AN- Thank you to all of the reviewers from last chapter!
M0bz- Thank you for the compliment, I hope you enjoy this chapter as well.
HaFschu- I will do my best, thank you for the review.
Dood Whitefang- I will do just that! Thank you for the review.
Astra- Yes, I am very happy to have you in my third story. Thanks for enjoying the story, and about Signal OC's, I plan to have some of them last long, but like I said before. I have a metric fuck ton to create, so not all of them are going to be important. Zwei has made an entrance, I just got the idea in my head after putting Kai's tail and Zwei together, which ended up working great, for me at least I had a blast writing their parts. What else can be expected of a young Ruby in training? Weapons and fighting are her thing. You made me think to much about Qrow man, why'd you do that to me, now I am thinking too much about him and his abilities. You will just have to see what I come up with for our pal Kai, but as for the natural fire and fire sust thing, probably. Glad you like his most OP move by the way. It's funny, I was going to have it be bell training, but then I thought: "Ruby loves cookies… why not tie one around Kai's neck… YES" And hence that scene was created. I find this story to actually be the easiest to write this time around, I already have a lot of plans thought up for this story, and the experience with OG and Team HAMR really helped out with this. It's really fun to write out but it is not without its moments of thinking what they hell to do next. And despite the timing, I actually didn't update the story just in time for you to review it like I asked. Thanks for the review, sorry if I kinda pressured you into reviewing, I hope you enjoy the rest of the story.
Whew, now without further adieu, let's get right back to the story!
RWBY: The Blind Huntsman
Chapter 5- Volume 0, episode 3
Signal Entrance Exams, Part 1
The day after the final day of the week for Kai's semblance training, is the day that he and Yang have been waiting for ever since they both got their acceptance letters. So they are both understandably fired up for this event. As soon as they both woke up, they took their morning showers, Yang went first of course because of the unspoken rule that girls always should take a shower first. Then Kai, who kindly rejected Yang's offer to help bathe him since he couldn't see what he was scrubbing, but Kai - embarrassedly, and bashfully - declined the offer. He is very well capable of washing himself, as long as he can find the soap and the knob to turn on the flow of water, a little trick he can do is heat up the water himself by rapidly moving every atom in every direction, don't ask about the science of it.
After he was done with cleaning and fixing himself up, he went down the stairs, wolfed down his breakfast as he usually does, and then headed outside, where both his trainers, and his two roommates were waiting for him. The familiar scent of the same alcohol that Qrow always drank became accustomed to his nose, or the other way around. Kai smiles as he hops down onto the dirt and grass.
He has fond memories of the family that has been taking care of him and allowed him to stay in their house over the past two weeks. Such as all the times he and Yang sparred, too many times for him to keep track of, but he thinks he is winning by one point, they would always push each other to their limits, even when Kai had access to more than one element, and when they weren't fighting they spent whatever time they found together, mostly being Yang dragging Kai into town to meet some of her friends, and teasing so much that Kai had to quickly become accustomed to it lest he become a blushing mess after every other sentence that came out of Yang's mouth, but despite all of that he wouldn't change any of it for the world, except maybe her terrible puns, Yang was a great friend of his.
His time training under Tai and Qrow, although it is not ending anytime soon, is something that he will always remember. Tai was the one that taught him a good amount of his techniques, and master more of his semblance, but even when they weren't teaching, he was like a second father to him, someone he can rely on and talk to about anything.
Next is Qrow, who mostly focused on conditioning, reflex and reaction training. Also he had some time to practice with swordplay, he quickly learned that Qrow's sword is much more dense and sharp then his usual stone swords that he pulls out of the ground, he made a note to take back his own strong steel sword that his father got him a few years back, his hand still hurts a bit after all the times his bones rattled when he would block attacks with his bracer. And lastly but most certainly not least, the Rubaby. She is the one that he got on with the most, they just clicked with each other and in almost no time they were like best friends. Yang keeps teasing them that they look perfect for each other, but they keep denying it in almost the exact way. It would help if she didn't do it in front of Taiyang though. Even with no eyesight he can feel the glare on him every time she brings it up, even from Qrow from time to time, but most of the time that is just his default emotion.
"Hey Matsu!" Ruby greeted with a wave, ignoring the reminder from Yang that he is blind.
"Sup, did you get stuck in the toilet or something?" Yang asks as Kai reaches the group.
"Wouldn't you like to know?" Kai retorts playfully. "And hey to you to Ruby." Kai greets back, patting her head like he always does, Ruby doesn't even fight back anymore, because once that grip gets around that head of hers it's all over.
"So, you think you're ready for this? Confident?" Tai asks as the group begins to walk the forty minute walk to Signal.
"Tai, the kid has been training for this literally his whole life. I think he's good." Qrow says before Kai could answer.
"He's not wrong, but to answer your question, yes, I think whatever they have in store for Yang and I will be a cake walk." Kai answers anyway.
"Thank you Kai, leave it to a fourteen year old to be more mature than you Qrow." Tai says with a chuckle.
"Meh, doesn't bother me." Qrow shrugs as he takes another swig from his flask.
Not too long later, after listening to the constant bickering of the two fully trained huntsman, they have all arrived at the gates of Signal academy, Kai can feel dozens of other people around them all, no doubt other aspiring young huntsman with their parents to see them off at, and probably some people who just want to see what the next generation of huntsman look like.
"Wow, I've never been around so many people before." Kai says out loud as he feels hundreds of feet touching the ground all around him.
"Well, you should get used to it, you're going to be around this amount of people almost every day." Qrow points out.
"Oh, I will. Don't worry Mr Branwen." Kai reassures.
"Oi! What did I say about calling me that?" Qrow asks annoyed. Yang and Ruby giggle behind them as they listen to their conversation, along with Taiyang not even trying to hold back his own laughter.
"But here you are a teacher. Do you expect me to call you by your first name in class?"
"Hell yeah I do. I am going to make all you kids call me by my name. I don't need to feel any older then I am."
"I never thought I'd live to see the day." Tai interrupts from behind them, catching both of their attention. "Qrow Branwen, finally admitting that he is old. This is a day to remember."
"Ergh." Qrow surprisingly retort, not verbally at least. No wonder Raven left you…
"I've noticed you two are talking more instead of fighting, that's good." Kai verbally notes.
Qrow and Tai turn away from each other with a grunt. While they have been talking more, they aren't exactly friends again, more like reluctant associates. But they have both been at the very least thinking about talking about 'it' one of these days for more than a couple of seconds. Mostly due to Kai pushing both of them to do so, along with the girls to get their father and uncle on good terms with each other, they never actually seen them on good terms. But they all know that progress is being made at last.
"Oof, sorry about that." Kai says automatically as he bumps shoulders with someone.
Kai's POV
"No apology needed, are you here to take the entrance exams?" A young but mature female voice responds.
Hm, sounds by the voice It seems like she is around my age.
"Yeah, I've been training almost all my life for this, how about you?" I ask. I turn my body to face her in an effort to make it look like that I can see her clearly, I don't really want people knowing I'm blind yet, at least not so soon.
"Y-yeah, just a bit nervous. I haven't trained my whole life but It's my dream to become a huntress." The girl answers for me.
She seems a bit shy, probably because of how nervous she is or that she is talking to a stranger, maybe she doesn't go out much. Like me in a way. I think to myself as I put on a friendly smile. I extend my arm out a short distance to shake her hand. I pretend not to hear Yang and Ruby muttering to each other about how I am finally making a friend other then them. Strange that Ruby is talking about me though, she likely thinks that I haven't notice her heart beating at two hundred miles an hour anytime she was around me around the time we first met.
"My name is Kai Matsuoka, it's good to meet you." I introduce myself. Figured I'd make a good impression for my first friend that I am not living with.
"O-oh, my name is Orchid Rosa." She quickly takes my hand after realizing that I have extended it out to her. Again, I ignore the squeak in the background that no doubt belonged to Yang. Ruby on the other hand just realized that she is surrounded by people she doesn't know, and has gotten back into her shell.
"Nice name, I understand your nervousness, I'm nervous to, I'm pretty sure everyone is. So don't sweat it. You've unlocked your aura right?" I ask, getting a line up of questions that are meant to cheer her up.
"Yeah…" Orchid answers.
"And you have your semblance to? What is it?" I can sense Ruby perk up at this. I guess that she is listening in, I know she is a geek when it comes to these kinds of things so I completely understand.
"Oh! I'm glad you asked!" Orchid exclaims to me unexpectedly. I wasn't really ready for it and my enhanced hearing didn't help much but I managed to play it off as an itch on my eyebrow. "I call my semblance-"
"Would all entrances examinees please make your way to the combat training area. Thank you." The announcer cuts my new friend off just as she was about to explain to me what her semblance was. I am a bit disappointed that our talk was cut short, but it doesn't bother me too much.
"Eh?" I can just hear the sweatdrop on the back of Orchids head as she realizes that the exam is starting already, and the way her heart drops is something even a blind person can notice. "W-well, it was nice meeting you K-Kai. Good luck on the e-e-exam." She stutters as she reluctantly becomes part of the crows and becomes unrecognizable to me.
"Huh, she was nice. Kinda surprised that she didn't ask about my headband though." I say as I turn back around to the of feet that ran up behind me as soon as Orchid walked off. "Proud of me?"
"Yang, Tai and Ruby are already in the building, they left as soon as the announcement started." A voice I was not expecting at all replies to me. But I instantly recognize it as Qrow's.
"Oh… what can I expect then?" I ask playfully, on the off chance that Qrow would actually tell me to give me a slightly advantage.
"Kid, you already know I can't answer that, just come with me and you'll find out yourself." Qrow said with a stifled chuckle.
"I don't think I should be alone with a man who's triple my age." I point out with a laugh. Taking a page out of Yang's book. I can only hope that Qrow took it as a joke…
"Bah, you're spending too much time with Yang." Qrow said in a much more irritated tone
"What can I say? I'm a fast learner." I add with a shrug.
"Just come with me before I leave you to find your own way there." I then felt Qrow walk off in the direction everyone else is walking, and then realized that if I lost him in the crowd then I would not be able to keep track of everyone I knew. Yeah, I have to admit, I don't want to be alone in this just yet.
"W-wait up!" I exclaim as I jog after him. The unfamiliar sense of fear of being alone in a school room full of strangers overtaking my body despite my own combat skills.
Neutral POV
After finally meeting back up with his group of familiars, Kai waited along with dozens of other future students for the coming announcement. Ruby had to go to the spectator seats just above where the students are all standing. While Taiyang and Qrow had to move up to the stage with the rest of the teachers. Leaving just Kai and Yang alone together in the crowd of other students.
"So, Kai, the nerves getting to you yet?" Yang asks to pass the time. She is dressed in her usual combat uniform, that shows a lot of skin for whatever reason, and uncomfortable amount of skin for a fourteen year old, but she insists it is for her semblance.
"Eh, not as much as before, but the amount of people around is a bit disorienting for my senses. I'm going to have to get used to it." Kai answers simply, closing and opening his fists and cracking his fingers to relieve them of some pressure, and to prepare himself for whatever test they put out for him.
"I can only imagine, I still don't quite understand it but so many vibrations coming from all kinds of sources must be pretty weird." Yang says as she looks up to the ceiling, trying to imagine what it is like to be blind and see the way he sees.
"Well, it's close to something like that, I won't bore you with all the details a third time. You think I don't know when you stop paying attention." Kai points out. He is getting the hang of it so far, being able to tell exactly where someone is standing at least, and able to tell when someone is moving, but his head is starting to hurt by unconsciously constantly thinking about what is around him. With time it's lessen to the point where he doesn't even notice the pain however. He is already looking forward to that day.
"W-well, there's a reasonable excuse for that." Yang stammers, an embarrassed flush on her cheeks since Kai pretty much hit it tight on the nail.
"Mhm, I'm sure there is." Kai said with a chuckle.
The sound of a microphone being tested catches everyone's attention. Kai feels everyone shift positions to look into the center of the sparring zone, where the headmaster of Signal stands with a microphone in his hand so that his voice could be heard throughout the entire room. The man has graying black hair that is slicked back, stubble that covers most of his face, light blue eyes, and is wearing a black suit with yellow trims, the same goes for his dress shoes. He gives off an aura as some who is powerful, and skilled in his profession. As any former huntsman should.
"Hello, I am most if not all of you know who I am, but for those that do not by any chance, I am Headmaster Albedo, I run this training academy, I am still a huntsman despite my old looking appearance." He chuckles a bit at his own quip, and a couple of the kids actually chuckle along with him, but most are forcing themselves to be as serious as they can. "So, back to the more serious things, this is where the exam will be taken. We have one hundred and twenty enrollments into this Academy, by the end of this day, that number will be halved." There were many surprised gasps after hearing that, and Kai could feel the heart rates of pretty much everyone around him rise. Including his own.
"The exam is simple, there are going to be one hundred and twenty students, that is you all by the way, that will be sent into the wilderness to survive on your own for a full day and night, which is why all of you are here so early." More murmuring and questions sound out throughout the entire room, but is quickly silenced by the headmaster.
Yang looked to her father for any kind of hint, but got none as he simply just smirked back, before looking over the crowd of potential torture victims for the next three years, he wondered which one would break and give up first, but also picked out a few that at least looked like they knew what they were doing, but of course the one that stuck out the most was Kai, with the black headband around his eyes to give him away so easily even in a crowd of people.
"As I was saying, you will be put into teams of two, which means that there will be thirty teams at the end of the exam. We are holding this very similarly to how Beacon would do it, which means that whoever you are partnered up with will be your partner for the next three years, after that you may go to whatever huntsman academy you choose." Albedo explains as he rubs his stubble.
"Oh, that's neat." Kai says to himself while about eighty percent of the others in the room sorta freak out about it. Yang on the other hand had a similar reaction to him, they both seem to not be freaked out by the idea of being partnered up with someone they know nothing about. But on Kai's side of things he'd just rather not be around this many at once, it literally gives him a headache.
"The rules are simple, first person you make eye contact with will be your partner…"
Oh no… Kai thought as his eyes widened underneath his headband, and by Yang's sudden shift of her body to look at him he understands that she just thought of the same thing.
"... and then you will rely on each other for anything that may come in your way. Lastly, you will encounter Grimm, so please, use whatever you have at your disposal to destroy them, most of them should be young and easy to take down, but just in case we will have huntsman nearby, but if they have to save you then you will be disqualified and escorted off the premises, to try again next year… or to consider a different path for your life." The headmaster explains, allowing the harsh truth that they all must understand out right away. Kai can feel everyone's heartbeat rise, letting him know that they are all nervous beyond all limits they thought they had. "Any questions?"
"Yeah, uh-"
"Now, since that is out of the way, please follow Mister Branwen here, he will take you to the forest you will begin your exam in. Good luck!" And just like that, the headmaster steps off the stage and walks through the crowd of students while whistling a cheery tune.
"Hey! You never told me I was doing that this year!" Qrow complained, rousing a few eyebrows as they wondered how this guy is a teacher. "Why am I the one doing this anyway?"
The headmaster stopped with a sigh and turned back around to answer the man. "Because Qrow, you've never done it before, and despite all the promises you've made to do it the next, I figured it would be time to give you a little push. Now please, I have a lot of paperwork to do." Albedo curtsies, then turns back around and leaves the room.
Qrow rubs his whole face with his hand and sighs loudly, not caring that every student and parent in the room with him heard him. "Alright kids, come with me." He lazily beckoned as he did a one-eighty and kicked open the back door, one of the door falls off its hinges, and everyone instantly makes a mental note to not piss him off in the future. Meanwhile Yang just laughs at her uncle's display of 'Maturity', and Kai just wondered what that loud sound and thud was he felt through the ground.
As the group of one hundred and twenty walked through the school and then out onto the grass at the edges of the thick, dense forest. Big groups were taken my other huntsman, Kai sensed the group he was in get smaller and smaller until it was just him and four others, and they were all told to stand in specific spots. Which was difficult for Kai at first, until by luck he managed to brush his foot against a metal plate on the ground.
"Alright, here's the drill."
Oh, Qrow is still here, I wonder where Yang is… Kai thought to himself as soon as he heard his voice.
"You are going to be flung into the forest in five minute intervals in random parts of the forest, then you are to do whatever Albedo told you to do. If I have to save you then you better hope you never see me again, Kai you're first."
"Wait what- AAAAAAHHHAAAHA." Kai screamed as the metal plate he was standing on flung him into the air, blinding him by removing his feet from the ground.
"Don't forget your landing strategy!" Qrow shouted to him with one hand cupped over his mouth. "Wait… on second thought I probably should have warned him about that whole launch pad thing… Oh well, I'm sure he'll be fine."
The other kids shook in horror as they awaited their turn, not knowing when their launch pad will suddenly fling them into the forest without any sort of warning.
Kai's POV
"AAAAAAH!" I screamed as I felt my feet leave the ground, leaving me truly and completely blind to what is around me. In what feels like an instant, all the disadvantages I find myself to b in runs through my head.
Can't see how high I am, can barely tell how fast I am going, and I have no idea where I am landing…
Yeah, this is not a great situation for me to be in I notice.
I then remember that I can literally control air, and I slow down the velocity of which I am flying at to a crawl as I push the air against my body to slow myself down. Now feeling myself upright I raise my hands up in the air and manipulate the air into a reverse wind tunnel current, pulling myself up as the planet tries to pull me back down. Now it is only a matter of time and luck about where and how I would be landing. Since I know we are going to be in a forest, I can make the correct assumption that my feet will touch the top of trees first, and then that is when I can let go of the air holding me up and hopefully get myself to the ground without wasting too much of my aura.
Soon enough, just as I start to relax as I feel the wind run through my hair, I feel the leaves and branches brush up against my toes. I release the grasp I have on the air and use my arms to protect my upper body and head as I barrel through the branches. When I feel my feet touch down with the dirt I let my body roll to lessen the impact. I roll twice and land back on my feet in what I can guess looked like a great display of skill. I take a deep breath and relax my shoulders, much more comfortable now that I can sense my surroundings.
"Damnit Qrow!" I exclaim angrily, I make a note to get him back for this one day.
I stop my exclamation of frustration and anger to turn around to face what I think is a person that has just walked up from behind one of the trees.
"Hey, uh, I can't really make eye contact with you just yet, and there is a very good reason for-" I stop myself as I feel another set of feet land on the ground, now feeling four feet touching the ground, but it is very oddly shaped. "Oh, do you have a partner already?"
I then feel another two pairs of the same oddly shaped feet, and then I hear a primal growl full of hatred and anger. Now that I thought about it I can't even feel a heartbeat coming from any of them… That is when I realize that these aren't people.
"I've come to the sudden realization that I have made a grave mistake." I say as I raise two stone walls out of the ground to block the attacks I knew were coming once I felt the creatures use their hind legs to lunge at me. The stone walls each lose a large chunk but did their job of protecting my very well. I jump back and blast two compressed shots of air at them both, hearing one get hit pretty hard, while feeling the other either tank it or dodge it.
I know that these creatures must be Grimm, the first Grimm that I have ever encountered. But I also know that I don't need to hold back like I do when I face human opponents. I raise stone out of the ground to wrap around each of the creatures arms as they press back into the dirt, and when it trips over itself I wrap it's entire body in stone and lift it into the air. I can hear and feel the vibrations of its struggling growls and whines for a few moments before I clench my fist. The stone gets crushed down to the rough size of a ball, and I can hear the blood drip out of the stone and into the grass and how the bones crack and twist as I drop the dead creature onto the ground.
All this was done is about two seconds, and the second creature seemed to have finally recovered from the blast of air that was shot into its snout. I waste no time and attack the creature right away, cutting my hand through the air at an angle. The creature doesn't to catch on to what I am doing and just runs right into the solid sharp arc of air I just shot out. Before it even realizes it, I can feel blood dripping onto the ground, and hear the hurt howls of what I now know to be a Beowolf before it falls on its back. Again, I waste no time and wrap stone around it's head, and crush it. I hear the pop from underneath the stone.
After slaying the second creature, I feel around the area to see if there are any other creatures coming to attack me, but all I can feel is a pair of actually normal looking feet on the ground from behind one of the trees. I relax and lower my guard down just enough to allow by regular personality to leak through.
"I know you are behind that tree, come on out, I don't have a partner yet." I call out to the person behind the tree.
"Eep!" A girl squeaks from behind the tree, obviously a little shocked and scared to have been called out so fast.
Wait a second… I know that voice!
"Orchid?" I call out the girls name, which earns me another "Eep"
Hesitantly, I feel the girl stand up, and walk out from behind the tree. Heart rate high, but to a level that isn't just embarrassment or nervousness, but really stressed out. To levels that would be understandable if the person were to be in pain.
"Are you hurt?" I ask concerned for my new partner as I walk up to her.
"Uh…" Orchid hesitates.
I then realize that I have made another mistake… if she is hurt, and is visibly hurt, then I can't see if she is, only being able to tell from her heart rate.
"I'll be fine, my aura will handle it." I can't feel a sense of lying there, so I take her word for it. "You're the boy I bumped into earlier right? Kai?"
"Yeah, that's me. Guess that makes us partners then." I say with a smile, grateful that the topic has been changed perfectly.
"Yeah, but I haven't seen your eyes though so does it still count?" She asks me with genuine curiosity and uncertainty in her voice..
Oh no… I think to myself as I instantly get self conscious about the situation I'm really in now. I knew that I would have revealed it to people soon, but this soon?! I am not ready yet! But should I? There was nothing about a what if someone was blind!
"I… uhh..." I have an internal conflict on whether I should tell her the truth or not. "The head band is for a good reason. Let's just agree that we are partners?" I suggest.
"Okay then!" Orchid surprised me with that complete one-eighty from being shy and introverted to excited and extroverted. "Was that your semblance? I watched you fight off those two Beowolves. They way you crushed them and cut them apart with air and rocks was very impressive, you weren't lying when you said you've been training pretty much your whole life!"
"Yeah haha, it's part of it." I laugh along with her as I feel my cheeks warm up from the praise. Hearing from someone else besides Yang, Ruby, Tai, Qrow or my own family is something I am not used to yet. "What about yours? You were never able to begin explaining it earlier."
"Oh yeah! My semblance is-"
"Wait, I think something is nearby." I shush her as I re-enter my serious focus mode. I can sense similar paws stomp along the ground, but more then two this time, from the stories and lessons I remember from my parents. Beowolves travel in packs, and this must be the rest of the pack, and if this is the rest of the pack, then the alpha must be nearby.
"How?" Orchid asks as she gets more serious herself, I can hear something be unsheathed, but I don't have time to feel up the weapon to see what I am working with as an ally.
"Sixth sense." I use the old excuse I always used when I was back in Vacuo. "Four more Beowolves, one of them is bound to be the alpha, how good are you at fighting Grimm?"
"Not as good as you… but I might be able to manage against one or two of the Beowolves at once." Orchid answers honestly.
"Alright, let me know if you need help, be very vocal with me." I say as I feel the pack get closer to us, and the vibrations get more intense as they break into a sprint, but I notice that one of them is still in the back, and I make a mental note to remember that once we are done with these three.
They come from behind us, and I shoot a wide tunnel of air against two of the Beowolves, separating them from the other as I push the air up and slam them into the tree. "Handle that one!" I left that one for her, since she said earlier that she might be able to take two on, but sounded more confident when she said one. She didn't object at all and I can hear the two clash behind me as I move toward the two that I just slammed into a tree using nothing but air.
"That was so cool by the way!" Orchid shouted to me as I felt her push back the Beowolf with a very surprisingly amount of strength.
I smile internally at the praise, but keep my focus on the two enemies I have to slay in order to keep us both alive. I mentally gauge my aura, and feel it to be at about ninety percent after everything I pulled off before. Which is plenty for me to play around with, if I was in the mood for playing around that is.
I punch my right hand forward to the one on the right, sending what must look like a shockwave toward the Beowolf and catching it off guard and temporally stunning it out of the fight. The other Beowolf lunged at me before I could make my next move however, and bit down on my left forearm before I could begin to predict it's movement.
"Kai!" Orchid shouts out from behind me as the Beowolf pushes her back this time, but isn't in any position to help me out.
But luckily for me the Beowolf bit down on my bracer, which I mentally thank my dad for the gift as I use my other arm to pull a stone sword out of the ground, and use it to stab the Beowolf in what I think is the shoulder. It apparently hurt it enough for it to be forced to let go of my arm, so I think it's okay to assume that I got it in a good spot. I keep the stone sword in my hand this time, and with the other I pull out some throwing stars from the ground. I feel like getting up close and personal this time, since the Beowolf literally bit a small chunk out of my aura just now.
I sense the other Beowolf I nearly forgot about charge at me from my right, and I blast air from under my feet just in time to avoid getting pinned into a tree, and as I soar through the air, I guess where the Beowolf had to skid to a stop, and by the sound of it I was able to hit one or two out of three of them once I heard the monster tumble and howl in pain. I finish it off my throwing my sword that luckily ended up right in it's skull. I threw my weapon because I knew I would not have had enough time to finish it up close, and well. It always feels good hitting a target you can't see.
I kept twirling around with the momentum I created myself, and slif under the attack I predicted was coming. I kept sliding under the ground, using the moisture in the grass to keep myself going, and I pull off a trick I spent two weeks trying to master. I drag my hand through the grass, killing every grain as I pull out every job of water I can get for about three feet. I can sense a decent amount of water flowing up my arm, it's not perfect, but grass is much easier to pull water out of then a tree, as I learned after a bit of curiosity after one of Qrow's nightly workout sessions.
I moved my arms in a fluid motion and manipulate the water into a bludgeon type weapon, and when I sense the Beowolf lunge at me once again as I predicted. Geez, Grimm are so predictable. I smash the water into its side, injuring it but not by much judging by the snarl that sounded more like it just got even more angry.
"Alright… guess I'll just have to hit you harder then." I say to the creature as I flow the water over to my other arm. "You're a lot easier to fight then I expected, I'm feeling a little overtrained for this. Are you a young one?" I taunt it even though I know it probably doesn't understand me. It's response is an even angrier snarl as it charges out me once again, this time with a roar.
Instead of dodging like I usually would, I decide to use a trick that I haven't really had a chance to try on a live opponent, or on anything really, it's more of an experimental idea I just thought about about… I wanna say two days ago, maybe three?
I use both air and water at the same time, forcibly pushing air into the orb of water compressed down until the pressure forced it to turn into ice. All this was done in about point five seconds give or take. Then I hold out the palm of my hand and releases the air pressure I managed to store up in the mere seconds I had to prepare.
The Beowolf was about three feet away from me when I felt it fall to the ground with a thud, and all the ice I had compressed into my hand was shot out in a hailstorm of about four to five ice small but very sharp ice spears. I hear each one stab itself into the creature, killing it almost instantly. I can hear the dissipating sound of the Grimm evaporating, and scrunch my nose up at the smell.
"Oh my Oum! How did I not notice this before?" I ask myself as I slap both hands against my face to block out the scent.
Fortunately, the sound of the Beowolf being slain by what I guess is a sharp weapon was able to distract me from how bad the literal incarnations of evil smelled.
"Hey, good job taking yours on." I compliment as I jog over to my partner.
"Yeah… thanks." Orchid responded, taking in some slow deep breaths. "I think I got an older one, this one was a lot bigger then the two you fought."
Was it? I couldn't really tell. "Oh, sorry about that, I'll make a note to take on the bigger ones." I say as I help her up from her sitting position that I just noticed she was in.
"Yeah, seeing you fight was awesome to!" There goes that one eighty again… "You're able to control rocks, the air, and even water! It was amazing to watch!"
"Thanks, but that is only scratching the surface of what my semblance is truly capable of, with more time I can master all of the elements I have at my disposal. I can also control fire." I explain, I can feel the excited aura she gives off after listening to what I had just said. Now that I think about it, she is a bit like Ruby in some ways.
"Oh you are definitely going to have to show me some of those moves you have at your disposal one of these days." Orchid said in a much different way then any of the other ways she has spoken before. It sounded a bit… I wanna say flirty? If sharing a house with Yang taught me anything it was to catch on to these kinds of things. "I wonder what other secrets you are hiding~?"
Okay, what's going on here, at first she was shy and timid, then she was all bubbly and excited, and now she is being flirty… I think to myself as I back up after feeling her breath on my chin.
"Well… I don't want to tell all my secrets right off the bat. Why don't you tell me a bit about your semblance?" I ask in an attempt to change the topic.
"Oh! Thanks for reminding me!" Okay… now we're back to the excited bubbly Orchid. "My semblance gives me the ability to-"
The sound of a tree falling toward us cuts us both off from our thoughts.
"Ah!" Orchid let out a terrified yelp as the tree misses her by just a few inches. So now i'm back to the Orchid I first met.
"I knew we were forgetting something!" I exclaim as I run toward Orchid. She is giving off more negative energy then I am, so the new creature which I assume is the absent alpha that was with the pack from earlier, it was more attracted to her than anything else around us. But then something even more unexpecting happened.
"I'LL FUCKING TEAR YOU APART!" Orchid screams psychotically as I feel her charge right back at the alpha.
"What the…" I say to myself as I unconsciously slow down out of just pure surprise. I feel the vibration as the two clash, which is weird because earlier she was having trouble with just a regular Beowolf, and here she is now taking on what I think is the alpha. "Okay… that is going to have to be addressed one of these days." I mutter to myself.
The sound of Orchid being thrown back snaps me out of my thoughts, and I get much more serious then I was before, now that a life is on the line.
"Ah! Kai help!" Orchid shrieks to me, returning to her timid personality. I feel the Grimm making a move to what I can only assume to be a finishing blow, and raise a stone shield around Orchid to protect her against the powerful strike that might have either shattered her aura or killed her for all I know. But the shield wasn't strong enough, and it broke right through it, I sense the stone being torn apart as the Grimm tries to get it's snout inside the hole it created.
"NO!" I scream as I punch toward the most powerful blast of air I can muster up. It takes a good chunk of my aura out but it did the job of getting the creature away from my partner that I am determined to protect. I reform the shield and reinforce it with some extra stone.
"Stay in there, it'll keep you safe." I say as I close up the last hole in the shield.
"I don't like the dark!" Orchid whines from inside the protective ball I formed around her.
The Grimm recovers quickly, and I can't tell if that blast of air did anything against it. But I know this one is much more dangerous than the others I faced just before. I have to take this seriously, it is likely much stronger, and faster then me, along with sharper teeth and claws and a much tougher body, if the maximum power output of air it just tanked with little issue was anything enough.
I slowly reach into the back of my pocket, and feel the lighter that was gifted to me about a week ago. I slowly bring my hand back out as the Grimm circles me, waiting for me to make a move. I don't need to keep myself facing the Grimm since I have a three-sixty vision, but I have to keep my body facing it so it wouldn't lunge at me as I prepared to flick on the lighter.
The second the lighter flamed on, the alpha attacked, moving much faster then what I was prepared to deal with, I barely raise my bracer arm in time in an attempt to lessen the damage to my body as I get slammed in that side, blowing out the fire and sending me rolling through the ground until I force myself to stop with a stone slab. I feel the Beowolf charging right back at me before I can get myself off the ground. I panic and blast myself up into the air from my hands, but before I can get too high I can feel teeth bit into my ankle, the pain being lessened by my aura but still hurts like a bitch, it only hurt more when I was slammed back down into the stone slab I ironically created with the intention to defend myself with. The beat down isn't over yet, as I feel myself get lifted by the same leg and then thrown into a tree. I feel my aura take a huge hit after that one, if I had to guess i'd say I was at about forty to fifty after the two devastating blows I just took.
"Kai! Are you okay?" Orchid asks, much more concerned and worried about me then about herself at the moment.
But despite the pain I am in, I smirk, and flick back on the lighter I had locked in a vice grip. The flame turns black as it grows and grows as I absorb it into my body, leaving some to flame on my shoulders, giving me what must look to be a half of a black aura covering my upper body. I know I basically emptied the lighter, rendering it a useless hunk of metal, but im too far in the zone to care about it at the moment.
I throw a fireball at the creature that caught it dead on, and it seemed to have hurt it. Good. I don't hold back, and for the first time in a long time I go all out with the flames that I have. The Grimm is surprisingly resilient, much more than I thought it would be. But that doesn't stop me from trying my special move. As I continuously shoot out black flames from the palm of my hand toward where the creature is standing with what I assume is the Grimms version of a guard, and with my other hand I trap it's legs with stone, pinning it in place and making it an easy smoking target. I don't have much power left in my reserves, but it has to be enough to at least fatally wound it. I curl my arm back and push all of the compressed flame in my right arm, and just as I did against Tai, I thrust two fingers out in front of me and shoot out the same precision attack that I am still trying to think of a name of.
After that, my flames die out, and I am left on about twenty percent of my aura. But the sound of the Beowolf slumping on the ground is indication enough for me to know that the fight is over. I wave my hand and crumble the stone ball I had around Orchid, and she shouts something about finally being able to see the light before she runs up to me.
"Kai! Are you okay? Did you kill it?" Orchid looks back at the steaming corpse that has a golf ball sized scorching hole in it's head. "You killed it! Good job partner!" Bubbly Orchid exclaims.
"Yeah… good job me." I say as I let myself fall backwards.
"I'll make camp, since you did such a good job, I'll reward you with a well needed nap. I'll also take first watch until I get bored and miss your attention." Orchid says as I hear sounds of something being put together in very cartoony way.
I sigh to myself as I answer with silence. I wonder how Yang is doing…
"Hahaha!" Yang laughs as she barrels through her own small pack of Beowolves, this one lacking an alpha for whatever reason. "This is just too easy! I can't believe I was so nervous to take this exam. How about you partner?"
"Please… I need a break." Her poor partner pleads as he struggles to keep up with the blonde brawler.
"Aw c'mon guy! You gotta get that stamina up! Trust me, the ladies love it." Yang says as she fires off even more explosive rounds into the forest, completely guessing where the poor creatures of Grimm are.
"Ugh… my name is Cyan..." The poor guy that conveniently landed near her at the start of the exams groans as he slumps his back against a tree.
Meh, i'm sure she is doing fine. I think to myself as I let my body relax. The new goal right now is to let my aura regenerate, and hope that my partner hasn't run off while I wasn't paying attention.
"Can I ask you a question?" Orchid asks suddenly from her seat not too far from me. I don't know how she did it or where she got it from, but judging from the stakes I sense buried in the ground around us there is a makeshift tent above our heads.
"Sure, what is it?" I really hope it's not what I think it is…
"Why aren't you wearing shoes?"
Oh…
"I just grew up like this, I am just more comfortable walking around with my bare feet." I tell a half truth.
"Oh, well I thought it had something to do with you being blind."
I cough and sit up abruptly, attempting to deny it but stuttering too much for it to be believable. I calm down with a sigh and curl up into a ball, resting my chin on top of my forearms.
"How could you tell?" I ask, not bothering to hide it.
"I wouldn't be a good huntress if I wasn't able to figure out something like that Kai." Orchid points out with a giggle. "I'm pretty sure that headband gives it away, I doubt anyone could see through that thing."
"... My dad could."
"Haha, you are a such a riot!" Bubbly Orchid returns. "But seriously, you being blind and still being that good at fighting, that is just awesome."
"T-thanks."
"Don't mention it! And don't worry about you being a faunus, it doesn't bother me."
I was about to question her on how she knew I was a faunus, but then I realize that I am scratching my face with the tip of my tail. I didn't even realize that I had it out of my pants.
"How long was it out?"
"Since the first time we met like… this morning." Orchid answers like it is not a problem.
While I am grateful that I have a partner that is not racist against my kind, well, half my kind if that makes sense. I am also disappointed in myself for not realizing that it was out the whole time, I must have been too excited this morning to notice.
"Well then, there goes my plan of hiding my faunus traits so I wouldn't be bullied for it." I say as I lie back down on the surprisingly comfortable ground.
"Don't worry! If they try anything I'll TEAR THEM APART!" She suddenly screams, startling me for a second. "S-sorry about that, it's one of the side effects of my semblance."
Ooooooh, that explains a lot. "Don't worry about it, actually why don't you tell me about it since we are going to be partners for the next three years." I bring up for what I think is the third time.
"Oh! Thanks for reminding me again…" Her voice trails off as she falls over on top of me. I was concerned at first but once I heard a snore I realize that she is just asleep. Falling asleep mid sentence is probably going to be a thing with her, but I chuckle nonetheless and gently lift her head off of my lap and onto a soft looking patch of grass.
"Well, this day went by a lot differently then I expected, but it was fun nonetheless." I say to myself as I keep in touch with my surroundings. One of the perks of seeing the way I do is that it gives me an easy pass when it comes to keeping watch, I can tell if anything threatening is coming my way or not. I figure I'll let her sleep for a couple hours, until the sound goes all the way down, and then maybe once we pass this test she can tell me what that semblance is.
Neutral POV
A crow watches over them, as it has been for the past couple of hours, after the launch of all the students in his group. Qrow transformed and started looking for Kai, to get a good look at how the kid fights when he doesn't hold back. He put up an amazing display of skill and power, but also showed weaknesses. Kai tends to go all out too much and thus leaves him out of stamina to continue fighting. If more Grimm came after them, then he might have had to step in, and if he did, no one would have been happy about it.
Satisfied with the results, the crow flies off to see how other students are doing, he heard screams in the distance, but it sounded like someone was just scared.
Good job Kai, but this is just the beginning and you clearly have a lot more to learn. And I have a text to prepare...
AN- WHEW! Finally done with this chapter, not gonna lie, had a blast with this. Writing the fight scenes and the Kai's new partner was the best parts for me.
The exam will conclude next chapter, but that won't be the whole chapter, this Signal arc is surprisingly giving me an overflow of ideas. If I had to guesstimate how many chapters the Signal arc will have, I'd say around maybe… twenty? The after that is Beacon which is going to be like, forty if I had to guess, and then EVEN more afterwards that I haven't even begun to think about yet. This is definitely going to be my longest and best story yet. I can't wait to continue it!
Please review and tell me what you think! If you have any ideas, concerns, or advice I am open to hear them!
Disclaimer- I do not own RWBY in any way shape or form