Here you guys go the next chapter hope you like it. It was kind of difficult to write but I'm happy how it turned out.
I don't own RWBY if I did we would have more Sun, Neptune and Mercury moments their great.
"Come on Pyrrha finish him already!" yelled Nora.
"Show him whose boss," cheered Yang.
Team JNPR and most of team RWBY sat together as they watched their red headed friend sparring with Cardin. Meanwhile Red was sitting with team CRDL and cheering on their leader, getting some angry looks from Nora in the process.
"Keep going Cardin you almost had her!" cried Red.
Red leaned back into her chair, watching the fight and thinking over the past couple of days. After their little showdown with Roman and his friends, they were taken to the headmaster's office for a debriefing. Red had to struggle to keep herself from glaring angrily at the general when they walked in and simply ignored him entirely as she reported to Ozpin. Thankfully Glynda wasn't present so none of them had to suffer through detention again, not that it bothered Red. She'd gone through so many sessions that by this point they had just become numb to her, in fact she honestly didn't know whether to be sad or happy that the professor's sessions no longer scared her anymore.
Snapping her attention back to the fight she leaned forward eagerly, no one had expected Cardin to last this long against a world class fighter. Even the professor seemed slightly shocked at how long her student had lasted. When they had called Cardin up to fight Pyrrha everyone had been expecting a quick fight and who could blame them? The world renown tournament fighter Pyrrha Nikos going up against the former local school bully, it should have been an easy win. Yet despite this he was actually holding his own against her, sure everyone could tell that he had no chance of winning but he'd managed to turn what should have been a quick and easy fight into a long drawn out stalemate. Red knew he and his team had been doing late night training sessions ever since the incident at Forever Falls but even she was amazed at the progress her friend had made.
"You're doing great Cardin don't give up!" she cheered.
Slamming his mace into the ground Cardin caused a line of fire to go racing towards the Spartan, whom back flipped in the air before using her shield as a springboard and launching herself at him. Seeing this he brought his mace in an upwards swing intending to knock Pyrrha off course, only to find he had 'miscalculated' and the mace narrowly missed her head. The Spartan smashed into Cardin with her spear, sending him flying across the arena. Not letting her opponent get a chance to recover Pyrrha shifted her spear into its rifle form before firing a volley at Cardin as her shield returned to her back.
It was here that nights of training began to show their effect as Cardin quickly recovered and spun his mace in front of him, blocking the rounds. Pyrrha's eyes widened as Cardin charged and instantly her shield was back in one hand with Miló now in sword form in the other. Blocking the swing that came at her head Pyrrha was forced back a couple of steps from the strength of the blow before counter attacking with Miló. Cardin managed to block the blows with the handle of his mace but wasn't prepared for the Spartan to shield bash him in the face.
Red frowned as turned from the fight to look at teams RWBY and JNPR and saw Mercury and Emerald sitting behind them. For once they weren't watching her and instead were giving the fight their full attention, staring at Pyrrha with a calculating expression that sent alarm bells ringing in her head. As the fight went on she saw Mercury nod in understanding before turning to his partner and whisper something in her ear. Emerald glanced at him with a triumphant look and they both turned back to the fight. Red's frowned deepened as she to turned her attention back to the match, Cardin was really pushing Pyrrha in fact she was beginning to use her semblance in far more obvious ways than usual. Normally it was just slight adjustments, a near miss here, a display of 'unbeatable swordsmanship' there, but now she was actually throwing her shield. While it seemed to be using the rebound to return to her anyone with knowledge of polarity would easily notice the trick and from there it was only a matter of putting two and two together.
Cardin was sure taking a hell of a punishment as he received another burst from Miló to the chest and instead of falling back or stumbling he just kept charging. Unfortunately for Cardin he was tiring and Pyrrha knew it too, dodging his sloppy charge she changed Miló to spear form and swept the boy's legs from under him. Shortly after this Red could only flinch in sympathy as she and the rest of team CRDL watched Pyrrha send their friend flying up into the air before grabbing him and slamming him into the ground. As Cardin struggled to his feet the lights began to glow brighter and they saw professor Goodwitch walk into the arena.
"And that's the match," announced the professor.
"That was not fun," groaned Cardin.
Glynda gave him a thoughtful look before turning to Pyrrha, "well done, Miss Nikos. You should have no problem qualifying for the tournament."
"Thank you Professor," replied Pyrrha with a bow.
Glynda began tapping on her scroll as she turned to face Cardin, "and you Mr. Winchester have certainly improved since we last saw you spar. Keep this up and you too might make it into the tournament."
Cardin blinked in surprise before nodding in thanks as he rejoined his team and Red, "that was a great fight Cardin," congratulated Red.
"I lost," he replied, bitterly.
"Yeah but you've definitely improved. In fact I would have bet Pyrrha could have wiped the floor with your entire team before you started training," argued Red, causing all of team CRDL's shoulders to slump.
"She's right Cardin you've definitely improved and that was a good fight," interrupted Pyrrha as she walked over and offered a hand.
The former bully just stared at the hand in disbelief before cautiously shaking it, "umm…thanks I appreciate it," he responded, warily.
Pyrrha nodded and walked back to her team as Glynda turned to face the crowd, "alright, now I know that's a tough act to follow, but we have time for one more sparring match. Any volunteers?" announced the professor.
Gazing around the crowd her eyes came to rest on Blake whom was clearly struggling to stay awake, "Ms. Belladonna? You've been rather docile for the past few classes. Why don't you..?"
"I'll do it," interrupted a male voice.
Everyone turned to see Mercury with his hand up and a smug grin on his face. "Mercury, is it? Well, let's find you an opponent," replied Glynda, tapping her scroll.
Mercury's smile widened, "actually, I wanna fight... her," he stated.
There was silence as everyone looked between the two of them, already people were beginning to construct barricades. For her part Red just grinned manically as she leapt down from the stands and into the arena below before unsheathing her scythe.
"Alright then Mercury, let's play!" she growled as Mercury jumped down from above.
Glynda sighed as she saw the two students get into their combat stances, realizing that nothing she could say would change their minds. Heading to the safe area she double checked all the safety equipment before resetting the arena.
"Miss Rose be aware I would much prefer it if this room remains intact afterwards," she ordered.
Mercury watched as Red nodded, her eyes never leaving his as they both appraised their opponents, trying to determine the threat posed to them. He saw her expression become serious and gave Red a fake yawn of boredom before gesturing her to come at him. Growling Red switched her scythe to its gun mode before unleashing a hellish barrage of bullets at the kickboxer. Grinning Mercury dodged the incoming fire before rushing Red and sending a kick to her face. Ducking under his kick she slammed the butt of her rifle into him before quickly running backwards in an attempt to regain the distance between the two of them.
'She's not an idiot at least. She knows that she has the advantage at range so she's keeping her distance,' he thought, approvingly. Still Cinder wanted him to test her capabilities and in order to do that he needed to stop her from using ranged combat. Sighing Mercury continued dodging the incoming rounds, noting the scary amount of marksmanship being displayed, until he heard the satisfying sound of her gun clicking empty. Not giving her a chance to reload the kickboxer ran at Red and released a spinning jump kick into her head, stunning her briefly. This brief moment was all that he need as he unleashed a flurry of kicks into the reaper, however before he could do any real damage Mercury found his kick passing through a cloud of rose petals as Red disappeared from sight.
Remembering what Roman said Mercury cursed and just barely leapt out of the way as a scythe sliced through the spot he once stood. 'So Roman wasn't lying her Semblance is speed,' he thought as a frown crossed his face. Now that they had confirmed her Semblance he should have pulled out, least she start to learn things about him. We know next to nothing on the abilities her Earth aura gives her… As Cinder's words echoed in his mind Mercury's frown deepened and he lowered his raised hand, 'this is my chance,' he thought. Taking a deep breath he ran at Red again and began to get serious, for the first time since the fight started there was no smug smile on his face.
'What is that idiot doing?!' thought Emerald, furiously. He was meant to forfeit the match once they discovered her Semblance not actually try and win it. Was it pride? Enjoyment? No he might have been arrogant about his abilities and a bit of a show off but not even Mercury Black would risk disobeying Cinder for something like that. 'So what is he up to?' she wondered before her trail of thought was cut off by the sound of people chatting in front of her.
"Wow he's really good, he actually had Ruby on the defensive," commented the blonde boy in front of her.
"That's because she was holding back Vomit Boy. In fact judging from what we're seeing now they both were," replied the other blonde.
Emerald's eyes narrowed as she eavesdropped on the two teams, "what do you mean Yang?" asked the boy.
"Ruby was using only her most basic techniques, even when she used her Semblance it was only a basic follow up attack. He was doing the same as well, look at how he moves now compared to at the start of the match they are clearly more advanced," explained Yang, oblivious to the extra listener.
"Not only that but she had multiple opportunities to use her ace in the hole but decided not to use it. It's almost if they're testing each other, both trying to force the other to reveal their hand," she finished with a frown.
'Ace in the hole? She has something besides her Semblance? Is it her Earth aura?' she wondered and suddenly it clicked. 'Mercury you're one of the smartest idiots I've ever met.' Grinning she was about to lean back and enjoy the fight when what the blonde said next caught her attention.
"She's been acting a bit paranoid for a while now that I think about it, always checking over her shoulder, she won't even go to class anymore without Crescent Rose with her. I asked her about it and all she said was 'you can't be too careful.' It's beginning to worry me, she's under a lot of stress she really doesn't need," said Yang.
"I'm sure its fine Yang we all have to deal with stress at some point," reassured Pyrrha.
"No Pyrrha right now stress is very bad for Ruby, it can have…bad effects on her aura," replied the Schnee heiress.
Emerald filed this curious information away for later and returned her attention to the fight, making sure to stay close enough to overhear anymore conversations between the two teams. 'This is a very productive lesson,' she grinned as she leaned back in her chair.
Red grunted as she took another kick to the chest before lashing out with Crescent Rose, sending Mercury flying back a few feet. Panting she switched her weapon to its gun mode and fired into the flying grey haired teen, the rounds impacting him dead center and adding to his flight. Leaping up in the air after him she slammed the blunt end of her scythe into the flying Mercury, causing him to go crashing into the ground. Red wasn't prepared for Mercury to fire his gun greaves and soften his landing, keeping him from getting in the red.
Snarling in frustration she brought the scythe up to block his next kick only for his greaves to fire again, causing her to cough as she was knocked backwards. Taking advantage of her confusion Mercury launched himself forward using his greaves and kneed Red in the gut and following it up with a spinning kick to her side which sent her tumbling to the right. Recovering quickly Red semblanced to the opposite end of the stage hoping to get some breathing room as well as come up with a plan to counter attack. 'I can't use my Earth aura not while Yang and the others are watching,' she thought, angrily.
Her gaze dropped to her scythe with a conflicted expression before sighing, there was no way she was going to reveal one of her traps to her potential enemies which left only one option. There was nothing to gain from this fight any longer she had to kill him, destroy him, show this whelp what happens when it decides to plays games with her! forfeit. Blinking she shook the thoughts from her head as her grip on Crescent Rose tightened, a low growl rising from her throat.
Taking a deep breath she tried to calm her rising temper, he might not be an enemy after all so far he's a danger, a threat, threats must be eliminated! done nothing but watch her for now! Red groaned as a headache racked her brain, not noticing her hand inching ever closer to the scythe's activation switch. Suddenly the sound of a ringing bell caused her to jump before sheathing her scythe while Mercury deactivated his greaves as Glynda approached.
"That's the end of the lesson the match is a draw," announced the professor before turning to the stands. "That is all for today. And remember, the dance is this weekend. But you all have your first proper mission on Monday. I will not accept any excuses."
Mercury and Red walked over to each other and shook hands, "you were holding back," said Mercury.
"As were you," she replied.
"True very true," he grinned as he walked towards the exit. "Oh and one more thing Red, I expect to have a rematch after this."
With that he and Emerald left the arena while Red walked back to her friends, neither of the combatants realizing just how lucky they both had been.
Leaving the arena behind them team RWBY began the long track back to their dorms when they all heard a familiar voice. Turning around they saw Sun wave before he ran over to them and grabbed Blake by the shoulder.
"Hey, Blake! You uh, doing okay?" he asked, awkwardly.
"I'm fine," she replied, coldly as she put down her book.
"So I hear that there's this dance going on this weekend, and it sounds pretty lame, but you and me, I'm thinking, not as lame, huh?" he asked.
Blake just looked at him with a confused expression while Red just faced palmed, 'really Sun that's the best you could come up with? Thank God you got me as your wingman.'
"Blake he's wanting to know if you'll go to the dance with him. Personally I think it will be good for you, a chance to let loose every once and awhile," she explained, getting a grateful nod from Sun in response.
Blake just glared at the two of them, "so how long have you two been planning this for?" she asked, unamused.
"Huh?" came their identical confused responses.
Blake's eyes narrowed, "you two have always schemed together and for some reason Ruby has got it in her head that Sun and I need to start dating. So I'll ask again how long have you to been scheming to come up with this?"
Red immediately waved her hands in front of her, "wow hold on Blake we didn't plan anything…this time. If we did do you really think it would be this poorly thought out?"
That seemed to calm her down and she then turned to face Sun, "I don't have time for a stupid dance. I thought you of all people would get that," she replied and walked off.
Sun just slumped his shoulders in dejection while Red patted him on the back, her eyes never leaving Blake's retreating form. Blake never snapped like that maybe she should go and teach her a lesson no one treats her pack mates like that! talk to Yang. If anyone had looked at Red at that moment they would have seen her eyes glow a faint red before turning back to normal as she sped off after her team.
Mercury and Emerald are really hard for me to write for some reason, even my OoC Neo is easier. So anyway what did you guys think a nice adaptation from canon or would it of been better left as it was?