THE UNEXPECTED TEAM
ACT I - THE PIECES
CHAPTER XXII - FULL COUNTER!
"FULL COUNTER!"
A soft emanance of blue light surrounded Crocea Mors' blade, glowing brighter and brighter the closer the chunk of ice dust propelling toward Jaune got. He instinctively pushed his left foot out to the side and drew his sword back like he was clutching a baseball bat rather than a weapon. Jaune's eyes flashed bright sapphire for a second and he swung! The blunt side of the blade collided with the projectile and Jaune used the momentum to throw it right back at the caster.
Silence resounded through the room in a way that was almost deafening. The only sound was the whirring made by the ice dust speeding right back in Weiss' direction. The white-haired rapier wielder threw the side of her sword outward in the hopes of deflecting it but she was nowhere near fast enough, the projectile slid easily beneath the much narrower blade of Wess' weapon and collided directly with her stomach. Her aura protected her from the brunt of the impact but there was still enough force in the attack to force her off the ground and throw her transversely across the platform, depositing her unceremoniously on the floor below.
"H-he threw Weiss from the ring?" Ruby almost couldn't believe it, she knew her friend was making really good progress, and that made her happy, but-
"That power was so cool!" of course, she would be excited to see a new weapon, even if it was a little different than the typical description of one, "How did you do that?"
"I am curious myself," Blake put in, standing up from her seat and walking down the bleachers to get a better look at the now panting knight standing in the ring.
"Was it one of those things where it just happens?" Pyrrha added.
"Not sure," Juane admitted, "All I remember thinking is that I'd be screwed if I let Weiss' attack hit me and then, well, you saw the rest. Heh."
"Not bad at all, ladykiller," Yang noted, a little smirk on her lips, "Revenge in the most literal sense. You think you could use that again?"
"Thank you ever so much for your concern," Weiss said sarcastically, now back on her feet, "But either way that was…quite impressive, Arc and I, must confess, that I too am a little curious as to whether or not this is one of those it's here now and you have to find it again type powers or if you have the ability to use it at will now. Would you like to test it?"
Surprised that Weiss of all people was being nice to him, Jaune decided it was better that he didn't look a gift horse in the mouth and nodded, "I think thats a good idea. Even if I can't use it again and get floored, at least I'll know not to build my entire fighting strategy around it."
"You shouldn't do that anyway!" Pyrrha reprimanded, "All that does is make your fighting style predictable! Building your entire fighting style around one move is dangerous, you should build it around several bigger techniques and combinations so you can switch it up."
"Not to take away your thunder, Ladykiller but Pyrrha's right."
"I know, I know. Sorry. I shouldn't have let that thought come to me."
"It's okay," Pyrrha told him gently, "You're learning, none of us are going to be perfect but if we can save you time by advising you of mistakes we made early on it means you'll be able to skip some of the bad habits we developed and had to break later on."
"Thank you, I appreciate it."
"So," Weiss cut them off, "Are we doing this a second time or not?"
Jaune clutched Crocea Mors tightly and got himself back into his stance, "We're doing this a second time."
"When you're ready then, Arc."
The soft blue glow started to emanate from the blade again and Weiss could've sworn she spotted a tiny flicker of a different, almost electric blue in her opponent's eyes. Blake, who had keener senses than the others also took note of this. She didn't say anything for the risk of distracting her teammate but by the look in his eyes she knew. He was ready in a way he hadn't been before.
"Just do it," he said calmly.
Weiss swiped her hand against Myrtenstar's chamber and it started spinning, slowly at first but it was quickly gaining speed until it was so fast that it seemed like a colored blur rather than the chamber of a weapon. She placed her right food a little bit ahead of her left and clicked a small trigger on the side of the handle. The chamber came to a halt, stopping nearly instantly and a huge wave of arctic energy erupted from the tip of the blade. It soared across the battlefield and looked to be gaining speed even as it approached its-
"Full Counter!"
Jaune yelled the phrase again and the small tuft of light around the blade of Crocea Mors' gleamed as if in response to it's owner's command and just like the first time, Jaune caught Weiss' attack, shifted his weight and threw it right back where it came from. To her credit, Weiss was ready this time and she quickly threw herself out of the way of the incoming attack, the projectile zipped past her much like a bullet, missing its intended target by only an inch.
"That was so cool!" Ruby cheered.
"Looks like you've got a new ability you can actually use, well done." Ren commented.
Smiling ear-to-ear, Jaune returned Crocea Mors to its scabbard and looked around the room. He was silent for a few seconds then said, "I'd appreciate it if you didn't tell anyone about this. I'm glad I've finally made some real and noticeable progress, but I think this kind of ability is the sort of trump card that you don't reveal until the absolutely necessary moment. Having an ace in the hole that can send attacks back at the person who used them would be an invaluable surprise in a battle against a tough opponent. Not something to be wasted on a schoolyard. If the wrong person sees, it'll take away the element of surprise."
"As much as I'm all for showing off what you can do," Yang added, "I have to agree. Having an ace up our sleeves like that will be much better than tossing Cardin's attack back at him just because we don't like him."
"And besides that, if I'm going to beat Cardin, I want to do it under my own power, not a mystical ability that tips the odds in my favor. The technique uses surprisingly little aura and doesn't appear to have any major drawbacks so far. Until I know for certain there's not some more serious side-effect hidden beneath it all, I'd rather not risk throwing the power around unless I absolutely have to."
"Well said, Jaune," Pyrrha agreed.
"It's a little strange don't you think?" Ren cut in.
"What's strange?" Nora asked him, tilting her head.
"This full-counte power of Jaune's comes to him very suddenly but doesn't seem to have the incredible drawback that the other power does. It's strange that he would have access to one but not the other."
"Well, it's a piece of Excalibur isn't it?" Yang voiced, "Maybe that has something to do with it."
Ren shrugged, "Perhaps, but I don't think it has anything to do with the pieces specifically. See, if it was to do with the pieces I don't think that Jaune would've been able to summon that power inside the Emerald Forest when he took out that Nevermore."
"So, the mystery deepens," Ruby said, scratching at her chin, "But even then the new power is going to be so cool! You'll be able to reflect long-range attacks! I want to try and shoot you with Crescent Rose next!"
Ruby was already trying to take her weapon out but both Yang and Ren worked together to stop that from happening, "Oh no, no no. You'll help Jaune test a new power when I want to be expelled from Beacon." Yang exclaimed.
"And it is close to dinner time anyway, we should go and get some food!" Ren said, desperately trying to dissuade the situation from escalating too. Weiss shooting dust at Jaune was one thing, but the over-excited Ruby Rose doing it was sure to be trouble and then some. Ren just counted his lucky stars that Nora hadn't suggested she try shoot Jaune with one of her dust grenades…yet.
"Oh, fine, we'll test it out another time, but I'd better get cookies!"
Yang and Ren's relieved sighs caused laughter to ripple through the room and together, the two teams departed from the training room together, save for Jaune and Weiss who ducked off to the locker rooms to change out of their armor and put their weapons away.
"You go first," Jaune told her, "I'll be fine waiting out here for a little while."
"Thank you."
Jaune was surprised, there was still a little bit of iciness in her voice, but her tone seemed to be much less hostile than it was around him usually.
"But Peek and I'll run you through with my sword, got it?"
"Perfectly," Jaune gulped.
"Good."
—-
The steam rolled off the mug, trailing out into the night, the man pushed his sunglasses up the bridge of his nose a little bit then reached down and took a sip from the coffee. Pieces were beginning to move across the board at an alarming rate, much, much faster than Ozpin had been anticipating. Three Pieces of Excalibur were now out in the world and were certainly going to be ending up in enemy hands. Not to mention, he wasn't sure how long they had until Councilman Arc would request the piece Jaune had be returned to him. Which could see them relinquishing another piece of Excalibur and then they would half the set. While four pieces wasn't the entire set of seven, Ozpin had no doubt in his mind that four pieces would still be enough to cause a catastrophic level of disaster. His eyes fell to the cane rested up on the side of his desk and he sighed.
As much as he would like to get involved, it was too soon to show his hand. Someone need not be stronger than you to steal something from you. He'd gotten by this long by keeping his identities a secret. This identity in particular, Acheron, had been incredibly well hidden and Ozpin was almost certain no one living in today's world had made the connection between the two. Not that it would be an easy task, the two eras were very far apart, of course.
He sighed, then stood from behind his desk. The elderly man collected his cane from the side of his desk. He looked down at it and lifted it up to his lips, whispering, "Speak to me, Excalibur."
End Chapter
And wow, we're back. It's been so long! Hope you guys enjoyed the chapter and I know it's cruel to end on a cliffhanger in my first update in forever, but I promise you'll see a new update to this soon as we move forward in the story! Please Read and Review!