The four wastelanders stood facing one another in the center of the arena, their weapons drawn and readied before them. The members of teams RWBY and JNPR were seated in the relative safety of the stands that lined the arena where the wastelanders now stood. There was none of the normal friendly antagonism on any of their faces', each one of them looking to the others with eyes as cold as ice. "How far do we go?" Axel asked, his voice containing a slight tone of mockery. His chakrams hung loosely at his side, tongues of flame occasionally falling from them. "It's been a while since we got to actually cut loose."

"I won the mission bet." Cloud said quietly, his eyes flicking from one member of his team to the next. "Let's go ninety percent."

"Still have that coin?" Roxas asked, a keyblade in each hand. "Flip it. We start when it hits the ground."

Cloud obligingly reached into the folds of his coat and withdrew the coin, flipping it far into the air and assuming a ready stance. Time seemed to slow around the wastelanders as they waited for the sound of the metal hitting the floor. Several things happened at once when the ringing sound echoed through the arena. Beams of light shot out from the air around Roxas, lancing out towards Axel. The red haired man disappeared among a furious inferno of flame that surrounded him and protected him from the assault of the light rays. The bandages that had been wrapped around Cloud's sword were left fluttering to the ground, the blonde haired man quite gone. Raziel whipped around, his blade meeting with Cloud's at the last possible second. He had grievously miscalculated however, and Cloud took advantage of this. Cloud's massive sword split into two and he cut at Raziel with the newly emerged blade, forcing the captain back several feet and directly into Axel's chakram. Roxas lunged at Cloud, hoping to get a quick strike in, but the blonde haired man disappeared once more.

Like before, Cloud appeared behind Roxas but this time the attack was halted immediately. Roxas grinned just as a black and white keyblade came spinning back to Roxas, striking Cloud in the back and sending him flying across the floor. All of this had taken place in the space of only a few seconds, and Raziel had just picked himself up when Axel attacked. A chakram, wreathed in a massive circle of flame, came spinning at him from the side only to be batted away by the newly emerged white wing. Raziel flexed his wing just as Axel caught his chakram and leveled one of its many points at him. "Letting the wing out already, just to stop that?" He taunted, flames roaring up from the floor around him. "I'm so flattered!"

"I owe you for that last hit." Raziel said, leveling his own blade at Axel. The words were barely out of his mouth when Axel, a trail of flame behind him, lunged at Raziel.

While this was happening Roxas had taken the offensive to Cloud, his keyblades effectively countering Cloud's constant disappearance. At least, until Cloud disengaged a third blade from his main sword. Roxas scowled as his keyblades clashed against the two Cloud currently held, keenly aware of the blade currently spinning in the air above them. Striking out at Roxas with aggressive cuts, he pushed the keyblade wielder back just far enough for him to disappear once more, just after impaling two swords into the ground where he had been standing. He materialized in the air above Roxas, grabbing the blade that he had thrown into the air in his free hand. Now, with two blades in hand, Cloud disappeared once more to appear in front of Roxas. A slight blue aura had begun to envelop Cloud and he narrowed as he cut at Roxas, still too far for the attack to even merit blocking. Roxas, eyes widening, only just managed to raise his keyblades in a crossed defensive position before something struck against them, hard.

"So, that's how it's going to be Cloud?" Roxas grinned at him, letting the keyblades fall from his hands as he held them outstretched at his side. The weapons dematerialized when they hit the ground, just as Roxas took several slow steps back. "Using all those swords?"

Cloud said nothing in response, swinging a vicious vertical cut in Roxas's direction. The keyblade wielder smiled as he intercepted the invisible strike with a jet of light. "But that's okay." Roxas told him sincerely, rising slightly into the air. "You aren't the only one with multiple weapons."

Flashes of multicolored lights began to appear around Roxas, each one of the lights revealing a different keyblade. Cloud's eyes narrowed further and he made a sound of disgust before unleashing an assault of slashes towards Roxas. Roxas grinned and met each invisible attack with a keyblade, maneuvering them with his hands.

A loud explosion rocketed the arena as Axel's chakram, wreathed in blue flames, clashed against the red and black sword of Raziel. The force of the explosion pushed both combatants back, their feet skidding against the arena's floor. The site of the explosion had opened up a crater in the floor, matching the several others that had sprung up during their clash. The ground was red hot beneath their feet, the floor charred with the remnants of flames. "Come on then, Raziel." Axel taunted. "Cloud said ninety percent. Let's see that other wing!"

Raziel responded with a vicious glare, tightening his grip on his remaining sword. "Sorry Axel." He barked, flexing his wing. "I don't want to end this too quickly."

"Wow, I guess you have a high opinion of yourself." He said, releasing his hold on his chakrams only for them to float at his side. He slowly raised his hands to his chest, the chakrams spinning rapidly in place as he did. "But let's see how you handle this!"

A tremendous heat began to fill the arena, one that made the previous temperature seem like a veritable snowstorm. Raziel felt the air scorch against his lungs, the metal on his coat burning against his flesh. The chakrams had begun to spin around Axel, each rotation bringing more intense heat to the arena.

Pillars of flame had just started to erupt with random intervals around the arena when the entire building gave a violent shake, surprising the combatants. The heat immediately dissipated as a very stern and very angry voice demanded, "WHAT ARE YOU FOOLS DOING HERE?!" Professor Goodwitch strode onto their battlefield, her riding crop at her side. The crop flicked out and the rubble quickly began to return itself to where it had come from. The scorch marks on the ground disappeared as did the other evidence of their battle "Were you trying to destroy this building?!"

"Not particularly." Axel said, his chakrams disappearing in a burst of fire. "We could have though."

"It wasn't a challenge, brat!" Glynda snapped, crossing her arms and glaring at them. "These premises are to be used only for official Beacon training purposes. You are not permitted to spar here whenever you so choose."

"Would you have preferred us to do it in the courtyard, like that Atlas specialist and the scythe user?" Cloud asked quietly. "If not, you shouldn't have a problem with us using this place."

"Neither are acceptable places!" She snapped angrily, turning her attention to the spectators as they attempted to sneak out of the building before being seen. "And do not presume for a moment that I have forgotten about any of you!"

"Uh, sorry!" Ruby called pitifully. "We didn't mean to cause you any trouble, professor."

"Well you did regardless." She said, pointing her riding crop threateningly towards them. "We were alerted to what sounded like a battle taking place on the grounds of the academy! You are lucky that they reported the noise to me and not to the military. I am not sure what would have happened to you should that have happened."

Whatever response she had expected, a burst of dark laughter from the wastelanders was not it. "The military?" Roxas asked, striding over to the professor. "You mean those robots? Look, no offense, but they don't really seem like all that hard to take. That scythe guy took out two in like, a second. Maybe if that Specialist had come around, then we would have had a bit of a problem. But-."

"You are missing the point." Glynda said, suddenly tired of yelling. "This tournament has many different facets. Good relations among the academies and cities is one of them. What Qrow-, I mean, what that scythe user did was not to the benefit of Beacon Academy. We would rather avoid any further incidents that may cast our academy in a dim light."

"So, no more fights while the tournament is going on?" Axel asked, sighing resignedly when Glynda nodded. "Fine, we will behave ourselves. We didn't mean to cause a fuss, we were just a little…. Stir crazy."

"Which is understandable among your people." Glynda nodded.

"Our people?" Raziel asked softly, curiosity in his tone.

"Wastelanders." Glynda said simply. She smiled slightly at the surprised expressions that they sent her way. "What, did you truly think that you were the first wastelanders I have met? I… crossed paths… with several in my time as an active huntress. I know well how your people get when they are not actively engaged in some sort of activity. So, how about a resolution of sorts?"

"A resolution?" Cloud asked curiously. "Like what?"

"As I am sure you understand, more people in Beacon means that there has been an increase in Grimm activity on the city's borders." She observed the smiles that the wastelanders wore and continued, "I assume, by your expressions, that you are amicable to the task I have in mind?"

"Nothing like hunting a few Grimm to keep you on your toes." Axel said, cracking his knuckles in anticipation.