Remnant's Most Wanted
AN: It's been a long day for me. The kind of day when my family is just so insufferable that it just makes me tired. Maybe I can channel a little bit of that into this chapter. Also, if you didn't know, I do have a YouTube channel where I talk about RWBY on a regular basis.
Chapter 11: Stars in His Eyes
Nova sat in the stands of Beacon's Pit. The arena was the location of Beacon's combat class. It was simple. People would split into groups or solo against training dummies for the first half. Then there would be a few spars. Because of how short the class was, there would only be two or three fights per day.
This was the first fight of the day. Nephrite was fighting team CHRD's Chernobog Night. He was one of only three Faunas in the class. It made sense, Faunas had it really rough during the Grimm War. Now over eighty percent of living Faunas lived in Vacuo or Mistral. And the ones that lived in Vale, usually lived the life of merchants or other humble working folk.
Nephrite was having trouble landing a hit on the antelope-Faunas. His dust spear and armor provided great defense against Nephrite's wind bullets. She spun to kick his head and he ducked under it. She pivoted around and hit him with her other foot. She spun in the air, firing her guns and landing several hits. He rushed her as she landed and landed a blow of his own. Nephrite tripped him up and landed a massive palm strike to his chest.
"That's enough." Professor Ren said as the lights went up. Nova's gaze went to the aura meters. Chernobog's was in the red. Nephrite's was right there. "Chernobog's aura has gone into the red. In a tournament style duel, that would mean he's eliminated."
"Dang." Chernobog said as Nephrite helped him up. Nephrite then lost her balance but was caught by her father.
"Can either of you tell me where you went wrong?" Ren asked. Nephrite flinched with anticipation. She was edging to go next. All she needed to do was wait for the so-called lesson to end.
"I had her on the ropes." Chernobog said. "I lost my balance."
"Why did you lose your balance?" Ren asked. Chernobog thought for a second. Nephrite seemed a little perplexed at the question as well.
"I know the answer." Johnny raised his hand.
"Damn know-it-all." Nova cursed. She was so sick and tired on Johnny's whole perfect student shtick.
"Well then Johnny…what's your hypothesis?" Ren asked.
"Chernobog had her on the ropes. He sacrificed his footing for a critical strike but it wasn't enough."
"You're in the right direction." Ren said.
"I was doing better when I was fighting defensively." Chernobog said. "Nephrite has always been a cautious fighter, evading damage and waiting for critical strikes. Which she couldn't land because of my defense. I thought I could end the fight by taking advantage of her stamina."
"You underestimated your opponent." Ren said. "If this were a Grimm, you'd be dead." He turned to address the whole class. "Indeed, we are the ones who hunt monsters. But it doesn't matter how tough you are. If you sacrifice your position for a killing strike without thinking, you open yourself up to being swallowed. And no amount of aura will save you from that. Now, who's next?"
Nova's hand shot up. The rules of challenge were simple. The challenger could introduce whatever handicaps they wanted. Nephrite had demonstrated this on day one by challenging Nova to hand to hand, no weapons. Nova had won that bout but it was more of a demonstration than a declaration. Nephrite had held back to let everyone in the class know how that handicap worked.
There were also team fights. Citrine had once challenged Topaz and Nephrite, and brought Eiess in as her partner. It was also rare, however unlikely, for stacked odds. Nova was above such petty displays but she had heard of entire teams challenging a single person. But that's not what Nova wanted.
"I challenge Johnny Clay." Nova said. A bold move. He was the top ranked student in the school. Strait As, team leader, zero losses in the Pit, all of that had given him a big reputation. But he was Nova's partner. If anyone could figure out how he's so good, she could.
"Interesting…most students don't challenge their partners." Ren took his scroll out and loaded up their data to the screen. "Any handicaps you wish to administer?"
"No."
"Do you accept the challenge Mr. Clay."
"I'd be happy to oblige." Johnny said.
Nova jumped down to the arena. The lights dimmed around the crowd and lit up the bottom of the Pit. Nova brandished Jumelle Buteur, ready for combat. Johnny looked relaxed on the other side of the ring. He twirled his flashlight in his hand. The thin silver tube packed a punch from what Nova could see.
The battle began and Nova was the first to attack. She dashed back and forth toward Johnny, trying hard to keep her movements unpredictable. She rolled and used her semblance. Her real body attacked his legs and her clone spun to kick his head. He dodged both strikes and evaded her follow up, an ascending strike. He pivoted on his foot and delivered a strong kick to her back.
She tossed around on the ground and fired her grappling hook. He dodged it and it hooked to the wall. The zipped towards him, firing her gun as she did. He dodged the bullets so Nova changed tactics. She fired to her side to change her trajectory. She freed the hook from the wall and linked the swords together. She did a side flip and swung at his side. He deflected the blow with his flashlight and aimed it at her.
The white light shot at her. Just in time, she used a clone to throw herself into the air. She used her grappling hook to swing from the ceiling. As she freed the hook and tossed in the air, she fired blindly down at him. He sidestepped and stood where no bullets landed.
With a snarl of frustration, she tossed a smoke grenade at his feet. She landed in the cloud but missed her swings. She fired a charged thunder-shot into the air. The lights dimmed further, clouding the vision of everyone except the Faunas in the room. Faunas like her.
She attacked him with his clone first. He managed to block the strikes. Good, maybe his vision was clouded enough to not see the attack in time to dodge. Nova flanked his left and swung at him. The grinding of her swords against his light created glimpses of light that reflected off his starry blue eyes.
He caught her wrist as she swung for his neck. She felt the flashlight on her stomach as he fired. She was smashed against the wall. The next instant the clouds were dispersed by his weapon, as was the smoke. She cursed out loud as she rushed him again. This time he hit her with a swift jab to the face, a slap on the wrist, and a kick to the chin.
The buzzer rang and the lights came up. She pounded the ground in anger. His aura was still in the green. Hers was in the red. Johnny stood over her with his hand out. She swatted it away and picked herself up.
"Do you…" Ren started.
"No, I don't!" She yelled. "I don't know what I did wrong." Ren sighed.
"You got angry. You tried using your head and you fought well." Ren said. "But the transitions were not smooth and you telegraphed many of your moves. Against any normal opponent, it would be good enough. Against the Grimm it would be inconsequential."
"Then why did I lose so badly?!" Nova said pointing to Johnny but looking at Ren.
"Not every loss is a learning experience…at least not in the same way. You used your knowledge of Johnny to your advantage. Johnny used your knowledge of you to his. You didn't realize it the way he had."
"I know how you work." Johnny said. "Unpredictability is its own predictability." Nova clenched her fists tighter. "It's just one of those things you can't avoid."
'You fought a superior opponent and lost.' Her mother's voice scowled in her head. Nova grit her teeth at her failure. He was still in the green. She didn't even stand a chance.
"That's all we have time for today." Ren said.
Nova took her cue and stormed off. All her friends went to lunch. She went to her room. She took a serving of sushi out of the room's minifridge and began to eat it. Ariadne walked in with her flute and began playing.
"Aren't you going to eat?" Nova asked.
"I'm on a diet." Ariadne said. "Trying to cut meat and sugar out of my diet." She said. "Plus, this is the only time I have to actually practice the flute." She kept playing. The music soothed Nova's mind. But it offered no catharsis. After her classes, Nova would probably go into town with her headphones and take an enthusiastic walk.
"It's so frustrating." Nova said.
"Want to talk about it?"
"No."
"Well, you fought well." Ariadne said. "I think you're in the top five in our class. You're way better than me, or anyone else from Lighthouse. You're even better than Nephrite and her dad's the instructor."
"None of that matters if I can't hold a candle to Johnny." Nova scowled.
"Not everyone can be the best." Ariadne said.
"Well, I want to be." Nova held her hand up to the celling as she laid down. "Team RWBY is heralded as the greatest team to ever come from Beacon."
"That was your mom's team, right? The same one Citrine and Eiess' mothers were in."
"Yep." Nova said flatly.
"Well then take their advice. It's no use living in your mother's shadow."
"I don't want to live in my mother's shadow. Far as I'm concerned that shadow is a curse. At least Citrine and Eiess can look at their moms as positive role models. That's who I want to be like. My mom is a coward. The only reason she's considered a hero is because of the people around her. I'm not like her. I don't care about her. I want to be the best because if she could be considered one of the best, then just imagine what I can do."
"You're not making any sense."
"Do you know the last person to be accepted into Beacon early?"
"I don't recall."
"She's considered a once in a generation hero. That's what I strive to be. Everyone keeps saying to keep moving forward. It's the golden rule of Remnant. Well, only way to know how I'm progressing is to mark myself against the best. That's what I want to be."
"Well, I'm not one for fighting." Ariadne admitted. "I learned to fight just so that I…well, I don't like to talk about it. But suffice to say that the huntsmen can't be everywhere at once. But if I can keep a town safe, that's one less place to worry about."
"That's noble thinking." Nova said.
"Anyway, take care." Ariadne stood up. "I'm going to get ready for Herbology."
"Kuso, I have math next."
"Well good luck." Ariadne said. She stopped when she got to the door. "You're strong. Don't let anyone else tell you otherwise."
AN: Well, that's it for that chapter. I'm keeping some character stuff close to my chest for later arcs, reveals and likewise. But we got a big look at Nova's outlook. That'll be coming into play. If you couldn't tell by the name of this arc and Nova's intro chapter, she's going to be a driving force in the coming chapters. Please review, follow and favorite and support my youtube channel, same name as on here.