Teams LBTR, RWBY and JNPR all walked out onto the bright sunny field together, moving towards the arena that was to be used for combat training with Goodwitch. They were already in full armour and held their weapons, either sheathed or de-activated, prepared for what was to come.
As the rest of the cohort entered the arena, Goodwitch started.
"Welcome to Combat Training, students. As you all know, I am professor Goodwitch. Today will not be an introductory lesson, as we all obviously know what fighting is. So, put simply, I'm going to pair you up with someone in the same general area who isn't from your team and make you fight. Everyone will fight at the same time, due to time restraints, so check your scrolls to see who your sparring partner will be."
The teams checked their scrolls and saw their partners. It was Ruby versing Nora, Jaune versing Yang, Belle and Blake, Phyrra against Travis, Weiss against Rachel and Luka versus Ren.
Ruby walked up to Nora and smiled, the Red-headed berserker returning the sentiment. Yang walked over to Jaune and put her arm around his shoulder, smiling menacingly. Belle and Blake simply bowed to each other and then stared, both attempting to un-nerve the other. Phyrra and Travis clasped their hands together, giving each other a firm handshake. Ren smiled at Luka, who returned the grin just as much. Neither smile reached the eyes. Both fighters were immediately analysing their opponent, looking for any obvious strengths and weaknesses.
"Are the participants ready?" Goodwitch asked. She didn't wait for an answer. "Start!"
Ruby and Nora immediately deployed their weapons and charged, clashing together in a blur of red, orange and pink. Ruby disengaged and swung her scythe around to fire, only to find herself face to face with a ridiculous emoticon spray-painted onto the front of one of Nora's grenades. Ruby fired randomly and evaded the bomb, re-acquainted herself with reality and fired at Nora once more. The Valkyrie herself didn't wait for Ruby to recover and immediately charged the Reaper, firing a grenade as she sailed over another battle, using her momentum and another grenade to slam into where Ruby was. The hooded girl barely escaped the Warhammer, mistiming her shots slightly and nearly costing her the match. The area of effect damage from the extra firepower knocked her away, severely damaging her already weakened aura.
Ruby decided it was time to go on the offensive. She ran up to Jaune, who was barely surviving the Blonde Brawlers assault, kicked off (And fired a round into) his shield and launched herself up, too high for Nora's grenades to effectively hit her, and rained down on her unsuspecting opponent, who had lost her in the flurry of chaos and rose petals. Nora didn't escape the hail, but did fire her own shots into the sky, attempting to hit the red reaper. Most were destroyed in the metal rain, and the others flew clear of Ruby.
The scythe wielder fell onto her defeated opponent, helping her up and then supported her as they walked back to the safe zone. To her surprise, Nora was laughing.
As soon as Goodwitch said 'start', Jaune knew he was doomed. He only just deployed his shield when the first augmented fist collided with it. The rest of the time was spent with him hiding behind it as Yang lazily pummelled him into the dirt. Please Oum, help me! Jaune pleaded to the heavens as Yang winded up for a haymaker, when suddenly, as if the gods had answered his plea, Ruby collided with his shield, numbing his arm completely and knocked him out of the fists' path. Yang lost her balance, expecting to find Jaune underneath her fiery grip, but found air instead.
Jaune may have been weak, but he wasn't stupid, and he knew an opportunity when it came. Abandoning his useless shield, he charged the brawler and hacked at her repeatedly. He got a few hits in before another metal encased missile hit him, except this time there was no shield to deflect the fist, and the Yang got him square in the chest, sending him flying into another participant. As soon as he hit the student, the sound of a very large rifle resounded in his ear as a massive projectile sailed over his head. He got up to see that he had hit Weiss.
"Uh, hi there, snow angel…" he said awkwardly. She huffed and threw him off, immediately returning to her own battle.
As soon as the white fencer was clear, a dark shadow descended over Jaune. He looked up to see the grinning figure of Yang, her fists alight. She only winked at him before jumping up into the air and falling on top of him. There was a flash of pink and an explosion, and then a large, heavy object landed on him. Jaune opened his eyes to find Yang, unconscious, and sprawled on top of him.
"Uh, does this mean I win?" Jaune asked himself aloud.
There was a loud sigh from his left and he turned to see Goodwitch flanked by two medics
"Yes, mister Arc, it means you win by default."
Belle immediately activated her staff, the crackling sound of electricity heralding the sparks that ignited the head with a wreath of flames. Blake pulled out her weapon and lashed the ribbon around a tree, effectively sling-shotting herself around and straight back at the fox. Belle summoned multiple glyphs that increased her own speed as she activated the blade set in the bottom, swinging at the cat as Blake swung her own weapon. They clashed and flew past each other, Belle using the head of her staff to leave a trail of fire that Blake flew into. The cat, now thoroughly singed, rolled along the floor before quickly recovering and firing her gun at Belle, who was now out of staff range.
Belle tried to deflect the bullets, but the thin staff just didn't do the job. She summoned another glyph and launched herself at the cat, who stopped firing and folded out her katana, running at the fox for another clash. Just before they hit, Belle summoned another glyph and dashed to the side, a plume of fire appearing where she had been only seconds earlier, burning Blake once more. Blake dashed out of staff range and switched her weapon back into its gun form, pelting the fox with a hail of bullets. Belle jumped up into the sky, right into the path of one of Nora's grenades.
She snatched the bomb and threw it at Blake, following it down with yet another glyph. Blake shot the bomb which created a cloud of pink smoke, obscuring the fox. She deployed her katana just in time for the mage to fly out of the smoke and directly into her, the staff head and the katana sparking. Belle then concentrated on the sparks, pouring so much magical power into the slight flame that it detonated in their faces. She landed to find her target disappear in a puff of smoke, and the real Blake on her knees, panting at the exertion. They were about to engage each other one more when a high-vis vest wearing 3rd year blew a whistle and waved them down, telling them that the match was undecided, but over.
They both staggered over to each other and shook hands, before supporting each other with their arms as they travelled over to the safe zone where, Ruby, Nora, Jaune and an unconscious Yang awaited them
Unlike most fights, Pyhrra started off slowly, observing the towering bull as he lazily twirled his axe, as if he wasn't worried about the fight what so ever. After she was satisfied that she could win based on the intelligence she had gathered, she used her semblance to speed up the axe, causing him to fumble for a bit until he regained control. This time, however, he didn't twirl it, but spun it around until he had it in a ready position. They watched each other for a while until a pink and blue blur sped straight past them. The proverbial gates then opened as both warriors charged, the Axe colliding with the shield with a lot more power than she had given him credit for. Her spear slipped under his guard, but then slid off an invisible shield, causing her to lose her balance and stumble. It was a nigh fatal mistake, as Travis then spun around faster that she thought possible and slammed her in the back, sending her a good few metres away. Her aura had already taken a lot of damage, and Travis was still almost full.
She back-flipped away from the bull and deployed her rifle, taking cover behind her shield. She fired round after round into his armour as well as using her semblance to drag him away from her as he unsuccessfully attempted to get closer to the Spartan, never getting the chance of a good run-up. The dust rounds took a heavy toll on his aura, so he concentrated it in his legs and allowed his armour to absorb the damage. He then changed his mode and fired slug after slug from the Auto-cannon into Pyhrra, who barely escaped the barrage.
She switched to her sword form and lanced into him, getting up close with her blade, inside the axes arc. They locked for a second, her shield against his axe as she stabbed her sword into his chest, attempting to degenerate his Aura as fast as she could. She was almost there when she heard the sound of a chainsaw. She looked up and saw that Travis had flipped the axe over to the chain teeth pointed at her. He then dis-engaged from the lock and pushed down on the axe into her shoulder, rapidly depleting her aura. She dis-engaged with the sliver of power she had left and turned to fire her rifle, only to be slammed once again as unconsciousness overtook her.
Travis watched as the last reserves of his power sent his opponent flying into the safe zone. Completely accidentally. He smiled to himself as he thought about his fight before collapsing on the floor, joining the Spartan in unconsciousness.
Weiss was frustrated. Not only had she been told that she was unworthy for a leadership position, but apparently the scythe wielding dunce was more qualified. Now she was pissed, and she wasn't going to waste time in proving herself, especially against a Faunus. She spun the chamber on Myrtenaster, activated a glyph and lanced straight for the cat, attempting to end the bout in a single blow. Much to her dismay, the cat side-stepped and pulled out dual SMGs, pelting her with dust-rounds from 50 metres away. Weiss, furious at herself for not completely annihilating her target, swung around and tried again, with similar results. She roared with anger and went for it for a third time, but this time she stopped short of her target, surprising Rachel as Weiss then assaulted her. Rachel back-flipped away and fired her SMGs, attempting to stop the icy onslaught. Weiss never gave her a chance as she ruthlessly speared Rachel over and over until she was sure that victory was hers, until Rachel wasn't there.
Rachel, using her semblance, ended up far away from the dis-orientated fencer. She deployed her rifle, took aim and barraged the princess. The hyper accurate rounds found their target every time, taking their toll on Weiss' Aura. Weiss tracked the source of the barrage and found Rachel, immediately charging her once more. Rachel activated her Rifles ability and took aim. Satisfied that the princess was going to stay on course, she fired, the round lighting up with a golden power, sailing straight towards the princess. As soon as the shell had exited the chamber, Weiss was slammed into the ground. She re-orientated herself and found Jaune on top of her.
"Uh, hi there, snow angel…" he attempted. Weiss huffed and threw him off, immediately charging off towards the sniper, into the heavy shell that she was previously saved from. Her Aura dipped into dangerous territory, but she ignored the biological warning signs and stood up, ready to finish the fight. An upperclassman shouted at them that the battle was over, but she ignored him, charging the sniper. Rachel, who had stood down when she was told to, was not expecting the white flurry to dart towards her. Nor was she expecting it to suddenly trip over and face-grind into the dirt for a few metres as a black ring circled her legs. Goodwitch summoned the medics and sent them off to look after the princess.
"Weiss, after complaining about your leader, and then offering yourself for the position, I would have expected you to show off something that made you worthy of the position. Letting you emotions rule is not a quality we look for in leadership. I expected you to know better, considering your record."
Rachel stood awkwardly as she watched the white haired detainee as she was pulled from the earth and unceremoniously thrown over one of the medics' shoulders as they took her away, the look of guilt and shame evident even as she slipped into unconsciousness.
As soon as Goodwitch gave the signal, the two boys immediately drew their weapons, both observing the other, waiting for their opponent to give away their weakness. Ren was the first, taking the initiative and launching a ranged strike, leaving himself open to retaliation. Taking the bait, knowing full well it was a trap, Luka leaped out of the way and retaliated in kind. The two fired at each other until they ran out of ammo. Luka went to reload, inevitably surprised when Ren went on the offensive once more, running towards him with Storm Flower, the blades gleaming wickedly in the afternoon light. Luka snapped the revolver closed and pulled out his sword just in time to deflect the blades. The impact knocked Luka back slightly and Ren took the opportunity. Luka was constantly off-balance, never getting the chance to counter attack, until he shocked Ren. The current, with power equivalent to a Taser, coursed through Storm Flower as Ren struck the metal blade of Vox Lupus, dis-orientating the warrior enough for Luka to dis-engage and recover. Luka then brutally took the opportunity to give himself superiority by running up to the disorientated man and round-kicking him in the head before back-flipping away, deploying his bow and firing.
Ren shook off the kick just in time to receive the deadly projectiles, Lukas' arrows flew towards him in a hail of metal and wood. He quickly recovered, taking the first three arrows before using his aura to shatter the projectiles. Luka saw that his assault was in-effective and folded up his bow, switching back to his gun and sword combo, rushing his opponent. Ren saw the assault and blocked the bullets with his aura, only to collide with the Wolf. Ren dis-armed Luka with a well-placed fist, only for Luka to retaliate in kind, slamming into Rens' chin and then kneeing him twice. Luka dropped his opponent and went to retrieve his weapon only to receive a flying kick to the back seconds later. Ren quickly followed up by boosting himself with aura and grabbing the stunned wolfs' body armour from behind, launching himself towards the lone oak tree that stood in the centre of the arena. Luka quickly broke the hold on one of Rens' hands before swinging around and grappling the CQC fighter, launching towards the tree. They bypassed many fighters, either still engaged or moving towards the medical bay. They were a swirl of blue and pink aura, each attempting to gain the dominant position before they collided with the thick trunk of the oak. Neither fighter gained the position, and they kicked off of each other seconds before impact.
After colliding with the ground, both teens stood up. Ren looked as if he was about to keel over, whereas Luka looked ready to fight a pack of Ursai. Goodwitch walked over to the fighters. A pair of medics carrying a white body while being followed by the meek form of Rachel bypassed her on their way to the safe zone. She looked at her scroll for a second before promptly chucking it to Luka.
"Care to explain?"
Luka looked down to see the scroll flicker to life, the stats of both Ren and Luka, both aura's flashing in the low red. He shrugged and handed the device back, which promptly flashed the 'low battery' signal and shut down. He then realised that he had unconsciously activated his semblance and had been draining power from nearby electrical sources, including scrolls. He de-activated his semblance and let the built up electrical power flow back into their original sources. The scroll flickered to life once more, softening the professors features. She examined the aura bars and quickly came to a judgment.
"You can either end this with a draw, or go for a sudden death round. One more hit and you'd both be unconscious anyway."
The teens looked at each other and simultaneously shook their heads, supporting each other as they stumbled back to the safe zone.
"A wise choice. Oh, and Luka?" Goodwitch asked, gaining the attention of the weary wolf. "I owe you an apology. And my condolences." She stated, walking off towards the ongoing fights, confusing the wolf.
The three teams were all assembled at the safe point, medics and nurses quickly healing wounds as small packs of an unknown liquid were distributed between the students. The thick liquid didn't taste of anything in particular, but did wonders to re-energise the students. The almost all of unconscious students had recovered, excluding Weiss, who was apparently too stubborn to regain consciousness, either naturally or forcibly, according to the doctors. Pyhrra had somehow managed to land on the ground, and not in one of the medical tents. The teams were discussing their fights, Jaune retelling his tale of fear.
"…I literally thought you were going to knock me into next year, and I most certainly didn't expect to win."
"At least I went out with a bang!" Yang shouted, punching the air, causing all the other students to groan. "What, it wasn't that bad, was it?"
"It was awful." Ruby replied, with a general consensus from the other students.
Luka checked his watch, analogue, to prevent his natural static electricity damaging the time-telling device, and nudged his fellow leaders.
"We got about ten minutes until the next lesson starts. I'll see you there"
Ruby nodded and Jaune grunted, listening to Pyhrra and Travis' tale of battle.
