Big Issues
AN: I'm glad that I had this whole thing written early this week, so much time taken up by other things that I can't do any of what I wanted for myself. On the other hand, got some people to thank for faves and folows- dc0903, BobTheDust and Suzysti... all since the last time I gave the shout outs. Thank you! Along with the usual reviewer who leaves short but encouraging words.
I hope you all enjoyed the last chapters and the fun there because we're diving back into the action. So here we go!
Vytal Tournament – Burn
It was interesting for the teams in the common room when they woke up. Sage and Scarlet took it in stride, as did Neptune who was alone. Itazura was taking pictures with a wild grin, laughing at the thoughts of blackmail or simple teasing. Ren and Nora had descended into a stuttering mess once they realized their position as Ren had shifted in his small space to sort of spoon the short girl. It was noticed that neither of them said anything against being together, just the embarrassment of being found in the position.
Ruby and Weiss had moved closer, but the size of the couch didn't match the size of them together. Didn't stop them from somehow repositioning so that Weiss was using Ruby as a pillow for her upper half, her hips raising the rest of her to match the level of her partners' belly. Nearby, Blake and Sun hadn't moved much beyond his tail wrapping around the cat. Though because they were in the common room, Blake had started with her bow on… now it was off and her 'pillow' was playing with her ears, watching them twitch as he touched the fine hairs that coated them. The best reaction he got so far was her rubbing her face into his chest and squeezing him with her arms a little. Something that a fox made sure to record.
The pair of blondes weren't much better, as Yang was sprawled out over Denko, her larger body ensuring he was pinned down but kept warm. With his arms trapped under her, he couldn't do anything and Yang didn't seem to be moving anytime soon with the common room being a bit colder than the dorm rooms normally are. Denko knew that she wouldn't expose herself to the cold if she could help it, making him her heat source. He'd dealt with this before when they were younger and far smaller.
But Pyrrha had moved to be curled up with Jaune, looking extremely peaceful with his arms wrapped around her. While for Jaune, this may have been a force of habit from dealing with his sisters but this was something different. He may have been pinned under her weight and unable or unwilling to disturb the sleeping girl but it wasn't just chivalry keeping him as he was, there were feelings in his head that he was trying to process but he was completely lacking in experience to recognize what it meant and had no capability at the moment to talk about it, and lacking the nerve to do so.
And that was how Talon and Anya found them all this morning. It was a good thing that they had a day to rest before the finals. They spent the morning watching the exhibition matches that entertained the crowds during the break. After getting lunch, they moved to the training rooms to help the three prepare for the next day. Yang and Sun had no problems with pushing as hard as they could, before the others toned them down so they wouldn't strain themselves before the finals.
Pyrrha had troubles concentrating at times, something that Team DAIT knew why but had assured the others that she just had nerves. When it was questioned that the girl was a champion for several tournaments and had been doing well here without any hints of nerves, the older team had told them that nerves can pop up at any time and everyone deals with them differently. Not to mention that she'd potentially be facing off against friends. That was enough to get them to back off… mostly.
Pyrrha's relief was short lived as Talon came at her with her scimitars swinging.
There was some amusement later when Weiss got curious about her dress from the dance and tried it on. She was relieved to find that it still fit and she could wear it for some time. Her team wasn't so lucky with theirs; Ruby's was too tight to fit in without risk of tearing, Blake had grown too much for it to be considered descent behind her, and Yang's was just too tight around her middle for more than this simple test. Nora and Pyrrha had gotten roped into playing dress up with the girls, the taller girls' fitting well enough yet while Nora had the same problem as Ruby. They found that Weiss and Pyrrha's dresses had a little more stretch to the material compared to the others.
The next morning, everyone had risen from their respective beds and ate a filling breakfast together, something that had become habit. The cafeteria was still rationing their meals, as expected, but passing small portions of their meals to those going to the finals added up to ensure that the fighters had a full meal and a hungry stomach wouldn't be a hinderance. And the promises of treating them to dinner, win or lose, was incentive for them to do their best.
Because the finals were expected to be shorter fights as they were one on one and not using the biomes, they were being held in the afternoon. That left the fighters the entire morning to warm up and prepare in their own ways. But the time went fast and everyone made their way to Amity to watch and fight. Sun, Yang, and Pyrrha separated from the group to go to the locker room that was being used by all of the finalists.
"Are you nervous?" Sun asks, looking as relaxed as ever, though with his tail twitching to show his agitation.
"A bit, first time going solo in front of such a big crowd." Yang was playing with her hair, coming it with her fingers.
"I've been better." Pyrrha admits, not letting her friends or the others in the room know the truth of what was bothering her. Even with the evidence in front of her, it was still mind boggling to learn that magic was real and there was a secret group that was going to be using her to try to keep the power safe from some mysterious enemies. She had the feeling that they knew who they were fighting but Anya had told her that they were easing her into things and not dumping everything on her at once. But if this was just the surface, how much was there really to go through? Could she truly keep it a secret from her team? Her friends?
"Hey." Pyrrha jumps when a hand touches her shoulder. Snapping her head up, she finds it was Yang. "Sorry, you must really have the jitters but it's time to go up." The blonde points to the door to the tunnel that leads to the arena platform where the other competitors were already starting to file out, Penny had looked back to give them a bright smile while Sun was hanging back and watching them. The three missed Mercury giving them a smirk… more confident than he normally had anyway.
"Think they're ready for this?" Neptune asks as they take their seats. He was obviously going to be rooting for his best friend, even over his other friends.
"With how strong those three are, I'd be more worried about their opponents." Denko leans back in his seat. He'd sparred against all of them and they were a challenge in some way. Pyrrha could tear apart her opponents' defenses and deliver a brutal series of attacks at critical areas. Sun is highly agile with a fair amount of strength and stamina, combined with the reach of his weapon made him tricky to deal with. Yang had the largest aura reserves of the trio, allowing her to take the biggest hits and she was already the physically strongest and nearly as agile as Pyrrha. All of that wasn't taking their Semblances into account, Pyrrha always able to recall her weapons when she throws them and move her opponents, Sun's clones can easily overwhelm a target as they act independently, and Yang grows in strength the more she gets hit. He'd received his share of lumps from the three while training.
"I can't wait to see how Penny does out there!" Ruby squeals as she bounces in her seat, making the rest of her bounce as well.
"Sit still!" Weiss chastises, glad that the medicine combined with the healing aspect of aura had healed her hands to the point that she didn't need them to be wrapped in bandages anymore. The digits were still sensitive to touch and temperatures, but they were functional. "What about Yang? She's your sister and teammate?"
"I know she'll do great out there! She loves to have a fight like this!" The young leader responds. Blake nodding next to her in agreement.
"I'm just more worried about Pyrrha, she didn't seem like herself yesterday or this morning." Nora says to her team, Ren giving a small nod.
"C'mon guys, Pyrrha's got this. Let's make sure she knows she has our support." Jaune was being encouraging, something that helped to get Nora excited for.
Behind them, DAIT shared a look, knowing about the meeting that took place while they were watching movies, Anya having told them all about the chosen Guardian and her reactions to things. They knew full well about the burden being put on the tall girl and the stress it was putting on her, having been through the talks and other things before.
Out in the stands Cinder sat alone in the red cushioned seats. She may have been surrounded by other students, most of whom were from either Beacon or Haven. Mercury was busy 'representing' her team while Emerald was in the stands somewhere else and Neo might as well have vanished, which is what she wanted. She was looking forward to her plans coming together.
Emotions were at a positive high at the moment from watching the fights and enjoying the other festivities. The excitement was almost palpable. She couldn't wait to bring it all crashing down.
"Now! For the moment you've all been waiting for!" Port declares over the speakers, making the crowd go wild as they were anticipating the finale of the tournament. "The one-on-one finals!" It was probably a good thing that most of the sunlight in the stadium wasn't direct and thus not a distraction to the audience.
The finalists walk out onto the central arena to display themselves to the crowd before the rounds began, stopping in the middle and lining up so the cameras could get a good look of them all for posterity. Yang stood at one end, putting on a confident display as put a hand on her plush hip and a smirk. A taller man next to her stood stoically, dressed much like a hunter with a leather vest held closed by two straps, a third strap across his chest held a bronze pauldron on his right shoulder and a belt around his waist that looked like it used to sit loosely before. Leather gloves covered his hands and it was notable that the glove on his right hand as well as the vest on his right side were much longer than his left side. His white shirt had the top buttons undone to show the X scar on his upper pecs with a matching scar on his right cheek, the pale marks standing out against his tanned skin. A wide brimmed hat with a feather finished his look and the large bow on his back showed his preference.
Sun stood next in line, pulling at his open shirt to ensure it sat well as he gave an easy smile that gave him a fair number of fans. Next to the faunus, the taller man looked to come from Atlas given his white armor on his chest, arms, boots, and belt, even a wrap-around headpiece that left his face free. Under the armor, he wore some sort of black bodysuit with a shirt that had lacing connecting the front to back over the suit. His brown pants seemed out of place compared to the rest of his armor but they were functional and had pouches attached to his belt.
Next to him stood a shorter man but he wore a more intricate- a white undershirt with a high collar, a blue shirt over that with golden edging down the front with red hem at the bottom. Black pants cover his legs and a matching cloak covers his shoulders, held with a bronze clasp on his right chest. Fingerless gloves adorned his hands and bronze plates were held to his waist by a red cloth belt. On his right arm, bronze segmented armor protects the outer side from shoulder to hand. A large round clasp just under the pauldron portion of the armor had a pair of red cords hanging from it that hung around his torso and tied up the other end somewhere behind him. His darker skin was decorated with some face paint, a red line down the bridge of his nose and one red line under each eye. His black hair hung loose to his shoulders and partially hid the large hoop earrings her wore.
Penny stood next in line, standing out as not only the shortest fighter in the lineup but also the thinnest, the only one who hadn't gained weight thanks to the Issue. Mercury stood next to the Atlesian 'girl', looking like he was fighting himself just to stay still and also having the lightest build of the men on display. And Pyrrha ended the line, still unsure and unable to focus solely on the task at hand, rubbing her left arm over the armor.
The eight finalists stood before the crowd of thousands with many times more watching on televisions or listening to radios but that only made the crowd cheer as they were ready to see the five Huntsmen and three Huntresses engage in combat to see who will come out on top. The fact that they didn't let their weight hold them back only made things more inspiring to the masses, showing just what these people were capable of.
"Barty, why don't you explain the rules?" Port asks his co-host up in the announcer's box.
"Oh, it's quite simple, Peter." The History professor begins to explain. "Instead of a bracket system, each round of the finals will be determined randomly immediately before the match takes place."
"Much like any good hunt, there will be zero time to prepare!" Peter was almost boasting and thankfully had been both banned and had the sense to not tell his hunting stories.
"Ah, yes! Yes! Now let's see who our first match will be!" Oobleck declares and the holographic screens began to rapidly cycle through the pictures of the eight finalists, eventually settling on Mercury Black on the left selection and Yang Xiao Long on the right soon after.
"Yang Xiao Long and Mercury Black!" Port yells out the final selection of the match up and the crowd goes wild, having seen both fighters and loving their close quarters combat styles during their matches so far.
"Break a leg, Sis!" Ruby shouts, cupping her hands to project her voice more in hopes that her family would hear her over the crowds, Weiss looking amused at the show of support while Blake wasn't much of a fan of the noise. Sage almost looked bored as he rested his head against his fist propped up by the arm of his chair. Jaune was showing plenty of support while Nora looked ready to jump out there to fight herself, compared to Neptune, Scarlet, and Ren who were all sitting calmly.
Itazura's eyes went wide as she quickly checked her scroll. She had noticed that the infiltrator had fixed the first match to be Mercury vs Yang and had promptly set it back to be randomized. The selection hadn't been tampered with again, even the activity from the other end had been scaled down to almost nothing as of yesterday, something that set the fox on edge. But now they were getting their wish out of sheer dumb luck. The possibilities of what their plan was raced through her mind, coming to various conclusions that had little basis as she didn't know exactly who the infiltrator was yet. Or their preference to choosing Mercury to fight. She had let the first rigged fight go to see how it played out against Coco and Yatsuhashi and had watched the favored team get crushed. She tried to avoid a repeat this time but apparently luck wasn't on her side.
She resigned herself to being unable to do anything about it now but watch things closely for anything that seems to be off. She did ensure that she would be recording the fight from multiple angles so she wouldn't miss a thing if she had to review it. Her teammates noticing her agitation were put on alert and scanned the crowds but there wasn't anything they saw to act on. Not even the security forces from Atlas and Vale looked to be doing anything that would indicate that there was a problem anywhere.
Elsewhere, Cinder rose from her seat and walked away, excusing herself by claiming she needed the restroom. It had been amusing to hear the chatter of Team CFVY behind her complaining about wanting to be up on the stage tonight.
"Would all other combatants please leave the stage." Port asks through the speakers. Six of the aspiring Huntsmen and Huntresses walk away to sit in the reserved box just for them, Pyrrha finally getting a hold over her emotions a bit as she walked past Yang and Sun was confident in her skills as he walked by. The arena began shifting even as the others were still walking on one of the arms, retracting and hastening their progress to more stable ground. The central arena was lifted as a ring supporting numerous spotlights to ensure good lighting for everyone rose into position high enough that they wouldn't block the view of anyone in the stands. With the lights in place, the usual panels that bore the symbols of the kingdoms slid back in place and under the stage where Yang and Mercury stood.
"You better not go easy on me." Yang was confident in her abilities and relaxed herself with the taunting joke, even placing her hand on her hip again.
"Heh, you wish." Mercury shakes his head with a small laugh.
For a few seconds, they stood facing the crowd before settling into their ready stances, eerily similar as they were both physical fighters with similar weapons at their most effective at close range.
"Three!" Port began the countdown to start the match.
Both fighters slowly closed the distance, their hands being kept open to react to anything the other may try to do. "Two!"
"One!" They were just a step away and nearly close enough to touch the others hands.
"Fight!" Both of them pulled back to launch their opening blows, a vicious right punch from Yang was met by Mercury's foot after he performed a spinning jump for extra power, the contact creating a shockwave that blew dust from the stage. Yang was only pushed back half a step by the force as she had been grounded during the exchange while Mercury was blown back a few steps where he landed on his feet.
Despite the young man being the one thrown back, he was quick to close the distance, attacking with a side kick that Yang jumped over, flipping over his head to land behind her opponent and firing a shell as soon as she landed. The shot missed his back as he spun, though Yang closed the distance with a counter spin of her own and clashing forearms in the middle. Mercury let out a small grunt as he lacked the protection of metal gauntlets that Yang wore.
That pain didn't stop him from pushing aside Yang's left punch with the elbow of that same arm and punching at her head with his right. Yang ducked under the attack and punched once again as Mercury raised a leg and kicked, both discharging a round from their weapons on contact with each other's torsos that blew them apart.
Yang managed to catch herself without hitting the floor by planting her hands and flipping back onto her feet, sliding a little on the stone as her weight gave her plenty of momentum to stop. Likewise, Mercury was unable to land on his feet without tripping and so fired a shot into the floor that boosted him into the air where he was able to control his landing much better, landing in a crouch.
He looked up in time to see Yang cock Ember Celica back and punch twice. A jet of compressed air from his right boot gave him enough of a boost to avoid the explosive rounds, allowing them to impact safely behind him and detonate. A blast of air from his left helped him dodge a third round that hit where he had been standing. A fourth round was fired that missed him only because he was sliding across the stone floor.
Mercury jumped with aid from a blast from Talaria, high into the air where he flipped to build extra momentum for the axe kick the was dropped on the blonde. Yang absorbed the attack by crossing her arms over her head, the impact creating a visible shockwave as it traveled through her soft skin to be dispersed through her feet on the floor, creating a few small cracks under her heels.
But Yang was able to use the recoil to spread her arms, pushing his boot off of her, though Mercury was able to flip with the force, avoiding her roundhouse kick. Upon landing, he dropped into a crouch to avoid her follow up punch and Fire Dust laden buckshot. From there, he jumped up with a shot from his right boot to kick Yang in the chin, the force allowing Mercury to flip completely over to land on his feet once more as Yang was sent flying from the attack.
The pudgy girl was able to recover her wits in time to get her feet under herself to avoid crashing headfirst into the stone. She landed in a crouch, her belly pushing her chest close to her chin as her arms were held stiffly behind her close to the floor in a well-practiced move. Any playfulness from the beginning of the match was gone from her face, instead she was determined to win. A strong push from her legs combined with twin shots from her gauntlets helped to propel the blonde bombshell to close the distance between her and Mercury quickly.
Her right shot was sent wide from a block with his arm and the left fist was backed away from just enough. The shot from her right was intentionally high but close enough to his face to make him flinch and forced him to cover his face from the blast with his hands. Mercury was able to recover quick enough to elbow her left shot wide once again before both spun to kick high with their left legs, canceling out in the middle as their thighs made contact.
Though Mercury was the better fighter with his legs and that same foot lashed out to kick at Yang's supporting leg, catching her behind the knee and making her fall. The blonde managed to roll out of it and away, just barely dodging another flipping axe kick that made contact with stone rather than flesh, cracking the floor on impact.
Yang managed to recover without actually standing yet, instead trying to punch Mercury from above and firing a shot. The boy was able to twist himself away in time and the shrapnel from the shotgun into the stone floor of the arena was mostly shrugged off by their auras. Using his hands as a pivot point, Mercury kicked out at Yang who was able to block the pair of kicks with her arms as she was crouched.
They both managed to stand at the same time and Yang was lucky to dodge the backwards kick that Mercury launched at her in the process, though she saw his intent to kick down with the extended leg in time to leap away in a handspring, his foot shattering the stone tile on impact. Yang landed and stepped back to avoid the side kick to her face before spinning to kick out at him in turn, the kicking master ducking under her heel as it passed.
His own reverse roundhouse to her head was likewise dodged by Yang leaning back and the following roundhouse slid over her belly even as she sucked it in as much as she could. Even off balance and mentally sighing in relief about avoiding the kick to the soft orb, she was able to raise her gauntlets in time to block the third kick aimed for her head that had a small air burst to give it more power. The force of the attack pushed her back a few steps and left her wide open, though Mercury was unable to capitalize on it due to his own landing and having to rise to his own feet.
He rushed back in and kicked out with his left leg, only for it to strike golden metal as the arm batted it away and Yang landed a powerful jumping uppercut to his face that not only left him open but too stunned from the rattling of his skull to do anything but grunt from the pain. Yang landed from her attack and kept her slight spin going, driving her elbow into Mercury's soft stomach that emptied his lungs, immediately followed by a right punch underneath with a shell discharged on impact. The combination lifted Mercury off his feet and threw him back several feet where he landed on his stomach and smacked his head on the stone.
The crowd cheered as the first fighter of the night was actually taken down without being able to recover right away.
"Looks like she did learn a few things from you from all of those training spars." Talon elbows Denko with a grin.
"I guess so, I just had to beat it into her." The blonde smiles at his friend's performance so far. The fight had been fairly even so far until that last exchange, a hit like that and the loss of momentum was usually hard for most fighters to recover from.
"That's my sister!" Ruby nearly screams as she bounces again in her seat, Weiss half-heartedly trying to hold her down. The rest of the group were on the edge of their seats as they watched the intense action.
Itazura was still worried about what was happening but she supposed that if Yang would kick the punk's ass, it just might ruin the plans of the person on the other end. It was a bit too elaborate to be explained as just cheating to win the tournament, the doubles round against CFVY was no joke as they had been favored for a reason. Unless Mercury was a fully trained Huntsman who had gotten into the tournament to get his jollies beating up the younger generation. That didn't sit right with her as it didn't explain everything else that had been going on, especially with the Issue, the attack on the CCT, Amber, the White Fang and Roman…
Mercury pushed up with his arms slowly, feeling the pain of the gut shots and getting air back in his lungs again. Looking up, he saw that his actions combined with the lack of disqualification buzzer were taken as a sign to continue and Yang didn't waste time firing a shot from both arms. Mercury was forced to push up hard enough to launch into the air and began a series of back handsprings away from the explosive rounds detonating far too close for his liking until one blew up just in front of his face. The blast stunned him as well as pushing him back, which given his close proximity to the edge of the raised platform, didn't help him very much.
Mercury hit the floor on his back before skipping right off the edge with a loud grunt of pain combined with frustration. He managed to tuck and roll in the air and before he hit the ground that would have signaled his defeat, he let loose massive blasts of compressed air from his boots which reversed his direction and returned him back to the stage.
He landed in a crouch but wasted no time attacking Yang, targeting her feet and legs to set her off balance before working his way up her body with a series of kicks. The roundhouses forced Yang to back up while blocking his attacks, golden gauntlets clashing with black boots and few of his kicks failed to make contact. Then he began to mix up his kicks at her, even faking an attack before a roundhouse was blocked by her right arm, only for Mercury to slip that same leg under her arm and try to drive his heel into her face. Yang leaned back enough to avoid it, inwardly glad that his foot didn't hit anything large and soft in its path.
Another kick was blocked as Yang managed to make some room between them before punching with her right gauntlet to let loose a shell but it was turned wide as his left boot made contact to redirect the shotgun to miss him just enough. He was able to kick her left arm when she tried it again with the same leg, striking the area that left her arm bare on the underside. Yang had to take a step back as he used that same leg to stomp at her feet only to find that he used that to launch a reverse heel kick at her head, the blonde managing to duck and spin away under his outstretched leg. She didn't have any time to take advantage of any openings as Mercury jumped with his supporting leg and kicked at her, releasing a shot on contact that she was able to block with her gauntlets held in front of her face. The force was still enough launch her back a fair distance where she used her rounder form to help her roll to create some more breathing room.
The taller man kicked at her, despite the distance and let loose another round from his boot in the process, one that forced Yang to dive and roll to avoid. Rising to her feet again, the blonde found Mercury now in the middle of the arena giving her a cocky smirk that screamed trouble. The boy raised his left leg and began to rapidly kick at the air, firing a shell with every kick. Much like with the match against Coco and Yatsuhashi, the air began to fill with dozens of cloudy shells rotating around the fighters like the eye of a hurricane. During this time, Mercury pivoted on his right leg to turn a full circle a few times, meanwhile Yang had to dodge the random rounds as they flew by keeping her arms tucked in close to make herself a smaller target- not the easiest thing to do when she had more than doubled her weight since coming to Beacon.
Yang managed to close the distance without being hit and Mercury was forced to abandon his seemingly reckless attack as a golden gauntlet thrust itself into the space that his head had just occupied that released a flash of flame as a shell was fired. His retaliatory punch was slapped aside, the contact with the metal twisted his wrist in a painful way that was ignored by adrenaline in his system. He followed that up with a kick straight up at her face, Yang taking a half step back to dodge being hit in her softer areas and blocking the attack with her gauntlets when it got too close to her chest and face. Mercury still had the skills to reverse the attack, hitting her crossed arms from above and opening her up for more attacks even as she took another step back to try to get out of his range.
That retreat failed as Mercury took a step closer and spun to deliver a powerful spinning sidekick that sent Yang high into the air, barely blocking the worst of the kick and shell fired with her arms once more. But Mercury pursued her into the air with a jump, twisting to build momentum until his leg lashed out to kick her towards the ground. The fact that he'd kicked her crossed arms guarding her mattered little when the force of his kick worked with gravity to slam the corpulent blonde back first into the stone floor. Her mane did little to soften her head hitting nor the padding on her back. The impact did make her jiggle all over, though the sensations of the multiple vibrations and waves in her body did little to help her focus, even as she bounced off of the now cracked stone.
Mercury landed easily not too far away with a smile as the cloudy rounds he had fired before the last exchange of blows stopped their rotation around them and began to slam into Yang in rapid succession, creating a shockwave that rippled across the stage and left a cloud of dust and fog where Yang had been hammered.
It was Mercury's turn to receive cheers of the crowd as he stood and began to dust off his jacket as he slowly walked away from his downed opponent. His smile wide with satisfaction as he felt the appreciation from strangers, something that was foreign to him, even from family.
Then the fog burst into flames as Yang rose with her Semblance, Burn, manifesting with golden flames from her hair and eyes having changed from lilac to red. A quick slamming of her fists together and the look of furious determination was all of the warning Mercury had before Yang rushed at him with a yell.
Her first punch was blocked by his own arms being brought up to take the blow that was accented with a shell on contact, the force pushing him back a few feet. With that initial hit done, Yang paused and looked for an opening before moving in again. Mercury lashed out with kicks again but she kept herself as small of a target as possible as she weaved her way around his whipping legs.
"Yes! She's controlling her Semblance and her anger." Denko says as he watched the girl move. There was a fair amount of their training time dedicated to fixing that problem and it was great to see it being put into practice.
A kick finally made contact with Yang, but only on the unmoving wall of her right gauntlet as she closed the distance, her left fist just missing his face and instead hitting his shoulder, with another shell fired. A right shot across his stomach, his jacket and natural padding doing little to soften the pain. Her left hit his other shoulder, the shot making his ear ring and sent him stumbling backwards. A trio of gut shots laced with Fire Dust buckshot kept him from being able to do anything in return but grunt from the pain. He managed to take a step or two back but that only left him open for Yang to close that distance and add the speed and her full significant mass behind her next punch, an uppercut to the gut that drove the air from his lungs and lifted him from the ground, the shell used on contact didn't help him either.
His grey aura crackled under the strain of her empowered punches, becoming visible briefly before Yang's right hook made contact with his face. The flash of gold on contact wasn't a glint of light from her gauntlet or a shell fired, but the last pulse of aura being used with her semblance to ensure his defeat. Mercury slammed into the stone and rolled a few times until he stopped, groaning from the pain and one hand instinctually moving to hold his stomach.
The crowd cheered as the buzzer signaled Mercury's loss and the end of the first match of the finals. It had been a high paced and highly physical fight that few could compare to, leaving them wanting more and there was plenty of Yang to see and she had the skills and strength to move on to another fight and put on another show.
"What a way to kick off the finals!" Port declares, echoing the sentiments of the audience. Down in the arena, Yang slowly stood upright and letting the victory sink in. She took a deep breath and let out a sigh, her eyes turning back to their usual lilac before she began to smile and raised her right arm in celebration of her win. That simple move brought out a fresh round of applause from the stands.
"Yang Xiao Long wins!" Oobleck makes her win official as the arena platform began to lower. A look at the screen displaying the aura levels of the fighters showed that Mercury was completely out of aura and Yang had finished at sixteen percent, a show of her sheer durability to take hits like that final barrage that Mercury had used on her that others would have crumbled under.
By the time the platform locked into place, Mercury had managed to roll to his knees.
"Yeah! You did it sis!" Ruby cheers, thankfully not hitting anyone as she flung her arms out in celebration. Weiss looked absolutely giddy, her hands in fists and shaking to avoid clapping the sensitive skin together. Next to her, Blake stood and clapped for her teammate. Sage didn't seem too enthusiastic but Neptune and Scarlet were at least clapping politely. Jaune was happy to see his friend win though his joy was cut off to help Ren wrangle Nora from going overboard. Denko clapped loudly with Talon, while Anya was far more subdued. Itazura let out a sigh that her friend had won, hoping that the blonde had managed to upset the plans of the infiltrator.
Yang wipes her brow with the back of her hand, ignoring that her gauntlet was covering her arm yet or simply used to it. "Better luck next time." She says with a smile to Mercury before walking away.
"There's not going to be a next time, Blondie." The black and grey clad boy growls out, catching her attention.
Yang turns around in time to see him running at her before leaping to deliver a flying side kick. She responded with a punch to his leg and firing a round, not taking kindly to the sore loser and ensuring that he'd be sore and a loser. Immediately, Mercury screams in pain and that was nearly drowned out by the boos of the crowds. Yang watched as her former opponent held his leg and groans, furious that he'd attack her after the match was over.
Up in the announcer's box, Oobleck stood up in shock at what had just happened. "My word!"
Port turns to yell through the open door to the directors. "Cut the cameras!"
Out in the wilds, Grimm turned their heads to the sudden spike of negativity. From the lowliest Beowolf in the Emerald Forest, the Ursa in Forever Fall, the Creeps in the caves, and Goliaths in Mountain Glenn; all had their attention turned towards Vale as though a flare had gone off. For the creatures of Grimm, the displeasure of the crowds within Amity Colosseum may have well been.
Nearly everywhere that people were listening to or watching the Vytal Tournament, there were similar reactions to what had just happened in Vale. The larger the human and faunus population, the more attention the Grimm gave the settlements, putting the defenders of those places on edge and giving some of them a fight.
"Ah! My leg! My leg!" Mercury groans as he holds the appendage, rocking on the floor.
"That's what you get you little – huh?" Yang was interrupted by security in the forms of two Atlas soldiers and their accompanying six Knights. At first, she thought they were here to get her attacker off the stage but that was dashed when they surrounded her and raised their rifles.
"Yang Xiao Long! Stand down!" One of the soldiers yells at her.
The blonde drops her arms and looks around, more out of confusion than actual compliance. "What? Why?"
"Mercury!" The voice of Emerald cuts across the arena as she runs to the downed boy.
"Why'd she do that? Why'd she attack me?" Mercury asks from his place on the ground, his teammate helping to hold him up.
Yang could only stare in disbelief at what he was saying and the reactions of everyone around her. She had just been attacked by him after the fight ended, didn't they all see that as she did? She had simply defended herself from an attack.
Motion to the side caught her attention and she saw the holographic screen replaying what had just happened. It showed her walking past Mercury kneeling on the floor before he stood up. Then seemingly unprovoked, Yang shot him in the leg, dropping the boy to the ground where he lay there holding the limb in pain.
The girl looked around in confusion, the cameras saw nearly everything completely different from what she had experienced. What had been a thrilling fight that she had won after being pushed to her limits by tournament rules, now was a disaster that was making disqualification the least of her worries. She found her team in the stands, all three of them sitting there with shocked faces and eyes wide, Ruby even having her hands on her cheeks and Weiss covered her mouth. Jaune, Nora, and Ren were much the same way. As were Sage, Scarlet, and Neptune. Team DAIT were harder to read but the shock was easy to see on Denko, Talon, and Itazura, Anya less so.
The great disappointment at her from the crowd, and even the world was almost palpable and all directed at one person. Yang couldn't do anything to defend herself, she was in too much shock herself at what just happened and the confusion between what she had seen, the cameras, the reactions of the audience, the faces of her friends, to what she had apparently done without knowledge of doing so.
She was in no sense of mind or had the will to resist the orders of the soldiers as they escorted her away, though the lack of handcuffs was a small comfort.
"Take care of them." Itazura tells the sisters before grabbing her brother and hurrying into the tunnels of the stadium.
AN: And there we have it, the end of the first match of the finals but there's been some problems thrown into the works. Yang has to deal with most of the world watching her attack Mercury yet she has no idea how that happened. How is it that anyone can help her from this?
The next volume isn't going to be happy, but I'm sure you already figured that out. Next time, we're going to see the fallout from this event. See you then.