Beacon Academy, Kingdom of Vale
"...led by Sigurd Valkyrie." Oscar finished. "And finally, Wren Branwen, Niko Asterius, Taiga Xiao Long, and Kira Xiao Long." Kira elbowed Wren, who jolted awake. He grumbled and adjusted his sunglasses, standing up and following the others onstage.
"You retrieved the rook pieces, and showed exceptional teamwork in defeating an elder Deathstalker. As such, you will form Team XNTW, led by…" Oscar pronounced it 'xanadu.' "Kira Xiao Long."
The audience applauded, and Wren blinked in surprise. Kira? B-but I… dammit! Glancing down the line, he spotted Kira, who looked just as taken aback as him. She continued looking that way all the way back to her seat.
"Now, at this point, you may have noticed that I skipped two initiates. Summer Rose and Trace Orrin, please come to the stage." Oscar said. Trace looked over at Summer and gulped.
"We cannot have a team of two. Normally, you two would be held back until next year." Summer looked on the verge of tears as Oscar said this.
"However. Due to some… extenuating circumstances, two spots have opened on a second-year team. Khione Branwen and Azul Yorona, please join Summer and Trace onstage," they did so, and Oscar continued. "Since the other two members of your team made the unfortunate decision to leave Beacon, Summer and Trace will join your team and be treated as second-year students." Summer nearly collapsed and Trace yelped in shock.
"WHAT!?" she practically yelled at Oscar, who continued to stand still, unfazed.
"You will be known as Team KAST, led by Khione Branwen." He pronounced it 'caustic.'
Azul grinned. This is gonna be a fun year…
-XNTW-
Beacon Academy Dormitories
"Alright! Team XNTW!" Kira cheered. Wren just groaned. Kira practically kicked the door to their shared dorm off the hinges and flopped onto a bed. The rest of the team followed afterwards, each claiming their own beds.
"Okay, so. Anybody else wondering why she's the team leader?" Wren spat, gesturing towards Kira.
"I was curious, seeing as it was Wren's strategizing that helped us eliminate that Deathstalker." Niko said, quietly.
"I'm sure Professor Pine had his reasons. That aside, strategy isn't exactly your forte, Kira. Are you going to be okay?" Taiga attempted to mediate.
"Hehehe, I, uh, I'll be fine…" Kira scratched the back of her head, laughing nervously.
"We'll see. I'm not convinced yet." Wren grumbled, removing his sunglasses and untying his hair. He laid back on his bed and stared at the ceiling.
"Okay, well, I'll, uh, try to be a good leader." Kira said.
-XNTW-
The next morning, in the dorms
"GOOO~D MORNING, XNTW!" Kira shouted, causing the rest of the team to wake with a start, as Wren yelped and fell out of his bed. The others slowly rose and stood up.
From the ground, Wren lobbed an alarm clock with alarming accuracy, which was caught and instantly thrown out the window by Kira, a quiet boom following shortly after.
"First day of class, lazybones! Get ready!"
They all groaned as Taiga zipped into the bathroom, emerging moments later in her uniform. She wore a hoodie underneath the standard black-and-gold blazer, and black tights underneath the red plaid skirt. The rest of the team changed into their uniforms, one after the other. Niko wore the uniform without the blazer, instead opting for a simple vest and black pants, Kira wore the blazer over her shoulders like a cape, and Wren wore the tie loosened along with a grey-green headband and no sunglasses.
"Huh. We look pretty good in a uniform." Wren remarked, sounding genuinely surprised.
"I suppose. Say, when's our first-" Niko was interrupted by a knock on the door. Taiga zoomed over and opened it, to be greeted by Azul and the rest of KAST. Azul was grinning brightly, almost unsettlingly.
"Heee~llooooo~!" Azul giggled.
"Hey there. Khione, Trace, Summer… sister-fucker." Wren replied.
"It's Azul!" They pouted indignantly.
"Right, right. Whaddya want?"
"Oh, y'know, just stopping by…" Khione trailed off. "On our way to our first class." Wren froze.
"Shit!" Wren grabbed a notepad and bolted out of the room.
"I was about to say…" Niko said, following Wren.
The rest of the team scrambled after them.
-XNTW-
"Uuugh… When do we get to fight people…" Wren face-planted into his open notebook.
"Shush. Weapon maintenance and mechanical knowledge is instrumental for Huntsmen in the field." Taiga said.
"I knoooo~w, but Professor Rose just goes so… fast. It's all I can do to keep up…" He turned his head towards Taiga.
-XNTW-
The rest of the day crawled by for Wren. Engineering, Grimm Studies, Math… He couldn't care less about most of the subjects. All he really wanted was to fight.
"But what'll you do if you encounter an opponent stronger or smarter than you?" A teacher had asked him once.
"Simple," he had replied, "Hit 'em harder."
"...wen. Mister Branwen!" The voice of their history teacher snapped him out of his thoughts.
"Yyyes?" He asked.
"Could you summarize the cause of Atlas's defeat at the Fall of Beacon?"
"Uhh, weren't they attacked from the inside? Like, someone hijacked an airship and hit 'em with a virus that fucked up their droids?"
"Aside from the… coarse language, that is correct, Mister Branwen."
Wren sighed and drifted off again.
-XNTW-
It was finally time.
Wren laughed and cracked his knuckles. Time for combat classes. He emerged from the locker rooms in his regular outfit, vest open and sunglasses on.
"Hey hey! Welcome to your combat classes. I know what you're all thinking. 'Finally! We get to beat people up!' Well, lemme tell you something: That's exactly what we're gonna be doing."
The first-years cheered.
"Now, a few of you know me already. Professor Xiao Long, ready to start this semester off with a Yang." She chuckled. Someone booed from the seats. "Well, I'm glad somebody volunteered to go first! Whoever that was, get down here!" She called out, and the guy responsible as he walked up to the arena.
Wren watched the fights with glee, finally happy to find people who could match him in skill and strength. A few other first-years stood out to him: A girl dressed like a witch, a guy with a lightning-rod-bow, and a girl whose Semblance appeared to be transforming into a slimy gel-like substance. After asking around, he learned they were on Team SLFR (silver), led by a guy named Sig.
"Alright, any volunteers for the next round?" Professor Xiao Long called from the arena floor. Wren raised his hand. "Mister Branwen. Anyone else?" Wren leapt from his seat down to the arena, and the rest of the room was silent. "Anyone?" A few more seconds of silence ticked by. "Well, Mister Branwen, is there anyone you'd like to-"
"I'll fight him!" A boy with an undercut that faded from black on the sides to a grayish color on top raised his hand.
"Ah! Mister Valkyrie. Sounds good." 'Mister Valkyrie' leapt into the arena in a similar fashion to Wren. He wore what appeared to be a powered exoskeleton, similar to a suit of powered armor but without any protective plating. The parts not covered by metal and plastic showed a pale blue-gray compression suit. A segmented mechanical tail swung loosely from his back.
"Hey! Name's Sigurd. You can call me Sig!" He said, nonchalantly.
"Huh. I was actually planning on challenging you, but I guess I didn't even have to." Wren replied.
"Really! Heh."
"Take your places!" Xiao Long called out. Wren and Sig walked to opposite sides of the arena.
"Three!" Wren dropped into his stance and adjusted his glasses.
"Two!" Sig adjusted rectangular reading glasses of his own as blades sprung out from the top of his forearms.
"One!" Both fighters lowered themselves, coiled to spring forward.
"Fight!" Wren and Sig blasted towards each other, leaving massive clouds of dust in their wake. As Wren neared Sig, he flickered out of sight, reappearing behind Sig and delivering an axe kick to… where Sig used to be standing. His foot slammed into the ground, and as he looked up, he saw Sig descending rapidly. Wren jumped out of the way right before his opponent would have landed on top of him.
Sig lashed out with his suit's tail, narrowly missing Wren's shoulder. He followed up with a flurry of swipes from his arm-blades, and Wren flickered away from them all. He responded with his own flurry of punches, meeting Sigurd blow-for-blow.
"Jeez, they're really goin' at it down there!" Kira said from up in the stands.
"It's the first time I've seen two fistfighters exchange blows that viciously!" Azul said.
Sig thrusted an arm-blade forward, but Wren simply caught the hand and wrapped his arm around it, forcibly straightening Sig's right arm. Wren followed with a kick to the back of Sig's leg, forcing him onto one knee. He grabbed the back of Sig's head and brought it into his left knee, knocking Sigurd backwards.
Sig coiled his tail underneath him and sprang upwards, attempting to land on Wren again. Wren yanked himself out of harm's way with an energy tendril, and did so several more times.
Crazy bastard's like a kangaroo! Wren thought, rolling away from another stomp. Sig launched into the air again, higher than before. Maybe… Wren began plotting. That's it!
As Sigurd came down, Wren pulled away from the landing zone, and as Sig went back into the air, threw his hand out, multiple energy tendrils erupting from the arm and towards Sig. As he realized what was happening, he was bound by the green energy and found himself hurtling towards the ground even faster than before. There was a loud thunk as he hit the arena floor, as Wren flung his hand across to the other side of his body. Sig and the tendrils soon followed, slamming into the ground again. Wren whipped his hand upwards and released his grasp, flinging Sigurd into the air. As he fell, Wren summoned tendrils from his other hand, binding Sig once more and pulling him towards Wren. As they neared, Wren brought his hand back, glowing with a green light. He released the tendrils and slammed his fist into Sig's chin, knocking him upwards and backwards.
"By knockout, Wren Branwen is the winner! Can somebody go check to see if Sigurd's okay?" Professor Xiao Long announced, as Wren slumped onto his knees from exhaustion.
That was new, he thought. Balance manipulation, energy tentacles, all that I knew about… He rose to his feet and walked back up to where his teammates sat. But damn! Teleportation and super-punching-power? Never thought I could do that… He practically fell down into his seat. I wonder what's next… This is gonna be fun!
A/N: Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed this chapter.
I wrote this one without listening to music, so there's a chance that the break in my usual routine might've screwed up my train of thought and messed up my writing… I hope not.
On an unrelated note, writer's block is a pretty vicious thing. I'm just about writing this story by the seat of my pants. I've got the plot laid out and everything, but out of all the scenes, I only have a few fights worked out. Wren vs. Sigurd was a fight I didn't plan ahead of time, so it might not read as well as some of the others.
I hope you enjoyed this chapter as much as the last few, though.
See you all next chapter! Thank you!