Xavier was sent skidding back, his blade stabbed into the floor in an attempt to stop himself from being sent out of the ring. On the opposite end of the training ring was Blake, digging her blade into the ground in a similar manner. The two had been dueling against each other for at least fifteen minutes now and they'd only lost half of their aura.
She's a lot better than I thought she'd be. Xavier thought as he took into account what had transpired so far.
The battle had started easily enough, with Xavier dealing heavy offensive damage to Blake. He had no idea he was hitting copies though. Blake had fought back pretty well after Xavier's initial attack at the start, taking the lead after dealing a few shots about him. Xavier pushed her back after using a burst from FLLFFL, which consequently sent him back too.
My Semblance is pretty much useless in this situation. Xavier thought as he stood up and gave FLLFFL a decorative spin. I gotta hit the real her, and not a copy.
The two stood opposite of each other, posed in their respective battle stances. Yellow eyes met icy blue ones, the two Hunters nodded.
"Go Xavier! Show that gloomy sourpuss who's alpha!"
Xavier's concentration was broken by none other than Violet Storm, attempting to encourage him. In his distraction, Xavier received three bullets and a fist to the stomach.
"Waaah!" Xavier cried, flying back after taking a brutal series of shots. He was about to be sent flying off the ring when a pistol attached to a black ribbon latched to his shoulder. Blake yanked on the band bringing Xavier back into the ring, keeping him in the fight!
That was weird... Xavier thought as he shook off his initial shock from being owned. Xavier pointed FLLFFL at the opposition, then ignited, flying fast toward the gloomy girl. Blake barely had time to react as FLLFFL and Gambol Shroud collided, sending shock throughout her body and opening her up for a deadly combo.
Xavier brought his blade across Blake's torso at rapid speeds, delivering five slices a second from all angles and driving her back to the center of the ring.
Blake finally escaped the vicious combo by producing a copy. She backed out and switched her sword to pistol form, then unleashed a torrent of bullets, tearing away at Xavier and draining his aura greatly.
The two were nearly in the red zone, one more hit from either would end the match.
Their eyes met once more and Xavier felt something strange. Guilt maybe? Man, I can't believe I did all that to such a cute girl. Xavier thought.
Xavier found himself thinking back to when he first met Blake on the airship. He'd thought she was cute, and would have probably talked to her a little longer if not for-
"Why defend a stupid Faun-" The bully was cut off by a boy with blonde hair and small armor plating, stumbling between the three of them.
"Uhh?" Xavier questioned, just before the boy threw up all over the floor!
Xavier cringed at the memory of Jaune's vomit dressing the mood between He and Blake. He had nothing personal against Jaune, unlike Cardin who had gotten puke all over his boot. But still, he would have like to have spent some more time with Blake.
Xavier shook his head, then sheathed FLLFFL on his back. "I forfeit!" He cried, lifting his hands in defeat.
Blake's eyes widened a little, but soon regained their usually gloomy composure. "Well, that was simple." She muttered, sheathing Gambol Shroud.
"Very well then," Professor Goodwitch, the combat trainer announced, "The winner is Ms. Blake Belladonna. Please take a seat with your team, Mr. Ray."
Xavier and Blake made their way back to their respective teams, Blake getting lots of encouragement from both Yang and Ruby. Xavier could feel the glares from his team the second FLLFFL slid into the sheathe. Oh yeah, he was in for a lecture from Violet and crew.
"What the heck was that!?" Violet questioned, the second his butt hit its seat. "I mean, you had her on the ropes, one more hit and she would've been done for!"
"Yeah man, what gives?" Ross asked, more curiosity than fury in his voice, "You two were going at it, then you just gave up."
"Indeed," Tanya added, "Your actions seemed very illogical."
Xavier wasn't paying attention, as he was focused on the battle happening before them.
Some girl named Rei was duking it out with one of JNPR's members; Nora.
Rei was pretty quick and elegant, while Nora's fighting style took on a more brassy and explosive approach.
"Hellooo~ I'm talking to you, Scruffy!" Violet said, pulling harshly on the wolf boy's ear.
"Gah! Vi' cut it out!" He cried, swatting her hand away and rubbing his aching ear.
"Sure I will, just tell me what the heck happened down there." She said, her hands on her hips and her eyes lasering down at the faunas.
Ross was recounting the events that occurred between Xavier and Blake. He took into account the way she pulled him back into the ring after a perfect opportunity at victory. He noticed all the eye contact the two made. He saw the way Xavier had been pulling each strike as he delivered them. It clicked.
"I think our scruffy friend here has a thing for Blake." He said leaning back, his hands relaxed behind his head and a smug grin painted across his face.
"W-what the heck are you talking about!?" Xavier barked, pointing a finger threateningly at the red haired boy.
Both Violet and Tanya raised their eyebrows. They eyed each other, then eyed Blake, then settled their attention on Xavier. Their thoughtful gaze turned into malicious grins and Xavier knew he was in for it.
"So, explain to me Wolf boy, how long have you been infatuated with this girl?"
"You fancy the gloomy type, eh? Well, I guess I better get cheerier."
"I can understand why a pubescent male such as yourself would be interested in a young female such as Blake, but still..."
"Hey, Tan, what do you think their babies would look like?"
"Even if the subject; Blake is the most melancholy student on campus, a rogue such as you still cannot be held to her standard for romantic interest."
"Tanya... You didn't answer my question..."
"In all seriousness, it is a point-zero-zero-zero-zero-zero-one in one-billion-three-hundred-point-sixty-seven-repeating-the-eight chance that Blake would consider courtship with a scoundrel such as yourself."
"Babies Tanya... Babies..."
"They'd have three children. An oldest son and two younger twin daughters. The eldest would look like a spitting image of the Canine with the exception of black hair and yellow eyes, while the two younger would look identical, icy blue eyes and silver hair. The more adventurous of the two twins would have black streaks in her silver hair."
"Thank you."
"No need for an expression of gratitude."
Xavier's head was being smacked against the desk before him. A pained and annoyed groan was escaping his fanged mouth as the two girls spoke about the potential of him and Blake ever becoming an article.
Ross wasn't too sure he'd made the right choice in exposing his observations, because now his friend was being tortured by the girls and it was all Ross' fault. He had to admit he felt somewhat guilty. But that guilt was far overshadowed by how much fun he was having watching the girls go to town on the wolf boy.
"The winner is Ms. Nora Valkyrie." Professor Goodwitch announced, "The two of you may take a seat by your teams. Good work Ms. Lavender, I'm sure you'll do better next round."
VRTX took their attention away from Xavier's pain and turned to see Rei make her way back to her team.
"Hey Tanya, what's the name of that team?" Ross asked curiously as he watched their leader hassle Rei. Tanya lifted her eyebrows and started to pull over a few files in her scroll.
"It says here that they are called Team DSRT, pronounced 'Desert'. They're lead by David Sky." Tanya recited as she read. "Oh..." She gasped as she read over an article concerning David, "It states here that David has a physical abnormality that damages his aura. Very interesting..." Violet raised her eyebrows as she watched the four students.
"I'll keep an eye on those four. Something about them gives me a funny feeling..."
Class eventually ended after a duel between Lilac and Titus from FLAR and MTLC, a duel between Caroline and Opal from DSRT and MOMO, and a final duel between David and Jaune from DSRT and JNPR to which the latter got decimated.
Violet had split up from her team to use the restroom. She'd told them to go on ahead and find a way to entertain themselves. Ross' response was: "You do you."
After finishing her girly business in the restroom, Violet started to head back to the library where Tanya informed her the rest of VRTX was hanging out. MTLC had apparently agreed to mess around as well.
As she walked down a hallway, she heard a loud and slightly girly scream. The door to her left burst open, releasing a boy. The boy in question slammed into Violet, making the two of them tumble down the staircase to Violet's right.
"Waaaah!"
Biff! Bang! Crash! Boom!
"Ouch."
Violet and the boy were rubbing their heads. Violet finally regained her focus and directed her angry gaze at the boy who had launched her downstairs. It was then that she noticed how cute he was, in a whoobie sort of way.
He had waveish peach shaded hair that only reached below his ears, covering his left eye. The eyes in question were a deep brown, like chocolate. His skin was a pale cream color like Violet's only a slight more masculine. He was devoid of muscle and was barely as tall as Jaune, though he retained a similar squirrelly and pathetic demeanor that matched Jaune's almost identically.
Violet shook off this petty analysis of appearance and donned a serious look about herself.
"What the heck!?" She demanded, "You sent me flying down that stairwell! If it hadn't been for our aura's we'd've broken all our freaking bones, you idiot!"
The boy still had a shocked and bewildered look about him.
"Hey!" Violet shouted, snapping before his eyes in an attempt to regain his attention.
"So... Much... Underwear..." Was all he could murmur.
Violet cocked an eyebrow, then proceeded to shake the boy's shoulder violently. He eventually came to.
"Oh, uh, sorry..." He apologized, getting to his feet along with Violet. "Guess I got distracted in my attempt to escape the horrid awkwardness of my team's dorm room."
"Uh... What?"
"I'm Momo." The boy revealed to be Momo said, thrusting his hand out in a friendly manor, "Momo Taro. I'm the leader of Team, well, MOMO." Violet tentatively shook the boy's hand, but retracted it just as soon as she'd put it out.
"Um. Violet Storm, leader of Team VRTX." She stated, a bit of pride in her voice, "Mind telling me what in the world you were doing, tackling me down the stairs like that and screaming all the way?"
Momo's face instantly turned a shade of red. "Oh, uh... Sorry 'bout that." He apologized once more. "I was just caught in an embarrassing position. My grandpa always told me to flee in a situation where there is no chance of victory."
"I'm sorry, but I have no godly idea what you're talking about." Violet said, a blank expression about her.
"Allow me to elaborate." Momo said, wrapping an arm around Violet's shoulder and spreading the other arm out demonstratively.
"You see, I was born in a small town out in the sticks where I went to a secondary combat school called Herald. I have this strange streak of fate were no matter what, I get surrounded by beautiful women. I could take advantage of this, but you see, I'm far too awkward. I get nervous. So, every day I get put into horrible and compromising situations with beautiful women and I don't know how to handle it. Woe is the sad and hopeless situation fate has placed me under."
Violet simply blinked at the boy after he finished his longwinded tale of embarrassing woe.
"What?" She asked.
"I'm the star of my own personal Harem gone to hell."
"Ah."
"Yep."
"How unfortunate,"
"Uhuh."
"Most guys would kill for your position."
"I know, right?"
"I ain't part of your harem, Momo."
"Oh, thank Oum."
Violet nodded then started back up the stairs to go back to the library. A thought suddenly hit her and she turned to the boy behind her, "Hey, Momo, wanna hang out?" Violet offered, receiving a shrug from the boy.
"Sure, why not?"
As they walked to the library, Momo explained his situation that made him run out his door, screaming.
He'd apparently walked in on his team getting dressed to go to the Community Pool down in Vale. Some of them weren't finished dressing and he'd got an eyeful of some things he wasn't meant to see.
"Wow, that must've been embarrassing." Violet said.
"No, it wasn't. Captain Obvious." Momo snarked, gaining a giggle from the leader of VRTX.
"So, tell me about your team, buddy." Violet pressed on.
"Buddy?" Momo questioned.
"Yeah," Violet replied with a smile, "We can stand for five minutes without-" Violet went over her words shortly, "Oh man, I can't remember that saying." She pouted, crossing her arms.
"Well, I guess we're friends then." Momo said, trying to get back on topic.
His team was comprised of himself and three other girls who were total knockouts in the looks department. He had Opal, Magenta, and Olive under his subordination. So far, they've been decent towards him. The only one that feels salty about him being in charge is Opal.
"They seem alright," Violet mused as they neared the door to the library, "Maybe our teams could hang out someti-"
Violet's proposal was cut short when she opened the door to walk in on a war zone.
Paper airplanes zipped left and right! Tables were turned over to be used as cover! Students were crying behind desks!
Teams VRTX and MTLC were in the middle of a paper airplane dogfight! Papers being folded and launched by the thousand each second!
"It's chaos! Chaos!" Ross whined, rocking in fetal position next to a team of Tanya clones who were throwing ten paper airplanes a second. "I can't take the shelling! I wanna go home!" He whined, receiving a hard smack across the face from Xavier, who had somehow obtained an army helmet and a few general's badges.
"Keep your mouth shut, Private! Else I'll have you sent to the front lines!" Xavier barked. He turned suddenly to a Tanya clone who's skin was covered in paper cuts.
"Commander Ray, the opposition is just too tenacious! Lawrence's ability to duplicate the objects he makes physical contact with using his Semblance may prove to be the clones' downfall!" She reported, just before being run through with a paper airplane and poofing into a cloud of nothingness.
"Blast them!" Xavier grumbled, slamming a white knuckled fist into the desk beside him.
"MTLC forever!" Four voices yelled from the other end of the library.
A huge fortress comprised of tipped over desks, book shelves, books themselves, and an abundance of paper loomed over the library with its dark and tyrannical leaders standing atop!
Mango Anseum stood with her hand placed proudly on her hips! Her long black hair tied into tails similar to those of Tanya, her crimson eyes danced with the madness of power! A top her head was a general's cap, a series of badges decorating her right breast.
Next to her stood the tall and stalwart Lawrence Rayleonard. His short silver hair cut into a sharp crew cut, decorated with a green barrette. His steely eyes focused on the paper airplane in his right hand as he duplicated it into his left.
Taking the paper airplanes from Lawrence's hand was Copper Haymaker. His spiky brown hair was well hidden under a black beanie, though his blazing yellow eyes were filled with bloodlust! He rapidly threw the paper airplanes he took faster than the eye could see.
Titus, the smallest of the team, held in his hands a flag that fluttered proudly, broadcasting the letters MTLC in golden text! his arsenic grey hair fluttered in a wind that seemed to have come from nowhere, perhaps the sheer force of Copper's rapid throwing of the airplanes.
Xavier's fists clenched as he saw Tanya clone after Tanya clone run into the open fray of the battlefield, only to be impaled and cut up by a flurry of razor sharp paper.
"Great Oum..." Xavier cursed, watching the chaos of the battle, "This is hell..."
Xavier turned to his crying compatriot, Ross, on the floor. "Tell me about you mother and those Rose bushes." He demanded, trying to find a shred of happiness in this hour of horror.
Ross turned, tears in his eyes, "No, that one I save just for me." He whimpered.
Xavier suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder.
"Alright commander Scruffy," Violet growled, taking the helmet off of her teammate's head and placing it onto her own, "We're doing this the Violet way!"
Xavier turned around, feeling his head and noticing the absence of protection. His badges were swiped away from his chest and place upon Violet's left breast.
"Team VRTX!" Violet called, gaining the attention of her forces, "Form up!"
Ross came to his feet, one Tanya stood adjacent to him, and Xavier stood in line with the other two. Violet grabbed Momo by the arm and placed him to Xavier's left.
"Alright men!" She shouted, the voice of a seasoned commander resonating throughout her words. "I'm gonna say this once, I'm gonna say it quick, I ain't gonna say it pretty!" Out of nowhere Violet procured commander's whip, "You four are the most worthless soldiers I have ever seen!"
"Four?" Momo questioned, jerking his head back defensively.
"Did I ask you to speak, private!?" Violet barked, her whip placed just below the boy's chin!
"Gah!? Sir, no, sir!" He shouted, straightening up with his hands at his sides.
"Now, we are gonna do this one more time! That bunker's gonna fall, and that bunker's gonna fall today! I'm sick of that bunker! It's in the way of my perfect view!" She paced left and right before her four subordinates, giving each other them a stare that made them shake in their undergarments. "We're gonna storm this base and we're gonna storm it right! You get me!?"
"We get you, sir!" The four shouted in unison.
"We're gonna storm this base and bring it to the floor. If my name isn't Violet Storm!"
"Yeah!"
"Who are we!?"
"VRTX, sir!"
Momo didn't speak on that one.
"Who are we gonna take down!?"
"The Metal Menace, sir!"
"Are we gonna lose!?"
"Heck no!"
"You're darn right!"
"Oorah!"
All five of them thrusted their fists into the air, a fire restored in their hearts!
The five of them worked out a plan as more and more Tanya clones fed themselves to the endless flurry of paper. Finally, VRTX and Momo came up with a plan.
They stood at their end of the ruin that was once the school library, paper airplanes stabbed all over the floor. Violet Storm stood at the head of their triangular formation, her whip pointed triumphantly toward the enemy. Xavier stood to her right, a yardstick held tightly in his right hand, his wolf ears twitching furiously as he overlooked the field of battle. To her left stood Ross, wielding another measuring stick that stretched six feet long the time around, a furious, yet also scared look dancing in his eyes. Momo stood behind her, bouncing nervously, a protractor in each hand, held like fisticuffs. Tanya's sprinted across the battlefield, acting simply as fodder for Copper's insane throwing speed.
An assured smirk spread across Violet's face as she thrust her whip forward crying: "Charge!"
All of VRTX (and Momo) ran forward, weapons swinging and ready to fight!
Xavier activated his Semblance quickly, turning invisible before getting into combat. Ross ran to the front of a battalion of Tanya's creating a column of flooring material, knocking it down, then rolling it before him like a barricade. Momo ran forward next to Violet, punching the paper airplanes out of the air with his Semblance that allowed him to compress, launch, and expand pockets of air.
Mango's eyes widened when she saw Team VRTX (and Momo)'s advance. She turned to Titus and he nodded back at her. Titus gripped his leader's shoulder, then used his Semblance to teleport the two of them down to the battlefield.
In Mango's hand was a pair of rulers with papers folded around the ends to make makeshift tomahawks. Titus appeared holding the MTLC flagpole still. The two stood next to each other, before nodding and sprinting out to face their oncoming enemy.
"We got enemies on the field!" Momo cried to his friend running alongside him.
Mango leapt into the air, then threw her makeshift tomahawks to the floor, creating a shockwave with her semblance and knocking the two over. She was quickly knocked out of the sky by a column of flooring, launched up from the ground by Ross.
"I got you covered!" He shouted assuredly to his leader and friend. He turned to continue pressing onward when-
Bam!
Ross' face met a flagpole and Ross was sent flying back by none other than Titus. Ross skidded to a halt, then whipped his head up to look the flag bearer in the eyes. He charged in, measuring stick swinging at Titus' head. They titanium haired boy caught Ross' strike with his flagpole and thrust his palm into the boy's chest, sending him back once more.
Momo delivered a hard punch to Mango's face, sending her back, before Violet jumped over him to swat her rapidly with a pair of rulers she obtained at an undisclosed time. Violet was rapidly thrashed seconds later by a flurry of paper airplanes that sent her back to the floor.
"Tanya ball!" Violet ordered, pumping her fist into the air.
Ross nodded and pumped his fist into the air as well, creating a column of flooring material that launched a ball of Tanya clones at the desk bunker.
Lawrence saw this and gritted his teeth. He grabbed a six foot measuring stick that had a globe tied to it by a strand of measuring tape, then jumped toward the Tanya ball, smashing it to smithereens with his makeshift morningstar.
Xavier suddenly appeared next to Copper, his yardstick held just beneath his chin.
"How'd you get here!?" Copper demanded, reaching behind him slowly to grab a yardstick as well.
"I was in the ball." Xavier said, shrugging, "I should thank your friend for jumping off, now I only have to deal with one of you."
"Well, I guess I don't have to share with the big guy!" Copper said, whacking away the yardstick from his chin with a yardstick of his own. "No show me what you got, Scruffy."
The two of them exchanged a quick array of slashes with their 'swords', before coming to a struggle of strength. Xavier and Copper pushed violently against each other, eyes glaring into each other, teeth clenched with fury.
Down below, a horde of Tanyas ripped and tore at the fortress's walls in an attempt to bring it down.
"Hey!" They heard, before a few of them were blown away by a globe at the end of a strand. "You're forgetting about me." Lawrence said, glaring at the army of clones.
The clones all turned to face the new threat, fists clenched and ready to fight.
"You believe that an imbecile such as yourself could stand up to a genius such as us?" All the clones taunted in unison, creating an intimidating echo that filled the battlefield.
"Just shut up and come on!" Lawrence yelled, charging in and blowing away five clones with one swipe of his makeshift morningstar. Hundreds of clones sprinted towards the silver haired boy and he swatted them away in an array of swipes and butts with his weapon, before leaping into the air, duplicating his weapon, then slamming down. Clones were sent flying and poofing, dissipating with ease as the boy blew through them like they were paper.
Momo, Violet, and Mango were in a brawl. The three leaders threw everything they had into each attack, sending each other flying and making the ground shake.
"Give up Mango! Your team is exhausted!" Violet cried, lifting her fist into the air.
Copper slammed down next to Mango, as did Titus. Lawrence was covered in a pile of Tanya clones, coating him like an army of angered fire ants.
Mango saw her team's condition and knew that defeat was inevitable.
"We surrender." She said, lifting her hands into the air defeatedly. Her two remaining team members were slack jawed at her action, but soon followed suit. "Yes, we surrender." They admitted, hands raised as well.
"Hooray!" Team VRTX and Momo cheered, pumping their fists into the air.
All the Tanya clones around Lawrence disappeared, leaving a screaming and squirming young man lying on the floor. Everyone turned to the boy, laughing. He finally opened his eyes, realizing that he was defeated.
"Teams VRTX and MTLC!"
The two teams (and Momo) turned to see Professor Goodwitch standing there with her hands placed angrily on her hips.
"Oh... Uh..." Violet stuttered, taking her army helmet off and throwing it through a closed window. A grunt of pain could be heard from the school grounds below.
"Oh, uh... You see... hehe..." Mango stumbled, throwing her makeshift tomahawks out as well, slamming into the same person who'd made the grunt of pain seconds earlier.
Professor Goodwitch stomped up to the group, waving around her wand. Desks, bookshelves, papers, books, computers, and all the ruin of the battle repairing around them.
"This is a place for studying! If you wanted to have a battle, then see me about it during Combat training!" She barked, pointed her wand threateningly at the three leaders. "Any more incidents like this and you will all be placed in detention! You understand!?"
The students were lined up in military formation as they were beforehand.
"Sir, yes sir!"
Professor Goodwitch jerked back at this motion, a confused look about her.
"Well, good then." She said, turning to leave as the last book was slid into its rightful place in its rightful shelf. "You are all dismissed."
The nine of them turned to each other, grinning. Eventually this simple grinning turned into full blown laughter.
Violet smiled as she looked over her friends.
Yeah... Friends... That's a good word to use.
Okay! Sorry I'd taken so long to update this chapter. I'd needed some inspiration, luckily Volume 3 was released on Rooster Teeth! Yay!
Did you all like the Paper Airplane Battle? I wanted to do it faster but the words just kept flowing. Now I have an extra long chapter for y'all to read. I made a few Saving Private Ryan references in there, as well as some Patton.
So, I'ma include my buddy LawlessAndFlawless0's team: DSRT into the story. Don't worry, we're friends. We have the whole story worked out, and he's including VRTX into his side of the story as well.
Little Trivia: Team MTLC are all named after Metals. Magneseum (Mango Anseum), Titanium (Titus Justinian), Lawrencium (Lawrence Rayleonard), and Copper (Copper Haymaker). Momo is also the Japanese word for Peach. I based Momo Taro off of the Japanese folk tale; Momotarou.
I decided to hint at some Catscan (remember that means BlakexXavier), but don't worry, it won't overshadow the rest of the story. And to those of you that may be looking for some LGBTQ stuff: stay tuned.
So, be on the lookout for more chapters coming soon. Remember to check out DSRT by LawlessAndFlawless0, it runs parallel to VRTX.
Read and Review.
Artisan Out!