Chapter Twenty-Seven: Duels and Doubles
Just as Phoenix entered his room he got an alert on his scroll informing him of a robbery. "So much for sleep," he groaned as he ran off towards the locker room.
"Who are you and what are you doing here!" Winter demanded to know, her sword at Phoenix's throat. He was glad he was wearing the mask, otherwise she'd have probably just killed him. On his way the ship he met up with her it the courtyard.
"Lady, I'm guessing you're new here since you don't know who I am, so I'm going to give you one chance to put the sword down and walk away," he said.
"Are you threatening me?" she snarled.
"I was going more for intimidating, but threatening works too."
"Shut up! Now!"
"So I take it that's a no on my offer of letting you walk away."
"I would never run from scum like you."
"Then let's keep this quick. I've got a flight to catch," Phoenix said he flipped open his lighter and hit her with a fire blast. When she recovered she lunged at him, only for him to move out of the way just in time. "Hey… I could kinda use a pickup," he said to Jenkins, who he had called while Winter recovered.
"What'd ya mean? We're still at the school," Jenkins replied, confused by the order as well as the yells of rage that could be heard in the background of the call.
"You'll see when you get here, just get here," Phoenix ordered as he dodged Winter's strikes. After he put his scroll away he drew his swords. "I don't want to have to hurt you," he said as they clashed. "Mostly because Weiss will be pissed if I do," he added in his head.
"Shut up!" Winter yelled, losing her cool with him.
"Fine. Be that way." He fired two flame dust rounds up into the air and controlled the fire to hit her, sending her flying back. He fired multiple ice rounds at her to immobilize her. "I really don't want to deal with Weiss if I hurt her sister too badly." Winter, however, don't have the same limitations as him and took full advantage of it. She dodged his shots before charging at him, splitting her sword and unleashing a storm of strikes on him, all of which he blocked. He barely managed to keep up. Winter added to her assault by using a glyph to summon a storm of birds to attack him. Phoenix leaped back and managed to blocked them with a wall of fire. When the fire died down all Winter saw behind it was a cloud of smoke. A throwing knife came flying out of it but was easily caught by Winter.
"Did you really expect that to work?" she taunted.
"Nope"
"What do you-?" She was cut off by a beeping noise. She looked for the source only to find that it was her own hand. More specifically the ice dust explosive that'd been stuck the knife. It detonated before she had any chance to get rid of it. The explosion left her immobilized in ice, shouting about how Phoenix, or as she called him "scum too afraid to face her without hiding behind a mask" would pay for this. Her yelling was quickly drowned out by the sound of engine overhead.
"Sorry Ice Queen, but that's my ride. By the way, I think you missed more than three strikes in that fight!" He called to her as he grappled up to the ship.
"So what was that about?" Jenkins asked as once Phoenix sat down in the copilot seat.
"It's a long story."
"Sooooo, I heard The Flaming Shadow stopped a robbery last night. Got any details about what happened?" Yang asked as she walked into the coliseum with Phoenix, her team, and JNPR.
"And I heard that someone who looked a lot like The Flaming Shadow fought my sister!" Weiss added, clearly enraged.
"Hey, that was on her. Besides, didn't hurt her," Phoenix retorted.
"You call freezing her to the courtyard 'not hurting her'? And what's this about him, or rather you, somehow knowing Qrow and you. How'd she even figure that out?"
"Wwweeeeelllll, Qrow and I may or may not have a running joke going on with her about that whole 'three strikes missed' thing, and I may or may not have brought it up during the fight."
"You did what?" Weiss exclaimed while Ruby explained the "three strikes" thing to the others. After being informed Yang started laughing hysterically.
"Can you please tone down the volume Weiss? I really don't want you to reveal my secrets to the world. Anyway, I'll admit it may have been a bad idea, but the look on her face was totally worth it." Upon hearing this Weiss hit him in the shoulder. "I probably deserved that. Back to the original topic…" Phoenix said, telling them about his exploits from the previous night in third person.
"That fight was incredibly one-sided," Phoenix commented after the match that pit Coco and Yatsuhashi against Mercury and Emerald.
"How'd that even happen? Team CVFY is usually able to destroy their enemies," Yang asked.
"I don't know, but I'll try to talk to Coco and Yatsuhashi later to see what happened."
"You've got to be bloody kidding me!" Phoenix exclaimed when Qrow reached the part of his story about the innkeeper. His outburst caused both Qrow and Ruby to start laughing while Yang complained about losing to Qrow in the game they were playing.
"Best two out of three," he offered.
"To change the topic, how'd your little talk with Oz go?" Phoenix asked, wanting to keep up the illusion of him knowing nothing.
"Yeah, did you get in trouble?" Ruby added.
"Naahh. Oz and I go way back. We're cool," Qrow explained.
"Cool for an old guy," Yang joked.
"Not funny."
"Soooo what're you doing here? Dad said you'd be gone on a mission for like ever," Ruby inquired.
"Well a professional, like myself, is expected to get results as soon as possible."
"Yeah, I get that. We're pretty much pros too."
"Are you now?"
"I stop crime on an almost nightly basis and run missions for Oz so…"
"And we totally saved Vale while you were gone," Yang said.
"Funny, as I heard it Vale suffered a Grim attack when you almost managed to stop a train, and I've never heard of you to begin with."
"Hey!"
As Qrow said this he defeated Yang yet again in the game they were playing. "But they don't give out medals for almost."
"They do and they're called silver!" Ruby declared.
"And we helped lock up Roman Torchwick. He's locked up in Ironwood's ship, and crimes been down ever since. That's basically a bounty mission," Yang stated.
"Yeah, but without the pay," Phoenix groaned.
"Oh like you need the money. You're all acting like huntresses-"
"And huntsmen."
"But you're not thinking like ones. You really think four girls, some guy in a mask, and their friends can end all crime in Vale."
"Not all crime, no. But the fear of The Flaming Shadow will make criminals think twice before they step out of their holes. And when they finally do, I'll be waiting."
"Whatever helps you sleep at night. Besides, it's not like anyone knows who you are to begin with."
"Hey! Again."
"Anyway, crime hasn't just been down, it's stopped, completely-"
"I'm calling bullshit on that. I had to stop a bank robbery last night, and when I was patrolling afterwards I caught at least ten more criminals," Phoenix countered.
"I'm not talking about petty crime, I'm talking about the major ones lead by the White Fang. You cut off the head of a King Taijitu, but now the second one is calling the shots. That's what Ironwood can't get through that thick metal head of his."
"We already know why. My mother is planning to use the White Fang and an army of Grimm to attack the festival. How or when she's going to do it, we don't know, but we do know that what's going on right now, it's the calm before the storm."
"Well aren't you Mr. Smarty Pants."
"Thanks, I try."
"You two have talked to Ironwood?" Yang asked, wanting to keep a fight from breaking out.
"Do opps for Ozpin remember. Talked to him for them a few times," Phoenix explained.
"As for me, I know everyone to some extent. Remember, you're talking to a member of the coolest team to ever graduate Beacon, Team Stark. That's when I met your parents. We were pretty well known back in the day."
"Mostly for your crummy fashion sense," Ruby joked.
"Hey, we looked good, and I have a number of 'inappropriate' stories that'll back that up, but I'll save those for when you're older."
"Okaythat'senoughIthinkit'stimeforyoutogonow," Phoenix stated as he pushed Qrow out the door.
"Whatever. I'm too old to be seen around a bunch of kids 're going to cramp my style. Look, just remember that you've still got a long way to go. And don't think for a second that graduating means you're done. Every day out there is worth week in this place. You three, you're gona' go far if you never stop moving forward." With that he walked out the door. Just when they thought he was gone, he looked through the door and said, "Oh, and Phoenix, if you hurt Ruby, They'll never find the unidentifiable remains of your body."
"Wha-? How did you-? Who told you-?" Phoenix and Ruby stammered. Then Phoenix saw who Qrow was winking at. "Damn it Yang!"
"Hey Ruby! We saved you a seat!" Phoenix called out to Ruby.
"Thanks," she replied as she sat down between him and Blake. "So, you're good with tectonics-"
"Tactics."
"Yeah, that. What do you think Yang and Weiss will be fighting?"
"They're going up against Atlas, the same place Weiss, Winter, and Ironwood are from. The opposition will most likely have high tech and a good strategy." As soon as he finished saying that, the combatants in question arrived. "Or not." One of them was a guy dressed in a suit and holding a trumpet while the other, a female cat Faunus, had a rainbow theme and wielded nunchucks. The boy brought up a personal grudge against Weiss due to her family running his out of business. When Yang tried to step in the Faunus started taunting her. When she mentioned Yang being "top heavy", she lost it.
"Here we go again," Ruby groaned.
"This has happened before?" Phoenix asked.
"Remember that explosion at Signal a couple years ago?"
"You've got to be bloody kidding."
"Nope."
"Well this'll be especially amusing."
"Good job you two," Blake congratulated as she, Ruby, and Phoenix ran up to the Yang and Weiss, who had just won their match.
"Yeah," Ruby cheered.
"So… you want to change your clothes? No I am not buying you a new set. I get the feeling that what you wear is enough to dent even my funds," Phoenix stated as he helped Weiss up, causing everyone to laugh. Weiss's laugh quickly turned into a cough. "But seriously, I'm not paying."
I got a request from Kyrogue23 for a flight between Winter and Phoenix. Hope you like what I did. Next chapter should be interesting considering what'll happen. Thanks for reading!
