Okay, so people who don't like Cardin may like this chapter, or may not. Just read.

Storm was eating his breakfast in the cafeteria with his team and Crystal's when Faye asked something. "Why does your family live in Mistral and Vale?"

Storm shrugged. He assumed she referred to how his Uncle Norbert and Aunt Shay lived in a different Kingdom than his mother, even though they were family. "I don't know, but I do know my mom's from Vale. But as to why she moved, as I said, I don't know. I probably asked her at some point in my life, but I either didn't get an answer or I don't remember it—like why my dad took my mom's name instead of the other way around."

"Ask her," Azura said, pointing to another table. There sat his mother, talking to some gal with forest green hair.

Before he could answer though, a tall guy with brownish/orangeish hair came up to their table. "Well hello there, Faunus," he said to Faye.

Storm seethed with anger. Just from his mocking tone and choice of words, he could tell he was a bully. And judging from his accent and the fact that Storm had never seen him around the school before, he had to be transferred from Beacon. He really didn't like bullies.

The bully looked around. "Where's your foxy friend?" It took Storm a moment to realize he was talking about Lorna, but in that moment he was utterly confused with that sentence.

"She is somewhere here, I think," Faye said.

"I should tell you," Cirocco said to the guy, "I really don't have patience for people who are mean to Faunus, because that causes nothing but Faunus to be mean back."

"Hm. Faunus lover," the bully said.

"I should also tell you I'm a marital artist—third best in my class that had fifteen martial artists—so if you're wondering who would win right here and now, it's me," Cirocco said. "And believe me, I don't exaggerate or lie."

"Yeah, he doesn't," Ember said. "It's actually one of his most annoying traits."

The bully stepped back and said, "Alright, so I won't talk to the Faunus." He looked to Azura. "What's that?"

Azura's gaze narrowed on the bully. "What?"

"Is that a tape player?" He must have been referring to the tape player on Azura's belt—which reminded him that Azura was the only one who wasn't wearing the school uniform at the table. She carried it almost everywhere, and would listen to it when she wasn't expected to listen or talk to people. While Storm didn't know what was on the tapes, he did know that occasionally Azura—despite the fact that she almost never laugh or show emotion—would laugh at them.

Apparently the bully laughed at that. "Is this thirty years ago? Why do you have a tape player?"

"None of your business," Azura spat at him.

The bully was about to say something when Cirocco said, "I wouldn't mess with her. She would probably smash your face into the table if you so much as reached for that player."

"What, you mean like this?" He went for it, and Azura reached for his head. He grabbed her arm though, and pulled away. "Hm. So that's the way it's going to be?"

"Want to die?" Azura asked. "I can do it here." The bully was apparently unnerved by this.

Realizing a possible opportunity to end the encounter, Storm said, "You know, I'm Mrs. Sapphire's son. If you leave my friends alone, I might not ask her to make your next match against Taline."

"Oh really?" he said. "And I'm the son of Lord Taryn." He wasn't at all serious when he said that, Storm could tell.

But of course, Crystal spoke up. "Actually, I'm the closest he has to a son—a daughter."

"That can't be true," the bully said, unbelieving.

"Well, you can ask him next time you see him, or I can show you the Crystal Blades—whichever convinces you."

"Hm. You're no fun." And the bully went off somewhere else.

Shortly after, Gaia showed up. "Was he bothering you guys?" she asked.

"Yes, he was," Cirocco said.

"Hm." Gaia thought for a moment. "I could probably beat him up pretty badly."

"No, we have to do this the right way," Storm said, "or else we're just as bad as him—as horrible and cliché as that sounds. Thanks for the thought though."

"Any time," Gaia said, and walked away. She had been a bully not too long ago. It was only until Storm helped her teammate Netia to realize it was wrong and that there were better ways of proving their superiority than bullying did they stop. Gaia may have felt indebted to Storm in that way, but he wasn't sure about that.

Not long after that, the green haired girl that Storm's mom was talking to came up to the table. "Excuse me," she said. "I'm looking for Storm Sapphire."

Storm raised his hand and said, "Here."

"Well, Storm, your mom wants to talk to you," she said.

That was a little strange, but he would find out what his mom wanted soon enough. "Alright," he said getting up. "Thank you for telling me."

"You're welcome," she said.

Then Storm thought for a moment and said, "Wait, haven't I seen you before?"

"I don't know," she said, then glanced around the table. "Wait I second, I do know you." She pointed at Rusti.

"Me?" Rusti said, nervously.

"Yeah, I think I passed you after Mrs. Sapphire's lecture." She then seemed to finally noticed Crystal. "Hi, Crystal."

"Hello, Sakura," Crystal replied. She turned to Storm and the other. "Meet Sakura Hayashi, member of team JSPR."

"Nice to meet you," Storm said, putting his hand out.

"Yeah, nice to meet you too," Sakura replied, shaking his hand. She said hello to everyone, and then noted, "I have to get back to my team. They're probably wondering where I am." She turned to leave and after a few steps turned back and said, "See ya." She then ran through the cafeteria, vaulting over tables and students, not once hitting anybody or anything.

Storm went to the table his mom was sitting at, and sat opposite her. She seemed to be studying something on her Scroll. She looked up when he came over. "Ah, Storm, it's good to see you," she said.

"Hi, Mom," he replied. "So is there any particular reason why you called me over?"

"Yes. I've run into a bit of a problem choosing the next matchup." She handed him her Scroll, which had a list of names, most of them side by side, with a few exceptions. "I need someone to go up against Cardin Winchester." He tapped on the name, which led to a profile of the student—he was the same person that was bullying them earlier.

"Any particular problems?" Storm asked. He recognized some of the names, and thought that there was an even matchup for Cardin in there. "I think if he goes up against Athena, there would be a good, fifty-fifty chance of victory."

"But I don't want him to have such good odds," she said. "I want him to lose, but make it seem like he can win."

He cocked an eyebrow. "Why?"

"Because I want to teach him a lesson in humility," she explained. "He's a bully, which means he should be taught that lesson quickly."

He could barely believe this. The woman who taught him to be noble and virtuous was rigging a match, and asking him to help with it! Fortunately, that wasn't his only education, or else he wouldn't have helped in this most noble cause. "How about Gaia? She seems an even match at first, but she's stronger than Azura, and almost as agile as Cirocco. Those are some friends of mine—or something like friends."

"I know of them," his mom said. "She's that good?"

"Believe me, we've tested this," he noted.

"Well, then this should go well."

Storm watched as Gaia and Cardin entered the ring. Gaia had her dual axes, Cardin had his mace. They took fighting stances as the force field went up. And then the match began.

Cardin made the first move, swinging his mace in a terrifying arc. Gaia had ample time to prepare for this, so she ducked, allowing the mace to go over her, and then counterattacked. Her axes moved fast, and she made two quick attacks to his torso. His aura took the hit, but it seemed like an attack moving that fast with the amount of force Gaia could put behind it should have made Cardin stagger a little, but it didn't.

After a series of attacks, it was clear that Gaia didn't have enough strength to actually knock him back, which got Storm thinking. If his semblance was to somehow remove the kinetic energy behind attacks that hit his aura, he would be a real menace, and it would explain how he was able to stand against Gaia's attacks. Gaia might have some trouble with this.

Then, faster than before, Cardin swung his mace at Gaia. She barely had time to block, and when she did, he realized something—she didn't move. While an attack like that should have sent her flying, it didn't. As he quickly calculated which one would do more damage, he realized something. Nullifying the kinetic energy behind attacks wasn't Cardin's semblance; it was Gaia's.

Suddenly, it made sense why Cardin didn't move when he should have, and why his aura was running out so quickly. Gaia could put a lot more force behind attacks, as they wouldn't send him back. He also realized that it had to be that while the axes had all the force she put into them, that energy was confined to the axes and not Cardin, making it so that the axes could be as fast and hard hitting as she wanted without that energy directly affecting him. It was all very interesting to Storm, as breaking the laws of physics always got his attention.

Gaia then ran back and put her axes together, making one, large, double-bladed axe. She swung it in a powerful arc, connecting with Cardin and sending him flying at the force field. He got back up and charged. She then jumped into the air and brought her axe down on Cardin, which he tried to block, but instead it completely obliterated the last of his aura, and sliced his mace in two. It was over and Gaia had won.

Cardin staggered back in shock at how his weapon had been destroyed. Gaia turned to him. "Better luck next time," she said smugly, and walked out of the ring as soon as the force field went down.

In a rage, Cardin ran at Gaia, swinging the last of his mace at her. Then, an arrow whizzed by his head, hitting an empty bleacher next to the aisle. It was Storm's mom. "If you're going to be a sore loser, don't try to kill someone," she said. "But it's best not to be a sore loser in the first place." Cardin sneered at them all, and stomped off, pushing past everyone.

That's when Storm realized that Cardin might not be the sort to accept defeat lightly. For all he knew, this could spark off a feud between Cardin and whoever he'll blame—either Gaia or Storm's mom, or both. He hoped beyond anything that Cardin would take this gracefully, and not try to start any trouble. He had to be realistic though—Cardin was most likely going to try to take this out on someone, and he had to be ready to stop him the moment he did.

So yeah, I currently have no plans on what Cardin will do next, but if anyone has any suggestions, go ahead and give me them.

Also, I have a question. I've read enough to know that there are differences in how people of opposite genders write. What each are willing to do in their stories is sometimes different, and by acknowledging I believe that we may grow stronger as a writing community. But that's not even a question. My question is: can you tell what my gender is by how I write? Leave your assumptions (because I don't know if I've ever stated what gender I am) as a review if you want, or to tell me how sexist I am (you all know those differences are there!), it's up to you.
Also, if you find/found out through my YouTube channel, I'll consider that cheating.

But yeah, have a great day/night.