Chapter 4 - - - Pleasantries
Ruby let out a lazy yawn as she plopped herself down on the rooftop, placing a tray from the cafeteria with fruits by her side. Bleary eyes watched the sun begin to peak over the horizon before she rubbed her eyes to remove the crust. Her hands wrapped around a thermos filled with hot chocolate, the steam rising up into the chilly morning air.
Waking up at some forsaken hour while everyone else was asleep was no stranger to the young leader; it was actually necessary when she wanted to go around pulling pranks on others. There were also times she had crawled into bed with Cinder only to be woken up when her sister had to leave in the early hours of morning. What especially made her have to get use to being awake before sunrise though, were the facts that Roman, Neo, and Cinder had to wake at that time, but were not able to properly function until they had coffee; so as a result, were incredibly noisy as they wandered the house dragging their feet, heavily climbing down the stairs, running into walls, groaning, and occasionally dropping something onto the floor to cause a loud clattering sound to reverberate throughout the house (only to groan even louder). Waking up in the dead of morning was a usual occurrence for Ruby, and something she had gotten use to over the years.
Just because she's use to being awake at this time though, doesn't make it suck any less.
She sighed as she brought her phone out and dialed Roman's number.
A grunt greeted her ear, "Red."
"Morning Roman." Ruby yawned once again, but didn't say anything else, as she was certain the other man was still trying to wake up. Besides, she was still trying to blink the sleepiness out of herself as well.
A sound a light knock went through the line.
"Morning Neo." Ruby added with a small, lazy grin
Silence filled the phone line, with the occasional sound of a sip and deep inhale and exhale from Roman smoking.
After a few minutes, a satisfied sigh escaped from the phone – a proper indication that Roman was now fully coherent.
"Thanks for the other night Red," Roman started. "Your sister was really starting to wear us out over here. We weren't sure we'd be able to last any longer."
"Oh," Ruby blinked in surprise. She wasn't use to Roman thanking her so genuinely. "You're welcome."
"Though, I still don't know what makes her so… mushy around you." He drawled. "It can't be your looks, otherwise she'd be bending over backwards for me."
Ruby rolled her eyes, grinning when a smack and an "Ow" sounded through the line. "Must be my charming personality."
A snort, "Ha! Well whatever it is, you should try to call her more often. It would really help us out over here." He insisted, "Besides, we'd appreciate getting decent food around here again. Ever since you left, the fridge has been empty and we have to fend food for ourselves. We haven't even been able to come home and grab any sweets! We were dying Red! And it wasn't until you called her that we were able to get a proper meal and sugar."
Ruby gave an amused look at her phone. "I'm sure it wasn't that bad, though it's not like you haven't had to deal with a problem like this before."
"Look, stealing candy-"
A quick succession of knocks interrupted him
"And Ice cream," he added. "Is fine and all, but nothing beats coming home and being able to reach into the freezer and cabinet to grab them. The same goes for meals. There are only so many times we can dine and dash."
Silver eyes rolled once again, "Oh but of course." She drawled. Though, she wasn't exactly happy to hear that everyone in the house hadn't been eating properly. Contrary to popular belief, she couldn't actually go and order her sister around or demand her to fix a problem. Most often times in order to help the others out; she had to go do it in a round about way. "You know, you should really ask Emmy and Merc to do grocery runs. I'm sure they'll be more than happy to." She said thinking about how hard Cinder might have been working them during her absence and how eager they might be to get away for a while.
Roman scoffed, "You think they're actually willing to have anything to do with me?"
"No." Ruby stated, "But I'm sure it'll give them an excuse to catch a break. Besides, they seem to like Neo well enough, I'm sure they're willing to grab some sweets for her and you by extension." She also thought of how it would be easier to ask Cinder to lay off of them as opposed to trying to convince and remind her sister to get groceries. Cinder usually didn't care when she saw extra food around the kitchen, so it was the easiest solution Ruby could think of.
A sigh, "Well, whatever they decide to get, it'll be more than what we've had in the house for the past few weeks. I'll ask them after this weekend. You're still coming home right?"
"Yeah."
"Fantastic. At least we'll have some extra sweets for us for a while right Neo?"
Ruby snickered as she imagined the eager nod Neo was certainly doing at the moment.
"Alright, onto business." Roman stated, causing Ruby to bring out her pad. After some fiddling around, her pad was linked to his and they were sharing the same screen as he walked her through the documents.
"It took a while, but I did manage to dig up some records on this Jaune. A bit of family history, he has 7 sisters and a single mother. Papa Arc was a retired vet, turned merchant, only to die tragically during a Grimm attack."
"Must be why Jaune wants to be a hunter." Ruby muttered to herself.
"Also, he didn't attend a training school, and in fact he went to an academic one." He started off as he brought up some school records and transcripts onto the screen. "The transcript he used to get into Beacon? Forged, and pretty well done if I say so myself. Though, he couldn't have done it himself if his school grades are anything to go by. Very average from the looks of it, he even placed dead center in school ranking. All in all, he really shouldn't pose a problem to you, with no training done all he's really useful for is being canon fodder."
Ruby swiped her finger along the pad to take a closer look, "No. It's possible he actually forged the transcript himself… He might even turn into a bit of a problem if left alone." She stated, bringing up a graph. "Look at this. At the beginning of the school years, his grades are always low, but toward the end of the year they skyrocket and his grades get balanced out."
"Hmmm. So he's a master procrastinator." Roman declared.
"With a PhD." Ruby added, "If left alone, he could greatly improve as a fighter. He also hasn't shown any indication of what his Semblance is, so all this tells me that he could prove to be a problem."
A scoff, "So what? Just beat him down before he can improve."
"I don't think bullying him will help." Ruby stated as she brought up his family history once again, "If Papa Arc is what's motivating him to become a hunter, then challenges are only going to help improve him. Especially when he has such a happy and supportive family. All bullying is going to do is help him overcome his weaknesses and make him believe he'll be able to do anything if he works hard at it. He needs to think that he's improving, with that illusion set in his mind, he won't ever bother to actually try to improve."
"And how are you going to do that? Are you just gonna butter him up all the time?"
The young leader blanched at the thought of sucking up to someone, "Ew. No way." She spat her tongue out, garnering a snicker from Roman. She brought her phone in front of her to glare at it, until something caught the corner of her eye. Turning, she saw Cardin carefully walking to his dorm window and hesitantly opening it before scurrying back inside.
The sight of him reminded her of the match he had with Jaune, and the corner of her lips quirked into a malicious grin. "I have a better idea actually, but that's just for me to know."
"What a surprise." Roman deadpanned.
Ruby only snickered in return.
"Alright, look Red, Neo and I gotta head out soon. So we'll see you on the weekend."
"Sounds good." Ruby nodded.
"And uh." The sound of shuffling went through the phone, causing Ruby to raise an eyebrow in confusion. "Listen Ruby, you know Neo and I really miss you right?" He asked in a soft tone, "We're looking forward to seeing you home. It just… It isn't the same without you."
Ruby's other eyebrow shot up to be level with its' counterpart to show her surprise. Roman is hardly the type to be sentimental, and she can count the number of times he had been toward her on one hand. So hearing him say stuff like that affectionately to her was just a little bit weird. "Oh." She dumbly replied before shaking herself out of her stupor.
"Well, I miss you guys too. Really, all of you." She emphasized. "Mornings are weird here, it's too quiet for me to be awake."
Roman gave a soft chuckle, "I bet. See you later Red. Neo says bye too."
"See you guys later." She replied before the connection was cut.
The silver-eyed leader gave a soft sigh as she relaxed to finish her now lukewarm hot chocolate and allow all the information from the conversation to sink in as she stared out over the campus.
Once the contents of her thermos had run out and emptied into her stomach, she put it away before she idly began to munch on her apple. Before she could finish it though, she saw someone familiar enter back on campus.
"Yang?" Ruby muttered to herself, pausing in her breakfast as she watched her teammate tiredly drag her feet back into the dorm building. "Must have been out all night…" She mumbled, remembering briefly waking up in the middle of the night to the sound of the dorm room door closing and not seeing Yang in bed before Ruby left. She shrugged to herself though, whatever Yang was doing, it wasn't her problem.
Ruby finished up the rest of her food before climbing to her feet and doing a few stretches. Upon finishing them, she gave a satisfied smile before turning and setting her sights on Team CRDL's dorm room window.
"Alright… Alright." Cardin sighed in frustration, running a hand through his hair as he kept pacing back and forth in the dorm room.
His other three teammates kept glancing around their room in paranoia, before settling back on their team leader. Occasionally, one of them would check through their bags by them to ensure their homework was still inside.
Team CRDL had been on the receiving end of many mishaps the past few days, and it was really starting to put a strain on them.
The first morning this all began, they found themselves trapped in their dorm room. The door wouldn't budge open, the window was firmly shut, and for some reason, and their phones didn't have any signal. As a result, they had missed most of their classes that day as well as breakfast and lunch, it wasn't until after their midday meal that Professor Goodwitch came to their dorm room, opening the door with ease from the outside. Despite all their protests and statements of being trapped, she had still assigned them detention to make up for their missing class time as well as extra homework, only for their assignments to go missing the following day. Later, their teachers reported that they never received their previous tests and quizzes, and stated that if their misdemeanors continued on like this, then Team CRDL would have no choice but to face expulsion as Beacon Academy does not tolerate low grades nor continuous tardiness or absences.
Expulsion from Beacon Academy was not something any student could afford.
Just after that, they found themselves trapped in the showers of the locker rooms due to their clothing and towels missing. And after, they found all their underwear stringed up along the flagpole for the entire academy to see.
It was maddening, and now they couldn't help to continuously look over their shoulders in paranoia.
"The- The door is still able to open right?" Dove asked
"Yeah I-" Cardin glanced over to the door worriedly before quickly scurrying over to make sure that they could exit. After opening and closing it, he let out a sigh of relief. "Yeah. Yeah it does."
"Maybe we should leave now, while we still can." Dove stated worriedly.
Cardin nodded, crossing the room to grab his bag. Just as he took hold of it though, a lunch tray came spinning into the room, landing in the center.
Confused, they all took a closer look at it and found blue and green refined dust clattering against each other and spinning around in the air above the tray. Before they could properly question it though, a tornado suddenly formed, throwing them all and the beds against the walls. Gravity couldn't take a proper hold of them though, as ice began to form over the boys and objects on the wall, freezing them in place.
Letting out a groan, the team members tried to get a hold of their bearings, just in time to see Ruby swinging into their room from the window.
After she landed, she glanced around at the boys as she casually dusted herself off with a satisfied smile at seeing her handy work. She had used the same method just now as she did in the cafeteria, using Wind and Ice Dust to make this occurrence. By spraying a little bit of Wind dust and forming a light circle just by the edges of the tray, it would be the first to take effect when prodded. With the ice dust, she poured it on the inside of the circle, ensuring that it was spread out evenly. Having the tray spin would cause inertia to pull the dust out from the center, causing them all to collide into each other to activate. Once the Wind Dust sprayed out and off the tray, it would start traveling on the small bits of wind already spinning around the tray itself, using that as an influence before causing the wind to expand and thereby create a very short-lived tornado. The ice dust would then be forced to travel along the wind, but as it was being activated, it would typically freeze the air like it did in the cafeteria.
"Well, well, well." She repeated, folding her hook swords and holstering them. "Guess who's gonna be absent for classes again."
"I- We-" Cardin stuttered, still in shock. His eyes flickered down to the lunch tray lying peacefully in the center of the room, then widened in realization. "You! You've been behind all this!"
Ruby chuckled madly, a sound that was amplified by the fact that she had finally been able to actually be able to use her evil laugh. She knew all those days of practice would pay off eventually. And she was finally able to use it! "Who else would it be?" She drawled, "A ghost? Maybe the spirits of those you've bullied constantly?" She sarcastically asked
The team members all gave fearful glances to one another. Evidently, it seemed that they had all thought that at some point.
Ruby shook her head in disappointment, clicking her tongue along each shake. "Here's what's going to happen." Ruby languidly stated as she slowly unfurled her swords and lazily strutted towards Cardin. "You're going to… fearfully ask me rhetorical questions that I'll be more than happy to answer while I insult you. Then, you'll find that you all did deserve all that's come your way these past few days. Think of it as…" She paused in thought. "Karmic retribution… For all those Faunus students you've all personally decided to give trouble to."
She stopped just a couple of feet in front of Cardin and brought a sword over to his shoulder, tapping them against each other in a threatening manner and allowing him to fearfully eye the weapon. "Then, you'll ask me to stop doing whatever it is I'm doing. You'll even plead and beg me because you all know that you won't be able to muster a decent life after being expelled from Beacon Academy, because," she chuckled condescendingly, "From the looks of it, you guys are only cut out for fighting Grimm. And what hunting academy or police force would be willing to enroll you guys in after finding out you've been expelled from one of the most prestigious school there is? Hm?" She asked, bringing up her other sword and tapping it against Cardin's cheek.
Feeling the cold metal meet his face, Cardin couldn't help but to whimper and stutter. "P-Please."
Ruby gave a crooked smirk in satisfaction, "So this is what you're all going to do." She said, turning around and glancing at the other boys, ensuring they make eye contact before making her way toward the frozen shut door. "You're going to do everything I tell you to, no questions asked. If you agree, I'll stop all these little pranks I've been pulling on you. Why, I might even go through the records and mark a day of your absences to present instead. If you don't agree though, well…" She quickly swung her swords, causing the ice to break and shatter against the force as she folded her weapons and holstered them once again. "I'm sure you get the picture." She smiled, turning around to see all of their pale faces. "So, do we have a deal?"
They all quickly nodded, causing her to frown.
"I'm sorry, what was that?" She asked, her hands lingering on the handles of her weapons. "I couldn't hear you."
"Y-Yes Ma'am!" They all agreed.
She nodded in satisfaction. "Good." She said, turning around to leave.
"W-Wait!" Cardin yelled, "What about us? You can't just leave us here!"
"Oh? I thought you were going to be present today. At least, that's what it'll say on records. Hm. Odd… Oh well." She shrugged before leaving the room, the sound of the team's protests escaped into the empty hallway for just a moment, before silence enveloped it once more upon the door shutting behind her.
She scowled to herself, brushing imaginary dirt off herself as she made her way to the first class of the day. "Late to sparring, yippee." Ruby muttered, taking off and using her semblance to get to class quicker.
Upon arriving, she ruffled her hair a bit before entering the classroom loudly and out of breath. She jogged over to Glynda, mustering up her best apologetic looking face. "Sorry I'm late. I got stuck in the restroom." She lied in a soft voice for only the professor's ears, a sheepish look on her face.
Glynda rose a brow in concern, "That's alright. Is everything okay?"
Ruby nodded, "Yeah. Just a small upset stomach, I'm okay now though. Really." She smiled
"Alright, well if you're feeling fine, then you should be in good condition to hold the first class demonstration." The professor said, brow still rose to ensure that Ruby was indeed feeling fine and acted as an indication that she could skip in case she wasn't.
Ruby gave a small shrug and nodded.
"Then you may pick your opponent seeing as I didn't give you a choice to be up here before." Glynda stated loudly for everyone to here
Ruby looked up in the stands, eyes fleeting across every student as she tapped her chin in thought. "I pick…" She drawled out, humming in thought. She had assessed most, if not every, student's fighting capabilities so far, already grouping them up into those to be careful of, not care for, and to those that needed to be examined further. There weren't many in the last category, in fact –
"Her." She pointed to a tall red headed figure.
"Me?" Pyrrha asked in surprise.
Glynda's eyes sparkled as she nodded in approval. "A fine selection, Miss Nikos has had previous experience fighting in tournaments,"
Ruby's eyebrows shot up as she widely glanced over to Pyrrha, "She has?"
A question that went unheard as Glynda continued, "-and from what Doctor Oobleck has shown me, you could put up a decent fight against her." Glynda referred to Ruby. "Furthermore, I do believe the two of you would be able to show the class a perfect example of what a tournament style match might look like. Assuming that you are up for the task Miss Fall?"
Ruby nodded, "Yeah. Sure. I can do tourney style."
The professor nodded in satisfaction, "Fabulous. Now, Miss Nikos?" She called, looking up the stands. "If you'll please step into the arena, we'll begin the match shortly."
Pyrrha hesitantly nodded, standing up from her seat and being cheered on by her teammates before descending the staircase.
As Ruby waited for her opponent to get down, she walked off to the side to toss her belongings out of harm's way. By the time she stepped back in, Pyrrha was already mirroring her.
Slowly, the both of them took up arms and step by step, came closer to one another, only halting once reaching their designated spots and bringing their weapons up.
Pyrrha brought her shield up in front of her, allowing the curvature on the side of the shield going in, was faced up as she rested her javelin on top of it. She wearily eyed Ruby's hook swords. They were… interesting weapons to say the least, as Pyrrha had never seen anything like them. The blades of the sword weren't on the inside of the weapons, facing away from the wielder as most standard single edged blades, but instead were on the back and stopped right before the sword turned into a hook near the tip. The hook itself curved away from Ruby though. The hilt and guards of the swords were a little odd as well; they were in a similar style to that of butterfly swords, or even a saber the way the hilt was boxed in. Instead of the curve coming in though, it curved out in the form of a crescent moon and was sharpened. The crescent guard most likely doubled to be able to use to slash at the opponent. Finally, at the end of the hilt, there was a small, dagger like extension.
Pyrrha quietly noted to herself that with that type of weapon, the wielder would have to be incorporating a lot of spinning and arced movements in their style, and with the hooks it was easy to deflect many kinds of attacks. She would have to take caution in ensuring that her javelin did not get swayed in her approach.
As Ruby took her stance, she slowly slid her left foot forward, keeping her right foot pointed away so the imaginary line brought by their heels would make a 90 degree angle. Just as slowly, she lowered herself, causing her knees to bend. She brought her swords forward, keeping them parallel to one another and the crescent guards facing away from her body. Her left arm lightly stretched out as she kept her right arm lowered, allowing it to bend and her forearm close to her abdomen.
"You may begin the match." Glynda stated after a moment.
Completely ready to charge, Pyrrha took a step forward toward the much shorter student, but halted once she noticed something change.
Ruby's stance suddenly relaxed, her swords no longer parallel from one another. Her body began bouncing, having her sway back and forward, and her heels were not touching the ground. Furthermore, her grip around her hilts slackened, and a crooked smile lazily came across her face.
Despite her loose stance, there didn't seem to be any openings in it. Furthermore, viewers couldn't help but be a little irritated as they took sight of her smile and eyebrows waggling.
Pyrrha cautiously took another step forward, recollecting her thoughts and focusing on her opponents face as she shook off her mild displeasure. She couldn't allow her emotions to interfere with a battle.
She continued cautiously stepping forward, until finally only a few feet remained in between them.
Ruby flickered her eyes down at Pyrrha's weapons, noting that while the Xiphos wouldn't pose to be any problem, her shield definitely would be. While with every standard weapon, Ruby could easily deflect; shields were a type of weapon she could not do so with. Furthermore Shield bashes - along with every other shield attack - were typically heavy, which were types of attacks Ruby could not afford to allow to connect with her body.
Heavy attacks had always been something of a weakness to Ruby, not only was she small, but she was also really light and rather lanky. Even with a full aura, a blow from a heavy attack could cause her brain to rattle or her body to go flying. Furthermore, her weapons didn't exactly provide an ideal guard. Usually, the best method of protection against such attacks was for her to simply not be there when they happen, or for the heavy blows to not occur in the first place. So basically, she either ran or took the weapon away.
And with Ruby's weapons being such light hitters, she was working at a slight disadvantage with the shield, as her swords wouldn't have much impact.
She couldn't use her usual strategy of hit-and-run either, as she needed to know what Pyrrha's fighting was like first hand. Seeing as how Pyrrha was more experienced with tournament matches, Ruby rationalized that her typical cheap tricks and runners would not bode well for her opponent, as it was most likely that Pyrrha was use to fighting with rules and guidelines.
Ruby grimaced as she realized she would have to try her best to stay her ground and not "cheat" in her fight against Pyrrha in order to fully experience what her fighting is like. Easier said than down, she thought, knowing fully well that when she had decided to implement Roman's tactics into her own, he had firmly cemented and drilled all his knowledge into her mind to ensure it would be second nature to her.
To fight, he used the three rules he abided by in life; Lie, Steal, and Cheat. She could still remember the first lesson he gave her
"Alright Red, I'm going to teach you three things I abide by in order to survive." A young, 16 year old, Roman stated as he stood in front of a small, 8 year old Ruby who was just learning how to fight as he lit a cigarette.
"I lie, steal, and cheat. And these are the three fundamental rules I follow in a fight too. When I lie, I distract my opponents; sometimes I'll even pretend I can't fight before I hustle them. When I steal, I take whatever weapon they have. Finally, when I cheat, I mean that I don't follow any rules, I do whatever it is I will help me win and use whatever tricks I have up my sleeves; tripping them, throwing sand in their face, whatever it is that'll help me, I'll do it."
Ruby let out a soft sigh; she supposed that she could play fair. It'll just be very… She glanced at Pyrrha's weapons before grimacing once more… painful
Everyone in the stands waited with baited breath, tensely glancing in between the two fighters and wondering who would make the first move.
Immediately, the sound of gunshot fired throughout the arena as Pyrrha's javelin shot forward, extending into its Xiphos form, completely intent on piercing through Ruby's defense.
Just as suddenly, as though waiting for this exact attack, Ruby crossed her swords, bringing her arms out and leaned back to catch the weapon in between her hooks.
For a few seconds, the two struggled over the gladiator's weapon, breaking the dead lock when Pyrrha shouldered behind her shield to lash it forward against Ruby to throw her back.
Upon seeing Pyrrha bracing her shoulder, Ruby decided to take advantage of the upcoming shield bash and brought her back foot forward and into the air. Once the bottom of her foot made contact, she kicked herself into the air and allowed Pyrrha to launch her away.
Getting her bearings once again, Ruby lowered her swords as Pyrrha lowered her shield to regain sight of the arena. The short fighter lightly bobbed her head with the corners of mouth pressed down and hummed, as though saying, "Okay. I'm impressed." The action did not go unnoticed by Pyrrha as a small frown broke through her steely visage to show her ire at it.
Once again, they retained the same distance as they did from the start of the match, only this time; they both charged toward one another.
Ruby began swinging her swords from her shoulder to hip, twisting her body to keep momentum with hopes to batter her opponent with the blunt edges, but failed as Pyrrha raised her shield to block them. Still going with the flow, Ruby then spun; turning her body and allowing the constant motion to put some more force behind her spinning hook kick aimed at Pyrrha's midsection. As it was blocked, Ruby quickly hopped, bringing her hook kick down as she used her other foot to execute a powerful roundhouse kick.
Wanting to get out of defense, Pyrrha swiped her Xiphos at Ruby's leg in hopes of catching her off guard. Her move was not thought out well though, as her attempt was stopped immediately as a hook sword caught her javelin. Pyrrha knew right away that she was not in a good position as her whole front section was now wide open without protection, something Ruby took advantage of as her foot stomped down and her other sword came down.
Thankfully, Pyrrha's reflexes were quick enough to crouch down and raise her shield above her just in time before the oncoming blow. Thinking another hit would be coming, she braced herself once more, only to jerk in surprise as her shield was torn off her arm and flung off to the side.
Looking back up, she caught sight of Ruby's satisfied smirk along with the crescent hilts of Ruby's swords rapidly approaching. She swung her head left and right to dodge the punches, slowly standing back up. A kick from the side had to be blocked with her forearm.
Still on one leg, Ruby continued throwing 2 more kicks with the same one, aimed at the head and back at the waist, both were blocked with a forearm. She quickly did a back hand spring before Pyrrha could swing her weapon again, before closing back in and attempted another attack, raising one hook sword over her right shoulder and the other wrapped behind from the right side of her waist.
Immediately recognizing another double attack descending upon her, Pyrrha quickly turned her body, raising her hands up in front of her and seemingly dodged the attack. When she deemed it safe, she quickly jumped away from her opponent to recollect her shield, twirling her weapon to allow it to return back into its' javelin form.
Ruby, upon finishing her attack and regaining balance, frowned in thought. She was certain she would have landed her hits. Lifting her head, she wondered if she really did miss… or if Pyrrha had done something during the attack.
She would have to try again to figure it out.
Pyrrha for her part had noticed something odd about Ruby's fighting style. It was evident that Ruby was experienced in fighting, but not in the same manner as the standard student here at Beacon. From what she could tell, there seemed to be a small lag that occurred after each of Ruby's attack. It wasn't enough time for Pyrrha to be able to squeeze an offensive attack into, especially seeing as she was being placed at a disadvantage during that time, but it was definitely enough time for another person to do so against Pyrrha. It was as though Ruby was use to having someone else by her side in a fight, but was trying to make up for their absence. Furthermore, during her evasions and attack, Ruby had this habit of constantly flickering her eyes around, as though she were making sure an attack wouldn't spring on her from the sides or behind her. The only logical reasoning for this was that Ruby was experienced in fighting with a small team against a large group. For what reason, Pyrrha had no idea.
All she knew was that Ruby's fighting style was very different from what she was use to, and for the most part, it seemed as though it was changing constantly and Pyrrha was finding it difficult to adapt to it. The first attack did not seem normal, as she was certain that the point of hook swords were not actually to catch an incoming attack, and so she had been counting on her Xiphos being deflected so she could use the rim of her shield to counter. In a split thought, she decided to bash against Ruby, but didn't count on her using the shield the same way Nora had done to be launched away. And while Ruby's first offensive attack seemed normal initially, Pyrrha was startled at having to quickly lower her shield in defense of incoming kicks.
It was entirely ludicrous how precise Ruby's footwork can be; one moment she's light on her toes, and the next, heavy on her heels.
And from what the experienced tournament fighter could tell, Ruby did a lot of attacks that were actually acting as distractions. It seemed as though Ruby was allowing her swords to be blocked in order to catch Pyrrha off guard with something to follow. She did that with her kicks and to pull the shield off. Not to mention her punches that came from the side, only to be replaced with kicks.
Then there was the fact that she had been eager to back off after performing her attacks before closing in right after.
Pyrrha furrowed her eyebrows.
If this pattern persisted, then she would have to stay on her toes.
The idea made her smile.
How often had she faced against someone who had made her do such a thing?
The two cautiously circled each other once more, before Ruby suddenly hooked her swords at against the blade of the other, quickly bringing it back and allowing the sword to slide against the inside of the hook before each curve met one another and wildly swung it around above her head once. Then, just as she crouched down, she forcibly swung her swords from the side toward Pyrrha's feet.
Quickly, Pyrrha jumped into the air, flipping over Ruby and thrusting her javelin down in hopes to land a hit. But, once again, was taken by surprise as Ruby continued allowing her body to flow in motion, bringing the sword whip back around and above her to continue the assault on Pyrrha while letting her body arch away from the incoming attack.
In defense, Pyrrha flung her arm with shield out to deflect the attack, throwing her landing off balance.
Ruby didn't allow her to settle, as she brought the sword whip around once again, this time ensuring the sword slide back down for the hook to attach at the guard, and flinging it back to grab onto Pyrrha's shield before pulling, disarming her once again.
The shield was thrown behind Ruby, clattering loudly against the floor as her swords unhooked from one another and she caught the other with a twirl.
A small smirk of satisfaction stretched across her face, and Pyrrha found herself wanting to wipe it off.
Pyrrha frowned in thought, she had never felt so irked about another person in a fight before, and in her match against Ruby, she found herself coming across this feeling thrice.
She gave a wary glance at her short opponent, catching the lazy crooked smile stretching on Ruby's face once more as her body relaxed and idly twirled her swords.
The realization clicked in Pyrrha's mind. Ruby's seemingly relaxed body language was irritating because it seemed as though she wasn't taking the fight seriously, add to the fact that she was so light on her feet and quick with her swords, it made it seem as though she was mockingly saying, "Catch me if you can." Not to mention the crooked smile that seemed prevalent on her face was rather condescending. It was no wonder Pyrrha would find herself irked.
She charged at Ruby once more, bringing her javelin at shoulder level and ready to swing.
Ruby raised her swords to the side, crossing them in order to block the incoming attack. Upon impact though, she winced at the harshness before pushing the weapon away.
Pyrrha hit hard, and her attacks were not something Ruby wanted to deal with.
But she had to.
With that in mind, she began launching a series of attacks against Pyrrha while trying her best to deflect, evade, or clumsily block the ones Pyrrha was throwing her way. As she continued dealing her attacks, Ruby constantly twirled and danced around Pyrrha, keeping a constant flow in her movements and allowing momentum to help aid in her attacks as she slashed at her tall opponent with the blunt sides of her swords and throwing kicks at her from the side.
Pyrrha in turn, kept raising her free hand up against Ruby's swords as though leading them away from her body while launching her attacks in between. She slowly spun in place, forming a small circle as she held her ground as she tried her best to block ever kick coming her way and land every swing, thrust, and punch onto the hopping fighter.
After several long seconds of trading and evading/blocking each other's blows with their weapons or arms, Ruby concluded that Pyrrha was doing something to her swords since not a single hit from her weapons had landed on Pyrrha, but Ruby had been able to connect her kicks just as easily. Frowning in thought, she realized that in order to exactly know what Pyrrha was doing, she would have to test out an unarmed Pyrrha.
Quickly, she flicked the switches on her hilts to change to her lightning dust clips and allowed her swords to charge and hooked her swords against her opponent's javelin.
Instinctively, Pyrrha let go of her weapon as electricity ran through it and nearly shocked her.
Just as she did, Ruby flung the weapon off to the side before launching another set of attacks with just her swords at Pyrrha.
Her opponent kept her palms faced out as she twisted and turned her body to help evade the oncoming blows while using her hands to lead the weapons away from her.
At this, Ruby's eyes twinkled in confirmation at her previous thought. Pyrrha was doing something to her weapons. The only question now, was why Pyrrha didn't do the same thing to her kick?
Just to make sure, Ruby struck her swords down into the ground, using them to help thrust her body into the air and launch a double kick against her opponent, letting go of her weapons in the process.
Pyrrha was able to see the attack coming from a mile away, easily dodging the double kick. Before she could run off to grab her weapons again, Ruby twisted her body back around and ran up to Pyrrha to initiate hand-to-hand combat.
As the two continued exchanging punches and/or kicks, their difference in combat styles became prevalent to their audience.
Ruby was always in motion, her fists were always tight and it seemed as though she tried to use all her limbs for fierce attacks, but never did she try for a straight attack. It seemed chaotic at first, as she was constantly hopping from foot to foot and flinging a limb at Pyrrha and there didn't seem to be much thought to her next attack. After a while of watching, the use of momentum became prevalent in her attacks, and sometimes it even seemed as though she were dancing instead.
Pyrrha on the other hand had kept open palms, her stance – firm. Her hands would constantly move to deflect or block the oncoming blows, as though waiting for the next attack. When she got the chance, her arm or leg would stretch out harshly in hopes of pushing her opponent away or at least throwing her off balance only to meet air.
After exchanging a few more heated blows, Pyrrha finally landed an attack to Ruby's midsection.
Being pushed back, Ruby continued in that direction with backhand springs and flips to gather safe distance between them as well as taking her swords in her hands again.
At the same time, Pyrrha took the chance to get her weapons as well, running for her javelin which was closest.
Another small smirk formed on Ruby's face, but this time it was there due to her finally realizing what Pyrrha's semblance was.
It was Polarity.
It was the only logical reasoning Ruby could think of seeing as how her swords wouldn't land a single blow on Pyrrha, but her kicks and punches were able to. It was hard to tell at first because Pyrrha's influence is so subtle, it only seemed like Ruby had just been constantly missing and Pyrrha was able to constantly dodge. But their hand-to-hand combat simulation had allowed Ruby to come to a realization.
She's not the only cheater when it comes to fights.
Regardless, now that Ruby had her information, there was no reason for the match to continue.
She casted a quick glance up at the screen above them and nodded to herself. It was the perfect time to test out a new attack she had wanted to try.
She flicked her thumbs over the clips on her swords again, changing to her Wind Dust cartridges and swung her swords behind her to help give her a kick-start as she activated her semblance and twisted herself to form a tornado to form behind her. Once she knew she was steadily in the air and on route toward her opponent, Ruby curled up into a semi ball and thrust one sword below her with the crescent hilt pointing down and parallel to her feet and the other above her. This caused her to appear as a ball spinning toward Pyrrha with blades ready to make impact, or more specifically… instead of a threatening ball of blades, she now appeared like a charging boar tusk rapidly rolling toward its' enemy.
Pyrrha had yet to obtain her shield, but it was just a few feet in front of her. If she could just grab it before Ruby came in contact with her.
Desperately, she flung herself toward the shield, activating her semblance to help it subtly get closer to her without anyone noticing. Once in place, she twirled toward the incoming Ruby, shield held out and ready. The moment Ruby reached the area Pyrrha eyed, she swung her shield out and slammed it against her opponent, flinging her off to the side.
Ruby tumbled and rolled against the floor until stopping at the wall with her head on the floor and legs above it.
"Woah…" She grumbled, "The world is… spinning." She dazedly announced.
"I-I'm sorry!" Pyrrha stated, worriedly rushing over to the younger girl. Once by Ruby's side, she proceeded to help her up
"And that makes the match!" Glynda announced happily. "That was a superb demonstration you two! Well done! Now that is what a tournament match should look like! Why, I even held my breath in that last attack! I was certain Miss Nikos would have been done for, but in a surprising turn of event, she was able to obtain her shield at the last second! Well done! You may take your seats when you're ready." the professor enthused, turning to face the rest of the students to tell them and ask them for observations of the match.
"I-I what?" Pyrrha asked in surprise, casting a glance at the screen.
Sure enough, Pyrrha's aura level was close to the red while Ruby's was nearly empty. She was surprised at how harshly she had hit the younger girl, but was even more so at the prospective idea that she had very nearly lost.
Had Ruby landed that last attack, Pyrrha might have found herself in her opponent's current place.
"Thanks." Ruby mumbled with a small smile, "For helping me up I mean. I don't think I would have been able to do so by myself." She laughed.
"Oh no, it was no trouble at all." Pyrrha insisted.
The young leader flashed a brilliant grin, "That was a good fight you put up. Congratulations on your win."
The much taller student smiled, "Thank you. But you made it difficult for me to earn it. You fight very well! All your moves were impressive! The way you moved and executed your attacks, I've never seen anything like it!"
"Oh… Uh…" Ruby shuffled her feet, feeling uncomfortable under all that praise. She's only received compliments from her family in regards to her fighting style, so hearing it come from someone else was really strange to her. "Thanks." She said dumbly as the two made their way off the arena.
"Where in Remnant did you learn such tactics?" Pyrrha asked as Ruby grabbed her belongings.
"I uh…" Ruby thought of an excuse she could give. "My… Uncle taught me." She stated, thinking that was probably the closest family title she could think Roman as. Although, she was sure he would throw a fit upon hearing that, probably exclaiming how he isn't old enough to be an uncle.
"Most impressive! Is he a hunter?"
"No."
"Then how or where did he learn to fight?" Pyrrha inquired
"He was…" Ruby hesitated, wondering how much information she could disclose about him. She didn't want to lie too much about her family history in case more questions came and she wasn't able to keep track of the lies she had told. "He wasn't taught formally. He grew up on the streets and had to learn how to fight in order to protect himself." She decided, nodding to herself in approval for not giving too much information but just enough to answer the question.
"Oh… I'm sorry to hear that." Pyrrha frowned.
"It's fine." Ruby shrugged, "I mean he's alright now so it was no big deal I guess."
"Still, no one should have to suffer like that." The tall student frowned.
Ruby casted a quick glance at Pyrrha before looking forward once again, "No. No one should." She softly said.
"So… who else is in your family?" Pyrrha asked curiously
"I… uh." Ruby stuttered, struggling to think of family titles for everyone. It was a little more difficult than she would have thought of, as she had only just called them like family, but never designating a spot or for any of them. "I have… two cousins." She finished, thinking of Emerald and Mercury. "They're kind of annoying though, but I guess they can be pretty cool. And a… uh…" She contemplated on what Neo was like to her.
"…An aunt…" She finally settled, which was close enough seeing as how willing Neo was to do things with her and spoil her to no end. Besides, she was Roman's sister after all, so it would only make sense. She sent a silent apology to Neo though, knowing fully well that she would not appreciate such a title. "She uh… she can be a bit… crazy." Well that was putting it lightly. Neo could be incredibly frightening when carried away.
"I also have an older sister," Ruby smiled at the thought of Cinder. "She's really awesome, though she can be a bit overprotective of me, I love her."
"No… No parents?"
Ruby shook her head, "Nope."
"But-"
She wasn't able to finish her sentence as the two had already ascended the staircase and were assaulted by their teammates.
"Great job you two!"
"That! Was! AWESOME!"
"You two were really amazing!"
"Don't worry Ruby, I'm sure you can beat her in time."
"I'll say - it was a very close match though. I'm certain that just a split second of difference could have made a difference."
The team quickly separated the two previous combatants from one another, the two casting apologetic smiles at the interruption before each team sat on their designated benches.
"I must say," Weiss began, "I'm impressed. I didn't think you would be able to hold a fight against her for that long, nor did I think you would be able to deal that much damage."
Ruby grinned, "What can I say, I'm impressive." She said, polishing her nails against her chest.
Her partner rolled her eyes, "And so modest as well." She deadpanned
"Hey Ruby," Yang piped up, "It's been bothering me for a while, but I just wanted to know why you have Rose petals follow you when you use your semblance. Does it… uh… run in the family or something?" She asked
Ruby shrugged, "I don't know. I never thought much about it because my sister does something glow-y." She stated easily.
"O-Oh. You have a sister?" Yang asked
Ruby nodded with a big smile. "Eee-yup!"
Her teammate returned the look with a small, albeit hesitant, smile of her own, before facing forward and ending the conversation there.
Blake and Weiss gave a quick glance of understanding to one another as they followed Yang's example.
Ruby, not knowing what just happened, merely shrugged. It wasn't her problem if they suddenly weren't in the mood to talk. She looked up at the ceiling in thought, slowly laying her body on the rest of the bench that was free to rest. She'll have to put Pyrrha on the list of students to watch out for and type up a quick profile for her.
She sighed, closing her eyes to let them rest from being awake at such an early hour and expending so much energy already.
Ruby couldn't wait for the weekend to come so she can visit Cinder, it's been so long and talking of her and the rest of the gang to Pyrrha and talking to Roman about home just made Ruby miss them more.
Cinder happily hummed a tune as she was wiping the upstairs hallway of her house. Two things that were definitely out of character for her, frightening both Mercury and Emerald who were helping her clean the house, to no end.
Emerald was stiffly wiping all of the tabletops and surfaces in the family room while Mercury warily dusted everything. The both of them continuously casted a glance up to the ceiling in Cinder's direction as though not sure if she really was happy.
The two of them were so tense, they jumped the moment the door banged open and Roman loudly announced his arrival.
"I'm ba~ack!" He sing-songed, as Neo trailed in from behind him with a bounce in her step and plopped herself onto the large lazy chair. "And look at you two, being such good kids and cleaning up the house for little ol' me." He said, merrily trotting over to the couch before he dropped himself down on it and sprawled across it, kicking his shoes off as his feet rested on the armrest. He gave a satisfied sigh as he relaxed himself and sank into the couch.
Emerald and Mercury casted scowls in his direction, obviously displeased with his declaration. Neither one of them had the chance to say anything though as Roman had jerked his head up and looked over in the direction of the staircase.
"Is that…" He began, "Is that Cinder? Humming?" He asked fearfully, a wide-eyed look on his face as Neo mirrored his expression, her eyes both paling to silver.
The two teens solemnly nodded, forgetting about their previous ire toward the young man.
"My goodness, if that's how she is when Red is about to come home, then we really should have just kept her from leaving…" Roman grumbled
"You mean…?" Emerald began, her red eyes sparkling.
"She's coming back?" Mercury asked with a small smile
Roman nodded, "Yup. Just for the weekend though, then we're back to dealing with-" He gestured his head toward the staircase to indicate he was talking about Cinder. "That. But brooding."
Everyone gave small shudders at the idea.
Mercury turned toward Emerald with a small smirk on his face after shaking his fear off, "You were just excited that the squirt was coming home weren't you?"
"Wha- I-" Emerald stuttered. "No I wasn't!"
"Admit it, you missed her." Mercury continued
Emerald growled, "No. I didn't." she denied, "She's going to come home and pull a bunch of pranks and next thing I know, I'm being roped into helping her clean up. Who in their right mind would miss that?"
"Ruby is going to be so happy when I tell her that you missed her." Mercury snickered. "She might even give you a hug!"
The tan girl blanched at the idea, "Ugh. Gross. You better not."
"Don't worry, I'll tell her." The tall teen reassured before addressing Roman again. "And so? How'd your thing go last night? We didn't get to ask since you left so early this morning."
Roman went quiet, giving a thoughtful look up at the ceiling as she threw his arms behind his head. "It was… eventful." He said, "We had to leave early because some Blondie stopped Neo and kept glancing at her through the night."
Emerald snorted, "What? Did Neo disguise herself as some hottie?"
Neo shook her head with a frown, bringing up a small white board up from the coffee table, left their for her use to communicate with those two and Cinder, as Roman and Ruby had both learned sign language to communicate with her. She quickly scribbled on it and turned it around. "Black hair, silver eyes."
Roman nodded, "Blondie suddenly grabbed her when we were talking to Junior before apologizing and saying how she got the wrong person." He said, his voice softening. He cast a quick glance over to the staircase, making sure Cinder wasn't there. "I think Blondie was looking for Ruby."
Neo gave a sad frown, eyes welling up as he said this.
Mercury's and Emerald's hearts lurched at that admission, both casting a glance toward the stairs as well before settling back on Roman.
"I… Are you sure?" Mercury asked wide-eyed, almost pleading the answer to be no.
Roman nodded solemnly, "When she apologized, she said she thought Neo was her missing sister. I tried to give her my sympathies, asking her how long her sister had been missing." He paused, "She said nearly 11 years."
That was about as long as Ruby and Cinder had been together as they all knew that Ruby and Cinder weren't related by blood. Roman especially as he had been acquainted with Cinder since before she met Ruby, and was there when she brought Ruby home.
He could still remember the snowy day Cinder showed back up to the apartment they had been squatting in out of breath with a small, shivering, and pale Ruby in her arms. How Cinder had a desperate look in her eyes, frantically saying that Ruby was malnourished, that they had to feed her, and that she had been out in the cold for so long, she had to be warmed, and how she might be sick, so they had to get her medicine.
He remembered that it was the first time either he or Neo had seen her portray any emotion since they first met her so they were frozen into shock until she angrily ordered them to move and help her. So they did.
He also remembered a week later, when Ruby was just starting to feel better she wanted to thank him and Neo somehow. They didn't bother with her though because this little girl somehow managed to get into Cinder's good graces in a mere day when they've known her for so much longer, so left her alone and told her to get lost.
He remembered how later that day when they came back to the apartment, it had been nearly torn upside down as Cinder rushed out, desperately asking them if they had seen Ruby since she had been missing the moment she woke.
He remembered that they all ran out into the cold, snow-covered city, looking for her desperately as they searched all over. Neo had found her shortly after in an alley not so far from the apartment, shivering in the corner with teeth chattering. And how Neo told him later that Ruby had shown an apologetic smile before saying, "You found me. I'm sorry I didn't get lost."
He remembered when he came back to the apartment at the same time as Cinder, Ruby had been curled up and clinging to Neo, his sister not knowing what to do with someone who merely wanted to hold her so hesitantly and awkwardly patted the child on the back.
He could still remember how Cinder had squeezed the little child, tears in her face as she asked her not to do that again, only easing up after hearing a muffled apology.
He remembered that they had to start all over to nurse Ruby back to health. And during that time, he could still feel the warmth in his hand spreading in memory of her trembling and cold hand reached out to hold his. Just to hold it. And when her smile she casted his way came with a hoarse whisper of, "Your hand is so warm." His had reflexively tightened.
What he couldn't remember though, was when Ruby had made such a permanent mark in all of their lives that they couldn't even bear the idea of her ever leaving.
But this was especially true for Cinder, and everyone knew this.
"She can't know." Emerald said, referring to their boss.
"No. She can't." Roman agreed. "So we're going to make sure she doesn't ever find out."
Silence reigned through the room as a serious, and gloomy air hung over them.
"C'mon you guys. I know the squirt and she adores us!" Mercury stated, breaking the silence. "She would never leave us, I bet the thought has never even crossed her mind!"
A small smile nearly made an appearance on Emerald, before she quashed the motion and crossed her arm, "Hah. She's like a thorn at our side, she probably wouldn't even be willing if she were told to go."
Neo and Roman gave small smiles to each other, shaking their heads out of amusement.
"You're right." Roman said, "In fact when I called her, she told me that waking up in the morning is weird now! She says it's 'too quiet' for her." He proclaimed, causing chuckles to pass through the group as the mood considerably lightened at the statement.
The reassurance of her coming home lifted their spirits even higher.
"Neo. You're here. Good." Cinder exclaimed with a nod as she walked into the room.
The petite girl smiled and nodded.
"I need you to go out to do some grocery shopping with me. You know a lot more about those… abominations that she insists is food and adores. So I need you to help me pick them out." Cinder stated
Neo gave an eager nod, only happy to assist with this.
Cinder gave a small smile before she turned to grab her jacket and purse, still happily humming a tune.
She couldn't wait for the weekend to come so Ruby could return to her.
And away from Yang.
AN: Hope you all enjoyed this chapter!
As always, many thanks to my wonderful beta, jupitermonkey4 - and a many thanks to all of you for reading, reviewing, favoriting, bookmarking, and/or following this story! Y'all are fabulous and awesome, and I appreciate each and every one of you. :)