Combat Class
So far. It had been a pleasant morning for the first year teams of Beacon as all of them currently had combat class together. Team RWBY also seemed to be more cheerful, no doubt to the pep-talks that Ruby and Weiss received.
"Now everyone, my name is Professor Goodwitch and I will be your combat instructor. While all of you are expected to train to fight against Grimm, this class will serve as a means to teach you to fight against humans, should your teams enter a tournament or encounter a group of bandits. Do not forget that each of you are expected to do traditional assignments in this class. So for the first few lessons most of, if not all of you, will be sparring here so I can have a good idea as to where you are at in terms of combat capabilities." Goodwitch told the whole class, noting the looks of excitement a few students had, namely Yang Xiao Long, Makoto Nanaya, Ragna and Kazuki.
"Seems like things are already getting heated up." Naoto said to Kazuma who nodded in agreement.
"Now then, who would like to go first?" Goodwitch asked.
Immediately, Ragna and Kazuki's hands shot up.
"I see, very well then, the two of you may now come down." She called out to them.
Both Ragna and Kazuki made their way down to the stage, both wearing an excited grin on their faces.
"Hope you're ready for this" Ragna said, as they got onto the stage, standing relaxed.
[Cue Fate/Apocrypha "Mordred's Theme" Remix by gvgkid]
"I could say the same to you Ragna," Kazuki told him as he projected the same sword he used against Ragna before.
"It's that sword again…" Ragna thought to himself, eyeing the sword.
"It's called Clarent, and it belonged to someone very dear to me… she'd probably be able to kick your ass no sweat!" Kazuki taunted.
"Oh yeah? Love to fight her then!" Ragna told him, a smirk adorning his face.
"Sorry, but that'll never happen, I can never go back to her…." Kazuki thought to himself as he rested Clarent on his shoulder.
A screen behind Professor Goodwitch popped up, showcasing the combatants' Aura levels, though it was immediately noticeable that Kazuki's had already gone down by 1%. Goodwitch was tempted to not start to check if the system was malfunctioning, but seeing how eager the two fighters were, she decided against it.
"You may both now begin!" She called out.
"This is the evil sword that destroyed King Arthur…" Kazuki muttered to himself, before his body was enveloped in red lightning, launching himself at Ragna at high speeds, catching the red coated man off-guard.
"What the hell!? So fast!" Ragna thought as he just barely managed to bring Aramasa out to block the incoming attack.
Everyone watching what had happened was left speechless, even Goodwitch.
"Hey, use your semblance on the boy" Jin said to Noel, at first she flinched when she called out to him but complied. Using her semblance, she looked at Kazuki as he and Ragna were currently locked in a sword struggle.
"Agh!" Noel gripped her head in pain as her mind was being filled with the image of a wasteland, scattered in it were weapons of various shapes and sizes. Looking back up and turning off her semblance, she uttered three words, "The Ultimate Armory…." Makoto and Jin looked back to Kazuki who was now performing an overhead strike against Ragna, who managed to roll out of the way and kicked Kazuki in the gut, sending him back a few feet.
This time, Ragna was the one to charge at Kazuki, swinging Aramasa across for a side-slash, Kazuki was able to block the attack but was not able to block the punch Ragna had landed on his face. Retaliating, Kazuki decided to kick Ragna in the leg, causing him to wince in pain before jumping back and avoiding another swing from Clarent.
Looking to the screen at the side, Ragna saw that his own aura level was at 50% while Kazuki's was at 45%. Rushing back in at Kazuki, he let out a roar as his sword was covered by a mass of black aura, despite his attempt to do so, Kazuki was unable to block the strike as Ragna had brought the sword down while screaming, "CARNAGE!" He then brought Aramasa back up in an underhand swing, "SCISSORS!" Landing a massive blow against Kazuki. Small black and red orbs then left Kazuki and went straight to Ragna's right arm, causing his own aura levels to rise to 60% and leaving Kazuki at 40%.
"Tch, fine! Let's end this!" Kazuki declared, once again becoming covered in red lightning.
Ragna braced himself for another charge, only for Kazuki to THROW his sword at him. He was caught off guard and as such, the attack hit it's mark, Kazuki wasn't finished however, as he sped up in front of Ragna and kneed the sword into him, had Ragna no aura at all, he'd be dead. Kazuki then gripped the blade and two parts near the cross guard opened up, launching a massive stream of red energy, Kazuki then swung the sword down diagonally before bringing it back up in a diagonal slashing motion, sending Ragna back.
Looking to their aura levels once more, they were both just above the red zone, meaning that Kazuki's attacks were draining his own aura.
The two fighters looked at eachother once more with a dangerous smirk adorning their faces. Both let out a roar as they charged right at each other. Kazuki went to stab Ragna only for his sword to be blocked by Aramasa and for Ragna to punch Kazuki square in the face, sending him back to the ground and dropping his aura below 20%.
[End Song]
"And the winner of this match is Ragna." Goodwitch announced, "as you can all see, Mr. Kazuki's aura has dropped below 20% and is now in the red, as per tournament rules in an official match, that makes Mr. Kazuki eliminated.
Ragna walked over to his opponent to congratulate him on a good fight, just to see him looking down, seeming as if he was upset at his loss. Only to hear laughing. Kazuki was laughing!
"Ha! That was fun as hell!" He said aloud, catching Teams RJNN, RWBY, BLST, JNPR and his own off-guard, although Pyrrha seemed to be a little bit jealous.
"I'll admit, it was pretty damn fun!" Ragna told him, helping him up, "you're one crazy fighter, I'll give you that. Just what was that sword?" He asked him.
"I told you, it belonged to someone very dear to me… besides… she'd be able to use it without draining her aura reserves dry" He told him, "Though I don't know why it was draining mine so much… maybe I'm low on… god dammit of course I am…." He thought to himself.
"Seriously? Then maybe you're right about her beating me."
Ragna and Kazuki both walked back to their teams, with Ruby and Yang turning around to tell them how good of a fight it was as they sat in front of Tekkadan who sat in front of RJNN.
"That was certainly a display of some power. Are you certain that your friend's sword wasn't a Nox Nyctores?" Jin had asked.
Kazuki only shook his head, "I know I said it belonged to her but it's actually extremely ancient. It's called a Noble Phantasm." He told him.
"A Noble Phantasm? What's that?" Makoto asked.
"Okay so think of any weapon in legends or myths right, chances are those weapons could actually do those things and over time, they get stronger, reaching the rank of a Noble Phantasm. Clarinet is an A+ Anti-Army Noble Phantasm." Kazuki explained, getting confused looks from them all.
"Anti-Army? A+? The hell's that mean? And are you telling me that sword could wipe out an army!?" Ragna asked, genuinely confused.
"Yes Ragna that's exactly what I'm saying, small army mind you, not something like the entirety of Atlas. As for the A+, that just goes to show how much of an importance it had in history before it was lost to time. I'll tell you guys some more later but for now, let's see who's fighting now!" Kazuki explained further, turning around just in time to witness the slaughter that was Pyrrha vs Sky Lark from Team CRDL.
Beacon Lunch Hall
"So, we're waiting! Tell us more about Clarent!" Makoto demanded, as she had been extremely curious about the story and didn't stop asking Kazuki about it.
"Alright, alright, I'll do it!" He conceded, "But uh...Brace yourselves… it ain't a happy ending…"
"Legends and Myths hardly ever are," Ragna stated.
"I know, I'm saying this for Ruby, cause I ain't gonna sugarcoat anything. I'm gonna say what I know about the legend and how it ends…" Kazuki told them in a slightly serious tone.
Kazuki's Narration
Alright? Where do I begin? Well I guess the best place to start off would be with the legend itself. The legend of King Arthur and the Sword of Selection.
From what I remember, the long lost Country of Britannia - or just Britain - was under siege by the Saxons for many years, the country desperately needed a King to guide them. And as such, the Incubus Merlin - Wait an Incubus?! Aren't those - calm down Makoto, Merlin was a womanizer but he fed on people's dreams…. He was also a fool but this ain't about him, don't interrupt me you were asking for the story - sorry - ahem! Anyway, Merlin had created the trials in which people who were worthy enough to be king would pull the Sword of Selection, Caliburn, from the stone. Little did everyone know, Merlin was training the current King's, Urthur Pendragon, biological child to be the one to pull the Caliburn from it's stone.
There was a bit of an issue though. - What was it? - Well Ruby, it was the fact that the Legendary King Arthur was actually born, a woman. And if you can guess, that kind thing in that time-period was unacceptable. Urthur, upon finding out, gave up all hope on ever driving back the Saxons, Merlin however, being the sly bastard he is, trained Artoria anyway, fast forward a few years and everyone else had given up on pulling Caliburn from the Stone. On one faithful day however, Artoria, under the name of Arthur, had pulled Caliburn from the stone, crowning her or, as everyone else would say, him as the new King of Britain. Merlin then continued to train Artoria for the years to come and eventually they had driven the Saxons back.
Several years later, Artoria, alongside one of the other earlier knights of the round table, Gawain the Knight of the Sun, would slay an evil dragon with the help of another Knight of the Round Table who joined them after the battle, that Knight was Sir Lancelot Du Lac, Knight of the Lake. Caliburn was unfortunately destroyed in a later battle. It would then be by the assistance of the Lady of the Lake that Artoria would be given Excalibur, the Sword of Promised Victory, along with its sheath, Avalon, The Everdistant Utopia. The knights would be renowned as heroes across Britain. But as with all legends of great heroes, there lied a darkness ready to bring everything to ruin… This would be in the form of Artoria's older sister, Morgan le Fay, whose jealousy for her sister would eventually lead Britain to ruin, alongside many other events..
The people were getting suspicious as to why a new heir to the throne had not been born yet. Artoria's identity as a woman was well hidden thanks to the fake marriage between herself and Guinevere. Artoria had gone to Merlin for help and well, he worked his magic… unfortunately that played right into Morgan's hand as she then had the materials necessary to crush Artoria's rule. She had snuck into Artoria's quarters late at night and had acquired Artoria's…. 'Essence' - ew - Yeah, I know Naoto, 10 years later…. Mordred would show up at the gates of Camelot and eventually be let into the knights of the round table.
Mordred admired Artoria, or Arthur as only Lancelot, Bedivere (the first knight of the round alongside Artoria), Guinevere and Merlin knew of Artoria's true gender… one day Mordred found out that she was King Arthur's son… it didn't end well…
-what happened..?-
I'll tell you, when Artoria took the sword of selection from the stone, she was also accepting that fact that she'd never be human again. As such, she had no idea how to understand people's feelings, something that caused Sir Tristan to leave Camelot. So when Mordred revealed to Arthur who she truly was… Artoria turned her back on her, not knowing how to deal with the revelation, but the thing that put the final nail in her coffin was her words, You are not ready to be King, those words struck Mordred's heart as in her eyes, it was like Artoria hadn't even acknowledged her.
Artoria had left for the country of France for diplomatic reasons, in that time, Sir Lancelot and Queen Guinevere had an affair, something that caused an uproar when it was found out, everyone called for their heads except for Bedivere, Gawain for the most part and Artoria. In fact, Artoria was HAPPY for them. Something that would eventually drive Lancelot to madness.
Some time later, I'm not sure, Guinevere was to be executed as Artoria could not hold her people back…. Lancelot left to save Guinevere and leave for France, however he had killed Gawain's younger brothers who were guarding her in the process. Gareth and Gaheris.
-Kazuki looked around, noting the shocked faces of… well everyone except for Jin, Ragna and Bullet, while Kazuma looked somewhat sickened and Naoto… he didn't really know-
Even then, Artoria would not condemn Lancelot or Guinevere, instead, wishing them a happy life… Lancelot was going mad.
Unfortunately, Artoria had soon gone to war with France and while She was away, Mordred's rebellion had begun…
When Artoria got back she was confronted by Mordred's forces at the hill of Camlann… and so a bloodbath and mountains of bodies ensued. Lancelot, seeking atonement and punishment from his King, arrived to help Artoria, only for Gawain to block his bath, seeking revenge for his brothers. While the two had been fighting, Mordred had disarmed Artoria and fatally wounded her, Artoria had then called upon the Holy Lance, Rhongomyniad, and impaled Mordred, killing her and shattering her armor.
Gawain and Lancelot realized their mistake too late, and Lancelot returned to France… his mind would later be plagued by insanity, his only wish to be punished never coming to fruition. Bedivere would carry Artoria's body to a forest and lay her down. It would be there that she gives him his final orders. To return Excalibur to the Lady of the Lake and for three days straight, Bedivere would choose instead to ignore this order, for the first time since he began serving Artoria, thinking, that even though Avalon was stolen and long gone, that Excalibur would keep her alive…
On the third day, he would return Excalibur to the Lady of the Lake. Finally laying the soul of King Arthur, Artoria Pendragon, to rest.
Reality
Kazuki looked around and noted that now, Jin, Ragna and Bullet were showing some emotion, actually looking the tiniest bit upset at the story.
"That girl… what was her name?" Kazuma asked him, "The one you said was dear to you."
"Well… She shares the same name as the sword's original wielder, Mordred. That story was rather popular in our settlement and as such, people tended to harass her…" Kazuki told them.
"I see… and… this story is true?" Jin asked.
"Yeah… when I first looked upon Clarent it showed me that much…" Kazuki said, a slight hint of regret in his voice, "I think we should head to our next class… that story kinda took up a bit of time." Kazuki said, leaving the table.
As he was leaving, no one noticed a small tear go down his face, no one except for Makoto.
Vale
Their final classes had ended for the day and several members from Team RJNN and all of Teams RWBY and Tekkadan were out in Vale's shopping district, Amane had also tagged along.. Naoto had tagged along, deciding he needed some new clothes and Kazuma came along for the same reason, Kazuki however….
"Remind me again how you convinced me to come along?" He asked, clearly not really wanting to be there.
"Because my Sister's puppy eyes work on everyone" Yang said with a smirk.
And she was right. In all four timelines, this being the fifth, where he had spent time around Ruby, the only times her puppy eyes hadn't worked was against someone who was just out-right evil and/or power Hungry.
The group was walking for quite a bit, they had been to a few clothes shops for Naoto and Kazuma - much to Kazuki's ire - and were currently heading to the Vale's large shopping mall, mostly for Ruby and Yang to hit the arcade, a sentiment Makoto and Naoto shared.
On the way there they walked past a shop selling picture frames. Deciding there'd be nothing wrong with actually getting a picture frame this time, Kazuki decided to go on.
"I'll catch up with you guys in a bit," He told them all, walking in.
"D'you think he'll ditch us? Yang asked.
"Nah, he's going in there for something." Naoto told her, knowing full well why he went in.
"Are you suuuure?" This time Ruby asked, leaning in towards Naoto.
"Relax, I'll go in after him and make sure he doesn't run off." Makoto told them.
"Alright then, try not to take too long now!" Yang said as she and the others continued heading to the arcade.
Inside the shop, Makoto was met with a very kind atmosphere. Despite there being barely any customers, this place seemed like somewhere you could just go to for any reason. Looking around, she managed to find Kazuki talking with a blonde haired girl, judging by her uniform she was most likely an employee. Getting closer she was able to hear the conversation.
"So uh… do you have any picture frames for that'd be the right size for these two photos?" Kazuki asked the girl.
"Sure, just give a second!" She responded happily, heading into the back.
Makoto got closer and saw the two photos, what she saw was a large group in both ones, all wearing the same green jacket. Both photos seemed to have been taken at different times as there were some people in one photo that weren't in the other one.
"Hey." She called out to him.
"Huh? Oh hey, did Yang ask you to follow me?" He asked as he turned to her.
"Nope, came after you of my own choice, something tells me that Yang would've dragged you out of here if I hadn't said I'd go in after you." She told him, once again looking at the photos.
"Yeah, that sounds like her…" He said as if he was reminiscing.
"Who are they?" She asked, pointing to the photos.
"The Original Tekkadan…" He told her, a hint of sadness in his voice.
"Oh… what were they like?"
He smiled, "Ha…. where do I even begin? Well… short answer is, Family.. That's what they… no, WE were… to each other. We looked out for each other, if one of us fell down, the others would be there to pick us up. That guy there," Kazuki said, pointing to a man with short brown hair, brown eyes and a single ear-piercing on his right ear, "That's Shino, eccentric bastard… always able to lighten the mood for those around him. He was strict when it came to training but he always meant well… really liked the color magenta for some reason." He explained to Makoto who was listening very closely.
"This guy," He pointed to the short black haired boy he pointed out to his Teammates, "he was ruthless, cold and overall… barely human… well that's what his enemies would say anyway… deep down, Mikazuki just had no idea how to express emotions, he was very caring… a little TOO caring actually, say if I almost got run over cause I wasn't looking, Mika would attack the car driver," He told her before continuing, "He earned the nickname, Devil of Tekkadan."
"Huh? W-why he'd get that name?" She asked him.
"Well, Tekkadan used to be known as CGS, everyone there was a child soldier," He explained, shocking Makoto, "I met them on the day they freed themselves and well… I stuck with them… there were a lot of people who wanted us dead.. And unfortunately they succeeded… Almost all of them are now dead… I earned the nickname Fallen Angel since I had a tendency to spare our enemies. But maybe… if I had been a little more like Mika…" Kazuki was holding back tears, the only times he ever cried about Tekkadan was when he first lost them and after he had beat the shit out of someone for insulting their name.
Makoto was slightly taken aback by this, sure, she saw a tear roll down his face back at the lunch hall but that was a single tear she saw on the side of his face. Here he was about to completely burst.
"Hey, if you don't wanna let it out here that's fine, we can head back to Beacon and you can let it out there." She told him, patting his back.
The employee from before came back out and handed Kazuki the frames as he had already paid for them.
After a while they had gotten on a bullhead back to Beacon and so Makoto left Kazuki so she could make a call to Yang.
"Hey Yang?"
"Yeah, Makoto? Where are you two?" Yang asked on the other end of the call.
"I'm taking Kazuki back to Beacon, he's…. not feeling too good right now" She told her.
"Alright well, make sure he gets better ok?"
"I will," she said to Yang as she hung up, walking back over to Kazuki.
Arcade
"Where are they?" Ruby asked her sister.
"Kazuki's not feeling good apparently, Makoto's taking him back to Beacon." She explained.
Naoto and Kazuma looked at each other, having a feeling that they knew what happened.
"You guys know something?" Yang asked them.
"Well, you know how our team name is Tekkadan right?" Naoto asked, getting a nod from Yang, "Well, Tekkadan means Iron Flower." He said, causing Yang and Ruby to look confused, while Blake, Weiss and Amane looked curious and Noel a little worried.
"Well, he chose Tekkadan to keep the name of the original group alive. We don't know what kind of relationship he had with the group but it was obviously a good one, he showed us a picture of them." Kazuma told them. The rest of them now had a clearer idea as to what happened.
"But I've never even heard of a group called Tekkadan." Weiss said, speaking up.
"That's why he's trying to keep it's name alive." Naoto explained.
Beacon, Tekkadan Dorm
They had just gotten back to the dorms and had passed Ragna on their way to the dorms who looked a little surprised to see them.
"Thought you guys weren't gonna be back for a while." He said to them.
"Well… things happened." Makoto told him, not wanting to go into detail.
"I see…" Ragna took one look at Kazuki and noticed how… dead, he seemed, "Alright well… I'll leave you two to it then." He said walking past them.
Kazuki and Makoto then kept walking to the Tekkadan Dorm.
"Makoto," Ragna called out to her, causing her to stop and turn around as Kazuki went into his team's dorm, "I don't know what happened but the guy seems to trust you, take care of 'em." Ragna said, before walking back into his own team's dorm.
"Y-yeah…" she said, walking into Kazuki's dorm.
Walking in, she saw how bare it was, no personal belongings other than the photos of Tekkadan that Kazuki had, now in their picture frames and placed on a table beside his bed. Needless to say she was a little bit concerned, even more so as it seemed the entire team didn't own anything, not even Kazuma who you'd think would own a few things. Closing the door behind her she sat down beside Kazuki on his bed.
"There, you can let it all out now," She told him, rubbing his back, "No one's gonna hear you…"
For a good few minutes, Makoto would be there, listening to Kazuki's sobbing and his regrets, regrets that apparently extended beyond even Tekkadan. He'd constantly apologize for things that Makoto knew wasn't his fault, despite how he made it sound.
Roughly ten or fifteen minutes later, Kazuki had finally calmed down a bit and turned to her.
"Thanks…." he said to her, still sounding a little depressed, getting up he turned to the bathroom, "I'm gonna have a shower… uh.. If you don't mind could you…" He said to her.
"No need, just… if you ever want to talk… I'll be there to listen, and I won't tell anyone about this, I swear." She told him.
"It's fine if you do… I still need to tell my team actually.." He said, smiling and scratching the back of his head.
"Alright." She said as she walked out of his dorm, closing the door behind her, she let out a large sigh, she turned and faced the Tekkadan Dorm's door, now noticing that Kazuki had put the Tekkadan insignia on it. Deciding that now Kazuki simply needed some alone time, she headed back for her Team's Dorm. She promises herself that tomorrow, she'd take him back into Vale and make sure he had fun. That was a promise she intended to keep.
Author Notes: well…. This was shorter than I expected, Honestly I had to do my best to remember just what the fuck the Fate version of the Arthurian legend was cause wikipedia wasn't helping. Also yeah, Kazuki's been to the Gundam IBO Timeline. I got nothing else to say here so see ya next time!