Roderick Hill
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Classes were a blur, and the only thing Roderick saw was a certain raccoon sitting across the room.
After the incident in Vale, a lot of things happened between Team RTLS and Team RWBY. Half of it involved Yang and Blake promising to break Cooper's legs if he didn't explain himself, and the other half consisted of everyone else trying to stop them.
Long story short, Cooper told them he used to be partners in crime with Roman Torchwick and disappeared out of thin air. They thought he ran like Blake did after her secret was revealed, and they decided to search for him tomorrow.
Good news: they didn't have to lift a finger to find him; he still attended classes like any other day, shockingly.
Bad news: to him, they must have smelled worse than rotten roast beef.
"Roderick." A hand found his lap, and he met Pyrrha's worried filled eyes. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah," he touched his necklace, "just thinking."
She offered a wry smile. "I'm sure he'll come around."
"It's been two days now." Roderick tried listening to Professor Goodwitch mention something about the Vytal Festival Tournament. "Maybe he doesn't want to come around."
"Don't say that." She squeezed his knee. "I'm sure he will. You have to believe in him just like how you did with Blake after the. . . Well, you know."
The hidden Faunus next to Yang gave Roderick another headache. Coupled with Cooper dodging them at every turn, Blake's obsessive search for anything involving Torchwick and the White Fang added to the weight straining their teams.
Blake went as far as to skip their evening reading sessions of Ninjas of Love. Ironic, considering the many scary threats she promised Roderick if he missed even one.
"Mister Hill, Miss Nikos," Goodwitch said.
Roderick went rigid, and Pyrrha's hand retracted, paling at the sharp gaze poking their skulls.
The professor adjusted her glasses. "It appears you two have something more important to discuss than paying attention to me." Her voice dropped dangerously low. "If that's the case, then I hope you both don't mind performing a small demonstration for us to end today's session?"
Despite it being a question, it was obvious refusing would be equivalent to eating fruitcake in detention.
"A demonstration for what, professor?" Pyrrha said.
Goodwitch fiddled with her scroll and activated the projector behind her to display Roderick and Pyrrha's photos stacked together.
"For today's lesson, we will be conducting exercises emulating the doubles round of the Vytal Festival Tournament," she said. "Since the two of you have no need to listen, I assume you're already knowledgeable about this subject."
Like a firecracker, surprise popped the room.
Roderick gulped at the soft gasps and rising murmurs, but it was Pyrrha's weird twitching that concerned him the most.
"For the sparring match today," Goodwitch tapped at her scroll, "another team of two will be competing against the team of Roderick Hill and Pyrrha Nikos."
Pyrrha shot out of her seat.
"Professor," she said rather loudly, "may we prepare for our match?!"
Eyebrows raised, she blinked. "Wouldn't you like to stay and see who you're going to be competing against?"
"We can find out later!" Pyrrha hauled Roderick up to her level by his collar. "You agree, too, right?!"
"Uh, Pyrrha?" Roderick threw a safety gap, but it was blocked at every try. "What the heck are you—"
Her widening pupils and ragged breathing tightened his stomach.
Crap.
It's useless to resist when she's like this. Best let nature run its course and pray things won't go too bad.
"Yeah," he hung his head, "I'm game."
"Well, then, alright," Goodwitch said. "Be sure to meet me here within five minutes."
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Omniscient POV
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After Pyrrha literally whisked Roderick out the stands, the amphitheater filled with chatter.
"That's neat," Jaune said. "Wouldn't their teamwork be really good since they're best friends and all?"
"Oh, my gosh, yeah!" Ruby bounced in her seat. "Roderick and Pyrrha fighting together is like the scariest and best thing ever!"
Stiofan grinned and cupped his chin. "Indeed, Ruby. I fear for whoever must face them."
Weiss trembled next to her giddy partner.
"The Mistral Regional Tournament's Invincible Girl and Maverick working together as a team," she said and clamped her head between her hands. "Pinch me, I must be dreaming—ow!"
Weiss spun and imagined what Nora would've looked like with Myrtenaster sticking through her skull.
Nora shrugged. "What?"
Ren sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose.
Other than Blake stuck in a gloom of negligence, and Alexander's uncaring attitude, Yang was the only one unconsciously grinding their teeth at the newly formed pair.
In the secluded corner of the stands, Cinder Fall set aside her scroll, golden eyes twinkling.
"You know," Mercury said and leaned forward, "last time I checked, you've never been so interested in these sparring matches. It's actually unlike you. Does it have something to do with Pyrrha Nikos? Didn't I already explained her abilities to you after that one time I went up against her—"
Emerald glowered. "Mercury, shut up."
He smirked and propped a fist below his jaw. "Or does it have to do something about that Roderick guy? You seem, oh well I don't know, curious whenever he's involved."
"I said: shut it." Emerald smacked his arm.
While Mercury and Emerald bickered, Cinder smirked as Roderick and Pyrrha came out of the locker room entrance.
Glynda activated the other projector. Several names and photos appeared, shuffling into a single blur and selecting the second pair of combatants.
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Roderick Hill
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"Reese Chloris and Arslan Altan." Roderick eyed the photos of their opponents. "Team ABRN (Auburn) of Haven. Neat."
Pyrrha directed him to the area where the Haven students sat. "I think that's them there."
Like she said, two girls matching the photos hurried to the locker room.
Nostalgia stuck to her smile. "Doesn't this remind you of when we graduated from Sanctum, Roderick?"
He groaned at the reminder of their last day. "I hated grad."
"Come on, now." She punched his shoulder. "At least try to act like you enjoyed it. We did very well together, and we won, didn't we?"
"Says you." Roderick tucked away the accessories concealing his prosthetic. "I got knocked all over the place while you came out unscathed."
Pyrrha failed to hide a giggle. "I'm sorry."
"Next time the whole class decides to take you on," he crossed his arms, "don't drag me into it."
After a few more minutes, the Haven students arrived on stage, dressed and ready to go.
Reese wore a baggy dark purple hoodie over a mauve sweater with mini shorts, gloves, and pads on her knees and elbows. Eye black painted her cheekbones, and her light green hair swept to the right side of her sun-kissed face.
However, the most interesting thing about her had to be the bladed glowing green hoverboard levitating her off the ground.
Beside her was Arslan, who passed off as more mature compared to Reese. Her neck-length platinum blonde hair contrasted with her darker complexion. She wore a single sleeved yellow robe over a black tube top. Bandages wrapped her bare arm and hands, and unlike her teammate, she had a noticeable lack of weaponry.
Hand to hand fighter, possibly.
Goodwitch moved to the edge of the stage and gave each of them a look. "Ready?"
Pyrrha cleared her throat as she raised Akouo, a bronze shield with cutouts, and transformed her weapon, Milo, from sword to rifle behind it.
Rex in hand, Roderick followed her lead.
Reese flipped on her hood, and Arslan lowered into a stance.
Goodwitch shut off the lights over the stands and sounded a buzzer. "Begin."
Roderick changed Rex into gun mode, Pyrrha aimed, and they let the bullets fly, wedging the Haven students apart.
Pyrrha broke off towards Arslan while Roderick cracked shots at Reese to keep her at bay.
That hoverboard didn't make his job any easier.
Reese slipped and swerved his shots, coming at him full speed. Roderick blocked the full brunt of her kickflip with Rex; a burst of wind from the bottom of the board shoved him across the tiles. Before his senses could return, a shadow loomed above from beneath the bright lights.
The idea of becoming a human pancake rolled him out the way.
Roderick changed Rex to a sword and lunged the moment Reese hit the floor. She kicked up the board and swiveled it around herself, simultaneously parrying and swiping the blades at him. He backstepped, transformed Tyrannus into a revolver, and fired.
Sparks sprayed, and Reese yelped as the hoverboard flicked her face. She massaged her nose and hopped on her board. He whipped his sword around her foot before she could get away, flinging her shy of the stage's bound.
"Why, hello there." Roderick put away his weapons and grabbed the hoverboard. "What does this button do?"
The board split apart into a pair of bladed handguns.
'Funny,' he thought and inspected them. 'These things kinda remind me of Reynold.'
On the other side of the stage, a gong rang where Pyrrha, tucked behind her shield, skidded away from Arslan's extended fist.
Roderick gave Reese's guns a try, nailing the green projectiles into Arslan's back. She growled, dipping, dodging, and doing whatever she could to avoid his shots. The guns clicked. He tossed them and grabbed Rex, but she spat out a dagger hidden in her sleeve.
Attached to it were the bandages.
The dagger grazed his cheek, and she twisted her wrist, causing the blade to detour. The bandages tightened around his throat. He gagged and clawed at it. A hard yank took him to the ground, and she kicked him across the face. Stars fluttered overhead, only to clear up and reveal an angry Reese pointing two muzzles right at his face.
Oh, crap!
"Catch!" said Pyrrha.
From the side, Akouo flew at him.
Roderick caught and scrunched beneath it. Reese fired. Green flashed and a pained cry followed. Pyrrha booted the skater someplace else. Roderick cut himself free and gave her a silent thanks.
Arslan fought like Yang except she flowed behind every movement, eliminating unnecessary effort in her attacks.
Roderick deflected a punch with Akouo and thrusted Rex through a cutout in the shield. Arslan flipped out the way, palm striking his ribs. The raw power almost made him spit up breakfast. A gunshot echoed. Milo bounced off Arslan in javelin form. While it spun several times in the air, Roderick passed Rex to Pyrrha, and he snatched Milo.
The javelin's extra reach jabbed Arslan out of his safety gap, yet the martial artist found a way to swat it aside and pop another rope dart from her sleeve.
Not this time.
The dagger clunked off the shield. She closed the gap and swept a leg at his feet. He jumped and thrusted the javelin at her chest, winding her long enough for him to get a glimpse of the others playing a game of hot potato.
Reese kicked off her hoverboard and sent it straight at Pyrrha who slashed it back with Rex. The skater slipped something out of her pocket and smashed it into her board, propelling it back; it's glow switched from green to light blue.
The wind that came out of the hoverboard from before rang like a siren in Roderick's head. 'Whatever you do, Pyrrha, don't touch it!'
Those fears came true when Pyrrha kicked it.
She gasped at the flash of Dust locking her leg in a block of ice. To no avail, she did her best to chip Rex at it like an icepick. Reese reclaimed her weapon, ready to gun her down on a whim.
"Catch!" said Roderick.
He flung the shield to its owner and inserted a vial of fire Dust into his prosthetic.
Green Dust bullets bombarded Akouo. Pyrrha leveled Rex in a cut out and returned fire. Roderick slid behind her. The channels on his prosthetic ran hot, transferring and converging towards his palm to puddle the ice around their feet.
Pyrrha freed a clip from her pouch and jammed it into Rex after it pinged.
He chuckled. "It's a good thing we use the same type of ammo, huh?"
"Hurry, Roderick." She popped off more bullets. "They're getting closer."
Arslan and Reese worked together to avoid the gunfire and close in towards them.
Roderick poured more Aura into his arm; Pyrrha yelped.
She slapped his head without looking. "Too hot."
He grumbled, lessened the heat, and melted the ice.
Reese zoomed in, and Arslan trailed close behind.
"Shoot Arslan." He opened fire. "Split them apart."
They concentrated on the martial artist, forcing her to retreat while Reese looped around.
"On my signal, check the brakes on that thing. Safety first, you know." Roderick dropped Milo and got behind Pyrrha. "And I'll need a boost."
The side of her lips curled as she knelt and got ready.
Roderick waited for Reese to glide closer, and when she got close enough, he tapped Pyrrha's shoulder.
The subtle movement of her hands told the whole story.
The hoverboard jerked, and Reese flew off, flailing straight towards them. Pyrrha set Akouo over her head. Roderick hopped off the shield. His prosthetic whirred, and he slugged Reese's gut, spitting out a breath of hot fire that rocketed her into a wall out of bounds.
A buzzer signaled her elimination.
"Roderick," Pyrrha said, "look out!"
Roderick locked onto Arslan coming at him. Pyrrha tossed Rex to him, and he shot at her until his gun went dry. She dropped evasion and continued her charge. He grabbed a fresh ammo clip from his belt, but a rope dart knocked it out of his hand.
"Here!" Pyrrha cartwheeled over the clip, magnetized it to her hand, and passed it to him. "Catch!"
Arslan hit the brakes. Too late. A single shot to the leg fumbled her step.
Rapid footsteps clacked, Roderick checked over his shoulder, leaped and threw his legs wide. Pyrrha slid underneath him. She twirled upwards, heels bucking Arslan's jaw. A swift mix and match onslaught of sword, javelin, and gun came next. Arslan tried to retaliate. Pyrrha bounced away and positioned herself in front of Roderick, motioning a finger behind her towards the floor and ceiling in a way only he could see.
He got the message.
As the women exchanged more blows, Roderick swapped out his revolver's cylinder, and when Pyrrha landed a clean hit, she locked eyes with him and jerked her head towards the staggering Arslan. He sprinted to his partner while she spun out his way and boomeranged Akouo through Arslan's legs, sweeping her off her feet.
Roderick uppercutted Arslan airbourne, emptied his revolver in the ground, and propped Rex sideways in both his hands.
"High!" he said.
Pyrrha kicked off his blade and dished out a four hit combo to Arslan.
Roderick whipped Arlsan's waist, guiding her to fall on his bullets, and with Akouo under her feet, Pyrrha crashed down on the martial artist.
"Low!" she said and flipped to his side.
Arslan sat up in a daze. Roderick flicked the switch. The explosion snapped her wide awake before she was consumed by a flash of fire and smoke.
Aura levels depleted, another buzzer sounded.
"That's the match," Professor Goodwitch said and checked on Arslan. "Roderick Hill and Pyrrha Nikos are the winners."
Roderick lifted his prosthetic in front of Pyrrha. Her eyes rolled. Nonetheless, she giggled and pounded their forearms together.
Working alongside his rival/best friend really did give him a good pump of excitement, although, there's no way he'd let Pyrrha hear that or else she'd probably drag him into another fight.
Then again, what could he say? It was just like old times.
The class bell rang, ending the lesson.
"That's it for today." Goodwitch used her telekinetic Semblance to drag Arslan and Reese off the stage. "Remember that your first missions are on Monday after the dance this weekend. I will not accept any excuses."
Oddly enough, she was met with silence. Weird. There should've been voices or at least people moving and shuffling their feet by now.
Roderick glanced at Pyrrha. "Isn't it kinda quiet in here?"
The light over the stands came back on.
"Roderick." Pyrrha pointed to the rows of slack jaws. "Is that what you mean?"
A wave of heat splashed his face over the amount of undivided attention they were getting. Even their friends stared as if the both of them together were worth more than Weiss' entire inheritance.
Slow claps suddenly echoed throughout the room where Cinder rose into view. She locked eyes with him. He turned away, cheeks warm, and came face to face with Pyrrha's knowing look. His face burned hotter.
Roderick left the stage as fast as he could.
The flicker of a ringed tail passing the exit stopped him in his tracks. The whisper of a merry laugh lulled in the wind, and absent mischievous eyes twinkled like a ghost among his friends ambushing him, gushing and congratulations for the amazing win.
However, it wasn't the same without that raccoon sticking by their side, and he'd be damned to let it slide.