Morning arrived at Beacon Academy, and Cyrus, Axel, and Damien all found Sebastian conked out sleeping.
"Uh hey Sebastian?" Cyrus poked at Sebastian's back to get him to move. "You awake over there buddy? We have to get moving here in the morning. Ya know team practice and such?" He kept poking at him, but Sebastian didn't move a muscle.
"I got this." Axel walked up, rubbing his hands together. Static electricity began to form and a wide smile grew across his face as he placed his hands on Sebastian's back and yelled at the top of his lungs, "CLEAR!"
Sebastian jolted upright in electric shock, shaking violently. "Wh-what th-the h-hell ma-man?" Sebastian was unable to even speak a sentence properly and Axel decided now was a good time to stop. Sebastian shook his head and got a hold of himself.
"Ahem. What the hell man?" Sebastian stared angrily at Axel.
"You weren't waking up, dude! I had to do something! Besides, you were gonna miss breakfast if I didn't wake you.
"And what's on today's menu?"
"Waffles and other assortments of breakfast items."
Sebastian got off his bed and cracked his back. "Yep. I wouldn't want to miss out on any of that if I were me. Which I am." He walked over and scrounged around in one of the table's drawers. He took out a comb and started brushing his hair back, his ears coming into view.
"Didn't realize you had white fur on the inside of those ears of yours Sebastian," Cyrus noticed.
"He-hey! Don't look at my ears like that!" Sebastian looked down in embarrassment. "Look, can we just go get food already? I'm hungry as hell." Sebastian got his school uniform on and opened the door, signaling the others. "Well, what are you all waiting for? Those waffles aren't eating themselves." The rest of the team followed him out and they all made their way to the cafeteria. While walking there Axel thought something to himself.
I could have sworn I saw some marks on Sebastian's back when Cyrus was moving him around. It could just be my imagination and I certainly don't want to bring it up to Sebastian himself.
The team arrived at the cafeteria only to see Team MGAT waiting for them at a table, all of the members waving to Team CSRD.
"Oh no." Axel hung low by the group, trying to stay out of sight of Gemma. "Why is she always where I don't want her to be?!"
"Maybe fate just hates you." Damien patted Axel on the back to try and cheer him up.
"Or maybe fate wants them together," Sebastian jokingly added. Axel glares at Sebastian with a rage so pure he could see the electric energy building up in his eyes.
"You remember how you put actual effort into your hair this morning?" Axel said through gritted teeth, "I'm about to undo all of it if you don't shut up. Right. NOW."
Damien chuckled.
"Dude, you might want to listen," he said. "I can feel the static building from over here,"
Sebastian's face morphed from laughter to genuine fear for a moment, then, he smiled nervously. "I'm just messing with you, man. You know that."
Axel closed his eyes and took a deep breath, and the static surges dissipated.
"Yeah. I know. Sorry about that. I've just been so stressed. Between work, school, and the festival, I'm up to my eyeballs in shit, you know?"
"Yeah. The feelings are mutual," Sebastian commented, chuckling nervously, thinking about something else entirely. The group sat down in their usual spots, Gemma sliding up against Axel, and Axel just put his head in his hands.
"Hey guys," Ainsley said, "I hear that we're sparring in Professor Goodwich's class today."
"Sparring? Like against Grimm?" Cyrus asked.
"No, against other students," Ainsley continued, "like people go up in a simulated arena, and pick an opponent."
"Like a Coliseum-type thing?" Axel asked. "That seems a little primal, don't you think?"
"No, silly!" Gemma chimed in, "It's tournament-style, so they monitor your aura and pull you out before you get too hurt."
"Ooh. In that case, it could be kind of fun." He glanced at Cardin and the rest of Team CRDL. "So long as the other team doesn't have a bone to pick."
"Don't worry. They're in a different class than we are." Mola noted.
Axel let out a slight sigh.
"That's a relief."
The group finished their breakfast and headed over to the arena for their first sparring session.
As the classroom filled up, Glynda was waiting for everyone's attention in the arena. "Alright students, today we'll have a few sparring matches in order to prepare you all for the upcoming Vytal Festival Tournament. As you all most likely know, the festival is coming in a few months, so these matches will make sure you're prepared to qualify. If you want to participate feel free to volunteer, otherwise I will pick students randomly. With that said, are there any volunteers?"
Axel raised his hand first, but not to volunteer. "Uh, Professor Goodwich?"
"Ah, Mr. Royal. Do you wish to participate?"
"No, I actually had a question about the tournament. I heard that the teams have already been decided, and there's only four teams from each school."
"Well, I'm not sure where you heard that from, but I can assure you that it is false. There's enough room in the tournament for eight teams from each school, and your team's eligibility will be tested at a later date. Anyway, does anyone wish to actually volunteer?"
Excited to finally fight something other than Grimm, Cyrus volunteered himself right away.
"Yeah sure, I'll do it."
"Thank you Mr. Platin, now is there anyone you would like to fight in particular or would you rather leave it up to me?"
Hmm… Well, I probably can't fight any of my teammates, so I guess that leaves MGAT. Wait, didn't Trucy mention something about mostly using projectiles? Oh, I've got a really nasty idea.
"How about I fight Trucy?"
"...Huh? What?" Trucy, who was mostly just zoning out, snapped out of it when she heard her name mentioned.
"In case you weren't paying attention, Ms. Kirec, which you most likely weren't, Cyrus wishes to spar with you. Since you haven't been active with your studies in your other classes, this should motivate you to do better if you want to be eligible for the tournament along with your teammates."
Trucy still wasn't paying much attention up until she mentioned sparring and her tournament eligibility. "Hell yeah, count me in!"
"In that case, both of you please make your way down to the arena. And Trucy, watch what you say in the classroom.."
Once the two combatants took their places on the main stage, both of them got into combat stances as they waited for Glynda to give the signal to start. As soon as the match began, Cyrus immediately put up one of his barriers, followed by a look from Trucy that said "Seriously? This is the game you're playing?" Despite this setback, Trucy began firing off projectiles from Master Spark while running towards him, taking out what appeared to be a long wooden staff. Once she got close enough, she expanded the staff, showing jagged blades on the end of it, and used it to vault herself over the barrier and swing at Cyrus. Standing his ground, Cyrus took the hit, as well as the opportunity to shoot her point-blank with Sweet Liberation. Trucy staggered, already losing a good chunk of aura from the shot.
"Not bad for forcing me on the offensive," Cyrus said smugly, "but despite how I started, the offensive is just what I need in a small space like this." After that small breather, Cyrus shot the wall behind him, using the knockback to close the distance between him and Trucy and rapidly switching to flail mode. Not wanting to take another brutal hit, Trucy activated her semblance and dodged quickly, firing off more shots and chipping away at Cyrus's aura. She then used this opportunity to switch her Reactor to ice dust and fire a spray of freezing projectiles, slowing Cyrus down and giving her a chance to get up close and get more slashes in with her spear. At this point, Cyrus's aura was starting to drop into the yellow. Realizing this, he also loaded his weapon with dust, specifically fire in order to counter Trucy and free himself. Cyrus then launched the fiery flail at Trucy's legs in an attempt to trip her up, but she noticed this and activated her semblance, not only causing the attack to miss but also building up energy in her Reactor.
"Ha, thanks for the boost!" said Trucy, who was now charging up a large wave of projectiles. Thinking quickly, Cyrus popped up another barrier, trying to tank the attack while making his way towards Trucy. However, because of his low aura level, the barrier was already starting to fade after a few hits and his aura was getting dangerously close to the red. In a last ditch effort, he launched himself at Trucy again and prepared to swing his flail at full force. Without as much time to react as before, Trucy barely jumped out of the way and stuck her spear in his path. The plan worked, but just barely. The force from colliding with the spear was enough to drop Cyrus's aura into the red and officially ending the match, but not without the flail barely catching Trucy and bringing her down as well.
With both fighters down, Glynda stepped back in. "And that concludes the match. Although it was close, Trucy's weapon hit Cyrus before he could hit her, so she just barely won." She gave the two a chance to get up again before continuing.
"Mr. Platin, while your ideas to block your opponent's projectiles with your semblance were good, you did charge recklessly a few times, so make sure to keep note of that in the future. As for you, Ms. Kirec, you definitely seem to know what you're doing when it comes to ranged combat, but aside from the advantage you had with the ice dust, your physical combat could use some work." The two nodded as they headed back to their seats alongside their team.
"That will conclude class for today everyone. I hope you all learned something from today's bout." Glenda dismissed the class and the students began to leave. Sebastian looked to his team and said, "Meet me at the room after all of our classes are over today. I have some important matters to tell you all about." They all nod at him and the rest of the day continued as normal. Back at the dorm room, Sebastian gathered everyone around the beds and got them to be quiet.
"So what did you need to tell us all about Sebastian?" Cyrus initiated the conversation, curious as to what Sebastian had to say.
"I'll be honest in saying that I was outside last night. I had Damien tell me about locations around Vale that had White Fang activity written all over them. Of course, the White Fang are people I have some… business with per say. So when I went to check it out I found out some stuff. Torchwick was indeed working with the White Fang. Something is going down tonight in Vale, but I'm sure others will pick a fight with him. What I'm more worried about is Noir. I also found out he was in on this plan as well, with his own squad of White Fang lackeys. They're going to be using large shipments of dust for some kind of prototype of something. I'm not exactly sure what it is because Noir never said. I had to go alone because I needed as little noise as possible and let's be real, next to Damien, I'm the quietest we got. What I'm really saying is that I need your guys' help. I can't do this on my own and I'm more than sure that Damien wants a crack at Noir again. If we can stop this operation we can do a whole lot for Vale and our own reputation as a team."
Axel got up and looked straight at Sebastian. "You don't need to ask for our help Sebastian. We are your teammates after all. We'll go with you."
Damien got up as well. "Noir can definitely use another ass kicking. Besides, I want to help you get even with the White Fang for whatever it was they did to you."
Cyrus sighed. "I might as well stand too if we're all gonna do it. We are here for you Sebastian, no matter what. So I say as team leader that we go out tonight and give those guys the what for!"
"We better start getting prepared then." Sebastian was the last to get up and he put on his combat outfit. "You won't mind if we stop by your old man's place to get geared up, do you Axel?"
"Not at all. Just make sure you don't break anything. Or, better yet, pay for the stuff and do whatever the hell you want with it."
"Fair enough," Sebastian said. "But I don't really have any money, so I'll just be careful."
"Suit yourself. Just remember, you break it, you buy it."
With that, the team headed to Royal Weaponry to touch up their gear. When they arrived, Axel turned back to his friends and smiled.
"Gimme a minute. I think I might have something for you guys. Just wait here." he started to walk away, but stopped abruptly and turned back around. "Oh, and I'll need your weapons."
"You what?!" Cyrus asked, holding Sweet Liberation close, gently caressing the barrel.
"It'll be fine. I promise." Axel said, "and Cyrus, you're doing the thing again."
"Doing wha-" Cyrus replied, raising an eyebrow in confusion. Then he looked at his hand on his shotgun and flinched. "Oh. that."The group stood there, cautiously eyeballing Axel before slowly holding out their weapons.
"Just trust me. I think you'll like it." Axel gave a reassuring nod, and went to the back of the store to the home forge. Loud metallic clangs and bangs could be heard from where Axel was working from for a few minutes before he returned with the weapons, shiny and new-looking.
"I present to you: my apology for not being with you guys these past few days." Axel walked over to Damien, holding out his sword with a slight bow. "I took the liberty of improving the ignition mechanism on your sword and giving you a hotter-burning flame, as well as reinforcing the steel to make up for the rise in temperature." Damien took his sword and gasped.
"I'm impressed. She hasn't looked this good since the day I got her."
Axel moved on to Cyrus, holding out Sweet Liberation, handling it gently.
"I know how much your gun means to you, so I took extra special care to not change anything in regards to outward appearance. I did, however, add a more powerful compressor and a longer chain to your flail, so you can grapple longer distances if you want to." Cyrus yanked the gun out of his hands, examined it, and gave Axel a look of approval. "There's more," Axel added with a smile, doing his best Smithy impression.
"No…" Cyrus responded, his mouth hanging open. "What else did you do?"
"I took the liberty of adding an adjustable choke to the shotgun itself. Now you can adjust the spray to give you more effectiveness at range."
Cyrus squeaked giddily, and hugged his gun tight. He looked up at Axel.
"You are a saint, sir."
"Don't thank me yet." Axel said as he moved on to Sebastian, who was eagerly rubbing his hands together.
"Alright buddy, lay it on me. What did you add to my baby?"
Axel held out the steel ball, shiny as ever. He laughed nervously.
"I, uh, polished it."
Sebastian grabbed Siberia from Axel's hand and his eyes lit up from seeing how shiny it was. "Perfection. I couldn't have asked for anything else."
Axel paused for a moment, unsure of what just happened. He snapped out of it and continued.
"Too bad, because I have one last surprise inside." Axel said as he led them to the home forge.
The rest of the team followed, anxious to see this "surprise" he had in store. Axel walked over to the workbench and picked up a completely refurbished set of Atlas armor, completely repainted a dark gray with teal highlights.
"This is for Cyrus. The armor plating has been reinforced, so now he can afford to get in close with that shotgun of his. I also used a lighter material, so it shouldn't be too heavy to lug around." he leaned in close to Cyrus's ear as he handed it to him, whispering, "I haven't tested it to see if it chafes, so let me know and I'll be sure to refit it." Cyrus nodded happily and went into the other room to get changed.
Then, Axel walked over to the workbench and picked up a pair of brightly polished steel gauntlets, gloves, and shinguards.
"Sebastian, these are for you. Seeing as you prefer to fight hand to hand, a little bit of protection is needed when blocking whoever's trying to hit you. These are made from a super-durable stainless steel, so you don't even have to worry about upkeep."
"Sick," Sebastian said, rubbing his forearms remembering all the bruises he'd gotten from fighting people in the past. He accepted the gifts and put them on.
"And finally, we have Damien's new piece." Axel said, walking back to the workbench, and returning with a breastplate and a pair of boots. He held them out to Damien, who nodded his thanks and took them. "These are heat treated and fire-retardant, so you should never have to worry about accidentally burning yourself with your semblance and using up precious aura. Also, the breastplate is lined with the softest, most breathable mesh I could get my hands on, so hopefully you're not sweating your ass off under there."
Damien put it on and moved around a bit. He gave an approving nod and held out his fist.
"Thanks man."
"No problem man. It's the least I could do," Axel said, giving him a fist bump. "I actually wanted to give these to you guys sooner, but I didn't really get a chance with everything going on. And I figured this would be a pretty good time, considering we're going to confront an actual crime syndicate."
Cyrus skipped back into the room in his new armor, smiling like a kid in a candy store.
"Dude, it fits PERFECTLY. SOOO much better than that other stuff. And it's my favorite color!" Axel nodded, and went up to his room in the apartment upstairs. He returned wearing a new, charcoal-colored sleeveless hoodie, strapping on a leather and steel shoulder pauldron with an armored sleeve on his left arm.
"Whaddya think?" he asked, flexing his bicep.
"The armor's cool, but the arm's a little weak." Damien joked.
Axel sighed and shook his head, then looked over at his newly-armored friends, admiring his handiwork. Sebastian walked over to him and turned to the rest of the group.
"So, are we ready to kick some white fang ass?" he asked.
"HELL YEAH."
Sebastian saw that the sun hung low on the horizon.
"Good because it's now or never and right now is the best time to go. You'll have to follow me of course, since I know the location where Noir and his little pals are hiding out."
The team left Axel's shop and headed off, being guided by Sebastian. As they navigated around Vale, the whole place was silent and eerie. The group felt a little uneasy as this was the first time they would be going up against such fierce opponents. Axel found he should break the tension a little.
"How should we celebrate almost being done with the first semester guys?" He got a mean look from Sebastian, who motioned for silence.
"We're here," Sebastian whispered. The team peeked out slowly from around the construction site, not noticing a thing.
"Hey uh, where is everybody?" Cyrus looked directly at Sebastian. "I thought you said that Noir and White Fang members would be here."
"They should be." Sebastian took a look around, rotating his body to get a 360 degree view. "But where could they all have gone?"
Suddenly a loud noise came from the shadows of the nearby storage building. A large metallic spike sprung from amongst the shadows almost impaling the team but they each managed to dodge out of the way in the nick of time. The spike retracted back into the shadows and the group got back up on their feet.
"What the hell was that?" Damien shouted towards the team, looking for an answer as to what just transpired. There wasn't enough time for a reply as the spike came back, jutting forward towards them. Quick on his feet, Damien sliced the end part of the metal spike off before it could reach them.
"Enough of the theatrics, Noir. Just come on out and let's do this like always!" Damien shouted at the darkness, looking for Noir to step out. A figure emerged from the mist, expecting it to be Noir. It wasn't. The voice of the figure spoke back.
"Unfortunately for you, Jackson is busy at the moment. So, you get me instead." The mystery person appeared in full, the one in question being female. Sebastian's eyes widened. He recognized this person. Her outfit, the insignia on her jacket. She was the White Fang member who was chasing him down for months.
"I've finally caught up to you Sebastian. It's been a while." The girl smiled wickedly at Sebastian, almost with a sense of glee.
"So it is you. Sierra!" Sebastian yelled at her full force in anger, fangs in full show.
"What?" Cyrus spoke up. "Sebastian, you know this chick?" Both Axel and Damien looked equally as confused as Cyrus.
"I do," he replied. "She's the White Fang member who's chased me down all these months. The one thorn in my side I can't remove. But tonight, tonight I will."