this story has elements from Seven Deadly Sins, mainly the powers of the main characters' of this story, AKA the two OCs. And probably enemies as well.
"Whoosh!" = Techniques/Demons/Deities/Sacred Treasures
"Whoosh!" = Thoughts/Mental Conversation/Hologram/Action/Flashback
Whoosh = Sound Effects
I don't own some of the characters depicted in the story, all rights goes to Rooster Teeth. The rest are mine though.
Now fair warning, my OC may or may not be overpowered but he will be more along the lines of comedic relief. It is undecided yet, but he'll be a comic relief regardless. You've been warned. Also if you want more details go and look up the terms or individuals mentioned.
The title might change also, and probably the description.
Also before I forget, I hope you all are alright and healthy during the Pandemic, wash your hands thoroughly with soap, and take some Vitamin C supplements~! We don't want you getting sick now~. If you are in the country where they are already safe from the Coronavirus and are no longer quarantined, great job! I'm still stuck in my home cause the quarantine is still going here. ;.;
Enough about that, time to start!
Chapter 1: The Honest and the Sly
Dark brown eyes opened, and all it saw was darkness, "Where am I?" the owner of those eyes asked as they looked around to try and see something but to no avail. He is just a man floating in darkness, he would have panicked if not for this strange sensation that forcibly made him calm.
"Welcome, young Chrome."
Startled by his name being uttered, they looked around frantically and looked for where the female voice came from and saw them. A figure with a vague feminine shape, shining so brightly that their features can't be seen but not so bright that it didn't hurt his eyes.
It was maddening to Chrome.
At the same time, it fascinated him. He always was interested in an oxymoron.
"Choose one."
Pardon? Choose what?
Then a moment later, a giant screen appeared with a bunch of categories of... Anime he has watched and have yet to watch. Video games he had played and has yet played. He tapped on an anime he was familiar with and saw it listed all of the powers used there.
Fascinating.
He then paused, he heard the figure say to choose one... A large shit-eating grin grew on his face as he presses a couple of buttons then looked over at the figure. The figure could only chuckle seeing the grin on Chrome's face. However, it was lost the moment he heard the chuckles that seemed to bounce off the empty void they were in.
"I see, very interesting of you. Very well, I'll accept it. And good luck."
Then a hole appeared from under Chrome, white so pure that it was the very noticeable thing in the void they were in, a scream of fury and terror escaped from Chrome's lips as he was swallowed whole, ironically making him blackout.
Chrome opened his eyes as quickly as he could, gasping for air and frantically started looking around, he was lying on the grass, he noticed. Surrounded by trees that seemed a bit too large for him but now are not the time for him to wonder about that, first, he has to find civilization. He stood up and got the chance to look down, his torso was bare.
Great.
At least he's wearing pants and on closer inspection, has he grown an eight pack? When did he find the time to work out like a lunatic? No matter, he shouldn't look at a gift horse in the mouth he must move onward. Figure out if he's still in his world. While walking around, he started appreciating the forest, looking around everywhere except the ground. Ground-chan didn't like being ignored so it does what it can do best.
Make him eat dirt.
He tripped headfirst doing so, with his dignity being challenged, he quickly stood back up to find the perpetrator, accidentally kicking something. It was rather... fleshy no less, and bouncy too.
He took a better look and saw what he kicked, a man's belly.
Wait a minute, he recognized the now groaning man.
"Xander?!" he shouted with such passion that he was surprised. The groaning man continued holding his belly as he squirmed on the ground. Chrome decided to wait for the rotund man to stop doing such things. A couple of minutes later and the groaning has settled down, "Wait... Where am I?! Who are you?! Where are you taking me?!" the rotund man sat up and started pointing at Chrome while scooting away from him.
SLAP
It is the most likely response of Chrome after being accused of kidnapping the rotund man and he, oddly enough, felt resistance from that slap, noticing that Xander has a sky blue Aura protecting him, "Interesting."
"You're Xander, alright." he said as he regathered his thoughts, "H-huh?! How'd you know my name?!" the rotund man asked but was ignored when Chrome decided to ramble on.
"If I were to kidnap somebody I might as well kidnap a beautiful woman! Not some Humpty Dumpty looking mofo!" Chrome finished as the sudden realization from Xander came in full force, "Chrome?!"
"Yes, you asshole!"
"You look like nothing like him!"
"What? Pardon?"
Chrome ran towards the nearest reflective place and luckily he smelled a river nearby. Smell a river nearby? He was rather impressed by the fact itself. Once he reached the river he looked at his reflection and saw that he looked like Ban of the Seven of the Deadly Sins, except his hair is black instead of Ban's pale blue, "I dare say, at least I don't have to look at my ugly mug." Chrome joked as he inspected every part of his face, "Is that you Chrome?" Xander floated towards him, using a familiar-looking pillow to do so.
"So... How'd you get yourself here?" Chrome asked as Xander retold his tale, finding himself in the same void with the same feminine figure with the same screen he was presented to as well, "Same as me then... So you chose King?" he asked getting a nod from his friend, "She only said to choose one so I decided to choose Chastiefol and got full control of its powers." the answer threw Chrome out of the loop, "You didn't use the obvious loophole?" he asked Xander which made him tilt his head to the left.
The reaction was all Chrome needed as his eyes bugged out, "What?!" he continued staring at Xander like he was the most bizarre-looking object he has ever seen, this ticked off Xander however, and decided to slap Chrome.
Bad mistake.
"OW! What power did you get?! Iron body?!" Xander asked as Chrome place a finger to his chin, "All of Ban's powers, even immortality." he answered which made Xander stare at him eyes bugging out as well, "The figure said to choose one, she didn't specify what that one was, so I chose one person and got all of his skills for myself." Chrome stated with a shit-eating grin that Xander just wants to slap it off but was afraid that he might hurt himself again, "Anyways, time for us to move on onward!"
With that Chrome started dragging Xander along, even though he's floating on Chastiefol's pillow form.
"So you get the plan, Xander?" Chrome asked his best friend, "Yep."
"So run it by me one more time." Chrome demanded, testing Xander's listening skill, "We find out what world we are in, and as fast as possible try to adapt our explanation of our skills to the norms of this world... Then... We do whatever we want?" Xander lost all confidence on the last one and started sweating in fear considering he was suddenly grabbed by his best friend on the shoulders, a firm grip on it, and a terrifying expression on his face, "Exactly! Finally, you managed to listen properly!" The expression suddenly changed to something pleasant upon uttering those words.
"Now... Onward!" Chrome continued as he started marching towards who knows where. A couple of hours of walking later they decided to talk to past the time, "So... Chrome, if you chose Ban in his entirety, doesn't that mean you have his Sacred Treasure?" Xander asked. Since he wasn't so far into the Seven Deadly Sins' storyline, he didn't get to know Ban's Sacred Treasure, "Now that you said that, I should have it, how'd you get yours?"
"I just called for it." Xander replied earning a hum from Chrome, "Alright let me try... Courechouse!" he said but nothing happened, "Um... I said Chastiefol's title too." Xander added as a solution, "Alright, again... Holy Staff Courechouse!" and with a flash of light, the four sectioned staff, Courechouse appeared in Chrome's hand, "Neat!" and thanks to the loophole he had taken full advantage of, he can easily use it just like Ban can, "Noice! Now how do I hide this?... Dismiss!" With another flash of light, the Sacred Treasure went back to whence it came.
"I think you can do the same, Xander."
"No thanks, I'll just continue to float like this."
"Lazy bum!"
BOOM
"Pardon? What was that?" Chrome nonchalantly replied, "Let's go check it out, Chrome!" his best friend exclaimed as he flew towards the direction of the sound, the Ban look-alike could only sigh as he went after his friend with surprising ease, "Need to take note of that."
Many people have different beliefs, some coincide with others, some just opposes others. Her's, well, the strong survive, the weak die, it's a really simple concept but for the life of her, she just couldn't understand why some people just can't see what she can. No matter, they would eventually crumble and fall with their 'precious' beliefs, especially that of her traitorous twin brother. If they were to fall, she would be right, if she were to fall instead, well, that means she wasn't strong enough, to begin with.
Not that she can imagine that happening.
Here she is, liberating precious resources from the weak to her tribe, this village has been nothing but an eyesore and now she wants it gone, razed to the ground. They can just lay the blame on the creatures of Grimm too if the authorities decided to do something about their raids. The excuse becomes more credible with all this negativity they are spreading around.
However, something feels odd, like there is something about to happen.
Crash Crash Crash
Speak of the devil and it shall appear, something did happen. She looked to the flying object, that managed to fly through two walls and get stuck in one more, in just one glance, she could tell it was one of her men.
Odd, there wasn't any Huntsman or Huntress in this village so it's rather suspicious that somebody could just send one of her men through walls, no matter how incompetent they were at times. She needs to investigate this, A.S.A.P.
She rushed towards the scene where she noticed a young man fighting against her men with relative ease. A Huntsman maybe? It's rather hard to ascertain when Huntsmen usually wear clothes, this man's half-naked with only black pants on, no shoes or anything like that. Thanks to that the tattoo of a fox is very noticeable on his chest, right in the middle of his heart. One thing to her is clear though, he is strong, no doubt about that. Beating her people without even moving in that one spot in the center of the village is proof enough.
"Enough!" she commanded as her people stood down from attacking the man, as she walks closer, she blinked several times under her mask, if it were not for the distinct difference in height, she would have thought it was her brother, by her estimation this man is nine inches taller than Qrow, that would make him six foot 11 inches tall. With the man's black hair and red eyes, he would have been mistaken for a Branwen thought that fox-like grin would have been unbecoming of one.
"Oh the leader of this ragtag group of thieves and murderers, if I didn't know any better you look so much like one!" she heard the man say, ignoring the jab and stood across from him, "And who might you be?" Fishing for information is always the best option, "Well, isn't it common courtesy to tell your name first?" he replied with a rather infuriating fox-like smirk, she then saw the young man placed his hands in his pant's pockets, she sees this as a blatant disrespect but she needs to know more before acting, that's how she's currently surviving, "Raven."
"Name's Ash." He replied, one mystery down, more to go, she then heard him laugh loudly, "How fitting, the envoy of death and the result of a fire, meeting in one place. Poetic, really." he stated as he finished laughing, "So... Why are you attacking this place?"
While he was asking that, Raven noticed that one of her men is sneakily moving towards Ash's unprotected back, finding this a chance to test the water would be very much appreciated, "It's because they are weak." she replied.
15 Steps away.
The grin on Ash's face disappeared almost instantly, "So... You plunder... Because they are weak?" he gestures towards the ruined houses, both destroyed through force or currently lit aflame.
Eight Steps away.
"Indeed, the strong trample over the weak." Raven replied with so much firmness that it made Ash do a double-check, "Well I knew she's like that but it still is so much different hearing it from her."
Three Steps away.
"So by your definition, I can do this." Ash suddenly spun around and grabbed the man by the neck. Raven at least now knew the man is aware of his surroundings, even when being distracted, "Nice vest, it'll be a shame if somebody..." Ash trailed off, "Took it away." he started beating the ever-loving crap out of his hostage and finally threw him away after acquiring the vest. A black long-sleeved vest with studs around the shoulders and the cuffs, "By your definition, I can steal from those weaker than me." he asked while putting on the vest.
"Well let me tell you something." Ash looked straight at Raven, "I'm stealing all of your shit." The bandit leader tensed, sensing an oncoming fight when suddenly, "Hey! Jump!" a new voice called out and without a second delay Ash jumped up high and was caught by something green, "I'll do that another day!" Ash cackled as they disappeared into the forest.
"Let's hurry up! Before the Grimm catches us!" Raven ordered as she looked back to where that young man disappeared.
It's much more preferable to get him on her side but with that little 'chat' they had, she knows that won't happen. So, it is a better idea to prepare for him before meeting him again.
"So got any info from the villagers while saving their asses?" Chrome asked, admiring his new vest, "Before that, did you pull a Ban?" Xander asked, referring to Ban always getting his jacket utterly destroyed but always manages to find and steal the same jacket over and over again, "Yup, oh, and before that, we have Aura." Chrome started to explain to when he noticed that incident when he slapped Xander, "Really? Cool!" he nodded along with that exuberant cheer, "That means we can use that as excuses for our Aura, let me do the explaining, okay?"
"Okay!" Xander replied and with that Chrome inhaled then exhaled, "Info, now."
"We're in Remnant and that we're actually in Sanus? Where is that exactly?" His chubby friend had said, "Sanus is the continent where the kingdom of Vale and Vacuo is located. Vacuo is at the west while Vale is located at the East of Sanus."
"Also I've met Raven Branwen."
"Really?"
"Yup, she's a piece of work, that one."
"How so?"
"The weak die! The strong survive!"
"O~kay then."
"Now, Xander, either we stick with our names or change it." The lean one of the two had said, "Now, I'm changing mine so that it wouldn't sound so suspicious, I've introduced myself as Ash, so, what about you?"
"I think I'll change mine too... I'll need a surname too."
"How about Azure?"
"Exactly, you read my mind!"
"What about the surname? Azure?"
"Pfft..."
Wheeze
"No!"
"Why not, it's great, Azure Azure. Just like the Mario brothers, Mario Mario and Luigi Mario."
Wheeze, giggle
"No, no, how about Forester?"
"How about no and change that to Forrest, double R?"
"Nice sounds great, Azure Forrest, that's my new name. What about you?"
"Ash Foxtail."
"You decided that so quickly!"
"I'm a decisive man."
"So that's why you're taking so long deciding which milk tea you were about to buy?"
"Shut up."
With enough discussion, they both decided to go to Vale, not only because that's where the majority of the plot happens but also because it's not as chaotic as Vacuo, while Atlas and Mistral are so much farther away. With that in mind, they journeyed along, taking a break only three times a day while sleeping at night. Well, their travels were met with Grimm lots of it, luckily for them, they could handle them just fine, unluckily they became more like pests than a threat to their lives. Xander or now known as Azure practices with the Spirit Spear Chastiefol which he could make to fly and float around with varying speeds. Along the way, he decided to test out the many forms of the weapon.
Form One: Chastiefol
Nothing much to imagine, a spear that can regenerate.
Form Two: Guardian
A green four-armed Bear. Azure usually use this against the many Grimm that attacks them, he likes this form the best.
Form Three: Fossilization
Two-headed spear. He accidentally stabbed the venison they had which turned it to stone, it also made Ash very angry.
Form Four: Sunflower
A giant Sunflower construct. Legends say that there's a large bottomless pit in the middle of Sanus. When did it appear, who knows? Direct your query to a rotund man with a floating green pillow.
Form Five: Increase
Lots of knives, lost control, Ash became a porcupine that day.
Form Six: Yggdra Cloth
Couldn't do it, like the original King.
Form Seven: Luminosity
A glowing ball. They became a shining beacon for dinner time.
Form Eight: Pollen Garden
An egg shape a green barrier that also slowly heals people. They had an eggcellent time experimenting with that one.
"Finally! We can see the damned kingdom!" Ash swore as he stretched and yawned, "I feel so tired." Azure said but didn't he didn't see what came next.
SLAP
"Say that again when you aren't flying." The taller one of the two said, "Say, we haven't had any troubles recently." Azure stated which made Ash stop and palm his face, "I swear to GOD you just had to say that!"
BOOM
"Aww shit, here we go again," he added as they suddenly rushed towards the explosion. Upon reaching the wall of the kingdom where the explosion took place, their eyes laying upon the scene of two Huntsmen and a Huntress attacking an obese giant with red skin and no clothes and two horns that has several rings across its length, defending the soldiers and police officers behind them, "A Red Demon? Here?"
"Let's go." Ash reminded as both of them rushes to help the Huntsmen and Huntresses, "Are you guys alright?" Azure asked once close enough for a conversation, "We'll be even better once we kill that thing!" one of the Huntsmen exclaimed as they were heavily breathing from exhaustion, "Take cover, we'll handle it." Ash said looking smug at the giant, "By we, I mean him." he added while laughing positioning himself in front of the recuperating Huntsmen and Huntress, "Of course you'd say that."
"Form Five: Increase!"
With that, the pillow turned into thousands of knives and was given a command via hand motion towards the red giant, which awed the spectators, "Incredible Semblance, eh? He said that a spear one day materialized beside him a month later after unlocking his Aura. He went mucking around with it until he discovered he could change its forms. How many there are? Who knows but I know one thing, it's very versatile." he explained as they watch Azure decimate the Red Demon so easily.
"OI! We don't want that thing living, period! Use Form Three and smash it up into paste!" Ash shouted, "But that form's dangerous!" argued his rotund friend, "So is that thing existing!"
"Arghh!"
"Form Three: Fossilization!"
The thousands of knives turned into a two-headed spear and with a quick mental command launched the spear towards the Demon in the blink of an eye, everyone watched as they saw the red giant slowly turn into stone, cracking his knuckles and creaking his neck Ash walked towards the now petrified Demon, "My turn." he simply stated as he began punching in quick succession smashing the statue into pieces, it was so quick that it was creating after-images of his fists.
Ozpin is a man of many things, powerful, mysterious, wise, lover of all things hot cocoa are the more prominent ones but for all of his 'years' of experience, none could prepare him to hear a distress signal NEAR the kingdom of Vale stating that an obese red giant is decimating the guards stationed near the walls. So with much urgency, four Beacon Staff was sent including himself, heading towards their destination for the backup. Ozpin is a tall, silver-haired man in his late 30s, thin brown eyes behind shaded spectacles, an unzipped black suit over dark green, buttoned vest, dark green pants, and black trouser shoes.
Besides him are his trusted assistant and Vice-Deputy Headmistress of his academy, Beacon Academy to be precise. She is a woman in her mid 30's that has very light blonde hair tied back in a bun with a curl hanging down the right side of her face, her eyes being bright green. She has dangling teal earrings that match the hanging pendant on her collar. She wears a white long-sleeved, pleated top that has a wide keyhole neckline and gauntlet cuffs that flare in pleats at the wrist. Her lower body is covered by a black high-waist pencil skirt with bronze buttons and black-brown stockings. She wears black boots with bronze heels and a cape that is purple inside and black on the outside. The cut of the cape is stylized to end in flames and arrows, with a row of diamond-shaped bronze beads on the back. Above this line of beads appears an emblem of a tiara that is her symbol.
The other two across the pair were Professor Peter Port the one in charge of Grimm Studies and Prof... Ahem, Doctor Bartholomew Oobleck the one in charge of Remnant's History. Professor Port appears to be a middle-aged man. He wears a double-breasted burgundy suit with gold piping and buttons. His pants he wears tucked into olive boots, similar in appearance and construction to cavalry boots. He has black hair and mustache that seems to have more gray nowadays and appears to be slightly overweight but not as much as what the reported attacker is supposed to be.
Doctor Oobleck is a man with messy green hair and brown eyes. His attire is disheveled: his white shirt partially tucked into his dark-green pants and its collar raised, showing a slack yellow tie, along with mismatched brown and black shoes. He also has round glasses that appear to be opaque.
With their group, they should be sufficient enough to deal with the hostile near the kingdom's walls. A new enemy, a new deviation of Grimm that has been yet to be seen, now this is all speculation really, considering that Grimm is always black and white with hints of red. Not entirely red with hints of black, white, and yellow.
"ETA 1 minute." He heard from the comms in the Bullhead and prepared for his Landing Strategy. A minute has passed and the doors to the vehicle opened, the teachers landing prepared for a fight but only to see the sight of a young man much taller than any of them smashing a statue that seems to be the perpetrator, "Stand down!" Ah, his assistant just knew how to get people's attention but to his slight amusement the man continued to destroy the statue, "I said, stand down!" Glynda shouted as she used her Semblance on the man.
"OI! Let me down, old hag!" He did not just say that in front of his assistant.
Ozpin always wondered what the ground tastes like, he should ask that poor young man, "I will not let you destroy any more of the specimen!" Glynda said as she strode forward while still keeping the young man eating dirt, "Um... Excuse me, it is for the best that it is destroyed thoroughly." Attention went towards a rotund young man floating on a green pillow, "How so, young man?" Ozpin asked as he followed suit along with his other two colleagues. Glynda's attention snapped back to the young man she was holding down, He noticed this of his assistant and looked as well noticing that her hold was being resisted, flawlessly even, "Interesting."
"Because, there's a reason that some things are unknown to humanity, and that THING's one of them!" The taller of the young men said standing up to full height even with Glynda's Semblance holding him down, "Young man, humanity has evolved by studying the unknown and learning the world's history." Spoken like a true scholar, Professor Oobleck.
And somehow like magic, Oobleck looked at Ozpin, "I am a Doctor! I didn't attain my Ph.D. just to be called a mere professor!"
The tall young man could only sigh which prompts a worried glance from the rotund young man, "Fine, you can take the damned thing, but you'll be hiring my friend over here."
"On what grounds can you make such a demand?" Glynda stated testily, "The grounds that he and I know more of the damned thing more than you is one. Second is that we know what will happen with one tiny mistake studying the twice-damned thing. And finally third of all, we can handle the thrice-damned thing easily enough, especially when it converts something or someone else." he replied rather heatedly, "What do you mean about 'convert', young man?" Professor Port, "My friend here would explain that one, after hiring him."
"How can we tell that you can even handle it when other professional Huntsmen couldn't?" Glynda asked doing a great job in hiding her anger.
"You could ask them yourselves you know." The young man said smugly accompanied with a smug grin. Ozpin already knew he needs to stop this before his assistant blows up another gasket.
"Now, now. Young man, you've made three excellent points, the swears aside, we would appreciate and welcome two 'experts' to study this thing-" He would have continued if not for being cut off, "How about, no, you hire Azure and him alone, take it or leave it. I'm not about to get myself into politics." He then dangled one of his barefoot, "There's a reason why I have no shoes, you know." he said in a joking tone with an equally joking smirk.
"Anyways... Can we live in the kingdom?" he asked looking at their group, "Hold-" Glynda was about to say until she was cut off by Ozpin, "Enough, Ms. Goodwitch."
"But sir."
"No, any more and he might change his mind leaving his friend with us altogether. And need I remind you that they both know more about that thing, denying even one of them is already a bad deal, denying both of them would be a disaster. And if what he said is true and that both of them can handle it easily, it would be best to have one of them in the academy and the other in the kingdom." He discussed it with his assistant and two other colleagues.
"Indeed, finally someone with a rational mind!" the tall young man clapped, "That's what I'm getting at if there's a problem with an experiment and it runs towards the kingdom, how much collateral damage would that cost? How many lives would have been sacrificed just because mistakes have been made?"
"It would be much more avoidable if we increased the security by having you in the Academy as well." Argued Glynda further which made the young man to exasperatingly threw his arms down in utter disbelief, "So you're saying you can handle being called old hag every time I see you." he pointed at Glynda, "And Messing with your notes in history?" pointing at Prof- Doctor Oobleck, "I say we let him settle down in the kingdom while his friend stays as a staff of Beacon Academy." Doctor Oobleck immediately stated.
"Hohoho! Indeed young blood would be much appreciated in our fine Academy!" Professor Port jovially stated, "That is a very petty reason." Glynda stated as the young man sighed once more, placing both hands to either side of his hip, "Well if you want an official one, what makes you so sure there are only one of these things? For all, we know there's some roaming around in different parts of the world. I wouldn't be surprised if those Atlesian stiffs are already researching on one and issued a high-security level around the research area."
"Hm... That is a mind-opening thought, thank you, you have yourself a deal." Ozpin said offering his hand for a shake.
"Oh before that, can you provide enough money for me to start a business? I assure you this investment wouldn't disappoint you." The tall young man said with a sly grin.
"Hehehe!" Ash cackled as he walked down the streets with his newly bought Scroll being thrown up and down and enjoying the comfort of his new rubber shoes with the Lien that the Headmaster of Beacon gave him, the introductions were so funny that he couldn't help cackling even more. He still has enough money to make his own business and he's gonna make damn sure he makes a great one with the pitch he gave to the Beacon Staff to get this much funds, honestly playing to their love for coffee and hot cocoa made the pitch even more irresistible.
Now considering all this, good ole Ozpin decided to go the extra mile to create IDs and records for them, making them honorary citizens of the kingdom of Vale. Both of them being Faunus, Azure whispered and asked why and Ash answered that picking Chastiefol alone as his power is not enough to answer how he could levitate it the same way King does. Chastiefol can do a lot of things but levitating on its own is another entirely different subject. Azure has some of King's powers, as he could change his normal form to the child form of the Fairy race, or was it the other way around? Anyways they discovered it during their travels but wasn't mentioned during that part, in favor of explaining Chastiefol's power instead.
He might be a half breed but who knows how will they be able to explain when he grows butterfly wings? They were, of course, been questioned why they want to be officially recognized as Faunus as Ash easily showed them his fangs and his scarlet red eyes that are reminiscent of a fox. Now with Azure, he had to pull out the biggest bullshit ever and stated that Azure is a caterpillar Faunus, evident by his appetite and hefty belly. Up until he now, he is still regretting that decision, oh well.
With that in mind, he's now walking down the road, scouting for a nice building. It's been day five days and he noticed there are a lot of students in the Commercial Area and that is very splendid, what made it even better is that there's a building for sale here, excellent. He had already seen several different real estates that were perfect for his planned business but being the racist fucks those owners are, denied him of buying it or demanded all of his funds.
Fuck that.
He would have beaten them up but settled for ruining the price of their prime real estate by 'delicately' ruining the foundation secretly. Reducing their hundreds of thousand Lien real estate with three fewer zeroes.
Fun times.
The best thing is that even if he was suspected as the perpetrator, they do not have any pieces of evidence or witnesses whatsoever to properly prosecute him, without them sounding as over the top racists, without ruining their image as 'upstanding' citizens of the kingdom.
He almost vomited just thinking about that, 'upstanding' citizens, HA! No.
Taking out his scroll, he dialed the content of a banner on one side of the building to talk with the owner. The call went through and with it the chance to talk for the... Deed to the ownership of the building AND the land? What? It's haunted? He's getting it for only three digits?!
What's with this luck?!
While his thinking about all this, somebody rather small had bumped into him, he apologized immediately to the figure while he was agreeing to meet with the landowner after lunch in a cafe nearby. Ending the call, he did a little celebration in his head with an unconscious grin so smug that it irritates people just by seeing it. Now he can prioritize what he felt when he got bumped, or the lack of it, his wallet.
That little shitter took it.
With those thoughts analyzed, he chased after the cretin. Of course, he knew this was gonna happen so he only placed his budget in the wallet and the rest inside his shoes and pants. He's still getting his wallet, he could care less what was inside, a man needs his damned wallet.
There they are, trying to scurry away.
Not now, not ever. He inhaled deeply then exhaled softly, uttering two words.
"Physical Hunt!"
He thought that if Ban could take the physical abilities of his enemies, wouldn't that mean he could also take Aura? Because Aura is a physical manifestation of the soul, keywords Physical and Manifestation while Semblance is a tangible form of Aura, so that means, if a Semblance is used, he could, in theory, take the Aura sustaining the Semblance to effectively disable the activation of it instead.
Lo, and behold the cretin he has been chasing disappeared.
It was a Semblance.
And he only knew two people who have such Semblances.
Neopolitan or Emerald Sustrai.
Why would they go after a nobody? Have they seen Azure and him when they dealt with that Red Demon?
He needs to figure this out and the best way to do that is to just follow the Aura he was taking, like a crumb trail.
What? What is going on? She bumped into this tall chump and stole his wallet easily enough, he even apologized, which she found hilarious, then she saw him realize the fact that his wallet is missing and took this as an opportunity to mess with him, leading him on and on, preventing him from getting anywhere close to her construct and now it disappeared after that chump muttered something under his breath. What's even worst is that he's now heading towards where exactly she was at! This is not good.
This is the first time she ever experienced this, her Semblance rendered useless and she is being tracked with an accuracy of a bloodhound. Who is this guy?! Not even professional Huntsmen could track her and here he was following her exact trail!
She needs to shake him off using the alleyways. With as much speed as her legs could muster, she kept darting to and fro, from alley to alley in hopes to avoid this, as painful as this is is to admit, a terrifying guy that can make her Semblance a moot point is somebody she shouldn't be messing with. She then suddenly bumped into somebody and looked up to see who it was, it was a rather ugly looking man with scars all over and a bad taste in fashion, well she can't complain about it either since she's wearing nothing but a raggedy shirt and jeans full of holes.
And he has his buddies with him. Lovely. Now she'll just use her Sem-
She can't!
"Oi, would you look at that! The runt that stole all of our money!" The guy she bumped into said as she was immediately grabbed roughly and was now being dragged secretly in the alley, she can't even scream so how would she get out of this?
This day just went South so fast and it all started from her mugging that tall guy with an evil looking face. They reached the docks, there are barely any people around here, even more so in this isolated area she found herself in. Why does it feel like she's so exhausted at this point? She was only dragged around for at most 10 minutes give or take 12. So why is she so tired?
"Now time to pay up for all of the goods you stole, runt!" One of them began only for a peal of obnoxious laughter to ring around them, "Really now? A munchkin like her managed to jack up all of your shit?" they looked towards the voice and saw the same tall man with an unzipped long-sleeved vest that wasn't covering his impressive abs, she would have blushed if not because of her situation right now, what? Sue her, she is already in her puberty. Black pants and black rubber shoes with gray accents, overall really, now that she had a better look, he is very handsome, much more than those Huntsmen she manages to rob all the time and that is saying something because those people are supermodels.
Shame he has such a vulgar mouth, "Who are you, punk?"
"Why would I tell you?" he said and suddenly reappeared in front of the guy who questioned him, "I just want my wallet back." with a quick jab to the stomach, he managed to knock out one of the thugs, via sending him through a warehouse, "Okay, let's hurry this up, I have an appointment after lunch and I can't miss it." the man said, taunting them and it worked as all of them rushes after him. What happens next made her eyes widen in shock as she continues to watch this man continue to send the thugs flying through different warehouses with relative ease, "Now that's done..."
She was in utter awe, mouth hung open, how strong could he be to act like this entire fiasco was just a stroll in the park? She then saw him walk towards her, hands in his pant's pockets, stopping only after he's only two steps away from her. Crouching down, the man could look at her, scarlet red-eye to her mismatched ones, she closed her mouth and now felt very conscious of herself, sweating nervously and is fidgeting from his, admittedly, intense gaze. After what she felt like was the longest, most uncomfortable time of her life, he finally spoke.
"Got a family, kid?" he asked, she shook no, "Got a partner?" again she shook no, "You don't talk much, do you?" he asked, a nod of affirmation, "Or is it just because you can't talk at all?" Another nod, "I see, give me my wallet back." he all but demanded her, she did so considering she's so tired at this point that she couldn't fight back, probably because of that silent stare down a couple of seconds ago, "Oops, I got to stop." he snapped his fingers, "Okay then." She saw him smile, making her heart skip a beat while gathering up all the Lien Cards in the wallet and gave it to her, while he pockets the wallet, "There, I'm hiring you for a business of mine. That'll be your advance payment for the month. Let's go." he said which made the gears in her head start grinding, trying to digest what she just heard.
She was hired by the man he stole from, for a business? It was so crazy that she couldn't help but smile and followed after him. What an interesting guy... No... Man, what an interesting man.
Okay, after that entire shindig happened, he can now confirm the info Azure has given him a couple of days ago. They are here in Remnant, a decade and a half in the past before the main plot of the series even began. He looked behind himself seeing a jolly, diminutive girl following him, hands behind her back while doing so.
He already fucked the plot up by getting Neopolitan as his waitress, how old is she anyway? Like 12 or something? Anyways, he checked the time on his scroll, it's now about 1 hour until 12. Good to know, time to get lunch.
"Come on kid, time for lunch, it's on me," he said which made the girl even giddier as she ran forward, grabbed his hands, and started leading him. He allowed it for 12 more minutes until he saw where they are going, an ice cream parlor, that's not lunch, "How about no, ice cream is not lunch." He said stopping the girl in her track, pouting and kicking the ground, "No." he said as Neo upped the ante and used the forbidden moe technique, the Puppy Dog eyes.
HA! What do you take him for, a weak-willed man? He once had to take care of three adorable godchildren, and 16 other equally adorable cousins, and a puppy. He's practically immune at this point and his deadpan stare is the one irrefutable proof, "No, we'll be having a proper lunch."
Neo didn't like that. And began to throw a tantrum on the ground, AKA sits on it while puffing up her cheeks.
Anyways, he would have laughed if it was not for the fact that they have to eat as soon as possible, "Yeah, keep doing that, see if I'll still buy you ice cream." Now, why is he being such a hardass in front of such a cute little girl? Well, he is a firm believer that if you give a woman an inch, they'll go a mile and a half, it sounded like a dirty joke, but it's not. And with that statement, Neo suddenly stood up. Taking her hand in his own, he leads the girl to the cafe that he will have a meeting in. Ordering some burgers and fries and red iced tea for drinks.
However, he saw that Neo is pouting at him with puffed cheeks and angry looking eyes. She is currently showing the menu to him to which he rather felt honored considering she wouldn't give the damned paper back to the waitress, she started pointing at the dessert section, specifically the Neopolitan ice cream.
What a surprise.
"Later, dessert is always eaten last." he deadpanned as he ate through his fries and started on eating the burger. He looked back at her and saw she was already taking the last bite out of her burger and fries, her cheeks stuffed like a chipmunk while she chews, vehemently pointing at the ice cream's name.
He could have sworn that she would start drilling a hole on that spot, he then groaned in exasperation, "Fine." while calling out to a couple of waiters that went pass by him but was ignored, several times, a waitress then passed by and he called out to her, immediately getting a response.
He sees what's happening and could only groan mentally.
"I would like to do another order, a blueberry cheesecake, Neopolitan ice cream, and two cups of water." he said and while he is doing that, Neo finished chewing and started inhaling her ice tea, making sure that he would not use it as a mean to delay her from getting her beloved ice cream, "Sir, would that be on the same bill?" the waitress asked, "Yes."
"Okay sir, I'll be right back with your order." she said as she happily went to get their orders, Ash noticing that Neo was now placated by the thought of ice cream found this is the best time to start with business, "Now I guess we need to get this out of the way." he said getting her attention, "Now my name is Ash, Ash Foxtail. I will be running a cafe, slightly similar to this one, and I hired you, to be my waitress. I am currently looking for a place to set up shop and got a meeting to potentially get a place to do so."
She nodded with full attention, "Now since that's out of the way, do you have a name?" she nodded, that's good, "Will you be able to tell that to me? I can't read sign language." he asked and then saw the girl point at the name of the ice cream she ordered.
Fantastic.
"Pfft... Your name is Neopolitan?" he managed to hold in his laugh in favor of asking for confirmation, what he got was the same angry eyes and puffed cheeks, "I see. It suits you." he smiled warmly, he then heard gasps and dishes being dropped and turned towards the sound, a couple of waitresses.
Fascinating.
He then saw Neo looking very much dumbfounded, a faint pink adorning her cheeks, "Well then, how old are you?" he asked and was met with a cheeky wink and grin, a single finger held up to her lips, "Suit yourself, Neo."
"Well then, I think it's best to get your Scroll so that if you need to tell me something complicated you can just type it in, after the meeting is over, okay?" he asked getting a couple of excited nods and a joyful grin. When their orders arrived the grin evolved into a full-blown smile as she started attacking the ice cream with gusto. Ash savored his cheesecake as he watches Neo enjoy her dessert, honestly, this is why he didn't complain taking care of that many children.
Their smiles were worth the struggle.
Author's Notes:
And there we have it, the first chapter. I have to be honest, I didn't plan to write this story, like at all. I wanted to prioritize finishing Team CRAA but I had a terrible mental block (like usual) and when I mentioned the premise of this story to my best friend Xanderush305, he insisted that I write it, so I decided to do that first. This conversation started when he asked for info about my OC's appearance in his story so I decided why not do the same while writing this story. The scene where Chrome and Xander were discussing their alternate names is an IRL conversation we had while discussing the premises about each of our stories.
And I am rather impressed that I managed to write a chapter with more than 5k words, I usually had trouble writing up to 5k, anyways I hope you guys and gals enjoyed the story as much as I did writing it. If you liked it consider leaving a review. I enjoy reading what you think about my story, even if it's negative, I usually get a good laugh out of those. So with that out of the way...
I hope you all have a pleasant Day/Night!