Saturday, the 18th of July, 79AGW.

Amphitheatre, Beacon.

Teak followed the now moping Ruby up the stairs and out of the arena, firing off a steady stream of apologies for having the audacity of kicking her during a moment of weakness.

"Ms Rose, I see some improvement from the last time, but you should spend far more time sparring without your weapon," Goodwitch advised, "Almost every attack you attempted was from a place of poor balance and lacked the proper technique to utilise your bodyweight as a driving force."

"It's weird fighting without a weapon, and my balance is completely shot," Ruby complained before scrunching her face up. "I'm too small—ugh."

Ruby said the word like it was in reference to something about as well-respected as pond scum.

"Mr Fawn, you've shown a consistent improvement from your first day here, and I'm delighted to watch you grow," Goodwitch said, eyeing him for a moment. "I've often been critical of the NCS in the past, but you are a clear endorsement that a diligent person can overcome the initial lack of training."

"Thank you, Professor," Teak said. "That's very kind of you."

Goodwitch smiled at the boy before turning her attention back to Lima's scroll; she spent a moment scanning the remaining fights before nodding.

"That was the end of the first round, and now we will move straight into the second one," Goodwitch said, humming. "There will be three fights in this one—the first match will be comprised of Ms Nikos and Ms Valkryie."

Teak made a beeline for the three of them, and Lima made to stand up, intending to give him his seat back. Claire ruined the plan by pulling Teak down onto her lap as he attempted to shuffle past.

"Claire," Teak squawked.

"You were so cool," Claire said, laughing. "They record these fights, don't they? We need to download that one."

"You've got your hands full, and Goodwitch has my scroll," Lima said, shrugging. "Lux, you want to grab it before it's archived?"

"I already did," Lux admitted. "Good fight, Teak."

"Thank you," Teak managed, still trapped within Claire's grasp. "Did Lima admit to rigging the tournament yet?"

"He's still being cagey about it," Claire said, arms locked around his waist. "He definitely wants Jaune in the finals, though."

"Lima?" Teak asked.

"I should have known the Galaxy Brain was behind this," Lima sighed, keeping his voice low. "Fine, you were right, my plan was always to get Jaune to the finals, and the tournament is structured to make that possible."

"Why?" Claire said, cheek pressed against Teak's back. "With the current matchups, it's starting to look like he's going to be fighting Pyrrha—he's going to reach a hard stop there."

Pyrrha and Nora took their places on the stage.

"No," Lima said, eyes on the arena. "Jaune is going to win."

"How?" Lux said, sounding about a thousand times more interested. "No offence to Jaune, but they aren't on the same level at all."

"My next match is against Jaune, and he's definitely better than me; I've lost to him in class before." Teak murmured, studying the people present. "Yang and Ren are going to fight next, and regardless of who wins that fight, I can't beat either of them—this is as far as I'm going."

"You could definitely kick Jaune's ass," Claire said in support. "You've got this."

"Second wave of the Going Away Tournament, first round," Goodwitch said, clearing her throat. "Pyrrha Nikos vs Nora Valkryie—begin."

Both girls started forward at the same time, but their speeds were incomparable. Nora's sprint turned into a sliding tackle, and Pyrrha kicked up into an aerial to clear it, her ponytail almost hitting Nora in the face on her way past. Nora, using her knee, popped up until her foot slammed into the floor, the force bringing her back to her feet. It took her two frantic steps to fight through the last of the momentum, and then they clashed in the middle.

Nora's overhand crashed into Pyrrha's block before the next two came directly after it—the third strike was never intended to hit. Instead, her arm fell short of the block, and she used the rotation to turn it into a sudden, furious flip. The attempted heel drop missed as Pyrrha spun into a blinding turn, her foot smashing into the back of Nora's leg before she'd fully completed her own attack.

"Whoa," Teak said, startled. "Nora just—she did that so quickly; how did Pyrrha even see it?"

Lima felt another spike of adrenaline roll down his spine at the expression of skill, and he caught himself in the process of sitting forward.

"Prepared counter," Lux said with an audible exhalation. "The moment the punch didn't hit, she started moving to the side."

"There was some telegraph as well," Lima said, watching the exchange continue. "She started to bend her knees at the end of the second hit—it's likely she's done something like that in sparring before, and Pyrrha was ready for it."

Nora's balance vanished as her standing leg was smashed out from underneath her, and she attempted to twist in mid-air to face her opponent. Pyrrha rotated to the right again as she fell and then smashed a second kick into her shoulders before she hit the ground. It sent Nora rolling back across the stage, but she managed to regain her bearings before she went off the edge entirely.

Pyrrha was on top of her before she'd even managed to get to her feet—and in a display of synchronicity that sent another spike of adrenaline through his body, the two of them jaunted to the side in the exact same direction. Nora's eyes went wide as Pyrrha predicted her evasion and then ruined it—Nora crashed down on her back outside of the arena, her hasty, mid-air guard unable to stop the force of the kick.

"Winner: Pyrrha Nikos," The system announced, "Ring Out."

The plan to have Nora wear Pyrrha down had failed in under a minute. The prediction of the heel drop and the evasion that had ended the fight, however, had him fighting down a smile. He caught sight of Jaune shifting slightly, an aborted attempt to look back over his shoulder—and then he did laugh.

Pyrrha's display just now was proof of two things—the first was that she was every bit as dangerous as he'd expected. The second was that he'd been right about the strategy needed to defeat her. The difference in skill between Lux and Nora in unarmed combat wasn't large, and yet the two fighters had wildly different experiences fighting Pyrrha Nikos.

Lux was a relative unknown; her skillset without a weapon forced Pyrrha to be cautious. Forced her to take the slow, steady and safe approach. Forced her to dismantle the Faunus with care, lest something unexpected occur. But when The Invincible Girl stepped into the ring with a teammate, she fell victim to the exact same flaw that had destroyed him years ago—Pyrrha was lazy.

Nora wasn't treated with the same caution, care, and threat that someone of her skill level warranted. Because Pyrrha had seen everything that she could do a hundred times over. Pyrrha fell back on the heuristics she'd developed over the course of their teamship, and then used it to destroy the other girl.

"Another fantastic bout," Goodwitch said, tucking the scroll under her arm to perform a few short claps. "Ms Valkryie, that attack was vicious—I approve completely."

"Heh," Nora grinned, hand on the back of her head. "Works better with my hammer—I was too slow."

"Ms Nikos, you found an opportunity and then pressed the attack; a perfect display of ruthlessness and professionalism," Goodwitch said, impressed. "I believe we will start ramping up the level of skill in your class spars in order to challenge you adequately—multiple opponents, perhaps."

"That does sound challenging," Pyrrha said, smiling. "I look forward to it."

"Perfect—let us move on, the second match," Goodwitch said, pleased. "Mr Lie and Ms Xiao Long."

Lima watched as the two fighters started down towards the arena, wondering again if he shouldn't have made Pyrrha fight Yang instead of Nora. Pyrrha hadn't taken any significant damage to her Aura during the last round, and while she was bleeding stamina, it was far less than what he'd been hoping for. Likewise, the outcome of this battle was probably going to leave the winner in a poor state, which meant that Pyrhha would be fighting someone equally as worn out.

"Damn," Lima murmured, "I'm starting to think I should have thrown myself on the sacrificial altar to slow her down."

"Who?" Teak asked. "Pyrrha?"

"Yeah," Lima admitted, "She beat Nora far faster than I was expecting, and she didn't really get hit—those blocks chipped some of her Aura away, but nothing significant."

Then again, if she was too tired when she got to the end boss, she would be far more cautious about it—this might actually work out a bit better.

"Yang's only got about seventy percent Aura left," Claire said. "Ren's pretty much full."

"Yang's tired as well," Lux said, "This should be a good fight—think her Semblance is going to activate?"

"She had plenty of time for whatever kinetic energy she collected to bleed away," Teak said, shifting a bit as Claire squeezed him again. "It didn't activate at a thirty-percent loss of Aura, and she's only twenty-percent off a loss by depletion—I'm guessing no."

"Round two," Goodwitch said, once they were both ready. "Lie Ren vs Yang Xiao Long—begin."

Yang slammed her fists together with a crack and then grinned as she lowered her centre of gravity—she burst forward at a controlled sprint. Ren turned side on, taking the same stance he'd used against Weiss, one arm up, elbow pointed towards her. Ren took in a long steady breath in as the distance between them vanished, chest expanding as he filled his lungs.

Yang reached him, jaunted to the left on the outside of his guard, and then aimed an overhand across the top of his arm. The angle of attack was a deliberate attempt to waste his guard, and it worked because Ren was forced to duck low before he pulled back up again.

Yang pressed forward, comfortable at the range and not bothering to try and reset his guard again. Her fist crashed into his elbow, and Ren's attempt to deflect failed because she didn't push forward in an attempt to break through. He took a step backwards as she stepped forward, rolling her shoulders to the right and then struck out again—Ren twisted past the hit, his outstretched elbow blurring inwards to crash into Yang's guard hard enough that the display high above them registered the hit, stripping both participants of a tenth of their remaining aura gauges.

Yang twisted with him, keeping the fight at a fractional range that left half of the movements concealed as her back rotated to face them. Ren's foot slid forward, visible between her legs, and shifted her foot to the side just as she stepped forward again. Yang's punch went high, glancing off his shoulder and shredding another tenth off his Aura in the process. Ren's palm crashed into her chest, and a pulse washed outwards from the hit.

Both of their gauges dropped significantly as Yang slid backwards across the arena, her Aura a few slivers over the threshold and a faint glow quickly building up around her. She straightened up and then looked down at her arms for a moment.

"Crap," Yang said, loud enough for everyone to hear. "Uh—timeout, I guess? My Semblance is reacting."

"I understand," Ren said, breathing a bit heavy. "Please take as long as you need."

"Was that his semblance?" Weiss asked, frowning. "I thought we weren't allowed to use them?"

The comment was echoed by half of the people present, generating enough buzz that Goodwitch actually spoke up.

"That wasn't his semblance," Lima said, shaking his head. "It was an aura strike."

"Correct—what Mr Ren has just demonstrated is an advanced, offensive usage of Aura," Goodwitch said, raising her voice so everyone in the arena could hear her. "We have a class dedicated to learning techniques like these; it is an elective available to all students in the third year should you decide to take it."

"It was like a wave of force," Ruby said. "So cool."

"Are you seriously praising your sister's opponent?" Weiss said, feigning disappointment. "I can't believe it."

"Gah," Ruby squawked.

"Ms Xiao Long, would you like to continue?" Goodwitch asked.

"I'm like one percent off elimination," Yang said, looking up at the display above her. "I don't think I can even hit him without knocking myself out. May as well call it quits—I surrender."

"Winner: Lie Ren," The system announced. "Surrender."

The two of them left the stage behind and started up the stairs, Yang talking with a smile on her face while Ren nodded along as she spoke.

"I've never seen anyone do that before," Lux said, staring at the pair as they made it back up to the stands. "Aura strike?"

"It works the same way as reinforcing for a block, only you're transferring the accumulated aura into the attack and then externalising it in a sudden directed burst," Lima said, stabbing his hand forward into a mimed palm strike. "It costs a chunk of your own Aura to use, so it's almost always the last option you'd reach for in a fight—wasting Aura to kill a Grimm when you could just put your weapon through its face is a bad option strategically."

"Very good, Mr Morta," Goodwitch said, impressed. "Can you use it?"

"Yeah," Lima admitted. "My guardian taught me how to do it."

"Is there anyone else amongst you who can perform an Aura strike?" Goodwitch said. "No? Ms Nikos?"

"It wasn't part of the curriculum at Sanctum," Pyrrha admitted, shaking her head. "It looks fascinating—are there any resources available for us to self-study before the third year?"

"There are several books in the library to use for instruction," Goodwitch said, eyeing the group for a moment. "Perhaps if there is enough interest, I'll put together a primer course on supplementary Aura techniques after the break."

Judging by the general reaction to the news, Lima had a feeling it would end up coming to fruition.

"Mr Lie, that was an impressive display," Goodwitch said, turning her gaze to the two of them. "I recall that you used the same technique during the entrance exam—against a King Taijitu."

Lima sent the boy a look of pure envy. All that time they'd spent hunting during the exam and they'd found nothing more than common Grimm to kill. Where the hell was the justice in that?

"Yes, I was forced to use it then as well. I apologise for using it without permission," Ren said, "I was feeling quite pressured, and I reacted without thinking. If you consider it outside of the stated rules, I'm happy to forfeit my placement in this tournament—"

"Nah, you won that one," Yang said, clapping him on the shoulder. "I'll be ready for it next time, though, so you better watch out."

"I will," Ren murmured.

"Then we shall continue," Goodwitch said, nodding. "This is the last round of the second wave, Mr Fawn and Mr Arc—if you'd please make your way down to the arena."

Teak, still trapped in Claire's lap, flushed at the sudden attention from the rest of the group.

"Um—Professor?" Teak managed. "I'd like to surrender if that's okay, I skipped breakfast, so I'm feeling a little bit sick now."

Lux, Claire and Lima all turned to look at him, the lie he'd just told clear to all of them, but Teak kept his gaze forward.

"That's fine. One moment, and I'll eliminate you," Goodwitch said, fiddling with the scroll. "That means we can move straight onto the semi-finals—Mr Lie and Ms Nikos if you would."

"Of course," Pyrrha said, standing.

"It would appear I've returned too soon," Ren said.

Pyrrha joined him, the two fighters moving towards the stairs, both looking a bit worn down. Unfortunately, Ren actually looked more tired than Pyrrha did; as skilled as he was, he didn't seem to have quite as much stamina.

"I wanted to see you fight Jaune," Lux said, annoyed. "What the hell, Teak?"

"I'm sorry, Lux," Teak murmured, playing with the hem of his shirt. "But Lima and Jaune have some kind of mysterious plan, and I want to help him."

Lima reached over, planting his elbow on Claire's head and then patted Teak on the back.

"Hey," Claire squawked.

"Teak," Lima said, ignoring her struggle. "Your actions will be eternally recorded in the annals of history, and all will know that you made the ultimate sacrifice."

"The semi-finals," Goodwitch said, tapping at the scroll. "Lie Ren vs Pyrrha Nikos—begin."

Despite both fighters having each fought twice before, they were still in top form. Pyrrha surged forward from her place, even as Ren took on the same stance he'd used every single round—then, surprising Pyrrha and everyone else in the arena, he burst forward to meet her at the last second.

The sudden change caused Pyrrha to abort her attack, shifting her centre of gravity backwards as she leaned out of the way of the spear hand that cut past her cheek. Ren's foot slid forward, crashing into the inside of her heel in an attempt to destabilise her footing, but she slid her own foot outwards until he'd fallen short—another clear prediction borne from previous spars.

Ren turned the miss into a strike at her chest, leading with his elbow and funnelling all of his body weight behind it. Pyrrha palmed the strike away, sliding outwards to avoid a second attempt at a footing disruption. Almost behind him now, Ren jaunted away from her, spinning as he went—Pyrrha crashed into him, punch breaking through his attempted guard and slamming into his shoulder before it could get all of the way up.

Ren planted his foot, palmed her next attack to the side and then folded his hand inwards, slamming his elbow against her hasty guard. Both of their Aura flickered into visibility at the impact, each hit, block and deflection eating away at their gauges—but Ren was flagging, his vanishing stamina robbing him of clarity, speed and precision.

In the end, it was Pyrrha's careful stamina management and her steady, unbroken pace that forced a gap between them, and Ren fell beneath her, like everyone else that had come before him.

"Winner: Pyrrha Nikos," The system announced, "Aura Depletion."

Nora gave a wordless cheer for both of her teammates, and Jaune joined in a moment later, clapping his hands. Pyrrha helped Ren up from where he'd fallen to his knees.

"That was awesome—he was keeping up with her for a minute there," Lux said, grinning. "I wonder what their team spars are like."

"Exhausting," Claire guessed.

"Well done," Goodwitch said, smiling. "I've seen third-years that aren't nearly as capable as what you both just demonstrated—fantastic work."

"Thank you," Ren managed, sagging into his seat. "I'm exhausted."

"Nice try, Ren," Nora said, leaning over towards him. "You'll get her next time."

"Next time," Ren agreed, eyes closed. "Maybe."

Pyrrha stood beside Goodwitch with her hands planted on her hips, smiling and already looking like she was ready for the next round. This was the best chance Jaune was going to get to fulfil his goal, and they'd done everything they could to make it possible.

"Without an opponent, Mr Arc gets a by," Goodwitch said, checking the scroll. "That means we move onto the finals."

"I'm starting to see a pattern," Ruby said, fingers pressed against her temples like she was receiving some kind of psychic insight. "Jaune vs Lima—surrendor. Jaune vs Teak—surrendor. Jaune vs nobody—a free pass to the finals."

"How weird is that?" Lima said, surprised. "Anyway, you were about to start the finals, weren't you, Professor Greatest-of-all-time-witch?"

"Don't call her that," Weiss strangled out. "You absolute baffoon."

"I'm afraid I have an appointment with the Headmaster soon," Goodwitch said, voice dry. "I believe it's time to bring this event to its 'amazing' conclusion."

Well, as far as warnings went, that was a pretty pointed one.

"The final round," Goodwitch said, eyeing them all for a moment. "Mr Arc and Ms Nikos—please take your positions."

"Team Juniper takes first, second and third place," Pyrrha said, smiling. "I think we've done rather well for ourselves, don't you?"

"I'd like to say I worked hard to get here," Jaune said, scratching his cheek. "But it seems like that isn't really the case."

Jaune glanced back one last time, and Lima gave him a nod before the two of them vanished down the stairs.

"Did you make a deal with Jaune to let their team win?" Claire said, tilting her head. "Is that what all this was?"

"Nope," Lima said.

"Both of you kept disappearing after class—that's the final piece to this puzzle, isn't it?" Teak asked. "What were the two of you doing the last couple of weeks?"

"No spoilers. How about a side-bet, just the four of us," Lima said. "One favour to the winners—Jaune is going to win."

"There's no way Jaune is going to beat Pyrrha," Lux said, shaking her head. "It doesn't matter how much you tired her out. She still has seventy-five percent of her Aura left—he's going to lose within ten seconds."

"Yeah, sorry, Lima," Claire said, bemused. "Jaune's going to lose."

"Teak?" Lima prompted.

"If Lima says he's going to win, then I believe him," Teak admitted. "I'll bet on Jaune winning."

"Your loss," Lux said. "I'm going to use my favour to make you fight me—as soon as my Aura recovers."

"I have no idea what I'll use mine for," Claire admitted, eyeing them. "Something embarrassing, maybe."

Jaune looked much the same as he'd done in the prior round, head down, hair shadowing his eyes, posture slumped. Pyrrha stood, head up, shoulders back, sweating but with enough confidence that she practically brightened the stage with her presence—she was born for it.

"This must be what catharsis feels like," Weiss said, pleased. "Maybe this wasn't such a bad idea after all?"

"Careful," Blake said, "Your vindictive side is showing."

"Isn't that, you know," Ruby said, waving her hand at everything that made up Weiss Schnee. "All of her?"

"Go, team!" Nora cried.

"You can do it!" Ren managed, sitting up.

"The final round of the Going Away Tournament," Goodwitch said, "Jaune Arc vs Pyrrha Nikos—begin."

Pyrrha, unlike her other matches, appeared to be waiting for Jaune to ready himself, and that alone was enough to tell him how this was going to end—if she was treating this like an extension of Jaune's sparring sessions, then Lima knew that she was making a terrible mistake.

Jaune lifted his hands up in front of his face, squared his shoulders, and then took a deep breath. He started forward, speeding up as he went, and then Pyrrha joined him, moving twice as fast—the first exchange sent Jaune skidding back, her foot planted squarely on his crossed arms. Then she was on top of him again, testing his guard for weakness. Jaune pulled his knee up to block a body shot and used an elbow deflection that had 'Ren' written all over it.

Completely on the defensive, no attempt to attack, exactly the way Jaune had described every single one of their spars. Pyrrha was moving at just over half speed, ramping up her attack, chipping away at his defence, with all the time in the world to pick her targets. Jaune sidestepped to the right like he'd done every time he'd felt pressured during Lima's training sessions, and Pyrrha followed in step with him, predicting every movement, drawing on the dozens of spars, and shortcutting the fight for herself by relying entirely on her expectations.

Jaune gave ground to her with each attack, not because it was part of his plan, but because that was the nature of planting yourself in front of Pyrrha Nikos and daring her to attack. The gauges above them showed the steady decline of Jaune's Aura, although, as always was the case with him, it seemed to take longer than you would expect—he seemed to have a lot of it, considering he apparently only had it unlocked the day he'd joined Beacon.

Jaune tried to attack her six times over the course of the fight, alternating punches, and each one at roughly the same intensity. Every single one of them met a solid block, a deflection or a counter that started before he'd even finished the strike. The edge of the arena grew closer by the second as Pyrrha decided to stop holding back.

"Jaune," Lima cried, his voice lost amongst the cheers of support from their classmates. "This is it."

Pyrrha sensing the end of the fight, jaunted to the side, leg slicing forwards towards the blonde boy's calf—Jaune twisted violently, moving easily twice as fast as he had at any other point of the fight. His hand was already in the perfect position to catch her ankle before it had made it halfway, and his right hand surged forward, catching the neck of her shirt.

Jaune wrenched her leg upwards and pulled, tearing her up off the ground with a cry of effort. Pyrrha almost managed to escape, and then in a last-ditch effort, she kicked him across the face as she fell. Jaune's Aura dropped to hover a shade above the threshold, and then Pyrrha crashed down on her back, outside of the arena.

"Winner: Jaune Arc," The system announced, "Ring out."

There was a moment of dead silence as everyone tried to come to terms with the sudden, unbelievable turnaround, and then Pyrrha, still lying on her back on the floor, started laughing.