A RWBY OC Fan-fiction
Prologue 3 - "Crystalline"

"You may go," the instructor ordered after a brief moment of waiting outside of the battle arena of the primary combat academy. The white doors slid open, revealing an empty, digitally-enhanced room. "Good luck, DiCaeli."

"Thank you, sir," Malva replied and picked up her rifle. Her heels clicking on the tiled floor when she walked inside, she shot one last glance at the instructor behind her. From the moment he had picked her up from the student's waiting lounge until he wished her luck, he had been looking at her with a cold expression, which simply did not disappear from his face, no matter how many times she glared back. Maybe it was because she intended to go to Beacon instead of Atlas Academy after passing the examination. But it didn't matter what he thought. Her performance was about to begin.

The doors shut behind her with a slam, just as the monitor above her head lit up. Half of the screen displayed her name, face and aura level, while the other half displayed the "health points" of her opponent: a holographic projection of an anthropomorphic bot, standing at over ten feet. While it activated its shields and weapon, Malva was giving it a thorough inspection to find its weak spots. Her digital opponent was easily three times her own size and its shields protected most of its body. On one arm it had a digitally-projected blade, while the other arm had signs of auxiliary artillery. A huge, sturdy, close-range fighter, against a petite sniper. It was almost as if someone didn't want her to succeed.

On the other side of the arena above the ground was the monitoring room, which during examinations doubled as a lounge area for the attending Atlesian Military officials to watch as the fights went down. Most of them were there scouting for their Academy's newest recruits, but there was one among them who was there to watch his daughter. After his retirement, her father had shown little to no interest in attending events from his past job, but this one was an exception. Malva's future was going to be decided after the end of the fight, but father and daughter had different desired outcomes. Behind the glass, she saw him staring down at her, and was reminded of how much she resembled him in appearance. Her father's cold stare pierced through the thick glass window, void of any emotion as usual. Earlier, she had seen him talking with some of the examiners. Knowing him, she wondered whether he had pulled any strings to ensure her failure. There was however, no space in her mind for these thoughts; her brain was flooding with tactics to take down the gigantic robot in front of her.

It began its advance towards her, but Malva cut off its momentum with powerful shots from her rifle. The fire dust crystals she blasted it with burst into flames upon impact; over her head, its health points began to drop. The giant they put her up against was slow and not agile, while its weapon would not harm her as long as she kept her distance. But even if it came too close, she'd simply use her semblance. Digital barriers protected most of its body, but the center of its head, as well as the core in the middle of its chest were exposed. As long as she aimed for that, its health would drop to zero before she could lose even a trace of aura. Unless her father had tampered with the difficulty level.

Making sure to stay one step ahead of the bot, she was able to dodge all of his heavy swings, shooting from a safe distance. With years of dancing experience, jumping and twirling around its armored legs was child's play, and since her opponent was too slow to pin her down or get ahold of her, she effortlessly climbed atop of it, gracefully jumped over its head and delivered one of her famous mid-air shots. The recoil pushed her back and, with the help of some air dust, she landed safely on her feet. If she were on stage, this would be the time to take a bow, but right then she was nowhere near done. While the bot was turning around itself trying to fight her, she was scattering ice dust crystal around its feet. Once within the range of her semblance, she used her dust destabilization. One, then the other, the crystals burst into sharp ice shards which held the robot in one place. Shot after shot, she broke through the protective barriers, and decreased its health in half. Yet something felt wrong; this whole exam was suspiciously easy.

Suddenly, the bot stopped moving. While reloading, she dropped the crystals she hadn't used on the ground, setting her next trap, and tried to predict what would happen next. She expected that it would try to get close; it was a well-known fact for the professors -and thus, the examiners- what her weakness in combat is. Her rifle's recoil and her semblance wouldn't always work in her favor in a close-up fight, while her tiny bayonet could not do much. Even so, she still had a few tricks. No matter what, she would not give her father the pleasure of watching her fail. She was going to prove him that this little girl, who "should focus on hobbies that suit her more, and give up on her ridiculous, absurd dreams", was not as frail as he thought.

In the blink of an eye, the bot regenerated its shields and projected a second blade on the other hand. As expected, it dashed forward, but the dust mines it set off did little to stop its course. Surprised yet still in control, she dodged its swift swing and run to the other side of the arena to go as far away from it as she could. She had the lead, but a head-on hit from her opponent in that state would diminish her a-little-below average aura level. "So that's what you did. That's the game you want to play," she thought as she was forced to go on the defensive. She managed to hit a few shots, but it did nothing to its health points. The speed of its movements and attacks soon became overwhelming, stripping her of any chance to reload and aim properly. The only thing she could do was stab and slice at the bot with her bayonet whenever she got the chance. Unable to use her rifle, her only resort was that of her semblance, but even that would prove difficult, as she couldn't get away from the explosion in time. Struggling to keep up, there was no way she could have dodged the swing. She held her rifle tight and focused all of her aura on cushioning the impact.

One hit was enough to send her all the way across the room, scattering dust crystals from her ammunition pouch. One more blow like that one, and the fight would be over; Malva couldn't curse her aura levels enough. "I told you she's weak! Fragile like a crystal!" her father would be saying mockingly right now, while the other Atlesian officers would nod along, sneering. But this was not the end. The bot's health was still lower than hers and it was now at the perfect distance. A quick check on her gear, a deep breath, and she was ready to fight back. With only four bullets in her rifle's chamber and the remaining spread over the floor, she had four clear shots and a wide variety of dust she could set off. She had to make them count.

The bot left its core exposed when it charged again, allowing Malva to aim and shoot two rounds at its "heart" before having to evade the incoming hit. Her knee throbbed when she jumped, but it was nothing an experienced performer like her couldn't ignore. Albeit faster, the bot was still not as flexible. The last two shots hit the power device directly. Its health was now a small strip of bright red. It was almost time for the finale. Pretending to aim, she baited the bot to the middle of the room, where most of the dust crystals had scattered. Since they were so close to each other, a chain reaction would be inevitable, and there were hardly any ways to avoid getting caught up in the explosion that would ensue. The best she could do was climb atop of the bot and hope her remaining aura would be enough to take the hit. One destabilized dust crystal was enough to start the elemental explosion.

/ / /

The holographic projection faded away just as the smoke began to clear. The monitors above them were now displaying only one face, Malva's. Below it, a thin strip of red was all that was left of her once full aura deposit. Her clothes and face were covered in smoke and dirt stains from the fire and ground dust, while some parts of her sleeves and shoes were under a thin layer of ice. Her purple hair was disheveled from the blast of air dust, while she had to wait for the static to go before she could pick up her weapon from the floor. Her tidy, clean appearance was nowhere to be found, and there was scarcely any stamina left in her small body. But her spirit was not as fragile.

Mustering all the strength she had left, she got up on her feet, facing the glass window and the examiners and military officials that were watching all that time. Her eyes met immediately with her father's, who was sitting at the front. With a triumphant, cocky smile on her face, she crossed one hand over her chest, stretched the other one out and took a bow. The performance had come to an end.