Author's Note: Alright, so this chapter takes place after a bit of a time-skip from the last one; nothing too huge- a few weeks at the most, just long enough get past the Vytal festival and any potential immediate fallout thereof (despite the speculative hand-grenade that I threw out there with Weiss's backstory, Iam trying to be canon-friendly here) so as not to speculate about what is almost certainly going to be the next arc of the series proper. Thus, I have skipped ahead to a non-descript time so as to have greater room to maneuver, hopefully without coming into conflict with future canon too much. Enjoy, and please, let me know what you think.
Why did I ever agree to this? I have studying to do, Weiss fumed to herself, There's only so many time that I can send Jaune flying, or watch Pyrrha send him flying, before it ceases to amuse.
"Come on Jaune! Get up!" Pyrrha called out to her team leader, currently lying flat in the grass, "You've almost got it! Just give it another try!"
After they'd reconciled, Yang had told her that Pyrrha had invited her to practice combat skills with Jaune and herself, but with the Vytal festival so close, Weiss hadn't gotten the chance. Not wishing to appear disrespectful of the gesture though, after the festival had come and gone, Weiss had hesitantly knocked on team JNPR's room to accept the offer; who better to help her improve than the best, right? If she'd learned anything from the practice match, it was that she wasn't as strong as she'd like to think.
When the door flung open though, Weiss had been blindsided by a fluffy ping pillow, "Ren! You weren't supposed to dodge that!" Nora had whined as the pillow fell from Weiss's face, revealing her twitching eye as Nora rushed over to retrieve the projectile, "Sorry Weiss…"
Taking a deep breath, Weiss had forced herself to be nice as Ren bowed apologetically and force Nora to do the same, "It's fine. Are Pyrrha or Jaune here?"
"Nope!" Nora had responded, springing back to a cheerful standing position, but offering no further explanation.
"They're out training," Ren explained more helpfully, "they spend the first hour after classes working to get Jaune up to speed every day; If you don't mind waiting, they should be back in fifteen minutes or so,"
Weiss nodded her understanding, "Thank you-,"
"Ooh! Ooh! Come on in!" Nora exploded with enthusiasm, "We were just about to have tea!"
Weiss wasn't sure what surprised her more; the spastic manner in which she was abruptly dragged into Team JNPR's room, or the fact that Nora was a tea drinker, "I wouldn't want to-, Ah!"
The door had slammed shut behind her and she was forcibly sat down on beside Nora on her bed, as she sang, "We're gonna have a tea party! We're gonna have a tea party!"
"I'm sorry about this Weiss," Ren apologized, pulling a third cup out of a cupboard, "Nora can be-, well, you know…"
Weiss allowed a little smile to tug at the corner of her mouth, "No, It's fine; I haven't had a tea party since…" Mom… "Since I was little,"
That was two days ago; now Weiss was taking Pyrrha up on her offer for the second day in a row. At the moment though, it wasn't Weiss's turn, and thus she sat on a bench at the side of the field watching Jaune fail time and again to land a hit on his partner. Time and again the lanky blonde went down, and time and again he got back up, just to get knocked on his back again. After a particularly nasty repetition of the cycle though, Pyrrha slung her shield over her shoulder and relaxed her stance.
"Alright Jaune, take a minute," she called over to the boy as he struggled back to his feet for what had to be the twentieth time that afternoon before turning and motioning to the Heiress, "You're up Weiss!"
Where does she get her stamina? Weiss wondered as she stood and drew Myrtenaster, She's been going for the better part of an hour now.
Nonetheless, Weiss proceeded back onto the field and took her fencing stance, "I'm ready,"
To Weiss's surprise, Pyrrha shook her head, "Not like that; you're fast Weiss, but you've tried that approach on me before, and while it works when you catch me off guard, but if I'm ready for you, well… That method has troubled with shields…"
Weiss frowned. It was true enough, but…
"Then what do you suggest?" Weiss asked, letting her arms droop to her sides.
"Oh no! Please don't take that the wrong way Weiss!" Pyrrha walked her criticism back a bit, "Your fighting style is actually quite flexible, you just… You lean a bit heavily on the fencing moves,"
"Well, yeah," Weiss replied, bemused, "Myrtenaster is a rapier…"
"Yes," Pyrrha acknowledged, "but you're fixating on that; you don't take as much advantage of your Dust as you could be, and while you do take advantage of your semblance for mobility, most of the time you move in predictable straight lines. Also, you could use your semblance to compensate for holes in your defense when you have to fight up close, or even eliminate the need to get so close in the first place,"
"So you think I should focus on ranged combat?" Weiss thought about it for a moment, Come to think of it, my most effective attacks on Ruby were all from well beyond arms reach… She nodded, "Alright,"
Pyrrha nodded her approval, "If you can stay out of reach, all you have to worry about is attack, and make no mistake, defense only keeps you from losing; attacking is how you win." After a moment to let that sink in, Pyrrha once again assumed a fighting stance and armed herself, "Now, show me what you've got,"
"Right," Weiss nodded, internalizing Pyrrha's words as she now opted for a different fighting posture, Myrtenaster at the ready, albeit in a more neutral posture that wasn't overtly offensive or defensive.
Weiss's opening gambit was to switch Myrtenaster to the red setting ad launch a fireball in Pyrrha's direction, and then adjusted the chamber on her weapon again. As Pyrrha banked right to avoid the fireball whilst charging for Weiss, the fencer conjured a glyph under her feet to slide backward, stroking the ground with Myrtenaster's tip as she did so. The sheet of ice which sprawled out before her as a consequence surged forward until Weiss's athletic opponent found her right foot slipping out from under her. Heeding Pyrrha's advice though, Weiss didn't dash in to attack, instead she quickly flipped Myrtenaster's chamber back to red, firing another incendiary blast Pyrrha's way as the redhead tumbled earthward.
A mixed look of surprise and satisfaction on her face as she tumbled, Pyrrha converted Milo in its javelin form and jammed it into the ground, breaking through the layer of ice with the force from a discharged round. Using her weapon as a handhold, JNPR's star athlete heaved herself to a stable kneeling position and brought her shield about in only just in time to catch Weiss's fireball. Undeterred, Weiss fired off another volley as she drifted around Pyrrha in a wide semicircle as Pyrrha got back to her feet and yanked Milo back up from the ground, again pivoting to catch the second salvo with her shield. Absorbing the force with her shield, Pyrrha slid backwards until, rather perplexingly, she slammed into a hard vertical surface.
I don't recall there being a wall here… Pyrrha's eyes went wide as she turned her head in time to see the glyph behind her rapidly darken, affixing her to its surface, oh dear-
I have her? Seriously? Weiss wasn't quite sure if she believed it; she'd though that she'd had the advantage in the practice match too, and that didn't turn out so well.
Shaking her head to focus herself, Weiss altered the properties of the Glyph holding her opponent in place with a quick flip of the wrist, launching Pyrrha forward as though from a slingshot. Unlike the panicked flailing that Jaune had exhibited in these circumstances though, Weiss found that Pyrrha remained, as was to be expected, much more collected; she held her shield forward as she rocketed in Weiss's direction. Taking full advantage of the mobility glyph on which she stood, Weiss dodged the human projectile bludgeon of her own making. Adjusting Myrtenaster's chamber again, Weiss fired a volley of ice-Dust projectiles, which fixed themselves to Pyrrha's wrists and ankles as she staggered to regain her footing. Setting Myrtenaster to the white setting, Weiss now launched herself forward for the finishing blow. Unable to recover her stance as Weiss rocketed for her, turned Milo around in her hand, still free above the block of ice which now encased her wrist and awkwardly yanked the trigger with her thumb. When the dust had settled, Myrtenaster's blade was situated inches from Pyrrha's throat and Milo was similarly acquainted to Weiss's sternum.
"Well…" Weiss spoke first, between heaving breaths, "It seems that you were right…"
Pyrrha smiled, stepping back awkwardly, still encumbered, "See? You just need to make full use of your advantages,"
"I can't thank you enough for this Pyrrha," Weiss relaxed her own posture now, "I really needed this,"
"It was nothing," Pyrrha shrugged, shattering the icy shackles with a concentrated burst of her aura, "You already had all the tools; you just had to open you mind and clear you head a little,"
"I guess…"
Pyrrha's brow furrowed, "Is there something else?"
"Not really; it's just that our team practice match was a bit of a wake-up call for me,"
"Oh?" Pyrrha asked, "Though now that you bring it up, I do recall you and Yang having some issues after that,"
"Yeah," Weiss admitted, sheathing Myrtenaster with a slight nod, "I… didn't take losing very well… and Yang didn't take that particularly well…"
"Hmm…" Pyrrha thought aloud, "If I may… I think your problem is that you expect too much of yourself,"
"Excuse me?"
"You aren't willing to accept that you can't handle everything on your own," Pyrrha clarified.
I have no patience for failure.
Weiss sighed, this too was an accurate assessment, "You could say that it doesn't sit well with the family creed,"
"You know Weiss, we have something in common," Pyrrha stated apropos of nothing, provoking a puzzled look from Weiss before she explained, "Both of us were expecting to be team leader, yes?"
Weiss bit her lip; it was still a bit of a sore subject, "Yes,"
Pyrrha nodded, "The difference then, is that for me, getting passed over was actually a relief, whereas you were plainly disappointed,"
Weiss was silent.
"Correct me if I'm wrong, and please, stop me if I'm overstepping, but either you don't know how, or don't want to lean on anyone; that's why you can't lead Weiss; a leader doesn't try to face everything alone, they take point and guide their followers to success,"
Weiss nodded and swallowed, "What about you?"
"Huh?"
"Why were you relieved to be passed over? You're probably the strongest student at Beacon, yet you're relieved to have, and I say this as a friend, vomit boy as your team leader?"
Pyrrha chuckled, "Yeah, weird, I know… I' good at fighting and killing Grimm but…" she admitted with a sheepish smile and a nod of the head in the direction of her team leader, who was currently sprawled on a bench, "…but I'm not exactly what you'd call 'assertive,'"
Weiss couldn't suppress a chuckle, "I still don't know what you see in him,"
Pyrrha blushed, "He's a nice guy…"
