Lessons Learned.
At the Amity Colosseum, the cheers of an excited audience as the two on two matches were under way. The two opposing pairs of partners for the match, the grinning Mercury and Emerald against a confident Coco and meditating Yatsuhashi, wait in the center of the stadium for the holographic roulette to pick the field.
"Emerald and Mercury of Haven, versus Coco and Yatsuhashi of Beacon!" Port announched.
"Good luck, you two!" Velevet cheered for her teammates while sitting next to Fox.
The Colosseum chooses four fields to rise up from below in quarter sections: A patch of tall grassy plains which has a single tree and some rocks; the ruins of a city, complete with buildings holding shattered windows and rubble among the pavement; a hot spring containing geyser spots along a small river and some blue Dust crystal growths; and a familiar section of dense forest.
Coco lowers her sunglasses as she eyes her opponents "Hey! Love the outfit, kid!".
Emerald smirked "I'll try not to get blood on it".
Yatsuhashi gets up and removes his massive sword from his back "I can't promise you'll leave without a scratch".
Emerald stretches out her arm "I won't be the one bleeding".
"Ooh, I like her!" Coco said.
"Three, two, one, begin!" Port said.
Instead of charging forward, Mercury and Emerald slowly walk back into the tall grass and disappear behind the leaves. Coco and Yatsuhashi smile at each other before the leader pops out her Gatling gun and begins mowing down the field as the crowds of sunglasses-wearing fans roar their approval, even when bullets nearly hit them from the other side of the forcefield. Coco lets up as she and Yatsuhashi realize the two opponents aren't in the plains section anymore.
"Look out!" Blake called out.
Mercury drops from the sky, aiming for Coco, but Yatsuhashi pushes her out of the way and blocks Mercury's kick with his blade, pushing him back. Coco opens fire at him again, though Mercury is able to outrun each shot.
Lucina and her team looked on, impressed by Mercury's speed... But wait, where is Emerald? She hasen't been seen since she and Mercury entered the tall grass.
Mercury reaches the two and kicks away Coco's weapon while dodging Yatsuhashi's blade, then delivering a double blow to the giant warrior before jumping over Coco's continued barrage of bullets. He lands on the barrels and kicks her in the face, leaping over another of Yatsuhashi's swings, only to let himself be hit so he can get behind Coco and force her to press the muzzle up to her own teammate. Everyone stands still until Coco compresses her weapon back into its handbag form and tries to hit Mercury with Yatsuhashi, but he deftly jumps back and launches two blasts from his boots that the members of CFVY deflect.
Coco is unfazed by the one shot, but looks surprised at the dozens of them now spiraling around the handstand-spinning Mercury until he sends all of them at his enemies, a barrage of light and smoke surrounding them that provides the perfect cover for Mercury to appear behind the two. He grabs the both of them by their arms and delivers a flurry of kicks that knocks them back, looking back as a chain comes out from the forest trees to wrap around Coco and pulls her back.
Yatsuhashi reaches out to her in vain "Coco!".
Despite his cry, Coco disappears into the trees, and he has to endure a kick to the face from Mercury, tanking the hit before grabbing Mercury by the neck and throws him into the hot spring area. He jumps high in the air as Mercury's still sliding back, but his blade only comes down on his opponent's boots, the shockwave from this clash causing the water to fly back, the earth to crack underneath, and multiple geysers to form around them. Mercury fires his boots and gets out of the hold, aiming a swipe at Yatsuhashi's feet that misses, then ducking around each of his sword's swings. One of his kicks loosens some stones from the ground, which Mercury kicks into Yatsuhashi who quickly recovers and attempts to retaliate. Mercury easily counters him and fires a couple of shots. Despite trying to block them Yatsuhashi is forced back, giving Mercury an opening to kick him to the ground. This leaves his head in a small super-heated geyser, that erupts causing him to scream in pain as he frantically gets up, opening his eyes just in time to see Mercury coming at him.
Meanwhile, Coco is still being dragged back into the forest until the chain makes her collide with the trunk of a tree. She shakes it off until she realizes her sunglasses are lying shattered on the ground.
Coco glares angrily as she looks around "I take it back; I don't like her".
Just as she says this, a green shot rapidly comes at Coco, which she barely manages to jump back from as more come down on her from Emerald's position up in a tree above her. Coco unleashes her Gatling gun again and shoots high in the branches, but Emerald jumps around, using her weapons to fire back and change them to sickle form so she can swing from each tree until she suddenly vanishes behind one of them.
Coco looks around for her lost opponent "Damn!".
Yatsuhashi comes up from behind her, hand on his sword's hilt "Coco!".
Coco continues to glance around "Watch out, she's in the trees!".
A buzzer sounds around the arena, Coco looks up to see the footage as Port speaks "Oh, and with that final blow, Yatsuhashi is eliminated!".
Coco's eyes widen in shock "What!?".
She looks behind her, only to see no one there. Her hand is shaking on the handle of her gun, and she doesn't even see the blur between the trees moving in for the kill.
"Damn!" She said, having no clue of what's going on.
Little does she know that Emerald is rising up from behind her, blades raised, turning around a second too late. The weapon descends with a ringing gunshot, and Coco is seen flying out of the forest, landing all the way in the center of the stadium next to Yatsuhashi, also knocked unconscious. Emerald swings her sickles by their chains as Mercury looks over their defeated opponents.
"And with an amazing upset, Emerald and Mercury are victorious!" Oobleck announced.
Velvet had hand over her mouth as Fox shakes his head "Coco?".
Fox places a reassuring hand on Velvet's shoulder as Ruby looks into the stadium at her friends, no one noticing the smiling Cinder behind them, getting up from her seat and walking away amid the combined cheers and boos from the crowds.
"I... I know it was a fight and all. But am I the only one who thought Mercury and Emerald were a little brutal?" Lyre asked as she and her team looked at the arena with worried eyes.
"Yes... they were" Severa agreed and she narrowed her eyes at the needless brutality.
"Now I am really happy I won't need to fight either of them" Bernadetta said.
Lucina was silent for a moment before she sighed "There is still time left before it's time for our match, Severa. Want to go over our strategy one more time?".
"No need, we've already prepared as much as we can. Besides, no strategy we can come up with now is guaranteed to work in an arena battle. I need to be alone for a bit, but I will be ready when it's time" Severa said before she got up and walked away.
"Umm, is it just me, or did Severa suddenly become even more grumpy than normal?" Berndadetta asked.
"Yes... Her mood seems to drop every time she sees Mercury and Emerald... like she has some serious problems with them" Lyre agreed.
Lucina said nothing... But she had a feeling she knew why Severa seemed to have a hostile opinion towards the mysterious team. And she could also understand why.
Later, Severa had walked to an area where there was no crowds, she really needed some peace and quiet so she could collect herself. She was thinking about the match she had just seen. Every time she sees Mercury, or any member of his team, she always got very angry for some reason. She does not like them at all, and the problem was, she had no idea why. Why was it she wanted to beat their faces in every single time she saw them? No one had ever bothered her this much before, so what makes them so different?
She snapped out of her thoughts when a familiar concerned voice was heard "You ok Severa?".
Severa looked behind her "Oh, hello Blake".
"You just walked of without saying anything. Is something bothering you?" Blake asked.
Severa sighed, knowing she couldn't lie to her girlfriend "Yes... there is".
"Is it your upcoming match? I'm sure you and Lucina will win" Blake assured.
"No, it's not that at all. I am ready to crush whoever we're up against" Severa said, with no hint of doubt in her voice.
"Then what is it? Was it the match we just saw?" Blake asked.
Severa sighed "Yes...".
"I admit, it was pretty brutal" Blake said.
"Yes it was, it really felt like Mercury and Emerald purposely dragged out the fight because they enjoyed causing Coco and Yatsuhashi pain... But that is not the only thing that's bothering me" Severa admitted.
"What else is there?" Blake asked, she was really getting worried about Severa now.
"For some reason, every time I see them, I get so angry that I need to walk away to avoid becoming violent. I have no idea why, there is just something about them that really rubs me the wrong way. Even Lucina has been acting differently" Severa explained.
Blake blinked in surprised "Lucina? Is something bothering her too?".
"I don't know why, but's she's been acting strange recently. But after the Grimm outbreak in Vale, she suddenly began acting really strange... Like she was scared" Severa answered.
"Scared?" Blake asked in slight shock.
Severa nods "Yes. She's been looking over her shoulder a lot, like she is expecting to be attacked. Me and the others have tried to talk to her several times, but she keeps assuring us that she's fine. But we can tell she is far from fine, and she just doesn't want to bother us with her problems... which honestly annoys me a lot".
"I can see why. She is your friend and teammate" Blake said.
"Exactly! We are a team! We share each other's problems and help each other work through them. But she refuses to say a word to us. She is our leader! She needs to trust us more than this" Severa said, growing more and more frustrated.
"Severa calm down" Blake said.
"No I will not calm down! I need answers, or I'm gonna-" Before Severa could finish her rant, Blake kissed her on the lips, making her blush but also helped her relax.
Blake slowly broke the kiss "Better now?".
"A little... sorry. I've been so stressed out and I took it out on you" Severa said as she looked away.
Blake put a hand on Severa's cheek and made her look back at her "It's ok. But if you don't relax, it will effect your match".
"You're right... I will push back my problems until our fight is over, and then I will make sure Lucina tells me what's wrong. Or so help me I will beat it out of her" Severa declared.
Blake chuckled a little "Somehow, I am not surprised. Just go easy on her, ok?".
"No promises" Severa said simply.
Blake rolled her eyes but smiled "Hey, since we have some time. How about we spend it together?".
Severa smiled back "That... would actually help me feel better".
Blake kissed her again before taking her hand, and they went somewhere they could be alone.
Meanwhile, Lucina had also taken some distance away from the others, and she was sitting under a tree somewhere outside the Beacon. Unlike Severa, she was thinking about their upcoming match. It was going to be two on two, and their fastest fighter and range fighter would not be able to support them. Both she and Severa were close range fighters, so if their opponents are range fighters, they could be in trouble.
"How do we overcome our opponents when both of us are head to head fighters?" Lucina wondered to herself.
"My advice would be to endure and power through" Came an familiar voice.
Lucina gasped and looked up to see... "Cinder...".
Cinder smiled down at her "Hello, Lucina. Been a while since we last spoke. If I didn't know any better, I would say you are avoiding me".
Lucina grew nervous but tried to be strong "And what if I am?".
"Oh? What did I do to make you this mad at me?" Cinder asked innocently.
Lucina got up, finally losing her temper "Don't play dumb Cinder! You know damn well what you did!".
Cinder pretended to think "Oh, that. Never knew a simple kiss would make you this upset".
"That was my first kiss, Cinder! And you stole it from me!" Lucina said in anger.
"I was your first? Delightful, now I feel more special" Cinder said with an annoying smile.
"You stole it!" Lucina repeated, growing even more angry "You practically violated me!".
"Oh come now, isn't that a rather extreme reaction? Are you saying you didn't like it at all?" Cinder asked, not phased at all by Lucina's anger.
"No! Of course I didn't like it!" Lucina said, doing her best not to scream.
"Oh? Well then I mustn't have done a good job. How about another kiss? One I'm sure you will enjoy" Cinder said as leans closer.
Lucina pushed her back "Enough Cinder! Just stop! I don't feel that way about you! So just leave me alone".
Cinder was silent for a moment... Before she suddenly pinned Lucina's against the tree and gave her a dangerous look "My dear Lucina. You really have no idea who you are talking to here. You see, when I want something, I don't take no for an answer".
Lucina gasped as Cinder rubbed her chest "Get of me! Or I swear I will-".
Cinder grabbed her chin "Listen closely. I will have you, and you better accept it. If you refuse... well, I'll leave that to your imagination".
Lucina looked scared "D-Don't!".
"Oh relax, you act like I'm about to rip of your clothes of. I will have you, but I'm not going to be stupid about it. Just wait, one day you will be my lovely girlfriend. And maybe even my future wife" Cinder said before giving Lucina a kiss "Until then... my love".
Cinder finally let her go and walked away. Lucina fell to her knees, shaking. For a moment, she believed Cinder was going to force herself on her in a way that Lucina would never recover from. She was relived that Cinder wasn't That depraved... still, this further increased her fear of Cinder... She did not like Cinder at all... but now she knew Cinder didn't seem to care.
Lucina will have to talk to the teachers about this. And maybe even Ozpin himself... she couldn't stand this anymore... No more.
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Tell me what you think.
