Episode 2: Chapter 9: Warring Forces

Chapter 9 of Episode 2 of Order of Seasons

Miles was sitting in the locker room getting ready for the next match. They had already spun the wheel and it was determined that he would be facing Pyrrha. As he sat there, he didn’t do that much. He was already dressed and his weapons were in their sheaths. He was simply doing breathing exercises.

            “Take a deep breath.” He said to himself as he inhaled and exhaled. “Focus on the calmness of the lake. Clear your mind of all emotion.”

            “Not a bad idea, but emotions can help you make better decisions in the field.” Miles turned around to see Blake standing over by the door.

            “Is the whole posse here or is it just you?”

            “Just me for a change. I think all the lovebirds are too busy having fun to bug you before your fight with Pyrrha.”

            “Am I correct to assume that Jaune is doing the same thing with Pyrrha right now?”

            “Yeah. Only difference is they’re actually dating.”

            “Well duh.” The two of them sat in silence for a few moments. “Well, I’d best get going then.” Miles stood up and walked over to the platform.

            “Hey, do you think we should discuss, you know, what we are right now and what we’re going to be in the future?” Miles paused at Blake’s question.

            “We’ll talk about it once either I’m the champion or I’ve been defeated. But for right now, I really need to focus.”

            “Running away from this one again….” Blake said with a sigh. Miles turned around, walked over to Blake and gave her a big hug.

            “Blake, I want to talk about what we are more than anything. But right here, right now, I need focus absolute.” Blake snickered at Miles’ cheesy remark.

            “You’re such a nerd.”

            “Well part of having focus absolute is being a fool absolute.” They both laughed as Miles walked over to the platform as it began to rise. “Hey Blake.”

            “Yeah?”

            “I love you.” As he said this, the platform rose up to the arena. Blake smiled as she watched him disappear into the loud stadium.

            “I know.”

 

 

 

 

Natalie opened her mouth as Ruby attempted to toss a piece of popcorn into her mouth.  After a few misses, Ruby managed to get one into her mouth. After throwing her fists in the air in victory, Natalie ate it right up. But as soon as that got boring, they just started tearing right into the whole box. Yang and Nathan were enjoying a couple of sodas and Weiss and Neptune were walking back with some bottles of water for everybody else. As they sat down, Blake joined the rest of them.

            “Have a good time talking to your boyfriend down there Blake?” Yang said jokingly. Not saying anything, Blake sat down next to her friends and grabbed one of the water bottles that Weiss had gotten.

            “Nothing to say cat girl?” Nathan said leaning towards her. Still, Blake said nothing. “Well she’s not confirming nor denying, so where does that leave us with the jokes?” Nathan asked Yang.

            “I guess in a kind of limbo state? I mean, those two were our primary source of humor. And we can't make fun of Weiss and Neptune because the ice queen would probably freeze our mouths shut if we made fun of her and Neptune more than we already have.”

            “Has she ever actually done that before?” Nathan asked looking concerned over at Weiss.

            “Don’t tempt me.” Weiss said. “So, any predictions on the match everybody?”

            “I’ve got my money on Pyrrha.” Ruby said. “She managed to stay alive somehow holding off Cinder last year, that means something right?”

            “Yeah, but Miles’ semblance might give him an advantage.” Natalie said. “Magnetism is one thing, but the fact that Miles can control the strength of gravitational pull on anything gives him a bit of an edge on Pyrrha.”

            “But in turn, when he uses his Semblance on others, it drains his aura much faster and has a devastating impact on himself physically.” Evan said leaning forward. “But since he can use his abilities on himself much easier, I think this battle is going to come down to more maneuverability than power.”

            “I agree.” Ren said crossing his arms in his seat. “Pyrrha’s abilities are indeed impressive, but Miles is not to be taken lightly.”

            “Why can’t we just determine who wins by seeing which one hits the other harder?!” Nora yelled in excitement.

            “Technically that’s what this is.” Ren replied. “But not everything comes down to power Nora. These two are arguably the most tactical warriors here at Beacon, and this fight will come down to who thinks two moves ahead and who falls behind.

            “Not a bad theory.” Weiss said as she opened up a bottle of her own. “Any thoughts Blake?” Still saying nothing, Blake simply leaned forward waiting for Miles and Pyrrha to meet in the center of the arena and begin their battle.

 

 

 

 

As the two of them stood there, both sides were completely different as far as their emotions. Pyrrha was smiling and waving to the audience, while Miles was simply standing there, eyes closed and his hands on his weapons. As the center of the stage rose up into the air, Miles got into a more battle ready stance, as did Pyrrha, bringing her sword and shield to her hands with magnetism. The horn sounded to signify the beginning of the match, and neither one of them made an attacking move. They just started circling each other, trying to get a reading on the situation. Then, Miles made the first move with an x-slash motion with his swords at Pyrrha, which she blocked with her shield and immediately attempted to strike him in the legs with her sword. Jumping out of the way of the attack, Miles then began trading blows with Pyrrha, neither side really getting any hits in. After about three minutes of parrying and slashing, their aura levels were still sitting at around 85% each. Miles then decided to try a different tactic. He rushed forward with his swords in a position where he knew that Pyrrha would have no choice but to re-direct them with her Semblance. As he lunged forward with his swords swinging down, Pyrrha attempted to jump to the side while directing the swords in the opposite direction of where she was jumping. But all of a sudden, she felt like she didn’t have as much control over Miles’ swords as she had before. They were much heavier than she anticipated. As the swords came crashing down, they clipped her on the shoulder pretty hard, and knocked her aura down to about 55%. Looking over at the impact the swords had on the arena floor, she noticed a huge dent in the ground that wasn’t there before. She realized that Miles had increased the pull of gravity on his swords and arms to try and create a much more devastating blow and make it much harder for her to keep the swords from doing damage. To try and change the momentum, she jumped back towards the edge and morphed her sword into rifle form and fired several shots trying to keep him at a distance. Reducing the gravitational pull on his whole body, Miles started running around the outside of the arena getting closer and closer to where Pyrrha was standing. As he got closer, Pyrrha quickly morphed her weapon to spear form and threw it at Miles trying to knock him off the stage. But as she was doing this, Miles also threw his white sword towards Pyrrha. The spear caught the hood on Miles’ coat, while the sword hit Pyrrha square in the gut, sending her falling over the side, and she couldn’t grab the edge in time as she fell down towards the out of bounds area. As she looked over, she saw Miles falling as well, but then stop in mid-air and start floating back up so he could grab the ledge and pull himself back up onto the stage. Realizing that she had lost, Pyrrha simply sighed, got her bearings and landed perfectly on the ground below the higher arena circle. The buzzer sounded signifying that she was out of the competition, and Miles had advanced. The crowd cheered as Miles got back up on the stage and pumped his fist into the air in victory. He felt extremely weak as he walked over to the platform leading down into the locker room. As the platform landed, he stumbled a bit towards one of the benches and almost collapsed in a heap as he grabbed a water bottle. He looked up to see Blake walking in and then suddenly start running towards him.

            “Oh my gosh! Are you okay?”

            “I’m fine Blake. Just a bit wiped out, that’s all.”

            “What happened? I mean, you didn’t really use your abilities to attack Pyrrha that much.

            “No, but by stopping myself in mid-air while trying to float back up to the ring after channeling a ton of energy into my swords, I guess it kind of wiped me out.”

            “I see. Well, let me get you a refill on that water.”

            “Thanks Blake.” Blake ran off to refill the water bottle while Miles checked his Scroll.

            “Everything all right?” Blake asked handing Miles the refilled water bottle.

            “Yeah, it’s just that I haven’t gotten any messages from Ty yet. He said that they were going to land around the time of the fights yesterday, but he never sent me anything. I just hope nothing’s gone wrong.”

            “Relax. If he fell out of a plane I’m sure he would react to it like he was falling into a field of pillows.”

            “Nah, more like a field of nothingness, because that’s all he would feel.” They both laughed at this, Miles kind of spitting up a little water as he did so, causing a bit more laughter from Blake.

            “Hey, you’ve got something on your face there. Mind if I get it off?”

            “Thanks. You got a towel laying around or something or….” But before Miles could finish, the split second he turned his head, he realized the cat girl was right in his face and was pressing her lips against his. Not sure how to react, he pulled back super quickly falling of the bench.

            “I’m so sorry Miles!” Blake said flustered. “It’s just that in the heat of the moment I just reacted and you looked so goofy and I just….”

            “Blake.” Miles said getting up and placing his hands on her shoulders. “If you want me to forgive you, do it again. Only this time with me expecting it.” Blake looked up at Miles.

            “You mean it?”

            “Well I haven’t run off screaming bloody murder yet have I?” Blake giggled, and leaned in towards Miles once again.

            “Hey guys! What’s up?” They both jumped back and looked over to see Sun walking in with his weapon ready to go.

            “Oh not much Sun! Just talking!” Miles yelled extremely awkwardly.

            “Yes exactly! Just talking!” Blake said, even more flustered.

            “Well, you two definitely have a strange way of talking. I’m heading up for my match. Prepare to witness greatness!” As Sun said this, he pumped his fist in the air as the platform rose up, causing a huge reaction of excitement from the crowd.

            “He’s fighting Yang right?” Miles asked.

            “Yep.” Blake said in response.

            “He’s totally dead isn’t he?”

            “Yep.”

            “I’m fighting Yang in the finals aren’t I?”

            “Yep.”

            “Well then. That’s going to be fun. Soaring Ninja 2?”

            “Wait, weren’t we in the middle of something?”

            “By going off to play video games, it pretty much guarantees our crazy friends won’t interrupt us. Plus, we already know who’s going to win this fight, so why watch it drag out?”

            “Eh, good point. But I’m holding you to that non-sneak attack kiss.”

            “Wouldn’t have it any other way.” Miles said putting an arm around Blake as the two of them walked out.

 

 

 

 

            “All right, everybody remember the plan?” Vergil said.

            “I’m on it dad.” Ty said grasping his sword.

            “I’m raring to go.” Brooklyn said.

            “I hope we don’t mess this up.”

            “We’ll be fine Christy.” Vergil smiled as he pulled out his weapon. “Ty? Light em up.” Ty nodded, pulled out his bazooka, and launched several projectiles towards a reinforced door that was blocking the entrance to an underground bunker right next to an airstrip. As soon as the rockets exploded, everybody rushed forward into what awaited beyond the gaping debris.

Author's Note

Please read/review/enjoy!

Reviews

[Shep]

Not sure how to react, he pulled back super quickly falling (of) the bench.

Not what I was expecting this chapter to be about, but still was awesome more so when they kissed for the first time. now let's get back to the battle at hand see if we win back the maiden. Moving on to the next chapter. Please be kind and return the love.