STRQ (A RWBY fanfiction) [Book 1]

Chapter 37

The next few weeks passed by without any incident. Finally, the Vytal Festival arrived. I was ecstatic to fight alongside my teammates. I hadn't faced any challenging opponents in a while. Qrow and Tai were doing some last minute training before it was time to head to the arena. Raven was sharpening her katana and I was observing her.

"Are you excited for the tournament today?" I asked her.

"Excited is a bit of an understatement," she said. "Although I am a bit worried I might accidentally kill someone with my katana."

I smiled reassuringly at her. "Don't worry about it. You got this."

"I know. What about you? Are you excited?"

I nodded. "Of course. I'm more interested in seeing the team we'll be up against."

Before I could say anything else, a voice come from a speaker.

"Will team STRQ please come to the battle arena? Your tournament is set to begin in ten minutes."

Raven sheathed her katana. Qrow and Tai burst through the door a few seconds later, startling me a little.

"The fight is about to begin!" Tai exclaimed.

"Yes, we know. We'd better head there now. I would hate to be late," I said.

As we were making our way down to the arena, I felt someone run into me. I would have been knocked to the ground if Qrow wasn't behind me.

"Watch where you're going," Raven snapped.

"I... I'm so sorry," I heard a small voice reply.
I looked up and saw a small girl dressed in a green shirt with a matching combat skirt. Her skin was a dark tan and her eyes were a beautiful shade a hazel. Her dark hair was put up in a ponytail. She didn't look that much older than me. In fact, she looked a little younger.

There were three others behind her. All looked around the age seventeen or eighteen.

"You better be. We have a tournament to go to," Raven snapped again.

"Raven... that's enough," I said. I walked over to the girl and offered my hand. She took it and shook it gently.

"I'm Summer Rose. Are you attending Beacon?" 

The girl smiled shyly. "I'm Gretchen Rainart. Yes, it's my first semester here."

"That's exciting. Who's all with you?"

Gretchen gestured to her left where
a girl a bit taller to her was standing. Her eyes were bright blue and her hair was bright white. Her outfit was mostly black. With silver gauntlets on her wrists. I noticed a pair of tiny white fox ears on her head.

"You're a Faunus," Tai said.

The girl nodded. "Yeah. I'm Rachel. Nice to meet you."

A guy around Tai's age spoke up. His outfit consisted of grey combat clothing.

"I'm Nico. It's nice to set you."

I smiled at him. "Likewise."

Gretchen moved her hand to the other girl. She had a smile on her face. Her brown eyes sparkled in the sunlight along with her light brown hair. She walked forward and shook my hand.

"I'm Natalie. I hope we can be friends!"

I couldn't help but smiled even more. She seemed to radiate happiness. I noticed my teammates were smiling too. Even Raven. 

"I feel... happy all of a sudden," Raven said.

Natalie grinned. "Yeah. My semblance increases positive emotions. You guys look a bit stressed."

"Considering we have a tournament in a few minutes, I'd say we're pretty stressed," I said.

Gretchen's eyes widened. "I'm so sorry! I don't want you to be late!"

"It's not a problem. Why don't I give you my scroll number? That way we can keep in touch and I can share with you few combat tricks. Or whatever help you need."

Gretchen looked uneasy. "Are you sure about that? You don't have to..."

I quickly got out a piece of paper and wrote down my number.
"Here. You can just call or message me later, okay?"

Gretchen took the piece of paper gratefully.
"Thank you so much! I'll be cheering for your team... whatever it is."

"My team is called Team STRQ. What about yours?" I asked.

Gretchen smiled. "Team GRNN (green). It was nice to meet all of you."

"It was lovely to meet you as well. I hope you enjoy Beacon."

"I'm sure we will. Let's go everyone, we have uniforms to put on," Gretchen said, leading her team back towards the dorms.

After they were a decent distance away, Raven turned to me. She didn't look too happy now.

"Was it necessary to give out your scroll number like that? They could be spies trying to kill you!"

"Come on, Raven, they're first year students. And they seem like a lovely team to me."

"I agree with Summer on this one," Tai replied. "Plus, Gretchen looks a bit young, so she's going to need all the help she can get."

"You are way too trusting of everyone. That's going to get you killed one day," Raven snapped.

Qrow snarled at her. "Enough with this, Raven. Stop trying to scare us. We have a tournament to win."

"Whatever."

She started to run off toward the arena.

"Raven! Wait for us!" I cried, racing after her.

Raven slowed down a little so I could catch up.

"What's gotten into you all of a sudden?" I asked her.

"Nothing. I just think it's reckless that you would just give out your information like that, Summer. People have tried to kill you!"

"I understand that. But I trust Gretchen and her team. They don't seem like bad people to me."

"That doesn't make a difference. They could turn on you in a heartbeat. You need be more cautious!" she yelled.

I closed my eyes briefly. My head had begun to hurt. I didn't need  this. Not before before the tournament.

"Look... we can discuss this further after the fight. We need to focus, okay?"

Raven glared at me. "Fine. Let's go."