Sitting on the raised bleachers was always interesting. The feeling of the crowd and the contestants always made for an experience and the chance to watch other people fight was fun. Here in Beacon Academy, there were two locked in combat. The room was darkened to an almost black, except for the stage in the center. Even then, there were still bright flashes lighting up the room, as weapons and dust were used. Two people locked in motion, practicing the complex dance called combat. It was dueling class, and my favorite time of the week. Once a week at Beacon Academy there was a class dedicated to dueling and today it was one on one.
The circular arena was set in the center of the large room a few yards away from the raised bleachers which curved to surround the stage. There were many people in the room but one couldn't tell that just at first glance. Along the bleachers sat a class of about 32 students with some people from other schools scattered here or there and two students in the arena. This was a big class with a mix of upper and lower division students. Currently, the class was intensely invested in the fight going on in front of them. Many were silent, watching and trying to learn from the two in front of them, only breaking their silence to either applaud a particularly good move or to make a sound of discomfort at seeing something painful. But like any crowd there were those that were highly expressive. In particular, one monkey faunus seemed to be running his own commentary with the amount of noise coming out of his mouth. Laughing at his quips was a blue haired boy sitting right next to him. They weren't the only ones though. About halfway down the bleachers was a team known as AALE and they seemed to be particularly expressive about the match going on right in front of them.
Apparently one of them had demanded a rematch with one of the other students. Currently AALE's teammate was in the arena and was having a rough time. The match had been an anticipated one with lots of bets going around, all under the table of course. This member of AALE was known for making a comeback and bets were in his favor, if only slightly. Though today was not one of those days. He was doing alright so far with his aura not dropping in the first minute, unlike last time. There was lot of mention of this kids semblance, he's able to mimic others. The two combatants were in the center of the rink with fists flying. The poor guy was getting destroyed by his opponent, a blond girl with a fiery temper and shotgun gauntlets. There was a lot of fiery red explosions coming from the girl as she laid punch after punch into the guy's chest. The constant sound of Ca-chink bang bang bang! Ca-chink bang! filled the room as the the faces of the spectators grimaced in pain as she lifted him higher and higher off the ground with punches that were almost too fast to count.
Above the fighters were two holographic banners that displayed their name and aura level. The one on the right had a picture of the girl and above it said "Yang Xiao Long". Under the profile there was a green bar. To the left was a similar banner with the name "Andrew Aruna" shown above his profile. Though, slowly as if there was an invisible stone mason chipping away at the bar, Andrew's aura was being whittled down into the red.
"Ha! I got yo-"
Andrew's shout was cut short as a fist slammed into his jaw. A collective intake of breath was heard as he went flying past the holographic banner into the ceiling.
"You've got who now?" Yang shouted after him. Smirking, she put her gauntlet wrapped hands on her hips and stared at the human shaped crater in the ceiling.
"Uh-oh" she said as she stepped back.
"Aaaaaa!" Was all that was heard as Andrew came back down and smashed into the ground. Stepping up to the limp body on the ground Yang peered down at Andrew. The crowd was silent, not that she could hear them any way. Even the monkey faunus had stopped talking and looked down at the two, waiting for something to happen with a raised eyebrow. Some people looked over at the Huntswoman that oversees the dueling practices. Professor Glynda Goodwitch stood to the side of the stage with her face in the palm of her hand. She was an intimidating woman, at 6'5" tall with a scrutinizing gaze that made you feel like you were always being tested. Taking her hand off her face Glynda made a note on her scroll, but otherwise made no action. Laughter could be heard in the silent room. Surprisingly it was coming from the seemingly lifeless body that was Andrew. Lifting up one fist he was holding a few locks of bright yellow hair.
"Got you." He said with a smirk.
A small gasp was heard from a little red hooded girl as a girl sitting next to her with a black bow on her head put her face into her palm.
"He's done it now." She muttered. Looks of confusion and interest emerged on the faces of those who were close enough to hear her quip or had faunus enhanced hearing. One of team AALE's members heard the girl with the bow's comment and said "Oh child. You done messed up now." As she shook her ram horned head.
In a very angry fashion, Yang literally exploded. That drew yelps of surprise from several of the onlookers in the crowd. Jumping backwards, Andrew had a very amusing face of surprise. He was about to say something when Yang moved faster than she had before and swiftly uppercut him. Quickly turning, she pulled her arm back and threw a flaming right hook to his chest. With a rather large bang as the shotgun gauntlet was fired, Andrew was flung backwards in a rather violent fashion. Bouncing once he flew to other side of the arena where he stopped all of sudden in mid air and was gently dropped to the ground. There was some confusion on the faces of some of the first year students and students from other schools at that. Though some looks of revelation appeared on some faces as Prof. Goodwitch walked into the arena, riding crop in hand as the rest of the room lit up and said "That's the match. Now let this be a lesson to you all about picking your battles carefully."
Then turning to Yang, who was still on fire, said "Well done, but let's work on controlling your temper. Now put yourself out and bring Mr. Aruna to the infirmary, seeing as how you put him in there."
With a quick flurry of her riding crop Glynda attached it to her boot and pulled out her scroll as the room began to fix itself from the recent battle.
"The match goes to Ms. Xiao Long. Do we have any volunteers to follow up this display?"
Looking the room once over she glanced down to read her scroll. In that split second of silence the room began to murmur. Lien began to pass hands under tables, as some students told their crestfallen friends "I told you so."
In good spirits, two of my teammates who were sitting behind me passed a couple of lien between each other.
"Seriously? You two were betting on the match?" I said, turning so I could face my friends. Sheepishly my team leader scrunched up and said "Sorry" in a small voice. Uncovering one of my ears from my headphones I looked up at her with a raised eyebrow. She, like everyone else in the room, was dressed in combat attire. Her long cherry blossom pink hair cascaded down onto her light colored plate armor. Underneath she was wearing a navy blue form fitting shirt and a high-low skirt held up by a belt with high caliber rounds attached on the left side. Her name was Brook Goldenrod. Propped up next to her was her was the Goldenrod family's weapon design of choice. A large light grey rectangular case with shoulder straps. I thought that Brook's weapon was awesome and always looked huge next to the small girl. Though, that small girl was turning pinker than her hair with embarrassment at the moment. You couldn't get angry at Brook, she was too cute, but the boy sitting next to her on the other hand...
"Rowen, don't drag Brook into your mischief." I said with a roll of my eyes.
"What?" said Rowen innocently.
Rowen Harbinger was a red haired cat faunus with cyan eyes. His cat ears twitched like they did every time he was amused.
"Aww, now don't pick on Brook" He said, with a smile on his face. Obviously enjoying the discomfort she was in. A small meowing has heard as a black kitten woke up from its nap on his lap.
"Hey there little buddy" Rowen said as the went to scratch the kit on the head. Rowen was wearing a pink collared shirt with a black vest over it. The vest cut off on the left side at the chest and made way for a column of belts. There was a black full arm gauntlet on his right arm. Though you'd never guess it without seeing him fight, that was his weapon. As he went down to scratch the kitten the armor on his hand retreated into his arm guard like sand falling in reverse. It was a mesmerising effect, we had been teammates for a while now and I still never got over his weapon.
A person sitting next to him looked over at Rowen when they heard the meowing. A subsequent series of high pitched squeals about how cute it was started as they saw the cat. Turning back towards the rink I saw who had been selected as the next fight, the two banners now had different faces emblazoned on them. The one on the right was a serious looking girl with pink hair and a claw scar on the left side of her face. She was the older sister of my team leader. Above her picture was the name Isabella Goldenrod. The person on the left I didn't recognize a first. He was a fit looking guy, his black hair was long and in a ponytail. There was a short bread on his face and sharp blue eyes set above it. This was a match between upperclassmen. I leaned forward in interest. The upperclassmen usually weren't in the same dueling class as the lower years. The school usually kept them separated because of classes but today was special, today there where interchange students in the crowd. There was no duels between upper and lower students because of experience levels but there were quite a few inter-school matches. With the tournament coming up, a lot of people were trying to check out the competition, myself included. There were still a few teams that I have never seen in combat and was hoping to see some of them in action.
"Isn't that your sister?" a blonde haired boy in a black hoodie asked as he leaned over from the row above ours.
"Yes, that's my big sis." Brook replied to the boy.
"Don't get any ideas, Jaune. Isabella would shoot you down before you finished the first pick up line." Rowen quipped in, ears twitching. He and Jaune had met during the first couple of months of school, both being lovable idiots, in my opinion, became friends and liked to joke with each other.
"Aww c'mon don't be like that."
"Hey just looking out for a friend, but seriously don't try it." Leaning in closer to Jaune, Rowen asked " So, how team JNPR doing?"
"Not bad. We've been practising a lot of team maneuvers lately. Actually! I've got a funny story about last practice." He was cut off by a high pitched squeal.
"Ooh, stories! Is this about last practice? I bet it's about last practice, last practice was sooo funny! Are we talking about last practice? I think we are..."
I turned around as both boys said "Nora!".
An armored, pink haired girl walked onto the arena carrying a long rectangular case. As the her competitor strided out I looked up at the banner again. Skeld Conláed was the name emblazoned above his picture. As he strode out he pulled off his hood and shook the cape that covered his left arm behind him. They both stopped at the inner edges of the rink and stood there studying each other. Isabella set the case down in front of her with her hands resting on top as if it was a sword that she had stabbed into the ground. The room had once again grown quiet nobody was talking waiting for the first move to be made. Finished with sizing her up, Skeld rushed forward a hand on the blade that rested at his side. Narrowing her eyes, Isabella dropped down into a kneeling position and lifted her case onto her shoulder. Quickly, midway into being swung onto a shoulder, the case transformed from a rectangle into a long square with four large holes appearing on the end. Aiming in under a heartbeat Isabella pulled the trigger to the rocket launcher. With a loud foomp a rocket flew out of the barrel and towards Skeld. Not even batting an eye Skeld stopped and lifted his sword. With a quick tug he pulled his sword halfway out of its scabbard as the rocket drew up to him. There was a collective "Woah" from the crowd as the rocket was cut cleanly in half by its own momentum. Before the two pieces had even hit the ground the sword was fully back in its sheath and Skeld was running towards Isabella again. Again the trigger was pulled, this time it's was multiple. A flurry of rockets flew towards Skeld as he ran. Stopping once again Skeld drew his sword, fully this time, and began to cut rockets in a fluid manner. Explosion after explosion lit up the room right behind him. The cape on Skelds arm glowed with dust that had been imbued into it, it was a golden brass colored glow. A girl dressed in white gave a little start at the sight of the glowing cape.
For Skeld the world slowed down, everyone else saw him speed up. Methodically he began to move forward, dodging and slicing. Rising up, Isabella swung her rocket launcher down off her shoulder. Mid way down the weapon turned back into the case and came to rest by her side. Lunging forward Isabella thrust her weapon in an underhand jab at the man speeding towards her. With a booming crash the two collided. There was a shockwave that emanated between the two, chunks of the stage flew up around them. With a spinning motion Isabella swung her case round her to smash Skeld in the side. Risking his arm, Skeld threw up his aura on his left side to block the blow. Simultaneously thrusting his sword with a quick flurry of jabs towards Isabella's head. Clipping her on the cheek, he was thrown sideways at the force of the impact of the case on his left side. Landing off balance Skeld rolled on his shoulder into a crouched kneeling position. With a smirk Skeld stood up, Isabella raised an eyebrow at that, suddenly realizing that there was something on her cheek.
"What's that?" The monkey tailed faunus said aloud to no one in particular. There was a click as Skeld sheathed his sword, and suddenly the residue on Isabella lit up. With a bright flash of red, the dust residue exploded, throwing her back. there were many surprised looks and starts came from the first years that have never seen Skeld's weapon, Epimetheus, in action. Being one of them I jumped at the sudden bright light and loud noise. Rowen's cat Limit, who was also startled, jumped off the girls lap and ran back into his arms. Glaring, Isabella jumped back to her feet. Slamming her case into the ground, she stood there, silently challenging Skeld to try that again. Once more Skeld ran forward unsheathing Epimetheus and aiming the blade towards the pink haired girl standing in front of him. Pressing a trigger Skeld fired the blade at Isabella. As the dust imbued blade flew towards Isabella she stepped forward swinging the case to the left, hitting the blade. Clicking the sword handle back to the sheath, another blade attached itself to the hilt. Drawing Epimetheus out of its sheath once again, Skeld kept the blade low, preparing for an upwards attack. As he drew closer Isabella stepped back into a defensive stance. With a yell Skeld swung upwards, sidestepping to the left, Isabella dodged the first swing. In a fluid motion Skeld spun around spinning his sword into an underhand grip and tried to stab from behind. Isabella kicked her case up into the air blocking the sword, turning she switched feet and threw a roundhouse kick at Skeld. Parrying her kick, he began to swipe at the armored girl. The duo traded blows, the sword making the first move, the girl would dodge and retaliate, he would parry and the dance that was combat would continue. This was turning out to be a very vocal fight, not by the two in the arena, but by the crowd. Most of the first years haven't seen that many upperclassmen fight and were enjoying the experience. I removed one ear from my headphones to better listen to the melody that each danced to when they fight. My semblance lets me see, hear, and feel the flow and rhythm of things and the two upperclassmen were playing a beautiful melody together. As I sat there, I watched Isabella as she danced to a low tune with a solid beat never faltering or wavering, though I could catch hints of a flurry of quick strings waiting for their piece to start playing. Skeld danced to fast, sweeping melody with break down beats. Knocking Skeld back, Isabella returned to her customary stance, case held in front of her. The sides of her case opened like a fan to reveal six swords, a seventh one popped out of the top. Drawing one from both sides Isabella ran towards Skeld, sword in either hand. Suddenly on the offensive, Isabella's melody changed, now she danced to a stringendo beat that grew into a stretto of quick notes played on strings. Like the stretto, Isabella drew closer, her attacks becoming tighter and denser till her arms were a blur.
"Whoa, your sis is pretty good" I overheard Jaune say to Brook. Who in turn, turned pink again and said thanks in a small voice.
"This will be over soon" I said to no one in particular.
"What? How can you tell?"
"Right now Isabella's in a stretto, which are usually at the end of a fugue, seeing how she's using two blades in a contrapuntal melody, she seems to be in one, by the sound of it. Knowing that, I assume that she is making a final push. Trying to end the match."
" ...I beg your pardon?"
"You get used to it Jaune." said Rowen. "I usually just nod along"
"Hey!" I said.
Flashes of dust and sparks flew from the three swords as they clashed. Skeld now on the defensive was moving in a quick fluid motion blocking the two blades, slowly stepping backwards towards the edge of the arena. Isabella was constantly moving forward, her arms a blur, pressing Skeld back and slowly making progress on his aura. Isabella wasn't going let him resheath his sword, and by doing so, stopping him from activating his dust. With a yell, Skeld managed to knock one of Isabellas swords out of her hand with a kick. Taking the advantage, he jumped back out of her reach. Narrowing her eyes, Isabella moved back to her case which was still standing where she left it. Lifting her arm, Isabella threw her remaining sword at the man resheathing his own blade. The two swords, which had now been covered in dust, exploded in bright red flames. Drawing two new swords from her case, Isabella sprinted towards the man on the other side of the rink. Unsheathing his sword, he once again aimed at the pink haired girl, firing his blade as she drew close. Prepared for this, Isabella swung at the blade with her own, hitting it back at him as he returned his hilt to the sheath. There was a click as the blade glowed orange. The explosion lit up the room and engulfed Skeld, whose aura dropped into the red. A loud buzzer was sound and Glynda approached the rink.
"Oh come on!" Someone shouted from a group of people as one of them stood and threw their hands up in the air. Apparently this wasn't the first time this had happened. Shooting a quelling look at the group Prof. Goodwitch cleared her throat and said. "An excellent display, the match will go to Ms. Goldenrod. Now may I remind all of you in light of the tournament coming up, that in a tournament-styled duel an official will be able to end a match when a contestants aura drops to the red."
A smoky and blackened Skeld walked past, followed soon after by Isabella who had finished collecting her swords. Talking started to break out as it always did between duels. As Isabella walked back to her seat there was murmuring about her fight.
"Ms. Victoria, it's been awhile since your last match, why don't you take the next one?"
My sister and I looked at each other, "Which one of us?"
"Sky. As I recall your sister has dueled recently."
"Oh." I replied.
"And Mr. Argento, looks like you are due for another match."
At the mention of his name, Austin Argento looked up in surprise. Standing up, we both made our way to the locker rooms to collect our gear and ready up for the duel.
The ram horned faunus girl said "Try not to die this time." As Austin passed her seat.
"I'll do my best " he replied jokingly
Walking out of the locker room to the arena I watched as the banners above changed to display my face and name. There was laughter as my opponent tripped and fell on the doorway. His ram horned teammate just sat there with her head in her palm. Smiling, I hefted my weapon into a more comfortable position in my arms as I watched Austin get up from the bottom of the arched door. Taking the fall in stride, Austin dusted himself off. Chains clinked as he walked towards the arena between us. Austin was dressed in a hooded cloak over a sleeveless vest, slim pants tucked into what looked like riding boots. Chains were wrapped around his waist and ended in four hooks that connected to four perforated daggers. His weapon, Stridens Mortem, was four dust imbued daggers each being customized to act as a wind instruments similar to flutes. The world dimmed and grew quiet as I walked to the opposite side of the arena. Prof. Goodwitch stood off to the side and was obscured by shadows as the room grew darker. Adjusting my headphones, I turned up the volume. Right now a swing beat was playing as grooving bass line lead the song at the same time it acted as a sporting foundation with the drums. Supporting trumpets and piano accompanied the beat as an electric guitar lightly played riffs patiently waiting for its turn to take the spotlight.
"Let's dance." I said, as my weapon's sides popped open. Gerücht was a powerful purple and gray crossbow with a chainsaw chain drawstring. Making my first move on the upbeat, I lifted my crossbow and placed the hooded figure before me in my crosshairs. A pull of the trigger and a large bolt was fired, flying directly for Austin. Pulling two daggers from their sheaths he dodged to the right, throwing the dagger in his right hand. Using his momentum, Austin twisted in mid air and whipped his other dagger towards me. The first dagger was misting icy cold as blue dust, infused within it, glowed. Running forward I did a power slide as I lined up my next shot, there was a brush of cold as the misting dagger flew over me shortly followed by its companion. With a swift pull of the trigger, I fired a second bolt while sliding forward on my knees. Tugging the chains on his waist, Austin pulled his daggers back as he spun out of the way of my bolt. Like a whip the two daggers came towards my back. Turning onto my side and propping myself on my left arm to slow my slide, I raised Gerücht with my right hand. In a quick motion the arms on the crossbow snapped together and I swung down towards the first dagger. Missed. Using the momentum of my swing I rolled forward on my shoulder, under the two daggers. Catching both in either hand, Austin dropped into a low stance, anticipating more attacks to come.
"Hmm..." I said as I shifted into a kneeling position. Raising my crossbow on to my shoulder, I aimed once again for the hooded figure standing in front of me. I fired one crossbow bolt, not really expecting it to hit, but to distract as I pressed a little button on Gerücht's frame to switch the bolt that would be loaded next. With a *whirr click* a new bolt fixed itself into position. I did not see the chain and dagger coming from the side. Nor did I see it as I was whipped across the head, thank god for aura, that would have really hurt. It still stung as I blinked stars away from my vision, when they cleared Austin was already in motion. He had connected the two daggers together to make one, the first dagger was still misting icy cold, the second one was slightly red I noticed. Holding the chain in one hand, Austin was spinning the daggers in a large circle gradually spinning faster and faster. With a raised eyebrow I placed him in my sights and repeated my attempt to hit him from afar. As my first bolt reached him, he jumped over it, still managing to keep the daggers momentum going. My second bolt drew in closely as he was landing. Raising his leg Austin kicked the bolt up into the air, or at least he tried. As his foot made contact with the bolt, it exploded into a blue cloud which instantly solidified into icy shards. The additional weight on his foot caused him to stumble but not fall. Slamming his foot down, Austin managed to break the ice covering his leg. With a glow, the red hinted dagger burst into flames, continuing to spin the daggers, he activated the icy dagger. A thick mist emanated from it, blown about by the spinning chain.
"Oh, that's not good."
Standing, I took aim and fired a volley of bolts towards the disappearing boy as he was quickly swallowed by the fog. I watched as my bolts flew into the mist, leaving swirling holes in their wake. Suddenly a chained dagger flew out of the cloud of mist. Flipping back, I kicked the dagger up into the air. Like a snake, the dagger was pulled back into the mist, which was steadily creeping towards me, filling the stage with an impenetrable haze. As I landed, two more daggers flew out of the mist. With a quick swipe, I hit them out of air with Gerücht. As I batted the daggers, one exploded in a burst of flame knocking Gerücht sideways, allowing the second, yellow tinted dagger to hit my shoulder. Sparks flew as I was shocked by what felt like a million volts, my involuntary muscle spasms threw me backwards. Landing on my back, I slid a few feet, which thankfully slid me out of the way of the misting dagger as it hit the ground where my body used to be. A flower of ice blossomed in its place. Standing back up I raised my crossbow in a ready position, all the while trying to find the elusive figure in the mist. Pressing the little button on the side of Gerücht again, a new type of bolt attached itself into place. Hitting the button once more I had a second, different bolt pop the other out of the shaft. Catching it in one hand, I raised Gerücht and fired three bolts in a line into the mist. Three bright red explosions tuned the mist a shade of pink and provided me with a nice silhouette of a surprised hooded figure. Aiming Gerücht once again, I launched six bolts in quick succession. Austin managed to deflect two and dodged the third before the I lost sight of him again.
I grinned as I heard him yell "Damn it!" Apparently one of my bolts hit. A chained dagger flew out of the mist towards me but I was ready for it this time. Taking the bolt I had in my hand I parried the dagger and wrapped the chain around the bolt's shaft. Pulling the chain a taut I activated the bolt, electricity ran through the chain down to Austin. Those chains wrapped around his waist make a nice conduit. I thought. By I now the mist was becoming thin. Hitting another button on Gerücht's frame the crossbow began to transform. The arms of the crossbow folded in as the neck rotated. The handle knocked back and slid a little backward as a second handle popped up from the rapidly transforming body. As the handles changed, the butt of the crossbow folded in on itself and slided back into the frame as a protective cover slid over the top of the body. In my hands now rested Wahrheit, a large, high horsepower chainsaw. As I revved Wahrheit the chain electrified itself, sending rippling sparks up and down the neck. I reached up and touched my headphones.
"Time for a change of pace." I said as I selected a new song. This time I went for a fast, intense beat with grinding guitars and loud, harsh vocals. As the song started with muddy bass riff, I ran forward, chainsaw held low. Recovering from the shock, Austin unsteadily took a defense position. As I reached him I swung up. Stepping backwards Austin dodged my attack. Undeterred, I shifted my weight and brought Wahrheit down upon the head of my opponent. Not being able to move, Austin crossed his daggers and raised them to block the roaring blade. Sparks flew as the electrified chain collided with his blades. Gritting his teeth, Austin pushed the chainsaw up and swung his two daggers down to try and cut my abdomen. Thrown off balance by Austin's breaker I clumsily stumbled back. One of his daggers grazed me and I was met with a blast of cold as ice flowered where the dagger drew against my stomach. Steadying myself I came back at him with a swing at his calf. Doing a back handspring, Austin jumped over my saw. Undeterred, I used the momentum and weight of the chainsaw to spin around and swing again, letting Wahrheit pull me forward. As we continued to dance to the tune of battle, Austin with Stridens Mortem dodging and taking pot shots, and I with Wahrheit keeping him close with an attack that was one long fluid movement. I began to notice something…
◈◈◈-
"What's up with Sky?" asked Jaune, leaning in again, "She normally doesn't have much of a hard time fighting an opponent one on one like this."
"Hmm?.." I said, cat ears perking up, "Jaune, do you know how Sky's semblance works?"
"Not really… No actually"
"I didn't really expect you to. She doesn't broadcast her semblance out there. Well, I didn't fully understand it when she explained it to me, so I'll spare you the headache. To summarize her words, everything has a flow and rhythm, a melody as she put it, and her semblance lets her sense that."
"That doesn't seem to hard to understand."
"Heh, trust me, the way she explained it I was more confused than I was before I asked her." I said with a smirk. "By the way, speaking of semblances, how's yours coming along?"
"Oh, heh heh... nothing yet..." Jaune said looking down with a noise of defeat.
"Aww come on. Don't beat yourself up about it. I'm sure you'll find out what it is any day now. Ouch." I said as I watched Sky get her legs wiped out from under her.
Jaune, who was looking down, looked back up and said "You sound just like Pyrrha"
"Ha ha. Awesome, I like Pyrrha."
Juane had introduced me to Pyrrha a few weeks after I met him and we had became friends. He has no idea how lucky he is to have such a great partner. I mean, she was on the box of Pumpkin Pete's Marshmallow Flakes for Pete's sake! Chuckling at my own pun, I continued to watch my teammate fight the boy named Austin. Jaune was right though, Sky normally doesn't have a hard time fighting one on one, but she seemed to be struggling with this match.
"Hey Juane, do you know what the semblance of the other kid is?"
"Actually... Yeah. Well no. Nora does though, she's sparred with him before and brought him up in a question later while we were practising in the afternoon- Nice!"
Sky had managed to kick the daggers out of Austin's hands. Using the momentum of her kick, Sky whipped her Chainsaw around to hit Austin's flank.
"Hey Nora, you remember what the guys semblance is… Right?"
"Of course I do silly!" Replied Nora a smile on her face. "We were doing tag team battles in dueling class and It was Ren and I up against the hooded guy and his Faunus teammate. You know, the one with the ram horns. Anyway while we were fighting, hooded guy kept on influencing ren with his semblance and we could never really get a bead on him because his aura kept on moving and throwing us off."
"Okay but that still doesn't explain what his semblance is." I say.
"Hmm… Well its not easy to explain, he's manipulating the fight by controlling the rhythm of battle. Though he has to be still when hes doing this because it takes a lot of concentration for him to do his semblance. Although while he's moving he can still do small little influences."
"It's like he's an orchestra conductor!" exclaimed Jaune after a moment.
"Well I guess you could put it that way." I say, cat ears twitching. "With Sky being able to read rhythm and Austin being able to control it… Damn, that really sucks for Sky doesn't it?"
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Damn that really hurts I thought to myself, Over the course of the fight Austin's hits were starting to sting more and more. We were currently at a stalemate, both making progress on each others aura but still not doing sufficient enough damage to knock the other into the red. I still noticed that there was something off about me today. I just couldn't read his rhythm. This fight had lasted nearly six minutes, panting at this point, I stood a safe distance away trying to recompose myself. Taking the initiative in our momentary standstill, Austin threw his dagger to my left and Instinctively I dodged to the right. Prepared for this Austin whipped the dagger to the right. Like a snake the dagger flew towards my exposed side. Icy fangs nipped at skin as the blade slid across my body. Flowers of ice bloomed where in the the dagger struck. Letting out a yelp of pain, I grabbed my side and fell onto my shoulder. Sprinting forward Austin jumped into the air, catching his dagger chains on his heel he flipped, and at the apex of his spin Austin kicked down whipping the daggers and chains down towards the crumpled mess that was me laying on the ground. Quickly rolling, I moved out of the way of the two daggers as they landed. A bright burst of red flame and yellow lighting exploded from the impact and engulfed me. Thrown by the explosion, I tumbled to a stop a few feet away. I lost my grip on Gerücht, now my crossbow lies out of reach. I quickly get on to my feet and try to recompose myself. There was a triangle between Austin, Gerücht, and me. I could see Austin's eyes shift between me and Gerücht, slowly they narrowed as he put it together. Steadily I let out my breath letting my senses extended beyond their physical limits. I could feel it, the melody of this fight, the pounding beat of Austin's body, the flowing rhythm of his mind, the tunes of his aura, all created a song and I was ready to dance. Dropping down I ran at low sprint towards Gerücht. Suddenly there was a sweeping fortissimo as chain came swinging low towards my legs. Jumping above the oncoming chain I could hear a second sweep a few beats behind the first like an echo, twisting mid jump I dodged under the second chained dagger. Feeling it pass over me, I landed in a crouch and resume my sprint. Spinning, Austin continued to swing daggers at me as I ran. Sliding under an oncoming dagger I felt a cambiare in tempo. Looking over I saw him twist and swing one of his daggers down in front of me. A blast of air, like the exhaust of a turbine, emanated from where the dagger struck the ground. Thrown backwards, I landed on my back and had the wind knocked out of me. The I could feel a battuta as Austin ran in, closing the distance between us. I rolled on to my knees and elbows gasping for my breath, I could feel him coming closer. He wasn't even trying to alter his rhythm to mess with me, he wanted to end it.
"Got, ya." I said under my breath.
I listened to the beat of his steps, a simple four to the floor. A step away from me Austin lifted his leg back, planning to kick me out. As he did this I moved to his upbeat somersaulting between his legs. Extending my leg, I donkey-kicked upwards and was met with a satisfying crunch as I lifted Austin off the ground by a few inches. Letting out a yelp of pain, Austin fell into the fetal position and I resumed my run for Gerücht. Diving over my crossbow, I snatched it and rolled into a kneeling position bringing the weapon to my shoulder. In a heartbeat I lined up my holographic sights with the crumpled Austin and pulled the trigger. Immediately afterwards I hit a button and with a whirr click popped out a yellow tipped bolt from Gerücht's shaft. There was a flash of light blue as icy frost spread from the fired crossbow bolt, Austin had managed to roll out of the way of getting directly hit but shards of ice still clung to him as he unsteadily rose to his feet. By the time he had regained his composure I was already sprinting close towards him. In a last ditch effort Austin whipped one of his chains towards me. Holding out my arm, I caught the chain by having it wrap it around my forearm. Grabbing the chain, I pulled towards myself. Off balance, he stumbled forward as I took the bolt that was in my hand and jammed it into his gut. I activated the dust crystal tip, bright arcs of lightning ran through the chains coiled around his waist. My grin turned into a grimace as the electricity ran through the chain wrapped around my arm. Gritting my teeth I tried to let go of the bolt, but my body no longer listened to me. Muscles tense from the energy flowing through me, I could no longer let go of the chain or the bolt. All my nerves exploding from overstimulation, my head was pounding like I was hit by a raging ursa. The few seconds felt like an eternity, but as quickly as it all began it was over. With the bolt's dust crystal used up, the energy dissipated leaving my world unfocused and dark. Slowly my view turned towards the ceiling, I was falling, and the holographic banners looked like bright stripes of white across my vision. My body too weak to catch myself, the last thing I remembered was hitting the floor.
◈◈◈-
The room was silent, people were all waiting on the edge of their seats - I was at least. The monkey tailed Faunus was completely still except for his tail, which twitched back and forth in anticipation. I watched as my teammate laid on the ground unmoving. Suddenly there was a loud buzzer as Professor Glynda walked into the light. I looked up at the glowing banners, both auras were in the red, it was a double knock-out. The room remained silent. There weren't many double knock-outs in dueling class, and they were mostly few and far between. I sat and waited for Glynda to make her final call. After making some notes on her scroll she pushed up her glasses and said
"This match will end in a draw. Let m-"
The same person stood up and shouted "Oh come on!"
Turning, Professor Glynda gave the kid a look colder than Mantle in the winter.
"As I was going to remind you with the tournament drawing closer, the refs have final judgment call over all the matches. So a match that ends with both contestants being no longer able to continues outcome will be decided by the officials."
After a few moments both Sky and Austin started to stir. Both unsteady they slowly got to there feet. Grinning, I leaned back arms outstretched above me flexing my fingers.
"That was some fight." I said after letting out a long low whistle.
Leaning back down to my row, Jaune chimed "You know I wasn't expecting that to happen. Too bad she lost."
"What makes you say that?"
"Well she didn't beat him right? I mean they both got knocked out."
"It's how you look at it. She, by your logic, also beat him by knockout. So in my books that's a win."
We were both cut off by Prof. Goodwich saying "Jaune Arc. You have been selected for the next match."
"What?! Oh come-on!" Exclaimed Jaune upon seeing his opponent.
Ears twitching, I say "Give them hell" as he walks by.
Looking at the banners I saw who was going to be Jaune's opponent.
"Oh this is gonna be a good fight..."