Ch15: FIGHT!
(Saturday, M+8, D+24)
"Where're you going, Kurt?" Taiyang asks me, as I walk to the door, my battle gear in a duffel bag.
"To meet a couple of friends at Torch."
"Try to be back before dinner today."
"Alright dad. See ya!" I say, walking outside, heading towards the mainland.
*Bamf* I teleport to a park near Tuckson's shop, the place I normally teleport to as it is usually clear of people.
I walk towards the adress I had gotten for Torch academy, a rather unassuming complex of buildings.
"Hey! Kurt! You're late!" Nora yells, running over to me from near the gate to the academy grounds.
"A wizard is never late, nor is he early. he arrives precisely when he means to." I say seriously before cracking a smile. "After all, it's only 11:02."
"C'mon slowpoke. We've got a match to fight!" She says excitedly. "The whole academy's waiting."
"You never told me that there'd be an audience." I chuckle. "And where's Ren?"
"Behind you." I hear.
"ACH!" I shout, whirling around to see Ren, a smirk barely detectable on his face. "Please never do that again." I say, a bit annoyed at being snuck up on.
"Sheesh, Kurt. Lighten up." Nora giggles.
"I don't like people sneaking up on me. People don't sneak up on me. I sneak up on them." I say, twirling the C-100 in my fingers.
"Is that a bipod?" Nora asks.
"On a knife?" Ren continues.
"Indeed it is. It'll make sense soon. Probably." I reply, chuckling.
"Ren, show Kurt where the boy's locker room is. He'll get ready there."
"So, who am I going up against. I hope it's just one of you." I say, smirking. "You two look like you work well together."
"We're not together...t-together." Nora says abashedly, blushing a bit.
"Follow me Kurt, the locker room's this way." Ren says, leading me.
"See ya on the other side."I say, waving.
Minutes later, I was standing in the entryway to Torch's main arena, checking my weapons. I ran Blue Death through its different forms, settling on AR mode, before inserting a clip into the stock and pulling back the charging handle. I pulled Marxman from its holster and racked back the slide, and then replaced it. Next I snapped the C-100 to the bayonet clip. I pulled my HUD from its pocket in my greatcoat, put it on, and activated it. 'All geared up now.'
"And up against our home champion is Kurt Wagner." A teacher announces, quite loudly.
As I walk onto the field, I flick off Blue Death's safety, onto the full auto setting.
I spot my foe across the floor, Nora is holding Magnhild in grenade launcher form.
"Three… Two… One… FIGHT!" The teacher says, a bell sounding twice.
Nora fires a barrage of three grenades at me and then launches herself on the same trajectory.
I quickly bring up Blue Death and fire at the grenades, destroying all three and giving me time.
'Have to time this right.' I think , slipping a small black cylinder marked with a large white asterisk from my web gear.
I pull a pin on the top of the cylinder before dropping the cylinder itself.
'Three...' *Bamf* I appear on the opposite side of the arena, facing away from my opponent. 'Two...' I close my eyes, open my mouth, and place my hands over my ears. 'One...' *BANG!* A blinding flash and deafening noise erupt, temporarily disorienting me. When I open my eyes and shake my head a few times, I turn around to see Nora on the ground, blindly searching around with her hands for Magnhild. I calmly walk over to her, pick the weapon up, walk to the boundary of the arena, and tossed the weapon out of bounds.
"Kurt Wagner wins." Even the announcer sounded surprised.
I walk over to Nora and helped her up.
"Sorry about that. It's designed to be a non-lethal stun weapon. I call it a flash-bang." I say, helping her up.
*THWACK* 'Ow. Pain. Ow.' "Yeah, I probably deserved that." I say, doubling over in pain after being punched in the gut.
"Yep! You did!' Nora said cheerfully.
"Best two out of three?" I propose.
"No more of those flash-bang things?"
"I don't have very many, that was just a test-run."
"So no."
"I won't use them. Or any other explosive goodies."
"You have more!?"
In response I just smiled cheekily.
"You ready?" I ask.
A few moments later, we were in our respective positions. The students watching were cheering and yelling encouragement for the competitor they thought would win they thought would win. A few were yelling various derogatory words about my appearance. Or, more specifically, my tail.
"Round Two: Three… Two… One… FIGHT!"
I sprang into action, dodging left and right as I charged Nora, Blue Death spewing bullets, shouting for effect. *click* 'Empty.'
"BANZAIIIIIIIIII!" I shouted, bayonet held unwaveringly towards Nora who, to her credit, decides to meet my charge, presumably attempting to smash me with her hammer. Just as she starts her swing. *Bamf*
And I am now behind her. I bash her on the back of the head with the stock of my rifle. It. Does. Nothing. 'Shiẞe.' *THWACK!* 'PAIN!'
I slowly manage to pick myself up. When I finally get my wits about myself, I realize that I've just been thrown across, and out of, the arena. 'Note to self: ALWAYS stay out of the effective range of a hammer. Even when behind the opponent. They can and will continue the swing.
I turn to Nora, bow, and then walk to my place opposite her.
"What about your gun?" She asks, looking at Blue Death, which was where I had dropped it when I got hit.
"I'll pick it up later." I say, drawing Marxman from its holster. 'Time to get mobile.'
"Are you sure you're alright to continue? You were hit pretty hard."
A few moments later, once Nora had returned to her place, the announcer repeated his usual speech.
I line up Marxman's scope and proceed to fire six rounds as fast as I can at Nora, which take down maybe a quarter of her aura, according to the display screen that I have decided to pay attention for once. 'Thank you high-power rounds.' Marxman is loaded with .45 caliber rounds designed to maximize force and impart all of their power into one target, reducing the chance of ricochets.
She fires a spread of four grenades at me, which I decide to dodge by charging forwards, towards her, Marxman now safely at my hip, my greatcoat billowing as I charge. She prepares to swing, winding up to smash me into the ground. *Bamf* I disappear in my usual puff of purple-black smoke.
She whirls around to smash the hammer into the ground behind her, in an attempt to catch me. But I'm not there. Instead, I burst out of the smoke in front of her, having teleported maybe an inch ahead in an attempt to throw her off. I draw Anne and Pearl from their sheathes on my back, hidden by my greatcoat, hitting her in the back with an aura-infused pommel strike from Anne. It knocks her down into the yellow zone; maybe a third of her aura bar left. The red zone is just under one-sixth.
I bamf back to the other side of the field, sheathing my cutlasses, drawing Marxman and performing a quick reload.
I bring Marxman up, center the sights on a (charging) Nora, and fire two rounds. Both impact, bringing her to the edge of the yellow zone. 'Just a bit more.' I think, just as Nora launches herself at me, assisted by a blast from Magnhild's hammer form.
I track her with Marxman, trying to lead her a bit.
She's almost on top of me when I manage to snap off a shot, but just as I pull the trigger, I hear Magnhild fire, before a sharp pain makes itself known in my side and I fly into the arena wall.
When I come to, I can make out the display screen. I see that both aura bars are red, with the word DRAW superimposed over the images of Nora and myself.
"And it appears that the results of the match are a draw!" The loud teacher announces.
I groan and stand up, bamf-ing around the field to collect Marxman, which I holster, and Blue Death, which I slung over my shoulder.
"Dosvidaniya comrades!" I shout, tossing a two-fingered salute to Nora, before walking out of the arena, whistling a nameless tune.
(AN: Kurt's fighting style relies heavily on remaining mobile, ranged combat, and hit-and-run style tactics. If he wants to kill someone quickly, he can. )