Note: Apologies for not getting this chapter out last weekend. Just found it hard to get in a writing mood. I'm still gonna try to upload another chapter this Sunday to catch up. I hope you've all enjoyed our brief respite from Team RWBY, but I think it's time to get back to the main girls. That's for next time, of course. For now, it's time for a Challenge. Enjoy.
On the morning of the Challenge by the Honors, Pyrrha received an email:
Dear Pyrrha,
It is our responsibility to inform you that Vivian Jupitarian has requested an audience for your upcoming fight. Per Academy regulations, a request for an audience must be confirmed by all participating teams. We have privately contacted your partners, and Coco has agreed to the terms. If you approve of the audience plan, please respond to us within the next hour.
Thank you,
Ozpin
Pyrrha carefully wrote a response within five minutes. She did not consult her team members.
Hi, Ozpin.
No, thank you.
Pyrrha had only briefly stepped foot into the King Tyrus Combat Arena. She was briefly conscripted by Ozpin to serve as backup during Team RWBY's presser, but the schemes of the Team That Shall Not Be Thought Of stifled her before she could take action. As such, it was only now that she actually stepped foot onto the gridded metal tiles of the combat floor. She looked out into the vast sea of empty chairs above her, feeling their shadows compress on her shoulders. It wasn't the largest arena she had ever fought in, but it was the vastest—and in the great, echoing chamber, there was just her, her friends, and the people who did this to them.
Team CFVY and Team JNPR entered together. Their numerous injuries had not fully healed, and even a quick glance from the outside made it clear they were less than one hundred percent. Nora took hobbled footsteps, leaning slightly over on her injured side. Ren tended to her, always there in case she stumbled. Yatsuhashi lumbered behind the rest of them, each movement punctuated by a sharp exhale. Velvet—absent her symbolic bunny ears and hair pulled back into a ponytail—wore an eyepatch that she was still getting accustomed to. Fox's skin was littered with small scabs and bruises, impossible to hide. They both lugged around huge backpacks, weighing them down further. Coco kept several paces in front of them, fists held firmly by her side, mouth twisted permanently into a sneer. Jaune and Pyrrha kept their eyes ahead and their hold on their weapons firm.
Team JJWL was waiting for them. Calaheart was swinging her hammers as a warmup. Luci finely tuned her swords. Nevan and Vivian were both lounging on the floor, laughing among themselves. When Nevan noticed them coming, smirked and hurried up to their feet. Vivian made no such effort, her coat draped over her like a fine blanket.
Pyrrha steadied her nerves by going over their game plan—well, Coco's game plan. It was explained to her in easy terms just that morning over breakfast. Team JJWL's offense was merciless, unrelenting, and multifaceted. CFVY was much the same, if not blunter and less refined. Coco reasoned that they had been overwhelmed before they could implement their game plan, defeated by lengthy weapon start-up times and a distinct lack of preparation. If they were able to reverse their fortunes, pin Team JJWL down to a single location, block off escape routes, and limit their chaotic Semblances, they stood a decent chance. Pyrrha couldn't necessarily disagree with the logic. Her brief study of Team JJWL's abilities led her to a similar conclusion, and Team CFVY's track record outside of their JJWL fight was solid. What Pyrrha didn't approve of was how late Coco told her all of this, as if once she uttered the magic words, the rest of their mission would be easy. They should have known it was never easy.
"Hey! Nice eyepatch, Velvet!"
Vivian's voice echoed across the empty arena, and Velvet turned away in shame. Coco leaned back to put a comforting arm around her shoulder.
"Don't listen to her," she said sternly. "Just focus on the fight ahead."
Velvet muttered something inaudible under her breath.
The two teams made their way to the other end of the massive space. Pyrrha looked up high into the viewing booth. Who was there watching them by Ozpin's side? Her imagination generated images of every professor, glaring, studying, and preparing for her failure. She shook off the doubts and turned her eyes to her opponents. Though their weapons had been thinly altered to stop grievous injuries, they were no less frightening. She ran her finger along the soft rubber edge on her own weapon. She pinched to feel the hard, golden metal beneath.
Vivian hadn't gotten up off the ground yet.
Why…
Speakers cracked above her. Ozpin's docile tone reached down over them.
"Okay everyone, I believe you are familiar with the rules, but I will quickly go over them anyway. You have to start on opposite ends of the field with your weapons in a neutral combat position. Eliminations occur by surrender, knock-out, technical knockout, or ring-out, all of which I determine myself. No time limit. No rematches. You are honoring the results of this contest. Team JJWL, you have to defeat both teams to be declared the victor. Only your personal team members are allowed to surrender on your behalf. Is everyone clear?"
Nods. Flashed thumbs-up.
Vivian groaned loudly, stretching out her noodle limbs before rolling up to her feet. She puffed out her heavy coat and called out. Thirty yards separated them from their enemies, but her voice was clear as crystal.
"Yo! We're gonna try to go easy on you, okay? No hard feelings!"
Pyrrha pursed her lips, trying not to let Vivian affect her. She was more effective than some others—Coco immediately stepped forward and whipped off her sunglasses. Her eyes were bloodshot from lack of sleep.
"Shut your fucking mouth!"
"Ooh, Coco getting spicy! Love it!" Vivian licked her lips. She threw her coat off her shoulders. It fell with a heavy thud. Calaheart immediately picked it up and tossed it out of the arena. They huddled together. They were ready.
"All right, all right. Let's get this going," Ozpin ordered over the speakers. "Sophomore's Team One, declare yourselves."
Coco huffed, backing up toward her team. Her words came out as a rapid growl. "Team CFVY: Guns, Glory, Air Guitars."
Vivian mimicked playing air guitar herself as Nevan flashed a heavy metal sign with their hand.
"Freshmen's Team One, declare yourselves."
Pyrrha cleared her throat. "Team JNPR: Freedom Stems from Valor."
Vivian's smug expression faded just for a moment. Freedom stems from valor? she mouthed before shrugging away her confusion.
"Senior's Team One, declare yourselves."
Vivian popped out her shoulders and rolled her neck. Out of everything she ever did as a Huntsmen student, this might have been her favorite. "Team JJWL!" She reached behind her back, where her precious weapon was clipped. She unsheathed the mighty beast and twirled it in her fingers. As she did, it roared to life, crackling with electrical power, expanding to twice its length, and casting Vivian's face in a bright glow and dark shadow. She pointed the aptly named Vindicator at her opponents—specifically right at Pyrrha Nikos's skull.
"Kneel."
Pyrrha took a deep breath.
Focus.
Focus focus focus focus focus.
Everything was going to be all right.
Stick to the plan.
She had this.
She always had this…
The air became still. Pyrrha's nerves twitched. Her grip resettled itself. Her mind snapped into focus. Vivian's eyes pierced through her, but she stared back through the fire.
Ozpin's voice rang out.
"Fight!"
Vivian moved first. Electricity surged between her knuckles. The Vindicator glowed with tremendous power. She began her charge forward, ready to blast Pyrrha's head off her shoulders.
The plan went into action, as Nora lunged to the front of the pack, grenade launcher in hand. She fired three shots at Vivian's feet, and Pyrrha and Fox joined her side, the former firing shots from her rifle, the latter launching grenades from a pouch he kept on his waist. Vivian instantly pulled back, her Semblance neutralized. Her teammates huddled together away from the grenades. Calaheart quickly constructed a defense. She pounded the ground with her giant hammers, and the terrain erupted upright, forming a gigantic wall between them and their opposition. Coco smirked.
"Give 'em hell!"
JNPR and CFVY moved as they discussed, changing their weapons as needed as they fell into formation. Pyrrha and Jaune formed the front line, kneeling with their shields out in front of them, their armor serving as the perfect defense. Behind them, Nora stuck out her grenade launcher, firing away wildly from behind cover. Ren ducked behind her, keeping the Aura of his teammates charged. Team CFVY fell behind them: Coco in the center, her minigun peering out from behind cover to deliver a never-ending stream of rubber bullets; Fox and Velvet, firing lobbing grenades from either side and Yatsu covering the rear, ready to deflect any stray attack that came their way. The phalanx was sturdy, keeping them prepared for a counterattack they were determined to never let arrive. As the roar of Coco's machine gun came to life, her voice rang over the fire.
"Don't ever stop!"
Team JJWL huddled behind the wall as an explosion broke the terrain in front of them. Calaheart moved swiftly. She swung her hammers like the floor was a great percussive instrument, and the erupting metal were her musical notes. She pulled them in front of them and around, building a ten-foot-high shell of steel to protect them from their enemies' onslaught. A trough appeared in the ground beyond the wall where the floor used to be, and the numerous grenades and shell casings began piling into the trench. New explosions burst piles of dirt high, over the great wall, and onto JJWL's heads. Vivian lay on the floor behind the barrier, her eardrums pounded by the sound of the hundreds of rubber bullets bouncing against the wall.
"Cala, you good?" she asked. Of the four of them, only Calaheart remained upright, constantly swinging her hammers to reinforce and rebind the shield.
"Holding strong but they're really trying."
"Nev, second layer, second layer."
"On it," hissed the slinking student. They cracked their knuckles, shot out their arms, and a blue flame materialized before them. A dozen skulls emerged chattering and enraged from the air, and Nevan lifted up their hands, commanding their pets to the sky. The skulls flew just above the metal shell, swirling around themselves in an intricate, overlapping pattern. It was no sooner than they appeared that a grenade crashed into one of them, exploding it into dust.
"Guys, aim up!" Coco ordered. Nora did as followed, lobbing her grenades up and over the shell. She tried to time her attacks to fall between the skulls, but they were quick to intercept her shots. Whenever one burst, another would immediately take its place—soon, rusty metal chains rose up over the wall, serving as another barrier to entry. Still, there were open spaces. Why did Team JJWL not just think to close the metal shell around them entirely? Air, heat, lack of resources. Nora could think of a bunch of answers if she wasn't busy blasting the hell out of them. As long as she saw the potential for damage, she took the opportunity. Even if she missed the shots, she could rain debris on those jackasses that ruined her date.
The shell creaked under the constant pressure. Coco's bullets weren't strong enough to pierce through, but a thousand of them hitting a specific spot at a million miles per hour was enough to leave dents. The grenades that hit the wall were able to leave greater indents, though Calaheart was quick to repair any damage they incurred, ripping up more terrain from the surrounding area. They hadn't landed a single true hit, but as Pyrrha watched from behind the protection of her shield, she understood Coco's plan. Team JJWL wanted something fast-paced? They would give them a war of attrition. They could hide behind their terrain, but they were chewing through their environment quickly. Eventually, they would run out of ground to draw from. Eventually, something would slip past the skulls and the chains, and there would be nowhere for them to run. They were totally pinned down, forced to wait out a barrage that Coco had zero intention of ever stopping. CFVY came packing with extra ammunition, and Velvet and Fox were quick to retrieve more supplies from their backpacks whenever they weren't throwing things in JJWL's direction. Even Pyrrha would take potshots at their defenses from behind her shield, just to add to the chaos.
"This is working pretty well, right?" Jaune asked nervously.
"Don't jinx it, Jaune!" Nora responded, reloading her grenade launcher. "Just keep on firing! Woohoo!"
Pyrrha didn't like Nora's overenthusiasm, but she was starting to feel comfortable. She had never seen a JJWL fight where they were forced into a significant defensive position. If they were unable to make a proper move, it was possible Ozpin would even declare a technical knock-out. As long as they never stopped, they would prevail.
They just had to keep going—forever.
"Wow, these guys are gonna go on forever," Vivian noted from behind the wall. "You'd think they would figure out what we're doing by now."
"It's only been two minutes," Nevan said passively. They had no trouble throwing up more skulls into the sky, almost like releasing balloons. Very fiery, deadly, explody balloons.
"Feels like forever. So, what do you think they'll be serving for lunch?"
"I checked… the menu…" Calaheart grunted between her swings. "The ration meal today… is a pork loin…"
"Didn't we have that one? I remember it sucked." Vivian rolled onto her side as several skeletons exploded overhead. She turned to Luci, who was quietly loading up her repeating crossbow with special ammunition. "Hey, Luci. Luucciii."
"What?"
"So, I was thinking… once we're out of Atlas and can eat actual meals again—" A large explosion rattled the wall from outside, and Vivian quickly tapped the metal to make sure it was still secure. "Anyway, once I can pick my meals, I was thinking of going vegan."
Luci stopped loading her crossbow for a moment, a surprised smile coming over her. "Really? That's wonderful."
"I mean, I'm not making promises or nothing," Vivian insisted. "But you know, that talk thing you recommended about the ethics of eating animals…"
"The Crystal Brugarnum one?"
"Yeah, yeah, that one! Thought she made some real good points. And you know, it's probably healthier too in the long run."
"It is so much healthier," Luci said excitedly. "But you have to do it right to make sure you're still getting all the nutrients you need. Don't worry, we can meal prep together."
"Again, large chance I drop it within like a month."
"It does take a lot of persistence. But I'm really happy you're taking that step."
"Gotta start somewhere. Hey Cala, you want in on the vegan train? Choo choo…"
Calaheart stopped swinging her swords for a moment, only to fake laugh. "Har har. That's a good one." She went back to reinforcing the wall.
"You can try it," Luci negged her.
"Girl, do you think I can keep these gains if I'm a vegan?" Calaheart said bluntly. "I am made of seventy percent beef. Like how most humans are seventy percent water? That's me… but with beef."
Luci sighed. "Okay. I can't force you."
"Nevan?" Viv asked. "You gonna vegan?"
"I only eat the blood of my enemies."
"Oh, that's hard to be vegan then."
"Very hard."
"But seriously, you ain't gonna do it?"
"I'll think about it."
"Hey! They're thinking about it. Three cheers for a healthy lifestyle."
"Hip hip."
"So… you all want to fucking murder these losers yet?"
"Wait like another… minute maybe," Nevan suggested. "Let them burn through a little more ammo."
Vivian shrugged. She took to counting the seconds as more explosions rocked the arena. When she finished counting to sixty, and the state of the battle hadn't changed, she looked back to her sibling.
"Now, ya think?"
"Hmmmm…. Yeah. Now."
"Cool. Luci?"
Luci held up her crossbow, locking her first arrow into place with a snap. "Ready."
Vivian grinned. "All right then… give 'em hell."
From the outside, it was difficult to see Team JJWL's plan unfold. Pyrrha's vision was blinded by the constant bursts of light and exploding skulls. Her senses were on fire, and it took a tremendous amount of effort to focus on the fight in front of her. She was only able to see glimpses; a metal sheet rising in the back of the shell, something small and green and flashing behind the chains. She didn't hear the ping of the arrow as it ricocheted off the back. She saw it only at the last moment, the glowing projectile sneaking through the skulls, the chains, the shell, and racing toward her head. Pyrrha raised her shield in panic, and the arrow struck her with a surprising amount of force. It didn't stick into her shield—in fact, its surface was dulled and curved in a way wholly unnatural. The impact instead sent the arrow rocketing to the side, where it collided with the invisible wall that encircled the arena.
And again, it bounced off, racing back toward them.
"Look out!"
Pyrrha's call wasn't heard over the barrage, but Coco noticed the arrow coming her way. She stopped firing her minigun long enough to swat the arrow away, but it merely bounced off the floor and continued its trajectory around the room, deflecting off every surface it struck.
"Careful, they're firing back!" Coco ordered. The barrage stopped momentarily for the eight students to trace the arrow's path with their gaze, ready for it to turn back on them. They nearly missed that another similar arrow had pierced through the defenses and was heading their way. Jaune caught it with his shield by accident, and though the blow unsteadied him, he was able to redirect it back toward the shell. It harmlessly bounced off and continued its path.
Then came another arrow.
And another.
And another.
And then so many more.
"Cover!"
Pyrrha and Jaune held their shields firm as their teammates kneeled behind them. A dozen arrows had now entered the battlefield, bouncing off the walls, the floor, the shell, and each other, seemingly never drained of their kinetic energy. Luci didn't stop. Every second, a new arrow would be launched out of the shell, easily slipping through the defensive web to join the chaos outside. Pyrrha tried to pianand arrow to follow, but their glow blurred together until she saw nothing but a series of straight lines weaved from edge to edge. And they kept coming.
God, they just kept coming…
"Guys, what do we do?" Jaune asked. His shield wavered in his hand, shifting directions the te arrows assailed them on all sides.
"Stay strong!" Coco ordered. "They have to die down eventually!"
Die down? Pyrrha didn't believe that was possible. Every impact only seemed to make the arrows go faster, and hit harder. Two more struck her shield and pushed her back into Nora. What material were those things made of? She gritted her teeth and hunkered down. Jaune stayed close by her side, mimicking her positioning. His logic was sound, at least in his own mind. Pyrrha was the best. Do as she did. Unfortunately, if there was a weakest link on their team, it would be him. He couldn't match her precision, or her tactical wit, or even her strength. He saw an arrow approach him from the side, and he turned his shield ninety degrees to deflect it. It left him wide open. Another arrow he couldn't see bounced off the shell and struck him hard in the chest, knocking the air from his lungs. He collapsed into Ren, who fell underneath the weight. All at once, the phalanx was broken. From behind the shell, Vivian screamed.
"Let's get this party started!"
The skulls broke their formation and rushed at the disorganized teams. Large chunks of metal burst from the floor and fired out like shotgun pellets. More and more arrows joined the madness, now over thirty of them bouncing off every conceivable surface. And they didn't stop coming. More arrows. More skulls. More metal. More everything. The arena that had once been vast and empty had been transformed into a minefield, a flying, unstable hell of projectiles that attacked CFVY and JNPR from every angle. The only part of the arena that wasn't swarmed was the metal shell, which now seemed downright cozy compared to the madness elsewhere. It dawned on Pyrrha only then just how crafty JJWL's strategy was. They were running low on bullets, grenades, defense, but JJWL? JJWL could go forever. And in the hell Pyrrha found herself in, there seemed to be no end.
Whatever plan to stick together Coco had, she was the first to violate it. The rushing skulls were moving too fast to shoot down, and she was forced to dodge out of the way. Once she broke formation, the rest of Team CFVY followed. They spread out, trying to find some safe space amidst the constant attack. Chaos for chaos—a mistake that would cost them dearly. Now separated, they could no longer defend one another, and their lack of strong defense became even clearer as the skulls chased them down. Yatsu tried swatting away the skulls, but his heavy swings left him open to the arrows that slammed into his massive frame. Fox rolled, dove, and flipped as much as he could, trying to stay moving, but he found himself tripped up on the large chunks of metal that slowly roamed the battlefield, their varying speeds offsetting his rhythm. Coco couldn't find steady footing at all, rendering her weapon useless. Standing still left her wide open, and she was forced to stylishly dodge every projectile to the best of her ability, alone and afraid.
Pyrrha refused to play that game. She grabbed Jaune and pulled him back up, keeping him close.
"Stay behind us!" she ordered her teammates, desperately trying to think of a way out of this mess.
"We have to help them!" Nora shouted, fearfully looking around to her scattered allies.
"Too dangerous," Pyrrha huffed. "Focus on protecting yourself."
Nora bit her lip, holding up her grenade launcher as an ineffective shield. The arrows and the skulls didn't seem to actively target them, but whenever one came at her, she was sure to swat it away before it damaged her. They couldn't stay out in the open, that was for sure. They needed to get back on the offensive. The ranged game was out of the question though. If they couldn't sneak through shots before, getting past this even deadlier web was impossible. They were going to have to rush down the shell.
Velvet, it seemed, had the same idea. She had no strong defense, but she had her quickness and the element of surprise. Through the web of projectiles, she saw an opening, however brief. If JJWL thought they were just going to lay down and be defeated, they had another thing coming. She ducked low to the ground, waited for her exact moment, and then raced forward as fast as she possibly could. She sprinted toward the shell, weaving past a flying skull, jumping over another, ducking three arrows, and keeping her pace quick as she barreled forward. When she approached the trench made from their previous assault, she gathered her Aura in her legs and leaped high into the air, jumping over JJWL's defenses. High above the chaos, she looked down at her targets, who didn't seem to notice her presence. She straightened herself out, sticking out her feet, driving herself down for a dropkick onto Vivian's head. Memories of her torment at their hands shot through her mind like bullets. This was her redemption. With only one eye open, she braced for impact.
Vivian caught her coming out of the corner of her eye. From her prone position on the floor, she suddenly flipped up, her long legs sticking up into the sky. Velvet couldn't stop herself from receiving a boot straight to the chin; her feet never even touched the floor.
The blow knocked Velvet loopy, and she was soon snatched from the air by rusty chains. Nevan held her aloft above the shell like a trophy. Coco gasped in horror.
"Velvet—"
A flaming skull collided with the back of her head during the distraction. She stumbled forward, trying to shake off the impact. The pathway in front of her was cleared of distractions. On Vivian's command, Nevan threw Velvet toward her team leader as hard as they could. The two young Huntresses collided, and already in close proximity to the edge of the arena, the momentum was enough to carry them out of bounds. They fell on top of each other in a daze. Ozpin spoke calmly into the speaker.
"Velvet Scarlatina and Coco Adel have been eliminated."
Yatsuhashi was the next to go. He was the easiest target of the group, too tall and slow to defend himself from so many attacks. His large sword acted as a stable enough shield, but he took one too many hits from too many angles, and a body riddled with broken bones couldn't withstand such punishment in peak condition. An arrow to the back of the knee. Another to the left shoulder. A flaming skull to the midsection. He was battered constantly, with the skulls finding particular affection in stalking him and exploding in his face. After giving it his all, he dropped to his knees, heaving and bruised. He was unable to defend himself as a final skull collided with his face, finally toppling the giant.
"Yatsuhasi Daichi has been eliminated."
Fox found himself alone on the opposite end of the field from Team JNPR. He heard the announcement clearly over the whizzing arrows and chattering skulls, and his gut told him his time was running out. His one hope was to make it back to the others and regroup, maybe find some new way of countering JJWL's endless attack. He had a dozen yards to go and took off running as fast as he could. The others saw him desperately breaking through the web, slashing at the skulls in his path. For just a moment, they thought he might actually make it to them. The dream ended quickly. From the metal shell, a large chunk of steel the size of a person suddenly flew off from the barrier, crashing across the arena. Fox was unable to dodge was the massive metal collided with him, carrying him straight out of the arena and into the back wall, crushing him with a painful crash. He fell limply to the floor.
"Fox Alistair and Sophomore Team One have been eliminated."
Pyrrha's heart sank. Their advantage was gone, turned against them in the blink of an eye. Her hands shook beneath the grip of her shield. She couldn't process how it all went so wrong so quickly, how her understanding of Team JJWL's strengths had been flipped on its head. Forget any symbolism or deeper meaning—this was hell. Her Semblance was desperately trying to reconfigure her mind into something she understood, something tangible, but she found nothing to latch onto. The only thing that seemed clear to her was her failure.
It was at that moment the chaos halted. The skulls faded into small embers. The arrows that once seemed like they would ricochet forever suddenly halted, falling limply to the floor, depowered by some invisible internal mechanism. The roaming metal shards too fell, leaving the battlefield cluttered and tattered. The metal shell peeled back, unfolding and layering itself onto the trench to act as a pathway. There, triumphant, Pyrrha came eye-to-eye with Vivian, who was grinning from ear to ear. The rest of her team stood behind her, ready to attack yet eager to let her hog the spotlight. After all, they had done their part. It was her turn to shine.
She held forward her Vindicator, ready for her second attempt. The makeshift weapon charged with power, electricity crackling from her knuckles, spreading through her toes and shooting out onto the floor. It hummed as the energy surged through it, and the huddled, pitiful Team JNPR was an easy target. Pyrrha remained frozen despite her teammates' pleading, paralyzed by her own failures. Nora took charge, attempting her strategy from before. She pushed her way to the front of the pack, standing in front of them, ready to take the lightning on by herself. She was Vivian's counter, after all. If she needed to take the punishment for her team, so be it. She would take it all and give it back a thousand-fold.
She braced herself for the lightning, only the glow of the Vindicator distracted her from JJWL's true attack. She did notice that Nevan's chains had vanished from her view. The exotic Huntsmen had wandered closer along the edge, just into range. Their chains had slinked along the ground like twisted serpents, stretching toward her, disguised by the rubble. She didn't even notice their presence until they tightly wrapped around her leg. She screamed in panic, and despite her strength, she was unprepared as the chains pulled her legs out from under her. They dragged her along the floor, scraping her through the rubble before haphazardly tossing her outside of the arena. She immediately jumped back to her feet, ready to keep fighting, but the damage was already done. She could only watch fearfully as Vivian unleashed the full extent of her power.
The lightning bolt crashed across the arena, and in a split second, Pyrrha was forced to choose. As her face was enveloped in pure white light, she quickly looked at Jaune and Ren. The lightning was headed straight for them. They had no protection. Neither did she. She considered lifting her shield to protect for a moment, but just for a moment.
Instead, her instincts took over.
She dodged out of the way.
The lightning crashed into Jaune's shield, and the impact sent him hurdling into Ren. The pair flew together out of bounds, falling to the floor as electric shocks ran down their spines.
"Nora Valkyrie, Lie Ren, and Jaune Arc have been eliminated."
Pyrrha rolled back to her feet. She stared at her defeated teammates. Her breathing was shaky as she surveyed the havoc Team JJWL had wreaked. Most of her allies were on the ground, groaning in pain. The only one standing, Nora, looked at her with this horrified, disappointed stare. Her heart pounded out of her chest as Team JJWL slowly approached her. Her grip on her weapon shifted. Slippery. Her eyes darted between the four of them, unharmed, eager to battle. They would fight forever if they had to.
She… she needed more time.
She didn't understand.
She needed to understand them to defeat them, but she wasn't understanding.
Her head hurt. She hadn't been struck once, but her head was killing her.
And Vivian just smirked at her, like always. She had gotten away with everything.
"Well, that was disappointing," Vivian sighed. "Got to admit, I was hoping you'd actually be somewhat talented. But after all that hype, all that cockiness… guess you just ain't on our level, are you?"
Pyrrha seethed as Vivian stepped closer. "You… you…"
"Huh? You mad or something?" Vivian asked. "Don't get mad. It's your fault you lost. You weren't giving it your all. Hell, you're still not giving it your all. I can see it in your eyes, girl. You ain't there. And that pisses me off a little. I didn't expect anything from the others, but you? Nah, I thought you would step up at least."
Pyrrha held up her shield as if to block out Vivian's words, but the demon continued striding toward her, unbroken.
"Here's some advice, peer-to-peer. Study your opponents. Don't let them define the battle for you. Don't let people who know worse than you drag you down. Me? I elevate people, ya know? I raise the bar. I am the bar. You mad at me? You hate me? Fine. But if you really hate me… then get better than me. Because I'm not the greatest Huntsman in the world unless I beat the greatest Huntsman, and you? You ain't it. So…" She pointed the Vindicator at Pyrrha's head "Ya want to do this the easy way, or…"
Pyrrha's fear turned to a blinding rage. She screamed and charged forward, drawing back her sword to cleave off Vivian's head. The King of the Huntsmen shrugged.
"Hard way it is, then."
There was a great clashing of metal. The rustling of chains. The spilling of blood. Two minutes later, Ozpin's voice slowly came over the intercom.
"And the winners, continuing their undefeated streak, Senior Team One. Thank you for the competition, everyone. You all fought with honor."
Thursday.
The morning after.
Nora roused from her sleep with a heavy groan. She clutched her side, still raw from JJWL's ambush several days earlier. God, what time was it? Class time? Already? No, wait, it couldn't be. Ozpin had permitted them to skip courses for the day to recuperate from their injuries. And yet, she couldn't sleep. Her nightmares were filled with endless school corridors and hounds biting at her sides. She was afraid her stitches had torn loose. She looked around the dorm room only to notice an absence.
Pyrrha was nowhere to be found.
Nora carefully got up and got dressed. She went through her morning routine and slipped on the Atlassian school uniform.
She went to the mess hall, where she did not find Pyrrha eating breakfast.
She checked the library, where she did not find Pyrrha reading.
She wandered the first three floors of the Academy, occasionally calling out to her missing teammate. She feared the worst, that Team VLNC had decided they wanted more fun with her, that she was somewhere bleeding on the floor, badly needing her help. That fear was ultimately ungrounded. Nora eventually stumbled into the gym, which was empty save for a lone redhead working a punching bag. Her eye was black and swollen, her head bandaged from a nasty cut she received the afternoon before. Her knuckles were bloody and raw. And yet, there she was, in her armor, in the gym, hitting the bag with every fiber of her being, over and over again. There was a fire in her eyes stronger than that which burned in her muscles. Her heavy grunts echoed like gunshots. Despite it being early morning, she had been there for far longer, possibly hours. She hadn't taken a break once.
Nora sighed, saddened, and left Pyrrha alone without saying a word. Pyrrha never even noticed she was there.