Training Day Blues Part 1
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Several school days had passed, and the members of the teams thought through Azura's offer. The prospect of being judged and scrutinized by a member of the Sōtora clan, especially with what he showed off in the forest, was daunting. Others, however, quickly relished the chance to show off, whether through pride or foolhardiness. Ruby tried asking Trivia, but she did not get a reply. Finally, on the morning of that fateful Saturday, the collective decision was made. It was on.
As Azura set up the gear and refreshments that morning, he was surprised to see Team RWBY over half an hour early. In reality, it was more of Ruby dragging her tired teammates with her sheer energy. Noticing this malaise, the samurai-in-training poured them all some tea in thermoses and gave them basic refreshments.
"Thank you, Azura…" Weiss groaned, daintily sipping the tea.
"You're quite welcome, Miss Schnee. I apologize if the tea is a bit strong. I was not sure what all of you preferred." Azura replied with a smile.
"Be careful, Ruby. This tea's kind of strong." Yang replied worriedly, looking at her little sister. To her horror, Ruby was chugging the thermos of tea like it was water in the middle of a desert and wolfing down tea cakes like tic-tacs.
Azura chuckled at the sight. "Don't forget to breathe, Miss Rose." The young samurai told her playfully.
Ruby nearly choked on a bit of tea at that before blushing lightly at Azura's sudden attention. She then started to nervously sip the rest of her tea and nibbling her cake. As this change occurred, the rest of Azura's team arrived in a better state than Ruby's was.
"Morning, boss. Nice of you to have refreshments to start the day." Zhan said with a smile.
"Take a seat, everyone. I prepared the tea just this morning and made the cakes myself." Azura said proudly, motioning for his partner to have a seat and relax before training begins.
"Thank you so much." Ember politely answered and gently began to eat and drink her refreshments.
"I'll take this over Atlesian rations any day." Rena muttered, without another word taking hers.
"Why do we have to be up so early!!" A familiar hyper voice rang out.
"Because that's the time Azura set and you agreed to it, Nora." A softer, more monotone voice answered.
"But I'm hungry!!" Nora roared.
"My ears…" Jaune's meager voice groaned in pain.
Azura smiled at the sight of Team JNPR making their arrival. "Greetings, everyone. I prepared some tea and cakes for a small snack before training to give us an energy boost." Azura said, motioning towards the refreshments.
"FOOOOOODD!!!" Nora roared and tackled the platter of cakes before devouring them like a python.
Azura raised an eyebrow at that. "I may need to bring out the second platter sooner than I expected."
"Apologies, Azura, for Nora's behavior." Ren said as he pulled the fiery hammer wielder away from the cakes.
"It is quite all right, Mr. Ren. We have plenty. I made sure to get up much earlier than usual and prepare as much as I could just in case anyone had an appetite rivaling mine." Azura replied playfully.
"They do look very good, Azura." Pyrrha said as she politely took a thermos and cakes, handing some to Jaune.
"Thanks, Pyrrha." Jaune said, before spit taking his tea, "Holy crap, that's strong!"
"My apologies, Mr. Arc. I was not aware of everyone's preferences, so I believed something a bit on the strong side for my clan would be best to give us an energy boost. If it is too much for you, I can prepare you something less strong." Azura replied helpfully.
"No, no I'm good. It'll help me wake up faster." Jaune answered quickly, trying to appear tough.
Pyrrha giggled a bit at her partner and leader's antics. "You don't have to be so polite, Jaune. If it's a little too strong for you, that's perfectly fine." She told him.
"I said I'm good, Pyrrha. What kind of team leader would I be if I can't handle some tea?" Jaune replied, fighting down another gulp of it with a bite of some cake.
"A Jaune one?" Nora replied playfully before chugging some of her tea thermos and immediately perked up. "Whoa, mama! That kicks like a mule!"
"I fear how you know what that feels like." Weiss muttered.
"It is rather strong, but it's quite good." Blake replied, sipping her tea, and nibbling on a cake.
After another ten minutes, Azura dutifully waited, they all had gotten their fill of tea and cakes. Once they all cleaned up, Azura's demeanor immediately changed like a light switch flipping. The kind and welcoming face he had turned to the cold, determined look of a seasoned drill sergeant. And what came out of his mouth only reinforced that image.
"Alright, now that you have all had your fills, let us get down to it! Today, so that I can get an idea of what all of you can do, all of you will be facing me in a set of team-on-one fights! If you want to show me what you have really got, then no holding back and no mercy!" Azura replied, his voice commanding their respect and demanding their attention.
"Are you sure this is fair?" Jaune asked with a gulp.
"I don't think that's the point." Ren dryly answered.
"Got it in one, Ren! Life's not fair and neither is combat! I want to see every one of you having your war faces on and being ready to throw down everything you have! Am I understood?!" Azura replied to a bit harshly.
"So, how is this going to work with three teams then?" Weiss asked.
"Simple, Weiss! My team will be facing me three-on-one! The rest of you will be facing me four-on-one!" Azura replied, marching back and forth in front of them with a stern look.
"Oh! Me first, me first!!" Nora waved happily.
Azura smirked at that like a shark that had just smelled blood in the water. "Thank you for volunteering Team JNPR to go first, Nora."
"Nora, he's going to kill me!" Jaune yelled terrified.
"You said it, not me. Besides, what kills you makes you stronger." Azura replied with a shrug.
"I'm pretty sure that's not the quote, but with Jaune it might as well be." Ren dryly sighed.
Azura then dropped into a ready stance, drawing his katana and wakizashi and holding them at the ready. A navy-colored electric aura surrounded him as his eyes glowed navy blue with power. "Bring it…!" Azura told them with a vicious smirk.
Drawing their weapons, Team JNPR began to circle him like sharks as the others went to sit down and watch. The team of two boys and two girls circled him, trying to find an opening in his defenses. But, to their surprise, they could not see any. His stance was just tight enough to leave no openings, but loose enough to react easily and quickly, his eyes always keeping at least two of them in sight.
"That is quite the stance he's taking there." Weiss said, impressed.
"What are the odds of them making it out in one piece?" Zhan asked.
"You mean aside from Pyrrha? Slim." Rena bluntly answered.
"I'm sure they'll be fine. After all, he's still human. How tough can he be?" Yang replied.
"Define human in this context? Because that has a wide range of potential outcomes." Blake asked.
"What I'm trying to say is that he has to have limits and weaknesses just like the rest of us. Nobody is invincible." Yang told her partner.
"Well, we can watch and find out." Ruby said naively.
With that, Nora got tired of being patient. "Well, what're we waiting for!? LET'S GO!" The easily excitable hammer wielder called out, rushing in at Azura with Magnhild at the ready with Pyrrha rushing in at the opposite side.
To everyone's shock, Azura easily blocked Nora's hammer with the hand holding his wakizashi simply by holding the clenched hand up. At the same time, he raised his katana to block Pyrrha's slash with her blade. Grinning with the glee of a true blood knight, Azura smiled at the two girls. "Not bad! This might actually be fun!"
"I'll show you fun!" Nora roared before going in for another swing.
Azura ducked under Nora's swing while pushing Pyrrha off with one hand, forcing her back. Sweeping a leg outward, Azura aimed a roundhouse kick at Nora as she raised the handle of Magnhild up to block it. However, to her shock, the kick hit the handle with surprising force.
'It's so heavy…!' Nora thought as the kick sent her skidding back several feet, shocking everyone.
Rushing in with his weapons at the ready, Ren attempted to back up Pyrrha and Nora. He unleashed a slash aimed at Azura's head, only for Azura to easily raise his wakizashi to block it. Azura then slashed his katana with an overhead cut, forcing Ren to block. However, to his shock, the unexpected force behind the blow nearly sent him to one knee.
Azura then raised his leg in an ax kick, forcing Ren to roll to the side on pure instinct. To everyone's shock, as soon as Azura's kick made contact, it cracked and cratered the ground with its force. Hearing Nora come in with a war cry, Azura spun on his heel and kicked Nora in the gut with a spinning back kick, knocking the breath out of her for a moment and sending her skidding back five feet.
"Are you okay, Nora!?" Ruby yelled concernedly.
"That… really hurt…!" Nora called out, coughing a bit.
"I retract my statement about him being human…" Yang replied in shock.
"At least now you finally see sense." Rena answered.
"How can you be so calm?" Ember asked nervously.
"Simple, I don't deny reality." Rena answered simply.
Meanwhile, back in the fight, Azura dodged a slash from Pyrrha and followed up with a rising knee kick. Pyrrha, on pure instinct, used her Semblance to divert the blow just enough to avoid taking a knee to the chin. Believing that this left Azura open, she tried to hit him with her shield only for Azura to raise his wakizashi to block it. Pushing off as he hit the ground, Azura hit the Invincible Girl with a roundhouse kick that she was not quick enough to redirect with her Semblance, hitting her in the side and sending her skidding back.
Everyone was shocked at this. He had just gotten a hit in on Pyrrha. In the week they had seen Pyrrha in action in class, they had never seen anyone get a hit in on Pyrrha.
"We are so fucked…" Yang commented from the sidelines.
"Language." Ruby huffed.
As soon as the sisters said this, Jaune tried to come at Azura from behind. "Sneak attack!" Jaune called out, slashing with his blade.
However, Azura dodged to the side of the swing while lashing out with a mawashi kick to Jaune's armored gut. To everyone's shock and disbelief, the armor dented through the blonde knight's aura as he was sent skidding back about eight feet. The force of the blow also knocked the breath out of the young Arc male, making him drop to one knee and cough up.
"Little word of advice, Jaune. Yelling out 'sneak attack' no longer makes it a sneak attack." Azura replied with a smile.
"Noted…" Jaune said after coughing up spit and nearly choking on it.
Meanwhile, Nora roared as she came down on Azura from above, trying to swing Magnhild down on top of him in an overhead smash. Azura simply spun on the ball of his foot to evade the crushing blow, getting under Nora before raising his leg in an upward kick that caught Nora in the gut. She gasped in pain as Azura then quickly lowered his leg, then spin kicked the ginger haired Valkyrie away.
Azura frowned a bit at that. "I thought I told you all no mercy! Stop holding back on me and come at me with everything you have!" He told them.
Seeing that they had no choice, Team JNPR recovered as quickly as they could and decided to go all out. Looking at each other and nodding, they realized they had severely underestimated Azura. A mistake they would not make again.
Rushing in at top speed, Ren and Pyrrha swiped at Azura at the same time. Barely managing to block, this left Azura vulnerable to a hammer smash from Nora. Pushing them away, Azura barely got his arms up to block the hammer blow. There was a resounding clang as the hammer hit his armor and sent him skidding back.
Smirking, Azura shook his arms off. "Now that is more like it! I actually felt that one!" Azura called out excitedly.
Azura then rushed in with great speed, slashing at Nora with his katana and forcing her to block with Magnhild's handle. Sent skidding back, Nora changed Magnhild into its grenade launcher form and fired. Azura rushed in, dodging around the grenade shots with the gleeful smile of a combat junkie on his face. Pyrrha and Ren rushed in to meet him while Jaune rushed up to flank him from behind. Charging Fire Dust into his blades, Azura slashed at Nora, sending waves of fire at her that she was forced to roll away from to dodge.
Ren began firing his weapons' guns at Azura, forcing him to block and deflect the shots with his blades as Pyrrha and Jaune flanked him on his sides. Turning her blade into its javelin form, Pyrrha slashed and stabbed at Azura while Jaune tried to slash at him. This forced Azura on the defensive, having to cut and deflect Ren's shots while blocking and deflecting slashes and stabs from Jaune and Pyrrha as Nora tried to smash him with Magnhild. However, to everyone's shock, Azura was grinning like a hyena as he fought Team JNPR. Even when he would take a hit, he just chuckle and shake it off.
Azura, meanwhile, was having the time of his life. He had never really had to face people who fought quite like Team JNPR during his time with his clan. Much less four of them at once. This made for a more challenging fight than he had had in a while, and he loved that.
Finally, Azura saw an opening in their formation and took it. Dodging a blow from Jaune that made him overextend himself, Azura made the blonde knight pay the price for his mistake by kicking his feet out from under him. Jaune fell on his back as Azura managed to push Nora and Pyrrha away from him. Leaping up, Azura came down with a powerful, full-strength ax kick. Jaune opened his eyes and looked up in shock at seeing the armored, blue-colored missile coming down at him.
"Mother…!" Jaune squeaked out just before the kick contacted his armored gut.
The force behind the blow dented Jaune's armor further, dropped his aura into the red with one shot, and cratered the ground beneath the blonde knight as he barely remained conscious from the blow. Everyone was shocked at the level of power behind that impact. Jaune had the most Aura out of almost any of them. But, within the span of a few admittedly very heavy blows, Azura had depleted Jaune's Aura down to the red zone and almost knocked him out.
"What are you…?!" Nora cried out in disbelief.
Azura smirked at that. "Your worst nightmare…!" He replied with a glee-filled voice.
He then took off at Ren at high speed, forcing the green clad faux ninja to raise his weapons in defense. Unleashing a slash from his katana, Azura hit Ren's blades with great force. Barely maintaining his defense, Ren did not see the armored rising knee coming that hit him hard in the stomach. Doubling Ren over, the azure samurai slashed downward at Ren with enough force to drop him to the ground, his Aura dropped into the red zone.
The others were all in shock at this. They had heard that the Sōtora clan and the other major warrior clans were abnormal, but this was insane. Was Azura just that crazy strong or were all the major warrior clans' fighters this powerful?
Nora ran in at Azura, Maghnild at the ready as Pyrrha rushed at him from behind with Akoúo̱ and Miló. Nora swung high at Azura's head while Pyrrha swung low with her blade, going for his legs. Before Azura could try to dodge or block, Azura found that his legs could not move. Looking in shock, he saw Pyrrha with one black glowing hand outstretched aimed at his legs, using her Semblance to lock up his leg armor to pin him in place. Before he could raise his arms up to block, Nora's hammer blow smashed into his face with full force as Pyrrha's slash knocked his legs out from under him.
Driven to the ground, Azura felt all his armor lock up as Pyrrha held both hands out at him, both her hands glowing black. With Azura pinned down and struggling to get up, Pyrrha looked at her teammate.
"Now, Nora!" The red-headed champion called out; her voice strained as she tried to hold him down.
"Got it, Pyr! It's hammer time!" Nora called out as she unleashed blow after blow on Azura with Maghnild, each heavy hammer shot driving him further into the ground.
Finally, after several mighty blows, Pyrrha and Nora stopped their assault. Both panted in exertion, Pyrrha from having to concentrate that long and hard with her Semblance and Nora from pounding away at Azura with all her might for so long. Panting himself, Azura forced himself back to his feet before dropping down to one knee. Then, to everyone's surprise, Azura began to chuckle. Softly at first, but it was steadily getting louder and louder. Finally, Azura roared with laughter.
"HAHAHAHAHAH! Now THAT was a REAL fight! I have not had that much fun in way too long!" Azura laughed out with joy.
"Is anyone else scared?" Ember meekly asked, hiding behind her partner.
"Don't show fear. I'm pretty sure he feeds on that." Rena answered drying.
"I thought that was only sharks?" Zhan asked.
"Considering we are likely next, that just means there's blood in the water." Rena said with a sigh.
"How can you be so calm in this moment?" Weiss asked indignantly.
"A true soldier takes these things on the chin. It's the only way to get out of combat alive." Rena said as Azura began to breathe and pant to calm himself down.
"Oh, man. It feels good to laugh again. Thanks for the great fight, you four." Azura replied, a calmer smile on his face.
"Thank you…" Jaune answered, breathing awkwardly in the center of the crater Azura lovingly made for his friend.
"You're welcome. Now then, while my Aura recovers, let us take a moment to review how well you did so that I can point out your strengths and where you could use improvements." Azura told them, much calmer now that the high of fighting worthy opponents had passed.
"Do I get a cookie first?" Nora asked.
Azura smiled at that. "You can have some more tea cakes if you want, Nora. After the beat down you just gave me alongside Pyrrha, I think you earned it."
"Come to mama!!" Nora yelled as she tackled the remaining platter of tea cakes and continued her voracious sweets massacre.
Azura chuckled at that before addressing Team JNPR. "Now who wants me to cover their performance first?" Azura asked.
"Do me and get it over with." Jaune groaned, having finally excavated himself from his potential tomb.
"I will be honest, Jaune. You are very rough around the edges and do not seem to have much formal training, so you have a lot of work ahead of you." Azura told the blond knight.
"Yeah, figured as much." Jaune said with a mournful sigh, the continued war crimes against sweets happening behind him.
"However, I do have some good news." Azura continued, making Jaune perk up a bit.
"Since when is there good news for Jaune?" Weiss asked with a haughty scoff.
Azura pointedly ignored the Schnee heiress and continued addressing Jaune. "I do see a lot of potential in you, Jaune. You are quite impressive in physical strength for someone without formal training, you have an incredible amount of starting level Aura, and you seem to notice things rather quickly. With the proper training and guidance, I am sure we can make you shine like the diamond in the rough you are and bring out your true potential."
"You know what, I'll accept that and excuse the fact that my spine feels like it's in fifteen pieces right now." Jaune answered dryly, a smile across his face.
"That is good. I honestly feel that, if you are willing to put in the work, you will surpass me before you know it." Azura replied genuinely, a smile of his own on his face.
"That's… very touching Azura." Jaune said, standing there in pain and simply stunned by his words.
"Please do Nora next. If only to spare the tea cakes' souls." Ren cut in quickly.
Azura chuckled a moment, then cleared his throat and turned to address Nora. "Right. Nora, please stop committing confectionary genocide and listen." Azura told her.
"What with the what now?" Nora asked muffling, turning around with a tea cake lodged in her gaping maw.
"You're up next, so please pay attention." Azura explained.
"Okay!" She said, standing to attention with the tea cake swiftly going down her throat whole.
"To be blunt, Nora, your physical strength is insane for your level of training and experience, you are very unpredictable, and it is hard to read you because of how chaotic you can be. These are good traits to have in a warrior because it makes it so that your opponent will not be able to predict you." Azura told the ginger haired Valkyrie.
"Thank you!" Nora yelled and grabbed Azura in a bear hug, crushing the wind out of the poor samurai's lungs.
"Nora! Air… air...! I am not done…!" Azura gasped out.
"Sorry. I forgot your ribs could be broken right now." Nora said, letting go of him.
Taking a deep breath, Azura smiled at her. "It is fine. Now let us cover where you could use some improvement." Azura replied.
"Well, hurry up. I'm still hungry." Nora said impatiently.
"Nora, you're always hungry." Ren dryly added.
"When you make such good food, Ren, how could I not!" Nora yelled.
Azura then cleared his throat loudly to get the slightly diminutive hammer wielder's attention. This forced Nora to look at him again.
"Though you have great strength, your speed needs work. Without using your hammer to launch yourself, you are too slow. Not only that, but you rush in without a plan of any kind. Raw power and unpredictability are good to have, but they mean nothing if you cannot hit your opponent or do not have any way to counter what your opponent does next." Azura told her.
"Well, that was a bust." Nora sighed, heading off to sit by Ren.
"Do not take it too hard, Nora. That just gives you something to shoot for." Azura told her.
"Just give her some time to deal with it. I think it's my turn, as I likely know what little you have to say to Pyrrha." Ren said simply.
Azura nodded at that. "I must admit, Ren. Your level of skill surprised me. As did your reaction time and ability to react on the spot to the unexpected. However, you need to build up your strength and speed as well as work on increasing your Aura reserves." Azura told his green-clad compatriot.
"Thank you for your wisdom." Ren said as he walked over next to Nora.
Azura then turned to address the Invincible Girl of Team JNPR. "Pyrrha, I will have to admit. You may be more of a tournament fighter than a traditional warrior, but you are definitely the best fighter on Team JNPR. You just need to sharpen your skills even further than you already have and try a little harder to coordinate with your teammates." Azura told the red-haired champion.
"Thank you, Azura, for your wisdom and the fight. I haven't had that intense of a fight in a good while." Pyrrha said with a smile and a slight bow of respect.
Azura smiled and bowed back, then turned to address Team JNRP as a whole. "Overall, you four are a fairly solid team for people who have only been a team for a week. If you were more coordinated, I would have really been in trouble in that match right from the start." Azura told them.
The four smiled and nodded at their new friend as the three remaining members of Team AZRE stepped forward to face their leader. On their faces were varying levels of determination, no doubt to prove themselves.