The time has come. Now it starts, but my twist on everything shall keep you wondering on what will happen.
Here is Round 1, and instead of it being Kicks and Punches, it's now P V P
Let's see if any of you can realize what's going on. It's a real game changer for both sides.
Leave a review! OR ELSE!
Chapter 36 - So it Begins
Day 3, Round 1:
P V P
"Does something seem . . . different about Pyrrha?" I ask, watching as the world renowned fighter steps into the center
"She's been acting strange all morning. It's almost like she's a different person."
"She didn't want her pancakes at all today!"
"She ignored Nora's usual morning greeting and went straight for the bathroom. She's definitely lacking in her usual, cheery attitude."
Everything the rest of Team JNPR says makes me worry. It's unlike Pyrrha to give the cold shoulder to her teammates, especially to Jaune who's told me of Pyrrha's desire to impress him.
"The Vytal Festival Tournament is a big deal . . . She could just be nervous and not want to tell anyone. It's the kind of person she is." Blake enters the conversation.
"I guess . . . where're the sisters?" Ren asks.
At the moment, five seats are being occupied, starting from my far left is Jaune, Nora, then Ren. To my right is Blake with two empty seats next to her.
"Ruby's experiencing her first hangover. Yang is giving remedies." I explain without turning my head to face any of the three who I'm sure are glaring daggers at me for not elaborating on the situation.
"Ruby drinks!? We have to do body shots!" Nora shouts, raising the obvious question from me.
"What are body shots?"
"I'll explain." Blake butts in, bringing a look of defeat to Nora who turns her attention back to the center stage while Pyrrha waits for her fellow combatant.
"It's a highly . . . inappropriate way of consuming alcohol . . . usually it's done at parties. It involves pouring alcohol on someone else and then drinking it . . .or taking a shot, locking the salt off of someone's body part, then moving their lips to exchange a lime they're holding in their teeth. I'm sure Yang could tell you every possible method if you're that curious."
"That's . . . highly unsanitary." I mutter back to Blake who nods her head and faces forward. I decide to follow her lead, seeing another redhead making their way to center stage. If I recall, Penny is the weird girl that Ruby's become great friends with. I'll have to tell Ruby the results.
"Here's our first match of the day! Pyrrha Nikos of Beacon versus Penny Polendina of Atlas." Professor Port announces.
The center hexagon begins to rise into the air, showing that there are no more special stages or environments to be used. This will be a one-on-one of pure skill and experience.
"3, 2, 1, begin!"
Pyrrha is quick to make the first move and launches her shield at Penny who manipulates her blades to deflect the blow. Despite her deflecting the shield, Penny goes flying far off of the stage while the shield rapidly comes towards us without any faltering in its speed. Despite how far the center of the stage is from the protective dome, the shield hits the forcefield right in front of us with an electrifying sound that makes the five of us recoil.
When did Pyrrha get that strong!?
Penny makes short work of recovering my lining her blades up in pairs, utilizing some sort of synergy in their design that allows her to use them as some form of afterburner - for a lack of better words.
However, when Penny lands Pyrrha doesn't seem to be paying any mind, and instead is looking in our direction, more specifically at her distant shield that's a rather large distance away. I'm curious if she can even reach it with her semblance.
"The power behind that attack . . . Miss Nikos is left without her shield after Miss Polendina's expert parry!" Port exclaims.
"I wonder if Miss Nikos was looking for the one-hit knockout with that one." Oobleck questions.
Pyrrha slowly raises her hand, obviously doubting if her semblance can reach. I'm sure the rest of her team knows her limitations.
"What's she doing?" Jaune is the first to burst out. "That's over twice the distance she can reach? Why is she even trying?"
As I suspected.
"Wait . . . look." Ren whispers.
With Jaune's announcement that Pyrrha's definitely too far - in fact being twice the distance she can use her semblance - all of our jaws drop when the shield lifts up with minimal effort from the sword-wielding redhead; well, single sword.
With her shield rocketing back towards the stage, Penny is quick to launch her next attack. Just like she used her swords earlier as an afterburner, she sets them up in the same alignment, this time using those beams as projectiles to shoot at Pyrrha.
"How is she controlling all of those? Are they build that way or is it a semblance?" Blake asks, caught in awe at Penny's ability to multitask.
"If it's a semblance then it is impressive . . . I still can't move my glyphs around like that. I can only keep them stationary." I admit, thinking on how difficult a similar task with my own semblance could be.
The entire fight can only be described as awkward. The very few hits that Penny manages to get close enough for Pyrrha to guard are smacked away with minimal effort despite the constant barrage of six blades. One strike from Pyrrha leads to a sizable chunk of Penny's aura level to deplete whether it is a direct hit or guarded. On the other hand, all hits that are blocked by Pyrrha show minimal effects on her aura.
However, Penny's offense is commendable. She offers Pyrrha little chance to breathe and always has at least one of her blades moving in for an attack at any given time. The artistic sword dance eventually reaps results when she manages to disarm both Pyrrha's sword and shield, even going as far as to block them mid flight when they're about to be retrieved.
Two blades constantly encircle Pyrrha while the other form regroup around Penny and begin to spiral in front of the adept Atlesian. The blades start to spiral faster, a large orb of green light forming in front of them as they rotate.
"Oh no." Blake shoots up from her seat. "That attack; she did it during the White Fang operation at The Shipyard . . . She used that to slice two airships in half!"
"WHAT!?" The four of us shout, our eyes focusing on what's about to happen. Pyrrha's far too distracted with the two blades, using the bracer on her left hand as a means to deflect them while she constantly attempts to at least get her shield back into her possession. Unfortunately, Penny makes sure to keep the shield from being repossessed, proving her skills as a crafty combatant. In fact, she only lets up on her assault when one of her swords manages to trip the evasive redhead, allowing her to bring both blades back to finish forming the large green orb.
"Pyrrha!" Jaune jumps from his seat, looking on with worry as well as the rest of us. At that moment, both of Penny's arms reel back, then launch forward to trigger a mass of six beams that spiral and swirl into one entity.
With no time to dodge, Pyrrha does what any experienced fighter would do on reflex: She holds out both of her hands in hopes of somehow, someway find the power to block the lethal blow. From what I can see, Pyrrha's arms aren't held out in front of her out of desperation.
Her posture, her focus, the fact that instead of holding out both arms, she's holding out her left arm and grasping onto that wrist with her right hand. Pyrrha knows she can stop this attack. The five us watch in awe as the blast goes straight for Pyrrha, but some sort of shield forms directly in front of the redheaded warrior that deflects the beam straight into the air.
Everyone in the stadium is treated to what destructive power was behind that blast when it manages to break the bubble around the arena. The blast rips through the ceiling, the rest of the protective barrier slowly fading away. The even causes some people to jump out of their seats to seek cover while others sit in awe at the display of power.
"My word!" Port shouts, taking the words right out of my mouth.
"Cut the cameras, End th-" Oobleck turns off his microphone while the center stage begins to lower. After everything that's said and done, I look up to the displayed aura levels, my eyes widening even further at what I see on display.
After all of that, Pyrrha still has over half of her aura while Penny's is probably another five percent from entering critical levels.
"How did she do that?" Ren whispers, staring into the sky at the destroyed barrier.
". . . T-that attack . . . destroyed the barrier." Jaune stares on with Ren.
I turn my view back to the center platform, seeing it has just been lowered back to the ground. The guards rush out to the center, quickly leading Penny out of the arena while Pyrrha stands there staring at her hands in disbelief of what she just did.
"Come on guys, let's get down there." Jaune commands after snapping out of his stupor. "You mind letting us handle this one, you two? I think it needs to be a team discussion first and foremost."
"Understandable. Knock on our door when you make it back at least." Blake answers for us.
"Send her our regards." I add, watching as three fourths of Team JNPR take off for the exit tunnel.
"Back to the dorm?" I ask while I begin to walk towards the main isle.
"Definitely. It's probably going to be crowded getting an airship." Blake sighs, realizing how many people must be itching to get a break from the arena after that display.
"Don't worry, I'm on it." I tell Blake while I pull out my scroll to call my sister. I decide to take a seat at the end of the row so I can talk with Winter without having to yell over the crowd that's forming near the exits. Her scroll rings a couple of times, and when it's answered a slightly deeper voice picks up, although it's still obviously female.
"Sup?" The girl greets.
"Who is this? Where is Winter?"
"Nice to hear from you too, Snow Angel." The voice scoffs. That nickname, that scoff, all of it comes together to make me realize who it is.
"Shun! Why are you answering my sister's scroll!? What did you do!?" I shout, knowing the two of them aren't on the greatest of terms.
"Relax. She's right here. Gimme a sec. Oh, did you see that fuckin' beacon of light coming from well . . . Beacon!? That shit was insane!"The faunus shouts, but with my lack of a response it sounds like she's settled for finding my sister, wherever she may be. I remain quiet, listening intently to try gathering any information I can while the phone is delivered to my sister.
"It's for you."
"General Ironwood!?"
"Nah, your sister. Ironwood called like half an hour ago, though.
"What!?"
"Kidding."
"Gamin."
"Princess."
Their back and forth is quick, but it also seems much friendlier, almost like the form of teasing Yang and I could go back and forth with. It's not long before my sister's voice comes through loud and clear.
"Is something the matter, Weiss? I saw the tournament before the feed was cut. Are there any casualties?" Winter asks, worry in her voice now that she's talking to me, although I'm sure if there was a real emergency then she would've been called by Ironwood.
"Everything is fine . . . It's just a bit of a commotion after that . . . display. I was wondering if your ship is in the air so Blake and I could get a quicker ride back to Beacon." I explain.
"I see . . . T minus 10, Southern dock."
"Thank you. May I ask why is Shun with you . . . or where are the two of you?"
"She's offering me company after a very bothersome evening. That is all. I'll talk to you soon, Weiss." Winter answers and hangs up before I get the chance for a followup question.
"Well?" Blake asks. I'm sure she heard my half of the conversation, but she's never a person to prod into the affairs of others - pun intended.
"Southern docking station. It should be there by the time we arrive." I respond.
The two of us begin our walk. Blake decides to take the lead, possibly because she has a bigger frame than I do, making her a little more adept at pushing through crowds. While we struggle to get by the mass of people, Blake snatches my wrist to assure we do not lose each other. The hot, crowded halls of the colosseum are far from anything I would normally tolerate, but thankfully it isn't long before we escape the crowded halls and bleed out into the fairgrounds.
"My turn." I say with confidence and start to form a stairwell of glyphs that raise us above the huddled masses that are making their way towards the docking stations. I start making a path of glyphs on the same plane, letting them act as a walkway for Blake and I to enjoy the cool breeze and spacious environment on our walk around the colosseum to find the docking station we need.
We're currently at the Eastern Docking Station, meaning our destination is another 'quarter circle' away. From our elevated walkway it isn't a long walk at all, but we assure to take our time, allowing the airship to just barely beat us there.
The long, blue ribbons along the wings look even more beautiful up close than when I first saw the ship fly above the Amity Colosseum. The pilot can see my glyph path and acts accordingly to hover at the same elevation as my pathing of glyphs. The ship turns completely around, the back ramp lowering for us to walk aboard with a few Atlesian Knights standing guard.
Once inside, the ramp raises and a voice greets us over the intercom.
"Welcome aboard, Miss Schnee. Will you be traveling to Beacon Academy or Vale?"
"Beacon, and please, no rush." I request.
The area we have to sit is possibly the size of our room if not slightly bigger. A large, red couch sits on one of the far walls, distinguishing itself from the silver interior among the poor lighting. I am the first to sit down while Blake makes herself comfortable to my right.
"So," Blake starts, I assume she's going to bring up what happened with Pyrrha, "do you really like my ears?"
What?
"Where did that come from?" I raise an eyebrow at her question.
"Last night . . . "
Oh . . .
Realizing where Blake's information came from, I turn my head away and take a deep breath. Yes, I like her ears, but Yang's constant referencing to them along with Ruby chiming in every once in awhile deters me from offering my own compliments. In my eyes, complimenting her ears is only saying I admire her Faunus side as opposed to Blake as a whole.
"I do, but of course I find other things about you very appealing." I defend to not let her think I'm obsessed with her faunus trait.
"Oh? Go on." Blake offers a soft smile, something I don't often see from her when Yang isn't around.
"Well, your sense of dressing is a nice mix between casual and mysterious. Your amber irises are also very appealing, especially in dim light." I feel myself starting to ramble, but I've started down a path I can't really break away from. It's not until my fourth mention that Blake holds her hand up to stop be, the faunus in disguise laughing for some reason.
"Weiss, I don't mind that you like my ears. It's a relief that you accept them." Blake explains, still fighting away a few chuckles. "Besides, if you keep going down the list, I'm going to start thinking you're hitting on me."
"What!? I . . . why would I do- ugh!" I fold my arms and look the other way, annoyed that Blake's easily gotten under my skin in the same manner that Yang can do so effortlessly.
Thankfully our shop lands within the next minute, allowing the two of us to disembark and make a quick entry through our room thanks to the back window being open. Blake decides to climb the nearby tree and hop in while I walk through with the assistance of my glyphs.
When we get inside, I turn right to see that Ruby is still on our bed with the covers covering everything but the top of her head. I should probably have made better preparations when it was decided this would be Ruby's first drinking night.
"Hey you two." Yang calls out from her and Blake's bed. To my surprise her voice is much quieter than normal. I never thought Yang could adjust her obnoxiously loud voice, but with her sister in pain, it's no surprise that her instincts as an older sister would kick in. "She's out cold, sit over here Weiss."
I nod, leaving Ruby to rest and choose to join the buzzing duo on their bed after kicking off my shoes. Yang is currently sitting with her back against the corner wall, idly flipping through her scroll to pass the time. Blake makes short work in taking off her boots and joins Yang by laying her head on the blond's lap. To my surprise she also takes off her bow. Yang's left hand almost immediately starts to brush over Blake's hair, drawing a smile to the brunette's lips.
I'm left sitting at the very edge of the bed, already feeling like a third wheel to the semi-cuddling duo. It's not until Yang lowers her scroll and looks at me that she pats the spot next to her, encouraging me to crawl over and sit at her side.
"Weiss was telling me all the things she finds appealing about me." Blake teases the moment I'm within earshot.
"Oh? Did she mention the Bellabooty?" Yang asks, making me start to inch away from slight discomfort. At least until she swings her right arm around me and tugs me back to make sure I can't get away from the two tallest members of the team.
"Surprisingly, no. She did admit that she likes my ears again, though." Blake quips and smirks at me. If looks could kill, my dagger-filled stare would've taken all of Blake's lives by now. "Think I should?"
"Should what?" I blink, not liking the cryptic phrasing that was just used.
"Yup, give her a treat!" Yang says with excitement and continues to tug me against her despite my slight struggles.
"What are you two planning?" I grunt, fighting a losing battle with Yang's vice-like grip.
"Relax, Ice Queen. Just pet the kitty ears." Yang states flatly, causing me to freeze and look at Blake who's staring right at me with her ears wiggling in a taunting manner.
"What?"
"Come on, Blake lets Ruby pet them once in awhile, just no pinching." Yang attempts to egg me on while Blake's focused stare and constant ear wiggling breaks away at each layer of my self control.
Eventually I cave in and reach out for Blake's faunus trait. My index and middle fingers are the first to touch her ear which lightly fluttered against my digits before settling down to let me brush over the soft fur. Blake's amber glare disappears behind her eyelids, and a long, drawn out sigh leaves the naturally quiet brunette's lips.
"They're so soft." I sigh, ceasing my fight against Yang's grip so I can lay on my stomach and get a closer look at Blake's ears. Both of my hands give attention to each ear separately, drawing a smile to my face at every little twitch, flick, and turn they do in response to me.
"Right? I get so mad when she keeps her ears covered in the room. You can see why now, right?" Yang snickers, possibly trying to get me to help her convince Blake to keep her bow off in the room.
"It's her choice, Yang." I respond without stopping in my motions. My fingers trail along the edges of the fluttering ears, a bright smile never leaves my lips. "They are cute, though . . ."
Times flies while I admire Blake's ears, and it's not until a highly inappropriate sound leaves Blake's lips that I flinch and let go of her ears altogether.
"Too much, Blakey?" Yang asks and leans down to kiss her girlfriend on the forehead.
"Mhm." Blake responds and opens her eyes again. I look down at the Faunus, noting the cheek-to-cheek blush, wondering what is it that I did to get that reaction from her.
"Blake's ears are real sensitive." Yang explains, a devious grin crossing her lips. "Mess with them too much and she'll blow."
"You mean- . . . I just . . . did she . . . WHAT!?" I shout, recoiling back, but Yang is quick to catch my arm and pull me towards her.
"No, she just couldn't keep quiet anymore." Yang snickers.
"It does feel nice to have my ears touched once in awhile." Blake admits.
"Why would you let me do that, then?" I sigh, an apologetic gaze directed towards Blake.
"Because you've never touched my ears." Blake says flatly. "It's not a big deal . . . I talked to Yang about it this morning."
"Yeah, I can't hog Blake's kitty ears all to myself . . . Although I think she likes how you touch them more than the way I touch them." Yang observes, making Blake roll her eyes.
"She's definitely more gentle . . . and has experience with cats . . . unlike you who only has experience with dogs." Blake bites, drawing out a few snickers from me.
"Yeah, yeah . . . Oh, did you two see that big light coming from the colosseum? It was like a giant flashbang." Yang says in her attempts to describe what she saw from the window.
"Should you tell her, or should I?" I ask, looking at Blake to see who should tell the tale of Penny and Pyrrha's clash.