Chapter 7
Skill Check
A new day began in Beacon Academy with the sounds of battle. Titan and Vulcan were locked in combat on the sparring arena in Glynda's class. The audience of students all watching in silence as many were indecisive on who to cheer for rather than the Instructor's rule of no cheering during combat. Otherwise, the students may distract them.
The battle appeared to be one-sided. Titan's strength was overpowering to Vulcan as he knew where to strike and when, while Vulcan's strategy was meant for charging and rushing his enemy. Ultimately, Vulcan's skill paled in comparison to Titan's experience.
"Rargghh!" Vulcan charged once more, his Slaughterhouse in chainsaw-form below him and to his side as he held it with both hands, readying a serious strike this time. Titan stood his ground with his Atlas Bastion and once Vulcan came close enough, he stepped to the side and batted his opponent away with the flat of the battleax. Vulcan grunted hard and sprawled forward onto the floor.
He coughed and shakily stood up, looking back to see Titan closing their gap within an instant. His weapon ready to deliver further punishment.
"Crap!" Vulcan immediately rolled to the side, revving up his weapon as he kept the blade below his chest. Vulcan lucked out as his sawblade slashed Titan's stomach.
The Faunus grunted hard as he held his stomach and had only stepped back a foot from Vulcan, gritting his teeth. Vulcan could see the aura gauge overhead for Titan deplete drastically.
"I… I got him…!" Vulcan shouted in surprise as Titan grabbed his jacket and threw Vulcan to the other side of the arena, "Gah…!" The Blond Huntsman's bluish-green eyes turn violet and his feet quickly reach the floor gracefully, sliding to a halt. Vulcan looked up to Titan, who was already upon him.
Taking him by surprise, Titan split his weapon in two, becoming war axes, and relentlessly rushed Vulcan. Vulcan yelped in surprise as war axes blurred around him, while his Semblance narrowly guided him from each blow until finally his stomach was met with a powerful kick.
"Guh…!" Vulcan groaned as he fell forward for yet another time. The horn immediately goes off and Titan's composure follows in suit by resuming a calmness. Vulcan panted heavily as the students applauded for Titan's nearly nifty victory.
"C'mon now," Titan said, grabbing Vulcan's arm and helping him up by laying his comrade's arm around his shoulder, "Time for a break." The Faunus looked over to see Glynda walk onto the arena as the lights finally came on.
"Students," she began, pushing her glasses up properly, "As you can see, Vulcan Goodwitch no longer able to fight. Could anyone tell me what went wrong?" she pointed to the first hand in the class, "Yes, Otieno?"
"Titan's battle strategy was to wait for his opponent to strike and make an opening," he answered her calmly, "Vulcan merely kept rushing into his attacks without really thinking. It honestly will just get him killed."
"Precisely," Glynda nodded to Otieno calmly, "Therefore, Mister Vulcan, please adequately rethink your strategy before dropping into old habits," she gazed over to him with a sigh, "Let's not get news about how you got yourself chomped into pieces by a Sobeck, please…"
"We'll go over it in team training later, Miss Goodwitch," Titan nodded to her with a light smile as Vulcan still struggled to catch his breath. Titan just kicked the wind right out of him, which was embarrassing as he could see other students laughing at him while tears of agony dropped from his eyes.
Glynda nodded to them as Titan walked them off quickly to their seats with their team. Carmine just patted Vulcan's back and smiled to him warmly.
"Ya did good, bud," Carmine chuckled happily as tried to be the supportive type for his team.
"Now, let's bring in two students who better understand the necessity of patience," Glynda looked through her Scroll briefly before immediately looking up, "Otieno and Carmine."
"What!?" Carmine yelped as the call made him jump in his seat in shock, "Me!?" he pointed to himself as Otieno was already walking onto the arena: battle ready, "I-I… uhm…"
"Hey, man," Raiden smirked to him, "You've got this. Just remember what you do best, okay? Take it one step at a time. You got this."
"Yeah…" Carmine nodded to his most trusted friend, "I got this… I've got this…" He walked to the arena soon, holding both hands tightly and repeated his words to keep confidence.
"Well, if it's the Little Ursa Who Could," Otieno joked and Carmine laughed immediately.
"Hah! I get it!" he grinned to him, unaffected by Otieno's words.
"Good. At least someone has a sense of humor around here," The Hooded Huntsman smirked.
"Well, I'm glad you both have something to bond over during this fight," Glynda said as she's preparing their match, and stepping off the arena before the lights around go out and Carmine and Otieno are in a large spotlight.
"Hope you're ready for this," Otieno calmly said to Carmine as they stood at opposite ends their area, "I don't understand the concept of mercy."
"Oh… Well, I don't let up either!" Carmine said, standing confident and strong.
"C'mon, Carmine!" Titan cheered for him, clapping his hands, "Let go!" Raiden and Vulcan followed in suit, giving their ally more courage.
"Alright, guys!" he waved to them happily as the numbers counted down, "I won't let y'all down!" He didn't pay attention as the horn went off and Otieno immediately dashed for him, slashing his lance sword at him. Carmine was hit and he was flung into the wall below his friends with loud bang.
"Ouch…" Carmine groaned as the horn went off immediately and lights came on. Ring out. The class all laughed as the loser slowly slid down the wall and onto the floor, groaning in pain. Glynda immediately walked up to the arena.
"That's enough now, everyone! All teams please return to your training areas," she spoke quickly, "Class dismissed," the Instructor walked over to Team VCTR as they all tried to pick Carmine back up, "You will all stay after class," she grumbled at them.
Vulcan chuckled awkwardly as he wiped his eyes and Titan just groaned. Raiden sighed while Carmine just popped his neck lightly.
"Sorry, guys…" He smiled as he looked up to Glynda frowning at them, "a… and sorry, Miss Glynda."
"Apologies will get you nowhere," she pointed to the arena soon, "Step onto the arena." The four teammates all exchanged looks of uncertainty at one another before walking onto the arena finally, standing on the four corners of it while the force shield came up again.
"This match is uncommon, but it is a free-for-all brawl," Glynda continued as she walked around the arena, "You will all fight one another until one is left standing. If your aura is too low, or has depleted completely, you are disqualified. If you have stepped out of the ring, you are disqualified. If the time limit has expired, I will determine the winner."
"Miss Goodwitch, ma'am," Carmine raised his hand, "How is this supposed'ta help us work together better?"
"Excellent question, Carmine," she nodded to him as she walked over to him, "It's not. This is what you would call a Skill Check."
Carmine gulped lightly as his face turned pale.
"Well, I already have tutoring after class hours so I don't have to be here, right?" Vulcan chuckled, shrugging.
"Ah, good," Glynda smiled to him, "That just means I won't have to worry about what I'll be doing after class hours. Less work."
Vulcan stared at Glynda silently.
"Did… it just get cold in here?" Raiden asked quietly.
"Frosty," Titan smirked as he looked at Vulcan who also grew pale.
"Well… at least we've got an hour and a half before the next class…" Vulcan muttered quietly.
"Now, are all prepared?" Glynda asked as she looked at Scroll. The four nodded to her and the countdown began.
The horn went off and Raiden activated his Semblance, disappearing from sight as Vulcan shifted his Slaughterhouse to mini gun mode. He fired off a hell fury of flaming projectiles with a wide spray and swept his weapon slowly across the arena. Titan grunted as he was forced to slash his Bastion onto the floor and create a wall of crystal to protect himself. Carmine dropped to the floor, keeping out of the bullet spray as it swept over him.
"Crap…!" he shouted as Vulcan's firing spree was interrupted by Raiden's stealth attack.
Vulcan jumped back from the invisible kicks from Raiden and shifted his weapon to its second form and revved up its engine. Raiden's attacks were blocked and parried by Vulcan, revealing him as his Semblance can't hold when attacking.
While Vulcan and Raiden were locked in combat, Carmine looked up to find Titan approaching swiftly.
"Holy…!" Carmine yelped as he rolled himself onto his rump quickly and took aim, firing at Titan with his Bowie Revolvers, "Dang, dang, dang…!" he shouted as Titan deflected the bullets with his Atlas Bastion, spinning it around effortlessly and chopping his battleax into the floor. Titan Dust combination summoned wave of crystal to Carmine.
"Ack…!" Carmine scrambled around onto his boots as he held onto his hat to keep it from falling off. He loaded a cylinder with a special dust shell. The accents on one of his revolvers gleamed bright red and he blindly fired, blasting the wave apart. The force of the blast made Carmine skid back.
"There we go!" Titan vaulted forward with the strength of his ax. He rearranged his hands, plummeting his blade downward. Carmine's eyes widened and he quickly reacted, jumping out of the way as Titan's weapon touched down, creating an explosion of crystal that blasted Carmine away further.
"Dang it…!" Carmine yelped as he shifted his weapons to knife form and he dug them into the floor, leaving sparks behind him as he quickly regained composure. He stood up shakily as his feet were just at the edge of the arena. Titan smirked as he pulled his weapon out from the floor and readied himself to perform another crystal wave.
Carmine immediately reacted urgently, firing his revolvers at him as he aimed for his opponent's pressure points below the waist. Titan's body reacting naturally, and he failed to deliver the attack as he was forced to kneel forward. In his moment of reprieve, Carmine stepped forward from the edge and gained from distance from it while reloading his revolvers, rolling the cylinders against his ammo belt, forcing the special Dust ammunition to fall into their slots. He snapped them back into place and took aim.
"Open wide!" Carmine shouted as the accents glowed a silver hue and he fired a bright, blinding flurry of steam dust shells into Titan. Titan took the blast and he was forced to the edge of the arena and he slammed his battle ax onto the ground. Carmine ceased his attack and his cylinders snapped out, dropping the empty dust casings onto the floor. He quickly reloaded while they hear a horn and Titan's status on the screen overhead turned red with an "X" across it.
"Titan is disqualified," Gylnda muttered as she's typing on her Scroll, taking notes as Carmine turned to Vulcan and Raiden locked in close combat.
"Great job, Carmine!" Titan shouted to him as he pointed to him, "Keep that focus!"
"Kay!" Carmine raised a thumbs up to his Faunus friend as his feet got caught in Raiden's ice, "Gah!" he yelped as he tried to pull himself free.
Vulcan meanwhile rushed around Carmine while Raiden followed, parrying Raiden's kicks as he was trying to attack. However, Raiden kept their gap between him closed to a point Vulcan can only step back before attacking. The Ninja threw another kick at Vulcan's side, and Vulcan jumped back from him, but his sleeve was caught by the talons of Raiden's cleats and Raiden pulled back violently, making Vulcan lose his footing a fall forward toward Raiden's second kick from the same cleat. Vulcan grunted as the attack made massive damage to his aura.
"Ack…!" Vulcan grunted as he stumbled back, disoriented, "Crap…" Raiden spun around and roundhouse kicked Vulcan out of the ring. Vulcan flew back with a thud and groaned as he sat up, holding his face when the horn blew again.
"Vulcan is disqualified," Glynda muttered with a frown as she looked at Vulcan a moment and resumed her attention to Carmine and Raiden. Raiden turned to face Carmine who had his guns holstered.
"Looks like a standoff, eh?" Carmine smirked as his hands were over the handles of his revolvers pensively, "Make a move… Just like old times…"
Raiden smirked at him, making his crane stance and he and Carmine stared at one another for a while. Titan stood there with a fist, watching intensely.
"C'mon, Carmine," Vulcan muttered silently as he was rooting for him too.
"Don't," Titan pointed to Vulcan suddenly, "You'll break his focus…"
Vulcan covered his mouth as he nodded. Silence continued to pervade the chamber.
Within a blink of an eye, Raiden activated his semblance. His shadow vanished him within a blink of an eye. However, Carmine's perception had decelerated everything around him. During Raiden's disappearance, Carmine grabbed his revolvers and pulled them out, aiming within only a fraction of Raiden's action, firing at his opponent. Raiden's action was suddenly halted, forcing him to stumble back as he reappeared gradually in Carmine's eyes. Carmine continued firing, unloading his weapons and Raiden stumbled back from the pelting and fell onto his back.
The horn went off and the lights came on.
Titan held up both arms and cheered for Carmine, rushing up and grabbing his friend, shaking him happily as Vulcan followed quickly, also extremely grateful for Carmine.
"That didn't take you long at all!" Titan laughed as he laid his arm around Carmine's shoulders proudly, "Now, why couldn't you do that before though?"
"Uh…" Carmine laughed lightly and awkwardly as he scratched the back of his head while Vulcan helped Raiden up now, "I… guess I had it in me all along, eh?"
"It was quite a spectacle. Your reaction time is close to what I would expect from someone using their Semblance…" Glynda thoughtfully spoke as she looked at his profile, "However, that's not what your transcripts say."
"Then, what is Carmine's Semblance?" Vulcan asked, curious.
"It's Luck!" Carmine chuckled happily, "Good luck too! Well…" he readjusted his hat a moment, "Most of the time… I… I think…" he stood there a moment in thought.
"So mine's Instinct," Vulcan pointed to himself, "Raiden can make himself disappear and Carmine's just lucky…" he looked over to Titan soon, "How come we've never seen your Semblance?"
"You see it all the time," Titan laughed and smiled to them, "I'm just very strong, okay?"
"Oh…? Well, that's… underwhelming…" Vulcan muttered a moment with a dull look.
"Well, that's enough for now," Glynda said as the bell rang soon, "Remember what you've learned today and be sure to incorporate it into your training."
"Yes, ma'am," Titan responded.
"You got it!" Carmine shouted.
"Okay," Raiden muttered.
"Yep," Vulcan nodded happily as they all spoke at once.
"And Mister Carmine," Glynda continued as she gazed to him with a serious look, "I'd expect you to have that kind of skill the next time you're called to a bout. Understand?"
"Y-Yes, ma'am!" Carmine nodded to her quickly, grunting as he couldn't move his feet, "Wait a sec, guys!" he chuckled as he took out his revolver and fired the ice around his boots, freeing him and he walked over to join his friends quickly.
Glynda watched silently a moment as she watched him walk off.
"I can see why Ozpin argued for giving you a 'passing grade,' she muttered quietly as she took notes on her Scroll.
Meanwhile, the library is full of students in the free period today as PAOW spent their time studying more about Huntsman and Huntress weaponry for Cobalt's project. Plamen sat at a table with many duplicates of Winona, each studying and sharing information with one another as her Semblance is duplication.
Otieno and Audra sat at the same table. Otieno scanning the library and noticing students passing Lien to one another in the back corners soon. He frowned lightly as he watched this carefully, seeing them walking out the doors soon.
"Excuse me a moment," Otieno muttered as he stood up soon, looking over to Audra, "I'm heading to the restroom."
"Okay!" The Winonas chime in unison once Otieno left the table. He walked casually through the library, and out the doors, spotting the students all walking to a quiet place as their whispering to one another.
"Quiet!" One student whispered, "You'll get us all caught in a blink of an eye!"
"Yeah! Some say Glynda has the ears of an elephant!" Another warned as they turn the corner and Otieno closed the gap carefully, keeping out of their sight as he listened.
"Good thing she doesn't have the looks to match," They whispered as they walk to the campus grounds outside and walk into the gardens quietly. Otieno kept walking casually as they don't notice him just yet. They soon stop, being near the walls of the school now as mostly everyone was inside.
"Here!" One student said, pulling out a case of Dust from underneath a tree, "Dust from my sources."
"Mmh…" The other students took out the Dust of different varieties and examined them, "Dang, man! You don't these kinds of Dust just anywhere."
"Yeah, some of these are extremely rare!" Another laughed a bit, "And for half the price, dude!"
"That's not all," their seller smirked as he spoke, "So get this. Vytal Festival is coming up soon, right?" he spoke as the others walked in close, "All kindsa Huntsmen and Huntresses will be there, right?" they all nodded to him, "I can getcha state-of-the-art, never-before-seen parts to upgrade your weapons! Eh? Sounds good, right!? But it'll cost ya, mmmm… I'd say twice as much as this Dust, buds. But believe me, these things costs millions on the black market alone. Imagine how much they would sell on the official market, eh? Trust me. You won't find deals like this anywhere else, heh!"
The students all nod to one another and talk while Otieno walked away quietly, frowning hard as he returned to the library soon. He knew exactly what was going on now. Illegal Dust from the black market sold to students to get in edge in class. It's been happening since the beginning of the week. It's like this academy was hit with the underground trade much earlier. This kind of information should go straight to Ozpin, but Otieno has a different idea of what to do now with this information. He had his suspicions about this illegal merchant's "sources." The rest of his team shouldn't be involved, but Audra must know.
Otieno soon sat down at the table as Winona was looking for more books and her duplicates were gone. Audra looked at him and patted his back calmly.
"Welcome back, Otieno," Plamen said as he yawned, closing his book, "This is just the best part of Beacon…" he said sarcastically.
"Yeah," Otieno nodded to him, opening a book soon to read. Not saying much to Plamen.
"Mmh…" Plamen soon leaned back on his chair a moment before he heard a yelp and he immediately looked over to see some jock tugging on Winona's tail.
"I knew it wasn't fake!" the bully laughed as Winona tried to pull her tail from his grasp, "Where's the little fox goin', huh?" he mocked her as he pulled her again.
"Stop it!" she yelped as she struggled to escape, "That hurts!"
"Hey!" Plamen immediately shot up to his feet and got up to the taller Huntsman's face, "Leave Winona alone! Let her go, you jerk!"
"Hey, hey, hey!" the bully smirked at him as he held up both hands, "What can I say? I'm a man of good tastes," he winked at Winona. She looked away quickly, shaking as she held her tail closely.
"How 'bout you get lost?" Plamen said, raising a fist lightly, stepping closer.
"Oh, yeah? You and what army, Four Eyes?" the bully mocked him and Otieno stepped between them, glaring at him coldly, "Oh, if it isn't Hansel! Where's Gretel, eh?" he laughed at him.
"Oh, so, if I'm Hansel, then you must be Jack because you seemed to have broken your crown," Otieno retorted without a second thought, "So where's Jill? Did she leave you after you broke your crown or after you started chasing tail?"
"Why you…!" the bully just huffed a moment, unable to reply as his face grew bright red, "Th… This isn't over yet!" he shouted, pointing at him as he trudged off quickly. Plamen looked back to Otieno, genuinely grateful.
"Hey, thanks, man…" Plamen said as he smiled, "That was really cool of you to stand up for Winona and me…"
"What're teams for?" Otieno shrugged as he walked back to his table soon, sitting by Audra, "I had to do something… or else Audra would've done something…" he looked back to him, "and we all know how she doesn't like to talk."
"Thank you so much!" Winona giggled as she hugged Otieno for a brief a moment, "I'm so glad we're a team! You two are just awesome!"
Audra smiled lightly and nodded to Winona, who just suddenly gasped.
"I know! This weekend! We'll have a girl's night out and you two should have a guy's night out!" Winona squealed excitedly suddenly, "It'll be perfect! We'll grow closer together as a team!"
Plamen shrugged a moment and nodded to Winona.
"I honestly think that's a great idea," Plamen smiled and looked over to Otieno, "What do you think, Otieno?"
"Don't hug me at the end of it," Otieno pointed at Plamen a moment.
Plamen and Winona laughed as Audra smiled warmly.