'There's nothing quite like the first practice of the summer.'
The thought passed through Pyrrha's mind with great enthusiasm as she started to do her personal warmups. She looked out at those around her, some having returned from last year, and even some new kids having come to the team for the first time. Being one of the captains, she definitely knew that she would learn who all of the new faces were, help them fit in with the team and at the school. To her though, this first practice of the summer was always the best day for her because of how excited everyone was to be there, how ready for the season they were.
"Hey, Pyrrha, wanna do some warmups real quick?"
Pyrrha looked over to see Blake and Yang waiting to see if she would join them. Blake was the other captain alongside Pyrrha, and while she wasn't an official captain, Yang stood as the starting goalkeeper for the team. Pyrrha and Blake were on the offense, with Pyrrha playing center forward and Blake playing right wing.
"Sure, what are you guys interested in doing?" Pyrrha stood up when she finished stretching herself.
"Target practice," Blake said.
"Getting right into the fun stuff early, huh?" Pyrrha asked with a bit of humor in her tone.
Yang let out a laugh. "Oh you bet, gotta start off strong." Yang led the pair over to the goal so that they could start. A few of the other players went over to join the two captains as they began to take their practice shots at Yang.
Pyrrha took her first shot at Yang, the shot sailing to the left side of the goal. Yang dove for it, only to miss it by a few inches, allowing the shot to sail right into the net. Yang ended up hitting the ground hard, but got up with a smile, and a bit of dirt on her shirt and face.
"So that's how it's gonna be, huh?" Yang asked. "Alright, I'll put in the effort if you guys want me to."
Being in their junior year, Pyrrha knew Yang well enough to know that she has two levels of play. The first level usually gets the job done, allowing her to be quick on her feet and react fast to shots that come in her direction. That's where she normally stays at, but when she needs to, she can turn up the intensity. People would swear that when she gets to this state, she literally has fire burning through her hair, and her eyes turn blood red.
Blake looked to take a shot herself, but she noticed a strange car drive over to the field, one that she hadn't seen before. She didn't know if it was a new player or not, but it definitely took her eye.
"Something catch your eye Blake?" Pyrrha asked.
Before Blake could answer, the captains saw someone climb out of the car. Pyrrha couldn't help but take in all of this new girl. It appeared that she was on the smaller side, but athletic at least. She had long hair, much like Pyrrha did, but hers was white and it was pulled into a ponytail off on the side instead of directly behind her. She had ice blue eyes, with a scar running down the left eye. Something about her seemed to draw Pyrrha in, mesmerize her with beauty.
"Holy crap, I guess those rumors were true," Blake said, snapping Pyrrha out of her reverie.
"What rumors?"
Blake stared at Pyrrha like she had two heads. "You mean you haven't heard? It was rumored that we were getting an all state player for this season. Never did I expect it to be her though."
"Who is she?" Pyrrha asked. She was intrigued by the new player, so she had to just get a grip for what she was working with.
"I'm probably the only one here who knows this, but that's Weiss Schnee. Apparently, she's some really talented center mid that played on the all state team. Though from what I've heard, she's not that easy to get along with," Blake said in response.
Pyrrha watched as Weiss walked over with what appeared to be her father walk over to the coach. Before Weiss reached the coach, Pyrrha was summoned to join the meeting as well. "Well, looks like I'm about to get my first impression. Wish me luck," Pyrrha said as she started to jog over to where the coach was standing on the sideline.
Once Pyrrha arrived at where the coach was, she didn't get a chance to say anything before the coach spoke up. "Pyrrha, we've got a new transfer player. This is Weiss Schnee, transferring in from Haven academy. Despite what she says, I still need to do a run through of what she can do, just like everyone else on this team. So, when practice starts, run the usual drills and I want you and Blake off on the sides watching each of them," The coach said.
"Yes ma'am," Pyrrha responded. She turned to Weiss, who was being given her farewell from her father. Once Weiss turned back to her, Pyrrha figured she would try to talk to her. "So, Weiss, welcome to the team."
Weiss gave her a nod in acknowledgement, and instead of responding, walked over to a place where she could stretch and warm up. Pyrrha, despite being a bit offended at the way she tried to blow her off, went over with her to continue trying to talk with her.
"Anyway, I don't know how things went for you over at Haven, so why don't you tell me about that so I can get an idea of what you're used to?" Pyrrha asked.
Weiss really didn't seem interested in a conversation, but she figured that something was better than nothing. "Fine, if you must know, we were pushed hard and expected to be the best. At our school, second place wasn't an option, so you'll forgive me if I don't feel interested in making useless chit chat when we have practice to get to."
At that point, Pyrrha knew that Weiss wasn't interested in talking anymore, and so she went to start practice up with the full team. "Very well then, if you need anything, just let me know I guess."
Moments later practice had started, Pyrrha and Blake stood on the sidelines as the offense and defense split up and took two sides of the field. Offense worked on shooting, with Yang in goal, while the defense worked on keeping people from taking shots themselves. The midfielders were split between the two sides and were going to switch halfway through so they could get both ends of the practice.
"So, is the fabled Ice Queen hard to get along with yet?" Blake asked Pyrrha while they were on the sides watching the two sides work.
Pyrrha sighed. "I'm sure it's just that she's used to one thing already. In any case, I'll give it some time before I make a call on that." She noticed that Weiss was playing on the defensive side for the time being.
When the drill started, she saw some freshman who was probably picked to play as the offense. Weiss was in the field for the defense alongside two others, one of them having brown and pink hair with white spread all over. Pyrrha knew right then and there that the kid wasn't going to get by them, not while Neo was out there. She was the teams top defender, despite being the shortest girl on the team, but she also never spoke to anyone at all.
The freshman who started tried to go split between Weiss and the remaining defender. Weiss quickly blocked her approach and stole the ball with ease, kicking it back towards the rest of the team. When Pyrrha looked at her, she could tell that Weiss didn't seem all too impressed by the player she just blocked.
After a few more attempts at it, all of them stopped by Weiss or Neo in some way when Weiss was no where near the ball, Pyrrha made an executive decision. She turned to Blake to say something. "Hey, I think I'm gonna go in there against Weiss, see if it's her or the people she's playing against right now."
Blake raised her eyebrow at the statement, but did nothing to stop Pyrrha. "Fine, if she outplays you by the way, I'm gonna tease you about it for weeks," Blake responded as she watched it all go down.
Pyrrha walked over and cut in before the next round of drills could be run. "I think I'll be going in this time. Don't know whether our defense is too good, or whether they aren't being challenged enough." Pyrrha didn't mean for that to sound insulting, something that most of the returning players understood very clearly. Pyrrha stood in front of the defensive line that blocked her path to the goal, and after a few seconds, she started to make her way down towards the line.
She came in right towards Weiss, noting how the girl didn't once back down from the red heads advance. When she was mere feet in front of her, Weiss finally moved to block her path. The captain tried hard to skirt around her much shorter opponent, but she wasn't having much success. However, she managed to keep Weiss from gaining control over the ball and sending it back down the field. Pyrrha's careful footwork and Weiss graceful movements seemed to draw the attention of everyone, because not only had the offensive players stopped to watch their practice, but the coach also seemed to be intrigued by the events that were transpiring before them.
Pyrrha eventually faked a cut towards the middle of the field, which Weiss bit on, and instead used the opportunity to get around her from the other side. Weiss' reaction was of shock, but she quickly recovered and jumped back towards Pyrrha just as she was about to take the shot. Weiss had managed to get her foot in to tap the ball enough so that instead of sailing straight into the goal, it hooked to the right just enough so that it barely shot passed the goalpost into the net.
Weiss seemed shocked that she had been beaten out by the team captain, but in the end, she decided that she was the captain of the team for a reason and that she proved it right then and there.
In the heat of the moment, the two of them toppled over each other immediately after Pyrrha took her shot. Weiss hit the ground with Pyrrha landing on top of her. They didn't stay in that position for too long, as Pyrrha got up almost instantly and extended her hand to Weiss. She didn't expect Weiss to accept the hand, but it was a bit of a surprise to her when Weiss did just that. Pyrrha could see the change in her eyes from disappointment to curiosity and surprise.
Pyrrha flashed her a smile, giving her a pat on the shoulder out of respect. "Damn, that was impressive stuff Weiss," Pyrrha said to her. She turned to see that everyone was staring at the two of them. "Alright guys, enough with the gazing, get back to practice." Before Weiss could go back herself, Pyrrha stopped her and pulled her out of the way of the practice itself. "Why don't you go catch a break for a minute, you haven't come out of that drill the entire time till now and we don't need you dropping dead on the first day."
Weiss scoffed at the notion. "As if I would ever allow that to happen."
"Regardless of that, go get some water and then switch over to the offense. I'm eager to see what you're capable of there." Pyrrha was telling the truth, she was interested to see what she was capable of. Weiss decided to at least listen to what she said and jogged over to the sideline to get a quick drink, then she ran back onto the field on the offensive side this time.
Pyrrha returned to Blake and went back to watching the practice go on. "Well that was definitely a show," Blake said once Pyrrha made it back to her. "Didn't expect you to have a tough time going against her like you did."
"Well, she definitely lives up to the hype that you built for her. She certainly plays like an all state player alright," Pyrrha responded.
Looking over, she looked to see Weiss running a drill with the offense. She saw Weiss take a shot on goal that just barely got past Yang. Pyrrha saw Yang slam her fist into the ground and smirked. "Looks like Yang's got something to prove now." Pyrrha gestured for Blake to look over at the offense, as the two of them noticed that Yang's eyes glowed red. "If Weiss manages to get another goal past Yang I'll come to next practice in only a sports bra and short shorts."
"Oh really?" Blake responded, seemingly interested in the sudden bet that Pyrrha made. "I'll be sure to hold you to that then. And, why don't I be the one to bring the bra instead?"
"Because you would end up picking something out that's too small for me," Pyrrha laughed out. She knew Blake was joking around, they had spent enough time together as friends to know when the other was teasing, or being serious. "In any case, you know how Yang gets when she's mad, and from the looks of things, she's really mad at herself right now."
Pyrrha watched closely as the offensive side practiced. Every time Weiss shot, she would watch very closely. She didn't mind if she had to wear just a sports bra and short shorts to practice, but she was very interested in how Weiss was doing. All of Weiss shots from that point on were blocked by Yang, the blonde bringing her A-game with her to that practice. Pyrrha could see that Weiss was getting frustrated with herself for not being able to get any shots in, but she knew Yang better than Weiss did.
As the practice started to draw closer to the end, Weiss finally managed to sink a shot in past Yang, much to a few peoples disbelief. Shots almost never got by Yang when she was fired up in goal, and so it was a surprise to all of the experienced players when that happened.
Blake was laughing at the whole ordeal, seeing the shocked look on Pyrrha's face when the shot went through. "Guess who's going skimpy tomorrow," Blake said as she laughed at Pyrrha's expense. Pyrrha wasn't going to get mad at her over it, she did bring it upon herself after all.
After practice was over, Pyrrha went over to talk to Weiss about what she thought of her during practice. She planned on speaking with everyone individually, and so she figured talk to Weiss now and give her the first impression.
"So, what is it that you need to talk to me about exactly?" Weiss asked.
"Well, I just wanted to talk to everyone on the team individually and give them an idea of what I thought of their skill during practice," Pyrrha responded.
"Ah, well I hope that I did good enough to show exactly why I'm one of the best."
"I will admit that you definitely proven more than just that today," Pyrrha responded with a smile. "But I also wanted to say that I hope you are willing to come to us if you have any sort of problems. Being new here, it's got to be tough and so I wanted to help out as much as I could if possible."
Weiss gave her a nod, this time sticking around to speak with her more. "I appreciate the offer, and I know that I can be a bit, difficult to get along with, but I do hope that you guys are willing to work with me while I get used to everything." Weiss was about to walk away since their quick meeting was over, but stopped before she did to say one last thing to Pyrrha. "By the way, I never really say this to people, but I'm impressed with your talents as well."
"Same here, even though those talents of yours caused me to lose a bet," Pyrrha said, her hand rubbing against the back of her neck.
Weiss was confused by the statement. "Care to explain that one?"
"You'll see what I mean by that tomorrow," Pyrrha walked over to her car. "Have a good night, Weiss. I'll see you tomorrow." Once she arrived at her car, she hopped in with Blake riding shotgun and started to drive off.
'Best, first practice, ever.'
AN: So I know, I'm adding a new story into the mix of what I already do right? Well the good news is, I already have most of it written out and I have a set ending for it already planned. So that means it won't be like most other stuff where it can go on forever and ever.
Now, I've played this sport for 9 years of my life, which is why I felt like writing about it, also because why the fuck not. I enjoyed playing the sport while I did and there aren't many stories where it has this sport in it for RWBY so I wanted to write one.
Also, if you guys feel like doing anything for it, like writing out a scene for the bet (I unfortunately won't be covering it) then go right ahead. I would just like to chat with you beforehand so that some details are correct about it. Also if you want to do any art for it I would love it if you did.
So anyway, hopefully you like this new fic that I'm doing for you guys.
-Noble