Hello everyone and welcome back to HellFall! You've all waited so patiently for the fight that was about to happen last week so I'm just going to get right into it.
All of a sudden team CRDL charged, their weapons raised above their heads. Cardin held a silver mace in his hand, with black blades stretching out from the top of the staff and curving inwards towards the center of it. Russel held two black dust-vial daggers. Dove held a silver-blue sword with a gun barrel at the end instead of a point. Sky Lark held a halberd with a black blade.
We, on the other hand, stood and waited for them to come to us.
Petunia's weapon was a thick silver sword with a purple edge. The sharp edge of the blade curved outwards, then dropped down in three places along the blade (jagged in three places). The blade was attached to a dust vial, and the guard of the sword was a +-shaped piece of grey metal facing upwards, with a spike sticking out from the ends of each part of the guard. The handle was laced with black fabric, and at the bottom of the handle was a silver ball. Inside the handle of the blade was a roll of thick black string which attached to the ball, allowing it to stretch out. Her blade was called Lacemeiyor.
Hail held a long black staff with a wide blade coming out from the side of the top. It was like a scythe, only the blade curved sharply downwards about a foot along the top of it, so it was more of a bladed hook. If she bent the bottom half of the staff it revealed a gun barrel at the end. A handle and trigger popped out in the crook of the blade, and a stock could pop out from the top of the staff. She had to load a magazine into it to make it a machine gun. The weapon was called Grim Winter.
Steam's weapon was one of my favorites. It was a shovel with a sharp spade and pointed tip. The spade of the shovel could bend outwards and spin. A small barrel would open up with the spade bent outwards, and a trigger would pop out from the wooden (very strong wood) handle. The bullet magazine was a short belt of bullets, which would load into the side of the handle and wrap around it. It was called the Gold Digger.
Team CRDL was nearly upon us. Petunia crouched and held Lacemeiyor upside down, as she often did.
"I'll take Cardin" Petunia decided.
"Russel" Steam said.
"Lark" I said.
"I guess I got Dove" Hail said.
CRDL was right in front of us. We charged, catching them somewhat off guard, and clashed blades. I was surprised at how quickly they were able to react to our sudden attack.
I pushed Arkynshihn against Lark's halberd. It was clear that he wouldn't be able to hold for long, as his feet were sliding through the dirt on the ground. But he kept going, which I admired.
I brought up my foot, kicking him in the shin. He skidded slightly, but my attack barely ruffled him.
Pulling blade abruptly away from his, he stumbled forwards, unprepared for the sudden move. Immediately I charged upon his weakness. He recovered quickly and sidestepped. Unfortunately for him, I saw it coming, and swung out to the side, crushing his arm and sending him to the ground.
Turning around, I swung again, extending my blade. He brought up his halberd and deflected the attack, but only barely. I swung again, he deflected it again. As he stood back up he continued to block my attacks, until he stood back on his feet and was able to switch back to the offensive.
Lark brought his halberd down hard on me. Foreseeing the attack, I sidestepped and swung, slashing into his gut. Luckily his aura was up and my blade merely passed through his body, barely scratching it. I swung twice more after that, each one deflected by his aura.
He swung his halberd downwards again. This time I caught it with my blade. He was in a good position, pushing my blade downwards while I had to hold it sideways. Bringing up my other hand, I pushed on the blade of Arkynshihn and started to push him back as well.
All of a sudden Steam rolled into Lark, knocking him aside. All the tension I'd built up against my blade was suddenly released, and I threw Arkynshihn into the air. Russel charged after Steam, who quickly stood back up and deflected his attack with a swipe of his shovel.
Lark stood, seeing my sudden weakness and charging. Drawing an arrow from the quiver attached to my sheath, I jabbed it upwards into his body when he reached me. It cracked and broke when it hit his aura coated armor, and I took the attack at full force. I was unable to foresee that attack unfortunately.
Flying backwards, I strengthened by aura and stuck my foot back, skidding against the ground and recovering. Lark was already on me, halberd raised. I stepped aside, avoiding the attack and bringing my fist down on the back of his head, causing him to collapse.
Turning, I found Arkynshihn lying on the ground and picked it up. Spinning to face Lark, I saw him still lying on the ground. He must be unconscious, I thought, turning around to face the last of CRDL.
Dove was lying defeated on the ground, and Russel was slowing down against Steam. Cardin was holding his own against both Petunia and Hail.
I charged in to help Steam finish off Russel. However, as soon as he saw me run in he became distracted, and thus Steam knocked him over the head with his shovel. He fell to the ground, unconscious.
We turned and charged in to fight Cardin now. When he saw us coming he swung his mace into the ground, shattering the earth before him and causing an explosion. I covered myself with my arms, protecting myself from the flying debris.
He knocked Hail back, then turned to me. He swung his mace sideways towards me. Knowing already that he would try that, I ducked before he even swung, then cut his legs, knocking him over.
As quickly as he'd fallen, he was on his feet again, fighting. Steam ran in, conking him over the back of the head with his shovel. He stumbled forward, where Petunia knocked him back with a blast of dust from her Lacemeiyor.
He fell to the ground, but before he could stand back up I was on him, my blade at his neck. He dropped his weapon and raised his hands, signalling defeat.
Pulling my blade back, I caught my breath. Looking around, everyone else was pretty exhausted as well.
"AND THE WINNER IS," the announcer started, "TEAM PHGG!"
Everyone cheered. I didn't like the feeling of being cheered for, but I put up with it. Hail, although out of breath, forced herself to smile and wave at everyone. She was clearly enjoying herself. Petunia was looking around the audience, panting. Steam was hunched over, puking on the ground. I leaned on Arkynshihn, breathing heavily.
"NEXT UP…" the announcer started, indicating that we could leave. Petunia turned to leave, and Hail waved and walked. I stayed behind to wait for Steam to stand up again. When he did we left.
When we re-entered the entrants' area we were directed to a place where we could rest and eat, and our weapons were taken from us again.
The place was a large cafeteria, only the food was free and self-served. Some teams sat on the couches lining the walls, while others sat at the tables and ate.
Hail and Steam went to get something to eat, while I flopped down onto one of the couches. Petunia dropped to the ground and started doing push-ups.
"Haven't you had enough exercise for one day?" I asked.
"If I stop exercising so abruptly, I'm more likely to have a heart attack." She replied, "I've told you this before"
"I know," I replied. "It's just surprising to see that you're still doing it"
"Why don't you join me?" She suggested. "You use to do it all the time back at Beacon"
"Sure" I replied, dropping, slower than she did, to the ground, and starting to do push-ups. As we did more and more we slowed down, allowing our hearts to slow down at a better pace.
"Just like the old days eh?" Hail asked, returning with her food.
"Yeah" I grunted, finishing my last push-up.
I stood up, seeing Hail and Steam already eating their food.
"Are you sure you can keep going Steam?" I asked, "You were puking pretty badly afterwards"
"I'm fine" He mumbled over a mouthful of food.
"He did the same last year," Hail explained, "nowadays he does it almost every time. Just one of the perks of getting old I guess"
"Is that good for him though?" I asked.
"Probably not," Steam swallowed, "but since when is puking good for anyone?"
"When you've eaten something you shouldn't have." I replied, "Maybe you shouldn't push yourself so much"
"He's useless if he doesn't push himself" Petunia pointed out.
"I'm fine with it," Steam said, "seriously, it doesn't bother me. Especially when they give you free food right after"
I smiled, "Right" I replied, joining them on the couch. Petunia sat down next to me.
"So," she started, "we've got a lot of catching up to do"
So there you have it, another cliffhanger, this one worse than the last. Sorry (not really :)
Anyways, so what'd you all think of everyone's weapons? I personally really like Steam's. Gold Digger was initially going to be just a weapon that he used when he worked (as a grave digger) and then when he became important would switch to another weapon, which was a massive sword. But then there were story changes and then I liked Gold Digger too much so I just gave up on the other weapon.
Also, I just thought of this today but the characters' weapon names don't actually have any meaning. Some weapons in the actual show, like Magnhild (Nora's hammer) are two words in another language put together that have something to do with the weapon, but mine don't mean anything. They were just words that came from my imagination. In the future some weapon names may have an actual meaning though.
True fact: Stopping abruptly after exercising is indeed bad for your heart (or so I've been told), so after doing a long run or something keep walking or do some push-ups or sit-ups to keep your heart in good health.
I actually really like team CRDL by the way, so expect to see more of them in the coming chapters. Plus I don't think that they're important enough in the actual show, so I want to emphasize them here.
Something that I think some of you may be confused about is the bleeding as well. Lark wasn't bleeding, and nor was anyone else, and yet back in Crimson I everyone was bleeding and getting cut up. Why is this, you may ask. Well it certainly isn't because I wanted to make this story more appropriate. People like Lark or Gazini are seasoned huntsmen who know how to use their auras. If you remember back to volume 1 of RWBY in Emerald Forest, Ren uses his aura to block the fangs of a King Taijitu. Similarly, other hunters can use their auras not only to generate a semblance, but also to block attacks. That would also explain why in battles like in volume 2 when Pyrrha fought team CRDL and although she cut through them no damage was dealt to their physical bodies. To their aura probably, but not to them physically. So hunters can use their auras to deflect attacks, but the lackeys of Mr. Fall weren't seasoned hunters (most of them anyway) and could do little more than wield a gun. They had no where near as much training as hunters, and therefore cannot use their auras to protect themselves. That's my theory, anyway.
Anyways, I think that's it. If you have any questions, shoot me a PM or a review. I love hearing from you guys. So as usual, favorite, follow, review, tell your friends, tell your enemies, or don't if you don't want to, and I'll see you all in the next chapter.