124

Chapter 124:

"Well...that was a thing," said Dove, as they left Pyrrha's parents behind.

When Pyrrha didn't answer right away, he looked over at her in concern. Pyrrha had let go of his arm with one hand, and was now using that hand to gently massage her temple. "Yeah, they'd give me a headache too," he agreed.

"It's not that," said Pyrrha. "I'm not sure what it is. I just feel...off...for some reason."

Dove frowned. "That so...?" he mused contemplatively.

"What is it?" asked Pyrrha.

"Well...for a moment, it looked like you were giving some serious consideration to that lady's idea of taking our little argument somewhere else," said Dove.

"Well, I did think it was reasonable," said Pyrrha. "But then you reminded me that there's no need for us to argue with them at all."

"Yeah..." agreed Dove, continuing to frown pensively. "That 'off' feeling of yours...do you know when you started to feel it?"

"Um..." Pyrrha frowned, furrowing her forehead. "I'm...I'm not sure. I wasn't thinking about it. It wasn't until we were away. It's strange. I felt kind of light-headed for a moment."

"Was it after that woman made her suggestion?" asked Dove.

Pyrrha's forehead furrowed more deeply. "I think...so..." she said.

"Yeah," said Dove. "There's something off about that woman for sure."

"Holly...?" Pyrrha gave her boyfriend a confused look. "I mean, I can understand somewhat. I didn't realize it for the longest time. But that woman is a conniving snake."

"I think there's more to it than that," said Dove warily.

"What?" asked Pyrrha.

"Just a hunch," said Dove, looking down. "I might have to check on a few things."

"All right..." said Pyrrha uncertainly.

"Great match," said Sun, landing next to Blake.

She flinched at his unexpected arrival. She'd picked this spot because it was less likely she'd be bothered by people. While she might have been as excited about the Vytal Festival as anyone else, that didn't change the fact that dealing with large groups of people was something she had to do in small doses. She'd had her fill earlier in the day. To that end, she'd picked out a little haven for herself, inside a small copse of trees, in one of the few corners of Beacon's courtyards that wasn't overrun by the sprawl of the Vytal Festival grounds.

And yet, despite the interruption, Blake didn't mind. Sun had long ago ceased to be a bother to her.

"Thanks," she said, before relaxing and leaning against him, enjoying the feeling of his tail curling around her shoulders, brushing against the bare skin of her neck.

"Makes me kinda glad we didn't go up against your team in the first round," said Sun teasingly. "I'd hate to have to kick all your butts in the first round of the tournament."

"Says the boy who would probably be the one getting his butt kicked," retorted Blake with a smirk.

"Oh yeah?" asked Sun playfully.

"Yeah," Blake replied in the same tone.

Sun chuckled, then leaned back against Blake, resting his cheek against the top of her head, which she rested against his shoulder. "Well, I'd say that having me whipped outside the battlefield doesn't mean you can whip me inside it, but we both know you're probably right. Not to mention you've got Nora and Yang on your team."

"Oh yeah, we'd roll right over you," agreed Blake, prompting another chuckle from Sun.

They fell into a comfortable silence. Blake had never been one to talk, and she appreciated that Sun had learned that, just because she wasn't saying anything, didn't mean she was upset or moody. There were times when Blake was just...quiet.

Sun had learned to appreciate that, enjoy it even. These were the moments where they could just relax, and bask in one another's presence, enjoying the sensation of each other's touch. His hand found hers, their fingers lacing together.

"Ugh! The two of you look way too cute together."

"Whoa!" Sun shot to his feet, hand going behind his back for his staff. Blake did the same, but her hands remained by her sides.

"Ilia?" she exclaimed.

A short distance away, a figure melted out of the shadows, black skin returning to its normal tan hue, with a smattering of spots and freckles against it. Blake's gaze went to Ilia's gray eyes, and she was both surprised and pleased to see her old friend smiling, an easygoing smile she hadn't seen in a long time.

Of course, part of that was because she hadn't properly dealt with Ilia in a long time. After leaving with Adam to come to Vale, Blake had been away from her old friend for months. Then she'd left the White Fang. Even when Ilia had come to Vale as well, they had only dealt with each other on the rare occasions where their paths crossed.

On every one of those occasions, Blake had only ever really seen Ilia's troubled expression, whether she was troubled about facing Blake, or colluding with Adam's horrific plans. But now, Ilia was smiling, a genuine smile, a relaxed smile, something that suggested she'd found both peace and solace.

The reason for that became apparent as the space next to Ilia abruptly shattered, revealing the diminutive figure of Neo, smirking playfully.

"Oh...it's you," said Sun uneasily. "Don't tell me Torchwick's telling you to jump us outside of class too."

Neo giggled almost soundlessly. Reaching into a pocket, she produced her scroll, typing out a response, before turning to show Sun the screen. "Ilia just wanted to talk with your girlfriend. Thanks for the idea though. Roman would love it."

"What have I done?" muttered Sun under his breath.

Blake giggled, though she didn't like the idea of Neo jumping them outside of class as a "continuation" of Torchwick's unorthodox teaching methods either. Things were hard enough inside the classroom.

"So then, why are you here, Ilia?" asked Blake.

To her surprise, Ilia's freckles turned a rosy hue, the skin across her face washing pink, before it returned to normal. "Well...Neo thought we should maybe...try a double-date."

"Um...But aren't you still a wanted criminal?" asked Sun.

Neo waved a dismissive hand, as though saying, "Details...details..."

"She's not that distinctive," said Blake. "Even though Ironwood said that Atlesian forces would try to detain her, it isn't as though they're actively looking for her. So we should be fine, so long as we don't do something crazy."

Three sets of eyes came to rest on Sun, who pointed to himself. "Who? Me...?"

"We did first meet when you caused a ruckus by stowing away on a freighter," Blake pointed out.

"Uh huh? And who touched off a conflict with the White Fang that nearly wrecked the docks?" countered Sun.

Now three sets of eyes rested on Blake, who averted her eyes. "Touché," she conceded unhappily.

Across from them, laughter bubbled up out from Ilia's throat. "God! The two of you are so cute," she said. It's refreshing, compared to how things were between Blake and Adam.

Ilia was fully willing to admit that many of her issues with Blake's relationship with Adam were rooted in jealousy. The girl she'd wanted to look at her was, instead, throwing the looks that Ilia had coveted at the brooding, angsting Adam Taurus. Ilia could definitely see the appeal. Adam was handsome, charismatic, strong, decisive, and had a dark past. All those were things that Ilia knew appealed to Blake, with her love of gothic romance.

But Ilia had also been able to see that Blake's relationship with Adam had not been good for her. Though he'd been subtle about it at first, Ilia could see that Adam had been overbearing, controlling, always inquiring about Blake's activities. Where had she been? Who had she been with? The closer he and Blake grew, the more he'd isolated her away from everyone else, including her friends.

And then Adam had taken her away to another Kingdom altogether. While he had moved to Vale on Sienna Khan's orders, it also felt as though he'd been deliberately trying to separate Blake from those who cared about her even more than before.

In comparison, looking at Blake and Sun was like a refreshing breeze. Sun was playful and friendly, brimming with positivity and optimism. He made Blake smile and laugh. He didn't try to wall her off from her friends. If anything, he'd pushed her to reach out to them. Blake was happier and more comfortable than Ilia could ever remember seeing her being. Part of Ilia was still jealous that she couldn't be the one in his position. But she decided that it didn't matter. Blake was happy, and they could actually be friends again.

So the four of them set off, looking forward to spending an evening enjoying the festival.

"What are the White Fang doing now, if they're not knocking over Dust shops?" asked Sun idly.

"At the moment...nothing," said Ilia, seeing no problem with saying so. "We haven't really decided on a new direction. High Leader Khan knows that a complete one-eighty back to non-violent methods won't go over well with the rank and file. They've gotten used to retaliation against discrimination. It's not as though the Councils would change their minds about us being a terrorist organization, just because we simply decided to stop blowing things up."

Blake nodded. In the past, she'd scoffed at her father's insistence on nonviolence, his continuous arguments that conflict was a path they could not retreat back from, once they went down it. At first, she thought he'd simply been talking about conflict in the straightforward manner, which meant that they would have to win it, like they did the Revolution. Retreating was no different from surrender. But now, she'd seen the White Fang paint themselves into a corner. They'd come to realize that following the path of conflict was self-destructive in the long term. But coming back from that would be absurdly difficult.

"It's scary to think about," said Ilia, rubbing her arms. "I feel more than a little lost myself."

"I guess it is appealing," noted Sun.

"It's the simplicity," said Blake. "With nonviolence, there are lines you can't cross...ever. With retaliation, those lines get blurred, and it gets easier to cross them. On top of that, it's a lot simpler to articulate. If someone hits you, you hit them back, simple as that. An eye for an eye..."

Ilia sighed. "We all thought it was going to be so easy. If the humans weren't going to accept the Revolution, then we'd start a new one, and finish the job. We'd eradicate the humans who wouldn't accept us, maybe even subjugate the ones who simply stood back and watched as we were discriminated against. That was Adam's view anyway. If humans weren't willing to share the world we both lived in, then we'd flip the table, turn things on their head, make humans into the minority, then see how they liked it."

"Yeah...that sounds like a pretty crappy plan," said Sun, folding his arms behind his head. "I mean, yeah...it's pretty dumb, the way so many people just do nothing. Even though it's not like racists are a huge portion of the population, the way other humans stand back and just let it happen is dumb."

Blake and Ilia nodded.

"The thing is, that still leaves us with nowhere to go as an organization," said Ilia. She glanced over at Neo. "What do you think?"

Neo gave all three of them a deadpan stare, before typing out a response on her scroll. "You're asking the career criminal what her opinion on civil rights is...?"

They stared at her for a long moment, not having a response to that.

Neo began typing again, before showing them her scroll once more. "I've never given a thought to those things. Roman liked saying racist things to faunus, because that was what made them the most angry." She paused to type more. "But neither of us really cares about any of that. Those kind of ideals go way over our heads."

"That makes sense, I guess," said Sun. He thought that the whole "I didn't mean it" spiel was a piss-poor defense for racist remarks. However, now wasn't exactly a time for picking arguments over such a touchy topic.

Neo was already working on her next line. "Besides, aren't we here to have fun? What are we doing talking about such heavy, boring stuff? Let's play."

"She's not wrong," said Blake, a small smile spreading across her face.

"Well, I see a food booth that's calling our name," said Sun, pointing at one a short distance away, where the owner, who looked strangely familiar to Blake, was preparing bowls of ramen.

As they approached, they found themselves pausing as they crossed paths with another pair of people approaching the same stand. Eyes widened all around as the quartet of Sun, Blake, Ilia, and Neo found themselves facing Ciel and Rain.

"Well..." said Rain, after a moment's pause, "...this is awkward."

Ciel's eyes immediately focused on Ilia, and then narrowed. "Ilia Amitola, as an agent of the Atlesian peacekeeping forces employed at the Vytal Festival, I am duty-bound to request your surrender. If you refuse, then I am also duty-bound to arrest you."

Ilia tensed, her friends along with her. Blake and Sun were uneasy about what to do, not wanting Ilia to be arrested, but, at the same time, not really able to fault Ciel for trying, seeing as she was just doing her job. Neo was less ambiguous, already prepared to beat down both Atlas students the second they tried something.

But the situation found itself quickly defused when Rain reached over, taking Ciel's left hand in a secure grip, preventing her from activating and brandishing her weapon. "However," he said firmly, "you are off-duty right now, Ciel. So you are not acting as a member of the Atlesian forces."

"But-" Ciel began to protest.

"Also, Specialist Schnee told me to make sure that you do not attempt to do any 'work', while you are supposed to be having fun," continued Rain, smiling at her with a sly edge. "It appears that reporting the presence of Ms. Ilia will have to wait."

"But...I..." Ciel looked back and forth between her boyfriend and Ilia, before letting out a long sigh. "Fine..."

"Now then," said Rain cheerfully, "seeing as you are not going to be arresting anyone at this point, how about we all sit down and enjoy a meal together."

"Sounds like a plan," said Sun cheerfully.

They headed for the ramen stand, taking their seats. Blake found herself sitting next to Rain, who was sitting next to Ciel, who found herself sitting next to Ilia. "That was clever," she said.

Rain smiled. "Whatever else, we owe Ms. Ilia a debt for her assistance in stopping the attack in Mountain Glenn. Ciel takes her orders a bit too seriously. I chose to take advantage of that, this time."

"Like I said...clever," said Blake, smirking.

Meanwhile, Ciel and Ilia shifted awkwardly. "I hope you didn't take that personally, Ms. Amitola," said Ciel softly. "I have my orders concerning any known members of the White Fang."

"I know," said Ilia, giving Ciel and awkward smile. "I don't begrudge you trying to arrest me, after everything I've done. I helped you guys once. But that doesn't erase all the things I've done before."

Ciel nodded. "Still, like Rain said. We do owe you for your help in Mountain Glenn. The White Fang's attack would have done a great deal of damage, had you not taken action, and we might not have found out in time to do anything ourselves."

Ilia nodded.

Ciel let pursed her lips, then blew out slowly. "So...I suppose we will just have to enjoy ourselves as much as possible tonight. After all, if I have too much fun, then I might just wind up forgetting that I was hanging out with a wanted terrorist."

"I think I can manage that," said Ilia with a laugh.

The arrival of the festival's next day brought with it a new round of matches. That day found RASP (with the exception of Jaune) and RYNB in the coliseum for each of the first two matches scheduled. First, Team SSSN faced off with a team from Atlas. The arena's biome-system wound up producing a snow-covered tundra on one side, and a field of jagged boulders on the other.

The tundra proved to be to the Atlesians' advantage, due to their training on the snow-fields that surrounded their own Kingdom. They also had plenty of experience with mountainous terrain, which mean that they could make good use of the boulders on the other side as well.

However, in spite of all that, they found themselves thoroughly outclassed by Team SSSN's skills. RASP and RYNB had seen Sun and Neptune in action before, but this was their first time witnessing the skills of Sage and Scarlet. Both boys were skilled combatants.

Scarlet's abilities seemed somewhat lackluster at first. But he quickly proved to be an agile and cunning combatant, making substantial use of the rocks in the boulder-field to cut off his opponents' field of view and lines of fire, attacking from unexpected angles, and making good use of his pistol's grappling hook to snag one opponent's ankle and drag him out of sight, taking him out of the match.

Sage, in contrast, was a powerhouse. There was no sign that his sword possessed any special features. However, he was able to leap high into the air with a boost of Aura, slamming his weapon down with explosive force. It was his initial attack that broke up the Atlesians' formation, before Team SSSN quickly moved to strike.

Sun's incredible agility, and his skill with his weapon, enabled him to fight evenly against two opponents at once, setting one of them up for a shot from Neptune, who disabled his target with an electrically-charged bolt from his rifle, leaving Sun to finish off the other. Scarlet lured the other two into the boulder-field, quickly isolating and defeating one, while the other was swiftly finished off by Sage.

The match ended on a low note though, when the Atlesian team's leader, who Sun had beaten down, began spewing a tirade of racist insults at Sun. While none of his teammates pitched in, the looks they shot SSSN, as they guided their still-shouting leader towards the locker room, showed that they had similar sentiments.

"Assholes," grumbled Yang, eyes flickering red as she glared at the last of the Atlesians disappearing into the locker room.

"Nothing we can do from here," said Blake sadly. Her gaze went to Sun, who had already shrugged off the poor sportsmanship of his opponents, and was instead grinning and waving at the crowd, who were quickly recovering their spirit and cheering for the victorious, and definitely more appealing, team. Sun swept his eyes around the arena, finding Blake's. He shot her a wink, prompting her to blush.

"Looks like somebody's getting a reward later," suggested Yang.

"For a dork like him...?" wondered Blake, before blushing harder. "Maybe."

"If you need to use the room, at least let us know first," said Ren with a sigh, before adding, "and try to finish before it gets too late. I would like to get to bed at a reasonable hour."

Blake's face turned red to the tips of her human ears.

The next match featured none other than their second-year friends, Team CFVY. CFVY wound up going up against the one team of fourth-years that had entered the tournament this year. The match had been an exciting one, with all four members of CFVY performing at their peak. Under Coco's leadership, and with Fox's Semblance coordinating them, they were devastating.

What was more, Ruby could see that they had been paying attention to the things Kyo had told them, during their one brief bout with him. The other three were good at covering for the delays caused by Coco's weapon transitioning between modes. Fox still proved to be the lynchpin to their coordination, but they were subtly covering him, making sure that he wasn't targeted. Yatsuhashi was using the full extent of the tremendous reach afforded by his size to devastating effect.

But the real standout was Velvet. Of all them, she had been the one Kyo had been most critical of. However, as her opponent came at her, Ruby gasped as she saw Velvet easily reading and dodging his moves, before countering them perfectly.

"Isn't that...what Ruby does?" asked Weiss.

"Is it?" asked Pyrrha, looking to Ruby for confirmation.

Ruby shook her head. "I don't think so," she said. "I think she used her Mimicry to memorize her opponent's moves, and now she's able to anticipate their timing and weaknesses."

"How can she do that?" asked Pyrrha.

"Well, it's probably because of all the experience she has," said Ruby. "Otherwise, even Mimicry wouldn't be able to do her much good."

After all, a punch had completely different timing and range than swinging a sword. A sword's techniques had different ranges and timing than spear-techniques. And, even if Velvet could mimic perfect form in holding and aiming a gun, actually aiming and knowing when and where to fire wasn't a given.

People might have been given to assume that Velvet's Semblance was a cheat, allowing her to amass moves that other people had learned through intensive training, through no effort of her own. But simply being able to copy a move was not the same thing as actually being able to use it. That Velvet had been able to copy the moves and weapons of other people, and then apply them perfectly, immediately afterwards, meant that she had trained a great deal in the fundamentals of combat, enabling her to immediately move from imitation to application.

Therefore, it wasn't such a large stretch that such training had enabled her to internalize the timing and limitations of a given technique. Therefore, if Velvet saw a technique, not only was she capable of using it herself, but she was also able to read the tells, anticipate the timing, and determine the weaknesses of any technique that was used against her. It was an ability that made her effectiveness somewhat limited, during the initial stages of battle. But, as the fight went on, and her opponents showed off more of the repertoires, Velvet was quickly able to build up profiles of their fighting styles, and counter them perfectly.

There was more to it though. Ruby could see Velvet quickly adapting to, and countering, moves that she'd never seen before, almost as though she'd already copied them with her Semblance. That meant that, the more she saw of a person's style, the better she was able to anticipate what they could do, even if they were using a move she hadn't seen yet.

She's definitely taken Kyo-nii's advice to heart, thought Ruby. Of course, she still needs to refine her weapon into something more stable. But this is a huge step forward for her.

Team CFVY's match ended in their overwhelming victory, despite the difference in age and experience between them and their opponents. The crowd roared, as the victorious underdogs waved to their fans in the stands. Fortunately, unlike the previous match, there were no displays of poor sportsmanship. The defeated fourth-years happily congratulated CFVY on their victory, and left gracefully.

"Looks like Uncle Yuki was right," said Ruby.

"Yeah, it seems like the younger teams really are a cut above this year," agreed Yang.

Nora squealed, squirming in her seat. "Ooh! I wonder who's gonna fight next!"

"We'll find out in a couple of hours," said Blake, already getting up to join the throngs of people heading for the docks.

"Yeah," agreed Ruby, standing up and stretching.

"Going to go check on Jaune?" asked Pyrrha.

"Might as well," said Ruby, glancing at the seat her boyfriend should have been occupying.

Now that RASP no longer had to worry about which match they were participating in, Sasame had taken advantage of the opening in Jaune's schedule to begin his intensive instruction in the healing arts. Unfortunately for Jaune, what that ultimately meant was long periods in a training room, as Sasame worked to train him in the subtleties of manipulating the bodies of humans and faunus. There was no way that he could cram a complete anatomy course into his head in the course of three weeks, but Sasame was determined to teach him everything she could, while she could. So, for now, that meant teaching him some of the more nuanced healing techniques, aside from the basic ones he'd already practiced. Sadly, that meant that Jaune was missing all the matches that had taken place after his own.

"I hope she lets up on him," mused Ren. "It would be sad if he wound up sitting out most of the festival."

"It's what he signed up for," said Weiss. "It's good that he aims to become the most effective healer he can."

Ruby nodded, knowing full well that Jaune still felt immensely guilty about the time he'd accidentally inured her, while trying to heal her. Even if he expressed some reluctance at the idea of spending the Vytal Festival ensconced in the library, he was prepared to do what he needed, in order to make sure he never did that to Ruby, or anyone else, ever again.

The third match of the day was of little personal interest to them, being between two teams they had no connection with. RASP and RYNB still watched, though not from the coliseum seats. After all, the winners of this match might be their opponents in the doubles round. One of the teams was another Atlesian one, called Team FNKI. Ruby was more than a little surprised by her first sight of them, considering that they looked little like the military types she'd expected to come out of Atlas Academy, instead looking more like a pop-band, with their wielder even using a trumpet. They exhibited a playful attitude and style that concealed a degree of cunning and coordination that suggested that their behavior was as much a distraction as it was part of their personalities.

The fourth match, on the other hand, was doubly of interest to them, mainly because both teams participating belonged to their circle of friends and acquaintances. Ruby had gasped alongside Pyrrha. The two of them then bolted off for the next airship to the coliseum, when they saw the screens showcasing the last match of the day: Team CRDL versus Team CPPR.

Ruby quickly settled into her seat, leaning forward excitedly as she waited for the two participating teams to enter the arena. Beside her, Pyrrha looked just as anxious.

"Wow, you two are really keyed up for this," observed Yang wryly, settling down in her seat, adopting a much more relaxed posture.

"Well, Pyrrha's boyfriend is participating," noted Weiss. "Hopefully, he makes a good showing of himself."

"Of anyone on Cardinal, Dove is pretty much the only one who I have trouble believing wouldn't make a good showing," said Blake casually.

"The others have gotten pretty good too," said Nora.

"They've definitely raised their skills since the beginning of the year," Ren agreed.

The others nodded.

Ruby heard a soft groan, and felt a familiar presence brush against her own. She smiled and looked over at Jaune, as he slumped down into the seat next to her. "Long day?" she asked.

"Your sister is a slave driver," groaned Jaune. "I'd never thought I could feel this exhausted after using so little Aura."

Ruby giggled at that. "Yeah, that's pretty typical for learning the healing arts. I went through the same thing."

After all, even if the amount of Aura used for healing techniques was rather low, the sheer degree of precision required meant that training in using one's Aura on such a small scale resulted in substantial mental fatigue. Ruby remembered nursing more than a few headaches, after her basic healer training under Sasame. She did not envy Jaune, who was being primed to learn the even more advanced and precise techniques.

"So...she turn you loose for the day?" asked Yang.

"That she did," replied Sasame, drawing a startled yelp from Yang. Sasame slipped into the next open seat, smiling contentedly. "Jaune-kun is an apt student, and has more than earned his respite for the day. After all...we shall be continuing tomorrow."

"Yep," agreed Jaune.

"However, as a special exception, I will let you off tomorrow afternoon...for the final match," said Sasame.

"'Cause of Oscar's team, right?" asked Jaune.

"Exactly," said Sasame. "It would be a shame to miss their debut, after all."

"I wonder how they'll do," said Weiss.

"That can come later," said Pyrrha, still focusing her eyes on the arena. "We should be focused on the ones who are fighting today."

"Very true," agreed Sasame.

Jaune folded his arms, looking down in the ring with a relatively ambivalent expression.

Relations with Team CRDL had improved significantly since the incident in Forever Fall. Dove had already proven himself to be prime Huntsman material. But now that the other three were applying themselves and actually working to improve, they were showcasing their mettle as well. Still, Dove aside, no one on RASP or RYNB would have gone so far as to consider anyone on CRDL a friend...yet. They were decent acquaintances, but still laboring under the impression resulting from their bullying behavior at the beginning of the year.

Of course, they were more-inclined to cheer for their friends on Team CPPR. Following the joint operation in Mountain Glenn, RASP and RYNB had grown extremely close to the Atlesian Team, especially Penny. Ruby was looking forward to her friend showing her abilities in the first round. She was also looking forward to the skills and tricks she knew the other members had up their sleeves.

The noise of the crowds picked up as the two teams filed into the arena, making their way into the central ring, all while Port and Oobleck did their jobs as announcers, whipping up excitement in anticipation of the match.

"What do you think?" asked Dove, staring across the ring at the assembled team.

"I think we're in for an uphill battle," said Cardin, standing up a little straighter, his grip tightening on his mace. "The carrot-top may look like a pushover, but I get the feeling she's packing some pretty heavy firepower."

"I don't think I've ever seen her fight," said Russel.

"I've barely even seen her in class," added Sky.

"Yeah...all that's giving me some serious 'secret weapon' vibes," said Dove.

Cardin nodded. "I've been reviewing the footage of their sparring matches. Elric's shield is pretty unpredictable, and Cerny's b-er-orbs hit pretty hard."

"So at least two of them use remote weapons," said Dove. "But Elric can use his in melee, Cerny too."

Cardin nodded. "I don't think they're gonna be using a front-line rear-fire formation. They're probably going to mix it up to keep us on our toes. The only one we can count on coming in for a close-up fight is going to be Soleil. So she's yours, Dove. Try and take her out as quick as you can.

"Sky, you and I are gonna take Polendina. I'll go in front, so you keep back and try to get an eye for what she can do, before committing. We're gonna try and take her out. Russel, you're taking the other two. Don't go for the win, just try and keep 'em busy."

"Tall order, Boss," said Russel, gulping nervously.

Across the ring from them, Team CPPR were having their own strategy session.

"According to our friends, Dove Bronzewing is the most dangerous member," stated Ciel calmly.

"So they're probably gonna make him their key player," said Piper, flexing her fingers.

"Perhaps," said Ciel. "General Ironwood has kept Penny somewhat sequestered, so they most likely don't have any knowledge of her abilities, unlike the rest of us. Therefore, they are likely wary of her."

"What should I do then?" asked Penny.

To her surprise, Ciel smiled at her partner. "Go wild."

"Quite the unusual order for you," observed Rain.

Ciel turned her smile on him. "Our opponents are likely coming up with a plan to counter what they can about us. The best way to counter that, in my view, is to introduce a chaotic element, and hopefully throw their plans in disarray."

"I like it," said Penny, jumping up and down, pumping her first in the air. "This is going to be a sen-sa-tional match!"

"And now it is starting," said Rain.

With a loud clanking sound, the metal plates surrounding the central ring slid away, the selected biomes rising up to reveal a field of tall grass on CPPR's side, and a dense forest on CRDL's.

"Lots of line-of-sight issues with this selection," noted Piper, glancing around.

Meanwhile, Port and Oobleck had finished the buildup. Beacon's history teacher had begun the countdown to the match's beginning. All eight competitors tensed, sinking into crouches, deploying their weapons.

"Begin!"

With a fierce grin, Penny deployed her swords, their blades folding over to convert into their gun-modes, arraying themselves into rotating formations at her hips, then producing streams of emerald energy that propelled her forward like a rocket. She glided across the floor of the ring, hurtling straight for Team CRDL like a human projectile (or an android one), her eyes locked on one target...Dove.

Across from her, Dove picked up Penny's intentions immediately. No plan survives contact with the enemy, he thought to himself.

"Scatter!" shouted Cardin.

The other three members of CRDL leapt away from Dove, who leveled his weapon, Hallshott, at the incoming Penny. He quickly fired off several shots at her. However, Penny kicked off the floor, jumping over the bullets, going into a roll, while her guns converted back into swords, sweeping around her, Penny guiding them into a downward slash that forced Dove to backflip away.

Upon landing, he immediately went back on the offensive, rushing right in, leading with a thrust of his sword, adding a shot from the gun built into its hilt. One of Penny's own swords quickly batted the attack aside, knocking both blade and bullet away from her, while two more swords scissored at Dove from opposing directions. Dove went into a leaping spin, turning his body completely horizontal, and slipping between the attacking blades. While they flashed past, he lashed out with another swift slash, but another of the remote blades that made up Penny's Floating Array slashed in to intercept, batting Dove's sword away.

Meanwhile, at least four of Penny's swords circled around from the outside, converting into their gun modes, before opening fire with streams of emerald energy, which streaked in at Dove from multiple opposing vectors, forcing him to spin, flip, and dodge furiously to avoid them, all while he worked his own sword just as furiously to parry Penny's other blades, which flew in to thrust and slash at him from close range.

Their battle was a whirlwind of frenetic motion, Dove a spinning blur, while Penny's own position was more static. However, her weapons seemed to move of their own volition, attacking Dove from seemingly every conceivable direction, forcing him completely onto the defensive. And then Penny reached out, closing her right hand around the handle of one of her swords, snatching it from the air. She surged forward, her speed enhanced by the incredible strength of her mechanical legs, allowing her to close in on Dove in a flash that rivaled the speed of her Floating Array, slashing at him with the sword in her hand. Dove quickly raised his own to block, but found himself shouting in surprise as he was launched away by the incredible force behind the blow.

Damn! he thought, flipping to get his feet back under him. This girl's the total package. She's got speed, power, and precision; close and long-range. I'm not seeing any weaknesses.

As soon as he touched down, Dove immediately jumped up, two of Penny's swords embedding themselves in the ground at his feet. Dove flipped around to plant his feet against the trunk of one of the forest biome's trees, kicking off to launch himself higher into the branches. Up there, he swiftly grasped one, then used it to swing himself out of sight.

Meanwhile, the other members of the two teams hadn't been idle. After moving to escape the furious melee that erupted between Penny and Dove, the other members of CRDL looked up to see Rain and Piper charging in. Rain had deployed his shield onto his forearm, the elongated tip of the kite-shield projecting directly out over his fist, like an oversized katar. Beside him, Piper ran along, arms crossed in front of her, the fingers of her hands flicking and twitching, guiding the movements of the eight ebony orbs that flew through the air alongside her.

However, to Cardin, Russel, and Sky's confusion, Ciel was not charging in alongside them. Instead, she remained back, leveling her arm so that the blade of her pata-sword was pointed at them. The blade separated along its centerline, now extending out in two prongs on either side of her fist, while Ciel loaded a bullet into the chamber, behind where her knuckles were, under the gauntlet. A tap on the screen of her watch-face turned it yellow. The blades began to shine in the same color, a shimmering field forming between them, with intense arcs of yellow energy bridging the gap between the two prongs, forming at their base, then running up to the tip, appearing and moving with greater and greater speed and frequency with each passing second. A low humming sound quickly built in intensity, while Ciel steadied her left arm with her right hand, took aim...and fired.

The air shrieked as the railgun's bullet ripped through it, passing between Piper and Rain, so that it arrived a fraction of a second ahead of them, heading right for Sky's chest. However, with a swift blur of gray and red, the flanged head of Cardin's mace was already between the bullet and its target, Cardin roaring as he swung the mace to intercept the shot like an awkwardly-shaped baseball bat.

The force of impact nearly ripped the weapon out of his hands, but Cardin successfully managed to send the fragments of the bullet scattering away, right before Rain and Piper were upon them. Cardin triggered the fire-Dust set within The Executioner's flanges, triggering a billowing wave of flame that surged out over the two incoming attackers.

Rain immediately shifted his shield's position, holding it out in front of him to disperse the flames as he plowed forward. The shield opened up slightly, displaying the green, wind-Dust impregnated membrane that connected its components, producing a burst of moving air that scattered the flames further around his body, enabling him to make it through the conflagration unscathed. Beside him, Piper jumped up, her orbs forming into a circling ring beneath her feet, generating an anti-gravity field that levitated her up and over the flames.

However, Cardin's defense had successfully blocked their line of sight for a fraction of a second. Rain emerged from the flames, only to find his shield slamming directly into the axe-bladed head of Feather's Edge, Sky's halberd. Before Rain could react, Sky triggered the rifle built into the halberd's shaft, its barrel projecting out between the two blades that formed the weapon's head. While the shield took the bullet, the impact still sent Rain staggering back, leaving him open to Cardin, who stepped in with another powerful swing of his mace.

Meanwhile, Piper found herself descending right towards Russel, who swung one of his daggers, Shortwings, at her. A crescent of flames leapt off the blade's edge, flying at her. Her fingers dancing, Piper quickly directed her orbs, their ring-formation transitioning from beneath her feet to between her and the incoming attack. The crescent of flame splashed against the shimmering black and violet plane of energy that filled the space between the circling orbs, before the entire formation shot forward, the ebony energy of the gravity-Dust surging ahead of Piper. Russel jumped into a backflip, barely managing to get out of the way before the powerful gravity-field smashed the floor where he'd been standing.

At the sight of Cardin's mace swinging in, Rain gave up his effort to recover from the stumble Sky's attack had sent him into, jumping just high enough to get his feet off the floor, allowing The Executioner to slam into the face of Pench Kaateh, Rain's shield. The impact sent him flying backwards.

Even as he fell back, Rain detached his shield from his arm, the plates separating to reveal the membrane between them, the entire device taking to the air, swooping around in front of him, its edges slashing at Cardin, who swung his mace again to bat it away. Sky rushed past his leader, aiming to try and attack Rain, while his shield was busy with Cardin. However, tugging on the blue, glowing string with the fingers of his right and left hands allowed Rain to bring the kite swooping back around, faster than either fighter anticipated. Cardin dodged back out of the way, but Rain's real intention was to bring the string around to slash at Sky, who barely managed to brace the shaft of his halberd against it.

Even then, the string simply bent around Feather's Edge's shaft, threatening to simply wrap around and slash into him from behind. Sky ducked forward, escaping being cut, and trying to lower his weapon out of the way. However, the contact had tightened the arc of the kite's swooping flight, sending the string sliding up along the shaft of the halberd faster than Sky had anticipated, where it caught on the lower, curved section of the halberd's blade, the arc of the kite's flight tightening further, bringing it right back to Rain's right arm, where it reconnected with the brace that contained the spool of string he used to guide the kite, and as a weapon in its own right.

Now Rain pulled, bringing Sky stumbling in towards him, drawing back his shield, which had reoriented into its attack-configuration, preparing to thrust the bladed tip right at Sky's chest. Of course, with both fighters bound together, neither was very mobile, especially in Rain's case, as he'd had to anchor himself in order to pull Sky in. As a result, there was no hope of him dodging as Cardin charged in from his left, swinging The Executioner down at Rain's head.

With a flash of yellow light, another shot from Ciel's railgun struck the head of Cardin's mace, knocking his swing off-course, and sent it down to strike the blade of Sky's extended halberd, both weapons crashing down. Rain had pulled Sky in by pulling his shield and right arm across his chest. Now, as Sky stumbled closer, he put some slack into the line, allowing him to unhook it from behind the blade of Feather's Edge, before swinging the shield back across his body in a powerful slash, striking both Cardin and Sky, and sending them falling back.

Russel, on the other hand, jumped and flipped with an agility that would have made Dove proud, while slashing out with his swords to parry the attacks of Pulsar's orbs, which swooped in, striking with force that belied their size, infused as they were with the power of gravity-Dust. He was forced to carefully deflect them, rather than try to strike them away directly, or Shortwings would be knocked right out of his hands.

Piper wasn't content with simply standing back and guiding her weapon's movements. Even as Russel fought furiously to keep her weapon at bay, she charged right in, lashing out with a series of unarmed strike, always keeping one hand open to guide half her orbs, even when striking with the other. Her hands were also sheathed with gravity-Dust energy, increasing the force behind her blows, a single hit threatening to deal critical damage to Russel's Aura, if she managed to land a blow.

All the while, her orbs swooped and dived. At times, they functioned as guided projectiles. At others, they formed into circling formations, creating gravity fields that threatened to immobilize Russel in place, forcing him to dodge around them, the break in his concentration, always trying to keep track of both Piper and her weapons, keeping him from finding an opportunity to counterattack.

Meanwhile, while struggling to recover from the hit he'd just taken, Cardin raised his eyes, dismayed to see Ciel loading another round from across the ring. The last thing he'd been expecting was for Team CPPR's leader to stand back and bombard them from long-range. Worse still, the speed and power of the projectiles her weapon fired represented a serious threat.

Glancing at Russel, Cardin got an idea. "Russel! Go long!"

Russel nodded, then jumped back away from Piper, disengaging from her entirely. His jump took him back towards Cardin, who levered back his mace, allowing Russel to plant his boots against the shaft, before putting all his strength into the swing. Triggering the fire-Dust crystal in The Executioner produced an explosion that accelerated the swing even more, allowing Cardin to launch Russel into an arcing flight, which sent him descending right for Ciel.

Russel threw his body into a rapid forward flip, spinning end over end. As he did, winds swirled out from hid daggers, enveloping his body and heightening his rotation even further, giving him the appearance of a wind-blown Boarbatusk. Upon reaching Ciel, he lashed out with both feet in a powerful kick. Ciel immediately brought her weapon up to counter, blocking Russel's kick with her upraised gauntlet. However, the combination of Russel's weight, momentum, and the wind gathering at his feet, allowed him to send Ciel flying back with a cry of surprise from her, as she was thrown all the way back into the tall grass on CPPR's side of the field. Russel dashed after her, both combatants disappearing amid the waving stalks.

With a creaking groan, one of the trees toppled over, landing with an incredible crash that shook that entire side of the field. Penny retrieved her swords, one of which immediately flashed up to intercept a shot from Dove's weapon. A second later, she arranged Floating Array into another sword-wheel formation, and sent it whirling through the trunk of the tree that Dove's shot had come from. The blades sliced effortlessly through the wood, sending that tree crashing down as well.

Above, a blurring figure darted into the branches of another tree, Dove grumbling under his breath as he settled out of sight, only to yelp and dive aside, as another sword pierced right through the bark he'd been resting his back against, threatening to impale him from behind.

Dammit! I can't even hide from her, thought Dove irritably as he spun to take another shot at Penny, only to see her effortlessly intercept that bullet as well. He landed amidst the foliage of another tree, only to have to dodge again, as three of Penny's swords transformed into guns and opened fire on his position, forcing him to flip aside from the lancing shafts of emerald energy.

It's like she's got radar or something, he thought. It must be her Semblance.

Had she known his thoughts, it would certainly have suited Penny to have Dove think that, seeing as she actually was equipped with radar, as part of an entire suite of advanced detection systems, including motion detectors and infrared sensors that allowed her to track her target through multiple mediums. Because of that, every time Dove tried to hide, Penny's attacks were swift to follow him, keeping him on the move, and forcing him to focus on evading her, rather than forming a strategy to attack her with.

Worse still, Dove was rapidly running out of footholds, Penny's attacks rapidly bringing down the trees around her, leaving him with only so many to escape to. In the end, Dove realized that his only hope against her was to go on the offensive. That was a tall order though, considering the incredible firepower Penny had on her side. Even close combat was ill-advised, given her monstrous strength.

Still, there was nothing he could gain by keeping at a distance. All that would result in was him being slowly cornered, until Penny's attacks left him with no place to escape to. With an annoyed grimace, Dove kicked off his current perch, and launched himself towards Penny.

Naturally, Penny's swords swiftly flew to intercept him. Dove twisted and flipped, sometimes using the flats of the blades themselves as footholds to evade their attacks, while his sword whipped out to deflect slashes, and he fired bullets to knock other swords off-course. The result was that he slipped amidst Penny's attacks to descend on her from above, slashing Hallshott right at her head.

But then Penny wasn't there anymore. While Dove had been closing in, Penny had launched one of her swords behind her. It had embedded itself into the trunk of one of the few trees still standing. Like all of her swords, this one was tethered to Penny's backpack by a wire, so thin as to be invisible, most of the time. Now, with a whirring sound, the wire connected to that sword retracted, pulling Penny out of the line of Dove's slash.

Dove landed awkwardly, growling in frustration, particularly as he was forced to evade again, jumping out of the way as Penny's other swords continued to slash at him, while her guns harassed him from farther out.

Landing after her dodge, Penny reached behind her, closing her hand around the sword embedded in the tree, and pulling it free. From there, she charged forward again, rushing to attack Dove directly. Seeing her coming, Dove quickly jumped and flipped, before dropping down into a crouch, evading her swift, powerful slashes, all while her other swords continued to attack him from other vectors, in an attempt to hem him in. Despite the power he knew Penny possessed, Dove resisted the urge to disengage from his melee against Penny. At the moment, her own body was the greatest impediment to her remote attacks, creating a space she couldn't strike through, unless she wanted to hit herself.

Jumping over another of Penny's horizontal slashes, Dove lashed out with a booted foot, slamming it directly into Penny's cheek. To his shock, he might as well have kicked the side of a mountain. Penny didn't even flinch at the impact, instead grinning excitedly, even with her cheek mashed slightly by the sole of Dove's boot. Instead, Dove found that he'd pushed himself back away from her. Unable to stop it, he went into another flip, landing a short distance away. What is that girl made of?

There wasn't any time to ponder that conundrum in any detail though. Once again, Penny's swords flashed in again, menacing him like a swarm of hornets, forcing Dove to dance and dodge, while parrying in equal measure. At this rate, he was bound to run out his stamina, well before Penny ran out hers, ensuring that she would catch him eventually. Dove realized that his only hope was to somehow land a decisive blow, and take Penny out of the match.

Now he was the one closing in, diving amidst the seeking tips and edges of Penny's swords, rolling past the beams fired by her guns, and coming up right inside Penny's reach, now attacking furiously. Penny still held her own sword in one hand, but showed herself to be less-effective on the defensive than she was on the offensive, at least so far as it came to using a weapon in her hand. A part of Dove silently rejoiced to find an actual limitation in the orange-haired girl's seemingly all-encompassing array of advantages. Her melee attacks were all about power, employing far less precision than when she was using her blades remotely.

Thrusting Hallshott at Penny, Dove smirked as Penny moved her blade to catch and parry it, only to be knocked staggering back as he squeezed the weapon's trigger, firing a bullet into Penny's collarbone (or where her collarbone would have been, had she had a human body). Recoiling, Penny quickly directed her other swords to rain down on Dove from above. However, he swiftly dove into a roll across the ground, which sent him rolling past Penny's legs. Coming back onto his feet, he remained crouched, while spinning around to slash at her shins. His attack struck home, and Penny staggered forward this time.

Dove kicked off the ground, launching himself into a flip that carried him just barely over Penny's head, barely escaping the emerald shafts of energy that pierced the ground where he'd been crouched before. He went into a spin as he came back down, allowing him to bring Hallshott back around and slash it across Penny's chest, staggering her yet again.

Landing, Dove went on the offensive again, attacking furiously, firing shots from Hallshot's gun, while thrusting and slashing with the blade in a rapid offense, trying to overwhelm his opponent in melee combat, before she could retake momentum. Gotta keep pushing, he thought. His only hope lay in bringing Penny's Aura down into the critical range, before she could find a counterattack that would work against him. This would be his only chance to eke out a victory in this match.

Penny's swords swept in, and Dove was forced to backflip away, the weapons revolving around Penny like a razor-edged fence, cutting him off from her. With a grimace, Dove realized that she'd succeeded in breaking his attack. Now she was free to go back on the offensive all over again.

On top of that, while he hadn't taken too much damage, Dove's limbs were still shaking from the sheer exertion and adrenaline. Keeping up with Penny was one of the hardest battles he'd ever fought, even considering all his matches against Pyrrha. Avoiding her attacks, launching his own; all of it was forcing him to push his body past all his previous limits. Only his continuous bouts against Pyrrha could have prepared him for a match of this intensity.

Penny, on the other hand, didn't even seem winded (largely because she didn't have lungs, but Dove didn't need to know that). She seemed almost completely tireless. The hits Dove had landed hadn't even inconvenienced her. Her lips remained pulled back in an exuberant grin, like that of a child playing a favorite game. Dove realized that, for all the difficulties he was giving her, or even because of them, Penny was having an absolute blast fighting him.

Then again, look who's talking, Dove thought to himself, realizing that his own lips were pulled up in a tight, enthusiastic smile. I'm having the time of my life here.

Penny directed her arms forward, sending her Floating Array on the attack once more. Dove charged forward, meeting the flying swords head-on, the ring of steel on steel echoing throughout the arena.