"And that's the match." Glynda Goodwitch uncaringly walked past the groaning Cardin and continued talking. "See here:" She pointed at the bars above her "Team CRDL's aura has gone into the red. In a Tournament-style fight, this would mean Pyrrha would win the fight. She nodded approvingly at Pyrrha.
"Would anyone else like to fight?" She looked about before fixating on Blake Belladonna.
"What about you, Blake?" She scanned the records of previous matches. "You've been awfully quiet, as of late."
Blake's eyes widened as she was singled out. She really did not want to fight, especially with unknown students watching from other schools. Panicking, she looked to her teammates. Yang was grinning at her. 'No.' Blake miserably thought 'she won't help me.' Weiss was reading a book. 'She would help me even less. Also no.' She glanced at her team leader, the 15-year old Ruby. 'YES! She would help me' Blake bent her head down to whisper to Ruby 'if the right bribe is used.'
"Ruby"! Blake loudly whispered to her teammate. "I'll give you a month's supply of free cookies if you fight instead of me!" Ruby's eyes widened at that this did not go unnoticed by her sister. Without thinking and just before a certain silver-haired boy put his hand up, Ruby stood up.
"I'LL DO IT!"
She was Ruby Rose, and she did NOT back out of a challenge if it involved a month's supply of cookies!
Glynda glanced up sharply; "Hmm, Alright." Approving, she scanned the crowd for a suitable partner to fight for the determined girl. Fortunately, Ruby chose for her. "I want to fight Pyrrha!" She shouted, still standing. One of Glynda's eyebrows rose in confusion. "Unfortunately, Pyrrha here has just fought a fig-"
"No. I can still continue." Pyrrha cut off Glynda as she looked at Ruby with respect in her eyes. "I also have wanted to fight her for quite some time now." Glynda looked at both the girls before shaking her head. "As you both wish. Ruby, please prepare yourself."
Ruby tentatively raised her hand as she faced Pyrrha. She needed to have her every ace at her disposal if she wanted to win; she would not lose those cookies! Unfortunately, she misheard Blake. In fact, she already earned the cookies, but she misunderstood her. She thought she had to WIN the fight, not just participate in it.
Blake sifted uncomfortably as Yang bore a hole in her head with her gaze. "What did you say to her?" Yang questioned. Blake shrugged. "I told her that if she fought in my place I would give her a month's supply of cookies."
"And she fucking bought that?!" Yang was both amazed and afraid. How could Ruby fall for that?!
"Like discount meat juices." Blake smirked. Yang looked at Pyrrha. "This is going to be a great fight. Ruby is finally going to show what she can really do!" Yang whispered to Blake, who doubted her. After all, who could stand up to 'the invincible girl?' Weiss was still reading her book.
"Professor Goodwitch, are we allowed to use everything at our disposal to win the match?" Glynda's eyebrow once again rose in confusion. "Yes." She answered nonchalantly. "You are allowed to use everything at your disposal."
"Great!" Ruby chirped.
"I will now repeat the rules once more. The match will end if one or both of the participants cannot continue. This can be done by either breaking your opponent's weapon, or forcing their aura into the red. Is everyone ready?" Both girls nodded. Already one could see their determination; illusionary Ursai stared each other off.
"Start!"
Ruby used her semblance right off the bat to get close to Pyrrha and swung her sweetheart down at Pyrrha's face. Pyrrha stepped to the side of the massive blade and stabbed with Milo, her sword. Ruby flipped, the sword stab narrowly missing her, and pulled the trigger of her gun-scythe, making her tumble backward out of Pyrrha's reach. Landing safely, Ruby grinned at her opponent.
"That was great Pyrrha!" Ruby spun her scythe and reloaded; and even before the empty cartridge hit the floor Ruby was running towards Pyrrha; no semblance involved. Bracing for impact, Pyrrha's gaze did not falter from behind her shield. Ruby suddenly disappeared from Pyrrha's view in a cloud of rose petals, appearing above her with a smile still on her face.
Trusting her instincts, Pyrrha rolled out of the way, Crescent Rose missing her by mere inches. Jumping up, Pyrrha's green eyes met silver eyes, but were quickly obscured by red.
"Your sister is doing pretty well to have survived two spats with Pyrrha." Emerald absentmindedly commented on the fight to Yang. "Yeah well, she's going to get serious later." Questioning how the girl in red could get serious, Emerald turned back to the fight.
Petals floated in place of Ruby. It was a good thing she used her semblance; a spearhead had cleanly sliced a petal in two where she once stood. "You really live up to your reputation, Pyrrha!" Ruby's praise was not an unwelcome addition to the fight, yet it still meant she was not totally serious. "Thank you, ruby." Pyrrha's smile did not quite reach her eyes.
"I know your semblance and you know mine, yet you… you have not used it once in this fight." Ruby looked at Pyrrha with eyes full of admiration. "Therefore," She readied her scythe "I want to make you use your semblance!" With newfound determination, Ruby disappeared in a cloud of rose petals, swinging her scythe upwards.
Pyrrha's eyes widened with the speed Ruby appeared yet she still barely managed to dodge. 'She's gotten faster?' Ruby appeared again, this time behind Pyrrha. She didn't swing the blade. Instead, Ruby shot at Pyrrha from behind. Sensing Ruby, Pyrrha rolled and turned to face her opponent, stopping all the bullets with Akouo. With the clip spent, Ruby jumped away, prying her eyes off Pyrrha; A mistake. Pyrrha did not lose the opportunity: she spun and with full force threw her shield right into Ruby's midriff.
With an 'oomph' Ruby went sliding backwards. She kept her grip on her scythe and did not fall, yet it clearly hurt.
"Pyrrha has the first hit." Blake commented whilst watching Ruby's aura meter fall a bit. "Of course she does." Weiss didn't even look up from her textbook. "She's against Pyrrha of all people! What did you expect? A one-hit fight ending up with Ruby winning?"
"Guess that was my fault for looking away." Pyrrha did not leave her guard down, even after retrieving her shield; Ruby did not fall after one of her shield throws. One would need some serious aura and balance after being hit by one of those. Cardin went downafter a lesser hit.
Keeping her eyes on Ruby, Pyrrha slowly circled around the girl, milo in spear form. Ruby did the same, gun pointed forward. Both trying to see a momentary lapse in the other's concentration; a chance to attack.
Ruby lost patience first. There was no twitch of the finger, no tensing of the muscles, nothing that gave away that she was going to move. One step sideways and then just appeared in front of Pyrrha, scythe headed upwards straight towards to her head. Leaning back, Pyrrha flipped back, avoiding the follow-up swing. And the one after that; And the one after that one. It was a combination of upward swings that Pyrrha narrowly stopped by a sudden jump to the side.
Regaining their footing, both Pyrrha and Ruby regarded their opponent once more. Pyrrha's aura had not dropped, yet there was a clear sheen of sweat across her forehead; such was the atmosphere and danger of the fight. She had not broken a sweat against team CRDL, yet against this 15 year old girl, she was nervous. 'Impossible.'
Ruby on the other hand, was breathing rather lightly, as though she had finished stretching. Her Crescent Rose was as sharp as ever, a testament of how much she cared for it. Her aura level had only dropped a little since Pyrrha had struck her. 'She's quite used to her semblance if that's how much it has dropped down. She's used her semblance at least a handful of times since this fight has begun.' Bright green eyes narrowed in suspicion. 'How much aura does Ruby have?'
Pyrrha rushed forward, hiding behind her shield and bracing for impact. 'She's going to hit the shield from the front. I will then side-step and use the hilt to hit he-' Pyrrha's musing were interrupted by rose petals. Ruby got behind her! 'SHIT!'
Ruby Rose grinned and swung her scythe upwards, hoping to launch Pyrrha into the air. No such luck. Even whilst the scythe was headed to her body, Pyrrha thought of a way out. She turned her body mid-stride, jumping back.
Pyrrha's hand darkened and as the scythe missed, Pyrrha landed on her back and flipped onto her feet. Glancing up, she saw Ruby was giddy with excitement.
"I made you use your semblance!" Ruby jumped about with a child-like glee benefiting of her cute exterior; well, apart from the scythe taller than her, of course.
"Well shucks. Apparently Ruby made Pyrrha use her semblance." Emerald muttered under breath to her partner. "Yes but what is it?" Mercury replied.
Pyrrha's eyes widened. Ruby had succeeded. But before that, how did she notice that she used her semblance?!
Ruby smirked. 'You lift your fingers and don't break eye contact. Plus I would never miss a swing from the distance.' She composed herself. "You adapted quickly, even after my surprise attack. You really do deserve your reputation!"
She pointed the scythe behind her. "Now I'm going use my real speed! I won't hold back!" And with that, she was gone. A trail of rose petals was picked up by the follow up rush of air. Pyrrha's eyes widened; Ruby had already passed her. "This is like the food fight!" She muttered under her breath and this time she was ready for the air pressure. She dropped down on the ground; her shield on her back and pressing her down onto the floor.
Ruby slid at the other end of the room, and immediately jumped to the side. Silver eyes narrowed in cautiousness when no red-haired girl smashed into the cracked concrete wall. 'I see. She used her semblance and shield to keep herself in place.' Ruby pouted. She had hoped that this would force Pyrrha into a daze or into unconsciousness. If this goes on 'I would be forced to use it. I don't want to do that.'
Jumping up, scythe swing at the still Pyrrha, Ruby did not expect her blade to sing into solid concrete. Nor did she expect a fist to connect to her face. Crying out in alarm as she bounced away from Crescent Rose, her aura went down a little bit more. Unsteady on her feet as she got up, she watched with sorrow as Pyrrha unceremoniously threw her weapon away. "Now that I've separated you from that sharp pointy thing, you should be easy t-" Pyrrha blinked. One moment, Ruby was there, the other she was… 'SHIT!' Pyrrha whirled round, just in time to see Ruby catch her weapon. Landing without so much as mumble, Ruby turned towards Pyrrha. "You apparently forgot that my semblance is, as you said, speed." She pointed the barrel of her weapon at Pyrrha. "You also have forgotten that my scythe is not only a sharp pointy thing." She rested her hand on the trigger. "It's also a gun."
Several shot rang out and all but one of them was blocked by Akouo; the last bullet sped past the semicircle hole of the shield and hit Pyrrha's elbow.
"Pyrrha has been hit!" Yang almost shouted, hugging an uncomfortable Blake. 'Guess she's not untouchable at least.'
Watching her aura meter decrease slightly, Pyrrha internally grinned; someone was good enough to actually hit her! Granted, it was a bullet, but nonetheless, it was something. Refocusing on her opponent, Pyrrha placed her shield on her back and charged.
Ruby braced herself for the inevitable clash. Narrowing her eyes as Pyrrha spun her sword into a spear and jumped at her.
"HAVE AT YOU!" Ruby shouted as she spun her scythe upward.
Pyrrha smirked as the weapon approached. She twisted her entire body out of the way and landed in front of surprised Ruby and went to stab her. She would have, if not for Ruby jumping out of the way and, in mid-air, shooting at Pyrrha. Dodging the bullets, she ran towards the fleeing girl.
Ruby suddenly used her semblance to get close to Pyrrha and swung her scythe onto have it blocked by Pyrrha's shield. Pyrrha countered her spear stabbing into Ruby followed by a swipe at her legs. Ruby went down, landing on her back. She wasn't finished yet and spun Crescent Rose on a giant circle, forcing Pyrrha back. Spinning her way onto her feet, Ruby wasted no time in attacking Pyrrha.
"They're really going at each other now!" Nora excitedly grabbed Ren's arm, almost breaking the poor boy's arm. Unperturbed, Ren just watched the match.
Metal clashed against metal, highlighting the grins of both the girls. It was as though they were in a trance: only focusing on the other girl, trying to bring her down. They had tuned everything out, including the cheers of support, such as the increasingly excited Nora, and the cautious, such as Glynda standing on the side-lines.
Dodging a swipe, Ruby jumped forward, scythe whistling at Pyrrha. Taking a step backward, she dodged Ruby's blade. Ruby smiled and mid-swing she disappeared in a cloud of rose petals, appearing over a bewildered redhead. Her scythe extended to give Ruby more range. Using the gun's recoil to accelerate herself, Ruby began spinning mid-air; finally catching Pyrrha on the lower back. With a cry of pain, Pyrrha smashed to the ground, cracking the concrete.
Ruby landed close to Pyrrha and jumped away, she was cautious. A blow of that calibre would have knocked Ren or Jaune out. Maybe Blake would be quite hurt, but to a fighter such as Pyrrha, the blow would only lower her aura slightly.
Pushing herself out of the floor, Pyrrha chuckled. "Oh you've done it now." Ruby became more cautious; it was now where Pyrrha became more dangerous. It was sort of a second stage now, where a boss' final form is revealed when they reach a berserk state. She stayed away, and watched carefully.
Pyrrha thrust her weapon out to the side. Reaching for a pouch on her hips, she withdrew a vial of liquid. Pouring the liquid over her blade, Pyrrha began to concentrate. After a few seconds, Milo began to whistle and glow bright red. Moments later, the liquid on the blade caught fire. 'It was oil!'
Allowing the bright red glow to die down, Pyrrha turned towards Ruby and slowly pointed the tip of her blade at Ruby in challenge. Ruby took up her challenge and ran towards Pyrrha.
Pyrrha swung her sword under herself and used the momentum to jump forward and smash her sword into the shaft of Ruby's scythe. Flames licked the scythe as the two girls stared each other off. Groaning in exertion as her shaft was forced back by Pyrrha's sword, Ruby fell back. Looking back at Pyrrha, Ruby glared defiantly and motioned at the flames.
"Is that supposed to intimidate me?" Ruby asked. The flames did not touch her hands and they were not hot enough to melt her Crescent Rose. "Well, some people might run once they see the flames."
They broke off. Ruby fired at Pyrrha as she retreated. She then landed and ran back at Pyrrha.
"Oh they've been at it for around ten minutes now." Blake looked at the attentive Glynda Goodwitch. It seemed as though she had no intention of stopping them until they collapsed out of exhaustion or drained aura.
Pyrrha threw her shield at Ruby. She ducked under the shield and parried the following-sword. Pyrrha splayed her fingers and her shield turned back and hitting Ruby on the back of her head. Ruby tripped and began to fall. Pyrrha wasted no time in using her semblance in tangent with her legs; she sidestepped the falling girl and quickly kicked Ruby in the stomach.
The blow was formidable and managed to make Ruby drop her scythe as she flew back into a wall. Putting her shield on her back, Pyrrha did not throw away Ruby's weapon this time; she had learned her lesson. This time, Pyrrha just held her sword in a ready stance.
Groaning, coughing as she stood up, Ruby saw her aura become yellow on the screen above. Sighing in resignation, Ruby decided that Pyrrha would be the first person she would use her secret weapon against.
'Grimm were rather boring test subjects.' Ruby straightened herself and began walking forward.
Pyrrha spoke as Ruby approached. "We had a good fight, though you are no match for me. Please give up and I won't be forced to beat you down." Ruby smirked as she heard what Pyrrha said.
Everyone but Weiss looked at Ruby. Weiss was reading a textbook. They had a test next lesson; how could they focus on a fight!?
"She's not going to give up." Yang spoke out loud what team BY, JNR and Glynda were thinking.
"Oh really?" Ruby questioned.
"Really."
"Really?"
Really!"
"Oh. Well, I'm afraid I can still fight you, so I will continue." Ruby confirmed what most were thinking.
"But you have no weapon! How will you fight?!" Pyrrha shot back. Ruby gently smiled.
"You're forgetting that- oh wait, you don't know." Ruby signed. "I have a secret weapon as back-up."
Pyrrha narrowed her eyes. "What is it?" She was naturally curious; after all, what secret weapon did Ruby possess? Was it another weapon? Was it-"
"Dust." With a single word, everything froze at that. Weiss dropped her book. "WHAT!" She was one that used dust on the team, not Ruby!
An invisible wind had made Ruby's cloak float around her. Small, intricate black lines spread in a plant-like fashion on Ruby's cloak. 'Glass dust. Why would she need that?'
Ruby took a single step and disappeared in a cloud of petals. She appeared behind Pyrrha, and the trail of petals went through Pyrrha's legs. Turning to face Ruby, Pyrrha was shocked when she felt her aura drop. 'What?!Why is my aura dropping?!' She looked around and only saw black rose petals. 'Did she somehow hit me whilst underneath me?'
"Now you're probably wondering why your aura dropped, albeit slightly, right?" Ruby spoke for her, and it seemed as though she would answer the question everyone's mind.
"Well I actually combined my semblance with dust. It's not that hard." She stepped on a nearby petal. It broke with a clear crack. "Glass dust makes my petals sharp. I can cut you into submission with petals! It's like it's a vibrant display of a thousand rose petals." Ruby smirked at the shocked Pyrrha. "And that's not even the best part of it!"
Bright green eyes widened at this. 'Oh fuck all kinds of duck.'
Ruby rolled up the sleeves of her shirt and even Glynda was shocked. She had woven dust into her own body! On her left arm, golden stands of fire dust followed her veins. On her right arm white dust symbolising ice dust formed an intricate pattern similar to her right.
Ruby looked at Pyrrha. "Shall we continue?" she said with a murderous glint in her silver eyes.
