Iro awoke to the smell of eggs and bacon, one of his favorite breakfasts. Iro quickly got up and walked out to the dining room. Iro walked in to see Branco making breakfast, and there were pancakes! Oh how Iro loved pancakes…
Iro hurriedly grabbed a plate and piled it high with pancakes and bacon, added a couple over easy eggs to the top, and added a boatload of syrup, almost overflowing and spilling it over the table. But Iro didn't give it a chance, he quickly devoured it. Branco just stared as Iro ate his stack in under three seconds. Then went and got another plate, and ate that too. Branco was staring in awe for so long his own pancakes had started to burn. Cursing, Branco scrapped the burnt pancakes into the trash and tried again. With a remark aimed at Iro saying.
"You know, I have only ever seen one other person eat pancakes like that, and that fast…." Iro looked up, and, after swallowing his mouthful of pancake covered syrup, asked;
"Who is that?"
Branco smiled, "Nora Valkyrie."
"Who?"
Branco's smile died, "You don't know who Nora Valkyrie is?"
"Uh, no." Iro stated like it should be obvious.
"Nora Valkyrie is a great fighter with bright red hair and wields a grenade launcher that changes into a giant hammer. She is a very destructive person with a super happy personality. And she isn't shy about her violent nature, in fact, you can hear her frequently talk about offering to break people's legs, specifically Cardin's. She is almost always paired with a man named Lie Ren, and you don't want to go against them in combat class. Though Nora's hand to hand skills could be better, with her hammer, she almost doesn't have an equal here at school."
Iro just took that in, and was completely paying attention as he had went back to his delicious pancakes…..
Branco sighed, realizing that he had lost Iro at some point but didn't want to explain it all again. Branco glanced at the clock, it was a quarter after seven, classes start at seven thirty. Branco then asked Iro, who had finished his pancakes and was just sitting there, relishing the slowly disappearing flavor.
"Are you going to go to classes today?"
Iro thought on this for a moment, before nodding, "Yeah, I can go to class today, what's first?"
Branco thought for a moment, "We have history first, at seven thirty-"
"Seven thirty! Why didn't you say so?! I have to go get ready." Iro then rushed to his room to get dressed. Branco, who was already dressed, just sat and ate his pancakes, which he had finished when talking about Nora. Iro was dressed and ready to go by the time Branco was done with his pancakes. Iro then walked over and grabbed his dishes, taking them to the sink, and began washing them. When he finished, Branco had finished cleaning up and grabbed his books, then led Iro to history class.
Iro followed Branco back through the twisting pathways of the school, some hallways seem a bit more familiar this time... But he can't dwell on that. Branco finally stopped somewhere in the east wing of the school, and entered a door on the left. They entered a room that looked almost like a lecture hall. Which Iro would soon find out that most all the classrooms are like that. They had dark green chairs with small sliding placements that folded down next to the chairs, each row of chairs was a little higher than the one before it, giving it that stair-like and lecture hall quality.
Most of the room was filled with students, he saw Yang sitting down near the front. Next to her was a girl with black hair and dark red tips, dressed in a matching black and dark-red combat skirt with black leggings. The girl had silver eyes that he could see even from this distance. She also was wearing black leather shin-high boots with silver buckles, she had a belt that had what looked to be sniper rifle bullets along her left side with a small pouch similar to Yang's on her right hip. She also had a black, long-sleeved blouse with silver buttons and buckles as well as a red hood held to her by two cross-like broches. Yang smiled when she saw Iro, but that smile faded slightly when she saw Branco next to him.
At the front of the class was a woman with a pixie cut of dark-purple hair, she had a pair of thick-rimmed glasses that matched her hair that framed a pair of aquamarine colored eyes. The woman also had on a long-sleeved shirt that faded from the aquamarine-blue at the top to the dark purple of her pants, with a variety of colors in-between them. Holstered at her hip was what looked to be a punch dagger, with four loops for the fingers and a handle that could possibly hold a crystal, the punch dagger had a six-inch blade sticking out the bottom, with four small knives sticking out from the finger loops. There was also what looked to be an attachment to it on the other hip, which looked to change it into a pistol, but he didn't know how, he will have to ask her about it sometime, Iro had thought.
She had a smile on her face as she beheld Branco and Iro.
"Ah, Just in time there Mr. Maroon, and who is this?"
Branco stepped forward and bowed slightly, when he stood he gestured to Iro saying;
"This is my new roommate, Iro Bleu. He was hoping to join in on the classes early, if that is alright with you, Mrs. Fialka?"
"Yes, quite alright with me. Nice to meet you Mr. Bleu, please take a seat. We are currently talking about the history of remnant, seeing as how this is history class after all, and we are talking about how it began as a review for the upcoming test in a couple days, which you don't have to worry about Mr. Bleu, nor does anyone else who is going to start this semester as their first year. The rest of you, good luck." With that, she stalked back off behind her desk and gathered some papers. Walking back in front she began a long explanation about how humans were created, and how we soon became attacked by the creatures which we know of as Grimm. Vile things, made of darkness, destruction, and pure evil.
"These creatures do not have a soul, so if you see one, do not expect mercy. They live on anger, hatred, and most powerful of all, fear. There are several that we do know of, like; the King Taijitsu, a giant snake that, if old enough, has two heads. Followed by Beowolves, large man-like wolves, they like to travel in packs and follow alphas, usually the longest living of the pack, as well as the most powerful. We also have Ursa, who are four-times the size of the normal man at least, they are large, bear-like creatures. You also have the Boarbatusk, creatures that resemble a boar, hence the name, they have long tusk that they use to catch swords and attack from a distance. These are just a few of them, we also have the Nevermore, Deathstalker, Creeps, Griffons, Goliaths and much, much more."
She also told of how we created Dust; a supernatural energy source that powers just about everything today. "There are many different uses and kinds of Dust. The reason it is called "Dust" is to remind us of where we came from, so that we never forget. Some of the uses are in weapons, others in energy, and much more. There are four basic types of Dust, which, if combined, can create other kinds of Dust types and properties. But we will get into that on a different day. We used this Dust to fight the creatures of Grimm and create what is now known as the "Four Kingdoms", Vale, which is where we are, Vacuo, Atlas, and Mistral. Each of these kingdoms continue to train their own huntsmen and huntresses to battle and protect us from the Grimm."
As she was about to continue, the bell rang, signaling the end of that class. "We will continue this tomorrow, I want you to read chapters one to seventeen by tomorrow." Mrs. Fialka shouted over the bustle of people moving in and out of the class.
Iro just followed Branco out and down the hall, as he was walking, Iro got tapped on the shoulder, Iro glanced over his shoulder to see Yang and the other girl he saw earlier. He turned and greeted Yang.
"Hey Yang, how's it going?"
"Eh, not too bad. By the way, this is my sister, Ruby." She said, gesturing to the girl next to her. Iro and Ruby studied each other, before Iro put out his hand, smiling and saying;
"Nice to meet you Ruby, my name's Iro." Ruby smiled back at this and shook Iro's hand while slightly giggling.
"Well, we have to get to weapons class, what's your next class?" Yang asked.
Iro pulled out his paper, and, after looking it over, replied;
"I have combat class, then physics. Followed by math and then weapons class."
"Ooh, combat class, one of my favorites. Ruby's favorite here is the weapons class." Ruby's eyes lit up at that, and Iro was trying to figure out why... Then he remembered Yang talking about how she was a weapon's fanatic.
"Yeah, I'll bet. With all the interesting and different weapons, I am hoping to get a good look at some of them." Ruby's eyes widened at Iro proclamation.
"You like weapons?" Ruby asked, Iro noticed that her voice still had a childish ring to it.
"Sure do, my dad was a weapons specialist, so he taught me quite a bit about weapons. I am fascinated by them, I love trying to figure out how they work…." Ruby was nodding when Iro had finished talking.
The bell rang then, startling the small group, and signaling the, that classes were going to start. So they parted with promises to talk later. Iro turned and found the Branco had disappeared, probably during his conversation with Yang. Luckily, Iro had his map on him, he looked at the closest door's number and then studied his map. If he ran, and didn't get lost, he might make it in time. So Iro took off, hoping he was going the right way.
Iro had gotten turned around a little, he eventually made it to the class. Upon walking in, he discovered a training room, with equipment lining the walls, ranging from large bags to small hand targets. There were even a couple fake knives and guns hanging on one wall. The floor was wooden, with mats piled in the far left corner. The walls were a light brown in color, with the wooden floors being a bright tan. There was already a group of people training, hand to hand combat from the looks of it. Standing a couple feet away from them was one of the men from the day before. The blonde man was wearing the same tan cargo shorts and combat boots, with a dark leather vest over a tan button-up shirt. With an arm brace on his right arm. He looked towards the door and saw Iro entering, and called a stop to the class for a moment.
"Ah, and you must be Iro Bleu." He said in a slightly angered and disappointed tone.
"Yes, sir." Iro responded. The man's eyebrows rose just ever so slightly at hearing manners come from this boy who got Yang in-trouble.
"Well, okay then. Mind explaining why you're late?"
"First-day sir, I got lost on my way here."
"Oh did you?" He asked sarcastically. "Well, if you wouldn't mind, I would like to borrow you for a demonstration." He said more like a statement than a question, but Iro still responded with;
"Sure, I can do that." Iro then set his bags off to the side with everyone else's and approached the man. The man held out his hand, saying;
"My name is Taiyang Xiao Long." Iro reached out to shake his hand, when Iro's hand touched Taiyang's, Taiyang quickly twisted Iro's wrist and had him on the ground in seconds.
"I am going to ask you to get out of this in a moment, and I want to see if you can, no punches or kicks, just manipulation. You versus me, how does that sound, Mr. Bleu?" He issued his challenge in a whisper, like it was just between them. Iro just turned his head to the man, smiled, and nodded his head in agreement. Taiyang sneered at Iro, thinking about trying to make him pay for getting Yang in-trouble. Taiyang, once he got his plan set, told Iro;
"Try to escape." Before Taiyang even finished his sentence Iro was out, having twisted his wrist even further in to get his opening to pull his arm out.
He was soon standing back up and facing Taiyang again. Taiyang felt righteous fury surge through his veins and he attacked Iro, trying for an armbar. He faked a punch towards Iro's face to get him to block, which Iro did, Taiyang then grabbed one of Iro's arms and pushed it towards Iro's chest then twisted it down and back around to the other side of Taiyang's body. Iro just went with it, and when Taiyang pulled his arm away from him, Iro somersaulted over and twisted Taiyang's wrist with his roll, causing him to let go. Taiyang was soon facing Iro again, Iro was getting nervous, he didn't know why his teacher wanted to get back at him, but it wasn't good.
Iro then remembered what Yang had said, about this man being related to her, and then it clicked. Taiyang was trying to get back at him for getting Yang in-trouble. Iro sighed, then noticed Taiyang glaring at him, he then snarled saying;
"True hand to hand combat now, everything's allowed." Iro tipped his head slightly, trying to figure out how to get this to work. Soon Iro was stumbling back away from Taiyang, as he threw punch after punch, Iro was finally backed up against the wall with Taiyang still coming at him, Iro froze, then his instincts kicked into overdrive. When Taiyang pulled his arm back to deliver another punch, Iro made his move. He placed a foot on the wall and launched off of it past Taiyang's other side, avoiding his right arm. Iro rolled and quickly stood up, he then attacked Taiyang's back. Taiyang spun, now realizing the situation he was in, and put his arms in a defensive position. Iro faked a left leg front kick towards Taiyang's stomach, and when he lowered an arm to block it, Iro threw a punch towards his face. Taiyang saw his mistake and used his other arm to block Iro's punch.
Taiyang them planted a foot in Iro's stomach and kicked him away. Iro dropped into a fighting stance, same as when he fought Cardin, and waited. Taiyang was studying him, trying to figure out what Iro can do through the stance he was in. Finally, Taiyang smiled evilly and gestured for Iro to continue. Iro, thinking it was a trap, rushed away from Taiyang, who thought Iro was running so he charged after him. Iro wasn't heading for the door though, he was heading for the wall next to it, which Taiyang didn't realize until it was too late. Iro reached the weapons wall and pulled off a couple knives and a sword. He then threw some of the knives towards Taiyang with deadly precision. Taiyang actually had to stop his charge to block and dodge some of the knives. Iro held onto one though, and switched it to his left hand, holding his sword in his right. Iro then lifted his arm to throw the knife, Taiyang dove off to the left and was now in the center of the room. Iro, taking advantage from Taiyang's dive, had also grabbed an ax off the wall.
Taiyang growled, this was getting out of control, his opponent was now armed. So Taiyang charged, not caring about anything else. He then blocked Iro's ax with his arm-brace and curved his body away to avoid the sword stroke, Taiyang then upercutted Iro's jaw, stunning him long enough for Taiyang to tackle Iro, who lost his weapons when he hit the ground. Taiyang was soon on top of him, with one hand holding Iro's right hand off to one side, with his other pulled back into a fist. Taiyang stared down into Iro's multicolored eyes, searching for something. He didn't find it, Taiyang then just growled out;
"Do you concede?" Iro smiled, and Taiyang felt something poke his front right ribs. Taiyang looked down to see the knife Iro had pretended to throw earlier, pressed into his side, hidden from everyone. Taiyang smiled down at Iro, Iro then felt something pressed against his head, glancing out of the corner of his eye, Iro could see one of the fake guns from the wall. Iro began to chuckle, which turned into a full on laugh, which he then dropped the knife and said;
"You win." Taiyang then let Iro stand, Taiyang was hardly breathing hard while Iro was sweating a bit and panting. They shook hands and Iro bowed slightly to Taiyang, now holding a deep respect for him. Taiyang just patted Iro on the back, laughing himself now, banishing his earlier attitude. Iro smiled, and they then continued on with the class until the bell rang. When everyone else was filing out, Iro approached Taiyang and asked;
"Mr. Xiao Long-"
"Please, call me Taiyang when we aren't in class." Taiyang interrupted, with a bit of mirth, the complete opposite of his attitude when they first met.
"Okay, Taiyang… I was wondering if you would be able to teach me, outside of class. You are one of the best fighters I have seen in hand to hand, so if you wouldn't mind… please?"
Taiyang thought on this for a moment, Yang could use another sparring partner, especially after what happened to the last one. At that thought Taiyang grimaced slightly, then looked at Iro, seeing the fire in his eyes… "Yeah, I can do that. I will give you a schedule tomorrow."
"Okay, thank you." Iro said with a sigh, he was slightly elated at his answer.
"Now run off to your next class, don't want you to be late again." Taiyang said with a smile.
"Okay, bye. Thanks again." Iro shouted, running out the door with his bag.
When Iro was gone, Taiyang sighed, and thought; how am I going to explain this to Yang... He was thinking about this until the next bell sounded and he was staring at his students.
Iro's day went just about the same as it started. The teachers excused him from being late because it was his first day. He took a liking to the physics class, because it made him think of how he would use physics while in a fight, like how some people used the force of a gunshot to propel them or their stacks forward to deliver more force, and just stuff like that. After physics there was lunch, nothing exciting happened there, Cardin was glaring at Iro, who was sitting by himself, across the cafeteria.
Math was the class after lunch and wasn't his strong suit. But part of being a weapon's specialist made his dad an expert on angles and opposing forces and exactly how much force to apply to someone's arm before it broke, things like that. Weapon's class was canceled for that day, and so, since it was Iro's last period, had the rest of the day off. So he began walking back towards his dorm.
Iro dropped his bags off in his room, seeing that Branco wasn't in, and was thinking of what to do when a thought came to him. Iro rushed back to his room and grabbed his schedule, he began looking for something, a class he hadn't seen on his curriculum. Aura classes, it wasn't on his schedule, anywhere. Iro was muttering to himself, trying to figure out why, when a thought struck him.
What if Aura classes are not available to first years?
Iro thought about it, it made sense in a way, he'll have to ask Branco or someone about it. Iro decided to head over to the Aura area anyway, to see if he can catch the tail end of a class or something. Iro put his schedule back in his folder and walked out of his dorm, over to the Aura area. Nobody was there, but that didn't bother Iro, he occasionally likes to just sit and think to himself.
So he sat and just thought about the events that had happened that day. Iro was so lost in thought that he didn't notice that someone was standing next to him until they spoke.
"Hello, and what might you be doing here?" Iro was so startled that he fell to his side and was scrambling to stand up and find out who had spooked him so.
Iro looked at the woman who had scared him so, her wide smile that barely contained a laugh behind, which escaped in small bursts of giggles, were framed by bright fire-orange hair that curled around her face. Her hazel eyes were lit from within by her mirth, shining with a hidden spark. She was wearing a forest green t-shirt with an orange vest. She was also wearing a pair of dark-blue pants that ended on top of a pair of dark red boots. She was like a rainbow of colors come to life.
Iro finally schooled his features into a frame of calm, cool, and collectedness.
"My name is Iro, and you?" The lady finally managed to get her laughter under control enough to give her name.
"Myriad, Myriad Kleuren. Now, what are you doing over here?" She asked with a smile.
"Oh," Iro was trying to think of how to explain it, then just decide to spit it out. "I originally came to try and see if I could watch the Aura class or something, because I saw how it wasn't on my schedule and I was wondering why. When I saw that nobody was here I decided to just sit and listen to my thoughts and go over the day."
Myriad just stared at Iro, processing what he had said, then responded with.
"Oh." She thought for a bit more, and decided to tell the young man next to her. "Well, I am the teacher for the Aura classes, and you aren't allowed to start Aura classes until the second semester, unless you have had previous training with people and already have your Aura, like some of the descendants of previous huntsmen and huntresses."
Iro took all that in,
She looked a bit young to be a teacher, but then...
Iro then slouched, just barely noticeable, you would have needed to be paying attention to notice Iro's shoulders drop ever so slightly. Which Myriad did notice.
"What's wrong?" Iro sighed at Myriad's question.
"My parents, both of them, were huntsmen. And they did teach me a bit of what they know. They even tried to teach me about Aura, but they couldn't ever help me unlock it. My dad's semblance was even something that people haven't seen before, it was rare. My mom's had telekinesis, it was a bit week though, and she could use dust to empower the object she was lifting with its properties, but it weakened her incredibly. They both had such amazing abilities, and they couldn't get me to unlock mine. It was kind of a sore spot for me. Maybe you will have better luck." Iro added the last part dryly.
"Maybe I will." She said lightly, glancing towards the training area. "Since there doesn't seem to be anybody else here at the moment, would you like to try and start? I won't tell anybody…" She said with a small smile.
Iro looked around himself, not really seeing many people heading this way he nodded in agreement. They walked out to the center of the Aura training area, once they got there, Myriad started asking seemingly random questions, which Iro answered, some with a sigh or two…
"What is your favorite color?"
"Blue" Myriad gave a small smirk, but quickly hid it before continuing on.
"Which side is your dominant side?"
"My right side."
Myriad kept asking questions until, finally, she stopped. People had started walking towards them. Myriad then proposed an option to Iro.
"Would you like to stay for class? Just sit along the side maybe, listening…"
Iro shrugged his shoulders, "Why not? I don't have much else to do tonight." He responded.
Iro walked off the sand and sat down near the edge. Others started arriving, some in packs, talking amongst themselves, others alone, and they all walked onto the sand, some taking off their shoes, but they all eventually got in even rows in front of Myriad.
Myriad nodded her head to the class, and they slightly bowed in turn. "Today," She started, "We are going to start off with explanations of Aura, and how it can be formed into semblances, as well as how to unlock it all by yourself. We will finish by practicing our Aura in mock battles, those whose answers I like the best will get to skip the first round."
One student raised his hand, Myriad nodded at him to go ahead.
"Aura, if concentrated upon, can be formed into a semblance, a special ability unique to the owner, although some may be similar to others. Everybody living creature has an Aura, except for the Grimm, who I would like to think are not actually living, hence no Aura. Everybody, with practice, could have a semblance, there are some that don't though." Myriad nodded, it was a good answer. But it missed a couple things,
"Okay, that was good, but what about unlocking your Aura, and eventually, your semblance?"
Another student raised their hand, a girl this time, another nod urged her on.
"Aura can be unlocked by everyone by themselves, through a hardship or emotional trauma, or it can happen on accident, the same with semblances. For some, however, they need help to unlock their Aura, but only those skilled, and powerful enough, can help someone unlock it. Some can unlock it through training, but this is very hard and stressful to do."
Myriad nodded, "Alright, you two get out of the first round, everyone else, pick your partners." And with that, the group descended into chaos for a short period of time, Myriad had walked over to Iro and asked him;
"Did you get that?"
Iro nodded, he understood most of it, enough to start anyway. Myriad looked back to see the students in groups, cheering each other on while other students practiced the more, combative side, to their semblances.
Iro stood and looked at Myriad, seeing a flicker of purple as the sun's last rays hit her.
"Thank you, I will think on this."
"Come back tomorrow, we can practice ourselves after my classes."
Iro nodded and started walking back to his dorm. Halfway there he ran into a really tired-looking and sweating Ruby, who had run up to Iro and was currently doubled over trying to catch her breath.
"Hi Ruby, what are you doing out and about?"
Ruby, still panting, responded in between breaths.
"I have…. been look….ing for you. I was sent….. by….. Mr. Xiao Long….. To get…. and remind you…. about your classes with him…."
Iro nodded, "Thanks Ruby, I had forgotten about that." Iro then started walking off towards the school. Ruby waited to catch her breath a little bit, before hurrying a bit to catch up to Iro.
"Wait up! I have to make sure you get there, Yang said you like to get lost when walking around school and that you actually got on Mr. Xiao Long's bad side because of getting to his class late and…." Iro soon couldn't keep track of what she was saying, she was speaking too fast, he caught the occasional word, but not enough to get what she was getting at. Eventually, which was a partial relief to Iro, they made it to the classroom, to which Ruby said;
"Well, this is where I leave you. If I am seen here they may try to get me to participate as well, and that is not something I want to look forward to…" She trailed off, "Okay then, bye!" and with that she turned around and sprinted down the hallway. Iro looked back towards the door and walked in.
Iro walked back to his dorm with more than a few bruises. He didn't even fight Yang tonight, she hadn't even shown up. Taiyang had told Iro that she had stuff to do during the nights and so it would just be them training after-school.
And that's how his next couple months of school went, starting off with history and slowly working his way to weapons class, who's substitute teacher was a skinny, blonde haired man with a pinched face and a high-pitched voice that annoys almost everybody, who also has a liking for yellow and orange clothes, and favored a staff to beat us from a distance when he actually faces us in a fight.
He was training everyone with a different weapon each week, sometimes throwing a random battle with one of the weapons that they already learned, to see how much we still remembered.
Iro would then go to his combat classes with Taiyang, which he would finish getting just a little better every night, or so he hopes. After which he would then go to the Aura training classes and match his physical exhaustion with mental exhaustion. Suffice it to say, Iro never had trouble falling asleep at least… He got up early in the morning to work on his school work before his classes if he fell asleep before doing it the night before.
Every Saturday after breakfast, Iro would then write a letter to his parents to tell them how the week had progressed and what happened. He had been hoping for a reply by now, but he knew that they were usually quite busy; "Being huntsmen after all is never boring." His mom once said.
One day he was the start of him having an absolutely awful week, most all the teachers were on edge and took it out on the students, which somehow they all seemed to target Iro, or so he thought. He couldn't take it anymore and finally snapped, except when he did, it was at one of the worst people to do it at.
Iro had gotten up that morning to find that he was late, he lost his books, and Branco was already rather ticked at him for no apparent reason. SO as Iro started to head for class, Iro forgot which one was first, he knew that history was rescheduled for later that day, and math had been canceled, so Iro was lost.
Iro was just so frustrated, finally he just sighed and decided to pick a random class, he was going to be late anyway. So he chose physics and started working his way there, only to find that they had a really big surprise test, and that they had moved to a new location because of it. Cursing, Iro started sprinting down the nearly empty hallways, trying to remember where the test room was, luckily he guessed right, but it wasn't good luck. He got to the room and opened it, to find that the test had already started, Iro let himself in and sat down at a desk, where one of the teacher's helpers made his way over and deposited the test and told Iro that he had about a half hour left.
Iro just sighed, set his mind into that determined, calm outlook, and began to work, pencil scribbling furiously. The test had been harder than most of the ones he had taken before, twenty-five hard minutes later, with his hand slightly cramping, Iro sat back and looked over his work, checking the answers. After that, Iro just sat there, massaging his hand and relieving the kinks until the teacher stood and told the class to stop.
One by one, row by row, the students got up and walked down to deliver their tests. Once Iro got there, the physics teacher: A man of grass-green hair and a blank looking face with a nose that seemed two sizes too big for his face, liking to wear a pair of khakis over leather dress shoes and a green polo shirt, same color as his hair. He also had sea-foam green eyes, which seemed confused as Iro handed the man the test.
"Mr. Bleu" He had a nasally kind of voice, "What are you doing here? This is a third-year test, and didn't you have weapons class right now?" Iro just looked at the man, confused, then his mind cleared and he remembered.
"Thank you Mr. Vert, and sorry for disturbing your class." Iro hurriedly said, bowing slightly, before spinning around and rushing for the door, leaving the test on the desk. Casually Mr. Vert bent down and picked up the test, leafing through it his eyes slowly started getting a bit wider, quickly he set the test down.
Iro was rushing through the halls, hoping to make it to the class still, if he remembered correctly, the class should be about two hours, and he only spent one on that test. Iro nearly slammed into the door, opening it, and rushed into the room, dropping his bag off near the door.
Iro ran into the room and saw movement in the corner of his eye, he dropped to his knees, his momentum carrying him underneath and past a sword stroke. Iro then rolled to his feet, turning when he stood and looked around the room as his back hit the wall. He saw other student's bodies littering the floor, with about twenty or so still standing. He saw the teacher off to one side of the room, leaning against his staff.
"Well, well, well. Mr. Bleu, so glad you could join us. We are currently having a free-for-all, last man, or woman, standing wins. And you just walked into the middle of it."
Iro looked around the room, on the far wall, next to the door, were the weapon racks, so he can't get a weapon from there. Taking quick glances around him on the floor he saw a couple knives, a mace, two swords, one a short sword the other an old foreign design, and a staff all within ten feet of him, but guarded by his opponents. Iro was facing a large number of opponents with a variety of weapons, the best weapon to go for, due to the numbers, was the staff, but there were a lot more people in that direction.
Iro decided what he was going to do as they started circling him. He could hear the teacher's voice ring out through the room.
"The first one to take Mr. Bleu down gets to take a short rest, knock him out and you win."
That certainly gave them the kick they needed, and they all charged Iro, but he wasn't there. Iro was running towards the staff. When people noticed this, they went to cut him off from it, thus giving Iro a chance towards what he really wanted. Iro was still running towards the staff when one of the larger boys in the class stepped in front of him, wielding a large double-handed hammer, which he swung overhand towards Iro's face.
Iro side-stepped the strike without losing too much momentum, hearing the crash as the Warhammer broke through the wooden floor, Iro turned sideways and planted his right heel, with all his momentum and force, into the man's gut, sending him flying into two others, knocking them all to the ground. Iro then used the rebounding force from his kick to launch towards the weapons he really wanted, the two swords, which he grabbed as he rolled past them, now standing in the middle of the room.
Wielding the short sword in his left hand and the foreign sword in his right, a katana, if Iro remembered correctly, Iro dropped into a sword stance his dad taught him; short sword in front and diagonal across his chest with the larger sword up, horizontal, just above his head.
Iro launched himself towards a small group of sword wielders, forgetting defense for the moment. Iro sliced the small sword down diagonally followed by the katana, effectively knocking his opponent's sword out of the way with the small sword, which he took advantage of with the larger sword, cracking it against the man's head. Bladed weapons are dull, but they still hurt. Iro then brought the katana and short sword up in a cross-block to block another opponent's sword, sweeping the short sword, and his opponent's, off to the side Iro then slammed the katana's hilt into the boy's face, breaking his nose.
My dad taught me how to protect myself, not how to just hold a sword, but to use it! Iro thought furiously, ignoring training and letting instinct take over, giving way to all those lessons his father had ingrained into him, hours of going over the same move, over and over. His dad had taught him that when facing superior numbers, either you play it smart, or you do it all based on instinct, and sense he was a bit drained mentally, instinct it is.
Iro side-stepped right to avoid a slice from an enemy behind him, he elbowed that boy in the face, then spun and struck him in the neck with his katana. Iro raised his short sword in a slanting angle to deflect another sword strike, kicking that girl in the gut, and sending her into the wall, knocking the wind out of her. The whole thing took only a couple minutes, but it felt like tens of minutes, and he took out four,
Out of how many? Iro's brain asked, but his warriors gut shut down his brain for the moment and got back into the fight. And just in time too, Iro leaned to the side as a mace barely missed his head, crashing into the wall and getting it stuck there. Iro glanced over his shoulder just long enough to plant a back kick in the person's solar plexus, dropping the guy to his knees. He then saw that he was cornered, enemies facing him on all sides, Iro just smiled and dropped into a defensive stance, which just seemed to irritate them more.
Three of them charged, the one in front with a sword and shield, the left with a two-handed battle axe, and the right with a pair of kama.
Like mom's… was Iro's stray thought that pierced his battle mindset, that just got him angry, very angry. One moment the three were charging him, the next they were on the ground, the one with the kama and the guy with the ax unconscious, the guy with the sword and shield got up again. Iro was impressed with the man, who then charged Iro again, expertly wielding his weapons.
Iro blocked his sword only to be struck in the chest with his shield, shoving him against the wall. Iro lost his grip on the short sword, which the man took advantage of, backing up just enough to swing his sword at Iro's now unprotected left side. Iro brought his other sword in front of his body to block the incoming sword, but wasn't fast enough to escape completely, as the sword thunked into his side, making him wince slightly, but that pain is to be focused on later. Iro then, using both hands on his katana, which gave a shorter reach but more speed and maneuverability, spun his sword around and struck the man's wrist, making him drop his sword. Iro then placed his feet on the wall and lunged against the shield-wielder, effectively shoving him back into the group.
More of them just looked at Iro, now holding one sword and smiled evilly, before they had been intimidated by how easily Iro took down at the small group, but now… Two of the group split off and approached cautiously, one dual-wielding a knife and a sword, holding them in a similar position as Iro had been a bit ago. The other was holding a pair of sai, a three-pronged knife with one, foot-long metal bar in the center, with two more splitting off horizontally from the hand-guard and then angling upwards, made for catching and trapping swords and staffs.
Iro was a bit more cautious around these two, they seemed as skilled as his last opponent, and they wielded weapons that would be rather deadly to a person wielding only one sword. Iro decided to stack the dual-wielder first, opening with a diagonal cut for the head with enough force behind it to be dangerous if not blocked. The man cross blocked like Iro did earlier, but Iro knew how to lead off of that and avoided it by retrieving his sword quickly and aimed slice after dangerous slice, with sickening speed and force behind them, his opponent could only retreat, which is when the other man stepped in.
Kicking Iro's sword strike away from his partner, the sai-wielder entered the fight now. Spinning with the force of the kick, Iro spun around with his sword swinging for his opponents head-
Only for it to be stopped in its tracks. The man had made an x-block as well, but by interlocking the side prongs to help evenly distribute the force, as well as reinforce his block.
Definitely trained. Iro confirmed.
His opponent then locked Iro's sword in place and kicked towards Iro, who just blocked the kick with his own leg. The dual-wielder chose that specific time to re-enter, swinging his knife down towards Iro's hands. Iro just kicked the man's elbow, hyper-extending it and making him drop his knife. He then gripped his own sword with both hands and tried again. Iro couldn't do anything so he let go of his sword and leaped back, nearly tripping over a discarded battle-axe. Iro stumbled backward, and the crowd closed in on him further, with his two current opponents in front.
Iro looked around and found that people had been around and had been picking up the weapons on the floor and depositing them outside the circle, he now didn't really have any weapon, as his opponents were now standing above the battle-axe he just tripped over, and that was the only weapon in the circle.
The guy with a sword stepped forward again, and Iro put up his hands, determined to fight on. As the sword descended in a diagonal stroke, Iro stepped into the path of the blade, overlapping his opponent's hand with one of his own. Iro guided the strike to follow through, extending the man's arms again, placing his right arm at his elbows, and pulling on the hands holding the sword with his left Iro forced the man to let go, or risk him losing his arms. Iro then brought the sword back up and down onto the man's skull with a sickening crack! Effectively knocking the man unconscious.
Iro, now holding a sword yet again, faced his opponents. Now his brain won through, configuring numbers and his own condition, Iro soon learned that there were too many for him to take on by himself in his current state. Iro just growled a challenge, not ready to give up. This apparently made a few people gather the courage to attack him again, and another person who had just been watching into taking action.
One man stepped forward to gain Iro's attention, wielding another battle-axe, the man started attacking Iro. Another with a sword had snuck up on Iro and raised his sword to strike Iro down. As the sword descended, Iro heard the whistle of the sword but knew he was too close and didn't have enough time to defend. Iro then heard a resounding snap! Echo through the room. Then what appeared to be a black rope wound itself around the sword and pulled it off to the side, missing Iro entirely and burying itself into the floor.
Iro quickly kicked out his current opponent's knee and threw him to the ground. Iro then turned to see a girl holding a whip at her side slowly walk into the circle. The man who was wielding the sai backed away slowly to a spot next to his other friends.
The girl was short, probably about five-seven, and had dirty-blonde hair that was about shoulder length. She was wearing a forest-green vest over a dark purple long-sleeved shirt, with a pair of blue jeans and combat boots. She had on some armor, greaves to protect her shins that extended up just past her knee. She had on green and purple shoulder-guards that reached her elbows, which met up with arm braces of the same color, that ended at her wrists. She was holding a black whip down at her side, unraveled, and ready to use. Her storm-cloud gray eyes were scanning the crowd, they flicked to Iro for a moment, before they went back to the crowd. She slowly walked up next to Iro, who had his sword at his side, but still ready to defend himself with it should this girl attack him.
She slid her gaze over to Iro, who met her gaze with his, she nodded to him, which he returned. It was a silent mutual agreement, they would work together until either one was knocked out, or until it was just them standing.
Iro readied his sword, both hands on the hilt until he could grab another weapon, while she readied her whip in her right hand while pulling out a small dagger into her left hand.
The man wielding sais walked in front of the two of them, having retrieved the man with a shield that Iro had disarmed earlier, as well as a girl who wielded a trident. They readied themselves facing Iro and his new companion. Iro's companion glanced at Iro, who nodded, getting the hint. He would lead the first attack, and she would follow his lead.
Iro decided to go for the shield, but fainted towards the trident wielder, slicing towards her head. She raised her weapon to block, which Iro hadn't put much force behind, instead planting his foot in her gut and shoving her back, which she then tripped over that same battle-axe Iro had a bit before. Iro then attacked the shield-wielder, slicing over, sideways, diagonally, combination after combination, trying to get past his guard, and failing. He always blocked with his sword, shoved with his shield, or side-stepped and swung a counter for each one he tried, looking over at his companion, he saw that she was dealing with the trident girl again, after having dealt with the sai-wielder. Iro shoved his opponent away from him and whistled, a universal sign for those who have been trained, and charged towards the girl with the trident.
At the whistle, his companion dived off to the left, then hopped back to her feet and snapped her whip towards the shield-man, who raised his shield to block but didn't expect the whip to reach around the shield and still hit him. He then lowered his shield in shock and very nearly missed the slicing dagger heading towards his face, which he raised his sword to block, but was too slow. He stumbled backward, then got a kick to the side of his head, knocking him out. She then turned just in time to see Iro disarm his opponent and knock her unconscious as well.
The crowd had finally had enough with this and decided to just all come at once instead of sending the couple better fighters. Iro picked up a sword, now dual-wielding again, and decided to take the front, while his partner covered him. Iro's dad was a berserker, and even if Iro wasn't, not by blood anyway, Iro could still act like one, and act like one he did.
Iro was a whirlwind of blades, block here, counter there, whenever Iro saw an opening, he took it, placing a couple kicks to exposed ribs or even the occasional knee. Using his full range of motion, even head-butting one man who had both of his arms locked at his side, busting the man's nose.
Iro was in pure fight mode and was slowly obliterating the enemy, he was tiring though, his partner had been protecting his back, even taking out a few opponents that Iro couldn't see. Iro was soon on his last legs with five opponents left, the rest unconscious or sporting broken or dislocated limbs, putting them out of fighting.
Out of the five opponents, only two were guys, the rest were girls, and they were holding their weapons like the knew how to use them,
And well too. Iro's mind mentioned.
The three girls were standing off to Iro's right, one holding a staff with a blade on one end, another was holding two knives with a couple others strapped to her waist, and the last was dual-wielding a hammer and an ax. An odd combo, but still dangerous nonetheless.
Iro looked to his left, seeing the two guys, also looking a bit tired, compared to the girls who looked fresh. One was holding twin hooked swords, made for catching and locking the opponent's weapon, or hooking an opponent to pull them off balance.
I hate those… Iro thought, wincing, then took in the other opponent. This one was holding a pair of tonfa, the handle attaching sideways to a club that just passed the elbow and fist, adding an extra inch. Iro surveyed the small group,
This is going to be really painful. Iro sighed to himself, then chose the two guys, giving a slight move of his left hand to signal his partner, right before going after the two men, slashing both swords in at the heads and angling out towards their knees., forcing them to take a step back to avoid the blow. Iro was just turning to take on one opponent when his instincts told him to drop, and that he did, forgoing all attacks and dropped to his stomach, feeling the air move as something passed over his head.
Spinning on the ground, swords in hand, he forced his opponents to back away from him, he saw the girl with the bladed staff had joined in on his fight. Iro just smirked at her, angering her.
Iro then faked an attack towards the hooked-sword wielder, which he then spun out, slicing instead for the tonfa man, ignoring the girl altogether. Iro back-kicked the swordsman while striking at the other man, who calmly blocked his strike with his tonfa and struck Iro in the gut with a counter. Iro swayed back to avoid another strike, thus putting him in a position for the swordsman to strike, as well as the girl. The girl executed an overhead strike, swinging her bladed end down on Iro's exposed midriff while the swordsman swung for Iro's head, and then legs.
Iro leaned further back to avoid the head strike, then took the strike to the chest to avoid the attack on his legs. The blunted weapon digging into his stomach, and not for the first time had Iro thought: By Oum, I wish I had my aura….
Iro landed on the floor, losing one sword, and swiped at his opponents, forcing them back a pace. Iro then rolled back to his feet and turned to face his opponents, gripping both hands on his sword, Iro readied himself for a fight.
Blood roaring in his ears, Iro saw that none of his opponents were going to attack, so Iro decided to do so first, he raised his sword and charged. Iro got within a couple feet of them before feeling something slam into his head, he was unconscious before he hit the floor.
