After a mound of absolute shit in my life recently (and being distracted by Animal Crossing and Hollow Knight), it's finally time to get to a pivotal point of X's life. Also, I got the romance thing set up now, which I feel is actually pretty obvious. Now, without further ado...

Chapter 20: Clash of Bitter Iron

Training Room, Evening-

They immediately rushed at each other, swinging their respective gun at the other. The two weapons clashed, sparks flying a little. Ironwood easily overpowered him, sending him flying into the semblance-nullifying gates. X jumped to him, firing. The general avoided all of the shots and fired back. Dark Light switched back to a scythe, as the weilder spun it around to reflect the bullets. When he landed, he was already getting punched in the face by Ironwood's metalic fist, sending him flying across the ground.

"Don't stop fighting back!" The spirit shouted.

X used part of his semblance to speed over to Ironwood, surprising him, and being able to get a few attacks in. After two upward slashes and punch to the gut, X kicked the man away. He started running after him, but had to jump back from getting shot at. The boy switched to the gun mode, shooting behind him to get a bit more speed.

Ironwood tackled him into the bars and repeatedly slammed his metal fist onto the faunus' face before grabbing him by the hair and preparing to throw him. X simply flipped over his arm and shot the older man in the head. His hair was let go of, but some of the white flakes in his hair started to show. He ignored it and tried kicking Ironwood. His leg was caught, and he was thrown onto the floor. He got up, evading a stomp attack from the general. Both panted heavily. The growing crowd were all looking at the battle in absolute glee.

"You got him General!"

"Take him down, Mr. Ironwood!"

"Show that faunus what you're made of!"

GRWBY and JNPR, who just arrived not too long ago, were disgusted by these words. Glynda was trying her damnest not to flip out.

"General Ironwood, that's enough!"

"Stay out of this, Glynda. He wanted a fight, so he's getting one."

"But it's not right! We know what happened between you three! Just stop fighting and we can talk this out!" Ruby tried persuading him.

She went on ignored, and some of the students started asking questions. Ironwood threw the gun, and X threw his weapon through the gates. They both ran in, fist first.

After a bit of struggling, X was able to avoid a punch and grab the man's arm. He threw him over himself, but winced in slight pain when Ironwood landed and chucked him to the floor.

"His aura is getting low...what can we do? Where's professer Ozpin?" Jaune asked.

X= 34%

Ironwood= 62%

"I don't know, I-" Glynda stopped. She noticed X's scroll with his weapon. It was left on one specific contact:

Psycho Sundae?

She saw his weapon suddenly fly over at the general. He was slashed at his back, which X then proceeded to kick him multiple times in his stomach area. He finished it off with a spin kick to the head. He looked at his floating weapon and nodded gratefully. It flew back to where his scroll was, then there was the sound of shattering glass.

Ironwood was down by about 18%, but it still pissed him off. He yelled, gunning it towards the boy. X held his ground and jumped over him, sending Ironwood straight at the gate. It bent by a significant amount. He was still formulating a plan when Ironwood grabbed his ankle and slammed him down on the ground, repeatedly.

Even after his aura broke, he was still getting hit and slammed. The previously happy crowd started getting either uncomfortable, or cheered even harder. Ruby starts crying, Velvet, who arrived just now, gasped in horror. Blake, Pyrrah, and Ren gritted their teeth in disbelief. Weiss was shaking her head while subtle tears fell down her face. Nora looked really sad, even surprised. Glynda...

She couldn't bear to watch. She shut her eyes tight, trying her hardest to not cry.

X could feel the worry coming from his friends and his mom. His ribs were cracking, his legs were numb from being pinned down so hard, and his head felt like it was being split in two.

"Boy-""No...I can...get through this-!""If you don't allow me control, you're going to... you're going to die.""No, you're wrong! I can beat him! I just need to get up!""STOP BEING SO ARRAGONT AND LISTEN WELL, CHILD!"He stopped. His vision was getting blurry.

"In your current condition, not even I can face him. However, I can give you a chance to get some breathing room. You have no choice but to relent.""...fine...but don't try anything stupid.""Hm, for once, I will agree on your terms."X was encased in a darker aura, and blasted Ironwood right into the same part of the gate from earlier, nearly breaking it. The aura faded quickly, as X coughed up lots of blood. He tried crawling away. Ironwood slowly walked up to him.

Yang noticed what X did. She prepared her gauntlets, and told Nora to prepare something as well. They both punched open the gate, allowing Glynda to use her semblance to halt Ironwood while Ruby rushed in to take X away, while Jaune carried his weapon and scroll. Ruby, Pyrrah, Weiss, and Velvet all ran him to the infirmary, while Glynda glared at Ironwood. She threw him out of the training area, where a very upset Ozpin stared down at him.

As soon as the staff saw him, they immediately prepared a bed and entered him in for recovery. The girls were thanked and were asked to leave. Ruby cried into Weiss' arms. The heiress worridly looked at the other two.

"Do you think he'll be okay?"

"I... I'm not sure..." Pyrrah responded.

"H-he's a strong person... I'm sure he'll be okay..." Velvet responds, lightly touching one of her ears.

???, Night-

A very bruised, bloodied, and shaken X laid before the chained up Hazard. Out of a small sense of pity, the spirit gently rubbed his hair.

"It was a valuable effort...heh, you're still an asshole though."

He swore he heard a light chuckle out of the boy.

"And you're still...a cock sucker..."

Hazard smiled (well, he always does, but this time he means it).

"Rest well..."
And that's done. So, I hope it was up to your standards. Laters!