Omniscient POV
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Within the stadium in the city of Mistral, the crowd's jubilation saw no limits, buzzing the air with unmatched energy.
A microphone whirred.
"Kingdom of Mistral," the announcer shouted at the top of his lungs from the center of the arena, "are you ready for the final fight to end this year's regional tournament?"
The crowd cried out in deafening cheer.
"That's what I like to hear! Now, introducing our first combatant, hailing from the city of Argus," he pointed at the western tunnel, "please welcome once again, Roderick Hill!"
The thirteen year old Roderick Hill stepped out into the limelight, sheepishly waving at the flood of fans hollering his name.
"He's a special one, folks." The announcer smirked. "Who would've expected such a young rookie like him to make it to the finals in his first appearance? I think we got a prodigy on our hands."
Roderick stopped beside the announcer and bounced on his toes, taking long breaths while shaking out his arms.
"And speaking of prodigies. . ." The announcer snapped towards the eastern tunnel. "Our next combatant is also a young, rising star who flawlessly won her way to this spot without so much as taking a single hit. Coincidentally, she is a thirteen year old from the city of Argus as well. Please welcome once again, Pyrrha Nikos!"
The crowd went crazy when she strutted out.
As Pyrrha approached the center of the arena, Roderick's mind raced and did acrobatics to figure out the best way he could takedown such a tough opponent.
Ultimately, he failed.
Beads of sweat dribbled down his brow, and his breaths hastened.
Pyrrha stopped in front of Roderick and immediately glanced at both his sword and metal prosthetic, eyes droopy and half-lidded.
"Hello." She extended a polite smile. "I don't believe we've met. I'm Pyrrha Nikos. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance."
"Same here." He nodded and drew his sword. "I'm Roderick Hill."
Pyrrha magnetized Milo and Akouo to her hands.
"Alright, on your marks," said the announcer as he walked off. "Three. . . two. . . one, begin!"
Darting forward, Pyrrha thrusted her sword through a cutout of her shield.
Roderick sidestepped at the last second and swung Rex low at the knees. Pyrrha shifted her weight onto the leg closest to him. His sword clanged off her greaves. She slashed. He caught her blade in his prosthetic and tugged, but she cartwheeled in the air and delivered a back kick to his ribs.
Milo transformed into a javelin.
Before Roderick could fully recover, Pyrrha served up a flurry of thrusts. He backpedaled and twisted out the way until Milo punched his shoulder and then his chest. Teeth gritted, he threw himself as far as he could from her reach.
Pyrrha hurled the javelin, bullet booting it for extra speed, and lunged. Roderick slapped Milo up high. Akouo closed in on his face. He slammed his metal fist in the shield, gonging it and shoving her back. Holding out her hand, she magnetized the javelin to her, changed it to a rifle, and propped the gun in the cutout of her shield, pointed directly at his face.
His eyes bulged out of their sockets, and she sprayed bullets on his skull.
Recoiling to safety, he rubbed his face and rapidly blinked back his vision in time to see her sweep out his legs, knocking him up, and spin the rifle around her neck, changing it back to a sword, and without missing a beat, slash him hard enough to send him skidding across the arena.
Glee lifted the crowd off their seats.
Sighing, Pyrrha's borderline bored expression remained unchanged.
Roderick got to a knee, desperation set in his eyes as he searched for any way to win..
Roderick whipped Rex around Pyrrha's ankle and pulled her off her feet, but she went along with the momentum and flipped back. His prosthetic whirred, and he yanked her leg harder, forcing her to land in a leg split.
Pyrrha looked at herself in surprise, then at Roderick transforming Rex into a rifle, and took cover from the barrage of bullets banging her shield.
Roderick wrenched Akouo away and jerked the butt of his rifle at her face, grinning like he finally got her, but Pyrrha lurched out the way and windmilled to a handstand, shooting her heels at his jaw.
Twisting his head to the side, he changed his rifle to a sword and swiped at her belly. She motioned her free hand and magnetically deflected the blade; he stumbled and stared at Rex puzzled.
From there, they went toe to toe.
The metallic ring and dings of their blades reverberated throughout the arena with each clash.
Neither of them let up. They moved the best they could, did whatever possible to try and land the next blow, and yet, the more their swords crossed, the more their bodies reacted and sensed what the other was about to do.
Roderick roared and pushed past the burn glazing his muscles.
For the first time, Pyrrha's eyes opened wider, and genuine curiosity and wonder reflected from her irises, an inexplicable thump in the chest shivering throughout her entire body.
The raw ferocity sparking between the intense beats spurred the rowdy audience to their feet. Not a single soul blinked since the deadly fight they paid for morphed into a heart pounding dance nobody knew they wanted to see.
Pyrrha withdrew and pointed her rifle while Roderick scrambled and zigzagged towards her. Casting her Semblance on Rex, she held it in place for hardly a second and released, tripping him up in front of her.
Everything happened in slow motion.
Pyrrha changed Milo into a sword, timed her next attack, and swung, but Roderick let himself fall. The blade brushed his hair. He tucked and rolled past her and wrapped Rex around her waist.
Goosebumps rattled all over her.
Roderick reeled in Pyrrha as he sprung over and cracked his metal knuckles into her spine.
The crowd gasped.
Following up with slashes and pommel strikes, he put the pressure on and smacked her hands away whenever she tried to cast her Semblance.
The situation was dire for Pyrrha, anyone would panic and search for desperate measures to turn the tables around, yet for some odd reason, delight shined bright on her ear to ear smile.
Roderick reciprocated the feeling, heartily laughing with every move he made.
As for the audience, they were left speechless and dumbfounded by what was happening, since the longer the fight went on, it became less of a fight and more like two people having fun.
Pyrrha called for Akouo to return to her. Roderick shot it out of the air. It clattered between them. He punted it off her gut, causing her to double over and gag, and decked her to the floor.
Stomping her stomach, he pointed the muzzle of his rifle at her face and unloaded the rest of his clip into her.
Their Aura levels were now both in danger of elimination
Crying out, Pyrrha unleashed a magnetic tidal wave that sent Roderick flying to the other side of the platform, making him lose Rex, and she retrieved Akouo.
Like a giant frisbee, she hurled it.
Roderick easily dodged it, but Pyrrha smirked and motioned her hands towards his prosthetic, holding him hostage no matter how hard he tried to move his arm.
Pyrrha's smile turned sinister, the same way a predator went for the kill.
The shield boomeranged.
Akouo sawed through Roderick's legs and returned to its owner. However, instead of catching it, Pyrrha trampolined off it, raised Milo high over her head, and spiked him to the ground.
The buzzer sounded, and all of Mistral erupted.
Pyrrha folded over on top of Roderick, and after taking a moment to catch her breath, she slid off him and gazed into his golden eyes, completely and utterly transfixed.
"Say," she placed a hand on his chest, "what's your name again?"
"R-Roderick." His cheeks warmed, and he tried to avoid her blatant stare. "Pyrrha, right?"
"You got it." She pursed her mouth. "This may sound a little strange, but by any chance, would you happen to be attending Sanctum?"
"Just enrolled there." His brow scrunched. "I'm guessing you did, too."
Pyrrha beamed. "If that's the case, then I'm looking forward to meeting you again."
"Yeah." Roderick sat up and held out his metal hand. "I'm sure we will."
As she went to shake it, his fingers jerked and seized, curling in on themselves.
"Aw, crap." He fiddled with the arm. "Sorry about that. This thing's new. Still working out the kinks and all that."
Giggling, she held up her arm donning the bronze bracer, and he couldn't help but laugh.
They banged their forearms, marking the start of a relationship that went above and beyond anything they could've ever imagined.
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Back in the present day, the Headmaster of Beacon paused the footage of the Mistral Regional Tournament finals from four years ago.
Ozpin leaned onto his desk and proceeded to dig into the archives, pulling up Roderick and Pyrrha's three other encounters on the holographic projection and played them at once side by side.
The rest of the hour was spent thoroughly reviewing it all.