Disclaimer: RWBY is an animated series created by Rooster Teeth. The cover image for this story is a screenshot from the Volume 8 opening.

Magnhild, Nora's giant hammer, was currently swinging towards me at an alarming speed.

I might be physically strong, but I'm not certain I can block a blow from Nora's hammer. I dodged to the side and lashed out with Alba Mors, scoring a solid hit to her side. I don't have my Aura Sight active at the moment, but I'd bet money that her Aura just took a hit.

The rest of my team was currently fighting Team RRNN in our first inter-team training session. Weiss was dueling Ruby, Blake was fighting Ren, and I sent Yang after Pyrrha. As the only one who could take multiple hits from Nora, I was given the unenviable position of being the target for her hammer.

Things were going according to plan, thankfully. Weiss, Blake and I would take out Ruby, Ren, and Nora while Yang kept Pyrrha busy. Yang's weapons would be the hardest for Pyrrha to move with her Semblance, so she just needed to hold her off long enough for the rest of us to mop up Team RRNN and then gang up on Pyrrha.

Speaking of Team RRNN, Nora was shifting Magnhild into a grenade launcher. I waited for her to fire the first shot and Blinked beside her before it even exploded. Now that I was close, she couldn't fire it again without catching herself in the blast, and shifting it back to a melee weapon would take time.

I wasn't going to give her the chance to react. A drop of Aura to the Grav-Dust core of my sword increased the weight, and I pumped Aura to my muscles to increase my strength and speed. Alba Mors sang through the air as I swung at Nora in a flurry of blows that obliterated her Aura.

I got four blows in before she finished swapping Magnhild back to a hammer… just in time for her scroll to blare out that her Aura had fallen below 20%.

I shot her a grin and turned to focus on the rest of the battlefield with my Aura Sight activated. Blake and Ren were both evasive fighters that wore down their opponents with countless attacks. They were also currently making very little progress against each other because they kept dodging each other.

Meanwhile, Weiss had the upper hand against Ruby, but the younger girl kept running away with her Semblance before Weiss could finish her off. Weiss was starting to get visibly annoyed; she couldn't take Ruby down, but she also couldn't just ignore her.

Honestly, it would've been more optimal to have Weiss and Blake switch opponents. Weiss and Ren are evenly matched too, but Ruby was too specialized in hunting Grimm to win against Blake. If Blake beat Ruby, she could pair up with Weiss to take Ren out.

But Weiss still looked down on Ruby. I had hoped that having them fight would make Weiss respect Ruby more, but the irritated look on Weiss's face told me that I may have miscalculated. Social interactions still aren't exactly my forte.

I shifted Alba Mors into its shotgun form and fired a shell at Ruby right as she managed to dodge a rapier thrust from Weiss. The shell smacked her and she stumbled… right into another stab from Weiss. My buckshot and her rapier finished Ruby off before she could flee again.

Weiss and I nodded at each other, and we charged off towards Blake and Ren. "Roof him," I ordered. Roof was one of the combo attacks we had come up with during our brainstorming sessions.

"With pleasure," Weiss replied as we moved to flank Ren.

With Blake, Weiss, and I surrounding him, Ren went for the only remaining path to escape—straight up. He pooled Aura into his legs and jumped upwards… right into the Glyph that Weiss had conjured above him.

That was our Roof maneuver: a Glyph above the target's head. Look, I'm not exactly the best at coming up with cool names, okay? And "Roof" is a step up from "Maneuver 9."

The three of us wailed on Ren until his Aura dropped into the red, and then we turned towards Pyrrha and Yang.

Pyrrha was still close to full on Aura, while Yang was down to about 60%. But Yang had done her job and kept Pyrrha busy.

I Blinked behind Pyrrha and scored a glancing blow before she noticed me and parried my follow-up attack. "Switch, then Meteor!" I called out and I started clashing with Pyrrha.

Yang, still panting from exertion, nodded and backed off to catch her breath and meet up with Blake and Weiss. I could see the grin on her face at the prospect of using her favorite combo attack.

Sparks flew as Pyrrha and I fought for the fifth time. Yes, I counted. I had mostly figured her fighting style out after losing four matches in a row, so I managed to score a few hits while my team set up Meteor.

Although it appears they finished preparing the maneuver, given that Yang just crashed into Pyrrha at over a hundred miles per hour.

Meteor was a fairly complex but incredibly effective maneuver requiring all three of my teammates. Blake hooks Gambol Shroud around Yang and starts swinging her partner around through the air, Meanwhile, Weiss uses Gravity Glyphs to increase Blake's weight and hold her still. As a result, Blake can swing Yang around in a circle faster and faster, while the Gravity Glyph keeps her grounded. Eventually, once Yang builds up a ridiculous amount of momentum, Blake releases her and launches her partner at a ridiculously high velocity.

And Yang's Semblance was to convert kinetic energy into attack power. The moment she hit Pyrrha, all the force behind her was converted into a ridiculously strong punch. After all, speed is a form of kinetic energy.

With her hair ablaze from her activated Semblance, Yang hit Pyrrha with the force of a meteor, shattering both of their Auras and ending the spar.

"Go, Team ABYS!" Yang groggily called out from the crater in the floor.

I checked them over for injuries and thankfully found none, then extracted Yang from the tangle of limbs she made with Pyrrha. I grinned down at my rival. "Looks like your winning streak is over. You'd better get used to the taste of defeat."

Pyrrha groaned in response.

Some people would say that only beating Pyrrha with backup doesn't count as a win, or that Yang was the one to land the final blow. I say that those people are stupid, and a win is a win. Honor is for chumps.

"That… was… amazing!" Nora sang as she ran over, the rest of our group trailing behind her. "How the heck did you do that?!"

"Yang's Semblance converts kinetic energy affecting her into strength. It wasn't that much of a leap in logic to look for other sources of kinetic energy."

"Do mine next, then!" Nora demanded. "Come up with something cool for my Semblance!"

"Yeah, me too!" Ruby added.

"Sure," I said with a smile. "I wanted to brainstorm Semblances with you guys anyway. It's something I really enjoy doing."

"Tell me about it," Yang said. "Jaune and Weiss were up all night messing with her Glyphs last week."

"Moving on," Weiss cut in hurriedly, "why not discuss that fight first, while it's still fresh in our minds?"

Pyrrha finally staggered to her feet and joined us. "That would be lovely," she said. "I'm interested in knowing what exactly just hit me.

While Weiss began giving a detailed explanation, I walked to the edge of our rented training room to pick up my Scroll, which had recorded the whole encounter.

"To start things off," I said as I rejoined the group. "The biggest reason we won is that our plan worked the whole way through. We picked favorable matchups for one-on-one fights to take the rest of Team RRNN out while Yang kept Pyrrha busy." I flipped my scroll around to show where I had written down our team's plan to win and began discussing it bit by bit.

"Any questions?" I asked after I finished.

"Then would Team RRNN have had a better chance at winning if they had more of a plan from the outset?" Weiss asked with a faint smirk. Gee, I wonder who that comment was pointed at. I guess spending the entire fight trying and failing to hit Ruby had made Weiss's animosity even worse.

Ruby wilted a bit. "We… didn't really have a plan at all," she confessed. Oh God, please don't start crying again. I don't want a repeat of the first day of classes.

"Well, this was supposed to just be a friendly spar. I'll fully admit that I wanted to beat Pyrrha, so I came up with a plan specifically to do that," I said. "Plus, it was a suggestion of yours that let us actually win."

She and Weiss both looked up confusedly. "Huh?" they echoed.

"You told me to make codenames for our combo attacks."

Yang snorted. "Yeah, they were originally just numbers. There's no way we would've been able to remember that '14' meant 'Meteor.'"

"It wasn't that bad," Weiss said.

"It was pretty bad," Blake replied. Et tu, Blake?

"What matchups would you have aimed for in our position?" Ren asked.

"Splitting up would be a bad idea for your team," I said. "Ruby and Ren could use their guns while Pyrrha and Nora defend them. Nora could target Yang, and then Pyrrha could divert her Semblance-enhanced attacks to waste her strength.

"If you had to split up, Ruby could wear down Yang, and Ren could handle Weiss in a less-open arena. Nora might have difficulty against Blake and I, so sending her as a sacrifice play might keep me busy enough for Pyrrha to take out Blake and get to me."

Once we finished discussing everyone's successes and mistakes during the fight, I sent the video and some of my notes to their scrolls.

"Now, on to Semblances," I said. "I have quite a few ideas to try out in addition to the standard intensive training that you should all be doing, like continually using your Semblance until you run out of Aura."

"Ruby," I began. "I'll need more data to try and figure out what exactly increases your speed before I can come up with any big ideas, but for now, we can test whether you can augment your Semblance with Dust. The rose petals you make are technically formed out of Aura, so you might be able to infuse them with Dust."

"You could turn them into fire," Pyrrha mused.

"I could trail fire just like Yang," Ruby said. "Awesome!" she shouted in perfect sync with her sister, after which they high-fived each other.

"Ren," I continued, "your Semblance is much better suited for fighting Grimm, given that most humans can't detect emotions. But have you tried forcefully calming the emotions of an opponent? Removing their will to fight could be a great nonlethal option."

"I never thought of using it like that," he said. "I've only ever used it for… defensive purposes."

"Nora," I continued. "I'd like to know the exact ratio between voltage that you absorb and the increase in your strength. This means we'll probably hook a generator up to you while you lift weights, or something like that. In the same vein, you could try wearing a generator on your back for continuous enhancement, but that might be a bad idea given how fragile it could be."

Nora started giggling maniacally, and Ren looked like a man on his way to the gallows. Oh yeah, he's the one in charge of curtailing her rampages. Sorry, buddy.

"And lastly, Pyrrha. Your Semblance is ridiculously strong, even though you've only used it for minor things."

"I've generally tried to keep it hidden," she explained. "Nudging attacks out of the way, moving my weapons, that sort of thing. Most people speculate that it's telekinesis."

I nodded in agreement. "True. And having an ace up your sleeve is always a good thing. But Polarity has some incredibly possibilities that you should at least practice using. You could throw cars at people, fly with metal armor, or even create a railgun."

"A railgun?!" Ruby exploded. "Pyrrha could be a girl and also a railgun?!"

"What's a railgun?" Yang asked, causing Ruby to quit her fangirling and shoot her sister a betrayed look.

"It's a type of weapon that accelerates a projectile along a rail of electromagnets, causing it to attain extremely high speed," Weiss explained. "Many of Atlas's largest weapons are railguns. Although," she said while looking at me quizzically, "I don't think Pyrrha can create electric currents."

Pyrrha shook her head. "I cannot. My Semblance directly affects metal."

I nodded. "That may be true, but I did some research anyway and found some information about coilguns, which work by creating a series of magnetic coils surrounding a tube that activate in sequence to pull the projectile through. You might be able to create something similar, though we'll probably need Weiss's help to figure it out. Physics is more her specialty that mine."

While Weiss chatted with Pyrrha about plans, Blake spoke up.

"Guys?" she said while pointing at the crater Yang and Pyrrha had made. "What exactly are we going to be doing about that?"

The eight of us turned to look at the large hole in the concrete floor.

"Goodwitch is gonna be pissed, huh?" Yang noted.

"Yeah…" Ruby agreed.

I was winding down from my morning run around campus when I noticed Ozpin sitting in a gazebo right by my route.

"Good morning, Mr. Arc," he said with a small smile as I got closer.

I slowed down and nodded respectfully. "You too, Professor. Enjoying your morning coffee?

"Hot cocoa, actually. Unlike Bartholomew, I tend to avoid caffeine. Would you care for some?" he said while gesturing to the pot and mugs on the table.

"Sure," I replied. It wasn't exactly the healthiest of drinks, but I wouldn't mind something sweet.

As he poured me some, I looked at him quizzically. "Do you always come sit out here with a pot of cocoa?"

"I do. It's an enjoyable way to get in touch with my most dedicated students. Although very few go so far as to run while limiting your Aura use."

He was correct. I had been suppressing my Aura for most of the run and only activating it once I got too exhausted to continue sprinting.

I nodded. "It's a good way to train my body and my Aura at the same time. Actually, if you noticed I had my Aura down, you must have good Aura control, right?"

He nodded with an amused glint in his eyes. "Indeed. I have quite a lot of experience with Aura."

"Do you have any tips, then? I feel like I've hit a bit of a plateau when it comes to increasing my Aura control."

"I have a few suggestions, yes. There was a very old sect of qigong monks in Mistral that used a technique to move their bodies solely with Aura, or qi as they called it, by enhancing only certain muscles."

I raised my eyebrow. "That sounds like something out of a fantasy novel."

He chortled. "I suppose it does. Don't expect this to give you any supernatural powers, though. It's merely a way to practice enhancing your muscles."

I set down my cocoa and closed my eyes, dipping into the grey sea of my Aura. I sent a portion of it to my arm and continually lowered the amount until only a sliver of it was in my limb, then condensed it into the muscles there. After almost ten minutes of trying to control my arm without using my brain, I finally managed to make my arm twitch slightly.

I grinned triumphantly and looked up at Ozpin, who nodded. "Just like that. It isn't exactly useful in combat, but it helps you understand how normal enhancement works." Then a mischievous glint appeared in his eyes, and he gestured to my forgotten mug. "Now try picking that up and taking a sip while only using Aura."

I looked at him blankly. "That's not happening anytime soon," I deadpanned. "Anything else to try that won't take a whole day?"

"I've noticed you pool Aura into your eyes to see the Aura of others, which is a fairly obscure technique. Where did you learn to do that? You're one of only two students currently at Beacon who do so."

"Um," I began, "I got the idea from a game."

"You did?" he asked.

"When I first unlocked my Aura, it felt like magic. So I tried to recreate a few spells from a game I knew about, and one of them let wizards see magical effects by focusing magic in their eyes. So after some experimentation, I managed to figure out my Aura Sight. Then I went to a few websites for Huntsmen with disabilities like blindness and got more info."

Ozpin chuckled. "Well, that's certainly an interesting story. It's a good skill to have, though, especially during combat. Why not try maintaining your Aura Sight as long as possible? If you maintain it at all times, you'll spend less Aura while using it."

I activated Aura Sight and looked at Ozpin, who apparently had fairly large reserves. They were about 2.5 times the average, around the same size as my Father's.

"I also recommend trying to hide the visual effects of it. Your eyes are glowing slightly."

"How do I do that?"

"You're a smart boy," he replied with a smirk. "I'm sure you can figure it out."

Who knew Ozpin was such a troll?

Pyrrha Nikos is a skilled fighter, and beating her once hasn't changed that.

"Tired yet?" I smirked, mind racing as I tried to think of a strategy while circling my opponent.

"Never better," she replied, blade clashing against mine once more.

This was our first duel since Team ABYS beat Team RRNN. We beat her before with superior tactics, but now I had to win with skill alone. Skill and trickery. Fortunately, I have something up my sleeve. Well, technically my pocket.

I disengaged from Pyrrha and backed off while reaching into my pocket, acting like I was about to draw my revolver. Pyrrha raised her shield to block, but I dashed back in to melee range instead of shooting. Our swords clashed again and sparks flew. Then I used my secret weapon.

I threw the sand that was in my pocket right into her eyes. Pyrrha, completely blinded by the trick, flailed backwards in surprise. In her defense, no one would expect their opponent to bring sand to a concrete arena. Well, no one except me would expect it. I carry goggles around for a reason.

Still blinded, Pyrrha backed off, desperately trying to ward off my follow-up slashes. After a few steps, she put her heel down and stumbled. Why do she and Weiss wear those things, anyway? They screw up your footing majorly. I get that Pyrrha is "invincible," but those are a huge weak point—wait.

Pyrrha is "invincible" except for her heels, which are a weak point. Pyrrha has red hair and a Greek name.

There's a story from Greek mythology about Achilles disguising himself as a woman named "Pyrrha" to avoid being drafted for the Trojan War.

Pyrrha was the Remnant equivalent of Achilles. And much like the mythical Greek hero, her heel is a blatant weakness that I am absolutely going to capitalize on.

I drew my revolver, cycled to an Ice round, and shot it right at her high-heeled boots. Unable to see the shot coming, it landed and coated her shoe in ice. She stumbled back from the impact, but when she put her foot down, she slid on her icy heel and fell straight to the ground.

Jackpot.

I Blinked forward and started swinging furiously. A storm of slashes and stabs rained down on her Aura, bringing it lower and lower. She was still half-blind and unable to block, and when she tried to roll to her feet, she slipped again on the ice.

After ten full seconds of violence, her Scroll rang out, signaling the end of the match. I stopped swinging, adrenaline pumping through my body and a grin plastered on my face. I staggered backwards, lightheaded.

"YES!" I laughed. "I finally beat you!"

Speaking of Pyrrha, I Blinked over to the sidelines and back to fetch my canteen. "Here," I said. "You might want to wash that sand out of your eyes."

Pyrrha didn't react right away. In fact, she had just been staring up at the ceiling since the match ended. "I… lost," she said. Then she started giggling, and then that evolved to full-blow laughter. "I actually lost! You beat me!"

"Are you feeling okay?" I asked confusedly.

"I'm fine. More than fine, actually. I feel fantastic!" she exclaimed while washing out her eyes. "I can't remember the last time I lost a real match. It feels… liberating." She finished wiping her face and beamed at me. "I've been on a pedestal for so long that I forgot what it was like to lose. To be like everyone else. Thank you, Jaune. Truly."

"Anytime, Pyrrha," I smiled.

Author's Note: This was another plot-light chapter like Chapter 11, but hopefully this one has more content.

I'm interested in hearing your thoughts on unit measurements in this fic. I've been using Imperial units because RWBY is made by an American company (and also because I'm a lazy American), but a lot of my readers are from countries that use Metric/SI. I considered adding conversions in parentheses, but that felt immersion-breaking. Let me know what you think.

P.S. Special thanks to my tabletop gaming group for helping me exploit Yang's power to make Meteor happen. I play with enough Worm fans to exploit anything.

P.P.S. The gazebo scene was inspired by Remnant of a Worm by Halfmasked.

(First published on Jan 8, 2022)