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Chapter 1: The Tournament

Ruby looked on with excitement and joy, "Wooo! Go Nora! Kick his butt 'til you're together-together!"

"Honestly, Ruby, you have no restraint," Weiss protested, chuckling in good faith.

"The moon looks beautiful today," Penny non sequitur'd, happy just to be allowed to sit with her friends.

The evening sun, too, shone out over the absolutely packed colosseum, Beacon's spires tracing arcs with their shadows. Team RWBY and their +1 sat in a row in the upper seating, with JNPR seated just below them. Nora and Ren, however, had no time to socialize for th—

Nora swung Magnhild crossways, Ren barely ducking below getting his head knocked off.

Suffice it to say, the Vytal tournament was in its last few rounds.

'Thanks for that, Ruby,' Ren remarked to himself, pouncing upward at Nora.

Nora barely blocked StormFlower's dual slash with the haft of Magnhild, blasting with its head to turn her block into a point blank swing as the audience cheered.

"Sick, Nora! Beat up your boyfriend!" Yang cackled.

'Tch, tough crowd,' Ren thought to himself as thrusted his right arm forward. Using his aura he blasted Nora backward, quickly swinging his elbow down to blast Magnhild out of her hands. The greathammer hit the sand, tumbling to his feet, causing Ren to smirk, 'How's that?'

"Great move, Ren!" Ruby shouted.

'THANK you,' Ren thought.

"Fair-weather fan!" Nora retorted.

Now thoroughly ticked, Nora charged Ren, grabbing hold of his wrists. With a deceptive amount of strength, she wrested Ren's arms spread-eagle, pulling him towards her, and delivered a powerful headbutt to his forehead. Ren was launched backwards, eliciting an ecstatic roar from the crowd.

Ren dropped StormFlower's two parts in the dirt before slamming into the ring's stone wall. Seeing his quirky partner going for her hammer, he now charged her. "No you don't," trying to spin her around to pin her arms from behind.

"Oh my!" Pyrrha exclaimed, covering her mouth in shock. The rest of the audience was similarly taken aback.

Ren was only partly successful, lifting Nora momentarily, but she caught his neck with her right arm as he tried to go around her. "No you don't," she retorted, beaming.

But Nora had not see his right arm as it came around to pinch her neck as well.

"Well, shit," she said as Ren grinned.

And so, there the pair stood, grunting both in exertion and for air, slowly choking one another out.

"Draw," Goodwitch called from the announcer's booth.

"Put a sock in it, benevolence!" Nora yelled, face reddening.

Goodwitch made a mental note to assign Nora the next shift of locker room cleanup.

Ruby just stood their shocked, now really now knowing who to root for.

"I guess they really are a perfect match for each other," Jaune observed, seeing the pair's free hands flailing impotently as they struggled for air, "...in a way."

"I'm getting all choked up." Yang said, wiping a fake tear from her eye.

The group had learned by now not to even encourage Yang; groans and glares only made her stronger.

"Should we… help them," Penny asked the group."

"Shush! Just sit and watch." Weiss commanded, engrossed by the duel.

"Goodnight, Nora," "Love you, Ren," the pair gasped as they slumped to the ground, unconscious.

"Draw," Goodwitch sardonically repeated, turning the mic off, "Honestly, these children…"

A confused and spotty round of applause swept through the crowd.

"Well, that ended... gracefully?" Weiss remarked.

Blake took it upon herself to leap down to the arena, carrying Ren to the infirmary as Jaune picked up Nora.

"Don't be too hard on them, Glynda; they're just spirited kids," Ironwood said kindly.

"Hmph," came her reply. Despite her typically icy demeanor, Professor Goodwitch was quite enjoying the festivities after training these students all year.

Ironwood, too, was enjoying the day, helped greatly by the numerous Atlesian androids standing guard around the arena.

"Both combatants have been eliminated and we will now move into the semi finals," Goodwitch announced over the loudspeaker, "Contestants Coco Adel and Yang Xiao Long, please come to the field."

"Aww, I hate mirror matches!" Ruby jibed.

Yang shot her a glare, "Whelp, it looks like it's time for me to fight s'more."

It broke them.

Weiss rested her brow on her forefingers in exhaustion, "All day, you've been at this ALL day!"

"It seems as if you are causing our friends pain, please cease this behavior," Penny stated.

"Fine, fine! Wish me luck, guys," Yang said, hopping down into the ring.

"Yay, do it, sis!" Ruby said, unfazed.

Right as Yang touched down, Coco strode into the ring, a swagger in her step.

Hitting her fists together Yang mocked, "What's up chocolate, you ready to do this."

Stretching her arms elegantly, Coco replied, "Don't lose too fast... for me."

They slid on their sunglasses and stared each other down, reflecting back the setting sun.

'Told youuu!' Ruby sang to herself.

Goodwitch's voice sounded over the intercom, "The first semifinal match will now… Begin!"

Coco immediately transformed her handbag into a gatling gun and opened fire.

"Watch out!" Penny cried, seemingly familiar with that weapon model.

Ignoring her advice, Yang charged straight in, eyes closed, her hair trailing behind her, taking the bullets in stride. Opening her now-scarlet eyes, that same fire engulfed her right hook as she literally shot it towards Coco.

Pivoting, Coco swatted her fist away with the gun barrel.

Yang, however, was too quick, grabbing the furthest edge of the red-hot barrel with her right hand and swinging with Coco to fire a left hook.

Coco, as it happened, was also too quick, ducking under the blow.

Yang did, however, manage to strike her stylish beret, immediately firing Ember Celica and ripping it to shreds.

Not to be outdone, Coco retracted her gun and swung it at Yang, mid-transformation, hitting her chin with an uppercut.

Yang simply looked back down with a smirk, "Heh, I like," and grabbed hold of the upperclassman, firing both gauntlets into her rapidly.

Coco managed to beat her away with her metal-studded purse, stepping back.

The audience was in an uproar over the lightning-fast exchange. Judging from the chants, both Yang and Coco had a sizable number of mostly-male fans.

Glancing down at her now-tattered clothes, Coco, sighed. "Now look what you've done!" she chided, clearly irked.

"You're in for it now!" Velvet shouted, earning a partisan glare from Ruby.

Meanwhile, Roman Torchwick sat in a cell, frantically gnawing the collar of his jacket. After much effort, and, thankfully for him, before the guard came back, he ripped the hardened fabric open. Reaching into the sewn-in compartment, he retrieved a flash drive and second small stick of technology.

Just as he had them in his hands, he heard the patrol approaching. Diving the flash drive into his pocket, he tried to appear peaceful, clutching the other device in his right fist.

"Make yourself decent, Torchwick, it's time to come out," the guard called, stepping up to the cell.

"Oh, am I going to get a decent meal for once?" Torchwick inquired through the steel door.

"Not likely," came the man said, "but it is time for your dinner." He looked down at his scroll, checking the cell's vital monitors. The guard tapped one final time to open the cell, readying his weapon just to be safe.

The second the door receded into the floor Torchwick seized the opportunity and lunged at the man, stabbing at him with the device. A burst of gunfire and a muffled grunt were followed by the guard slipping to the floor.

Pocketing the sparking device, Torchwick marveled at it's effectiveness. Granted, he also picked up the man's assault rifle, but that was just to be safe. Clutching his left side, now the home of at least one round's worth of dust, he made off for the upper decks of the airship.

Coco charged back in, holding her purse to shield her from Yang's shells. She drew back her purse and loosed a powerful right swing, her freed auburn locks whipping around wildly.

"Don't wear what you're afraid to lose," Yang goaded, blocking the purse with her left gauntlet.

"My thoughts exactly," Coco purred, grabbing Yang's blocking arm, spinning her around to slash with a blade from her purse-shaped armory.

The general audience was puzzled, but the smart money in team RWBY's row all gasped in terror. Coco had not struck Yang with her blade, but rather given her a shave… to shoulder length.

Yang immediately elbowed Coco in the gut, blasting her gauntlets the get away and promptly whirling back around. The sight she was greeted with was Coco smirking, her outfit in shambles, over a thick pile of golden locks, her golden locks. Dreading the outcome, Yang raised her hands to feel the back of her head. She felt around a bit, hands stopping just below the shoulders, grasping for something that was no longer there.

"Oh God...," Ruby and Weiss said in unison.

"Give, me back, my hair!" Yang shouted in a rage, looking up with at Coco with an absolutely withering glare, hair alight with radiant power.

Coco backpedaled, wasting no time in switching to gatling gun form once again, and opened fire.

Yang forced herself to think tactically for once, this being THE tournament and all, judging that she could not absorb much more gunfire from the ridiculously powerful weapon. She literally blasted off, harnessing her semblance to to run evasive circles around the gun-toting girl. Yang chuckled to herself that Ruby would approve of her strategy.

"Attagirl, Yang!" Ruby predictably cheered.

Coco tried to lead her target, which proved only marginally successful, given her erratic speed.

Yang spiraled inward towards the turret, now, taking a few hits to her aura and returning fire with her shotgun-fists.

Coco's aim was becoming more accurate as the death spiral constricted.

Feeling this, Yang suddenly pivoted towards the center and leapt into the air, aiming a punch straight at Coco.

Coco predictably readjusted her aim, causing bullets to ricochet off of the holographic barrier in front of the audience who, in turn, roared in approval.

"What're you doing!?" Weiss cried, aghast.

Grinning, Yang loosed a flaming fist straight at her Coco, who only just back stepped. Not to be deterred, Yang stepped into the torrent of bullets, closing the distance to unleash a barrage of punches and gun-blasts at the gatling-purse.

Both weapons dueled each other head on, kicking up a cloud of dust, sand, and smoke. Then, the firing suddenly stopped. The spectators stood in silent anticipation, straining to see into the slowly-clearing cloud.

As the vapors cleared a panting Coco emitted a sad tone, mourning her smoking gun's crumpled barrel.

Yang was breathing heavily as her scarlet eyes cooled to their typical lilac hue.

They were both out of bullets.

Back on the capital ship, Torchwick dispatched the last surprised guard with another round of gunfire, silently thanking the Vytal Festival for drawing most of the regular guards off of the ship.

He limped past several bodies to the captain's chair. Resting on the control panel, he quickly locked the room's door and halted the elevators to avoid any further interruptions. Slipping the flash drive into the unit, he transferred the virus to the Atlesian android maintenance system.

"I'm in," he cheekily exclaimed, instantly regretting his remark as he winced in pain.

Torchwick was momentarily surprised to see a confirmation request concerning a special unit. He impatiently clicked it, growling in torment from his open wound.

He entered flight commands before finally sliding to the floor, bleeding and exhausted.

"You're welcome Cinder, I never thought I would die for you, though," he said to the empty room, chuckling weakly.

"You won't, Roman," a voice came, lulling him into unconsciousness.

At the same time Blake set Ren down on the infirmary bed, guiding his unconscious body down to lie flat. She shuddered at the horrible puns she knew Yang would make out of this. Jaune had lost pace with her during the walk over from the colosseum. Blake laughed to herself, wondering if Nora had woken up yet.

After notifying the nurse, Blake left the room. While exiting the building on her way back to the tournament Blake spotted something inexplicable; something that shouldn't have been there. As much as she didn't believe what she was seeing, Blake couldn't ignore her eyes; there he was. The red-haired man strode across campus in his dressy tuxedo.

Blake immediately dialed Ruby.

"Blake, what's up? Are Ren and Nora—"

"Forget about them! Look, it's him, Adam, the leader of the White Fang; he's here!" Blake said, panicked.

"R-Right, okay, what do I do!?" Ruby asked, recognizing the serious tone of Blake's voice.

Penny slowly rose, calmly removing a magnetic blade from her back while the crowd cheered for Coco and Yang's fistfight.

"Just get everyone someplace safe; something's definitely going down today!" Blake warned.

Ruby looked over just in time to see Penny plunge the blade into Weiss' chest.

"AUGHAAA!" Weiss gasped.

Everything else went silent for a moment as the group heard her tortured cry, only to look on in horror. The heiress, shocked herself, looked down to see her crimson vital fluid slowly seeping into her pure white dress. Then, she coughed up some of her own blood.

"WEISS!"