Dreams are said to be created from parts of memories, with locations, objects, and individuals that are drawn in some part from reality or fiction.

So why V didn't recognize his surroundings from anywhere?

He stood in the middle of a field with a man kneeling across from him. The disappearing bodies of Grimm were on the horizon, as well as an unconscious Huntsman farther away. V held a katana in his hands and he wore a blue jacket in stark contrast to the longsword and red jacket of the other man.

Dante? V realized, recognizing his sword and distinctive hair despite his much more adolescent appearance, But then, who am I?

"Why do you refuse to gain power?" a voice came from V's mouth, admonishing Dante as the red jacketed demon hunter stood up, "The power of our father, Sparda."

Sparda? I remember that legend, V thought, But what does this mean?

"Father?" Dante let out a dark chuckle, "I don't have a father. I just don't like you, that's all."

Dante charged forward, clashing blades with whatever individual V was viewing this event from. The two struggled to push each other back, fighting for dominance until V disarmed Dante, flinging away his weapon and stabbing him through the chest with his katana.

"Foolishness, Dante," he drove the sword further into his stomach, "Foolishness. Might controls everything, and without strength, you cannot protect anything. Let alone yourself."

V withdrew his katana and flicked off the blood on the blade as he allowed Dante's body to fall to the ground.

"Let this be a painful lesson to you, brother. Until we meet again," V said as he turned around and slashed the air twice in a cross pattern, opening a portal and walking through it.

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

V woke with a start and glanced around, finding Nero to be absent from the room. Light shone through opened curtains, indicating it was a beautiful morning.

What the hell was that?

V groaned and sat up, rubbing his eyes. He looked to the bedside table to find a folded piece of paper. Hopping off the bed, he picked it up, unfolded it, and began to read:

Yo V

Couldn't wake you up. Already on my way to the tournament. Our first match isn't until a little later, but don't forget that Ruby and her team are fighting at 10. Don't want to miss your girlfriend fighting, right? :)

I'll be in section A-113. I'll save you a seat.

Nero

(Cue Alive by Warbly Jets)

V's eyes shot open as he remembered the day. His head swiveled to look at the clock.

9:45

"Damn!" V cursed as he scrambled to grab his clothes.

As V threw on his pants, Griffon appeared on his bed post.

"Running a little late there, sleepyhead?" the bird mocked him. V shot a glare at him as he donned his vest.

"Go make yourself useful and get me a piece of toast or something," V shot back, now putting on his sandals.

"What the fuck do I look like to you, a—AUGH!"

V picked Griffon up and threw him out the open window, calling after him, "Just do it!"

That was a little rude, but I'm in a hurry! V lamented as he grabbed a comb and fixed up his hair in the mirror.

Good enough.

He darted over to the bedside table again to grab his book and then again to the corner to get his cane. As he reached the door, Griffon swooped in with a piece of toast in his talons, passing it off to V as he stepped outside.

"How'd you get this so quickly?" V looked at Griffon suspiciously.

"Uh...might've borrowed it from someone else. Just hope you don't run into them later," the bird explained. V simply shook his head, unable to waste time on berating the bird. Instead, he took off into the hall, down the stairs, and burst out the front door of the building.

He dialed Nero's number on his Scroll. It rang twice before he picked up.

"Yo," Nero's voice came through with some cheering in the background.

"You're a real dick, you know that?" V berated him, "How could you leave me?"

Nero seemed to take in a sharp breath before suddenly hanging up, causing V to groan in frustration. As he sprinted past some students that were mulling about, Neptune appeared ahead of him, shouting to him.

"Hey V! A large bird swooped down and stole my toast. That wasn't Gri—" he then noticed what V was eating and Griffon flying next to him, "Hey wait a minute! That's mine!"

"Sorry!" V replied as he summoned Shadow and sped off.

V approached the airship docks, he groaned in frustration. A large line was formed in front of the airships. V pulled out his Scroll to check the time.

9:53

"Okay, what sort of hair-brained plan would Nero or Ruby come up with at a time like this?" V asked himself. He looked into the air to see multiple ships flying to and from Amity Colosseum.

"That's a horrible idea," Griffon deadpanned.

"I know. We're doing it anyway."

Despite the shocked protests of onlookers, V had Shadow speed up and launch him off the edge of the cliff. Griffon grabbed onto him mid flight and threw him upwards, carrying his momentum and landing him on top of a flying airship with Shadow then being summoned and repeating the process to the next ship.

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

Meanwhile, Ironwood was gazing out the large window on the bridge of his flagship. As he turned around to leave the room, a soldier walked up to him with a tablet in their hands.

"General Ironwood, sir," he saluted.

"Yes, Sergeant?"

"You might want to have a look at this, sir."

The sergeant handed over the tablet, showing camera feeds from each of the ships currently ferrying passengers to Amity Colosseum.

"What am I supposed to be seeing?" Ironwood said, not noticing anything amiss. The sergeant pointed to one of the feeds, and Ironwood noticed a figure fly through it. Looking at the next, it appeared to jump off and grab onto a bird to fly into the next feed and land on a ship. It took him a few moments, but Ironwood recognized the student he was seeing. With a sigh, he handed back the tablet and began to walk away again.

"Should we do something sir?" the soldier asked.

"No, not this time," Ironwood pinched the bridge of his nose, "But I'm going to have a long talk with Professor Ozpin."

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

V leaped off one last ship, landing with a roll and continuing to run through the now larger crowd in the hallways of the arena. Once again, he checked the time.

9:58

"Damn it," he huffed. He'd never done this much continuous running and jumping before.

Never again. I am never doing this again, he resolved as he once again summoned Shadow and shot through the crowd, weaving in and out and around of moving groups of people.

A-111, A-112...there! he thought, finally bee-lining towards the terminal.

"Hey, watch it!" he looked back to see he had knocked over a silver haired teen, Mercury, if he remembered correctly.

"Sorry!" he called back, entering the arena just in time as the loud voice of Professor Port rang out over the speakers.

"Three, two, one, BEGIN!"

V could see the fight starting with Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang charging at the Mistralian Team ABRN. V dispelled Shadow as he hurried down the stairs. Looking around, he noticed a person with white hair and a blue jacket with an empty seat next to him. V stalked over, sliding down the row before finally reaching his destination.

Nero looked up at him and sheepishly grinned, "Hey V. How's it—"

He was cut off as V bonked him on the head with the handle of his cane.

"I deserved that," Nero relented as he rubbed the top of his head.

"Yeah. Thanks for leaving me behind," V sat down and leaned forward on his cane, "Seriously, you couldn't be bothered to shake me awake?"

Nero shrugged, "You seemed pretty deep into your beauty sleep."

V sighed as Nero chuckled.

"Anyway," the white haired teen continued, "Quit your complaining. Let's cheer for the girls!"

Nero began cheering while V looked back to the arena to watch Team RWBY and Team ABRN fight. The arena was divided into two halves, one volcanic and the other arctic. Neither team seemed to have a distinct advantage over the other, with some individual skirmishes taking place. Ruby and Weiss were both holding their own against Bolin and Nadir while Blake was exchanging blows with Reese, the blades of Gambol Shroud clashing with an odd board-like weapon Reese held. She flipped away to avoid a kick before charging back in as Yang brawled with ABRN's leader, Arslan.

Reese and Blake's fight took them away from the center to the icy section, with the former taking off on her hoverboard and disappearing from V's view as she turned around a large obstacle. She soon reappeared in an attempt to ambush Blake by launching the hoverboard at her.

However, the Faunus reacted in time and blocked the attempted strike, sending the board flipping back to its owner. This was soon countered by Reese hitting the board, sending it flying back to Blake, who once agin deflected it back to Reese, only this time she followed up with an unrelenting assault on the green-haired teen. With a few more blows exchanged, Reese hopped back a short distance and charged forward on her board. Blake flipped away, leaving behind an Ice clone that Reese simply jumped over. This put her opponent in an odd position, allowing her to strike.

Reese rode the knock back into the air, shifting her board into two firearms. Unfortunately, she didn't stick the landing, instead landing with a harsh impact on her rear, leaving her grounded and with Blake looking on sympathetically.

Meanwhile, Yang and Arslan were in a heated confrontation. The latter attacked Yang with a flurry of punches and kicks which was responded in kind with a few blows from the blonde brawler. Finally, the two attempted a straight jab, leading to their fists colliding and forming a powerful shockwave and knocking the two away from each other. Yang shook it off and tried to rush in again, but Arslan countered her attack with a rope dart, tangling the blonde's foot up and tossing her aside and following up with a dashing strike as she tried to recover.

Yang landed near Arslan's teammate, Nadir. He aimed his gun to finish her off, but he was interrupted as Ruby blasted him with an ice Dust round, leaving him frozen up to his thighs.

"Nice shot Ruby!" Nero cheered, though she didn't hear him over the sound of the crowd.

The fourth member of ABRN, Bolin, used Ruby's distracted state to attempt to attack her from behind, but he was halted by Weiss conjuring a glyph next to him and hitting him straight through it, sending him careening through a rock farther away in the arena. As Bolin recovered, Weiss reappeared with a slash as she sped by him before leaping up to attempt an aerial strike, which her target was able to block. She readied her sword and summoned another glyph behind her for Ruby to launch herself at Bolin. Unfortunately, he was able to repel her, following up by charging towards the two girls; their attempts at halting his advanced proved to be unsuccessful as he avoided their attacks and reached an orange crystal behind them, sliced off a piece, and tossed it across to Reese, who fused it with her board and changed its aqua green colors to red. With a wink to Blake, she sped off and used the now-heated hover board to free Nadir from his icy snare.

Reese turned back around and attacked Blake again, slamming her board into her blade before propelling herself backwards and knocking Blake through an ice pillar, causing V to grimace and grip his cane a little tighter. After dodging a follow up slam, Blake launched the pistol section of Gambol Shroud into a a nearby glacier and swung around behind it, creating a shadow clone and hiding from Reese. When the skater girl came around and attacked the double, Blake threw her weapon out, tripping Reese on the ribbon and kicking her out of the arena, resulting in her Aura to deplete to the red zone and a ring out.

As V applauded, Port commentated, "Ooh, a double whammy! Reese Chloris is eliminated by ringout and Aura level!"

"Oh, she really should have worn a helmet!" Oobleck added.

Back in the fight, Arslan used her rope dart to avoid a pursuing Yang. Nadir flipped into the area the two had recently traversed and attempted to fire at Weiss. The Schnee heiress simply summoned a black glyph that launched Bolin at him before creating a whirlwind below the two helpless teammates and slamming them together and summoning another glyph to form an ice fist that grabbed them, morphed into a ball, and rolled towards the edge of the arena. Unfortunately for Weiss, this plan was unsuccessful as Arslan intercepted the icy sphere. After forming a stance, she struck the ball with her palm, shattering it and releasing her teammates from their cold prison.

Their momentary success was temporary, however, as RWBY swiftly formed a counter attack. Weiss used her rapier to create a ice slide-like structure that Yang skated up using shotgun propelled blasts. Blake tossed her weapon to Yang about halfway through. As Yang reached the end, Blake spring-boarded off Ruby to launch herself at the three remaining members of ABRN and whip a screaming Yang towards them. With a single devastating punch, their opponents were swiftly blasted out of the arena.

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

Nero whooped and V applauded as they rose from their seats.

"Well, we got some time to kill before our match, and I'm hungry," Nero said, "What about you?"

"Considering my breakfast consisted of a piece of toast and the workout that was getting here, I'm pretty hungry," V agreed as Nero looked at him quizzically.

"What, didn't you just ride an airship like everyone else?" he asked.

V sighed, "Well, after I woke up—"

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

"—and then I ended up at your seat and hit you," V finished as the two of them walked through the crowd in the myriad of tents and small shops that made up a sort of fairgrounds.

Nero remained silent at the story for a few moments before simply replying, "That's pretty fucking cool."

"And exhausting. For the love of all things, please do not leave me to have to perform such a thing again!" V pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Oh, hey! There's Ruby!" Nero said, abandoning the topic of conversation (and V) to join her as she and her team sat at a small stand with a sign saying "A Simple Wok." V huffed at his teammate's quick disregard for his story and complaints before following after him.

"What?!" they heard Weiss complaining as they approached, "How can my card be declined? I was barely into my monthly allowance!"

Blake frantically looked around and tried to move the large bowl of noodles and fish towards her, but the shopkeep simply zipped over and yanked it away, causing her to groan a "Noooooo!" in anguish as she slumped onto the countertop.

"Need some assistance?" Nero asked as he and V arrived at the scene, sitting on the side of the bar next to RWBY.

"Nero! And V!" Ruby exclaimed with her arms in the air.

"Aw, you don't have to," Yang said.

"But they could!" Blake exclaimed in desperation, causing V to chuckle at her reaction.

"Well, as long as we get to join. I haven't really eaten today," he said, handing his card to the shopkeep.

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

"Sounds like you had an eventful morning," Yang commented as V relayed his story to the girls. They had all consumed a large amount of noodles and many empty bowls were strewn on the countertop.

"I'm happy you went through the effort to make it on time, though," Blake smiled.

"I'm still not happy you left behind V like that Nero," Ruby scolded, causing Nero to slump a little.

"Maybe I should ask you to reprimand him more. He'd probably be a little more disciplined then," V joked, causing Nero to level an intense glare at him.

"You try that and I'll shove that cane where the sun don't shine."

"Why would you bury it in the ground?" Ruby asked with her typical innocence to the situation, "That sounds rude."

Nero sweat dropped as Yang's eyes turned red, but thankfully Weiss diffused the situation by saying, "So, do you two believe you're adequately prepared?"

"Four, actually!" Griffon pipped up as he appeared on the countertop, startling the shopkeep, "Me and Shadow basically get to fill in as extra teammates!"

"But if they get knocked out, you've got nothing," Ruby pointed out.

"And if you make it into the next round, then won't you not be able to use them because of the two teammate rule?" Weiss added. V opened his mouth before shutting it and finally speaking.

"First off, I'm offended that you said if we make it to the next round. And second," V leaned on his elbows and massaged his temples with his hands, "I guess we'll just have to figure something out. As for the first question, I do believe we are 'adequately' prepared."

"I'd say over-prepared. I mean what, we beat Grimm invasions, violent extremists, a destructive sociopath, and you guys killed a lotta demons," Yang counted off on her fingers.

"I'm sure you'll do great," Blake encouraged V.

"Thanks, kitten," V smiled, causing Blake to blush at the nickname.

"Awwwww, you're both so cuuuuuuute!" Yang cooed.

"Oi!" Griffon squawked, "Could you two stop being all lovey-dovey? We gotta get our asses to the coliseum; our fight's starting soon!"

"Alright birdie, we'll get off our butts since you're so impatient," Nero avoided saying anything that might piss Yang off again, "See you later Rubes, Blake, Yangarang, Ice Queen."

"Oh, two can play at that game, Deadweight!" Weiss leveled a finger at him, causing him to slam the countertop.

[Nero will remember that.]

"Would team VN please report to Amity Coliseum," Professor Port's voice came over the speakers nearby.

"Yes. Like they were supposed to several minutes ago," Oobleck added.

"Okay, lets all calm down," V grabbed Nero's shoulder and started leading him away before the situation escalated further, "We'll see you all after the match."

"I swear to the fucking gods, if you call me that one more time, I will stop being so polite!" Nero shouted back to Weiss as he saw Team JNPR walking by.

"Hey guys—" Jaune started.

"Get the fuck out of my sight before I demolish you!" Nero cut him off.

"You really need to stop getting so upset over a nickname," V reprimanded him.

"If that's polite for you, I don't want to see you when you're rude," Griffon wisecracked before asking, "Say, V, do you think Neptune'll forgive me for stealing his toast earlier?"

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

"I'll never forgive you V!" Neptune declared as V and Nero stood opposite Team SSSN in the arena. V just pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed.

Sorry for the delay lads and ladies! I have been very busy with finals and Subnautica and Stardew Valley and Swimming and life in general, so I hadn't gotten around to uploading this chapter. I am working on the next one which hopefully I can get out on both Wattpad and here before Christmas. ANywho, see you all later!