Howdy folks, how's it going?
New Year, and yet it's all same old, same old. Don't even have much to comment on, in all honesty.
As always, shout out to Chaos Productions for his continued help and input.
And as always, I own neither RWBY nor LoL.
So, without further ado, enjoy the very first update of 2024.
/
The days passed by, and alas, all the mind-blowing revelations in the world weren't enough to stop the schedule of classes.
Once again, teams RWBY, JNPR and ABRN were standing among the gathered crowds of students around the arena, watching the unfolding combat class under the critical eye of the sternest instructor of the academy.
"Alright." Professor Goodwitch stated, after a moment of checking parameters on her scrolls, as the combatants of the last bout made their way back to the crowd. "Do we have any volunteers for the next match?"
Immediately, without even a verbal reply, Arslan stepped up to the stage, to which the teacher simply nodded, seeming thoroughly unsurprised. The mistralian girl had swiftly proven to be a very eager participant in this particular class.
"Very well, Miss Altan. I assume that you already have an opponent in mind?" The professor inquired, which prompted Jaune to let out a slight, resigned sigh…
"Oh yeah," The buhru girl replied with a grin, as she glanced over in the groups direction. "I'd like to take a crack at Nikos."
…Which swiftly turned into a coughed out wheeze as the boy looked between the challenger and the challenged in utter bewilderment, and to Ruby's unique perspective, no small amount of trepidation. The proclamation immediately had the crowd breaking into whispered chatter, which was fair enough, considering how even the red-cloaked girl couldn't help but very lightly raise her eyebrow at this turn of events.
Sure, it was no secret to anyone at this point that Arslan enjoyed a good fight, especially if she was dragging Jaune into it, but ever since Pyrrha's downright brutal performance the other day, the "invincible girl" had firmly cemented herself as being the only other person besides Ruby herself that absolute nobody wanted to fight unless Goodwitch pressed the issue. That the challenge was coming so eagerly had a lot of people wondering about the girl's sense of self-preservation.
"I see." Goodwitch replied after a moment. Despite never losing her prim demeanour, even she seemed to find this mildly surprising. "Will you accept the challenge, Miss Nikos?"
Ruby glanced over toward the redhead in question. Pyrrha's expression seemed as polite as always, but even to the red-cloaked girl, it felt rather forced, and the small smile she showed clearly did not reach her eyes.
"Of course, Professor." The girl that was widely considered the best fighter in Beacon replied with a nod as she too stepped forth, to Arslan's widening grin and Jaune's growing concern.
"Gotta admit, I've been looking forward to this for a while." The buhru girl commented, as he gripped her idol over her shoulder like backpack. "Even back in Haven, you're all people talk about when it comes to a fight. Gonna be fun to test myself against that."
Pyrrha smiled at that, just a slight twitch at the corner of her lip hinting at how brittle it was.
"Of course," She replied, the words sounding more rehearsed than anything. "Let us have a wonderful match."
"Very well, then ,if you are both ready," Goodwitch called out, as both girls took their stances. "Begin."
Silence feel upon the arena as neither combatant moved, looking each other over, waiting for the smallest opening, the crowds waiting with baited breath for the carnage to begin…
Surprisingly, at least for Ruby, as the seconds wore on, Arslan still did not move from her spot, content to stand there with a fierce smile and a piercing stare towards her opponent. A quick glance towards Jaune showed that the boy too seemed to find this unusual.
And clearly, so too did Pyrrha, as with a narrowing of her eyes, she twirled her spear, shifting it into riffle form, and took aim, firing off a couple of probing shots. Arslan promptly and casually brought her idol forth, shielding herself, and then retaliated by punching it straight at the redhead, who immediately brought up own, actual shield up, upon which the incoming projectile bounced off harmlessly, and to anyone paying close attention, with far too abrupt a shift in momentum.
"Hhhmm…" The buhru girl hummed ponderingly as she reeled her weapon in, but still she did not move from the spot, waiting patiently for her opponent's next move.
"What is she doing?" Reese couldn't help but mutter in confusion, clearly even more mystified by her team leader's behavior than Ruby herself. "This is not the Arslan way of doing things. She should've been right in Nikos' face from the first second of the fight…"
"In fairness, this is Nikos we're talking about. You can never be too cautious going up against that." Bolin pointed out, although he too was staring at the girl in open confusion. "But still, yeah, you got a point. Any idea what this might be about, Jaune?"
"Maybe…" The blond teen replied absent-mindedly, far too focused on the fight to elaborate further.
Another moment of silence followed, as Pyrrha seemed to be contemplating her options, but this time, Arslan made the next move first. The jade-like eyes of her idol suddenly glowing ominously, the buhru girl swung it forward, unleashing a spectral tentacle that came slamming down on the redhead, forcing her to skid out of the way just as the appendage crashed into where she had previously been with enough force to crack the ground. She barely had the time to find her footing before the thing rose again and snaked towards her, forcing her to twist and twirl to the side to avoid it slamming square into her stomach.
As she found herself dragged into an impromptu game of cat and mouse, Pyrrha glanced towards her opponent, eyes narrowing in irritation as she saw the other girl smirking. She immediately tried to wipe it off her face with her riffle, but to her surprise, the tentacle reacted, snaking back and coiling into a barrier before the girl, blocking off her gunfire.
"That ain't gonna work, and you know it, Red. I'm on to your little tricks." Arslan said casually, but with an intense look in her eyes. "I'm right here. You want to fight, come get me."
Pyrrha did not reply, but it did not escape Ruby's notice how the girl's grip on her weapon tightened at the challenge, how her usually calm, focused expression during battle turning into a frown. She also didn't miss how Jaune seemed to wince at the words.
Then, seemingly coming to a decision, the redhead shifted her riffle into sword mode and charged forward, a direct approach that was once again met with an eager grin from her opponent.
"Finally, a little fire." Arslan commented gleefully, as she once again swung, the spectral limb surging forth to meet her opponent, only for Pyrrha to duck under it without breaking stride, getting right into her opponent's personal space, and striking at her weapon, a faint hum lasting little more than a split second going largely unnoticed by the crowd. The golden orb suddenly shooting out of Arslan's grip, the glow in its eyes fading and its spectral projection fading as it went, however was not.
The buhru girl barely had the time to register the development before she felt the tip of a blade pressing against her throat.
"It's over." Pyrrha said sternly, a stony look on her face. "Yield."
Arslan seemed to take a moment to consider, looking the "invincible girl" up and down. Now, Ruby was hardly the best at reading people, but to her, for just a single moment, the platinum blonde girl seemed… disappointed?
The moment passed, however, and the buhru girl simply grinned at the demand…
…Then she swatted the blade away with one arm and with the other threw a punch straight at her opponent's face. Pyrrha was caught so off-guard by the blatant refusal and immediate counter, something that had never once happened before in her entire career, that she failed to bring her guard up in time. A fist smashed against her cheek, the crack of the impact defeaning in the silent auditorium, and sent her tumbling back, scrambling to land on her feet. Instinct and experience had allowed her aura to take the brunt of the blow, but still she needed a moment to shake the stars off the edge of her vision.
Immediately the crowd broke out into excited, almost awed chatter. It wasn't the first time that the invincible girl had been pushed back or caught off-guard in this class, but it was the first time she'd taken quite so direct a hit, and the aura meter on the scoreboard now had the sizeable dent to prove it.
The girl herself recovered quickly, however, immediately turning back to stare at her opponent, who simple looked back, eyebrow raised in challenge.
"Yield? Why? We're just getting started, Red." She declared as he once again took a stance, raising a hand towards the redhead, beckoning her to approach.
Pyrrha's eyes narrowed at the challenge, and to the increasing concern of her partner, her stony frown shifted into an expression of open aggravation.
"Fine," She said, a soft click echoing as her sword became a spear. "If you insist."
Then she once again charged forward, and her very eager foe braced to meet her. Her spear shot forth, straight towards her foe's chest, only for Arslan to bend and spin out of the way, her leg rising to retaliate with a roundhouse kick that crashed against Pyrrha's shield, the redhead planting her feet, refusing to budge even as the impact jarred her arm.
Undeterred, she proceeded to unleash a flurry of jabs, drawing a curtain of steel around the buhru girl, who duck and weaved as best she could against a rain of blows that she simply couldn't entirely dodge, crossing her arms and trusting her aura to ward off every jab that hit home, as her eyes followed the tip of the spear with the unerring focus…
A jab came straight at her face, and seeing her opportunity, she turned her head to the side and swiftly reached out, grabbing at the weapon's shaft and locking it in place. And before Pyrrha could do more than try to wrestle it away, Arslan surged forward, getting into her guard and lashing out with a headbutt, that once again threw the invincible girl back. She recovered far more swiftly this time however, and immediately jumped right back into the fray.
What followed, to Ruby's eye, could only be described as a savage brawl between colliding worlds. Pyrrha was the most skilled fighter in their entire year, one might even say, of the entire school, and it showed, in the way that every thrust, every swing, every block, every minute usage of her semblance, was done with the utmost precision, the least amount of wasted movement or power possible. And facing this was Arslan, who made up for a lack of such skill with hardiness, a brute strength that the invincible girl simply could not take lightly, and above all, a stubborn refusal to budge against the redhead's onslaught.
An onslaught that, it was becoming steadily apparent, was becoming more and more intense by the second, as Pyrrha seemed to grow more and more impatient with her opponent's resilience, and more and more her carefully crafted style was crumbling into open aggression.
Case in point, by the fourth time Arslan had immobilized her spear in a vice like grip, the glaring redhead was the one to react first, lashing out with a kick straight into the girl's gut, finally breaking their standoff by sending her opponent flying away. Arslan rolled with the momentum and swiftly got back up, looking like she was having the time of her life.
"Not bad." She commented, one hand rubbing at her no doubt bruising stomach. "Not bad at all."
She promptly took a stance, ready and eager to go again, and Pyrrha seemed more than happy to oblige…
"That is quite enough!" The stern voice of professor Goodwitch snapped both girls back into reality. "This fight has been going on for long enough for the timer to run out. And while both combatants and clearly able and willing to go on…"
She looked towards the screen, and the girls followed, to see that Arslan's aura had hit the yellow.
"…By the established rules, Miss Nikos wins by virtue of having more aura left at the end of the match. Miss Altan, in future engagements, I would recommend to not rely on your aura to take blows quite so much and dodge more often. It is a resource that should be spent more carefully than that, or else you'll have none to fall back on when it's truly needed."
"Uh, well, dang." The platinum blonde commented casually, her entire posture relaxing now that the high of combat was fading, taking the critique with a calm grace before throwing her opponent a friendly smile. "Good fight, Red, we gotta do this more often."
As her own adrenaline dropped, and Pyrrha seemed calm down from the fight, the redhead simply schooled her features back into a stony expression, giving no reply other than a polite nod to her opponent, before with the professor's dismissal she made her way back towards the crowd, not once looking back.
Arslan's eyes never left her as she went, though, a contemplative look on her face as she made her way back to her promised one's side.
/
I did promise that there was gonna be a fight in this chapter. Hopefully it was an enjoyable one.
And before anyone starts weaving great theories about it, no, Pyrrha doing those spear thrusts doesn't mean she is or is gonna be Pantheon.
Next time, this situation develops further. But before that, we'll be having the next update to Beneath a Broken Moon, so look forward to that.
Cya all on the next one, stay safe and take care.