The morning started off as per usual. Wake up, grab breakfast in the cafeteria, get questioned by Ruby, resist urge to kill sooner than needed, and begin classes. After combat classes and Grimm biology, we had our break classes in the library that were supposed to be used for studying. Very little of that was done.
I was introduced to the very odd game of World of Remnant V5. Version five was special in the fact that it was new and that it was the first game to include the legions of Grimm, housing them on the 'uninhabited continent'. I logically took these as my character once I was shoved into the game with the rest of my team members.
I had one goal. Win this as fast as possible so I didn't have to deal with it anymore. So I began to survey my prey while making only defensive moves while Ruby and the rest began to war with each other like they must have on previous versions. Atlas was too strong to fight head to head at this stage, and Vacuo was too well prepared for the roughness of life.
That left me with Vale and Mistral. Vale was a generic Kingdom, reliable military, decent advancements, a possibly strong people. Mistral however had been referred to many times as "The land of all things pretty". Their people were over-pampered and were almost never engaged in conflict due to the fact that they supplied the other kingdoms with a surplus of advanced civilian products that made the world bearable. Better yet, Mistral was being played by Blake.
Blake was detached right now, and you could see it in the moves she made. Aimless decisions that harmed her own economy while she made no moves to raise a military despite this being a war game. The most vulnerable kingdom under the most vulnerable and inexperienced mind at the table. Once she was gone, her kingdom would become another Grimm nest.
Certainly I would have liked to arise a godlike figure to sweep across the kingdoms, knocking them down in hour's game time, minutes real time. An avatar of such proportions though were not in my cards. The closest was a Grimm Wyvern. A massive beast that required the sacrifice of thousands of my troops to form. I would work on that.
I started off slow, keeping ranks of Nevermore airborne around Mistral in order to cut off supply roots in and out of the Kingdom. One rank of Grimm sea monsters was stationed at Mistral's most used docks. Blake hardly took any notice to my moves and placed an inadequate amount of soldiers to deal with the swarms at the docks. They fell.
Her economy grew into despair under her notice as the resources they were used to began to dwindle. Conflicts rose in the other kingdoms as Yang puppeteered Weiss, and all three suspected the others of taking their supply ships for themselves. I reinforced my Nevermore numbers around the map until no supply or communication ships were passing between Kingdoms, and then I made my first attack.
By sacrificing numerous Beowolf spawning pools for pools of greater Grimm I raised ranks of Chargers and Ursai in order to break into Mistral and use enormous numbers of Grunts and Beowolves to deal with Blake's meager military. She didn't put up much of a fight, though she couldn't have even if she tried.
Without communication, Yang, Ruby, and Weiss were not to act as if Mistral was destroyed or it would be something called, 'Meta-Gaming'. So they continued to rise tensions, eventually declaring war on each other. I raised my numbers while Weiss was ripped apart as she tried to orchestrate peace between Vacuo and Vale.
As a result, the mighty military of Atlas was weak and vulnerable. I attacked Atlas while Weiss defended herself as best she could while trying to send out S.O.S signals to Ruby or Yang. No ships made it past and Atlas fell in three rounds. Ruby and Yang were forced to keep fighting as if they didn't know what had happened.
With three spawning grounds my numbers swelled greatly while Ruby and Yang fought for ground on each other's territories so that they would have to kingdoms to fight me with. Unfortunately both of the kingdoms were evenly matched and they only succeeded in leveling each other with little left. I took down Ruby and Vale first.
By roll of knowledge, Yang no knew that 3/4 Kingdoms were under my command. She fortified her defenses as best she could while I farmed numbers. She managed to gather a 'sizeable' military in the rounds it took me to gain a gargantuan number of Grimm. I gathered every Grimm I had outside the walls of Vacuo and waited my next turn.
Yang then witnesses hundreds of thousands of Grimm turn to ash and gather into five epicenters. Out of those gatherings rose five Wyverns that wreathed hellfire across her kingdom and destroyed it in just an hour's time in game.
Angry at being defeated, Yang demanded a rematch. I obliged as I found some sick enjoyment from utterly destroying her while she was forced to watch. While Ruby reset the pieces she called out to JNPR at the table next to us. "He Jaune, want to Co-Command a kingdom next round?"
Jaune glanced up for merely a second before shaking his head. "No, I'm alright." And he returned to his book. Ruby cocked her head to the side.
"What, why not? C'mon, Blake barely played last round, she needs the help." She said. Jaune looked up with a scowl on his face.
"I said no Ruby. Not this time." Jaune buried his face back into his book and Yang shot him a sideways glance. JNPR stayed silent as if this was normal behavior for the light-hearted Jaune. With a slightly distraught look on her face Ruby returned to the game pieces. Behind us a voice greeted us with an insult. "Sup losers."
"Hey Sun." Ruby greeted the monkey Faunus. Ever since we had chased him down the first time the rest of my team had formed a friendship with him. He and I never talked aside from some comments aimed at me being shady.
"Ruby, Yang, Blake, Ice, Queen, Dark Side, I never got a chance to formally introduce you to my old friend." Weiss complained about her widely used nickname while I tolerated mine. The friend he had talked about made a comment about how libraries were for reading and was scolded by Sun about being a nerd.
"I'm Neptune." He said.
"So Neptune, where are you from?" Weiss asked in an intrigued tone.
"Haven." He replied." And I don't think I caught your name, Snow Angel." Neptune said. Weiss looked taken aback by the compliment despite hating other guys that used it.
"Uh, I'm Weiss." She said and exchanged other formalities. On the other side of the table Sun began speaking with Blake.
"I never thought of you as the board game playing type." He said. Blake distantly set down her cards.
"Right... Well, I think I'm done playing actually. I'll see you guys later." Without another word from either her or us she left the library. Sun just held up his arms as if to say, 'what you gonna do'. We all knew that it was best to just let Blake think about whatever was on her mind instead of cornering her. Last time she disappeared for the weekend, and none of us wanted a repeat.
With about another hour to kill Ruby roped us back into a few more games while co-manning Mistral with a random number generator on specially marked cards. This made Mistral the easiest target as it couldn't strategize. I always took Mistral first, and then Vale or Vacuo. By that point in the game Atlas was weak enough to take. I made it a point to kill Yang's king in increasingly embarrassing ways, at one point recalling all forces and Wyverns to let a single Grunt pass through unharmed and end the game.
At that ending she flipped the table and Ruby picked up the pieces as the bell for class rang. Yang complained about her losses constantly throughout the next two periods and all the way back to the dorm where Blake had gone ahead to. "Ugh, we should have never let him play." She said as we walked in.
"You're just mad that the new guy beat you over and over and over again." Yang balled her fists as she continued. Weiss began following Blake's movements slowly across the room. "If you had just attacked when I told you none of this would have ever happened." Ruby taunted.
Blake made a silent beeline for the door until Weiss confronted her. "Stop." She said in such a level and forceful voice that Ruby and Yang's conversation stopped. "Blake, lately you've been quiet, anti-social, and moody." Weiss said.
"Uh, have you met Blake?" Yang commented while Weiss ignored her.
"Which, I get, is kind of your thing. But you've been doing it more than usual, which quite frankly, is unacceptable. You made a promise to me, to all of us, that you would let us know if something was wrong." She continued, then it took a turn for the stupid. "So Blake Belladonna..."
Weiss proceeded to, with an unneeded bout of athleticism, front-flip into a chair and land balanced with her finger in Blake's face. "What. Is. Wrong?!"
With no response and an awkward silence accumulating, she quickly returned the chair to a desk and jumped back to in front of Blake. Despite the foolishness of the accusation, Blake broke. "I just... I don't understand how everyone can be so calm." She said.
"You're still thinking about Torchwick." Ruby stated/questioned.
"Torchwick, the White Fang, this crazed murderer who took out an Atlesian squad, even with experimental weaponry. Something big is happening and no one is doing anything to stop it!" Blake half yelled. My crafted heart skipped a beat as Blake stated information that I wasn't told and didn't tell her.
"Ozpin told us not to worry. Between the police and the huntsman I'm sure they can handle it." Yang tried to reason with her to no avail.
"Well I'm not! They don't know the White Fang like I do." She rallied. Despite the good point Weiss put up her hands to calm everyone down, mostly Blake.
"Okay. Between blowing up nightclubs, stopping thieves, fighting for freedom, and doing whatever it is Darren did to get that good, I'm sure you're all ready to go out and apprehend these ne're-do wells." Weiss said. Ruby tried to ask what ne're-do wells meant but was ignored.
"But let me once again be the voice of reason." Weiss continued. "We're students. We're not ready to handle this sort of situation." She said. Ruby tried to pipe up once again but Weiss shut her down. "We're not ready!" She told her.
"And we may never be ready!" Blake shouted. "Our enemies aren't going to sit around and wait for graduation day. They're out there, somewhere, planning their next more. And none of us know what it is! But it's coming, whether we're ready or not." At this point I decided to step in and see if I could steer this conversation where I wanted it.
"And what would you have us do Blake." I asked. Blake got an angry and confused look on her face. "No really, tell me." I kept speaking, stepping closer.
"Look around you Blake! We are students. I'm just some guy from way too far up north, Ruby and Yang grew up on an island few people know exist, you cant step near the White Fang without getting attacked. The only person in this room who knows someone who knows someone who thinks they know something is Weiss, and only because she's an heiress and has a connection to the Schnee Su" I explained to Blake.
"Yeah well..." Blake puttered off. I kept going. "If we try to go off on some five person war-band we will get kicked out of this school. Any resources or chances we have at more training will be gone. So what do you want to do?" I asked her.
"I don't know!" Blake yelled and sat back onto a bed with her head in her hands. "Maybe we can't fight them but we can at least try to find out who else the White Fang is working with and why." Blake sighed in a hitched way that made her seem close to tears. Weiss went over to comfort her.
"Wait, the SDC is the devil in the details, no offense Weiss." Yang said. Weiss ignored it despite being mildly offended. "Your point?" Blake asked.
"Maybe Weiss could, I don't know, scan the hard drives for missing information, stuff that doesn't belong." Weiss looked up from Blake.
"I'd have to pull a few strings, but it's possible." She said. Yang smiled.
"Alright, and Darren, I might not have grown up around sources, but I have them. Even if they have very spotty memory until you give them money. I know a few on the other side of town that I could go to. It should be easy." Yang said. Blake started to perk up.
"The White Fang hold weekly meetings. Maybe I could infiltrate and get some information." She proposed. I held my hand up and stopped her.
"No. You are a hazard in there. I'll go." Blake shook her head. "You'd never pass as Faunus." I chuckled and held out my hands. From my fingernails sprouted summoned claws that, combined with illusion, were indistinguishable from real claws. I also summoned white fangs and peeled my lips to show her. Despite the show she chuckled.
"I meant your smell. They couldn't catch you at a distance, but up close it would be easy." She told me. I shrugged.
"I'll just wear an entire bottle of cologne. Even humans won't want to smell me after that. It should be able to deter a Faunus nose." I told her. Blake pondered it then nodded. "Humans have done it before, and even regular cologne hurts some of the dog Faunus' noses." She said.
"Okay. So I'll follow Weiss to the CCT and Blake can give Yang backup if she needs it. We'll all meet up back here once we got what we needed, sound good?" Ruby asked. Nobody said anything and Ruby cheered. "Alright!" She said. Blake grabbed my arm as Ruby and Yang high-fived.
"Look Darren, I know you're strong, but a room full of dozens of White Fang soldiers, some with their aura unlocked-" I cut her off.
"I'll go easy on them." She shook her head. "No, I'm saying that if things go wrong, don't hold back, or you won't make it out of there alive." I nodded in acceptance, then remembered something.
"How did you know about the Atlas squad and the weaponry? They didn't tell me any of that." Blake chuckled. "Just like Yang has her sources, I have mine." I nodded again and stepped away, preparing to get everyone's attention.
"All right. Now that we've got a plan, we need to keep this on the extremely down low. No teachers, no friends, no anybody. The more people who know the more obvious it is." I told them.
"What about JNPR?" Ruby asked. Before I could say anything Yang answered for me. "I don't think they would join even if we asked them. They've all been kind of distant recently, even Nora. Maybe you should have a talk with them Darren, apologize." She proposed.
"Yeah, maybe. For now though that doesn't matter. Let's start this tomorrow on a good night's rest." Weiss said. We all agreed, but I left the dorm like a normal person to take a walk around campus. Just as I exited the door and turned around I felt an impact as someone bounced off my chest. The grunt was feminine.
"Oh, ow." The girl said as I looked down. Green hair and red eyes, a trait I would be able to recognize easily if I had seen it before. The girl pushed herself off the ground and dusted her skirt off. "Who are you?" I asked her, noticing her two friends behind her. One had silver hair and the other black, covering one eye and exposing another orang-yellow color.
"I'm Emerald. Thanks for the help." She said sarcastically. I huffed.
"Yeah. I meant who are you and what are you doing here?" I asked again. The girl with black hair walked forward and stood a mere foot from me. "I'm Cinder, and these are my teammates, Mercury and, well you've met Emerald. And who are you?" She asked as she traced a finger on my collarbone to my shoulder. I realized that when standing over a foot and a half shorter than me that this was her form of intimidation.
"Darren. Now, the other part of my question." I said. She stopped and dropped her finger as well as the act. "No fun. Alright, we're exchange students from Haven." Cinder told me.
"Nice. Now you see, students for the festival have their own dorms east of here." I told them. Cinder smiled weakly and I saw an odd glint in her eyes that was quite literally a spark.
"Good to know. We must have just gotten turned around." She said, and began to walk past me when I grabbed her hand.
"This is a 2.5 square-mile campus and there are signs everywhere. Next time try not lying." I told her. A flash of flame emanated from her hand and singed the hair on my arm before I blocked it with me fake aura. I held on for another second before releasing her. A barely controlled anger was hiding in her one exposed eye.
"My thanks. We'll keep that in mind." She said entirely sarcastically and with a deadly edge. I let her walk away and we went our separate edge while I engraved her features into my memory.
Cinder
After taking a few turns to go to the dorms they were assigned Emerald finally spoke up. "Who was that guy?" She asked. Cinder frowned deeply and the engravings on her dress flickered briefly. "An issue. A strong and observant issue, but one that can be taken care of. I'll make sure of it." She said. A smile grew across her face as she imagined dismembering the man.
Thanks for reading. Pieces have been moved out of their original places as the timeline takes a turn for the screwed. I can hardly wait to get started on the next chapter. As always, leave a review if you liked it. As a request from me, try to leave any odd abilities you think Darren could be able to pull off as long as they are somewhat loosely bound to the laws of physics.