(A/N: Ah-ha-ha! For the life of me, I could NOT bring myself to write this one, but it's done. AHHHH)
Within seconds, the teams clashed while others broke off into more minor fights across the arena. Aron broke off from the primary battle. While Clove charged Marrow, and Sasha held off an attack from the Ace Ops leader, Clover. Weiss and Ruby took on Ren and Nora, while Jaune fought with Blake. The sounds of battle rang through the training area—the flash of semblance's enhanced by the Schnee's dust attack that colored the air.
Aron skulked around the area, trying to pick off whoever was being overwhelmed or strike those who were distracted. Aron came upon one of the Ace Ops who was taking shots at someone out of view. Before Aron could make his move, he felt a hand on his shoulder, and he turned to see Yang. With a short chuckle and a wave, she grabbed him by his tail and threw him with enough force to cross the area.
Aron corrected himself at the last second before he connected with the wall. Instead of crashing into the wall, Aron was kneeling horizontally, and a rush of power filled his body. A second tail had sprouted out of Aron when he looked up to Yang, who was already sprinting full speed toward him.
"Now things are getting interesting," Aron said to himself with a smirk as he met Yang head-on.
As they drew closer, Yang pulled back her arm in an uppercut motion. Aron raised his leg and brought it crashing down in an ax kick. The two opposing forces cracked together, and the amount of power between the two created a shockwave so intense that it sent them flying away. Aron soared through the air while Yang crashed along the ground like someone had skipped stones across a lake.
Clove had watched Aron stream across the room before he was hit by a series of attacks from Marrow. Clove's temper skyrocketed; Clove looked toward Marrow with bloodlust in his eyes. A spark of fear slithered its way up to his spine before Clove smiled and stepped closer.
"You wanna see something cool?" Clove said as he used his semblance to shadow-form a yoyo that rolled up and down its string. "Pretty cool, right? Wanna see a trick? I called it, 'Dog on a leash!'"
"Wha-" Marrow tried to say but was cut off by the yoyo wrapping around his neck along with his rifle caught in Clove's shadow.
Clove proceeded to yank the yoyo's string that made Marrow hit himself with his own weapon. In one last hefty pull, Clove pulled Marrow straight to him. Once he was close enough, Clove launched him back with a spin kick. Now free of the shadow's grasp, Marrow fired a couple of shots at Clove, who dodged one but took the other slug into the shoulder.
"Damnit!" Clove groaned as he rubbed his shoulder, "Lucky my aura held up, or that would've hurt."
"You alright there? Need me to come and bail your furry butt out again?" Sasha shouted as she nearly dodged Clover's hook.
"Haha! That was one time, and how was I supposed to know that-" Clove said but was interrupted by Marrow firing a shot near him, "Hey! We're talking! Here go fetch!"
Clove said as his shadows formed a frisbee and threw it to distract Marrow.
"Really? No cool dude." Marrow said as he blatantly ignored the frisbee as it flew over his head, "We're basically the same thing. We're both a type of dog."
"No, I have a bigger tail that means I'm better than you." Clove said as he smugly waved his tail around, "Also, you really should pay attention to that disc, Pet."
"Wha-" Marrow barely managed to get out before the shadow disc flew and smacked him in the back of the head.
Clove keeled over laughing while Marrow frantically rubbed the back of his head. As Marrow recovered from Clove's attack, he quickly closed the distance until he was a few feet from Clove. While Clove was still distracted by laughing, Marrow charged forward and crashed his fist into Clove's gut, which caused him to stop laughing and gasp for air. Marrow lifted Clove up by his throat and pushed him to his feet, then he pummeled Clove in hand-to-hand.
In a battle of her own, Sasha had her hands full dealing with the Ace Ops' leader, Clover. As Sasha took her eyes off Clover to look at her friend getting beat by Marrow, that's when Clover made his move.
With a few swift motions, Clover performed the perfect cast, and sent his hook sailing through the air, with luck on his side it hooked onto Sasha's belt loop. As the hook tightened, Sasha looked back at Clover in shock and followed his fishing line towards her; then as she hurried to sever the line with her semblance.
"Works every time," Clover said with a smirk as he yanked his pole with enough force to fling her into the air towards him. A 360 flourished kick to her temple caused her to clothesline hard into the ground.
Sasha's aura flickered, and she regained the air that was knocked from her body after hitting the ground. She rolled away from Clover as he brought an ax kick down to her torso. As she brought herself back to her feet, she realized she had done so too quickly and started to get lightheaded. Sasha stumbled and crashed onto the floor. While she pushed herself up, she saw flashes of white in her eyes and heard a ring in her ears.
Before Clover could rush to her aid, Winter's voice boomed over the louder speakers.
"That's enough," Winter said as the training room went back to its original shape, and a paramedic's team rushed in and loaded Sasha onto a stretcher. "Placements are as follows; team four, team one, team two, and team three."
As the others celebrated their performance, Aron and Clove followed the paramedics as they took Sasha to the medbay. A few hours passed as Aron and Clove waited for information on their fallen teammate. They tried not to worry and keep their minds off it.
Even Clove slowly pounded his chest like a drum with his fist, and Aron with his arms crossed and eyes closed tapping his foot to Clove drumming, couldn't stop them from worrying for their friend. Moments later, and Winter found them outside Sasha's room, Aron leaned against the wall next to the door, and Clove sat opposite of him.
'They're like sentries guarding their ally as they recover.' Winter thought to herself before she spoke, "She has a slight concussion, she just needs to take it easy and rest. You can go in if you wish, but she is resting now."
"Alright, we'll be quiet, we promise," Clove said genuinely, as he picked himself off the floor and made his way to Sasha's room. "Thanks for helping her."
"Of course, there is more I'd like to ask of you but another time, see to your friend," Winter said as she turned to leave, Clove was the first to enter Sasha's room, Aron placed a hand on her shoulder.
"It's nice to see not all Schnee's are bad," Aron said with a smile as he patted her shoulder, even though it was hidden, his words cause Winter to smile a bit, "Even if you're a military brat."
With that, Aron joined his teammate in the room of their comrade. The room was dimly lit, as quiet as death, only the rhythmic beeping of the heart monitor filled the room.
Aron and Clove sat opposite Sasha's bed, practically returning to their sentry modes as they watched over their friend in her road to betterment. Clove resumed his drumming and added more beats with his other hand, and the rhythm of the beats awakened a nostalgic song in them.
"You know, I think she'd like to hear it again. We haven't done it in a long time," Clove said as he continued drumming while he looked over to Aron who responded with a smile.
"Yeah, but as soft as you can, let's try not to wake up half of Atlas," Aron said as he cleared his throat, and started to sing softly in the melody of 'My Mother Told Me.'
'Ooh, we are homeward bound, 'fore our mission had cast us 'round the lands. Ooh, how nice it'd be to return to backyard sands. Ooh, our souls be damned, but let the devil come take them if he can,'
"I forget the rest," Aron said with a short chuckle, before Clove could say anything a tired raspy voice spoke up between the two.
"So much for that song being a song of healing, it gets more terrible every time I hear it," Sasha said softly through sleepy eyes while she managed a weak smile, "Now, shut up and let me sleep."
"Heh, Alright, heal fast cause I want to see you whoop that guy in a rematch." Clove said as he leaned back in his chair, arms folded behind his head. While Aron, not wanting the discomfort of a chair, slept on the floor.
Not one concerned about what the future holds in store for them, only that their close friend and ally is still kicking and getting ready to fight another day.