Author's Notes:

What's up gamers? Long time no see, huh? Quite a lot has happened since the last time I've updated - for example I'm no longer a high school student, instead I'm at a university. Also the whole situation with a certain virus didn't really make anything easier.

When it comes to writing, I had a real blockade for the past half a year, unable to write practically anything - I got bored with most my games, I got bored with RWBY, and so I didn't really feel the need to get back to writing this fic in particular. Recently however, a certain videogame - Devil May Cry 5 rekindled my desire to write - the characters, fights, and general badassery was exactly what I always strived for in this fic.

And so, here I am, dirty and faceless, looking back at the mess called Lost Traveller Reborn, and can't help but think: It's not terrible, but I could've done better. Much better.

So rather than scrapping the story for the 4th time and rewriting everything again, I'll try to go as far as i can with this fic while also repairing some of my mistakes here on the fly, so get ready for the possibility of some drastic retcons.

What I'm trying to say is, if any of you'll ever want to write a fic about anything, make an actual plan first, rather than being like me and trying to write everything on the fly. I have learned this lesson and that's what I'm doing with my other fic - Remnant Heroes (RIMN) - that, in my opinion, is worth checking out.

With all that said, I hope you can still somehow enjoy this story, as I believe with this chapter we finally got over the most boring point of the plot (at least for me) and I myself am looking forward to new fight scenes.

Cya next time.

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"And don't you dare come back here without the stuff!" - a shout could be heard, followed by the sound of doors being almost slammed-shut right behind them.

"You have angered him."

"Really? I thought he liked me."

"Regardless, what 'stuff' did he even mean?"

"You don't need to worry about that."

Jacob donned a smirk on his face and took a deep breath of the fresh air. 'Agh! Finally! It felt like i was stuck in this shop for half a year!'

"O… kay?" - Rem decided to leave it at that as she closed the truck's hatch, locking up all the just bought ammunition boxes inside the truck's trunk. "Anyway, get inside so we can get to our next destination."

"Yeah, sure."

As he got his ass inside the truck, he yawned from boredom and stretched his arms.

"Are you perhaps not entertained?"

He shrugged in response to Rem's ironic question.

"Yeah, I'm pretty bored, actually…" - after these words, he just waved his hand towards the road - "...Let's just go and get this over with."

"Speaking of…" - Rem started speaking as she sat on the driver's seat - "...Why don't you want to drive? Do you not have a driver's license?"

"Obviously, I do…" - he proudly lied while pointing his finger upwards, causing her to raise her eyebrow. - "...I just don't even want to bother with re-adjusting the seat and stuff. There is quite a height difference between us."

"Well… that is fair…" - she replied, still not fully convinced.

"Whatever. Let's just go…"

"...Alright."

As they arrived at their new destination, Jacob frowned while looking at the shop that they arrived at. He looked back at Rem, raising one of his eyebrows, causing her to only raise her own one in response. He looked back at the shop, then back at her again.

"This is also not a grocery store." - he said while pointing at the shop in question with his thumb, over his shoulder.

"I am aware." - she replied while getting off the truck. - "...Unfortunately there is something we both must do here."

Becoming annoyed only further and further, Jay rolled his eyes and decided to roll with it.

'I'm quitting this 'job' on the first occasion I get to.'

The shop that they just arrived at, was a clothes shop. The exact same one he had already been to on his first day here, as well as earlier that day. Actually, that was just before midnight, so technically it was yesterday.

"What are we here for even? Clothes here are stupidly overpriced."

After he bought his black cloak from here, it didn't take long before he realised that he got completely scammed. One quick internet search later revealed that there were MUCH cheaper options, of similar quality. What was the reason for this one's high price then?

Jacob reached his arm to the back of his collar, and pulled it to the side so that he could barely see what was written on the small label. Right in the middle of it, the name of the producing company was written in a bold, fancy font.

PUCCI

Apparently it was one of the most expensive tailoring companies out there, renowned in often making custom clothes for famous Huntsmen.

Well, at least he could say that he looked like a native now, even if a much richer one than he actually was.

"Have you looked at yourself in the mirror?"

"...Yeah?"

"Well then you must be blind, because you really look like a simpleton."

"...Huh?" - he raised his eyebrow in confusion. He literally just thought about his overpriced cloak. Shouldn't it be enough to look good here?

"You do have a nice cloak, but what's underneath it completely ruins the vibe."

"...huh?" - he repeated.

"A cheap T-shirt and Jeans under a super-expensive cloak? It looks just straight up ridiculous!"

"Uhh… Yeah… But like… Why do you care?" - he asked while deadpanning

"Keep in mind that you are Beacon's representative! You have to look good to uphold the Academy's good image!"

"Oh… Well, if that makes you happy then do what you want. I will not spend a single penny of my own though."

She turned towards him with a raised eyebrow and pure contempt on her face.

"That's awfully stingy, coming from someone who can afford PUCCI's."

"Oh… uhhh…."

"Did you perhaps use Mr. Ozpin's money for that? I find it weird that a fresh graduate that can't even afford an apartment to live in walks around in expensive clothing like that."

"...Uhhh…"

She cornered him there, he had to admit. But that's about to be expected when you literally build your life using complete lies and information found on the internet as a foundation. But then, a certain idea popped up in his head.

"Well, yes, but I didn't steal anything. Ozpin bought it for me personally." - he said with a confident smile on his face. You would be surprised just how easy it is to make people believe bullshit by simply sounding confident.

"Really?" - she asked while squinting her visible eye at him - "...I find it hard to believe."

Unfortunately it seemed like Rem was not that easy.

"Yeah, he wanted me not to tell anybody. Oops."

"Hmmm…" - she glared at him while humming, making him done a dumb, sheepish smile on his face. "...I see. Still, it looks like he didn't do a perfect job. Since I am a maid, it is my duty to keep the Academy in a presentable state. And it also applies to you. That's why you should just come and let me help you." - and with those words, she confidently stepped inside the shop.

It was still very early in the morning, and so there were no customers in this shop, which, by the way, was one of those, 24-hour, seven days a week constantly open ones, as Jacob only now had noticed.

'Explains why it was still open last night… Kinda embarrassing not to notice so obvious instantly… Oh well…'

As he looked around the shop he noticed a couple familiar things. First, the part of the shop with the cheapest of clothes, where Ozpin had actually bought him some stuff. Second, the now naked mannequin in front of the display window. One that used to wear his cloak before him. Third, a familiar face at the counter.

A young girl, approximately in her twenties, with long red hair. She looked at them curiously, probably slowly recognising him from before, as she was the one who took care of the shop on the yesterday night, when he bought the cloak.

"Listen, Rem, you really don't have to…"

Instead of letting him finish, she grabbed him by his sleeve and pulled towards the counter with surprising strength.

"U-umm… Hello? Is there something I can help you with? … Is there something wrong with the cloak?" - the lady behind the counter spoke up, after the two of them got close enough.

'Ah, yes… after all, it's only been a couple of hours since I bought it, she must think I want a refund or something.'

As Jacob opened his mouth, Rem spoke up first again, cutting him off before he could start.

"No no, the cloak is fine, it's more about what's underneath…". She then pulled Jacob's arm again, making him straighten up and let the shopkeeper be able to inspect him better. "We're looking for something that would match nicely with the cloak, while also looking good on its own."

"Hmm…" - The shopkeeper pondered while tilting her head to the side, all while still looking at him analytically. "...How about a button-up shirt then? Would look good both on its own and underneath the cloak, all while still being smart enough to go to work in."

"Oh yes, that sounds perfect, could you show some of the available selection?"

As Rem kept conversing with the shopkeeper, Jacob was slowly reaching the limits of his already shallow by default patience.

'...I swear to the non-existent god that if this keeps up I won't be able to keep pretending like that… It's not even that the situation is that frustrating, just incredibly BORING.'

Boring… Yes, indeed, he was bored out of his mind right now. In fact, he almost felt guilty, as in his opinion, any minute that isn't spent on making himself stronger, is a minute wasted.

'...I still haven't figured out how I got on this planet, I think I'll have to make a litlle expedition back in that red forest I woke up in… What was it, Forever Fall, I think?'

As he was submerged in his own thoughts, he felt Rem pull him by his arm again, leading him somewhere. After he returned to reality, he realised both her and the shopkeeper had already prepared some button-up shirts for him, and now wanted him to try them on. Although at the verge of giving in, he managed to create one more fake smile, giving them both what they wanted, and chose a pitch-black one.

"How does it fit?" - the shopkeeper asked.

"It's perfect. We should take it and leave immediately."

Jacob was ready to comply with this ridiculous shopping notion, just so that he could return to his tasks sooner, yet as it would soon turn out, he would be only met with disappointment.

"What? Not yet! We still need to get you a couple spares, not to mention boots and new pants!"

'Oh my god just PLEASE make it end! Anything! Anyone!'

As if some sort of a deity heard Jacob's inner pleadings, a woman's cry could be heard from the street.

"AH! A THIEF! Someone stop them!"

Jacob and the two women next to him turned their heads towards the source of the commotion. Indeed, a certain lady on the sidewalk was pointing her finger at a hooded figure who was now sprinting away from the scene with a purse in their arms.

'FUCK YEAH!'

Excited like a kid, Jacob took this opportunity to leave the boring shopping session, and sprinted outside like a madman.

"Jacob wait!"

"The shirt!"

Without paying proper attention to either of them, he jumped out of the store, turning on the alarm, courtesy of the fact that the shirt he was now wearing still had the sensor attached to it. He cared about it even less than about the two women he left inside, and focused on chasing down the robber.

Let it be known, he couldn't care less about doing a good deed, he did it purely to free himself of this dumb store.

As he stormed outside, he ran across the street filled with people still departing to their jobs, earning him a couple of annoyed honks. As much as he wanted to give some drivers the finger, ultimately he decided to let it slide this time, and stayed focused on the runaway.

After crossing the busy street, it was now time to make his way through the mob of bystanders. Some shouts of protests could be heard as the two sprinting people pushed them aside, trying to make their way through.

"STOP RIGHT THERE CRIMINAL SCUM!" - Jacob threw a line taken straight out of a comic book, which was the only image of a law enforcer he ever saw, that he in a way was on this planet, even if not a full-fletched one.

He knew that it was dumb and nobody actually talked like that, but the sudden rush of adrenaline that he oh so desperately craved in his life was enough to get him excited, even if it was something as insignificant as chasing a random pickpocket on the streets.

The thief quickly looked over his shoulder back at the boy that was chasing him, just to look back forward and accelerate. He probably didn't think much of him, and the dumb one liner certainly didn't help in that case, but that was exacly what Jacob wanted to achieve.

'That's right, underestimate me… You have no idea who you're dealing with here…'

And indeed, he was like a cheetah chasing a gazelle, with no intentions of letting it get away.

The pickpocket took a sharp turn to one of the side alleys in hopes of losing him, but no not much success, as halfway through it a wire fence was standing, preventing the thief from running away.

"Gotcha!" - Jacob exclaimed with a smile on his face as he caught up, blocking the thief's only way out… Unless it turns out he has a high jump - semblance power and is about to jump the fence. It was possible, as everyone has a unique semblance, right?

'Even if, pulling out a gun on this guy would probably be overkill, I'd probably end up in more trouble than necessary.'

"A'ight, now, please return the stolen goods and willingly surrender yourself." - with a seemingly calm smile on his face, and a hand reaching out to the thief, Jacob offered a compromise like a real mr. nice guy he was pretending to be.

'Ohh please show some resistance! Please, give me an excuse to beat you up!'

The thief was releasing some shallow pants, exhausted from the couple minutes of constant sprinting. In contrast, Jacob was not tired at all, still having lots of stamina to spare.

"Damn… What's wrong with… you…" - The thief spoke in between their pants, in a tone of voice different from what Jacob anticipated. To put it bluntly, the voice was female.

"Ohh, a naughty girl huh? Listen, if you cooperate with me, I might consider letting you off the hook this one time. Beating up a girl would leave a sour taste in my mouth."

"Really? A-alright… Thank you..." - it appeared she had no strength left to fight, as she believed him quite easily

Too Easily.

As she came closer, with the stolen handbag in front of her, Jacob's smirk disappeared.

'Yeah, that's bullshit.'

And indeed, just like he anticipated, she really had no intention of just giving up like that. She threw the handbag at him, perhaps to serve as a distraction for her escape…

...as most people would have assumed, probably

In reality, as the purse flew at Jacob, the woman grabbed its belt, stopping it from traveling any further, and then forcing it back into her hands. Normally, it would probably serve just enough distraction to let her get away by running past him, but, unfortunately for her, Jacob was anything but normal.

Paying no attention to the purse itself, as he didn't really care about it, his eyes were glued to the girl. He saw how she tried to run past him, and was quick enough to intercept her, grabbing her body from behind in an awkward hug-like grip.

"Nice try!" - he complimented while they struggled for a while, with him clearly on the winning side - "...But you gotta try harder than that! Now, how about we take a look on your face, huh?"

While he held her in place with his left arm, he used his right one to take her hood off, revealing short, mint-green hair, dark skin and red eyes on a young, pretty face. "Wow, aren't we a cuti-..."

CRITICAL HIT!

With a sudden shock of pain, he was forced to release her, and grab the part of his body that was just attacked.

'AHH… THE ONE OF MANY DOWNSIDES OF BEING A MALE…' - he thought while on his knees, grabbing his family jewels, writhing in pain. 'Should've turned my shield on…'

After he recovered, it was too late, as the girl and the purse were nowhere to be seen.

And yet, Jacob smirked in spite of the numbing pain in his crotch.

'She got me there, not gonna lie…'

With a snap of his fingers, a bright blue light appeared before him, slowly taking shape and form of the stolen purse.

'...But I still win!'

If an object doesn't exceed the size and weight limits, he can put it inside of his inventory as long as it's within touching distance. And when it comes to things like purses or bags, he can also take all things inside of them without any trouble. The only exceptions are alive beings, and any gear that the PDA classifies as equipped by someone else. And during their short struggle earlier, he managed to rip the purse out of the girl's hands, just to immediately take it into his inventory afterwards.

Slowly, he stood back up, his hand still holding his genitalia.

'One way or another, she WILL pay for that…'

He took a deep breath in, and shook his head. 'Well, whatever…' - he thought while inspecting the retrieved purse. He opened it, revealing quite an amount of useless stuff cramped in there. He searched through it like a rat searches for food amongst garbage, and sure enough, something valuable was found.

A wallet, made out of some red-dyed leather. He smirked and opened it, revealing quite a sum of money. Satisfied, he whistled as he quickly counted through it, reachind just below 1000 Lien inside. He took one 100 Lien note out, and put it in his pocket.

'I'm just getting my payment, 900 is still better than zero so the woman shouldn't complain… She probably won't even notice it, anyway.'

He closed the wallet and put it back inside the purse, and after that hung the purse on his shoulder.

'Time to get back to Rem and collect some good boy points! Maybe she'll stop being all so nosy and annoying.'

When he returned to the shop, he saw Rem and the clerk waiting outside, talking with the woman whose purse was stolen, as well as…

'Police?'

He had to give them some credit on their reaction time, as not even twenty minutes passed since the crime was actually committed. As he got closer, the three women noticed him, and soon so did the two police officers.

"I have retrieved the purse!" - Jacob proclaimed as he got closer, raising the purse high in the air like some sort of a trophy he just won.

The woman that the purse belonged to rushed towards him, and gave him her sincerest thanks after reclaiming her possession.

'She didn't even bother to check her wallet! She probably will never notice.' - Jay stated in his mind, very satisfied.

The police however, didn't look so friendly, as they approached him with quite the menacing aura. The attempt of instilling fear however, completely flew over Jay's head, as he smiled towards them.

"Don't worry, dear officers! As you can see I did your job for y -..."

He couldn't finish, however, as the two officers grabbed him, pushing him against their car, and trying to lock his hand behind him.

"-WHAT THE FU..!"

A couple of curses later, as well as a fair share of protests from Rem and the other two women, it turned out that the officers weren't actually interested in the stolen purse, nor was it even the reason why they arrived here. The real reason was the shirt he had on himself, and ran out of the shop with, without paying.

All this time, Jacob fought himself inside of his head.

'I should just kill them both right here and now.'

Exactly, there wouldn't be anything able to stop him from doing so if he wanted, so why didn't he?

It would be a bother

If he kills them here, in bright daylight, surrounded by many witnesses, as quite a crowd formed around them, watching for some twisted entertainment perhaps? Jacob couldn't find any other reason…

Yes, indeed, having a bounty put on his head would be a real annoyance, he knew that from experience.

Also, there was the second reason:

While still held against the police car, Jay looked over his shoulder at Rem, who was now trying her best to negotiate with the officers, trying to get him out of their custody.

'I would probably lose some points with her…'

And so, he decided to bottle his rage inside, and let it slide, seemingly complying with the officers' abuse.

The funniest part, in his mind, was this one idiot trying to twist his left arm. Obviously, it would not work, but he had no intention of saying it aloud. Good thing his cloak almost completely covered his silver arm.

After some negotiating between the officers and the three women, he was let go off, under one condition.

He has to pay for the shirt.

'Fair enough.'

And so, he used the same 100 Lien bill he got as his reward to pay for the shirt, which, by the way, cost 40 Lien.

"Great, can we leave now?"

"Before you do…" - one of the police officers started - "...could you give us the description of the pickpocket? You did say that they got away, after all."

Jacob raised one of his eyebrows at the man. He tried to twist his arm just a second ago and now they asked for his help? Pfft.

"Unfortunately i wasn't able to see any details. So I can't give you anything more than the robbed lady already said."

"I see. You are free to go, then. Just don't set off alarms in high-end shops anymore."

"I'll try."

As the police officers both got back inside their cars, Jacob clenched a fist, barely able to resist the urge of pulling out a gun and shooting them both. He clicked his tongue, and shook his head.

'Later.' - he thought.

He then felt someone grabbing him by his left sleeve. He turned his head, just to confirm that it was Rem herself, with quite a nervous look on her face. He smiled, to calm her down, and raised his finger upwards.

"Well, that was something… Sorry for causing trouble…" - he said with a dumb smile, while scraching the back of his head.

Without any words, she just pulled him towards their truck, but before she got on, she turned around, and said goodbye to the store clerk, while also apologizing for causing trouble, which was met with the clerk downplaying the thing and saying that it wasn't their fault.

Seeing that there wasn't anything interesting anymore, the crowd quickly dissipated. Still, it was only after they got inside and closed the doors that Rem started talking.

"Jacob…" - she started

"Yeah?"

She lowered her head and sighed, probably trying to find the correct words. After a couple of seconds of thinking whether what he did was good or bad, she finally came to a satisfactory conclusion

"That was a real… waste of time."

"Hah! Tell me about it!" - he said while making himself comfortable in his seat. - "That's quite the justice system you have here. The thieves run around freely and the ones to be punished are those who just want to take initiative and do something about it."

She raised one of his eyebrows at the part when he said that was her justice system, but she was quick to remember that he was from Atlas. Perhaps there is a better order there?

The worst part was that she couldn't fully put the blame on him, because at the end of the day, what he did really was a good deed. She just wished they didn't get into so much trouble because of it. Still, the main reason why they got into trouble in the first place was that shirt they wanted to buy, which was her idea, so partially she was to blame, too. Regardless, that doesn't really matter, as they were let off the hook this time.

She looked at her wristwatch, noticing that they indeed wasted quite the amount of time. And she still had tons of work to do when they do get back to Beacon.

…

She decided. It was not worth thinking too much about it.

"...Let's just go." - she said in a defeated tone.

"Now we're talking!"

"Now we're talking!" - a satisfied commando said after he and his companion finally reached their destination.

It was the middle of the night, and there were no sources of light other than their technical's car lights. However, Pandora's late summer nights were still bright enough to see with the naked eye.

The commando and his partner were in the middle of a rocky desert, and have just reached Pandora's canyon terrains, sent with their newest mission.

Carved by some gigantic rivers that used to be here a long time ago, but dried out, leaving this quite awe-inspiring landscape of canyons reaching well over 5000 meters (16400ft) in depth.

Right now, the duo stood on a plateau, giving them a clear and quite beautiful view of the scenery, with nothing but a rocky desert directly behind them.

The commando got out of the vehicle, and took his time to stretch his limbs, as they spent several hours driving there. "What was our mission again, Zero?"

From the other back side of the technical, a tall figure emerged, wearing a black combat suit, and an alien-looking helmet, that, to Commando's knowledge, has been never taken off.

"Vladof found a Vault-

-Subjugation was a fail-

-We can now plunder."

The commando chuckled slightly in response, he knew exactly what they were doing here - his mission objective on his HUD constantly reminded him of it - but he still asked this question to hear his partner's robotic voice. Weirdo always talked in haiku or some shit, which was quite amusing at times.

Even though he didn't really hate Zero, Axton would much rather have Gaige as his companion, or even Salvador, as the two of them actually started getting along well recently. Zero however, was still just as alien as on the day they met, on the vault hunter train that Handsome Jack invited all of them to. Still, Zero hadn't stabbed Axton in the back yet, even after all those years, so Axton did trust him enough to go on missions with him.

Together, they got closer to the cliff's edge, noticing a tiny shape of what they were looking for far in the distance.

"That the place?"

Instead of speaking, Zero extended his hand forwards. Soon enough, with a flash of blue, a gun materialised itself in his hand. It was a sniper rifle of Jakobs manufacturer, it looked familiar enough to Axton to let him identify it on the spot.

The Godfinger.

A pearlescent rarity sniper with a special effect making it deal more damage the further away the user was from the target, making it one of the deadliest long-range weapons on this planet. Zero also installed a high-powered scope on it, both increasing its effective range and allowing it to double as a telescope for reconnaissance.

Through his scope, Zero saw something akin to a military camp set up next to a giant cave entrance, albeit it was completely lacking any actual soldiers or any type of person for that matter. A big number of tents were all destroyed too, and the only life forms wandering around the camp were a couple skags and rakks, fighting over the leftovers of the food rations.

"A desolate place-

-They have left in a hurry-

-Yet the Vault still stands"

"Yeah, the monster was probably too much for them to deal with… Do you think it's still inside?"

"Possible."

Axton rolled his eyes. There were only two ways Zero talked. Haiku, or singular words.

"Well whatever, the real question is how are we supposed to get down? The height is too much to make a jump even on this planet." - Axton noticed as he stared at the canyon's depth from their deadly height.

Without speaking, Zero recalled his sniper rifle, and in its place he summoned his digi-blade. He then approached the cliff's edge, and proceeded to jab his sword in it.

"No way you're using it do slide down five fucking kilometers…" - Axton said.

And Axton was wrong.

Using the blade to regulate his fall's speed, Zero started sliding down while leaving a nasty trail of destruction behind him.

…

Axton stood there for a couple seconds, dumbfounded. He proceeded to pull out his own melee weapon - a simple but reliable tomahawk, and grimaced with disappointment.

"Just you wait, you robotic weeb poetry-spewing freak!" - he said while getting back to the technical, and searching for something in the trunk. Soon enough, he pulled out his parachute that he still had from his days in DAHL's military.

He put it on, and sprinted towards the cliff's edge, smiling like a kid.

"GERONIMO!"

To be continued...