Post by Jay on Mar 28, 2020 13:09:05 GMT -5
The Amity Colosseum was a real marvel of modern engineering. Introduced six years ago at the 10th Vytal Festival, the structure is an enormous levitating arena that can move vast distances, making the journey to the host Kingdom every time the festival is held, so this time floated all the way from its home base in Atlas to Mistral for the Thirteenth Vytal Festival.
The Amity Colosseum has a distinctive inverted cone shape that tapers to a point at the bottom where an enormous dust crystal powers the structure. Located above the main dust crystal are two levels of docking bays for air buses and other transportation to receive and offload passengers. Large archways lead passengers to the seating area which surrounds the arena. The seating area is the largest of any permanently airborne structure in the world, comfortably able to seat eighteen thousand people from across Remnant. The closest ring of seating to the arena itself are red seats reserved for contestants of the Vytal Festival itself along with other VIPs that typically include faculty members of both combat schools and Huntsman Academies along with the occasional politician or high flight businessman.
Above the seating area are huge holographic screens, which display the aura monitors for tournament matches, as well as videos of the matches in progress to include action replays and commercials. The tournament presenters in a small booth above the top level of the seating area, and for this tournament rotate out but always form some combination of two individuals who are either current faculty members of a Big Four Academy, or former finalists of the tournament itself.
The audience is protected by an invisible force field which prevents projectiles and other objects from leaving the fighting area powered by hard light dust. When hit, the force field pulses a light blue color and ripples around the impact. It can prevent flying contestants from smashing into the spectator stands and is also able to absorb stray bullets or semblance attacks.
The tournament matches themselves take place in a large octagonal arena measuring 150 meters in diameter. The arena can change its environment into several different "biomes", including grasslands, forest, fire, ice, geyser fields, stormy mountains, desert, an ocean and beach with a wooden ship, city ruins, gravity arenas, and a swamp. The arena also has artificial weather effects, such as thunderstorms and an artificial sun. In all matches, the central octagonal section measuring 50 meters in diameter remains the same regardless of the biome.
During the team round, the arena is split evenly into two biomes, which are chosen randomly at the beginning of every fight for each half of the arena. For this match, between first year teams from Haven and Beacon, the biomes selected were the Arctic and Grassland areas.
To the east, the combatants can see nothing but solid white for fifty meters, as this section of the arena is coated in slick, slippery, ice that is arranged in a number of twisted, jagged formations all across the frozen landscape, the tallest of which stretches about 30 meters high, while the others range between 5 and 15 meters. Snow and hail are falling here, making it tricky to see too far, but the abundance of ice scattered around the area may just make this dangerous biome worth all the trouble, for a clever student. It would be good for Atlesians, who ought to be used to the cold.
And to the west, the combatants can see a field of tall grass, standing at about 3 meters high for the most part, sunny and probably pretty pleasant, if they weren’t about to fight there. Tall grass and gentle rolling hills make this one of the more open spaces, with few environmental hazards. Valeians are bound to feel the most at home here.
This match would be fought between Haven Academy’s Team HARP (Harp), led by Erytheia Hellebore, and Beacon Academy’s Team SATN (Satin), led by Skye Spears. The crowd roared with excitement as the big screens lit up with the faces of the eight students preparing for their match, along with their names and Aura levels.
Up in the commentators booth, which was projected onto another big screen for the crowds to see, was a familiar face to those who’d witnessed the previous tournament’s final rounds- 24 AV winner, Ashton Soot, of Beacon. Seated beside the grinning Beacon alum was his former opponent, and the runner-up of the most recent tournament, Atlas’s Crystal Diamandis.
”Heeelloooooooo, Mistral!!” The entire arena rumbled with the wild cheering, as the former Vytal victor shouted excitedly into the mic. ”We’ve got an exciting fight for you today! From your very own Haven Academy, we’ve got Team HARP! Is HARP a color? I thought team names were supposed to be colors.”
”No, no, it’s suggestive of a color! Harps always make me think of gold, and that team leader’s got the most radiant golden hair I’ve ever seen! Simply stunning!”
”Sounds like someone’s got a little crush, huh?” Crystal grinned, as Ashton struck a smug look. ”Sure, who wouldn’t? But not as bad as you got crushed in the 12th festival, Crys!”
”Sore winner, much, Ashton? C’mon, we’re here to hype up today’s fight, not to brag about your lucky break, two years ago! Anyways, HARP’s a team laden with its fair bit of fame!”
”That’s right! Leading this team of Haven first years is Erytheia Hellebore, the heiress to the Hellebore family- I heard they’re a pretty big deal here, so all eyes are on her! And if the name’s anything to go on, that Rin Hellebore, also on the team, is probably her sister or something? How blessed we are to be graced by such Mistrallian nobility!” Somehow, the grey-haired boy managed to sound both genuinely honored, and over-the-top sarcastic all at once.
His partner seemed to pay his tone no real mind. ”You bet! Plus, I hear she was in a jewelry commercial or something a while back? Total star, but let’s not forget the Pumpkin Pete girl of the year! Former Mistral Regional Tournie winner, Rose Phoenix! That girl just looks sick as heck, and ready for action!”
”Two heiresses and a tournament winner? Hot damn, that’s one stacked team! Not really sure who that Arrats kid is, to be honest, but if he’s rocking a team with those lady legends, I bet he’s one cool and happening dude! Just look at that clean-ass suit, my man’s not even worried about dirtying it up! Totally rad, for a team named after a fancy stringy thing.”
Crystal turned to Ashton, an inquisitive look on her face. ”What about these kids from Beacon? You know them?” The Beacon alum cracked a fierce grin, cocky and filled with confidence.
”Do I? I trained them! Or well, I gave them a few lessons here and there, while they were at Signal last year! That cat faunus, towards the back of the pack is Skye Spears- rumor has it, she’s Belyy Burzanova’s protege, but I know Bel, and she’s not exactly the mentor type, if you know what I mean. So probably just rumors. Then there’s the tall guy, in burgundy armor, with a sick spear-”
”That’s a halberd.”
”Yeah, yeah, whatever, the guy right in front of her- that’s Amaretto Archer, and he’s definitely a tough cookie! To his right, with the silver hair and the chakrams, that’s Tungsten Trireme, and man, do I envy his slick ‘do. Kid knows his way around the barbershop, that’s for sure. And all the way on the left, with the slingshot, we got Nike Nocturne- she’s a real cutie, but seriously? A slingshot?”
”Didn’t you say you trained them?”
”Oh yeah. Guess I did.”
Down below the commentators' booth, the two teams stepped out onto the then-empty arena, as the biome selection slots spun.
While the Haven students could probably make some guesses as to what their opponents may be like, from their positioning, appearances, and weapon choices, there really wasn’t much they knew about Team SATN- none of them were at all familiar with anybody on the team, and there weren’t any recordings they could have viewed beforehand. However, fortunately for Team HARP, SATN knew pretty much nothing about them either, except that Rose was on the Pumpkin Pete cereal box for a while.
As far as appearances went, the team leader, Skye, cut a striking appearance, even among the rest of her team. Stark white hair, with stunning eyes, like a cloudless sky, and an impassive and difficult-to-read expression, as she stared past her hulking teammate, right into the eyes of the Haven team’s leader, as if she were trying to figure her out. She stood in a fairly relaxed, or at least, very neutral, posture, with a longsword clutched loosely in her right hand. Atop her head were a pair of fluffy white-and-black ears, feline in appearance, which twitched occasionally, as she sized up her competition.
Nike, unassumingly small, armed with a simple slingshot and a sack of stones, was absolutely giddy to not be the shortest person present for once, and bounced freely from foot to foot, her pigtails bobbing side to side as she surveyed the opposition with a grin. Her eyes fell on Rin, and she gave a little whistle. ”Hey there, Red! You’re looking like a whole snack, how ‘bout we catch a flick when this is over?” She tossed her a wink, as Amaretto, standing in full platemail in front of Skye, shook his head disappointedly at his teammate.
”Nike, focus. They’re the enemy, remember?” Reluctantly, she nodded. The boy stood tall and proud, clutching his halberd in one hand, and what looked like a glass bottle in the other. He was the tallest in the ring by a good few inches, and unlike Arrats, he was built solidly, with a good deal of muscle. He leaned his head back to speak to Skye. ”As we planned?” The faunus nodded wordlessly. Her eyes were still fixated on Theia, a piercing electric blue.
Off to the side, Tungsten was considerably more focused on the crowds staring down at him, than on the team he was supposed to be fighting- he went about posing and flashing his pearly white smile towards a group of girls in Beacon uniforms. A pair of chakrams hung loosely from his hands, as silver as his hair, and just as shiny.
Finally, the biome randomizer stopped spinning. As Arctic and Grassland appeared, the outer ring of the arena burst into the corresponding environments, with Team EARR on the Arctic side, and Team SATN in the grassland.
”And there we have it, folks! Hope Haven’s team packed jackets, because brrrrr! It’s freezing down there!” Crystal let out an audible sigh and shook her head. ”That was terrible, and you should feel bad. The only thing that fell flatter than that joke, was you, when I kicked you through a tree in our fight.”
The boy scowled and glared at his co-host. ”Correction- you kicked me halfway through a tree, and only because I let you! It was for the audience! A little spectacle, showing off my rock hard abs and stone-cold durability.” A small portion of the crowd, clad in Ashton’s own line of merchandise erupted with cheers and chanting, and at least one scrawny dude pulled up his shirt to reveal penciled-on abs, labelled “Steel.”
The clock was ticking now, and the fight was about to start, as soon as the timer hit zero. Each team had a few moments to position themselves, so long as they didn’t cross into the other team’s side of the smaller middle area, which was about fifty meters across, or into the biomes on either side. SATN immediately took the opportunity to retreat towards the tall grass behind them- Skye and Amaretto stayed towards the center, a few meters from the Grasslands, as a pair, while Tungsten and Nike went deeper in, right to the very edge, to the left and right of their team leader, respectively, in what seemed like a well-rehearsed maneuver.
Finally, Skye deigned to speak, having still not taken her eyes off of the Hellebore heiress. ”It may be in your best interest to resign gracefully- you see, if you beat us here, that means there is a small chance that you will be fighting Bel. And I simply won’t allow her to face such… Unworthy opponents.”
5… 4... 3…
Tungsten chimed in with a cocky grin.
”So…”
2...
”We’ll be beating you, now!”
”We’ll be beating you, now!”
”We’ll be beating you, now!”
”We’ll be beating you, now!”
1… 0!
”Let the match…”
”Begin!”
(Battlemap:)
WC: 2112, TWC: 2112
The Amity Colosseum has a distinctive inverted cone shape that tapers to a point at the bottom where an enormous dust crystal powers the structure. Located above the main dust crystal are two levels of docking bays for air buses and other transportation to receive and offload passengers. Large archways lead passengers to the seating area which surrounds the arena. The seating area is the largest of any permanently airborne structure in the world, comfortably able to seat eighteen thousand people from across Remnant. The closest ring of seating to the arena itself are red seats reserved for contestants of the Vytal Festival itself along with other VIPs that typically include faculty members of both combat schools and Huntsman Academies along with the occasional politician or high flight businessman.
Above the seating area are huge holographic screens, which display the aura monitors for tournament matches, as well as videos of the matches in progress to include action replays and commercials. The tournament presenters in a small booth above the top level of the seating area, and for this tournament rotate out but always form some combination of two individuals who are either current faculty members of a Big Four Academy, or former finalists of the tournament itself.
The audience is protected by an invisible force field which prevents projectiles and other objects from leaving the fighting area powered by hard light dust. When hit, the force field pulses a light blue color and ripples around the impact. It can prevent flying contestants from smashing into the spectator stands and is also able to absorb stray bullets or semblance attacks.
The tournament matches themselves take place in a large octagonal arena measuring 150 meters in diameter. The arena can change its environment into several different "biomes", including grasslands, forest, fire, ice, geyser fields, stormy mountains, desert, an ocean and beach with a wooden ship, city ruins, gravity arenas, and a swamp. The arena also has artificial weather effects, such as thunderstorms and an artificial sun. In all matches, the central octagonal section measuring 50 meters in diameter remains the same regardless of the biome.
During the team round, the arena is split evenly into two biomes, which are chosen randomly at the beginning of every fight for each half of the arena. For this match, between first year teams from Haven and Beacon, the biomes selected were the Arctic and Grassland areas.
To the east, the combatants can see nothing but solid white for fifty meters, as this section of the arena is coated in slick, slippery, ice that is arranged in a number of twisted, jagged formations all across the frozen landscape, the tallest of which stretches about 30 meters high, while the others range between 5 and 15 meters. Snow and hail are falling here, making it tricky to see too far, but the abundance of ice scattered around the area may just make this dangerous biome worth all the trouble, for a clever student. It would be good for Atlesians, who ought to be used to the cold.
And to the west, the combatants can see a field of tall grass, standing at about 3 meters high for the most part, sunny and probably pretty pleasant, if they weren’t about to fight there. Tall grass and gentle rolling hills make this one of the more open spaces, with few environmental hazards. Valeians are bound to feel the most at home here.
This match would be fought between Haven Academy’s Team HARP (Harp), led by Erytheia Hellebore, and Beacon Academy’s Team SATN (Satin), led by Skye Spears. The crowd roared with excitement as the big screens lit up with the faces of the eight students preparing for their match, along with their names and Aura levels.
Up in the commentators booth, which was projected onto another big screen for the crowds to see, was a familiar face to those who’d witnessed the previous tournament’s final rounds- 24 AV winner, Ashton Soot, of Beacon. Seated beside the grinning Beacon alum was his former opponent, and the runner-up of the most recent tournament, Atlas’s Crystal Diamandis.
”Heeelloooooooo, Mistral!!” The entire arena rumbled with the wild cheering, as the former Vytal victor shouted excitedly into the mic. ”We’ve got an exciting fight for you today! From your very own Haven Academy, we’ve got Team HARP! Is HARP a color? I thought team names were supposed to be colors.”
”No, no, it’s suggestive of a color! Harps always make me think of gold, and that team leader’s got the most radiant golden hair I’ve ever seen! Simply stunning!”
”Sounds like someone’s got a little crush, huh?” Crystal grinned, as Ashton struck a smug look. ”Sure, who wouldn’t? But not as bad as you got crushed in the 12th festival, Crys!”
”Sore winner, much, Ashton? C’mon, we’re here to hype up today’s fight, not to brag about your lucky break, two years ago! Anyways, HARP’s a team laden with its fair bit of fame!”
”That’s right! Leading this team of Haven first years is Erytheia Hellebore, the heiress to the Hellebore family- I heard they’re a pretty big deal here, so all eyes are on her! And if the name’s anything to go on, that Rin Hellebore, also on the team, is probably her sister or something? How blessed we are to be graced by such Mistrallian nobility!” Somehow, the grey-haired boy managed to sound both genuinely honored, and over-the-top sarcastic all at once.
His partner seemed to pay his tone no real mind. ”You bet! Plus, I hear she was in a jewelry commercial or something a while back? Total star, but let’s not forget the Pumpkin Pete girl of the year! Former Mistral Regional Tournie winner, Rose Phoenix! That girl just looks sick as heck, and ready for action!”
”Two heiresses and a tournament winner? Hot damn, that’s one stacked team! Not really sure who that Arrats kid is, to be honest, but if he’s rocking a team with those lady legends, I bet he’s one cool and happening dude! Just look at that clean-ass suit, my man’s not even worried about dirtying it up! Totally rad, for a team named after a fancy stringy thing.”
Crystal turned to Ashton, an inquisitive look on her face. ”What about these kids from Beacon? You know them?” The Beacon alum cracked a fierce grin, cocky and filled with confidence.
”Do I? I trained them! Or well, I gave them a few lessons here and there, while they were at Signal last year! That cat faunus, towards the back of the pack is Skye Spears- rumor has it, she’s Belyy Burzanova’s protege, but I know Bel, and she’s not exactly the mentor type, if you know what I mean. So probably just rumors. Then there’s the tall guy, in burgundy armor, with a sick spear-”
”That’s a halberd.”
”Yeah, yeah, whatever, the guy right in front of her- that’s Amaretto Archer, and he’s definitely a tough cookie! To his right, with the silver hair and the chakrams, that’s Tungsten Trireme, and man, do I envy his slick ‘do. Kid knows his way around the barbershop, that’s for sure. And all the way on the left, with the slingshot, we got Nike Nocturne- she’s a real cutie, but seriously? A slingshot?”
”Didn’t you say you trained them?”
”Oh yeah. Guess I did.”
Down below the commentators' booth, the two teams stepped out onto the then-empty arena, as the biome selection slots spun.
While the Haven students could probably make some guesses as to what their opponents may be like, from their positioning, appearances, and weapon choices, there really wasn’t much they knew about Team SATN- none of them were at all familiar with anybody on the team, and there weren’t any recordings they could have viewed beforehand. However, fortunately for Team HARP, SATN knew pretty much nothing about them either, except that Rose was on the Pumpkin Pete cereal box for a while.
As far as appearances went, the team leader, Skye, cut a striking appearance, even among the rest of her team. Stark white hair, with stunning eyes, like a cloudless sky, and an impassive and difficult-to-read expression, as she stared past her hulking teammate, right into the eyes of the Haven team’s leader, as if she were trying to figure her out. She stood in a fairly relaxed, or at least, very neutral, posture, with a longsword clutched loosely in her right hand. Atop her head were a pair of fluffy white-and-black ears, feline in appearance, which twitched occasionally, as she sized up her competition.
Nike, unassumingly small, armed with a simple slingshot and a sack of stones, was absolutely giddy to not be the shortest person present for once, and bounced freely from foot to foot, her pigtails bobbing side to side as she surveyed the opposition with a grin. Her eyes fell on Rin, and she gave a little whistle. ”Hey there, Red! You’re looking like a whole snack, how ‘bout we catch a flick when this is over?” She tossed her a wink, as Amaretto, standing in full platemail in front of Skye, shook his head disappointedly at his teammate.
”Nike, focus. They’re the enemy, remember?” Reluctantly, she nodded. The boy stood tall and proud, clutching his halberd in one hand, and what looked like a glass bottle in the other. He was the tallest in the ring by a good few inches, and unlike Arrats, he was built solidly, with a good deal of muscle. He leaned his head back to speak to Skye. ”As we planned?” The faunus nodded wordlessly. Her eyes were still fixated on Theia, a piercing electric blue.
Off to the side, Tungsten was considerably more focused on the crowds staring down at him, than on the team he was supposed to be fighting- he went about posing and flashing his pearly white smile towards a group of girls in Beacon uniforms. A pair of chakrams hung loosely from his hands, as silver as his hair, and just as shiny.
Finally, the biome randomizer stopped spinning. As Arctic and Grassland appeared, the outer ring of the arena burst into the corresponding environments, with Team EARR on the Arctic side, and Team SATN in the grassland.
”And there we have it, folks! Hope Haven’s team packed jackets, because brrrrr! It’s freezing down there!” Crystal let out an audible sigh and shook her head. ”That was terrible, and you should feel bad. The only thing that fell flatter than that joke, was you, when I kicked you through a tree in our fight.”
The boy scowled and glared at his co-host. ”Correction- you kicked me halfway through a tree, and only because I let you! It was for the audience! A little spectacle, showing off my rock hard abs and stone-cold durability.” A small portion of the crowd, clad in Ashton’s own line of merchandise erupted with cheers and chanting, and at least one scrawny dude pulled up his shirt to reveal penciled-on abs, labelled “Steel.”
The clock was ticking now, and the fight was about to start, as soon as the timer hit zero. Each team had a few moments to position themselves, so long as they didn’t cross into the other team’s side of the smaller middle area, which was about fifty meters across, or into the biomes on either side. SATN immediately took the opportunity to retreat towards the tall grass behind them- Skye and Amaretto stayed towards the center, a few meters from the Grasslands, as a pair, while Tungsten and Nike went deeper in, right to the very edge, to the left and right of their team leader, respectively, in what seemed like a well-rehearsed maneuver.
Finally, Skye deigned to speak, having still not taken her eyes off of the Hellebore heiress. ”It may be in your best interest to resign gracefully- you see, if you beat us here, that means there is a small chance that you will be fighting Bel. And I simply won’t allow her to face such… Unworthy opponents.”
5… 4... 3…
Tungsten chimed in with a cocky grin.
”So…”
2...
”We’ll be beating you, now!”
”We’ll be beating you, now!”
”We’ll be beating you, now!”
”We’ll be beating you, now!”
1… 0!
”Let the match…”
”Begin!”
(Battlemap:)
WC: 2112, TWC: 2112
