Chapter IV – A Show of Arms

When we got outside, there were training dummies all set up at seemingly random locations. "When did these get here?" I asked, examining one. "Oh. I had put them up while you were asleep. I had felt like doing some target practice, but then Yang called me in." Ruby answered for everybody else. "Well, something was on that you might've liked." Yang said. "If it was that American Guns show, I still don't see the point of it." I said. "Why's that?" Blake asked.

"One, guns are way too loud and bulky, which is why I prefer bows, thus the Bowmerang. Two, recoil can be a bit of a problem. And three, bows never blew I peoples' faces." I responded, drawing the Bowmerang to its Bow Form. "That's not much of a problem for me." Bob said. "You're used to it. And neither the silencer nor the laser sight help. There are still people close that can here the silencer, which also adds to a gun's bulk. And then there's also the fact that the laser of a laser sight can be seen by even the target, which gives them time to react. With bows, all you have to is pull back and release. Simple as that." I said back, shooting a dummy in the head. The arrowhead ended up sticking out of the back of the head.

"The recoil isn't that bad if you know how to use it." Ruby said. "Oh. Show me." I said, getting the Bowmerang in its holster as I finished collapsing it. "Alright. I will." the red cloaked girl said, drawing her weapon from its holster, which appeared to be magnetic. Once fully expanded, it was even bigger than the Bowmerang's Bow Form, said weapon form being barely a couple of taller than me. "Seriously. That thing is huge." I said, pointing it out.

She nodded in our direction. Her teammates backed up, so Bob and I just shrugged at each other and did the same. When we had backed up far enough, Ruby pointed the weapon behind her as she took up a combat stance. As soon as she pulled the sniper rifle trigger, she disappeared, leaving behind rose petals that slowly floated to the ground in her place. Next thing I knew, Ruby appeared on the other side of a dummy as the head fell off. There was a gunshot and she flew towards another one, using the recoil's momentum to accelerate through the distance between her and her target. With a yell, she cut this practice dummy in half.

"That was impressive." I said, raising my hand for a high five, which she gave. And then a thought hit me. "Wait a minute, weren't you guys going to help me get some degree of control over my powers?" I asked, just remembering. "Oh yeah. I forgot about that. You may want to draw your weapons first, though." Yang said. "Why?" I asked. "Just do it." She responded, her bracelets changing into forearm length gauntltets. As soon as everybody else had cleared up the area, Yang and I prepared ourselves for a fight. I drew the Bowmerang to its Edge Form and then drew my sword.

We both took up combat ready stances. Then without warning, she rushed right at me. Right as she did that, I heard guns come from behind her. "You have got to be kidding me! Those things are shotguns!" I quickly cut that line of thought as I rolled underneath her punch while swinging the Bowmerang at her legs. The blonde quickly flicked her arms downward, more shotgun shots being heard as she jumped over my weapon, using the recoil to shift her momentum upward.

Without a second thought, I did a backhand overhead swing with my sword and then followed up with a jab from the Bowmerang, both of which she blocked while still in the air. I was still facing the other way when she landed, but she didn't see the Bowmerang's bottom point coming at her. She didn't really have time to react, given that everybody was vulnerable upon landing, with or without any aid for reaching the ground safely. The blade's point struck her on the chest, a yellow flash of light occurred, and she was sent sprawling.

"Nice moves. Are you sure you're self-taught?" the brawler asked, getting back up. "Yeah. There wasn't really anybody that wanted to teach me the way I wanted to fight, so I did it myself." I answered, shrugging my shoulders. "Did you even have to think of any way to react to her movements?"" Weiss asked. "Not really. It was just instinct and years of training. Now are we going to continue or what? That was actually quite fun." I said, taking up my combat stance again. "You're on." Yang said, taking on her ready stance.

We went at each other again, but this time, I couldn't land one hit. In fact, now I was getting a little frustrated every time she avoided any of my attacks. I sheathed my sword and threw the Bowmerang in its Boomerang form as she came rushing at me. As I did that, the weapon got set ablaze. The flames roared as the heavy metal boomerang made its way to the brawler. Yang slid under the weapon, rolled to get back up and keep running, and used her weapon's recoil to boost her speed. I drew my sword and set its blade ablaze as I rushed at her. I rolled out of the way of her punches and countered her kicks with some of my own.

I swung my sword and when she blocked and countered, I moved out of the way and did my own counters. I jumped back as she threw another punch, this one on fire. In fact, she looked to be on fire now. Her normally lilac eyes were now red and her hair glowing. She threw another punch at me, this time shooting at me as well. I jumped back, away from the punch, but I couldn't move fast enough to avoid the shot.

My sword's fire went out as soon as I dropped it upon hitting the fence. "And that's a match!" Ruby called out. "Not quite." I said. "What do you mean?" Yang asked, having calmed down rather quickly. "Wait for it." I said, seeing the flaming Bowmerang coming back. "3…. 2… 1." I thought, counting down on my fingers. The bladed boomerang hit Yang as it came back to me, putting down to a knee, rubbing the back of her head. As soon as I caught the weapon, I extinguished the fire and holstered it.

"And that is why it also has a Boomerang Form." I said, helping Yang up. "Three modes of combat that each still complements one another. And they seem to have a smooth transition between them as well." Ruby said thoughtfully. "Yeah. I kind of made it that way so it would be easier to wield. The only difficulty is the weight, but it's manageable enough." I said to her. "And it looks like you have that new power of yours under control now." Bob said, putting a hand on my shoulder. I sneezed and accidently set a practice dummy on fire.

"Not quite. It appears that I only have control over its combat implementations so far." I said, putting out the fire. "You'll figure out the rest eventually." Blake said. She still startled me when she spoke up. She doesn't exactly talk a lot. "Thanks for that. I think." I said, releasing a breath I didn't even know I was holding. Now let's get back inside. All that fighting made me hungry." I said, getting back into the house. Everybody else followed along.