[IC] Heroes of Beacon - the Next Chapter

[Sixsmith]

A wild goose chase—not something Jayden quite fancied doing so early in the morning. There was a time for, well, for time wasters, and an hour and a half didn't feel like quite the opportune time to do so. Therefore, upon completion of his breakfast, Jayden made quick in fleeing his group's hunt for Victor's arm, accompanied by an ecstatic looking teacher. There were a number of things he liked to accomplish before doing anything further in the mornings, among them was actually bathing and an after an early morning run Jayden more than needed a good cleansing. Time alone, however, Jayden cherished the most, just for the fact that years alone fine tuned him to be far more used to solitude and more averse to company. Well, there were plenty of reasons why he was so averse to company, but Jayden didn't feel them necessary enough to bring up in day-to-day conversation. Showers, and sunsets, and maybe a popsicle or two offered a better company than most people did. The shower itself took a mere ten minutes of Jayden's time, of which the rest of his hour left Jayden on the edge of his own window sill, a candy bar smuggled from one of the vending missions hanging from his mouth. Feet dangling and a sigh trailing his lips, Jayden clenched his knuckles further into the wood sill of the window with the prospect of nice mornings and gentle breezes. Memories kept quiet, unlike the twittering birds and chatting students below, which, of course, remained a gentle concern to Jayden—a good concern, no doubt. But, with the thought of restless memories, came even more restless worries and that eventually left Jayden with a perpetual grimace before he finally took the leap off. Landing could have been a helluva lot cleaner, but Jayden wasn't much too worried about that, more so about the chocolate in his mouth and the trio of guandao barely hanging from their harnesses on his back. Showers, and sunsets, and a few candy bars only did so much until they resurfaced a few things he didn't quite appreciate coming to the forefront of his mind. That's when people, and awkward situations, and a few terrible social encounters helped alleviate the mind in Jayden's quiet embarrassment—second hand embarrassment did the trick just the same. Soon after, trailing down the pathways of Beacon, Jayden found himself seated not too far from his team, hands pressed into the wood of his elevated desk in his adamant solitude. More or less adamant enough with the face he was pulling.

[Sho Minazuki]

"Aurellius...? Who dis kid?" called a voice just out of sight of Aurellius, who had been for the most part trying to wake the hell up. His night had gone decently enough, plenty of sleep for a person, no one trying to disturb his slumber in the middle of the night, but the most important thing needed had been lost. By the time Aurellius had waddled down for breakfast, the pitcher of coffee had been empty. So, needless to say, he was a little annoyed. At least it hadn't been a terrible morning, the scroll had told him that they were actually going to be doing something this morning. One trip to the armory later, and Aurellius had arrived in the classroom, mini-gun lance in tow. Among the other motley collection of weapons the students had brought, his wasn't too conspicuous. It was large, though. He was used to its weight, and carried it around like one would an umbrella. Aurellius still grinned everytime he saw the elegant machinery that was Ascalon. It had been recently polished after the battle in the forest, and it shined like hell. Its gears had been replaced, its barrel oiled, and its feed properly adjusted. Ascalon was good as new, all signs of the scrapes of claws and the coating of Grimm blood that it had mowed down were gone. He was ready to go, until he had seen his opponent. "Whoa, neat gun-thing there, no seriously, looks pretty damn cool, all I got are these little blades here", Jack indicated to the twin daggers he pulled out from their sheaths in the back. He twirled them a bit, and juggled them playfully as he kept his eyes on his opponent. The guy didn't seem to be very... Well, eager to be honest, but it was this kind of attitude that gave him the edge. One moment of hesitation, and he can end it, a single mistake, and he can punish it. This was only a test fight, so he sought to have some fun here, but he looked forward to fighting something other than Grimm, his weapons weren't made for the heavy duty bodies of a lot of Grimm so he had to depend on analyzing his opponents there. On the other hand, against other humans or similar sized opponents, he had a better time. "Name's Jack, but I'm sure we were both already introduced by the teacher already, nice meetin' ya in any case", honestly he wasn't sure what to expect. Maybe the guy had a semblance that could do something about his speed. "Well, in any case, you ready?", as he said this, he brought both of his daggers into a stance, though he still looked quite at ease. Aurellius snorted as he began walking, letting Jack follow behind him. "You do know while we've been here greeting eachother, someone else went out onto the field? Oh well, we'll just use another one." He looked out, seeing some of the first contestants just now starting. "Aurellius, and its not just a gun thing. Its a lance, too. It puts those frogstickers of yours to shame." In a show of his weapon, he flipped a switch near the trigger, transforming the weapon. A long point had extended, and looked like it could pierce the toughest of Grimm hides. As they reached one of the other fighting areas, he spoke up. "So, what do you do? Stab things from behind? You one of those sneakey rogue types who always steal kills?" "I'm not particularly worried, I can always catch up. And steal kills? Sure, I guess, maybe that's what it looks like, but I don't think stealing a kill is what'll happen here right?", he said, immediately he threw one of his twin daggers right at Aurellius as he finished his sentence. It wasn't until it was a few feet away from Aurellius that he noticed that Jack had used his Semblance to charge right at that moment, grabbing his dagger in midair and went straight for a fatal strike around Aurellius' chest at essentially lightning speed. The suddenness of his advance was intense, the thrown dagger covered his advance for a single moment letting him slip past the lance's deadly range, and the mirage left behind made it difficult to see the exact moment he advanced. It was all up to reactions. Aurellius grunted as the flash of cold steel headed straight towards him, and reacted accordingly. His lance twitched onto the path of the dagger, blocking the attack as his eyes rested on Jack. Of course, in the corner of his eye, he noticed something strange. Too fast to tell, he pivoted on his foot, jabbing at the air to his right. Jack mid-semblance cancelled and did a spin, as he noticed his opponent raise his arm, but he didn't even take a moment to note it whatsoever, he didn't stop, he kept his movements like a flow. Upon finishing the spin he sped right in but this time ended up behind a back-stepping Aurellius. His opponent's movements were sluggish compared to his, so he aimed to outmanouver and move into vulnerable spots while he was still doing another action. The lance toting man cursed inwardly as Jack warped around, extremely fast and quick. Too quick. To gain an advantage, he clicked another button on the lance and activated the boosters on the heavy pack, sending extremely hot fire and air behind him as he launched forwards at a rising velocity. After a second, the jets cut out and he turned on one leg, switching the lance back into a minigun at the same time. "Oooh not bad", but he wasn't very easy to shake off, this only bought Aurellius a few precious moments. In an instant Jack began dashing towards Aurellius, and as he turned, began to use his Semblance, zig-zagging in widely varying step lengths, going from wildly large to small, it was creating an almost complete field of mirages, as he ended up at the forefront. He already knew he was going to vault over the top of Aurellius' weapon and end up above him. He aimed to reach the mini-gun's blind spot before Aurellius could get a proper lock on him. Even still, Aurellius' eyes flew all over the place as Jack flashed around the room, insanely fast for even a Hunter. His minigun began spinning as it whirred, taking an agonizingly long time to spin as Jack dashed. A flash leaped at him and Aurellius hit the deck, turning around onto his back and pulling the trigger, releasing a sudden stream of bullets in the direction of Jack. Jack's smile widened as he dashed to Aurellius' flank. Was he really going to go behind his opponent twice in a row? He only aimed to get above in order to have more flexibility, because he could simply Semblance in any straight direction he wished. The mini-gun was a linear weapon, so there were plenty of blind spots he could pick, and he picked the one that Aurellius did not predict, in an instant as he landed he stood to Aurellius' side with his dagger at his neck. Aurellius growled as he jerked away from the dagger heading towards his neck. Even still, it glanced off of his Aura, slightly nicking him in the process as he took advantage of the weight and momentum of the greatlance, swinging it at the same time his scowl deepened. Jack upon seeing this movement simply placed his head on top of Aurellius' weapon and vaulted over that smoothly and quickly and held the cold blade of his dagger at Aurellius' neck again. This was only a practice match, so he had no intention of killing. Pissed off, Aurellius did something probably stupid, but effective. He let go of Ascalon and sent his fist flying towards the face of Jack with surprising speed now that he wasn't tugging around the giant weapon, at the same time his other hand wrapped around the dagger, squeezing tight, the blood beginning to flow as its sharp edges cut deeply into his hand. Forcing a stop, Jack shoved the very tip of his second dagger right at Aurellius' face, he could feel the tip right in front of his eyes, Jack's face was now dead serious. Aurellius suddenly grinned widely as he realized how Jack had caught the dagger even when he deflected it with his lance. His eyes wide with anger, he spoke up, "Do it. Do it, you little punk. Let's see how fast you are when I'm really angry." He laughed, letting go of the other dagger and letting his hands go up in a surrender position. "Could you kindly take the dagger out of my eye? It's a little close for comfort." With a smooth and quick action he twirled the daggers out of the subdue positions, though he didn't actually sheath it. This dude was damn crazy, though just as easily as his face turned serious, he began smiling again. "Seriously dude, you're crazy. There's no reason to be like this in a spar", he stated. It wasn't life or death, was it overwhelming pride? That's what he was feeling from this guy... All Jack could think of was 'that's pretty stupid'. Aurellius laughed again. "Yeah, yeah. I guess you could say I'm a little crazy, but then again, you have to be in this sort of business." He brought his wounded hand back up to his face, clenching it and watching the blood drip. "You're too damn fast. I couldn't keep up with your damn speed. Thought I could at least land one hit, but no. Too damn fast." He sighed as he stood up, grunting lightly. "You know, if this were real. Things might've ended up a lot differently." "Whoa, dude, probably get that bandaged or something first... And maybe, then again if you even hit me once, I probably would've lost. I'm not good with pain", he responded. He chuckled as he waved his other hand, leaning down to lift up Ascalon with his good hand. Aurellius opened the bleeding hand widely, exposing the wound in all its red goodness. "Its not so bad, I'm sure you'll experience plenty of pain someday," Aurellius said as he began to leave, walking out of the arena as Glenda spoke overhead. He didn't care. "Yeaaaahhh I... Kind of expect it... I just don't look forward to it...", he sighed. Seriously, this guy was crazy... But it was that crazy that you could depend on during battle, though they were of different teams, he felt he could depend on him somewhat. He too left the arena eventually after putting his twin blades away and taking a brief stretch.

[TentacleLord]

Ivan waited in the dueling hall with bated breath, casually staring around at his fellow students with a lazy grin hiding his intense excitement for what was to come. He knew that he had a rather… odd place in Beacon’s school system due to his late arrival, but there wasn’t anything that could be done about it now. Instead, there was a task that he had to accomplish. He was the most recent acquisition to Team Silverpoint, and what better way to show off to his new teammates than to absolutely trounce his opponent in this mock duel? The gunslinger’s white teeth flashed underneath the brim of his over-large and exceptionally floppy hat in a lopsided smirk, casually strolling forward as his name was called. He made a show of his approach to the dueling arena by punctuating his actions with as many flourishes of his overly large poncho as possible, making certain to pull of his hat with the grandest gesture he could managed as he bowed low to his opponent. He straightened up slowly, removing the poncho with a disdainful shrug and a flick of his wrist. Ivan’s voice was clear of anything but amusement and the barest hint of contempt as he looked at his opponent, already judging the green-haired man to be little more than an annoyance. “Oh? I’ll be sure to treat you kindly, man. Wouldn’t want to rough up your pretty face.” Merlin waited silently for his name to be called. He paid no mind to the students in his surroundings, but his focus was more to the surroundings itself. Everything was a prop that he could exploit for the purpose of creating a show . He would use every little aspect of this battlefield as a weapon to be used to not only defeat his opponent in battle but in showmanship as well. He stopped his inspection of the environment around him and switched it to the people who were in his general vicinity. He noticed a few of his teammates and gave a small smile. Even though he was just recently placed with this team, he could sense that they were all good people. After a few more moments of watching the people around him, Merlin snapped back to his original task and began surveying the surroundings once more. Merlin was startled when his name was called. He was so focused on his surroundings that he hadn’t noticed how long he had been sitting there. None the less, Merlin regained his composure and stood up. He picked up his signature black hooded cloak, and put it on relatively quickly. At least that is what it looked like to anyone watching him. What spectators didn’t know was that, in the timespan of him picking up his coat and putting it on, he had created a full line of black and yellow runes on the upper inside seam of the hood. After the runes were done, and the cloak was snug against his body, Merlin finally picked up Deep Magic and began to move. He moved swiftly up to the dueling arena, and stopped at his designated starting position. He watched as his opponent made his way to his own starting point, making grandiose movements underneath his poncho to accent his movements along the way. The man wearing a poncho then took off his hat and bowed towards Merlin. He then slowly stood back up and took off his poncho. Merlin closed his eyes, smiled at the strange man, and began to wave his hand. “Oh? I’ll be sure to treat you kindly, man. Wouldn’t want to rough up your pretty face.” Merlin’s opponent said with amusement and very slight hint of contempt in his tone. Merlin smiled at the man, stared into his eyes, and began to speak softly to his opponent. “I wouldn’t get too confident, friend. I don’t like being underestimated and those who have done so regret it.” Merlin stopped for a moment to add a little suspense in the air, “Now, would you mind dropping the tough guy act and let’s make this a show to remember!” Merlin put a large emphasis on his last few words. Even though he was speaking softly the entire time, the last few words were spoken with such crystal clear clarity that the words seemed to have echoed throughout the entire arena. Ivan’s features froze, the cocky light dying in his eyes as his opponent took to the field and shoved his banter back at him. That… wasn’t supposed to happen. The gunslinger flexed his fingers inside the gauntlets as he waited for the Goodwitch woman to signal the start of the match, feeling the gentle pressure of Leviathan’s trigger on his right palm as he slowly pushed against the miniscule force, testing his boundaries and making certain that he was ready to beat this confident pretty-boy’s face into the dirt. The heavy pressure of the massive handgun on his forearm was reassuring, if nothing else. He flashed the other student with another grin, showing teeth and a complete lack of mirthful emotion, all the while adopting a loose stance that let both hands hover close to his hips, and more importantly, his ammo supply. Goodwitch gave them both a hard stare, and then called: “Start!” As soon as the stoic and commanding voice yelled for start of the match, Ivan sprung into action. A resounding boom cut through the air before the final syllable had left Goodwitch’s lips, slamming the sheathed weapon into Ivan’s waiting hand faster than the eye could follow. He skipped backward in the same motion, raising the heavy weapon to eye level and staring directly at Merlin’s well-kept features. Before the echo of the first shot faded, he pulled the trigger twice more. The sound came out in a cumulative explosion of force, impossible to distinguish the individual shots in the sonic assault. The bullets snapped forward at hypersonic speed, each time aiming for vital spots on his opponent(Namely the head and chest, respectively), aiming to deplete his opponents Aura before the real combat began. Merlin kept his unwavering smile as his opponents cocky attitude faded away and finally started taking the match seriously. There was a deafening silence as they waited for the starting signal. The silence was soon broken by the sound of Goodwitch’s voice and then the sound of three large booms immediately right after. Merlin’s body reacted instantly by shifting and abruptly swinging the head of Deep Magic up and across his chest and face,deflecting the two bullets away from his body. Merlin looked at his body and then his opponent in a moment of shock. Luckily, he had previous training in deflecting bullets while he was at Signal, and his muscle memory kicked in. Merlin quickly recovered from his shock and retaliated in kind. His once unnerving smile turned into an expression of deep concentration towards the task at hand as he pressed a series of buttons on the body of Deep Magic. Just a moment later, the orb at the top of Deep Magic began to glow a bright red. With one swift movement, Merlin quickly swung Deep Magic from one side of his body to the other. Half way through the swing, A glowing red ball seemed to peel away from Deep Magic’s orb and was then sent hurtling towards Ivan’s chest. Merlin had used and explosive type of dust that explodes on contact. Merlin was hoping that, even if his attack doesn’t hit him directly, the blast radius would knock him back enough to prepare his next attack. While his first attack was still flying through the air, Merlin reach into his pocket and pulled at a stereotypical playing card. Using his semblance, He began to summon a small set of white runes along the rim of the card. Three. The great red ball of Dust hurtling at breakneck speed at his relatively undefended chest was definitely a new trick. He’d gathered that the other man was some sort of caster when he’d pulled out the staff, but it was always unsettling to have to fight someone who was able to bend Dust itself to their will. Ivan shifted his line of fire slightly to the left and fired, smirking arrogantly at the thought. The baritone crack smashed through the air as the gunslinger’s semblance activated, turning the would-be attack into an effective propulsion method to escape the possibly incapacitating attack. Four. Letting the force of the blast carry him back several feet, Ivan landed on all fours, bringing Leviathan up to bear on his opponent as soon as he stopped sliding backwards. Yet another resounding boom shook the air as the next shot headed for Merlin’s now exposed hand and playing card. Five. Merlin frowned slightly as he watched his opponent suddenly propelled himself away from the blast radius of his attack. Merlin quickly looked down at the playing card to check on the status of the runes. The runes were almost complete, but his opponent had already recovered and began to take aim. Merlin, almost as soon as Ivan pulled the trigger, quickly activated his Runes of Protection that he had placed within his cloak. A semi-transparent,yellow, and spherical barrier suddenly surrounded Merlin, and his cloak, and created a visible force field between him and the bullet. The barrier began to absorb all of the kinetic energy that the bullet had packed within it almost as soon as the bullet touched the yellow wall. Merlin was hoping to save the previously hidden power until later in the fight, but he had miscalculated the prowess of his opponent. Merlin finished what was left of the white runes on his card, pulled out another playing card from one of his sleeves, and began to summon a set of red and black runes on it. Merlin slowly, but surely was creating a game plan, but he had to set it up without his opponent noticing. This didn’t bother him though. He had performed this type of task many times while he was a street magician. As soon as the runes were complete on the second card, Merlin cancelled the barrier. With some swift button presses, Merlin began to infuse the head of Deep Magic with light a blue type of freezing dust. Merlin quickly swung his trusty staff toward his opponent, releasing the blue ball of the dust slightly towards the right of his opponent. Using the momentum of the swing, he let himself spin around a full three hundred and sixty degrees around. Merlin then flung the two cards that were in his left hand toward his opponent. The two cards, using the extra velocity created from Merlin’s spin, flew through the air at a far above average speed. While the card with the white runes stayed on course towards Ivan, the card with both the black and the red runes veered away from it’s sister card and towards the left side of Ivan. Ivan’s green eyes widened considerably as his latest attempt at taking down his opponent was foiled by a bubble. Grunting something incoherent underneath his breath that vaguely mentioned ‘casters’ and ‘unfair advantage’, he took the opportunity to reload, casually watching the other man’s movements inside the glowing yellow sphere. Letting the spent casings fall to the floor, he pocketed the remaining bullet as the other man’s semi-secretive machinations began to come to fruition. The gunslinger was halfway through sticking a speed-loader marked with red tape into Leviathan’s massive cylinder, a confident smile playing on his lips, when the yellow sphere fell and a blue orb rocketed toward his right side, causing Ivan to swear profusely as he stumbled forward, jamming the ammunition in fully and closing the revolver as he hit the ground. Looking up, he barely caught the flash of Merlin’s playing cards leaving the green-haired man’s hand. That left very little options. Save the crazy ones. With a yell, Ivan pulled the trigger twice. The first shot(Accompanied by an ungodly sounding scream as it tore through the air) rocketed toward Merlin at supersonic speeds, trailing fire and tipped with a sparkling crimson light. Leviathan shot back into its booster mode casing, enjoying recoil sans Ivan’s semblance. The second shot instead transported all its power to recoil, and launched the rather foolish youth forward, trailing a line of brilliant flames, and directly under the humming card laced with gleaming white runes. Two. Still sliding, Ivan rolled and pointed the great handgun at his opponent, an arrogant and rather hysterical grin plastered on his features as he closed the gap between the two. He pulled the trigger three more times in rapid succession, aiming to overpower the chance of another magic bubble with literal firepower and the horrible screaming noise that burst forth with each of the fire-based blasts. Five. Merlin watched as his the first attack he had sent, the ball of dust, to Ivan’s right and created a large, complex structure completely made of ice. The structure somewhat reminded Merlin of a hairdo that was often sported by one of his favorite manga characters. The next thing he saw was Ivan’s body hitting the ground and rocketing himself towards Merlin. Merlin’s fingers quickly began striking the familiar buttons on Deep Magic as he saw Ivan flip over and take aim. The bottom tip of Deep Magic began to glow brightly with the same light blue color as before. Merling firmly gripped the body of Deep Magic slammed the ground in front of him. The resulting burst of ice dust created a thick wall of ice between him and the gunslinger. Unfortunately his ice barrier was only partially successful. One of the three bullets that had been shot had hit a weak spot on the ice wall and melted straight through, hitting Merlin in his left arm. The force of the impact sent him sliding back a few feet and took a good chunk of his aura in the process. “Damn, that smarts!” Merlin said aloud with a hint of pain in his voice. Merlin, after recovering, gave a wicked grin. This was becoming quite a show and he knew it. He didn’t have another moment to waste, Merlin quickly slid out of his cloak and through it up into the air in front of him. Activating the Runes of Stillness that he had hidden in his hood, the cloak completely froze in space. The cloak had frozen in such a way that it it looked like a floating platform, and that is exactly what Merlin had in mind. He smashed a few buttons on Deep Magic and started to run towards the floating cloak. Jumping up onto the cloak, the cloth completely rigid underneath his feet, he wound up and leaped once more into the air. He vaulted elegantly over the 10-foot wall and looked down to acquire his target. Once Ivan was in his sights, Merlin swung his staff downwards. The ball of dust released was the same explosive dust that he had release near the start of the match. Once released, Merlin landed onto the ground and made a mad dash towards the ice structure that reminded him of a manga characters hairdo. The confident grin spread even further as the green-haired youth tossed up the ice wall, his powerful and, more importantly, expensive bullets making short work of the impromptu defense. Ivan let loose a harsh burst of laughter at the exclamation of his now slightly singed opponent and barely caught the flash of movement before the other man vaulted up and over the ice wall, slinging the same brilliantly red destructo-orb that the gunslinger had dodged in the opening seconds of the match. Ivan’s grin spread some more as he pushed up rapidly with his feet, launching himself sideways. Or at least, he would have if the floor wasn’t now covered in ice and rapidly cooling water. Ivan’s impact against the cold ground knocked the wind out of him and rolled him on his back, where he got the last second to badly angle his heavy gauntlets over his face and chest before the explosive struck. The kinetic force punched against his body and ripped apart most of his defensive Aura as the flames scorched at the top layer of his clothes. Hacking coughs racked Ivan’s body as he rolled onto his belly, catching a glimpse of his opponent making a beeline for the spiky fortress of ice that had been previously set up. He pointed the gun forward at Merlin’s now cloakless back, and fired again, the screaming bullet again bleeding a preposterous amount of fire from a brilliantly crimson tip. Merlin never looked back towards his opponent. He had figured that his opponent would be disabled for just long enough that he could have made it all the way to the ice fortress, but he soon found out that wasn’t the case. After another resounding boom, and large pain in his right shoulder, Merlin was sent tumbling forward and away from his target. When he finally recovered, he found himself far left of the ice sculpture, and his aura was getting dangerously close to entering the red zone. He quickly began to survey the ground around him and saw that the card with the black and red runes on it was laying only a few feet away. “Okay then. New plan!” He said as he reached over and grabbed the card. He then quickly spun around and flung the card towards his opponent. He then reached into his back pocket and pulled out five more playing cards, and Merlin began to place red, black, and yellow runes on each. “Let’s finish this!!” he yelled. Ivan grunted as the red and black card hissed past his ear, causing him to abandon his attempts to get up to throw himself aside and onto the ground once more. He lay on his side as he emptied the cylinder of the spent casings marked with red tape. The gunslinger considered his next move, basing his movements on the assumption that his two shots had done as much damage as the dangerously powerful blast that the caster had hurled his way. That meant that this next engagement would be the last. Ivan staggered to his feet as he selected yet another speedloader from his pouch. Slamming the blue-marked cartridges into the waiting chambers, he responded to Merlin’s yell with one of his own. “Ready when you are, pretty-boy! Let’s go!” He began to jog forward, moving slowly but rapidly gaining speed as he leveled Leviathan at his opponent and pulled the trigger twice. The baritone crack of the gun was accompanied by an indescribable noise that was almost musical in nature as twin blue lights launched forward at the cards, trailing freezing mist as they went. Merlin watched as his opponent began his charge, and Merlin reacted in kind. All of his runes have now finished, and all that was left was to end this fight with style. Watching his opponent carefully as both forces were charging full force at each other. It didn’t surprise Merlin in the least when Ivan lifted his gun and began to fire. This much he was prepare for. Lifting his hand and throwing two of the 5 cards in front of him, Merlin quickly activated the Runes of Protection and the Runes of Stillness on both of the cards. The same magic familiar yellow bubbles appeared around the cards. Both cards, completely frozen in space with magic barriers around them, stood between the two bullets and Merlin. Within the blink of an eye, the bullets slammed into the yellow bubbles and exploded with frozen power. The next thing that Merlin saw were two frozen orbs floating in mid air. The iced dust packed within the bullets had completely frozen the air around the barrier, creating the illusion of two frozen orbs just mindlessly floating in space as they continually bounce off of the yellow force field. Merlin, to avoid hitting the two frozen spheres in the sky, quickly threw another one of the cards in front of him and activated the Runes of stillness. He then used the now makeshift platform to vault over the two orbs and, evidently, his opponent. While Merlin was in the air, an idea came to him. He had just figured out the perfect way to end this match, once and for all. As soon as he reached the apex of his forward vault, Merlin activated the lone card that had flew by Ivan’s head just prior to the final charge. The Runes of Explosions glowed a bright red before creating a large explosion near the ice wall. This was only to distract his opponent. A second was all he would need. He then began his descent. Landing gracefully behind Ivan, positioning himself in such a way that Ivan was now in between the frozen orbs and himself. He let go of Deep Magic and quickly grabbed one of the cards from his other hand. He then gave another wicked grin as he slapped both cards right onto Ivan’s thighs and then activated the Runes of Stillness on both of the cards. Now both cards were frozen in space right next to Ivan’s body, thus limiting his movements. Merlin then grabbed the collar of Ivan’s shirt and whispered, “Sorry Mr. Tough Guy, but it seems that our little show has to now come to an end. I bid you Adieu.” The events that happened next went as follows: Merlin, first, deactivated the Runes of Protection and let the frozen orbs begin to drop. Soon after, he then activated the Runes of Explosions that were on the cards inside of the to ice orbs. This created an immense amount of pressure within the frozen balls. The pressure inside the orbs built up so rapidly that the structural integrity of the orbs quickly began to deteriorate. When the deterioration it it’s pinnacle, the orbs fractured into many different pieces. It was then that the pressure inside of the two frozen orbs was finally release, and it generated powerful source of wind blew out in all directions, thus scattering the frozen orb shards in all directions at a very high velocity. The shards would hit everything within the arena that wasn’t already being sheltered by an object, or in Merlin’s case, Ivan. Ivan couldn’t believe his luck, barely able to contain his rambunctious peals of laughter as he felt the green-haired youth’s rough grip at the back of his neck. He reached back, grabbing Merlin’s arm with his heavily gauntleted right fist as the other man finished his ominous speech. “Nah, why don’t you stay? We’re just starting to-” The handcannon, pressed against the gunslingers forearm, barked once, trailing blue mist. “-Get to-” He began to hurl the caster around to in front of him, utilizing brute strength in tandem with his semblance enhanced shots. The gun fired again. “-Know-” It fired for a third time, bringing Merlin around into Ivan’s waiting left arm. “-Each other!” He grabbed the man in a bear hug, holding him in the direct path of the explosively propelled shards. Merlin was in a state of shock as his opponent flipped the tables around on him. Now in a very uncomfortable one way Man-Hug, Merlin had to think of a way out of this situation fast. His aura was low enough that if he took the full brunt of his own attack, he may take physical damage that his aura can’t stop. Merlin, with the very short amount of time he had left, had only one option left to do. Activating the Runes of Explosions located on the cards firmly holding Ivan in place, Merlin watched as the concussive blast deflected all of the incoming shards, but he was so close to Ivan and the explosion reached his body. The force of the blast pushed Merlin hard against Ivan’s arms as the fiery blast wreaked havoc on his aura. After everything was said and done, Merlin pulled up his Scroll’s status bar only to be greeted with a harsh glowing red. “Damn, That was one hell of a show” Merlin said aloud. Ivan released the combat-oriented battle hug, stumbling backwards, coughing as the black fumes from the explosive runes wafted around him. He didn’t bother checking his Scroll. A dull ache had settled over his limbs, and his scorched clothes and slight burns told him all he needed to know about his aura level. Righting himself fully, he looked around the icy wreckage of the arena with a tired and self-satisfied smile playing on his features. Well, that accomplished enough for his introduction. And it wasn’t a loss, per say. Stepping back into range, Ivan rapped his opponent on the shoulder and proffered his hand. “Agreed, pretty boy, you fought well. Kept up with the great Ivan Oakley, and that’s saying something.” “Yup. Hopefully our audience enjoyed the match. That all that matters at the moment,” Merlin had a long pause, “ Just to let you know. I won’t let the next time end like this, but for now I guess we just move on….Man, I’m starving. I think I might go grab some grub after this. Feel like joining?” He asked as he reached out and shook Ivan’s hand. Ivan’s infectious grin spread even wider. His grip was firm but not crushing, and he was apparently satisfied with Merlin’s handshake. “I’m game, pretty boy. I’m gonna watch my teammates first. Gonna see if they’re any good.” Despite the newfound comradery of the two, the professor seemed unamused. “While you will both receive full marks for your tie, I advise against leaving any of the classes before lunch. You may return to your seats now.” Goodwitch looked down at her scroll to get the next pair of names.

[Lugubrious]

At about the same time the final, near-concussive explosion echoed through the sparring arena, a figure slunk in through the classroom's open door. Unnoticed by the majority of the students, he serenely picked out a seat not too far from the main group while the Ivan and Merlin exchanged words and Goodwitch ushered them off the battleground. Taking care not to ruffle his gaudy red-and-brown outfit, he settled himself and removed a yoyo from his pocket, which he absentmindedly began to play with as he observed the new teams. A strange sort of smile graces his sharp features, mirroring the rather amused twinkle that pervaded his pastel-green eyes. In his hands, the golden-stringed yoyo moved as if it had a mind of its own. Even without its owner's full attention, it danced over his lap in a series of tricks that virtually nobody could call unimpressive. Paron surveyed the students as the next two got into position to begin their match. Most of them were over by now, so he knew that he had missed some noteworthy stuff, but what he didn't see he could partially glean from the chatting teenagers as they sat. He took note of each weapon and, when he could, tried to internalize each face. All this he did while toying with his yoyo and wearing that same strange smile—a spider's smile. It didn't escape his keen eyes that the members of the team he and his own team had attacked, Jormungandr, were present. He somewhat hoped that they wouldn't notice him and make a fuss, but at the same time, he rather did. Perhaps he could rope an aggressive freshman into challenging him one-on-one in the ring; if that happened, he would have to make sure not to use his semblance. Neither Kitty, Thistle, or he had used theirs during the battle with Jormungandr in the Forest of Forever Fall, not that Kitty knew what hers was, anyway. At this point, Paron doubted she even had one. A memory of the conversation reached him: he had mentioned it, and Kitty had irately reminded him that everything with a soul had a semblance, to which he had cheekily responded that she was, after all, a ginger. Though the remark had earned him a baton to the groin, the look on her face had been worth it. Regardless of the past, Paron still wanted to keep KPT's full abilities under wraps for the time being. His gaze shifted to the teacher's aide. Sarina was somewhat of a rival of his; she was the star student, in more ways than one, and he didn't doubt that he was a degenerate in her eyes at least. “Soch a stubborn lass,” he remarked in a Northern accent to nobody in particular.

[LokiLeo789]

Marcus vs Geni The sharp crack that signalled the end of Diamond’s match made Marcus wince. That sounded like it hurt a lot. Other than a slightly worried glance, he remained passive however. Team MODA still had three matches to go. He made a mental note to go over the fine points of her fight later to help Diamond actually win next time. Her timing would be the most important thing. Theatrics had their place as distractions, so long as she timed it so someone else could sneak up behind the enemy. Same principle as a magic trick, get them all focused on the pretty stagehand so no one watched what the magician was doing with his offhand. Usable. Next was Aurellius. Immediate concern was his teammate’s apparent obsession with ‘fair’ fights. The very idea left a sour taste in Marcus mouth. He would have to nix that idea in the bud before it rooted itself to deep. Life was never meant to be fair, which was why you had to stab it in the back from the shadows, and kick it in the balls to make sure it stayed down. As far as the fight itself actually went there was of course his notable enthusiasm. Great potential there if it could be directed firmly at the Grimm. Geni sighed sadly as he heard that he would be fighting a boy named Marcus. He did no know who that was, but he sounded tough. His tail flicked around agitatedly as the anticipation for there battle grew increased, he tried to distract himself by watching Mokuren's victor,  but he was  unable to do so. Before Geni could figure out why he was so nervous in the first place it was his turn to fight. Geni sighed sadly and dragged his feet up the stairs onto the stage. He looked out into the crowd and saw that all eyes were on him, making him even more nervous. Geni waited for his opponent to make his way onto the stage, but he was perfectly fine with the man not showing up. Marcus stood with his hands clasped behind his back, the very picture of calculated serenity. The very first thing he did when he heard combat classes were going to be a thing was to go over the rules for said classes with a fine toothed comb. Unfortunately no matter how creatively they were read, he could not bring his tank with him. That, in turn, meant that he was about to get humiliated in front of everyone. It was a simple fact. He was no slouch in the physical department, a youth full of forgework and demanding hunter parents had seen to that. However, he was at the same time capable of nothing more than punching hard. Martial arts just never really ‘clicked’ with him. Marcus was the first to admit that he did not spend enough time on said arts to overcome his apparent handicap either. Thus, he simply walked down to the arena, stood in a basic broad stance and nodded at his opponent with no words. The nervous lion faunus across him would have amused Marcus under any other circumstance if the engineer was honest with himself. Perhaps this was why they were pitted against one another? That the lion boy, Geni, would get a confidence boost? Bah, now was not the time for analysis. Marcus unclipped the small leather rope that prevented his revolver from just falling out, ready to draw the weapon. His plan A was simple: Shoot his opponent in the face. Repeatedly if possible. As far as combat plans went, it was his favourite. Short,straightforward, easy to remember in a panic. Geni watched his opponent as he walked onto the stage, Geni visibly sighed as the man took out his revolver and pointed it at his face. He really did not want to fight a human, he was not really into fighting things that were human. But unfortunately, he would have no choice, so he pulled out Ragnorock from its strap and held it in his left hand. He then lifted his right hand up towards his opponent, making sure his semblance would be ready at a moments notice. This man seemed to be virtually harmless, all he had was a revolver, but he did not know what it could do, or what the man's semblance was. Geni made the decision to wait for the man to make his move, then he would attack. "Begin!!" With the sound of the teachers voice the battle began, and Geni did nothing. Marcus, for his part, drew his revolver and in a smooth motion fanned the hammer three times. One bullet for each eye and the third for the nose. Phase one of the 'shoot his opponent in the face' plan, done. Geni had no time to think before the man fluidly whipped out his revolver and shot 3 bullets. Geni immediately activated his semblance and focused on the bullets as they flew towards him. If everyone was watching, the bullets would be have slowly stopped moving. The bullets ended coming into a stasis point. The bullets stopped a few inches in front of him, and then fell to the floor. He slowly started walking slowly up to the man, with his right hand in the air and Ragnorock in his left hand. Waiting for the man to shoot again. "Interesting." Marcus remarked dryly. His revolver barked twice more, one bullet ricocheting off the floor towards Geni's leg while the other was sent off into empty space right next to the lion boy's head. Obviously he had slowed the previous shots down with his semblance, the question was now how it worked and what the limits of it's mechanics were. Preferably he could figure that out before Geni would work him over with the very painful looking blade the faunus carried. Geni was getting bored, and he assumed the crowd was too. This battle had gone on long enough, so it was time to cut the battle short. This time the man shot twice,and unfortunately, Geni could not predict the bullets intended path. So he did the next best thing, he activated his semblance. But his plan ultimately failed, he only succeed in stopping the on trained at his head, but the other hit his foot."Arhggg." Geni yelled as he went down on one knee. Geni knew that he should have activated his semblance at a wider range. Geni looked up at the man angrily, and flung Ragnorock at the man's neck, and activated his semblance. As he weapon spun in the air. He made it faster with his semblance, before the man could blink three times his weapon smashed  into his opponent’s right thigh. Geni grabbed his leg and stood, and did not wait for the man to get up.   While Marcus tried to throw himself out of the way of the incoming projectile he was unprepared for the raw speed of the bat'leth and stumbled as it clipped his thigh. The steel bit deep into the leather pouch there, and broke something with an audible crack. Then Marcus rose, unhurt. The remains of a set of worn screwdrivers fell to the floor, destroyed by Geni's blade but they prevented actual harm from coming to the officer. "Pity." Marcus remarked as he sighted Geni again with his revolver and backed up at the same time. He kept going until his boot landed on the Bat'leth or until Geni tried to make a move for him, whichever happened first. "I liked those." Marcus pulled the trigger. "Well that was unfortunate." Geni said sadly as Ragnorock was useless. Who kept screwdrivers down there any way. The man had put his boot on he weapon and Geni was now weaponless. Geni smiled as the man pulled the trigger. Everything was like slow motion in his mind, Geni had used him semblance in one last ditch effort, he focused on the gun as the man pulled the trigger. And it was over in a second, the man's gun blew up in his hand. It had worked, he forced the bullet into a stasis point inside the barrel, the momentum from the explosion suddenly had nowhere to go, and the build up of energy caused the revolver to explode. Geni stood there and looked at the man wearily, with all the stunts he pulled off with his semblance he was really tired, but he could still fight. "Soooo., fist fight or draw." He said scratching his head. For a moment, all Marcus knew was pain. When his ears stopped ringing and he was coherent enough to see again, Marcus found himself flat on his back with smoke rising from his entire torso. That had hurt. He had a pretty good view of the board that kept track of their aura meters and as an aside he noted was in better shape than Geni as far as Aura went. Probably because all he used for the fight was the standard protection technique rather than his semblance. His heel was still on the Bat'leth. Marcus noted with a tinge of amusement that 'draw' could mean more than one thing. "I'll go for the western kind of draw." he said deadpan, and kicked the weapon by his feet up into his own hands. A brief inspection of the blade revealed a set of triggers and the location of both barrels of the integrated firearms. Exactly what he needed. Aiming was difficult with the foreign weapon but really all he needed was lead flying in Geni's general direction. Given the ranges involved not exactly a herculean effort even with the hefty recoil and the fact he could only fire from one end at a time. In the span of half a second, Marcus had gone from knocked on his back to shooting again. Geni looked at the man with utter hatred, he had taken what was his, and Geni did not exactly enjoy that. Geni cracked his knuckles in and neck and and glared at the man."Shoot, I dare you." He said with a wicked smile. He had a plan. He knew that the man had no idea what he was doing with his weapon, he could not possibly brace himself for the amount of recoil that accompanied shooting it then he would use his semblance one last time. The man fumbled with his weapon, but eventually got the hang of it and fired. The first shot missed but he flew backwards. He stood back up and fired again, this time, everything went in slow motion. Geni smiled as the man flew backwards once again from the recoil, and Geni focused on him, he used his semblance to increase the mass of the man and speed as he fell. The man smashed into the ground hard enough to cause a crater to form around his body. It would had most likely knocked him unconscious or gave him a concussion. Before Geni could celebrate the bullet smashed into his stomach and he fell to the floor. Geni could feel nothing pain. "Some sparring match this was." he said sleepily. Marcus' world at that moment consisted purely of pain and stars. All encompassing throbbing pain wrapped around his head like a fuzzy blanket. His breath came in short, pained gasps, courtesy of at least two broken ribs. So this was it for him then, at least he gave it as good as he got. He was reminded of the end of spars between his siblings, with the usual level of injuries those involved. He could practically hear their condescending voices in his head as they mocked him and whatever toys he made. The quiet stern look of disapproval of his father. The soft soothing tones of his mother as she told him it did not matter he was such a poor fighter, with that undertone of dissapointment she thought he could not hear. His grip on the Bat'leth tightened. No. He would show them. He would show them all he was strong, not some useless tinker. The tip of the blade bit into the cratered ground as he slowly, inexorably staggered to his feet. Nausea nearly brought him low and he struggled for every breath. At least three ribs broken, possible concussion, burns on his hands and face and his hat was missing. Marcus knew that he could not handle the recoil of another shot from the Bat'leth, however it was still a sharp metal object. Time for plan B: Hit his opponent over the head until victory was achieved. Like plan A, short, straightforward, and easy to get right even with a concussion."Enough!!" Goodwitch yelled as she walked onto the stage, stopping Marcus before he could finish Geni." Surprisingly, Marcus you have won, congratulations. You should get to the infirmary, and someone should get Geni." she said sternly. Geni could hear her but it sounded like he was listening to her through a plastic cup or something. Fortunately, feeling was returning to his body but he was still tired... and bleeding."A little help here Marcus." He said getting up on one knee and breathing hard. He knew that the man's injury must have been severe also, but he needed help to.   "Eh?" Marcus said, faltering as he heard Goodwitch. He. He had won? His eyes met Geni's with sincere respect in his expression."Of course" he replied to Geni's request. With unsteady gait, he let go of Goodwitch' support and wobbled closer."Here." he said and held out the other end to the Bat'leth. For one it belonged to Geni and for another the thing made a surprisingly good crutch. Compared to thin air at least."Well fought." he complimented the faunus sincerely. Before he could fall again, Goodwitch was there to catch him. At the same time the woman waved her whip and fixed the crater left in the arena. Marcus winced as the movement aggravated his broken ribs. "Ow. Yes. The infirmary sounds good." he said to no one in particular. His injuries were making him delirious, more chatty than usual. Fortunately blissful unconsciousness took him before he could truly make a fool of himself.

[Lucius Cypher]

Gren Orchid vs Indigo Kafka

In all honesty, Indi wasn't very invested in most of the matches. He halfheartedly watched them all, and congratulated the victor with lethargic claps. The only two he was even remotely watching was Seibs, and that was mainly because they were teammates, and a little of the Priscilla Vs. Rayna fight, when Prisc was held upside down. He hadn't stopped eating for the Prisc upskirt one, though. Anyways, he was finally up to bat, so to speak. As his feet hit the arena floor, he stared down his opponent. "Gren, huh?" He said, moving his mask back into place. "Well, Goliath? Meet David." He taunted, motioning for Gren to make the first move, or comment if necessary. Gren stepped into the arena with The God Eater in one hand and a bouquet of cowslip in the other. He had collected them a little while ago between the matches for his opponent. "Honor to face you, David. And my condolences." Closing his helmet Gren opened the first attack by tossing the bouquet into the air towards Indigo. And before the flowers would hit the ground Gren was already revving up The God Eater, using it's Destruction form. And just as the flowers were level between Gren and Indigo, he unleashed a storm of bullets at his opponent. Indi snickered to himself as his opponent brought flowers onto the stage. Sure, he acted as if he wasn't serious, but these matches were important to him. Everyone could see if he won or lost, how good he was. His abilities and his technique, and he wanted to put on a great show. Gren replied to his joke with one of his own, before preparing an attack. Was he so stupid as to think his opponent couldn't hear the barrel spinning? He was using a freaking minigun! And sure, the weapon was loud and predictable, but there was an issue; His barriers was predictable if used like a shield. So, he had gotten used to using them in more creative ways. Indi created a barrier at an angle in front of him, slanted enough to allow an easy ascent. Upon his invisible mountain, he laid on the pressure with a spray of bullets at his opponent. "My, my, such a big and heavy weapon. Compensating for something, Goliath?" He said, as the beautiful yellow flowers below him were shredded, and he attempted to lay waste to his opponent in a similar manner. "And suck a dirty trick, fooling your foe with pretty flowers. At least come on to me when we're not beating each other into the ground!" Of course simply gunning down Indigo wasn't going to work, but at least now Gren had his weapon revved and shooting. Gren was largely unaffected by the hail of bullets. To him it may as well have been a water droplets. Okay, maybe more like hail. A light hail. "Trying to give me a shower?" Gren said jokingly. Gren could also see his bullets deflecting off of nothing and could deduce that Indigo had some sort of barrier based aura. So a direct approach was going to be a waste of time. So Gren decided to go from above. He continued to fire The God Eater, but aimed towards the ground. Than he jumped. Without his feet being firmly planted on the floor Gren allowed the recoil of The God Eater to propel him skywards and above Inidgo. He didn't stop until he reached the top, where he planted his feet on the ceiling and continued to rai his bullets down at Indigo. He didn't even need to use his Semblance to hold him in place, as the sheer force of the bullets being shot out by The God Eater put enough pressure on Gren to push him against the downward force of gravity. Indi was surprised, to say the least, when Gren had simply shrugged off his bullets. But his surprise quickly turned into anger when his opponent insulted his weapons. He was fair game, but Cia and Lana? No, you did not fuck with them. As Indi felt his rage slowly build, Gren seemed to realize his approach wasn't working. Indi stared, slightly slack-jawed as Gren fired at the ground, then used his minigun as a jetpack. Okay, that was awesome. What wasn't awesome was that Gren now had the advantage, firing a bullet storm down at his hapless foe. Fine, looked like this was going to be a battle of the wits, as well as brute strength. Indi started ascending to the ceiling, using his barriers as platforms. He did get clipped with a stray bullet or two, but the small chip to his aura only managed to add to his slow burning fury. As Indi finally made it close enough to his opponent, he jumped off of an angled barrier, launching himself at his opponent and slashing vigorously in an attempt to knock him down and even the playing field. Gren didn't let up, but as he saw Indigo jump his way towards him Gren knew that this was going to become an inevitable melee. He smiled underneath his helmet as he changed he kept on shooting, even as he saw most of his bullets being dodged or deflected. It wasn't long before Indigo finally managed to get close enough to try to engage him in melee, and Gren responded in kind. Just as Inidgo jumped to slash at Gren he too jumped at Indigo, grabbing him around the arms. That's when Gren activated his Friction Semblance on Indigo to ensure that he didn't escape. Even though Gren would have to take a few blows, now both he and Indigo were on a free fall back to the arena. It was Gren's intention to slam and crush Indigo between the floor and his own body, relying on his own durability to also survive the decent. And Gren never stopped shooting. To quicken their already fast fall Gren now aimed The God Eater towards the ceiling, breaking away parts of the roof while using the recoil to push them towards the ground even faster. The loud roar of The God Eater made it nearly impossible to hear anything. As Indi launched himself at Gren he was surprised that Gren too wanted to get in a close ranged brawl. As soon as Indi got a hit off though, he was restrained by Gren's larger physique. The tight grasp made him blush a tad, but more importantly they were rocketing straight towards the floor like a sack full of bowling balls. He gasped as tried he kick and slash and shoot at his foe to no use, he just wouldn't let go. As the two slammed into the ground he felt a lot of pain; His aura was cut dangerously low by that incredible attack. If he took one more good hit, he was a goner. That didn't matter anymore though, he was pissed. That was a dirty trick, and he was not losing to a no-good cheater! "Play fair, asshole!" He screamed as he put an incredible amount of strength for a boy his size into a kick aimed to send Gren off of him and onto the floor, where he could be easily curb stomped until his face was a fine pudding. Gren just gritted his teeth upon landing on the floor. That definitely hurt, but his aura was holding out so far. At least, he was somewhat certain his aura level was higher than Indigo's. After the crash Gren could feel Indigo trying to kick him off, and Gren figured this would be a good time to disengage. Gren left Indigo push him off so he could land a bit away and onto his feet. Before he touched down he also switched The God Eater into it's Terror Form. "A fair fight huh? Than come and get me." Just as he did that however Gren stomped his foot onto the ground to channel his Semblance into a large area around him. He manipulated the Friction between the floor and anything that came into contact with it, such as Indigo's feet. Specifically, he chose to make it so that if Indigo entered the area his feet couldn't create friction with the floor. Gren readied The God Eater for Indigo's inevitable charge, ready to intercept him once he comes barreling towards the orc. All the while Gren was keeping count on the timer. "Two minutes..." As Indi hopped up and aimed his weapons back at Gren he was surprised by how much his back hurt. Sure he had adrenaline to help him through what was going down now, but it still hurt a lot. Note to self, don't get hit with that "atomic suplex" attack, as he nicknamed it. Anyways, he rushed at his enemy, triggers held, before slipping on nothing and falling flat on his face. He quickly placed a barrier in between himself and Gren for protection, and flopped his body so there was enough space so he could also place a barrier on the floor. getting up off the friction-less floor and onto his newly formed barricade. "And you lubed the floor? Asshole..." He growled. He then, in one swift motion, jumped at Gren with guns blazing, and released his barriers. Once he was close enough to Gren, he placed a barrier in front of the ChainAxe (I thought it was a minigun?) and aimed at his throat. His stabs and slashes were vicious, and one would honestly think there was intent to kill behind those attempts. Sure enough Indigo slipped up when he tried to charge at Gren, but he was smart enough to use his barriers to stop before he slid to his doom. "Those barriers are going to be a nuisance..." Seeing that attack wasn't going to work out Gren shifted into a different stance where he had The God Eater resting on his back. Indigo jumped at him guns blazing, forcing Gren to block his face with his free arm. When Indigo engaged him in melee Gren was able to defend his neck well enough, waiting for Indigo to commit himself fully into the assault. All the while Gren changed The God Eater back into it's Destroyer form. "One minute!" Gren said through gritted teeth. He needed to finish this in the next attack. Right when he felt one of Indigo's blade hit the armor near his neck, Gren shot his hand out to grab Indigo's chest. Gren couldn't get as solid of a hold as he could last time, so he had to put his full power into his Friction Semblance in order to maintain grip. The friction between Gren's hand and Indigo's chest was so tight you'd think they were fused together. "It's over!" Gren than unleashed a slavvo from The God Eater. He opened up first by unleashing a cloud of fire, engulfing both fighters in flames. Than as Gren let The God Eater rev up he also shot off a rocket at his own feet, damaging them both and sending them into the air. And last but not least, Gren fired the main gun on The God Eater, once more using it's recoiling to propel them through the air. Gren and Indigo, now both on fire, were flying straight back towards the ceiling where Gren can do another "Atomic Suplex". His fingers dug into Indigo's chest, partly to hurt him, mostly so he doesn't drop Indigo before he slams him back onto the ground. Indigo's breath hitched as he was grabbed by the chest, but that didn't mean his slashes let up. At least, they didn't until he had set them both on fire. The intense heat was barely shielded from him by his now close to breaking point aura. Then he was launched into the air by a rocket, along with Gren. A hasty, risky, and over all bad idea by Gren. Oddly enough, Gren tried the same thing as before, just less effective. Through the pain of the fire, it was harder to concentrate, but Indi was still able to stop them both before they fully hit the ground. Through gritted teeth he growled like a caged animal as he fought against the pressure of the minigun and, to a lesser extent, gravity to stay strong and keep his barrier up. Indi looked Gren straight in the eye, and attempted to essentially saw Gren's arm off with his hatchets, stabbing and slashing and unrelentingly attacking the arm in a last-ditch effort to get Gren off of him. This Atomic Drop would kill him if he didn't. "So repetitive. You act as if I'm some kind of fool!" "Raaaah!" Gren could only roar as he could feel Indigo's blades cutting into his arm. He was using so much of his aura to maintain a hold onto Indigo that he was now relying on his natural durability to hold together. But over the sound of The God Eater, he caught a bit of what Indigo taunted to him about. "Repetitive? You haven't seen nothing yet!" He was at the end fo his rope, but this was where he needed to finish it. As the two rocketed towards the ceiling, Gren lifted Indigo above him. Before he'd take him down, Gren was going to try to break through the roof, with Indigo between them. Twenty eight, twenty seven, twenty six! Gren wasn't even sure what his aura levels were at this point. He just needed to hit the ceiling before the next twenty seconds, and then drop. His arm was buckling, wearing thinner by the second. It was a race to see what happens first; Gren's arm getting cut off, or Indigo getting slammed into the ceiling. As Indi absolutely destroyed Gren's arm, Gren shouted something Indi didn't even bother processing, before shifting gears and instead trying to launch them towards the ceiling. Now his barriers were useless. No matter where they hit now, his aura would fail, and Gren wasn't yielding under all the stabs. He'd lose, unless... Indi decided to try something incredibly risky. He was going to try and separate himself from Gren's grasp with a barrier between Gren's hand, and Indi's chest. He'd never done this 'in the field', and he hoped like hell it'd work. He focused his mind, and all the screaming and the bullets and the fire, it all melted away. With an incredible feat of will and strength, he separated the two of them, slightly clipping Gren's aura, and hopefully glove, with the barrier. As he placed another barrier to stop his fall, his brain started to pound, and his aura started to wear thin. A headache set in, and his vision blurred. If he ever tried doing that again in such a short span of time without proper rest, he'd surely get an aneurysm or something. With a sigh he rubbed his head with the back of his hand again. "When is Ms. Goodwitch going to call this damn match?" He asked halfheartedly. "Ten... Nine... Eight..." Gren could only count the seconds as his hand was obliterated. He never let go of Indigo, trying with all his might to maintain his grip. Gren didn't want to let go, but his body could only hold out for so long. As Gren's hand was destroyed and subsequently lost his hold on Indigo, the best Gren could have done was clip Indigo as he rocket towards the ceiling. Gren hit the roof with a crash, causing a cloud of dust and debris to break out. "Five... No!" By the time both the boys landed the match was over. Gren, despite damage sustained, had a stable aura level. His armor was dented and scarred but that was because he had diverted his Aura into his Semblance most of the time, allowing himself to take the live fire in to maintain Aura levels. He had his stumped hand tucked into his armpit to hide it, not wanting anyone, specifically his allies, to see his injury. Gren got onto his feet and put The God Eater onto his back before turning to Glynda. "Who won?" "Time is up. With that, the duel is concluded. It seems we have a tie. You both fought well, though if you could tone down your language, Mr. Kafka..." Indi gasped in astonishment as the winners were announced. They both won? He couldn't say he was happy with his results, but at least he didn't lose. Right now, he was to tired to be mad. With a bit of trouble, he hopped back onto the arena floor and looked at Gren. "That was good, I guess. Sorry for calling you a cheater and all that, I just get really pissed off during fights. That slippery floor thing was just your semblance, right? If so, creative use. Wouldn't mind sparring with you again. Also, nice technique with the grab drop thing, that was sweet." He rambled, while putting his weapons back on his waist. His opponent was good, and he hoped they worked together long enough so he could out class him. He raised his fist for a fist bump as a sign of respect, before noticing that Gren was hiding the hand Indi had tried to murder. Indi suddenly got very nervous as his mind ran through how it had happened last time. "N-no..." he muttered. He put his fist down and stepped a little away from Gren. "Uh, anyways, I'm, uh- you want me to walk you to the infirmary? You look like you need it, hel-heck, heck I think I do too." Indi stuttered, taking heed of Ms. Goodwitch's comment about his cursing. He did that stupid little laugh he always did when he was nervous, and placed himself under Gren as a support, and wrapped an arm around his victim. "Let's go, partner!" He pleaded. "A tie?" Gren couldn't really believe it. Honestly, he had thought that under the technicalities, Indigo might have won. Gren thrashed him quite a bit, but since Indigo was still standing he should have won for being the closest to defeat. But perhaps now it was Gren who underestimating his opponent. Indigo approached much more relaxed this time, complimenting Gren on his technique and apologizing for accusing Gren of cheating. "Thanks. I'll admit it was... Cheap. Not really a flashy fighter to be honest." Lifting the visor from his face Gren took a deep breath only to wince. He had to make the conscience effort not to feel pain from his obliterated hand. Indigo suddenly got very close to Gren, putting his arm around his massive frame. Indigo wanted to take Gren to the infirmary but he slipped out. "Thanks, but... I'll take care of this myself... I'll be back, don't worry about me." Activating his Semblance Gren made a quick exit out of the arena, heading back to his dorm. He needed to get one of his replacement hands.

[Guess Who]

After Robert's own fight was concluded, he was much more involved with watching the other matches. He would create bets in his head of who he thought would win and would cheer that person on. Eventually though, it was time for Priscilla's match. He watched in confusion as Priscilla and Rayna went back-and-forth forfeiting. Finally though the match picked up again and Robert went right back to cheering his teammate on. With every blow Priscilla landed he would shout his excitement and with every blow done against her he would shout his disapproval. Then the unthinkable, or at least what Robert believed was unthinkable, occurred as she was lifted high into the air. He couldn't believe Priscilla's opponent could be so ruthless as to do something like that. At least she apologized for the incident but Robert couldn't help but worry for how Priscilla was taking it. As she returned to her seat, he approached her and asked, "Hey, are you alright?"

[harinezumikouken]

Excited. Put simply, that single word was the best and most accurate description of Shiro's expression as he sat on the sidelines observing the sparring matches. Pure, raw, unadulterated excitement. As his fight with Daniel was one of the first matches, he was afforded the wonderful opportunity of witnessing nearly all of the following matches. At first, he was more concerned with the immediate maintenance of his weapons and attempting to sort out exactly how he had won at his match. But, as the fights rolled on he quickly forgot his worries and put his weapons maintenance aside. Procrastinating, he'd care for them later. As he sheathed his weapons and somehow ending up hugging them in his arms, his golden-hazel eyes were drawn to the other sparring matches. His curiosity piqued, interest attracted and gaze held, he sat in silence as he took in the other fights. Gradually, as he sat there quietly and respectfully watching, his energy and excitement levels grew and grew. The longer the fights dragged on, the more one could see the visible changes to Shiro. Starting with his ears and tail, they began to twitch and wag restlessly. His eyes grew big and wide until they caught the light and practically sparkled and gleamed. His face froze with his mouth agape in stunning awe at the abilities of his fellow students. Each of them had their own unique fighting style, each of them had such unique Semblances that made witnessing each fight a fresh and new experience. His excitement at its peak, Shiro was basically having a controlled seizure. He bounced and shook in his seat so violently that the nearby students gave him a wide berth. Fearing that, like a ticking time bomb, he would explode into white and fluffy tiger bits. And 'explode' he did. After Diamond's sound defeat by Mokuren, when it was his teammate Abel's turn to bat, he erupted into bellowing cheers and whoops. Though Abel lost to Robert, it was all still a good show. He was impressed with the fluid and swift blows he dished out. Rayna and Priscilla's fight was the most confusing to him, the forfeiting back and forth at least. He could never understand those who gave up or threw matches. Priscilla's eventual hogtie and 'peep show' ended with Rayna defeating her. The moment Shiro realized what would happen Priscilla's skirt, he politely shut his eyes and covered them with a paw until he was certain she was decent. To spare her at least a little dignity. Victor's defeat by Greyson started to agitate him, he hated the quick and short matches where not much happened. Those fights teased him and only served to draw out his annoyance. Ivan and Merlin's fight was so magnificent that he actually quieted for a short while. The glorious and creative attacks were so awe-inspiring that left Shiro nearly salivating. Marcus' defeat of Geni intrigued him the most. From the whispers of the other students surrounding him, Marcus' main weapon was something akin to a mobile tank that he wasn't allowed to utilize. Armed with only a revolver and his wits, Shiro was intensely impressed by Marcus' victory over Geni with such a large handicap. To be quite honest, for some reason even he couldn't explain, when it was Gren's turn to fight Shiro cheered, hooped, and hollered his loudest. He had no idea that gentle and kind, walking fortress of a man had such a vicious fighting spirit to him. A part of him couldn't help but wonder that he'd witnessed this before. Even though Gren had lost and appeared hurt, Shiro thoroughly enjoyed nearly all of the matches thus far. Once built up, Shiro could hardly contain his joy and jubilation. Loudly yelling and cheering or sometimes even bursting into fits of uncontrollable laughter. A few times the students around him attempted to hush him, to which he responded by making an odd face, sticking his tongue out at them, and blowing raspberries. Eventually, the students just decided to leave the hyperactive Tiger Faunus alone to his glee and merry-making. Checking the time on his Scroll, he saw that there was a little bit left for a few more fights. Thinking about it, he had yet to see Sapphire's match or the one of the few Fox Faunus ladies who caught his eye..Even still, he had the biggest, whitest grin on his face. Giggling and snickering to himself uncontrollably, it was easy to say that Shiro was enjoying himself.

[MULTI_MEDIA_MAN]

WARNING! MASSIVE POST INCOMING! OPEN THE SPOILER AT YOUR OWN PERIL!

Oswald v Sapphire

As his opponent, Sapphire, jumped down to the stadium, Oswald was making his way down the stairs. At the moment, his shield was safely secured against his back. Even if he couldn't use his arm properly, he could at least manage some level of protection for himself over leaving the shield behind. Stepping into the stadium, he slowly drew his sword without flourish. Taking a good look at his opponent, Oswald slowly nodded his head as he made himself ready for the fight. "En Garde." As the first match belonged to her Sapphire was unable to gauge the competency of any of the other students just yet so instead took her place in the center of the stadium and watched her opponent approach. Oswald Connoly, he was about the same height as her but his build was much more imposing. This made him powerful to be sure but it also meant he was slow. No doubt he was very effective against large stupid foes like many of the grimm but against someone like her who used speed as armor well, no matter how powerful his strikes they would do him no good if he could not land them. The cloak he was wearing Sapphire regarded as a bad choice of combat gear, while it may look very impressive in an actual battle it could easily be used against him. The next thing Sapphire took in was his weapons. He wielded a truly terrifying looking sword that curled in on itself like a spire. She had no way of knowing for sure but it was likely built in such a fashion to allow dust ammunition to be channeled through the center. Sapphire also noticed his large shield but while it was an impressive piece of work the thing that Sapphire found most interesting was that it was not in his hands but still tied to his back. That would afford him some protection but not nearly as much as if he wielded it actively, Sapphire had no idea what the reason might be but he wasn't currently unable to use the shield, perhaps it was damaged in some way, whatever the reason this was a boon for Sapphire. Sapphire took all of this in in the time it took Oswald to descend the stairs into the stadium. When he readied his weapon Sapphire did the same. Her daggers while useful were not suited to this kind of armed combat. Rather than releasing them from there bindings on her wrists Sapphire pulled out two sawed off shotguns from holsters on her back. She placed the buts of the guns together and they interlocked, from the interlocked ends a foot long pole with grip extended. From the live end of the weapon two blades extended straight out before folding themselves down over the barrel making the weapon resemble a high tech double sided halberd. Lastly the triggers of each shotgun realigned themselves to lend easy access from the grip. Sapphire gave two flourishing swings with both ends before sliding the weapon one handed behind her back so that each end was visible behind her. Neither of the strike came anywhere close to hitting Oswald they were merely meant to display her weapons power. She was ready for a fight. "You're move." She said with a smile. Oswald could only raise an eyebrow at his opponent's display. She was clearly not somebody to be underestimated with a weapon like that. She was his height, but much more compact, built for agility rather than pure power. She seemed confident in herself, that much was obvious. How somebody could even handle such a complex weapon, he couldn't understand. Then again, his team leader used a god damned tank in combat, so something like this should have been expected. Deciding to tread carefully, he approached his enemy, making sure to stay out of her polearm's range. The thing had to be at least six feet long. She had reach, speed, and she looked to be in decent enough shape, unlike himself. Oswald was making sure to keep his left arm close to his side. No use getting it hurt even more if he couldn't use the damn thing. Making rapid circles with the tip of his sword, Oswald began stepping in and out of Sapphire's reach before making a feint at her left side, followed by a retreat outside of her reach again. For now, he was testing her reactions, and looking for openings in her defenses. Once he found something, he'd give her no pause. Sapphire and Oswald began to circle each other. It was not uncommon in battle especially with opponents who knew nothing of one another. Still Sapphire wished the fight proper would begin but ultimately it would be a mistake to charge in without knowing how Oswald could counter. Oswald was moving tantalizingly through Sapphire's field of reach. She didn't make an attempt to hit him when he did. He was just too far and a missed strike at that distance would leave her vulnerable. Suddenly he made strike against her left side, Sapphire moved her weapon, almost faster than could be perceived into the path of the strike while keeping the body of her pole arm diagonally over herself so as to avoid leaving herself vulnerable. The impact between the two weapons never came. Oswald had been feinting a blow, and he was once more out of her reach. He'd merely been testing her defenses. Though she considered that she'd done a thorough job showing him that she was not unprepared. It was time she went on the offensive, her ankle was smarting somewhat but Sapphire paid it little mind. She held her weapon with both hands and charged Oswald, no doubt he would think she was attacking him straight on which in this particular situation was a poor tactile choice, instead just when she was within range of him she stabbed her weapon into the ground using it as a pole vault, she jumped at the last moment her momentum carrying her over Oswald's head. The landing was jarring and she let out a gasp of pain as her ribs objected to the stress she was putting the damaged one under. Rather than landing perfectly as she intended, the pain caused her to over shoot slightly and fall on her knees. She was however still within range of Oswald and so swung her weapon out behind her in an arc intending to sweep his legs. As Sapphire started to charge Oswald, he took a guarded stance, his sword held securely in his hand, angled diagonally to deflect any incoming blows. When the girl vaulted over him, Oswald turned to face where she was landing, only to falter when he heard her gasp of pain. He managed to notice the leg sweep just in time to jump over it before closing in on Sapphire and making a diagonal swing upward from his right side to the left, following with a horizontal slice left to right. After his two-swing combo, Oswald made a rush at Sapphire, intending to body-check her. As expected Oswald jumped Sapphire's attack, it had been feeble and hastily executed, it was not surprising it had not worked. Sapphire knew she was in trouble. Many of her favored tactics involved acrobatics which she was starting to realize would be next to impossible till her rib healed. Of course Sapphire could push through it, do the move anyways but she knew as well as anyone that there was a time to push through the pain and a time to let the pain push you. If she pushed her ribs too hard there was a chance she could do serious muscles and skeletal damage to herself. While in some fights that might be worth it in order to win a simple introductory sparring match was not one of those circumstances. Sapphire needed a new tactic. For the moment though she was on defense. Her overbalance had put in her a vulnerable position and while Oswald seemed to hesitate to attack someone in pain he spared not a moment executing his own blows. Just before a diagonal strike from his sword made contact with Sapphire she spun on her knees holding up her pole arm to block the attack. Knowing this put Oswald in a perfect position to attack since her block had stopped the sword directly in front of her face, Sapphire flipped her pole arm around the sword pushing it away from her. Oswald countered immediately with a horizontal slice aimed at her head. Sapphire changed the angle of her weapon to watch the strike that was coming and used it to push the sword up. It required much less strength to redirect the momentum of a blow away from the target than it did to stop it altogether. The sword missed Sapphire's head by inches. Sapphire considered briefly using her semblance to disappear from his field of view but reconsidered almost immediately. That was a desperate tactic given that using it actively would leave her temporarily blind afterwards, if she tried it and it failed the match was lost to her. Once his two swing combo was complete Oswald charged, his intent appeared to be to body-check her. In his position it would not have been her first choice. Sapphire was currently in a position of weakness. She couldn't get to her feet without exposing herself more and blocking swings from her knees was difficult. The smartest thing to do would have been keep on the offensive with his weapon till she was unable to counter and forced to try something reckless. With the few seconds it took Oswald to cover the distance between them Sapphire got to her feet swung her pole arm up and fired three shots from the firearm part of the weapon. The rounds weren't anything special, no specific dust to augment them but they would stop something as big as Oswald in his tracks and even if he managed to dodge them he'd crash into the extended edge of her pole arm. Sapphire had managed to defeat the two strikes he'd thrown at her, which was about as much as could be expected. What he hadn't expected was her retaliation while he was charging her: the guns. On her polearm. Right. The first shot slammed into his gut, staggering him, and the second forced him to the ground while the third went over his head. Quickly rolling to the side, Oswald kept up the offensive, even if he'd been hit hard. He couldn't afford to be put on the defensive without his shield. As he stood up, Oswald made another feinting slash, this time to Sapphire's right side, followed by a straight thrust towards her gut. He had made a mistake with his charge, and he had to make up for it by keeping the pressure on her. After his thrust, he went immediately into a quick four-strike combo, starting with the same two-hit combo he'd performed before and adding a downward horizontal thrust and a second thrust. All it would take was one or two solid hits to turn the tide in his favor dramatically. Two of the three shots collided with Oswald and Sapphire found herself cursing that she hadn't used dust ammunition. The shots had been essentially a basic block, a way to force Oswald off the attack. She hadn't actually expected any of them to hit merely force Oswald to cease his charge in order to dodge. If she'd realized he was actually that slow she would have packed fire or electric rounds into the gun. Oswald seemed to realize immediately that he could not afford to go on defensive. If Sapphire got him on the run he was finished, without that big shield that was still strapped to his back he wouldn't be very capable in the department of blocks. The sword he wielded while impressive was not built to defend. This was no doubt why he carried the shield in the first place. Sure enough he launched right back into attack mode. Sapphire had managed to push him off guard for a couple of seconds but it wasn't good enough. He slashed towards her and she realized it was a feint only just in time to block a stab to her abdomen, the sword striking one of her shotguns as she spun the polearm in a huge circle very fast to effectively create a wall. Oswald apparently hadn't learned any new tricks, his next attack was a direct mimic of his earlier combo. Sapphire jumped back out of the way of the first strike and ducked under the second. From that position there were only a limited number of attack possibilities available to Oswald, he chose a downward thrust which Sapphire only had enough time to move her head out of the way to avoid being hit. This unfortunately put her in a position that left her open to further attack. Oswald sent another stab in her direction and in feet of desperate will Sapphire dropped her weapon and latched onto the blade with her hands stopping it inches from her face. Her aura protected her from any physical damage though if she'd not had it her hands would be raw and bleeding right now. Even so the force of the strike sent a jarring shock wave threw her that agitated her rib. Sapphire winced but did not loosen her grip on the blade. Her aura was depleting the longer she held it, her polearm was in reach but she needed more space to wield it effectively. Of course that was what Morpheus and Phobator were for, combat in such tight quarters that her main weapon was ineffective. All this ran through her head in less than a second. Sapphire shifted her wrist upward slamming the leather bracelet that housed Morpheus into the edge of the blade, responding to the shock force applied to it the dagger assembled itself quickly shooting into her hand and just as she'd planned at the same time the blade pushed through the empty space of the spire sword. She was close enough to the end of the sword that the opening was big enough for the blade but no for the handle. Sapphire hit a button on the side of the dagger and let go of both it and the sword. She'd activated the rocket booster in the pommel of the dagger. She took a step back smiling, "Gotcha." With any luck the force of the dagger flying off would be enough to wrench the sword from Oswald's hands leaving him defenseless but then again he was much heavier than Sapphire, it would certainly disrupt his fighting technique but Sapphire couldn't know if it would in fact disarm him or even put him off balance. Sapphire dodging most of his combo of attacks wasn't too surprising: most of what he had to offer wasn't enough to get this girl. It was only because of how many different attacks from different directions he'd sent at her that he'd managed to put her in the position she was in now. He had to say: it didn't look good for her. Holding his sword by the blade had to be cutting into her aura. Whatever she was going to do, it had to be fast. As the girl under him stabbed her daggers into the gaps of his sword, Oswald realized too late that she was going to disarm him. Even more weapons, and these ones rocket-powered? Oswald had to step up his game. He was getting embarrassed in front of his entire class by this girl. If he had both his arms, this would have been a much more even-sided fight, but life wasn't always sugar and tits. As the dagger's rocket activated, Oswald grunted and slashed his sword downward, taking a guarded leap backwards. When the dagger didn't dislodge itself, and instead continued to propel his sword in an awkward direction, Oswald shook his head and sighed, throwing his sword to the side. "Dammit, I can't fight with that thing throwing off the balance. Fine, Miss Rode. You want to get smacked in the face by my shield? Be my guest." Reaching behind him, Oswald narrowed his eyes and grabbed his shield, sliding his arm into the straps and making his way towards Sapphire, ready to fight anew, a primal growl coming from his chest. He was done testing her, and ready to fight. As he got over to her, Oswald begun a haphazard combination of attacks, less focused than before and with more force behind them. He was making sure not to lose himself in any one strike, but without the protection of aura, any single hit would easily crack bone. Some attacks were slashes with the edge of the shield, sometimes he bashed, and sometimes he kicked at Sapphire while he was between strikes. Only one thing remained constant: he did not stop attacking. That was his way: a relentless storm of steel. Sapphire watched with satisfaction as Morpheus propelled Oswald's sword up in such a way that he was unable to continue to use it adequately. Right before she'd activated the booster Sapphire had dialed up both the power and the duration of the rocket. Seeming to realize that her weapon had effectively rendered his inoperable Oswald tossed the spire sword to the side Morpheus' booster pushing it rather incessantly into the corner with loud clangs. For a moment Sapphire thought victor was hers, he was weaponless there was nothing he could do against her. Of course hope was not something that came often to Sapphire and it was ill advised when it was. Oswald pulled his shield off his back with the same arm that had been wielding his sword and Sapphire realized with a sinking feeling that she'd made a mistake. His shield wasn't damaged, the only other explanation was that his shield arm was injured. That must be it, just like she'd taken rib damage during the initiation ceremony so had he. Oswald hadn't wanted to risk injuring his arm further that must be it. Faced with the prospect of fighting against a whole new kind of weapon just moments after getting acclimated to Oswald previous one Sapphire needed a new tactic. She snatched up her polearm getting to her feet with practiced ease and agility. A large shield like that used as a weapon wouldn't be deterred by a polearm it was too narrow. Therefore Sapphire twisted the grip of the her weapon causing it separate into two smaller ones. The blades shifted position so that now she appeared to wield two very lethal looking sickles. Oswald had seemed to abandoned his strategic and well thought out style choosing instead a very rash and chaotic method of fighting. The advantage to it was that it kept an uncomfortable amount of pressure on Sapphire to defend but it moved so quickly that if you made one slip up you were already three moves ahead and unable to correct the mistake. Sapphire used her sickles to deflect the deadly looking shield. Sometimes Oswald attacked with the sharp edge of the shield while others were straight shield bashes that Sapphire found she simply had to dodge, there was no simple way to block them. The thing that Sapphire saw most clearly was the kicks that he made between his strikes. Those she considered his weakest move. With such a heavy shield those kicks would put him off balance. As Sapphire continued to defend valiantly strike after strike only barely keeping up with each new blow she looked for an opening. She knew her time was running out and unable to find a suitable moment to strike decided instead to make one. While she blocked the shield with one sickle she loaded a dust round into the shotgun portion of the other weapon. The dust was electrically charged, not as was most common to send a high voltage attack at the enemy instead this round was much more akin to a flash bang. It would fire thousands of tiny sparks that shone so brightly they blinded anyone looking as well as emitting a high pitched sound from the release of a pressurized gas deafening the target. It only lasted for perhaps ten seconds but that was enough time. The next attack that came this time a strike with the edge of the shield Sapphire caught on the blades of her sickles, she held it there for just a moment before leveraging the gun loaded with flash ammunition using the shield as a pivoting point. She managed to get the barrel on the other side of his defenses and fired. Without waiting to see if it had working Sapphire spun very quickly three hundred and sixty degrees all the way around to dislodge her sickles from the shield before he slashed with the blunt end of one of them at his injured arm, he'd been holding it stifling with his hand straight out. His wrist must be injured, that was what she targeted. It was time his injuries started to work for her as hers had been working for him. As each blow continued to rain on Sapphire with no move to counter on her part, Oswald began to wonder what her game was. The fact that she'd had it in her to block this much was impressive, but this couldn't last. Even having broken her polearm down into two weapons, she was barely keeping up with him. That much he attributed to her speed: she was fast, but it seemed she could also recover quickly from his blows. Plenty of Grimm had fallen to this shield alone for lack of endurance. When he noticed Sapphire loading a round into her sickle, it was too late. He was already committed to his next attack, which she had blocked with the barrel of her weapon sticking out just over his shield. Oswald managed to duck his head in time to avoid getting his face shot up, but the loud noise going off so close to his head dazed him enough that he didn't realize that Sapphire had gone after his arm until he was already clenching his teeth and groaning from the pain. First, she used some sort of disabling round, then she'd hit his broken wrist? Damn, this girl held nothing back, even in sparring. He liked that. All he could hear was a high-pitched ringing noise, all he could feel was the bone in his wrist protesting with all its might, but he could still see. As long as he knew where she was, he'd be fine. Taking a few unsteady steps back as he limply hung his injured arm at his side, Oswald kept his eyes locked firmly on Sapphire. He was surprised that she hadn't gone further than that immediately, but it was possible that she wanted to see what his response to such an attack would be. He knew that his rampaging attack style wouldn't work now. His left arm was completely useless at this point, and his shield could only do so much. His sword still had that damned knife in it, and there was no way he could pull that out during the fight. He could ditch his shield and go hand-to-hand, but with only one hand, that was hardly a good idea. His best bet would be to force her to lose those weapons. The blades he could deal with, but more than a few shots would have him beat, especially if she had more trick rounds up her sleeves. He was not looking forward to finding out. Unsteadily making his way towards Sapphire, Oswald raised his shield to block any shots she might take during his approach, watching her arms carefully. As he approached, he returned to his more measured style of fighting, but made sure to leave few openings for Sapphire. At this point, he was hurt a lot more than she was, and letting himself go like that again wouldn't be a good idea. He needed to be able to pull back at any moment to avoid getting something like that last shot. The attack was a huge success, while Oswald had managed to shield his eyes in time to avoid being blinded her flash round had effectively stunned him. The blow to his wrist seemed to do a lot of damage. When she made contact he groaned with pain clenching his teeth no doubt to stop himself from crying out. This was the time to go in for the kill. Her enemy was disoriented, they were injured, now was the time to strike. Looking at Oswald Sapphire remembered something from long ago, something her father had said. "No leniency for the injured, no mercy for the enemy." She didn't want to be like that, someone whose only thought was the battle, destroying the opponent in whatever means necessary. This was a sparring match, the worst that a loss could mean was a bad mark. There was nothing at stake here. Sapphire had gone at him as though her life depended on it. She gritted her teeth, the moment had passed, Oswald had recovered. She'd missed her shot. Some part of her cursed herself for letting the chance to end this slip by but another part one a lot like her mother smiled at her saying 'that was the right choice'. Sapphire raised her sickles ready for round two. Oswald was unsteady and he seemed to realize just how much of a mistake his berserker style of fighting had been. He changed up his tactics, each move appeared more thought out. It was almost amazing how he could play offense in such a way that it actually acted as a defense. Sapphire countered each calculated move knowing that two or three good hits would put her out of the game for good. It became clear after a matter of seconds that a frontal approach wasn't going to do Sapphire any good. His shield was large and it was effective as a defensive tool. Rounds she fired bounced off it and each slash she made only contacted the cold steel and not the player. Her only option was to get around him. She didn't have enough space to use her polearm as to vault over him and she didn't have the time to reassemble it. Her other option of course was Phobator. Her combat boots were specially designed with a catch on there outer sides that Morpheus and Phobator could be clipped into. The catch wrapped directly around the activation mechanism for the rocket boots and there was a pressure pad under the sole of the boots were her big toes rested that would cause the catch to contract activating the boosters. In this way she could use them to gain greater altitude on jumps. They weren't powerful enough to do more than augment her jumps and kicks but it was helpful for more complex acrobatics. The problem was Sapphire had never tried any of these sorts of tricks with only one of the daggers. In practice she'd never foreseen a situation were she might not have either Morpheus or Phobator. If she was ever going to learn now was the time to start. Sapphire was fairly certain she could adjust her landing so that her right side would take the brunt of the fall so that her left broken rib would be spared an impact. With no time to contemplate the vast number of things that could go wrong with this plan Sapphire fired three fire dust rounds at Oswald buying just enough time to slap the bracelet that held Phobator causing the dagger to jump into her hand. She had to reassemble her polearm to free up her hands for the movement but it did not matter. This weapon was far more suited to moving through the air. Sapphire clipped Phobator onto her right boot. Sapphire back off from Oswald quickly in order to take a running leap over his head. At the last second just after take off she pushed down hard on the pressure plate activating Phobator's booster. Sapphire nearly lost her balance as the rocket fired but managed to execute a spin as she jumped that kept the booster from propelling her off course. As she flew her left rib was compressed far to the point that she let out a scream of pain but even so as she was flying she managed to fire three more fire rounds at Oswald as well as a strike to his head. She didn't hold out much hope that any of these would actually hit given that she'd aimed them threw tears of pain. Sapphire's landing did not go at all the way she'd planned. If fact you couldn't even really call it a landing. She managed to touch down feet first but her legs buckled from the force sending her spilling across the stadium, rolling over and over till she finally came to a stop against one wall. Somehow her polearm had landed only a few feet away and she managed to grab in quickly before rolling to face Oswald the firearm of her weapon out. As the first three shots thudded against his shield, Oswald tried to close the distance that Sapphire had opened between them, but on foot he was too slow, and he had no plans of showing anybody his semblance just yet. In a fight like this, it was a last resort. Sapphire relied on close range tactics just as he did. Had he been fighting someone primarily suited to long-range combat, he'd handle them as he always did: get in close enough to Close, then whack them over the head from behind with his shield. Almost always worked. While he moved towards her, Sapphire had managed to reassemble her polearm, grab her other dagger, and then...attach it to her boot? What the...? It was only once Sapphire jumped over him that Oswald realized she was using the dagger as a boost for her jump. With only one, it seemed like a bad idea. Rolling out of the way of the haphazardly aimed aerial attacks, Oswald watched his opponent gracefully maneuver herself out of a major predicament into a less fatal one. With her back to the wall, she had little room to take the sheer force from his attacks, but at the same time, she was almost trapped in a corner. He'd heard the saying far too many times to take the situation lightly. Deciding not to give Sapphire any more time for tricks, Oswald pressed on to her, intending on pressing her to the wall and breaking her guard there. It seemed her left side was the weak one, just as his own was right now. He had to assume that she'd suffered some broken bone, as that was the second landing that she'd fumbled, and quite painfully at that. It didn't seem to be her leg, so perhaps a rib? She seemed to have full mobility in her arms, and a spinal injury would likely have had more serious consequences. He noticed no cast or other obvious marker, so he couldn't be sure. If he could find where she was hurt though, he'd pay her back in full for the previous attack. As he reached Sapphire, Oswald took a careful strike at her with the shield, following up with a second and a third attack, dutifully watching where she was moving herself, and attempted to compensate to prevent her from cornering herself. He started to focus on her chest and stomach when he attacked, watching to see where she'd injured herself. Once he knew that, he could take full advantage of it. Sapphire was fighting a losing battle and she knew it. The first two strikes she managed to deflect with her polearm, only barely managing to redirect the force of the blow to miss her. At it's full six feet her polearm was just enough to keep Oswald at bay. Problem was she was getting weaker and currently in a disastrous tactical position. If she could buy enough time to get to her fee she might be able to put the fight back on her grounds but it was looking slimmer and slimmer by the second. Three more attack from the shield she managed to stave off before one lucky one hit her polearm at exactly the right angle to slide down the shaft. She shifted her weapon letting loose a fire round at point blank into the shield. Sparks showered both of them but the round didn't give enough of a shock to the shield. While she'd managed to shift its trajectory slightly it wasn't enough. The shield grazed her broken rib and despite everything Sapphire let out a shriek of pain. Oswald's shield was made of something very heavy and he knew how to swing it. In that moment Sapphire realized she was desperate enough, she'd considered using her semblance before but had dismissed it out of hand as a finishing move whether it ended with her winning or Oswald it would have meant the end of the match. Now faced with imminent defeat Sapphire saw no other choice. She closed her eyes, drew in a measure breath and let it out as a huge exhale of air. With that breath her semblance came to life. The essence of it was that it caused the minds of other to write out any information regarding her from there field of senses, everything except touch. Used normally people simply wouldn't notice her or remember that they'd seen her but now she was using it actively. In it's active state Sapphire had to consciously block every single indicator that she was there. She could hear, feel, and smell them all inside her head. She could hear the sounds she was making reverberating back at her as she stopped Oswald's ears from experiencing them, the sight of her vanished from his vision and became what felt like a bubble of pressure inside her head. She had to act quickly. Sapphire had been practicing but she'd never been able to hold this up for very long. Sapphire used her polearm, braced against the wall to push herself out from under Oswald's gaze and she stood up shakily aware and conscious of every sound that he wasn't picking up. It wouldn't hold much longer. Sapphire split her polearm into two sickles again. Despite the pain coursing threw her ankle, chest and back Sapphire got around to Oswald's back. It was time for one more jump. She took a short leap her legs wrapping around Oswald's chest while she braced her arms against his shoulders. She knew the moment she touched him her illusion had shattered but she didn't let go of the field just yet. If she did her eyesight would go with it, at least temporarily and she couldn't afford that. Sapphire placed the live ends of both guns against Oswald's shoulders and angled them so the blades of the sickles formed an X over his neck and underside of his jaw. "Concede the match or I swear on the barriers of Vale I will fire, tell me your aura can take an explosive round at point blank." Of course firing it like this she would get just as injured as him but if he didn't give in she was just crazy enough to actually pull the trigger. Sapphire managing to deflect some of her attacks didn't deter Oswald, and even the shot to his shield failed to halt the man as his shield got Sapphire where she'd been injured. So it was a rib. Figured. Just as he went to make another attack, Sapphire disappeared. Oswald couldn't believe what he'd seen. The girl had just...disappeared! Only a moment later he felt a weight on his back and she appeared again. Or, her weapons did, crossed over his throat. She was threatening to blow his head off? Damn, this girl was something else. Not many people would have it in them to even make a bluff like that, especially at point-blank range with explosive rounds. "It could definitely take one, but two to the face? Nah, you've won." Dropping his shield with a limp arm, he chuckled and called out. "I forfeit the match!" Now speaking more quietly, he continued. "Thanks. Haven't had a fight like that in a while. And feel free to stay up there if you'd like. That hit to your rib wasn't much, but I heard that scream. How bad is it?" Sapphire gave a sigh of relief and uncoiled from Oswald stepping on the floor once again. Soon as she did every pain and ache she'd received in this fight as well as those from the forest flared up again each demanding her attention. She let her semblance fail and her eyesight faded along with it. She was in a world of darkness now. "I'll live, that's the important thing." She said in response to Oswald asking after her condition. "If I'm lucky I'll get a week or two before we have to do more serious training but I'll be fine in a couple of days." There was too much noise, the students talking loudly, reverberating off the walls. Sapphire had some experience navigating blind but not enough to pinpoint her seat in this situation. This might be a good time to start trusting someone. At the moment though Sapphire only wished her little sister Demetra were here. She always knew the right thing to say and she'd guided Sapphire around when she'd first discovered the after effects of her semblance. If Sapphire was going to be able to function in a team she'd need to rely on someone to at the very least guide her to where she could sit down and unless she wanted to yell the need for help to the audience Oswald was her only choice. "Oswald, the aftereffects of my semblance leave me in... a vulnerable state. I can't see. It'll wear off soon enough but in the mean time I... I could use a hand getting back to my seat." "...very well then," Ms. Goodwitch had been keenly focused on this particular skirmish, watching it like a hawk. Though her stoic exterior underwent no change whatsoever, there was a slight note of disappointment in her voice. Did she regret seeing the duel end? "You should both at least check in at the infirmary after that. Ms. Rode, I will write you a pass excusing you from next period. You did quite well considering your previous injuries." Some of the students were undoubtedly stunned that their instructor had actually issued a compliment. Oswald nodded at Sapphire and quickly threw one of her arms over his shoulder, wrapping his arm around her waist. "Alright then, here we go. Off to your seat. I'm sure someone can handle our weapons for us." After he finished speaking, Oswald started to walk. Sapphire nodded at Ms. Goodwitch the corners of her mouth hinting at a smile. Sapphire had gauged Glynda as the type of instructor that relied more on the stick and much less on the carrot and while the compliment was by no means over enthusiastic Sapphire knew it was as good as she could expect. After asking Oswald for help Sapphire was surprised when he threw her arm over his shoulder and wrapped it own around her waist to support her. Her injuries were not so extensive that she needed to be carried. She was blind, not disabled but she supposed she should consider this some sort of kindness. It would create more of a disturbance than it was worth to try and have her position readjusted so Sapphire settled for both of them somewhat awkwardly limping back to the bleachers. When she slid back into her seat, her hands touching the back of it first just to reassure herself that it was still there, Sapphire imminently untied the laces of one of her combat boots with haste yanking the thing off her foot. Her twisted ankle felt like hell, it was throbbing worse than ever now but that was nothing to the pain she was feeling in her chest. Sometime maybe ten minutes later Sapphire's sight returned and the pitch black color faded from her irises and eyes. She'd only missed two fights and now was ready to enjoy and analyzed the rest of them. After that Sapphire planned a visit to the infirmary out of necessity. She did not like the place but she did need to have her wounds seen too.

[Lugubrious]

Every student jumped at the sound of the bell. Though there had been many different varieties of bells as there were of those who heard them, they all shared the same instinct built up from previous years of school. Even with the time passed since coming to Beacon, that same instinct coursed through each one: to escape and take another step in the daily grind of school til the glorious afternoon-evening time when each teenager could do what they wanted. Unfortunately, that time lay five long periods away. Before any of the students could flee through the door to Combat class, the now-familiar voice of Ms. Goodwitch commanded their attention yet again. “Today you've shown me what you can do now. Tomorrow will bring something new. Nurse your wounds, if you have them, and bring every ounce of your strength tomorrow.” With that, Ms. Goodwitch fixed to turn back and talk with her assistant, but she happened to catch the mischievous eyes of Paron. “Don't you have anything better to do than follow the freshmen around, waiting to offer them one one of your deals, Mr. Skaft?” Her tone was critical, but in low; this was a conversation between her and Paron alone, now that most of the students were on their way out. “Not 'til fourth period, marm,” the well-dressed northerner replied. “PE creds an' all that. An' wotever makes ya tink I'm tryin' ta swindle anyone?” He got up, very dignified, and tucked the golden-threaded yoyo away before meandering to the door. “I swear, no trus' these days for any a us. Teachas gotta trust their students, or they end up alone?” Paron cast a final glance at Goodwitch as he passed through the exit. This one held no warmth, no mischievous cheer; it was a clouded, soulful glare. Goodwitch turned away, walking slowly toward Sarina. The next group of teams, including PHGM, CRDL, RWBY, and JNPR, were filing in, but her thoughts weren't on them. It wasn't trust, she thought, that left you alone. Sad images flashed in her mind—the smiling face of Paron, then his crushed, vacant expression, the sabre, the blood, the hate. It was bad luck. -=-=- Next stop for MODA, SASG, RPGD, SIII, GJMM, and JRVR was math. After quickly ascertaining that all were heading to the same classroom, the twenty-four students merged into a singular flow of teenagers in the direction of room 64. When they sidled through the doorway and found their seats, there was no teacher to be seen. Judging by the papers and posters tacked, taped, stapled, and otherwise attached to every inch of available wall-space, though, he had certainly made his presence known. The symbols, equations, rules, factoids, and more that floated off the colorful menagerie of wall-adornments were enough to make anyone's head spin, and that was before the professor arrived. The instructor burst through the door, his half-closed duffel bag hanging from his hip. His matchless white and orange attire practically illuminated his progress through the room, and with a bang he set the duffel bag on the huge desk at the lecture hall's central low point. Yellow eyes twinkling, he whipped out a piece of chalk from a drawer and scrawled on the antiquated chalkboard in a loopy, difficult hand: ALGERNON HENRY FULLBUSTER. And just like that, he was in his seat, studying the students briefly. “Math!” He suddenly announced, followed by a yawn that he struggled to suppress. For a few moments thereafter, he didn't move, but a snore announced that he had suddenly put himself to sleep. Fortunately, the bell that signified the end of passing time and the start of second period jolted him awake. “Math,” he repeated, unfazed by his catnap. “Algebra, geometry, trigonometry, calculus. Not as exciting as some of the stuff you'll be prodding and blowing up in Grimm Studies, but nevertheless essential! You all can, by now, multiply and divide and calculate percentages and remainders and compounded interest, but do you have what it takes to judge the arc of your spear as you're poised to throw it? Can you take the function of how far something's moving, get how fast it's moving, and then use that to find how quickly it's accelerating? No?” Fullbuster shoved a stack of packets to the end of his desk and motioned for the students to take one each. “Then let's get started.” -=-=- “History is important, ladies and gentlemen!” The green-haired man declared. Compared to the soporific, smooth, low tones proliferated by professor Fullbuster, Bartholomew Oobleck brought both a vivacity and energy to the class with movement so fast as to be unnerving. His words were, though still hyped, mercifully slower. Regardless, it was clear that the doctor's passion lay in his subject. “If you can't learn from it, you are doomed to repeat it!” He zipped across the room again, until he was standing practically touching the long desk of the two students nearest him, Daniel and Priscilla. “And by tomorrow I hope the remaining half of you will learn that you must bring your book to class with you! Every day! The knowledge that we seek lies buried in paper, and starting tomorrow we will start to dig. Today, especially since we are so textbook-devoid, we will be running through a series of slideshows in review, to jog from your laden memories the information you undoubtedly acquired and then forgot in previous school. Pay close attention, now! History is waiting to unfold!” -=-=- Lunch in the cafeteria today was a choice between chicken sandwiches, bowtie pasta with somewhat watery red sauce, and a salad bar. Optional sides includes small dishes of pears, apple slices, grapes, mashed potato, curly fries, and macaroni, while to drink there was white milk, water, and juices of apple, grape, and watermelon. While the lines were serve-it-yourself, an employee waited at the end of each bar to charge each student for his or her purchase, and to keep an eye out for both theft and general rowdiness. The only seating available was an array of gray double-tables, each capable of seating eight. Spirits, not yet crushed by homework, were mostly high.

[MULTI_MEDIA_MAN]

Oswald sat at a table, his head down and his fork slowly poking his bowtie pasta. Math had been disastrous. He didn't expect to have to know trigonometry and geometry! He knew what the shapes were, but these weird rules about angles and finding things was melting his brain. He was a Huntsman-in-training, not a mathematician! Sighing, he dropped his fork and buried his head in his arms. It was the first time he felt that he'd truly come up short; this place was weird. "Hey, so....in class....how did you all know what the professors were talking about? That's....not stuff you guys learned, is it? Because.....well.....I never learned any of that." Groaning as he remembered awkwardly explaining to the teacher that he did not, in fact, know the difference between acute and obtuse angles, Oswald stabbed his meal and ate it. "At least the history guy knew what to expect with that slideshow. We're soldiers, not scientists!"

[LokiLeo789]

Geni snored loudly as he usually did when he slept but slept blissfully. The nurse had forgotten about Geni and left him to map until about half way through history. When she had shook him awake he was having an amazing dream about him chasing as cat with a poptart for a body and farted rainbows through space. He was about to catch the little bugger when the nurse awoke him and told him to get out. Geni grumbled as he had walked out of the infirmary and walked into the hallway were he began to fix up his bandages. They were annoyingly itchy and he scratched them despite the nurses warnings. But Geni had made his way into the history class door and composed himself quickly before walking into the classroom. He slowly made his way up the stairs and took a seat next to Jack. Fortunately, History was one of Geni's favorite classes, and the easiest, so catching up to the lesson was a to easy. Unfortunately, his fun was cut short when the bell for lunch rang. Geni walked out of the room quietly, he was ashamed about his lose, he was leader, and leader don't lose. He made his way into the cafeteria, grabbed his tray and sat at an open table. Geni shook his head a slapped himself a couple times to get himself out of the funk and back into his old self. Now that he was back to normal, or close to it, he began to eat and waited for anyone to start a conversation with, preferably a lady of some sort. Unfortunately, all Geni got was a kid not to far from him who seemed troubled. He had said something about them being soldiers not scientists. "Preposterous, fighting is a science you hooligan." He said sternly, but he could barely contain a laugh.

[TentacleLord]

Ivan made his way to the front of the chicken sandwich line through sheer tenacity and stubbornness, refusing to move in the constantly jostling crowd of hungry students. He instantly grabbed two sandwiches with a feral light in his eyes, pausing momentarily to consider his options. After a full second of deliberation, the gunslinger grabbed a third sandwich and a carton of milk, shooting looks around him as if daring any of the surrounding students try and take what he'd rightfully claimed. They'd have to be quick. Like that Oobleck fellow. He frowned as he made his way past the checkout, ignoring the appraising glance the staff member had given him after he'd piled the third sandwich on the counter and paid for it all without a second thought. History wasn't his strong suit, and he seriously doubted he'd really need to reference a book if there were going to be slideshows. The fact that he hadn't actually gotten the assigned history textbook had nothing to do with it. Ah, well. That was a problem for tomorrow's Ivan to sort out. He found a relatively empty table behind the shield wielding man who'd lost to the somberly colored girl in the first match. Acknowledging the man with a nod(He'd proven himself a driven opponent, if nothing else), Ivan unceremoniously dropped his collection of sandwiches on the table, glancing suspiciously around before beginning to chow down, shoveling the food into his maw as fast as he could swallow.

[Kafka Komedy]

Indi sighed to himself as he entered the lunch line. His mind was racing with issues, and his headache wasn't helping. It had at least dropped down to a dull drone of pain so he could focus better. Still, it wasn't that way in math, and he'd spent the entire period staring at a paper doing nothing except cursing himself for wasting all that effort on a damn null game. He was sure if he wasn't on the brink of a brain hemorrhage he'd understand the concepts, but the battle before that class had destroyed him mentally. Then there was the Gren issue. Well, he hadn't been expelled yet, so that was a good sign. Maybe the staff here realized he was a great fighter and, you know, things just got a little out of hand sometimes? Or maybe word simply hadn't gotten to them yet, and Gren was going to level this toward him as a sort of blackmail? As if it wasn't like he already had enough to deal with just to get into this damn school... Indi shook his head and breathed deeply to refocus. Lunch, that's what he was here for. He quickly grabbed some spaghetti, as a sort of joke, and some water. He rarely drunk much other than water, just the occasional glass/carton of milk. Soda's were much to carbonated and sugary, and they made him want to vomit. Fruit juice didn't really grab his attention either; drinks were supposed to wash down a meal, so why have a taste to the drink? Anyways, after grabbing and paying for his food, he stared idly around the cafeteria. Seibs hadn't seated herself yet, and neither had Ineko (they were probably still in the line grabbing food), he decided to take a seat by his new teammate, Ivan. As he placed down his tray next to his obviously very hungry acquaintance, he struck up a conversation. "So, did you get any of the stuff in math class? My mind was just absolutely fried." He said in between slurps of the noodles. They were decent, but the sauce was kinda watery and bland. 6/10. "Oh, and ain't it weird that both of our matches ended in a tie? Our team must be the average-st of the above average or something." He said, waiting for the rest of the team to join them.

[Psyrencalling]

Watching Merlin burn through the math problems was definitely a spectacle to be seen. He burned through every practice problem and example problem there was in the packet inside the packet within the first 10 minutes of class. These were nothing compared to all the calculations he had to make while he was working at the casino. Almost as soon as he finished the last page with problems on it, he began to take a nap. The battle the class before had worn him out, and he proceeded to sleep until the end of class bell rang. When Merlin finally got the dining hall, he made a bee line toward the chicken sandwiches. He had already grown a large appetite right after the sparring match with Ivan and it only grew from then on. It had gotten to a such a point that, right in the middle of history, Merlin's stomach gave a very audible growl. He picked up nine chicken sandwiches, a large heap of curly fries, and three cartons of milk. The employee at the end of the bar gave Merlin an odd look after sizing up the amount of food he had and comparing it to is body size. Merlin didn't pay any mind to him as he paid for his food and walked away. Finding a seat wasn't too difficult. Merlin walked by Ivan and gave a quick "Sup." before continuing his search for a seat. He decided to take a seat right across from Geni who had made a replying to a boy who had made a comment about the math class earlier. "I see fighting more of an art than a science. I do see the relevance in treating it from more of an analytic point of view though." He said with a smile, "Good show during you match today, Geni." Merlin then looked down at his mountain of food and began the feast.

[Forsythe]

The math class was agonizing. With her head still throbbing from whatever it was her opponent... made her do to herself she guessed... trying to process what the professor said was a nightmare. The fact that Diamond never even went to school and what little she knew of sciences she learned herself didn't help at all. The history class wasn't much better, but at least the speeding weirdo in front of the blackboard was ready for them to be indisposed for one reason or the other. At least her head stopped pounding by that time. As the last of the morning classes came to an end, the thug was looking forward to some food. The disappointment at the selection of meals was blatantly obvious from the pout on her face. The closest it got to meat was chicken sandwich, and the wine to go with it she could only imagine. Grabbing two of the sandwiches and piling the rest of the plate full of the fries before finding herself an empty seat. "Hey, so....in class....how did you all know what the professors were talking about? That's....not stuff you guys learned, is it? Because.....well.....I never learned any of that." Oswald dropped, and Diamond grunted with a nod. "Never needed it, never heard of it." she summed up her own education, "The state really takes pathetic care for it's children." she jabbed.

[Skyrte]

The next class was math, something Ineko somewhat enjoyed. The mildly strange Professor Fullbuster had given them work packets, during the lecture Ineko blazed through the packet. Perhaps the Professor had intended some of it to be homework, or some of it classwork, nevertheless he finished most of the entire packet in the length of the class. Most of it was elementary for him. The next class, history, was something Ineko was interested in, but had never before really delved into the subject. Ineko believed that it was Professor Oobleck teaching. He thought it strange that a man would have the name of a non-Newtonian fluid, but dismissed the thought once he began the lesson. Ineko paid extra attention to the lecture. Then it was lunch, solving one mild annoyance, his hunger. He stood in line and picked up a tray, going through the bars he got a couple of things. Two chicken sandwiches, the bowtie pasta didn't look particularly appetizing, a dish of macaroni and two dishes of fries, and a glass of water as a drink. After paying for the lunch, he sent out a drone to look for a place to sit. The drone quickly found two members of Team SIII, sitting at a table. The drone landed on the table, where Ineko would sit, and a short moment later Ineko himself arrived, put the tray down on the table and sat down. "Ivan. Indigo." Ineko greeted, one of these days someone is going to mess up the names he thought to himself. Ineko took off his helmet and gently set it down next to his tray, he took apart the sandwiches and added some fries in the sandwiches before reassembling them. He took a sip of water and began to eat one of his sandwiches. "First day of class gents, and we're not dead yet. I'd say so far it's going pretty good." He said between bites, ignoring the scrapes and grime on his own armor. He would clean it later.

[Scarifar]

Daniel watched the other fights progress, making notes in his mind about how the others fight. If there was anything he paid attention in, it was in fighting. Mokuren and Diamond's fight was interesting, if a bit fast. Robert and Abel, ehh. In fact, a lot of people's fights were just ehh. Priscilla's fight proved to be stupid, yet a bit entertaining at the same time, especially when she was flipped upside down. Finally, the matches were over, and it was time to move on to other classes. Math, UUGGGGGHHHH. Boring. That was not what Daniel signed up for when he wanted to become a Hunter. History, ehh, at least it was more entertaining than Math. The teacher there was pretty interesting too, especially with the way he zipped around the class so quickly. Then it was lunch time. Grabbing a sandwich, some apple slices, and some apple juice, he then paid for the lunch and moved on to sit with his team. Taking a bite out of his sandwich, he chewed for a second before asking, "So, not bad for the first day, eh?" He then swallowed his food and took another bite.

[harinezumikouken]

All of his enthusiasm and energy had died. Or rather it was grabbed by its throat, choke-slammed onto the ground and then viciously executed by way of a bullet to the head. When the first period bell had sounded, Shiro was quickly and harshly reminded that Beacon Academy was still a place of learning. Not only were promising and great future Hunters/Huntresses trained here, they were afforded the best education that Vale could offer. It was still a school, after all. Shiro's ears flattened against his head and his tail lazily swept at his feet as he sat in Math class, staring at the packet of mathematical problems/equations in front of him with a forlorn look. Looking up at the sleeping teacher and the room around him, Shiro sighed heavily and slowly opened the packet. As a child, he never had a formal education. What they taught him at the orphanage was basic at best. It was only at Signal that he received a better education but even still, he struggled. It wasn't to say that Shiro wasn't bright and smart, it was more so that he was lazy and disliked complex/critical thinking. It made his head hurt. Sure, math was important, but how did math seriously apply in real life beyond basic arithmetic? As he slowly worked on what he did know, skipping over what he didn't know, he couldn't help but ask... In what deity's name did someone think combining the letters from the alphabet with numbers was a good idea?! At least, History was easier on him. It helped more so that the eccentric teacher seemed to inject a bit of his hyperactive zippiness back into Shiro's spirits. Chin resting on his gloved fists, Shiro tried his best to pay attention. Though some parts were definitely interesting, he again failed to see how having history lessons would aid them in combating the Grimm. As the slide show presentation continued on, Shiro couldn't help but nearly plant his face into his desk, as for some inexplicable reason he grew dreadfully tired. For the rest of the period he remained under the radar of the teacher and softly snoozed, drooling a bit as he dozed the history period away.. Thankfully, he had already made it through the first half of the first day and was granted a brief reprieve from the daily grind of school life. It wasn't much different from Signal after all, just a new place with new faces. As he waited in line, he saw what the cafeteria was offering and his spirits were crushed yet again. Most everything was some kind of starch/grain, vegetable, or fruit. Blech. He recoiled at the sight of them. The only meat they had were the chicken sandwiches, and they even had white milk. Wishing his first meal at Beacon would be a bit grander, he half-heartedly grabbed what was allowed to him. In all honesty, he wanted to pile as much food as he could onto his plate but the cafeteria workers seemed to frown at the idea. He was a bit jealous when a few of the other bolder students muscled their way through the line and grabbed whatever they wanted without a care in the world. He wanted to do the same, but that wouldn't be right. It wouldn't be fair. With just a plain tray of chicken sandwiches and milk, he made his way to a free table and took his seat. Setting his tray down, he looked around for his teammates. Too many sounds, scents, and people moving about for him to locate them. Though, as large as Gren and Abel were it shouldn't be too hard to pick them out in a crowd. Shrugging, he decided to start eating without them. Removing the pieces of chicken from between the slices of bread, he clasped his hands together once done. Thanking everyone who were responsible in getting the food he was about to eat to him, he picked up his utensils. Oddly enough, though he was starving at this point, he neatly ate his meal with peculiarly impeccable table manners. As he ate, his golden eyes roamed around hoping to catch a glimpse of the Fox Faunus ladies.. Oh right, he had to do maintenance on his weapons whenever he got the chance. His mind then went down the list of what was required of him to make sure his gear was in top working order. If he had more free time, then maybe he would hit up the gym. That is, if he wasn't too beaten down and exhausted with homework and assignments.

[TentacleLord]

Ivan gave a nod of greeting as Indigo sat down, not stopping his constant devouring of the utterly average chicken sandwiches he'd taken from the bar. He gave another nod as Merlin passed by, noting with juvenile satisfaction that his opponent seemed to be the sort who would put on the pounds as he got older. Ivan had reacquired the ridiculously large hat sometime in the last couple of hours, although the matching poncho had apparently vanished into the ether. Green eyes flashed underneath the constantly shifting brim as his head turned toward his newly acquainted teammate with his mouth finally empty enough to maintain conversation. "I'm decent at math. Kinda need to if I wanna figure out how hard I hit with my semblance." The frown that had crossed his features earlier returned. "Not so good at the history, though. Listening to the recounting of dead people doing dead things isn't really my cup o' tea." He took a long swig from the carton of milk, staring into the distance as he considered the implications of his teams impressively average performance. "I was holding back, obviously. Doesn't make for a good show if I display all my tricks on the first day." The semi-permanent aura of confidence returned in full as Ivan turned to look for his previous opponent, spotting the caster at the table directly behind him with the shield-wielder and the clown who'd lost to a man without his main weapon. The gunslinger called over the din of the rest of the student's eating and chatting, a smirk of devilish amusement plastered on his features: "It'd take more than some amateur-hour stage magician to take me out!" He'd begun to stuff his face again as Ineko's drone took the seat across from him, and stared blankly at it until its owner came and sat down with a hefty thud. He attempted to speak through a mouthful of food, abruptly reconsidered, swallowed, then continued. "Pity I never got to see either you or the foxy lady's fights. We may know each other's names, but we haven't been formally introduced." He extended a hand over his half-finished plate of chicken sandwiches toward Indigo and then Ineko, fully expecting it to be shook. "Ivan Oakley, best shot this side of Atlas."