An Axe to GRiND Trailer 1
Garnet
[In memory of Monty Oum]
Okay so quick foreword; this is a remake of my other RWBY Fic 'Gears to GRiND', I'm rewriting it because I wrote myself into a corner and had no idea what to do with the story and upon reflection I wasn't to happy with the varying quality of chapters so 'An Axe to GRiND' is essentially a recreation of the original with better character development and less buggering around.
Except for Grants stories; you still manage to make those as incomprehensible as possible.
Shut up Rene, oh yeah; Rene can still do that 'talking to the writer' thing.
Which is good because if I wasn't always over your shoulder keeping you in line your writing would be even worse than usual.
Shut up Rene… Oh and quick warning: the 'trailers' are going to be kinda lengthy chapters since their meant to establish the characters in the world, but after that chapters will be more restrained with a cap somewhere between 3000 and 5000 words.
This is why it takes you forever to write you know, way too many words, I mean; I've read the entire 'Shinobi Hearts Ablaze' trilogy and it had less words than your constant drivel of a chapter.
'Shinobi Hearts Ablaze'… isn't that the yuri spin-off of 'Ninjas of Love'?
What NO SHUT UP!
Whatever… sorry for the long wait; lets begin with Grant's story:
Grant
"How about 'The Fox and the Hound', has a nice ring to it don't you think?" I ask as we keep walking, Fox doesn't say anything in response but I can tell he doesn't care for the proposed title.
"Oh come on man, it makes perfect sense: two creatures from different species that should be bitter rivals but are instead the best of friends. It makes perfect sense."
Fox doesn't break his stride and keeps replying with silence, "Ok fine I'll think of a different title…"
So I suppose proper introductions are in order; my name is Grant Cortello, adopted son of Victor Cortello: dust mining legend and renowned philanthropist, other than that I'm just your average city-of-vale product of the times; unkempt short red hair, t-shirt with the face of an Ocelot, Tactical vests that match your hair, twenty or so belts, y'know all the stuff the 'in crowd' does… I think; honestly I can never really keep up with this kinda stuff… Anyway I'll introduce my partner here: Grey Fox.
Grey Fox is my friend, thought one might find that hard to believe because usually you don't see a human and Faunus be friends around here, but I like him; he's a very kind person, good listener, is delightfully talkative, oh and he's a ninja; awesome right? With all the swords and the cloaks and stuff he just looks awesome; especially with his mask: a silver fox, fitting don't you think?
Grey Fox and I work for my grandfather as security guards patrolling the mining site and keeping Grimm away; usually it stays quiet enough because we have a large fence surrounding the perimeter but every now and then Fox and I have to chop a Beowolf in half, keeps you on your toes.
"Okay fine Fox; you come up with a title then." I say, slightly fed up with him rejecting my past five ideas.
"…"
"Oh when I say it you think it sounds stupid but when you say it its cool?" Man its hard to work with him sometimes, Fox is always brutally honest but he does know when to hold his tongue.
"Alright then, 'The Fox and The Hound' it is, now where were we? Oh yes, so for lunch I was thinking spaghet" BOOM "…Ti…"
{For effect listen to 'Grant's theme': Big Blast Sonic}
An explosion echoes throughout the compound shaking the ground like a parade of Goliath decided to storm through, with a wordless glance Fox and I charge towards the origin point to try and figure out what the heck just happened, Grey fox takes to the air leaping from building and machines to move faster, his black cloak whipping through the wind; man I wish I was a ninja…
But for what I lack in speed I can compensate for power; I feel the electric current rush through my body and I take a running leap and soar a good twenty feet before needing to land and jump again, that's just one of the perks of having an aura of electricity.
Within moments Fox and I arrive at the core drill where a pack of Creeps (those weird lizard looking Grimm) are wrecking the place, I spot a miner taking cover behind some containers and I run over to him: "How the hell did a bunch of Creeps get this far into the dig site without someone noticing!?"
The panicked miner points towards one of the secondary drills meant to pick up anything the prime drill misses, "We were cleaning out a shaft for the dust when we hit a cavern of some kind and they just ran out and started attacking everything, one of them even blew up the ammo dump!"
Well that explains both the explosion and why the other guards aren't raining bullet hell on these buggers. I turn to Fox and point towards a pair of Creeps ramming against the wall of the living quarters and he runs off to fight them, as he leaves I return my attention to the miner: "Hang on."
Before he can respond I toss him onto my shoulder and charge-jump onto a nearby crane, "Creeps are fast but they can't climb worth shite, lack of arms and whatnot, so I recommend you use this crane and make a blockade to keep these things away from the other workers." He nods to me and shakily gets into the cab as I leap back down.
"Grey Fox!" I call out to my partner who I see has since finished off the two Grimm from before and he runs up to me; "Okay, the guy in the crane is going to box them in and away from the workers so we need to hold these Creeps attention away from them, I'm thinking plan 7."
"…"
"Okay not that one, what do you suggest?"
"…"
"Well it's not a plan, but it's the perfect plan."
Man Grey fox thinks fast, though I wish he wouldn't take so much time to be eloquent when we're in combat, just a simple 'here's the plan:' would suffice, but regardless I run to a nearby emergency supply box we keep near the drills and rummage thought the contents for a flare-gun with which I turn and fire at the Creep, I manage to light one on fire as it runs around like a chicken with its head cut off before collapsing from the flame, this gets the attention of the rest of the Creeps as they roar and begin to charge towards me.
I drop the now empty the flare-gun and from the holster on my back unsheathe my pride and joy; my combat crowbar Clarity; the bane of Grimm and wooden crates everywhere. Clarity is an enigma: I've had her since I awoke that day in the woods without my memories just short of two years ago… But that's not important; what is important is I bash these freaks brains out.
As the Creeps charge I pick out two with a strong lead on the pack and I bide my time… wait, waait, waaaaaaaiiit, "Fox now!" As the Creeps lunge at me I sidestep and hook the leg of the front most Creep and using his momentum against him and swing him back towards his compatriot, while this happens Fox is leaping from Grimm to Grimm stabbing them through the neck as he kills them without notice, this is our tactic, agro: I take the enemy attention and distract them while Fox sneaks behind them and covertly takes them down, it's an effective tactic but I have learned the hard way how much damage my aura can take while being the distraction…
The Creeps, now reduced to only five, finally get wise to Fox's assassinations and they split into two groups and try to attack us both, Three head towards Fox but I know he can handle himself, meanwhile I only have the two… oh crap I forgot about the other ones I tossed earlier.
I find myself surrounded by four Creeps now, each of them drawing closer to box me in, but this can actually work in my favour; remember how I said I had an aura of electricity?
"Fox it's about to smell like burnt lizard in here!" I thrust my right arm skyward holding Clarity aloft and shout "Rakurai!" (Means 'lightning strike' if what is about to happen didn't make that apparent.)
My crowbar spews sparks of lightening as I slam it into the ground and a wave of black energy rips through the Creeps, two of their heads just pop from the overstimulation of their nervous system but two still stand, though the look more like burnt chicken than lizards now, one of them comes too and tries to slash at me while I'm still recovering from that move but I manage to block the blow with Clarity.
The forces form the attack does push me back a few feet however, but that only gives me another opportunity; I holster Clarity and pull out my second tool, a tomahawk, this tool isn't quite as powerful as Clarity but it works just fine, I use it when I need to take a lightning break, lest I potentially fry myself you see. Well that and the fact it's a family tradition: we wield the family tomahawk until we are ready to build our weapon… someday soon shall be my turn in the great forge… Oh shit right I have Grimm to fight.
I look over to Grey Fox to see how he's fairing; it appears he has finished his targets, which the second last Creep has also noticed and leaves its partner to charge at Fox, I try to give chase but the Creep that attacked me doesn't seem to want to cooperate so I take my tomahawk and smack him right in the face which causes him to spin around giving me time to leap onto its back where I stab my tomahawk into its back, causing the beast to cry out in agony, "Alright you S.O.B, charge!" I force the small axe forward and the Creep begins to charge towards Grey Fox and the other Grimm.
"Fox!" I cry out to my friend; by now he's had a chance to catch his breath but the other Creep was only a few feet away and these buggers are really, REALLY fast, but thankfully the Grimm I commandeered has made good progress in catching up; I Rip my tomahawk out of the freaks spine and hope my ability has recharged enough to let me do this; "Raitoningu jump!" I force as much energy to my legs as I can and leap off the Creeps back full force and launch myself at Fox.
Times seems to move in slow motion as I fly towards Grey Fox, but that only makes things easier; Fox heard me call out and has taken stance, as I fly towards him I reach out towards him and he complies by reaching out as well; when I get close enough he grabs my arm and I force myself back to the ground and using the momentum we execute or final attack; "Lorentz-FORCE!" I throw Fox as hard as my lighting strength allows me; sending a shock through Fox's body which he channels into his katana, as he flies I call out "The speed of the wind, and swift like thunder, finishing move: Ninja storm!"
With that Grey Fox tears through the Grimm as thought they were paper cutouts, slicing them into ribbons until theirs nothing but a pile of severed limbs where they last stood.
With the Grimm eviscerated Grey Fox loosens his stance and sheaths his katana, I return to his side while he does; "Holy crap Fox we actually got the Lorentz force to work, that was awesome!"
"…"
"Ha ha, right you are Fox. Now come on; let's go tell those workers it safe now."
As we turn to head to the building the workers barricaded I check my 'watch'; the little quotation marks are there because this thing might be shaped like a watch but time isn't the only thing it tells; it's a prototype that takes some of the functions of a scroll such as aura gauging and lets just say it's a good thing that fight ended when it did; I had no more than five percent left, which meant I couldn't use my semblance until we get some time to recharge; my semblance is tied to my aura, using it like a battery to fuel my lighting attacks so its very risk/reward, thankfully we dealt with all the Grimm when we did.
SKRAAAAAAAAHHH!
"…"
"Don't tell me; Elder Creep that waited until its lesser pack mates were done?"
"…"
"It has gigantic teeth and is ?"
"…"
"Bring it on."
We turn and face the new Grimm as it looms over us, younger Creeps are only about four feet tall but this beast was at least seventeen feet tall with fangs longer than I was tall and here we were two tired teenagers with no aura left to spare… oh dear.
Fox didn't waste a single moment as he leaped onto the beast and started stabbing wherever he could causing it to start thrashing about, and here I was only about five feet from it while it tossed debris and scrap everywhere so I was forced to dodge this way and that trying not to get crushed as my aforementioned aura was still recharging so I had no shield and when uncontained crystals and other dangerous crap is being shot everywhere you kinda want some protection.
I manage to dive behind an overturned forklift for cover as a small crate of red crystals is flung past me and hits a wall behind me breaking the box and dropping a handful of crystals to the ground… I can work with this; "Grey Fox!" Fox stops stabbing into the Big Creep and leaps off its back and to my side behind the forklift and I tell him my new plan; "Ok so I take these crystals and rig the to the busted second drill to the crane winch and while I do that you lead the bastard under the crane and once we get it into position we drop the drill straight onto it and blow the drill with the crystals, its going to be risky but what have we ever done that wasn't?" Almost as thought it was trying to emphasize my point the large Grimm leases yet another echoing roar and smashes yet more miscellaneous construction equipment.
Before the creature can wreak any more havoc Fox acknowledges the plan and leaps off to fulfill his role in it while I grab up as many crystals as I can and make my way towards the crane where I left the worker from earlier, I also check my watch to see if I have any aura back yet fifty three percent and charging, that should be plenty.
I Grab Clarity off my back and use her like a hook to pull myself up the cranes ladder as I have one arm occupied with a box of volatile explosive crystals so a little help doesn't hurt, as I reach the top I see the worker once again, "Good to see you stuck around friend; I need your help with the crane." I quickly fill him in one the plan and he agrees to help after some minor hesitation, I can't say I blame him given the circumstances.
The worker, named Smithers as I just found out during that interaction; brings the crane arm around and grabs the remains of the secondary drill, its in rough shape but we aren't digging a hole with it; just rigging it with explosives and dropping it on a huge lizard.
As 'Smith' lifts up the drill I use Clarity as a hook to swing over the end of the crane arm and drop onto the drill and quickly start strapping crystals to the jury-rigged drill bomb.
I manage to jam the final crystal into the drill as another roar rocks the compound, following this I see Fox leap atop a nearby cargo container while fleeing/ leading the Creeper.
"Fox I've got the drill prepped get that big SOB under it and we can" Before I can finish the giant creep charges into the container sending it flying at the drill forcing me to bail off, I franticly reach out towards anything I can as in my panic I didn't exactly have time to plan my landing, but as the ground gets closer and sharper with the large chunks of scrap metal now strewn about I felt like I was about to go into shock… great; add ironic insult to lethal injury.
But instead of the feeling of burning metal bursting through my chest my heart began to soar as out of the ashes comes Grey Fox in mid flight and grabs me before I become an extra crispy shish kebab, after he grabs my hand we use his momentum to swing towards the crane where I can hook on and we can get down without getting skewered.
Y'know it occurs to me; where's the kaboom? There should have been an explosion from the drill being hit… "Oh shit Fox is the drill still swinging? I lost track of it in the smoke and as thought the universe decided to answer my question in the most dickish way possible just as I manage to hook onto the cranes support structure the drill appears through the cloud of cinders and arcs toward the supports we were holding onto; and once again with the slow-mo… I swear I have a copy of Max Payne lodged in my skull or something.
At first Fox and I brace ourselves but upon observation its evident the drill is moving too slow to really do any damage and isn't just in slow motion, we breathe a sigh of relief as the drill gingerly taps against the crane then swings away harmlessly, I take the opportunity to look up towards the cockpit of the crane and see Smithers activated the armored canopy of the crane; if this entire crane fell over in a fiery explosion he'd be untouched while in that thing, which is good because the fires around up are getting bigger and the drill is still wired to blow…
"Ok Fox we need to get to the top of this thing and cut the drill before it catches and blows up!"
"…"
"Yeah exactly, so I'm going to swing you around and up and you need to grab a strut and then swing me up."
"…"
"Oh crap your right we would need rope to do that properly… ok then you just be a ninja and climb up then and I'll just use Clarity to get up."
I swear Grey Fox sighed as he pokes me in the ribs which causes me to shock him a bit, he then uses the charge to run up the crane; I hate when he forces a shock though because it feels friggin weird when someone pokes me in the ribs… oh right big dangerous drill thing.
I start climbing as fast as I can and manage to make it to the arm of the crane where Grey Fox has already started making his way to the tether, I pull myself up and start inching along the frame towards the drill; honestly I don't really need to be so careful as there's plenty of room to walk and the crane but that huge Creep is still down there thrashing around…
Once I made it to the end and met up with Fox we started working on how we'd cut this thing without blowing ourselves up; "Okay uhh maybe I could Lorentz force throw you and you could cut the tether so if I aim right you can then land on the roof?"
"…"
"Ah your right; we're at a bad angle, I'd never make that kinda shot… uhh okay I climb down to the base of he drill and sever the cable then Raitoningu jump before the freefall?"
"…"
"Ahh good point, no guarantee it fall straight seeing as its still swinging and that could really mess up my trajectory… uhh…"
"…"
"Really? You think we'd have a chance doing that? Well I suppose you've yet to let me down… alright, let's try it."
This plan is borderline suicidal; just like all our other plans tend to be, which meant we had a pretty good chance of succeeding.
Fox and I would drop onto the drill and cut the cable and then I would Lorentz him into the crane structure which he could rebound from; grab me, and land safely on the ground near the overturned storage containers in case this thing blows when it lands, thought thus far the crystal charges have proved to be pretty resilient.
We drop onto the drill and set the plan in motion; I start to charge as Fox slices the cable and looses the drill, this is where it helps to have literal lightning reflexes as I grab Fox and threw him towards the crane, he vanishes into the smoke but I hear the clang of metal as he connects with the strut and I take stance in preparation for him to basically tackle me off of this thing…
"Uhh Fox t-minus twenty seconds and losing altitude fast! If you could jump back now I'd really apprectia" GRROAAAAARRR!
Oh shit.
Great; now I'm falling off a big explosive drill towards the ground at an alarming rate with a giant beast waiting to catch me for dinner and my ninja friend is nowhere to be seen, I can't even hear him saying anything which is an even worse sign.
With Fox nowhere in sight and the ground, and Grimm, coming closer at an alarming rate I moved out of desperation; I forced all of my lighting into my left arm and waited; in ten seconds this drill would be only a foot from the ground and that's when I decided it will explode and take that friggin Creep with it.
The only problem was I was still on top of this thing, so chances are after I burn my aura to shock and activate the charges I won't have much shielding from the blast, but if it meant I could kill this damn thing and save the workers still trapped in the compound it would be a worthwhile sacrifice… I hope…
It was now or never, I raise my fist and slam it down onto the drill unleashing all my pent up energy.
"Lightning mega drill burst!"
I felt if I was gonna go out on a giant exploding drill while fighting a giant lizard I was gonna shout something cool… thought it occurs to me nobody would have actually heard that… aww man…
Electricity ripples across the metal surface of the drill and passes through the dust charges as it flows, I can see the crystals reacting as the begin to glow brightly and for a split second illuminate the surroundings thought the smoke and ash, I can see the giant Creep once again; mere feet form where the drill will land and well within the blast range, so at least I know I would be taking that thing out.
I wait for the inevitable boom as my surroundings still feel like slow motion, weird side effect of lightning, must be like the shock to my sensory system or something…
It honestly feels like an entirety has passed by the time the drill hits the ground with a thud, followed by the blast of the first charge going off; I brace myself to be hit by the blast but instead of being thrown by a ball of fire I find myself being tackled off of the drill and into the air… oh no way, "Fox! You saved me! I knew I could count on y" Before I could finish the drill detonates; the force of the blast sends Fox and I flying but away form the ensuing fireball which consumes near everything in a twenty foot radius, including the Grimm.
I watch the massive beast thrash and struggle as its body is coated in flames and burning shrapnel jabs into its flesh, it's a gruesome display but I can't help but find some sick enjoyment of eviscerating another Grimm abomination in such a manner, this is the last thing I see before I feel my head smack into something hard and metal and all I see is black.
When I awoke I found myself in a hospital bed in Vale where a nice young nurse with pretty ginger hair tells me what happened; after the fires were dealt with Smithers had apparently found me and Fox and got us here seeing as we were unconscious.
Seeing as I still had all my limbs I assumed I was fine and asked her where Fox was so I could see him;
"Him? Oh, your friend is in the next room over but I'm afraid… err"
"Grey Fox, he prefers to be called Grey Fox."
I leave the room and head over to Fox, he was asleep when I arrived so I decided I'd sit down next to the bed and wait to see if he wakes up, I wasn't about to leave my best friend again.
…
After about twenty minutes Fox stirs and wakes up, this is good because I was getting antsy sitting here waiting, I'm not a fan of hospitals, but then; who is?
When Fox came to he was quite alarmed to find one of his arms restrained with an IV injected, but I managed to calm him down after he punched me in the face a few times out of instinct.
After Fox calmed down and I could feel my nose again I quickly recap what I learned to Fox, thought that honestly wasn't much but Fox nodded after a bit so I guess its good enough.
After a few minutes the nurse from before came in explained that the hospital needs to keep Fox overnight for minor surgery. Apparently Fox twisted his ankle to the point it's near broken so they need to set it back into place, that sounds painful but after Fox pulls down the blanket off his feet I can see why they need to do it… I probably would have puked if I still had anything in my stomach.
"Don't worry; it looks a lot worse then it is, your friend is quite fortunate all things considered; thought we recommend she stays for at least three days so we can see that its set properly after we operate later."
As the nurse continues to speak I place my hand on Fox's shoulder as I feel him tense up at the mention of surgery, it was understandable he wouldn't like the sound of having to be strapped to a table while people stand around him with sharp objects and pump anesthetic into him…
I lean closer to Fox and try to reassure him; "I won't let anything else happen Fox, besides these doctors took the Hippocratic Oath; you'll be fine."
I feel Fox ease his muscles and relax a little after the whispered pep talk and I let go as the nurse seems to be finishing saying whatever it was she was saying,
"And that's why I'm afraid you won't be able to stay here sir."
… I really need to pay more attention to what people are saying, "Wait, why can't I stay with Fox?"
The nurse removes her glasses and pinches the bridge of her nose, probably tired of trying to explain things too me when I keep blanking out;
"If we are going to operate we will have to take 'Fox' and get her cleaned up considering the both of you are still covered in dirt, then we need to have to take blood tests and make sure there aren't any problems that could lead to complications during the procedure, so I'm afraid its required you leave for your friends sake."
I'm about to go all Phoenix Wright on her with my objections but before I can Fox grabs my hand;
"…"
"But Fox,"
"…"
"… Alright Fox, if your sure."
Fox nods and releases my hand, and reassures me he will be fine without me… I give Fox a quick and only slightly awkward bro-hug and have a quick chat with the nurse, she said she'd call when Fox was ready to leave:
"This is the number that should come up in caller I.D," the nurse hands me her contact information on a business card:
"Doctor Donna… and here I thought you were a nurse."
Dr. Donna seems a little unnerved by my statement and replies "And why is that? Is a female doctor really such an odd sight for you?"
Oh I f**ked up my phrasing again.
I tried to elaborate without digging a deeper hole; "No I've met female doctors before, I just thought you were a nurse because I've never met a doctor who wears the little hat with the red cross on it."
Dr. Donna flusters slightly as she takes off the nurse cap and shoves it into a pocket on her lab coat; "Ahem, okay then… well like I said we'll call as soon as she can leave."
I thank Dr. Donna and mark her name down in my scroll and take my leave of the hospital, to my surprise a grey limo pulls up, I recognize my father's driver and climb in the back.
The ride is silent save for the occasional cough from me; I take caution as I apparently still have some dust in my lungs as licks of flame occasionally surface with said cough prompting a snicker from the driver.
After short of an hour the car stops in front of my father's house and I step out of the car and walk to the door, I step inside and rub my shoes off on the welcome mat and make my way into the living room where I find my father sitting in his chair and facing the fireplace.
"Umm… Hi dad."
Without looking away form the fire my father replies; "Hello son, sorry I couldn't meet you at the hospital, I had very pressing matters to attend to based on the events of yesterday."
"I understand… Oh uhh Fox won't be back for a few days because he got hurt, the hospital said they'd call when he's better…"
"I'll see to it some one will be ready to pick him up when that happens, now I think you should go clean yourself up; we have some important matters to discuss."
I nodded and left for my room on the next floor.
As I washed myself clean of the soot and ash I couldn't help but dread what my father meant by 'important matters', he isn't an easy to anger man but the way he spoke…
The only thing I could really figure was that he was upset that I allowed a pack of Grimm into the camp in trying to destroy them leveled about a third of the facility…
I figured it would just be best to get it over with now so I grab some fresh clothes; I grab another Ocelot Tee (I have ten), some black cargo pants, my vest, and my tunnel goggles, I then slip Clarity and the tomahawk back into the holsters, I turn to leave the room when I realized I forgot my belts;
"Okay, three belts per elbow, two for the wrists, about three for the knees… was it two across the chest or three?"
After about six minutes of talking to myself I manage to get on all of my belts and head back downstairs.
…
I walk back into the living room and find my father standing at the fire adjusting the logs with the poker,
"I uhh… I got cleaned up dad… you said we had something important to talk about?"
My father beckons me closer to the fireplace but still doesn't face me, I step to his side though I'm still unable to see his face from my angle…
My father takes in a breath and begins to speak: "Son, I assume you know why I need to speak with you?"
"Uhh, you need to speak to me about what happened on the dig site yesterday?"
"Exactly; yesterday while you and Fox were patrolling the grounds and keeping Grimm far away from the workers, and yet a pack of Creeps infiltrated the camp, trapped the workers, caused Oum knows how much damage to the machinery and resources… and you two were supposed to prevent that."
I lowered my head and went to speak but he indicated he wasn't finished so I braced for more heat;
"But given the circumstance of where the Grimm were under the camp to begin with there was no way you could have seen them coming from the perimeter but despite this both you and Fox had near immediate response to the situation and assisted the unarmed personal get to safety, single handedly fought off the Grimm with only your basic weapons after the mobile armory blew, and the two of you took out an alpha creep that was rampaging through the camp,
You and Grey Fox risked everything to protect the lives of your fellow man;"
My father finally turns to face me and I see his face with a smile that could melt the coldest heiress and he finished his sentence:
"Son; you are a true philanthropist."
With a flick of his wrist and a slight of hand he relives me of the family tomahawk and return it to a small shelf on the mantle above the fireplace and it retracts into the wall opening a hidden door; he places his hand and my shoulder and guides me inside.
It takes a moment for my eyes to adjust but once I can see I find myself inside a fairly large room with the left and right wall covered in shelves holding metal and dust and tools and ammo of all sorts, and in the back of the room opposite the wall we entered I see a blacksmith workshop with the finest equipment gleaming b the molten metal of which weapons are born, my jaw nearly hits the floor as I falter in trying to find the words:
"F.. f… f… Forge…" is all I manage to stammer out as my father laughs heartily, "Take a moment to breath son, I know I was just as flabbergasted when I was brought to the family forge so many decades ago… and now it's your turn to build your weapon; you understand why this tradition is important to us I assume?"
I manage to mentally pull myself together and take another few steps into the room and try to speak; "Th… the tradition of the Cortello family is once the child has proven themselves a philanthropist, a lover of humanity, they step forward to return the family tomahawk to the mantle and return with they're own weapon; a weapon not used in anger, not used in vengeance, but in the pursuit of making the world a safer place for man, and faunas alike."
My father joyously laughs once more and clicks on a light to better illuminate the room, why he didn't do that before I don't know.
"Right you are my boy, though the passage never mentioned faunas… we should update it so that it does!" My father continues to laugh in the way only a strong elder figure can as I marvel over the collection of equipment lined across the shelves, and its was free game on what I could use to build my weapon with…
"I made sure we had only the finest pieces available for your big day, I even had Jarrod send special parts from Atlas just for you."
I snap out of my gear-headed stupor at the mention of my older brothers name, "Whoa Jarrod sent these? So that means these are military grade stuff from the Schnee R&D department!"
"You bet sport; he said he included extra special axe pieces should you choose to also follow that sub-tradition, but your free to build a weapon that isn't an axe like your sister before you."
[Ain't exposition fun? Shut up Rene.]
I had thought long and hard about this day many times in the past, wondering whether I should build an axe as my father and brother had; or take my own weapon like my sister, I'd lay awake at night pondering which way I should go and often talked to Fox late into the night about it, until today had no idea what I would end up doing but standing before the warm glow of the fire I knew my answer.
"This is where I take my leave and leave you to your creative process; I will be in the kitchen, I bought a cake."
Ohh cake… I hope its chocolate.
My father leaves me alone in the forge and take a moment to observe the different pieces and tools to see the possible weapons I could build, I swear I would have spent days in there were it not for the fact I had known my weapon nearly from the moment I stepped inside, and because I want to hurry up and get some cake.
I gathered all the pieces I needed and laid them across the workbench in front of me and got to work.
Within an hour I had managed to craft my weapon and it was glorious; it was an axe in the style of a splitting maul that collapsed in the center of the handle and folded in on itself where it took the form of an modified XM16E1 (the patriot model of an M16) with a bayonet that could be placed on the gun barrel or at the opposite end of the handle whilst it was an axe, it had a double drum magazine while in gun form to allow me to have one hundred rounds of 45mm ammo to unleash unto any Grimm that was foolhardy enough to attack me or anyone under my protection, thought in its axe form I had to replace the clip with a standard magazine lest the weapon be wildly counter balanced, but I could use the shot to add more power to its swing as an axe.
Satisfied with my creation I dubbed 'Little Boss' I holstered it in axe form beside clarity and grabbed some magazines and dust cartridges and stuffed the into different belt pockets for safekeeping.
I then left the forge and headed to the kitchen.
I didn't get to far before I ended up running into Smithers, wait why is he here?
"Hey kid, I guess your wondering why I'm here,"
Oh cool don't even gotta ask.
"I just wanted to thank you and your friend for saving me back at the site; but I also wanted to give you something I found there, hang on where'd I put it?"
After a few moments of rummaging around through his pockets Smith hands my a small round piece of plastic with some words written on it, "Outside Heaven casino VIP lounge chip? Why the hell would one of these be at the dig site?"
Smithers shrugs but gives his two cents on the matter; "I have no idea how it got there but I found it in the cave those creeps burst out from, and I got to thinking while I was down there; how does a Grimm with no arms dig a cavern underground conveniently big enough for them and their queen and little to nothing else?"
It took me a moment to mentally tie together everything Smith just brought up, holy shit.
"Are you saying this Outside Heaven place attempted to sabotage my fathers dig site? But why would they do something like that?"
"Well kid my best guess is they don't like the competition; your father's company is one of the leading providers in dust and he has the added advantage of not having Faunus constantly trying to destroy his company due to his philanthropic ways and his support of faunus rights, and from what I've heard about this casino thought is that most of their profits don't come from the slots, but from illegal fire arms and dust trade."
I couldn't even begin to comprehend the idea of people going out of there way to put others in life threatening danger for profit… and for such a thing to happen to the men and women I work alongside and work to protect.
So many emotions burned through me in a single moment; fear, sadness, loathing, regret, but it finally settled on rage; not only did these f**kers put my co-workers at risk, they nearly destroyed my fathers lively hood, and worst of all; they put my best friend in the hospital where he has to go through his personal living hell of putting his life in the hands of strangers with knives and drugs.
"I'm sorry I had to bring this up kid but I thought you'd want to know, now I gotta go back to the facility to help with the clean up, best of luck kid." And with that Smith leaves me in the foyer with nothing but a new emotion I haven't felt since I first woke up two years before…
Nothing was going to stop me now, I was going to take justice into my own hand and enact revengeance on ~Grumble~ oh right… I haven't eaten for nearly two days.
"Grant my boy what's taking you so long? If you keep me waiting I might just have to eat this cake alone."
Okay, I know I just made a whole anger speech about taking vengeance for my family and friends who were wronged but do you honestly expect me to be able to fight on an empty stomach?
"Coming dad!"
Rest assured thought; tonight the journey will begin and I will burn my warpath of retribution.
I will fight.
Well it took forever but I'm glad I could take the chance to make things a bit better.
If that's your idea of better I fear for my trailer.
Oh don't worry, your trailer will be fine, Rushuna.
Ok good I… wait who!? That's not my name!
Well I'm afraid it is now; it fits your colour better, you are Russian green after all.
Uggh fine; I'll go with it, but let me go by 'Rush' for short or I'm out.
No problem Rush,
Well the two people who are actually reading this, I'll see you for the next chapter.