Ravus's eyes watered from the cold air as he ran for down town. He knew he could pull his hood up but didn't want to look suspicious himself. That would be ironic.
A sharp crack split the air and Ravus say smoke rising in the distance. Looks like I'm headed in the right direction. Soon he reached a clearing and was instantly greeted with a fireball. Ravus jumped out of the way behind a parked car.
"You came to play?" A woman's voice came. Another crack sounded and suddenly ice spikes embedded themselves into the building. Ravus tried to even his breathing as he heard footsteps behind him. "Bad move."
Ravus shot Shooting Star toward the ground and flew in the air as flames engulfed the spot where he had been hiding. He landed on a roof and crouched down to survey the area. Underneath a bent street light stood a tall, thin woman. Her hair was as blood red the tips nearly reached the tails of her dark, long sleeved leather jacket. She wore high boots over dark kaki pants. In her hand she held a whip with a metal handle. She brushed her thumb over the handle, making it rotate. As the mechanism spun, dust containers glinted.
"Well I guess that explains the fireballs." Ravus whispered to himself. He crawled along the roof hoping for a better angle. Just have to get the jump on them. Then, the woman turned around. Go time.
Launching himself off the ledge of the roof, Ravus lifted his blade, preparing to strike. A blow to the shoulder should do it. Just enough to prevent them from fighting but not enough to bleed out. He gripped the handle, preparing to make contact. He did! But not on flesh. The clang of metal on metal echoed as he was shoved back, his feet skidding on the ground.
"Hello there." The woman greeted Ravus, her voice smooth but cold. "I wasn't expecting you."
"Well, here I am." Ravus responded, Shooting Star ready.
"Do you really want to do this?" The woman asked with a smile, pulling the whip through her fingers.
"If you would much rather surrender and wait for police to arrive that would be just fine by me." Ravus answered, taking a step forward.
"Oh," she cracked the whip and sent a wave of flame rolled toward Ravus, "that's not what I was asking." She finished, the waves distorting her image. Ravus leaped over the flames and went down again toward the unknown wrongdoer. She back flipped out of the way, the whip following her every move. Ravus heard the mechanism spin and as he dashed toward her she sharply pulled the whip up. The spikes of ice ricocheted off Ravus' blade as he blocked the attack, soon on the offensive once again.
Ravus lunged and saw the whip coming down toward him. The flexibile material wrapped around his blade, freezing the two together. Ravus twisted the handle, sending the body of the sword forward and the handles into a sharp, bladed arrow head. The shock shattered the ice and Ravus swing the bladed edge toward his opponent.
The fighting continued longer than Ravus wanted to admit. He had gone through every transformation that he had installed in Shooting Star and barely was able to land a hit. It was now back to the arrow head form.
"I've gotta hand it to you sport." The woman said, panting slightly. "You won't go down easy."
"I've had a lot of help and practice of not falling over." Ravus returned, dodging another fireball that shot from the end of the whip. Ravus remembered all the time that Yang had tried to train him and Ruby before they both managed to go to Beacon with her. Ravus was pretty sure he had a perpetual bruise until he managed to at least stay balanced when Yang threw a punch.
"Practice, or talent?" She responded. Ravus paused, both waiting for his next move but also out of confusion. The woman must have noticed his expression. "Come on kid, you don't get moves like that from help. Practice sure. But help?" She suddenly twisted around, sending the edge of the whip just inches from Ravus' hand on the ground. "It just slows you down."
I'll show you slow. Ravus transformed Shooting Star so the arrow head blades were split and slanted back like sharp propellers and released a charge, shooting himself toward her. He twisted the handle ever slightly, giving him just enough spin like Vivian had explained once. The whip came directly at him and he transformed the blades to curve inward, catching the whip. However, just as he felt the tension of the whip on Shooting Star it disappeared and he careened into some trashcans on the street. Mixed with the clatter of metal was laughter as Ravus stood up.
"Is that what your 'help' told you to do?" She mocked. She passed her finger over the metal handle, the dust compartments rotating. Without a word and not taking her eyes off Ravus she began spinning the whip on the ground. Ravus charged again, transforming Shooting Star into more of a scythe. With a flick of her wrist the whip lunged toward Ravus with a small tornado traveling along the rope. The wind made Ravus' cape to twist around him, causing him to trip and fall backwards.
"Hmg." Ravus groaned, as he clutched his arm and felt a dull warm flow down his arm. His fingers touched the smooth glass imbedded in his flesh. Dropping Shooting Star, he reached for his scroll in his pocket.
"Oh, is it already time to call for back up?" The woman asked, laughing at her own joke. Ravus let go of his arm and grabbed Shooting Star, screaming as pain shot through his arm with each pull of the trigger and sending multiple rounds in her direction. She waved her hand and they vanished into air.
"Now really, think about it." She said, walking toward Ravus, "what good would they do now?" She stopped as Ravus stumbled behind a car, trying to steady his breathing. "You've already tried and look where it got you." Ravus clutched Shooting Star's handle but looked down at his phone. The dance is still going on. "Do you really want to do this?"
The clatter of the phone on the cement echoed in his ears even as he cried out, jumped, and used his good arm to swing at the woman. He landed hard on the ground, the woman no were to be seen, and police sirens in the distance.