RWBY: Origins of a Dragon

Chapter 10: Shedding Scales

Sean slowly got back to his feet, panting, as Miss Goodwitch stared at him from across the stage. He groaned with slight pain and activated his Semblance again, launching himself towards her, using his powers to flameport behind her to try to land a hit, but she simply countered using her own Semblance, lifting him into the air with no effort and sending him flying back to his side of the fighting stage. He landed on his feet this time and skidded to a stop, not backing down. He squared up yet again, and this time the strict Professor's eyes widened.
"You have certainly surprised me with your stubbornness and persistence Mister Hawthorne, but using the same combo of attacks in a different order is not a winning battle strategy. Perhaps try to focus on creating new attacks for yourself to throw off your opponents in future battles." she said, offering a bit of friendly advice. Sean gave no reaction to this, but in his mind he was surprised that he had actually gotten a reaction out of her.
          "New attacks? Okay... here's something new then.." he thought as he shot forward, fire catching in his fists. Just before collision, he skidded to a stop and planted his feet firmly, then smiled as he unleashed a storm of fast, fiery punches, each punch coated in flames and striking faster than he normally could. Miss Goodwitch used her crop and her Semblance to block all of them, but Sean stopped mid swing, then used his remaining momentum to backflip and catch the Professor with a strong kick. She managed to block, but it did knock her slightly off balance. Sean landed on his feet and boosted himself into the air, summoning jets of fire on his arms to keep himself in the air as he attacked with a bicycle kick. On the final kick, he pushed off with both feet while summoning more puffs of flame, boosting himself off of her crop. He backflipped through the air and landed safely on his feet, panting heavily. He checked his aura by quickly looking at the big screen, it was in the dark yellow, which meant he only had a few more hits left.
           "Or... one big hit. But I need to make it count..." he thought as he ran forward and leaped into the air, channeling all of his remaining aura into his arms, and slammed both his fists into the floor, unleashing a wave of flames that rolled towards Miss Goodwitch. Her eyes widened and used her Semblance to direct the flames over her, while mixing her attack with a vial of Water Dust to put the fire out so it wouldn't damage the classroom. As the mist and steam from the attack washed over them both, Sean flew in with a strong left cross, finally scoring a hit on the Professor, but it was a glancing blow, as she had blocked the brunt of the attack. She quickly used her Semblance and launched him back again, bringing his aura into the red. He skidded to a stop again, panting heavily as he stood confidently across from his Professor. Professor Goodwitch stood across from him, also panting, but not as much, she still had the same calm expression, but her eyes betrayed her, she was shocked.
           "He's changed since the semester started, his Aura, his posture, his attitude. And he's fighting with more heart... and it's showing through his Semblance... he's slowly starting to shed what happened to him..." she thought to herself as she cleared her throat.
            "That was good Mister Hawthorne, very good. Although, if you had led with the back kick and then followed through with your barrage, you would've had more success in depleting more of my aura. I am glad to see how much progress you've made in controlling your Semblance more as well. Your flames are much more controlled than they were when we started these lessons." she said, and the fiery 1st year smiled.
           "Thank you, Professor. I must admit, when you said I'd be serving weekend detention with you for a month, this was not what I had in mind." he replied with a chuckle.
          "This is not a combat school Mister Hawthorne. I'm not going to lecture you or have you do nothing. The whole point of these Academies is to help steer you on the path you wish to be on as a Huntsman. And the only way to do that is to help you hone your skills, all of them. While your fighting skill with your weapon is quite impressive already, the purpose of these sessions is to help you control your Semblance better. After the incident that occurred three weeks ago, you were very lucky to walk away with your life and only burns to match. Things could've ended very differently that day, and thank the Gods that they didn't." she voiced in a stern tone. Sean stared down at his arms and hands, even though they were covered by the sleeves of his leather jacket and fingerless gloves, he still remembered how much they hurt after his attempt to fly.
           "Professor... I would've made that call regardless of what happened. Nero and his thugs run around this school thinking they can do what they want, despite you and the other Professors attempts to stop them. Someone else had to step up. Speaking of which, whatever happened to Vince after that day?" he asked curiously. Miss Goodwitch's face remained blank as she gave him an answer.
           "He was given 3 months detention with Professor Mulberry. And I can assure you that he wasn't pleased. They did try to pin the blame on Mister Ryder, like he masterminded it. But when he tried to accept the blame, Headmaster Ozpin stopped him. I agreed with him, to me it seems they are using him as a scapegoat, and if that is true, then they are headed for deeper punishment. You seemed to know something about that, didn't you Mister Hawthorne?" she replied, ending her statement with a question of her own. Sean shrugged his shoulders and brushed it off.
            "I really didn't. But... he just didn't seem as guilty as they make him out to be... so I'm trying to give him a chance. And right now that seems to be far more than what his own teammates do for him.." he said with a narrowed gaze.
            "Yes well, I suppose time will tell for that. But for now, it is almost noon. Go and get yourself some lunch to decompress. But be back here at 12:45 PM sharp. Not a minute later." said Miss Goodwitch. Sean gave a quick nod and smiled softly as he quickly walked out of the classroom to head to the Dining Hall. As he walked through the halls, he passed by the library, and walked right into Lia as she was walking out.
            "We have got to stop meeting like this Sean. That is the third time we've bumped into each other this week." she said with a laugh.
            "Quite literally." he added, letting out a small laugh of his own as he scratched the back of his head, feeling his chest grow warm.
             "So, how is detention with Goodwitch going?" she asked as she looked up at him with a friendly smirk.  Sean shrugged his shoulders as he shoved his hands in the pockets of his jacket, rolling his eyes.
            "I can control my Semblance better now. I'm still a long way from mastering it, but I'm making progress. I wasn't expecting her to help me control my Semblance, but I'm appreciating the help." he answered honestly.
"Well I'm glad that she's been able to help you with your Semblance. And I'm sure the others will appreciate it as well. How are your hands by the way?" she asked, and Sean revealed his hands, a warm and pleasant smile on his face.
"Burn free. They finished healing the other day." he said as he hid them in his jacket again, looking down and seeing that she had a soft blush on her face.
"I'm glad... and I can also see that you have a little bit of a spring in your step. Care to explain why that is Sean?" she asked teasingly as she swayed back and forth on her feet. Sean chuckled softly as he rolled his eyes again.
"I'm just in a good mood Lia. I had a good training session and now I'm getting lunch. And I haven't had to deal with Nero or his goons. Sounds like a good day so far to me." he said, and Lia tilted her head with a smile.
"Yeah, I guess that does sound like a good day so far. I will admit it has been nice not dealing with them for a bit. But I know they're gonna be back, and when they are it's just gonna get worse again. I wish there was a way to get rid of them, or at least avoid them..." she said, her expression growing somber.
"Me too...hey. You want to join me for lunch? Maybe it'll help take your mind off those jerks." Said Sean as he felt his chest grow tight.
"What are you doing?! She's gonna think that's weird!!" he thought to himself as he mentally kicked himself. Lia's eyes widened with surprise, her cheeks turning pink, but she smiled gently and swept some of her hair behind her ears.
"Well, I appreciate the offer. But I have to take a rain check for today. I've got a paper due for Doctor Oobleck and I don't want to fall behind on my progress. But, I will definitely take you up on your offer Sean." she replied, and even though she had the same bored expression in her eyes, they were shining a little.
"Oh, yeah okay. Sure thing. Um...I guess I'll see you later then?" he asked, scratching the back of his head nervously.
"I would hope so. Silver's cooking for all our teams tonight. Like a... morale booster before exams start next month." she replied with a wave of her hand.
"Sounds fun. Think he'll let me help him cook?" asked Sean.
"As long as you don't set anything on fire." Lia replied with a cheeky smirk, and Sean let out a sigh, followed by a laugh.
"Hey I only burned one piece of bacon the last time I cooked because I got excited. You can't fault me for that." he said defensively, and Lia let out a laugh as well, a sound that made Sean's heart unexpectedly skip a beat.
"No, I can't. But I can hold it over your head." she replied as she swept some of her hair behind her ear again.
"I should get back to writing my paper. I'll see you later, okay Sean?" she asked, and Sean nodded his head and stepped aside.
"Yeah, I'll see you later Lia." he replied, and she gently punched him on the arm playfully before walking off, her hair swaying behind her. Sean stayed where was for a moment, watching her as she walked off.
"What the hell was that? Why do I feel so strongly about her? Maybe Velvet or Coco would know..." He thought to himself as he turned and around and raced out of the building towards the dorms. As he ran into the building and up the stairs, he nearly ran into Yatsu, Velvet, Fox, and the rest of SCLE and THON.
             "Whoa, whoa, easy Sean. Where are you off to in such a hurry?" asked Silver.
              "Did you run all the way here? What happened? You forget to take a breath mint?" asked Kara with a chuckle, never passing up an opportunity to tease her best friend.
              "Sorry guys. Have you seen Coco?" he asked as he caught his breath, ignoring Kara's comment.
             "Yeah, actually. She's in our room taking a shower, or about to take one. We just finished having a little team sparring with each other so we're gonna go grab lunch together." Velvet explained with a little smile on her face.
              "Why don't you come join us Hotshot? The more the merrier." said Castor with an energized grin.
             "He can't Castor. He still has detention, remember?" asked Silver, and his teammate face palmed.
           "Boriiiiing!" he exclaimed loudly, before he smirked jokingly.
            "Hey it ain't that bad. It could be much worse. I could be suspended from the Academy." Sean defended with a shrug.
            "He does have a point. Things could've been much worse. Detention seems fair compared to what could've been." declared Yatsu.
            "Agreed. Although I'm sure it would be more bearable if you cracked some jokes." Fox mentioned with a smirk.
            "With Goodwitch? Ha! You'll have better luck trying to make Lia look less bored than making Goodwitch laugh." said Castor as he let out a hefty laugh.
              "Knowing his luck, he'd probably get neither of them to laugh." Shira joked.
             "Look whatever you guys. I'm gonna go talk to Coco real quick before I head back. I'll see you guys after I'm done." Sean stated, trying not to smile too much, even if he was starting to find the friendly banter among the three teams hilarious.
"Don't train too hard Sean. You don't need to go and burn yourself again, alright?" asked Velvet with concern as she quickly unlocked the door to her room for him.
"I'll be fine Velvet, don't worry." he replied with a confident smile as he walked past them. Velvet smiled as he walked by, she had been afraid that he wouldn't want to use his Semblance after what happened with Anesidora, but it didn't seem to have bothered him at all.
"At least he's training to control it better now..." she thought as she walked down the halls with the others.
              "So, are we all thinking the same thing??" asked Shira.
                "Which is?" Yatsu responded gently.
               "That he's going to talk to Coco about his obvious crush on Lia?" Shira replied. The group immediately nodded their heads in unison.
              "Oh he definitely is. But I'm surprised he isn't going to you guys about it. You are his teammates after all." Castor pointed out.
              "Eh. I'm not too broken up about it. He's probably gonna talk to us anyway too." Kara shrugged, still grinning.
               "But, even when he does talk, you won't hear any spoilers from us." Shira warned, which caused the others to groan as they left the dorms.