And here's the next chapter. We switch back to Gaara's perspective for a little while, and he meets a character in the RWBY universe who you should all be well aware of.
Chapter 3: Archaean
When Gaara walked into the border town, he was instantly reminded of one of the civilian villages dotted around his home country. In other words, it was a filthy, lawless place untouched by the watchful eye of Suna and the amount of good things about it could fit into a thimble. It reminded him of Suna too, but ever since he stopped going on murderous rampages he wasn't supposed to be thinking those kind of thoughts. Eh, who was going to know?
The only thing missing was a rolling tumbleweed to signal his entrance into the grimy town. The town's main street was a dirt road which was small enough to see from end to end, with most of the buildings made of old wood in a specific style with a few brick ones scattered here and there.
The main street seemed to be mostly shops, bars/saloons, and a couple shady motels with dubious signs that alluded to a "special" side business that went on behind the scenes, with the residential districts off the dirt roads that led to the sidestreets and back alleys of the border town. It was midday, and the hot sun was beating down on the border town and baking the dirt roads. A few people were out and about despite this, but mostly were loitering on the porches of buildings or wherever they could find shade.
Well, he was in civilization at least. His magical raccoon demon he played host to meant that he probably wasn't going to die in the sandy wasteland or by being attacked by a random street thug, but he needed food and water just like a normal human would.
This town was unfamiliar, and his insomniac eyes panned over to a few strangers lounging around on the porch of the nearest bar. There were a few things odd ever since he had arrived.
Gaara didn't sleep, and just a little while ago had awoken from some sort of unconscious state. He could worry about Shukaku eating away at his sanity later, but the unconsciousness itself was peculiar. Second, he had awoken from underground in a desert. Being in a desert wasn't terribly surprising given it was his homeland, but Sunagakure was nowhere in sight.
Third, he came across creatures he did not know existed. Fourth, this was not a town he was aware of. That didn't seem necessarily unusual; there were probably a few towns in Kaze no Kuni he couldn't name or place. Fifth, those strangers were wearing a style of dress that wasn't particularly typical in Suna or the Kaze no Kuni at large, and the metal sign outside the settlement were written in characters that he didn't recognize.
Gaara's expression did change as he processed this information, and the thin line that was his mouth did not quirk upward or downward as he came to the final conclusion.
"I am not in Suna or the Kaze no Kuni anymore, despite its similar terrain."
Readjusting the gourd on his back, Gaara came to a stop in front of a building and stepped onto the wooden porch while looking overhead. Those foreign characters loomed over him as the building's sign, and Gaara squinted in slight frustration.
Then, it came to him.
"General... Store..." he pronounced with some difficulty. Reading the sign though led to a more troubling thought by the young Ichibi Jinchuuriki. Why was he capable of reading that language? He had never seen it before, but upon looking at the script a second time he could slowly feel himself getting a grasp over the characters, like an old memory that was becoming fresh again.
Mind brimming with questions, Gaara pushed open the double doors and went straight to the counter without even bothering to look at the display. When he heard the doors to his store open, the shopkeep rushed to the counter.
"Welcome, welcome! If it's food you want, you browse all the shelves and aisles. Specialty goods I keep in the back store room, so if you need something ask and I'll see if I have it back there!"
Gaara paused. It was the same phenomenon that he was experiencing with the local written word. He understood completely what the shopkeep was saying to him, yet he recognized the words coming out of his mouth and could tell it was different than the spoken word of the Elemental Countries.
The shopkeep was a wiry man who looked to be in his forties, wearing a white apron and with tidy black hair and a pencil mustache. His pleasant demeanor seemed somewhat forced.
"I'm here for information, actually..." Gaara said bluntly, not caring that the shopkeep's expression turned sour.
And there it was. He spoke back fluently in another language that he didn't remember learning. It was like a fluent bilingual, he recognized the words in his head as he spoke them, but could switch back to his native tongue in a heartbeat.
That seemed to put a damper on the shopkeep, and his expression turned into a sour frown. He twirled his mustache while giving the boy a dismissive once over, eying his clothes and gourd with disdain.
"Oh, you are now? I don't suppose you would have any money on you, would you? I proffer information as well as goods, but like anything getting the information you want may cost a bit of lien..."
"I do not know what lien is..." Gaara replied deadly. That seemed to throw the shopkeeper for a loop.
"Pbbbbbff... wha?" he asked in confusion. "You been livin' under a rock or somethin', kid? It ain't like we have different ones anymore; all four kingdoms are all united under one standardized currency..."
Gaara didn't say anything, being at a loss of words. He was just as confused as the shopkeeper before him, but like the language the terms that were being thrown around had the same effect of jogging an old memory.
However, not having any answer seemed to make the shopkeeper angrier.
"I don't have time for stupid kids playing pranks! Cut the crap and get out of my store before I call the sheriff on you!" Gaara closed his eyes; his childhood would lend him experience dealing with irritating fools.
"Dealing with" usually involved them meeting a bloody end, but he was resolved to not be that way anymore. Since he didn't want to deal with the man screaming in his face, he turned around and left the general store without another word.
The shopkeep gave him the evil eye until he was thoroughly out of the store. Not just in appearance, the attitude of at least that one person was reminding him of how things used to be in Suna.
Putting the shopkeeper out of his mind and prepared to try a new tactic, Gaara headed to the biggest building he saw from his vantage point upon coming into the town. A wide two story building that appeared to be an inn of sorts was just a few doors down from the general store, and he was to try there next.
And, like everything else in the border town, it was a wretched hive of scum and villainy. Probably a inn for thieves and murderers on the run from the law; edge towns like this were perfect for them.
So, because it was full of villains, Gaara strolled right up to the double doors and pushed them open like he owned the place. The interior was just like any old Western inn, not that Gaara would know about the Western theme.
Instantly, he felt several pairs of eyes on him once he entered. He walked up to the bar with about as much energy as Gaara could possibly exude. Still, it seemed to be enough to insult the guests.
Speaking of which, there was some sleazy, drunken fool surrounded by bottles seated near the middle of the bar and forcing the bartender to babysit him.
When Gaara approached his own seat, he could already smell the booze wafting off him in waves. The grey-haired man was rambling some drunken story back to the bartender, but Gaara had already tuned him out.
"S-Sho... d-dis job I'm on currently... lazy b-bums the lots of 'em!" he slurred incoherently. All the while he was ogling the attractive, yet rough innkeeper. She looked like she wanted nothing more than to hang him by the balcony, which no doubt wasn't helped when the drunk's eyes tried to subtly work their way to her exposed cleavage. The keyword being tried.
"I'll be with you in a minute..." she told Gaara, eying him suspiciously due to his apparent age, a cigarette hanging from her lips. Her red curls wobbled as she smacked the man over the head, who gave a pained grunt in response. Behind the bar was a tally of "Hands Broken" scratched into the wooden wall with a knife, probably by people who attempted to grope the innkeeper in any way, shape, or form.
"Stare at my rack one more time and you'll find yourself sleeping on sand instead of one of mattresses tonight, Qrow!" Then without missing a beat, she turned to Gaara and put on a much more cheerful expression, albeit one that was still fairly gruff.
"Now, what can I do for ya, hun?" she asked. Qrow grunted and knocked over another bottle, swiveling his head over to stare stupidly at the kid with the gourd directly to his right.
"I'd like to know where I am..." Gaara said, getting straight to the point.
Qrow snorted in amusement and mockery.
"Why, you're in Cerro Gordo, of course..." she said patiently. The child before her was rather odd; her eyes were drawn to the dark circles around his eyes and the strange gourd on his back.
"What's wrong, kid? Ya lost? Did mommy and daddy leave their precious baby boy somewhere in town and now he's trying to get back to them? If so, you've got some pretty shitty parents, kid..." Qrow began ribbing.
Gaara almost rolled his eyes. If his father had merely been ignorantly negligent, then Gaara would've awarded him Father of the Year. Not like it mattered if he got lost since he could take care of himself.
"I'm sorry. That is insufficient. The name of the town I'm in can't really help me. Could you tell me the name of the country I am currently in..." Gaara said, his suspicions lending him to not reveal anything about the Kaze no Kuni, Hi no Kuni, etc.
Qrow gave a loud snort, his face nearly hitting the wood of the bar as the innkeeper looked at Gaara with the same confusion that the shopkeep had given him.
"Uh... this town is close to the border between Vacuo and Vale, but technically right now you would still be within the Kingdom of Vale..."
Vacuo and Vale. Those were two countries he had never heard of. Gaara's mind was beginning to draw conclusions, based on those suspicions he had. The strange snake monsters in the desert, waking up in an unknown location, lien as currency instead of ryo, and the existence of Vacuo and Vale, two countries that he had never heard of.
In passing, Gaara had heard of the multiverse theory, the butterfly effect and all that. Alternate dimensions and the like were common in works of fiction, and there were even jutsu that could accomplish such a feat. It would certainly explain away the bizarre happenings, that he was transported into another dimension via a jutsu, but he was going to leave that for a worst case scenario.
It was still entirely possible that he was on a distant continent that had no contact with the Elemental Nations and vice versa. How he got there out of the blue then... was more of a mystery.
"I see. I'm afraid I am unaware of the names Vacuo or Vale. Tell me, have you ever heard of a place called the Elemental Countries?" Gaara asked, drilling the bartender.
"Someone call the loony bin," Qrow snarked from next to him, giving a rude guffaw of laughter. He put his hand on the giant sword that was laying against the bar next to his seat, seemingly out of habit.
The pretty innkeeper was a bit more hospitable, but even she looked like she had her doubts.
"I'm afraid not, sugar. Y'see, explorers have circumnavigated the globe centuries ago and have set foot on all the land Remnant has to offer. There are only four kingdoms in the world, Vacuo, Vale, Atlas, and Mistral. Unless the Elemental Countries are some fancy pants slang to call one of the kingdoms, then they don't exist. Are you sure you're feeling okay, hun?" the redhead bartender asked.
"It's nothing..." Gaara said, the bartender's words pretty much putting his "far away continent" theory to rest. He reacted in about as indifferent a way as one could in his circumstances.
Four kingdoms, a world called Remnant apparently.
"Let's just put aside that for now... Whether or not you are aware of the Elemental Countries is irrelevant, but do you any locations that would suffice as a hub of travel, where I can attempt to travel back to my homeland..."
"Well, in that case I don't even know what yer doing so far out in the sticks, with no recollection of what you were doing. But, the airships never come out to a place like this. There are airship ports set throughout the kingdom, but the hub of travel is in Vale capital. If you're lookin' to travel to anywhere on Remnant with the safest and fastest travel, I would head to Vale capital first."
"Hold it right there, sweetheart. Don't tell me you believe that crock of shit story..." Qrow butted in, "Listen kid, I actually meant that you need to check into the nearest mental hospital. There ain't such a thing as the Elemental Countries; there's no way you're going to get back to them. I don't why you think you come from there; must've hit your head or something..."
"That probably is true. Everything seems to indicate that I am in a completely alien land with no way back. Still, there are so many things I do not know about this Remnant. I need a plan of action. If I'm stranded here, then I need a way to eke out an existence. However, I should also continuing asking around about any connection to Suna or any of the other locales in the Elemental Countries, as well as a possible way to return to them. Heading to the capital city of this country should be beneficial in both those regards... and even then I have to prepare for Suna's reaction in case there is a way back..."
"I see. Thank you for your time..." Gaara bowed politely to the innkeeper, turning to leave, seemingly without a care in the world to the fact that he was parentless and lost.
"Hey, wait a minute! Aren't you going to stay? I mean, where are your parents?" the innkeeper asked. Gaara did nothing other than shake his head at the woman without turning around.
His sand barrier popped up and stopped a bottlecap aimed directly at his head, followed by the redheaded innkeeper's cry of surprise. The man called Qrow had flicked it right at him, and the metal bauble had gotten embedded in his sand barrier.
Gaara narrowed his eyes. There was not enough force behind that cap to seriously injure, but it was clear that it was thrown like that with deliberate and accurate motions rather than a clumsy toss.
"Eh?" Qrow grunted in confusion at seeing the wall of sand, raising an eyebrow at the sight of the stream of sand flowing from the gourd. Some of the other patrons made confused and concerned whispers at each other under their breath. One guy adjusted his cowboy hat below his eyes after making eye-contact with Gaara.
"Oh my goodness me!" the innkeeper shouted, throwing her well-manicured hands up in alarm.
Some of the sand retracted into Gaara's gourd, while the rest fell onto the floor as the shield dissipated.
"Now, just hold up there, prince of darkness..." Qrow said, making a slant at what he thought was Gaara's eyeliner. One thing Gaara noticed about the man was that he seemingly threw out all the inhibitions he had while drunk.
"You're something else. To come into a seedy place like this, have no idea where you are or even what planet you're on, keep your cool during the entire thing. You can't be more than thirteen, to top it all off. And that sand... you're one weird kid."
"And? Did you stop me just to say that?" Gaara asked.
"Don't be so hard to get, sunshine. Mind if we scrap for a little bit?" Qrow asked, grabbing his blade from where he had left it. Gaara would've rolled his eyes if that wasn't too much a display of emotion.
"Why? I don't have a reason to fight you. I'd prefer not to, in fact..."
"Aw, c'mon. Don't be like that! I won't take no for an answer! Don't worry about it, I just wanna judge your potential..." Qrow stated, dropping into a fighting stance.
Gaara sighed and stood rigid, popping the cork off his gourd.
The nomadic village of Catalhoyuk looked like a tornado had swept through and leveled it in the wake of the Nevermore attack. Some of the tents were ripped to shreds, and most of the shacks and small houses that had existed had been bowled over.
It was sort of like a moving image of human misery on display, but then again so was life in the wilds. Some people were looking in disbelief at their ramshackle home that wasn't anymore, while others were just gathering around the village center and huddling together to comfort each other.
The way the large man who was the village leader accompanying him looked upon the devastation, it didn't seem to be that rare of an occurrence. Given the presence and sheer number of those "Grimm" as they were called would also seem to indicate that. They were living in practically a nest of those things, making him wonder why they would choose this location to settle.
Naruto stole a few glances at the large man. He was dressed in some kind of robe that would be reminiscent of the monks back in the Hi no Kuni. He had slicked back platinum blond hair and had a bow similar to Flidais' strapped to his hip.
The two of them passed by another shack, and Naruto locked eyes with Flidais who was sitting on a crate nursing the wound she had received from her battle. Most of the warriors had accepted him, but the deer woman just glared hotly back as they made eye contact.
"You guys aren't the most trusting, are you?"
The blonde man sighed.
"I'm sorry about our previous behavior, and Flidais. We mistook you for something you're not, but the truth of the matter is that plenty of us here in the village owe you our lives. Don't let Flidais' attitude bring you down. She's had a rough life being a faunus, making her one of the most untrusting of us. But, she may have the biggest heart of anyone here; she'll warm up to eventually."
The man paused for a moment.
"Name's Arteshir, by the way..."
"Uzumaki Naruto..." Naruto responded back. Arteshir cringed a bit.
"Strange name, kid. Doesn't seem like a name you would get growing up in the wilds of Mistral. You originally from Vacuo or somethin'?" he asked, to which Naruto had no clue was Vacuo was.
They passed a ruined tent where a family was picking up debris.
"Uh... no. I don't even know what Vacuo is..."
Arteshir stopped in confusion, to which Naruto bumped into his back.
"You don't know what Vacuo is? Damn kid, even in the wilds we know the names of the four kingdoms that make up Remnant. You been livin' under a rock your whole life or something?" the dark-skinned man asked.
The word "Remnant" and "kingdoms" caught Naruto's attention. Again, they were terms that Naruto didn't exactly know about, but the mere mention of them seemed to stir some foggy knowledge in him.
"Uh, I don't think so. I'm from Konoha, in the Hi no Kuni of the Elemental Countries. I don't even know why I'm here..."
Arteshir stopped in front of his own shack, sitting down on a crate resting right next to the front door and rubbing a hand through his cornrows.
"Naruto, are you sure you haven't spent too much time out in the wild?"
Naruto wanted to say something, anything. His mouth flapped up and down as he tried to come to an explanation to his sudden appearance far away from home. Arteshir's gaze on him was slightly intense, and the two stood in awkward silence for a moment before it was thankfully broken.
A smallish figure was moving around within the shack they were mingling by, and the door creaked openly slowly.
"Father, is it okay to come out now?" a small, scared voice proclaimed. Even if she hadn't proclaimed Arteshir as her father, the skinny yet lanky girl who came out was a dead ringer in the family resemblance department.
Most notable was the same dark skin tone and shock of blonde hair that resembled a lion's mane. She was even dressed in the same monk-styled clothing as her father.
"Ah, Arslan! I'm glad to see you're safe!" Arteshir smiled wider than Naruto had seen him do up to this point. The girl who couldn't have been more than eleven or twelve nodded resolutely, before her gaze turned to him.
"Who is this, father?" she asked.
"Ah, this is Naruto. He's a stranger to these lands, was just passing through town. Turns out we were pretty jerkish to him before he went and saved our asses from that Nevermore..."
Arslan's eyes lit up.
"You're the one who defeated that giant?" she asked, before her golden eyes panned around the ruined village. She then bowed to the boy respectfully. "Thank you for saving our humble village..." she said.
"Aww, it was nothing..." Naruto said, blushing lightly and rubbing the back of his head.
"Naruto here said he was from... what did you call the place again?" Arteshir butt in, placing a hand on Naruto and Arslan's shoulder.
"The Elemental Countries."
"Yeah, the Elemental Countries. Never heard of 'em myself..."
"The Elemental Countries..." Arslan said whimsically, "So, you're away from home. On your own? Don't you have any family?" she asked, only to squeak when she heard her father growl.
"Arslan..." Arteshir said lowly, "In the wilds, everyone's affairs are their own business. You know Flidais doesn't like it when people ask about her past."
Arslan looked away, slightly ashamed.
"I want to get back, though..." Naruto whispered, though both Arslan and Arteshir heard him speak. The father and daughter pair stared at each other uncomfortably.
"Well, do you know where it is?" Arslan asked.
"He doesn't even know what Vacuo or Mistral is, and we've never heard of the Elemental Countries. I think we're in a bad spot..." Arteshir said.
"Well, we should help him out! Try to help Naruto find his home!" Arslan implored her father and village leader.
Arteshir sighed.
"Arslan, you know we already have enough on our plate as it is. He's welcome to stay and travel with us, but we go wherever it gives us the best chance to survive. Not to mention, we've already had plenty of close calls with the Clover Troupe. We don't have time to chase a ghost, or in this case a village that we've never even heard of and don't know where it is!"
Naruto and Arslan both hung their heads. Naruto in particular was looking very uncomfortable, clearly for reasons related to his current situation.
"Oh, yeah..." Naruto said, changing the subject, "What's this Clover Troupe I've heard about?"
Both Arteshir and Arslan's faces darkened simultaneously.
"Those guys..." Arteshir growled lowly, his face twisted in anger.
"Out of all the shit I've seen out here in the wilds, I could've never imagined that humans could be bigger monsters than the monsters themselves. Yeah, the son of a bitch that runs it may want to call it a circus, but anyone with half a brain would call it a slave ring under the guise of a circus or carnival."
"A carnival?! How could anyone set up a carnival in a place like this?" Naruto asked in astonishment.
"Well, to be more accurate they're a travelling circus that more often than not moves throughout the wilds of Mistral. Sometimes though they head inside the kingdom's walls, but they'd never get away with what they do if they tried it there..."
"Grimm are an essential part of their act, but they also use Grimm and their employees for more shady purposes. Besides the Grimm, our camp was attacked by the Clover Troupe just over a week ago. That's why we were so wary of you... we mistook you for a Clover."
Naruto grimaced, his fists falling to his sides as he clenched them.
"I don't understand. Why go after you guys?"
"I think you might be able to guess already. The Clover Troupe wanted faunus for their acts, so they attacked our village with their captured Grimm and captured as many faunus that they found suitable. It's the only way they can get personnel for their acts. They can't go after settlements in the kingdom under the watchful eye of the Mistral government. They come out here and capture faunus from the wilds."
Naruto remembered the word "faunus" being thrown around by the villagers. In a sick sense, he guessed that the Clover Troupe were after people with those animal traits like Flidais. In the Elemental Countries, people like that would no doubt be more than capable of serving as a sideshow.
Unconsciously, Naruto's hand brushed up against his cheek, and he stroked his whisker marks. He wasn't one of these faunus, but this reminded him too much of home. Being shunned and mocked for being different than a normal human.
Arslan and Arteshir stared at him, and the large man put a reassuring hand on Naruto's shoulder. His eyes were drawn to the strange whisker markings on his face. Could Naruto be a faunus? That would explain his reaction, but Arteshir had only ever seen faunus traits represented through tails or ears, never anything like what Naruto had.
Still, it wasn't his or his daughter's place to determine his species.
"What do you guys think you're to do about the Clover Troupe? I mean, from what you're saying they could strike again, right?" Naruto asked. Arteshir grunted.
"Yeah, they might be back. Our warriors hit 'em where it hurts, and they didn't make off with as many faunus. The ringmaster is a foul-tempered old sleazebag; he's sure to take it personally..."
Naruto looked around the villlage; it was a sorry state. Apparently not just from Grimm attacks, but from fellow humans as well.
"Alright, I'll help fight them off if they come back. I wanna stay with you guys for a while..." Naruto said. He would have to learn as much as he can about this new place. Getting home would have to wait for just a little while. There was a new enemy to fight, but the thought of Jiraiya crossed his mind. His sensei was probably worried sick right now, maybe even to the point of returning to Konoha for aid. There were just so many affairs back home he had to get back to, but he couldn't just leave this people to get picked off by a deranged circus.
Naruto stuck out his hand to Arteshir, and smiled his megawatt grin.
"Let me fight with you guys against these assholes..."
The Clover Troupe was infamous in Mistral, not just in the wilds but in the kingdom proper itself. The traveling circus of performers had a tagline as it traveled throughout the continent.
"Come one and all, to see unbelievable and death-defying acts of bravery. Find yourself amazed and mystified by the unusual and wonderful inhuman marvels here to perform for your entertainment!"
The ringleader of the Clover Troupe was a man named Otto van Klaver. At first glance, he would seem like your basic, campy circus ringmaster. Garbed in a garish green suit and matching bowtie and top hat, Klaver was a man who was always very personable with guests every time his traveling circus rolled into town. During shows, he would exude an aura of exuberance and energy for a man his age. And after the show, he would weave through the jubilant crowd with a bounce in his step, twirling his cane and usually humming a ditty as he always had time for the fans.
Otto van Klaver also had ties to the Mistral nobility and ordered the capture and enslavement of faunus from the wilds outside the kingdom. Said captured faunus were of course meant to perform in the troupe's act.
Feline faunus were the best acrobats you could dream of, jumping through flaming rings and walking on tightropes as if they were nothing. Clowns were made up of other assorted faunus, and the ones that were based on the very rare animal species or had unique traits were kept as circus freaks.
The Clover Troupe even kept Grimm, taming them as best they could for their act. Surely, such a thing would be illegal, right? It didn't follow the safety guidelines for an industry like the circus.
Well, the Clover Troupe didn't follow any safety guidelines to speak of out in the wilds. In fact, one of the main attractions was to see a Beowolf chase some poor sap down.
"Turnover rate" in employees was high, but it wasn't like the Clover Troupe could go "recruiting" within the walls of Mistral. Klaver scowled at his desk, taking out an abacus and doing some math.
That podunk little village in the wilds was stronger than it looked. They had only captured two humans and six faunus to become circus acts, and had incurred losses in some of his "human resources".
"Should've used more Grimm to subdue that stupid village completely... They had too many warriors," Klaver said, taking off his top hat and running a hand through his grey hair.
He reached into his desk and pulled out a stack of maps from within.
"Based on the movements of the nomadic villages, a trip to any of the other ones would waste a lot of time and resources. Plus, I need to send a message to these parts that the Clover Troupe is not to be trifled with..." Klaver gave a crooked smile of perfect white teeth, sticking a thumbtack into the dot on the map labeled "Catalhoyuk" and twisting it in forcefully for good measure.
"I think it's time we take another visit to Catalhoyuk..."
And we're done here.
So, if you're paying attention to this chapter, you'll notice that there's something off about Naruto and Gaara. I won't explain what it is; hopefully you picked up on it yourself.
Anyway, that's all for now, so I'll see you next time.
The God of Pikmin
