Darkness. That is how the world began. Stories and legends always tell of people being in times where everything seemed hopeless and all was lost. But, humanity has always been resourceful and have adapted to their conditions of living. When it has been discovering ways to brave the elements, constructing settlements for communities to live, defending themselves from attacking forces, or even just gathering information to further themselves. Humanity has survived countless experiences that have saved their species from extinction. So do not fret when you lose your way in life. Though the path may seem dark ahead, there is always a light to help guide you. If it is a way evolving yourself as a person or just a simple and kind soul that will help you in your time of need, you will always discover something you never knew before
The Huntsman Academy and Military known as Atlas had sent a three-man team up to Drákon, a dragon-shaped island that suddenly surfaced on basically the end of the map of Remnant. The cause of it is unknown. The Pilot of the mission was Quinton Quartz. He is a legend to all Atlas Soldiers. He's considered one of the best in Atlas. The scientist and Engineer of the mission were Ben Parakeet. A scientist whose mind is considered to be one of the smartest among men like Arthur Watts and Pietro Polendina. And the communications officer was Peter Parakeet. He was Ben's son and equal.
The three were collecting samples of the odd dust crystals the island was producing so they could be studied. Their drilling machine had drilled about a six-inch-long pole of dust with a diameter of 3 inches. Once it was ready Peter frames the ice and started to slowly pull it out as Quinton held the machine. "Easy son, we don't know what this dust can do yet," Ben said to his son.
"Amazing... Isn't this exciting Quinton?" Peter asked his comrade.
'You guys get a little more excited about this type of stuff than I do." Quinton replied with a small laugh in his words. He wasn't really big on science. But then he heard Ben over the coms again.
"This is history in the making. Not only have we traveled to a part of Remnant that no other human or Faunus has ever been. But we are discovering a new type of dust!" Ben said with a smile. His dream was to make a discovery that would change the World of Remnant.
"Think of it Dad. We might even find a new species of animals on this island as well." Peter said to his father excitedly. He shared a dream similar to his father's.
"This can bring our careers to a new level," Ben replied to his son. But then the ground started to shake. Dust started forming and it felt like an earthquake. "What is that? Seismic activity?" Ben asked in confusion.
"We should get back to the ship," Quinton replied knowing they would have to leave the sample. He considered their safety was more important than science. But then a giant red and black airship loomed in the sky. And it looked dangerous. "What is that?" Ben asked in worry as the three looked up at the ship. But then he realized what it was. "It can't be..." They had to get to safety.
Quinton had to get his friends to the safety of the ship. "Run! C'MON RUN!" Quinton shouted as he and his teammates started running. But then a blue beam of light shot down and followed their tracks. They weren't quick enough. They were soon sucked up into the giant ship. Debris and rocks were picked up with the three men and some must-have knocked out Quinton. When he came too his vision was blurry and his ears were ringing. He could only hear mumbling until his hearing came back. But when he heard voices he instantly looked up. He saw someone, a wolf Faunus, talking to someone that was on the screen.
"Take them back to the main fleet for interrogation. The Druids will find out what they know." The one on the screen said.
Quinton looked to his right and saw his comrades and he knew that he had to try to reason with their captors. "Please! We mean you no harm!" Quinton said trying to reason with the wolf Faunus that was standing in front of them as he turned around. "We are unarmed!" But just as Quinton said that he felt a smack in the back of his head as he fell to the ground and blacked out.
Quinton didn't know how long he had been unconscious but when he started to wake up he felt his body being dragged across the floor. He heard footsteps walking across a metal surface. When he opened his eyes he saw his friends walking with a droid next to them with their hands tied behind their backs. But then he heard voices from inside cells. But when he looked to his left out a window he saw rows of cells lining floors. He gasped knowing he was in trouble now.
One Year Later...
Jupiter gazed out upon the planet below him, smirking as he stared at the clouds he swore he could touch if he tried. This was their first mission since he'd managed to break the controls two months ago, and he was excited to prove that he could fly this thing. No longer would he be the butt of everyone's jokes, but instead, a respected and awesome guy that everyone wanted to be.
"Atlas Military flight log 5-12-14. Begin descent to Drákon for rescue mission," Jupiter said cooly, moving the controls to descend.
Unfortunately, it wasn't very smooth, the simulation jerking as they went down.
"Augh," Brick, Jupiter's best friend, and engineer, frowned. "Jupiter, can you keep this thing straight?"
"Relax, Brick, I'm just getting a feel for the stick," Jupiter smirked. "I mean, it's not like I did this," He quickly jerked the controls.
Brick groaned behind him.
"Or this," Jupiter jerked the controls again.
Behind him, he could hear Brick holding in his vomit. Maybe he went a little bit too far.
"Okay . . . " Brick's voice was a bit angry, "unless you want to wipe chili out of all the little nooks and crannies in this thing, you'd better KNOCK IT OFF!"
To his left, Lance could hear Bean's monitor activate.
"We've picked up a distress signal!" Bean announced.
"All right, look alive, team!" Jupiter grinned. "Bean, track coordinates."
"Copy."
The airship began to rumble, alarms blaring as lights flashed. It didn't bother Jupiter, though. He knew something like this was bound to happen, it was fate's job to send chaos their way after all. Everything was fine. He could pilot through this.
"Knock it off, Jupiter, please!" Brick pleaded.
"Oh this one's on you, buddy," Jupiter stated. "We've got a hydraulic stabilizer out."
Jupiter heard Brick pull up his monitor, then a small, "oh no--" and the sound of his friend once again choking down vomit.
Normal for Brick, but still gross.
"Oh, no—" Jupiter frowned, "fix now, puke later!"
"I lost contact," Bean said. "The shaking is interfering with our sensors."
"Come on, Brick!" Jupiter reiterated.
"It's not responding," Brick replied. "Ugh . . . " he grumbled, unbuckling his seatbelt.
Jupiter's monitor suddenly appeared in front of him. "Oh, never mind, fellas. Thar she blows. Preparing for approach on visual."
"I don't think that's advisable with our current mechanical and... gastrointestinal issues," Bean mentioned.
Jupiter heard Brick chocking down his vomit yet again before getting out a weak "agreed."
"Stop worrying. This baby can take it. Can't you?" Jupiter retorted, patting the ship.
The ship then decided to violently shake because apparently, the universe loved proving Jupiter wrong. Still, Jupiter had to have faith they could do it this time. He was not about to fail just because of this stupid ship.
"Uh, see? She was—she was nodding. She was nodding," Jupiter hurriedly tried to explain, though he was sure his teammates could see right through his bluff. Quickly, he regained his composure, "Bean, hail down to them and let them know their ride is here."
Jupiter heard Bean unbuckle his seatbelt, then he pulled down the microphone. "Attention Atlas vessel, agh!"
Jupiter heard a loud thump as Bean hit the floor, the airship still shaking.
"What are you doing? Buckle your belt," Jupiter commanded, "and Brick, stop that shaking!"
There was no way they were failing. They were so close! Why did it have to slip away now?
"I-I'm try—" Brick stopped, and Jupiter knew what was about to happen. "Ah-ah o-oh no—!"
Cue the puke.
Well . . . at least the rumbling stopped . . . for about two seconds.
"Attention Atlas vessel, this is Atlas Military Rescue Craft One Victor Six Three Tango," Bean announced into the mic. "Coming in for landing and extraction . . .against crew recommendations," he added, tone somehow even more annoyed than usual.
"Uh, no time for your treacherous comments now, Bean," Jupiter rolled his eyes. "They're going under and we're going in." He moved the controls, diving in towards the surface of Drákon.
"Look out for that overhang!" Bean warned.
"No worries!" Jupiter grinned, turning to look at his teammate. "There's a reason why my classmates in my first year of flight school called me Ace," Jupiter's grin only widened. He turned back to the windshield, "come around, come around! Come on, come on—!"
Much to Jupiter's disappointment, they hit the overhang. Crap.
"We lost a wing!" Brick shouted.
"Oh crap," Jupiter muttered, frowning.
With a crash, everything went dark, then a red screen appeared and a monotone voice said "simulation failed." announcing their failure.
"Nice work, Ace," Bean commented, giving Jupiter a harsh stare.
The doors opened, and Commander Grayson leaned down, an arm holding onto the top of the simulator. "Roll out, donkeys!"
With a sigh, Jupiter exited the simulator along with Brick and Bean, standing in a small line in front of their commander with their heads low as he got ready to lecture them in front of their class.
What a fun class this is turning out to be, Bean thought as he stared at the floor.
"Well let's see if we can't use this complete failure as a lesson for the rest of you students," Grayson grumbled. "Can anyone point out the mistakes these three so-called cadets made in the simulator?"
A guy raised his hand, "the engineer puked in the main gearbox!"
"Yes, as everyone knows, vomit is not an approved lubricant for engine systems," Grayson spat at Brick, whose posture slacked as he frowned. "What else?"
"The Comm Spec removed his safety harness," some British-sounding girl noted.
"The pilot crashed!" another girl pointed out.
"Correct." Grayson nodded. "And worst of all, the whole time, they're arguing with each other!" Grayson stared at them. "Heck, if you're going to be this bad individually, you'd better at least be able to work as a team! Atlas exists to turn young cadets like you into the next generation of elite Huntsmen and more," he lectured, "but these kind of mental mistakes are exactly what cost the lives of the men on the Drákon Mission."
"That's not true, sir!" Bean retorted, and Jupiter's eyes grew wide.
"What did you say?" Grayson quickly looked to Bean.
"S-sorry, sir!" Jupiter quickly apologized, clasping his hand over Bean's mouth and muffling his continuing retorts. "I-I-I think he may have hit his head when he fell out of his chair. But point taken," he smiled anxiously, taking his hand off Bean's mouth as he stopped.
Grayson began walking towards Jupiter, who was now staring at him with a scared frown. "I hope I don't need to remind you that the only reason you're here is that the best pilot in your class had a discipline issue and flunked out." Jupiter definitely didn't need reminding on that. "Don't follow in their footsteps." Jupiter could feel sweat dripping down his forehead as Grayson turned to the class. "Next!"
Jupiter looked down at the floor again as the next team entered the simulator, trying to keep thoughts of the stupid Phin Mauve out of his mind. Stupid, stupid Phin.
Jupiter gave a large, dejected sigh as he flopped onto his bed, staring up at the bunk above him as Brick set down his bag near their beds. "Stupid Grayson . . . stupid Phin."
"You alright, man?" Brick asked, giving a small frown.
"Yeah, yeah . . . " Jupiter turned, looking at his best friend with a forced smile. "I just . . . " the smile faded, "I just wish we didn't keep failing that stupid simulator. How am I supposed to prove that I actually deserve to pilot here if . . . if I don't?"
"Aw, Jupiter," Brick sighed, putting a hand on Jupiter's arm. "You do deserve to be here, man. Grayson's whole spiel about you only being here because of Phin is a load of crap."
"Yeah, well . . . " Jupiter stopped himself, not wanting to get into some crying fest . . . again. After a moment, he smirked, looking over at his friend. "Hey, Brick . . . wanna sneak out?"
"Wha--"
"Come on!" Jupiter chuckled, quickly standing up and dragging Brick out of their dorm.
"Lights out in five! Everyone back to their dorms, now," Jupiter heard Grayson shout around the corner of the hallway he'd dragged Brick into.
"We shouldn't be doing this," Brick protested, hiding behind Jupiter as he peeked around the corner, watching Grayson walk away.
"You heard Commander Grayson. We need to bond as a team," Jupiter smirked as he explained his reasoning. "We're going to grab Bean, hit the town, loosen up, meet some nice girls, maybe—"
"Okay," Brick interrupted as the lights turned off, "I'm just—I'm just saying this here, right now, on the record: This is a bad idea."
"A bad idea that I will take full blame for if we get caught. But for now . . ." Jupiter quickly ran across the hall, heading towards Bean's dorm.
"You know, for someone in an Academy like Atlas," Jupiter started as he ducked under the window of the teacher's lounge, "you don't have much of a sense of adventure."
"All of your little adventures end up with me in the principal's office," Brick reminded him, and Jupiter chose to ignore it.
Jupiter raised his head a bit, looking up into the teacher's lounge, and then coming back down, motioning for Brick to follow him as he crawled along the floor, out of sight.
"Oh man," Brick sighed, reluctantly following him. Once they were past the lounge, Brick continued, "Listen, man, this is just--"
"Shh, Brick, hide!" Jupiter whisper-shouted, jumping into a recycling bin as footsteps approached.
Brick frantically followed his lead, barely fitting into his chosen recycling bin.
"J-4 East all clear," Jupiter heard a guard announce into his radio as he passed.
After opening the flap on the lid to make sure he was gone, Jupiter jumped out of the bin, smirking as he stuck the landing. Grayson was just a few yards away, so they would have to be careful.
Once Brick was out of his bin and standing, he let out a small, "I'm fine," as they walked towards the white door.
Suddenly, that door opened, and the two of them quickly ducked to hide behind the corner, Brick letting out a small yelp.
Jupiter watched curiously as none other than Bean raced out of the office, carrying a bag with him. "Where is he going?" he asked, voice low.
Brick and Jupiter followed their teammate silently, looking to one another curiously when they realized they were heading towards the roof.
Bean had managed to set up some equipment and even put on his headphones before they'd entered the roof, and Jupiter had to admit the view was pretty nice from up here. Still, he had no idea why Bean would sneak out of his dorm just to come up here just to listen to music. And it was beyond him why he needed his laptop and random equipment.
Jupiter quietly walked behind Bean, who still hadn't noticed them, as Brick crawled along the floor behind him. He kneeled down on his knee, grabbing one side of Bean's headphones and lifting it ever so slightly. "You come up here to rock out?"
Bean gave a startled yell, jumping and staring at Jupiter for a moment. He quickly regained his composure, sitting criss-cross and letting his hands clasp by his feet. "Oh, Jupiter, Brick. No, um, just . . . looking at stars," he said, though it was clearly a lie.
"Hey, where'd you get this stuff?" Jupiter asked, a brow lowering. "It doesn't look like Atlas tech."
"I built it," Bean proudly told him, smirking.
"You built all this?" Brick asked, leaning in to poke at the laptop, though Bean slapped his hand away before he could, leaving him frowning.
"With this thing, I can scan all the way to the edge of the Remnant," Bean continued, smirk still on his face.
"That right?" Jupiter's hand stroked his chin. "Can it scan Drákon?" he gave a small smile.
Bean's expression immediately changed before he looked away, and Jupiter knew he'd struck gold.
"You go nuts every time the instructors bring it up, what's your deal?" Jupiter asked.
Brick tried again to sneakily touch what seemed to be a small satellite, but Bean wasn't having it.
"Second warning, Brick!" Bean chided.
"Aw . . . " Brick frowned.
Jupiter ignored the exchange, still desperate to know why Bean was so obsessed with the unknown island. Sure, the mission there had gone terribly, but it wasn't like it concerned Bean at all!
"Look, Bean, if we're going to bond as a team, we can't have any secrets," he explained, brows lowering in an almost accusing manner.
After a moment, Bean's shoulders relaxed, "fine." He turned a bit so Jupiter could now see his face, "the world as you know it is about to change." He looked Jupiter in the eye, and he found himself wondering what the guy was even going to tell him. "The Drákon Mission wasn't lost because of some malfunction or crew mistake—" the boy quickly turned, "STOP TOUCHING MY EQUIPMENT!" he yelled, and Brick flopped over in defeat.
Bean continued, "so I've been scanning the system . . . and picking up Demon radio chatter from outside."
"Whoa, what? Demon? As in actual Demons?!" Brick quickly sat up, eyes wide in fear.
"Okay," Jupiter noted, "so you're nuts. Got it."
"I'm serious," Bean said as Jupiter stood, arms crossed. "They keep repeating one word," Bean picked up a notebook with a crudely drawn man surrounded by flames triumphantly holding a sword off his pile of equipment, holding it up so the boys could see, "Surtr," he tapped the word as he spoke. "And tonight, it's going crazier than I've ever heard it."
"How crazy?" Jupiter asked, but a sudden alarm cut off any answer Bean might have given.
"Attention, students. This is not a drill," Grayson's voice blared through the intercom. "We are on lockdown! Security situation Zulu Niner. Repeat: All students are to remain in barracks until further notice."
"What's going on?" Brick asked, standing up. Suddenly, he pointed towards the sky, "is that a meteor?!"
Jupiter and Bean looked up towards where Brick was pointing, eyes wide as they saw the large, fiery object flying through the sky.
"A very . . . very . . . big meteor?" Brick continued, voice panicky.
Bean grabbed his binoculars from his bag, looking up at the object. "It's an airship!"
Jupiter grabbed the binoculars from Bean, not caring that he was still clinging to them. "Holy Carp!" he exclaimed, staring at the incoming ship, which was dark and had glowing lights in odd shapes decorating it. "I can't believe what I'm seeing! That's not one of ours."
"No," Bean agreed, "it's one of theirs."
Demons from outside the Kingdoms...
This was . . . actually kind of cool.
"So wait," Brick's head turned as he watched the ship plummet towards the land below, "there really are more than the Four Kingdoms and Menagerie out there?"
Jupiter watched as the ship crashed into the snow-covered desert, causing a large explosion. Barely even seconds later, Jupiter could hear another alarm blaring, and several Atlas Trucks practically flew out of the compound to investigate.
"We gotta see that ship!" Bean exclaimed, backpack already on as he ran towards the stairs.
Jupiter followed him, "Brick, come on!"
Brick mumbled something Jupiter and Bean couldn't quite catch before following, and the three of them made their way towards the exit.
The trio soon made their small surveillance camp on a small cliff overlooking the now-quarantined crash site. Bean typed away on his computer as Jupiter grabbed the binoculars to watch the site, and Brick was nervously watching next to him.
Jupiter zoomed in on the site, looking at what seemed to be the ship, which was strapped down to a truck. "Whoa... What the heck is that thing?!" he shifted his view, trying to see if there were any other demon things, but one of the scientists caught his eye. "And who the heck is she?" he asked as he zoomed in, only to be whacked in the head by Bean. "Ow! Ah, right . . . Demon airship. Man, we'll never get past all those guards to get a look," he complained, lowering the binoculars.
"Aw, man," Brick sighed, though Jupiter knew he wasn't actually disappointed. "Yeah, we—yeah I guess there's nothing to do but head back to the barracks, right?"
"Wait," Bean suddenly said, a few beeping noises coming from his laptop. Jupiter looked at him curiously. "They set up a camera in there and I grabbed its feed. Look."
Jupiter and Brick leaned in, staring at Bean's computer screen with wide eyes.
"Hey, hey what are you doing?!" a man, who was strapped to a table, desperately asked. He was wearing torn grey and black clothing that didn't look like it provided much protection. He was scratched up and he had a scar running along the bridge of his nose, and where his right arm was supposed to be was . . . a Grimm arm.
"Calm down, Quinton," Grayson told the man. "We just need to keep you quarantined until we run some tests on you."
"You have to listen to me!" Quinton continued, letting out a strangled noise. "They destroy kingdoms!" he grunted, "Demons are coming!" He continued to let out noises as he struggled to break free of the bonds, but to no avail.
"That's Quinton!" Jupiter exclaimed, pointing to the man on the screen. "The pilot of the Drákon Mission," he continued, "that guy's my hero!"
"Guess he's not dead in unknown waters after all . . ." Brick mumbled.
"But where's the rest of the crew?" Bean asked, confused.
"Do you know how long you've been gone?" Grayson asked on the screen, seeming to completely ignore Quinton's pleas.
"I dunno . . . " Quinton's voice was strained and his breathing was loud, "months? Years? Look, there's no time." His expression turned to one of sorrow, though still panicky. "Demons are coming here for a weapon. They're probably on their way! They'll destroy us! We have to find Surtr!"
The three teens quickly looked at one another at the mention of Surtr, each wondering how Quinton knew about the outside chatter. Jupiter realized the chatter Bean had heard must have been the same thing Quinton was talking about . . . crap.
"Surtr!" Bean exclaimed.
They all looked back to the screen.
"Sir, take a look at this," a technician said to Grayson. "It appears his arm has been replaced with a Grimm-like arm."
"Put him under until we know what that thing can do," Grayson commanded.
"No, no, no no-- don't, don't put me under!" Quinton pleaded. "No! No, there's no time! Let me go!"
"They didn't ask about the rest of the crew," Bean whispered, obviously perplexed.
"What are they doing?" Jupiter exclaimed. "That guy's a legend! They're not even going to listen to him?"
"We have to get him out," Bean decided, looking at Jupiter with a determined expression.
"Ah, I hate to be the voice of reason here," Brick stood up, "but weren't we just watching on TV because there was no way to get past the guards?"
Though Brick had a point, there was no way Jupiter was passing up the chance to save Quinton. Besides not wanting to die from evil monsters, it would also be super cool, and who was he to pass up a chance to be super cool?
"That was before we were properly motivated. We've just gotta think . . . " Jupiter put his face in his hand as he brainstormed, then he looked to the crash site. "Could we tunnel in?"
"Maybe we could get some hazmat suits and sneak in like med techs," Bean suggested.
"Or we dress up like cooks," Brick began, pointer fingers up, "sneak into the commissary . . . little late-night snack . . . " he smirked.
"No," Jupiter dismissed the idea, "what we need is a distraction."
As if on cue, explosions started going off a mile or so away from the site, causing all three of them to let out startled yells.
"Is that the Demons?!" Brick asked, panicked. "A-are—Tha—The—Is that the Demons?! Are they here?! They got here so quick," he bent down, hiding behind Bean and Jupiter.
Jupiter stared at the explosions with a raised brow, knowing it wasn't the Demons Quinton was talking about, but still wondering what the heck was going on . . . was someone else trying to save Quinton? How did they get here so quick?
"No," Bean said, putting a hand up to his forehead. Jupiter looked at him curiously. "Those explosions were a distraction . . . for them!"
Jupiter looked over to where Bean was pointing, where a figure on a hoverbike was rushing towards the site. Who the heck was that?!
"The soldier's headed towards the blast," Bean continued, "and they're sneaking in from the other side!"
Jupiter grabbed bean's binoculars as he spoke, zooming in on the mysterious newcomer. The moment they hopped off their hoverbike, Jupiter knew exactly who it was, though it was a little difficult to tell at first because of the dark bandana covering their face. Still, Jupiter knew her anywhere . . . it was none other than Phin Mauve.
"No way...!" Jupiter exclaimed. "Oh, she is not going to be us in there! She is always trying to one-up me!" he frowned, already starting to run down the hill to the site.
"Who is it?" Brick questioned from behind him.
"Phin!" Jupiter replied.
"Who?" Bean asked.
"Are you sure?" Brick ran after him, leaving Bean behind.
"Oh, I'd recognize those ears anywhere!" Jupiter shouted in return, now slowing down as he neared the steeper part of the hill.
"Who's Phin?!" Bean yelled from behind, following them.
Jupiter slid down the rocks like it was nothing, barely paying attention to if his friends were still behind him. All that mattered was beating Phin . . . and saving Quinton, of course. But he was not about to let Phin take his one chance at doing something great! He hated the chick, and it didn't help that Grayson was always yelling at him about how he had to live up to her.
Jupiter kept that in mind as he raced towards the site, seeing no guards as he rushed in. He slowed down a bit as he let Brick and Bean catch up, though he was walking fast through the encampment.
It wasn't long before they heard fighting coming from one of the rooms, where Jupiter assumed Phin was. (Beating people up was such a Phin thing to do.) He speed-walked towards it, brows low as the doors slid open.
Jupiter came in just as Grayson rushed the masked intruder, a right hook cocked back as he charged. Phin dodged out of the way just in time to avoid being hit by the punch, allowing Grayson to pass her and hit the wall behind her, leaving a rather sizable dent behind.
After quickly recovering, Grayson then tried to grab onto Phin, but the faunus proved to be much more evasive, dodging all of Grayson's attempts masterfully.
On his final attempt, Grayson overextended himself, casting his arm far above Phin's head. Phin, seeing yet another opening, ducked under Grayson's failed attempt and gave a hard strike to his chest, sending the man back several feet as he skidded to a halt near the same wall he had left a dent in not twenty seconds earlier.
Phin ran over to the table, Jumping over one of the nurses, and looked at the Quintons face as she pulled down her bandana. "Quinn? Are you okay?"
She pulled out a small knife and cut the bonds tying Quinton down and helped the unconscious Huntsman to his feet. But then...
"Nope, no you--" Jupiter began as he walked down the ramp to meet Phin, who had draped one of Quinton's arms along her shoulder to support him. "No, no, no, no, no, no, no you don't. I'm saving Quinton," he pushed the table aside, lifting Quinton's other arm and putting it over his own shoulder.
"Who are you?" Phin asked.
"Who am I?" Jupiter repeated, now fully situated under Quinton's arm. "Uh, the name's Jupiter." He blinked, but Phin showed no signs of recognition.
"We were in the same class at Atlas?" he tried again.
"Really? Are you a . . . engineer?" Phin asked. She obviously didn't know who Jupiter was. Which was infuriating Jupiter.
"No, I'm a pilot!" Jupiter corrected her, trying his best to hide how much it stung for his rival to not know who he was.
"We were like rivals! You know, Jupiter and Phin, neck and neck . . . "
"Oh, wait, I remember you," Phin said, looking at him with an unreadable expression. "You're a cargo pilot."
"Well, not anymore," Jupiter said, his voice harsh and obviously offended. "I'm fighter class now, thanks to you washing out."
"Well," Phin started, sounding unamused. "Congratulations."
With that, they carried Quinton out of the room, Brick, and Bean staying silent and giving Jupiter odd looks that he decided to ignore. Once they made it to the exit, Brick and Bean stopped for a moment to see if the men were coming back as Jupiter and Phin continued to drag Quinton towards Phin's hoverbike. Jupiter had to admit that it was much easier to pull Quinton along with Phin's help, though he still wished it wasn't Phin helping him.
"We gotta go," Jupiter barely heard Brick say from behind them, and soon enough Brick and Bean were running up next to them as they all reached the hoverbike. "Uh, do you mind if we catch a ride with you?" Brick asked, he and Bean already getting on the bike as Jupiter set Quinton down, Phin left him for the driver's seat.
The hovercraft tipped over as they all piled on, and Jupiter prayed it didn't make Quinton's condition worse than it already was.
"Is this thing going to be big enough for all of us?" Bean asked critically.
"No," Phin replied like it was obvious.
The Atlas Soldiers approached, and Phin booked it. Jupiter did his best to stay on as they took off, lifting Quinton and sliding him up so Bean could help hold him.
"Why am I holding this guy?" Bean asked as Jupiter let go for a moment.
"Hey, we did all fit," Brick pointed out cheerfully.
Jupiter took a moment to look behind them, frowning at the quickly approaching truck chasing them from the site. "Can't this thing go any faster?" Jupiter asked, looking back to Phin.
"We could toss out some non-essential weight," Phin suggested dryly.
"Oh, right!" Jupiter looked around the craft, frowning and seeing nothing besides . . . them. "OK, so that was an insult. I get it--" Jupiter raised a finger, ready to say more, but Phin interrupted him.
"Big guy, lean left!"
Brick did just that, and Jupiter made a startled noise as the hovercraft leaned heavily to the left, allowing them to turn, the Atlas trucks crashing behind them.
"Aw, man! Mrs. James just wiped out Professor Claton!" Brick announced, looking back. "No, no, he's fine."
"Big guy, lean right," Phin said again, and Bean looked at her with wide eyes. How many times were they going to do this?
Jupiter found himself somehow too afraid to yell as they turned, jumping off the cliff they'd been riding on and onto another (which was very narrow and had walls that they slid into!) and continued speeding away from the rovers, which crashed behind them.
"Guys?" Brick's worried voice caught Jupiter's attention. "Is th-th-th-tha-tha—Is that a cliff up ahead?"
Sure enough, the edge of the cliff was in front of them, and it wouldn't be long before they flew off it and crashed themselves.
"Ooooh no, no, no!" Jupiter pleaded. "No, no, no, no—!"
"Yep," he heard Phin say when she leaned forward and revved the engine.
That was when they flew off the cliff, all of them except for Phin screaming in terror.
"What are you doing, you're gonna kill us all!" Jupiter shouted, clinging to the wing and hoping he didn't fall off if by some miracle the hovercraft could take this.
"Shut up and trust me," Phin said just as Jupiter was jerked forward and had to hold on tightly to the wing again, closing his eyes. He could hear noises coming from the hovercraft as he felt them suddenly stop falling, moving forwards and, most surprisingly, somehow not dead?! He opened his eyes again, not understanding how they weren't dead, but grateful nonetheless. The wind whipping through Phin's hair was the first thing he saw, and though he still hated her, he had to give her kudos for such a daring escape. They were all silent for a moment, all of them, besides Phin again, too shaken up from thinking they were going to die to say anything.
"Well, looks like you've done one thing right." Jupiter praised, not saying anything when Phin let out an angry, "The hell is that supposed to mean?!"
After maybe forty minutes of driving, they arrived at a tiny shack in the middle of the desert, which had a width that might have been smaller than the hoverbike. It had an even tinier shed connected to it, and the only decoration was a chair on the covered porch. An antenna was sticking out of the roof, though Jupiter didn't think someone would get very good service out there. Coming from a large family, it boggled Jupiter's mind that someone could live all alone in such a tiny house in the middle of nowhere, though he knew Phin did a lot of weird things that he could never possibly understand.
Still, they couldn't go back to Atlas now that they were basically criminals, and the nearest town was hundreds of miles away. So if they had to sleep on the dirty floor of Phin's shack in order to help Quinton . . . then so be it.
"So . . . " Phin began a bit awkwardly after she'd carefully set Quinton down on her couch and draped a blanket over him, an almost relieved look on her face. Jupiter guessed they had a history, though he had no idea how Phin could know Quinton. "If you guys are staying, you can just . . . sleep on the floor I guess. I have a sleeping bag, but . . . it's just the one."
"We'll be fine, thanks," Jupiter said, arms crossed.
Phin looked down for a moment, then nodded. "I'm going outside for a moment . . . gonna see if Atlas tracked us back here. I'll be back in a few minutes."
"Right," Jupiter nodded, and then Phin made her exit. He looked to Bean and Brick, giving a long sigh. "Well . . . that was a thing that just happened."
"Yeah, uh, that was pretty freaky, man!" Brick's hands went into the air as he spoke, eyes wide. "We just-- and Phin-- and now-- and--"
"Yes, I agree," Bean gave a curt nod. "I'm just glad I brought my backpack."
"Yeah, lucky you, Bean," Jupiter gave a small frown. "It was actually kinda cool, though. I mean, we saved Quinton Quartz!" Jupiter pumped his fist, the thrill of it all still lingering. "A-anyway . . . you can have the sleeping bag, Bean. Brick and I will sleep on the floor and . . . spoon or something."
"Are . . . are you sure?" Bean blinked, nose crinkling as he gave a sort of confused expression.
"Yeah, yeah," Jupiter pushed him over towards the sleeping bag that Phin had pointed to. "Don't make it all weird and mushy that I'm letting you have it, man."
After a moment, Bean smiled. "Thanks," he bit his lip, taking the sleeping bag and unrolling it in the only clean corner of the shack, which just barely fit him.
Jupiter wasn't about to admit it, but he sort of felt . . . protective over Bean. Like he was his little brother. Jupiter, being the oldest, always felt the need to protect and look after his younger siblings. The point was, he was the one in charge of their little trio, and Bean was obviously a few years younger than he and Brick, so he'd obviously get the sleeping bag. That's how it worked. Besides, he and Brick had sleepovers all the time, so they were used to sleeping all snuggled up like best friends do. Most guys wouldn't admit to that . . . or maybe they wouldn't do it in the first place . . . but he didn't care. It was like his skincare; though it might not be 'masculine, he enjoyed it, and that was what mattered.
"Okay, well . . . I'm gonna see if Bean has any food in his bag," Brick said softly once Bean was snoring, and Jupiter just shrugged, deciding to stay out of it. He knew how Bean hated people touching his stuff, but he wasn't about to get in the middle of that.
When Brick sat down next to him a few minutes later, he had a smug look on his face, but Jupiter was too tired to really care. The two of them had just gotten snuggled up when Phin came back in, and even in the dark Jupiter could tell Phin was trying to be quiet. She probably thought they were all asleep, which Brick and Bean probably were, and didn't want to wake them. Or maybe she just wanted to let Quinton rest. Still, it was pretty considerate . . .
Jupiter found himself wondering again how Quinton and Phin knew each other. Were they friends? Roommates? Did Quinton tutor her? Were they related? Jupiter didn't know, but the way Phin looked at him . . . they must have been close. Jupiter couldn't imagine being that close to Quinton . . . it was like being friends with Casey Williams. Quinton had always been so untouchable . . . he was Jupiter's hero and role-model. And now, Jupiter had helped save him from some weird Atlas hospital, and he'd helped Phin -- his rival -- to do it.
What a crazy day it had turned out to be.
It was sunrise when Jupiter woke up.
He was a bit groggy at first, confused as to where he was as he took in the small, messy room he was in. Then he remembered: this wasn't a room, it was Phin's entire house, and on the couch was . . . wait. Where was Quinton? And where was Phin?
Jupiter stood up, causing Brick to squirm a bit before he, too, opened his eyes. "Wha . . . Jupiter?"
"Brick, come over here," Jupiter gestured, now at the window. He saw Phin approach Quinton, who was now wearing different clothes, on a small mound of snow in front of the shack. They were talking about something, but Jupiter didn't know what. He looked to Brick with a raised brow, wondering if he had any speculations, but Brick just shrugged.
He wondered if Phin was telling him about how they'd saved him, or if she already had.
Once they turned to make their way back, Jupiter flinched, rushing over to Bean and shaking him. "Bean, wake up, Quinton's coming in here in like ten seconds and we gotta make a good impression!"
Bean frowned, slapping Jupiter's hand away and letting out a long, tired groan before sitting up. Jupiter put out his hand to help Bean up, but he didn't take it, instead opting to find his glasses and put them on before fixing his hair a bit. Jupiter just sighed, standing up fully once again and internally prepping himself for meeting Quinton.
Jupiter let out a deep breath and crossed his arms before the door opened, Phin and Quinton stepping in. Phin gave a small wave to them, then made her way to a wall where a drape covered what seemed to be a map by the looks of the edges sticking out from behind it. She pulled the drape down, revealing a board of maps, diagrams, sticky notes . . . the perfect conspiracy board. Pictures of carvings and the desert covered the board, some connected by a red string like Jupiter had seen on crime shows. All the strings led to one place, the center of a map where a circle surrounded an area labeled "ENERGY ZONE", and a note to triangulate the zone was written on the map as well.
"What have you been working on?" Quinton asked, staring at the board in awe.
They all looked to Phin, who began her answer immediately.
"I can't explain it. After getting booted from Atlas, I was kinda . . . lost and . . . I felt drawn out to this place," her brows lowered, expression hardening. "It's like something . . . " Phin looked towards them, "some energy was telling me to search."
Normally, Jupiter would have called Phin crazy. But with the whole demon thing . . . and Quinton falling from the sky . . . and Bean's weird Surtr thing . . . well, this wasn't that hard to believe.
Quinton looked at Phin curiously after a moment, "for what?"
"Well," Phin started, "I didn't know at the time . . . until I stumbled across this area," she placed two fingers on the board in the "ENERGY ZONE". "It's an outcropping of giant boulders with caves covered in these . . . ancient markings." Jupiter stared at the various pictures as Phin spoke, wondering what it could all mean. "Each tells a slightly different story about a sword, but they all share clues leading to some event, some . . . arrival happening last night," Phin looked back to Quinton. "Then you showed up."
Quinton looked at her for a moment, then turned to where Jupiter, Bean, and Brick were standing. Jupiter hoped he didn't notice how he tensed up when he looked at him.
"I should . . . thank you all for getting me out," Quinton walked forward, putting out his wrapped up Grimm arm. "Jupiter, right?"
Jupiter reached his own hand out on instinct before stopping.
Wait. Wait. Wait.
Was Quinton Quartz wanting him to shake his hand?!
Oh my Oum! Jupiter internally squealed.
After a moment, he smiled, taking Quinton's hand firmly.
. . .
Wow.
That was probably the best thing that had ever happened to him, period.
Quinton turned to offer his hand to Bean or Brick. Brick had his hand on his head, a nervous habit, and Bean quickly outstretched his hand to meet Quinton's. Jupiter was completely confused about how casual Bean was about it.
"The nervous guy's Brick," Bean explained, "I'm Bean," he shook Quinton's hand. "So . . . did anyone else from your crew make it out?" he asked, voice softer.
"I'm not sure," Quinton said after a moment, looking away. "I remember the mission and being captured, but after that, it's just . . . bits and pieces."
"Yeah, sorry to interrupt, but back to the demons, you were talking about," Brick nervously said, hunching over a bit. "Where are they now? Are they coming? Are they coming for all of us? Like, where are they at this very moment?"
"I can't really put it together . . . " Quinton looked down, "I-I remember them saying Surtr. It's some kind of weapon they're looking for, but I don't know why. Whatever it is, I think we need to find it before they do."
Brick reached into Bean's bag, "well, last night I was rummaging through Bean's stuff, and I found this picture," Brick held it up as he spoke. It looked like Bean in his Atlas uniform, a girl in a yellow and white dress smiling next to him. "Look, it's his girlfriend," Brick chuckled.
"Hey, gimme that!" Bean snapped, snatching the picture back from Brick's hand. He yanked his bag back, "what were you doing in my stuff?"
"I wa—I was looking for a candy bar," Brick explained. "But then, I started reading his diary," Brick produced a blue book from behind his back.
"WHAT?!" Bean stole it back.
"And I noticed that the repeating series of numbers the Demons are searching for looks a lot like a Fraunhofer line," Brick continued without hesitation as Bean looked through his diary, probably making sure he hadn't written down anything embarrassing.
"Frown . . . what?" Phin rose a brow, arms crossed.
"It's a number describing the emission spectrum of an element," Brick explained, "only this element doesn't exist anywhere in the Kingdoms. I thought it might be this Surtr, and I think I can build a machine to look for it, kinda like a Surtr Geiger Counter."
Jupiter grinned, crossing his arms, "Brick, you big, gassy genius!"
"It's pretty fascinating. Th-The wavelength looks like this," Brick pulled out a sheet of paper with dots connected by a jagged line, smiling softly as he showed it to them all.
"Gimme that," Phin suddenly grabbed the paper, looking down at it as she walked towards the board again. She held it in front of the board just below the picture of some boulders, lifting it up in front of the picture.
They all pause as they saw that the line looked a lot like those boulders.
"Guys," Quinton said, turning towards them. "I think we have a lead."
Soon enough, Brick and Bean had figured out how to make their Surtr-finder-thingie, and they all headed off to hike three miles to the boulders. Jupiter found himself wondering why Phin had been drawn here, though he definitely felt the energy. It was like a constant hum in the back of his mind that reassured him everything would be alright.
Once they arrived, Jupiter looked out at the boulders ahead of him, gaping. "Okay, I admit it. This is super freaky."
"I'm getting a reading," Brick announced, and Jupiter's gaze flitted towards him. The teen was staring down at his makeshift device, which had a wire connecting a small satellite that Bean held up as high as he could. Brick took a few steps forward, stopped, and then continued on, the rest of them following him.
As Brick led them through the canyon, Jupiter looked around, noting that the scene was kind of nice to look at. It couldn't compare to Mistral, of course, but the rock piles were pretty cool.
Soon enough, the device began to go crazy, and Brick and Bean ran ahead to a cave a few yards away. Jupiter ran after them, watching Brick's eyes widen as he let out a soft, "woah."
Inside of the cave were hundreds of carvings and markings depicting mostly the sword, though there were some other random things, as well.
"What are these?" Quinton asked, taking the words right out of his mouth.
"These are the sword carvings I was telling you about," Phin explained as Jupiter walked over to the wall next to her, wanting to get a closer look at one particular carving. "They're everywhere around here."
Jupiter set his hands on his hips and leaned forward, looking at the wall with his lower lip puffed out curiously. It was too dusty to really see, so he reached out to the wall, brushing the layer of dust away. Suddenly, as he pulled his hand away, the carving began to glow a brilliant orange!
"Woah . . . " Jupiter gaped as he realized what was happening. "Woah!" he inched back, thinking it might be radiation or something.
All around the cave, the markings were glowing, everyone staring at them in awe. Jupiter wasn't sure what he'd done, but he didn't think it was good if the cave was glowing like this. What if he'd set off a trap or something?!
Phin let out a surprised breath, "they've never done that before."
A cracking noise was heard below and the ground began to glow in a circle around them, everything shaking as they all looked down. The ground was cracking beneath them! Before any of them had time to react, the ground gave way, and they were falling, sliding down a waterfall like a slide. Quinton yelled as he did so, and he could hear the rest of the group doing the same. Somehow he was in the front, but it didn't really matter as they all landed in the water below with a splash. The water wasn't very deep, and boy did it hurt, especially since he landed right on his side.
Ignoring the pain and the water soaking his clothes, Quinton rose to his knees, looking up to try and figure out where they were. It wasn't long before he gasped, looking ahead and seeing what appeared to be a giant, white and gold airship inside of a forcefield.
They all slowly stood up, staring at the ship in awe.
"Uh...Do you think Surtr is inside this ship or something?" Bean asked, staring quizzically at the ship.
"It . . . must be," Quinton said.
"This is what's been causing all this crazy energy out here," Phin said, starting to walk towards it.
"Does anyone else get the feeling like something is staring at them?" Jupiter asked, mostly just thinking aloud.
"No," Quinton replied after a moment.
Phin stopped a foot or so in front of the force field, staring up at the ship as the rest of them approached.
"I wonder how we get through this," she said, reaching up and touching the field in various spots.
Jupiter walked up next to her, almost rolling his eyes at Phin's attempts at opening the force field.
"Maybe you just have to knock," Jupiter said, and then he did just that. He yelped and stepped back as orange light erupted from the spot, wisping around for a moment and lighting the entire cove orange. The ships headlight shined, and then the force field dissipated, the circle of markings surrounding the ship lighting up the same way the cave had a few minutes ago. Orange light shone from it, and wind coming from the area whipped Jupiter's short hair.
Absolutely stunning.
Jupiter didn't have much time to enjoy the view, however, as suddenly his mind was filled with the image of five blades together into a giant blast of light to suddenly form . . . a giant red man. With horns. And a blazing sword of fire, which he whipped around like an awesome samurai.
As the images disappeared, Jupiter stared up at the ship, letting out a small, "woah," along with Quinton, Phin, and Bean.
"Uh . . . did everyone just see that?" Jupiter asked, hoping he wasn't going crazy.
"Surtr is a dude!" Brick announced, hands moving animatedly as he spoke. "Surtr is a huge, huge, flaming dude with a sword!"
"And this ship is holding a part of it!" Bean noted. "I wonder where the rest of them are."
"This is what they're looking for," Quinton realized.
"Incredible," Jupiter heard Phin say behind him.
The ship suddenly opened a hatch, a ramp falling down for them to walk up and in. Everyone stared at it, hesitating for a moment. This was crazy, but . . . it was also super cool.
With a grin, Jupiter ran into the ship, following the path up to the cockpit, where a white and blue chair sat in the middle of a mostly empty area. Lance walked in front of the seat, looking around for any controls, there weren't any, before sitting down in the chair. "Here we go," he smirked, lifting one of his legs up to rest on his knee as he crossed his arms in satisfaction. He yelped as the chair suddenly moved forwards, almost throwing him off of it. As he looked up and rubbed his head, he saw the console light up blue, showing various controls that had been absent before. "Huh?"
The window before him cleared, allowing him and the others, which had wandered in, to see the cave outside. Jupiter chuckled, "all right! Very nice!" This was definitely better than the simulators at the Atlas.
"OK guys," Brick started, "I-I feel the need to point out, just so that we're all, y'know, aware: We are in some kind of futuristic possible demon ship right now."
Suddenly, the world seemed to disappear, only the outlines of the cockpit present in a dark orange landscape as the ship rumbled, filling Jupiter's head with reassurances and instructions he wasn't sure how he understood. Just like that, it was gone, and he was back with his team, though the feelings still lingered.
"Woah, did you guys just hear that?" Jupiter asked, assuming it might have been like the earlier vision.
"Hear what?" Phin asked.
"I-I think it's talking to me," Jupiter explained, leaning forward to inspect the controls. "Hmm . . . umm . . . " he pressed some buttons, somehow knowing what they meant, and the lifted off the ground and somehow made a roaring sound.
Bean and Brick screamed like children. And, Phin, Quinton and Jupiter ignored them.
"Okay, got it," Jupiter grinned. "Now let's try this," he smirked, pushing the controls forward. The ship practically jumped up, bursting out of the cavern like it was nothing and flying up into the air, even doing a summersault before using the thrusters to stay above the ground. Jupiter stayed low for a moment, then blasted off towards the sky, spinning and trying to ignore Brick pulling his hair off to stay standing in the cockpit. Actually, everyone was screaming, which Jupiter found super annoying, though he knew it must have been hard to stand while all this was happening. Still, it wasn't like he was the one doing it. It was all the ship!
"YOU ARE. THE WORST. PILOT. EVER." Phin shouted
Then, the ship did another flip and then blasted off even higher. At that, Jupiter joined in on the screaming, barely paying attention to the way Phin held on to his seat and hid behind it. Still, the ship didn't seem to want to stop showing off its flying skills, and even when it landed it ran across the desert sand at a high speed.
"Isn't this awesome?!" Jupiter looked back to the others with a grin.
"Make it stop," Brick jerked forward, looking kinda sick. "Make it stop!"
"I'm not making it do anything," Jupiter grinned. "It's like it's on autopilot!"
Just as Jupiter said that, the ship blasted off towards the sky again.
"Where are you going?!" Phin asked in a accusatory manner
"I just said it's on autopilot!" Jupiter repeated, annoyed. "It says there's an demon ship approaching Mantle. I think we're supposed to stop it."
"What did it say, exactly?!" Bean asked.
"Well, it's not like it's saying words," Jupiter tried to explain, "more like feeding ideas into my brain . . . kind of." Jupiter stared at bean, who just looked mad.
"Well, if this thing is what they're coming for, why don't we just, like—I don't know, give it to them?" Brick suggested. "Maybe they'll leave us alone. Sorry, ship, nothing personal," he said, looking up at the ceiling of the cockpit.
"You don't understand," Quinton began, tone somber and divisive. "These monsters spread like a plague throughout Remnant, destroying everything in their path. There's no bargaining with them. They won't stop until everything is destroyed."
Everyone stared at Brick, who looked embarrassed for even suggesting they give the ship up.
"Oh . . . nevermind then."
The ship roared as they soared along and away from Mantle and Atlas, heading towards where Jupiter assumed the demon ship would be. Suddenly, a giant warship rushed in out of nowhere, bearing a great resemblance to the pod Quinton had arrived in. However, it was much bigger, and much, much scarier . . .
Brick was the first to react. "Uh... Holy crow! Is that really an demon ship?!"
The ship moved, now more above the demon ship and at a better vantage point.
"They found me . . . " Quinton whispered
The ship opened fire, crimson red lasers flying in every direction, though mostly aimed at the ship. Jupiter's eyes widened, and Bean's voice brought him back to reality.
"We've gotta get it out of here!"
"Hang on!" Jupiter shouted, thinking of nothing else but getting the ship away from the Mantle.
Though he was still getting the hang of the shit, he managed to pilot quickly to dodge the lasers, keeping them safe as he headed away from Mantle.
"Ah! All right! Okay, I think I know what to do!" Jupiter said, though he was more thinking out loud than anything. He had to stay focused on the piloting. He couldn't mess this up.
"Be careful, man!" Bean harshly warned. "This isn't a simulator!"
"Well, that's good," Jupiter answered, his light tone hiding the fact that he was terrified right now. "Cause I always wreck the simulator."
When he'd signed up to be a pilot, he hadn't expected to be dodging lasers from demon warships, but now that he was doing it, there was no messing up. If he did, he and his friends could die, and the Atlas might be destroyed, too. He couldn't let that happen. Too many good people would be killed . . .
Jupiter pushed one part of the controls forwards in an attempt to do something useful, and soon enough the ship was charging up a cannon that was soon blasted at the length of the enemy ship, causing a few explosions where it had been hit.
"Let's try this," Jupiter smirked, now getting more used to the controls. Despite his fears, he felt totally in control of this ship, like he was meant to pilot it, and he was soon dodging more lasers as he headed towards the warship, using the Lion's giant metal claws to dig into the side and tear up even more of it. He flew away before the explosions even went off, earning a "nice job, Jupiter!" from Quinton.
"Okay, I think it's time to get these guys away from Atlas and Mantle," Jupiter said, flying away from the Kingdom.
After a moment of rushing through the sky, the ship followed, quickly gaining on them.
"Oh, no!" Brick cried.
"They're gaining on us!" Bean warned with a yell.
"It's weird. They're not trying to shoot us," Jupiter pointed out, huffing. "Th-They're just chasing."
"Okay, seriously, now we think having demons following us is good?" Brick protested. "I am not on board with this new direction, guys."
"Where are we?" Phin suddenly asked, and Jupiter then noticed the large dragon-shaped Island next to them, small islands all around the area.
"The edge of Remnant," Quinton said, sounding almost in disbelief. "There's Drákon."
"It takes months for our airships to get out this far," Bean gaped. "We got out here in five seconds."
Suddenly, a blast of light appeared in front of them, a dark green hole in its place. Light green patterns circled the rim, and white light spun around inside it, beckoning them to go inside.
"What is that?" Brick asked, in shock.
"Uhh, this may seem crazy," Jupiter started, "but I think the ship wants us to go through there!"
"Where does it go?" Beam asked hesitantly.
Jupiter looked at him, uncertain. "I-I don't know." He returned his gaze to the hole. "Quinton, you're the senior officer here," he looked up at the man, "what should we do?"
"Whatever's happening, the ship knows more than we do. I say we trust it," Quinton offered, then looked to the group. "But we're a team now. We should decide together."
Everyone exchanged quick glances before all eyes were on Jupiter. Bean set his hand on Jupiter's shoulder, and he knew they all had come to the same conclusion.
"All right," he slowly eased the ship forward, "I guess we're all ditching class tomorrow."
He flew them into the massive hole, a white blast surrounding his vision for a moment as he felt it close behind them. He prayed this wouldn't kill them all. The ship shook intensely as they rushed through a blue tunnel, until finally they suddenly came out of the hole, now near a Vale-like Island in the middle of who-knows-where.
They escaped. That was good. But where were they?
Authors Note
Hi, I hope you guys enjoyed the first chapter. I'm gonna tell you this now, the rest of the chapters are not going to be as long as this. I only made this so long because of, you know how when certain shows start the pilot episode is usually twice as long as the other episodes? Well that's what I did.
I also want to explain how Jupiter and the others are In Atlas Academy but aren't training to become Huntsman. After realizing Ironwood mixed Atlas's military and academy together I figured there must be students there who don't train to become Huntsman. So I made extra categories for the other students.
The different categories for the students of Atlas are Huntsman, Soldier, Pilot, Engineer, Communications. The students who train in Piloting, Engineering, and Communications are trained in an Atlas Facility that's on the ground outside of the borders of Mantle.
If you want to know more about the characters then go and check out the Out Of Remnant Character Book, you should be able to find it with the rest of my fics. I'm going to release it sometime after this is put out