"Not bad, Vomit boy. I think you landed a hit that time." Yang Xiao Long chuckled.
It was Combat Class. And Jaune Arc was getting beat once more. His training sessions with Pyrrha had helped but come on, it was Yang. She's easily a top 5 student when it came to duels.
"You're making huge steps," Pyrrha cut in, a warm smile on her face "I wish I picked it up that quick."
Jaune rubbed the back of his head and chuckled
"I'm sure you're just saying that." He said, bashfully.
"I am too."
Of course, Weiss held nothing back. But by now everyone knew that was her way of showing she cared. Hopefully.
"Weiss! Be nice!" Ruby chastised, a pout on her face and arms crossed.
Weiss simply raised and eyebrow as if to say 'You know I'm right'.
"Now class," Glynda Goodwitch interrupted any further conversation with an announcement "over the next few weeks we're going to be trying to encourage some of less active participants to engage with the class. That means some of you will be sparring more, some of you will be sparring less. We're trying to make sure no student falls behind."
Murmurs filled the class along with a few groans of annoyance. Yang and Nora being the loudest.
"What?! But I haven't beat everyone yet..." Yang slumped low in her chair, disappointed she'd have to cut back on her duels.
"Oh no, how will you live?" Weiss snarked, unfazed by the announcement.
"Do you always have something rude to say?" Yang's head fell to the side to face the Schnee.
"Absolutely."
Goodwitch smacked her desk with her Riding Crop, silencing the class in an instant.
"That being said," She turned to walk around the arena, her slow steps echoing through the cavernous classroom. "I've already decided who needs to take part. And we'll be starting with..."
Her eyes scanned the class, many students shrinking under her gaze. Seconds felt like hours until she stopped on one in particular, his eyes seemingly never looking up from his work.
"Mr Zandaka."
His head finally tilted up, eyes lazy as he stared straight back at the teacher.
"You'll be next. Normally I'd let you pick an opponent but as you've neglected to take part until now, we'll be using the randomizer."
One nod was her response as he kept his stare, leaving most of the class in awe that he didn't even flinch under the "Glare of Goodwitch"...
...patent pending.
"Uhhh, who's he?" Ruby whispered to Blake, somewhat embarrassed she'd never heard of this student before now.
Blake's amber eyes narrowed and her eyebrows furrowed as she followed the boy with her eyes.
"I... don't know." She finally deflated, slightly angry with herself for not identifying everybody on her first day. Who knows where the White Fang has operatives? She usually made sure to know everyone's name at least.
It wasn't like the boy was unremarkable. Pitch black hair, shaved at the sides, slicked back to expose bright red eyes that both hypnotized you to keep staring and warned you off with an intense energy. He was tall too, but not huge like Yatsuhashi. Just tall enough to be called as such.
Beyond that, there wasn't too much to identify him by. Especially when he was wearing the uniform like everybody else.
Nothing more was said as the screen flicked through all students Goodwitch decided would be fighting, Yang still grumbling she wasn't one of them.
Eventually it stopped and there was a quick beat as the result sank in for everyone. Immediately after, the tension was palpable.
Pyrrha Nikos. Undefeated, few people even landed a hit. No one was really surprised she was on the list, she actually didn't fight much since not many people wanted to face her, but for her to come up so soon...that was a shock.
The students began to snap out of their trance when they realised both fighters were already halfway to the changing rooms, Pyrrha unfazed because... well she's Pyrrha Nikos and the boy unfazed because presumably he'd accepted his fate.
"Oh this is gonna be a slaughter!" Nora grinned like a madman, she always was Pyrrha's biggest fan in these matches.
"Another masterclass from the best." Weiss smiled a little at the thought, she couldn't help but admit she had a soft spot for watching Pyrrha fight.
"I can't wait!" Ruby practically buzzed in excitement, although she just wanted to support a friend.
"As much as I'm inclined to agree, do we know anything about this guy?" Blake piped up, unusually interested in this bout.
Yang quickly sat up straight and smirked.
"Well he's...ummm...he's got...uhhh..." She slumped once more as she tried to recall any of his fights. None came to mind, and she actually paid attention to the fights. She flicked her eyes to his record on the screen with other people following her lead soon after.
One fight. A win via Ring Out. Against someone they only knew by name.
"Oh... that's... interesting..." Ruby struggled to find the words, not wanting to be rude.
"It's the least fights out of anyone." Blake mumbled.
"It's technically a perfect record." pointed out Jaune.
"Whilst you aren't wrong," Weiss admitted "so few fights ranks him low overall. He's comfortably in the bottom 5 in the class."
Jaune seemed to ponder that for a few seconds before a voice of caution spoke up.
"It also makes it hard to know how good he actually is." Ren moved his hand to his chin, thinking on his own point.
At that moment, Pyrrha emerged from the changing room in her usual attire. Looking confident as always.
"Woo! Go Pyrrha!"
"You got this in the bag!"
"Break his legs!"
"Ignore her."
The cheers of her friends were reassuring, even if she already felt relaxed before.
Her eyes caught movement from across the arena. Her opponent. Pyrrha quickly glance at the screen so she knew his name.
Ares Zandaka. Named after an ancient religion's god. Ambitious, that's for sure.
He emerged finally, wearing a thick black leather jacket with a plain black shirt beneath and black combat pants with padded knees. His boots came to just below the knee and had plain silver greaves covering the front. He had matching vambraces covering his forearms, ending with fingerless gloves with padded knuckles.
Overall, somewhat basic. Something more obvious to Ruby though, was that he had no weapon.
"What's he gonna do, punch her?" Yang scoffed sarcastically as she looked at her friends only to be met with raised eyebrows and facepalms. "What? Am I missing something?
...Ohhhhh, I get it now."
Pyrrha tuned the spectators out, focusing purely on her opponent. She didn't know what to expect but she never did so it wasn't a new experience.
"Good luck, fight well." She said with her trademark smile.
Ares didn't even react. He just did his final checks, tightening straps and rolling his joints.
A slight feeling of annoyance reared its head in Pyrrha's mind but she quickly squashed it. It doesn't matter, it's nothing important. And Pyrrha prided herself on not letting emotions control her.
"Students!" Goodwitch's voice boomed. "You should know the rules by now but just in case: The fight ends either through ring out or when your aura drops into the red. Now, take your positions."
Pyrrha widened her stance and raised her shield, keeping her sword low. She always waited until they made a move before deciding which form to use.
Ares rolled his shoulders one last time but remained standing straight, which was surprisingly common despite how stupid it was.
"Get ready!" Goodwitch warned. "Go!"
Pyrrha burst forward, faster than most could manage but not as fast as she could. It gave her time to identify weaknesses on the approach.
Ares bounced on his feet but otherwise stayed where he was as Pyrrha drew closer. She quickly swung her sword in a low slash, a simple poke to guage reactions. Ares raised his leg to block the strike with his greaves. Keeping the pressure, Pyrrha tried a short jab with her shield to unbalance him. He leant back to avoid the strike. Pyrrha saw her opportunity and swung her sword at Ares's already off balance head, forcing him to lean even further. Halfway through the strike, Pyrrha extended her sword into its spear form hoping to catch him with the surprise.
In some back breaking manoeuvre, Ares leant far enough to avoid the surprise length of the spear. Surprise filled Pyrrha's eyes and in one last desperate attempt she used her momentum to throw a spinning heel kick. Ares sprang straight once more, easily raising his arm to block the admittedly sloppy kick.
Pyrrha braced for a counter as she tried to spring away but for the 2nd or 3rd time in this short fight she was surprised. No counter came as she created some space. Ares stood as he had at the start of the match, relaxed. He hadn't even tried to hit her. The Spartan narrowed her eyes, it wasn't the first time someone had done something like this but it usually wasn't until later in the fight once her opponent had studied her moves. For this boy to do it so easily...it was new.
A new approach, she decided. Brute force and overwhelming speed. But first...
Pyrrha switched to her rifle, loosing shots aimed at various body parts on Ares. This time she was less surprised when he dodged all the shots with minimal movement. Most fighters could, it was just for pressure and airborne opponents. And more recently Grimm. Quickly abandoning the pointless tactic, she rushed in as Ares recovered from a particularly flexible dodge.
Sticking with the spear for a time, Pyrrha unleashed a barrage of thrusts aimed at the chest. She weaved in jabs with the shield, slashes and a few kicks to catch the boy off guard. None found their mark though as Ares moved with almost unnatural speed. Parrying thrusts with ease, dodging bashes like he knew they were coming and blocking kicks before they could build any momentum for a hit.
Truthfully, Pyrrha was a little frustrated. Glancing at their auras showed him on 100%, not one hit had landed. Granted, she was still at 100% too but he hadn't even tried to land a hit. Was she being toyed with? Or was it taking everything in him to dodge and he simply couldn't find time to counter? Probably the first one, she'd left some pretty big openings once or twice.
Getting even faster, Pyrrha tried a few more complex moves: Switching between sword and spear frequently and making more use of her shield like trying to block his vision.
Most spectators were completely lost, the speed simply too much for them. Teams RWBY and JNR were watching intently, most actually able to follow the action. Jaune just kinda acting like he knew what was going on. All were silent, this was proving to be far more interesting than expected.
Finally, a break. Pyrrha span, arm outstretched and shield horizontal hoping to catch Ares with a vicious shield strike. The leather clad fighter took a half step back, moving out of range with little trouble. However, time seemed to slow for him as he raised his hands, grabbing the edge of the shield as it came with inches of his head.
Instantly Pyrrha knew what was wrong. Her shield, gone. As she finished her spin she took a step back. Ares stood a good bit away, spinning her shield like a coin. Pyrrha cursed uncharacteristically, it had come free so easily. Somehow he'd slipped the strap over her hand without her catching on until it was too late. 'How' was not the question to be asking now though, the question was what would he do with it.
A short second later her question was answered as Ares wound up a spin, holding the shield like a discus. Pyrrha readied her semblance to catch the throw, silently hoping it would actually be possible. As he finished the spin, Pyrrha braced herself for impact. The shield, however, didn't come close to her. Instead it was thrown to the side, out the arena and deep into a wall beyond the boundary. Almost half the shield was buried in the wall, a hard through for sure.
Green eyes flicked back to meet red, a silent challenge obvious to a few.
"She'll have to expose her semblance if she wants her shield back." Weiss murmured, uncharacteristically quiet.
Most others were still too awestruck to even realise someone had spoke, Weiss had simply voiced everyone's thoughts.
"Is he toying with her?" Ren's cynical tone in full effect with the accusation.
"It would appear so." Weiss was still the only other one capable of words.
Pyrrha's stare turned to a glare as she came to the same conclusion. She'd always liked a level of honour in her fights. Nothing too flashy, no boasting, no dragging it out. And here she was on the receiving end of all of those. She was feeling a little spiteful after all of that. Regardless, she decided to forfeit the shield. It probably wasn't doing much anyway.
Once more she charged forward, sword in her right hand, nothing in the left.
Another flurry of attacks that went much like the others. Even without her shield The Spartan Warrior was a force to be reckoned with. She could still pack a punch with all the muscle built up from years of training.
But Ares still never let an attack hit. Pyrrha was slightly lower on range now and he took full advantage of that fact, keeping just out of reach at all times. Waiting for something.
A jump forward, a big thrust in an attempt to close the distance. Ares sidestepped quickly, grabbing the spear with both hands. Pyrrha reacted quickly, tightening her grip on the handle. It didn't matter though, the weapon slipped from her grasp like it was coated in oil.
Once more, Ares wound up a big throw and left the weapon embedded in a wall.
And now, Pyrrha was left with nothing but herself and her semblance. Unfortunately, Ares didn't really have enough metal for her to control. Just his limited armour.
Their eyes met once more, a clear message within the red.
Give up.
Pyrrha couldn't help but grit her teeth as she took a step back, out of the arena.
The horn sounded, signaling the end of the match.
"Ares Zandaka is the Victor!" Goodwitch spoke with a slight undertone of reluctance, it seemed she wasn't a fan of how the match had gone. "You did well Ms. Nikos. I guess my only advice is to always expect the possibility of someone being better in one way or another. This doesn't really apply here, but in the real world adopt a more defensive approach and wait for the help of your team."
Pyrrha nodded as she went to retrieve her weapons, knowing the real message was something more like You didn't really do anything wrong, this is on his shoulders.
"As for you, Mr. Zandaka," Goodwitch's tone turned sharp, the same one she used when she was berating students for one reason or another. The same one that everyone learned to fear. "You can't always expect to be able to disarm your opponent, some may not even use weapons. And far less showboating in future, a little respect goes a long way on the battlefield lest you underestimate your opponent."
The boy in question was already halfway back to the locker room by the time she was finished. He acted like nothing was said. Until he spoke his first words since he'd set foot in the classroom that morning. His voice echoed in a way it shouldn't, it sounded like he spoke directly into your mind. An unnatural shiver ran down the spines of those not used to it.
"Of course."
I'm not good with fight scenes. My dialogue isn't terrible I guess but I'll work on it regardless. Idk, this idea came to me and I've kinda been building on it in my head for a while. I'm actually somewhat pleased with what I've got in mind but it'll take a while to get there. My apologies for any typos or if it's just not that good, feel free to tell me.