Fuyu: I KNOW I skipped the food fight in S2 Ep 1. I'm trying to re-watch S1 first before watching the next season. Also happy 50th chapter for me.
Chapter 50: Old Rivalry and Parents
The next day was the initiation battles for the transfers. Gris was picked to go 5th so, at the sparring floor, Gris and everyone else sat up on the bleachers overlooking the area. The first of the fighters were tough but most of them passed then came Gris' turn. He geared up for what he hopes will be a plain old battle but when he walked out, he was met with a sinister Aura. Behind that Aura was the young man he bumped into yesterday. "Rafale Harakara," Gris almost growled in a low tone trying to keep his cool.
"Well, well, well," The crimson haired transfer called to him with a casual smirk twitching at the corners, "A pleasant surprise to be your opponent in this fight, eh?"
"I was thinking the same thing," Gris shot back with his eyes starting to gleam, "I thought this school was too good for you."
"A simple change of heart," Rafale said keeping to the casual talk, "Nothing major."
Gris crossed into the sparring area still keeping his eyes locked onto his opponent, "So, to whom do I owe the honor to the Reaper?"
"No one in particular," Rafale chuckled with a dismissive wave of the hand, "Just wanted to hone my skill and craft before going back into the real world."
"Oh yeah? Well then," Gris said, "Fortune seems has brought us face to face once more for me to give out a warm welcome."
Gris and Rafale both get into their fighting stances ready to draw their weapons. Back on the bleachers, everyone could feel an icy chill so cold that their words carry sharp icicles despite seeing sparks fly.
Kala and Matt are both looking at Rafale with disgust and hatred. "Why the hell is he here," Matt murmured, "He should be back on the streets where a rat like him belongs."
Kala just gritted her teeth giving Rafale a deadly glare. Everyone else seemed confused at the proceedings. Weiss Matt amidst the collective confusion, "someone fill me in, here? There's clearly some sort of quarrel but someone elaborate?" Everyone else seemed like they wanted to know as well.
Matt gave her a grim look and said, "Rafale's currently supposed to be working in Vale's underground activities. He is said to have done many dirty jobs there that include his specialty, assassination, which gave him his street name, Reaper. He gave us a lot of trouble sometimes by interfering or worse, killing Kala's clients which are apparently his targets. When Kala and Gris first encountered him, he seemed to apparently Kala's lost brother."
Kala scoffed at that last part as the others looked shocked while not trying to make too much noise. "Why do you hate him so much," Blake asked, "He does seem to be heartless but what else?"
Matt paused for a moment and looked at Kala as though asking for permission to tell them. Kala stared for a moment then gently shook her head. "Sorry, I can't tell you yet," Matt said, "Especially with a fight about to start."
Below, the rules have been stated and the battle is about to commence. An observer signals the match to start and immediately, Gris drew his weapons and charged while Rafale drew his weapon. Rafale's weapon is a wicked-looking hand scythe but Gris knows it could transform like most weapons he's seen. The two clashed blades together. Rafale managed to keep up despite holding only one weapon in his hand. Suddenly, the weapon's handle broke off into sections in loud clicks connected by a cable and swiped at his opponent. As Gris narrowly dodged it, the weapon retracted as and Rafale charged in to attack.
"Whoa," Yang said, "Never seen Gris move this way back at the tournament." Matt said with a smirk, "There's nothing for him to move around. It's all just a flat ground," His smirk dies as he continues, "Rafale, however, is no slowpoke either. I had seen him fight a few times whenever I take my walks around town."
"Does that mean he'll win," Izzy asked, "If it's a battle of speed one of them has to win right?
Matt shrugged, "Well It's hard to say. Personally, I bet this will end in a draw."
"I've measured the speed they are moving," Ilia added, "Their current speed is even at first look but Gris is only slightly faster by a second. Chances of a draw given the skill upon observation, however, is at least 45 to 30 percent."
"So those are the odds, huh," Kala murmured too absorbed into the fight to actually listen much.
"Quite the cat fight it would be if it was Gris against Blake," Yang joked, "Am I right?" (AN: Finally managed to fit a pun for Yang in here.)
Everyone at the bleachers just gave an audible sigh in response to the pun. Matt also groaned a, "Wow," while trying to hide a smile since it actually seemed funny to him.
Meanwhile, the battle escalated as Rafale taunted Gris constantly. "Come on ya scaredy cat," He said once, "Don't hold back."
Gris' Aura levels are at middle teetering dangerously on low but he kept up the attack. Rafale doesn't seem to be breaking a sweat but he did take hits and is currently on the same level as Gris. "Bring it on, Reaper," Gris said, "This is nothing."
"If you insist," Rafale chuckled teasingly as he extended again while Gris began channeling Aura barely dodging the attack. In the time it takes for him to retract, Gris closed the distance as he replaced his weapons with his two-handed sword, Silver Lining, and set it to part gun mode and loaded a blank. As they charged, Gris pulled the trigger as he swung increasing the velocity of his strike. Rafale, saw the attack but was a split second too late as he barely blocked it and gotten knocked back for his troubles.
Gris waited for Rafale to recover as he extended once more, this time this was going straight forward. Gris, not even expecting this, he took the blow to the face and to add injury, the blade cut into the bridge of his nose. Seeing this, the observer immediately stopped the fight but and told Rafale to leave while Gris is lead off to the side for his wound to be looked at. Rafale gave Gris a smile of fake sympathy to hide an insane grin. As the next fight was being set up, the girls of RWBY went over to him. The doctor was cleaning his wound wondering if it needs stitches or not. As his team walked up to him he raised and open hand and touched the tips of his index finger and thumb together saying that he's okay. "Looks alright," The doctor said as he put gause on his face and secured it with medical tape, "Wounds in the head tend to bleed more than they should."
"Thanks doc," Gris said tentatively touching the bandage.
"You sure you're okay," Ruby asked, "That looks like it'll be a scar soon."
"Come on," Gris said with a half-hearted chuckle, "I took Beowolf claws to my torso and got stabbed by a bunch of tiny Nevermores before that, this cut is no problem."
"He's got a point," Blake said after a short pause.
Weiss just sighed, placing her face in her palm. Pyrrha meanwhile is getting geared up for the next battle. While that's going on, Kala and Matt joined everyone around Gris. "You alright, Gris," Kala asked, completely worried, "Does it hurt?"
While Matt sighs, Gris smiles at his cousin, "I'm alright Kala. It's just a cut, no big deal."
"You sure," Kala asked, "That guy hit you really hard."
"I'm fine," Gris said holding his hands in front of him, "My ego is a little bruised and the cut stings a little but both will heal."
"Awww," Kala cooed hugging him petting his head, "You poor boy."
"K-Kala l-let go," Gris' muffled voice said trying to cover his embarrassment.
Everyone else turned to Matt since they didn't want to interrupt the sibling-like moment between them. "Kala always treated him like this," Matt said answering them, "She goes from simple cousin to full on big sister for him within a second when she's worried about him. I guess that comes from when she took care of him while he was still young. His parents were constant travelers learning about the cultures of other kingdoms."
"Wow," James called down from the bleachers above, "I don't mean to eavesdrop but I guess he learned those skills from his father after returning home from trips."
"Pretty much," Matt agreed, "You see, his father was a skilled hunter while his mother was sort of his partner."
"'sort of'," Olivia called down, "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Eh..." Matt shrugged, "It's a long story from what I heard once."
Everyone left it at that as Gris and his friends return to sit up at the bleachers while Gris headed back to the locker room to change clothes. When Gris sat back down on the bleachers, the next fight began with Pyrrha and the new transfer whose name is Mercury.
