Osprey and Yang: Top 4 Elim-Cup interlude.

Osprey step towards the dugout and was instantly glomped by Ruby, making the two of them spin around a bit before he stopped himself. "YAAAAY! YOU WON!!" "Right..." He shrugs as he pat her on the head with her letting go of him as the others walk to him with smiles on their face. Edelgard nods at him before she speaks. "Congrats, Osprey. I didn't expected you to beat Rhiannon, not especially during such a close battle." She rubs the back of her head nervously before coughing into her hand. "Now, I better go check up on her..." She nods before heading off towards the medical room with Wilhelm stomping behind her. Ruby pats Osprey on the shoulder as she walk by him. "Well, time for me to fight Blake!" She glance down at Flora who nods with a determined look. The two of them step towards the arena, with Blake nodding as Akira sits on her shoulder. "Blake." Yang call out from behind her with a calm look as Blake turn around. "Yeah?" "Don't underestimate my sister, she's way tougher than she looks."


Blake nods with a smile. "Thanks...See ya later." She walk past Osprey and pat him on the shoulder as she join the arena floor where Ruby and Akira awaits them. Osprey walk over with Iori and sit next to his sister and Kyo. "...So...You think Ruby gonna win?" He ask her as they begin to watch the match. She nods with a bored look. "Despite Blake being good, there's no way she gonna beat Ruby. She possess a stronger fire within to motivate her to win." "That being.." Osprey raised an eyebrow as she look at him. "She wanna fight us both." Osprey rubs his chin with a thoughtful look while watching the ring... "You gonna go easy on her?"

"Brother..." Yang leans forward with a sigh before turning to him with a small smirk. "Since when have I ever went easy on anyone in combat?" "Just try to remember that's our sister.." Sending her the same smirk. "Besides...once I get past Pyrrha, you gonna have to fight me..." She chuckles as she lean up and stare at him as he continues. "And we know that while you may be the better fighter...I'm the better trainer." The twins stare off before they turn back to the ring.


--------------------------------------------


Pyrrha sat on the opposite of the arena as Flora and Akira duel in the ring with her boyfriend, Jaune and their friends Nora and Lie Ren watching. With these 3 out, it was only her and Achilles in the tourney left to rep Rank D from their circle of friends. She look up to the noble box and see where her aunt is residing in with her family. She knows that they are all depending on her to win this tourney for the honor of repping Ylisse. And she want to make sure that she won't fail them. With all of that said, she was slightly...very slightly worried about her incoming fight against Osprey and his Iori.

"(The way he fight is that of a vicious barbarian, much like what Aunt Cordelia told me of the Branwens. I need to make sure that Iori stays away at a distance from Achilles.)"


Watching how Flora and Akira are both tied right now, neither one pressing advantage against each other. Pyrrha crosses her arms as she look across and see the Branwens sitting down watching the match. Seeing Osprey bring up their last convo when they were signing up and how he mentioned meeting Lucina before. "(He had the nerve to address her without the proper title at that..I don't doubt his claim, but I wish he would show her respect like everyone else does.)" Balling her hands on her thighs into fists, she doesn't notice Jaune calling out to her until he gets a bit louder.

"Earth to Pyrrha!" Upon hearing him, she blink and shake her head as she look and see him giving her a small look of concern "You ok? You were spacing out there..." Pyrrha smiles at him as she take his hand and grasp it. "I'm doing fine, sweetie. Was just thinking on the state of things is all." "Oh?" He raise an eyebrow at her. "What's that?" She keep her smile on her face as she stare across to Osprey, her tone hiding her rather high competitive streak behind a veil of politeness. "Oh, just planning my victory over the Branwen is all."



The match between Flora and Akira ended with the first time-out in the tourney, with Flora barely ecking out a win as Ruby hugs her tightly. Blake sighs and consoles an upset Akira who she carries to the dug out. She get there as she sees Ruby talking a lot to Osprey who is giving her a blank stare, nodding here and there. She feels a hand on her shoulder and see Yang offering her a small smile. "You did good enough, just came down to the last hit is all." "Yeah..." Akira's ears droop as he is held by his trainer with Blake smiling at him. "Oh well, top 8 at this kind of tourney is no laughing stock..I'll win next time for sure.." "That's if I'm not in the tourney..." Yang smirks at her, getting Blake to smile at her. She was about to speak before Ruby ran over and glomp Yang, the blonde not even budging as she pick her little sister off of her with one hand and hold her in the air by the back of her jacket. "Ruby." She speak with a deadpan tone to which Ruby smiles nervously. "Sup sister, guess we gonna fight soon huh?"

"Oh good, we came just in time!" The 3 girls and lone boy with their monsters turn around to see Rhiannon, Edelgard, Mythra and Pyra with their monsters behind them. Akuma, Hikari, and Homura eating a Tomato with a large black "M" on it as Mythra flips her hair and continues to speak. "Glad to see that we're not late to see Yang's match here..." "Yo." The moment Osprey greeted her with a nod, Mythra lost all sense and glomp him with her legs and arms wrapped around him. "OSPREY! I SAW YOUR MATCH AGAINST RHIANNON ON THE TELEVISION IN THE MEDICAL ROOM! YOU'RE SOOOOOO COOL!" "...Thanks..." Osprey's calm face betrays the growing heat he's getting down there before Pyra pull her sister off of him and frowns at her. "Honestly, Mythra, you being around Osprey just make an embarrassment out of both me and you.."  Even Hikari sighs as she facepalms much to Homura's snickering.


"Well, it was still a close battle..." Rhiannon grumbles for a bit before sighing and giving Osprey a look of respect. "I'll win the next time we face off, so savor this victory, Osprey." Osprey nods at her, understanding how she feels. "I look forward to us fighting again.." Meanwhile, Edelgard sees a ref coming over to them. "What is going on?" "Excuse me, Miss Branwen?" Yang raise an eyebrow at him. "Yeah, what's up?" The ref clears his throat before speaking. "We have received news of Sleetbomb's trainer forfeiting against you. Therefore, you will advance to the next round. Congrats on Top 4." Not noticing the shock on everyone's faces, he goes on. "In addition, within 5 mins, we would like you, Mr.Branwen, and Miss Rose to come to the arena for the Top 4 presentation. Thank you." He bows and walk off, leaving Yang to have a confused look on her face before Ruby fistpumps behind her. "Allright! That's awesome!!"

"Wow, that's pretty lucky..." Blake rubs her chin, absorbing what she and everyone just heard.. "I wonder what made them quit?" "They must had weighed the risk of letting their monster fight against Kyo..." Edelgard speaks up as she spare a glance at an annoyed Kyo who was denied a chance to fight. "And came to the conclusion that it's not worth it." "Personally, I can't say I blame them..." Pyra sighs and pet Homura's head. "It's a tough call to make, but sometimes it's best to run away from a fight that you believe you can't win."

".......That's a load of bullshit." Osprey with a hard scowl at Yang answers as he steps up to her and get in her face. "How the hell did I have to fight a whole-ass bracket to get to Top 4  while you essentially had a easy time to get there?" Yang, not bothered at all by her brother's chance in attitude merely gives him a feigned confused look. "Brother, whatever are you talking about? I too had to fight my way here..."

"You fought against 2 weaklings in a row.." The girls watches as the siblings argue. "Meanwhile, I had to fight against Nikos's boyfriend who gotten better since last time." Osprey point over to where Jaune is across the field and then to where Rhiannon is behind him. "And then I had to fight against Rhiannon and her Akuma who is the toughest match I had in my career...You don't see how unfair this is?"


Rhiannon had to fight down the urge to smile from the compliment as Yang leans to his face and gives him a shit-eating grin, one that seems odd to see on such an emotionless girl like her. "C'mon bro...You know how fragile a girl like me is..." "You're a Branwen..." Osprey crosses his arms... "Nothing's fragile about you at all.." To that, Yang snickers as she turn to the stage and see Pyrrha walking on with her Achilles, waving to the crowd. "I guess it's time..." She mentions as her brother uncrosses his arms with Ruby and Flora walk on the stage with smiles on their faces. The twins look at each other and crouch low before they jump with great strength along with their monsters and land on the middle of the ring, scaring most of the audience with their strength in their legs as Ruby and Flora reaches the stage.

"(I'll never get used to that..)" She thinks to herself with a nervous grin as Pyrrha merely give them a look of distrust before looking ahead to the crowd with her monster."(Show-offs..)"
"HELLO AND WELCOME ALL TO THE TOP 4 OF THE RANK-D ELIMINATION CUP!" A familiar voice ring out with a mic as walking to the arena are Ferdinand and Dorothea wearing their usual work attire as Ferdinand continues to speak.
"I AM FERDINAND AEGIR AND WITH ME AS USUAL.." "THE LOVELY DOROTHEA ARNAULT!" The two walk to the middle and face the crowd with Dorothea speaking. "BEFORE WE START THE TOP FOUR, CAN WE GET A ROUND OF APPLAUSE FOR EVERYONE WHO COMPETED IN THIS GLORIOUS TOURNEY?" As the crowd cheers on, Osprey and Yang look both next to each other, the former flipping his hair casually and adjust his jacket.


"AND NOW, LET US INTERVIEW THE REMAINING CONTESTANTS!" Ferdinand walk up to Ruby first who gives a wave to the crowd. As they get to her, Dorothea begin to speak "Ruby Rose! The esteemed daughter of Taiyang Xiao Long and Summer Rose!  There's a lot for you to live up to, but you managed to claw your way to the top 4! I assume that hailing from such a lineage have it's benefits, right?"

Ruby had to do all she could to not scowl as she nods with a fake smile(That her siblings saw through, but didn't commented on.) and answer her "Well, I try not to let who I come from affect how well I train my monster, ya know? I wanna make my own path and not rely on being in the shadows of my parents.."


"VERY GOOD ANSWER!" Dorothea rubs her ear out with a grimace thanks to Ferdinand screaming to his mic as he continues. "OUR LAST QUESTION TO YOU, WHO DO YOU WANT TO FIGHT THE MOST?" "Oh, that's easy!" Ruby point to her siblings "Those two!" The twins look at her with their patented bored looks and nod to Ruby's waving. "A DUEL FROM THE BRANWENS? MOST ACCEPTABLE! THANK YOU, RUBY!" Dorothea takes Ferdinand's mic and adjust it so that it's not that loud anymore as they walk away and get to Pyrrha.
June 9, 2021


"The number one seed and projected to win this entire tourney, The niece of the King and Queen, number one graduating student from her class in Altea Academy.." Pyrrha smiles from hearing the praises that Dorothea speaks of her to the crowd. "A flawless winning streak in tourneys, a powerful Ylissian monster...Need I go on?" "Oh no, you can stop now!" Both girls giggle as well as some of the crowd having a good laugh. "But seriously, you have done a lot of great things in your career, and many of your fans and family members believe that this will be another win under your belt. What do you have to say about that?"


As Pyrrha think of an answer, both Yang and Osprey felt rather annoyed with how the crowd seem so sure of her victory. Osprey in particular glanced up at the noble box and wondered if Lucina was one of those people. A pang in his heart made him look down in thought, wondering why the idea of Lucina cheering for Pyrrha over him hurts. "(Not sure about that...but I'll look into that later.)"


"I believe that my victory here will be a well-fought one, but at the same time I know for sure that both me and Achilles will prevail over all and become the Rank D Rep." Her answer was perfect, she thought. Confidence, Assured, and with some pride etched in. The crowd claps and cheer for her barring some handful(Raven for example was yawning.) as the twins was not really caring. "An excellent answer! I hope to see your career go up higher!" Dorothea nods with approval before turning to the twins as Ferdinand already beat her to them with a mic to their faces.


"Branwen Twins! To see you two here is quite a shock to many here! Are we to assume that one of you wish to become the rep?" Holding the mic between them, Ferdinand awaits for their answer as Yang leans a bit to do so. "We're not particularly caring about becoming reps..." _This shook the vast majority of the audience except a smaller handful(Raven once again snickering at this next to Qrow and Taiyang with Summer raising an eyebrow at the answer.) "...The only thing we care about.." She continues before leaning back as Osprey lean in. "...Is to use that wish we get for winning the tourney."

Pyrrha stares at them with a calm look that hides her shimmering anger at them. It wasn't enough that they go against the standards and not refer her cousin as the princess, but they also don't care about the honor of becoming a rep? "(What kind of wish do they want? Do they want money? Nobility?.)" Her eyes widen as she remembered what they told her and the others back then. "(No...they were actually serious..)"


"And what IS that wish, Osprey?" Dorothea ponders out loud to the mic for the crowd as Osprey and Yang share a look with each other and nod as Osprey turn to the mic. "We're gonna use that wish to play our music in front of a live audience after the meet."

The entire stadium went silent as the ones who knew of the wish remembered it as those who didn't know just remain in their spots thinking back on what they just heard. Raven facepalms with Qrow chucking his beer. "Should had known my kids wanted that...not that I'm bothered by that." "They love music so much, they have a hyper-focus on it.." Qrow mutters..


"Music...." Summer couldn't believe what she heard as she look at Taiyang who merely shrugs. "They took part in this tourney, not to rep Rank D...but for music?" Se couldn't fathom such a reason with Taiyang answering her with a confused tone. "I suppose they just really like music, huh?" "(About as much as their mom and uncle..)" Sparing a glance at them to see even tho she was facepalming, Raven does sport an approving look on her face as does Qrow. "I personally wouldn't had wasted time in this tourney and play my music, Would had strolled up to the castle and played there." Raven smirks with her arms crossed from her plan, Qrow rolling his eyes. "Now sister...you know that is illegal." She turn to him with a disgrunted look. "Who cares? Since when have we became citizens who upheld the law?"


Qrow gives her a deadpan look before shaking his head and chugging his beer, down to it's last contents inside."Well, I've long since retired from my wilding days an-" "And you became boring with a captial B, little brother.." She rubs his hair with a smirk much to his anger and making him spit his beer out. Taiyang watching before sighing as he turn back down to the arena.


Up in the noble box, almost every noble was flabbergasted or amused in a smug way about the Branwens's wishes. Queen Cordelia merely shook her head, confident that none of their wishes will be granted. King Chrom didn't feel either way for it, too busy wishing for the match to begin. Princess Severa was hiding her mouth behind her hand trying not to laugh while Lucina looks interested in the wish. "(If anything, I could provide them some money for the event...)"


Down on the field, Pyrrha merely did what she could to hide her anger at the twins's answer, but her balling up fists does nothing to aid her. "Wow, to play music? Are you two perhaps in a band?" Ferdinand inquires them both as they nod with Yang answering. "Yeah, we call our band the Band of Fighters. I'm on the saxophone, Osprey here is on the bass guitar, And our monsters play in it as well." This caused the crowd to murmur as Dorothea, interested in the twins for the first time her whole lfie, push her mic in front of them. "So you're telling me that your monsters are capable of playing in a band?" Osprey steps up with a nod. "Yeah, Iori's on the drums and Kyo on the electronic piano.."


"Wow..." Dorothea mutters and look at Ferdinand who press his mic up to their faces. "So, assuming you two win this..." Pyrrha grits her teeth a bit hearing this from him. "Where would you play your music at?" Osprey point down at the arena. "Right here in this very arena..." The crowd have a slight buzz of interest after the answer was given with Ruby looking on at the twins with awe. "Is...How much would the tickets cost?" She ask them with the twins looking confused at her. "Uhhh..." Yang rubs her chin. "We haven't figured out the cost for them, but you and most people we know would come in for free."


"WOW, THAT'S SO COOL!!!" She throw her hands in the sky along with Flora as the crowd gets even more excited. Within the dugouts, their friends was all getting excited to see them play their music. Blake already knowing how they performed before she had sex with them and Mythra practically drooling at the mouth. Even Rhiannon, secret music expert that she was, was looking forward to see the twins perform their music.

On the other side of the dugout, Jaune could see the fists Pyrrha was balling up and had a good idea as to why she was getting upset. "(We trained so hard to win this tourney, one of us out of the four would win it we believed...but with me, Nora and Lie Ren out, it's up to Pyrrha as usual to win.)" He look down and closed his eyes "(But once again, I lost and have to rely on Pyrrha to defend my honor...I'm such a weak Boyfriend..)"

"WELL, WE WOULD LIKE TO CONTINUE THIS DISCUSSION..." Dorothea's eye twitches as she thought she turned Ferdinand's mic down. "BUT WE HAVE TO CONTINUE THE TOURNEY!!!" The crowd erupt to life as he wave to them before turning back to the top 4. "WOULD OSPREY AND iORI ALONG WITH PYRRHA AND ACHILLES STAY ON THE FIELD PLEASE?!?" Yang and Ruby walk off past Osprey, each one giving them their blessings.. "Good luck, brother!!" "Kick her ass." As Osprey soon follow them to his side of the field where Iori stay in the middle with Achilles where Pyrrha have retreated to her side of the field...

"GOOOOOO PYRRHA!!!" Not to leave her friend alone, Nora cheer on loud as well Lie Ren and Jaune with a loud "GOOD LUCK, PYRRHA!!". Most of the crowd are cheering her own, while some of the other portions--interesting enough, the lower class-- are cheering on Osprey. If only to see his performance. Neither trainer are payig any attention to them however, both are glaring at one another.


"...You seem to have something to say to me, Nikos..." Osprey ask her as she breath in and out. "....You know, I would never had pegged you for someone who can be quite petty in his endeavors." Osprey raise an eyebrow at her, prompting her to go on. "You said that you don't care for becoming the rep for the Meet, that's fine...Not everyone have the same passion or patriot-duty to upheld..."

Osprey did what he could to not roll his eyes as she went on. "But.." She ball her fist again, just thinking of both his and Yang's reasoning make her so upset. "But to hear that you merely wished to play music in front of a live audience. Which along the way to that wish you crushed the dreams of so many people..."

"I've only beaten 3 people here, 5 if you count the 2 that Yang beaten..."He interrupts her with a disbelieving look, not knowing where she's going with this, but soon get it when she replies back to him with a raised tone of anger. "One of whom was my boyfriend!" He shrugs at her, not particularly caring for her reasoning. "Whatever, not like your hands or everyone else's here is clean of blood..."


"Speaking of...I have to pay you back for what you did to my friend, Mythra.." Hearing her name spoken from Osprey's lips make the blonde on the sidelines rubs her legs together in joy. Pyrrha meanwhile shakes her head. "Never knew you as a vengeful type...But Branwens tend to answer whatever problem they have with violence and revenge.."  She flips her hair as Achilles get his lance ready. "But I'm not worried...you about to find out when you mess with a Nikos's partner..."

Osprey merely chuckles as he cross his arms with a smirk that speaks levels of violence. "....You ever wonder what happened to those who stand in front of a Branwen when they want something?"

"Civilizations crumbles to ruins, Villages razed to the ground by fire, Bountiful forests stripped of all of their trees, laws that stands for centuries broken to pieces, Men ripped in half, Monsters shredded to nothingness....Branwens have killed and destroyed for much smaller reasons way back in the past. It is only by the laws of my clan built by Ayra Branwen herself that the Branwens haven't tried to take over Ylisse. And believe me, if we ever wanted to...we would either win decisively or lose with the opposing side no longer able to recover after killing us. The fact that you think that your threat as a NIkos can make me quake in fear is simply laughable. If I was a cruel person, I would have Iori rip Achilles's throat out with his teeth in front of eveyrone here and there wouldn't be anyone to stop him. There's only one particular group of family that could stand against us and they reside in Nohr...."

Everyone in the arena is shaking to silence in fear of the speech Osprey's saying besides Yang, Qrow, and Raven and the royal family who know about the strength of the Branwens. "(Good thing we don't have to worry about them wanting to take over...)" Chrom think to himself, althrough he feels like Osprey's possibly overexaggerating, what he speaks is still the truth. One Branwen of a mature age can wipe out half of a nation by themselves and a monster to aid them. Just the idea of 4 of them rebelling is enough to destroy Ylisse...

Lucina and Ruby both know just how dangerous the twins can be from that Geonyte mission and both of them still have some nightmares of that night. "(I never wanna see my siblings fight in such a manner again pls...)" "(....I pray that Me and Osprey never have to fight...)"

Pyrrha isn't shaking that hard, but she is a bit disturbed by what she heard from him. "....You don't scare me, Osprey." "Perhaps..." He smirks at her as the match is about to start.. "But you will know from this day on that us Branwens are built different from you all..."