Team SRDS (Stardust)

Chapter 6: SRDS-2

Glynda swiped across the screen to move to the next file.

SRDS_2

Name: Ross Auburn

Semblance: Earth

Personality: Kind and approachable. Can get emotional when friends are concerned. Skilled at ranged combat and reconnaissance.

(Video of Ross defeating an Ursa by throwing a huge piece of rock at it, then going to work with his sniper rifle)

Ross knew the value of good recon, and he wanted to get down to the arena and start scanning for advantages, but he had to do something first. To everyone's surprise, Ross walked over to the medical tent situated just next to the entrance that led to the arena. In it, he saw Cardin, very much awake but staring blankly at the top of the tent. He seemed broken somehow. Ross walked over to him, and without a word, placed his palm on his knee.

"What the fuck do you want? Here to taunt me some more?" Cardin's voice was filled with venom, but straining to hold itself together. Now that Cardin was looking him directly in the eye, Ross noticed the tear tracks across his face.

"This might hurt a bit, but I'll need you not to move. If you mess up the alignment, I'll have to break it again to set it properly. Can you manage that for me?" Ross's tone was smooth and gentle.

"What are you doi-AAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" Cardin's voice pierced the air. Around his leg, he saw what looked like small granite slabs circle around his leg and begin twisting and snapping it into place.

"MR AUBURN! LEAVE MR WINCHESTER ALONE, OR YOU WILL BE DISQUALIFIED FOR MISCONDUCT!" Oobleck's voice on the P.A. boomed with anger. Glynda tapped Oobleck's arm lightly, telling him to ease a bit. "He means no harm."

She gestured at Cardin's Aura meter. Oobleck was as surprised as the other students to see that it was rising instead of falling.

Ross paid them no mind. He needed to focus if he wanted to get this right. Once he was certain that the leg's bones, muscles and tendons were aligned correctly, he began to channel Aura through his palm and into the granite slabs. Knitting, re-attaching and healing the damage Sigbjorn's kick had caused. After a minute, the process was done.

Cardin felt the pain cease, and to his surprise, his leg felt better. No longer broken. Ross had healed it to its state before the fight.

"I'm no expert, but that should do it. You should wait until the doctor checks it out and lets you know for sure," Ross said, walking back out of the tent.

He faced Oobleck and Glynda. "I'm sorry. I should've told you first that I was going to heal him. It slipped my mind."

"No, Mr Auburn, you have my apologies for misunderstanding your intentions," Oobleck said. "But for expediency, you will not be allowed to wait for your Aura to be restored. You will have to continue with the 82% you have left, or forfeit."

"What?! That's totally unfair! He healed him so he should be given a chance," Jaune said.

"It would allow us to see them against each other's best," Ren added.

"Maybe so. But if it were a real fight, and Ross had chosen to heal someone, he wouldn't be given a chance to catch up. The opponent would press on," Pyrrha reasoned. Steele nodded in assent.

"I understand," Ross said to Oobleck, climbing onto the stage. He looked at Russel. "Don't go easy on me."

"And he knows it. I have faith. My money is always on Ross, so let's just sit back and enjoy the show," Sigbjorn said, kicking his feet up while snatching Diamond's tub of popcorn. In furious retribution, Diamond poured his cola on Sigbjorn's head.

Ross started observing the field. There were rocky outcrops here and there to serve as cover. The ground beneath was made out of hardened clay. Using his semblance, Ross discerned the composition of the ground beneath the entire arena along with its depth, which turned out to be about 30 metres before being interrupted by a thick steel perimeter barricade. This arena was simulating the natural conditions of a rocky plateau. Down to the soil composition.

His opponent, Russel, stood at the opposite end of the stage, holding a pair of daggers. He seemed to be itching for the fight to start.

When he heard Oobleck's voice tell him to start, he saw Russel charge at him. He raised his hammer and looked through the scope only to realise that Russel was too close. He narrowly missed being stabbed in the rotator cuff, before he deflected a second stab with the handle of his hammer.

Shit. I'm at a disadvantage. He's got two blades, and he's quicker. He's trained so they're coming in from different directions. I'll have to keep him back.

He raised an earthen wall when Russel tried to stab him in the stomach, and just like Cardin, the daggers impaled themselves into the wall. Unlike Cardin however, Russel didn't try to pull them out by directly using all his strength. He quickly jerked the blades back and forth, and within seconds, they were out.

"That won't work on me you know. Give me a little more credit," rasped Russel as he unleashed a flurry of attacks.

Ross decided to go on the offensive. He started using earthen walls to restrict movement. Initially, some managed to connect and deal damage. However, Russel kept flipping over most of them and dodging Ross' hammer swings. He was slowly gaining the advantage. Ross began scanning for the spot on the arena with the loosest soil density. He didn't want to spend any more Aura than necessary, especially since he was already not running at full capacity and consuming it to create the earth walls. But the walls weren't just for defence. He was moving in a spiral pattern, closer and closer to his desired point. The structures were also made to block off alternate paths to ensure Russel was following him. Not that he had other plans.

But this arrangement also meant that Ross had less and less space to manoeuvre against Russel's quick strikes. Soon enough, Russel managed to connect a flurry of blows, draining Ross' aura by a significant margin. Ross managed to counter it by immobilising Russel's feet in the earth, and delivering a few good punches before Russel retreated.

They glanced at the screen. Ross' Aura was at 40%, versus Russel's which was at 60.

Russel smirked. "Nowhere to run, big guy," he said, gesturing around him at the walls Ross had made.

"Yeah," Ross panted "I know."

With great focus, Ross began tunnelling vertically upwards from the steel barricade to where Russel was standing.

It has to be quick, or he'll notice! Ross thought as he saw Russel readying himself for a final bout.

He directed all his concentration to the tunnel.

Russel had only a few moments to notice what was going on before the ground beneath him gave way and he fell screaming into the pit. It was made wide enough that he couldn't break his fall using his daggers, so he connected directly with the barricade. His Aura dropped from 60% to 20%. Ross' Aura held at 30%. He decided to finish this by making the walls around Russel slowly squeeze him until his Aura hit 15%, which meant Russel was subdued.

"Ross Auburn wins!"

Ross allowed himself a smile before creating an earthen ladder to allow Russel to climb up.

"Nice one out there," said Sigbjorn as Ross climbed up the stands.

"Healing Cardin right before the fight was a risky move," Steele said. "You ended up quite low on Aura."

"I made it work, didn't I?" Ross said with a grin. "I underestimated how fast he was in the beginning."

"You're up," Sigbjorn said to Diamond as the next matchup was announced.

"Right," Diamond said, inhaling and exhaling deeply, looking at the arena.

"You got this," Ross encouraged.

"Yeah. Thanks. You're right. I got this." Diamond smiled before heading to the stage.