Hey guys, hope the story arc is enjoyable for all of you. I wanted to be as outside the norm as best I could without butchering the verse. Anyway on to Chapter 16!

Chapter 16: Fighting for control

The lecture's in both Grimm studies and history passes by quickly and I may as well have not shown up for Grimm studies. History was interesting enough as always with professor Oobleck. He lectured for half an hour before leading the class in discussing the major cultural differences that were unique to each of the four kingdoms. We were then given a reading assignment that was coupled with a two page paper on the topic.

I had eaten With velvet after class and now, hours later, I was back in our dorm room and Velvet was waiting for me to finish the history paper. She had been waiting in her armor for me to get done for about five minutes now. We wanted to go out and practice while the sun was still up but the way it was turning out, we were likely going to be fighting by moonlight.

It was hard to focus on my paper because I could feel Velvet's gaze on me. She hadn't looked away since she got done studying. I couldn't tell if she was worried or irritated with me. But I figured it was the latter considering what she had heard last night from Ozpin.

I slapped the finishing touches on the paper, before closing the text book and standing up to stretch. I felt my muscles loosen and the energy that had built up in them from me sitting for so long worked its way out.

"Ready, Velvet" I asked, turning to her and holding out my hand to help her up. She broke from her trance and nodded, jumping up and leading the way out to the courtyard beneath the statue. We walked to our normal spots and drew our weapons. She nodded and we began. As usual she took the initiative and attacked first.

She threw one of her fans and charged after it. I connected the two halves of my staff and deflected it easily and struck at her with a thrust. She ducked and slip into my legs, knocking them out from under me. I caught myself in a pushup position and kept track of her with my semblance. She was back on her feet and had just caught the first fan.

She flung the other fan at my back; I rolled away and used my wings to push me to my feet. I stretched them wide behind me in the darkness and charged Velvet. Her eyes widened in confusion as she saw my wings.

"Ike, what are you-" she didn't finish as she side flipped out of the way and struck out at me as I went by. I turned on my heel and slid my hands to the end of my staff before sweeping it in her direction. I remained silent and focused on my movements as I fought as best I could.

Stay yourself. Stay in control of your body and mind. The last thing I want to do is hurt Velvet. She ducked under my staff and flipped away from me, getting her distance. She is right though I shouldn't have my wings out. I returned them to their resting place before continuing. She launched both of the fans at me one after the other, in a wide arc on either side of me.

I focused on them and blocked them both before returning my attention to Velvet. She was on me in an instant before I could react. She placed an open handed strike that disconnected my staff and caught the first fan, taking a step under my guard before turning and slamming her other elbow against my chest. Aura flowed through her strike and added more force that sent me flying.

"Gah," I put my feet down and skid to a halt. That was like Lie Ren's attack, when did she learn how to do that. She caught her other fan in one easy motion before dashing at me again. No. I'm starting to slip. I charged to meet her half way, leaving my staff in two pieces. She struck out at me with her fan in her hand and I blocked, countering with a quick bash with one of the segments that caught her in the stomach.

She didn't even wince as she continued through her motion and struck three more times. Each time I blocked or dodged before counterattacking. She blocked my last attack and in a quick motion had me turned around and the half of my staff in my right hand was forcefully ripped from my hand before she pushed me forward.

I used the Forward momentum from the push to spin around and fling my other half at her before rolling onto my back and spring up back onto my feet. There was a faint pinging sound as the segment I had flung hit her in the chest and clamored to the ground. Instantly my wings were open again and covering my hands, extending my reach.

I charged her as she staggered from the suddenness of my previous attack and stuck out before she could guard. I landed a few strikes before she managed to start blocking. At first it was just me landing strike after strike. But soon enough managed to start blocking; she didn't counter attack but she did manage to keep me from landing any of my attacks.

She was breathing heavily now but she managed to get her distance after another minute. She waited for me to make another move, hoping to catch her breath. I won't let you get the chance. I charged forward again and dropped when I got into range, kicking up at her, launching her into the air. She had jumped with my strike as she blocked it, to get even more air, hoping to get away from the next few attacks. But I had wings.

I jumped up after her and flapped my wings to reach her height. With quick sweeping motions I batted one of her fans from her grasp, before landing a body strike and a strike to her head. She spun in the air and tried to kick me, but I caught her leg and dragged her towards me as we fell, before spinning and dragging my wing along with my fist, landing a powerful blow to the side of her head, launching her away to skip across the ground.

No Damn it. I shouted at myself for the lapse in control as Velvet rolled over a few times before getting to her feet. She held the fan in her hand in front of her defensively as she held the side of her face that I had struck. She clenched her teeth as she stumbled from the disorientation. I held myself in place to allow her to catch her breath and to try to regain control.

I could feel my limbs fill with energy as I waited. They begged me to move forward, to attack her while she was unable to guard herself. If I was fighting a creature of Grimm, I would. But I WILL NOT hurt Velvet. I clenched my muscles to keep myself in place. Finally I saw her lower her hand. I didn't see any blood and her eye was fine as far as I could tell. Her hand dropped to her side and after a moment she charged forward. Common Ike, stay in control. Stay in control! I shouted at myself as I got ready to fight back.

She charged as fast as she could, when she was five feet from me she spun and used the momentum the throw her fan. She was so close that I didn't have time to block or dodge before it hit my shoulder and my aura flared to protect me. I refocused on Velvet and struck at her. She dodged out the way and outside of my range before landing a hit. She stuck me once in the side and her aura slammed into me, not as hard as before but it was enough to knock me off balance.

I gasped in surprise before striking out wildly, trying to get her away. She wasn't there anymore. She was at my back landing a three hit combo, all three sent aura into my body. I wasn't able to counter attack this time, as she spun around too my right and used the momentum of her movement and jumped into the air. Her spin was followed by a powerful kick. I moved my wing out to block it.

I felt her foot hit my wing and force it out of the way before her kick met my shoulders and her aura shot threw me. I was flung forward across the ground, bouncing off the ground as I came to a stop. I sucked in a breath and rolled onto my stomach to push myself up. Immediately I was rolled over with a quick kick and the razor edge of her fans was pressed against my neck. Velvet crouched over me, panting. She must have used a lot of her aura from those attacks. I was back in control of myself again.

"I win," she proclaimed between gasps of breath. I nodded and she pulled the fan away from my neck. "What was that, by the way? You should have done better than that. Especially since you should be more animalistic, right?" I looked away.

"I was trying to hold back."

"Why?" She tilted her head slightly as she listened.

I sighed, "Today I fought Weiss and completely went crazy. I delivered a finishing kick that might have broken something. It didn't feel like I had put that much force behind the attack, but it hadn't been a harmless strike." I looked up at. "I didn't want to… hey Velvet," she collapsed backwards as I spoke.

I sat up and wrapped my wings behind her and caught her before she hit the ground. I grabbed her scroll and checked it. The gauge was just about depleted. "Those attacks really took I lot of you didn't they."

I put her scroll in my pocket. I laid her down and put the fan she had in her hand into the holster before collect the other and my staff segments. I then lifted her into my arms and carried her back to the dorm room. A moment of curiosity hit me as I lay her in her bed; pulling out my own scroll I checked my own aura. I was shocked at what I saw. I was down to a third of my aura; the few attacks that she had managed to hit me with had done more damage faster than Pyrra had.

If she had more aura and landed just one more strike she would have beaten me. I pulled off my jacket and tossed it onto the bed before walking into the bathroom to shower. Looking into the mirror I saw some faint black and blue bruises from where Velvet had hit me. But they were quickly healing and fading already.

I took a shower, brushed my teeth and went back into the bedroom to find my scroll making letting me know that someone had sent me a message. I walked over to it and opened the scroll to the screen. Immediately the message started playing. It was from Goodwitch.

"Massage to all students tomorrow all first years are excused from normal classes to participate in team building exercises. You will report to Beacon cliff in the morning with your teams. Sleep well." The message ended and I closed my scroll. A team exercise with all the first years.

"Sounds interesting," Velvet's voice sounded weakly from her bed as she sat up. I placed it on the night stand and realized I hadn't put on my pajama bottoms yet; I was still in my towel, having forgotten to take them with me into the bathroom.

She lifted herself into a sitting position before looking at me and stopping for a moment. She did a once over and sighed. Turning the other way and stripping off her armor before grabbing her pajamas and going into the bathroom without a word and shut the door. Chalk another one up for my stupidity. By the time she was out I was under my sheets and trying to sleep. Thinking about what tomorrow would hold I fell asleep.