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Krimm Sohn

The bright, insecure leader of Team KOHL with a tendency to be dense.

0 · 366 views · located in Reverie

a character in “RWBY - Keep the Faith”, as played by RebornAncient12

Groups

Not the best of teams, but definitely not the worst of them.

Description

Name: Krimm Sohn

Gender: Male

Age: Unknown (probably, like, 5 or something)

Race: Robot

Height: 5'11"

Weight: 300 lbs.

Hair: Krimm's hair is mostly black with a few crimson highlights.

Eyes: Krimm's eyes are usually gray, and they glow red on certain occasions.

Personality: Krimm is an intelligent, strict individual with a cold, calm and robotic manner of speaking and a seeming lack of outwardly visible emotion. He is a bit of a shut-in and finds it difficult to hold a normal, casual conversation with anyone, contributing much to his sometimes awkward behavior and movements. While he does feel comfortable in the company of others, Krimm's own fears keep him from opening up to them. As a leader, Krimm is straight-forward, demanding, and oddly charismatic despite his monotonous delivery of speech. Though he is afraid that his teammates will not accept him if he reveals his true nature, Krimm is very caring and protective of them. He does, however, have a tendency to overdo being a leader, usually by taking the blame for his teammates' deeds and shortcomings. A very observant fellow, Krimm takes note of everything around him, about everyone around him, though he could still be a bit dense.

Appearance: Krimm looks much like a tall teenager of slim built. He wears a pair of rectangular-framed glasses (purely aesthetic) which is sometimes substituted with a pair of large, silver, mirrored glasses. His usual attire consists of a red shirt, a black vest, and a pair of black trousers. He also wears what appear to be a pair of gray combat boots and a pair of gray gauntlets.

Symbol: Krimm's symbol is engraved on his gauntlets and the sole of his boots. He also has a silver pin of it.
Image

Colour scheme: Crimson, gray, black

Dust affinity: None

Weapon: Metacarpal-Integrated Aura-and-Dust-based Attack-and-Defend Module
Krimm's default hands (his "gauntlets") act as channels for his Aura. Emitters located in the arm-guards, palms and backhands of each gauntlet can deploy a shield (the Aura's defense-field thingy) and also shock waves, though each gauntlet could only use one emitter at a time. Each gauntlet also contains a Dust crystal, which can amplify the emitters' output and also powers Dust blasters stored in each finger.

Aura: Red

Semblance:
Krimm's Semblance allows him to affect an attack's trajectory, having it hit him instead of its intended target. However, this only works if the distance between the attack and the target and also between Krimm and the attacker is somewhat proportional. It is possible for Krimm to target more than one attack, but it takes much more effort.

Fighting Style: Usually, Krimm would seek a good spot that provides him with a good view on the battlefield and also provides him with sufficient protection. He would then observe the enemies' fighting styles, tactics and other details then communicate quickly-calculated strategies to his allies. However, if he is forced to fight, Krimm employs a fighting style designed to disable an opponent, but could also incapacitate one if agitated enough. Krimm, however, would mostly go for the defensive, using his Dust shields to block attacks and strike back with his Dust blasters.

So begins...

Krimm Sohn's Story

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Viridian Boudic Character Portrait: Ecru Talon Character Portrait: Jasper McTavish Character Portrait: Indu Tzu Character Portrait: Arsenic Arisen Character Portrait: Raven Coeur de Lion
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Somewhere within the cafeteria... (before the time skip)

Team KOHL sat in their table, awkwardly. While most of the new teams were excitedly trying to get to know each other, the four freshmen sat there, eating in silence. Krimm Sohn, the team's unwilling leader, scanned the surroundings, trying to figure out his course of action.

Krimm cleared his throat. "So..." he began, "...uh, anyone..?"

Before Krimm could continue, a fight erupted somewhere near them. Apparently, two members of teams IVRY and JADE crossed paths, and it did not seem to go well. Laurel and Oxford carefully watched the two in their exchange, and decided to intervene. As they stood up, Krimm grabbed them by their wrists.

"Hey!" Oxford yelled, "What gives? Don't you see that that witch is being a bit unreasonable?"

Krimm remained expressionless. "Aren't you a bit unreasonable for drawing your weapon to deal with the situation?" he pointed out, shifting his eyes to Oxford's free, right hand, which was reaching for the short sword. Oxford growled at Krimm, the former's Semblance beginning to manifest. Krimm remained undaunted, simply staring back at him, tightening his grip while he was at it.

Oxford's semblance has emerged only its right arm, which was reaching for Krimm's neck. Krimm let Laurel free of his grasp, but the Faunus did not leave. He, as well as Honey, stared at Krimm and Oxford as they engaged in a stand-off. Krimm pointed the fingers of his left hand at Oxford, whose semblance grabbed Krimm's shirt. The former's fingertips began to glow, and Oxford's semblance began to rise...

"Stop it, both of you!" Honey shouted, standing from her seat. Krimm's fingers stopped glowing, and he let Oxford go. Oxford, in turn, withdrew his Semblance and sat down. Seconds after the latter's Fighting Spirit vanished, Laurel seated. Honey remained standing, looking at the two with clear disappointment.

"Guys, a fight just broke out," she said, "let's not make another one, got it?!"

"Yes, ma'am." Krimm and Oxford replied, as if being spoken to by a teacher.

The four watched on as a teacher escorted the members of Team IVRY out of the cafeteria. Honey then sat down and sighed in relief. Krimm looked at Team JADE, seeing that they have grown closer together, in comparison to his team.

Oxford, however, shook his head. "Well, at least they've been dealt with."

Laurel, seeing Oxford's disappointment, chuckled a little. "Can't believe they even tried to get the joker, especially after he showed up." he said, sipping his drink, "That's Kamar Lucifer for ya. He showed 'em, alright."

"Ka-Kam-Kamar Lucifer?!" Oxford stuttered, "Here?! No way!"

"He just walked outside. If you're lucky, you can get his autograph." Laurel joked.

"Shut up!" Oxford yelled, slumping in his chair, mumbling on about missed opportunities and something about justice.

"If ya wanna beat IVRY..." Krimm started, peeling off the skin of his banana, "...there is one thing you could do, Oxford."

"Yeah? What'd that be?" Oxford asked sarcastically, much to Krimm's annoyance.

"Maybe..." Krimm said, putting down the peeling of his finished banana, "...just maybe, we could defeat them if we start working as a team..."

Oxford looked at Honey, Laurel and, lastly, Krimm. "So...what exactly are we gonna do?"

"Simple." Laurel interrupted, finishing his drink before slamming the glass onto the table. "Be a team."

"Really?"

"Yeah, really." Honey added, "If IVRY is weak as a team, we could at least be better than them with that before we get to anything else!"

"So..." Krimm spoke, resting his chin on his fingers, "...what'd you say?"

Oxford grinned. "Let's get started."

"See?" Laurel chuckled, slapping Krimm and Oxford's backs, "We're startin' to get to like each other a bit more!"
________________________

Meanwhile...

Merkur was walking around the campus, happily humming to himself. "This is it...This is it!" he thought to himself, smiling as he did, "This is his first day! wonder how he..."

He heard some commotion from the cafeteria. Readying Bite the Dust, Merkur rushed to the cafeteria, only to find Kamar and three students. Curious, he went closer to them.

"Yo, Kamar!" he said with much pep, "What's going on here?"

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Wynn 'Leo' Leon Character Portrait: T'wulf Lupus Character Portrait: Phenix Sovereign Character Portrait: Merkur Quinton Character Portrait: Regalia Kitsu Character Portrait: Sienna Seraphim
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----------------------------------------
Central Tower
----------------------------------------


Merkur paced in his office. It was a standard office, practically identical to those used by the other teachers at the academy, until it was assigned to him. The walls were plainly white, the desk was a bunch of chrome rods welded together and topped with a glass sheet. While other teachers had their offices rather spacious, with some standard ornaments and their weapons neatly mounted somewhere, Merkur had steel cabinets and tables cluttered with assorted parts, wires, piping, circuitry, and things some would refer to as "junk". On one of the tables was a machine similar to Merkur's weapon, Bite the Dust, albeit smaller, comparably incomplete, and bearing a "02" painted on it. Merkur sat in his office chair, one of the only two things left from the original office (the other being the door), and looked at his computer.

"Well well well..." he told himself, "What do we have here?" Merkur gazed upon a set of blueprints sent to him by a colleague of his in a joint program of the kingdoms of Remnant. The plans were for a proposed mechanical suit that would be used to aid Huntsmen in dealing with Grimm. It was...less to say "different" than most mechsuits, mainly due to its shape. Before Merkur could finish looking at the designs for the weapons, he heard someone knock on the door.

"Hold on a sec!" Merkur shouted, closing all windows displaying the blueprints and the computer itself. He then opened the door, only to find Krimm standing in front of him, with his usual blank expression. "Come in." Merkur said, moving aside to give way for the boy. Krimm entered the room and stood still near Merkur's desk.

Merkur sighed as he closed the door and sat behind his desk, motioning Krimm to face him. "You have summoned me." Krimm said with some irritation.

"Yes, I did." Merkur replied, dropping a few folders onto his desk. "The higher-ups are not-so happy about today."

"Why? I did pass the initiation, and I did not compromise the project in any way." Krimm said, returning to his usual monotonous voice.

"No, no, that's not it. They were not pleased with your performance with your team. Can't believe that they'd really expect real people to be similar to the simulations, especially the ones who're working with you..."

Krimm sighed. "Perhaps they are disappointed in the manner I led the team. I knew it. It is difficult. I was not programmed for this."

"You did splendidly, Krimm. They're not pulling the plug on this, okay? Relax."

Silence fell upon the two. The only sounds heard were those of the air conditioning unit and the echoing of the sounds of the Grimm outside.

"She would be proud of you, kid." Merkur said in a melancholic tone, looking at a photograph. The photo was of a couple, a man and a woman, at a seaside park. Upon close inspection, one would notice that the two are wearing identical rings.

"She would." Krimm said, looking at the picture as well, focusing more on the woman. The two were quiet, once again. The veil of silence was broken by a beep from Merkur's communicator.

"Ebony..." Merkur mumbled, standing up and grabbing a few files. Krimm stood up as well, opening the door for Merkur. "See ya around, kiddo." Merkur said, patting Krimm's head before walking to Ebony's office.

-------------------
Dorms
-------------------


Honey, Oxford and Laurel looked around their dorm room. Before they placed in their things, the room had a pair of bunk beds, one of which has its posts wrapped in duct tape, a couple of desks, some pens, pencils, papers, and books that were not theirs, and the ripped, indistinguishable remains of a poster. Now it had a three beds, one placed at the end of the room. There were also two desks, each with labelled containers, and had whatever collectibles or items the team's members wanted to decorate them with. A few new posters were placed, and the old one was the first resident of the new disposal bin. The room is comparably cleaner, more organized, and less of an eyesore. There was, however, one problem left...

"I am not getting on that bed." Laurel said, pointing at the one at the end of the room and shaking his head. Honey and Oxford sighed. The bed had one of its legs glued together and wrapped in a thick layer of duct tape, like the other legs, but this one leg in particular looked as if it would give in at any moment.

"Well neither am I nor Honey here." Oxford mockingly said. Honey nodded to this, and her face bore a concerned expression.

"Maybe Krimm wouldn't mind..." Laurel said, smiling weakly.

"He wanted to get rid of it! You're the one who told him to keep it, bozo!" Oxford shouted, slapping Laurel's hat off the faunus' head.

Laurel pushed Oxford onto one of the desks before picking up his hat. "Don't touch the hat, boy..." Laurel growled, poking Oxford with the hat before putting it back on his head. Oxford shook his head and reorganized the scattered objects, just in time for Krimm's return.

"I'm back." Krimm said, closing the door behind him. When he tried to lock it, the door fell down (for no apparent reason) on the hallway's floor with a loud "thud!". The four of them looked at it for a while, nervously hoping that nobody else has noticed.

But of course, somebody noticed. After the door hit the floor, Krimm was alerted by a shift in attention from a few beings in the rooms next to theirs. The room left of Team KOHL's had what appear to be three girls and a boy, the boy and one of the girls being Faunus. They appeared to be alerted by the noise, logically, as Krimm notes. Krimm ignored the inhabitants of the room to the right of his, but he was certain they were alerted, too. What would happen next would depend on how they would act.

----------------------------------------
Central Tower
----------------------------------------


As Merkur was going to grab the doorknob of Ebony's office, he stepped back as someone opened the door from the inside. Much to his chagrin, it was Sienna. The mad professor shot the woman a displeased look. This look, combined with his messy hair and unkept labcoat, made Sienna make a similar face, but she quickly cracked a small smile after a second or so. Sienna closed the door behind her, leaned against it, and folded her arms.

"Sienna." Merkur said, putting his free hand to his hip, slightly turning his head away from her, then shifting his eyes to look at her.

"Merkur." Sienna smirked.

Merkur dropped the pose and sighed. "Did you offer her another neckrub session? Come on, why don't you offer me any?"

"Because, Mister Quinton, you are..." Sienna circled Merkur, thinking as his gaze followed her. "...well, less to say, you are annoying, loud, and you smell." she said, ending with a smirk.

"So, kinda like you then, eh?" Merkur smiled back.

The two smiled at each other for a while, then Merkur remembered his business with Ebony. "Well, nice talk." Merkur said before implying (through some rather quirky motions) that he wished to enter the room. Sienna seemed to understand this and slowly walked away, looking at him all the way. Merkur looked back at her as he entered the room and shut the door. Afterwards, the two sighed and continued with their business.

Turning around, Merkur saw that Ebony was busy with something. He opted to leave until he saw the document she had in her hand. It was a profile of Oxford Legend, one of Krimm's teammates. In her other hand was Krimm's profile, which was held with a couple of other profiles. Merkur coughed, hoping he got her attention. Ebony lifted her head.

"So," Merkur started, "you wanted to see me?"

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: [NPC] Bartender Character Portrait: Wynn 'Leo' Leon Character Portrait: T'wulf Lupus Character Portrait: Viridian Boudic Character Portrait: Ecru Talon Character Portrait: Phenix Sovereign
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#, as written by Senato
South Tower

It was early in the morning and, as expected, the southern tower was mostly silent, save for the few early birds who were already up and getting ready for their first official day. One of these early birds was, of course, the hyperactive lion of team PWTR; Wynn.
“I should probably wake the others up soon.” he thought to himself as he stepped out of the warm shower, quickly drying himself off. He had woken up far earlier than he needed to, but he couldn’t help it, he was just so excited about his first day.
He slipped into his uniform, which was a white, long-sleeved button-up with the school’s insignia on the breast pocket, over that, a dark purple school blazer with black accents, long black slacks, and neat black shoes before stepping back into the main room, where the rest of his team was still sleeping.
“Hmm, how to wake them up
” he wondered, before a mischievous smile crossed his lips. He quietly tip-toed over to the bed in which Phenix and T’wulf were sleeping and lowered himself to be eye-level with the sleeping T’wulf before tapping on her nose, “Wakey wakey, Wulfie!”
T’wulf awoke with a start, jumping back and pushing Phenix out of the bed; causing her to land on the floor with a thump.

“Uuuugh
” Phen began, lifting herself off the floor

“What was that for!?” T’wulf shouted, glaring at Wynn who was basically keeling over in laughter

“Wha-whats going on?” Regalia said sleepily as she rose from her bed, eyes still half closed

“Hahahaha, I’m, haha, sor-haha-ry” Wynn replied unable to contain his laughter, “That reaction-hahaha, was just haha, so golden!”

“It's not funny.” T’wulf deadpanned

“Well,” Regalia yawned, “At least we’re all awake.”

“That was the goal.” Wynn giggled, “Plus, you three should start getting ready.”

“True.” Phenix replied as she stretched

T’wulf looked around at the other two girls, “Are you really gonna act like this is normal??” though her only reply was a playful wink from Wynn.

“While you three get ready, I’ll go get us all some breakfast in the cafeteria!” Wynn announced before leaving the room, closing the door a little too loudly behind him.

“C’mon pup.” Phen began, drawing T’wulf’s attention, “Time to get ready for the first day.” She smiled

T’wulf crossed her arms and rolled her eyes, “I’m not a pup.” she mumbled as she got off the bed and made her way to the closet, eliciting a slight giggle from both Phen and Regalia.




Welcome back to the Cafeteria

The Cafeteria was slowly coming to life as one by one the student body dripped into the enormous room. Some tables already had their full teams present and were digging into their breakfast, whilst others, like Wynn, were waiting for the rest of their team to arrive before eating.

“Over here guys!” Wynn called out whilst waving his hands to Regalia, Phen and T’wulf whom had just entered from the hall. Each wearing their own slightly personalised version of their school uniforms; Regalia wearing a dark purple skirt, with white button up, a tie and a blazer, Phen wore the v-neck variant of the sweater, with the sleeves rolled up to her elbows, and black slacks, finally, T-wulf was wearing a white button up, blazer and slacks.

“He was actually able to get us a table.” Regalia said with sarcastic surprise as they began heading in his direction

“I am curious what he got us though,” Phen relied, “Considering he didn’t even ask before heading out
”

“It shouldn’t be anything bad, it’s only breakfast.” T’wulf answered, as she started to think about all the kinds of breakfast he could have gotten for them. She ended up so deep in thought that she didn’t even realize there was someone in front of her, until she bumped into the taller, blond boy, which resulted in her falling to the ground with an ‘oof’. “Oh, sorry
” she began before looking up at the boy she had bumped into, her nose wrinkled as she noticed his trademark scarf, “Never mind, I’m not sorry after all.” She muttered.

“Tch, watch where you’re going next time, Mutt.” He said venomously as he adjusted his scarf, before he continued walking forward, ignoring her.

“Hey!” Phen began, reaching out to grab his shoulder, “You don’t need to be so rude!” Though just before she grabbed his shoulder, her arm was captured by a somewhat smaller hand, she turned to see the stern gaze of Indu. The boy, Yale, turned to look at the two before he continued walking to one of the empty tables, leaving Indu and Phen to continue their minor confrontation.

“Phenix,” Regalia placed her hand on her team leader’s shoulder, “Let’s not let our first day get ruined.”

Phen looked down and sighed, though, to her surprise, Indu was first to break off the encounter. As she refocused on Indu’s face, she noticed that the stern, somewhat threatening look was replaced with a friendly smile.

“Regalia,” Indu began in a friendly tone, “It’s been a while.” She turned to look at Phen who was helping T’wulf up off the ground, “I’m sorry for my teammate’s actions.” She said with a bow.

“You don’t have to apologize for something he did.” T’wulf said softly

“I do.” Indu responded swiftly, “He is a member of my team, and thus his actions are my responsibility.”

“Come now,” Regalia interjected, “No need to be so serious. How have you been Indi?”

“You still haven’t given up on that nickname, have you?” Indu giggled, “I’m doing fine, though I’m afraid I have to go get my breakfast now,” She turned to look at her team, which were silently sitting at their table, eating. “I’m looking forward to seeing you in class.” She said before heading off.

“You too!” Regalia responded, as she, Phen and T’wulf began heading to Wynn who was patiently waiting for them still.

“I feel sorry for her
” T’wulf suddenly began, “Being stuck with that group of jerks.”

“She’ll be fine.” Regalia replied, “If anyone can take on a team like that, it’d be her, trust me.”

“FINALLY!” Wynn burst out as the three had arrived at the table, “I thought I was gonna die of hunger before you’d finally get here!”

“Don’t be so dramatic.” Phen laughed

“Well, if you had died, it would leave more food for us
” Regalia joked

“So cruel!” Wynn replied, dramatically falling backwards, before stopping himself by hooking his foot around the bottom of the table. “Anyway, food time!” he shouted as he shoot back up and began devouring his food.




At IVRY’s table

“You didn’t seriously bow in front of those weaklings.” Raven scoffed as Indu returned to their table.

“It’s my family’s custom.” Indu replied, “It would be better for us to not go through another scuffle on our first official day of...”

“Pathetic.” Raven interrupted, “You don’t even try to act like a leader. I’m sure you only got the position because the school owes your family something, don’t they?”

With this both Vi and Yale lifted their heads to see Indu’s response, but she did not react. She remained quiet with a neutral facial expression. She stood up and within seconds the bell rang, “We should get going, we don’t want to be late for class.” She stated, turning to Raven she saw some visible irritation at the fact that she was ignoring him, but nothing became of this.




Dust Studies Classroom

Students slowly filed into the semi-circular shaped lecture room; it was rather standard in appearance, rows of desks with chairs, each row slightly higher than the one in front of it. All the furniture was made from a rather dark coloured wood and the desks were covered in small damages, from scratches to scorched areas, with small beige coloured pillows on each of the chairs. Down at the center, where the teacher will no doubt stand, was a large blackboard, a desk, and a locked cabinet, likely filled with dust for demonstrational purposes.

Indu was one of the first to take a seat on the right side of the classroom, at the 3rd of the 6 rows, her team taking seats somewhat scattered around where they felt most comfortable. Obviously it wasn't required that teams sit together, but a number of other teams were taking seats near one another, such as PWTR and SSHL, she watched the door patiently as she awaited the last members of her class and, of course, the teacher to enter. Team KOHL was among the last students to enter the class, but she could still not see the teacher anywhere.

“Cmon little ones,” A voice sounded from the door, “To your seats!” A group of students standing at the door stepped aside to reveal a short, brightly dressed man with a multitude of colours streaked through his short hair. He hopped down the stairs as the class stared at the strangely energetic man; he wore a light-blue long sleeved button up with the cuffs unbuttoned, dark green slacks, black shoes and a dark red jacket. “Welcome to your first lesson at Faith Academy!” He said rather happily, “My name is Phlox Cherubim, Professor of Dust Studies, and you better make a good impression, cause y’all are going to be stuck with me for the next 4 years!” He arrived at the center of the classroom, and looked around at all the new students, “Yup, most, if not all, of you are here.” He nodded to himself. “So!” he began as he lifted his right hand and opened his palm facing upwards, “How many of you use dust?” His red jacket began to dissolve away from the bottom up, “Any form is fine, from dust cartridges in your guns, to full on manipulation.” Most of the class raised their hands, as they continued to stare at his dissolving jacket, which was soon completely dissolved, and in his right palm now lay a small pile of reddish coloured dust. He stepped forward and began placing a small amount on the desks in front of each student. “And how many of you actually manipulate dust?” He asked, and a much smaller number of students rose their hands. “Well, this class seems to be more dust-savvy than usual!” he laughed, having now placed small amounts of reddish dust in front of about half the class. “Now for those of you who don’t know,” he began, “Dust in non-crystallised form is very volatile, almost anything can cause a reaction, even the slightest
”

Phlox’s lecture was interrupted by a loud sneeze from Jasper, which caused the small pile of dust in front of him to explode, singeing his face and setting a small section of the table alight. Phlox quickly turned and aimed his left hand at the small fire, with a flick of his thumb and middle finger, a small stream of water flew from his hand and quickly subdued the flame. “...sneeze.” Phlox sighed, as a large portion of the class began to laugh at Jasper, who had been knocked over by the small explosion and somewhat soaked by the following stream of water. Through his laughter, Jasper turned to look at Talon, who simply sighed.

Phlox made his way back to the front of the room, all the students, excluding Jasper, now had a small pile of dust in front of them. “Now the Mr. McTavish has shown us the extent of his control of dust,” He began, eliciting a final giggle from part of the class, “I want all of you to try to channel your aura and use this dust in any way you can; ignite it, reform it into an object, fuse it with your semblance, whatever you’re capable of.” Slowly students began using the dust in front of them, some students including Indu, Lavender and Phenix displayed good mastery of dust, by being able to reform it into an object, whilst the majority of the class simply set the dust alight. Of course there were also a few who were completely incapable of bringing any reaction out of the dust, such as Viridian, Slate and Krimm.
With a few flicks of his fingers, Phlox put out the flames that had been produced, “Woohoo!” Phlox shouted, “This means we’ll get to skip through most of the boring starters stuff, since most of you have got that down.” He threw his arms into the air with joy, before turning to see the clock which warned that the lesson was nearing its end. “Oh!” He said with surprise, “before the lesson ends, Sienn- I mean, Miss Seraphim told me, to tell you, that we realised some of your dorms were lacking in beds or other furniture so those will be delivered to your dorms today during classes.” The bell rang just as he finished informing them, “Well, run along now! Tomorrow the real classes begin!”

All the students began making their way out of the lecture room. Yale stood as most of the class had already left, he exited the room and turned to go left, “Yale,” Indu called from behind him, “We have history next, and it's this way.” She said pointing in the opposite direction to where he was going, he turned and silently began walking behind Indu towards the history classroom, not another word was exchanged between them the whole way there.

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Wynn 'Leo' Leon Character Portrait: T'wulf Lupus Character Portrait: Viridian Boudic Character Portrait: Ecru Talon Character Portrait: Phenix Sovereign Character Portrait: Jasper McTavish
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Cafeteria, a few moments ago...

Team KOHL gathered at a table, eating lunch. Well...most of them were.

"Hey, Krimm," Laurel said with a mouthful of steak, "you ought to eat, pal."

Krimm said nothing. Everyone else noticed that he had been a bit dreary since their Dust Studies class, and it seemed to have gotten worse during History. "I'm not hungry." he finally said.

Laurel shook his head. He hurriedly sliced what was left of his steak and impaled the larger cut with a fork. "Here." he said, offering the piece of steak to Krimm.

Krimm stared at the piece of steak for a while then, in one swift motion, took the fork from Laurel's hand and tore the meat off of it with his mouth. He then chewed on the meat, though still looked a bit sad.

It took a while before Krimm finished the steak, then it appeared that only Honey had not finished eating. She seemed to be entranced by the flavor of the soup she ordered, and Oxford and Laurel were getting impatient. The two were about to (jokingly) fall asleep when-

"Come on, not again!" Oxford whined as it appeared Teams JADE and IVRY were going to fight, "Geez, this is making me feel like I'm in some poorly-written, modern shonen manga..." He was a bit disappointed when Jasper ran out of the cafeteria, but was surprised when all of IVRY followed in hot pursuit. Oxford turned to Laurel and the two nodded in agreement, rushing out of the cafeteria after PWTR and the rest of JADE.

Krimm thought for a minute, blocking out Honey's slurps, then ran after his teammates. Honey, caught by surprised, stood up as well, hesitated, then ran too. "Wait for meeee!" she said as she hurried after Krimm whilst holding her bowl of soup. She almost rammed herself into a table occupied by another team with one member having large horns on his head. "Sorry..." she said, nervously backing away then running to the exit, avoiding everyone in her way.

Some time before that, in the hallways

Merkur was taking another leisurely stroll around Faith Academy. "Lunch..." he hummed to himself, looking at his wristwatch. He quickly paced towards the cafeteria, hoping he could bump into Krimm and his team. Oh how he would embarrass his "nephew".

"Merkur!" Merkur turned and saw Phlox.

"Ah...it's...Cherubim, right?" he replied, struggling to remember the man's first name.

"Cherubim. Phlox Cherubim."

"Oh, Phlox? I...yeah, er...hi." Merkur said, scratching his head.

"Where're you off to? I'm headed for lunch. Sweeping up Dust residue is exhausting." Phlox jokingly said.

"I'm getting myself some lunch, too." Merkur said. The two started walking towards the cafeteria. "I'm also hoping on seeing my nephew before his break ends." he snickered.

"Oh..." Phlox said, "...Krimm, was it?"

"Yep, saw that he was in your class. How'd he do?"

Phlox scratched is head and thought for a while. "Well, he..."

"...did he blow something up? Darn kid! Oh-hoh, he's gonna get-"

"No, no, no..." Phlox interrupted, "He didn't. He couldn't even make it glow."

Merkur seemed to be surprised. He nodded then went silent for a while. He then looked at Phlox, who looked back at him with a puzzled look.

"...is there something on my face?" Phlox nervously asked, pointing around his cheek.

Merkur shook his head. "Your...your hair..."

"...what about it?" Phlox said. He was surprised when Merkur touched his hair, playing around with it for a few seconds.

"It's so...magical..." Merkur said with a soft voice, his eyes twinkling with wonder. He reached into his pockets and took out his scroll. "Hey, you mind if I took a video?"

Phlox looked puzzled. Merkur had been working at Faith Academy for at least two years by now, and only then did he have any interest in his hair. The man shrugged.

"Okay, just do this sort of rocking motion..." Merkur continued. He then told Phlox that he thought of making a short video, and all Phlox had to do was bend backwards a bit, go back upright, and repeat a few times. When they were done recording, Merkur laughed to himself and made sure he saved the video. "I'll show ya the finished product."

"Sure..." Phlox smiled, as if he knew what Merkur was making. They continued their way towards the cafeteria, until they saw Honey rushing out of it with a bowl of soup. The two, puzzled, watched her run off until she was out of sight. "What was that about?"

"Beats me." Merkur said, smacking his lips at the smell of food that crept from the cafeteria, "But boy, am I hungry..."


Dueling Arena, First Year Tower. Sort-of present.


"What's going on?" Krimm asked Oxford and Laurel.

"Seems Talon of JADE and Indu of IVRY are gonna have a duel." Oxford replied, sounding mildly interested.

"They've got some stakes on the line." Laurel said, " Indu wins, Talon's their slave for a month. Talon wins, IVRY doesn't touch the monkey kid again. Even if the guy wins, I doubt IVRY's gonna comply..."

Krimm looked at the two combatants, their teams, and the arena. He smiled inside. Honey, who had just arrived, bumped into Krimm, exhausted.

"Wha's...happn'n?" she said, collapsing onto the floor but keeping her bowl safe. After the rest of her team filled her in, she suddenly jumped into the air and went infront of PWTR, who were watching Indu and Talon. Honey seemed to be energetic, reaching into her bag for a bag of potato chips, which she tore open and spilled the contents into the bowl that was once filled with soup. Her teammates, puzzled, assembled near her.

Krimm sighed. "Stay here. You three keep your eyes on JADE, IVRY and PWTR. I'm getting a closer look." he then proceeded to look for higher ground. He found it at the large screen that displayed Aura levels. He then worked his way through hallways, staircases and ledges before standing on top of the board, watching Indu and Talon from above.

"So we're just gonna sit back and watch?!" Oxford said, "Augh...you gotta be kidding me, Krimm!"

"He's crazy..." Laurel said, staring at his team's leader standing on the board. He took out his scroll and huddled with Oxford and Honey. Krimm appeared on the screen.

"Keep a close eye on the spectators. If they try to interfere, stop them." Krimm said.

"What're you gonna do? Honey said, munching on potato chips.

"If the fight gets out of hand, I'll intervene..." Krimm said, "Stay there, got it?"

The three nodded. "Over and out." Krimm said. He turned his attention to the two fighters. "Now...what do you have to show us?" he thought to himself.

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Wynn 'Leo' Leon Character Portrait: T'wulf Lupus Character Portrait: Viridian Boudic Character Portrait: Ecru Talon Character Portrait: Phenix Sovereign Character Portrait: Jasper McTavish
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#, as written by Senato
Dueling Area atop the South Tower

The two combatants stepped into the arena, the participants screen quickly buzzing to life revealing the names Ecru Talon and Indu Tzu, along with a portrait photo of each and a bar showing their respective aura levels.

Indu brought her weapon hilt into her right hand, the center of the device opened, giving her space to insert a small dust clip. Upon closing the weapon came to life as an ornately carved, partially ethereal - light blue blade sprung to life from the hilt. A chain of the same ethereal - light blue nature sprung from the back of the hilt, and created a second sword, connected to the first through the chain.

Talon too equipped his weapon, bringing his arms up in a street-fighting pose with both blades pointing towards his enemy. The two stared at one another, neither moving a single step.

Jasper sat slightly separated from the others, watching them intently, a scowl upon his face.
Damask looked at him worriedly before turning to Regalia, “You know her, right?” She said pointing to Indu, “Just how dangerous is she?”

Regalia sighed in response, “Well
 she almost never loses a one on one fight.” She saw Damask become noticeably demoralised “Though,” She quickly continued in an attempt to bring back hope, “I don’t know what Talon is capable of, so he could still stand a chance
” She turned her head, internally scolding herself for her failed attempt at comforting Damask, “I mean
”

The conversation ended abruptly as their attention was drawn by the loud clashing of blades, Indu was attempting to overpower Talon by using both her blades in a single full powered strike. Through a swift motion, Talon sidestepped to the right and directed Indu’s weight downwards to his left, being able to pull his left arm back as a result, he then quickly followed through with a strike in the direction of her skull. Indu twirled under Talon’s strike, which glanced just above her face, as she allowed her body to drop with gravity she made a swipe with her right blade, forcing Talon to dodge away, giving her the a chance to flip back into an upright position.

This time, Talon charged at Indu, who threw her offhand blade in his direction. Deflecting the blade with his left gauntlet, Talon then grabbed the hilt of the blade, bringing it with him as he charged at Indu, raising his right blade in preparation to strike. Noticing Indu’s calm stance, Talon’s eyes drifted to her weapon, which revealed to him that the chain no longer connected the blade he held, to her weapon. He dropped the blade and dodged away as the weapon exploded into hundreds of shards of ice a few of which were still able to strike him because of his late reaction. His teammates watched in worry as the bar representing his aura barrier went down slightly.

Indu charged, spinning her blade into reversed grip before it clashed against Talon’s crossed gauntlets. Shifting his weight forwards, Talon attempted a roundhouse kick to Indu’s left leg, which she avoided by flipping over him. He turned to face her and quickly followed through with two swift strikes, both of which were blocked by Indu, who then flipped her blade into normal grip before performing a downwards strike, which Talon avoided. Using her momentum, Indu quickly followed through with a second upwards strike, however as she swung, the blade turned into a bladed whip. Quickly noting the new weapon’s extended range, Talon swiftly dodged backwards, quickly increasing the distance between himself and Indu.

“He seems to be using a less refined street style,” Indu thought to herself, “He is well equipped to deal with close range combat, however increased reach should give me the advantage I need.” She followed her initial strike with three more, all of which Talon skillfully dodged.
Talon began charging forward to close this distance, ducking under a horizontal strike from Indu, Talon readied himself as he neared striking distance, however, Indu pulled back on her whip which then wrapped itself in a circle-like formation with the blades pointing outwards at her opponent. In response Talon quickly switched the shotguns of his gauntlets to their forward facing position and fired off multiple shots to help him reduce his momentum. With a slight jab, Indu’s whip rushed forwards at him, though Talon had luckily sidestepped it just in time.

Seeing that Indu was wide open, Talon fired off a shot with his right gauntlet, however, to his surprise, Indu had defended herself with a shield which had formed on her left arm. “So that’s her semblance.” Talon thought to himself as he quickly dodged backwards avoiding Indu’s counter attack.

With a sigh, Indu relaxed her posture, both her shield and bladed whip disappeared. “Mid-range only gives me a defensive advantage, so I’ll have to keep close if I want to actually hit him, in which case this would be a good weapon for wearing him down.” She thought to herself.


Talon watched wearily as two chain-blades manifested in Indu’s hands, the one originating from her hilt had a slight blue tint whereas the one in her off-hand had a soft ethereal ivory colour.

“Eh!” Phen said in surprise as she turned to Regalia, “aren’t those your weapons?”

“Yes.” Regalia calmly answered, “That’s her semblance; she can create any weapon she knows the construction of.”

“So
 Why is she using your weapons?” Oxford asked

“Well,” Regalia began, “As she fights, Indu tests her opponent’s capabilities, and then alters her choice of weapon and/or fighting style to give her the best advantage, and it seems that my weapons give her an advantage”

Immediately, Indu charged forward firing multiple shots at Talon, who dodged or deflected them as he prepared for her to enter striking distance, however at about two meters distance Indu jumped, flipping over him extending both chain-blades to strike against his raised gauntlets, constantly keeping sight of him as she did so. Estimating her landing location, Talon began preparing to counter-attack, until he noticed her pulling down on the trigger. He allowed his body to drop, and then kicked himself off the ground, dodging most of the shots, however he still took two more chips to his aura barrier.

“She’s completely dominating him!” Honey said in surprise before covering her mouth when she realised the rest of Talon’s team could hear her, “Uh, sorry
”

“I wouldn’t say that.” Wynn stated calmly, not drawing his eyes away from the fight

“Eh?” Most of the others questioned in disbelief

Phen sighed, “Look Wynn, I know you’re the optimistic type, but are you even paying attention?”

“Of course.” He quickly responded, “Are you?” his response caused Phen to look at him in disbelief. “It’s all in their body language.” He continued, “Even though she’s almost always being on the offensive and has hit him a few times without even getting touched, Indu’s posture has slowly gotten more and more defensive and cautious, meaning there’s obviously something dangerous in him that she’s noticed and unsure about.” At this point, almost everyone was staring at Wynn in disbelief, “On the other hand, Ecru ain’t showing any of the fear or worry that you’d expect in someone who’s getting beaten this hard, meaning he’s still mentally in control and has a definite strategy for winning that doesn’t come down to ‘I hope this works’ or anything like that.”

Arsenic stepped a little closer to him, changing her view from the fight to Wynn and back multiple times, “How did you even
”

“Body language.” He cut her off, “It's the one thing no one can hide, not even Ecru.” He turned and winked at them before directing his attention back to the ongoing duel, his teammates still looking at him in disbelief.

“Just you wait Wynn,” Jasper muttered quietly enough that no one could hear, “You’ll see what’s so dangerous about him."

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Wynn 'Leo' Leon Character Portrait: T'wulf Lupus Character Portrait: Viridian Boudic Character Portrait: Ecru Talon Character Portrait: Phenix Sovereign Character Portrait: Yale Khamun
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#, as written by K0VIP3R
Back on the Arena Floor

Wynn was definitely correct in that logical assumption. Talon had a plan of attack, but he was not in a position to execute it yet. Indu’s range and skill were making that far too hard for him to even get near her, let alone attack her.

Talon again went through the same motions, he dropped his weight and began surging forward towards Indu in an attempt to get within striking range. However Indu yet again leaped over him in a flourish of steel sending her flailing weapons down at Talon with deadly precision. Talon managed to skirt by one of the blades with a small shift of his body weight but had to leap back at the sight of the second one bearing down on him. Indu landed gracefully, her eyes never leaving her foe, watching him carefully as his cold eyes bored into her, laden with an ever present sense of burning frustration.

This time Talon decided to change tack. One of the gauntlet mechanisms turned, exposing the shotgun barrel on his right arm. Again Talon surged toward Indu, this time with a little more urgency, closing the distance faster than he had been. Indu calmly whipped one of the blades towards Talon in an arc, coming at him just out of his sightline. Talon however in full expectation of this span into the oncoming blade and unleashed a shotgun round into it, keeping the blade from striking him. The momentum of the shotgun spun him back towards Indu who began almost dancing with the blades as they almost instinctively blocked the next round loosed off by Talon, who had decided that one shotgun was not enough for his current plan of attack and quickly made his left gauntlet switch to its shotgun mode. Indu continued to flay the weapons skillfully, unleashing rounds at odd junctures. The constant attacking was forcing Talon to burn up more energy than he liked and his aura shield was getting chipped slowly by the attacks that he could not evade.

Suddenly Indu swung one of the blades out towards Talon’s face who instinctively and narrowly evaded it by slightly moving to the left, unfortunately that moved him into the path of the other oncoming blade. The blade hit him with considerable force directly in the chest, flinging him backwards onto his back in the direction of the spectators. The onlookers audibly gasped as a small chunk of his aura shield disappeared, leaving him with just above half of his aura shield remaining. Talon quickly got to his feet and immediately readied a defensive stance.

“So Wynn, you sure he’s got something up his sleeve?” Regalia asked apprehensively. “Once Indu gets control of a fight, she normally stays in control. Talon might appear strong, but he’s definitely not on her level.” It pained her to say that knowing that Jasper was within hearing range but she could not overlook what she was bearing witness to.

“As I said he’s definitely
” Wynn began however was interrupted by the school’s number one annoyance.

“Watch what you say about Talon. He’s much stronger than Indu, just wait and see!” Jasper shouted in absolute confidence.

“I’m sure you have every faith in him Jasper but Indu is...just in another league.” T’wulf said softly, in awe of Indu. She was almost bewitched by how beautifully she was moving.

“Don’t get the wrong idea Jasper.” Arsenic said to her slowly angering teammate. “We all want Talon to win. We really do. It’d be nice to get a win over those pompous assholes. But I just can’t say that Talon has what it takes to do anything about it.”

“But
” Jasper began, wanting to argue his friends case.

“But nothing!” Raven shouted across to him. Vi and Yale were both keeping a weather eye on the fight, knowing better than to miss this opportunity to see their leader fight and also gather as much information as possible on this seemingly growing thorn in their side in Talon.

Raven’s shout drew the attention of the rest of the onlookers. “It’s clear who the more skilled here. No amounts of pouting, moaning and whining will change what you’re watching. Just accept what you’re seeing; that Indu is the better fighter of the two and in a straight up match she will win. Now shut up so I can watch in peace.” Raven turned back to the fighting, watching Talon almost dance to evade Indu’s onslaught with a smug grin on his face.

Talon kept his back to the onlookers, his plan was now in effect. Indu carried barraging him with sharp slashes of the whirling blades. Talon carried on deflecting and dodging but rigidly maintained his position in front of the spectators. Indu realised too late that she had fallen for a very deceptive trap.

To the immediate surprise of everyone, Indu started randomly pawing at her face, almost as if she was trying to avoid looking at something. The more eagle eyed would have noticed the patch of light shining in her eyes. Many of the spectators immediately turned to the source of where the light was coming from, quite rightly suspecting who was behind what they all considered to be a very disgraceful thing to do in the middle of a fight. They found Jasper, holding a small compact mirror in his hand and had angled the mirror perfectly to shine the Sun’s rays into the eyes of Indu.

The members of PWTR, KOHL and JADE were furious with Jasper. Raven having seen them start to collapse in on to him made a move to stand but was held in place by Yale who motioned him to carry on watching. Raven was at a loss for words at what he saw.

Honey and Oxford moved faster than the others surrounding Jasper and quickly pinioned his arms to his sides and quickly tripped him, dropping him heavily to the floor. The mirror spilled in front of Regalia who in utter contempt smashed it with her right boot, grinding the fragments of glass and plastic into the ground.

“Well that’s spoiled a good show.” Honey commented with a sigh as she held a fairly calm Jasper. “I was honestly enjoying watching that Talon kid getting stomped.”

“I don’t really think that was the pressing issue Honey.” Laurel groaned.

Suddenly a hand whipped down bodily lifting Jasper out of the grasp of the two would be captors. They both looked up, ready to fight at a moment's notice but stayed their hands immediately after seeing the look on the hand’s owner.

“What were you thinking Jasper?!” Regalia shouted angrily to Jasper’s rather unnervingly deadpan face. “You should know better than to interfere in a fight. Cheating is just despicable.” She wanted to say more, she wanted to scream at him, but she could not bring herself to do it, mainly because of how much Jasper’s face seemed to remind her of how Talon usually looks. Cold eyes. Brutally cold eyes.

“I should know better?” Jasper said coldly, his eyes boring a hole into Regalia. “You have no idea how childish you sound right now.” Regalia was honestly surprised at his choice of words.

“Childish?” Arsenic commented in a confused voice.

“Seriously Jasper, I think the only childish one right here is you, that you would think that something like this is alright.” T’wulf growled angrily.

“Yeah how would you think Talon would feel that you inter
” Regalia began but was immediately silenced by an angry Faunus.

“YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW ME AND TALON FEEL!!!” Regalia dropped him, taken aback by that outburst. “YOU ARE ALL SO CLUELESS IT’S AMAZING YOU GOT INTO THIS SCHOOL!!”

Krimm and Wynn turned to the source of the shouting, honestly surprised by Jasper’s anger.

“DO YOU, ANY OF YOU, UNDERSTAND HOW A FIGHT FUCKING WORKS?! RULES?! DON’T MAKE ME GAG!! THERE ARE NO. SUCH. THING!” Jasper was shaking. To him they had all crossed a line that he would never want anyone to cross. “THE MINUTE YOU LEAVE THIS SCHOOL, YOU WILL BE PUT INTO SITUATIONS THAT REQUIRE SHIT LIKE THIS TO HAPPEN ON A DAILY BASIS!!! THIS WAS HOW TALON AND I FUCKING LIVED OUR LIVES AS KIDS!!! WE FOUGHT TO WIN! FIGHTING FAIR GETS YOU KILLED, NOTHING MORE, NOTHING LESS!!” Jasper finally breathed and looked noticeably calmer for doing so.

“Where the hell did that come from?” Oxford breathed in a slight amount of shock. Jasper fixed him with a gaze of cold lethality.

“You are all childish for that specific reason. None of you understand how a fight works. The only ones who I can even tell understand what I’m on about is Neanderthal over there, Miss Prissy Britches out there on the field and that dude up there who’s been planning on jumping in at a moment's notice.” Jasper sighed again.

“WHAT THE HELL?!” Raven shouted at the top of his voice bringing attention back to the field and the screen and that was when they noticed what Jasper had done.

On the field, before the commotion.

As soon as the light stopped glaring in Indu’s eyes, she noticed one very key issue with what she was seeing or really a lack of. Talon was gone.

“Where is he?” Indu muttered as she swung her head around in order to try and locate him. It’s like he just vanished into the air itself. What did he do? Did he activate his semblance? That’s the only logical thing, but then what is it.

It was at that moment that a burst of shock hit all the onlookers and an overwhelming sense of danger overcame Krimm, Indu and Wynn. In one shotgun blast, Indu’s aura shield dropped hard, the first hit that Talon made any real form of contact with Indu, her shield dropped by just shy of a quarter. The impact of the unseen blow sent Indu cannoning forward off of her feet, landing square on her front, her weapon spiraling away from her, just a bit shy of the outer wall of the fighting grounds.

“What happened?” Was the single thought that was going through most of the crowd at that moment. A stunned silence seemed to engulf the whole field as Indu hit the floor.

There were however two people who were wondering why everyone was so confused. To Viridian and Yale, they honestly could not understand the shock of what happened. They had watched Talon silently creep up behind Indu and strike her with both his fist and a shotgun blast simultaneously. However the two of them, not having any prior knowledge of Talon’s semblance could not understand why Indu could not see him. Yale was subconsciously trying to figure out how his semblance worked but was having trouble in doing so since he could not pinpoint the cause of activation since it happened so quickly. Vi however was studying Talon’s movements trying to memorise attack patterns which was difficult to do.

As Indu tried to rise she found herself thrown into the floor again with another shotgun blast, taking another large chunk of her shield away and making her crash back into the floor. Indu groaned from the hit but did not fail to notice the dust clouds kicked up by Talon’s footsteps. It was a brief glance that she caught but it was enough to clock onto the one small hope she had to put an end to his semblance really realising the true danger she was in.

“That coward hot her while she was down?!” Raven exclaimed, with many mutters of agreement from the group. “Does he have no honour?!”

“According to Jasper, no!” Regalia shouted in equal amounts of rage. “To think I was willing to befriend people like you!” While she did not mean the words, the way Jasper and Talon think of fighting just did not mesh with her own honourable spirit. They were a completely different animal to her.

Indu rose and rolled forward, knowing Talon would aim for her back again. She knew that the only thing that would aid her would be to stay on the move, but the problem was that she would not be able to tell whether she was running towards Talon or away from him. The only clue she had was the small dust clouds created by his movement.

She took her chance and darted across the field at a speed that was almost unbelievable to watch after having taken such heavy hits. She kept a keen eye for Talon’s movements, noticing small dust clouds being kicked up as he ran to intercept her. She suddenly hopped back and darted in another direction again following the movements in the dust. Which were getting closer to her by the moment. It was then she decided to pull out one of her trump cards. She began manifesting a weapon as Talon’s dust clouds came closer. Whatever happened, the onlookers knew, the next attack would be the one that decided the match.

As Indu’s weapon manifested, Talon’s noticable movements disappeared. In that brief moment, Indu span elegantly with a severe amount of speed, swinging her blade. At that moment a hand shot out and caught her hand. The owner’s other hand shot out catching something out of the air, dragging Talon’s arm and then him back into focus.

The person who had interrupted this duel, doing something both fighters found unbelievable was none other than Krimm. However this disbelief was instantly replaced with a major amount of bloodlust directed not only at Krimm, but at each other too. Both combatants knew however the fight was now over.

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Wynn 'Leo' Leon Character Portrait: T'wulf Lupus Character Portrait: Viridian Boudic Character Portrait: Ecru Talon Character Portrait: Phenix Sovereign Character Portrait: Jasper McTavish
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The Dueling Area On top of the South Tower

A short span of time ago


“Wait for it
”

Patiently, Krimm observed the battle between Indu and Ecru. With sly calculation, he formulated maneuvers and countermeasures for him to use, should he face either of them in battle. He paid little attention to the crowd that gathered to watch the fight, the same crowd he separated from. After all, he had what he believed as the best seat in the arena, his view unhindered by someone else’s head.

Little did he know of what role they shall play in the duel


Krimm’s otherwise cold surveillance was disrupted by an illogical change in performance, specifically on Indu’s part. For most of the battle, until that point, Indu displayed grace, intellect and ferocity Krimm found notable. Now, she was clawing something on her face, dropping her guard entirely. It was no surprise for Ecru to take advantage of this momentary weakness, but to Krimm it was all too convenient. Was it his Semblance? Was it some sort of freak phenomenon in nature? Or was it
something else?

”Intriguing
”

Krimm would not admit it to anyone, but he was surprised of Ecru’s and Jasper’s dishonest means of “leveling the playing field”, so to speak. He never thought Ecru was the kind who would cheat, but upon hearing Jasper’s testimony, and rapidly reviewing their student profiles, Krimm took it as second nature for them to do so. Now, he knows, he has to be careful in dealing with them. Very careful.

Seeing that Indu has managed to recover, Krimm was about to calmly return to his observational mood when he noticed something odd: Indu did not appear to see Ecru, even though he had passed easily within her range of vision. This greatly puzzled Krimm, though he knew it had to wait. The fighters’ Aura levels were at critical condition, and they already went much below the minimum allowed by dueling regulations. He had to take action
now.

Swiftly, he requested clearance from Merkur, which he received shortly after he sent his request. He then jumped off the scoreboard, landing near Indu. Krimm then activated his Semblance, redirecting Indu’s strike towards himself. Smoothly, he caught her arm and, after detecting Ecru, managed to catch him by his arm, as well.

The participants screen buzzed. Ecru’s and Indu’s portraits and aura level indicators were covered by a text box that read “Duel Aborted”. The crowd’s expressions were a mix of surprise and anger, nothing new to Krimm. Slowly, he lifted his head before glaring at everyone around him with his cold, gray eyes. He held a tight grip on the fighters, just enough to keep them in place. Silence fell upon the arena.

“Before I let you go,” Krimm said, breaking the silence, “I’d like you two to think about yourselves for a while.

“Would victory over your opponent truly satisfy yourselves? Your aura levels, as I recall, are already below the minimum allowed by duel regulations. You not only experience a drop in combat performance, you would also have lower resistance to attacks. Have this not occurred as it had, both of you would probably be in critical condition. And for what?”

Krimm paused, letting the words sink in. He waited for words from Indu or Ecru, but received none. It was a relief that their aggression levels have lowered, but he had to seal the deal. “Please
just stop this right now. You’re both better than this, remember that. There’s something out there...something we can only defeat together. So, I implore you, please stop.” He added, his voice suddenly sounding genuinely concerned.

If anyone bothered to look at the rest of Team KOHL, they would see three puzzled, if not surprised, faces. For the very few days they spent with him prior to this moment, Krimm spoke with cold, robotic monotony. Now he just said three sentences with a hint of emotion.

Slowly, Krimm loosened his grip on the two and then
nothing.

Indu and Ecru looked at each other, then to the crowd, then to each other again. They wanted to keep fighting. They had to keep fighting. Indu, secretly, wanted to prove herself to her team. Ecru simply wanted to help out a friend. Their goals were tied to one thing and one thing only: victory in this duel. But even then, they somewhat knew that it had to stop.

The two fighters stood up straight, withdrawing their weapons and stood there, panting and looking at each other. The fight was long and exhausting for the both of them, but it was going nowhere. After some time, they went to their respective teams conveniently positioned on opposite sides of the crowd.

Krimm smiled inside. Not only had he been able to keep his fighting prowess a mystery to them, he has also successfully utilized peaceful means to resolve a conflict. He looked at the crowd, studying the teams, then went to his own team.

"Mission Accomplished." he whispered before disconnecting from Merkur.

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Phenix Sovereign Character Portrait: Jasper McTavish Character Portrait: Merkur Quinton Character Portrait: Oxford Legend Character Portrait: Krimm Sohn Character Portrait: Honey Theo
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The Science Classroom

The science classroom was identical with the other classrooms...well, mostly. There were a lot more cabinets on the walls, some with glass panels and some with steel panels. There were a few, box-like objects mounted on tripods on the cabinets, each machine standing on a cabinet after every few measures. The desk in front was circular, but was made of steel and was covered with glass panels. At the wall behind the desk was a pair of cabinets, like the others, including the small machines.

For a long while, Team KOHL was the only team seated in the room. They sat together, awkwardly, and ate out of a bag of chips Honey had brought. Krimm, meanwhile, had his face resting on the desk and had not uttered a word since he successfully stopped the duel a while ago. His team was worried, but didn't know what to do. And so they sat, glancing around the room, exploring it a bit in their solitude. Little by little other teams came in and sat wherever. In teams or alone, it didn't matter to them. Suddenly the hall became a bit noisy. This was when KOHL returned to sitting together, awkwardly.

"Hey, look who just walked in." Honey whispered to Laurel whilst pointing towards a door far from them.

"Well, if it isn't Team Sunshine, Defenders of Happiness..." Laurel chuckled as he watched IVRY enter the room. He and Honey were then shocked to see them seating...together.

Oxford smiled at Honey and Laurel, "They seem to be going along..."

"That's not gonna last." Honey defended.

"Don't be so sure." Krimm finally spoke, his face still on the desk.

"Are you going to be like that the whole period, oh fearless leader?" Honey asked with a smirk.

"If anyone asks, I'm dead." Krimm said. Just as he said it, the other students turned their attention to the person who just walked in. He was fairly tall, with messy hair and a filthy lab coat. He wore a dust pair of black slacks and a dusty pair of leather shoes. The man slammed a bunch of papers and what seemed to be a pile of parts onto the circular desk then combed his hair with his hands and cleaned his glasses. He then walked to the front of the desk and sighed.

"Pardon my delay." he said, his voice making Krimm dig his face deeper into the table. "Alright! First, I'd like all y'all to be seated by your assigned teams, on the double! Come on, we don't have all day!" he roared, scratching his head as most of the students scrambled for their teams and a good set of seats. "Now that that's done with, I guess we can go along now..." the man said, as he turned around. but then he stopped, then turned back to the class. "Excuse me, can the teams KOHL and JADE please stand up?"

The members of JADE, who were seated near KOHL, stood up from their seats. Oxford had to pull Krimm up as he and the others stood up, as well. "Alright. Now, I'd like you two to switch places with two of the teams right here in front." the man said, gesturing two teams in the front row of the class to stand up and move. After a few moments of moving things (and teammates), the man smiled.

"I've heard things about you, McTavish. You were dangerously near the Dust cabinet a while ago, and I have had enough explosions for today." the man said, making some of the class giggle. The man then went near Jasper and leaned in close, but not too close. "I'm watching you, young man." he said, making the rest of the class (sans Krimm) laugh.

he man then cleared his throat and went back to the front of his desk. "I am Professor Merkur Quinton. I have worked for the Kingdom of Reverie's Ministry of Science and Technology for almost 20 years and have been teaching in Faith Academy for about four years. Despite that, I still have do real idea on what I should be teaching you." he said, sitting down on his desk with his arms and legs crossed.

Krimm slammed his face onto the table in front of him with a loud "thud!", which seemed to wake Merkur. "You see, I was walking into my laboratory then suddenly this..." Merkur then gazed at the...object he placed over the papers he brought along, "...thing...blew up! So I was extinguishing the flames when suddenly I get this note saying I had a class today. And so here we are..."

Merkur sat for a while then snapped his fingers. "I remember now...Okay. Before we begin, I'd like to ask you all, what are the basic questions addressed by science?" Merkur began to walk along the central aisle of the room, turning to his left and right. "Anyone? Anyone? Okay, you there, red head!"

"'How'?" Phen said.

"Correct!" Merkur exclaimed, walking back to the front of the room. "The 'How' and the...?" Merkur stopped and approached KOHL. Laurel nudged Krimm, who didn't move.

"Whyyyyyy??" Krimm groaned with the enthusiasm of a dying boar.

"Precisely." Merkur smiled, returning to the front of his desk. "'How' and 'Why'. By answering these two fundamental questions, science has helped us all understand the world. While others see science as a substitute to superstition or perhaps even the extinguisher of religious faith and this thing called 'magic'. I, personally, see science as a supplement to these, a logical explanation of the creations of whatever deities may be and how these things happen.

"For this class we will be discussing how science and technology have influenced our daily lives and how we deal with the Grimm. For those of you who were expecting to play around with chemicals and spare parts and beat up Grimm with the results, you're gonna have to wait a few years.

"Now, I have a laboratory to clean up and you have something to do. I want all of you to write something you do everyday. Anything. Showering, washing your face, you name it! I'm gonna call several lucky people and we're gonna discuss on the science behind their chosen activities in the next session. Be nice and safe, kiddos!"

Merkur went to sort his things as the students were doing the same. Then he remembered something. "Hold on everyone! Hold on! Stay here a bit..." he said, approaching Krimm and pulling him up. "This here is my nephew, Krimm! He's the son of my late second-cousin, Lord bless her soul, so you better be nice with him or you'll be hearing from yours truly! Now, go forth, youth!"

As most of the students were leaving, Merkur finally let go of Krimm and approached his team. "So...you're the 'OHL' of KOHL, huh? How's this sucker been treating you?"

"Erm...pretty good, sir!" Honey said, nervously.

"We're still getting to know each other, but he seems...nice!" Oxford commented, shakily.

"He's...real chill." Laurel blurted out.

"Ah, good. Good!" Merkur said, smiling. "Now if any of you need help or want to ask or tell me something about my boy here, just come to my office." he said before leaving off to get his things and out of the room. Krimm went onto his knees and (seemed to) breathe heavily.

"I thought that was going to last forever..." Krimm said, his "breath" beginning to stabilize.

"Uncles are uncles. Suck it up." Honey smirked.

"He doesn't seem, that bad..." Oxford said as he helped Krimm up. "Besides, I think it helps having family here."

"We gon' keep talkin' or are we gonna get to our next class?" Laurel said, visibly restraining his laughter.

"Alright, alright. Settle down. We're going." Krimm said, returning to his monotony. The rest of his team shook their heads as they all left the room.