Chapter 2
Author's Note: I'm sorry for the long wait you've had to endure for this chapter. I've read the reviews that I've gotten and I'm glad they were positive and constructive; that said, I will do my best to improve on what I can and not make the same mistakes. As for the long wait, please be aware that I am in college, with finals coming up, and I work full time, so it might be about a week-or- so in between chapters (though I realize it's been longer than a week since Chapter 1). I hope you can all bear with me until I have finished with finals, but until then this is the best that I can do. As always, please leave me any feedback you can, I want to keep improving and give you all a story to enjoy. Now, I imagine I've taken enough of your time, so please read on.
Ruby just barely managed to evade a swift strike from Myrtenaster, using the recoil of her sniper rifle to propel herself backwards. In a flurry of rose petals she was instantly in the air, scythe raised above her head as she shot one final bullet from her rifle into the sky behind her and began accelerating to the ground. They both had worn down their auras to the point that the next hit they each took would definitely make contact with their bodies. Weiss barely had time to think as she began creating hand signs to summon a glyph. Time seemed to slow as Crescent Rose came down like a bolt of lightning into Weiss' shoulder. The blade buried deep into her flesh as blood began to spurt out.
"WEISS! Are you okay?!" Ruby yelled as she let go of Crescent Rose and tried to run toward her teammate; try as she might, however, she couldn't move her legs. She looked down only to notice a glyph surrounding her feet preventing her from moving. She was immediately brought back to reality when she felt a slight stinging sensation digging into her neck. She glanced upward seeing Weiss glaring at her with cold, uncaring eyes and Myrtenaster's blade right at her neck.
"That's it! Weiss wins!" Yang shouted at the two girls while pressing a button on her scroll.
Weiss' glare was immediately replaced by her normal snobby gaze, with a slight hint concern. "You dunce, don't ever drop your guard during a fight." She yelled.
"I was worried that I hurt you." Ruby said quietly, glancing down to her feet.
"Why were you worried, that's the point! What happens when you and that Torchwick guy are in this situation? Do you think he's going to think twice about blowing your head off?" Weiss said as she twisted Myrtenaster slightly, drawing a bit of blood from Ruby's neck.
"I know, I just…don't want my friends to get hurt. I don't want anyone to get hurt." Ruby whispered.
"How naïve." Weiss whispered. "If you really think that, why don't you start by removing this oversized gardening tool from my arm?" Weiss stated matter-of-factly with a hint of sarcasm.
"Oh, right!" Ruby said as she pulled Crescent Rose from her partners shoulder. Noticing the amount of blood emerging from the wound, she swung her head towards her sister and asked frantically, "Why didn't you call the match earlier?"
"Ruby, this ain't Signal no more. You've gotta learn to keep fighting, no matter the stakes." Yang said nonchalantly.
"Indeed. You have to be ready to kill at a moment's notice." Weiss stated rather casually.
"But…" Ruby started to complain about her injury but saw that the blood had already clotted.
"But nothing, Ruby Rose! You know we're not in any real danger here, so now is the time to act as though your life were on the line, it's the only way you'll genuinely improve." Weiss argued.
"Okay…" Ruby muttered.
The largest spire, which protruded from Beacon academy, was not only Headmaster Ozpin's office, but also had an antenna which emitted tiny specs of microscopic dust which attaches themselves to a few of the oxygen atoms into the air. When inhaled, the dust would hide in the nucleus of the oxygen atoms, in order to be overlooked by the body's immune system, and would start healing the body's wounds when the blood began the clotting process around the injury. Medical personnel make use of this same mechanism, though at a much greater concentration of dust-infused oxygen.
"Ugh. Enough with the kicked puppy look, sis." Yang said sarcastically.
"I agree. It's a lesson, so it's best to learn from it." Blake said encouragingly.
"You had better be able to beat me, at least once, by the end of the week." Weiss stated in a slightly more caring tone. "Anyway, it's their turn to fight, so let's get out of their way." She stated.
Yang and Blake made their way to their battlefield. They stood about one foot from each other and looked one another in the eyes. Yang stood about two inches taller than the shadow warrior. They clashed their knuckles together and walked slowly back to their respective starting spots.
"Y'know, I ain't gonna go easy on you." Yang said smugly as she got into her standard boxing stance. "…and watch out for my right hook, it's killer." she stated and readied Ember Celica. The beautiful bracelets, in the matter of seconds, morphed into gauntlets which covered the majority of her hands and over half of her forearms. She gripped the triggers with her thumbs and stared at her opponent.
"Thank you for that kind advice, though I'm not terribly worried." Blake said as she calmly adjusted her feet to be slightly farther apart and gripped Gambol Shroud on her back.
Weiss looked at both of the girls and asked, "Ready?" After a quick nod from both of the combatants, she looked on as she spoke, "This will be a tournament-style fight and you will abide by the same rules. When one of your auras reaches the red level, the match will be called and a winner decided. Do you both clearly understand the rules laid out before you?"
Both Yang and Blake spoke very clearly, "Yes."
Weiss held up her scroll and prepared the tournament app the school had created. At the press of a button, an electron field would be crated within the general area of the scroll which repelled any dust-infused oxygen from getting through, making the fight much more realistic. The electron field would only be removed by manually by calling the fight and ending it through the app, or if one of the fighter's auras falls below the red and into the critical level.
"Begin." Weiss yelled while pressing the button on her scroll. Without a second to spare, Yang shot both of her gauntlets behind her and launched herself forward, clashing into what she thought was Blake. In an instant, Blake had formed a shadow clone and jumped into the air. While still above Yang, she threw Gambol and fired the weapon, for more distance, in order to imbed it into a nearby tree. She yanked on the ribbon while jumping off of another shadow clone, avoiding Yang's shot fired vertically at her, and sped toward the tree line.
Yang would have none of that; she fire Ember Celica once again, aiming, not for Blake, but at the ribbon which connected her weapon to her body. She managed to cut the fabric right in the middle, but Blake, unfazed, landed while rolling onto the ground, standing up right in front of the tree line.
Yang was already on her in a second, and began her barrage of left and right hooks. Without Gambol and Shroud, this was going to be an impossible fight to win. Going on the defensive, Blake narrowly dodged the volley of superheated punches. Knowing that Yang is rather mediocre against kicks, Blake dodges one last punch by backing up and, seemingly, falls backwards as though she tripped. Right before her back lands on the ground, she catches herself by placing her hands behind her back, against the grass. Using her cat-like reflexes and coordination, she balances herself on her hands, aims her heels upward, and extends her legs creating one powerful, two-legged kick which connects right with Yang's jaw.
"FUCK!" Yang yells, as she grips her jaw. A good fighter trains until it is second nature to have their aura, at least somewhat, guarding all vital spots of the body. The area at the bottom of the chin, connecting to the neck, was not one of those spots. She quickly shakes her head, the pain still emanating through her body, and glances forward only to see Blake running for Gambol. Yang fires a shot at the weapon embedded in the tree, knocking the tree down along with Gambol. With the pain subsiding slightly, she dashes for her opponent, who is darting her head back and forth to find her weapon among the debris.
She sees Gambol shining among the leaves and grabs hold of her weapon only to drop it immediately. Her hand was suddenly red and bleeding; it had been burned badly by the scalding hot metal. "That was why you fired at Gambol…how ridiculous." She thought. As she readied Shroud for the assault that was sure to follow, since Yang showed no signs of letting up.
The golden warrior jumped into the air and fired her weapons behind her, giving her a massive burst of speed. Blake was on the defensive again trying to block as many fiery punches as she could, the ribbon that was hanging from her forearms, which Yang had shot through, was getting tangled in the tree debris around them. Grabbing Shroud and blocking one of her left hooks, Blake attempted to kick at her opponent's right knee from the side, but Yang was ready for it. She grabbed Blake's left leg as it come toward her, wrapping her forearm and bicep around it and bringing it up near her armpit. Blake suddenly felt a pain in her gut as Yang's left fist dug into her abdomen while her leg was still being held in the air. While trying to grab her stomach, Blake looked up, only to be thrown down by another punch from Yang. Yang walked over to her opponent, who laid still, and wondered if she had won the fight.
Suddenly, Yang felt a tug on her foot and looked down wondering if there was some sort of small animal interfering. Before she could react, however, she was upside-down, hanging from a tree by Blake's very own ribbon. Yang looked around to see that the shadow warrior's ribbon had not been getting randomly scattered about during the fight, but rather, had been strategically placed to trap the blonde boxer. Yang was knocked out of her amazement by the feeling of Blake's knee assaulting her face twice, her temple once, and, while dazed, Shroud quickly being raised vertically from its resting spot at Blake's leg. The slash cut clean through Yang's right gauntlet and slashed all the way up her arm and ended right below her shoulder.
"That takes care of your right hook…" Blake thought as she picked the now cooled Gambol off of the ground. Yang was still in a daze from the kick she took to her temple, and the pain from the slash was probably not helping much. She was even losing a moderate, but not dangerous, amount of blood from the cut; luckily the gauntlet protected her wrist and no other major arteries or veins had been cut, but it was still very deep. "I didn't actually mean to cut her so severely…one could probably see the bone if they move the cut skin and muscle out of the way slightly." Blake pondered. She kicked Yang in the stomach, but kept her foot there, pressing the blonde up against the tree she was hanging on. Blake then aimed none other than Gambol right in between Yang's eyes and, with worried determination, readied herself to pull the trigger,
Weiss stood up and opened her mouth, presumably to call the match, but was interrupted by her shorter partner's hand pulling her back down to sit. "What in the world is wrong with you, dolt? Do you want your sister to die?" Weiss asked angrily.
"Don't you worry about her, she isn't done yet." Ruby said with a clear concern on her face, but with a hint of happiness from Weiss' concern. "I said I don't want anyone getting hurt, but Yang is the one person does that stuff purposely." The reaper turned and gave Weiss a reassuring smile. Without a second to spare, both of the girls darted their heads back to the fight at the sound of a loud bang.
The bullet was instantly incinerated as it comes into contact with Yang's aura. Yang was going all out now, her hair was ablaze and her eyes a violent red. Blake stood still and unfazed as she watched her partner burn through the ribbon holding her up and land on her two legs. Yang's aura instantly cauterized the long wound, and she glared daggers at her opponent. "Yeah, of course…" Blake sighed. The two once again readied themselves in their respective fighting stances, reloaded their weapons, or in Yang's case weapon, and were prepared to go all out.
At the feeling of a gust of wind, Yang shot at Blake, who jumped backwards out of the way. Yang was already in front of her getting ready to throw a punch, but with only one gauntlet, she was relying on her left hook for any finishing blows. Yang was a beast with her assault, using her left hand to aim for Blake's vital areas and her right for Blake's bony prominences. Though her right gauntlet was gone, she still had a crazy amount of strength to work with.
However, Blake seemed to notice a trend within Yang's rage filled state, she always glanced to where she was going to attack, before punching that area. She used this to her advantage when she saw Yang glance down toward her left abdomen; Blake acted as though she left it wide open. The second Yang took the bait, Blake quickly ducked under her swinging arm, the momentum continuing to propel Yang forward slightly, and, while behind Yang, slashed at her back using Shroud.
To Blake's utmost surprise, even with blood now gushing down her back, Yang turned around and punched with her right hand. Blake brought up Shroud to guard herself but Yang's fiery punch melted the metal slightly allowing her punch to go clean through the weapon and connect with her jaw. Blake flew backwards into a tree and was forced to let go of Shroud since Yang had decided to hold onto it by the hole she had created.
Yang threw Shroud at Blake and watched it spin like boomerang and dig itself right into Blake's forehead. Upon impact, the Blake-shadow disappeared and Yang was darting her head back and forth looking for her opponent. Since Blake had jumped up the tree when she left her shadow clone, she had still been hit by the flying Gambol in her right side. After managing to flank Yang from above, she noticed that the slash on her back was still bleeding profusely, and wasn't closing either. "Her aura must be getting low." Blake surmised while looking for a place to attack from. "But then again, I couldn't even stop my own weapon from piercing my skin…I don't think I can last much longer." She thought while glancing at her right hand covering her bleeding cut.
Her thought were interrupted with the sight of Yang flexing her aura. "I need to show myself before she starts burning down the trees." Blake panicked. She quickly leapt across a few branches to get right above Yang, and immediately darted downwards, bringing Gambol down like a guillotine. It seemed to work at first since Yang's back was bent as though she was looking down, from the sheer force of Gambol. But, as Yang began to straighten herself out, Blake saw that the slash had been blocked by Yang's aura.
Blake couldn't even react when Yang brought up her foot and kicked right at her left knee. Blake buckled and fell to the ground, grasping at her leg; it was broken. Yang kicked Gambol out of Blake's hand and watched as it slid across the dirt. When the match wasn't called within a few seconds, Yang was immediately on top of her, straddling her waist. Blake was about to punch her opponent until she saw Yang's lilac eyes return.
"Give up." Yang said sternly.
Blake began to speak "Didn't we just have this conversation with your sister? We're in the middle –"
"Give. Up." Yang cut her off while raising her right fist back ready to punch.
Blake was looking Yang right in the eyes. "Do it."
Yang's eyes flashed red, "GOD DAMNIT!" she screamed while launching her fist at her opponent, which embedded itself into the ground right next the Blake's head.
"That was the hand without the gauntlet. The next time you're going to bluff someone, make sure you remain consistent." Blake said calmly while pushing Yang off of her.
"Why do you want to keep going? You can't even continue the fight." Yang asked angrily.
"Because you, evidently, need to learn to finish your opponents before they can come back and bite you in the ass." Blake stated quickly. "…just like I had to learn." She then muttered inaudibly.
Yang was just a foot-or-so away. Blake grabbed hold of a boulder next to her and pulled herself up, leaning against the rock for support. Yang was already in her fighting stance. "She's about to end this as quickly as possible." Blake thought. The moment Yang stepped forward, she noticed that Blake had begun to grasp her ribbon. Before she could even move an inch, Blake pulled the ribbon as hard as she could and watched as Gambol fired and launched towards the blonde.
The blade embedded itself deep into Yang's thigh and, as she buckled forward, Blake brought her good knee up as hard as she could and hit Yang right in the nose and forehead. Blake's knee was swiftly pulled away as a red-eyed Yang charged her and, with one powerful punch, nailed Blake right under her sternum, causing her to gasp for air and breaking a few ribs. Whenever Blake took a breath, there would be a searing pain that would shoot throughout her body.
"That's enough!" Weiss yelled out. "Yang is the winner! Blake's aura has entered the red!" Weiss pushed the button on her scroll and the app ended. Within a few seconds, Blake could breathe normally again.
"I'm proud of you Yang, even though it took some 'persuading' for you to finish the battle." Blake said while smiling slightly.
"Fuck…you kick hard, babe." Yang managed to get out right before she fell to the ground face first.
"Yang!" Ruby yelled as she appeared with a flurry of rose petals.
I was only now that we noticed Gambol in her thigh, and more specifically, how much blood was coming out. "The blade must had hit an artery, we need to get her to the medical staff now!" Blake half-yelled. The dust-infused oxygen only worked if the oxygen was still being pumped through your body. A nicked artery made it impossible for her to start healing.
"I got it!" Ruby said. Without missing a beat, she had her sister in her arms and a flurry of rose petals took her place.
"What about you, Blake?" Weiss asked offering a hand to her.
Blake started, "I'll probably be fine without medical attention, but I want to go to the medical ward and make sure that Yang is okay; so –"
"– they will indubitably heal you, as well, and ask what happened?" Weiss stated, finishing my thought. Blake nodded as she took Weiss' hand and put her arm around her teammate's neck.
"Don't you worry about that…" Weiss said as we began walking to the infirmary.
Yang slowly begins to open her eyes and is immediately greeted by a death hug from her younger sister. "Damn, I should've never showed her that."
"Chill out Rubes, I don't need you killing me." Yang said softly.
"Yang, do you remember what happened?" Ruby asked while sitting back down to Yang's right with worry written all over her face.
"What do you…" Yang starts before she begins looking around. After seeing that she was in a hospital room, all of the memories come flooding back all at once. "Yeah, me and Blakey were going all out and…" She said while holding her throbbing head.
"Yeah, you guys got serious, but Blake managed to get a pretty nice hit in." Ruby said. A noise goes off and Yang looks over to see that Ruby had her scroll out. "I just told Blake and Weiss that you were up, they went down to the food court a minute ago. I asked them to bring you something because I thought you might be hungry, so they'll be here in a few." Ruby said smiling.
"Wait, how long was I out for?" Yang asked in a panic.
"Calm down, it's only been a few hours." Ruby said in a calming tone. "And they said that you'd be fine to go home as soon as you woke up and they checked you out." She said again, in a reassuring manner.
The doors open and the sisters are greeted by the view of their other two teammates. "How are you feeling Yang?" Blake asked quickly while sitting to the left of Yang, giving her a bag from her favorite fast food place 'McRemnant.' Weiss simply walked over, sat next to Ruby, and began eating her pasta.
"Peachy. And that was an awesome fight, by the way. I loved every fucking minute." Yang said while pulling out a burger.
"I agree. But next time maybe we can get away without a hospitalization." Blake said while pulling out a salad from the same bag.
"I think the more injured we get, the more we bond. Y'know blood sisters!" Yang said sarcastically while eating her food. "By the way, what about your leg? You're walking, so that's good." Yang asked.
"I came in her after Weiss helped me here and they put me on high-dust-concentration oxygen. That with a few anti-biotics and I was walking in about four hours. Though the doctor said we won't be completely healed for about 24 hours…assuming we keep taking our oxygen treatment every four hours." Blake says while handing Yang her prescription dust inhaler.
"Well that's good, at least. It'd suck if our training interfered with the hunt." Yang stated while throwing the burger wrapper into the bag and placing it on the ground.
"We can go whenever you're ready, by the way." Weiss said, throwing away her to-go box,
"But doesn't the doctor have to come and examine Yang again?" Ruby asked.
"She's fine as long as she has the inhaler…and I gave him a little 'incentive' to keep quiet about this whole ordeal." Weiss said as she brushed off her skirt.
"Works for me!" Yang said as jumped out of bed next to Ruby.
Ruby was giggling until she saw Blake's face. The normally calm and neutral teammate was flushed red and had the most embarrassed look on her face. "Are you alright Blake?" She asked.
"Uh…um…y-yea… uh…Y-Yang your…gown…it's…uh…o-o-open." Blake just barely managed to squeak out as she hid her face in her hands.
Yang turned her head and looked down and noticed that her butt was fully exposed for her partner to see. "Ha-ha, whoops." Yang said, clearly not caring. She grabbed the two separations in the cloth and closed them with her left hand.
"I think we should let her get changed." Weiss said.
"Yeah, let's go wait in the hall." Ruby said while giggling.
The two girls followed walked to the door and opened it waiting for Blake, who quickly got up and ran past the two girls. When Ruby and Weiss exited the room, Blake, who was trying to calm her nerves via deep breaths, glanced back at the door only to see Yang give her a quick, playful wink. Of course, her pulse immediately began emulating that of a jack-hammer. "Ugh, that fool. What kind of game is she playing? Why doesn't she care that she showed someone that sweet ass–" Blake's thoughts were cut off by the embarrassment of her own mind. All the while Ruby was giggling at how red Blake's face had become.