Word spread around quickly at the hospital about her second-place win at the amateur fighting tournament. The reporter had apparently been working for a large media network, and had been delighted to find more news about the "miracle nurse" that had been at the site of the terrorist attack.
Oddly enough, people started talking to her more now, noticing her as a person and not just an object of interest. Although they were careful not to intrude on her personal space, Alys' coworkers were a lot of more friendly, most of them beginning to overlook her faunus nature. Alys had to smile whenever someone joked with her, saying things like "Woah don't punch me" in the middle of a argument and instantly defusing the tension. Whenever her sensitive ears picked up snippets of conversation, hearing her fellow nurses saying things such as "I'd totally let her kick my ass", she blushed and walked away, embarrassed yet also a little pleased on the inside that people finally seemed to be accepting her.
Alys continued training her aura, but things had started to slow down, a few days of training only resulting in minuscule improvements. Keeping her garden in bloom was easy enough, but she still grew tired after healing a few major injuries, needing to rest for awhile before her aura recovered. She agonized about this for a few days, wondering if this was the end to her fighting career, and wondering if this was the extent of her abilities.
After wallowing in self-pity for a few days, she tried something different, this time instead trying to drain the plant, wondering if she could recover her aura if she flipped the process around. The plant wilted a tiny little bit, but Alys just felt even more tired, having spent more energy trying to harm the plant than she would have spent trying to heal it.
Weiss noticed her depression and talked to her about it, Alys spilling out her fear that this was her limit, and that she'd never be as strong as Ruby or Weiss.
"You're already plenty strong," Weiss said, stroking her hair and trying to comfort her.
"Don't lie to me," Alys cried, her voice a little muffled as she buried her head in Weiss' chest. "I was there when I saw the four of you fight Ruby. I saw you set up that gigantic barrier that Ruby couldn't even break through. And Ruby was able to take down all of those androids, but you three still defeated her."
"Not everything is about aura," Weiss soothed. "And Ruby had a scythe-gun, while you're just fighting by hand."
"Your glyphs are made with aura and you told me Yang can create fire and Blake leaves behind mirages," Alys said grumpily, sitting back and wiping off her tears. "And I've seen you move before; you're faster than me too."
"You've only been training for a few months," Weiss cautioned. "Don't expect too much out of yourself. We've been training since childhood, and I've been put through so many tests..." She trailed off, absentmindedly rubbing her scar.
Alys sighed, leaning into Weiss. "You're right," she admitted. "I'm being too arrogant. I can't expect to catch up to you in such a short amount of time, and I'm being insensitive by not respecting your past. Sorry."
"You have nothing to be sorry for," Weiss said. "I understand your frustration. And think, your instant healing is a huge advantage in fights, and you're improving by leaps and bounds in hand-to-hand combat. If you master those techniques, it won't matter how much aura they have if you can outmaneuver them and take them down."
Alys nodded, feeling a little better. "I still think you're downplaying the usefulness of aura, but I guess I can concentrate on my physical strength and speed instead."
So Alys continued her physical training with Aaron, alternating between strength training and getting fighting experience by sparring with the other people at the gym. She even managed to push Aaron far enough that he was forced to bring out his aura, a burnt-orange glare surrounding him as he fended off her attacks. In a huge burst of speed, he swept her legs out from under her and pinned her to the ground.
"Hah, I got you!" Alys crowed triumphantly as Aaron rolled off of her.
"What are you talking about?" Aaron said indignantly, brushing himself off.
Alys grinned. "I made you use your aura."
Aaron laughed. "I guess you did," he admitted. "Your progress is astounding, Alys. At this rate, I think you'll surpass me soon enough."
She just shook her head, knowing on the inside that her progress would be much slower now that her aura had stopped increasing.
The months passed and the professional tournament soon came up. Alys was feeling excited, hoping to meet Orphea again and possibly have a rematch. The tournament was taking place in the upper-class district, a large amount of paid spectators coming to the the event.
This time they took an airship there, the distance making travel by train impractical. It was Alys' first time being on an airship, and she stared wide-eyed the whole time, the gigantic vehicle with its spacious interior and large windows astounding her. Even Weiss was affected by her enthusiasm, even though she had taken countless airship and hoverjet rides as part of her duties of being the Schnee Dust Company heir.
The venue was huge, swarming with watchers and contestants. Luckily, Aaron had the foresight to book a hotel room immediately after Alys had been entered into this tournament, the rest of the available rooms in all the hotels near the venue having quickly filled up afterwards. The setup of the arena was similar to the previous tournament Alys had gone to, but on a much larger scale. Cages made out of distinctive steelsilk mesh were scattered throughout a pavilion, the cages nearly twice as large as the previous ones Alys had fought in. Each cage was on a raised platform, overhead lights shining down on them to illuminate the fighters if needed. The pavilion contained cafes, each serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner, with booths set up for advertising companies or other activities. Overall, it seemed more like a giant festival than just a fighting tournament.
The tournament was a four-day event, with over a hundred participants for each weight division. A collection of skilled fighters gathered from various areas in Vale were to compete, and Alys felt excited just to be included in that number.
They had arrived a day earlier than the event to give themselves a chance to get used to the outdoor conditions, and Alys saw a lot of potential contestants also walking around the city, Aaron pointing out a few notable ones to her. The city seemed to have also been caught up in the event, banners advertising the tournament hung up everywhere and the city filled with tourists.
The three went back to the hotel room a bit earlier to get some rest before the next day. The hotel room was huge, nearly the size of an apartment, with a majestic poster bed and large bathroom that had a phenomenal marble bathtub. Alys and Weiss had some fun in there, relieving a bit of stress before the big event. After that, Alys spent a little while talking with Weiss about her future, wondering if she would continue fighting or eventually become a doctor. Weiss fell asleep before Alys did, with Alys staying up a little while longer to nervously search up her possible opponents on her tablet. She spent some time checking out her matchup for the next day before forcing herself to put down the tablet and close her eyes.
The next morning she woke up completely awake, her nerves tingling as she sat upright, her mind racing as she realized that the tournament was today. She sat in bed for awhile before Aaron knocked on their door, telling them to wake up. Shaking Weiss awake, she made sure her pajamas were covering her before going to the door and opening it. Aaron held out a pair of shorts and a tank top to her.
"What is this?" Alys asked, taking the clothing from his hand and examining it.
"These clothes finally arrived," Aaron said. "I was afraid wouldn't get to your house on time, so I had them rerouted and sent here. Remember when I told you I'd take care of those sponsor offers? These are the regulation clothes for the tournament and they also display the logos of the companies that are sponsoring you."
"Sponsoring?" Alys asked. "Since when?"
"You didn't think I'd pay for a first-class airship ride and a five-star hotel room out of my own pocket, did you?" Aaron responded, chuckling. "I barely make ends meet as is. Some of the money we get from our sponsors goes to paying for our equipment, some of it is invested, and of course, I'm saving up a bit for the school I plan on opening up. You can ask for your share at any time; it's in a separate account."
"That's actually pretty cool," Alys said, eyeing the black clothing that was emblazoned with colorful brand names.
Aaron looked relieved, glad to have made the right decision. "And another thing," he added. "Change into your clothing right now, then put on a jacket and some track pants. The locker rooms will probably be crowded, considering the number of contestants, so you can change now to avoid the hassle."
Alys nodded and began to close the door when she realized what Aaron was wearing. "Wait, do your shorts also have sponsors on them?"
"Of course," Aaron said. "I'm also going to participate in this tournament. This is a great opportunity to demonstrate my ability and perhaps even win something."
Alys stared. "You didn't tell me."
Aaron looked sheepish. "I guess it slipped my mind," he said, "and I thought it was pretty obvious. This is the biggest tournament of the year, so I definitely wasn't going to miss it."
"Well, I hope I don't go against you," Alys said, feeling even more nervous now.
"I'm two weight divisions higher than you, so no, you won't."
"Will my opponents be as good as you?"
"Eh, probably not," Aaron said truthfully. "I think you'll get pretty far. You should change now, and then we'll eat some breakfast before we go."
He shut the door and Alys began changing, Weiss yawning and stretching.
"Hey look, Weiss," Alys said, pointing at the new apparel she was wearing. "Sponsors!"
Weiss looked impressed. "Some of those are pretty big companies," Weiss said, getting up and closely looking over each logo.
Weiss' face got a little close to her chest, so Alys arched her back a little more, raising an eyebrow. "You like what you see?" Alys teased, stroking her hands over her firm body.
Weiss realized what position she was in and blushed, quickly standing up. "Come on," she said, cheeks pink, "No more messing around. Let's get changed and eat some food so we're not late to your weigh-in.""
Aaron told Weiss over breakfast that he was also participating, and she took it in a stride, finding it quite logical. The five-star hotel's food was delicious, Alys able to order a custom-made omelet that the chef prepared on the spot.
"This is probably not the right time to ask, but isn't it a bit weird that you're eating animal eggs?" Weiss wondered.
Alys grinned, shaking her head. "In terms of physiology, faunus are basically humans with a few added benefits and some other animal traits," she said, pointing to her ears and Aaron's horns. "And besides, eggs are rich in nutrition and an easy source of food, so plenty of animals eat the eggs of other animals."
They finished breakfast quickly and walked to the tournament grounds, which were quite close to the hotel. Aaron and Alys immediately set off for the changing rooms and the weigh-in areas, Weiss deciding to walk around a bit and look at the booths before the matches started.
Alys still easily passed the weigh-in, despite having gained a few pounds of muscle, and then the two were directed to a waiting room. Aaron was called out to fight first. Alys only had one match for the day, having gotten a bye from the amateur tournament, so she sat in the waiting room for awhile, watching matches on the video screen as she waited for her turn. Just as Alys saw the results of Aaron's fight on the screen, seeing that he had won the match, a judge came in and called her name.
"You're up," he said, handing her a pair of padded fingerless gloves.
Alys slipped them on and follow him out of the room. The crowd parted for the official and snapped photos of her as she walked to her cage, stretching a bit and loosening up her tense muscles. The large open steelsilk cage rose up in front of her, the silvery mesh walls nearly twice as tall as her. A panel of three judges sat outside of the cage in their own roped-off section, there to help make the final decision in deciding the match.
Her opponent was already inside and waiting. He was an ox faunus, only an inch or so taller than her but bulky and muscular, looking as though he had just barely slipped under the weight limit. Alys got into position opposite to him and the referee stepped forward and brought his hand up, signaling the beginning of the fight.
They began to circle each other, looking for openings. Alys threw out a few fast jabs and leg strikes, testing the ox faunus' defense, but he just grunted and kept his guard up, watching her.
With a bellow, he began to charge, but Alys had already predicted that and dropped low, flaring her aura and tackling his legs. His aura clashed with hers as she flipped him over and threw him to the ground, rotating and landing on top of his leg. The ox panicked as she began bending his leg back, kicking out with his other leg and trying to push himself up.
Alys held on, ignoring the frantic kicks to her head, but the oxen suddenly shouted and lifted his leg straight up, also lifting Alys into the air, and swung his leg around, smashing her against the cage. The force of being slammed against the tough steelsilk made her loosen her grip, the oxen then stomping her against the ground and quickly backing away. Alys got to her feet and shook her head, a little dazed.
The ox took advantage of her disorientation and took the offensive this time, dashing forward and swinging at her. Each punch was strong but a little slow, so Alys dodged a few fists before grabbing hold of one and twisting it to the side, then pushing it back against the ox and bending his wrist joint to the limit. The ox grunted and backed off, trying to loosen her hold, but Alys followed him, eventually backing him up against the cage and pressing even harder, forcing him to his knees.
Alys was a little afraid that she might have to completely snap his wrist before he gave up, but the ox yielded before she had to do anything drastic, tapping the mat as Alys forced him down to the ground, his wrist bending further than it should have.
The referee rushed in and Alys immediately let go, wondering if the ox was okay. He held his arm, face pinched in pain, and Alys felt bad, wondering if the injury was severe.
The ox was walking out of the ring when Alys ran up to him. "Wait," she said.
The ox turned around, a questioning expression on his blunt face.
"Can I heal you?" Alys asked, motioning with her hands.
A spark of recognition took hold in his eyes and he nodded, holding out his wrist. Gently wrapping her fingers around his injury, she shifted his fracture back into place and knitted the bones back together, also stemming a bit of internal bleeding.
"Thanks," he said gruffly, smiling at her. "Good match."
Alys nodded and shook his hand, agreeing. They walked out of the ring separately, Alys heading towards Weiss, who was standing in the crowd and smiling at her. A girl suddenly ran in front of Alys, holding a small tablet up and taking a selfie with Alys in the background. Giving her a shy wave, she disappeared back into the throng, leaving Alys a little bewildered.
"Did you see that?" Alys asked Weiss, taking her jacket and track pants from Weiss' arms and slipping them on.
"Yeah, you're definitely getting popular," Weiss said, grinning. "Where do you think Aaron is?"
"We can go check the standings," Alys said, beginning to walk towards one of the large electronic signs.
After waiting a bit for Aaron's name to pop it, they saw that he had just won his second match, winning by a knockout. They headed toward the cage where he had just had his match, meeting him halfway there.
Aaron looked refreshed, smiling, showing no visible signs of injury.
"Easy match?" Alys asked.
He shrugged. "The other guy was slower than me, so I just closed the distance and knocked him silly."
"Did you really just say 'knocked him silly'?" Alys teased.
"I think you're just faster than everyone else," Weiss observed.
"All this fighting has made me hungry," Aaron declared, ignoring them. "Let's go get some lunch, and then we can spend the afternoon watching the rest of the matches.
They walked to the edges of the pavilion, buying some sandwiches and fried potatoes, and sat down at a bench to eat lunch. Afterwards, they spectated the other rounds, Alys noting how the heavier divisions fought. With each weight increase between the classes, the fighters got larger, their muscles and auras seeming stronger and more solid than the lighter divisions.
"That's just an illusion," Aaron said, shaking his head after Alys had pointed them out. "If you haven't realized already, the weight divisions are meaningless."
Weiss nodded. "Aura is the real determinant here, isn't it?"
"Yup," Aaron said. "Considering the amount of strength and speed aura-enhanced fighters have, that extra bit of weight or power doesn't really matter in the overall scheme of things."
"Then why are we fighting at lower-weighted divisions?" Alys asked.
"Two reasons. One is because this is our natural weight, and it wouldn't be good to starve or gorge ourselves to higher or lower weight divisions. Two is because a lot of the spectators, including audience these fights are being broadcasted to, are 'normal' people. Those who can wield aura on a significant level are relatively rare, so the audience needs a bit of normality so that they can relate to the fighters and actually have interest in our fighting. Thus, the weight divisions distract the audience from the fact that our auras are what gives us our strength."
Alys and Weiss stared, surprised at the length and depth of the explanation that Aaron just gave.
"Wow," Alys said. "That sounds awfully..." She trailed off.
"It's not a good system," Aaron agreed, "But the company that runs this tournament needs to earn money to recoup their losses from creating the venue and also to pay out the prizes. In addition, this gives you and me an opportunity to advertise our sponsors to a large amount of people and earn a bit of our own money."
"So is there anywhere fighters can compete without weight divisions?" Weiss asked.
"Of course there are. But those matches are usually much less popular and less advertised. It's disillusioning for the audience to see a skinny little girl throw around a full-grown man."
Alys looked down at herself. "Um..."
"Times are changing," Aaron said, nodding. "The growing popularity of huntresses and hunters are enlightening more and more of the population about the existence and use of aura. That's why you'll see people like Orphea gather huge fan bases, where people will idolize her based upon her looks combined with her seemingly impossible strength."
"You're very talkative today," Weiss noted, looking at Aaron in a new light. "I think I like this intellectual side of you."
Aaron smiled, his cheeks tinting in pleasure. "I need to know these things because I'm going to be creating my own fighting school, remember?"
"Now that you've mentioned her, how's Orphea doing?" Alys wondered. "I haven't watched any of her matches today."
"The lighter weight divisions have their fights in the morning," Aaron said, "So you wouldn't have had the chance to spectate her. However, I did see that she won her match today. I'm sure we'll bump into her if we keep walking around."
Unfortunately, they didn't meet Orphea, but they did watch a few more matches for awhile before heading back into town for a meal and a rest. They each had matches tomorrow morning, so Aaron wanted them to make sure they slept well and were refreshed before fighting. The three headed back to the hotel rooms after dinner, and Aaron wished them a good night before going to his own room.
It was night time, and Alys and Weiss were snuggling in bed, blissful.
Weiss was just about to doze off when Alys spoke up.
"Weiss?"
"Mmm?" she mumbled sleepily.
"I think I need a weapon."
"I see."
"No, really, Weiss. Weapons make you so much stronger."
"Go grow a weapon or something," Weiss muttered, half-asleep.
Alys thought for a moment. "But wood rots, and isn't as hard as metal."
"Power it with your aura," Weiss responded, snuggling deeper.
"But then it'll just break when I don't put aura into it."
"I don't know," Weiss mumbled. "Find something that fits who you are."
Alys nodded, contemplating her words. "Sorry for bothering you," she said, realizing that she was preventing Weiss from sleeping.
"'S okay," Weiss said, and promptly fell asleep.
Alys sighed, listening to Weiss' peaceful breathing. Once her hand-to-hand combat skills stopped improving quickly, she'd have to find something else, something that would continue to allow her to grow stronger.
Note:
Yay a chapter!
Sorry for my weekend absence, college apps and college visit ;_;
This chapter set up a bit more of my world, so if you have any questions just ask away in PMs or in reviews.
I apologize if you wanted more fight scenes/plot progression, these are getting longer than I expected.
Apparently I'm terrible at planning, so the Alys interlude will still apparently take awhile longer.