2 Can Be As Bad As 4
Team WA Volume 3: The Vytal Festival
I missed this, thought Wayne as he sniffed the air of the woods while sitting several feet up on a large tree branch. It had been some time since he'd been able to visit home, one of the downsides of living in a town outside of Vale, but it made it even more worthwhile when he could make it home. Though his and Aegis's welcome had been happy at first, with the usual hugs and welcome back wishes, it took a bit of an interesting turn after they got back to the house. Mom and Dad, though happy to see the both of them, still laid into them a bit about tearing up yet another training room, despite having done this once already on a video call, and warning them about what could happen if they got kicked out of Beacon.
After Wayne and Aegis assured their parents they understood, the next part was training/punishment. The next day he and Aegis had to break apart several large boulders with their semblances until they couldn't use them effectively anymore, then put on heavy training equipment and spar with their parents, Wayne against his dad's dual tomahawks and Aegis against their Mom's steel fists. Needless to say it was a beat down. Wayne tensed a little as he felt some of the still slightly bruised parts of his body. Great to be bruised up the day before going back for the festival, thought Wayne.
"Wayne, time to leave, you all packed?" Said a voice from below. "Packed and loaded," said Wayne as he leaped down from the tree branch, "Just waitin' on ya'll." "Well don't forget this," he said as he tossed Wayne's helmet to him, which Wayne snatched out of the air as it was tossed to him.
"I adjusted the filter on the mouth guard, you shouldn't have any more problems with it jamming during training sessions." "Thanks Dad," said Wayne as he hung his helmet on its customary spot on the back of his waist. "You'll need it working properly for what you got coming up," said his Father, Tobias Ursario.
"Yeah, remind me to knock Aegis upside the head again before we leave," said Wayne nonchalantly. "You're brother believes in your abilities, otherwise he wouldn't have signed the two of you up," stated Tobias. "I know Dad," replied Wayne, "I just wished he would've talked to me about it first is all."
"Well what's done is done, and besides you've improved more than you think, so the only thing to do now is show the world what kind of a huntsman you are," Tobias said. "Let's not get ahead of ourselves," said Wayne, "I'm still just a huntsman in training." "So are the rest of them, so it should be an even fight," replied his father. "Even," said Wayne with a hint of sarcasm, "if that's what you want to call it, either way we best get going before Mom gets tired of waiting."
Vytal festival: The Next Day
"I still can't believe you did this," said Wayne as he finished checking his Crescent Fang and returned it to the holster under his coat. "Really, you should've seen this coming a mile away," Replied Aegis as they continued walking down a long metal corridor.
"I knew you wanted to enter Aegis, and I expected all number of tricks from you to try and convince me that entering was a good idea, but this," Wayne emphasized by raising both of his hands in the air, "you didn't even bother giving me a call or telling me until after we got home."
"Well you see I considered all number of tricks to get you to enter with me, but when I ran 'em through my head all I got was either you refusing, or that it would take too much work," replied Aegis. "So you're solution was to enter us both behind my back, how'd you even convince them to let a two-person team fight in the first round, against four person teams," exclaimed Wayne.
"You may not realize it Wayne, but you and I do actually know a couple of influential people," Replied Aegis. "We don't owe anyone any big favors now do we?" Asked Wayne as they stopped at an exit with sunlight flowing in.
"Don't worry about that right now," replied Aegis as he brought his fist to his open hand, "Right now we only need to focus on one thing." "How I'm going to beat your ## when this is over," said Wayne as he pulled out his helmet. "No, beating other people's ##$$ while the world watches," Replied Aegis. "No pressure then," said Wayne as he donned his helmet.
Stepping out as one, Wayne and Aegis were greeted by a massive amount of noise as an enormous crowd sat in the stadium above them. No pressure, right, thought Wayne, marveling at the size of the stadium and the crowd as he and Aegis entered a large arena surrounded by multiple metal plates. What was a bigger surprise, though, was the four person team across from them.
"Aegis is that who I think it is?" Asked Wayne. "Yep," replied Aegis. "Where's the rest of your team!" Yelled the blond-haired leader of the enemy team. "It's the team we beat up at that book store when we were looking for Blake," Said Wayne, noting that this time they actually had their weapons and combat armor.
"Hey the head man asked you a question!" Yelled the purple haired member of the other team. Aegis was about to respond when the sound of Professor Ports voice rang out over the stadium's intercom system.
"Ladies and gentlemen, our next match in round one of the Vytal festival tournament shall be a rare spectacle, a specialized 2 on 4 bout featuring the fighters of Atlas's team LNCE (Lance) against Beacon's one and only support team, team WA (Wave)," boomed Port.
"There's your answer," yelled Wayne at the other team as he and Aegis drew their weapons. Suddenly several holographic banners appeared floating several feet in the air around the arena. "Stick together and don't let them get behind us," said Wayne.
"I know, split up only when necessary, use the terrain to our advantage, keep in communication," said Aegis. "And don't underestimate them," said Wayne. The banners finally stopped on an image, the picture of a forest. "We beat 'em once already," said Aegis as the banners began cycling through images again.
"You sucker-punched the first guy before he got his aura up," Said Wayne, "and they underestimated our hand to hand abilities, this time they have their weapons and they won't be taken by surprise twice." "Sure they will," said Aegis as the banners stopped on a second image, the symbol of a snowflake,"We just gotta hit 'em with a different kind of surprise."
Suddenly the metal plates around the arena opened as a forested landscape rose up behind the enemy team, and an icy land scape rose up behind Wayne and Aegis. Here we go, thought Wayne as he and Aegis took a fighting stance. In another moment the signal sounded, and the two teams charged at each other.
Wayne went for the two opponents on the right, one wielding a large studded club, the other wielding two ring-blade weapons, while Aegis took the two opponents on the left, one wielding a spear and the other wielding a battle-axe. Wayne opened fire at the two opponents with both Crescent Fangs, one for each opponent.
The ring-blade guy blocked and dodged while the club guy blocked the brunt of it with his weapon and took the rest of the hits with his armor. Tough guy, thought Wayne as he shifted his weapons to sickle form. The club guy reached Wayne first and swung his club horizontally, but Wayne was able to spin low beneath the blow and knock his opponent's feet out from under him with his sickles.
Tough but a bit slow, thought Wayne before leaping back from a ring blade aimed at his head. This guy's a bit faster though, thought Wayne as he blocked a series of quick jabs and slashes. By this time the club guy had gotten back up and was charging again. Wayne let himself be pushed back a little by the ring blade wielder and waited for just the right moment as the club guy swung again. Wayne leaped back and over the club wielder, who spun around with another swing at Wayne's head, which he barely dodged by stepping back.
Wayne barely had a moment to regain his footing before the ring wielder leaped over the club guy, swinging both weapons downward. Wayne blocked both weapons with his sickles and kicked the ring wielder in the chest, knocking him back and into the club wielder, who shoved his teammate to the side and charged at Wayne swinging his club downwards. Wayne sidestepped while catching the blow on his right weapon, letting it fall, causing his opponent to stumble past him while Wayne slashed at his back with his left sickle, knocking his opponent over.
This guy's got thick armor, thought Wayne, must be reinforcing it with his aura or semblance. Movement on his left side caught his attention as the ring wielder was back slashing at Wayne's head and midsection. Wayne blocked the first blow, backed away to dodge the second, then blocked several more blows until the ring wielder suddenly leaped back again.
Wayne had just enough time to notice and bring his weapons up to block a vicious horizontal strike from the club wielder, which knocked him backwards and off balance, giving the ring wielder an opening to attack. Wayne rolled back to avoid the first attack from the ring wielder and shifted his weapons back to their SMG form as he stood on one knee and opened fire at both opponents, taking them by surprise and forcing them to back up for a second.
This ain't working, thought Wayne as he stole a glance to see that Aegis was holding his own but not really getting anywhere. Guess I have to use my semblance, and a new plan of attack. Wayne stopped firing and began running for the forested area of the stadium.
"Aegis we take 'em in the woods," yelled Wayne. "Got it," he heard Aegis yell a second later as he knocked the ax wielder back and ran towards Wayne. "Don't tell me you're chickening out already," Wayne heard one member of team LNCE yell.
"What's the plan," asked Aegis as they neared the trees. "We go up," said Wayne as he leapt onto one of the nearby tree branches. Aegis followed, jumping onto a tree a few feet away. The two brothers ascended several more branches before leaping forward with the members of team LNCE jumping up after them. Landing on a large top branch, Wayne ran to the end of the branch in Aegis's direction, charging his semblance as he ran.
"I got your guys," said Wayne as he released a slash of energy from his weapon, which impacted against the guys chasing Aegis, knocking them from the tree. "And I got yours," yelled Aegis, leaping over Wayne's head with a flame-charged ax, knocking the club-wielder into the ring wielder and off the branch. The brothers landed on opposite branches and watched as their opponents tumbled to the ground, hitting a few branches on the way down.
"Ho ho," yelled Professor Port over the stadium speakers, "It seems team WA has temporarily outwitted team LNCE." "Could they really not find any actual announcers?" Asked Aegis. "Considering the size of the festival, you'd think so," answered Wayne before his attention was directed downward once again as the tree suddenly shook violently. Wayne looked to see a large chunk of the tree he was on had been taken out by club wielder.
"Time to go," said Wayne as he leaped off the branch and to another tree. Almost as soon as Wayne landed on another branch, a ring blade came flying through the air and slashed through the branch he was on, causing him to plummet. Wayne quickly connected his wrist wire to his right weapon and tossed it, catching it on a tree as he swung through the air and landed a short distance away on the forest floor as the tree behind him crashed to the ground.
Wayne looked back to see all of team LNCE charging at him. Guess they had to grow brains eventually, thought Wayne as he charged his semblance again. Suddenly the form of Aegis dropped down in the middle of team LNCE, jamming a flaming trident blade into the ground. Three members of the opposing team managed to jump and roll away as Aegis knocked the ax-wielder of the group forward onto the ground.
"Up and over bro," yelled Wayne as he released his semblance. Aegis leapt over just in time as Wayne's semblance impacted against the other three off-balance members of team LNCE, knocking them all backward.
"A little close there bro," said Aegis as he spun the cylinder on his weapon and formed a stone flail. "You could've taken that one," said Wayne. "Yeah sure," said Aegis sarcastically as he spun around with a powerful two-handed swing and knocked the ax-wielder several feet away and into a tree, creating a person-shaped crater in the tree.
"What a hit, elimination by aura depletion," Roared Professor Port's voice over the speakers. "This puts a new spin on tree-hugger," Said Oobleck, chiming in on the speakers. Wayne and Aegis groaned at the joke as the other members of team LNCE rose to their feet.
"Okay, now we try one of my ideas, this way" said Aegis as he took off towards the edge of the forest where the grass met the ice. Wayne followed after him, glancing over his shoulder to see the remaining three members of team LNCE. Making their way over onto the icy field, Aegis signaled for the two of them to stop on a flat portion of the stadium.
"So other than trying to not slip and fall, what's the plan here?" Asked Wayne. "You remember all those mornings we had to spend training in that thick mist," asked Aegis. "Yeah, you kept hitting me on 'accident'," Replied Wayne as he saw the three members of team LNCE coming from three separate directions.
"Well are you up for the polar bear?" Asked Aegis. "Yeah, if we get a new name for it," Said Wayne. "Just wait for it," said Aegis as he spun the fire cylinder on his weapon while Wayne gathered energy in his hand. When the opposing team was practically right on top of them was when Aegis gave the signal.
"Now," Aegis yelled as he and Wayne slammed their weapons on the ground, the resulting heat creating a massive amount of steam as they rolled out of the way. The sound of weapons slamming against the ground where the two brothers had just been reached Wayne's ears as he and Aegis circled around in opposite directions. Locating the opposing team was fairly easy thanks to the sound of their panicked voices.
Wayne smiled to himself as he attached his wrist wires and tossed both of his Crescent Fangs, grabbing onto one of the unfortunate members of team LNCE and dragging them away from the group. "Oh no you don'-," The random member didn't have time to finish his sentence as Wayne stomped on his chest with a semblance infused foot and knocked him in the head with the back end of one of his weapons for good measure.
The sound of an ice ax shattering against a body could be heard as Aegis knocked another member away and into a nearby ice wall, quickly moving out of sight as he did so. "Where are you," yelled the remaining member of team LNCE, the blond-haired leader by the sound of it.
"Oh nowhere in particular," Said Aegis as the steam cleared enough for them to see. "Just in the wrong place for you," said Wayne as he and Aegis simultaneously punched the leader in the face, sending him skidding across the ice and out of the ring.
"And that's the match, by stunning upset team WA is victorious!" Roared Port as the crowd burst into massive cheering. "Did we actually just win?" Asked Wayne, surprised he wasn't breathing as hard as usual, or had expected.
"I told you we could do it!" Exclaimed Aegis as he hit Wayne on the back, "Now come on, smile and wave." Wayne could only roll his eyes as he just started waving in a random direction while his younger brother began show boating. "Don't overdo it Aegis, this is just round one," said Wayne.
The Crow Bar: Same Time
"Well that was something else," said the owner of a small establishment known as the Crow Bar as he turned to one of his patrons who had just returned from a trip to the restroom. "Ya just missed it," said the bar owner. "Missed what, a four on two beat down, this festival tournament used to have rules about fair play," said the Patron, a man with grayish black hair, very noticeable stubble, a gray jacket with black pants and a tattered red cape.
"But that's the amazing part, the two man team actually beat the four man team," Said the Bar Owner as he pointed at the TV, which was going over the post-match stats of team WA's victory.
"Wait did they say that team was made up of Wayne and Aegis Ursario?" Asked the Patron. "Yeah, word is those two are some kind of support team, but they pack more of a punch than some of the other four person teams I've seen so far," said the owner of the Crow Bar.
"Oh they pack a punch alright," said the Patron, "The kind of punch which can wreck training rooms, expensive equipment, and cause paper work to skyrocket and headaches lasting for days," The Patron held his head in his hands as he said this, "I'm gonna need another drink."
Vytal Festival Stadium: Some Time Later
"Alright let me see if I got this straight," said Wayne as Aegis sat down in the stadium seat next to him with a large compliment of fried fish kabobs, "You managed to convince not one, but two teachers, Pyrrha, and Coco to vouch for our combat abilities in order to get Ozpin to allow us to compete in the tournament with the promise that if we were allowed to enter we would first fight one of the lower ranking teams in order to make the match more even."
"Yeah I've explained this two or three times now," replied Aegis. "I'm still just trying to wrap my head around it, typically your form of persuasion involves you swinging your weapon all over the place," said Wayne. "I can be convincing without waving my weapon around, it just takes a lot longer and I usually don't have the patience for it," Said Aegis.
"Apparently you can be patient when it means you get the chance to fight," Said Wayne. "Can you really sit here and tell me you're not enjoying being in another tournament after so long," questioned Aegis as he handed Wayne one of the fish kabobs.
"Still deciding, so let's just watch the next match for now, Emerald's team is up," said Wayne before taking a bite out of the fish kabob. The two brothers ate in silence while the announcements were made for the match. As the match began, it became obvious pretty quickly that Emerald's team had the superior fighters, and a fourth dark-haired girl with green eyes, two-long pig tails, a black and white outfit which looked like something a maid would wear in the summer whom Wayne had never seen before.
"You ever see that dark-haired girl around Beacon?" Asked Wayne. "Believe me if I had seen a girl with a sadistic smile like that walking around campus, I'd remember it," replied Aegis.
"The rest of Emerald's team seems kind of sadistic, and that guy just got his face stepped on," Said Wayne as he watched the green-eyed girl basically stomp on one of the opposing team members heads.
"So how much you lookin' forward to fightin' them?" Asked Aegis. "About as much as I was when I first found out we were in the tournament," Replied Wayne. "So not really?" Asked Aegis. "No Aegis, not really," Groaned Wayne.
The next match was team RWBY vs. ABRN, a match which saw Aegis yelling at the top of his lungs as they watched it unfold. Soon enough, though, team RWBY managed to outmaneuver team ABRN and claimed victory, prompting Aegis to jump for joy while Wayne applauded happily.
"Now that was a match," said Aegis as he and Wayne made their way out of the stadium seats. "It was a lot less one-sided than the last one," said Wayne, "And a bit more entertaining."
"Well let's hurry up and find them so we can congratulate them," said Aegis, "And find more food, I'm still starving." "Promise me you won't charge at any stands which happen to have any honey related food," Said Wayne.
"I can only promise that I will try to resist my primal need for honey," replied Aegis, "But one can only halt nature for so long." "Did you stay up all night coming up with that," asked Wayne. "Only half the night," quipped Aegis. "Well I hope you spent the other half thinking of a good explanation for Vytal festival security," said Wayne, "Because I am not helping you out if you get in trouble for honey theft."
And here it is, Volume 3 has arrived. As always a great big thank you to my reviewers, followers, and viewers who've kept up with this story so far. Stop in next time as Wayne and Aegis give their commentary on tournament fighting.