Caspian's fingers trembled as they hastily worked at the straps of his chestplate. He had already flung off his coat and crammed it into his bag, and his shinguards were to follow. There was no way Noxis would be happy with the outcome of the match. Maybe, Caspian thought, if he could change fast enough and leave the locker room in time, he could avoid him entirely. He practically dove for the door handle as he scrambled out of the locker room, but his heart leapt from his throat.
His hands grasped the air as the door flung away. It was Noxis.
Caspian nodded in feigned respect and tried to work his way around the faunus, but felt a vice grip on his shoulder. "In a rush, are we?" Noxis growled. He ripped Caspian back into the room hard enough that he stumbled to the ground, and the contents of his half-zipped bag scattered across the concrete.
"We need to have a little chat."
Rowan stepped between the two. "The hell was that for? Step off!"
"That was for the pitiful display out there," Noxis snapped. "You didn't manage to touch anyone, and Lilly stood still for half the fight. You're all embarrassing the school."
"D-Don't blame her!" Caspian countered, attempting to mask the fact he could barely sputter the words through his pounding heart and the lump in his throat. "She was using her semblance to help me think."
"So it's your fault. No surprise there."
"We were figuring out the one girl's semblance-"
"And she beat you before you could."
"She beat you too!" Rowan argued.
"Yeah, after I eliminated three of them. Two of which I did by myself," Noxis retorted. "If anyone else on this team carried their own weight, we would have won."
Caspian breathed out evenly to quell the tide of emotion. "We have three more years," he reminded. "We're lucky we even qualified in our first year."
Rowan nodded. "INKK worked pretty well together, probably because they've had more time to get used to each other."
"Inko and Nila had great synergy," Caspian agreed. "Plus, Lazula's probably just gonna win it all for Sentinel anyway."
Noxis brushed past Rowan, and towered over Caspian. "So there's no use in trying, huh? For someone who whines incessantly about living in his sister's shadow, you sure do enjoy the shade."
Caspian stumbled helplessly over his response.
"Why does this tournament even matter so much to you anyway? It's not like you want to join the PHL. Really feels like you're just using this as an excuse to insult us," Rowan cut in. He grew more irritated with each word. "Why are you even at Sentinel?"
"I'm at Sentinel to get stronger. Being around the likes of you two makes that difficult." He turned to Caspian, stepping forward and trapping him against the wall. "And as for you, if anyone was Headmaster besides your own father, you wouldn't be here to argue this with me."
Noxis stepped by, leaving Caspian to slide down the wall until he sat. He cursed both himself, and the one who left him like this. Almost the whole school year had passed, and the slightest confrontation with the wolf faunus left Caspian a nauseated, quivering mess with a tight chest and racing heart.
Just a few more weeks until Summer. Rinse and repeat three times over.
"Hey, man. Come on, let's get going," Rowan offered. "Laurel's concert is tonight, you still wanna go? It might help take your mind off this."
"Yeah, sure..." Caspian weakly agreed, accepting Rowan's help up.
"I think Lilly and Lazula are going together if you wanna meet up with them."
Caspian shook his head. "I'd rather not talk to my sister right now." He took a deep breath, attempting to bring up his mood. "I'll invite Cat and Moka."
By the time Caspian and Rowan arrived to the lot, a surprisingly large crowd had already gathered before it. Pit Viper had opened for a few bands in the past that were somewhat famous within their niche, but never had they held their own concert. Caspian stuck by Rowan's side. Usually, crowds didn't phase him, as he could just disappear into the masses. But amid the leather jackets, wild haircuts and painful-looking piercings, he felt entirely out of place.
"It's a shame Moka and Cat couldn't come. What were they up to again?" Rowan inquired.
"Moka's hanging out with her family again," Caspian explained. "Actually I'm not sure what Cat's up to. Might be training, but I don't think she really likes this kind of music anyway."
Laurel was onstage, tuning Pit Viper and adjusting the microphone. The shaggy green-haired drummer set up his kit, and the grungy-looking bassist with a fin jutting from his back tuned his instrument. Their stage names were Pete Moss and Marlon Finn, if Caspian's memory served him right. After ten or so minutes, the lights around the stage dimmed, and a few above focused on Laurel.
"Thank you all for coming out tonight. Hope you're enjoying the tournament and everything. We're Pit Viper, but I guess you already know that," Laurel began, running absently through her words onstage. She perked up. "I don't know how to start this, so let's just kick this shit off!"
The crowd roared, and Pete began to click his drumsticks rhythmically.
"One, two, three, four!"
After the first drum hit and strum of Laurel's guitar, Pit Viper stopped playing abruptly. Laurel turned away from the crowd and her mischievous cackle was lost to the confused murmur of the audience, before she whipped back around with vigor in her eyes. "FIVE, SIX, SEVEN, EIGHT!"
Caspian was struck by the wall of noise. How three people could make so much of it, Caspian had no idea. Though thrash-punk-metal, or whatever label the music fell under, wasn't Caspian's preferred genre, but something about Laurel- how she managed to simultaneously sing and nail the heavy riffs, how she jaunted energetically around the stage as she did with a grin on her face, was enthralling. Shouting lyrics over guitar and drum never sounded so good.
Judging by the wild mashing and shoving of the audience, they agreed.
A few songs in, after Caspian had taken an elbow or two to the ribcage, the band had settled into one of their slower songs. The moshers took a break, instead waving lighters to the beat and nodding along.
"These guys are pretty good, huh?" an unfamiliar voice commented from over Caspian's shoulder.
He turned, and came face to face with an odd-looking woman. Bald, with heavy winged eyeliner, pitch black lipstick and a ski-jump nose. A shredded leather jacket and meter-wide hoop skirt were an odd combination, but she fit in well enough with the crowd.
Her smile seemed friendly enough, but something about her sat in the pit of Caspian's stomach like a stone.
"We know the lead singer!" Rowan bragged. "She's one of our good friends!"
The woman's drawn-on eyebrows raised. "Huh, nice. She's lucky to be playing during the Vytal Tournament, with so many people watching." She grinned again. "It's like my boss says, the Vytal Tournament is the world's biggest stage. If you want the world to hear what you're saying, say it here."
"He's probably right. The finale is practically considered a holiday! I don't know anyone who doesn't tune in!"
She chuckled. "Anyway, make sure to tell Miss Viper she did a damn good job," the woman concluded, before sinking back into the crowd.
As she left, Caspian saw the tip of a serpent's tail sweep out from underneath her skirt.
"You've got a girlfriend, and you still go silent every time a girl approaches you? Come on, man!" Rowan teased.
Caspian shook his head, watching the spot where the woman disappeared into the mass. "Something didn't sit right with me. I can't put my finger on it, but there's something off about her."
"It's her! It's really her!" the girl a row behind Caspian marvelled. "It's Lazula!"
"Yeah. I mean, we did come to watch her match..." the one who was presumably her brother mumbled.
"But she's so close!"
"Have you seen her interviews? She's so arrogant, I can't stand her. Just some pissy rich girl stealing away all the prize money."
"Oh whatever. She's the best by far. She deserves to be arrogant."
"Heard she's rude to her fans too. Why don't you try for an autograph and find out?"
The girl sighed. "Honestly, I think I'm too shy... But hey, who's that girl with her? Lazula's only done single tournaments before, I don't recognize her..."
"Hot off their victory in the Team Round, Lazula Skye and Snow Hudson of Sentinel are looking for another win!"
"But this next match won't be easy!" Mrs. Brown added. "The Dynamic Duo of Marten and Tayra Castor of Shade had a dominating performance in the team round, and they have no intention of stopping here!"
"That's unfortunate, neither do I," Lazula thought. She adjusted a strap on Aegis, and looked up to her competition. The familial resemblance was obvious- much more so than her own resemblance to Caspian. Both were tall and well-built, with black hair, a prominent brow, and bold, beady eyes. A long, bushy black tail draped from Tayra's waist to the floor, and a pair of fluffy brown ears perked up from Marten's buzzcut. Their outfits were congruent too; both wearing various shades of black, brown, and silver amid their vests, pants, and plates of armor.
It must be fun, Lazula thought, to fight side by side with your twin.
The rumbling underneath her feet signalled the stage randomization had begun. Marten and Tayra gained a peculiar backdrop; a black floor, with the edge of the field glowing white and a dozen or so floating prisms of irregular shape and size, each face surrounded by a glowing border of white or purple. Behind Lazula and Snow was a comparably mundane forest. The stage didn't matter to Lazula. Owing to her raw skill, she had the advantage over anyone on even ground.
As the countdown begun, Lazula unsheathed Impetus, and readied her shield. Her eyes settled on Tayra, whose flat-edged, chainsaw-sword transformed to a bulky rifle, the dust chain now feeding into the base of the barrel.
As soon as the buzzer sounded, she pinched the trigger, and a violent stream of blasts burst forth from her gun's muzzle. Lazula lowered her head beneath the top of her shield and ducked down, protecting herself from the rain of fire as much as she could. The noise of each shot exploding upon her shield filled her ears, and her head snapped aside to her partner.
"Snow, return fire!"
Snow nodded, and rays of blue traced out from Absolute Zero's handle until it became a rifle, she raised it, and a few of her shots landed before Tayra let up on her assault, transforming her weapon back into a toothed sword and blocking Snow's shots with the flat of her blade.
The top of Marten's hook swords slid down and pivoted, until they became symmetric, with multiple razor sharp edges to each side. He put his full body into each throw, and they careened through the air toward Snow, whirling like sawblades.
Lazula leapt in, blocking the first with Aegis, and slinging Impetus at the second. She charged at Marten as he stood weaponless, but just before she reached him, he held his arms out and regained his weapons.
Lazula pushed him back with a series of strikes as the boomerangs transformed back into hook swords. She had never fought nor sparred anyone with them before, and they made for a tedious opponent. Her jab was pulled to the side, and when she raised Aegis to his follow-up, it was wrenched the same way. She spun with the force of his attack, putting her full weight into her next. Marten ducked under it with blinding speed, grappling her blade and whipping a hook around Lazula's ankle to wrench her to the floor. In his brief moment of victory, he transformed the blade in his right hand, flinging it at Snow.
Snow looked over her shoulder and cartwheeled as she freed her blade from Tayra's, dodging the whirling blade with only an inch to spare. Tayra caught her twin's weapon and used it as her own, striking down on Snow with brute strength. She raised Absolute Zero to deflect the blow, but was struck with Tayra's original weapon, and a follow-up.
Marten losing one of his weapons simplified the fight for Lazula. She landed a hefty blow that took a third of his aura, and a second with Aegis to shove him to the edge of the glossy black floor.
Watching her brother, Tayra abandoned the fight with Snow to toss his boomerang back and join him. Once again dual-wielding, Marten's speed nearly held an edge over Lazula. She grit her teeth, and with each dodged swing and redirected slash, she grew increasingly irritated.
"Damn it. If he just stopped dodging, this would be simple. Lose already."
As Marten ripped both hook blades down on her shield, Lazula took their force into herself, and turned on the balls of her feet to lash out with Impetus. Sometime during the attack, Marten dodged aside again. It should have been impossible, Lazula thought, to get out of the way in such time. She lost her balance as his hook stuck her leg again, and the dark floor came forward. Lazula tumbled onto it with all the energy behind her attack. She regained her footing for a second, and the white glow around the edge of the floor tinted purple.
"Huh?!"
Lazula felt the ground underneath her shift. No- there was no ground underneath her. She was lifted off the floor suddenly, through no effort of her own. A white glow flashed across the edge of the dark face floating twenty feet above, and Lazula thrashed through the air, managing to land on it. Gracelessly, but on her feet.
Snow pursued Tayra in the center of the arena below. Lazula had seen the biome in a few matches over the last couple years, but few ever fought within it, and she had never experienced its true, disorienting nature for herself. To anyone watching, she stood upside-down. But to her, up felt down, and down felt up.
The sooner she was on the ground and following the laws of physics, the better.
Marten leapt up to meet Lazula, turning in midair and bearing down -or up- on her with his blades. Lazula blocked them and channeled her semblance into a kick, which flung him off the platform and onto a nearby wall. His feet stuck on its vertical face, and he flung both boomerangs at her.
As Tayra did a half-flip onto the platform to cross blades with Lazula, Snow sprung up to the wall, losing little speed as she approached Marten. She lashed out with her whip, but just as the tip reached her foe, his weapons returned. He grappled Snow's whip between them, and flung her into another floating figure.
She landed upon it with a roll, standing to face Marten as he leapt across the gap to join her. The two crossed blades for several seconds. Snow's speed was a better match for Marten's, and Lazula was better equipped to hold off the force of Tayra's blows, and send it back at her.
After half a minute, Snow held off both of Marten's blades with her own. The brawny faunus used the full foot of height advantage he had over the comparably slight white-haired huntress, shoving her toward the ground. Snow's arms trembled as she held him off, and just before she buckled, her eyes flicked to the side.
The border around the platform they stood on glowed purple, and that around the nearby wall shone white.
As gravity failed the pair, Snow transformed Absolute Zero into axe form, and pivoted on the balls of her feet. The head of her weapon enveloped Marten's pair of blades, and gravity's draw pulled the two fighters fifteen feet, across to the platform they had just considered a ceiling.
Snow crashed down on Marten with her axe, and a buzzer sounded. Straightening up on the vertical platform, Snow looked to her partner.
With Marten eliminated, Lazula pressed the attack on Tayra. Suddenly, it was as if her foe had become an entirely different person. Luckily, a weaker one. While Tayra's strikes before nearly matched Lazula's own in strength, they began to feel feeble and offbeat, as if she was hit with a forceful wave of sudden exhaustion.
In only a few seconds' time, she was defeated.
"Lazula Skye and Snow Hudson of Sentinel win!" Mr. Brown cheered. "Looks like the Indomitable Girl will be moving onto the one-on-one gauntlet!"
"Looks like the twins' semblance is a double-edged sword," Mrs. Brown commented. "Together, their auras are boosted! When they're apart, not so much!"
Lazula's cape billowed behind her as the platforms rotated upright, and settled gently into place. She soaked in the cheer of the audience, chants of her name, and the "VICTORY" flashing across every screen, just under her and Snow's faces.
That was it for the team rounds. She didn't think her team would hold her back, but with shifting biomes, and multiple opponents to keep track of, there were too many moving parts for her liking. Now, things would be simple. One-on-one matches on nothing but plain, even ground.
Her victory seemed assured.