Episode 1: Chapter 1: Underestimated

Chapter 1 of the first Episode/Season of Order of Seasons.

As the airship touched down, the new students began piling into the main cabin. Then they started sitting down as the airship took off once again. As it did so, some news channels came on to keep students occupied. The airship still had to make a stop on the island of Patch before they could move on to Beacon. Several students were gawking at the view of downtown Vale as they flew past it on the way to the island, but Natalie was too busy gawking over her new weapon, Blue Wavecrest. It was a two-sided scythe that had the same design as Crescent Rose, except blue and there were two sides to it. She was holding it like it was her precious and no one could have it.

            “Seriously Natls, you should check this view out!” Nathan said excitedly.

            “Eh, not as neat as this amazing weaponry!” She said as she continued to just hug it like a plush doll. Nathan placed his hand on his forehead.

            “Look, at the very least, if your are going to obsess over that weapon, at least practice with it. The last time you swung that thing around I thought you were going to take Ruby’s head off.”

            “But, where can I practice with all these people on board?”

            “There’s a balcony on the second deck isn’t there? I believe there’s even a sparring platform as well. Check the directory or something. Go just, do your thing I guess. It’s not like I’m going to convince you to, oh I don’t know, talk to people you’ve never met before.”

            “You know me so well.” Natalie said sarcastically. Nathan responded with a bop on the head and she just smiled. She then put her weapon away in its holster, and put her hood up, doing her best to avoid anybody in the way. She finally made it to the elevator, and made her way up to the fighting deck. She smiled, pulled out her weapon and started practicing some of the routines that Ruby and Qrow had given her before they left for Beacon. As she was practicing, there was a lurch beneath her feet as the airship began to descend onto Patch. She collected herself though, and continued with her training.

 

 

 

As the doors opened, Evan and Christy made their way into the already busy airship. It seemed that most of the good seats had already been taken.

            “Well that’s just fantastic.” Christy said. “It’s finally time for us to go to Beacon, but they have SO many people they can’t even fit a few students from a small freaking island onto the ship!”

            “Patience Christy. I’m sure that if we play our cards right we can find a seat with a really nice view of the City as we fly over it.”

            “I guess you’re right Evan.”

            “HOLY COW! EVAN, IS THAT YOU?!” Evan turned towards the shout and saw his old friend, Nathan Grover sitting right by the window, waving his hand excitedly. He grabbed Christy’s hand and quickly made his way through the crowd towards him.

            “Nathan! Buddy! It’s been far too long!” Evan said.

            “No kidding! It’s been, what? Two years now? Maybe three?”

            “Either way, it’s been a while. Great to see you!” He said as he hugged him.

            “So, who’s your friend here?”

            “Oh, this is actually my girlfriend, Christy! We’ve been dating for about a year or so now?”

            “It’s been one year, two months, and ten days. But who’s counting?” Christy joked. The three of them laughed at this.

            “So how’s your sister doing Nathan? She go back to Signal since you seem to be heading to Beacon?”

            “Actually no. She’s going to be attending Beacon alongside us!”

            “WOW REALLY?! How did she pull that off?”

            “Right place at the right time I guess. Plus we ran into Ruby Rose and her sister as well as Professor Ozpin during our adventures.”

            “HOLY COW! THAT SOUNDS SO AWESOME!” Christy yelled.

            “Actually, she’s up on the upper deck doing some practice right now if you want to see her.”

            “Sounds great Nathan.” Evan said. “Lead the way.” They turned to head to the elevator, but saw there was a bit of a crowd of people trying to get up there, and they heard what sounded like a fight going on right above them. Not sure what to expect, they quickly forced themselves to the front of the line and got on the next elevator up.

 

 

 

Miles and Ty loitered around for a bit as people were getting on, waiting for the opportunity to get on without having to deal with all of the traffic.

            “See Miles? This is already a nice upgrade. A few weeks ago we would have needed to spend at least two days walking just to get to the port, THEN stow aboard a ship, THEN spend at least another day or so walking just to even get to Beacon! Here, they just pick us up, and off we go.”

            “Oh boo hoo. Walking. Let me play you a sad song on the worlds smallest violin.” Miles said sliding his fingers like it was a string instrument. “But in all seriousness, let’s just get up to the battle deck already. I swear, all these people just excited to see a few buildings confuses me to no end.” As they made their way towards the elevator, the heard a lot of yelling coming from a person who looked like he wielded a pair of billy clubs or something. Letting it slide, Miles opened up the elevator doors and pushed the button he wanted. As they made their ascension, he pulled out a small speaker from his back pocket.

            “What’s that about?”

            “How cool would it be if I blasted the Avengers theme from the top of the ship, all the while the wind causes my cloak to flap in the wind?”

            “You do that all the time with your gravity semblance. And didn’t you want to do it to the imperial march or something?”

            “Yeah I tried that, but I want to see how the Avengers theme works first. Besides, it’s not like there’s going to be anybody up here. All the students are probably too busy gawking at the “amazing sights” down below.” As the doors opened, the first thing they noticed when they walked out was the strong wind. While it was still the summer months, the chill of autumn was present in this wind. The second thing they noticed was that there was already somebody up here. The person wore a blue cloak, similar to Miles’, but a bit more flowing. Also, the hood was up, so they couldn’t get a good look at the face. Miles could clearly tell however, he or she had an interesting style of fighting. A style that had some clear and dangerous flaws. He wasn’t sure if it was because of the sheer size of the weapon, or if it was just the lack of skill. He decided to enquire further.

            “Excuse me?” Miles yelled, but clearly the person didn’t hear him. The wind was too loud for even the loudest of shouts. So, Miles made a motion to Ty, who drew his sword and morphed it into Bazooka form, then launched a projectile right past the stranger, creating an explosion an easy 30 yards away from where the person was standing. But the shock of seeing a giant bazooka projectile and a large explosion happen in quick succession caused the person to fall flat on their back. The person turned around and yelled,

            “WHAT THE HECK IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE!” Miles chuckled a little bit and started walking towards the stranger.

            “Attempting to get your attention by merely talking wasn’t working, so we did what we thought best and look. And here we are. Now we have your attention.”

            “YOU COULD’VE JUST TAPPED ME ON THE SHOULDER!”

            “Yes, but I find this much more dramatic, don’t you?” He offered the stranger a hand up, but instead of taking it, the person just vanished. Taken back by this, Miles drew one of his swords, but then realized what was going on.

            “Aha. An invisibility Semblance. Most extraordinary. But why hide when the whole world is out there for you to see?”

            “What?” Ty walked over to Miles with a confused look on his face.

            “You know, since she has an invisibility Semblance, I figured we could go all poetic with the situation.”

            “Seriously dude? For one, there’s no point since we don’t know why she has that Semblance, and two, are you sure he or she hasn’t just left the deck yet?”

            “Nope. Because if our hidden friend had, then the Elevator doors would have opened right up, and that person would be long gone from here. Also…” he then turned, drew one of his swords back out, and did a horizontal slash that was clearly infused with Dust as the slash expanded to about as wide as half the airship. But as the slash reached the middle, it seemed to stop in a single location, and dissipate altogether. “…then he couldn’t have stopped me from slicing the airship in half.”

            “…You gambled with the lives of hundreds of students just to prove a point?”

            “Hey, at least it looked cool.” Miles then put his sword away and walked over to where the blade had stopped, and the stranger had started to re-appear. Miles could now see the strangers face, as it appeared that the force of the strike caused the hood to be blown off, and he could now see that it was a very young girl. She was on one knee, holding herself up barely with her weapon. She got herself back up, and was clearly annoyed.

            “WHAT THE HECK WAS THAT FOR?”

            “Like I told my friend, to prove a point. But forgive me, where are my manners. My name is Miles Watson, and this is my good friend, Ty “Dante” Boyer.”

            “The demon slayer? How did you manage to become friends with him?”

            “Long story involving Grimm and Mario Kart. But that’s beside the point. Might I ask you your name?”

            “I’m somebody who is going to stay away from you the rest of the year.” The stranger said as she put her hood back up and started walking towards the elevator.

            “What is it you are so afraid of? What made you what you are?” The stranger stopped at the doors as Miles said this. “Childhood trauma? A fear of being hated or disliked by others? Or perhaps a fear that you aren’t good enough to be here at Beacon with the rest of us.” The girl turned and gave Miles a glare with enough hatred to make the wind seem like it died for a few seconds. “Huh. Looks like I hit a nerve. Well then, shall we have you attempt to prove me wrong?” He started walking towards the center of the deck, and drew his white sword. “I’ll go easy on you. Try to humor me even if just for a few seconds.” The stranger, not saying a word, slowly got up and walked towards Miles with a brisk pace. She stood at the center, ready for battle.

            “First move is yours, Tails.”

            “What?”

            “You know, like from Sonic the Hedgehog? The fox? You two share the same name.”

            “Do we really?”

            “You didn’t ever realize that Miles?” Ty asked.

            “Meh. Whatever. Ty, if you would be so kind as to referee this match for us please?” Ty walked over and held his Scroll out. The two of them pulled out theirs respectively, and held it over Ty’s. Then their aura levels and stats were immediately transferred into Ty’s. The two fighters then took a few steps back to the starting circles that had been drawn onto the floor, and took their ready positions. The stranger wielded a two-sided scythe, while Miles only used his white sword in his left hand.

            “You sure you want to use that style Miles?”

            “Trust me, it’ll be all too easy” he said with a smirk.

 

 

 

As the doors opened, Nathan tried to work his way past the large crowd of people that had gathered, and finally managed to get to the front. What he saw was nothing more than astonishing. His sister Natalie going toe to toe with some guy in a flowing black trench coat wielding her giant weapon with relative ease. Evan and Christy finally caught up with Nathan and were agape at the fight taking place. It was beautiful. Natalie was moving around like the weapon was a part of her body. She spun and sliced like there was no tomorrow. Her opponent was just as impressive. He used his sword with efficiency and great finesse. It looked at first like the two were evenly matched, but then Nathan noticed something.

            “He’s already completely read her rhythm.” He said.

            “What do you mean?” Evan asked.

            "Everyone and everything have a rhythm to their movements. It’s like handwriting. The key to winning a fight is countering that rhythm. And it’s clear, this guy has got a number on Natalie’s rhythm.”

            “Is there any way around it?”

            “Not unless she completely changes her style, and since she just started learning how to use that weapon, I don’t see it happening anytime soon.”

            “We don’t know for sure just yet” a new voice added to the conversation. “After all, anything’s possible.” The three of them turned, and saw another old face.

            “Jacob Strohl! Great to see you again!” Evan exclaimed.

            “And you as well. And Nathan! Glad to see you’re finally going back to the official academies!”

            “Yeah, well when you get free tuition, then it’s hard not to pass up. Oh by the way, who’s your friend?”

            “Ah. This is Brooklyn. She’s my…”

            “IS SHE YOUR GIRLFRIEND?!” Christy immediately asked. Groaning, Jacob pulled out his wallet and handed Brooklyn 20 Lien, which she happily accepted.

            “No, the two of us are rivals. And from the looks of it, this match might create a brand new one. That is your sister, correct Nathan?”

            “Yeah. Although I have no idea who the guy she’s fighting is.”

            “Either way, it looks like it’s going to be an interesting conclusion.” Jacob surmised.

 

 

 

Natalie continued to swing away at Miles, not making much progress. She could see it in the way he moved and smiled. He wasn’t having any issue whatsoever during the fight. He was just trying to prolong the inevitable, maybe give her a fighting chance? Or perhaps make it look like she has a chance before he completely destroyed that notion? She shook those thoughts from her head, and continued to press on. She decided to take a different approach to the battle, and split her weapon in two. Now she wielded twin scythes instead of just the large whole. Miles just simply smirked at this, and pulled out his second sword. Then he turned towards Ty.

            “How much Aura she have left?”

            “According to this, about 30%. You’re sitting great with 90%. Just wrap this up quickly. I think we’re about to land soon.”

            “Not a problem.” Miles replied as he dodged a slash from Natalie. Natalie continued to get more annoyed. He wasn’t even taking this seriously at all. She continued to try and gain the upper hand, but nothing seemed to work against this guy.

            “Huh.” Miles then suddenly said. “Maybe those fears are actually reflective of reality.” Then, as soon as he said that, something snapped inside Natalie. She then took her two scythes and did an interesting maneuver. She did a head on attack at Miles, and then vanished. Miles assumed this was just a ruse for him to panic, so he just morphed one of his swords into a pistol and started firing straight ahead, expecting that she didn’t change course. Surprisingly, none of the bullets hit his opponent. He then morphed his weapon back to sword form, and waited for the upcoming attack from his opponent. Then, all of a sudden, a whole string of strikes came out of nowhere. Left and right, she was moving faster than he could defend. Not sure how to react, Miles tried to anticipate the next move, but more and more, he kept getting hit and he felt his aura depleting. He then started to panic. He then made a spinning motion with his blades, and an aura bubble surrounded him. It spread about 20 feet in diameter. Then Natalie re-appeared, floating inside the bubble. She was just stuck in mid-air, like she was a balloon or something. She struggled to find out how to get out of the mess she was in. Miles then looked up and saw her again, and pulled his sword back for the finishing blow. Natalie, acting quickly, re-formed her weapon as one, pointed it at the ground, and fired a shot that sent her flying out of the bubble and back onto the ground where she could stand. After taking a second to regain her balance, she then stood back up to face off against Miles, but saw he had completely collapsed on the ground, coughing up blood. Ty had immediately started running towards him with looks of great concern.

            “You idiot! You can hardly survive that move when you have 100% aura!” Natalie holstered his weapon and rushed over to him, as did most of the crowd.

            “What’s wrong with him?” Natalie asked.

            “That’s not important right now! We need a doctor! Fast!” Ty started to pick Miles up, but Christy stopped him. She placed her hands on him and poured out her aura into his body. It took a few minutes, but Miles finally stopped bleeding. He slowly got up, a bit dazed from the experience.

            “How….how did you do that?” Miles asked Christy.

            “I’m a healer” she replied. “That’s my Semblance. But what about you? What caused all that?”

            “It’s the move he did” Ty answered. “On its own, his Semblance damages his body whenever he uses it on someone or something other than himself. But when he does the Gravity Bubble move, then things get really bad really quick. Last time he used that move, he was at 100%, and that caused severe internal bleeding in his lower chest. Now, I can’t even begin to imagine what might have happened if you hadn’t helped. Thank you so much.”

            “Of course.” Having said this, Christy then walked over to Natalie and helped restore her Aura to a decent level. Then Nathan and company gathered around her and started smiling.

            “Holy cow Natls!” Nathan started, “You managed the comeback of the century!”

            “I’ll admit, I’m impressed,” Evan added. Your skills have grown since I last saw you.”

            “See Nathan? I told you the battle could change in an instant.” Jacob taunted.

            “Says the guy who LITTERALLY can just dance around without getting hit and can pretty much see the future.” Brooklyn joked. They laughed at this and then realized that the airship had begun its final descent to Beacon. All the students that had gathered at the top began to leave, as did the others.

            “Wait.” They turned to see Miles slowly getting back up. “I underestimated you kid. Trust me when I say that won’t happen again.”

            “That’s fine.” Natalie replied. “Because I’ve got these guys to back me up!” Everybody behind her smiled, and gave Miles a look that would make anybody flinch. But he didn’t. He just continued to look at Natalie.

            “What’s your name?”

            “My name is Natalie Grover.”

            “I’ll make sure not to forget it…until I defeat you.” He turned away, and the other group headed towards the elevator. As Miles stood out on the edge of the ship, Ty walked over to him.

            “You okay man? You haven’t used that move ever since we faced the group that….”

            “I’m fine. I panicked. That’s all.”

            “You? Panicked? How did that happen?”

            “Honestly, I don’t know. But there’s something about her. Something that reminds me…. of what I used to be.”

Author's Note

Please enjoy, share and review!

Reviews

[Shep]

Amazing chapter giving me a small taste of what to expect in the chapters ahead. I swear I was right there watching the battle as the two fought on deck if the airship, Nicley done, moving on to the next page. Please be kind and return the love.