The next morning, tension was growing in lieu of the impending face-off between Team CSRD and Team CRDL. Axel paced the room nervously, while the rest of the team discussed what they were going to do.
"We can't just fight them," Cyrus asserted.
"Well it's not like we have much choice," Damien replied, folding his arms in front of him. "We either fight, or Sebastian's secrets get leaked and he gets expelled."
Axel stopped in his tracks and turned to the rest of the team.
"That is NOT happening. I am NOT going through school without my teammate. Or my partner. Or my FRIEND for that matter."
"My point exactly." Damien said, nodding. "We have to do it. it's a good opportunity to get those assholes off our backs for good.
"Yeah." Axel said, starting to pace again. "One good butt-kicking and they'll step off for sure." A devious look grew on his face as he thought of the different ways he could zap them into submission.
Cyrus shook his head.
"We can't, guys. If anyone found out we got into a fight, Sebastian would get kicked out just the same." he pleaded, holding his hands out and looking around the room at his team. "It's a lose-lose situation."
"I think I'll take my chances." a voice echoed throughout the room, the three boys turned around to see their teammate in the doorway. Sebastian entered the room looking dead serious. "It doesn't matter what the result is. "All I... no, all we can do is fight. We take them down here and now." Sebastian looked at all of his friends, letting them know that his decision was already made up.
"What about the risks, Sebastian?" Cyrus questioned Sebastian. "As team leader I say we should all just rationally think about this."
"I know the risks Cyrus," Sebastian replied. "I'm willing to take them all on if I have to."
"Not happening Sebastian." Damien got off from the wall to stare Sebastian down. "We can't let you at em'. We know all too well about the last time you were in a serious fight. Besides," Damien smiled, "we can't have you stealing all of the credit." Axel stepped into the conversation to say his piece.
"We're in this with you. This is our problem after all, and a team's problem is dealt with by having everyone onboard." Axel and the others turned their attention to Cyrus.
"Cyrus," Sebastian began. "My mind is clear and ready to go. I won't lose myself to my anger this time. I promise," he reassured the uneasy team leader.
Cyrus breathed a heavy sigh of defeat. "Fine, fine," he said, putting his hands in the air. "I give up. We take Team CRDL down a few pegs and avoid anything that can cause Sebastian to be kicked out of Beacon at the same time."
"I like the sound of that," Axel said with relief.
"We've got a whole day ahead of us to prep, so we better get moving fast." Cyrus alerted the team to the time crunch they were on. If they all weren't at their best, they didn't stand a chance.
"In that case," Sebastian said, walking out of the room as he grabbed some clothes, "I'll go out and de-stress a bit. Get my body moving. I suggest you all do the same. We can grab lunch afterwards."
"Sounds like a plan to me." Damien exited the room, waving everyone off and the others soon followed suit.
Cyrus decided to head down to the training grounds. Not necessarily to train, but rather to see someone he knew would be there. Sure enough, Trucy was there testing out Master Spark with different dust types on some faraway targets.
"Kinda hard to practice with that when you need others to boost your semblance, isn't it?" Cyrus said with a smartass look on his face.
"Bold words coming from the guy who can't fight at range." Cyrus ignored her comeback by shooting out the spike ball on Sweet Liberation at one of the targets, destroying it. Trucy looked mildly impressed.
"Not bad, but technically that's just melee combat but long since you're still using your flail." Now it was her turn to act like a smartass. Cyrus rolled his eyes, adjusted a knob on his weapon, then fired at another target in shotgun mode. Thanks to Axel's adjustments, it was a solid shot rather than a spread, and hit the target dead center. This caused Trucy to drop the smug act and be genuinely impressed.
"Alright, you've convinced me. Anyway, what did you come to me for? Other than trying to show off, of course."
"Well, there's a few things. First off, in case Ainsley hasn't filled you in, we're fighting Team CRDL tomorrow because of some annoying blackmail shit involving Sebastian."
"Ew, those dickheads. Why can't they just leave people alone for once? The other week they were saying shit about my hat and asking me to do magic tricks for them. Naturally, I jabbed one of them between the legs with my spear and got the hell out of there."
"Ha, nice. But yeah, we gotta fight them anyway or else they'll get Sebastian expelled. I remembered that all of them almost exclusively use melee weapons, so I figured I'd come to you."
"Damn, you're making it sound like I'm an expert on ranged combat."
"Well you're a friend, plus the only other ranged experts here are Ruby and Pyrrha, and frankly I don't feel like talking to either of them."
"You've got a good point, although really there's not too much for you to worry about. Cardin and his goons run on a collective five brain cells and will most likely just rush in since that's their only option, so you can just use the stuff you showed me and that'll keep them at bay. Don't forget that you also have your teammates to rely on."
Cyrus nodded. "Alright, that seems simple enough. Next question, you know the dance thing we've got coming up?"
"What, are you trying to ask me out?"
Cyrus gave her a flat look. "Do I look like someone who thinks they have a chance with anyone? Besides, I know you're gay anyway."
Trucy looked panicked for a moment. "Wait, how the hell did you know that?! I never told you!"
"Relax, we're homies. You can trust me. Plus it was somewhat obvious, seeing as you almost never try to talk to any guys here except for Mola and our team, and I've seen you checking out some of the visiting students for the Vytal Festival."
"Good point."
"Yeah, anyway I just need to bool with and watch people suck at dancing."
"Why not ask the rest of your team?"
"Pretty sure they got their own plans or something, especially Axel, if you catch my drift."
Trucy chuckled. "Yeah, that sounds about right.. I guarantee Gemma's gonna be all over him the entire time."
"And that's precisely the kind of trainwreck I want to sit and watch from the sidelines. You in?"
"When you put it that way, hell yeah! I'm down!" Trucy and Cyrus high fived each other before Cyrus continued.
"Oh yeah, one more thing. Me and the team are getting food later if you wanna come."
"Cool, sure. Being the local expert on ranged combat works up an appetite anyway." Trucy said with a smug grin.
Cyrus softly punched her shoulder. "Yeah, yeah. But in all seriousness, thanks for the advice."
"Right back at ya for having my back.. Besides, it'll be nice for someone to knock those clowns down a peg." Cyrus smiled, and the two made their way to the dining hall.
That night, on the dormitory roof, Axel looked off into the distance. His eyes drifted in the direction of his father's shop. He wondered how his father was doing without him. He'd worked there for as long as he could remember. Before his thoughts could drift further, he was joined at the railing by Gemma. To Axel's surprise, she said nothing. There was no over-the-top greeting, no aggressive hug attempt, no eardrum-piercing shriek. The two just stood there, lost in their own thoughts for a moment, until Gemma broke the silence.
"Thinking about your dad?" She asked, still looking off.
"Yeah," Axel responded with a sigh as he turned and leaned on the railing to face her. "What gave me away?" he asked with a chuckle.
"The fact that your shop is riiiiiiight… There." she replied, smiling slightly and pointing right at the building Axel was staring at. Sure enough, it was Royal Weaponry.
"Ah." Axel gave a weak nod and his head drooped slightly. Gemma put a hand on his shoulder.
"You know he can handle it, right?"
Axel nodded melancholily.
"Yeah. The guy was working on gear since way before I was even a smile on his face," he joked, perking up for a brief moment, then falling back into his depressive state. "He can handle running the shop on his own."
"So what's up with you then?"
"I just- I haven't been away from home this long ever since I was born. I don't know how he's handling it. He won't show it, but he worries. A lot. And I hate doing that to him."
"I thought you said he wanted you to come here and go to school," she said, folding her arms across the railing. "You know, following your dreams?"
"Yeah, of course. But we've been on our own since my mom… You know… And we're all we've got at this point. I know he wants me to do what I want to do. He's always wanted that for me. But I also know that he is willing to give up his own happiness to give those opportunities to me."
"How could you possibly know that?" she asked. Axel turned back over the rail and turned his attention back to his shop.
"Because it's what I would do." he answered with a long sigh before standing up off the rail and turning to leave. Gemma turned and reached back to stop him, but he was already gone.
"Man, the fight's this afternoon, the dance is in a few days and I still don't have a date!" Damien mentally shouted while dumping an entire magazine of ammunition into a target. "Wait a sec, is that what really should be bugging me at this time?"
He picked up his second pistol and started firing until he heard clicking. "Focus there, partner. Don't just shoot until the mag runs dry. Pace yourself, calm your nerves, and count. Your. SHOTS!" He reloaded his sidearms and started to shoot at a much more focused rate. He slowed his breath to calm down from the apprehension of everything. He looked at the targets. Not completely accurate, but precise. Overall a really tight spread with hits. "Not great, but good enough for now."
"Good grouping!" a feminine voice called out behind him. Damien quickly turned around to see another student about his age and height. She had hazel eyes and long dark brown hair, wearing a black jacket, purple shirt, blue jeans and black boots.
"Dude. Say something!" he mentally shouted. "Thanks. It's not perfect. But then again, I'm not going to be shooting hummingbirds at 50 yards now, am I?"
The girl laughed. "You never know."
"Okay, I'll tell you what. The day that happens, I'll let you know. Okay?"
"Deal." said the girl.
"Yo! We're gonna be late!" a voice called out.
The girl jumped at the sound of the voice. "Coming!" she called back before turning to Damien. "Sorry, but I gotta run. Don't be a stranger, yeah?" she asked before running off.
"Wait! I just need to ask you-" Damien shouted to the fleeing girl. "Aaaand she's gone. Seriously though, who was she?" the puzzled teenager pondered to himself. He thought little of it before grabbing some cans to set up to shoot with his rifle.
Sebastian brought himself to the outskirts of the Forever Fall, going to his usual spot. It provided a good spot of sun and an area free of Grimm. There he could go about his training routine. Start with some jogging, then practicing melee combat on the trees around him, finishing with semblance training on the surrounding rocks, boulders, and fallen branches. Mid-practice, as Sebastian finished his melee combat training and began to focus on lifting a large rock that was nearby, he focused hard maintaining his eye contact with the rock, lifting his arm up and the rock at the same time. He strained hard, using all his mental and physical energy to lift the rock higher than where it was, but he couldn't feel it budge. A voice rang out amongst the trees behind him and his focus broke, the rock falling to the ground with a hefty thump.
"I didn't think I'd find you here of all places. Then again, you look like the loner type." The voice belonged to none other than the supportive Ainsley. Sebastian turned around to face her, half grumpy.
"You seem to have a knack for just showing up places, don't you? Also, ouch," he said regarding her joke, his face forming a smile to greet her.
"Sorry, I just couldn't help it." Ainsley laughed a bit to meet Sebastian's smile. "So what do we have here?" She checked around the area they were in. "A nice quiet place to train, I see. Guess we both had the same idea."
"Was a quiet place," Sebastian interjected. Ainsley flashed a grumpy look at the boy. "However," he said, trying his best to rebound, "it'll be nice having a friend to talk to while I'm here."
"That's better. So what were you up to?" Ainsely asked.
"Focusing on improving my semblance by lifting up heavy objects I normally wouldn't try to lift during combat. Although, today seems to be an off day for me. I might have strained myself a bit too hard with my earlier training."
"Now that you mention your semblance," Ainsley pondered, "how does it work exactly?"
"It's just simple telekinesis really. If it's disconnected from the earth or can be disconnected, then I can lift it. Things like people, rocks, and trees and such. Objects stuck into the ground that are pretty tight or just really heavy objects are harder to lift, naturally. My semblance's main requirement is that I do need eye contact on the object to lift it. Things like electricity or anything energy based I can't lift or interact with at all. Of course, using my semblance requires a lot of mental and physical power. I need to focus on lifting the object with both my mind and my body. If that isn't enough to take an enemy down, I can use my physical strength boosted by my aura. I try to spare the usage with my semblance because of how much it takes out of me, which is why I use my steel ball Siberia. It's fairly light and easy to use. I can also use my semblance on myself without the eye contact, but that requires more energy. That's pretty much all there is to it."
"I see, I see," Ainsley said, examining him. "Not a bad semblance if you ask me. Actually it sounds quite busted."
Sebastian turned his head away. "That's the part I'm afraid of", he whispered, Ainsely not hearing him. Sebastian turned his head back to Ainsley. "What about your semblance?"
"Mine? It's just a people detector really. I close my eyes, shut everything out, and it turns on. Think of it as a kind of echolocation. Any movement or noise and I can see their whole body. They appear white amongst everything else being black with white outlines. To help make it better, I just place myself in a large crowd and try to focus on individual people so that I don't burn myself out too quickly."
"What if they're invisible or just make no noise?"
"Good question. I haven't really figured out how to counteract that yet."
"I'm sure you'll get there soon." Sebastian heard a beeping sound coming from the pocket of his sweatpants. "Oh shoot I gotta meet up with the guys for lunch."
"Can I come with you? I can bring the rest of my team with me." Ainsely shot a wide grin at Sebastian, almost as if to pressure him into saying yes.
"I'm sure they wouldn't mind. Especially Axel." Sebastian burst out laughing and Ainsely joined in with him. As the pair walked back to Beacon, Sebastian found a question to ask her.
"What's with the sudden interest all of a sudden?"
Ainsley looked at him, surprised by what he said. "What do you mean?"
"This is the second time you've taken interest in me, and in such short notice, when before you hardly looked at me."
"After I heard your story, I couldn't help but want to talk to you. Deep down, I guess I felt similar to you in a way."
"I doubt you know how it feels to take a life, Ainsely," he sternly told her.
"It isn't about that, I can assure you." She noticed a look of relief come over Sebastian. "Rather, it's the pain of not knowing who you are, or if you've got what it takes."
"I see," was the only response Sbeastian could come up with. "In that case, I wouldn't mind if you and I talked some more from time to time. But for right now, why don't we just talk about some more cheery subjects?"
"I would like that," Ainsley responded. "I've got some good movie recommendations if you want to hear them."
"Why not?" Sebastian shrugged, as the two of them continued their talk all the way back to Beacon.
The two teams met for lunch in the courtyard, preparing a picnic of sorts. They joked and laughed, but there was definitely a new energy throughout the group. It was as if their two teams were really just two parts of the same whole.
"You guys are really going to go through with this whole fight thing?" Gemma asked.
Cyrus shrugged.
"It's not like we have much of a choice," he replied, his mouth full. "It's a pretty shitty situation."
Axel nodded.
"And if the two options are that either Sebastian gets kicked out for, things, or we all get kicked out for fighting a bunch of stooges that have it coming, I'm going down with my team."
Damien nodded in agreement, and Team CSRD gave Sebastian a reassuring smile. Sebastian chuckled to himself. It felt good to have friends, let alone ones like these. The next day, they would have one of their biggest challenges yet, and they'd face it together.
The next morning arrived, and the message came clear on Cyrus's scroll. From Cardin himself: they were to meet them in the Emerald Forest by 2 o' clock sharp. The message was quite serious. It seemed that if they arrived even seconds late it would have already been too long. The group collectively got themselves in order.
"Let's not keep them waiting." Cyrus got the group mobilized to head out bright and early.
"Yeah, but do we even have a plan?" Axel asked.
"We do." Sebastian replied, nodding his head. "Take them down as fast as possible."
"I mean, that does make sense."
"If that's the plan, then I'm fine with it." Damien spoke up. "Besides, we need to put them down not only for our sake but everyone else who's been troubled by those douches."
"Damien's right." Sebastian agreed with him. "This isn't just about me after all. This involves all of you guys as well. I don't want to destroy any future you all have here. Especially because you all know about me."
The gang got their gear in order and headed out for their confrontation with Team CRDL. As they walked out from Beacon, they noticed a surprising amount of stares.
"Hey," Axel began. "You think people already know?" Axel asked, worried that the beans were already spilled.
"I doubt it. As much of an ass that Cardin is, I feel he'd keep his word. Besides, we are a group of known troublemakers. People might be on the fence about us because of that."
"Let's believe Damien here, Axel." Sebastian placed his hand on Axel's shoulder. "If anyone should be worried the most here it's me. A lot of my issues being revealed are at stake after all."
"Yeah. Yeah you're right."
The team continued their walk to the Emerald Forest with quiet resolve. When they arrived at the meet up spot, Team CRDL was already there, each member patiently waiting.
"So you aren't chickens after all," Cardin spoke haughtily. "Good. I wanted to have some fun with this."
"Yeah," Russel interjected. "It's better to put you all down first rather than exposing your furry friend outright."
"Let's see you try it." Sebastian lowered his voice to match the situation.
"Oh we will," Cardin boasted. "We'll crush all of you."
Both teams got to their fighting stances, tensions high, the air resonating with energy.
Team CRDL charged, each member engaging with a member of Team CSRD. Cardin went after Cyrus, swinging his mace at his head. Cyrus smiled and put up a barrier, stopping the swing cold. The mace smashed into the barrier with a loud clang, and the vibration shot up through Cardin's arms. Cyrus then followed this up by swinging his ball and chain at Cardin, and it connected with his midsection and sent him tumbling backward. He rose up, gritting his teeth in rage as he charged again. Again, Cyrus simply put up another barrier and smiled.
"You know, we both have somewhat similar weapons and fighting styles. Minus the fact that my weapon's also a gun, I have a shield, and I pretty much outclass you in every other way." Cyrus said, making sure to sound as smug as possible. He dodged another attack and blasted Cardin directly in the chestplate, knocking him back once more.
"How about you try outclassing this?" Cardin angrily charged towards Cyrus again, causing Cyrus to reflexively put another barrier up. However, rather than swing at Cyrus directly, he instead hit the ground, causing an explosion that knocked Cyrus into the air. Cardin followed up with a heavy swing as Cyrus descended, knocking him into a tree. The impact shook his body to the core, and he lost his grip on his weapon. It slipped from his fingers and toppled to the ground. Cyrus groaned, attempting to get up.
"Alright, maybe I should give you a bit more credit." Before Cyrus could say or do anything else, he could hear Cardin's footsteps approaching him again. Unable to reach for his weapon in time, Cyrus was forced to block. Cardin began to relentlessly strike the barrier with his mace.
"You and I both know you can't keep this up forever," growled Cardin, "just give up now like the bunch of nobodies you are."
The constant barrage of swings was starting to take a toll on both Cyrus and the barrier as he let out a strained breath. "If we're such nobodies, then why go out of your way to try and get rid of us?"
"Simple." Cardin snarled, "the less problems we have in our way, the better." As he finished his reply, he landed a blow strong enough to shatter Cyrus' barrier, leaving him exhausted and defenseless. Cardin smirked as he lifted his mace high above his head, ready to land the final hit. Thinking quickly, Cyrus kicked Cardin's legs out from beneath him, causing him to lose balance and fall towards the tree. Cardin's mace clanged helplessly against the trunk, and Cyrus used this opportunity to punch Cardin in the stomach. With his opponent stunned, Cyrus was able to grab his own again and finally rise to his feet.
"Here's the thing about us 'problems.' Trying to get rid of any one of us is only going to cause you more. Speaking of…" Cyrus looked around with pride as his teammates were holding their own against the rest of team CRDL.
Across the way, Sky went after Damien with his halberd, and swung it down hard. Damien rolled out of the way and drew his sword, then went in for a side kick. However, Sky brought his axe back up to defend, blocking the kick. He then proceeded to turn around and jab the knob of the axe into Damien's solar plexus, then spin back around and swing the axe at his head. Damien ducked the blow and sweeped Sky's legs out from under him, and he landed on the ground with a loud thud and an oof. As soon as he started to look up, Burning Justice's blade kissed Sky's throat and he froze. Damien took a good long look at his downed opponent. His teeth gritted, his forehead sweating, and his eyes seemingly terrified.
"Y'know, Sky," Damien started. "You don't seem like the kind of guy to go into a one on one. I mean, I know about how you cower behind Dove when things get too tough for you." He said laughing. "So, I'm going to give you the chance to make the smart decision, throw down your weapon, and just walk away." Damien said, in an almost threatening manner.
Sky almost looked like he was going to consider this. Until he spotted something else behind Damien that got his attention. This didn't go unnoticed by his opponent, and he knew that the something was someone, someone who he feared more than Damien.
As Sky raised his axe, Damien exhaled in disappointment. "Fine."
"Enough talk, the figh-"
BANG!
Sky was interrupted by the initial sound of a gunshot, and then the impact of a bullet and his shoulder piece of armor. The force sent him down on his ass groaning in pain. He looked at Damien, who had switched from sword to dual pistols without him noticing. "You moron! I was going to say the fight had officially begun."
"Well? How 'bout now?" Damien asked in jest, raising his second pistol and firing. The bullet made its mark in Sky's chest piece, forcing him a few steps back.
"Oh, forget it!" Sky began charging with Damien shooting. The shots weren't as precise as the first two, but then again, he didn't intend to cripple him entirely.
As soon as Sky was in range, Damien converted his pistols into daggers and started slashing away. He knew that Sky's armor would protect him from any serious damage, but he definitely could see the impacts, Sky recoiling as he got hit. Sky kept flailing his weapon around trying to land a mark, but the one major advantage Damien had was his lack of restrictive armor, being able to effortlessly dodge the swipes of the axe, much to Sky's dismay.
Regardless of the circumstances, Damien made sure to not get overconfident and was double sure to keep up the offensive. He was just about to wrap up the fight before he noticed something off in the distance.
What in the… there's no way that could be h-
Damien was forced back into the moment when the head of a halberd came into view.
"SHIT!" he exclaimed as he leaned back, ducking underneath the attack. However, this threw him off balance and tripped him up. He looked up to see Sky coming in for a slam attack, the axe's blade end facing towards the ground. Thinking quickly, Damien rolled out of the way and was able to stand back up. By the time Sky's halberd landed into the ground. Damien already was in the midst of a downward strike with his sword.
His target, however, was not the person, but the weapon. Striking the axe in the inner curve, Damien buried the axe into the ground. Sky struggled to pull his weapon out of the grass, giving Damien the distraction he needed to sock Sky right in the kisser.
Sky, caught off balance, landed on his back. He took a few seconds before getting back up. "Well, Sky." Damien said, in a much more relaxed manner, his sword resting on his shoulders behind his head. "Credit where credit is due, you put up a good fight. But to the victor go the spoils." Damien finished as he subtly moved his right hand to the handle of his sword and turned his back to Sky.
Sky started to get back up, but Damien spun around and slammed the flat end of his sword in Sky's face, sending him back down to the ground. Damien smirked knowing he wasn't getting up anytime soon.
"Come and get it you pompous ass-gremlin!" Axel taunted, extending his staff. Dove drew his revolver and fired off three shots. Axel ran toward him, covering himself with his armored arm, deflecting the bullets.
"Really? You're shooting at me?"Axel mocked, "I figured after all the trouble setting this whole thing up, you would at least want to make things interesting." He closed the gap while spinning his staff, and swung it at Dove's head. Dove saw it coming, ducking under the blow and pressing a button on the side of his revolver, transforming it into a sword, swiping at Axel's midsection, but Axel jumped back, just out of reach.
"Hold still, coward!" Dove yelled in frustration. Axel smirked and brought up his staff in a defensive stance.
"I don't think you understand how fights work, bud." he mocked as he held his hand out in a "come on" motion. Dove obliged, swinging his sword madly. Axel dodged each swing with relative ease, until sidestepping and using his staff to trip Dove. Dove fell to the ground, but nimbly rolled back onto his feet. This caught Axel a bit off guard, as he was totally expecting that to knock the wind out of him. Seizing the opportunity, Dove lunged at Axel and drove the hilt of his sword into Axel's abdomen, and followed up with a back kick that sent Axel flying backward. He grunted and rose to his feet.
"What? Surprised this 'ass-gremlin' doesn't fall for petty parlor tricks?" Dove sneered. Axel gritted his teeth and charged in. He spun his staff, charging it with electricity, and let out a fierce series of jabs to Dove's midsection. Each strike crackled with electric discharge, and Dove groaned in pain. Axel finished by spinning around and using his staff to launch himself toward Dove, delivering a powerful kick, sending Dove flying back this time.
"You know what? I've enjoyed this little back and forth, but I think it's time we wrapped this up." Axel remarked.
"I couldn't agree more," Dove growled, picking himself up off the ground and preparing for one last exchange. The two rushed toward each other once more, and Axel let loose a strong series of swings at Dove, who swiftly dodged each one, then grabbed Axel by the shoulders and drove his knee into Axel's head, knocking him back and down to the ground. Dazed, Axel rolled over and tried to get up, but was met by another swift kick to the abdomen that sent him rolling a few yards back.
"For all that talk, you don't take hits very well." Dove scoffed. Axel got up on a knee and caught the breath that was just knocked out of him. "Guess mommy raised a little wimp."
Click. A switch flipped in Axel's mind, and he was instantly filled with pure, unbridled rage. He stood up slowly, electricity cackling across his body. His eyes began to flash with chain lightning as the energy continued to build. Dove could feel the static in the air growing more and more.
"I was pretty nice to you, punk." Axel snarled, his voice becoming more distorted by the power building within him. "I was having some fun with you before I wiped the floor with you. Even let you get a few good licks in for good measure." He began to walk toward Dove, his feet searing footprints into the grass with each step. "But then you had to go and do the one thing that'll get you a one way ticket to pound town," Axel stopped in his tracks and held his staff straight out at Dove. "You brought my mother into this." Axel roared as he streaked toward Dove, a trail of electricity in his wake.
Dove positioned himself to defend, but was surprised to see Axel jam his staff into the ground and pole-vault himself high into the air, where he yelled loudly while spinning his staff, energizing it, then hurling it down at him. Dove saw the projectile coming toward him and turned to run. The staff stuck in the dirt and let off a small surge of electricity, knocking Dove to the ground. He turned around and looked up to see Axel, still floating in the air as he let out an ear-shattering shriek and surged down toward Dove. There was nothing Dove could do. He got up and started running once more, but Axel shot straight past and slammed into the ground directly in front of him, releasing every bit of his stored energy in a massive energy surge that sent Dove flying 20 feet in the air. He landed with a loud thud which knocked him unconscious.
Meanwhile, Axel remained on one knee, his fist in the dirt, panting heavily, just trying to remain conscious. Yep. he thought to himself. Mighta overdone that a little bit. He shook his head and chuckled to himself. Nah. I'll be fine. Just need a sec to recharge. He turned over, sat down, and looked up to see Sebastian facing off against Russel.
Russel went straight for Sebastian, looking to score revenge for last time. He struck forward with several slashes of his daggers, Sebastian blocking each strike with his hand guards. Sebastian countered with a straight punch aimed at Russel's mid-section to deal serious damage. He wanted to bring him down as fast as possible. Russel jumped back evading the attack. Sebastian pulled out Siberia, throwing the steel ball low, the weapon speeding at Russel's leg. He struck back at it, knocking it into the sky and rushed in on the presumed defenseless Sebastian. Sebastian went to instinctively block, but instead Russel flipped over him, attempting a roundhouse kick that Sebastian narrowly guarded with his arm and shoulder, pain riveting up to his neck. Russel took the opportunity and followed through with a spin kick that landed right into Sebastian, crashing him to the ground on his back. Russel ran at the downed Sebastian, jumping and raising his weapons up, preparing to shank him. Sebastian rolled out of the way just in time, getting back on his feet.
"First hit's mine faunus!" Russel shouted at him with a sense of accomplishment. "But I must say you're making this quite fun."
"I wouldn't get too comfortable if I were you, Russel," Sebastian spat. "Cause I won't be losing this fight!"
Russel then remembered the fact he sent Sebastian's weapon flying, but by then it was too late. Sebastian smiled as he dragged his left arm back, Siberia coming from behind Russel and bashing into one of his legs, causing him to fall down to the ground. Siberia retracted back to Sebastian's left hand, as he tossed it up a few times, a wide grin plastered over his face.
"Second hit is mine," he said as Siberia fell back into his hand.
Russel, clearly infuriated, rushed at Sebastian, yelling as he swung at him. Two strikes from Russel, then two from Sebastian. The combatants were locked in a series of blocked moves from one another. That was until Russel wanted to play dirty, going for a cheap kick to Sebastian's groin. Sebastian looked down to stop it with his semblance, giving Russel the perfect chance. He went for a stab to Sebastian's side while he was exposed. Sebastian quickly kicked Russel's leg back as he looked over to the dagger, halting its movements. Russel tried the other dagger, going for Sebastian's chest. Sebastian knocked away the dagger he held in place, catching Russel's other dagger in between two of his fingers with his right hand, flinging it to the ground. With Russel weaponless, Sebastian was free to give Russel what he deserved. He threw a haymaker that connected to Russel's face, driving it in and following through. Russel was hammered to the ground landing with a loud thud. He got up and wiped his face off, scattering for a dagger, and in a fit of rage, threw it right at Sebastian. Sebastian merely stopped it with his semblance, having it fall to the forest floor.
"Getting desperate?" Sebastian got cocky, knowing the fight was now in his favor. "Why don't you give up?"
"Like hell I'd lose to you!"
In a last ditch attempt, Russel reached out to try and grab Sebastian. Sebastian bent low, using the counterweight to lift Russel up and toss him down to the ground.
"I'd stay there if I were you." Sebastisn quickly went over to join up with his other teammates.
Now, Cardin was fighting all on his own. Team CSRD was lined up, facing him down. Cardin wouldn't back down and surrender. He wasn't going to be meek this time. He couldn't be. He ran at the four, going for a wide arcing horizontal swing, each team member getting out of the way. Axel charged up his staff with electricity, sending some shooting outward at Cardin. Cardin blocked with his mace, but still ended up being stunned by the shock. Sebastian took the chance to jump up, swinging his leg at Cardin and knocking his mace out of his hand. He landed behind Cardin, throwing Siberia at the backside of one of Cardin's legs, causing him to fall on the knee of that leg.
"Damien. Now!" Sebastian gave Damien the perfect chance. He lit up a fireball and shot it out right at Cardin, the fiery explosion hitting Cardin, causing him to be launched back.
"Do it Cyrus!"
Cyrus created a barrier behind Cardin, Cardin crashing into the barrier and falling to the ground on his front side. The fight was over. Team CSRD had won. Sebastian and the others walked up to Cardin, and he put his hand out to get him up. Cardin accepted and took his hand, Sebastian pulling him up.
"A deal's a deal Cardin. We won fair and square. You and your teammates don't spill the beans on Sebastian." Cyrus reminded Cardin of the bet.
"I know," he responded. "We'll keep our word." He got his teammates rounded up and prepared to leave quietly. Sebastian stopped him.
"Wait a moment Cardin. I have some questions."
Cardin stopped in his tracks, almost worried what Sebastian would do. "Go ahead," Cardin nervously agreed.
"Who told you about me?" Sebastian's eyes grew serious. He had to know.
"Look I don't know alright?" Cardin was obviously lying.
"Not the answer I wanted." Sebastian stepped in front of Cardin, blocking him. "And I know that you have the answer."
"Okay. Okay." Cardin raised his hands in defense. "Somebody told me and my team about you some time ago. Said that they wanted you gone. That the White Fang were after you and that you were a criminal or something. Gave us all the details on your past as well."
"That so." Sebastian took a deep breath. "Who were they exactly," he questioned.
"I don't know," Cardin responded. "I swear. They were hiding in the alley and we couldn't see them that well.
"Alright then, how about this? What did they sound like? Male or female?"
Cardin took a moment to remember. "Definitely male."
"Are you positive?"
"Absolutely."
"So it isn't Sierra," he muttered under his breath.
Cardin caught wind of what Sebastian said. "Sierra? Who's that?"
"Huh?" Sebastian reacted for a second but regained composure to answer Cardin. "Nobody you need to concern yourself with." So it isn't Sierra afterall. Plus Cardin doesn't even know who she is. I doubt it could be any run of the mill bounty hunter, so that doesn't leave me with many options. Unless…
Then two figures were heard walking towards the teams.
"Just what is going on here?" It was none other than Glynda and the more relaxed Ozpin.
"I distinctly recall that there were supposed to be no quarrels between student teams. What do you all have to say for yourself?" She was definitely mad.
Both teams looked at one another to see who would answer here. A moment of silence passed before Cardin spoke up.
"Sorry professor, this is all my fault. I just wanted some team combat practice against them, but I never told you what we were doing." Everyone looked at each other praying that Cardin's excuse would work. Glynda took a second to think about the team's fates, since they were in her hands.
"Hmm. Fine. I'll overlook this, once. Just know that next time any of you are caught doing something like this again," she stopped, going for a dramatic pause. "There will be consequences." She turned around to walk away. Both Team CSRD and Team CRDL took one huge collective sigh of relief.
"Looks like she granted you all mercy this time." Ozpin spoke casually to both teams. "Despite the real reasons this fight took place, something I won't inquire about, I must say however, that I am impressed. You all fought well. I can't wait to see how both of your teams do in the festival tournament." He turned around as well, getting up to pace with Glinda, and they walked off back to Beacon.
"Hold on," Axel said. "Ozpin just said 'both teams' right?" He looked at his friends, dashing his eyes back and forth with excitement.
"Seems to be that way," Damien responded.
"So we're in the tournament?!"
"Guess so." Cyrus smiled at his friends.
"Not to mention it looks like I'm in the clear," Sebastian said happily. "By the way, thanks for the save back there Cardin." He looked back at Cardin, expressing his thanks.
"It was nothing." he began, "You're all cool in my book. Sorry again for the crap we pulled. That dude had us backed into a corner so we felt like we had no choice but to go with it."
"So that's how it played out," Sebastian said. "Did they have dirt on you too?"
Russel came up to them. "Yeah. Pulled out our information and everything. Said if we didn't comply then we'd be history."
"That so?"
"We should all probably get back now before Glynda comes back and roasts our collective behinds," Cyrus said, actually frightened by the sight of an angry Glynda. Everyone agreed and headed back to Beacon.
All except Damien, who turned back to check something out; the thing that caught his attention during the fight. He went back where he spotted the thing, or actually, a person. A girl. The girl from the shooting range.
"Alright, I know you're here. What are you doin' here?" Damien shouted.
The girl popped out from behind a tree. "Sorry, I didn't mean to distract you during your big fight."
"Big fight? Who told you that we'd be fighting?" Damien said intensely.
"Are you serious? Everyone said that there was a fight between you and team CDRL. The whole school knows. We didn't say anything to you guys because we didn't want any more pressure for you.
Damien was somehow not surprised by this. "Well," Damien started before chuckling. "The whole school can't be wrong, can it?"
The girl chuckled at the little joke. "You know, it just dawned on me that I never told you my name." the girl started up, before outstretching her hand, "Violet Ravenswood."
Damien met her hand. "Damien Pyros. But you knew that already, didn't you?"
"History with Professor Oobleck." Violet replied.
"Ah. Now I kinda remember. Damien said, before noticing something in his hand. A piece of paper. He unfolded the piece of paper, reading Violet's writing.
"Hey, I'm a little nervous, so I wanted to write it out instead. Wanna go to the dance with me?"
Damien visibly recoiled at that last peace. "Wait, for real?"
Violet, whose face had now turned red, only nodded.
Ah, man. I really don't want to let her down. I mean, she seems nice.
"Sure, why not?" Damien said.
"Really?!" Violet lit up.
"Sure, I'll see you at 6:00pm Saturday." Damien said.
"Great! See you there!" Violet said, running off towards the school.
Damien, still swept up in the middle of it all, took a few seconds before processing everything. "What the heck just happened?"
Fortunately, his subconscious would provide the answer. "My two biggest problems in my social life just got fixed. That's what happened!"