Soundtrack (this chapter only): v=ipMNjr-VuSo
Soundtrack (This through the end of Escalation): v=Ixdp35Zpy7s
Volume 1, Chapter 8
Escalation, Part 5
Sunset
(A few hours later)
"You ready for this, Lee?"
Lee glanced sideways at his teammate; currently, he and Emerald were concealed in the lower branches of a tree, overlooking the trail Summer and her companions would take to get back to the village, now that they had dealt with most of the Grimm in the area. The two of them had been on watch when the fighting had broken out, so, after reporting it to Cinder, they had crept closer so that they could actually watch... And had been surprised to find that there had been a giant Deathstalker in the area as well, in addition to the den of Ursa. The Hunters had had little trouble with the Ursa, but even they had been surprised by the Deathstalker, resulting in it managing to get a couple of hits in on the large man, who was the slowest of the three, before they had recovered and managed to take it down. In any other circumstance, Lee would have starstruck. Instead, he felt like he was going to be sick. Not that he was about to tell Emerald that.
Lee forcibly swallowed his revulsion.
"Yeah," he replied as he pulled a balaclava over his head, then donned a pair of goggles, and tied a bandanna around the lower half of his face. "Let's get this over with."
"I still think you're going overboard with all of that."
Lee frowned at Emerald, who was content with just a balaclava tucked into her long sleeved gray shirt (which they were all wearing), before remembering that his face was completely covered.
"Yeah, well, they've already seen me and Neo. No need to risk them connecting me with that kid who asked Summer for her autograph last week."
"Oh yeah."
"Yup. Now shush, the last thing we need is to blow our cover too early."
Emerald glared at him, but desisted from speaking any further, opting instead to watch the trail; their targets should be approaching any minute now...
The duo exchanged a quick glance when they finally saw the Hunter trio approaching... Which meant that their other three teammates should be able to see them as well.
"Not one foot out of step..." Lee muttered to himself as he began to focus Aura in his hand, just waiting for the signal...
Start the Soundtrack Here!
(But only if you're using Velocitron!)
Impossibly, the lone male of the Hunter group froze, turning his gaze directly on his hiding place.
Lee's eyes went wide as the Hunter's two companions turned to him and began to converse. Between the rain (which had become heavier since earlier that afternoon) and the distance between him and the Hunters, he couldn't hear exactly what was being said, but with the way the big guy was tensed up and looking right at him, he didn't exactly need to be able to. Fortunately, however, Cinder had seemed to catch on as well, as the group suddenly scattered in order to dodge a rapidly fired trio of arrows.
Lee didn't waste any more time, choosing his target and punching the air several times in quick succession, causing several small bolts of Stone dust to fly... And was rewarded with a pained grunt as they all shattered against the Ice Queen's back. Emerald didn't waste any time either, having jumped to another tree the moment Lee had fired, moving through the forest canopy to get closer. Lee didn't have time to reflect on her odds of being successful, however, as he found himself being forced to dive down to ground level in order to avoid a swarm of summoned... Ice... Bird... Thingies?
'What the chup?'
Despite his confusion, Lee didn't allow it to distract him, as that would very likely prove deadly in this situation; instead, he tucked himself into a roll, and managed to hit the ground running, vectoring straight at the group; on the other side, he could see another figure doing the same. Mercury, if the size and build were any indication.
True to their veteran status, however, the Hunter group reacted admirably. Rather than assuming they held the advantage and rushing out to fight them one on one, the trio stayed relatively close to each other, enough space between them that they could fight comfortably as well as not be hit by a single explosion, but not so far apart that they couldn't quickly help one another if needed. Were they only fighting Lee and Mercury, it would be all but a guaranteed win for the Hunters; while Lee and Merc were both very dangerous opponents in close combat, and the latter could probably go toe to toe with one of the three arrayed against them in a fair fight, they still, as far as the Huntsmen knew, had at least one more ally who was currently content to heckle them from afar with arrows... And probably more than just that, if they were confident enough to attack a group containing both Summer Rose and Winter Schnee. All correct assumptions... But, if Lee had anything to say about it, it wouldn't be enough.
Rather than attack the first of their targets to get in his way, Lee rolled under Winter's slash and kept going, not even stopping on his way towards who he was truly after.
"Spring! Move!"
The hastily shouted warning wouldn't save him, however; if anything, it did exactly the opposite. By the time Winter had realized what Lee was going to do, he was already doing it, and distracted as he was with fighting Mercury, Spring didn't have much chance to react; by the time he managed to create enough space to swing his axe at Mercury, which he probably intended to carry into a full spin and thus deal with Lee, Lee had already moved into position.
Lee, who had rolled into a crouch just short of the large man, Spring, planting his left foot down so he would come to a complete stop. However, his momentum was preserved by allowing the right half of his body to continue forward. Add in that Lee had drawn his fist back as far as it could go, before shooting it forward with his whole body lined up behind it...
"Falcon, PAWNCH!"
And, to his pleasant surprise, he actually managed to make the flames into the shape of a falcon when his fist slammed into Spring's solar plexus. But he didn't have long to celebrate, because even though it knocked the large man backwards a few feet, the momentum of his swing had been preserved, meaning that it was that very fact that caused Lee to take a glancing blow to the head from the haft of the axe, causing Lee to stagger... And very nearly get skewered by an enraged Winter Schnee, whose saber passed within an inch of his head.
"Woah!"
"Whoever you are, you're going to regret picking a fight with us!"
Lee merely growled in response before lashing out with a gust of Air Dust, creating some space between himself and Winter, who seemed dead set on facing him; it seemed there was to be a Wizard's Duel. Seeing as Mercury was currently keeping the big guy busy, Summer seemed to be searching for Cinder, who was still firing arrows into the battle, and he knew that he had two more allies who would likely jump in if things got too hairy, he was content to oblige; while Winter was still righting herself, Lee followed up his attack with another flurry of Earth bolts... Which Winter handily dodged with a back handspring, which she transitioned into a forward roll along the same path, which transitioned into a corkscrew... From which a wave of ice pellets was launched back at Lee.
He may have been slightly too busy being impressed by the maneuver in order to mount a proper counter... But he did retain enough awareness to simply drop to a prone position, managing to avoid most of the attack but taking a few glancing blows. From this position, he performed a prone kip up, aided by a gust of Air, before landing on his feet once again, where he soon found himself under assault by another wave of the Ice Bird Thingies. Lee attempted to capture the swirling Dust with his own aura, reform it into a coiling spear, and then throw it at Winter... But he quickly found that the things were not Dust based.
They're alive then?
As... Interesting as that was, trying to study the phenomenon while currently under assault by it would probably end up getting him killed, so he instead simply made the mental note to treat them like actual birds, just made of Aura. So, assuming they would still be governed by the laws of physics, Lee activated his semblance, then, carefully drawing on his glove's supplies of Air Dust, and began to weave his hands in a circle, widening them as he went until he'd gone from holding a small ball of swirling Air to a personal mini-tornado, which successfully captured the Ice Bird Thingies... Until they dissipated. Satisfied, Lee allowed the tornado to dissipate as well... Then nearly had a heart attack as he just narrowly dodged a saber thrust aimed at his face. Mentally, Lee swore.
This schutta is going down!
With Winter once again so close, and exhibiting such speed, Lee had no choice but to keep his semblance active; in order to react fast enough to perfectly dodge each of her rapid fire thrusts, he was having to speed his perception up even more than usual. Which, if Emerald's complaints about trying to use her own hallucination inducing abilities on more than one target could be taken as any indication, meant that he would probably be paying for it with a headache later... And not just because he'd already taken a couple of hard knocks there. But he'd rather have a headache than a new opening in his face.
After a few more thrusts, Lee finally maneuvered into a position that, when she tried again, this time with more extension than the shallow thrusts she had been making, he was able to lean back and to the side, reaching up with his left hand to grip the narrow blade around the middle. Grinning beneath his disguise, Lee then straightened up, while pushing the blade towards the opposite side of his body without letting go; Winter, who might have done what Lee did earlier and become distracted by the improbable feat of grabbing a live blade, had maintained her grip and thus been thrown off balance by the maneuver. Lee took advantage of this by using his free right hand to punch her in the shoulder, dislocating it with a sickening pop, and causing her to both drop her weapon and yell out in pain.
"Winter!"
Lee turned towards the worried male voice just in time to receive a boot to the face.
Had Lee been in a professionally sanctioned setting, his Aura would have been in the red after that. As it was, he was sent staggering backwards... Where he found himself the target of a leaping round house kick that would have connected clean with his temple had he not lost his balance and tripped at the last second. The world above him seemed to be spinning, and there was a faint ringing in his ears...
Vaguely, Lee was aware he probably had a concussion, which, combined with the added strain of his semblance for the last several minutes, meant he was going to have one hell of a headache once the adrenaline wore off... But he still had one, possibly two opponents actively gunning for him, so the adrenaline had yet to wear off. Despite his impaired senses, Lee managed to grab the ankle of the boot attempting to descend on his face and wrenched it to the side, causing its owner, Winter, to lose her balance, which Lee took advantage of by sweeping her other foot out from beneath her, causing her to fall flat on her face beside him. Fortunately for him, the impact seemed to briefly daze her, allowing him the time to shakily rise to his feet, before drawing his foot back and punt kicking her in the face. Needless to say, Winter immediately lost consciousness after that one.
Lee, at that point, was barely hanging on, sheer willpower preventing him from joining her in the land of the unconscious. With considerable difficulty, Lee forced himself to focus, looking around the battlefield... And was satisfied with what he saw. Off to the one side, Mercury and Emerald were still fighting the large axe wielding Hunter, Spring. All looked considerably worse for wear... But, Mercury and Emerald were in slightly better shape than Spring was, who himself seemed to be approaching the same levels Lee had been at before being sucker kicked. Which, Lee had to concede, was only fair after the way he'd started the fight. Didn't leave him any less angry about it though. But, before he could start looking for an opportunity to settle that score, he needed to make sure things were going smoothly with Summer...
They were, just not for her. Cinder, at some point, had finally gotten tired of her dodging arrows, and decided to move in to melee range with her twin swords, and had kept her out of both of the other fights ever since. The two would have likely been about even matched... Except that Neo was tag-teaming with Cinder, keeping Summer, who appeared to be fighting with twin katars, indefinitely on the defensive. She was still relatively unscathed though, meaning that Lee would probably be more welcomed in that fight... If he wasn't in danger of collapsing at any moment. So, since he could not reliably help out there, he decided to enter the other fight.
As cool as it would have been to open up with some sort of one liner, Lee wasn't quite so impaired that he actually thought that would be a good idea; he was trying to ambush the guy, after all, and unlike when he did it to Da Hui Xiong, this guy wasn't expecting Lee to be on his side. There was also the added complication of him apparently being able to detect Aura...
Chup it. I just need to distract him long enough for Emerald and Mercury to finish him off, then go help Cinder.
Placing his left hand on a tree trunk to brace himself, Lee began to draw on the final bits of Earth Dust crystals in his right glove, drawing it out into several dozen tiny little spears...
Spring, of course, saw it coming as soon as the fight forced him to turn his head that direction. But, busy fending off two separate opponents as he was, he was finding himself hard pressed to find away to avoid the attack. Despite the situation, Lee could not help but grin beneath the mask.
Checkmate, asshole!
Lee flung his hand forward with a roar, using the last of his fading consciousness to keep the fusillade directed towards Spring...
He collapsed against the tree before he could see whether or not it was a hit.
So... Is the suspense killing you yet? Because it's killing me! Haha I had initially planned on Summer's companions being taken care of quite quickly, but the temptation for a wizard's duel was just too much! Haha :D Poor Winter just wasn't quite able to beat Lee... But, to be fair, the only reason Lee won that was because he landed a solid hit before the fight even began, and managed to surprise her by pulling a Jaime Lannister and grabbing her sword with his gauntlets. Lol had that been a tournament style duel, Lee would have probably gotten his ass handed to him. Hell, he still did, for that matter. He just managed to stay conscious longer ^_^
