Chapter 7: The Initiation of Atlas Students ~ An Adventure Beyond the Limits of What Could be Possible in Canon - Post-Relationship Start (feat. Cinnabar and Winter)
Yeah. I did that.
I do want to say, there is another part to this, but I am still working on it. I wanted to get something out now, but having an entire week full of exams killed me last week. I'll try to have the part two by the weekend. Enjoy the horrible battle scene, because I can't write action for crap. Do be prepared to see it updated or changed slightly to make the battle flow better.
All in all, I rate this a C grade chapter, expect it to be updated at a later date.
I do not own RWBY. Just the OCs.
I'm standing on the roof of an apartment, the sun still high in the sky. My hair, finally dyed white at the tips and the roots, a very hard process mind you, whipping in the wind around me. Below me the bustling of the streets as the civilians went on with their daily lives, unaware that one of the students is currently among them. Some are no doubt watching Ironwood's stream, hidden cameras placed everywhere… I'm like Batman.
"Well, oh Oracle mine, what do you think of the whole duel in the middle of the marketplace? Fruit flying through the air, cheering civilians, and a battle for the fate of the victor?" I say, holding my finger to my earpiece. No doubt a camouflaged camera flying by, picking up the audio.
I finally get to do something I've always wanted to.
Putting on a fake Aussie accent, I turn my head to the camera behind me. I could feel the electricity pulsing through it, even though it was cloaked. No cloaking tech on Remnant my ass Ironwood.
"Crikey, look at this 'ere fellow," I begin, pointing to the student, nonchalantly walking through the crowd. "Just a natural beeeauty of a student. No clue that we're watching 'im. Let's get a closer look."
I sprint to the edge of the building, and throw myself off, spreading my arms out. Looking down, I activate my semblance, magnetizing myself to the building. Then, I run, letting gravity propel myself to high speeds.
The student, nearly 6'10", beefy as hell, wielding a large broadsword, was somehow slouched over, trying to blend in. Of course, he's all hidden behind a black and silver trench-coat. He's a little tall, but stands out, his grey hair and lightly tanned skin more than enough to spot him in a crowd of people who live in perpetual winter. Seriously, everyone in Atlas is pale, even me.
Shit, he saw me. Still, for a Hunter-in-training he was doing well.
Finally meeting the ground, I deactivate my semblance, the electricity pulsing through me suddenly quitting. Along with it, the magnetic field it was producing lost all force. I jump, using the heavy acceleration from running down the side of a five-story apartment to throw myself forward, sprinting for the previously hidden student.
It's now that I reach into a small pocket on my shirt, pulling out a mobile arena. Basic holographic walls and a shield projector, all stuffed impossibly into a metal rod the size of my fist. Battery lasts about five minutes. I chuck the heavy rod as hard as I can, and smack him on the head.
While I am giving a small commentary to the aforementioned cameras, I see him turn to me, both determination and shock on his face.
Hey, you need to start the duel, the timer is ticking. Shut it, let me think. I'm you you idiot. Don't sass me young lady, why, what if Winter found out about your thoughts of last night? If you even survive this, you're probably barely even skilled with this student, you need more training. No, I am waaayy better that this guy. No, you're really not.
"Are we dueling, or are you waiting for something." The boy asks me, pulling me out of my argument with my own inner monologue.
Well screw you too you big bi-
"Yeah, waiting for your aura to go up. I want you at one hundred percent. That way it's fair." I taunt, lowering my voice. I need to get serious, having yet to actually draw anything.
He, on the other hand, reaches behind himself, pulling out his broadsword shotgun mixed weapon.
'How do I know this?' one may ask.
I read the files given to us by Ironwood. We're to weed out anyone who we think does not fit in the academy and it's morals. First Judgement, pre-relic duel. Next, we perform Second Judgement, the duel after the relics. Final Judgement is the team-making process, and the first year. All those whose first year end badly, are expelled.
"So, we gonna start, or are you stalling for time? Timer doesn't begin until one of us moves." I lie to the tall student. He doesn't need to know.
"Fine," He said back, narrowing his eyes. "we duel. Are you prepared? You have yet to draw."
"Waiting on you, mini-Qrow, I'm just here for the job. But, if you wish..." I accent my point by clicking out my curved shields, but I keep the daggers in their sheaths. For now I'll use martial arts, I need to train on a moving target. I raise my wrists, and hold my hands out in a tight but empty grasp at air. He shifts his feet into a prep for a lunge, hefting his no-doubt heavy sword, which is big for him, the man a foot taller than me, over his right shoulder. With one hand. That thing is going to hurt if it hits me.
Cinnabar Ferrous, the twenty-one year-old Atlesian Specialist and partner to the infamous "Ice Queen", with dual dagger and martial arts training, a classified semblance, and no background in any academy, vs Sable Argent, a wielder of a BSMS (Buster-Sword Multi-Shotgun), a semblance of personal anti-gravity [1], and a high spot in the recent graduate class of Signal Academy, based out of Vale.
There they stand, face to face, itching to fight. Cinnabar shifts her feet in response to the stance Sable took, and raises her left hand, beckoning him forward. "Well, you're up."
His response is to charge, swinging his massive sharpened blade to her position, using his semblance to speed it up as much as he can.
Cinnabar jump, tucking her legs so the blade passes below her. At the same time she pulls her leg back, preparing a kick. She kicks her leg out, connecting with the flat of the blade, shooting her up with extra force. Using gravity to speed herself up, Cinn pulls her arm back at the top of her arc, planning a punch. Sable, using his swinging weapon's weight as a pivot, turns his body to the side, making her fist connect with his armored shoulder instead.
A small whirring coincides with the transformation of the sword to a shotgun, the blade splitting in two. Using the force of the punch, Sable backs up, preparing to fire his weapon. Cinn pushes herself back, and raises her arms to shield her face.
A slug fires, pinging off her wrist-mounted shields. "Not good enough sadly." She taunts again. It seems she's lowering her voice for some reason.
"Fight me, do not taunt. You are a specialist, are you not?" He recalls, Ironwoods speech still fresh in his mind.
The two meet eyes for just a moment, and she smirks.
"Okay, Hit me again." She feints left, then shifts right. "Or, try to."
Sable growls, and surges forward. Swinging the bisected blade, he lunges for Cinnabar, shouting in annoyance.
She lifts her left arm, using her shielded forearm to shove the blade aside in an impressive display of power, loosening his grip on the sword. Unknown to all but a few, she had poured nearly a third of her aura into the gauntlet to shove the sword away. Her semblance, flaring around her feet, causes a few arcs of red electricity spark, connecting to the ground. She uses the opportunity to get inside Sable's guard, lashing out with two light, but quick, punches. Unprepared for the strikes, he stumbles back, his hold on the sword tightening.
Sable fully recovers his hold sword during the wind-up, and fires. The large sword speeds up, reaching velocities that render the swing to a blur of silver and black. Cinn dropped into a defensive stance, raising her forearms, shielding her head instead of dodging.
The effect was destructive.
The blast of air that follows the arc, combined with the blade and buckshot, all slam into Cinnabar's defenses, shoving her back into a nearby wall still in the area of the holographic arena. Dust and debris follow, creating a small smokescreen, shielding anything behind it from view.
Due to the time she had wasted in the beginning, and the taunting, the time limit for the battle was shorted more than either may have wanted. There was barely a minute left. During this time however, Sable looks quite confused. The specialist had yet to fall to the ground. In fact, she had yet to reappear at all.
Until a darkening above him alerts him to her position. Above the student, the white-tipped specialist fell to the ground torso first, something red around her hands. Sable raises his sword flat side facing her, drops to his knee, and uses both hands to brace the makeshift shield against her attack.
Unfortunately for Cinnabar, a buzzing alerts the both of the duelers that the time limit is up. She flips in the air, her feet now facing the ground. Sable feels a small force against his sword, while Cinn slows down, landing on it with a light tap, before throwing herself off of it, and a few meters away, nearly the same distance as when they started. Relaxing out of the battle stance she had taken, with her daggers now unsheathed, gripped in reverse, she sheaths them into the forearm shields, before those retract as well.
"Well, you survived the first duel. A specialist cannot duel you again until you collect the rest of the relics for Second Judgement." Cinnabar notes, her voice still low, walking forward. She offers her hand, and Sable retracts his weapon as a response. He walks up, eyeing the shields, and shakes her hand.
"Students always wondered what weapons you use. You don't draw them in the public spaces, and they're always hidden in the sheaths. Simple daggers? Unexpected to say the least."
Cinn stares at him for a moment, before smiling. She raises her hand to her face in a futile attempt to stop herself from laughing. Heavily.
"I'm the 'Mysterious Woman' cliche? Oh, man, I… I need to fix that." She fades to a giggling, her voice back in its correct octave, wiping her eyes of any tears that had formed. "The shield gauntlets probably scared the hell out of you guys in the presentation earlier. I'm so sorry. I was totally in 'Frighten the lambs' mode, you know?" She shakes her hands to emphasize her point.
Sable just sat in shock at the sudden change of demeanor in this militarily-trained individual.
"Y-you are a specialist right?" He asks, confused beyond belief.
"I am. It's my job. You need to enjoy your job, or you begin to hate it. It's why Win and I have contests to scare the students, or hit the farthest target, duel the most people. We need to enjoy ourselves, or we begin to resent our purpose." I wisely advise him. Well, I hope it was wise. I really hope it was wise.
"That's a, way, of looking at it I guess." He responds, seemingly out of words to say. He turns to leave, towards the next relic location.
"Hey, Sable." He looks back at me. "Remember that. It's a job, at the end of everything else. Being a Specialist, a Hunter. It's a job to protect those around you. Whatever reason you may have to get it, it falls behind the people you swore to protect."
"Thank you." I could feel the cameras dispersing. Winter probably began her own duel. Don't expose all your secrets Win.
"No problem mini-Qrow. Oh and one last thing." He turns around again. He knows I know he went to Signal, so might as well make fun of Qrow while I'm at it. "If you see Qrow-prime, tell him his niece is horrible at making bets. I need to collect the lien from Yang soon."
The confusion of his face made the argument with Qrow so worth it.
[1] Semblance: Personal Gravity Field - The ability to influence the strength of gravity around the user, in a very small range. Often used to make the user harder to move, weapons easier or harder to swing, or force the opponent to have off-balance movements with micro-applications against them in a more skilled user's case.