It had been a few days since he had seen Jun. It was Friday already and it was to be an eventful day. First class was combat training, and thankfully for Li, it was single combat, the only area of combat that he excelled in.
Li woke up slowly, eyes struggling to adjust to the light. He stood up, and noticed his teammates were all starting to stir; he decided to hurry into the bathroom, so that he could be ready before anyone got up.
He walked out of the bathroom minutes later, completely awake, and drying his hair, he quickly adorned his black beanie over his dark messy hair. He rested the towel back onto his bed and left it there.
He changed out of his sleeping attire, and quickly donned his combat gear. A deep black long sleeve tee was wrapped by a multitude of black cloth wraps, from his wrists up to his shoulders. He wore a boiled leather vest, with two sheathes worked onto the back for his weapons; the vest was a dyed black colour, with bright orange buckles highlighting some of the edges. He wore a deep orange scarf, the only injection of colour in his attire, other than the buckles on the vest. His trousers and shoes were plain black, and comfortable, simply chosen as they were the easiest clothing to move around in.
The final part of the ensemble was Li's weapons. Li reached under his bed, pulled out an oak box, with a small key lock on it, he drew a key out from his bedside table, and opened the box. Two daggers were laying in the box on a soft pillow; one curved almost 180 degrees around, making it a form of small hook/scythe; the other dagger was much straighter, still having some curve on it, but was straight enough, and sharp enough, so it would easily stab and slash any foe. He slid both daggers behind his back, into their respective sheathes, the hook blade, War, for his left hand, and the straight blade, Love, for his right hand.
He walked out of the room, quickly and silently, walking to the combat hall to get some practice before he would need to perform in front of his fellow students.
He got into the hall at 7:14, he checked his scroll, and noted that he had a little more than an hour and a half, before people would start to turn up.
Li was practicing against a mid-sized Ursa dummy, somersaulting, slashing, and slicing each and every side of the dummy in fluid and calculated motions. He moved like water, but struck with force. He calmed his aura while fighting. He never once used his semblance, as it was often pointless, even against a real enemy, his semblance was rarely useful mid combat.
Li wondered whether he would be able to use it today against his opponent, he quickly moved on, and started speculating who he may have to face today.
He was clearly caught up in his own daydreaming because he didn't notice the girl in red and black staring at him just ten yards away. Li kicked himself for not noticing this girl waltz in earlier, but he was not in a combat situation, there was no reason he had needed to be switched on, and so he let himself off with a warning.
He stopped his onslaught, not even realising that he had still been slashing at the, now straw leaking, Ursa dummy all this time.
When he landed, he turned to look at the young girl staring at him. She said nothing, only staring at him with a curious grin. He was confused; normally others would always initiate the conversation. This girl made him feel very awkward, her silver sparkling eyes following his hands as they sheathed Love and War.
Li saluted, "Greetings" he started, "I am Li. Who are you? And what are you doing here so early?"
"I'm so sorry, sir! I didn't realise this was a private room! I'm really sorry, I will go now! I'm sorry" she responded hastily and fearfully.
As she was turning around to leave, Li piped up, "It's not! I'm sorry if I confused you. I am just not use to seeing people here so early, you are allowed here if you would like; it is a public practice area." The girl turned back and blushed, clearly embarrassed by her actions.
She awkwardly shot up a hand for a handshake, "Hello Li, my name is Ruby! Are you a first year too?" she enquired excitedly.
"I am a second year, how have you enjoyed yourself this first week of Beacon then?" Li responded politely, small talk was not a strong area for him.
"I... have been better! The first few days were pretty nerve-wracking, but I think it has all started looking up! How about you? How is it coming back after break? I really like your weapons! Do they have names? Do they do anything special?" Ruby asked so quickly, Li could barely follow.
"Are you sure you are okay? You don't seem to be taking many breaths?" Li asked concerned over the very young silver haired girl panting in front of him.
"Sorry. I am just nervous. Meeting new people isn't exactly my forté." Ruby seemed to relax her shoulders, grabbing her arm with her other arm and kicking the air away nervously.
"That's okay Ruby, many people find it difficult, trust me. These weapons?" Li pulls out Love and War. "This is love, and this is war." He gestured to each dagger in turn. "They can do something pretty cool, wanna see?" Ruby grinned and shook her head so violently it seemed to Li like it may rip off.
Li took a step back, placed the blunt ends of each dagger together and twisted. There was a mechanical click, and the daggers locked together, Li pulled the daggers apart, creating a long staff, with a hook blade on one end and a sharp blade on the other. Ruby's eyes widened with every click and whir of mechanics. Li could tell how much she enjoyed it, and decided to show her one final thing. Li pointed the hook end across the room towards a beowolf dummy, and clicked a small button on the side of the staff, causing the hook to launch, with great speed, at the beowolf. The hook, embedded inside the dummy, and with a flick of the wrist Li brought the dummy sailing towards himself, and with little effort, sidestepped and slashed at the air. A moment later he heard two very clear thuds behind him, where the two parts of the dummy had fallen.
He looked at Ruby and said, "Your turn." While gesturing to the curious device resting on the silver eyed girls lower back.
Li watched as the young girl spun and unsheathed the red and black mechanism and slammed the point of a scythe into the ground; Li's eyes gaped as he saw the small formed girl wielding an enormous scythe. "Wow!" Li gasped! "That is beautiful! Who made it? I would love to meet the forger!" Li had always had a soft spot for weapons, but he had never seen such a magnificent scythe, especially not one wielded so professionally by such a small girl.
Ruby giggled, "I made it! All the signal students forged their own weapons. Did you make your weapons?"
"Not exactly, I helped… I designed them, and helped forge, but my Dad made them for me when I got accepted into Sanctum. He made sure they would last forever, so that I would never be left without them." Li caught himself, stopped at that, changing his face to stone, hoping Ruby did not notice the grimace of pain that had flashed across his face.
"That's cool; I haven't even showed you the best bit yet!" Ruby beamed excitedly. She picked up her scythe, crouched slightly, and fired off behind herself. Li had not been expecting any shots to be fired, and he certainly didn't expect the slender girl to fly off towards the Ursa Major dummy on the other side of the room. Li barely had time to turn his head before he saw the girl standing behind the Ursa Major; moments later, the dummy fell in two.
'She didn't even take a second to plan, she is incredible,' Li mused. "How did you do that?" Li shouted across the expansive hall. A few shots replied, and the young girl landed in front of him once again.
"My semblance is speed, and the sniper on this scythe is pretty powerful!" Ruby bragged confidently.
Li noticed some more students entering, obviously coaxed by the sounds of combat, he could tell it was his class, "My class is arriving, Goodwitch probably wouldn't want a freshman skipping class to watch us, sorry!" Li explained to Ruby.
"Oh no, what's the time!? I'm going to be late, bye Li, see you round!" Ruby squeaked frantically before running out of the hall.
"Goodbye, Ruby." Li spoke quietly, quite sure that the silver eyed girl was too far away to hear anything.
The class began with a short talk by Glynda Goodwitch about the positives of teamwork, but also that individual abilities were needed to become a great huntsman or huntress.
Li and the others had all heard it before, they knew what it all meant, and they all knew what they needed to do.
Goodwitch spotted Li and nodded at him, indicating it was time to take the stage. His classmates moaned when they saw Li move, knowing just how Li fought made them all a bit tired of watching him.
Li excelled at single combat, but his classmates considered his fighting style as cheap and dishonourable. Li however never saw it like that, Li had an objective, and Li would complete his objective no matter what. This was how Li was brought up, and why he could never be a leader, he could follow orders, but he never knew how to give them.
Li was not allowed to use Love and War against other students, a few too many cuts and slashes had occurred before, so Li had made a simple staff with two detachable batons, to emulate his favourite weapon combination.
Li was walking around to the side of the combat stage, and made his way up behind and to the left of Goodwitch and took up his saluting stance; Li liked Goodwitch, he knew she respected him and that is all he ever wanted from anyone.
He stood, unmoving, listening to Goodwitch explain the reason for the combat exercise today. "Being prepared for anything, and having an ability to adapt to any situation is required to become a huntsman or huntress. Today, Li, here," Goodwitch gestured towards Li, "will go up against a foe he had not expected." This gave Li pause because he had not expected to be the one being tested; normally he was the test for others. "Li will be fighting the rest of his team, team PLYM. Peter, Yu and Michelle, please come up on the combat stage," Li's eyes widened, this was most irregular, sparring was one thing, but teammate fighting teammate in a combat exercise was unheard of, "furthermore, Li will not be allowed to use his semblance, whereas his teammates will be allowed both their regular weapons and any tactics that they choose to use."
The class all cheered, anticipating the forthcoming beating they were sure Li will be receiving. Li physically gasped, taken aback by this blindside by Goodwitch, she had seemed to always be on his side, helping him when he was down, and giving advice when he needed it most. Instead she now seemed to be feeding him to the wolves to sate their bloodlust, Li just couldn't understand what was happening.
Li saw his teammates gathering on the other side of the stage, talking in a team huddle, the irony not lost him.
Goodwitch sauntered over to Li, who was still in salute, although clearly distressed, he never could stop himself from being respectful. Goodwitch handed him a small device on a wristband, "this will block your semblance, making sure you cannot go against the combat guidelines I have set."
Li took the device silently, slipping it up to his bicep, simply asking "Why?"
Goodwitch looked Li in his deep brown eyes, brown met emerald, and she said flatly, "For your own good." Li didn't understand, but saluted her, walked to his side of the stage, and stood, waiting.
He saw his teammates take their positions, and saluted them. He was met with two smiles and a grunt. Knowing there would not be any restraint form any of them, Li prepared for a tough bout.
Li calmed his breathing, closing his eyes and took in five deep breaths. He opened his eyes and took up his fighting stance. Batons in each hand, he crouched low, one arm behind his back, and one in front. He held his weapons parallel to his forearms, a defensive stance.
He knew this would be a defence orientated battle for him, without his semblance, he would struggle to initiate an attack effectively.
Goodwitch sounded a bell, signalling the start of the battle. Silence. Nothing but silence. The larger part of team PLYM held their ground, pausing. Li was puzzled, this was out of character for them. Li knew how his team fought, and prepared for a very offensive assault.
They stood unmoving. Li edged forwards. Slowly, he stepped towards team PLYM, noting each expression, analysing the scene in front of him. He saw Yu's eyes flick towards her sister, and took the opportunity to charge at Michelle. Li knew that the twins defended each other, not themselves. Li closed the 20 yards to Michelle in a few seconds; too long.
Using his right arm in a horizontal slash across her stomach, he connected, but the slash only glanced across as Michelle leapt backwards, Li knew his side was now exposed to Peter, and sidestepped in anticipation.
Peter however had chosen to reposition behind Li instead, and Yu had crossed over to Li's right, surrounding him. No attack came, still they toyed with him. Li had his back facing a wall, and three teammates on each side of him.
Yu in front with Peter and Michelle to each side. Li looked to Michelle to see if his contact had done anything, it hadn't. During his momentary distraction Peter charged, his cudgel connecting into Li's side, knocking him down.
Li rolled onto his feet, and spun to charge the attacker, quickly he leapt at Peter, instinctively he attempted to use his semblance but instead of calling on his power, he felt a harsh jolt of pain shoot through his right arm, he stumbled, and ran into the shield blocking his attack, knocking him down once more.
He got up slowly this time. Reeling from the pain in his arm and shoulder, where the shield had connected. Li looked around once again, trying to see any gap in their defensive tactics. He remembered the small silver eyed girl from earlier, and decided that if his team had adapted to defeat him, he will adapt to give them a surprise.
He charged from his crouched position, aiming towards Michelle again, hoping she remembered his previous attack. She did, and tried to sidestep out of the direction of the incoming swing. This was exactly what Li had hoped for, he continued sprinting to the other end of the stage, and once he reached the end he turned, quickly noting his enemies' positions. They were trying to organise themselves into a staggered triangle, hoping to trap Li once again in the middle.
He aimed both batons behind him, firing two rounds out of the sawed off shotguns built into them, aiming himself toward Peter. He coupled this momentum with a sprint, and at the last minute shot both batons once again, this time, aiming himself towards a confused looking Yu.
Yu had not dealt with Li yet, and none were expecting this sudden burst of speed. The gap between the enemies was closed in half a second; Li slashed both batons, across Yu, from right to left, firing to increase the momentum of the slash, and then firing once again once the slash was complete to knock her back. The slashes and shots all connected, knocking Yu 20 yards back and knocking her out.
Li fired toward Peter, rocketing himself backwards and away from the encroaching enemies, the shots bounced off of Peters shield as he brought it up to deflect the projectiles. Li took the break in combat to check on his own aura, it was below 50%. This worried Li, normally this long after a direct hit, he would have recovered more aura, Li was not worried though, and he put the thought aside to survey the combat stage.
He saw Peter standing in front of Yu while Michelle tried to tend to her. Li needed to interrupt them, as disrespectful as it might be; if she could get Yu back up, then Li will lose his advantage. He saw Peters focus drift for a second and leapt forward, using his new tactic to close the 30 yards in an instant. Li was not even close to matching the speed of the silver eyed girl, but it was more speed than anyone had ever seen Li move.
Peter had time to focus back on the charging opponent and held his shield high to protect his centre of mass. Li saw this, and knew that Peter often forgot to keep his eyes on the attacker when blocking, choosing instead to block his head too. This force of habit came from fighting Grimm, they were not smart enough to attack around a shield, but Li was. At the last moment, Li slid to the side of Peter, dragging his left hand behind him in a hooked manner. He looked up, and saw Peters face as he slid past, noting the surprise on his face. He hooked around Peters leg, and before the leg could move, Li fired the shotgun sending the baton sweeping under his leg. Peter spun in the air landing hard on his front; before Peter even landed, Li had spun and stood, striking downwards towards Michelle's exposed shoulder.
Michelle had not noticed Li get past Peter until it was too late, going down hard beside her sister, the blow however was not enough to take her out of the fight, and she quickly rolled away and spun to her feet. Peter and Michelle regrouped together trying to organise and plan out what to do next, based on their next move, Li realised that they chose to go on the attack.
They charged, Peter swinging the cudgel high, and Michelle attacking at his legs with her fans. Li was ready for this. This was what he had expected and prepared for, taking some steps back avoiding a number of slashes and swipes, he gave himself a moment. During this he leapt forward, splitting up his enemies, before quickly turning and somersaulting to bring Michelle in between himself and Peter. Li had quickly turned the tables from a 2 on 1, to a 1 on 1. Li gave them no time to re-adjust positions and pressed his attack on Michelle, swiping and blocking a number of fan attacks.
Michelle was fast though, and some swipes got past his blocks and left some cuts and gashes across his face and chest. Li felt the pain shoot across his body, but ignored it, and continued his assault. He had noticed Peter sneaking around to his back, but decided that he needed to wear down one before he could think about succeeding in this mission.
He caught Michelle in the side, causing her to falter, and took the opportunity to sweep the legs out from her, and take her out of the fight. Li started to go for the finishing slash, as Michelle was floating in the air, but before he could connect, he remembered Peter. It was too late. Li turned to see the cudgel flying towards his head, trying to dodge he jumped hoping to direct the blow to his side, rather than his head. It worked, but the blow struck the device on Li's bicep. Li went careening to the left, sliding on the floor.
Li did not move. He could not get up. Li lay there, convulsing. The device on his arm short circuiting, shooting pangs of pain throughout his entire body, Li's heart pounded, so hard that it felt like it was going to burst out of his chest. A buzzer sounded, the match was over. Goodwitch ran to Li's side, ripping off the device, and cradling Li in her arms. Li stopped convulsing, but the pain lingered in him. His eyes pulsed in his skull, he wished for some form of relief, it didn't come. Li could here yelling, he wasn't sure what was said, but moments later he saw white clothing, and red crosses. Li felt a stick in his arm, and then nothing. Li had lost the battle. He had failed.