Mad Max: Road to salvation

Episode 17: Phenomenal

[Guest: There will be a time and a place for him to ask. All he knows for now is they're a threat, and until he gets to that point it's all he needs to know.]

[Charles: He is softening slightly yes, but he won't be changing his attire. When the time is right he will reveal his past.]

[SilentTpe1997: Right you are.]

[Enriks D8: Thanks and well yeah.]

A man in a black suit with a red tie, blonde hair and sunglasses, stepped into the inner area of the coliseum and onto the fighting ring to be welcomed by the cheers of hundreds of adoring fans of the tournament. He put a microphone to his mouth and then shouted loudly. "Ladies and gentlemen, are you ready?!" The cheers grew even louder in anticipation. "That's right everyone today is the annual mistral tournament! I have some exciting news for you ladies and gentlemen! Registration is officially over and we can begin the preliminaries! How does that sound?!" Another roar of applause came from the crowd.

"Alright without any further delay let's get to our first qualifying match! I'd like you all to give a warm welcome to our first contender, a young and talented brawler, from the arid rock-maw region of Vacuo, Bruz Rockatansky!" Bruz then walked out of the same passage the announcer had come through and raised his fist in the air. The crowd cheered loudly at his display of simple badass-ness, causing Bruz to take a step back and ram his fists together, making them cheer even louder. "Alright everyone its time for our newcomer's challenger, a homegrown hero from haven academy, he's a lover and a fighter, the mighty Cross bones!" The announcer yelled as a young student, from haven walked onto the ring and started show boating, earning him loud cheers from the crowd. Cross was dressed in a brown trench coat, blue jeans, brown boots and a skull faced bandana covering the lower half of his face as well as a black military beret on his head. His eyes were brown and he had the look of overconfidence on his face. The two fighters turned to face each other and the announcer stepped back.

"Fighters ready?!" The announcer shouted, and the two opponents looked each other in the eyes as they took up their stances. "Fight!" in under a second both fighters were going head to head with each other. Bruz smacked his opponent upside the head and knocked him across the ring. "Whoa look at that folks! The new kid on the block is clearly no pushover!" The announcer bellowed as Crossbones rose up and pulled out his .45 pistol, firing the entire magazine at Bruz. The young dingo faunus rolled to the left and avoided the hail of gunfire, he saw his chance as the haven student reloaded his pistol. Bruz seized the opportunity and ran straight at him, tackling the guy to the ground.

He then began to wail on him with a flurry of punches. Crossbones engaged his semblance and a shock came from his contact with Bruz. The manic mechanic did several embarrassing poses from the amount of electricity going through him and quickly recovered, albeit slightly dazed. Crossbones ran at him with a large knife in his hands and Bruz countered just in time with his own bowie knife. Mari and the others were in the stands watching from high above and they cheered when Bruz blocked the attack. The angry dingo faunus then made a tactical move and punched Crossbones in the stomach. He grabbed the haven student, spun around and twisted his arm, and then rammed his head into the floor. Bruz then stopped pounding the guy's face in and hurled him into the air. Crossbones landed on the edge of the ring and just barely avoided a ring out. Bruz charged him head on at full speed and knocked him into the wall outside the ring.

"OH, RING OUT! Bruz Rockatansky is the winner!" The announcer said proudly with a huge amount of gusto.

"Bring on the next one, I'm ready for more!" Bruz roared to the crowd, and they cheered at the top of their lungs.

"Now that's one eager young competitor folks! Let's give the rookie some applause!" The announcer shouted with a huge grin on his face. The crowd responded with even more cheers for the young faunus.

"Oi, mister, mind if I have a go with that?" Bruz asked the announcer coolly.

"Sure kid, I'd say you've earned it." The announcer allowed it.

"Alight everybody, I'm gonna say it right here right now. I challenge the champ to see she if she can take me on, because I'm all revved up for war now! But that doesn't mean I ain't a sportsman either! I think everybody here knows there's nothing like a good scrap, am I right?!" Bruz bellowed proudly to his new fans as he called out Pyrrha herself. "Here you go mate." Bruz said politely as he handed the microphone back to the announcer.

"There you have it folks, it looks our newest competitor is out to take the win! He talks the talk, soon enough we'll get to see if he can walk the walk! But I can tell you right now a battle is surely brewing, and the challenge is on!" The announcer shouted to the adoring crowd of the coliseum's attendees.

After Bruz finished his grandstanding, he was escorted to the rest area to wait for the rest of the qualifying fights to finish. Thirty-one fights later, Bruz's next opportunity for battle came, and one after the other he thrashed, crushed, and stomped his competition into submission. Each fight left the young hyena faunus even hungrier for the main event, which was coming up through the ranks fast. He admitted that the invincible girl had some style when he saw her fight, but he was in this for the win. Bruz's path to victory was also fraught with its challenges as the higher he went the tougher his opponents became. Some were fast, some were strong, even fewer were both. But the intrepid manic mechanic powered on through his heavyweight fights to finish his personal mission like a boss. His latest opponent had really put him through the wringer, Bruz was in the rest area again and Max had come to speak with him.

"Hey boss, how's my performance so far?" Bruz asked his mentor with a half-smile on his face.

"Sloppy." Max said with brutal honesty.

"Oi-!" Bruz started to voice his indignity but was interrupted.

"What matters is that you're succeeding, despite where you fall short. It pays to adapt your strategy in order to drive the nails into your opponent's coffin. That's what you've been doing and that's why I'm here." Max explained stoically.

"Err what?" Bruz tilted his head in confusion.

"*sigh*The point is, sometimes you face your enemies head on, and sometimes you wait until their weakness is revealed. Patience is always your greatest weapon, do you understand?" Max gruffly lectured Bruz on his tactics and the young mechanic nodded his head in understanding. "Good luck with the rest of your fights, and remember, try to read the flow of the battle as it unfolds, combining that with patience is the key. But after you win this, we're going back to the basics again." Max went into further detail to drive his point home for the young mechanic and then told him the consequences of his performance.

"Aww scrap." Bruz said with melancholy at the thought of more strenuous exercise and rigorous lessons.

"Now put those skills I taught you to use out there, … and make me proud." Max said confidently with a slight smile as he started to walk away.

"You got it boss, I won't let you down!" Bruz said proudly as he stood up and saluted the road warrior as he returned to the stands to watch the next fight unfold. With Max's vote of confidence under his belt Bruz took to the ring again for another campaign of carnage. The headstrong hyena faunus stomped his way to the arena and out onto the ring again with the crowd showing their adoration for the young rookie sensation. Bruz raised a fist into the air and screamed at the top of his lungs "URRRRRAAAAA!" The crowd began to chant along with him as he smiled his joker scarred grin under the bandanna he wore to cover the lower half of his face.

"Wow folks, that's one stellar welcome for the amazingly unbreakable rookie sensation of the year, the bulletproof thug himself, Bruz Rockatansky!" The announcer shouted happily as he appeared alongside the young competitor. "Alright ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, It's time for the main event of day! The moment you've all been waiting for, it's time for the rookie of the year to face our beloved champion, the queen of the ring herself! You all know her, you love to watch her fight, the invincible girl herself, Pyrrha Nikos!" The announcer bellowed as the invincible girl calmly stepped into the ring with a confident smile on her pretty face. Bruz had to admit he sort of blushed a bit when she looked his way and they locked eyes with each other. The newest officially adopted member of the Rockatansky family shook those thought out of his motorhead. Pyrrha did the same and walked over to him with a calm smile, and stuck out her hand in a gesture of sportsmanship, Bruz took it and shook it firmly.

"I'd like to have a good match, if that's alright with you?" Pyrrha said gingerly.

"Oi, like I said if I lose, and I don't intend to, I won't be sore about it. All that matters to me is that I have a good scrap! I came this far, and nothing's going to make me hold back now, I promise you that, you red headed beauty!" Bruz replied in a warm, friendly tone with his arms crossed over his chest. Pyrrha blushed at his comment, almost as if she was taking it the wrong way. Bruz noticed this and began covering his ass. "Hey I didn't mean it like that! I'm just being friendly red. Seriously, I hope you have a good fight."

"O-oh, well thank you very much." Pyrrha said with a slight stutter while making an effort to recompose herself. She did so, and the two of them made their way to their respective pacing distance. Bruz took up his brutal stance and rammed his fists together, earning him a loud cheer from the crowd. Up above in the stands, his 'family' was watching with heavy anticipation. Amy and Mari were both doing their respective cheerleading chants, while Max just sat there quietly with a stoic look on his face that hid the secret pride he had in his student that stood ready for battle below. Qrow was viewing the fight on his scroll with Krel and Dinki-di joining in as the dog barked in solidarity with the rest of his comrades.

"Are you ready?!" The announcer shouted to the crowd in the stands and across the world through the various cameras that were positioned in the coliseum to record the fight. Even three very interested individuals were watching the battle, one bore red eyes and mint green hair, the other had a dull grey color scheme, and the last one wore a red dress with a flame pattern and her eyes glowed with an ominous amber color. Her eyes burned with a newfound curiosity at sight of this powerful young fighter. Deep within her cold and vicious heart, a new and mysterious spark began to burn with the flame of desire. All Cinder had ever lusted for was power, but this young faunus intrigued her. He was proving to be quite the anomaly to be sure, although he was brutish, that trait definitely had its uses. Her amber eyes burned brightly in anticipation, and her deviously cold heart agreed with her. Back in the ring, the two fighters were still waiting as the announcer prepared to give out the call.

"Are you all ready?!" The announcer cried loudly to the world as everyone was on the edge of their seats in anticipation. Bruz's brow furrowed as he focused on his opponent and he ground his boots against the floor. Pyrrha was calm and ready to face him when he came at her, at least that was what she believed.

"Begin!" The announcer shouted as he jumped back from the ring. Bruz ran at Pyrrha in an attempt to rush her. She sidestepped his charge and transformed her milo into its spear form and tried to defend against Bruz's onslaught. Bruz saw her move to counter him and ducked as he attacked from below. His uppercut sent Pyrrha flying into the air and she recovered landing on her feet. She transformed milo into its rifle form and begin firing at her hard-hitting opponent.

Bruz rolled to the side and tried to outlast her until she had to reload. Bruz was pulling all kinds of agile moves to avoid shot after shot, he pulled a handstand and pushed himself 2 feet skyward before landing on his feet and leaving a crack on the floor. Pyrrha had reached the point where she had to reload and Bruz whipped out his gun bow. He started slinging explosive bolts at her like there was no tomorrow. Pyrrha was somehow avoiding the explosive tipped bolts as they blew up around her, making the embattled Bruz shake his weapon in frustration as he rarely ever missed with his favorite boom shots.

Bruz swapped to his wood bolts and those seemed to have much better accuracy. Pyrrha then used her shield akuo to block Bruz's bolts and moved closer to try and find another strategy to use against him. Bruz ran dry on bolts and decided to make another try at using his fists to end this. He charged Pyrrha and began beating on her akuo with his fist with a special trick Max taught him to use against t opponents with one. His hammering away on akuo finally forced Pyrrha to drop the shield and Bruz flung it away like a frisbee. Pyrrha wasn't finished yet and continued dodging Bruz's barrage of brutality with her superior agility.

She managed to get a lucky strike, and dazed Bruz by hitting him upside the head with her milo. Bruz had paid for his mistake and felt it as his head spun like a top and his ears rang. He felt his neck hairs stand up as Pyrrha began her counter attack and Bruz back peddled to avoid her the effects of second wind. Bruz then remembered his trusty monkey wrench and concealed knife that he kept on him. He stated a reversal to get behind her and swung the wrench, him being the one to hit Pyrrha upside the head this time. She was thrown for a loop and spun wildly as she fell to the ground. The invincible girl was facing a real challenge with this opponent who had come from nowhere. She got up on one knee and struggled to get up. Bruz walked over to her and his imposing figure loomed over her with a big shadow. He bent over and reached his hand down, Pyrrha saw his gesture and grabbed it.

Bruz hauled her up and gave her a pat on the back. He then jumped back and ran straight at her. Pyrrha recovered and grabbed her shield akuo to block Bruz's charge. Bruz engaged his semblance and continued his rush as his glowed a dim red. When the two of them collided, a loud gong sounded throughout the coliseum that cracked glass and made ears ring slightly. Everyone looked into the ring and saw Bruz standing with his aura meter at 48% green and Pyrrha's at 19% in the red with her laying on the ground with Akuo having one massive dent in it. Bruz seemed to be frozen as did Pyrrha and the two of them seemed to be unconscious. Bruz began to move slightly from his statuesque position and slowly bent down to the floor and grunting in pain as the attack had also rebounded onto him. he pulled Pyrrha to her feet and the crowd roared with applause.

"There you have it folks! Bruz Rockatansky has just won the title match!" The announcer said to the crowd as confetti rained down from the ceiling and people began throwing in roses and other flowers. Bruz grabbed Pyrrha's hand and raised it along with his own into the air. He then collected the winnings and smiled his joker grin as he shook hands with Pyrrha and the two of them became friends.

"If you ever want another good scrap like that, I'll be around red. Until then take care of yourself, it's time for me to go to school." Bruz said with a smile.

"Thanks, and I hope to see you again as well. Wait, what do you mean by go to school?" Pyrrha tilted her head curiously.

"I'm shipping up to beacon red, maybe I'll see you there some day, so until then see ya around." Bruz gave a thumbs up as he walked away.

"Bye Bruz take care!" Pyrrha shouted as her new friend strolled along with his comrades to the cars.

"Alright boss, I'm ready. Time to go to school!" Bruz said coolly to Max before roaring with confidence at the new challenge that laid ahead.

-END CHAPTER-

A/N: Pyrrha and Bruz are just friends! I'm shipping him with Yang!