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Chapter 22 Vytal Festival (Part 9) Bow

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“Robin has been knock unconscious. The winner of the Junior Hunter Tournament is Raven R. Branwen!! “

Cheers erupted from the audience, indicating the end of the event. Raven took her elixir and silently apologized to the boy that was being fed his own elixir while being unconscious.

= Sorry Robin, but I need to be strong enough to defeat the bad guys in this world. I can't lose. Not to anyone. =

Raven went to cleanse her body in the school's bathroom. In the process, she jabbed two spots on her body with Acupuncture before checking her own status. Unfortunately for Robin, she hadn't even used her semblance the entire fight. That black aura was a side ability due to the experiments performed on her body.

-Raven R. Branwen-Race:Human/???*Class:AssassinLevel:19Experience:28/190Semblance:Pursuit

Health:325/325Aura:655/655

Strength:90Dexterity:119Agility:78Endurance:56Vitality:122

AssassinYour aura has given insight to your true nature as a person. You value order and peace more than anything. Thanks to your past experience, you've come to recognize justice is also an important part of your order and peace. Since you understand that peace cannot be withheld with pretty words alone, you are willing to dirty your hands to keep the status quo. You receive +25% damage using any weapons. Backstabs do 50% more damage. +5 Agility at night.

Current Bonuses: (+2) Hand-to-Hand Combat, (+5 Inactive) Sword Combat, (+3 Inactive) Dagger Combat

Current Skills: Identify, Acupuncture, Throw, Sneak, Hide Presence, Lock-pick

Human:As a human you receive no bonuses, but unlike other humans, your abilities have been boosted. Receive rapid Vitality growth.???:As a ??? you have been given the unique ability to control the ??? which when activated, integrates with your aura. When used, it temporarily returns your body to prime condition. If you attempt to spread your aura to other living beings while integrated with ???, it will devour their aura. Using ??? rapidly consumes aura.

Pursuit (Active):Thanks to your personality, you have a strong urge to bring evildoers to justice. Thanks to this, you've been blessed with the ability to jump through space to ensure no criminal ever escapes your grasp. When activated, you are able to create a portal connected to your target location. However, you must have a clear, accurate understanding of where you are trying to go or the portal shall not open. You cannot create more than five portals a day.

Cost: 200 Aura per portal.

Now that she finished the tournament, she had a rough idea where she stood in strength. As far as she knew, all the other kids, both humans and faunus, were much weaker than her. All but a select few stood out, and even though her victory was assured, Robin still gave her a difficult time. A feeling of respect was felt for the young faunus.

= Even though I knew I was stronger, he was much stronger and cunning than all the other kids. Throughout the whole fight, he still had an ace up his sleeve. Other kids would normally show off or get distracted by minor details, yet he responded quickly to any threat I gave him and talked only when I started the conversation. If I was a normal girl, he definitely would have won. I need more training. =

As she put on her new change of clothes, she stepped back outside to meet up with her uncle. Meanwhile in the infirmary, Robin woke up to find himself alone in a room. He stared at the ceiling with empty eyes.

“...Fuuuuuuuuuuuck!”

A scream full of anger and annoyance resonated throughout the room.

= I had her! I fricking had her! What the heck was that at the end? Does her semblance give her the ability to nullify aura? But then how did she move her arms? Maybe it dual functions as a buff and debuff? God damn it I was so close. =

Rolling over on the bed, he started to pound his fist onto the pillow. Never had he tried so hard for victory, and that made defeat taste all the more bitter.

“What's with the long face?”

Entering the room were Robin's parents and his friends. They were smiling with pride and began to shower him with praise.

“Come on Robin. No need to be so down.” his mother said.

“Yeah yeah,” Conner agreed. “You're the second strongest kid and the strongest faunus child in all the four kingdoms.”

“Don't act like a baby. It's not like you,” Ophelia said.

Blake smiled at Robin and handed him a medal. Inscribed on it was the figure of a hunter in a fighting stance.

“You did well. You should be proud of yourself.”

Faced with the endless compliments, Robin could not help but smile.

“You're already getting praised and awarded with a medal but it's still not enough for you? How much do you want attention?”

“I don't want to hear that from you, JES.”

“My name is not JES!”

“Alright kids let's go home. It's been a long day.”

And with that, ended the third day of the Vytal Festival.

The next day, the group went to the coliseum to watch the final matches between the hunters and huntresses. The first round was competition based, and the second round was 1v1 matches. During those 1v1 matches, Robin paid close attention to their techniques and actions.

= Clearly I lacked a variety of skills the entire competition. I need to learn more in order to counter anything anyone throws at me. I should also get stronger in general. Brute force could also make things a whole lot easier. =

Robin watched the hunter pressed the attack, quickly alternating between attacking with their blade and gun form.

= Having a variety of weapons should also help. Maybe I should use make my weapon be able to use a gun form and a sword form at the same time? Like a bayonet-variant maybe? =

As he was contemplating, the match finally ended and the announcer signaled the end of the tournament. The crowd went wild, and the announcer, Carl Buckman, took the stage once more.

“And there you have it folks. Our champion in this year's tournament is Caesar Nikkos!”

The man handed the Hunter a trophy and turned back to the crowd.

“Thank you all for coming to witness the Tournament! I hope you all enjoy the rest of the festival! Have a safe trip home everybody!”

Thus, the group left the coliseum and traveled around to play various games and visit the many stalls that offered toys, sold accessories, and candy. Racism was never too far away, as the kids got turned away from some stalls to refused to let them participate. Blake was looking down and depressed.

“What's the matter Blake?” Robin asked.

The others had gone off to find their favorite food stall they found in their time here. Currently, it was just Robin and Blake that walked to see if they could find anything new they haven't tried yet.

“It just..are we that different from humans?” She asked.

“I mean, between you and me alone, Robin, the only difference between us and humans is that we have another set of ears on our heads.”

To emphasize her point, she twitched her black ears. The adorable little things waving back and forth. Robin held his own silver ears. Yeah, they were pretty obvious. How people make a big deal out of an extra pair of ears, but not out of darker skin was beyond him. In the first place, discrimination never made any sense to him anyway.

You can hate the people who killed your family in the war. That's understandable. But to hate the kids that didn't do anything? What would that accomplish?

“People sometimes look for a way to relieve their stress,” Robin began. “Sometimes, they see it's easier for them to use something that already exists than something else that won't hurt others.”

“But why?” Blake responded. “It doesn't make any sense. All the humans have the same look whenever they see us. Even the ones that serve us give us scorn when we approach Robin. Is it really so wrong to be here? To just exist?”

“It's NEVER wrong to just exist.” Robin turned to her with a firm expression.

“And not every human looks at us that way. Did the Yang girl look at us like that?”

She shook her head.

“Exactly. She didn't even think about our ears in any way. It's just a difference in the way people think. They can change in time, so all we have to do is make friends with people like Yang who don't look at us that way.”

“But it's still unpleasant.” Blake looked down.

At this point, Robin didn't know what to say to her. He was also familiar with being an outcast, so he could understand the feeling Blake was describing. If she wanted to hide her ears, it would only take a hat, but when she had to take it off, it would immediately show. What she needed was something she could wear even in her sleep. Then, something caught his eye in a stall nearby.

“Wait here.”

Robin rushed towards the stall and hurriedly bought the item. Blake just blankly stared at him, wondering what it was he was up to. Upon returning, Robin carried a black piece of cloth. He motioned her to tilt her head down. Not quite understanding, Blake tilted her head anyway. Robin started to tie the cloth on her head. As he was touching her ears, it tickled her and caused her to giggle.

“Done.”

Robin took his status plate out and used it as a mirror to reflect Blake's image in it. Upon looking at her reflection, she noticed Robin had tied the black cloth to form a bow on her head. It covered her ears completely and was just the right size so that it wouldn't be weird for a girl to wear.

“Now people won't know you're a faunus. If it bothers you, you can just hide your ears to keep people from staring. Then, when you find someone who you think you can trust with knowing who you are, just take it off and show it.”

Robin smiled, pleased with his work. Blake was just as happy. She grinned with a very big smile on her face.

“Thank you Robin. I'll treasure it.”

State your ship! BlakexRobin or RavenxRobin. NinjaxMerc or AssassinxMerc! Rate, comment, have fun! Thanks for reading!

Edit: For those curious:

Blake without bow

Blake with bow Compliments of RWBY wiki

Edit 2: I added a poll. I'm curious on your opinions of your ships. I gave you up to two choices, harem, or nobody. Please note this doesn't change my story at all. It just an easier way for you guys to tell me your stance on this.