Chapter 10: Polarity
Professor Goodwitch actually wasn't that bad of a teacher. She was very patient with my power, not wanting to push too far, but she did have me practice consistently. She was having me repeatedly use my smaller releases to get used to the control. Having been working on my Semblance for years, it wasn't hard at the beginning, but after the 40th time she had me do it, I had taken my shirt off and was sweating through exhaustion. I released my energy one last time and fell onto the floor. "Okay, I think that is good for the day. We will meet again in two days, same time same place, I suggest you take a shower and get ready for Classes. They start in 20 minutes." She then walked out of the room leaving me on the floor, panting. after about ten minutes I finally stood up and walked over to the locker rooms. I took a quick shower and picked up my stuff to go to my first period. I got there right when the bell rang and plopped down next to my teammates. They looked at me, obviously confused as to why I looked like I had been through hell and back. I just shrugged and mouthed "I'll tell you later." They turned back to class, for Oobleck had already started his lesson. I just zoned out and thought about how I was going to get through these Extra Lessons. Before I knew it, class was over and I was in Grimm Studies. I saw this as a perfect opportunity to get some energy back from this morning. I quickly put my head down and fell into dreamless slumber. This time, I was awoken by Virgo shaking me. "Leo, you have to get up, we need to get to our next class."
"Okay, okay, I'm good, let's go." After taking that power nap, I felt much better. I was still pretty sore, and tired, and more sore. But I was still pretty happy, I was going to get to fight again in Combat Training! We walked in and took our seats as Professor Goodwitch had walked to the center of the Arena. "Hello, class. We shall go ahead and start class, please take your seats. Today our new champion, Leonardo, will be fighting take keep his title. Leonardo, please come down here."
"Of course, Ms. Goodwitch." I noticed that she didn't stop me from fighting this time. I thought that she might, considering she "trained" me into the ground just this morning. As I got to the middle, I looked up into my other classmates, wondering who was going to challenge me.
"Alright, now who would like to be Leonardo's Challenger?" I saw a couple hands go up, some people I did know and some people I didn't. I expected that though. I got the feeling that people would want to know what I'm capable of. "Alright, first person to raise her hand was Pyrrha, please come down here." My face went pale. Was I fighting Pyrrha Nikos? One of the most powerful warriors in Vale? I looked up and confirmed my thoughts, the Red-Haired Gladiator was standing up next to that guy I had met yesterday, Jaune I think, and two other people. She came down and stood next to me, on the other side of Professor Goodwitch. "Alright, now you both should know the rules of the match, but I will repeat them again, in case you do not. You will have access to whatever weapon you choose, Melee or Firearm, you will fight until one of your Auras reach red, or if one of you is put into a submissive position. Semblances will-"
"Be allowed." I had interrupted Professor Goodwitch while she was explaining. The Professor glared at my and was undoubtedly thinking that I intended to hurt my competitor. Pyrrha was looking at me suspiciously. "I have no problem if she uses her semblance, I will not use mine though, because that might cause problems to arise." Goodwitch didn't loosen her glare a fraction of an inch. I just shrugged. "I just want a fair fight." Pyrrha laughed at this.
"Wow, you are more than a courageous opponent, this is going to be most enjoyable." I noticed her change in mood, but was smart enough to see that she was still trying to figure me out, what my semblance was, how I fought, anything to give her an advantage.
"Alright then, if you insist. Ms. Nikos you may use your semblance, will both of you please occupy your sides of the Arena?" We both turned around and started to walk to the edges of the Coliseum. I did not turn around while I was walking and knew that Pyrrha hadn't either. When we both got there, we turned around and prepared our weapons, I pulled Star out of it's sheath and moved into a defense position. I could tell Pyrrha noticed this because she moved to have her weapon in Javelin mode, she would need that extra reach to take a defensive fighter. Goodwitch had moved to the side of the Arena to survey the battle. "The fight will begin in 3, 2, 1. BEGIN."
Pyrrha ran forward to take the offensive against me, I slowly moved forward, keeping my sword up in order to keep my defense up. She got closer and closer until I burst forward, hoping to take her by surprise and get inside her guard. Somehow she knocked my attack away with her shield and took a stab at my with her Javelin, I jumped to the side. I kept up my attacks, trying to keep her from switching back to her sword. Every attack is dodged though, I keep missing or being guarded against, I can't get a hit in, but she can't get an attack in either, so we are at a stalemate of battle. She then moves the flow of the fighting. she counters one of my attacks and pushes forward with her javelin, pushing me to retreat. This gives her just enough time to switch to her sword and move to attack me. We went at a back and forth, we would attack and defend, counter and parry, but neither of us could get a hit in. Eventually, we got to crossing swords. I easily had the advantage, Star's Edge being made to give me power in these situations, but something was pushing my sword back, making it hard for me to continue to cross with her. I stared at her as we pushed and I noticed her starting to sweat, as if this was taking more of her strength than usual. I came up with an idea and looked up and the board, confirming it. Her Aura was slowly draining from this crossing, she was using her Semblance. I looked back at her again and quietly said. "Your Semblance is Polarity huh? No wonder you're having a hard time with my blade, it's made with Fine Peridot, not very effective against a magnet, right?" Her widened eyes at me told me I hit the Hammer on the Nail. I took her surprise to my advantage and pushed her blade down and out of her hands. and started to whale on her as she guarded as well as she could with her shield, trying to use her semblance to soften my blows, with some, but little effect. Eventually I knocked her shield out of the way and sliced upwards with the flat of my blade, knocking her into the back wall.
"AND THAT'S THE MATCH!" I looked up at the board to see Pyrrha's Aura in the red, while mine was in the medium yellow. I moved over to where Pyrrha was trying to catch her breath on the wall and offered a hand. She looked up and smiled, gladly accepting the hand of help. "Those are some very impressive fighting skills, Leo. I hope to fight with you in the future." She offered her hand. I happily shook it. "Of course, til next time."
"Leonardo has won the match and has kept his title as Champion and will fight again tomorrow. You both may return to your seats and we will continue with class."