Chapter 7 - End of Term

Raalm Neeth

Raalm opened his eyes and got to his feet. It's always that bloody greatshield, he thought to himself, having bounced off it for the third time. He was in the middle of a sparring match between teams ROGE and ARGT and his team was struggling to get past the others excellent defense. Team ARGT had three shield users, two of them being normal shields and one holding a massive, metal greatshield that always seemed to absorb whatever they threw at it. The two normal shield users, twin sisters that Raalm had never learned the names of, were and rather aggressive but very skilled at bringing their shields around to block at the last minute and the greatshield user, who Raalm believed was called Arnold, would cover the final member of their team, who wielded an assault rifle that would transform into a sword for close combat work, the two of them working perfectly together. Raalm looked around for the position of his team. Opal was currently engaged in a battle of blades with one of the twins, flashes of silver dancing around them as they moved so fast it was hard for Raalm to keep up, not surprising as Opal was ranked first in the years leaderboard and the other girl ranked second. Evie was occupied with the other twin, nowhere near as fast but using Erida to great effect to turn the area around her to ice and deliver small shocks to her opponents arm through her shield. That left Arnold and the last team member to him and Garrick, who was smashing his mace down and causing as much damage as possible to the floor in an attempt to slow down Arnolds movements. Checking his vambrace he saw that Garrick's remaining aura was below half, now was the time to turn this match around. He unleashed his chain and ran towards Arnold.

"Entwine," Raalm half shouted to Garrick as he ran past him, slinging his chain at Arnold, only for it to be blocked again; though it's not like he expected any different.

As Garrick fell back Raalm wrapped his chain back around his arm and ripped Wildfire from his backpack, attaching it to the chain and began his attack. With fire now spewing from his hand, he carved wide arks with his kunai, which caused Arnold to cover his eyes from the brightness of the flame and miss Garrick's retreat. Raalm knew that Arnold would notice in a couple of seconds so he concentrated on extending that time as much as possible with a few quick punches forcing him to keep his guard up and then a fire-spewing slash from Wildfire to block his vision, still he only managed to buy Garrick a couple of seconds before Arnold noticed what had happened.

"TINA, DON'T LET HIM NEAR THAT GIRL," he bellowed to the girl fighting Evie. But it was too late, Garrick was already there.

With a sudden forward thrust of his shield, Arnold knocked Raalm backwards and with a nod to the gunman behind him, ran off to fight Garrick; transforming his greatshield into two thick clubs as he ran.

Perfect, Raalm thought to himself while smiling at the gunman. All had gone to plan. He ran at the boy, dodging bullets or blocking them with his chain. The boy turned his assault rifle into a sword as Raalm got closer and prepared for a close up battle. Raalm swing his chain at him only for it to be parried away, as expected, and create an opening for Raalm to attack with a kick straight to the boy's side, causing him to stagger. Raalm didn't let up, following up with a quick punch to the boy's knee to throw him further off balance, until he saw the opening he had been waiting for, the boy's sword arm was above his head from where he had stumbled and his chest was completely exposed. Raalm slammed his fist into the boy's chest, the force sending him stumbling backwards, but not out of reach; Raalm slung his chain around the boy's chest and dragged him back in close, delivering a powerful punch to his stomach before spinning around to his back and shoving his knee into the base of his spine, lifting him into the air only for Raalm to immediately grab him by the neck and shoved him into the ground, causing his aura to flicker, and eliminating him from the match. The whole fight took a couple of seconds at most but not wasting any time Raalm turned to look how the rest of his team were doing.

Garrick had reached Evie and was now fighting with renewed vigor, the two of them in perfect sync as a faint white haze surrounded them both. Raalm ran towards them as Garrick smacked his mace into the shield of the girl Evie was fighting, sending her flying to the side, though she didn't stay down for very long before getting back up and rejoining the fight. Deciding that Garrick and Evie had it under control, Raalm turned and ran to help Opal who was still locked in a vicious dance with her partner. Running straight at them, he let out a short whistle, notifying Opal that he was coming to help her, and with a quick flourish of her blades she managed to get a little distance between her and her opponent to allow for Raalm to get into the fray; shoving his left shoulder into the girls shield and leading into an uppercut to knock it away for a second. Opal took full advantage of the chance and, with her bow ready, fired a white feathered arrow straight at the girl, which released a bright flash of light the instant it landed. Raalm already had his eyes close, expecting Opal to use her favored type of arrow and brought his chain covered right fist crunching into the girl's cheek, knocking her off balance, allowing Opal to sink her knee into the girl's already abused face, eliminating her from the match. Now only two remained.

"Eruption," Raalm said to Opal quickly before running off to help Garrick who was slowly getting worn down, even with Evie boosting his aura and helping however she could.

Raalm saw Evie notice him and Opal as he ran towards them and she gave a nod, knowing exactly what to do. The white aura intensified for a second and Garrick responded with a smile. He threw a punch at the twin, hitting her shield and sending her flying into Arnold as Evie fired of a couple of ice imbued bullets that hit the ground and encased their feet, keeping them stationary. Evie fell back a little and dropped to one knee, a look of concentration on her face as she focused solely on her semblance and Raalm also gained the white haze and immediately felt connected to all of them. He looked at his vamcrace and saw the fourth light fade to dark orange as Garrick ran up to the trapped pair and raised Berserker while Raalm flung his chain at the mace, jamming Wildfire between the prongs. As he swung down, a purple feathered arrow struck the head of the mace, releasing gravity dust than sent it down with tremendous force. Arnold saw what was happening and let his clubs form the greatshield once more, pushing it in front of his teammate, but it was pointless. Garrick's mace slammed into the ground with enough force to rupture the power cell to his cannon, releasing a wave of energy, reduced by the prongs of the mace so as to not cause serious damage, that rushed towards them with flame from Wildfire flowing within. The energy hit the shield and was too much for it to withstand, Arnold buckled and the ice at his feet shattered as both him and the girl were sent flying backwards, thier aura flickering off and eliminating both of them from the match.

Raalm gave a sigh of relief as the white haze faded and looked at the four lights on his right vambrace, three were orange and the second one was solid yellow. It seemed Opal was the only one with still over half, the rest having taken some pretty heavy hits. Garrick had already crossed the stage and helped Arnold and Tina to their feet, asking if they were ok. Both of them nodded and gave him a smile though both were visibly and understandably a little shaken up. Team ROGE had only managed to perfect that move a couple of days ago, the first time they tried it, they ended up completely reducing an entire side wall of the training room to dust because Garrick had been unable to keep hold of his mace, and as a result the full unrestrained energy was released. That one had earned them a weeks worth of detention from Glynda and were told that they had to practice outside from that moment on; Fortunately, summer was almost there so the weather was never really too bad.

"Garrick, if you don't hurry up and shower then you're going to miss lunch," Raalm shouted to his partner while walking to the changing rooms.

"Alright, I'm coming," Garrick replied, his round bear ears had perked up slightly at the word lunch.

Raalm made his way to the changing rooms and began to strip down, turning on the shower, that was always immediately warm and stepped underneath it while thinking on the past year. The team had improved immensely since initiation, though that was helped by the fact that Opal was no longer as embarrassed around Evie and Evie herself had begun to feel more confident in her own abilities, therefore becoming a little more outgoing; though she still had her stutter which Garrick had a habit of teasing her about and making it worse from time to time. Garrick and Evie had become rather close in the past year even to the point of Garrick calling her his little human sister, a title that Evie was very happy with. Himself and Garrick had also become a lot closer than he originally thought they would, Raalm often being dragged away from his reading to be involved in whatever scheme Garrick had cooked up at the time. Opal however, while she got along with everyone, the only person who she had really opened up to was Raalm. Raalm was the only one who truly knew everything that had gone down with her family and was the only one who could find her whenever she disappeared to be alone for a few hours. Raalm also knew about the time she had tried to tell Evie that she liked her and somehow ended up kissing her, though no-one talked about that as the following week after it happened was a very awkward time for the team as Opal would run away whenever Evie entered the room. Thankfully though Evie had eventually managed to sit her down and say that while Opal was a really nice girl, she just didn't swing that way. Raalm didn't hear this conversation but he assumed there was much more stuttering and gentler phrasing involved. Drama aside, Raalm had found the year to be quite enjoyable.

Stepping out of the shower, he began to dry himself off and walked over to his locker to get his clothes when he realized that he was alone, no other showers were running which could only mean one thing. Rushing over to his locker, he quickly opened it and saw exactly what he had expected to see. Nothing. Garrick had stolen his clothes again. This had become an almost weekly event now. Garrick would steal his clothes and shove them into someone else's locker, keeping track of how long it took for him to make it to lunch. Raalm would say something but he secretly enjoyed the challenge and always tried to beat his record, though he did put his foot down the time Garrick had hung them in the hallway connecting the changing rooms, forcing him to walk outside into a crowd of people in nothing but a towel to retrieve them. This time however it didn't take him to long to find them, as they were in a locker that was only three down from his, and put them on. He took one last look in the mirror and ran his hand through the blonde streak in his hair before exiting the changing room and heading for the cafeteria.

The cafeteria was busy as usual; Beacon always served amazing food so people rarely missed any of the designated meal times. Four tables extended across the length of the room and at the very end was a counter where student could choose whatever they wanted to eat, most of the time whatever you wanted would be there. The building itself was big enough to hold twice the amount of student that attended Beacon and all the staff, with walls that were more window than stone. Finding his team, Raalm sat down and helped himself to one of the plates of sausages that they had brought back to their part of the table, they had also brought ham, cheese, bread and apples, though Raalm figured it was Evie who had grabbed the apples.

"Ten minutes, not bad," Garrick said as Raalm sat down. "Still not as good as your record though."

"Did you hide his clothes again," Opal interrupted while shaking her. "Why don't you do it to him?" She said, turning to Raalm.

"No point, he'd sniff them out in a heartbeat," he replied with a smile at Garrick.

"You see, you think that's an insult," said Garrick, waving a sausage at Raalm and pulling out a small jar of honey which was only supposed to be available in the morning.

"Where did you get that?" Opal sighed, knowing that he had eaten his morning one already.

"I charmed the lunch lady," he replied with a wink.

"Oh please, Raalm has more charm than you do," Opal said in a tired voice, though she was definitely enjoying teasing Garrick.

"Hey… What did I do?" Raalm responded while Evie and Garrick chuckled at the surprised look on his face. Opal wasn't wrong; while he didn't really care about dating, his ability with women was virtually none existent as most saw him as rather cold or distant since he preferred to be alone with his thoughts.

"Anyway," Garrick said, changing the subject. "The our first year is finished and holidays start tomorrow, what's everyone doing? Personally I'm going to be working in my mom's store and making up for every day that I haven't seen my girlfriend"

"I-I'm helping my mum," Evie replied with a smile. "We're going t-to the outside v-villages with some huntsmen, just to do some check-ups and make sure everyone is h-healthy."

"Maybe I will see you then since I'm going home for the holidays, if you go to Lenter then come find me," Raalm replied to Evie, who nodded back. "What about you Opal, you going to your grandmother's?"

"No, she's out of town on business so it looks like I will be staying here," she said, looking sadly at her sandwich.

"You could always come with me home with me," Raalm offered after a minute of silence. "It's not as nice as Beacon but at least you would have a friend."

"No its fine, I wouldn't want to impose on your time with your family," she replied quickly, though she seemed glad that he had offered.

"It's not an imposition, my family would love to meet you," Raalm countered. "I could probably convince my sister to give you the top bunk, though you might have to teach her how to shoot a bow, she loves them but mom won't let her anywhere near one unless she's with a professional."

"Are you sure?" Opal replied, smiling as Raalm gave a nod of his head. "I guess I will come then, but I will need to make sure it's okay with the school first."

"Awesome, I will let my mom know you are coming then," Raalm said, grabbing an apple and standing up. "Since it's a half day, I'm going to call my mom and then I'm going to go and study for a while, I'll be in the library if you need me."

Raalm walked out of the cafeteria and began to head towards the library. If he was honest with himself, he was glad Opal was coming since he would actually have a friend this summer.