Team VRSZ Volume Three Chapter 1: Red VRSZ Blue
Setting: Fortuna
Violet couldn't comprehend what just happened. A second Remus came out of nowhere, kidnapped the original Remus, then flew off like nothing happened.
"I told you he was a robot!" Silver said a little frantic and confused. "And he comes in a set!" he added stretching his arm out toward the hole in the wall. "Zelts, give me back my fifty Lien!" Silver's hysteria was a cover for his confusion, everyone was aware of that which is why Zelts ignored him, or maybe he didn't want to give up the money.
"Calm down Silver, I-I'm sure there's an explanation for this. We just need to figure out what's going on," Zelts said, but he was having trouble about this whole thing as well.
Violet walked to the destroyed wall to peer outside. There were citizens looking up to see what happened, others that ran in panic, but no trace of Remus or his double.
"Well the key element of this problem just flew off at Mach 9!" Silver exaggerated but he was right, they were long gone.
Violet needed to know what this was all about, but more importantly, she needed to get her friend back, she didn't want to go through this ordeal again. As she stood their steeling herself, members of Vantablack's task force came in. "What happened?" one of the men said.
"I need to speak with Lady Clair. Where is she?" she asked using her official title when addressing those under her employ.
Setting: Forest
The second Remus flew past the desert sands Vacuo was known for and moved to a more woodland area with Remus under his arm. Remus clutched his fractured weapon and readied himself for a fight but knew he wasn't at a hundred percent. His right arm was broken and his rib cage was not in the best of shape, but he had little choice in the matter. Remus actually knew this person from somewhere but it was only for an instant and didn't have that much of an impact on his life so he never thought twice about it.
They were moving through the air very quickly but were beginning to slow down and flying low to the ground when they traveled past the desert. Remus used this moment to land a surprise attack. He gripped his sword in his left hand, swung his arm overhead and it hit the other Remus who let go from the unexpected attack but didn't seem hurt in the slightest. Remus quickly teleported to the ground for a safe landing while his double simply turned off the thrusters at the bottom of his feet and landed on the ground facing his counterpart.
Setting: Unknown
In an unknown room, two people were watching a monitor that showed the battle between the two identical fighters. One person was a man with black hair wearing a lab coat and glasses with a cocky look on his face, the other person was a woman, a fuanus with a white tail beneath a lab coat, and unlike her associate she held a more worried expression.
"Looks like they're back home or at least in range of our surveillance equipment." the man said but the woman remained silent for a while before speaking.
"Amilius, you know I didn't want this to happe-"
"I wanted this to happen. It's time we bring down the curtain on our long project, Lupa," he said interrupting her. He brought hand to his glasses, lightly touching the frame and a screen in the lens opened up. He used his pupil of his eyes to operate the computer in his glasses to perform some unknown action. When he was done, he tapped the frame again to turn off the computer.
"Now let's see who will be the one to spearhead Project: New World," Amilius said and Lupa nervously bit the bottom of her lip.
Setting: Forest
Remus got in fighting stance and ran toward his copy. He jumped to lunge at his foe with his sword and swung it, but was blocked by the double-bladed glaive. Refusing to stop here, he teleported right behind his opponent and tried to land a second strike, but was met with the glaive again.
"In my current condition I can't do a long battle. Gotta end this as fast as possible," he thought before making his next move.
Remus began to rapidly teleport around his double, landing one quick strike before teleporting somewhere else. His frenzy let him attack his copy from all angles but his double stood there, moving his arms and weapons to block and matched him blow for blow. Like every battle, Remus' speed would begin to overwhelm his opponents, but it wasn't the casein this battle. He was fighting an adversary that was not only able to keep up with him, but he was also able to effectively block every attack perfectly. Using Checkpoint this frequently was not good for Remus either because using his semblance repeatedly like this always made him feel nauseous and this was no exception. As his speed increased, his double swiftly placed both hands on the hilt of the doubled-bladed staff then he split it into two swords. His weapon, now two, was able to parry Remus and actually overwhelm him before he fell back from exhaustion and feeling a little sick in the stomach. Not feeling like he could win, he looked behind himself to the forest and teleported far away from his copy to retreat to the woods. His double just stood there watching him flee.
Setting: Unknown
Amilius laughed triumphantly as he watched the fight. "Your experiment is failing, Lupa! If anything, he's weaker than the last time, so much so that it's embarrassing. He's really proving your theory wrong."
His colleague, Lupa, remained silent as she watched. "Let this play out until you find a solution," she thought, looking more worried for Remus.
While she was lost in thought, Amilius activated the computer in his glasses then shut it off again. "Time to bring this fight to a swift end," he said with a smirk.
Setting: Forest
Remus kept moving until he thought he was a good distance away then rested his back on a tree till he slid down until he was sitting on the ground. He laid there until the churning of his stomach stopped and had to think this through.
"I-I can't win, not the way I am now...even if I wasn't hurt I don't think I could win this, the difference in strength is obvious," he thought in his head then was reminded about how he lost to Chrome not too long ago. "This is no different than last time," Remus was feeling disheartened about his lack of ability. He was losing confidence in himself as he gaze fell on his weapon that couldn't last much longer.
He suddenly heard the thrusters of his double get louder, signaling he was coming right toward him. He had his blades in both hands and was slicing through any trees that were unfortunate enough to be in his way. Remus decided to take a note from Violet, to fight smart and also a note from Silver, to fight dirty. He teleported in the air above and in front of the double's path and was ready to time his attack right and plunge his sword in his opponent's back. His tactic was effective, he timed it right and was about to land a good strike, but his plan was thwarted in the shocking and unexpected way. His double disappeared in a puff of red smoke when the sword was inches away from his body, leaving Remus to stab nothing but the ground while looking flabbergasted. Not only did his double look like him, but he even had his semblance. He was given no time to think this through as he felt his double teleport right behind him. Remus felt it again, the same emotion he felt when he fought Chrome, he felt fear.
Remus quickly teleported away, but his foe did as well and teleported to his exact location. Remus teleported again, only to be met with the same result. This was the first time someone was able to keep up with his semblance. This continued for awhile until Remus teleported again to a tree branch, but instead of meeting him at the exact same time, his double was there before him and used his glaive to slash him in the chest and knock him down to the ground. He almost let go of his sword to clutch his broken arm, but Remus was given no time to dwell on the overwhelming pain.
Remus actually thought this may work in his favor since he knows the weakness of his semblance better than anyone; He could only teleport to anything in his line of sight so blinding his double was the best course of action. When his double teleported to his front and was about to land an attack, Remus teleported again but this time, the puff of blue smoke turned into a giant blue fog that covered the area. His double was walking in the obscuring fog and Remus hid behind a tree out of the line of sight, waiting for the right moment to land the decisive blow. He peeked over to see that his double's back with his head moving around to search for him but Remus stayed out of sight. He saw his double teleport but didn't see where he could've gone with his vision blurred. Remus felt a presence behind him, he turned his head around to see his double look right at him.
"He teleported to a place he couldn't see? I can't even do that. His semblance surpasses min-" Remus thought until he was met with a kick to his already damaged chest.
The force knocked the tree over with Remus on top but he quickly got up thanks to his aura protecting him from any severe internal damage. The two look alikes battled each other in a clash of swords on top of the fallen tree and Remus was obviously on the losing side. The double used his weapon with better efficiency as he changed it between glaive form and dual sword form which bested Remus' own freestyle form of fighting though his form of fighting was currently limited thanks to his broken arm. Remus was hit multiple times by the other's weapon and unable to counter his combos. It didn't take long for his aura to break and for the double to land a punch in his ribs, worsening the damage to them. Remus fell to the ground and his double placed a foot on his chest with his glaive pointed at him. Remus had nothing left, he lost, again.
Setting: Unknown
"AHAHAHA! Oh Lupa, my dear friend, your experiment has failed you greatly. Though he was never going to be a match for the product of my research and ingenuity." Amilius was boasting nonstop and Lupa was silent, feeling nothing but regret in the pit of her stomach. She looked at the defeated boy on the monitor with a sad look which was replaced by surprise at what she saw next. The Remus' double moved his foot and pressed it against the original's neck, who had his hands on his leg to move it off, but it didn't budge. The double placed both his hands on the glaive with one bladed end pointed at Remus's head.
"What are you doing?" she asked Amilius who only smiled.
"I've proven that my methods and way of moving forward were superior, so there's no need to keep a failed experiment." The double was ready to impale Remus in the face and Lupa needed a way to stop it. She came up with an idea that was more of a gamble.
"You're right, my experiment failed. He wasn't able to defeat yours, it was obvious" Amilius smile grew when he heard those words. "You won,despite your handicap."
His smile vanished when he heard that word. "What are you talking about?" Amilius said with a little edge in his voice. The double's motion stopped as he had his weapon ready to kill Remus whenever he wanted.
"Remus was clearly injured before the battle even began, the homing beacon I received was proof of that. It only activates when Remus is close to death, so it was obvious he wasn't going to be in top form. You saw it yourself in the way he moved, the way he fought, his arm was clearly broken and his weapon was gravely damaged. Basically, this fight was one-sided as soon as it began."
"...Irrelevant, whether he was in his prime or not, the result would've been the same." He was pretty unhappy that Lupa tainted his victory with her reasoning.
"Are you so sure that you'll accept this hollow victory instead of waiting to fight Remus in his top form? Or perhaps you prefer it this way, because there's a real chance your experiment will lose?"
He was in his own head, thinking before he came to his decision. "Very well, bring him to the healing tank to accelerate his recovery rate, you can repair his weapon. I'm a fair man, I'll patiently wait for his revitalization however long it takes, then we'll have the fated battle to see whose theory for a new world is better, mine or yours."
Lupa let go a breath of relief. He placed his fingers back on the computer glasses "Thank you Amilius."
"However, I'm also a man who believes 'To the victor go the spoils,'" he said bringing his hand back down.
"What are you-" Lupa stopped when she heard Remus grunt in pain. The double pressed his foot harder on Remus' throat to keep him in place then moved his glaive from a stabbing motion to a position where it looked like he was going to slash him.
"I want him to have a permanent reminder about his failure before he is brought to the Facility," Amilius said darkly while reveling in what he was about to do.
Lupa begged him to stop, but her pleas fell on deaf ears. It was too late to stop it so she closed her eyes, refusing to look at the horrific scene that was about to be displayed on the monitor. The double had his blade ready as he took aim then swung his blade. Remus could do nothing as he watched the blade of the glaive move to to his face.
"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!"
A fair amount of blood gushed out of Remus and scattered across the ground, with the sound of Remus screaming in pain filling the air. The glaive of the other Remus was tainted with blood at the tip of the blade.
Additional Information
The double's weapon is a double-bladed glaive that can separate to dual sword form. The swords are a counterpart to Remus's weapon, both are weapons have Roman origin. Remus's weapon is in the form of a spatha sword while the dual swords of the double are gladius swords.
The original name of Remus' semblance was Teleportation but he changed the name to Checkpoint. He made this decision after playing video games for so long and thinking that his semblance is similar to checkpoints in some video games. The first name for his semblance wasn't made by him.
I always had Remus' backstory planned out and I created this before I saw RvB and their A.I. programs. The similarities amazed me and in the process I became a fan of the show and Rooster Teeth, they make some great stuff. For the Volume summary I used a reference from RvB to show the similarities.