In RWBY's Shadow

Round One

The crowds roared as the two teams – Shade versus Haven – clashed in the simulated arena before them. Shots pinged off the barrier, protecting countless civilians from being gunned down. Dueling chants struggled to be heard over the raucous cheering of the assembled masses. All the while, two teams of teenagers sought to beat one another into submission with some of the deadliest weapons imaginable. Thanks to aura, there was no bloodshed, but the carnage unleashed in the center of Amity Arena was a far cry from the image Huntsmen usually tried to portray.

All of that – the explosions, the roar of the crowd, and the cries of victory and defeat – were nothing more than a continuous droning sound to Lilly. Hidden in one of the various changing rooms tucked within the underbelly of the Arena, Lilly stood alone, savoring the feeling of the locker's cool metal against her forehead. Each breath was drawn slowly through her nose until her lungs could hold no more, then expelled with a slight whistling through her mouth as she sought to calm her fraying nerves.

This is it. She still had plenty of time to prepare, having arrived well before the previous match started to give herself a few moments alone. She'd spent the weekend carefully preparing for what came next. At least, when someone wasn't trying to pry her away with another distraction. Yang's multiple visits for innocuous reasons had been denied. Really, why would you need a cup of sugar? We have a common room with a decent supply just down the hall. Rather than bother with strategy, Yang seemed intent on running interference on their own preparations, leaving the planning to Ruby and Weiss, no doubt.

Meeting Bianca for lunch on Sunday had been a nice breather, though. Her friend had gotten in late that morning and insisted on seeing both her and Yang, although she promised not to keep them long, understanding they needed time to prepare for the fights. Little did she realize the two would face one another just over twenty-four hours later. To save on lien, Bianca was splitting the hotel room with Lilly's family for the week. She'd offered to pay her portion, but Dad had categorically refused, insisting she save her money for school bills and let him cover it. Dad could be pretty awesome sometimes.

The muffled voice of Professor Port broke through the din once more as a loud buzzer announced the elimination of some unfortunate combatant. The details of the elimination tugged at Lilly's curiosity, but she refused to turn the monitor mounted in the corner back on. Better to focus on their fight than worry about another. If they made it through, she'd take the time to watch each match, carefully analyzing each victor's fighting style for potential weaknesses.

Today, only one fight mattered.

Lilly checked her weapons yet again, carefully inspecting each dust cartridge as she unloaded and reloaded both Brevis and Tantum. The familiar motions helped calm her a little as another buzzer sounded. Thoughts of whether that meant an equalizing of teams or a surge by one were pushed aside as she methodically ran through the strategy for their match.

Having settled on a primary plan, Lilly had drilled it into her teammates' heads until they forced her to stop. Much like they'd done with CRDL, Lilly wanted to divide RWBY into three different battles. Each member of RWBY could be dangerous alone, but combined, they posed a much bigger threat. Yang would likely have to wait until the end, meaning the focus would be on eliminating each of the other three. Pressure on Weiss should force Ruby to stay with her, leaving Blake to fight solo after they peeled Yang away. Ideally, they'd take out Blake and Weiss, then gang up on the annoyingly quick Ruby. Hitting her would be difficult, but the young girl wouldn't survive too many well-placed strikes.

Much of the battle could rely on the arena itself, unfortunately. RWBY held a distinct ranged advantage, so open areas would spell trouble. Heavy cover, on the other hand, would reduce their advantage and help divide them better. Honey and Weiss both would benefit from any dust-heavy arenas, especially something like an ice field. Fire, on the other hand, would pretty much negate their ice abilities. Such a blow would hurt Weiss more than Honey, though. Ideally, she'd like to have a cityscape or wooded area for cover, although the fire or desert arenas would be suitable for engaging Weiss if needed.