12

It was yet another beautiful day at Beacon.

The sun was shining.

The birds were chirping.

I rolled backwards as an axe kick slammed into where I had been moments earlier, my hands coming up to wade off oncoming blows.

I was in a fight again.

You know, fairly typical start to the day at Beacon.

A fist slammed into my guard, rocking me back slightly but not breaking my guard.

Going to have to try harder than that friend.

I wove to the side, diving into my opponent's chest hoping to make this to an infight but my opponent flipped backwards a scything kick forcing me to back off as they regained their distance.

I snapped out with a kick which my opponent met with his own, the impact reverberating down my leg before I threw my head to the left as a foot lashed out at where my nose had been moments prior, forcing me to back off even further.

Capitalising on my stumble my opponent surged forward with the intention of ending this fight, a clenched fist blurring forward in a complex twisting movement which no doubt would have ended the fight if it struck me.

Which was precisely why I snatched the offending wrist out of the air, having learnt from my earlier attempts would lead to nothing more than a dislocated arm and a rapid defeat on my part.

With one hand maintain my grip on my opponent I lanced out with my left fist firing a cross, hoping to catch my opponent solidly across the chin.

Only for my opponent to spin out of the way of the blow handily, breaking out of the grip I had on his wrist and in turn acquiring a death grip of his own on my wrist.

I felt the blood drain from my face.

Oh blast.

That's not going to end well.

Sure enough, the next thing I knew there was a yank on my arm and the world was spinning before I was slammed into the ground, the air in my lungs exiting with a whoosh.

Oh I'm going to be feeling that one in the morning.

"And that's the match!" Pyrrha announced from the sidelines raising one hand and indicating to the side of the ring opposing my own. "The winner in this match is Lie Ren."

A hand extended down to my fallen form which I gladly took pulling myself to my feet where a smiling Lie Ren, a light bruise on one cheek from where I'd surprised him with a snap kick after he'd blocked my first one only to use his grip to snap my other leg into his face with a spinning back kick during round two.

But it seemed it wasn't enough to prevent Ren from once again claiming the crown as hand to hand champion of team JNPR.

Nora cheered loudly from the sideline as did the twelve kids who were waving flags bearing our team name on them, each one a variety of either Ren, Pyrrha, Nora or my own colours.

The sparring matches between us had grown more and more frequent as the time till the festival shortened and it was during one of our brainstorming ideas that Pyrrha came upon an idea.

With the exception of herself, no one else on the team had ever fought in a tournament that had an audience as large as the Vytal Festival Tournament, nor experienced the roar of the crowd as it watched on. As a way of giving us a taste of this my partner had suggested that we had the kids act as our very own crowd, having them be as loud and obnoxious as possible to try and distract us.

And take it from me, when it comes to being loud and obnoxious these guys make it an art form. This culminated in the full on brawl taking place in the stand with Team Ren led by our resident kung Fu enthusiast Po clashing with team Pyrrha led by Kira, the fight nearly tumbling into the arena itself before Ren made use of the distraction it provided to win the match. Which in turn nearly lead to yet another brawl breaking out.

But you certainly couldn't say that the practice matches hadn't paid off. With a little advice from Pyrrha the rest of us had proven to quickly adapt to the experience of the roaring 'crowd' before us. With the exception of Nora who took to fighting with a crowd just as well as she did fighting anywhere else. With a great deal of laughter and explosions.

And our hand to hand training had paid off in dividends, Whereas Ren and I were already fairly solid with our own styles, with our assistance Pyrrha and Nora had made the foundations of their own unarmed styles and were moving into their own as they grew more experienced, adding new movements based on what worked and abandoning those that were not.

Tob and Peter had proved to be an ample help in that regard as well, Peter demonstrating proper technique and movements for whatever form they were attempting while the sharp eyes of the Old Bastard served to pick out any flaws or mistakes the instance they appeared before they could become firmly entrenched into their own styles.

We were on the countdown to the final days before the tournament now and we had stepped up our training accordingly. What had once been one on one matches of first strike had now evolved into a full on four person free for all first strike, a fast paced and all together frantic affair of fast moving weapons and bodies forcing us to try to remain aware not only of the opponent we were currently engaging but also the other two fighters as well, less they slip a strike into your unprotected back when your guard was down.

And don't even get me started on the three on one matches.

I shuddered lightly.

They were just painful.

In other news we'd been discussing on who to send through to the next round provided of course that we made it into the next round of course for the aptly named two-man matches. My original suggestion had been for Pyrrha, who had obviously been the most experienced tournament fighter out of the four of us, her winning the Mistral tournament four years in a row a rather clear reminder of that, as well as her incredible aptitude in all ranges of combat. My second choice had been Ren because while he may not match Pyrrha in long range or even mid-range combat he doesn't specifically need to due to the fact he can straight up annihilate her in a close range fight, provided he isn't holding Stormflower of course, his incredible martial arts prowess and natural agility allowing him to weave through any weapons fire with minimal harm before using his superior hand to hand skills to kick the ever loving crap out of his opponent.

However Ren pulled me aside and quietly asked that I not put his name forward, reminding me of our conversation with Li Shang back at Dragon's passing, particularly his Uncle's request that Ren try and maintain a low profile for a while until the as of yet to be described by Ren 'them' had moved on.

Something tells me that having Ren fight in the middle of a stadium seating thousands of people , participating in an event that is televised live to the four kingdoms and beyond is precisely the opposite of what Shang meant. Having him be just another member of one of the dozens of dour man fights going on in the tournament was one thing. Having him be placed further into the spotlight by having him in the doubles round was another. So, that meant no Ren.

Nora was still in two minds about whether or not she wanted to be part of the doubles round. On one hand she wanted to have all the fun that came with hammering people in the face that Magnhild provided. On the other hand she was also wanting to attempt an upgrade on Magnhild, her father having developed something within his forge that Nora wanted to implement inside her weapon as soon as possible. Obviously that couldn't be now as Nora wouldn't be quite as effective on the four-man rounds with a disassembled weapon. But if Nora went into the next round she would have to delay her upgrade even further than she already had.

Decisions, decisions.

I shook my head and pulsed my aura lightly, soothing the dull ache that had started to set in after my match with Ren had ended. I walked over to my sheathed weapon, strapping my shield to my arm once more and unsheathing my blade, spinning it once with a flourish.

May as well end this session of sparring with something strenuous.

"Alright then guys, three on one first strike. You lose, you join the three and one of the three becomes the one. First single to last more than two minutes wins." I bent my knees slightly bracing myself for the fight to come as my three teammates turned towards me with less than gentle intentions in mind. I flicked a glance Pyrrha's way and quickly spoke again before Pyrrha got any ideas. "And no polarity from you Pyrrha."

The training strategy that Peter and the Old Bastard had put together as a way to break my partner's dependency on her Semblance was slowly but surely having an effect on the young huntress. Within those spars her polarity had no metal to grasp and thus she was forced to rely upon those senses her semblance had nearly deprived her of. She was by no means perfect but if Pyrrha is anything it's a quick study and with each match came closer and closer to matching me once again.

At least with the blinders still on anyway. She's still got something of a vulnerability to a well place bit of misdirection.

My partner pouted at that before smiling and drawing forth Miló with a flourish that mirrored my own, drawing my attention towards it.

And my time as the single in this match nearly came to an end as I flicked my head out of the way of a scything kick from Ren that nearly took my head clean off. Before I could commend Ren on his strategy as well as lambast him for failing to make the most of it I found myself rolling backwards away from a massive strike from Nora that shattered the ground where I was standing as Magnhild thundered into it. Coming to my feet once more I launched myself forward to strike at Nora during her momentary vulnerability only to have to abort my attack to deflect Pyrrha's strike as she hurdled her teammate Miló slamming solidly into my own blade before we both slammed into each other, shield against shield, each one trying to overpower the other.

My eyes caught sight of yet another threat and removed all force behind my defence, leaving Pyrrha stumbling forward as she overextended, helpfully blocking the movements of a charging Nora. I grinned before hesitating. I'd forgotten something. And with that Ren's fist caught me solidly between the shoulder blades on my back sending me skidding forward before I managed to halt myself.

I groaned and turned back around to see a smug looking Ren grinning at me, taking up a solid guard before turning his attention back towards an attacking Pyrrha and a wildly grinning Nora, Stormflower blurring as he fended off the two attackers.

Freaking ninjas with their ridiculous ninja stealth.

Seriously how the hell did Shang teach him how to move like that?

But that's not important right now.

What's important is putting a whooping on Ren for his little backstab there.

So long story short Nora managed to win our little game of ultimate first strike, if only by the fact that she managed to perform a master stoke of defenestration and not only hit the person who was the single at the time, Pyrrha but also managing to collect Ren and myself in the same strike knocking us out of the building and into the clearing before the fairgrounds.

Nora as victor had immediately demanded that we take a break at the showgrounds and see what new stalls had popped up, as the showgrounds seemed to be expanding further and further with every day closer to the tournament itself.

Something I was more than happy to do, at least until Nora had promptly turned me around and told me to go have a shower because I "reeked like sweaty socks." After a quick sniff check of my own agreed with the Valkyrie's opinion I waved my teammates goodbye heading back to my room and grabbing a fresh pair of clothes to take to the showers to change into.

I sighed as I rolled my head around my shoulders, a series of loud cracks ringing out as I did so. Gah I swear, every fight with Ren I seem to discover a new region of the body that can ache.

So just a little bit longer and I can wash this all off with a nice cold shower.

Just like home.

"Salutations!" A voice piped up cheerily in front of me.

I let out a yelp, an extremely masculine yelp mind you and stumbled back, one hand jumping up to clutch at my chest.

Son of a…

I felt my heart racing a hundred miles an hour

I didn't even hear her move close!

That was certainly terrifying.

"Hi there Penny!" I greeted her with a smile, doing my very best not seem as if she'd nearly caused me to have a small stroke at the shock she had just given me. "How are you doing today?"

Penny beamed happily back at me. "I am doing fantastic!" Penny replied, bouncing up and down on her heels much like the way I had seen Ruby do. Actually it was almost identical to the way I'd seen Ruby do it.

Was she mimicking the actions of her friends in an attempt to gain better social skills? I mean I'd seen the kids do it all the time while the orphanage but never by someone as old as Penny. I mean how little had she socially developed if she was looking at Ruby and I as bastions of social interaction?

Suddenly Penny thrust something towards me that she had somehow been hiding on her person, holding it before me. "Thank you for letting me borrow it. The stories within it were very entertaining."

I blinked, staring at the book for a moment before I comprehended what she said.

"You've already read all of it?" I repeated, flabbergasted. It hadn't been that long ago that I'd given Penny the book to borrow. "Did you sleep at all?" I joked with a slight chuckle, sliding the book under my arm as I did so.

Penny shook her head in response, her expression faltering somewhat. "No I did not." She answered, hesitating for a moment, looking torn. "I…don't sleep much." She revealed, turning away from me as she did so.

I kicked myself mentally.

I don't know the full story behind this but something tells me that I just took the conversation down a road I most certainly don't want it to be on.

Okay let's just take stock of what I know here.

Penny doesn't seem to need as much sleep as a regular person, if only by the fact I couldn't see any of the detrimental signs of insomnia in Penny's appearance. That might be because of her aura, her semblance or something else but the fact of the matter is that she while she doesn't sleep she still needs something to occupy her time. Can't really talk to someone as they'd likely be sleeping at that point while you couldn't really train much either, for much the same reason. Training isn't exactly a silent exercise after all.

Especially considering Penny's giant green laser of doom

So then she'd want something else to occupy her time, something that was quiet and wouldn't disturb anyone else.

Something like a story.

I forced a smile onto my face, and moved forward so Penny was facing me again. "So who was your favourite character?" I asked, dragging the conversation away from the minefield I'd inadvertently stepped into and bringing it back to the safety of fiction.

Penny smiled brightly, before she eagerly started talking once more. "The younger brother," Penny said definitively. "Even though he was only a suit of armour he still remained to be more human than many of the other characters in the book." Penny finished before she seemed to stutter for a second. "I-I'd like to be just like him."

I nodded with an encouraging smile. "From what I've seen Penny you're more than nice enough to be 'just like him' as you say." I said walking in step with her as I made my way back to return the book. "What was your favourite chapter? I mean the cliff hanger halfway through fifteen? Could not put the book down." I confessed, remembering the degree to which the book had dragged me in with its storyline.

Penny's eyes lit up and just like that we were deep in conversation about the Tale of Two Brothers, about how she felt when she discovered the Colonel's back story and his desire to become a leader who would lead the nation back to peace, of her horror when she learnt of the scarred man's role in the murder of the Mechanic's parents. By the time we had arrived back to the room that was serving as the new home for the kids and Tob during their time here we were well into a debate a debate on who would win in a fight between the Scarred man, with both arms tattooed as he was at the end of the story, against the Fuhrer with both swords in his prime.

"The only reason he lost in the first place was due to the fact that he was, quite literally, already running out of time! If he'd been at full strength and hadn't had his weapons destroyed like they were in the previous battle against the Greedy Prince then the Scarred man wouldn't stand a chance!" I argued, a grin on my face as I did so as Penny let out a huff in exasperation.

"On the contrary," She disagreed, shaking her head. "He had only possessed the power of his left arm for a relatively short time by that point. If he had been more experienced with the power of his left arm he would have won through a greater tactical advantage." She continued before turning to me, awaiting my response.

"Hey we never said anything about him being more practiced with his left arm." I objected, feeling the deck was no longer quite as stacked in my favour as it had once been.

Nora smiled winningly at me. "We never said anything about him not being more practiced with it either." She noted.

I paused at that.

"Touché."

I opened the door and walked into the room, sliding a Tale of Two Brothers back into its place within the packed shelves that served as the bookcase for the kids away from the orphanage.

Before we could continue any further we were interrupted by the sound of my scroll going off. I pressed the yellow diamond, causing the scroll to expand and a familiar face appeared on the screen.

"Jaune, my boy!" Peter's voice boomed through the scroll. "Excellent, you picked up the call. Could you make your way to my classroom? There's something that I'd like you and your teammates to see."

"Uh, sure Peter, I'll give them a call and tell them to meet me there." I said, slightly surprised by this out of the blue call.

Something he wants us to see?

Did he capture another Grimm and bring it into the classroom again?

God I hope not.

The last one escaped and Peter enlisted the help of my team to capture it again before Goodwitch found out as a 'surprise training exercise'.

Sure it was Peter.

Wait, crap Penny's still here.

I turned to Penny, who was still waiting by the door, seemingly hesitating to come in any further. "Sorry Penny, looks like I'm going to have to cut our discussion short for now."

"Oh." Penny said suddenly crestfallen, looking very much akin to a ship that had all the wind taken out of its sails. "Alright, thank you again for the book Jaune."

I stopped for a moment before I turned and walked back to the bookcase, trailing my hand across the spines until I found what I was looking for.

"Here." I said to Penny, handing her the book I had removed from the packed bookcase. "Now that you're done with A Tale of Two Brothers you can start reading this one."

Penny blinked at me for a second before looking down and reading the title aloud. "Part-time Protector." She murmured, one hand tracing the title as she did so.

I nodded. "It's always been one of my favourites." I admitted, pushing a stray strand of hair out of my eyes as I did so. "And when you're done with this one, I'll lend you the next one in the series."

"There's more than one?" Penny said with a tone of wonder in her voice.

I raised a hand, waggling it back and forth in a 'kind of' mime. "Technically a great many more than one but for now let's just stick with the main trilogy shall we?" I said with a grin, stepping past Penny and closing the door behind me. "Just ring me on my scroll when you're done with it." I called out, dashing off towards Peter's classroom, waving goodbye as I did so. "Bye Penny!"

"Goodbye Jaune!" I heard Geppeto's daughter call out behind me as I rounded the corner, making good time towards the Grimm Studies classroom.

I briefly considered going for my origin destination of the shower before I met up with Peter before deciding against it.

I mean, come on.

Information about the Vytal Festival?

No way am I missing out on that.

Weaving through the crowd I found myself before the door to Peter's classroom and I opened the door, stepping in and quickly closing it behind me, the noise of the hustle and bustle of the crowd instantly becoming muted. Seriously Beacon is starting to feel ridiculously packed with the amount of international students we have going here now.

"Glad to see you could make it Jaune, my boy." Peter called out from his spot behind his desk, raising a hand in greeting as I entered. "For a second there I was worried you might have gotten lost."

I raised an eyebrow at that. "Ha ha." I said dryly, rolling my eyes as I did so. "I was with Penny at the time so I couldn't exactly just teleport myself here now could I?"

Peter looked up from whatever he was working on at that. "Oh?" He said questioningly, eyes sparkling slightly as he did so. "And what did Penny want from you?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "She just wanted to return the book she'd borrowed. Apparently she's already read it."

Peter sighed at that. "Yes, that would be about right wouldn't it?" He mused to himself before turning towards me as I looked questioningly at him. "Penny is a very…special girl. She's one of a kind." Peter started seemingly choosing his words carefully. "But because of her…condition…she hasn't really had a chance to experience the world much, hasn't had the opportunity to discover who she is in this wide world of ours." Peter continued on, looking at me carefully as he did so.

I nodded, the things Peter was saying easily sliding in place next to what I already knew about the young girl. "She did seem quite sheltered, when I first met her." I agreed, thinking back to my first and admittedly odd encounter with Penny. "Was she sick when she was younger or something?"

Peter hummed in response, "Let's simply say that her father can be rather protective of young Penny and let's leave it at that shall we?" Peter suggested lightly before he stood up, making his way from around the table towards me. "Besides that's hardly the reason I called you here today now Jaune."

I stopped at that, remembering why it was that Peter wanted me here in the first place.

"You said something about the Vytal Tournament?" I put forward, waiting for my old mentor to fill in the blanks.

Professor Port chortled at that. "Indeed, my boy. Now then what can you tell me about the Vytal Festival Tournament?"

I fought back a groan at that, if only barely. "Really Peter, a pop quiz? Now?"

Peter shrugged unrepentantly. "Call it the teacher in me. Humour me."

Well.

Alright then.

I took a breath, going over what I knew in my head before I started talking. "The Vytal festival Tournament, is only held, funnily enough, during the Vytal Festival, which itself only takes place once every two years. It commemorates the peace that was stuck here in Vale between the four warring nations something like seventy years ago?" I said with a question, honestly unsure as to the length of time that had passed since then.

"Eighty years actually Jaune, my boy." Peter corrected me, waggling a finger as he did so. Which makes this tournament here in Vale the fortieth annual Vytal Festival, and subsequently also the fortieth tournament as well. But please continue on.

I took a breath, wracking my brain for more details on the tournament which I had picked up from a variety of sources, from Peter himself, to other students, even a special program that I'd watched briefly on my scroll. "It was designed as a way to test the strength of the various kingdoms warriors in a relatively safe manner, a way to ensure that the huntsman were driven to strive even further than before. It's typically divided into three stages, with a varying number of rounds depending on the number of participants that year. Stage one has all four members of the team involved in a four on four match, stage two has both teams elect two members for a two on two match and the Final stage has one member from that team fight it out for the championship."

"Jolly good!" Peter praised me, clapping his hands together lightly.

I shrugged nonchalantly but I couldn't deny the part of me that felt pleased at receiving Peter's praise.

"And what do you know about the arena where the tournament itself takes place?" Peter asked cutting my basking short as Peter waited for my response.

I went to continue on before I paused, frowning as a thought struck me. I had literally no idea where the arena for the tournament was. "Uh where is the Vytal Festival going to be held anyway?" I asked, scratching my head as I did so.

I mean the training rooms were certainly sufficient for smaller duels but from what Peter was talking about, and given the massive crowds that watched the Vytal Festival tournament in person each year it certainly seemed like it would be insufficient to accommodate the sheer number of people.

Peter blinked at me for a moment before laughing heartily, slapping me on the back with enough force to nearly send me crashing through the desk instead of merely into it. "Jaune my boy, it will take place in the same place it does every year, in Amity Coliseum."

I nodded at that "Amity Coliseum." I repeated to myself with a nod. Okay then.

Wait a minute…

"Where the heck is Amity Coliseum? I've never even seen anything here in Vale that could qualify as something like that." I argued, trying to wrap my head around what Peter was saying.

"That's because it was in Atlas." Tob's voice interjected, his chair rolling into the room as I turned towards him. "Kind of hard to find the Coliseum when it's not in the same continent as you are laddie." He added, a wry smirk on his face.

I scowled.

That ass is enjoying this I just know it.

"So what they're going to drag it over here then? How on Remnant are they going to do that?"

Tob scoffed before he twitched his head towards the window where General Ironwood's massive airship floated above the city, a flurry of smaller ships surrounding it. "What you thought Jimmy flew that great bucket of bolts because it looked pretty?" Tob shook his head, even as I bit back a snort of laughter at the thought of referring to General Ironwood as 'Jimmy'. "No Laddie, he was clearing the path."

I stepped up to the window, looking out to where he had indicated, trying to make sense of it. "Clearing a path for wh…" I stopped, the words dying in my mouth as I caught sight of it on the horizon.

Is that?

It can't be…

"No way." I breathed still struggling to comprehend the object approaching Vytal.

Peter chortled at that staring out at the horizon as he stepped up to stand beside me. "The collective efforts of four kingdoms working together can make for some truly wondrous sights, don't they Jaune my boy?" Peter asked, clearly taking in my gobsmacked appearance.

Tob grunted. "I still say it looks like a bloody spinning top." He grumbled staring out at it as he did so.

Peter laughed at that. "Well Geppeto was one of the lead designers so it could have been on purpose." He added slyly, chortling again as the Old Bastard let out an oath.

It was incredible.

Soaring through the air as if it was a balloon an absolutely gargantuan structure was approaching. Hanging from the bottom of the structure was if my eyes did not deceive me, the largest dust crystal I'd ever seen, comically huge in comparison to the regular dust crystals that I could have held within one hand. If I had to guess that would be what was causing the structure to fly. Or at the very least float. Given what one could do with a small amount of dust, an amount that gargantuan could easily achieve something like this, through the sheer cosmic bullshit that most dust seemed to run on anyway. As one travelled further up the structure the crystal transitioned into concrete and metal, the structure beginning to spread further outwards like some kind of bizarre floating inverse pyramid.

Or as the Old Bastard had said earlier, like a spinning top. That description was more apt than I first realized as I began to make out the fact that the entire structure was slowly rotating even as it travelled across the ocean, the waters below not even cresting in its presence.

In fact it was way above the ocean's surface, sitting high in the sky even further up then all but Beacon's tallest tower in comparison.

And in that moment as I stared up at the wondrous sight above me, a terrible realisation struck me.

It's in the sky Jaune.

That means you're going to have to get in a dustplane Jaune.

A dustplane.

Tob let out a roar of laughter at the look on my face. "Ha! I told you he'd go white when he realised it." The Old Bastard crowed, rolling towards Peter as he did so.

My erstwhile mentor let out a sigh and pulled some Lien from his coat pocket and handed it to the wheelchair bound man, who let out a cackle in response.

Hold the scroll, were they betting on my reaction to Amity Coliseum?

They were, weren't they?

Son of a…

"Wow!" Nora's voice squealed behind me before she zoomed forward, pressing her face up against the glass in a vain attempt to get a better look at the floating citadel. "That looks so cool!"

Ren slowly stepped across the room to take a place next to Nora letting out a low whistle as he did so. "Well that's certainly…visible." Ren noted, his bland tone at odds with his raised brows.

Pyrrha let out a little giggle of her own. "It's far more impressive inside of it as well." My partner whispered conspiratorially as she looked up at the floating stadium.

I looked at Pyrrha, surprised at that. "You've already been inside it?" I asked, blinking as I did so.

Pyrrha shrugged her shoulders. "It was quite some time ago. I went with my family to watch the thirty-seventh annual tournament when it was in Mistral." Pyrrha looked happy for a moment before she grimaced her expression saddening. "That was the last time my father took me out somewhere." She half whispered to herself, clearly pained by the realisation.

I placed a hand on Pyrrha's shoulder comfortingly while internally my mind rushed for a way to try and divert the conversation towards something else.

"What can you tell us about the arena itself?" Ren's voice interjected, directing my attention back towards the room where my only male teammate was addressing Peter and Tob. "I'm guessing it's more than just your standard fighting ring that floats."

Cheers Ren, good work revamping the conversation.

Tob barked out a laugh at that. "You're not wrong there laddie. You see the arena itself was designed with the idea of…gah, how did they put it again Peter?" he asked, apparently struggling to forget the exact words.

"A hunter can be placed in any number of environments, so a hunter must be able to adapt to any kind of environment." Peter quoted, smiling softly as he seemingly remembered it being said.

The old man grunted at that. "Yeah, that. So because of that idea the arena itself is something rather unique in that regard laddie." He said before stopping, eyeballing me as he waited.

I narrowed my eyes back at him.

I'm not asking you.

Not going to give you the satisfaction.

"What makes it so special?" Nora piped up, skipping back from where she had been pressed up against the window.

I bit back a smirk.

Didn't ask you, so you couldn't make me look like an idiot again.

Suck it.

Peter piped up at that, a holographic image appearing on the board. "What Tob is referring to is the fact that at the start of each match two environments are selected generally mirroring that of a locale in Remnant or otherwise based upon a certain element. For example a fire type environ would likely resemble something akin to a volcano as well as having a number of red dust crystal formations growing as well."

"Which leads me to my next point lads and lasses." Tob spoke up, drawing our attention back towards him. "When you are fighting in a match with the arena it's not enough simply for one to only adapt to one's surroundings, you've got to know how to make use of them as well. Otherwise your opponent's are going to do if for you and plant their boots firmly up your arses in the process."

I nodded at that. It made sense I guess. If you couldn't adapt to your environment and your opponent could then you're already giving them a distinct advantage over you, which isn't something you ever want to be giving to an opponent in the first place.

"So, that brings us to our latest training exercise team JNPR. Tob and I shall place a variety of targets around the field as well as a number of miscellaneous objects and artefacts that have been known to turn up in the tournament before. Your goal is to make use of them, and only them to take out your targets while defending yourself from enemy fire provided by Tob here before time runs out."

Tob coughed at that drawing my attention. "I'd recommend that you go drown yourself in a river for a bit first laddie, you smell like the southern end of a northbound horse." He remarked his nose scrunching up at the apparent stench I was giving off. I turned towards Peter looking for some support only for him to recoil away as well.

My eyebrow twitched.

I turned and walked towards the exit of the room, catching sight of my teammates doing their very best to maintain a straight face, slight smirks or giggles breaking through at times.

"You shall rue this day." I promised them, giving them all a death glare as I stopped at the door before turning and making my way out.

"Of course, fearless leader!" Ren's voice cried out from inside the room quickly followed by a snort of laughter and I immediately stormed back, narrowing my eyes at Ren and shaking my fist at him even as Nora and Pyrrha all but rolled on the ground in restrained laughter.'

"Rue!" I pronounced loudly before it turned and made my way to the showers, fresh clothes still in hand.

Geppeto Polendina fought back a yawn, pushing sleep out of his eyes as he walked forward, taking a sip of the sleep defeating nectar that was coffee out of his thermos. Gods what a mess. Ever since James had decided that taking over the security for the Vytal Festival was a good idea the armed presence of Atlas' mechanical forced had nearly quadrupled in size.

That meant quadruple the amount of wear and tear being done on all of the mechs, on the planes on the robots, and damn near everything else. All of which required near constant upkeep by the end of it, with each repair job revealing yet another new problem that supposedly only Geppeto himself could solve.

He ran a free hand through is shock of white hair, sighing as he did so. Honestly, with all the additions to his workload plus the constant diagnostics and upgrades for Penny it was a miracle he was getting any sleep at all.

And he still hadn't solved how that Altesian Knight had gone form benign protector to unstoppable killing machine in the blink of an eye. The few remaining parts had very little in the way of facts to provide while the truth and the firewall data had provided precisely nothing. As far was the firewall was concerned nothing had breached it at all, it hadn't even registered it as being there, let alone breaching it.

The camera footage of the Knight beforehand was even more perplexing. As far as the camera had been concerned utterly nothing had happened, nothing had so much as approached it. And for a moment he'd believed it as well.

Right until he'd noticed something out of the corner of his eye.

In one of the scenes he'd seen one of his aides Gen walk by in the reflection of the android's shell, absently fiddling with an AK-130's arm as he did so.

Only to later see Gen walk by it doing the exact same thing supposedly thirty minutes later, without having walked back in the first place.

A loop.

From there the conclusion was not a good one. It wasn't just the Knight that had been affected. So to had the camera that was guarding it, perhaps even more than that. He'd spent every moment he could spare trying to look for an explanation but had still come up frustratingly empty.

He was pulled away from his musings when he came up to pass by the door to Penny's room and saw that the light was still on, visible from the cracks were under the door. Geppeto raised a brow at that. A light still on at this hour? Now that was something new. What on Remnant was she doing in there?

He tapped his scroll on the access panel on the door, the master override quickly unlocking it and the door slid open revealing the inside. Sitting on her bed was Penny, the lights still on but it was what was held within his daughter's arms that truly grabbed his attention.

"Now where did you get your hands on that my dear?" Geppeto asked lightly stepping through the door as he did so.

Penny started, looking up from where she had been enthralled by the book. "Father!" she exclaimed shocked, hurriedly picking herself up from when she had been sitting on the bed. "What are you doing here this late at night?"

Geppeto chuckled at that. "What I need a reason to come see my favourite daughter?" he asked, smiling lightly as he did so.

Penny looked at him oddly at that. "But I'm your only daughter?" she said quizzically, her head cocking to one side as she did so.

Geppeto shrugged his shoulders at that. "Bah, semantics. Now then tell me, have you been enjoying that book?"

His daughter nodded rapidly at that. "Oh yes, it was leant to me by Jaune after I finished the last one." She closed the book and raised it up showing the cover of the book to him.

"Part-time Protector." He read aloud, a hand coming up to grasp his chin in a pondering manner. "Now that's a blast from the past isn't it?"

His daughter blinked at him. "You know this story?"

Geppeto smiled lightly. "You know when I read this book when I was about your age." He informed her, one hand coming up to pat her on the head lightly. "How about you and I read some together, does that sound like a nice idea?"

Penny's face lit up like he'd just suggested it was her birthday. "Really father?" She breathed smiling happily before she seemed to remember something. "Don't you have work to do for General Ironwood?"

Geppeto gave her a frank look at that, messing up her hair with one hand causing Penny to let out a startled cry at that, trying to fend him off as she did so. "Don't you worry about that now Penny. Whatever work Jimmy wants me to do will keep until the morning."

And with that he took a seat by his daughter's side opening up the book and flicking forward to the page that he'd spotted it being on before it was closed. "I'm glad you and this Jaune fellow are getting along." He remarked as he flicked through the pages, his other hand still firmly gripping his thermos of coffee. "He seems like a nice fellow."

Penny nodded her head at that. "Yes Father, he is very nice to me. He even says he is my friend!" She said beaming happily. "It is so nice to have friends."

Outwardly Geppeto smiled encouragingly, still flicking through the pages but inwardly he could not deny the great pang of pain that struck him at her words. Oh Penny.

Penny's creation and by no means been a planned affair. Instead it had been something of a miracle. What had started as nothing more than an attempt to make a new android frame that was more intelligent than the current models, something capable of dealing with complex problems without direct input had somehow turned into the most unlikely of things.

A living thing.

A girl.

In that moment he, Geppeto Polendina had become a father, albeit not in the usual manner. That being said he'd reacted to the news in the manner of great many expectant fathers had reacted through the course of history.

He'd collapsed to the floor in a dead faint, the readings showing the clear presence of a self-sustaining aura clattering free from his hands.

From then he'd done everything he could to ensure that this new life he'd bought into this world would be safe. The fact her chassis was an experimental fighting unit was a good starting point but never let it be said that he couldn't find something new to add to a design.

Hell he'd lost count to the number of upgrades he'd given Penny at this point. But while he'd been more than capable when it came to ensuring that she couldn't be harmed physically when it came to ensuring that she had a seemingly normal upbringing…

He grimaced. Well that had been a lot more difficult to accomplish. His work had him travelling all around the world, to long forgotten cities and crumbling ruins in search of more Lost Tech, searching for new ways to improve the situation for this world of theirs. As well as the little side-project that he'd been looking into for Ozpin and the others although that remained as fruitless a search today as it was then. The point was that there wasn't exactly much in the way of possible friends for his young daughter during his journeys, and he'd hesitated to reveal her true nature to the world wary of what they might try and do in response.

He worried that they might try and dissect her in a vain attempt to understand how she came to be and then try to mass produce her. Geppeto shook his head at that. His daughter was one of a kind, utterly unique and her various upgrades while useful for her were utterly unfeasible for a mass produced unit. The amount of maintenance they required was staggering sometimes and that was only for one person.

That was why he'd taken up the job with Atlas in the first place. Not only did it provide a guaranteed financial stability, as well as access to top tier materials for Penny it also gave his daughter a chance to make friends of her own, especially with the fact the Vytal Festival had been approaching.

And make friends she had, albeit with someone he'd never expected to see in a million years. Particularly looking like…that.

What on Remnant had happened?

"Father?" Penny's inquisitive voice spoke up, dragging his attention away from his inward musings. "Is something the matter?"

He smiled lightly, "Nothing for you to worry about Penny my dear."

For a few minutes they were simply enjoying each other's company as they read the book, progressing further into the story with each turned page before Penny turned away from the book and looked at him, seemingly unsure of what to say.

Geppeto provided a little encouragement. "Was there something you wanted to ask me?"

"I did have a question for you father." Penny spoke up, looking directly into her father's eyes as she did do. "One of the guards used a term to describe Jaune that I wasn't quite sure of so I wanted to ask if you knew what it meant?"

"Ask away then my dear." He replied taking a sip from his thermos as he did so.

"What does it mean for one to be a 'boyfriend'?"

Geppeto choked on his coffee.

I sneezed loudly, my eyes snapping shut instinctively as a reaction.

Gah what is with me lately?

Has someone been carting Forever Fall tree sap around campus or something?

Enough about that Team RWBY's match is on right now!

The match so far had bene pretty spectacular, and the locale they were fighting in was pretty amazing as well.

It was one of the first times such a diametrically opposed environ had been created, one half looking very much akin to the molten earth of a ready to pop volcano whereas the other was more along the lines of a freezing glacier, each of course interspersed with a variety of dust crystal outcropping of varying sizes.

Their opponents were certainly no pushovers either but without a doubt the greatest threat on that field was Yang's current opponent, one Arslan Alatan, the leader of team AWBN from Haven and without a doubt one of the most proficient hand to hand fighters I'd ever witnessed.

I mean, she wasn't Ren good, but she was a damn sight closer than nearly anyone else I'd seen so far. Added to that was her quite frankly monstrous strength, her attacks matching the blonde berserker of team RWBY blow for blow equally.

In addition to that had been the sight of Nora nearly going through a full on drool moment at the sight of one of team ABRN riding a hover board.

Which, as if often the case as I had come to realize at Beacon Academy, was also a gun.

I winced as a Yang was sent skidding onto an icy part of the stage by a savage kick from Arslan, who capitalised on her opponents' poor footing to land yet another massive blow onto her.

So far the fight had remained pretty neck and neck, all aura levels still well within the green. Save for the hover board rider, Reese Chloris. Whether it was due to a smaller aura pool or a more reckless fighting style her aura was well below that of her teammates, and of team RWBY.

Suddenly a great cheer roared up from the screen and I looked back from the scoreboards to see the aforementioned Reese sent flying out of the arena, slamming into the walls of the arena. Peter's voice boomed out of the speakers he was using as one of the commentators to the match as he stated that Reese had been eliminated by both ring out and aura level at the same time.

A quick instant replay had shown Blake making excellent use of her semblance to draw her opponent into a trap, before using the 'chain' of Gambol Shroud to essentially clothesline her off of her hover board, landing an additional kick to ensure her opponent wasn't going to be re-joining the match any time soon.

The match continued on with Weiss making an excellent use of the available ice dust to form a giant fist, capturing both of the male members of team ABRN before the fist transmuted into a giant frozen sphere which was quickly sent rolling for the nearest edge of the stage, clearly intending to remove the two fighters via ring out.

Only for Arslan to slide to a stop in front of the sphere and proceeded to shatter the thing into a million tiny pieces, her teammates most certainly dizzy but by no means out of the fight. AT least until Yang was launched at the remaining three members like a bullet via an elaborate move only made possible by the entirety of team RWBY. The glow of her hair and the red in her eyes was a clear indicator that Yang was making full use of those hits that Arslan had landed on her and was now returning them with interest.

And with that team RWBY had won their match, the four of them proceeding into the next round of the tournament.

And then the scene before us froze, the sound of the arena and the match muting instantly.

Tob rolled in front of us, the wheels of his chair spinning silently as he made his way to the front of the room before stopping. "That right there lasses and laddies, is what you're going to be doing inside the Vytal tournament. But that's not why I've called you here today."

Tob snapped his fingers and the screen changed and the two opposing teams appeared on either half of the board. "You just saw these two teams fight. I want you to work together to make a profile on each member of the two teams, weapons, strengths, weaknesses, the lot. And as you already know one of the teams personally, I'm expecting more than just a few stray details here and there."

He turned towards me then, gesturing for me to come forward where he was sitting. "You're team leader laddie, so I'm expecting you to lead the way with this." With that Tob wheeled his chair to the side, taking his place and observing us.

I stared at him for a moment before I nodded, standing up from where I had been sitting atop one of the desks and made my way to where Tob had been. "Alright," I started, bringing up my scroll and syncing it to the board, removing team RWBY from the screen. "For now we'll focus on team ABRN while the match is still fresh in our minds." I said, bringing up the picture for Arslan Altan, the leader of the team from Haven. "Let's begin with her. Ren you're our martial arts expert, what do you have to say about her?"

Ren let out a contemplative hum before he bought out his scroll manipulating the screen to bring up a few short frames of Arslan preforming a variety of techniques as she fought Yang. "These flowing techniques here seem very similar to Crane style, albeit with a few more hard techniques than one would expect of a traditionally soft style."

"The rope dart doesn't seem like much of a weapon as such." Pyrrha spoke up, bringing up an image of the item in question. "It seems more like a way to temporarily immobilise the opponent rather than to attack them outright."

Nora shrugged her shoulders at that. "Not as a direct conflict weapon maybe, but for a surprise attack I can see a well-placed use of that dart doing some serious damage."

I thought back to a moment in the fight and started searching my scroll for the scene for it. "The dart isn't just a weapon, it also augments her movement in the field." I noted letting out a hum as I found the scene I was looking for and bring it up on the screen. The screen displayed Arslan skating across the frozen part of the stage, anchoring her weapon into an ice formation to turn in a tight circle.

"She could use it to swing from as well by the look of it." Nora spoke up, propping her chin up under her fist. "It'd add a lot more to her aerial manoeuvrability as well. She's a strong huntress."

"But not a good leader." I spoke up, thinking back on the match. "She was certainly holding her own against Yang, maybe even doing better than that, but in the process her entire team got taken out. She only acted to assist when she had no other option."

She didn't give so much as a single order the entire match. Didn't try to assist any of her comrades until the end.

Okay then, next on the list then.

"Next to be discussed, Nadir Shiko." Clearing the screen and bring up the profile shot of Nadir, complete with pink Mohawk. Have to say, not a look I think I could pull off.

Pyrrha raised an arm at that. "I know Nadir. Fought him in one of the junior Mistral regional tournaments when I was younger before he moved to Haven." She gave a small smile as she remembered something. "He wasn't very good at watching his back then either."

I nodded at that, remembering Nadir being taken out on two separate occasions during the match, both of which due to an unexpected assault. The first from Ruby's precision shot on a nearby ice dust crystal that froze him in place and the second from his teammate colliding into him, leaving them both easy fodder for Weiss.

"Granted, he at least tries to help out his teammates, he's just…" I hesitated, trying to find the right words to convey it politely.

"Not very good at it?" Ren suggested at a deadpan drawing a loud sigh from me. "His situational awareness could use a lot of work."

Nora looked utterly bored as she bought Nadir's weapon up on the screen. "Urgh. An Arc-230." She pulled a face in apparent disgust at his choice in armament. "He's even using the factory bayonet! No-on uses that thing, it's useless! Could he get any more boring if he tried?" She looked physically pained at having to examine the thing.

I'm guessing that this isn't really something one should be proud of owning, if Nora's reactions are anything to judge by.

And I've yet to see my teammate go wrong when it comes to weapons.

"Anything else to say about him?" I asked turning to each member of the team and after a moment of silence, moved onto the next profile, one Bolin Hori.

Ren stepped up at this, playing with his scroll to do so to bring up a scene. "He's the most situationally aware of the team if the match was any indication. He made use of one of the dust crystals the match provided to help free Nadir from the ice" As Ren said this the screen display Bolin retrieving the crystal and throwing it to Reese.

"However he does seem rather…" Pyrrha paused for a moment as if choosing her words carefully, bringing up a scene I'd missed earlier, of Bolin essentially having Ruby dead to rights and instead choosing to in all likelihood deliver a cocky one liner instead of make use of that opportunity. "Arrogant at times?" She suggested lightly.

I chuckled at that, still thinking over the fact that he'd said a one liner instead of attacking disbelievingly. If the Old Bastard had caught me doing something like that…I shuddered. I didn't even want to begin to contemplate that. "I think the term you're looking for is cocky." I put forward Ren letting out a snort of laughter and Tob letting out a loud "Ha!" from the back of the room, reminding me that he was still there.

And it only continued downhill from there for Bolin. The remained of the match was essentially Weiss mopping the floor with him until she froze him and his male teammate in an orb and sent them rolling towards the end of the stage.

And as for his weapon?

Nora looked positively lethargic as she stared at Bolin's staff, shaking her head as she did so. "It's just a collapsible bo staff. Literally that is all it does." She said almost despairingly before turning to face us with an utterly heartbroken expression. "It doesn't even turn into a gun." She finished, sounding horror struck as she said it.

I couldn't stop a small smile from spreading at Nora's dramatics, even as Ren sighed and sunk his head into his hands at his partner's actions while Pyrrha giggled.

As I went to ask if there was anything else to add on suddenly the screen changed without me having provided any assistance at all bringing up Reese's profile briefly before it transferred directly over to display Reese's weapon instead.

"Now this is what I'm talking about!" Nora cheered, looking up from her scroll as she did so. "A functioning weaponized hover board! And it's also a gun! Two of them!" Nora all but squeed, her eyes going starry eyed in the process as she stared up at the screen.

"It's certainly a unique weapon." Pyrrha added, staring up at the screen as additional scenes of Reese using her weapon to attack, both attached to her feet as well as in her hands with ease. "Very unorthodox, but she's clearly well trained in its use."

"And it can even use it to channel dust crystals!" Nora all but exploded from her seat, bouncing up and down as she did so. "That adds a whole new world of possible strategies for attack and defence."

True, being able to channel a dust crystal could give Reese an extra edge in a fight, especially if it was with an element that was advantageous to her, disadvantageous to her opponent or both. That being said…

"Even if it can channel dust crystals its rather pointless if she doesn't carry around dust to use on it in the first place." I said pointing out what I thought was a rather glaring flaw in that particular strategy. "I mean if she carried a few vials or crystals on her, sure. But I didn't see anything like that out there."

"Not to mention the speed issue." Ren added bringing up the clip of Reese committing to her attack on Blake only to attack one of her clones instead and then proceeding to be brutally clotheslined by a well-planned use of Blake's ballistic chain scythe. "If she can't slow down fast enough it won't matter if she sees the attack coming, she still wouldn't be able to dodge it."

I went to bring up team RWBY next only for the screen to cut out, Tob rolling to the forefront once more. "I've decided to make team RWBY your homework assignment. Pretty much do what you did just now and tell me what you come up with next time." He grunted out, fiddling with his scroll as he did so. "Besides, I've found another team for you to examine."

Another team?

Maybe Sun's?

Or Cardin's?

Or one of the teams we'd yet to meet from the other combat schools.

"Okay now Lads and Lassies, time for your next assignment." With that Tob clicked his fingers and the screen lit up once more although this time it would not be accurate to describe what occurred as a match.

What was currently occurring on the screen before us was a slaughter.

Mercury and Emerald worked together in an utterly lethal combination, the two opponents they were facing quickly succumbing to a barrage of pinpoint gunfire.

Whereas Cinder's opponent?

Cinder finally dressed in something other than her standard Haven uniform, a leather vest over a series of bandages that acted as a makeshift shirt, with form fitting combat pants as well as high heels was walking all over the other team. Quite literally in one case, standing on one opponents back only to slam a lethal and somehow familiar looking kick into another foe. I winced as I saw her snap yet another deadly kick directly into her opponent's chest, eyes bulging out of the boy's head and sending him tumbling back across the arena.

Only to land at the feet of the fourth member of their team, one I had yet to meet around Beacon yet.

She was short, about Ruby's height if I had to guess, with black hair in tow pigtails held up by white…scrunchies? That's what they're called right? She had bright almost glowing green eyes, as well as a black and white outfit with a short black skirt and belt that vaguely reminded me of an upper class butler's outfit, albeit one that had undergone heavy modifications to make it combat capable. Oh and the black shoes she was about to use on the guy on the screen.

The guy's aura is essentially gone at this point, she's probably going to just nudge him over the line at this point.

I wince even further at the way she mercilessly curb stomped the final opponent into the ground, his remaining aura sent rocketing into the red as he was knocked into unconsciousness.

Or she could choose to do something far more excessive instead.

Tob snapped his fingers again, the screen on front of us freezing on the final shot of the team from Haven accepting their victory.

"Same story only this time focus only on the team from Haven. Ignore the others, tell me everything you know about this team right here.

I moved up to the board, quickly scribbling the names of Cinder, Mercury and Emerald onto the board before leaving a question mark at the fourth member's name.

"Okay let's start with Mercury as one of us has actually fought him." I started, gesturing towards my partner whose eyes narrowed at the memory. "Pyrrha if you'd begin?"

Pyrrha frowned, clearly still not happy at the silver haired teen's actions during the spar. "His combat style seemingly consists entirely of kicks and other attacks utilising his legs, although he is known to use his arms to help facilitate different angles attacking with his legs."

Ren started talking next bringing up a clip of Mercury's boot seemingly halting mid swing, suddenly striking like a viper and slamming into the poor opponent's chest, the air whooshing out of his lungs. "He has excellent control of his attacks, having both speed and strength in equal measures. Throughout his matches I've yet to see him throw an attack that was anything less than pristine. That speaks of a great deal of training, as well as discipline."

Nora stepped up to the screen freezing the shot an zooming in on the boot that was currently raised above the ground, moments before it would snap into an opponent. "His weapon at first seems to be a leg based version of Yang's Ember Cecilia but I'm unconvinced. The parts I can witness speak of a far different construction, and the channel veins have far too many similarities to grav motion hammer for my liking." Nora started her brow furrowing.

I turned to face Nora at that, perturbed slightly by the expression on her face. "What do you think it is Nora?"

She took in a deep breath and exhaled, running a hand through her hair. "If I had to guess?" She asked, seemingly still grappling with the dilemma. "I'd say it acts as a kind of kinetic amplifier, Kind of like Cardin's mace only on a far greater factor increase, as well as the ability to fire energy at range. Judging from the flight of the people he's stuck dead on as well as the lack of strain on the boot, it could increase his strength by almost triple his original level, perhaps even more."

I let out a whistle at that.

An increase in strength to that extent.

Damnation.

"I've never heard of a kinetic amplifier that strong before." Pyrrha murmured, eying the weapon with renewed interest.

Ren had a thoughtful look in his face as well. "And aren't the smallest ones only used on a weapon the size of something like Cardin's battle mace?" He added. Looking to Nora to confirmation who nodded in response.

Tob's cough interjected our thoughts at that. "And what would that imply about this Mercury character?" He prodded, awaiting our replies.

"Either he's got his hands on an experimental hitherto unheard of weapon through some other means, which is unlikely, he built it himself, which while possible doesn't seem to fit the profile we've built for him or he's got access to some kind of weaponer who is capable of something like this." I outlined, putting forward the three possible solutions to the problem that I could conceive.

"And a weaponer of this quality has to come somewhere in the top ten, or otherwise be some kind of prodigy in the kinetic amplification field." Nora added onto my observation, bringing her own expertise to the discussion. "I'll talk to Dad, see if he knows anyone who could pull this off."

"Personality wise he seems rather nonchalant outside of combat, and certainly appears to be within combat as well. However as shown with his spar against Pyrrha he has shown the ability to make use of tactics as well, speaking either of a keen mind or trusting another to make those decisions for him." I finished, adding a few more notes to Mercury's profile as I did so.

I think that's about everything we have on Mercury.

Onto the next one.

I touched the screen, swiping to the right away from Mercury to bring up the next profile, Emerald.

"I'll start us off a bit with this one." I began quickly jotting down some notes onto the board. "Emerald's a liar, the friendly personality she displays to the masses is a con, usually used to help her seem more innocent and trustworthy. Which are pretty useful things to be viewed as, especially when you're a thief."

Pyrrha's eyes widened at that. "A thief? How do you know that?"

I rubbed the back of my head at that. "I may have witnessed her lifting someone's wallet and removing all the lien inside. Which I may have also then stolen back off her." I volunteered, a little embarrassed about the whole thing.

Tob's voice called out again. "How good a thief do you reckon she is laddie?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "I mean she's clearly not an amateur, her technique is certainly practiced I'll give her that much but good?" I raised my hand, palm to the ground and turned it side to side in the universal gesture for kind of, sort of. "Sun's a far better deft touch than she is, I can say that much."

Tob grunted at that, before the board shifted without my touch and a screenshot of Emerald holding her weapons came into view, two green revolvers held in her hands.

Nora stepped up looking over the weapon. "This one here, it's not as revolutionary as Mercury's is so I'm thinking it's a personal creation. Judging by the relative newness of some of the parts I'd also guess that she's upgraded it through the years. Base form is your standard dust round revolver, fires large calibre rounds at high velocity, they will hurt if they hit you." Nora said dryly drawing a few chuckles out of us. "However it's what happens next that intrigues me."

The next scene came up and revealed Emerald's transformed weapons, both now sporting curved blades and looking almost like miniature scythes in her hands.

"They seem like just your average sickles, albeit with a sharper edge than I've seen in a while but what catches my eye is this." The clip froze and Nora zoomed in, focusing on the weapon's hilt, where the triggers still remained. "Since they aren't a revolver anymore that implies they have another function or perhaps an ability."

"That's not all they do." Pyrrha added, drawing our attention towards her. "During the Grimm invasion I saw her during a break in the fighting. The blades of her weapon are attached to chains within the hilt which she can use to extend her reach dramatically."

I raised a brow at that. Now that sounds like quite a change. And not exactly a common weapon to deal with either. What even is that?

"A kusarigama." Ren looking upon Emerald with a newfound interest. "Now that is something."

I turned to face Ren who was still looking at the screen at that point. "A what now?"

"A chain-sickle." Nora answered blinking in surprise. "Haven't seen one outside of Dad's old forging books. The chains primarily used to entangle while you use the sickle itself to attack them afterwards."

I stepped away from Emerald's profile and over to Cinder's turning back towards the team. "Okay what do we know about her?"

Ren paused thinking for a moment before grunting. "Very little."

He wasn't wrong.

From the one match we'd seen Cinder hadn't even drawn her weapon, if she even possessed one in the first place, instead proceeding to utterly dominate whichever poor fool had stepped before her with a masterful display of unarmed combat.

"She's clearly trained in some kind of unarmed style, this isn't just her making it up as she goes along." Ren spoke up highlighting a few quick clips displaying some of Cinder's moves. "She's very direct. Evading gunfire and melee attacks with ease and often countering in the same motion. I didn't see her posture slip out of anything I would call less than perfect for the entire fight."

"She's well in her element during the fight." Pyrrha said, thinking as she did so. "Although she didn't speak during the match I saw at least a few nonverbal gestures or commands during the fight. I probably missed more."

"And she's strong." Nora said bluntly, the scene of Cinder snap kicking her opponent across the arena coming to mind in my head as she spoke. "I mean I could do that with Magnhild but bare-handed?"

Well that certainly wasn't painting a pretty picture for us.

And…hold on a minute.

I removed all the clips but one and froze it bringing up a still of Cinder unleashing a powerful back kick that had snapped into her opponent's chest. "Is it just me…" I began before I bought up my scroll flicking through it until I found the image I was looking for. "Or does that look familiar to you?"

Two scenes.

One identical kick.

But two different people.

"Mercury's fighting style incorporates some of Cinder's techniques." Pyrrha remarked, sounding slightly shocked as she did so.

But Ren shook his head at that. "More along the lines of Mercury is using Cinder's style, albeit with a primary focus on kicks."

We were silent for a moment as we contemplated that before Nora spoke up. "Maybe we've been looking at Mercury's weapon the wrong way."

I raised a brow at that. What bought on this train of thought?

"What do you mean by that Nora?" I asked indicating towards the screen for her to elaborate.

Nora stepped forward. "Okay, instead of Mercury's weapons just being powerful, I think they might be the only reason that he can use the style in the first place." She suggested.

I blinked at that. Didn't see that one coming.

Or understand it.

"He couldn't use it by himself?" Pyrrha asked, clearly not understanding what the other female of team JNPR was getting at.

"Ah." Ren let out, snapping his fingers as he did so.

But it looks like Ren did.

From what we've seen of the fight it should be blatantly obvious that Cinder is a lot stronger than you'd otherwise expect. And her fighting style makes use of this fact." Ren explained before moving over to point at Mercury's image. "As Mercury doesn't possess this strength he must use his weapon as a means of allowing him to reach that level of strength."

I ran a hand through my hair as I tried to sum up all we knew about Cinder. "Okay. So basically, she's extremely strong, extremely skilled, shows great use of tactics and is probably even better at close combat than Mercury is and he was an even match for Pyrrha."

Not looking good for us.

And as for the final member of Cinder's team, the up until now unforeseen girl in black?

"Brutal, merciless and utterly without hesitation." I said thinking back to the few times she had attacked, usually leaving me flinching back in my seat afterwards. "Doesn't throw many attacks but the ones she does are felt." The screen showed a few examples of the new girls prowess, the aforementioned curb stomp among them but the truly painful looking one was the shoulder dislocation she achieved on the team leader at the beginning of the match and while he was looking the other way kicked him into Mercury's spinning axe kick.

Needless to say, he hadn't gotten up again.

"Her reflexes are remarkable, I don't think a single hit so much as grazed her." Pyrrha marvelled watching the minimal movements the pigtailed girl used to evade each attack that approached her.

Ren coughed lightly, drawing our attention towards him. "More than that, her kicks, that dislocation she achieved earlier in the match…" Ren thought aloud, his eyes narrowing as he did so. "This is someone who has learned to make great use of their small stature and make it a weapon."

"What do you mean by that?" I asked, looking back at the screen trying to see what Ren was going for. "All she's doing is…" The words trailed off as I saw the girls eyes move on the screen, moments before she slammed a kick into the crotch of her opponent.

Son of a…

"Yeah." Ren said, obviously noticing what I had picked up by my expression. "She's using misdirection. Best misdirection I've ever seen."

Pyrrha looked at us at that, seemingly confused. "Misdirection? I've never heard of that technique." She said looking back at the screen to find it.

"You wouldn't have." I said agreeing with her, drawing a surprised look from her. "All your previous tournaments were one on one encounters. Misdirection only really works if there's other people around." I started, going on to explain it further before thinking better of it. "Ren, you want to take this?"

"Misdirection works by diverting your opponent's attention, their focus away from you. Usually it only works for a split second, but a split second in a fight is a long time."

"Generally you need a few things. First off it helps if the person using the technique is small, thus easier for our eyes to miss, they've got to lack in presence if you will."

Just like she is.

"Secondly they need at least one of their teammates or hopefully more of them to be especially noticeable in comparison. This makes it easier to direct you're attention towards one of them." Ren continued, bringing up the profiles of the previous three as he did so.

Cinder with her strength.

Mercury's with his kicks and loud shots.

Emerald with her revolvers and kusarigamas.

All very blatant fighters in comparison.

"And finally they've got to use as minimal movements as possible. The eye is naturally drawn towards moving objects, so if the movements are too blatant it won't work."

"The twins aren't half bad at it." I said aloud, an idea forming in my head. "If you want an idea of how it works I recommend playing a game of tag with the kids and trying to keep an eye on the twins." I said, shaking my head as I did so.

Sneaky little buggars.

Focus on one, lose sight of the other.

Every time.

I was drawn back into the conversation as Nora spoke up, putting forward her theories on a possible weapon. "She didn't draw a weapon during the match so I can't say much here. But if I had to guess it would be something that complimented her fast paced, highly reactive style." Nora guessed, contemplating as she did so. "I don't see her wielding anything like my hammer, more along the lines of a single hand sword, or perhaps something even smaller like a dagger."

I went to ask Nora more about her best guess when the gravelly voice of the Old Bastard interrupted me. "Alright that's enough of all that now, not a bad attempt. For a first try anyway." Tob growled before he looked at the clock and swore. "Alright kids, go out there and get some food before the match."

And with that he was gone, rolling out of the room at what I knew as his version of a dead sprint.

I bit back a laugh.

Looks like someone lost track of time again.

I wonder where he's headed?

My stomach chose that moment to growl loudly, reminding me audibly of its empty state.

Right.

Lunch.

I stood up stretching as I did so, rolling my head around my shoulders as I walked towards the doors. "Well I know I'm hungry. What do you guys feel like?" I asked as the rest of my team started walking out.

"How about the noodle bar at the fairgrounds?" Pyrrha suggested with a smile. "They were pretty tasty last time we were there."

Ren nodded walking up to take a place by my side as he did so. "I wouldn't mind some noodles."

I saw Nora leap forward from the corner of my eye, jumping onto the back of an unsuspecting Ren as if he was giving her a piggy back. "Noodles it is!" Nora cheered loudly before pointing towards the exit dramatically. "To the fairgrounds noble steed, mush!"

I saw one of Ren's eyebrows twitch dangerously. "Please get off me Nora." He sighed, still walking forward as he did so.

"Ah!" Nora shushed him, resting her head on his. "Steeds don't talk. They mush."

I turned to look at Pyrrha who appeared to be fighting just as hard as I was to keep a straight face at the moment.

I turned to Ren, smirking as I did so. "Onwards 'noble steed'." I said biting back laughter as I did so.

Ren scowled at me. "This is because of all the times I called you fearless leader, isn't it?"

Pyrrha turned to me gasping. "Did that steed just talk?" She asked dramatically, her performance slightly marred by the giggle that slipped out.

Oho, this is not going to go away anytime soon.