R.W.B.Y.: Adventures and Mishaps of Team K.L.L.R.
Chapter 1: New Beginnings and Ends
Hey, y'all, I know it's been a minute or two since I've updated any of my stories, but I assure you, I'm still alive and well. For those of you who didn't know, I recently did an entire rework of Shock's Chronicle, so, if you want to go check that out, I'd love to hear your thoughts on it. This is kind of an experimental project I've wanted to start working on for quite a while now, almost since I started writing Fanfictions, but one of the main problems I have with writing is that I like to stick to the canon of the actual story itself. I don't like to make it so that my stories are spin-offs of the actual thing, the story that is actually going on. I just want to go ahead and say, thank you for sticking with me, if you're still around. Thank you to all the friends I have made throughout my THREE YEARS on this site! The fact that I posted the first chapter of my first story on March 18, 2013 blows my mind, and I intend on sticking around for quite a while longer. Again, I'm sorry I've been so slow to update recently, I'm trying to adjust to college life and getting into the real world. I'm thinking as of right now that I very well may rework Ambiance, go back over the cringeworthy parts and restructure it the way I had it imagined in my head, rework the incorrections that many of you have pointed out to me that I made, and make sure that I can provide something I can look back and smile at. Thank you all again for what you have done for me, and in return, I would like to give you a little story of my own, an off-shoot of one of my favorite RoosterTeeth shows, RWBY. This won't feature many of the main characters, and picks up right before shit hits the fan in Volume 3, so, if you haven't gotten caught up, I would recommend you do so before reading this. As always, I'll start us off with my signature: Here we go.
The day was sunny and quiet, but it was nonetheless hotter than hell in the back of the ship that Team K.L.L.R. found themselves inside of. They had flown in via carrier to Beacon for the annual tournament, one of the biggest events to ever be held on such a regular basis.
Sadly, our band of heroes was barred from trying to qualify, as the one that had spearheaded their project, none other than General Ironwood himself, didn't want his trump card to be shown just yet. Yes, he had made robots like Penny, who were capable of generating an aura, but what many didn't know was that Team K.L.L.R. was another secret that he kept close to his chest.
The team, like almost any team of hunters and huntresses, consists of four all had different cybernetic implants, due to a stress in their youth that had left all of them, for all intents and purposes, disabled, until General Ironwood had found them, taken pity on them, and saved their lives by having body parts removed by the attack on their unprotected home town replaced with electronic ones. Each member had a computer terminal in the wall near the head of their beds, and all four of them were currently wired into their terminals in some way, shape, or form. This was their "Connected" time, where each member was to wire their implants into the wall once the engineers had figured out something they could do better with the prototype implants that they each had in were all doing different things, but each and every one of them was preparing. The males, Karax and Larox, were preparing for battle, the females, Luxa and Rasha, were preparing for their first appearance in Beacon. Different people have different priorities.
Karax was their leader; he was currently laying on the bottom bunk on the left side of the was on his bed, just staring up at the ceiling. His sunglasses, which were part of his cybernetic eyes, were on top of this forehead. For all intents and purposes, he couldn't see at the moment, but he was far from blind. His hands were behind his head, and he was pondering life, as he tended to do when he was bored. His weapons of choice were his arms, which were both cybernetic below the elbow. He had them raised in the air, and he was moving his hands, looking at them in awe and wonder as he pondered the events of the coming days. He was wired in through his eyes to a computer hooked into the wall, which was updating some of the configurations that would allow him to use his semblance more easily. His arms were able to reconfigure themselves in a couple different ways; he could use latches on the sides to make them slide out into blades, or he could overclock them so that he was able to, quite literally, change them into a hovering group of nanites that could reshape themselves however he saw fit. This last version was still in testing, and, as he lay there, his arms were phasing between their solid form and the nanite cloud. He could also pull back on the latches to expose a dust-powered cannon hidden under his palm.
Larox, the tank, was sitting across from Karax, sharpening his buster sword, desperately trying to sharpen out a small nick in the blade he had gotten from trying to single-handedly fight off a swarm of Beowolves the General had put him against to test his abilities. He had succeeded, naturally, but his blade was the tiniest bit imperfect, and he had been using a whetstone to get the nick out of his blade. He had also spent a couple hours cleaning the eight barrels hidden in the sides of his blade. The top, second from the bottom, and bottom rows were smaller, as they acted as machine guns that fired independently yet all at once, and the second row was much larger, acting as two barrels for heat-seeking rocket launchers. His right eye was in a cybernetic attachment that connected to his face, and a nearby laptop was calibrating it for him. His right arm was messing with this laptop, as it was cybernetic below the shoulder, and he was listening to headphones plugged into the laptop, listening to heavy death metal as he skillfully multitasked. The laptop also had a connection to his right leg, which was also cybernetic below the knee.
Larox' sister, Luxa, the assassin, sat on the top bunk, trying to figure out her outfit for their first day in Beacon. They all knew they wouldn't be attending classes just yet, but she wanted to look good, nonetheless. She was having trouble, however, as her legs, which were cybernetic below the knee, gave her trouble putting on pants, and she hated skirts and dresses. Her two swords sat by her, folded up so she could stash them on her belt. Originally, she had carried them in a large fanny pack, but she had realized in a field test against a couple male Ursa that she had trouble pulling them out of it, as the General had predicted, so she instead had made a couple black leather holsters for them, which were fringed in sky blue, her favorite color. All of her outfits were the same color, but she wanted to wear her shorts as opposed to a skirt, for aforementioned reasons. She was the glass cannon of the team, able to hit hard but unable to take much damage herself. Her legs were currently being calibrated and recalibrated by a computer hooked into the wall, which would allow her to move faster, the way she liked but had previously been unable to due to limitations that had been set by programs running in her legs. Now, however, she could use a spring in the heels to jump way up high in the air at blinding speed, as well as run at half the speed of sound. She fretted over her outfit in near silence, blasting heavy electronic music through headphones.
Rasha, the last member in the team, the support, as it were, had it much worse. Her entire right side of her body, from below her chin all the way down to her hip, was cybernetic, and the permanent backpack she had on, which housed her swords, didn't make this any easier. She was actually one of the tested prototypes that had preceded Penny, and she was jealous at how high-tech Penny's abilities were in comparison. She had picked out what she was going to wear for the day already, a high-necked shirt and skirt, all in electric blue. Her backpack was hooked into her computer on the wall, like the others' integrations all were, but she was having difficulty trying to move around on her bed above her brother, Karax, due to the various cords strung into her arm, back, and base of her head. She ended up stopping fighting it, laid out her clothes, and rested on her belly, waiting for the various updates and bug tests to finish. It was currently 1615 hours, meaning that they had another 15 minutes of this before the mild field tests were to be completed to test the new parameters, as well as let the members mess around with them and try them out for themselves.
The remaining 15 minutes passed in oppressive silence, the sterile lighting of their room inside the carrier making them all feel as though they were still in the hospital beds they were in after the attack. Thankfully, neither of the males had a bout of shell-shock. They had had to see the worst of the attack, each of them trying to shield their sisters from the horrors the Grimm had reaped upon their innocent little backwater. They were the only survivors of the town of 60 thousand people, and they had had to endure extreme amounts of pain. They were all fairly close to death by the time General Ironwood's military had found them, and even closer before they all agreed to the tests when they were all 14 or 15. Now, two years later, Larox and Rasha, the older two, were 17, while their younger siblings had turned 16 just a couple weeks earlier, within the space of three days. When the door opened, exposing the General, all four sat up at attention, Luxa cracking her head on the metal roof of the room in her haste.
The General tried to resist smiling at them all. He didn't have any children of his own, as his life in the military had taken precedence, but he liked to think of this team as as close as he would get to having a family of his own, and the team members had kind of adopted him as their new dad, since they no longer had their former families. They all referred to him as the General to his face, but he was 'Father' when his back was turned or he wasn't present. What they didn't know was that there were microphones in the room, as well as a small, hidden camera in one corner. No one really paid attention to the kids' cameras and the like, but General Ironwood liked to listen in if he had a free moment when they had free time, because that's when they got chatty.
"At ease, guys. You know you don't need to snap to attention for me, don't you?"
Karax was still sitting up, sliding his sunglasses down over the cybernetic eyes so that he could see. "General, when you've been in the military for the majority of your teenage life, it makes it hard not to snap to attention any time that door opens."
Ironwood chuckled at this. "Very true, Karax, very true. You guys ready to be in Beacon or not? We arrived early, and I figured you all could forego your exercises today in favor of testing them out during the Vytal Festival. Sadly, we can't have you guys compete, but we will see what happens. You've all earned rest, so don't worry about anything here except for your chores. Lights will still be out from 2200 to 0800 hours." The four nodded in appreciation, basic stuff.
"Also, under no circumstances are you allowed to get too close with any of the players in the tournament. Penny will be there, you have to act like you don't know her, she has been told to act as though you don't know her. I know you're all teenagers, and all have your hormones, but under no circumstances are you allowed to sleep with anyone in here or in their dorm, you are expected to be here, with no extra or fewer persons, by 2130. Understood?"
The four of them stood, the two girls dropping down from the top bunk and all four saluted the General, before Larox started breaking down laughing, followed by the rest of the team. Ironwood joined in eventually, but not for lack of trying to maintain his icy exterior he kept up for the rest of the world.
"All right, you four, we're docking in," he checked a watch on his wrist, "five minutes or so. Get dressed, take your weapons with you, and get out of here. You can wear your civvies today, not to worry." Ironwood turned on his heel and closed the door behind him.
No sooner had this happened than the four had yanked out their wires, happy that their implants were done updating. They got dressed now, Larox in his signature, eye-grabbing red and black armor, with a metal chestplate and gauntlets, chainmail on the upper arms and shins, and plated metal boots and lower core. He also wore a black eyepatch over his right eye. Karax went for a little less flashy, wearing a simple long-sleeved gray shirt, black pants and boots, and black gloves to cover his metal hands. Luxa went ahead and wore a short-sleeved, low-necked gray shirt and long, black pants, and black boots. Rasha wore all black: a black shirt that came all the way up to her chin, a black skirt, and black hose with black, high-heeled boots. They all strapped their weapons to their backs, Larox in an over-the-shoulder holster, Luxa in two holsters on the sides of her hips, and Rasha keeping the backpack, her shirt tucking under her backpack to make sure it looked like she was just wearing a backpack and not showing that it was actually attached to her back. Karax' were hidden under his sleeves and gloves, but he was able to easily detach them if needed. Their implants were all hidden, the way that they need it to be so that their secret isn't exposed just yet.
After all of them got dressed, they got into their file as they felt the carrier dock. A soldier escorted them through the labyrinth of hallways to the main cargo entrance, where they stepped onto solid ground for the first time in a couple of days. Larox cracked his neck and knuckles loudly, then proclaimed, "Hope you're ready for Team K.L.L.R., Beacon!" Thankfully, nobody was around to hear him. Karax punched his fists together, hard, happy that there was no metallic clinking sound, and that, while he felt the impact, there was no pain associated with it. "Alright guys, we have today to check out the place, make sure we know our way around. We all have our scrolls, right?" His teammates nodded. "Good. We'll split up into two and two, then. Larox, you go on ahead with Rasha. I'll show your sister around, if that's okay."
Larox deactivated the helmet on his armor, getting his face right next to his leader's ear and whispering, "Just remember, anything sexual you do to my sister, I will do to yours."
Karax gulped, nodding. "Same goes for you, man. Just remember that we do have protection if it comes to that. Don't want to be walking around with a little junior in nine months, now, do we?"
Larox cracked a rare smile. "Yes, sir."
What many didn't realize about the team was that, although they acted like a family to each other, the main relationships were between the older two siblings and the younger two siblings, respectively. They were a family, and they were also starting to learn on their own how it is that the world works, as well as relationships. They had by no means been sheltered after their town was destroyed, but they liked to know that there was more to the world than violence and killing going on 24/7. There was still apprehension between them all, as they had seen just how fragile this peace could be, but there was no doubting that they were all happy to be there, under the veil of peace and prosperity. They had previously been told by the General that the only time they were allowed out at night was if they had a lead on some suspicious activity, which they could then take out themselves. They were also told that if they happened to make friends with another of the many teams that were around, they weren't allowed to tell them about their implants unless the General looked into the team and approved.
They were also given a list of teams to avoid at any cost. The list was short, but it was there, nonetheless. According to their intel, Team RWBY and Team JNPR were to be avoided as much as possible, as they had a tendency to stumble into things that they really needed not to. Just recently, there had been a massive Grimm attack on Beacon, brought about when Team RWBY had managed to stumble into a plan that got them on bad footing, as it were. Team JNPR was also one of the larger players in the game that was suspected to be coming all too soon, and KLLR was to keep their distance and avoid interacting with them as much as possible, for reasons the General wouldn't disclose. Penny and her team were allowed to be on friendly terms with KLLR, but interaction was supposed to be held to a minimum so as not to blow Penny's cover.
Looking through some files that Larox had managed to hack into, it was soon apparent that Penny had already had her cover blown by two separate entities. Ruby Rose, the leader of Team RWBY, had accidentally managed to learn of it. It was a case of being in the wrong place at the right time with Penny, as it were. There was another hacker that had managed to get into these files, however, and the only thing that had been found when they tried to backhack the previous hacker was a picture of a white queen chesspiece on a red background, which had caused Larox to panic, closing down his terminal and erasing all evidence that he had been there.
As the two groups were about to split up, they quite literally ran into another team that had been walking the opposite way and not quite paying attention. The two teams stood, and Karax immediately apologized for his team. He stood in front, with Larox on his left and his sister on his right. Luxa hid behind her brother as force of habit, and all members were ready to pull their weapons out if need be. The other team's leader, a brunette in black sunglasses, whipped her hair back and spat dryly on the concrete.
"Hey, watch where you're going, would you?" She said, looking directly at Karax. Her other members were in a diamond shape behind her, and it was made so that a tanky individual was in front of Larox and Luxa, a dark-skinned redhead was behind their leader, and a rabbit faunist was in front of Rasha.
"Sorry about that. We're not exactly from around here, and I guess we were taken aback by the sights." Karax bowed slightly at the hip, bringing his right hand up to his chest.
All eight members relaxed a little bit, as the previously palpable tension dissipated with the apology. Coco spoke next. "It's all good. We've been a little on edge recently, as the tournament has us all a little nervous, you could say. Are you guys competing? You look like a solid team."
"Unfortunately, we quite literally just got here about five minutes ago, and we weren't able to qualify for the tournament in time. You guys do look like a formidable fighting team, though."
Coco looked a little closer at the team leader in front of her. "Dude, what's up with your eyes? They look a little weird."
Karax dropped his guard in panic, realizing that his sunglasses were still over his eyes, but they had been knocked askew when he had polarization on them should have made it impossible for her to see them, but it didn't help when he realized they were cockeyed. "I don't know what you mean." He said, happy that they were on correctly again.
Coco dropped the subject, used to people covering up their faults in embarassment. "Never mind. In any case, I'm Coco Adel, and this is my team, CFVY." Her team joined her in a formal bow after she said this.
Karax nodded. He seemed calm on the outside, but he was freaking out internally. "It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Karax Marosi, and this is my team, KLLR." The four of them bowed in turn.
Coco cocked an eyebrow at this. "Team KLLR? Really? That's a badass team name compared to CFVY. Allow me to introduce the rest of us. She pointed with one thumb over to her right. "That's Yatsuhashi," She pointed behind her, "the guy behind me is Fox," and, pointing to the obviously nervous faunist on her left, she said, "and this is Velvet. What all are your names, exactly?"
Karax smiled as a confirmation that this team was safe popped up on his display. "As I said, I'm Karax," he pointed to his left, "that's Larox," he motioned to the girl behind him, "that's Luxa," he pointed to his sister, "and this is my sister, Rasha. It's a pleasure."
Coco nodded. "Back at you all. It seems we have some pretty even counterparts on our teams. I know you aren't in the tournament, but there is a sparring arena near here we could go into, if you like. They make it private so that people can't see how their teams are going to fight. Perhaps after that, we can show you around, if you win."
Karax looked to his team members briefly, who were picking up on the okay and were all smiling devilishly at the chance of a fight, as they had yet to test out their latest augmentations. Another okay popped up for a sparring match, and Karax took his turn to smile. "Sounds like fun, although I hope you don't mind a bit of a strange fight. Lead the way."
Coco smiled in turn. "Oh, you guys are gonna get creamed. Follow me." Each team member fell in step with their counterpart, Karax with Coco, Luxa with Fox, Larox with Yatsuhashi, and Rasha with Velvet. They reached the sparring arena in no time at all. It was similar in construction to the actual arena they had seen from the sky on their way in, but it lacked the bleachers, the random environment generators, and the jumbotron over the arena that the actual one had. The two teams fell out of step and started getting ready, drawing their weapons. Karax took his gloves off and discarded them, then rolled his sleeves up to his elbows. He crossed his arms, waiting. Larox' helmet slid up as he drew his sword, holding it with two hands in front of him. Luxa drew her two swords, and Rasha's pack slid open in the back, although she didn't summon any blades yet. A timer appeared overhead, counting down from ten. As the timer hit zero, Larox stayed in front, his sister staying back from him, and Rasha behind her. Karax stood to Larox' right, and yelled, "Killer instinct!" This was Larox cue to shut down his thinking process, and he immediately sensed for their weakest link, which appeared to be Velvet. CFVY was standing again in their loose diamond formation like before, but with more distance between each of them. Larox charged at Velvet, roaring like a demon and running like a bat out of Hell. This stunned each of the other members temporarily, but, as Larox was about to hit Velvet with his sword, Yatsuhashi intervened, their blades clashing with a loud metallic sound and a flurry of sparks. He automatically assessed his situation, and switched targets. Yatsuhashi stomped on the ground, a shockwave going outward as Velvet jumped back, but Larox stayed put, unfazed. He broke the contact, getting distance, before charging Yatsuhashi again.
Luxa used her semblance to bend light around her, turning herself effectively invisible. She went for Velvet as she jumped away, landing a hit to her chest.
Fox went after Karax, his two swords blocked by Karax' forearms. He grabbed at two latches on top of his forearms, and two large blades unfolded. He kept up the block with one, jabbing at Fox with his right arm.
Luxa had to come uncloaked again, and Coco went for her. Luxa's blades clashed with Coco's case over and over again, and she cloaked, got behind Coco, and jabbed at her back again.
Rasha summoned a ring of swords and went for Velvet, as most of her team had. It turned into a game of cat and mouse as Rasha chased her. Velvet reached for her case, but Coco yelled, "Not yet! You need to save those for right now!" Velvet nodded, and all team members disengaged and got distance once again when Karax yelled, "Regroup!" They fell into a tighter formation similar to before, Luxa uncloaking again as each team member got behind Larox.
Larox started laughing hysterically, and CFVY watched the screen overhead as his aura somehow regenerated quickly. A hidden handle slid out of the hilt of his blade, and he held it as a minigun when all eight barrels slid out. His eye locked onto the four targets in front of him, and he let out a slurry of machine gun fire as the two rocket barrels went to work, firing two homing rockets right for Yatsuhashi, who was knocked back, some of his aura dropping as it was now shown in the yellow. His teammates unleashed their gunfire as well Karax's hands now folding back into literal handcannons, keeping their opponents jumping around, before Coco yelled "Fuck this!" Her briefcase unfolded into her black and yellow minigun and she returned fire at the stationary Larox, who was still laughing hysterically. Her eyes widened as a three circles of swords came out of Rasha's pack, and three small beams of energy went soaring right for her and Velvet.
Velvet dodged the first volley easily, hopping as a rabbit tends to out of harm's way, but she went flying as one of the rockets hit her. Another three beams issued from Rasha, pegged Fox, Velvet, and Yatsuhashi, who was in the process of standing up, right in the center of their chests. Coco moved with blinding speed at Rasha, who used another four blades to block her onslaught of attacks as the case Coco carried folded back up. Fox didn't stand back up after the hit from the beam, though.
Karax then yelled, "Blinding Rage!" To Larox, who then was cloaked by his sister and charged at Yatsuhashi, finishing him off as his semblance went into the red from a strike of his sword to the side, sending him flying into the wall of the arena with a loud THUMP, from which Yatsuhashi didn't get up, stars in his eyes.
The rest of Team CFVY were in the low yellow zone, while Team KLLR was all in the mid yellow except for Larox, who was in the green. He uncloaked as his sister, wanting to preserve her remaining aura, deactivated her semblance. He ran back to finish Coco off, but she hit him in the ribs with her case hard enough to dent his armor, so he backed off for now.
She stood back up, spitting again. "You just destroyed half my team, prepare to meet your DOOM!" She whacked Karax upside the junk with her case, who went up about ten feet in the air. He didn't stand up after he landed. His aura was depleted, and he was moaning in pain as he held the very sensitive spot between his legs where he had been hit. Rasha swung her circle of blades at Coco, but it was to no avail. Velvet had jumped high in the air, and hit Rasha square in the face with her feet as she used her to jump back up in the air again, landing safely behind Coco. Larox helped Karax get to a safer spot off to the side as Luxa cloaked again, using the last of her aura to take Velvet down.
It was now Coco vs Rasha, Luxa, and Larox, and she held up her hands in defeat. "We yield. Good fight." The automated announcer heard this, and above them, the words 'WINNER: TEAM KLLR' flashed overhead. The assorted members stood up, each shaking hands with their counterpart. "Well fought, you four. I wasn't expecting all of that, but, if I may ask," she pointed to Karax' arms, which had now folded to their default position, "WHAT THE HELL ARE THOSE?!"
Karax laughed as he drank some water Rasha handed out. "You remember how I said this was going to be an unfair fight?" Coco nodded. "Well, we're kinda different from your average hunting team. We've had different parts of our bodies replaced with cybernetics after they were forcibly removed by Grimm during an attack on our town a couple years ago. The General took us under his wing, and we were able to be ourselves again, albeit with a few major improvements."
It was at this point Rasha, who was standing by her brother, looked down and noticed that she had a huge rip down one side of her outfit, which was showing her metal torso. She hid this with an embarrassed yelp, but it was too big for her to cover, going from just past the midline all the way out to her glove, and another cut had essentially ripped her shirt almost in half down the middle. She covered it as best she could, just happy that her bra didn't get cut, too. Coco saw this, and her attempt to cover it up.
"If I may ask, which parts of you are fake on each of you? I know her chest and your eyes and arms, but what about the other two?"
Karax nodded gravely, knowing the question was coming. "As you said, eyes and arms below the elbow are, my sister lost the right half of her body, Larox lost his right eye, right leg, and left arm, and Luxa lost her legs below the knee." Luxa pulled her pant legs up to show them, and Larox' armor went to a more minimal setting, the arms undoing and folding up to the elbows, and his legs basically turning into shorts, showing that, indeed, his right arm and leg were fake. He undid his helmet, which slid back into his chestplate, and his right eye widened like a camera lens.
Rasha was still freaking out over how exposed she was, and Velvet handed her a jacket. Thankfully, the two of them were about the same size. Rasha responded by hugging Velvet, who returned the hug as Rasha started crying happily. Even Larox, who almost never showed emotion or empathy with a previous opponent had to crack a smile at that, and he went up to Yatsuhashi, clasping hands with him and drawing him into a hug as well. Luxa stood awkwardly by Fox, who shook hands with her wordlessly, and Karax held out his arms to Coco, who hugged him back briefly. They all separated, Rasha wiping the tears from their eyes.
Karax was the first to speak. "If I may, I'd wager Velvet probably wants her jacket back and Rasha wants to change her shirt. We'd like to put our stuff away, as it were, if you'd excuse us real quick." They all pulled out their scrolls, calling for their lockers which landed behind them. Rasha tucked in the last of her swords and headed toward a locker room, accompanied by Velvet. The rest of the team put their weapons away in lockers or under sleeves, Karax picking his gloves back up. Larox let his armor fold itself up, exposing his underclothes, before he put on a red tee shirt and black shorts, black and silver sneakers with black socks. He didn't mind changing in front of people, especially since the essentials were still covered, but he realized how sweaty he was.
"Shit, I could use a shower, actually, be right back." He ran into the men's lockers across from the women's, which made Karax laugh. "I have to admit, he may be a badass, but Larox can have his moments where he actually appears human."
Coco joined in, "I hear that. Yatsuhashi makes himself look like the silent-but-strong type, but he has a soft side, too."
Luxa just laid back on the arena floor, Fox laying next to her. They didn't say much, but it was obvious to any observer they were enjoying each other's company.
Meanwhile, in the women's lockers, Velvet was sitting on a bench as Rasha changed her shirt, and Velvet sat in awe at just how much of Rasha's body had had to be replaced. It was in the shape of a half moon for the main part, but there seemed to be two smaller chunks that had had to be replaced, as well. It was with a muted gasp that Velvet realized why they were shaped like that: she had survived being eaten by Grimm.
Rasha sat next to Velvet as she adjusted the collar on her shirt, making sure that her neck was covered. "Can you see any of the metal on my neck? I'm trying to keep it covered, but the mirrors in here aren't exactly clean enough for me to see my reflection."
Velvet unfolded a small crease in the top of Rasha's shirt, which made it so that all of the metal was covered. "You're good now. Can I ask a personal question?"
"Yeah, go ahead."
"Are you self-conscious about your, uh, changes?"
Rasha nodded. "I'm paranoid as hell about them. I miss what I had, but I make it work. My other members have less of their bodies to cover, but I have a ton."
Velvet cocked an eyebrow. "At least you have the ability to cover yours up." She started rubbing her ears. "I wish I could do that."
Rasha scooted in closer. "Being a girl sucks sometimes, you know? I mean, my partner, Larox, he really doesn't mind them, and I like his augments, but I'm so fucking insecure about my own. I was never this concerned about it until the General tried to put us in a generic school for military kids. There was a uniform policy there, and sadly, that uniform made it so that quite a bit of my body was always exposed, and other kids would bully me for it. I can't tell you how many times my arm malfunctioned because someone decided it would be a good idea to stick a pen in my shoulder from behind, which pissed me off, but I couldn't do anything about it. It got worse when they implemented my pack, though. I couldn't sit in backed seats very well, and the desks were small. I was jammed in there, and I frequently broke desks trying to sit back in my chair or trying to get in or out of one. Didn't help that the chairs were attached to the desks there."
Rasha checked that her shirt had been properly tucked around the pack, the fake straps going over Rasha's shoulders. "I know what you mean. I was born with two rabbit ears, as you can see. It gives me an advantage while I'm fighting, because I can get around the battle and attract fire while dodging easily, as you saw out there, but I have some difficulty hiding these. I've been bullied all the way through my entire school career by human kids in my class, and that even continues to this day. It's part of the reason I hate going anywhere alone, because my self-esteem is low enough that I just let it happen, I don't try to stick up for myself."
"Oh, tell me about it!" Rasha replied.
Meanwhile, in the men's locker room...
Larox was in the open shower, surprised at how ill-maintained and rusty everything was in there. He was happy that his augments were waterproof, though. Yatsuhashi was sitting on a bench around the corner, sharpening his blade. "If I may ask, how heavy is your blade? You hit with so much force with it by barely swinging."
"It's pretty light for me, actually, but I have been training with it for a while now. I've gotten to the point where it gets pretty easy for me to carry it, like it's an extension of my arm."
Yatsuhashi laughs. "I know the feeling, my friend. It's amazing how much weapons as large as ours tend to become a part of us, you know?"
"You have a point there." Larox turned off the water and exited, grabbing a towel from a pile and wrapping around himself. His right foot clanked on the tile as he walked along, followed by wet smacks from his left. He finished drying off quickly before putting his under-armor stuff back on and activating his armor, which went back over his body easily. "I was gonna put my other stuff on, but I need to hide my cybernetics, here."
Yatsuhashi nodded. "I'm curious. How did you lose those specific parts of your body and the rest be almost completely unharmed?"
"It's kinda weird. I was in a building that exploded, and the collapse made it so that my arm and leg were torn off, and a piece of metal pierced my eye. That's when I discovered my semblance, or at least part of it. I can control my emotions to revitalize crippled systems, as long as they are minor. Once a part of my body is lost, it's gone, but minor injuries, like scrapes and burns, go away quickly. That's how I can half a third of my body chopped off and yet the rest of me look like nothing's wrong at all."
Yatsuhashi cocked an eyebrow at him. "Are you serious?! That's badass!"
Larox shrugged. "You say that now, but that's not even the best part. I can also roar in such a way that I can make Grimm attack each other, while other humans are frozen in place in fear. I used that on you guys at the beginning of the fight out there." He finished putting his armor back on. "We should get back, eventually, probably. It wouldn't do for us to be back after the girls, now, would it?"
The other tank nodded, picking up his sword. "How old are you all, anyway? How long have you guys had these implants?"
"I turned 17 last spring, as did Rasha, our support. The two young'uns, Karax and Luxa, just turned 16 back about two weeks ago. We got these implants when we were 14 and 13, respectively. Talk about a shitty way to lose your innocence, eh?"
Yatsuhashi stifled a laugh at the last comment. "You could definitely say that, yeah."
The two walked back to the remaining four, who were laying about on the field, resting after the fight that had just been had. Rasha, now in a shirt that hadn't been ripped, emerged with Velvet about five minutes later. Karax then stood, signalling his team, and Yatsuhashi helped Larox up, albeit with some comic difficulty. To the drones that were circling overhead, cameras trained on KLLR, the guys watching those cameras were having some fun watching as they struggled to get him up from his supine position. After Karax and Fox joined in, however, they managed to get the heavy tank of a guy standing. They sat, all four of them panting heavily while the girls laughed at them, before Coco spoke up.
"Alright, KLLR. You guys had your fun, and, as the losers, we'll go ahead and show you all around." She turned to Karax. "How do we wanna do this? All eight of us together will draw some unwanted attention to you guys, I think."
"I was thinking the same thing. It would seem that we all made friends with someone on the other team, maybe if we split up in pairs? No, actually, then that might draw attention to us, too, since it will look like a couple of the pairs are dating."
Coco, Rasha, Velvet, and Luxa naturally blushed when he said this, understanding how someone looking from the outside in might get the wrong idea. Coco brought her fist up to her chin, thinking. "We could do two and two from each team. As long as the opposing genders don't fall into step with each other, we should be okay, I think. Then, also, we can have like people together. Velvet and I can go with Karax and Rasha, Yatsuhashi and Fox go with Larox and Luxa, maybe?"
Karax cracked up at this, his teenage mind taking over temporarily. "That could work, but I guarantee that some will take it as a harem and a sausage fest, there, too. Hopefully, the students here are a little more mature than the soldiers we're used to hanging around with."
"They are, for the most part, so we should be okay. It seems like at least one person per team tends to be the master of puns, but that shouldn't be a problem, really."
Karax nodded. "Fair enough. Let's get going, then, shall we? We're all excited to see Beacon and the surrounding area, we've all heard amazing things about the Vytal festival." The rest of KLLR nods in agreement with him. You could tell by looking in their eyes, even the implanted ones, that they were excited for this. Luxa looked up at the sky quickly.
"We have about three hours of daylight left, about two and a half before we need to get back to the ship. Rendezvous here at 1930?"
Karax looked up himself before nodding in agreement. "Sounds like a plan. We'll meet up at the entrance to this practice arena at 1930, and then head back from there."
From there, the two teams split into their two groups of four and headed out, going separate ways once they headed through the doorway that marked the entrance to the practice arena.