Chapter 16
Kagutsuchi Arena- Joint Tournament- Top Eight
Audience's Seats
Emerald was just minding her own business, when someone approached her.
"Hi. Emerald" Waved Yang, behind her were her teammates, all of team JNPR, and even Penny, Sun, and Neptune.
"Hello girls, and guys." Said Emerald returning the greeting. 'What the hell are they all doing here? Go find some other seats.'
"Where's Cinder?" Asked Yang.
"She had something to take care of."
"Hello. Are you one of Ruby's friends?" Asked Penny.
"She's Emerald, from Haven Academy." Introduced Yang. "We met during training at the training gym."
"Salutations! My name is Penny Polendina of Atlas Academy."
"Oh yeah? I'm from Haven too." Said Neptune. "But I don't remember seeing you before."
"Well… I guess I just have one of those forgettable faces." Said Emerald.
"Really? I don't think anyone could ever forget you. I'm Neptune, by the way." Smiled Neptune.
"Ahem." Weiss fake coughed a little.
"Oh… I mean… wait.." Said Neptune in deep thought. "You know what, I do remember seeing you and your teammate before. Right Sun?"
"Yeah. I do remember seeing them in the mess hall once or twice." Confirmed Sun.
'That's because we made sure to show ourselves in Haven a few times.' Thought Emerald.
"So your teammate, Mercury is going to fight first, right?" Asked Yang.
"Yeah. Got to support my teammate."
"Cool." Yang sat down, and others quickly followed.
'Why are you sitting down? Don't tell me you're going to watch the match with me? Go away!' Emerald screamed inside her mind.
"I'm going to face whoever wins this match. Might as well learn something."
"What the hell are you talking about?" Said Weiss. "You haven't had your match yet."
"My opponent is just some rainbow girl. I basically won already."
"And my opponent is…" Said Weiss, looking at Penny. When Penny saw Weiss looking at her, she returned with an innocent smile.
"I still can't believe they continue with the tournament." Said Jaune.
"I for one, glad!" Said Yang, and then turned to Pyrrha. "You too right?"
"Yes… and no… Something just doesn't feel right about all of this." Answered Pyrrha.
'Somethings not right? You have no idea.' Thought Emerald. 'But then again, maybe neither do I. It's like… it might all be a coincidence with the airship, but it feels like our scheme has crushed with other people's schemes, and now, it's a mass.'
In the Ring
"First! On the right corner, representing Haven Academy, the Tornado, Mercury Black!"
Mercury entered the ring and did a few kicks for the crowd.
"And on the left, our representative, our hope… Naoto Kurogane, The Bloodedge!"
"Stop calling me that!" Screamed Naoto.
"So, Bloodadge huh." Said Mercury with a smirk.
"Stop that, please. I really don't need to be associated with a criminal."
Two Days ago…
Jin: "He's like you, it's an unarmed fighter. But unlike you, he's got long range options."
Naoto: "Yes. I know. I saw the video of his match. His kicks can launch some kind of projectile."
Jin: "And he can manipulate them, making them chase his opponent. Like in your previous match, keep him in your range. Not like you have other options."
Present…
Naoto dashed towards Mercury at full speed, blood gathering in his hand, and then thrust a spear of blood at Mercury's feet. Mercury jumped, and while in midair, rapidly fired multiple shots at Naoto, Naoto countered the bullet with his blood sword slash, cutting the bullet that was about to hit him, and dashed forward immediately, dodging the rest of the projectiles.
Using the recoil from the shot, Mercury backflipped and landed a small distance away from Naoto, and immediately entered a fighting stance with one leg up, threatening to fire more projectiles. Naoto zip zaps around the arena, not letting Mercury have a clear shot, but suddenly, something hit him in the back, and Naoto fell over.
'The bullets from before? It's still chasing me?'
Naoto tried to get up, but Mercury was already on him, and kicked him right in the face! But just as he tried to kick Naoto again, Naoto swung his blood sword, the blade didn't hit Mercury, but some of the splashing blood blinded his eyes for a while, just enough time for Naoto to stand up.
SLASH KAID!
Naoto charged forward again, and slashed Mercury with a blade of blood, too fast for Mercury to even react, forcing him to block. After that, both men exchange punches and kicks, blocks and parries.
Jin: "The weakness of kick focus fighters is mobility. When you kick, you can't move, and when standing on one leg, you can easily be toppled."
Every time Mercury kicked, Naoto aimed at his standing leg, Mercury realized this and immediately jumped and changed legs while continuing to attack.
'He keeps trying to target my leg, you think I wasn't prepared for that?' Thought Mercury. 'You're in for a surprise.'
CLANG!
Finally, after half a minute of exchanging blows, Naoto ducked under a roundhouse kick and countered with a low kick, kicking Mercury in the leg! But Mercury barely moved, instead, Mercury kicked him right in the face! Naoto reacted and block, but was still sent spinning back.
'What!? His boots are that heavy armored?'
Refusing to give up his space, Naoto immediately rushed back in with an overhead kick, an overhead hammer fist, and an uppercut. Mercury managed to block all of them, and returned with a series of kicks to Naoto's left leg, left rips, and head, Naoto blocked the last one with a well-timed time barrier and unbalanced Mercury, using this chance, Naoto gathered blood in his hand, but before he could attack, Mercury recovered, and griped Naoto's head with both his hands, and pulled down.
'I already know your blood Semblance weakness. It's so obvious.'
Realizing what Mercury was doing, Naoto lifted one arm to his abdomen, and one to his face, just in time to block Mercury's knee. Mercury gave a cruel smile, and kneed Naoto over and over again!
"Say goodbye to your arms."
'I can't break free! His hands lock my head like a pincer! I have no choice!"
"OVERDRIVE!"
An explosion of blood, centres around Naoto, forcing Mercury to let go and back away!
"Cough…. Cough…."
'I sallow some of his damn blood…'
Blood was everywhere, in his eyes, clouding his sense of vision, the stink of iron, clouding his sense of smell. Mercury looked before him, standing in the centre of the blood pool, among the sea of red, stood a white-haired Naoto.
'What the fu-'
And in a flash, Naoto was in front of Mercury, arm outstretched, and then, a spear of blood hit Mercury in the chest, pushing him back.
'What! That blood spear came out faster than before!'
Naoto was ruthless, cutting Mercury with a blood sword like there was no tomorrow, finally, Mercury kicked Naoto in the chest, shooting a bullet at the same time, only to find that the gun in his boot was jammed.
'What?! Why now? Is it because of the blood?'
Even though the gun was jammed, the kick still sent Naoto a good distance. The two of them stared at each other, and kicked forward at the same time, and their feet met, steel, Aura and Seithr clashed, and the impact sent both of them flying backward.
Mercury managed to regain his balance and landed with both arms and legs on the ground. Naoto turned in the air and landed on both his feet, and his right hand dug into the ground, stopping him from flying further away.
'So fast! Again! Using forward momentum from his dash to increase his offensive power and speed. I've never seen people rely so heavily on dash momentum like that.' Thought Mercury.
"Persistent Cockroach! You are starting to annoy me." Said Mercury as he began to start to stand up, but found that he couldn't.
'My right knee, it isn't working!'
Naoto carefully walked towards Mercury cautiously, but soon realizes his right leg was disabled and relaxed.
"Looks like mine is better made than yours." Said Naoto with a smile, petting his right leg.
"What?" Said Mercury, looking at Naoto.
Announcer: "What's this? Mercury seems unable to stand up!"
Soon, a referee entered the arena and approached Mercury.
"Can you still fight?" Asked the referee.
"Yes!"
"Stand up for me." Ordered the referee.
And Mercury shifted his balance onto his left leg and stood up, but the referee looked at him dubiously.
"Your right leg, a prosthetic?" Asked the referee.
"Yeah? So what?"
"It's clear that it's broken."
"I can still fight!"
The referee shook his head and began to speak through his headset.
"Mercury is unable to continue fighting, the winner is Naoto Kurogane!"
And the crowd cheered!
Audience's Seats
"What the hell?" Said Yang, with her hand in her ears. "They weren't that happy before!"
"Well this is a Hierarchical city and he is still one of them after all. Before it could be only luck, but now, they see a real chance of winning." Said Blake.
Sun didn't want to admit it, but he felt good now that Naoto had won again, it meant he didn't lose because of luck or something out of his control.
"Oh pleases. I'm going to beat him so hard, he'll be in a hospital for weeks!" Said Yang.
Weiss rolled her eyes.
"Emerald's gone." Said Blake.
They turned towards the seat where she was sitting, and yes, Emerald already left without any of them noticing.
"Probably just checking on her teammate, we just didn't hear her leave because of all the cheering." Said Weiss.
"That was so cool!" Screamed Ruby, excited. "How did his hair and eyes change like that? Just like Yang! I don't know the point, but still, it was so cool!"
"Overdrive." Said Pyrrha. "I think that was an Overdrive, oh… and the fact that he just yelled Overdrive."
"Overdrive?" Asked Ruby, and then slowly turned to Penny.
"Overdrive. A technique that enhances the Drives' power by pouring Aura into the Drive, pushing the Drive over its limit, hence, Overdrive. Some Semblance users can do the same, but Overdrive is a more official, formulated technique." Explained Penny.
"Wow. They really like to formulate things, don't they? Our dad just unlocked our Aura and let we figured out the rest ourselves." Commented Yang.
"That means we can do the same too, with our Semblance, right?" Asked Ruby.
"I don't know… are Drive and Semblance even the same thing?" Wondered Jaune.
"What? I thought they were the same thing. Like tomato tomahto." Said Nora.
"I feel it's more like soccer and football…" Said Ren.
"Not… it's more like Drive encompasses Semblance." Said Weiss.
"I don't get it. Does the Highlanden what, call everything they can do a drive?" Asked Nora
"I don't know. That's just what I heard. But then again, logically that would mean that they could obtain special powers through unnatural means."
It was silent for a few seconds, until Ruby spoke. "Let's just ask Makoto or Noel…"
"Hi! We agreed not to talk about That Person." Warned Weiss.
"Please guys, tell no one you saw me here!" Pleaded Noel.
"Why?" Asked Yang.
"I… I don't think I can tell you. I know it's suspicion, but I just don't want you to get involved. "
"But we're already involved."
"Please! This is dangerous. Tell no one, not even Tsubaki!"
It was serious. But even though they only knew Noel for less than a week, they trusted her, and agreed.
"She's gone for a whole day now, and no one even asked anything." Commented Ruby.
"Ruby, not here." Warned Weiss again. "Let's go somewhere else."
"The Kaka Village again?" Suggested Ruby.
"No. Someone might get suspicious if we were seen going underground again."
"Then that restaurant at Orient Town!" Suggested Yang.
"No!" Said Weiss immediately.
"Then why don't you come up with something other than opposing everything we Suggest." Said Blake.
"How about… Doctor Litchi place." Suggested Jaune.
They all turned to him.
"What? Why?" Asked Yang.
"Doctor Litchi did say Noel could stay with her for the time being. Maybe we could see her there."
"Litchi…" Said Weiss, thinking. "I really don't want to have anything to do with her anymore."
"Why? She's so nice." Asked Neptune.
"Sure, she's "nice". Alright." Said Sun with air quotes.
Weiss looked at Neptune, and decided to say nothing.
"Oh! Can I join you?" Asked Penny. "I don't have many opportunities to see the city."
"Sure, the more the merrier."
"Sorry guys, but we can't join you. I'm going to take the rest of our team to that Chinese restaurant we've been to before." Said Sun.
"No, it's alright."
"Me either." Said Blake. "I'm checking out some books."
"Oh, okay, I guess it's just us eight then."
On the other side of the Audience's Seats…
Emerald looked down as they carried Mercury away.
'This isn't good. I was supposed to help if need be… but it ended so abruptly… shit, Cinder's not going to be happy about this!'
VIP's Box
Hibiki looked down as Mercury was carried away.
'There's nothing in the report about this Mercury Black having prosthetic legs.'
He looked over at Emerald.
'Hazama was in charge of processing them. This is his doing. So, these are his ally… unfortunately I already have my hands full with Hazama and Kurogane…'
Arena Backstage- Healing Ward
Mercury wanted to leave, and then hunt down that "Bloodadge", and kill him.
'No, now that he has won, Cinder will have use of him. If I kill him now, Cinder might turn me into cinder.'
But after that, he's going to enjoy crushing his shit face, slowly, one boot at a time. But first, he's stuck here, fixing his legs. When the door opened, Mercury pointed the screwdriver at the door.
"Wow, dude, careful with that thing." Said Kazama Kval with his hands up. "It's just me, your old mate Honoka."
Mercury lifted an eyebrow. "Huh? Hono what?"
"Did I use the wrong name? Wait, I don't remember the name I just gave. Oh, shoot, what did I use with you guys again? Oh yes, Kazama."
It wasn't really a secret, everyone suspected Kval wasn't using his real name, that just confirmed it. But…
'It's like he doesn't give a fuck anymore.'
"You looked like a mass.".
"What the hell… when did you even get in here?"
"Who cares about that right now. More importantly, that Bloodadge Jr really did a number on you."
It wasn't just his legs, Mercury was bruised all over. Him, a professional assassin, loses to a cadet. Emerald and Torchwick will never let him live this down, he will never stop hearing about it till the day he dies.
Unless he killed that little shit first, or maybe Emerald and Torchwick.
"He only won because he has a stupid Semblance."
"So, I take it you don't have one?"
"Maybe I do, maybe I don't. What's it to ya?"
"What do you know about Drives?"
"What? Isn't that just what you Highlandans call Semblance?"
"No… Drives are special abilities that are somewhat unique to different people, but… Drives can be obtained, artificially."
"What? Fake powers? I don't need no fake power."
"Like you don't need fake legs?"
"Careful. Pal."
"Ragna The Bloodedge wasn't born with his Drive."
That got his attention.
"Let's say someone was interested in this… Drive, where can one obtain it?'
"Who knows." Kazama smiled with a big smile.
Mercury just added one more name to his "to kill list".
Orient Town- Chinese Restaurant
Ragna sitting in the same restaurant as before, with his hand on his chin, treating another person to a free meal.
'Why am I feeding another person again?' Thought Ragna.
He was just walking around, and then suddenly, this rude little brat demanded food from him.
"What are you looking at? You pedo!" Said the small figure in brow coat.
"Can you not call me that in public!" Ragna said, nervously looking around, while keeping his voice down. "Anyway, you're full now, right? Let's cut the crap, you didn't just randomly target me just to bug me for food. I know there are at least two of you in there."
Suddenly, the girl stopped, her head fell forward and hit the table. Ragna looked around again, hoping no one noticed that.
"Hey! Are you alright?"
"Ragna." Said the girl, suddenly lifting her head, but with a more mature tone. "Greetings. My name is Trinity Glassfille."
'Another of the six.' Ragna did his best not to look shocked.
"The Platinum Alchemist. So, what does the great alchemist want with me."
"First thing first. These two children do not aware of my existence. Please, keep it from them, at least for now."
"Fine, whatever. No skin off my back."
"Now, on to business. Your Grimoire."
That got Ragna's attention, though he didn't show it.
"I'm not sure how much they told you, but you can't beat Tarumi."
"Yeah, fake Grimoire yadda yadda, I'll just crush him with my sword then, and I got a huge sword."
"Did they not tell you that he can control your Grimoire?"
'Another detail that rabbit neglected to mention.'
"So, what do you suggest then?"
"You leave Tarumi to us, we've got a plan."
"If you've got a plan, then why is Tarumi still alive?"
"I said we've got a plan, but… we still don't have all of the preparation done yet."
"Then call me when you're finished!" Ragna got up and put down some money. "As far as I'm concerned, this is a race, on who can kill Tarumi first. You do you, and I'll do me, just don't get in my way!"
And with that, Ragna left.
To be continued