We'd been walking for only about five minutes before Hawksbill began to interrogate us more vigorously.
"So Cerberus," He had started, "where're you from?"
"Atlas" He replied simply.
"Were you raised anywhere else?" He asked.
"No" Cerberus replied.
"Oh." Hawksbill said, "So you know the place pretty well eh?"
No reply.
"Hey dummy," Maud started, turning her head. She somehow ended up leading the group, "can you shut up? This is a competition, not a friend circle"
"I'm just trying to get to know some people." He replied, "Who knows how long we'll be stuck with them"
Maud snorted, continuing to walk. Looking up from the ground, I saw that she was strapping metal gauntlets to her wrists.
"Where'd those come from?" Floyd asked her.
"What?" She asked.
"The armor" He replied.
"I've been wearing it this whole time dummy." She replied, "Jeez, you really don't pay attention do you?"
"No," Floyd said, "The gauntlets. I didn't see them when I first came in"
"They're heavier," She replied, "and make more noise. So I typically take them off when I travel, but put them on when I fight. Chances are that's what we're doing"
I looked down again, noticing that she wore greaves as well. "Interesting." Floyd replied, "Where are you storing them though?"
"That's irrelevant" She replied, a steel chest plate suddenly appearing in her hand. She strapped it onto her body, then produced a helmet and placed it atop her head. There was a small spike sticking out from the top.
As she strapped the helmet around her neck she glanced back at me. "What're you staring at?" She asked, turning to look forward again.
"I'm still trying to figure out where you put your stuff" Floyd replied.
She sighed, "It's my semblance." She replied, "I'm able to change the size of things. I store my armor in my pocket and pull it out when the time comes"
"I see." Floyd replied, "Then why don't you do the same with your hammer?"
"Intimidation." She replied, "If I can avoid fighting in the first place, then I don't even need to put on my extra armor. Besides, using my semblance takes energy"
"Makes sense" Floyd replied.
"I'd hope so" She replied.
Meanwhile Hawksbill continued drilling Cerberus with questions.
"So what's your semblance?" He asked.
"None of your business" He replied.
"What's your weapon?"
"None of your business"
"What's its name at least?"
He paused for a second, "None of your business" He finally replied.
Hawksbill sighed, "What about you Aero? What's your weapon's name?"
She blushed and looked down, "Um," She started, "Kin of Iron"
"That's a pretty sick name," He said, "can I see?"
"I'd rather not show you" She replied.
"Alright" He replied.
"Open room up ahead!" Maud called back.
I looked up, seeing exactly what she'd described. She stopped, forcing the rest of us to do the same. The room had an uneven floor and the same kind of walls. At the end was an open doorway.
"It's obviously a trap." Maud said, looking around the room. On each wall a dark hole was located. "I'll set it off" She started forward, into the room.
"And if you die?" Floyd asked.
"Please," she replied, "it's the first room. Besides, you guys need to see what a real fighter looks like"
We all stayed back. I wasn't going to hurt myself if I didn't need to. Everyone else seemed to have the same idea.
Maud reached the center of the room and looked around. Sure enough, two Grimm appeared in either hole in the wall. She reached back, drawing her hammer. She held it with both hands, facing the Grimm on the left side of the room. It jumped and landed down on the ground and started towards her slowly.
It was an older Beowolf, covered in skeletal armor and spikes. Clearly it was put here unnaturally, as Beowolves generally weren't underground. It growled, staring her down.
Maud angled her hammer to do a diagonal uppercut. I heard a slight click, and the front of the hammer began to glow orange. Smoke began to steadily rise from its jagged surface.
The Beowolf charged, claws raised and mouth gaping, its fangs shining and dripping with saliva.
At just the right moment, Maud swung her hammer, ripping the Grimm's head off with its sheer heat and force. I heard another growl and turned my head, seeing the other Grimm, another similar Beowolf, was right behind her. I was about to call out when I saw her strategy. She swung her hammer diagonally, killing the first Grimm and allowing the momentum of her weapon to spin her around. Angling the hammer slightly, she slammed it down onto the second Grimm's head while it was still in mid-air, blending it with the rocky terrain.
The hammer cooled down almost immediately. She drew it from the ground and swung it over her shoulder, turning to look at us. She smirked, "Don't see that every day, eh?"
We all walked into the room, "Nice" I said simply. Everyone else nodded to her as they walked by. Her attack was impressive, but it was nothing we hadn't seen before or couldn't have thought up ourselves. She seemed slightly aggravated by our lack of reaction, and followed after us, frowning. She grunted with disapproval and replaced her hammer on her back.
We continued through the doorway, leading us to another tunnel. Now I was leading the group. Assuming I'll have to fight next, I thought, considering the first few rooms shouldn't be much of a challenge.
The tunnel made a sharp turn to the left. Hawksbill decided to start interrogating the others again, so I tuned him out.
You sure you don't want to get to know these people at least a little? Floyd asked me.
Of course not, I replied, this is a competition, it'll be over before you know it.
But just in case⦠Floyd trailed off.
I can barely stand the people already, I pointed out, get off my back!
You mean you can't stand Hawksbill? He corrected.
Shut up, I replied.
Still, I found their conversation broke through the shield I'd set up in my brain.
"I don't think I ever heard your full name Cerberus" Hawksbill said, clearly implying that he wanted to know his full name.
Cerberus didn't reply.
"What is it?" Hawksbill verified.
"Cerberus Emil Witch" He replied.
"That's a pretty cool name." Hawksbill said, "Wanna know mine?"
"No" He replied.
"Hawksbill Sheldon Stars." He said anyways, likely not expecting the response he got. I didn't understand how he couldn't have anticipated it, but I guess he was just a little stupid, "Pretty lame eh?"
He didn't reply.
"You know what'd make you look good?" Hawksbill started, "A hat. Like one of those black witch hats, only not as big and the top cut off. You know what I'm talking about? Maybe with some stripes to match your coat?"
"It'd interfere with my ability to see." He replied, "Plus it'd wreck my hair"
Hawksbill laughed, "Ha, I think you've got enough gel in there to keep it rock hard even if you bashed your head against a wall"
Cerberus's fist shot out, punching the back of Hawksbill's head. He stumbled, "Ah, what the heck?!" He demanded, his voice suddenly sounding more agitated than I'd ever heard it.
"Don't mock me" Was all Cerberus said.
Hawksbill stopped and turned to face him, "Mock you?" He asked, his voice laced with anger, "I was making a joke"
"Then you need to retake Comedy 101" Cerberus replied.
"Hurry up" Maud said, having stopped behind them. I stopped to watch too though, mostly out of curiosity. So did Aero, but she kept her distance from all of us.
"What was that?" Hawksbill demanded, craning his neck and placing his hand over his ear, as if he hadn't heard him the first time.
"Then you need to retake Comedy 101" Cerberus repeated calmly.
"I'll have you know I've been doing stand-up comedy for the past three years, and I make a killer profit off of it!" He pointed out. I was surprised, but at the same time wasn't. People probably liked him because he was so annoying that it could sometimes be considered funny.
"Comedy's clearly gone downhill since I was a kid" Cerberus said.
"What kind of crap did you have as a kid, huh?" Hawksbill asked.
"Vadik Romanov" He replied.
Hawksbill was about to make a retort, but then stopped himself before continuing again, "I haven't even heard of him, so clearly he's not that great!"
"That's because he's dead." Cerberus pointed out, "He was old even when I was a kid"
"Clearly he wasn't good enough for my parents to ever care to watch him!" Hawksbill retorted. It wasn't a great comeback, but it was kind of accurate.
"That's because your parents weren't cool" Cerberus simply said, as if it was obvious.
"Oooh" Maud said from behind the large man.
"Of course they weren't," Hawksbill tried to recover, "they're my parents!"
"So why'd you try to use them as a comeback?"
Hawksbill pursed his lips together, trying to find something to say. Nothing seemed to come to mind, because he spun around in a huff of frustration, "What does it matter?!" He asked, continuing down the tunnel, "Move it!"
As I started walking again I saw a slight smile curve Cerberus's lips.
The tunnel bent right slowly.
"Oh come on!" Maud exclaimed, "Why'd we turn earlier if we're just going to turn right back in the same direction?"
"To alter the area we end up in?" Floyd suggested, "Or to spice up the walk a little?"
"Adding a handful of turns won't 'spice things up' idiot" She said angrily.
"Oh I feel like it did." He replied, "Would we be having this conversation if we hadn't turned?"
Maud frowned. Floyd made me smile.
I saw an opening ahead and prepared myself to have to fight.
"I'll take this one" I said as we neared the room.
"Fine by me" Hawksbill said.
Once we reached it I looked around, seeing that the room was much bigger than the last one. I stepped out into the middle, seeing at least four holes on each side of me. Reaching back to grasp the handle of The Serpent's Stinger, I spun around, taking time to look over each hole.
This room's much bigger than the last, Floyd pointed out, be on your toes. Chances are there'll be more than just two.
"Thanks Captain Obvious" I said out loud.
"Who're you talking to?" Hawksbill asked, looking around the room.
"He's mentally unstable," Maud called from the back of the group, "remember?"
I barely heard them, I was too focused.
"Maybe the room's empty?" Hawksbill suggested.
"Are you stupid?" Maud asked, "It's obviously full of Grimm, or at least a few"
I was starting to sweat. I could feel the Grimm moving around below my feet. It certainly didn't sound like a handful of Beowolves.
Suddenly I heard several loud screeches. Aero covered her ears, "Loud noises." She said, "Loud noises!" She was quite clearly uncomfortable.
As quickly as the screeches had come the Creeps appeared, appearing from the holes in the walls and pouring out. There were at least two to three coming out of each hole. Serpent's Stinger was out, my finger on the trigger hidden right under the guard.
Hawksbill started into the room, but Cerberus held him back. "Let's see what he does" He said simply. Hawksbill stopped, knowing that whether or not he agreed with the large man that he couldn't move.
I barely heard them, my focus was one-hundred percent on the Grimm around me. There were over ten of them, crowding around me and growling.
Two charged out from behind me. I felt the ground vibrate and turned my body slightly, slipping between them and swinging my extendable katana with wicked speed, slicing both in two pieces.
I heard Hawksbill gasp behind me.
Just like that the musty air was full of their screams as they charged all at once. My pointer and middle finger flew into the air, and the world appeared to slow down around me. Scanning the battlefield, I saw several openings between the Grimm. Running towards the right, I dropped to my butt, sliding underneath their gaping mouths and dark bodies. Flailing around my blade, I sliced at least four Creeps into enough pieces to send them back to where they'd come from.
I found myself in a corner and stood, blade in hand and pointed right at the group. They crashed into each other in confusion, but quickly recovered and spun to face me. Stretching out my two fingers again, time slowed in my eyes. Charging forward, I swung my blade, pulling the trigger at the same time over and over again. My blade cut through the first wave, and the bullets tore apart the second. When I appeared on the other side of the room I turned around, seeing a beautiful display of blood red rose petals floating into the air as the Creeps evaporated into nothingness.
Sheathing Serpent's Stinger, I turned to face the group again. "Let's get going then" I said, waving my hand to gesture for them to follow.
Hawksbill just stared. Cerberus pushed him and followed after me. Aero lowered her hands from her ears and followed. Maud came out from the back of the line.
Cerberus nodded as he walked past me. Maud smiled, "Nice" She smirked.
I nodded, "Thanks," I said, turning back to the two remaining candidates. Hawksbill had closed his mouth and was walking towards me. Aero was almost halfway across the room.
"Good job" She said without making eye contact.
"That was rad" Hawksbill said, slapping me jokingly on the back.
"Thanks" I replied.
"How'd you do that?" He asked, "Is your semblance, like, speed or something?"
"Something like that" I replied.
Why don't you just tell him? Floyd asked.
This is still a competition, remember? I pointed out, Sure, I feel good right now, but that's no reason to let my guard down.
Hmph, Floyd snickered, looks like I'm rubbing off on you.
Don't get too full of yourself old man, I told him.
Now I was at the back of the group, and Cerberus was leading. I got the feeling that we'd all be fighting together soon enough though, considering the last room. The first room was just a warm-up, to show us what we're up against. The rest of the trials wouldn't be so easy, that I knew.
