Disclaimer: This is a work of fan fiction based on multiple existing anime/manga series. The characters and settings used in this story belong to their respective owners and creators, and no copyright infringement is intended. This story is purely for entertainment purposes and is not intended to infringe upon any existing intellectual property. I do not own any of the original works that inspired this fanfiction, and I fully support the original creators and their works.
I'm also exceedingly exceedingly exceedingly rarely chilling in JaxWolf4's (Author of Nah, I'd Adapt and Zenin Days) Discord Server. It's a chaotic lobotomy mess. Not for the faint of heart.
Here's the link:
Disc: HrPrTeam
Chunk 2 of 3 of the mass-release! Next chunk is expected within 3-4 weeks unless I'm locked in like I was now!
-Story Start-
Yet another clear sky loomed over Beacon Academy; the sun hung over the horizon just before noon, visible from the vast windows of the gigantic arena.
All of Beacon's freshmen and the international students had gathered here today for the most exciting joint sparring.
Crowded and stuffy were a matter of fact.
The sounds of dust explosions, cheers, and the ear-grating metal clashing against metal reverberated.
The air was electric, as each Huntsman Initiate of his respective Academy was most eager to prove themselves as superior to their international peers.
Their blood was boiling with a lust for combat and competitiveness, to prove themselves right here, right now, before the grand tournament that their Kingdom was the greatest and-
"You've been picking that tooth for a real long while, Alex." Ruby's tone was mixed with sympathy and bemusement as she observed her partner's struggle.
As she stood alongside the rest of her Team minus Weiss and JRNY, she stood specifically beside her partner, as the two of them were some of the only ones not to be consumed by the 'combat-freak' atmosphere surrounding them as they observed the spars below them.
Pyrrha, unfortunately, had fallen long ago, her visage tense and her smile threatening to break into a grin, as her eyes stuck to each movement of the opponents below.
Alex stood with a toothpick expertly targeting a gap between his teeth, his expression frustrated. "I'm considering tearing it out at this rate." He admitted with a twitching eye.
Outside of his restroom struggles, this might be his worst opponent in this world yet.
For a moment, he regretted the bright idea of eating popcorn on movie night yesterday. Brushing his teeth had failed him, and a sharp piece of wood seemed insufficient.
"Don't! I'm short on money to pay you for new teeth!" Ruby pleaded with a slight edge in her tone.
He paused mid-tooth-picking, "I can grow it back." He casually claimed.
"...Oh, right. Your 'Sheath'." She made air-quotations as she shook her head and beamed at him. "You gotta show it some time!"
Her excitement was practically infectious. "If it's anything like Excalibur, it must be gorgeous!"
"I'm working on it. Though I'll probably only show it under specific circumstances." He nodded, adding a nuance as he was reminded of his mentor's prior warning.
Huffing through his nose, Alex dismissed the idea of tearing out his tooth amid this crowd, even if they were distracted by the battles below.
If a bunch of blood sprayed from his mouth in this crowd, not only would it dirty his clothing, but also that of others.
He wasn't unreasonable.
He'll just do it privately later.
In any case, as the spars pressed on, he felt that these would drag on till his precious lunchtime.
Thankfully, only those interested in 'revealing' their techniques, Semblances, weaponry, whatever the hell, participated.
...Or those being challenged were forced by Glynda to participate.
In any case, two days have passed since Alex accepted the favor from his teammates, a mighty task.
Thankfully, the scammer only occasionally bothered him - she at least knew not to push his buttons too much.
Even so, it didn't stop people from making assumptions, wrong as they were.
Which brings us to about an hour later, with Alex picking his tooth in the middle of the crowd.
The spar had ended with an Atlas Academy student triumphing against a Beacon freshman, the aura bar reaching a critical red.
"Oh, come on!"
"Lark, man, what the fuck was that?!"
Once again, each time it was a spar between students of differing Kingdoms, cheers or protests broke out from each camp depending on the result.
"YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
"SUCK ON ITTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT BEACON LOSERS!"
Sometimes, it was a bit excessive - to the point that even the supposedly sophisticated Atlesians lowered themselves to what they would regard as uncouth, barbaric behavior.
For a moment, Alex couldn't help but lament how insane they'll get when the actual tournament comes around.
"...I can't believe they'd bring that much shame to home." Weiss's voice suddenly rang out, prompting Alex and Ruby to turn their heads towards her.
Noticing she was squeezing herself through the crowd alongside two somewhat familiar Haven students.
"Yo, Andrite! Where's your girlfriend? I'd like to warn her not to take it too badly when I beat you!" That Haven Faunus guy's cheeky tone rang out from beside him as he approached.
Exhibit A of wrong assumptions.
But before he could answer, his teammate and the one who stood strangely close to Weiss slapped Sun's shoulder, "Stop provoking him, dude. Besides, anyone can tell it's as one-sided a crush as it can get." He turned to regard Alex with a friendly, almost too-friendly, peacekeeping smile. "Right?"
"Right." Alex nodded casually.
"Neptune. Real pleasure to meet you, and sorry about my teammate." He extended his hand for a handshake as he introduced himself.
Sun started innocently, "Don't apologize for me-"
A threatening glare behind his shoulder had shut Sun up, forcing him to shrug helplessly.
"Nice to meet you." Alex nodded calmly, reciprocating the gesture.
"Ooo~ Weiss?" Ruby cooed, calling attention to the proximity between the tall, blue-haired boy and her teammate.
Even Alex wasn't blind to the almost subdued, charmed air around the two of them, especially how Weiss seemed outwardly enchanted.
For a moment, Weiss's face blushed slightly, making the suspicions even more justified. "Quiet, you." She answered, folding her hands.
Alex lifted his head and met the blue-eyes look of Neptune with his own calm amber as he let go of his hand.
As their eyes met, for an instant Neptune flinched, which prompted him to lean in towards Alex to whisper something.
Prompting a puzzled look from both Weiss and Ruby, although Sun seemed to have a knowing expression.
"I'm planning on asking your teammate, Weiss, to the upcoming dance," Neptune revealed his grand plan to Alex in a whisper.
"Why's this relevant to me? Shoot your shot, man." Alex replied without whispering, in the same tone and a slight tilt of his head.
"Shoot your shot?" Weiss mumbled out those words, a tad uncouth for her taste to decipher the actual meaning just yet.
At Alex's lack of subtlety, Neptune froze up and immediately turned his head to Weiss. Seeing that she hadn't caught on, he turned back to Alex, whispering. "I-It's just how these things go, you know? Teammates take care of one another and all, even dating-wise, wanted to get this through to you and get your approval before, ya know, just in case."
He was being awfully formal, tense with the way he was articulating himself.
Alex arched an eyebrow, "I'm not her dad, though he's a meddling asshole. She's her own person, mate. I don't tell her what to do-" pausing mid-sentence as he considered Neptune's words.
Weiss realized at this point that she was the topic at hand. "N-Neptune! What are you asking him-" She started with an embarrassed expression.
Ignoring her embarrassment, Alex recalled that unfortunate conversation he had no choice but to hear between Neptune and Sun, as he let out a small "Ah."
"W-What?" Neptune felt a twinge of uneasiness trickle down his spine.
Alex noted as his amber eyes narrowed lightly at the taller boy, "She does deserve to know this at least."
The uneasiness seemed to peak at that admission.
Before Neptune could voice it, Alex turned to Weiss.
At her incredulous and embarrassed look, he pointed a thumb at Neptune and informed her. "I've heard from this Sun guy that this guy's a womanizer, so keep that in mind. Just letting you know so you don't get scammed and have an idea what you're getting into."
Even amid the chaos of the next spar already having initiated below, even amid the cheers, cries, and clanging of steel, it was deafeningly silent in their little circle.
The only audible noise was Neptune's slack-jawed face letting loose a ghastly gasp. The kind of sound that was made when your soul left your body.
The only word leaving his lips was. "S-Sun?" The noise of betrayal, to which Sun seemed completely oblivious, his eyes wide with surprise. "I didn't say anything, bro!"
"Huh?" Weiss blinked as her eyes turned to regard Neptune in a new, judging, appraising light.
Alex was many things, but when he says something outside of his supposed delusions, it's usually the truth or his actual unfiltered thoughts.
The atmosphere turned awkward, as quiet enveloped them and Ruby seemed to scratch her head at what was going on.
Only broken by Sun's sudden obnoxious laughter. "Bahahahah! He got you good!" He slapped Neptune's downtrodden, hopeless shoulders, then turned to Alex. "Didn't expect ya to break the bro code, you know?" He wiggled his eyebrows good-naturedly at him.
Alex dismissed his accusation mercilessly, with an indifferent shrug. "I don't care about the bro code when it involves my friends." Adding, "Besides, if he's actually trouble and Weiss had no clue, I'm getting rid of a future headache."
"...Outside of that, he's a real swell guy, you know?" Sun admitted honestly, gesturing at the soul-shattered Neptune.
Alex didn't know nor care, even if this irritating Haven guy seemed to be a candid kind of guy.
Weiss answered with a conflicted, calmer tone, resembling her usual self. "I'll be the judge of that." She pinched her brows, turning to Alex with a warm smile. "I'm grateful for the heads-up."
Ruby puffed her chest, nodding proudly. "Mhm. I'm proud of you, Alex!" Adding with a cheerful smile. "For that, I'm buying you TEN energy drinks!"
Oh damn.
"What am I? A dog? Don't try and reward me for matter-of-fact shit." He rolled his eyes at Ruby, but then regarded her with a small smile. "But I'll take you up on that offer."
"Shake on it?" Ruby sneered, extending her hand out for a handshake.
"Shake on it." Alex nodded and reciprocated the gesture.
As that went on, Glynda's voice boomed in the arena once more. "ANY VOLUNTEERS FOR THE NEXT MATCH?"
At that, many hands rose up, but the fastest and most eager one was...
"ME! MISS GOODWITCH!" Sun's ecstatic tone reverberated.
"Your name?" She inquired, sharply pointing at Sun as the chosen individual.
"Sun Wukong! 1st year Haven Academy!" He pointed a proud, cheeky thumb at his chest.
At his announcement, a good portion of the Haven Academy students gasped in realization of what was about to go down.
And a few others who were in the know of Sun's intentions also drew wary exchanges with one another, directing themselves to a specific person of interest.
"And your opponent?" Glynda asked with narrowed eyes.
"Can we not?" Alex's voice was drowned out amid the crowd, but was loud enough to be heard by Sun.
Sun's answer was clear.
He pointed to the person near him, a huntsman initiate with an ethereal, brilliant blade attached to his hip. "This guy!"
...
'This guy' was an incredibly innocent title to bestow upon the person he was pointing at.
A deafening, fearful silence enveloped the entire arena, and even Glynda's lips pursed tightly at the suggestion.
A renowned individual.
To the Beacon freshmen, he was just a chill, albeit lazy person.
The international students still couldn't make heads or tails of him.
But there was one thing they both could agree on, even with some of them not witnessing his accomplishments firsthand.
When it came to prowess, Alex Andrite was an incomprehensible monster.
...
"Pyrrha, you take this one." His voice was forcefully loud, especially amid the dreadful silence. Directing attention to the clueless redhead beside him, recalling her previous offer.
Pyrrha broke out of her trance as she was mumbling about the previous spar, analyzing it in her head. "H-Huh? Can I?" She didn't seem to care who the opponent was, simply agreeing to it.
"Absolutely not. Mister Andrite, Mister Wukong, head down the stairs."
"Okay." Alex adhered to his quick surrender protocol.
Might as well get this done quickly.
To Be Continued!