So this all but bludgeoned its way into existence. I am supposed to be working on updating my resume, but my muse refused. And as stated before, this got far past what I was expecting. Its nearly double any other segment so far and Pyrrha has barely even touched her weapons yet.
Cut it off here as well because I am not as confident in my fight scenes and am wanting feedback and suggestions.
~~~
There are many thing I would use to describe my team leader and partner. Sincere, earnest, good natured, optimistic, caring, endearing, amusing, handsome. But based on the experience of the last week, lacking in martial skill, some problems with academics and issues with directions also make that list.
The last of which is of greatest concern at the moment.
I made sure to prepare as much as I could before traveling all the way to Vale from Mistral to attend Beacon. Research into the teachers, the headmaster, and its curriculum were obviously important, but so was information on the city of Vale itself. The major shopping districts, and what they specialized in. Like the downtown area and its large array of apparel, entertainment stores and quality dust shops. Or the storefronts by the docks, which specialized in goods from the other kingdoms as well as the rest of Vale. And the entertainment districts in the shadier side of town that sported several different clubs of different flavors and even an underground fighting ring or two.
And with all that research, I have no idea where we are.
"Jaune, are we even going to the right way?" I manage to keep the doubt out of my voice. He has enough trouble with his confidence as it is, not need to make it worse.
"Yep!" He nods, motioning with the scroll in his hand, map showing on the screen. "It is just up ahead. See?"
And I do, as the dot on the map is just a bit further then around the next corner. I hum slightly in approval, excited to finally get there. I just might have been rushing him ever since I saw the video this morning, and the obvious mastery of the his opponent. It has been hard to find trainers that can keep pushing me the way they used to and it had been over a year since I had been truly pushed in a spar.
"And here we are." Jaune's voice breaks me from my contemplation and building expectation and his hand brings my attention to the storefront. Lotus Emporium. Not a name I was familiar with. Looking over the building, it looked to be upkept very well with no other stores on the block. There was a crater on the sidewalk, likely due to Jaune's locker, but even that didn't take away from its neat, clean presentation.
The inside of the shop was different than what I had been expecting. It wasn't the type of specialty store like most of the higher end shops I have gone to. With a tendency to specialize those store catered their layout to match. Weapon shops frequently had displays of different mecha-shifting weapons they had helped make or designs they specialized in, while Dust shops had a good display of crystals, with lots of different Dust mixtures in powder form.
This store felt more like it had taken several of these stores, chopped up the parts it liked, then shoved them together into one building. Which, from the look of things, actually took up most of the block.
We were greeted by a taller man who was solidly built, with close cropped dark hair and well trimmed sideburns. Jaune shifted slightly in embarrassed confusion, and didn't appear to recognize him, but the man just smiled at us welcomingly.
"Welcome to Lotus Emporium! My name is Tukson, what can I help you two with today?" His voice was pleasantly cheerful.
"Umm… I was here the other day, and there was this another guy here that is about my age?" The sheer uncertainty in my partner's voice as he trailed off was nearly enough to make me reach out to comfort him, but I held myself back to let him handle things for now.
Tukson gave him a glare that seemed more harmless than angry. "About your age, huh? Was he a guy with an eye patch, and a glowing green eye?"
Jaune only nodded, his body language screaming nervousness.
"What makes you think I would let a punk like that work here?" There was a glint of amusement I caught in the man's eyes that shone through the gruff exterior and faked building rage.
"Uh… well, I ran into him here, and he gave me this." He waved his new scroll uncertainly for the other man to see, which caused Tukson to glare harder for a moment, before his smile returned and he laughed.
"That certainly sounds like the boss." He nods, chuckling at Juane's stunned expression. "Hes in the back, with another one of you students." He motioned with his thumb to behind him to the doors marked as Clem's Warehouse.
He leaned forward slightly, and lowered his voice slightly. "If you go in quietly, you should be able to catch the end of this round."
It takes me hearing Tukson's chuckle from behind me to realize I was already opening the doors to peek in to realize I had even moved, my cheeks instantly burning with embarrassment. I was sure my face was nearly the same bright red as my long red hair. Not that it slowed my movements at all. I managed to get all the way into the room, before I froze in shock.
The room itself was set into a simple pair of dueling rings, and a firing range, with some lockers on the walls. While there was a collection of various weapons resting along a wall near one of the rings, they weren't particularly noteworthy. It was the pair in one of the rings that had stolen all of my attention.
One of the issues I have had for years is that most duels are too easy for me. It has gotten so bad I developed the habit of apologizing to people I had sparred, or even was sparring, with. I dislike abusing people. And with my skills, it feels like I am bullying others, and when I can predict the end of a spar after the second move, nearly any amount of force can feel like excessive force. I have even ended up doing it to some of the trainers after a particularly brutal take-down or counter that I knew they wanted me to do, but had no way of stopping.
Watch the pair made me feel… excited. The first was a female faunus, with decent shoulder and wrist armor over her maroon top, and maroon pants nearly completely covered by hip high black boots. Her long brown hair did nothing to hide her long rabbit ears as she was currently wielding a pair of simple short swords in an intricate dance of blade movement that seemed to carefully and mercilessly leading her opponent to leave his side wide open in just another few moves. Her movements were calm and calculated, experienced enough to take advantage of her long hair to mask some of her movements that made everything even more effective.
Her opponent, the man from the video that had stolen my attention so forcefully this morning, was fending her off with only a curved handled cane. His movements were calm amidst the storm, almost like he was the one directing the entire fight. And when the second blade came around to knock the cane enough out of position for the first to strike him with a backhand blow, he moved. A twist of his wrist knocked the first blade out of the way just enough for him to spin the cane, hooking the hilt in her off hand and twisting to send it flying from her grip, before he spun himself into her guard in a shoulder check that sent her stumbling backwards as the cane hooked the guard of her remaining sword and pulled it from her grasp.
They paused, before he nodded to her with a smirk, and she just grinned as weapons that appeared to be made from pure, solidified light grew in her hands. I realized they were identical to the metal weapons that she had just lost before she blurred forward in a high, low, diagonal slash combo that he simply redirected her momentum while stepping slightly to the side.
The faunus' smirk grew right before her posture shifted slightly, her movements from the calm and controlled that she had been using to an almost flowing grace that combined with an economy of movement that even my best of instructors would be hard pressed to match. The sudden shift only caused a slight raised eyebrow from her opponent as his movements speed up to match her sudden increase in speed, not seeming even slightly worried about the change.
The reason became obvious as something seemed odd about her movements that only clicked when the one eyed man suddenly retook the offensive as he stepped in to counter a lightning fast swipe at his neck with a palm strike to the wrist that threw it completely off course and left her utterly open to his follow up step that disrupted her stance before he hooked her with the cane and put her on her back with a twist. She nodded in acceptance to defeat as the end of the cane pointed rested at her throat, and her weapons dissolving into nothingness.
Tukson chuckles behind me made me realize just how close I am to grabbing Milo and Akouo and charging into the ring.
"That little bunny has certainly gotten better." He praised the girl in the ring. "Her weapons last more than set of exchanges now. I'll leave you to it." He waves slightly as he heads back into the main part of the store, leaving Jaune and myself standing just inside the door.
The one-eyed man turns to smile at us as his sparring partner grabs some water to take a break. Now that I had the chance to get a better look at him, his outfit had changed. Still in black dress pants and shoes, his black shirt was now covered in dark green vest, with matching bands around each bicep in addition to the lilac colored tie. Each button on his vest and his tie pin had a simple design of 10-0. His dark metallic looking eyepatch only made the tattoo surrounding it stand out more, and the glow of his green eye more outstanding.
"Welcome Jaune! I wasn't expect you to come back quite so soon!" The man's voice was welcoming, and sounded quite happy to see him. Also that he was utterly unwinded despite the spar that just ended.
Jaune managed to mumble some sort of agreement, while motioning to me. I blushed, knowing he wouldn't have even considered coming here until at least noon if I hadn't literally forced him onto the second Bullhead out of Beacon. The man's gaze followed the motion, turning to look at me properly.
"And you must be Pyrrha Nikos."
I nod. "I am. And who might you be?"
He chuckles. "Jaune forgot to ask yesterday, didn't he? I have gone by many names over the years, Ms Nikos, but there is one that I have gone by that is solely my own. You may call me Zyn." He finishes with a flourished bow.
"And with introductions out of the way, how about a match? That is what is you are here for, after all, isn't it?"
Zyn barely finishes speaking before I am already stepping forward, weapons in hand.
~~~
I was considering him just using Tenno, but figured the 10-0 on his stuff would be a good start. Also, bonus points if anyone can guess who his 'combat' gear is based on?
