A/N1: So, I felt like writing a fight scene, so I did. Reviews/Comments/Criticisms accepted.
Blake and Yang stood at opposite ends of the room. While Yang deployed Ember Celica over her fists, Blake held Gambol Shroud out before her, removing the edged sheath with her right hand. A brief moment passed while the two women stared each other down before they began. Yang pounded her fists together as she always did at the start of a fight to begin to charge herself up before she set off at a full sprint. However, Blake was faster, and had started running first, and, as such, was able to cut off Yang before the latter had even reached halfway across the room.
Blake struck out with her sheath, swiping across from her left. Yang, however, blocked the strike with her gauntlet, and began to deliver a punch with her own left hand. Blake vanished under the blow as she'd dodged out of the way with her Semblance. Blake immediately struck again, this time from above as she launched herself off of one of her Shadows. With her dual blades angled down at her partner, the only thing that stopped her from making contact with Yang's head was the other woman's crossed arms. The two of them remained in place for only an instant as Yang followed up her block by forcing both her arms upwards, knocking Blake away. Immediately following up, she punched out with her right arm, a round firing from the gauntlet's built in shotgun. Blake responded by forming yet another Shadow to take the blow as she sent herself back towards the ground.
Retaking the offensive, Blake shifted Gambol Shroud's form to best make use of the pistol that formed its grip. Quickly aiming down the blade folded atop the weapon, she fired a series of rounds at Yang, who fired both of her gauntlets to her left in order to propel herself in the opposite direction. Blake followed Yang's movements for a brief moment before righting her position in the air in order to land on her feet, where she immediately took aim and fired again. Yang, however, was prepared, and rolled to the side in order to quickly change her stance, and slid nearly a foot upon standing again. Before Blake's volley of fire could strike her, Yang had already fired at the ground to launch herself into the air, and directly at her partner's position.
As Blake aimed directly at the soaring woman, a loud buzzer sounded in the room. Yang responded by firing above her, launching herself downwards as eight grey pillars rose out of the ground around them, extending ten feet into the air. Blake jumped out of the way, leaving behind yet another Shadow, however this one was different from the last few. Instead of looking exactly like its creator, it had her form, but was entirely green. Yang slammed the ground, firing her gauntlets yet again as she did, causing her to release a powerful shock wave. She remained in place for only a moment before the green Shadow burst, releasing powerful winds that sent her flying through the air again. Righting herself in midair, Yang fired another shot at Blake, however it was intercepted by a large pillar rising up in the center of the room now that no one was standing on it.
Upon landing, her first instinct was to assume a guarded stance and move cautiously, however she quickly abandoned that idea due to the fact that even with her bow muffling some sound, Blake's hearing was far superior to her own. Instead, Yang opted to take a more cacophonous route, and instead fired Ember Celica all around her. While explosion after explosion went off around her, Yang fired again, this time downwards to launch herself atop the nearest pillar, where she'd be able to look down on the surrounding area. Now assuming a guarded stance, Yang slowly scanned the area that was in her sights. From her vantage point, she could see a fair amount of the area, but her vision of the opposite side was blocked by the central pillar, which extended all the way to the ceiling. Leaping to the next pillar over, she repeated the process, but saw nothing. After scanning around for the third time, Yang mentally sighed. Blake was taking it cautious as well, and she wasn't surprised in the slightest.
Leaping over to the fifth pillar, she finally saw something from behind the next pillar over. Smirking, Yang leapt over to the pillar and fired down at where she'd seen movement. What she saw now, was nothing, no not quite nothing. What she saw was the faintest traces of a disappearing Shadow. Before she could do anything else, she felt two thin edges strike her back, knocking her off of the pillar and onto the ground below. Blake struck out again, but Yang rolled out of the way and the tip of Blake's sword bounced off the ground. Using her roll to stand back up, Yang punched and fired down at where Blake had landed, however, she only struck another Shadow, this one bright yellow. Yang was then held in place by the large amounts of electricity flowing through her from the vanishing Shadow. Even after the clone had vanished, the shock she had received still slowed her movements for a few seconds, which was long enough for Blake to strike her from above, both of the faunus' blades striking Yang's shoulders before she leapt away to hide.
As Blake disappeared behind the pillars, another buzzer went off, and the pillars began moving yet again. The large central pillar lowered itself to the height of the other pillars in the room, while the thinner pillars rose. The pillar Yang had been on most recently raised itself up five feet, and had more of the ground around rise up as well to somewhat increase its size. The pillars flanking it rose another ten feet, and the pillars beyond them rose fifteen, while also growing thinner. Beyond the two now tallest pillars, the next two pillars rose ten feet, and the final pillar opposite the one Yang was next to rose only five, but grew thicker as well to mirror the room.
Standing back up, Yang lept up to the large central pillar, not requiring any assistance to make the leap. Across from her, she saw Blake leaping off of one of her Shadows to land on the lowest of the outside pillars. Firing a shot at the top of the pillar, Yang forced Blake to leap off of it, and on top of the next pillar up. Yang followed up with a second shot, and Blake had just enough time to land and jump again. In the air, she used one of her Shadows to propel herself past the tallest pillar that Yang had already fired at, and instead landed on the second highest pillar on its other side. Using her height advantage over Yang, Blake began to return fire down onto the blonde woman. Yang had no choice but to dodge out of the way, and from her angle, she couldn't get a clear shot up at Blake.
Needing to gain height, Yang lept at the lowest of the outside pillars, but had to quickly leave for another spot as she was now the one being forced to run as Blake was still firing. Now on level footing with her partner, Yang prepared to change position again, but found she didn't have to as Blake was reloading. After sending a return shot, Yang lept anyway, and made her way up to one of the highest pillars. When she steadied herself, she saw Blake having repositioned to the opposite pillar.
As both women prepared to shoot, yet another buzzer sounded, and the pillars began shifting in height as they all became the thickness of the tallest pillars. Instead of shifting to a new stationary position, however, they began moving erratically, and the center pillar descended back into the ground, leaving a thinner pillar behind, with two more sets of pillars, one of six, and another of four, extended up between the outer set and the center most pillar.
As Yang's pillar descended, she jumped to one of the inner pillars as it rose, and rode it up to the top of the room, where she saw Blake quickly jumping between pillars beneath her. Firing down on her, Yang scored her first hit, as Blake, having slightly underestimated its size, was caught in the very edge of the explosion, and was knocked away from the center pillar. However, before Yang could do anything else, the pillar she was standing on began descending as well. As she prepared to leap to a nearby ascending pillar, she took a light hit. Turning quickly, she saw Gambol Shroud, still folded down, flying through the air on the end of Blake's ribbon. Blake lept out from a nearby pillar, using Gambol Shroud to cover a large area. Jumping out of the way, Yang tried escaping to a nearby pillar, but the chain scythe afforded her no respite as its large range allowed Blake to keep up the assault.
Forced to stay on the defensive, Yang could only jump from pillar to pillar as she tried in vain to keep her distance from Blake's weaponry. riding a pillar up to the top of the area, she jumped across the room, firing downward to skip over two pillars entirely. However, her partner was slightly faster than her, and caught up to her enough to catch Yang's right leg with Gambol Shroud. Quickly changing course, Yang fired a shot in Blake's direction while hopping down between the pillars to land on one that was descending almost the entire way to the floor, using her recoil to speed up the process. Blake, however, was able to keep up, and, using her weapon's built in pistol, was able to fire it to change its direction mid flight, and deflected Yang's shot.
Before Yang could respond further, Blake's barrage of strikes caught up, and struck her no less than four times as the plentiful space between pillars allowed her partner to easily keep up the assault. Firing directly at Blake, Yang was able to force the other woman on the defensive, if only for a moment. However, a moment was just enough time for a pair of blasts from Ember Celica to launch her upwards and away. Riding this new pillar upwards got her just out of Blake's range, and when the black haired woman restarted her attack, Yang was now able to keep her distance as she moved between pillars, if only barely. Upon landing on a pillar that rose to the top of the room, Yang turned around and stood firm. as Blake approached, Yang fired behind herself to launch herself at her partner. Holding her arms in front of her, Gambol Shroud bounced off of Ember Celica, and the two women collided in midair and flew into the side of another pillar.
Pushing herself off of the side of the pillar, Yang jumped onto one of the outer pillars as it ascended. Looking down at the other pillar, Blake was gone. Assuming a guarded stance, Yang looked around, but didn't see her. Looking over the edge, she saw Blake hanging on to the side of the pillar she was standing on with the aid of Gambol Shroud's tip having been embedded in the side. Leaping up at Yang, Blake quickly pushed herself away using her Semblance to leave behind a red Shadow. Having punched out at Blake, Yang's fist struck the red doppelganger, causing it to explode. While the fire had no effect on her, the shock wave from the explosion did, and Yang was knocked off of the pillar. Landing on the ground, Yang finally checked her Aura level. Blake had managed to whittle it away, but she still had just above half, more than enough to continue on. She wasn't able to check Blake's Aura level right now though, but she knew Blake well enough that the two blows must have done a fair number on her.
As she put her scroll away, she heard the buzzer go off again. With this buzzer, every pillar currently up extended all the way to the ceiling, while another central pillar extended up to the ceiling as well. This pillar was large enough to easily surround the center pillar, but was thinner than the larger one that had come out earlier. In addition, the lowest five feet of the pillar was hollow, with archways acting as entrances for the combatants to enter it, giving it the appearance of a grey gazebo. After the pillars finished rising, the flooring began to slant in. The outer ring of the arena remained at its original position, but beginning with the outermost layer of pillars, the floor slanted in until it reached the entrance of the gazebo looking structure, where the floor flattened out again three feet below the outermost ring.
Making her way through the forest of pillars, Yang moved cautiously. To her side, she heard the retort of Gambol Shroud, so she dodged out of the way behind another pillar. Jumping back out, she didn't see anything, Blake having already retreated. Continuing on, she made her way around the the room, circling around it entirely without running into Blake at all. Having completed her circuit, she stopped as a very distinct sound reached her ears. It was the sound of a moving pillar, causing her to smirk again, she knew the only reason a pillar would move after the arena had progressed to this stage would be someone having entered the gazebo. Changing course, Yang made her move to the center.
The gazebo was empty, but the pillar in the center of it was gone, just like she'd heard. Stepping back out of the structure, she heard a noise above her. Looking up, she saw Blake falling on her, a marking on the outside of the pillar from Gambol Shroud's tip. Yang quickly rose her arms to block the blow, but she she'd moved to block a sword strike. Blake's chain scythe caught her in the back of the head, and knocked her to the ground. Before Yang could even react, Blake had begun retreating. Standing back up, Yang smiled, and raised her arms above her head, and let out a loud yell as she let off a small explosion of energy that Blake wasn't able to dodge. Instead, she was knocked across to the other side of the gazebo.
Having now tapped into her Semblance fully and completely, Yang's hair glowed a bright whitewashed yellow, while fire emanated from it as her eyes changed color from lilac to red. Her entire body was lit up in a whitish yellow glow. She immediately charged across the ground, her speed having dramatically increased. While she wouldn't have been able to keep up with her sister or Weiss at their best, she could easily keep up with Blake now. As she came close to Blake, she punched out. Blake dodged out of the way, leaving behind a Shadow whose figure quickly lost form of its own volition, but caused Blake's lunge to send her farther than normal. Spinning around, Yang fired a shot that produced a large, violent explosion that Blake had only just dodged.
Turning back around, Yang saw Blake land to the side of the area, and fired a second shot after it, causing the black haired woman to dodge again and land on the opposite end of the gazebo once again. Blake could only dodge as the large blast damaged the surrounding pillars. Using her Semblance to propel herself as far as possible, Blake was only just able to escape another explosion as Yang had run through the gazebo to the other side. Yang then immediately leapt after her, and just barely missed as Blake had produced another green Shadow. Using Wind Dust to keep Yang at distance without powering her up anymore than she could avoid, Blake landed back on the ground, and fired a few more shots up at the other woman.
Yang, however responded, with three fast shots from Ember Celica. One down towards Blake, two more behind her. Blake dodged out of the way by jumping back under the gazebo, and just narrowly avoided both the explosion from Yang's shot, as well as the shock wave from her powerful landing. She didn't, however, dodge Yang's forth shot that struck one of the archways of the gazebo. While she was only on the edge of the explosion, it was more than enough to knock her to the ground.
Charging in before Blake could recover, Yang threw a powerful right hook as soon as Blake was in range. Blake, however, had dodged in the only direction she could get leverage, downwards. Striking out at the blonde woman's feet, Blake tried knock her down. Instead, she was met with Yang's left fist and gauntlet as she delivering a ferocious uppercut. The savage blow sent Blake flying into the ceiling of the gazebo, and when she fell back down, Yang delivered a final blow that sent Blake flying out of the small room and into a nearby pillar, where she fell the ground, unable to stand.
A/N2: So, yeah, Yang won. Blake is the character I like more, but as it stands, I had Yang win for this reason: Blake is akin to a Thief from an RPG, while Yang is more of a Fighter. While a thief can avoid hits a lot, when they do take damage, it's almost never a small hit, while they generally only do scratch damage to enemies. Meanwhile, a fighter sits there and sponges damage while they dish out a lot of it in return. Combine that with Yang's Semblance empowering her as she gets hit, and that spells a very bad thing should Blake get hit late in the fight.
A/N3: So, I was tempted to name this Lover's Quarrel, but I decided against it because while that would have been amazing, I felt it was too close to giving this fight context, of which there is none.
A/N4: So, I have a way to use this in an upcoming chapter of Masked Sorrow, and I think I might do that. Not Chapter 12, that chapter (very minor spoiler) focuses very much so on Ruby more so than the rest of her team, or really anyone else, but past that, I can use this, and can very easily come up with context if I need to.