My leg bounced, the nerves getting the better of me. As nerve-wracking as it was to fight in the tournament, not being in there, unable to affect the outcome was somehow worse. I trusted Pyrrha, I really did. She was strong, and fast, and skilled enough to beat just about anyone here, but I still couldn't help but worry.
"She will win." I looked to the side, where Weiss sat next to me. The way she said it calmed me down. She was so confident, so assured of Pyrrha's victory that I couldn't help but feel the same way.
"You're right." I breathed the words out and sat back, listening with half an hear as Port explained the singles format again. We'd already heard the explanation, gone over it in detail to make sure that there wouldn't be any mistakes or mess-ups that could get us disqualified. The rules were simple, really. One person was allowed to fight per team, and they could not be switched out after being chosen. The rest of the rules for elimination were the same as the groups format. Aura depletion, being out of bounds, or surrender.
I leaned forward as the fighters were announced. The screen under the announcer's box was plainly visible from the competitor's box, which was placed almost exactly opposite it. The bracket appeared once again, and Port announced the matches for the day.
Pyrrha Nikos vs Grey Braun
and
Penny Polendina vs Reed Dunn
It was surprising, how the brackets had turned out. Usually, the final rounds of the Vytal festival consisted of exclusively third and fourth years. This wasn't by chance, nor some sort of rigging involved. They were simply the students with the most experience and training, which went a long way. To see not just one, but two first years in the final rounds was a complete upset. Judging by the roar of the crowd, though, they didn't mind one bit.
Pyrrha's match came first. The arena changed, rapidly shifting by some mechanism of Dust that I couldn't even begin to comprehend. The blank, flat arena shifted, rolling hills suddenly springing from the ground as water flooded a crevasse, turning into a river. It was fascinating to watch, and even after all the matches I had watched, I couldn't tear my eyes away.
Then, they entered. The boy, Grey, was tall and broad, and he wore a simple combat outfit similar to the Athlesian school uniform. On his hip, a long, sabre-like sword was sheathed.
The fight was quick, clean, efficient. Both of them were good, so skilled that it barely looked like a fight anymore and more like a choreographed dance of some sort. Grey was the stronger of the two, even from this distance, I could see Pyrrha's arm buckle under his heavy blows. His weapon lent itself well to his style. He struck hard, heavy and fast. He put on pressure and kept it up, making it difficult to retaliate for most. Pyrrha managed.
She didn't bother making it a sword fight. Miló, as a javelin, functioned well enough like a spear that Pyrrha could hold the other boy at bay with her shield while she poked and prodded at him. And then Grey pulled out his semblance. He was one of the first opponents we had faced who'd used their semblance at all. Whether that was because the others hadn't found theirs yet, or because their semblances weren't suited for combat was up in the air.
Grey's semblance was clearly meant for combat, tough. He moved, stepping forward only to slide to the side instead, almost as if his feet were gliding on ice. In one, smooth motion, the boy had repositioned, completely bypassing Pyrrha's guard in the process. He swung, hard. I saw the sword bend, the trajectory curving unnaturally to the side. Instead of hitting Pyrrha in the chest, it only tagged her in the arm instead.
She twisted, and the battle began anew. Every time he slid, Pyrrha was forced to rely on her semblance to deflect or outright avoid the blow, but she managed. And then she began using her semblance on offense. Blocks turned into hasty dodges as Grey's weapon was suddenly and violently wrenched aside.
It was a massacre.
"Woo! Go Pyrrha!" Ruby, standing at the edge of the box, looked ready to leap into the arena herself as Pyrrha dealt the finishing blow. Alongside her, the rest of team VLYR was arrayed, all having come out in support of the final competing member of our little friend group.
I stood as Pyrrha moved out of the arena to allow the organisers to clear it for the next fight. "I'm going to stretch my legs. Anyone want a snack?" The others quickly listed off their preferences: a soda for Yang, some red vines and a bottle of juice for Ruby, pancakes for Nora – if I could find any – and some water for Blake and Weiss.
Out in the hall, outside of the competitor's area, the concessions stands were absolutely packed. It seemed like everyone had had the same idea and were lining up to buy themselves something before the next match started. It took me almost a full ten minutes to make it to the stand itself. There, I quickly made my purchases and hurried off, back to the competitor's zone, where the halls were calm, and the noise was muffled.
"Jaune?" I spun, my arms laden with treats and drinks, and came face to face with a familiar pair of golden eyes.
"Cinder." She wore the same red dress she had in the bar and looked as pretty as ever doing so. "How've you been?"
"Decent." She said, walking alongside me now. "How about you? Your teammate is in the finals now, isn't she? What's that like?"
"It's… well… we kind of saw it coming." I admitted. As humble as she was about it, Pyrrha was without a doubt the strongest first year, the only people that could even contest her were Yang and I, and even putting Yang on that list was a stretch. And after having seen some of the upper years, having fought them, I couldn't say that she'd be hard-pressed to match many of them. Sure, they might be stronger, or faster, or more experienced. But Pyrrha made up for it with raw talent and diligent practice that few could match, not to mention her semblance.
"I can see that." Cinder said, having mulled it over for a moment. "She is very good."
"How about you guys?"
"We ah, got knocked out during the doubles round. My own teammates fought that boy your teammate just fought and his partner." She said, and I couldn't help but grimace slightly at my faux pas.
"Sorry." I said, but she waved me off.
"Don't be." She told me, not seeming too bothered about the whole affair. "We went into this knowing that we probably wouldn't be winning."
That was… actually very mature. Then again, Cinder did have that sort of feeling about her. As if she was busy with bigger things than school and competitions. I smiled at her. "Well, I should be getting back to my friends." I said, awkwardly pushing the door to the competitor's box open while I held the various snacks, I'd been able to find. I stood against the door for a moment, holding it open for Cinder to walk through.
She entered, thanked me, and wished me – and Pyrrha – good luck in the finals as she vanished into the crowd. I watched her go for a moment, only to be drawn back to the present by Port's booming voice.
The next fight was about to start.
BREAK
"Give it up for the Vytal Festival Finals! The strongest of the students, facing off in one-on-one combat, and two first years at that. Has this ever happened before?"
"It has not." Oobleck's matter of fact tone was no different through the microphone. "This is, in fact, the first time in the history of the Vytal Festival that the final round features exclusively first years."
"You heard it here first, ladies and gentlemen, this is history in the making!" The roar of the crowd matched Port's enthusiasm, becoming so loud that I thought for a moment that my eardrums might burst. I looked down into the arena, a flat, concrete ring. It had no features, no special terrain. This would be a test of pure fighting ability and nothing more.
I tuned Port out as Pyrrha entered the ring. She waved lightly to the crowd as she did so, but I could see that she was ready, tense. Pyrrha's gait was tight, controlled. Her steps were precise, almost mechanical in their efficiency. Then, her opponent entered. The girl, Penny, walked in the same way Pyrrha did. Every step tightly controlled and exactly as long as the last, all without an ounce of wasted energy.
It was fascinating to watch then square off in the ring. Pyrrha with her weapons at the ready, while Penny simply stood there, empty handed. When the match's start was called, the both of them burst into action.
Pyrrha leapt forward, brining Miló forward in a swift stab. It was quick, ruthless, efficient. So was Penny. She shifted to the side, her head tilting barely far enough for the javelin's tip to slip past her shoulder. She lashed out, then, launching a quick punch at Pyrrha's face. It was as if a gong had been sounded, the noise so loud it cut through the roar of the crowd.
Pyrrha slid back, her boots skidding over the concrete floor as she bled off the momentum. How much Strength would I need to hit that hard? How much would I have to damage myself with Berserk to match this girl? I shook my head and shifted my focus back to the fight.
Pyrrha was on the defensive now. Swords moved through the air in dizzying patterns, and I recognised the floating blades as Penny's weapons. For every blade that Pyrrha blocked with sword and shield, another struck at her back. For every blade that she repelled with her semblance, another would snake through her guard, eating away at her aura.
And then, the blades suddenly retreated. They arrayed themselves into a circle which floated in the air between the combatants. They spun, and hummed, and glowed, and then formed a small, green orb in the centre of the formation. My heard dropped. Pyrrha didn't bother trying to block it, jumping aside instead as the orb turned into a beam of light.
It was the right choice. The beam scythed through the air silently and left a trail of destruction wherever it touched the floor. The ground now sported a thin, cherry-red hole where the beam passed, turning the concrete to molten slag wherever it went. Penny turned, making the beam follow Pyrrha's path, the ring of blade staying in their tight formation. Pyrrha was forced to leap forward to dodge the beam that steadily gained on her, and I felt a pit open in my gut. She wasn't going to outrun it.
She didn't try.
Mid leap, she stuck her hand out, the gesture helping her focus on her semblance. In a single instant, half the blades holding the circle were suddenly yanked backwards, breaking the formation. The orb, held stable by some mechanism I couldn't even begin to fathom, warped, and twisted and then blew.
The blast was so loud, and so bright that it took me a moment to realise what was going on in the ring. My eyes scanned the field which was now covered in a cloud of dust so thick that I struggled to make anything out. When the dust settled, though, the tables had turned. Pyrrha was stood on one end of the arena, Miló extended in front of her, at Penny's throat. And the other girl, she was stuck, bound by the wires that controlled her own weapons, unable to move.
The crowd went silent for a moment, almost as if everyone in attendance held their breath. Then, the announcement came.
Pyrrha had won.
BREAK
"I thought I might find you here." I smiled, a big grin on my face as I strummed my guitar to a simple beat. Weiss stood at the door to the music room, still wearing the dress she'd worn for the awards ceremony and the subsequent party. On her arm, she still wore her cast, but the one on her shoulder had been taken off, and she no longer had to suspend it in a sling. The wonders of aura never cease. I thought, wondering idly how long it might have taken someone without it to heal from injuries that severe.
"Yeah," I continued strumming, "you getting sick of the party too?"
"Hmm." She hummed, sitting down on the duet bench. "It's a bit much, even for me." She said, and I couldn't help but agree. I was proud of what we'd accomplished, of how far we'd come. The third first year team to ever win the Vytal Festival in its entirety. The party had been epic, but you could only accept so much praise. Especially since Blake, not being one for crowds, had vanished early in the night. While Pyrrha had spent most of the night being dragged around by her parents.
Her mother looked a lot like her, though I suppose it was the other way around. She was nice enough, if a little quiet. It was her father that stuck out to me. He wasn't a tall man, not especially so, but he made up for it in presence. He felt almost larger-than-life in the way his bearing commanded respect. He felt like Ms. Goodwitch or Ozpin.
With half the team missing, it hadn't felt like much of a celebration, and so I had left too. We could celebrate properly later, in private. I smiled at the thought of it.
"It feels so odd, knowing that it's all over now." Weiss said, and I couldn't help but agree.
"Feels like yesterday that we were all at each other's throats." I laughed as I said it. It was like yesterday and an entirely different lifetime all at once.
"Doesn't it?" Weiss laughed along, but she sobered up a moment later. "I don't think I've ever apologised for that." She said, a light frown on her brow. I waved her off before she could begin, the smile still on my face.
"Don't." I told her. "Actions speak louder than words, and you've more than made up for it." I thought back to cold nights at the docks and comforting words in the halls of Beacon. It made me feel warm. Weiss shook her head, her lips quirking back up. We were quiet for a time, the simple melody I played the only sound.
"Any plans for the summer?" I asked. The grimace that suddenly appeared on her face made me regret it immediately.
"I… don't know." She admitted, looking pained. "With my accounts frozen, I guess I will have to go back."
"What about your sister? Could you stay with her?" Weiss' sister, Winter, seemed to be the only relative she got on with. And briefly having met the woman, I knew that they care for one another a great deal. Weiss shook her head.
"Winter lives on base in Atlas, they don't let civilians stay there."
"I guess that makes sense." I said, and stopped strumming the guitar, the note dying out slowly. Then I frowned, a thought coming to me. "You could stay with me, you know?"
"What?"
"It's no mansion, but you could spend the summer at my house." I said, warming up to the idea. "We already stay in the same room, and I don't plan to sleep much during the summer, so you can take the bed."
"I… what?" She stammered – Weiss Schnee stammering – a frown on her face. "What about your parents." I waved her off, already knowing what they'd say.
"They'll be fine with it." I said, but seeing that Weiss wasn't convinced, I continued. "I'll ask them tomorrow if it makes you feel any better, but they'll say yes. So, how about it?"
"If," Weiss stressed the word, narrowing her eyes at me, "if your parents agree, I suppose I could stay a while." She said, scowling as I gave her a big grin.
BREAK
