Hello everyone and welcome back to HellFall!
I'm sure many of you are confused right now as to why I'm updating on a Saturday and not on Monday, but the reason is because I'm leaving for the summer earlier than I expected. I'll be posting this chapter today, and another (hopefully) on Monday (a few days from now). After that there won't be another chapter for about two weeks, so I'm just giving you something to read during that time.
I arrived at the arena just after lunch. I'd eaten a hearty meal with my new team, WRGE (rogue), before the start of the match. Round one was finally finished, which took about a week. Round two was promised to be quicker, but I wasn't so sure. The teams who moved on to this round are either strong or lucky. With a disorganized team like ours, I worry that we'll be able to make it to the next round. But that's not particularly important to me, I'm just here to test myself and have a good time.
There were several competitors in the waiting area, gathered together in groups of four and talking amongst themselves.
I turned to my teammates, who were just behind me, "So what's the plan?" I asked.
"Go for separate enemies." Wintanweorth, our leader, replied, "It worked last time. We aren't very well coordinated together, so just stay out of one another's way. Got it?" He looked around at everyone for confirmation. Ember, a seventeen-year-old woman behind me, nodded. I turned around. Ember was a tall woman, with long dark orange hair that was parted at her forehead. Her hair fell down her back, then curled upwards slightly. She had tan skin and narrow purple eyes. Her face was ever serious, with a constant frown that never seemed to waver. I don't believe I'd ever seen her teeth before, not even when she ate. On her cheeks were six green tattoos, three on either side. They were shaped like small scratches. She wore a dark brown muscle shirt and an orange jacket with breast pockets over top of it. Around her neck she wore an army dog tag around her neck. I'd never gotten close enough to see what it said, nor did I know where she got it. She wore dark brown pants which covered her orange, metal shoes. Or at least that's what they told me. Her hands had been replaced by dark orange robotic ones with a gun attachment underneath both and an extendable blade on top of them as well. I found it hard to believe that her feet were that small, so I suspected that they had been replaced as well.
"That sounds like a bad idea" Roy said next to me in response to Wintanweorth's plan. I turned. Roy Sho was an interesting person. His face and voice were completely bland. He spoke in a constant monotone, and his face, like Ember's, never changed. He was always serious. Only his lips were straight, unlike Ember's frown. He had pale skin and white eyes. Not that his eyes were blank, the outlines of his pupils existed, but their insides were white. He had grey hair that was short on the sides and longer on the top, swished to the side and spiking up a bit at the ends. At the back it was longer and tied into a small ponytail. He wore a white button-up shirt with the sleeves rolled up past his elbows. The inside of the shirt was black, so when the collar folded outwards at his neck it was black. The shirt was buttoned right up to his neck, which looked very uncomfortable. On top of his shirt be wore a black vest, and below his waist he wore grey pants and formal black shoes.
"Excuse me?" Wintanweorth asked, turning around to face him.
"It's a bad idea." Roy repeated, "The first round teams were amateurs. Now everyone will likely be seasoned hunters. We need a safe plan of attack if we plan on progressing"
"Pick an opponent and fight him or her." He decided, "That good enough?"
"Barely sufficient" Roy replied.
"I've settled for less" Wintanweorth said, turning back around and disappearing into the crowd. Ember followed after him.
I was surprised. Wintanweorth wasn't so rude before.
"Something's wrong" I said.
"I agree" Roy replied.
I sighed, looking at him.
"His plan of attack was mediocre." Roy said, "It's lacking something"
"Well why don't we come up with our own strategy?" I suggested, "They won't have to be in on it, just you and me"
He turned to me, "Good idea" He said.
"Let's find a place to sit down first," I said, "we may have a while to wait before we fight"
"Good idea," Roy said, "conserving energy for the fight"
"Standing requires very little energy but I guess that's as good a reason as any" I said.
As we started towards the cafeteria I bumped into someone much taller than me.
"Sorry" I said, walking past them.
"Grizzlibear?" the person asked.
I turned. It was professor Lime.
"Lime?" I asked, "I didn't expect to see you here"
"Nor did I to you." She said, "You really shouldn't be here. These people are very powerful. You're not ready yet"
"How do you know?" I asked.
"You're so young." She said, "You don't have enough experience to get anywhere"
"Careful Lime," I said, "I'm already in the second round"
She frowned and walked off, rejoining her teammates.
"Who was that?" Roy asked with so little interest that I almost didn't respond.
"A hunting professor of mine" I replied.
"Is she strong?" He asked.
"Yes," I replied, "I've sparred with her before. She's a good huntress for sure"
"I see" Roy replied.
"Of course she always held back when she fought us" I added.
"Why is that?" Roy asked.
"Well if she went all-out we'd be annihilated." I replied, "She's a seasoned huntress, and at the times when I fought her I was only a child"
"She'll be going all-out today." Roy said, "What if we have to fight her?"
"Then I'll go all-out too" I replied.
Line
"Where have you two been?!" Wintanweorth asked, clearly angry. "Our match is about to start!"
"Already?" I asked. Roy and I had discussed strategies for about three hours now. We had fought in the first round around the beginning, but I didn't expect them to get to us today still.
"Yes idiot," Wintanweorth replied, "Now get off your butt and let's go!"
He grabbed my arm and pulled me up. When I yanked my arm away he looked at me angrily.
"I'm perfectly capable of walking myself" I said, turning and walking out towards the arena, where I'd retrieve my weapons and wait for the match to start.
When I arrived I was handed my weapons, Barbed Gustav. Barbed Gustav is two pistols. Each gun is a round, short black cylinder with two identical rectangular black barrels sticking out of either end, in the shape of a pistol. The barrels are split into three smaller rectangles, the top and bottom ones being black, and the center one being dark red. The top on fires bullets and the bottom one holds the magazine for the opposite barrel. I hold onto the grips on the top of each barrel when I fire, and due to the extra barrel am able to flip the gun and keep firing. The barrels can rotate along the black cylinder between them, and when they straighten out I can attach them to each other to create a staff. On one end of the staff a rounded, curving blade can extend out. On the other end are three sharp forks, like a pitchfork but the forks come out around the tip of the barrel to form a triangle shape. The forks stick out at an angle, then bend inwards towards the tip of the barrel. I can extend these blades when Barbed Gustav is in gun mode as well.
Wintanweorth stood in front of us, ReitŠno Fukushū strapped to his back. Ember stood next to him and Roy next to me. We stood behind the two.
As the doors opened I heard the announcer.
"ON THIS SIDE WE HAVE TEAM WRGE, RETURNING TO US FROM THE FIRST ROUND! AND ON THIS SIDE, TEAM LLPP (lollipop), RETURNING FROM THAT MAGNIFICENT VICTORY IN ROUND ONE!"
As we stepped forward into the arena, I scanned the people before us. Sure enough, there was Lime, standing in the middle of her multicolored team.
Lime and I made eye-contact. Her gaze was fierce, and it made me shake.
"That's Lime." Roy said, then saw me shaking. "She's going all-out. What are you going to do?"
I felt like he was trying to sound really epic, and he could have, if his voice had any expression. Nevertheless, it helped, and I stopped shaking. I felt my semblance beginning to activate, and my eyes began to glow with yellow fire.
"I'm going all-out" I replied.
So there you have it. Another fight is about to start. This may look like its going to be a Crimson II rehash (only with Grizzly over Gazini), but I can assure that it won't be. The story will be picking up very soon too.
Also, one quick note, Grizzly's weapon, Barbed Gustav (poorly described, I'm sorry), is actually inspired by the guns Brandon Heat/Beyond the Grave wields in the anime Gungrave. So if your having trouble imagining his weapon, try looking those up, then making them smaller and trying to meld those and the description I gave together.
Anyways, as usual, favorite, follow, review, tell your friends, tell your enemies, or don't if you don't want to, and I'll see you all in the next chapter.
barbed gustav inspired by gungrave