Chapter 8
Give and Take
"I swear to Oum, this thing is going to be the death of me." Were the words echoing through the Weapon Forge of Shade Academy.
The Forge was a spacious room with numerous grindstones and workbenches lining the walls, shelves stocked with all sorts of tools and vials of dust. There was a smelter in the middle of the room surrounded by several buckets of water, oil and anvils. Filled with the smell of smoke and heat with a faint tinge of sweat, there was no doubt this was a room of creation. Creation of the mechanisms of combat and destruction, but creation nonetheless.
The breakfast rush of 9:30 was in full swing several halls and floors away thus for a time leaving the forge to a single occupant, Nolan of team BRNZ.
The young man was in front of a workbench with his weapon in front of him, a screwdriver and a pair of pliers in his hands. The hilt of the weapon was open revealing a complex contraption with several wires connected to a yellow crystal. Some of the wires that connected to the jewel-like item had been knocked loose during sparring the previous day and how Nolan had to fix it ASAP, considering that unlike his friend's weapons his was useless without dust. Even his partner, the sniper of the team had a function to use her rifle as a melee weapon without dust.
Edel Herz, the cattle prod, possibly the most ineffective weapon one could imagine for killing Grimm, but ultimately it was all the boy could get his hands on. Moisture farmer turned Huntsman in training, there wasn't all that much in the way of weapons on the farm, a few modifications however to the tool was all it had taken to give the weapon enough kick to incapacitate Grimm, at least enough for other methods of attack.
"And... got it!" Nolan said proudly as he took a step back, a wild grin on his face as he closed the opening to the inner workings of his weapon. Picking up the prod he flicked it once and smiled at the satisfying buzz and crackle of the electric energy. If there is one thing that Professor Lazul would ever say that was undeniable, it was her praise of Dust and all the possibilities the elements provided.
"Hey Nolan," Came a cheerful voice from the door accompanied by the creaking of said door opening. Nolan turned and saw clad in her usual pink casual wear was Misty, a member of BRNZ's sister team DAMD. Holding her sword, the Dual Matrix, in hand she walked towards the grindstone and with the stone now moving the bladed edge of the weapon was leant against the moving rock, sparks coming off as the edge was refined.
"Good to know I'm not the only one who holds weapon maintenance in high regard." Misty smiled, her eyes not wavering from the task at hand.
"I mean, it's a pain in the rear, but Edel Herz is the only thing I've got," Nolan commented brandishing the lengthy blunt weapon a bit.
There was a single moment, the sparks ceased and a smile vanished replaced by a scowl. Slowly and distinctly, Misty moved her head, brown looking directly into pink. "Did you really, just talk about your weapon as a burden?" She said indignation dripping from every syllable.
Nolan was taken aback but nodded ever so slightly. "It's just... It's improvised and..." The dark haired huntsman began only to be cut off by a stern almost angry huntress.
"Edel Herz, is your weapon, you take it into battle and it's the first line of defense you have even before your Aura. I can understand if there is a problem that needs to be fixed but the absolute essential thing when starting that process, is respect for the weapon." She ranted, a glare in her eye resembling that of a scolding mother or someone with wisdom.
Nolan blinked a few times, "Okay... Aren't you supposed to be the sweet one on your team?" Nolan asked, a crack at humor in an attempt to split the tension that had been built up by the professional fighter.
As quickly as it had gone the smile returned, "Yeah, sorry, just something I learned from my mom, she drilled the respect for your weapon into my mind thoroughly while we forged mine." she said apologetically.
"I got you," Nolan said nodding as he looked down at his armament. "Still, every match the wires come apart, that's not going to work while on the field."
Misty her light smile still evident placed a hand on her chin in contemplation, "I take it there are wires going from a Dust Crystal into the rest of the weapon yeah? Maybe Lazul could help." Misty thought aloud, "She does seem to know what she's doing with Dust after all."
Nolan nodded, a wide and genuine smile going over his face, the best idea he'd heard in a long time, completely boggled his mind how he didn't think of it. No that was wrong, he knew exactly why he didn't think to ask Professor Lazul about the weapon and that was his basic knowledge of Dust telling him it was fine. The mad scientist woman surely could spot something in the crystal, a piece the former farmer took for granted.
A curt nod was all Misty gave as she turned to the grindstone, "Glad to help, now I need to get back to Dual Matrix, she isn't going to sharpen herself after all."
Nolan nodded, "Alright, catch you later Misty," he said with a wave as he left the room.
Whilst the duelist and the farmhand were talking, several floors up in the cafeteria, the other six members of the sister teams were all getting breakfast, though an air of ease permeated through the gathered companions, there was still one among them who wanted a serious conversation.
Brawnz looked around at the assembled group and cleared his throat in an attempt to get their attention. It took a second for May and Daff to stop talking, but a light swat from Dia silenced the two.
"Alright, so I've been thinking, we need to create a team training schedules." Brawnz suggested, "If we want to qualify to travel to Vale."
"Scheduled? What?" May asked looking at her team leader as if he'd grown a second head, "I mean... good idea but how often we talking?'
"I was thinking five or six two and a half hour sessions a week," Brawnz suggested.
A loud coughing accompanied this statement; Daff who had been taking a drink keeled over and began coughing a violent cough as he accidently inhaled the liquid in shock. Slamming a fist into his chest in a loud and to an outsider who didn't know the cup had been in hand very much exaggerated display of horror.
Finally, after a few seconds, the fluid was gone the blonde boy turned to the pink-clad fighter who had suggested the training and said, "Have you met our teachers? Professor Rain alone is taking up an hour and a half of our nights for homework."
The exasperation was dripping from Brawnz's next statement, "Are you for real? I'm talking about representing the school to the rest of Remnant and you're worried about homework?"
"Not homework," Daff said a soft smile merging onto his face as he said, "It's the lack of free time I'm concerned about."
There was a full minute of silence; the tension was palpable as hazel eyes met violet. Dia and May both took to switching their heads between the two staring off and Amethyst's cat ears perked up in curiosity and apprehension.
"Alright Brawnz, relax man," Roy said putting a hand on his partner's shoulder. The gesture was followed by a deep breath from the recipient as he nodded and let his eyes soften once again.
"Brawnz, you know I agree with you, but Daff is at least sort of right," Dia said, "There is a point where we draw a line on what's non-negotiable," she said if only slightly imploringly.
"Ha, see, even the hard case herself agrees with me!" Daff said excitedly with a wild smile and a glimmer of victory in his eye, only to be snuffed out by his team leader turning her head to face him with lowered eyebrows, a disappointed look non-verbally saying a single word, "really?"
"In any case," Roy said getting everyone's attention with a firm but calm tone of voice, "We're missing two people, let's talk about this as a full group at least shall we?"
"Where is Nolan anyway?" Brawnz asked, looking around.
"Down at the Forge, he had to fix up Edel Herz," May responded.
"Edel Herz?" Brawnz asked raising his eyebrow in confusion, "You mean his cattle prod?"
"Yeah, it's what he named it," May said shrugging.
"Named... the weapon?" Brawnz asked.
It was at this moment that both Daff and Dia smacked their own faces and left their hands there, a facepalm for their friend's daftness.
'Oh, the words Misty is going to have for him when she hears that.' Daff thought with a shake of his head.
Whilst this conversation went on, Nolan finally reached his way to the classroom where Applications of Dust were held and found that the door was left ajar if only slightly. Knocking ever so tentatively, Nolan was greeted with a hearty and energetic voice yelling up at the doorway "Come in!"
Walking into the room, the blue-clad boy was met with the sight of the professor sitting at her desk with several vials of dust in front of her.
"Oh uh, Professor, I was hoping to ask you a question." Nolan said tentatively as he walked down with his weapon still sheathed beside him. A bit nervous, half because of the ridiculousness of the circumstances and embarrassment at his weapon's current position, the other half just apprehensiveness at Lazul in general.
"Of course young man, I'm always here to share my knowledge!" She exclaimed proudly.
"Alright well I've got a bit of a problem here, see," Nolan began pulling out Edel Hertz from his side and revealing the crystal housed in the hilt. "The wires keep coming apart and well... I thought it might be a problem with the crystal since it's the only thing I..." He continued but was cut off as Lazul looked down her eyes gazing into only the shard of Dust before her.
"Lightning Dust shard, but flawed and imperfect, hence unable to keep its charge. My boy, I'm sorry but this weapon is on a downward spiral." She explained, "See, these cracks along here are imperfections which make the crystal slowly deteriorate and produce less and less energy."
That did make sense, the crystal hadn't been changed since it was first placed in the young man's hands several years ago, if Dust really did have a limit to the amount of energy it could maintain then this one should be running out by now.
"Now," she said, "Fortunately for both of us, I need an imperfect shard for an experiment I have planned!" The blue-clad professor smiled as she got to her feet and walked towards a cabinet on the right side of the room. She pulled open the drawer and revealed a yellow shard, almost identical in shape to the one in Nolan's weapon. "Trade you?"
There was a pang of guilt in Nolan's chest, the professor was just giving away a Dust Crystal to him, pride or just a kind of personal guilt, something or another inside the boy's mind was telling him it was a bad gesture to take it.
'No, she told you she could use yours, it's not taking, it's a trade.' Nolan reminded himself of his teacher's words as he disconnected the crystal from his weapon and handed the so-called imperfect diamond to the woman who likewise handed him the more recent one.
"Hey Professor, what exactly do you need an imperfect Dust crystal for?" He asked a note of curiosity in his voice.
"I'm hoping to find out if the tears in the structure of the gem contain the element in explosions and whether or not the X=EF equation of Dust ordinance is effected by the solidarity of the G factor." Lazul explained simply.
Nolan gave a nod, "I see, alright, well, see you next class, Professor," He said before walking out.
"I swear she made all that up on the spot." He mumbled looking downwards towards his weapon and the new found power source his teacher had given him.
A smile mixed with a frown in the strangest of ways. Happy that he might have figured out and solved a critical problem with his weapon and a bit confused and slightly angered at accepting charity.
'No, it wasn't charity it was a trade.' Nolan chastised himself again, however hard it was to remember that given how uneven the trade seemed in the boy's mind, it was what he had to remind himself. Give and take, that's how it all goes after all.
The blue-clad huntsman in training walked through the halls for several minutes, heading for his dorm room in hopes of seeing the rest of his friends before going down to install his newfound energy source for his weapon. When the door opened, however, he found several eyes trained on him.
Brawnz had been standing in the middle of the room with a projected screen in front of him and a calendar.
One look into May's eyes was all it took for Nolan to get what was going on.
"Oh dear Oum," Nolan said, shaking his head realizing at once he was in for a lecture or something similar.
A/N - Sorry for the day late, kind of got carried away with the extra shifts at work I was given and waited until the last minute to start writing this.
In any case we have us another chapter, next chapter should be a bit more fun so keep an eye open for that. We're only a handful (two or three) Chapters away from the end of the first arc, and then we'll start seeing some real action occur.
In any case I'll see you all next Friday
Until Next Time Ashbringer36 Out