Finally after what I hope was much anticipation, here is chapter 6. To make up for the wait here's a nice huge update for you guys. (I should have never complained about how big the last one was. This one is literally longer than the first four prologue combined.)
This chapter was actually not part of my original idea for the story, but after settling into the flow of the story and contribution of a central character from one of you readers it fell together and ended up being one of my favorite(and hardest) chapter to write.
So here we go.
Disclaimer: RWBY is owned by Monty Oum and Rooster Teeth productions...If I owned it there would be much more smoke bomb related fight sequences.
It was a peaceful morning as Silva Arch, Beacon alumni, famous huntsman, and guest instructor made his way through the empty halls of the academy towards the faculty lounge with his meager breakfast in hand. He couldn't help but happily reminisce about his old days at Beacon, getting up before his teammates to enjoy the quite peace that settled over the school in the early hours. However his thoughts were interrupted as he stepped through the door to the lounge by the ravenous sounds of Sergeant Rlee hungrily devouring his own breakfast. The lounge itself was a quiet sanctuary for the staff to retreat, roomy and comfortably furnished with a few small desks positioned about the room with a small table with which to have meals at the center and a small loft just above filled with shelves stacked with numerous reference books and study aids the instructors could draw their lessons from. The grizzled old soldier did little to acknowledge the younger teacher's presence, which only spurred Professor Arch on as he made his way over to the small table. "Would you mind if I join you?" He asked warmly pulling out a seat, but waiting for the older man to acquest.
Rlee looked up at the younger man with sharp appraising eyes. In Rlee's short time at the academy he'd done little to mingle with instructors, much to Ozpin's displeasure, much less taken the time to even acknowledge his fellow guest lecturers. On instinct he began to take his measure of Silva at first glance. He had sharp angular birdlike features that betrayed his Faunus lineage and strikingly thin eyes, he could just barely make out the piercing yellow and black of his irises. He obviously liked having his appearance meticulously well kept, from his long metallic grey hair well combed and tied into a neat pony tail to his well pressed and clean grey suit. He thought little of his rather thin and lanky frame and the rather showy burgundy and silver shoulder cape he wore off his right shoulder, but still he could not overlook the man's reputation. With a sigh he gestured towards the seat across from. "We're both teachers here Arch, you don't have to ask my permission like you're one of them damn students."
"Thank you." Silva smiled setting down his plate and taking his seat. "But I was only trying to be cordial, if you'll excuse the professional courtesy."
"Whatever floats your boat kid." Rlee returned to his meal once more attacking it with vigor usually reserved for starving men. Silva stole a quick glance to Rlee's plate and couldn't help but marvel at the elderly man's meal. His plate was piled high with steak, eggs both scrabbled and over easy, sausage, bacon, biscuits, a tall glass of milk, and a large steaming mug of black coffee. It put Silva's meager breakfast of toast, smoked kippers, and tea to shame.
"I was actually hoping we'd have a moment to speak before today's exam got underway." Silva interjected once more distracting the old soldier from his meal and earning a glare for his efforts.
"What about?" He asked between chews, stabbing his fork into a sausage.
"Well I was glad to see you were so eager to incorporate my ideas into your lesson plan."
"You've got more successful mission under your belt than most of the men I've train put together. You earned your reputation in my opinion Arch, I don't see any reason to nitpick how you wanna teach." Rlee gruffly praised while reaching into his coat pocket and pulling out a silver flask, quickly unscrewing the lid and pouring a small portion of its contents into his coffee.
"Oh, well thank you, but um…isn't it a tad too early for that?" Silva asked gesturing towards Rlee's coffee.
"Not if I'm gonna be dealing with them kinds all day." Rlee laughed taking a small swig of his coffee, offering the flask to Silva, which he politely declined. "Suit yourself."
"Yes, but back to what I was saying, I'm a little concerned about your plans for the exam." Silva explained with his best discretion.
Rlee fixed him with a stern gaze. "And what exactly are you concerned about son?"
"I'm just a little concerned with how you've configured the teams for the exam, it seems a tad…overzealous to…" Silva began until Rlee put a silencing hand up.
"Arch, I know we have different methods of teaching, let me just warn I don't take kindly to people questioning my how I do things. Personally I have always believed training a soldier is much like how I prepare and enjoy my steaks." He explained gesturing to his own steak. "The first step is tenderizing and grilling them to get rid of all that thickheaded stubbornness and get them ready to start taking orders. Once they're ready then I spend time carefully trimming away the fat and the gristle until you have something worth having on a plate." He emphasized his point by taking a bite of a freshly cut piece of his steak. "It's a sink or swim world out there for hunters, and if they aren't ready it's my job to make sure they are whether they like me for it or not." He turned once more back to his meal with a gruffly contented expression.
"Hmm, an admirable sentiment, but I'm still of the mind that it's far better to allow the students more freedom so that they may have a better grasp of the consequences and rewards of their decisions and actions can hold." Silva explained taking a tentative bite of his toast. "It is from those successes and those failures they will truly learn."
Something in Silva's words seemed to amuse Rlee, bringing a sly grin to his age worn features. "Is that so, maybe we should put that little theory to the test."
Later that morning….
"Ugh! I hate Saturday classes." Dae moaned loudly as the team slowly made their way out to the Beacon cliffs. "It's not like we don't already spend almost all our time at school, like literally. But no, they're all like 'let's make sure they spend one of their only days off running around the forest fighting Grimm first thing in the morning'."
"Easy Dae, it ain't that bad. I used to have to get up way earlier than this back home." Robin yawned stretching out his arms.
"Yeah, if you're so tired I recommend you take more naps." Peizhi stated matter-of-factly jogging up beside Dae.
"Hey, not all of us can just zonk out whenever we want and wake up a half hour later ready to go flying bird kick an Ursa in the face." Dae shot back.
"For once I gotta agree with matchstick." Eris added groggily following behind, trying to rub the sleep from her eyes. "I didn't sign up for this crap."
"C'mon guys, at least with it being so early we can get it out of the way and have the rest of the day to ourselves." Robin butted in trying to put a better spin on things.
"Yeah that's the spirit Robby!" Peizhi cheerily agreed giving him an encouraging thumbs up.
Dae and Eris each gave their own disapproving gazes at their two more chipper teammates. "Whatever, I just wanna go hit something." Eris muttered to no one in particular. They spent the rest of the short trip in silence until they came to the cliff side where they'd started their initiation. Most of the teams were already assemble there, many of the students seemed to keep to themselves with a few outliers interspersed amongst the crowd mingling. Robin noticed Djack off on his own speaking adamantly with Vincent and a few other older students while his team stood off to the side, Jackie and Perciva already starting some fresh argument as Sinclair stared on impassively.
"Hey Robin!" Robin turned to see Artemis braking away from her team. "You ready for this exam." She asked cheerily.
"Oh you know, ready as I am for any test." Robin chuckled scratching the back of his head as he walked up to meet her. This was the first time Robin really got a good look at Artemis' combat outfit despite sharing combat class with her. She was wearing a leather breast plate with soft floral patterns etched along the edges over a light blue hoodie with the sleeves cutoff, a steel shoulder pad covering her left shoulder, bandage wrappings reaching from her hands up the length of her forearms, and pair of blue jeans with the legs cut off just below the knees. He also couldn't help but admire her pair of boomerang-pistols, Wild Harrier and Whistling Kite holstered just behind her back.
"Oh, um…by the way, how'd you like that book I recommended?" She asked little more quietly, gingerly pushing her glasses back up her nose.
Eris watched as the two continued to chat away happily with growing irritation before nudging Dae and interrupting his conversation with Piezhi. "Hey Dae, who's the girl talking with Robin."
"Who? Artemis? She's in me and Roby's sixth period combat class. She's cool, little on the quiet side if you ask me." Dae explained not really paying much attention. "I think Robin said he runs into her a lot in the library, likes to read a lot."
"Huh, think I'll go over there and introduce myself." Eris just stated confidently while still staring at the two.
"Huh, oh, ooooh." As the realization dawned on him as to what was going on Dae took a cautionary step to the side. "Yeah, you do that…we'll just stay here, not being hostile and overly territorial." Eris didn't seem to be paying attention to him as she began marching purposefully over towards Robin and Artemis.
"Should I maybe, like, go over there and try to stop her?" Peizhi asked uncertainly.
"Peizhi listen closely when I tell you that is one great big flaming pile of 'NOPE' you do not want to be part of." Dae assured settling in to watch the disaster unfold.
"So um, I was wondering if maybe you could take a look at Harrier and Kite later, I've been having a bit of problem with the recoil and Nidhogg said you're were a real whiz when it came to pistol." Artemis asked nervously, tucking a stray lock of curly brown hair behind her ear.
"Oh yeah sure, just bring'um back by our room after the exam and I'll give'um the old once over."
"Heeey Bunny." Eris purred sneaking up from behind Robin and draping her arms around his shoulders. "Who's your little friend?"
"Whoa, h-hey Eris." Robin stammered trying not to blush. "This is Artemis."
"Oh, um hi." Artemis squeaked extending a hand. "I'm Artemis Shelia from Team JASN, Robin and I met in the library on the first day."
"Is that so?" Eris said ignoring Artemis' attempt at a handshake to lazily play with the tag on Robin's collar. "I'm surprised our little Bunny here hasn't mentioned you, I'm Eris by the way. One of his teammates." Eris seemed to draw the word teammates out a few syllables longer than was really necessary.
"Oh, that's cool." Artemis mumbled rubbing her arm awkwardly. "Well I'm gonna head back over to my team before we start up. Good luck with the exam." She quickly turned around jogged back to the rest of Team JASN.
Once she was out of ear shot Robin threw Eris' arm off him. She only smiled down at him with a smug expression while he began to fume. "What was all that about?"
"Hmph, really? Well if you can't figure it out then maybe you need more training than I thought." Eris said crossing her arms and glaring at him challengingly.
"Are you kidding?" Before Robin could go on a loud shout pierced through the calm air of the crowd.
"Alright maggots! Front and center!" Rlee shouted now standing in front of the cliffs flanked on either side by Professors Goodwitch and Arch. It took little time for the student to assemble into a line allowing Professor Arch to begin.
"Good morning students, I'm glad to see you all made it here on time and prepared for this, the first joint exam of the semester." Professor Arch began. "Now I know some of you are wondering why we have kept you in the dark as too the exact nature of this exam until now."
"Enough with all the formalities Arch!" Rlee barked before marching down the line of students. "Alright so for the past two weeks we've been teaching all of you the basics of tactical thinking and combat in the field, now it is time for you all to show us what you've learned."
Professor Arch stepped forward to continue. "We will be splitting you up into teams of two and releasing you into the forest. Each team will be given a specific rendezvous point to reach within the allotted time."
Professor Goodwitch continued on, reading from her Scroll. "You will have approximately 30 minutes to reach your goal, as well as another 15 minutes to complete the second portion of the exam which you will be briefed on once you have reached the rendezvous location." Glynda finished as Rlee returned from inspecting the students.
"We will be watching and grading each team on your critical thinking, tactical assessment, and teamwork, as well as your combat performance. You will be expected to face any and all Grimm you encounter on your way to the objective. Should any student's aura enter the red before they make it to the rendezvous point an instructor will step in and the team will be failed!"
Professor Arch pulled out his own scroll and gestured towards the catapults. "For the sake of time we shall be limiting the number of students participating to 6 teams at a time. When you hear your names called please step forward and join your partner."
"Oh and before I forget." Rlee added somewhat snidely. "In the field there is a chance for even the best of plans to go awry, so in the spirit of unpredictability we have decided to pair each student with someone from a different team to test your skills at adapting to changes in an unpredictable climate."
The students stood in shock as Professor Arch began to read off the teams. "Sinclair Windsor and Artemis Shelia."
Both of them quickly made their way to catapults, Artemis trying not to seem nervous as she took her spot next to Sinclair on the catapult where the snow haired boy was already coldly gazing out towards the forest below. "I'm really looking forward to working with you."
Sinclair didn't even break his stare. "Just don't slow me down."
"R-right." Artemis could only squeak back.
"Crap man, I have a really bad felling about this." Dae frantically whispered to gang.
"Oh, c'mon Dae, this isn't so bad." Peizhi whispered back. "There's some really cool people here, I'm sure we'll be fine."
"Peizhi Bagheera and Djack Scracth." Arch called out making the young Faunus girl go pale.
"Yeah, I'm sure you'll have a great time." Eris chuckled as Peizhi sulked off to her spot on the catapult as Djack followed close behind smiling his devious little smile.
"What's good pussycat, I think we're gonna have a lot of fun today." He sneered taking his spot next to her.
"Bite me."
"Mrrrow! Kitty's got claws. Those should come in handy." He chuckled.
"Well we dodged a bullet on that one." Eris said with a grin watching as next Jason and Jackie were paired together. "This is almost too good, if this gets any funnier I might have to start paying them to watch."
"Catherine Eristone and Perciva Gawiane."
"And I should have kept my big mouth shut." Eris sighed trudging off after her partner who was already making her way to their spot at a brisk clip. Once there Eris tried to ignore Perciva eagerly stretching her muscles in preparation. "Enjoying yourself over there?" She asked sarcastically.
"Immensely, think you can handle this test with just those little things?" Perciva asked smugly motioning towards Eris' Crazy Apples.
"Didn't anyone ever tell you Bootcamp?" Eris drew her weapons, twirling one playfully by its chain. "Size isn't everything."
"Aw, is that what you tell your little dwarf of leader?" Perciva swung her massive lance Ballista down from her shoulders letting the tip crash into the ground.
"That was strike one Bootcamp, another shot like that and we're gonna have a problem." Eris narrowed her eyes at Perciva menacingly for effect, but the blonde warrior seemed unfazed.
Arch continued reading off names. "Daedalus Verde and Nidhogg Jotenson." Nidhogg seemed to be all smiles quickly making his way over to Dae in only a few large strides.
"Alright little dude, you ready to do this?" He asked with friendly enthusiasm.
"Uh yeah, sure." Dae said uneasily as Nidhogg seemed to usher him towards the catapults. "Actually on second thought, I think I'll just start heading for that cliff path, I mean it's only a mile down the way so if I start now it shouldn't be a problem." Dae began to walk away until Sergeant Rlee made a beeline for him with a tightlipped scowl and eyes bulging with anger.
"Where do you think you're going Maggot?" He bellowed making Dae shrink back.
"I w-was just thinking I'd take a little detour and…"
"Disobey a direct order?! I will not stand for insubordination Verde, take your position now!"
"No!" Dae said mustering up what little courage he could in the face of the grizzle veteran. "Th-there's no way I'm getting launched off this cliff by that thing again."
"Boy, either you get on that catapult right now or I'll throw you off this cliff myself!"
"You wouldn't…" Dae tried to challenge until Rlee began rolling up his sleeves to reveal a pair surprisingly well muscled and scarred forearms. "Fine." Dae said quickly stepping back hoping not to incur the older man's wrath. He turned back towards the empty catapult tile and stared down at it with a defeated sigh.
"Hey don't worry buddy, I got an idea to fix this." Nidhogg said placing a reassuring hand on his shoulder.
"Really, what did you have in mind...hey!" Dae cried as Nidhogg easily lifted him up with one hand onto his shoulder like a sack of flour.
"See, no more problem right." Nidhogg laughed confidently as Dae sulked listening to the murmurs and stifled laughter of the other students.
"I hate my life."
"Finally, Robin Cappson and Sigurd Sigmund please take your places." Professor Arch finished folding up his Scroll and slipping it back in his coat.
As he made his way to the last spot on the line Robin tried not to make eye contact with Sigurd. He still vividly remembered his last meeting with him outside the library and had since done his best to avoid the ill-tempered young warrior despite his friendship with both Nidhogg and Artemis. "This might finally be a good chance to clear the air with him, iron out that whole misunderstanding from before." Robin thought to himself as they took their places. "Hey let's do our best out there today okay." He tried to encourage only to be met with a glare.
"Just stay out of my way and we'll get by just fine." Sigurd ordered coldly as Goodwitch stepped forward.
"Each team's Scrolls have been updated with your specific rendezvous points. Good luck." She said simply before pressing a button on her Scroll and launching the teams into the forest below, the cries of excitement and Dae's scream of terror ringing out over the Cliffside. "Now gentlemen, I believe we should get into position ourselves." Glynda said firmly turning to her fellow teachers.
High above the forest…..
As soon as she entered the air Peizhi quickly reached for Qilin, gripping the handle tightly. During the initiation when she'd first been shot off the cliff she'd loved the rush of being launched into the air, the sense of freedom and weightlessness was like nothing she'd ever experienced before, but now that she knew she'd be spending the duration of the exam being forced to partner with Djack of all people, a low seething anger was bubbling up in her and the fast approaching trees were about to feel the sting of that rage. As she burst down through the tree line she swung her sword in a blind storm, cutting through branches and trunks in her way until she came to a skidding halt on the ground below. She scanned the area where she landed for Djack as she tried to catch her breath. Finally the sound of crackling flames entered the small clearing as Djack flew in on Candlestick. "Quite a little show you put on there kitty cat, I think we need to invest in scratching post for you." He joked lazily sitting on broom not far above her.
"Are you offering to take the job?" Peizhi snapped back only earning a laugh in return.
"Oh, that sounds like a good time. Speaking of good times, maybe we can find a nice little place to have some fun when the exam's over." Djack sneered down at her while licking his lips making Peizhi cringe.
"Don't you already have creepy clingy girlfriend for a partner?" She asked crossing her arms in disgust.
Djack hopped down to meet Peizhi on the ground, grinning a toothy grin down at her as he stepped in close. "I can see why you'd think that. But let me just tell you, I'm definitely open and available."
"Well I'm sure you'll make some girl very unhappy someday. Now let's get moving." Peizhi pulled out her Scroll and brought up her map. "It looks like we have a lot of ground to cover."
"Or, and just stay with me on this one. We could just take a quick ride on my trusty Candlestick and be there in a couple of minutes." Djack said with a wiggle of his eyebrows presenting Candlestick and holding it out like a salesman trying to hock his wares.
"No, they're gonna be grading us on how we get to the rendezvous point."
"Aw don't be that way, I'm sure you'd love the ride."
"Let me rephrase that, I wouldn't get on that thing with you if you were the last…" Before Peizhi could finish her thought her Aura flared up suddenly. She turned in the direction of feeling and quickly jumped back towards Djack taking a defensive stance. "Get ready! Something's coming!"
"Oh, you mean the three Boarbatusks heading our way?" Djack asked nonchalantly while casually leaning on Candlestick as a low rumbling filled the air, growing closer by the second. "Here, allow me." He took a step forward pointing Candlestick towards the approaching menace activating his weapon. Soon just as he said three angry Boarbatusks burst out through the bushes charging at full speed towards them. Djack only smiled and pressed a button on Candlestick's handle, the blades began spinning even faster than before as pillar of flames erupted from the pike's blade at the tip hurtling towards the Grimm. "Barbeque anyone?!" Djack laughed as he swung his weapon creating a line of flame across the ground which quickly grew into a wall. The Grimm were powerless to stop their charge as they rushed through the flames, screeching and howling in pain as they began to thrash about blindly before collapsing to the ground. "And that is how you smoke ham ladies and gentlemen." Djack said turning back towards Peizhi and striking a pose only to see her sprinting at him with a look of grave determination. She stopped only mere feet from him thrusting Qilin forward and pulling the trigger launching the blade at breakneck speed along its pole towards him. At the last second Djack ducked his head to the side as the blade flew past and imbedded itself in the skull of the lunging Boarbatusk behind him. The Grimm let out one last strangled cry as it collapsed to the ground.
"You should pay more attention and spend less time posing." Peizhi chastised retracting Qilin and sheathing it in one quick motion.
"Maybe I just knew you'd have my back." Djack said simply once more trying to close the distance between them.
"And how would you know that?"
"Probably the same way you knew there was something coming our way." Djack said with a wink. "Listen kitty cat, I know you're all into playing hard to get right now, but you did have a point. I'm sure our all-knowing professors are watching our every move right about now, so in the spirit of teamwork how about we air out some secrets. Here I'll go first, most people don't know it but my little baby here is more than just a sweet ride and versatile pike, it also can function as a flamethrower."
"Yeah, I kind of noticed." Peizhi said wholly unimpressed.
"Okay, I can see you're not in the mood to talk shop. Then how in the spirit of being open and honest I make you a little proposition?" Djack said hoping to goad her into playing his game.
Peizhi just crossed her arms and glared up at him, weighing her options for a moment. "What exactly did you have in mind?"
"Simple, I'll show you mine if you show me yours." Djack chuckled.
"For your sake you better be talking about semblances." Peizhi growled.
"Of course." Djack said with a little bow before preparing to mount Candlestick once more. "Now unless you feel like going head to head with a whole bunch more Grimm I suggest you hop on."
Peizhi stared at him incredulously for a few painfully long moments before letting out an angry sigh. "Fine, but no funny stuff, you got me." She ordered taking her place behind him on the broom and cautiously wrapping her arms around his chest.
"Now that's the spirit." Djack laughed as they blasted off into the air.
Off in another section of the woods….
"So does like everything still work down there?" Jackie asked out of the blue lazily trailing behind Jason as they made their way through the forest following their map.
"Wh-what?!" Jason was taken aback by the abruptness of the question.
"Y'know, does your…"
"Yes! Why would you even ask something like that?" Jason had to try and hide his blush, wheeling himself just a little faster to stay ahead of the careless girl.
"Just curious, I mean with you being a cripple and everything." Jackie didn't seem to see the harm in asking as she watched the clouds slowly roll by overhead.
"I'm far from crippled thank you very much." Jason said through clenched teeth, he was already wondering how well he could handle the exam while dealing with this infuriating girl.
"Then what's with the crazy wheelchair?" Jackie asked quickening her pace to catch up alongside the armored boy.
"I have a degenerative muscular condition in my legs. If left untreated I'd lose the ability to walk in a few years, but I wasn't about to let that stop me from becoming a huntsman. My uncle developed Chiron here as a means of slowing it down and allowing me to continue my training." Jason said patting one of the arms of his wheelchair lovingly before turning to look up at Jackie only to find she was wearing an utterly bored expression.
"Booooring." She moaned before taking a few quick strides ahead of the red haired gladiator.
"What? But you're the one who asked?"
"And now I'm bored." Jackie said as simply as one would state the sky was blue. "Now let's go find some Grimm to fight or something." With that she skipped off into the trees nearly leaving Jason behind.
"I'm so gonna fail this test." Jason sighed.
In a different part of the forest…
"Well I guess I was wrong, looks like your little knives are good for something after all." Perciva mused as Eris yanked one or her chains dislodging the blade attached from a Beowolf's skull as the Grimm toppled forward.
"Whatever Bootcamp. You seem like you're having a good time." Perciva merely shrugged as she pulled her lance from a Beowolf she'd all but impaled to the ground.
"Hey, I live for this kind of stuff." Perciva said as she dusted some dirt and bits of Grimm from her otherwise pristine moss colored armor
"Yeah, I noticed. How bout we start heading to this rendezvous point already huh." Eris said leaving her partner behind and following the map.
"Aw c'mon, we've got plenty of time. Let's see if there aren't at least a few more Beowolves sneaking around here." Perciva pleaded slowly following her unwilling partner.
"I thought you were all super competitive." Eris groaned as Perciva moved ahead peering around a tree for any sign of more Grimm.
"Ha! Like this is even a contest. I bet you 10 lien half of the teams are tearing each other apart right about now." Perciva laughed. "Sounds like they might have the right idea." Eris thought as Perciva continued her little rant. "I mean think about it, we both could have been pair with someone like Djack."
"Ugh, I'm fine thanks." Eris cringed at the thought.
"Huh, y'know I would have pegged you as one of his little hangers on like Jackie, you three seemed pretty tight back before the initiation."
"Hardly, and for the record he's definitely not my type." Eris said not trying to hide her disgust.
"Riiight, because short little boys are soooo much better." Perciva goaded, smiling to herself when Eris tensed up taking the bait.
"I'm warning you Gawaine, you're one step from taking this down a bad road." Eris seethed clenching her fist and sending a menacing glare in Perciva's direction.
"Oh I so scared."
"Okay then what about your partner then, mister tall, pale, and anti-social? How come you aren't worried he'll beat us to the goal line?" Eris asked deciding to go on the verbal offensive herself until Perciva burst out laughing. "Okay what's so funny Bootcamp?"
"I-it's just, if you were talking about anything else y-you might have had a point." She paused for a moment to wipe a tear from her watering eyes and catch her breath. "I hate to admit it, but Sinclair's pretty much the best at a lot of things, but he does have one weakness."
Much deeper in the forest at this very same second….
Sinclair sped through the forest, only mindful of his partner's struggling efforts to keep up by maintaining what he considered a less than controlled sprint until he came to a large cave decorated with crudely drawn cave paintings depicting some kind of warning. He stopped and took a moment to steady his breathing back to normal and finally allow Artemis a chance to catch up. Finally she exited the tree-line huffing and wheezing from fatigue. "We've finally reached the rendezvous point. Hurry up and collect yourself, the next portion will probably begin shortly."
"Bu-but…that's…what I've…be-been…trying to tell…you." Artemis gasped leaning against a tree for support.
"What?" Sincalir asked already losing his patience with what he considered his inferior partner. "Out with it already."
"This isn't the rendezvous point!" Artemis yelled as loud as she could muster, which was still not much louder than her average volume. "You've been going the wrong way."
Sinclair merely stared at her blankly for a minute before returning to his usual stern expression. "Nonsense, the map said to head north, so I did just that." He pulled out his Scroll to prove his point. "Strange, now it is telling me the rendezvous is due south."
"Listen, we're still not too far off from where we need to be, maybe I should just lead the way." Artemis pleaded. Sinclair seemed to mull the idea over in his head, or at least that's what Artemis hoped he was doing seeing as it was still impossible to judge his stone like facial expressions.
"Fine, lead the way." He said with gritted resignation.
"Okay, it looks like we can get there just a little faster if we first head to the west a little." Artemis explained, carefully tracing their new course along the holographic map with her finger. "Alright yeah if we just…Sinclair that's the wrong way!" Artemis called after the white haired fighter as he began marching off in the wrong direction.
Back with Eris and Perciva….
"So you're telling me Sinclair could get lost on the way to the bathroom." Eris marveled at what she'd just been told.
"Yup, probably the best huntsman of our generation, but he can barely tell his left from his right." Perciva explained as they pushed and slashed through the brush on their way through the forest. "I literally found him during the initiation walking back towards the cliffs trying to find the temple."
"You've got to be kidding me."
"No lie, and he's so stubborn about it I doubt that little geek girl will have enough backbone to get him to head the right way." She chuckled ripping a tree branch just out of her way.
Eris grinned at the idea. "Yeah I guess she, I mean they, really aren't much competition."
In another section of the forest…
Robin was not having much of what he'd qualify as success with his partner. Since landing they'd travel almost entirely in silence except for the rare irritated grunt or terse call of "This way," or "Speed it up." Robin had initially thought maybe if he gave Sigurd enough space he'd ease up and make their partnership a little more workable, but by this point Robin realized he need to change up his approach. "So…how are you liking Beacon so far?"
"Stop that." Was all he got in reply.
"What?"
"I said stop that." Sigurd repeated stopping to turn around a give Robin a harsh glare. "We aren't going to do this. We are just exam partners, that's it. When this is over we won't be comrades in arms, we won't have found some new found respect for one another, and we most certainly won't be friends."
"Okay, what's your darn problem?" Robin asked raising his voice at his indignant partner.
"Me? I don't have any problems, and so long as you pull your weight and don't get in my way I will continue not to have any." Sigurd took a few steps closer using his height to stare down at Robin who only returned with a strong willed stare of his own. "That's a good look, now get ready I think they're about ready to strike." He said in a hushed tone slowly reaching for the grip of his great sword.
"How many you think there are?" Robin asked resting his hands on the handles of his pistols.
"Hardly enough to be a challenge." Sigurd chuckled as the first of the Beowolves rushed at them from their hiding spots. "Watch my back and make sure they don't flank me!" He yelled as he charged the beast and cleaved right through it in one mighty swing. As the Grimm fell more flooded in from behind the trees all charging towards Sigurd. Robin watched in amazement as Sigurd's sword transformed, the pummel shifting, the hand guard moving back, and the blade folding back until he had some kind of high powered assault rifle in hand. He opened fire on the Grimm, quickly mowing them down in a hail of bullets. Once his clip was empty he ejected it and went to reload heedless of the remaining Beowolves as they closed in on him. Robin drew his guns and fired into the pack dropping as many as he could, but three managed to slip through his barrage. Sigurd just shifted his weapon back into a sword and took the heads off the three beasts in one powerful swing. As the bodies of the Grimm fell limply to the ground Sigurd stood and flicked the smoking remains from his blade with a quick turn of the wrist before sheathing his sword. "Good, maybe you're not as hopeless as I thought."
"Alright that's it, I'm not gonna take this anymore." Robin shouted earning only a condescending grin from Sigurd.
"Then leave, I'm sure I can handle finishing the exam on my own." He turned back towards the forest and slowly began walking away. "Though I expected more from someone who leads their own team, who would have thought he'd let his partner walk out on him."
"Oh, and you'd make a better leader talking down to everyone and barking orders like you're better than them?" Robin had never been this mad with anyone in his whole life.
"That's because I am better!" Sigurd turned back casting a fiery gaze back in Robin's direction. "And I'm certainly better than you."
"Oh yeah, I'd like to see that." Robin said marching up to him, once more trading stares with him.
"Then tag along and find out."
High above the forest…..
"What do you mean your semblance is information?!" Peizhi shouted over the noise of Candlestick as they flew towards their goal.
"It's a little more complicated than that." Djack explained slowing Candlestick to a halt for a moment to get his bearings. "I see stuff most people have to train years to notice. I can read people's body language as easily as you read a grocery list, hear and smell stuff almost as good as any Faunus, and I can process it all in seconds. Comes real handy in a fight when you can tell what the other guy's gonna do just by watching the subtle change in his posture and the way his eyebrow twitches." Djack chuckled. "Okay your turn."
Peizhi hesitated for a moment, she hadn't even told everyone on her team about her semblance and here she was about to tell one of the sleaziest guys in school. But she just couldn't stop thinking about what Master would say if he found out she'd went back on her word. "My semblance senses danger and warns me about it ahead of time." Djack just began to laugh raucously causing a fierce and angry blush to rise to her face. "What's so funny?"
"You're telling me that you're a black cat who can sense bad luck? That's just too much." He said doing his best to calm his laughter. "Alright looks like we're here, hold on tight I'm taking her down." Djack said before quickly steering Candlestick down towards a large open clearing.
Much deeper into the woods….
"So then she slapped me and I'm telling you that girl can hit like a ton of bricks." Nidhogg laughed as he cheerfully continued strolling through forest.
"Yeah, that's great, but you think you could maybe…put me down!" Dae finally shouted still slung over the larger hunters shoulder.
"Oh sorry buddy, I forgot I had you up there." Nidhogg chuckled easing the fuming inventor off his shoulder and back onto solid ground.
"Yeah I noticed. Maybe if you'd have stopped talking for almost twenty minutes you would have noticed me pounding on your shoulders and yelling at you." Dae was massaging his temples.
"Huh, I never even noticed. Oh well." Nidhogg took a minute to scan their surroundings. "Hey, why d'you think we haven't seen any Grimm yet, I was hoping for fight by now."
"I've been hearing a lot of gunfire so I'm guessing the other teams must have attracted the brunt of them." Dae glanced thoughtfully in the direction he'd last heard gunfire. "I sure hope Roby's doing okay."
"Ah don't worry, he's with Sig so I bet he's doing fine." Nidhogg assured patting Dae on the shoulder.
"We are talking about the same guy right. Sigurd Sigmund? Mr. high and mighty, I'm better than you so stay out of my way, Sigurd Sigmund?" Dae poured on the sarcasm to make sure not even Nidhogg could mistake his tone. The larger hunter merely laughed.
"Heh, c'mon he ain't that bad once you get to know him."
"Trust me, I know him pretty well. We all went to Signal together remember?"
"Oh you did, I don't remember seeing you around." Nidhogg said his features brightening.
"I'm not surprised, we didn't exactly travel in the same social circles. You were a jock and I was…well I was something else." Dae wasn't exactly liking where the conversation was starting to turn but it was too late to back out now.
"I wasn't really much of a jock to tell the truth, but I'm sure you were pretty cool back then. I mean I heard from little dude you refitted that crazy backpack of yours from scratch, that's pretty awesome." Nidhogg said taking a closer gander at Fulcrum.
"Oh, yeah, um thanks." Dae was taken aback by this, he'd never really given Nidhogg much credit until now. "Yeah, what about your weapon, now that I think about it I've never really seen you in action. We've always been in different combat classes." Dae took a second to inspect Nidhogg's gauntlets. Each one was rather imposing and each had their own distinct design leaving him to only guess at their different function. His left only went up the length of his forearm covered in small dings and scratches with about a foot wide brown studded disk on his fist. The other gauntlet connected with some matching armor that ran the full length of his arm to his shoulder pad with some kind of loading mechanism and magazine mounted on his forearm along with what looked to be a pair of orange metal ram horns stacked on top of each other on his fist.
"Oh you mean Gnasher and Grinder? Heh, how bout I wait to show you these babies in action, I'm sure it will blow you away." He chuckled cracking his knuckles loudly.
"Al-alright then, can't wait." Dae couldn't help but be a little intimidated by Nidhogg's gung-ho nature. "But why Gnasher and Grinder, their names seem kinda plain."
"Oh I just call'um that for short, Sig actually named them for me, but Tanngrisnir and Tanngnjostr aren't super easy to say all the time. But he really wanted to help me after I helped him with building his sword so what heck right?"
"Wait a minute!" Dae interrupted. "You're telling me you helped him build Volsung Gram? That thing won best in show for weapon design back in Signal."
"Yeah, Sig's real good when it comes to fighting, but he has to work real hard on a lot of stuff, especially the technical stuff. When I found him working on it back at Signal it was a mess, so I leant him a hand with the rifle components and the transition matrix and he worked on the blade. He spent so much time sharpening that thing I swear he could have split an anvil with it." Nidhogg chuckled as they pushed through the last of the trees until finally they came out at the rendezvous point. "Whoa man, check this place out!" Nidhogg marveled ignorant to Daedalus' pained expression.
"Not this place again." He moan looking out at the ruined spire they'd only narrowly escaped from last time they'd entered the forest. They slowly made their way up the path up towards the tower, Dae all the while watching for any sign of Grimm.
"So what you think they're gonna have us do next?" Nidhogg wondered aloud when they were about half way up the column lined pathway.
"Ah, it seems you're the first to arrive." Professor Arch said stepping out from behind one of the pillars with a smile and a wave. "You two made it and with time to spare, quite admirable."
"What the heck are you doing here Professor?" Dae asked already not sure he wanted to know the answer.
"I'll explain in due time Mr. Verde. It seems the other team should be arriving any second now." He said checking his Scroll. A few moments later Eris and Perciva emerged from the forest bickering loudly over something until they realized they weren't alone.
"What the hell are they doing here?" Perciva asked once they were in earshot, casting a mean looking glare in Nidhogg's direction.
"That's a good question. What about it matchstick?" Eris asked quirking an eyebrow at Dae.
"Umm, we share the same travel agent?" When all he received from Eris was a pointed look he quickly went to change his answer. "Actually that's what the Professor is here to explain, take it away teach."
"Yes, allow me to explain…"
At the ruins of the temple….
"Okay maggots here's how it's gonna be." Rlee bellowed at the two teams. "Now that we've had a chance to see how you handle yourselves in the field we think it's time for a change of pace." Robin was on edge. He hated how Rlee seemed to enjoy dragging things out for the suspense. It didn't help that all Sigurd seemed interested in was staring down Sinclair who didn't seem to care much either way while Artemis looked so nervous she was about to start shaking. "For the second half of this exam we'll be seeing if you and your partners can handle the pressures of team versus team combat." The old soldier grinned.
At a large clearing on the other side of the forest….
"We shall begin shortly." Glynda explained directing the two teams to take their marks on opposite sides of the clearing. DJack and Peizhi took their spot making sure to keep a close eye on Jason and Jackie as they moved into position. "We will be using standard tournament regulations, for any of you who are not familiar, you will continue until both of your opponent's Auras reach into the red or are ruled unfit to continue. You will be given 15 minutes for this portion of the exam." Each team readied their weapons and prepared themselves for the fight to come.
"Alright, let's go divide and conquer. I should be able to handle the six million lien boy over there myself, I just need to you to keep Jackie busy." Djack advised taking his time to run their odds in his head.
"And how am I supposed to do that, I'm pretty sure she'll head straight for you the second this starts." Peizhi added digging her feet into a strong defensive stance in case the other team decided to take a quick offensive.
"Oh leave that to me." Djack said with sadistic smirk. "Hey Jackie!" He called across the field making the girl in question perk up like a dog at a master's call. "Pussycat over here wants to take me out for nice night on the town once this is all over!"
"What!?" Peizhi and Jackie cried in unision.
"Begin!" Professor Goodwitch called signaling the start of the match. Jackie shot forward at full speed closing the distance between her and Peizhi in seconds and swinging up a powerful kick right at her head. Peizhi was able to block the blow at the last second, bringing Qilin up at the last possible second to stop the heavy metal boot from connecting. She looked up and met eyes with Jackie. She had a look of pure rage glaring at her as the goth huntress gritted her teeth trying to power through the blow.
"I'm gonna make a violin outta your ass!" She all but screamed bringing her leg back and firing off a blast from her heel gun to give the next kick more power. The blow came too fast for Peizhi to block and sent her rolling back several feet.
"See, simple as that." Djack drawled sarcastically before bringing his eyes up to meet Jason's as he cautiously advanced with Chiron already activated. Djack took a quick running start before hoping on Candlestick and taking to the air. Jason had his bow ready and sent a couple shots into the air which Djack dodged with ease, reaching into his sack and pulling out several pumpkin painted orbs which he lobbed down at Jason. Jason leapt backwards narrowly evading the following explosions which rang out with a high pitched screech of synthesized laughter. "What? You don't like my little Djack bombs!" Djack laughed waiting for the smoke to clear to get a bead on his opponent. Suddenly an arrow came barreling through the smoke knocking him off of his broom and out of the sky. He managed to catch himself and break his fall while keeping hold of his weapon. Jason came bursting through the smoke, his bow reverted back to a shield and one of his spears ready. Djack narrowly dodged a thrust flipping back and activating Candlestick, spinning it around his body letting the flames billow from the blade to keep some distance between them. "C'mon, afraid of a little fire tinman?" He taunted as Jason reared back to avoid another blast of fire.
Peizhi was having a hard time dealing with an anger and jealousy fueled Jackie. She's never had to face someone as fast and vicious as this before and it was all she could do to stave off her alternating assault of heavy kicks and long-range blast with just Qilin. "You think just cause you got your whole little cat-girl thing going on you can just come in here and put one over on boss? I'll show you a just what we do with tramps like you!" Jackie cried preparing for another charge.
"Okay, that's it. No more Miss Nice Peizhi." Peizhi sheathed Qilin in one swift motion and shifted into an offensive stance as Jackie launched forward. As she closed in she swung up a brutal kick, but Peizhi slipped past the blow like water running over a rock, spinning around to Jackie's side and sending a hard Aura enforced palm strike into her ribs. The blow rocked Jackie hard driving the air out of her and sending her flying across the clearing bouncing once, then twice, off the ground before she was able to catch herself and get to a kneeling position.
Shock played itself across her face as she fought to get air back into her lungs. "Wha…What was that!?" Peizhi just glared back at her with steely eyes only serving to add fuel to the fire of Jackie's anger as she forced herself back to her feet. "That's it! You're dead! You hear me? Dead!" She fired wildly in Peizhi's direction sending blast after blast at the dark haired Faunus. Peizhi rushed forward ignoring the volley and weaving in-between the shots with an eerie focus, her eyes trained on Jackie as she closed the distance between them in seconds. Jackie panicked as her opponent came within striking distance and sent a wild kick up which Peizhi blocked before stepping in and sending an Aura powered elbow strike into her chest. All Jackie could do was let out strangled scream as she was once more taken off she feet and send hurtling roughly back across the clearing.
Back at the center of the clearing Djack was having trouble. Jason's defense was strong and it seemed no matter how he attacked the young gladiator always found a way to get his shield in the right place to block. That combined with his chair's powerful legs and his spear kept Djack from getting in close. He needed something to help even the odds and fast. Then they heard the sound of Jackie's scream as she went tumbling across the field. Professor Goodwitch quickly raised her arm looking up from her Scroll. "Miss Jackson has been eliminated!"
"Jackie!" Jason cried turning to see if she was okay.
Djack smiled pouncing on his opening. He reached into his sack and activated a Djack bomb before rolling it under Jason. Jason realized his mistake as he heard the small metal sphere clink against one of Chiron's front hooves. The bomb went off as he tried to rear back and get away. The blast rocked the heavy metal frame of the mechanical chair sending it careening onto its side with heavy crash. Jason hardly had the time to get his wits about him before he felt the jostle of something hoping onto Chiron's side and the heat from Candlestick as Djack loomed over him with his weapon poised and a cocky smirk. "Uh uh uh, you took your eyes off the prize buddy." He gloated waving Candlestick back and forth.
"That's the match! The winners are Team Scratch/Bagheera!" Goodwitch called putting her scroll away and moving to check on Jackie who was by now struggling up from her prone spot in the dirt. Djack hopped down off of Chrion and sauntered towards Peizhi who was briskly making her way towards him.
"Good work back there pussycat, ow!" Djack cringed as Peizhi struck him hard in the chest. "What was that for?"
"That was for sic'ing your pyscho stalker girlfriend on me!" Peizhi yelled glaring up at him.
"Hey, I thought I told you she wasn't my girlfriend."
"Augh! That's it, I so can't take dealing with you anymore!" Peizhi threw her hands up in exasperation at Djack's ridiculousness.
"Um, can someone help me over her?" Jason called having shifted Chiron back into its chair mode, but still stuck on his side. Peizhi rushed over to his side leaving Djack to just gawk after her. "Sheesh, women." He muttered to himself as he made his way over toward Jackie and Professor Godwitch.
"Gonna…kill…her." Jackie gasped struggling up off her back until Professor Goodwitch silenced her with a quick swipe of her riding crop.
"That's quite enough Miss Jackson, I suggest you calm yourself." She said with a piercing stare. Jackie just gritted her teeth and glared back at the older woman ruefully. Djack stepped in quickly offering Candlestick's handle in Jackie's direction.
"Easy there slugger, if you keep misbehaving then you won't get your ice cream when we get home." He said grinning down at her. She just looked up at him with wide eyes filled with confusion.
"But boss…she's no good for you." She all but whined like a child caught coloring on the walls.
"Huh?...Oh you mean that. That whole date thing was just lie to get you out of my way for the fight." He chuckled at the look of eager relief that flashed through her eyes as she took hold of the broomstick letting him help her up to a kneeling position.
"Aw boss you're so clever, I can't believe I fell for something so stupid." Jackie gushed laughing with renewed happiness.
"Yeah." Djack cast a quick look over in Peizhi's direction, she'd finally managed to help right Jason's chair and was checking to see if he was alright. "You know I don't go for those hard to get types." He lied.
At the tower ruins….
Perciva and Eris took their spots across the wide spanning path between the pillars preparing themselves for the battle. "Okay, so how do you want to handle this one?" Eris asked peering over at Dae wildly moving his arms trying to explain some strategy to a confused looking Nidhogg.
"Easy, I'm gonna rush in there and take down the big guy. I've been waiting for a chance to get a piece of him for a long time now. You can take care of your little friend." Perciva said cracking her knuckles as she watched Dae slump his shoulder's in defeat, most likely abandoning his attempts at a plan.
"That's a bad idea, Dae's pretty crafty, we probably wanna stick close and team up on them from the start." Eris cautioned.
"Ha! Are you kidding? He looks like he'll get knocked over by a strong breeze. You telling me you're actually scared of him?" Perciva taunted.
"Of course not, I'm just saying…" Eris was cut off by Professor Arch who had now moved to the center of the path to oversee the fight.
"All right students, I hope you're ready." He said raising his hand high.
"Okay I know my last few ideas weren't exactly great, but we need a plan like now dude." Dae said fidgeting nervously behind Nidhogg who just kept wearing a confident smile.
"Don't worry, I've got a plan."
"What really?"
"Yeah, I'll charge in and take the first one who comes out, then you just do your thing bro." He said turning back to Dae with a thumbs up seemingly oblivious to the look of shocked horror on his partner's face.
"Begin!" Professor Arch called swinging his hand down to signal the start.
Nidhogg activated his weapon, the disk on his left hand opening up into thick studded shield while the ram horns on his right hand separated and moved down to either side of his fist. He pulled his left hand up into a close guard while keeping his right arm pumping back and forth poised to strike as he began lightly bouncing from one foot to the other waiting on the other team to make their first move. Perciva readied Ballista and charged in with a loud primal cry. Nidhogg met her charge and they collided in the center of the field, his shield taking the full force of the attack and stopping the blow. The force exploded outward in a shockwave, sending violent ripples through the grass. Each fighter stood their ground with neither letting up. "That was pretty good, never had someone actually block one of my attacks head on before." Perciva said through gritted teeth as she pressed on still trying to break through Nidhogg's defense.
"Well I'm a pretty straight forward kind of guy." Nidhogg chuckled tightening his guard while digging in his feet.
"Well then let's see how you handle this!" Perciva pulled back and let loose with an onslaught of point blank thrust. Dae watched on in amazement as she thrust her monstrous weapon one handed with incredible speed and Nidhogg ducked, weaved, and blocked every blow with incredible timing. All the while his feet never stopped moving as he displayed swift and effortless footwork with his right hand still steadily pumping back and forth poised for a chance to strike. Dae's thoughts were interrupted though by the distinct whoosh of air being cut by steel as he narrowly avoided a long range swing from one of Eris' Crazy Apples.
"Might wanna pay less attention to your new bff over there and pay more attention to your own dance partner matchstick." Eris lecture while playfully twirling one of her Apples by its chain. The smile she wore was one that held a gleam of sadistic glee behind its rather innocent façade which sent a chill down Daedalus' spine.
"H-hey now Eris, I thought we were friends here." Dae said slowly beginning to back pedal as she stalked after him.
"Sure we are, that's why I'll try not to aim for your head." Dae's womanish screams echoed through the pillar lined path as she gave chase swinging her weapons at him as he ran.
Back in the center of the field Nidhogg continued to weather the flurry of blows. He was surprised the young knight could keep attacking so hard for so long, but he finally saw his chance. He took low step in bringing Tanngrisnir up in a powerful swing knocking Perciva's lance off its intended course. A long orange piston shot out of the loading mechanism on the opposite arm as he followed through with his attack, the ram horns on his fist spinning violently at incredible speeds. At the last minute Perciva was able to jump back as his fist came crashing down, the piston shooting in as his fist collided with the ground. The blow rocked the earth beneath them as it splintered and cracked the ground creating a deep crater with Nidhogg's fist at the epicenter. Nidhogg Just grinned as he slipped back into his fighting stance, the piston cocking back once more as a crushed shell ejected from the loader on his forearm.
"What the hell was that!?" Eris paused her chase of Dae to turn in the direction of the commotion leaving Dae the opening he needed.
"Dix drop heavy smoke now!" He cried as his computerized companion executed the order, six small smoke charges dropping from Fulcrum behind him as he made a mad dash for his partner.
"Crap no!" Eris cursed turning on her heels trying to escape the blast as smoke erupted from the grenades and shrouded the field.
Professor Arch watched the battle unfold with great amusement. "Fascinating, so that was Mister Jotenson's famous Tanngnjostr. Using a pile driver system to crush highly compressed air shells to amplify the impact of the battering ram on his fist is a rather ingenious design. And Mister Verde is proving very resourceful. I thought I'd seen everything his Dynamic Fulcrum could do at this point, but it would appear I've only just begun to scratch the surface. I wonder if Miss Gawaine and Miss Eristone will be able to take back control of the battle at this point."
Dae managed to find Nidhogg amidst the smoke with the aid of Dix. "Hey man listen I have a plan." He wheezed trying to catch his breath.
"Alright little dude, but how am I supposed to see through this smoke?" Nidhogg said pulling his guard back in tight in anticipation of any unforeseen attack.
"Just leave that bit to me big guy." Dae grinned reaching back for a grenade and checking his wrist display.
Eris ran around the perimeter of the thick cloud of smoke trying to find her partner to no avail. "Perciva you need to get out of there now!" She called. "You're right where Dae wants you!"
Perciva stood her ground scanning the smoke for any sudden movements. "Are you kidding me, I have bigger problems to deal with. I can barely see my on lance in front of me, plus what could that little shrimp even do?" Perciva was interrupted by a light metallic clink against the tip of her lance. She looked down and could just barely make out a small light blue cylinder on the ground before it exploded. Ice crept along the ground traveling up the length of her weapon and up to her arm. Panic set in but when she tried to flee she found her leg had been caught in the blast as well effectively freezing her in place.
"Got her!" Dae exclaimed some ways into the smoke. "Straight ahead!"
"Got it." Nidhogg said following Dae's directions as he charged through the smoke towards his target.
"Shit." Perciva braced herself as best she could sending as much as her Aura to her front as she could as Nidhogg came into view. He swung his fist up hard in a sweeping uppercut, the force of his impact blowing away the smoke and sending Perciva flying back across the field as the ice encasing her shattered and gave way. The blonde haired knight did her best to recover, skidding to a halt in a kneeling position several yards away as Eris moved to join her. "What the hell was that!?" She cried shakily getting back to her feet.
"I warned you, matchstick over there's specialty is surprising people. If you ask me you had that one coming." Eris scolded preparing to strike back.
"Oh, I'll give that little shit a surprise alright." Perciva seethed swinging Ballista around and switching it into its chain-gun form.
"What are you..."
"Eat this!" Perciva screamed as she opened fire on her opponents. Dae scramble behind Nidhogg as he hunkered down behind his shield.
"This is a bad idea!" Eris screamed over the noise of Perciva's barrage only to be ignored by her partner and as she continued her assault. But it was too late. Eris saw it first and jumped far to the side to avoid the danger. Perciva noticed when the glint off the sun caught her eye, a pair of small cylinders sailing down in front of her, these a bright vibrant yellow.
"Oh fu…" The grenades went off releasing a blast of electricity that arced up through her lance and surged through her armor covered body into her. She let out a scream as she dropped her weapon and collapsed to the ground in a heap sporadically twitching.
"Miss Gawaine is unfit to continue." Professor Arch declared from the sidelines. Eris didn't take the time to think as she rushed Nidhogg, throwing her Crazy Apples around his shield trying to pull down his guard. Nidhogg just swung his arm pulling her through the air. Eris went limp and flew through the air, righting herself as she went and sending a hard dropkick into his face staggering the taller boy backwards as she flipped out of striking range pulling back her weapons. Dae shot around his disoriented partner and lobbed a small handful of grenades in Eris' direction. Eris shot down one of them with her Apples causing the rest to go off in a cascading chain reaction as fire and smoke filled the air. Before she could react Nidhogg came barreling through the smoke swinging his first down as hard as he could. Eris leapt back but the force of the blow was more than she could anticipate as he buried his fist into the ground kicking up as wave of rocks flying up from the force of the attack. The rocks peppered Eris hard as she lost her bearings in the air and crashed back towards the ground.
"That's enough!" Professor Arch called stepping in. "Miss Eristone has enter the red. Team Verde/Jotenson are the winners." He declared before moving to check on the fallen girls.
"We…we won? We won!" Dae exclaimed pumping his fist into the air in elation as Nidhogg ran up to him with a big smile on his face and grabbed him under the arms. "Hey what are you.."
"We did it little dude!" Nidhogg cried effortlessly throwing his partner high into the air like a father would a child, catching him and repeating.
"H-hey! Stop! Too high!" Dae screamed.
At the temple ruins….
"Okay so do you have a plan?" Robin asked checking his clips one last time getting ready for their match. His partner merely "hmphed" at this as he unsheathed his sword, watching it glint in the late morning sun.
"Simple, I will take down Sinclair in a one-on-one duel. You can deal with Artemis, she should be more your level anyway." He said with a sneer swinging his sword a few times through the empty air.
"That's it? You really think splitting up is a good idea?" Robin couldn't believe Sigurd's confidence in himself. "What if they team up on us?"
"That won't happen." Sigurd said matter-of-factly. "Sinclair is far too proud to rely on someone else if he can help it. So stop your worrying, there is no way I will let him defeat me a third time."
"A…third time?" Robin muttered already feeling more nervous by the minute.
"Alright Maggots, at the ready!" Rlee order from his spot on the temple's stairs. "Commence!"
Sigurd and Sinclair rushed the field as soon as the signal was given clashing blades as they met in the center. Sinclair's cold eyes bore into Sigurd as they each vied for leverage. "It must be a shame Sigmund, to come against me only to ultimately lose. It's the preliminaries all over again." He stated in unfeeling monotone.
"I'll have you eat those words today Windsor." Sigurd boasted as he threw his weight behind Gram knocking Sinclair's blade back. Sinclair hopped back and swung his blade down shifting it into a whip as Sigurd went to block. Sigurd ducked under the whip as it curved around his sword sweeping behind his head. Sinclair retracted Redcoat back into a blade and slashed and swung at Sigurd who parried and blocked.
Robin took this chance to circle around and try to get to Artemis when a loud shot rang out followed by the whistling sound of air being cut. He ducked to avoid being struck by her Whistling Kite as it sped through the air. She followed up aiming the pistol half of Wild Harrier at him firing off a couple shot forcing him to roll to the side. He got up fast prepared to fire off some shots of his own when the whistling sound reached his ears once more and he remembered boomerangs always return. He hit the deck and just managed to avoid Artemis' weapon connecting from behind as it sail back to her hand and she charged at him flipping the weapons in her hands so her bladed pistols were at the ready. Robin pressed Hob and Goblin's barrels against the ground and fired a blast sending him flipping back off the ground and putting a little distance between them. "This isn't good." Robin thought doing his best to keep Artemis at bay while trading shots with her. "If I hadn't seen her fight Dae in class already I'd be toast. She really can maximize her distance between close, mid, and long range. I need to think of something and fast."
"That's it Shelia! Keep pressing the advantage! Cappson keep your guard up!" Rlee shouted from the temple. He hardly saw the point in passing up the opportunity to teach, even if it was in the middle of an exam.
Sigurd and Sinclair were still locked in a fierce battle. They'd traded a few glancing blows, but neither had yet to make decisive strike. Sigurd stepped in taking a powerful double handed upward swing, but Sinclair easily evaded jumping back. He switched Redcoat back into a whip and swung it around Gram's blade. "You're already mine." He said before forcefully pulling it out of Sigurd's hands and sending it flying across the field. "No!" Sigurd tried to make a break for his sword, but Sinclair cut him off with a sweeping slash of his shotel forcing him to jump back and take a defensive stance. He had little time to think of his next step as Sinclair pressed his advantage. Sigurd ducked and dodged Sinclair's blade while sending futile attempts at strikes which were either blocked or batted away. Sinclair stepped in quick and sent a hard kick to Sigurd's gut which could be felt even feel through Sigurd's thick armor. He staggered back as Sinclair watched slowly positioning himself between Sigurd and his sword. "You never were very good at hand-to-hand were you." Sinclair goaded in the same cold monotone that only served to further anger the gold armored warrior.
"Crap this is not good!" Robin cursed inwardly as he dodged another round of shots from Artemis. He dropped low and fired a blast behind him rocketing him across the ground towards Artemis at breakneck speed. When he got in close he stayed low and sent a sweeping kick under her guard and into her legs. The blow broke her stance and knocked her off her feet. Robin didn't waste time as he turned towards Sinclair and charged. "Sig get your sword!" He yelled getting their attention as he fired at Sinclair forcing him to turn his attention towards the younger huntsman. Sigurd made a break for Gram as Robin came within Sinclair's range. He swung at the red capped boy, but Robin fired a blast at the ground shooting himself high above the strike just as Sigurd retrieved his blade. Robin aimed a blast behind him sending flying in Sigurd's direction.
"There you go Cappson. There might be some hope for you yet." Rlee commented as the teams took a moment to regroup, Sinclair putting some distance between him and the other team while Artemis got back to her feet.
"With all due respect sir, you're not helping!" Robin shouted without looking back at their grinning professor.
Sigurd took a moment to compose himself while Robin ejected and replaced his clips. "Good job on the diversion. You might be more useful than I thought. I won't let him catch me off guard so easily this time."
"No!" Robin yelled while downright glowering at Sigurd. "We tried your plan and it didn't work, so now we try things my way!" Robin pushed ahead of a somewhat taken aback Sigurd and readied himself. "I'll take Sinclair. You cover me until I give the signal. If this goes well maybe we'll have a chance." He charged in before Sigurd had a chance to argue as Sinclair slipped into a combat stance once more.
"That infuriating little…" Sigurd muttered preparing to ignore his partner when Rlee chimed in.
"You might wanna listen to the little guy. Seems like he might be onto something." Sigurd stared up at the old soldier, but he was just watching the battle unfold with what looked to be immense pleasure.
As Robin closed the gap between him and Sinclair he readied his pistols and blasted himself into the air, corkscrewing as he sailed upwards and firing off a series of shots as he twisted through the air forcing Sinclair to block the rain of bullets with his blade. Robin landed behind him and swung a heavy boot into Sinclair's side which he blocked with and Aura enforced arm. Robin jumped back and continued to pour on the heat letting lose another volley of shots.
Artemis trained one her boomerangs on Robin, poising her finger on the trigger. Once he slowed down she pulled the trigger and let it fly, the force from the pistol's shot sending it soaring at high speed. A crack of semi-automatic fire cut through the air as Artemis weapon was blasted out of the sky and sent crashing towards the forest. She turned in the direction of the shot and found Sigurd closing in on her. Before she could ready her remaining boomerang he was on her with his sword poised at her throat and his menacing gaze meeting her own. "Artemis we both know you can't beat me, I suggest you stay out of this for the time being." He warned in harsh tone.
Sinclair had switched to his whip, trying to keep up with Robin's erratic movements, but the smaller hunter seemed to have no problem ducking under and past the sharp lashes as he continued trying to find right moment to make a shot. Finally as Sinclair pulled back preparing to make another strike when Robin blasted off towards him flaring up his semblance to give him some extra speed. He connected with Sinclair delivering a hard shoulder tackle that staggered the more experienced boy. "Now!" He shouted. Sigurd turned and acted on impulse shifting Gram into its rifle mode and firing at Redcoat's handle knocking it from Sinclair's hand. Robin rolled back and opened fire emptying what was left of his clips into Sinclair's breastplate as the stronger boy threw his Aura up to guard. Sigurd took the chance to rush in leaping over Robin and delivering a powerful two handed slash to his rival knocking him to the ground.
"And Windsor enters the red!" Rlee announced. "And that's time. Cappson and Sigmund win with a one all score!" Rlee stepped down and quickly pulled Sinclair up. "Alright maggots, your Scrolls should be updated with the location of your dropship pick up. Now get going, I have to get ready for the next batch of students. Your grades will be posted in the morning. Dismissed!" He barked. He pulled his flask from his coat once the students were some ways away. "Heh, I might have to keep an eye on that Cappson boy after all." He chuckled before taking swig.
On the way to the ship….
"I'm…sorry."
"What?" Robin wasn't sure he'd heard Sigurd right. In his short time with him, an apology was near the top of the list of things he never thought he'd hear from the brazen and over confident warrior.
"I said I was sorry." He gruffly repeated. "It would seem I…undervalued your skills."
"Yeah, but I guess it all turned out for the best in the end." Robin said trying to ease into the first comfortable conversation he'd had with Sigurd.
"Yes, well I won't make the same mistake in the future." He said with a hmph and continued on ahead leaving a confused Robin to follow behind.
Later that night in the faculty lounge….
"Well it looks like you won fair and square Arch." Rlee laughed slapping his fellow guest professor on the back as they began trading notes on grading the exams. They'd taken seats around communal table under dim orange glow of the overhead light.
"As always I will accept with grace and decorum." Arch answered before acknowledging Glynda's pointed glare at the both of them.
"Won what exactly Mr. Arch?" She question lightly tapping her riding crop in her hand.
"Oh come off it Goodwitch, it was just a harmless little bet." Rlee challenged, his mood having been raised over the course of the day with the help of the contents of his trusty flask.
"A gentleman's wager I might add." Arch cut in. "We merely wagered on which of the starting teams would do better. We saw it as a way to gauge whose method of teaching were more effective."
"And Arch here beat me two to one. Bastard." Rlee was not drunk, but he was hoping by the time they finished grading these exams he'd have that situation rectified.
"I still don't quite understand why you chose to bet on Scratch and Bagheera though. I would have expected you to back Mister Argo, he is a model soldier after all." Arch commented while sorting his notes on his Scroll.
"I used to have guy in my old platoon back when I first enlisted just like Scratch. I learned early on you never bet against a guy like that."
"Alright that's quite enough gentlemen." Glynda interrupted. "We have much work left to do. The students will expect their scores posted bright and early, and I will not abide tardiness."
The next morning…
"Hey guys the exam scores are posted!" Dae announced to the room whilst lazily flipping through his Scroll's functions on his wrist display. Team RDCP was taking the Sunday as much needed rest after the events of the exam and thusly elected to stay in. Robin was at his desk working on his homework while Peizhi and Eris were seated on the beds by the window trading stories while Dae leisurely reclined on his mess of bed. "Holy crap A+, oh yeah, I'm awesome." Dae gloated while leaning up to strike what he considered a glorious pose.
"Screw you matchstick." Eris said looking at her own grade with disdain.
"Oh I'm sorry, what did you get?" Dae asked smugly.
"C+, just be glad I don't have to spend the next month in the forest with that creepy old Rlee or you'd have to sleeping with one eye open." Eris warned while sending him a rude gesture. "How bout you Whiskers?"
"O-oh, I got a B." Peizhi said seeming a little distracted.
"Really now, sounds like Djack was finally good for something huh?" Eris teased.
"Ugh! Hardly, I hope I never get stuck dealing with him ever again."
"A normal reaction to spending an afternoon with the guy." Eris said off handedly as she turned attention towards Robin with a sly smile. "Okay Bunny, it's your turn."
"Oh…I don't think it really matters." Robin said sheepishly.
"Aw c'mon man, it can't be so bad. I mean you did have Sigurd Sigmund on your side. He's a pretty good guy to have on with you in a fight." Dae assured his partner.
"Yeah, once you get him to listen to you." Robin huffed. While he was distracted Eris leaned in and plucked his Scroll out of his hand. "Hey! Give that back!" Robin cried trying to grab it, but Eris easily kept him at bay with one arm.
"You got an A? Why wouldn't you brag about this?" Eris asked shocked at her pet's decision while Robin just seemed to blush.
"U-um excuse me." They all turned towards the door to see Artemis peeking her head in cautiously. "I tried knocking but no one answered and it was open.
"Oh yeah sure come on in." Robin welcomed the mousey girl.
"What do you want?" Eris asked curtly receiving a pointed look from Robin which she ignored as she leaned back on his bed.
"Oh, um I'm sorry to butt in, but I was wondering if you could still take a look at Kite and Harrier for me." Artemis said holding out her weapons.
"Oh yeah, sure, bring'um over here." Robin said quickly clearing up his notes and books to make a spot for them on the desk. "I meant to get to this yesterday, but that exam sure took it out of all of us."
"Yeah, you were pretty amazing. I've never seen anyone try taking on Sinclair like that." Artemis said trying to hide her blush.
"Wait a minute!" Daedalus exclaimed hoping off his bed. "You never said you fought Sinclair Windsor!"
"Well I thought it was implied." Robin said simply taking a moment to examine Artemis' weapons. "I mean none of you guys fought him right?"
"Okay, now I'm interested." Eris said sitting back up and scooting down the bed closer to Robin's desk.
Begrudgingly Robin began recounting his story of the exam with Artemis chiming in with tidbits of her own. Peizhi was listening in when she noticed something sticking out from under the window. She walked over and opened the window a crack to find a small card. It had a picture of black cat sitting on a pumpkin with a message messily scribble. Take a rain check on our date? Peizhi angrily shredded the card in her hands looking out the window seeing if she could spy a broom riding delinquent flying away. "I really can't stand that guy!" She fumed to herself.
And there you have it folks. I thought I would have some fun and possibly start the shipping wheels turning about now. I mean it's fun knowing who will end up with who and letting you piece together the hints of romantic inclinations. Can't wait to hear your thoughts.
Also VERY IMPORTANT QUESTION TO YOU THE READERS!
With each chapter I'm having to cut and shift around so much exposition, backstory info, and inbetween bits I've been considering starting a side story about everyone's day to life at Beacon.
WOULD YOU ALL LIKE THAT? YES? NO? PLEASE TELL ME.
As always I look forward to your feedback. Please review and vote in the Story poll on my profile.
Till next time guys.