AN/

Hi peeps. sorry sorry this one took a while to upload, I've been meaning to spread them out so I can get some sort of regular pace going (this is my last pre-written chapter). But as usual I've been distracting myself, whoops.

I had a lot of fun writing this one. already had ideas for it before writing chap 2, and was itching to get started on this one. Hope you guys enjoy it as much as I did.

Chapter 3

No place like home

The three hunters walked into the room in a rigid and formal stance, they had to show respect to those that ran Foresight, and they were in enough trouble as it was. With the spotlight on in the centre there was no way to make out the rest of the room, for all of them this was a first, and they had no idea what to expect. When they got to the middle of the spotlight Razlov whispered to the others to let him do the talking, both gave a silent nod. Ashton looked a little nervous but he held his composure, and looked otherwise normal. Zinear on the other hand looked as if he was waiting for the casual inspection, straight faced but as tense as waiting for the bus.

Ha should have thought he would have been the most cool headed out of all of us. Hardly anything get through that calm of his.

After a couple of second the spotlight dimmed a little and the rooms other light lit up, revealing it to be circular with a long high bench that looked akin to something in a court of law. Sitting in the bench were five people, three men and two women, the youngest loot to be in their mid fifties. Each wore dark read cloaks with hoods that covered the majority of their heads casting the eyes in shadow. On both breasts was the emblem for Foresight, all were cast under their own spotlight to add emphasis to them. Below the centre Elder was a podium again under its own spotlight, stood in the middle of the podium directly facing the three hunters was someone every sane person in Foresight both feared and respected, Hunter-Commander Meridyth Synko. She stood there, tall at 6,4" in full armour, with both her hands griping the handle of her Greatsword Flareheart, that was posed in front of her, the blade pointed at the floor. Her long sapphire hair flowing down her back to her waist, whit the odd strand falling over her shoulders, her eyes a icy blue. If she was another woman she would have been called beautiful, and even at times angelic, but not the Hunter-Commander, no she was a different creature. Everything about her emanated command, control and if she wanted...dread.

"Shit" Zinear whispered under his breath, Razlov his insides already turned to ice glanced at Zinear, to see that for the first time in a while his calm demeanour had cracked, and a look of concern marked his face. Razlov turned his attention to Ashton who seemed to be as white as a ghost. He returned his attention to the commander and Elders, and awaited the axe to fall.

"Razlov Drakon, Ashton Clave, Zinear Kitara" she said in a formal tone that left no room for interruptions, "You have deified the Elders wishes and left the Enclaves grounds without permission, undertook unsanctioned actions in the city of Cravos, while still under the guise of Foresight, and injured multiple civilians in the city limits. Do you deny what I have stated is true?" she looked all three in the eye one at a time daring them to counter her report. Razlov took a breath before replying.

"No Hunter-commander I do not deny your claims, they are the truth, well for me"

"Your statement is correct" Zinear followed up

"T-That is c-correct" Ashton stammered, her shoulders relaxed ever so slightly, closed her eyes and took a breath.

"Well that saves a bit of time, the local authorities are angered by the fact that you three went in without permission and interfered with the local law enforcements duties. With the exception of Zinear of course, the people that he interacted with apparently having more pride than sense said they would not report the incident in case it become known. As with the other two the same seems to apply, the police force prefers that they keep the public confidence and have agreed to look the other way...this time. So we are not pressured to punish you further, and that's the question isn't it? How to discipline you three?" all three took an inhale ready for their fate. But before Meridyth could say anything another man stepped out of the shadows off to the far right, he was dressed in a white business suit with short red hair that was equally business like, he wore tinted glasses so his eyes couldn't be seen in the rooms particular lighting.

"Oh I'm sure you can be a little lenient to these three Hunter-Commander" he cut in with a slight smirk on his face

"And why is that Mr Connor?" she glared at him not liking the interruption from the Schnee Dust Company representative assigned to Foresight. The company was one of the major if not the major backer for Foresight, making it partially responsible for the organisation to become as powerful and well know as it is now.

"Because aside from the fact that they seemed to do no real harm, well aside from those who needed it anyways, I have just come off the phone with the local head office and it turns out that the family saved belonged to a SDC surveyor that had found a particularly profitable vein of dust nearby, the demands from those thugs was that he falsifies another report stating that the initial results was a fluke and that the area is in fact not worth the investment. Your little huntsman there saved the company quite a fortune tonight." Mr Connor looked over to Razlov "for which we are most grateful and we try to pay our dues"

"And how are we to explain their escaping the Enclaves grounds? We are also built on discipline, and letting them simply walk free knowing that they have disobeyed orders from us will cause ripples throughout the rest of the compound." Mr Connor pursed his lips in thought before clicking his fingers and letting a smile form on his face

"Ha, they are missing their leader right? Well you could state that it was a test to see if they could perform field missions effectively." He practically beamed at Zinear "well provided they don't go into detail about what they were up to"

"Hmm Mr Conner, it seems you might have some brains after all, however that only individually assess them. We use teams and they haven't been assessed for that, which would make the story almost useless"

"Permission to speak Hunter-Commander?" Raz could hear himself saying

What are you doing you idiot!

"Granted Mr Drakon"

Well I've already put my foot in it, might as well dive in.

"I have asked the leader of team FNTM for a team duel. That could be our team assessment." She closed her eyes and seemed to think it over, before opening and glancing to the SDC rep then holding them on the team.

"Very well, if the SDC believes this to be so important then I will make the necessary arrangements. But bare this in mind, if this happens again you will come away far worse than you should have because of today's events. Is that all?"

"Yes, where is Alex? And why have we been ordered to stay inside the Enclave?" Razlov blurted out, an act which seemed to stun everyone

"You question the Elders authority? Their wisdom? Under what grounds?" she was practically glaring daggers from her eyes. Razlov looked to his friends, Zinear gave a slight head nod and Ashton beamed a wide smile and thumbs up. He used them for courage facing down the most intimidating person he knew.

"My reasoning is that I and my team are going out of our minds doing next to nothing here, our skills and talents are going to waste, and all the while examples like today and worse are going unheeded because we're here. I signed up to Foresight because it would improve me and in turn my abilities could be used to help people and fight the Grimm. We don't doubt you or your wisdom, it's just that if were being sidelined we would like to know what is so god damn special that we have been locked up. Aside from today have we ever given any hint of disobedience or disloyalty?" his fists were balled up with the pent up frustration over the past weeks.

"You are in no position to demand such from me or the Elders, if we deem it-"

"Miss Synko" the centre Elder interrupted by the sound of their voice a man, the Hunter-Commander immediately lowered her head in respect "we have conferred amongst ourselves and believe they should be told the reasoning behind our orders and as to the status of their leader." He then looked over to the team "Alex is on a recruitment run across the ocean, we have heard good reports of the students that attend that academy and believe they might make excellent additions to Foresight. That is where he has been the past few weeks, and we believe a while longer. As for keeping you inside and not allowing communication between you that is of a more concerning matter. Several weeks ago we had a report that a hunter was making his way towards Cravos"

No, please don't be him. But there could be only one hunter that would make them send Alex away, and if it is him...

"Our lookouts have confirmed his identity, it's Geralt" Razlovs heart froze a beat as a chill shot down his spine, there were few people he truly feared, and Geralt was one of them. To say he harboured a grudge against Alex would be understating it, Alex beat him in a contest not long after he joined and Geralt didn't take it too well. After a couple of re-matches that quickly escalated Geralt was finally forced to flee Foresight, but not before killing the rest of his team that tried to stop him, and almost killing Alex. He vowed that day to kill Alex and prove that he was better than him and for payback for making him look like a fool. Since then AZRA (mostly Alex and Razlov) have encountered him several times in skirmishes, each time Geralt's attacks become more intense and brutal, to the point where he uses civilians to lure them in. "We decided it would be best to keep you three on the Enclave grounds until this situation passes, or the Hanta-Kira eliminate him. But it appears we have underestimated your dedication to help others, any other time I would admire that but in this situation it makes matters worse. We will have to set a team of Hanta-Kira to keep watch over you from now on and make sure this doesn't happen again."

"May I say something please Mr Elder sir?" Ashton meekly asked from behind Razlov, even though Ashton was sometimes naive, even childish about things, in situations like this Raz learned to give him a shot. His mind sometimes worked ways around problems that would take the others a bit more time. The lead Elder nodded and allowed the young hunter to continue.

"Well I was thinking that Geralt is a bit single minded over Alex, that's his one and only goal, sort of like me and cake!" he gave a quick smile at the mention of his favourite food, before quickly snapping out of it and realising where he was again. "What I mean to say is, that even if you have us locked up here, he will realise that were on to him and go into hiding again. Except he will be lying in wait for us, with our guard down. And we can't very well tell him that he's not here. I mean it will work for us but he'll go off to find him, and he's the kind of guy how will find the person he's after. So he will find Alex quicker, what I think we should do is let us out on normal missions, but put out over the radio that Alex can't make it out for some reason. That should keep him watching us for a good while Alex completes his mission. Is that a good idea?"

"Hmm, it has some potential. But tell me, what if he grows impatient and decides to attack your team and take you hostage to draw him out"

"He shouldn't try it, without Alex in sight he is quite patient, and trying to capture our team this close to the Enclave would be almost suicide for him. He would have to kill us before the Hanta-Kira could get to us, and that would waste his best bait. If by some chance he does capture us after a while he'll realise that Alex isn't here and let us go before he goes back on the hunt, again he shouldn't kill us because he'd lose his best chance of luring him. Well, that's what should most likely happen, from what I've seen of Geralt he is still unpredictable at the best of times, so there is still a reason to be concerned."

The Elder whispered to the others discussing the idea of the young hunter's plan. After a few moments they returned their gaze to the team. The Elder let out a sigh.

"Very well, we shall allow you to go out on missions. I suppose you would only cause more trouble anyways if we kept you under lockdown. But we have a few conditions, you keep in contact at all times, don't stray far from the Enclave and if you even suspect he is making a move on you, report it in and escape for an evacuation. Are those terms acceptable?" he folded his hands together on the bench he was sitting at, whilst he awaited his reply. He didn't have to wait long as all three nodded their heads almost at the same time. "Very well, I believe that is all for today. Mr Drakon, Clave and Kitara you may leave, we shall make the necessary arrangements for what we have discussed."

The three members of AZRA brought their right fist to their chest, in the Foresight salute before turning and leaving. The moment the doors closed behind them they all let out a collective sigh of relief. Ashton collapsed on one of the chairs closest to the doors, Zinear moved over to join him but in a more casual manner, whilst Razlov made his way to the receptacle.

"Phew, I hope I never have to do that again! Though can't say I don't feel energised from it" Ashton exclaimed before giving himself a chuckle "I felt like I had been caught red handed taking cookies from the jar. Hey Raz, didn't you say in there that you had a duel organised with FNTM?"

"Yeah" Razlov placed Grimmsbane back in its magnetic holders and turned towards his friends "I thought we could do with the change in pace, plus duelling with someone new should keep our skills sharp. No offence guys but I was kind of going bored out of my mind repeatedly training with you" he let a smirk form on his face.

"Tell me about it Raz I almost fell asleep on that last one, hell I almost burnt myself on Starburn" He said flexing his hand at the thought of almost touching the red hot edge of his great executioners sword.

"We do need to be in the mind set for a changing battle, sterile tactics and opponents do no one any good" Zinear chimed in"

"Well if it's ok with you guys I'm going to head back to the dorm, been in this armour for most of the day and I could do with a shower and a change" he made to head off back to the dorm building, the but before he could get far the other two formed on his sides, the walk back through the complex was a much different one from the one he had on the way in, with all the stress now gone it was almost pleasant. He nearly stopped to look at a couple of paintings and decorations, but it had been a long day and he wanted the rest. They got outside and for the first time that night Razlov realised that the moon and some of its shards were partially visible behind the clouds that night. He stopped and focused on his body feeling the slight hum through his veins, it gave when the moon was visible. Unlike most hunters in Remnant, Razlov Drakon was an elemental. People with elemental powers are very rare to find and there are usually only a few know at a time. The Powers of these people take different characteristics, from fire, water, light, dark to even emotions. Though most places barely if at all know of their existence. Most places that do hold them in a regard of fear and hate, as there have been examples of them using their powers for their own benefits or just violence. Razlovs' power was one of light. When the moon shone, he could "boost" his aura almost drawing it off the light of the moon itself, the down side to this is that he doesn't have a semblance like the rest of the hunters and huntresses, also if the moon was out full enough and he decided to draw upon as much as he could, the power would overwhelm him causing him to lose control of his consciousness. The humming he felt was his body involuntary taking in the least amount, which gave him a slight boost to his abilities. After a while Razlov had learned to get used to the slight sensation, eventually almost finding pleasure in it, similar to walking into a warm room on a cold day.

"You coming Raz?" Ashton and Zinear had moved on ahead of him and were now looking back at their temporary leader. Ashton's head was slightly tilted and had a quizzical look to his face.

"Yeah guys, just enjoying the night" he inhaled and started walking again, bringing his hands behind his head. On the way back he noticed the odd patrols form the Hanta-Kira, ensuring the Enclaves security, and safeguarding its secrets. When they finally made it to their quarters, Ashton ran over to the fridge and opened it, and after a moment turned his head to his friends with his mouth full of a slice of cake.

"Mpf mmm hmhmph"

"Ash, eat the cake then talk" Razlov half chuckled, Ashton quickly finished the sweet off and gulped it down.

"I was trying to say we need more cake" he took a breath to catch up for eating the cake so fast.

"Man you need to cut down on that or you'll end up fat...or bankrupt us, and I'd hate to put in a loan request to the headquarters because of your eating habits" Razlov joked, their quarters were the standard issue for member teams. The hall door opened up to a communal area with a kitchen to the left and a dining table directly ahead, past them was a couch and TV set for recreation, off to the side on each wall were two doors leading to each of the members bedrooms. On the furthest wall was a door that led to the bathroom, although with a full team the quarters seemed small, after a while it just seemed to be cosy. Zinear made his way over to the couch and flopped down switching the TV onto a news channel. Razlov looked around the room and realised something was missing; the animal bed near the TV was empty.

"Hey where's Ayla?" the others started looking around trying to find the teams adopted azara fox they rescued on a mission a while ago.

"What about in there?" Zinear pointed to Alex's' room, which was slightly ajar. They opened the door and switched on the light to reveal the small reddish grey furred fox on his bed asleep.

"Think she misses Alex?" Ashton asked, Ayla responded by stretching out.

"No, I think she just prefers the extra bed space"

"Should we shoo her out?"

"Na, she seems happy enough there, and besides I don't think Alex will be back any time soon" Razlov said as he made his way to the shower in the bathroom. As he got in the bathroom Razlov thought about all that happened today, and realised that most likely the next few weeks were going to be interesting.

Two days later

The sun blazed down on the hard dusty ground of arena three, the circular battle grounds were large to allow plenty of room for manoeuvring, with no obstacles. The fighting grounds were also sunken into the ground to allow the spectators bleaches to be out of harm's way, whilst also offering a view. On opposite walls were two large sets of doors, from which the opponents would enters and walk towards each other. From one side strode in three combatants, the other side four other members of Foresight. The three, were Razlov in his armour and Grimmsbane in the middle, Ashton to his left wearing his usual combat gear of a black jacket with orange highlight on its collar, with an orange shirt underneath. Orange arm guards on his forearms, just before his black gloves that have four glowing orange lines down to the fingers each containing fire dust. He was also wearing black trousers with a large lopsided orange belt, attached to it was his oversized revolver Moonshine. His boots also using the colour scheme with black body and orange laces and soles. His weapon Starburn, a great executioner's sword with a small secondary blade on the handle,which he held one handed resting across his shoulder on a metal shoulder plate made specifically for that purpose. On his right Zinear, wearing leather body armour that covered his torso, combat trousers coupled with armoured boots that extended to shin guards. On his arms were a set of gauntlets that came up to his elbows, on the outside of the forearms were extensions that looked like a couple of odd shaped plates. He was covered with a hooded cloak that hid most of this, and gave only a slight glimpse at his facial features. His colouring this time was that of desert camouflage, but that changed depending on the environment.

They got to the centre and faced off against their opponents. On the right was PNTM's team leader Felix Stroyta, a tower of a man with muscles to match, he had short black hair that was peppered with grey, strong blue eyes that could stare down the toughest of thugs. A scar down his left side of his face that was Geralt's goodbye gift last time he was at the Enclave. He wore an oversized chest plate armour with a blue shirt underneath, he also boasted blue and back combat pants and black boots, but no visible weapons. Next in line was Nina Valentine she had thick red hair that was tied into a shoulder length ponytail, emerald eyes and a soft face with highlighting make up applied, yet it still emanated an impression that she could handle herself. She wore a tight fitting tank top that seemed to barely hold her modest bust, and jean shorts that ran down half way her thighs, and white boots that had just a bit more heel than standard ones. Strapped to her back were her precious twin Katana's, her other noticeable feature was a small fox tail indicating that she was a faunus. Thomas Brix was next his long dark brown hair kept in a long ponytail that rivalled Ninas' his brown eyes hidden behind a pair of glasses, the rest of his face seemed a little too long but the fact that it seemed to lack any emotion quickly put that thought out of people's heads, this was a man who has no qualms about taking lives. He wore a dark red, almost brown leather coat that clasped over to his right side, its collar slightly raised almost framing his head. His pants were similar to his coat, the only noticeable difference was a long row of stitches running down one leg, that when Razlov thought about it looked more like a tally than any kind of repair work. On either side of his thigh was a short single handed scythe, almost perfect for close in fights Razlov pondered. The final member was Macey Harvod, the smallest of the group, with short black messy hair that almost always seemed to cover one of her amber eyes, which led to her constantly brushing or blowing it out of the way. To many she was considered cute, with a small frame with only a slight touch of curviness to her. The way she dressed didn't help that image either, sporting a open yellow hoddie and a white shirt underneath with the words "Grimm killer" stencilled across it. She also had typical civilian jeans and trainers, in fact the only thing that really shattered the impression that she could have been a typical teenage girl was the beast of a gun she was carrying cradled in one of her arms over her shoulder. It was a large double barrelled machine gun the top barrel fired her usual rounds while the second lower and larger barrel fired a series of specialised rounds, usually high explosive.

They stared at each other for a few moments, sizing the others up and assessing potential threats, well, probably deciding who was the biggest threat. Felix spoke first in his rumbling voice that large men tend to generate.

"So kids what are the R.O.E?" he asked referring to the rules of engagement for the duel, Razlov looked to his friends then pondered for a moment before giving his reply

"Standard duel, you bleed you're out. Although I would like to ask a favour"

"Oh and what would that be?"

"That we refrain from using our semblances', as it would be our two against your four, and we're already at a...well I suppose you could say disadvantage" Felix stared at him for a few seconds before letting out a rolling laughter

"What kid, you think we aren't going to be a challenge? Looks like someone has brass balls" he gave another quick laugh "well I suppose we could accommodate you, can't have you beat too soon now can we?"

"Oh I think you will be a challenge, I just think we can still beat you though" Razlov smirked

"Ok then, let's get this started then" Razlov nodded his accent and both teams backed off a few paces and readied themselves for the duel. Unlike the other academies the duels at Foresight were much more...deadlier, to the point where most academies who heard of their practices considered them almost barbaric. The rules behind the Enclaves duels were that the match was to continue until someone submitted or blood was drawn due to the loss of aura. The Elders seen this as a way of pushing their members to the limit of their resolve and abilities. After all someone who fights when they are in real danger fights a lot better when they don't have a safety net. Or gives one a chance to come back from the brink of defeat that would have otherwise been lost in standard duel matches, which consist of the losers' aura going into the red. It also made sure that the members were also accurate with their weapons, by causing cuts or small punctures at the critical moment instead of causing fatalities or serious lasting injuries...most of the time. As with any practice or plan it never lasts in reality and there have been cases of such in the duels, but all participants of Foresight are made aware of this before they join. The only real problems were with members who wield blunt instruments who's blows might break through the last of an aura and cause internal damage but not meet the requirements of the duel and draw blood, however such events have made interesting duels as there were times where the pride of some have prevented them from submitting with broken bones and gone on to win said duel, the pinnacle of aspects the Elders expect of their charges.

Ashton looked towards Razlov "Erm, Raz wouldn't not having our semblances also put us at a disadvantage? I mean I can't use my weight manipulation, which would probably help weighing down a couple of them." Zinear also used the calm before the fight to add his own thoughts.

"I concur; my enhanced processing and heightened reflex's could also be of benefit in countering their numbers. But I think I see your counter argument, it would be our two against their four unknown, we could find ourselves countered by theirs, and we would be back to a numbers game or even out matched with their powers. This way it's just skill against skill and the weapons they bring."

Razlov nodded "Yeah, that's pretty much my reasoning behind it" he smiled and took a quick glance at his team mates "besides, I'm pretty sure we can take them" he took a breath and cracked his shoulders ready for the impending fight. His friends readied themselves also, this fight wasn't against common thugs, it was against huntsmen like themselves, highly skilled and physically fit. The other team readied themselves as well, Macey shouldering her gun with her right arm, and holding a horizontal grip that flipped out with her left, her face one of focus but also excitement. Thomas un-holstered his scythes and brought them up to his chest in a cross armed stance, his face remaining stony and impassive. Nina exaggerated reaching for her Katana's, and brought her arms down to her sides, a smile formed across her face with a look that showed that she was going to love the fight. Felix took a deep breath and stretched out his arms. "Bulwark activate!" the chest piece activated several lights and the armour itself started extending across his body, until he was fully encased in what looked like high tech plate armour that made him seem like a giant. AZRA tensed a little at this revelation realising they would have to re-asses the threats.

"So much for fighting what we can see" Ashton quipped

"Well we can see it now I suppose" Razlov replied

"FNTM, strike plan Theta, don't give them a chance to assess the situation!" Felix thundered from his suit. His team nodded then sprinted towards team AZRA, with Felix leading the charge as fast as if he was in normal cloths.

Damn, is that suit also powered? He could be a serious problem!

He had no more time to think as the two teams clashed, Felix attacking Zinear, Macey blasting away at Ashton while Nina and Thomas attacking Razlov. Nina brought her katana's down in an overhead strike which Razlov blocked with the staff of his hammer, but in a flash Thomas blitzed in to slash at his open torso. Razlov used Nina as a counter force and thrust away from the lightning strikes, which only managed to graze his chest armour. Raz launched a horizontal strike with surprising speed given the size and weight of the hammer, speed that could only come from massive amounts of training and familiarity from using the weapon. However he looked like a sluggish brute compared to the swiftness of his male assailant, who merely bent over and evaded the strike before continuing his barrage of slashes. Nina herself then stormed into the action, by launching a flurry of thrusts and stabs at her target from the other side. Razlov was only just able to move the ends of the hammer to hamper both the attacks, but even then he knew the occasional blow landed, but negated most of this by making sure only his armoured areas were exposed to the attacks where possible. With a blink Thomas vaulted over his target and landed over the opposite side of Razlov.

Crap! This guy is unreal!

The second he landed Thomas resumed his relentless attack, now stuck between two opponents Razlov knew he had to do something soon or lose this match, Nina he could handle, her weapons were decently sized so she would be in his preferred attack range, but both attackers had duel weapons which doubled their attacks, and Thomas' were short almost personal range affairs that brought him inside Razlov's comfort combat range, making blocking, countering and attacking him almost imposable, his Achilles heel opponent type if you will.

Ashton also had his hands full trying to get to blows with Macey, who was firing relentlessly at him, fortunately he Starburn was large enough to shield himself from the tempest of bullets darting towards him. He knew if he could just use the grapple on the smaller blade to get close he would have a decent chance. Ashton slowly edged forewords ensuring that the monster of his sword was angled in a way that deflected the rounds, he even tried to roll to the side to throw her off her aim, but every time he did Macey was straight on him, which he realised he shouldn't be surprised at this fact, she was also in Foresight.

"Aw come on out of hiding behind that oversized butter knife, I just want to say hi" Macey shouted at Ashton over the roar of the machine gun.

"How about you drop that toy bb gun, and I'll consider it" he quipped back, which made her pout

"Hmph, it's not a toy! It's a heavily modified squad support weapon...I call her Hailstorm" the mention of her guns name brought her slight smile back. She cocked the support handle and the lower barrel breathed a puff of fire, Starburn flashed in a ball of fire as the specialised high explosive round hit it. The sword took most of the shot but still the kinetic impact and resulting fire and concussive force from the detonation still ate up a bit of Ashtons' aura. The blade edge of Starburn glowed red, the other feature of the great sword was that friction and heat heated up the edge, making it more deadly and any strike made in the air generated a lingering flame.

"Damn, Starburn is heated up but it's still useless unless I can get close, but how? My friends need me" he looked over to his team mates to find Razlov only just able to keep up his defences from what looked like a maelstrom of attacks. Attacks Ash realised he wouldn't be able to hold back for much longer. He took a quick glance at Zinear to find him in a worse situation...

Zinear knew he was in a tough situation, not only did the armour show no real weak points for him to attack and make use of but the armour doubled as a powered suit. Power armour negated the weight of the equipment when activated and sometimes even augmented the users abilities, Bulwark as Felix called it seemed to be that kind of armoured suit. His reflexes and speed seemed like he was wearing nothing at all, which surprised Zinear, fortunately he recovered by the time he came to blows. Felix gave a upper cut to Zinear which he skilfully dodged, Zinear used this opening, he made a slight gesture with his hand and the metal extrusions on his forearms shifted to two short swords fixed to the wrist, one on each arm. He thrust forwards at his attacker, an attack that would have dealt some damage but at the last moment the armour itself shifted to make a rounded surface where the blades were going to strike deflecting almost all of the inertia of the attack, for a brief second Zinear was stunned as he worked out the implications to this, only snapping out of it in time to react to the hook that was making its way towards him. With another subtle gesture his swords turned into half shields, with the mere moments left he turned to face the blow and brought his arms together to form a bigger shield and braced for the impact. When it connected the force was so great that he skidded back a few feet away from his position. He knew he used up some of his aura in that block as he knew the blow would be one that would break a normal person's bones, using the aura to absorb the inertia and force form the blow. Another gesture and the multi forming equipment on his arms returned to their standby state, without wasting a second more he jumped back a few times getting out of range from the armoured giant of a man.

"What's up kid? Did my new look and strength scare you away?" Felix boasted, Zinear just gave a flash of a smile.

"No, just brining one more to the fight...meet Florance" Zinear reached around his back, under his cloak and brought out an odd block of machinery with a trigger assembly on it. He held his arm outstretched and pressed a button, causing parts of it to flip and extend, in an instant he was holding a high tech sniper rifle. The rifle itself when fully extended the barrel alone would have been up to his chest if it was standing up, with a flick he crooked it into his shoulder and aimed at his attacker, not even bothering to look down the variable sight since he knew the gun so well. He pulled the trigger and a sharp crack followed as a high velocity round sped towards its target...only for it to ricochet off, the armour had one again changed, this time to a flat angled surface to deflect the ballistic round. Zinear fired another two, each one having the same effect as the first before realising that the outcome wouldn't change.

"Ha, ha, ha, you could do that all day and not be any closer to winning this fight. Bulwark has an integrated AI that scans incoming attacks and changes the armour's form to counter the attack" Zinear growled at hearing the new information before whispering to himself.

"I can't make a dent in that with the weapons I have, and the armours to thick for whatever I can do won't even affect his aura. But he can continue to attack me at his heart's content knowing that even if I shield myself that it will knock off a chunk of mine" he gritted his teeth

"Now hold still kid so we can end this fight quicker!" Felix roared before charging at Zinear and resuming his attack, Zinear tried to dodge and evade what he could, but with Felixs' abilities augmented by Bulwark, and unable to use his semblance to calculate the best action almost instantly, some blows got in and he was forced to shield himself. Each time doing so using up more of his aura.

Razlov was so focused on trying to defend himself against Thomas that he forgot about Nina, and was reminded about her when he felt his aura being used up protecting himself against her twin stab at his side.

"Aw, Razlov don't you know it's rude to ignore a woman?" she pulled back to launch another attack, Razlov only had an instant to act. He selected the flame dust on his hammer and slammed in down in front of him, creating a small blast of flames in-between him and Thomas causing him to reel back. Then selecting the standard mode, looking back a Nina, he spun his hammer around so the head faced her.

"Don't you know its underhanded to hit a guy in the back?" he retorted, pulling the trigger and causing the head to blast out and strike her in the face, the force launched her back. Her aura absorbed the damage but blunt force blows still somehow caused pain in their targets, and against unprepared ones even caused damage through the aura. She was good enough to only have a tiny portion of the damage transfer which gave her pain in her face and left her momentarily dazed. Thomas by this time had worked his way around and began his assault, however now that Razlov only had him to worry about for the moment he was able to spin in place and bring is weapon to bear and block it, not having to worry about using half of it to protect his side he swung the counterweight towards his opponent to counter attack, who skilfully dodged it moving backwards, Raz spun into the attack bringing the head on a course that would strike, Thomas flexed backwards just missing the blow, when he came back up he seen the counterweight fly up from below, as Razlov turned the return upwards catching him in the torso, the strike winded and knocked Thomas back. He had a few moments to assess the rest of the situation and realise he needed to make a plan, and began to make his way towards Ashton.

After the third special round hit Starburn Ashton was desperately trying to come up with a solution, or else his aura would be whittled down.

"Come on, think, think!" he thought aloud "I would probably win a melee attack, but I need to get close, and with this fire that's almost imposable. I could use Moonshine but that would leave me exposed to the bullets as well, besides the kick back would send me flying. Flying...FLYING! That's it!" he drew his massive revolver using some of his aura to keep the arm holding Starburn stable, then fired a round into the ground as he jumped. The gun fired with enough force that unless he used his aura or gravity semblance to steady himself he would get literally blown back. Aside from using at little aura to make sure his arm wasn't injured he got the rest of it ready to block any stray rounds that might be lucky enough to find its mark. The force of the recoil launched him a couple of foot to the air, then the next second he brought it up and fired again sending him flying off to the side.

"What the hell?" Macey stated in confusion, so distracted he even stopped firing and didn't adjust her aim. Then Ashton, with a smile on his face used the grapple, and hit the ground near her, catapulting him towards her. By now she realised what was going on and with shock on her face desperately tried to train her gun on him, but it was too late, he skidded next to her and immediately went on the attack swinging the sword at her legs from his kneeling position. She only just managed to out jump the strike, but by then Ashton was on his feet, whirling his blade around his body generating the odd flame trail. The first few blows she was able to dodge, just, but before he could do some serious damage she flicked a switch on the weapon that released a hidden bayonet. The blade itself started halfway down the lower barrel and extended out a bit longer from the end of the muzzle, with a smirk she used it to block the attacks, although lacking the finesse of her opponent. Still after a few moments she realised he would get through her defences, which left her with one option. In a window she managed to get she aimed between them favouring the area near Ashton and fired a HE round. This took him by surprise and was dazed by the concussive force and slight smoke from the blast, after a few seconds he got back to his senses to find Macey aiming at him almost pint blank with a smile, he knew that if she fired another HE shot that would probably knock him out of the fight. That was the problem with duelling with strong opponents, even blocking still drained aura, and Foresight had some of the best in the world enrolled.

"Game is up, I'll probably be hit by this as well but I have a felling I can take it, not so sure about you though. So let's save us some time and trouble and you call it quits?" she gloated, as she blew a puff to get her hair out of her face, he knew there was no way to get Starburn up in time to absorb most of the round. He made a face of concentration trying to come up with something in the seconds he had left. He caught movement to his right and glanced at it. Upon resuming eye contact with her he gave a large grin.

"Hope you have some aspirin for this" he asked her, which was met equal parts confusion and tension as she readied herself for his move.

"For what?" she asked, a second before the hammer head struck the side of her face sending her sprawling to the ground.

"For that" he replied to her as she tried to get up dazed, knowing that she was in trouble. "Thanks Raz, she had me in a tight spot there"

"No problem, but we really need to move" he ran past towards Zinear, puzzled Ashton looked to where he came from to find his two opponents were on their way.

"Good call" he told no one in particular and joined Razlov as they went save Zinear.

The punch clipped the shield at an angle, negating most of the attack, Zinear spun to the momentum of the attack so he could keep his balance. When he faced his opponent again he found an extended leg sweeping in for his chest, he dropped down to the ground on his back to avoid it only just making it by the narrowest of margins. Realising that lying on the ground offered no advantage in a straight up fight Zinear immediately rolled away, a second before a fish thundered down where his torso would have been, cracking the arena floor in the process. Zinear darted up to his feet ready for another attack, he figured that if he carried on taking the blows directly they would drain his aura at an alarming rate, so he decided to where ever possible to keep the connection to a minimum, making his attacks only glancing ones. A few more times he tried to attack with his swords and rifle only to make a couple of scratches, nothing more, but typical Zinear he would not give up, either he would lose this fight or find a way to win it, and he wasn't keen on option A.

"You move quick, hell you might even give my Thomas a run for his money, but unfortunately that won't help you unless you can injure me...which you can't, just give up kid, my team will finish off yours soon enough" Felixe's only answer was Zinear's face becoming more harder with determination. So he started walking towards him, to continue the fight to its inevitable outcome. As he got half way there aloud gunshot sounded, Zinear could just see the streak of a large round hit the shoulder of Bulwark, the round hitting with enough force that even though it was deflected like Florance's it still made him stagger.

"The hell?" Felix asked aloud, turning to her direction of the shot, to find Razlov and Ashton charging in. Razlov selected the earth element on the hammer and small chunks of rock began falling from the head, and he proceeded to fire it at Felix's' chest, once it struck it generated a sizable mass of rock at the impact zone, before retracting. "The hell is that supposed to do? Weigh me down? You're going to need a lot more than that kid" Razlov only had a smile to respond to that as Ashton darted in, sliding under a forearm strike from the armoured man, skidding to a halt just in front of him. He raised his arm holding Moonshine and let loose a round, which hit him square where Grimmsbane had generated the rock. The round slammed into it and the force of the impact conducted through to Felix who was promptly thrown off his feet, and slammed to the ground a few meters away.

"Ashton! Whisper mist now! Link to Zinear!" Razlov shouted, as he selected the ice enhancement then squeezed the selector. Grimmsbane then transformed, the head rotating so the spikes lined with the shaft and faced out, then it separated so the head turned into five closely positioned spike heads. He aimed it at the ground in front of them and fired a steady pulse of dust energy blasted out from in between the spikes and creating a quickly growing wall of ice. The moment it seemed to have enough mass Ashton used the dust stored in his gloves to blast fire at it, making it evaporate in an instant, creating a small localised fog field. They then linked up with Zinear in it, only just being able to see each other.

"Sit-Rep, now" Raz asked and once the others finished describing the events of what had happened so far. He took out a scroll on one of his trouser pockets and examined everyone's aura, his was looking bad, about half way, Nina seemed to have really done a number on it. Ashton's was the best but still not looking to good, and Zinear's just a little better than Razlov's. He put it away then started trying to figure out a way to win, he puffed up one of his cheeks, a habit he sometimes done when thinking hard, after what seemed like a couple of minutes his face lit up with a grin...

"So they're trying to hide now? pft" Macey asked while blowing away her fringe, the rest of team FNTM formed up on Felix.

"No, not exactly, they're buying a little time to try to figure out a way to get us" he replied

"Good luck with that" Nina sniggered

"How are you guys?" Felix asked, taking the quick breather to check on his team, they had a couple of grumbles, mainly about "that damn hammer", but they seemed ready to go. He decided to also check their aura levels, Nina and Tom were about the same, the hammer strike seemed to have taken a chunk off, but they were both caught off guard, Macey was the worst, between Ashton's sword strikes that managed to connect, and the slam of the hammer her aura had been badly mauled, coming up to the red marker. He himself was fine, aside from a small bite from that combo attack.

"Look!" Felix was thrown out of his thoughts by Macey's shout, he looked up to see the trio charge towards them, it was then that Felix thought that maybe they were a little too close to the man made fog, as the speed they were going meant that they had mere moments to react...not enough time.

Zinear went straight for Thomas and Macey, launching a flurry of strikes mixed in with shield blocks from his targets counters. Ashton went for Nina striking with enough force that she was forced to use both katana's to block his attacks but he merely changed his footing and manoeuvred into another attack, almost dancing, a well choreographed piece with the flashing of blades and clangs of metal on metal. Razlov went into twirling arks with Grimmsbane repeatedly hitting Bulwark who formed to rounder armour; however as the large war hammer was a brute force weapon that relied solely on direct kinetic damage the force still travelled through negating the defences. Within moments FNTM were on the back foot of the fight desperately trying to regain the initiative.

Macey was the first to go, while attempting to work with Thomas but she was too slow in comparison, leaving her lagging behind his attacks, making them just a string of singular attacks that Zinear could block and counter in sequence. To say it was an easy fight for him would be wrong, as Felix had stated Thomas was indeed quick almost keeping up with Zinear's movements...almost. Scythes would swing in only to find a correctly placed shield in their way, and once the momentum went the shield would convert to a sword and lash out at its target, while the same was done the opposite side, but with less finesse. Eventually Macey's already depleted aura gave out, the instant it did Zinear sensed it and thrust a carefully planned strike at her shoulder grazing it, he was rewarded with her wince of pain and a slight trickle of blood. One down.

The fight with Ashton and Nina was heating up, literally, the very air around Starburn was heating up with the friction off successive parries. Added with the streaks of fire left behind by the edge of the blade meant that Nina had to watch herself whilst also keeping an eye on Ashton. Strike after strike, after strike was met by the others blade in a tempest of blades. Ashton cut high, which was countered by her crossing her katana's. He drew Starburn out and thrust for her centre, she twisted in place to let it pass. She swung one sword down, which he parried with his. Only the odd cut or thrust managed to hit an aura. Then realising that she was near her limit Ashton let out a barrage of fire dust blasts from his gloves, Nina raised her arms to try to protect her face form the inferno. When she opened her eyes Starburn was extended towards her, he brought it back and she could see blood sizzling on the blade. Nina looked down to see a small cut on her torso, the dust barrage had striped what was left of her aura, and Ashton finished her off by thrusting while she was blinded. The second was out.

Thomas despite losing Macey was still holding his own against Zinear, however he was now resorted to defending himself as his opponent had gone on the offensive. Two blades thrust at his face, Thomas hooked them with his curved blades and attempted to twist them away but only found them retracted back to the forearm mounts. He decided to attempt an attack and made a horizontal swipe, which Zinear simply ducked and activated a shield to deflect the attack, with his other he made another thrust towards the abdomen, but Thomas seen the act and jumped back. The personal duel continued in a blur of motion and glittering blades, at speeds that most civilians would consider ridiculous. Then Zinear got his opening, Ashton came out of now where and made a savage cut to Thomas while he was occupied. To his credit he managed to raise his scythes to hook and stop the blade, but he realised too late he had left his back towards his greatest threat. Zinear didn't let him down as he launched a storm of strikes at his back which climaxed to one directed at Thomas' cheek. Thomas could see the blade at the corner of his vision and see a droplet of blood run down it, then feel a trail from his cheek. The third was out.

Razlov went into a fury launching an onslaught of hammer and counterweight blows, even using his own armoured fists every now and again to add more damage, and keep the Felix from recovering. Razlov had no semblance so he made sure that his body made up for it, muscles like steel cords, that when mixed with his speed turned his punches and kicks into blows that felt like freight trains. That when also coupled with his war hammer turned it into not only a heavy hitting weapon but also a speedy one. Razlov landed a blow to Bulwarks shoulder, followed through the strike, and turned it back on his target, the spiked side hit him in the torso. Normally Razlov wouldn't use that side on humans, but seeing how tough Bulwark was, he made an allowance this time. The spikes were met by the defensive reform but unable to make a counter for all the spikes, it simply formed a flat face towards it, again just halting the attack but the resulting force still travelled through. Had it been an ordinary person inside, Razlov was sure he'd be dead by now due to the concussive force tearing up internal organs. Foresight knew how to pick them. Raz then spun to bring the counter weigh tin and angled it to strike Felix's face, then followed through to bring the hammer head facing his targets chest, then repeatedly fired it off, time and time again. The sound of the strikes was almost deafening. Finally Felix managed to recover enough to bring his arms up to block the next shot, then lunged at the smaller person. This took Razlov by surprise and he took a straight punch to the face, any other person would probably be out cold from such a strike, but Raz staggered back and steadied himself, but he knew that punch done a number on his aura, and highly doubted he could take another like that and still have any left. Then from the side his team mates bolted into action, Ashton landing strike after strike, his great sword dealing a little concussive force but nowhere near Razlovs' one, however the heat form the blade made Felix draw his aura to stop himself getting burned as Bulwark heated up. Zinear realising he still couldn't do much resorted to using most of what ever aura he had left to augment his arms and used the shields to bludgeon whatever body part he could get a crack at. By now Felix was reeling back under the onslaught of AZRA, realising that this was probably it. Ashton let out a massive centred vertical strike that sounded like thunder when it connected. Before he had even moved out the way Zinear came in with Florence and unloaded round after round at point blank range, by now Bulwark was over worked and was losing effectiveness, but was just able to halt the bullets, however not deflect them. Although this prevented the penetration, it turned each round into a mini jack hammer. Zinear and Ashton moved out of the way. Felix swayed in place, feeling his whole body ache from the repeated assaults, then he heard a Razlov let out a feral roar, and looked up to see him sprint in at an angle. Just a few meters away Razlov jumped up in a way that made him spin while doing so each revolution increasing is momentum like a tornado. It was with this force that Grimmsbane struck Felix in the face, with the blunt side of the hammer, it connected with such force that it even sent out a mini shock wave of air. Felix was blasted back tearing up the ground as he went, after a few moments his body finally stopped. The other members of team AZRA formed up on their now heavily panting friend, waiting to see what would happen next. Felix just barely conscious retracted his faceplate to reveal a bloodied face, and then he started to chuckle, and in moments it was converted into a roaring laugh. The final opponent was out.

Razlov stumbled to his hands and knees, exhausted. Zinear knelt to also recover. While Ashton just slumped to a sitting position.

"Well that was sure fun" he exclaimed

Zinear simply nodded

"Damn that was close" Razlov added between pants.

"Team AZRA has won" a female voice boomed from around, the team members looked up into the bleachers to find their commander standing watching over them, her face impassive as always, but was that a glimmer of respect in those eyes? "They have proven themselves capable even with their leader away, and so are permitted to continue active missions. You have made the Elders proud today" she then turned and left, the few spectators that had time to watch clapped and cheered the victors.

Finally, time to go and do some real good...but first I think we need a little rest.

AN/

Aaand it's done! I hope that battle was easy enough to follow (I must admit it was a bit difficult trying to describe all that was going on without it getting confusing) I'm looking forward to doing the next fight scene, but it wont be for at least another chapter.

I shall try to make a move on writing the next chapter ASAP(but games and anime are just so shiny!), eta if I manage to focus should be about two weeks form now. Hopefully see you then.

Until then, Chris signing off!