— A/N —

I probably should have mentioned this in the first chapter, but I work on this as a hobby, so don't expect frequent updates.

"SAVESCUM"

Chapter Two

A year ago, college was seen as a place to start anew, to build oneself, to meet new people. It was that place that was always talked about being better than high school. But then again, people back in middle school always said that high school would be better.

The truth is that it wasn't. It was just more of the same without the one thing that kept him going.

Teddy had friends that he'd known since elementary school—friendships forged through the collective suffering of the school system. They all have been there for each other for what amounts to the entirety of their young lives. Then graduation happened and they all went their separate ways. Some he got to say goodbye to, while others wordlessly went by the wayside. Of the few that remained, he did his best to stay in contact with them, but that became strained when each had their own responsibilities to tend to. How could they relive the fun they used to have when they had to worry about their own future?

Of course, as he would put it, that's just a part of life…

The only thing he remembered from college was taking notes while the professor gave a lecture and somehow ending up in his next class to do it again. His body must be on autopilot, because he doesn't feel like he's in control; everything else throughout the day was just a blur. Now, Teddy was in his car as he pulled over into a parking lot next to a thrift store.

Inside, the floor was a soft carpet fabric with rows of vintage and old hand-me-down clothing hung on long stretches of clothing racks, while soft music from the speakers provided something for the customers to listen to. It was honestly nostalgic to Teddy. But behind the scenes was a different story. As he pushed his way into the employees only area with his work vest on, he was met with concrete floors and walls with dirty stains. Throughout his time working there, he seldom saw one of his co-worker smiling unless they were working the register. It was the usual sight to see.

Teddy's job was to sort through heaps of dropped-off clothing, determining which was in good condition for sale, and which was too damaged. It was tedious at best, and tiring at worst. This, he did for three hours straight with a five minute break in between until his shift was over. Usually by the end of it, his shoulders were stiff and his legs painfully numb from standing.

It was during times of brief awareness in his breaks, as though he had been watching himself from another point of view before being violently snapped back into his own body, that he had to wonder to himself:

Was this all life had to offer?

· · ·

An afternoon in Vale's park was just what he needed.

It was a scenic view of a city with European-styled architecture on a clear day. The sun made it hot, but the cool wind easily fixed that. Teddy sat on a bench as he watched this simulation take place. A family of three had a picnic by the pond in front of him. Off to the side, vendors were handing out street-foods to tourists that had come from all over Remnant for the Vytal Festival. A person walked by with her pet dog, which had sniffed his pant leg—he returned a wave to the owner as she walked away.

All of this was no different than what he could have experienced in real life, but Teddy was tired. Though nothing would beat the real deal, he'd rather lie in bed with the headset on to experience the second best thing to it.

Three bright colors caught his eye; a small glance revealed them to be three girls. Leading them was a short girl who wore a red cloak that easily took up two-thirds of her silhouette, in the middle was some poor sap dipped in white-out—pale skin, icy blue eyes, white hair and clothing—and behind them all was a blonde girl who walked with confidence despite her slouch.

They were Hunters, that much was obvious—kids trained at a young age to fight inhuman beasts made of shadow. They were literal superhumans armed with aura, semblances, and overpowered weapons. Calling them poisonous frogs would be an apt description; they were bright enough to scream danger, and deadly to the average, auraless person.

Quite an accurate description of himself.

The three of them talked to an NPC. Whatever it was that he responded, they walked away from him and moved straight towards Teddy. He saw how they stared at him as they came near, and he knew he would get into a discussion, one that he couldn't avoid.

A small part of him wondered how good his odds of survival would be if he got into a fight with the three.

[Quicksave Complete…]

The short girl was the first to speak. "Hi, excuse me, have you seen our teammate? She looks like this…"

A scroll was presented to him with a profile picture of the girl in question in her contacts list. She had long black hair, amber eyes, and a large bow on the top of her head. Her expression was bored and unamused. Just below the image was the contact name, Blake.

Teddy shook his head, and in response the girl looked dejected, her arm holding out her scroll fell down by her side.

"Oh, I see… Thanks anyway…" That should have been the end of it, they would leave him alone and he'd enjoy his alone time.

"Hold it. Sorry if I'm being rude, but could you say it?" The blonde one stepped forward, causing the other two to face her.

"Y-Yang? What are you–"

"Relax, Ruby, I just want to hear this guy say it." Her easygoing smile disarmed the little red one, but how could he miss those sharp lilac eyes that stared at him. "Well? Have you seen her or not?"

Gee, if only the game would let me tell you…

As great as this in-depth NPC interaction was, one thing that he really took issue with was that there was no proper way to respond, especially for how talkative they were. The only way that he could respond was through simple hand signals, basic motions like shaking the head or nodding, and facial expressions in order to communicate with the NPCs. It was the kind of system that's almost in every VR game on the market.

However, some games used voice responses via a microphone. The catch was it was very limited—the user speaks clearly and the NPC doesn't know how to respond, or perhaps they don't have proper voice-lines to converse with the player. This system was limited to big companies, and even they struggled to make it work—what's to say a small indie team could?

Teddy simply tapped on his throat with two fingers and shook his head with a somber look. Yang's stare only hardened, until the one dipped in white-out spoke up.

"Are you unable to speak?"

That's right, he nodded.

The girl hesitated. It was brief, and she quickly composed herself. "Oh, I see. We're sorry for bothering you. Right, Yang?" She sent a cold glare towards the blonde.

"Uh, yeah… Sure." To Yang's credit, at least she looked embarrassed. The three began to leave, but even then he could still hear what they were saying.

"Why did you do that? You didn't question other people that we asked when they said no."

"You heard me, Weiss. I wanted to hear him say it. I thought he was just being rude to Ruby."

A growl—the kind a puppy would make—was heard from the little girl. "Ugh. Yang, I'm old enough to look after mysel–"

They were out of earshot now. Teddy's character sank into the park bench as he sighed. The NPCs of this game really do pick up on the smallest of details. Can't imagine how much of a pain that would be just to program them to do that. He took a glance at where the huntresses went and saw them going to the next person to talk to.

Let's not do that again.

[Quicksave Complete…]

Teddy continued to watch the world go by, luckily without any interruptions. The people in the park had dwindled as the sun set, and when the shattered moon was out, he got up from the bench and began to walk with no real destination in mind.

The buildings he passed by changed from apartment homes and mom-and-pop shops to more industrial places; brick buildings that showed their age with cracks in their foundations, and small warehouses with rusted roll-up doors. Yet no matter where he looked, there was absolutely no one he could feel justified in fighting.

After what he's been doing, common street thugs and the grunts of organized crime made themselves scarce. They know someone is out there culling them out, and it wasn't someone with the law. There was also that festival being prepared—not much chance to do organized crime when security's been increased.

It was as he was walking that he heard the alarm on his phone ring. The three hours he dedicated to relax was over. Teddy shut his eyes and deeply exhaled from his nose. I was really looking forward to fighting something. Might as well prepare dinner.

A loud, thunderous boom caught his attention, as well as every person within earshot of it, and if they didn't hear it, the large mushroom of black smoke could probably be seen all throughout Vale.

On second thought, food can wait. His body in the real world groggily slammed his hand on the dismiss button, while his body in the game ran straight in that direction. The impact of his character's shoes against the sidewalk was the only sound that echoed. With wide strides, Teddy neared the docks.

He heard smaller explosions getting louder and louder, and the low rumble of bullheads flying overhead. Closer now, he peaked around the corner and saw people in black hoods and white masks that covered the upper half of their faces. Their weapons ranged from sabers and rifles, all pointing at something else.

The White Fang—an activist group turned terrorist in the name of faunus rights. Quite the step up from the usual gang members that he so often fought.

He turned his attention away from them and towards the scene they were all looking at. A flamboyant man in a white trench coat and a derby watching a monkey faunus fighting off the White Fang members surrounding him. The monkey faunus pulled out a red bo staff and fought off all those who made to attack him. He was skilled for certain—though, who wouldn't be if they fought against the White Fang?

Regardless, he'd been itching for a fight. It's showtime.

[Quicksave Complete…]

· · ·

Roman had no idea who this person was. After he sent out those White Fang members to fight one of their own kind and lost, he figured that he should just do it himself and shoot the monkey faunus; better a man's job than an animal's. That was when another kid shows up out of the woodworks with a White Fang rifle and a saber in each hand.

From there, all hell broke loose.

He'd seen fights against skilled fighters—been in them whenever huntsmen tried to fight him—but what he watched wasn't a fight, it was a classic back-alley brawl. Neither pretty nor clean, it was just another kid with barely any combat experience throwing a scrap with actual terrorists.

Which was why it confused him as to how he was winning.

The kid was outnumbered one-to-twelve, and yet not a single one of those animals could land a hit on him. He would dodge out of the way at the very last second and counter by swinging his saber like an amateur. It was frankly a shameful display, but even Roman could tell that it was surgical and planned, as if he knew where to deliver a lethal blow to quickly end them off.

Now it was one-to-five, and those animals were now starting to second guess themselves. Who wouldn't when their comrades were either unconscious, or slowly bleeding out on the ground as they called for help. He aimed his rifle at the rest of them, sending them running with their tails between their legs.

"No! Stop!" Off to the side, the little cat screamed out her lungs trying to stop him; the monkey faunus got out of his shock and joined in as well.

To his honest surprise, the kid managed to defend himself pretty well against two hunters-in-training. They took turns in attacking him, each time the kid blocked it and returned an attack of his own—be it with a kick, his saber or his rifle. This looked more closer to those showy, flashy fights that hunter kids always did—though it came from the two faunuses rather than the kid.

The fight didn't last long when he suddenly darted straight for him, leaving the two behind. Funnily enough, Roman was just a second away from shooting his cane at the two to kill three birds with one stone.

The kid was the first to strike, thrusting his saber forward as he came to a stop in front of him. Roman batted it to the side with his cane and jumped back when his gun was aimed at him.

They traded blows back and forth. Roman had a good guard with his cane as he effortlessly blocked every swing of the kid's saber just as much as the kid effortlessly dodged his attacks. As much as he hated to admit it, both of them were on equal grounds in terms of skill. This battle would go on for a lot longer if he didn't do something to break the stalemate.

"You might've killed those useless animals–" Roman twisted his body to avoid a burst of bullets, "–but you're just another wannabe hero. Why don't you kids just stay in school and let the adults go about their business!"

No response. The kid continued his attacks, never letting him have room to breath. The only thing that gave any indication that he understood what he said was that stupid smile. Is this kid trying to be Neo or what?

Roman grunted when his opponent threw a kick towards his chest. "Well, color me impressed. You're decent enough in a fight!" His left hand reached into his back pocket to grab a small vial. "How about a reward?"

He popped the cap off with his thumb and swung his arm around. A cloud of fine red dust powder expanded towards the kid's face. With a smirk, Roman blew air towards the cloud to make the volatile powder combust from the sudden air movement.

The result was him breathing fire, but it was nothing more than a flashy smokescreen. Roman aimed his cane to where the kid was last standing and fired. A hissing light shot out immediately. Yet as the shot parted the smoke, the kid danced around it and locked his blade against his cane.

A trick like that usually catches inexperienced huntsmen off guard more often than one would think. And he didn't even show an ounce of surprise or hesitate at all. Either he had one good poker face, or he was that confident in himself.

"Hey!" A squeaky voice echoed out from the docks.

Roman saw from the corner of his eye Little Red standing on top of the warehouse. For a brief moment, her bravado died as she looked out onto the field of bodies. He made a rookie mistake taking his eyes off his opponent.

Pain shot through his lower half when he turned around to see the kid's foot to his groin. It hurt like hell even with his aura activated. Oddly enough, he gave the kid respect for that—no move is ever too underhanded in a fight, but he hated how he was the one on the receiving end. As he collapsed onto his knees, he looked up to see the kid standing before him, with a saber raised high and a smile all too casual for the current situation.

Heh… Well it can't be worse than this, eh?

— A/N —

Now that the chapter is done, I feel like there are some things I should bring up.

I realize that there isn't much conversation between characters, which I hope doesn't bother anyone too much. It's mostly because the OC is unable to speak properly, and that this is an action-orientated fiction. (Had there been an 'Action' tag to begin with instead of 'Adventure', I would've chosen that.)

When the fight at the docks is wrapped up in the first half of the next chapter, the rest of it will have a focus on the characters of RWBY.

Another thing I didn't feel too great about was the pacing. Perhaps it's because it had calm and action moments within the same chapter that it felt like I was rushing it. Not to mention, I had to cut it short; since I had a bit of a writer's block on how to proceed from there.

Please let me know your thoughts, and if there is anything I could improve or any errors in the chapter.