A Bitter Encounter [Closed]

The halls of Beacon were empty, as classes had ended several hours ago. It was around 8 P.M, and the sun was sitting on the horizon. It hadn't been a particularly eventful day for Rachael, as most of her day had already been consumed by her various classes and activities. Normally she'd already be in her dorm room, but she had gotten distracted with something and was now making her way back to her dorm. She stopped for a second, noticing she was just outside the arena. It just so happened to be on the way back to her dorm, and still not too far from it. She looked at the door, before deciding to keep on making her way back to her dorm. Hopefully she could get there and just go to sleep, for she was tired from all her daily activities.

Tyonis stood at the center of the empty arena, his gunblade drawn and held point toward the ground and hilt above his forehead. His free hand lightly touched the flat of the blade to keep stabilize the weapon. He identified three target dummies lined on the opposite side of the arena and closed his eyes.

With a quick exhale, the swordsman unleashed a flurry of slashes that sundered the air itself. For several milliseconds, the path of his sword was void of any air particles, creating miniature vacuums of space. When these vacuums were filled, they spawned sharp shockwaves of air past the edge of his blade that traced the tip of his sword like a near-invisible tassel.

After the first flurry, the swordsman reset his position and continued. This time, he added a volley of bullets to his sword-dance. It was a beautiful mix of close and mid-range technique, although a skilled observer would note that there was no artistic flare or flourish. It was akin to listening to a concert of synthesized music, instead of an orchestra of trained musicians.

In the span of three heartbeats, the exercise was over and Tyonis finally opened his eyes.

The three targets across the arena had two holes each.

The swordsman couldn't help but scowl with incomprehensible dissatisfaction.

The sound of gunshots caught Rachael's ears, causing her to do an immediate 180 and walk back towards the arena. Without much thought, she decided to enter, to see a man standing there. He seemed to be practicing on dummies, and was leaving a clear mark on them. Even still, he seemed dissatisfied with the outcome. She didn't say anything, for she just stood there, watching for a moment before looking around the room. She noted several dummies not being used by the man, and with a quick thought, she decided she too would practice on dummies. She was here, it was best to look like she was actually doing something than to just stand by and watch someone else like a creep.

She set up a single dummy before quickly loading her weapons with different kinds of dust and setting them up several feet in front of her. She sighed to herself as she prepared herself. With her sword held in a reverse hold in her right hand, and her gauntlet fitted to her left, she looked at the dummy before closing her eyes. Upon reopening, they had turned a deep crimson.

In an instant, she took one powerful leap forwards, towards the dummy. Her first form of attack was a single punch, except it was powered by her gauntlet. Her arm pulsated a white glow indicating that it was enhanced by some form of dust, the types of which was obvious. Upon twisting herself to the left to wind up for a punch, she planted her foot on the ground to try and anchor herself in place. When she twisted back around to punch, her arm was barely visible. It made contact in the form of an uppercut, sending the dummy upwards towards the ceiling. It flew high above her head, causing her to give a slight smile. As it started to descend, Rachael flipped her sword around into a normal hold, and aimed the tip towards the dummy. Pulling the trigger, several bullets made entirely of a light blue dust soared and made contact with the dummy, freezing it completely and keeping it suspended mid-air for a moment.

And for the finale, she threw her sword at the dummy, causing it to impale it. She soon jumped after it, grabbing it and pulling the dummy a few feet upwards before grabbing the hilt of her sword and holding the trigger down. The temperature around her dropped several degrees, and for a second nothing happened. After a moment, the blade coated itself with ice inside the dummy, before the blade itself before the ice covering the blade expanded to twice the size of the blade, impaling the dummy further. With a tug and a pull, Rachael pulled the sword out of the ice that coated it so all of it was left with the dummy. Upon coming in contact with the ground, the dummy exploded in an array of ice particles, allowing for a dramatic landing for Rachael.

Tyonis watched the display as he discarded his training dummies. It was an impressive demonstration of power, but to Tyonis, like many activities involving a Faunus, it lacked control.

"Rabid dogs, the lot of them," Tyonis thought as she finished.

He realized he was glaring daggers at her, his mood uncharacteristically charged from the dissatisfaction from his own exercise. Self-control was always one of his core values, and maintaining a calm, aristocratic demeanor was his noblesse oblige. But by the time the swordsman realized his err and attempted to whisk away his expression of contempt and revulsion, the female Faunus with burning red eyes had already seen it...

...And oh had she ever seen it. In fact, it went a little bit past just simply seeing it. She could literally feel the bitterness pulsating through his aura.

She audibly scoffed at him and bared her fangs at him before beginning to clean up her mess. Luckily, the ice dissolved and disappeared without much of a trace. The dummy was in shambles, broken into several large pieces. The ice kept it together otherwise, all she had to do was throw it in a nearby trash can and it was okay. So she began to do just that. The entire time, she could feel the anger that the man directed at her.

Tyonis had to facepalm and comb his hair back with his hand to restore his neutral composure. Despite dawning his usual mask of aristocratic apathy, he could still feel his self-control slipping, but his integrity as a noble would not allow him a second breach of decorum. So, with a trained flourish, he reloaded his gunblade and sheathed across his back in a single motion.

The swordsman watched the Faunus girl clean up her mess for a few moments longer before tucking his hands into his peacoat and walking off, lest he once again express his distaste at her presence.

Rachael could feel the struggle the man was having as he tried to keep his composure. Normally she would have just left him alone, but the thought of messing with him popped up in her head suddenly. 'Wait why would I...? A screw it, why not?' she thought as a smile crept upon her lips.

"Can't stand being in the presence of another person, eh?" she taunted from across the room. She didn't quite know what to say, but more insults began filling her head, ready to use them in an instant.

Tyonis paused, mid-step. His leg was already halfway off the arena platform, but he retracted it to spare the Faunus a look over his shoulder, eyes narrowed.

"You and the rest of your Dust-forsaken race all lack restraint," He retorted.

"Watching you practice was like watching a child squash an ant with a sledgehammer. It was a superfluous, unnecessary, and excessive abuse of your own power." Tyonis spat out, his face twisted into a disapproving scowl.

"You'll have to understand if I find your presence distasteful - I find the company of feral beasts to be unpleasant."

"Oh? A clueless child seems to have wandered his way into the academy for hunters, and it claims to know what power is! How adorable." she said, her grin becoming malicious as her crimson eyes glowed like a fire. "If you have power, you use it to it's full extent, otherwise it's useless. And that little display? That little display was only half of what I can do. Watch me face someone with aura and I'll read every movement and emotion like a children's book."

Rachael was already having quite a bit of fun insulting the man. He was clearly fond of trusting his own opinion, and opinions weren't fact, now were they?

"You'll have to understand if I find your presence distatefule..." she mocked. "I find the company of children who don't know their place to be unpleasant."

Tyonis turned to face her, his eyes glowering with judgmental disappointment.

"Your inability to grasp the most basic principles of self-control is why you Faunus will never be regarded as equals in civilized society. You flaunt your abilities through excessive use of force, and expect to be praised for it? Utter nonsense. True warriors utilize only what is absolutely required to defeat an enemy. Anything else is merely wasted effort."

He shook his head. "At least a child is capable of showing some level of tact and grace - but I wouldn't expect a rabid dog to understand anything about decorum."

"Self-control? Who the hell wants to restrict themselves? I'd rather be free of restrictions than 'control' myself." she said as she crossed her arms. "Why don't you show me this control you keep rambling on about. I'm sure if you demonstrate your so called 'self-control', I'll understand at some point."

Her smile did not fade as she mocked the man- no, the child before her. It seemed he really liked the sound of his own voice, and she was sure at some point she would make him eat his words.

Tyonis clicked his tongue in annoyance.

"As I thought, it is beyond a Faunus to understand the basics of civility. Very well, if your kind only responds to brute force," he took one step forward and drew his gunblade. The sword hummed, its ring echoing through the arena. "I will take it upon myself to teach you the err of your ways."

Rachael's mischievous grin grew as she held her sword at her side. "Come get me then. Try not to keep me waiting." she said as she put her armored hand on her hip. Almost immediately, she began focusing her attention on the boy's aura, his emotions, and any movements he decided to make. She had been doing this for the past several years, so movement reading was just a simple trick she had at this point. Compared to the other things she could do, it was simple.

As soon as the girl focused in on him, Tyonis could feel her probing him in some alien fashion. The sensation set him on edge almost immediately and he widened his stance to lower his center of balance and stabilize it.

With a flick of his wrist and the push of a button, the gunblade's shell chamber flipped out and the bullets ejected, vociferously clattering on the floor. He drew a circular speed reloader with six new slugs and with a final click, his weapon was held at the ready.

From her taunts and her sharp, but inviting glare, it was obvious she was goading him to strike. As the challenger, it was Tyonis' duty to oblige. But he didn't have to do it in a way she wanted.

Instead of attacking directly, Tyonis simply pulled the trigger on his gunblade and fired a full volley of six .44 Magnum rounds to test her reflexes. Also known as the "bear-killer bullet", they were primarily designed for hunting large game at close range.

"A fitting bullet, indeed," Tyonis thought grimly.

"Ha, is that it?" she taunted as she noted the direction the gun was pointed in. It was pointed directly at her, so all she had to do was step to the side. And that was exactly what she did. Taking a step aside for every gunshot, she managed to dodge each bullet without much trouble. "Try something else." she said, her malicious grin growing ever wider. She even gave a gesture with her gauntlet hand, as if to say 'Come at me, bro.'

After the first volley, Tyonis reloaded again, ignoring her taunts to lull her into a false sense of security.

Since bullets could only travel in a straight line, one could simply read the path of the muzzle and dodge by stepping to the side. It was a common exercise that even the most novice of Hunters could manage.

So Tyonis decided to make it a little more difficult. He fired another volley, although this time the bullets would curve out of their predicted alignment to follow the Faunus' movement at the last second...

As soon as he began reloading, she saw something shift in him. "So your aura is flaring, eh? Gonna use your semblance or something?" she said, watching his every move. He paid no attention to her, continuing to fire, except this time Rachael leapt repeatedly out of the way, doing a handspring or two to throw his aiming off. Upon landing after her final evasive maneuver, she was surprised to find a bullet barely graze her neck, almost close enough to make contact. She looked at the holes in the wall and compared them to where she was sure the boy fired. They didn't line up at all. Had he somehow changed their trajectory?

"So you can alter the trajectory of objects?" she said with a whistle. "Interesting, but not really." She continued to taunt him, trying to make him mad or bait him into going melee. He could keep the ranged attacks up for a long time, but it would be no use as Rachael could easily outsmart his maneuvers.

Tyonis reloaded again, calming his emotions in response to the Faunus' taunts. So the she was capable of dodging slight bends of a bullet's path. Most opponents would have been taken by surprise - this tactic was usually enough to dispatch his adversaries.

"For all its flaws, Beacon Academy is still a premiere combat school," Tyonis concluded as he aimed his gunblade again. Although this time, he used simple .22 rounds. It was the same ammunition he used in the sword-dance exercise earlier and were the smallest bullets he had, barely a step above pellet gun rounds. In spite of the sudden drop in ammunition power and quality, his Aura flared noticeably.

He fired a third volley. Although this time, not only were the bullets curving far more accurately, their velocity increased by several magnitudes - what was once the lowest caliber handgun round now traveled with the speed of a high-performance hunting rifle. He could have made the bullets even faster, but despite his dislike of the girl, he did not want to outright kill her - that would invalidate the rationale of this fight.

With this third and final component, his Semblance was fully revealed: Refraction, the ability to alter the trajectory and acceleration of an object within his field of vision.

"I see." she mumbled as she began her handspring maneuvers once more, this time making sure to angle the flat of her blade so it covered most of body. As she did this, she heard several clangs of metal, indicating that some of the bullets did indeed hit her weapon. Upon stopping, she checked her sword. There were indeed small dents on her sword. Nothing she couldn't fix.

"If you're not gonna come here, then I guess I'll come to you." she said, tapping the toes of her shoe on the floor before charging at the boy full speed. Upon coming in range, she waited for a split second before swinging her sword in a vertical arc with one hand, aiming for the boy's head.

Rather than meet her strike, Tyonis held his blade forward and intercepted her vertical swing with a horizontal one to deflect it to the side. Their blades clashed with a sharp tang that echoed throughout the arena. Using the momentum of his parry, he spun hard and low, extending his leg for a 360 degree sweep.

Or, at least, that was how it appeared.

Tyonis swept his foot along the floor and made it appear like a low kick to her left leg. But what he was truly 'kicking' were the dozen-and-a-half shell casings left on the floor around him. Like a point-blank shotgun spread, the shells hurtled toward the Faunus; harmless until they were Refracted an instant later - with enough speed to puncture wood.

Rachael took a step back upon seeing him lower to try and kick her. No, that wasn't it. His aura was flaring, meaning that he was using his semblance. Realizing what he was trying to do, she smiled a little smugly. Raising her arm so the back of her hand was facing the boy, she planted herself firmly on the ground. A low humming sound was heard for a short moment before Rachael's aura practically exploded outwards from her body. The force was enough to create small cracks in the ground from where she was standing, and deflected the shell casings.

"Shall I explain?" she asked as her crimson aura danced around her body. Her hairs seemed to stand on edge as she bore her fangs, glaring holes into the boy with her blood colored eyes. "Or would you rather not listen to a 'mutt' like me yap?"

Tyonis took the opportunity to reload his gunblade while the girl continued her taunts. Once more, she was keen on abusing her power through excessive use of force.

The swordsman would let her continue to do so, if only to drive his point home.

His overall plan was to whittle down her stamina until the Faunus could no longer keep her frantic pace. Through his Semblance, he was forcing her to repeatedly dodge using her whole body whereas he had hardly moved the whole fight, allowing him to reserve his strength. She had even unleashed her Aura with enough force to crack concrete just to deflect the shell casings. His ploy was working.

Slowly but surely, he would chip at her endurance with the least possible effort.

And the volleys began again.

The moment before the boy fired another volley of bullets at her, she pointed her sword at the ground, holding the trigger so it would coat itself in ice. The ice extended until it made contact with the ground, even spreading across the floor for a few feet. Now there was a wall of ice between them, which blocked the first volley of bullets. After pulling her weapon out of the ice it had created, she let her aura die down and began looking in the chambers of her weapons. They were both empty. The bullets she had fired and the two times her weapon created it's ice extension worked down the supply of ice dust, and the empowered punch from earlier as well as the burst of aura that her gauntlet allowed her to do left that empty as well. She decided now would be the best time to reload.

It didn't take her more than a few seconds to pour two completely different kinds of dust in her weapons as she waited for the man to reload his as well. Before she could move, she was sure he'd fire another volley and curve it around the wall she had made.

With the sudden wall of ice, his suspicions were confirmed: the Faunus' sword and gauntlet were Multi Action Dust Weapons, like his own. Trained ears picked up the familiar sound of the Dust chambers being reloaded. Tyonis did likewise, although now he switched back to the .44 Magnum rounds.

He fired three bullets straight at the ice wall, aiming at her image through the translucent barrier. He also used the sound of her reloading to more accurately triangulate her position, since there was a probability of image refraction through the ice.

Through Tyonis' Refraction, the trio of bullets aligned themselves right behind one another, creating a slipstream effect to greatly enhance their speed and overall penetrating power. Once they were all aligned, Tyonis increased their velocity to match that of an anti-material tank rifle.

The effect was obvious: the first two bullets drilled through the shield almost instantly and the final one, propelled by both the slipstream and Tyonis' Semblance, burst through what was left.

For his second step, the swordsman fired two more bullets and curved them around the ice barrier to prevent his adversary from dodging to either side.

He saved his sixth bullet, predicting that the Faunus would jump above to evade his three-pronged trap...

She had no choice, she was forced to jump out of there. But she could at least make things a little more interesting. The moment she jumped out of her cover, she fired three flaming bullets towards the boy in an attempt to throw his aim off, and upon landing she would punch the ground with her gauntlet, sending a pulse of electricity through the ground and towards the boy. Without hesitation, she ran towards him the moment the electricity began pulsing towards him, but rather than attacking, she expected him to counterattack so she placed her blade in front of her and readying for a form of counterattack.