, before he collapsed," said Pyrrha. "His body just reached its limit before his will to fight did."

"I hope he takes it all right," said Scarlet.

"I think he'll be fine," commented Sasame cheerfully. "After all, even if he didn't win the match, I think he'll end today with something far more worthwhile than that."

Wondering what Sasame was talking about, Yang looked at the fox-faunus in confusion.

"Hey, where's Blake?"

Nora's question prompted Yang to flinch, and she looked around in confusion, before realizing that the seat Blake had been occupying earlier was suddenly empty.

"Blake-chan departed as soon as the medics started carrying Sun-kun out," said Sasame. "I have no doubt that she intends to be there when he awakens, which will be excellent consolation for his loss, I should say."

"Yeah, I think that'll do it for him," said Yang, grinning at the idea.

"Hi, Ruby," said Penny, entering the locker room.

"Congratulations, Penny," said Ruby, beaming at her friend, before noticing that Penny's normally bubbly demeanor seemed strangely subdued. "Are you okay?"

"I am fine," said Penny deliberately. "I just was not expecting to win like that."

"Yeah, well...with how you were fighting earlier, I'm amazed Sun-kun was able to hold out for as long as he did," said Natsuki.

"He surprised me as well," admitted Penny rather easily. "I thought I had him several times, only for him to keep turning the tables on me. I honestly wasn't sure what to do next, when he collapsed."

Ruby nodded. She'd honestly been amazed by Sun's perseverance, which had enabled him to escape from one seemingly-impossible situation after another. He'd given a hundred-and-twenty, if not a hundred-and-fifty-percent in this fight. Ironically, it was that intense practice of pushing past his limits that had become his undoing, his own body giving out before he was able to be defeated in a more conventional fashion.

While they were talking, the holo-screen in the locker room was broadcasting the post-fight commentary. While the commentators had a great deal of praise for Penny, the bulk of their compliments went to Sun, highlighting his skill, resourcefulness, and perseverance, with Port in particular proudly proclaiming Sun's "manly virtues".

Going over to Penny, Ruby pulled her android friend into a hug. "You should be proud, Penny. Sun was a tough opponent."

"He was," agreed Penny. "I feel accomplished, by being able to defeat him."

"Good," said Ruby.

She guided Penny to the couch, setting her down between herself and Natsuki, the two of them chatting with their friend, idling away the minutes until the beginning of the next match. Penny gradually relaxed, and quickly regained her bubbly personality, the three of them making the most of the time they had left, before Ruby and Natsuki's turn in the ring came.

Half an hour after the end of Penny and Sun's bout, the time arrived for Ruby and Natsuki to take to the ring. Up in the stands, their friends leaned forward expectantly.

"This is gonna be a fight to remember," said Setsuna, smirking.

"Who do you think is going to win?" asked Oscar.

"Well...probably eight times out of ten, I'd call this fight for Ruby-chan," said Miyu softly.

"Really?" asked Oscar.

"Ruby-chan is frightfully-talented," elaborated Miyu. "On top of that, her natural perseverance combined with that to produce explosive growth. Furthermore, her own training was very carefully crafted by her teachers."

"The biggest edge that Ruby-chan has over Natsu-chan is sheer experience," said Setsuna. "Even before she came to Beacon, her brother and sister had already taken her out on multiple excursions."

Sasame nodded. "Much of that was training that wasn't necessarily directly linked to fighting," she said. "However, there's no question that Ruby-chan experienced plenty of real-world combat scenarios."

"Even back in Leng, she was fending off assassination attempts," added Setsuna.

"And the breadth of her experience has only grown, since coming to Beacon," said Miyu, "considering all the things she's been involved in."

Oscar wilted slightly. Glancing sidelong at him, Sasame smiled warmly. "Which isn't to say that Natsu-chan is completely outmatched. She has no shortage of talent herself. On top of that, she received extremely specialized instruction in an established style. Compared to Ruby-chan, who has been piecing together her own style as she goes, Natsu-chan's own skills are much more polished."

"That's the advantage of working within an established style over making your own," commented Setsuna. "Maybe you can create a style that's a superior expression of your own personal tendencies, but there's going to be a lot of trial and error involved. If you stick to an established style, you can take full advantage of the advances and developments made by previous practitioners to get a leg up, and work towards proficiency, then mastery, at a faster pace."

Sasame hugged her tail to her front. "Indeed, Ruby-chan's current style is unquestionably the one best suited to her. And yet, it still has yet to achieve its final form, until she has fully adapted and consolidated all that she has learned over the course of her training and battles. Whether or not that will be a decisive difference between her and Natsu-chan is what we shall see from here on out."

Ruby and Natsuki didn't hurry as they headed out to the ring. As it was, the intense pressure from the cheering crowds was almost physically palpable. Coming to a stop in the center of the ring, just outside of melee range from each other, they turned to face one another.

"Ready, Ruby-chan?" asked Natsuki, an eager, yet nervous energy emanating her, a rather jarring contrast to the bravado she'd spouted before the quarterfinals.

"As I'll ever be," said Ruby, feeling the same excited quiver in her stomach.

This was her best friend from back home. They'd sparred before. But it had usually been about polishing their techniques against each other. Despite Natsuki's words from before, they'd never actually competed against one another, really striving to overcome the other in pitched battle. In a sense, this was their first real fight. The thought of facing down her best friend like this had Ruby feeling both nervous and excited.

While she'd seen what Natsuki was capable of in the previous rounds, Ruby still wasn't sure that she'd seen the upper-limit of her skill. After spending months away from home, Ruby had no idea just how far Natsuki had come. She got the feeling she'd find out in this match.

Then something occurred to her. "Hey, Natsu-chan..."

"Yeah?" replied Natsuki.

Ruby gave her a grin. "Let's go full-throttle, right out of the gate."

"Why?" asked Natsuki, canting her head slightly.

"Well...we're kinda here for the Mibu too," said Ruby, her grin widening. "Let's really give everyone a show then."

"Yeah!" agreed Natsuki, now grinning herself. "Let's make it flashy, Ruby-chan."

"It's the Vytal Festival Tournament," said Ruby. "There's really no other way to go."

The two of them drew their weapons. Ruby separated Akaibara, taking up her stance, Bara held out in front of her, while her right arm stretched up over her head, holding Ibara so that it was pointing downwards, running parallel to the line of her spine. Natsuki drew her kodachi, adopting a more orthodox stance, the longer one held out in front of her, while the shorter one was angled behind it.

The two of them waited for the signal, their focus narrowing towards one another. As it was, they were only just barely aware when Oobleck began the countdown.

"Three...two...one...BEGIN!"