Let's go.
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Geo dove to the right as two of Penny's blades flew towards him. The artificial wall in front of him granted a nice portion of cover as he tossed over a Lava Grenade, dousing the area Penny had been standing in flames.
It was the team's first real fight against each other, boys versus girls, with Mega joining Flynt and Geo to even the odds.
Across the combat testing room, Neon kept making passing blows at Mega, taunting him the entire time. The alien was more focused on keeping Ciel from providing Penny with an extra set of eyes and covering fire. His frustration was clear, the alien threw more behind every slash he took at the bereted girl.
Flynt, however, stayed back, trying to set up his clones covertly to take the faunus out.
After all, every hit Mega took, a small portion of Geo's Aura went down with it. And every hit to Geo's Aura is another little step to losing this spar.
Back with Geo's fight, he lobbed a few Mini Grenades behind Penny, hoping to get the girl to dodge forward, closer to his desired range. The redhead used her blades to deflect the explosives, sending them off to each side of her. I really wanted that to work, she's scary with those things.
The brunette reached to his waist, pulling a flashbang from his belt. He threw another Mini Grenade to distract his foe before chucking the flashbang. Wasting no time to see if his plan actually worked out, he rushed in, noting that Penny's blades were whirling around her in an attempt to blindly defend herself. Rolling forward to dodge one of them, he reared his fist, a Freeze Knuckle card loaded. His fist hit her on the right of her torso, sending her flying back. Frozen shards of ice formed on her body as she struggled to stand.
Geo was about to finish his opponent off when he was struck by a nunchuck to the head, discombobulating him momentarily. Neon rushed away, a feral grin plastered across her face.
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Neon was having so much fun. Not only did she get to fight against strong opponents, she got to play interception the entire time!
Denying these boys their individual victories was too good of a feeling. If anyone asked, she totally wasn't a sadist, she promised.
Her fun times ended when a blare of discordant music hit her like a truck, forcing her to lose balance. Her ears rang and the world spun around her. She crashed into one of the walls made by the room.
A shot rang out from Ciel's position. Mega must've gotten sloppy. The music stopped, the round hitting Flynt's clone and freeing Neon from the musician's trap. She had to be more careful and find the original Flynt to make sure that didn't happen again.
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"Dammit…" Mega growled, his claw shredding away another bit of Ciel's Aura. The girl leapt back to avoid the follow up hit. The alien surged forwards, barely managing to get a hold on her. A wild look in his eyes appeared as he took his chance. He swung over and over, until finally the room shut down due to Ciel being in the red.
The other fighters ceased as the artificial terrain collapsed, leaving a plain cube of a room. The boys cheered briefly.
"Ugh! I was just about to beat your ass up, Flynt!" Neon complained loudly. The reason for her ire simply shrugged back.
"Should've been faster, Mrs. Kitty-Katt," he teased, earning a punch to the face. "I deserved that…"
Ciel dusted herself off with a small huff of indignation. She took a look at the display showing both groups Aura levels. Geo and Penny were the only two that were close to red, being at 35% and 33% respectively. Unsurprisingly, Flynt was the one with the highest remaining Aura, and Neon had only dropped to about 60%.
Geo offered a hand to Penny, who took it gracefully. "Good fight. You using those blades to displace my Grenades was not something I even thought you would do."
"I had the advantage, since I had seen you fight before, Geo," Penny deflected the compliment. Geo sent her a deadpan look, earning a smile in return. The rest of the team gathered and exited the combat simulation room, Mega disappearing into Geo's Scroll.
The walk back to their dorm was certainly not quiet, as the teens discussed how to use one another's skills in tandem with each other. Plans were made to test their theories next time they had a chance to train in the simulator.
The conversation had turned to what they had been learning in their new courses, as it had been about a week since they had started them.
"I got to blow stuff up with C4. Learned the hard way that just a little bit of that stuff goes a looong way," Flynt shivered at the memory.
"So that's why you were covered in shmutz last Wednesday!" Neon cackled, earning a glare from the boy. Her laughter dying down, she wiped a tear from her eye. "Well, while the jazz-master over here was exploding himself, I was taught how to disguise myself to the point of being unrecognizable," she flicked her hair to the side haughtily.
"You should do that more often, then. Ms. Garish- Ow!" the childhood friends bickered back and forth, leaving the three other members to talk amongst themselves.
"So… Penny, what'd you learn so far?" Geo said, wincing as he saw Neon drive her fist into Flynt's head and give him a noogie.
"Well, Geo, I have been spending my time practicing much of what I happen to know already," she brought her finger to her chin. "Technically, I'm learning how to actually do it. There is a great difference between knowledge and experience!" Geo nodded along to the curious girl's statement.
"I'm glad I'm not the one you're getting experience on," he teased. The redhead puffing her cheeks slightly before giggling. Geo was about to ask Ciel, but she put up her hand to stop him before he could.
"I actually cannot disclose what I have been learning until after the first exam. Professor's order," the militaristic woman said. The rest of the team shared a look, their curiosity piqued. They crowded around the poor girl, who shrank back a little. "N-no, I'm serious. I'll fail if I tell you all." Deciding it wasn't worth it to pry, Team Snowpierce broke away from that topic.
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Geo wasn't sure how he liked being in the Leadership program. It wasn't exactly a bad experience, but he certainly couldn't say he enjoyed being lectured on how to properly file paperwork. It's paperwork, why is he so keen on emphasizing its importance?
The General must have known what the teen was thinking, as the man moved on from the boring duty of mindlessly filing to a more somber subject.
"All of you, at some point or another, will experience a mission failure. A settlement you arrived at too late, a civilian you couldn't save," he stilled for a moment. "A teammate that sacrificed themselves to make sure the rest of the team could escape."
The air in the room grew heavy, all students now acutely aware of the General's lecture.
"These are all very common scenarios. No amount of lecturing can ever properly prepare you for these incidents, but being aware of their possibility is something a leader must always be," Ironwood looked across the room at each and every student. "I wish for you to never lose a teammate. And I hope that you never have to experience the same pain I have. A wise man once told me, 'I've made more mistakes than any man or woman alive today.' He would always bounce back from those failures."
"If there is any lesson I imparted with this speech, your team's lives are in your hands. Do not take your duties lightly. One short-sighted plan could lead to disaster," the man looked to the clock with a sigh. "I apologize for the heaviness of today's class. You are all dismissed."
Geo and the rest of the class saluted the General before leaving the room. Ironwood's speech replayed in his head as he walked the halls. The responsibility behind every action he had to take to make sure his team was prepared for whatever missions they may come across was weighing on his shoulders.
The halls of Atlas academy felt a little colder than before, and Geo couldn't tell if that was due to the weather or if it was due to his mood.
"Kid, you're ruminating again," Mega's voice came from his side, the alien popping up to walk alongside him. Geo felt himself let go of a breath he hadn't realized he was holding.
"Are you using big words to try to sound smart?" he quipped, trying to lighten the mood a little.
"Don't dodge the accusation, Geo," Mega huffed, crossing his arms. "Listen, you know I wouldn't lie to you. What that Ironwood guy said was true." Geo sagged a little at that. "But! We've quite literally been through worse. I'm not sure why you're all upset over stuff that we've already experienced."
"It's because I don't want to repeat them!" the brunette snapped. "I don't want to repeat what happened with Luna, Ace, or dad, okay? Sure, we've been through multiple world-ending events, but that doesn't mean I can't be afraid of fucking up!"
"I'm not saying you can't be!" Mega's gruff voice rang out, a pregnant pause fell over the two. "You know I'm not good at all this touchy-feely crap. I'm trying my best to make sure you don't fall back into the whole doom and gloom from when you were younger. I owe it to Kelvin."
Geo felt his retort die on his tongue. He mumbled an apology to his partner and let out a sigh. He shook his head to dismiss his negative thoughts and continued walking to his next class. "Thanks for the pick-me-up, Mega."
"No problem, kid."
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"General, sir," Winter saluted. The man nodded his acknowledgement. "I have finished planning out the first live-fire test for our first years. I have the details here," she handed Ironwood a dossier. He flipped it open, a proud smile formed on his face as he read the plans.
"This is perfect, and like nothing we've had in the past. I'm tempted to leak this to some of the older students to see if any… 'information gathering' will occur within the student body," he said, closing the dossier. He took a sip of his Atlas Black brand coffee, the man unfazed by the instant coffee's artificial and chemical taste. Patriotism, and all that. Winter hid her wince at the choice of drink.
"I figured you'd say that. I have prepped the messages already," she said proudly, a smirk appearing on her face.
"Send them out. I can't wait to see how our fresh batch of students handles the sudden announcement of a test they know nothing about."
Those poor first years never saw it coming. They never do.
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"You've gotta be shitting me…" Flynt groaned, slapping a palm to his face. His scroll slipped out of his hand in annoyance.
The screen read "Practical Exam in one week's time. More info will be available on the day of the exam."
The rest of Team Snowpierce voiced their frustration. Geo, seated at his desk, scrolled through the message sent out by Winter, noting a very peculiar and disheartening line. "Hey, guys," he called out to his team, leaning back on his chair. "If we don't pass, we have to go to the standard barracks styled dorms."
Neon was the first, and loudest to respond, "I refuse to lose my precious!" she exclaimed, jumping into her pod and cooing at it. "It's okay, baby, I won't leave ya…"
Ciel and Geo shared a concerned look. That certainly wasn't something I wanted to see… he thought to himself. Disregarding the faunus' disturbing reaction, he spoke.
"I wonder if any of the upperclassmen knew of this?" he mused. Ciel nodded, seemingly thinking the same thing.
"It would make sense for that to be the case. We could try to pry some of the runners tomorrow for any hints," the blue eyed girl threw out her suggestion. "Considering they already have taken a liking to us, we may not even have to offer any favors in exchange." Geo hummed at that idea, stopping once Penny chimed in.
"I could also access the file system for the school and locate the information that way!" she exclaimed, a bright smile on her face.
"Penny, I know you want to be helpful, but wouldn't we get caught if we did that?" Geo questioned, "Also, how would you even be able to do that?" the girl's eyes went wide for a second.
"A-ah! It is part of my Semblance, of course!" she said, not all that convincingly. Geo raised an eyebrow at her before letting it go.
"If we're gonna go that route, I should probably just send Mega through the network to see if he can access anything." The alien appeared next to him within a moment.
"Do I really gotta? You heard Ciel, those running buddies of yours probably have the answer," the alien whined, lazy bastard!
"I can't force you to do anything, but I'd really appreciate it, Mega."
"Quit buttering me up, kid, it's weird. Making my skin crawl-"
"You don't have skin," Flynt interrupted from the peanut gallery.
"Shut it," Mega shoved a finger in his direction. "Anyways, yeah, I'll take a look into their network. You guys just ask around, and we'll see if it lines up with anything I find on my end."
"Thanks, Mega," the brunette said. He stretched his arms and let out a yawn. Checking the time, the clock on his Scroll read 21:00. "I'm gonna hit the hay. Want me to wake you up tomorrow, Ciel?" the girl gave a shrug back. Geo could've sworn he saw a hint of blush on her cheeks, but he didn't ask. Not like I was trying to embarrass her or anything.
Tomorrow would hopefully prove to be fruitful with info.
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The early morning sun descended upon Ciel and Geo as they were stretching. Their morning runs had become routine, and the two of them had begun feeling more comfortable around each other.
It's hard not to commiserate when we're both on the verge of passing out or puking, Geo mused to himself. The dark-skinned girl tilted her head slightly at him, seemingly reading his thoughts. He had the decency to scratch his neck in embarrassment.
"So…" he stood up and offered her a hand, which she took with a nodded thanks. "You think we'll get any good info from our running buddies?" he asked as they walked to the track. Ciel shrugged lightly in response.
"I cannot say I'm certain. If they do know anything, they certainly won't give it to us without a price."
The conversation ended when they approached the familiar group of upperclassmen.
I hope we don't have to cut a deal with the devil for this info.
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Apologies for the shorter chapter. At least the "interlude" is done. I will have the next arc starting next chapter and I had to figure out a way to really get the transition to feel a bit more natural.
Lemme know what you guys think.
Also, merendinoemiliano, there are plans of at least one other character from SF/BN to show up at some point. Haven't solidified anything yet, but yeah.