Lily focused.
As June Celadon dove at her with two lightning-dust-charged batons, she dodged, firing a few shots from Evening Jade in the other girl's direction as she did. One bullet hit, but June barely staggered and recovered quickly. She threw one baton straight at Lily with perfect accuracy- her Semblance, Lily had figured- and it slammed straight into her stomach, sending electric shocks through her body.
She dropped both of her guns and fell to the ground, both from pain and the shock of the hit, feeling her Aura flicker. Shit, she swore inwardly. She was done for.
June ran in her direction to finish her off, but as her feet hit the ground, the tip of a shoe hit the ground too hard and she staggered.
Lily took her chance. Swiping up one of Evening Jade, she thrust one of her legs outward into June's ankle, tripping her further. With the girl fully unbalanced, Lily slammed into her, sending her to the ground, and shattered the other girl's Aura with a couple of shots.
"The match goes to Lily Sustrai!" Coco's voice rang out over the arena as claps and cheers rose from the crowd.
Lily reached out a hand to help June up. "Good game," She offered. "You've got some great moves."
June took it. "Thanks," She panted, standing. "You too."
As the cheering faded, Lily picked up her second gun and headed over the greet her team at the bleachers, unable to feel satisfied with her victory.
"You did really great!" Cobalt praised. Lily could tell he was being genuine, but she couldn't find herself sharing the sentiment.
She sat down with a sigh, tucking both of Evening Jade into their holsters.
"I got lucky," She pointed out. "If June hadn't tripped, she'd have taken me out in one more blow."
"Aw hey, you still did good!" Astra chirped. "Especially considering you still don't have a -" She broke herself off at a sharp look from Cobalt. "Sorry."
"That's exactly the problem though," Lily sunk into her seat. "It's June's Semblance that let her get the upper hand on me. If I had my own, I could've beaten her without having to resort to waiting for her to stumble."
Luna looked thoughtful. "I think you should talk to Jaune at some point," She said. "He might be able to help."
Lily glanced at her quizzically. "Because he teaches Aura?"
"Partially," Luna replied. "But there's something else, too." She grinned. "Plus, he's always full of great advice anyway."
"We've got time for one more fight today," Coco announced from the side of the arena. "Any volunteers?"
Astra's eyes glowed and she leaped to her feet. "I'll go!" She volunteered eagerly.
Coco didn't seem surprised. "And who do you pick for your opponent?"
Lily blinked in surprise and sat up straighter; Coco didn't usually let students pick who to fight themselves.
A wicked grin spread across Astra's freckled face. "Birch Aster."
There it was. Lily smiled as she settled into her seat. This would be fun.
The slightest hint of satisfaction crossed Coco's face. "Very well. Astra, Birch, please enter the stadium."
"Give him hell for us." Luna encouraged as Astra sprung from her seat.
Astra turned and winked at her. "Of course," She leaped down into the arena. Lily wondered if she knew how flirty she'd just been, or if she'd noticed the blush spread across Luna's face.
As Birch entered the other side of the stadium, his face twisted into a sneer.
"You won't get away as easily as you did last time." He growled.
Astra smiled with false sweetness. "I wouldn't bet on that."
"Take your positions," Coco instructed.
Astra swung Light of the Party out to its full length, brandishing it with both hands and slamming the smiley-faced button that activated mace-like spikes on either side of the hammer. Across from her, Birch swung out his huge broadsword. An unoriginal weapon for an unoriginal guy, Lily thought.
"Begin!"
The moment Coco spoke, Birch slammed his foot into the ground to send a shockwave through the arena, predictably, given that Astra slipped out of the way before it even reached her. As she came down, she slammed Light of the Party into the concrete floor of the arena, creating a small crater of uneven terrain.
Frustration crossing his face, Birch turned to face her and sent out another shockwave, which she gracefully dodged again. Lily found her movements interesting to watch; her flips and twists were so refined, and yet she swung her weapon around with brute force. It also pleased her to see that she'd taken Jaune's lesson to heart and now seemed to be reversing it onto Birch.
As she dodged another wave, Astra smirked at Birch as she managed to balance on her hammer.
"Careful, now," She teased slyly. "Wouldn't want to use up all of your Aura."
Lily leaned forward in curiosity. Why was she warning him?
Letting out a growl, Birch finally seemed to remember that he had a weapon he could use. Clutching his sword, he charged at Astra, who grinned deeply. She dashed out of his reach, slamming her hammer into the same crater from before and making it even deeper. Lily got an idea of what she was doing and smiled. Astra was certainly smarter than she'd given her credit for at the start of the semester.
"Come on, bitch boy!" Astra taunted as she bounced around the arena.
"Language, Miss Katt." Coco reprimanded from where she leaned against the wall at the edge of the arena, clearly enjoying the entertainment.
"Sorry!"
Astra was practically dancing around Birch now, looking far more spirited than he did. Clearly, she was greatly enjoying her revenge.
The ginger-haired girl planted herself right on the edge of her crater, opposite from where Birch stood. His face was contorted in anger and he was panting heavily.
"You're not as tough as you think!" He growled.
Astra leaned casually against Light of the Party. "Tougher than you, at least."
With a roar, Birch lifted his sword and charged blindly at her. At the last minute, Astra flipped away, leaving Birch to stumble into the crater and crash to the ground, his sword falling from his grip. As he attempted to get a hold on the broken, cracked concrete, Astra twirled Light of the Party. Just as Birch seemed to realize what was about to happen, Astra launched herself into the air, bringing the spiked hammer right down onto Birch, effectively shattering what little Aura he had left.
"The match goes to Astra!" Coco announced, seemingly struggling to hide her pleasure.
The cheer that rose from the crowd was twice as loud as it had been for Lily and she didn't even mind, raising her voice alongside the rest of the students. The only silence came from the rest of Team SRBY; Storm and Yarrow watched passively while Rowan simply sulked, her face red from what Lily assumed was anger and embarrassment.
"Fuck yeah!" Astra lifted Light of the Party into the air, her face flushed with pure triumph. "Take that, you overgrown peanut!"
"Astra." Coco reminded her again, though Lily could hear a laugh in her voice.
"Sorry again!" Astra apologized. "But that was totally worth it."
As Coco called the class to a close and Astra re-joined her team in celebration, the vice-headmistress headed over to them, pride clear on her face.
"Never let it be said that I don't keep my word." She chuckled lightly.
Astra bounded, still clearly full of energy. "That was great!" She exclaimed, "You have no idea how much I was hoping to do that."
"Thanks for giving her the chance to get back at him properly," Lily added to Coco. "I know it's not exactly honorable, but…"
Coco shrugged, smiling. "I may have to act as the responsible adult now, but I'll never get sick of seeing bigots get what they deserve if the situation is right." She tilted her glasses down to peer over them. "Just don't let anyone know I made an exception for you lot."
Cobalt grinned. "Now, why would anyone ever assume you'd make exceptions for the team I'm on?"
"Fair point," Coco shook her head light-heartedly. "You're getting as sassy as your mother these days, you know." She ruffled his hair. "Well, I'd better let you kids go and take a break. I need to go and get Glynda to come and fix…" She glanced at Astra's crater. "…That."
"Ah," Astra looked sheepish. "Sorry about that."
"Don't worry too much about it," Coco grinned. "I did way worse back in my school days."
As Coco headed to inspect the torn-up concrete, Lily followed her team out of the building, her mind drifting to Astra's fight. It seemed notable to her that Astra hadn't used her Semblance at all, and she wondered if she'd done it on purpose to make her feel better about not having one.
All the same, she was set on unlocking it within the year. She'd take Luna's advice and talk to Jaune, though she wasn't sure what he'd be able to offer. But she wasn't content on going without it, even if it wasn't totally necessary in a fight. A person's Semblance was part of their individuality and she would find hers.
