13 - ||

"I am the victor my friend!" I sang loudly, carrying the sleepy forms of the twins in my arms as we walked towards the room that served as the kids sleeping area during their stay in Beacon.

"And I'll keep on fighting till the end!" Nora jumped in with a grin, Ana long since asleep, curled up into a ball in her arms.

"We are the victors!" Pyrrha sang as I opened the door, guiding a bleary eyed Kira to her bed as she did so.

Ren walked into the room in dead silence, placing a snoring Po onto his bed and beneath the covers. HE turned and looked at the rest of us, an eyebrow raised questioningly.

I coughed loudly, while Nora made threatening hand gestures besides me.

Ren stood there for a moment longer before rolling his eyes. "We are the victors." Ren repeated, in what had to be the most toneless deadpan I had ever heard from him.

And that's saying something.

I turned and dropped to my knees powersliding out of the door as I belted out the final lines of the song. "No time for losers for we are the victors!" I rolled forward onto my feet. "Of the world!"

A series of thoroughly unimpressed looks gazed back at me, team RWBY and SSSN already having dropped off their precious cargo of sleeping children and waiting for us outside.

"Was that really necessary?" Weiss asked, one eyebrow twitching dangerously while her hand wrapped tightly around the hilt of her rapier.

Instead of panicking, backing down or anything like that instead I turned to face Sun a grin on my face. "Was it necessary Sun?" I asked, still smiling widely.

Sun twitched violently, just like he had been every time I'd been looking at him during every agonizing second of victory power ballad. He adopted a painful grimace that just barely resembled a smile and nodded woodenly.

I turned, my smile still on my face as I turned towards the leader of team RWBY even as the remaining members of team SSSN turned to their suddenly apologetic leader, "And you Ruby?" I asked politely even as the sounds of Sun doing his best impersonation of a punching bag filled the corridor.

Ruby chuckled awkwardly, eyeing her increasingly twitching teammates before shrinking in on herself. "Yes." She said piteously, pulling her signature red hood over her head as her teammates looked at her with abject betrayal.

I grinned again.

If you didn't want to hear the victory song than you shouldn't have lost at the arcade.

Especially after making a bet that the leaders of our various teams had made to accept said victory song, no matter how grating it may be.

"And there you have it." I said, turning to my teammates as they closed the door. "Now as much fun as it was annihilating you all at the arcade." I said twisting the knife one final time, Weiss violently twitching as I said this, Blake looking to be about one Monarch song away from murdering me and Yang's eyes already glowing an ominous red as I spoke.

Whelp.

Time to make a hasty exit.

"It's time for bed, G'night." I blurted out, the words leaving as fast as I could possibly say them.

And with that I started sprinting down the hallway, making as much distance as I could between myself and the others.

I looked ahead of me to see my teammates already running, clearly having gotten the memo about the bomb I had decided to poke and made a hasty getaway.

I fought the urge to sniff.

They grow up so fast.

Even as I moved I found myself fighting off a yawn of my own as my body reminded me of my own fatigue.

I overtook my teammates as I rounded the corner and collided heavily with something, bouncing off it as if I'd run into a brick wall.

Urgh.

Gonna be feeling that in the morning.

I bought myself up from the floor, opening my eyes to try and see what I'd run into.

And then I kept looking up.

And up.

My neck is going to start hurting at some point.

That was not a man.

That was a small mountain made of flesh.

The man mountain glowered down at me with gleaming green eyes through the wildest looking red beard I had ever seen, so thick that he'd braided the ends of it in several places. He wore what looked to be a workman's apron, a myriad of tools sticking out from the pockets on the front of it.

On his back was a massive leathery cloak, and it had to be called massive because if he wore a normal sized cloak it would have looked like a freaking tea towel. It looks like he'd grabbed the hide of a Ursa Major and ripped it off with his bare hands.

My eyes flicked down to his uncovered arms, rippling with muscles, one of them being thicker than my entire body.

I fought off the urge to swallow.

If they said he had I'd believe him.

His gaze moved from me and I saw something in his gaze change. "There you are!" He bellowed, spreading his arms wide.

And then Nora slammed into him like a ballistic missile with enough strength that I would have been put through a wall but the mammoth in front of me only laughed heartily, spinning the giggling Nora around as he did so. "There's me pride and joy! How are you princess?"

"I'm fine daddy!" Nora giggled, hugging the man as best she could despite the fact she couldn't even wrap her arms around him. "I thought you'd still be working?"

"Bah! As if I'd miss my baby girl kicking ass and taking names!" He said admonishingly, a hand larger than Nora's entire head coming down to mess up her hair.

"Good to see you sir." Ren said respectfully, nodding his head towards him.

A great bushy eyebrow raised at that and the large green eyes turned towards Ren. "Don't make me come over there." He growled at him, a broad smile visible through the thick red beard.

Ren sighed deeply but still stepped forward, looking very much like he was bracing for something.

Quick as a whip one of the large beefy arms stretched out and picked up my teammate, squeezing him in a particularly painful looking hug if the look on Ren's face was any indication.

"Good to see you're doing well too lad!" The man boomed releasing Ren from the death hug, leaving him to stagger for a moment before regaining his feet.

Nora bounced up towards him again and what followed was a stream of techno-babble I couldn't even begin to make out while the huge man seemed to be well in his element, responding with equally strange sounding words at every breath Nora seemed to take.

Let's see here.

Bright red hair.

Immense strength.

Large Aura burn scar on left arm.

Knows Nora and Ren.

Knows weapons.

Likes to hug.

I went through the tally in my head again and nodded.

Yeah this was pretty much what I'd imagined Nora's father to be like.

Except you know, the whole fact he's an Ursa Major on two legs.

The largest hand I'd ever seen appeared in front of me, drawing me away from my thoughts and I reflexively took it. "Nice to meet you sir." I said politely as I looked up at Nora's parent.

Before I even realized what had happened I was suddenly in the air being crushed by a vice around ribs, loud cracking noises that I realised were coming from me filling the corridor. "The pleasure's all mine lad! And call me Wayland!"

My god, it's even worse than Nora's.

I didn't even realize that was possible.

I was released from the death hug and somehow managed not to collapse in the process, our only remaining teammate looking a bit unnerved as Wayland's attention went towards her.

But instead of going for another hug he seemed to freeze for a moment in shock before a soft smile appeared beneath his beard. "You look just like your father, Pyrrha Nikos." Wayland declared, smiling growing broadly as he examined her.

Whatever I was expecting him to say, it sure as heck wasn't that.

Pyrrha looked like he'd just hit her with a bullhead. "You…" She stammered, trying to make the words come out. "You knew my father?" She asked, almost desperately.

The great bushy beard bounced as he nodded. "Oh aye, I knew him. Clever little bastard." He said his voice filled with a sense of melancholy as he spoke. "I trained alongside him under his father. Oh the stories I could tell you about the trouble we got into."

A loud insistent beeping went off and a pained expression came upon Wayland's face. "But we'll have to save it for another time." He said apologetically, a large hand coming down to pat Pyrrha on the shoulder.

"You're leaving already?" Nora said sadly, sounding disappointed that she'd only be able to see her father for so short a time, tears welling in her eyes.

Wayland sighed, kneeling down to look at his daughter. "I need to go catch up with your mother, and sadly I can't delay any longer." A large finger came up to wipe away the tears in Nora's eyes. "I'll be back before you know it. And your mother will tag along too!"

Out of the corner of my eye I saw all the color in Ren's face vanish, leaving him a chalky looking white.

What's that all about?

"Pleasure meeting all of you!" Weyland boomed at us, standing up to his imposing full height once more. "Hopefully next time I won't have to dash off!" And with that he was off, moving with big long legged strides leaping out of the open window and landing on the pavement three stories below without so much as breaking his stride.

I stood there for a moment, watching as he rapidly vanished into the night, Nora shouting out a loud goodbye and waving enthusiastically.

"So that was Nora's dad." I finally said, turning towards Ren as I did so.

"Yep." Ren replied, stretching his back as he did so.

We both stood there in silence for a moment.

"Suddenly it all makes sense." I commented and Ren let out a snort of laughter.

"Much as I'd like to discuss what just occurred, we do need to get up early tomorrow morning." Pyrrha spoke up from behind us, already entering our room.

Nora spun from where she was at the window, skipping lightly as she followed after Pyrrha.

"Her dad seemed nice." I said with light smile as I thought of the massive figure.

Ren grunted at that. "Wait until you meet her mother." He muttered, almost under his breath as he made his way into the dorm room.

I paused.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

I took a seat in the comfortable red chairs that were set aside for the students in the front rows of the arena.

The coliseum was full of people, both contestants and spectators alike filling the stands, a palpable excitement in the air that could be felt even now.

Today was an important day after all, it was the first round of the doubles tournament.

Pyrrha and I could be called up at any moment.

Almost as if in response to my thought, the massive floating screens surrounding the arena lit up, the symbol for the Vytal festival spearing briefly before fading away revealing two floating faces.

On one half of the screen was Pyrrha's snapshot, as well as my own.

Guess we're up first.

And on the other side…

Was also Pyrrha's snapshot and my own.

O…kay then.

Maybe not.

Nora leaned over towards me from her chair. "If you knock yourself out does that mean you win or lose?" She stage whispered, a smile on her face.

Despite my best efforts a snort of laughter still escaped and I heard the rest of my team cracking up as well.

Then the snapshots started moving, blurring like slot machines much like they had with the random environs that were selected before each match started.

The reel on the left slowed first moving just past Sun and Neptune's pictures to come to a stop on Mercury and Emerald.

I frowned as I looked up at that.

Mercury and Emerald?

I mean sure they seemed strong but Cindy was much stronger than either than them, so why wasn't she here?

Maybe she injured herself during training?

I looked around the arena only to find Cindy sitting behind Ruby in one of the assigned seats in the audience, legs casually crossed and looking to be the picture of health.

Okay maybe not.

Maybe their fourth teammate?

Haven't seen her in a while.

I looked up again to see the second reel come to a stop moving past Penny and a familiar looking girl in a blue beret that I had seen earlier, and I now realised to be her partner before coming to a stop.

I let out a whistle.

Well now.

This could get interesting.

The face of Coco Adel and Yatsuhashi Daichi stared down from the other screen.

"The randomization process is complete!" Peter's voice boomed out from the speakers, the dull roar of the crowds quieting slightly to ensure they all heard the announcement. "Ladies and gentlemen your doubles tournament fight!"

At that the crowd went utterly berserk, loud cheers erupting from all around the stadium in particular one area of the stage that were wearing berets and sunglasses very similar to that of Coco.

I'm guessing that's her fanclub over there.

I looked over at my teammates, looking for their input before the two teams made it out onto the field. "Well team, your thoughts on the fight?" I asked loudly, having to do so in order to be heard over the roar of the crowd.

"They're both did very well in the four man round, both teams made it through without so much as a single knock out." Ren replied, weighing up the two teams in his head.

"Coco's got them beat handily at long range with her weapon." Nora stated, not doubt whatsoever in her mind as she said that. "But at the same time it's unwieldy and I don't see her beating either of them in a close range encounter."

"I'm worried that Yatsuhashi won't be able to keep up with Mercury." Pyrrha said, a frown on her face as she said so. "With Mercury's weapons he can probably match him in strength and if he's faster as well I don't see it ending to well for him."

"And that's not even bringing Emerald into the equation." I said furrowing my brow. "Unless her semblance is especially subtle we haven't seen her use it yet."

The roars of the crowd intensified and I turned to see both teams standing in the center of the arena, the environ reels spinning up as well.

"Emerald and Mercury of Haven vs Coco and Yatsuhashi of Beacon!" Peter's voice announced over the loudspeakers, his words echoing through the arena.

The reels came to a stop but instead of splitting into two halves the arena instead split into quarters, four dirrerent environs rising up out of the floor.

Alright let's see what we got here.

Leaning building symbol, forest symbol, grassy plains symbol and uh…I scratched my head as I tried to puzzle out what the last symbol was.

I know it's not the volcano one because I saw that one in team RWBY's fight.

Maybe a wind based one?

One quarter was a mock destroyed city, complete with collapsed buildings and a faux transit station. The next, directly behind Coco and Yatsuhashi was whay looked to be a geyser field complete with a few scattered blue dust formations, bursts of steam shooting out of the cracked ground at random. Next to that was a dense forest, much like the deep woodlands surrounding Freshwater and the final environ positioned behind Mercury and Emerald was mostly tall grass, a single tree and a few rocks the only other landmark on the field.

Four very different areas.

Now which ones will they be focusing on?

Emerald had her guns out, held ready by her side and Yatsuhashi had stood up from where he was meditating, his massive sword unsheathed from his back.

Suddenly the screens lit up a massive number three filling the screen as Peter's voice boomed out once more. "Three, two, one, begin!"

With that the match started but instead of the fast paced attack I was expecting from the duo from Haven instead retreated, backing away from the other team with measured steps. They moved into the deep grass and quickly vanished from sight.

Not a bad strategy.

If your opponent has the ranged advantage then losing their line of sight is logical idea.

Yatsuhashi and Coco looked at each other for a moment before Coco's handbag transformed once more becoming the death spewing gatling gun that was the bane of many a grimm so far, the crowd cheering even louder at its reveal

Coco unleashed a torrent of blisteringly fast rounds, hosing down the entire tall grass area, the bullets ripping through the grass with such velocity that some of them even made it to the audience, the bullets pattering like rain off of a window as they impacted.

Then Coco seemed to take a different strategy, her weapon sawing across in an single smooth motion, cutting down the grass with the world's most expensive gardening tool.

Smart.

If the enemy seeks cover, then deny it from them.

But the problem was, neither Mercury nor Emerald was there.

They must have moved into a different zone, but the question is which one?

"There!" Pyrrha shouted, pointing a finger not at one of the quarters of the arena but rather above it.

Mercury dropped from the skies from out of nowhere, legs drawn back a kick at the unsuspecting Coco when her partner pusher her out of the way, raising his weapon high to block the incoming attack.

The sound of Mercury's boots impacting with Yatsuhashi's sword was so loud that I could hear it even over the noise of the crowd, the sword wielder of team CFVY pushing back Mercury flipping backwards and skidding slightly as he landed.

Coco reacted quickly her gatling gun already spinning up and pointed at Mercury as he landed.

But I found myself gaping as he vanished from the spot he'd been in blurring to the right with incredible speed, running at an angle so sharp it was damn near horizontal, the stream of gunfire unable to catch up with him.

Damn he's fast.

And alone.

Where the heck had Emerald run off to?

"Anyone see Emerald?" I asked my teammates, my eyes still locked on the fight as Mercury continued to go toe to toe with both opposing fighters at the same time.

"I haven't seen anything." Pyrrha answered lowly, her own gaze on the fight as well.

"Me either." Nora added, looking intently at the match.

"I might have." Ren offered, sounding unsure of himself. "It was only a glimpse but I saw something move into the forest. I'm guessing that might have been her."

I raised a brow at that.

Huh.

Looks like Emerald may have been holding back a bit in the other matches.

That could be problematic.

I turned back to the match to see Mercury be hit by a spinning backhand from Yatsuhashi only to halt his impromptu flight by grabbing hold of Coco, flipping around to her back and using her as a human shield, locking one foot on her knee while the other forced her gatling gun's barrel into her teammate's chest.

I let out a whistle.

Damn he's good.

The gatling gun shifted, collapsing into the surprisingly weapon worthy purse that Coco toted around before she swung it in a devastating arc behind her.

Mercury threw himself backwards, the swipe just whooshing over her head before he backflipped further putting some distance between himself and the other two. Then he sprung forward off his hands, and suddenly two spiralling bullets of what seemed to be wind twisting through the air, both zooming in towards team CFVY.

The two blocked then first two shots handily, Yatsuhashi cutting one in half while Coco knocked one aside which detonated loudly in the geyser fields behind them.

But those two had a whole other mess of problems ahead of them.

Because our theory about Mercury?

Looks like he was holding back a whole lot in the earlier matches as well.

Mercury spun about on the floor like he was breakdancing as he fired more and more of the attacks into the air. But they weren't just zooming towards Coco and Yatsuhashi. Instead they were circling around the spinning Mercury almost as if a miniature tornado had formed in the center arena.

Then all of a sudden one peeled away from the storm to strike out at the team from Beacon and the rest followed in its wake, a veritable storm of projectiles slamming around the two hunters, the both of them doing their best to weather this onslaught, guards raised and legs grounded.

They're not going down that easily.

And then Mercury vanished, my eyes losing track of him.

And he reappeared an instant later behind Coco and Yatsuhashi.

Son of a…

"He's a speedster." I swore, watching as Mercury started laying into to the unsuspecting team from Beacon with a series of powerful kicks. "That's why his weapons only increase his power, he's already fast enough to use Cinder's techniques he just needed the extra strength."

"Maybe not." Nora countered, her brow furrowed when I turned to look at her. "He might be using his boots to propel himself forward at faster speeds. But I can't see anything that would let him do that. I'm missing something." She growled out, sounding aggravated at this realization.

I looked back at the arena, my mind adding this to what we already knew about Mercury when I caught something soaring out of the forest section of the arena. It moved to the unsuspecting Coco but instead of striking her like I expected it to it did something else instead. It wrapped around her waist, the end of one of Emerald's Kusarigama coming to a stop, Coco looking down in shock.

Then she was flung into the air, the chain retracting back into the dense woodland, dragging Coco in the process.

I heard Yatsuhashi cry out for his teammate but I was looking for Emerald, trying to find her among the environ. But I couldn't make her out, the chain of her weapon having truly incredible length but not revealing any hints to where she might be hiding.

"Pyrrha, Nora you watch Mercury and Yatsuhashi." I ordered, flicking my eyes towards them to make sure that they'd heard me. "Ren, we'll keep track of Coco."

I looked up at one of the screens, hoping to get a better image of what was going on inside the forest to see Coco's form still flying through the air before slamming heavily into a tree trunk, the chain releasing her and disappearing into the trees.

I winced.

That certainly looked painful.

I watched Coco bring herself to her feet, her signature sunglasses knocked away by the impact, Emerald still no were to be seen.

Where is she?

Then Coco threw herself backwards, backflipping away from a barrage of gunfire, Emerald appearing high in the branches of one of the trees, both guns up and firing.

The gatling gun came out once more and I saw Emerald move, not with the sheer speed of her partner but rather with agility, nimbly leaping from branch to branch, still peppering her opponent with gunfire. Her revolvers became sickles once more, the thief using her weapons to pivot off of branches and trunks as she moved.

And then she was gone.

I blinked, trying to see how she could have vanished. "Did you see her?" I asked Ren quietly, hoping he might have seen something that I missed.

"No." Ren answered, sounding just as befuddled as I was at the moment. "She's very good at stealth I'll say that much."

There was a lull for a moment, Coco scanning the treeline for Emerald with the thief in question nowhere to be seen.

Then all of a sudden I saw Coco turn her head to the side as if she was acknowledging someone, her mouth moving soundlessly in what was probably her talking to someone.

But I don't see anyone there.

The only other person on her team is currently fighting on the other side of the arena last I checked.

The loud buzzer that signified an opponent being knocked out sounded around the arena, Peter's voice booming out soon afterwards. "Oh, and with that final blow, Yatsuhashi is eliminated!"

Peter's words were followed with a replay of Mercury proceeding to kick the ever loving daylights out of the walking tank of team CFVY, finally ending his suffering with a brutal looking axe kick slamming down onto his head.

Okay so unless Yatsuhashi has some kind of superhearing or telepathy semblance I'm betting he wasn't in any condition to be talking with his teammate.

But then…

Who was Coco talking to?

Emerald?

Coco didn't seem the type to trash talk during a match.

What am I missing here?

The young huntress spun, her gatling gun moving from tree to tree, trying desperately to find her stealthy opponent only to find nothing.

Then I saw her, creeping forward from out of the trees, as low to the ground as she could.

I looked at the screen powerless as I desperately hoped for Coco to turn around, to see her Emerald behind her.

But it was too late.

Emerald reared up and struck like a King Taijitu, her weapon coming down with terrible speed and with the sound of a gunshot filling the air struck Coco. Coco flew through the air as if she been fired from a launch pad from the top of the Emerald forest, tumbling through the air uncontrollably to land with a thump next to her comatose teammate.

I looked up to see how much Aura Coco had left after her attack only to have my eyes widen in shock to see her aura well into the red, clearly having been knocked out of contention for the rest of the fight.

But with one attack?

She'd had well over half her aura before Emerald's sneak attack so how the hell could one move get rid of that much aura?

Emerald walked forward out of the forest, swinging her sickles on their chains casually as she moved to stand next to her teammate by the downed team.

"And with an amazing upset, Emerald and Mercury are victorious!" Doctot Oobleck's voice sounded out the speakers, Peter staying noticeably silent at the defeat of one his favoured teams.

Even as Emerald and Mercury calmly walked off the stage I caught sight of Cindy making her way out as well, apparently having left as soon as the match had ended.

"Jaune?" I heard Pyrrha ask by my side and I turned towards her to see a concerned look on her face.

I put a smile on my face, patting her on the shoulder reassuringly. "It's nothing." I said, standing up from my seat as I did so. "C'mon let's get back down to Beacon, time for the next round of training with the Old Bastard.

Ren let out a low groan of complaint but stood up anyway, pulling himself from his chair even as Nora bounded out of it, bouncing on the balls of her feet in excitement.

Although I've got to say, I am curious about what the Old Bastard will have us doing this time.

Strategy?

Accuracy?

Maybe some more First Strike?

"Time's a wasting fearless leader." Ren called back, half a smirk on his lips.

"Nora, your noble steed is giving me lip." I responded without hesitating, relishing in the violent flinch that my male teammate gave at the reminder of his own dreaded nickname.

"He does that." Nora said airily, waving a hand behind her as she scanned the crowd for someone before shrugging and turning away.

Pyrrha gave a light giggle at the apocalyptic expression that formed on Ren's face, as he made strangling gestures in the air.

I shook my head, smiling as well as I made my way after them.

Alright then, let's see what you've got in store for us you Old Bastard.

I felt the impact of my weapon crashing into my opponent's race up my arm, even as I moved my leg out of the way of leg swipe.

I grinned hopping back as I put some space between me and my opponent before I leapt forward again without warning, releasing the hilt of my blade as I spun before I slammed it into my opponents head, their block having been greatly mistimed due to my swift repositioning.

My opponent dropped like a rock, hitting the ground with a thud that had me wincing in sympathy.

"Alright that's enough." The Old Bastard's voice called out, drawing my attention away from the fight.

I dropped the wooden training blade from nerveless fingers, fighting the urge to drop to the floor as well even as I gave loud and heavy breaths trying to force oxygen into my lungs, sweat dripping off me and onto the floor.

Today had been an entirely different brand of training. Tob had started us off with some sparring, first Pyrrha and I against Nora and Ren, Then Ren and I against Pyrrha and Nora, Nora and I against Ren and Pyrrha. He didn't give us time to rest after each match, as soon as one match would end he would reshuffle the teams and we would fight again until a 'winner' could be declared.

We were all still fighting with wooden weapons, so as to help Pyrrha with her progression as well but by the end we were all sweaty, tired and more than a little unpleasant to smell.

But even as tired as I was, I still had a question to ask the Old Bastard.

"Hey old man." I said, still gasping as I did so, helping a groggy Nora to her feet with an apology for that last hit. "Can I ask you a question?"

The Old Bastard raised a brow at that. "You just did laddie." He replied dryly, a smirk on his lips as he said it.

I bit back a growl, my eyebrow twitching even as I could hear my teammates try not to laugh behind me. "Do you know anything about a man named Qrow?"

Tob snorted at that. "I should bloody well think so. I did train him after all." He said matter-of-factly.

I blinked at that, surprised even as my teammates gave looks of surprise as well.

"You trained Ruby's Uncle?" Nora asked, making sure we were talking about the same guy.

"More than that. I trained their whole team." Tob said, reaching into his jacket to pull something out. He held it up towards us.

It was a photo, faded with age that had four different people within it.

The first was a girl in white cloak, a hood hiding most of her face but even with what was hidden I was still gobsmacked at the similarity between Ruby and the woman in white, The red hair and single silver eye making such a comparison inevitable.

If I had to guess, that would be Ruby's mother.

To her right stood a blonde man with his arms casually crossed against his chest, eyes a dark blue, dressed primarily in yellow of varying shades. The comparison with Yang is easy to make, even with the little fluff of hair that the two of them share making it easy to compare the two.

And the next one…I felt my breath catch in my throat a little as I realised just who it was I was staring at. This was Yang's mother, the hair style, the same shade of red eyes that Yang occasionally had, it had to be. The one who vanished without a trace when she was younger. She was dressed primarily in dark red and black with a weapon by her side, what appeared to be a katana with a trigger by the hilt, the blade seeming to be a strange colour that I couldn't make out.

And on the far end was Qrow, looking much the same as he did now, albeit a bit younger and lacking the scruff around his chin.

"Team STRQ." The Old Bastard breathed, a nostalgic look on his face. "Now that was a long time ago. I was there mentor during their senior year." He paused for a moment before a pained expression passed over his face. "Well…Lilith and I both were."

"Mentor?" Ren's voice groaned out from somewhere, sounding curious about the term Tob had just used.

I watched Tob shrug his shoulders. "A bit before your time. Back then when a hunter team reached their final year at Beacon then they would be assigned to a professional hunter and follow them around for their last year, a kind of 'hunter's internship' if you will."

It seemed like a logical thing to do, a way for Huntsman in training to gain valuable experience while still having someone there to teach them along the way. "It isn't like that now?"

Tob shrugged. "Thing is, these days hunters are either too busy with the job, or there aren't enough willing to take on kids for that length of time. So in the interest of fairness they got rid of the process altogether."

Pyrrha made a sound of understanding. "Because it wouldn't be fair to have only some of the teams have mentors."

"Precisely lassie." The Old Bastard growled before he carefully slid the photo back into his pocket. "Now then back to training." He turned slightly, addressing a large pile of desks in the back of the room "Laddie! You alive in there?"

The tables shook for a moment before exploding outwards, furniture flung everywhere revealing a battered and heavily breathing Ren staggering out from where he'd been buried beneath them. He gave a shaky thumbs up, still unable to say much after the use of what little remained of his aura.

"Right then!" Tob said with a great wide smile that a great deal of personal experience would result in a great deal of pain for myself. "Time to test your reflexes." In a single movement his rifle was in his hand, the sound of the gun cocking deafeningly loud in the silence that followed.

I turned to my teammates and we all looked at each other for a moment.

Then we damn near blurred in unison, each one of us aiming for a different escape route.

Pyrrha went for the door.

Ren went for the solid oak of the teacher's desk at the front if the room.

Nora went for the desks at the back of the room, hoping to use it's size as a way to hide rather than try to block the bullet outright.

Me?

SMASH

I went through the window.

Gonna have to clean that up later.

I hit the ground and threw myself to the side, the bean bag round missing my head.

PAIN

I collapsed to the ground with a muffled curse, my forehead slamming into the wet grass outside.

However it did manage to crack into my ankle quite handily.

"Gonna have to try harder than that laddie!" Tob's voice called out from the room, even as I heard Ren curse loudly as the familiar sound of a bean bag round striking something fleshy and painful.

I groaned, slowly picking myself off the ground.

That could have been worse.

I heard a cough behind me.

A very distinctive cough.

I turned slowly, dread filling my every pore as I moved, hoping against hope that it wasn't who I thought it was.

Scratch that.

It's worse.

"Good evening Professor Goodwitch and what a lovely evening it is tonight!" I said with a hasty smile, doing my very best to draw attention away from the broken remains of the window behind me. "How are you doing on this fine night?"

Maybe she didn't see me jump through the window.

One of Goodwitch's eyebrow arched at that. "Oh it was going just fine." Goodwitch started, her gaze locked on me. "But then I happened to witness a student jumping out through a window, not out of, through, a window, right when I was about to head in for the night."

I chuckled hesitantly.

Okay so she did see me jump through the window.

Now all I need is some kind of cunning distraction and I can make my escape.

I felt a tingle on the hairs on my neck and I twisted the bean bag round ruffling my hair as I did so.

I felt a grin spread across my face.

I'd done it!

That was the first time I'd every dodged one of his shots without being hit.

And I even had a witness!

I was never going to let him live this d…

All the blood drained from my face as I saw what my dodge had accomplished.

Goodwitch was standing there, glasses knocked askew from the bean bag round, eyes closed.

She raised a hand, pointing it at me as if she was about to start the lecture of a lifetime.

And then she tumbled backwards, falling straight flat onto her back, arm still outstretched, stiff as a board.

I stood there for a moment in horrified silence trying to convince myself that, yes, that had actually just happened.

"Oh snap." I heard Nora's voice call out from above me and I turned to see the rest of my team looking just as horror struck as I was with the Old Bastard sitting next to them, his expressing somewhere between proud and embarrassed.

Proud that I had finally managed to dodge one.

Embarrassed that he'd accidentally just shot one of his colleagues in the face.

Tob gave a very heavy sigh before swearing under his breath. "You kids get out of here," He called out, making sure I could hear it as could my teammates. "I'll deal with this."

"Are you sure?" I heard Pyrrha ask, sounding concerned for the Old Bastard's sake.

Tob let out a bark of laughter. "Don't you worry lassie, I've been through worse scrapes than this. Now get to bed will you?"

I went to say something more when I caught sight of the fallen form of Professor Goodwitch twitch, no doubt moments away from waking up again.

That and something I could only describe as darkness of the blackest sort conjured forth from the deepest pits pooling behind her, the lights of the streetlight sputtering as they flowed from her body.

After she had been knocked out in the middle of a discussion, with me.

I swallowed.

Time to get the hell out of dodge.

I turned, moving to run away when I felt a vice like grip seize my shoulder, holding me in place.

I gulped, feeling what little color remaining on my face drain away to nothing as I looked at Goodwitch, one pane of her ever present glasses having been heavily cracked.

Her eyes snapped open, revealing eyes that glowed like the fires of damnation.

Something tells me that she isn't happy with me right now.

But still, it was going to be okay.

The Old Bastard was going to come down and acknowledge his fault in this any moment now.

I waited there, Goodwitch's terrifyingly strong grip holding me in place as we stared at each other in silence before a few minutes had passed, with Tob nowhere to be seen.

Where the hell was he?

The realization struck me immediately and I fought the urge to curse him aloud, less I draw the attention of the demon before me any more than I already had.

That son of a gun had abandoned me to her!

That cowardly little…

I felt the claws on my shoulder tighten slightly, the professor turned monster remaining silent but seemingly asking for my explanation for this event, my one chance to try and talk my way out of this mess.

I swallowed again, trying to put some saliva in my suddenly dry mouth. "It was an accident?" I put forward hesitantly, laughing in the way a man does when he realised he's just stepped onto a landmine and is waiting for it to go off.

The pits of hellfire that were her eyes narrowed harshly.

Oh, I am going to be feeling this in the morning.

I brushed a hand through my hair, doing my best to get the last of the soot out of it as my teammates stood sheepishly by my side.

I had stumbled back into our dorm room a good while after they had left me to my fate at the loving hands of Professor Goodwitch, the majority of which I was working to repress even now and the remainder had resulted in a great many painful yet non debilitating injuries so as to avoid forcing me to drop out of the tournament.

I still smelt like I'd headbutted a dust crystal, although I couldn't for the life of me tell you which one it would be. The scent seemed to change each time I inhaled.

Even after the two showers I'd taken this morning.

Thankfully I didn't need to worry about looking after the kids this time, with the Old Bastard no longer in the middle of his errand he was once again able to take care of the kids, leaving me free to focus my attention on the matches.

"Jaune!" A familiar voice called out from the crowd in front of me, "Hey, over here!"

I scanned the sea of faces, trying to catch sight of who it was that was calling out to me. There!

Cardin Winchester stood tall near the front of the seats, waving a hand to draw my attention.

I waved back in acknowledgment, before turning my head to talk to my team. "See, I told you we'd find good seats." I said with a grin, very much pleased with myself at this moment.

"Lucky guess." Ren groused even as Nora frolicked past him, grabbing her partner by one arm to drag after her, a giggling Pyrrha close in tow.

I made my way down the staircase and over to my seat, taking the last free spot between Pyrrha and Cardin. "Been a long time my friend." I greeted him, holding out a fist for him to bump in greeting.

Cardin chuckled, raising his own fist to bump my own as I settled down into my seat. "Hey, we've been training our asses off to make it as far as we can in the tournament."

I raised a brow at that. "Not aiming for the top spot?" I asked, curious about his thought process.

Cardin shrugged his shoulders. "Hey I've got no problems about how strong we are as a team. Individually however? Well there's a lot stronger fighters out there, your partner being one of them."

I nodded at that, well aware of how far above Pyrrha was most of the other students at the academy, especially with the helping hand her semblance provided. And part of me felt proud of Cardin for what he had said. I doubt the Cardin I had first met in that hallway in Beacon Academy would have been able to say something like this.

Just goes to show you how much people can change if you give them the chance.

"As long as we don't get a bad draw we could do okay." Cardin finished, apparently having continued talking while I was monologuing.

True enough.

Alright then let's see who their opponent is.

Russel and Thrush of Beacon versus…oh dear.

Penny and Ciel of Atlas.

I clapped Cardin on the shoulder sympathetically. "Remember what you were saying about a 'bad draw' earlier?" I asked chuckling hesitantly.

Cardin looked at me strangely. "What?" He asked before taking note of the expression on my face. "How bad is it?"

I thought about how to describe just how powerful Penny was in comparison to the average student as the stage selection took place before another comparison came to mind. "Just think of the orange haired girl as Pyrrha and you wouldn't be far off." I said with a wince.

Cardin's face fell. "Crap." He swore lowly, no doubt thinking back to the time Pyrrha had dismantled his entire team by herself. "That strong?"

I paused for a moment, the image of Penny preventing a Bullhead from escaping with brute force before ripping it from the sky coming to mind as well as the giant green death laser that could cut Bullheads apart. "Maybe worse."

Okay let's see what we have here.

Beach, Forest/Mountain, Floating Platforms and Geyser Field.

Not bad.

But nothing I can see that would allow team CRDL to turn things around.

I turned to watch the match, the countdown echoing over the arena's speakers.

As soon as Peter had stopped talking, Russel and Thursh sprinted forward, intent on keeping the fight at close range where they excelled.

Penny's teammate Ciel took a measured step backwards, looking towards Penny and bringing up the arm that had the watch, observing it as the match progressed.

Penny smiled joyously, like one of the kids when they'd been told they were about to have their favourite meal and the panels on her backpack slid open. And from within it came not one sword but a dozen, floating in the air by Penny before she swept her hand towards the duo from Beacon. The swords followed her arms movement slamming into the hasty guard of Russel, sending him crashing into his teammate.

The two tried to stay out there for a few more moments, past the unrelenting wall of steel that was Penny's blades before deciding that discretion was the better part of valour and retreating, Penny's swords being launched like arrows after them, imbedding themselves into the ground of the arena.

Six of Penny's spinning swords broke away from the rest, homing in on the open Russel who managed to roll into cover behind a boulder just in time, the weapons slamming into the stone with incredible force.

On the other side I saw that Thrush was making his own escape, weaving to the side of one sword before using his halberd to vault over another boulder, the remaining six blades sinking into the thick rock like a hot knife through butter.

I would not want to be them right now.

But let's say I was.

What would I do in a situation like that?

I guess I'd probably, stay in cover and out of sight until I'd come up with a viable plan to deal with her.

I looked up at the sound of the crowd reacting to something new and felt my jaw drop just a tad.

The two rocks that the duo from team CRDL were hiding behind were now floating in the air, both teens fighting desperately to hold on to their suddenly mobile cover.

Then Penny waved her arms down and the two boulders crashed into the ground with shattering force, the stone breaking apart as the last of the aura from the Beacon Academy team plummeted, the buzzer sounding for a knockout ringing so instantaneously it seemed to only ring once for both knock outs.

"And victory goes to Penny and Ciel of Atlas." Doctor Oobleck's voice echoed out from the speakers, the two victors joining hands as they waved to the crowd.

I turned to Cardin trying to figure out how best to console him after the…it didn't feel right to call that a match. A match implies that there was at least a slim chance of them winning in the first place.

Massacre maybe?

A red streak blurred past us, the familiar sight of Ruby dashing off after something drawing my attention away from Cardin for a moment.

Wonder where she's off too?

Maybe to go see Penny?

I went to say something, trying to talk to Cardin when the sound of the speakers crackling to life met my ears and I decided to hold my tongue.

Peter's voice boomed through the arena, interrupting the conversation I was having with Cardin. "Our next match will begin in fifteen minutes."

I shook my head, turning back to face Cardin patting him on the shoulder. "Well at least that gives you an idea of what to be ready at the next tournament right?" I said with a grin.

Cardin scowled at me for a moment before he snorted and laughed punching me lightly on the shoulder. "Ass." He chuckled before standing up, stretching as he did so. "I'm going to go check how my team's doing, I'll catch you later Jaune."

With that Cardin made his way towards the exit, raising a hand casually to say goodbye.

"Excuse us." I heard Weiss' voice speak up behind me. I turned around to see both her and Yang standing behind me, Yang smiling cheekily while the Schnee heiress tapped her shoe impatiently.

"You guys are up next?" I asked, flicking my head towards the center of the arena.

Yang's grin widened as she pumped a fist. "Oh yeah, it's time for Freezerburn to rock this joint!" She exclaimed clearly pumped up for the fight to come.

I cocked a brow at that. "Freezerburn?" I asked, having no idea where she was going with that.

Yang's eyes sparkled and she took in a deep breath to reply only for the air to whoosh out as a particularly sharp looking elbow dug into her side, courtesy of her teammate in white.

"Ignore her." Weiss said primly, moving past me as I drew in my legs. "We are going to do just fine."

Yang winked at me and gave me a thumbs up as she walked past, apparently unable to make whatever pun she had been attempting to make.

Not exactly a bad thing.

"Good luck you two!" I called out, the rest of my team yelling out similar encouragements.

Team RWBY's best long ranged and close combat fighters on one team.

This'll certainly be interesting.

Yang and Weiss stood in the centre of the arena, waiting for their opponents to show up, Yang idly stretching as she did so.

Okay, so we've got one of their opponents at least.

Tall, male with skin as dark as Sage's albeit in a very different style of dress. He wore a black and white outfit, with formal striped pants, and a faded black vest over a long sleeved white shirt rolled up to his elbows. He also had a fedora on, with a strip of blue around it that was the same color as the tie he had hanging untied from his collar. He was also wearing one glove that was clutching his…

I stopped for a moment, rubbing my eyes to see if I had seen it the wrong way only to find it was still what I had seen before.

Is that a…musical instrument? I mean I've seen some weird weapons during my time hear in Beacon but a freaking trumpet? How does that even work in a melee situation?

As I tried to come to terms with this latest 'weapon' that had appeared before me there was a blur of motion and what appeared to be a…rainbow following behind someone who slid to a stop next to the other student from Atlas.

It was a faunus girl with bright orange hair with two blue streaks on her fringe done up in pigtails with a tail of the same color extending from behind her. As I examined her closer on the screen I saw that she wasn't wearing shoes at all, rather she was wearing roller blades, with white protectors on her shins, knees, palms, wrists and elbows, looking very much like the gear I had worn during Peter's first few attempts to take me ice skating. Apparently it was a form of training to help me learn to keep my balance.

I've still got the bruises on my tailbone from the amount of times that I'd fallen over.

Back to the female fighter, one Neon Katt as the screen informed me, she was wearing a collar with a large bell attached to it, a blue singlet that was a similar color to the streaks in her hair and a short pink skirt that was held up by a white belt. And she was wielding what looked to be nunchucks, although I couldn't tell you what they were made out of.

As the two teams started talking, the exact words impossible to make out from the sidelines, I tirned my head towards Nora curious about the weapons the team from Atlas was using. "Nora, what can you tell me about their weapons? I'm not quite sure what to expect here."

Nora hmm'd making a show of examining the weapons as best as she could via the screen and the arena itself. "The trumpet looks like your standard sound based weapon but from what I can see there are dust injectors in the casing. If I had to guess, playing a different note may result in a different type of dust being used." Our resident weapons expert hypothesized, scratching her head as she did so.

"In one of the tournaments I fought someone who used an electric guitar as a weapon, they used the guitar to attack from a distance while it could turn into an axe for close encounters." Pyrrha recalled clearly drawing parallels between the two unique weapons. "And the girl's weapon?" Pyrrha asked looking on at the match as Neon continued to move about the field restlessly, very much like Nora was prone to when she was bored.

"I know that one." Ren interjected, drawing a surprised look from me. "It's slush dust."

Nora grinned at that. "Nicely done!" She praised, patting him heavily on the back. "What gave it away?"

"The palm guards." Ren revealed, Nora letting out an ah of understanding at that.

"I'm sorry, slush dust?" I asked having no idea what they were talking about.

"Basically it's halfway between a dust crystal and dust fuel but not quite either of them, a semi-solid dust if you will." Nora explained gesturing with her hands as she did so. "It's special because it's a contact activated dust, you can only use it with melee weapons, if your aura isn't flowing through it then it won't work at all."

As I saw Yang respond angrily to something that Neon had said I kept an eye on the the symbols spinning buy on the stage selectors, eager to find out what environs we'd be witnessing today.

Okay, let's see.

Desert, Volcano, Geyser Field and the Ruined City stage.

Nothing new, but an interesting mix of things.

"THREE, TWO, ONE, BEGIN!" Peter's voice boomed out from the speakers, signalling the start if the match.

As soon as the match started Flynt lifted his trumpet to his lips and blew, a powerful blast of sound that was somehow visible firing from the end of the instrument, pushing against Yang and Weiss as if it was a gale force wind.

Weiss went down on one knee, the familiar sight of a glyph appearing below her halting her backwards slide, while Yang was still struggling to get a grip. I saw Neon move in front of Flynt, only for her form to blur forward moving from stop to full out sprint in an instant, the rainbow streaks I had seen before trailing behind her as she slammed into an unprepared Yang, sending her tumbling backwards and into the ruins stage, the rollerblading faunus not stopping as she moved deeper into the collapsed buildings, Yang flipping up to follow her.

Okay, lost track of them for a moment, let's see how Weiss is doing. I looked back to see Weiss trying to brute force her way through the musician's attack, glyphs underneath her feet keeping her anchored to the floor. Then the attack suddenly cut out and Weiss was sent stumbling forward like a charging boarbastusk with Flynt easily dodging out of the way, snapping a quick kick into the Schnee heiress' back as he did so.

Weiss spun through the air haphazardly, crashing through a orange dust crystal formation before sliding to a stop within the lava field. I could see Flynt smile widely as he walked casually towards the fallen huntress.

The sound of Yang's explosive rounds crashing into things drew my attention back towards the ruins, a fast moving Neon Katt zooming away from Yang's projectiles, even going so far as to turn and stick her tongue out at the blonde, pulling down on one of her eyelids childishly as she did so.

I could see how frustrated Yang was from here. This Neon was doing a spectacularly good job of annoying her.

"She hasn't slowed down." Pyrrha said, drawing my attention away from the fight.

"Sorry?" I asked, not quite sure where my partner was going with this.

"Neon hasn't slowed down at all since the beginning of this match. She's been going the same speed the entire time." Pyrrha informed me, flicking her head back towards the match.

I raised a brow at that. Now that was interesting.

Ren nodded. "I'm guessing it has something to do with the rainbow that's been following her the whole match, probably an aftereffect of her semblance."

I nodded, the facts making sense when a realization struck me. "That's why she's using the skates!" I exclaimed, watching as Neon blurred around Yang hitting her nunchucks with each new pass coming from a different angle. "They make it easier for her to get to higher speeds and since her semblance lets her maintain her velocity she only has to be that fast once."

As I finished speaking I saw Neon come to a stop, raising her nunchucks before she grasped both ends and bent them, the previously grey weapon lighting up like a neon sign.

She blurred forward, riding along a partially collapsed wall for a moment, ducking under Yang's attack to strike her right leg.

And a mass of ice formed around the sight of the impact.

Ice slush dust.

Ooh this could be bad.

The only thing worse than fighting an opponent faster than yourself?

Fighting an opponent that is not only faster than you are, but wields a weapon that can make you slower if it hits you.

Yang slammed her iced leg on the ground managing to free it, but in the process lost sight of the fast moving faunus from Atlas, just barely moving one of her gauntlets in time to block the attack.

Only for another outbreak of ice to appear on that as well, leaving Yang to clutch at her suddenly frozen limb.

I winced. Now that is a very bad matchup for Yang.

I mean she can't even block anymore unless she wants whatever she blocks with to turn into a block of ice.

Neon blurred across the field, weaving through the debris before turning and rocketing her way back to Yang and landing an absolutely massive double kick into Yang's gut sending her slamming into a broken building, even further fractures racing through it as the blonde impacted with it.

I saw Neon's mouth move and say something else, with Yang gritting her teeth angrily and slamming her iced fist into the wall she'd connected with, both the wall and the ice fracturing to nothing from the force of the impact.

Yang charged forward with a scream, explosive rounds flying from her gauntlets as Neon fled into the Ruins once more.

The arena shook slightly and I turned to see Flynt and Weiss locked in a heated exchange the trumpets blast being met by a tornado that had formed from the tip of Weiss rapier, neither side prevailing.

Then Weiss moved her free hand gesturing with purpose and more of her Glyphs appeared in the air, surrounding both her and Flynt in a wide circle.

Weiss vanished, moving even faster than Neon had been bouncing between each Glyph with tremendous speed, a rain of icicles launching seemingly at random from each one to crash into Flynt unable to guess which Glyph would be the next one to attack him, bouncing him around like a ball.

Flynt stumbled for a moment before recovering, planting his feet firmly as he raised his trumpet to his lips once more.

I saw students from Atlas stand up and cheer, clearly knowing something that I didn't about what Flynt was doing.

I don't get it. He isn't fast enough to hit Weiss so what is he planning?

Suddenly Flynt's form blurred and where once there was one man, now there were four, each of them wielding the same weapon as the man beside him. But each one was a different color, the attack that their trumpet gave off also being the same color.

Different dust types.

This could end badly.

In the face of Flynt's new strategy Weiss' speed was useless.

It doesn't matter how fast you can move if your opponent can attack every spot you be at once.

Weiss was caught in the attack and sent soaring through the air as if she'd just been backhanded by an Ursa Major.

I heard Peter and Professor Oobleck discussing Flynt's latest attack in the background dimly but my attention was on Flynn and his new revealed semblance.

This wasn't the first clone semblance I'd seen, Blake's shadows and Sun's projections springing to mind but these ones clearly different.

The ability to make four attacks at once was one hell of a trump card.

But at the same time, the clones all made the same movements, albeit with a slight delay between them as they moved further down the line, mimicking the moves of the original Flynt.

Flynt turned away from the fallen Weiss, turning to look up at the main projector with the scoreboard that displayed both teams' aura levels. Then Flynt started walking forward again, his copies sliding back to merge with him once more.

"A semblance like that is most likely extremely draining." Pyrrha added from my side, as she watched the musician advance on the still downed Schnee.

"Probably why he saves it to use as a trump card, if he used it to much it'd drain him." I hypothesized, scratching my chin as I did so.

Neon soared out from the Ruins with a lazy backflip to land once more in the barren centre of the arena, an irate Yang launching herself after her opponent.

I could see the two of them still talking, Neon capturing Yang's attention fully as she continued to circle around the brawler with her skates.

I saw movement in the corner of my eye and turned to see Flynt, once more taking the firm stance that signalled he was about to use his semblance, aiming his attack towards the clearly unsuspecting Yang.

Only for Weiss to fling herself from the ground, tackling Flynt, the four clones coming together into the singular male once more, just as a pillar of fire erupted from the molten ground beneath them.

The buzzer for a knockout sounded and I could hear Ruby and Blake's voices cry out in alarm for their teammate as my eyes flicked up to the screen to see Weiss aura emptied entirely, while Flynt's was still plummeting down to meet it.

I looked back at the field. Taking a hit like that with her aura that low, Weiss could have suffered some backlash and a pillar of fire is not something you want to go through with no aura at all.

It has this nasty habit of burning you, surprisingly enough.

I let out a sigh of relief when I caught sight of Weiss, singed but clearly still alive as the smoke began to settle.

"Wait, what's this?" Doctor Oobleck's voice came out of the speakers as I caught sight of something else in the smoke.

Staggering, woozy but still somehow standing Flynt Coal emerged from the smoke the blast of flame had left behind.

"Ladies and gentlemen, Flynt Coal remains standing!" Peter announced loudly, a wild cheer erupting from the crowd at this latest turn of events.

I flicked my eyes to the screen to see that Flynt was on sixteen percent of his aura, a veritable sliver of health, but still enough for him to remain in the fight.

But for how long?

I saw Neon make her way over to Flynt as he made his way over to the center of the arena, talking animatedly and gesturing towards Yang as she was doing so.

I looked towards Yang only to grimace almost recoiling away as I caught sight of the unfortunately familiar sight of Yang's last straw snapping, her lilac eyes replaced with a furious red, the ground of the arena shaking from the force of her rage.

"Ooh, looks like Yang's angry!" Peter commentated, making long strides towards him winning the 'most obvious statement' award of this tournament, if such a thing existed. "And you wouldn't like her when she's…upset." He finished, somewhat delicately.

As if in response to Peter's comments the blonde brawler let out a scream of rage, streams of lava exploding out of the volcanic field behind her as she expressed her rage, launching two howling blasts of red dust rounds at her opponents, the projectiles flying faster than any she had launched so far.

Flynt and Neon dodget out of the way, before attacking with the same combo they'd started the match with the orange-haired faunus using her partner's attack to launch herself at Yang.

Yang rather than retreating leapt forward to meet her, liberally firing her gauntlets as she did so to propel her forward and augment her strikes, neither fighter able to strike the other before Yang was sent flying backwards by Flynt's waves of sound.

Making use of her opponent's attack she leapt off the ground away from the team from Atlas, making use of her added space to rain down blasts, Neon cooly dodging out of the way as she approached Yang, the blasts being slowed by the waves of sound coming from the musician supporting her.

But Flynt on the other hand was shaken, his instrument knocked to the side by the force of the explosion, Flynt's attack being knocked aside as well.

Leaving Neon suddenly a great deal less protected than she had been before.

Neon stumbled, struggling to dodge Yang's attacks before being forced up an impromptu ramp and into the geyser zone, away from the center of the arena.

Leaving Flynt all alone with an angry Yang.

Yang landed with a thump before rocketing towards the suddenly friendless Flynt, no doubt making the best of the situation she'd been handed.

Flynt planted his feet and activated his semblance once more, firing his fourfold attack at the approaching berserker.

And on anyone else I'll wager that he might have won.

But considering I have it on good Authority that Yang once tanked a punch from an Altesian Paladin without so much as flinching, I had a feeling Yang was going to come out on top of this one.

Yang powered through the waves of sound with a both gauntlets fuelling her flight behind her before she slapped both her hands over the mouth of the Atlas' student's trumpet.

There was silence for a moment and then the blast exploded backwards, the weapon backfiring onto the trumpeter and sending the last of his aura down into nothing, the buzzer for a knock out sounding soon after.

"Oh, a sour note for Flynt!" Oobleck quipped from the commentary box, drawing a small laugh from me as I watched on.

Now then, all Yang's got to do is find Neon and this match is over.

Movement caught my eye and I turned to see Neon being pushed into the air, caught in the grip of a geyser.

And making her the easiest target I'd ever seen.

Yang didn't disappoint, drawing back her fist to launch an explosive blast at the screaming faunus that collided dead on, the buzzer sounding one final time and ending the match.

The crowd stood up and roared, expressing their enjoyment of the end to an incredible match.

Yang ran over to her partner's side, clearly concerned for Weiss' wellbeing.

She was covered in soot, but I saw her cough through the projector so she looked to be okay.

As Ruby and Blake dashed out of their seats to join their teammates on the arena floor I turned my attention away to face my teammates, curious about what they had to say about the match.

"Well that was certainly a close one." Ren drawled, looking up at the scoreboard that was displaying the positively miniscule amount of aura that Yang had left.

"Indeed. If Yang didn't have more aura than the average Huntsman than this match could have ended very differently." Pyrrha added, agreeing with Ren.

In all honesty I'm surprised that it went as well as it did.

For a while there it looked like they were on the ropes.

I said as much to my teammates.

"Yang was on the ropes there for a bit, Neon was one of the worst match ups she could have possibly faced." I stated, thinking back to the earlier stages of the fight.

Nora made a sound in agreement. "Ice slush-dust in against a close combat fighter. Doesn't get much worse than that." She mused thinking back to the fight.

"It was certainly good strategy." Ren said, no doubt thinking how he would have prepared for a fight against Yang. "Only problem was that even though the strikes with Neon's weapon did slow her down, they still powered up her semblance at the same time."

"That and Neon seemed to suffer from the same problem that Reese Chloris did in the preliminaries." Pyrrha stated, thinking back to the last match involving team RWBY.

"An inability to stop." I agreed with a slight laugh, remembering the brutal clothesline that Blake had used to take out her opponent during the match.

Pyrrha and Nora let out a laugh of their own at that, Pyrrha giggling and Nora grinning but Ren remained silent, looking at something on his scroll with a focused expression.

"Everything okay there Ren?" I asked

Ren let out an indecisive sound. "I think I may have discovered something during the fight." He said finally, his eyes still glued to whatever he was viewing on his screen.

He flipped the screen towards us revealing several different scenes from a variety of fights, but all of them featuring one person in particular.

Yang Xiao-Long.

"It's Yang's fatal flaw." Ren stated, bringing up a replay of the fight on his scroll, gesturing to Yang's eyes flickering into a glowing red, away from her usual lilac.

"Her temper?" I questioned with a raised eyebrow, interested to see where my teammate was going with this. From everything I've seen so far it seems to be quite the opposite.

She becomes stronger, more durable, not exactly what I'd refer to as an obvious weakness.

"Can't she just…try and stay calm?" Nora asked, sounding confused as to why Ren thought this.

"I don't think she can." He suggested, his unexpected answer leaving me struggling to make sense of it.

"What do you mean by that Ren?" Pyrrha asked, showing that I wasn't the only one having trouble catching on.

"I mean I think it's a side effect of her Semblance. It not only boosts her power, it also boosts her aggression as well, makes her focus on whatever is inciting her ire."

I let out a sound of realization, the pieces finally coming together about what Ren was implying. "You mean it's completely involuntary. She can't stop it from happening." I said, thinking back to the last times I'd seen Yang's eyes turn to Red during a match.

I couldn't say he was wrong.

"And if you know it's going to happen, you can plan around it." I concluded, the thoughts coming to mind easily.

Ren nodded. "Exactly." He replied, before I saw his eyes flick up towards the screens his attention drawn elsewhere. "Looks like we'll have to continue this later,"

"And now it's time for our next match!" Peter's voice boomed out, drawing my attention back to the screens, once more spinning rapidly as they randomly selected the fighters for the next match.

The ones on the left came to a stop first, stopping on Pyrrha's face as well as my own. "Alright, we're up!" I said with a grin turning towards my partner with a grin only to find her still focused on the screen, staring at the new team that had shown up on the right.

The two of them were related by the looks of it, both sharing the same last name, although one of them was female, the leader of the team at that.

I'd seen her earlier matches.

She was good, nearly as good as Pyrrha was with a spear, albeit with her own little trick to it.

It had certainly shocked her opponent, let me tell you that much.

But the last name was a little new to me.

"Porfyró?" I read questioningly. "What the heck does that mean?"

"Purple." Pyrrha said quietly next to me, still staring intensely up at the screen. "It means purple."

I sat there, more than a bit disturbed by the expression on my partner's face. I'd yet to see anything that I could say that Pyrrha hated.

Looks like today's the day.

"Do you…know those two?

Pyrrha's eyes narrowed minutely. "Oh you could say that." She commented softly, her hands tightening into white knuckled fists as she said it.

Eep.

That doesn't look good.

I don't know whatever you did you two but you are about to get your ass kicked.

But still.

What kind of name for a guy is Paris?

INTERLUDE:

Dragon's Passing was lost.

Most of the town was in flames, Grimm ravaging what little remained and even worse things still lurking about as well.

There was no saving this town.

But he could still save the people.

Cobalt swore, his Sabre Machine Gun raising up to fire at the Nevermores that were diving towards him when a familiar cable whipped through them, the monstrous birds falling to the ground without a sound in pieces.

"Lin, we're almost ready its time for us to g…" The words died in the deputy's mouth as he turned to face his sheriff.

Lin was in a bad way. Covered in soot, with a large burn dominating one half of her face, the hair surrounding it similarly damaged. Her breath was coming in ragged gasps, the smoke pouring out of the devastated areas making it almost impossible to breath. Something was lashed to her back haphazardly by a number of cables, but he couldn't make out what it could possibly be.

But the thing that drew his attention the most was the bloody ragged mess where Lin's right shoulder used to be.

Along with her arm.

"Lin!" Cobalt cried out in dismay, running forward to try and help. "By all that is. Your arm." He breathed, horrified by what Lin had gone through.

Lin laughed shallowly, hacking out a gob of blood as she did so. "Thankfully the gods saw fit to give me a spare." Lin said, smiling with black humour.

A massive plume of fire broke out in the center of the town, an inhuman raw following its appearance.

"Tch." The sheriff grimaced, displeased. "Was hoping that'd last a bit longer."

Cobalt ignored the sheriff's ramblings, grabbing her remaining arm and throwing it over his shoulder, Lin giving out a hiss of pain as she did so. "We need to get you onto the plane, you can't do anything more here."

Lin grunted, pushing herself off Cobalt's shoulder and facing him with a glare. "Like hell I can't." She replied, wobbling on unsteady legs before a few metal cables lanced out and grasped the building next to her, anchoring her in place.

Cobalt gaped at her for a moment before gritting his teeth. "Damn it Lin, if you stay here all you're going to do is die!"

"And if I leave I'm going to bleed out before anyone can help me anyway." She replied simply, the facts of her situation long since clear to her. "And the people on that ship are going to die if they don't have someone to protect them."

Cobalt stepped forward, hand on his gun. "Why can't you be that person to protect them?" He implored, begging his boss to listen. "I can stay here, buy you time while you make your escape."

"Because I'm a better distraction than you against that thing and you know it." Lin countered, her visage firm. "You gave it your best shot and it didn't so much as scratch the damn thing. But you can take out the Grimm that'll try to come after the ship."

"Lin you d…" Cobalt was cut off by the sound of screams and the triumphant snarls of the approaching Grimm as they broke through another one of his barriers. Cobalt spun and sprinted back to the stairs, his gun up and blazing at the Grimm scratching away at the final barrier, the barrel spewing forth rounds so fast it was glowing white hot before he slammed the bayonet of his weapon so deep into the remaining Beowolf's head that the barrel seared its black flesh raw.

The deputy turned back around to face his partner, only to see her facing the center of town where the greatest threat remained, steadily making its way towards them. Cables snapped out latching onto the edges of the roof above her, snapping taut in an instant. "Whatever happens to me," Lin yelled over to Cobalt, fighting to be heard over the cacophony of violence, "don't turn back."

And then she was gone, the cables spinning back into their reels and launching her high into the air, back into the fray once more.

"LIN!" Cobalt cried out, an arm reaching uselessly out to his disappearing comrade.

"COBALT!" a voice echoed out over a loudspeaker, the voice of the woman piloting the bullhead. She was a merchant who had diverted to the town after they'd given off the 'total loss' signal, aiming to pick up any remaining survivors before the Grimm claimed them. "WE NEED TO LEAVE, NOW!"

Cobalt turned his head back towards where Lin had vanished off too for a few moments before her words came back to the forefront of his mind. He thought about staying a few moments longer before the decision was taken from him by a brand new surge of Grimm scrambling forward, a deadly sea of gnashing teeth and blood-soaked claws. With a heavy oath he sprinted back towards the ship, diving through his barrier even as the rush of Grimm crashed into his final barrier, the wall of aura flickering under the immense duress.

"Get us out of here!" He roared, thumping a clenched fist onto the ship in frustration before it returned to his gun, steading his weapon as he mowed down what seemed to be an endless stream of Grimm. Even as fired he felt the already idling engines spin up, pushing the overburdened bullhead into the air and flying away from the town.

Moments after the landing pad was cleared the final barrier Cobalt had thrown up fell and the Grimm coursed over the position like living flood, the architecture lost beneath the heaving black flesh.

But Cobalt's eyes weren't focusing on that.

Cobalt's eyes were glued firmly to the end of his binoculars, hoping to catch a glimpse of Lin amongst the explosions and massive plumes of fire. Suddenly he spotted her, the sheriff's ragged form spinning around the belltower with a well-placed cable even as another plume of flame reduced the area behind her into little more than charred bricks and ash.

Then another plume crashed into the belltower, the seemingly ageless landmark reduced to rubble and slag in a heartbeat, sending the sheriff tumbling through the air before she reached out with her remaining hand and grabbed one of the power cables, bouncing in the air as she did so.

Cobalt swore, powerless as he was so far away from Lin, utterly unable to help her.

But then he saw something, a flicker through the cables that had a gasp rush out of his mouth.

"No way."

She couldn't be serious.

But she was.

As he watched on from the escaping airship Lin's semblance surged through the cables, stretching out from that one point of contact to the entire interconnected system that remained in the broken and bloody town.

And then it rose up as one mass, the entire wire system extending high into the air like some kind of vast alien tree.

And then with a battle cry so fierce that Cobalt swore he could hear it even as far away as it was the wire crashed down like the wrath of a god, slamming into Lin's foe with all the force she could muster, sending it to collide with the ground with a colossal boom.

Cobalt stood there in shock for a moment before he gave off a great cheer of victory, throwing a fist up into the air in celebration.

She'd done it!

She'd stopped that relentless destroyer!

But then he saw its inhuman arm smash its way out of the wire, the unstoppable juggernaut still fighting even after Lin's tremendous blow.

Cobalt, moved his binoculars, searching for any sign of his friend among the rubble when he caught sight of her and the breath in his lungs turned to stone.

He'd found her alright.

As well as what she'd been hiding on her back.

The Eye of the Dragon.

One of the largest dust crystal ever found in the last two hundred years.

Discovered by Lin's grandmother and used to power the entire town and its defences for near a century.

Looks like it was going to have one final job before the day was out.

As Cobalt realised what was happening, he spun, throwing himself over two of the immobile passengers, grabbing as tight a grip as he could roaring out to the other passengers, "HOLD ON TO SOMETHING!"

And then Lin slammed The Eye of the Dragon, the last of her aura flooding through it, straight into the chest of the thing that had destroyed her town.

It was like a second sun had come into existence so intense was the light that formed where Dragon's Passing had been, blinding in its intensity even as Cobalt stared in the other direction.

Then came the noise, a wall of sound so fierce that it was like a solid thing, the entire ship rocking like a prize-fighter that had been hit cleanly with a haymaker, spinning frantically for a moment, the world a dizzying cyclone of colours as the pilot fought desperately to regain control of the bullhead.

Then the ship tilted, and despite being near blind and completely deaf from the explosion, Cobalt knew that they were falling, the ships engines likely failing with the sheer destruction of the Eye of the Dragon detonating behind them.

Cobalt yelled at the civilians to brace for impact as loud as he could, but all he could hear was an endless ringing in his ears, even as he felt the wind whip by him and he saw mouths scream silently in panic.

Before the bullhead collided with the ground below, his last thoughts were an apology to Lin.

And then there was nothing but darkness.