Chapter 10: Hot n' Cold Blues
Phoebe stood in a clearing, setting her briefcase on the ground and clapping two times. It unfolded, and her robot ViBe slowly climbed out from the frame, standing tall and dusting itself off. "Hello Phoebe. How may I be of assistance?" It asked, motioning a robotic bow for her. Phoebe smiled, putting her hands on her hips. "We're in the wild, so I'm gonna need your help defending me." She commanded, the interface on Vibe's face turned from blue to orange.
"Indeed. Defend the Phoebe!" It spoke with gusto, Phoebe patting it on the shoulder. "Alright! Let's get on it." She said, marching her way in front of them and scanning the area around her. "Find a topographic high point, then activate protocol 5." She replied, ViBe paused, scanning the area slowly. "Finding high point to start life form scan." It announced, its head locking to the right side, a small hill overlooking the rest of the arid forest.
Phoebe and ViBe marched to the hill, as Dorothy and Todd watched the action on camera. "I thought Phoebe was an instructor… Why is she in the exam?" Todd asked his supervisor. She looked up at him, before glancing back at her screen. "Phoebe actually signed up as a student. Her father signed a contract for her to also provide robotics to the academy. She's a borderline genius, but she signed up as a huntress first and foremost." Dorothy explained, Todd tucked his hands in his pockets, leaning in for a better view over her shoulder.
"So you felt like respecting her wishes." Todd mused, which got a nod for Dorothy. "Though, why not just sit back and have the cushy position of engineer, instead of being in danger constantly?" He asked, he tilting his head a little bit and stroking his chin. "I guess that's up to her." Dorothy replied. Back on the screen, Phoebe made it to the top of the hill, the interface of ViBe turned green.
"Beginning scan of 5 km area." It announced, its head scanning the horizon for a few seconds, before returning to blue. "Scan complete. 5 humans, and 15 grimm in the 5 kilometer area." It spoke succinctly, Phoebe adjusting her glasses. "And which human is closest in this area?" She asked. It scanned quickly again. "Half a kilometer south by south east." It concluded, Phoebe turning to face that direction, sliding down the hill and breaking into a run matched by ViBe.
"Alright! Think of this as a surprise party, then!" She joked, the robot faking laughter at her joke as she made her way toward the other human student. In the clearing stood a tall woman with mocha colored skin, her fire orange hair in a mess on her head with two feline ears sticking out the top. Her tail was coated in orange fur and striped with black. On her hands were two massive gauntlets with claws that appeared to be made out of a bone-like metal.
She was toe to toe with a massive beowolf, it's claws drawn and chasing her in circles. She dashed away from it, turning with insane speed and outpacing the beast. Every time it attacked, it would miss and stumble past her. She would quickly kick out her legs, turning around instantly. Launching a slash to it's chest. Her other hand gripped the metal gauntlet fingers around the beast's throat.
The woman unleashed a primal hissing sound. Pinning it to the ground and stabbing it in it's face over and over again with her other clawed gauntlet until the Beowolf cried out, before fading away into black dust. Her hand that was gripping it's throat closed, she got back onto one knee, looking around for any other Grimm in the area, before seeing a Silhouette in the corner of her eye.
"RAH!" She cried out, launching herself at Phoebe, claws outstretched with an insanely intense speed. ViBe blocked the attack, pinning itself against the girl as she looked at her with intense golden eyes. "Woah woah woah! Relax. We're all friends here." Phoebe spoke after letting her heartbeat settle down. The fierce expression of the tiger girl began to fade a bit, the robot tentatively letting go of her arm, the claws of her gauntlet retracting back in on themselves to become normal metal gloves.
"I hope you didn't do that to any other students, mauling them would probably get you kicked out of the Academy." Phoebe mused, the faunus girl gently dusting off her toned arms and looking up at her. "I guess I was so prepared for an ambush I let my instincts take over." The tiger girl spoke back, crossing her arms underneath her chest, she was much taller than Phoebe, and clad in a black tank top and orange shorts. There was a lot of skin showing on her outfit, and it looked rather tattered, almost like it was the only pair she had.
"Yeah, just keep in mind it's not student vs student… it's all of us vs Grimm." Phoebe replied, the woman gently tapping a foot on the ground. "Actually, I think I remember you from the exam last week." Phoebe said with a smile on her face. "Rao Wei Yun. Was it?" She asked, her finger poking on her bottom lip as Rao leaned her weight onto one leg. "Surprised you got that on the first try. When I came to Vacuo they called me 'Rao Way Yang.' I felt like the DMV was making fun of me or something." She commented, Phoebe just giving a casual shrug in response.
"Look, we have a 5 day time limit, we should probably get moving." Phoebe said, pulling out her scroll and checking her map. "Hey, I didn't say I chose to team up with you yet." Rao complained, her hands on her hips as she leaned over the shoulders of the shorter woman while she was scanning the area. Rao was slowly walking around ViBe, her gaze wandering a bit as she inspected it.
"Can I help you?" ViBe asked her, Rao looking with very curious eyes as she put her finger in front of her lips. "I still don't know what you are." She asked the robot, who stood up straight, pushing its chest out. "I am ViBe! The first ever powered combat automaton capable of independant thought, created entirely by Phoebe Perdix, the prodigal daughter of the computer genius Waylon Perdix, a subsidiary of the SDC. I also make the best pancakes in all of remnant." It announced in an almost prebaked voice clip.
"...What." Rao spoke flatly, missing about half the words in that sentence. Phoebe just pinched the bridge of her nose, annoyed she'll have to explain all of this to the woman later. She looked back up at Rao, noticing the two feline ears poking out of her wild mane of hair. "Wait… You're a Faunus?" She asked, pointing a finger at her, but Rao just gently brushed the accusing finger aside. "What about it?" She asked, her ears flattening to her head some as Phoebe took a deep, nervous breath to ask her questions.
"...Can I touch your ears? They look so fuzzy." She asked, and excited face behind her glasses, but the statement only got a blank, confused stare by Rao. "...Touch.. My… ears?" Rao questioned, her head tilting to the side out of confusion. Phoebe sighed, stomping a foot. "Look, I'll explain all the fancy terminology later on ViBe is supposed to mean. If we are gonna be allies, nay, FRIENDS… Let me rub your fuzzy kitty ears." She spoke with passion, but Rao just looked dumbfounded in response.
"...That's weird. Don't do that." Rao spoke, shooting down Phoebe and making her break into overly dramatic crying in response. "They never let me touch em!" She complained, Rao sighing a bit as ViBe walked back over to the map. "I believe the mountain monument will be the closest for us to reach, Ms. Perdix." Vibe explained, which Rao looked at the map. "I'm pretty sure we can climb a mountain pretty easily." Rao explained, which Phoebe nodded, turning to the north and tucking her scroll away somewhere safe.
The two began to walk along the trail as the forest became less dry and more rocky, the verticality increased and they began to march up the hill until Phoebe began to slow and pant. Rao looked back every minute or so, and Phoebe would be another 10 feet farther behind her every single time.
"What's wrong, Phoebe? You getting tired?" Rao asked, Phoebe putting hands on her knees and stopping, panting quietly from running out of breath. "I-I'm not that suited for long walks, I'm sorry." Phoebe explained, walking over to a nearby tree and leaning against it. Rao rolled her eyes, walking down to crouch in front of her. "You got any water in your canteen?" Rao asked, she pulled out her canteen, popping the cap off of it and tilting it over her head to try and get some of the fluid into her mouth, but it was dry.
"I guess I slammed this down too fast." Phoebe said with an awkward chuckle, Rao reached to her belt, undoing the cap to her own canteen and handing it to her. "Take a drink, we'll refill them when we come across some running water." Rao spoke, her voice a bit calmer than how it usually sounded. Phoebe nodded, gently drinking Rao's water, taking a deep breath afterward and handing the Faunus back her canteen, she closed it and put it back in her pocket, grabbing Phoebe's hand and using her strong arms to pull her back up to standing, but Phoebe was wobbing a little bit.
"Do you want a break? If you're in the sun too long you get sun sickness." Rao explained, but Phoebe cocked an eyebrow. "You mean heatstroke?" She asked, but Rao just shrugged in response. "Whatever. Do you want a break or not?" Rao said, somewhat impatient this time. "Well.. I don't want to slow us down." She said, before gesturing over to her Robot. "ViBe?" She asked of it, the robot walking up and looking at her. "Let me ride on your back for now." She said, the robot immediately kneeling and leaving it's arms to it's side, letting Phoebe climb onto it and sit piggyback for now.
ViBe stood back up, turning back to the north and continuing to walk. Phoebe quietly checking her Scroll to see the next destination as the duo head further north to the mountain.