Professor Goodwitch's combat class was a crowd pleaser. It wasn't hard to pay attention in that class, bloodsports is often more enjoyable than biology after all. The opening match of the class had been a little too on the 'malnourished slave vs lion' side of blood sports though, 'Sir String Bean vs Windy Chest' Gemma had jokingly called it. Rye however was in a less jovial mood, in fact, his mood had been spiralling since 'Sir String Bean' made his way to into the ring, some mixture of, "I have made this man a death warrant", and "THAT WORKED!?"
He recognised him as soon as the lights hit him, the underage barfly he met nine months earlier. His demeanour didn't change; he still leaned on the railing like all the other fights. Not that anyone was watching him anyway; Ethan had cut that out after the first ten minutes.
All hope he had was snuffed out when the kid took that first hit straight in the gut, sending him flying to the edge of the ring, "WHAT WAS THAT!? GET UP AND KILL HIM" screamed Gemma.
To his surprise the swordsman did, didn't last long but not many people would get up after taking almost half their aura in a single hit, "maybe he can absorb damage to make himself stronger, I heard someone here has a semblance like that" said Teph, sitting between him and the bloodthirsty broad.
A couple more fights went by, Rye wasn't as focused on them as much as he was on searching the crowd for his former customer. His concentration broke when Goodwitch called his name over the loudspeakers, "Rye Dipodomy and Lloyd Carpellian, you two will be our closing match."
"It's Carpellion" shouted a distant voice somewhere in the crowd of benches.
As he got up to enter the ring Rye noticed Ethan was particularly interested, he was paying attention and observing his classmates abilities before but now he seemed…invested.
Rye felt a little underdressed when he saw his opponent, dressed more like a knight than 'Sir String Bean' with a blue surcoat and black metal plating on his chest and joints. Rye's green T-shirt and denim overalls provided a little less protection but he wasn't planning on taking a hit anyway.
The tanned fighter had a pair of long blades flanking the sides of his armoured left forarm going past his elbows and a small round shield in his right hand. He stepped forward and the blades launched out and rotated to the top of his wrist, Rye just opened the clamp that held his curved sickles to his belt.
"Remember, when I say stop. Stop. Otherwise, match ends after five minutes or when one of your aura's gets below thirty percent…and NO RANGED WEAPONS" The professor announced, having to remind everyone of the last rule since an energetic blur of pink, white, and orange had her match.
The two boys entered combat stances, Lloyd's shield out front and blades positioned for an underarm strike. Rye leaned forward slightly, his legs primed for a forward dash and his schythes down and out to his sides.
"Begin!"
Their opening moves were telegraphed by their stances, Rye launched forward to the side of Lloyd, countering his attempted block by hooking his left sickle on his shield. Rye activated the magnetic blade to keep his grip on the targe and swung at Lloyd's exposed back with his other sickle. Rye expected the shield to try pull him off balance by going left, maybe a right turn to cover his opponent's back but he didn't expect an attack. Lloyd threw himself behind his shield like a punch hitting Rye in the upper arm sending grey light rippling around the impact. The Faunus still got his attack in but the counter made sure it was far from a killing blow.
The magnetic blade disengaged as Rye pulled back to avoid a second bash from the black and white targe. From behind his shield, Lloyd took a couple of jabs and short slashes with his bladed gauntlet, nothing hit but it kept Rye on the back foot. Lloyd overstepped in his pressing attack and committed to a powerful slash to the torso, to his shock Rye dashed forward.
Rye lunged down onto one knee, letting his legs sink into the colourful puddle, getting low enough for the blade to swipe over his head before the rubbery pool spat him back out. Like a slingshot Rye was launched up, his sickles scrapping along Lloyd's body ending with an uppercut. The burning lines and ripple on his chin stayed for a few seconds after Rye landed back down.
"Stop, Mr Carpellion, your aura has reached twenty-nine percent. The match goes to Mr Dipodomy" The monotone professor said, not looking up from her tablet.
She moved something around on her screen and the aura screen above the ring changed to a video. The starting frame was during Lloyd's offensive, "You did well on your first move, a near perfect counter attack. However, you missed an opportunity here" the footage slowed to just before Rye's magnet disengaged, "your opponent left a clear opening after you stunned him that you failed to exploit."
The footage sped up again to just as Lloyd positioned for his sweep, "You were doing well here, unfortunately your impatience cost you the match. Even though you weren't aware of your opponent's semblance you still left yourself far too open. If Rye was quick as the average third year his semblance wouldn't have even been necessary to get a hit."
"And you" She turned to Rye as the footage sped up to just after the uppercut, "Your semblance only allows you to move like that when touching a large enough surface, you're as open as you can be in the air. There was no reason to go that high, if ranged weapons were allowed Mr Carpellion could've landed three shots on you before you hit the ground."
"Very well, so ends our first lesson together, I have been more lenient than usual because of it and next lesson I will be handing out your first assignments…Dissmissed"
"Do you think it's just a first day thing or are we going to be getting grilled after every match, win or lose?" Asked the brown haired girl in a near whisper.
The RGT of ERGT were in the mess hall, Rye had changed back into his blazer and pants and Gemma was wearing thigh high socks and a petticoat under her skirt. Ethan hadn't joined them yet leaving an empty space across from Gemma, "At least we got to get our first bit of combat, did you see some of our classmates? That one girl had a Scythe bigger than her, how did she even move that thing let alone keep it intact on that skinny pole?!"
"Yeah, my weapon is a family thing so I wouldn't have thought so many people would use their fists more or less when we have…well that" Teph whispered, subtly pointing to a ginger girl a few tables over who was waving around a grenade launcher.
She was slightly hunched as if she was trying to look smaller. She wore the beacon uniform without any touch of personality, the only thing setting her apart from the store mannequins were her tights and the black wrappings she wore like a choker.
"Most of the stuff they're packing seems to be hybrids, there was that girl who had shotguns on her fists soooo…" The Faunus added, he made sure to have his own touch to the uniform in the form of a yellow flamingo adorned shirt under the blazer.
"Weapons simpler back home?" Gemma asked through a mouthful of fries.
"Nah, we had all sorts of stuff at Breezeholm, there was this one girl who had a gun spear…"
"Boy, you come to me with offerings of foreign majesty and tell only tales of the most default hybrid weapon known to man!?" Gemma asked in a mocking pompous rage.
"Teph, tell me you've got something better than that. Please tell me we aren't the last bastion of creativity" Gemma pleaded.
"Uh, well…there was this one guy. He could shape metals with his semblance so he'd have this big gun with a brick of tungsten on the end and he'd basically be a walking ammo factory. I saw him clear a construction side using only rebar he picked up off the ground once…" Teph stammered out.
"Not what I was thinking of but I've gotta say, walking ammo factory is a new one" the girl tore at her burger with a sense of disappointment.
"Actually, that reminds me of something. Rye, has something happened between you and Ethan?" The nervous girl asked with allot more confidence than before.
"Hm? He's been a bit of hardass but y'know…team leader and all" hiding his intrigue with an air of causality.
"Yeah, but not to us. Yesterday he wouldn't stop looking at you, he reprimanded you for losing focus for like a second when Gemma spent that whole class drawing someone else's weapon"
"Come on, you said it was awesome too!"
"It was a cool weapon, but that's not the point" The once quiet girl said, a fire slowly growing behind her eyes.
Rye turned to face her now, this pathetic girl who was afraid to leave the bathroom on day one had grown a spine in a few seconds with pretty much no prompting, this was…interesting, "The glasses don't make me blind you know, I've seen how he looks at some of the students and the obvious common denominator..." she pointed to the top of her head where Rye's mouse ears would be.
"Yeah, he told me" Rye said with a chuckle, "You heard Ozpin, we're partners for life" he continued jokingly, wiggling his ring finger in front of the girls.
Gemma got involved too, "But seriously, you shouldn't let someone treat you like that."
"Ahh, its fine. He's in our team so I may as well try get along with him, the rest of it is what it is" he finished, leaning back on his chair with his hands behind his head, "Let's see where this goes".
Teph stood up at that, "But it shouldn't be…!" a few faces turned around causing her to sit down with a blush and return to her earlier whispers, "It shouldn't be what it is though, he shouldn't be able to treat you like that."
A silence held for a few seconds but was broken by a new voice, "What's going on at this table?"
"Ahh" Gemma turned and was surprised to see that the pink and white girl from before had appeared over her shoulder.
"Our leader saw you when your girlfriend making a scene!" Gemma swore she heard a death rattle coming from the girl sitting next to her.
"Hey, name's Gemma, love the hammer" the fellow ginger said, leaning back on the table with her hand out for a shake.
"I know right! I love it too!" she shouted jumping up and down, at this point Teph was gone, how and where Gemma didn't know.
"But enough chit chat! I'm here for your friend" she said a foot up on the bench, pointing at Rye.
She leaned in for a whisper that really more of a less loud breathy voice, "Our leader knows you and wanted to say hi."
Rye's eyes followed down her shoulder and past her pointing finger to see the mop haired Argus boy sitting a few tables down giving an awkward wave when they made eye contact.
"I guess we had to talk eventually" he mutters, standing up and making her way over with the girl.
With that Gemma was left alone with half a burger and a moat of empty seats.