Welcome to the next chapter of "Sideline: Another Story," readers. In this chapter, Fragment Hunter will be meeting up with somebody important and you'll see why. The setting of this chapter is a little bit into the second semester of Beacon Academy. In comparison to the show, the food fight between Team RWBY and Team JNPR just happened the previous day.
Ready? WALLOP!
RWBY is owned by Rooster Teeth and was created by Monty Oum (R.I.P)
The only things I own are my Original Characters
It was another day at Beacon Academy and the second semester was beginning as exchange students from the other three Huntsmen Academies arrived. After the confrontation with Smoke Shadow and his gang, Fragment Hunter were enjoying themselves in their classes. Azalea's small change in her wardrobe made her feel a little better about herself and the students at Beacon took notice of it while she also caught the attention of some of the transfer students. She seemed a little bit more confident about herself and was contributing to her classes more to the joy of the teachers.
One day, Fragment Hunter sat with Team RWBY and Team JNPR at lunch to talk about things that happened to them lately. "So, you're actually a Faunus, Blake? That actually answers a few questions," Sunset telepathically said to the ninja-like fighter of Team RWBY.
"Now I know why your name is so familiar to me," Azalea added in. "Our dads grew up together."
"That's interesting," Lapis noted. After her previous outfit was ruined in Fragment Hunter's attempt to rescue Azalea, Celadon and Cereza took Lapis shopping for new clothes. She kept her shorts, armor, boots, and earrings, but had new clothes to go with them. Lapis now wore a teal-colored scale pattern skirt over her shorts and had a purple crop top that had an opening with fishnets that showed off a bit of her chest. While they shopped, Lapis also decided to get a blue tattoo of her symbol on her left thigh.
"So, tell us about that Faunus boy you met and helped you against the White Fang, Blake," Vixen said without noticing Silver become irritated. "Was he hot?"
"Uhh," Blake said as all eyes were on her and her friends began to ask about Sun Wukong.
"Please answer the question," Vixen said to get the information before Sunset interrupted.
"SO, did you hear that they're bringing more teachers because of the Vytal Festival happening soon," Sunset mentioned to help a nervous Blake. "You're welcome," she mentally said to Blake.
"I did hear some rumors about some new teachers to help during the second semester," Cereza said. "I don't know any specifics, however."
"I guess we'll find out when we see them," Ruby said before munching on a plate of cookies.
One morning, Fragment Hunter was preparing themselves for a combat class in the morning. However, they ran into a problem they have encountered one too many times since they all came to Beacon Academy. "Azalea! Wake up," Layla shouted as she tried to push the Cow Faunus out of her bed. "We're going to be late if you keep sleeping in like this!"
"I keep saying this... I thought that farmers were early risers," Sunset said in exasperation. "Why is it that she can sleep like this?"
Blaring music at Azalea, Vinyl failed to wake her friend up and decided to just leave for breakfast without the sleeping Faunus. Before Rua and Vixen did anything drastic to wake up Azalea, they were dragged out of the room by Silver and Lapis. "Come on, we'll just let her snooze," Silver said to his team.
Cereza and Layla just sighed before the two of them left their teammate in dreamland. Slate, Sunset, Celadon, and Rebecca all decided that it would be better for them to let Azalea get some sleep and if she got in trouble for being late, they tried to get her up. "I know this is selfish, but I don't want to get detention with Professor Goodwitch. So, we'll let Azalea get her forty winks," Slate said before he adjusted his hat and walked out the door.
"See you later, Sleeping Beauty," Sunset told Azalea before the rest of Fragment Hunter left for combat class.
When the eleven students got there, they saw several students from other schools alongside them. They saw the blonde Monkey Faunus that Blake told them about hanging with three other boys that must have been his team, a boy that looked like a jazz musician talking with a Cat Faunus dressed like she was going to a rave, and a few other teams from Mistral and Vacuo.
As they waited for Professor Goodwitch to arrive, Fragment Hunter were either on their Scrolls, listening to music with Vinyl, or were worried about Azalea because she hasn't shown up yet. As the next few minutes passed, Vinyl started another song before the doors slammed open and startled everyone. Vinyl was so surprised that she accidentally had her music playing through Rhythm Scratch and a heavy metal tune started to play as a man walked into view.
He was 7 feet tall with a very muscular build that had scars all over his arms, neck, and torso, but everyone thinks that he would also have scars on his back. He had a dark complexion, black hair that reached down to his shoulders, black stubble on his chin and jawline, and intimidating red eyes. The man was easily identified as a Faunus thanks to the large bull horns on his head that looked like they added 6 inches to his already imposing size. He wore a heavy pair of brown boots, worn-down blue jeans, an open black vest, and a long stylish red coat. Upon closer inspection, everyone could see that he wore a belt with a buckle shaped like a metallic bull's skull and he wore a silver ring in the same shape on his right hand. He also carried a large claymore with crystals in the pommel and hilt, which was designed similar to the bull skull on his buckle and ring.
As he looked around the room, everyone was whispering about the new arrival and wondered who he was. "Who is this guy?"
"Is he a new teacher for the semester?"
"I wouldn't want to meet this guy in a dark alley."
"Where's Professor Goodwitch?"
"This guy looks like trouble."
Fragment Hunter was also wary of the Bull Faunus, but thought he was here for the Vytal Festival like most of the transfer students. "Who's this ruffian," Celadon asked in suspicion. "Why is he here instead of Professor Goodwitch?"
"Celadon, you should judge a book by its cover," Sunset said to her teammate. "I'm enough proof of that with my powers and how I look."
As the Bull Faunus looked around the room, his gaze fell on Vinyl and he spoke up. "As much as I like the music, it's time for your morning combat class to start, Miss Aurum," his voice boomed through the amphitheater. Vinyl immediately listened to him and turned her music off before he continued speaking. "I'm sure that you're all wondering who I am and why Glynda's not here. My name is Terracotta Gaia and I have been called here alongside a few other Beacon alumni to help with teaching all the students that have come for the tournament."
Everyone began to get excited about Huntsmen and Huntresses that attended Beacon teaching them just for the Vytal Festival. "This is going to be so cool," Silver exclaimed with his tail wagging behind him like a dog.
"Yeah, it is," Rua agreed as she pumped a fist in the air.
"I'm still wondering about Azalea," Sunset said as she looked around the room and didn't see her friend. "I wonder if she could sneak in with her Semblance," she mused to herself, not knowing that Terracotta overheard what she said.
"Now, I believe it's time to choose who will fight for today. I hope that you're all wide awake and limber because this lesson isn't going to be like your previous classes," Terracotta said before he pointed his sword at the stands. "Team SLVR and Team SAFR, get down here and grab your weapons. You're going to be first today."
After a few minutes, the eight students came back with their weapons and prepared to battle each other before Terracotta stepped between them. "Now, who said you would be fighting each other," he asked. As the two teams looked at each other in confusion, they didn't see Terracotta remove his red coat and reveal the vambraces on his forearms. "You'll be fighting me," the Faunus declared as he got into a ready stance with his claymore on his back.
"Wait, what," Sunset asked in surprise before she and the others saw the readout for all eight of them and a separate Aura display for Terracotta. "But, this isn't how Good-" Sunset tried to say before Terracotta ran toward the teenagers for a heavy punch. Dodging out of the way, the members of Fragment Hunter saw that Terracotta left a small crater from where he slammed his fist into the floor. "That's some power," Sunset mentally noted.
"Then, let's hit him before he can use it on us," Rua said through the telepathic connection before bringing out her arm blades. Going in for a stabbing punch, Rua's attack missed when Terracotta seemed to vanish before her eyes. "What the hell," she exclaimed out loud before getting hit in the back with a punch. The impact knocked her to the ground and before she could get up, she was lifted off the ground and thrown at Rebecca.
Using their Semblances, the two purple-haired girls disappeared in a cloud of smoke before Silver and the rest of the rookie Huntresses prepared for the next attack. Rebecca threw a handful of shuriken at Terracotta, nailing him in the chest with them while Rua teleported behind him for a kick to his head. The attacks hit him, but they saw that the damage barely fazed him as he just cracked his neck and stared at Rebecca's smoke cloud. In one swift motion, Terracotta pulled the sword off his back and gave it a swing powerful enough to kick up a gust of wind before placing the weapon on his back again.
The wind blew away the smoke, leaving Rebecca surprised by the power that Terracotta had before he ran at her. With a powerful clothesline, Rebecca was sent flying into Celadon and Vixen before all three crashed to the floor. Sunset, Silver, and Vinyl all drew their weapons and began to try and slash away at Terracotta, but he was blocking all their attacks with his vambraces. "This guy's tough. But, I guess that's what we get from a Beacon alumnus," Sunset telepathically told the others.
"Yeah. We need a plan if we want to at least lower his Aura," Silver said mentally. After being pushed back by Terracotta, Silver unfolded his chainsaw into its whip mode and swung it at the Bull Faunus. The chain wrapped around his vambrace and Terracotta saw that Silver was going to do something. Pulling hard on the chain, Terracotta disarmed Silver and his weapon was slammed into him as a counterattack. "There goes that strategy... Just like with that Tremor guy," Silver mentally groaned out.
Sunset and Vinyl tried to attack Terracotta with their swords as he removed Silver's chainsaw from his arm. However, he countered by backhanding Sunset into Vinyl and sent the two to the floor. Rua began to teleport all around Terracotta in hopes of confusing him, but he calmly waited for a moment before quickly turning around and grabbed Rua by her jacket before she could hit him from behind. "You're becoming predictable, Miss Amaranth," Terracotta bluntly stated before throwing her into Silver.
As they crashed to the ground, Celadon used her Semblance to try and hit Terracotta with a widespread blast of gems. The Bull Faunus acted quickly and spun his sword around to deflect the shots before Celadon's whip spear coiled around the blade and he was disarmed in one swift motion. As she prepared to strike him again, Celadon's spear suddenly felt like it became heavier. In the blink of an eye, Terracotta punched at Celadon hard enough to send her flying into Rua. "Why are you so heavy," Rua and Silver complained as they felt Celadon on their backs.
"First, never say anything about a lady's weight. It's a private matter. Second, I don't know why I'm heavier than normal. I can't get up," Celadon said to her friends before Terracotta continued to fight Vixen, Lapis, and Team SAFR. With her fans alight, Vixen tried to send fireballs at Terracotta to try and hit him from a distance. However, he managed to dodge the first volley and recovered his sword before Vixen attacked again with Lapis helping with a whirlwind to increase the temperature of the flames. Terracotta smirked slightly before he swung his sword with enough power to create a blade of air that easily negated Lapis and Vixen's combo attack.
Terracotta followed up by rushing at Vixen faster than she could track and hit her with several jabs before flipping her onto her back. Everyone saw that Vixen's Aura level had been lowered enough to eliminate her from the fight and Lapis turned to face Terracotta. "No more 'Miss Nice Lapis'. Time to get serious," she said before inhaling deeply. After she stopped breathing in, Lapis began to scream loudly and everyone had to cover their ears from the intense sound. As the attack continued, Terracotta was pushed backward by silvery-blue soundwaves and his feet skidded across the floor.
The Bull Faunus kept his sights on Lapis before he smiled and marched forward. With heavy footsteps, he managed to approach Lapis and pulled his arm back while her eyes were still closed as she screamed. With a single punch to her face, Lapis was knocked unconscious by Terracotta and everyone's ears were still ringing. "Powerful Semblance you have there, Miss Ondine. But, you need to control it better," Terracotta said before he turned to his next opponents.
Rebecca acted quickly and drew her wakizashi before running toward her opponent. However, Terracotta countered by grabbing Rebecca's arm and putting her into a wristlock. As soon as her blade was dropped, Terracotta kicked it away and released the ninja. Using her Semblance to create a smokescreen, Rebecca hid away while Sunset charged at the Faunus with her sword while Vinyl did the same with her claws. Terracotta dodged by jumping into the air and flipped forward to prepare for an axe kick to the girls below him. "Move," Sunset shouted as she and Vinyl jumped away from the heel drop.
The ground below shattered under the impact of Terracotta's foot and debris flew at everyone in the battleground. Team SLVR and Team SAFR had to close their eyes to avoid getting blinded by airborne dust and were left open to Terracotta's next assault. With fast and heavy punches, the Bull Faunus managed to take out enough of Vinyl's Aura to lower it into the red levels. Continuing his onslaught, Terracotta found Rebecca just inches away from her sword and attacked her. Rebecca tried to block his attacks, but the force behind them kept pushing her away until her Aura levels lowered to the red like Vixen and Vinyl. "You should improve your hand-to-hand skills, Miss Haze. It'll make it easier when someone figures out your stealth tactics," Terracotta explained to Rebecca before turning to Sunset.
"Just you and me, Miss Blaze. I've heard a lot about you," Terracotta said.
"Like what," Sunset asked as the sleeves of her jacket began to light up.
Terracotta saw that she was ready to fight seriously with her Fire Dust talents and chuckled. "Your teacher was my teammate back when she attended Beacon. I'm sure she taught you well, but you can always improve yourself," said Terracotta.
"Oh, I think she taught me well, Mister Gaia," Sunset stated as she spread her arms out and prepared for explosions around the Bull Faunus.
"Please, call me 'Terra', Sunset. And I'm not so sure that's true," Terra replied. "After all, those scars on your back are enough proof to show you weren't the best student at Garrison Academy." Hearing what Terracotta said, Sunset was surprised by his words and her concentration faltered. With her focus broken, the flames building underneath Terra faded as he rushed at the girl. Lifting her above his head, Terracotta slammed Sunset to the floor hard enough to bounce off it. While she was in the air, Terra jumped above Sunset to follow through with a powerful elbow drop.
When Sunset fell to the ground, her Aura flashed with a fiery red sheen to show that her Aura had been depleted from the attacks she took. She groaned as she tried to pick herself up off the ground. "Miss Celeste, did you get the number of that freight train," Sunset muttered in a daze before falling back to the ground.
Terracotta turned to the students who saw the battle and began to lecture them about the fight. "As you can see, there will be enemies that you cannot defeat immediately. There will always be someone stronger than you," Terracotta stated. "There are numerous ways that you can improve yourself in order to survive against a strong foe. You can think more creatively, improve your reaction times, gradually become stronger physically, and even just run away to fight another day."
Everyone was captivated by Terracotta's words as Team SLVR and Team SAFR recovered from their fight with him. The eight teenagers stood up and winced as bruises began to form all over them. "Each of you all can improve yourselves like what I said during the fight. While I'm here, I'll be assisting anyone who wishes to partake in extra credit duels with me for tutoring," Terra stated to Fragment Hunter and the other students. Before he could continue talking, the doors slammed open to show Azalea came running inside and was out of breath.
"Sorry... I'm late... Professor... I hope that I can make it up," Azalea panted before she looked back up to see the damage from the battle that happened. Seeing her friends beaten down and bruised along with craters in the floor, Azalea looked around the room before she saw the Faunus gazing at her. Azalea's eyes widened at the sight of the muscular behemoth of a man before hearing him speak.
"I wouldn't call myself 'Professor', but I'm more than capable of being a teacher," he chuckled. "I see you're still sleeping in, my little flower." Everyone was confused by what Terracotta called Azalea, but they were even more confused when she jumped at him and hugged the man while squealing in excitement.
"I can't believe it! You're here," Azalea exclaimed happily. "I'm so happy to see you, Dad!"
As soon as they heard that last word, everyone else in Fragment Hunter had wide eyes and dropped jaws. Celadon was gibbering like something snapped in her head, Vinyl's sunglasses slipped off her face and dangled from one ear as she stared, and Slate looked like he had just seen a ghost. Everyone in the room who heard what Azalea said were shocked and could only say one word in question. "DAD!?"
"Let me get this straight," Sunset said as she held an ice pack to her head. "THAT'S YOUR FATHER," she screamed as she pointed to the man who resembled a minotaur that sat on Slate's bed in Team FCSA's room.
"Yup," Azalea answered.
"The minotaur right there?"
"Yup."
"The guy who kicked our collective asses like it was nothing but a walk to the store?"
"Yup."
Everyone just kept looking back and forth at Azalea and Terracotta while Sunset's 'interrogation' happened. Silver, Slate, and the other girls in Fragment Hunter were surprised that Azalea's father showed up to teach students for the Vytal Festival Tournament. "I guess Azalea really does take after her mother like she said," Layla said as she looked at Terracotta.
"It's only natural that my princess looks like her beautiful mother," Terra stated as he placed her hand on Azalea's head.
Azalea blushed in embarrassment over Terracotta complimenting her in front of her friends. "Daaaad, stop it..."
"I've heard a lot about the ten of you from Azalea's letters to home," Terracotta said to Fragment Hunter before turning back to Sunset. "And Aurora has been a lifelong friend since we attended Beacon together as members of Team NOCT. She's been in constant communication with me and has always talked about her prized pupil," he said to Sunset. "That includes the incident from your field trip back in Garrison Academy."
"Incident," Lapis asked in curiosity.
Sunset sighed as she lowered the ice pack she held and removed her jacket. She turned around and moved her hair out of the way to reveal two faded scars near her shoulder blades. Everyone looked it as she explained their origin. "I wasn't always the most social person and I thought I could do everything by myself. I was proven wrong when my class at Garrison Academy was taken for a field trip to help train against Grimm. I separated from my group and I ended up fighting a large pack of Grimm," Sunset recollected. "I ended up burning through my Aura about halfway through, no pun intended, and had to run for my life. A Beowolf scratched my back and left me with these scars before I was cornered."
"What happened next," Cereza and Silver asked.
"As I was crawling backward, I hit a tree and the Grimm would've had me for lunch," Sunset continued. "Lucky for me, Miss Celeste was able to deal with all of the Grimm in a near instant when she found me. After that day, she told me about her days in Beacon and said that I couldn't do everything by myself. I had to rely on others when I needed to."
"I'm sure that she'll be happy to hear that after meeting all of your friends," Terracotta said. Sunset smiled at what Terracotta said and thought of when she would meet her teacher again.
Vixen noticed that Slate was looking nervous and giggled to herself. "Hey, Slate? What's on your mind," she asked with a mischievous tone.
"Nothing," Slate replied a little too quickly as he looked away from his friends and Terracotta.
"Oh really," Vixen continued. "Because you've been pretty quiet since we dealt with that Phantom Thief."
"Phantom Thief," Terra inquired.
"Well, one day when we were returning from this ramen stand in town, Rebecca saw something and we found out it was a calling card," Layla explained. "I think we still have it," she mentioned before everyone started to dig through their pockets.
"Here it is," Rebecca said as she revealed the calling card of Smoke Shadow. "We later learned what it was and did some digging when we learned that this guy stole a sword from someone in town."
"After that, we tried to stop him from stealing from a museum. We failed," Vinyl admitted.
"We later tracked the Phantom Thief down to his hideout after learning Azalea was taken by his associate," Silver said. "We've never seen Sunset rage harder than Rua until that day," the Wolf Faunus mentioned.
"Then, we looked for Azalea and most of us got into fights with the thieves," Layla continued. "Me, Slate, and Sunset found Azalea and we went to help the others after making sure she was safe." After Layla told that, Azalea and Slate blushed a bit and awkwardly rubbed their heads. Terracotta noticed the reactions of his daughter and her teammate before gesturing to continue the story.
"When we were getting our asses handed to us by the big guy, Tremor, Azalea showed up and started to fight him," Rua explained. "It was an awesome fight! Punches flying everywhere, the building was shaking from the power behind their attacks, and Azalea managed to blind the guy when her Semblance made her shine like a lighthouse."
"Really," Terracotta said with intrigue. "Looks like I'll be giving Team FCSA some extra lessons later to see it for myself."
After everyone finished telling Terracotta about their battles with Smoke Shadow's crew, Terra was glad to know how well everyone was coming along. "So, what were you doing before you came here, Dad," Azalea asked.
"Well, after a job I did around Higanbana in Anima, I stuck around the local tavern for a poker game. I managed to win, but a drunk bandit tried to mug me," Terracotta explained. "I kicked him in the face," he bluntly said. "They just never learn."
"Hehehe... yeah," Slate nervously agreed before gulping loudly.
Terracotta looked at Slate again and saw the boy flinch under his gaze. "Anyway, your mother and all of the farmhands are doing well," Terra said to Azalea. "Same with the animals. Dante and Drei miss you, Princess."
"Who," everyone else asked.
"Two of my dogs," Azalea answered. "Drei's a Corgi and one of the most adorable puppies you'll ever see!"
"Didn't Ruby and Yang say they had a Corgi named 'Zwei'," Rua asked as she remembered one of their conversations with sisters of Team RWBY.
"Yup. Drei was born in the same litter as him," Terracotta explained. "Why do you think we named him that?"
"And what about 'Dante'," Sunset questioned.
"Oh, he was a hunting dog that Dad found when I was younger," Azalea explained. "Mom helped fix him up because he was hurt and he's been sticking around the farm ever since. Dante always protected me from Grimm and bullies while I was still in training before Sanctuary Academy."
"That's just precious," Celadon commented. "I hope we can meet him one day."
Terracotta chuckled a little. "I get the feeling he'd love all of you," he said. "Well, I say that we all go get something to eat. Where was that ramen stand you were at before?" Fragment Hunter soon went off to enjoy the rest of their day with Terracotta. With him around, they felt like the days until the Vytal Festival were going to be a challenge.
There you go! Another favorite Original Character of mine is now introduced. Azalea's father, Terracotta Gaia. With him involved, there will be more training for our heroes in Fragment Hunter. Especially when a few new teams visiting for the Vytal Festival Tournament confront Fragment Hunter and some of them have a past with Azalea. If you want to find out who they are, stick around for the next few chapters when I get them written up.
BTW, Terracotta WAS 'Granite' if you didn't figure it out yet. If you're still wondering about how he pinned down that mugger in the previous chapter or messed with Celadon in the fight, you'll get an answer eventually.
For Terracotta's entrance, the music that Vinyl played would be the intro to "Holy Diver" by Dio. Terracotta's own music style that would play during his scenes would mostly be rock genre or heavy metal. Just picture him kicking Grimm ass while the "Metal Gear Rising Revengeance" OST or songs featured in "Brutal Legend" plays during the fights.
Until next time, WaterDragonMaverick out.