Alrighty, I am going to keep this one short, because I am sure you all want to get back to what is going on in the story.
Arctech: No problem man! As long as you keep enjoying the story, that is what matters to me. I plan to definitely make Blake a better character than in the cannon already, since she is already full of holes as it is. I feel like Qrow is going to have a greater role in this fic than most others, not to say that he is going to be all over the place, but he is going to be around more in this one at least. I have been getting a lot of comments about how original this story is, and I might have to go read that Mass Effect fic you've told me about, if I am only second to that story, I am going to have to step up my game eh?
SuperKaiokenGoku :XD
NCStampede: It seems like Yang is winning the popular vote so far. I will add your vote to the poll.
Masso2010: I tried to make it a big build up, leading to an easy win for Kai, it seemed to have worked for some people, but for others no. I'll cut down on all that for a bit.
Csshadow: For now I'll give one for each of them, you are allowed to pick three girls anyway.
Delta 323: Mal is Malikais dad, and Kai's grandpa, but I think you meant Kai and Yang lol, I'll add her to the poll.
Atem 777: No, Kai's headband is not based off of Naruto, it is simply a headband without the metal, it used to be black, but now it is white. But also, thank you!
Blackshadow: Thank you, and I can try to make a love triangle, but I am not going to make a harem, never tried it and I don't think I ever will. Love triangle drama however, i can try my luck at.
Snow: You can choose three girls from the poll, so for now I'll add you Yang and Pyrrha vote.
Mass2010: You were waiting to be that 100th review weren't you? Congratulations though!
Thank you all for the reviews!
Ruby Rose- 38
Yang Xiao Long- 38
Weiss Schnee- 18
Orchid Rosa- 17
Blake Belladonna- 15
Neo- 15
Pyrrha Nikos- 14
Wow, Yang made a huge spike and is now neck and neck with Ruby! I am actually pretty proud of you guys.
If you haven't voted yet, please do now. Because after this tournament arc is over, I will be closing the Poll. So get those votes in!
Now let's get right into the story!
RWBY: The Blind Huntsman
Chapter 20- Volume 0, Episode 18
Lightning Round
Albedo leaned back in his seat and sighed, he was pretty bored. Watching tournament matches of young huntsman in training is something most would call exciting, but in his case, he can't help but mentally point out every single mishap and mistake that the young ones made. He is too critical for his own good, and while that might make him out to be a bad headmaster, he luckily doesn't have to actually train people on his own. When he does however, he can be pretty persuasive when it comes to teaching the kid how to not make the same mistakes more than a few times.
But Kai's match… he did not expect that one.
"Seems like your favorite student has just made quite the name for himself." Ozpin said, sitting beside him in another leather seat.
"Now, now, Ozmic, I wouldn't be a good headmaster if I had favorites now would I?" Albedo asked with a chuckle.
"Oh, I never said you were a good headmaster." Ozpin retorted.
"Pretty rich, coming from you," Albedo snapped back. "Best team graduating from Beacon, and in less than five years one of them die, that person having silver eyes of course, another almost kills themselves, one nearly drinks himself to death every day, and the last abandoned the cause, and is also suspected of stealing the Spring Maiden. Yet I am the bad headmaster."
"I am well aware of my past mistakes Albedo." Ozpin sighed, and turned his eyes back to the arena. "You need not remind them of me as often as you do."
"I know." He shrugged. "Jokes aside, what are our next steps anyway?" Albedo asked, much more serious than he was a few minutes ago.
"For right now, we simply observe the upcoming generation and do our jobs as huntsman if the situation calls for it." Ozpin replied with a nod.
"Hm, well then, let us see what the next match is going to hold then shall we?" Albedo pulled out a larger scroll specifically designed for setting up matches for tournaments, only that the matches were already predetermined. So now all he can do is see what the next match is before it is actually announced.
After seeing what the next match is going to hold, Albedo lets out an amused snort.
"Oh dear, this is much too cruel. Those poor boys…" He said as he read the names of the next three contestants.
"Every huntsman is going to have to overcome their fears, I figured I might as well help those two get over theirs before they end up bringing this problem to my school." Ozpin explained, already having known of the next match.
"I couldn't agree with you more on that front Ozzy, but with her as their opponent? With that semblance of hers? Like I said, much too cruel." Albedo chuckled anyway, and put the scroll away back where it belonged.
"Life is cruel, as I hope they will learn."
"As do I Ozlom, as do I."
As expected, Pyrrha Nikos won her match without any issue whatsoever. While she didn't win the match in nearly as much time as Kai Matsuoka did about half an hour before her match, which people are still unrealistically comparing the two based on just how long their matches were. By their logic, Kai was the best huntsman in training there.
No one could really say that they didn't expect 'The Invincible Girl' would win her match, despite it being triple threat. Both of her opponents have never been in a tournament before, and their first ever opponent was Pyrrha Nikos, talk about bad luck. Anyway, she won, obviously, and now everyone was hoping her next match would be up against Kai Matsuoka. There is a betting poll that was opened up, and thousands have already voted in it. Pyrrha has the majority by ten percent, but it was already impressive that Kai had the money on him from the forty percent that he had.
The next match was starting soon, very soon in fact. The contestants haven't been announced yet, but Brick and Rick both panicked when they both got messages that they were going to be involved in the match, brother against brother, Violet twin against Violet twin. You probably already know that was quite the mess Cyan had to handle, forcibly pushing them apart and taking one to their desired waiting rooms. It was quite the amusing sight to see, even if they did just lose three of their party due to the drama that was the Violet twins.
Orchid however, was enjoying herself with Kai's even newer newfound popularity after his first ever tournament match.
"Kaizy! You've become a meme!" Bubbly Orchid exclaimed happily as she practically shoved the scroll into her blind partners face.
Kai sighed, but smiled nonetheless. "What is it?" He asked, in truth he had no idea what a meme was, he's never seen one. But was willing to humour his very excited partners discovery.
After he won his match, Falcon gave him a good job and a pat on the back, before disappearing the next second later. He expected such from her, since she didn't strike him as the kind of woman to gush over her apprentices every victory, though that is exactly what his mother did. Eeeee! My baby boy is so strong! He blushed in embarrassment just thinking about that sentence coming out of his mother's mouth.
After that, it was time for his friends to tell him how they felt about him winning his match in under ten seconds. Shae, showing her proudness of him by yelling in his face asking why he didn't fight like that against her, than proceeded to hug him tightly and lift him up into the air while saying great job. Two just hummed approvingly and gave him a thumbs up, and while Kai couldn't see it, he assumed that she didn't gesture anything bad at him. Brick and Rick, along with Orchid, were the most excited, Orchid holding out both his hands so that he could high five both of the Violet twins at the same time, than getting hugged from behind before jumping away with a shy expression on her face, hiding behind Yang's long golden hair. Yang complained that she had to one up an impossible show like that, but fist bumped him anyway with a smile on her face.
Sadly, Ruby, Qrow, and Tai weren't around at that time, but they called Marrons scroll and he heard their praises being screamed into the device, with Qrow in the background complaining that they're being too loud. Especially when it was Ruby's turn on the scroll.
He found himself lucky that he didn't go deaf along with being blind, if then things would have definitely been impossible for him.
"Well, there's a picture of you on the top part of the meme, the captions being 'When you try to rob a blind person' and than at the bottom part is a picture of you blasting them both away, and another caption saying 'But it turned out that it was Kai Matsuoka', it was pretty creative, I'll give it a seven out of twenty one." Nerdy glasses Orchid explained as she flicked them off to the side, leaning back in her chair. "What do you think about them?"
"It's…" How did he explain to a person that should know that he is blind that he has never seen a picture of anything before. That person being Orchid made it a hundred times harder since he knew she would overreact to the point of waging war on blindness. "It sounds good." He instead said, adding a nod to it to make it sound more believable.
"Great!" Orchid smiled, but then realized something and she tilted her head in confusion. "Wait a second… aren't you blind?"
"Oh my god Orchid." Kai facepalmed so hard his aura had to flare up to protect his face from a bruise.
"Mmm." Two nudged the back of Kai's seat.
"Huh? Whats up?" Kai asked.
His answer was a foot nudging his head to the right, and clearing out the obstruction that was his head blocking her view.
"Ow! What was that for?" Kai asked as he rubbed his sore cheek.
"Mmmm." Two hummed approvingly, happy with the clear sightline she had to the arena itself.
"Your head was in her way." Shae explained for him. "She's really short, it's not your fault.
"Grrmmm." Two growled at her for that.
"Speaking of height, it looks like you grew a few inches." Yang pointed out, and placed a hand on his head to compare their heights, even though they were both sitting down. "We're like the same height now."
"Wait, I was shorter than you?" Kai asked, turning his head to face Yang.
"Yup." Yang lied.
"She's lying." Shae pointed out with a chuckle.
"Shush! He's not supposed to know that." Yang plead.
"Yang, I already knew you were lying." Kai pointed out with a laugh. "Walking lie detector, remember?"
"Ugh! Why do I keep forgetting that!?" Yang cried, holding her face in between her hands.
"I don't know honestly, I am still trying to wrap my mind around how some people keep forgetting that I am blind and can't see anything they try to show me." Kai wondered.
"Wait, you're blind!?" Orchid's mom asked, terrified from the row above them.
"See what I mean? And yes." Kai reminded Orchid's mom.
"It's not like you actually act like you are blind though." Yang said. "Sometimes you point things out that I can't even see, and especially when you fight, don't even get me started on that one."
"I second that." Shae added.
"Well, I do have a constant three-sixty degree field of seismic sense. It makes things much easier for me." Kai explained simply.
"I still remember when you didn't know how to do that." Marron chuckled from in front of him on the row down. "Who wants to see videos of baby Kai bumping into walls?"
"Mom no-"
Literally everyone pushed past, over, and through him in order to see the video.
It was safe to say that he wasn't having very much fun at the moment.
Rick was not having a good time.
"Cyan, bro I don't know what I am going to do!" he cried as his dark blue lightning crackled off of his body, this happens when he gets stressed out, the same as his twin except only with red lightning. And once they were both called up for a triple threat match, even if they both teamed up against whoever they were up against, they would still have to fight each other.
"Rick, you need to calm down, don't you two always fight anyways? Over the smallest things to, I have to break you two apart most of the time in order to stop any bones from breaking on either side." Cyan said.
"That's not the point my fellow blue wearing companion!" Rick exclaimed as he grabbed hold of Cyan's collar, to which he had to use Showstopper to nullify the stream of electricity that came very close to electrocuting him before he pushed the slightly younger boy away.
"First of all, this isn't blue-"
"Dude, literally no one cares, it's still blue."
"Second of all, I'll tell you the same thing I told Brick." He growled. "It's not like after this you two are going to stop being brothers, just go out there and try to win. If anything you two are going to finally figure out who is the stronger one."
"B-but we've always been equals! We always draw, every single sparring match, every single time we fight." Rick complained.
"Oh stop exaggerating, while I know that you two draw a lot, it can't be every single one."
"Bro, don't you think we have been trying to figure out who is the stronger one? Yeah? Well, we've been trying to figure that out for all our lives, and guess what!?" Rick pointed a finger up at Cyan, only for it to stop midway because he was too short to get it up to his face. "We, are still equal."
Cyan sighed and shook his head. Really, this was just being dragged on now. He still has to go back to Brick like he promised to make sure he is not setting that room on fire either. His lightning tended to be the hotter one out of the two of them, and Rick's was the opposite.
Thinking about how to managed to set a metal shed on fire still gave him a headache.
"Look, I got to go see your brother again, just remember what I've said and I am sure you'll be fine, okay?" Cyan said in the big brother voice that he only uses when he knows that no one else can hear him.
Rick pouted cutely and huffed, sitting down on the bench and taking down his hood to reveal his black hair dyed with dark blue tips.
"Whatever, you better root for us though! I-I mean me, yeah root for me." Rick said as he looked away.
Cyan rolled his eyes and chuckled, before patting Rick on the shoulder and wishing him good luck before leaving the room for good this time. As much as he would hate to admit it, Rick and Brick were like little brothers to him, despite not being related by blood.
Coincidentally, the room where Brick was located was right beside his brothers. So Cyan had a short four second walk to get to his room, before letting himself in.
"Alright Brick, how're you feeling now?"
"Cyan, bro, I don't know what to do!"
Cyan sighed and went through the exact same conversation he had just went through with Rick, and before they knew it, their match was going to be up in just a few seconds.
"Ah, thanks bro. I needed that. We are totally going to- I mean, I am totally going to win this match." Brick said as he sat down on the bench and took off his hood, revealing a head of black hair dyed with red tips.
"Of course, I'll be here for both you guys when you need me." Cyan nodded. "I wonder who your opponent is going to be, he or she is going to be called up soon."
"Yeah, me too. I wanna know who I gotta get through in order to get the dub." Brick said.
"The what?"
"You wouldn't understand, it's a young person thing."
"I'm just a year older than you."
"Like I said, young person thing."
"Whatever." Cyan gave up, once they got a hold of something, they would never drop it until you surrender. "Looks like your opponent is being called up, lets see who it is." He rested his head on his hand with his elbow propped up on his knee, and looked at his scroll. It was easier than looking through the small window that lead to the arena itself.
"Lets get Nora Valkyrie up to the stage!" The announcer announced.
"There ya go, what's the worst that can happen?" Cyan asked as he backed away to the door with the intent of rejoining his friends that are not too far away.
Oh, he had no idea.
The audience clapped politely as Nora Valkyrie made her way up to the stage, her grenade launcher transforming into a large hammer for all to see, earning lots of 'Ooo's' and 'Ahhs', especially from a certain red hooded little girl somewhere in the stands. Who was more screaming something incomprehensibly than actually cheering for the ginger haired girl who happily skipped to her part of the arena.
"We have quite the interesting match on our hands ladies and gentlemen, the next two competitors happen to be very close with each other. So close in fact, that you can call them brothers. Twins in fact, I decided to have a little fun here and call them both up at once to save some time." There was some laughter from the crowd after he said that, which boosted his ego a bit more. "So, let's hear it for the Violet twins! Rick, and Brick!"
Rick and Brick both jogged out of their respective rooms, oddly at the same pace, and moving in mirrored synchronization. Their respective short swords also mirroring each other, at first sight the two of them look to be exact copies of each other, the only difference being the choice in primary color. Rival colors in a sense.
They both tore out their swords at the same time, Rick with his left hand, and Brick with his right, and they point them up to the air. They accidentally chain lightning with each other to form the color violet in between them, which they notice right away and try to separate as fast as they could in order to form some sort of independance from each other.
"Aw~ they're just so adorable!" Nora crooned from her part of the arena. "Can I keep them? Can I!?" She asked a specific person in the crowd, and her response was a stern no. "Awe, phooey." She stomped on the ground and pouted, momentarily forgetting that her match was just about to start.
Neither Rick or Brick knew why, but for some reason they were scared to get any closer to the ginger haired hyper girl with a large hammer.
"Nora is your name right? I come to you with a proposal!" Brick shouted over the announcer who begun the countdown to the rounds start.
"Ooo, lemme hear it!" Nora cheered, resting the head of her hammer on the ground and leaning on the staff. Rick winced when her hammer cracked the stone tiles from just being placed on them.
"Let my brother and I fight until one of us fall!" Brick shouted, bringing shock to both Nora and most of the crowd. Rick even shouted in indignation as his brother continued talking. But when he saw his brother wink at him, he decided to play along.
"This rivalry between us can go on no longer dear brother, I challenge thee to single combat!" Rick yelled as he pointed his sword at his twin.
"I accept your challenge my less attractive twin!"
"Hey, take that back!"
Somewhere in the crowd, Cyan yelled at them to stop what they are doing and just start fighting already. He went unheard, either that or completely ignored. Most likely it was the latter.
"Oh, and I get to watch?" Nora asked with a hopeful grin on her face.
"Once I win, you will be next." Both Rick and Brick shouted to their surprisingly easy going opponent. Than they both blushed in embarrassment when they realized that they shouted that out at the same time.
"Okie dokie! Gimme a show boys, momma wants to be entertained." Nora waggled her eyebrows as she sat down, cross legged on the ground.
"Just for you my fair maiden, I shall cut down that red hooded fiend."
"Not before I defeat you, you blue haired twat!"
"Ugh! I don't know who is more adorable!" Nora nearly ripped her hair out as she struggled to decide which of the younger boys she is going to squeeze in a hug as soon as this match ends, whether she loses or not, tonight she is going to adopt at least one and a half of them.
"Er… you three know that the match already started, right?"
All three contestants stared forward, wide eyed at the news. Before the two brothers suddenly realized that they were all expecting for the two of them to start fighting each other. They both entered a low stance and in a crackle of red and blue, the next thing everyone knew they clashed their swords together in a flash of purple, before disengaging from each other at the same time.
"Those two are just… ugh!" Cyan groaned as he massaged his temples in a poor attempt at trying to soothe away the headache he now has.
"Don't worry Cyan, at least their finally fighting." Yang tried.
Back to the fight, Rick and Brick both let their lightning crackle off of their bodies, from the speed at which they were traveling when they clashed with each other, and the shockwave on top of that. Their hoods blew over the back of their heads, revealing almost the exact same haircuts, would've been exactly the same if it weren't for some minor differences and the color difference.
Without any further deliberation, they move around each other, both looking for any opening they can find and attack it. To the untrained eyes, they look like red and blue blurs circling each other.
In her own little corner, Nora claps in excitement at the color show.
There it is! They both thought as they suddenly stopped and dashed toward each other with a twirl.
Rick attacked high, and Brick attacked low. Their colors merging yet again into violet as they clash their weapons together unintentionally. While locked onto the spot they are both standing in now, they enter a flurry of slashes, chops, and stabs. All of them either being nullified by an identical attack, or parried away with sparking fluency. They don't let up and this goes on for about thirty straight seconds before the both grunt out of frustration and jump away from each other, but not without a going away present that they both had in mind.
"Lightning slash!" Rick and Brick shouted as they slashed at the air in front of them, their swords shimmering with their respective colors as an arc of red and blue lightning fires off from each, only to collide barely a second later and explode in an colorful display of red and blue.
The smoke resulting from the attack temporarily blinds the audience, but is quickly faded away when Rick charged through the smoke, dispersing it just in time for the audience to see Brick dodge backward underneath an attack that may as well have cut off his head if he wasn't careful enough.
Brick made to counter with a stab up into the air, but with a yelp Rick moved his torso out of the way just in time for his blade to stab into nothing but air. Rick rolled as he landed on the ground, and spun around on the spot and readied his sword for defence if need be. Brick on the other hand, pushed his hand onto the ground and launched himself up into the air, landing later on his two feet and assumed the same defensive stance and posture as his twin standing not even ten feet away.
They huffed and puffed as sweat dripped down their foreheads. Their auras were both in the high nineties, neither of them able to land a single hit on the other and the only reason for their auras to not be at a hundred percent is because of the aura consumption their semblances need in order to sustain itself.
"This is getting me nowhere…" They both mumbled to themselves as they got ready to attack each other again.
"This is so fun to watch." Nora said with a full mouth of popcorn that has suddenly appeared in her lap as she was watching the spectacle before her.
"Nora put that away!" A young man from the crowd shouted to her.
"Sorry Renny!" Nora said as she threw said bag of popcorn out of bounds and smiled widely at him.
"Rick! I propose another proposal." Brick said as he relaxed his stance.
"Brick, I shall hear this proposal of yours." Rick easily nodded and also relaxed his stance.
"I swear to god I am going to kill both of them." Cyan growled as he let off a certain aura that Yang scooted away from.
"If it helps you in any way, I know what it is like to have younger siblings."
"It doesn't."
"I say that we unite our blades to take down a common enemy!" Brick proposed happily as he pointed his sword to the ginger haired girl who still sat cross legged. She didn't know if he was actually referring to her or not, so she pointed to herself and tilted her head in confusion. "We shan't be fighting for the sake of some girl brother! Let us dispatch of this threat to our relationship before we tear it down."
Nora looked hurt as she stood back up, and pressed a hand over her heart. She even cried imaginary tears as she picked up her hammer and threw it over her shoulder. "But I like you two… I don't wanna break you yet." She quietly begged.
"No need to worry m'lady." Rick bowed to her elegantly.
Nora dared to hope.
"Because I will be the one to let you down gently, I will not let that red headed swine treat you so unfairly!" Rick said this like it was a good thing.
Nora gasped, and then fluttered her eyelashes, happily playing along. "My hero! Maybe I'll give you a reward if you manage to go through with it~" She wiggled her eyebrows and winked at Rick, making him break character for all but a second to blush and hide his face from view.
"Rick no, do not fall for her succubus flirtations! Together, we shall defeat her!" Brick proclaimed as he readied himself to attack her, red lightning crackling off his body.
Rick sniffled, emotional after his brothers display of brotherly love. "Together, we shall come out victorious!" He entered a mirrored stance, and aimed his sword at Nora, who grinned at the two of them as he crackled with blue lightning. "But then afterward I am going to prove to you who is the stronger!"
"Well said, now charge my brother!" Brick yelled as he began his charge, leaving behind red footprints as he made his way to the grinning succubus.
"Yes, charge at me, for I am the bane of the Violet kingdom, for I am the Queen… of the castle!" Nora yelled as she made way to meet the two brothers, more than happy with the two on one she is now faced with.
"Is this even allowed!?" The commentator was heard asking someone in a quiet voice. "Well, it is a triple threat match, I guess we didn't really have a lot of time to think of rules for such a match stipulation."
Somewhere up in the stands, a lonely crow stands on a girder and watches the spectacle that is the Violets versus the Queen of the castle.
This… this is the next generation. The crow thought as it sighed.
Rick and Brick split off from each other as they grew nearer to the Queen of the castle, whichever kingdom she is from, it is not a good one. The Violet kingdom shall stand strong! The bloodline shall continue! They'll be damned if the Valkyrie they face now be their downfall.
Rick attacked from the right, and Brick on the left. Both chopping down with the intention of landing their blades on Nora's shoulders, the only thing getting in their way was a silvery staff blocking both of their attacks with almost effortless ease. Their nightmare grinned as she pushed them both away with a huff, launching them in the air. They landed at the same time on their feet, and stared with wide eyes at the insanely strong demon they realize they are facing up against.
"Was that it? Okay, looks like it's time for me to be the aggressive one." Nora said as she exploded off her feet into a sprint so violently that it destroyed that poor tile her foot was resting on.
The bones in Ricks arms shook as he absorbed the attack of her large hammer with the flat part of his blade. Brick cried out for his brother as he kicked the staff of the hammer, forcing the head to move off of Rick's sword and slamming into the ground beside him. "Don't try to block her attacks, the demon is much too powerful!" Brick exclaimed as he jumped back, with his brother's wrist in his hand.
"G-got it!" Rick exclaimed with a very light shade of pink dusting over his cheeks. When Nora struck his sword, she winked at him and made a kissy face. His young male teenage body wasn't able to comprehend what was happening without jumping to conclusions. She was around the same year age as he was to…
The sight of heart shaped grenades closing in on his position motivated him to jump out of the way. Just as he got out of the way in time, a pink explosion lit up right in the spot he was standing in an impressive radius.
"She has a grenade launcher!?" Brick questioned. "WHY!?"
"Throwing a grenade a day keeps the Grimm away!" Nora cheered as she fired off four more grenades at the twins, forcing them apart from each other, the sounds of explosions, and the way too excited giggling coming from the source of their nightmares being the only things they are able to hear as they dash all over the place.
"This is more than one grenade!" Rick complained as he narrowly avoided a direct hit from the heart shaped death device. But wasn't able to get out of the explosion. The pink explosion took a decent chunk out of his aura, and almost threw him out of the ring if it wasn't for Brick's quick thinking and tackling him in mid air before he could go out of bounds.
"Oof." Rick grunted as they hit the ground together, and were offered a moment of grace when the monster was forced to start reloading her grenade launcher.
"You okay?" The twin older by one hundred and twelve seconds asked as he helped the blue twin up.
"Yeah, just got the wind knocked out of me, that's all." Rick said as he rolled his shoulder. "She is just way more than I expected, I mean, how can any girl get that strong."
"I dunno, but it's going to be keeping me up at night after we're done here." Brick shivered at the thought.
"I… I don't think we can beat her with just our swordplay, but if we use our semblance…" Rick trailed off, looking to his brother with a smirk spread across his features. "You thinking what I'm thinking?"
Brick smirked back at him, and held out his fist with for a bump. "Yeah, I think it's time we unleash it."
Rick fist bumped his brother, easily understanding their secret code for their secret weapon when they are fighting a powerful human opponent together, or a strong Grimm, whichever came first. "Yes! It's been way too long since we did this."
"It's been way too long since we found someone worthy of it!" Brick echoed as they prepared to start the attack.
Yang looked to Cyan, expecting him to comment on what the two brothers have just planned to do, and to her surprise, all he did was lean forward in his seat as if to get a better look at what was just about to go down. She let it go, if he didn't say anything about it, than she had no ammo to tease him with.
Brick, and Rick stood next to each other on one leg, back to back, sword arms pushed up against each other as they both crackle with violet electricity. Happily merging their semblances together this time to form one large scale attack. Their swords also glowed with the purple energy, and as they moved almost as one, their eyes looked like they left a trail of purple lightning behind them as they moved in a circular motion.
"Ultimate move: Violet Tempest!" Both twins chanted at the same time. A tornado about thirty feet in height, made completely out of violet lightning, roared as it formed around the two of them. The wind pressure forced Nora to protect her eyes with her forearm.
Nora cheered loudly, even though she was the one about to be hit by the attack. "YES! HIT ME WITH EVERYTHING YOU'VE GOT BOYS!" She screamed as she held her arms out to her side and laughed maniacally as the storm grew nearer.
With their voices merged as one, the tempest spoke back with a mixture of both brothers. "YOU WILL REGRET THAT DECISION!"
"COME OVER HERE, AND MAKE ME!" Nora shouted back, having way too much fun talking to a possibly lethal tornado.
"Wait a second…" Cyan squinted his eyes at the ginger haired girl that was getting on with Rick and Brick very quickly. He focused his vision and tuned everything else out, and as the tempest closed in on her, and even struck her a few times with lightning, he could see her generating her own force of energy…
Pink lightning crackled off of her body more and more with each strike.
"Oh no…" Cyan placed both of his hands on his face, saving himself from having to watch what comes up next.
"What's wrong? They're winning, right?" Kai asked, ignorant of what is actually going on besides from what he's heard so far. He assumes that they might be winning, and that is him being hopeful. He has known Rick and Brick long enough to know that they in fact do not have grenades to throw around.
"I thought they might, but it turns out that the girl they're up against is directly counters basically their entire arsenal when it comes to the use of semblances." Cyan explained to his only male friend that he actually thinks has a brain.
"What could that be?" Shae asked before Yang could.
Cyan sighed again, and took his hands away to see that she was crackling with even more pink electricity.
"She can absorb lightning based attacks."
"Wow! Now isn't that a colorful display being put on for us?"
Rick and Brick roared in what they thought was victory when they jumped out of the tempest, and pushed it forward to completely engulf their enemy, and with one last lighting slash, this one appropriately named the 'Violet Lightning Slash.' The two of them worked together and made the tempest explode with a violet explosion, anything caught within this would certainly be disintegrated if they didn't have any aura, deadly to Grimm, and definitely a great attack against humanoid opponents. They just need to be careful when and where they use it, because they wouldn't want to accidentally kill someone with such an attack, which would explain why they were so shocked that not only that Nora was still standing, but now had a full aura gauge.
"T-that's impossible." Brick muttered as he fell down to one knee, panting.
"That was our strongest attack! How are you still standing!?" Rick asked as his sword clutterted to the ground, utterly spent after pulling off such an attack. The one major downside of the Violet Tempest was that it drained almost all of their stamina, and took a lot of aura out of them. Even if it did work and Nora was knocked out, they didn't plan far ahead enough to realize that they would have just added yet another draw to the list.
"Hahaha!" Nora laughed, dispersing the rest of the smoke with a simply wave of her hand, her highly enhanced strength more than enough to blow it away. "Well, if you must know, I can absorb electricity and turn that energy into power! If I didn't have my semblance unlocked though, you would have definitely beat me."
"Oh no…"
"We've been duped."
Both brothers fell down to their knees, their exhaustion catching up with them, they can no longer fight.
"Hey bro…" Rick called to his brother. "I think we gotta start on stamina exercises like Cyan warned us to."
"Yeah bro, I think we should." Brick easily agreed.
Nora was about to attack them, her highly enhanced strength and a few love taps with her hammer would have been more than enough to take them both down. But even she would not be that cruel. Instead, she let all of the electricity flow out of her body, powering her back down to just as she was before the match started, and skipped her way toward to two twins.
She held a hand out to each of them, and they looked up at her with confused looks on their faces.
"I, the Queen of the castle, hereby sentence you two, to be my new friends." She recited, and smiled widely at them. "Well c'mon now, take my hand before I hit you with my hammer."
Instead of taking her hands like she offered, Rick and Brick jumped up and hugged her tightly, tears of purest joy soaking themselves into her bosom. "Thank you Nora, we won't forget this!" Brick cried.
"I will gladly be your friend!" Rick mumbled into her chest.
"Aw~" Nora cooed as she stroked both of their heads and squeezed them to her chest. "You two are now mine."
No one in the crowd really knew what to do, so they clapped and cheered for this affectionate act of comradery between three huntsman in training. It was awkward at first, but it soon intensified once they decided that it is not a bad thing after all if a match ended like this, and before they knew it that stadium was vibrating with applause almost as loud as when Kai won his match in under ten seconds.
"I uh… I'd hate to interrupt this moment of… bonding? But the match is still going on, we still need a winner." The announcer reminded them.
Brick and Rick separated themselves from Nora, and then looked to each other, back to Nora, and then smiled.
"We forfeit!" They both announced as they bowed down to Nora, who placed both of her hands over her heart dramatically, flattered by their declaration.
"O-Oh, well then." The announcer cleared his throat. "The winner of this round is Nora Valkyrie!"
Nora threw her fist up in the air and cheered, relishing in all of the attention she is now getting. She then grabs both Rick and Brick by their arms, and hooks her own arms through theirs. "Follow me you two, I got someone I have to introduce you to."
"We'll be happy to meet them!" Rick and Brick happily accepted as the three of them walked together toward the exit of the arena, before realizing that they forgot their weapons and ran back to get them, and then linking arms again and resuming their journey.
It was a great start to a wonderful life long friendship.
Cyan sat back in his seat, wide eyed and overall unresponsive to any attempts by his friends to start a conversation with him. It seemed like he was shocked so hard and suddenly that he rendered himself comatose. His friends decided that it would be better just to leave him be, since a lot did happen in such a short amount of time. Not to mention that this match was full to the brim with surprises.
"I wonder what the next match is going to be." Kai muttered out loud as he sat back in his own seat, he wished that his match was longer, if only so he could at least have some remaining adrenaline in his body to keep him excited for listening to the other matches.
"Mmm!" Two hummed loudly suddenly and enthusiastically.
"Huh, Two is in the next match. Ready to show the world what you've got?" Shae asked, nudging her new partner with her elbow.
"Mhm." She nodded.
"Two, is your last name three?" Orchid asked as Two was standing up.
"Mm mm."
"Hm… is it one?" Orchid asked next, persistent with the belief that Two's last name just had to be a number as well.
"Mmm." Two ignored her and waved to everyone else as she disappeared into the crowd.
The Flamingo pouted, and sat back in her seat.
"How many rounds are left until the quarter finals anyway?" Yang asked one of the adults, specifically Kai's mom because she isn't sure if Orchid's mom is sane or not.
"Eh, I think there's gonna be two more for this segment, and then tomorrow is going to be all the quarter finalists matches." Marron said as she read off of her scroll."
"Neat, so I'm not going to have to sit here listening to the sounds of people fighting for much longer then." Kai said with a chuckle.
"Hey," A voice unfamiliar to any of his friends spoke up loud enough to be noticed. Kai sensed this person coming, but didn't say anything and thought they were just passing by. "You Kai Matsuoka?" The gruff young woman's voice asked. Her light blue eyes piercing through Kai's blindfold.
"What if he is?" Marron asked, standing up and defending her son.
"Look lady…" The young woman with short black hair said as she pinched the bridge of her nose, resisting the urge to just take Kai right then and there. "I'm not here to cause trouble, I am just here to have a chat with your son. I think he knows my mentor pretty well anyway." She said with a smile, hoping that Kai got her hidden message.
Kai got the message, this was probably one of Falcon's underlings, why she was here to speak to him, and in the open no less, was unknown to him.
"I… okay, I'll go." Kai easily gave in, and stood up.
"Kai! We don't know who this woman could be, I cannot allow you to be alone with her alone." Marron said as she pushed Kai down back into his seat.
"Then come with us, I am sure he would like to see you too." The woman said with a smirk.
Marron narrowed her eyes at the younger woman, trying to see if she could find any sign of her lying, despite her son having a much easier job at it. All of Kai's friends also narrowed their eyes at her, more than willing to help defend their friend if they had to. Kai didn't know if he could trust this woman, she clearly wanted something from him, what that was, he didn't know. But as he ran over what she has said so far in his head, a small two letter word stook out to him.
Wait a second… did she say he?
"Who are you?" Kai asked as he stood up again, a bit more willing to converse with her.
She smiled at the young boy, if what her current mentor told her was true, than he would know what she meant when she says what she is about to say.
"I, am the Spring Maiden."
Holy mother of cliffhangers, what a chapter this was. Rick and Brick finally get a bit of screentime, and Kai gets a visit from a certain someone. How did she get there so fast when she was hours away in the last chapter? That is yet to be discovered, find out next chapter of Dra- shit wrong show, uh… The Blind Huntsman!
Brining Nora into this chapter was just something I could not resist, she was originally going to pop up in a future chapter down the line, but against Rick and Brick, whose semblances are lightning, versus Nora who completely counters them, was just too much for me to resist. Hopefully you all enjoyed this chapter as much as I had fun writing it.
Please review and let me know what you think of the story so far!
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Yeah, I made a p atreon I don't really expect you guys to actually go for that, but the option is there.
Now, let us get to part 2 of Malikai and Mal's adventure.
Malikai, and his Father part 2
It has been months since their departure from Vacuo, and the physical toll on their bodies is becoming more and more prevalent. Mal has been leaning more on his hiking stick, while Malikai has been struggling more and more with the heavy pack he has on his back. Neither of their spirits have been diminished however, and they are more determined than ever to get to Vale for more than a few reasons.
"How much longer until we get there?" Malikai asked between pants.
"About a week or two, depends on how tight you keep your mouth shut." Mal scolded as he looked down at their map.
"... you were the one who taught me how to detect lies dad." Malikai pointed out, stopping in his tracks so that he could look his father in the eyes. "Try again with the truth this time."
Mal sighed. " I taught you that trick for more reasons than just for me son." He said as he took another brief look at the map in his hands. "This year's term for Beacon starts in two months, and we have about… one month to go if we keep traveling on foot." Mal said with a grunt as he stuffed the map back into his pocket.
"This problem could have been avoided if we just took a damn bullhead, or a train." Malikai groaned as he hardened his glare at him.
"You know we don't have that kind of money Malikai, we barely have enough as it is to buy food in the next village we are to come across." Mal said as he patted his wallet, it was very thin with just a few lien remaining.
"Right…" Malikai turned away and started walking again, though this time with a much more negative aura.
Mal kept note of this and stayed on guard, negativity bore nothing but Grimm along with it. His son was the type that was slow to anger, and slow to calm down, and all this negativity has resulted after months of relentless traveling, and broken boots.
"We'll get there son, I am sorry that this trip has lasted longer then what we originally planned, but there is no going back now. At the end of this you will be rewarded with a hot bath, good food, and a guaranteed spot at Beacon once I am finished speaking to the headmaster."
"Yeah, I know. I haven't forgotten about this." Malikai said in a monotone voice. "Still not so enthused by the idea, I just turned seventeen just a few weeks ago and it seems like I don't really have a choice in what I want to do for my future."
"Son, stop that." Mal ordered in his paternal voice. "You know why you must do what I am asking of you. Us silver eyed warriors are destined for combat, that hasn't change in the last two thousand years, and it isn't going to chain for a few thousand more. It is simply within our blood to become warriors."
"Yeah, little wonder why we're the last ones left alive." Malikai snapped, spinning in place and glaring at his father. "What's the point of all this dad? What's the point of my becoming a hunter? We got plenty more in the world to fill in those shoes, like that Grimm Reaper chick I've been hearing about, to me the world is going to be just fine without me to help protect it."
"Malikai… you need to calm down." Mal warned, looking around for any signs of Grimm. They are like a beacon of negativity right now, and that does not bode well for the old warrior.
"Screw that old man, I've been calm for the better part of nine fucking months, I think I am owed a little venting." Malikai said.
"I thought you understood why I need you to do this, why you need to become a huntsman, like my father told me when I was your age. This world needs us, maybe not this generation, certainly not my generation, but it is certainly going to need you in your lifetime, I can see it." Mal explained, letting his stick fall to the ground and holding his hands out in front of him in order to calm his son down. "Please…"
Snap
Malikai's face transformed from anger, to pure horror. Staring into the eyes of a red monster that threatens to attack his father from behind.
"Behind you!" Malikai shouted as he drew his sword and was already on his way to defend his father.
Before he could even make it to him, Mal already spun around and used his silver eyes without thinking, heavily damaging the humanoid Grimm and forcing it to run away.
It didn't die however, and now Mal was able to feel his eyes.
He fell to one knee, and slipped off his pack while also rubbing at his eyes with his free hand. It was blurring out, and his vision was fading into nothing but a blur. "No… not now… please." Mal begged fate as he tried to make his silver eyes work again.
"Dad! Are you okay!?" Malikai cried as he slid to a stop beside his father.
Mal simply pushed Silver Ebony into his sons hands. "From here on until you pass this sword down to your future offspring, this sword is now yours." Mal chanted as he pushed the sword further into Malikai's grip. "Run now child, do what you know in your heart to be the right thing to do."
"What? No way, I am taking you with me. We were supposed to see Vale together for the first time right?" Malikai said in defiance as he slipped his head underneath his father's arm.
"You… don't understand. My time has come, I am all but useless to you now."
"You think I give a shit about that!?" Malikai screamed, a mixture of both fear and shock as he scoured the treeline for any sign of that horrifying Grimm he had seen. "We are getting out of here, together."
"No, we are not." Mal forced his son out from under him, and pushed him forward away from him. "I will hold them off."
"Hold them off? There was only one of them, if you want to take it down, than I will help you." Malikai said as he readied Silver Ebony. Not noticing that the runes on the sword have changed to match his abilities.
"You would only get in the way, this is no ordinary Grimm child." Mal warned as patches of his vision returned. "These Grimm are older then history itself, I recognized them as soon as I saw them…"
"W-what do you mean?"
Four Grimm bursted out of the treeline, and formed a circle around them both before they were able to do anything about it. Malikai and his father stood back to back, the former being the only one to be armed, he cursed to himself when he realized he left his other sword on the ground meters away from them, and right under a Grimm wielding a tree as a weapon. They were all humanoid in nature, with horns of a ram atop their heads and glowing red holes for eyes. Their bone armour was shaped in such a way that it made it look like actual armour. The others all had an arrangement of makeshift weapons made out of whatever is strong enough to hold up against their tremendous strength.
"Damn it… I thought we wouldn't have to face them so soon." Mal mumbled as he prepared himself for a battle.
"W-what the hell kind of Grimm are they?" Malikai asked.
"These, are the four original Grimm, the first four made in the image of the God of Darkness himself…" Mal said as he entered a stance. "You're not ready yet, but with me, we may be able to defeat them, but only with the use of our eyes."
"I haven't unlocked mine yet…" Malikai paled as he realized what his father meant.
Mal smiled sadly, and fully regained his vision just enough to see what he is fighting for his final battle.
"You will today." He said just before he charged.