Pyrrha Loses her Match.
There was always something Pyrrha liked about the way that the intense roar of the crowd was muffled in the locker rooms. Muffled yet still in it's own way quite clear, like it was right in your head the whole time.
She tightened her greaves.
It was the little rituals that cleared her head before a match, the simple things, one step at a time, always in order, one after the other. It helped her focus.
She adjusted her circlet.
She had tried to explain it to Jaune, once. He nodded along and mumbled accenting things, but she doubted he understood most of it. The boy had potential, he had potential in spades, but he was too new, too green to really understand combat as she did.
She checked and rechecked Milό and Akoὐọ, making sure everything was just so.
It was almost time.
Her mind turned again to Jaune, how he didn't make it into the tournament, and how that made her feel. She shook off those conflicted feelings; they were no good in a fight. They made you soft or hesitant when you need to strike, there is no room for error. She had enemies in the tournament. Ruby had pointed out a few, Cinder the woman who wields glass, the girl with green hair, and the boy who had challenged her in the practice arena not too long ago. She knew something was wrong about him then, but couldn't place it at the time. Now she hoped it would be him who faced her across the arena. Appearances be damned she would send him spinning across the great hall by his heels.
She took a deep breath, exhaling slowly as she exited the locker room and up the ramp to the large wooden doors.
The roar of the crowd was growing ever louder until she got to the doors where it was suddenly hushed to pregnant anticipatory silence.
"Welcome Ladies and Gentlemen to the second day of the Vytal Festival Tournament." The announcer's voice boomed out. "We are already set for our first match of the day. So without further ado I'll introduce our first combatant. Pyrrha Nikos!"
The wooden door before her swung open and Pyrrha was washed in the light of the sun as she strode confidently out onto the clear marble floor. The crowd was all around her, elevated some twenty in the air on an ascending set of bleachers with a clear sheet of Dust infused glass to keep them safe from flying debris, or combatants. Pyrrha quickly scanned the crowd for her friends. She spotted her own team sitting next to team RWBY up front and gave them a small wave and a smile. She also spotted the woman in red, but neither of her henchmen, this Pyrrha counted as a good thing. She took another deep breath as she assumed her position in the arena, eyes trained on the door opposite her, waiting for her opponent.
"And from Atlas, our second combatant, Penny!"
The door cracked and slowly opened as a small girl pushed it open and strode into the room. Her orange curled hair bobbed as she stiffly moved to her position. Pyrrha cocked her head to the side, she hadn't seen this girl before. Penny seemed to be completely unarmed, yet too small and thin to be relying purely on martial arts. She hadn't even seemed to notice Pyrrha yet, the girl was smiling off into the crowd and waving frantically. Pyrrha followed her line of sight and saw Ruby waving back to her.
"Alright ladies, do your best." The announcer said
Pyrrha bowed low to her opponent, the girl seemed strange and ditzy, but then again so did Nora most of the time, and if Penny had made past the qualifier into the tournament than she must be able to fight in some way. Penny turned to Pyrrha and curtsied politely in a stiff nervous manner then put her fists up in a comical fighting stance, like a boxer from an old cartoon.
"Begin."
The amazon warrior launched herself at her opponent shield first, hoping her speed would catch the awkward girl off balance and finish the fight quickly with a slash from her spear. However, instead of the bodily thump she was expecting she was rebounded with the sound of metal crashing against her shield. Pyrrha was thrown back a few feet and when she looked up Penny had a long wickedly barbed sword in each hand.
"I'm combat ready!" The strange girl shouted, smiling while she charged. Pyrrha brought up her shield again and caught both blades, ducking low and attempting to swing under at Penny's legs. But her swing was cut short by a third sword that came down around the sides of her shield. Pyrrha only barely had time to deflect the blow and roll to the side.
It was at this point that members of the audience, when questioned later, had a hard time describing the exact movements of the fighters. Penny's swords seemed to be everywhere at once, flashing to and fro at the behest of some sort of telekinesis, testing Pyrrha's capable defenses at every turn. Pyrrha for herself fought well and held off the spinning barrage of metal with an impressive display of acrobatics and swordplay.
Pushing her advantage Penny brought out even more swords from her pack and sent them spinning hard into Pyrrha's shield expecting the amazon to block. But Pyrrha's experienced mind for battle saw the over extension and vulnerability and twisted her shield to allow the swords to sweep harmlessly over her head and tucked into a quick lunge while firing her weapon, causing the tip of her sword to extend into its spear form and hit Penny in the chest knocking her back. The orange haired girl fell back further and brought her swords back in a ring pattern like a halo in front of her torso. She glared and the swords began to spin in place moving faster and faster as a small glow of brilliant green light.
The resulting beam of crackling energy crashed into Pyrrha's shield with all of the force of a full grown Ursa, sending the stunned girl sprawling and her shield spinning off in the distance. The second bolt of energy missed its target as Pyrrha rolled to the side and kipped up off the end of her spear. Defenseless without her shield Pyrrha grasped her spear tightly in both hands and charged towards her foe. A third blast of light ripped across the air making static energy arc across the room, but this time the amazon saw it coming and moved ever so slightly under the beam, singeing her hair and burning her shoulder but still she pushed forward. The haft of her spear caught Penny in the temple and the scything blade swept her feet out from under her, as she fell the orange haired girl lost control of her swords and they clattered to the floor.
Pyrrha kicked savagely at Penny sending her high into the air. She meant to dash after her opponent and press her advantage but something was off about this girl, the way her body moved when she was kicked, the way she didn't so much tumble through the air as drop like a ton of bricks. There was a metallic thud as Penny's body hit the ground.
Pyrrha didn't really have words for how her semblance worked, she "Felt" the metal and she found that she could "Push" or "Pull" the metal, but she knew those words completely failed to describe how the whole process worked in her brain. She "Felt" Penny with that kick. Not just Penny's swords, not even a whole limb, like a prosthetic, but the entirety of Penny, even her curly orange hair.
Penny picked herself up off the ground and flourished her arms, willing her swords to untangle themselves and to circle up around her like a long dress of flashing steel. Pyrrha however stood her ground, staring at Penny as if in deep thought. Penny paused too, a look of mounting concern growing in her eyes. The crowd began to murmur as the two combatants stopped moving almost entirely, just watching.
Closing her eyes Pyrrha took a deep breath. "Could this even be possible?" She asked herself, she had to test it. Not moving much, as always not to draw too much attention she moved her hand slightly upward, willing her semblance into motion. Penny's arm raised high into the air like she had a question and the girls pale green eyes filled with terror. Pyrrha flicked her hand again, trying to remain calm despite her mounting wonder. Penny's arm shot straight out to the side and the girl screamed.
"No!" Tears welled up in Penny's eyes and she looked pleadingly at Pyrrha. Seeing this girl cry snapped the amazon out of her curious reverie. She was terrorizing the poor thing.
Pyrrha was now sure that many parts if not all of the girl were mechanical. She could defeat her easily; even rip the poor girl to shreds if she exerted any real force. But Pyrrha was also sure she had an Aura, which meant somewhere in those machined eyes Penny had a real soul, she was human too, and Pyrrha was violating her body in a way none in any other situation could understand. With a thought she could make Penny do as she pleased. The weight of her own power terrified her.
Pyrrha looked up to the stands she saw her team and Ruby's team. Ruby was the only other one crying, the look in her eyes the same look of innocent terror that Penny's had. If she knew about Penny as well... if she realized what was happening…
She let Penny's arm go and sighed.
"I concede the match." Pyrrha stated loudly and clearly to be sure all heard. The crowd gasped as one. Penny's tear streaked face took on a look of shock and she sunk to her knees clutching her arm.
Pyrrha turned away from her opponent and walked back towards the locker room she came from.
"Good luck Ruby. Cinder still needs to be stopped but not at that cost. We need to remember to be kind to one another and not fall to become monsters like those we fight against. Good luck Penny."
All characters and concepts are copyright Roosterteeth, and their associated creators. I own nothing.