Glynda, Alexis and Alex walked through the side entrance to the arena where everyone participating was lined up side by side. Everyone who was in the tournament was in the Center Circle of the Combat area. Glynda was held back by another teacher, pointing to where she was going to stand as the other two had to line up with the others.
Alexis was wearing her regular outfit; a blue "Combat-Esque" Skirt with a white sleeveless vest with matching blue trimming, and blue ankle boots. However, because the weather in Atlas was starting to get cold so early, she was wearing a long-sleeved Turtleneck instead of her normal short sleeved one. She also had matching black "warmth" leggings, to keep her legs from freezing. Her ensemble was finished off with some blue fingerless gloveless, which in her mind might have been a mistake. Her fingers were freezing! And on her arm, Duel Disk was sheathed and inactive, though it had begun to mist over.
Alex was wearing his "Kit" attire; a Grifball Style Black Jersey with matching black shorts with a red stripe going down the left leg, and the number '1' on the right leg. His Jersey didn't have a sponsor, and there was no "Team Crest" either. There was only the Manufacturer of the Shirt on the right breast. He was wearing normal sneakers, all black with matching black laces and a red padding around the front. Socks that went up below the knee were also chosen, this time red, and underneath his jersey was a Long Sleeve Turtleneck that was thinner than Alexis', made by the same company that made his jersey. His outfit was finished off with an Armband, baring his emblem…Which was his company logo. The Three Letters. Finally, Frameskip was on his wrist, simply display the time. Oh, and some Black Gloves for his hands.
Alex was tapping on the small screen of Frameskip, his eyes lift off the rectangle projection in his hand as he noticed Alexis blowing air into her hands to keep her fingers warm. He sighed as he closed his fist, and the projection disappeared.
He pulled his gloves off and took Alexis' hands, cringing at how cold the blonde's hands actually were. Alexis watched as he put on his gloves on her hands, instantly warming up. Since her nails were as short as his, size wasn't much of an issue as she felt the at-first loose gloves being to shrink to her size.
"Alex, you really didn't have to do that. What are you going to wear?" She said as she tried taking them off, but he stopped her.
"Its fine, what doesn't kill me…makes me freeze… why is it so cold?" He looked around as he began to rub his own hands, now exposed to the cold air of the Arena.
Before the blonde could protest about the gloves the "Headmaster of Competition", if his little name tag was to be believed, cleared his throat on the mix, everyone's attention turning to him.
"What the hell is…that?" The brunette asked in disgust. Alexis sighed, this reaction was expected.
He was wearing a Blue Jacket that had several pieces of Military Gold Trimming Stolen and Placed onto the shoulders and there were gold frillings along the neck and sleeves his coattail jacket. He was very, very pale and it looked like he was wearing lipstick. Not lip-gloss, but actual pink lipstick. His blonde hair was tied into a strict and short ponytail and was parted into several sections. To top it off, he had very large earrings.
"My I have your Attention! Today, and for the next week or so, all combat classes will be canceled. In order to determine who will be representing Atlas Academy at this Years 'Atlesian Combat Champions League', it is now time for our Qualifying Competition."
"This Tournament is contested by the best pair of the best 5 teams of this fine academy, plus our invited guests from The Kingdom of Vale". Some students began to talk loudly amongst themselves at that, and none of it was good.
Both Alexis and Alex had to endure listening to others talk about them, standing right next to them, as the Person Speaking had paused.
"I remember her, she snubbed coming here for that Beacon place."
"Yeah, what a stupid bitch."
"I bet that she wouldn't have lasted here, I hear Beacon is a lot easier."
"Why doesn't she get the fact that this whole "Grimm" thing, isn't an issue? Talk about being a dumb blonde."
"Have you seen her partner though? Apparently his parents are rich."
"Huh, so he's a momma's boy? That would explain why he was allowed to leave the house with THAT on. Christ, someone please help this kid out."
"He can have as much money as he wants, but it isn't going to buy him skill. They both might go to Beacon, but Atlas Academy is way, way better. They don't stand a chance."
"Yeah, they're here instead of Team SAVR (Saviour). I wonder what they did to get here."
"The boy just slipped some bills underneath the table and bam. Here they are."
And the comments got worse and worse. Alex was about to snap and hit the next person who said something, but Alexis grabbed his arm gently.
"Alex, calm down. They're just toying with you."
"And it's working." He grit his teeth.
And the timing couldn't be perfect, because before Alexis could calm him down, the speaker resumed from where she left off.
"This Tournament is a Straight Elimination tournament, every match after this will be drawn one day before the actual bout in order to give each opponent 24 hours of preparation. The winner will automatically enter the Champions League, while the Runner up will enter the Final stage of the Champions League qualifying. The winners will also be awarded with this trophy" He showed off a shining silver trophy with two handles and some ribbons hanging from the handles, which elected a reaction from the peanut gallery. "-For them to keep and take home. But, in order to determine a winner, we must get through this!" He pointed at the Holographic screen above him. "It is now time for the first Match!"
"The rules are as follows. The pair with the most elimination points at the end of the allotted time is declared winner, or to drain your opponents of the Aura. If a combatant is eliminated by Aura Drain, the partner has the option to forfeit. All eliminations are subject to Video Replay. No intentional blows to the crotch. And no outside interference.
That caused both Blonde and Brunette to raise an eyebrow.
The screen popped up with all 6 pairs of students that will be competing in the tournament. After tapping a few things on his scroll tablet, the pictures disappeared and a wheel began to rotate, with it cycling through all the pairs of students. The First pair selected by the Wheel was a Tan Blue Haired Teen with Googles on his head, and the other was a Tan blonde Teen with his shirt wide open.
"Neptune Vasilias and Sun Wukong."
Both students stepped forward, looking towards their potential opponents. While Sun was looking around, Neptune was flirting with a few of the girls watching, winking at them and mouthing something. In return they applauded the duo.
The wheel spun again, and after a few seconds of waiting landed on the Invited Team. "Alexander Rojo and Alexis Blau, our Invited Guests from the Kingdom of Vale." Apparently, the crowd that was watching weren't exactly thrilled. If the boos coming from the upperclassman were to be believed.
"Everyone else, leave the Combat area immediately. The bout is about to begin."
Everyone walked away, and the Professors who agreed to be the students "Mentor's" were led to small area where they could stand, pace and walk around in. It was similar to a Technical Area for Grifball, except smaller in scale. Rei and Atticus had taken a seat on the benches in their Area.
"Combatants, are you ready?" He first pointed to Neptune and Sun. They nodded in the affirmative. He then pointed to Alex and Alexis, who gave thumbs up.
"Begin!"
All four of them activated their weapons at the same time. Sun whipped out his nun-chucks, Neptune's railgun made a 'beep' and was ready for use, extending the barrel. Sun connected his n
Alexis' Blade Runner extended to full mast and exhausted some dust through the blade side, and Alex's weapon released a Nano coated that encased his entire left hand, similar to a glove. It then turned blue, then white, then Green, Orange, Yellow and finally landing on red. He cracked his knuckles, allowing Frameskip to coat his other hand with the same material. His right hand went through all the colors as he left before landing on purple.
Sun and Neptune went on the offensive, Sun using Ruyi Bang and Jingu Bang and going for Alexis. In its staff form, Sun was able to fight from a distance close enough to do damage, but far away enough that Alexis was unable to attack herself, forcing her to defend. Blow after blow, Sun was relentless. Alexis had begun to slowly back up, losing ground as the blonde monkey faunus continued to discourage any sort of offensive play from her.
Alex was having an even harder time with Neptune, his railgun having suddenly become Guandao and having an even longer reach than Sun's staff. And to make it worse, Alex's style required the person in question to be at arm's length away. And last time he checked, 6 feet away was not "Arm's Length". He has the reach to get him, but his weapon was making it impossible to get to without risking several free blows to the body. Alex, too, had to start backing up, losing ground.
Sun and Neptune were pushing Alex and Alexis back, already passed their own final third of the Combat Area, but they were beginning to tire out from their Assault. Alex notice that the Monkey Faunus had slowed down tremendously and started to see opening that he could take advantage of. He dodged a hit and was able to move forward and begin to lays some punches on Sun. Neptune turned for the briefest of a second, but that was all that Alexis needed as she began the push back. Both of them were at full strength since they hadn't exercised too much energy in defending,
Alex landed a critical hit that managed to stun Sun, allowing him to go around him and push him towards the edge of the Arena, the same way Sun had done. Alexis was having a lot more issues with Neptune, as he was refusing to get close enough to Alexis to that critical hit. The brunette managed to hook an arm around Sun's and pull him towards Neptune, causing the Monkey Faunus to crash into him. That gave Alexis ample time to swing her blade, landing several hits on Neptune and also moving around behind to push them out.
Atticus and Rei watched from their designated seats. Professor Goodwitch had talked to them a little bit as the fought had gone on. Now both her and the other teacher ,who they assume is their caretaker, were both up and alert, pacing about.
As they watched the tables turn, Atticus brought up a point. "What is Richboy's semblance anyway?" He nodded towards the brunette, he took note of how frameskip flashed a bright blue for a brief second. That was the second time its happened.
"His…its complicated."
"Don't tell me its one of those invici-semblances that have no drawbacks at all and the only way to get him is to use Military tech." He drawled.
"No, if anything this could be an issue. It's a three stage semblance."
"Not a good start…"
"Would you hush and listen?" Rei sighed in annoyance, trying to figure out a way to explain it to him in simple terms. "Alright, you know that First Person Shooter you like?"
"Call of Titanfall?"
"Yeah, you know how you can have three of those Killstreak things at a certain points? Like that. But in this case, he needs to land hits. He needs to gain momentum, which charges his semblances.
"Ah, like the King of Street Fighters?"
She snapped her fingers as he understood. "Exactly."
"Dam. What does each stage do?"
"It varies, but he needs more momentum to get to the next stage. And he can't use the first part until he gets his second part."
"Can he use it all at once?"
"Oh Yes. And when he does it is brutal." She turned back in time to see another bright flash from frameskip.
"Right, I don't seem to see any downsides to this…"
"If he gets hit or takes too long on the next hit, he loses his progress and makes restart the part he was on"
"Ah, that is an issue." Atticus conceded. That would mean that Alex would constantly need to hit something, fatigue becomes an issue and so does Aural Waste to heal himself, not to mention Avoiding getting hit and having to be this close to the enemy.
Back at the Arena, Alex felt full. His movement was slower, but he was still holding his own. Alexis meanwhile was having no issues, she swung her Saber and was landing hits with no issue. The only issue was for Neptune and Sun, which saw all their ground lost and now they were on the verge of being pushed out.
Frameskip began to direct Aura to his fist as Alex continued to lay hit upon hit onto Neptune, though according to the Score it seemed to be doing more damage. At the same time, Alexis began to slowly regain Aura that she had lost, though it was barely noticeable
Rei had noticed this, she was sure that Alexis had less Aura than that. It looked like it was slowly trickling upwards. "Atti, what is Alexis' Semblance?"
Atticus laughed. "I see that you noticed it too. It's unlike Alex, Lexis' Aura is Regenerative. Her aura is slowly recharges as she gains momentum. So it shares some similarities to Richboy."
"And what was that about Overpowered Aura's?"
"Relax, her's recharges slowly. If she gets hit hard enough she takes more damage than she gained. But, the similarities don't end there." Atticus realized himself how similar they were, as he talked about it aloud. "Actually, they are quite similar….Holy shit they are really similar."
Rei raised a confused eyebrow. "Uh, mind elaborating?"
"Well, for starters Alexis also has a multistage semblance. First she recharges herself, then she recharges anyone near her.
"Isn't that a bit of an issue in say…this instance?" She nodded towards the arena.
"Alexis has more control over it, she can pick and choose."
"Hm, and that's all?"
"No, she has a trump card."
"And that would be?" Their attention was directed to the Arena as they heard a loud, buzzer-like, sound. For a split-second, Alexis' Saber Angel was engulfed in a blinding blue light before. She back up and ran forward, slicing through Sun. He went past the out of bounds barrier, and his aura hit Zero. But before the adjudicator could stop the match, there was a high pitched ding.
"And that's Alex."
Frameskip, and this his left arm, was engulfed in a red ball as Alex stopped attacking. He jumped back about a foot and then swung at Neptune. And then he swing again. And again. And then the red that was around frameskip covered his body, and then he landed a kick, and then another. He landed consistent hits on Neptune, all of them hitting their mark. His combination of hits and kicks was too fast for Neptune to try and block, which meant he had no choice but to take it. He finished off by performing his Aural Slice. First with his left, followed by his right. This caused Neptune to go airborne as Alex then back flipped and used both his legs to slice down, forcing him to the ground even harder.
"Match Complete. Team ARAA Wins." The announced stated. The reaction was a crowd of boos. "Though Please wait until the eliminated combatant leaves the Arena first next time."
Alexis sheathed Saber Angel onto her arm, and Frameskip turned itself off and the glove-like material dissolved. The watch exhausted smoke from both sides as it lay at rest on the brunettes arm.
Atticus and Rei got up and followed Professor Goodwitch, who was walking to the two others.
Alexis and Alex high fived each other, though Alex did wince as his left hand was the one he used. Alexis was immediately concerned. She noticed that the knuckles on his left hand were bruised. Granted both sets of knuckles had seen better days, but it was clear he favorited his left hand. His right palm was also raw, possibly the glove material might have done that.
"Let me see it." She gestured.
Alex shook his head. "It's fine, just a scratch." He said as he pulled his hand away from her reach, behind his back.
"Alex, stop being a little baby and let me see it!" He continued the game of cat and mouse, right up until he hear Professor Goodwitch.
"Mr Rojo, please let Ms Blau tend to your injuries. She does have more medical experience."
He groaned as he relented. Alexis stuck her tongue out at him as she took his hand. Again, it wasn't that bad, but the glove had indeed made his palm go raw, and his knuckles were pink. They weren't fighting for that long, which meant that he didn't go too hard on them. But the cold probably did not help. She gently pressed her thumb beneath the knuckle on the palm side, which caused him to hiss in pain. Obviously not broken, just a lot of pain.
"Just some ice." She said softly to him. "Don't you bandage up your hands?" She asked him as she noticed some more scars that she hadn't seen before. It was probably the better lighting.
"Not really no." He admitted. "Yang has gloves that protect her knuckles a little. Bandaging just makes it harder honestly."
"I think you should at least get something like that then. You'll eventually end up bleeding a lot when fighting. Scar tissue isn't exactly strong stuff and it cuts easy." She explained.
"Right. Thanks Doctor."
"Alex, Im serious."
"Alright, I'll look into it."
"And while you're at it, look into why that glove thing left your palm raw." She flipped his hand to show the redness of his hand
"Oh…that's when it dissolves. It's kinda like when you pull wax."
Before she could scold him on spending money on better material, the Announcer ordered them off the Arena as the next match is about to begin.
Author's Note: This is my first Actual attempt at writing combat. Also, I would like to apologize for the shorter chapters. I am trying to make what I have written so far last so that I can get ahead and not encounter issues that I had when I began. Sporadic uploads. Anyway hopefully you guys enjoyed it, and I hope you are being entertained!