Calibre of a Forged Soul - Chapter Four: "Duel like you want to win"
Citri Aerlight. Squirrel Faunus. Graduated third overall from Vale's Pyre Academy. Specialised in close range combat; favouring hard hitting brawling punches. That was pretty much all Thwickett and Akane managed to get out before he had received an impatient glare from Professor Goodwitch.
He had taken two steps before he was halted by a hand taking hold of his shoulder, and for the first time since meeting the Faunus, Akane was openly displaying an emotion on his face.
Concern.
Do not allow yourself to be struck by any attacks she throws with her left. Ratatösk will annihilate you.
And with that he was released, left to walk into the arena and wait for his opponent.
It didn't take much to guess that Ratatösk was Aerlight's weapon. What kind of weapon it was - as well as being one that could 'annihilate' him was another question entirely. She hadn't had whatever it was on her person, so it must have been something large and unwieldy, even in its compact form. Some form of lance maybe? A powerful enough attack could get through a person's entire Aura in one go, but piercing attacks were often the most effective.
The chatter died away, and he focused his attention on Aerlight herself; anything he could gleam about her now would mean he wouldn't have to waste time during the duel. The tail was the first thing he noticed; the appendage was a great, fluffy Cocoa Brown, something perfect for blocking his line of sight if he decided to attack from the rear. Her attire was lightweight in appearance; the clothing looking like it would not hinder her movements at all.
On a somewhat related note, their jackets were the same; a Carrot Orange and Charcoal piece that matched his Bronze and Brown. Someone else went the extra mile for PRISM quality gear, and he could attest to how ungodly practical they were.
Then there was her weapon.
He couldn't help himself. The sight of the thing caused him to swallow the imaginary lump in his throat.
Oh. Oh boy…
"I don't suppose I can surrender before we start, can I?"
"Giving up already?"
Her voice was harsh and uncaring; a dangerous contralto that spoke of a hard life. Many humans made their hatred for Faunus quite clear, and here was one that was all too willing to hate back.
"You have a Pile Bunker. I feel justified in not wanting to go anywhere near that."
It was a great, gunmetal coloured thing. Ignoring the dark armour that that covered everything up to her shoulder, the majority of Ratatösk was affixed to her left forearm; looking like a scaled up receiver of a military rifle, the magazine port devoid of said magazine. In the place of a barrel was a spiral grooved metal stake, extending five-or-so foot out of the back of the weapon and ending in a blocky hammerhead-like bludgeon that rested flush with her knuckles.
A magazine fed, arm mounted, hammerhead tipped Pile Bunker. Forget winning this duel, he'd be lucky to survive being hit by that.
Her lips twitched, flicking from a scowl to a thin, straight line for a fraction of a second.
"That makes you smarter than some humans I can name." The statement hung in the air, and a couple of his classmates voiced their displeasure as she completely ignored them, occupied with plucking one of half-a-dozen magazines from her thigh holsters and slamming the magazine into the waiting port. "It's only fair I warn you: I don't pull my punches."
It wasn't a boast. It wasn't a taunt. The words and the tone she had spoken them in were merely someone stating a fact.
"Miss Aerlight, ready?"
She nodded at the Professor's question, settling into a boxer-esque stance and bobbing slightly on the balls of her feet.
:: Main_System: Engaging Combat Mode. ::
"Mister Vulcan, ready?"
He flicked the strap keeping Gia secure in its holster, wrapping his fingers around the grip as he pulled Poté free to rest on his shoulder. A nod was all that the Professor needed, even if he kept his gaze locked with Aerlight's own.
"Very well!" Professor Goodwitch tapped her Scroll, and the lights dimmed until the outside world all but disappeared. "Begin!"
They watched him go, one hand twisting and turning a dial on his headphones, the other gripping one of the handguns holstered at his side. Akane turned to them, concern near completely replaced by his stoic mask once more.
"I hope he's going to be okay."
The cluck of a tongue startled her, Akane's tick also catching the attention of her two teammates.
"It would be wiser to hope he emerges from this battle with only a minority of his bones broken."
Her eyes widened, even Leo blinked once before staring at Akane out of the corner of his eye. Thwickett turned to Akane, a reproachful glint in his eyes as he spoke.
"That's not very nice, Akane."
"Yet you did not correct me."
She watched as Thwickett's face pulled into a grimace, yet he didn't deny the words; she and Leo were missing context.
"What," She kept her voice steady, watching in silence as one moment became several. "Do you mean, exactly?"
Instead of replying, Akane merely tilted his head in the direction of the arena.
There was a lot of information one could gleam from how a battle started; not enough to control the flow of the battle, but nudge it in his favour. Defensive fighters had to be probed and poked - never attacked under threat of a counter, mixing feints into battle to generate an opening for a proper attack. Offensive fighters had to be deflected - never defended against as that invited further assault, stalling for time until they grew annoyed and made a mistake.
The moment Citri had kicked off the instant the second syllable had resounded throughout the hall, he placed her in the latter category. She ducked as she weaved towards him, zig-zagging as she charged into range. She was hoping to throw off his aim - he guessed - something she was only half succeeding at. Poté would take too long to unshoulder and fire; flip-cocking the rifle would've taken too long between shots - not to mention he would lose his main defence in melee.
But he still had Gia. The revolver came free and it took a fraction of a second to come to the conclusion that sighting would take too long. So he fired from the hip and left his computer-brain to compensate for factors such as 'aiming'.
The crack of gunfire filled the air as Gia spat out round after round. Not a single one had hit the Squirrel Faunus, but she hadn't been his target in the first place. Haeyhae had been adamant in the belief that a gunner should only fire when they knew their rounds would accomplish whatever objective he had set. They weren't meant to be used as an attack. Aerlight jumped from side to side in order to avoid the barrage, her advance delayed under threat of being shot. Momentum was key in any battle, both literally and figuratively. If Citri built up either of the two then he had already lost.
Still, even with Round Canisters in place of a bullet holding cylinder, his handguns could only hold eighteen cartridges. The last round left Gia with a resounding crack, muffling the soft click as the cylinder popped open. Citri had resumed her charge, opting to forego any evasion for a straight rush - probably hoping to intimidate him into dropping his reload.
He did drop the empty Round Canister; directly in line with his spinning kick, sending the empty container on a flight path aimed squarely at her forehead. She batted the thing out of the air without a thought, but it still delayed her for a second. It was an extra second that helped him to push a Canister out of its bandolier pocket-sleeve with Gia and reload the weapon. It was an extra second that let him straighten his arm and Poté as he span. It was an extra second that let him sight Poté, arm straight and extended as he sighted the rifle.
It was an extra second that Citri needed to commit to her next attack.
-Bang!-
The crack of the rifle was far, far louder than that of Gia. Although the thunderous noise was easily attributed to the yellow, sparking shot that was a Lightning Dust round. He watched as her eyes widened, fully committed to an attack yet running straight into one of his own. Her Aura subconsciously blazed to life in order to deflect the projective, and if the tightening of her features was an indication, the elemental bullet still completed its task.
It was a deliberate miss; he wasn't aiming to hit her. He didn't need to.
Five foot.
Dust Rounds had an interesting effect when combined with Aura. The people of Remnant had been compatible with Dust use for so long that over the decades Aura had collectively become more in tune with the mineral.
It was something that made Dust Rounds all the more effective against other people; Aura had become more and more susceptible to the near magical resource. Dust wasn't selective about how it detonated; an active Aura would trigger a reaction, which was why the stuff was so volatile. If regular armour could be penetrated with Armour Piercing Rounds, then Aura could be punctured by Dust Rounds. Not in the physical sense - not to mention that a Dust round did less 'bullet' damage on physical contact - but their effects would get through, however muted. A person didn't have to be hit by a Fire Round to feel the heat. A person didn't have to be hit by an Ice Round to feel the chill.
A Lightning Round didn't have to hit in order to send half-a-dozen volts of electricity straight through its target's body.
Four foot.
He just wanted to throw her off centre; the brief moment of uncomfortable paralysis was just a bonus. She had twisted to avoid the bullet and as a result the straight punch she was chambering was no longer in line to strike him with maximum effect.
Three.
Poté pivoted forwards and down on its lever as he performed a half cycle reload. His body tensed in preparation, ready to throw itself into a counterattack.
Two.
Her right arm shot out, blurring in a mixture of orange and charcoal. She wasn't going to use Ratatösk as an opener. Pile Bunkers had their share of weaknesses, and missing an attack might as well as left its wielder with a washing pole attatched to their wrists. The punch had been hastily corrected before she threw it; the attack thrown a little too high, a little too far to his left.
One.
Poté snapped back up, upper rail connecting with her forearm and half deflecting, half guiding the attack away from him. Even still his knees buckled and his teeth gritted, and he marvelled at how a glancing blow could still rattle him so.
Rather than resist or fight against the attack's momentum, he went with it; spinning in place as he brought Gia to bear. Head aimed attacks were forbidden, so he instead levelled the revolver at her back, all it would take was a twitch of his finger and every single rou - Brown!
Brown. That was pretty much everything as a wave of force hit him before he could pull the trigger, sending him skidding backwards even as Aerlight was in the midst of pivoting to face him.
Her tail - he realised. The large, bushy appendage wasn't just there to look plush and well groomed; she had reinforced it with her Aura to the point it had buffeted him halfway across the platform. He couldn't help but be impressed though, even if it did leave him back at square one - minus under-two-dozen rounds total and a large angle of attack.
The look on her face told him that he wasn't going to get away with that trick twice.
He spared a glance at the Aura Gauges on the big screen.
- [Vulcan, T. Aura Levels: 93%] - [Aerlight, C. Aura Levels: 79%] -
A wince passed through him. Minus the Aura cost of charging his Lightning Round Canister and neutralising the majority of her tail-attack, Citri had still managed to shave off a twentieth of his Aura with nothing more than a glancing blow. At the very least she couldn't pull off the tail-attack too often, if it drained her of a fifth of her own Aura.
Poté was collapsed back into its holster and Tous was pulled free. No more time to prepare the rifle for now.
Citri charged, foregoing the majority of her evasion in favour of a quickened rush. She wasn't going to give him time to plan out every shot to the point he had done so earlier. At the very least he had more firepower now.
It became a dance when the two of them traded blows in the arena. Citri had rushed in and attempted to capitalise on overwhelming his parry-and-avoidance based defences. The right punches he could take. The left he avoided like the instant-kill it no doubt was. He twisted and turned in order to deflect the blows, Gia and Tous pushing away Ratatösk whenever the weapon approached for a solid hit and firing whenever he got through her own guard.
Still, when the Pile Bunker fired the generated air pressure alone was enough to give him pause. The grooves in the stake weren't just grooves - he realised; they were rails. After the hammerhead cleared past her knuckles, it drilled; adding a very literal twist to each attack. He didn't know how effective it was for a blunt attack, but if Ratatösk was tipped with a spike instead of a hammerhead it would be far more lethal.
…That was a morbid train of thought.
It was still to his advantage whenever the Pile Bunker fired and missed though, Citri had to kick - or more often, punch - him away in order to allow the stake to retract back into the weapon itself. A couple of seconds later, and it was back to the fray.
Cheers erupted from the audience, and it wasn't long before he came to the conclusion he was being overwhelmed. Aerlight was become more and more aggressive; not so much controlling the flow of the battle as she was dumping very large rocks into what little flow he had control over. Hand-to-Hand wasn't his specialty - it was the main reason he used firearms that doubled as melee weapons. The FINGAH was just as useless - even if they weren't cover-blowing, he didn't have any magazines for them on him.
And that was without revealing his literally inhuman strength.
It wouldn't be long before he slipped up, and Aerlight would land a direct -
Ratatösk connected with his stomach, and the only thought to pass through his mind was a single word. A single word that perfectly encapsulated this very moment and what was to come.
:: SHIT. ::
There were no stars, nor were there any planets. No, his vision just went white. His Aura had flared to life in that split second, manifesting as a solid wall in order to absorb most of the impact. Or some - rather, because the next thing he knew an almighty cracking filled the air as his back connected with the arena wall. There were gasps in the audience, people no doubt coming to some horrific - though wrong - conclusion about just what caused said cracking sound.
He was beginning to wonder - wiggling his arms and legs and discovering that he had no leeway to move - just why things seemed to like embedding him into and throwing him through walls.
Powdered concrete and chunks of the composite material fell as he pulled an arm free, grip tight on Gia despite the attack. 'Never let go of your weapon' Haeyhae had drilled into his head, and he was one-hundred percent sure that if he did, the RAINBOW Operative would shoot him from Spectrum Headquarters itself for the slight.
A soft clicking caught his attention. Citri had flicked her left arm out, Ratatösk's grooved stake spiralling outwards and only halting when it reached its full extended length.
His I-CORE Heart froze as he realised just what exactly he was looking at.
It wasn't a hammerhead. It wasn't a hammerhead at all.
It was a muzzle break.
Right thrown punch deflected by right revolver; overextension countered by single gunshot. Left straight avoided; immediate retreat. Pile Bunker fired, stake extended and brought around in a swing; duck beneath and -
"He holds himself well against her."
She blinked, Akane's words snapping her out of the focused state she was in. Leopold just smiled from where he was slouched, head propped up by a hand.
"You shouldn't've interrupted the Boss." Leo drummed his fingers on the railings, even as he glanced at her for a second, "Her combat focus is amazing to watch."
She couldn't help it; she could feel her cheeks burning at that.
"Ah, my apologies Boss," Akane was concentrated fully on the match, yet he was still able to say sorry somewhat, pseudo-seriously, "So, what have you observed from this?"
You are our Leader for a reason.
"Well…" She licked her lips, willing her mind to enter its analysis-esque mentality. "…Talos is a misdirection based fighter. His…his guns would make someone think that all he can do is shoot. They attack, and he counters with Gun-Kata."
The crack of gunfire punctuated her statements, as well as the soft hums of Aura activating and steadily depleting.
"There's no wasted movement. He's always deflecting attacks; never absorbing them. It's leaving Citri open after she commits and lets him counterattack with minimal effort." A punch connected with Talos, one that thankfully didn't have a Pile Bunker follow up. "But he's still being overwhelmed though."
It was the simple truth. Talos couldn't hold out forever; his Aura was steadily decreasing, tiring him out and slowing his reactions over time. It wasn't long before Citri finally landed a hit, and for a single moment nothing happened.
And then Talos disappeared. A great cloud of dust and cracking filled the air a second later. She winced, Leopold was cringing as well, yet Akane and Thwickett were both unsurprised. For a moment she panicked, eyes darting upwards to the Aura Meters as Talos' own depleted impossibly fast. Only when it stopped did she release her breath.
"That." Leo paused, for once sounding as if he were still looking for the right words, "Was vicious."
Thwickett shrugged as Citri's weapon extended, stake pointing towards where Talos had been embedded.
"That's Citri in a nutshell."
There was no time to think, only improvise. Citri was already swinging her arm around as she adopted a stance that would absorb the most recoil.
He threw Gia into the air, sending the handgun spinning as his arm continued across.
:: Right bandolier; second pouch from top. ::
He pried the Round Canister loose; the black band painted around the Canister itself was the only clue that it contained a dozen-and-a-half Dust Rounds, and the small symbol painted inside the black band was the only clue as to what type of Dust Round they were.
Combining two or more of the base five elements with the right technique could result in any number of new elements for use. Water and Wind could be combined for Steam Dust, or Boiling Dust, or any number of Secondary Dust types. Lightning and Earth commonly made Magnet Dust - or Gravity Dust as it was erroneously called.
His eyes caught sight of the symbol as the Canister was thrown: a small, hollow, uneven pronged star.
Lightning and Earth could also make some pretty explosions.
Aerlight's eyes narrowed as the Canister careened towards her, and then widened as he snatched Gia out of the air. Both weapons were aimed at the other's wielder, but where Citri had to move the entirely of her upper body to re-aim, all he had to do was flick his wrist.
Gia lined up with the airborne Canister.
-BTOOOOOM!-
The crack of gunfire was quickly drowned out by a grand explosion. He didn't want it to detonate too close to Aerlight - mainly because he wasn't a murderer with a penchant for explosives, but he didn't want it to detonate too far away to the point that it was useless. His right arm joined its left counterpart in being free from the wall, and a second later he pulled himself clean out of his embedded state with a small shower of rubble and debris.
He managed all of two steps before collapsing to one knee. Professor Goodwitch hadn't called the match yet, had she? That meant both Citri and he were still in fighting condition. He didn't feel like he was in fighting condition; or continuing for that matter. Fatigue was gnawing at him, and he could feel it setting in as he was steadily slowing down.
Giving the smoke a few more seconds to dissipate, he spared a glance upwards.
- [Vulcan, T. Aura Levels: 21%] - [Aerlight, C. Aura Levels: 36%] -
Two thirds. Two thirds of his Aura had been used up defending against Ratatösk. For a brief, absurd moment he had entertained voicing complaints and cries of unfairness; quite like a couple of his fellow students were doing at this very moment, actually. No doubt they were others that had been on the receiving end of the Pile Bunker in the past.
The idea was discarded just as quickly as it entered his mind. Ratatösk was a weapon designed and built to kill Grimm. Not fight. Not duel. KILL. Grimm didn't care for fairness or equality, so why should they?
A faint rustling caused both handguns to snap up to the ready. Citri hadn't come out of the explosion unscathed: She was crouched on one knee like him; both her hair and tail were a complete mess, not quite singed thanks to her Aura, but still ever-so-slightly blackened by the blast. Her features were set in a tight grimace, and he chalked that down to her body still suffering the lingering effects of minor electrocution as well as the concussive force from the explosion.
Or maybe it had something to do with Ratatösk, which was still aimed towards him.
-Bang!-
He threw himself sideways. It wasn't a graceful roll, but a messy, improvised combat tumble. The bullet whizzed overhead as the stake that had become Ratatösk's barrel shot backwards in recoil. Another bullet missed by the smallest of margins and a third caused his Aura to flare to life as it deflected the glancing round.
The impossibly quiet click of a magazine being released was all he heard before his senses screamed at him to move. His Aura hummed once more as he kicked off the ground, profile kept low as he committed to one final attack. Citri scowled as he charged, magazine falling free as she pulled another free from her holsters.
He wasn't fast enough; not quite. his dash had put him close enough that she couldn't redeploy the stake back into its barrel form. Rather, she pressed her Ratatösk clad fist flush against the ground.
And then she went airborne. For a moment he seethed at the missed opportunity. Going airborne left her completely open to attack and here he had to fight his own momentum. He skidded along the ground, using what little Aura he could spare to slow himself down. The sound of boots striking the ground was all he needed to know that the Squirrel Faunus had landed behind him.
Gia and Tous blurred as he spun.
-Click.-
Mirrored Revolvers met Pile Bunker in stalemate, and he couldn't quite stop a frown from forming. Ratatösk was planted firmly against his chest, hammerhead poised directly over his I-CORE Heart and ready to fire. He wasn't the only one who had a weapon flush against their self though: his right arm was outstretched, Tous pressing against Citri's collarbone, and even with his right arm pulled back he knew Gia was aimed directly at her centre of mass.
If the frown she was directing his way meant what he though it did, then she knew how even they were right now as well.
- [Vulcan, T. Aura Levels: 13%] - [Aerlight, C. Aura Levels: 21%] -
For a couple of seconds he toyed with the idea of continuing the duel, mind abuzz with ideas of how to turn this around with only two percent of his Aura at his disposal. It was certainly possible.
Possible, yet there was no reason to. What exactly would he 'prove' by dragging this on? That he could? That he was willing to sacrifice himself for a single win? That he was better?
No, what he wanted to do was interact with people. A little boring, but combat information was only a fraction the whole. There was personal interaction to think about; how would contact go with Citri is he pushed too far here? How would Team Celeste react to his presence if he slighted their Leader with the results of this class? Too many question, and no one true answer. He didn't need an in-depth analysis of the future, nor did he necessarily want one.
Besides, this was beginning to drag out a little too long. Citri had yet to break eye contact since the entered this stalemate and he was sure she was looking for something. What it was he hadn't the foggiest.
"I concede."
The lights flooded back into life, causing spots to dance in his eyes as he pulled Gia and Tous away. Cylinders popped open as he flicked them open and stored the half-filled Canisters back into his bandoliers. Ratatösk was still pressed against his chest even by the time he had re-holstered both revolvers. Citri was glaring at him, expression completely unreadable as she kept her weapon primed.
She nodded once, and then pulled her weapon free. A hand ghosted up to rub the sore area as he grimaced, yet he still nodded back. To hell with his pain simulators; he was definitely going to feel this for a while. By the time he had looked back up, Citri had already left the arena.
He shrugged, and then made to leave as well. Hopefully, given her status as her Team's Leader she'll be able to shelve any hatred towards humanity when it came to working with Team Celeste.
It was something to hope for at any rate.
"Something troubling you, Citri?"
Lisabelline's voice met her ears as she sat down, a small frown forming as she did so. Of all the people to be partnered with it had to be one of the only friends she had from Pyre.
"No."
She caught Lisa's own frown out of the corner of her eyes, and the entire thing became a silent battle of wills. One second became several, and she didn't know how long this would go on before either she or Lisa gave -
Her eyes flicked left, only for a fraction of a second before they returned to their prior position. Lisa pounced on the Tell like a wildcat, head swivelling so fast she was a blur. A moment later and her expression softened, her eyes studying just what was 'troubling' her.
"Was it necessary to lodge him into a wall? That could've seriously hurt him if he hadn't gotten his Aura up in time."
Lisa worried about everyone over herself far too much. She was - however - not wrong in her worries. Cracking filled the air as Professor Goodwitch repaired the wall she had damaged with her classmate's body. A fair number of people had suffered injuries from when they had been struck by Ratatösk when she…used…
Oh…
"I…" She scratched the back of her head, frown deepening as a sense of embarrassment settled in the bottom of her stomach, "…I forgot that the first magazine had Sledgehammer Rounds loaded."
Her gaze travelled left once more as the weight in her stomach increased. Talos didn't look too injured - and he mustn't have been if he could endure a slap on the back with only a minute wince, but he still winced at the gesture as well as gingerly lowering himself into his seat. He didn't seem like the type to play up his bravado in order to mask any pain…
"Excuses, excuses," Lisa just waved off her reasoning, "Seriously though, you should actually apologise - even if he waves it off."
That…was probably the best idea. Seeing that Talos was seated with Team Violet today, it was entirely possible that he would be working with Celeste in the near future. Besides, his combat style was fairly flexible - not to mention quick thinking, if her protesting joints were evidence enough; not to mention someone that knew their limits.
He was someone - at the very least - worthy of respect. An apology would be a decent start.
"Okay," She slumped as she sighed, "I'll apologise when I get the chance."
Lisa smiled. A wide, open mouthed smile that forced her eyes shut due to its wideness.
"Great!"
She couldn't quite stop her own grin from forming. Sometimes Lisa was the greatest human she had ever met.
"Besides!" Lisa's smile became some toothy, impish combination, "He's kinda cute! Don't want to scare him off before actually meeting him, you know?"
Her brow twitched.
…And sometimes…sometimes she was completely insufferable.
An hour or three later and he was sat in Team Violet's apartment-slash-flat-slash-room. The remainder of the duels passed by without any complications - and in retrospect, they had been positively tame in comparison with his and Citri's own clash. Dinner had been an expected - and given the nature of the Faunus, somewhat stereotypical - and enjoyable affair, even if they had boggled at how much coffee he absently drank over the meal.
Well, everyone except for Leo that is. Coffee might as well be Mistral's national symbol based on how much the average Mistrian drank on a daily basis.
And after that, they had returned to the room with nothing better to do, and he had pretty much got to see how the members of Team Violet spent their free time.
Leopold liked video games; like - a lot of video games. The Faunus had pretty much taken up a fair corner of the sitting area with shelves of discs and a very large flat screen, which he was currently sat in front of and beating away at some grotesque monstrosity. Thwickett had his nose buried in a large leather-bound book, ears the only thing visible over said book and turning the pages so fast that he was sure the Hare Faunus couldn't be actually reading what was on the pages. Akane was pottering about the kitchenette; do whatever it was he was doing.
As for Velvet…
"Are you…are you sure you're alright?"
Well, she wasn't exactly fussing, but he had been punched into a wall and she wasn't completely convinced that he was telling the truth that he was pretty much fine after a couple of hours and would only need a few hours rest.
Still, he couldn't help it. He laughed.
"I think Akane needs more medical care than I do."
The Faunus in question huffed, head held high and trying to act like his comment didn't warrant any paying attention to; although the effect was marred by the somewhat healed welts and bruises that decorated Akane's face.
Leo didn't even look up from where he was seated, far more focused on grinding the boss he was facing into the dirt with his character's bare fists.
"Ehh…nothing a frozen bag of peas won't fix."
If Citri and he had the most…explosive battle then Akane had the most brutal. Yang Xiao Long. Describing her as a 'Berserking Wildfire' didn't quite do her justice. During the fight against the Jabberwock, she had attempted to overwhelm the half-dead Grimm to the point where it could not counterattack and the trend continued over in her duel with the Fox Faunus. She had entered the arena and jested that Akane got one chance to surrender so she didn't have to break his 'Pretty face'.
That was mistake - in hindsight; thinking Akane as being delicate. For all the grace Akane carried himself with, the Fox Faunus was surprisingly ferocious; his weapon was testament to that. Kōun'na Kyū: A Quickdraw Charge Blade and Strike Scabbard. Every attack than he landed on Yang with the weapon made it more powerful, and the damage Yang took made her more powerful - her Semblance he suspected, which caused Akane to attack with even more ferocity, and things eventually spiralled out of control.
At some point - somewhere midway - it stopped being a duel and became two people beating the ever-loving hell out of one another.
"How crude." That did absolutely nothing to diminish the fact that Akane was - in fact - pressing a bag of frozen peas to his face as the Fox Faunus sat down next to his teammate. "Parry."
A gong-like sound filled the air, and the boss didn't even have time to fall to its knees before Leo's character retaliated with extreme prejudice.
"I still think my idea was better," Thwickett nodded at his words from where he had buried his nose in a novel, but then again he had been absently nodding for the past several minutes, "Gaming is sort of boring when you're not playing them."
"Your suggestion involved marathoning the Crystal Lake tetralogy."
He couldn't help it; he pouted at Leopold's summary, and the soft single giggle from Velvet made the frown deepen.
"There's nothing wrong with a good old Slasher Genre binge."
The urge to sulk was there, and it only increased when everyone snickered at his sullen tone.
"Might surprise you but I was never one for gory films." He ignored the fact that Leopold was playing a pretty bloody Dark Fantasy game as he said this, "Now if it was a James Blond marathon, then we'd be talking."
Now that he thought about it, Leo did seem like Spy Fiction type of guy.
"Velvet might watch them with you though," Thwickett looked up from his tome, single eyebrow quirked as he levelled an amused stare at his Leader, "I swear up and down that her eyes lit up when you mentioned horror flicks."
That…that was probably the most surprising thing he had discovered all day. Not only was Velvet - timid, shy, sweet Velvet - strong enough to dent steel and crack concrete with her kicks, she was an avid fan of Horror. Sure, he had altered the quote to 'I didn't want to lie about his chances…', but Velvet had still replied - somewhat tiredly and drained from her fight - with '…but they don't have my sympathies'. That had resulted in a short - mainly because no one else had any clue as to what they were going on about - but fun discussion about Horror movies as a whole.
Still, James Blond was a twenty plus movie franchise; not something to breeze through in a single night. So…a weekend thing, then.
"I'll have to go digging through my movie library, but I'll hold you to that." He pushed himself up. It was starting to get dark and he'd rather have a couple of hours to himself before packing in for the night. "See you lot tomorrow."
He threw a wave over his shoulder when he received a chorus of affirmatives, and then he was out of their room and walking through the dorm halls.
Really - he though - that was…
…that was fun. Sure, there were probably dozens of other ways he could describe today's experiences as, but 'Fun' just seemed to most apt.
"…I wonder who I'm with tomorrow…"
He reached into his pocket and pulled his Scroll free; depending on who they were, he could hammer out a plan over the next few hours. The screen flickered to life, displaying the four individuals he would be assigned to come the following day.
"Team Ruby."
A soft smile pulled at his lips. This was definitely going to be fun.
Next Round - Chapter Four: "RWBY Tuesday"