A frontier village could be faced with a lot of difficulties -- but expansion of territory for Humans and Faunus both would always be necessary. This ended up being one of the more successful villages, and one of the reasons for that is because of the presence of a Hunter. Albeit one that was getting more towards settling down, and taking on Apprentices.
The USUAL idea is that aspiring Huntsmen and Huntresses would go to Combat Schools, and then to one of the great Academies in order to officially obtain their license. But out in the sticks? Well, formality like that tends to fly out the window.
A young girl is checking her appearance over in the mirror.
"Hmm. I think that looks pretty good."
She smiled to herself. She wanted to pick something fashionable, yet not something so elaborate that it was difficult to move. This seemed to hit a nice balance of those factors. Yeah, yeah. Someone, somewhere was going to be going off about 'no capes', but the day that they can actually grab hold of her cape and use it against her is when they could talk like that.
Now happy with her appearance, she picks up her sheathed sword and holsters it to her belt. Shortly thereafter she makes her way out of her home, and to the designated area that she and her mentor always met up at.
Unsurprisingly, he's already there and waiting. He hears her approach, and he opens his eye.
"Makes sense that you would be the first one here, Vaneera."
He stated calmly. Vaneera wasn't entirely sure what the others were up to... But she knew they'd be along soon. The two of them were left to wait for a little while longer. She had plenty of questions, but she knew that if she asked, he'd just answer with 'wait for the others'.
Fortunately, they didn't have to way too long for one of them to come running right now; wearing a black ensemble that resembled a uniform that one would wear to a school, blonde hair done up in messy buns -- yeah, it was Motet.
"I'm here, Vani!"
She announced happily. Prompting the red-haired girl to smile at her friend.
"I can see that, Motet."
That left one more that needed to show up, and rather than the hurried pace that Motet had, she was walking along. Her style of clothing was pretty similar to Motet's, though it differed. Her purple hair was tied up with a ribbon, and she comes to a stop now that she's caught up with everyone else.
Vaneera arches an eyebrow at just how calm she is right now.
"You know we were waiting for you, right?"
Nova smiles softly and nods.
"I know. And I knew I wouldn't show up on time, so there was no reason to rush. Motet rushed through her breakfast and barely had time to do her hair before she was out the door."
Vaneera just looks at Nova for a moment, but sighs, shaking her head. Motet spoke up;
"Hey! You could have helped me hurry, Nova!"
Nova continues to smile as she then replies;
"I could have, but our master could have also given us a more reasonable time to show up."
Afterwards, the three of them then turn to the older man. He glances between each of them -- though difficult to read, he is pondering over if it was really a good idea to try and train up some Apprentices by himself like this... Especially considering what they were like right now. But, he puts thoughts like that aside, and speaks up.
"Now that you're all here, we're going to continue with the basics. Your Aura was unlocked last time, and now I'll be teaching you how to use your Semblance."
He had a calm, but firm tone of voice. Motet is the first to excitedly chime in;
"This is gonna be so fun! I can't wait to find out what I can do!"
This prompts a smirk out of their mentor.
"Fun, huh? Well, it might be more difficult than you think."
Soon enough, he's helping each of them figure out how to channel their Aura in a specific way -- Semblances behaved differently for every person, but there were basic steps you could take that would generally help you figure out what you were capable of. A lot of it after that point depended on the individual and their ability to grasp certain feelings and act on them.
For Motet, that seemed aimless at first, but eventually she's squatting down and focusing on the ground in front of her. She moves her hands as if trying to direct her Aura -- and as she does so, she notices that a plant begins to sprout from the ground. It's not particularly large, or threatening, and she wonders if that is the extent of her power at first.
But then she begins to move her fingers, and as she does so, the plant seems to move as well. Now experimenting, she begins to move her hands, and accordingly more of the plant does. Eventually she gets into a certain rhythm and flow, which in turn makes the plant sway as if it were in a dance. She's smiling at the results.
The Huntsman leans in slightly, watching this unfold, before he then comments;
"Nature Manipulation. That's your Semblance."
Motet glances up at him curiously, and asks;
"What's that mean?"
He smiles and elaborates.
"It means that you can make plants, trees, and the grass itself work according to your will. Make sure to keep practicing with that in mind. But do it safely. You might be able to do something like knock an entire tree over onto someone's house."
Motet looked like she was in awe right now, but she soon nods excitedly.
"I'll be careful with it!"
That left the remaining two. Nova seemed to be having the most trouble with her Semblance, comparatively. Seeing that one of his students is having such a tough time, he becomes more directly involved.
"So, what are you feeling, Nova?"
Nova shrugs lightly, uncertain of what it is she's supposed to even feel right now. He ponders this over for a moment...
"Hmm... Maybe your Semblance is directly linked to combat in some way. Try focusing on me -- don't worry about hurting me, I can handle myself."
He then declared -- Nova is understandably not quite as sure about this, but she does do as instructed, and eventually she feels something starting to click. Appraising his looks, his stance, the words he's spoken, and... The fact that he had them all get up so early.
Though it seems like nothing happened, he blinks and chuckles softly. Nova can only let out a 'huh?' in response. He soon explains;
"You've got a very interesting Semblance. It seems to be based on your perception of the target."
Nova still looks lost, finally just having to bite the bullet and ask...
"Which means...?"
He responds by making it just a little clearer;
"Basically, if you don't like someone, you can use your Aura to hinder them. A Judge's Eyes given more literal form. The stronger your case for disliking them, the greater the effect will probably be."
Kind of an abstract power... But Nova seems to be content with it.
"Huh. I like it."
So that left just one Student. Vaneera was 'taking the longest', but also seemed to need the least guidance so far. By the time he made his way over to check on her...
Vaneera had her right arm held out, palm facing upward. With her left hand, she was grabbing the wrist of her right hand, and she was focusing intensely on Aura that was channeling into a glowing mass above the palm of her hand.
Slowly it's taking shape, and by the time it's done, it... Resembles a card? The card drops into her open and waiting hand, and she looks it over. Though it looks normal enough, she feels something unusual about it. Like she can manipulate it in ways that she wouldn't be able to with other things.
She proceeds to demonstrate by turning her hand over, and the card floats instead of dropping. Keeping this kind of focus on it, she's able to turn her hand and move the card through telekinetic-like methods. Vaneera would then use her left hand to form another card -- getting easier now that she gets what to make and how to make it.
The Huntsman is watching all of this play out, as Vaneera continues to experiment with her Semblance. Soon enough she's moving on from just two cards, and is starting to form a deck of them. Each card she can manipulate just like the one that she started with -- and somehow, even without seeing them, she knows what each one is.
She feels as though this isn't the extent of her Semblance... But it's quite the start. Which is an opinion that their mentor shares.
"Well. Who could have guessed that I would end up with three students that each have unusual Semblances? Each of you are going to have some pretty complicated training from here on out, just to find out what you're capable of."
Vaneera turns to him, now shuffling the cards and then organizing them nicely into a stack.
"Yeah... I think I'm going to have to really experiment to find out what this can do, compared to Motet's and Nova's..."
Vaneera felt like she had the most difficult road ahead of her. But he soon pats her on the shoulder and offers some encouraging words.
"The greatest weapon for any Hunter isn't some masterwork steel, or a Semblance with godlike power... It's their mind."
He then points at his own head to accentuate his lesson.
"You've got a smart head on your shoulders, Vaneera. Use that, and everything else will come naturally."
With that, he calmly pulls his hand away, and turns his attention to Motet, then to Nova, and back to Vaneera.
"Alright. You've got Aura and a Semblance. Now we're going to move on to combat exercises."
He then walks over to a larger part of the clearing they were in.
"Up until this point your training has been on your individual abilities. And while it is important to work on your own skills, we're not going to neglect the other most important part of being a Hunter."
He comes to a stop, and then turns to the trio.
"Teamwork. Normally there would be four to make a properly rounded off team. But we're not doing things by the Academy rules -- so I'll be filling in that fourth slot and filling the role of your teacher."
As he continues this explanation, Vaneera, Motet and Nova have all lined up to listen intently to his words. He retrieves what looks like a small box that was holstered on his person, and then it suddenly expands and unfolds into a spear.
"Now. I also gave you some pretty detailed lessons about how to make your own weapon. I want to see what each of you came up with."
Motet is the first to oblige this. Excitedly she produces a pair of knives, which she is able to perform a few tricks with -- showing off her ambidexterity as well in the process. With a final flourish, the knives then change in shape, and a red glow starts at the top of the hilt and runs along the blade. A soft hum accompanies this.
With a grin, Motet then adds;
"I made them red to match Vani!"
He examines the knives for a moment, and then nods.
"They seem a natural fit for you."
With that, the other sister -- Nova -- produces her weapon. Similarly to how his own weapon unfolded from a small box, hers did the same. Though it did not become a spear, instead it was a scythe that had a blade that glowed green. The scythe was a notoriously difficult weapon to use, but she seemed to work with it pretty naturally.
Still, he does open his remarks with...
"A scythe. Remarkably difficult for Huntsmen to use. But those that can use it do so very well."
He eventually gives an approving nod. If anyone could get a handle on it, it would be Nova. Though it certainly wouldn't be easy. Neither to learn, nor to teach. Finally, there was Vaneera. Hers was sheathed at her side, but she does draw it to show what it looks like; a gray blade that was empowered by a Dust Crystal, and appropriately lit by the element currently chambered inside of it.
With the trigger on the hilt, it was easy to deduce how this weapon worked. Though she did show the transformation it had into a revolver as well. Clearly she put a lot of work into this weapon, just like the others did.
Each weapon seemed to be suited very well to their user, and that left their mentor feeling confident in their abilities.
"Excellent. I don't see any design flaws, you've absorbed the lessons well. Your ability to create your own weapons also means that you understand perfectly what they're capable of. Though you'll still need to get a handle on using them for real...."
He trailed off for a moment as he looked them over. They were each taking steps closer to being proper Huntresses, and they looked ready to begin their training in earnest. So...
"Time for your first real combat exercise. We'll be sparring."
With that, he readies his spear. Right now he held the spear with a single arm, holding a little further up, closer to the blade. The tip was angled towards the ground, which left the rest of the spear raised behind him. His free arm was raised in a defensive position.
"Begin when you are ready."
Nova is the one that takes the lead, lunging at him and swinging her scythe -- her movements already making it clear that she has an idea of how to compensate for the weight of it, and incorporate it into momentum for her strikes.
Her first strike is blocked by him shifting his stance and moving his spear in the way. He attempts to use the curved blade of the scythe as a hook and push her weapon further out of the way from him. Though Nova attempts to keep her balance, it's difficult, and she's sent stumbling from it. Before he gets a chance to potentially capitalize on it though, Vaneera has come in from an aerial attack, thrusting her blade at him.
He manages to side-step the attack, and brings his free arm up to go for a counter. But Motet has already readied her own weapons, and fires on him with surprising accuracy. With no choice, he breaks away from the encounter with the two and dodges out of the way.
The trio soon regroups.
"Definitely too strong for one or two of us."
Vaneera commented.
Nova nodded in agreement, but she did add;
"But with all three of us, we can keep him on the back foot, it looks like."
Motet shifts her weapons back into their knife form, and seems to be feeling just as confident right now.
"We gotta do our first cool combo attack with Vani, then!"
Their plan was quickly forming. But he wouldn't give them all the time in the world to come up with what to do. He approaches, with his spear readied now.
"Aye. Teamwork can help you overcome a greater foe. So let's put it to the test."
After that statement, he lunges in, thrusting his spear at Vaneera. She moves back in order to give herself more time on the deflection. She poises her blade and manages to send his weapon off to the side. Trying to block it directly or even dodge it outright wouldn't have worked.
Motet tries to leap on him while he's distracted, but he suddenly halts his advance and brings his arm back, and with it he jabs the pole of the spear at Motet. It does hit her in the gut, but with her Aura, she's only mildly inconvenienced by it. Still...
"Oof!"
Motet lets out a surprised grunt. The range advantage he had on that spear was something else...
But there was someone else who had an equally long-ranged weapon. And Nova decided to capitalize by moving in on him while his spear was tangled up by her teammates. She swings the scythe downward at him. He does manage to move just out of the way of the attack, but as Nova brings the scythe's blade down, she suddenly yanks back on it.
Just like that, his spear is caught, and pulled to throw his balance off. He manages to keep his grip on his weapon. But the other two have an opportunity because of this. Motet rushes in, thrusting blades at him as fast as she can manage it! He's managed to twist and step just barely out of the way each time, but it makes it harder for him to focus on getting his weapon back like this.
But he suddenly realizes that Vaneera is still present, and she's coming in right now to support Motet! He releases his spear and takes on a proper defensive stance. Now moving freely as Motet's attacks keep flying at him. It was just in the nick of time too, as the red-caped girl is already joining in the assault.
The two of them are working pretty well together, keeping him on the back foot, especially now that he doesn't have a weapon. But he is also clearly waiting for an opening. Nova decides not to give him the chance to come up with one, leaping into the fray and swinging her scythe downwards at him once more.
He raises his arms to block it, and then Motet charges in, stabbing at his torso. Vaneera also slashes at him with her sword, and the three's combined attacks do manage to knock him back. He lets out a small pained grunt -- but his Aura was able to soak that up nicely.
After that showing, he smiles at them.
"Good. It looks like I won't have to hold back against you three too much."
The three of them had solid fundamentals and basics to support each other. He had to shore up their individual skills and strengths, and improve things overall... But still.
Their sparring continued further into the day...
END OF PART ONE
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» Murder Drones: A new Type of Witchhunt
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