Tournament Arc! (Castor Achromos! VS Midnight White!)

[Castor Achromos]

This…was new for Castor, normally destroying an entire classroom and the better part of various hallways, bathrooms and setting the cafeteria on fire…again, would result in a severe punishment even potential suspension if not outright expulsion. But thanks to the help from some new students Castor was able to avoid the worst punishment, the other students on the other hand who jumped him and Forrest a few days ago wound up punished with several weeks work of detention and being forced to clean up the mess they made. Normally Castor would try to find them to gloat in their face, but he had more important appointments to keep, talks been going around the academy for the past few days about a tournament. He couldn’t have been happier a legit fighting tournament…well sort of. From what he could tell this is more something akin to a practice for the real thing so Castor could only imagine that the school would be looking into these fights to see who would be good enough to represent the school for the world-famous tournament they hold every.

Actually…Castor wasn’t sure how often they hold that one, more importantly he was heading to the usual “combat theater” as he likes to call it for the first match of his. They were light on the details and rules for these fights, but he half expected that they were still in the middle of writing said rules given how fast this whole thing was set up. It would only take a few minutes for Castor to reach the amphitheater for his fight with his opponent. Something about her name sounded familiar though? But Castor couldn’t quite remember why, more importantly he had other problems. One is this monkey suit of a uniform they are making him wear, his usual clothes were set on fire and Castor was unsure when they would…if ever be fixed.

Despite the uniform being the standard outfit for Beacon students Castor never approved of it, regardless his more important concern was Fidi more specifically aspects of her seemed to have changed in the past few days and Castor could not fire out why. She was no longer able to reach the monstrous size she was before, and she was much more fragile and prone to braking apart from attacks. One the positive side she consumed much less aura than usual and was seemingly now able to much faster and strike along aside him now instead of just being relegated to a horrifying glorious artillery of death and destruction she was before.

Castor was unsure why this location was chosen specifically for this fight, but upon entering the location of his would be battle he couldn’t help but notice the wide range of open space compared to the usual combat training room. It made sense given the nature of the room usually holds a good portion of the entire student body, though a good portion of the overall room seemed to be filled by numerous students waiting for the tournament to start.

He noticed a few of them eyeing him as he entered, a good portion of them either ignored with a cold shoulder or flat-out stared daggers at him. Not surprised given the state of he left the cafeteria in, even if it wasn’t entirely his fault…Focusing on the task at hand Castor would make his way to stage as if he was actor getting ready to put on a play.

His opponent would probably be annoyed he took his sweet time to get here on time but if it works to put their mind at unease all the better.

[Midnight White]

Quite the contrary, Midnight was actually distracted at the edge of the arena with her back to him, supposedly looking at the crowd. If one was looking carefully they could see her shaking like a leaf. She had no idea what came over her when she agreed to fight in the pep tournament. She had a horrible case of stage fright but an amazing poker face when put up against something she feared. She guessed she thought exposure therapy to stages and a lot of people staring at her would help, but this seemed like too much too fast for her. She just kept staring at the overwhelming noise and lights trying to get over it. The crowd just seemed to think she was posing for the cameras and a few people who recognized her from the fashion magazine took pictures.

The tall young woman looked to the crowd keeping her composure and noticed the crowd as they shifted their attention behind her. Midnight quickly turned to face the person behind her while she transformed her weapon into glaive form in a flourish. The short pink hair twisted in the spin as did her long side split combat skirt. She wore a half pink, half black shirt along with some strange textured (strange silk or leather looking) gloves. As her eyes caught on to Castor a flash of recognition came to her eyes and she smiled with relief.

“Oh! It’s you!” She said with a disarming smile and wave. She started to walk to the center of the stage holding her glaive tucked behind her.

“It’s that teacher from ‘Asskicking 101.’” She joked as she walked to him. “D-Don’t think I’ll go easy on you.” She stuttered out as her eyes wandered out into the crowd.

Once she made it to him she offered him sportsmanly like handshake before they started.

[Professor Wednesday Haptasnytrir]

"Just the young man we were waiting for! Castor Achromos, please make your way to the arena grounds for your match against Miss White. From the looks of it, she's raring to go and I would prefer the first match of the day not be delayed any longer than it has to."

'Poor dear is shaking like a leaf. I sincerely hope you've a spine somewhere in that quivering mess. At least she seems familiar with the little troublemaker, so maybe that familiarity will coax some confidence out of her. I'm hoping she kicks his ass, hehe.'

Wednesday made herself comfortable lounging in the cushioned seat provided in the commentators' booth. A screen projection gave her a complete live feed of all the cameras affixed around the arena, one in particular trailed Castor's entrance and streamed it for the audience as a spotlight illuminated his position. All other lights swiveled to focus on the grounds and Midnight, her own head shot appearing side by side with Castor's replacing the live feed as their Aura gauges were brought on screen. Tapping a few commands into the console brought the barrier to life and with it, the start of the combat meet. Standing up, Wednesday approached the edge of the arena.

"After the combatants have exchanged pleasantries, they are to take their corners and await the starting signal." A storm colored eye passed over the two students patiently waiting for them to do just that.

[...]

"And... begin!"

[Castor Achromos]

Castor couldn’t help but laugh his ass off when he realized where the girl, “well it helps to know a fellow ass kicker took such an interest in this tourney.” He joked back at it as he shook her hand before going to his side of the ring. It turns out there’s even a commentator, one of the professors it seems. Castor already knew he was the “heel” in this situation despite being at the school longer, it doesn’t help his opponent seemingly was popular with a lot of the audience as they cheered for.

“Looks like you got a lot of fans?” he teased before continuing “I hope they don’t hate me when this match ends”

At that point the match had officially begun, and Castor opted the best way to start this fight was in his opponent’s face, his opponent seemed to favor ranged weaponry so getting her out of her comfort zone would be to his advantage. Not only that but on the opposite end Castor himself lacked any easy way to fight from a distance, aside from his semblance…but given how Fidi has been behaving strangely lately such as when he got jumped by a group of students and when he went to the emerald forest. So, he opted to avoid user her unless the fight called for it…besides the last thing he needs is the school to think he’s more of a monster than they already did.

Another disadvantage he had was the lack of knowledge of what she fought and even less of her semblance, regardless seeing how she would react to a sudden rush from an opponent would tell him a bit more about how she fought.

[Castor Achromos]

Castor didn’t know his opponent all that much besides the brief instance the two meets, when it came fighting styles he was at a disadvantageous. Pankration even with the use of weapons heavily favored close ranged fighting. His Cetus gloves would never reach their targets if she knew how to keep her distance, which in this case the newish student was doing just that thanks to her weapon. Granted, most people would have a hard time weaving between hails of bullets and swings from her glaive, if nothing else her weapon showed her creative side. But it also exposed her weakness as a fighter. She’s so focused on keeping him at a distance that it was obvious her close quarters skills “should” be lacking. Castor simply needed the right opportunity to close the distance…he could use his semblance but given what has happened with Fidi during the past few days it was probably for the best he didn’t. Besides, with all the daggers people have been staring in his direction ending the fight too soon would have its own consequences. Regardless as the fight continued Castor was slowly but surely able to cover more ground, between dodging lead and dust he was inching closer to his opponent if she was worried, she did a good job of covering it. But once Castor got past her weapon, he would easily be able to take the win from her. Either a flurry of punches to keep her off balance or even some grapples to maintain the distance. Castor had plenty of options to finish this fight…
What he didn’t expect though was for the fight to suddenly be stopped by the referee, when a small bit of hard light wall appeared between him and his opponent. Castor was more confused than angry as it seemed the ref in question was speaking to someone in their head piece to confirm something? After a few moments they would make the announcement:

“Miss Midnight White has forfeited the match, winner is Castor Achromous!” Castor’s confusion quickly turned sour, but it seemed not even his opponent knew what was going on, He wanted a right honest good bare-knuckled brawl. Hell, the crowd deserved a good fight and now they were just robbed of a good show. Castor would turn away to and leave the building…where a message would ring in his scroll from an all too familiar name.

“You done playing games?”] good I got a job for you.” Castor soon connected the pieces together as to what caused his fight’s abrupt end Rage consuming all common sense at this point Castor simply replied to the “Deadman”

“interrupt the tourney again, and I’ll let the school know where you keep the extra suits.”
At that point Castor was far mad to bother with the bastard anymore and continued walking waiting for the next match and how to best cool his head off until then.

[Professor Wednesday Haptasnytrir]

There was a seat only steps away promising comfort for her part as the gallery, but a fight wasn't something Wednesday wanted to bear witness to at a distance. She was a woman of action, and the closer she was to the rhythm of the melee, the more intimately her own heart would sing alongside it. Castor seemed to be on the same page as he was gunning out the gates a moment after her declaration of the bout's start. Good lad. The microphone rose steadily towards her lips as Wednesday readied her opening commentary; the dust from the initial exchange only just settling, and the high gave way to a lull. She held her breath, single eye flitting from one end of the arena to the next, years of experience brought to the fore to decipher each combatants' next move.

Nothing happened.

The song of battle was smothered by the referee asserting their voice over the din. She had largely ignored them in favor of the other arena occupants, a background element same as the roaring crowd. Wednesday couldn't continue doing so. Not after hearing the announcement. A decision already being made before either combatants had yet to even take a chip in their auras? This was... Wednesday took a deep breath and stalked back to the commentators' booth, its door being not so gently thrown open to allow her access to the controls. Replays and a myriad of angles revealed nothing that would warrant such a call. No infractions, no interference... what was she not seeing?

A few seconds of focus on the referee and Castor showed... something. Maybe. She needed to follow up on this. Something just wasn't sitting right with her. For now, Wednesday would just have to let the ruling stand. Much as she wanted to take them aside now, she had duties to perform to ensure the smooth operation of the rally, and calling the whole thing off now was out of the question over a suspicion. From the booth, Wednesday narrowed her storm grey eye at the three in the arena, a mental command sending Hue and Moon to maintain a watch on them as her semblance shimmered. If there was some scheme in the shadows, she'd hunt it down before long, dragging it kicking and screaming from its den.

"Thus concludes this bout with Castor Achromos as the victor. He will be moving on to the next tier where more challenges await him. Please, vacate the arena for the next combatants to have their go." An announcement as unethused as the speaker rang out. Wednesday took solace in the face that she need wait only a handful of minutes for the next bout to begin. Preferably one more engaging than this brief affair.