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.
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Disc: HrPrTeam
-Story Start-
The crowd watched apprehensively as the two combatants stood across from one another.
The challenger, Sun Wukong, faced the challenged, Alex Andrite.
Sun was ready first, as he simply connected a single Aura Measuring Device.
However, the apprehension seemed to rise, especially among the international students, as Alex calmly equipped his own Aura Measuring Devices.
As in, plural.
One after another, layer after layer of his own measurement of Aura grew below his name and face on the large screen.
Disturbed whispers echoed, and as for the Beacon freshmen?
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA!" Gleeful, mocking laughter reverberated among them.
They were openly gloating, treating Alex as their impromptu Beacon representative.
As he donned his final, tenth Aura Measuring Device, Glynda approached and asked him quietly. "I don't have to tell you, Mister Andrite?"
Ever since what he did to that valley, the fact she was in the know wasn't really surprising, but she had been asking him incessantly each time, and by each time he meant every time to hold back.
Asking to just let him pass with flying colors wasn't in the cards, even then. She was weirdly persistent.
In a way, he appreciated that treatment; after all, he was still just a student right now.
"I'll hold back, don't worry." He repeated the same answer he gave each and every time.
Losing control here wasn't something he worried about; he'd been in such a situation many times, albeit with a tad smaller crowd.
"Good." Glynda nodded, her stern voice echoing behind her as she walked away.
Unlike most of his peers, Sun could only stare at the screen with an almost childlike wonder and excitement as the Aura Bars piled up.
'His battle-freak is on Pyrrha's level.' Was Alex's professional assessment.
For a moment, his eyes crossed with the monkey faunus with a dull frown on his face. 'Not going to give him that pleasure.'
Most of the time, he was cordial enough to let others 'experience' fighting against him, so they got better in some sort of way, and at the same time he could grow somewhat more skilled in his swordsmanship form.
But this guy had been pressing his buttons for a while now.
He backed off for some odd reason recently, but the bananas in the Dining Hall targeted at him?
Even with his short-term memory, that had been ingrained deeply into Alex's psyche.
"Are both of you ready?" Glynda's tone sliced through the room, disregarding the pale expressions of the foreigners and the self-satisfied grins of her dear freshmen.
"Yes!" Sun stood firm, withdrawing a bo staff.
At that instant, although Alex's expectations of this 'Sun Wukong' were done and dusted, he couldn't help but stiffen at the sight of it.
Perhaps he'd get help; maybe he'd been handed something as outlandish as he had been.
Minus the Dragon Blood pumped into him, perhaps this 'Sun Wukong' had a ridiculous staff, the genuine article?
Maybe, just maybe, his confidence to face him wasn't out of some kind of battle-freakness after all?
...
No such luck.
The slight hope died the instant he scrutinized it.
He could easily make out the mechashifting mechanisms and Dust cartridges packed into the weapon.
No legendary staff. No Noble Phantasm or Divine Construct.
Just a Huntsman's weapon.
'Figures.'
The boy's muscles tensed and his breathing evened out; he could feel it from even this substantial distance.
"Yeah." Alex nodded casually, withdrawing Excalibur from his hip and holding it firmly with both hands.
As long as he used Aura and not Prana, he knew just the amount of strength he needed to either draw things out, or to immediately dismantle the fight without crippling a Huntsman.
He just took a good look at Sun's aura, compared it to his teammates and the freshmen he's spared, his past spars giving him a reliable benchmark.
'Alright, should be just enough.' His muscles tensed with repressed strength.
"BEGIN!" Glynda's voice boomed as the battle began, and both combatants launched towards one another and-
Not.
There was no noise, not yet anyway.
A visual explosion of debris scattered across the arena from where Alex had stood.
Sun's eyes didn't even have the chance to widen, nor did he manage to let loose more than a single syllable before Alex suddenly appeared before him "W-"
The flat side of Excalibur hit Sun's right abdomen with a wide left swiping swing.
Before he could even feel it, he was launched with blinding speed towards the lower arena's wall.
Only then did the sound actually come, and the howling winds roared across the arena.
An explosive sonic boom from each movement that had just occurred, faster than most eyes could see.
Sun's aura meter immediately plunged deep into the red, hovering just above its breaking point.
The battle was over.
Before anyone could comprehend what just happened, a dust cloud covered the arena, with only the beeping and the screen showcasing the actual repercussions of what just happened.
Quiet, deathly quiet.
Only the loud beeping alarm of Sun's Aura being in a critical state rang across the spacious arena.
As the dust cleared, Alex appeared to walk towards the stairway he kept intact in his merciless dismantlement of Sun. Excalibur was already attached back on his hip as he climbed.
The other heads turned to see Sun deeply embedded within the wall, a gaping Sun-shaped indentation in the wall and a crater surrounding it, as a cobweb of cracks spread from the point of impact.
"H-Huh?" A pained gasp left Sun's lips as he blinked to suddenly find himself embedded in a wall.
Glynda, as well as those who were in the know about Alex, reacted first. "Winner. Alex Andrite." Her tone held no surprise.
They, all of them, could barely see a thing.
It was all over, in a second.
They tried to piece it all together, the sequence of events, and yet-
"BAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHA!" Alex's dear classmates roared with laughter, as the other foreigners stood with genuine puzzlement at what they had just witnessed, or not witnessed.
As Alex rose through the stairway and passed by the crowd towards his teammates, he was being gawked at by the foreigners, whilst his classmates gave him slaps on the back.
"Nice representation, dude!"
"Hell yeah! Imagine what'll happen in the actual Tournament... HAHAHAHA!"
"Didn't even give the poor sod a chance! What, did he piss you off?"
"You almost killed the guy, gotta be careful, man." One warned with a subdued grin threatening to split his face.
Alex answered evenly. "Don't be ridiculous, I know what I'm doing. I conservatively estimated his Aura. At worst, I'd have cracked a rib or two if I misread."
"Freakish answer, as always, my good man."
"Sure." Alex rolled his eyes.
...
As he arrived beside his teammates, who met him with incredulous, albeit amused expressions, he couldn't help but feel a sharp sense of deja vu.
It was like his first days in Beacon, albeit with a bit more scale given how many freshmen there were here.
"Did you really hold back? I felt like that one was a bit more excessive than usual." Ruby's narrowed gaze met him as he stood beside them.
The ghastly pale Neptune seemed even more apprehensive once he came back than earlier when Alex supposedly exposed his tendencies.
Alex shrugged. "Relax, I was really careful not to injure him. I just wanted to get it over with quickly."
"Cut it close, hadn't you?" Ruby tilted her head, hands on her hips, her tone accusatory and unconvinced.
It would have been had he decided to use Aura Burst or even Prana, but he wasn't interested in obliterating the arena and everyone in it.
"Not at all, I was being very restrained." He stated calmly.
She didn't seem to believe that was the whole truth. "Okay, well... You were being mean to him, weren't you?"
"If it's about getting it done quickly, he basically asked for it, lady."
"NINE energy drinks."
"Weak threat, besides, I wasn't gonna give him what he wanted after he was being an annoying ass, sue me." He shrugged helplessly.
'He would sure be an amazing reporter, with how nosy he is for entertainment.' Alex mused with a slight edge of annoyance.
"Well, at least you didn't hurt him too bad." Ruby relented with a shrug and a friendly smile.
"I would've loved to fight him." Pyrrha protested with a small, meek frown.
She can't really challenge him now that his Aura was on life support for the rest of the day.
""We're sure you would/Of course."" Alex and Ruby answered simultaneously.
...
"T-This was him holding back?" Neptune whispered instinctually, only Weiss being close enough to hear him and regard him with an answer.
"I'm afraid so," Weiss answered dismissively, as if she were used to it.
Thus, the spars continued, with Sun's satisfaction being denied and the hopes of the international students for the tournament facing an immediate crisis.
Much to the delight of Vale's honorable, totally not shameless, Huntsman Initiates.
"...Should we let them know you aren't participating?" Yang approached at one point, asking with a sneer at the rest of the clueless Beacon freshmen.
"That's still up in the air right now." He replied honestly.
"Oh, for real?"
"Yeah."
"Well, damn, gotta hope for second place then if you do... wanted to spoil everyone else's fun though~" She shrugged helplessly and turned around to head back to the rest of JRNY.
"Huh?" Ruby turned to Alex with a questioning look.
"I'll tell you later, if it's relevant."
"...What aren't you telling us?" Ruby sharply inquired.
"Not some big secret, relax. I could explain it, but it's a bother. If it plays out, then I'll tell you; if it doesn't, then there's no point." He shrugged, his expression weary.
Ruby huffed, regarding him with a lighter look. "It's never a bother, Alex. Please?"
"Leave it. I said what I said."
She thought about it for a moment but huffed in agitation. "Urgh! Why do you always have to be difficult?" She complained.
His lips parted calmly to retort, to which she raised her palm. "Don't, I'm just complaining..." She sighed, "Fine. But don't hesitate to tell us? Even if you think it's wasteful."
"...It is wasteful, possibly."
"Is not!"
"My information, my decision, lady. Keep it cool. Look at Weiss." He pointed a thumb at Weiss, who was coolly interrogating Neptune, who was attempting to maintain his dignity.
Ruby pouted in response. "...EIGHT energy drinks." Her tone was slightly meeker.
"I'm downright devastated."
Thus, the joint training matches dragged well into the afternoon as they watched one another in action, and as Ruby put it:
"We're all awesome!" She exclaimed brightly, proud hands on her hips.
Each member of JRNY and RAWP who participated had won their matches with their Aura bars in the green.
Meaning... overwhelming victory against each of their international opponents.
Well, minus Jaune.
"Yeah... except me." His shoulders lowered considerably as he had an awkward smile on his face.
He lost, but he was incredibly close. His opponent's aura bar blurred the line between yellow and red, having managed to strike a decisive match-ending blow on Jaune, ending with a loss.
"Don't beat yourself up over it, you've gotten much more skilled." Pyrrha honestly complimented.
Alex gave his honest two cents, "You'd probably win if it was a battle to the death and you were willing to get your teeth kicked in agai-"
A collective glare, especially from Yang, settled on him. "What? I'm being honest; he would win against that guy if he were to actually risk his life, so this isn't really valid." Alex shrugged, unfazed by their glare.
"Well, that's not much of a compliment if he has to drain Headmaster Ozpin's health care funds each time he wants to win." Weiss drawled out dismissively.
"...I appreciate your compliment, man!" Jaune gave a genuine thumbs-up at Alex.
"See? John gets it." Alex nodded to himself sagely.
"Now you're just making fun of me..."
"Hahahaha! You guys are a riot!" Sun boomed with laughter beside them.
"Who invited you, man?" Alex pointed at the Haven guy he beat with a raised eyebrow.
"What, you think a little beating's gonna get rid of me?" Sun smirked brightly. "No sir. I am even more motivated and curious... How much can you lift?"
Before anyone could answer, Sun added a variable to his inquiry.
"Could you lift a building?"
For an instant, his questioning felt more on the line of the Nora Thing.
So Alex decided to relent, utilising his ultimate technique.
Half-assed short answers. "That's not how that works."
"Hmm?" Sun hummed inquisitively.
Ruby answered for Alex, lecturing. "Even if he had the strength to do it, unless the building was made of some reaallyyyyyyyyy strong material, he'll just poke into it like some prickly spike and a piece of meat."
"I see... wanna go test it out~?"
"No mate, leave me alone."
'He's like those reporters, I swear. Nosy for his own entertainment.'
Well, at least he wasn't trying to scam him.
To Be Continued!