Hey, guys, GaeaChronos here with the second chapter of Kamen Rider Garnet!
Thanks for the reviews, all are appreciated. And with that said, on with the chapter!
Chapter 2
Ruben Rose was nervous.
He accidentally let out a big secret, which even his sister doesn't know, to his partner. Now, she's looking for an explanation on what had just happened.
Fortunately, he managed to convince her to wait until they got back to Beacon. Chewing on his lip nervously, he turned to the girl in question, who was currently on her scroll.
They were currently on the bullhead back to Beacon. There wasn't much people, but he still wanted to be safe.
He tried to distract himself with his scroll, looking at random videos here and there. It worked for a few minutes, until Weiss decided to break the silence.
"So," she started "I've been looking around the web, and there doesn't seem to be any photo or video footage of you fighting those things. Sure, there are several forums about encounters, but there's no photos or videos to back them up."
"Oh." he answered. Maybe I can tell her a bit, just not all, he thought.
"That's actually the Aura Driver's doing." he tapped the device, currently in his pocket. "Once worn, it sends out frequencies that mess with other electronic devices within a certain radius. It only turns it off once it's taken off my waist."
That statement surprised the heiress.
"How does it do that?"
Ruben just shrugged, confusing the heiress even more.
"You don't know?"
"Nope." he said, popping the 'P'.
"How could you not know how your own creation works?" she asked incredulously.
"I didn't make this."
"Huh?"
"It's... sort of a hand-me-down." he answered, his face growing solemn.
"O-Oh." Noticing the change in his expression, Weiss decided to leave it at that.
The rest of the ride was at this awkward silence until the bullhead had landed at Beacon.
Once the two had gotten off, Ruben made a stop at one of the vending machines, getting himself a soda.
"Want one? My treat."
"I'm good. I just had a latte earlier."
He shrugged and drank the soda. Well, 'drank' might be putting it lightly. He was chugging it as if his life depended on it, as his partner watched on, her expression growing more horrified as he kept chugging without a break. Tears were already spilling from his eyes as he continued to empty the carbonated beverage.
"What are you doing?!" she screeched, wrenching the can from his hand, making sure not to spill.
"Hey, what gives?! I was about to beat my personal record!" he asked once he regained his breath.
"I don't care about your 'personal record'! You'll get yourself killed!"
"Heh. 'Death by soda'. What a way to die, then." he chuckled.
"Ruben, that wasn't funny!"
"Alright, alright, sorry. Don't be such a worrywart. Jeez."
"You can't die just yet."
"Aww, you do ca-"
"You still owe me an explanation."
Ruben slumped.
"I was hoping that would take your mind off that."
"Well, if it makes you feel any better, for a second, it did."
Ruben sighed.
"Alright. But not here. Let's head back to the dorm, okay?"
Weiss nodded, and they walked back to the dorms.
The walk was relatively silent, until Ruben decided to speak up.
"Hey, Weiss. Can I have my soda back?"
"You're not weaseling your way out of this one."
"I won't. Just let me finish it. There's barely a third left."
The white haired girl looked at the canned beverage in her hand, and sighed.
"Fine. But the moment you start chugging it, I'll freeze it to your hand and lips." she threatened, handing him the can.
"Did I really scare you that much? I did that a lot back at home." he chuckled before finishing the soda, and tossing the can into a nearby bin.
"Well, right now, you're not at home."
"Got me there."
"Now, come on, let's hurry."
The two proceeded to walk back to their dorm room, making sure not to wake anyone who is asleep. Upon stopping at their door, Ruben spoke up.
"Okay, here's the plan. I'll go in first, check if they're still awake, and if they are, we wait for them to fall asleep, and go inside the bathroom."
"Wait. The bathroom?!" Weiss whisper-yelled.
"Last I checked, it was soundproof."
"How do you know?"
"Yang always sings in the shower."
She still didn't look convinced.
"Look. We go to the bathroom and you can ask me anything regarding what happened. Deal?"
The heiress mulled over her decision, before nodding.
"Fine. But you better not be needing to use it when you get there."
"Scout's honor." he saluted.
"You were with the scouts?"
"Nope. Just thought it'd be cool to say."
"Just... open the door."
Ruben slowly opened the door to find both teammates fast asleep. Signalling his partner, they both carefully snuck their way into the bathroom.
"Alright. Spill." Weiss said after her partner locked the door.
"Okay. Where to start...?" he wondered aloud.
"How about with what that thing was, and why was it immune to Dust?"
"Ah. Well, you see, we don't really have an official name for them, but Uncle Qrow referred to them as, 'Unique Grimm', or 'Uniques' for short."
"That's creative."
"Hey, you think of something better if you're so good at it. That's what he called them to generalize them since there's more than one type of Unique."
"There's more?!"
"Yeah. And each is stronger than the one from earlier. You were lucky to run into a Beowolf Unique, they're not as strong as the others."
"And are all of them immune to Dust?!"
"Yep. Only Aura can deliver lasting damage to a Unique."
"But, doesn't Dust require Aura to work? It should at least hurt them a little."
"Think of it like this: What happens if you put syrup into water?"
"The water sweetens."
"Yes. But what about the syrup? What happens to its consistency?"
"It gets diluted, and dissolves in the water." Weiss's eyes widened upon realizing.
"Exactly. Think of the syrup as your Aura, and the water as Dust. Yes, your Aura gets infused into the Dust, but it loses its potency, thus not dealing as much damage as intended if you were to hit it with a blow infused with the same amount of Aura."
"But, what's the Aura Driver for? From what you've told me, Aura is really all that's needed to take down Uniques."
"The Aura Driver allows me better access to my Aura, all while enhancing each attack I make. It basically makes better use of my Aura in combat.
Anything else?"
The heiress thought about what else she could ask, looking down. Her serious expression suddenly growing pale at the sight of the unholy terror that was crawling by her feet.
She was thankful for the soundproofed bathrooms, or else the entire building might have heard her scream into the night.
"Whoa, Weiss, what's wrong?" Ruben asked his partner.
Weiss, who was now currently clinging on to her partner for dear life, pointed to the monstrosity on the floor.
"Oh." was all he could say.
What else could he say?
"That's one big centipede."
"I don't care what it is, just kill it!"
"Are you mad? Dead centipedes attract more centipedes!"
"Just kill it!" she cried, desperately reaching for the door, succeeding in unlocking it.
"Weiss, I can't really do anything if you keep squirming!"
"Why don't you transform!"
"Wha-?!"
"Come on! That might kill it without a trace!"
"Weiss, you're overreacting-"
"Just do it, come on!" she yelled, reaching for his jacket pocket.
"Hey, quit it!" Ruben cried out, trying to pry her hands off of him.
Weiss suddenly froze, and screamed again, and for good reason.
The centipede was crawling up her boot.
The heiress flailed like mad, flinging the creature off her leg, and into the bathtub, the startled bug crawling away into the shower drain.
"Okay, Weiss, it's gone. You can-"
"I'M NOT TAKING ANY CHANCES!"
With that, she proceeded to open the door. But, Ruben was still by the door. So when it was opened, the young leader lost his balance, tripping Weiss in the process.
THUD!
The two partners landed a pile of tangled limbs, with the heiress lying on top of her partner.
"Hey, would you keep it-"
The two looked up to find an exhausted Yang and Blake looking at them with wide eyes.
"Umm..." Ruben trailed off.
"Don't. Just... don't." his sister cut off. "I'm too sleepy to deal with this. Just... don't forget to pull out, okay, Rubes?"
Yang then proceeded to make her way back to her bed.
Blake pinched the bridge of her nose.
"Look, guys. We'll deal with this in the morning, just keep it down, okay?"
Both partners blushed at the implication.
"Th-that's not-"
"We weren't-"
"I-I mean-"
"This is-"
"It's not what it looks like!" both exclaimed.
"Sure, sure." came Yang's half-asleep response.
And that's about it. About the centipede thing, that happened to me a while back, so yeah, that's what inspired that. Anyway, this os basically just a bit of an info dump, and with added shenanigans. I'm trying to focus a bit on the humor, hope I succeeded.
GaeaChronos is out. Peace!