Chapter Three

Oh, yes… A few more things I wan- actually, you know what… I'll just let things unfold and all will be explained. Enjoy.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Harrison, but I cannot allow that," Ms. Goodwitch said.

"Why?" Crimson asked inquisitively.

The teacher's response to the third year's question was NOT what anyone was expecting. "For the sake of their safety."

The mere suggestion that their team wasn't good enough to take on ONE lone huntsman was an affront to Weiss. Her leader took it FAR more personally. But, rather than being offended, Ruby took it as a challenge. "We can take him on, no problem!"

Crimson waved to them, but didn't look away from Professor Goodwitch. "Seems as though they want it as well. Why not let them try?"

With a heavy sigh, Goodwitch caved. "Fine. Just, don't go overboard like you did with Mr. Winchester." A small moan of pain could be heard from the aforementioned boy. "Will somebody please get him off the floor?"

Crimson chuckled, "Don't worry. That," He jerked his thumb over at the sorry heap of a huntsman that was Cardin. "Was for a different reason. I'll be more careful this time."

"Team RWBY, step into the arena." None of them knew what to think. They had only met this guy yesterday and already, he wants to fight them. Is this because of what Weiss said to him when they first met? Oh Oum, she was so embarrassed after he stormed out. Weiss couldn't look at anyone, let alone Ruby. But, maybe now was a chance for her to make things right. But, the heiress's pride would not let her go down easily. If Crimson thinks he can take all of them on, then he's welcome to try.

Weiss was the first of the four to stand up. Yang following suit with her little sister in tow. Blake was the last to rise, and even so, she was timid about it. The cat faunus was still unsure. But, as they lined up across from Crimson, drawing their weapons one by one. Weiss saw something. A look in Crimson's eyes.

He was staring at them, his gaze moving from left to right as he scanned all four of them. It was cold. Uncaring. Calculated. It was not the warm and sensitive feeling that Weiss had gotten from him when they first met. Nor that playful (and rather arrogant) nature that she had felt when he offered to rightly thrash Cardin for Jaune. No. This was something else. Her fingers, while barely noticeable, still trembled as they cocked the hammer back on Myrtenaster.

Whatever it was, it sent shivers down the Schnee's spine.

At the sound of Goodwitch's riding crop slapping down on her desk to signal the beginning of the match, Ruby was the first to attack. Speeding towards her opponent, Ruby readied her scythe for a wide slash across his stomach. She figured if she was quick enough, then she might be able to get the first hit in.

This was not the case, however. As she closed the distance, she noticed something. A movement. So fast that anyone but her could have seen it. Crimson's right hand had shot to the hilt of his blade. As Ruby made the arcing swing with Crescent Rose, something sharp slashed its way across her gut. While her aura DID stop whatever it was from slicing into her skin, Ruby was sent flying back. She was airborne for a solid second before slamming down onto the arena's floor. Hard. And sliding back to the rest of her team. Despite the dull pain that most likely would become a bruise later on, Ruby stood back up. But, when she did, she saw Crimson sheathing his katana.

He had hit her?

But… but…

The huntress's mind went blank. At the most inopportune moment, too. Because, now the rest of her team were already rushing the swordsman. Forcing Crimson into action. And right before it started, Ruby could just manage to see the slight grin that crept on his face.

This would be interesting. Ruby was fast, but he was faster. He was always faster.

The other three members of Team RWBY closed in quick. One with two blades, the hilt of one of her swords also a pistol. Or was it an smg? No matter. The one on the left, the Schnee. Going in for a thrust. And the one in the middle. Rose's sister. Rather buxom, that one. Brawler type. And her eyes weren't red before. She's quick to anger. He could use that.

First, have to take care of the one with the rapier. Spinning slightly, Crimson raised his scabbard and pushed Weiss's thrust offline, his step to the right also putting him out of the way of both Yang's punch and Blake's slashes from Gambol Shroud. As Yang came to a stop and went in for a left hook, Crimson had lifted his scabbard higher up and jabbed her in the face. The force of the blow knocking her back slightly. Blake twisted her main blade up for another slash at him. He parried this with his scabbard again, this time however, he removed his blade from its sheath.

Timepiece. The blade was… no. He can't go back there. Not right now. Crimson pushed the painful memories back down, swinging his katana downward to ward off another thrust from Weiss. Where was Rose? A quick glance past Yang showed the team leader wobbling to her feet.

Should be about another four seconds before she's upon him as well. Need to even the odds. With a solid jab to the gut with his scabbard, Crimson had stunned the faunus girl. Need to keep an ear out for the ding that would sound when they're out of aura. Now, it's a two on one. Not for long, but Crimson could manage. Yang came in for another swing, but she faked into a roundhouse kick. Crimson ducked under her leg, spinning his katana around and slashing diagonally across her back. The girl didn't even falter in her follow up. She was a tough one. Continuing with her spin, Yang went in for a right hook. Crimson pushed her punch offline with his scabbard, and, now inside her guard, struck her in the chin with an upward blow. This pushed the girl off balance.

With Timepiece interlocked with Weiss rapier, he spun it around, working his blade around the heiress's guard, before finding an opening. Disengaging with her balde, Crimson swiped at her from the right, his blade connected with its target and knocking her back. And with a returning slash from his left side, he caught Blake across the side as she tried to fall back. Crimson sheathed Timepiece, letting the scabbard and sword resting at his side for just a moment, before bringing them back up again, drawing his blade once more to catch the downward swing of a giant red scythe. Rose was back in the game.

Fully drawing his katana, Crimson sent Ruby back. All four of them were lined up again. Looking up at the board, he saw that Weiss was the lowest on aura, seconded by Blake. A few more good hits and it would become a two on one. Best get to it. Rather than letting them get the first move in again, Crimson took the initiative. Rushing at Weiss, Crimson noticed a strange symbol appear around her rapier. It spun around, turning a bright red, before spewing out a fireball.

Crimson stopped, deflecting the ball with the flat of his blade. Glyphs. Right. "I forgot about that. Heard that your semblance is hereditary, Weiss-" He fake sneezed, then paused. "Get it, 'cause you're a Sch-neeze." This jest enraged the heiress to no end. The girl charging Crimson with Myrtenaster outstretched. Crimson simply sidestepped, letting the rapier fly past him, before striking Weiss with a downward swing of Timepiece, before following it up with a sideswipe from his scabbard. And in that moment, the scabbard changed.

This was his weapon's trick. While the blade doesn't do anything, the scabbard splits in two, becoming two long, gleaming, semi-auto pistols. Splitting in two across Weiss's face, Crimson stabbed his sword into the ground and left it there. With one pistol already in his left hand, he spun around and grabbed its partner, which was still in the air near the girl's face. Upon grabbing the second firearm, Crimson followed through with a gun butt to Weiss's cheek, sending the girl flying back. As she hit the floor, a high pitched ding was heard signaling that Weiss was out of the match due to aura levels.

A cry could be heard from their leader, Ruby's eyes wide in shock of how quickly her friend had gone down. "WEISS!" Her sympathetic moment was short lived as she was forced to dodge Crimson's gunfire. The rest of Team RWBY scattered around the arena.

Next up was Blake. Where had she gone to? Crimson looked around the arena while keeping up the gunfire. Rose was too fast to begin with and had started to make circles around him, while Yang retaliated with fire of her own in the form of rockets from Ember Celica. But, of course, that's why he has two guns. With one, he shot the rockets out of the sky, and the other, he occasionally took potshots at Rose just to keep her moving. But, where was the cat girl?

Out of nowhere, she leapt over Ruby's circuit with Gambol Shroud in hand and swiped at him. Crimson raised one of his guns up to intercept the strike. The other he kept trained on Yang, who had begun to circle him instead of Ruby. The Rose, however, was in the corner, trying to catch her breath. She'd be next.

With blade and gun interlocked, Crimson wanted to say something witty. But… "All I got are cat puns," He whispered to her, his voice strained slightly. "And I'm assuming that because of that bow on your head, you don't want people to know you're a faunus." Blake just nodded, silently thanking him for his discretion. "Right then, onto business." With a forceful push, Crimson shoved Gambol's blade out of the corner between the trigger guard and the barrel of his gun, before raising both of them and unloading into the faunus, causing the girl's aura to drop rapidly. At the sound of the ding, he stopped and turned to Yang and Ruby, who had recovered in that short amount of time. "And then there were two."

By this time, the leader realized that they were outmatched, but that didn't stop the sisters from trying. Ruby dashed around Crimson, slammed the tip of her scythe into the ground, spinning around and going in for a flying kick to the face.

And she connected! She actually managed to land a hit on the previously untouched Crimson. "Got you!~" she cried with glee. But, rather than feeling the force that one should when flying feet first into someone's face, Ruby continued to move. Until she skidded to the floor with a slide. Now, she was confused. Looking back, she saw no one there.

"Did you, now?" She heard Crimson say. The voice came from behind him. Leaping to her feet, Ruby turned around to see her opponent retrieving his sword, seemingly unaffected by her attack that was supposed to connect!

"Wha-? But you…! I saw you… ! You were… HOW?!" The young girl shrieked.

"I'll explain later, but for now…" Crimson sped past her, slashing her across the abdomen and depleting her aura. "Fall!" The word was quick. Harsh. Ruby spun slightly due to the force of the strike, before falling to her knees. Exhaustion taking hold. A ding could be heard. Guess she's out now. "Three down, one to go." The boy in red turned to the older sister. She was a little steamed. Crimson's jests didn't do much to help her temper. "Jeez, lady, I… I'm sorry, but I gotta ask, how in the hell do you manage to fight with those things," He held both of his hands to his chest, fingers pointed out. "Bouncing around everywhere. I'm barely able to walk on my own two feet sometimes, but you manage to stay balanced with those things." The rest of the class roared with laughter.

A yellow corona could be seen around the ball of rage that had become Yang. "SHUT UUUUUUP!" She rushed him, anger clouding her judgement.

Crimson dodged her with ease, the ball of yellow and wrath flew by him. "Ooh, she's got a temper."

Yang spun around and charged him again. "I SAID SHUT UP!"

He dodged again. "You did? I couldn't quite hear you over the sound of air rushing past me. Could you say it a little louder?" He shouted at her like he was partially deaf.

"RAAAAGGGGHHH!" Of course, if she screamed any louder, then maybe he would be.

As she came around for another rush, Crimson said, "Well, you know the old saying about the unstoppable force and the immovable object." And that was when he activated his semblance.

Time came to a crawl. But, only Crimson remained unaffected. Walking-no, waltzing forward, Crimson assumed the proper stance and caught Yang's fist in the palm of his hand. Then, time resumed at normal pace. The sheer momentum of the blow was enough to push him back, but soon Crimson skidded to a stop. Yang was surprised that someone had stopped her furious blow. "Huh, so that's what happens."

He threw her around, causing her to spin on her heel, before leaping into the air and coming down with a right hook of his own. One that connected with Yang's face and sent her down.

A ding-ding-ding was heard and that was the end of the match.

The entire classroom was filled with shocked gasps, gaping jaws that fell in disbelief, and whispers. All except for Team CFVY. They knew him. They were there for him after… they… died. Velvet gave him a meek thumbs up. Yatsuhashi simply nodded at him, all the big guy really did in regards to praise. Coco just smiled at him, peering at him over her so-expensive-it's-unholy sunglasses. Fox was unimpressed. Granted he was blind, so he couldn't see what happened.

As for Team RWBY, all four of them were either still laying on the floor or sitting up with pained expressions. Crimson's mother always taught him to offer a hand to the loser, as a show of respect and good sportsmanship. Crimson walked over to Yang first, who was just now starting to sit up. He held out a hand. "That was a good fight." Despite what he had said on the battlefield, Crimson had to admit that the blonde was very striking. Amazing figure, pretty lilac eyes, damn good fighter too. He gave her his best smile. She returned it with scorn in her eyes. She was still hurting from the insults. "Hey, I'm sorry about what I said. That was just to get you riled up."

Yang wasn't convinced, but she clasped his hand and let Crimson hoist her to her feet. Next was Ruby, but it seemed as though she was already on her feet. Well then, Weiss. Making his way over the heiress, who was rubbing her cheek. A bruise could already be seen forming. "That looks like it hurts. Let's get some ice on that," Crimson said as he offered a helping hand to the fallen huntress. She gracefully accepted it, pulling herself up to her feet. Before slapping Crimson across the face. He wasn't angry though, instead, he just chuckled lightly. "I deserved that." Looking to his left, he saw Blake was already brushing the dust off of her outfit, giving Crimson a thumbs up that she was okay. All four made their way back to their seats, sitting in front of a still awed-in-silence JNPR. "Tonight, let's go into town. Dinner. My treat. As an apology for being a bit rough out there."

"A bit rough?!" Weiss asked. Okay, to be fair, maybe Crimson had gone a little overboard.

But, he would never admit that. Instead, he just chuckled at Weiss's outburst. "Besides, I want to get to know Team RWBY."