Dread, that was the most apt description for what Belka felt as she and the rest of her team walked back onto the platform. This was it, her trial by fire in front of a roaring crowd. They weren't ready for this, any objective measurement of her team's skill and cohesion would tell them that they weren't ready for a competition like this, so why the hell was she here!? Unfortunately, that was a question for another time, for now, she had to at least put up a good enough fight to look like she knew what she was doing. After all, Mother and Father would be watching, not to mention her dear godmother who put all that effort into training her.
Strangely, it seemed her team didn't share her doubts, Goose was hardly able to contain herself as she ran ahead. She was uncertain if Lao even wanted to win, given that he reacted to all the news about the tournament with the same non-existent enthusiasm he did with everything else, but he hadn't said anything that could be construed as negative. Truth be told, she didn't know what Elizabeth thought about the upcoming match either, but if she was having doubts, she didn't let it show, confidently walking with her head held high. She suspected the reasoning was similar to her own, with her father being a retired General and her mother being the current General's right hand woman. She had some big shoes to fill for such a small woman, but truth be told, she didn't care enough to ask. Focusing back on the imminent match, she looked at their opponents, the familiar and friendly faces of team KRMA.
"Hey guys!" Kenneth cheered from his spot, smiling and waving enthusiastically at BGEL. Goose waved back just as excitedly, while Lao gave a polite wave back, his expression still as lifeless as stone. Well, at least they would be losing to friends instead of, say, a team like SABL or SLVR.
"So Liz, you gotten any better than last time? Because I can go easy on you if you want."
If it wasn't for the good-natured smile that accompanied her jeering, Elizabeth would have taken Mercy's words as a genuine taunt, not that it made much of a difference. Unable to take the comment in stride, she drew Exenterator from its spot at her hip and lashed its blade into the ground in a flourish. Following suit, Mercy started to twirl the kama of her kusarigama, ready to swing Truth and Consequences at a moment's notice.
"Last time was nothing but a fluke, one that I'm gonna enjoy setting straight." Elizabeth muttered.
The memory of her previous defeat was still as clear as day, and the fact that it had been due to a ring out just added insult to injury. Before any more banter could be held though, the arena began to shift around them, the outer platforms detaching and lowering out of sight, while the loud mechanical noises of the battleground changing underneath them drowned out the roars of the surrounding crowd. With only moments to spare before the Faunus on the other team could hear them again, they quickly huddled together to form a plan.
"You got a game plan?" Elizabeth asked the obvious question, her faith in her leader being practically non-existent. She wasn't expecting much, maybe some insight on her one friend at most.
"Divide and conquer."
Elizabeth felt immediate vindication at those words. That was it? Somehow she'd overestimated Belka's plan, and furthermore, it was a plan that had never worked for them in the past. Why would now be any different? Belka, however, didn't see any other option, from her talks with Whiskey, it had been easy to figure out that KRMA worked best as a team, something her own team was seemingly incapable of. Thus, splitting them up was their only real option, trying to use KRMA's group-centric style to their advantage by keeping them from helping each other out and using their advantage in coordination. And besides, no one else had a better alternative to suggest.
"I'll handle Mercy." Elizabeth declared, obviously eager to have a rematch and set the record straight.
"Are you sure?" Belka asked.
On paper, it seemed like an obvious matchup, both making use of melee weapons that could be used at longer ranges, which would keep her from being a pest to anyone else, but she was skeptical of her niece's abilities, especially after finding out she'd already lost to this girl before. With a scoff, Elizabeth nodded, insulted at the doubt from her leader.
"We spared plenty of times, and I usually won. Lao should be able to handle Ken if no one gets between them." Lao nodded, not having any real preference to who he fought, though he appreciated that she was considerate enough to suggest Kenneth, who was the closest to his weight class.
"Okay, I'll handle Whiskey, Goose that leaves Anga to you, you think you can-"
"Kick his butt? Oh I betcha I can!" Frightening wasn't typically a word that any of them would associate with Goose, but the fact that she was positively giddy over the idea of beating up her new friend was cause for at least some concern. Oh well, at least one of them was having fun.
"Whiskey, can you beat her?" Lao asked plainly, preparing to be scolded for even asking such a question, but instead of her responding in her usual haughty attitude, Belka grew quiet, pursing her lips. She and Whiskey were almost identical in terms of weapon and style, but when it came to their Semblances, Whiskey's was a direct counter to her more long ranged style of fighting, and in close range, her flamethrower was going to cause problems…
"No, her weapon and Semblance are better than mine. If she's fighting to win, she's going to beat me eventually, but at the very least, I can keep her busy while the rest of you pick off her teammates."
In truth, it was the weakest part of her plan and she was sure they all knew it, but she doubted any of the others would fare as well, Goose and Lao wouldn't be able to get close enough to deal with her, and Liz's mobility advantage could be readily negated by her Semblance. With their plan set in stone, they got ready as finally the platforms raised back up to the left and right of them in half circles that met in the middle behind each team.
One half of the arena was a series of floating platforms, moving with the aid of gravity Dust in a path that was clearly designed to be difficult to fight within, while the other was more immediately appropriate for their destination, a set of sandy dunes arranged in a arena-like arrangement that seemed safe enough, but a closer look revealed the terrain was so uneven that no matter where you fought, it would be impossible to keep your footing. Both sides of the arena offered cheap and clearly artificial difficulty, but difficulty that still captured the utter misery of Vacuo's terrain well enough.
A loud buzzer went off, indicating the start of the match, and both sides rushed in. Unfortunately, the plan they'd agreed on went right off the rails almost immediately. As soon as she laid eyes on her friend, she raised Morgan to fire a gravity Dust infused blast at her friend, knowing she couldn't let Whiskey corner one of the others, but before the the blast could connected, Kenneth moved between them, somehow perfectly predicting where the beam would land and drawing his sword from his cane, angling it in such a way to deflect the beam away. However, even he didn't expect it to perfectly bounce back at the other team, a direct hit on Elizabeth were she not already forming a Glyph in her palm.
Barely reacting in time, she extended her hand out to catch the beam as it collided with her Semblance, the force throwing her arm to the side, now pointed directly at Belka and Goose. The still-forming Glyph absorbed the gravity attributes of the beam and without her full focus, shattered, releasing the energy, and sending the pair flying to her left towards the platforms.
The petite woman could only watch slack jawed as she accidentally sent her aunt and leader flying all the way across the battlefield, the odds of that beam deflecting the way it did in order to meet her Glyph just as it formed to imbue it with the latent gravity Dust were so astronomically small that… Right, odds didn't matter around Goose. KRMA didn't just stare and gawk at the unlikeliness of the events however, and Ken, along with Mercedes, started running over to the floating platforms to catch up with their opponents. She ran to catch up with the pair, Lao following suit, only to suddenly lurch to a halt as an unseen force held him in place as Elizabeth ran up ahead along with Anga.
Turning around to see what was happening, he saw a translucent orange tether connecting him to Whiskey who'd clearly decided to stay behind. The Aura construct connected to her offhand like a leash, and with her other, she held the trigger of Idris, the weapon that was nearly identical to his leader's own, which was now pointed right at him and spitting bursts of flame in his direction. Taking one last look behind him at his team, he took a deep calming breath, reminding himself that they'd be fine without him for a time, before he flicked his wrists, sending Ao Bing and Ao Quang into their active states and throwing both of them her way.
Belka hit the platform hard, rolling to a stop just before she'd be sent careening off of the edge and onto the rocks below. She got to her feet just in time for the platform to suddenly rise up, and, dazed from the unexpected impact, she looked around from her new vantage point to get her bearings, only to completely freeze as she realized her entire plan had gone up in smoke.
No, no, no. Damn it, that plan had been their only real chance at victory, and it had been thwarted by Goose's asinine Semblance before they could even put it in motion, a theory backed up by the fact that she was the only one still fighting the person she was supposed to, albeit with the caveat of also dealing with Mercedes taking potshots from the neighboring platform, while Elizabeth wrestled with just trying to navigate the altered gravity, and Lao had ended up in the unfortunate position of trying to essentially fist-fight someone with a flamethrower, keeping Whiskey at a distance with his chakrams, a strategy that would only work for so long as the fight refrained from progressing towards the sand.
Before she could even start to try and put together a backup plan, her thoughts were torn away upon hearing a set of quick footsteps closing in and she turned to find, once again, it was that little cat-tailed pest getting in her way. He closed the distance and thrust the tip of his cane her way, the shock baton at the end sparking to life just as it made contact with her. The young woman cried out as sparks arced across her body, her Aura keeping the electricity from reaching her muscles, but doing little to dull the pain.
"Man, you might just be the girl whose attention I have to work the hardest for."
Ignoring his asinine flirting and using Morgan's longer reach to her advantage, she batted the business end of his cane aside and readied a counter-thrust, Morgan's blade shimmering into existence in a flash of purple light. Since he was too close to move away, he instead chose to meet her head on, blocking her strike by driving it downwards before moving into melee range, once again swinging his cane her way.
She raised the other end of the polearm to interrupt the swing just before it made contact, however, completely undeterred, he drew his sword from Kilkenny and pulled back his arm to thrust past her guard. But, as he thrust the blade her way, he was caught off guard when she twirled her weapon, now bringing the violet blade of light downwards again, but now on her own terms, slashing into his calf while sending his own strike off course, missing her completely. She didn't let up either, spinning it one last time to send the blunt end slamming into his cheek and knocking him down.
"Has that cutesy crap ever actually worked for you?" The young woman asked, a smug look growing across her face as she managed to knock the irritating flirt on his ass.
Rubbing his bruised cheek, Ken briefly considered replaying that moment, but, seeing as he'd be sacrificing precious Aura and potentially show his hand over some wounded pride, he decided against it, using his cane to prop himself back up.
"Well, uh… no, not yet."
Watching closely, Belka smirked as a perfect opportunity showed itself as the platform behind him lowered, the over-designed obstacle course of an arena finally making itself useful. Ken jumped back as she fired from the hip at him, finding the floor that had been behind him moments ago suddenly missing as one of his feet tried to step on thin air.
Yelping in shock, it took all of his balance not to fall off, not that it would do him any good, as a second shot from his opponent knocked him back. Right, that one was getting a rewind. Focusing on the moment of her first shot, the world around them froze in a green haze, the entire arena going still before suddenly he started falling in reverse, the purple beams traveling back into her weapon as he once again found himself staring down the barrel of Morgan.
Rather than stepping off the platform this time, he jumped back, doing a backflip to avoid both her initial and follow-up shot. Belka's eyes went wide at the sudden reflexes, infuriated by how he had somehow yet again gotten out of what she was sure was a surefire hit and its subsequent kill-shot. Cursing herself for underestimating her opponent, she continued to fire at the boy, who slowly backed off while deflecting shots with his blade. Not wanting to let him get away, she jumped over to the same platform and continued to fire.
For a brief moment, the cat tailed boy looked like he was going to fall back, before he suddenly planted his feet, a sudden change she found odd, but not nearly as odd as the way he watched her feet. She continued to fire while advancing, making sure he couldn't get comfortable as she approached but, before she could make any real headway, the gravity platforms activated once more, this time from both above and below, leaving her floating at the unexpected change. Kenneth, however, had somehow known this was coming, and jumped up as the gravity switched, striking Belka who was too stunned at how perfectly wrong this had gone to react, sending the girl back. At the same time, a chain suddenly wrapped around her waist, jerking her off the side of the platform.
Looking down, Belka screamed as she saw the ring out zone rapidly approaching. Closing her eyes and bracing for the impact, she didn't anticipate something hitting her side, sending her tumbling off course for a ring out. Rather than the dirt of the ring-out zone, she found herself rolling in the sand with another body coming to rest on top of her. Opening her eyes, she was met with an out of breath Goose getting to her feet with a weak and tired smile.
"Hope you don't mind, but this time I did it on purpose."
Well, she supposed she couldn't be mad in this instance, though if she had to spend another second with her skin on this scalding sand, she would snap regardless. Letting her partner help her to her feet, Belka looked up just in time to see Kenneth slink away. She scowled at the boy, raising Morgan to take a shot at him but missed her opportunity by a second, lowering the naginata with a huff.
How the hell had he anticipated that? The timing was seemingly random and he hadn't seen anything she hadn't!? Was it his Semblance? Wait, no, that actually made sense, there was no way he'd just known she was going to shoot at her best friend at the start of the fight, the platform behind him had lowered without him seeing it, yet he'd perfectly jumped over it, and pushing her into the gravity shifter just as Mercedes's chain had made that arc was too perfect even for Goose's Semblance. He shouldn't have been able to anticipate any of that even once, but in three separate instances? That wasn't a coincidence.
Unfortunately, she couldn't focus on that as Anga and Mercedes closed in, chasing after their previous quarry.
With a sweeping kick aimed for her shins, Lao knocked Whiskey off of her feet and onto her back, but before he could follow up his blow, the Faunus swung Idris his way as she squeezed the trigger, wreathing her blade in flame. He managed to jump back in time to avoid the metal blade now sweeping past his chest, but Idris's flames still washed over him in a cascade of billowing light, causing him to recoil in pain as his top caught fire, the sand sliding under his feet as he could feel the fire start to spread across his arms and torso.
He grabbed the ruined fabric and ripped it from his chest, before letting it fall to the ground, where it quickly burnt to ash. Making her recovery, Whiskey readied another blast of fire, only to stop at the sight of his bare chest. Obviously, she knew that as a Huntsman in training, he had to be in good shape. but the firm toned muscle mixed with his soft, frankly beautiful features created a contrast that was very pleasing to the Faunus. Her face turned red as her floppy ears suddenly stood at attention.
"Woah… damn Belka, I see how it is, keeping the goods to yourself." Lao's cheeks gained a slight hue of pink as the woman blatantly ogled his exposed body along with his pink eyes, normally pink, faded into a pale shade red, the color of cheap wine. Of course, he knew his body would be considered aesthetically pleasing by most, but having it just be openly admired was a new… unexpectedly nice feeling.
Realizing she'd been caught ogling, Whiskey's face turned a deep red and she swung at him once again to try and cover her actions, however, rather than hit its mark, her weapon phased right through him as though he were merely an illusion. For a moment, she stared, Idris's blade resting in the false dunes, confused at the sudden change. His Semblance was some kind of intangibility? If that was the case, then why hadn't he used it before, and why had Belka mentioned it was super strength?
"Please focus on fighting me." Lao said, raising his arms to cover his modesty, not reacting in the slightest to the fact that her attack had just gone right through him like a ghost.
"What the- this is your Semblance!?" Acting more out of confusion at the sudden intangibility of her opponent, she spun her weapon in the vain hopes of hitting him, blow after blow going right through him as he took a deep, calming breath that caused his eyes to shift back to their natural pink hue. As they did, he reached out at the incoming weapon and caught it by the shaft in his hand, the blade resting mere inches from his face.
"Trust me, it's needlessly complicated." he sighed before pulling her into melee range.
She planted her feet to try and resist his pull, but her feet just slid through the loose sand, right into range of an Aura-amped palm strike. However, before he could land the blow, the crackling of electricity alerted him to an attack coming from behind. Pivoting on his heel, he redirected his strike at Kenneth as he moved in, his fellow ginger sliding under the strike at the last moment. Something that would have gone unnoticed to others but Lao easily spotted was just how last minute Kenneth's re-adjustment was.
He'd fully committed to the attack before suddenly changing his mind at the last possible moment, as if he somehow knew it would go badly for him at the precipice of when he could feasibly disengage. The hairs stood up on his tail as he caught a glimpse of the concentrated Aura in Lao's palm burst forward with the missed strike. Spinning around, Ken swung Kilkenny at his legs, the loose sand giving him nothing to stay steady on as his feet were knocked out from under him.
"Whiskey, blast him!" At her leader's command, she immediately caught on, aiming low and spewing fire from Idris, aiming to melt the sand under the boy into glass and immobilize him.
However, before the flames made contact, a glyph appeared between them, reflecting the flames back at the pair, who both jumped back to avoid being burned. Apparently, he was getting up too slowly for Elizabeth's liking, as by the time he'd gotten to his knees, she was already next to him, pulling him up by the bicep, only to then pause as she glanced at her shirtless partner.
After a moment of taking him in, she let out an approving hum before turning back to their opponents, but before combat could resume, Belka stumbled backward right into Liz, knocking both girls over into the sand. Things only started to look more bleak as the team was suddenly surrounded from both sides by KRMA, who began to close in.
Getting back to their feet, the girls had no intention of going down easy, preparing to make the fight as difficult as they could. The standoff was only interrupted at the sound of wind suddenly picking up from within the arena, specifically, from the arena itself, as the edges started to glow green with the signature howl of wind Dust activating, creating a sudden sandstorm enclosed within their side of the battleground. KRMA immediately fell back to the center of the arena while BGEL stayed behind in the whirling dunes.
Thinking fast, Elizabeth grabbed a vial of her own wind Dust and slammed it into the ground as she summoned a massive Glyph beneath all four of them, creating a wind tunnel to counteract the sandstorm. Okay, they had a brief moment to breathe, now they just needed a plan. Unfortunately, there was no real time to strategize, so they'd be winging it.
"Okay, I got this, I'll handle the twink, Belka you handle your little girlfriend while-"
"No, you can't fight him." The whole team turned at her alarmed tone, turning to their leader in confusion, unsure why she was worried about him fighting some obnoxious cat boy. "Whiskey mentioned his Semblance is dangerous, I thought it was some kind of attack, but I think he can see what's about to happen, he just knows stuff that he shouldn't."
"So, he can see the future or some shit?" Elizabeth scoffed at the ridiculous notion, only to pause as she looked at Belka, still maintaining that overly serious face. Shit, she was serious, which meant any worthwhile attack was likely to fail. Damn it, how were they supposed to beat someone who seemingly knew what was coming? "Okay, fine, what do we do?"
For once, her team was actually looking to her for an answer, and not taking her ideas as gentle suggestions. A part of her wanted to revel in the moment, but having only a few precious moments, she concentrated. The main problem she saw was Kenneth, but she didn't see a way around his Semblance if he could just predict what wa- Wait, that was it!
"Goose, I want you on Kenneth's ass the whole time."
"But he'll still know what she's going to do." Lao said, pointing out that her "plan" seemed to solve nothing. Even with Goose being a good, jack of all trades type fighter, such an ability would easily make up for a vast difference in skill or power if used properly.
"Exactly, if he has to keep watching out for Goose, then he can't focus on the rest of us."
Elizabeth raised an eyebrow at that, she wanted to weaponize Goose's Semblance? Truth be told, it wasn't a terrible idea, and the logic was sound. After all, how could someone predict that kind of chaos? Goose's eyes went the widest, this was the first time Belka had talked about her Semblance as anything but a hindrance.
She didn't try to hide the growing smile on her face, and she didn't try to. She knew her Dad could focus his Semblance, so maybe she could do the same? She'd never really tried in fear of something so out of the blue happening like a chunk of the moon hitting her house, but it had to be worth a shot. Satisfied that her team seemed willing to roll the dice on Goose, she turned to their martial artist.
"Lao, I need you and Liz to deal with the others and stop them from helping, while I'll fall back and provide covering fire. None of them have a long range option, so I should be able to stay out of range." she said, ejecting the current gravity cylinder from Morgan and inserting an ice powered replacement. Liz's face turned into a scowl, as while not wrong, it rubbed her the wrong way to know she'd be on the front lines while her leader stayed in the back away from danger. Despite not hiding her displeasure in the slightest, it went ignored by her aunt as she continued to talk. "Elizabeth, focus on using your Glyphs to make sure you don't get jumped."
"You want us to fight on the frontline while you just sit ba-"
"Do you want to win or not damn it?!" Belka barked, clearly this wasn't a suggestion.
Opening her mouth, the pygmy woman was ready to bite back at her leader, to point out how stupid and self-serving it was. Except she couldn't. She was right, none of them had a weapon that would even remotely match Morgan's efficiency at range. She nodded, accepting the plan just in time as the sandstorm finally died after less than a minute, the whole arena now covered in a thin sheen of sand that had been blown around. In the center, amidst the sand-strewn stone, was KRMA, similarly ready to resume their battle.
"Stick to the plan!" Their leader called out, being the first to break off from their formation.
Seeing the leader of BGEL book it back toward the gravity platforms, Mercy broke off, closing in and swinging Truth and Consequences to try and snare the woman before she could get too far away, but a wall of Glyphs appeared midway through its arc, blocking the chain scythe. A moment after it bounced off the familiar construct, a pair of bullets slammed into her ribs, and, as she winced back, another shot whizzed by her head before she twirled the weapon to block the remaining three shots sent her way.
As she did, she accidentally left her side wide open, and to her shock, Goose immediately slipped by her, rushing in and swinging her blade at Kenneth. The boy ducked under her first strike and met her second with Kilkenny, however, the strength difference between them was immediately made apparent as his feet started to slide back.
Seeing his teammate in trouble, Anga raised his hand, the cybernetic glove powering up with a gentle hum as he made a finger gun at Goose. The hard light Dust woven through his attire and Aura concentrated into a point at the tip of his finger, ready to blast the girl when a chakram flew by, cutting into the Aura around his arm and causing him to release the shot, which was sent crashing against the hard light barrier of the arena, it's dull blue hue suddenly flashing neon as the barrier strained against the blast. He turned around to see Lao, who raised his hand out to catch Ao Bing as it returned. Seeing his apparent opponent, Anga readied another finger gun, but to Lao's confusion, he aimed just to the side, rather than just at him.
On Anga's end, his mind and eyes were a blur, his glasses having analyzed the travel speed of Lao's weapon, as well as its current arc, telling him that it would be coming back in just one second. Firing his second blast, the shot hit the chakram directly out of the air, sending it careening across the arena. Now disarmed of one of his weapons, Anga moved in with Whiskey at his flank. By now, the fighting had started to take its toll on them all, and Lao knew he had to end things quickly.
Taking a chance, he threw his remaining weapon at Whiskey, who raised her weapon instinctually to block, sending Ao Quang bouncing right off of the metal of the weapon's shaft and heading back towards Anga. Moments before Lao's blade otherwise would've made contact, he managed to raise both hands, projecting a forcefield from his gloves to hastily deflect the incoming weapon back at its user, who easily caught the weapon out of the air. However, the moment he dropped the hard light shield, something else hit his hands, encasing them in ice. His eyes widened as he briefly turned his attention to Belka at her spot above them. Had that been their plan, or was it just an opportunity the sniper had taken advantage of? Either way, it didn't matter.
As he gathered the dust needed to break the ice around his hands, Lao made his move, once again throwing his weapon at Whiskey's head, forcing her to block. As she did, he closed the distance, delivering a powerful punch under her guard and into her gut that threw her back several feet, causing her Aura to shine as it concentrated on one spot to stop any damage from breaking through. A moment later, a loud buzzer rang out, signaling her as the first elimination, causing Anga to swear under his breath.
That wasn't good, and what was worse was that he couldn't get a read on his opponent, his stoic face and complete lack of micromovements making it near impossible to predict his next move. It was… honestly, rather intriguing. There had to be a way to read the smaller boy, he just hadn't figured it out yet, but unfortunately, now they were outnumbered, and it looked like it was up to him to remedy that. Seeing that analyzing Lao himself was a dead end, he drew his focus away from his target, and more what his target did. While Lao himself was hard to understand, his fighting style was not.
"Has anyone ever told you that you're nearly impossible to read?" he asked, releasing the gathered Dust and shattering the ice around his hands before adjusting his glasses. As expected, Lao's response was uniform and devoid of any signs of emotion.
"Elizabeth doesn't like it either." Out of the corner of his eye, he could see the girl in question locked in combat with Mercy, her whip sword being used to keep up with the length of Mercedes's chain scythe, so it seemed he'd have to deal with this on his own.
"I was thinking just the opposite, actually. I like puzzles, and while the answer is disappointingly simple, just fighting you regularly is a good , people's eyes give them away, or they'll make little microexpressions with their body, a hitch in their shoulder before a punch, a tapping or bouncing of the foot before a charge, but you're not doing any of that. Any other time, I'd be having fun trying to figure out how you work." Lao tilted his head, still unsure of where this talk was going.
"What makes this case different?"
"I'm here to win, and you have a very easy solution," he explained, reaching into one of the many pouches on his belt and retrieving a yellow Dust crystal. "If you can't touch me, you can't beat me."
Suddenly, he crushed the Dust in his hand, but rather than watch as the contained energy burst out in a violent cavalcade of elemental energy, his Aura started to visually shift color from its normal sky blue into a pale yellow, the sound of electricity crackling accompanying the sparks that arced off of his Aura. If it wasn't for his glasses picking up every little muscle movement, Anga would have missed the way Lao's lips twitched. Was it out of worry, frustration even? For once, he nor the device on his face could tell.
Either way, it didn't hold him back as he threw his chakram, the obvious solution to his problem, but one that wasn't going to work. Following the path and timing his glasses laid out in milliseconds, he sidestepped the flying blade, but rather than simply evade it, he caught it within his grasp, spinning around to maintain momentum as he channeled as much of the energy from the Dust as he could into his gloves before throwing it back, releasing the stored energy as he released Ao Quang.
The blade shot forward at speeds almost too fast for Lao to see, suddenly slamming into his chest and throwing him back before the shockwave of his weapon casually breaking the sound barrier could be heard. Shortly following this was the sound of a buzzer going off, and, looking up at the screens overhead, it was as he suspected. His Aura had been pushed far past the threshold with that blow. In fact, it was dangerously close to zero.
Hearing the buzzer, Elizabeth looked behind her, swearing as she saw Lao on the ground, but that split second of looking away cost her, as Mercy landed a blow that connected with her shoulder. Fortunately, she could be a bit predictable, and as usual, she went for a second identical blow as she twirled the chain, the blade already arcing back around. Already knowing this, Elizabeth readied a Glyph to catch Truth and Consequences as it came down, only for her opponent to pull back on the chain scythe suddenly. Apparently, she was falling into old habits as well, which meant it was time to change things up.
"C'mon, you really need your Semblance to beat little ol' me?"
"Is there a reason I wouldn't use such a useful tool at my disposal?"
"Hey, if you wanna beat me with mommy's hand-me-downs, I'm comfortable losing to Winter's Semblance." Mercy chuckled, clearly just trying to get a rise out of her. The problem was that she was far too obvious, the woman couldn't act to save her life. Unfortunately for her, Elizabeth wasn't the only one who could get riled up, and she was far better when it came to instigating.
"So does that mean if you win, I lost to Maria instead of you?" That got the desired reaction, and, gritting her teeth, Mercy ran forward with a battle cry that left her throat sore.
Elizabeth, however, stayed dead still, her feet planted, staring down her family friend and mentally counting down the seconds as she grew closer. Finally, she came to a sudden stop about thirteen feet away, her momentum suddenly crashing down to nothing, though she maintained her pose as she inched closer to Elizabeth by the second, now illuminated by the faint glow of the time dilation Glyph now visible beneath the sand at her feet.
Smirking, Liz raised her hand, another Glyph forming that turned black as she imbued it with gravity Dust. Circling around Mercy, she paid no mind to the frozen girl, instead lining up her outstretched arm with Anga as he advanced on Goose with his electric Aura. No words needed to be said, and, closing one eye, Belka waited for the right moment before firing at the man's feet, freezing them in place just as he stepped into the path of the Glyph still holding Mercedes still.
His eyes widened as he looked around, having just enough time to realize he fell into a trap before Elizabeth released the time dilation Glyph while pushing Mercy with the force of gravity at the same time. The silver-eyed woman only had a brief moment to scream before making impact with Anga, the two Atlesians flying off the edge of the ring as a buzzer rang out, their icons on the screen overhead going red simultaneously, leaving Kenneth all on his own.
Between the cat Faunus and Goose, the former was struggling far more than he had any right to. He slid back from the force of Goose's blade hitting him, his foot digging into the sand, fighting for any purchase in the loose terrain. He had hoped getting on her good side would buy him a bit of leeway, but as he discovered while leaning in for a wink only to get a face full of Dustshot pellets, it was clear no amount of flirting was gonna get him out of this fightMan, if this was how she treated the people she liked… nah, actually, he could get into this.
The woman didn't give him a moment to breathe, spinning around and dragging her blade through the sand before swinging up at him. He had enough time to jump back, avoiding the blade, but not the sand that flew up directly into his eyes. Wincing, he rubbed at his face, desperately trying to get his eyes clear when he heard the sound of a shotgun racking. Activating his Semblance once more, he rewinded back to the moment he jumped back, this time closing his eyes preemptively. However, this time there was no sand sent his way, instead feeling a blast of Dustshot slam into his chest as she squeezed the trigger by mistake, letting out an innocent 'oopsie' as he hit the ground.
Okay, what the hell was that? He didn't do anything all that different beyond close his eyes, and she was still mid-swing, so even if she somehow knew what his Semblance was, there was literally no time to change plans. That had just played out… differently, seemingly for no reason. Then again, weird stuff tended to just happen around her, maybe she just had really good luck in this instance.
Looking up, he gulped, seeing Elizabeth had closed the distance, her own sword at the ready in her hand. Raising his hands up, he chuckled nervously, looking for any escape.
"C'mon, you're not gonna jump lil' ol' me, are ya?" The silence from Liz was deafening as she approached. Looking over to Goose in a last-ditch effort, he froze as she happily loaded up Glücksfall with fire Dust slugs. "Oh shit, you're about to jump me."
As the realization set in, a blast of ice courtesy of Belka from across the arena hit his feet, freezing him in place just before Goose launched herself at him. With no choice, he activated his Semblance again, jumping to the side the moment time resumed its normal flow to avoid his feet being frozen to the floor. He wasn't out of danger yet however, Goose's continuous fire with Glücksfall forcing him to keep moving to avoid the shots. He tried to get in close, swinging his baton at the woman, only for the whip of Exenterator to wrap around his wrist, pulling him off balance right into Goose, who swung at his side.
He activated his Semblance once more, feeling the Aura rush out of his body as he rewinded once more in the span of a few seconds. He didn't need much, only rewinding to right before Elizabeth pulled him, and instead of trying to fight the pull, he moved with it, jumping over Goose's attack and spinning to untangle his wrist, landing with his sword drawn ready to move in and-
BZZZZ
Was that a buzzer? Did their leader lose her footing and fall or something? Adding to his confusion, the crowd reacted as though something big had happened, some cheering, some laughing. His curiosity getting the better at him, he looked up, only to find his name and icon had shifted red as a set of crown graphics formed over BGEL's icons. His jaw dropped as he realized he had just eliminated himself.
"Oh, come on!"
He hadn't been watching his Aura. Sure, he knew his Semblance took a lot out of him, but damn it, he thought he had more than that! Anga was going to give him an earful. Hell, Mercy was gonna kill him for this screw-up. His only acknowledgment was a small pat on the back from Lao, who, despite winning, looked at him with all the enthusiasm of someone waiting in line at the bank.
"You fought well." The brief bit of… sympathy? Reassurance? He really couldn't tell with the guy's face as unmoving as it was, but it didn't do much. Looking down at his feet, he groaned, only to have his head tugged back up by Lao. "My eyes are up here Kenneth."
"We won! Guys we won!" Goose said, coming up and picking Lao up, thankfully letting Ken ignore the implication that his fellow ginger apparently thought he was checking him out, instead just giving in for the moment and collapsing with a dramatic huff.
Belka had done something similar, sitting on the edge of her platform as she looked down over the arena. They'd done it. Hell, she'd done it, and they won. It should have felt like a weight was lifted off of her shoulders, but instead, the pressure mounted higher. Looking down at her team, she saw Goose twirling Lao around like a ragdoll in celebration, and next to them was Elizabeth, staring right back up at her. She couldn't make out her features, or the face she was making, but she didn't have to, they could both tell that the tension hadn't just gone away from this victory, yet there was… trust, maybe just a hint of it, but she could have sworn she saw a nod before Goose similarly gaffled up her niece.
Standing back up, she smiled, her mind already made up. There was no way in hell she was letting this victory be a fluke.
The moon hung low in the sky, casting a pale glow over the quiet suburban streets, but none of it mattered to Raven Blackthorn. Her heart pounded like a thousand war drums as she stared into Blaze Nightshade's piercing emerald eyes—eyes that seemed to hold the secrets of the universe, or at least the secrets of algebra class.
"I can't explain it," she whispered, her voice trembling like a leaf in the wind, "but when I'm with you, it's like the world finally makes sense... even though I know you're dangerous."
Damn it Vera, what kind of garbage was this? 'Not as bad as people said' her ass.
With a sigh, Alaska flipped the page as she sat on Pa's wagon, having been dragged along to help him stock up on supplies while in town. They typically bought from local vendors, but he wasn't above taking advantage of the lower city prices while in town. He claimed he needed her help, but she knew he could handle some bags of grain and seed just fine, not that she really minded, it was good for him to not overwork himself. And besides, it was good spending time with him now that he was finally getting off her ass over all that Beacon crap.
The stand they stopped at was near the edge of the market, just across from one of those big outdoor screens that normally stayed locked onto the eternally uneventful weather forecast or whatever news station paid them more. Now, though, they were all tuned into coverage of the festival, which was understandable, it was the biggest event in the world after all. Unfortunately, it just made it impossible to avoid coverage of the event, it felt like every hundred or so feet there was a different screen with an ongoing playback, something that was incredibly annoying while she was just trying to enjoy a good boo- okay, just a book in her case. Hearing the blaring of the trumpet from the holoscreen, curiosity got the better of her and she finally looked up, just in time to see the text pop up announcing that team BGEL had won.
Well she'd be damned, the little tart actually won? She was impressed, maybe those ass beatings really did toughen her up some. She couldn't help but feel a bit giddy, knowing she'd have another chance to publicly kick her ass, however small it was. She still owed her for sicking the feral femboy on her after all. Then, maybe she'd see if her new boy toy was in town for some fun.
"So, what's that one about?" Arkansas asked, ripping her from her indecent thoughts.
Oh right, the book. Pa had never been much of a reader, but he at least tried to act curious about the ones she liked.
"It's about this girl caught in between her feelings for some hunky demon and a skinny little angel prince." she said dryly, wanting to see his reaction.
Her dad made a face at that, his lips puckering like he'd just eaten something sour as he tried to think of a way to comment on it that didn't involve pointing out how stupid it was.
"Oh, that uh… "
"It's just as bad as it sounds," she said, no longer able to hold back her laughter, setting the trashy novel down beside her without bothering to save the page she was on. "Vera lent it to me, told me it's way better than people say. It really ain't."
Having had her fun, she hopped up out of her seat, sauntering over to where the burlap bags were stacked and started carrying them over and dropping them into the back of the wagon. As the pair loaded up, she quickly picked up on how different things felt. They weren't talking, for one. Pa'd always make conversation, either with the people they bought from, or her, yet this time, he was quiet, and his eyes felt like they were always on her. Trying to bury the feeling, she picked up two bags to try and make the process go faster.
"That's enough hon, I ain't get that many." She froze at his tone, it was unusually firm, like he'd given an order instead of just telling her she'd grabbed too much.
Looking his way, she saw a hard look in his distrusting eyes.
Seriously? What was all of that for? Did he think she was gonna try and load up more while the vendor wasn't paying attention? Did he really think so low of her after one little call from those pansies at Beacon? That… hurt. She understood him being mad, but acting like he couldn't trust her was bigger than that.
With a huff, she dropped the sacks in her hands back down into the pile and made her way back onto the wagon, shoving Vera's book back into her bag and grumbling to herself, watching as her father shook the man's hand before walking back over.
"You know, you don't gotta be lookin' over my shoulder all the time like I'm just itchin' to get up to no good the moment you look away." Alaska muttered as he climbed up into his seat, her voice lower and lacking its usual rowdy energy.
"'Laska, you know tha-"
"I know, I broke my word…" she trailed off. She knew she'd done wrong, at least on some level, yet Arkansas didn't see the regret he thought he should've out of her.
They sat in silence as the horse trotted along the path, neither knowing how to start up a conversation without it feeling forced. It wasn't as if he'd never punished her before, but what he'd been told just… it didn't sound anything like the girl he had raised.
"I just don't want you to lose your way honey. I don't… want you to end up like I was at your age."
"Yeah, because picking on some uppity rich brat is exactly the same as robbin' and shoo-" She stopped herself, the fire and irritation in her heart replaced with guilt in an instant. "I… I didn't mean that."
He'd never show it, but she knew that had been a low blow. She knew damn well he was ashamed of the man he used to be, she was just so mad at him and didn't think before speaking. He didn't even get angry with her, he just looked away to hide his shame, something that hurt even more.
"It didn't start with me robbin' people at gunpoint, it started with me being a young idiot with a chip on my shoulder who liked to throw my weight around, and a silver-tongued bastard telling me what I wanna'd ta hear," She let him talk, leaning over and resting her head on his shoulder. She'd started him on this, the least she could do was listen. "Now look, you're one of the smartest gals I know, and I can't begin to tell you how proud I am about that, but you don't use your head as much as you should… You get that from yer' Ma', thinking with yer' heart instead of yer' noggin."
"I'll be better, it ain't like I hate all city folk or nothin'. I mean, my girls are like the sisters I never had." she said softly.
She had really hoped she'd be able to introduce her Pa' and her team in a less… awkward way. Granted, the situation was probably the only thing that kept Aeth from trying to become her new step mother, so if nothing else, she was thankful for that.
"I know ya' will Lil' Blue… I didn't bring ya' out just to lecture ya'."
"Pfft- Lil'? I'm almost as big as you old man."
Had he been a smaller man, the playful shove to his shoulder would have knocked him out of his seat and onto the ground below, but her old man wasn't that weak just yet, and he certainly wasn't small. He retaliated by pushing her over with his shoulder, nearly knocking her over and making her grab onto the arm rail for balance.
"Almost don't count fer much." he laughed. Alaska joined him a moment later, that bright toothy grin he'd seen off nearly three years ago gracing her lips once again.
There she was, there was his little girl.
