Team SHDW Volume 1 [REWRITTEN]

Chapter 7: Forever Fall

The day after, Walker couldn't help but notice that something was... off. Well, at least with Team JNPR, more specifically, Jaune. The team leader had grown much quieter, and his life was reaching Blake-levels of antisocial. Not that it was any of Walker's business, but it was very off putting to see the normally at least happy guy turn into... well, whatever he was now. The one thing he did notice, however, was Jaune always taking nervous glances at Team CRDL. Something bigger than him was going on, but Walker was not in any position or even mood to find out.

For now, it was Combat Class. And his name had been called, along with Tatiana Epona, the shy Team ATUM girl. Walker wasn't sure what to expect from this particular matchup as they walked into the arena, but he decided to keep his guard up. He knew next to nothing about Tatiana, aside from her timid personality. He didn't know what weapon or Semblance she possessed, so to say he was going into this blind would be an understatement.

The two Hunters in training stood at either end of the field, preparing for the upcoming fight. Tatiana, now out of her school uniform, was wearing pink... well, everything. It was a bit distracting to be honest, but the black neck ribbon she was also wearing, though a bit hidden behind her brown hair, kind of stood out like a sore thumb. Almost like she was overcompensating with pink to try and drown out the black. Her shy demeanor was gone, now replaced with a look of steely determination. In one of her hands was what appeared to be a handheld fan; folded in, but at the ready.

Walker gripped Barentain tighter right before Professor Goodwitch called out, "You may begin!"

Almost as fast as he could blink, Tatiana drew her closed fan up to reveal a gun barrel through the handle and began to rapidly fire at Walker as he charged. Though a bit taken aback, he quickly swung his sword to deflect the bullets away from him. Once he got close enough, Tatiana's weapon unfolded to reveal the rest of the fan, but with an apparent bladed edge. They both swung their weapons, but they merely grazed each other. It wasn't until a few seconds later that Walker realized that Tatiana's fan wasn't exactly designed for a head on clash with a sword like his. He continued swinging Barentain, but each swing only grazed off of the fan's edge, deflecting it away from its wielder, Tatiana moving with surprising speed and grace.

This clearly wasn't working. Walker needed a new strategy, he needed a longer range. So he jumped back, propelled by his Semblance, and pressed a button on Barentain's handle, elongating the blade into its whip mode. He immediately swung horizontally, causing Tatiana's eyes to bug out before leaning back, barely dodging the bladed whip that went flying over her head. She tried to get in close once she recovered, but Walker began to swing Barentain erratically, creating a sort of dome around him. Tatiana folded in her fan and tried to shoot him, but only encountered the same problem. And it was then that she lowered her weapon to stare at him with her brown eyes and into his own.

Walker wondered what was going on, but mere seconds later, the world flipped. Or at least, his physical view of it. Suddenly, it was as if he and Tatiana were standing upside down on the ceiling, and their weapons were in different hands than they were before. He stumbled, blinking hard, trying to snap himself out of this disorientation, but this only left himself wide open. His opponent let out a small smile before opening her fan again and charging him. He swung out with what he thought was his sword arm, only to stumble again at the realization that though he thought that his sword was in his left hand now, his seeming right hand moved when he willed his left hand to do so.

And those few seconds cost him dearly. Tatiana was upon him before he could even react. She slashed across his torso multiple times before kicking him to the ground. Now flat on his back, Walker was now even more disoriented, but at least he had a good idea on what was happening. Whatever Tatiana's Semblance was allowed her to cause him to have a weird mirror perspective on everything. Up was down, left was right. As he got up, Walker realized that the only way he could truly fight back was if he closed his eyes, but there was no way he was going to try and fight blind. He growled as he realized his Aura level had passed into the orange zone. He couldn't take another couple of hits like that again.