A/N
Hello and welcome to the hopefully-not-shit experience that will be my first ever fanfiction. However, before we can get to the fun stuff there is the matter of introducing our cast of (hopefully) lovable characters. Enjoy.
Octavius Aranea.
Footsteps crunched through heavy snow as the young faunus trudged forward. Stars gleamed through the gaps in the trees, which rustled with the wind that carried snowflakes gently down to the forest floor.
Octavius clamped his pitch-black eyes shut. All eight of them. His extra eyes spread across his forehead. Two were the size of regular human eyes whilst the other four were slightly smaller, arranged symmetrically. The faunus was dressed in a white dress shirt, with a long brown tie that was mostly hidden by the brown waistcoat he wore. Over it all he wore a long brown trench coat with a grey fur lining on the interior. Brown trousers covered his legs, leading down to a pair of steel-capped brown boots. His hands were concealed by a pair of brown leather gloves and a satchel made out of the same material hung by his side.
Opening his eyes slightly, despite the wind, he pressed on. The pine forests stretched for miles all around, the night made ever darker beneath their branches covered in needles. Octavius stopped mid step.
Red eyes blazed in the darkness ahead.
"Seriously! More of you? Is this a coincidence or do you just want me to miss my airship?"
A low growl was all he got in response.
"Fine but don't say you didn't get a chance."
Almost on cue, the creature leaped through the air. The moonlight exposed it to be a beowulf. Its black fur dusted white with snowflakes. Octavius calmly drew one of his weapons, a long brown musket. A knife-like bayonet adorned the end of the weapon and white spider webbed patterns ran up the weapons barrel. He set his feet and held out his weapon. The creature's own momentum carried it helplessly onto the blade. With a flourish, he withdrew the musket form the creature skull as it dissolved into black smoke that wreathed into the air before being carried off by the wind.
"Now, if that's that, I would very much like to be on my way." Octavius said as he adjusted the leather satchel by his side and prepared to continue. Quite predictably, he stopped once he noticed the many dozens more pairs of glowing red eyes among the trees.
The faunus sighed deeply. He swept his messy, dirty blonde hair back and grinned, a wide sadistic grin accompanied by an insane glint in his black eyes.
The grimm watched as the spider sprinted towards a tree and nimbly climbed up it's trunk, disappearing into the canopy above.
Beowolves growled in confusion, searching in vane for their missing prey.
Suddenly the forest canopy was engulfed in the flashes of gunfire, scattering the assembled grimm with yelps of surprise as their pack mates were riddled with holes or elsewise killed with headshots. Musket smoke slowly filled the air. Covering the forest in an acrid smell.
Octavius himself sat perched on a branch, quietly observing the slaughter below him. His grin widened even more and he chuckled as he saw a beowolf's leg blown off and it howl in pain before another volley of gunfire silenced it permanently. Absentmindedly, he flipped a bayonet.
As he did this, duplicates of his weapons materialised out of the air and flew off to firing positions around the trees. The grimm panicked as they struggled to find a target to attack. Octavius' eyes darted around, moving independently to track targets and line up shots.
The pack had been thinned greatly, with only a few grimm left. Might as well have a bit of fun. Octavius thought. He stood on the branch, dispersing his weapons and summoning eight of them to hang behind him, ready to use. Removing two bayonets from inside his coat he hopped down from the tree, kicking up a small amount of snow in a puff around him. The remaining beowolves circled him, snarling viciously in triumph now that they had found their perceived victim.
The first two charged at him. A slash with one of his bayonets severed the arm that attempted to claw Octavius. He slammed the bayonets into the side of the creature and used them as holds to drag the unfortunate beast around and onto the blades of the muskets behind him. After some brief struggling against the cold metal in its body, the muskets fired into the grimm, ending its life. Instead of going through the lengthy process of reloading, the muskets lost their form and became nothing but white smoke. However, they were immediately replaced by new copies.
The other grimm had attempted to outflank the occupied faunus. It ran on all fours towards its quarry and bit down, hard, only to feel its teeth crunch into wood. Octavius delivered a powerful kick to the creature's head, sending it reeling. As it regained focus, the faunus waved smugly. "Auf Wiedersehen." He laughed maniacally as the confused grimm was blown apart by the stick grenade it had accidently eaten.
He turned to face the three remaining monsters. They all growled before one of them let loose a piercing howl that reverberated through the forest. It was immediately silenced by a frantically thrown knife from Octavius. Scheisse. He cursed himself, their alpha will have heard that.
Octavius, sprinted at the other two. One fell to swift gunshot to the head while the other found its end by a bayonet ripping down its front, spilling organs and black smoke onto the snow.
A shadow shifted to his left.
Before he could react, an enormous paw sent him tumbling painfully across the snowy ground. Octavius scrambled to his feet in time to deflect a strike towards his head, razor sharp claws scraping down the length of one of his muskets.
The alpha stood easily three times his height. Covered in black fur and white bone spikes that protruded from its body. As it stared him down, Octavius regained his composure, brushing snow of his coat. Okay, he's a big one. Might as well have some fun.
Octavius materialised two muskets in his hands. He removed the straight bladed bayonets on the end and placed them into his coat, replacing them with two new bayonets. These ones were viciously serrated and had barbs on the side, for a purpose that would soon become clear.
A thunderous roar signalled the alpha had lost interest in waiting for the huntsman, and charged him. Octavius giggled slightly as he ducked under the grimm's first slash and let the next glance of the side of his musket. He took the opening to plunge the end of his weapon into the unarmoured flesh of the beowolf's side. The alpha growled in pain but kept on striking at Octavius, to little effect.
Octavius' increased perception due to his eyes offered him a superb ability to predict the simplistic attack patterns of the grimm, even though it was an alpha and thus much harder. This occasionally resulted in a seemingly random attack slipping through the spider faunus' otherwise flawless defence.
Another opportunity presented itself to the huntsman-to-be as he plunged his other musket into the creature's armpit. This time the grimm's reaction was far more distinguishable, it howled in agony as its left arm hung uselessly by its side. The muskets had remained firmly planted in the beast's flesh.
Another two muskets were summoned into the faunus' hands and another bout of fighting ensued. By the end, two more muskets were added to the monster's growing collection. One protruded from its chest, avoiding anything vital, and the other was sticking out of the monster's shoulder.
The grimm had already begun to slow due to the pain and Octavius was quick to take advantage of this weakness. Before it could react, the beowolf was racked with another bout of agony as the newest wounds showed themselves on its knees, the weapons having shattered the kneecaps and gone straight through. This had effectively rendered the beowolf immobile.
"Oh, don't tell me your giving up already." Octavius taunted. "We still have so much more to do."
The next few minutes contained nothing but pain for the alpha, as the teenager continued to stab muskets into the stricken creature. When he finally stepped back to admire his handiwork, the once proud alpha resembled a pincushion more than a wolf. The boy looked like he was about to continue when his pocket buzzed. He removed his scroll and his eyes widened. "Is that really the time? Well Höllenhund, it seems like it is your lucky day. I happen to have some very important places to go and it wouldn't pay to be late." With this remark he made a finger gun and mimed cocking back the hammer.
All the guns covering the alpha clicked in preparation.
"Bang…" The faunus whispered.
The roar of musket fire was brief but echoed through the snowy night. Soon white and black smoke wreathed through the air and into the sky.
Snow once again crunched under the foot of the teenager as he made his way back into the trees. The lights in the distance a marker of his destination, an airfield.
After all, he didn't want to miss his flight to Beacon.
Braith Tallarn.
The sun beat down on the golden sands of the Vacuan desert as a young man walked onwards, up the side of a sand dune. For endless miles around him the sun-blasted wasteland stretched. He held faith, however, that the village he heard about was a few miles away. It wasn't uncommon for villages to seemingly sink into the sand.
Braith was dressed in a tattered white cloak that wrapped around his head and extended halfway down his back. Despite its poor condition it successfully kept the worst of the sun off him. Beneath the cloak he wore a sleeveless white denim jacket, with gold buttons, over his bare chest. Granted it didn't offer him much protection in combat but it did make the heat and humidity of Vacuo more tolerable, not to mention show of his muscles and six pack. A loose pair of white trousers and golden metal greaves covered his legs. His feet were clad in a pair of stylish white trainers with gold patterns. His face was mostly covered by a white bandanna but over it could be seen piercing brown eyes flecked with gold and dark skin.
As he crested the top of the dune, he squinted, the blinding desert sun exposed form the shelter of the dune. After a moment his eyes adjusted and he could just make out a cluster of buildings in the distance. Breathing a sigh of relief, Braith set off, only for the sand to shake beneath him.
He froze immediately, standing perfectly still as sand slid down the dunes side. Shit. I didn't think there were any of them in this area. That's why I picked this town, not to mention the fact that they apparently have an airship.
Before he could react, the sand of the dune ahead of him exploded, cascading down around the now destroyed dune. A shadow fell across the would-be huntsman and he looked up to see the silhouette of a long worm-like grimm.
"Shit." He muttered. "That's gonna ruin my day."
These grimm were feared by the people of vacuo. Caravans had been known to divert dozens of miles out of their way just to avoid their territory.
Braith slipped his hands behind him and removed his weapons from his belt. Scaled, golden gauntlets gleamed in the sun as he clenched his fists, causing three shining silver blades to shoot out from between the knuckles.
The grimm, now revealed from behind the torrent of sand loomed over Braith. It's gaping maw was lined with razor sharp teeth and surrounded by four mandibles. Beady red eyes peered down at him, almost seeming to wonder why this tiny creature had disturbed its peace and contemplating how sorry it would soon be for that mistake.
As the creature let out an ear-piercing shriek, Braith charged forward, sliding down the sand dune towards his foe. As he reached the bottom of the dune he leaped through the air, the aura empowered jump propelling him towards the grimm's armoured body.
He stabbed the gauntlets in the spaces between the bone armour plates and smiled at the satisfying shrieks that the creature let out as it shook wildly in an attempt to dislodge him. He released his fists and the blades from his gauntlets detached, leaving him to soar through the air. He stuck the landing well and wasted no time in preparing for his next attack.
He flicked his hands to the side, causing a red light to flash, and clenched his fists again. This time, the blades that emerged were a blood red colour and their heat could be felt even in the scorching desert.
The grimm had finally recovered from his previous attack and it glared furiously at him before diving into the sand. Braith simply stood calmly, not moving, and waited. The sand beneath his feet shook and slid down the side of the dunes.
It didn't take long for the creature to become impatient in its characteristic anger. The sand exploded once more as the creature resurfaced. Braith immediately leapt into action, sprinting towards the monster as it saw him and bent down to snap at him. He dodged easily and slashed at the creature's neck. Deep cuts scored into the beast, causing the skin and flesh to bubble and blister from the extreme heat of the fire dust blades. Braith worked quickly slashing with such speed he left glowing red trails through the air. The creature howled and writhed in agony. Braith didn't notice the tail flying through the air towards him until it slammed him into the sand.
His aura flickered a bright gold but held against the damage. Braith recovered just in time to dive to the side as the grimm's mouth slammed down on where he had been only seconds before. Instead of backing off, Braith jumped into the grimm, disappearing through its side. The grimm shrieked in agony as it was torn apart on the inside. Braith emerged a second later, falling into a role as he reloaded his gauntlets. The previous blades detonated inside the grimm, causing it to scream in pain fuelled rage. Fuck, these bastards can take a lot of punishment. Braith thought.
The grimm had reared back up and began to roar towards the sky. The drifter grinned as he had an idea. He flicked his gauntlets and the red of the blades retreated down only to be replaced by black dust.
Once again, he sprinted towards the colossal monster. When he neared it however, he launched the dust charged blades into the sand beneath his feet. The blast inverted the areas gravity and sent him soaring high into the air. He grinned to himself as he dived headfirst into the waiting maw of the grimm.
The worm screeched in triumph as it devoured the huntsman. This victory was curtailed slightly by the fact its internal organs began to be eviscerated. It howled in agony, slowly transitioning to a wet gurgle before a huntsman cam hurtling out its back, landing face first in the side of a dune.
As Braith picked himself out of the sand, a thunderous boom resounded from behind him. The sand shifted around the fallen form of the rapidly disintegrating worm. "Holy shit! That worked!?" He blurted, amazed at his luck that his hastily concocted plan worked.
Braith brushed himself off and removed his gauntlets, the blades retracting as he removed his hands. He clipped them back on his belt and continued to walk towards his destination.
It didn't take long for Braith to near the town. The screams and the piercing gunshot didn't do much to improve his mood.
He stood at the entrance to the town's main road, staring down it like something out of a cheesy Mistralian western. The screaming seemed to emanate from the saloon that stood at the end of the road. Braith tossed his bags down on the ground next to him, he could come back and get them when all the drama was over.
He started to walk down the road. A few men stood on the deck of a shop. One of them held a rifle and the others were equipped with a variety of melee weapons. They watched him as he walked towards the saloon at the other end of town.
"What do you think you're doing boy?" One of the men, the one holding the rifle, called out to him. As he did so, his mates hopped down onto the sandy road and moved to surround him. Braith counted six, seven, counting the man with the rifle who still stood on the deck.
"Just passing through." Braith replied with a shrug. "Heard there was an airship here. I was hoping to get a ride into Vacuo."
"Fresh outta luck, kid. You see, we own this town now and as our first order of business, I think I'll put a tax on using this here road." The man said with a sleezy grin on his face.
Braith chuckled at that, causing the man to scowl. "Sorry mate, not gonna happen."
The man didn't bother replying, he whistled sharply and raised his gun. Braith managed to slip his gauntlets on, just as the first of the bandits reached him. The man swung at him with a knife but was sent tumbling to the ground by a swift kick to his shin, knocking his leg out from under him.
The next man received an armoured gauntlet to the face, a loud crunch followed by a scream resonated as his nose was broken. Braith threw the man, who was clutching his face with blood dripping between his fingers, onto the man with the knife, trying to get back to his feet.
The bandit with the rifle let off a burst of fire, a couple of the rounds impacting Braith's aura. "Shit. You're a huntsman." He swore. "Lee! Go get the boss."
A skinny man turned and ran down the street towards the saloon, the other men covering his escape. Braith let him go. I'll have to fight their boss anyway, might as well let him come to me.
Another burst of rifle fire shot towards him. He activated his semblance and allowed it to pass right through him. The three men charged towards him. The first swung his sword and was surprised when the blade disappeared through the teenager in front of him. Braith darted to the side and deactivated his semblance, bringing his fist into the side of the bandit's head. He blocked the next attack from a mace and fired a wind dust blade at the ground before the third bandit, sending him flying into the building on the other side of the road. He delivered a swift flurry of punches to the other two bandits, needless to say they didn't last long under the aura enhanced blows.
Braith turned to face the bandit with the gun. He promptly threw the gun down put his hands up. The drifter moved to take the man captive.
A gunshot split the air and a red mist exploded out of the man's head. Braith spun to face the other end of the road to see a man with a smoking handgun standing at the saloon door. From behind him five more guys filed out, each one holding a gun. Braith counted two shotguns, what looked like a machine gun, and a couple of rifles. The man with the pistol wore a large black duster coat with a matching black Stetson.
"Now that just will not do, no sir." The Boss drawled. He drew another pistol. They were large semi-automatics, with what looked like a knife built into the hilt so they could be used in melee.
"You killed him." Braith said, stunned.
"Well ain't you observant. Have a gold star." He said smugly. "I ain't got no place in my gang for cowards. Now, what the hell do you think you're doing here."
"I heard there was an airship here." Braith replied. "I need it to get to Vacuo."
The Boss chuckled to himself. "Well I'm afraid that ain't gonna be possible. You see that airship belongs to us now."
Braith sighed. "Then I'm gonna have to fight you."
The Boss and his men laughed. "Now, boy, that is a bad idea. Now hows about you give us all you got on ya, and get on out of here."
Braith set his feet and watched the smile disappear off the Boss' face. As one the men emptied their weapons into the huntsman, kicking up a thick screen of sand in the process.
Clicking sounds signified that the men's weapons were empty.
There were a few seconds of silence before a blade flew out of the dust and pinned one of the bandits to the saloon wall by his coat, his weapon falling out of his hands. A moment later, Braith came sprinting out of the dust cloud as the men hastily struggled to reload. One of the men was taken out before he could even put the first new shell into his shotgun, an aura enhanced punch to the temple knocking him out. Another managed to eject the magazine from his rifle before that same rifle was torn out of his hands and smashed into his groin. Needless to say, he was out of the fight. The man with the machine faired only slightly better, scoring a glancing blow on the teenager. It didn't help him much in the long run, as a jab to his throat sent him reeling before a roundhouse kick to the head knocked him out. The Boss had darted back inside the saloon as soon as Braith had started laying waste to his men. Rifleman number two had removed a new magazine from his coat but it was knocked out of his hand before he could reload the gun. Braith pushed him into the other man and both were sent tumbling to the ground. The teenager kicked the shotgun out of the hand of the second bandit and fired several blades, pinning the bandits to the deck by their coats.
Braith admired his handiwork. Five bandits now lay either unconscious, moaning, or struggling on the deck. Before he even had a chance to catch his breath, he heard another high-pitched scream from inside the saloon.
Kicking open the door, Braith was immediately hit by a fusillade of bullets. Dust rounds hit his aura and caused him to grimace at the pain. They stopped a moment later and the teenager quickly turned to face the Boss. He stood by the saloons bar, a young woman held in front of him and an empty pistol in his hands.
As the bandit leader fumbled to swap his pistol, the woman kicked him in the shin. He let go of her instantly and Braith rushed forward. The Boss fired a couple more shots at Braith before engaging him in melee.
Braith made the first hit punching towards the man's face. His fist connected with the man's cheek, to little effect. So, he has aura. Now we can have some fun.
Braith let the blades in his gauntlets spring forward and slashed towards the man. His attack was deflected off the Boss' knife. In response, Braith activated the ice dust in his gauntlets and swung again.
This time when the knife made contact with the blades, it shattered into pieces. "Shit." The Boss cursed. He grabbed Braith by his jacket and shoved the pistol into his stomach, emptying the magazine. Braith however, despite the pain, grabbed the man and threw him over a table, knocking the glasses to the floor.
The Boss scrambled back to his feet only to be sent staggering backwards when six bright red blades slammed into his chest. The burning caused him to tear off his flaming coat and distracted him long enough for Braith to grab him and slam him into the wall. Braith winked at the woman who had escaped the bandit at the start of the fight and rammed the man through the wall.
Once again, the bandit got to his feet, this time managing to catch Braith off guard, stabbing the blade of his other gun into his side. A back and forth fight began, right down the centre of the street. Sparks flewas they both parried one another's attacks. People had left the building at the side of the road to watch, some even cheered the teenager on.
Braith was running low on aura. After the fight with the grimm and now this, he was doing bad. On the plus side, it didn't look like the bandit had much in the way of aura himself. He was already breathing heavily and sweat beaded his brow.
Braith summoned up the last of his aura and activated his semblance. The bandit swung and was thrown off balance as his knife went right through Braith. He gasped in pain and surprise as his opponent kicked with full force into his groin and brought both armoured fists down on top of his head. The bandit's Stetson had long since fallen off and he was sent crashing to the ground finally unconscious.
Braith stumbled away from the man, content to leave him to the mercy of the townsfolk. He pushed open the door to the saloon and collapsed into a chair.
A cluster of former hostages stood around the bar and seemed to wait in anticipation of what he would do next.
Braith grabbed a glass of water from the table and gulped into down, he wiped his mouth and turned to face them.
"So, I heard you had an airship."
Star Andromeda.
The industrial sector of Vale was quiet, late at night. The only noises were of distant cars and the subtle whisper of the light breeze that blew through the air. Tall warehouses dominated the surrounding area with orange streetlamps lighting up the roads between them. The quiet suited Star perfectly.
She was crouched on the roof of a warehouse, keeping a close eye on the group of men and women below her. Star was wearing the clothes she usually wore for combat training at Herald Academy, one of the many combat schools in Vale. Her attire consisted of a dark blue hoodie with her emblem, two black halberds crossed over with a swirling white galaxy imposed over them, printed on the back. She wore a pair of blue jeans, just skinny enough to be fashionable while not showy too much. Beneath her hoodie she wore a light blue t-shirt, however, this was mostly concealed behind a black segmented breastplate. This small piece of armour had helped to absorb a lot of damage over the course of her training. Not much could be seen beneath her hood. An unnatural darkness seemed pervasive there but long blue hair spilled from the hood.
Once again, she peered down at the group below her, a few more had left the warehouse across the road, making seven in all. The door they had left from was still ajar making it the perfect time to attack.
Star stood up and removed a short metal pole from her back. She flicked a switch on its side and the weapon sprang out, revealing a long halberd with an axe blade in the side and a spear point on top.
She took a deep breath and jumped off the roof, her weapon pointed towards the pavement. Star pulled the weapons trigger which sent a blast of energised dust into the ground below her, stopping her descent seconds before she would have hit the ground.
As one the criminals turned to see a 5'6" girl with a weapon taller than her facing them.
"Who the hell are you?" One of the women spoke up. She, like the rest of them, was dressed in a white dress shirt and black trousers. They wore a black coat over there clothes and had a variety of weapons, mostly melee but Star counted a couple of pistols.
Okay Star, this is your chance. Do something cool, make some awesome speech about how you're going to stop them. She thought to herself.
All she ended up doing was making a weird little gesture with her weapon.
Goddamnit Star.
The woman shrugged to one of the others and raised the pistol at her side. Before she could squeeze the trigger, a blinding light flashed across the area, causing the assembled criminals to cover their eyes and cry out in pain.
Star immediately ran forward and swung her halberd at the first of them. The metal shaft of the weapon slammed into her face, knocking her flat with the force behind the hit. Star had to reign in her strength when fighting opponents without aura, she didn't want to hurt any of them too badly. Her aura mostly augmented her strength, meaning she could cause serious damage or even kill someone if she went all out. Star swung the base of the halberd into the woman's head, knocking her unconscious.
The other criminals had recovered from their temporary blindness and charged into the combat, while the man with the pistol fired off a few rounds. Star deflected the bullets with a spin of her weapon. She carried that spin through, catching the arm of the first criminal to swing at her and knocking the weapon out of his hands. The bottom of the weapon threw his legs out from under him; before he could hit the floor the flat of the axe blade sent him soaring into another criminal.
Star aimed her halberd at the gun toting criminal and fired a low intensity blast of wind dust. The shot knocked him flat and sent the gun spinning out of his hand. She raised the shaft of the weapon as another woman swung at her with a sword. The woman punched Star in the stomach and cried out when her fist came into contact with the metal beneath the girl's hoodie. Star threw the criminal off her and thrust the weapon into her stomach, making the woman double over, winded, before the bottom of the pole hit her in the head, knocking her out.
Another burst of blinding light illuminated the area making the still conscious criminals cry out in pain once again. This time, Star fired a blast of ice dust at two of the criminal's feet, freezing them in place. The last criminal recovered and charged her. A simple swing to his head caused him to collapse in a heap onto the pavement.
Star admired her performance. Oh yeah, way to go me. A knife clattered at her feet as one of the immobile criminals started yelling insults at her. The other one just seemed to accept his fate and had sat down, his legs still frozen to the road. Oh right, forgot about those two. She stammered for a few seconds before resorting to the only thing she could think of. "S-s-s-stay here."
This only seemed to infuriate the angry criminal whilst the other one simply sighed and rolled his eyes, as if to say 'well what were we going to do'. With that situation resolved, Star headed inside the warehouse.
The lights inside were dim, still leaving most of the room shrouded in darkness, however, she could clearly see enormous shelving units, piled high with crates. Looking around cautiously, Star approached one of the crates. It was metal and looked very sturdy, almost militaristic. She noted the symbol of an orange jack-o'-lantern spray painted on the side, covering up the insignia that had once been present. Upon closer inspection, every crate in the warehouse had the same symbol on them.
Star tried heaving the mysterious box open, to no avail. An idea came to her and she grabbed her halberd, lining up the blade perfectly with the lock. She swung with more force than any normal person would be able to muster and the lock snapped. Laying down her weapon she opened to reveal the contents within.
Inside were a vast array of dust crystals, each one faintly glowing and shimmering in the dark. Star pulled up her scroll and snapped a photo of it. It's good to have evidence. She told herself, remembering one of her father's lessons. Quietly she closed the crates lid and proceeded to open another in much the same fashion. Inside was a similar array of items, however, the dust inside this one was tightly bundled together with a small package of wires attached to the front. Bombs! She realised. There had to be enough explosives in this crate alone to level an entire building.
"What do you think you're doing." A deep voice sounded from behind her.
Star barely had time to activate her aura before a powerful blow sent her flying across the room. She hit the floor bodily and her halberd went skittering from her hand.
The girl looked up to see a tall, heavily muscled, man nonchalantly close the container she had just been examining. He was dressed in black combat gear; black combat trousers, black short sleeved t-shirt, and Kevlar vest, covered in pockets. His face was obscured by a balaclava, the only thing through which she could see where his eyes, dark and cold. In his hands he held a large pump-action shotgun. It was bronze in colour, clearly old but obviously well maintained. The silver axe head on the front of the weapon had a deadly edge to it.
"Do I have to repeat the question?" That same deep voice asked.
Star was unsure what to do. She tried to reach for her weapon but a slug from the gun slammed into the ground near her fingers, causing her to yelp and retract her hand.
The man began walking towards her, his boots thudding on the concrete floor.
As he approached, Star prepared her attack. When he was no more than ten feet from her, she summoned up her semblance and a flash of absolutely blinding light filled the warehouse.
Star sprang up and dived towards her weapon, she stood up only to be shocked as a slug slammed into her stomach. The girl saw the man had his arm held across his eyes and his shotgun pointed directly at her. She dived to the side but the shotgun followed her. What!
Star switched her tactic and charged towards her opponent. She swung with the blade of her weapon but found it deflected by a strike from the criminal's weapon. What followed was a flurry of wild attacks from Star, all expertly parried by the criminal.
How! Star felt like screaming. The criminal removed his arm from in front of his eyes, blinking rapidly.
"I have to say. I wasn't expecting that." He chuckled. "I'm sorry but you're not going to be able to blind me. My semblance lets me detect everything within a twenty-metre radius."
Star levelled her halberd at her enemy and set it to high intensity. She fired a blast of fire dust right at him. He was incapable of dodging the blazing beam of light that rocketed towards him. It impacted his chest, sending him rolling across the floor, the fire dust taking a huge chunk out of his aura.
He got to his feet in time to block a stab with the point of Star's halberd, he responded with a point-blank shot with his weapon. Star dodged it and spun, delivering a devastating strike with her weapon.
The criminal backed off a ways and Star responded with three more blasts of fire dust, depleting the vial of dust which ejected itself from her weapon, clattering to the floor.
The criminal managed to dodge the first two but was blindsided by the third. The other two crashed into a pile of crates, sending the whole thing up in flames. The criminal didn't notice, until it was too late, his opponent sprinting towards him. She hooked the axe blade of her weapon around his leg and pulled sharply, tripping him up. She followed up with a flurry of strikes towards his head.
He jabbed the barrel of his shotgun into her stomach. The blast sent her tumbling backwards, her breastplate doing nothing to stop the force of the round. Before she knew it, he was back on his feet and charging towards her.
They engaged in a frantic series of blows, axe blade meeting axe blade. Star swung towards the criminal, knowing that she could overpower him with her aura-based strength. He blocked, allowing the blade to slide along the underside of his weapon. The girl was unprepared for a kick to her stomach and she was knocked back.
He swung towards her head, confident that he was about to end the fight, only for his weapon to slide right through her. He activated his semblance suddenly aware of the presence to his right. A powerful swing towards his chest sent him toppling back.
Star panted, out of breath from the difficult use of her semblance, manipulating light to create an image was extremely difficult and required a lot of effort.
She stared down her opponent, moments before the fire reached the contents of the crates.
One moment, Star was standing up and the next she was flat on her back, her ears ringing from the huge explosion that had consumed the side of the warehouse. She saw several men, clearly backup, run in and grab the metal crates, leaving the wooden one behind. Another couple walked over and helped the criminal up. He was badly burnt, charred skin covering him and she could hear him cry out in agony as they led him out of a rear door.
Star picked herself off the ground, her limbs aching, and ran over to the door where she came in. The cold night air from outside hit her like a wall, relieving the burning sensation on her skin. The two criminals who were still stuck in the ice gaped as the warehouse they had been guarding just and hour before, quite literally, going up in flames.
The screech of tires pierced the air as a lorry veered around the corner from behind the warehouse. Star fired her weapon until the ice dust vial ejected out of the weapon, the shots almost hit their target but they fizzled out before they could impact. Already the sound of sirens could be heard and Star ran towards the warehouse she had been crouched on when she arrived. A single leap placed her back on the roof and she set off running back towards the city proper.
Regrets peppered her thoughts as she made her way home. She hadn't been able to stop the operation completely. Most of the evidence had been destroyed or taken away and all she had were a few photos of the contents of the metal crates.
It was alright though. She would have more opportunities to make a difference in the future. After all, Beacon academy would make her a hero like the ones in all the stories.
Nephrite Opalay.
The shattered moon of Remnant lay in full glory on the nights sky. A warm breeze caused the jungle canopy to rustle, revealing the figure perched on the branch of one of the huge trees that formed the Mistralian jungle.
A pair of deep purple eyes tracked the dark forms that loped through the thick underbrush. Khans. So that's the streak we were warned about. The dark skinned faunus stood up. She stood at 5'2" with long braided black hair that ran down her back. The lavender streaks that ran through her hair matched the colour of most of her outfit.
She wore a lavender blouse with a dark purple jacket over it and a pair of long, tight fitting, purple trousers. For shoes she had a pair of knee-high purple boots with a slight heel. Her hands were covered by a pair of fingerless purple gloves that went up to her elbows. A long tail curled in the air behind her, covered in tan fur with large black spots.
With a flourish, Nephrite withdrew her weapon, a black metal recurve bow. Touches of purple covered the weapon and the sharp blades that covered its limbs, hinting at it's potential in melee combat.
The tiger-esque grimm continued to weave through the ferns and tall grass that covered the forest floor. With her faunus eyesight, she could easily make out at least thirteen forms below her.
The leopard faunus reached behind her and withdrew a long, red, crystalline arrow. Nocking it, she lined up shot. With a snap of the bowstring the arrow was sent flying through the night air.
Before hitting the ground, the arrow burst in the air, sending flames showering over the monstrosities below. Nephrite could hear the grimm roar and hiss in pain as they burned. She loosed a second arrow, engulfing another handful of grimm in dust-fuelled fire. The two grimm that remained fell to normal black metallic arrows.
Nephrite relaxed slightly as the grimm fell to her arrows, her job was done. She looked at the burning forest floor and realised that she couldn't just let the jungle burn.
She withdrew another arrow, this one a deep blue, and launched it. It arced into the air and burst. Immediately dark grey clouds began to form and it didn't take long for the first drops of rain to fall.
Nephrite ducked under a large canopy, providing shelter from the now torrential downpour. She didn't want to have to go through the journey home soaking wet, not mentioning the effort involved in drying off her tail which was now wrapped around her waist. Smoke wafted through the air, both from the grimm and the burnt underbrush which was rapidly being put out.
Nephrite though to herself as she sat there. She was excited, extremely so, after all, it wasn't everyday that you got to go to a huntsman academy. But this was the first time she'd ever even been out of her village, let alone her kingdom. She sighed to herself. The thought of being away from her family and friends worried her. Although, going to the new academy did give her the opportunity to make new friends. She perked up slightly at this.
The rain began to let up, the dust wearing off and revealing the moon from behind the heavy clouds. She stood up and began walking forward before a low growl stopped her in her tracks.
Slowly she turned around, gazing into the burning red eyes of the huge bat-like grimm that hung upside down from the canopy she had been sheltering under seconds before.
It dropped down and swooped towards her. Immediately, she rolled under the flying monster, allowing it to sweep over her head. When she came out of the roll, she already had her bow drown and ready to fire. An arrow thudded into the creature's back, sending it smashing into the branch of the tree.
Sprinting forward, Nephrite removed a glowing red crystal from within her jacket. As the grimm got back up, she pressed the crystal into the trunk of the tree and closed her eyes. Her hands glowed as aura flooded them and her semblance activated. The crystal rapidly began to merge with the tree, red crystalline patches spreading along the tree trunk until the crystal had fully disappeared and a sizeable red patch had been left on the trunk.
Nephrite retreated as the bat-like grimm began to charge towards her. She nocked an arrow and when the grimm was right before the dust she launched it. The dust exploded with a satisfying boom and the sound of splintering wood filled the air as the branch was severed from the tree, taking the monster with it. The grimm shrieked all the way down.
The dark skinned faunus peered over the edge to see the beast slowly dissolving with the branch impaled through its chest. She winced at the gory sight before she corrected herself. NO! Don't feel sorry for the grimm, they are monsters and we have to kill them. She reaffirmed.
No sooner had the thought passed through her mind, a large black furred form slammed into her from behind, sending her flying off the branch.
Nephrite tumbled through the air before remembering her training. She twisted her weapon. With a hiss, the grip split in two becoming two handles. The bowstring withdrew into the limbs of the weapon. She now held two large curved blades.
With her now transformed weapon, she hooked onto a branch as she fell and swung up, landing perfectly crouched. The leopard faunus spun to observe a group of five of the bat-grimm glaring at her from the trees and vines that hung down towards the forest floor.
One of the grimm dropped from the vines it was hanging onto and glided, swiftly, towards her. It let out a hiss as it approached. Nephrite let it get close before she jumped over the creature. As she did, she stabbed one of her blades into the creature and used her momentum to drag it down and slam it into the trunk of the tree. She made short work of the beast after that, removing its head with a slice from her other blade.
The faunus leaped through the air, deftly jumping from branch to branch until she found herself perched above the grimm. They flew at her, powerful sweeps of their wings propelling them forwards. Nephrite lined up one of them and released the arrow. It thudded into the monster's skull, the grimm trailing smoke as it plummeted out of the air. Another fire arrow exploded in the air, engulfing three of the bats in flame. They shrieked in pain as they too fell towards the jungle floor below them.
Another grimm landed on the same branch as her and began to charge. It lost a wing to a quick swing and several lightning fast slashes across its body sent it reeling over the edge.
Nephrite took a moment to catch her breath. The warm night air did nothing to cool her down after the intense fight she had just been through. There usually aren't this many. I thought I'd only have to deal with the khans.
She looked out over the forest, observing the gentle sway of the vines and leaves. Between two huge trees she could see her village in the distance. Her home. The thought of leaving still worried her but she could rest easy for now, knowing that she had dispatched all the grimm in the area.
With a hiss, her weapon transformed into a much more compact form, allowing her to place it on her back. She set off, jumping from tree to tree, climbing up vines, and sprinting across branches.
Tomorrow would be her fist day in another kingdom. Beacon better be ready for me.