Chapter 3: Meet the Crew

This was the most stressful day since Taylor first arrived here. He had been focused on his studies to the exclusion of near all else. As a result, he didn't know any other students. He only saw the school's population briefly when he arrived, and then he was spirited away to start training. The only real introduction he had was with Blair, and that was just him getting beat up. Not much to form a friendship on.

Taylor was waiting in his dorm, waiting for either Tyrian or Watts to come and take him to his would-be friends. He would have gathered all his stuff, but he didn't really have any possessions. He had his weapons, his armor, and a random assortment of school supplies and clothing. He was slightly depressed at this but there was nothing he could do. He had no money to buy stuff with. If he was even allowed to go to a market. And he rather doubted anyone in the school could help in this matter.

Taylor's thoughts were interrupted by a knock on his door. After picking up his bags he went over and opened the door. To his surprise it was Blair that greeted him.

He greeted Taylor with a jovial response. "Hey, how are ya today?"

Taylor stuttered a moment. "d-doing fine, I guess."

Blair looked him over and seemed confused. Blair leaned to the side and looked into the room behind Taylor. "Uhm, you got all your stuff Taylor?"

Taylor looked at himself for a moment then realized why Blair was confused. Taylor only had a single small backpack with him. "Oh, well uhm, I was conscripted let's just say. I was given no opportunity to pack any of my belongings." Taylor tried to be gentle with it, but he failed.

Blair was taken aback, clearly shocked. "That's not allowed, even if they had to force you into school you still have rights."

Taylor thought about how to word his response. "Well due to…current problems let's say, they had to do things differently."

"oooh, I see.", Blair said.

From the expression on Blair's face, he was concerned about what he was hearing. But before he could as more questions, a loud nose sounded in the doorway. As Blair pulled out his scroll, Taylor realized it was an alarm on his phone. Blair looked at the scroll and spoke.

"We need to get moving or were going to be late. Walk and talk perhaps?" Taylor nodded and started following Blair down the hall.

Taylor found he needed to follow Blair as he didn't know the most school's layout. Tyrian or Watts had escorted him most places, so he only knew his small corner. Despite claims of wanting him to make this world his new home, they had done very little to actually make him connect to anything or anyone.

Blair broke the silence between them. "I've never seen anyone treated the way you have been. Are you here as punishment?"

Taylor shook his head. "Not punishment, I'm behind everyone else with my studies. I was rushed through courses to try and catch me up."

Blair cocked his head. "How long have you been in school then?"

"Two weeks", Taylor responded. Blair's jaw dropped. "To be fair my math, reading, science and that stuff wasn't far behind. The only problems I had was with history and combat classes." Taylor tried to explain.

Blair struggled to comprehend what he was told. "Ya but still, two weeks is not enough to catch you up to speed, especially not for combat training."

Taylor nodded in agreement. "I agree, I've even brought it up with Tyrian. My guess is that the administrators are desperate to get me to Beacon." Blairs expression gave away what his next question was going to be, so Taylor went ahead and gave an answer. "Salem thinks I could help solve the matting problem; I can't say how. But that's why I'm getting all the weird treatment."

Blair slowly nodded and then asked. "So how much of a willing participant are you?"

Taylor thought about how to answer. He snorted then gave his answer. "I was Volun-told to accept this position." Blair's expression told Taylor he was still confused. Taylor explained. "They want me to come along willingly, but my recruiter made it clear he would force the issue." Blair seemed to be horrified by this.

Taylor continued his explanation. "I'm not happy about the situation, but I'm too far from home to try and escape, I wouldn't know which direction to go and probably wouldn't survive out in the wilderness. And since causing trouble would just get me in trouble….." Blair went silent, Taylor probably should have sugar coated his story more. Probably shouldn't have said anything at all.

After a while Taylor wondered where they were in the school. "Have we gotten sidetracked talking?"

Blair looked up startled from his thoughts. As he looked around, he realized they had gotten sidetracked. He looked a little sheepish as he spoke. "ya we have, we need to go this way."

Blair brought Taylor to what looked like another dorm. As he they entered Taylor saw it was another dorm. This one was meant to house multiple people. He saw four beds lined up on the wall, like one would expect. He also saw another bed lined up horizontally on the opposite wall. This one looked more temporary; it was just canvas stretched over a frame. He guessed that was his bed. There was a separate bathroom in the opposite corner to the door. Taylor wasn't looking forward to sharing but that wasn't the worst thing.

What drew Taylor's attention however was the other occupants of the room. Aside from Taylor and Blair there were three other people in the room.

Blair spoke up to begin introductions. "Hey guys, brought the new guy." A scene reminiscent of the first day he arrived played out. They stared at him; he gave an awkward wave.

Blair stepped in to help Him. Blair walked next to the largest of the group. "This is Alexander, or Alex for short. He's the white knight, golden boy sword master from Atlas."

Alex certainly looked the part. Save for a helmet he wore a full suite of plate mail. His weapon of choice was a Great sword he holstered on his back. His hair was slick black and stylish, swept upward and back. The reason Blair called him the golden boy was obvious. Taylor had to admit that Alex looked quite attractive, he was probably going to be a chick magnet once they got to beacon. From his history lessons Taylor knew that Atlas was similar to what the anime showed, advanced technology, powerful military, and great mineral wealth. Alex's armor was a medieval suit of armor but looked to be made from advanced technology, same with his great sword. Alex seemed to have the best gear, and Taylor guessed he would have the best training.

Alexander approached Taylor and offered his hand. "And what is your name good sir?"

Taylor was surprised by Alex's hospitality. He accepted the handshake and answered. "My names Taylor."

Alex shook his hand and smiled. "Good to meet you, Taylor."

Then a different voice spoke up. "Where you from Taylor?" Taylor looked over to see the new voice. The owner of this voice was a white-haired man. He was of similar build to Taylor, but he was more well-muscled. Unlike Alex, this guy wore only what appeared to be leather gloves and gauntlets for armor. Aside from that he wore normal clothing, consisting of a t-shirt, pants, and boots. He also had a belt, that seemed to have lots of pouches and containers hanging from it.

Blair moved next to the new figure and introduced him. "This is Drew, our nomadic adventurer. He also thinks he's cool."

Taylor asked his own question rather than answer. "I thought with the Wrath roaming around its dangerous not to be in a settlement?"

Drew pumped his arms showing off his muscles as he answered. "it's only dangerous if you're not." His face was pure Smugness.

Blair rolled his eyes as he spoke. "They stay in the regions where we have more control than the Wrath."

Alex spoke over Taylor's shoulder, well…maybe more accurate to say he spoke over Taylor's head. "If a tribe runs into trouble most settlements will let them shelter within their walls as long as they help with defense."

Drew crossed his arms and pouted. "You guys suck the fun out of everything."

The room filled with light chuckles for a moment, but Drew quickly looked back at Taylor with a serious expression on his face. "You never answered my question though. Could I get an answer?" Taylor shrunk away a little bit. The last thing he needed was to piss people.

Blair quickly put his hand on Drews shoulder. "Dude calm down, he still adjusting." Drew looked at Blair, then back to Taylor.

Taylor spit out his explanation as quickly as he could. "You won't have heard of it. Short version is it's a backwater place lacking many of the things common in the rest of the world."

Drew cocked his head. "Such as?"

Taylor fiddled with his fingers as he explained. "We don't have any form of magic, and our technology isn't as advanced as the rest of the kingdoms. Most importantly uhm…the creatures of Wrath seem to have no interest in our little corner of the world."

The group was in shock, their faces in utter surprise. It was then that Taylor noticed the last member of the group. He had what looked like a poncho on, aside from that he was wearing normal clothing in muted colors. He had his back to the group the whole time until now. When the figure had heard Taylor's explanation, he had turned to look at him along with the rest of them. He was the smallest of the group, even smaller than Taylor himself. He had been sitting at a desk with his back toward the group. Upon hearing Taylor, he had gotten up and moved toward him.

Before Taylor could ask him anything, Blair spoke up. "So not only have you been training only for two weeks, but you also haven't even seen a creature of Wrath before?"

Taylor shook his head. "No, and before you ask Tyrian didn't teach me anything because he was focusing on the basics." Drew's jaw dropped; the new figure shook his head. Taylor turned back to look at Alex, who was raising his head from a facepalm. Taylor could guess the next few questions, so he decided to get ahead of them and began his explanation.

"Due to the current shortage of men, the powers that be hired a third-party recruiter, I don't know much beyond that, to find more men. Simply put, he found me. He deemed me a suitable candidate and I was given two choices. Come along willingly or be forced to join. Although he was polite about it. That's why I'm being rushed off to beacon with you guys, Salem thinks I may offer a solution."

There was awkward silence for a few moments, before Alex broke the silence. "So how willing are you?"

Taylor sighed, "I'm going along because I don't have the means to escape. That and I don't want to cause problems for myself." Taylor could sense the tension rise in the room. Blair sensed Taylor's apprehension and gestured for Taylor to sit on the temporary bed.

Alex was the one to speak up next. "We're not mad at you, its just that such treatment is just wrong. We're a bit concerned is all." Taylor was taken back from this reassurance from a man he had just met a few minutes ago.

Drew looked between Taylor and Blair nervously. "Are there any other problems we should know about?"

Blair spoke before Taylor could. "This 'recruiter' didn't let him pack any of his stuff.

Drew's eyes grew wide, "Seriously?"

Taylor nodded, "I've got only school supplies, a bag of clothes, and my armor and weapons."

Alex tilted his head. "Nothing at all? Not even a scroll?"

Taylor shook his head. Alex then walked towards the bed closest toward the door. Alex then rummaged through a bag. He pulled out a small white rectangle, it looked like a scroll. Alex offered it toward Taylor, who was utterly surprised.

"It's a backup I keep just in case. Go ahead and take it, I've got more than enough money to buy another one." Alex said.

Taylor took the Scroll into his hand. "I…I don't know what to say."

Alex waved his hand dismissively. "Don't say anything, it's the decent thing to do." Taylor cradled the scroll, still in shock.

Drew spoke up next. "So how have you been training these last two weeks?" Taylor relaxed a little. These guys seemed accepting, maybe he should give them a chance.

"Well as I've said Tyrian had me focusing on the basics. I trained against dummies, then against training bots. My last test was against Blair here."

Blair nodded as he gave his account. "He did well for a noob, he kept his defense up and almost knocked me down at one point."

"He really did that well?", Drew said.

"Impressive for a newcomer", Alex said nodding his head.

"Did he go easy on you?" This voice came from the mysterious hooded figure.

Drew was to one to introduce him. "That there is Keon, he doesn't socialize much but if you need to take a target out at near impossible ranges Keon's your man."

"I asked you to stop introducing me like that." Keon said hiding in his poncho as best he could.

"You like it, and you know it." Drew said walking over and slapping Keon on the back.

Taylor replied, "Well Keon, to answer your question, yes Blair was gentle with me." Blair seemed to beam with pride at the statement. The others however seemed to eye him suspiciously. Taylor decided to take a risk with his next remark. "As gentle as tossing an infant in front of an oncoming freight train." Blair's smile instantly faded, and quickly turned to look at Taylor with a mix of hurt and surprise. Drew was laughing hysterically. Alex was laughing as well but not as hard as Drew was. Keon was not laughing, but Taylor could just make out a smile from underneath his hood.

Blair tried to stammer out a defense, but Alex interrupted him. "Did-Didn't we tell you to work on your bedside manner?"

Drew chimed in as well. "How long did you last Taylor?"

"About five minutes.", Taylor said while looking directly at Blair.

Blair huffed in indignation. "I did go easy on you, and you know it. No, you know what I'll show you!" Blair pulled out his twin axes. "You see the engravings on these?" Taylor nodded. Blair flicked something on the handles on his axes. The engravings on the blades glowed, and then the blades themselves glowed showing them being super-heated. Taylor wondered if he saw some flames rising from them.

Blair smirked, "like I said, I went easy on you."

Alex rebutted Blair, "Just because you used a wooden bat instead of a steel bat doesn't mean you were merciful." Blair glared at Alex.

Taylor decided to change the subject. "So, Alex, does your great sword have a special trick?"

Alex smiled as he drew his great sword and showed it off to Taylor. The great sword looked like a typical medieval knight's blade, but it definitely had some high-tech features. Most notably there was a circle in the middle of the cross guard and two lines running up the blade.

Alex began his explanation. "It doesn't transform or anything, it's more similar to Blair's axes." Alex pushed a button on his swords hilt. The blade glowed, but instead of glowing with flame, a visible field of energy surrounded the blade. "This is how I attack at range. You know those video games where you can shoot out energy waves by slashing at the air?"

Taylor blinked for a second. "You're not serious" was his eventual response.

Alex had a smirk on his face as he deactivated his blade and put it on his back. "I assure you I am. I can't show you yet but once we get to beacon, I'll happily demonstrate."

Taylor was a little awestruck. He knew that Remnant, and Atlas in particular was technologically advanced. But this still seemed farfetched.

Drew apparently read his expression and spoke. "He's not bullshitting you; his sword can really do that, I've seen it. But what of your weapons? Since you couldn't bring your stuff from home, I imagine you got to choose from the school armory. I've seen the beauties stored in there, which one did you pick?"

Taylor was wearing his shield on his back; his mace was however packed away for the trip. Taylor reached for his bag and retrieved his mace. He also got his shield off his back and presented both toward the group. They seemed confused by his weapons.

Keon was the one to give voice to the confusion. "Those are just plain steel, aren't they?"

Taylor nodded his head. "Tyrian wanted to keep things simple." The group looked between themselves in concern.

Alex said, "Makes sense for training, but for actual combat…..."

Blair finished his sentence. "For actual combat its stupid to just go with regular weapons without a trick up your sleeve."

Taylor put his weapons down as he remembered his semblance. 'It will be powerful for you.' Salem explanation of what was to be his semblance. What did that even mean?

Drew asked the next question. "Did you ask the teachers about getting better gear?"

Taylor answered. "Tyrian wanted me to keep it simple. Watts grew suspicious when I asked for better gear. He only relaxed when my request was simple. Just a backup sword and a helmet."

Keon seemed to think on that a moment. Then he went to his bag and retrieved something from it. He then walked over and presented Taylor with what looked like a short sword. Taylor took the blade and pulled it from its sheath. It looked like a roman Gladius. He looked at Keon surprised.

Keon just shrugged and said, "You need it more than I do, I use my gun for everything now, so I don't need that sword anymore."

Taylor put the sword back in its sheath and put it on the bed next to his mace. "Keon, I don't know what to say, thank you." Keon just nodded and sat back down on the edge of his bed.

Taylor then remembered the topic at hand. "Drew I've yet to see your weapon. What do you fight with?" A wide smile grew on Drews face as he turned to retrieve his weapon. He carried his weapon in its own case. When he turned around, he was holding a quarterstaff with some spikes at each end. Taylor noticed something else about the tips of the weapons and squinted to try and see better.

Drew noticed this and smiled. "Ah so you noticed. You saw correctly, my staff has a special trick up its sleeve."

Drew stepped closer and moved one of the staff's heads so Taylor could inspect it closer. Taylor saw that the head were not just spiked but partially hallow. It looked like there were channels that lead from the hollow chambers to the exterior of the head. Taylor thought a moment, considering everything he already knew about remnant and what he had learned in the last two weeks. "Are those dust chambers?"

Drew chuckled, "Yes they are, not a lot of people figure that out the first time. I can use these to add some extra oomph to my strikes. I usually just use fire dust, but I've been dabbling with ice dust as well."

"That's certainly an interesting trick." Taylor responded. It certainly was a good ability to have. Plus, Taylor knew that a quarter staff could be an effective weapon when in the hands of a trained wielder. Though a thought came to Taylor's mind. Since everyone was relaxed, maybe he should try another jab at humor.

"Nice staff Drew, but it is still in essence just a stick, isn't it?" Everyone looked surprised for a moment. Then Drew's face turned into a scowl. Blair was trying to hold in a laugh and failing quite miserably. Taylor heard Keon mumble a quiet and barely audible, "Not this again."

Drew spoke up quite flustered. "Ya ya I've heard that joke a thousand times. My weapon is just as deadly as yours. You've got a mace, right? That's just a stick with a spiky ball on the end. And comparing weapons, would you really say you sticks better than mine?"

Taylor wasn't sure why Drew had worded it that way, but he wasn't going to pass up the opportunity. "Yes, I think my stick is much better than your stick.", Taylor said with a smirk on his face. Everything was silent for a moment. Drew then backed away from Taylor, a deep scowl on his face as he shook his head. Blair was on the floor laughing. Alex was confused, Taylor could almost hear him say. "Did he just make a…?" Keon facepalmed hard.

Taylor himself chuckled a little bit before he decided to change the subject. "Keon haven't seen you weapon. You're a sniper, right?" Keon rose from his facepalm. He turned his head toward Taylor and Nodded. He then went between his bed and the wall. He bent down and from the sounds that Taylor could hear, Keon was messing with his bag. He came back up with his weapon. It was a sniper rifle/melee weapon hybrid like he had expected. He couldn't help but think about Crescent Rose at first. It turned out to be similar but opposite. Keon's rifle was semi-automatic, the blade was on the back, and it seemed to be an axe like blade.

Then Taylor remembered where he had seen that kind of layout before. "I've seen that set up before." Keon raised an eyebrow as he held his weapon at rest. Taylor reached into his bag for a pencil and paper. He spoke as he scribbled. "My kingdom experimented with combining melee weapons with firearms when we invented black powder weapons." Taylor finished his scribbling. On the paper was a sketch of a combination flintlock pistol and axe. Or at least as best Taylor could remember from what he had read. He handed the sketch to Keon as he continued. "But after we invented firearms, we slowly abandoned melee weapons."

Keon was clearly intrested by this. He sat down, placing both his weapon and the sketch next to him on the bed. Alex quickly walked next to Keon and sat down beside him. From their posture he could tell they were intrested in this topic. Taylor looked toward Drew and Blair. The pair were standing next to each other, and they were looking at Taylor. It seemed he had the rooms full attention.

"Okay I can see where this is going. To answer your questions, my kingdoms military revolves solely around guns and technology. You win by having the best guns and tech and by having them in greater quantities than your enemy." Taylor waited a moment to invite any other questions.

Alex asked the next question. "You said your technology is behind the rest of us, and you don't have magic, correct?"

"Correct, we only have basic lead shooters, and we only have basic and experimental robotics. As for magic, well most of my people consider it a myth."

Drew reached into one of his pouches and pulled out a small container of fine orange powder. "So, you've never heard of magic. Yet you recognized my dust chambers. How much you know about dust?" Drew said as he shook the container.

Taylor shook his head. "I've heard the name. But aside from some basic elements like fire and ice I know next to nothing." Drews face formed an 'eh huh' expression as he put the dust back into its pouch.

Blair raised his hand. Taylor nodded for him to ask his question. "So how much combat training did you have before coming here?"

Taylor thought for a moment. "Basically none." The group gave him another disappointed look. Taylor tried to think how to word his response. "As I said the creatures of wrath have ignored my kingdom. For some unknown reason." Taylor studied the group for a moment. He was worried someone would catch onto him and call out his bullshit. Luckily, they seemed to buy it. "With that being the case the most common threats to my Kingdom are its neighbors and its citizens."

"Ah yes, infighting. Even with the creatures of Wrath people still want to fight each other." Alex said.

Taylor nodded in agreement and continued. "As a result, many places back home don't allow people to carry or even own weapons."

Drew shook his head. "Suicide here. You can't fight you won't survive."

"That's the point, my kingdom doesn't want people to fight them. And admittedly they want people to depend on them for survival." Taylor was wondering if he should be bad mouthing his homeland. Thinking about it, not really the nicest place to live anyway. Kidnapping or otherwise, might be worth it to give this place a chance.

Keon chuckled, drawing the groups attention to him. "Sounds like the very early kingdoms. How bad is it Taylor?"

"It depends on which fiefdom you belong to. In England they banned so many things that people were using kitchen utensils to both fight and defend themselves." Blair was about to say something. Taylor could guess what it was so. "Yes, it's that bad in some places. In England the enforcers seized a cache of 'deadly weapons' which included a literal rusty spoon." Blair, Drew and Alex chuckled a little at that.

When they were done Alex tried to moved things along. "I sense you could give a whole speech about life in your kingdom. But so, we cover the important parts before lights out, what combat training do you have personally?"

Taylor realized that ya he was on the verge of a rant. "Ya I could go on all night. Looking back, I'm not sure I really want to go back." More than a few eyebrows were raised. "Anyway, for an actual answer to your question. I studied martial arts a little bit, but I'm out of practice. I know how to shoot guns, but only at the practice range.

Blair sat down on one of the beds and laid back. "That's worse than I thought it would be." He said in an exasperated tone. As he finished saying that the door opened, and Watts leaned in.

"Everyone getting along?" Taylor nodded and smiled. Drew gave a thumbs up.

"We seem to be getting along fairly well." Blair said, more to Taylor than Watts.

Watts smiled briefly but got serious. "we're calling for bed early today due to the long journey and the big events tomorrow. Any one need anything before we leave tomorrow now is the time."

Alex stood up and drew his great sword. He held the weapon horizontally at both the handle and the blade. "I noticed something off with my swords power field, could I do some maintenance before bed?" Taylor recalled when Alex had showed off his sword. He didn't pretend to understand how it worked, but it didn't look like it was malfunctioning. Taylor looked to the rest of the group. Keon and Drew were preparing for bed. Blair was looking between Taylor and Alex.

Given what they had talked about before and the group's reaction, Taylor wondered is Alex was trying to fabricate an excuse to talk to Watts. Would he try and complain about Taylor's situation? They all seemed concerned. But would they care enough to say anything? They had only just met today. Taylor looked back at Alex. He tried to see if he could guess what Alex was up to. Alex noticed him staring. Alex simply gave a reassuring smile.

Watts having witnessed this was quite suspicious. "Okay then, very well Alex, I'll let you into the workshop. But don't stay up to late." Watts stepped aside to let Alex out of the room. Alex walked through, then began to shut the door behind them. "Alright then, I suggest everyone be in bed by the time Alex returns." Watts eyed the room suspiciously before closing the door.

With that everyone prepared for bed. The group was gracious and let Taylor use the bathroom first to brush his teeth. Sharing a dorm was weird but Taylor slept surprisingly well that night.