ThatKIrcguy
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Breathe Chapter 12: Afterhours
🕑 Added 2024-06-10 04:52:06 +0000 UTCI sat outside the principal’s office. I’d been waiting for about five minutes now. From the faint sound I could hear from her office, I could tell that she was on a call, but I couldn’t tell what it was about, the walls muffled the sound too well.
My second day at Sanctum Academy had proven to be much better than the first. Ivy and Rust continued to guide me around the Academy, ensuring that I got to the right classes and they ate lunch with me, but beyond that, we hadn’t really gotten to really know each other.
Although, that might have been my fault, the way I acted while fighting the spider droid may have been a bit off putting. It’s one thing to see a person destroy a robot, it’s another thing entirely to see that person have genuine, gleeful fun while fighting the strongest Android in the Academy.
The door to Jasmine’s office clicked open and she peeked out her head. “Ah, Coal, there you are. I hope I haven’t kept you waiting for too long.”
“It’s only been a few minutes,” I shrugged. “You wanted to see me?”
“Yes, I need to discuss the upcoming tournament with you. Why don’t you come inside and we can begin,” Jasmine replied, motioning for me to enter her office.
Getting up, I followed Jasmine into her office and took a seat in front of her desk. “You wanted to see me… Ma’am?” I asked, not sure of how I should act. I technically was a student here, but at the same time, I wasn’t planning on being one for long.
Going from fighting Grimm in the woods and staying on June’s farm where I could talk frankly with her and Oscar to this Academy where respect was demanded by teachers who could pretty much act in any way they pleased… it was an adjustment.
“If calling me ma’am really makes you that uncomfortable, you could just call me by my first name,” Jasmine hummed as she sat down behind her desk. “As I’ve said, allowances can be made.”
Right, so if I stay here, I get to call the principal by her name. That wasn’t really that much of a perk. “So, you wanted to see me, Jasmine,” I repeated myself.
“Better,” She nodded. “There are a few things that I need to discuss with you, but first. How was your second day here at Sanctum?”
Was that really what she wanted to talk about? “It was alright.”
“I see,” Jasmine said, looking more interested than a person should with that answer. “How are you getting along with your classmates?”
“They’re alright,” I replied.
“And the…”
“Is this really what you called me here for today?” I asked, interrupting her.
“I want to make sure that you’re enjoying your time here at Sanctum,” Jasmine explained. “Having you stay on here as a student would be pointless if you hate this Academy. So I’m doing my best to ensure that you have an enjoyable stay.”
“So if I had a problem,” I began,
“Then I would endeavor to fix it… assuming that it’s not too outlandish,” Jasmine chuckled.
“Alright, stop,” I said suddenly. “You’re literally saying that you would bend the rules for me if I stayed on as a student. Don’t you see that as a problem?”
“Not really,” Jasmine shook her head.
I sighed and palmed my face. “Just… why are you going to such lengths to try and keep me as a student here?”
“Oh, numerous reasons,” Jasmine replied. “Maybe it’s because you’re strong for your age and having it known that someone as strong as you once went to this Academy, or it could be that I want to see how much you’ll grow in this Academy as opposed to fighting Grimm in the wild… but I believe this is my main reason.” She slid her scroll across the table.
Picking it up, a video was already playing, showing my short lived fight with Mange from yesterday. “How did you…”
“Get the video? Argus isn’t known as the city of eyes for nothing,” Jasmine said.
Well, that was just unnerving. “There are cameras around the school,” I noted. I’d never seen any camera’s in any of the rooms or cafeteria, so they were probably hidden.
“Not just the school. The whole city,” Jasmine replied. “But enough of that. The interesting part of this event comes after you knocked out mister Mange. The part where you checked his pulse and then went on to lecture the students in the lunch room is what I want to focus on. Do you know what that tells me?”
“That I was worried I’d killed a guy and I can get a little preachy,” I deadpanned, passing her scroll back to her.
“I suppose that’s one way of looking at it,” Jasmine chuckled. “This Academy has worked hard to produce excellent students and it has exceeded that with a select few, but as you could see, they’ve become complacent.”
“So you want me to what? Motivate them?” That’s why she wanted me to stay in Sanctum?
“I believe that both you and the rest of my students could benefit from each other. They could learn to take things a little more seriously and you could learn a few things here too.”
“If you want them to be more serious, just have them fight a Grimm,” I deadpanned. “Once they see that Grimm aren’t like the Androids and won’t stop when the match is called, they should realize that it’s not all fun and games out there.”
“A practical idea, but ultimately not one that I can use,” Jasmine hummed. “The parents would need to sign a permission slip for that and if anything happened to one of the students, the blame would fall to the Academy. While the finishing Academies like Haven or Beacon can get away with doing that, a preparatory Academy like Sanctum cannot.”
“Then show them a real video of what happens out there.”
“That would be illegal,” Jasmine replied. “Showing such a video would only be acceptable in Vacuo, but would also be pointless. They live through harsh conditions already.”
Well damn, her hands really were tied on this.
“I believe that we’ve discussed this point enough,” Jasmine hummed. “As of today, you’re officially registered as a participant in the upcoming tournament.”
“That’s it?” I asked. That was something she could have told me in passing, not have a whole meeting about it.
“There are a few dozen rules that we have to go over,” Jasmine explained. “And a few… perks that I’m legally obligated to inform you about.”
“Legally obligated?” I raised an eyebrow.
“It’s more morally than legally, actually,” Jasmine corrected herself with a small laugh. “As you are going to be a participant of this tournament, you’re not required to participate in school activities and you are allowed to spend your day however you please, whether that be studying old footage of your potential opponents or practicing. Also, seeing as you’re technically a member of this school, you’re allowed to access the training room after hours.”
“So I don’t have to go to class anymore?” I asked, feeling a little excited at that thought.
“I would prefer it if you did, but yes, that is the gist of it,” Jasmine nodded. “The tournament is only a few short days away after all and there will be people using all different manners of weapons. I believe that you’re not very familiar with dust… perhaps you could spend your time learning about it in class. There are still a few things you could learn here that I feel you would benefit from.”
In other words, she wanted me to stay here for the rest of the week in hopes that it would convince me to stay on as a full time student.
“I’ll think about it,” I replied. “Now about the rules for the tournament.” I had no intention of losing this bet due to not standing in the right area or wearing the right clothing.
…Breathe…
The rules as they turned out were fairly simple ones which could easily be applied to any type of sporting event. Don’t kill anyone, stop when you’re told to stop, don’t injure the audience and keep in mind that it’s a televised event, so public nudity is an immediate disqualification, all things that I could easily follow.
“And that concludes the rules,” Jasmine finished. “Any questions.”
“Not really.”
“Then I assume that you would like to go and take advantage of the training room now that you’re allowed to access it afterhours.”
I would… I really would like to get some extra training in, but… “I can’t. I’ve got to get back to the apartment,” I replied. If I showed up late, Maria would likely assume that I got lost somewhere in Argus, which would be a fair thing to assume. The city was pretty large.
“Back to your guardian,” jasmine nodded in understanding. “Although, I could call her and let her know that you’re going to be a bit late today… I could even arrange for someone to escort you back to your apartment.”
“If you could do that…” I began. “Then I suppose I could spend an hour or two in the training room today.”
Jasmine smiled. “You make it sound like you’re doing me a favor… but I suppose that would be the case this time.” There was a soft knock at the door. “Come in.”
“You wanted to see me, ma’am?” Pyrrha asked as she stepped into the office clothed in her drug dealer disguise and caught sight of me. “Oh, I’m sorry. I thought you weren’t busy. I’ll wait outside.”
“It’s alright, Coal and I were just finishing up… In fact, he’s the reason why I called you here,” Jasmine explained. “You see, much like yourself, Coal here is going to be participating in the upcoming tournament too and I was hoping that the two of you could train together.”
“W…What?!” Pyrrha asked.
“Yeah, what?” I said. Having the two of us train together didn’t make sense. Sure it could be a way for Pyrrha to learn how I fight and plan accordingly, but it also granted me that exact same opportunity. No one would really gain anything from this… Unless there were videos out there of Pyrrha fighting, meaning I could learn how to fight her while she would know nothing of how I fought.
“I believe that you would both benefit from training together,” Jasmine hummed with an amused smile on her face.
“If… that’s what you think, then… I would be willing to give it a try,” Pyrrha said, looking more than a little uncomfortable.
“Sure, I won’t mind training with someone else as well,” I replied. If Jasmine thought she could have me expose my fighting style to Pyrrha, then she was in for a big surprise when we fought in the tournament and I start using Sun Breathing Techniques.
“Excellent,” Jasmine smiled. “Then if it wouldn’t be too much to ask of you, Pyrrha, could you please escort Coal here to the training room.”
“Yes,” Pyrrha nodded. “I’ll… get right on that.”
“That would be much appreciated,” Jasmine hummed.
Getting up, I wordlessly followed behind Pyrrha. We stepped into the hallway and proceeded to head towards the training room.
“You know, you could have said no if you didn’t want to train with me,” I said, watching Pyrrha’s shoulders stiffen. “Hell, if you want, you can train by yourself. I don’t mind practicing elsewhere.”
“No… it’s fine. I… don’t mind sharing the training room with you,” Pyrrha replied nervously.
“You’re a kind person,” I sighed, she was also a bit of a pushover as well, but I wasn’t going to be saying that to her.
“Oh, um, thank you,” Pyrrha said, stumbling over her word. We continued walking for a bit before she finally spoke again. “Can I ask you something?”
“Sure.”
Pyrrha nodded to herself and took a short breath. “You’re going to be participating in the tournament this weekend… why?”
Well, that was a simple question that had a bit of a longer answer. Clicking my sword off my belt, I offered it to Pyrrha. “Here, take a look at this.”
Taking it, Pyrrha shot me a quick look and partially unsheathed the blade. “… It’s… a nice sword,” She said with a forced smile on her face.
“It’s actually kind of crap,” I replied. Sure it was my first real sword that I carried around with me and it did have sentimental value to me, but ultimately, it wasn’t a very good weapon. “That’s why I’m in Argus, to get a replacement.”
“So you want to use the prize money to pay for a new weapon,” Pyrrha realized.
There was prize money? I hadn’t actually thought about that. “Actually, Jasmine offered me a bet. If I win in the tournament, she’ll pay for my future weapon.”
“Oh, that’s nice of her,” Pyrrha hummed, awkwardly looking to the side.
“You… don’t know who Jasmine is, do you?” I asked and Pyrrha shook her head. “She’s the principal.”
“Oh,” Pyrrha’s eyes lit up. “But then… why are you calling her by her first name… any why is she making a bet with a student?”
“She saw my fight with that spider Android and wants me to stay on as a fulltime student,” I explained. “She proposed a bet that if I lose, I’ll stay in Sanctum for another month and if I win, she’ll pay for a new weapon.”
…Breathe…
Stepping into the combat arena, I took a moment to glance around the room, the stands that were once filled with students watching onward were empty, the spot where Greene stood was abandoned. The room had a different feel to it now… a more comfortable one.
“Would you like to go first?” Pyrrha asked.
I wouldn’t mind, but then again, I didn’t exactly know how to get everything started. “How about we go together,” I suggested. “The arena seems large enough that if we both fight on opposite ends, we shouldn’t end up interfering with each other.”
“Alright,” Pyrrha replied. “Then we can begin after getting changed.”
Before I could say anything, Pyrrha was already halfway out of the arena, heading directly towards the changing room at the opposite end.
Much like last time, I hadn’t exactly brought a change of clothes, not really seeing the importance in such a thing, my academy uniform worked well enough last time. Taking a brief moment to loosen my uniform, I decided to take a look around the arena.
There really wasn’t all that much for me to see. The only thing of note that I could find was a small panel near the entrance that was connected to the androids in the arena, but sadly it was locked and needed a pass code. Something that Jasmine must have ‘forgotten’ to inform me about.
It didn’t take too much longer for Pyrrha to return, dressed in her combat outfit, holding her shield and spear, ready for the training session ahead.
“You didn’t get changed?”
“I didn’t bring a change of clothes,” I explained.
“Oh,” Pyrrha hummed. “Then were you waiting for me?”
“Kind of,” I chuckled lightly, suddenly feeling a little awkward. “You see, the thing is… I don’t exactly know how to operate this room. I tried to use that panel over there, but I need a code to get in.”
“I’m sorry,” Pyrrha apologized immediately, covering her mouth as she began to blush. “You’re new here. I should have known that you wouldn’t know how to operate this room.”
“It really wasn’t your fault. I should have spoken up sooner,” I replied. “Let’s just get to training.”
“If… If your say so,” Pyrrha nodded.
I honestly began to wonder how it was that someone with Pyrrha’s looks and abilities was just as socially awkward as I was, but then I remembered that everyone here put her on a pedestal. She didn’t have the opportunity to form meaningful relationships because everyone saw how skilled she was and immediately assumed that they weren’t good enough for her.
…Breathe…
I was once more pitted against the Spider Android, which as it turned out was the strongest one Sanctum had at its disposal and I was bored.
When the fight began, I resolved myself not to use and Sun Breathing techniques and instead decided to find a weak point on the droids armored body. It had been tough initially, but as the training wore on and I continued to strike, looking for its weak points. Eventually I became so familiar with the droids attack pattern that I no longer had to keep my eyes open while fighting it and instead began to rely on my hearing.
Stepping to the side, the droids pattern broke and I opened my eyes and ducked underneath it as it raced off to a new target standing in the center of the arena.
“Damnit,” I muttered and dashed after it. It seemed Pyrrha had gotten too into her own fight and either forgot that I was here fighting my own droid or didn’t realize just how far she’d drifted during her fight.
The droid that I was fighting registered Pyrrha as the threat as her weapon was drawn and she was actively fighting while mine was sheathed and I’d merely been using it as practice for spatial awareness and dodging.
Stopping behind Pyrrha, I planted myself firmly on the ground and waited for my droid to take a swing at us and parried it, diverting the limb just enough to avoid us.
“Hey there,” I greeted happily.
“…HI,” Pyrrha greeted back. Lifting her shield, she blocked an incoming attack from her droid and heavily pushed it back. “What are you doing over here?”
“You accidentally attracted my droid,” I explained. “You’ve been… drifting towards my side during your fight.”
“I’m sorry,” Pyrrha apologized again. “Let me just use my scroll quickly and we can start our fights over again.”
“Actually, if it’s not too much to ask, do you think we could continue fighting like this?” I asked. “I’m not used to fighting while protecting someone behind me, so this is pretty good training.” My current fighting style focused around mobility and dodging strikes, but I wouldn’t always have the opportunity to be mobile. There was a good chance that there would come a time when I had to fight while there was someone else behind me, managing their own fight.
“That would be alright with me,” Pyrrha hummed.
Our battle began anew, but this time, I treated the situation much more seriously, envisioning a Death Stalker over the Spider Droid on my end.
For the first time since I’d been fighting today, I actually felt myself struggle. I met each strike from the spider droid with my own and found myself pushed back. It wasn’t only me either, Pyrrha was struggling too, now that she couldn’t dodge either.
Eventually, the fight had forced us together, standing with our backs pressed against each other. Pyrrha was taking slow deep breaths while my own were perfectly controlled.
“We’re not going to win this spar like this,” I said, cautiously eyeing my droid.
“We’re not,” Pyrrha agreed. “Do you think we should separate again?”
“We could do that,” I agreed, grunting as I parried one of the droids metallic limbs. “Or we could take advantage of the size difference and focus our combined efforts on one at a time.” The droids, while powerful were large and could easily be outmaneuvered.
“Alright. Which one should we focus on?”
“We’ll go for yours first,” I replied.
Pyrrha and I rushed underneath her droid. Grabbing Pyrrha’s waste, I spun around, moving us just in time to avoid being hit in the back by one of the droids limbs.
Darting out behind the droid, Pyrrha raised her shield above her head and readied her javelin, but not before the spider droids body spun a full 180 degrees around.
Reading its next attack, I jumped forward and preemptively struck its arm as Pyrrha threw her javelin, enhancing its speed with a dust charge and keeping it steady and true with her semblance. The Javelin pierced through the droids head and stabbed into its chest. Its body stalled out and quickly fell to the floor with a loud metal clank.
However, the fight wasn’t over yet. The droid I’d been fighting stepped around the one we’d just killed and was aiming to attack Pyrrha who only had her shield. Catching her eye, I glanced to her shield and then the droid, before crouching down.
Kicking off at high speed, my feet met Pyrrha’s shield and she bounced me towards the incoming droid. Raising my sword, I thrust it forward and pierced through the thick armor of the spider droid. It lumbered forward momentarily, but powered down when I ripped my blade out of its chest, doing my best to cut as many wires as I could.
Stepping off the droid, I turned my attention to Pyrrha who was in the middle of retrieving her javelin from the first spider droid. That had been… different. I don’t think I’ve ever had a fight like that before.
When Maria and I went to hunt Grimm, it was mostly her making sure that I didn’t end up getting myself killed by taking on one that was too strong. She never really fought with me. Pyrrha on the other hand, she was around my level when I wasn’t using any Sun Breathing techniques and we worked together pretty well.
“You know,” I began, catching Pyrrha’s attention. “You’re pretty strong.”
“Ah, thanks,” Pyrrha replied, looking awkward. “So… are you. That’s a pretty useful Semblance you have there… sensing danger.”
Sensing danger? “That’s not my Semblance.”
“It’s not? But you were able to avoid attacks that you didn’t see,” Pyrrha said, tilting her head to the side. “If you’re worried that I’ll tell others what your Semblance is then…”
“Pyrrha,” I interrupted her. “That’s literally something anyone could do, you don’t need a Semblance to have good spatial awareness.”
“But then… wait, anyone can learn it?” Pyrrha asked. “Even me?”
“…Sure,” I replied slowly. “I mean, it’ll probably take a lot of training and you would need to learn a few things, but you should be able to do it too.” All it really took to react the same way I did was knowing the attack pattern of the thing or person you were fighting along with knowing what your body can do.
It worked best with sight, but ever since I’d mastered Total Concentration Constant, my senses had improved to the point where I was able to do it with sound alone.
“Could you then… maybe,” Pyrrha began, slowly growing more quiet. “Teach… show me how to do it?”
“Asking your potential opponent to teach you something before the upcoming tournament,” I hummed.
“No, that’s not what I meant at all,” Pyrrha said, slightly panicked. “I just meant that it’s a useful skill and I’ve never heard of it before. I don’t want to…”
“I’ll teach it to you,” I chuckled. It was far from the most dangerous thing I could share and it was doubtful that she would get it right before the tournament this weekend, but even if she did, I still had more than a few tricks up my sleeve.
“You will?” Pyrrha asked in a confused tone. “But… why? What if I use it against you in the tournament?”
“Then I suppose you’ll deserve to win,” I hummed. “There’s more to life than tournaments, Pyrrha. If this is something that will one day save your life out there in the field, then why wouldn’t I teach it to you?” The image of Pyrrha with an arrow stuck in her chest briefly flashed through my mind. Even if it led me to losing the tournament, it might lead to Pyrrha surviving an encounter with Cinder.
Pyrrha’s face lit up with a radiant smile. “Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me yet,” I replied. “I’ve still got to figure out how to teach you this.”
I suppose the first step would be to get Pyrrha to open her senses to the world. Get her less reliant on her sight by having her focus entirely on her hearing.
“Alright, I’ve got a good idea where to begin,” I nodded. “You’ll need to keep your eyes closed and it’ll probably be a bit odd, but it should give you a basic understanding of what I was doing.”
“Okay,” Pyrrha nodded and closed her eyes.
“I didn’t mean right now,” I deadpanned. “We should take a break first.”
Pyrrha was pretty eager and trusting too… a bit too trusting. I might need to teach her to be a bit more wary and paranoid.
