The Bloodied Thirty Pieces

12 - Where Trouble Melts like Lemon-Drops

"NO!" Ruby yelled as she charged after the fleeing group, a steam of rose petals trailing behind her.

A bullet hit her in the shoulder, knocking the young girl sideways and to the ground. Snarling like a wild creature Ruby jumped to all fours, her aura having taken the impact without damage as she turned on the wheat-haired student who had shot her.

Walt hadn't moved from his spot in the tree, still with his weapon aimed on Ruby. With the quickness and ease of a well practiced moved he unlocked the bolt and slid it backwards, ejecting the spent cartridge before ramming the bolt back home and locking in place. All without moving the weapon away from the young girl locked in his sights.

"Already told you Shortcake I'm your playmate for tonight!"

"Try and stop me!" Ruby spat and turned again to run after the others, her eyes flashing silver as she felt her semblance flood her body with the sensation of pure electrifying speed.

She made it five steps before another bullet hit her again in the shoulder, sending her into a slide into a tree. Ruby lay stunned as her semblance faded. She had been traveling at superhuman speed, something that no other person could have the reflexes or even the skill to keep up with, let alone aim and shoot. With a growl the young girl got to her hands and knees and looked at the boy in the tree. He hadn't moved besides keeping his weapon aimed at her, hadn't appeared to do anything other than shoot and reload.

In the tree Walt grinned. "You're not getting away from me Shortcake, even if you hide behind a tree!"

"Gah!" Ruby screamed and again forced her semblance through her body, this time running towards the tree Walt was in. As she ran Ruby watched him in almost hilarious slow-motion; he was as sluggish as everyone else would be when Ruby had her semblance active, yet-

Ruby's eyes widening and she stopped, her feet sliding across the ground as she braced her body and her aura just as the weapon went off. Time sped up and the bullet impacted uselessly against the young girl as she stared up at the wheat-haired boy in the tree just meters ahead and above her, her eyes narrowing dangerously.

Walt watched her carefully, one eyebrow disappearing under his hair and hat, before breaking into a wide grin and lifting his weapon skywards.

"Figured it out have you?"

"Your semblance. Somehow you can see where I'm going to be and so fix your aim."

"Pretty much," Walt laughed. "I call it the Marksman. I mark a target to be my prey, and so can see when they're going to move and to where, even at super speed."

"Thus you can't miss." If Ruby wasn't furious she would have been impressed. With a growl she drew her weapon again and unfolded with a snap of her wrist, the scythe blade gleaming almost magically under the moonlight. Walt's grin grew larger at this, his eyes briefly flashing bright red that stood out in the shadows.

"Of course it's not perfect, no semblance is," he said, twirling his weapon around as he stood up. "I don't have super reflexes or such, so I can't always adjust my aim fast enough, and I can't predict things like wind and-"

Ruby spun her scythe around so the head rested in the ground and pulled the trigger, sending her rocketing towards Walt. The wheat-haired boy laughed and brought his own weapon around blocking the horizontal strike Ruby threw at him. The force of the swing cut cleaning through the trunk besides Walt, the force of the block knocking him out of the tree and to land with Ruby several meters from him.

Smiling like a child in a candy shop the wheat-haired boy brought his weapon up so it rested in the crook of his arms and fired, reaching up after every shot to masterfully slid the bolt clear and back to reload. Ruby swiping her scythe around her as she ducked, deflecting each bullet. When a pause came in the fire the young girl spun around and ran forwards, swinging the head of her scythe behind her and firing to augment her charge.