Chapter Eight: Anger Management
Morgan POV
His ears twitched in annoyance. His tail lashed angrily. His teeth were bared in a menacing snarl. His eyes were a bright scarlet. Steam was rising off of his body, starting to concentrate over his hands and hair. Clearly, Morgan Rubrum was in a terrible mood.
It had been a month since his talk with Chatte Blanc and Morgan was at least determined to get better so he could be allowed to seek out Blanc Senior and kick her ass. However, as the reader might have guessed from the earlier paragraph (AN: I'm allowed to break the fourth wall, dammit!), it wasn't going very well.
The exercise? He had to stand still and keep calm while Lilo tickled his nose with a feather. You'd think that'd be easy but you would be wrong. Feathers made Morgan a bit sneezy and being a bit sneezy made him a bit pissed and we all know what happens when he's a bit pissed. In short, he was a couple seconds away from decking the other boy.
"Come on, Rubrum! Remember your breathing exercises! In for four seconds, out for seven. In… out… in… out… It's easy!" Greene interjected.
Morgan gave a low snarl as he kept in his sneeze. "I don't see the point of this, Professor. I really don't. He's real close to gettin' hit. Real. Close."
Donna called from across the room, not even looking up from her Scroll. "Come on, Morgan! Whenever Lilo is doing something annoying, like droning on and on about whatever science thing he's learned, you just ignore him and he'll stop after a bit. Not that hard."
Lilo rolled his eyes but continued to wave the feather in his nose. "Can I just ask, why me? Why am I the sacrificial lamb?" he asked.
"We need this to be a real yet not destructive reaction. I'd clobber him, him hitting Aquaria would only start a fight and he wouldn't hit Tori at all. Strange, that last one." Greene said. She was sitting behind her desk grading papers.
The Faunus teen snarled again. "You wouldn't actually clobber me, you know. I am pretty strong." he growled.
The older Faunus laughed loudly. "You may be strong, Rubrum, but you wouldn't stand a chance against me! Not against my Semblance!" she asserted.
"You mean that Semblance that you still won't tell us about? Come on, Professor! It isn't like we're gonna tell everyone what it is!" Robin chimed in.
The Professor rolled her eyes. "Nice try, Tori, but no. I'm not gonna tell you."
Morgan couldn't hold it in anymore and let out a giant sneeze, accompanied by a billowing stream of fire from his nose and mouth. Lilo got caught up in it and yelped in surprise. When the fire stream dissipated, he coughed out a bit of smoke and his lilac Aura was flickering around him, signaling that he was nearly out.
Morgan then punched him, of course. The duelist hit the ground back first and his Aura broke with the impact. He rose to a sitting position, rubbing his head. "Ow! You didn't have to punch me, you know!"
Morgan snorted. "I hate sneezing. Feels fuckin' weird. The way my heart stops for a split second, how I'm completely defenseless for that time. It feels awful and I don't like it. I'll agree to Lilo trying to annoy me but can we please stop with the sneezing crap?" he requested.
Greene sighed heavily. "Fine. I guess I can comply with that request. But it's been nearly two months since we've started these lessons and you're still no closer to mastering your powers. It isn't just about the power boost or not accidentally hurting someone you didn't mean to. It's also the fact that a skilled enough opponent can take advantage of your reckless actions because you can't control your temper. That could lead to you being captured, hurt or killed. All three scenarios aren't things we want to happen so please try harder. You can do this. I know you can, Morgan.
"Now, let's see you try to activate Berserker Mode again, with the new breathing techniques and mental imagery." she said.
Morgan breathed deeply and focused on his anger and rage and brought it to the surface. He flared his Aura and let out a deep roar as he powered up. His eyes flashed a brighter scarlet and steam gathered over his hands and hair. His vision gained that familiar red tint as his power rose higher and higher.
It all broke to the surface when his hands and hair burst into yellow flames and he entered Berserker Mode proper with a deep and rumbling roar that was both heard and felt. He was dimly aware of lunging for something before a large volume of water crashed into him and brought him out of it.
He heard an aggravated sigh. "Great job on the breathing but poor job on the mental imagery. Next time, don't try to kill Ehre. Seeing as he's already out of Aura. Unfortunately, that's all we have time for tonight. Get some rest and I'll see you in class." Greene ordered.
The Faunus teen got up off the floor, his hair, fur and clothes soaked. He raised his body temperature to quick-dry. He stormed off to the dorm in a huff.
*The next day*
That day's classes did not go well for Morgan. First, he accidentally torched the plant he was working on in Peach's class. Then, the barricade he was tasked with building in Greene's completely fell apart. Next, he melted the blade of the practice sword he was supposed to be sharpening in Mulberry's. He could barely keep it together in Oobleck's and Port's with how many times they were calling on him without him raising his hand.
It was like they were doing all they could to piss him off! He had just managed to calm down slightly when Goodwitch called on him in her class.
"Mister Rubrum, you're quiet today. You didn't even volunteer to fight when I called on Miss Aquaria! Are you alright?" she asked.
He rolled his eyes. "I'm fine."
Goodwitch smirked. "Good! Then perhaps you'll agree to spar with Miss Adel! It's my understanding you haven't fought her yet."
He growled but complied. He gathered his armor and weapons from the locker room and got ready to fight. He'd have to admit, he hadn't really paid attention when Coco Adel was fighting so she was a bit of an unknown to him. But he doubted that she could pose an actual credible threat to him.
He walked out into the arena and saw Adel already ready to go. "Hey, Rubrum. I've been hoping to fight you at some point, you know. Ever since I saw your fight with Aquaria. You were amazing! But you've only sparred with her till now. You think you can beat me?" she asked.
Morgan snorted derisively. "I've got no doubt in my mind, Adel. Just draw your weapon and try to keep up, huh?" he said, taking a combat stance.
Adel settled into her own stance, readying a… handbag?
Morgan started laughing. "Really? A handbag?! What's that gonna do against a sword?! You musta been high or drunk when you bought that." he jeered.
Adel just smirked as Goodwitch counted down to begin the match. "Begin!"
Morgan blazed toward Adel, sword drawn and teeth bared in a feral snarl. He aimed a downward slash at her shoulder with the flat of his blade, hoping to knock her out quickly.
However, she dodged the attack and swung her bag toward his jaw with such speed that he wasn't able to even dodge and was knocked flying. He hit the ground in a heap.
Morgan rubbed his jaw. "Ow!" He checked his Aura on his Scroll.
"What?! It's down that much?! What the fuck is in that bag?!" he exclaimed.
Adel laughed. "This is why you do research on your classmates, Rubrum! This isn't just a trendy and fashionable handbag! It's also my weapon, Gianduja! Let me show you why it's so special." she said. She pressed a button and it turned into a massive minigun!
Morgan's jaw dropped. "The hell?! How in the hell can you lift that thing?!"
Adel aimed the gun at him and the barrels began spinning. Morgan ran for what little cover was available in the arena before the weapon could begin firing. He had just barely made it behind a rock when the other side basically started exploding with the force of those rounds.
Okay, Morgan. This rock isn't gonna last long, not up against that. So I can't stay here but I can't go back out there, I'd get knocked out before I could absorb the energy from it. Fuck! I need to be faster! Wait. That's it! Let's hope this works. he thought.
He breathed deeply in, held it for four seconds and exhaled deeply for seven. In… out… in… out. He opened his eyes and felt that they had shifted. He leapt up, letting out a blast of flame to speed his ascent. At the height of his climb, he burst into flames and began somersaulting in the air with his blade facing down. Gravity took him and he fell fast.
Before Adel could react or re-aim her weapon, his sword impacted the ground right in front of her and a shockwave of orange-yellow fire rolled out along with what sounded like a clap of thunder. Adel was sent backward and Goodwitch even had to redirect the flames as they headed for the stands.
The Faunus teen rushed forward and grabbed Adel while she was still in the air and slammed her into the ground. Her Aura shimmered around her, signaling she was nearly out.
"And that's the match! Quite an interesting way to deal with Miss Adel's Gianduja, Mister Rubrum. How did you think to do that?" Goodwitch asked.
"I saw Daichi using a similar move and thought 'hey, what would happen if I used that but with fire.' Mine is probably more destructive, too." Morgan replied.
The rest of the day passed without too much more incident. He was taking his afternoon walk in Beacon's garden when he heard movement behind him. His ears swiveled behind him to follow the noise.
He could hear two voices quietly arguing but he couldn't make them out. He ignored them and kept walking, trying to focus on the quiet gurgle of the fountains. However, his more sensitive hearing made it impossible to do so for long.
"You know I can hear you two dumbasses, right? Sneaking up on me is a really, really bad idea so come out where I can see you." he said, turning around.
He couldn't see either of them. His molten gold eyes scanned his surroundings, his ears flattened to his skull, his tail lashing behind him. He heard one of the voices sigh before two figures jumped out of a bush to his left and attacked.
He was immediately on the back foot. He could barely see where the two were and he didn't get a good look at either of them. He could sense the small Aura spikes indicating that they were punching or kicking but he still couldn't see who they were and it was all he could do to dodge the incoming attacks.
After a few minutes of that, he charged up a quick Aura pulse and sent the two assailants flying away from him with a powerful roar. "Leone?! Cheese Grater?! Why the fuck are you attacking me?!" Morgan demanded.
The two didn't say anything. Leone grabbed something off of her back and tossed it to Morgan. He caught it easily. His sword?! How did they get that?!
Morgan readied his battle stance and stared down his opponents. Caseus was in his usual battle outfit; dark yellow leather winklepickers, tattered yellow jeans and a dark gold leather jacket over a grey undershirt, along with his cheese grater-esque pulse gauntlets.
Morgan took proper stock of Devora Leone for the first time all year. She was about five inches shorter than him. She had tanned skin similar to Donna and was just as muscular as her. Her eyes were a bright gold and had an unruly mane of tawny colored hair, with lion ears just barely sticking out. She wore a sleeveless burgundy turtleneck, ochre colored pants, dark brown sandals and golden shoulder pauldrons. She wielded an impressive looking longsword as well as a kite shield on her off hand.
Morgan rushed them, swinging his sword at Leone and kicking at Caseus. The two had definitely been training together, they were moving almost perfectly in sync.
The second he would switch focus to attack one, the other would hit him away.
Morgan growled, his eyes shifting again. His Aura spiked and flowed around him, both angry yet strangely calm. He settled into a more defensive battle stance than usual, knowing offense would be nearly impossible with the two of them.
Caseus and Leone rushed him, launching a flurry of punches, kicks and swings at him. Morgan moved his sword, arms and legs to block the attacks, dodging a good portion of them as well. He saw that his fists were starting to glow white but he didn't have time to question what that meant. It was like his body was moving by itself to dodge and counter the attacks.
As Caseus moved in for a right hook, Morgan kicked him in the stomach, knocking him flying at the same time he blocked an overhead slash from Leone with his sword. She moved in for a shield bash but Morgan caught her off hand and flung her shield away.
He let off another Aura pulse to knock Leone away, as well as Caseus, who had recovered and was trying to reinforce his partner. Morgan powered up his Aura with a deep and rumbling roar, pale yellow flames bursting out of his hands and hair.
"WHY Are you attacking me?!" he demanded again, his voice distorted with a growling roar and sheer power at first.
Leone and Caseus cowered on the ground. "Professor Greene told us to! Some sort of test, she called it!" Caseus blurted out.
Morgan growled and whipped around, his flames going out and eyes shifting back to normal. He made his way to Greene's office, extremely furious. He was aware of some of the other students staring after him as he walked by but he didn't care. He wanted answers.
When he reached Greene's office, he slammed the door open, not even bothering to knock. "WHAT THE FUCK, GREENE?!" he roared.
She spread her wings and rose out of her chair, her expression one of fury. "Excuse me?! Remember who you're talking to, Rubrum!" she stated.
Morgan was not deterred. "Why the absolute fuck did you set Caseus and Leone on me?! What fucking test?!" he bellowed.
"What makes you think I set them on you?!" she shrieked.
"Caseus told me you did! He said it was some sort of test! He knows better than to lie to me. Another thing, the two had my sword! There's no way they could've broken into my locker, so that means a professor, you, must've given it to them!" he roared again.
Greene's wings rustled aggressively, the expansive limbs giving the impression that she was larger than she really was. "That is a bold and serious accusation, Rubrum. Do you have any evidence for it?" she hissed, flaring her Aura.
This was the first time Morgan had actually felt Greene's Aura field. She was a lot stronger than he'd previously thought. "Caseus is many things but he knows better than to lie to me. And where else would he get my sword? It doesn't make sense otherwise."
The two stared at each other for a few moments, each flaring their Auras. After a while, Greene smirked and stood down.
"Yeah, I did. I wanted to test how you'd react when pressed by two people at once. And you did pretty good!" she explained.
Morgan cocked an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"
Greene pulled her Scroll out and clicked play on a video and let him see it. It looked like bodycam footage of Morgan in his fight against Caseus and Leone. His fists glowing white still caught his eye. But something else did as well.
When his eyes had shifted in the fight, they weren't red. They were blue.
"Wait, blue?! How?! I don't get it. My eyes have only ever shifted to red. How come they're blue there?" he wondered.
Greene shrugged. "I have no idea. But look at you move here! I've never seen you fight like this! Your body was moving on its own, wasn't it?"
He nodded. "Yeah… it was. How'd you know?"
"That's not how you move in a fight. It's too crisp, too efficient. Your movements are usually all about speed and power. I've also seen you in a defensive fight. You don't fight very well defensively. But here? I've never seen you defend so perfectly against two fighters of their caliber…" She trailed off.
"Oh! I have an idea! Call your team real quick." she ordered.
Morgan shrugged. "Okay."
About an hour later, the rest of MRLD was in Greene's office.
"Alright, I'm going to need all three of you to press Morgan as best as you can. I want to test a theory I have." Greene explained.
The four of them settle into their battle stances, all unarmed. Morgan and Donna are in their usual boxing stances, fists raised for defense and elbows tucked in. Robin was in her usual simple horse stance, knees bent at a 45, right hand in a fist near her waist, left in a claw raised near her face. Lilo's stance… was actually really crap.
His fists were spread wide below his chest and his feet were placed in a really awkward and unstable position. It was very evident that Lilo was pretty much useless in a fight without his weapons, as he looked like he had next to zero experience fighting without them.
Morgan stared his three teammates down for a few moments before launching himself at Lilo to get the "weak link", as it were, out of the fight as soon as possible.
However, Donna had sent a blast of lightning at him, forcing him to block with a gout of flames to avoid getting hit.
Then all three of them rushed him, aiming punches and kicks to try and pressure him. Morgan was struggling in this engagement. It was all he could do to avoid or block any of their attacks, even Lilo getting a few good hits in.
Of course, Donna was doing the majority of the damage and attacking but Morgan was being pressed on three different sides and he was not a good defense fighter. He felt his Aura spike and flow around him.
He felt his eyes shift and he knew they were blue again. His fists began glowing white. His body began dodging and blocking the attacks on its own. He was able to process everything going on in the fight without even thinking about it.
Donna, Robin and Lilo weren't able to land as many hits as before. Of course, they were still forcing him on the defensive but he was now also able to throw in a few counters.
He let out an Aura pulse to know his teammates away and powered up with a deep roar. His Aura sparked and flared around him before the same pale yellow flames burst out of his hands and hair, signaling he had once again reached his new power.
However, Morgan could tell that whatever this new mode was, while stronger than Berserker Mode, it wasn't yet complete. It needed something else.
Morgan launched himself at his teammates, who were not prepared for his sudden transformation and were put on the back foot. Whatever the new power was, it allowed him to easily surpass the collective power of Donna, Robin and Lilo and began dominating the engagement. However, the three fighters were still fighting in perfect sync so it was difficult for Morgan to get an opening to take one of them out, even without him having to think about what he was about to do.
Lilo sent Morgan flying backward with a powerful gust of wind to cover Donna powering up into Wrath Mode, her dark blue hair and eyes lightening a shade, her hair standing on end in spikes and her eyes gaining gold flecks, with bolts of lightning playing up and down her body.
Morgan was yet again put on the backfoot as Donna's power up let the group's collective power exceed his own by a significant margin.
Punch after punch, kick after kick, strike after strike was thrown from either side with Morgan still being able to dodge at least the majority of them but he was no longer able to deal any significant hits on any of them.
That is until Morgan side kicked Donna in the chest, sending her flying backward. As Lilo came in for a counter, Morgan immediately slammed a fist directly into the aerokinetic's chest, completely knocking the wind out of him but also breaking his Aura and knocking him unconscious.
Morgan dodged a flying kick from Robin and roundhouse kicked Donna in the upper arm as she came in for an attack, the flames around his hands and hair flashing white for a second and thundered with energy, giving him another substantial power boost.
As his leg came into contact with her arm, her Aura shimmered around her and he heard the sound of breaking bones.
Everyone in the room stood still for a few moments, shocked. Then, Donna broke the silence with an ear piercing shriek. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH! MY ARM! YOU BROKE MY FUCKING ARM!" she screamed, clutching her arm and powering down from Wrath Mode.
Morgan powered down on instinct. "I… I'm sorry! I really didn't mean to do that! My body just reacted on its own!"
Greene stepped forward. "Tori, take Ehre and Aquaria to the infirmary." she ordered.
She complied, gently picking Lilo up off the floor and guiding Donna out of the room.
"Your Semblance did something just now, Rubrum. What just happened? What was that?" Greene asked.
Morgan shrugged. "I don't know! It was like my brain just shut down! I saw Donna come at me and I kicked. I really didn't mean to break her arm!"
She sighed. "I believe you. But do you think you'd be able to power up to that form again? I want to see something."
Morgan nodded. He charged his Aura and felt it spike and flame around him again. He felt his eyes shift red, steam rising off of his hands and hair. Yellow flames burst out of him as he entered Berserker Mode with a roar.
But he didn't lose control. He was perfectly aware of where he was and what he was doing. He continued to power up. His Aura calmed and flowed around him. His eyes shifted to blue and the flames around his hands and hair turned white.
With a low roar, the flames thundered with energy and turned to lightning as he entered the same mode he was in when he broke Donna's arm.
He felt… nothing. No emotion, no rage, just… peace. Peace and calm. He was… serene. "Serene… that's what I'll call this… Serenity Mode…" he said, almost to himself.
He glanced at Greene and her expression was one of shock. "R-Rubrum? Are… are you… okay?" she asked.
He nodded. "Yes. I've just reached a new level, is all. This form is incredible. I don't feel that it's draining any of my stamina. Theoretically, I could very likely sustain this form for hours depending on how much Aura it takes to activate." he said, his tone quieter than usual.
He powered down, however. He wobbled a bit, but did manage to stay on his feet. "Oh, it does take a lot of Aura to go into that mode, though… If you don't mind, Professor, I'm going to go check on Donna."
Greene shook off her shock and nodded. "Yeah, make sure she's okay. We'll continue our lessons tomorrow, to make sure you have complete control."
Morgan nodded and headed off to the infirmary.
AN: Another chapter that took a while to update. I'm sorry it took so long to update this particular story, I hit a bit of writer's block. I will also update Raging Fires at some point, too, I just need to find some inspiration to do so.
But! What do you guys think of this chapter? I really want to hear your guys' thoughts on it. Next time, though, another major story beat and major character will be introduced, one I've been wanting to cover since before I even published this story.
Alright, review and let me know what you think of the chapter! Until the next one!