//------------------------------// // Event 2: Dodgeball, Beacon Style // Story: Friendship Games: Another Story // by ArcanaMaverick7 //------------------------------// Fragment Hunter, the Rainbooms, and Sci-Twi all waited in the gymnasium until they heard an announcement for the second event and students from Crystal Prep and Canterlot High soon gathered in the room. The members of Fragment Hunter who weren't competing moved off to the stands with the other students and just waited for the contest to be explained. Celestia, Luna, Cadance, and Cinch all entered the gym to see everybody waiting for the game to start. Cinch saw Twilight walking away from the Canterlot Wondercolts and the students from Beacon Academy, believing that her student was doing what she tasked her with. After the three teams with on different sides of the gym, Principal Celestia stepped forward with a microphone. "Hello, everyone. With the Academic Decathlon over, Crystal Prep has claimed the first victory of the Friendship Games," Celestia greeted everyone and reminded the teams of the score. Cinch and a majority of the Crystal Prep students all had smug smiles at the mention of their victory. "However, we have another team this year and a few instructors from their school accompanying them. I would like to allow one of them to introduce themselves and elaborate on the rules of our second event," the principal explained. "It's my pleasure to introduce Terracotta Gaia from Beacon Academy." As soon as Principal Celestia finished her last sentence, Terracotta kicked open the doors to the gym and startled everyone but Fragment Hunter, Aurora, Nocturne, and Ivy. As he stepped inside the gym, Terra was pulling a cart that was concealed with a tarp. Walking up to Celestia, Terra was handed the microphone and he soon spoke to everyone. "Thank you, Principal Celestia. For the second event, we'll be playing a game that I'm sure all of you have done before. However, this one will have a few twists to make it more challenging for everyone. The second event for the Friendship Games will be Dodgeball," Terracotta told everyone as he removed the tarp to reveal the cart was filled with red rubber balls. Most of the students cheered at the game that was going to be played, but Rua was the most vocal out of everybody. "Yeah! Dodgeball," Indigo Zap exclaimed as she rushed to grab a ball. "Can't wait to win this game," she said as she tossed a ball up and down in her hands. But Terracotta grabbed it away from her and one stoic look from him immediately told her to return back to her team. Taking the hint, Indigo walked back over to Twilight and the other Shadowbolts so that Terra could explain the rules. "Now then, this version of Dodgeball is going to be different than the usual one you're all used to. Here are the rules of Beacon Dodgeball," Terra said before he started listing off instructions. "First, only shots to the chest and back will count as hits. Meaning that you can defend yourself with your arms, legs, and even head in any way you want. Second, you have a point system that works by slowly taking away points if you're hit. In other terms, you aren't knocked out when hit and catching a ball will not eliminate you from play. You'll have 100 points each, but depending on the way you were hit by the ball, you'll lose a certain amount. When you lose enough out of 100 points, you're out and have to support your team by returning balls to their side. Third, each member of their team has to throw or pass the ball at least once. Fourth and finally, after the time limit has passed and there are still members from at least two teams remaining, a tiebreaker round will be held. Any questions?" "None here," Rainbow Dash said as she had a giant grin on her face, excited for the game to start. "We're good," Fragment Hunter all stated simultaneously. "It doesn't matter as we'll be victorious in this round as well," Sugarcoat said in her usual blunt tone. "Very well. Let the game begin," Terracotta declared as he started tossing balls toward each team until the cart was empty. The Rainbooms and the Shadowbolts were caught off-guard by Terra starting the game immediately, but Fragment Hunter was used to training with Terracotta and went to collect some of the dodgeballs on their side. Working fast, Silver and Rua were the first to strike as they threw two balls at the Shadowbolts, managing to nail Indigo Zap and Sour Sweet in the shoulder and stomach respectively. The impact from the rubber balls pushed the two away and nearly knocked them to the floor before they recovered. Except for Twilight, the Shadowbolts each grabbed a ball and threw them at Silver and Rua. The two just dodged out of the way and the five balls went flying toward Vinyl, Sunset Blaze, Azalea, and Lapis. Vinyl nimbly dodged the incoming projectiles by using movements similar to Capoeira and breakdancing, Lapis caught a ball that nearly hit her in the face, but Azalea and Blaze easily punched the balls out of their path to defend themselves. When the latter two did that, the balls were sent flying back in the direction of the Shadowbolts and they were forced to dodge. As they did that, Vinyl continued her dance-like movements and kicked a ball around to juggle it before kicking right at Lemon Zest. The music-loving Shadowbolt tried to dodge, but she got hit in the hip at the last second. "Is something like that even allowed," Twilight asked in curiosity. "I never said that you only throw it with your hands," Terracotta said before the Rainbooms decided to get in on the action. Acting quick, Rainbow Dash used her soccer skills to kick a dodgeball toward Sunny Flare, who used the dodgeball she currently held as a shield to defend herself. However, the force knocked the ball out of her hands and she was left open to Lapis throwing a ball at her chest. Lemon Zest and Sugarcoat began to throw dodgeballs at the Rainbooms, but Pinkie was able to dodge them completely and even made a little dance out of it as she hummed a peppy tune. Fluttershy was left open as she gulped nervously when she saw Sour Sweet aiming a ball at her. When the Shadowbolt threw the ball, she wasn't expecting Applejack to catch it with one hand or Rainbow Dash to bicycle kick it back toward her when Applejack tossed it up in the air. Sour Sweet got hit in the ribs as Rainbow Dash returned the ball back to her and she could only snarl at the Rainbooms before she got hit in with another ball from Azalea. Rarity saw a ball at her feet and quickly grabbed it before tossing it over to Sunset Shimmer, who threw it into the air above Fragment Hunter's side just as quickly. Lapis and Silver were ready to catch the ball, but Applejack managed to throw a ball that nailed Silver in his unarmored shoulder. As he stumbled back, he ended up getting hit in the chest with the ball Sunset Shimmer used as a distraction. "Nice one, girls," Silver complimented before grabbing the dodgeballs he was hit with and jumping into the air while spinning around to build momentum. Throwing them at Rarity and Applejack, Silver smirked as he made a three-point landing and watched the projectiles fly. Applejack managed to catch the ball aimed at her with ease while Rarity managed to dodge the attack on her with only her hair getting messed up. As Rarity tried to fix up her hair, she was hit by Sugarcoat and Sunny Flare, who only had smug smiles on their faces. Their expressions were soon replaced when Rua jumped off Azalea's back and threw a ball that bounced off both of them before it returned to Fragment Hunter's side of the gym. Twilight kept trying to dodge any balls that went flying in her direction and eventually she saw Sunset Blaze hold a ball in her hands aimed right at herself. Blaze just smiled and placed the ball on the ground before nudging it in Sci-Twi's direction. "Go on. You still need to throw one," the Huntress said as she left herself open for Twilight try and hit her. Twilight was unsure why the team that was dominating the dodgeball game was giving her a chance, but decided to make sure she didn't get a penalty. Grabbing the ball and throwing it at Sunset Blaze, Twilight was able to get a hit in before Blaze caught the ball in her arms after it bounced off her shoulder. "Now you threw it. Try and last as long as you can. I'm sure that teams will start getting eliminated soon," Blaze said before throwing the ball back at Sci-Twi and hitting her in the hip. Sure enough, Terracotta, Aurora, and Nocturne were all keeping track of the ways the students threw and got hit. They were about to start making judgement calls on defeated players when they saw Silver throwing a few dodgeballs at Rainbow Dash, scoring hits on her stomach and shoulder. Witnessing Sour Sweet getting hit in the chest and gut by Rua, Lapis, and Sunset Blaze, they announced the first player down. "Sour Sweet is eliminated," Terracotta declared. "What," the Shadowbolt shouted as she turned to the judges. "I didn't even get hit that many times!" "We judge eliminations based on how the others throw the ball," Nocturne said. To prove her point, Vinyl went with another one of her dance moves that lead to her kicking the ball and hitting Pinkie Pie in the back. "Now go support your team or you'll just end up being a target for everyone," Nocturne told the girl just before a dodgeball hit her in the back of the head and knocked her over. "I'm not apologizing for that, Cranberry," Rua yelled as she dodged a ball thrown by Applejack, but got hit by Rainbow Dash and Sunset Shimmer. Soon, Vinyl did a handstand and started to spin around with her legs out to the sides. Seeing what she was doing, Fragment Hunter started to throw balls at her direction so that Vinyl could kick them at the other players with more force. The Rainbooms and Shadowbolts saw this, but they could barely react when dodgeballs went flying at each of them and hit all of them in the torso or in their backs. "Fluttershy and Rarity; Out," Terracotta said to the Rainbooms before turning toward the Shadowbolts. "Sugarcoat and Lemon Zest; Eliminated." The four girls left the field as the rest kept playing. Indigo Zap and Sunny Flare tried to throw a few dodgeballs at Fragment Hunter, but Azalea and Rua punched them away toward the remaining Rainbooms. As the balls landed at their feet, Applejack and Rainbow Dash decided to kick them at both teams like soccer balls and strike at the players. It worked like they wanted to as they hit someone on each side. "Sunny Flare is defeated," Terracotta stated before turned to Fragment Hunter. "Lapis Ondine. You're out." Lapis just shrugged and turned to her friends before heading over to the other members of Fragment Hunter. "We're doing great, guys! Keep moving forward," she said. "We will," Azalea said as she picked up a ball and aimed for the Shadowbolts. "Sorry about this, Sci-Twi," she told the girl before chucking the ball hard in Twilight's direction. Twilight dodged the ball when she saw it coming at her, but it soon bounced off the wall behind her and hit her in the back. "Twilight Sparkle, you're out," Aurora announced as she saw the shot. Twilight slowly walked away from the game and watched the rest of the second round isolated from the others. Crystal Prep only had Indigo Zap remaining on the field while the Rainbooms had Sunset Shimmer, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow Dash. With only 10 players left, Fragment Hunter decided to kick it up a notch and grabbed every ball they could. With 10 dodgeballs aimed at her, Indigo Zap gulped before she was pummeled by a barrage of rubber and fell to the floor. "Indigo Zap is defeated and Crystal Prep has lost the second round," Aurora declared as Ivy helped Indigo to her feet. "How's that humble pie," Rua asked Crystal Prep as she tossed a ball between her hands. "My guess is that it has a lingering rubber aftertaste," she taunted before spinning the dodgeball on her finger. "Come on," Rainbow Dash said to Rua. "We're still up and it's four to five! Let's do this," she reminded before throwing a ball at Rua. Rua countered by throwing the ball she had and the two projectiles bounced off of each other. When they landed back on their respective sides, Rainbow kicked her ball at Silver and nailed him in the gut while Rua passed hers to Azalea. Azalea threw her ball at Applejack and forced her down even when she caught the ball. With Applejack down, Pinkie and Sunset Shimmer went to protect their friend while Fragment Hunter opened fire with more dodgeballs. After Applejack stood back up, she and Rainbow Dash joined in the counterattack. Dodgeballs kept flying back and forth for the next few minutes until everyone heard a voice shout, "Time's up!" Dropping what they had, Fragment Hunter and the Rainbooms waited to hear who won the second round. "After checking the scores of each player, the winners of the second event of the Friendship Games are Beacon Academy," Principal Celestia said as she looked at the sheets from Terra, Aurora, and Nocturne. Fragment Hunter and all of Canterlot High cheered when they heard the news and each team congratulated the other for a good game. Crystal Prep just fumed at their loss to a new and unknown opponent before Principal Celestia spoke up again. "We'll be taking a short break for our competitors to rest up from this dodgeball game and to finish some last minute details to the third event's playing field." The Rainbooms were walking through the halls with Fragment Hunter as they enjoyed their pause between games. "That was awesome, you guys," Rainbow Dash said to Fragment Hunter as she kept gushing over the second event earlier. "We were taking it easy on you," Silver mentioned. "We could have easily broken you like a window with some extra force behind a regular throw." "I doubt that," Rainbow dismissed. "Even a food fight at Beacon can destroy the entire cafeteria," Azalea told the Rainbooms. "And that was with both Team RWBY and Team JNPR going at each other in a friendly duel. Those two teams are so crazy powerful that everyone started running away when they saw who started the food fight." "Whoa. That's got to be rough," Applejack said when she heard that. "Not to mention messy," Rarity added. "I wouldn't want to have my wardrobe ruined during something like that." Everyone soon saw that Sunset Shimmer looked like she was worried about something. "Still worried about if Sci-Twi is still stealing magic," Celadon asked. "Yeah," Sunset Shimmer admitted. "She had something to do with closing the portal earlier. If her pendant can pull in magic, maybe it stole the portal, too." "How," Fluttershy asked as she soon saw Dante walk up to the two groups of friends. "Maybe she stole the magic from the portal by accident," Vinyl surmised. "I don't know. And the pony or person or princess who could help me figure this out is completely unreachable now," Shimmer said as she couldn't think of a reason for the portal shutting down and she couldn't reach Princess Twilight. "Which is too bad, because Twilight knows everything about magic and portals and magical portals and portable magics," Pinkie mentioned as she popped around her friends, out of a locker, and even an air vent before opening the door that lead outside to the field and fell when she lost her balance. "For now, let's just focus on beating the Shadowbolts," Rainbow Dash reminded everyone as she helped Pinkie to her feet. "And as long as this event puts me in a playing field, I don't think we've got anything to worry about," she said before Applejack and Fragment Hunter saw the field for the third event. "Oh, it puts you on a playing field, alright," Applejack and Azalea mentioned as they pointed toward what used to be the soccer field of the school. Pinkie gasped loudly as she and the other Rainbooms saw that the soccer field had been converted into an obstacle course with archery targets, a makeshift roller rink that looped around that, and a motocross track with dirt mounds and wooden ramps that surrounded the rink. As everyone was shocked and surprised at the field, Sunset Shimmer was the first to speak up. "Am I the only one who thinks this is overkill?" "In Remnant, we have a giant flying arena called Amity Coliseum that can change its battlefields to a ruined urban environment, a forest, a swamp, volcanic landscape, an ice-covered tundra, a mountain with a lightning storm, a desert with an artificial sun, an ocean area with a pirate ship, a grassland, a field of active geysers, and a series of platforms that invert gravity," Sunset Blaze told the Rainbooms. "This is not overkill for us," Slate said as he and Applejack approached a dirt mound and the latter kicked it with her boot. Rarity soon decided to take a look for herself and walked between Slate and Applejack. "I don't suppose you made motocross outfits, Rarity," AJ said to her fashionista friend. "Oh, don't be ridiculous," Rarity said before she became giddy like she did earlier. "Of course I did," she declared pulling out two motocross uniforms. "Now that just leaves the rest of us figuring out what to do for which thing," Lapis said as she inspected the area. "Something tells me that this might not be like the dodgeball game we had."