Medical
Yang and Isaac were shielding their eyes from the bright sun as they exited the medical building. Yang was still smiling at the massive holes in Isaacs knowledge concerning aura when Rubys voice filled the air. "Sis! Sis! Over here!"
As the two groups walked towards each other Taiyang looked like he was breathing a sigh of relief. It was replaced by curiosity. "What happened? Who was hurt?"
"The instructor." Yang told him plainly. "Six Behemoths attacked, three were trying to trample Isaac, so the instructor tried to buy Isaac some time to get away, by getting in the way, and was hurt doing it." She motioned with a thumb and a shrug. "Our out of world guest here, didn't think they stood a chance and was allowing the behemoths to charge him so his teammates could attack from the sides."
Tai once over the surprising news seemed to think it over before snapping his fingers. "Oh, the forever birthing mother, that's what you did, distracting them so your team could trap them." Isaacs eyebrows went up and somewhat surprised he nodded his head. Seeing his daughters puzzlement Tai added. "It's a spider like creature that has babies constantly dropping off it, the strike team used Isaac with a few other D class as bait for the young while they dealt with the mother."
"I, hate spiders." Cringed Ruby. Isaac looked like he was about to say something but a scowl from Tai stopped him, instead he added. "That was a nasty one, did a lot of dodging and running." Ruby turned around heading for the car rubbing a chill out of her arms and Isaac put his hand up by his waist trying to indicate height. "Babies." He told Yang.
Yang looked somewhat revolted before shaking it off. "Ok, it's time to go home." She gave Tai a hug and headed for her bike.
Walking to the car Tai offhandedly asked. "Did you two burry the hatchet?" Isaac nodded. "I think. Still hard for me to tell." Once he stored the camping gear he added. "Would it be ok to take em out to the range tomorrow?"
"Not sure how I feel about you recruiting my daughters." Tai said scowling down at him.
Isaac shook his head. "Not happing, from what you've told me Yangs too independent and has anger and betrayal issues, and Rubys too nice for a military like environment. This is just going to be opening their eyes a bit, give them a better chance to survive the grim." Shrugging slightly Tai could see the need and nodded in agreement. The drive home was Ruby chattering away about this and that. Tai noted how Isaac was smiling every now and again.
The rest of the day was Isaac cleaning and stowing his gear, everyone else went about their business, Tai decided to set up a weirdly configured sparing dummy for Yang to try out. The two arms were curved like it wanted to hug you, and the feet were bent oddly. "Start slow and work your way up, don't hit it too hard even when you get charged up." He cautioned.
Yang had wrapped her fists for boxing, setting Amber and Celica off to the side. Walking up to it Yang eyed it a bit, grabbing an arm and rotating it. The rope attached to the dummy about where the middle of the shoulder blades would be. Saying in an off hand way. "So this is the undefeated dummy." She grinned as she stood back and smacked her knuckles against each other, a huge smile on her face, then taking up a stance. Her first blow landed on the left hip, the dummy swiveled on its rope. The right arm broadsided Yangs head. "What the?" Yang sputtered.
Tai was smiling, watching Yangs surprise as she took a step back. "It fights back." He needlessly told her. Yang more alert about it started to experiment, no matter what she did it would turn or swivel and some appendage would reach out enough to hit her. She started to block as she attacked, then used her legs as well as fists and worked up to an almost blur of motion as her hair slowly inflamed.
As time passed Ruby came out to watch, talking and chatting with her dad on what Yang was doing and what they were going to do tomorrow. It all ended when Yang yelled giving the dummy her all, hitting it hard enough to it tilt it at a forty five degree angle before it came back to her spinning as it came, hitting her twice. She blocked after the second hit landed which made it spin around the other way, a two punch combo and a leg kicking her hip. Yang staggered away from it exhausted and almost stumbling.
"And still undefeated." Tai declared as Yang approached unwrapping her fists. He handed her a towel holding an extra just in case.
Yang sounded insanely happy as she wiped her face dry. "That was intense, I want one!" Finishing her face and arms Yangs breathing started to slow, by the time Yang finished wiping the sweat off herself her breathing had returned to normal.
Tai chuckled a bit as he pulled out his scroll. "I'll send you the specifications, you can build one to your liking. There's about four different configurations for this model, depending on what you want. This one is generalized for fighting hand to hand."
"I've never seen a sparing dummy like this." Yang said to them. "It didn't mater how fast I fought, it would keep up with me, and the harder I hit it the harder it hit." Yang told Tai as she helped take down the heavy sparing dummy and stow it in the shed. "Makes me wonder what we'll find at the range tomorrow."
"Lots of stuff, some of it you're not going to believe." Tai told her with a smile. "The teams he's formed are combing their Lien. They own the property and have some construction going on. The range is off the island just north of the port city of Ménage. It's a small fishing village called Mavideniz but has the resources and terrain he wants to build a miniature SCP facility."
"Wait, what? Just how can kids own land?" Yang asked. "Everything would belong to the parents." Tai shrugged. "They have money. Lawyers. Isaac is an orphan, so it happened." Yang looked a bit stunned. "So, even though you're fostering him, he's independent? Or just going through you?"
"A bit of both, I think. The wordage is a bit hard to fallow, and if challenged ownership could change hands, but for now, if left alone this will work." Tai gave his daughters a shrug. "Besides, I have all I need right here." Then he hugged the two sighing just before letting them go. "Lets get dinner, we need to start early tomorrow, total air time coming and going will be about four hours."
Mavideniz
The port town was everything Ruby and Yang expected. Small, under populated, and smelling of fish and sea. Underdeveloped complete with some dirt roads in the town. The people here were fishers, farmers, loggers, and had a scattering of family run stores boasting simple goods. They went to a building that looked like an aged wooden storage shed. Isaac pulled out an oversized key and unlocked it, inside was there transport, an old station wagon with seating for ten. It would be just under half an hour of driving on packed dirt roads before they arrived.
"Welcome to the range or SCP containment facility 002" Isaac proudly boasted. What they saw were two storage warehouses for grain, a squared concert wall and a lot of poor soiled land. As he hopped out Isaac said. "From humble beginnings comes greatness."
As he went to unlock the large warehouse door. Ruby leaned into Yang whispering what she was thinking. "He paid lien for this?" "Hope he kept the receipt." Yang whispered back.
As he pushed the door open the small group saw two odd vehicle's "This." Isaac motioned to the smaller one. "Is a self propelled four barreled 20mm anti aircraft gun with Doppler, ladar, and friend foe recognition, hooked to a flack targeting system, I'm going to let each of you take a turn firing it. Now this." He indicated the much larger machine. "Is a forty five ton, what we called in my world, a tank, with one 144mm auto loader main gun, two 50cal chain guns, and one 40mm chain driven anti air." Ruby and Yang could only stare at it.
Huge would be a crass statement, it looked massively heavy just sitting there. Wide and high to the ground a turret on top that held an enormous cannon, wide tracks on each side enabled it to travel almost anywhere. Isaac patted it. "This puppy has over thirty two inches of rolled armor with twenty inches of ceramic, layered at five inches each. The side skirts to protect the tracks are twenty inches deep with two five inch slabs of ceramic. We combat tested it three weeks ago when a grim wandered over the hills north east of here." He motioned them to come around to the side.
"What in the dark?" Tai exclaimed. "When you told me you had a live fire test, that it was a huge grim, I thought it was a behemoth class not a colossus."
The side was partly melted, some of the steel had run down the side like a melted candle, exposing the ceramic beneath. Isaac patted the melted side. "Energy grim, hit the tank twice, one round of APCS and one of APHE took it down." He leaned back slightly impressed with his next words. "Normally five is needed to run this, but the two watchers here were able to pull it off."
"Dad." Ruby mewed. "Your right, this is kind of unbelievable. Grim like that, they destroy towns. Teams of hunters are needed to take them down." Isaac grinned yet kept quiet as he boarded the AA truck and started it up. "Lets go to the range."
"How did you get this going so fast?" Yang asked settling down in the back seat. "That tank, as you called it would take years to build." She snarked a bit seeing him sitting in an over glorified child's seat with extensions for his feet.
As they pulled out of the building Isaac questioned right back. "Your people here have solid light, right? You can mold it, that's extremely high end technology, hell the scrolls you use fold out and become rigid, military here use solid light as shields." Ruby looked puzzled asking. "Hell?" Yang shrugged seeing he was not, or didn't hear her. "Must be a cuss word." She whispered.
"Using a three dimensional industrial printer, the kind used to make bridges and roadways, homes and the like made assembling it easy. The hardest part was programming the printer. With materials a printer can knock one of those out once every five months. It cost us over thirty million to make this tank, so there not cheep. Once we get our own printers, and the iron mine up and running."
He pointed to a set of hills east of the town. "And then build a refinery, the cost and time to build this equipment will go down, a lot. We'll have steal we can export and a little dust from an abandoned mine we bought two miles east of here, also, I cut a deal with Ironwood, traded for information, we should be getting two broken printers soon, we'll use one to repair the other, then fix the second one as, and when we can. That said, the next tank should be about twenty million, or less."
"A leviathan would almost make the up for the cost of repairing that tank in one go." Yang pointed out.
"Not really. It's more of a titan or colossus." Isaac countered as they turned heading for a modest firing range doted with brumes, debris and targets. "Been hitting the bounties pretty hard lately, this latest outing was over one hundred million, so there not paying as much and these shells cost over 50K each and the fuel even more. That's another thing needed. The repairs are estimated at over two hundred thousand lien." He did a U turn so the back of the truck was facing the range. Hit a switch and the sides of the bed of the truck folded down while stabilizing legs came out of the truck beads corner's, almost lifting the truck.
"One of the guys suggested we call ourselves Grimm's Bane. Our main targets, once we get three more tanks, five armored carriers, and five AA guns will be the massive hordes of grim, taking those out will gain a lot of coin, but that's for a later time, for now. Lets give you a short safety tutorial and instructions on loading. But before that. " He went over to a box and pulled out and raise a red flag on a tall flagstaff. "To let everyone know live rounds are being used." He explained.
Yang went first, they had loaded up the long rounds into a belt fed hopper that had gears in it for moving the rounds into the firing chamber. The whole mechanism was brutally simplistic on how it worked. They were all wearing helmets with microphones, a battery powered transmitter belted to the hip, ear plugs and ear muffs cut out the world almost completely.
Yangs target was a dot on a cliff miles away. Pressing her shoulders into a C shaped clamp which controlled the movement of the gun, Yang grasp the gun handles finding she could move it any way she wanted but down past ten degrees at the ground. The range finder gave her the distance compensating for ark and wind, and she zoomed in. Isaac let her know the safety was off and to fire when ready. Yang grinned and pulled the triggers.
The noise was deafening. Dust was thrown up around the back of the vehicle by the concussion waves. The eight rounds all but vanished in that one pull of the trigger. Yang looked up, and a second later the explosive rounds hit the cliff. Three seconds from that the explosions were heard. "That's a thing! If that were a grim it would be toast!" She yelled. Isaac was grinning like a mad man almost yelling. "This will knock a fully grown nevermore out of the air at two to five miles."
They reloaded for Ruby, a standing pad raised up for her and she tried something different she strafed from left to right, each overlapping explosion eating away at the rock cliff face. She looked stunned. "How are adults allowing you to use this stuff?" She asked watching a small land slide of shattered stone fall to the base of the cliff.
Tai seemed upset when he inform his daughter. "Hunters pretty much have free rain when it comes to weapons, you need to study the laws a bit harder, you should know this by now." Then he sighed, remembering. "Sorry, forgot. To be fair you did get bumped up two years." His frustration all but vanished before he smiled kindly to her. "It must be hard catching up like that just to be even with everyone."
Ruby nodded a bit frustrated. Everyone kept saying she was so cool to get advanced yet forgot she had been advanced just on her fighting ability, she needed to close the knowledge gap, and quickly.
Tai was offered his turn and declined. Isaac didn't care for it so they packed up, cleaning each barrel and firing chamber making sure the gearing system was maintained and picking up the almost arm long shells. When done Isaac pulled down and stowed the red flag. Then drove them to the containment grounds.
"Ok, I'm impressed." Yang said fatly as she eyed the grounds critically. The containment grounds held grim, enclosed behind four twenty foot tall, ten feet deep concrete walls. Beowolves were squeezed into heavy steel cages with hardly enough room to move. A death stocker was chained down with blocks of concrete pinning its tail, body and pinchers a simple crane next to it. A nevermore without wings was almost crushed, incased in it's armored cage it's beak almost completely covered in straps, the surprise was a behemoth. Concrete had been pored around the feet up to the belly, the tusks were embedded in concrete even the snout, chain thick enough to tow a large ship out of the water held the body in six places, other then shifting a bit, the only movement was its ears flapping. All the grim had been de fanged or nails clipped, even the behemoths back spikes were removed, replaced with plastic road markers.
"Ok, I have to know." Yang asked confused. "Just how did you catch a Behemoth?"
"Dug a pit, pored concrete, covered it in light branches, and let it drop into it. We can't catch em all. Some grim are too dangerous to contain, so we eliminate them on sight. We keep the records in that classroom over there." Isaac explained. "Lets start with the elephant. Or as I like to call it SCP 005"
"Dad?" Ruby asked unsure. Tai nodded encouraging her while putting an arm around her. "It's ok, I've been here, a lot, making sure none of these things get loose. There's also two people on site who keep a eye on things. The walls, grounds, and the inside's of the cages are armed with explosives. If anything happens to a cage it detonates, or if more then one, it all goes boom."
"Does the town even know about this?" Ruby asked. Tai nodded his head. "They get free protection from Grimms Bane, so they put up with it. The towns been wiped out a few times, but the lien they make from fishing is good, so they keep coming back, rebuilding."
Isaac had dragged a chain with a blunt hook to the massive grim and latched it to the behemoths ear and using a pulley, the kind you find on off road vehicles pulled the ear open. "This is one of the week points." He told them putting almost his entire arm into the ear canal. Yangs shotguns would work well here, one, maybe two standard rounds, and it's dead." They all had a good look as the grim shifted in its restraints. Ruby even testing out the long arm of her scythe on it. Isaac cleared them away and released the ear. "Ok, go ahead and take a turn getting under the ear and to the canal, get a feel on how hard it is." This took up some time to learn, Behemoths are surprisingly strong.
Then he hopped onto it's back. "See what it's doing with these bone spurs? I've seen various grim with this configuration. You get in there and it can crush you by flexing it's back, also, there sensitive, they can feel it when you grab one, say for balance, so don't." He made a motion for them to get up with him by the neck then started in detail.
"Here, and here are week points, shotguns don't work well but Ruby's gun using armor piercing, or her scythe in a deep stab would, if you've got fire dust that will burn for a while shoot here." He pointed between two dimples the size of a hand on each side of the spinal. "It will drop in about ten seconds, enough time for it to kill you if you're not careful. Last is the eye's, a high powered slug about twelve gage sized will work, nothing less."
Getting down Isaac let them think about it for a bit, taking a break with some chocolate to calm them all before showing them a clip of a charging behemoth. "See the way it's moving the head? Flopping back and forth and the trunk? They can't see straight ahead so they move the head when charging, if you're in front of them. Looks fierce but there just trying to see you, so keep in mind where the blind spot is, front and back, maneuver there if you can." He put away the scroll adding. "When they do charge they can't see to the sides, they're concentrating on what's in front of them. You can blind side them really easy that way. Just watch out for its friends, they always travel in herds."
Taking out a knife he poked at the shoulder bone plates. "See the way the bone plates close? It's pure reaction." He made a motion with his hand stopping short of slapping the shoulder. "They close faster then a bullet reacting to compressed air, so hitting any part of the front or front/side, you better have something like that tank. There attack is to charge at someone, overwhelming with pure mass. There the front line shock troops and siege engines."
Leading them to the back he had them put a hand on the area just before the rear legs. "Feel how soft it is? You can push it in with your hand, the ribs are here and the two smaller ribs are here, stab at a forty five degree angel to the body, with a long blade at ten or so degrees and it's dead, if you can, use ice or electric dust, fire does almost nothing, to much liquid."
They spent several hours going over the captured grim. Isaac pointing out weak points that seemed to be scattered all over each grim. After which they took a breather in a building outside the enclosure. Sitting, drinking and generally resting. Isaac gave them a written test to see how much they retained.
At three in the afternoon they were back in town and had parked and locked up there transport and were waiting at the air pad for their flight home. Tai buying some overpriced ice cream for them. Yang was almost laughing at Isaac. He was enthusiastically licking the cone he had. To her he was acting like a kid, for about two minutes.
The long flight back Yang found time so she looked over the data that Isaac had downloaded, watching some recordings of there grim fights before looking out the window and loosing herself in thought. Mostly she was wondering why she and others hadn't been taught this in school.
Professor Port had used a Borbatusk in class, yet that was the only grim she had seen used in a live demonstration. The rest of the time it was hearing him spout off, in a long winded way how to identify grim and how they worked, not how to kill them. With one more vacation day to go she wondered what other ideas Isaac had. The thought of fighting swarms of grim in those no fly or travel zones was almost ridiculous, yet that's what he planed to do.
"This is a war." Yang heard Isaac say. "In a war you fight to win, you make them die, if close you make them die faster then your side." She turned and faced Isaac, seeing the almost adult look on his young face as he watched her. Yang could only nod. He took grim seriously, wanting to kill them in the most effective way possible, to wipe them out was his goal here. In this world. She half believed he could, from a world that seemed constantly attacked by creatures. Or? Yang found herself questioning, were they just desperate? They used prisoners as bate, experimental subjects and just fodder when the time called for it.
Yang wondered just how long he would live. "The person is not important, the mission or objective is." Isaac told Yang. Yang looked at him a bit shocked. "Your expression." He explained. "A lot of adults give me that same look, they wonder when the grim will end me. It does not mater when. Or how. Just that the war be won."
"Your insane." Yang told him. Reflecting what a student had said in the hospital. "But in a good way." She did laugh as Isaac hunkered down almost looking like he was pouting. Yang shook her head slowly in amazement, realizing he probably heard that a lot in school, maybe even was teased about it.
The day had been long, filled with excitement and long periods of monotony. There dinner a filling one, Yang and Ruby found themselves tired and turned in for the night earlier then normal.
At three in the morning Yang woke up with the sound of someone taking a shower. Focusing on the clock she growled and half rolled over. "You can't be getting up this early." She moaned. With a tug she freed herself from the blankets and stood. After stretching and with a huge yawn she headed for the hallway determined to give who ever it was, she assumed Isaac, a peace of her mind.
Once in the hallway she heard her father walking up the steps. "Sorry sunshine. I hoped he wouldn't have one of these until after you left." Yangs confused look said it all as Tai passed her then scooped up a pajama bottom from the floor. Water stained the wood as Tai went into Isaacs room. Yang fallowing.
Tai flipped the PJ's onto that rope stretched across the room then picked up the tops, hanging them from the line. Yang could see the unmade bead. There was a large water stain on it. "Did he have a semblance discharge?" She asked.
Tai turned and yanked the sheets from the bed, Yang could hear the sound of plastic, the mattress was covered in a plastic sheath. "Night terrors." He said simply clipping the sheet to the line. Going to a bin to get a rag to wipe down the bead. "He gets them, two to three times a week."
"That's sweat?" Yang asked befuddled. "That's a lot." Tai nodded his facial expression turning hard. "Too much time being a scout, the target, and the ginnipig in his old world." He reminded her. "He's never screamed, or thrashed in bed, he just, wakes up, some kind of conditioning they give the D class who don't take the amnesiac rout."
Yang didn't have any words she half covered her mouth whispering. "Sometimes I think he's lying, he takes things so lightly, but then like that tank, the grim, now this, it kind of hits home. He's not from our world. He's from one that he says is a nightmare." Tai nodded having finished wiping down the mattress, cleaning his hands, he stood then ruffled the top of her head. "Don't worry about it Sunshine. Nothing anyone can do, so we move on. To let you know, Isaacs said more then once he feels fortunate to have a chance to live another life, to start fresh."
They heard the shower stop. Tai finished up spreading fresh blankets on the bed as Yang watched, she half felt she should scuttle back to her room, avoid him. Then a part of her held her ground, stubbornly.
Bare feet taped on the wooden floor as Isaac entered his room head down a wrapped towel about his waist. "Sorry about that.." He started in apology, then saw Yang and blushed almost down to his toes. Yang would have laughed if it wasn't for all the scars on him, she could almost see the bite that made the half circle on his shoulder or what ever made the neat round scars in a line on the left upper arm. The rakes and hand like claw prints, the vertical slashes on the legs as if he tore himself out or was pulled out of something's jaws.
"Still digging on the scars." She told him. Tai made a noise, a half gasp and started pushing her out of the room. "Ok, enough of that." He scolded. They didn't see Isaacs half smile as he whispered. "All earned."
They settled down going back to bed Yang waking up late, well Ruby waking her up. Her nasal voice cutting the tranquil half sleep she was in. "Yananang,,, it's almost ten, breakfast is cccold." Yang plodded through the morning waking routine, her head still slushy refusing to fully awaken until coffee.
Ruby was playing a game on the 3D when Yang finished eating brunch. "Dad? Where'd Isaac get off to?" Tai gave her a raised eyebrow. "Not like that, common dad give me some credit." Rubys voice drifted into the room. "What are you two talking about?"
"Nothing." They chimed as one. Yang had taken her dishes to the sink and started washing them. "Well, this got accord." She half grinned as Tai groaned.
"If you must know he's by the pond doing something called Tao by a guy called Lao Tsu. It's a kind of mental dance." He explained.
"I gota see that." Yang quickly finished up then headed out the door a huge grin on her face. Tai half way fallowed her out the door leaning on the frame. "That's my sunny dragon. Good to have you back." He told the wind. He frowned or was it Ti Te? Chi? He thought.
Yang saw the pond way before she saw Isaac. The water was in the air, floating and swirling in different shapes, coming together in a glob then a stream would come out forming a new one. Yang finely saw him and he was doing a kind of slow dance the water mimicking his movements in a liquid kind of way. She knew he had seen her by the smile forming on his face.
"Hi." A deep voice said. Yang froze in place. That voice had sounded all around her. "Sorry, couldn't resist messing with you. I'm using the water in the air to talk by vibrating it like a human voice, give me a bit, I can't just set all this water down hard, it'll kill the frogs and fish." Yang with her game face on, pissed about being startled like that almost marched to the pond.
He wasn't kidding Yang noted easily five acres of water was floating in the air. She kept quiet until it had all settled. Then placed a hand on his chest and with a wrist flick flung him backwards into the pond. He came quickly to the surface. "What'd ya do that for?!" He sputtered at her.
"Ah, just messing with you, don't be angry, it was just in fun." Yang explained. "Game on." He said floating to the surface and walking across the water. Yang smiled and used her shotguns to gain some distance as Isaac shook the water off himself like a dog. Yang leaned on a tree her expression and body language saying you loose. Isaac smiled an evil grin and pointed up. Yang looked and saw a huge droplet of water coming down on her.
Ruby shot across the distance grabbing Yang, in a flurry of red and gold landed next to Isaac. Yang gave him another push. This time he slid across the water as if it was ice.
Hands poised as if digging into something the water on each side of him rose up. "Ice?" Suggested Yang. Ruby nodded and started to reload.
Isaac stopped looked down then surprised Yang and Ruby with his next words. "Oh, sorry, no, really, I am sorry, got caught up in the moment." The sisters glanced at each other then Ruby gaped and pointed. Small fish and frogs were hopping and jumping just in front of Isaac and he seemed. "He's talking to fish?" Asked Ruby.
Isaac seemed to let the water go and moved to the shore a bit away from Yang. "Keep forgetting if I get rough with the water, they die from my actions." He explained to them.
"Oh, that is so cool!" Squealed Ruby. Yang was rubbing her head wondering if this was real. "You can talk to them? Fish? Frogs?"
"Don't be silly, that's something only Indians from the north Americas can do, it did make you hesitate." Then he pointed up. Yang didn't look up her expression was of disquiet miffed and grudging surrender. Ruby made a squeaky noise as the water came down.
The wave reformed into a tube and swirled around them then moved to the side and reformed into a watery picture of there upper bodies mimicking there facial expressions. The Yang one sticking its tongue out at Yang. Ruby fired her ice dust freezing the two into statues. "This is so cool!" She exclaimed again. Then looked closer at her image. "My nose isn't that big, is it?"
Isaac actually smiled. "No, I don't have that kind of control over liquid, yet." He reminded them. "Seemed pretty intense to me. You had half the pond in the air, and moving around." Yang told him. "That's a lot of weight." She added.
Isaac nodded. "Taken all semester to get this far, still have a long ways to go." He told them. When he saw the doubtful looks he had to smile trying to explain. "Seems with aura and semblances the only limitations are what we place on them." He raised an arm with a come here gesture of his hand. Isaacs sword, belt and shoulder bag came flying from where they rested by a tree. "Put a little water into something and it can be manipulated."
He watched the two for a bit before adding. "I can't wait for the day Ruby brakes the sound barrier, or you Yang, punching a hole in a mountain. And before you say you can't remember this, all the things the adults are telling me I can't or shouldn't be able to do. The limitations are yours and yours alone, aura has I found no upper limit. You stop growing when you decide you've reached your boundaries."
"End of class?" Yang asked a snarky smile on her face. She laughed when Isaac gave a slight nod of his head. "So what's this Tao De dad talked about?"
"A mental discipline of the mind, of the spiritual or the undying part of us. Here in this place, I'm not sure but I think it's this aura you're all talking about. The dance or movement is Tie Chi, or as I like to think, learning how to move now so you can when you get older. Also for some, a cleansing, and I think it's a bit dangerous here, sending the negative part of yourself loose on the world."
"I've seen emotion come to life, seen it take and inflict harm, no I'm not joking." He sighed frustrated seeing the confused looks and decided to change the subject. "That small building attached to the main grain silo, is our lab, we kill and examine grim in there, even dissect them, alive. Then filter the air, trying to capture, anything." He made a shrugging motion. "Had to do something, no one here seems to have thought about it. I think if we can learn about what holds them together or makes up their flesh they can be killed more effectively."
"That makes sense." Quipped Ruby. Then she looked concerned. "Isaac grim are attracted by negative emotions, and, you were a prisoner, right? How did you learn so much?"
"The scientists, mostly. They wanted me to be able to describe and make judgments on what I was seeing in the different worlds I was sent to, to be able to identify what was important to bring back, or what to leave, to do that I needed to know, um.. understand what I was seeing and talking about, so I was almost continuously in school, it was that and physical development."
Ruby nodded. "Ya, ok, makes sense, but why are you so tall for an eight year old." Yang blinked wanting to know also. Isaac shrugged. "I'll be six foot six and a half when I finish growing."
"Your eight?" Questioned Yang again, wanting to be absolutely sure. Isaac nodded. A surprised "Oh." Came out of Yang. Then she started laughing. "Soo Goodwitch is in for such a surprise."
"Well, I guess it's time to go back in, Tai will start to worry if were out to long." Isaac said then started to concentrate.
"So. Trying to be the adult, again?" Yang asked. Isaac smiled. "If you think so." With a wave of the arm water left the pond and formed a twisting banked toboggan ride like form flowing down the hill. "If you would. Ruby?"
"All right!" Ruby chimed her game face coming on as she aimed. Shooting ice dust at the formation of water. As it froze she zipped off. "Last one home does dishes!" Then she was gone. A red streak flying the twisting slide. Isaac started running. "Nuts." He cursed hearing shotgun blasts and a yellow brown streak hitting the slide, two more blasts and she, like Ruby, was gone. "I have got to think this through before I try to play a game. Isaac thought. A pistol and a forty mm does not work well with ice. "Wait, I'm over seventy percent water." He thought giving himself a hard push. Feeling his body slide forward. He found It kind of hurt.
It was like being on a motor bike titling around curves at high speed, some of the tighter turns it seemed as if you were standing still and the world was rotating around you. He still ended up tens of seconds behind Yang even more behind Ruby. Breathless he came to a stop before Tai.
"So? Dishes?" He asked in a way that said this has happened before. "Nuts." Was all Isaac could say. "That was fun." Yang said from the house. Ruby happily squealing So Cool made him smile. Turning he pushed the ice back to the pond letting it melt upstream.
There last day found the two packed and ready to go by midday. Isaac noted it was quiet as they headed for the airport. Isaac had paid for the ticked so the two could have an extra day with there dad. He stood to the side, Ruby and Yang saying unhappily goodbyes to Tai, they were almost crying he noted. Ruby gave Isaac a hug and Yang gave him a two fingered salute. "See ya D man." He thumped a hand on his chest. "Uspue ad Occasum." He called out smiling at her confusion. "Until the sun sets." Her what does that mean look made his day.
When Tai towered over Isaac he added. "Well, it was better then saying Aloha. Which is a hello and goodbye greeting. "Your writing down that language." Tai told him. Sighing Isaac countered. "I haven't finished Chinese yet." Once in the car Tai said smiling. "After dishes." He watched Isaac thump his head on the seat grumbling.
School break ended and to Isaac things seemed normal until the end of the week. He was called into the principals office. He had a good idea what was going to happen. The field trip teacher was there, two others who by their stiff posture were part of the school board and the principal. He was directed to sit at a char between the two stiff men.
"Well, I won't waste any time as we all have things to do." The principal started. Isaac half smiled it was the end of the week at the end of the day. He couldn't help but think the man just wanted to rune his weekend by declaring they had things to do. It kind of angered him. These mafia tactics.
"May I see the discharge papers." He asked as calmly as he could. Again he felt the half smile tugging at his face as the principal looked mildly startled before glancing at the two standing suites. With motions slow enough to be annoying he opened a drawer on his desk and pulled out a thick folder. Opened it and began reading. "Two can play at this." Isaac thought. This had intimidate the boy so he won't fight back or be too ashamed to written all over it.
He pulled out his phone and called his lawyer. "Just what do you think your doing?" Asked his field trip instructor. "Calling my lawyer, this is not going to be a simple bury the problem child and forget, your jobs, your integrity will be on the line if you continue these proceedings, at the least your going to be making the news. After all, your actions here will officially start Grimms Bane." It was enough to out right stun them. One of the suits made a suggestion that Tai be brought in.
With a quick explanation given he put the phone on speaker laying it on the desk. The principal was informed the conversation was being recorded and asked to state his full name. The man was no slouch, he knew his position quit well, refusing to acknowledge the lawyer or his interference on how this school operates.
Isaac explained in detail the intimidation tactics they were employing, having no intention of even calling in his guardian, yet now they had to, to do things by the book. Voicing his opinion that this was based on race and not capabilities.
"Your actions injured your instructor, you showed no regard for personal safety and all but forced him to put his life on the line, for your reckless actions." The principal almost screamed.
The lawyer almost sounded amused. "Yet this group of students have dispatched Behemoths before, the recorded count is well over forty, seems they know what there doing, with these larger grim." Countered the Lawyer, then continued in a rather bland voice. "This instructor was inserted, despite objections from students and the previous professor. I must inform you that twelve students have officially complained to the hunters board. Would you tell me why?"
The knock at the door was fallowed by Tai entering, one glance and he stiffened up. Isaac jumped in. "Hi." He made a hand motions to the one on the left. "Met intimidator one, who has only glared at me." A another motion to the right. "Met intimidator two, who also has only glared quietly at me. The instructor who jumped out in front of me trying to go head to head with Behemoths. The principal need's no introduction." He then pointed at the phone. "And my lawyer who for some reason seems to know this was going to happen." Isaac left his char. When one suit didn't move, blocking his path until Isaac asked somewhat irritated. "Will you move so I can get to my guardian? Or am I suppose to timidly slide around you?"
"Enough." The principal demanded. "I will not see this school turned into a circus by some." He bit back his words and pulled out a form. "These are your expulsion papers, sign and we can get on with our lives.."
"I do not agree to sign. Guess its suspension time, and the courts, and the meeting's, the media, and all that good stuff." Tai gave Isaac a nudge. "Despite you being right your heaping a lot of disrespect out there."
Isaac folded his arms all but glaring at them. "Grimm wipe out towns, villages, two to three a year, tens of thousands die on a bad year, aircraft have a one in eighty chance of making their flight outside patrolled paths and none in the no fly zones. Trains are routinely derailed, so much that there made to run on just two of the sixteen tracks laid and you want me to respect someone who will not allow me hunt these Grimm? Just for my ears?" Tai went quiet sighing in a way that showed he couldn't argue.
The phone spoke up. "This is turning into quite the interesting lawsuit. I wish an answer, will you drop the expulsion charges or suspend Isaac until a formal enquiry can be scheduled?" The principal reached into the folder an pulled out a suspension paper laying that on the desk. "Sign." He demanded curtly.
Isaac smiled openly not even bothering to approach the desk. "So, all filled out and signed by the management, you sure do think ahead." Isaac locked eyes with the principal. "I refuse, on the grounds that all gathered here for this event are practicing Speciesism, that my instructor was hand picked despite objections for the sole purpose of allowing events to accrue to dismiss me form this school. The reasons beyond race is I believe that I am a protégé I know things even my teachers can't comprehend, I understand how to kill off the grim, in mass. My belief is those present here dislike faunas, I also feel they think I will make them appear incompetent or their jobs will become obsolete in there lifetimes. After all, what good is a hunters school without grim to hunt?" He felt Tai pat him on the shoulder then tell him to wait outside.
They were in so long Isaac actually went to sleep on the chair. When Tai awakened him it was two hours past school closer. Tai returned Isaacs scroll looking angry. It was a quiet ride home. Isaac didn't push it having this kind of stunt shoved down ones throat, at the end of the week no less, must have been hard for him. Isaac felt, somehow, that the administration was so determined that Tai's job may be on the line should he not cooperate.