In RWBY's Shadow

Reviewing the Situation

"We were so close!" Lilly moaned over a bowl of noodles, nearly letting her face fall into the massive serving before her. "So close, we tripped at the finish line!"

Fresh from their defeat at the hands of RWBY, Lilly was an absolute wreck. Despite all her planning and preparation, Yang and her team had overcome them, ruining their chance to finally prove themselves in the process. Lilly couldn't help but run through the entire fight in her head, idly wondering if she could've done something different to change the outcome.

If only I'd hidden more. Yang may have run to reinforce her team, which would've been worse, but what if she didn't? What if being less aggressive would've kept Yang busy longer and worn her out more? Randi might have been able to take down Ruby and Weiss alone in that time and come to save the day. Or maybe she should've been more aggressive, taking out more of Yang's aura before she faced Randi.

Then again, maybe the terrain had been their undoing. The forest worked well, but a city would've been better. If Weiss hadn't gotten a lucky draw with the ice fields, Smit might've done better, given the better footing. Weiss had clearly benefitted from being in her favorite element. Perhaps another arena might've hindered her enough to give Smit and Honey the advantage, instead.

Such thoughts served only to fuel Lilly's poor mood, which seemed to be infecting her team as a result.

"It's my fault," Honey lamented. "I was supposed to contain Ruby, but I let her get away. If I'd done a better job, she wouldn't have been able to help Weiss take down Smit."

"No, I'm the one who messed up," Smit moaned, still a little sore from his untimely defeat at the hands of the tiny twosome. "I got distracted instead of just finishing Weiss off when I had the chance. Ruby wouldn't have made it in time if I hadn't goofed."

"Yeah, but it's not like I did us any favors, either," Lilly joined in. "It was my job to keep Yang busy. If I hadn't–"

"Enough!" Randi commanded, slamming a fist on the small counter hard enough to rattle their bowls. She instantly calmed down, continuing in a more friendly tone. "We fought well against one of the best teams of our year. In the end, they beat us, but that's nothing to be ashamed of. Sitting around talking about what you could've done different is just gonna make you feel worse. We should take pride in how well we did and use the opportunity to improve ourselves."

She has a point, you know, Lilly's brain urged, siding with the ever-rational faunus. RWBY were considered a shoe-in for the finals, with only a few teams favored to beat them in the end. That both CFVY and JNPR were among that group showed just how challenging any of their fellow Beacon teams would've been. They'd lost to one of the top teams, but it hadn't been the one-sided slaughter most expected. Lilly and her team had held their own, even taking an early lead.

"You know, you're right, Randi." Lilly's own fist impacted the counter, although much softer, to emphasize the words she didn't fully believe. She'd need a few days to cool off before such rational thoughts stood a chance in her mind. Still, her team needed cheering up, not stewing in their failure. "We did do pretty good, even if it wasn't enough in the end. We went from having to fight just to get into the Tournament to nearly beating one of the top teams! Heck, at one point, we were even winning thanks to you."

"And your strategy," Randi quickly added, sharing some of the praise.

"Either way, we came this close to pulling off a huge upset. Sure, a win would've been amazing, but there's no denying that people have to take us seriously, now." Lilly pointed to a nearby screen, which was still showing highlights from the day's matches. Most of the clips focused on their battle with RWBY. A small part of Lilly pointed out that was likely because they'd been playing the other clips before their match, but she chose to ignore that in favor of believing their fight was just that much more impressive. "Like Randi said, we'll just have to work on getting even better, so that next time, we'll be the ones standing victorious!"