Heidi watched through narrowed eyes as her first victim descended to the stage, indolent and bored by Von Bern and his theatrics. That he was trying to make a point with this faunus girl the same way he'd made a point with her was not something lost on the golden eyed girl. The idea rankled her, and not simply because it showed that Von Bern saw Heidi as no different than the students that had come before or since her. It was the idea that she'd fallen prey to a ploy he likely used every year, picking out some unfortunate student to make the butt of his joyless joke. Heidi had earned her place at the front of the line through equal parts belligerence and disinterest, after being forced to take Von Bern's class as an 'outlet for her aggression'. Aggression she'd previously focused on the abundant supply of inferior cretins she was forced to share the school with. She might have wondered what this faunus girl did to be at the head of Von Bern's queue, but the truth was that she didn't really care. What ever her perceived crime, Heidi was there for one reason, and one reason alone; To make sure she knew how small and weak she really was. And Heidi was just the person to teach her. That, in doing so, Heidi would also be doing Von Bern's dirty work, and treating this girl to the same humiliation she'd suffered herself a year prior, did precious little to trouble the hunched over huntress. Not once did it occur to her that the mousy haired sophomore who'd dealt Heidi her own embarrassment, may have been the first in line when she was a freshman too.

The faunus was a stranger, both to her and to Jackie, and not one whose appearance promised much. She was probably about average in size, maybe even a little bigger, but everyone and everything seemed small to Heidi. She carried no weapon, which made her either a dust specialist or a brawler. Heidi found herself hoping for the latter, if only to avoid being left next to naked at the end of the first fight. She carried herself with impertinent confidence, like she couldn't imagine anything strong enough to dethrone her, but Heidi had seen that very same expression many times before. Everyone thought they were strong, until they fought her. Von Bern had moved to his spot near the first layer of seating. The same spot, Heidi noted with some irritation, that he'd watched her fight from. 
"So, who am I fighting?" the faunus, Heidi had already forgotten her name, asked eagerly. Heidi was, again, irritated to note that she'd asked the same thing when she'd stood in the wolf girl's place. Gritting her teeth, her golden eyes flicked to Von Bern, and found his watery blues staring right back at her. As if he'd expected the glance. Was that a smile under his absurdity of a mustache? Surely not.
"Since the whole point of this exercise is to fight a losing battle," The old man answered, eyes dismissing Heidi's to look back at the faunus girl, "It would not benefit you to fight one, or even a number of your classmates."
Though they would do that too... Heidi knew that well enough. Von Bern had once set half the class on her, after all.
"For that reason, I have requisitioned a volunteer to help in this exercise."
Heidi grit her teeth, unwilling to let anybody present know she'd had no choice in the matter. Either she acted as Von Bern's assistant in this absurd little exercise of his, or he dropped her from his course. And, for as much as she resented the time and effort Von Bern's course demanded, it was one of the only ways she could beat people up without getting into trouble for it. Standing slowly, without waiting to be introduced, Heidi let the splinters of wood trickle out of her hand and turned to face her first opponent. She was standing at the front of the platform and off to the side, where only those seated on the extreme edge at one side of the auditorium could see her. Catching the movement, a few eyes from that section settled upon her, and Heidi briefly answered them with a gilded glare from her golden eyes. None of them knew her, but at least one shrank down in his seat.
"Allow me to introduce Heidi Clovis..." Von Bern said coolly, drawing Heidi's gaze back to the center of the room. And if Shio's off-handed reprimand had stoked a wave of heresay and gossip, Heidi's introduction inspired much the same. Shio had put another student in the infirmary, sure, but she hadn't done it to everyone who looked at her wrong. A satisfied smirk spread across Heidi's lips, glad for the respect and recognition her name afforded her. A smirk that faded the instant Von Bern opened his mouth again.
"Miss Clovis failed to stand her ground last year." The snide old fool croaked, silencing the babble in an instant. "Fortunately, her role in this exercise plays much closer to her strengths."
Heidi could have popped Von Bern's head like an egg; She could have twisted it right off his shoulders and fed him his body. That damned bastard! Slowly, his blue eyes drifted back to her's, and she once again wondered if he was smiling under his mustache.
"You may begin whenever you are ready, Miss Clovis." He said to her, and she was sure she heard a hint of mirth in his tone.
"_{Old f*cking toad.}" Heidi hissed beneath her breath. It was a wonder she didn't shout it. Probably the only reason she didn't was because that would mean admitting he'd nailed her right in front of the freshman class. Glowering, Heidi returned her gaze to the center of the room and mounted the steps towards the wolf eared faunus waiting for her. And, in so doing, she gave some much needed perspective to those watching.

Though Shio might have been above average in height, Heidi was close to a foot taller, such that she towered over every other person present in the hall. She was dressed in a form hugging red and black tank top, leaving her arms and shoulders nearly completely bare, and a pair of blue lycra shorts that ended just above her knees, and that was it. Neither shoes nor gloves, only a headband to hold her long black hair in a pony tail. Her body, on nearly complete display thanks to her clothes, was lean and powerful without being overlarge or bulky. The perfect balance of muscle and curve. She might even have been beautiful, if it hadn't been for the scowl that contorted her otherwise admirable features. She carried Orthus in one hand, the long sword safely stowed in its broad black and gold scabbard, nearly weightless in her grip. The other was empty save for some splinters of wood still clinging to her skin. She lingered at the edge of the platform for a few moments, sizing up her victim while confident that she couldn't be attacked. She wondered what trick this faunus might have under her sleeves. Brawlers and Dust users always had a trick, and it was better to try and guess it than risk embarrassment. Not that Heidi was worried about being embarrassed. Whatever tricks the faunus girl had, they wouldn't save her. Heidi had given up this platform once before, and now she was going to take it back.

Without a word, Heidi shrugged Orthus from her shoulder and, with minimal effort, plunged the scabbarded sword a hands breadth into the wooden step between her feet, a feat made all the more impressive by the fact that the metal scabbard was evidently blunt. Then, twisting the hilt and yanking the sword free, she swung the great blade skyward and let it unfold, growing wider and longer, till it resembled a gigantic carving knife cast in black iron and gold. Resting the dull edge across her shoulder, Heidi smirked and finished her ascent, stepping onto the platform with all the urgency and concern of one coming home. If cockiness and arrogance were things which could be carried and weighed, Heidi's would have been sufficient to crush the platform on which she stood and half the room alongside. She regarded Shio with such complete contempt that she didn't even step away from the platform's edge, despite how precarious it made her footing. 
"Tell you what..." She said to the faunus, her voice rich and strong and clear, like a singer's voice had been upscaled to suit her above average size. She was quite enjoying the show she was putting on for all her future opponents, and decided to make things little more dramatic for them all, just so they knew what they were getting into. 
"I'll give you one hit," Indicating 'one' with her finger, as if she were concerned her opponent might not be following, "And I won't even try to block it. What do you think?" 

Shio Kyrou

Von Bern sneered minutely as Heidi Clovis, doubtlessly one of his most challenging 'students', mounted the steps towards Shio Kyrou, a challenge in her own right where the experienced professor was concerned. This whole exercise was meant to teach some humility, as well as impart even the smallest amount of perspective into its participants. Perspective that either one would find vital in a real fight, where the violence didn't end just because one participant got tired or hurt. Heidi's rather unique capabilities had given her some strange notions about the world around her, and nothing short of actively beating those ideas out of her seemed to work, and given just how tough she was, that was a losing proposition. He'd long ago determined that it was far easier to injure the Clovis girl's ego than her physical body, and he was hopeful that her cavalier arrogance would clash with Shio's own. Both girls had likely grown up assuming no one could be stronger than they were, though they chose to show it in much different ways. In Heidi, her presumptions manifested as the fallacious assumption that she could not fail at any task, even if it directly challenged points where she was weakest. Last year's exercises had been proof enough of that. Had Heidi kept her temper in check, it was unlikely that Iris could never have forced her to give up the high ground, but her pride had been wounded and her temper had cracked, and what should have been an effortless victory had become a humiliating defeat. Shio was different in that her own pride didn't presume victory so much as it necessitated it. The faunus girl, for as strong and determined as she was, could simply not allow herself to fail. She would fight on well past the point of good sense and discretion, doing more harm than good to all parties involved, herself very much included. Her stunt with the Vitus girl had proven that. Von Bern had little doubt that Aegle's own bizarre temperament had contributed to her visit to the infirmary, but it was not her foe's inability to admit defeat that had landed her in Von Bern's classroom, but Shio's willingness to attack another student. Willingness that would hopefully be tempered by facing an opponent truly stronger and tougher than she was, in circumstances where her defeat was all but guaranteed. There doubtelessly were better ways of going about it, he'd have quickly admitted, but you work with the tools at your disposal, even if the only tool to hand is a sociopathic sledgehammer with disproportionate delusions of grandeur.

His sneer became an outright grimace as Heidi, as easily as if it were made from cardboard, drove her sword into the topmost step of the platform and transformed it into its true shape. It was a ludicrous weapon, Orthus. Nearly two meters long and as wide across as most men, it should have given Heidi the upper hand at capturing the high ground for herself, especially considering that her opponent used no weapon at all. Von Bern had trained too many brawler's to doubt their effectiveness, and Shio was an especially competent brawler at that, but her lack of reach put her at a considerable disadvantage. Any equally competent fighter in Heidi's position should have been able to ensure that Shio never so much as got in punching distance. Which was why it really shouldn't have come as any surprise to Von Bern when Heidi squandered her most singular advantage in order to stroke her own voluminous ego. It was also a classic case of Heidi being unable to see past the tip of her arrogant nose. While Von Bern entertained no illusions about whether Heidi could take a punch, even one unguarded and with Shio's titanic strength behind it, it was not simply a question of coming away unhurt. Heidi, so consumed by her own high opinion of herself, had failed to recognize just how precarious her position was, and it shocked no one, least of all Von Bern, when Shio fed her a fistful of humble pie.

---

Heidi sneered openly at the small faunus, as self assured as if she were standing against a child who had never so much as seen a fight. In a way, that was precisely how she viewed this wild, unthreatening waif of a girl, as just another fragile weakling in a world practically full of them. She was cool and relaxed, even as her small foe bristled with every indication of the violence that was soon to follow, and didn't even flinch when the flames first erupted around her. Without knowing exactly what the runt's capabilities were, Heidi had still half expected something to do with aura or semblance would follow her gracious offer for one free hit. It was a prospect that Heidi even welcomed, if only because it would demonstrate just how far below her Shio was. In fact, Heidi only sneered all the wider as the heat buffeted across her, hot enough that it immolated the occasional desultory thread, yet not hot enough to even make her sweat. As far as semblances went, this one was particular pathetic, and could have been outdone by a handful of red dust and half the energy she was pumping into the air around her. Heidi could have done more to burn someone by rubbing her hands together really fast and then slapping them in the face. Just what was Von Bern playing at, making such a weakling her first opponent? The sneer stopped growing as the faunus girl began walking towards her, however, and the slightest kernel of reticence insinuated itself into Heidi's steadfast heart. There was some impact to those steps which she did not fail to notice, suggesting to her that there was more to the faunus girl's flaming aura than it appeared. Before she could puzzle out precisely what, however, Shio was lunging towards her. For those watching, it would have like the faunus girl had closed the final meter without actually bothering to move through it, simply appearing in front of Heidi. Heidi was probably the only person in the whole room who had actually been able to follow the movement, and thus the only student present whose expression did not subsequently light up with surprise. Instead, Heidi's expression managed to harden into one of considerable irritation. Her heightened senses and reaction speed did not let her parse out all the necessary details in the fractions of a second that made up Shio's attack, but they told her enough. Had it all been a ploy, right then would have been the time for Heidi to act. Had she sidestepped the incoming punch, she could have slapped the over extended faunus in the back of the head and right out of the arena. She almost did it too, stopped only the surprising speed of Shio's attack and her own indecision and unwillingness to compromise her efforts to humiliate her smaller opponent. Before she had quite decided if it was worth abandoning her original plan for an easy victory, Shio's fist had already made its unobstructed connection with Heidi's stomach, and it was all a matter of physics after that...

Like a sack of concrete shot out of a cannon, Heidi was lifted from her feet and propelled back, flying almost parallel with the ground, and into the decorative wooden railing that separated the first level of gallery seating from the central pit where the platform stood. It wasn't a considerable distance, only a matter of a couple of meters, but Heidi's impact still buckled the banister as if it had been struck by an axe. A united gasp rose up among the audience, punctuated by a giddy 'Woo!' from the back row, as Heidi's atlesian frame slipped towards the floor. Even the least attentive and sensitive among them could tell that Heidi, uncharacteristically true to her word, had done nothing to block Shio's punch, not even with her aura. Yet Heidi didn't fall to the ground in a heap, as the majority half expected her to. Rather, she stumbled free of the wall with a look of mild disbelief on her face, rather than any overt expression of pain. Her free hand coursed across her stomach and felt the scorch marks, left by Shio's fist in the form fitting synthetic fabric. Then, pulling a fist and straightening back to her full height with only the slightest suggestion of stiffness, Heidi's golden eyes found the flaming faunus, all hints of amusement extinguished from her tanned countenance. Wordlessly, she mounted the steps towards Shio for the second time that morning, dragging her sword across the ground with her. There remained no trace of the swagger and confidence that was present during her first ascent, and even her scowl had vanished, supplanted by a look of wide eyed rage. Before she'd even made it to the top step, Heidi lashed out with her sword, taking a swing right at Shio's head. It was a dumb and brutal sort of swing, the sort that required absolutely no technique and telegraphed itself as much as a week in advance, the sort that even a novice could duck beneath with little regard. What made it threatening, however, was the complete lack of effort it seemed to require. It was one thing to carry a man sized piece of steel like it weighed less than nothing, but swinging it just as indifferently, let alone one-handed, was something else altogether.
"Little runt!" Heidi hissed between her gritted teeth, her golden eyes wild with fury, as she brought Orthus around to slash back the way she'd just swung. A dull ache throbbed where she'd been struck, protesting each swing, but it only made Heidi swing that much harder. Her temper was a flimsy thing, and the shock of being thrown across the room, accompanied by her disbelief that it had actually hurt, had shattered it like cheap glass.

Shio Kyrou