Focus
Taiyang
In what seemed like no time at all, the third day of the Vytal Festival Tournament had come around, and with it, the doubles round. Only 16 of the 32 competing teams were left. Six from Atlas, two from Shade, three from Haven, and five from Beacon, including Team STRQ. Team CMSN wasn't so lucky. They lost their first round match within 15 seconds of it starting, earning a good laugh from Team STRQ.
Taiyang and Qrow paid special attention to Ironwood's match, but to no avail. Ironwood didn't even throw a punch. All he did was command his teammates, and even though three members were actively fighting, they won the match within one minute. They had no idea how the pompous fourth-year actually fought. They didn't know how they were going to fight them if they got matched up in doubles.
"You nervous?" Qrow asked Taiyang as they waited in the locker room.
"No, just thinking," he answered.
"Don't even sweat Ironwood, okay?" Qrow said. "I'll take care of him in the singles."
"What if we have to fight him and his teammate now, though?" Taiyang protested. "We have no idea how to counter something like that."
"Remember, it's two on two," Qrow said. "I don't care what tactical artistry he thinks he has, just one of his teammates can't take both of us. He has to get his hands dirty, and we can read his style then."
"Yeah, you're right," Taiyang agreed. "Then again, he might not even fight, if he's more of a commander. He might be like Summer."
"He'd better fight," Qrow growled. "I've got a promise to keep."
Raven
"Are you sure that this is the right call?' Raven asked as she and Summer waited in the stands for the next match to be called. Two matches had already taken place, leaving only 14 teams left, including their own. "Qrow and I would probably be a better pair."
"Tai got his ass kicked last round," Summer explained. "He'd be crushed if he didn't get a good fight. Besides, those two are partners, they wouldn't be if they didn't work well together."
"I suppose," Raven conceded. Qrow did mention to her that Taiyang could keep up with him in the forest during initiation. She could only really remember Tai fighting in team fights, he never really had a chance to fight on his own. The only thing she could think of was when he saved her from Scorpio. And even then, it was stupid and reckless.
"You gotta have a little faith in him, Raven," Summer added. "You, of all people, should understand that there is more to him than those muscles." Her choice of words surprised Raven. Suddenly her thoughts went back to the desert once again, the foggy memories of Taiyang holding her in the frigid night for warmth, her head resting on his broad chest. Then memories of the dance, Taiyang's strong but gentle arms guiding her through her first dance. She thought about his soft lips locking with hers, the one moment she let her guard down.
She shook her head to bring herself back to the present. It wasn't the time. She was so lost in thought that she didn't even hear them start the matchup roulette. It spun and spun, before slowing and finally settling on the first team.
"Qrow Branwen and Taiyang Xiao Long, of Beacon's Team STRQ!" Port called out as their faces appeared.
"Oh! Raven, they're next!" Summer said excitedly. The roulette continued spinning, building up suspense for the second team. Raven held her breath. The last thing the boys needed was to be matched up with Ironwood's team in the second round. Finally the roulette slowed, and the faces of the boys' opponents appeared on the screen.
"Lazu Li and Sal Omon, of Shade's Team LAPS (lapis)!" Vender announced. Raven sighed in relief. They didn't have to fight Ironwood yet.
Taiyang
"See? What'd I tell you?" Qrow said as he and Taiyang started making their way to the arena.
"Yeah yeah, you were right," Taiyang admitted. They walked out of the entrance tunnel and into the sunlight from Amity Colosseum's open roof, the crowd surrounding them on all sides and cheering. Taiyang scanned the Beacon Student's section, and found Summer and Raven. Summer was cheering her heart out, while Raven simply smiled. It wasn't much, but to Taiyang, it was more than enough from her. They climbed up onto the arena and walked to the center, meeting their opponents face-to-face.
The girl, Lazu, was fair-skinned and a little on the short side. She wore a blue, sleeveless belly shirt with a blue hood and white short-shorts. Simple boots with shin guards went up to her knees, and a large rifle was slung across her back.
The boy, Sal, was dark skinned wore a black, sleeveless vest over an open chest, showing off his arms and his abs. Baggy blue jeans covered his legs, and a very large greatsword was sheathed on his back.
"Compensating?" Qrow asked Sal after they all took a moment to size each-other up. Taiyang chuckled.
"You're just mad that mine's bigger," Sal said triumphantly, referring to their swords.
"It ain't the size that matters, pal," Qrow said smugly, to which Taiyang outwardly laughed. Sal seemed to be put off by Qrow's comments, before Lazu stepped in.
"Hey!" she said to her teammate, getting his attention. "Focus!"
"She seems nice," Taiyang muttered sarcastically. The sections of the arena sank into the floor again, quickly being replaced by four biomes. Mountain, urban, ocean, and anti-gravity. Taiyang nudged Qrow. "I always wanted to jump around on the platforms over there, zero gravity looks fun."
"Don't lose focus on the fight because of it," Qrow muttered back. "If you can get your opponent over there, you might be able to use it to your advantage."
"Maybe, can't predict how the fight will go though," Taiyang said.
"3, 2, 1," Vender counted down. "Begin!"
Qrow and Sal both drew their swords and locked them in a flash, and quickly began an intricate dance of slash-and-parry. Taiyang, however, was fast enough to get a punch on Lazu, Dragon Fist knocking her backwards through a building in the urban biome. Taiyang began chasing after her, but ran for cover as a flurry of bullets flew through the hole. Lazu dove out to get a better angle. Taiyang raised Dragon Fist to his head to block any headshots, as they'd make him lose Aura a lot faster. He took cover behind a building on the edge of the urban and anti-gravity biomes. He couldn't attack her head on as long as she had that assault rifle trained on him. He thought and thought, trying to come up with a plan.
"Plans are Summer's job," he said in frustration. Wait, Summer! He just had to think like Summer! He thought back to how Summer had turned the fight around in the team round. She threw Taiyang an Ice Crystal, and then used the forest with the twins to finish off the rest of SMRK. That's it, the environment! Taiyang looked around for something he could use, and then an idea hatched.
He peaked around the corner to find out where Lazu was. She had her rifle at the ready, and was peaking around the corners of other buildings. He had lost her. Taiyang focused his Aura, channeling it into both Dragon Fist and his feet. He examined the building he was taking cover behind. Cracks in the foundation on the side that Lazu was on.
"Come on out, Blondie," Lazu said as she looked. "Bullets don't hurt that bad."
"Believe me, I've had worse things than bullets hit me," Taiyang whispered to himself, remembering Scorpio. Lazu continued searching, visibly growing more impatient.
"Fine then," she said. "I'll just have to flush him out." She fiddled with her rifle, and leveled it at a building. A loud thump was heard as she pulled the trigger, followed by an explosion from inside the building she aimed at. She had fired a Dust Grenade into a window.
"Hide all you want!" she called out. "My explosive little friends here will find you eventually!" She randomly fired, and the grenade found the building that Taiyang was hiding behind. He felt the building rumble from the explosion, then peeked around the corner to assess the damage. She had hit the cracks that Taiyang had observed, taking out a large chunk of the foundation.
"Well that makes this easier," Taiyang commented. He released the Aura in his feet, leaping up toward the top portion of the building. At the apex of his jump, he punched the building with as much Aura as he could channel into Dragon Fist. The building tilted, and the arena began to rumble.
Qrow
Qrow felt as the arena began to shake. He kept his balance, but Sal wobbled and fell, his oversized greatsword hard to handle with the rumbling. Qrow looked over to where Taiyang ran off to, and saw something he really didn't expect. A building coming down. But not like how buildings were normally torn down, with explosives on the base. It was toppling, like a tree just cut by a lumberjack. He looked to the left of the building and saw Taiyang descending, Dragon Fist still glowing from the discharge. On the right was his opponent, Lazu, trying to get away from the crumbling building, but the rest of the ruins were slowing her down. She wouldn't make it.
"And that's a knockout!" Port announced.
"Not much you can do when a literal building gets dropped on top of you!" Vender commented. Qrow looked to the screen and breathed a sigh of relief. Lazu was in the red, but her Aura wasn't dropped completely. She was eliminated, but not hurt.
As Qrow was making sure that Lazu was okay, Sal got back on his feet. Qrow noticed just as Sal was bringing his sword down upon him. He made a quick parry and began to run toward the anti-gravity biome, a plan forming.
"Taiyang!" he called out to his partner. Taiyang nodded, getting the message and moving to the biome. Qrow looked behind him, and Sal was taking the bait and following him. Qrow continued running and when he reached the edge of the biome, jumped up to the closest platform. Sal went to jump after him, only to be intercepted by Taiyang mid-jump.
Sal flew toward a wall and slammed into it. After a moment, he regained his bearings and kicked off toward Taiyang. Qrow converted Reaper into it's scythe form and jumped to intercept. Qrow met Sal, and unleashed a floating flurry of speedy attacks. Sal couldn't keep up with the increased speed of the scythe, and failed to block with his greatsword. Qrow dealt a downward blow, sending Sal rocketing toward the floor. Taiyang was waiting below, and knocked Sal back upwards toward Qrow. Qrow converted Reaper to a shotgun and waited, waited for the perfect opportunity.
He positioned himself with his back toward the center of the arena. Sal flew upwards uncontrollably, and eventually ended up right in front of Qrow. Qrow pulled the trigger, and blasted Sal with the full force of his 10-gauge shotguns. The recoil of the guns sent Qrow flying backwards, and due to his positioning, he landed safely in the center of the arena. Sal, however, was sent careening off of the edge of the ring and landed out-of-bounds.
"Ringout!" Vender called.
"In a brilliant show of teamwork and tenacity, Team STRQ has eliminated both opponents!" Port added. Qrow got up off of the ground to find Taiyang running toward him. The two jumped up for a mid-air high-five and cheered.
"You guys were awesome!" Summer yelled as she almost tackled Qrow with a hug. Qrow chuckled and returned the hug, then looked up to find Raven smirking at them.
"What's that look?" Qrow asked.
"You guys were okay," Raven said.
"That's not what you were saying when Taiyang knocked that building down," Summer teased. Qrow could see Taiyang blushing slightly and rubbing the back of his neck. Raven's face also tinted slightly red.
"Good job, guys," she finally said.
"That's more like it," Summer said triumphantly.
"Alright ladies and gentlemen!" Port's voice said from a nearby holodisplay in the hallway. "Time to announce the combatants of the next match!"
"C'mon, let's go get our seats," Taiyang said. The team walked back out into the stands and found four empty seats. They watched the roulette begin to slow and unveil the first team.
"Levi Cho and Vance Tanner, of Haven's Team LIVD (livid)," Vender announced. Qrow sighed with boredom. He didn't care much about the other teams, he wanted to see Ironwood. He needed to know how the man fought if he wanted to beat him in the finals. As the second roulette slowed down, his prayers were answered.
"James Ironwood and Malach Bol, of Atlas's Team JEMM (gem)," Port announced. Qrow perked up and looked out to the arena. Sure enough, Ironwood was walking out to the arena with his teammate. Qrow sat forward and watched intently. This was his chance to learn Ironwood. Qrow didn't notice the other fighters. He didn't notice the arena changing. His focus was locked on Ironwood.
"3, 2, 1, begin!" Port announced. Qrow analyzed Ironwood's every movement. Not only did Ironwood actually fight this time, he didn't use a weapon. He ducked and dodged all of his opponent's attacks, and countered with grapples and hand-to-hand. Punches, kicks, holds, throws, and not taking a single hit. He dodged a flurry of attacks from dual swords, before grabbing the arm of his opponent and tossing him into the other. He barked an order to his teammate, and then waited for his next opportunity.
Defensive, Qrow thought. Using his opponents recklessness and momentum against them. He creates and exploits openings on the fly. He doesn't block, just dodges and counters, and never makes the first move.
Ironwood continued dodging and countering attacks, slowly bring his opponent's Aura down. A kick to the gut. A punch to the face. A leg sweep followed up by a chokeslam. He was fast, efficient, and brutal. A combination that Qrow knew Atlas favored. He'd have to exceed Ironwood in every way to defeat him.
Ironwood stunned his opponent and grabbed his leg. He began spinning, whipping his opponent around in circles. After a few turns, Ironwood jumped up, and slammed his opponent into the ground with an overhead throw.
"Knockout!" Port announced. Ironwood turned and looked at his teammate to bark another order. Qrow couldn't hear it, but he could read it on Ironwood's lips.
"Finish him." Ironwood stood and patiently waited, knowing that his part of the fight was done. Within moments, the other member of LIVD's Aura was dropped into the red, and he was eliminated.
"Amazing!" Vender called out. "In a brutal show of hand-to-hand mastery, Team JEMM has secured a seat in the singles round!" Ironwood and Malach simply walked out of the arena without so much as a word of celebration for either one.
"Were you guys watching him?" Taiyang asked.
"Of course," Qrow said, thinking of strategies.
"What are you going to do to beat him?" Summer asked.
"I don't know," Qrow answered. "I'll think of something."
"Reaper is a fast weapon," Taiyang said. "He might have trouble evading it, at least compared to most conventional weapons."
"Scythe and shotgun mode," Summer said. The team looked at her. "Ironwood used hand-to-hand and defensive strategies that rely on him getting in close. He doesn't have any ranged capabilities, so if you can keep him just within Reaper's reach, you can outplay him."
"That can work," Raven agreed.
"You just need to stay focused, Qrow," Summer added. "He was trying to get into our heads earlier. You need to treat it like every other fight, otherwise it can throw you off. Winning the Tournament is the goal, not beating Ironwood."
"Okay, I can't hold it in any longer!" Taiyang said as he burst out laughing. "I don't know how none of you have laughed at his name yet!"
"What's wrong with his name?" Qrow asked in confusion.
"Ironwood?" Taiyang said. "Might as well go by Irondick, it fits his personality more!" That got a laugh from the rest of the team. Qrow smiled and looked at the roster of remaining teams. 12 left. Four more doubles round matches. And the next night, the singles round, where the winner of the tournament was to be decided.
Short chapter this time around, but man am I excited for the next one, I hope you all are too! Thanks again for reading, remember to follow, fav, and/or review, I'm not picky(actually I like reviews the most, but y'all do you). See you next time!