Hello my friends, UknownHero here and welcome to another chapter the IBLS Chronicles! It's been an interesting week. I flunk a test at a subject I'm good at for accidently writing the wrong numbers, I'm currently playing Unturned and I'm loving it and one of my grandpas died and I might be going to his funeral on Saturday. I've never been to a funeral, even when my mother's dad died while we were on holiday a few years ago. Then again, I had no idea what was happening even when I think about, he barely talked during his final days and he was too weak to make it to his bed. And the sad thing is, I don't remember ever seeing the one who died recently. I feel guilty. *Sigh* Sorry, I just wanted to ramble a bit. Anyway, enough of that, you came for a chapter and you're going to get it! Let's do this.
Load Game… Start!
Chapter 11: Lessons in History
"I hate you." Blizzard growled after she snapped out of her shock, "I fucking hate you."
"What did I do?" O.B asked while tilting her head, acting like she didn't know,
"You set up turrets!" Blake shouted,
"You put bombs in the fucking building!" Luna shouted as well,
"You broke my bow and our bones!" Igneous added in, before wincing in pain,
"You tried to break us!" Yang shouted as her eyes flashed red,
"You didn't even hold back!" Ruby exclaimed
"We almost died!" Skye finished off,
"What is wrong with you!?" Weiss exclaimed,
"Hey, have you ever heard of tough love?" O.B asked before shaking her head, "To answer your complaints, those turrets would've just knocked you out cold, those bombs were fake and were never going to blow up, just use duct tape Ig, and I was holding back guys, and there's nothing wrong with me."
"Really?" Igneous asked before he had to dodge a Burst of Ice, "Okay! Okay! I'll shut up! Yeash!" He said as he got up, "But are you really telling the truth about you holding back?"
"I didn't use Golden Dreams." O.B said as she got out her gun, "Anyway, all of you would've been toast before you even stepped in here."
"And the bombs?" Bliz asked as she took the bombs out of her bag. O.B only scoffed and grabbed them,
"I already told you, they're fake." O.B then threw them over her shoulder like it was nothing. That was, until all the bombs went off and made a nice crater in the ground. O.B slowly turned around and saw her mistake, "Uh… wrong bombs. Whoops."
"WE! COULD'VE! DIED!" RWBY & IBLS shouted at O.B,
"Again, what is wrong with you!?" Weiss exclaimed, "I have half a mind to report to Professor Ozpin and get you fired!"
"Not a chance. He was the one who suggested the use of explosives for this lesson." O.B said with a smile, causing everyone else to step away from her,
'We are all going to die.' They thought as they started to make their way to the exit,
"It's still locked, you know!" O.B called out to them. She smirked as she heard a few curses and damns before they walked back, "Anyway, this is all for a reason."
"Which is?" Blake asked,
"Well, me & Professor Ozpin have been observing you and figured out that all of you have potential to become some of the greatest Hunters in Remnant and help defend the world against evil."
"I'm sorry, but what are you talking about? We're in a time of peace Miss Snowstorm." Ruby pointed out,
"Don't call me that Ruby. I'd rather be called by my nickname." O.B told the red Leader sternly before clearing her throat, "Anyway, it's not like it's going to last forever. Don't you remember Torchwick?" IBLS clenched their fists before relaxing, "You may not know it, but he's been stealing Dust for months now all over the world, not just Vale. Vacuo, Haven,"
"And even…" Skye had to ask. She did find Dust back at the Philippines and there were stores around that sold things similar to what she found,
"Even there too." O.B said in a grave tone. Igneous suddenly felt a large weight on his shoulders fall upon him,
"Mum, dad…" He muttered as he put his hands in his pockets, "Soul, everyone…" 'I have to save them. I have to!' He thought as he felt his powers starting to flare up before settling down. O.B saw a look in Ig's eyes, and didn't like it,
'Hero Syndrome.' O.B thought before start speaking again, "That's why I'm teaching you. I'm teaching you how to handle yourself against human or Faunus opponents rather than Grimm. I'm teaching how to survive. Humanity can be the real monsters sometimes, and it's my job to teach you how to fight them." Blake perked up when she heard O.B admitting that humans could be monsters sometimes,
'Maybe she'll understand...' She thought,
"Anyway, it's midnight and you have school tomorrow so class is dismissed." O.B said as she got out a remote with a button on it and pressed. The teams sighed in relief as they heard the door unlocking before they all turned to leave, "Team IBLS, stay." Igneous could sigh as his body slumped forward before he started making his way back,
"KUSO!" Luna shouted as she stamped her foot, causing a small earthquake,
"I'm gonna kill her one day. And that day is soon." Blizzard muttered as she started walking back,
"Why us?" Skye groaned as she followed Blizzard,
"Have fun, I guess!" Ruby called out before she shut the door, "They're screwed, aren't they?"
"Oh, definitely." Yang replied, "Let's get out of here before anything else happens."
"Right behind you." Blake said as they ran away from the Advanced Combat Training Centre,
"You know, we have Advanced Combat tomorrow." Weiss pointed out, causing the whole team to groan. Meanwhile, O.B led IBLS into a dark room before turning on the lights, revealing a room full of computers, devices and guns.
Lots and lots of guns.
"Holy shit." Ig could only say as they stared at the room in amazement, "Wait, what is all this stuff?"
"This, is ours." O.B answered as the team looked around before setting down their weapons, "Databases, those guns, that couch, the simulation room,"
"Simulation room!?" Igneous repeated, not believing that everything in the room was theirs,
"All ours to use." O.B said with a smirk, "We need all the help we can get if we want to stop getting hunted by Torchwick and Ozpin was happy to help us with that."
"Is there a Forge around here?" Skye asked,
"At the back." Before she even knew, Skye was frozen in place before she could even say the word 'Forge', "Not yet. First, we need to catch you guys up a bit."
"I thought all those tests would catch up." Bliz said,
"Academically. What I'm about to say and do is more about you guys as Hunters and who you are. So you may want to take a seat." Ig & Luna grabbed chairs for everyone before they sat down to listen to the teachings of Olivia Blake Snowstorm, "So, you know about Semblances right?"
"Yeah, they're special abilities we have that gain more power the more we use them." Luna answered,
"Right, but wrong. Your Semblances gain more power as you use them, everyone else's doesn't." O.B corrected, "But that what makes you guys special. Potentially, your Semblances will become the most powerful Semblances in the world given enough time."
"What's your Semblance?" Luna asked,
"Telekinesis." O.B then showed it by lifting Luna's chair with her mind before setting it back down, "And there's a bunch more, but we're getting off track." She then leaned as she asked the question, "Have you ever wondered why we have powers?" IBLS looked at each other before shaking their heads,
"We never really thought about it. I guessed it was magic or something." Ig admitted,
"There's no such thing as magic." O.B then took a deep breath, "The reason why you guys can control the elements without Dust is because, well… our families are made up of Dust." She let the statement hang in the air as the younger generation processed the fact,
"What?" Bliz asked,
"It dates back to the discovery of Dust, many generations ago. You see, our ancestors were the some of the first to find and use Dust to fight against the Grimm. We don't exactly know their first names but we do know it was a Pyrus, a Snowstorm, a Vigor, a Terra and a Satoshi."
"Um… O.B? Only three of those families are represented here. Where are the Vigors and the Terras?" Ig asked,
"Actually, they're represented by Luna. You see, the Vigor and the Terra were madly in love with each other, but they came from enemy families like Romeo & Juliet. The only twist is that they snuck out as soon as possible, ran away and got married under new names, and that's how the Dawns were born."
"So that's why I was born with Earth & Electricity…" Luna muttered, "Wait, why does it have to do with Dust?"
"You see, the Pyrus, the Snowstorm, the Dawns and the Satoshi were friends and together with a lot of other people were fed up with the Grimm destroying everything humanity has built so they founded Dust along with Weiss' ancestor, Miriam Schnee. It was all going well until there was an accident that caused Dust to go everywhere. Many died because back in the day Dust was dangerous to breathe in as it would horribly deform or kill its victim. But our ancestors lived. You see, in our genetic code we all have a specific gene that allows us to absorb Dust and live, but each person absorbed a lot of a specific Dust. The Vigor breathed in Electric Dust, the Satoshi got Wind Dust and so on. They were asleep so they never noticed everyone dying and when they woke up, they absorb so much Dust it became part of their DNA and genetic structure, a mutation of sorts. The Pyrus woke up on fire, but never burned. The Snowstorm woke under piles of snow, yet it was only summer. The Vigor & Terra woke up together cover in rocks and electricity. The Satoshi woke up flying. At first, they couldn't control it, destroying everything they came across. But they trained and eventually took control of their elements and helped hold back the Grimm, becoming some of the first Hunters in history. But then, something happened."
"What?" Bliz asked, invested in the history lesson,
"The Vigor became pregnant couldn't perform her duties as a Huntress." O.B continued, "That made the others think about the future. They couldn't leave the world without a legacy, right? So, they retired from hunting and left their legacy in form of children who now share their abilities before they passed away."
"And that's why we're here." Ig added,
"Yeah, our families all represent the 4 basic forms of Dust and we use our Aura to channel it around our bodies and give it form. In some cases, we can even combine our powers to create new powers."
"But, why are our powers so weak?"
"I didn't say the children of the original five shared all of their abilities. Like them, they had to train and use their powers if they wanted to be as powerful as their parents. That is, until they discovered a new way to gain more power in a short amount of time." She then took out a bottle of Fire Dust, "Bliz, you should know this."
"Absorbing more Dust?" Blizzard asked, "Well, I can make an Ice Pillar now thanks to it but I don't remember what happened before it. I think I blacked out." O.B sighed before she continued explaining,
"Absorbing more Dust will give you a new way to channel your powers, but it has a nasty side effect." O.B gave Igneous the Fire Dust, "Drink up."
"Uh… I kinda don't want to." Ig said, fearing what the side effect is,
"Do you want to get more powerful and set even more things on fire?" O.B asked. Ig thought about it before nodding, "Then eat it."
"Here goes nothing." He said before taking a deep breath and ate everything that was in the bottle. Suddenly, Igneous screaming as he fell off his chair, clawing at his chest,
"Igneous!" The girls shouted,
"O.B, what did you do!?" Skye yelled at her AC teacher,
"It's a normal reaction to absorbing more Dust, but here comes the side effect!" O.B shouted as Igneous shouted even louder as he felt his skin burning away, turning to ash. His entire body was on fire, inside and out as his flesh started to burn away. Luna couldn't look but couldn't look away. Blizzard was frozen in place, wondering if she was in that much pain when she absorbed her Ice Dust. Slowly, Igneous burnt away, his muscles and bones turning into nothing but ash. Ig's screams of pain finally stopped when his entire body burnt away, leaving him nothing but a pile of ash and a few glowing embers,
"Is Ig-kun… dead?" Luna asked,
"No, it's just his body's way of absorbing so much Dust in so little time and for his body to include the new Dust. He should be fine in a couple of seconds, just a bit of memory loss. He won't remember the pain, his brain just shuts down as soon as that Dust enters his system." O.B said. She was proven correct when the ash started to move around, reforming every single piece of Igneous that had burned away. After a few seconds, it was like nothing happened. He groaned as he stood up and wiped off the ash on his clothes and hair,
"Ugh… I feel like I just got massive heart burn." Ig said as he shook his head, "What happened?"
"What do you remember?" Skye asked,
"Um… I think it was O.B giving me Dust and me eating it. Everything after that is blank." Igneous then smelt something in the air, "Does anyone smell burning flesh?"
"Igneous, shut up and try something out." O.B told the boy in black. Igneous had a small flash in his head before he shot out a Fireball without absorbing any fire. He was surprised by the both the flash and recoil, causing him to stumble back a bit. He narrowed his eyes, deciding to test something out. He jumped and shot out a Fireball at his feet, giving him a boost into the air,
"Oh yeah, I could definitely get used to this." Ig said as he smiled and looked at his hands, "I'm gonna need more."
"NO!" BLS shouted at him,
"They're right. Absorbing Dust isn't healthy and there's a chance you could become Dust itself if you absorb too much." O.B pointed out, "Anyway, it's better if you train normally."
"Okay." Ig said, "So, who's going next?"
"I-I-I'll g-go." Luna stuttered as she stepped up, "Bliz-chan already had her turn and I want to get more power."
"If you're ready." O.B said as she got out a bottle of Earth & Electric Dust before getting out a larger, empty bottle, put both types of Dust in and shook it to mix it in, "You need to eat both at the same time or else you'll become unstable and… well, you don't want to find out. And that goes for everyone else. Don't consume any other Dust but your own."
"Here we go." Luna muttered before eating the compound of Dust. There was nothing at first, which was strange since Igneous' one happen instantly, before started to spasm as she felt millions of volts flow through her body. She collapsed on the floor, unable to control her as she start yelling in pain while electricity started going everywhere. Ig was going to try and help Luna but was stopped by Skye, telling him it was part of the process, but even she was worried herself. Just then, she screamed as rocks started sprouting out of her body. She stopped screaming once her entire body was nothing but rocks. It then burst, revealing a small ball of energy. Like Bliz's one, after a few seconds the rocks started to move and connect to the ball of energy, forming a humanoid shape and before long it crack open, revealing a very tired looking Luna. She fell out and was caught by Skye before she hit the ground,
"How do you feel?" Skye asked,
"Like I was buried six feet under and hit with a lightning bolt." Luna replied as she got to her feet. She took a deep breath raised her arm before tightening it into a fist, causing a Rock Gauntlet to form, "Heh, sweet."
"Try electricity." Ig suggested. Luna nodded and grabbed Revenge. She channeled her energy into her weapon before aiming it at a metal chair. The chair became electrified as she lifted it without touching it before throwing it against a wall,
"Electro-magnetism." Bliz muttered,
"Meh, you're still a lightning rod to me." Skye said as she nudged Luna, who nudged back,
"You're next, you know." Luna said, making Skye a bit scared, "And I've never seen you use your powers yet, now that I think about it."
"Well, consider this a rite of passage." Igneous spoke up,
"Don't worry, they say that the Satoshis' one is the least painful." O.B said as she gave Skye Wind Dust. The Blacksmith sighed in relief before eating her Dust, "That, or the most painful."
"What?" Skye managed to say before the process started to kick in. Her body started to bloat in random places like her arms and legs to her chest and head, and like all the others, it was extremely painful for her,
"We may want to find some cover now." O.B said as everyone started to slowly back away,
"Why?" Luna had to ask,
"Because Satoshis tend to explode from this." O.B answered as Skye's entire body started to blow up like a balloon,
"So basically, HIT THE DECK!" Igneous shouted as everyone dived behind the couch just as Skye popped with a loud boom. After a few seconds, everyone poke their heads out from the couch to see nothing of Skye was left except for her skull cap, "And this is normal?"
"Yep." O.B answered flatly,
"Did anything get thrown around?" Blizzard spoke up,
"Don't worry, everything's bolted down. And Skye should be reforming right about… now!" Suddenly, Skye's skull cap started to float at around Skye's height before she reappeared out of thin air. She stumbled around a bit before collapsing on the ground, completely out of breath,
"Need. Oxygen." Skye wheezed out. IBL & O.B got out from behind their cover and helped their friend up, "I feel like I just got choked by Homer Simpson." She managed to say between coughs,
"So, what's Skye immune to?" Ig asked. He knew he was immune to heat, Bliz was immune to cold and Luna was immune to electrocution but he wondered what Skye's power was,
"She should be immune to suffocation now, meaning she can survive underwater and even space since her body is constantly producing air now." O.B answered, "Alright Skye, what did you get?"
"Well, let's see." Skye then closed her eyes and channeled her energy into her feet and focused. Suddenly, she felt herself lift off the ground. When she opened her eyes, she saw that she had created a tornado powerful enough to float, yet small enough to not disturb anything in the room. She moved forward while in the tornado before it dissipated, "Gliding. Nothing offensive but it'll work."
"Well, it's way past midnight now so you better get back to Beacon." O.B said, "You have school tomorrow and an AC class."
"Okay, O.B." IBLS said before they started making their way towards the exit,
"And O.B?" Blizzard spoke up, getting her older sister's attention, "Thank you. For everything."
"So far, Blizzard. So far." She replied as Bliz left. When everyone left, she sighed as she got out her dark purple Dust crystal hidden in her shield,
"I hope you're proud of me guys." O.B told the crystal, "I miss you so much." She then put it away before she packed up her things and left the Training Centre, 'I won't let them end up like me. I won't!' She promised, 'For my team.' She then saw Team IBLS waiting for her, causing her to smile brightly, 'For my future.'
Save Game… Quit!
Whew! Done! See ya next chapter!
UknownHero signing off, my friends!