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ruffsficstuffplace · 5 years

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The Viridian Vanguard (Part 33)

With Taiyang unavailable, and Ren and Nora participating in the test runs themselves, Weiss and Cheese took over the refereeing, the former watching the feeds, monitoring the timers, and doing announcements via her comm-crystal, the latter operating a recording of the dueling horn.

“You sure you want to stick with those?” Pyrrha asked Yang as they did a last check of their gear. “I feel like Fury Fists would suit your fighting style as well, while providing significant increase in offensive power.”

“I’m sure,” Yang replied as she practiced collapsing and unfolding her Brawler’s Bracers. “I’ve depended on these guns all my life, I’ll keep on betting on them. Besides, I never liked the prospect of accidentally running out of ammo in the heat of a fight.”

“Fair enough.” Pyrrha replied.

With all that out of the way, Pyrrha started out with a Slugthrower pistol.

Rat-ta-tat! Rat-ta-tat! Rat-ta-tat!

Pyrrha raised her ballistic shield up against the bursts of machine-gun fire from above, Yang crouching behind her, the both of them slowed to a crawl as they crossed the arena’s bridge to the base in the trees. They made it to cover, Pyrrha didn’t hesitate to return fire at Ren!

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

Ren ducked, his cover cracking and splintering with each shot, wincing as one of bullets punched through and missed him by a few inches. <Moving position, defend the flag,> he whispered into his mask-comm as he abandoned his spot, Yang and Pyrrha made a break for it.

<On it!> Nora replied as she stood at a different platform, before she thundered towards the edge and leaped off, towards Yang and Pyrrha. “NO YOU DON’T!” she cried as she raised her hammer high above her head.

Yang and Pyrrha slowed down and turned to look, their eyes widened before they jumped out of the way!

Crash.

Dirt and mud flew up into the air as Nora made a new crater in the ground, the shockwave caused Yang and Pyrrha stumble. Bullets started raining down on them once more, Ren chased Yang into cover, Nora charged after Pyrrha with her hammer at the ready.

Pyrrha heard her thunderous footsteps coming far too close and too fast, she spun around and started firing!

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Nora winced as some of the bullets slammed into her chest plate and slowed her down, a shot to the face-plate disoriented her just as she leaped forward!

Pyrrha dodged to the side, Nora missed her completely, overbalanced, and staggered forward. Pyrrha rammed her shield into her back, sending her falling to the ground. Nora began to struggle, Pyrrha kneed her in the back and put her gun to her shoulder.

Bang! Bang!

Nora cried out and stopped, Pyrrha put it to the back of her helmet.

Click! Click!

Pyrrha’s eyes widened. Before she could reach for a new clip, Nora shoved her off, and didn’t hesitate to climb on top of her, pin her down before going to town with her fists, raining blows down on Pyrrha till the horn sounded again.

“Ugh...” Pyrrha groaned as Nora climbed off of her. “I’m starting to see what you meant by ‘making it more like real matches’...’”

“Trust me, this is only the very tip of the iceberg!” Nora hummed as she carefully pulled her back up to her feet, helped her off to the bench. “Ren and I aren’t even using any of the most basic martial arts techniques yet!”

Bruises and bullet wounds were iced and patched up, before they moved onto Pyrrha’s second choice: a Stormbringer cannon, loaded with explosive shells.

Thoom.

Pyrrha fired a shell at Ren and Yang, they dove to the sides, just barely avoiding the explosion and the shrapnel. The two of them scrambled from cover to cover as they made their way deeper into the arena, Yang looking for way to the flag Pyrrha was defending, Ren shooting at her with a rifle to try and slow down the rain of explosive of doom.

Thoom. Thoom. Thoom.

Huge chunks were taken out of the barricades, new smoking holes and craters started appearing all over the arena, some of the smaller obstacles disappeared in clouds of smoke, ash, and splinters. There was a brief lull as Pyrrha ran out ammo, Yang and Ren took the opportunity to run, thundering up stairs, or grabbing as much spare ammo as possible before finding a new firing position.

“Come on, Pyrrha!” Nora cried as she watched with Weiss. “Yang’s getting closer! Reload, reload, you can still stop her with the secondary fire!”

“You seem awfully eager to see your long-time friends get blown up,” Weiss muttered.

“Ah, that’s just the way it is with the Watchers!” Nora replied, waving her off. “Unless they’ve got an attitude, cheer on the newbies, they’re the ones that need the most encouragement!”

Boom.

With a giant cone of fire, Pyrrha sent Yang flying off a ledge.

“WOO!” Nora cried, throwing her arms up. “Nice shot!”

Ren started alternating firing at Pyrrha and moving towards the flag, Yang hit the ground headfirst, before she laid sprawled out and unmoving. “Should I stop the fight?” Weiss asked, looking at her in concern.

“Aw, she’ll be fine!” Nora replied. “Believe me, if this were a live match, folks would riot if we ended it over something as minor as that!”

Stray sparks rained down on Yang, she started slowly dragging himself across the ground, and away from it.

“See? Just fine,” Nora said, nodding.

Weiss looked at Yang curling up into a ball behind cover, at Cheese’s concerned face as he shared a dock with her comm-crystal, before she resumed quietly observing.

The match ended with Ren hiding behind a tree, Pyrrha shearing off another layer from it if he so much as tried to peek.

“Argh...” Pyrrha groaned as she unceremoniously dropped the smoking cannon on the ground then rubbed her arms. “Can any of you suggest something with much less recoil…? I don’t think I want to handle high-caliber weapons for a while...”

“I’ve got some suggestions we can move further up the queue,” Ren replied as he stepped out from behind the tree. “Then again, it will require a drastic change of equipment and tactics beside.”

“I don’t mind, let’s hear it,” Pyrrha replied.

And so her heavy plated armour was exchanged for a hooded cloak, a leather chestplate and pads for her limbs, with tight-fitting, bullet-and-blade resistant clothes, similar to what Ruby used. Her mask was now almost entirely bare, except for reflective material placed over her “eyes,” making them faintly glint in the light, or with sharp enough eyes.

“Fighting Pits Regulations state that, except for actively channeled techniques, your opponents should always have the opportunity to realize where you are before you strike from stealth,” Ren explained. “It’s important to note, they never state how exactly, or how much of a window you should have to act. Faint sounds, disturbances in the air, flashes in the corner of your eyes, the smell of your opponent’s equipment, blood, and sweat, even the taste of such with the right mods, or biology… if at least one of those elements could have given them away for even a split-second before you’re jumped, you can’t contest it as unfair.

“It is entirely up to you and your team if this goes in, or against your favour.

“And a bit of advice, if you’re going to stick with stealth for the long-run: hunt on the regular. Nothing will teach you what can and will give you away quite like the animals outside the walls, the predators most especially.”

With the tree top base mostly destroyed and needing reconstruction, they tested in the other half of the arena, a shady, maze-like series of walls, obstacles, and barricades set near the water, her weapon the ranged cousins of Wingblades:

Windsingers.

“Do the users paint and design each individual flechette, too?” Pyrrha asked as she practiced loading them, collapsing and unfolding the “wings” to reduce their profile.

“Outside of particularly dedicated and well-funded performances, I’m afraid you have to do with mass-produced designs,” Ren said as he assisted her. “There’s quite the variety within them, though.”

Pyrrha chuckled. “I’m not surprised.”

Soon, Yang stood in the center of the maze, her bracers exchanged for a shield and a shotgun. “You ready for this, Pyrrha?” she called out, gazing at all the cover and darkness around her.

No response.

“Hah!” Yang laughed. “Glad to see you didn’t fall for that, at least!”

The horn was sounded, and Yang quickly got serious, holding her shield and gun up at the ready, warily eyeing her surroundings, listening in carefully. The insects and the animals had long abandoned the area for all the activity and violence, almost complete silence until…

Thip.

Yang felt a dart in the back of her helmet, she immediately spun around and fired.

Bang!

Wooden splinters flew into the air, but no sign of Pyrrha. Yang narrowed her eyes, debating a moment, before she stayed where she was, her shield raised in front of her.

Thip. Thip.

Two more, this time lodging into her lower back. Yang spun around again, and aimed at a wooden wall, her finger on the trigger. She slowly slipped it off and back on the trigger guard, took a slow, deep breath, observing the wall and its surroundings.

A minute passed, no action from either of them. Then, Yang charged, her cry almost as loud as the blasts of her shotgun!

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Pyrrha winced as the pellets ripped through her cover, some of them grazing her side. She dashed out of cover, firing three quick bursts at Yang’s head before she she fled deeper into the maze. Yang raised her shield up, blocking most of them, blindly firing until she ran out of ammo.

Pyrrha had disappeared by the time Yang lowered her shield, but muddy tracks she left behind gave Yang a good idea of where she went.

“Three minutes left!” Weiss warned.

Yang chased Pyrrha through the maze, steadily blasting it to pieces as she destroyed potential hiding places or flushed her out, more and more darts sticking out of her shield and her armour as Pyrrha continued to catch her unawares or returned-fire as she fled, her movements slowing as the small, sharp pains and puncture wounds started to add up.

Thip. Thip. Thip.

Three darts struck near Yang, she fired and annihilated a waist-high barrier; even more darts proceeded to strike her from an entirely different direction, she cursed as she raised her shield and jumped behind a wall. “I am NOT losing to friggin’ dart guns, Pyrrha!” she cried as she rammed fresh shells into her shotgun, her movements stiff and mechanical.

“One minute!” Weiss cried.

Yang started blind-firing her shotgun, she smiled as she heard Pyrrha cry out, then frantic, muddy squelches. She peered out, saw the numerous messy gouges Pyrrha had left in her scramble, then charged out of cover to the barricade she was hiding behind!

She jumped around it, finger already on the trigger, a smile on her face... it disappeared as she found only many more muddy gouges and the dirt, and no sign of Pyrrha.

Yang heard wet squelches directly behind her, but by then it was already too late.

Pyrrha unloaded almost two full clips of darts into Yang’s back, before she hooked her leg into hers, and tripped her. Yang fell to the ground, Pyrrha pinned the barrel of her shotgun down with her foot, before aiming her windsingers at her head.

“You were saying?” Pyrrha asked, before she opened fire once more.

“So, how are you liking stealth and deception?” Ren asked as he carefully extracted the flechettes from Yang with a pair of pliers, dropped them into a waiting bucket.

“Well enough, but I’d like something with more power per shot,” Pyrrha said as she stood beside him, bandaging up her ankle.

Ren nodded. “Tell me: have you ever tried archery?” he said.

“I have, in fact,” Pyrrha replied, smiling.

“Just saying it out now, I am not cool with being on the receiving end for that!” Yang cried, before she winced and hissed.

“Fret not, Yang, Nora will be the better model for its effectiveness in a real fight, anyway,” Ren said, before he dropped another dart into the bucket.

And so with the sun beginning to set, and the tree top base almost rebuilt, Pyrrha decided to try out a Nightstalker bow.

“It gets its name for its effectiveness and popularity when hunting nocturnal prey,” Ren explained. “It’s still a solid weapon for any time of day, however, having enough power to penetrate skulls, hard shells, and thick hides with ease; an extremely long effective range; and should you be forced into close-combat”--he pressed a switch near the grip, blades shot out from the limbs--”you don’t even need to worry about reaching for a secondary weapon.”

“Clever,” Pyrrha said, gripping it in her hands, practicing slashing and guarding with it, before retracting the blades.

“Normally, I’d warn potential users that it takes quite a bit of upper body strength to draw it, let alone to full power, but I doubt that would be much of an issue with you,” Ren finished.

Pyrrha practiced her archery at the range, until the wrecked cover and holes were replaced and patched over; lamp posts were lit and a handful of floodlights were set up; and the ammo boxes were filled with plenty of arrows. For the sake of their handicap, Yang and Pyrrha were on defense, the latter starting high up on the platforms, while Ren and Nora were on the attack, both out in the open by the bridge.

“Fighters ready?” Weiss called out.

“Aye!” all of them cried.

“Then fight!” Weiss cried, before Cheese blew the horn.

Almost immediately, Yang and Nora charged straight for each other, fists and hammer swinging; ducking, weaving, and slamming into one another; trying to strike vulnerable areas, block and deflect counterattacks, outmaneuver the other by hopping, ducking around, and even climbing on and jumping off the obstacles all around them.

Pyrrha gritted her teeth as she tried to fire at Nora, her shots going wide and impaling themselves on the walls and the floor, her aim interrupted as they moved out of her line of fire. Even then, the ones that did hit looking like they didn’t hit nearly hard enough, bouncing off of Nora’s armour, or clearly not causing her much harm.

Then, a lucky hit: an arrow sunk into Nora’s helmet, stunning her for a moment; Yang quickly seized on the opportunity, dashing into her side and pummeling with rapid punches.

Pyrrha nocked another arrow, until she suddenly felt a wave of unease come over her. She quickly spun around, Ren pounced on her with his sickles, she thrust her bow out at Ren!

It slammed into his chest, knocking him back, but not far enough as his blades cut into her shoulders.

Pyrrha gritted her teeth, ducked to the side as Ren tried to slash at her again, hopping and skittering around like a wild animal on his hands and feet. Pyrrha tangled with him for all of three seconds, before she fled for the nearest zipline leading to the ground floor. Ren gave chase, leaping at her just as she launched off!

He sank his sickles into her sides, Pyrra cried out. “YANG!” she yelled out as she began to violently swing back and forth, tried to knock Ren off.

Yang ducked under a swing of Nora’s hammer, looked, and immediately dashed after her. Nora saw too, holstered her hammer, then made a break for the unprotected flag.

Ren let go as they neared the end of the zipline, landed on the ground with a graceful roll, readied himself to pounce at Pyrrha again. He was just bending his limbs, before his eyes widened, and he immediately flattened himself.

Yang went sailing above him a second after, her arms grabbing nothing but empty air. She crashed and rolled onto her side, Ren leaped on top of her, sinking his sickles into her shoulders and starting a messy, violent brawl on the dirt.

Pyrrha jumped off the zipline, spun around and nocked a new arrow; she aimed it at Ren raining strikes down on Yang, before she saw Nora in the distance, victoriously waving the flag as she ran back to the bridge. Her eyes darted between them both for a few precious seconds, before she raised her bow and fired!

Thack.

Nora flinched and slowed down as an arrow slammed into her back, Pyrrha nocked a new one and aimed it at Ren.

Thack.

It struck him in the shoulder, making him wince in pain, Yang headbutted him, and quickly reversed the situation, raining pnuches down on Ren in turn. Pyrrha nocked a third arrow, aimed at Nora just about to make it to the starting line at the bridge, and fired…!

Whiff.

It sailed past her head, Nora crossed the line, and did a little victory dance as the horn echoed throughout the arena.

Yang grunted as she rolled off of Ren, pulled her mask off and wiped the sweat off her brow. “I appreciate the save earlier, but we’ll have to get together as a team some time and talk about when it’s better to just go for the win.”

“And I’d appreciate someone steadying the arrow in my back...” Ren groaned. “Excellent shot, by the way!”

Yang and Pyrrha both carefully picked him up, helped lead him back to the benches, and started patching up their wounds...

Note: In the Pits, most ammunition, allowed weapons, and modifications necessary and optional have intentionally reduced lethality. While the fans DO in fact want to see blood, they also generally want to see their favourite Pit Fighters live to see another match, and another, and another. Accidental deaths and/or crippling injuries are still well within the realm of possibility due to various other factors, of course, but that’s why the health and life insurance is so good, both within the Pits and third-party organizations like Leagues.

Some specific examples include limiting weapons to semi-automatic receivers with small magazines; less potent formulations for chemical weapons that fizz out very quickly and/or are easily neutralized; and modifications to projectiles’ designs that emphasize blunt impact than penetration--”bruises over blood,” as the makers say.

Those that ARE intended to maim, kill, or otherwise completely and utterly destroy their target are used almost exclusively in Fae vs Animal/Magitech events. It is a grave, permanently bannable and possibly even criminal offense to intentionally attack other fighters during these, especially since all participants are on the same team, or are explicitly banned from directly attacking the other parties.

Some specific examples include automatic receivers and drum/box magazines; extensive use of catalysts and accelerants for chemical weapons; and projectiles designed to penetrate through hides, bone, and into vital organs, before exploding and causing even more damage.

I should mention that last part is rarely actually necessary to kill a target, it just makes for a bloodier, more entertaining show.

#rwby #fanfic #the viridian vanguard

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