Sorry! I know this one took a long time to get up, but I'm pretty sure it's the longest chapter yet. Also, like I mentioned in the last chap, school started yesterday and its less than a month from exams so its final project time :( I'll try and put up as many chapters as possible. I also might start posting them all on other sites, just so more people can see it and I can get more feedback. By the way, REVIEWS PLEASE! Anyway, enjoy!

Chapter 11

"For the first year in recorded Beacon history, we have an intentional team. By that we mean that one of the students figured out the relics we had chosen. And the make things even more impressive, this year was one of the more difficult groupings of relics to figure out. Chess pieces, easy enough to understand. Cards from a 52 deck? Also rather easy. But not only did each trainee have to pick their own relic, but they were symbols of something totally different. We will be announcing this team first."

It was the headmaster speaking. Grey looked around at the other 3 next to him, a huge grin on his face. Rory and Dewi returned the look while Amanda stuck her tongue out at him.

"Would Grey Grace, Amanda Avery, Rory Robinson, and Dewi Dimitri please step forward. You will be known from this day forward as Team GARD, with Grey Grace as your team leader. Well done in solving the mystery of the relics."

The team inclined their heads at the headmaster and beamed huge smiles at the crowd.

"Next can we have Gabby Gaia, Alfred Leash, Ian Moone, and Abby Shift. Please step forward. From this day forward you will be known as Team GAIA, lead by Gabby Gaia…"

"And here we are," Grey said, holding up the piece of paper in his hand, "Room 117. Let's take a look."

The 'room' was more like an apartment. From the entrance, there was a living room to the left and a kitchen with a table large enough for the four of them to eat to the right. At the back of the room, there was a hallway, leading to 4 rooms, 2 aside.

"Phew," Amanda said, "I was worried I'd have to share a room with one of you guys."

"Would that be so bad?" Grey said, winking.

"Yes."

Each room had a bed, a dresser, a nightstand, and a large screen to connect their scrolls to.

"Alright guys, time to unpack, then I plan on sleeping. That 'trial' took a lot outta me," Grey said, heading to the last room on the left.

"Alright, here's the deal. You kids show me how you fight and I'll tell you how to improve. We'll do one team at a time. So in the meantime, I've set up team skirmishes for those not being judged."

A tall, buff man was speaking to the group of first year students, including team GARD and GAIA. He was the combat teacher and the students knew his as Professor Swigg. On his back was a 6 foot tall, three bladed scythe. The blades of the scythe were a pitch black whereas the handle was a crimson red, matching his eyes. His hair was black as night and cut short. His muscular arms were visible due to his red muscle shirt. His face had a kind look to it but it was clear that it was his way or the highway. His black jeans were stretched due to his calf and thigh muscles. On his feet were black steel toe, leather boots.

"Team GARD, you're up first," he said in a gruff voice that sounded like it was used to yelling orders on the field, "We'll start of with the leader, and work our way through the letters. Grey, attack me with everything you've got."

"You asked for it."

Grey and Prof. Swigg stared each other down waiting for the other to make the first move. Grey had his sword out, and was holding it with both hands. Swigg has his scythe resting on his shoulder, and looked totally relaxed.

"Well, what are-" Swigg began, but was cut off when an arrow came hurtling at him.

Grey had placed a speed bubble around himself and sped up his weapons transformation and fired an arrow.

Swigg quickly put up his hand and a shield appeared, stopping the arrow. The shield looked like a red hologram, but it stopped the arrow like any other shield.

Grey grinned. This is gonna be fun, he thought to himself.

Grey started firing arrows at Swigg's shield, seeing if it had a breaking point. After emptying half his quiver within 15 seconds, the shield looked like a porcupine, but otherwise, was fine. Finally assuming it was based on the aura of Swigg himself, he knew he couldn't shoot through it.

Switching back to his hand and a half sword, he moved in for some melee combat. As per usual when Grey went melee, he placed a bubble around himself, slowing any incoming attacks.

Facing Swigg in melee combat proved to be as fun as Grey had guessed. The other students stopped their skirmishes to watch in awe. The rest of GARD had seen Grey move faster, but Amanda guessed he had a slow bubble around himself and realized he could only either slow or speed up time, not both.

Swigg, despite his size, was easily keeping up the Grey's pace. He had the advantage of reach, so he used that, knowing it wouldn't last long, since Grey would find a way to counter it. He was unsurprised to see that anytime his scythe came within a few inches of Grey, it almost hit a physical object as it slowed down so much. He had been at the team naming ceremony and so had seen Grey's trial, and knew his semblance.

Grey knew that Swigg had the advantage of reach, and he knew that Swigg would expect him to counter it, he didn't. Grey found that it was often a smart strategy to throw off an opponent and make them think you weren't as good as they thought you were. And besides, he could always get in close and use Swigg's reach against him later.

It worked. A frown worked it's way onto Swigg's face as Grey continued to fight as he was. Hacking and slashing, dodging whenever he could and when he knew he couldn't get out of the way in time, he let his safety bubble catch the scythe, then, as he would move, the scythe would miss and he would attack even more aggressively.

Swigg had a similar fighting style, except his armor would suddenly appear when Grey's sword would hit him. He wielded the scythe as if it were no more than a child's toy.

Finally, Grey stepped in closer, using the blade closer to the crossguard, and sped up his actions, without his semblance, using a more fluid style, with only one hand, the other providing balance. There was a lot less power behind each stroke, but a lot more strokes in the same amount of time.

Swigg, at this point his entire body was covered in armor, was grinning ear to ear.

This kid know what's up. Let's see how he handles this.

Swinging his scythe, Swigg made it seem like he lost his grip and it flew off behind Grey. Grey, being the opportunist he was, took a step back, placed his second hand back on the hilt, and repeatedly swung with all his might at a single spot, which, with any other suit of armor, was a weak point. Swigg was alarmed at how quickly his aura was dropping, so he reeled in his scythe with the thin wire like cord he had Made on it when he 'lost his grip.' Grey, not able to see the scythe, heard Amanda inhale in anticipation and became worried. Suddenly, he felt his bubble stop something from hitting his back. Quickly backflipping over the object, he saw Swigg's scythe return to his hand. Then the realization hit him.

Swigg, as far as Grey could figure, could make anything out of his aura. Which means he placed a thin wire that was attached to his scythe when he threw it, as Grey figured that's exactly what happened, and then, when Grey's guard was down, brought it back to him, and caught Grey in the back. Grey was glad he didn't decide to go full offensive and put a speed bubble around himself instead of his common slow one.

"Alright, that's enough," Swigg's voice cut through Grey's train of thought, "As much as I'd love to keep this fight going and see who comes out on top, I do have some pointers and I also have more than just you to assess. Well done Grey, I was thoroughly impressed. Amanda, you're next."

"Likewise, Professor Swigg, I really enjoyed that. Good luck Amanda," Grey said, walking back to his team.

"Hey! What are you slackers doing?" Swiggs said, just now noticing the lack of skirmishes, "Get back to it! Alright Amanda, let's see what you got."

This fight started a lot quicker. Amanda immediately blinked behind Swigg and laid into his back, trying the break through his armor as quickly as possible.

Swigg was hardly surprised, but again, was surprised at how much damage she was doing to his aura pool. Luckily he had lots to spare. Tossing his scythe straight up, and turning around, he caught two bladed shotguns.

Grey had watched the weapon transformation and loved it. The scythe had split in two mid-air, so there were 2 double bladed scythes. Then, the handle shortened, and the 3 blades became one. The handle became the gun grip, and the blades became the barrel of the short, saw-off length shotguns, with blades on the bottom.

Amanda blinked away, just before he managed to get off a shot, and then was right back at it. At this point, 7 seconds had passed and she had another blink set up. This kept up for a minute or so before Amanda decided she needed a different strategy. She blinked farther back and her bladed knuckles turned back into bracelets. Then she punched at the air, firing bolts of fire.. Again, it just hit the Maker Shield Swigg summoned. Deciding to end the fight, Swigg placed his two shot guns together, and it extended into his scythe. Then, reaching with his hand, a massive red hand appeared, made of the same aura style material as his armor. He went to grab Amanda, she blinked away. Right into another hand he Made out of his back. Knowing she was out of blinks, Swigg called the match.

"Again, well done. I have thought up some pointers for you, but that will be for another time. Rory, you're next."

"Sure thing."

This fight started a bit slower than Amanda's, but still a lot faster than Grey's. Rory, knowing already what he was going to do, took a straightforward approach. He pulled his axe off his back, flipped it so he was holding the bladed side of the axe and held it horizontal. The blades of his axe twisted so the blades were facing upwards and were parallel. Then a bar shot out from between them and an angled grip with a trigger 'grew' out of the end of the shaft, the side facing him. Grabbing it with his right hand and the other handle with his left, the rest of the shaft grew shorter and wider. In the end, the once, 2 handed, double bladed axe was now a LMG.

Taking aim, Rory held down the trigger. A heavy thudding sound resonated from the gun as the bullets, which looked to be trailing fire, flew out of the barrel.

Grey whistled. It was the first time he had seen Rory's ranged weapon. Thinking it fit perfectly, he made a mental note to ask if Rory could alter the density of his bullets. His question was answered when he saw Swigg stagger backwards.

Swigg's aura was now not in the best shape. Deciding he would take on just team GARD today, he reassessed his aura usage. Now, he knew that he had plenty to work with. He threw his scythe towards Rory. Seeing what had happened to Grey, Rory simply dropped his density to basically weightless. The scythe passed right through him, but his bullets also passed right through Swigg. Switching back to his axe, Rory ran at Swigg, chasing after the scythe.

Now it was just 2 massive guys going head to head with massive weapons. Rory kept his density up and wailed on Swigg's armor. Swigg was surprised to see that his attacks were having little to no effect on Rory. Then, figuring the density was the source, he changed up his battle style. His hits got heavier and faster.

Grey watched from the sidelines, was trying to figure out what was making the difference. As the 2 warriors rotated around each other, Grey found his answer. From out the back of Swigg, there were two hands, each pulling a wire that Grey assumed was attached to the scythe, allowing him to double his effective strength and speed. Rory went minimum density and backed away and said,

"You win. I've taken more aura damage than I have in a while. I have no way to get past your armor and no way to repel your attacks. I forfeit."

"No need for that Rory, you did more damage to my aura than any of your team so far. We'll call it a draw. Dewi, you're next."

"O-okay, sir," he stuttered.

"No need to call me sir, though I do appreciate the gesture. Get ready."

This fight was the longest to start, and almost the quickest to end. Dewi went invisible immediately. Then nothing happened. For a good 2 or 3 minutes, Swigg stood like he did at the beginning of all the other fights, scythe on his shoulder. But Dewi was nowhere to be seen. Then, outta of nowhere, literally, a loud crack sounded.

Grey smiled as he watched the tiny dart travel through the air. Swigg saw it too, at the last minute, and dove out of the way. Another was already on it way, but this time, Swigg threw up a shield and looked for Dewi. Realizing he would never see him, he decided on a different strategy. He made a wire net out of his aura. The wire was so thin, no even the rest of team GARD could see it. Then he did the same thing over and over again, until a web like system of wires were all around the room, that only he knew was there. The wires were so taut, that the moment Dewi flew into one, it snapped. It didn't make any noise, nor did Dewi feel it, but Swigg knew that that wire had snapped. Since he had to be in contact with the things he Makes, the moment he Makes them, he had to run around the room to place them, anytime he broke his own wires he would immediately replace them. All the while knowing where Dewi was because he kept snapping the wires. He started throwing his scythe in vertical slashes, knowing Dewi could fly. Finally knocking him out of the air, he called the match. He went over to Dewi and helped him up.

"You did really well kid. I doubt most fully trained Huntsman or Huntresses could've countered your tactic."

"How did you?"

"Well, I Made basically invisible wires from the ground to the ceiling and anytime one broke, I knew that's where you were."

"That's genius!"

Swigg smiled and said,

"I'm glad you think so," he said then turned to the rest of GARD, and the class, since he called off the skirmishes as well, "It's my job the teach you and make you the best you can be. This year is the hardest year yet. I usually fly through the whole class on the first day. Well done team GARD. GAIA, you're up tomorrow. Class dismissed."

Really like that chapter myself. In the next chapter, I will probably introduce Team GAIA more 'formally.' I don't know when that will be, but I will try and get it out ASAP. It will probably be about the same length as this one, if not longer. See you all later!

JaayyMann