The Schnee Black Sheep
A/N
I had a lot of fun writing this chapter so I really hope you guys enjoy it as much as I do. if you haven't already, check out the poll on my page to decide between longer chapters or shorter ones. By longer chapters I mean like over 5 k + in words and shorter ones will be maybe 2 to 3 k.
Chapter 7: Battle at the Watchtower.
Rooooaaaar~
"Hey! Don't talk to me like that young man?"
Roooooaaaar~
"I don't care what you say! It's not nice to sneak up on people."
Roooooaaaarrrr~
"Well screw you too!"
The group of teens could only watch with slack jaws at what they were witnessing. Coal was standing having an argument with a beowolves that was at least three times his size and it looked like he was winning it. Pyrrha meanwhile, was still running away from the Deathstalker somewhere in the background. They all knew that she needed help, but they couldn't take their eyes away from the boy and grimm. It was just too weird.
Yang, keeping her eyes focused on argument with amusement, leant closer to the white themed girl. She had identified the smaller girl as someone the boy knew quite well. "Does he actually speak grimm, or is he just messing with us?"
Wiess could only put her face in her hands and shake her head at her twin. "Knowing him, it could be either… Or both."
Everyone was shaken out of their stupor when Pyrrha landed in front of the group face down in the dirt having taking hit from the deathstalker. Ruby took it upon herself to rush the beast with her enormous scythe in an attempt the slice the creature in two. However due to its hard shell, she was barely able to make a dent in its armour and was forced into a strategic retreat. The grimm hot on her heels. "Don't worry I'm totally fine!" She shouted back to the group
But she wasn't. the never more had made another pass over the ruins, and having seen the red cloaked girl that had woken it from its slumber, swiped its wings down towards the girl firing a barrage of feather like spears. One of which had snagged the girls cloak, rooting her in place.
"Ruby!" Yang yelled as she tried to run to her sister as the Deathstalker loomed over the trapped girl. She was too far away she couldn't cover the distance even with a boost from the recoil of her gauntlets…
Wiess outmatched her speed using her own glyphs and sped past the brawler with her weapon drawn, cycling through the chambers to select the one she needed to save her partner. something she had learned from her brother when she had first unlocked her semblance was that glyph can pretty much do anything, so long as they were constructed the correct way dust can be added to create almost anything. She landed in front of Ruby, who had covered her eyes waiting for the grim to strike, and stabbed her rapier into the ground using her semblance and ice dust to form a protective shield around the pair and also encasing the grimm's tail that was heading straight for Ruby's head.
"Ruby, are you ok?" she asked.
Ruby opened her eyes slowly to see a wall of ice between her and the tail of her would be killer, the grimm struggling to break free was just inside her on the other side of the wall. She stared at her saviour in awe as she spoke again.
"Look, I know we kind of got off on the wrong foot and don't know each other very well yet… But we are partners now, so were going to have to work together. Think we can do that?"
"I'm sorry… I just… wanted to prove to you that I'm not just a kid. That I belong here." Ruby said averting her gaze.
"Of course you belong here, but you're not the only one who's here. We're in this together."
Coal looked to his sister having heard her conversation with her partner. The grimm had had enough of arguing some time ago and began to take some wild swings at him which he was casually dodging around. He dodged another strike with a soft smile on his face as he watched his twin help the other girl up and couldn't help but be thankful that she had made a friend here. They had always had a secluded life and had very little contact with children their own age and seeing his sister making such a heartfelt speech to someone she barely knew made him happy. He knew that they were going to be close friends.
Bring his attention back to the grimm he dodge another swipe from the beasts claws and having taken some inspiration from his sister, drew his revolver and fired an ice enhanced bulled into the grimms feet securing it into the ground.
Taking a quick jump back to create some distance between him and the creature he turned to the disoriented group of teens, a serious expression on his face. He held no smile this time, only a look of determination.
"Alright listen up!" this got their attention "Regroup with your partners and get a relic. I want everyone at that cliff alive and ASAP with relic in hand. Complete the objective! Now GO!"
Needless to say, the teens obeyed the order.
Ruby and Wiess took a white knight piece. Along with Blake and Yang who took a direct copy of the piece.
Jaune and the now standing Pyrrha took a white rook piece which matched the one that Nora had picked up earlier.
Having collected their prize, the teens ran for the cliff just as the Deathstalker broke free from its icy trap.
Coal turned to make was towards the grimm and intercept it, only to be cut off from the scorpion and his friends by the Alpha Beowolf that he had trapped earlier. "Ready for round two?" Coal dodged another claw and could only watch as the Deathstalker chased after his friends. He hoped they would be ok.
Deciding that they would be fine, he realised that he could use the single grim to see how far his arm had healed since being pierced by his ex-father. Coal reached inside of his coat once more and pulled out a single black leather glove which he slipped over his right hand. As he did, he channelled as much aura as he could into his hand which caused a small white glyph to glow on the back of his gloved hand. 'Come on is that all I can get!' He inwardly cursed as he reached inside the many pocked of the coat once more and pulled out a blue ice dust capsule. Sure, his arm still hurt but he was barely able to channel 20% of his aura into his hand. And that had been difficult enough.
The ebony gauntlet on his right arm opened to reveal a small slot where he placed the ice dust capsule and locked it in place. He then placed a hand over the top plate of the armpiece and pumped it like a shotgun, an audible click ringing out round the now hollow ruins. With some of the feeling returning to his arm he wanted to try something, and to do that he needed to be focused, so he left his headphones around his neck. Something he only did when he went all out in a fight.
Coal crouched down at the last second barely avoiding the claw that swiped the air above his head. Using the glyph that had been engraved into the leather glove with different types of dust, he was able to use the structure of the glyph to form the ice dust inside his gauntlet to create a sword made entirely of ice. An estoc to be precise.
His favourite weapon in hand, Coal thrust the blade into the grimms thigh. Piercing the flesh and muscle of the grimm, he let go of the makeshift handle leaving the creature with a large icicle halfway through its leg. Still crouched low to the ground and making use of the obvious speed advantage against the towering grimm, he summoned a new estoc and embedded it into the beast's chest, leaving that sword also sticking half way through the beast.
This enraged the creature of darkness and using the only emotion it had, it took another swing at the boy aiming to tear the human in half. The grimm missed again as Coal had jumped to dodge the swing using a glyph. The Beowolf did manage to tear a large portion of the boy's wine red coat. At least it was getting closer to its mark.
Coal flipped over the beast creating another new sword and planting that one in the beasts right shoulder, leaving the beast arm limp and lifeless. He then kicked off the beast back, preforming a quick backflip while drawing his revolver and, equipping the yellow lighting dust cartridge, fired twice at the monster. Once in its other shoulder and other knee. Having hit the beast in its joints and weak points, the creature fell to the ground with a roar of pain from the icicles embedded in its body and the paralysing shock of lightning in its shoulder and leg.
Coal, having landed a few feet away from the downed beast, walked up to its head which was face down in the dirt. It lifted its head slightly as Coal's feet came into view and let out a low snarl. It was still out for blood, and Coal could see in the beast's eyes that it wouldn't stop until its blood thirst was satisfied. The only thing stopping it from attacking was the fact that it had taken to many critical strikes, leaving the beast paralysed. Coal forged one last estoc and stabbed the monster in the back of its skull.
Coal removed the blade this time rather than leaving it stuck halfway in the grimms skull and began to study his favourite creations condition. An estoc was built to be a long, thin and straight blade, but his construction was slightly curved at the centre. Along the length of ice were many dints and chips as if it had seen many battles and had barely been taken care off, most ancient blades were in better condition that this. He had only used the blade the once to end the beast's life and for it to be in this condition was beyond belief. His constructions were feeble to begin with, ice is not the strongest material to forge blades with, but normally the quality was much higher than this. This sword was worse that some of the one he had made when he had first started ice forging blades. This was beyond pathetic.
You are weak.
Pain rang thought his head. A pain that caused him to fall to one knee grasping at his head. It had been a while since he had a headache quite as bad as this one. He thought the therapy had stopped this from happening… Apparently not.
The pain left as quick as it had came. Coal stood back up and turned to run to the cliff edge where the rest of his friends had disappeared. Taking one last look into the trees where he had come from, he began to wonder when his partner would show up when something occurred to him… There was an odd number of students. Maybe he hadn't found a partner because they were all taken. Cursing under his breath as he turned back to the ruins to obtain a relic and at least complete the objective himself, only to see a podium that hadn't been there before.
In the very centre of the ruins there was a new podium, and it held a chess piece of its own. A black pawn piece. He didn't stop to think too deeply about the hidden meaning behind the piece or where it had appeared from, he simple picked it up and stored it away before running off to where his friends had lead the enraged Deathstalker.
As he ran he discarded his now torn coat revealing a hidden bag that sat at his lower back, where he kept all the extra ammo and dust cartridges. He also set his headphone over his head in a hopeful attempt the keep the headaches away. Leaving the feeble creation that was his estoc with the dissolving grimm.
[Battle music: Of Mice & Men – Broken Generation]
It didn't take Coal long to reach his friends that were now locked in a heated battle with both the Deathstalker and Nevermore. His friends and sister had been backed into a corner by both the Deathstalker which blocked there only was out of a watchtower which sat in the middle of a gorge that didn't seem to have any visible floor. And the nevermore circling above the watchtower blocking their way up the cliff where the end point of the trial was. Deciding to take care of the closest grimm first coal rushed towards the Deathstalker drawing Forgotten Sins to aid his comrades.
Just as he was about to fire his first shot at the Grimms unarmoured arse, Coal saw a figure fall off the bridge and into the gorge… It was Blake who had fallen after being knocked back by Nora trying to hold back a strike from the enormous scorpion like grimm. Coal instantly changed priorities and decided to help the falling girl. Sure she gave off a bad vibe and that he didn't really like her that much despite only knowing her for less than an hour, but Coal wasn't heartless… At least that what he constantly reminded himself. He summoned a glyph to enhance his speed to reach the girl.
Blake had just come back to her sense after taken the full body hit from Nora, she found herself falling into the endless mist of the gorge. That blow had disorientated her slightly and it took her a brief moment to collect herself and begin to think of a way out of the situation. She prepared to throw her weapon and attach it to a nearby column which held the watchtower and swing her way back up to the surface using the black ribbon attached to the end of her sword.
As she outstretched her hand to take aim, her hand was grabbed by someone and her focus changed to who had been stupid enough to dive down into the gorge with her. Her eyes locked with a pair of determined looking, obsidian orbs…
"I got you!" Coal exclaimed, as he twisted his body and threw the black themed girl back up to the surface with strength that she never thought the slim boy would have. In fact, she flew past ground level and kept climbing eventually coming to a stop just above the Nevermore, in the perfect position for her to land on the grimm's back and slice her way down the length of the grimm before leaping off and back down to the watchtower where her partner was waiting for her. She had no idea if the boy had planned for her to do that or if it was just a coincidence that she had ended up in such a perfect attacking position.
Coal smirked, his plan had worked perfectly. Despite the grimm appearing to have taken very little damage he had gotten a good idea of the black-haired girl fighting style. This was enough to confirmed his suspicions on where he had seen her before. He needed to speak to his old mentor General Ironwood when he got back to Beacon.
Storing the information, Coal summoned another glyph and combing it with his black gravity dust, he was able to climb back up to the bridge to fight the Deathstalker alongside his rival, first Beacon friend and the giddy girl just as Ren was thrown from the grimms tail and into a cobblestone wall with force.
"Ren!" Nora screamed having seen her long time best friend take such a hard hit.
Jaune on the other hand was studying the tail of the grimm. Ren had been able to do some serious damage to the tail as the golden spike at the end seemed to be barely attached to the rest of its tail, the flesh around the base of the spike, riddle with bullet holes. And that gave him an idea.
"Pyrrha!" he called to his partner. She must have been thinking along the same lines as upon hearing Jaune's voice, she threw her shield towards the damaged tail. Slicing through its already damaged flesh and letting the large golden spike fall into the beasts head. Somehow the shield ricocheted off a nearby column and returned to its owner like a boomerang.
"Nora, nail it!" Jaune called next, turning to the hammer wielder. Just as Coal landed next to him.
"Heads up" Nora called out to the Spartan and using the girls shield as a Launchpad, she leaped into the air in a very high arc.
"Coal bind it!" Jaune demanded turning to his friend. Coal nodded to the blond right before raising his revolver and fired at the grimm with an enchanted ice bullet as Nora reached the peak of her jump. The ice rounds had snared the beast's front legs to the cobblestone bridge leaving it unable to dodge the incoming giddy girl who was about to drop the hammer.
The force of her strike shattered the bridges connection to the land and sent the 3 remaining teens sailing over the grimm due to the seesaw effect. The grimm, still being attached to the disconnected bridge by Coal's ice, fell with the remaining pieces into the never ending mist below.
As the teens made it back to solid ground, Jaune landing on his back, Nora landing on her backside, Pyrrha on one knee in a posse and Coal, after doing several flips and spins in the air, landed on his feet like a gymnast at the end of their routine. Ren stood off to the side holding a white plaque, with the numbers 7.8 wrote on it.
"Aww come on man!" Coal cried removing his headphones. "That was at least an 8.5 maybe a low 9."
Ren shook his head as he responded in a serious tone. "Your third and fourth rotation were off balance. And you stumbled when you landed slightly."
Coal huffed and turned away from the boy. "Your third and fourth rotation is off balance." Having given the worst possibly comeback known to man, he remembered something… His sister was fighting a Nevermore. "Shit, Wiess!" He cried as he made to head towards the other battle. He was held back as Pyrrha place a hand on his shoulder and turned him to face her.
"You need to stop worrying about her. She can protect herself remember."
"But she…"
"No! Just watch!" Huffing once more, Coal averted his gaze from his rival and turned his attention to the ongoing battle, ready to intervene if necessary.
Yang was standing in the bird's mouth firing dust rounds down its throat. She jumped out of the beast's beak just before it slammed head first into the Cliffside and landed on a small structure. He watched as his sister raced up to the grounded bird with glyph enhanced speed, her rapier raised to strike, just as the bird was trying to take off once more.
"She's not gonna make it!" Coal grumbled raising his gun to the Nevermore, only for his rival to forcefully smack his arm back down.
"I said watch!" She growled through closed teeth. Coal locked eyes with her and in that second, but the look in her eyes was enough to let him know that if he tried to intervene again he would face her wrath. He reluctantly agreed to stay put, though he still kept his revolver in a tight grasp.
Wiess had stabbed the ground just as the Nevermore had lifted into the air and managed to encase its tail inside a construct of ice keeping the creature grounded and in one place. She raced back to where her partner was being loaded into a makeshift sling shot and summoned a glyph that she could use to fire the scythe wielder at the grimm.
"And I thought only Coal had the crazy ideas." Wiess smiled to herself.
"Think you can make the shot?" Ruby asked, eyes locked on the grimm.
"Hmph, can I?"
…
"Can you?"
"Of course I can!" Wiess scoffed as she fired her partner into the grimm.
Ruby sailed through the air, firing as she went to increase her speed, she smacked into the grimm's neck and using her scythe, locked the blade around the grimm's throat as Wiess summoned more glyphs up the Cliffside that the girl could use to run up the wall. Having reached the top of the cliff the gimm got snagged on an outstretched rock and, literarily being stuck between a rock and a sharp place, got its head cut clean from it's neck. Its headless body falling into the endless void.
Coal ran up to his sister. She was bent over slightly with her hands on her knees taking long deep breaths in an attempt to get some strength back, but she did look relatively unharmed. Coal still needed to be sure that she was defiantly going to be alright considering that she had just fought a Nevermore and probably pushed herself too far.
"ME NEXT! ME NEXT! I wanna go on the slingshot!" he pleaded as he stopped next to his twin. Wiess quickly stood up straight and playfully slapped the back of her brother's head, a habit she showed when her brother was making a fool of himself. 'Yep, she's fine.'
A/N
Well that was a thing.
So, you've all now seen Coal's fighting style, what you guys think? Like with his revolver he will only strike with his ice made estocs to either kill or cripple an enemy. He will typically dodge during the beginning of a fight to get an idea on how his opponent fights and where their weaknesses are to exploit them. He calls this style "Cold Retribution."
We have also seen most of Coals personality traits as well and boy are they mixed. It's almost like he has several personas at once… What could have caused this?
Stay tuned for the next chapter where teams will be assigned and we find out where Coal remembers seeing Blake.
BYE-BYE!
