Chapter 7
Eric van Buren's Audio Journal #7: Why Capitalism is Good?
Why do I think capitalism is good? There are many good reasons why it is. Money helps set a value of any sort of resource or labor a person does. Money measures a person's worth. The more incredible work a person does, the more they get paid. The less they do, the less they get or lose their job. Now tell me this; would you hire a person that not only does his job but go beyond what they were paid to do or a person who just sits around and being a lazy asshole that lets everyone else do the work? I choose the responsible one. Star Trek may support humanitarian and abolish most of the currencies, but abolishing currencies lead to some problems when trading with the Ferengi. I really do like the Ferengi. Using greed as a virtue, there was no war, no genocide or slavery in the entirety of Ferengi history. Plus, money helps people become more motivated. Hell, the creator of Star Trek, Eugene "Gene" Wesley Roddenberry, made the Star Trek series to payoff his mortgage. He also did it to make a vision of the better world where everyone's race and gender doesn't matter when exploring the frontiers of space. At least that's how I think of it. True, capitalism can make one greedy and will disrupt the economy.
Capitalism is good if you know how to use it. And no one knows it better than Howard Goldshield. Back when we were living at the orphanage, Howard manages to scrap up a lot of lien and did it the honest way. He shoe shined, did newspapers, and even did a lot of odd jobs. He was saving a huge stash of lien for the day when he finally leaves. But then the caretakers took every last penny from him and lost most of it to gambling. Taking someone's money that they had sweat, bleed and worked their fingers to the bone is wrong. You should never take away a person's hard earnings and waste it.
If you want a greater example of bad capitalism, try Jacques Schnee. He doesn't believe in fair competition, cooperation or honesty. That man cares more about filling his pockets and letting his own greed cloud his better judgment. When you want to do an honest business, there must be trust between the boss and the employees, a safe work environment and develop a honest relationship with people that want in on your band wagon. In Jacques case, he sends miners to the worst sort of mining conditions, Faunus get worse pay than humans no matter how hard they work, wiping out any good businesses with dirty dealings and the list goes on and on. That man is the worst kind of capitalist there ever is.
Capitalism is good. But one should always keep their greed in check. One should never let money cloud their judgment. No one should take advantage of others.
End of recording.
Actually, forgot to mention that it should be a good idea to save as much as possible as emergencies. Like that Coronavirus thing back in 2020. But that's from a long time ago.
Now, end of recording.
Enlighten Valley, Undisclosed Location, Underground
In a certain chamber somewhere in Enlighten Valley, there is a pod of some sort that looks more like a metal coffin with some sort of round device where the head should be. Inside the chamber is Eric, who has some wires on his head. Outside is Caleum who is looking at a heart rate monitor, some sort of brainwave monitor and a bunch of monitors that show things. These include shows such as Dragon Ball, some isekai animes, Toriko, and some odd version of Transformers that has never been released. It also shows a bunch of text on some of the other monitors that look like a bunch of data running through.
Caelum inspects everything, "Heart rate: Nominal. Brainwaves: Acceptable levels. No interferences with the memory copying. Everything is running smoothly."
Coco Mint enters the room, "How's he doing?" She is holding a slurpee in her right hand.
Caelum speaks while keeping an eye on the monitors, "Things are going alright. Yet the amount of data he is uploading is still too large for me to process in one go. Since Cobbel has been reincarnated a lot, there are far too many memories and knowledge for one databank. Plus all of these shows are quite entertaining."
Coco takes a sip before speaking, "But I would like to see those DBZ movies. Any luck with those?"
"I only got half of them. There are a total of twenty movies when he was in his first incarnation. Well fifteen out of twenty. One of them is from Dragon Ball Super and four are from the original Dragon Ball."
"And what about the Yu-Gi-Oh! series? I would like to try a new card game."
"Still processing that. There are over hundreds of thousands of cards."
But someone called and interrupted the conversation. It is Kuro on one of the monitors.
"Hey, Coco? You there? One of the satellites have detected movement from Ferus. And before you say anything; no, it is not Atlesian Military."
"Oh really?" Coco has taken an interest. She loads up a few holographic screens with one showing the map of Ferus.
On the map shows something moving across the 'wing' of the continent and heading straight towards Solanus. Coco press the moving dot and it shows a picture of Arthur Watts.
Coco smirks, "About time." She cracks her fingers and shoulders, "Looks like I got some serious hacking to do." Coco heads out and proceeds to do what she needs to do.
When Coco left, a green light is turned on at the end of the round device. All the monitors stopped and turn off as the round device slowly moves back as the lid opens. Eric wakes up and removes the wires on his head. He slowly comes out and does some stretching.
"How are you feeling?" Caelum asks.
Eric sounds a bit groggy, "Using the Memory Reader Device always worn out my mind and my body feels it."
"So same as usual."
Eric gets out, "Yep. But I think we need to give this thing an upgrade where I don't feel like crap every time I get out."
"Speaking off, Coco was here until Kuro called. It appears that Salem has moved her pawn to Atlas."
Eric does some last minute stretching after being in the Memory Reader Device for so long, "So Arthur is gonna use Jacques and rig the election. Is Tyrian also there? Because that would be a problem."
Caelum smiles, "Not to worry. Thanks to Coco's semblance, Digi-Network, she can override any of Arthur's hacking and can spot Tyrian a mile in the city. So Aerial is safe for the time being."
Eric yawns, "That's good to hear. But send in some of our forces in case Arthur does get suspicious and sends Tyrian out to do the dirty work. Best to be safe than sorry."
"Got it."
Atlas, Ironwood's Office
Ironwood is in his office as he reviews the report from the Abandoned SDC Mine #2. He reads it over and finds it perplexing. Ironwood puts the file on his desk and checks something on his computer. He searches the web for the word 'Kamehameha' to see if there is anything that comes up. The search shows a web page about the Dragon Ball series and an article about the Kamehameha Wave. Ironwood reads it over to see what it is and what could it be. After reading it, he sits back and thinks about it for a moment.
"Hmm..." he went as he goes deep in thought. 'Is there a connection between the Evolutionaries and this show, Dragon Ball? According to this, Ki or energy is the tangible life force or latent energy that is inside the body. The way to use it is by having a strong body, courage, a strong will and a certain mindset. Aura is the manifestation of the soul that we use for barriers, fueling our semblances, healing and other such uses. I wonder... Is there a way to combine the two?' But his train of thought is broken by the sound of someone knocking at the door. Ironwood sat straight up, "Come in."
The door opens and Winter Schnee enters the room. She stands at attention, "General. Ozpin called and wants to know about the situation at the old mine."
"Tell him he will receive a full report when I'm ready. But there is something I would like to know." He shows two holographic pictures to Winter. One of the left is Dragon Ball and the other Dragon Ball Z. "What can you tell me about these series?"
"I have conducted some investigation after reading the report. Dragon Ball appeared a year ago with one new episode on weekdays and four new ones on Saturdays."
Ironwood raises his right eyebrow, "New episodes on weekdays and four new ones on Saturdays? Not one new episode on weekends?"
"Indeed. I did found that suspicious as well. Though this isn't the only series that's doing this trend. Other shows such as Transformers, Toriko and many other series. I already pull some strings to see where are these shows are being broadcasted."
"And?"
"They are coming from here, in Atlas."
Ironwood stands up, "How can that be?"
"I don't know, sir, and I don't know how. Who ever is behind this seem to cover their tracks very well."
"So it's cyberwarfare then." The general then looks out his window, looking down at the City of Atlas. "We need to install multiple firewalls at all the towers in each of the kingdoms along with special programs. If it is cyberwarfare they are doing, then we have to prepare."
"But what if they're already into our systems?"
In a room where the Ace Ops are recuperating, they are all watching a holo-screen that is showing a scene where Goku is using the Kamehameha Wave in an episode of DBZ. When they see that, they look at each other in confusion as they recognize it.
Marrow points at the screen, "Did you guys see that?"
Harriet shakes her heads slowly out of disbelief, "I don't believe this."
"That guy we faced used a technique from a show?" Elm asks her teammates.
Although Vine asks, "Did anyone even watched or heard of this series?"
Clover raised his right hand, "I think I heard of it. A bunch of kids were trying to decide which villain is better. I think their names were Frieza and Cell, I think."
Marrow suggests, "I think we should research this show and learn more, agree?"
Vine rubs his chin in thought, "Maybe we could use the enemy's techniques against them."
Menagerie, Kuo Kuana, Belladonna Family Home, Afternoon...
At the Belladonna Residence, there is a loud sound coming at the front door which is caused by those big knockers. Kali walks over to the door to answer it. When she does, she sees Howard Goldshield wearing a two tone stripped golden suit, golden trousers and a golden tie with an ivy design on it while he is also carrying a black suitcase. Kali gives an odd look at this human standing before her at her front door.
"May I help you?" she asks. Kali seems a bit suspicious towards Howard.
Howard place his right hand on the upper center of his chest and does a little bow, "Please pardon my intrusion." He is speaking in a polite business manner. He straighten himself out, "But I would like to speak with Chieftain Belladonna. Is he available?"
"He is, but do you have an appointment?"
Ghira shows, "Kali, who's at the door?"
Kali opens the door wider as she looks at her husband and to show the mysterious guest.
"Greetings." Howard says in the gentleman manner he is doing, "My name is Howard Goldshield of Goldshield Mining & Banking. I do have some business to discuss with you, Chieftain Ghira Belladonna."
Ghira has his right eyebrow raised and also has the odd expression Kali had. "Okay?"
They are in the dinning room where Howard sits across from Ghira as Kali serves tea. Both of them are a little suspicious about Howard and is intentions.
Ghira holds his tea, "So, what sort of business do you have with me?" Then he takes a sip.
Howard opens his suitcase and pulls out something that looks like a gold bar. "This is the reason."
He hands Ghira the gold colored bar. Ghira examines it and it looks like a gold bar, has the same reflectiveness as a gold bar, yet the weight is off. He test the weight and noticed that it isn't really a gold bar yet looks similar.
"What is this?" Ghira asks while looking at the bar.
"That my friend, is a new metal that can only be found here in Menagerie. Menagerium."
Ghira looks at Howard with a raised eyebrow, "Menagerium?"
Howard taste the tea and finds it delicious. "Thank you for the tea." he thanks Kali. Then looks at Ghira, "It is a new metal with some very interesting properties. Some people I do know did some experiments on the new metal and found some amazing capabilities."
Ghira puts the bar down, "Really?"
"Indeed." He looks at Kali for a few seconds before looking back at Ghira. "Can we have this conversation in private?"
Ghira looks at Kali and gives a nod. Kali gives a nod and leaves the room and close the door.
Howard clears his throat, "As I was saying, they found some amazing technological capabilities after a few experiments. This includes cloaking devices, which can actually make someone invisible. They made a teleportation device that actually teleports things and even people. Plus they even created a new medical technology that can regrow limbs, heal the deepest of wounds, and much more." Howard opens his suitcase again and gives him the reports in one folder, "Take a look."
Ghira looks over at the reports and some of the photos. He looks like he has taken an interest in it.
"But there is a bit of a problem." Howard says. "You might want to take a look at the last pages."
Ghira looked over and sees a report that killing someone with Menagerium can turn someone into solid Menagerium statues. There is a scroll that shows a video clip of an accident where someone dropped the bar of Menagerium on someone's head and turned into a golden statue. Ghira is disturbed by this and puts the scroll down.
He looks at Howard, "Just what do you want with this new metal?"
"Well, since this continent belongs to the Faunus so I cannot conduct any form of further mining. If humans were to come here and to learn of it, that would be bad for every Faunus in the continent. Plus it would make everyone a target for the White Fang. Not to mention that letting the White Fang have that kind of technology, especially as it is now, that would be a bad idea."
Ghira looks down in lament, "I have to agree."
Howard pulls out another folder from his case, "I do have something that you might like." Howard gives Ghira the folder and Ghira looks it over.
In the folder, there is a contract that goes into great detail about the citizens of Menagerie get to have full rights to mine the new metal. No humans are allowed into any of the mines unless they represent the Goldshield Mining and Banking. All mines will be in proper work conditions that are better than the Schnee Dust Company. All miners will be given equal pay, reasonable work hours, and only those that have out performed their fellow co-workers will receive the pay raise. The foreman will be a Faunus that has years of mining experience. Seems like a good deal. Yet the contract also states that the White Fang are excluded from the new metal to prevent them from committing any other terrorism actions, the Schnee Dust Company will be excluded from any mining, Atlas will be excluded from any research to the new metal and the new metal will only be used and tested in Menagerie.
Ghira closes the folder and sets it on the table. "This is an interesting deal." Ghira smiles. But gets suspicious, "But what is in it for you?"
Howard gives a silent chuckle, "My partners wish to conduct more research on this new metal. Many of them are Faunus so there wouldn't be any problems so that gets the White Fang off their backs. Unless some get captured by them and forced to make a new weapon rather than make peaceful technology like I described. Plus if either party such as yours or mine break the terms of the contract, the deal will be null and voided. Unlike the asshole that controls the majority of the Dust, I want to create a more beneficial relationship with the Faunus. I grew up with Faunus, worked along side with Faunus, and even dated a few as well. So I wish to help your people as a debt of gratitude for opening my eyes to a whole new perspective." Howard lowers his head politely, "Please? Think about?"
Ghira thinks about this for a while. If Menagerie mines and process the new metal, they will be able to make peace and try to encourage Faunus Rights more. However, it also makes him and the entire continent a target for the SDC and Atlas. He looks at Howard and he does seem honest. However, he is still an unknown to him. His words ring true but he knows next to nothing about this man. On the other hand, he seems decent despite his golden appearance. This is one of the toughest choices that he has to make. What to do, what to do.
But after ten minutes, Ghira makes his decision. "Alright, I'll sign."
Howard hands him a black ink pen and Ghira signs the contract. Ghira gives the pen and contract to Howard and he signs as well.
"Thank you very much of your time." Howard puts the pen and folders in his case.
The two get up and shake hands.
Howard congrats, "Thanks to you, Menagerie now has an even brighter future and for all the Faunus as well."
Yet Ghira squeeze his hand on Howard's tightly, "Just keep in mind: If you ever betray me and my people, there will be consequences." Ghira looks serious as he looks at Howard.
"I know." Howard says. "Unlike that idiot in-charge of the SDC, I plan to keep my promises and be fair. To me, employees are like family and I wish to form beneficial partnerships rather than crushing them. Otherwise there will be no point."
Ghira lets go and smiles, "That's good to hear."
Howard exits the building with a scroll in his hand as everyone stares at his fancy suit as he heads towards the docks. Howard makes a call, "Hello? Erica? It's me. Oh, you're in your Hank persona this time. Anyway, the deal went through. ... Yes I make sure we get a small amount to do experiments on and yes, I make sure the deal is beneficial. Like in all of my dealings, I make sure that all contracts are fair for all parties and ensure the contract is fulfilled. ..." He gives a light chuckle, "You make it sound like I'm some sort of immaculate demon or something. But I'll take it as a compliment for now. With the new metal, we can accelerate the plan to an earlier schedule. ... Are you sure you don't want to be ahead of time? ... Alright, we'll do it your way for now. ... Wait, you want me to see more of the capital of the continent for a bit?"
Howard stops where he stands just a few feet from the docks, "Well, I still have some work to do and I have to make sure everything is running smoothly. How about when it is time for my vacation? ... Sounds good. I'll catch you later then, bye." Howard hangs up.
AN: Hey everyone! How are you guys doing? Hope you guys are safe from this whole Corona Virus thing. Things have gotten bad lately. Even worse when an earthquake hit close to my neighborhood. A 5.6 to be exact and funny story there. I woke up around seven o'clock in the morning by a rumbling sensation as I screamed, "WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT?!" I looked around as the rumbling stopped and went back to sleep. Then woke up around eight to learn about the earthquake from the radio of my alarm clock. Then another, smaller earthquake hit and I was prepared for that...by hiding under my desk in my office, or study, whatever.
So I hope you guys are doing better considering how bad the Corona Virus is and how much of a problem it is causing. Stay safe, stay healthy and please be okay. Until then, see ya guys later! Peace out!
Oh and word of advice: might be safer to wear rubber gloves when handling things outside of your house. Bye!
