Here we go, ladies and gentlemen! The next chapter, and with it some actual effort in a fight on Kazuma's part. Not a lot, but some.
ThePizziaMan: Glad people got the reference. As for Cinder, well, you'll just have to wait and see how that changes things. Will I make them allies, enemies, or something else?
YukkiAsuna-Chan: Don't worry, I only planned to have one more fight in the first place. Hope you enjoy this fight as much as the last.
garoorar: You are very right about Kazuma, he wouldn't LET (notice the emphasis) Pyrrha die like that if he knows about her sacrifice.
Kaioo: Yeah, Yang is definitely going to change because of this, and so will the outcome. I'm getting a better idea of how I want those changes to come together as I write.
Lord Asmodeus: There will still be much shit hitting the fan, that is for sure. Though I'm not familiar with SI stories, this will not be what you described. As much as I tear my heart out when seeing tragedy, that makes it one of the best tools for character development. I will not be using Weiss in that way here, but she still has her part, worry not.
Nosy John: Is it really bashing if that is their actual purpose in the story? CRDL may get better, but they are still bullies and pricks, whose main role was to be beaten by the protagonists. Of course, a writer should not harbor hate toward ANY character they are using and beat on them just for the sake of disliking them, either, you're right on that account. It needs to have a role in the development of the protagonists (see Jaune) or it really is bashing.
LL: I'm pretty sure FanFic mobile is a bit derpy. Personally, I need a way to read these reviews on the go, but that's one of the things I can't access on my phone. I've been thinking about who has more money: Ozpin or Cinder. As Nora once said: "[Ozpin] has a school." He also has the backing of the Vale government (though they tend to disagree with him on some things). But at the same time, Cinder has bought/stolen a large amount of Bullheads, tech, etc. So who knows.
Anyway, the fight has been chosen and written, so enjoy!
"Fuck." Pyrrha gave Jaune a glare of disapproval for his language but didn't correct him. Jaune was absolutely screwed, seeing as he was Kazuma's next opponent. Kazuma had an extraordinarily bored look on his face at the result. Kazuma was a sensor, so he had felt Jaune's power (and lack thereof) during the initiation and was not impressed.
"Ms. Goodwitch," Kazuma said, "do I even have to fight anymore? Yang was the only one I had an agreement with, after all."
"Mr. Yagami, I allowed your match under the pretense that you would be assisting me for the day, so you will fight until I say otherwise." Kazuma shrugged. Sure, it was more work than he had to do, but he wasn't doing anything better with his time. "Mr. Arc, please come down to the arena."
"Um, Professor Goodwitch, can I surrender now?" Jaune asked weakly. Before she could give an answer, Team JNPR's resident martial artist spoke up.
"Professor Goodwitch, our leader is a tactical expert rather than a combat power. Would it be possible for us to fight as a team? It is a legitimate type of match." The girls of the team nodded eagerly. Honestly, they all wanted to fight Kazuma but knew they had no chance in single combat. The look on Nora's face was one of unbridled excitement, while Pyrrha and Ren were composedly awaiting the answer. Jaune just looked fearful for the condition of his body.
Glynda sent a glance at Kazuma, as if to say 'Your fight, your call.'
"Why not? I don't much like fighting, but if I'm doing it anyway I may as well be challenged."
Relief flooded the blonde boy's features as he heard those words. They sounded like a chorus of angels to him. Jaune was fully aware of his own weakness; it wasn't a matter of pride or self-image. He was not conditioned for battle mentally or physically. He was determined to train and better himself, but he had barely started and didn't want to embarrass himself in front of so many people.
With the permission granted, all four members of Team JNPR descended to the floor of the arena. They created a semi-circle around their opponent, who looked as casual as ever. Once again Glynda hooked up the Aura of the fighters and asked them if they were ready. She got nods from all five.
"Begin!"
Nora was the first to move, shooting a grenade right off the bat. The explosion dissipated harmlessly on Kazuma's kekkai, but the smoke covered his field of view. Using this moment of distraction, Pyrrha and Ren flanked Kazuma on Jaune's orders. As soon as the smoke cleared the two more disciplined fighters launched themselves at the mage, who was still standing there.
He ducked below Milo but was only saved from StormFlower by his barrier. He grabbed the amazon's extended arm, twisted, and pivoted behind her, putting her in a joint lock. She wasn't about to be trapped so easily, however, and brought her other arm back for an elbow strike. Kazuma caught it and pushed her into Ren, who had been attempting to take advantage of the man's extended stance. The pair went tumbling, but Nora redeemed her teammates by bringing Magnhild's hammer form down on Kazuma, who was forced to repel it with a strong blast of wind. The violence-loving girl was thrown backwards, directly into the wall of the stadium. Meanwhile, Pyrrha and Ren had gotten back up and were ready to resume the attack.
The next minute was a flurry of slashes and stabs from Pyrrha, along with plenty of covering fire from Ren. The young woman adeptly switched Milo from sword to spear throughout her onslaught, forcing Kazuma to build barrier after barrier for defense. He wasn't going to trust his kekkai to take care of both the bullets and the spear, however confident he was in himself. Kazuma was caught with his pants down as Jaune moved behind Pyrrha, coordinating with her for a scissor-like attack utilizing both weapons. Kazuma deflected both blades with some difficulty and fled backwards on an air current to gain some distance. In an unexpected show of tactical thinking, the three had forced Kazuma to retreat. Nora had removed herself from the wall and joined the others, who were getting ready for the next assault.
The lone fighter scratched his head and let out a long sigh as he reinforced the kekkai around his person while he had the chance. "Well, fighting weapon users barehanded is a real pain in the ass, so I guess I'll use that thing," he said aloud, confusing both his opponents and the crowd.
"Professor, you can't leave to claim your weapon in the middle of the match," Pyrrha said, dropping her guard slightly.
"Who said I was leaving?" was Kazuma's response. To the shock of the crowd, he clasped his hands together, and as he pulled them apart a long, black rod appeared between his hands. As he extended them, one hand broke off and grabbed the handle, pulling it the rest of the way out of Kazuma's body.
The weapon in question was proven to be a two-yard spear, the weapon's black shaft giving way to a simple yet deadly silver tip. Gasps were heard from the crowd as they witnessed Kazuma's miraculous feat.
"Kokusen, the Hurricane Pike. My weapon, linked directly to my Semblance."
As if that explained everything, Kazuma stopped talking and switched his grip on the weapon so that he was using only one arm. The tip was pointed at the ground, with the shaft parallel to his arm. His form was natural but completely unsuited to the weapon.
Unsure of how to approach the man, Team JNPR stood back and prepared themselves for whatever they would face. Kazuma lazily raised Kokusen and thrust it in their directions, sending out five blades of wind at about half the speed of sound. Jaune and Pyrrha were barely able to defend their teammates from the flurry using their shields. Kazuma began to rain blades onto the team faster and faster, pinning them down as he slowly approached.
Once he was within three feet of the protectors he halted the hail of attacks and lashed out with his spear. Pyrrha touched the weapon and attempted to change its course, but was was shocked to find that there was absolutely no response. She was pushed back slightly as the blade of the spear bit into her Aura, then retaliated with a stab of her own. Kazuma received it and parried, but was too late to respond to an attack from Jaune. The chop into Kazuma's side was completely blocked by the kekkai, however, and the boy was batted away by the shaft of Kokusen.
To give his allies time to recover, Ren engaged Kazuma with martial arts, being the only one who had even the slightest chance in such close-range combat. Kazuma thrust at him, but Ren slipped past it and into Kazuma's guard to deliver an Aura-loaded palm strike to the chest. Unfortunately for Ren, the advantage to Kazuma's strange usage of the spear was that he still had a hand open with which to deliver a ki-laden strike to the younger man's elbow, sending the thrust wildly off to the side and injuring the arm.
Nora ran to Pyrrha, remembering a tactic they had used against the Deathstalker on the bridge. The two girls exchanged a glance that communicated everything they needed to say, and Pyrrha held up Akouo. Nora launched herself toward her teammate riding atop Magnhild, and boosted off of the shield for an overhead strike against the professor. He attempted to block it with another wind barrier, but Nora fired to increase the power of her strike, breaking through the hastily made defense. She slammed into Kazuma's head which, although a large amount of the force was absorbed by the winds surrounding him, blew him backwards.
Kazuma rolled and knelt down, using his spear as support. The blow hadn't done much direct damage, but his sense of balance was a bit off from the knockback. He was starting to have some real difficulty here. On one hand he didn't want to reveal his tricks to Glynda and the students, but on the other he was starting to tire and holding back wasn't helping that. Trying to spar with weaker opponents rather than finishing them outright was harder than one might think. Given the prior information, he could either finish this up now and reveal a little of his power, or continue the way he was and deal damage to Team JNPR over time. Both had a downside, so he went for the one that saved him the most effort.
"Alright kids, you did pretty well," he stated. Once the words were out of his mouth he stood with both hands on the spear, holding it horizontally. He slid his hands to the center of the shaft and began to spin Kokusen. Once he had built up sufficient momentum, the wind in the arena became incredibly violent, pulled into the center of the rotation and shot out as a funnel toward the four teens. They were essentially staring down a tornado from the bottom of the funnel. None of them could react as they were picked up by the violent winds and were thrown against the wall. The tornado ground into them for a few seconds, ripping their Auras to shreds, before Kazuma halted the spear and the winds died. It was only then that the extent of the damage could be seen by the crowd.
The floor where the funnel had been was now a trench, about a foot deep in the center, and the walls and floor of the entire arena had developed deep scars. It was as if some great beast had gone into a frenzy, clawing at every available surface before charging directly down the path between Kazuma and the wall Team JNPR was currently collapsed against. They just lay there like so many mannequins, their Auras nearly broken. A few moments passed before the medical team once again entered the arena. Three of the team members had been knocked out, leaving Jaune as the only conscious student. Before he was taken away, Kazuma gave him a nod, signifying that the boy had fought well, all things considered.
Once the arena was empty of the losers, Glynda came back down to ground level. Apparently she had run up into the stands when she saw the funnel start to form. "Mr. Yagami, congratulations on your victory. However, I would appreciate it if my arena were left mostly intact after each fight."
"Sorry about that, might have gotten a little carried away. Anyway, am I done yet?"
She gave him a disapproving look. "I don't know why you bothered coming with that attitude, but yes. Class will be ending soon, so you may leave or have a seat while I give the students some final words for the day."
"Cool. I'll see ya around," he said as he walked off, waving to her and the students lazily. Excited whispers began as soon as he left the room, chief among them being Weiss' voice.
"I can't believe he beat Pyrrha, and her whole team, so easily. If the Untouchable Girl was tossed around like branch in a windstorm, what chance would we have?"
"Ah come on Weiss, he's a Huntsman! Of course he's strong. And the way he fought with that spear was so cool! I've never seen anyone use one quite like that," Ruby retorted
"I suppose. I guess the gap between ourselves and trained Huntsmen is just that large." Weiss hung her head a little, her pride trying to cope with the fact that there were people out there that were so much stronger than her. He'd displayed strength and skill far beyond what she had ever seen before. Even Winter had never shown such absolute control of a battle.
Blake saw her teammate's self esteem issue coming and decided to nip the problem in the bud. "I wouldn't put it that way, you two. Kazuma's much stronger than an average Huntsman."
"What do you mean?" Ruby asked.
"Kazuma's never shown off his full power. I don't know how many people on Remnant could defeat him if he were serious, but at the very least Goodwitch wouldn't be able to stop him."
"Whoa, really? How good is he with that spear? Does it do anything else, or transform?" the red hooded girl asked excitedly.
"Couldn't say, that's the first time I've seen it," Blake answered, going back to a book she had brought.
"Well," Weiss began, "if he's that powerful I suppose there's no use in comparing with him. Anyone would feel inferior. I still dislike him, though."
Goodwitch's voice broke into their little conversation. "Alright class, what you have all just seen was the power of a full-fledged Huntsman. Though not all Huntsmen are able to fight at Mr. Yagami's level, I hope you were paying attention to his style and attacks, and making note of any ways in which your own movements could be improved and any weaknesses that may be exploited. You are dismissed."
The students began to file out of the arena, a less-than-whole Team RWBY included. They had one more class to attend for the day, then they were done. Unfortunately for Weiss, the class was Physical Conditioning, a class where all students were made to exercise in some way so as to build their speed and power. Her fighting style was graceful, flowing, and technical. So why, for the love of Oum, why was she being forced to work out? She understood the necessity of training the body, but working out and running were not for her. Ruby was a runner, Yang weightlifted anyway, and Blake just took the whole thing in stride, making Weiss the only one who really suffered. But she had no choice in the matter so she didn't complain. Much.
So the girls changed into spare clothes, and during the next two hours they trained their bodies. Ruby took advantage of the class' treadmills as she always did. The girl always wanted to be faster. She had discovered long ago that with her small frame, building muscle wasn't going to help her as much with Crescent Rose as building speed. Sure she would be able to swing harder if she weightlifted, but it was easier to build up speed and cut straight through a Grimm than to hack at it. That's not to say she didn't do her time with the weights, since her scythe was still heavy as sin, but she wasn't nearly as focused on them.
Blake was mostly using the gymnastics equipment. Her style was all about quick reflexes and flexibility, so it was an ideal way to train. She also spent a fair amount of time at the training dummies since, unlike Ruby, she could actually swing her weapon indoors without decapitating anyone or putting holes in the wall. There were quite a few dummies and punching bags, some for martial arts and others for weapon practice. The hand-to-hand dummies were relatively unused because only Yang, Ren, and a second-year student named Fox ever fought with their bare hands, at least to her knowledge. She'd thought about learning from Kazuma at one point, but he would make her pay through the nose.
Weiss was also spending her time with the dummies, mostly because there wasn't anything else for her to do. Her frame had been honed by fencing, which wasn't something she could do here. Not to mention that she had less stamina than her other team members, so constant exercise would make her collapse.
Were Yang here, she'd be taking the stuffing out of the punching bags and making the Coach grab more weights for her. That girl could lift a few hundred pounds on an off day. Fortunately for all of the men in the room, Yang was in no condition to make them feel insignificant after her match. Which is why her three teammates had agreed to visit her and see if she was awake after class. It was possible that the girl was still knocked out, but they felt it was right to go check on her one way or another.
So after returning to the dorms and changing back into their nice clothes, the three made their way down to the nurse's office. They saw a middle-aged woman sitting behind the front desk and approached her.
"Excuse me, we're here to see Yang. Is she awake?" Ruby announced for all of them.
"Oh, are you her teammates? Right this way," she gestured and walked down a short corridor. She giggled into her hand as they entered the back room where patients slept. "That girl really is popular. First that young man, now you three."
"Young man?" Weiss asked, curious as to who else had visited the blonde.
"Yes, that's right, he's in there now. She's in the bed at the end. She has a concussion and needs her rest, so please keep the visit brief."
I know, I know, another cut in the middle. I plan to have the next chapter out pretty soon though, hopefully by Wednesday night. It shouldn't take a detective to determine who's there with Yang, but why he's there is the better question. Also, what do you guys think about the fights? I try to keep them quick and dirty while maintaining the flow of action, but let me know if anything seems off so I can improve. You know how reviews work, so I'll just say goodbye for now!
