YELLOW
In the morning mist of Paradise-9, a beautiful young woman with long blonde hair slumbered on top of a statue of a oversized bronze horse. She wore a loud, open, blue Hawaiian t-sirt with yellow lilies, a black tube top, and neon yellow shorts. Completing the look, she was tattooed with an elaborate golden dragon that shimmered in the faint morning light that began with being 'wrapped' up her left leg, twice around her waist, and leading up her back and around her left arm with it's head lying at her wrist. She snored gently until the scroll in her shirt pocket began to vibrate incessantly. Groaning, she reached into her shirt, and pulled the device out- which unbalanced her enough to dislodge her from the statue and onto the damp grass, and two leather-clad boots.
"Oh, hey. So that's where my shoes went." She mumbled, taking a moment to stand up and stretch before blearily opening her bright purple eyes to check her scroll.
YANG XIAO LONG as...
THE GOLDEN DRAGON
Quirking a brow at the name and face appearing on her call screen, Yang smiled and answered. "Hey-hey, Rubles. Just woke me up from a..." She searched her mind for the least embarrassing answer. "Power nap. How's things? Find any new jobs yet to use that fancy licence on?"
"Hey, Yang! Sorry to interupt your vacation! And, well- Yes and no! Kind of need you help!"
Yang's smile faded. "Okay, where are you? Is it bounty hunters again? Because me and Dad spent a lot of time and ammo coming to an understanding over you with the Guildmaster."
"No, no! That's probably another problem for another day!"
"Bounty hunters? Are you a fugitive or something?" Said a voice Yang could hardly make out in the background.
"Weiss. I'm a Siren." Ruby answered, clearly talking to someone else. "Sorry, Yang! That's my new partner-and hopefully-future-bestie Weiss. We met when I accidentally- gently- ran her over with a car when she crossed the road without looking."
"GENTLY?!" Weiss yelled.
"Weiss, please. I'm on the scroll, and I already apologized and promised I'd make it up to you." Yang could make out indignant huffing. "So, anyway, I need you help- well, actually, this person I'm supposed to be teaming up with is stuck in orbit, and she needs help. I think she was doing an orbital bounce-y thing, but it turned out the re-enty thrusters are out of commission. Stale fuel or something. Could you swing by in Bumblebee and pick her up? Please? I'll split my-"
"Easy, easy. Where are you, anyway? Can't you just contact local orbital emergency services and get her help?" Yang asked as she pulled on her socks and boots.
"Yeah... about that..." Ruby laughed awkwardly. "I'm- well, I'm on... Pandora."
Yang went very still. "Ruby?"
"Yes, dearest big wonderful sister whom has proclaimed her love of me over any bad decision I might make in my entire lifetime?"
"You, me, and Dad had a very long talk about why you should never go to Pandora." Yang very slowly and clearly.
"I remember it was more yelling than talki-"
"Ruby. Pandora is where Sirens go to die!" Yang yelled.
"Yeah, it went a lot like that..." Ruby added weakly.
"FOR THE BROTHER'S SAKE, RUBY!"
"I had to figure out what all these Vault dreams were about! And I figured I could get some practice doing missions and bounties here! And even if I found nothing, I could at least look back on all this knowing I at least tried!" Her younger sister defended herself, not that it made much of a difference to Yang.
"I'm coming to get you right now. Your new friends can tag along if they want-"
"If I may..." Said a new voice very clearly into the line. "I believe I can safely mitigate the dangers a Siren might face went looking for the Vault."
Yang yanked away the scroll from her ear and saw that someone had indeed hooked into their private line. "How the f- this is an IHA scoll comm line! Who are you and how did y-"
"I'm Angel, and this is kind of what I do. I hope you don't mind too much, but I kind of got our new friend stuck in orbit, and I really need someone- anyone- to help her. I swear I'll make it worth your while."
Yang narrowed her eyes. "Uh huh... and because I just know Ruby probably didn't even ask, but what are you going to be paying for this doomed treasure hunt?"
"Oh- well, I kind of had some ideas that-" Angel replied awkwardly before being interupted.
"Oh, relax Angel. I can tell she's going to come. She's just milking you for cash." Ruby sighed.
"I might not have any money on me right now, but I can make that arrest warrant and bounty you have on Tartarus Prime go away."
"Yang!" Ruby exclaimed in admonishing tone.
Yang bristled. "That was a complete misunderstanding."
"You stole the planetary governor's horse, threw Molotov cocktails at his giant wooden statue, spray painted his golden turbo-mansion, punched your way through a police barricade, and broke fifteen traffic laws as you made your getaway into space. What... was misunderstood?"
"Seriously, Yang?!" Ruby cried in familial shame.
"If he didn't want any of that to happen, then he should have understood that paying me what he owed me for clearing out those Ursa's is what he should have done!" Yang protested. "Two of them were alpha's. He's lucky I didn't take it to the IHA and get him and his lousy lava-world blacklisted. That bit of mercy should have made up for anything I did."
"Well, you can't cure stupid. But I would very much appreciate your assistance in this. And I promise an even split on any loot we find."
She hummed as she mused over the offer. "Well... if you can hack the IHA comm network, I guess you can do what you say... fine, I was gonna help anyway. I'll get the show on the road." Yang rolled her eyes. "See you soon, Rubes."
"Thankyouthankyou! See you then!"
"Yes, thank yo-"
Yang hung up.
Yang's large-yet-sleek, black and yellow fighter/RV- the Bumblebee II- exited Paradise Nine's solar system without incident. It wasn't until she left the dizzying light of FTL that she felt the hairs on the back of her neck raise. Looking at the display in her cockpit, she couldn't help but remember all the horror stories her father used to tell her and Ruby about Pandora. He would tell them about how Pandora was initially a DAHL Eridium mining colony that failed hard. He told them how even though the company was ready to deal with Grimm, nothing could have prepared them for the local wildlife. Entire settlements would go dark in the night from fearless packs of skags, or they were invaded from from underground by hungry spider-ants, and they even suffered horrific sieges from rakk hives.
And the terror from these incidents drew the Grimm like a lion to a wounded antelope. The settlers that had the misfortune to survive the attacks would become the beginnings of Pandora's excessively high Bandit population.
DAHL attempted to recoup there losses, and made the ultimate concession... they sold parts of Pandora to Atlas, Hyperion, the up and coming SDC, and Jakobs. An unprecedented move for such a world rich in valuable Eridium. But... like all other attempts to tame Pandora, it was only more meat for the grinder.
Eventually, all five companies pulled out. The higher paid managers were moved off world without incident, the workers however, were given a choice; Forfeit any claims to their pay, or be left on Pandora with what little money they were owed.
Far too many chose the latter... and even more were enticed to search for the mythical alien Vault allegedly containing lost treasure.
Yang shook her head and pushed the sub-light engines to the max and streamed past the system's many other planets and towards her destination. She would rescue this orbital damsel in distress, find Ruby, and drag her kicking and screaming from this hellhole-deathtrap-world if she had to.
She hooked a small headset over her ear, adjusted the mic, and linked her scroll to it. A quick call connected her to her sister. "Okay sis, I'm approaching Pandora. Shoot me the coordinates for this- what's her name?"
"Sending coordinates, and Angel said her name was Blake."
"Got it." Yang confirmed, and adjusted her course accordingly. Eventually, she came into Pandora's orbit and towards the pod. She angled Bumblebee II towards the pod's viewport get a look at whoever it was she was saving... and then she saw her.
Yang beheld the vision that was Blake Belladonna in a bikini, jumping up and down and waving for her to rescue her.
Yang took a moment to mentally store this sight in her memory for future lonely nights, and then she signaled her sister.
"Ruby."
"Yeah, sis?"
"You got me a cat faunus in a bikini awaiting my heroic rescue. It's not even my birthday. How do I top this for yours?"
"A biki- what? Yang, we both agreed you'd never get into Uncle Qrow's 'special occasion' mushroom bag ever again."
"Er, about that..." Angel interjected.
"... What?"
"She is, in fact, bikini clad."
"Why?" Ruby asked, dumbfounded.
"I don't know! I didn't want to ask! Maybe she comes from a very open minded and suitably temperate world!" Angel whined.
"Well, now she's fogging up the glass of her viewport, and writing 'help,' so I probably should hurry up and save her." Yang said, purposefully cutting the conversation short.
Giving a thumbs up to the trapped Huntress, she angled her ship to the top of the cargo pod, secured it to Bumblebee II's belly with the on-board tractor beam, and prepared for a planetary descent.
And that was when things went to wrong.
The ship rocked violently as Yang swore. Checking the readouts, the FTL drive had suffered catastrophic failure. She stood up and leaned so she could see the top of her craft, and lo and behold, there was a freaking harpoon stuck into the hull. She followed the chain connecting it to her ship up, up, and up and saw a hideous craft seemingly made from spare parts. Riding it's hull, was six normal sized people in patchwork spacesuits wielding guns and pick-axes. And behind them, was one very rotund man in an armored version of the others' suits, casually leaning on a heavy chain-axe. Yang huffed in irritation.
"Dearest, Rubles." She commed her sister as she grabbed her Oz kit. "Why am I besieged by assholes in EVA suits?"
"What?"
"Ugh..." Angel groaned. "Sounds like Scav's. Old miners from Pandora's moon, Elpis. Allegedly they all went crazy and went full-raiders after over-exposure from the... Moon Rocks."
"Moon Rocks." Yang repeated.
"DAHL is bad at naming things. You shouldn't have to much trouble dealing with these guys. Most of them were just everyday laborers who never even unlocked their semblances."
"I'll have to hold you to that." Yang said as she slapped the Oz kit on to her shoulder. Popping open a small compartment beside her chair, she pulled out a pair of heavy golden bracelets and slid them on. Reaching in once more, she also retrieved a heavy belt with a complicated dial attachment on it's side. After she put it on, she lightly punched a button below the cockpit's viewscreen.
The cockpit began to depressurize, and the viewscreen opened. Reacting instantly, Yang's Oz kit sprang to life, giving her the air and protection she would need for vacuum. Yang grinned as she fixed her eyes on the Scav's that had been stupid enough to try and rob her. Maybe having her vacation interupted wasn't so bad after all.
With a hard leap, she jumped to the chain that attached their ships, and used it to launch herself at her opponents.
The Scav's, only caught a little flatfooted, fired wildly at her with their cobbled together assault rifles. The rounds that did hit her only served to strike her Aura... and fed her semblance.
With a flick of her hands, she let go of the chain, and transformed her bracelets- revealing twin barrels in each. She tensed her hand, and the bracelets known as Ember Celica fired, altering and accelerating her trajectory. She flew above them- whatever that means in space- and then used the combined power of both her Oz kit and her weapons to rocket into the Scav ship. All seven of it's crew held on for dear life as the shockwave reverberated throught the vessel.
Taking advantage of the confusion, Yang grabbed the nearest one to her.
"Sorry! Shouldn't have tried to hijack me!" She halfheartedly apologized.
Then she switched her right gauntlet to a timed Torgue round, fired it into the Scav's belly, and threw him into his recovering crewmates.
The poor man popped like a meat balloon, splattering and showering the other Scav's with his insides. Some reacted with horror, some tried to wipe the viscera off their helmets, and Yang... advanced.
One shotgun punch removed a man's head. A second cut another in half at the waist. One poor fool charged in with his pick-axe. Yang grabbed it mid swing, and pushed it's trajectory into another Scav's face, skewering his brain as he had tried to flank the young Huntress. The pick-axe wielder was shortly dealt with as Yang yanked out his weapon and inserted it into his forehead handle first.
A fifth Scav screamed as he fired two assault rifles at the blonde demon that had slaughtered two thirds of his raiding party. Yang tanked the damage, dove into a slide, swept his legs out from under him with a kick, and proceeded to cave in his skull with her other leg.
"HAVE SOME O' THIS, YA MAD DRONGO!" Shouted the armored Scav with the axe. He then threw what Yang recognised as a flashbang.
Instinctively closing her eyes, she knew she didn't have to worry about the sound in space, all that mattered was bracing her Aura for the kinectic force of the device. The blast knocked her back a few steps, and she grinned at the now charging Scav with anticipation. It would be so cool if she timed this right.
The axe came down.
Yang's eyes blazed red.
And then... her hair glowed gold, and there was a blur of motion as she stepped forward. The big Scav stared dumbly down at his chest... which had the young Huntress' arm embedded in it up to her elbow. The battleaxe drifted away from his fingers into the darkness of space as he died.
Yang pulled her arm out of his chest and shook the blood off. She then took the opportunity to use the rest of her semblance's power to pummel the Scav's outer engines into scrap. If there was anyone still inside, they could now enjoy being helpless in space.
After a brief shotgun burst, she made her way back to the top of her ship. "Okay, those guys are dealt with, now to lose my unasked-for weight."
"In respect of our mutual sisterly love, I'm going to choose not to make a joke about that. Even though it would be super easy." Ruby commed in solemnly.
"'Preciate it," Yang droned as she set her feet astride the rusty old harpoon, grabbed it by the haft, and yanked.
With the Scav harpoon finally ripped off Bumblebee II, Yang was dismayed to see that it had taken along with it a skewered, and very FUBAR'd FTL drive.
Yang cursed long and hard. After a moment, she sighed and composed herself.
"FTL drive is gone ladies. We're stuck in this system. I'm gonna land shortly and get my bearings." Yang sighed into the comm. Then inspiration struck her, causing a slow unrepentant grin to spread across her face. "I also gotta... let the cat out of the bag!"
"Ugh, whyyyyyyyyy?" Ruby moaned as she cut the line.
Yang sighed lightly. Some people couldn't appreciate a good pun. Even though she and her father had tried on Ruby almost every single day of her childhood.
"Might as well make the best of all this." She mumbled to herself. "Least I get to meet the cutie in the pod."
Making her way out of orbit, Yang dragged the cargo pod down to a abandoned looking stretch of desert. As gently as she could, she flew low to the ground and dropped the pod. She proceeded to then land the fighter a few yards away. Leaving the cockpit, moving past the living space, and out through the cargo area past where she'd strapped her hovercycle, she exited her craft.
Loud repeated banging sounds revealed that Blake was having difficulty opening the rusty pod doors. Yang approached the viewport and knocked to get her attention. Blake's head turned, and her would-be savior mouthed the words, 'stand back.' She nodded and moved toward the back of the pod. With a shotgun assisted punch, Yang punched the viewport into millions of tiny shards.
"Never fear, your ride is here!' Yang proclaimed. "Nice to meet you, I'm Yang Xiao Long, and I'm-"
She was unable to finish her sentence before Blake walked up to her and started poking her face. Getting a hold of her self, she retracted her hand and had decency to blush. "Sorry! Sorry! I was trapped on an island for two years and I had to check to see whether or not you were a hallucination."
Yang grinned. "Well, I'm about as real as it gets."
"I'm Blake," She said and shot her hand forward between them, Yang took it in her own, twisted it upwards and brought her knuckles to her lips and gave them a very ladylike kiss.
"Pleasure's all mine."
Blake averted her eyes and laughed nervously. "We, uh, should get going! Angel and the others are waiting for us at a place called 'Grandma's House: The Bed and Breakfast.' I can give you the coordinates."
"Sure thing," Yang smiled and gestured toward Bumblebee II. "Your chariot awaits!"
Blake smiled in awkward gratitiude and followed Yang into her ship. After punching in the provided coordinates, they were off to Grandma's House.
"So..." Blake mumbled as she leaned against the cockpit's door frame. "I know I'm pretty indebted to you for that save, and I hate to ask for anything more..."
Yang rolled her eyes with a grin. "Y'know, what? I'm feeling generous. Shoot."
Blake's ears flattened in embarrassment. "... Could I bother you for a spare pair of pants? Now that I'm among an actual breathing person for the first time in years, I feel more exposed than the corpses on the island as the sun bleached their bones."
Yang's smile perfectly covered her internal dismay. "Sure. I got a pair of black skinny jeans that should fit you." Yang took one last look up and down her new traveling companion. "Might be a bit tight in the hips though."
"Thanks. Really."
Yang shrugged and set the controls to autopilot. The FTL drive may be gone, but the sub-light engines were more than ready for a cross continent journey. She got out of her chair and ushered Blake into the living quarters as Bumblebee flew on.
She took one last look out the cockpit's window, and let out a small laugh.
"Guess I'm going Vault hunting, after all."
NAME: Yang Xiao Long
CLASS: Brawler
WEAPON: Ember Celica
AGE: 19
HEIGHT: Non-laughable
WEIGHT: {INFORMATION MISSING- FILES DELETED}
SEMBLANCE: Kinetic absorption and redistribution.
EQUIPMENT: Elemental damage shroud
WANTED: ALIVE
CRIME: Vandalism, arson, assault, destruction of property, horse theft.
BOUNTY: $30,000
Next chapter: Meet Angel, the Siren of being in over her head.