Hey, welcome back. Part two, hope you enjoy.
Italics=Thoughts
Bold=Loud Speakers
The airship touching down was melodic for Terram, having taken an express flight, the flight only lasting about 2 hours, but oh boy was it claustrophobic, stepping off of the airship, he stretched, looked ahead, and realized he still had to walk to Vale, as the airship had touched down at a town bordering the outskirts of Vale. His feet rhythmically tapped against the floor as he sighed, stretching once again and beginning his walk to Vale, hoping his friend had gotten there before him and didn't miss last night's flight, the two having agreed that they should take separate flights.
The happy chirp of the morning birds broke Terram from his thoughts, abruptly looking up from his feet to see a long path ahead of him. He had only just left home and he was already tired of walking. Terram was not a patient guy, he was more of a "Get as much things done as possible as fast as possible" kind of guy, preferring to hunting grimm, or working on his aura control, but he didn't have time for that as he only had about 2 and a half hours to get to Vale. Realizing that he might need to hurry up, the young gladiator presses his hands to the ground, before seconds later, his golden aura covered the ground around him, the ground underneath his feet beginning to pull back, working as a catapult.
He took a second to check his scroll, took a deep breath, moved himself in the direction of Vale, and launched himself with the dirt beneath him. He then began to surf on small rocks that he flung into the air, propelling him further and quicker, speeding through the air. He suddenly realized how little quiet time he got, and simply focused on the ground quickly passing under him, and then to the sky, cloudless and blue. Terram's moment of peace suddenly broke, as a speeding bullhead flew right past him, nearly slamming into him as it passed.
"Hmm..." He slowly descended back down to the forest floor, at the last second flinging a hard stone directly at the left wing of the bullhead, just to spite the pilot. "The walls of Vale have to be close now." Terram thought to himself, trying to get himself some more momentum by pushing a large amount of his aura into a medium sized piece of stone, about the size of a desk, and using that stone to fling himself straight ahead. "WOAH WOAH WOAH!" Terram yelped out as he nearly collided with the massive walls of Vale, quickly pushing a bit too much of his aura into the stone, stopping himself in an instant, but his momentum continued. This forced him to use smaller rocks to slow his descent, using them as a sort of stepping stone(Literally), he slowly slides to a stop right past the walls of Vale, startled residents having watched his fall in awe. He flashes them a small smile and a wave, continuing onward towards where he had his weapon being made.
This whole process probably took about 45 minutes, leaving him a while to explore Vale after he retrieved his weapon. Speaking of his weapon, he absolutely could not wait, he had spent years designing his weapon, already having a name for it and already coming up with strategies for the axe. Thinking of his weapon already making him more excited, not being able to contain it, he breaks into a light sprint, wanting to get his weapon as soon as possible.
His feet suddenly skidded to a stop to avoid running straight into a red-haired girl wearing what looked to be bronze armor, a shield and javelin strapped to her back.
"W-watch out!" Terram tried to spout out, using his semblance as a last resort, picking up a brick from the sidewalk and slamming it into his chest, managing to stop himself inches from the girl's face.
"O-oh!" Was all the girl could say, the golden eyes boy before her standing extremely close, as if realizing how close he was at that very moment, the boy let out a small "Sorry! I wasn't watching where I was going..."
"Oh, it's completely fine, we all get carried away sometimes." The girl's said in a friendly tone, her voice and way of speaking seeming very regal and elegant.
"A-anyway! I gotta go, trying to get to the local blacksmiths, I think its called Huntsman Choice? Do you know where that might be?" The boy managed to get out, avoiding eye contact. He never was good with women.
"I actually just got here the other day, I'm still trying to fine my way around myself, but I do suggest you turn to your right. Besides, I'm going to the same place." The spartan looking girl said, walking past him and lightly opening the door to the street-side shop, a gentle jingle sounds coming from the door as it opened.
"Oh... Good one Tam..." He said to himself, shaking his head slightly and stepping inside, already making his way to the cashier, a burly looking man, wearing a smithing apron as well as a light beige shirt underneath it. Scars covered his arms and his hands were covered with thick looking gloves. He looked intimidating, but Terram didn't let the slight intimidation show, instead taking a single second to view his surroundings.
The walls were covered with what looked like basic weapons, as well as shelves of bullets and dust rounds, a sign hanging above the counter showing the prices of custom made weapons and weapon additions. 100 Lein for a pre-designed custom weapon, 200 Lein for combination weapons, 500 Lein for custom made combination weapons, and finally 1,200 Lein for collapsible custom made combination weapons. Terram had paid for the last one, having saved up for 5 years just for this weapon. He stepped up to the counter, the girl from outside scanning the shelves of bullets, presumably waiting for something.
"He-" Terram coughs for a minute, trying to ignore the voice crack and try again.
"Hello! I'm here to pick of my weapon? It's probably under the name Bellator." Terram says, confidence somehow laced in his words, his back straight, and a small, polite smile on his face.
The blacksmith takes a small look at the boy, before shrugging and going through a door behind the counter, heat billowing out of the door as soon as it opened, reminding Terram of how hot last summer was. During the short time that the shop keep was in the back, the boy decided to go talk to the girl that had pointed him towards the store... That was directly next to him. He took a second to make sure he wouldn't say anything stupid, before walking towards the girl, who had just grabbed a box of ammunition.
"H-h-hey! Uhm... Weather... Nice?" Terram managed to spout out, trying his hardest somehow making him worse at talking.
The girl let out a small giggle before responding with "Yes, the weather is quite nice today." Before placing her ammunition on the counter and turning to talk to continue their... 'conversation'.
"Okay, that sounded stupid. Was that a good conversation starter?" Terram said, managing to not stutter through the whole sentence.
The girl gave him a gentle smile, saying in a polite tone "Well, were talking, aren't we?"
"Y-yeah, I guess we are... Anyway, my names Terram, it's nice to meet you!" Terram said, a genuine bright smile appearing on his face as he realized this conversation was actually taking a somewhat okay turn.
"My name is Pyrrha Nikos, it is a pleasure to meet you." The gi-Pyrrha said, smiling right back at him as a sudden heat washed over them both, signaling the return of the hulking blacksmith.
"Kid, here's your weapon, you already paid in advance. So, all you need to do is grab some ammunition, and dust rounds if you really want 'em." The blacksmith said as the two teens turned to him, looking as though they had just been caught doing something unspeakable, even if all they were doing was having a conversation... with light flirting. Well, they were teenagers. Hormone filled teenagers. Terram suddenly snapped out of his trance, the light blush on his cheeks retreating quickly. He placed his hand on the collapsed weapon, looking to be a small hand axe with a scope poking from the top of the shaft, as well as a trigger by the grip.
Terram's hand gripped the shaft of the small axe, marveling at how small it currently was, compared to its extended length. A small golden button resided right below the blade, actually, speaking of the blade, the blade had a white default paint to it, a golden streak down the edge and top. On the back of the blade, connected to the end of the shaft, was another sharp blade, this one painted a very deep black, as well as containing a small slot for dust directly on the tip of the shaft.
Terram, out of pure curiosity, pressed the golden button, the blacksmith trying in vain to tell him to wait. The axe suddenly extended to be taller than him, full length being about 7 feet, the blade having slashed into the maple counter-top. Terram quickly began issuing a myriad of apologies, his hand's naturally trying to find a comfortable grip on the shaft of the weapon, finally finding purchase with his right hand half a foot below the blade of the axe, and his left holding about two feet below his right.
The shaft, as he had now come to realize, was made of a sturdy metal, the end of the shaft opening up to show its true nature. The shaft of the battle-axe had been re purposed as a sniper rifle barrel, he quickly took a second to marvel at the rifling and look through the scope, finding a slot just halfway down the blade the was obviously used to place a magazine. The axe-head rested comfortably against his shoulder, recognizing the bolt half way down the barrel, right next to the magazine slot, he realized that something with this much stopping power needed to have large rounds.
He was broken from his thoughts by the blacksmith letting out a heavy sigh through his nose, and then grumbling something under his breath. Speaking up, the towering man said "Eh, it's alright, I shoulda' told you about that anyway."
Terram's response was a simple shrug, retracting the battle-axe to it's handaxe size, clipping it to his belt and quickly moving to the ammunition rack, looking for 50. BMG rounds, as well as a few dust rounds to go with it. As he walks to the rack, he overhears Pyrrha talking to the blacksmith about weapon maintenance, the blacksmith replying to her by reaching under the counter to grab the bronze sheening weapons with a small smile on his face.
"Always a pleasure, Pyr." The blacksmith stated, obviously having known her before at some point.
Deciding he should stop eavesdropping on the only other two people in the shop, he grabbed three boxes of 50. BMG ammunition, as well as a single box of 357. Magnum. He took a second to decide whether or not to buy dust rounds, but decided against it, reasoning that it would probably cost him a bit too much. He checked his watch, noticing the time and relaxing slightly as he realized that he still had an hour before he needed to be at the air docks.
The thought of stopping for breakfast popped into Terram's brain, his decision already made, deciding to stop at a café he had went with his mother when they were last in Vale. He hurriedly placed the boxes on the counter top, reaching into his hoodie pocket to pull out a small wallet, paying for his ammunition and tucking it into his pack, but not before quickly loading a magazine into the battle-axe.
"Well, Pyrrha, it was nice to meet you, but I gotta get going, maybe we'll see each other another time" Terram said, waving over at her with a small smile on his face.
"Goodbye, Terram, I hope to see you again at some point." Pyrrha politely replied, a smile of her own resting casually on her face. The conversation she had with him was warm, so she decided to return the favor.
Sipping gently on the tea that he had asked the waitress for, deciding that he only wanted something small, not for any particular reason, besides trying to stay healthy. His fingers tapped restlessly against the warm coffee colored table, the empty seat across from him responding to him with a pleasant silence. The warm atmosphere in the café was what drew him and his mother in, mirroring Terram's own warm and welcoming personality, although he was kind of awkward at times. He checked his scroll for the fourth time in the last 15 minutes, a small nervous habit of his, surprisingly seeing a message from an old friend of his, someone from the combat school he used to train at, asking if he was attending beacon.
K-Boy: Hey T, YoU going to Beacon?
Terram: Yeppers, what's up?
K-Boy: I wasn't able to sign up early enough, gotta wait till the second quarter now, ;(
Terram: Don't send sad faces, weirdo. Anyway, It's fine, we'll still be able to do the entry exam thing.
K:boy: Sounds like a plan, we gotta fight second years, right?
Terram: Yep, should be pretty easy, I just wanna get it over with so we can go meet some new people.
K-Boy: You sure you'll be able to get over that crippling awkwardness, bucko? You've never been great a making friends.
Terram: Shut up mister "Never had a girlfriend."
K-boy: Low blow... I thought we were friends ;(
Terram: Whatever. You in Vale?
It took a few second for Kye to respond, small text bubbles popping up over and over again, before a very small response appeared on Terram's scroll.
K-boy: I dunno, am I?
Suddenly, something slammed into the window to Terram's right, a blonde haired boy slamming his body against the window and waving a hello, wide antlers almost cracking the window with how hard he slammed against it."Oh my Oum..." Terram's response was to erect a stone pillar behind him that roughly pushed him towards the door, the faunus yelping slightly in surprise, before shooting Terram a small glare. Kye quickly spoke with the person standing at the front of the café, before happily strolling over the Terram, fwomping down at the seat across from him.
"Hey, T! How's it goin bud!" was Kye's simple introduction, leaning forward with a genuinely happy smile on his face.
Kye was... Pretty awesome to be honest, he was always there for Terram, through his first few years in school, to his graduation from combat, following around the entire time, a smile on his face. He would train with Terram when they were little, every day after school, spending the day together, sometimes just spending time at Kye's house in the crowded streets of Menagerie, or other times staying at Terram's farm for a day or two. The two were almost inseparable, and Terram had to admit that he was kind of mad at Kye for missing the application time, although he could still take the entry exam to see if he could pass that.
The entry exam wasn't something normal students had to do, if they had been through combat school, or been specifically chosen by a huntsman, they were admitted and only had to pass the initiation. The entry exam was a simple test of combat prowess, having to fight a team of the previous first years, now second years, those who survived for more than two minutes were allowed entry into beacon, the entry exam did allow partners though. Which meant the battle bro's were back together!
"Great, Buck boy, just picked up Glory, turns out she does take 50. BMG, heh." Terram said, responding to the smile with one of his own, saying the last bit somewhat nervously.
"HA! PAY UP LOSER!" Kye burst, his smile brightening further, they had made a bet in their second year of combat school, guessing the ammuntion Glory would use. And Terram lost.
"Pfft, whatever, I'll pay up when you pay up from not telling Ash you liked her." Terram responded, a teasing grin on his face.
"S-shut up about that! I was nervous, and she obviously didn't like me back" Kye said, smile quickly turning to a pout.
"Sure, Sure, she totally wasn't the one putting love notes in your locker, and she also totally didn't ask you to spar every day" Terram challenged
"Wait that was her?" Kye responded obliviously, his previous smile back on his face.
"Oh my Oum, you can be really stupid sometimes." Terram said, face now firmly pressed to his hand.
The waitress returned, placing Terram's meal in front of him and turning to Kye to ask if he wanted anything, Kye stated that he had already eaten that morning and he was okay. Terram and Kye enjoyed the rest of their time available at the café, talking about how their summer had been, and discussing their strategy for the upcoming entry exam. Kye and Terram's semblances worked together pretty well, Kye's semblance being that of organic manipulation, being able to summon walls of plants, or even toxic plants.
One of their dual attacks, was Kye would wrap gigantic vines on the opponents' legs and Terram would cover his arms in hardened rock, rushing at them and pouring all of his aura into the punches, only ever using it when dealing with agile opponents. Kye's weapon was somewhat simple, two machete's that had shotguns built into the handles, being able to be placed together to create a railgun of sorts, being able to fire huge blasts of fire or ice, or just simple energy. They were quiet a devastating combo back at their combat school, being known as "The Wild Hunters" because of their semblances using nature elements to defeat their opponents, though neither were reliant on their semblances, actually rarely using them, though Terram did use his to block certain attacks.
Having finished their time at the café, the two headed towards Beacons air docks, rushing slightly, as the only had 15 minutes to get to the docks.
The small crowd of occupants in the small stadium was almost silent, small side conversations occurring, but nothing more. The Wild Hunters had arrived at the stadium and quickly began prepping for their exam, both doing stretches and preparing for combat, going over strategy and opening plans. They were going to be facing a second year team by the name of team CFVY, they were not familiar with the name, but were sure that if they played on the defensive they would do perfectly fine. Their names were suddenly called on the intercom residing above the locker room, the stadium suddenly erupting into applause at the sight of team CFVY, having already seen them take out a team of three in less than three minutes.
Terram and Kye shared a nervous look, before their faces shifted to excited smiles, stepping into the stadium ground with confidence and bravado, weapons already drawn, Kye spinning his right machete in a flourish, and Terram spinning his knives in his fingers, as well as sliding his brass knuckles onto his fists, shield already positioned in his left hand. The two matched pretty well with their elements, Terram wearing golds and browns, and Kye wearing greens. Kye's outfit pretty much matched his personality, very open and out there.
He wore a green hoodie, the sleeves completely cut off, as he found them to be "Too clingy", dark green shorts covering his legs, completely steel boots covering his feet, absolutely covered in spikes. His hands were covered with large green gauntlets, obviously having an alternate motive, obvious by the small blades poking from the knuckles.
Terram placed his mask over his face, the mask resembling a centurion mask from ancient Vacuo, while Kye simply placed a wooden mask over his face, the mask looking as though a grimm's face had been delicately carved into the ornate Oak, spiked fangs springing from the bottom. The two switched places, trying to strike doubt into the enemy, this had always been their strategy, to get into their enemy's head.
A short girl with a briefcase walked to the middle of the arena, as did Terram and Kye, the girl putting a small smile on her face and saying "Cute masks, boys, but those aren't gonna scare us.
Kye's response was to let a small burst of vines pour from the eye holes of his mask, Terram following his lead by letting chunks of rock fall from the bottom of his mask.
"Okay, to be honest, that is slightly unnerving." The girl said, her smile becoming slightly nervous, but almost instantly it changed back to a cocky smile.
The referee, an intimidating looking blonde lady, a riding crop held tightly in her hand "This will be a tournament style duel, If your aura drops to the red, you are eliminated."
"Do both teams understand these rules?"
The two contenders nodded, as well as the second year team.
"Get to your positions."
The two teams backed away from each other, about 3 meters from each other.
Kye let loose a wicked cackle, echoing against his mask, a tactic of intimidation.
Terram too, let out a small laugh, though his turned into a full blown laughing fit, raucous laughter reverberating through the stadium, and through his mask.
CFVY had to admit, they knew how to intimidate.
Terram's body suddenly stood up straight, laughter stopping on a dime, as well as Kye, the vines that had been protruding from his mask retreating back into it and allowing the faunus to finally see. The referee suddenly began to count down, the anticipation growing in the two teams.
"The Duel will begin in 3"
"2"
The team of two sighed, releasing their nervousness and entering a strange state of "battle-zen" as they called it, gaining complete focus on the fight ahead.
"1"
"Begin!"
The team of two suddenly disappeared in a flurry of dust, the ashy brown dust flying through the air and obscuring the other teams vision of the two, the only one actually gaining a slight sight of them was the faunus residing behind the hulking behemoth. Bullets suddenly peppered the team, a few impacting the leader, while the rest were blocked by either the behemoth of a man, or the short boy with the arm blades. A throwing knife suddenly flung towards the team, the dust almost clearing, the throwing knife making contact with the leader once again, before being retracted and slashing against the girls cheek on the return. That, suprisingly, brought her aura down to about 90%. Having had enough of the antagonizing, the leader shifted the bag into a gigantic minigun, letting loose a torrent of bullets into the cloud of dust, which now cleared, revealing both of the boys standing there, no reaction in the posture whatsoever. The bullets flew towards the two, most being blocked by the shorter one with the wooden mask, while a few pinged against the bronze shield that the taller one carried.
Fox instantly went into aggression mode, charging at the taller one in an attempt to end the fight quickly, while the hulking behemoth charged the short one, who was currently laughing manically as he blocked more of the minigun's bullets. The shorter boy's arm blades suddenly impacted with a metal shield, releasing a flurry of blows, all being blocked by the stalwart guard of the gladiator, the bronze armored boy responded to the flurry by parrying one of his strikes and bashing him harshly with his shield, the bladed edge slamming against the attacking male's aura, bringing him down about 5%. He continued his response by pumping five rounds from his revolver directly into the attacker's unprotected chest, finishing the combo by shifting the revolver back to a dagger and slashing three times, two from the left, one from the right, and then sweeping his leg out from under him. The attacker responded by recovering, using the leg sweep to roll backwards and gain some distance. Overall, the damage he had done had taken the grey eyed boy's aura down to a staggering 59%
Moving to Kye's fight, the behemoth opened up with a side swing from his gigantic sword, which Kye ducked under, slashing twice at the giants legs, as well as peppering his legs with pellets from his shotgun blasts. Using the recoil, he gained some distance, pointing his gauntlets forward and letting small needle like blades fly from them, only two actually hitting the giant, the rest being blocked, though the giant suddenly noticed something, a flower was now blooming on his shoulder. This distraction cost him, a blast of energy hitting him directly in the chest and causing him to lose his balance, falling over as the shorter boy's boots connected with his chest. Using his kick, Kye did a small flip, landing regally and beginning to fire blasts and blasts of shotgun shells at the giant, who was still trying to get back on his feet. All this agility was basically a complete counter to Yatsu, all the damage having brought his aura down to a frightening 68%.
Coco had enough, seeing her teammates essentially get bullied put her mind into a state of shocked anger, yelling a swap out with fox and telling him to focus on the agile one. Noticing this, Terram turned to his teammate, who was currently nimbly dodging a giant's weapon, and yelled over. "Kye! Deathwish!". That's what they had called their most devastating team attack, suddenly, Kye retreated to Terram's side, a giant wall of pure rock suddenly separating Coco from the rest of her team, who were frantically trying to break down the rock , giant vines sprung from the floor, the concrete cracking and snapping as the vines broke through, ensnaring the now solo huntress in training, bunches of rock started to coalesce onto the gladiators grieves and fists, the brass knuckles being a place to channel his semblance, allowing him to bunch up rock onto his arms as well as pepper that rock with different metals.
Terram suddenly charged at the ensnared leader, rock on his hands glowing a deep golden color, the rock fist slamming into the girls stomach, bringing her aura down by about 17%, followed up by another two punches, which dropped her further down, the meter showing her aura now glowing a deep yellow. Terram suddenly brought the hand axe at his side up, the small axe transforming into a huge battleaxe. He pressed the muzzle of the sniper against the girls stomach and rapidly fired, all shots in his magazine flying into the girls aura, finally bringing it into the red, eliminating the girl. As the buzzer sounded, the five minute mark was reached, this amount of skill required years of training. The buzzer ringing sent a large amount of shock through the stadium, the booing crowd now turning to excited cheers, the shock flowing through the rest of CFVY was obvious, as they did not expect the rock wall to drop, sliding back into the earth where it came.
Terram rushed forward, Kye shooting past him, using his vines to boost him slightly, drop kicking the shorter boy with the arm blades. Terram's battleaxe slammed into the side of the giant, he quickly followed up with a roundhouse kick and a jab from the opposite side of the battleaxe, the sharp blade cutting through his aura like a lance and placing a small cut on his cheek, signalling his elimination. A spear of rock suddenly erupted from the ground behind the defending fox, slamming into the back of his knee and causing him to drop to them. Kye took this as an invitation to slice both machete's against the kneeling boy's shoulders, and fire an ice dust infused shell directly into Fox's chest, his aura staying just above the red. A flash of blue suddenly caught both of the mask wearing boy's eyes.
Suddenly, the last member of team CFVY was on top of Kye, raining down blows with the hand axe version of Glory, the weapon itself glowing a translucent, while Terram's shield was recreated in the same glowing blue light, keeping Kye down. Terram retaliated by charging forward and throwing both of his throwing daggers at their last enemy, both of which connected and sent her flying into the arena wall, falling into the out zone, eliminating her from the match by default. Fox sliced both of his arm blades against the Gladiators back, but was swiftly eliminated by Kye punching him directly in the face. The buzzer sounding was the one thing that released all of the tension that had been resting in the two boys' bodies, the two of them sheathing their weapons and giving each other a small high five, before taking off their masks.
They quickly went to helping their opponents up, looking up at their aura levels by the time they had helped them all up and gotten them back to the locker room, they both were still above 30%. Kye residing at 40% from the brush with Velvet, and Terram resting at a calming 48% most of his aura being taken down by that partner move they did, building a sturdy rock wall was tough on aura, as well as forming rock fists. The referee had called their names and said they passed with flying colors, though that may have been due to the previous intimidation. Team CFVY underestimated them, and The Wild Hunters might have lost had it not been for that.
There you go. That was Kye's introduction, he's gonna be Terram's partner. Yes, I know, I changed the story up a bit, but I want it to seem unique, I see too many fics where its just a letter added onto an already existing team. I intend to have a full team by the Vytal Festival, but I really have no idea what I'm gonna do about the other two. Anywho, I hope you enjoyed it, for those of you who are actually reading.
I'll probably get another chapter out in a day or two.
See you guy's then,
~Aether
