I don't own anything.
"Hah! Take that Weiss!" I crowed, leaning forward as I picked the die I'd just cast back up. I had rolled more than a 7, and my Giant Nevermore had just killed half her fleet, allowing me to take Atlas from the girl in a single turn. The stink eye I got for it was wholly worth it.
It had been a couple of days since the Forever Fall trip, and things had never been better with team BASN. Ever since my talk with Blake, she had been much more pleasant to be around, and actively talked to us as well. Well, active for Blake, which meant she was still a little quiet, but she sat with us all the time now! That was definitely an improvement.
Weiss, too, was a lot more friendly. Apparently, Port's reprimand had been more effective than I'd first thought, and I wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth. It wouldn't stop me from trying to annoy the girl at every opportunity, though. She was too much like Saphire to do anything less.
"Ugh, this game is stupid!"
Before the game had started, Weiss had been boasting about how a game such as this, relying on strategy and resource management would be trivial for someone with her skillset to win. The fact that I'd managed to eliminate her from the game first totally had nothing to do with how cocky she'd been. Not at all.
My victory didn't last long, however. Blake, who had chosen to play as Vacuo raided the southern regions of Vale where my troops were looking a bit thin after sending a major force to invade Atlas. It wasn't enough to take Vale from me, but it left me open for Pyrrha, who had been playing a passive game in Mistral so far, building up a rather worrying number of resources and troops.
"I use smugglers of Wind Path and take two of Jaune's cards." The redhead added, further depleting what little resources I had left after my campaign against the SDC heiress.
"Et tu, Pyrrha?" The team, even Weiss who was sulking, giggled at my rather dramatic reaction when she stole the topmost cards in my deck. I was eliminated from the game soon after, since I was stuck in the middle between Pyrrha and Blake and they had no other options but to attack me.
"I can't believe my own partner betrayed me." I muttered darkly, scowling as Blake patted me on the back with a sarcastic "Poor baby."
In the end, it was Pyrrha who ended up winning the game. By the end, she'd had such a large army that she was able to take at least one victory each turn against Blake, who had been spread thin. She'd taken advantage of Mistral's bonus on victories and taken the other Kingdoms in short order.
"All hail Queen Pyrrha, the conquering hero!" I bowed down on the floor. My partner, red in the face simply kicked me onto my back. "Ah! Not even Queen for ten minutes and already such abuse of power! Down with the Queen!" I called, laughing myself silly as I launched myself at Pyrrha, knocking her to the carpeted ground.
"You'll never take me alive!"
Pyrrha, for her part, gave as good as she got. Even as rolled on the floor, laughing all the while, she grabbed a pillow and smacked me with it while I 'apprehended' her. When she went for another swing, I grabbed her wrist and she lost her grip on the pillow. Already in motion, the pillow continued on, flying right into Weiss' face.
"Oh, you've done it now." The usually prim and proper girl called out, launching a pillow right back. Pyrrha and I dodged out of the way, though, and it sailed right into Blake who had been busy putting the game back into the box.
And from then on it was all-out war as the final member of BASN joined in on the pillow fight. That was how Ruby found us almost ten minutes later, lying on the ground surrounded by pillow fluff and scattered pieces of Remnant: the game, laughing ourselves hoarse.
All in all, I'd say the first team Bastion game night was a roaring success. Even if Ms. Goodwitch wasn't quite as pleased with the noise complaints and the mess. Having the team together like this, and actually getting along was better than I'd expected.
Life was good.
+ 3429 Dust
With a big smile on my face, I sheathed Crocea Mors and clipped the scabbard/shield combo back to my belt. The Ursa hadn't given me any trouble, and it had only taken me a couple of seconds to dismantle the thing. It felt good, to know that I had come a long way from nearly dying to the first Ursa Minor I'd encountered.
The cracking of a fallen branch alerted me to a presence behind me, and I spun to face it. My right hand fell to Crocea Mors, ready to draw, but I relaxed when I caught a hint of burgundy from between the trees.
"Hello Professor." I greeted him, and my smile only grew at the booming laugh I got in return.
"Pay more attention to your surroundings indeed!" The man's voice echoed through the forest, loud as ever. "It gladdens me to see my lessons being taken to heart." He continued.
Like the last time, I fell into step next to the man, as we walked through the forest together. For a moment, we walked in comfortable silence before the professor spoke again.
"How is the training coming along, my boy?"
I took a moment to mull it over before I answered. The training was going well. I had gained quite a few levels since starting, and I was pretty sure that I was at least on the higher end of the first years. I'd also managed to win my last spar in combat class. Sky Lark wasn't a bad fighter, he was fast, but not so much faster than me that I couldn't cope. With heavier blows, much more aura and not that large of a difference in speed, it had almost been a forgone conclusion.
Sky had managed to land more blows than I had, though. Against a stronger opponent with the same amount of skill, I might just have lost. I really needed to get better at fighting people.
"It's… going well actually." I told him, "I'm getting stronger, and I won my spar yesterday!"
"Hah! I'm glad to hear it!"
The conversation was halted for a short time when a couple of Beowolves spotted us, and we them in turn. "They're all yours my boy." Port said, letting me take the lead.
Beowolf
Level 18
Beowolf
Level 21
Beowolf
Level 19
None of the Grimm were particularly high level, and it showed. Even as they charged me, I had more than enough time to grab and expand my shield to block the first set of claws before it could build up any momentum. A kick sent the monster flying as I drew Crocea Mors and dusted one of the Grimm with a vicious thrust through the throat.
+ 1218 Dust
The last of the group came in low, even as its fellow was reduced to little black motes. It tried to latch its jaws on my leg, either to savage me, or to immobilize me long enough for the third to recover and attack again. I didn't let it, though. All that extra Dexterity paid off. Before it could latch on, I raised my leg out of its jaw and brought my foot back down onto the beast's skull.
A crack sounded through the forest as bone plates cracked and were driven into the Beowolf's flesh. Before it could recover, I stabbed down, taking the last sliver of health it'd had left.
+ 1189 Dust
While my sword was still pointed down, the last Beowolf had recovered from my kick and was upon me. It lunged, jumping at me from almost 5 feet away, and covering the distance in less than a second. In doing so, it had put itself into a position where it couldn't maneuver, though.
I didn't have time to bring my sword up to allow the Grimm to impale itself, but my shield was in a prime position for it. I steadied myself and huddled behind my shield, holding my ground as 200 pounds of Beowolf fell onto me. I didn't budge.
As a joke, some people would say that driving fast had never killed anyone. It was suddenly coming to a halt that did them in. This was no different. The Beowolf was not light, and it came at me with significant speed as well. So, when it met the thick metal of my shield face first, even without Chitin Shield enhancing it, it experienced the equivalent of a low-speed motorcycle accident.
The thing was so dazed that it probably didn't even register when Crocea Mors flashed out and took its head off.
+ 1374 Dust
"Very good! Very good!" The professor applauded, leaning against a tree off to the side as I finished the Grimm.
"Thanks." I responded quietly, letting out a little sigh at the dent in my shield. It wasn't all that large, but I would have to go and buff that out later. I'd become spoiled since I'd gotten Chitin Shield, the spell took away most of the need for maintaining my shield, since nothing actually seemed to damage the metal beneath the layer of black defensive 'magic'.
"I can see that your training is definitely paying off, my boy! Why, I can imagine that you won your spar with skills like these!" I ducked my head at the compliment, heat rushing to my cheeks. It was… nice to hear I was doing a good job. It was silly, since I had literal evidence in the form of hard numbers telling me I was getting stronger, but hearing it was different somehow.
"Thank you, sir. But, well… I still have some trouble fighting people." I added, continuing as the professor raised a bushy gray eyebrow at me. "I've gotten really good at fighting Grimm, but I still have at least a little trouble with people that I should honestly be beating pretty easily." It might have come across as cocky, but my fight with Sky was a perfect example. Yes, the boy had been a little bit faster than me, but it wasn't actually that big of a difference. The difference in strength and endurance were skewed much more heavily in my favor, not to mention the difference in aura reserves.
And yet, I'd still been brought down to 60% of my aura by the time the spar was over. For every time I hit Sky, he hit me at least twice with those short swords of his. He had led me into traps and feints like his life depended on it, and got past my shield more often than not. Sure, I'd won, handily at that. But that didn't mean that there wasn't still improvement to be had.
"Hah! That's only natural my boy!" The man boomed, before elaborating at my confused expression. "You train here, night after night fighting the creatures of Grimm to improve yourself. But how often do you fight people?" He asked, and I genuinely had to think about it for a moment. The only people I really fought were in combat class, where I got to fight about once or maybe twice a week.
"You see, my boy, just like fighting the Grimm, you simply need more practice." He said, before his face fell into a much more somber look. "As much as I might wish it, Huntsmen are not tasked with fighting only the creatures of Grimm. There are plenty who have power that use it for their own gain, and often at the expense of others. These individuals must be stopped, and unfortunately, they are often too powerful for the police to apprehend." The man finished.
Who then, would stop these people, but Huntsmen and Huntresses, who had the power to do so? It was rather well known, that licensed Huntsmen would often step in to detain criminals before handing them off to the police, but it wasn't something I'd really thought about beyond Ruby's stories about how she'd been accepted into Beacon.
Still, the professor had a point. I needed to become better at fighting people, and practice makes perfect. Even if sparring wouldn't make me any stronger, it would improve my skills, and that was what I realistically needed right now.
'I wonder if Pyrrha would be up to spar with me?'
I resolved to ask my teammate about it tomorrow. The worst she could say was no, and maybe we could even make it a team activity. After all, Blake and Weiss were both technical fighters as well, they'd probably have some helpful tips and techniques too.
"I'll ask my team to spar." I said, resolving to do so as soon as possible. It couldn't hurt to have something else to do as a group either.
"Ah, it does me good to have such a dedicated student." The man beamed, continuing along the path we'd been walking on before the attack. Honestly, a walk through a Grimm infested forest with an old man in the middle of the night had no right to be so relaxing. But somehow, I felt perfectly at ease.
A/N: Hey guys! What did you think of the team dynamic? I'm trying to build it up gradually, now that they finally get along. Also, how are you liking the Port scenes?
Anyways, have a good one!
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