DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN RWBY, IT IS OWNED BY ROOSTER TEETH!
"Mmmm… pizza" - normal speech
"No yeah, just interrupt me like that, sure" - a character's thoughts
"I WILL BOIL YOUR TESTICLES!" - Warwick/Tony trying to be scary… or gods talking… you never know
We exited the mine, greeted by the sun being an ass and almost blinding me. After a few moments, my eyes adjusted to the light, though I still had to squint to net get fucked by the sunlight. Pulling me from my internal curse session came the voice of Coco.
"You uh… you sure you ok? You look a bit… fucked up", she said.
"What are you talking about?", I asked, just in time for a very weird and painful movement to happen on my face, as it, I figured out after a moment, was adjusting itself.
"I mean you look better but I am not gonna question how that happened…", said Coco with slight disgust on her face.
"Trust me no one needs to know how it happened.", I said patting my face to make sure everything was where it was supposed to be, though afterwards, the slight feeling of the hair growth was probably enough to drive me insane if it lasts more than a few seconds. In a not so thought out idea I decided to turn back human. Thankfully my face didn't look like Leatherface had a jab at it.
"How about we forget that moment ever happened?", I suggested.
"I'll try but that image is gonna give me nightmares.", said Coco with a chuckle.
"Funny, now come one let's get going, I wanna get back to town.", I said walking down the asphalt towards the exit. Of course, I had to wait for them at said exit as, unlike me, they had gear they wanted to collect.
The first hour or so was peaceful, with the occasional exchange between Coco and Velvet in the back. But as we were walking, I couldn't shake the feeling that someone was watching us. I couldn't see anything no matter how hard I looked, and the large amount of shrubbery didn't help either. My uneasiness eventually caught the attention of the others.
"Hey, Tony? You feeling ok?", asked Yatsuhashi.
"Yeah, yeah I'm fine, why?", I asked looking at the treetops.
"Because you are more nervous than a ferret on an airship.", said Coco. At which point I had to stop for a second, confused by the sentence.
"Like a ferret on a… what kind of comparison is that?", I asked.
"Trust me you don't wanna know.", said Coco with a frown, "But I am serious you are nervous. Like more than usual."
"*sigh*, I just feel like someone is watching us… I don't like it.", I said turning my head to look around.
"Somehow I don't believe that… did even sleep last night?", asked Coco.
"Yeah… a bit", I said.
"So maybe you're just sleep-deprived and no one is actually watching us", said Velvet though I could see she was also a tad nervous. I didn't know if it was because she could feel something too or if my words creeped her out.
"Yeah, maybe… haven't had any restful sleep in a while.", I said.
The rest of the walk back was filled with a bit more conversation, mainly between Coco, Velvet and Yatsuhashi, though they did ask me some random questions about how I survived in nature alone.
"Do you hunt for food?", asked Coco.
"Yep… managed to find a deer last night.", I said.
"So you just kill them like that.", said Coco, though I could feel where this conversation was going even if her voice was calm.
"I mean I gotta eat, don't I? And before we get into an argument, yes I do sometimes feel bad for killing them, I have tried my best to go after either older or sick animals, at least that way they don't suffer so much… also, I bury them after I take what I need, I don't just let them rot in the open.", I said.
"That is both confusing and amazing at the same time.", said Yatsuhashi, "But I do understand why you have to do it."
"Do you now?", asked Coco.
"Well when you think about it, if he is deep into the wilderness and can't get to a town quickly he needs to get food somehow.", answered Yatsuhashi.
"Basically what he said… also, I am pretty much use to it at this point. I just become a part of the circle of life when I am in the wild, don't really think about it that often if I gotta be honest.", I said.
"Do you eat them raw or?", trailed off Coco.
"Well no, I ain't that fucking savage. I get a small fire going, cook it a little bit, gobble it up and done… the best part is the liver though.", I said in thought.
"The… liver? Really?", asked Coco surprised.
"Well, when it's cooked right yes, still good even without any seasoning or preparing. Other than that I go for the thighs and ribs. It's good enough so I don't feel like something is missing, but nothing beats what you can do with ribs with proper seasoning, and put a bit of something spicy, that shit is like the food of gods", I said, slightly salivating at the thought of cooked pork ribs.
They managed to stop my ranting about the different ways to prepare food, as I may as well have written a book about it and we continued on our path. While the momentary distraction did lift that sense of being watched for a while, afterwards it came back and I could swear it was as if whatever what watching was always from the west.
I tried my best not to seem too nervous again, a lot more successful than last time.
Around early in the afternoon we came out of the woods and could see the town in front of us. Going through the gates one of the local police escorted us to the station as the Chief wanted to talk to us as soon as we had come back.
"So you cleared them out", asked the Chief smoking from an old looking pipe, that was just a tad too long.
"Pretty much.", said Coco, "We also found some weird egg-sack looking things, any idea what they might be?"
"Egg-sacks," the Chief said bluntly, "As far as I know, the Aranea are the only Grimm that has a known way to reproduce, the specifics are unknown, but they are 100% sacks that contain pre-adult Aranea, you destroyed them I hope?" then after look over Velvet, he chuckled, "Well look at you girl, I'd say you have, though I recommend you get yourself cleaned up quick, Aranea slime stains a lot."
"How much time does it take for an Aranea to hatch?" I asked out of curiosity.
The Chief hummed, took a few puffs from his pipe before he answered, "It takes them around a week or so to form from what I remember. After that, they are still way too small to kill for themselves" his tone became a bit more Grimm, "depending on how many people they are fed it can take between a day and a month for them to mature…"
He then looked at me, "Trust me, kid, sometimes, you don't want to know how the Grimm live… and I have been in the wild, mother nature is like an angel compared to whatever commands these spawns of evil."
"Anyway" he sighed, "The bullhead you came in had a fuel leak, or at least that's what the mechanics said. A part they need is coming with the shipping tomorrow, so for right now you are stuck here. I have gotten you guys rooms in the inn down the road. Get some sleep, clean up and tomorrow around 10 or so the ship should be ready."
We exited the building and the same police officer escorted us to the inn, Coco had stayed behind to do a full report on what had happened. The building itself, while only two stories high, had a very homey feel to it, and much like the rest of the town the architecture reminded me of home. The walls of the first floor were concrete with one meter tall, from the ground, cover-up made from different stones, the second floor, was extended by about half a meter out and was made out of sturdy looking wood with a dark brown colour, wooden pillars extended from the second floor to the ground in even intervals.
The inside was warm and welcoming. The walls were adorned with paintings of landscapes and wildlife. Two small tables surrounded by sofas were on each side of the square room and at the end, a receptionist was sitting behind his desk, and from the look of the orange animal years on his head that ended with a white tip, I guessed he was a Fox Faunus.
The officer that escorted us had a quick chat with the receptionist, who then tossed Yatsuhashi, Velvet and me a key. Then explained that the Chief had assigned rooms for each of us with Fox and Yatsuhashi being in one room on the second-floor similar t Velvet and Coco who were next to them, and I was in a single bedroom on the third floor.
Velvet said she was going to the bath to scrub the green off of herself, while Yatsuhashi went to his room, Fox staying behind to wait for Coco.
I decided to go out and roam about in the town.
And roam I did. It was rather peaceful, everyone looked happy. Street vendors screaming their lungs out, children both Faunus and humans playing together, younger guys and girls sitting and chatting in various coffee shops, restaurants and the park in the middle of town.
Almost forgot about the idea that Faunus were being discriminated against until I saw two humans having a rather heated 'discussion' with a group of Faunus. I was about to interject when another group of humans and Faunus came and shooed the two idiots away. Which when I noticed how much the looked like skin-heads from back home sent a shiver up my spine.
"Guess some things are the same no matter the world huh...", I thought heading down the road.
The entire trip took me a lot longer than I thought it would, as by the time I was back the inn it was almost 19:30.
Walking inside I noticed that the chief was there, talking to the receptionist. When he noticed me walk in he finished his conversation and came my way.
"Hello mister Wolfson" he greeted formally.
"Hello, Chief… Rick?" I said uncertainly.
The old man smirked as he sat down on one sofa, "So you managed not to get you fellow students killed."
"I hope that was meant as a compliment," I said sitting down next to him.
"It was. That means you were just what Ozpin described you as," he said with a smile.
"And that was?" I asked a bit nervous.
"A smart kid that cares for the good of the people and about his friends. You really aren't like most Loners kid… that's good, means you can change the world for the better" he said.
"I don't know about the world, but I try my best to help people out"
"Ozpin did say you were lacking a bit self-confidence" mused the chief.
"How well do you know Professor Ozpin for him to say such amazing things about me," I asked a bit annoyed.
"Well, he was my teacher way back in the day," he said with pride.
"You attended Beacon?"
"Obviously, but it wasn't easy… being a Loner never is, you can probably attest to that. Everything you do, everything you accomplish, you do all on your own… no team, just you. But that's what makes a Loner strong, you don't depend on others to survive, while still being able to help them… the ones that don't get it in their head that they are the next best thing after sliced bread that is, but they die quickly enough so they don't hurt the world."
"I think I got the message Chief, trust me I know my strengths and my limits, doubt I will ever think of myself like that."
"That's good, you're a 1 in a 100"
"Well, 1 in a 100 doesn't sound that rare."
"When there have been barely over 150 Loners… it is" he said with a more serious tone, "Anyway, came to check up on you, Coco said you did well, you have some good friends behind your back Mister Wolfson, try not to lose them" he stood up, "And call me Rick when I am off duty, no need to remind me of my job when I am trying to relax. Take care, Mister Wolfson."
"Oh yeah, just throw in a 'you're a wizard harry' in there why don't ya" I laughed and headed up to my room.
Deciding to try and get a full night's rest, and like the 90 y/o grandma that I was, I went to bed at around 20:30.
But the ease I had felt from walking around town, and talking with the chief, that made me forget all the shit I was going through came to an end.
I could not for the life of me go to sleep for a solid 3 hours. And eventually, when I did I woke up not 30 minutes later, this process kept on throughout the entire night, plus an occasional yell that I heard from outside that made me jump like a frog. But every time I looked out the window, there was nothing but the quiet of the night and noises of the crickets.
"It's just hallucinations from not sleeping Tony calm yourself", I thought as I was going drifting off until I suddenly woke again. Deciding to take a breather I got up and opened the window. As a gentle breeze came through it felt like a string was pulling me. Not in a physical sense, but mentally, I felt a need to go out, into the woods.
"Ok yeah… I am going mad" I thought, and after a few more seconds of debating if I should run outside the mental tether suddenly stopped pulling.
For the rest of the night, which was about 2 hours at this point I stayed awake. I was scared to go back to sleep, whatever was fucking with my mind was either my imagination or a person, and at that point, I didn't really want to test it, even though nothing happened through the last hours of the night.
A few hours later and a hot cup of tea with team CFVY and we were on our way to the bullhead that was going to get us back to Beacon. The others were not very chatty in the morning it seemed like, not that I was in the mood to talk, being both freaked out by the evening and very much annoyed as well.
"Ah there you are," said Chief Rick a lot chipper than he usually was, now in his uniform, as we closed to the bullhead, "The repairs are finished and you can get going, I wish for you a nice trip, and thank you for the cleanup."
"No need to thank us Chief, just doing what we were sent here to do," Coco said.
"No, no, a simple thanks is always given, no matter how small the task. Plus I am feeling a lot chipper today… now go before I stop" he said with a smile under his moustache.
Another officer carrying a large black case came up and left it next to the chief.
"AH! Finally!" the chief said happily. Opening up the case he fiddled inside it for a few seconds before pulling out a very large sword.
The Zweihander was as long as Coco was tall, and was a bit thicker than what a sword usually would be. The fuller had a dark red glow to it with small channels dug into the blade itself that went from the middle of the sword to its edge.
The cross-guard was simple, but the ends were pointed and also had a red glow to them. The grip had a simplistic design but was wrapped in black leather with a silver spiral going around it. And finally, the pommel was in the shape of an eagles head.
"Cool Sword.", said Coco.
"That it is, she was being repaired the last few days so I didn't have her on me." said the chief proudly holding her and giving her a few tests swipes through the air, "Well enough of that, you kids should get going, I really don't want your headmaster to be yelling in my ear because you were late an hour."
We said our goodbyes and hipped on the bullhead. It took a moment for the engines to come to life and we took off.
Just as we were ascending alarms started blaring throughout the town. Looking out we could see in the distance, from the forest, that a massive pack of beowolves and Ursa's were running towards the walls.
Before anyone of us could freak out, we saw the Grimm suddenly get turned into smoke as the ground beneath them exploded with force and turrets came to life as they came out of the walls and began shooting at the incoming horde of Grimm.
"We gotta get down there and help", suddenly said Coco, before going up to the drivers only to stop herself when she saw that they were both robots, "FUCK!" she yelled.
"What's wrong?" I asked.
"It's just two bots! And unless you can make em obey orders we are stuck with what they are told to do" she said.
"Can't we just break em and get the bullhead down?" I asked.
"Do you know how to pilot a bullhead" she asked and after a shake from my head she sighed, "Yeah, thought so."
"I don't think intervening is going to be necessary," said Velvet looking out the window of the bullhead.
Gathering around we could see that a very large majority of Grimm were, in the most simple of terms, being fucked. Most of the lesser Grimm were exploded like pinatas and the larger ones were getting gunned down by the turrets. That is until a very large and pissed off Beowolf came running out of the forest. It was large enough to rival an Ursa and was more armoured than a bunker, and it was charging straight at the gate, bullets and explosions seemingly not affecting it.
Just as it was about to crash into the gate, a figure jumped off of the wall and came crashing down on it. But as it was not enough a massive pillar of flame suddenly erupted from the ground consuming the person and the Grimm. A few moments later in a large charred hole, was standing only a man. Focusing in we were able to make out the form of the Chief, holding his large sword over his shoulder.
Then like the old bad-ass that he had suddenly become he charged at the rest of the Grimm. And while he was not as fast as most Huntsmen or Huntresses I had seen, his sword was passing through the Grimm like a hot knife through butter. Which was really thematic as the sword itself was lit aflame, and an occasional burst of fire would come out of the ground and eat up an unsuspecting Grimm.
We stood there, in the bullhead, watching from the window, our jaws agape. And no one spoke until we were out of sight of the fighting.
"Yeah… pretty sure they have it handled" I said, a simple nod from the rest was their only comment.
Professor Ozpin's office/ same time
A very concerned Glynda had just barged into Ozpin's room and handed him a folder filled with papers.
"Is this...?" began Ozpin.
"It is," said Glynda.
Opening the folder and flipping through the papers Ozpin began reading out loud the most important bit he was waiting for.
"Test Results: The DNA of the subject is consistent with that of humans, though no match with any other DNA sample has been made thus far. While there is no doubt that the subject is human, there are trace amounts of other DNA and RNA, that do not belong to either human or any of the recorded Faunus DNA and RNA samples. While the subject is undoubtedly human we can only assume this to be for 80% of their DNA, the rest is unknown." read Ozpin.
"Read the one with the orange marker on it," said Glynda
Opening said page, Ozpin began reading again, "While muscle mass is somewhat consistent with a person of the subject's size, the bone structure isn't. The bones are not only at least 3 times denser than average but the bone marrow in them is also more compact. Under the observation of the patient, while they were still in medical, the creation of red blood cells had been seen to be at least 5 times as fast, while degradation of blood cells was at least 2 times as slow, this, to an extent, can be attributed as a factor to the fast recovery of the subject."
"And the last page," said Glynda.
"It is unknown as to how or why the subjects organs, tissue, blood and bones are at a state of, in layman's terms, turned to 100. It is unknown why the cells can survive outside of the subject for an extended period, nor why the subject's blood, when in one case a small drop fell onto dead cells, exhibited acidic properties, destroying the cells. As a final letter to Professor Ozpin, we request immediate containment of the subject, to be sent to researchers in Atlas, these discoveries could lead to a revolution in the medical field. We await your answer. Doctor Schwarz and Doctor Blanche." finished Ozpin.
Silence took over the room.
"Are you going to?" asked Glynda.
"Forcibly capture Mister Wolfson, put him in a cage and send him off to some mad scientists in Atlas to be prodded and poked like a test rabbit, so that they may be chance that his blood, DNA and whatever else may be beneficial to medicine?" asked Ozpin, "No my dear Glynda I don't think I will, he may have blood that can cure every known disease, but 'capturing him' and 'sending him to Atlas', is possibly the most evil thing I could think of. And not to mention he knows of Her, do you not think he would just accept being a test rabbit? No, he will get angry and join Her, that I can guarantee." finished Ozpin with a serious tone, "People have betrayed me for less..." he thought.
"In any case, Ironwood will be coming soon, he may want to see those files," she said.
"I am sure he will, but I will tell him everything I have told you now." said Ozpin before getting up, "I am going to go out, in a few hours team CFVY and Mister Wolfson will be coming back."
"Maybe you can talk to the 'mad scientists' down in the medical bay" joked Glynda.
"I think I will," said Ozpin.
AN: HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!
Yes, I am late a bit again, *gets thrown a calendar in the face marking almost 3 months since the last update*… OK maybe a bit longer than a bit, but this time it wasn't because I was a lazy twat… mostly. Turns out studying, being sick, twice and having to deal with relatives coming over for a month for the Christmas seasons takes a fuck ton of time… and also writing stuff with my bud Lambda38, sure does take time as well (if you wanna check the two stories were writing together - "Sword and Shadow", on my acc and "The Moon, the Earth, and the Underworld", on his acc, I highly recommend them, the good).
Also, I know the chapter is shorter than usual, but I am already half-way through the next one so there should be at least one more chapter this week.
Now before I get to the Reviews, I need to ask a very serious question. Do any of you (looks at follows and favs, stats sweating) quite many (for me), lovely people would be interested in joining a discord server, I know it's a bit random, but I thought hey why the hell not, a place for people to talk and share their fics, and to talk about other peoples fics. And maybe also be a little less crowded than other discord servers, cuz having a few thousand people in a server, cuz I have seen a few of those, is a bit much. So if you do leave a review please tell me if you want to join, hell I might even make a poll… yeah sounds good, I'll make that.
Now to the awesome reviewers:
My boi Lambda38 (chapter 19 . Oct 10, 2019) – We have talked about this no answer for you!
Blaze2121 (chapter 19 . Oct 10, 2019)– (I ran out of breath reading this) I wish I was not such a lazy twat, cuz I would have made a chapter for Halloween. Also hormones… not really in the mindset to explore into that territory right now, but who knows, maybe Tony gets super horny one day lol.
Dragonlord174 (chapter 17 .Nov 20, 2019) – it's longer cuz Lambda is lazier than me somehow. Also, no idea what you're talking about, mine and Lambda's upload schedule are very consistent, it's just time and space are fucking with us so it seems like we are not uploading regularly. And I still haven't gotten to my crazy parts of the story, though they are closer than you think.
Scurra71900 (chapter 19 .Dec 14, 2019) – I am gonna be serious for a second. This review, every time I read it, it makes me cry, I don't know why. But I am hoping that whatever little joy I bring you guys, by writing my little story, I really hope that joy can persist through all the chapters I write. I have always enjoyed making people smile, so I hope my writing is enough to make you guys smile. Cuz any time I get a review, which to this point have always been filled with positivity, I always smile, knowing that I may have made another person out there smile… you lot are actually making my cry and the joy I experience from knowing I am giving other people joy is something I can never trade for anything in the world.
Thank you all for sticking with me through my laziness and totally consistent upload schedule. And I hope I keep making people smile and laugh… honestly because of you lot I may have gotten out of a dark place I was around a year ago, so thanks…
Ok teary/wholesome moment over, get lost ya beautiful lot, I gotta go punch a wall to feel manly again. See ya in a few days.