"So this is our new home huh?" Tiras said as he looked around the room they had been assigned.
"Yep. So are we going to unpack or are we saving that for tomorrow morning?" Sirena asked.
"Maybe we should get some of it done now…" Brianna suggested while inspecting their belongings.
Brianna and Tiras had virtually nothing, Sirena had a few suitcases, and Flae had a huge metal case along with two large travel bags.
"Flae...what on Remnant is that?" Brianna asked as Flae placed it on top of a desk next to a bed.
"Watch." Flae smirked as he pressed a button on the case.
The case extended into what looked like a portable workshop with various tools and parts. It took over the entire desk before Flae sat down.
"Wow, where did you get this thing? I'd love to have something like this on the go!" Tiras exclaimed in amazement.
"One of my friends sells these portable workshops. I should introduce you all to him sometime!" Flae replied happily.
"Cool! Oh, by the way, I forgot to return your revolver." Tiras said.
"It's fine. In fact, keep it. I was planning on replacing it anyway and it came in handy for you during initiation." Flae casually dismissed.
Tiras was about to interject when Flae held up a pistol frame.
"Wait, you've already made the frame?" Tiras said in shock.
"Yeah I made it a month ago. Making weapons and tinkering with things is a passion of mine..." Flae laughed with an embarrassed look.
Tiras let out a sigh before they began to unpack everything else.
An hour later they had made sleeping arrangements and also personalized sections of the room. Flae and Tiras were sleeping on one side while Brianna and Sirena slept on the other.
Tiras had put a framed family photo and other letters on the wall by his bed. He kept his backpack on the edge of his bed as well.
On top of the portable workshop on his desk, Flae had various parts and gizmos lying around with the rest of his luggage underneath his bed.
Brianna had everything by her bed in the corner, while Sirena had set up a large standing mirror alongside the room's wardrobe which held their spare clothes and Beacon uniforms. She had also put some books on the room's shelf.
"Alright! Unpacking complete!" Tiras exclaimed as he jumped into his bed.
"Yep...I think I'll go finish my pistol so you guys go ahead and get ready for bed without me." Flae replied as he left the room with his satchel in tow.
"I call dibs on the shower!" Sirena yelped as she lunged for the bathroom.
"Ugh...guess we're waiting then." Brianna sighed as she and Tiras began to lounge about.
"Ah, finally done…" Flae mumbled exhaustively as he stumbled back towards Team FSBT's room from the forge.
His new sidearm was a full auto pistol with an extended magazine. He'd test it out when Combat Class started, but he was sure the Dust rounds wouldn't backfire on him.
Upon opening his room's door, he saw Brianna and Sirena fast asleep; but Tiras was awake and writing something.
"Oh Flae, welcome back." Tiras said as he looked up from his letter.
"Hey, the shower's free now right? I kinda don't want to sleep with the smell of forge on me." Flae replied while gesturing towards the bathroom.
"Yep. By the way, we're going to need to organize a shower schedule. Brianna was out in no time flat while Sirena practically took forever…" Tiras groaned.
Flae laughed as he made his way towards the bathroom for a quick shower.
Their first day of classes started tomorrow after all.
Brianna was used to waking up by herself...but not to a serene melody. She turned to see Sirena sitting in a chair by their room's window humming.
"Hey..that's a nice tune." Brianna said, startling Sirena.
"Oh geez Brianna, don't scare me like that." Sirena replied in a panic.
"Sorry. Still, where'd you learn to sing like that?" Brianna apologized while sliding out of bed.
"Well I'm mostly self-taught, but my older sister Aria helped with my voice lessons." Sirena explained.
"Cool...Anyway, what time is it?" Brianna yawned out.
"It's 8:31. We have a little less than half an hour before class starts." Sirena said while getting up and stretching her arms.
Brianna and Sirena then noticed that the boys were still sleeping.
"Do we dare?" Sirena snickered mischievously.
"We dare." Brianna replied with an evil smirk.
They quietly tiptoed into the bathroom to grab some water…
"GAH!" Tiras cried out as he awoke to a blast of cold water. He scrambled out of bed and saw Brianna holding an empty bucket.
"Gotcha!" Brianna laughed out as Tiras fell out of bed in surprise.
"Alright alright I'm up!" he growled while picking himself up.
Brianna then turned to see how Sirena was doing.
To her surprise, Flae had been drenched as well but he wasn't waking up.
"Huh? Flae, wake up...it's almost time for class." Sirena shook him.
Flae stirred and yawned casually while soaking wet.
"Well, I've heard of wetting the bed but this is ridiculous." Flae muttered, getting a laugh out of everyone.
Flae and Tiras quickly headed for the bathroom to dry up while the girls got into their uniforms.
"Hey Brianna, don't you think the uniform's skirt is a bit too short?" Sirena said while pulling on her leggings.
"I've seen worse but I see where you're coming from." Brianna mumbled in reply.
"Hey is it alright for us to come out now?" Flae asked from inside the bathroom.
"Yeah, thanks for waiting!" Sirena replied as Flae and Tiras stepped out wearing their uniforms.
"I gotta say, these uniforms are nice and loose compared to the ones back in Atlas." Flae said while tugging the sleeves of his blazer.
"Yeah...the blazer doesn't feel quite right though." Tiras complained.
The girls laughed at their banter before they realized they only had a few minutes before class started.
"Okay, let's head ou-Wah!" Sirena said before she tripped on something.
She quickly recovered and noticed her foot ensnared by a yo-yo.
"Darn it Flae!" she yelled as Flae snickered and fled the room towards their classroom.
"How'd he even do that without his weapon?" Tiras wondered aloud.
"No clue, and I don't think we should question it." Brianna sighed as they followed Sirena chasing after Flae.
They all barreled into History class with five minutes to spare. Sirena had calmed down and was sitting next to Flae without trying to strangle him.
"Sorry, just a little payback for this morning." Flae nervously laughed while rubbing the back of his head.
Sirena pouted at him before Profess...er, Doctor Oobleck zoomed into class with a mug of coffee.
"Good morning students! For our first lesson we will be going over the Faunus Rights Revolution, more commonly known as the Faunus War." he rapidly said before taking a sip of his coffee.
Flae cringed at the ridiculous pace, but he brought out paper and a pencil to be ready to try and keep up. He also was fiddling with one of his yo-yos.
"Tell me, how many of you in this room have been subjugated or discriminated because of your Faunus heritage?" he asked the class.
Quite a few raised their hands, including Scarlet, Mika, Sirena, and Tiras.
"Dreadful! Simply dreadful! Students, it is precisely this kind of ignorance that breeds violence! I mean, I mean, I mean just look at what happened to the White Fang! Hm, do you have something to add Mr. Whisperwind?" Doctor Oobleck inquired at Zaffre's raised hand.
"Compared to humans, Faunus sure get angry easily." he laughed, much to the disappointment of the class and Doctor Oobleck.
"What are you trying to imply?" Tiras chimed in.
"See, look at you!" Zaffre retorted.
"Mr. Whisperwind, Mr. Bradley...please calm down." Doctor Oobleck sighed as he noticed another hand.
"Yes Mr. Frostbrand?"
"I don't see why Zaffre classifies it as the Faunus getting riled up. It's a natural reaction after all. We all have a limit on how patient we are with dealing with things like this...and when that limit is reached anyone is going to snap." Flae explained.
"Very true Mr. Frostbrand!" Doctor Oobleck replied.
"And when people snap, they tend to pursue extreme goals, regardless of who they are." Tiras added while throwing a glare at Zaffre.
Doctor Oobleck nodded thoughtfully as he quickly went on with the lesson to stop any further tension.
The next class was Grimm Studies with Professor Port. Team FSBT had heard rumors of students falling asleep within seconds of the class, so they mentally prepared himself for a boring teacher.
When they sat down and Professor Port started speaking...they didn't expect anything much.
"Monsters! Deeemons….Prowlers of the night! The creatures of Grimm have many names, but I merely refer to them as prey. Ha-ha!" he boisterously exclaimed.
An awkward silence filled the classroom, but Flae smiled while Tiras chuckled slightly.
"This..actually isn't so bad. He kinda reminds me of my grandfather." Tiras thought to himself.
"Uhhh..and you shall too, upon graduating from this prestigious academy! Now, as I was saying: Vale, as well as the other three kingdoms, are safe havens in an otherwise treacherous world! Our planet is absolutely teeming with creatures that would love nothing more than to tear you to pieces! And that's where we come in! Huntsmen, Huntresses…." Professor Port trailed off as he briefly looked over the female portion of the class.
Sirena and Brianna saw a creeped out look on the majority of the girls, and they felt the same way.
"Individuals who have sworn to protect those who cannot protect themselves! From what, you ask? Why, the very world!" he finished before clearing his throat.
"That is what you're training to become. But first: A story. A tale of a young, handsome man...Me! When I was a boy…" he began as the majority of the class began to slump.
"Yikes...so the rumors were true." Flae muttered to himself as he began to play with his yo-yo.
Tiras seemed to be listening intently, but everyone else had seemed to ignore his story.
This went on for a while before he finally got Flae's full attention once again.
"The moral of this story? A true Huntsman must be honorable! A true Huntsman must be dependable! A true Huntsman must be strategic, well-educated, and wise! So, who here believes to be the embodiment of these traits?" he exclaimed.
Flae noted that Zaffre was about to raise his hand, so he quickly did so instead. Scarlet also raised her hand.
"Well then, why don't you two step forward and meet your opponents!" Professor Port chuckled as he motioned to two cages behind him. Glowing red eyes were visible in both of them.
A few minutes later, Flae and Scarlet were standing in front of the cages wearing their combat gear.
Scarlet brandished her claw gauntlets, Flae loaded two new clips into Element Spica, and Professor Port stood by the cages with a blunderbuss axe.
"Alright! Let the match...begin!" he exclaimed before cutting the lock on a cage and a Boarbatusk charged out.
Scarlet quickly parried it off to the side with her claws, and while it was recovering she tried to slash it down; only for her strike to be deflected.
"Oh crap!" she exclaimed as it flung her away.
"Haha, wasn't expecting that were you!" Professor Port laughed out.
Flae analyzed their foe. There was no way a direct attack was going through its armor.
It charged once more, but Flae had an idea.
"Scarlet! Get ready to strike again!" Flae ordered.
"But its armor!" she replied.
"Leave that to me!" Flae smiled as he fired a yo-yo towards the Boarbatusk's foot. He then quickly flung his hand down, making the Boarbatusk fly into the air.
"Ah, clever approach indeed!" Professor Port remarked.
"Now! Under its stomach!" Flae shouted to Scarlet.
Scarlet nodded as she noticed the Boarbatusk's lack of armor underneath. She reflexively leaped at it and tore it open with her claws before it quickly dissipated. Scarlet then landed and flashed a peace sign at Flae.
"Nice one Flae!" she exclaimed with a smile on her face, failing to realize that the professor was opening the second cage.
"Scarlet! Bend down!" Flae shouted as he charged with his wristblade drawn.
It was very sudden as a Beowolf charged out from the other cage. Scarlet suddenly bent over and Flae quickly rolled over Scarlet's back.
"Grah!" Flae shouted as he drove his blade right between the Beowolf's eyes.
There was a slight pause before Professor Port applauded them.
"Bravo! It seems that we are in the presence of a true Hunter and Huntress in training!" he exclaimed as Flae retracted his wristblade. The rest of the class had now joined in the applause.
"Now, I'm afraid that's the time we have for today! I have some readings on the board that you should cover, and...stay vigilant! Class dismissed!" he continued before the bell rang for lunch.
"Man, was that story a drag or what?" Scarlet complained to her teammates as they were walking through the halls.
"It was quite...interesting." Azure laughed.
"You think he has grandkids who he tells these stories to on a regular basis?" their lazy teammate Russet replied.
"I wouldn't be surprised if he did." came the calm voice of Fall, the "anchor" of their group.
"Anyway, it's time for lu-Huh? Is that Sirena over there?" Scarlet said as she noticed Sirena running towards them frantically.
"Guys! Agh...have you seen Flae anywhere? He just disappeared!" she panted out while trying to catch her breath.
"Huh? What do...wait, he did leave class in a hurry now that I remember. He didn't even change out of his combat gear." Scarlet murmured.
"Well that's worrisome. You sure he's not just taking a nap somewhere?" Russet muttered.
"Let's just keep our eyes open for him." Fall replied.
Sirena nodded as she hoped Flae really was just napping.
"Agh...it's quite nice today." Flae muttered to himself as he laid comfortably in a tree. He had already grabbed a sandwich and some soda before coming out here, so he didn't see any reason to head to the cafeteria right now. Besides, he needed to think.
"I..guess I'm not completely over it." he thought as he grasped his shaking hand.
It was unfortunate that even if it was just a Grimm, Beowolves acted too similar to the lizard mutants he used to fight.
"They really are nothing more than monsters...Hammerfall Technologies." Flae sighed as he lifted the left sleeve of his jacket and shirt, revealing a set of green scales spreading on his arm.
"Then again, can I really call myself anything less?" he moaned as he began to eat his sandwich.
"There you are." came the familiar voice of Tiras.
Flae looked below him, but saw nothing there. He then looked up and saw Tiras hovering by him.
"Yo Tiras, what's going on?" Flae casually replied as he sipped his soda.
"We've been looking for you for a while now. Care to explain why you bolted out of class like you did?" Tiras scolded, but his look softened when he saw a mellow look on Flae's face.
"Well...How about I explain later tonight? On the dorm rooftop more specifically." Flae sighed as Tiras silently nodded.
He knew that he probably shouldn't push the subject now.
Afternoon classes passed by quickly, since Combat Class didn't start until tomorrow. Tiras had passed on the message to Sirena and Brianna after they had calmed their neighboring teams down, so now they headed towards the rooftop.
"I wonder what has Flae so shaken up." Tiras muttered.
"Good question. Whatever it is though, I think that Beowolf had something to do with it." Sirena replied.
"Well we're going to find out now..." Brianna stated as she opened the door to the rooftop.
Flae was sitting there in his combat gear, excluding his weapon.
"Yo guys!" he exclaimed with a smile on his face.
"Hey Flae...so you gonna tell us now?" Tiras said before Sirena slapped him on the back.
"Tiras, don't you think that's a little insensitive?" she scolded.
"Huh? Oh...right. Sorry Flae." Tiras quickly apologized.
Flae waved it off before standing up and letting out a sigh.
"Tell me, have you guys ever heard of Hammerfall Technologies?" he questioned.
Tiras had a confused look on his face while Sirena spoke up.
"Aren't they that company that's trying to improve Scroll models?" Sirena answered.
"Technically that's true, but that's just a cover...Hey Brianna, you okay?" Flae started before his voice changed to one of worry.
Tiras and Sirena looked towards Brianna and saw that she had frozen up.
"H...Hammer...fall…" she incoherently muttered.
Flae decided to press on before Brianna broke down or worse.
"In reality however, Hammerfall Technologies is an experimental genetics facility. What they're actually trying to accomplish is to turn both humans and Faunus into super soldiers. Their experiments unfortunately rob their test subject of their humanity, making the subject no better than a Grimm." Flae solemnly explained.
"And how do you know about this?" Sirena asked.
"Because my siblings and I had been captured by them." Flae bluntly stated.
A deadly silence fell as Flae continued.
"That's the reason I've been missing for so long. And unfortunately Hammerfall doesn't like letting go of their assets so they've been trying to track me down. They love to send mutants to do their dirty work…" Flae said as he caught his voice trembling.
"Flae, you don't have to go on." Tiras replied.
"Yeah, but I'd like to get one last thing out of the way...and this is probably going to be the most shocking." Flae gulped as he lifted his jacket sleeve.
Everyone gasped as they saw Flae's arm covered in green lizard-like scales.
"I'm one of their biggest assets, since the serum they injected into me has remained stable for all these years. They can't afford to lose me." Flae explained as he touched the scales.
"So..what's going to happen to you?" Tiras calmly asked.
"I don't know. That's the problem with experiments...you never know when they'll go wrong, or right for that manner. And I've had to take on too many of those failed experiments. It doesn't help that Beowolves move in a similar fashion." Flae deadpanned.
A creepy silence followed before Flae spoke once more.
"Now, none of this leaves this rooftop, understood?" Flae ordered, getting nods from his team.
"Good, then let's go get dinner! I'm starving!" Flae exclaimed happily, much to everyone's surprise.
Tiras and Sirena quickly followed, but Brianna excused herself to go back to their dorm instead.
When she got inside, she tossed herself into bed as she trembled.
"K..Keep it together….Keep it together." she mumbled as her memories of Hammerfall Technologies flooded back into her mind.
She fell asleep before the others got back.