Ch.6: Omens
The sound of searing flames is the first thing that came to us. Oscar stops his walk back to Twinkling Lounge and looks towards where that came from.
"That was from the entrance. We have to get the others and go." I say. Oscar looks worried, but he complies. We dash off to the field that Reese and Bolin are playing Realm Chaser at.
"Guys quick, Arslan is fighting Grimm at the entrance." Oscar says to them.
"Oh crap." drops the ball he was juggling on his staff while grabs her hover-board and puts on her face paint. The townsfolk are nervous at the sound of Grimm but she reassures them that we can handle this.
"I'll get Nadir. We'll meet you over at the entrance." Reese rides off.
At the entrance, holds off a slew of Beowolves. Her weapon is a knife attached to her bandages that I believe she called Scorpion at the Vytal festival. She swings it expertly around her;slashing and stabbing Grimm and the ones caught in the wraps are burned to cinders. However, while she handles Grimm on the ground, Griffons elude her up top. Their caws serve as an omen for the calamity they'll bring if we don't stop them. Behind us, rushes in.
"I'll handle the ones flying in. You help Arslan." He commands us before he hops up to the rooftops.
"Oscar to our right." A Boarbatusk appears from the alley near us. It stamps its hoof and flares its nostrils, ready to charge.
"Oscar," I began, then remembered our fight before we were separated from Qrow and them. The way Oscar put his life in danger just so I wouldn't take over him. Even though I could do that now, where would that put us afterwards? If I'm going to fix our relationship and stop him from doing this split then I'll have to put my trust in him. "I assume you can handle this?"
"Yes." He held Long Memory and ran at the Boarbatusk. Oh no.
The Boarbatusk changes into its ball form then spins at a high speed towards us. We barely manage to dodge, and end up getting a searing gash on our leg. I try to trust him and he forgets to keep his aura up. He was able to do that while fighting Lionheart months ago. Why is he slipping up now? It must be due to the split causing our memories to separate. I want to remind him right now but I know he wouldn't listen.
It charges again. This time Oscar doesn't move. He puts down Long Memory into a ramp form, then launches the Grimm off behind us. Brilliant, if not for the store sign that shoots it back directly at us. The impact arches our back, the Grimm's skeleton plating raking against our aura like skin to a grater.I keep our aura on this time, so we're only knocked down to the ground when the Boarbatusk jumps off. The strong taste of dirt soils our mouth.
Oscar lets out a painful growl. He scowls, mad. I'm not sure if it's at the Boar or at himself. This goes to show he really has forgotten all of my memories; only the things I taught him remain. There's no use in directing him, that will lead only to argument. I need a subtle approach. When he got up, instead of having both of his feet pointing forward, I put one pointing to the left. The Boarbatusk charges and Oscar leaps out of the way towards our left. The Grimm collides with the wall, snapping wood and causing the awning above it to fall. It lands directly on it, shooting up dust and causing it to squeal. Silence falls over our immediate area, with the sounds of rushing water in the distance.
"Is it dead?." Oscar says, getting up from the ground and wincing.
"Never leave anything to chance."
We go over to it. Planks of wood cover it and we move them all to see the Grimm underneath, stunned.
"Now Oscar, the best way to–"
"I know." Oscar does a long, dragging sweep with Long Memory to push the wood and the Grimm over. With its belly exposed now, he wails on it until it is nothing but dust.
"Nice work. I guess you do remember about the Grimm I taught you."
"That's easy to remember. Animal boars have the same weak spot."
Right above our head, hover-boards onto the rooftops. She busts out kick-flips, ollies and even grinds on the Griffons, turning them into ice under the board. I'm surprised I remember that terminology since I haven't skateboarded in a century. The buildings of Elsinore are her personal skate park. As the frozen Grimm rain down on the ground, she whoops and hollers to the song of shattering ice. She lands on the hair salon then her board begins to glow a bright sky blue. A ramp of ice grows underneath her that sends her flying into the air. Instead of falling, she floats there as a silhouette posing in front of the destroyed moon. She laughs then commences her battle with the Griffons once again. Watching her makes me feel nostalgic about my youth when I could have fun with magic.
Mr. Hori handles the Griffons by flying on top of them. He grabs one tight by the neck with his staff then steers it into more Grimm. Once they collide, he uses the momentum from the fall to stab them both through the neck, killing them instantly. He then changes his whole body into water and spirals up his staff and past the tip like a reverse waterfall. He carries his staff up into the air with his current body and impales another Griffon, in the side this time. It screeches and tries to jerk off. However, he uses this force to land precise blows on the other Griffon flying in the herd with it. He uses just enough force to knock them out then lets the fall finish them. His fighting style is surprisingly elegant for a student his age. Even after all these centuries, I still find things that can shock me. How amusing.
Ms. Altan is a blazing inferno at the entrance to the city. Her punches and kicks all carry enough power to demolish a mountain. When she hits a Beowolf, she not only sends it flying but lights it aflame to make sure it perishes. She holds Scorpion tightly in her left hand and stabs a Grimm in its chest. The weapon heats up and sparks of flames begin popping out of the Grimm. Then it explodes into a march of fire lions, covering all of the Grimm around her in flames. If it wasn't for the Grimm snow from Ms. Chloris then I'm sure we could feel the heat of Ms. Altan's fire from here.
Mr. Shiko comes up behind us. "Impressive huh? Reese can change her body weight. Really useful with her board since the lighter the rider is the higher it can go. And Bolin is self-explanatory."
Oscar looks on at the dazzling scene before us. The vicious golden lion flames of Ms. Altan taking out Beowolves, Ms. Chloris's acrobatic kick-flips freezing Griffons, and Mr. Hori's smooth strikes smashing his enemies is all amazing to him. I on the other hand, see all of the frozen Grimm falling down and almost hitting Ms. Altan. Then her wildfire hit buildings that would have to put out by Mr. Hori. Then drips of him extinguishes Ms. Altan's fireballs, leaving her open. Their disorder has a strange circle to it. I know where this is going afterwards.
"Can you do something like that?" Oscar asks, still astonished.
"I can do this." Mr. Shiko shoots a Griffon out of the air with his gun blade.
"So your semblance is true-sight?"
"No...I don't have one."
"Oh." A silence falls between us. "Neither do I." Oscar says, most likely to try to add some comfort.
All three huntsmen reconvene by us. They exchange annoyed looks and start to do what I predicted. Arguing.
Oscar and Mr. Shiko stay on the sidelines waiting for this to finish. The way Mr. Shiko stands with his head down shows that he's used to this. While Oscar hasn't had to deal with all of this yelling until I came into his life. Is this how he sees me? If so, I can understand why he would want to split from me. Before I came, he lived a simple farm life. But I'm sure he doesn't want to go back to that. He may not have my memories but I still remember his, and I know some of the feelings attached to them. The way he read all the comics he had growing up and even now, wasn't just pure fascination. There was anticipation that he felt when he read them. Hoping that one day he could be a hero like Captain Canada in the Canadian Man series. Even though he blames me for getting him into this mess, I know a part of him wants this. Otherwise, I wouldn't have been able to convince him to leave in the first place.
I can tell Mr. Shiko wants to say something. He keeps looking up at them to see if they're done. All he needs is a little encouragement. Our hand is already close, I can slightly move it up to give him a push on the back.
Oops.
"Hey!" Mr. Shiko is blushing at the cheeks, but his loud voice is enough to get their attention. They must not be used to hearing it. Once he notices everyone's eyes on him, he looks away then speaks. "I mean, I,uhh was just wondering...why are the Grimm here?" They all look at him as if he was speaking a different language.
"Because they're haters, duh." Ms. Chloris says, then holds up her index finger. "Or because Bolin got salty when that kid got passed him in the game." She looks at him expectantly, trying to get a rise out of him.
"They're here because, they suck, I don't know" He sighs. "I'm tired of arguing about the boiling temperature of water. I'm going to sleep." Mr. Hori walks off with a concerned Ms. Chloris behind.
"But I think this might be important." Mr. Shiko starts, but then stops once Ms. Altan pulls him off towards the outskirts of the town.
"Come on Nadir, we need to do our training."
"But–"
"Don't you want to unlock your semblance?"
"Yes but…"
"Then come on, we're losing moonlight."
They both walk off, leaving Oscar and I alone. We begin to walk, but then wince once we feel the wound again. It's a long cut along our calf,all red and staining our gray pants. "We should heal this before it gets worse." I say. Off into the far distance, we see a medical clinic.
"Yea. It's starting to really sting." Oscar says. We use our cane as support and walk towards the clinic.
Author's Note: Thanks for reading. I tried to make this fight scene more stylish by trying to invoke a different emotion for each fighter. Leave a review and tell me what you think about the descriptions. That way I can get better...I mean, uhh, write a review so I can blend them to make review juice for my penta legged unicorn named George. I don't need your reviews to better myself as a writer, what? Unheard of, I'm already perfect.