XXV - Burl
~~~(XXV)~~~
Throughout the week leading up to the dance. Oxon noticed something was off with team RWBY. After the chaos of the previous weekend, it seemed like Blake had reached new levels of obsession. Weiss was still acting as odd as she was on Sunday; some meals she went out of her way to sit next to him, and on others she was as far away as possible, which caused him to grow increasingly confused. Yang and Ruby were thankfully as normal as can be.
Blake is the one that worried him the most. Her penchant for getting close to the schemes he was involved in was a problem. He thought it was just her normal attitude at first, but over the last few days it was clear it was something else. She was quiet, antisocial, and always reading something. Except that now it was at the detriment of her health.
The girl had bags under bags, and her fair complexion was paler than normal. The rest of her team seemed to be aware of the issue, but unable to do anything. He'd be happy if she burns herself out on everything, but he had doubts she would. The more realistic outcome is she would find something so small yet so important, a real Blake move.
Cinder had been in a smug mood recently as well. And a happy Cinder only meant that someone else was suffering or about to suffer. This week has really been a was rough one, but at least none of his asshole "allies" needed anything from him.
The teams JNPR, RWBY, and himself were together eating lunch. Well, everyone other than Blake. She decided she'd rather do research in the library than eat. Yang and Weiss seemed frustrated and Ruby just seemed sad.
Today's lunch was one of the "Weiss sitting next to him" meals. She was helping him prepare for a history quiz Oobleck had announced. It was post war material, and not exactly interesting stuff either. Mostly politics and how the councils formed in each kingdom. He was originally going to wing it, since Cinder likely didn't care if he had good grades, but Weiss was relentless.
What he was worried about was Blake stumbling on something.
"Sooo, Blake has been, worse than usual."
The girl let out a deep sigh. "Yes, it is fairly obvious, isn't it?"
"Yeah, Blakey has been throwing herself down rabbit hole after rabbit hole in order to find out anything she can." The blonde partner of said girl seemed like the most affected by Blake's latest mood. "She needs to slow down and not hyperfocus like she is."
"This about the Fang then?" He was pretty sure it was, but better to confirm.
"Got it in one. It's definitely made preparing for the dance harder, she's left it entirely to us."
"I thought you said that team, cappuccino, or something laid most of the ground work?" He'd heard them talk about it a few times, a second year team usually plans it, but they were the backup team this year. And it seemed like they actually needed to step up.
"Team CFVY, yes. They've been away for too long, so we need to finish it up." The girl paused before looking up at him. "And don't worry Oxon, I'll make sure it will be a fantastic event."
"I'm sure you will Weiss." The girl seemed happy at his praise. Though Oxon doubted it would be so easy when down a member. "Do you need any help? I might not have the most knowledge about modern events, but I'm sure I can help move things around."
It looked like Ruby was about to tell him not to worry, until the sudden hand covering her mouth. "We'd be happy to have an extra pair of hands!"
Oxon smiled a bit at that, Cinder seemed too preoccupied with some other nonsense, so it's not like he had anything else to do. He had been training the majority of the time he had to himself. So if he wanted to take a break, who was going to bug him?
~~~(XXV)~~~
"Would Blake Belladonna and Oxon Adhmad please make their ways to the arena?" It looked like his turn to fight was up. He would have normally been terrified of fighting the gun sword user, but her zombie-like state made her threat level drop.
Blake left before him, and Oxon was stopped by the girl's partner.
"Ox, can I ask a favor?" Her lilac eyes watched her partner walk out of sight.
"Uh, depends on if I can manage it?"
"I need you to beat Blake." That wasn't what he was expecting. Normally that wouldn't even take conscious effort on his part due to their vast skill difference. Yang must really be worried about the exhausted girl.
"Uh, I'll do my best, are you sure though?"
"Yeah, it's step one in getting her to slow down. Make sure it's pretty clear cut, yeah?" With that she sat back down with the rest of her team, leaving Oxon to get ready to fight the ex terrorist.
Down in the area, Oxon had Bulls Breath at the ready, while Blake had hers out as well. He looked at the clearly tired girl to professor Goodwitch, he raised an eyebrow skeptically. The older woman ignored his silent question and started the match.
Blake opened up with a burst of pistol fire. He was able to block a few using his heavily armored left arm, though some of her medium arms impacted exposed areas, damaging his metal armor. A quick glance at the board showed he only lost about five percent from that.
Oxon bent his knees low and crouch walked slowly towards the girl. His armored body had very few weak spots from the front. Shin high leather boots that had steel plates guarded his lower legs. His left arm held the barrel of his rifle and blocked most of his chest. The only real open spot was his head.
Man, I could really use a helmet.
His shots were just as useless as hers. While he had the advantage when it came to thicker armor, she was as quick as, well, a cat.
The ranged game of cat and bull went on for about half a minute. Neither really gained any meaningful advantage, though the few shots he landed had drained more aura than the ones he took. It was clear that she was getting frustrated by the fight not going her way.
Finally, she decided to enter close combat. Her strikes were quick and deadly, but they were nowhere near fast or as precise as normal. It spoke of her skill, that even in the state she was in, blocking her strikes took a fair bit of effort. Thankfully, he had been training with bots set to high agility on Cinder's "recommendation". It wasn't hard to understand why, three out of the four members of RWBY were reliant on high speed, and they had proven to be a big enough issue for them to plan around.
He tried to hook the cleaver sheath out of her hand, but she used a clone to get out of it. He drew and fired fratris from his left hip at her when she reappeared, scoring a hit on her forehead. He saw her stumble and knew he couldn't let that disorientation go unpunished. Placing the revolver back in its holster, he rushed in with his ax in a horizontal position, rooted his feet, and swung like she was a particularly nasty Walnut. With a powerful chop, he knocked the girl bodily to the floor a few feet away.
Blake rolled and used her semblance to avoid a few shots he released at her prone form. Oxon watched her get back in form as he slid a few more rounds into the feeding mechanism. The route to his victory was through close combat, that was for sure. To make the girl close in, he had to taunt her enough to frustrate her further.
"And you really think you could take Roman? Blake, at this point, I don't think you could take his henchmen." Of course he was the henchman in question, but she didn't need to know that. "Might want to quit now, before Torchwick snuffs your flame."
Thankfully it seemed like his words pissed her off enough.
The girl rushed him with both weapons and was a tornado of sharp edges and he was at the center. She was spinning around him, causing him to be less effective at blocking. He didn't realize that her ribbon was wrapped around his torso until he saw her smirk.
His arms were suddenly trapped tight against his chest as she pulled tight the material from her weapon. The girl hopped back further and began to pull. He bent his legs in order to gain a greater amount of stability. Oxon smirked as she put her weight on her ribbon, Blake may have the speed advantage, but he had easily twice her body mass.
He was able to slip an arm free and grip the fabric tight. With the tension now slack he could unwrap himself and use both hands on the ribbon. Blake's yellow orbs widened in shock right before a mighty pull flung her towards him.
Sliding a foot back he cocked his right arm back and waited. Her relatively light weight paired with the strength of Oxon, Blake was pulled right to him. Once she was right on top of him, his right arm surged forward impacting the girl right up and into her stomach, he'd used as much strength as he could to inflict maximum damage. She must have been too distracted to use her semblance, so the blow folded her over his fist like a wet leaf.
Oxon cringed at the noise the girl made as she flew, he was worried he was going too far. He glanced at Yang, he expected anger from the bombastic blonde, yet she instead gave him a grim nod. Part of the plan, right. Another glance at the scoreboard had himself at a decent eighty nine, while Blake had been reduced to a paltry thirty six.
Oxon managed to hold on to the main half of Gambol Shroud, and like he did to Jaune over a month ago, he tossed it out of the ring. He pulled out Fratris once more and emptied the cylinder at her. Three of the remaining five rounds struck the girl and forced her back.
Tossing the revolver from his left to his right hand, Oxon went for a bit of flair when he reloaded the gun. With quick, crisp motions, Oxon flicked the cylinder out to empty the spent casings. Once he had placed six fresh rounds in, he spun the chamber before closing it with a snap of his wrist. He tossed the weapon back to his left hand, spun it on his finger thrice, and holstered it in a smooth fashion.
Thank fuck I didn't drop it. I would have forfeited out of embarrassment.
Blake watched the whole thing with a frown on her face. Her ranged weapon was now out of reach, and she only had the cleaver-like sheath at her disposal. He could tell that whatever fumes she was running on was about to be used. Her legs were unstable, her back was slouched, and her breaths were more labored than they had any right to be.
Seeing that this was just about done, he tossed his ax at her. The move was never meant to be an attack, just a distraction. She moved to her right to avoid the attack and Oxon rushed left to intercept. Her eyes were so focused on avoiding the thrown weapon, that she didn't notice he was in front of her until too late. Oxon slammed his shoulder into her sternum, laying her flat.
The alarm rang out just as his guns left their holsters. It seemed he didn't need to demand surrender.
"And that's the match, the winner is Oxon Adhmad." It felt good to win spars against other students. Tips his father had taught him that he thought he forgot we're easily remembered. He was brought out of his pride when the older woman began to go over his mistakes.
"Oxon, you took too many unnecessary hits, while you do have more armor than the average, you need to work more on blocks and deflections. Other than that, well done using an opponent's weapon to your own advantage."
The woman moved on to a groggy looking Blake. "Belladonna, it's clear that you're in poor shape, but Grimm or other malcontents will not show mercy because you couldn't get any rest. Due to your self inflicted state, you made countless mistakes that I hope I don't have to point out. But the biggest was not taking care of yourself."
Oxon offered the girl a hand up, but she slapped it away and stomped back to the locker rooms. Well, he definitely deserved that after how he acted. He walked back as well and shared a nod with the girl's partner. Yang was leaning over the railing and had a sad smile on her face.
"Thanks, that should make the rest of the plan go smoothly."
Oxon didn't really know whether he should be rooting for Blake getting better or not. If she got her brain back to speed and got in more trouble with Roman, then it'd be his fault. Though it was clear she couldn't last with how she was doing…
What am I thinking!? Shaking his head, he went to get out of his heavy armor. I need to throw them off us, not play therapist. I can't forget the mission.
~~~(XXV)~~~
Oxon's jaw had been hanging slack for the entirety of the last fight. Cardin of team CRDL had challenged Pyrrha Nikos to a one versus all of them. The amazing part was that said girl and the professor agreed.
Maybe Cardin thought that if quality wasn't enough, then he'd try and best her using quantity. Maybe he thought that the champion's skills were overrated. The four groaning teens on the ground certainly said otherwise. If ever there was a goal for him to reach, it would be that he could land at least one solid shot on the redhead.
The disciplinarian seemed to be unsurprised by the outcome of the match. The girl only had lost about fifteen percent of her aura from the fight. "Well done, Miss Nikos. You should have no problem qualifying for the tournament."
"Thank you, professor." Goodwitch tapped on her scroll, likely to bring up aist of the students.
"Alright, now I know that's a tough act to follow, but we have time for one more sparring match. Any volunteers?" The woman paused for a moment to wait for any. "Ms. scheme? You haven't fought recently. Why don't you -"
Next to him, Mercury raised his hand. "I'll do it."
That was a surprise, he wasn't usually so willing to participate in anything. The smirk that Emerald shared with him confirmed the bad feeling he had.
The professor seemed pleased at having at least one good sport. "Mercury, was it? Very well, let's find you an opponent."
"Actually, I want to fight her." The gray haired d-bag pointed down to Pyrrha, who was still in the ring.
"Me?"
The professor was less than pleased at his request. "I'm afraid Miss Nikos has just finished the match. I recommend you choose another partner."
Pyrrha seemed fine with the whole thing and stepped in on his behalf. It seemed that Mercury would fight The Invincible Girl.
The fight went well at first, Mercury was holding his own against the girl and had shaved off a bit of her aura. Oxon knew the bastard could fight, but he hadn't seen the guy in action before.
"Hey ox, your partner's doing pretty good!" He looked down to a grinning Ruby, and gave her a fake smile in return. Once she turned around, it morphed into a deep frown as the fight continued.
A few seconds later Mercury shocked the group, bar Emerald, by giving up. Pyrrha had to run past him in order to bleed her momentum from her aborted attack. He couldn't hear what the two said to each other, but Nikos was visibly upset.
The class ended with yet another reminder that the dance was this weekend. Like he hasn't heard team RWBY yap about it constantly. He got stopped at the classroom entrance By Mercury and Emerald.
"Enjoy class? Come on, Cindy called a meeting."
~~~(XXV)~~~
Pyrrh looked on at a despondent Jaune. He has been in a mood all night, ever since this afternoon. "Come on, I know you get frustrated, but you must keep trying. I'm sure you'll discover your Semblance any day now."
"That's not it. It's just…" Her beloved leader seemed hesitant. "It's dumb…"
"What is it?" She walked over to him and put what she hoped was a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Jaune, you know you can tell me."
"It's... Weiss."
Of course, it was the girl who'd stolen his heart and refused to acknowledge him. Money clearly can't buy clear eyes if she couldn't see what Pyrrha did. "Oh. What about her?"
"I asked her to the dance and she shot me down." It hurt to hear him sound so defeated. "Big surprise, right? At this point it'll be Neptune or Oxon who gets to go with her, I've never had the luck of them."
Secretly, deep down, she wished the heiress would choose one of the transfers. Then Jaune would have to accept that the girl was not the one for him. But for now, she would continue to support him. "Well, I believe the saying goes: There's... plenty of fish in the sea." Hopefully when he realized that, he would finally look her way.
~~~(XXV)~~~
The three underlings were spread about their room while Cinder was being menacing on his bed. I'll need to clean it a few times once she's gone. Though what confused him was why the girl was sewing a dress during the meeting she called.
Mercury had finished telling the girl about how combat class had gone. She seemed unimpressed at his own win, but perked up when the guy talked about fighting Pyrrha.
"Ah, the invincible girl."
"She's smart, but I wouldn't say invincible." Oxon's beg to differ. Four guys on one was pretty damn convincing.
"Do tell." Of course the fire witch wasn't there for that fight. She was usually elsewhere in combat class for some reason.
"Her Semblance is Polarity. But you'd never know just by watching." That was her semblance? Metal manipulation huh, so not just skilled, but she had a fairly uncounterable power as well.
"Wait, really? Are you kidding? So she can control metal, ergo everyone's weapons?" Mercury grunted in confirmation before continuing on.
"After she made contact with my boots, she was able to move them around however she wanted. But she only made slight adjustments." He seemed annoyed at that, suck it.
"So she uses the bare minimum in order to keep it hidden. She always did seem shy about it, so pretty much anyone who goes up against her is at a disadvantage." Oxon was impressed that she could keep it hidden, it was also impressive how quickly Merc figured it out. Maybe there was a brain in there after all.
But really, how was anyone supposed to fight her!? My weapons are metal, hell, my armor is made up of segments of metal as well! Unless I fought naked and used a big wooden club… hmmmmm… Wait, no, bad!
"Hmm... People assume that she's fated for victory, when she's really taking fate into her own hands. Interesting. Add her to the list."
"You should be able to take her no problem." He'd like to see that. Hopefully Cinder would eat her own weapon.
"It's not about overpowering the enemy. It's about taking away what power they have. And we will, in time."
More cryptic bullshit, Oxon was reaching his limit with it all.
"What list? Wasn't she already on the one you gave me? People I needed to spy on?"
"Don't worry, Mercury. We have a fun weekend ahead of us."
"Yeah, especially since Oxon here has been getting pretty cozy with the girls on Red's team."
His blood froze when Mercury brought up the Beacon team.
"Yes, I've heard the rumors." Her creepy eyes proved to oxon's The night after the SDC heiress celebrates her birthday, she is seen with a shiny new charm on her combat pouch. And if my eyes are correct, it looks oddly similar to the one you wear on your neck."
"Not to mention his shiny new buckle. Is that pure silver I see?" Emerald seemed well appraised on precious metals it seemed. "You two exchange lovers' charms?"
Oxon could feel a sense of dread at where this was going. Sure he got along with her, and his heart acted abnormal when she talked to him, but they were definitely not involved like she suggested. If he didn't clear things up, Cinder would no doubt give him another unreasonable task.
"Look, I made her some cheap trinket in the armor forge, not like I made her a gold locket. And yeah, this belt buckles snazzy, I like it. Sue me."
"So you're just using the girl for her pocket book? Damn, dude I can dig that, think you can get her to buy me a new scroll?"
"I can't get her to stop bugging me about my grades, so don't push your luck."
"I bet she'd like you to push her a bit, maybe against a wall."
"Enough, Mercury." The silver haired boy quickly ceased his shit, Oxon was about ready to put the prick through every wall he could find on his way to the sea. Though a shiver went up Oxon's spine when she looked in his eyes. "With the annoyances that team has caused, perhaps if the resident Ice Queen's heart has thawed, then that could be useful for us."
"I think you vastly overestimate my social skills. I'm about as suave as a bald muskrat." Seriously, Weiss and him? These people clearly didn't know how normal humans think.
"Regardless of if you are a Casanova or not, trying to get in with the girl will benefit us. I don't care if you have to fake a love confession to the spoiled girl, but you will use any available means at twisting them around our fingers." To emphasize her point, little notes of flame danced along her eyes and fingers. The casual display of immense power cowed any thoughts of speaking back against this plan. "After all, you need to keep those nosey pawns busy on Sunday."
Suddenly, the dance filled him with critical amounts of dread. Whatever plans Cinder had at the CCT on Sunday, he didn't like it involving those who had been nothing but decent to him. He just hoped he could quash the nonsense about him and the dust company heiress.
~~~(XXV)~~~
Woooo… Bitchface McCinder is scheming every scheme she can think of. Hopefully Oxon can figure something out. He has a fantastic track record after all lmao.