The God of Destruction comes to Remnant
An: Here's the second chapter in the Predator and Maidens arc. Give a shout out to Spirit for helping me with a few scenes for this chapter. Some of the conversations later in the chapter were kicking my tail, and he helped me out.
And without further ado, let's get started! Don't forget to read and review and tell me what you think!
{EDIT: This chapter has been edited to try and better showcase Coco and Velvet were being influenced by Laal's semblance.}
Chapter III-Predator and Maidens 2
Vale; Main Street; 12:00 P.M.
It took Coco and Velvet thirty minutes to completely sort out their story to the cops. It only took so long because a couple of officers really didn't think the girls were telling the truth. They believed Velvet (being a Faunus) just randomly attacked four upstanding citizens for no reason, and Coco was her accomplice. Of course, these guys were quickly taken care of by two completely different factors.
One-A senior officer knew Velvet personally and knew she wouldn't hurt a fly and threatened to bring up the offending officers on charges if they didn't leave her and her friend alone.
The second-Gojira nearly killed the officers. He wasn't sure why, but Velvet seemed so familiar to him, and that kind of lead to him having a fierce protectiveness of her, and by extent Coco. Though, after seeing her nearly brain one officer with a (purse? He wasn't sure what humans called it), that he found out weighed a good 300 pounds; he had to say he was intrigued by the girl and that he seemed just as familiar as Velvet.
But something about them bothered him. Their eyes would gloss over at random intervals, and they seemed easily distracted. There was something…familiar about it. He just couldn't remember why.
After they took care of their statements to the police and Coco's Aura recharged and began healing her leg, Coco immediately dragged Gojira and Velvet off to her favorite clothing store. Velvet, of course, complained about Coco's overexcitement on the whole matter, while Gojira had been gob smacked at the brunette's strength at being able to drag him along so casually despite a splint on her foot.
Upon arriving at the store, Coco was greeted by its owner, who was apparently an old friend of her family's. She explained the situation to her, and the woman responded by thanking the human Kaiju profusely, and hugging with a surprising amount of strength.
Did all human women have this kind of strength?
And if so, how come he never saw it before now?
To show her gratitude, the shop owner, who introduced herself as Juniper Magnolia, quickly set to work on Coco's request of getting Gojira a whole new look. For several minutes, the monster king was subjected to prodding and absurd (to him) measurements as Juniper began to write down everything, she needed for her 'new masterpiece.'
She made quick work, too. Not even fifteen minutes after she raced to the back room, she came out with Gojira's new clothes. Coco had taken them from the woman and thrust them into Gojira's hands, then shoved him into a changing booth with orders of trying them on.
The Kaiju blinked at the door that shut in his face, uncomprehending of what just happened. He growled lowly. "I can see why Zilla's so-called father said no male will ever understand human females," he mumbled. "Too damn complicated."
He shook his head and changed. To his interest, the shirt had specialized slits in the back for his shoulder spines, and the jeans had a similar slit in the back for his tail. Shrugging, he set to work putting the clothes on.
As he finished, he turned to the mirror behind him and examined the clothes. He now wore a black sleeveless shirt with red tribal-like markings on the shoulders that wrapped around where his spines came out of the shirt, and in-between his shoulder blades and spines, the Japanese Kanji for "Kaiju", an addition that Gojira had recommended when Juniper asked. The jeans were dark blue and he also wore thick, steel toed boots while his clawed hands were clad in fingerless gloves.
It certainly was comfortable, and he could understand why humans wore them. Gojira snorted at his appearance. "It will suffice," he murmured and walked out of the dressing room. Coco, Velvet, and Juniper were all waiting for him, and when he walked out, all eyes turned to him.
"Why, Mr. Gojira, you look stunning!" Juniper exclaimed cheerfully, clapping her hands together. She was a rather short woman with a softer brown hair than Velvet's or Coco's that fell down to the small of her back. Her warm, blue eyes twinkled as she gazed at the human Kaiju. She wore a loose-fitting yellow blouse and a long, red skirt and sandals on her feet.
"Yes, Gojira, you…" Velvet commented with a blush.
"Ravishing," Coco finished with a smirk, then frowned. "But…something's missing…"
"Coco," Velvet said in a dead tone.
"Don't 'Coco' me, Vel," Coco said. "He's got the look, but it's not enough. Needs to be more…badass. Something that screams, 'Oh! Don't wanna mess with this guy! He's a BAMF!'"
"Coco…"
"I don't need anything else," Gojira said flatly. "I'm clothed. That's good enough."
"Don't be fucking ridiculous!" Coco admonished him. "You saved me! And this is me repaying you for that!" Gojira was about to say something, most likely something spiteful, but Coco's face brightened. "Oh! I got it!"
She ran through the store, rummaging through various boxes and rooms as she looked for what she needed. Gojira looked on in irritation before she returned with a box with a particular glint in her eyes.
Velvet looked at the box and frowned. "Coco, what…?" she asked, but she didn't finish because Coco immediately blurred and circled Gojira with speeds that would impress Dr. Oobleck. When she stopped, Velvet's jaw dropped. Gojira was now wearing a small cross necklace and had a silver shoulder guard with red accents and elbow guard of the same color scheme on his left arm. He also now had shin guards of the same color scheme as well. A belt that was designed to look like a chain with a padlock as the buckle hung askew from his waist, and now he wore a metal wrist band on his right wrist.
The changes weren't all that awe-inspiring by themselves, but on Gojira, they definitely stood out. Velvet's face turned red at Gojira's new look. Coco smirked grandly, a light blush making its way to her face as well.
"Perfect! Now you pass!" she said happily.
"Pass what?" the Kaiju Faunus asked monotonously as he examined the additions. She just pick out random shit and put it on him.
"The badass test, obviously!" Coco said brightly. "Now you are worthy of being called my savior!"
"Coco…" Velvet said again.
"I thought I asked you to quit 'Coco'-ing me, Vel," the fashionista complained. "You make to sound like I'm doing something wrong!"
"…Do you even want me to comment on that?"
"Velveeeeeet…" she whined, but before she could continue, she and Velvet jumped at a loud growling noise. Startled, they turned to Gojira, who was staring at his stomach in bewilderment.
'Huh. That's never happened before,' Gojira thought, referring to his growling stomach. He had always sustained himself on atomic energy, and only ate food sparingly. But now, there wasn't any atomic energy near for him to 'feed' off of. 'Quite peculiar.'
"Hungry, ain't ya?" Coco asked in amusement. "Well, I know where we're headin' next!"
"And I'll be paying for it, Coco," Velvet said suddenly. "You're not paying for his food as well as his new clothes. You don't have enough Lien for that!"
"Vel, I work here!" the fashionista complained again. "And I get an employee discount!"
"And I still need to repay him for his help," she said calmly.
Gojira's eyebrow twitched. What was with repaying him crap? Why would they think they needed to repay him for saving them? Was this some sort of human custom he was unaware of?
"Ugh! Fine!" Coco said in mock exasperation, throwing her hands up in the air. "I'll concede. But ONLY this once! Got it?!"
Velvet nodded happily, pleased that she could repay her savior. Coco smirked, which had Velvet stiffening up. "Well, what are we waiting for?!" she asked. She threw a stack of Lien at Juniper and then grabbed Gojira and Velvet by the arms. "Let's get some grub!" she said as she started dragging them again.
"Wait! Coco! You're going to wear out the soles of my shoes again! Slow down!" Velvet yelled.
"How the hell's she dragging me?!" the Daikaiju demanded.
Coco had dragged them all the way to where she knew Velvet's favorite restaurant was (Hey! She cared for her team and this was Velvet's time to repay their savior!), and quickly set them down at the first table she saw available. Velvet turned to glare at her friend, who was grinning cheekily, while Gojira was just glaring period. He didn't like being dragged around.
But before he could say anything about it, a waiter came up to take their orders. Gojira put his irritation to the side and ordered some water as he observed the others in the restaurant. He noted how a few were looking disgusted at this one guy with odd colored hair shoveling food into his mouth and making a right mess.
Since he didn't want any unwanted attention, he made a note not to eat like that.
After they ordered their food (Velvet a salad, Coco a ribeye steak, and Gojira a plate of cooked fish), the girls looked to Gojira.
"So, Goji," Coco said with a smirk. Gojira's eye twitched at the familiar nickname. "Tell us more about yourself?" This was her chance to see more about him, and she wanted to see what kind of person her savior was.
Velvet was intrigued about what Gojira would say as well. She wondered if they had anything in common, so that they could become quick friends and…hopefully more…
He looked confused at the statement, also noting their eyes were glazing over again. He glared at the brunette. "Why do you want to know about me?" he asked in irritation.
Coco and Velvet blinked at his question. "W-Well," Velvet stuttered. "I…We just want to know more about you," she said.
He stared at her with peculiarly. "Why?" he asked with a tilt of his head, wondering what their goals were for wanting that information.
Coco shrugged. "How else do you make friends?" she asked rhetorically.
Friends. That word was not one that the Faunus was accustomed to hearing. He had met so few (even less that were humans) that he could even think of calling "friends." And even then, they were iffy at best.
His first instinct was to shoot them down, to not tell them anything about himself, but he smothered the urge. He needed information, and he stood a lower chance at finding it if he was by himself. He contemplated what to say about himself as the waiter brought their drinks. The girls were wondering what was wrong when he finally spoke up.
"What would you like to know?" he asked, not sure what to say.
The girls were taken aback for a moment. Coco, however, recovered quickly. "Like…where you're from. Or what you like to do? Family…what kind of Faunus you are…"
"Coco!" Velvet hissed.
"What now?!" Coco whined back.
"That's very insensitive! Not all Faunus are so ready to tell others what species they are!" the bunny eared girl told her.
"Oh…" Coco deflated slightly. She turned back to Gojira and said, "Right. You don't have to…"
"I'm from an island that was recently destroyed," he interrupted suddenly, looking at the girls blankly as he stunned them to silence. "I like to sleep, and family…" He paused, wondering if he should say anything. He shook his head. "I think I won't answer that one," he said sternly, looking at them with a look that said not to push their luck. They didn't. "And as to what…species of Faunus I am…" he continued, only pausing briefly at calling himself a "Faunus." "…well…" 'An irradiated, skyscraper sized, atomic charged Kaiju with the firepower of nuclear Armageddon.' "…I'm a Godzillasaurus Faunus," he said finally, shocking the girls to the core.
"You're a Dinosaur Faunus?!" Velvet screeched in quiet amazement, but quickly quieted down as to not drawn attention to them. Dinosaur Faunus were rare; almost no one saw one in person for their whole life because they were VERY reclusive, even to other Faunus!
Coco had stars in her eyes. Never, in all her craziest fantasies, did she ever think she'd ever meet a dinosaur Faunus! And have him save her at that! Damn, the world was a mysterious place. She stared at him in wonder, but soon frowned and found herself asking something that had been bugging her for a while: "What's with the slits on your neck?"
"Huh?" he asked, tilting his head in confusion. "You mean my gills?"
"Gills?! You have gills?!" Coco asked in shock.
"Yes. Isn't that what I just said?" he asked snidely.
"Dude. I was just shocked. Yeesh, don't bite my head off."
'Don't tempt me,' he thought. He wanted to know why this girl was so familiar to him, and biting her head off would be detrimental in finding out.
"Anyway," Velvet said, deciding to push onto another subject. "That was really brave of you, to stand up for us I mean. Not many stand up to the Red Sons."
"Can't imagine why," Gojira scoffed. "They were hardly worthy of the time it took to fight them."
"One of them knocked you into the street and you were hit by a car," Coco deadpanned.
"Because I wasn't expecting the insect's strength," he told her in irritation. "I expected him to break his hand, not send me skidding back. And the car was too flimsy to even hurt me."
Coco raised an eyebrow at the "insect" comment, but let it slide. "You must have a lot of Aura then, huh?" she asked skeptically.
'Aura?' "What is that?" he asked in confusion.
The girls looked to him in shock. "You're joking right?" Coco asked. "How can you not know about Aura?! Everyone knows what Aura is!"
"Well, obviously I don't, or I wouldn't be asking," Gojira snapped.
That stopped the girls short. How could he not know what Aura was? The knowledge was as common as the knowledge of Faunus in the world. Coco looked to Velvet and raised an eyebrow. Velvet got the message and turned to the irritated Kaiju.
"W-Well, Aura is the manifestation of our soul," the rabbit Faunus explained. "It's our shield, our sword. We use it for all manner of tasks. Like the guy who hit you? He used his Aura to strengthen his punch, which sent you into the road." At Gojira's nod, she continued. "We use our Aura to defend ourselves against the creatures of Grimm, to enhance our abilities, and activate Dust."
'Creatures of Grimm? Dust? Just where did that damn insect weapon send me?!' "…I see," he mumbled and took a sip of his water.
By this time, the food had finally been brought out. Coco and Velvet smiled gratefully as Gojira simply nodded to the waiter. The girls began eating calmly, but the humanized Kaiju waited a moment before digging in himself, mimicking how others (besides the man with the odd hair color) in the restaurant were eating.
"So," Coco asked after taking a couple of bites of her steak, "what made you save us to begin with?"
"Nothing," he stated bluntly, shocking them again. "If that dumbass worm had not have yelled at me, I would not have stopped."
"W-What?" Velvet asked, aghast.
"Y-You…?" Coco whispered. "You would have left us?"
"Yes," he said, though as he said it, he felt a sharp pang in his chest. Like saying the words wounded him. What was going on with him?!
Coco was beginning to get angry. "You would have left us to be raped by those…those…" Coco struggled to keep her anger at bay while trying to find the words she wanted. "Psychopaths?!"
"Hey, it wasn't like I knew you two were in that alleyway," he snapped back. "And I'm not in the business of helping people who haven't earned my respect! So, lay off!"
Coco was about to retort, but Velvet's calmly hand on her shoulder made her turn to the other girl. She saw her best friend give her a look that clearly said "Think before you act" before she spoke up herself.
"W-Well, thank you anyway for saving us again, Gojira," the rabbit Faunus said gratefully. "If you hadn't…I…" She shook her head. "No. Best not to think about it," she finished with a small smile on her face.
Gojira again was struck by a sense of familiarity, but could not for the life of him figure out why. "…I...For what it's worth, I can't bring myself to regret saving the two of you," he said.
Velvet felt her heart flutter. "M-May I ask why?"
He nodded, but he stayed quiet for a moment before answering. "...The two of you remind me of two others I know…but I can't seem to remember who or why."
Velvet blushed, but smiled happily. Coco cooled down slightly and smiled a little, but she was still miffed at the Faunus. Coco opened her mouth to try and restart the conversation, but thought better of it.
They ate the rest of their meal in silence, only speaking about trivial things and Gojira fishing for information about this new world while trying to be inconspicuous about it. He frowned, however, when he noticed their eyes became more unfocused as they ate. He almost growled out loud. The fact they were acting weird was so similar to something he had seen before, and he couldn't recall why was really eating at him.
The two soon to be Beacon second years continued stealing glances at their new Faunus friend, trying to get a read on him. He was an enigma. He confused them, even though he wasn't difficult to figure out. He was a loner, obviously someone who cared about very little, given his detached way of talking to people.
And he seemed to be ignorant of several things that were common knowledge around Remnant. Was his home island that isolated? Or was there something bigger going on with their new friend?
As they finished and Velvet was paying for their food, Velvet spoke to him; "Thanks again for saving us, Gojira. If I may ask, what are you doing next?"
"Look for information," he said automatically. "I'm…looking for the bastard that destroyed my island," he lied smoothly. "But I'm rather new to Vale, and I don't know where to begin."
"Well, the public library is just down the road to the right," Velvet suggested, pointing out where it was. "You can start there."
"Or you can try the Archives at Beacon Academy," Coco said, pointing up at where Beacon Academy resided. "'Course, you have to be a Hunter or a Hunter in training to see 'em, but a quick talk to Professor Ozpin, and I'm sure he'd let you in at Beacon as a new Hunter in training."
Gojira looked to her and frowned. "Pass," he spoke blandly. "I don't like being told what to do."
Coco nodded. "Yeah, figured as much. Worth a shot, though." She sighed after that and said, "Well, Vel and I need to be heading back to Beacon. Nice meeting you, Goji." She waved and turned around.
"Yes," Velvet agreed. "I'm glad I met you today, Gojira. Goodbye." She smiled and waved at him as well.
None of them noticed a single redheaded figure leaving the restaurant behind them.
Gojira was silent for a moment as he looked at them. "Yes…goodbye, you two," he said softly. "And…thanks…for all you've done for me today," he finished awkwardly. Showing gratitude was never his strong point.
The girls just smiled wider and took off, waving goodbye to him. Coco looked to Velvet when she thought they were out of range of his hearing. "He was hot," she said to her fellow brunette.
Velvet nodded and blushed. "I hope we see him again soon."
Gojira stared after them until they turned a corner and out of his line of sight. He frowned at the wall and scoffed. "What is with me?" he muttered. He turned around and asked quietly, "What is it about those two that's so damn familiar?" He shook his head and started walking towards the library Velvet pointed out.
Meanwhile
The goon leader was breathing heavily as he stared at his leader. He had just told his story to the leader and was rewarded by having the shit beat out of him. Large, purple bruises began showing up on his body as several lacerations on his body oozed blood.
"Interesting," the leader of the Red Sons murmured. "A Faunus that took out three of our best men? That is alarming." He looked at a wall and mused in a quiet voice, "Alarming indeed."
"S-Sir!" the goon leader gasped. "Let me redeem myself! I'll kill that sorry mutt! And bring you the girl and her animal sympathizing friend! Please! Give me another chance!"
The man laughed. "Darwin, you have been a loyal follow to our cause," he said. "And it is because of that, I'll grant your request."
"T-Thank you, Sir! You won't regret this! I swear!" the newly named Darwin exclaimed.
"Has Laal finished her mission?" the leader asked.
"Yes sir," another goon said. "She just called in. Informed us the Faunus is heading to the library and the girls were heading back to Beacon."
"Good. Now go: bring me the girls, and this animal's head!" he ordered. "And just to be safe, take one of our pets. Perhaps it'll be easier to kill him then."
Darwin grinned sadistically and cackled. "As you wish, Sir!"
An: Well, that ends the second chapter in the Predator and Maidens arc! Next time, Gojira's time at the library is cut short by the Red Sons and their 'pet' while Coco and Velvet are ambushed. Will they make it out safely? Or will the Red Sons win?
{I hope my edits helped showcase Coco and Velvet were not at their best for this}
