Monday, 7th April 79AGW.

Amphitheatre, Beacon.

3:32 pm.

The first thing Lima noted was that Blake was fast. Faster than both Teak and Cardin had been, but more notably, she was much, much faster than Sky Lark. The green-haired boy didn't fold immediately, though; he used his halberd to keep the dark-haired girl at a distance. Her shorter blade having trouble passing his guard to get in close.

Blake seemed to have some serious agility going on as well; she was practically circling the guy, striking at blind angles, and only just being rebuffed. Sky was definitely feeling the pressure, but he managed to keep his defense solid.

The gap in experience was immediately noticeable; while Blake was almost methodically working her way in, Sky was stuck completely on the defensive-which he obviously noticed, then he made the mistake of trying to force himself onto the attack.

He wasn't patient enough to wait for the proper opening.

The swipe of his halberd, crossing in a wide arc from left to right, cut directly beneath Blake's feet as she hopped straight over the top of it and spun, slicing him three times across the torso before she landed on the ground in front of him in a crouch.

The monitor above pinged as his Aura dropped to 19%.

"Winner, Blake Belladonna; Aura depletion." The automated voice spoke clearly.

Sky Lark looked shocked at his sudden loss, as did most of the others in the stands; it had come almost out of nowhere.

"Very good, Ms. Belladonna." Goodwitch said pleased, "Your footwork is exceptional, and you show the ability to seize opportunities you see within your opponent's attacks. Well done; I'd like to see so another match before I offer any criticism."

Blake smiled slightly as she moved from the arena. Weiss clapped politely, while Yang and Ruby were still hollering out encouragement as if the fight hadn't even finished.

"Lux, you look like your about to jump over the railing," Claire said, amused.

"Blakes good," Lux said, pleased. "I want to fight her."

Lima glanced over at her and almost laughed. Claire was right; the Faunus had an excited gleam in her eye, practically vibrating in her seat.

"You want to fight everyone," Claire laughed.

The next match was being decided upon the monitors, which flickered before stopping.

"Battle of the birds?" Teak said curiously.

Lie Ren and Dove Bronzewing, he hadn't seen either of the boy's fight before; he remembered Ren from 'The Game' though. The two of them made their way down into the pit, the two boys seemingly the picture of calm.

Ren seemed to be carrying a pair of matching pistols, bright green with blades curving out from underneath. Dove wielded a dark-colored sword that seemed to be split in the middle; he could just see a barrel of some kind poking out.

The match began like all the others.

It was immediately apparent that these two were much better matched than either of the other two pairs. Dove closed the distance immediately, striking out in a series of chest level stabs, and Ren worked his way backward away from them.

Both of the boy's footwork was tightly controlled, neither impatient.

Ren deflected one of the attacks to the side with his left pistol and unloaded a spray of bullets from the right one into an upward arc. Dove tilted his head back before sweeping outwards with a few quick steps, and the bullets flashed against the hard light barrier protecting the spectators drawing a few cheers.

Dove stepped forward and used the angle to slide his sword towards Ren's face, grinding along the blade of the pistol. Ren jerked his own arm upwards, sending the sword strike high, before spinning under his arm, leaving him with his other weapon resting on Dove's back.

Dove's Aura flickered as the continuous series of bullets dropped him to below half of his total before he managed to slide into a horizontal spin, dragging his sword up and landing a long slice along Ren's chest and neck; the solid strike left him at sixty percent.

Ren took two steps backward to get out of range of the follow-up stab, but Dove switched his sword into it's ranged form seamlessly; three projectiles left the long barrel with sharp cracks, matched by the metallic screech as Ren deflected each of them before unloading his own shots back in return.

Dove did another horizontal spin to reduce his size and flicked the gun out, deflecting several of the shots and sending his own in return. Ren used his left pistol to deflect the tightly clustered shots, spinning away and shooting with the other.

Ren half circled the shorter boy, moving closer, and Dove matched him, switching entirely to deflecting the torrent of bullets. They met in the middle again, with a furious exchange that left both there Aura's flickering with each shallow attack.

"Wow." Teak said, amazed, "They're so good!"

Lima nodded in agreement; the match looked like it could go either way at this point. Dove's sword gave him an easy reach advantage, but Ren was a few hairs above the other boy in melee. The semi-automatic rifle mode was made for medium ranges, while Ren's own automatic-pistols were built for harassing at close range.

The area they were fighting in didn't leave enough room for Dove to gain any significant distance to take advantage of his weapons longer range, so he was pretty much forced to fight in close range. Ren was also taking advantage of his ability to fire from two different angles at once, forcing Dove into more and more elaborate maneuvers to avoid getting his Aura wiped out by the bullets.

Then Dove made a mistake, or perhaps Ren had got off a lucky shot because a stray bullet hit the boy in the foot just as he touched down again, enough to destabilize him, which slowed his next evasion down too much.

Ren raked an arc of bullets up the boy's body, and his Aura dropped.

"Winner, Lie Ren; Aura Depletion." The digitized voice said calmly.

"Well done," Glynda said pleasantly, "A fantastic showing by both of you."

Dove clapped Ren on the shoulder, and the two boys walked out of the pit together, talking quietly. The rest of the class talking loudly about the fight.

"I could totally take them," Lux smirked.

"Really?" Claire said curiously, "They'd both beat me for sure."

Teak simply nodded his head, no doubt having the same thoughts.

"Oh!" Claire said, surprised, as her picture appeared up on the monitors. “It’s my turn already!”

"Yay!" Ruby cheered and hopped out of her front-row seat. "Wish me luck, Yang!”

“Go get em’, Ruby!” Yang cheered.

“Good luck, Claire,” Teak said happily.

Claire flashed him a pretty smile before moving towards the entrance.

“Aww-I’ve got two questions, Teak! When’s the wedding?” Lima crooned, “and can I be your flower girl?”

Teak flushed and turned his head away with a huff, refusing to bite.

Ruby was already waiting down on the platform when Claire strolled over to stand opposite her. The timer started its countdown as they took their respective stances. The timer hit zero, and Ruby vanished in a burst of petals.

Lima blinked as Claire was clubbed in the stomach with the blunt end of the younger girls' massive scythe. Claire wasn’t at all prepared for the attack and was sent tumbling off the platform.

“Winner, Ruby Rose: Ring Out.” The voice said pleasantly.

“Holy shit,” Teak said quietly, “I couldn’t even see her move.”

Lima could, there had been a smaller solid mass of petals right in the middle of the rest of them, and it had expanded back out before she had reappeared. What exactly was going on there? Was she turning into petals? Or simply compressing her size somehow and hiding within the mass of petals that she could generate?

He wasn’t sure, but either way, the girl was absurdly fast in that petal mode.

Glynda didn’t have much to say about that fight, and the two girls made their way back into the stand. Ruby bounced all the way back to her team while Claire slowly approached them, looking sheepish.

“That was a rough one,” Lima said carefully, “She’s fast.”

“Really, really fast.” Claire admitted, “I didn’t even realize she’d moved until I’d already been hit.”

“We’ll have to practice some speed drills,” Lux said, frowned down at Ruby, “I might have been able to dodge that if I’d known about it beforehand, but it wouldn’t have been a sure thing.”

The comment did seem to brighten Claire back up, and she retook her seat next to Teak, nudging his shoulder playfully; the shorter boy smiled at her.

“You’ll win next time.” Teak said firmly.

“Aww!” Claire dragged him into a hug, and he squeaked at the sudden attack. “Thanks, Teak!”

Teak mumbled something none of them could hear, looking flushed, and Claire let him go, smiling widely. Lima mouthed ‘flower girl’ at the poor guy and got a red-faced glare for his trouble.

Lux laughed loudly as her own picture came up on the monitors, right next to Pyrrha Nikos.

“This is great!” Lux cheered, squeezing past the three of them urgently and knocking Lima into Teak in the process.

“Hey!” Lima squawked, “Watch where you are going!”

Lux completely ignored the comment, already approaching the entrance eagerly. He spotted Pyrrha calmly moving towards the entrance with a pleasant smile on her face. This was going to be the highlight of the class he already knew. He had seen one of Pyrrha’s tournament fights before-the first finals she had participated in, and she had taken her opponent apart in less than a minute. He’d actually fought Lux, though, and she wasn’t anything to sneeze at either.

Nora and Jaune were both cheering for their teammate, while Ren watched bemused.

Lux stood on the platform working through some quick drills with her halberd-assault rifle, warming up for the fight. Pyrrha slipped her shield into her hand, followed by the short-sword that he was aware could change into a javelin or a rifle, versatile enough to cover every range.

The timer ticked down to zero, and surprisingly enough, it was Pyrrha that was the first to move. Lux started towards her a second later, and they clashed with a grinding noise as Lux’s halberd sparked a path off of Pyrrha’s shield as it was deflected out wide.

Pyrrha slashed twice; the first hit the handle of the Halberd as Lux pulled it inwards, and the second missed as she stepped back out of range. The sword flicked up to halt the course of the halberd, although it looked like it took a great deal more effort than it should have.

Pyrrha seemed to realize something was wrong immediately as the halberd continued to press through the block. Instead, she spun, turning the contest into momentum, slipping under the long weapon and cutting Lux across the top of her thighs.

Lux clicked her tongue at the hit and twirled the halberd around her before taking three quick steps towards the red-head, rotating around to build momentum. Pyrrha stepped to the side, back, and then the side again as the three consecutive attacks flashed through the space she’d been standing a second barely before.

Lima watched them both carefully; it was the same thing he had seen during the tournament fight.

Pyrrha was good, better than good even, in melee, he doubted there were many their age that could contest her there; it wasn’t that she was moving that much faster either-she certainly wasn’t moving as fast as Ruby had been in petal mode.

Her real strength was the pace she set; in every exchange, her attacks, counters, and feints had multiple parts, each of the attacks seamlessly moved into the next, and where someone like Ren or Dove would set up a single hidden strike-Pyrrha had seemingly already planned out the next three or four moves that her opponent would do in response and unleashed a chain of debilitating strikes that the overwhelmed the opponent's ability to defend against.

Lima watched as it happened over and over again; she had to have practiced those chains thousands of times for them to be so smooth. Lux was one of maybe five people in the room that he thought might be able to push her, and she was getting destroyed. The rapid changes in attack angles, weapon reach, and the perfect positioning were too much for her.

Lux’s strikes would be deflected by the shield; the shortsword would open up her defenses, and then she would transform the weapon into its javelin form, using the greater reach to inflict several wide slashes before switching forms again, throwing off the attempt at a counter before switching again-

The match ended a moment later with Lux panting on her knees, halberd three feet away, and Pyrrha standing tall above her, javelin hovering above her neck. Lima couldn’t help but notice that wide smile resting on Lux’s face as the match was called.

“Winner, Pyrrha Nikos: Aura Depletion.” The voice said pleasantly.

Half the people in the stands stood up, calling out and cheerings both of them on until Glynda finally calmed them all down.

“Sit down,” Glynda said clearly, and they finally relented, “A fantastic match, Ms. Fulbright, Ms. Nikos. I’d like to see you both when we are done here if that is acceptable?”

The two girls agreed and made their way back into the stands.

“That was incredible, Lux!” Teak said, amazed.

“Yeah!” Claire said, grinning. “That was like watching one of the tournament finals.”

Lux preened at the praise before sitting down with a smug look on her face.

“You looked like you were having fun down there,” Lima smirked.

“I’ll win next time,” Lux said, grinning, returning the look. “Just wait.”

Lima wasn’t sure she was talking about Pyrrha anymore, but he nodded anyway.

“Oh, come on!” Jaune complained, loud enough to be heard across the stands.

Jaune’s smiling face had appeared on the monitor, right next to Weiss Schnee’s.

“Hmph!” Weiss huffed, striding over to the entrance.

“Just do your best, Jaune!” Pyrrha said happily.

Jaune groaned as he slouched his way over to the door, arms hanging limply by his side. Lima couldn’t help but laugh at the poor guy, an impossible position. Either he wins, and Weiss hates him, or he loses, and Weiss still hates him.

“You can do it, Jaune!” Ruby called out in support.

“Ruby!” Weiss hissed, “You’re supposed to be cheering for me!”

“U-um! Go, Weiss!” Ruby yelped, “Beat him up!”

“Thanks a lot, Ruby,” Jaune said sullenly, from his place in the pit.

Weiss shot off towards Jaune the moment the timer hit zero, and the boy let out a yelp of surprise before dragging his shield up in front of him. The white-haired girls rapier skidded off the face of it, but she easily had enough control to turn the deflection into a return slash.

Jaune’s shield was ripped out wide, and he dove to the side in an attempt to get out of her way, but she managed to catch him in the leg, sending him sprawling. The blonde boy's legs scrambled on the floor for a moment before he managed to get enough purchase to push himself back to his feet, and he swung his sword in a wide overhand arc at where the girl was once more rushing towards him.

The sword slipped past the girl as she sidestepped and jaunted forward to hit him in his now open side with a series of blistering pokes that sent him stumbling backward under the merciless assault, and he lashed out in desperation with his sword once more.

Weiss spun under it and hit him once more in the chest, dropping him to below the threshold.

“Winner, Weiss Schnee: Aura Depletion.” The voice said pleasantly.

“She’s good too,” Teak said quietly.

“So Ruby, Weiss, and Blake are all ringers; I wonder if the blonde girl-uh-Yang is any good,” Lima said curiously, stumbling over her name.

“She’s amazing,” Claire said honestly, “I’ve seen her in the school tournaments back at the signal; I don’t think she ever lost a fight in the final year.”

Lux looked interested.

“Well damn,” Lima said, surprised, glancing at her. “I wonder if-”

“Lima, it’s your turn.” Teak said urgently.

Lima blinked before looking up at the monitors, his incredibly handsome face beamed out of the screen.

“Woohoo!” Nora cheered excitedly, bouncing over to the entrance. “It’s finally my turn!”

Lima stood up with a grunt of effort and made his way through the stand towards the entrance. He offered Jaune a high five as the boy trudged up to the stands and got a weak slap in return. He gave Weiss a nod and received a huff as she passed him.

“How rude,” Lima laughed.

He crossed over to the platform where Nora was already waiting impatiently, swinging her massive hammer around like it weighed practically nothing. He noticed the timer started its countdown the second they were in position.

“Wheres your weapon?” Nora said curiously.

Lima blinked before patting himself down as if he might find it inside the pockets of the school uniform. He gave Nora a pleading look and slapped his hands together in prayer.

“Oh my god, I forgot to get my weapon!” Lima cried as the timer hit zero. “Go easy on me?”

“Aww,” Nora pouted, moving towards him. “That’s no fun.”

Nora swung her hammer at him, intending to knock him straight off the platform in a merciful end to the battle. Lima lifted his hand, stopped the head of the hammer cold with his semblance, and then stepped forward, elbowing her in the chest.

Nora stumbled back a couple of steps, suddenly without a weapon.

“H-hey!” Nora said, shocked, “Give that back!”

Lima flipped the hammer over and snagged the handle before pointing it at her threateningly.

“Never!” Lima cried, “It’s my weapon now! Call me, Nora!”

“Nooo!” Nora cried back, “I’m Nora!”

“I’m going to keep it forever!” Lima cackled, starting towards her.

“Ren!” Nora said in a panic.

Nora dove to the side as he came after her, but he matched her jump, landing lightly in front of her and swung the hammer. Her eyes went wide as it connected with her shoulder, and he sent her flying off of the platform with a yelp as he swatted her like a baseball.

“Winner, Lima Morta: Ring Out.” The voice said pleasantly.

Lima did a little flourish with the hammer to show off and accidentally dropped it on the platform.

“Whoops,” Lima said sheepishly, picking it up by the handle more carefully.

Nora’s face was scrunched up in indignation as he handed her the weapon back; she snatched it from his hand and hugged it tightly, glaring at him.

“Mine,” Nora said haughtily, before spinning on her heel and stomping away.

“Well, that was something.” Glynda said dryly, “Please remember to bring your weapon next time, Mr. Morta.”

“Sure!” Lima said cheerfully.