ReRWBY: With Bumblebee

Chapter 13 - The Dance

Jaune heard the buzzer sound as he went down. As he picked himself up, he glanced at the scoreboard over the arena. His aura had dropped into the red, but he'd lasted almost four minutes, and Cardin's Aura was well into the orange.

"You're continuing to show improvement, Mr. Arc." Glynda Goodwitch supplied. "Continue improving at this rate, and you may actually help your team advance past the first round of the tournament."

Jaune accepted the faint praise while heading towards his team, returning Pyrrha's reassuring smile. He was learning to accept the small victories, even if he had yet to gain any literal ones in the classroom.

"Alright, we have time for one more sparring match. Any volunteers?" Glynda scanned the bleachers, her eyes falling on the half-asleep Blake "Ms. Belladonna? You've been rather docile for the past few classes. Why don't you -"

"I'll do it." she was interrupted by the gray-haired boy from Haven.

"Mercury, is it? Very well, let's find you an opponent."

"I'll take you on!" Yang called from her section, "My fists versus your feet! Everyone will get a kick out of it!"

Mercury just scoffed at the lousy pun while everyone else groaned, "Actually, I wanna fight... her." He pointed directly at Pyrrha.

"Me?" Pyrrha was surprised, as most people avoided sparring with her.

He glanced at Yang's scowl. "Maybe some other time, blondie."

A short time skip, with Mercury now strutting into the arena, visibly sizing up Pyrrha. Ruby is bouncing up and down in her seat in excitement as Emerald and Cinder watch from behind her.

Mercury charges in and kicks at Pyrrha, but she lunges forward, blocks it with her shield, and sweeps his other leg from beneath him with Miló. He falls onto his back but then kicks his legs into the air, spins on his hands, and does a double back-handspring. The two stop and stare at each other for a moment as Pyrrha stands up from a kneeling position. She runs forward to attack, but Mercury strikes first, leading her to instead block the first kick with Miló and a second with her shield, before turning around and blocking a further barrage of kicks with her shield.

Pyrrha ends the barrage by hitting his leg away with Miló, creating an opening for her to ram her shield into him. He lands on his feet and slides to a stop some distance away. Apparently slightly impressed, Mercury tilts his head and gives a slight nod with a "Hm".

Ruby Rose turns toward Cinder sitting behind her. "Hey, your friend's doing pretty good."

Cinder gives a fake smile and nods, as Ruby turns her back, Cinder shakes her head and Emerald rolls her eyes.

Mercury then leaps into the air and, with a spin, brings his foot down on Pyrrha's shield, making her jump back slightly. After landing on the floor and dropping to his hands and feet, Mercury spins with one leg out, but Pyrrha raises her foot over it and steps backward. He quickly stands and leaps into the air, kicking at her, but she blocks with her shield.

As Pyrrha turns, dives, and rolls away, Mercury continues his spin, swinging his leg high in the air, only to find that she has moved away from him. He chuckles while Pyrrha instantly rights herself, crouching on the floor with her shield in front of her. She flips Miló in her hand so that the blade points behind her. Mercury then charges forward, leaps, and lands three consecutive kicks on her shield. She moves her shield to the side and begins to raise Miló, but Mercury kicks her shield, then quickly switches in mid-air and kicks the arm with which she is holding Miló, before switching once again to kick her shield.

As Mercury lands the kick on her shield, Pyrrha flips Miló into the air, but before she can catch it, Mercury switches once more to kick her in the side. This forces her to move her arm forward and block the kick.