[Theloria Shadecloak]

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Instructor Shadecloak[attr=class,punkihover1]

1529 words

The environment was all prepared and ready to go.

This was an experimental type of exercise that usually had some weird, creative shit happen and Shade was honestly kind of looking forward to seeing what particular brand of weirdness was going to be seen today. First off, though, all participants were given a protective jacket that would shine green if their aura was above 60%, yellow if it was above 20% and below 60%, and red if it was below 20%. Once aura broke, the jacket would expand out like an air bag to make it completely and utterly obvious that the combatant was out of the fight and hopefully catch any stray bullets or other projectiles that were still in motion so they didn’t have a repeat of the first week where students got a few injuries due to nobody in the scenario knowing an appropriate amount of force to use. This would give students more information and more safety, and hopefully prevent her from filling out that bear of an after action report after every injury. She was quite sure she’d rather be shot in the arm rather than do one of those again, so the more barriers there were between her and that useless paperwork the better.

For this exercise, she just put briefing notes in the weapons lockers of the students who would be participating in the first round today to save some setup time. The Protection team would have the following message:

SPOILER: Click to show

Protection team, report at Training Ground 8 for the start of class. Ensure you put on the new, mandatory safety equipment before doing so. Failure to do so will result in you being replaced in this exercise with someone who is ready and followed directions.

Your team will consist of Flower Fiorella, Colton Deraine, and Nikolas Burzanov.

The rules for this exercise are simple. You will start as a team on the upraised stone platform. It’s only a couple of inches high, but that’s your starting point. Your win condition is getting Colton, the VIP, 40 meters in any direction from your starting zone. In your locker room are two blue bandanas, and Colton is to wear them on their head and right arm just to ensure that everyone knows who the VIP is before the start. There are multiple rectangles of snow that I plowed out this morning, hopefully they’re still visible by the time you get there.

If Colton steps through the edge of one of those rectangles, the Protection Team wins. There are two circles in the middle of the training simulation, with one being the one all of you will be standing on to begin the match and another one roughly fifteen meters out that the enemy team will start the match from. The starting and highest circular platform is the enemy team’s win condition – if they move the VIP back to your starting area you will lose.

The match will start when a trumpet blares from the drones that will hover a good distance above the battlefield. They should be outside of your effective ranges, but just in case please do not destroy the drones. The school paid good money for them in order to capture footage and it’s rude. Once the trumpet sound blares, the scenario starts and will not end until one side or the other wins the exercise. The VIP acts as any normal participant of the exercise and can fight at will, but if their aura is broken any resistance is stopped and both teams can roll the VIP along to win the exercise on either side.

For the Capture team, they would receive this message:

SPOILER: Click to show

Capture team, report at Training Ground 8 for the start of class. Ensure you put on the new, mandatory safety equipment before doing so. Failure to do so will result in you being replaced in this exercise with someone who is ready and followed directions.

Your team will consist of Caelum Ashworth, Qiu’li, and Agnès Oktyabrskaya.

The rules for this exercise are simple. You will start at the outer edge of the first stone circle, which is approximately fifteen meters from where the Protection Team is starting. You do not have to position all clumped up together like the Protection Team does, and can start from any deployment variation you wish.

Your win condition is simple. You are called the Capture Team because your goal is to move the VIP back in the middle of the training area by any means necessary. Once that match is started, if you get the VIP, the person with the bright blue bandana on their head and arm, back to the enemy team’s starting area -- you win.

The enemy team’s win condition is to get the VIP to the edge of the rectangles that should have had the snow plowed out a bit. Basically if she gets around 40 meters in any direction from the start, you lose. The rest of the Protection Team will go out of their way to keep their VIP moving, but keep your eyes on the prize and this one is very winnable for you.

The match will start when a trumpet blares from the drones that will hover a good distance above the battlefield. They should be outside of your effective ranges, but just in case please do not destroy the drones. The school paid good money for them in order to capture footage and it’s rude. Once the trumpet sound blares, the scenario starts and will not end until one side or the other wins the exercise. The VIP acts as any normal participant of the exercise and can fight at will, but if their aura is broken any resistance is stopped and both teams can roll the VIP along to win the exercise on either side.

This matchup was interesting for a number of reasons. On paper, the defense team had the clear advantage… but they needed strong leadership in order to stay together rather than going off and doing different things as lone wolves. Whether Flower would actually be able to face off against Qiu’li was also an open question, because the two seemed to be very close. It was good to figure out these sorts of things in a low stakes environment, especially with the first missions being in the not too distant future. In practice, it would be interesting to see just how put together the defense would be considering the ego of the VIP, the relationship between teams, and the wild card of Nikolas who had a promising semblance but a background that would make Colton turn his nose up in disgust would be interesting.

The other side didn’t seem quite as explosive, but it was comprised of a group of students who on paper weren’t very used to taking orders or working together as a team very much. While Shade wouldn’t particularly be surprised if the Defense got into a legitimate fight between the boys on the team, she didn’t have the same concern for the Offense… perhaps entirely out of misplaced optimism. Most of that team showed up a bit later in the year so their semblances weren’t as well known as some of the others, which made them a big threat in a situation like this.

It would be interesting to see if Qiu’li would hesitate at all, because Colton was on the enemy time when he got injured in the first week. They hadn’t faced off in her class at least since then, so it’d be interesting to see whether he rose up to the challenge or shrunk away from it. It wasn’t hard to see that there was at least a one sided dislike going on there, and if it was a two sided dislike then it would be all the better for the match because it meant that neither of them would want to lose to the other at any cost. Hate was as useful as love in these exercises sometimes, so she wasn’t upset at all when the random number generator picked them to face off against each other again.

The real wild cards here, though, were Nikolas and Caelum. Both had semblances that were unconventional insofar as it let them do some things that weren’t immediately obvious that could either help or hurt their team a significant amount. Caelum was the only one who could fly, and could thus move around essentially at will because on the enemy team Colton would have to give up a weapon or his shield for a bit in order to attack a flying target and Flower was the only one who scored anything not depressing on the initial marksmanship test. Nikolas could in theory make it very difficult for Caelum to fly with his semblance, though, but could also very easily tire out his own teammates. Both of them could throw the scenario in an instant by using their semblances wrong, but could provide some unique challenges and win the match, too, with semblances that their opponents would very likely not be prepared to face or understand completely at first glance.

SPOILER: Click to show

First round is a setup round with no posting order. Shade will post after everyone else to then start off the scenario.

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[Nikolas Burzanov]

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No Tags

Approx 865 words

heroes die with honor i'm no hero

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For perhaps the tenth time in the span of the time between the locker room to them standing on this upraised platform, Nikolas glanced down at the protective jacket he had to wear with distaste. He didn't usually like wearing such things. Armor was one thing, but protective measures? It felt like putting floaties on a shark. Not to mention that the jacket was glowing a muted, yet easily visible green color. Underneath that silly jacket, he wore a regular black button down, red tie loose around his collar, black pants and black boots. Simple, easy to move and fight in, and not bad to look in either. Except for the jacket... A snort of contempt made its way out of his nose as he thought of his jacket once more, before his silver eyes flicked up to glance at his two teammates once more. [break][break]

The other boy in the team was set as the VIP, evident from the two blue fabrics he had to wear. As for how he looked... Well, to put it bluntly in Nikolas' perspective, Colton looked like one of the usual prats he had to deal with back in his school days. The kind of boy who'd polish their shoe twice to a shine, perfectly ironed uniform, a back so straight that it always made Nikolas think of poles being stuck in places where they didn't belong. After the cursory examination of Colton, Nikolas had an unimpressed look on his face, meeting Colton's eyes for only a second if he would look at Nikolas before dismissing him entirely, moving his eyes instead to the other teammate. Flower was the girl in their little squad, and she looked just as unimpressive to Nikolas. She had an eclectic sense of fashion, albeit retaining a strong feminine flavor. Hair that was a mixed juxtapose of purple and grey, doll like facial features and clothing that Nikolas really didn't think was suited for combat. Just like with Colton, Nikolas had an expression on his face that conveyed his utterly unimpressed thoughts. [break][break]

All in all, it looked like these two weren't going to be much help unless there was more to them that met the eye, in which case Nikolas would gladly rescind his first impression of them. His gaze then moved out to study the opponents they'd be facing. The only face he recognized was Qiu'li, standing as rigidly as always. If Qiu'li met Nikolas' stare, Nikolas would hold that stare for a few seconds, neither respect nor disrespect evident on his face. A small nod of both recognition and expectation to the battle ahead would be the only thing that Nikolas would give to Qiu'li after those few moments, before moving his eyes to the other two. They also had a singular female, just as small as Flower, albeit very different looking. What Nikolas had first mistaken as a strange hairstyle revealed themselves to be ears on closer inspection. A Faunus. Nikolas thought. Although Faunus could be interesting, Nikolas held most of them in about as much disregard as anyone else until proven otherwise. And this one was no different, with nothing to visually give Nikolas any inclination to give thought about. His eyes moved to the final figure they'd be facing, Caelum. Caelum visually was more thought provoking than the others, for the sole fact that Caelum was similar to Nikolas. They were both the tallest in their teams, similar body structure, similar hair colors, even a similar air of elegance around them. However, whereas the air around Nikolas was tinged with contempt and coldness, Caelum's one was far less hostile and far more warm. Caelum was the only one that Nikolas had a measure of curiosity about. [break][break]

He shifted his eyes away, studying the environment around them. If he was going to be honest... He had no intention of fulfilling the objective, at least, not in the easy way. For Nikolas, his own primary objective wasn't to get Colton to the escape zone. No, his objective would be to cross blades with his opponents, whoever he got to engage once the session would start. He could feel the electricity in the air, the charged energy. The calm before the storm. It surrounded Nikolas as he entered into that zone within his head that he would always go to prior to combat. His idle movements stilled, his face became a neutral mask, his grey eyes a reflection of the storms contained within. Even that unseen air of arrogance seemed to vanish, sucked right back into him, almost transforming him into a completely different person than he usually was. He pulled Stahlblesk off of it's mount on his back, the pole extending as the weapon took on its full stature; a lethal looking cross-spear that was more than a foot taller than Nikolas himself. He turned the spear and brought it into position, holding it behind him with his right arm on the upper grip, the two-pronged blade pointed down. And he stood like that, unmoving, waiting for the first thunder to crack, for the storm to begin. Or, in this case, for the trumpet to blare. His eyes were steady, fixed directly on Caelum, with whom he hoped to clash with. [break][break]

Like the silence before lightning tears the skies asunder, he waited, ready. [break][break]

ulla

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[Colton Deraine]

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Bravery is believing in yourself, and that's one thing nobody can teach you.

There was just something about this Team Combat class and making him go first. At this point he just kind of expected it, so it was no surprise that a note was left in his locker. VIP protection exercise, and he was naturally the VIP – because who the fuck else would be? The new safety gear was a drag, largely because it looked like shit and had absolutely zero metal in it except the display. It was all just fucking airbags like they put into cars, and the display itself was pretty useless to him in any actual combat situation to manipulate.

Plus, putting on the fucking jacket over the regular school uniform fucked it up beyond all recognition. The fit wasn’t the best, so it wrinkled the fuck out of the jacket and was just generally extremely annoying to deal with afterwards. It basically forced him to walk around like a goddamned Neanderthal win, lose, or draw until he could change into a set of clothes that didn’t look like it was prepared by a blind, deaf, and dumb street urchin with shaky hands like half of his classmates.

Blue bandanas were attached to the Argus native’s head and arm as instructed, and he walked out to the field without bothering to try and strategize or anything. It’s not like there was much to it, at least for someone like him. If the VIP had any form of mobility, they would simply try to blitz through. If they didn’t… and Colton didn’t, the only option was to fight your way out. Simple and easy in an open field with three people on either side, there wasn’t exactly a lot of places to hide so it would be far more efficient to knock out the auras of their opponents and simply walk across the field to victory.

Boots crunched against the snow as he sauntered over to the starting area, looking over the terrain and the people who assembled for this exercise. Two new kids and the bullet sponge himself were their opponents, and the ambivalence he was feeling towards the entire exercise was replaced with a smug joy that he would have another opportunity to see what new round of protective gear would appear if bullet sponge happened to slip and fall again.

While they were allowed to wear armor or change outfits for this class, Colton stuck with the Haven Academy uniform at least outwardly. He had metal vambraces hidden under the jacket of his coat and the sleeves of his dress shirt, as well as greaves covering his shins on his legs. Both of which were thin enough to escape most people’s notice, but enough for Colt to use his semblance on himself to readjust his body as needed in a fight. Any advantage in these scenarios was a good advantage, and if the Argus native could use his cunning to eke out one or two more… then he would do it with impunity.

The best part about this whole thing was when Colton’s brown gaze squinted a bit to see if he could make out the weapons of their opponents, he noted with immense satisfaction that both of the knew people had swords. As he took his rightful place at the highest piece of land in the zone, the shield on his arm, Omen, unfolded into a concave circular shield roughly 76 centimeters in diameter and the boy undid the strap that kept its folded up form attached to his arm and activated his semblance to fan the shield out to full diameter before moving on to draw his sword. Regret was a longer backsword that had a blade roughly 89 centimeters long with a single potent cutting edge with noncutting ‘back’ of the blade being thickened up to provide extra strength. The blade had a knuckle bow hilt and a spear tip to make thrusting a distinct possibility, and once Regret was firmly in the boy’s right hand and unsheathed he had his plan settled on.

He was just going to meet the other team halfway and see what the new kids were made of. If they got the shit beat out of them in the initial burst of movement… well, they weren’t important to begin with and shouldn’t be treated as if they were. They had the advantage of him not recognizing them and not knowing their semblances, and the opportunity to bust it out at will. That was a big fucking advantage, and one that should see them into at least being somewhat challenging with any luck.

”I’m just going to go straight forward.” he noted to no one in particular. ”They’ll need to team up to do anything to me, anyway, so might as well give them the opportunity.”

Brown eyes turned to Flower as he continued not in a mocking tone but a matter of fact one: ”Your boyfriend’s probably going to avoid me like the plague. I won’t chase after him because it’s a waste of my time, but if he tries to sneak attack me and my aura’s not broken that second… I’m going to send him back to the infirmary.”

It wasn’t a threat, really, just a statement of fact. Cowards were worse than useless in this program, and if he wanted to run away only to come back when the former champion had his back turned… well, it was only fair that steel got to meet flesh to even the score to ensure that it never happened again. He could have misjudged the boy, but he doubted it. Qiu’li never struck him as particularly brave, with his first instinct always seemingly to run away or avoid rather than meet anyone or anything head on. Much like a rat in that respect, and many others like tidiness of appearance and general facial structure.

”All of them have melee weapons, so we’ll find out pretty quick if they have any ranged ability. As long as our noob doesn’t panic and shit himself or anything we should be fine.” a quick look over at the guy and a shrug was the only recognition that Colton gave their third teammate. It was pretty clear from his demeanor that he wasn’t exactly the chatty type, and in this case the Argus native didn’t really care. He had another Sanctum graduate on his team, and the two of them could easily carry the match against three randoms if they just acted smart.

Of course, the one preventing that from happening right now for sure was Colton himself. He didn’t particularly want to play smart, because he wanted to style on their opponents to give them a nice welcome to Haven gift package as those stupid floatie jackets puffed up and sent them rolling around on the ground in an embarrassment that would take a while to wipe off. As new entrants to the school, they needed to be educated on the finer points of how things ran around here… like who the top dog around here was and what happened when you were unlucky enough to be matched against him.

One last check took place before any signals were given to double check that the dust was still in each weapon. The sword was filled with fire dust, which would heat up the edge of the blade after a short delay once activated and cause it to deal much more damage than steel alone would do. For the shield, though, he liked to play a bit more dangerously and loaded it up with lightning dust. This ensured that where the shield actually hit the person didn’t really matter, but it also meant that Colton couldn’t exactly hold the damned thing while the lightning was activated. He hadn’t used this dust enhancement in any classes yet, both because he didn’t feel a need to and also because students were discouraged from using up the school’s supply of dust. Lucky for him, he got a recent shipment from home that would be more than sufficient for training purposes in order to keep his skills sharp.

Now all there was left to do was wait for the signal before he could let loose like a caged animal. A cold, brown gaze was leveled at the opposing team as his right hand had a lax grip on his backsword held lazily around his hip and the left hand held the fully unfurled shield down towards the waist because it wasn’t worth the energy expenditure to hold it up properly until the match was officially to start. He certainly didn’t look dangerous and if anything looked anything but prepared for the opening notes to this fight. That was part of the theatre, though, because he didn’t need to appear to be anything. He was the VIP and the target of both teams. His importance in this exercise came from his role, not how he acted or how he looked. They would come after him because they absolutely had to, and he would simply cut them down as they came to introduce them to the reality of this Academy and indeed their four years in general: If you don’t have a plan for Colton Deraine, you’re going to get the absolute piss beaten out of you win, lose, or draw.

※ TWC: 1551 ✎ 1551 words ✉ E rank semblance, E ranked martial arts, E ranked durability, E rank weapon enhancement, E ranked weapon, F rank stamina

MADE BY MIZO

[Qiu'li]

[attr="class","popqiu"] ❝May the crimson leaves show me the path I must follow.❞ wc: 1124 | twc: 1124 Qiu'li

[attr="class","qiutext"] Qiu'li was gazing at his suit, inspecting it thoroughly to make sure that it was working properly. Lights, check. That was about the extent of his knowledge on the new equipment. It was somewhat light, at least to the point that it didn't hamper his movement ability. However putting it on for the first time required him to break into it a bit, which lead to a somewhat rigid posture. After some stretches, it starting to take his form just a bit. Only a bit. Glancing at the opposing team that was situated on the elevated platform approximately fifteen meters away, he recognized all three of them. The white haired one, Nikolas, was the smoker that he had gotten into a fight with some time ago with Ros. It was an interesting experience, to say the least, but he acknowledged him as a fighter and a classmate nonetheless. His eyes met with Nikolas briefly, and in that moment of locked eyes, he would nod in his general direction before shifting his focus to the other members of the opposing team. Flower, one of the first friends that he had made prior to entering Haven. It seems like they were on opposing teams, though Qiu'li didn't seem all that affected by it. They were close enough to a degree in the results of this exercise would not likely affect their relationship. Qiu'li seemed to be staring at her a bit longer than usual before quickly averting his hawk-like eyes away. Finally there was Colton. Ugh, Colton. While Sattota always taught Qiu'li not to hate others, he really did not like Colton. At all. Arrogant, selfish, and inconsiderate. Colton was a walking accumulation of everything that his Master taught him not to be and more. The worst part was that he was a good fighter, if not slightly better than he was. His confidence was unmatched and he was aware of it. The only thing that could probably match it was probably his unbridled disdain for Colton. Qiu'li knew that attacking him from up close would backfire really quickly, and that most of his tactics was to basically avoid him directly. This frustrated him to several degrees, and their last encounter seemed to only solidify that gap between them. He wanted nothing more than to beat him, both metaphorically and literally to prove that he was strong. Why Qiu'li decided that beating Colton constituted as being strong, he didn't know himself, but the thought of knocking Colton down a few pegs really riled him up. Though he recalled his thoughts and Shade's results from the previous exercise, which made him furrowed his brow. Right. His first mistake was thinking that he could simply play the 'sacrifice' and throw his body away for the sake of completing the objective. He had a shallow thought process and only looked at the short term goals without giving much thought to the lesson that the exercise was supposed to teach them. While he had the right zeal, his reckless method and martyr-like actions was entirely wrong and unnecessary. On the field, that line of thinking would lead him to an early grave, and he knew it. In order to continue his search for the meaning of strength, he would need to be alive, for one, and to prioritize staying alive. This meant changing how he acted not only by himself, but with others as well as acknowledging his limits. His second mistake was to take it upon himself to spearhead, plan, and lead all in one go despite fighting and travelling by himself up until now. He knew that leadership wasn't his strength, and it was foolish for him to think that he could easily throw up a plan and expect it to work flawlessly. His strength wasn't in planning or strategy, therefore, he would leave that up to someone that was more than capable in that regard. With one last parting glare of contempt aimed at Colton, he turned to face his two teammates, blocking out pretty much everything he said after his declaration of going 'straight forward'. Both of these individuals he had encountered already at Elaine's social event. Guess he should be thankful that he ended up going, as it made formalities less awkward now that they were somewhat acquainted, even if it was a little bit. Caelum, the white haired, polite individual, and Agnès, the curious and third Faunus that he has met and worked with. While he was unsure about their Semblances, he would do his best to fulfill his role, whatever it was, even if it meant not being able to face Colton directly and giving him a swing to the head with Panlong. Right, in order to complete this exercise, planning is required. While he had no doubt that Colton was confident in his abilities to simply try to win by steamrolling them and that Flower would do everything in her power to make sure that happened by acting either as a steel wall or keep them at bay with her rifle, he wasn't sure how Nikolas would respond to this scenario. Would he also try to intercept them? Would he try to go straight for combat? It was an unknown variable, but that was up for the ones who had better a better strategy sense than he did. For the time being, in order to formulate a strategy, he had to make sure everyone was on the same page. "My Semblance Fennu. Make me stronger, more nimble, and can concentrate energy to throw at enemy." Compared to their first week in classes, he was a lot better at communicating. Well, relatively at least. Qiu'li had to be sure to thank Instructor Shade later for it, as it's saved him many more times than he could think. He cleared his throat and continued providing them the knowledge that he knew off the top of his head. "Semblance of Colton give him power to control metal. Can throw weapons and control free. Any metal touch under his control." Qiu'li stated to the two of them. "Flower ability to mimic material. Become soft like cloth, or hard like stone. Hit very hard too and very durable." He scratched his head as he recalled his battle with Nikolas from before with Ros. It was difficult to describe, if at all. During their battle, Qiu'li could only speculate what it did, though perhaps they would be able to get a better idea once they saw it. "Last one has ability to protect self with strong wind." He said before folding his arms. While they were getting ready for the battle to begin, Qiu'li would draw Panlong and rest it over his shoulder, awaiting for his teammates responses.

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Fènnù (+Strength +Agility +Projectile Sword Beam) | Rank E
Lóngtóu and Panlong | Rank F
Falling Ashes (Leap) | Rank F
Weapon Proficiency I (Martial Arts) | Rank F
Resilience of the Crimson Oaks I (Durability) | Rank F
Dance of the Wild Winds II (Acrobatics) | Rank E

[Flower Fiorella]

Hello. How are you?

wc 913 | twc 913
Colton Deraine Nikolas Burzanov Qiu'li Caelum Ashworth Agnès Oktyabrskaya

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A 3v3, protection versus attack. It was like the objective from earlier, only slightly different. Flower adjusted the new safety jacket they were required to wear. It was some new safety precaution since the last combat scenario had students injure themselves to a serious degree. It was a good idea, but when she thought about someone having their aura broken and then puffing out a marshmallow it was quietly amusing. Better safe than sorry.

She wore her normal Haven uniform, but it was slightly tailored to her own liking. The skirt was slightly fluffier than normal and even had ruffles at the end. Her light grey hair was tied in its normal high ponytail, with the darker patches of lavender shown in layers. Her bottom half had her regular dark combat boots that came to nearly her knees. Her pale complexion made her seem fair more delicate than she actually was. Around her neck was her signature dark violet ribbon tied in a neat bow.

She looked to Colton, wearing those blue bandanas on top of his normal attire and the same safety jacket. He was the… VIP. Somehow that was more fitting than it sounded.

And the third member of their team was a white-haired young man called Nikolas. She nodded once in his direction, directly acknowledging him though it seemed that he cared little to acknowledge her beside a rather unimpressed sneer. That would prove troublesome if they were to work as a team. However, she quickly came to discern that this team wasn’t really focused on teamwork. She sighed, internally, maintaining a blank stare at both of them. It was just natural that the two big egos would drown out her quiet presence. She wasn’t particularly dissatisfied, she could work with people she didn’t particularly like. That being said, she had little opinion of the white-haired individual, but first impressions weren’t going so well for either of them.

She knew how Colton worked. She could at least count on him to act a certain way, a very stubborn and proud one at that.

Flower stood as tall as her short stature allowed. She had Bloom on her back in its default sword state. She had enough ammo to last a battle and even packed an extra magazine this time. She looked out across their soon-to-be battlefield. On the other side, so many meters away was Qiu’li. He was really the only one she knew of in the offense. The other two… they had been at the party that Elaine had thrown. A small Faunus girl and the young man with the cupcakes. She had little opinion of either of them, but she did know that anyone who made good cupcakes was already on her good side. Better than the white-haired teammate of hers…

Nikolas remained silent, very much ignoring Flower and Colton both. She wondered if it was his intention to ignore the objective of the exercise entirely. She didn’t like to judge people so prematurely but his priorities seemed elsewhere at the moment.

“I’m just going to go straight forward.”

It wasn’t a bad strategy. Flower tilted her head as she listened to Colton’s statements. He made his points and wasn’t waiting for either of them to approve.

She stared blankly at the mention of her ‘boyfriend.’ There was only one person on the other team that fit that description, Qiu’li… He was really the only other person there that she had any real relationship with and that Colton was aware of. The brunette said his words so swiftly that Flower simply didn’t have the time to respond. She was still…. Slightly stuck on that phrasing. Colton was abrasive, but he was also very blunt, the true candor kind of blunt. And if Colton truly believed that Qiu’li was her boyfriend…

She didn’t think that Qiu’li was her boyfriend. Surely a friend and boy, but beyond that, she never really had considered thinking of him in a romantic sense. Their relationship was practical, but then she had to think of that moment in math class when he was sleeping on her shoulder. She had thought it was cute, but then she had never said it out loud. She had thought his flustered face was cute when they had first had met… Lately, they had been spending a lot of time together, studying and her teaching about modern civilization and normal social customs… Was Qiu’li even aware of what a boyfriend was?

Before Flower knew it, a blush of pink had already dusted her cheeks, despite her rather stoic expression remaining on her face. She had become lost in her own thoughts, but was still somehow aware of what Colton had been saying.

“...we should be fine.”

She nodded once. She looked to the white-haired Nikolas as well, aware that Colton’s less than eloquent words were simply that, not very elegant at all. Regardless, they needed to be ready for anything.

Flower took Bloom from her back, taking the handle to close to herself, she transformed the sword into its gun state. The blades separated, revealing the barrel of the rifle. The enemy would come at a distance first, so if they didn’t have ranged attacks, then Flower could counter easily. She slowed her movements, touching a free hand to her violet ribbon. A stroke of good luck before any fight. She was ready.

Breathe in.

Breathe out.

She was waiting for the trumpets to blare, their signal to begin.

---

Weapon: F Rank, Bloom
Semblance: D - Rank Transformation, Material Mimicry
Abilities: F Rank Speed, F Rank Marksmanship

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[Agnès Oktyabrskaya]

    The safety measure was, of course, a safety measure. No more, and no less, and that suited her just fine. It may have looked silly, admittedly, but the exercise wasn't about fashion. After putting it on and spending some time preparing herself mentally, she took her place on the training ground's battlefield. Again she was dressed in muted whites, blues, and grays, her kimono's sleeves wide and hanging loosely beside her; the bottom was similar, and was just short enough so that her feet were visible under it. Her face wore an expression of interest, though it was hidden under a layer or two of looking tired or sleepy. Differently from the social event she attended the other day was a plain sword worn at her hip, which may have come off as a little bit of a strange choice when most students had chosen to use transforming weapons in this day.

    Qiu'li's words reached her large fox ears, and she gave a noise of affirmation. If what he said was true - and she had no reason to doubt him - they had a clear disadvantage in terms of sheer offensive power. In fact, it almost seemed like their team would be the one better suited to the defense. Her head surveyed the battlefield for a moment. An outer ring with a group inside that was attempting a breakout; something she had studied recently, luckily! She took a look towards her opponent's weapons. From what she could make out from the forty-meter distance, they had a sword and shield, a spear, and a huge sword. She could safely assume that all of them had ranged capabilities, and that made things a little difficult. She had lost her own ranged weapon in her move to Menagerie and had never quite gotten around to picking one up again.  Oh well. No use crying over spilt milk.

    "Thank you, Qiu'li. I want us all to spread out as far as possible from each other along the perimeter of the circle we're in. Qiu'li, I can tell your weapon doesn't shift. Mine's similar, so we're limited to close range. I want you to intercept the man with the spear. You don't have to beat him. I just need you to last and keep him busy and away from me." She gave Qiu'li a reassuring smile, and her head turned to the other man on their team. "And, um... Caelum! Right. I think it'd be safe to assume you have some capability of attacking at range, so I want you to keep the girl busy from a distance. Force her to focus on you. If you run out of ammunition, move in. Like with Qiu'li, I don't need you to win, or even to take her out. If you can, that'd be great, but it's not necessary." She wracked her brain momentarily, trying to think of anything she could possibly add to the game plan. "Right! And both of you? Don't let 'honor' or anything like that get in your way, okay? A win's a win, so play dirty if you have to. Grimm have no sense of honor. I'll go after their VIP and try to push him back into the center. If I can't do it myself, or I need help, I'll yell something like, uh... We'll use 'bluebird' as a code. You two help each other out, too, but prioritize keeping them away from me as much as possible."

    Agnès flashed each of them a friendly smile. Her head focused back on the group in the middle, and her feet found themselves shifting to a running-start position. This would be difficult, even if she already knew the enemy's plan. She'd have to be careful about hitting the VIP with her sword too; if he could control her weapon that might mean she'd have to fight with her hands and feet, and she wasn't quite as skilled at that as she'd like to be. It meant she'd have to be careful about her semblance, too. Her face ever-so-slightly hardened up with determination, while her left hand fell to her side loosely. The bells attached to her hair jangled just a bit with the motion.

Caelum Ashworth Qiu'li Colton Deraine Nikolas Burzanov Flower Fiorella

WC 702 TWC 702

[Caelum Ashworth]

He haven’t worn anything as horrible as this protection gear ever since his little sister dressed him up when she was eight years old.

The jacket was sitting uncomfortably on top of his blue button up, and the first thing he did when zipping it was to roll its sleeves up to his elbow. Having anything cover his hands was about as ill-fitting for him as wearing a dress – he would just want to scratch at his skin every waking moment, and that would hinder him more during the assignment than the actual opponents themselves. Wearing the usual black pants at least softened his appearance, but one glance at all the other students at the gathering point was enough to tell him no one was happy with this thing. Thank God, he almost felt like a whiny teenager for it. The instructions over the text were clear as day, and it was good to see that no one was stupid enough to disregard them completely. They suffered together for this protection gear, even though Caelum had no idea what exactly prompted their use.

He was about twenty percent familiar with his own teammates. He had met with both Qui’li and Agnés during a social gathering arranged by Elena, but aside from their names and general behavior, he knew nothing. Qui’li always seemed out of place with his social naivety and lack of structure in his sentences, which made Caelum assume he was from a smaller village, less used to big groups and the city. However, he had a feeling he was a capable fighter, and a resilient one, on top of all.

Agnés seemed to be more of a gentle soul with a forever-sleepy expression plastered on her face that made her look bored out of her mind twenty-four-seven. That was either really deceiving or rather unfortunate, and if it was up to Caelum, he knew which one would be more beneficial in their current situation. The weapon of the faunus girl was a simple and effective katana at her side, and Caelum could entirely praise that choice. It was trusty and effective, and if used well, could get the work done against any Grimm out there.

He surveyed the opposing team while his fingers tapped on Luna and Solis still securely harmless in their holsters. Their target, the VIP was easily recognizable. He knew nothing of Colton, as this was the first time he even saw the boy, but his posture was telling of pride, confidence, and a bit of experience, if one glance was enough to gauge it. It was either real or faux, which would become obvious about one minute into the fight. His choice of weapon, a classic combo of sword and shield was probably the most troublesome with his placing as the VIP. It had both offense and defense, which meant it would be rather complicated for only one person to push him back to the starting point for the win.

The only girl on the team was someone Caelum had already met with, although barely, on the little gathering he knew Qui’li and Agnés from. All he knew of her was that she liked cupcakes – probably sweet and cute things in general – and nothing else. Her small and lithe stature would make him assume she was a quick and agile type, but the weapon sitting on her back made him reconsider that line of thought, even after she transformed it into a rifle. She was obviously more strength oriented from another glance, and there was only one phrase that came to mind as he looked at Flower: do not judge a book by its cover.

The third one was yet another unfamiliar person. Taller than the rest, with a polearm for a weapon of choice, and the atmosphere of the calm before a storm. That one was dangerous for an entirely different reason than the other two, and Caelum did not miss the intense stare he got from Nikolas while the other gray-haired one observed the opposing team just like Caelum did. That stare made him frown, eyes glinting as he tapped on Luna twice again, in thought. He knew that look. It was the look of someone that decided on a target before the battle started. Caelum raised his chin in response and then averted his gaze to survey the area.

The area they could cover was not exactly big, but any bigger than this would cause the assignment to drag out too long. They had little room and little time to stop and drag the VIP back to where he belonged, and if Colton’s semblance was anything like Caelum’s, this would be an easy win for the opposing team.

Just as he continued to mentally question the semblance of everyone present, Qui’li spoke up and informed him and Agnés of exactly that. Such luck that one of them actually met with all the members of the opposing team, which in turn provided useful information for the situation. A metal manipulator, a material mimicker and wind control from the last one. That was quite the arsenal they had going but instead of getting discouraged, Caelum was already forming the proper strategy in mind.

Just as he opened his mouth to speak up, Agnés did so a moment before him, so he let the female talk instead. She already brought up her own strategy for the situation, saying nothing of her semblance in turn to let them have an idea of her capabilities. While the fact she placed herself right in line with the VIP while handwaving the boys to deal with the sidekicks was a sign of confidence, it was also, for Caelum, a proof of poor planning. He looked at her with a frown despite her kind smile at the end of her speech, and shook his head.

“Please excuse my bluntness, but that plan is not going to work.” Caelum was polite, and in turn, could politely berate people for being less strategic than they appeared. Having only one person focus on Colton was obviously not going to work, especially since he had a balanced weapon of offense and defense. Since the two others were tasked with protecting the VIP anyway, it was useless to individually go for them. Instead, focusing on Colton would already disrupt whatever plan those three had going. On top of that, if Agnés already assumed for whatever reason that Caelum had ranged capabilities, the obvious choice would be him pushing the VIP back. However, he did not go into detail on what his ideas were, as Agnés clearly was not curious about the boys’ opinion. She never asked if they were okay with the plan, and Caelum hoped she wasn’t about to expect them to do as told. He turned to Qui’li. “Thank you for the information, by the way. I am quite quick myself with my semblance active, so moving around the limited field we have will be easy.”

He took a glance at both his teammates another time and then followed the fifteen meter radius of their starting point around the opposing team to take the position he thought as best for his start. In relation to Colton, their VIP, he took his 2-o’clock mark, in front and slightly to his right side. During movement, he took both his weapons out of their holsters, which in response unfolded into the mis-colored twin blades that were almost as long as his arms. He held the blades loosely forward, ready to either switch them into a backward grip if needed, or, more importantly, to flick his wrist and transform Luna as soon as the trumpet was blown.

☽ ☾

words: 1281
Theloria Shadecloak Colton Deraine Nikolas Burzanov Flower Fiorella Qiu'li Agnès Oktyabrskaya


☽ ☾

heaven's tracker - speed + flight - rank e
luna & solis weapon - rank f
windstep style martial arts - rank f
stamina - rank f

|| template designed by NEMO of adoxography ||

[Theloria Shadecloak]

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Instructor Shadecloak[attr=class,punkihover1]

721 words, 2250 total words

This whole teaching thing was new, and there was always going to be some experimentation when it came to things like this. Going one at a time didn’t keep the attention of teenagers very much, so running multiple scenarios at once was probably a way that was going to stick around. It was much more efficient and made good use of the resources that the school already had in the space and added only minor things like the drones and their cameras.

Plus, frankly, it was lower effort at least for the time class was going on because she didn’t need to talk at all and could just chill out in a nice chair with a ton of monitors in front of her feeling like some movie villain or something. Both feet were kicked up to the desk because it wasn’t like anybody was here to see anyway, so it was fine.

There was also the concern that some students were being late to classes afterwards due to running over time because they were slow changing their clothes or temporarily lost consciousness when their aura was shattered or other similar sort of time management issues. Those types of issues really were pretty predictable in hindsight, which was why there was a much bigger lag between the end of at least the combat portion of this class and the start of any other one than there was before. This allowed the students that weren’t really beat up at all some time to relax or catch up on other classes towards the end while allowing the ones who did happen to have their auras shattered some more space and time to change back into clean clothes, shower if they needed to, and other bits of normal maintenance.

Green eyes shifted to the screens overseeing the VIP scenario, and it seemed like everyone was in position. This match was far more likely than some others to have some form of injury or another, taking into account student personalities and general power levels. The defense wasn’t in a fist fight yet, so that was at least as good a start as anyone could really hope for.

The offense was far more interested in planning this out than the defense was, though, which was another good sign. Whether it was fair to the other students or not, the Sanctum graduates among them were really the bar that was set in terms of ability and anyone who was able to match up to them was immediately considered to be on that higher tier of current skill than the others. Putting two on one team was a decision that Shade almost manually overrode but decided at the last second not to.

There may very well be a difference in power, sure, but if there was also a difference in the amount of egos on each team then this could actually be a very good learning experience that teamwork could trump talent. Of course, if the offense was also ineffective as a team then that entire concept would be moot because both teams would be dysfunctional – but there wasn’t exactly a world where she saw Colton and Nikolas doing anything but scorning the other at least at first. This was an opening, especially if one or both managed to alienate Flower early on too that could be exploited.

Having numerical advantage was enormous, because even a short period of fighting two against one was very, very hard to do for the one and they should all be close enough in ability to where that would still hold true. It wasn’t exactly a radical concept, and hopefully was one that the defense could pick up on and exploit if the opportunity presented itself.

Well, there was only so much time that they could have before the defensive team did erupt into a fistfight, if that disgusted look and jawing from Colton was any indication. No use in making the offense’s job too easy, so she set off the trumpets to signal the start of the exercise without delaying any longer. She had the utmost faith, whatever happened, this particular group wouldn’t be boring.

Whether that guaranteed bit of excitement was a good thing was another question entirely, and not one that the Faunus was particularly concerned with at that moment.

SPOILER: Click to show

Defense first, then offense. Posting order sets after this next round, but if players agree the team can post out of order. For example, if Flower and Colton want to swap posting positions they can because they are on the same team. If Flower and Caelum want to swap posting positions, that isn't allowed though because the order has to go defense -> offense.

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[Nikolas Burzanov]

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No Tags

Approx 640 words

heroes die with honor i'm no hero

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Silence. [break][break]

Calm. [break][break]

Stillness. [break][break]

And then... [break][break]

The trumpets blared, and like a gunshot, Nikolas was off already, sprinting forwards, the spear held behind him, running right towards Caelum to the right of them, left of the others. He wasted no time and spared no thoughts to his team, and it was obvious as soon as he started that he had no intentions of protecting the VIP or trying to play the objective. He was here looking to fight. His heart was pounding, his vision was sharp and in clear focus. The thrill of the fight, the thrill of the fight. Skirting life and death, dancing a dangerous waltz on the very precipice of the razor's edge. That was what Nikolas lived for. That was the only thing that could distract his ever brooding mind away. That was what life was for him. [break][break]

As he approached Caelum, He leaped upwards, gaining vertical height while his previous speed carried him forwards. He turned as soon as his feet left the ground, doing a 360 in the air, his arm extended. His fingers loosened their grip on Stahlblesk, allowing the weapon to slide outwards, his grip tightening once his hand reached the very bottom of the bottom grip. And as he finished the spin, coming back around to face Caelum, he used the momentum of the spin to swing his weapon at Caelum in a vicious arc, the previous change of grip hidden in the motion of the spinning jump deceptively extending his range, so while before the slash would've fallen short, now it was perfectly in range and motion to slash Caelum, the aimed trajectory of the arc going from his left shoulder to his right waist. No lethal attacks allowed, but given that this was the start of the battle, everyone had full auras. This hit wouldn't actually cut Caelum in half if it connected, but it would definitely be extremely unpleasant and probably exert a lot of force upon the receiver. But, given the wide arc and swing of the attack, Nikolas wouldn't be surprised if Caelum dodged it by simply moving. The attack served a secondary objective of making his target reposition, give up ground. The angle and arc meant he couldn't just dodge around it, unless he was very flexible, and blocking the hit would just be a bad idea given that this was the kind of attack that broke guards. The force behind the slash would carry its motion through most situations. [break][break]

Either way, as his opening attack finished, Nikolas would land in a crouch, using the momentum of the previous attack to go into yet another spin, this one going upwards from ankle level while Nikolas took a short jump backwards. A fade slash, meant to force any enemies around him back while gaining distance for himself to reevaluate and reposition. Given the weight of his weapon's blade, once the first spin had started, it took very little stamina from Nikolas himself to continue the movements, the blade's own weighty momentum carrying itself, with Nikolas only needing to apply minor changes to the angle and to coax the motions to continue. [break][break]

He landed, light on his feet, flourishing his spear and ending in a stance with his hands both holding the two grips, the blade aimed forward and down, the tip near stomach level. His feet were planted wide, his body turned to present his side to his opponent, providing a smaller target profile in case his opponent tried to shoot him. His face was completely neutral, more like a mask than an actual face, but his eyes... His eyes seemed to sparkle with electricity, the pools of mercury seeming to almost be shifting and moving as the thrill and excitement of battle flooded into his system. [break][break]

ulla

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[Colton Deraine]

[googlefont=Open+Sans]

[attr="class","firstfriend"]

Bravery is believing in yourself, and that's one thing nobody can teach you.

Brown eyes closed as the teenager waited for the trumpets to blare in order for the scenario to start.

”Good scouting opportunity, if nothing else.” he noted, eyes still closed, to no one in particular. Of course, depending on how many of them ran into his weapons this might be over more quickly than not. With the dust coursing through his weapons, it would only take one direct hit to take someone down from green to low yellow, and a second one to completely shatter someone’s aura. That was only with the dust running, though, so he’d have to make sure he only flipped the switch when he was confident that he could land some hits in.

Thankfully, since the enemy team had to come to him, that would be pretty easy. When it came to melee combat, he was the best in the school and it wasn’t exactly close. If they decided to get in close and didn’t have a semblance to match, his aura may never leave the comfortable green level, and this would be over pretty quickly. When the trumpet finally blared, brown eyes opened as the boy stepped off the platform in no big rush and simply blinked when he saw their third teammate rush in like a lemming for no reason.

”Well, our third seems to be retarded.” were the first words that came out of Colton’s mouth as he sped up very quickly to a jog as he starting moving forward just like he said he would. His volume was low enough to where Flower would be the only one to hear it. ”Looks like I can’t fuck around as much as I thought. We need to break their auras pretty quick before we’re outnumbered.” he added, his pace still nowhere near a sprint. ”Do your best to look pissed. I’m gonna do some dumb shit.”

With that, Colton tossed out his shield in front of him. Where that shield was aimed would depend entirely on what the enemy team did. If multiple people moved to intercept Nikolas, then the shield would move to intercept whoever the second individual was to rush over there to make that an uneven fight with Polarity activating the lightning dust right before perceived impact if that was the case. If the other two on the enemy team were focused on him and Flower, though, then the shield toss would simply look like it missed. There was a gray outline on his hands when he tossed it that didn’t do away, but for all intents and purposes the shield would have seemed to have been tossed haphazardly and landing edge-first and planting itself a few inches into the dirt about ten meters in front of Colton and being a very easy dodge due to the not very impressive speed of the toss. For a brief moment after the toss and when the jog was restarted in earnest, Colton outstretched his now empty left hand to face the enemy at shoulder level in a taunt that would hopefully raise their blood pressure enough to actually get on the offensive.

That ten meter distance would become shorter very quickly, though, and if the enemy team moved up at all to meet them then the shield would be behind them as they moved forward. In this case, the lightning dust would not be activated, and Colton would just be without his shield or any way to really defend himself against ranged attacks and seemingly giving up his ability to defend himself against melee attacks as well.

His backsword would be held lazily at his side until such a time to where one of their enemies was actually shooting at them or decided to close the distance between them. Cold brown eyes would focus on whoever was left to deal with him, with a dismissive sneer on the boy’s face as he did so. Back straight, speed leisurely, sword at a useless position at his side and shield tossed aside either due to incompetence… or because he didn’t need it in order to deal with the trash in front of him. It was provocative as hell, and quite frankly extremely insulting.

He could have tried to shield surf and fly his way out, but he didn’t bother to do that.

He could have sprinted through a perceived or real gap between the defenders and try to sneak his way out and play the objective, but he didn’t do that either.

Instead, he jogged at a leisurely pace directly towards his opponents and threw away half of his equipment at the start of the match and almost seemed to be laughing at the enemy team as he approached. Like they were funny, or so pathetic to be worth nothing but a laugh and the insults that they received. It was clear that he didn’t perceive them to be threatening in any way, and it was also extremely clear that he thought he was good enough to run right through them rather than bothering to go around even an inch.

None of that was false at all, and that was the beauty of the strategy. The only one who knew his semblance from before, unless they knew him from his tournament win, was Qiu’li and this was probably the exact opposite of what he would be expecting. It was a brazen act of defiance to the objective and a complete lack of respect for him and all of his teammates, and he hoped it would piss him right the fuck off. The more pissed off the enemy team was, the more satisfying this would be when they won, frankly.

It wasn’t exactly the greatest secret that Colton considered himself the best student at Haven Academy, and it also wasn’t a secret that his ego was the size of the moon before it got shattered. Everything he did was completely in character for their perception of him, and that’s what made it so good. It was pointless to build a reputation if it was not a useful one, and Colton’s was useful because it was both true and caused people to get angry more often than not. It caused them to take certain things for granted and overreact when that cockiness got out of control, which in turn allowed him to preen and enhance his image even more by making an absolute mockery of his opponents in the process.

This time would be no different, and he couldn’t wait to hear the cries of frustration and anger to come when they realized what had happened. Gloating after the fact, frankly, was what he lived for.

※ 2660 total words ✎ 1109 words ✉ E rank semblance, E ranked martial arts, E ranked durability, E rank weapon enhancement, E ranked weapon, F rank stamina

MADE BY MIZO

[Flower Fiorella]

Hello. How are you?

wc 606 | twc 1519
Colton Deraine Nikolas Burzanov Qiu'li Caelum Ashworth Agnès Oktyabrskaya

[attr="class","flowerhello"]

The trumpets blared, Flower blinked.

Nikolas sped off without so much as a word. Colton had a few choice words of his own, but Flower stared blankly as the white-haired young man become nothing but a blur ahead of them. She turned to Colton again as he addressed her directly once more.

”Do your best to look pissed. I’m gonna do some dumb shit.”

Tilting her head, violet eyes had the same blank stare she always had. She wasn’t really sure what Colton meant. He always seemed to be coming up with plans and ideas the girl couldn’t understand. Illogical thinking just seemed to plague the brunette. He threw his shield. She understood how his semblance worked, so she easily saw that he was using the shield as a magnetically controlled projectile. There was at least some preparation in his ego-minded way of thinking. Nonetheless, once he started moving, she did too.

Flower was actually naturally faster than Colton, and it seemed like the brunette wasn’t running at his top speed either. She only nodded to him once, before pulling ahead just a bit. She was still within at least 2 meters of him, she would be his only protection since Nikolas was simply going in for the fight. She held Bloom fast in her arms and lifted the gun up. Flower wasn’t the best shot, but she had enough training at Sanctum to make her not a terrible one. Hitting targets, she could do that.

Caelum. Agnes. Qiu’li. Those were her targets. Among them, she knew that Qiu’li had little ranged capability besides his swords beams.

Nikolas’s crazy charge ahead, he was targeting Caelum, obviously. Perhaps he was just unlucky enough, perhaps the two had some kind of bad blood, Flower didn’t know. She chose her targets as well.

Qiu’li and Agnes. She lined up down the edge bladed barrel. Shooting a successive five shots at directly at the group’s torsos. The trick of hitting a target was to pick the biggest and most likely area you would be possibly able to hit. Flower knew that. The blue Faunus was noticeably a smaller target in that regard so only two shots were meant for her. But three were headed directly for Qiu’li. Flower knew Qiu’li abilities more than Agnes, she already guessed that he would dodge the bullets or else he would just be off his game for whatever reason. Her shooting would initiate contact, combat. How the enemy would respond… they would be forced to move somewhere. She would have to watch, have to follow and put everything she had to ensure that the objective would be complete. She didn’t need to protect Colton, she knew that the egocentric huntsman could take care of himself. What she did need to do was make sure that he wasn’t going to be stopped.

She cared little for Colton’s dramatics and she wasn’t like Nikolas who charged in with flashy attacks. As far as her enemies knew, she was simply taking a simple and direct approach. And that was all Flower was in concept. Simple. Direct. Her violet eyes held no emotion, she was a huntress in the battlefield now. Colton was behind her, a little to her left. Finger on the trigger, she would be ready to let off another round of shots in whatever direction her enemies decided to run. She was ready with ranged attacks, but if they decided to get close, she knew that was the optimal time to activate her semblance. Qiu’li knew what it was, he probably told the other two already.

She wasn’t going to let them get past her.

---

Weapon: F Rank, Bloom
Semblance: D - Rank Transformation, Material Mimicry
Abilities: F Rank Speed, F Rank Marksmanship

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[Caelum Ashworth]

He never really knew what people expected in a combat situation. Running away? Hiding? Hesitation?

Bullcrap. Once there was a battle and there were objectives, Caelum chose to focus, observe and act. He knew from one glance that he was singled out, and reacted in a way that would assume a challenge. His positioning was purposeful. He walked away from his two teammates, one reason being to be able to attack Colton from a clear line right at the start as he rushed forward. The other reason?

Nikolas.

If his hunch, and the piece of flesh beating crazily in the middle of his chest was right, he would be attacked without hesitation. Being near the other two would make their work harder. While Nikolas could have potentially be slowed down by two other teammates, Caelum did not want to take that risk.

The trumpet sounded off, and Caelum’s hand lashed as Luna, the metallic blade in his hand transformed. Its blade folded to give way and stick to the barrel of the minigun that was about the size of his own lower arm. Without even waiting full transformation, his arm already moved to target the obvious person. Colton. That was his first plan, his original intent, to fire off the first set of ranged attacks at the VIP before he could make his move, but the glare he received from another of the opponents made him quickly reconsider, and instead use this plan as a feint. Solis in his left hand was whirled around into a backward grip, the blade reaching along the outer side of his arm instead of forward in attack.

Nikolas rushed at him, but he was already prepared. How could he not be under such an obvious gaze?

If Nikolas expected him to step away, he would have to be disappointed. Caelum was right in his range as soon as Nikolas’s turn reached the 200 mark. He was in movement, in attack, and while concentrating to that, Caelum moved in just in time to counter right away, fearing no injury or destruction of Aura. Nik’s attack was a perfect surprise, quick, unseen, damaging. But Caelum was one to jump head into danger with little regard to his own wellbeing, and that willingness to rush paired with his cool head was what made him unpredictable.

He did not attempt to jump away from the reach of that spear. Instead he stepped behind the blade, and by the time the attack sliced that shoulder-to-hip route, he was next to the weapon’s shaft, closing in on Nikolas. Instead of being cut, the sheer force from the weight of the spear would hit his side. His left arm was already up with Solis, the ochre colored blade raised downward along his body in his backward grip to soften the blow. Instead of fully blocking it, he spear’s shaft would slid down along the blade, altering its route just enough to lower it, cushioning the damage just how Caelum learned. His right arm would hold back against his left to further help the success of this maneuver. Windstep was called that for a reason. With last minute alterations to his stance, he would be near untouchable.

He could have fired off Luna at point blank range, and he knew his opponent must have known that too. He really hoped it irked him that Caelum did not grab his opportunity, and instead let his right arm support his defense. Once that was done though, he did point the gun’s barrel at Nikolas’ chest as a sign. Got you.

The hit and run tactic was made obvious once Nikolas attempted to gain his distance with another slice. Caelum lowered his stance, white particles of aura surrounded his feet for a short moment like dust in the sunlight as he stepped to the side with boosted speed this time, the spear following his movement but not reaching him as he was too close for the blade to pose a real threat. Swift movements helped him to circle Nikolas’ left while he rested his stance in preparations for a counter that never came.

With Nikolas busy stepping back, and with his new position, Caelum could take aim. Nikolas barely straightened himself after the jump when Caelum fired half a magazine in Luna at Colton. With the VIP rushing forward it was easier for Caelum to aim while the distance was closing in, his target mark pointing just in front of Colton’s rush instead of the body of the prideful warrior.

He did not wait to see the results of his fire. Whether it hit or was not even enough for a distraction, he had a much more serious thing to pay attention to in the form of a storm ready to rage.

His left side, where he attempted the deflection of the spear hurt. A lot. There was no cut or injury, but the weight of that spear was enough to cause some damage through his imperfect parry. Man, he was still a novice. If it was his master, that attack would be a laughing matter, nothing else. His protection gear was still in the green though, as if he was not even damaged at all, lucky him.

He stood straight and prideful as he fired two more bullets, this time at Nikolas, despite him standing sideways to make himself a smaller target, to spur him into action. He hardly ever did what others expected him to. Why start it now?

☽ ☾

words: 916
Theloria Shadecloak Colton Deraine Nikolas Burzanov Flower Fiorella Qiu'li Agnès Oktyabrskaya


☽ ☾

heaven's tracker - speed + flight - rank e
luna & solis weapon - rank f
windstep style martial arts - rank f
stamina - rank f

|| template designed by NEMO of adoxography ||

[Qiu'li]

[attr="class","popqiu"] ❝May the crimson leaves show me the path I must follow.❞ wc: 938 | twc: 2062 Qiu'li

[attr="class","qiutext"] Huh. That was an... interesting plan. Qiu'li conceded and took a position at the 5-o'clock position in order to maximize their ability to cover ground as well as spot where they would be going. Unfortunately for Agnes, he had to agree with Caelum's words. Going in a one-on-one fight with Colton was not ideal under any circumstances. Perhaps it's because she hadn't seen what he was capable of during the festival, which he caught a minor glimpse of, nor the prior exercise from a few weeks ago, though it seems like they'd need to change their plan quick since their targets had shifted considerably. As the horns blared, the first thing he saw was Nikolas making a mad dash for Caelum, who was by himself by the time the battle had began. Seeing that Nikolas decided to stray from his group, Qiu'li saw a good opportunity to take one out early on. If they increased the odds from a three on three to a two on three, this could turn in their favor, even if the other members were Flower and Colton. Qiu'li turned and leapt towards Caelum, who was preparing his weapons to seemingly fire at Colton. At the same time, Nikolas had prepared himself to perform a sweep attack at Caelum, to which he maintained some distance before firing some shots at the two of them. However, from the corner of his eye, he saw Colton preparing his shield and Flower taking aim. Chances are that Colton would try to even the odds by using his Semblance to hurl his shield while Flower would take some shots at either him or Agnes. The first of the two incoming threats was Colton's shield, which he seemed to pride on last time. Qiu'li knew that he could freely control it's movements, therefore trying to attack it directly would be about as foolish as an animal chasing a carrot on a stick. He could easily redirect it since there should be some range of his Semblance control, however he'd have to figure out a way to do so without actually makig contact with the shield out of caution. He did recall that it was a significantly higher grade shield, therefore trying to stop it directly probably wasn't the best idea. As the shield approached him, Qiu'li withdrew his staff and drew his heavy broadsword, clanging loudly as he did. Handling the heavy blade with two hands, Qiu'li would start spinning Longtou to wind it up. Then, before it got too close for comfort, recalling what happened last time, Qiu'li leapt to the side and hurled his sword to intercept the shield at an angle. However, rather than to let the two crash together, he threw it in such a way that adjusted it's trajectory and let it go sailing further away from the main circles until it was well out of range. However, doing so meant that he wouldn't be getting his broadsword unless he went out to go grab it, which had landed a moderate distance away from the shield if it had landed outside of Colton's presumable control range. The next incoming threat was a bit more haphazard: Flower. Dodging bullets wasn't exactly his forte in this form, though he could make some distance as he continued leaping his way towards Caelum and Nikolas. Unfortunately, the time spent winding up and deflecting Colton's shield made him wide open to some early pot shots before being able to leap out of range and continuing forward. His aura took a bullet from the shoulder, though thankfully due to training his endurance had been built up and he was able to take a minor hit while still remaining in the green. As he got within range, Nikolas had taken a defensive stance, flourishing his spear with both hands holding the two grips, blade aimed downward, the tip near the midline. It was a good defense, though it didn't mean much when he had to defend against two people, with one of them also having a lengthy weapon. While Longtou, the broadsword, wasn't attached and provided less range, this meant the heavy slab of metal wasn't attached to Panlong, his staff, allowing him free range of motion as well as a lighter load. After Caelum's inital shots fired at Nikolas, Qiu'li dashed in with a follow-up attack on his right side. Drawing Panlong, his three-section staff, Qiu'li extended it so that it was in it's loose form. The weapon was three metal sticks, each roughly at arms length, connected by a chain at each end, which practically made up for the loss in length. It may seem odd to challenge a spear user with a weapon that wasn't a spear, but the key was in it's unpredictability. He can still clash with Nikolas by holding one end of the staff and letting the other two-thirds make contact with the swordspear. If he decided to get close, Qiu'li could change stances and hold two sticks in each hand while using the middle as a blocking mechanism from slashes. While thrusts would still be a problem, the advantage was that he could entangle the staff within the swordspear by wrapping two-thirds of the staff around his weapon and put them at a deadlock. Doing so would limit his ability to fight while also opening up opportunities for Caelum to get more attacks in. However, based on their prior encounter, Qiu'li knew that Nikolas wouldn't take this standing, and would most likely resort to his Semblance to try and take both of them out. "Careful, Caelum." Qiu'li grunted as he clashed with Nikolas' swordspear.

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Fènnù (+Strength +Agility +Projectile Sword Beam) | Rank E
Lóngtóu and Panlong | Rank F
Falling Ashes (Leap) | Rank F
Weapon Proficiency I (Martial Arts) | Rank F
Resilience of the Crimson Oaks I (Durability) | Rank F
Dance of the Wild Winds II (Acrobatics) | Rank E

[Agnès Oktyabrskaya]

    The match started, and she headed straight for the enemy team's VIP, all according to plan. Swiveling her head to the right and left, she checked to see if her two teammates were on encountering trouble on the way to their targets. Of course. It hadn't had time to process in her mind, but Caelum had said that her plan wouldn't work. He offered no rhyme or reason, and didn't even bother to offer a plan of his own. And now she was left all alone in her plan. Was it even really a plan anymore with only one person? She made a mental note to give him a real tongue-lashing after the match as her head refocused on the girl from the other team. Qiu'li wasn't too far from her -- she'd have an opportunity to at least overwhelm this one while Caelum was fighting and knock one out of the fight!

    ...Or, so she thought. She had narrowly jumped out of the way of the bullets by anticipating the shots, a skill she'd learned from the faunus uprisings. Still, she was slightly out of practice, and the second grazed her shoulder. Thankfully her aura absorbed what little damage might have occurred, but it was still a reminder to her to practice more often. But now Qiu'li too had abandoned her with no warning, and with no attempt to warn her. She was already fed up with these two, but more importantly, she had a choice to make. The fight between her teammates and the lone opponent might be wrapped up faster if she was there, but that would only allow the VIP to waltz out of the arena and win handily within the first ten seconds of the match. She wasn't about to let that happen. So instead, she decided that buying time was the best she could do in this situation. They were on a time limit that lasted until Colton waltzed out of the arena, and maybe if she held him in place -- or even just slowed him down -- for long enough, the other two would be able to drive him back into the center. But there was a problem with that plan, which took the form of the girl in front of her.

    All things considered, Agnes considered herself to have the immediate advantage over Flower. She knew the other girls' semblance, and with that attack, she had a pretty good idea of what her weapon could do, too. Both things that Flower could not immediately know about her at the moment. A big, bulky weapon like hers was also less suited to infighting and would be slower to swing around, compared to the smaller sword Agnes carried. She kept running straight forward, lowering her body some so as not to present a large profile in case the girl decided to shoot at her again, and as she got within striking distance she threw out a practiced, quick side kick at the girl's lower legs, around the ankles and shins, aimed at knocking her down or at least stunning her momentarily. Admittedly it was a kick she was most used to doing with her sword drawn, as her own style of swordplay was largely defensive, as opposed to offensive -- but forcing Flower to attack at a close range would help her push the girl towards Colton and therefore would help her engage Colton. It'd play towards her strengths, and in this situation playing to her own strengths was about all she could do.

    Regardless of whether or not her kick strikes true, Agnes would not draw her sword, and instead takes up a defensive posture only about a meter away from Flower, slowly circling her to the left, after potential recovery from retaliation. Colton seemed perfectly content to move slowly, and that might force Flower to make a choice -- stay there and fight Agnes, or try to assist Nikolas, who was currently being tag-teamed. She keeps a close eye on Colton, watching him out of her peripheral vision as she circles.

Colton Deraine Flower Fiorella Qiu'li Caelum Ashworth Nikolas Burzanov

WC 675 TWC 1377

[Colton Deraine]

[googlefont=Open+Sans]

[attr="class","firstfriend"]

Bravery is believing in yourself, and that's one thing nobody can teach you.

”Well, this is quickly devolving into a shitshow.”

The words that flowed out of the teenager’s mouth were casual, as if he was casually watching a sports game on TV rather than actively in a combat scenario. Qiu’li had, as expected, avoided coming after him and instead decided to gang up on the protection squad’s third teammate. At this point, frankly, Colton was not concerned with preventing Nikolas from getting the tar beat out of him. In fact, a win with both Flower and his own auras up while everyone else’s was shattered was the current ideal situation. Nevertheless, the shield toss was intended to take a significant chunk of the spearman’s aura before he was able to engage and take out the Argus native’s teammate.

Instead, however, the individually challenged caveman decided to sacrifice one of his own weapons to toss at Colton’s shield. The last girl wasn’t in threat range yet and didn’t appear to have any ranged capabilities, so he could spare a moment to just brute force the sword toss with Polarity… or that’s what should have happened. Somehow, the last enemy in Caelum that got charged at to begin the match was dancing around his opponent with such skill that he was able to fire a salvo of bullets in the VIP’s direction. Colton didn’t even consider that to be a remote possibility because he assumed that his own intellectually challenged teammate would at least be fierce enough to prevent shit like that from happening – but apparently not.

The funny thing about manipulation type semblances is that they required more finesse than the other types. To move metal around, for instance, was a conscious effort that required some level of concentration in order to do things correctly. If that concentration was broken by things like bullets flying out from unexpected directions and having to use your sword to deflect some of the rest… well, the manipulation tended to not be done correctly. Qiu’li’s attempt to force Colton’s shield out of his effective range succeeded, though not as much as he might have liked due to Polarity being activated to change direction initially and cancelling some of that more natural momentum from the sword.

”Well, that’s annoying.” he noted dispassionately. Maintaining concentration was normally one of his strengths, and it took something way out of left field for that to be broken even momentarily. The shield itself was in sprinting distance, though the way towards it seemed to be at least threatened by the last remaining member of the enemy squad. Colton’s aura meter was still green due to his abnormal durability, so he was in good shape for this next encounter. The last girl hadn’t drawn her sword yet, so probably had some sort of manipulation type semblance that made weapons unnecessary like that shadow girl.

”Flower, box her in.” the teenager ordered as he undid his sword belt with his left hand while brushing his fingers against the metal of the scabbard while rushing in immediately following Agnes’ attack on his teammate. Flower was smart and kept within about two meters of Colton the whole time, which made the distance he needed to travel to provide backup very short. The metal scabbard would be manipulated to fire at full speed towards the girl’s legs which presented some options. If she was nimble enough to simply dodge it without jumping, Colton would keep his sword in his right hand and go on the offensive while realigning the scabbard to strike once more when he could next predict a dodge or when he had the weapon locked up.

The stance that he chose while approaching, however, was the hanging guard. The tip of Colton’s blade was pointed towards his enemy’s body, a little above their right hip with his hand raised as high as his head as he looked his opponent in the eyes under the shell of the sword with a cold brown stare. This was an exceptionally good defensive stance, covering most of his body and ensuring that any blows no matter how strong would slide off the blade into the air and never endanger the hand or the arm. Thrusts were trivial to deal with in this stance, and the only downsides being that attacks were more predictable and tended to come from overhand slashes or thrusts from above.

This was the basis of the Argus Style of swordsmanship. It prioritized defense and the opening of an enemy’s defense by way of skillful parries and devastating counter attacks as well as taking chip strikes to get small aura advantages when available to the hands of an opponent especially. Colton’s own variation tended to prioritize tying up the enemy weapon while Polarity beat the hell out of them as well, and this time was no different.

It was unfortunate that her teammates decided to fuck off and leave her alone to deal with the VIP and his escort alone in a very standard at least for Qiu’li decision to completely ignore the objective and anything to do with any sort of win condition in the process. At least Caelum had the excuse of someone rushing him at the beginning of the match and managing to get in some grazing hits despite that, but at the end of the day Qiu’li had absolutely fucking zero excuse to leave his last teammate in this shitty position.

He chose not to activate the fire dust in his backsword at this stage, largely because he didn’t know how long it would take to get his shield back. Towards that end, if he was able to, he would do his utmost to push Agnes in the direction of his shield while maintaining the same strategy of attempting to keep her occupied with his blade while his scabbard and Flower actually did the damage while he forced her attention on him. While Nikolas was in a rough situation on one end of the field with two against one, Agnes was in the exact same position. As long as the solo players were eliminated at roughly the same time, things would be just fine for the protection team. Colton and Flower could easily crush just about any other duo in the school in a two versus two even if they started at a slight aura disadvantage.

”Apologies for the numbers advantage, but our teammate seems to be in the same situation so I can’t exactly just play the honor game for very long.”

It was possible that they could win even without his shield, but Colton wasn’t too keen on taking that chance if he didn’t need to. To that end, if Agnes would try to flee in any direction Colton would not physically follow her and would instead just transform his weapon to its shotgun mode and fire indiscriminately until he had expended all seven shells before transforming it back as he meandered his way forward back in range of his shield to bring it back to his left arm. There was always a list of priorities for every fight, and right now getting back control of both of his weapons was the main one even over winning the exercise. He had no desire to win without seeing what the new people were capable of, which was the entire point of the scenario to begin with. It would be a waste of a class period for him and a waste a week that could have been better spent actually scouting to see who had potential and who was useless.

Nikolas was already considered a lost cause along with Qiu’li. There were a lot of things that could be fixed, but mind-boggling stupidity was not one of those things. Some people were just born deficient in that way and that was okay – as long as they stayed as far away as possible from him and anyone he cared about. Caelum showed situational awareness at least, and if he managed to last any length of time while being double teamed might show some promise. He was about to find out Agnes’ semblance any second now, considering she was essentially cornered and had nothing to lose. Flower was just weird and uncomfortable to be around and interact with, and Colton hadn’t quite decided if her strength actually made up for that weirdness just yet.

A team needed to be formed at some point, and he might as well snatch up the talent that existed before some other asshole beat him to it. Time was ticking, especially with the slim pickings that were unfortunately available thus far.

※ 4093 total words ✎ 1433 words ✉ E rank semblance, E ranked martial arts, E ranked durability, E rank weapon enhancement, E ranked weapon, F rank stamina

MADE BY MIZO