Team AERO: Chapter IV

Bzz. Bzz.

*[Wake up.]
[Go back to bed.]
[Check time.]

You get up, shutting your scroll off. Oliver's still sleeping. Perfect.

You quickly strip and redress, putting on a pair of running shorts and a t-shirt. You slip your scroll in your pocket and fish the light sling out of your duffle bag for your weapon. You're not sure what this training will all be.

Just as you finish, Oliver sits up and slides out of bed. You hadn't even noticed that he changed before going to bed, so he's ready to go. He grabs his rifle and puts it on his back. He pulls his scroll out and opens the door.

You slip out behind him, poking his elbow once the door shuts behind you.

"Morning!"

He turns around and smiles, "So you had it in you after all. Well, we'll be starting with a run. Try and keep up."

He jogs outside, surprisingly quiet despite his size. You chase after.

The moment the door opens he breaks into a sprint. It looks like he's going to run around the school. You join him.

The two of you run in tandem for a while, but he shows no signs of stopping after the second, third, fourth lap.

You're trying to keep up, but his long strides and obvious conditioning are letting him pull away. Your lungs are on fire, your breath short. Your legs are burning. You thought you were in shape, but Oliver is on the next level.

[Holy fuck, how? Rest.]
*[Keep pushing!]

You can't give up now!

You run as hard as you can. Oliver pulls away from you easily, but you don't care. You just need to finish his work out, not beat him to it. You pump your legs as Oliver puts a whole side of the school between you now, turning the corner just as your round the one before it.

You run as fast you can, but you aren't sure how much longer you can keep it up. You finally turn the last corner, and Oliver is standing in front of the school. You reach him and immediately collapse beside him.

His breathing is somewhat strained, but no where near as bad is yours.

"Not bad, Aero. Didn't think you'd actually keep up."

["Thanks."]
[Nod.]
*[Just breathe.]

You focus on breathing, trying to get your heart to slow down. The race is over! Silly organs.

Oliver stretches while you recover. It doesn't take long for you to sit up.

"What's next?"

He chuckles, "Can't slow you down, eh? Alright. Just an easy cool down jog to the practice field behind the school."

You two take it easy, but it doesn't take long for you to arrive.

"Now what?"

He takes his rifle off his back and pulls it apart into his two swords.

"Going to warm up by practicing my form. Spears aren't my thing, so you're kinda on your own, there." He chuckles as the blades spring forth.
His movements are fluid and precise. Each repetition increases his speed. It's almost getting hard to follow.

You take out your weapon and quickly go start going through the basic motions. Swish, swish, stab, motherfucker.

You continue working until you hear Oliver's blades turn off.

You stop and wait for him to tell you what's next.

His blades activate again and he turns towards you.

"So how bout it?"

["'How bout' what?"]
*["You're on."]

"You're on."

You spin your spear around and hold it before you as Oliver moves in. You have reach, but he has two weapons and a considerable size advantage.

He closed the distance between you quickly, and you spin your spear in front of you to block his two attacks. You can feel your aura start to go down already as it protects your spear from being melted. Damn those plasma blades.

You jump backwards, twirling your spear around to fire a shot at him. He swings his right blade and knocks it aside, but you quickly use your semblance to sick the shot back on him.

He stops his pursuit of you to go on the defense as you try to pelt him with your magic bullet. It's a good thing the metal is made of an incredibly durable alloy, else it'd be a puddle by now.

You keep it up for almost a minute, but the metal is starting to glow. You try to catch him off guard by throwing your spear as you pull the trigger.

He turns just in time to cross his blades in front of him to stop it, but the impact pushes him back.

You're already on your spear before he stops his backwards slide, plucking it from the air and jabbing it forward. He manages to knock it aside so that it just misses, but you activate the side burner to slash it across his body, which prompts him to back up more.

You jab and slash again and again in increasingly complex strings, but he always has an answer. He's not even being driven back anymore. He's pushing forward!

He swipes your spear aside and aims a slash at your neck. You roll backwards and hop to your feet just in time knock away another slash with your spear. He's driving you towards the wall!

You try to go to the side, but he's already anticipating it, quickly blocking your escape every time. Then you feel it.

The cold hard wall that protects the school, trapping you. He slashes once more but stops short as an easily recognizable sound echoes from your pocket.

You're aura is critically low.

He turns his swords off and exhales.

"Wooo. Well fought."

*["You too."]
[??]
[Pass out.]

"Y-you too."

He chuckles before reforming his rifle and shouldering it. "We should probably call it a morning. What time is it?"

You take out your scroll.

[AURA LEVELS: 13%]

Yikes. Swipe.

[6:37]

You collect your shot and reload while the two of you walk back to your dorm. You open the door and walk inside. Crystal's still asleep, and Regalia's probably at breakfast already.

*[Shower.]
[Go eat.]
[Nap.]

You need a shower. Bad.

You grab your clothes and slip into the bathroom while Oliver is busy with, whatever.

You lock the door behind you before stripping and stepping into the hot water. You go through your morning routine, taking a little extra time to enjoy the water after your tiring morning. You open the door once you're dressed and are immediately shoved aside by Crystal before she pushed you into the middle of the dorm before going back into the bathroom and closing the door.

Regalia chuckles in the corner. Looks like you missed breakfast. "I didn't think I heard you this morning. Where you off with Oliver?"

*["Yea."]
["No." (Lie.)]
["None of your business."]
[Ignore her, get ready for class.]

"Y-yea."

She puts her hand in front of her mouth, holding her laughs in. "Oh? Just the two of you.."

She gets up, "In the dark.."

She's moving towards you. You try to back up, but you hit your bed and fall into it, sitting down.

"Coming back all sweaty.." She caresses your cheek softly.

["It's not what you think!"]
[How do words?]
[??]
[(Jeremy's Weiss noise.)]

You open your mouth and a high pitched noise squeaks out as your cheeks flush red.

Your eyes look to Oliver for help, but he's stone cold on his bed, skin redder than Regalia's eyes.

She pats your head, unable to hold her laughter in at your obvious flustering.

"N-not fair!" You throw your pillow at her, and it harmlessly bounces off her stomach.

You busy yourself getting ready for class while Regalia tries to reign herself in. Oliver flees to the bathroom the moment Crystal steps out.

She doesn't question anything, only shaking her head before finishing getting ready.

The three of you head out as Oliver exits the bathroom, telling you he'll catch up.

You make it to your class a few minutes early, Oliver joining the group a minute later.

Regalia immediately starts doodling you and Oliver together.

[Take the paper.]
*[Ignore her.]+
[Try to hide behind your book.]

You ignore her. Not going to get at me! No ma'am!

You open your notebook and start taking notes as the professor begins class.

*[Focus.]
[Doodle.]
[Revenge doodle.]

You focus on your studies, not taking the bait. Regalia eventually gives up and goes back to taking notes as well.

The rest of the class goes by smoothly. In fact, the rest of the day flies by. Looks like it's time for Combat Class already.

Your team takes it's usual spot in the rows of benches as DeFleur loads up today's enemies.

Without a word, she presses a button. 20 beowolves. That's two 10s! And more than three times as many as you faced on the first day!

"The majority of the time, you will be faced with an enemy that far outnumbers you. This is why you have a partner. Alone, you are easily overwhelmed. But watching each other's back, you can overcome an obstacle.." She mutters under her breath, "Usually."

[Volunteer!]
*[Sit back.]
[Tell (Regalia/Olver) to go.]

You relax a bit, in no rush to go first today. The rest of your team seems to share your sentiment. You watch a few of your fellow students do their best. Most of them manage to pull it off, but a few of them don't. Apparently the simulation assumes you don't have aura to stop a single attack.

Eventually, there's only a few groups left besides your team.

Oliver sighs before standing up and making his way to the arena. Regalia is quick to join him.

The horn sounds, and Oliver's rifle spits out a few rounds of plasma before he pulls the rifle apart and begins the same movements he practiced this morning, already nearing his top speed.

Regalia is also quick on the draw, waving her arms as threads fly about. You have no idea how she completely avoids Oliver, but he moves forward through the Grimm advance, drawing them to him as Regalia's threads tear apart any holograms that come near him.

It doesn't take them long to finish, and they rejoin your team.

["Great job guys!"]
[??]
[Ignore them.]
Double vote.
["Looks like we're next, Crystal."]
["We should go last."]

"Great job guys!"

Regalia pats your head as she sits by your side. Oliver nods, sitting on the other side of Regalia.

"Looks like we're next, Crystal."

"About time." She stands, making her way to the arena.

You follow after her, unfolding your weapon in the stairway.

[Battle plan. (Post it.)]
[Wing it.]
[??]

You catch up with your partner, "Crystal. Try and slow them down with your ice dust bubbles. I'll take care of the rest."

She thinks for a moment before nodding.

You take your place, as does Crystal beside you. She's turning the cylinder in her weapon again.

You wait for the horn, but it never comes.

"Ms. Swann. Your aura is at 19%. Are you feeling alright?" DeFleur calls down from the observation area.

*["I'm fine!"]
["I didn't want to miss class.."]

"I'm fine!"

Crystal shoots you a look, "Are you sure?"

You nod, flipping your spear around in preparation to fire.

DeFleur just shakes her head, "Try not to overdo it."

The Grimm materialize as the horn goes off.

Crystal's blowing bubbles in an instant, explosions of ice taking out the front three Grimm.

You fire your shot, taking out a fourth. You're quick to use your semblance, darting the mass of metal through the frozen slow or frozen Grimm, cutting their number in half before pulling the shot back into your weapon.

Crystal's already got a second wave going as the remaining Grimm climb over the mass of ice. There's only a few left. You fire it again, taking out #15. You move your hand and a horn sounds.

["Aero Swann. Eliminated."]

You drop the shot to the ground and fall to your knees as the remaining Beowolves continue onward.

Crystal turns you to, she looks concerned, but she quickly rolls towards you, narrowly avoiding the first beowolf's attack. She jumps forward, twisting mid air to hit with a burst of ice bubbles.

She lands, skidding backwards as she flips the cylinder. She fires a torrent of bubbles at the incoming group. They pop on first impact, sending a wave of electricity through their ranks.

The horn sounds and Crystal walks over to you.

"Are you alright?"

["I'm fine. Really."]
*["I've been better."]

"I've been.. better."

She holds out her hand. You take it and get up.

"I'm sorry. I was up practicing with Oliver this morning. I thought I could handle it.."

She flicks your forehead. "You shouldn't push yourself like that. We can't have our leader falling down because she's over exerting herself." She smiles.

DeFleur is still tapping when you return. She doesn't even bother to look up at you, "Ms. Swann. Nurse's office."

"Yes ma'am."

You start heading there, only to realize Crystal is with you.

["What?"]
*[??]
["Huh?"]

"Thanks."

Crystal nods, "Wouldn't want you to pass out before you arrive."

You look at your scroll.

[AURA LEVELS: 14%]

You sigh, making your way to the nurse. It doesn't take long to find yourself in front of the door of a Dr. Holly.

You knock, greeted immediately by a "Come in."

You open the door and are greeted by a bored looking woman in an office chair.

"So what's wrong with you?"

You open your mouth, but Crystal is quick to respond. "She has aura exhaustion."

The nurse gets up and walks towards you. She stops in front of you and looks you up and down.

"Alright. Go lay down in back."

You nod and turn to Crystal who gives you a slight wave. You smile before walking into the back and laying down.

You close your eyes, and fall asleep immediately.