Hey, does anyone remember how much I hated chapter 11 in Part 1? Yeah, well, here's me writing something I don't completely understand again.
Two quick things though: GRDN is pronounced "garden", and AWLH is pronounced "owl". Just wanted to make sure you knew.
"This design is really genius," Storm said, marveling at the weapon in his hands. Faye had decided that it was time for her teammates to meet the team of a friend of hers—team AWLH—and he couldn't help but admire the team leader's weapons: dual Gladius that both could turn into spears. They had met up in a lounge set aside for students from Haven, a comfy room really, though he hadn't been there before now. After the incidents last night, this meet up was welcome.
The people he had fought… Were they…? No, he shouldn't think about that stuff.
Instead, he focused on the silvery turquoise weapon in his hand.
"Thanks you," Athena, the owner of the weapon, said. "It gets a little difficult to use both of them as spears, but spinning them helps."
"Spinning?" Storm replied, laughing a little, and handed the blade back to Athena.
"Yeah, spinning's just one trick." She extended the Gladius into its spear form to help illustrate. "An even more ridiculous one is where I sneak up behind a Grimm and go through its head with the spears."
Storm raised his eyebrows. "Through the head?"
"Yes."
He just stood there, slack jawed. "That's got to hurt."
"I only use it on Grimm." She retracted the spear, and sheathed it behind her back. "Even if I fought humans, I wouldn't use it against them."
He nodded. She didn't even consider if Grimm could feel pain. It was something that bothered him sometimes—whether or not Grimm could feel pain. But it wouldn't be resolved now. He put the thought aside.
Nearby, he could overhear a conversation between Azura and Wade—another member of AWLH. "It's just distracting sometimes," Wade said.
"I don't like wearing them either," Azura said. "Miniskirts are so drafty sometimes."
It was then that Rusti interjected. "Personally, I'm surprised that you haven't knocked out a male student and taken his pants."
Azura was quiet for a moment. "Didn't think of that," she said. "Thanks." Now he was afraid.
Nearby, Faye was talking to Lorna—her friend on the team. He decided not to try and listen in on their conversation.
The door to the lounge opened, and Storm looked over to see the newcomer—or newcomers. Fear spiked in his chest as team GRDN walked in.
Team GRDN was the most feared team from Haven. Their team leader, Gaia, preferred wearing armor and her brown coat at all times, and was almost never seen without her axes. Reika was the most controlled out of all of them, and preferred her red lamellar armor to modern types, and wore her katana proudly, with her kunai hidden. Dinorah he wasn't sure about, as all he knew about her was that she wore a crimson tunic and pants under a golden cuirass, and used a couple of laia as weapons. Netia was the worst
Netia was the fiercest and most borderline psychotic of anyone Storm had ever been within fifty feet of. Her military coat, flak jacket, green fatigues, and boots made her out to be the military sort, but that was far from the truth. Her crazed nature had caused her to build the most dangerous weapon he'd ever seen—a mini-gun that would turn into a chainsaw on command. If any one person could give him nightmares, it was her.
Gaia led her team over to where Storm and the others were talking. At this juncture, Rusti decided to duck out a window. Netia grinned her usual psychotic grin, and said, "Oh, did we scare little Rusti away again?"
"How's he gonna fight Grimm if he runs from women?" Gaia said mockingly.
Lorna seemed not to notice their presence, and continued to talk with Faye. This annoyed Gaia. "Hey, Faunus."
"There are two Faunus, Gaia," Rieka said tiredly. "If you're going to be racist, be specific too."
"Alright then. Fox."
Lorna turned her head like she was just looking over to see a flower she had seen before. "Yes?" she replied.
"Do you know us?"
"I've heard of you, but I'd rather not get to know you."
Netia growled, her former grin disappearing. "We're team GRDN, you illiterate," Netia said, mispronouncing GRDN as guardian. "We are the toughest team around, and we'd win the tournament if they hadn't disqualified us."
"Oh really?" Lorna stepped forward. "I guarantee you that if we fight; you'll be on the ground in one minute."
"Oh?"
"Yep. And I won't even need to lay a finger on any of you."
"Let's see how tough you are, then," Dinorah chimed in. "Sparring match?"
"Sure. What time?"
"As soon as you're ready."
"Done."
Lorna stepped into the sparring ring, and Faye hopped she wasn't making a mistake. Taking on an entire team was tough, but Lorna could do it. Lorna had one year of experience more than them, and she was a graduate from Asylum. But GRDN had far superior numbers, were more dangerous, and might accidentally kill her. Faye worried for her friend.
Another thing that was worrying was that Lorna had not put her gauntlet, even though it was her primary weapon! She was confident; perhaps a little too confident.
Most of the teams from Faye's year were assembled. GRDN had been near terrorizing most of them, and so they wanted to see them humbled. Only team SSSN and a couple other teams weren't there, but GRDN never bothered them anyway.
GRDN stepped into the ring. With a hint—no, a gallon—of mischief Lorna said, "Come at me GRDN gals."
Gaia charged first alongside Dinorah, their weapons in hand. As they neared her, Lorna ran to the wall behind her. Faye had seen her used the trick before, and it was a killer. The duo pursued. As Lorna got to the wall, she ran up it, and jumped back at the two. When she did, her aura lit up like fire for a few seconds, and the two scattered.
Netia took the opportunity to open fire. Lorna dodged, and ran over to behind Gaia, where she was safe as Gaia took one too many hits to the aura, and she was down. "Netia!" Gaia shouted angrily.
"Sorry. You got in the way," Netia replied. Their concern for each other was nil, as anyone could see, and that was what would break them.
As Lorna went towards Dinorah, Rieka began throwing several kunai towards her. The small blades narrowly missed Lorna as she jumped and ducked in an erratic fashion.
Netia had been holding her fire after taking out Gaia, so Faye was wondering how Lorna would take out Dinorah. Lorna jumped to Dinorah, and she swung her weapons at her. Rieka drew her katana, and charged towards Lorna. As the red garbed warrior neared, Lorna was dodging every attack Dinorah was giving out.
Rieka lunged at Lorna, but she sidestepped to her left, safely out of the way. Instead her blade almost found Dinorah, but Rieka managed to stop her attack just in time. Rieka swung her blade at Lorna, and she narrowly avoided it again. Rieka gave up trying to attack with her katana, and tried grabbing her instead.
Lorna ran away, and took a bolo out of her belt. She threw it at Dinorah. Rieka tried intercepting it with her katana, but instead of cutting through the metal robes, it wrapped around the sword, and one of the attached weights hit her in the head. Her aura absorbed most of the hit, but it still managed to disorient her. Dinorah charged past her stunned teammate, and attacked.
Lorna threw down a smoke bomb, and Faye couldn't see what was happening. When the smoke cleared though, she could see the dazed forms of Dinorah and Rieka clearly, and they were very close to each other, was if they had knocked each other out. Lorna was standing over them, grinning.
Netia didn't hold back now. She fired at Lorna, and Lorna could barely dodge. Once again her aura lit up like fire, and Lorna charged at Netia in a serpentine maneuver. Netia's nerve wavered, and she switched to her chainsaw too early. She swung her weapon around wildly, and Lorna stopped.
Netia swung around the weapon too wildly, and she lost her grip on the chainsaw, making it fly out of her hands. Then she became hysterical, and collapsed.
Gaia ran over to Netia, seemingly concerned. She tried helping Netia, but it didn't work. Gaia turned back to Lorna, angry. "Look what you've done, Faunus!" Gaia said hatefully.
Lorna stood there, shocked. Netia was curled up on the ground, shivering. She obviously didn't want this.
Gaia was no less angry though. "You take away her confidence, and this is what's left!"
Gaia carefully touched Netia's shoulder, and she shied away. Gaia tried another tactic. She whispered something to Netia, and she stood up with Gaia's support. Her face was shiny like she had been crying.
Faye had not expected this. Netia was more fragile than Faye would have thought. Why?
As Gaia led Netia out of the arena, she shot a hateful look back at Lorna.
Beside Faye, Storm held his head. Concerned, Faye asked, "What is it, Storm?"
Storm looked at her with a haunting expression. "Their emotions… They're too strong for me," he replied. "I've never sensed two people with stronger feelings." He stood up. "I need to help them."
Hey, this isn't going away. The first half of the next chapter deals with Gaia and Netia, and they will appear later in the story as well. Also, I acknowledge that bullying is a real problem, and I have (kind of, but not really) been on both ends of it. A poorly chosen sentence by me haunts me to this day, as well as many other, more minor actions I have done trouble me, though I was never anywhere near violent. At the same time, energetic kids half my size seem to be my bane. Man, that didn't exactly feel good, but yeah.