Team AERO: Chapter IX

Bzz. Bzz.

You wake up and look at your scroll.

[4:25]

[Get up and train.]
[Sleep in.]

You get up and change before Oliver wakes up. You grab your scroll and weapon just as he gets up. He grabs his rifle, and the two of you exit the dorm.

He hears you leave with him and calls back softly while you leave the building, "Oh? Tagging along again?"

"Yep!"

You get outside and the two of you start running. The outside of the school blurs by as you lap it again and again. You feel the burning in your lungs as Oliver pulls farther away from you the longer you go.

[Keep going.]
[Rest.]
[Maybe just walk it?]

You keep going. You have to push yourself. You have to get stronger and faster.

You run. You keep running. Your legs are burning, your chest is tight. But you can't stop. You have to keep running.

You finally catch up to Oliver, parked in the training field and catching his breath.

You stop, but you don't go down like last time. You're still on your feet, though doubled over as you heave in and out.

"Getting better." Oliver says as he stretches.

["Yea."]
[Just a thumbs up.]
[Just focus on breathing.]
[??]

"Yea" You huff.

"Afraid.. I might.. outrun you... one day?"

He chuckles, "Don't get ahead of yourself."

He finishes his stretches and starts to work on his form.

You catch your breath and start swinging your spear. You move a little fast with each repetition.

Swing.

Swing.

Thrust.

Swing.

Twirl.

Spin.

Jab.

You jab. Oliver is standing right in front of the point of your spear.

"Sorry!"

He chuckles, "It's fine. You wanna spar again?"

["Yea!"]
["Nah."]
["Maybe just not as much as last time."]
[??]

"Yea!"

You stand at opposite ends of the training field. Oliver fires a shot into the air to start the match, the next to coming at you.

You roll to the side, stopping on a knee. Oliver's already coming at you with his swords.

[Try to out duel him with your spear.]
[Fire your shot.]
[??]

You twirl your spear around. You're going to have to use it more as a staff if you're going to have a shot against his twin plasma beams. You grip the shaft of your weapon and intercept his first strikes. His size and power send you skidding backwards a bit. You spin the shaft to keep blocking his attacks, but you're being driven back.

You wait for your moment as you defend, before activating the side thruster aimed at the ground. You send Oliver's blades and arms into the air which gives you an opening.

You quickly twirl your weapon and jab it into his stomach.

His aura takes the full hit, but he's sent back several feet and seems to be a bit out of sorts.

[Press the attack!]
[Check your aura quick.]
[Fire!]
[Wait. Let him come to you.]
[??]

You plant your feet and press your attack. You swing your spear low and it knocks Oliver on his back. You lunge forward and spin your spear to stab it in his chest, but he rolls to the side.

You check your scroll quick.

[AURA LEVELS: 81%]
[C.E. 100%]
[R.A. 100%]
[O.G. 86%]

You turn in his direction and spin your spear forward as he gets up.

[Wait for him.]
[Charge!]
[Fire!]
[Some combination of both!]
[??]
[Call it off.]

You spin your spear and fire the shot at Oliver and he brings up his sword to deflect it.

You keep the bullet focused on attacking him as you charge in with your spear.

The two of you clash weapons, but Oliver's clearly pulling double effort to fend off both your spear and your shot.

Though for every small hit on his aura, he's draining yours with his weapons. It's not even fair, really.

You finally think you have an opening as you send your shot down from an angle while he's occupied with your spear.

He jumps backwards, the shot just passing in front of his face before landing at your feet.

You're both catching your breath. You take the moment to look at your scroll.

[AURA LEVELS: 45%]
[C.E. 100%]
[R.A. 100%]
[O.G. 63%]

[Attack!]
[Defense!]
[Reload, he'll wait. Probably..]
[Stop the fight.]
[??]

"No! Wait! Stop!" You flail your arms as Oliver takes a step forward, but he immediately stops.

"What's up?"

"Our aura's low. We should save ourselves for class later."

He takes out his scroll and nods, "Yea. Good work. That's a huge difference between our first fight."

[Thank him.]
["Yea, I know.]
[??]
[Ignore him.]

"Thanks, Oliver."

"Don't mention it." He puts his swords back in rifle mode and put is over his shoulder.

"We should get going."

"Yea." You start walking back to the dorm with him, "Your plasma is still giving me quite the hard time. When did you get the idea for that?"

He shrugged, "It just came to me when we where building our weapons back in the hunter school I went to in Vale. Figured it'd pack a punch and wouldn't rely on bullets to reload all the time."

You quickly make it to your dorm. Regalia's still gone, but Crystal looks like she just got out of the shower.

You get inside and Oliver goes over to his bed, "Ladies first."

You nod and grab some clean clothes before going into the bathroom. You wash away the fresh sweat and clean yourself before getting out and drying off. You get dressed and step out of the bathroom so Oliver can shower.

You spot Regalia on her bed as you go over to your bed and check your scroll.

[7:25]

[Breakfast!]
[Get ready for class.]
[Talk to Regalia and/or Crystal.]
[??]

You sit on your bed, turning to your roommates, "You guys should tag along too some day!"

Crystal looks up at you from her phone then back down.

Regalia chuckles, "I wouldn't mind some time."

You chat for a bit longer.

Oliver comes out of the bathroom and you look at your scroll.

[7:46]

You hop off your bed and scramble to get your stuff together before heading to class with Regalia and Crystal.

You sit in the lecture hall for a few minutes before Oliver joins you.

Regalia tilts her head from next to you, "Do you remember what we were going to ask today?"

[Well?]

"We were going to ask the professors about the strange behavior the Grimm showed at the wall. Bashing their head against the wall instead of attacking it properly."

Regalia nods, "Ah. Yes."

"Should we ask now, or after class?" Crystal asks.

[Now.]
[After.]
[Let's just not.]

"Let's do it after class."

The others nod and go back to their business.

You get out your notebook and homework. Looks like class is about to start.

[Pay attention to class.]
[Doodle. (What?)]
[Play with your scroll?]
[??]

You pay attention to class, taking notes on the five minutes of Nevermore flight patterns before Professor Marble fills the next hour and 45 minutes about how he once suplexed a Nevermore into a Deathstalker, shirtless.

Your team makes there way down to the podium when class is dismissed.

Your teammates look at each other before giving you the go ahead to represent them as leader.

"Professor Marble?"

The mustache'd man looks up from his lecture notes, "Yes?"

[What do you want to ask?]

"I don't know if you've heard about it already, but there have been strange Grimm attacks at the wall on the weekend. All just smashing their heads against the wall. Two King Taijitus on the one day, a Death Stalker on the other. And Death Stalkers clearly have better means of attack… We wondered why they might act like this? Can Grimm get sick or something?"

Marble strokes his chin as you speak before placing his hand back on the podium, "Those are very interesting questions. In all my years I've never experienced any sort of 'disease' or anything that have affected the Grimm, if that's what this is. Though there seems to be an element missing.. How are the Grimm getting past the automated defenses, hmm? This sounds like it may be bigger than just a few 'sick' Grimm. Stop in my office after your classes are over."

You nod before you and your team makes their way to the next class.

"It seems we were on to something." Crystal says on the way.

"Indeed." Regalia taps her chin as she walks.

[Any thoughts?]

"Maybe it's the White Fang?"

Regalia squints her eyes, all of them, "But why? What do they have to gain from Grimm attacking the city if they're trying to recruit here?"

Crystal shrugs, "Maybe they're hoping to beat a hunter to the scene and steal the spotlight to drive up recruitment?"

"Seems like a stretch." Olive says as you arrive to class.

You sit down and take out your notebook, writing down notes and such as the class goes by.

You sit with your team at lunch.

[Anything you want to say?]
[Just eat. Gotta fill dat aura meter!]

You focus on eating, as does your team. At least you and Oliver are trying to get your aura back, but Regalia and Crystal look lost in thought.

You're chewing, when you hear someone shout, "THAT AMOUNT IS FIFTY LEAGUES!"

"NO! IT'S FORTY LEAGUES!"

There's further screaming, and suddenly food is flying everywhere.

"FOOD FIGHT"

The infamous call rings out as students... start using their food as weapons and attacking each other?!

[Join in the fun chaos!]
[AND GET SOMETHING ON YOUR TAIL?! HEEELLL NOOOO!]

Uh-uh. Nope. Noooope. No. No. No.

You get up and hide behind Regalia, holding your tail between you.

You can feel Crystal and Oliver watching you as Regalia laughs into her hand.

"Afraid of getting messy~?"

You nod into her back as DeFleur kicks open the doors. She snapping her fingers and air currents are knocking food out of the sky left and right, while those involved are being blasted against the wall and held in place.

"DETENTION! All of you!"

She yells at those in her grip before the current dies as they fall to the ground.

Good thing you weren't part of that.

You finish eating and make your way to Combat Class.

Seems like this week DeFleur's setting matches.

It also looks like your team has a first round bye.

Wait, is this a tournament? Huh. Your bye must be since your team hasn't lost a fight. The only other teams that have a bye haven't lost either.

Well, at least it looks like you're off for the day.

[Observe the fights.]
[Talk with your team about the Grimm and stuff.]
[??]

You watch your opponents, getting to know some of their strategies. You check the bracket on your scroll for the teams you have to face.

Their match is next.

You focus intently on the next match. It's team PINK! They mop the floor with their opponent.

Phyllis seems to be a competent leader, calling out openings and warning her teammates of dangers and getting them out of harms way. Almost like she had eyes in the back of her head.

Ivory and Kelly used their superior range to keep their opponents pinned as Nikolai kept their one melee threat at bay with his bat.

Their match ends, and Kelly points right at you.

Looks like they know about the rematch.

[Giver her a thumbs up?]
[Flick her off?]
[Ignore her?]
[???]

You give her a thumbs up.

She smiles before joining her team as they leave the arena.

Looks like that's the end of class.

[Head to Professor Marble's office.]
[Naaah.]

You and your team head to the Professor's office.

You knock on the door.

...

You knock on the door again.

...

[Open the door?]
[Wait.]
[Leave?]

You wait for a few minutes. Doesn't seem like anyone's here. Maybe you should just open the door and check? You reach your hand out.

"Are you kids looking for Professor Marble?"

You freeze and turn around. It's Alabaster!

[Yep.]
[Nope.]
[???]

"Yes sir!"

He nods, "Well, he won't be back until tomorrow. Something about emergency field research. Is there something you need from him that I could assist you with?"

[Is there?]

"Well, we told Professor Marble that there were a couple Grimm attacks this weekend and that in each case the Grimm smashed their heads against the wall when they had other means of attack. So he told us to come here after classes ended."

He nods as he strokes his white beard, "Ah. So you're the reason for his departure. Well, I can't say when he'll be back. Though I could tell you were he is."

[Shouldn't get involved, you're kids.]
*[Please tell us.]
[Thanks anyways.]
[??]

"Please tell us, sir." You smile cutely.

He doesn't even look at you, "He took a transport out towards the mountains. He should be near the base of the range."

Alabaster turns and starts to walk away.

[Anything else before he's gone?]
*[To the chopper!]
[I mean you /are/ kids, we should just let it go.]
[??]

"Well, let's go!" You turn and start heading towards the transports.

"Aero." Crystal's voice calls after you. You stop and turn to see your team isn't moving.

["What's wrong?"]
["Come on!"]
[??]

"What's wrong?" You tilt your head at them.

"We don't know what we're doing. We don't know where Marble is for sure. And we're just students. We have class in the morning. We can't just rush outside the walls on a hunch. Those mountains are probably crawling with higher-tier Grimm." Crystal says flatly, crossing her arms.

Regalia nods, "I agree with her. We shouldn't be reckless. I'm sure Marble will be fine and tell us about what he finds."

Oliver chuckles, "At the very least, we should drop our books and stuff off."

[Convince them otherwise.]
[You're right.]
[Fine. I'll go alone.]
[??]

"Yeah, guess I was really getting ahead of myself there wasn't I?" You move to rejoin your team.

Crystal smiles, "That's why you have us."

Regalia pats your head, "It's alright. You just want to do your best."

"We'll get another chance." Oliver says.

You and your team head back to your dorm to do your homework.

Luckily, without homework from Marble, it only take an hour.

Now what?

[Hit dat Rec Center!]
[Train]
[Schneeflix]
[Town]
[??]

"Let's go to the Rec Center!"

"Sounds good." Oliver says.

"Alright~" Regalia replies.

"Do we need our swimwear?" Crystal asks.

Good point, there's so much to do.

[Swim.]
[Get swole.]
[Cardio.]
[Sports rooms.]
[??]
[Everyone for themselves.]
[Something else instead.]

"Nah, we should just stick together and train to get stronger."

"Woo!" Oliver cheers.

".. Sure." Crystal says.

You lead your team over to the Rec Center and to the weight room. You lift some weights and do other things people do in weight rooms for a couple hours.

It's starting to get late by the time your team is running out of gas.

[Go hit the cafeteria on the way back to the dorm.]
[Order food to arrive after you get back to the dorm.]
[Go to town. (Where to?)(Maybe shower first?)]

You swing by the cafeteria with your team. You eat up before heading back to your dorm.

It's pretty late by the time you get back. You check your scroll quick.

[8:32]

[Get ready for bed. Gotta train in the morning.]
[Stay up. You shouldn't train before your bracket match with PINK.]
Get ready for bed. You shouldn't train before your match, but you should get plenty of sleep!]

You start getting ready for bed.

"Training again tomorrow~?" Regalia murmurs. Maybe she misses you at breakfast.

"No. I just want to make sure I'm well rested for our fight with PINK tomorrow. I'm sure you guys will be ready too!"

You smile before hopping into bed and setting your alarm.

[Chapter IX: End]