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(Rosé PoV)

A lot was going on in my life at the moment. As was the usual of late, it mostly had to do with my mentor. It had to do with Cloud. He knew I was the crown princess now. So there was that. Maybe I shouldn't have kept that from him. He probably deserved to know. But when I saw my chance to pass myself off as just another noble girl I took it. That was probably wrong of me.

It had been an emotionally taxing day from start to where I was now. I still wasn't finished with it. I still had my greatest challenge ahead of me: Pine Telimess. I'd have to beat her twice because she was in winner's side. I wasn't sure I could even beat her once.

And on top of all of that came the knowledge that my teacher and I would probably be parting ways. He didn't trust himself at Beacon for one reason or another. He was afraid of himself.

And I liked him, damn it. I liked who he was. I liked how handsome he looked when he ran a hand through his hair. I liked how much of a badass he looked with his weapon in his hand and what a weapon it was. I liked how slick his silhouette was when he moved, even just a little. He was dashing. He was what a huntsman should be. He was a man, a good man. I liked the way he cooked. I liked how he worried after me and encouraged me. There was a lot of stuff to like about him.

He just didn't really see it. I was pretty sure that on top of being scared of himself that he hated himself too. The way he talked about the mistakes he made sounded resentful.

So I might have bias. Just a little. In that I wanted him to teach at Beacon and stay with me. And it was kinda selfish and I was a little cowardly too. I didn't have the guts to tell him how I felt about him.

I sometimes wished that I did. Then at least he would know even if he would probably laugh in my face. He thought I was just a kid. He didn't see me as sexy, or whatever. He didn't see me the way that I saw him. That raked at me. But I could grow and change. I could blossom into a beautiful huntress who he would have to take seriously. I would like it if he would look at me like a man looks at a woman. As a woman. Not just some girl. Not that I was just some girl to him but I wanted to be more than what I was.

He made my heart race when he hugged me. He smelled nice. Like spice and ozone from his power. Smell was good. Smell was important. Nobody wants a smelly mate.

And the way he made my aura buzz was jaw dropping. It felt so good when he touched me. It made my sixth sense hum. He was so dangerous. He was a bad man who did good. He was a lot to take in.

So yeah I wanted to be around him more like at Beacon. I didn't want what we had to stop. So what if I had the hots for my teacher. There was something attractive about a knowledgeable man. So sue me. So set me on fire for it.

He burned me. He made me burn like a girl does for a man.

And now I might have to leave him behind forever.

I didn't want that. I would rather go with him than go to Beacon but that was never the plan. I couldn't impress that upon him. He never agreed to take me with him wherever he may go. He promised to get me ready for Beacon and he had. Now that things were drawing to a close I wished for more courage.

So there was a lot going on even besides fighting my way through this loser's bracket. That was exhausting. I was physically, emotionally, and spiritually drained as I walked out onto the pitch. Pine met me there. She looked pretty even though she too was sweaty. The green hair and the angel wings really brought the look together. She walked with a womanly away for a girl that I was pretty sure I would fail to mimic if I tried.

"Best of luck, princess," she said and she extended her shield hand. She was left handed but she extended her right. She was probably used to doing so.

I took it and shook back. "You know me?"

"Of course. Don't think it will keep you safe from me. I won't take it easy on you and lose." She let out a wonderful bell like ringing laugh at me.

"We'll see about that," I managed to put enough heat in my words to shut down that laugh that made me feel a touch jealous. But that was just vanity. I wanted my laugh to sound that good and to be as pretty as the other girl. Not to mention I was pretty sure she was a better fighter than me. It made my stomach turn with envy. She made me nervous.

I walked back to my side of the pitch and drew Falchion from my side. I was as ready as I was going to be. I waited for the countdown and the signal to start.

I was so very wary and weary. I had done a lot of fighting today and the other girl had her semblance unleashed and it was a decently powerful one at that.

"Three...two...one…go!"

Pine flew at me on her wide white wings with enormous sleek feathers. Her hair waved behind her as she came at me leading with her shield. Her solid metal quarter staff lingered behind her as she beat her wings.

I pulled my rifle on her and started shooting while walking slowly forward. I emptied the clip and swiftly reloaded like I had practiced over the last month. I hit her with several burps of the weapon. Some bullets bounced off her shield. Other rounds impacted the girl's golden aura. Then she vanished. She reappeared some ten meters away, instantly crossing twenty. Then she vanished again and she was right on top of me. I quickly shifted my weapon's form to deal with the approach.

Something stood out to me. Why teleport twice? Why not just teleport once the thirty meters between us? Why'd she have to do it twice?

I didn't have time to think about it. She was swinging her staff at my head. I lifted my sword and blocked with a metallic clang where the Titania edge of my blade met the Titania rod my opponent wielded.

She didn't rattle my body the way my master did whenever we fought but she was strong. It was a manageable kind of strong, however. It was tolerable for all that I was exhausted. My muscles ached and burned and we had only just begun. A glance at the holographic screen above us revealed that my aura was at fifty-five percent and that Phone's was just a hair over sixty. I'd done some chip damage with my gun but not much.

She brought her shield up to whack me in the body with it and I stepped around her as I had been taught. Backing straight up would be disadvantageous. I needed to sidestep around. I swung diagonally down at her and she deflected off her staff. I slid my weapon down the rod at her fingers but she pulled back. She drew away then jumped at me backwards and slammed her round blue shield into my chest. She pursued me now that I was in disadvantage like Cloud mentioned she would. She came at me with a bright flashing kick. I caught her leg with my left hand and swept her to the left. Then I kicked her in her one standing leg in the back of the knee now that she was turned away from me.

It dropped her to the ground and I swung horizontally back and forth three quick times across her head as harshly as I could. I demolished twenty percent of her aura in that moment. She teleported away from where she knelt. Then when she reappeared she vanished again even further and started casting spells.

My mentor said to be on the lookout for rules. Rules which would govern how the semblance worked. She must have not been able to go that far for one reason or another. She must have a maximum distance that she could teleport and it must be relatively small. It should be a trade off for how fast she could do it. It was nearly instant in terms of time between teleports and how long it took her to initiate the warp.

Pine started an explosive flame right on top of me that I was forced to roll away from. She fired four motes of light at me from the end of her staff. One of them caught me and made me stumble. Then she teleported right up to me and hit me in the stomach with her staff. It bent me over. And she made to bring the tip of her weapon down on the back of my head but I jumped back.

I double jabbed at her in two upwards swings of my sword that caught her in the center of mass and maybe did eight percent of her aura. My teacher had been right. I could do this. I could win.

I jumped at her and she was forced to be on the defensive the entire time I was falling. I was threatening an attack without truly committing. My mentor did that to me sometimes. He would just use his movement to intimidate me and put me in a corner. 'Empty movement' was what he called it. This was an empty hop. I landed and just when she least expected it I reached out and grabbed her. I pulled her into my knee and then I lifted her and slammed her into the ground. When she bounced I jumped and swung my weapon up into her. Then I landed and swung upwards again. Keeping the juggle going, I jumped and made to swing my weapon down on where she was falling but she had a get out of jail free card in that she was able to warp away and land rather than get caught up in my juggles.

I caught up to her when she had to take a moment to collect herself on landing. I swung four diagonal fast cuts. I knocked her aura into the red and slammed her on her back to the ground.

I panted hard. I looked up at the holographic display above me and listened to the roaring crowd. I had reset the bracket.

I shook hands with the girl and made my way to the sidelines. My mentor was waiting for me with a pleased half grin. I looked away from his pride. It was too much.

"She gets a chance to recover. Then just do what you just did again and the tournament is yours," he smirked down at me.

I couldn't bear to look at him. I just stood and panted hard. He handed me a bottle of water and I drank it down quickly. I beat her. I beat her once and all I needed to do was do it again. I already proved that I could. It was on her to adapt to me now. Pine was in loser's bracket now too.

"I can't believe I pulled that off," I managed to say to my coach.

"Believe it baby," he shot back. He still had that cheeky smile across his face. It was unbelievable how handsome he was. It wasn't fair. And did he really have no idea what he did to me? He made my knees weak and made me want to rub the top of my thighs together.

"Her teleportation makes her blind for a second and she can't breath while she's focusing. She has a limited distance that she can go," I managed to find something to say back to him. It was a struggle sometimes in his presence.

"You found her weaknesses. Well done."

"How long does she get?" I wondered.

"Thirty minutes. And if she can't recover enough aura by then you win by default."

That was a while on one hand. It was a long time to wait for me but it wasn't that long for her to try and recover. I looked across the pitch at where Pine was talking to her own coach quickly and emotively. They were trying to pick apart my weaknesses right now. Her coach was sharing some observation with her and she was nodding along. I wished that I could hear what they were talking about specifically. The best way to take me down but what was that exactly.

I waited and waited and an official made their way over to Pine. He checked her aura. It was orange on the jumbotron. She could fight again. I was going to have to beat her once more. I drank some more water and an official came up to me to ask if I was ready and I told him that I was.

I marched away from my mentor and back out into the pitch. Pine was waiting for me and we shook hands once more.

"You had a good run, princess. But it's over now."

"Eat dirt again," I shot back. Then I turned away to walk to my side.

"Three… two… one… go!"

I took off at her in a sprint. I beat her at close range before. That's how I would beat her again. She fired a bolt of light at me and I jumped over it and towards her. It was planned to be empty movement. I wasn't planning on hitting her in the arc of this jump. But it actually turns out that I could have because she stepped in and before I could react she thrust her staff up and sent a column of light issuing from the ground at her feet. The pillar of light caught me and flung me backwards and upwards.

She teleported beneath me and swung her staff up at me and kept me in her combo.

I managed to land but immediately had to dodge a ball of fire that she sent my way. I crushed a dust crystal and sent a bolt of lightning at her. She blocked it with her little shield but it shoved her back.

She had made some adjustments between rounds. She noticed my feint and saw through it and she hit me really hard with that beam of light. I couldn't risk a look at the screen but I probably didn't have much aura left before I was in the red.

I swapped my weapon's form and opened fire with five round bursts of tight shooting. She weaved through it and teleported in my face. Before I could swap my weapon back she was all over me. Had it been a trick to make me swap forms and catch me out? She rushed me down while my weapon was in the rifle form before I could switch. It had been a trap. I'd been duped.

She hit me hard with the side of her shield like a punch then she whipped the end of her staff around and smacked me in the stomach. She reversed her staff and spun it upwards right into my forehead and knocked me to the ground brutally. I went through half a backflip from the force of the blow.

A whistle blew. I looked up and my opponent popped off in celebration. She swung around on her staff with one foot kicked up like a ballerina. She let out that ringing laugh. I must have fallen into the red. I had just lost. In a heartbeat like that I had lost. I was eliminated from the tournament. I just lay on the ground and breathed hard for a minute. I pushed myself to my feet and I shook Pine's hand. She was a gracious winner. But I could tell she was a little smug. No one as competitive as she was wouldn't be and she had proved how competitive she was with her prefight banter.

I slugged my way over to where my mentor waited. I wasn't sure what I was expecting but it wasn't that same pleased grin. I flushed. He was still proud of me. I walked up to him and he patted me on the back twice. It set my barely active aura aflame.

I smiled a little.

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-WG