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(Tsuki PoV)
I watched my team leader enter the ring with her partner, Alice. Alice mentioned barriers but given the size of the arena there may not be room for them.
I watched Alice pull her sword and scabbard pistols. Garnet readied her massive glaive sniper rifle combination. Alice shuddered and spent a little aura. Garnet seemed to sag under some new weight. I couldn't feel the barrier myself, not like I could the previous day in the labyrinth beneath the school.
Garnet braced herself. On go she practically teleported up to Alice and swept her blade at her. Then she fired and it pulled Alice off balance. Alice recovered quickly. She swept her blades at Garnet in an alternating high low pattern. Garnet blocked them all and at such a range that the taller Alice never really got close.
Garnet still sagged under the weight of Alice's barrier though. She swept back and fired three quick shots. Alice knelt and returned fire but the higher impact sniper rounds were demolishing her aura. Meanwhile Garnet shrugged off the small arms. She must have a lot of aura. Especially considering how little aura she used while in her breaker state.
I watched transfixed. Alice needed to make a play. She lunged at Garnet who dodged with difficulty. Those barriers were harsh on her every time she spent aura with her semblance. She couldn't keep dodging forever. Not if she wanted to win. Garnet swept her glaive behind her back. Then spun with momentum into Alice and twirled her weapon. She shredded Alice's aura. Three quick brutal cuts. Alice pounced but Garnet was gone. She left only petals in her wake. Alice growled audibly in frustration.
She brought her weapons together and brought them down on Garnet's body. She seesawed lower with the blade in its sheath. Then kicked the legs out from under Garnet. My team leader hit the ground with a gasp. Then faded into petals when Alice brought her sword down on her trapped form. Garnet caught her partner by the waist and fired her rifle. It gave them momentum. Garnet had been ready for it. Alice had not. Garnet clobbered Alice four more times with rapid twists and turns of the glaive. She tore out massive chunks of Alice's aura. Alice caught her and didn't let go. She bashed Garnet over the head with her blade before Garnet could vanish. I watched Garnet's aura drain as she sped away from Alice and to the other side of the arena. Those barriers were serious business. I recalled how strong and good I felt while under the pressure of the benevolent one. I could only imagine how weak Garnet felt in the presence of its opposite.
Garnet shoulder checked the taller girl at Mach three. It was brutal. Then she brought her blade down from the diagonal left then up from the right then across her body. She knocked Alice's aura into the red with that.
I watched Alice lift the barrier. Garnet smiled softly at the taller girl.
"Much better," Garnet murmured. "That pressure sucks to fight under. I can hardly think straight."
"That's pretty much the goal," Alice agreed.
We, my partner and I, traded places with them upon being called down. It was a full moon tonight. My damage dealing capabilities would be at their zenith. I drew my blade, the katana, Midnight, hummed with power. My partner fronted opposite me. She had her shield gauntlets at the ready. I knew she had some super strength to her too. Not just force fields and flight. She had a bit of an Alexandria package. My powers were more subtle.
On go she infused herself with a red dust crystal and tried to trap me in a burning force field. I broke free with my blade, shattering the barriers before they could burn me. She swept into the air then down at me with both fists. I side flipped in place and brought my weapon down on her. She tried to deflect with a shield gauntlet but I was too strong with the complete moon being full. It deflected and glanced off her torso. The blade was unhaltable.
I lunged in a blade dash before she could get air born and cut her brutally across the chest. She stumbled back and was air born. I did a brutal amount of her aura in those two interactions. She just couldn't afford to get hit by me right now. She swept in again, green eyes bright, she caught my blade hand in a burning force field which stung then punched me across the jaw. I tried to pull my blade free but was met with a hay maker. Then she pushed down on me with her burning force fields. I sliced through and she stumbled as though struck. I lept twenty feet into the air and slashed her while she was weakened. She tried to block with a combination of field and gauntlet. But in the end I just slashed her twice anyways. I fell back to the arena and landed on a platform. I was surprised for a moment. Then the platform collapsed in on me. It burned me all over. Burns hurt for those unaware. My partner was no push over. I sliced through the field below me and dropped to the floor. Once again my partner rocked on her heels like she was struck and her aura took a dip.
I slashed at her from the ground and the energy stored in my blade unleashed. The blade beam struck and she dropped from the sky like a rock. I wasn't fast enough to catch her and she hit the ground hard.
"Gods you hit like a truck!" She swore a little.
"The moon is full," I shrugged. "I heal others when it's closer to new. And myself of course. I deal the most damage at full moon."
"What kind of healing?" Nalini wondered.
"All kinds. I don't do cancers very well but on new moons I go to local hospitals and try and empty them."
"Can you really do that?"
"I still get tired," I explained. "It costs me something to heal somebody. Regrowing limbs or whatever is exhausting. But depending on the injuries or sickness I can do something like a hundred people. Depending on the moon."
"That's super cool," she nodded. We returned to our seats above the battlefield.
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"What did you do to Pitte," my team leader asked Tulip over lunch.
"You can call me Icarus," Icarus pointed out.
"Oh! Can I!?" Garnet vibrated a little. "Still what did you do to him?"
Effance shrugged. "He broke the rules. It's only natural something bad happened to him. Our actions have consequences."
"But who makes the rules? You? Do you enforce them?" Nalini pressed.
"Somebody should," Effance shrugged again. She answered both my partner's questions at once. "My power is subtle and tends to work better against people than against Grimm."
"My little brother's power is like that," Garnet agreed. "It's not as abstract but it definitely gives him an edge."
"Oh?" Effance wondered.
"It's this shaker, breaker, striker power which let's him reduce incoming damage and deal more output damage. He can also grow and shrink himself. My older brother on the other hand…"
"What about your older brother?" Lumiere Temly the time manipulator cocked her head curiously.
"Well, he has father's power… I mean I only saw father use his power a handful of times so I wouldn't truly know. But he has breaker, striker, trump, and blaster ratings. He may even be a little smarter when he enters his breaker state. He can also fly so he's a decently rated mover as well. He's pretty strong. I mean I heard father was stronger but my brother is the strongest person I truly know."
"You're a Strife. Your father was Cloud Strife," Wolf grunted. "He was legendary. You say your brother has that power?"
Garnet just nodded.
"He killed Raven Branwen and Adam Taurus!" Lumiere exclaimed. "That Cloud Strife? You're his daughter?"
Garnet flushed and nodded again.
"He was doing incredible stuff by the time he was twenty one. He was the most powerful huntsman of the last hundred years," Effance pointed out.
"That's what everyone says…" Garnet agreed.
"That can be a lot of pressure," I murmured.
"Sure. I guess. I mean it's more on my older brother. I don't feel it too much," my team leader shrugged. "He's already a first class Soldier for the Vale Guard. He just turned seventeen. He's already saving and killing people. I mean he was working out of Mistral when I left but he works mostly for Vale."
"Seriously? He's a first class Soldier? At our age?" Wolf demanded. "He must be a badass."
"Is he hot?" Effance wondered.
"I'm not dignifying that," Garnet denied.
"But-" Effance started.
"Nope!" Garnet almost shouted.
"Fine," Effance rolled her eyes. My partner chuckled lightly.
"I've seen some photos of Cloud Strife when he came back to Vale from the Atlas special forces," Nalini intruded. "He was smoking hot. I mean you're pretty hot too but you must mostly take after your mom."
"I mean… can we not?" Garnet mumbled.
"Sure. Whatever," Nalini agreed.
"Fine," Tulip supplied once more. "How old are you?"
"Fifteen. Almost sixteen," Garnet answered swiftly.
"Only kids say how old they almost are," Alice chipped in.
"Whatever," Garnet rolled her eyes.
"Well at least we have an excuse to go out and party. We girls can run this town," Alice kept up. "Who's down to explore the city? I always wanted to see the lake from the top of the veranda."
"I always wanted to make love in the lake," Icarus tried.
"People drink that water," I pointed out.
"So?" Icarus wondered. "They clean it."
"Gross," Garnet shuddered.
"Don't be a child," Icarus pressed.
Garnet grumbled absently.
"Yeah but what's the club scene like?" Alice kept up. "I grew up just outside of Vacuo where there weren't many bars and the like. It was a small town."
"I grew up here in the city. I can show you around," Wolf leaned back.
"Drinking?" Effance wondered.
"There's no legal age here in Vacuo so I've been doing it for quite a while," Wolf nodded.
"Nice," Icarus agreed. "Well-"
"There's also no age of consent." Tulip pointed out.
"What happens between two consenting parties stays between two consenting parties," Wolf shrugged. "I'm not saying there's no rape but you learn to take care of yourself. Plus the academy will step in and put their foot down if someone does something egregious."
"Gross," my team leader said again.
"Don't be like that. You want to have a good time too, don't you? You want to be able to go out and drink and maybe make a little love. In Vale or Atlas you'd be chained down by laws," Wolf disagreed.
"Hard drugs?" Icarus pressed.
"If you know where to look," Wolf shrugged again. "I've tried tranquilizer but not hyper or ether. I prefer to unwind, not get amped up."
"I don't know…" Alice trailed off. "Alcohol is one thing but hard drugs are quite another. I'd have to be around people I really trusted. No offense."
"None taken. We only just met," Wolf shrugged a third time. He didn't seem too bothered by it.
"Where would we start?" I asked.
"Hottest place in town is Venom," Wolf informed me. "Dancing. Clubbing. Hard drugs. The owner is supposed to be a big time information broker and killer. Very powerful. Sometimes clashes with the academy."
"That's not good," Nalini muttered.
Wolf shot her a look.
"I imagine all the heavy hitters clash with the academy at times. That's just business," Icarus pointed out.
Wolf nodded. "Asp is like that."
"Drugs, people, information, power," Lumiere listed. "You probably end up throwing hands with the authorities. It's like that in Atlas too. Blue Hats, Aurum's folk, even the White Fang have some branches up north still. You occasionally hear about it on the news but I never really went clubbing."
"That where you're from? Atlas?" Tulip asked.
Lumiere nodded. "Well a small town just outside of Mantle."
"I don't know…" Garnet worried her lip between two fingers.
"It's supposed to be fun. We won't force you," Wolf informed her.
"We're powerful hunters. We'll be safe," Tulip agreed.
"Isn't my partner the cutest?" Alice teased. "We'll keep the big bad men away from you."
"Shut up," my team leader growled.
"It's your birthday," I pointed out. "We want you to be comfortable."
"Alright. Okay. Maybe alcohol…" Garnet trailed. "It's still not for a month or so."
"That just gives us time to get to know one another better," Nalini agreed with a nod. "You serious about doing it in the lake?" She asked Icarus.
He grinned and winked at her. "It could be romantic."
Nalini flushed slightly. "Y-yeah. It could be. Don't get any ideas," she finished pointing at him.
He raised his arms in mock surrender. He was still grinning though.
Wolf reached back and sleeves a hand through his grey and white hair. His purple eyes were bright. He was handsome enough I suppose. A bit too roguish for my tastes.
Tulip on the other hand was beautiful with bright blue eyes and dark black hair. She was more my type.
I stared for a moment before shrugging it off and picking at an apple.
I was bi as hell. I knew that. I knew my weaknesses. I mean… I suppose I could be demi or pan but I was probably bi. I wasn't upset about the particulars. I was attracted to men, women, and cute little embys.
"When exactly is your birthday?" I asked my team leader. She told me and I winced.
"I might be in the hospital…" I muttered.
"Why? Are you sick?" Icarus asked.
I shook my head.
"My partner is a healer," Nalini informed him.
"Ah," he realized. "You any good?"
"Depends on the phase of the moon," I murmured.
"Neat," he said.
"How good are we talking?" Alice asked.
I shrugged. "Missing limbs, cancers, and worse. At least at new moon."
"Woah," Effance whispered in awe.
"It gets old after a while. It's still sort of my responsibility to visit hospitals once or maybe twice a month," I said.
"That's so cool. All I do is combat stuff," Garnet whispered.
I shrugged and smiled at her gently. My team leader was a pretty girl. She'd make some boy or girl very happy one day.
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-WG