(Ironwood's Flagship)
Early in the morning, Roman, still imprisoned, is resting, leaning against the wall of his cell. His eyes are distant as he quietly hears a young girl crying, having a distant memory.
Roman: "What...?"
That memory and his train of thought is interrupted when he hears a knock on the door of his cell.
Roman: "What the hell?"
He looks over at the tiny window on the door to a see a guard, who is suspiciously short, delivering him a tray of food through a small opening in the middle of the door. Roman look at the tray to find a note on top of it. He picks it up and proceeds to read it.
Roman: "Hope you're doing well. -Neo "
A smile grew on Roman's face.
Roman: "Man, I really want to get out of here and be with someone he cares about."
Neo, disguised as a guard, rolls her eyes at Roman's corniness. After that, Roman looks over at her note and made a realization as he peeks over the small window.
Roman: "I'm going have to eat this now, aren't I?"
In response, Neo smiles, nodding quickly to him. Roman sits back to his spot, scratching his head.
Roman: "Fine. I'll do it."
The crime boss proceeds to eat the food on the tray. During his eating, he looks over the small window to speak with the disguised Neo.
Roman: "You're going to visit that Y/N guy?"
Neo's eyes drift away, looking at the floor. Already know her answer, Roman drink a bottle of water before remarking.
Roman: "Normally, I would tell you no, but considering my situation right now, I'm unable to stop you."
Neo slowly look back at Roman, which he just exhales upon looking at her sadden expression.
Roman: "Okay. You can go... check up on him."
This made Neo smile very brightly before Roman cuts in.
Roman: "But remember, don't tell him anything about what we're doing and don't do anything suspicious towards him. If words get out and she finds out, she and her two street brats will have our heads."
Neo pause for a moment before nodding to him and slowly walk away from his cell. Roman goes back to eating and drinking from his tray as he ponders about Neo's interests over Y/N.
Roman: ("Neo doesn't tell me much about why she likes Y/N. Only thing she told me is that he looks familiar to her from somewhere and yet doesn't elaborate any further. Ugh... well if worse comes to worse, I can use Y/N as a... substitute bodyguard or...?")
The crime boss mentally sighs to himself, hoping that Neo's feelings towards Y/N doesn't wreck their part of Cinder's plan.
(Amity Colosseum)
Inside and outside of the arena, the crowd is waiting for the reveal of the next match-up.
Port: "And the next match will be..."
The two announcers and everyone else waited for the holographic roulette to show the two competing teams. Once it stops spinning, it finally reveals to everyone.
Oobleck: "Team JNPR of Beacon vs Team ABRN of Haven!!"
The crowd begin to loudly cheer at the reveal, while Y/N, his team, and their friends manage to get some seats to watch the upcoming match.
Velvet: "Wasn't expecting this."
Y/N: "None of us did."
Blake: "You think they'll be, okay?"
Weiss: "Considering what happened yesterday, I'm not so sure."
Yang: "Come on, guys. I'm sure they'll pull through this match."
Coco: "That's right. Besides, this tournament is all about friendly competition."
Ruby: "I hope so."
Soon enough, the armed Team JNPR and Team ABRN approach the center of the arena as tension filled the air around. Y/N and the others quickly notice this, increasing their worries. Arslan spot Y/N with his team and friends before doing a "Tch" before glaring back at Pyrrha. This makes Y/N irritated, staring at her from afar.
Y/N: "Gods, she's getting on my nerve."
Ruby place a hand above his hand, looking at him with a reassure look.
Ruby: "Calm down, just have faith in them."
Y/N look at her for a moment before smiling and nodding to her.
Y/N: "Sure. And I mean, Pyrrha fought them before so, I'm sure they got the advantage."
Yatsu: "That may be true, but none of us know how much Team ARBN have trained before this."
Fox: "Or maybe they got some sort of advantage over them."
The two upperclassmen's remarks make Y/N and the others somewhat worried but, all agree to believe that Team JNPR will win the match.
Back in the center of the arena, Team ABRN are still staring down at Team JNPR in silence before Arslan comment to Pyrrha.
Arslan: "I didn't expect my chance to humiliate you would come so soon."
Pyrrha hesitates to respond back only for the very eager Nora to cut in.
Nora: "Hah, yeah right! I'm going to knock all of you out of the arena!"
Team ABRN minus Arslan were taken aback by Nora's declaration before shaking it off and continue staring them down. During this, a mountainous rocky area emerges from Team JNPR's side, and a woodland area emerges from Team ARBN's side.
Oobleck: "Let the match..."
The two opposing teams quickly get their weapon ready and put on a fighting stance.
Oobleck: "Begin!!!"
Immediately, Nora launch forward at Arslan, raising her hammer to strike. Until Nadir shoots forwards with a scatter shot round from his assault rifle, blasting Nora deep into the rocky area.
Nadir: "I'm going to help Arslan 1v1 Pyrrha."
Quickly, all combatants face off with the first person they can find as Nadir rush after the recovering Nora, Bolin's attack with his staff make Ren jump away as he prepares to strike. All while Arslan charge forward at Pyrrha in the center of the arena, trading blows after blows.
Jaune tries to land a strike with his sword at Reese, who is literally flying on her hoverboard and just circling around Jaune.
Jaune: "Come on, get down here."
Reese: "Hmm... no."
Letting out a brief groan, Jaune tries to jump to land a hit but, it doesn't, which makes Reese giggle over how ridiculous his attempts are.
Back with Pyrrha, her fight against Arslan is surprisingly even. Pyrrha delivers a kick as Arslan dodges it. The pair dodge each other's kicks then Arslan delivers her own hits, launching a series of blows. Pyrrha, of course, block it with her shield and retaliate back with her javelin spear. Swiftly, Arslan throw her roped dagger at Pyrrha, making her deflect it but, giving Arslan the opening she need to do a jump kick, which actually land on her. Pyrrha begins to panic a bit internally.
Pyrrha: ("Darn it. Every attack with her dagger only leaves me open for an unarmed strike.")
Soon enough, Pyrrha hits 50% of her aura as she continues fighting, trying to not let this pattern continue.
Back in the benches, Y/N and the others were stunned for a brief moment since, they never seen Pyrrha's aura go 50%.
Weiss: "No way."
Y/N: "You got to be joking me."
Coco: "Guess this really is an even fight."
Back in the match, Pyrrha and Arslan collide blades, now in a stand-off.
Pyrrha: "I'm surprised. How did you manage to become this skilled, Arslan?"
A grin begins to form on Arslan's face.
Arslan: "I've watched, listened, and trained."
Pyrrha: "Huh?"
Arslan: "After fighting you twice and feeling that 'interference,' I got an inkling as to what's your trick is."
The two are still colliding their blades, trying to overpower one another as Arslan continues.
Arslan: "It's a telekinesis semblance of some sort."
Pyrrha's eyes widen a bit upon hearing this. Using her foot, Arslan kick herself off of Pyrrha as she slides several feet away.
Arslan: "After that, all it took was reviewing some footage of your previous fights to figure out that your trick on people's weapons."
As she said this, Arslan yank her roped dagger back to her as it lands on her hand. Pyrrha stare down at Arslan before replying.
Pyrrha: "Who else did you told?"
Arslan: "Quit your worrying. I didn't tell anyone about it. After all..."
Arslan, standing confidently, then point her roped dagger at Pyrrha.
Arslan: "I want to have the glory of taking down the so-called 'Invincible Gril' all to myself!"
She yells at the last part as she quickly charges at Pyrrha who does the same, now trading strikes and either dodging them or deflecting them.
Back with Jaune's fight, he's still being played by Reese as she still circles around him. Getting bored with this, Reese quickly transform her hoverboard, splitting them into two pistols and proceeds to shoot Jaune. Jaune react to this by using his shield to block the electrified, marble-sized dust bullets as best he can.
Ren, meanwhile, is having a pretty balanced fight with Bolin. Both are struggling to get an upper hand in this fight as Bolin deflects Ren's dust bullets with his staff as it retracts two small, curved blades inside each end. As the two guys exchange multiple blows with one another, they quickly glance to see Nadir, completely horrified as he's now being chased around the center by a screaming angry Nora with her hammer raised.
Nora: "Come back here!!"
Nadir tries to shoot Nora with his assault rifle only for Nora to either block the shots with her hammer or merely dodge them as she continues to chase him.
Back with Jaune, he catches glimpses of his team's struggles behind his shield, especially Pyrrha's. Reese stop firing as she speaks up.
Reese: "Man, fighting you has been pretty underwhelming. Aren't you like the team leader or something?"
Still hiding most of his body with shield, Jaune quickly responds back.
Jaune: "Yeah, I am."
Reese scoffs at this.
Reese: "Wow, I thought you be stronger than... this."
During this exchange, Nadir is now running in Reese and Jaune's direction. Upon seeing the horrified opponent being chased by an angry Nora, an idea slowly pops into Jaune's mind as he comments back to Reese.
Jaune "Well, I'm smarter than I am strong."
This makes Reese snicker in response before reloading her two pistols.
Reese: "Doesn't seem to be a very high mark to breach."
Jaune tries to put on a confident expression as he goes to flip his sword over, carefully holding its blade. His action makes Reese somewhat confused before she shakes it off, aiming her pistols at him.
Reese: "Okay, I'm going to stop playing now."
Jaune: "Sure thing."
Nadir rushes pass Reese, the tunnel vision of fighting or running from Nora prevented him to realize his proximity to the other fights. Reese proceeds to shoot her electric dust bullets at Jaune's shield as he quickly deflects several of them, almost hitting Reese. When Nadir gets close enough, Jaune, twist on his heels, tanks a couple of Reese's shots, and uses his sword's cross-guard to trip the running Nadir all in one smooth motion. Upon doing this, Jaune rolls in a defensive crouch, blocking the rest of Reese's incoming shots with his shield as she runs towards him, still aiming her pistols and her eyes narrowed.
Reese: "Were you planning to hit me with my own shots that you deflected?"
Jaune: "I wasn't aiming at you."
Reese: "What?"
A sudden realization hits Reese as she slowly turns to look back at Nora. She spots three no longer electrically charged, marble-sized bullets drop to her Nora's feet as her body is enwrap in electrically charged synergy. Before Reese can react, the grinning Nora lunges forward and with a might swing from her hammer, knocks Reese out of the arena. Nadir slowly begins to rise to his feet when Jaune notices Pyrrha struggling against Arslan along with Pyrrha's aura dip below 30%.
Jaune: ("Come on, Jaune. Think of something.")
After a brief moment of pondering, another idea pop into Jaune's head. He quickly turns his head to Nora.
Jaune: "Nora!"
Nora looks to Jaune as he points at the slow-recovering Nadir, and then to Pyrrha.
Jaune: "Go help, Pyrrha!"
He then rolls away from Nadir before rushing to Pyrrha, giving her a heads-up."
Jaune: "Pyrrha! Something is coming your way!"
Pyrrha gives a quick glance and nod before continuing her fight, just as Nadir finally get up from his feet.
Nadir: "I'm oka-"
His words are interrupted by Nora's hammer making contact on his back, flinging him right into Arslan, who wasn't aware of it. This carries her over and both of her and Nadir slam into Pyrrha's shield as Pyrrha rolls with the impact, sliding back a bit. Pyrrha share one last stare with Arslan before repelling both of them back at Nora with her shield. As the two falls towards her, Nora grin, readying her hammer. In one last swing, the force from Nora's hit and the little extra boost from her semblance, sends both Arslan and Nadir flying off the arena. The grinning Nora raises her hammer with her two hands.
Nora: "Heck yeah!"
After that, this leaves Bolin alone against Team JNPR. They slowly surround the staff-wielding opponent. Realizing that he's outnumbered and outmatched, Bolin drop his staff to the ground.
Bolin: "I... I surrender."
The buzzer rings loudly as the crowd begin to cheer and roar in excitement. Among the crowd, Y/N and the rest are very glad that they managed to win.
Y/N: "Looks like they pull it off."
Yang: "They had us worry there."
Ruby: "No kidding."
From the sidelines of the arena, the defeated Arslan watches Bolin's surrender and Team JNPR being out of breath but, still standing triumphant. Arslan stares dagger at Pyrrha.
Arslan: "Damn it... Damn it... Goddamn it!!!"
She begins to break down, full-on bawling at Nadir's shoulder, giving her a sadden look. The stress of losing has cause her to go on a full mental breakdown, crying and screaming as Nadir does his best to comfort her.
Arslan: "Why... Why can't I win!!!"
(The City of Vale)
Inside of a bar called the "Crow Bar," the bartender is wiping a glass cup in his hands as he watches the holographic screen as it broadcast the aftermath of Team JNPR vs Team ABRN.
Port: "The winner is Team JNPR!!"
The camera footage shows Arslan's crying face on Nadir's shoulder as it quickly switches to Team JNPR where Jaune is getting a noogie from Nora as Pyrrha and Ren watch it happen. The bartender whistles at the screen before looking back at his one customer in front of him.
Bartender: "Huh, those kids weren't half bad! Don't you think?"
Qrow: "Meh..."
Upon saying this, Qrow raises his beverage back to his lips. The bartender goes to speak again.
Bartender: "Now that was a match, huh!"
With a light slur in his words, Qrow replies.
Qrow: " Heh, that was a mess!"
Getting annoyed by his lack of enthusiasm, the bartender comments.
Bartender: "Come on man, you didn't like them or any of the rounds before that? What fight are you here for?"
Upon saying this, Qrow slowly look behind him to see an Atlesian aircraft with elegant ribbons flying from its wings, flying pass him and the bar he's in. Qrow goes to point at it.
Qrow: "That one."
The drunk huntsman finishes his drink as he slams the glass down on the counter and tosses a few liens alongside it.
Qrow: "And I'm also here to check up on someone."
The drunken man then turns his back before walking off.
Qrow: "Happy Vytal Festival!"
Upon saying this, Qrow leaves the bar with the bartender watch him stagger away. The bartender puts down the glass he just finished cleaning only to knock it down and shatter it when reaches for another glass.
Bartender: "Aw, gee darn it!"
(Amity Colosseum)
Y/N and the rest of his friends watch as Team JNPR walk out of the arena. Ruby leans back in her seat and sighs.
Ruby: "Man, that was so close!"
Y/N: "Had me worry there for a second."
While the rest of them were cheering for JNPR's victory, Y/N couldn't help but look at the crying and screaming Arslan, feeling conflicted on how to feel upon seeing someone going through a mental breakdown. This is when one of the announcers get their attention.
Oobleck: "That concludes the matches for today. Please leave the Colosseum in a calm and orderly fashion!"
Yang: Come on, let's go congratulate them."
Blake: "Alright then."
They get up from their seats and start to head out just as the same ribbon-adorned craft passes over the Colosseum, causing Weiss to stop in her tracks and Ruby to bounce into her and for Y/N to bounce into Ruby.
Ruby: Uh, what are you viewing?
Y/N quickly peek over them, a bit irritated.
Y/N: "Why the hell did you stop?"
They see that Weiss is looking up at the decorated aircraft.
Weiss: "She's here!"
The heiress's face displays a mix of utter joy and anxiety. Once Y/N gaze upon the aircraft, a sudden realization hits him.
Y/N: "Oh... she is."