Chapter Eleven: Fame

Pyrrha finished tightening up the leather straps that held her cuisses as she sat in the locker room. It'll just be a little bit longer… All that was left to do was to check her armour and weapons - something Pyrrha had already done five times. It wasn't that Pyrrha was nervous; no, the situation was a familiar one to her. What she was about to undertake was not a new event by any means, and it was not the reason why she was fidgeting with armour as she sat there in that empty room. No, it was the waiting.

Waiting.

Waiting for her, Pyrrha Nikos, to be called forth from the locker room. For the Invincible Girl herself to be summoned to fight. For the record-breaking tournament fighter to enter the international Vytal tournament and trounce her opponent. After all, during the first few rounds of the tournament, there was a low chance Pyrrha would be squared off against a strong opponent.

The first round of the Vytal Tournament had been just about what Pyrrha had expected…

"Begin!"

Time slowed for Pyrrha as the unfamiliar voice boomed throughout the arena, as the referee's voice boomed through the arena's loudspeakers. This was Pyrrha's element; the arena was where she excelled beyond compare, better even than her fights against Grimm. That wasn't without a reason, either. Despite all of the help, all of the advantage that Pyrrha's semblance afforded her, she couldn't help but feel like she was a bit too dependent on it. However, these thoughts faded as Pyrrha focused on the opponent.

Cardin Winchester stood opposite of her, mace held tightly in his grip. If I remember correctly, he will charge in with an overhead smash. Yet he merely stood there, tense as could be. A different approach from the last time is needed, it seems.

Deciding to take the initiative, Pyrrha came at him running full tilt, both arms outstretched. Cardin started to strafe left, his mace held in a two-handed grip in front of him. The distance closed between the two, and Cardin took the first swing. Pyrrha didn't let it get close.

Slamming her shield into her opponent's mace, Pyrrha followed up with several tight swings from Milo as Cardin's mace reeled backwards. The mace was unable to defend the boy from Pyrrha's xiphos as it cut rapid slashes down his chest, each one lowering Cardin's aura bar by fat chunks. Before he could bring his mace back in front of him, Pyrrha jumped, bringing her knee forward.

CRACK!

Cardin's form limply fell backwards as Pyrrha's knee struck his chin, the force of it producing a unsettling noise audible even over the din of the crowd. Pyrrha waited for a few moments; did I break through his aura? She knew better than to look away from her opponent to check, regardless if he was currently clutching his head as he lay on the ground, unarmed; rather, Pyrrha relied on the sound of the finished match tone, a loud and angry buzz that could be heard from anywhere in the stadium.

BUZZZZZZ!

Pyrrha felt the tension slip from her, as the fight ended. Truthfully, not that hard of a match to fight. It really wasn't, not when you considering I can take on their entire team and win.

Glancing towards the audience, she noticed that while a healthy portion of the people gathered were students, the massive, overwhelming number of them were normal folks, coming from Vale and other kingdoms, here to enjoy the festivities and the games. Unfortunately, the majority of them did not hold looks of interest, but disinterest. They seem to be… bored?

That was the way tournaments like this worked after all, Pyrrha sighed, you don't get two strong fighters against each other until the later matches… of course the audience is bored.

Pyrrha found herself still in the locker room, waiting.

Waiting was something that Pyrrha was never particularly good at it. Then again how is one supposed to be good at waiting? Pyrrha thought with a sarcastic tone. You can't train yourself to be more patient.

The first tournament she had been in, the Mistral Regional, the waiting made her worry. Worry about how much she'd embarrass herself in the coming matches. Worry about getting her face beat in by her opponent. By the second tournament, waiting had taken on a new meaning. There was still the apprehension of fighting a tough opponent, but at that point her fear was of not living up to her previous win. Third time around, the apprehension of physically getting harmed was gone, replaced entirely by a constant dread of not being able to hold up her previous victories. The fourth Mistral Regional tournament Pyrrha had fought in, during waiting she was no longer worrying about being able to uphold her title, but rather just why she was nervous about upholding it. Why she almost wanted to see if she didn't uphold the title.

Deep down inside, Pyrrha couldn't but wonder what would happen if she hadn't upheld her title all those times. Perhaps I would be less famous? I wouldn't be the Invincible Girl anymore. Pyrrha toyed with the thought; I would have had to take a dive to lose, no one would 'let me' win. She shook her head. That'd be against the rules. Nevertheless, the idea of being less famous was a… intriguing one.

It hadn't taken long for Pyrrha to end up fighting someone she knew and, if she could be so bold, considered a little bit of a friend. Although, Pyrrha thought with no small amount of sadness, I don't think he'd ever think of me as a friend anymore…

The look Sun had given Pyrrha after their match burned into her eyes. It was a look she had seen in many of her opponents after she had beaten them. At first, she thought of the look as that of surprise. The widened eyes, the open mouth with a slight tremble was a expression Pyrrha had assumed was a surprised one.

But from her limited interactions with Sun, Pyrrha knew that wasn't what he looked like when he was surprised, no. In fact, Sun looked horrified. Honestly, Pyrrha couldn't blame him; I did hit him when he was down, no matter how you look at it…

Pyrrha dove underneath the whirling staff, bringing Akouo in a backhand shield slam. The blow was stopped by Sun's staff shunting off the force of it. The two combatants backed off to catch their breath.

It had been a back and forth game, with no one gaining any real edge over the other. Sun was fighting well, using the staff to keep her from simply overpowering him with both Akouo and Milo. At the same time, Sun hadn't been able to put Pyrrha on the defensive in any way, merely holding his ground. A few strikes had to be altered by Pyrrha's semblance, but they were nothing major. Nothing that Pyrrha couldn't handle.

Something needs to change. Shifting Milo into its spear form, Pyrrha slowly started to approach him, Sun mirroring her approach. Just before they hit contact, Pyrrha twirled Milo into a javelin grip and chucked it at Sun, the sound of the gun component of Milo suddenly ringing through the stadium as it hurtled at the Faunus.

Even as Sun went to duck underneath it, Pyrrha altered the course of the javelin. Pyrrha's aim was not for Sun directly but rather his rather loose shirt, the tip of Milo shredding through it before the wide shaft caught enough of his shirt to make the Faunus lose balance. Before Sun could hit the ground Pyrrha closed the small gap in a leap, landing knee first onto his unprotected stomach.

THUMP!

The sound of the two combatants hitting the arena floor echoed in the stadium. Not giving a Sun a chance to recover, Pyrrha brought her shield arm down on his chest, Akouo bouncing off as his aura flared around to protect the downed faunus. Again, Pyrrha brought her shield down, the rim of it painfully slamming into Sun's chest. A third time her arm descended, before halting, the end of the match buzzer blaring throughout the stadium.

Stepping off Sun, Akouo no longer blocked his face Pyrrha could see it. Sun stared at her with wide eyes, and mouth agape. Pyrrha could faintly hear over the crowd's dim, Sun's staff banging against the ground as his arms trembled. That sound was muted by the roar of the loudspeaker.

"Pyrrha Nikos, The Invincible girl wins again! Will she be able to add another tournament to her already legendary streak? It looks like the Invincible Girl is on her way to it!"

No one could deny that Pyrrha Nikos was famous.

Whether it was from her string of record-breaking victories in the tournament circuit, the fact that she was a valedictorian of Sanctum, or just simply that Pyrrha's face was on a major cereal brand, it was a undeniable fact: Pyrrha Nikos was famous.

When Sun had entered the arena, he received little fanfare, a foreign Faunus with a non-existent tournament record. There was barely a change in the audience's sounds. But when Pyrrha Nikos entered, the audience erupted into a cacophony of noise, cheering her on.

It was more than a little sickening to her to see Sun get such little applause. Perhaps what was more sickening was her next opponent.

Lie Ren.

Out of team JNPR, he was the only other member still in the running at this point. For someone without a tournament record, it was impressive that he made it this far, to say the least, or so that was what Pyrrha had heard. It would seem that Ren's luck had run out, though, as he was set to fight Pyrrha Nikos.

If Pyrrha was being completely honest with herself, she had been debating taking a fall. She had been contemplating whether she should fight against her friends or not since the beginning of the tournament. Jaune hadn't been put in the same bracket as Pyrrha, nor had Nora or anyone from team RWBY. Pyrrha didn't think one of her friends were going to rise to the top of their bracket.

Am I scared of hurting them… of hurting Ren?

It was a legitimate question to Pyrrha; she didn't want to have her opponent be someone she knew, one of her friends. Pyrrha had fought her teammates and team RWBY before; after all they had the same sparring class. But in the sparring room, Pyrrha was Pyrrha Nikos not Pyrrha "Invincible Girl" Nikos. If she was truthful, Pyrrha felt like fighting in the arena changed her, made her more brutal. More willing to hurt someone to live up to her fame, to keep her streak of victories.

As much as Pyrrha was scared of hurting one of her friends, she was even more terrified of them seeing who the Invincible Girl really was, seeing the brutal extremes to which she'd go to take down her opponent. Not just having them see Pyrrha as some kind of personified form of a champion but as the creature would win at all costs, an ugly creature, a creature who wanted to feed off the distant praise and support the audience gave her.

Sun had already seen that side of the Invincible Girl, and the look he gave clearly told Pyrrha what he thought.

He was horrified of it.

A small nugget of a line flashed into Pyrrha's head, something that she had heard Ruby say earlier, when the girl had noticed Pyrrha's distress;

Even though classes had been cancelled due to the week-long festival, Pyrrha found herself in the library studying. Well, more accurately, helping Ruby study. It had been more than a month, almost two, since she had started to help the team leader with schoolwork. Today it was math. Given how much time Ruby put into working on Crescent Rose, she was surprisingly bad at numbers, Pyrrha noted.

"Are you excited for the final round?"

The question took Pyrrha by surprise. "A little, perhaps."

"Aww, how come only a little?" Ruby seemed upset. Is it because she wanted to make it this far instead of me?

"I'll have to fight Ren, that's why." Pyrrha stated matter-of-factly.

Ruby tilted her head. "So? I had to fight Yang and I still had fun…" That's right… Pyrrha hadn't seen the match, only a recording of it after it finished seeing as she was set to fight in the next match.

With Pyrrha not responding, Ruby continued. "I mean, it's just like sparring right?" Pyrrha gave a noncommittal shrug. "Except with prizes if you win!" Once more Pyrrha gave a slight shrug causing Ruby to give Pyrrha a funny look. "I thought you liked sparring…?"

The taller girl let out a sigh. "I do, it's just…it's just different." Tapping the table in annoyance as she tried to think of a better way to explain it, Pyrrha tried a different approach. "When sparring, you can win or lose, and either is fine, right?" Ruby gave a nod. "But if I lose, I let other people down. It's not fun anymore, but I have to do it. I should do it."

Pyrrha's eyes were drawn to the math assignment laid in front of them. "It used to be fun, to fight in tournaments. Now it's anything but that. It's a job." Pyrrha's shoulders slumped. ""it's... it's just what I do now."

Ruby was quiet as Pyrrha waited for a response.

"You should just be yourself and have fun!"

The idea of having fun in the tournament matches was… different. It felt like an alien concept, one to which Pyrrha had not considered in a long time. Tournaments are about winning, are they not? One does not go to a tournament to have fun, they go there to win. Pyrrha's brow furrowed. Why did start to go to tournaments anyways?

It'd been a long time since Pyrrha had considered them anything other than an obligation; after the first tournament, she had been personally invited to compete in each one. So why did I compete in the first one?

As much as Pyrrha wracked her brain, she couldn't remember the reason. Instead, the other half of Ruby's advice popped into her mind.

Just be myself?

Pyrrha couldn't help but snort at that phrase. Just be myself? That was a novel notion. I am anything but myself when I fight. Sun's face flashed back into Pyrrha's mind. Unless that means I'm some kind of horrifying monster. However, that raised a question in Pyrrha's head.

Just who am I?

It was a surprisingly valid question; am I Pyrrha Nikos, partner to Jaune Arc, member of team JNPR or am I the Invincible Girl, Pyrrha Nikos, the breaker of tournament records?

The short answer, of course, was that Pyrrha was both of them. No matter how Pyrrha turned it in her head, she was both of those. Maybe it'd be more accurate to say they are both components of me? On the other hand… I didn't use to be the Invincible Girl, but I've always been Pyrrha. Pyrrha's eyes widened as she continued down that line of thought.

Does that mean I am becoming the Invincible Girl?

The sound of footsteps jolted Pyrrha from her thoughts, a very official man with a pass marked "Security" walked in and motioned to her.

The wait was over.

As Pyrrha stood in the entryway, she could hear the crowd. No that's, not accurate, more like I can feel them. The din of the thousands of people rumbled in the circular stadium above her as Pyrrha made her way to the arena itself. Even the magnified voice of the announcer shook the the walls of the arena.

"Ladies and Gentlemen!" A pause as the crowd's chatter dimmed slightly. "It is my honour to present the finalists for the Vytal Tournament's First Year combatants! Please welcome Mr. Lie Ren aaaaand…. Miss Pyrrha Nikos!"

A smattering amount of applause for Ren before an overwhelming roar of cheering erupted in the audience when Pyrrha herself was announced. The official spoke to Pyrrha, words drowned out by the clammer, before gesturing her to the entrance. It was time.

Walking out into the arena, bright light filled Pyrrha's vision as the spotlights and the flashes of cameras going off all turned toward her. Blinded as she was from the flood of light, she still knew where she needed to go, striding forward. No longer muffled by the concrete tunnel, sounds became distinct. Almost overwhelming support for her, aside from the literal loudest voice ringing out in the crowd. I don't think Nora can even make pancakes let alone that many… we'll find out if I lose…

Giving small waves to the crowd on either side, Pyrrha stopped at the appointed spot and waited as the announcer went on and on about the fighters. Something Pyrrha was well-versed in tuning out, not only tuning out the announcer's pre-match spiel but the crowd, so she could focus. Except there was one thing she couldn't drown out.

You should just be yourself and have fun!

How am I supposed to have fun? I'm supposed to win! She eyed the unreadable mask that was her opponent's face. How am I supposed to be myself and fight my own teammate? The thought was absurd; I don't want to fight Ren as the Invincible Girl, I doubt he'd even consider me a friend afterwards.

"Begin!"

The word echoed through the stadium, the crowd going silent, their breath held in anticipation. Yet for Pyrrha, the norm did not happen. Her usual singular focus was not there; something was disrupting Pyrrha's focus. Instead of time slowing to a crawl, it sped up as Ren approached her. Bullets spewed from StormFlower at Pyrrha, causing her to brace Akouo against her shoulder. Mecha-shifting Milo into its rifle form, Pyrrha started to fire rapidly at Ren as the distance closed. The gunfire ended, as a flurry of blows erupted from Ren as he closed into range with Pyrrha.

StormFlower became green streaks in Pyrrha's vision as Ren's arms turned into blurs, the blades from the handguns ricocheting off Akouo while Pyrrha tried to find an opening to strike back with Milo. Ren started to circle around Pyrrha, trying to find some opening for his weapons to hit.

The silence that usually fell over the crowd broke into small whisperings as Pyrrha turtled, staying defensive. Ren made probing attacks and feints,since Pyrrha gave little in the way of counter attacks. Milo occasionally peeping out from behind to the shield, only for Ren to dodge it. If I start to go all out, I won't be Pyrrha Nikos anymore… I'll be the Invincible Girl. I won't be myself. Pyrrha was being pushed back as the fight dragged on, holding up Akouo to stave off Ren's attacks.

I can't just stand here taking hits, I need to do something! Pyrrha shifted Milo into its spear form and jabbed from above Akouo. Ren took it in stride, sidestepping before swiping at it with StormFlower. Milo bounced backwards, almost leaving Pyrrha's grip until she used her semblance to settle into her hand. This time, she brought it in for a sweep. Ren jumped over the sweep, going over Pyrrha's head, firing StormFlower as Akouo tracked him. Ren landed before backing away, the melee reached a brief respite amidst the whispers in the crowd of the 'Invincible Girl on the run.'

Just what exactly is the Invincible Girl? In all of her fear of it, Pyrrha had never just stopped to define who or rather exactly it was. The simple answer was it was a moniker given to Pyrrha after a string of unbroken defeats, how she seemed to be Invincible. In truth, Pyrrha had a massive advantage in tournament fights, given that everyone wore metal and, after all, polarity was her semblance. It came from her unerring ability of hers to never lose.

Yet during one of her earlier tournaments, it had taken on a new connotation; the new celebrity quality Pyrrha had achieved. It symbolized how she was different from the rest of her classmates at Sanctum. To others, being the Invincible Girl was an honor, an amazing achievement in record breaking, but to Pyrrha, it was a stigma, a mark of how she was outside the rest, why she couldn't keep her old friends.

It was why when the third and fourth Mistral Regional tournaments rolled around, all that Pyrrha had left was her fame, and it was something that had never left her. Something she'd lose if Pyrrha lost against Ren.

"You don't have to hold back just because we are teammates"

His was a very quiet voice - Pyrrha could barely distinguish from the crowd - but the tone of it was clear, standing in stark contrast to his normal calm voice. Ren sounded upset.

"Why would I be holding back?!" Ren stared at her, not showing a hint of believing her. "I'm not holding back!"

"Yes you are."

The words cut into Pyrrha. But I'm not! If I hold back, I lose the one thing that has never left me… I'll lose my fame.

This time taking the initiative, Pyrrha sprinted towards Ren, pulling back her left arm before flinging Akouo at Ren. The spinning disc narrowly missed Ren as the hunter ducked under it. Milo lashed out at Ren, and the spear whistled by as it went in a downward diagonal line. Ren's dodge was not fast enough, and the gold-red spear clipped Ren, pushing him to the left. Ren went with the motion, turning it into a roll, firing StormFlower at Pyrrha.

Without the protection of Akouo, Pyrrha dove out of the way, bullets bouncing off her aura as she altered Akouo's return path, not to herself but directly at the source of the gunfire. Akouo slammed into Ren's unprotected side, the metal disc's edge cutting into his aura before returning to Pyrrha. Ren sprang backwards, backpedaling, the fight turning into a running gunfight.

The old focus of the matches came back to Pyrrha as time started to slow, as she started to become more and more aggressive. I can't lose, I won't have even my fame left! Pyrrha started to push Ren back towards the center of the arena. The whispering in the crowd dimming as she pushed and pushed him further and further back, resolute in not losing the one thing that never abandoned her; her fame. Even when her friends had become fans, when they had put her on a pedestal, the Invincible Girl was always there to welcome her.

Even at Beacon, when Pyrrha had befriended Jaune, he too eventually pushed her aside, not for her fame but for another. Another rejection. I might have a team, but Ren and Nora always have each other, Jaune has Velvet, so who do I have? No one that's who!

Pyrrha's attack faltered for a moment as she noticed a familiar red themed figure waving, yelling her name in the crowd, no that's not right, I do have a friend. I have Ruby.

Ren took the break in attack to wheel around, charging directly towards Pyrrha. Milo and Akouo clashed with StormFlower as Ren's quick strikes put Pyrrha on the defensive again. Ren started to push her back until they were both in the center of the arena.

Flashes of the time Pyrrha and Ruby had spent since Velvet and Jaune had gotten together started to filter through Pyrrha's head as she traded blows with Ren. The night when the younger girl hugged Pyrrha as she cried in the training room. Ruby has been there for me when I needed it. The times Ruby had dragged Pyrrha off to play video games or sent doodles at her in class. She tried to cheer me up when I was down. Or served as a sparring partner when Pyrrha needed to let out some tension.

Ruby had been there for Pyrrha when she needed someone, especially when Pyrrha didn't ask for anyone. A new question emerged in Pyrrha's head as she traded blows with Ren.

Why does Ruby help me? Pyrrha mulled over it. It's not like we are partners or even on the same team; in fact, she is more friends with Jaune if anything… is it because she is just that nice to me? Or is Ruby a fan? Pyrrha paled at the thought before trying her hardest to banish it from her mind. No, no, no, Ruby isn't a fan. If she was, I doubt someone as… excitable as her would be able to control herself. Pyrrha had dealt with people before who were fans, they had a tendency to continuously bring up her records, to bring up the Invincible Girl.

The exchange of blows came to an end as Pyrrha feinted with Milo, Ren going for a dodge ended up getting slammed instead by Akouo. Ren's weapons went flying leaving him unarmed in the face of a fully armed Pyrrha. Going in for the win, jabbed at Ren with Milo only to meet resistance. Purple aura pooled in his hands as Pyrrha pushed hard at it.

No, Ruby just treats me like she treats everyone else, sort of how Jaune is… how the rest of team JNPR is. Pyrrha gave a small smile, she really doesn't care about my fame, and the fact that she told me to have fun instead of win should be evidence enough.

A contest of Pyrrha's aura versus Ren's aura started; Pyrrha's adding semblance adding power into Milo's thrust while Ren's halted its progress. Straining against Ren, Pyrrha's vision started to become murky as sweat fell into her eyes from her brow.

Why should I win? Pyrrha contemplated as she stared into Ren's eyes. Because I am the Invincible Girl and its my duty or something? Pyrrha shook her head at the thought. I'm not just solely that, so what else is there?The answer came to Pyrrha; Ruby. She knew Ruby was cheering for her in the stands. I should do it for Ruby. With renewed vigor, Pyrrha pushed forward on Milo.

Finally someone started to falter, Ren was pushed back, further and further as the purple light flickered before it went out. Without Ren's aura to stop her, Pyrrha shot forward, Milo cutting through the last of Ren's aura.

BUZZZZZ!

Pyrrha had won. Yet what had made her victory all the better was a realization.

Ruby really just sees me for me doesn't she?

It had taken a while before Pyrrha could finally take her leave from the throng of reporters and fans who wanted to congratulate her on the victory. They had flocked to her after the match, but as the day had wore on and slowly became night, the cultural festival in the city started to draw them away. In fact, Pyrrha wanted to go to it as well, but first she needed to find someone - Ruby.

Pyrrha figured that the girl might be with her own team at the festival by now; after all, the tournament had ended hours ago, so why would she stick around the stadium? As such, Pyrrha was pleasantly surprised when she ran into Ruby in the hall leaving the arena. However, she had literally ran into Ruby, knocking the smaller girl down.

"Sorry!" Pyrrha started to reach down to help Ruby up.

"It's okay! I'm fine." Ruby took the hand, pulling herself up from the ground. Ruby's eyes focused on Pyrrha after a moment. "Oh! Hiya, Pyrrha!"

"Hello!" Pyrrha gave a cheerful wave.

"That was really, really cool when you and Ren were fighting over Milo!" Ruby blurted out. "Like, you broke through Ren's aura! You've got to be super strong to do that!" Ruby's head tilted. "I thought you'd be celebrating at the festival already?"

"Ah. Well, I had fans come up to me and they held me up for a bit…" Pyrrha looked around, there doesn't seem to be anyone else from our teams here. "Where is everyone else?"

Ruby scratched her head. "I think they headed back to Beacon before the festival? I think? I was kind of excited to see my uncle Qrow…" Pyrrha gave a nod to continue. "I got to show off the new upgrades to Crescent Rose to him in one of the Stadium's practice rooms." Ruby had a giant goofy smile plastered on her face. "It was awesome!"

"That sounds grand! Is he still here?"

Ruby shook her head. "Nope, he had to get back to Signal..." Ruby looked around, before looking back at Pyrrha. "What time is it? I forgot my scroll and I can't find a clock anywhere…"

"Oh!" Pyrrha pulled out her scroll. "It's… 7:42pm."

The goofy grin that Ruby was sporting dropped, morphing into a panicked expression. "Crap! The weapon show started ten minutes ago!" A trail of rose petals appeared leading to another corridor as Ruby disappeared.

Pyrrha's smile faded as the rose petals did. I was hoping we could go together or something, Pyrrha's shoulder slumped, this is going to be just like the last tournament too, isn't it?

"Hey!" Ruby's head popped out from around the corner the rose petals had led to. "Wanna come?" Pyrrha blinked in surprise. Ruby seemed to take her expression as a no given how she looked rather crestfallen at the lack of immediate response. "If you don't want to come, that's fine… I bet your team is planning some kind of part- eep!"

Pyrrha didn't even let her finish before taking Ruby's hand into her own and running towards the stadium's exit, a cheeky smile gracing her face.

"I think it's this way!"

Editor: ASouthernRussian

AU: This chapter... it actively caused me to become insane. I was going to try and post this on thursday of last week but that didn't happen. Nope. I've had to deal with a computer that died for a few days, then my monitor died once I fixed it. I also got suspended from work so that's fun. Wheee.

I ended up writing most of this chapter on a tablet, which probably caused me to be sloppier then usual. I feel really bad for ASouthernRussian, the editor given what he has had to put up with this chapter. Editing it became almost its own story in my mind. (Side note: He was emotionally comprised yesterday by Auburn and I think he literally squeee'd with the ending of this chapter. All dat emotions). Probably the craziest thing was last chapter... when I posted it I lost 30 to 40 followers in a 72 hour period. This leaves me wondering if I did something bad last chapter? I would really like to know.

Combat writing was also hard. Especially since in the original draft the combat was incredibly abstracted out. I hope its at least interesting for you guys and gals.

Sorry to Averhan, I haven't even started the Skyros chapter I thought I'd put out this week.

I know that this is going slow, as many reviews have told me, but the reason is unlike other ships, I have to actually establish both Pyrrha and Ruby as spending time together and deal with the canon ship of Arkos. You can see in this chapter the beginnings of the ship now that I've dealt with the other stuff. At least I hope it seems that way.

Please, please tell me what you think; if you don't like, I would love to know why. Seriously, feedback even if negative is always appreciated.

Have a great day and thanks for reading the chapter and author's note!

Response to anon reviewers;

1st Anon review: Sheamus? Who? I was going for Gladiator reference mate XD

2nd Anon review: I love you too whoever you are and I do plan on writing more Pyrruby. I have very long term plans for this fic:P

3rd Anon review: Its sir, and you may keep yelling in your reviews, I don't mind one bit good sir or madam. Yeah, I know that feeling. Its why I decided "I love this ship but no one writes for it. Guess I should do it!" This is going to end with my second favourite ship having a story at some point to. At least some people write a few one-shots for Pyrruby but no one writes Weiss/Nora sadly.

I think I responded to everyone's reviews? If I didn't say so and I'll start to keep a checklist to be even more thorough.