Author's Notes: Sup, kept you waiting huh? Yeah, sounds about right. Regardless of the wait, I hope you enjoy this and it can tide you over to the next one. Whenever it might be... cause I totally get that consistancy has not been my thing this last year. Anyhow, catch you on the otherside.
~Nox
"Anyone notice that Team JNPR has been a bit, uh, anti-social?" Prompto asked, staring at a badge he had returned to the dorm in his possession. The rest of his teammates seemingly unaware of the events of his day.
"I've been hearing… that Cardin has been… getting on Jaune's case… a lot lately. Somebody needs… to do something… about that punk," Gladiolus replied between grunts as he continued to do his squats.
Ignis hummed in thought. "You all remember that the Vytal Festival is being hosted next semester in Vale? Maybe we can use this to our advantage," he mused out loud. "Perhaps, we approach Professor Goodwitch about doing team based practice bouts, in the name of preparing for the first round of the tournament, of course."
Noctis chuckled at Ignis's devious idea. It wasn't often that he revealed this side of himself. He paused the game on his scroll and said, "So how do we get it across to them why we singled them out?"
"Tell them beforehand?" Gladio suggested between grunts.
Prompto however had an idea. "Well I had a bit of a run-in with Cardin and crew at lunch today. I can just remind him of today when we do it, y'know?"
"That works," Noctis said. "When do we try this, then?"
"Near the end of the semester, call it a grand finale and a head start," Ignis said with a faint smile, never quite looking up from his paperwork.
Gladio snorted and said, "A grand performance then. We'll make a pretty solid statement."
"Until then, we'll need to keep up our own job and school work," Noctis said.
"Speaking of which," Ignis said, finally looking up, "I am afraid I've hit a bit of a deadend on that front. We likely will not get any new information without inquiring with Professor Ozpin himself."
"Well what else have you learned?" Gladio asked as he dropped down and began performing pushups.
Ignis flipped through a couple of pages and then stopped as he began scanning its page for information. After a brief moment he said, "Unfortunately not much. The only additional piece I found out was that the last member of Team STRQ, one Raven Branwen, has seemingly gone AWOL."
"Dissertation?" Noctis asked.
"Wait," Prompto asked as he sat up. "What does AWOL mean again?"
"Absent without leave," Ignis replied. "Before I was rudely separated from my sources, it was revealed that Raven disappeared nearly seventeen years ago. No reason stated or discovered as far as I can tell."
"Separated?" Gladiolus asked.
Ignis simply shrugged and said, "If they know it was me, no one has asked. But they locked down the files yesterday."
"Well if they suspect, you let us know, yeah?" Noctis warned. "But first, I'm going to go shower. Combat class was hours ago and I still feel all sweaty and gross."
Noctis walked down the hallways before he found Jaune looking a bit down in the dumps. He was walking with his head down, hands buried deep in his pockets. Noctis would normally keep to himself, not everybody wants to confront their emotional states. But, there was something about Jaune that made Noctis feel like he should probably check on him. Especially with the context of what his team had just been talking about.
"Jaune, hold up," Noctis said as the two of them passed each other. Jaune turned to look back at Noctis, who had still not fully turned around. "Look, you're looking so far down, I'm worried that I'm going to slip on something. What's goin' on?"
"Just, thinking about something Ruby told me. Noct, do you think I'm a failure?" Jaune answered.
"Ruby called you that?" Noctis asked as he turned around. That did not sound like her at all.
"No, it's just that she told me something about our job as leader and I just feel like I need a second opinion," Jaune replied. "She told me that I couldn't be a failure because I was a leader now. That as a leader, I have to be about them. My teammates."
Noctis thought about it for a while. The advice she gave was technically right, but it was also very wrong. This was not about how to be a good leader, but rather what a leader needs to have in order to lead. "She isn't wrong," Noctis said. "But maybe she doesn't understand your problem. Look, growing up I was presented with an idea, repeatedly. One of my trainers told me this, 'Some men are born great. Some men achieve greatness. And others still have greatness thrust upon them.' You understand what I'm saying?"
"I think so," Jaune said.
"There is a reason I'm telling it to you, y'know?" Noctis continued. "You believe that you aren't the first man. Now you need to decide whether or not you are going to become the second man, or if you will hope the world will make you the third man." Noctis watched as Jaune seemed to actually be processing what he said. "Ruby is right, we as leaders have to put those under our command in the forefront of our priorities. But we must choose to be people who achieve greatness, because the only people who control our actions and aspirations are us."
Jaune thought for a moment longer before he said, "Thanks Noct." Noctis nodded and turned to leave. But then Jaune said, "Hey, Noct can I ask you something?"
"Sure, I'm already here," Noctis replied.
"Which of those men are you? Y'know in that saying," Jaune asked.
"That is yet to be discovered," Noctis replied. "I've got a big destiny ahead of me. One that I chose for myself. When I come face-to-face with it, we'll have to find out then. But in the meantime, I can only hope I'm capable of achieving greatness." Noctis started walking away again and this time Jaune let him continue on to the shower room but as he walked he heard Jaune mutter a single word.
"Destiny?"
A couple weeks had passed and the class had gone on a trip out to collect sap. To Team NPSA's joy it seemed to solve Jaune's problems with Cardin. However, all this served to do was redouble and dedicate more of his time to going after the faunus, so their goals remained unchanged for the approaching end of the semester. In the meantime, things had otherwise become rather peaceful for the team as they spent more of their time with Team RWBY and Team JNPR in the cooler months of the school year. So much so that they had begun wearing the same black clothes they had been wearing when they first arrived in Vale. Today, Weiss finally convinced Ignis to spar with her, unofficially, after class.
Weiss and Ignis walked into the classroom arena as planned. Ignis was a promising fighter and a fiercely intelligent student, so Weiss felt there was much to learn in a friendly spar. As she drew her rapier and ran through a few drills, Ignis took off his black coat and rolled up the sleeves of his purple and black dress shirt. He did a small stretch and then drew his twin daggers from behind his back. They were wide flat blades that had finely sharpened edges. Weiss had snuck a peak at them on their way over and it looked like they could be combined into a double weapon if he so chose. They were not his usual dagger set.
"Let me know when you are ready, Miss Schnee and we shall begin," Ignis said as he watched her finish her drills. After a couple more minutes of watching her drills, Ignis decided on a plan of attack.
"Let us begin," Weiss said happily.
The two of them regarded each other carefully before Ignis charged forward. Weiss thrust her blade forward and Ignis slid his left dagger under the rapier. His right weapon came up and lined up with her neck when he stopped. Weiss was surprised that she was so immediately caught off guard.
Ignis simply hummed and said, "You telegraphed your move before I charged. When you want to thrust, you slide your leading foot back so you can step forward and increase the speed of your attack. If you are going to thrust, start with your foot already back on the aftermath of your previous move."
Weiss stepped away and nodded. This was good information, but this time things would go differently. The two stuck battle ready poses and this time Weiss charged. She swung her blade with grace and precision, but Ignis seemed to intercept each attack with a dagger or dodge out of the way with low energy and passive sways of his body. Weiss was surprised by how effortless he made fighting look. A fast horizontal swing made Ignis jump and twist in the air over the attack before he landed down and placed both daggers near Weiss's throat again. Weiss paused as she could see through his frames there was a question building behind his look of contemplation.
"What is holding you back, Miss Schnee?" Ignis asked suddenly as the two of them stood close together in the poses with which their previous clash had ended
Weiss's face seemed to take on an expression of confusion though she dare not move more than that. She asked, "What do you mean?"
"Well," Ignis said as finally moved from his position, "you are a highly trained, driven and competent young woman. You clearly have some experience with combat, and yet… when we fight, you act as though you must think of every move you make just before you make it. There are brief moments of hesitation between every move. Why?"
Weiss paused when he said this. Could he read her mind? Every move she made was a checklist of details that needed to be right. Conditions to be met, stances and forms that had to be perfect. "I just want everything to be perfect," she suddenly blurted out.
"Combat isn't about perfection, Miss Schnee. In fact it is very messy," Ignis replied immediately. Weiss flinched at the abruptness with which he spoke. "You are a practiced warrior, if you cannot trust your body to do what you have trained it to do without having to run interference on it everytime, then you will always find yourself on the backfoot of any fight that has a goal of simply killing your opponent. If we were enemies, I had my dagger to your throat twice now in the span of less than five minutes." Weiss looked down somewhat ashamed. "Please understand that I say this because you are cared for. None of us wish to see you fall. If you were to fall, it would pain all of us too much. Just remember that we hammer in the drills to give ourselves the basis from which we engage in combat. Once the fight starts, your only job is to be the one left standing." This seemed to brighten her mood a little. Ignis simply nodded to her as she looked to see if he meant what he said. He turned to retrieve his coat as he began to lower his sleeves.
"You're uncannily good at teaching, Ignis," Weiss admitted as he began to walk away.
Ignis stopped and turned back to her with a simple smile that disappeared behind the glare of his glasses. With a relieved sigh he replied, "I should certainly hope so, if I am to be a teacher of sorts, then it is a skill set that would be useful. Thank you for the compliment, Miss Schnee."
"Wait," Weiss said as she caught up to him. "You want to be a teacher? How long has that been your goal?"
Ignis thought for a moment as he mentally filtered out the Insomnia and retainer to the prince related reasons for his goals. As he began putting his jacket back on, he said, "If I had to give a specific answer, then it would likely be ever since I started learning. I always had a hunger for knowledge, I was a strange child in that way. Eventually I learned that there was a lot that I did not know. I wanted to know it all. Then I got to a point where I knew enough to be terrified of the world around me. The only thing that brought me solace was learning more. One day I awoke and realized that I was no longer scared. I was a good student, and it would lead me to be a good teacher. I never wanted anyone else to suffer alone through the things that I had, so long as I had the option to save them from it."
"That is very admirable, Ignis," Weiss replied.
"Ignis is very formal, Miss Schnee," Ignis said with a small smile. "My friends call me Iggy."
"If you are sure then I will work on it, Igni- I mean, Iggy. But then I must insist you refer to me as Weiss," Weiss replied.
Ignis placed his fist against his chest, bowed and replied, "It would be my pleasure, Weiss." He turned away and left the arena leaving Weiss with slightly flushed cheeks.
"So let me get this straight," Gladiolus started as set down his book on the library table. "You became friends with Velvet in the second year class, and now her teammate Yatsuhashi wants to fight with me?"
"Pretty much, yeah," Prompto replied. "I mean, they had already been somewhat interested in us because of our performance in the initiation, but after befriending Velvet, it has given them the 'in' that they wanted. Apparently Yatsuhashi really likes fighting other people who use giant swords."
"Makes sense, strength and control are paramount to effective use of larger weapons. The stronger their wielder, the better the control. The more control, the more effective the use of that strength. Since I am here to test my limits, maybe I should accept," Gladiolus said out loud. It was clear to Prompto that his input was no longer needed.
"Accept what?" asked Pyrrha as she approached with her team in tow.
"An invitation to spar with Yatsuhashi Daichi," Prompto answered.
Ren approached and asked, "You mean Team CFVY's Yatsuhashi? I hear that he is a very talented warrior. If he has invited you to spar then he likely sees much potential in you as a combatant."
"I have heard nothing but great things about their team in general," Jaune added as he caught up to the group. "I think they are going to be going on a mission pretty close to the end of the semester though, so if you are going to spar with him, you should probably do it sooner rather than later."
"Well, looks like my mind has been made up for me," Gladiolus said with a smirk. He stood up and decided to make his way to the locker room. When he arrived he found Yatsuhashi waiting in the classroom arena.
Yatsuhashi stood up and turned toward the entrance as Gladiolus entered. "I knew you would come," Yatsuhashi said with a small nod. His blade was a single edge weapon, copper plated with what looked to be a golden edge. It was simple, but stood at nearly twice the length of Yatsuhashi's torso. Gladiolus became acutely aware of just how much taller Yatsuhashi was than himself. So when Gladiolus revealed a weapon that was actually the size of his own whole body, two thin blades mounted to a central weighted shaft and spherical crossguard, it became evident that a mighty battle was about to go down. For the people who had followed Gladio here, and Yatsuhashi's teammates who were already there, the tension was palpable.
The two of them regarded each other warily as they circled each other. Finally, Gladio gave a wide swing and let the momentum carry his footsteps with it. Yatsu blocked the attack and felt his feet slide underneath him. If it surprised him, he did not show it. But the rest of Team CFVY let their surprise show on their faces. They had never seen Yatsu get pushed by another student like that. Gladio bounced back a step and Yatsuhashi attempted to counter attack. Gladio attempted to repel the attack with his sword, but the sheer force almost ripped his blade from his hand so he willingly let himself be thrown backwards. The two of them regarded each other as they both retook their battle stances. The two charged each other.
The sounds of metal reverberated through the arena as the sheer force of these two warriors rattled everybody who watched. For Team CFVY, the fact that there was a warrior who rivaled Yatsu in sheer ferocity and swinging power was an utter shock. For Prompto and crew, witnessing the sheer gap between the first years and second years was drastic. Would they all eventually become this powerful?
Gladio eventually found himself on the backfoot. It was becoming evident to him that there was little that separated him from his upperclassman. But the one thing he knew for certain was that Yatsu simply had a greater endurance for combat. If Gladio was going to have any attempt at coming out on top of this fight, he was going to need to do it fast, or Yatsu was simply going to outlast him. So in a desperate move, he let go of his blade with one hand and extended his shield. He swung the shield upwards and sent Yatsu's blade over his head. With Yatsu over extended, Gladiolus flipped his grip on the sword and slammed his pommel into Yatsu's gut. While this was a small victory for Gladio, it ultimately meant nothing as Yatsuhashi recovered quickly and with a quick hop backwards and then a wide sweeping attack the sent Gladiolus careening backwards.
The fight took five minutes, but to everyone there it felt like five hours.
Yatsuhashi walked forward and offered Gladiolus his hand. "You are everything I was hoping you'd be," Yatsu said to him.
Gladiolus collapsed his shield and accepted his hand. "You are more than I could imagine," he replied.
Yatsu got a small laugh from this as he said, "You have a whole year and half a foot disadvantage. You keep going at this rate, I'm going to have to look out for you by the time the festival comes around."
"That means a lot coming from you," Gladio replied. He scooped up his blade and let it rest on his shoulder. He was a bit disappointed, but it was an eye-opening scenario. He still had a long way to go and what a better time to start than now. As Team CFVY left the arena, Gladio gripped the other end of his blade and began performing squats with his weapon as additional weight.
"Uh, oh," Prompto commented. Pyrrha looked over at him with an unspoken question.
"Gladiolus lost, and he has decided to take it personally. But rather than aim it at his opponent, he aims it at himself. He needs to become stronger, even if it means being stronger than he was a minute ago."
Pyrrha looked back down at Gladio who continued to bust out squats. His grunting was strained the further along he went as he continued to force himself to work against his limits. Pyrrha was curious about him and his motivation. So she told her team that she would catch up with them later. She walked to the guardrail over the arena as she watched him. It must have been almost ten minutes when she finally witnessed him squat down and not make it back up before he collapsed backwards, his sword clattering across the ground.
Pyrrha paused while she watched his chest heave as he caught his breath. After a moment she jumped down and walked over to him. He opened his eyes and saw her looking down on him. He closed his eyes again as his breath slowly calmed.
"Where does that drive come from?" she finally asked.
Gladio opened one eye as he asked, "My drive?"
"Yes," Pyrrha replied. "You're working towards something, nobody works that hard, especially to the point where they almost break themselves, without a goal."
Gladio attempted to sit up but felt his body resist the movement. He looked up at her and said, "It is an important goal. But you're gonna have to pry it out of me." He smirked as he closed his eyes again.
"What would it take for you to tell me?" Pyrrha asked.
Gladio looked at her again. He studied her expression and body language. For a brief moment, he looked like he really wanted to say something, but finally he closed his eyes and said, "I wish I could tell you. But it isn't just my secret to tell. But maybe I could offer you an olive branch. I'll tell you part of it, if in exchange you tell me something about you."
"Deal," Pyrrha replied instantly.
"Why do you continue to pursue this job, even after everything it has already done to your personal life?" he asked.
Pyrrha paused. Gladio held her gaze and she was certain he was judging her, like she was not going to be able to finish her side of the deal. With a steadying breath she said, "That is complicated. I have always felt as though I was destined to become a huntress."
"Destined? Then you believe in destiny," Gladio wondered out loud.
"Well don't misunderstand. I don't believe in some magical force that you can't escape. I could have denied my destiny and kept to myself. Maybe I could have been a baker. No, I see destiny as something we decide for ourselves. A goal we work towards all our lives," Pyrrha explained. "Once I realized that I had the ability to be a huntress, I would never be satisfied with anything less."
"Are you satisfied now?" Gladio asked. Pyrrha did not answer. "You're right, you've already answered my question. So, I guess it's my turn. I share your definition of destiny. We all do, on Team NPSA. The four of us have a goal, a deeply personal one that drives us. It is tied to our past and our families. As part of our future, I have taken it upon myself to protect them, even if it costs me my life. They are my brothers."
Pyrrha nodded. "Well, if the four of you ever want to share your stories, let me know," she said, trying to parrot him as much as she could from their first meeting on the airship. He nodded and then closed his eyes. She turned away from him and made her way out of the arena.
"Destiny, huh?" Gladio commented.
A few weeks later, the combat class was told they were going to experience a particular treat, their first lesson on team based combat in preparation for the Vytal Festival and the grand finale for the lesson was going to be a practice match between two teams. Two teams had been rumored to be in the fight but nobody knew for certain who all would be participating. The class was abuzz and it felt like the lecture would never end. Ten minutes before the end of the class, eight students stood up and headed towards the locker room and suddenly everybody knew the truth. Team CRDL, who had continued making their fair share of detractors and Team NPSA whose members have made their fair share of friends and still had a member who has gone undefeated in the sparring class. Still one of three in the class.
As the eight students prepared in the locker room, the room was silent. After weapons were prepped, uniforms changed, and the eight of them prepared to go back into the classroom, the silence was broken.
"Can't believe you guys were the ones who thought this was a good idea," Russel taunted.
"Wasn't an accident," Noctis replied as he contemplated his weapon choice for the fight, the roulette of blue light weapons before him before he finally ended on his go to sword.
"What does that mean?" Dove asked, the shortest member of their team, while he only had a handful of wins under his belt, he did have the best record of his team.
Prompto stepped out of line and looked over at the other team. "You remember the cafeteria, Cardin? This is about that. We're gonna teach you what happens when you don't listen the first time. We tried words," he said with a confident smirk.
"So just remember, you brought this on yourself," Gladio said with a snort. Before the other team could respond, Team NPSA walked into the classroom arena, leaving the other team behind them. As they entered, Noctis heard Ruby cheer his name. Looking up at her, he smiled and nodded to her.
"Now as we discussed during class, Team fighting is a very different type of combat situation. The momentum and trajectory in battle can be swung easily by the individual matchups in the fight, the use of team attacks, quick decisions on whether to press your own advantage or help an ally from a disadvantageous situation," Glynda reiterated to the students as Team CRDL followed their opponents into the arena. "The rules of the Vytal Festival still apply as they always have. You can be eliminated by being forced from the fighting area or from a reduction of the Aura level below the acceptable minimum. Teams NPSA and CRDL have been chosen by request to show what a team fight in the Vytal Festival might look like. If both teams are ready, we will begin momentarily."
"You're gonna regret picking this fight," Cardin said seriously. "We're about to end your winning streak Ignis, and I personally am going to enjoy beating you into the ground, Prompto."
Prompto seemed to be oblivious to the threat as he was distracted by a recent arrival in the classroom. Sitting in the back row of the classroom combat arena was Team CFVY. It was not uncommon to receive guests during lectures, especially during this class, but one of the top teams of the second years showing up was definitely a surprise to some of the first years in the class.
Ignis however, who was much more focused than either of his younger teammates, replied, "You are certainly the cocky one aren't you. But I will tell you now, and take this as seriously as you can, if you ignore me for my teammate, I will make you regret it." There was no malice in his voice, in fact his tone was flippant.
"What's our gameplan?" Noctis asked as he rolled his shoulder for his sword arm.
Gladio finished a quick set of squats as he said, "If they're smart, they send their two fastest members at me and play defensively with you three until they eventually knock me out of the fight. They don't need to be better fighters than me, they just have to widdle my aura below the threshold and then collapse on you guys. So I will probably need one of you to provide me backup if they go that route."
"They'll likely send Dove and Sky to do that," Ignis added. "Which means that you'll need someone who can help keep one of them off of you. I'd suggest Noct for that job, someone to match Dove, sword for sword. Which will leave Cardin and Russel with me and Prompto."
"You think they will let us do that?" Prompto asked.
"If they're smart," Gladio said with a smirk, he picked up his blade and placed it on his shoulder. Ignis drew his two daggers and pushed his glasses back up his nose. Prompto took out his gun and spun it on his finger a couple times before holding it in a comfortable upward pose. Noctis flipped his sword and caught it as he struck a battle ready pose.
"Both teams ready?" Glynda asked as she whipped the ground and calmed the students around the arena. "3. 2. 1!"
Team CRDL charged forward and as if by divine guidance or clairvoyance on the part of their opponent, they separated out the way Team NPSA had predicted. In doing so, the boys all moved instantly to encounter their enemy the way they had planned.
Dove moved forward to attack Gladio, but Noctis intercepted his attack and quickly dashed into him forcing him backwards. A quick flip allowed Dove to more firmly plant his feet and the two of them clashed and locked blades. The two of them bounced off each other and began making quick dash attacks against each other attempting to out class the other combatant in sword based combat. Noctis had to admit that Dove was not untalented. However, it became apparent that Noctis was just better equipped as he forced Dove onto the defensive.
Gladiolus found himself in a fight with perhaps the least talented fighter of the enemy team. Sky was trained, but he had little awareness of his surroundings as his weapon continued to clash with the wall off the classroom arena. Gladiolus however did have to prioritize dodging the swings as the halberd was capable of getting some speed behind it and even fully trained, Gladiolus knew that it would be folly to try to meet his opponent weapon for weapon. However, Gladiolus had an idea, rather than let himself be pushed back, he would force Sky to have to make some decisions. So he began to swing his blade in an upward pattern letting the blade carry itself with its own momentum. Turning the blade in alternating attacks from either side, the weapon never truly stopped moving, nor would it need to for as long as Gladio wanted to keep the boy away.
"Wow," Jaune remarked from out in the audience.
Pyrrha nodded and said, "He is creating an area of control. Since Noctis is keeping Dove at bay, one of the other members of CRDL will need to assist Sky to break through that defensive area. Which means Gladio is simply buying time for his allies."
"Best defense is a sweet offense," Yang added.
Ignis ran towards Cardin who dodged around him and charged Prompto. Prompto fired his gun at Russel that kept him away, so he did not see Cardin swing his mace, which sent him flying back from the impact. Ignis was about to go and help him when Russel came flipping through the air at him. Ignis slid under the attack, watching as the young man had his daggers out to make himself a spinning ball of blades. It was creative if completely impractical. It looked like Ignis was going to have to go through Russel to get to Cardin.
"You do not want this," Ignis warned as he flipped a dagger into the air. "You are going to want to get out of my way."
"Cardin's instruction was to give him as much time with Prompto as I could. Just gets easier because I was expecting two of you," Russel replied with a dirty grin.
Ignis struck a battle ready pose and replied, "If it means protecting my allies, I will face any challenge or shame. Even if I must sully my image in association with you, Russel." Russel leapt forward with a growl.
Ignis watched the move and realized the boy was clearly defying the laws of the world. He dodged out of the way and took what he just learned into consideration. No propellant was used and he seemed to float across the arena before he flipped over and touched his feet down on the arena before he launched back in the other direction. This had to be a semblance. Ignis pushed his glasses up his nose and let his semblance activate.
With his semblance, Libra, activated, Ignis traced Russel's aura back to its origin and began tracing the details of the semblance it was creating. Ignis realized immediately that Russel was controlling his personal gravity with his semblance. Which meant that he could reduce it for his floaty leaps, and increase it for his dropping attacks. Ignis bounced backwards on his feet, playing ever so slightly with the feeling as he felt his body get lighter. The power was interesting, it allowed the reduction of impact on his joints, but it also allowed for control of his momentum at a moments notice. His movement options were now vastly changed thanks to the Semblance that he was allowed to copy.
Prompto managed to slide out from under another attack. Cardin's swings were wild and formless, which made them difficult to read. Most potshots were blocked and there was little opportunity to get away from him without potentially being forced out of the fight early. So, Prompto launched himself backwards below a horizontal swing and rolled out of the way of the vertical blow as he pushed off the ground. He rotated around and landed on his feet facing Cardin still. Cardin charged towards him and Prompto swept under another swing and then jumped on Cardin's back.
"See how you like your ears pulled, Cardin!" Prompto declared as he grabbed Cardin's ears and latched onto the bigger lad's form with his legs. After some failed attempts to get Prompto off of him, Cardin jumped up and leaned back and slammed his full weight into Prompto onto the arena floor.
"You ain't gonna WEASEL your way out of this one, freak," Cardin said as he began trying to grapple his smaller opponent. If anyone besides Velvet noticed the pointed jab, they did not show it.
Sky was still held at bay as his couple of chances to poke at Gladio have been ultimately unsuccessful. The reverberation of the clashing of metal being the only evidence of his attempts.
"How is he still going?" Jaune asked, watching as Gladio swung his blade without so much as a drop of sweat down his face.
Ruby answered, "He is using the blade's weight in his favor by letting it use its own momentum. It is the reason that the center of his blade is a weighted bar. In fact, it basically functions completely opposite of my weapon."
"How so?" Jaune asked.
Ren commented, "Well Ruby uses the sniper rifle to start her swing, then she only has to expend energy controlling the direction of the blade. Gladiolus starts the swing and then let's the blade carry him forward. Additionally, if either of them used a lighter weapon, their styles would be completely compromised."
"Because of the recoil and the lack of inertia, right?" Jaune guessed.
Pyrrha beamed and said, "Yes, that is exactly it."
"Noct, look out!" Gladio called out. Sky gave up trying to approach him and instead turned his attention back to the original plan of a two on one fight. Sky swung his weapon high and Dove swung low. With a single weapon, the classroom knew Noctis was going to have to take one of these swings.
Ruby seized up and became rigid in her seat. Weiss leaned forward. Blake stayed nervously still. Yang gripped her chair. Jaune covered his eyes but peered through his fingers. Pyrrha placed a hand over her mouth. Ren seemed to relax as he let his eyes close. Nora leapt up from her seat.
Both blades arced through the air and Noctis gave each a brief glance before taking on a blue hue. As the halberd made contact, Noctis simply leaned his body out of the way, the weapon passing through his form as if completely unresisted. Soon all that remained in the blade's path was a blue outline of him. The sword from below doing the same and he leapt backwards again. Now he stood, no longer in between the two, and his aura gauge on the arena screen was left completely unaffected. He threw his blade forward and as it made contact with Dove, he rematerialized behind it, once again leaving a faint blue after image of himself behind. Dove was launched backwards from the attack and the three outlines disappeared a moment later. For anyone watching, it would be nearly impossible to tell what just happened, all they knew was Noctis somehow got out of the confrontation completely unscathed.
Prompto kept his hold on Cardin as Cardin hefted them both upright. With a gun in one hand and his left hand still on Cardin's ear, Prompto began slamming the butt of his gun into the back of Cardin's head, whittling away at his aura levels. Cardin jumped up and leaned back again but Prompto planted his feet on the ground and slipped out from under him. With Cardin now on the ground Prompto fired his gun letting the dust rounds further wear away at Cardin's Aura. Cardin suddenly performed a kip up to his feet and did a spinning swing, sending Prompto flying backwards and skidding across the ground. Before he could get his vision unblurred, Cardin was suddenly straddling him and raining punches down on Prompto's face.
Velvet gasped and found herself being comforted by a scowling Coco.
Soon after experimenting with Russel's semblance, Ignis was moving around expertly. Reducing the resistance of his movement, speeding his descent to get to the next point of impact faster, to anyone paying attention, he was fighting completely differently from any previous combat scenario and more importantly, was dancing circles around his opponent. If Russel went left, Ignis was going right and punishing an unprotected flank. If Russel went low, Ignis would go over and land behind his opponent with a speedy counter. Russel's aura continued to drain at an alarming rate. However, Ignis's assault soon ended as he disengaged Russel and charged after a new target.
"CARDIN!" Ignis bellowed, running to Prompto's aid. Cardin looked up in his direction.
"Don't ignore me!" Russel called after him.
Ignis hit the switch on his dagger and let it extend out into its spear form. Moving even quicker towards Cardin and Prompto he whistled, catching his teammate's attention. Sliding the spear across the ground, Ignis slammed his other dagger into Cardin, drilling the blade against his Aura. Prompto caught the spear, waited to see Russel launch himself through the air, and held it under his arm. Bracing it in the air, Russel rammed himself into the weapon practically folding over on himself before falling to the ground. A digital chime played as it was confirmed that the blow in question resulted in Russel's elimination from the match. Cardin swung his arm at Ignis and knocked him backwards as he got off of Prompto to follow after him.
Gladiolus followed after Noctis and swung his blade with a mighty yell. Noctis began to glow blue again as Gladiolus's blade swept through the space he occupied. His image was left behind as Noctis rolled through the air above where he had been the moment before. Dove had no way to expect this development and felt himself go flying from Gladiolus's attack and another digital chime played to confirm that he had been knocked out of the arena.
As Noctis touched down, he felt an impact against his back and he caught himself before hitting the ground. Planting his hand on the ground, he launched himself back feet first and got himself outside of Sky's attempted follow up attack range. Gladiolus ran forward with his shield extended and Sky dodged out of his way. However, Ignis leapt up and over his large ally with a stylish upside down spin. However, to Sky's surprise, Noctis was behind him doing the same motion and the two of them both slammed their weapons down on him immediately dropping his aura low enough to be eliminated with the third chime.
Gladiolus's charge continued as he clashed with Cardin who had been attempting to chase after Ignis. Gladiolus planted his shield into Cardin's chest and lifted him off the ground, throwing back with a mighty heave. Cardin landed heavily on the arena floor and he found himself alone in a four versus one fight.
"Prompto!" Ignis called out. Cardin spun in the gunslingers direction as he lifted his gun and fired it in another direction. The shot was ricocheted by Ignis who sent it at Cardin.
"Prompto!" Gladiolus bellowed and Cardin spun in his direction, just to feel a shot impact his back.
"Prompto!" Noctis shouted and Gladiolus turned toward him with his weapon extended towards Prompto. With a blue flash, Noctis disappeared and reappeared behind him, and Prompto tossed his gun to him. Cardin was shot once again by an attack he was not expecting. Ignis and Gladiolus both charged him and attacked him from either side, one with his shield and the other with an extended leg. The fourth and final chime sounded.
"The beatings continue if you keep being a problem for people," Gladiolus growled as he knelt down next to Cardin. "So accept some friendly advice, and keep your hands and words to yourself for a while, yeah?"
"Congratulations to Team NPSA," Glynda announced as the fight had now drawn to a close. "Now as this a classroom setting, can anyone in the class identify factors that may have had the most influence on this outcome? Guest students may participate as well."
Pyrrha stood up and said, "Team NPSA chose their battles and adapted their strategy to best deal with the battle as it changed. For instance, when the fight began, rather than let Team CRDL try to force Gladiolus out of the battle with two combatants, Noctis diverted his focus to preventing any sort of unfair ganging up on his teammate. We would see two more instances of this when Ignis would trade targets with another one of his teammates. First with Prompto when he was pinned to the arena floor, and again with Gladiolus to eliminate Sky."
"Correct," Glynda said with an affirming tone. "Furthermore by making these adjustments, they cut off Team CRDL momentum before they could ever get going. An enemy that is mentally behind is physically behind, too. Anything else?"
"Team CRDL just isn't as skilled," a male voice called out getting various reactions from the rest of the class. The voice was identified as belonging to a blond young man who wore an open shirt that showed off his abs. Resting over the back of his chair was a prehensile tail. "Sky kept hitting the arena during his fight with Gladiolus. Were he better trained, then Gladiolus would have never gotten the chance to set up his defenses."
"So what you're saying, in more acceptable terms, is that there is a difference in performance when one has mastery over their toolset," Glynda said, cleaning up the words of the blunt student. "Much like a larger vocabulary might help your ability to speak respectfully, Sun Wukong. Do try to keep it classroom appropriate."
"Sorry, teach," Sun replied.
"I am looking for two more takeaways from this fight before we adjourn class," Glynda announced. Velvet seemed to want to say something but her quiet nature got the better of her.
"Personal grudges don't belong on the battlefield," Coco said. Velvet smiled softly as Coco seemed to read her mind. "Team CRDL's leader let his personal grievances with Prompto guide his actions and it put the rest of his team at risk. Had he not been so consumed with his personal grudge then maybe they could have eliminated SOMEONE on the enemy team."
"Very good, Coco," Glynda said with a proud look. "First years if you have not met them yet, Team CFVY has graced us with their presence today. They are wealthy with knowledge. And Coco has brought up a very good point. Emotions are tools. With proper preparation and implementation they can be very useful. Without those things though… well we just witnessed a full team loss. One last point, anyone."
"Professor, I have a question," Weiss said. "Would it not be appropriate to acknowledge that there was clearly a lack of teamwork on the part of one team, more than just a difference in the one on one? Towards the end, Team NPSA showed some form of preplanning and cohesion in the strategies they used."
"A very good point," Glynda said. "You have all been assigned to teams for a reason. Not only are they someone that you can rely on to help cover your personal weaknesses, but they are people to learn from. They are a resource, make use of them. That is all for today. Enjoy your weekend, next we will be fully leaping into combat practice for the upcoming Vytal Festival."
Back in the arena, Team NPSA gathered themselves and got their weapons back to their owners.
"I need to get stronger," Gladiolus commented with a frustrated growl. "I can't swing my weapon fast enough to keep up with other people."
Ignis sheathed his dagger before collapsing the spear he recovered from Prompto. "I believe that is what your shield was for. Otherwise, I would suggest reducing the size of your weapon. I told you long ago that the weapon was going to be difficult to manage," Ignis replied matter-of-factly.
Noctis looked over at Prompto and saw that he seemed lost in thought. "Yo, you alright man?" he asked.
"Just think I need to do some work on my gun," he replied. "If my shots weren't being blocked, they were being ignored entirely. It works great against Grimm but against enemies with Aura, I'm getting nothing."
"Perhaps, a second weapon would be best suited," Ignis remarked. "We know what our futures hold, Grimm and people will get in our way. Having a weapon suited for either would be useful."
Prompto nodded. "I think I've got an idea for that," Prompto said. "But hey, here's to us going into our second semester!" He gave out a loud cheer.
"Second verse, same as the first," Ignis said with a small smile.
"If we're lucky," Noctis said as his eyes were drawn up to Team RWBY and JNPR. As long as they stayed with them, this promised to be a funny and crazy school year.
