AN
This chapter was a doozy to write. So many perspectives… So many potential flags to trip.
"What if this character is OOC? What if somebody leaves hate comments? Aaaaah!"
(Anxiety rises)
The truth is, all of them are going to be slightly OOC just because Yun exists. Some change more than others because of the effect of Yun's actions and some are just going to act a bit different or not even change at all.
Anyways, characterization is very difficult and if you really think that what I'm doing is wrong, send me a pm or leave a review to either just roast me or compliment me (but why would anybody do that?).
Basically, let the flames come! My self confidence is already nonexistent anyways!
That being said, enjoy the chapter.
-Spirit
(Discord: discord .gg / 9t9MK3jHmV)
…
…
From Their Eyes Vol. 2
Pyrrha POV: The Champion's Plight
Whenever I watched Yun fight, a hint of irritation always graced the edge of my mind.
First of all, his style didn't even make any sense. With his rather limited aura (he did lose to Weiss in about two attacks), he didn't really have the capability to be a brawler.
Yet he did anyways. He used his insane strategy to grab the blades of his Atlesian opponent's high tech weaponry.
All the while, Jaune sat beside me, taking notes.
Jaune. Another thing that Yun irritated me about.
Why was he so… insistent on training himself, and with Yun's training regiment? He even refused my help when I offered to help.
…(Six Months Ago)…
"Why are you always going on about "But Yun said this!" and "Yun told me to do this!" You're my partner!"I half-shouted at him, a lifetime of ingrained public relations training keeping me from completely letting loose with my emotions. Still, some of that exasperation leaked out, and the metal objects in the room quivered slightly, a black aura swirling over them.
"Calm down, Pyrrha."Jaune said, giving me a placating gesture with his hand and tucking that infuriating notebook into the desk drawer.
"Yun was the one who taught me how to fight, remember? And he beat me so many times even without his aura! He's really good at fighting, and whatever he does… works!"
"I'm a champion!" I said, gesturing to the trophies that I bought from my house."I'm good at fighting too!"
I then blushed and mentally berated myself for that childish outburst. Still, the mere thought of Yun, my pseudo-rival, was enough for my usually taciturn stage personality to start cracking.
"That's… true." Jaune said, giving the golden cups a glance. "But Yun beat you! Somehow! Again, without aura during that tournament!"
I opened my mouth to say something, but I just couldn't say anything.
He was right.
Yun was better than me.
And then, Yun lost a fight in combat class.
It reminded me of my own losses. Everybody's high expectations crashing down and turning into a stream of "Why did you let this outsider win?" and other comments.
The worst ones were from the media.
"The Invincible Girl's Unexpected Defeat!" "Mysterious New Champion disappears from Mistral"
All of those titles almost shouted at me as the bold letters peeked out from the newspaper stands, the words a stinging reminder of my defeat.
I took out the old trophies, polished them, and then put them on my shelf to distract myself from what was my first loss in a tournament setting.
(I really hated all of the media attention, but without all of the attention, and the feeling that winning a tournament still gave me, what was I? What did my hard work amount to?)
Beneath all of the attention, beneath the shattered title of the Invincible Girl, who was Pyrrha Nikos, a regular Mistralian girl?
I didn't know anymore.
So I did the only thing I could do. The only thing that I allowed myself to do, the one goal that was clearly defined after last year's disastrous tournament.
Train to defeat Yun.
I worked even harder. I wore out seven training dummies with a wooden sword, and had to tune up my mechashift weapon twenty times because of the amount of use it was suffering through..
At the beginning of the next tournament, Yun wasn't there.
The masked shadow that he was, quite literally haunting my dreams, was gone.
I felt happy… that I could reclaim my title.
But also a little… disappointed?
Still, he was gone from my life now, and it was time for me to move on.
(Even if I still meticulously trained, striking at phantoms in black robes in my imagination and polished my two, no - three trophies.)
The media attention was back. Titles like "Invincible Girl-Reclaims title!", "Mistral's Champion to go to Haven or Atlas?", "Pyrrha Nikos tops Teen Huntress Popularity Poll" appeared back on the shelves, and though I still hated it with a passion, looking at the assortment of newspaper clippings that my mom kept besides a small shrine to my deceased father, I was still kind of proud of being in the spotlight again.
…
Now, watching him as he struggled against a girl who could fly by using the ice on his armor to block an energy beam, I secretly hoped that he lost to his opponent.
Maybe now, I could finally win over him in something official. Reclaim the title of Champion completely and utterly. Fulfill the goal that had been the source my drive for the last two years.
Then, Jaune gasped in excitement. I focused again on the fights and saw Yun knocking Penny's arms out from in front of her.
"What's got you so excited, fearless leader?" Nora said, her hyperactive voice cutting the silence that had enveloped the crowd as the students of various academies and other civilians focused on the intense exchange.
"It's his BaJiQuan finisher! The palm strike to the chest!" he gushed, and even if I felt a pang in my heart of jealousy, I still appreciated the new information.
"That move? Didn't he use it to crush an Ursa's ribcage?" Ren said, suddenly concerned. "He's doing it on another student?"
"If he's doing it, that means that either this girl is really strong or he wants to finish the fight fast." Jaune reasoned, scribbling into his notebook. "It's so cool-"
The girl's aura meter didn't deplete completely like everybody else predicted. Jaune's hype of the palm strike and Ren's concern bled away as the aura bar ticked from seventy percent to sixty percent.
The girl just using her laser semblance for thirty seconds had drained away more aura than that. In comparison, Yun's aura was already close to the tournament knockout level.
Then, a swift uppercut finished the job.
As the crowd cheered and the Beacon crew stoically looked on, probably scared about the new, very strong competitor, I felt myself smiling. I put a hand to cover my expression, but there was no denying it.
I was happy.
I had always lost at everything that really mattered to me… to Yun. My title, the (usually unwanted) adoration of the Media, and Jaune's attention (Even if I didn't want to admit it)… all gone because of him.
And even if he didn't mean for any of it to happen, I still felt a tiny twinge of satisfaction as he lost.
Was it wrong of me to think of such petty matters when I was training to become a guardian of humanity? Probably. Ozpin's offer of unimaginable power still echoed in the back of my mind.
But still, there was no denying that I walked with a bit more spring in my step.
(After all, the Atlesian girl's weapons were made of steel.)
…
Mercury POV: A Burning Desire
I screamed, backing away from Cinder's smoldering hands.
"Tell me why I shouldn't melt your legs off right now, Mercury." Cinder said, eyes flickering with a yellow light.
Just like the image of my old pops walking up to me with a stick, that particular scenario had been deeply equated in my mind with the word pain.
"Uh… uh…." I babbled, trying to come up with an excuse to save my own life.
"Cinder!" Emerald said, walking up to her in a placating manner. "Yun was just too strange to predict. He somehow saw through my illusions!"
"What?" Cinder said, pausing in her slow but terrifying advance towards me. "He did?"
I nodded frantically, dragging Emerald into the fault alongsides me.
"Your illusion that even tricked the fall maiden… failed to trick a student?"
"It's just that towards the end of the fight, he wasn't even using his eyes at all. It's like he could hear me or something!"
"Interesting." Cinder said, sighing now. "What a scarily observant individual. But even so…"
Her eyes turned on me once more.
Suddenly, I had a brilliant idea. Not one that involved murder, for once.
Just sabotage.
"W-what if we just hurt other people instead of just letting that one girl kick my legs in?" I said, looking straight at Cinder with a confidence I didn't have. "What if we just used Em's semblance on other finalists so that the post match violence is more common than just a singular occurrence, leading to more negativity?"
Cinder paused, and I inwardly breathed a sigh of relief. She wasn't burning my face off yet, so I guess I would live for another day.
"You know… you might not be completely useless, Mercury." Cinder said. "But first, we have to get rid of the person that can see through these illusions."
"So… pair Yun with the robot?" Emerald said, already picking up the tablet that influenced the "random" match generator.
"Yes." Cinder said. "Pair him with the robot."
…
…
"Incredible!" I exclaimed, examining the divine construct in my hands. It was labeled… popcorn.
Oh, what a culinary delight! Such stimulation! The oiliness was prominent, but not overwhelming!
"I wonder how much it cost…" I muttered, a stupid grin on my face as the ads on the billboard played.
Meanwhile, team RWBY and team JNPR (sans Pyrrha) looked at me with some degree of concern.
"What?" I asked, smiling at them and continuing my examination of this… excellent item.
"You've… never had popcorn?" Ruby looked like me like I was something to be pitied.
"Though even my upbringing was in… rather deplorable conditions… I have had popcorn." Ren said, an odd glint in his fuchsia eyes.
"You do look more cheerful, though." Yang said, shrugging. "C'mon, guys! Lighten up! Yun hasn't had popcorn before, and that's fine! I haven't tried sushi yet, anyways."
"You haven't?" Blake said, turning her amber eyes on Yang.
"Dad was paranoid about the raw fish." Ruby said, pouting a bit. "It looked really good too…"
Jaune came back with another concoction. The two units of this strange object were purple, and in transparent plastic cups. There was also a bag of chips, the one thing I recognized.
"Here, Yun. Have a slushie."
Not being one to turn down free food, I accepted the offering. I held the drink, and it was cold and oddly gel-like. I swirled it in a cup, only to be shocked as the substance within didn't even quiver.
"What?" I said, examining the drink further. Stirring the straw, I actually observed that the drink was made of countless purple crystals, glistening oddly in the artificial light of the stadium.
The feeling of being watched intensified, and I looked up in discomfort.
"I don't know what some food items are, okay? Being in a farm in the middle of nowhere does that to you."
"Even I know what fast food is!" Weiss half-shouted.
"Why would you not know?" I said. "What, is there something special about your upbringing?"
Weiss looked like a steaming kettle.
Everybody else facepalmed, while Jaune just looked at me sympathetically.
"Yun… Weiss is the heiress to the biggest company on remnant. The SDC." He said, patting my shoulders. "I didn't know at first, either."
"Oh." I said, suddenly feeling stupid. In the history textbooks, the term Schnee Dust Company was a frequent companion to "faunus rights protest" and "industrial titan".
I facepalmed. I didn't make an obvious correlation with Weiss's last name and a famous dust company. Still, what's next? Somebody on JNPR is famous? Wait, wasn't Pyrrha….
A few seconds of contemplation later, I arrived at a conclusion: Humans were complicated, and that's why I preferred science. Or training.
"Still, what kind of a childhood did you have?" Ruby asked. "Not even knowing what a slushie or popcorn is… Did your parents even bring you into the cities?"
"Parents?" I said, thinking about my parents back in my old world. Where they still okay without me?
After a moment of silence later, I decided to keep talking.
"I'm an orphan. Apparently, somebody that knew Ozpin found me as an infant after my village was destroyed, trained me by beating the crap out of me every day, said that "I will hit you until you learn not to get hit", and then sent me on a journey to Beacon after I finally landed a hit on him."
There was silence for a moment.
"Oh god, I'm so sorry!" Ruby said, reaching from behind my seat and hesitantly patting me on the arm. "I didn't mean to bring up bad memories!"
"… What?"
Blake had a haunted look on her face.
"I never thought that… everybody had life this hard."
"Wait, Blake, does Yun not know that you're a-" Yang said, raising an eyebrow.
Blake shushed Yang with catlike agility.
"Yes. And I'd like to keep it that way."
I cast a glance at them before shrugging. Whatever they said, was none of my business.
The match started, and it was actually rather lackluster. Contrary to my performance against Penny, filled with lightshows of lasers, aerobatics, and intense contests of strength, or that particularly exciting fencing match before the current fight that had everybody on the edge of their seats with how close it was, this one was just… average.
A guy with a shield and a gun taking potshots at another guy with a really big shield and a long spear, which was completely useless at the range the two were fighting at.
"Still, you do seem happier, Yun." Jaune said, being unexpectedly philosophical.
I just smiled lightly, and then touched my face. "Wow. Smiling feels awkward." I muttered, before answering the question/statement. "I think it's just the stress and the goal to get a million lien."
"So you were doing this for the money?" I could feel everybody's opinions of me go down a notch.
"Well, duh." I said. "That's a million lien we're talking about! That's more money than I could ever hope to see! Do you know how many packs of instant noodles one can buy with a million lien? About seven hundred thousand packs!"
"Why would you need that many packs of instant noodles?" Ruby asked.
"Besides, food of that crass quality isn't even worthy of being on my list of expenses. To think that you would even consider buying it…" Weiss huffed, turning away as if discussed to be sitting in my general vicinity.
"Unlike you all, who have money and a family to fall back on, I have to earn everything by working or farm rice to feed myself." I said.
That sobered everybody up. Weiss stopped being a proud, crossed arm statue and Ren nodded at me in understanding.
I gave him a knowing look back. I deduced that we were both drifters, the fact explaining his nostalgia for the dumplings I had made about a month ago.
The match was coming to a close, with the person taking potshots running out of ammo and slowly getting forced to the edge of the arena by his spear wielding opponent. It ended with aura loss as a particularly vicious spear thrust made the gun wielding combatant have to utilize his aura for strengthen his body. That bit usage pushed his aura past the 15 percent boundary, settling the match.
As they walked up to each other for a handshake, however, the victor suddenly slammed the other combatant in the face with his greatshield.
Chaos followed.
Everybody in the stands gasped, horrified, as a trickle of blood flowed down the victim's forehead. Paramedics rushed onto the stage, floating onto the main platform from a smaller one I looked up from my slushie, mildly surprised, and just a bit concerned.
Maybe they were just stressed?
…
The injuries in that match weren't just a singular occurrence. After that match, every other fight had some sort of accident. Either a crushed finger, a gory cut, ripped clothes, or some other mishaps happened.
Yang almost punched somebody in the face after winning against somebody that was frustratingly good at parrying punches with a musket.
"Is it… a custom in Vale to almost kill somebody after you defeat them" I asked Jaune, confused about the strange events. Even the media had been attracted by these scandals, their drones flying above the arena to spot the next potential out-of-match accident.
Jaune sighed. "At this point, it may as well be."
"I mean, maybe they really were just seeing things? There was this girl who's semblance I fought was making me see things that weren't there, like a million copies of herself or just darkness." I suggested.
"Really? Somebody has a semblance like that?" Ruby said, latching onto my every word. Obviously, she was trying to convince herself that Yang wasn't insane and imagining things.
"I mean, it's not the weirdest one out there. Weiss's can create magic circles or something, you can violate the conservation of mass and energy by suddenly turning into a hurricane of rose petals, Yang's lights her hair on fire, and then Nora's can allow her to survive lightning strikes." I said, solidifying my claims.
Jaune nodded. "Well, you all have really awesome semblances but me and Yun still don't. It's kind of unfair."
"Actually, I might have figured mine out. I probably always had it." I said, scratching my head.
"You mean your semblance, right? What is it?" Nora asked. "Is it having knowledge from the forbidden archives of another world? Wind control? Being good at cooking?"
I sweat-dropped, the oddly on-point extrapolation by Nora, of all people, very close to my current circumstances. Even if I wouldn't call an engineering textbook 'forbidden archives'.
Meanwhile, Ren restrained his childhood friend, even putting a hand on her shoulder and sending a wave of subtle grey over her figure. Nora somehow calmed down because of it.
"My semblance is nothing exciting like that. It's just giving me thirty percent aura upon aura break." I said, reaching for the mixed bag of snacks on the ground.
Everybody looked at me like I was going keep on explaining my semblance.
"… And?" Blake prompted, paying attention to the conversation for once.
"That's it."
"Really?" Jaune said, putting both hands on his face. "Is your semblance just increasing your aura reserves by thirty percent, then?"
"… When you put it like that, my semblance is essentially making myself slightly more durable."
"Is there something about semblances in which that the later you get them, the more unremarkable they are?" Jaune whimpered, probably worried about his own locked ability.
"I don't think so?" Ruby said, scratching her head and obviously distracted from her inner confusion about Yang's actions. Said sister was currently confined to her dorms because of her sudden act of violence.
"I am not an acquaintance with anybody who unlocked their semblance very late in life." Weiss began pompously. "So maybe either their semblance is a subtle passive one, or is one that has very specific conditions to use."
I shrugged. "Unscientific superpowers aside, isn't Pyrrha's match almost up?"
Jaune checked the daily flyer that was given to us at the start of today's volley of matches.
"Yes, it is actually!"
"Who's she against?" I asked, peeking over Jaune's arm.
"That girl that beat you. Penny, I think?" Ren said, checking his own brochure.
I put down another marvelous variant of chips (spicy ones!), and then settled back in my rather uncomfortable stadium chair to await the match.
"This is going to be intense."
As if on cue, the combatants rose from the bottom of the arena on the floating white marble platform, readied their stances, and then prepared to strike at each other. The commentary booth run by Doctor Oobleck and Professor Port was going wild, but my eyes were trained on the duo.
How would Pyrrha handle somebody so overwhelmingly powerful and durable?
And that's the second to last chapter where Beacon will be normal!
Ready for the fall? I sure am not! May is a very busy month, as many will say, and expect the next chapter either in June or in another week. I don't know.
Please follow, favorite, or review! That's what keeps this story going!
-Spirit