RWBY : It's Brawl in the Family

Summary With Ruby Rose in tow, Weiss Schnee hurries to meet her sister, Winter Schnee, as her airship lands at Beacon Academy. Weiss is overjoyed and excited to see her sister. Still, Winter is initially cold and dismissive, refusing to tell Weiss the reason and duration of her visit and criticizing her "novice" performance in the Vytal Festival. However, after this cold initial exchange, Winter becomes warmer towards Weiss, expressing interest and concern for her well-being. Weiss introduces Ruby to Winter, and the sisters leave together.

However, Qrow Branwen arrives at Beacon and destroys two of the Atlesian Knight-200s in Winter's entourage, attracting her attention. Qrow, with whom Winter is familiar, accuses her superior, General James Ironwood, of being a sellout and betraying Professor Ozpin. He also mocks Atlas' ability to protect the people. Angered by Qrow's accusations and disrespect, Winter draws her sword and attacks Qrow, who retaliates with Harbinger, his transforming gun-sword-scythe. The pair then begins to fight in the crowded Beacon courtyard as Ruby and Weiss watch from the sidelines. However, the fight is interrupted by Ironwood, who orders Winter to stand down. Ironwood is shortly followed by Ozpin and Glynda Goodwitch, who disperse the crowd.

That evening, Ironwood, Winter, Qrow, Glynda, and Ozpin meet at Ozpin's office. The meeting is tense, with Winter and Qrow blaming each other for starting the altercation. Ironwood orders Winter to leave, and the remaining four discuss matters of security and the threat looming in the shadows. Qrow, who has been away for months on a reconnaissance mission, reveals that the mysterious infiltrator who had compromised Beacon was also responsible for the comatose condition of Amber, the current Fall Maiden. He warns that he has "seen the things she's[1] made, and they are fear."

Qrow also criticizes Ironwood's indiscretion in bringing an enormous fleet of airships to Vale. Ironwood asserts that his forces are necessary and provide a feeling of safety. Ozpin disagrees, explaining that the people would interpret the army's presence as a sign of conflict, spreading concern and fear among the populace – conditions likely to cause a resurgence of the Grimm. Ozpin concludes that their next move should be to find a "Guardian" to protect and reassure the populace.

Meanwhile, Mercury Black, who had witnessed the fight earlier, informs Cinder Fall and Emerald Sustrai of Qrow's presence in Vale, which appears to be of significant concern. However, Cinder dismisses the danger, reasoning that none of the authorities know their identity, and decides to continue with their current plan. It is revealed that the virus Cinder had planted at the Cross Continental Transmit System tower earlier in the year gives her the ability to control the match-ups in the Vytal Festival tournament. Cinder has also gained access to Ironwood's Scroll after he placed it on the table to interface with the Beacon network during the discussion in Ozpin's office.

From her dorm, Cinder engineers the next match-up of the Vytal Festival tournament doubles round, with Emerald and Mercury facing Coco Adel and Yatsuhashi Daichi of Team CFVY, commenting "Let's give the crowd a good fight..."

History Following the end of the Great War, Beacon Academy was founded in the Kingdom of Vale. Along with the other three Huntsmen academies, Beacon was founded in order to train Huntsmen and Huntresses to slay the Creatures of Grimm. In the 80 years following the founding of the Academy, Beacon trained many generations of Huntsmen and Huntresses, including Team STRQ.

In the past, Qrow and Raven Branwen both originally joined Beacon Academy not to become Huntsmen, but to kill them instead due to them being the only other threat to their tribe besides the Grimm. While they both originally planned on returning to the tribe after graduating, Qrow grew out of his old ways and decided to stay while only Raven eventually returned. It was stated by Raven that many people also joined the academy for ulterior motives instead of actually becoming Huntsmen.

At some point in time, Gretchen Rainart decided to attend Beacon Academy against the wishes of her brother Hazel Rainart and lost her life in a training exercise. Hazel blamed Ozpin for her death and eventually joined Salem in order to get his revenge.

In addition, Vale's Cross Continental Transmit tower, which was vital for long-distance communication across Remnant, was also built in the center of the Beacon campus. Like the other Huntsman Academies, Beacon houses one of the four Relics.

Tournament "Vytal Festival Tournament" redirects here, for the World of Remnant episode of the same name, see Vytal Festival Tournament (WoR episode). The festival culminates in a combat tournament between representatives of each of the four Kingdoms The festival culminates in a combat tournament between representatives of each of the four Kingdoms

A major part of the Vytal Festival is the combat tournament, in which students from the Huntsman Academies compete. Symbolically, the tournament battles represent a reminder to always strive for excellence in combat and teamwork.

The festival is of significant importance and prestige, as Glynda Goodwitch pushed students to practice months before it begins and the members of Team RWBY showed great excitement upon hearing of it in "Jaunedice", wherein Professor Goodwitch states that Beacon students competing in the tournament would be representing all of Vale.

Given that there are eight contestants in the final round, it can be assumed that a total of 32 teams, or 128 students, compete in the Vytal Festival tournament; 8 in the final, sixteen in the doubles and 32 in the team round.Background The Vytal Festival was inaugurated following the end of the Great War, a destructive conflict taking place eighty years before the events of the series. The war, fought between kingdoms over conflicts of self-expression and individuality, was brought to a conclusion by a peace treaty. Such a treaty was signed on Vytal, a small island north of Vale. In celebration, the Vytal Festival was created with the purpose of honoring the diversity of the cultures of Remnant. Atlas hosted the first Vytal Festival Tournament sometime after the Great War.

The Festival has a unique symbol, fittingly consisting of a combination of all four kingdom's emblems in order to signify unity. The Vytal Tournament has been going for ~80 years.Rules Professor explains the rules of the tournament Professor Port explains the rules of the tournament

The tournament consists of three rounds, the first being a 4 on 4 team round. The winners of the team bracket may select two members of their team to fight in the next round, a 2 on 2 doubles bracket, the victors of which may choose one representative to fight in the 1 on 1 bracket. The remaining combatants will undergo several more 1 on 1 fights to prove a victor. There are no specific brackets for age or schooling.

Contenders are knocked out of the battle by falling below an Aura threshold of 15% or by being knocked out of the fighting arena. Aura monitors are able to measure the aura of competitors as numerical values, made visible to spectators and competitors on large displays.

Arena Main article: Amity Colosseum Amity Colosseum, where the tournament is held Amity Colosseum, where the tournament is held

The setting for the combat tournament is Amity Colosseum, a large arena complex floating atop gravity dust with many rings of bleachers for spectators, who are flown in on airships. As the Vytal Festival grew in scope and size, the stadium was built collaboratively from the resources and contributions of the four kingdoms and is capable of long-distance travel to each of the kingdoms, typically heading to the specific kingdom hosting the tournament.

The arena with two different biomes, ice and fire The arena with two different biomes, ice and fire

The tournament takes place in a large octagonal arena. The arena is capable of changing its environment into several different "biomes", including grasslands, forest, fire, ice, geyser fields, stormy mountains, desert, an ocean and beach with a wooden ship, and several others. The arena also has artificial weather effects such as thunderstorms and an artificial sun. Such environmental Dust controls were created by Arthur Watts.[4] A smaller central octagon is flatt ground unaffected by arena changes. Around the arena is a forcefield protecting observers from bullets and debris.

During the team round, the arena is split down its middle into two biomes, each chosen randomly at the beginning of each fight. During the doubles round, four biomes are present. In some biomes, Dust crystals are scattered around the arena for combatants to use.

The singles rounds take place only in the central octagon, the outer quadrants being out-of-bounds. The finals also took place at night or evening, in contrast to the preceding rounds which took place during the day.

40th Vytal Festival Preparations for the Vytal Festival Preparations for the Vytal Festival

During Team RWBY's first year at Beacon, the 40th Vytal Festival is held in Vale.[5] According to Weiss Schnee, the festival takes considerable planning and organization to set up. Preparations for the Vytal Festival were held as early as Team RWBY's first semester in Beacon.

Representatives of the four kingdoms converged upon Vale beginning in the second semester of Team RWBY's first year. In "Welcome to Beacon" the Atlesian contingent, including Penny Polendina and led by James Ironwood, arrived aboard three Airships. Haven Academy of the Mistral region, sent teams SSSN and ABRN. Under disguise, Cinder Fall, Mercury Black, Emerald Sustrai and Neopolitan also claimed to be from Haven. Shade Academy in Vacuo contributed teams BRNZ and NDGO.

Visiting students from the other academies received accommodation on the Beacon campus and were involved in events such as the Beacon Dance and sent on a range of missions supervised by Beacon Academy professors.

As seen in "Extracurricular", during the second semester, sparring matches in preparation for the tournament were held. Participants in these matches included Pyrrha Nikos, Team CRDL and Mercury Black. The same episode also states that contestants must first qualify for the tournament before competing.

The fairgrounds on the Beacon campus The fairgrounds on the Beacon campus

For the duration of the festival, a large fairground was set up on Beacon Academy's campus where visitors from all kingdoms can intermingle. Among the stalls at the fairground were a noodle stall and a boot vendor. One such stall was called Curry Up, frequented by Team CFVY.

The 40th Vytal Festival was marked by a stronger security presence than usual, with a sizable fleet of airships constantly overhead as well as Atlesian Knight-200s patrolling the grounds. This was due to the precautions of General Ironwood who was appointed to head of security by the Vale council following the events of "Breach", where Grimm were able to enter the city.

Unbeknownst to the populace, the matches of the 40th Vytal Festival were manipulated by Cinder Fall, who had managed to breach the Cross Continental Transmit System with a virus, giving her the ability to decide the matchups in the tournament.

The festival was marred by Yang's apparently unprovoked attack on Mercury in the first singles match of the tournament. This caused widespread controversy amongst audiences. Unknown to the public, these events were also manipulated by Cinder. Emerald, working under Cinder's direction, used her Semblance to create illusions that led Yang to attack Mercury, mistakenly believing it to be self-defense. The controversy and shock among the spectators attracted Grimm, which attempted to enter the City of Vale. Huntsmen and Atlas androids managed to hold them off but had to call for additional help.

The Festival was interrupted by a Grimm invasion The Festival was interrupted by a Grimm invasion

The following night Penny was destroyed by Pyrrha in a fatal accident, also orchestrated by Cinder. Cinder then took control of the broadcast and used it to transmit a message condemning the kingdoms' governments and the state of the world. The subsequent horror and panic amongst the audience attracted even more Grimm which overwhelmed the City of Vale's defenses. With the Grimm attack imminent, the Festival was canceled and Amity Colosseum was evacuated.

Following the Battle of Beacon, Amity Colosseum and Penny's body were transported back to Atlas. Because the CCTS went down during the Battle, Ironwood secretly began converting Amity Colosseum into Amity Communications Tower to restore the system online. Meanwhile, Penny was rebuilt and brought back to life thanks to her father Pietro Polendina.