Grimm Rider Chapter Two
A/N: Another 4 A.M upload, yaaaaay. I need sleep.
A cold metal floor greeted him as he groggily opened his eyes. He couldn't get up, or move his body at all for that matter. A muffled thumping noise was all he could hear for awhile before a gruff voice spoke up.
"I don't want to rush things but we're getting awfully close to Beacon." The sound of walking got closer to him before a boot slightly pushed his side, "He's still out, we should do it now."
Another voice sighed, "I suppose you're right." He could hear a button press before alarms sounded and wind blew against his head, whipping his hair around. The muffled thumping got louder. Two hands grabbed each arm and started pulling him forward, with him hanging limply in their grasp.
One of the voices chuckled, "If there's one thing good about the Grimm, they sure can clean up any evidence. Shame though, he was an decent test subject from what I've heard."
"Doesn't matter now." That was the last thing he heard before he was suddenly weightless, green grass rapidly grew closer in his vision.
Waking up in strange places was already beginning to become an weird habit. The boy had awoken in a hospital bed, his mind still focused on this new memory he had. Looking around revealed a gray-haired man reading papers on a clipboard.
"Very interesting." The man looked up and noticed the boy was awake, he gave him a warm smile. "Hello there. I'm headmaster Ozpin."
Ozpin got up and walked to the foot of his bed. "Are you able to tell me your name?" A look of confusion crossed the boy's face before it turned into one of concentration as he tried to remember. There was nothing pertaining to who he was as a person.
"Ngh." He grunted as another flash of pain shot through his head. He slowly shook his head at Ozpin.
Ozpin raised an eyebrow, "Memory loss. I'm sorry for whatever must have happened to you." The headmaster hummed as he looked his black hair and green eyes. "For the time being we will have to give you a temporary name. How about Cole Novak, is that alright for you?"
The boy thought for a second before he nodded in confirmation, he didn't find anything wrong with the name. Ozpin shuffled to a bedside table before handing him a glass of water. The newly named Cole drank it greedily, the basic liquid tasted like heaven on his dry throat.
"Despite being unconscious your injuries were merely superficial. After we talk we can get you out of this stuffy hospital room and into your own room." Ozpin chuckled as Cole's eyebrows raised in confusion, "Well from what I can tell, I can only conclude that someone must have dumped you off in the Emerald Forest to be killed by the grimm. Nobody would willing to go into such an infested forest with no means to protect themself."
Cole scowled, the new memory playing back in his mind. His voice was found as anger sparked within him, "That is what happened." His voice was hoarse from what was likely not being used in some time.
"Then all the more reason to have you stay at Beacon Academy, we will be able to assist you. Especially if you continue to use this." Ozpin pulls out the driver and syringe and hands them to Cole. Cole absentmindedly ran his thumb over the glass on the driver while recalling his fight in the forest. The power he felt while using it was incredible. "It might be prudent to keep this a secret for now, there are many people out there who could try and take your power for themselves. There are also those who I doubt will like a humanoid Grimm running around, we have been fighting them for centuries after all." Ozpin warned, breaking Cole out of his reverie.
The headmaster took a long sip from his coffee cup while grabbing the clipboard he was reading. He merely glanced down the page before looking back to Cole. "On another note, whoever tried to get rid of you must have also done experiments. Examinations by our doctors show that your body has been technologically modified. Quite heavily so," Ozpin took another sip. Cole's eyes widened and he stared down at his hands trying to process the information. However, the headmaster wasn't done quite yet.
"I'd say you're lucky, as you don't have any Aura to speak of."
...huh?
"Despite our doctors attempts to do so, your aura refuses to unlock. They can't tell if it's because of your technological side, but those enhancements are what's going to help you protect yourself for now." Ozpin explained quickly after seeing Cole's shocked face. A beeping sound sounded out causing him to look down at his watch, "That is the basis of your situation, if you'll excuse me I have a meeting to attend to soon. My assistant Glynda will be here to see you to your room. I wish you luck, Mr. Novak."
Ozpin exited the room, leaving Cole to his own devices before Glynda came to get him.
A sharp whistling sound assaulted Cole's eardrums, tearing him away from his peaceful sleep and causing him to fall off of his bed. Rubbing his eyes to fight away the sleepiness he pulled himself up on the bed's edge and glared at the red-head with a whistle in her hand. "How did you get into my room Ruby?"
Due to his circumstances, Glynda assigned a team to him to assist in getting used to the school environment and schedule. The ones assigned was Team RWBY, given how they had already helped out the man by rescuing him. Granted they also shot, froze, and punched him, but they didn't know that.
If his attitude towards the rude awakening was noticed by the girl, she didn't show it. She gestured towards the open door, "Your door was unlocked."
"So you just go barging into people's rooms?" "You didn't answer after the first twelve knocks and class starts in an hour." Cole simply blinked.
"And?" "And I will not have my perfect attendance record tainted because of you. So go get ready!" Weiss walked in and glared at him, Yang and Blake trailing close behind. "Port's class may be boring as sin but we aren't going to let you get off that easily." Yang explained, flopping onto his bed and relaxing. Blake was more invested in her book than the one sided conversation and simply hummed in agreement.
Cole could feel his eye twitching, why in god's name did they think it was okay to just barge into his room? Weiss simply grabbed him and shoved him towards the bathroom. "Alright alright, I'm going." He grumbled, shutting the door behind him. As the shower turned on he made a mental note to always lock his door from now on.
Cole stared blankly at his lunch, still trying to process his first classes. How did Professor Port manage to spend an entire hour and a half on ONE story about hunting down a Ursa? Initially it seemed exciting to learn about the adventures of a professional huntsman, but he was just so long winded it was a struggle to keep his eyes open the entire time. It probably wouldn't have mattered if he did though as half of his classmates had nodded off by the time class ended and none were caught. Oobleck's class was decent enough even if the man drained twelve cups of coffee and sped around the room like a madman. Where does Ozpin find people like these? At least combat class was straight forward and Glynda was normal, so far at least.
"So you're the new student right?" A male's voice called out to him. Looking up showed team JNPR sitting down at the table, they were sister team Ruby had told him about. Quick deduction revealed it was Jaune that asked. "Yeah that's me, name's Cole." In a flash the orange haired girl, Nora if he recalled, leaned over the table and was suddenly way too close to him.
"Oh, OH! You gotta tell us how you got in! I never heard of a student being accepted after a year had already begun!" Nora got slightly closer to him with every word. Ren thankfully grabbed Nora and dragged her back into her seat. Cole chuckled before a wicked grin spread across his face, " I'm a criminal mastermind who has so much blackmail on Ozpin he had no choice but to accept me." He began to laugh manically as Nora bounced in her seat from excitement.
"He's an amnesiac we rescued from Emerald Forest." Weiss deadpanned. "Headmaster Ozpin assigned us to help him acclimate to a school environment." Team JNPR looked from her to Cole with concern etched on their face. Cole simply shrugged, "It's no big deal, Oz simply thought I'd be safer here while whoever tossed me in the forest is still out there." Everyone at the table turned and stared out him.
...
Did he say that out loud?
"WHAT!?" Yes, yes he did.
"Glynda didn't tell us you had been left to DIE! She only said you had no aura." Ruby spoke up before clamping her hand over her mouth. She shot a nervous glace at JNPR, who were all incredulous at the news. Looking at Cole sheepishly she apologized, "Sorry, that just kind of slipped out."
Cole simply looked at Ruby for a second, "It's alright, I don't think it was much of a secret to be honest. Just don't go shouting it from the rooftops alright, I'm not COMPLETELY helpless." He chuckled dryly. An awkward silence descended on the table as both teams mulled over the new information, Cole taking more interest in his lunch than before. Ruby, slightly desperate to change the subject, piped up, "We fought a weird type of Grimm during out rescue mission! It was humanoid looking, like a man in armor!"
Pyrrha raised an eyebrow, "Like a man in armor? I don't remember learning anything like that in our classes, at least not yet." Jaune's eyes widened as he got an idea. He turned to Cole, "Do you think it could be connected to the people who threw you in the forest?" Cole stopped mid-chew and shrugged, he didn't show it but he was nervous on where this train of thought was leading.
Yang simply huffed, "I doubt we can really ask it now after we destroyed it. I doubt grimm can talk anyways."
Blake peered above her book, "Actually, it could be possible it escaped. We didn't see it disintegrate even though you launched it through multiple trees. It simply wasn't there anymore."
Ruby's eyes lit up before she sped over to Cole, snaking her arm under his and dragging him upwards as she stood on the table seat. "Alright gang we have a mission! We are going to hunt down that humanoid grimm and force him to spill what he knows about Cole!" She declared with passion. Nora jumped up excited, "I'll break its legs, that way it wont be able to run away!" An involuntary shudder ran through the Cole's body.
Weiss regarded her team leader with a stare,"We are going to hunt down a grimm that is more than likely long gone by now, if not already dead, and probably can't even speak in the first place? Seriously?"
"Yep." Ruby replied, popping the 'p'. Weiss knew it was futile to try to argue the point with her and simply turned back to her lunch. When Ruby had that sparkle in her eye it was hard to convince her otherwise. "Fine, just as long as it doesn't get in the way of our studies."
Ruby cheered and a collective laugh was shared between the group. Even though he knew this meant they would be trying to hunt him Cole couldn't help the smile that grew on his face, "Thanks you guys."
Ruby simply patted him on the shoulder as she returned to her seat, "What are friends for?"
'Friends...' Cole thought. They may have barged into his room unannounced and blew a whistle in his face but they, for the most part, seemed to care for him. Despite barely knowing him they had agreed, again mostly, to what was essentially a wild goose chase to help him out. If that's what friends were, he was happy to call these people his friends.
A man ran down a blackened alleyway before hiding behind a dumpster. A police car slowly drifted by, its police lights reflecting down the alleyway he hid in. Waiting a minute the man sighed in relief as he visibly slumped. It was supposed to be such an easy hold up, a small convenience store ran by a old man. Somehow he slipped up and the police got called. Some small solace was that he was in the clear for now and even managed to steal a bit cash. A small grin appeared before a deep frown overtook it. The thief stomped down the alleyway before he kicked a trashcan over in anger.
What was the point? He only was able to steal a couple twenty Lien notes and now he had the police after him! He growled at the thought of having to just lay low, being a nobody. He wasn't some criminal mastermind like Roman Torchwick or some skilled fighter like huntsman were. He was just some petty thief who didn't matter in the grand scheme of things and he was sick of it. When did his life spiral down like this?
"You seek power don't you?" A voice from the darkness spoke up without warning, making the thief jump. A person stepped partially from the darkness only his silhouette visible. A gloved hand stretched outwards and opened, revealing a syringe. "This will give you the strength you need to put your fate back into your hands. To do what you want."
The thief hesitantly reached out and grabbed the syringe. His eyes looked up to the mysterious person voicing his disbelief. The man simply nodded before vanishing back into the darkness. The thief looked at the syringe like it was gold, temptation overriding whatever doubts he had before.
In Vale, a howl pierced the night.