The next morning proved...interesting, to say the least. The Slayer was glad he didn't have too many needs, as the girls were complaining about others taking too long in the bathroom. Hey, at least they don't have to worry about such things like the seat being up, he thought with a chuckle, grateful that such...needs of his were lessened greatly. I can imagine what it'd be like, for any guy, on any world, with a wife and couple of daughters. Or even a single dad with multiple girls, he thought with a silent chuckle. Breakfast was civil, though clearly there was still animosity present among the girls. "Now, luckily, work for Marion and I isn't until the evening. So, that means we can help you 2 settle in," he says to Nixera and Daisy. "Among other things."
"Other things?" Everyone asks. "Like?"
"It's simple, really. I'm going to put my armor on, and then you 3 will, one by one, fight me. So I can see your form, your style, and likely, your weaknesses," he continues, and the others gulp. "Though, I might make a small modification to the Praetor Suit first. Since you unlocked my Aura last night, thanks for that, by the way," he says to Marion. "I want to incorporate your standard Scroll's aura reader into the suit. The visor does more than just keep things away from my face," he chuckles. "I have a full HUD in that thing."
"Praetor Suit? THAT'S what you call your armor?" Marion says. "What kind of name is that?"
"Hey, I didn't pick it," he explains. "And already, I think I could give tips. Marion, you've never Empathized in combat, have you?" he asks, and she shakes her head as she eats. "I'll help you try it. To distract someone, or..." he grins evilly, "maybe feel like their ally will betray them, and thus, attack first, and cause enemies to fight amongst themselves."
Marion just stops chewing, thinking about it, and thinking what her Semblance could do, if the Slayer was correct, and swallows. "Wow...if I could do that," she glances at the other girls, "you 2 will have my permission to call me Red Witch again. But not as an insult, I think I'd actually want to OWN that nickname," she laughs, the other 2 giving a small smile.
"And you Nixera," the Slayer adds. "Too much pain means you can't concentrate enough to Blink. I will focus your mind to think through the pain, so you can Blink through the pain."
"One part of me still hasn't forgiven you for that, by the way," Nixera says while rubbing her wrist. "But if the end result becomes learning how to ignore pain enough...well then go ahead and do your worst. Hurt me badly," she says with the ghost of a smile, the others giving her strange looks.
"Nix, that sounded dirty," Daisy says, causing Nixera to turn red.
"I-I had NO intention of that," she stammers out. "I-I just meant that if he can help me overcome a weakness of mine..."
"And Daisy," he adds, "True, I haven't seen you fight much. But, I'm sure flaws will reveal themselves. IE, I sense that open combat is likely...not your best experience," he says, to which the faunus nods.
"Now, is there somewhere nearby, that's good for practicing?" He asks, and Nixera pipes up.
"An old arena, not too far, still a bit of a walk though," she says.
"Speaking of travel, Nixera, you can Blink with others, yes? Did so with Daisy?" the Slayer asks, to which Nixera nods. "Just only one other?"
"Oh, I get where you're going with this. The answer is a simple I have no idea," she says with a shrug.
"Then after breakfast, we're trying that," he responds. Soon, breakfast is finished, and the girls finish doing their morning routines. I forgot how long girls can take to prepare, he thought, as they finally come out, dressed. "Sir, is it ok if I first start with 2 others, before I try 3?"
"Permission granted," the Slayer says with a chuckle. Nixera gives a half-salute, grabbing Daisy's hand, and then Marion's, and concentrating. They vanish, and reappear across the room, but Nixera panting heavily, and Marion holding her hand over her mouth, rushing off to the bathroom.
"That...took some doing," Nixera admits, doubling over. "Which just means you'll force it on me, won't you? Train me to get used to it? And Blinking all 4 of us?"
"Good, you're already getting the hang of things," the Slayer says with a smile. "But for now, don't worry. A few things at a time. And right now, that involves helping you 2 settle in."
They all head to the store to shop for Nixera and Daisy, to get a few odd essentials, spare clothes, and etc. "Damn shame we can't afford extra beds. Where would we even put them?" Daisy asks. "No offense, but you...don't exactly have the room," she says to Marion.
"I've heard some at Beacon do bunk beds, albeit in an unusual way," Nixera points out. "Which would help."
"When we DO get beds though, I hope delivery isn't too expensive," Marion adds. "Since I don't exactly own a car."
"Actually, I don't think we'd need to worry," Daisy says, turning to the Slayer. "Mr. I-can-pull-weapons-out-of-thin-air, YOU could carry an entire bed."
"Hmmm," the Slayer says as he thinks. "Possible. Never put something THAT big in said dimension, or out of it. But I like where your head's at."
"So you don't know the limits of your own tech. Is it even yours? Or are you just using it?" Marion asks him.
"Well, to a degree, the latter," the Slayer admits. "But I do know some of how it works. Question is if I can replicate it here, in Remnant, with the tech you all have. If I can...many worries should be over," he says, a distant look in his eyes. "But enough about the future. Do we have everything?"
"Toothbrushes, toothpaste, extra clothes..." Daisy checks the list on her Scroll, double checking all that and more.
"Wait, my lotion!" Nixera says in a panic. "For the burns, it helps with flexibility, and to keep that side cool. No sweat glands," she explains. "We need to hit a pharmacy."
"Well, I just happen to know one," Marion chuckles as they pay for everything, getting a few weird looks at the 3 girls in the company of a man much taller then them, but a few death glares from the Slayer solve that issue. They swing through the pharmacy on the way home to get said lotion, and once home, Daisy and Nixera run to the bathroom to help with that.
"You 3, once you're ready, get your weapons head for that arena we mentioned. I'll meet you there," he says, heading into his room.
Later, all 3 girls are in their battle clothes, weapons in hand, waiting in the old arena, when the Slayer finally shows up, fully dressed in armor. Nixera and Daisy both share a look of wonder and awe, and even Marion, who had seen him in armor before, was still impressed. "Now, who'll go first?" the Slayer asks them.
Marion steps forward, Eternity in hand, even giving it a whip. "And to set the mood...Imp's Song," the Slayer says, as a bass starts to play from his suit.
"What is with your taste in music?" Nixera says, the others giggling. "Not that it's bad, just...does it all have to be metal?"
"Metal is the best to kill demons to," the Slayer says with a smile. "Now, come at me!"
She attacks him as best she can, all while he dashes and double jumps around a lot, managing to avoid many attacks. But thanks to her whip's reach, she does manage to land some. "Good, good. Ever used it defensively?"
"How would I use a whip defensively?" Marion asks with confusion.
"Hmmm, spin it around, in front of you, as fast as possible," he explains, and she tries it. "Now, let's see how well my idea works." He then fires a grenade at her via equipment launcher, and gets deflected, exploding harmlessly away from her.
"Well, that's good to know," Marion says, as she stops. "And you have grenades in that thing?" She asks with a mixture of confusion, fear, and awe. "Now, I get that you're doing all this so that you get to see what we can do. BUT...in my opinion? It works both ways." She turns around, back to the other girls. "Who else votes that afterwards, Slayer here shows US what he can do?" She asks them, putting her hand up.
Slayer only chuckles, not surprised when the other 2 put up their own hands, as Nixera takes Marion's place. "I understand. Fair enough I suppose, especially since I'm not native to Remnant, and didn't learn to fight in the way you all have. HOWEVER, I will only show you some weapons and abilities. For some of my most powerful weapons, I can physically show the weapon...but I'm NOT wasting the ammunition. But...now that I think about it, I CAN show you some footage, to give you perspective," he explains.
"Ok ok, I SUPPOSE I can understand, Nixera says as she takes aim, and fires. Slayer just manages to dodge, the bullet scraping his armor. She then blinks closer, Nightfall turning into a katana, as she swings at him. He parries with his own arms.
"Good, good, you have potential," he says, but she catches him with a strike to his elbow, which while didn't do much, his elbow was exposed, but it did hit his Aura.
"Only exposed parts of you," Nixera says with a smirk as she attacks again, Slayer noticing she was going for an opening, but was able to deflect her just in time, as the Doom Blade extended, which surprised her enough for the Slayer to knock her away.
"This is the Doom Blade," he responds as it retracts. "It, and my equipment launcher, are the 2 primary weapons attached to my armor. Not counting the pain I've dealt with JUST my fist," he explains to all the girls. "Now...defend yourself," he commands, and he punches her a few times, as she blocks him, but he lands a few.
"Yeah, you need work. Ok Daisy, your turn," he says, and Daisy steps up, blades of Assassin's Bite extended. She attacks, a bit slowly compared to the others.
"Don't even say it," the faunus says, even switching to her loud guns to shoot at him. "I'm used to stabbing people in the back, not open fighting."
"Not bad so far," he says as he blocks her attacks. "Now..." she was already getting ready to defend herself, and managed to block some of the Slayer's attacks, but most got through. "All because you're used to attacking without them noticing. But we can work on it."
"Ok big guy, YOUR turn," Marion says, sitting next to Nixera, each of them with a water bottle as Daisy goes next to them.
"Well, you saw the Doom Blade," he starts off. "And the frag grenades. But this thing does more. IE...flame belch," he demonstrates as a burst of fire erupts from the equipment launcher. "There's also a cryo grenade," he says, firing one of those to demonstrate. "Both QUITE useful." He then pulls out his combat shotgun, demonstrating its basic firing, the full auto mod, and sticky grenade mod.
"Mods for your guns? That seems odd. What if you're attacked mid-mod?" Daisy asks.
"I haven't been, I'm too quick," the Slayer chuckles. He then demonstrates the Super Shotgun, and eyes went especially wide when he showed off the meat hook. "This baby's had 2 names, both given by demons. The Diabolical Musket, and Lucifer's Bane." He moved onto his heavy cannon, its scope and micro missiles, following up with the chaingun, its shield, and mobile turret mode.
"Oh, I think that one girl at Beacon, Coco's her name, has a gun like that!" Marion says. "But all it does is turn into a purse."
"Damn. So, NOT the purse to dig around in," the Slayer chuckles. Now he shows off his plasma rifle, and the heat blast. "There's a microwave beam too, but I can't just fire it at anything, it must lock onto something. Same deal for this," he says, pulling out his rocket launcher. The regular rocket flies just fine, but he also explains the lock-on burst, and then demonstrates the remote detonate. "They've called this the Painbringer."
"Are ALL your guns named?" Nixera asks, but the Slayer shakes his head.
"Not especially, just a few." He then demonstrates his ballista, as well as its arbalest and destroyer blade modes. "Most useful against flying enemies. And don't worry, I have other melee weapons as well, such as," he pulls out his chainsaw, giving it a few revs. Then he pulls out Commander Valen's Sentinel Hammer. "And my 2 most powerful guns are the ones with the rarest ammo, so we're going home for that," he explains, as everyone heads home.
Once there, he links up to the living room's main TV, showing helmet cam footage. First some old footage of the Unmaykr, and then finally, "and here's the last time I used the BFG 9000," he says, as on TV, Winter was telling him he had nowhere to run, army of robots behind her. All their eyes widened as the green light of the ball flew over the heads of the robots, tracers raining down punishment upon them. "And here it is," he says, pulling out aforementioned BFG.
"That's one big fucking gun," Marion appreciates with a whistle.
"Wait...is that literally the name?" Daisy asks. "BFG? Big Fucking Gun? Who came up with that idea? You?"
"No, see...let me tell you about an old company, one at the heart of my troubles, the Union Aerospace Corporation, or UAC. If not for their teleportation experiments on Mars, I would never be in this mess," he starts off, and the rest gather around and listen. He goes on for a good while, explaining who the UAC are, and how he got involved with them, twice, not mentioning how he got sent to Mars.
"Wow, that was some story," Marion says. "But was that all of it?"
"Admittedly...no. My story is VERY long, complex, and...there's parts I'm not comfortable sharing just yet," the Slayer explains, and Nixera looks down, empathizing with him in that moment. "But to shift gears, you all are good. Yes, there's room for improvement. And we will be working on that throughout the next few days. We're in the rough now, but I WILL make us sparkle," he says, and the rest chuckle.
