THE STEL STORIES Part 2: The Fall of Beacon

Chapter 7 - PINK vs MNKY

I crouched waiting for my moment, the mist around me the perfect cover for Scarlet as lay on his belly sniper at ready, as we looked down from the high rock point we were positioned on.
Eclipse and Trillium are below, locked in front-end combat against Viola, Lucy, and Echo from Team VLET, Tina has been knocked out already from a lucky semblance-powered punch from Eclipse.
They were almost in position, the three girls were evenly spread, individually jumping in and out taking turns and swapping to attack Trillium and Eclipse.
Trillium's long water-powered tentacles block and push them back separating them slowly and precisely, just as we planned.
"Now!" Scarlet ordered.
I raised my Raiken blades, now in a large spinning shuriken form, and throw it hard in the direction of the girls, my semblance strength buff giving it the extra speed it needed.
It spins and soars directly for Lucy, smacking straight into her chest and launching her back and out of the arena.
Viola and Echo, spin to look for their teammate, costing them Echo, as Scarlet who had been scoped in on her the last five minutes, fires a single high-powered dust shot directly into her, completely shattering her aura and sending her flying.
Viola spun watching her last teammate get knocked out and turned back to face us.
Scarlet and I clambered down standing beside Trillium and Eclipse, all grinning at her.
"Ready to give up" Eclipse mocked.
Viola smiled then a large purple barrier surrounded us, her force field ability.
"You had to say something, didn't you?" Trillium sighed facing Eclipse.
The barrier started getting smaller and cramped, she was going to crush us till our auras broke!
"Relax guys," Scarlet said calmly, still grinning, "We got this!"
Viola laughed, holding her arms out and pushing that barrier further together, "You are clearly stuck, and you know that the harder you hit my semblance barriers the stronger it gets, you should've stayed separated!"
"True," I said, as I lifted my right hand, a purple glow emitting from my black gloves, "But then you would see this coming easier".
Viola frowned and went to say something when the full force of my shuriken slammed into her back, breaking her concentration.
I had used the new upgrade that I had thought of, Gravity Dust embedded in our weapons and gear, allowing us to push and pull our gear towards each other, almost like a magnet.
My Raiken Shuriken Blades had been behind her, still on the ground from where I had knocked Lucy out and had risen and come flying back to me. Viola just happened to be in its path.
The barrier around us faded and I strolled forward, my blades now returned to my hand back in their Katana forms.
I stood over Viola and held my blade beneath her chin, her aura flickering nearly broken, and with a slight flick, slashed along the edge of it breaking her shield completely.
We won.
The crowd in the Stadium erupted in cheers and applause, I raised my arm in victory, my teammates behind me doing the same, laughing and smiling.
I looked down at Viola and offered her a hand to stand and said "Good match, It was an honor fighting you and your team".
She smiled weakly, took my hand, and shook it.
"Congrats on your win".

We exited the stadium, tired and hungry after our first fight, the next team we will face would be the winner between Team PINK and Team MNKY.
Scarlet took us to a bunch of food stalls nearby, ordering us bowls of ramen to devour as we rested, Eclipse ordering a second to fully satisfy his hunger.
"Hey, there champs!"
We turned to see Pinkus and Kale heading toward us, fully decked in their usual combat gear.
"Well looky here! it's the future team we are gonna crush again" Scarlet joked as he shook Pinkus's hand.
"Haha don't get your hopes up yet for a rematch, we gotta take that Atlas team down first" Pinkus chuckled.
He turned to me and asked, "Ying, he's on your family right? Any tips against him?"
I shook my head, "Apart from a bit of glowing I haven't really seen his Semblance or even weapons in use".
Pinkus shrugged, "Was worth trying to ask, but hey we got this, hope you come watch we start in an hour".
We nodded our confirmation and bid them farewell as they headed to the stadium to prepare.
"So how we doing the next round" asked Trillium, "After all we can only have two of us compete in the next round".
Scarlet nodded and said "I was thinking Eclipse and I can handle the next round and in the solos we send Lumen, use his semblance as a last resort kind of thing".
I chuckled at the thought of showing my full strength in a stadium full of people that I could accidentally attack, "Your a funny guy Scarlet" I say to him.
He shrugs, somewhat serious bout the idea.
"Just a thought I had" he says before turning back to Eclipse to start planning strategies.

I couldn't believe it, there was no way it was over.
We had gotten lost in discussion and planning and realised we had run over time before the next round, sprinting back to stadium to watch Pinkus and his team fight.
We had been only a couple minutes late but the fight was over.
Team MNKY had won, in less than five minutes.
I could see the two other members of MNKY walking away whilst, Marcus and Ying observed the results of their work.
All three of Pinkus's teammates had been flung out of the arena, and Pinkus himself was out cold, in a large dent in the ground, as if he had been slammed hard into the ground.
They had been disposed of easily!
"What the hell happened!" I asked Weiss Schnee after spotting her in the crowd watching.
She looked terrified and shocked at what she had seen and when she turned to face me I could see her own confusion.
"To be honest I'm not entirely sure," she said in awe, "One of them used a smokescreen semblance covering the full field and then there were a lot of glowing and flashing lights, followed by each of Pinkus's team members being flung out".
I turned back shaking my head in surprise, "What about Pinkus" I asked, fearing the answer.
"Marcus" Weiss answered, "When the smoke cleared, Pinkus was the last standing, his body shock semblance protecting him, till Marcus grabbed him, immune, and slammed him so hard into the ground it shattered his Aura instantly and made that dent".
What the hell sort of semblance did Marcus have?
I shook my head in disbelief, thanking Weiss for the info, and head off to find Scarlet.
He was down in the infirmary, sitting beside Pinkus's bed, he was still out cold.
"Kale just told me what happened too," Scarlet said as soon as I had repeated what Weiss told me, "He also reckons Ying was the one who threw them, said he even apologized before he did it".
I chuckled, trusting my kind-hearted cousin, part of a brutal Atlas team, to apologize before a knockout.
"So we gonna stick with the original plan? Cause I think we both know Marcus and Ying are going to be our opponents," I ask.
"No" Scarlet replied, "I have another idea now, it's you and me now, we need to show them how we can have fun yet still be strong and win".
I smiled knowing his exact thoughts "Oh we are going to do that are we?".
Scarlet grinned right back "Yeah, it's time we show him our brother jokes".

That night I returned to my usual spot on the balcony above the dorms.
I was just sitting observing the broken moon in the sky, pondering random thoughts and just trying to relax before the big day.
"I thought I would find you here"
I turned to see Ying behind me, he was wearing casual clothing, a simple black top, and white shorts, he wandered over and sat beside me observing the moon as well.
We sat in silence before I asked "So how do you put up with Marcus and the no-fun rule".
Ying chuckled and replied, "It's not that we can't have fun, he's just very serious and lately, Atlas heads are putting pressure on us huntsman to do better, so I think it gets to his head more".
I nodded and said, "Still he needs to loosen up a bit, be nicer and more chill, people would like him more".
Ying nodded and sighed, staring at the moon again.
"I don't wanna fight you tomorrow Cous" he quietly whispered.
I stared at him and placed a hand on his shoulder, sensing his sadness.
"It's ok dude, this is just a friendly tournament, Give it your all and may the best fighter win!" I say.
He nods, still looking a little saddened but as he walks away he says "Tomorrow, Marcus wants me to take you down while he personally fights Scarlet".
So he still held a grudge, I thought as i was left alone again, realizing that was the first normal conversation I have had with Ying since we had reunited.
I prayed it wouldn't be my last.