Chapter 13
Ramming Speed!
"Why did it have to be now, that's what I want to know! I was so damn close to being done, it's just unreal!" Dave mutters as he follows Mindy out into the desert where scouts had seen a build-up of Grimm occurring only ten or so miles away. Given there is nothing else around for hundreds of miles, it's a given what they have to be going after.
It's been three months with these new people. This tribe. It had taken nearly two months and the bulk of the gold and jewels from Mindy's loot taken in Ravenholm attempting to get what he needed for the first of the conversions before they noticed something. Something that neither of them had really expected.
The little golden slot in their inventory that keeps track of currency? It apparently also operates as an exchange system for whatever currency is used where they are.
There was a bank in Ravenholm. They cleaned it out on a lark, never really expecting that the money would be useful for anything as the Combine had effectively wiped out the local governments, and the old currencies were no longer being accepted. Instead, it turns out that all that money, plus all the money they had looted from zombie corpses, safe deposit boxes, personal safes in homes, and even what was probably a small pallet worth of cash that was at the mining offices and had probably been earmarked for some kind of payroll option in the time after the Combine had arrived on Earth but before they had struck the town was all now represented as Lien. Which is the currency used on Remnant. So between the two of them, they have something like eight million dollars. Which after the transfer to the new currency type is closer to eighty million Lien, though the buying power is pretty much the same.
To say that this kicked things into high gear would be putting it lightly. Though it should also be stated that the purchase of the tools he needed, the supplies he needed to perform two of these conversions, and a truck of a similar type for the two of them to live out of and use as his mobile shop did indeed take about half of that. He figures he would have been done with their own conversion in about two more days.
"Quit your bellyaching and let's just get it done before the dick-less fuck-nuggets get their crap together and start moving. You know how this works." Is Mindy's only response as they push their bikes to the maximum in an effort to get there before things can truly go to hell.
Dave knows what she is talking about very well. There are certain things you can expect from a horde of Grimm. Nobody seems to know why they begin to clump up like they will sometimes, but it appears to generally be in response to some kind of stimuli, real or perceived, by them. They do so and then they attack. Viciously, and without mercy. But what really touches them off, nobody seems to really know aside from them being attracted to negative emotions. That one is pretty constant, or so they are told. Dave and Mindy have discussed it and it genuinely seems that there might even be some kind of intelligence behind it all. An intelligence that is operating behind an at least partial fog of war, because sometimes attacks seem to be well thought out and make sense of a sort. Other times they charge off into the desert and mill around where a tribe was a week ago for a few hours before they disperse. The problem is that if you can nail them while they are getting their mob together, you can put them on the defensive. You can fight them where they are, most of the time. Once they start to move out, all you can do is peck at the edges while the horde trashes whatever they were after.
The first sign that they are getting close is the glowing red of the odd tracings on the bone armor, as well as the angry seeming eyes of many of their targets. Not wanting to risk losing them, they take the time to pull apart their bikes and store them before they make the final push closer to the mob.
This is significantly more than what they dealt with last time. Hundreds of smaller Grimm, and dozens of higher-level ones. That's not even counting a few flying types that they can barely make out against the starlit sky. As they get closer, the two drop to their bellies near the edge of a ridge, pull out their binoculars and try to get a look. Once again keying up his microphone, Dave whistles low.
"Damn. That's a lot. You sure about this?"
She sighs. He's right. They're damn tough, and getting tougher all the time, between their spars and occasional hunting trips not unlike this one just on a much smaller scale. Getting their Aura unlocked didn't hurt either, though the fact neither of them has any idea what their semblance could be is unbelievably annoying.
Still, double their current Aura statistic in a personal force field that also increases all their physical statistics by ten apiece while it's going isn't bad. The fact that unlocking it made it retroactively increase by three per level instead of two was a nice bonus as well. The only issue is that it won't regenerate while it's up and it costs five per minute to keep active whether you are getting hit or not. Even still though, it's pretty sweet. So far the only true irritation is that they haven't actually leveled in quite a while. Lots of other benefits and a few stat increases now and again. But actual levels? Nope. She smirks to herself, betting there is at least a level represented down there.
"Sure? Of course not, that's a lot of pain down there. But we know where they're going. You gonna let 'em gut Butterfly?"
Dave cringes. That's both a low blow and a bit of a sore point between them. While he has been busy trying to wrap his head around all this new knowledge and get his skills up, Mindy has been following through and training up in the tribe anybody willing to push themselves to the limit for her. They've been having good results on most, the tribe as dedicated as Alyx and Barney were at taking advantage of things as much as possible. But Mindy had taken a real shine to the now avid flier and had been giving her all the special attention the young girl was willing to endure. The results have been amazing. Amazing enough that at the age of nine now, Mindy has been making noises about taking the girl into the field for more hands-on experience. Seeming to be following the footsteps of her own father, who certainly would have been doing so with Mindy if she had reached similar levels of competence at that age. Hell, he had started her at ten. Only one year older than Butterfly was now. So far Dave and her mother have managed to put a stop to that. But tensions are mounting, and it's only a matter of time before the kid wanders off to prove herself or something equally dangerous. It makes him crazy to think about it.
"Of course not. But if we go down there and die, it isn't like they are going to have a chance to get away. They have no idea the mob is this big. They'll try and fight and unless we've cleared a hell of a lot, they'll die anyway."
Mindy rolls her eyes. "Okay. Do you just have bitches and snivels, or is there a plan somewhere in all of this?"
Dave gives her a dirty look and then sighs.
"I guess not. The only thing I can think of probably wouldn't do enough anyway." He shifts uncomfortably. "I doubt I could last long enough to slow them down much, and the camp couldn't be ready to move out until it was too late."
Mindy glares at him. "If your fucking plan involves the words 'Take one for the team' then you've lost your shit-sucking mind if you really think I'd let that fly you damn retard. Dying sucked ass, it isn't a plan, it's what happens when the plan has gone to shit!"
He glares at her, his voice rising.
"I already said I wasn't going to do it, and it wouldn't work. Why do you have to be so bitchy about things!?"
"I'm bitchy? I'M BITCHY!? Who's the whiny little piss-ant that was actually thinking that fucking dying was a good part of any decent god damned plan you imbecile! Nobody gets to kill your retarded ass but me, you got that dipshit!?"
"Like you even could anymore, your hardest hits feel like your trying to give me a sponge bath, you psychotic freak!"
Then they both turn toward where the noise from below has stopped, aside from one loud hiss in stereo that sounds almost like a snake chuckling. Mindy turns to Dave with an upraised finger.
"This isn't over, don't you dare fucking die on me!"
His eyes widen a bit as she begins sprinting towards the now charging mob, and he chases after her at best possible speed.
"Damn it, Mindy, you don't get to die either you fruit loopy lunatic!"
It's when Dave is almost to the mob and realizes that he has no idea how he can possibly catch up with Mindy before she's more than likely going to be overwhelmed that it happens. He's desperately trying to go that little bit faster, so he can be there for her. So he can defend her while she is murdering the hell out of everything like always. He takes one long step, and the nimbus of green light that is his Aura, the bright green that heralds his coming anytime it is up, begins to shine so bright in the direction he's going that he can't even see. But that step? It stretches. He isn't sure how far he moved in that step. But he can feel the thumps of things he is hitting as he moves past, like a runaway train through a chicken farm.
From Mindy's view, she has her swords drawn and is mid-leap in her attack on the front runners when there is a bright green blur that passes under her. A wave of energy passes under her, sending Grimm flying like bowling pins. Nearly eighty feet across and eight hundred long, with at least half the Grimm hit dying on impact and the rest, the larger ones mostly, getting slammed to the side by a seemingly irresistible force. She lands looking highly confused from her twenty-foot leap and ahead of her can see a highly disoriented Dave, staggering in a circle as if trying to figure out what happened. His Aura, she notes peering through her own purple light, looking dim. As though he'd just spent a quarter of it. At least a quarter of it, and in one attack.
Admittedly, it's a powerful attack. But based on what she is seeing, he'll only get two, possibly three more uses out of it before he's out. She smirks. Of course, He'd cleared out an awful lot of the chaff.
What's left? Maybe a dozen Beowolf. Not an issue. A half dozen Ursa, and while they aren't usually a fun time, these ones are mostly limping after having been thrown to the side. The Nevermore, giant bird things that are flying overhead might still be an issue but there aren't very many of them, and there is some kind of snake thing off to the side that she's not sure how it shits because it has heads on both ends. But this has suddenly gotten a hell of a lot more manageable. The best part?
None of it is facing her. She giggles as she charges forward.
A quarter-mile from the fracas, a team of four that had been gearing up for their own attack find themselves more or less stunned as they lean back.
"So ah, hey, were we still going to attack at some point?"
They witness the green aura user turn around and see what is left of the horde heading his way. He pulls a pair of massive maces out of seemingly nowhere and attacks, opening up with a forty-foot leap that ends by pulping the head of an Ursa.
The purple Aura user has a pair of swords that pretty much never stop moving and she bounces around the battlefield in something that appears to be a happy medium between controlled rage and a thrilled frolic, screamed curses at what can only be her boyfriend interspersed with laughter every time something dies.
The King Taijitu, the largest Grimm there in the form of a giant snake with a head at either end, manages to get its jaws on the green user and loses its black head for its trouble. Pulped into a mass of gore by both maces swinging in from top and bottom. The white head on the other end looks as though it was going to strike in some last-ditch effort toward vengeance, but the purple user leaps up and attaches herself to the top of its head by her swords like some kind of gleefully laughing and bloodthirsty Sticklebrick. She then swings forward hanging by one sword while a damn rocket launcher appears in her other hand, is fired point-blank down the throat of the astonished and now exploding snake. The rocket launcher disappears and she catches her swords before they have a chance to touch the ground.
The rest of the Grimm that are left start to run off, their number crushed to less than ten percent of what it was, even the flying Nevermore looking as if they've decided they aren't interested in a piece of this. The purple user starts fussing over her partner while occasionally slapping him for having the audacity to get bit.
"Do any of you guys really want to get in the middle of whatever the hell is going on down there now? This was supposed to be a training run. We're not even graduated yet and I don't think they need us at this point."
The plaintiff cry of: "Damn it, Mindy! Don't stick your finger in there, it freaking hurts!" Is followed by another slap and a nearly screamed: "Just shut up you pussy, those things are probably poisonous. I need to clean the wound at least."
The four look at each other.
"Nope. I say we just go report in at Shade. Gonna take us a week just to get back to the Bullhead drop off, I got no desire to step in whatever the hell this is. Besides, two people like that working the wastes and nobody knows who they are or that they're here? Somebody is going to wanna hear about this. We go down and talk to 'em, who knows if they'll even let us leave?"
The last of them, a larger individual that is obviously a Faunus and based on his ears and spots, probably a hyena, looks at his fellow student. "You think they could stop us?"
The other three look at him in disbelief. He speaks again.
"He already got bit. How much fight could they have left in 'em?"
Two of his friends grab his arms and drag him away to his mumbled protests, while behind them there is some kind of argument raging concerning the proper usage of a 'moist towelette.' Whatever the hell that is.
The two make it back to camp significantly worse for wear, at least on the part of Dave. The bite is a nasty one, and while he seriously doubts it'll kill him even if it turns out it is venomous, he doesn't waste any time getting to bed. Which of course leaves Mindy to answer the questions.
"Well, what happened? I was told there was a lot of Grimm on their way there." Is the words of Hans when she makes her way across the camp to his truck, which she notes has been largely packed up and ready to be mobile soon, just like everyone else here.
She scowls. "We handled it, what do you think happened?"
He blinks at her twice. "Supposedly there were many Ursa and a King Taijitu, some Nevermore and many others. A true horde. Something that could test the defenses of a small town."
She blinks at him in fake innocence. "So? So what? We killed the stupid snake thing, nailed most of the rest. I'd keep people on the guns just in case, there were at least five Nevermore that bailed at the end, but the mob's been pretty crushed and all their heavy hitters are ash at this point. Even the Nevermores weren't all that big. Nothing like that monster we saw in the distance a few weeks ago. Maybe the size of a car plus wings. One came too low during the fight, I got a good look while I was taking a wing off."
He is starting to smile but is still shaking his head. "How?"
Mindy rolls her eyes and lowers her voice so that only Grend and his wife, a mouse Faunus named Mibbit, can hear.
"Truth? It was looking ugly, but we were going to try anyway and then Dave sorted out his semblance, I think. It leveled the playing field quite a bit when it went off. I'd let you talk to him about it but he's sleeping off a bite from that damn two-headed snake, so he'll be out of it until morning probably.
The man looks concerned and then calms some. Most of the tribe has learned by this point that it doesn't seem to matter how much damage either of these two takes, or how badly they are poisoned, envenomed, or suffering from sunstroke, if they can get a decent night's sleep their recovery is assured.
"Keep an eye on him. Snakes are generally poisonous, after all. Whether or not a King Taijitu is I couldn't say, but that's only because he might be the only person I ever met that got bit by one and walked away from it."
She nods, a bit wearily. In truth, she and Dave have been getting along great. But these little spats have been getting more and more common with them.
The tribe, by and large, laugh it off as lover's quarrels. Which she supposes they might be, but there is a certain part of her that is mostly annoyed that they don't get a lot of time to themselves. When they bought the new truck, they offered accommodations to Butterfly and her mother. She doesn't really regret that, but she was making good progress on Dave right up until they were constantly surrounded by children and stuck in a place where despite all the thick metal you can hear a cockroach scuttle on the far side of camp during the evening hours and people are on watch.
They have a bedroom. It has one large bed. And that room, she decides, is getting fucking soundproofed before she loses her shit waiting for that boy.
The next morning, as is expected, he manages to blink the sleep out of his eyes not really any worse for the wear, and gets straight back to work on his conversion. Skipping even meals aside from water and slurping down a few of the Combine meal replacement sludge tubes.
It still takes him two days, much to his irritation. But eventually, the system is in. He can now operate the thing on Electric or Combustion Dust, as well as the battery pack. As soon as it manages to charge. Which as near as he can tell will take about three weeks, but will be able to haul him about six hundred miles on a full charge.
The only irritation is that the second floor had to be largely given over to defense with some storage. The four defense turrets had needed to be added to slide outs on either side, two each, because the roof is now covered in solar panels. Hidden under the roof armor when on the move, and able to be quickly covered in the event of combat by virtue of two giant panels, each five feet by fifty, that will flip over to stick over the sides like giant awnings. Giving the roof solar collectors square footage of twenty-two by fifty feet. Or, one thousand and one hundred square feet. In an effort to make the system more robust, there is no articulation to face the sun, particularly. So they only get the best pull between nine or so and three with moderate drop-offs for the rest of the daylight hours. The net result is that he has his shop, and they have some storage as well as a place to sleep and two tiny spare bedrooms that each has little more than a bunk bed and a built in chest of drawers. A tiny kitchen, and a bathroom with a shower that could probably fit on a postage stamp. Unfortunately, what it cost them, between the battery box, the defensive systems being moved around, and the shop area, is a huge amount of storage and accommodations for other people.
But that is a lot of square footage in solar panels, and it was needed to get this experiment to be functional. He isn't too worried about it. He deploys the panels as soon as it is all put together, and they start charging everything the next morning.
He's approached during breakfast by Hans, and he and Mindy look up curiously at his approach.
"Dave, Mindy. How has your morning been?"
They look at each other for a minute, as if trying to decide who has to deal with this. Or perhaps more accurately, Dave does that and gets a look telling him it'll be him. Sighing, he turns back to the Tribe leader, though he is smiling when he starts to speak.
"Well enough. I got the system put together. It'll take it quite a while to charge, but we're mobile now if we need to be moving on. We have plenty of Dust."
The man smiles back and nods in satisfaction.
"It will be interesting to see how it all works out." He laughs. "And if you'll forgive my saying so, a weight off my mind that the experimental part is on your own Lien."
Laughing back at him, Dave nods and waits. He doubts that the man came over to say just that. He's right.
"We have decided that moving on might be the best. One of our longer-range scouts got back today and he had tracked and then shadowed a few witnesses to your most recent battle at least another fourteen miles east before he turned back to let us know what he had found. Four men. It looked like a hunter team, but as there is no dress code for such things and therefore no way to really know, it would be best if we were not here when and if they returned. Especially given your success. Even the good guys would want to ask entirely too many questions about somebody that could pull off what you two did." He laughs again. "I'd like a little more time to shower you with praise and tie you to my tribe before somebody tries to steal you with a better offer, even if they turn out to have the best of intentions."
They both laugh, and Mindy quirks a smirk at the man.
"I suppose the honesty is your way of seeing to the needs of your tribe without risking my wrath?"
He chuckles as he walks away, waving over his shoulder on his way back to his own truck.
"Never let it be said I cannot learn from a mistake, Miss McReady. But to assume I wouldn't attempt to do the best by me and mine anyway is simply foolish."
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Author's Note:
Okay then. Dave's found his semblance, and it's a powerful one. It's also somewhat versatile, being short-range fast travel, an attack, and an area of effect at that. However, his is a semblance that is costly to use. Currently, he can get three uses at most before he's done, and the likelihood he'll ever have more than ten before he is out of Aura is unlikely. It also isn't hugely damaging, in the hand scheme of things. It isn't fun to get hit by it. But he isn't going to be one-shoting anything more serious than a beowolf with it, and in the show, almost anything can one-shot a basic beowolf. That is pretty much the balancing factor, is just the cost of the thing. Also, will be introducing them to the wider world soon (within two more chapters, probably) which is why I brought in: "Random trainee team A."
I ran into some issues. The Wiki is failing me in two aspects. Descriptions of the various Grimm are decent, but when you are digging for more information it is a bit lackluster. I totally get that this is not what the Wiki is for, but hear my miserable snivels anyway. Grrrr.
The other thing isn't really the Wiki's fault I don't think, but the teams represented are really sparse for the upper-classmen. So I have had to pretty much make a few that they might run into that go to Shade Academy. Again, not really the fault of the Wiki, I don't think it has really been covered in the show.
But still kinda annoying. Just saying.
Lastly, it's been a while since I've posted updated stat sheets. So here you go.
KAHGKAHGKAHGKAHGKAHGKAHG
STATUS SCREEN.
NAME: Dave Lizewski / Kick-Ass
TITLE: Gamer.
AGE: 22
SEX: Male
LEVEL: 20
HEALTH: 195
REC: 1.95 X2 (con 25+)
STAMINA: 174 (Add Str. '25+')
REC: 17.4
MP: 58 / 58
REC: 5.8
AP: 79 / 79
REC: 7.9
PE: 57 / 57
REC: 5.7
STR: 35
DEX: 21
CON: 39
INT: 18
WIS: 19
CHA: 17
STAT POINTS: 40
EVOLUTION POINTS: (NA)
MAGIC ABILITIES: (NA)
AURA ABILITIES: (6)
Unlocked: 1 (3 per level.)
Aura Shield: (158)
Strength Increase: 1 (10)
Dexterity Increase: 1 (10)
Constitution Increase: 1 (10)
Aura Ram: 1 (Damage = Aura Max. Length = 10' x Aura or less. Width: Aura or less in Feet.) Cost = 20.
PSYCHIC ABILITIES: (NA)
MENTAL ABILITIES: (4)
Gamer's Mind.
Observe: 22
The Map: 43
Party System: Limit 1
PHYSICAL TRAITS: (0)
PHYSICAL ABILITIES: (11)
Gamer's Body.
Inventory.
Quick Change: Limit 2 sets.
Deadened Nerves: 70% reduction in pain felt.
Steel Plated Skeleton: 50% reduction in damage from blunt trauma and crits that break bones.
Damage Reduction: 40 (80% MAXED)
Heat Resistance: 14 (28%)
Doubled regeneration. (Con 25+)
Brute's Dedication: (Add Str to stamina score) (Str 25+)
Toxin Resistance: 10 (20%)
Arboreal Grip.
RACIAL TRAITS: (0)
NON-COMBAT SKILLS: (20)
Basic Homemaking.
General Education: +2
Basic Driving: 10
Sales Workforce Drone: 6
Stealth: 18
Survival: 22
Rope Use: 12
Auto Mechanics: 17
Electrical engineering: 26
Carpentry (Modern): 10
Blacksmith: 7
Welder/fabricator: 21
Gunsmith: 1
Metallurgy: 11
Cooking/Chef: 12
Climbing: 19
Wind and Solar Power Generation: 19
Computer Programming: 9
Drive: Commercial Vehicles: 6
Dust Based Power Systems: 7
COMBAT SKILLS: (9)
Brawling: 27
Blunt Weapons: 25
Two-Weapon Fighting: 25
Small Combat Aircraft: 1
Power Attack: 11
Grapple: 18
Handguns: 11
Ranged Explosive Device: 4
Combat Driving: 13
MISC: (3)
Soul Blended w/ Mindy McReady.
Soulbound Locator.
Soulbound Resurrection.
TITLES: (2)
Gamer.
Gumshoe.
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
STATUS SCREEN.
NAME: Mindy McReady / Hit-Girl
TITLE: Gamer.
AGE: 18
SEX: Female
LEVEL: 21
HEALTH: 200
REC: 2.00 X2 (Con 25+)
STAMINA: 133
REC: 13.3
MP: 61
REC: 6.1
AP: 79
REC: 7.9
PE: 61
REC: 6.1
STR: 23
DEX: 44
CON: 28
INT: 19
WIS: 16
CHA: 19
STAT POINTS: 42
EVOLUTION POINTS: (NA)
MAGIC ABILITIES: (NA)
AURA ABILITIES: (5)
Unlocked: 1 (3 per level.)
Aura Shield: (158)
Strength Increase: 1 (10)
Dexterity Increase: 1 (10)
Constitution Increase: 1 (10)
PSYCHIC ABILITIES: (NA)
MENTAL ABILITIES: (4)
Gamer's Mind.
Observe: 14
The Map: 43
Party System: Limit 1
PHYSICAL ABILITIES: (7)
Gamer's Body.
Inventory.
Toxin Resistance: 4 (8%)
Heat Resistance: 14 (28%)
Damage Resistance: 6 (12%)
Bonus action. (Dex 25+)
Arboreal Grip.
PHYSICAL TRAITS: (1)
Small Stature.
RACIAL TRAITS: (0)
NON-COMBAT SKILLS: (13)
General Education.
Stealth: 30
Investigation: 15
Carpentry (ancient): 10
Auto Mechanics: 5
Electrical Engineering: 8
Carpentry (Modern): 12
Computer Programming: 16
Dance (Ballet): 1
Drive (Commercial vehicles): 12
Cooking/Chef: 1
First Aid/CPR: 5
Climbing: 19
COMBAT SKILLS: (13)
Martial Arts: 38
Bladed Weapons: 31
Two-Weapon Fighting: 19
Two-Handed Weapons: 24
Handguns: 26
Rifles: 14
Combat Driving: 19
Critical Strike: 27
Power Strike: 18
Thrown Weapons: 17
Combat Movement: 37
Ranged Explosive Device: 4
Improvised Explosives: 1
MISC: (3)
Soul Blended w/ Dave Lizewski.
Soulbound Locator.
Soulbound Resurrection.
TITLES: (2)
Gamer.
Gumshoe.