Hey, guys! Here is the fifth chapter of Holy World Chronicles! The Alliance prepare to take the first two parts of the "Battle Trials" test. Hope you liked it.
Chapter 5 - Battle Trials: Part One
Guild Hall, Fifth Avenue, Manhattan, New York City
In the basement meeting room, Saori is holding a meeting with Seiya, Jellal, Makarov, Mavis, Qrow, Ozpin (now in control of Oscar's body) and Master Saru to discuss matters on what information they've had in the past week.
"Considering the information we have, it's likely to assume Nightmare's already got his hands on the Magic Gem." Mavis explained.
"That means our enemy has a head start." Master Saru said.
"I've also managed to get some sightings of some of our worst baddies in several parts of the globe." Qrow explained, showing some pictures of none other than Almas, Era and Mea on a nearby island in the Caribbean Sea; Silver Fullbuster in Siberia; Cinder's Faction in Egypt; and Skytalon, Moon Jax and Trunkfist in China.
"How is that even possible? Most of our enemies we've encountered in our own worlds fighting for Nightmare?" Jellal asked, in disbelief.
"Nightmare's right hand, Ango, has the ability to create illusions of any life form he's seen. Plus, he can both make them feel real, and grant them everything they've had all their lives: abilities and memories up till now." Saori explained.
"Especially these jokers those volleyball kids fought with you, Master Saru." Qrow explained, which Master Saru solemnly nodded.
"Can't say I disagree." Jellal said.
"Even worse, my Saints and myself have had our powers reduced greatly since coming here. Hopefully Nightmare's forces are in the same boat." Saori explained, which Seiya nodded in agreement.
"We need to form some tactics for the children to hold their own." Ozpin explained.
"What do you think we should do, Master Makarov? Master Saru? Master Mavis? Saori-san?" Seiya asked.
Saori, Makarov and Mavis were in deep thought. Before Makarov went first.
"I might have some suggestions." Makarov said.
XXX
Outside near the garage, Kouga, Souma and Yuna were helping Ruby, Weiss, Hinata and Yachi practice hand-to-hand combat in case they don't have their weapons. Erza and Jaune were outside also, practicing swordsmanship since Erza took an interest in Jaune and decided to help him out.
Erza performed a downward slash to Jaune, who managed to parry with his sword and stood his ground. He attempted to counter but Erza kicked him aside with enough force to get him on one knee. Jaune managed to recover and charged again, clashing swords strongly before the two backed off.
"You're getting better, Jaune. I'm impressed." Erza commented.
"Thanks." Jaune said.
"I'm sure Phyla would be really proud of your improvement too." Erza said, with a genuine tone in her words.
Jaune thought of Pyrrha a little sad, but pushed those negatives thoughts and gave a nod with a smile on his face.
Erza smiled at the sight.
With Kouga's group, Yuna delivered a swift roundhouse kick to the Schnee ex-heiress and assisting manager, which both managed to dodge in the nick of time.
"Nice job, you two." Yuna commented.
"Thanks." Weiss said.
"Thank you!" Yachi hollered, bowing.
The trio decided to stop and get a quick drink.
Ruby smiled at Weiss' new progress as Hinata walked over congratulated Yachi with a kiss on her cheek, flustering her greatly.
"Weiss' so amazing!" Ruby thought.
Ruby blushed without even noticing. Souma noticed and began to smirk.
"What's this? Do I sense a sign of *love between ladies*?" Souma asked, in a teasing manner.
"W-W-What are you talking about?!" Ruby exclaimed.
"You love Weiss more than a friend, don't you?" Souma asked.
"That isn't true!" Ruby hollered.
Souma snickered.
Kouga and Yuna became annoyed.
"Seriously, man? *Love between ladies*?" Kouga asked.
"You really are an idiot." Yuna muttered.
Penny soon came crashing from the air on her two feet, accidentally knocking Kouga and Yuna to the dumbfounded states of Ruby, Hinata, Weiss, Yachi, Souma, Erza and Jaune.
"Salutations, friends! We're ordered to head to the Combat Hall in about 8 minutes." Penny explained.
Kouga and Yuna twitched while still lying on the ground.
XXX
Arriving at the Combat Hall, the Alliance began to look at their surroundings on what they should do.
Aria, Raki, Selene, Happy, Carla, Lily and Zwei decide to watch it all on the TV screen alongside Saori and Oscar.
"Wonder what this is about?" Nishinoya asked.
"Dunno." Jaune replied.
"According to what Master, Ozpin and the others told me, this is something they've created to help us to prepare for the battles to come." Penny explained.
"The first one…" Penny continued.
The Combat Hall changed to a jungle environment, where holographic images of tigers, bears, gorillas, scorpions and crows that appeared to be 10 to 11 feet tall with high levels of aggression, showed up out of nowhere.
"… Is to survive a 2 hour exhibition match against these digital creatures!" Penny finished.
Hinata, Emma, Lucy, Wendy, Romeo, Evan, Levy, Weiss, Jaune, Yachi, Yamaguchi and Asahi screamed in fright.
"OH CRAP!" Sachi, Gajeel, Elfman, Lisanna, Cana, Nora, Balto, Tanaka, Nishinoya and Ennoshita shouted in unison.
"2 hours against these things?!" Souma exclaimed.
"Penny. We gotta work on your sarcasm." Ruby explained, having a sweat drop on her forehead.
"I don't think that was sarcasm." Eden said.
"Just the challenge I hoped for!" Yang hollered.
"I'm all fired up now!" Natsu hollered.
"You all know what to do." Kouga said.
"Let's go!" Kouga hollered.
XXX
The Superior Clothstones of Kouga, Souma, Yuna, Ryuho, Haruto and Eden along with the Clothstones of Sachi and Emma began to twirl around as they faded into the galaxies.
The stars formed the constellations of Pegasus, Lion, Aquila, Dragon, Wolf, Orion, Apis and Fox simultaneously.
Kouga and the other Bronze Saints all braced themselves.
One by one, they all donned their Cloths.
The Bronze Saints did a united fighting pose.
The eight Bronze Saints were ready for battle.
XXX
Waiting from the screen, Aria, Raki, Selene, Happy, Carla, Lily, Zwei, Saori, Mavis and Oscar (now switching control to Ozpin) continue to watch.
"This is gonna be awesome!" Happy hollered.
"Or dangerous." Carla said.
"Kick their butts, guys!" Raki hollered.
"Rock it, Eden!" Selene hollered.
Aria began praying for their success.
"Good luck, everyone." Aria thought.
"This might be dangerous though. But it's for the best." Mavis explained.
"They must prepare themselves for anything." Ozpin explained.
"To overcome any challenge no matter how difficult, they need to work as one." Saori explained.
XXX
Back at the Combat Hall in the jungle scenery, the Alliance continued their battle against the giant fake animals.
Kouga and Natsu punched a giant tiger with ease.
"There's still a few more to handle." Natsu said.
Everyone was giving it their all in groups as their teamwork increased, overpowering the beasts with some effort put into it.
"We still have 1 hour and 30 minutes left. We should overwhelm them to get an inspiration." Kouga explained.
"Now you're speaking my language!" Natsu hollered.
"Everyone! Let's thin the herd with a combined assault!" Kouga hollered.
"Right!" The Alliance hollered in unison.
"Pegasus Meteor Fist!" Kouga shouted.
"Fire Dragon Claw!" Natsu shouted.
"Buzzsaw Blast!" Ruby shouted.
"Sun Fire!" Hinata shouted.
The Acts of Order combined their moves to overpower a large tiger and gorilla.
"Divine Tornado!" Yuna shouted.
"Open, Gate of the Scorpion! Scorpio!" Lucy shouted, calling out the Scorpion Celestial Spirit.
"Sand Buster!" Scorpio shouted.
"Ice Shard!" Weiss shouted.
"Quick Blade!" Yachi shouted.
Yuna, Lucy, Weiss and Yachi combined their attacks on two giant crows with great effect.
"Orion Plasma!" Eden shouted.
"Flame Desperado!" Souma shouted.
"Ice-Make: Lance!" Gray shouted.
"Requip! Heaven's Wheel - Trinity Sword!" Erza shouted.
"Shadow Strike!" Blake shouted.
"Firecracker!" Yang shouted.
"Quick Shot!" Kageyama shouted.
"Crescent Moon!" Tsukishima shouted.
Eden, Souma, Gray, Erza, Blake, Yang, Kageyama and Tsukishima combined their attacks with great effects on two gorillas and one scorpion.
"Lushan Rising Dragon!" Ryuho shouted.
"Rolling Stone!" Haruto shouted.
"Apus Strong Wave!" Sachi shouted.
"Soaring Beam!" Emma shouted.
"Sky Dragon Roar!" Wendy shouted.
"Iron Dragon Roar!" Gajeel shouted.
"Water Slicer!" Juvia shouted.
"Solid Script: Fire!" Levy shouted.
"Purple Flare!" Romeo shouted.
"Metal-Make: Sword!" Evan shouted.
"Demon Blast!" Mirajane shouted, transforming into Satan Soul.
"Beast Arm: Black Bull!" Elfman shouted.
"Animal Scratch!" Lisanna shouted, transforming into Animal Soul: Cat.
"Random Throwing!" Cana shouted.
"Lightning Dragon Roar!" Laxus shouted.
"Poison Dragon Roar!"
"Knight Rush!" Jaune shouted.
"Sharp Fang!" Balto shouted.
"Magnhild!" Nora shouted.
"StormFlower Fire!" Ren shouted.
"Puppet Slash!" Penny shouted.
"Lance Strike!" Yamaguchi shouted.
"Swiss Cheese!" Tanaka shouted.
"Rolling Thunder: Nunchaku Style!" Nishinoya shouted.
"Tonfa Fury!" Ennoshita shouted.
"Shield Throw!" Daichi shouted.
"Staff Rush!" Sugawara shouted.
"Metal Fist!" Asahi shouted.
"Fan Throw!" Kiyoko shouted.
The rest of the Alliance began to overwhelm their foes with powerful effect.
"That should lower their ranks." Gray said.
"Where are your clothes?!" Blake and Kageyama exclaimed.
"Keep your clothes on, Gray!" Yang hollered, covering Ruby's eyes.
Gray noticed his jacket's missing and quickly rushed to find it while Juvia swooned over Gray's appearance.
"Come on! We still got work to do." Erza explained.
XXX
After finishing the 2 hour battle, the entire Alliance headed to the waiting room to take a quick breather.
"That was so exhausting!" Levy hollered.
"At least our teamwork's working well." Ren said.
"Is that it?" Emma asked.
"Not quite. Now you guys have a 30 minute written test in 1 hour." Master Saru explained, appearing near the door that shocked everyone.
"A WRITTEN TEST?!" The Alliance (except Haruto, Laxus, Ren, Tsukishima and Kiyoko) exclaimed in unison.
"Correct. You have 15 minutes to review your notes before the test - starting now." Master Saru explained, before leaving.
Most of the Alliance like Kouga, Natsu, Ruby, Hinata, Souma, Sachi, Gajeel, Lisanna, Yang, Jaune, Nora, Kageyama, Tanaka and Nishinoya were freaking out.
"This is what happens, Kageyama, when you get stuck with short stack and flame brain." Gray commented, which irritated Natsu and Hinata.
"We have time. Best to make use of it is to have partners." Erza explained.
"Then we'll go with-" Tanaka and Nishinoya said, in hopes of being partners with Kiyoko.
However, Juvia took Kiyoko, Kageyama and Gray in a flash, surprising the others as realizing Juvia's been acting weird since yesterday. Weirder is the more correct term.
Yachi offered to help the Acts of Order with Yuna, Lucy and Weiss to the delight of the Acts of Order, Happy and Zwei, calling her "Goddess Yachi" much to her nervousness, and the six getting a scolding from Yuna, Lucy and Weiss.
Evan volunteered to tutor Tanaka and Nishinoya, much to their absolute joy; to Evan's nervousness. Ennoshita volunteered to join with Romeo, Wendy and Carla to keep the two stooges in-line.
Everyone else began selecting partners to study for the next 15 minutes. Even Souma offered Tsukishima to study with him, much to the tall middle blocker's annoyance.
XXX
An hour later…
The team begin taking their 30 minute test in the third floor academic room, each taking tests depending on their own knowledge.
The 3 Exceeds, Balto and Zwei were left out since this required only human minds to do.
"This might be hard." Jaune said, trying to think on what to do.
"My worst enemy: English! But I can do this!" Hinata thought, having remembered how he failed his last English test that made him miss the bus to take to the Summer Training Camp, but he's learned like he does in volleyball and began to put strong effort.
XXX
After 30 minutes, everyone handed in their tests to Winter.
"Nice work, my children." Master Saru said.
"Wait! Is there more?" Nora asked.
"Quite right. Just one more." Master Saru replied.
"You just had to ask him, didn't ya!?" Kouga, Souma, Gajeel, Evan, Ruby, Weiss, Yang, Jaune, Kageyama, Tsukishima, Yamaguchi, Tanaka and Sugawara thought in unison, deadpanned.
"Tomorrow at 9 AM… the last one will be the most difficult one of all." Master Saru explained.
"So be ready and think hard." Master Saru continued.
Master Saru left the classroom in a flash, as everyone began to discuss the possibilities on how to prepare for the final battle tomorrow.
Preview Skit:
Hinata: The first two were really tough!
Yachi: Yeah… but we all did really well!
Hinata: Thank you for the study time, Hitoka! You're really amazing as ever!
Yachi (blushing): Y-You don't have to be modest.
Erza: Shoyo does have a point. You're an excellent help to the team.
Yachi: Thank you, Erza-san!
Jaune entered the scene with a frightened face.
Jaune: GUYS!
Erza: Calm down! What is it?
Jaune: W-W-Welll, our final part of the exams are gonna be…
Hinata, Yachi and Erza read the paper in Jaune's hand, and became extremely surprised.
Erza: This will be problematic.
Yachi: I think I might die…
Hinata: W-W-We gotta think positive!
Hinata: Next time: Chapter 6 - Battle Trials: Part Two.
Did you enjoy it? And I'm back! Glad you enjoyed this chapter.
Still got at least 6 more chapters of the old "Holy World Adventures" to revise in this story, then start working on the revisions for Super World Chronicles and the first chapter of Grand World Chronicles, both which take a lot longer. I'll try and find the time to redo the filler chapters that takes place between chapters in a revised Tales of the Alliance.
Sorry this chapter was a little short, but each chapter may be short or long depending on how the story overall goes.