Dr. Cortez was sitting right where the students had left him, sitting down by a table with a glass in hand. "Oi, you're here early." He said, gesturing for the boy to come over. "Did you enjoy the town?"
Jaune nodded, taking a chair. "I did. It is a town, much like any other. It has its uniqueness, which makes it ironically not unique at all." It was said with a sigh. Dr. Cortez looked slightly surprised, as though Jaune had made a chess opening that was unexpected.
"You've been to a lot of frontier towns?" He asked, curious. Young Huntsmen rarely had been to a frontier town in their life, and not many from those places either lived long enough or got the funds to go to a school. Sebastian knew that there were probably triple the amount of "Huntsmen" if you included unlicensed fringe mercenaries. Part of him wondered if Jaune was one of these before he ended up in Haven, or even Beacon. It would provide some context for his above average skill set, and his preference for non mechashift weapons. Sebastian knew better, of course. He knew that Jaune was from Orleans, and didn't amount to much there. He knew that Jaune cheated his way into Beacon, and got busted for it eventually. He knew that Juane took unconventional, and frankly dangerous means to get to Haven, walking across the better half of a country. Shaking his head, the gunslinger dismissed the idea. Not enough time. He decided. Jaune remained an enigma to him, and his sudden growth in combat ability. Jaune gave him an answer.
"I've been to enough." he responded as he leaned back, looking up at the ceiling. "Say, what time is it?"
Sebastian raised his eyebrows. "Do you not know? It's 2:53." He said, pocketing his phone. "You're a little early."
They sat in silence until the rest of the students filtered in. Arslan had dragged a begrudging Reese back with the rest of her team much more willing to follow. Team SSSN came in afterwards, rambunctious and rowdy, hopping on eachothers shoulders and laughing about it. Dr. Cortez stood up, gaining everyone's attention. "Ladies and Gentlemen, I see you have made yourself acquainted with the town. Nice place, right?"
There was a rumbled of agreement from the students. "Good, good. Welp, we can't spend the entire time here on vacation, so we're doing some non symmetrical combat training." The gunslinger started to move towards the door. The students looked at each other as their teacher just left the building. Dr. Cortez poked his head through the door, frowning at them.
"What are you waiting around for? Come on, hurry up." He said, closing the door as he left again. The nine of them looked at eachother again, taking a moment to blink, and then stood up. Moving in a thin cluster, they followed the hat wearing man through town and to the base of the mountain. Jaune took the moment to appreciate the sights around them, the slope of the mountain leading to the grasslands below. The mountains as they curved northward, glittering with a clay like redness. The air here was crisp, cool with the thin mountain air and the waning sun. They stopped on a wider plateau in the road, something that was clearly a commonly used campsite for traders. Dr. Cortez moved to the center of the grounds, carving out a wide circle with a dragging leg. The teams watched as their teacher drew out the combat ring, unsure of who was going to be sent into it.
And against who? B thought, formatting some plans against the visible threats. I suppose we could just throw icicles at Arslan until she collapses. Jaune held the formatted plans in his head, but drew his focus to his teacher. He had stopped, standing up straight. It was a fairly large ring, being easily fifteen, maybe twenty feet in diameter.
"Alright alright alright! This is the ring. You leave the ring, you're out. If your aura breaks, you're out. You may leave at any time. The safeword is Garlic, or three taps if you can't speak at the moment." He gave everyone a glare that would have made Ms. Goodwitch proud. "I expect fair and NON LETHAL fighting, understand? Nothing that is going to bypass aura. No fire, no poison, yadda yadda, you know the drill." He said dryly. "So, which team wants to enter first?"
The two four man teams looked at eachother, silently daring the other to sacrifice themselves first. Sun's eyes met Arslan's, and they held for a moment. The monkey faunus blue eyes turned away first with a roll.
"Fine. Team Sun will subject themselves to torture." He sighed, shaking his head at his own stupidity. Why did he get into a staring contest with Arslan, he would never know. The woman was as cold as ice. Dr. Cortez smiled as he stepped to the side, leaving the ring open. "Team Sun, Jaune, to the ring!"
Jaune looked up, his head doing that surprised wiggle that they often did when someone called a person's name.
"Yeah?" he asked as he stood up.
Sebastian jerked his head to the ring, where team Sun stood nervously. "You're up." He said plainly. Jaune nodded, giving his head a vigorous shake, sending a series of harsh cracks running through the vertebrae. The opposing team gave a wide eyed and concerned glance to each other. Sun cleared his throat.
"Uhh, hey, teach?" He said nervously to the doctor. "You, uhh, you got a minute?"
Sebastian Cortez looked at him, incredibly unimpressed. "No. Fight starts in five seconds."
"Teach?!" Sun called out. "A word?"
"Four." Cortez called, more bored than anything else. He dropped down onto the dirt ground, his elbows on his knees. Jaune's hand rested on a blade.
"Teach! I think we're in a little over our head here!" Sun gave one last desperate call. Sebastian opened up his scroll.
"That sounds like a you problem." he responded, much to Sun's chagrin.
"You made this fight!" Was the chosen protest, not that Sebastian cared.
Scarlet shook his head slowly, and Sun made another look at the bored teacher. "You're really sure about this, huh? He's uhh…"
Sebastian looked at him. "Sun. He's just a dude."
"A dude that can summon lightning and fire. The man is a walking dust mine!" Sun countered, pointing at Jaune.
Sebastian shrugged. "Jaune, don't kill them." He directed the ranger. A silent nod was the response. "See? He won't kill you. You'll be fine." There was a pause. "Two by the way."
"What?! That's not-" Sun started, but was cut off.
"One! Start!" Sebastian called, leaning back against a largish rock that had been moved some time ago, probaby for this exact position. Team Sun quickly got ready for combat, but Jaune was quicker. His sword was already drawn and leading the strike. The blade was level at Neptune's head, ready to take out his blue eye. The huntsman in training's trident shot up, pushing the blade away. Sun came up, wielding his mechashift staff like a bat. He gave it a heavy swing at Jaune's back. He ducked down, letting it pass over him, and slammed into Neptune. Scarlet came from his left, aiming his retro style handgun at the ranger. Jaune gave him a sharp glare before he dived between the trident wielding huntsman's legs, avoiding the bullet that sent a plume of dust up from the impact. A pebble bounced off of Jaune's wooden mask. The four members of team Sun gave each other a quick glance. When did he put that on?
Jaune saw the moment as an opportunity, using it to launch himself at Scarlet. Sage moved to intercept, using his massive body to block the ranger. The oversized sword he had blocked a sideways strike. The large man stumbled back slightly, surprised that the force behind it was as strong as it was. Their eyes met as they had a stare off. Sage couldn't help but compare those eyes of a machine, cold, calculating and certainly not human. If eyes are the window to the soul, then Jaune's is up for rent. He mused to himself, giving a contesting shove with his large greatsword. Jaune, instead of contesting it, reached up to grab the man's collar. He pulled him down, practically jumping himself to headbutt Sage. The crack was impressive, stunning even. So stunning in fact that it let the ranger completely disengage from the man, instead making a short chop to Scarlet's neck. It connected harshly, sending ripples of aura from the should be lethal wound. He retracted his blade, ready to thrust it into the pirate themed huntsman's ribcage, but his head was suddenly snapped to the side. Jaune had to blink for a moment, processing what just happened. He looked at the outstretched fist, following the limb to Neptune's torso.
"You punched me?" Jaune asked, incredulous. Neptune went to retract his fist, but was not fast enough. Jaune's left hand shot out, grabbing him by the wrist.
I think not. A cheered. Or growled. It was really something in between the two. With a full bodied heave, the ranger threw the trident wielding man over his shoulder and into the rough dirt. Neptune coughed from the impact, but he quickly had much more pressing issue in the form of a sword about to turn him into a blue shishkebab. There was a golden flash as not one, not two, but three copies of Sun burst into existence, charging the armored man. Jaune was tackled to the ground.
What is this?! B cried out in rage. What unfair bullshit is this Shadow clone jutsu looking weeb ass shit?!
Jaune growled, curling his shoulders as he fell. With a grunt he rolled backwards, using one of the fake Sun's skulls as a handhold to propel himself back up, the sudden rotation shaking off the semblance born clones. The force that would crack a normal human skull caused the clone to puff into a white smoke. Jaune stabbed one through the shoulder and stomped the other in the head.
They too went up in plumes. Neptune had returned to his feet, trident set against the ranger. He and his leader charged forward. Jaune reset his posture, watching Scarlet take aim and Sage move to the left, encircling the ranger in a pincer. He would have to find a way to break free of the maneuver, or it would be a most annoying fight. Perhaps it was overconfidence, perhaps it was the simmering bloodlust that was just below the surface of his soul. It might have been the wish to have a challenge, as he had been taking things easy so far. Jaune knew what he was going to do. He was going to charge forward, beat the crap out of Sun and Neptune, do the same for Scarlet, and leave Sage for last. Simple, four step plan that was nice and flexible. Jaune moved to meet the two frontliners mid movement. Dr. Cortez raised an eyebrow at the uncharacteristic brashness that the ranger was exhibiting. Sun summoned more clones in front of him to take Jaune's deadly charge and halt his momentum. His blade impaled one, turning it into smoke. The clone's inherent lack of weight made it easy for Jaune to cleave his way through them. Yet alas while Jaune was an excellent fighter, having twenty or so bodies summoned within tackling distance of you was a recipe to be zergged to death. He was gripped by the multitudes of Suns, restricting his ability to move. Several had piled onto his legs and others gripped his arms tightly. The real Sun unlocked his bo staff, turning it into the duel gun chucks. Giving it a spin, he began to unload the payload into the ranger. One shot, two shots, three shots, Jaune took them, letting his sickly aura and thick armor take the blasts. There was a break as Sun had to switch which ends of the gun chucks he was holding, as he had run out of ammo in one end. Coalescing a small surge of electrical power, Jaune gave a stomp. The shockwave rolled off his legs, shocking a large percentile of the clones into dust. The remaining two surviving clones leapt forward, grabbing Jaune by his arms again. He reached out and grabbed the two clones, using them to flip up into the air like they were gymnasts arm bars. Sun had switched to loaded guns, shooting into his own clones as he hoped to get Jaune before he was out of his restraints. Jaune let the feeling of fire flow through his arms, crystalizing in between his fingers like the purest essence of sunlight. He flung a cluster of the glass shaped solar energy at the two closest huntsmen. They managed to disengage, escaping the epicenter of the explosion, but not quite being spared from the singing. The other cluster was flung at Scarlet, all the way back there in the corner of the ring. Scarlets already slightly bruised aura evaporated as the barrage exploded upon impact, knocking him out of the ring and the fight. Sebastian gave a sharp whistle. "Scarlet, Aura's cracked! Out of the ring!"
The pirate themed man gratefully escorted himself out of the fight as it had seemingly drifted to a stop. Jaune landed gracefully, picking up his blade. Sun, Neptune, and Sage made a kind of crescent around him, not sure if they were trapping Jaune or if he was luring them to him. "So, how are we doing this?" He asked, almost dryly. "Personally, being polite and letting me deal with you one by one would be preferred, but we can act like fools and rush in." It was a bluff. Jaune knew it, and he knew that Sebastian Cortez knew it. And he was willing to bet money that Sun knew it as well. Basic doctrine would not only recommend, but demand an engagement with all forces. Sun gave his opponent a smile.
"I would love to, Jaune, but I'm in this to win." Sun smiled as he gave the rest of his surviving team the signal to engage. Sage managed to engage first, opening with a hefty sword swing that would have flattened most men. Jaune infused his arm with earthen magic, strengthening the muscles underneath his wiry frame. He drew out a knife from its sheath, twisting to catch the blade with the crossguard of his longer sword. With his off hand he lunged at Neptune. Neptune stepped away from the strike, backing away. Jaune advanced on the blue haired man, striking once more with his longsword in an overhanded strike. Neptune caught it in the crook of his trident, almost getting himself knocked over and onto his ass. With a heave the huntsman pushed the blade off to the left. Taking advantage of the momentum, Jaune gave a full rotation to swing back at Sage. His green aura flared as the longer blade forged forward. The duel wielding ranger dove forward with his knife, also connecting into the large man's shoulder. Sage staggered back, not able to get his blade back into position from a missed attack. While the ranger's back was turned, Sun moved in for the offensive. He gave a strong swing to Jaune's back.
The response was to blindly hold the longblade up to rest on his shoulder, blocking the sneak attack. The blonde human let out a tactically placed yawn.
'You're going to have to try better than that," he said. "You're starting to bore me." he snapped his knife forward at Sage's face. For his credit Sage did manage to block the stab with a grab. Jaune smiled behind the mask, the cold grin not finding its way to the burning in his eyes. His leg kicked up, connecting into the large man's crotch. Said man doubled over, clutching his family jewels. Sun gave a roar in anger that Jaune would stoop to such underhanded tactics. With a mighty swing, the bo staff slammed into the rangers side. The force of the blow made Jaune cough, and probably bruised his ribs. Jaune turned, a wide full bodied one handed swing with the sword. Sun leapt back from the blade, letting it collide with the ground. It sunk into it like wet clay. Sun gave a smile of relief, glad he was not turned into an impromptu biology lesson. Neptune had shifted his trident into its ranged mode, and was firing off short bursts at Jaune. An unfortunate jamming of the weapon kept him from engaging sooner, but the issue was at the moment resolved. Sun gave the struggling blue haired man a look as he finally cocked the firing latch back, ejecting the troublesome round. He lined up the iron sighting on it with the charging blonde. Wait a second-
"Sun!" He called out in warning, snapping Sun's attention back to what was important. Jaune had grabbed Sage by his collar. With a mighty heave, supported with some illegal magic performance enhancement, he tossed the man into the monkey faunus. Sun quickly created a clone to help him with catching his friend. They tumbled to the ground, Sun rolling over his shoulders to land on his feet. Prepared for the ranger's aggressive advance, he leveled his two shotguns straight down the lane. The shotguns unloaded into the opposing blonde, shredding into the yellow aura and chest armor. The stopping power of these weapons was not to be underestimated. It knocked Jaune to the ground, flat on his ass. The battle came to a pause as Jaune rubbed at his butt.
"Ow." He said in the most monotone, flat, and uninjured voice you could imagine. The surviving members of team Sun, and everyone else that was watching, just kind of stared at him. Standing up, Jaune picked up his blades off the ground. Neptune saw a moment where he could get some free shots in on the Goliath like man. They connected, the four round burst riveting itself along Jaune's neck, up to his jaw. Jaune, almost mechanically, turned his head slowly to look at the impertinent fool. Neptune quickly pulled the trigger again, this time nailing all four rounds in Jaune's mask. They burst through Jaune's forehead, blasting a hole of flesh and gore through the cranial cavity. Jaune's body collapsed into the ground, crumbling like a sack of potatoes.
Arslan's face fell as her eyes became akin to dinner plates as she watched the body fall to the ground, shocked at the sudden turn of events. Jaune had been apparently caught off guard, not putting up his aura, letting the bullets fly through his head.
The structural components of the flesh turned to dirt and sand as it fell, dissolving into a plume of dust that rolled out along the ground unnaturally far. The small wall of the debris marched outwards, and from it strode a tall, willowy figure emerging from the obscured dust. His dual blades held loosely at his sides. Neptune shot a worried glance to his allies, who were too far away to help him. A scissoring cross slash put Neptune on the defensive as his teammates rushed their way over. Jaune could hear them advance on him, rushing to help their outclassed teammate. Jaune thrust forward with his left blade, nicking Neptune's goggles. With his right hand he pointed at the ground in front of the last of his opponents. With a swish of his hand, the stone underneath rumbled, a bulge forming between the ranger and the leading SS of team Sun. It burst, a solid wall of stone, dirt and earth springing from the ground in a scattering of material, a staunch barricade to isolate the blue haired man. Jaune returned his attention to the foe in front of him, whipping his blade into Neptunes side. His other blade collided with Neptune's trident, sending sparks across the two. Neptune kicked at Jaune's knee, knocking him off balance, which was enough for the blue haired man to tackle his foe, driving his shock trident down on the masked ranger. Jaune used both blades in the crevice of the trident to keep it at bay, and more importantly away from his face. They fell to the ground, Neptune pushing the full weight of his leverage down on Jaune. Those pale blue eyes just looked up at him, cold, calculating and almost engaged with the world around him. You could tell that his mind was turning gears somewhere. Neptune what insidious thoughts were being churned out now.
How do you suppose we get out of this pickle? Jaune mused to himself. I mean, I'm all for getting pinned to the ground by attractive men, but he should really ask me first. Dinner might be nice.
I want to know how Game of Bones ends. A thought wistfully, thinking back to simpler times. When nights were spent in warm beds, surrounded by bodies with blurred faces on a couch, comfy and safe.
B gave the two of them a look of exasperation. Could we please focus on the task at hand?
Jaune looked offended for his own sake. I am dealing with the situation at hand! He protested at the figment.
Then can you please take it seriously? B retorted angrily, gesturing to the outside.
"Oh, Alright." Jaune rolled his eyes, churning . He thrust his hips, launching the boy on top of him off with a grunt. It sent the blue boy flying off him, landing somewhere above his head. Or beyond it. Wholly dependent on your point of view. Point is Neptune was off of Jaune, who was free to sit up now. And sit up he did. Really it was moving to avoid the moving jet of earth aimed at Neptune. It picked him up by the chest and carried him away like it was a car. Driving him down the lane, it slammed the poor boy into the earthen wall. His blue aura shattered as the force sent him through the wall, shattering it like the makeshift battering ram it was, sending chunks to the ground with Neptune. Flying limply through the air, the blue huntsman landed on the ground. Dr. Cortez leapt to his feet, calling out that Neptune was out of the match. And most likely unconscious. "Neptune's broken! Nadir, come here and help me." He said, rushing over to assist the not moving blue haired man. He groaned when Sebastian dragged him away.
"You're making noise, that's good." the doctor muttered, feeling at the rib area. "Ohh," The sound was not a good one, and was not a sound someone made when that person was in good health or condition. "That's…. Nadir, in my backpack there is going to be what looks like a caulking gun and a glock got freaky with it. Bring that and the vial of green glowy goop to me." He commanded. Nadir blinked at him.
"Goop, sir?" he asked after a moment's pause. Sebastian nodded vigorously.
"Yes. Green glowing goop. It's in the thing labeled S.T.E.M in bright letters. On the double!" That sent Nadir scrambling to where Sebastian was lounging beforehand. He pawed through the backpack, moving various self contained and labeled boxes and rolls to the side. It was fortunately close to the top, just underneath the instant camp starter and a blanket. He brought the large barreled gun thing and the box of goop to the teacher. Sebastian gave him a nod, looking up from his rapid examination.
"Good man." Sebastian commented, cracking open the plastic case. Inside were several metal vials, a glass port window giving hint to how much green goop was still in each one. Choosing one that was about half, he slotted it into the delivery contraception. Pressing some kind of safety that Nadir didn't quite see, a large needle sprung out. Pausing for a moment, he looked up at the gunman next to him.
"You know what? Let's get you some life experience. Don't give him more than a quarter. Where are you stabbing him?" Sebastian asked, handing him the syringe. Nadir went wide eyed, just looking down at the oversized vaccine gun in his hand.
"You want me- I'm sorry what?" Nadir asked, shocked out of his right mind. He looked at the breathing Neptune. He wasn't quite sure how well he was breathing, but breathing nonetheless. "Where would I?" Nadir could feel his body clench up, knowing that he could fuck this up rather badly.
Sebastian was getting a little impatient. "What are you waiting for, exactly? Him to bleed out?" he asked. "You just stab him and hope that you don't puncture a lung."
Nadir looked at him. "Where?" He squeaked out. Sebastian gestured to the general chest cavity. "Here," he pointed. "And here, and here. Here also works." there were several points to various parts of Neptune's chest. "And don't use too much. Only an eight should be more than enough." he advised. Nadir, with shaking hands and a nervous slowness moved the syringe towards Neptunes collar bone.
"Don't shake so much. Smooth and easy." Sebastian recommended, muttering something akin to an apology to the pink haired man. "I forget you lot aren't third years sometimes. I guess you guys haven't had any of the required emergency or med classes yet?"
Arslan shook her head. "No, sir." She answered for Nadir, who had just made contact with Neptune's chest. It was convenient that he wasn't wearing a shirt, as there was no stripping that had to be done. Part of Nadir wondered if he would have been in a better spot if he had bothered to put on some armor instead of flaunting his abs.
"Easy, easy." Sebastian commented. "You're doing good. That's enough. Now help me get in a better position." The teacher and his student carefully lifted the man up and moved him closer to everyone else, away from the fight. Neptune stirred, but remained firmly unconscious.
"Was such a drastic reaction required?" Bolin asked from his seat next to Arslan. "It seems a little unnecessary. I mean, he was only thrown through a wall." he pointed out, to which most everyone gave him a look of incredulous disbelief.
Arslan in particular was unenthused with the statement, but Scarlett beat her to it. "Dude!" he snapped at Bolin. "What the fuck man?"
Bolin shrugged, as though it didn't quite matter. "I've been thrown through several walls and I'm fine."
Arslan shook her head, hearing Reese's muttered response. "Are you sure? Because I think you were hit in the head a couple of times during those."
Sebastian gave Neptune one last check over, satisfied that his student would be fine. "If we were not on a mission, I would hit him with a medipack and some painkillers and call it a day. A couple days of bed rest and hot soup, and he would have been in tip top shape." He sighed, looking up at the sky. "However, we are on a mission, in underdeveloped and unkind territory that has known Grimm problems. We do need everyone in combat conditions at all times. If one of you isn't, it is imperative that we use whatever at our disposal to get you back into action as soon as possible. He should be fine in an hour or two. Jaune only cracked most of ribs, his spine, shattered a collar bone and most likely gave him one hell of a concussion."
Sun stared at his teacher as he listed off the injuries. Jaune had been kind enough to let the battle come to a pause during the panic over Neptune. "And he's recovering from that in an hour… without aura… how?"
Sebastian held up the now unloaded STIM gun. "Because, Mr. Wukong, STIM is a crazy ass cocktail. Painkillers, Stem cells, Techazethonal, Leukine, Neupogen, zerpolal, and a couple hundred other drugs designed to regenerate and stabilize as much squishy human flesh as fast as possible." He said, giving the gun a wiggle. "Honestly the STIM was probably a little overkill, but better safe than sorry."
"Wait, if that was overkill, what does a whole vial do?" Reese asked, curious. Sebastian laughed, locking the box.
"At this size? It kills you. Your body starts regenerating flesh so fast that tumors start to grow at a rapid rate. These cells die and are broken apart by other growing cells, cannibalized into new material. What isn't used is released as a carbon gas most of the time, creating large painful pockets of exploding puss and gas inside your body. You explode from the inside out, blasting apart from the force of your own regeneration." He paused for a moment, letting it sink in. "it's basically uber cancer."
There was a moment of silence before Jaune spoke up, having a question of his own. "You…" he reconsidered, shifting the context of his question. "Under what circumstances would a full vial be necessary? Of that size or less."
Sebastian gave the ranger a curious, but amused look. "I have needed a half vial, a measurement I call a standard, once in my life." he said, giving a gesture to his stomach, a kind of gilding line being made with his hands. "I was bisected in half, ripped in two by a falling iron beam."
"And you're alive?" Arslan asked. Sebastian nodded with a grin, stuffing the box into the backpack semi haphazardly.
"Yup. fit as a fiddle. So, gentlemen." He said, turning to look at the three in the ring. "Are you continuing?"
Sun and Sage looked at eachother, before glancing at Jaune. They were concerned that he would insist they continue, knowing that he was enjoying the thrill of the fight, ravishingly wallowing in the adrenaline and primal instinct of it.
Jaune sighed, being able to intuitively guess as to what they wanted. "You may surrender if you wish, Sun, Sage.-"
"We surrender." Sun said quickly, cutting off the ranger. Jaune was about to say something, but gave up, letting his shoulders slump. The two quickly out of the ring, leaving Jaune just standing there for a moment. With a sigh, he moved out of the combat zone as well, moving towards Scarltt. The pirate was rubbing at his wrist, the one he had apparently fallen on when the explosive barrage.
"Would you like me to look at it?" the ranger offered, holding out a hand. Scarlet gave his a sideways glance, suspicion ingrained into him from the years of show fighting most Mistralli traditionally Hunters went through during primary school, but relented, letting Jaune take a hold of his hand. Jaune inspected it, calling upon knowledge dreamlost, dead and buried in doctors robes. Jaune felt the hand up, running his dexterous fingers along the ridges. Scarlet winced whenever he ran over a soft or tender spot, but bore it with little complaining.
"You're injured one of your volar ligaments, and your extensor retinaculum. I can also tell that your pisiform and lunate are a little bruised. Nothing I cannot deal with." he said, letting a black kind of mana flow from him into the pirate.
Arslan was inspecting a flower she had picked, a yellow daisy that had done it's best to grow in the rocky road. It suddenly wilted in her hands, turning brown and dead within seconds. Startled, she activated her semblance to locate the source of the danger. She found none, only Jaune clad in a spectral dark black and bruised purple, a crow's mask clad over his face. Shaking her head, she put down the dead flower concerned for the headache that Jaune decided to continuously present to her.
"Alright, no time to waste!" Dr. Cortez called, getting everyone but Jaune's attention, who was busy tending to Scarlets hand. "Team AMBR, to the stage!" He said, moving to the center. "Your battle will be against me."
Bolin shook his head, rolled his shoulders, limbering up from the fight. "This should be enjoyable." He said, picking up his bo staff. The confidence that he had was impressive, and not something that Reese shared. She looked at their smiling teacher, and decided that it did not promise an enjoyable experience.
And it is done. I kind of got carried away with the length on this one, but it was fun and I think i delivered. But it's another chapter down! Whohoo!
We get another smaller development with Arslan's semblance, plus some screentime for everyone's favorite set of side characters! I'm honestly a little bit sad that Scarlet and Sage never got as much screen time as Sun and Neptune, so I want to give them some space to flesh out as characters. Part of me thinks that I should have made this fight a little more even, by virtue of Jaune hold back significantly and team Sun being a legitimately good team for combat. I decided against it in the end, as evidenced, but part of me wondered if they should have gotten more hits in. I also will need some downtime filler stuff soon. I am thinking about Jaune calling Nora, but feel that I need another scene somewhere in there while they are in town, so I am taking suggestions in the reviews atm. you can pm me, but no guarantee I will see them.
As always, please leave a review about your thoughts on the story, where it is heading, what you think about it and whatever theories you have. I love reading them and they make some excellent thinking material for the story.