Hello again my friends! Welcome back to another chapter of Blind Huntsman! Kai gets to fight this time, and you guys are going to love it, or at least I hope you do. I have planned this chapter like ten chapters ago, so now I finally get to write it down on paper. Yay me!
Lets see what happened in the reviews! We got a lot this time, so I got a lot to write here.
Arrow Branwen: Yang is amazing, and you're vote will be counted.
Arthur Pendragon: Your vote will be counted. And yeah, the firecracker is not one to be toyed with.
Edge 233: The Beacon teams is something I can't really touch upon, because spoilers, but trust me when I say that I am going to have some fun with it.
Snow Regulus: Volume 1 is going to be starting soon, I don't really have a set date for it, but it is coming, definitely will be coming before chapter 30 I hope, maybe chapter 30 itself. As for the pairings, you have a few points here and there, I get it. But let me ask you this: Just because Pyrrha ended up falling for Jaune does that mean that she can't fall for anyone else? Yeah she dies but there's still three volumes of content and I don't have to kill her off like RT did, that is the glory of fanfiction. Jaune wouldn't even be missing her, since he was too dense to figure out that she was into him anyway. Ruby is young and innocent, and I actually agree with you on some of what you proposed, but still, she is a legitimate option because of how long she will be knowing Kai, and the things they would get into together, even though she is young and innocent, that doesn't mean that she would not have a crush on anyone. Weiss is like Pyrrha in this case, just because she had a crush on Neptune does that mean that she can't get a crush on anyone else? Blake is again, the same case as Pyrrha and Weiss. Neo is actually older than we think, and it is not bad if someone is older than the other, and having Neo as a romantic option when you have Kai could actually be interesting. That she is on the bad side could pose a problem, but that is what will be challenging about it is actually intriguing me. Orchid has multiple personalities, yeah she may be like Nora in some senses, but again, she is an option.
Delta323: Well here is another chapter! Hopefully you have made your decision.
Arctech: It's alright man, I didn't think you didn't like it, I just thought you had some problems with it. You'll see what Kai is going to do to those poor souls, Its gonna be great.
The Legend 47: Thank you!
Thank you all for the reviews!
Current Poll results:
Ruby Rose- 37
Yang Xiao Long- 29
Weiss Schnee- 18
Orchid Rosa- 16
Blake Belladonna- 13
Neo- 12
Pyrrha Nikos- 10
Before I forget, I still have a twitter that I use to regularly let anyone know about the progress of all of my stories, and which one is out next. If you have a question, or just want to know how the chapters are going, please go ahead and check it out! I left the link in my profile.
Now, let us get straight to the chapter!
RWBY: The Blind Huntsman
Chapter 19- Volume 0, Episode 17
Power Play
"Can you sign this for me!?"
"How do you fight when you're blind?"
"How do you walk around when you're blind without help?"
Along with a dozen other questions that Kai struggled to catch up with as he tried to make his way through the crowd and down into the competitors waiting room number 487. Marron and Tai doing their best to keep them from blocking his path without hurting them, and with Ruby walking behind him with her hand laced in his so she wouldn't get lost in the crowd.
"W-Wow, you really are popular Matsu." Ruby stuttered as they made their way through.
"I can't see, yes I am blind, no I will not sign your chest, and just in case I'm also still a minor." Kai stammered as he felt heat rise up to his face after that last request. He really wished Orchid were here, she would carve a path through this crowd, and it depends on what personality she is in for whether or not the civilians are injured or not. Even though secretly, Kai would not mind if it was the former.
"Make some space please, let my son get into the-"
"You're his mother!?" About half of the crowd questioned.
"Oh come on!" Marron shouted over the whole crowd, silencing them all with her screech. "Look at yourselves! Getting up into a blind fifteen year old kids face, just because he can't see, and is still trying to become a hunter, something that I am willing to bet most if not all of you failed at or didn't even try becoming." Ouch, that made everyone wince, even Ruby. "Give the kid some space. NOW!"
Her next animalistic motherly screech was enough to force everyone away, combined with a bit of air manipulation, and Kai had a straight path out of the spectator seats. He muttered a quick thank you to his mother as he finally was able to take a deep breath, and ran down the rest of the stairs and into the hallways, where much less people were chasing him with their words. Or failed to regard him at all, that was a thing to.
"Wow, no wonder Malikai is so whipped." Tai commented as he took Ruby's hand that was once in Kai's grip.
"Hmph, they were really getting on my nerves, I hope they learned their lesson because there is plenty more where that came from." She growled as a tick mark formed at the corner of her forehead.
"How much time until my match?" Kai asked, desperate to change the subject after having a run in with what felt like a cult that worshipped him. Seriously, in a world where people can run so fast they are just a blur, and strong enough to destroy buildings, was a blind huntsman really that worthy of a topic for conversation?
"You got about ten to fifteen minutes." Tai answered as he took a peek at his scroll. "Which is surprising, since the matches are usually a lot more spaced out in between in order to make time for the arena to be fixed up."
"I have a feeling that Mistral doesn't exactly follow the rules all that much…" Marron said underneath her breath, remembering the run in with a very shady information broker earlier that morning. She still didn't exactly feel comfortable with that woman being in able to get in contact with her son, she didn't even have that kind of freedom with her own son!
"I should really get to room 487 then, could you guys help me out with that?" Kai asked with a pleading look, to have to trace over the numbers of every waiting room door would be a pesky task, and might make him late for his very first tournament match. Which has been kind enough to remind him that it is being broadcasted to the world every time an ad pops up.
"Sure, we just got to go down one more flight of stairs and we'll be on that floor. Luckily enough we are already in the 400-500 room number section, so it shouldn't take that long to find it." Tai said as he gestured to the stairs just to his right. "I have to take Ruby back up to the seats though, because she is too young, and isn't allowed in the big girl areas."
"Am too!" Ruby howled.
"Sure, I can handle it Tai, it's how I can repay you for helping us out back there." Marron said with a smile, before looping her tail around Kai's waist and pulling him into a one armed hug. Earning a surprised yelp out of the young boy. "I don't know what would have happened to my baby boy if you haven't came in time!"
"M-Mom!" Kai whined.
"Haha, it's alright. Good luck Kai, show them who's boss."
"Yeah! Kick their butts with your newly upgraded flame thingie!" Ruby cheered next.
"Wait, when did you upgrade this?" Kai asked as he traced his hand over the device on the bottom of his bracer, feeling some very defining changes to the augmentation that was almost recognizable. "How?"
"Eh, when I hugged you earlier I took it off, and then during Yang's match I upgraded it so it recharged faster, and is now able to give you even more flame power with each use.." Ruby explained expertly with a shrug. "It was really easy honestly."
Kai was speechless, the sneaky little brat got one over him. Even with his enhanced senses he couldn't tell that she did that literally right under his nose and right beside him. Wait… now that he thought about it, was that her intentions the whole time!? She distracted him with cheers about Yang's fight, and the constant obvious teases at his visual impairment…
That sneaky little brat!
"As much as I would love to ask you why your daughter is that proficient with potentially explosive equipment, we should really go." Marron said after she notices that they now had twelve minutes and as the two Matsuoka's started to descend down the stairs.
"T-Thanks Ruby!" Kai managed to shout before the started going down the rest of the stairs.
"You're welcome!"
They were down the steps in a matter of seconds, and were practically sprinting down the halls while dodging random passersby, and other hunters in training. Marron counted up everytime they ran past a door, and was secretly struggling to keep this up while her son looked like he was barely having any trouble with this. That inspired her somewhat…
That would be a subject for thought another time.
"483...485… 487!" Marron stopped suddenly, then bent over and rested her hands on her knees in a desperate attempt to catch her breath. "We made it… hah… nine minutes left to spare."
"Thanks mom, you were a great help." Kai said as he rubbed her back, not at all winded like she is.
"How the hell do you do this on a regular basis?" Marron asked her son.
"Practice, maybe you should get some training? It's not like you need to be a full time mom anymore." Kai suggested.
That made Marron think, she really didn't have to watch over Kai twenty-four-seven anymore did she? He was able to take care of himself, able to defend himself, can feed himself, and hell, even bathe himself without much issue.
Her baby boy was growing up… It made her both happy and sad, she remembers when he would stumble around bumping into things, and while it wasn't exactly good to find funny, it was most certainly adorable. On the other hand, she did have her aura unlocked, and she did have her semblance also unlocked. It may be only half of her sons, and not as powerful as her husbands, but it is still much more than what ninety-nine percent of the world's population had at their disposal. And since Kai is going to be getting involved in a lot of dangerous stuff, if she was in a position to help him and wasn't able to, and he got hurt? She would never forgive herself. She didn't have much else going on besides cooking anyway, and unlike her own mother, rest in peace her soul, she never really found cooking to be all that fun.
"You know what?" Marron stood up straight and smiled, doing her best to control her own breathing. "Maybe I will, now get in there, and kick some ass, I am probably not even allowed back here. So come here and give me a big ol' hug!" She exclaimed as she opened up her arms.
"Wait… get in the room or give you a hug?" Kai asked, genuinely confused.
"Oh stop being such a smartass, and get over here." Marron demanded, and Kai got to closing in without a moment's hesitation.
"Love you." Kai mumbled as his face was pushed into his mother's bosom.
"I love you too, Kai." Marron felt her heart beat harder, and a pang of joyful sorrow fill her up to the point of almost tears. "I am so proud of you, win or lose, you've already made an impact on the world." She said as she kissed her son's forehead, and then pushed him away before she could second guess herself and deny him this opportunity.
"I don't plan on losing." Kai replied as he held out a thumbs up. "I plan to be the best, and losing isn't a part of that."
"Heh, that's what your father always used to say." Marron thought. "Good." She said instead as she closed the door in front of his son.
Once he was alone, Kai took in a deep breath, that was more emotional than he thought it was going to be. But hearing his mother say those words to him with some much emotion stirred up so much of his own from within him.
"That was cute." Falcon said with a chuckle from behind him.
Kai choked on his own breath.
Malikai and Vernal trutched their way through an unnamed forest close to the kingdom of Mistral. They recently tore down camp and ate breakfast, filling themselves up with plenty of energy to get to the kingdom on this day. They have been training lightly for the past couple of nights, which made them a bit more sore then they would have liked, but it did help improve Vernal just a bit.
"Yo, old man." Vernal called to him as she watched the livestream of the tournament on her scroll as they walked.
"What is it?" Malikai asked. "And call me that again, I'll kick you in the stomach."
"Tch, whatever. It looks like your kid is going to be fighting soon, if he is as good as you say he is then it wouldn't slow us down all that much if we watch his match." Vernal offered as she let him look at her scroll, and lo and behold it had his son's name plastered all over it.
"Oh? That's an awfully nice thing of you to do, am I finally growing on you?" Malikai teased as he nudged her with his elbow. His smug grin being way too disturbing for even Vernal to stomach.
"Agh, don't ever accuse me of something like that again." She said with a scowl as she pushed him away as hard as she could, it only moved him a few inches before he caught himself on his back foot.
"Nope, can and will do it again." Malikai laughed as he kicked over a dead tree, they were about a few hours away from the kingdom itself anyway, so it wouldn't hurt to sit down for a few minutes to watch his son win his first match. It would also give him an idea of how much he improved over the plenty of months he hasn't been able to see him. It excited him as he sat down on the tree and gestured for Vernal to join him.
"You know, if you want I could adopt you and you could be Kai's older sister?" He offered, not even close to thinking that Vernal would accept his proposal.
"Like I'd ever consider having and old man like you-" She was cut off when not a foot, but a iron hard fist buried itself into her stomach before she could activate her aura to defend herself, she spat out saliva and flew back into a tree. Malikai caught the scroll she dropped that was still livestreaming the tournament that just had a few minutes until it's next round. "Thanks Vernal." He smugly added as he watched the screen in anticipation for his sons arrival.
"Fu- ack, you." Vernal coughed.
Kai coughed a few times into his arm, and turned himself to face the Branwen woman who scared the living hell out of him. Seriously, all the other times she showed up there was a clear sign that she was on the way, like sound or an ominous feeling. He never expected her to be a prankster.
"F-Falcon!? What're you doing here?" He asked as soon as he recovered, making sure his sword is still attached to his hip just in case this is some crazy time for a training session.
Falcon laughed.
"I did say you would see me again before your match didn't I?" She rhetorically asked, her voice sounding very amused and like she is in a good mood, which is very rare for a woman such as herself.
"Y-yeah, but this is cutting it down to the wire. What are you here for?" Kai asked a stupid question.
"Idiot, I came here to give you some words of…" She paused, thinking on the word she should use in the given situation.
She waited for about a minute.
"Uh…"
"Encouragement?" Kai finished for her, desperately hoping that is the word she was trying to say.
"Yeah sure, how long do we have again?" Falcon inquired.
"About five minutes until the well awaited debut of the famed blind huntsman!" The announcer cheered.
"Plenty of time." Falcon said. "So, what are you going to do when you get out there?"
"I am going to fight my hardest." He answered with little hesitation.
"Wrong."
"Huh?" Kai was confused, since when are his own thoughts wrong?
"You are going to get out there, and write yourself into the history booms, you will win, you are not going out there to make friends, you are going out there to show the world just who the fuck they're messing with." Flacon sounded angry as she said this. In truth this kind of behavior from Kai reminded her of a certain someone she was with back in Beacon, he acted the same way at that young age.
"I… don't know if I can do that much." Kai rubbed the back of his head apprehensively, brushing past his hood as his hand disappeared into his hair.
"You will do all of that and more, or else I am going to kick your ass even harder for the next hundred training sessions." She threatened, no, promised him.
"O-Oh, okay than." Kai was more afraid of those training sessions then even his own mother when she was angry, and that was saying something.
"Hm, I like the new blindfold." She added after a few moments of silence.
But as he sniffed around the room… he begun to smell the stench of alcohol, it was faint, but it was still there.
That explained a lot that was going on right now.
"Good." Falcon sat down on the bench that was meant for him, he couldn't sense any more space for him so he just stood there awkwardly as he awaited the last few precious minutes that counted down to his match. In truth she wasn't really that drunk, tipsy maybe, but not enough to where she isn't able to use her judgment properly. "So, how much time is there now?"
Kai wanted to say that he was blind and couldn't tell, but he had a feeling that being a smartass right now was not a good idea. "Err, one or two maybe, I am still a little nervous."
"Mm, and what are you going to do?" Falcon asked, a trick question that would earn him her ire if he was to answer incorrectly.
"I… am going to win." Kai clenched his fist's. "I am going to show the world what Kai Matsuoka, the blind huntsman, is made of. I'll show off all the training you put me through, and the countless hours of lost sleep used to make myself stronger. I, am going to win." He ranted, feeling more inspired when he was the one to say it rather than his… mentor wasn't really the right word for Falcon, but mentor works. He hyped himself so much he didn't realize that he entered Focus Mode, and had his hand on the hilt of his sword ready to be drawn.
Raven smiled, this was what she wanted to see and hear. She might even reward him later for his breakthrough, maybe. "Good luck Little Kai, I'll be watching." She said with a smirk as a loud buzzer was heard outside of their room.
Kai smiled back, and faced the arena. Ready to unleash hell unto his opponents who were unfortunate enough to be put up against him.
The will to come out on top, the desire to inspire others, and to prove himself to the world, a cruel world.
He didn't know it, and it flickered away just as fast as it came.
But Raven noticed the small glow underneath his white blindfold.
Emerald and Mercury sat on the highest row of the spectator stands, waiting for a certain someone to come collect them. They have plans set in motion, the two other boys that are also participating in this match, one from Atlas and the other from here in Mistral, have been hired in aiming for Kai's face in this match, with the intention of cutting off or removing his headband that he always wears. Offer a fifteen year old boy some money and a date with Emerald, and you'll be surprised what they'll do in order to succeed.
"Did you have to offer me up to those pigs?" Emerald asked, more than irritated with her gray haired partner in crime.
"Nah, but it did add some motivation for them to go through with it." Mercury smirked. "Besides, you needed to come out of your shell anyway, maybe you'll learn to love them."
Emerald smacked him on the back of the head hard for that comment.
"Ow! You bitch!" Mercury snapped, while Emerald just dared him to come at her and proclaimed that she has been waiting to kill him for the longest time.
"Children, please." A saccharine voice cut them both off, and they stood straight as a bored as an all too familiar woman in a red dress strode her way toward them. "Now is not the time for flirtations." She teased as she leaned against the railing overlooking the entire arena.
"M-Mam." Emerald hesitantly called to her, not even thinking about coming up with a retort for the tease they had both received. "We have a plan set in order to reveal Kai's eyes to the world, we were hoping to show it to you in action. You couldn't have come at a better time." She praised with a hopeful smile.
"Hmph, got a little bit of shit on your nose there." Mercury rebuked.
"You-"
"I hope to see it successful, lest I follow through with my threat." Cinder cut her off with a ice cold tone.
"Of course it will." Mercury assured her. "Kai is good, no one can deny that, probably would give Em, and I a lot of trouble if he went all out, 'specially since Em's semblance doesn't work on him. But against a two v one, when he isn't expecting it? I doubt even he as the reaction time for two other huntsman in training who are near the top of their class of their respective schools."
"Very good." Cinder smiled condescendingly at her loyal minions. "I hope to see it work well, because it seems like the match is starting very soon."
They waited patiently for the rest of the time that they had left.
Weiss Schnee was also eagerly waiting for the match to begin, she was told that she had a by to the quarterfinals, which was annoying to say the least. A free pass, unlike its name suggested, did not come free. Because she had a reputation to uphold as an aspiring huntress, a chance to prove herself was needed for her father to accept, or at least allow his daughter to pursue what she wanted to be.
She had her own observation deck, which was great and all, if it weren't for the guards behind her it would make it even greater. But at least her sister was there as promised, though she spent more time scanning the arena for any signs of a threat rather than actually speaking to her sister like Weiss thought she would.
"Weiss?" Her younger brother pulled at her sleeve.
Oh right, he was there to.
"What is it Whitley?" Weiss asked in a cold voice.
"W-well… I was just wondering if you wanted to talk, I've just been sitting here waiting for stuff to happen in front of me since I arrived with you." He quietly said.
"Hm, well, what is it that you wish to talk about?" Weiss asked, willing to humour her younger brother, not much out of curiosity, but out of boredom. Really, they should just start the damn thing! Don't they know that a blind huntsman in training named Kai Matsuoka would have brought a lot of eager fans with him?
Whitley's eyes lit up when Weiss finally offered to have a conversation with him, it was not often that he got attention from the older members of his own family, most of the time it was the nannys or the butlers taking care of him. He had a faunus one that he was very fond of, but ever since the White Fang started getting violent, his father fired her and hired a new, human one. She's nice, he likes her, but not as much as the one with the fluffy fox tail.
"Well, what about this Kai person that you are so eager to see, is he really that good?" He asked with a smile on his face.
Weiss put a hand on her chin as she thought about how to answer such a question, and when she had an idea she opened her mouth to speak.
"I believe that-"
"I will have to see for myself before I draw any conclusions." Winter interrupted before Weiss could finish her sentence. "Though I have my suspicions if that boy really is blind."
"O-of course." Weiss stammered. "I feel the same way." She lied, after seeing the way he fought in the videos that she has seen, some of the things he does whilst in combat is just not possible unless you have eyes on the back of your head, or a sensory type semblance, and to her knowledge, Kai only has a elemental manipulation type semblance.
"Hm." Winter hummed, not really paying that much attention to her siblings.
"Is father going to attend this event like we requested?" Whitley innocently asked.
"I…" Winter's hardened expression softened ever so slightly at the sound of his innocent question, the obvious answer is no, but she doesn't know how to break the news to him. One of the downsides of being disowned by your father is that you don't get much time to be with your younger siblings, much less help raise them. It is one of her deepest regrets, but it is also something she would have done a hundred more times in order to free herself from her father's path that he had set up for her all the way up to his retirement.
"Whitley, why bother asking that?" Weiss snapped before Winter could let him down gently. "You know father is too busy with the business to have time for us." The way she intertwined her fingers with Whitleys told a different story than the scowl she gave off, and she even rubbed the top of his hand with her thumb. "All we have are ourselves, at least until mother stops finding comfort at the bottom of a bottle."
Whitley was sad to hear her those words coming from one of his older sisters, but at the same time was comforted with the way her hand felt intertwined with his. He didn't say anything else, only leaned into her touch slightly when she put a hand on his shoulder, and turned his gaze back to the arena.
When he saw the screen switch from an ad to another countdown to the next round, it was able to distract him from his sorrow.
"You better kick their asses Kai!" Shae shouted into the arena, she had a feeling that Kai heard her over everyone, because she is special like that.
"Mhm!" Two held up a thumbs up, and adjusted the see through blindfold that Orchid happily provided for all of them. The dark green fabric making everything else have an extra filter of green. Shae had one too, an orange one, but she had it loosely hanging from her neck after muttering a curse about how Kai wears something like this all the time.
"Woohoo!" Adrenaline infused Orchid cheered, the loudest in her entire section. "Go Kai, you can do this!"
"Orchid, Kai isn't even out there yet." Cyan pointed out, he gave up on trying to stop Rick and Brick, who are also screaming into the sunset the name of their blind friend.
"You don't know that."
"I didn't put on the blindfolds you got for us Orchid." Cyan revealed a shocking revelation.
Orchid, Rick, and Brick all gasped in perfect sync, and all turned to him with a disappointed look on all of their faces. Two chuckled quietly at the display of perfect teamwork.
"How could you do this to us Iris?" Rick cried as he rubbed away imaginary tears on his face.
"Betrayal will not go unpunished!" Brick roared as he pounced onto Cyan, only for his semblance to bounce him back and into the railings.
"But Cyan," Yang, who is also wearing a blindfold to support Kai in his fight. Hers was yellow of course, Bricks was red, Ricks was blue, and the Flamingos was hot pink, because she was hot. Duh. "They are see through, you don't really have that much of an argument here."
"I refuse to wear this thing." Cyan proclaimed as he held up his cyan and purple colored swirl of a headband that matched with his hair and outfit perfectly.
"But it'll look so cute!" Yang and Orchid squealed excitedly, and got into Cyan's personal space.
"Hey! Hey get off me!" He shouted back as he struggled to free his arms from Yang's and Orchids grip, one in each of the others two arms holding down his arms.
"Nope, you are going to do this Cyan, this is revenge for all those times you didn't find my jokes funny." Yang rebuked.
"Sorry that your teases don't work on somebody not into girls Yang." Cyan retorted with a glare.
"Now Cyan." Rick and Brick said in perfect unison. "This will only take a second."
"Just listen to the soothing sound of my voice~." Slightly psychotic and definitely sociopathic Orchid whispered into his ear in a failed attempt to calm him down. Her unsettling humming didn't help much either.
"Get away from me! No! Agh!"
In the end, they got it on him, and it did in fact look cute.
On the other side of the arena, also in her own spectator booth. Pyrrha sat alone, interested in this particular match more than any others coming up, this Kai person is almost as famed as she is, without even fighting in any tournaments, though she knows that they both know it is because of his visual impairment rendering him blind. She didn't have much time for waiting, since her match is going to be up next. But she has already warmed up, and isn't really worried about losing her match.
When the announcer came back onto the microphone, announcing that the match was starting right now, she smiled.
Lets see what all the fuss is about. Everyone thought.
"Here we go people! The match is starting… RIGHT NOW! LET ME HEAR SOME NOISE!"
About half of the visible spectators actually made some noise.
"I'll take it! Sorry for the wait, the match should have started a few minutes ago, but no worries, because here are our contestants for this triple threat round!"
"First up, we have Daff! A student in the top five percent of his class from Atlas!"
Daff came out flipping into the center of the arena, and then bowed elegantly to the crowd on all sides before taking his spot on one third of the arena stage. There was mild applause, but for a newcomer into the tournament setting it was actually quite good.
"Nice entrance! Alright, next up we have Dango! Another student near the top of his class, this time hailing from right here in Mistral!"
Dango got a much louder applause, having home field advantage and all, but his entrance was not nearly as flashy as the one before him. He still smiled and waved politely, before getting into his own third of the arena, doing some stretches to loosen some of his muscles up.
"And now, another top student from Signal training academy all the way down in Vale- wait, I was just told that he is the top student from Signal, the blind huntsman, let's hear it for Kai Matsuoka!"
The cheers, whistles, and even more cheers were so loud that Kai felt the vibration throughout the entire arena stage as he made his way out of the room, sword already unsheathed and pointing up to the sky. He seemed more fired up than he has ever been before, and when he feels that he has walked far enough. Lets the leftover stored flame he had from his last training session into the air. The black flame surprising all of the spectators and earning even more applause.
"Woah! I've never seen flames like that before!"
His cheers were louder than ours… The other two boys thought as they already made a mental agreement to go after him first, the money and promise of a date with a pretty girl only adding fuel to the fire.
Kai walked backwards until he thought that he was in a good position. Sensing the ground to see where his other opponents are. He stopped when he sensed that they now formed a triangle, and noticed that they were both facing him by the position of their feet. He could feel their gaze settle on him, and enters focus mode right away while he readies both his bracer and his sword.
He tuned out the rest of the announcements, spouting off the rules of the bouts that he had already committed to memory after Yang's earlier match. Kai also tuned out the rest of the crowd, he knew that his friends were watching, wherever they were, so he didn't try to pick out their voices out of the thousands that he hears constantly. He doesn't know if using the device that Ruby made for him early was allowed, since technically the fight didn't start yet, so he didn't use it yet, and would as soon as he sense someone moving.
The noises died down a decent bit, enough to the point where Kai could hear only his own breath, and the countdown almost already at zero.
3…
2…
1…
They moved before the announcer could even say the last number, and Kai sensed every single step they took. It was rushed, blinded by whatever that was clouding their combat vision. It only took about half a second for Kai to realize that they were going to team up on him right out of the gate.
Nonetheless, he grinned and waited patiently for them to close the distance between them. They were so much slower than the Falcon woman, way too slow in order to make him worried about anything, they were just outclassed by all of his previous mentors and sparring partners. Which made them all too easy to read, and to predict.
Just as Kai predicted, one attacked high, and the other low. Both missed their mark.
Kai felt the disturbance in the air closing in against his face, by the sound of the soft whistle as it cuts through the air, he assumed it to be a bladed weapon, and the other near his knee, that one feeling like a staff like weapon similar to Cyan, and Shae's weapon, two of his friends he has sparred against more than a few times. With just a flick of his ankles he jumped over the low attack, while ducking under the high attack, parallel to the ground, before twisting himself and ending up behind the both of them. To the crowd it looked like he was there one second, and suddenly behind them in the next, with only a few people being able to see what he just did.
They couldn't turn around in time to defend themselves, they were caught off guard right out of the gate, despite them being the ones to make the first move in the first place. Kai kicked his right foot on the one who attacked low, and his the palm of his left hand in the center of the others back.
With a blast of air mixed with black flames, he blasted them both away with almost full power, dealing a massive blow to their aura, and knocking them both out of bounds. After he was done, he sheathed his sword that didn't even have to clash with either of their weapons.
He didn't even have to use his sword.
When the second boy hit the ground the entire colosseum was silent for a few moments that felt like minutes to Kai, before exploding out in applause and cheers.
"Holy shi- We have a winner!" The announcer slash commentator yelled into the microphone.
Kai just realized what happened when he heard those words, his opponents were both at the bottom of the out of bounds area, writhing in pain and shattered egos, but alive nonetheless.
"Already…?" He said to himself as he relaxed his stance and stood up straight.
Raven smiled at him from her own spot hidden in the shadows of the colosseum, satisfied with what she had seen, he would definitely be getting some sort of reward after what he just did.
"Incredible! Ladies and gentlemen, we have a new Mistralian record for the fastest round in a tournament like combat setting! The previous record was eighteen seconds, and Kai Matsuoka shattered the record with just a seven second victory!"
Malikai smugly looked at Vernal's relatively shocked expression that she has on her face. She knew that if this guy here taught him everything he knew, than the kid was going to be very good, but this. This blew away any and all of her expectations that she set for him, and to be honest with herself she was pretty impressed with his display of superiority over his opponents. Even if he didn't realize that he was doing something like that.
"So, what was that about kicking his ass all over the place?" Malikai brought her back into reality.
"Tch, just because he can kick some other kids asses like that doesn't mean he can beat me, I am the Spring Maiden after all." Vernal spat.
"Mhm, that really helped you a whole bunch against me."
"Shut up, and give me back my fucking scroll."
Emerald and Mercury stared wide eyed and mouths agape, not knowing how to even begin to explain how they couldn't have expected that. Cinder was literally fuming with anger, which made it even harder for them to find the correct words to get them out of this disaster of a failed plan.
Cinder suddenly calmed down, and turned around just as fast and pushed past both of them without uttering a single word.
"Mam-" Emerald tried.
"Stop." Cinder ordered, shutting her down right away. "Your mission, while ending in disaster, still succeeded." She said in a flat voice, surprising both of her minions. "He has silver eyes, I believe it and I don't need to see it physically to know, he wouldn't have trained as hard as he did to reach this point any other way."
They were both relieved, they were going to be able to live to see another day, even if her logic did sound flawed and didn't really make too much sense..
"But, therein lays a problem." Cinder added, making them fear for their lives once more. "Malikai Matsuoka was able to get into contact with his son, which makes our jobs much more… difficult."
Emerald and Mercury stayed quiet, though they have an idea on what their next task is going to be. If it was going to be there's to begin with.
"If Malikai told his son about his eyes… then with what we know about him we can't ignore that Kai might know about… her." Emerald shivered upon remembering that horrifying pale woman.
"That would not be good." Mercury helpfully added.
"No, it would not." Cinder looked at them both. "Dial Adam Taurus' number, and give me the scroll." She ordered.
"If I may mam, what for?" Emerald asked, even though she already had her scroll out and his number dialed.
Cinder smiled, a dangerous calm smile that they fell for one too many times thinking that it was actually safe..
"He'll know when he hears my voice." Cinder said as she held her hand out, expecting Emerald to place her scroll in her hand, which she did with little hesitation.
Emerald and Mercury looked to each other, mentally asking the other if they knew what was going to happen. Of course, neither of them had any clue what was going on right now.
"Hello Adam, it turns out your plan may begin the preparations after all, you have four days until the tournament ends, use that time wisely." Cinder ordered Adam, and for once he did not sound like he wanted to kill her on the spot just for being human, which ironically worried Emerald and Mercury.
"By the end of this tournament, we will have gotten what we wanted." Cinder said next as she hung up the scroll. Then with a uncharacteristic happy smile, leaned back up against the railing.
"Let us enjoy the rest of the tournament."
Uh oh, foreshadowing. Oooo, yeah this is a shorter chapter than usual, which is actually around the limit I set myself in the first place so I don't end up writing 13k word chapters. I need to let you guys know something though… I am sorry to say this, but I do not think I can get to the Beacon part of this story in 2018, there is just too much for me to get down, and unless I put my longest and most popular story on hold, which I might do in order for my other stories to catch up to it in terms of words and chapters just a bit, while also giving me a break from thinking on that major AU of a story. But as it is going right now, I do not think I will be able to get to the Beacon saga before 2018, I am sorry for that. If you are from the future though, and this story is past 30 chapters, than this doesn't really matter for you.
So, yeah, official apology and all that, I am sorry. But at least it will be in January or something, but definitely 2019. I confirm that right now. Wish me luck because my hands are already hurting.
As far as the silver eyed powers go for Kai, I hope RT gets down to explaining what abilities they have so that it would save me from having to make up my own abilities when the time comes for it. Of course I am probably going to make up my own version of silver eyed powers anyway, since fanfiction is like that.
Not much to say here, but I do have a three part short idea this time, I am sorry I haven't been keeping up with them lately, so here is the return of them!
This trilogy is going to reveal Malikai's father, and how Malikai got Silver Ebony as his own weapon. Sad moments, happy moments, and tense moments. Beware.
Malikai, And His Father: Part 1
Malikai is sixteen years old, one more year and he will be old enough to apply to Beacon. Not of his own volition mind you, his father has been pushing for this for a very long time.
His father's name was Mal, which their mother used to tease them a lot about the simplicity of the name and Malikai's name was derived from his father's name. She passed away of an illness that she was not able to bounce back from about two years ago, so it has just been Mal and Malikai traveling the world and working as mercenaries to be used against Grimm, or bad people.
"Why do I have to go to Beacon again?" Malikai asked his father. "You are already good enough to be a professional huntsman, and while I still have a lot to learn I am pretty far up there to."
"We've talked about this already son, I don't want you living this life forever, and you know what lurks in the shadows. It is not just the Grimm we have to constantly worry about." Mal explained once again, but still very patient with his son. "I am not going to be around forever, I've used my eyes too much while training you, soon I won't be able to see or use them."
"But isn't that why you invented Seismic sensing? It shouldn't pose that much of a problem for you." Malikai pointed out.
Mal sighed, it just wasn't that simple. But he wishes it were.
"This isn't up for discussion Malikai, you will be going to Beacon, where you will be much safer for the next few years at least. You will also grow stronger and more skilled, you need to." He placed his hands on his shoulders, and spoke with soft determined words. "Unless you find a woman and make a family, you are the world's last hope."
Malikai remained silent, feeling the weight of the world on his shoulders as he tied his headband around his head even tighter than usual.
"I understand… I don't like it, but I understand." Malikai said with a low grunt.
"Good, because we are going to start our journey to Vale today." Mal said as he put on his coat, Silver Ebony strapped to his side and glimmering in the sunlight. With four runes engraved in the flat part of the blade itself.
"It will take months to make that journey from here on foot father." Malikai pointed out.
"And during those months you will unlock those abilities of yours." Mal said as he jabbed two fingers right between his eyes.
"I try, but…"
"But you don't have the correct motivation." His father sighed. "It seems like me protecting and training you all these years has turned out to be a good, and a bad thing, do me a favor and don't make the same error I did if you ever have a child."
Malikai laughed, knowing that his father didn't mean it in any malicious way, but couldn't help but quip at him for it anyway. "So, you're telling me that all those times you saved my life was a mistake?"
"Keep being a smartass like that, and I actually might end up regretting those mistakes." Mal chuckled. "Now let's get going, Vale isn't just going to come to us."
"Yeah," Malikai sighed, his good mood more or less ruined. "Let the journey to my prison await."
And there we go, this one is cannon of course. This time going even further back into the past to reveal more of Malikai's backstory, and also the previous wielder of Silver Ebony before Malikai himself. There will be two more parts of this short little story, and I am sure most of you will be able to predict what happens, but hey, if you didn't, good job on you.
Once this story gets past Vol 6 or so, depending on if Vol 7 comes back early or not. I am going to write not a long story, but a medium length story, maybe 20-30 chapters all about Malikai before Beacon, Team MAVR which is during Beacon, and all the way up to Kai's birth where this story all started. That story is about a few years away probably, and I might change my mind in the long run if I don't have the time for it, but the possibility is there.
Please review and let me know what you think of the story so far! And if you haven't voted in the Poll yet, you should do it as soon as you can because it will be ending soon. Thank you all for reading!