Chapter 22: Hard LOVE

After their victory, the trio went down to the fair in order to celebrate making it past the first round. Emin was constantly aware of people staring at him and whispering, but he felt calmer with Azure and Strawberry walking either side of him.

"I seriously need to have a word with Ironwood." Azure stated as he stared at the mountain of papers Strawberry was still carrying.

"Honestly, Azure, it's fine, I just don't want anybody getting their hands on them." She assured him.

"It's unfair of him to place all the responsibility and work on just you." He grumbled.

"Azure, I WANT to do this." She told him. "When Ironwood asked me to work on a project that can counter that idiot Weber's Project DARK, of course I wanted to build it!"

"If you say so..." Azure huffed.

"How is it going, Strawberry?" Emin asked.

"Well! It's a secret at the moment, though!" She winked, placing a finger to her lips. "Oh! Look! A noodle bar!" She quickly ran over to the stand.

"At least she's okay." Azure chuckled as they walked over.

"One sweet and sour chicken please!" Strawberry ordered.

"I'll take pulled pork." Azure said.

"Just plain for me..." Emin practically whispered.

The three of them sat on high stools as their orders were placed, but not for long, though.

"Emin!"

He spun around on his chair and saw Team CFVY walking over to them, with Velvet waving excitedly.

"Velvet." He jumped off of his chair and walked over to her.

"Congratulations on your win! You were excellent out there!" She cheered happily.

"Th-Thank you, Velvet." Emin blushed as he rubbed the back of his head nervously.

"Coco! Looks like you're all doing well!" Strawberry beamed as she greeted the leader.

"Same to you. There's still a bit of time before our first match, so we decided to come down and see what the festivities were like." Coco nodded.

"We're gonna do our best as well so that your team doesn't show us up!" Velvet beamed at Emin.

"Y-You'll probably do better then us anyway, so you shouldn't worry." Emin replied sheepishly.

The Faunus' smile then weakened as her eyes grew sentimental. "Seriously for a second though...are you okay?"

Emin paused and listened. He could still see people staring, people whispering about him. About him. Being a monster, or some kind of sorcerer. Some were nervous, some were disgusted. All avoided eye contact.

"Nothing that I'm not used to." Emin simply responded.

"Emin...you always know, that if you ever need somebody, I will always be here for you, right?" Velvet asked.

"Of course I know that." Emin smiled. "You're my best friend, Velvet."

Her ears twitched a bit. "R-Right...b-best friends..."

"Emiiiiiiiiin! Heeeeeeeey!" Emin turned around to see Ruby waving at him with the rest of her team.

"Team RWBY, hey." Emin waved lightly, whilst Velvet secretly buried her face in her hands as she blushed.

"Congrats on your win!" Ruby smiled. "We watched you all, you guys are really amazing, y'know?"

"I must admit, Ii keep forgetting how strong you three actually are until I see you fight." Blake admitted.

"Well of course, they're super experienced after all." Weiss nodded.

"Weren't you the one worrying about them most?" Yang spoke up. "I seem to recall you crying something along the lines of 'Oh, I hope they'll be okay'."

"Be quiet, you!" Weiss turned on her all flustered.

"You four did very well too." Azure told them. "The Vytal Tournament is the best place to show off the strength of the next generation of Hunters. I can tell you caught the attention of a few respected individuals."

"That's...cool, I guess." Blake mumbled.

"Of course it is! That means we get to be famous!" Yang boasted as she put on her sunglasses. "And that means I can wear these and look super important."

"Please take those off." Weiss grumbled.

"Ah! Team SEA! Congratulations!" Just then Claire Noire walked over to them, clapping.

"Hello, Claire." Emin was noticing that their group of three had somehow turned into a small crowd.

"Claire Noire? The representative of the Vacuo government?" Strawberry gasped.

"Vacuo has a government?" Weiss tried to picture it, before Yang elbowed her for her rudeness. "Ow!"

"What's an important figure like you doing around here?" Azure asked.

"Oh please, I'm really not that important, you're making me feel all embarrassed." She laughed. "Seriously though, I just came to say congratulations! Emin, you certainly did very well out there!"

"Emin, do you know her?" Velvet asked.

"We met a couple of times before the attack on Beacon." Emin explained.

"Yes, I can definetly see why he's the leader in your team." Claire nodded. "You both must be incredible teachers."

The two guardians blushed at the comment. "W-We're not that good..." Azure mumbled.

"I just did the best I could, really..." Strawberry practically whispered.

'Who'd have thought they'd get embarrassed so easily?' Everyone else thought.

"Sorry for the wait, here you go." The owner announced as they placed three bowls down.

"Thank you very much!" Team SEA thanked him.

"Ohhhh! Are you guys ordering noodles? I'd like some!" Ruby declared.

"Do they have seafood noodles?" Blake wondered.

"Now that they mention it, I'm kinda hungry..." Velvet admitted.

"Hope you don't mind if I have some too." Claire said, despite already ordering.

So, the three teams plus the Vacuo representative ended up eating together. It was an odd party eating together to say the least.

"I just thought, does anybody know which Teams are fighting right now?" Weiss spoke up. "Team JNPR aren't scheduled yet and I can't remember who comes before them."

"I think it was...uh...mmmm..." Whilst trying to think, Coco absentmindedly ate more noodles.

"No worries, everyone, we can check on the Scrolls." Strawberry said, pulling her's out and looking at it. "Let's see...this match, the first team is Team LOVE with the leader being...WHAT!?"

Everyone jumped at Strawberry's outburst as a frown suddenly crossed her face, making them all s weat. Anyone who knew her understood that she frowned very rarely by now.

"What's wrong, Strawberry?" Azure asked.

"The leader...it's..." She held the Scroll up, revealing the dark smile of a familiar red head. "Lilith Angres!"

"Lilith Angres?" Blake echoed.

"Isn't she part of Cinder's Team?" Vlevet asked.

"We actually saw them earlier. I think they had a new member of their team...she had black hair." Ruby remembered.

"Come to think of it, Lilith wasn't with them at all, was she?" Weiss wondered.

"Why would she make her own team? What is she planning?" Strawberry pondered.

"Who are the other members of her team?" Yang asked.

Azure looked over his teammates shoulder. "Some guys named Orange, Vanilla and Eucalyptus. No last names."

"Well that isn't suspicious. Never heard of names like that before either." Coco commented.

"Hold on, I'm gonna access the live feed of the match." Strawberry began typing away on her Scroll as now everyone began crowding around her. "...Here it is."

Everyone looked as the feed showed the stadium having an ice and wetlands themed arena, as the camera zoomed in on Team LOVE.

Lilith stood there, a cocky grin on her face as her three teammates stood in front of her. They seemed to be triplets, as all three of them were tall, burly men wearing black suits with matching shoes and gloves. The only thing that differentiated them were their hair, eyes and ties, which were the same as their names. Orange's were obviously his namesake, Vanilla's were white, and Eucalyptus' were a greenish blue. The three of them stood with their arms folded behind their backs and a dead serious expression on their faces, like bodyguards.

"Wow...they're hot." Everyone looked at Yang at her comment. "What? No point denying it."

As the match began, two members of the opposite Team charged directly forward whilst the two at the sides spread out, presumably to flank them. Lilith just chuckled and pointed forward, before the three members of her team leapt into action. Vanilla ran forward towards the two charging ones, both of them shooting at him, but he practically shrugged off the bullets before he slammed both of his arms into their torsos, throwing them back onto the ground. He then jumped high and delivered a powerful punch to each of their stomachs, their Aura levels instantly dropping into the yellow zone.

"They're strong!" Velvet gasped.

One of the other members jumped towards Lilith wielding mechanical fists, but Orange intercepted him and their punches collided, with orange's surprisingly causing a large dent in the fists before he grabbed the opponents face and slammed him into the ground, The burly man then punched the helpless guy in the stomach repeatedly until his gauge dropped into the red ad he was declared defeated.

"That's brutal!" Yang hissed.

The final member aimed a bazooka at her from on top of a frozen perch and fired a giant shell. However, Eucalyptus jumped in the way and kicked the shell so hard it flew off in a different direction and then exploded into the giant ice wall behind them. Eucalyptus then ran up the ice with incredible speed before kneeing her in the gut so hard she was sent flying back and crashing into the ice, making her gauge drop down into the red.

"So fast!" Ruby marvelled.

"And the winner is Team LOVE!" Oobleck announced as the three male members resumed their original positions, with Lilith giving off a cocky wave and smile.

"She didn't even need to do anything...those three are absolutely insane! They didn't even use weapons!" Weiss cried.

"I've never seen people that strong, not even in Vacuo!" Clare commented.

"I don't think that's what we need to be worrying about." Strawberry spoke up. "Lilith didn't do anything at all, she just let those goons of hers do the dirty work...which means she's holding back. She doesn't want anyone to know anything about her fighting style yet...not her weapon, her Semblance, even her overall abilities."

"Why, though?" Blake asked.

"Most likely, because she wants to surprise someone later on, most likely in the final rounds..." Strawberry mumbled. "But why? I have a bad feeling..."

'Strawberry is really concerned about this...' Emin thought. 'Lilith Angres...she really is dangerous, isn't she?'

"It doesn't matter!" Yang spoke up. "All we gotta focus on is keep winning, right? And if any of us face her, we just take her down, yeah!?"

"Yeeeeeeah!" Ruby agreed.

"Yeah...we're definitely going to keep winning." Emin nodded more for himself then anybody else.

"It's a promise, right?" Velvet asked, pulling out her camera. "Hold on, I'm gonna take a picture."

"Hey, you need to be in the photo too, then Velvet." Coco told her as she stood up.

"It's fine, I have to the the picture, right?" She said.

"Hold up, Velvet." Emin stopped her, before dipping his arms into portals that appeared next to her, his arms appearing out of them and delicately holding the camera. "There, I can do it like this, so that you can be in the picture too!"

"Oh...um, okay! Thanks, Emin! Justt, be careful, and press that button there, okay?" Velvet pointed, with Emin nodded as she sat down beside everyone.

"Alright, alright, everyone say...crackers!" Yang said.

"Why crackers?" Blake asked.

"Because everyone says cheese, it'd make a cracking change, eh? Eh?" She elbowed the cat Faunus, making the black haired girl groan in annoyance.

"It'll do." Azure said. "Then, three, two, one..."

"Crackers!" Everyone smiled as Emin took the picture.

Velvet retrieved her camera happily. "Nice!"

"Well, I'd better return to my work." Strawberry said as she picked up her papers. "Emin, Azure, you'll be our candidates for Round 2. Azure, keep him safe. And, keep an eye on Lilith for me."

"Can do." Azure saluted.

"Good luck, Emin! I'll be cheering for you the whole time!" Strawberry smiled as she gave him a one-armed hug.

"Thanks, Strawberry." Emin said as he waved her off.

As Strawberry left them, she continued to think. 'Lilith Angres...just what kind of thing are you planning?'

RWBY

Meanwhile, in Lilith's dorm room, she was talking on her Scroll. Orange, Vanilla and Eucalyptus were all lined up against the wall, their heads lowered.

"Thanks for them, Rust. these things work great!" Lilith grinned as she stared at her three teammates.

"Brilliant aren't they? Robots perfectly disguised as humans, with super strength and endurance to boot!" Weber Rust spoke down the line. "And their Aura generation through the system I installed in them makes them alive to anyone who would suspect otherwise! With them, there was no doubt you would be able to enter the Vytal Tournament singlehandedly! Honestly, that idiotic old fool thinks adding a PERSONALITY will improve them? Ha! Laughable!"

"Yeah, yeah, you're great, whatever." Lilith muttered, checking her desk, which was filled with a mix of medical and torture devices which she was cleaning. "With these guys I'll easily make it to the one v one rounds...then it will just be me and little Catalyst, Eminence Phlox."

"Once you've tormented him, Grimm will come flooding in! Add that amount to the number that Cinder's Faction plans to unleash with their own plans, there is no doubt Beacon...no, Vale, will be completely destroyed!" Rust boasted.

"And when that happens...there's no doubt that they will appear...the one we need." Lilith grinned. "Oh, I am sooooooooo going to enjoy this."

Finally! A new chapter! Yeah, real life and other stuff got in the way again, but her I am back with a new chapter...again! So I hope you guys enjoyed it!

In terms of questions for our characters, three come from NewComer1! The first one is to everyone: 'Who would you side with? Nohr or Hoshido?'

Emin: Hoshido, never abandon you're real family.

Azure: Nohr, stay with people who actually cared for you.

Strawberry: Nohr, they're the people you've come to love!

Velvet: Hoshido, love those who love you.

Ruby: Hoshido! They know their colours!

Weiss: Nohr, no point going back to a home you don't know.

Blake: Hoshido, it's always important to return.

Yang: Hoshido! They's the cool ones!

Next question is to Blake: 'If you and a dog fanus put in the same room, what would happen? Would you two fight like a real dog and cat? (Also I will give you a tuna if you tell me what the Ninja of Love is about.)'

Blake: Don't even mention what would happen! I hate them! I don't wanna go anywhere NEAR them! And...wait, HOW DO YOU KNOW ABOUT THAT!? RUBY!

To Velvet: 'How do I hold the camera to take a steady photograph?

Velvet: Well, if you're inexperienced, just use a stand. It takes a lot of practice and incredibly steady nerves to hold one perfectly.

And finally, to Strawberry: So, you do like Azure. What do you think of him? (Also be warn of the terrible things to come).

Strawberry: You keep bringing this up. WHY would I be attracted to that lazy guy? He's so irresponsible and stupid and...well, he's nice, don't get me wrong, and he knows how to dance at least...makes you feel very special...sh-shut up! Oh, and don't worry...unfortunately, I know terrible things are about to happen.

And that's it! If you wanna ask our characters anything, leave a comment! Sorry this one took so long guys, hopefully the next one will be out sooner! But until then, thank you all, and have a wonderful day!