RWBY The Grand Tournament

Chapter 1: A bromance is born!

Sunlight poured into the stadium, as the crowds were in an uproar of cheering and revelry. Each seat had been filled with fans, hunters and huntresses, potential sponsors, and the like, all ready to be engrossed as familiar names returned once again to do battle, new fighters return in hopes of making a name for themselves, and see what potential the academies would have to offer. The air was brimming with excitement and anticipation as the calls, stomps, and claps came from the spectators before the first match had even begun.

Standing to each side of the ring were groups of students from the academies, each giving a final pep talk, before their respective friend would go out and commence the opening bout for the junior devision, as well as opening the tournament matches at large.

On the north end of the arena stood team JNPR, who were joined by Ruby Rose, as they stood around Juane Arc. By the look of the blond young man, he seemed ready to throw up any minute. Muscles, particularly his shoulders, tensed as the anticipation began getting to the rookie, he looked around as if searching for a way out, all the while insisting, "I can't do this, I can't do this, I can't do this!" Like a CD set to loop.

"Oh calm down." Came the cheerful voice of Ruby, patting the young man on the back as he continued his miniature freak-out, "it's not like he's an Ursa or anything, just another guy, like you."

Nodding in agreement with the girl in the scarlet hood, Pyrrha was also quick to say, "and besides, with all the practice we've gotten with you lately, you should be more than ready to handle this guy." Giving Juane a look which to others would have been assuring, but to the leader of JNPR it didn't instill much confidence. The young warrior had heard whispers about this Wukong guy, and beyond being good with his weapons, nobody knew what his semblance was, which made it difficult to prepare. That and the pressure of being the first match of the entire bi-decade tournament wasn't really working to improve the situation with Jaun's nerves.

Covering his face with both hands, Arc let out a despondent groan as he said, "Why did I have to draw that stupid number one anyway? It just worked to screw me over in the long run..." This prompted all four of his friends to think back to the drawing ceremony, in which Juane had drawn the number one ticket, without realizing what the implication of getting that specific ticket once, and was extremely enthusiastic until he had been informed that tickets one and two would be the first match of the entire tournament, not just the Junior Division.

Clapping her hands rather forcefully on Juan's shoulders, Nora showed off her largest grin that could be mustered, and practically shouted, "You can do it Juan! Just get out there and show that monkey what you're made of!" Shaking her friend rather forcefully as she said these words, before shoving the young man forward.

Stumbling for several steps after being tossed forward, Juan looked back towards his friends, giving one last nervous grin before striding further in with the well-wishes of the four granting the boy at least a sliver of confidence.

* * *

Wukong was doing some routine stretches, surrounded by his fellows of team SISN, Blake, and Weiss, as they each began chiming in with their own advice and suggestions.

"Finish it quickly, don't show off too much, you can't telegraph to the other teams everything you can do yet." Sage insisted, though he was quickly followed by the blue-haired Neptune, who chimed in with, "Well why not? This is THE opening match, and these folks deserve a show, besides, if Sun can demoralize everyone before they even have a chance to fight him, or us, and it'll make it that much more effective!"

Rolling his eyes at the brief back and forth, Wukong regretted letting those two into his pit. They never agreed on anything, and usually had to rely on Sun to mediate the two of them, but this debate had been going back and forth since before the matches had even been determined.

Shaking her head, pony-tail swaying as it followed the motion, Weiss simply said, "Juane is nothing special in battle anyway, it's the others in his team that have talent, he's hopeless." To which Blake nodded to show her agreement at this, "please try not to hurt him," Sun's fellow faunus requested, "he hasn't even mastered his semblance yet, and his fighting skills still need a bit of work." Both members of team RWBY unaware of just how much work Juane had actually gone through to prepare for this fight.

Standing up to his full height after completing the brief pre-battle routine, Sun looked around to his friends, noting that Ironwood was being uncharacteristically silent among the conflicting words of the others. Nodding with a thankful smile towards the red-haired young man, Ironwood returned with a knowing smirk, and the monkey-boy began heading towards the ring.

Unable to resist, Wukong looked back to the group, giving them a smile that showed his confidence, and then looking directly to Weiss. "How about a little prize if I win?" Sun asked with a sly tone in his voice.

A blush spread slightly on the girl's face as she looked away, in an attempt to avert eye contact, "just try not to get yourself hurt out there you ne'er-do-well." Weiss's own personal way of wishing him good luck, and as far as the young man was concerned, the closes thing to a green-light he'd be getting on the request.

"Right then, victory smooches it is!" Quickly leaping out of the pit, and Schnee's range, before she managed to get her hands on him for what could only have been some type of thrashing.

* * *

Letting out a rapid series of whoops and screeches, Sun flipped and cart-wheeled towards the center of the ring, to be met by Juane, who had been their only a few brief moments, and the Headmaster Ozpin. "Welcome!" Ozpin spoke rather loudly into the microphone he held in his right hand, "To the Great Tournament! You have waited five long years, to see just what the Hunters and Huntresses of the world have been preparing, to ensure your continued safety from the likes of the Grimm!"

Turning around and away from the boys to face the opposite side of the crowd fully, Ozpin continued, "This year, as with every year, the first matches of the day will be in the Junior Division, so that you may all take comfort in that every year there are new Hunters and Huntresses graduating more than prepared to fight for you!" Met with a massive roar of fan-fare, the man continued, "and to open the tournament will be the rookie Juan Arc, a freshman of Beacon, and Sun Wukong, a second year who has come all the way from Fortress Academy!"

Stepping now towards the edge of the ring, Ozping looked around towards the spectators of all sides, "the rules have been made clear, our fighters are ready, and you may begin on the signal!"

Hearing this, both Sun and Juan withdrew their weaponry and equipment, Wukong deciding to use his nunchaku-mode for now, keeping the sides which were to spin and fly tucked into his armpits while gripping the "handle ends" firmly. At the same moment, Arc's shield expanded and attached to his forearm, as he held his sword with a slight angling in his right hand.

Looking over the other blond's stance, the faunus smiled and gave out a small chuckle.

"Wh-What?" Juan asked, some indignation in his voice, "Why are you laughing like that?" Eyes narrowing at the other young man as they both awaited the start signal.

Shrugging nonchalantly as a response, Sun simply said, "noticed you're way tense, if you don't relax your muscles a bit you'll be way too slow, and you'll never get a hit in." A split second after this explanation was finished, a loud cannon-sounded off in the air, informing the two that it was time to begin.

Without wasting even half a second, Wukong threw himself forward, already aiming an attack from above, and one which was angling from below. Arc's eyes went wide at this, stumbling backwards a step as he angled his shield upwards, effectively catching the blow from one nunchuk, but feeling the sharp pain of the other knocking a leg out from underneath the fighter.

Losing his balance, Juan let out a lengthy, "wo-o-o-ah!" Attempting to swing his arms in a forward arch to prevent a fall, which would have been inevitable, however, a something long wrapped itself around Arc's torso which prevented the plummet.

"See what I meant?" Sun asked, with a friendly smile on his face as he looked down towards the rookie.

With a somewhat embarrassed look, Arc simply nodded, thinking that he was being mocked by the clearly more skill, and quite a bit more experienced, hunter-in-training. "C'mon then!" Sun then instructed, pulling back with his tail, which easily righted Juan's vertical-to-horizontal ratio.

"Now just relax, stay light on your feet, and find an opening." Sun explained, resuming his previous stance, though this time moving a bit more slowly.

Eyes narrowing once again, Juan grimaced at his opponent, who seemed to be so unimpressed by the young man's prowess that he was trying to act like a teacher, rather than an opponent. Roaring as ferociously as he could, which in truth as not all that intimidating, Juan charged forward with a powerful sword swing aimed at his foe's middle.

With a distinct noise as it flew through the air, Sun knocked the blade aside with a powerful parry, and did a vault-flip past Juan, using Arc's shoulder as a pivoting-point. Planting his feet firmly against the shield which was held far out behind him, the faunus leaped gracefully off of the starting point, flying several meters through the air, and landing gracefully.

Turning to face Juane, Wukong had an excited expression as he shouted, "That was awesome! Why wait for an opening when you can make one!?" A big grin adorning his face as the same stance was resumed yet a third time.

By this point there were some confused murmurs among the crowd, those that were close enough to hear anyway. Fights didn't usually have quite so much... "dialogue, to accompany such a relatively small amount of one-sided action. And the sound of the spectators was not wasted on the ears of Sun.

Eyes growing intense, the monkey-king smirked before saying, "okay pal, time to get serious." Before dashing forward with astounding speed.

Sun became a blur of gold, red, and tan, as his strikes became a seemingly-endless wave of clangs and bangs as the young man applied some serious pressure with the assault. The crowd watched dumbstruck at the masterful display of weapon-skill, but what may have been even more amazing, was the fact that Juane seemed to be withstanding it.

Not as off-balance at the start of the battle, Arc managed to discover the rhythm to Wukong's moves, and was at least able to predict it on a basis of timing, as he'd learned from Pyrrha. Meeting about nine for every ten of Sun's attacks with either a stoic block from his shield, or a respectable clash from the blade, Crocea Mors crossing with Ruyi Bang and Jingu Bang in an astounding battle of weaponry.

Of course, even with his great defensive abilities, the overwhelming nature of both Sun's weapons and speed still allowed for hits to get through, though they seemed to have little actual impact on Juan's aura.

This exchange went on for quite some time, with Sun's speed and Juan's defenses squaring up to one-another, though the screen which remained suspended in the air, placed there to show the aura of both fighters, began to show that Arc's defenses were slowly faltering, having reached nearly half after roughly seven minutes of direct combat.

But it could also be noted that Sun landing hits slowly became less and less frequent, as his movements slowed considerably compared to what they were at the start. And as this grew to the point that nothing seemed to be getting in, Juan seized his opportunity.

Upon catching Ruyi Bang with his shield, Juan charged forward, slamming his shield into the faunus, and knocking the young man back a short distance.

That wasn't the end of it, however, as Arc pursued his target while he fell back, following through with a series of slashes with his sword, accompanied by a brutal battle-cry. One... Two... Three... Four... Five! Only able to successfully stave off the first, Sun found himself one the receiving-end of a powerful combo, decisively draining his aura, and forcing the fighter to his knees in the process. It wasn't just his reflexes and defensive prowess that had grow during training, but it seemed that Juan's power had become quite impressive as well.

Panting heavily following this, Juan asked Sun with some satisfaction in his tired voice, "who's... the loser... now?" Thinking that the judges would call the match, considering that Wukong's aura was down to about 8% as said by the tablet held in Juan's shield. The flurry of offensive attacks supplemented by aura seemed to have weakened the defensive portion of Sun's to the point that it was nearly devastated in four simple hits.

One horn went off to indicate a judge wanted to call the match, but at the same moment that this noise went off, and uppercut with the butt-end of a staff crashed into Arc's chin. The two nunchaku which had moments ago been a set of two, suddenly attached to one-another and formed a long staff, in the process of this, the weapon extended into a direct strike with his opponent, stunning Juan for a brief enough stretch of time that allowed Sun the opportunity to take several small somersaults backwards.

With a confident smirk on his face, Sun dived back into his melee range, with a great over-head strike prepared.

"Won't work!" Juan shouted as he held aloft his shield to take the hit, bracing it with a second arm as this was going clearly be a power-shot. Feeling the pressure of Wukong's strike bore down on Juan, and it nearly caused his legs to give out, but now the warrior was in a great position to land the final blow.

Before he could manage anything, however, the young man felt a sharp pain in his gut, causing him to bowl over as the force of a well-placed knee knocked Juan back.

Off-balance from the hit, Juan felt several more rapid strikes along different sections of his body, each stinging harshly, accompanied by a small explosion which hurt even more. A cry of pain escaped him as each one hit, though the following storm of strikes were too fast to keep up with. As Juan felt his aura rapidly depleting, he began to glow with a white light, as he put in more power to actively using his semblance, which would allow his aura to withstand more blows than it was able to already.

This proved futile, though, as it easily cushioned quite a bit of the damage dealt to his barrier, it didn't prevent the volume of attacks which were landing in succession. Within thirty seconds, Juan's aura was absent, the young man could tell as soon as the strike which dealt the "finishing blow" to his protection. Oddly enough, that was the last hit though.

Looking up to where the now-absent attacks originated, he saw Sun leaning down, and extending a hand. Smiling a bit, realizing now that the earlier words were sincere, and not some kind of sarcastic insult, Juan clasped his hand to Sun's arm, and used the assistance to pull himself up to both feet.

Laughing loudly, the pair walked together, shoulder-to-shoulder, as the crowd's applause practically deafened them. Entering Sun's now empty pit, the faunus shook his new friend's hand and said with a great amount of enthusiasm, "Dude! We have to hang out, you wanna go grab a bite?"

Juan nodded in agreement to the sentiment, but hesitantly asked, "don't you think you'd rather hang out with your mega-cool team, though?" Referring to the other three who Arc had seen Sun with from time to time.

Putting an arm around the other boy, Sun merely laughed and said, "Juan, you're probably the coolest guy at this school." Before leading the other teenager to the exit.

"... You aren't going to steal the food are you?"


End file.
