The Summer Break was completely over and the world of Remnant was nearing the end of the Year, meaning that the Vytal Festival Tournament was on the horizon. Students from all four Huntsman Academies, Shade, Atlas, Haven and Beacon all gather in the Kingdom of Vale and Beacon Academy, where the floating stadium known as Amity Colosseum hovered above the school, surrounded by Atlas Airships for security.

The sun was just rising above the horizon, coating the sky in a beautiful and peaceful golden glow. In an apartment in Vale, a particular wolf Faunus with black hair and ears was asleep in a bed, with the blankets over him. Upon the sun rays hitting his face, he groaned and awoke, his red eyes slowly opening. Akito Zara yawned in drowsiness as he was about to get up, but felt weighted down. Humming, he looked down and moved the covers out of the way, only for him to be hit by the sight of a sleeping, half naked Blake Belladonna. Then the memory hit him of the night prior.

Akito: "Ah. Heh, who knew she had such stamina." He said quietly to himself and chuckled.

One thing he noticed is that Blake was asleep without her bow this time, her black cat ears fully free. Seeing them, he reached over and slowly began to pet her head, scratching the behind of her ears which caused her to start purring and nuzzling against him with a cute smile. Slowly, her amber eyes fluttered open.

Akito: "Hello there, sleeping beauty. How are you feeling?" The female yawned slightly before she groaned a bit, with the blankets slowly revealing her body and revealing that she was rubbing her hip.

Blake: "This 'sleeping beauty' is still feeling a bit sore from last night. Did you really have to be so rough with me?" She asked, though in a joking manner as she slowly sat up, with him doing the same.

Akito: "Haha, with the way you were screaming for more last night, I don't think I've been rough enough." He teased her, to which the ravenette blushed slightly but giggled and punched his shoulder lightly.

Blake: "You dork..." She smiled and kissed his cheek before leaning against his shoulder. "I love you, Wolfie."

Akito: "I love you too, Kitty." He replied with a kiss to one of her ears, earning him a beautiful purr from her.

For context, when the students were all on Summer Break, they were let out to go see their families. For Ruby and Yang, they headed to their home in Patch while Weiss rented an apartment in Vale because the last thing she wanted to do was have her summer ruined by her father and younger brother in Atlas. That leaves Blake, Akito and Setsuna, who all decided to rent a three bedroom apartment together for the summer. While Akito and Setsuna, along with Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter, literally had no place to go, Blake's reason was that she didn't feel that she was ready to go back to her parents in Menagerie after their last argument, so she stayed in Vale with her boyfriend and friend.

During the Summer Break, they did quite a bit together. One thing was that Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter were all gaining the ability to essentially split off from Akito for a period of time, without being restricted. So all four of them were able to head out and go shopping, without their bother having to follow them everywhere. The biggest highlight however was the trip to the beach, which Setsuna, Spring, Autumn, Summer and Winter especially enjoyed. For Akito and Blake however, they took the time to... strengthen their relationship, for lack of a better word.

They spent a lot of time together during this holiday period, finally being able to go on dates and just enjoy each other's company to the point that the awkwardness they originally had, had almost entirely vanished. They were now fully capable of being a normal couple now. Blake also started to let her cat ears free. Admittedly, when they went out, she still hid them underneath her bow, but when they were in a secluded area, for example their apartment, Akito would always find her with her cat ears breathing in the wind. It was a step in the right direction and Blake could feel it. She was slowly but surely becoming more and more comfortable showing her ears and eventually, she'll be doing that out in public.

Now for the biggest question that most of you are asking; why is Blake and Akito both half naked in bed? Well the answer should be obvious that they had a bit of fun the previous night, and from Akito's comment on her stamina, it meant that they were going at it for quite a while. The thing is, along with their relationship strengthening, Akito and Blake would have sexual intercourse more often. It wasn't like an every night thing because the two of them had control over themselves and their hormones, but every once in a while, they would flat out get on with it. And yes, Blake was taking pregnancy pills to prevent the risks of them having a baby this early into their lives and relationship.

Now everyone was in the living room of the apartment, wearing their normal combat outfits and with their things packed into their bags. Akito felt his scroll vibrate and opened it before noticing that it was a message from the group chat that included His team, Team RWBY, JNPR and even Team MYLC and Ace since they had all gotten to know them over the rest of the last semester. Messages were coming in from everyone, saying how they were already on their way to Beacon or were excited for the Vytal Festival Tournament. Akito took notice of Ruby's messages, all being typed in all Caps with multiple exclamation marks, showing her extreme excitement. He chuckled and shook his head before sending his own message, stating that he, Blake and Setsuna were on their way too.

Akito: "That girl.. typing in all Caps like this.. heh."

Setsuna: "Who?" She asked in curiosity, her tail wagging as he showed the scroll to her and Blake.

Akito: "Ruby of course. I don't know what the hell she drank during that entire break, but damn does she seem hyper as hell."

Blake: *chuckles* "Means that we're in for quite a crazy time when we get to Beacon."

Akito: "Yeah." He chuckled as the three of them began to walk towards the front door. "Oh yea, there is gonna be one thing I won't miss when we get back."

Setsuna: "What?"

Akito: "That goddamn Whistle, Ruby has." He said, causing the two girls, along with his four sisters in his head to laugh collectively before agreeing.

Now, it was time. They were gonna face this Vytal Festival with positivity and enjoy it to the fullest.

Chapter 21: The Vytal Festival Tournament

Akito Zara, Setsuna and the elder brother of Ruby and Yang, Ace Sparda, along with Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter who were all wearing Beacon Uniforms as they were pretending to be students at Beacon, eagerly sat in the stands of Amity Colosseum, watching as the intense battle below continued on, being between Team RWBY and Team ABRN.

Ruby Rose had herself planted with her sniper, taking shots at Nadir Shiko who was returning fire with his submachine gun. Blake Belladonna was exchanging strikes against Reese Chloris, who was parrying her Gambol Shroud with her Hoverboard. Weiss Schnee bounced from Glyph to Glyph, using her superior momentum and speed to further the pressure she was putting on Bolin Hori. And finally, Yang Xiao Long chased after the leader of Team ABRN, Arslan Atlan, using her Ember Celica to fire some shots at her before dashing after her.

High above the combat in the announcer box were Professor Port and Doctor Oobleck, who were providing the commentary for the tournament.

Port: "Hello! It seems that we have another astonishing bout, just about to be ahead of us! Wouldn't you agree, Professor?"

Oobleck: "Doctor..." he looked annoyed before brightening up. "And yes Peter, I think it's safe to say that this match may be the closest of the four-on-four round of the tournament!"

Port: "For those of you now joining us, Welcome to the Vytal Festival Tournament! Broadcast live from Amity Colosseum! If this is your first time watching, allow us to break down the rules."

Oobleck: "The tournament is divided into three distinctive rounds; teams, doubles and singles. Age and school year are irrelevant! In this tournament, your only attribute being tested... is skill."

Port: "Correct! The winners of this battle will elect two of their members to represent them in the doubles round, followed by the winners of that round choosing one member to advance once again. The remaining combatants will then fight their way through the final bracket in the hope of achieving victory for their Kingdom!"

Oobleck: "And yes, Peter, these certainly are some spectacular spectacles on which to spectate on! I don't think anyone tuning in around the world is going to disagree with me on that. And there will even be a special match taking place right before the singles round!"

Port: "Ahh, and why would they? Now, no spoilers while we get back to the match between Team RWBY of Beacon, and Team ABRN of Haven."

In the match, Reese was weaving between icicles on her Hoverboard while chasing after Blake, who was swinging around the battlefield thanks to Gambol Shroud. With a little twirl, Reese launched the board towards the Faunus of Team RWBY, who only knocked it away, but it was directed back at her. Blake blocked it and took this chance to attack Reese, but her strikes were defended against by the green-haired girl, who had deflected each one. She rode off towards Blake, whose face had a smirk on it. Unfortunately for Reese, she ended up colliding with one of Blake's Ice Dust Shadow Clones, sending her flying into the air as Blake leaped up and sliced the board into two. However, it ended up transforming into twin fully automatic pistols. She flipped through the air, firing rapidly towards the feline Faunus before she ended up landing painfully onto the icy ground, making both Blake and the entire crowd wince.

Arslan backed away before spotting her opponent, Yang who had begun to pound her with a flurry of punches and kicks, before retaliating with her own attacks, ending in a collision of fists which created a massive shockwave, which knocked the two brawlers back. Yang recovered much quicker and charged towards her opponent to land her devastating blows, however the platinum-haired team leader wasn't having any of it and used her weapon, a dagger that is attached to the bandages on her arm, transforming it into a Rope Dart, to tangle up the blonde haired brawler. She then gave a hard kick towards her, launching the bruiser of Team RWBY flying backwards and sliding across the Ice. As she was getting her balance back however, the dark-skinned female had already dashed to her and pushed her back further. Ace saw this and gritted his teeth slightly.

Ace: "C'mon, Yang! Put your muscle into it!" His words ended up getting to his sister who smashed her fists together as she recovered from the last attacks and charged back into the fray, which caused him to smirk. "Much better."

Autumn: "Haha! Yeah! Go Yang!!"

Setsuna: "Go Yang!"

Nadir, while holding onto his Submachine gun began to change targets and aim for Yang to distract her from Arslan, however a sudden burst of a frosty mist exploded behind him and froze his entire lower half solid. That came from Ruby, who had sniped the Ice Dust Crystals that had surrounded the young man's feet.

Ruby: *grins* "Got your back!"

Bolin: "But who's got yours?"

Ruby looked behind her, seeing Bolin twirl his staff as he got ready to strike the youngest leader. However, a Gravity Dust infused Glyph appeared to his left as Weiss suddenly kicked him into a rock. She looked at her leader, who grinned happily.

Ruby: "My BFF!"

Weiss: *deadpans* "No." She ran off, but the argent eyed girl turned away and quietly fist bumped.

Ruby: "Yes!"

As Bolin stood back up, a white Glyph appeared on the ground before him. He looked up to see Weiss who had dashed past him twice, striking him with Myrtenaster before coming to a halt. Another Glyph appeared behind her as it launched Ruby into the air, spinning herself and her scythe like a buzz saw before coming down on the dark-haired male, who managed to block the attack with his staff, shattering the molten ground slightly and leaving the young leader in the air. Gritting her teeth, Ruby pressed the trigger on Crescent Rose, firing off a stray bullet that forced Bolin to back away and the recoil caused her to dash back and land next to her snowy partner.

Bolin had gotten back and began running towards them, rolling out of the way of a flurry of icicles from Weiss before jumping over a swing from Ruby.

Ruby: "What!?"

The dark-haired male swung at a Fire Dust Crystal, breaking off a chunk and then sending it over to Reese, who caught it with a smirk and inserted it into her Hoverboard, causing the glowing green energy to turn to a fiery red. Blake looked confused as the green-haired girl winked at her before bopping back on it and riding over to the half frozen Nadir and passed by him, the Fire Dust in her Hoverboard radiating heat and melting the ice, causing him to smile in happiness at her.

Reese then rode to Blake, leaping and slamming her Hoverboard against her Gambol Shroud before kicking off of it, sending the ravenette crashing through an Ice Dust Crystal. After remounting her Hoverboard, Reese leaped into the air and came slamming down on Blake, who narrowly backflipped out of the way, causing for the green-haired girl's impact to create a small fiery burst from where she originally was. But Reese wasn't done yet as she dashed towards the Faunus, spinning her board at her, creating a small fiery whirl that Blake dodged using her Semblance of Shadows before she transformed Gambol Shroud into its sickle mode and threw it, embedding its blade into a chunk of ice before she swung away. Reese chased after her and found Blake standing in between two large chunks of ice, her back turned to her. A smirk formed on the green-haired girl's face as she sped towards her, hopping and twirling her board, destroying what was a Shadow Clone left by Blake. The real Belladonna was behind the larger chunk of ice and just as Reese had attacked her clone, she threw out Gambol Shroud and embedded it into the other chunk of ice. Reese's eyes widened as she ended up clotheslining the ribbon attached to Gambol Shroud before Blake leaped out and kicked her, sending her flying off the arena and into the out of bounds area. A buzzard sounded as Reese looked up, to see that she was out, not only from hitting out of Bounds but from also having her Aura depleted into the red zone.

Port: "Ooh! Double whammy! Reese Chloris is eliminated by Ring Out and Aura Level!" The female gasped before slamming her fist onto the floor in frustration.

Oobleck: "Ooh she really should've worn a helmet." Seeing the first knockout of the match being done by Blake, Setsuna and the four sisters let out a flurry of cheers while Akito grinned in excitement and yelled out to her.

Akito: "Awesome job, Babe!" Even through the roars of the crowd, Blake was able to hear his voice and looked up towards his direction before she blew a kiss towards him with a wink and went to join her teammates.

Ace: "Heh.. Gotta say, you scored lucky."

Akito: "Damn right I did."

Back to the fight, Arslan, who was using her Rope Dart, which was wrapped around a chunk of ice, skated away from Yang, who was using Ember Celica's recoil to propel herself across the ice and after her. Nadir dashed back and aimed his Submachine gun toward Weiss, who had pointed Myrtenaster at him, causing a Gravity Glyph to form and to launch Nolin right into his teammate, knocking them both down. The Heiress continued her barrage with another Gravity Glyph, this time underneath the two boys, lifting them and shards of ice into the air before slamming them together and dropping them. It wasn't over as when they were about to get up, a White Glyph spun rapidly underneath them before a large hand of Ice erupted from underneath them and trapped them in its grip. Slowly, the hand shifted into a large ball of ice, which began to roll towards the edge of the arena.

Arslan, who was still running from Yang saw this and rolled her eyes with a sigh of annoyance before she quickly dashed to her teammates' aid. Coming to a sliding halt in front of the incoming rolling ball of Ice, Arslan planted one foot down and reared her right arm back, getting into a martial arts stance. Once it was close, she yelled and thrust her arm forwards, smashing the giant chunk of ice with her palm, which caused it to crumble immediately and release her teammates.

Spring: "W-Woah... She's strong."

Winter: "But that was only just a setup for the Grand Finale."

Weiss was shocked to say the least at this display of strength but upon seeing the close proximity the remainder of Team ABRN was in, she regained confidence.

Weiss: "Yang!" She called out to her teammate. The Blonde turned to look at her, watching her create a slanted Ice ramp behind her. "Now!"

With a grin on her face, Yang skated over to the ramp, using Ember Celica to increase her speed as Blake dashed alongside her, throwing the weapon-end of Gambol Shroud towards her, which she caught in her hands. Blake yanked on the ribbon, sending Yang forwards with even more momentum before she hopped up onto Ruby's Crescent Rose, the young leader using the recoil of the weapon to send Blake flying forwards while she pulled Yang with her. Team ABRN watched as the ravenette flew towards her and with all her might, swung Yang around, who had a massive grin on her face as she used all of her momentum and focused everything into her hand. A simple punch to Arslan sent her smashing into her teammates, which sent all three of them soaring into the Fire Biome and into a fire geyser, which completely depleted their Auras, ending the match with a final buzzard.

Yang: "Yes!" She cheered as her teammates also began cheering, with Ruby screeching in excitement and Blake jumping for joy while Weiss was just completely flabbergasted.

Port: "And that's the match! Team RWBY is victorious!"

Weiss: "We... did it?" She said in surprise, looking at her teammates before they all looked to the crowd, hearing their cheers for the team of first years. Then they all looked towards Team WOLF, Ace and the four sisters who were all cheering.

Setsuna: "Awesome job!!!"

Spring: "Go team RWBY!!!"

Ace: "Awesome work, girls!"

Akito: "You made it past the first round! By Oum that was amazing!"

Yang gave a thumbs up to them as both Blake and Weiss smiled. Ruby however, with a fully giddy expression on her face, jumped for Joy.

Ruby: "WE DID IIIIIIIIIIITTTTTTT—"

>>Short Time Skip<<

Ruby: "—IIIIIITTTTTTTTT!!!" Instantly, she fell to the ground, slouching over as she held onto Ace's arm for support. "Is anyone else starving...?" She weakly asked.

After the victory against Team ARBN, Teams RWBY, WOLF and Ace decided to celebrate by going into the fair located in Vale.

Blake: "I may have worked up an appetite." A growl that could impress an Ursa was heard, coming from Blake's stomach, causing her to yelp in embarrassment and hold her stomach. Akito grinned at her and wiggled his eyebrows.

Akito: "Heh, we've got a hungry little kitty~!"

Blake: "A-Akito!" However, Blake's paled in comparison to the monstrous growl that came from the stomach of Setsuna. Everyone fell silent and looked at the arctic wolf, who was scratching the back of her head with an embarrassed blush.

Autumn: "HOLY SHI-"

Spring: "LANGUAGE!"

Setsuna: "S-Setsuna is sorry..."

Weiss: "Gee, if only there was somewhere on campus to get food around here..." She looked around. "Oh wait."

Ruby: "It's okay Weiss, I forget about the fairgrounds too." She said putting a hand on her partner's shoulder; however, Weiss just swatted it away.

Weiss: "I was being facetious."

Ruby: "Ppfhtct Gah! Well, if you were hungry, why didn't you say so!?"

Akito and Ace: "Because Women aren't simple." They both said simultaneously before and nonchalantly...

RWBY + S.S.A: "What did you say!?"

Akito: "It was his idea." He instantly pointed at Ace, who flinched and glared at him.

Ace: "You fucker!"

Akito: "Uhh what was that? I couldn't hear you!" He began to whistle carelessly as Setsuna was the only one who didn't get it. She stared at them, tilting her head in confusion.

Setsuna: "What's happening?"

Yang: "Come on! I know just the place."

Ace: "Is it what I think it is, Yang?"

Yang: "Hehe, you betcha!"

As the group began to walk off, Weiss had slowed down to a halt and looked at her Scroll which was ringing and displaying the contact named, "FATHER". With a scowl, she quickly hung up and continued with her friends. However, a voice caught their attention.

???: "Hey! It might be hard to eat without this." Everyone turned around to see Emerald, holding up Ruby's wallet.

Autumn: "Not her..." Ruby began to panic and check her pockets as Akito and Setsuna narrowed their eyes at female

Ruby: "No, no, no, no!"

Emerald: *laughs* "Good to see you, Ruby." She handed her back her wallet.

Ruby: "Oh! Thanks Emerald! Oh, guess I dropped it. Girl pockets are the worst!"

Yang: "What's up Em?"

Emerald: "Just left the stadium after your amazing fight, you guys were all awesome!" Ruby began blushing from the flattery.

Ruby: "Oh, shut your stupid little face..."

Blake: "I heard your team progressed to the next round too."

Weiss: "You know, I feel that we haven't seen your other teammates."

Ace: "So how did the fight go?" Emerald thought for a second, thinking of the fight that her, Mercury, Cinder and their fourth mystery teammate had and one before she looked back at them.

Emerald: "Really... well."

Ruby: "That's great! Uh, why don't we all go and get victory food together?"

Emerald: "Oh, gosh, that's so nice of you, but my teammates are all kind of... introverted..." She glanced behind her as everyone leaned over to see Mercury sniffing a leather boot. "... Really socially awkward..."

Yang: "Ooh... Yeah... We can tell... We got Akito."

Akito: "What the living shit? What part of my personality is socially awkward??" He complained but Yang just shoved her palm into his face, silencing him instantly much to his annoyance. Blake comforted him with a gentle pat to his back.

Emerald: "So yeah, looks like Merc and I will be moving to the doubles round. What about the rest of you?"

Ruby: "Well as the leader of this team, I thought long and hard about this decision."

Ace: "Aka, you put it to a vote?"

Weiss: "Yup."

Ruby: "Uhh... yes. But I decided that we should put it to a vote!"

Blake: "We voted for Weiss and Yang."

Weiss: "I will happily represent Team RWBY." She bowed gracefully as the blonde smashed her fists together in excitement.

Yang: "Yeah, we're going to kick some butt!"

Emerald: "Well, if Merc and I see either of you, we won't go easy on you."

Yang: "Wouldn't have it any other way." She and Weiss returned the confident smirk.

Emerald: "Alright, well we're going to catch some more fights."

Ruby: "Have fun!"

Emerald: "See you later!" Team RWBY and Ace waved goodbye to her and continued off while Akito and Setsuna stared at the girl, who was already walking back to Mercury before they turned away and followed the others.

As Emerald joined up with Mercury, she dawned an expression of cringe with an eye roll as she slouched forwards, as if she had just run a marathon.

Mercury: "So how are the new 'friends'?" His partner scowled in annoyance.

Emerald: "I hate them."

Mercury: "Orders are orders."

Emerald: "I just—How can they be so happy all the TIME!?"

???: "Maybe you're just being the edgy one, Em." That voice sent a shiver down Emerald's spine, with a pink blush of embarrassment forming on her cheeks. Mercury whistled as a young man, around the male's height approached them, his hands in his pockets. With silver hair with blue highlights and green eyes, a green sash flowed from his hoodie.

Mercury: "Oh, perfect timing, Jet."

(Jet Noroi)

Emerald: *deep breath* "Hi! Jet! Didn't expect to see you here!" She greeted between gritted teeth and a forced smile; however, she yelped in pain as the male ended up flicking her forehead. "H-Hey! What the hell!?"

Jet: "You're not cute while edgy, Em."

Emerald: "Eep!" She blushed heavily before punching his arm, though he didn't really flinch. "Stop that!"

Jet: "Make me." She groaned and looked away from him, attempting to hide her flustered expression. "Anyways, you got what we wanted?"

Emerald: "It's the Heiress and the Bimbo."

Mercury: "Hmm, alright. At least now we know who we're working with." With that last sentence, the three of them began to walk away. However, all of them failed to notice a particular Goat Faunus girl listening into their conversation from behind a stand. When they had gotten far enough away, she backed off behind cover.

Winter: "'What we wanted'... Something's not right..." She muttered. As she was about to make her exit, the goat Faunus' eyes widened in interest and surprise as she spotted a particular figure approaching the trio from behind, a scarf obscuring his face like a mask as only his cold and stoic blue eyes and spiked black hair were visible apart of his face.

Emerald was falling a bit behind the two boys in front of her as she was looking upwards into the blue sky. She just couldn't get his face out of her thoughts. The way he glared at her when they made eye contact after the breach in Vale, it sent chills down her spine, ironically. But strange enough, Emerald had found herself unable to tell Cinder about this. So, for now, only she knew about his appearance.

Emerald's thoughts: "That had to be Akira... No one has eyes like he does that can send chills down my spine so easily... But if he's here, then–" The green-haired female let out a muffled gasp as a hand clasped over her mouth before she was suddenly pulled behind one of the stands, separating her from her unsuspecting allies. With her now restricted hands trembling lightly and her ruby red eyes wide open, Emerald found herself locking gazes with him again.

It was none other than Akira.

Emerald: "A-Akira...!?"

Akira: "What's your game?" he asked, with him removing his hand from her mouth, but kept her pinned to the back of the Stand.

Emerald: "I-I don't know what you're talking about." She lied, her voice trembling, but she grunted as the raven-haired male glared deep into her soul.

Akira: "You were always shit at lying when under pressure, Em. Now tell me. What are you, Mercury, your boyfriend and that bitch Cinder doing here?

Emerald: "Don't you dare call Cinder that! And Jet's not my boyfriend!" She exclaimed with a slightly louder whisper.

Akira: "Tch... Still licking Cinder's ass, I see. Typical Emerald." The red-eyed girl glared at him as she tried to move her arms to access her Thief's Wit, but Akira was simply stronger than her. "Did 'she' send you guys here? If so, where are the others? What's. Your. Game?"

She tried to use her Semblance to make him hallucinate but found herself unable to. She could feel her heartbeat racing as she was panicking a bit and thanks to that, she couldn't focus on using her Semblance on him. Emerald just fell silent, unable to really answer him. If it wasn't obvious enough, her and Akira had some history, but never had she ever been at the receiving end of Akira's cold and threatening tone. It was honestly terrifying to her.

Emerald blinked as she watched the blue-eyed male sigh before much to her surprise, he let go of her wrists and slowly backed away from her. The obvious response for Emerald would be to instantly grab her weapons but... she didn't. She just stared at him, watching as he turned away from her and crossed his arms.

Akira: "Whatever. Just go." The green-haired female stared at her former friend, with her slightly rubbing her left arm before she turned and began to walk away.

Emerald: "Akira..." The blue-eyed male merely took a glance towards her direction as she was looking towards him. "It may not be a fun reunion but... I'm happy to see you again." She said before turning away and making her swift exit to catch up to her allies. Akira remained silent, watching the female leave before he sighed deeply once more.

Akira: "Same..." He closed his eyes as he went through a series of emotions, the prominent ones being disappointment and anger. Now he had to figure out what to do. Does he keep tailing them throughout this tournament and keep an eye on them? But if he keeps disappearing, no doubt Ironwood would get suspicious about his behavior. However, before he could even process everything, he stared directly in front of him, at a tree. "It's not nice to eavesdrop you know."

Winter: "E-Eep!" The goat Faunus slowly poked from out of her hiding place, with her making eye contact with the male. "U-Um..."

Akira: "How much did you hear?"

Winter: "All of it..." She truthfully said as she looked off. Akira mentally face palmed, cursing himself for not realizing her sooner. "You're suspicious of them too, right?"

Akira: "Hmm?" He raised an eyebrow at her comment before sighing. Considering she said she heard everything, it didn't make sense for him to try and keep secrets from her about what happened. "Yeah, I am. I'll just say that I'm familiar with Emerald and her allies. But that's all. Why are you so curious about this?"

Winter: "Well, chances are that me, my sisters and my brother are also suspicious of them and are doing some investigating ourselves." She said with a happy smile. Akira blinked before he watched the goat Faunus make a gentle bow. "My name is Winter Zara, the eldest of Akito's sisters. Pleased to meet you, Akira-Kun!"

>>Meanwhile<<

At a Noodle Stand, Teams RWBY, WOLF and Ace each took a stand together as the same guy who owns all the Dust Till Dawn Shops, Shopkeep, appeared before them. Yang started off.

Yang: "I'll have a bowl of the regular please." Immediately, a bowl of noodles slid over to her. Ruby looked at it with sparkles in her eyes.

Ruby: "Ooohhh! I'll take the same!"

Ace: "Same here." Two more bowls of the same thing slid over to them, with Ruby clapping happily.

Weiss: "Hmm... Do you have anything with low salt—" Before she could finish, another same bowl was slid over to Weiss. "Um... Okay?"

Akito: "I'll take the same." Another bowl of noodles slid over to him. He then looked over to both Blake and Setsuna who were nodding towards Shopkeep, who nodded back with a smile. He sped to the back and prepared two bowls before coming back out and handing them to the two female Faunus. The one that Blake had was filled to the brim with fish while Setsuna's was an extra large bowl, filled with every kind of meat and fist. Both girls' eyes sparked in happiness as she began to drool a bit.

Akito: *sighs* "You two..." Weiss then took out her credit card before handing it to Shopkeep, who proceeded to zip over to the cash register.

Yang: "Aww, Weiss! What's the occasion?"

Weiss: "Consider it a thanks for sending me to the Doubles round." However, as if to spite her card was flung back to her. Everyone looked at the shopkeeper, who pointed at the register that displayed "DECLINED!".

Weiss: "What!? How could my card be declined!? I was barely into my monthly allowance..."

Ace: "Maybe you unknowingly went over?"

Weiss: "That can't be! I keep records of everything!"

Blake was trying so hard to sneak away her bowl, but it ended with both hers AND Setsuna's getting taken away stopped her. Blake slouched over onto the counter as Setsuna just stared, completely deflated. Akito sighed and slowly patted the heads of the two girls as they both whined sadly.

Blake: "Nooooo..."

Setsuna: "Gao..."

Pyrrha: "Maybe I could help?" Everyone turned towards their left, being met by the sight of Team JNPR and Team MYLC, minus Akira approaching them. Ruby soon flung her hands into the air and cheered.

Ruby: "Pyrrha!"

Yang: "Aww, you don't have to."

Blake and Setsuna: "But she could!"

Akito: "Jeez, calm down..." He muttered as the red head laughed and smiled at them warmly.

Pyrrha: "Well, I think you all earned it after that battle."

Jaune: "Mind if we join you?"

Ace: "Not at all. C'mon and sit!" Lapis was about to say something, only for the two girls of his team, Maya and Saria to grab onto his arms and sped over to take seats.

Maya and Saria: "Yay!!"

Lapis: "You girls..." He groaned as everyone else laughed at his dismay, with Akito, Ace, Ren and Jaune feeling sorrier for him as they knew that feeling.

Weiss: "Huh? Where's Akira?" She suddenly asked, noticing that the black-haired male wasn't with his team.

Maya: "Wait what?? I swear he was just next to us..."

Lapis: "You know Akira, he's always sneaking off by himself. You shouldn't worry about him. He can handle himself."

Maya: "I know..." She pouted and crossed her arms.

>>Small Time Skip<<

Everyone was quiet after the satisfying meal. Blake, Setsuna, Maya, Saria, Yang, Nora, Ruby, Pyrrha and Akito were all completely satisfied with their meals while Ace, Ren, Weiss and Lapis felt a bit uneasy. As for Jaune... well, he was slightly hunched forwards, with him feeling the faint urge to barf.

Ren: "Are we sure it's wise to have eaten before a fight...?"

Lapis: "I don't think it was..."

Pyrrha: "Of course! It will give us energy!" She said as the Shopkeep sped out and speedily collected all of the empty bowls.

Saria: "Yep! So, keep those spirits up boys!" She stated with a grin, with Ruby agreeing wholeheartedly while Lapis, Weiss and Ren just let out a collective groan but immediately, Nora let out a whale of a burp, with it echoing throughout the entire fair.

Akito: "The heck? Was that an Ursa?"

Nora: "Hehehe..." She giggled, scratching the back of her head as she glanced off to the side.

Jaune: "Ughhhhh... If I bArf, I'm BlAmInG yOu..." he slurred, lowering his head.

Nora: "Oh! Aim it at the enemy!"

Spring: "Ew!"

Ren: "Nora! That's disgusting. But if you feel the urge..." he glanced at his leader

Jaune: "GoT iT..." He gave a thumbs up.

Maya: "Hehe, I can already see it." She suddenly stood up, her hands on her hips as she deepened her voice to sound more like Port. "And the winner is Jaune Arc! Taking his opponent out with one nasty projectile to the face!"

Jaune: "S-Stop I, Maya!"

Maya: "Make me, big bro~!" She sang with an innocent yet devious grin.

Pyrrha: "Well, we should be off." She said standing up.

Ruby: "So, you think you guys are ready?"

Nora: "Of course! We've got a world renown fighter on our team, what's basically a ninja, I can bench five of me... J-Jaune. We've trained all years, our weapons are AWESOME, Glynda barely yells at us anymore, and uh... Jaune!" Everyone looked at him,

Ace: "You gonna take that?"

Jaune: "She's not wrong..."

Nora: "I'm kidding! He knows I'm kidding. Don't be so nervous! The worst that could happen is we lose! *speeds up...* Then it's just a few more years of walking around school with everyone knowing we're failures our friends will slowly abandon us to preserve their social status we won't be able to show our faces in class no one will sit with us in the cafeteria Ren, and I have no parents we have no home left to go to, we'll be officially renamed Team LOSE-iper!"

Her desperate laughter quickly converts to miserable and very frightening sobs as the color drained from her figure and she slammed her head onto the counter.

Lapis: "Did I just watch a girl have a mental breakdown?"

Saria: *sweat drops* "I-I think so...?"

Ren: "Sooo yeah, we're feeling pretty good."

Pyrrha: "Don't fret. If anything, we should be looking forward to a fight with actual guidelines and not... well, murderers."

Yang: "Yeah, don't sweat it! We've all faced way worse before."

Blake: "Let's see, Grimm Invasions, violent extremists, a destructive sociopath." She continued to count on her fingers.

Akito: "Let's not forget a Giant Nevermore, Deathstalker, and a Glaivetail all at once, a literal Nightmare..."

Weiss: "D-Don't mention that!" The wolf ignored her and continued on.

Akito: "... a giant ass mech chasing us down a highway, a Gundam and a Sobek."

Ruby: "And that's everything we did while we were still training! Oh, imagine what it'll be like when we graduate!"

Weiss: "Maybe then I'll be able to pay for a meal..." Soon, Port and Oobleck's voices sounded over the intercom.

Port: *over intercom* "Would Team JNPR please report to the battlegrounds immediately!"

Oobleck: *over intercom* "Yes! Like they were scheduled to several minutes ago!"

Pyrrha: "Well, it looks like this is it."

Ruby: "Go get em'!"

Akito: "Knock em' dead, Cherry Blossom." He stated, with the red head turning to look at him and Setsuna, the arctic wolf giving a thumbs up. Pyrrha smiled and giggled before waving back at them and heading off.

Maya: "Good luck, big bro!" She cheered as the blonde male weakly waved to her and walked off with his team, holding onto his poor stomach.

Setsuna: "Should we go and watch their match?"

Ruby: "Great idea Setsu! C'mon, let's go guys!" Everyone at the counter got up and began to walk off, until Yang noticed that Ace hadn't moved.

Yang: "You coming Ace?"

Ace: "I'll catch up with you guys. Gonna check out another booth." He said as he stood up.

Ruby: "Okay, see ya!" She and the others waved at him, to which he smiled and gave a thumbs up before he turned around.

The light-blue haired male began to walk off in the other direction, his hands in his pockets as he looked around the fair, humming as he closed his eyes in relaxation. However, after a while of walking, he felt an impact as he bumped into someone. He grunted but heard a feminine grunt followed by a thud.

Ace: "Ah, what the...?" He opened his eyes and looked down, only to be surprised as he saw a girl. She had black hair tied into twin tails with white ribbons. She had slightly gritted her teeth from the impact and was rubbing her head. "Oh. Sorry about that. I should have been looking... Are you okay?"

He asked her, holding his hand out to her. She slowly nodded her head and slowly opened her emerald, green eyes, before looking up at him. Her eyes then slightly widened as there seemed to be a faint pink hue on her cheeks, but after seeing that she was staring, she quickly shook off whatever she was feeling and took his hand. He slowly pulled her up onto her feet, only to find that she was significantly shorter than he was. Now Ace wasn't that tall. In fact, he was like around Blake's height, but it wasn't noticeable. But this girl was SHORT. Like shorter than Weiss, short.

Ace: "Well... Again, sorry about that. You're not hurt, are you?" He asked in concern, to which she quickly shook her head while shaking her hands in front of him, the pink on her cheeks becoming more noticeable. Ace had noticed that she wasn't speaking but the other thing he noticed was her appearance. He recognized her... "Wait, you're the cute girl that fought in Emerald and Mercury's team, aren't you?"

The girl blinked rapidly, a much more noticeable red blush forming on her face and nodded.

Ace: "Well, I gotta say you fought well! I'd like to spar with you sometimes." He said, to which the female gasped slightly.

She was more surprised by his compliment and felt her heart racing a bit, with her face beginning to heat up. In response, she scratched the back of her head in an embarrassed manner and turned her head away from him to hide her flustered expression, though she had a small hidden smile. Ace however was more observant than she thought, and he took notice of her expression, with him blinking in surprise. But then he chuckled slightly and had an idea. He had time to spare, and he could just watch the tournament from one of the many TV screens located in the nearby stalls. So why not get to know the cute girl in the process?

Ace: "Say, you wanna check out these stalls?" he offered, gesturing towards the stalls that surrounded them. The ravenette pondered while stroking her chin before she smiled cutely at him and nodded. "Aye! Well, I'm Ace. How about you, short stack?"

His tone had a bit of smugness as he crossed his arms. The female gained a smug grin herself as she put a hand on her hip and wiggled both her eyebrows at him. Taking out her scroll, she typed a single name on it before holding it up to him.

"I'm Nea!"

Gundam Shadows Volume 3

https://youtu.be/Abf8CQ_dxzc

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Next Chapter: Growing Nerves

Akito: "Alright, I'm seated and drinking'. So, mind getting to the point already?" Mio glanced at him before sighing. She rested her coffee mug on the table and turned her head to look at the television displaying Team SSSN's fight against Team NDGO in the Vytal Festival Tournament.

Mio: "I'll say this once... take Blake, Setsuna and your sisters and run away from Beacon, Big bro."