Cry like a Canary

Volume 3 Chapter26:New Challengers

After the opening, the scene starts on the familiar shot of Team JNPR readying themselves against their opponents in the Amity Colosseum, the mountains to their back and forest on the other side. A large holographic screen counts down with Peter Port over the crowd's cheering.

Port: 3... 2... 1...

Jaune: (raising his sword) Come on guys!

Port: BEGIN!

All four members of JNPR charge forward, but only three fighters from BRNZ do the same; the beanie-wearing May Zedong turns around and heads into the trees, cocking her weapon. In the center of the field, leader Brawnz Ni delivers a knee kick to Pyrrha Nikos' shield that sends her skidding back, right before she blocks the claws on his fists with her xiphos. She jerks her sword away and makes him leap back, just as the sniper jumps up into the branches of the forest with the bladed butt of her sniper rifle. Lie Ren readies his StormFlower to attack Nolan Porfirio, who almost gets blindsided by Nora Valkyries swing with Magnhild before he ducks under the attack and attempts to hit her with his cattle prod. The sniper girl finally takes aim from her spot and manages to fire off two rounds near Ren, destroying the rocks behind him. Jaune manages to block the buzzsaw gloves of Roy Stallion with his own shield before he notices the bullets flying and sees the glint of the gun in the leaves.

Jaune: (wide-eyed and stumbling over his order) R-R-Retreat!

Ren glances back at his leader as a shot hits the ground by his feet. He and Nora start running back into the mountains as Jaune and Pyrrha cover their escape by blocking the bullets with their shields. The four leap over a rocky outcropping for cover.

Pyrrha: (to Jaune as projectiles keep coming overhead) What do we do?

Jaune: (looking over the edge to see the melee fighters closing in) Spread out! Try to keep moving! (his team follows this just as Brawnz lands a punch on Jaune's shield)

May gets even higher in the tree and smiles from behind her scope as she looks at the fight below. Brawnz and Pyrrha continue to duke it out while Nolan slowly advances on Ren when he slides into his path. The prod-wielding warrior looks back at the trees and nods to his hidden ally, who shoots at Ren's feet again and makes him jump around trying to dodge them. Just as he lands, Nolan hits him upside the head with his weapon and is able to easily dodge the retaliatory kick while landing another blow to Ren's knee and a final hit to the chest using the business end of his prod. Electricity shoots through Ren's body before he collapses to the ground beside his childhood friend.

Nora: Ren!

Scowling, Nora takes a swing at Nolan, who promptly dodges it and again unleashes his weapon's power into her corset, though this causes a quite different reaction from the grinning redhead.

Port: (speaking from his spot on the giant hologram screen overhead with Doctor Bartholomew Oobleck beside him) Oh-ho! Looks like one of my favorite students, Nora Valkyrie, is charging up to use her Semblance!

Nolan: (looking up at the screen with a panicked look) What?

Oobleck: Yes, Ms. Valkyrie's Semblance lets her produce, as well as channel, electrical energy straight to her muscles! This allows her to jump explosively into the air, wield her mighty hammer, or in this case, absorb Nolan's attacks and send the young man flying!

Nolan: (turning back to his opponent) What?!

Nolan finally takes his cattle prod away, but the damage is done: Nora flexes her arms as pink lightning is seen coursing through her body. Nolan attempts to lift his hands up in surrender, but thunder starts sparking from Nora's Aura as she rushes at him. There's a split-second where Nolan's horrified face and Nora's victorious smile are seen close-up on the sides of the screens before the hammer hits head-on and Nolan bounces back across the field, crashing through a rock and staying there when he's stopped moving.