Author's Note: Okay here's that brawl I promised; I actually finished a lot sooner than I thought I would (probably owing something to the time that I probably should have spent studying) and it's considerably longer than the previous ones. Whether or not future chapters will be as long is kind of up in the air at the moment. Enjoy, and please, let me know what you think; I'd love to improve.
This is it; remember the plan Weiss…
Teams RWBY and JNPR stood arrayed at opposite ends of the training field, Professor Goodwitch midway between them on the sideline to observe, holding the whistle to her lips. The tension was palpable; try as she might to hold Myrtenaster level, there was no denying that her heart was racing in anticipation of the impending conflagration.
Am I the only one this nervous? Weiss asked herself as she surveyed the faces of team JNPR, all of whom, to include Jaune perplexingly enough, wore expressions depicting eagerness and determination in varying balances. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Yang, standing opposite Pyrrha, holding a bouncy pugilist stance with her Ember Celica fully deployed. Beyond that, all she could see of Ruby and Blake was that they too had weapons drawn, Ruby's cloak flapping at her sides in the breeze.
Get a grip Weiss! She chided herself as Goodwitch inhaled, It's simple; take out tall blonde and scraggly, then move on to Pyrrha, she swallowed at the prospect of facing off with the four-time Mystral Cup champion. And then the whistle blew, the shrill blast rang out, piercing Weiss's nervous contemplation.
At the sound of the whistle, Ruby aimed Crescent Rose backward and fired it, rocketing herself forward into the fray. Fast as she was though, Ruby could've sworn that she'd seen Blake appear next to her momentarily and then vanish forwards at a baffling speed to engage Ren with a rapid flurry of blows. As Ruby admired the speed with which Blake and Ren exchanged attacks however, she was blind to the giggling pink blur with the giant hammer. Her priorities were straightened rather concussively however, as Magnhild slammed into her side, sending her to the ground twenty feet away in a tumble of red cloth.
Right then, Ruby thought to herself, immensely grateful for the protection of her aura as she struggled awkwardly to her feet and trying not to step on her cloak, time for sweetheart to strut her stuff.
She took a fighting stance holding the blade of Crescent Rose ready on her left, bracing for Nora's next attack.
Nora, it seemed, hadn't been in on the plan though, as, rather than oblige a now much better prepared Ruby, she instead skipped merrily to Ren's aid.
"Huh?" Blake's plan seemed to have kinda fallen at the first hurdle… Although, as the one who'd knocked it down… well… glass houses…
Seeking to make up for her error, Ruby darted after Nora like a wolf after an oblivious rabbit. A paradoxical surge of relief washed over her as she cut Nora off a scant few meters from Blake and Ren's dizzying exchange of blows, parries, and countermoves and she saw Nora's hammer hurtling down at her from on high. It was only then that a healthy dose of survival instinct took over and deflected the oncoming blow by spinning her weapon, catching the handle of Nora's hammer, sweeping the head aside to strike the ground with a percussive boom. Instinctively Ruby then withdrew the Crescent Rose, weaving the shaft between her arms and back, proceeding to initiate full-body spinning attack.
As she began the attack though, she quickly became aware of an anomalous lack of impact after her first few revolutions. When next she faced where Nora had been standing, she saw why: Nora was no longer standing there, but rather, she was balanced upside-down on the shaft of her hammer, and giggled with a little salute much as Ruby herself often did, but by the time she processed this fact she was already facing the other direction again and forcefully knocked off balance by an explosion from the head of Magnhild which launched its wielder skyward with an enthusiastic "YEEEEHAAA!"
Stabilizing herself and turning on her heels, Ruby raised the Crescent Ross and began firing skyward, attempting to hit the bubbly airborne girl who was simultaneously firing heart-stamped explosive shells wildly all over the place. The first stuck the ground beside Blake, sending her reeling and leaving her wide open and the next slamming squarely between Yang and Pyrrha, interrupting what might have been a decisive blow on Yang's part. The final shot that Nora got off rocketed straight for Ruby, who dove forward to escape the raining fire, having failed to score a hit.
Having slowed her fall with the recoil from her airborne sortie, Nora landed, clumsily toppling over, but unharmed. Unruffled though, she was back on her feet once more extending Magnhild's grip in an instant, ready for Ruby, who was rocketing in her direction at that very moment. Nora met Ruby's attempted overhead stroke by catching the Crescent Rose's shaft with Magnhild's and, sparing a glance to look over to the right in time to cheer Ren on as he sent Blake flying with a palm strike charged with his aura. Ruby couldn't help getting distracted, gaping in disbelief as Blake skidded to a halt in the grass some distance away.
"Miss Belladonna, your aura has dipped into the red; you are out of this match," Professor Goodwitch announced, officially freeing Ren's attention for another target.
Uh-oh…
Suddenly and unexpectedly, Ruby felt herself lurching forward, owing to Nora's having collapsed her weapon again and leveling the stout barrel at the startled Scythe-wielder scarcely a meter away. Ruby's deer-in-the-headlights expression met with the older (but perhaps no more mature) girl's broad ear to ear smile and one free hand waving an enthusiastic goodbye as the trigger was pulled and the both of them were swallowed by an explosion of pink.
Coughing a few times and heaving a few deep breaths after finding herself plastered to the ground in a dizzy haze, Ruby shook her head a few times in hopes of getting her vision back into focus, she became dimly aware that Nora was similarly plopped on her rear opposite her, hair and face liberally blackened. Nora seemed more resilient though, resuming her friendly little grin and wave heedless of her blackened face.
Ruby just stared, dumbfounded, How does she stay so chipper? I mean… we just exploded!
"Miss Rose, Miss Valkyrie, you two are out of the match!"
~ Ninety Seconds Earlier~
Frustration building and golden sparks scattering with each successive impact, Yang rained blows furiously on Pyrrha, only to have each and every one of them thwarted by that shield of hers. Neither her fists nor the shells erupting from above her knuckles could persuade the golden disk to move, and the worst part was, Pyrrha wasn't even paying full attention! From what little Yang managed to catch of Pyrrha's face over that damned shield, its bearer was frequently glancing off to her right to see how Jaune was doing. Yang wasn't sure what pissed her off more, the fact that Pyrrha didn't consider the threat to her own person represented by Yang to necessitate her fullest attention, or that even with split focus the redhead was wasn't missing a beat.
Dammit! Yang fumed, if I could just-
There came the sound of a weapon discharging from Pyrrha's side of the shield for once, but no projectile was forthcoming, not in Yan's direction anyway. Instead, Yang was surprised to find Pyrrha pulling back, causing her next blow not to connect, and in a sudden rush of red hair and amber metal, Pyrrha surged forward, striking Yang hard in the stomach with the edge of her shield. Yang's breath deserted her with such force that it was all she could not to collapse as she reeled backward, giving Pyrrha an opening call back Milo back to her extended hand, having served its purpose by interrupting Weiss's attempted attack on Jaune, who was in turn currently hacking at the ice that froze him to the spot, a menace only to himself. In that moment the whole fight was knocked on its head and Pyrrha seized the initiative. Yang was forced to swallow huge gulps of air on the fly as she scrambled to dodge and block Pyrrha's spear thrusts by turns. Even when she got the chance to hazard a counter-stroke, Pyrrha withdrew behind Akouo, converting her weapon to its rifle form in an instant and opening up with a salvo of fire in place of jabs from cover.
Dammit Dammit DAMMIT! This is not good; she's always so nice and well, calm in class… It's like she's a whole different person…
Yang changed up her approach, trying instead to take hold of Pyrrha's shield with both hands and wrench it away, and was rewarded with a nasty right jab to the ribs for her trouble.
No dice eh? FINE THEN! THE GLOVES ARE OFF!... Well actually- Dammit, never mind!
Pivoting into a right turn on her left foot, Yang grabbed Pyrrha's spear from where it protruded over her shield in both hands. Dropping to a knee as she did so, Yang heaved Pyrrha over her shoulder. She'd only meant to disarm Pyrrha, but she'd stubbornly held her grip on Milo and gotten thrown for her efforts. Standing again, Yang shook the soreness out of her arms; Pyrrha didn't look it, but she was built like a tank and throwing her had been a greater exertion that Yang would've expected; she didn't take long though, and before Pyrrha had the chance to get her footing back Yang charged full tilt.
"I HOPE YOU'R READY FOR-,"
In that instant, everything went to hell. Again. Everything seemed to happen in slow motion, no matter how fasts she thought she was running. Streaking down from on high, a small canister with little pink heart stamped on the side, trailing pink Dust no less, came between the charging blonde and the bracing redhead. Recognition dawned on Yang in an instant and she broke off her sprinting dash, but she might've more easily halted a freight train. Nora's wild shot struck earth closer to Pyrrha, but she deflected most of the blast with her shield, and the wave of concussive force therefore served to assist Yang's rapid halt.
Her arms going like pinwheels for balance, Yang was again frustrated to see that Pyrrha had judged herself free to turn and check on Jaune again. She got off a few shots in Weiss's direction before Yang was on a stable footing again, but knew better than to persist in ignoring Yang for long and was once more positioned to absorb the blonde's next blow with her shield, but Yang didn't get the chance make good the adrenaline-fueled blow. A hailstorm of small, stinging impacts worked their way up the boxer's back, and turning as she just barely dodged Pyrrha's own thrust from the front, she saw Ren running at her.
Oh crap, oh crap OH CRAP! Yang thought as she frantically discharged shell after shell in Ren's direction while simultaneously trying to move wide of Pyrrha, totally oblivious to the whistle blasts, so single-minded had been her focus, I guess that means that Blake-
"Jaune!" Pyrrha exclaimed, a note of panic coloring her voice.
"AAAAAAAAAHHHH!"
Yang did a double-take as tall blonde and scraggly himself rocketed headlong through the air, culminating in a train wreck of a collision with Ren leaving both of them sprawled on the ground.
"I'm okay!" Jaune called out weakly.
"Lie Ren," It was Goodwitch, "You're out of this match!"
Shaking her head and returning to the take at hand, Yang turned back to face Pyrrha and-, "What the-!"
Pyrrha had thrown her shield like a Frisbee, taking Yang full force in the stomach again, this time knocking her flat on her back.
"Miss Xiao Long," Came Goodwitch's voice again, a real buzzkill now that she thought about it, "That's all for you too, come on off of the field,"
Well, guess that's that, she sat up, cupping her hands around her mouth and shouting, "Hey Princess! It's up to you!"
~ Approximately 120 Seconds Earlier ~
The whistle rang out.
Remember the plan Weiss; take Jaune down and move on to Pyrrha. You don't need to be at a hundred percent to take Jaune.
A blue-white glyph flickered to life under her feet, and in an instant the world blurred around her and she was surging towards the hapless leader of Team Juniper. Realizing his peril, Jaune's eyes widened in his own expression of uniquely inept panic as he fumbled with his shield, trying to make it deploy.
I've got him! Weiss allowed herself a little grin, but then a walloping impact from the right, sending her off trajectory as she turned, still sliding smoothly over the grass , to see who was responsible.
Pyrrha! Weiss cringed, It would be her, but where's…?
No, it was evident that Yang had not dropped the ball here, though it may have been appropriate to suggest that perhaps the ball had been too large a burden for her to assume alone in the first place; with Akouo in one arm to block Yang's fists and even the occasional kick, Pyrrha Nikos simultaneously managed to aim Milo, in rifle mode, in Weiss's general direction. Mercifully, the Mystral Cup champion's aim wasn't particularly accurate, attention ton as it was in two opposing directions. To catch the odd few rounds that actually came her way after that first one Weiss cast a vertical glyph as a shield and held it until Yang managed a glancing blow and Pyrrha could no longer split her focus.
Letting out a little sigh of relief, Weiss once more assumed a fencing stance, ready to thrust, and propelled herself at the lanky boy anew. To her frustration though, Jaune managed to finally deploy his shield in time to catch Myrtenaster and deflect it off to the right side. Undeterred, Weiss improvised a pirouette and slashed at her opponent's shins. Jaune stumbled, and continuing the dance-like rotation, Weiss struck him again, just below the wrist of his sword arm, causing him to drop his weapon.
I won't even need to-
Before the Heiress could finish that simultaneously relieved and self-satisfied thought though, her footing was abruptly taken out from under her in a rush of gold and pain, the latter muted thankfully, by her Aura. Wincing, Weiss rolled out of the way before Jaune could make even a feeble attempt to exploit the opportunity, as he was still collecting his sword. Dusting herself off exasperatedly as she stood, Weiss watched as Pyrrha pulled Akouo back with her personal magnetism, all the while dodging and repelling Yang by turns with Milo, now in sword form.
I can't believe it! She's fighting BOTH of us!
Yang seemed to be turning up the heat now though, actual flames beginning erupt here and there now, but Weiss nonetheless made a mental note not to allow Pyrrha to get the drop on her again like that.
Teeth clenched, Weiss turned Myrtenaster's chamber to the red setting, Perhaps I should follow Yang's example…
Weiss launched a series of Dust-fueled fireballs at Jaune, who was not nearly so ready to respond to them as Ruby had been. Though the first one met with his shield, more by dumb luck than anything else, the second exploded at his feet, and by the third, he simply hit the deck, not having a plan.
I can do this, Weiss allowed herself a slightly broader grin now, I suppose he's a nice guy, if also a bit dim, but still... Love and war…
With that, Weiss shifted Myrtenaster to the blue setting drove it downward, sending a river of ice forward in Jaune's direction, If it worked on that insufferable little red dunce, than this dolt hasn't got a prayer.
As planned, Jaune, now back on his feet, was frozen about the ankles and fixed to the ground on which he stood. Pulling Myrtenaster back up from the ground, Weiss positioned herself for another stroke and launched herself forward, skating inches above the field supported on her glyph as she hurtled at the helpless dolt from behind as he ineffectually chipped at the ice in a panicked frenzy. Finally Weiss managed a direct hit, Myrtenaster striking Jaune like a lance as she dashed by.
Jaune grunted as the breath vacated his lungs and the force of the blow doubled him over; it was only by his sword, now plunged into the frosted ground that he remained standing. The force of Weiss's blow had dislodged one of his feet from the ice, but Jaune was still rooted down by the other. As Weiss's velocity ebbed away and she drifted to a halt she turned one foot, positioning for another attack, but out of the corner of her eye, she noticed that, once again, Pyrrha didn't appear totally focused one the storm of fists and shells that Yang delivered upon her shield. Weiss's eyes widened as they met Pyrrha's determined green ones, but then she steeled herself.
"Not this time!" Weiss shouted her defiance as she materialized a defensive glyph just in time for Pyrrha's javelin to bounce off in a shower of blue sparks just an arm's reach away.
Unfortunately, Jaune had freed himself in that time and was clumsily attempting a fighting stance despite the unwieldy chunks of ice still clinging to his ankles. Her triumphant determination turning to an annoyed grimace as she turned her attention back to Jaune. Rushing forward Weiss closed the distance faster than Jaune was prepared for and parried Jaune's attempt to strike first , counting with a slash and a thrust of her own before repelling once more out of reach.
How much can he take?
Feeling the strain beginning to set in, compounded by the lack of apparent progress, though her morale received a boost when she say Yang pitch Pyrrha over her shoulder, Right, time to pull my weight.
This time though, she dismissed the glyph she'd been gliding on and took a defensive stance. Jaune interpreted this as an opening and started barreling her way. Just as planned…
She stepped to the left and parried his attack, positioning herself beside him and then pivoted so as to jab him once, twice, three times in the back .
Then Goodwitch's voice sounded, giving Weiss a renewed spark of enthusiasm, only to have it dashed with the words, "Miss Belladonna," after which she tuned it out with a cringe; Ren must have gotten the better of her-.
Then it got worse as Goodwitch called out Ruby's name, though thankfully Nora's name was right behind, That makes three on two-, not god, not good!
As Ren shifted his focus and opened up on Yang as he came at her Weiss panicked, conjuring a glyph that darkened as a startled Jaune was magnetized to its vertical surface, and then shifted the glowing disc in Ren's direction with a likewise move of Myrtenaster and her free hand.
"Oh God!" Jaune whimpered, just in time to be blasted away by the rapidly brightening circle so as to act as a human projectile.
Weiss couldn't help but wince as Jaune careened into Ren with such violence that both were left flattened on the ground when the tumbling had ceased, though relief swiftly overtook remorse as Professor Goodwitch called out, "Lie Ren, you are out of this match!" Then frustration surged back when Jaune's name was not also forthcoming.
Seriously?
Her annoyance was short-lived as well, however, as she blanched to a special shade of pale when Yang was knocked down and out.
"Hey Princess!" Yang called out after being disqualified, "It's up to you!"
Weiss made a pathetic attempt to repress the horrified expression on her face as Pyrrha turned to face her now, How did this happen? This wasn't the plan!
But as Pyrrha began to run her way, Weiss planted her feet firmly braced for action, This is just another challenge Weiss, she gritted her teeth, an obstacle to overcome; it doesn't matter that this is Pyrrha Nikos, what does Pumpkin Pete know anyway?
Weiss stood her ground until Pyrrha was less than three meters away. Weiss then dove forward and to the right, rolling under Pyrrha's sword arm and elicited a half an instant's pause for Weiss to stand behind JNPR's Star athlete and launch a thrust. Pyrrha batted Myrtenaster aside as she turned back to face Weiss and swung her shield as a bludgeon. Weiss only just barely managed to backpedal far enough so that the golden rim of the shield only displaced her bangs.
"Woooooo! You can do it Weiss!" Ruby cheered from the sidelines, apparently blind to the severity of Weiss's predicament, "Winn this for Team RWBY!"
Weiss tried to block a sword stroke from Pyrrha, but hadn't anywhere near the necessary muscle, and so was forced to back-pedal once more.
I have no patience for failure, He was always so stern, judgmental expression etched in granite, Set aside your weakness Weiss; flinch and they'll devour you.
Weiss lunged forward again to Pyrrha's surprise, driving first at her foot and then her torso faster than the redhead could react to the unpredictable move.
Ruthlessness Weiss; that is the key to success, and success is what a Schnee does best.
Weiss briefly called up a glyph at her feet once more to drift wide around Pyrrha's counterattack, pirouetting as she skated around her opponent, striking her several times in the front and sides.
Then I'll be the best at everything! A wide-eye Weiss Schnee had happily pledged at seven years old; I'll be a good girl and do my best!
As Pyrrha wheeled around again, Weiss discharged the last of her fire dust in a desperate bid to hold off Pyrrha for a precious few more seconds. I worked. As Pyrrha stumbled, Weiss darted forward again, leading off with a thrust to her opponent's torso and following up with a swift uppercut.
I have her! I can't believe it! I have her on-
"I'M COMING PYRRHA!" Jaune came charging back afresh.
I'll listen to my tutors, and I'll sing real pretty, and I'll practice really really hard! I promise!
Dammit, no, no, NO! Weiss screamed inside her own head, I can't handle this!
Forced to turn and parry Jaune, Weiss was left exposed from behind as Pyrrha recovered. Weiss squeezed her eyes shut and fell to her knees as she desperately held her right hand up to Pyrrha, summoning a glyph to defend herself from the downward driving spear-thrust, shattering the defense.
Just see that you do not disappoint me.
The whistle rang out once more, ending the match, "That's enough! Miss Schnee-,"
Weiss's hands fell to the earth, clenching shaking fistfuls of grass.
"-Your aura is exhausted; Team JNPR wins!" Goodwitch finished, cancelling the display on her scroll, "Well fought,"
If you're not a winner, then you're a loser; never forget that.
Pyrrha slung her shield and weapon on her back and extended a hand to Weiss, "It was a good match; you should be proud,"
Failure is a disgrace.
The Schnee heiress stood without taking her victorious opponent's hand, swallowing as she struggled to keep her voice level, forcing a smile, "You too,"
"That… was… AWESOME!" Nora exclaimed, bouncing a mile a minute as she rushed over and grabbing Weiss's hands in her own, face still covered in black and pink soot, "I've never hit Pyrrha that many times before!"
"… Right…"
As the others converged on the last ones standing Weiss remained silent. The rest of them were eager enough to take the chance to swap pointers and observations at Professor Goodwitch's insistence, but the Schnee Heiress couldn't think, and took the earliest opportunity to fade out of the group without a farewell and headed for the dorms, fighting to keep a grip on herself. No one attempted to flag her down along the way; most all of the other students knew her frosty reputation at this point. She opened the door of team RWBY's dorm and proceeded to her desk, pulling her diary and a pen out of a drawer, unable to hold it in anymore.
I'm sorry Daddy…