Chapter Seven: A Rose Has Thorns
An Atlesian Airship was docked at Haven Academy, there were many naval personnel and a handful of specialists going about their duties onboard. This ship was acting as the flagship of General Schnee's security forces for the Vytal Tournament, at the helm were the command crew, along with Major Stallion and the General herself. The General and Major were currently standing in front of a large holographic screen, on it was a dark-skinned woman with short navy-blue hair that had slight hints of graying, blue eyes, and wearing an Atlesian Military Uniform. In the center of her forehead was a small golden oval, surrounded by four similarly colored, yet noticeably smaller circles.
"So, I take it things are running smoothly on your end Commander Soleil?" Winter asked.
"Yes, everything is running smoothly and right on schedule ma'am," Commander Soleil replied.
"Good," Winter said, "I knew leaving the base in your hands was a good idea."
"Thank you, ma'am," Commander Soleil said.
"You're welcome," Winter paused, "however, in light of recent events, I'll need you to step up patrols around the base and double your guard."
"Yes ma'am," Commander Soleil checked her watch, "If you could forgive me ma'am I have to give a briefing to the men in a few minutes."
"Very well," Winter said, "keep me posted on any and all changes."
"Yes ma'am," she saluted, "Commander Soleil out."
Winter and Marcus returned the Commander's salute as the video call was disconnected.
Marcus chuckled, "oh Ciel, always a stickler for staying on schedule."
Winter turned to her second-in-command, "you have to admit, it is a good trait to have for our line of work."
"It is," Marcus replied, "and I know no one better at it than her."
The stepping of heavy armored boots could be heard entering the bridge. Several of the crewmembers looked up quickly to see who it was, but just as quickly went back to their tasks. Winter and Marcus turned to see a pair of large soldiers in heavy powered armor. The soldier on the left was male, and noticeably larger than the other, standing at nearly eight feet tall. On his right shoulder was the symbol for the word Alpha. The other was female and nearly a foot shorter than her counterpart, her right shoulder had the symbol for Omega on it. Both the soldiers towered over the rest of the bridge's occupants.
When the two soldiers reached the General and Major, they stopped, stood at attention and saluted their superiors. General Schnee and Major Stallion returned the gesture.
"Agent Alpha, Agent Omega," Winter looked to the both of them, "I'm giving each of you a command, you will head up our security patrols. Alpha, you will have the Academy and upper city. Omega, you'll have the middle city."
"What of the lower city?" Agent Alpha asked. His voice was deep and robotic sounding.
"Major Stallion and his specialists will be handling that," Winter replied.
"Very well," Agent Alpha stated.
"You are to begin as soon as possible," Winter said.
"I've mapped the routes for you and sent them to your scrolls, but if you see the need for any changes you will have full authority to make them," Major Stallion stated, "for now, a patrol every two hours will suffice, however, once the festival kicks off and the main tournament begins, the General and I want them hourly."
"Yes sir," both the soldiers saluted. Agent Omega's voice, while still robotic sounding, had a lighter tone than that of Agent Alpha.
As the two soldiers left the bridge, Marcus turned to Winter, "ma'am, are you sure it was wise to bring the Centurions? I mean, they're untested."
"I thought this might be a good trial run for them to gain some experience and get acclimated," Winter replied.
"What if what they are is revealed?" Marcus asked, "surely that will raise many questions, especially from Professor Pine."
Winter placed her hand on her subordinate's shoulder, "Major, everything will be fine, you need not worry."
"Very well ma'am," Marcus replied.
A week had passed since Ebony saw her friend's old foes, it was the afternoon before the final day of the Vytal Tournament Qualifiers. Team BLAC's last match was a hard fought one against a fourth-year team, but it ultimately ended in a defeat, dropping the teams' record to six wins and seven losses.
As Team BLAC made there way back to their seats in the combat class, they walked past Apollo who was loudly snickering at them. He continued to do this until they reached their seats and despite being scolded by both Nikolas and Tawney.
Bianca was visibly angry as she and her team sat down, however not from the loss. Even though she would beat herself up over losses, she always tried to remain a good sport, no, it wasn't the loss, it was Apollo's cocky snicker that got under her skin.
Cyrus shot Apollo a dirty look, "can you give it a rest already!?"
Apollo ceased laughing and faked thinking, "nah," he replied with a cocky smile.
Team BLAC sat down amongst their friends in Team AYST, well away from Apollo and the rest of Team STON.
"He's such an asshole," Ebony said.
"You don't gotta tell us twice," Bianca replied.
As they sat down, Professor Haze stepped to the middle of the combat stage to announce the students. She took a drink from her calabash before she spoke and then hooked it back to her belt.
"Ok, we're almost done for today, one more match; Teams AYST and SSGE," she said.
Team AYST stood and began to make their way to the lift that carried combatants to the stage.
"Wish us luck guys, we're gonna need it," Roy said to Team BLAC.
Alani turned to her teammate, "oh come on, you say that like we've already lost."
"Well, my sister's team hasn't lost a match yet, so… yea," Roy replied.
"Hey, anything can happen," Ebony added.
Team AYST headed down to the combat stage where they were joined by their opponents. Team SSGE oozed nothing but confidence, as Roy had stated, the fourth-year team hadn't lost a single qualifying match yet as their record stood with twelve victories and no losses. They could lose their last three matches and still qualify for the Vytal Tournament.
As the two teams took their positions across from one another on the combat stage, Yaara called out to Roy in a teasing fashion, "good luck little brother."
Roy chuckled to himself for a moment before then turning to his Team Leader, "Al, I'll take my sister, you go after Garnett."
"You sure?" Alani asked.
Roy cracked a confident smile, "yeah."
Alani nodded to her teammate and drew her spear from her back.
Professor Haze pointed to both teams, "fighters ready?"
Teams AYST and SSGE nodded to their professor.
"Begin!" Professor Haze announced.
Ebony fired volley after volley from her rail-sniper at Team SSGE as they and her teammates charged one another. Most of her shots missed their mark, but they served to delay Team SSGE's charge and put them on the defensive.
Yaara lifted her wrist blades and blocked one of Ebony's shots, but the force of the fifty-caliber tungsten round still managed to push her back a few feet.
"Electra take out Ebony, Scar, cover her!" Yaara commanded.
As Electra and Scarlet rushed Ebony, Yin moved to cut them off. He fired his revolvers at the girls, but Scarlet parried the bullets with her mace.
Electra rushed forward with Scarlet just behind her, she planted one end of her staff in the ground and vaulted over Yin as he switched his weapons to their dagger mode and took a swipe at her.
He quickly turned and switched his weapons back into revolvers to shoot Electra, but he was hit in the back by Scarlet's mace, knocking him to the ground.
Ebony turned and took a shot at Electra, but she slid down to her knees and ducked under the round.
Ebony quickly switched her sniper into it's battle-axe mode and parried a swing from Electra's staff. She then took a heavy swing at Electra, but Ebony's blow missed its mark as her opponent quickly and skillfully sidestepped it.
Electra spun around and dodged every strike Ebony threw at her, the ones that came even remotely close were met with swift parries and powerful blocks.
Ebony took a large sweeping strike at Electra, but she ducked under it and swept out her opponent's legs. She quickly followed this by striking Ebony with her staff, sending her flying across the combat stage.
Ebony quickly rushed to her feet and brushed a few loose dreadlocks out of her face. A serious look came over her as she lifted her axe and charged Electra.
Yin picked himself off the ground as Scarlet retracted the head of her mace back to the handle. He quickly switched his weapon back to their revolver modes and fired a hail of dust rounds at his opponent.
Scarlet leapt out of the way of the incoming fire and swung her mace at Yin, turning it back into its flail mode.
Yin was forced back towards the edge of the combat stage as Scarlet relentlessly swung her flail at him, but she then made a huge error.
Scarlet locked eyes with her opponent for a mere second, however this was long enough for Yin to activate his semblance and curse her with misfortune.
Yin's eyes switched from their naturally jade green color to Taos as he looked into Scarlet's eyes, simultaneously her indigo eyes flashed into Taos quickly before reverting back to their normal coloration.
Scarlet's next swing threw her off balance and her flail wrapped itself around her, entrapping her in its chain.
Yin opened fire once more and hit Scarlet with a barrage of shots from his revolvers, sending her flying across the stage and past the remaining two members of each team.
Alani and Roy quickly stepped out of the way as Scarlet flew past them, while Yaara and Garnett watched her go by.
"This is going slightly better than expected," Roy remarked.
Yaara rushed forward, followed closely by Garnett, "don't get ahead of yourself little bro!"
She thrust one of her wrist blades at Roy's face, forcing him to quickly dodge. This put him off balance and at his sister's mercy.
As Yaara pulled back to throw another strike, Roy snapped his fingers and shot a fireball into his sister's belly, knocking her away and giving himself some room.
Roy drew his saber as he regained his balance and he stared down his sister, determination was in his eyes.
As the siblings prepared for their duel, Alani and Garnett were in the midst of a heated fight.
Garnett swiped his falx left and right, up and down, trying to strike Alani, she was just barely managing to dodge his swings.
Alani leapt back from Garnett after he narrowly missed a swing at her head, "you know, you're fast for someone your size."
Garnett rushed Alani and with all his strength, he swung his falx down upon her with fury.
Alani blocked his strike with her spear, but the pure force pushed her down to her knees as she struggled to push Garnett away.
Garnett continued to push down on Alani as she struggled against him. She let out a deep battle cry as she was being pushed back and activated her semblance. Alani's strength increased tenfold and she was able to push Garnett away from her with a single forceful shove.
A fiery orange glow surrounded her body and rage filled her eyes as she stood and charged her opponent.
As her teammates were engaged with their fights, Ebony found herself still on the backfoot against Electra. The fourth-year student was simply too fast and skilled for her to manage.
Ebony took a huge swipe at her opponent with her battle-axe, but Electra ducked under it and swept Ebony's legs out from under her.
As Ebony was about to hit the ground, Electra activated the lightning dust in her staff and struck her, sending a huge shockwave through Ebony's body and dropping her Aura into the red.
Scarlet retracted her flail back into its mace form, freeing herself from its chain. She quickly charged back in at Yin, but his semblance was still affecting her.
She took a swing at Yin, but it missed wildly, and he retaliated with a series of quick thrusts and slashes from his daggers, landing every blow. Scarlet's aura dropped to the red and she was knocked out of the fight.
As soon as Yin finished off his opponent, he was set upon by Electra. Her attacks were relentless, and Yin struggled to parry them. She took special care to not look him in his eyes.
Electra quickly struck Yin in the belly, knocking the wind from him and causing him to keel over.
Yin was unable to effectively defend against his opponents next set of strikes and his aura was dropped into the red, knocking him out of the match.
As Alani and Garnett locked their weapons together, she saw Yin get knocked out of the match. She went wide-eyed as her semblance went into overdrive and even more rage filled her.
Her attention went back to Garnett, she pushed him away and planted a heel kick straight into his armored gut and then rushed off towards her new target.
"Electra look out!" Garnett shouted.
Electra turned to see Alani leap in the air with her spear raised and ready to swing down onto her.
As Alani was descending upon Electra, she was struck by one of Yaara's whips, sending her slamming into the ground.
Electra looked to her teammate and gave her a 'thank you' nod, before then facing Alani. Garnett soon joined her in this face off.
Alani picked herself off the ground, her aura was low, but she had enough. She bore her teeth and tongue as she pointed her spear towards her opponents.
"Looks like your friend's gone berserk," Yaara said to her brother, "it's a shame, she'd be far better off against them had she not."
Roy looked to his team leader, she was fighting with reckless abandon and seemed to have lost all discipline.
Roy smirked, "trust me, she's far more dangerous now."
Yaara scoffed at Roy's words, "whatever you say little bro."
Yaara cracked one of her whips at Roy and he quickly parried it with his saber and retaliated with a volley of ice bullets fired from one of his gloves.
Yaara quickly dodged her brother's attack and cracked another of her whips at him.
Roy was struck in the shoulder by his sister's attack, knocking him off balance and dropping his aura dangerously low.
He quickly stood and activated his semblance, slowing his perception of time. As his aura began to glow, Yaara smirked and activated her semblance as well, creating two of her mirror clones.
Roy dodged and parried the strikes of his sister and her clones with the help of his semblance, but it was draining on his aura and he couldn't keep it up for long.
Yaara kept up the pressure, increasing the number of clones from two, to four. Still, Roy managed to avoid all his sister's attacks.
At this point, Electra and Garnett managed to put some space between them and Alani, but she was quickly closing the distance between them.
"Garnett, violet maneuver one, go!" Electra said.
"Right!" Garnett replied and then rushed Alani.
Garnett swung his falx at Alani, but she slid under the strike and tripped him with her spear. As she was about to strike Garnett, Electra rushed in and blocked Alani's strike with her staff.
Electra thrust her staff towards Alani's head, but her strike was parried by her opponent's spear.
Electra quickly realized she wouldn't win this engagement against Alani and regrouped with Garnett.
"Ok, let's try that again, maneuver two, go!" Electra said.
"Got it!" Garnett replied.
Alani let out a furious battle cry as she charged her opponents.
Just before she and Garnett got into melee range, he jumped in the air and Electra slid on her knees under his legs and thrust her staff into Alani's belly, stopping the berserking warrior in her tracks.
Garnett followed this up with a powerful swing from his falx that slammed Alani into the ground, dropping her aura into the red.
Roy had continued to fend off his sister's attacks as he attempted to close the distance on her. She was noticeably surprised by her brother's tenacity. Once again Yaara turned up the heat and increased her clones from four to six.
Roy continued to fight valiantly, but six of his sister's clones were too much for him to handle. He was struck several times by their whips, thus dropping his aura to the red.
"And that's the match, Team SSGE wins!" Professor Haze announced.
As Roy started to pick himself up, Yaara held out her hand to help him up and he graciously accepted.
"You've gotten better little bro," Yaara smiled, "still not as good as me though."
Roy snickered, "whatever sis."
"Ok class, I'll see you all tomorrow for the final two rounds, you're dismissed," Professor Haze said.
Team BLAC was one of the first teams out of the room, along with Teams SSGE and AYST. They were closely followed by Apollo and Oliver, with the rest of Team STON trailing somewhat behind.
"Good luck tomorrow Pruned Rose, you're gonna need it," he said mockingly.
"Apollo!" Nikolas shouted.
Before Nikolas could get his thought out of his mouth, Bianca stormed up to Apollo and got into his face. Apollo was taller and physically larger than Bianca, but she wasn't phased by this. Back at Beacon she may have been when he initially started bullying her, but now, she wouldn't be intimidated by someone who's bark was bigger than their bite.
"You know what. I'm sick and tired of your shit," Bianca stated, "every time I see you, you belittle me and make fun of my teammates… I'm done. Whenever my team faces your team tomorrow, be it the first set or second set of matches, we will beat you, regardless if we qualify or not. You can bet that if we don't qualify, then I'll make it my mission that you don't either."
Apollo leaned towards Bianca and smiled cockily, "bring it."
Nikolas rushed up behind Apollo and grabbed him by the shoulder. He quickly yanked his team leader away from Bianca and towards himself.
"You are a warrior and a team leader, so act like it!" Nikolas stated.
Apollo shoved Nikolas out of his way and began to leave, followed closely by his partner Oliver. Before he left however, he turned back to Bianca with that same cocky smile on his face, "see ya tomorrow Pruned Rose."
"Geeze that guy is such an asshole," Yaara said after seeing the confrontation between Apollo and Bianca.
"You don't have to tell us twice," Cyrus said.
"Try being on a team with him," Tawney cut in.
Bianca glared at Apollo as he left, her eyes were full of nothing but contempt for him. What made him think he was so much better than her? Just because he'd beaten her more times than she him? That doesn't mean he has a right to talk down to her or her team. Bianca was determined to beat Apollo and shut him up once and for all.
Teams BLAC and AYST headed back to their dorms after their matches, some looked more tired than others from the day's matches.
As Alyssa was about to enter her dorm, Roy walked up behind her and got her attention.
"What's up Roy?" She asked.
"I was wondering, since it's still kinda early, did you want to go get dinner?" He asked.
"Sure, where at?" Alyssa smiled.
"Great!" Roy said, "Ebony showed us this place in the middle district, great food, better than Sonny's in my opinion actually."
"I highly doubt that!" Cyrus called out.
"Anyway… Oh! And the place is completely ok with faunus," Roy added.
"Alright, just let me shower and change, "Alyssa said, "um… I recommend you do the same."
Roy chuckled, "yea, so, I'll meet you here in a half hour?"
"Sounds like a plan," Alyssa replied.
"Aww, kitty cat's going on a date," Cyrus teased as Alyssa entered their room.
"Really…" Alyssa replied.
"Hey, I'm just messing with you," Cyrus laughed.
"Whatever," Alyssa chuckled, "so what are the rest of you going to do for the night?"
"I'm gonna hit the cafeteria and then call it a day," Lucas said.
"I'm going to train," Bianca said.
Cyrus looked to his partner, "are you sure about that? I mean, we just finished a whole day of tournament matches."
"Yes, I'm sure," Bianca replied, "I've been getting sloppy recently and I need to brush up on a few things.
Cyrus thought to himself for a moment, "alright, we'd better get ready then."
"We?" Bianca inquired.
"Yes, 'we'," Cyrus replied, "what kind of partner would I be if I left you to train by yourself?"
Bianca smiled, "alright, let's get ready."
A few minutes past as Alyssa left the room and headed to the showers while both Bianca and Cyrus changed into their training outfits. The two headed out to Haven's training hall. Their training hall was located in the basement of the building combat classes were held in, unlike back at Beacon where it and the firing range were on the second story.
The room was equipped much the same as Beacon's training facility, a ring for full-contact sparring, various exercise machines for general workouts, a few punching bags scattered around, and a plethora of synthetic practice weapons of all types. They did have one thing Beacon's didn't though; spread throughout the area were a few wooden kung-fu dummies, several of which were occupied.
Bianca and Cyrus set about training, first stretching as to avoid injury, after which they grabbed some synthetic weapons similar to their own and jumped into the sparring arena for a quick match. As they fought, Cyrus could see that his partner's strikes weren't as quick and precise as normal, they were heavy, inaccurate, and slow, very uncharacteristic of Bianca's fighting style. She almost seemed angry.
She slashed at Cyrus with both of her sabers. He quickly blocked them and allowed Bianca's weapons to slide off his. Cyrus then struck Bianca in the back, causing her to stumble.
She quickly composed herself and rushed back in. Cyrus flipped his sword around and gripped it by the blade. When Bianca swung at him, he ducked and tripped her with the cross guard of his weapon.
Before Bianca could get back up Cyrus thrust his sword at her, stopping mere inches from her neck.
"You're more than a little sloppy," He said, "five-minute break?"
Bianca nodded, and Cyrus pulled his weapon away from his partner and reached down to help her up. The two exited the ring and sat on some benches near the wall to catch their breath.
"I can see you're upset about something," Cyrus said, "and I think I know what that something is."
Bianca didn't reply.
"I know you want to beat Apollo, trust me, I do too, but you're not going to if you just run in head first," he said.
"How do you suggest we beat him then?" Bianca asked.
"To be honest," Cyrus thought to himself, "I really don't know."
"Well that's a big help," Bianca replied sarcastically.
"Hey, you're our leader, you were chosen for a reason," Cyrus said, "when we were cornered by those Beowolves back in the emerald forest, you took charge, it was your leadership that allowed our team to fight and eventually escape. I know you'll think of something, you always do."
A slight blush came to Bianca's face as she looked away from Cyrus, "you're right, I've got to stop and think and not let my emotions lead me."
Cyrus placed his hand on Bianca's shoulder and smiled, "I know you can."
Bianca smiled back at Cyrus and he removed his hand from her shoulder. As the two stood, they noticed that in their short break, a pair of familiar faces had occupied the ring; Russell Zeffre-Aero and Violet Blu of Team SLVR. Both were wearing similar martial art gis, but their styles were vastly different. Russell was more grounded with a much wider base and fought mainly with heavy punches, while Violet hopped around on the balls of her feet and struck at her opponent with powerful kicks; Hung Ga vs Taekwondo.
Cyrus chuckled, "looks like we've been evicted."
"Yea," Bianca giggled, "why don't we just do some regular work outs for a while? At least till they're done."
"Sounds like a plan," Cyrus replied.
Over the next hour, Bianca and Cyrus finished their workout and sparred once more before heading back to their dorm. On the way back, Bianca began to think. She began to formulate a plan of attack for defeating Apollo and Team STON.
Cyrus could easily tell when Bianca was carefully thinking something over and considering all the possibilities. Her eyes would wander at first, followed by the snapping of her fingers on her left hand and then the twirling of her side ponytail. He and the rest of Team BLAC tended not to bug their leader when she was in this state of thought, so currently Cyrus played it off like he hadn't noticed. However, he couldn't help but look when she started twirling her ponytail with her index finger, he thought it was kind of cute.
This day soon went and the next day came quickly. The students from Beacon gathered in the combat class rooms for the final day of Vytal Tournament Qualifiers, two matches that could determine if they made it into the main tourney or would be watching from the sidelines.
The first round was a hard fought one, especially between the teams who still had any hope of qualifying. The teams who had already been eliminated from contention or who would qualify no matter what didn't seem to care, with the notable exception of Team SSGE. They fought with the same zeal and determination that they always did and at the end of the first round, the team had expanded their record to fourteen wins and no losses.
Team AYST earned their eighth win, placing them in the qualifying bracket. They were ecstatic to say the least.
Teams BLAC and STON didn't face off against one another this round, but they certainly took the opportunity to observe each other closely. Both teams earned their seventh wins, putting them each on the edge of qualifying.
The students were given a few hours of respite before their final matches, Bianca had took this time to explain the plan she came up with to them. They had faith in their leader no matter what and bought into the plan whole heartedly.
The time for the second round to start came quickly and the students piled back into the combat classroom. As the matches persisted, Apollo routinely stared down Bianca with his typical smug expression. Teams AYST and SSGE scored their ninth and fifteenth victories respectively during this round. A few matches after Team SSGE was the finale, only two teams remained; Team BLAC and Team STON.
As Team BLAC stood across from their opponents Bianca's plan played through their minds; "The sum of our parts is greater than the sum of theirs… Alyssa, you take out Tawney, you're our best close combat fighter and that's where she has trouble. Lucas, you handle Oliver, he's their worst fighter and I know you're leaps and bounds ahead of him. Cyrus, best vs best, you keep Nikolas occupied, if you can knock him out then so be it. I'll handle Apollo myself. Once Tawney and Oliver are dealt with, Lucas you go to your brother, and you come to me Alyssa. From there, we'll converge on whoever's opponent is still standing."
Professor Haze stepped between the two teams and pointed to them, "fighters ready?"
Both teams drew or activated their weapons and got into their stances.
Professor Haze looked to both teams, "fight!"
As Team STON charged forward, Lucas shot a glyph under his feet and leapt into the air, he manifested three arrows of fire dust and shot them between each member of Team STON, separating them from one another and disorienting them momentarily.
Team BLAC rushed forward and went after their respective targets. When Apollo cleared the ash and smoke from around him, he saw Bianca standing before him.
"Huh, I thought you'd sick either your cousin or your partner on me," Apollo said, "I didn't think you'd have the guts to face me one on one."
Bianca didn't reply, she just raised her sabers.
"Alright then, lets do this!" Apollo punched his fists together twice and charged Bianca.
The battle raged as Alyssa went after Tawney. She loosed arrow after arrow trying to keep Alyssa away, Tawney knew her own weaknesses and she didn't want to fight one of the best brawlers in the class in close combat.
Alyssa skillfully dodged Tawney's barrage of arrows and returned fire with her shot gauntlets as she advanced. As Alyssa got closer, Tawney kept moving backwards whilst continuing to loose her arrows.
Tawney loosed two arrows at once, Alyssa dodged the first, but the second hit home. The force pushed the blonde faunus back a short distance. Tawney followed this up by upping her rate of fire, she knew the force of her arrows would deplete, but she hoped it better keep Alyssa at a manageable distance.
Alyssa was having none of this, she rolled out of the way of her opponent's volley and crouched as a sprinter would. She fired off a shot from her shot boots and flew forward with great speed. Tawney prepared to shoot another arrow as Alyssa came nearly within arm's reach.
As Tawney loosed her arrow, Alyssa fired one of her shot gauntlets at the ground, redirecting her momentum up and over her opponent.
Tawney slashed at Alyssa as she landed behind her, but Alyssa ducked under the blow and swept Tawney's legs from under her. She then threw and enormous punch into her opponent, sending her slamming into the ground and dropping her aura significantly.
Tawney quickly jumped back to her feet and struck Alyssa several times with the blades at the tips of her bow. She then quickly put some distance between herself and the blonde brawler.
Lucas and Oliver clashed swords, their weapons vastly different in design and use, but equally destructive.
Oliver shoved Lucas away and quickly switched his kukri into a pistol and let loose a volley of explosive dust rounds at his opponent.
Lucas ducked and dived through Oliver's volley, he drew his tanto, but didn't combine his weapons into their bow form. He shot a speed glyph under his own feet and rushed forward at Oliver.
Oliver didn't know what hit him, before he could react, Lucas struck him several times and sent him sliding across the combat stage.
He quickly jumped back up and charged back at Lucas, who now combined his weapons to form their yumi bow mode. He loosed a volley of lightning arrows at his opponent.
Oliver shot the arrows out of the sky with his weapon, before then switching it back to its kukri mode and hacking at Lucas.
Lucas parried Oliver's heavy strikes and jumped away with the help of one of his glyphs. As he jumped back, he pulled a small vile of Ice dust from the pocket of his track jacket and chucked it at Oliver's feet, encasing them in ice.
Oliver struggled to break free of the ice, as he looked to Lucas, he saw his opponent loose a fire dust arrow at him. The arrow struck near Oliver's feet and sent him flying across the combat stage.
Oliver tumbled across the stage until he came to rest at the feet of Tawney. His teammate quickly helped him up and the two faced off against their opponents.
Lucas ran up behind his partner, "Alyssa! Chartreux, now!"
"Right!" Alyssa jumped in the air with the help of her shot boots.
Oliver and Tawney made ready to engage Lucas, but just before he reached them, he shot a speed glyph beneath his feet and shot past the two of them, slashing them with both his weapons as he passed.
Alyssa then fell from the sky and landed between Oliver and Tawney, punching the ground and firing off a shot from her shot gauntlets, sending them flying out of the combat stage and dropping their auras into the red.
Cyrus and Nikolas found themselves nearly evenly matched in their fight. Both had gotten a few good hits in, but decisive blows were no where to be seen as of yet.
Cyrus swung down on Nikolas with his longsword, but he blocked the strike with his shield. Cyrus then pressed against Nikolas, attempting to push him off balance.
Nikolas pushed his opponent away with a forceful shove of his shield. He raised his shield and rested his sword on its rim.
Cyrus smiled cockily and flipped his weapon around and grasped it by the blade before then charging back in. He lifted his weapon and swung it down on Nikolas. When his opponent lifted his shield, Cyrus hooked it with his sword's cross guard.
Before Nikolas could attempt to strike back, Cyrus yanked his opponent's shield down and pulled him off balance and then thrust the pommel of his longsword into his gut.
Nikolas stumbled back, but before he could recompose himself, Cyrus whacked him over the head with the hilt of his sword, causing him to fall back even further. It was at this time that Cyrus was joined by his brother.
Nikolas shook his head to regain his senses, his helmet had helped cushion the blow, but it was still very forceful. When he looked up, he saw both Grey Brothers standing off against him. He smiled confidently and raised his sword and shield.
Bianca had been toying with Apollo this entire time, she blocked and parried his strikes, but never struck him back, he had been growing visibly angry from this.
Apollo threw a left hook at Bianca, a blow she quickly dodged, causing Apollo to stumble slightly.
"Ugh! Hit me already!" He shouted.
Bianca said nothing and just stared down her opponent.
"We're supposed to be fighting! So hit me dammit!" Apollo rushed forward.
"If you insist," Bianca side stepped Apollo's blow, revealing Alyssa standing right behind her.
Alyssa landed a punch square in Apollo's face, sending him tumbling backwards, if not for his aura, his nose would've been severely broken.
Apollo stood and noticed that both Tawney and Oliver had been knocked out. His anger increased, he pounded his armored boxing gloves together and charged back in.
The match evolved from a series of one-on-one fights to a pair of two-on-one's, exactly what Bianca had planned for. Despite this however, she knew this wasn't going to be the easy portion of the match, that had already passed.
Lucas loosed an arrow from his bow at Nikolas as Cyrus charged in. Nikolas blocked the arrow with his shield and then parried Cyrus' slash with his short sword.
Cyrus jumped back and switched his weapon to its shotgun mode as Lucas split his bow apart and charged in at Nikolas. Cyrus fired a volley at he and his brother's opponent, causing him to duck behind his shield.
Nikolas stayed behind his shield as Lucas swung his weapon, attempting to strike the armored warrior. Nikolas thrust his sword at Lucas when he raised up his own weapon, exposing himself.
Lucas was forced to jump back, and Nikolas took this opportunity and rushed Lucas. Cyrus fired another volley in an attempt to cover his brother, but Nikolas blocked the shots with his shield once more.
Nikolas slashed at Lucas with his short sword, but the blow was parried. He followed up his first attack by punching Lucas with the rim of his shield, staggering him.
The heavy blow dropped Lucas's aura dangerously low. As he attempted to regain himself and rush back in, Nikolas threw his shield at him. The improvised projectile struck Lucas in the chest and knocked him out of the match.
At this time, Apollo was put on the backfoot in his fight with Bianca and Alyssa, he barely managed to dodge and parry their combined attacks.
Alyssa fired several shots from her gauntlets, forcing Apollo to dodge, lest he be hit. At the same time, Bianca rushed in and slashed at him with her sabers. Apollo quickly blocked Bianca's attack and countered it with a heavy left hook, knocking her away.
"I'm done playing around with you!" Apollo shouted.
Apollo's aura began to visibly glow as Alyssa rushed him. The two engaged in close combat, Alyssa throwing combinations of punches and circular kicks, while Apollo countered them strictly with punches.
His strikes grew faster and harder, his arms recoiled and shot forward like that of a machine gun and peppered Alyssa.
Alyssa boosted her semblance by channeling her aura into it, thus pushing her senses into overdrive. She easily sensed the subtle movements of Apollo's muscles allowing her to predict his attacks several moves in advance.
At the moment the two were evenly matched, blocking, dodging, and parrying each other's attacks, but it wouldn't last. With their semblances active, their aura's drained quickly.
Apollo landed a few huge punches to Alyssa's gut that plummeted her aura into the red and knocked her out of the match.
Apollo deactivated his semblance, "yeah! Let's go!"
Cyrus and Nikolas were locked in one-on-one combat once again after Lucas was knocked out of the fight. However, Nikolas had lost his shield and was now outmatched by Cyrus with his longer and larger weapon.
Cyrus controlled the pace of their fight, taking swipes at his opponent and quickly backing away when Nikolas attempted a counter attack.
Both their auras were fairly low, and Nikolas wanted to end this fight now. He charged forward at Cyrus, a huge risk.
As Nikolas got close Cyrus swung his longsword at him. Nikolas blocked the strike and slid his weapon down the blade of his opponent.
Cyrus quickly reversed his grip on his weapon and struck Nikolas with the pommel as he struck him with his short sword. This exchange left Cyrus with a dangerously low aura, one more blow and he'd be out, however Nikolas was knocked out of the match.
Bianca stood across from Apollo, he beat on his chest and raised his fists. Bianca in turn moved to combine her sabers to form her scythe.
"Not on my watch Pruned Rose!" Apollo activated his semblance and charged forward.
Bianca was forced to cease combining her weapons and fall back from her opponent. Apollo however, kept up the chase and didn't let up.
"Bianca! Pieces of Eight!" Cyrus shouted.
Cyrus swung his longsword at Apollo forcing him to halt his chase of Bianca. He lifted his weapon and swung down on Apollo with it.
Apollo ducked under the blow and landed a punch square in Cyrus' breastplate. This blow was enough to knock Cyrus out of the match.
Apollo turned to see Bianca charging him with aid of her semblance, her scythe fully formed. As she got close he attempted to strike her with his lightning fast jabs, but she changed direction on a dime and was now in the air above him.
Bianca activated her semblance once more and spun like a tornado. She struck Apollo more times than anyone could count on her way down. His aura sank into the red as there was no way he could defend against this attack.
Bianca landed in a kneeling position, her scythe held behind her back with the blade pointing towards the ceiling. The match was over.
"Yeah we won!" Alyssa yelled.
"Vytal Tournament here we come!" Lucas shouted.
Cyrus walked up to Nikolas and helped him up, "not bad for our first match against one another."
Nikolas accepted Cyrus' help, "it was, but you won't be so lucky next time."
As Apollo punched the ground in frustration at his team's defeat, he heard some footsteps approach him. He looked up to see Bianca sheath her sabers and extend her hand to help him up.
"Good match," she said with a smile.
Apollo sneered at her and smacked her hand away as he pushed himself off the ground. He pushed past her as he made his way back to the room's seating area.
As Bianca was forced to turn by Apollo, she saw Cyrus. He briefly glared at him, but then turned his attention to her. Cyrus smiled and held up a thumbs up to Bianca, she joyfully returned the gesture.