Author's Note: Okay, so I'm going to have be a little mean here. So while I was writing this chapter some bloke, and you know who you are, asked me to keep writing this story. I get it, I've been burned by many a SYOC before, I don't think a single one I've sent stuff for has ever been followed up and it infuriates me. Do I say anything? No, because I know people have other things in their life. Sometimes life gets in the way and you can't write, sometimes you don't have the drive to write. For the past two months I have been locked into writing paper after paper for university. That takes precedence over everything else, what I do here is merely a side hobby at the very most. So the next time you think to ask 'Can you please write the next chapter' just know that this, what you see right here, is not my first priority. I find this type of shit disrespectful.
PS: if you, the one in particular who knows who they are, try to say something about this whole thing, I swear to all that is good and holy...
If you aren't the person I'm talking about then have a fantastic day
-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-
Chapter 3: Nothing Like Basic Training
-Months Ago-
The cold ground of Mantle of was inches away from Carbine's face, the frosted tips of the dirt nearly colliding with his chin as he took a slow breath. The scope on his standard issue rifle was being adjusted ever so carefully. The day was gray, overcast like so many winter days in the kingdom. In a line were many others like him, young men, shaved heads, regimented looks. Stern faces, unyielding stares, rifles at the ready, they all were on their stomachs, hands bare and knuckles white. The wind whipped at the tips of his ears, grimacing at the slight burning sensation it gave off, but he kept his sight true.
The target was in range, he took held his breath and it felt like everything stilled around him. The howl of the wind seemed to stop, yet the bitter cold remained. The clouds seemed to stop, his lungs started to feel like they were tightened, he needed to keep his breath for a few more seconds.
"Just a little more." He thought as he narrowed his eyes and adjusted his scope one last time. His finger, trained and steady, slowly he squeezed the cold metal trigger. When he felt the resistance of the trigger he released his breath and gripped the trigger so tight if it were anything weaker he might have crushed it. The concussive sound of the discharge rang in his ears, as howling wind and clouds filled the air. The scent of spent Dust filling his nostrils, pulling back the chamber covering came a golden colored shell. One after another, nearly right after he took his shot, came similar sounding rifle fire from the others in line with him. He peered through his scope again to look at the target. A hole right down the middle of the red bullseye. Just like the other times.
"Alright men, that's enough range shooting!" The gruff, rigid, yelling of the major sounded off from behind Carbine. "You're dismissed!" Carbine knew he couldn't help it, it was his job to be tough on the kids. If anything the major was probably going to surprise them with a bunks inspection. Roberts would probably need to hide his stache of...personal tabloids.
Walking back to the barracks Carbine set his rifle down and sat on the stiff cott that he called a 'bed'. He had gotten used to it, he had been forced to, if he couldn't sleep then what good was he as a soldier? He shared the barracks with many other people his age, basically kids in the grand scheme of things. Youthful they were, technically Carbine had a year on them, he joined the military academy at sixteen and they just entered. An older student was put as the head of a barracks of first year students. In terms of shooting they were like any fresh rookies, terrible in every way. They hadn't as so much as held a gun when they first arrived, but he had to keep telling himself that he shouldn't be comparing everyone else to him. He had practically been born with a gun in his hand, learned to shoot since he was maybe four or five. It was a part of his life.
But where that life was leading him he had no clue. From under his pillow he retrieved a letter, pristine and smooth, the insignia of the Kingdom of Vale pressed in wax sealing it shut. He was alone, no one was going to see him, this was fine right?
"Let's see what royalty has to do with me," grabbing a blade he slit open the fold of the letter and he began reading to himself. "I, as the King of Vale…"
-Present Day, Emerald Forest-
Carbine got behind the rough bark of a tree that hadn't been toppled over just yet. Suddenly hearing the growl of a Beowulf he turned around and without looking fired two quick shots, both of which landing. One punctured the stomach and then the other in the neck, both taking chunks out of the rabid wolf like creature. To his other side came the insect faunus, Ilios he overheard his name was, proclaiming his might while knocking down another wolf. He had about insect faunus, rarest of the rare outside of perhaps aquatic based ones. He looked like he was from Vacuo, Akihiro would have probably smacked him over the head for thinking like that.
"Okay, we've nearly taken out the beowulfs, but that Deathstalker is still pissed" Ilios said, taking a peek over his shoulder, crossbow raised up. From his method and execution, Carbine could tell he was well used to holding his weapon. A trained shot too, perhaps not as good as Carbine, but so few were. The Mantle born mind of Carbine's questioned the ribbon that hung off his bronze colored scimitar, it was just asking for it to get caught on a branch and hold Ilios back. But the people of Vacuo were an odd bunch, no amount of time and acceptance would change his mind about that.
Carbine looked over his shoulder as he heard the more meger sounding gunfire of the girl who looked like she should've been in one of those moving picture shows they called a 'movie'. Her weaponry did not match military standards outside of a gun, he swore he saw her whip out a can of pepper spray on a grimm. As ineffective as it sounded he was surprised by the results. As Ilios stated the Beowulfs were diminishing, but the Deathstalker still enraged and missing an eye would chase them down until they were too worn down to even stand. The forest was too compact for a head on fight, at least for him, he needed distance and time. None of which the grimm had been known to give you.
Being a soldier was much easier than whatever he was doing now.
"I can't get a good shot off without time, and the wolves aren't giving me that," Carbine said, speaking of, as a Beowulf came around the tree the Mantle soldier swung the butt end of his rifle around and smashed into the bone like carapace and cracking it into pieces. It slumped to the floor and the black mist slowly seeped from the openings. "And if we tried to take care of all the wolves then the Deathstalker would get in our way."
"So we can't take out one without dealing with the other, but then we run into the same problem," Ilios said, dashing towards another wolf, slicing its paw at the wrist and plunging the sword into its belly.
"If we could slow the Deathstalker down, we would have a chance."
"How would we slow it down, shooting it in the eyes is only making it worse," Ilios replied, which ironically enough was followed by a ear wrenching screech from the massive scorpion.
"Deathstalkers have eight legs like any arachnid, it can probably walk on less if we take out legs equally on both sides."
"So then we take out all the legs on one side then," "Ilios finished, "but how do we plan on doing that?"
"Like I said, I can't get a shot off, not only that but taking out each individual leg would take too long for me. If we want to stop it from moving we'll need to take out the legs all at once."
"So we need a really big sword?"
"Or anything sharp enough to pierce or heavy enough to bash through a Deathstalker, from what I hear these bastards are tough as nails. I know Akihiro has a big club, but right now we need to regroup and formulate a plan."
"We're not exactly in a place to run away without getting tracked down."
"It's the only option we have right now, the Deathstalker will have to make it through the trees which will slow it down a little, and you, me, and the small girl can pick off the wolves until then."
Ilios rattled his brain for possibly anything better, but none came to mind, "Okay fine, we'll go with this for now, but know I'm not a huge fan of this."
"Neither am I, but it's the only solution we got," Carbine turned around and zeroed in on the bear faunus who had slammed his metal cross into one of the remaining wolves, "Akihiro, grab the other two! We're moving out!"
"To where?!" He yelled back from across the field, he raised his hands in a shrug.
"Anywhere but here, we need to regroup!" Carbine yelled back at him.
"But I-"
"That is an order!"
Annoyed, narrowed eyes met back with Carbine, "Fine, I'll tell the other two," from his tone Carbine knew there was going to be a talk about that.
Ilios looked back at him when Carbine started moving out, he moved at a brisk pace, "Well, you seem used to doing that."
Even though they had just met, despite the fact it was going to bite him in the ass later, Carbine sighed and turned his head back to the faunus, "Well, I was a soldier in Mantle."
Time Remaining: 6 Hours
-X-
"Just what kind of plan was that?!" Lynae shouted at the top of her lungs, pulling back a branch to peer into the night filled forest. The corpse of the large bear like grimm, the Ursa, lay on the floor looking like it was smoldering.
Oro massaged the bruise on his cheeks, wincing at the slight pain it echoed, "So I thought I could sneak up on an Ursa, I don't see what the issue is."
"Gods you are useless."
"Hey, I have heard legends of people riding Ursa's like camels or horses back in Vacuo," Oro responded.
"Oh, yeah?" Lynae questioned, "And have you met any of these people?"
"No," Oro said meekly.
"Well until you do then you probably shouldn't be doing it. Understood?"
"Geez, I tell you I don't have parents and here you are acting like a mother," Oro pushed on past her, seeming to ignore Lynae's puffed out cheeks and tongue sticking out. "Well, now we've allowed what I fear to happen."
"And that is?"
"We've let the night catch up on us. I learned early on that you either make sure you can get to wherever you need to in a day's time, or get really good at getting enough rest within a few hours. Sleeping in caves and forest can prove dangerous, you're not the only thing that wants to sleep under the cover of shelter."
"Then let's keep moving," Lynae offered up, she moved on past Oro.
"Not the smartest idea, the grimm are more violent during the night, it's also harder to see them."
Lynae turned around, Oro easily able to see her as he came within inches of his face, "Then what do you suppose we do? You say it's too dangerous to go sleep somewhere but then you turn around and say it's too dangerous to go about. Make up your damn mind!" She sighed and walked away. "I'm moving on, you can either stay here or you can come with me, I don't care at this point."
Standing there for a few seconds, Oro had to gather his thoughts. Being that close to her was something he was not expecting. "Damn," he breathed to himself, "I'm a little turned on right now." The rustling of bushes snapped Oro out of his thoughts, cautiously he reached into his cloak and got into a defensive position. He knew it wasn't Lynae, she had gone the opposite direction, the way towards the light. This was something different, hopefully it was someone and not an evil black furred, demon of the abyss.
The rustling increased, Oro's hand gripped down near his waist, this time he stepped towards it. Slowly, not even the metal armor he wore made a sound, the canteens silently sloshing as his weight went back and forth. The bush were it was coming from soon erupted as a beowulf jumped out of him, catching his slightly offguard. From his waist he pulled out a shortsword that ran right across the chest of the wolf, but not going deep enough to cause any major damage. It just roared in anger as it felt the metal pierce its body. Oro ducked under the swing, this Beowulf looked much larger than the ones back in Vacuo. Despite them being the same species, Oro had figured out that Grimm had minor changes to their physiology in the different kingdoms. Vacuo Beowulfs were leaner and their paws more rough from running across the sands. This time as it was about to leap on him Oro used his armored arm to repel an arm off of him and he stabbed the sword through the chin right through the rest of the wolf's skull. It fell on top of him leaving him to fumble about.
"Just my luck," he complained as he managed to shake off the wolf on top of him. "Maybe Lynae was right about standing here." He was about to say something until he saw the glint of metal in the moonlight, the glare catching his eyes by surprise. He bent down and picked it up, in his hand was a really short sword, but not quite a dagger. "Well where did you pick up this?" He asked the pile of steaming grimm corpse. Thinking back, he walked over to the bush and scooted the branches away. His eyes went wide at what he found.
"Lynae!" He yelled at the top of his lungs, "I need your help!"
She must have been not as far along as he thought, a slow walker in Oro's mind, because Lynae came running back. "What?!" She half yelled out of anger and possibly worry if he discerned it. He motioned his head over to the gap in the bushes. "Oh my god," she breathed.
"It looks like we'll have to move to this Beacon as soon as possible, or she might not make it," Oro said as he looked down.
Down at the short girl with honey colored hair lying with claw marks over her body and a slight amount of blood dripping from the wounds.
Time Left: 5 Hours, 35 Minutes
-X-
Carbine had managed to find a perch to sit atop of, holding a spyglass he usually reserved for a spotter he scanned the area.
"Three, five, nine. Perfect," he thought to himself as he got up off the ground and dusted off his stomach of the dirt and grass. He jogged down the hill putting the glass back into an inside coat pocket. In a clearing close by he caught up with the rest of the group. "Okay, so I've counted nine Beowulfs chasing after us, I couldn't see the Deathstalker directly but I was able to catch a glimpse of the destruction it was causing. It's still having trouble with the heavily wooded areas."
"Yeah, that's a good question," Ilios piped up as he rested with a shoulder on a tree, "how are we going to deal with that. The more it's out there, the more grimm will flock to it. If we don't take it out soon we may have to deal with all the grimm in the forest."
"The grimm are more an obstacle than an objective," Akihiro replied standing next to Carbine once he got over the hill. "We need to keep moving forward, it's night and fighting relentlessly against the grimm will only cause us to get lost."
"But right now, because we have that Deathstalker on our tail, we can't really do that," Ilios fought back, "don't know about you, but running through this forest with that thing on my tail doesn't fill me with confidence."
"And who's fault is that?"
"Well excuse me," Ilios half shouted at Carbine who was perplexed, "I didn't think that-Wait, did you say something?"
"No," Carbine looked at the faunus as if he'd gone mad, maybe that's what rabies did to them he thought.
"I could have swore I heard something," Ilios swiveled his head around madly trying to find the source of the voice.
"Perhaps all of this is starting to stress you out," Akihiro said, "would you like a back rub?"
"No, that's weird, I swore I heard a voice and-"
"Well that is all nice boys, it really is, but can we get back to the matter at hand," the three turned to the woman who had stayed silent for the most part but now had this look of pure annoyance.
She was much shorter than the guys, except Ilios in fact she might have been as tall as him maybe a little less. She was a looker, the immature soldier in Carbine's mind had to stifle a wolf whistle from coming out now that he got a good look at her. Skin colored light brown, almost like caramel chocolates he had grown fond of as a kid, unmarred. Slim waist, her body pretty decent if you were to ask him. Her hair went straight down her back and ended at her waist, the color of grey it was. When he thought about it, the color was more aligned with ash from a fire, there was a certain sheen that was unmistakable from the actual substance. Her eyes, spoke of a true warrior, the same as her hair, piercing gray like a steel sword.
The clothing she donned made Carbine think she was from Mistral. A black coat that ended at her knees that had a gold trim, if he recalled, he remembered seeing a white triangle on the back. She was wearing a kimono, at least that's what he thought they were called and he recalled they were usually longer and more elegant, red with golden flower petals emblazoned. After the short length of the kimono was a small space where he could see her legs, but then almost immediately were these thigh high laced up boots.
In her hands was a massive odachi blade, he reckoned it was taller than her and about as tall as himself. She must have been a skilled swordswoman to wield a weapon of that calibre. Currently it was in its sheath made of black lacquered wood with jewelry showing its wealth and worth. Early on Carbine had learned to distinguish the two, wealth and worth, and having both meant that this girl was not to be underestimated.
"I'm sorry, you are?" Akihiro asked kindly, smiling as he usually did.
She looked reluctant, skeptical, cautious of Akihiro, Carbine had seen this look before plastered on many of his comrades from Mantle. The eyes of a warrior, not of one unused to the barbarity of wars.
A soldier.
"Amid," she finally said, "Amid Valroya."
"Excellent, excellent, if you have an idea then I am all ears," his jovial attitude was reinforced by his two bear ears wiggling ever so slightly. Out of the group is was really only Ilios who chuckled, the bear faunus almost looked disappointed. He quietly whispered to himself, "I worked on that one too," before taking a step back, and out of the conversation.
Amid then took command and pointed back to the landscape, "A common tactic back on the battlefield was to flank the Deathstalker and take it from behind. I can cut off the legs and leave it immobile."
"How do you plan on getting around the Deathstalker and Beowulfs?" Carbine questioned with a calculated tone.
"The trees are large enough that I can climb them and avoid the pack, dropping down will be no problem. You four can go take them head on and distract them here."
"How do we make sure we can get them all here?" Ilios asked, Carbine and Amid exchanged glances before turning back to him. The way they kept an even stare at him did not fill him with confidence.
"Well," Carbine said, "we could use you as bait. I hear Beowulfs like a bit of crunch in their meals." Ilios' face paled at the thought, and the fact that Carbine's voice had remained completely neutral
"I bet they don't get insect faunus often," Amid added, again, even and neutral sounding.
"How about we don't have a plan that involves one of our comrades being used as bait and possibly eaten alive?" Akihiro offered, much to the joy of the other faunus, at least someone had some common sense.
"Have it your way," Carbine's immediate turn to the even more quiet Mono made Ilios question if he had been serious the whole time or if he had been joking. "You still have that can of pepper spray?"
Mono nodded back, pulling out the canister.
"How full is it?"
She replied with a shaky hand held horizontally.
"Hmm, only about half huh? It should be enough," he turned back to her, "I assume you have a pocket knife or some kind of blade?"
Another nod.
"Okay," he looked back to the group, "I got a plan."
Within minutes the group spread out, Amid to the near top of a tree, Carbine and Mono on the other side of a small mound, and Ilios and Akihiro-
"I thought the plan was not to use me as bait?" Ilios asked as he and Akihiro stood out in the center of a clearing.
"Well it's wrong on two fronts. One: you are not alone, I'm here as well; two: we are not being used a bait. We're the only ones with melee based weapons aside from Amid who is doing the surgical precision."
"Hmm, sure," Ilios' word didn't make him sound so sure, "I just hope they didn't make us do it because...you know."
His tone suggested he was pointing to something, when Akihiro looked he saw Ilios pointing to his carapace like splotches on his skin. His faunus trait.
"No," he sounded certain Akihiro did, "from what I can tell Carbine doesn't seem racist."
"He told me he was from Mantle."
"That doesn't mean he's racist, not all people from Mantle hate the faunus" he defended.
"I lived in Mantle for a while with my uhh...with a friend, they never rolled out the red carpet for me."
"I'm sure Carbine doesn't care," in the faint distance was a roar, with his enhanced hearing he could make out the barely audible sounds of snapping twigs. "If you want you can ask him when we're done here."
"I'll think about," Ilios replied, he pulled out his scimitar. His tongue began to click against the roof of his mouth, he could 'see' them coming closer.
Back behind the hill Carbine laid flat on his stomach, rifle at the ready, his spyglass up to one eye peering through the trees. "On my mark," he said to Mono, who held a can of mace in one hand and a small blade of a pocket knife in the other. The knife just touching the cylinder, resting at the reay. Through the tree line he saw movement, followed by the glint of red. In the night it was difficult to see the beasts, any mediocre soldier would have hesitated, but that was not what he was.
"Now!" He shouted and held his breath immediately afterwards.
Applying force onto the blade and acting likewise with Carbine, Mono held her breath as the blade pierced the metal body of the can and averted the cut away from the two of them to avoid any splash back. The high pressure ofthe volatile substance was potent in the air, the night air becoming discolored. Not wanting to waste time and gas Mono hooked her arm around the hill and lobbed the can over the heads of all four of them.
"Grenade on the way out!" Carbine shouted, an old habit that he didn't want to let go, useful it was too.
It landed in the bushes, the hissing and pushback of the leaves of where it landed. Akihiro and Ilios could both smell it from where they were, which was several meters at the present time. A potent smell, the sound, an old tactic Carbine had learned was that a constant sound was always more curious to human minds.
And irresistible for animals. Grimm included.
The shaking and thunder sounds of the leaves and grimm came rumbling in, however when they came within contact the near toxic gas sprayed them. The burning sensation throwing them into a fit or pure rage and hostility. But one of confusion, untamed, uncoordinated. The remaining wolves of the pack came out sporadically, uneven, as individuals rather than a pack. Calling them like fish in a barrel would have given too much credit to the fish.
They were more like stray ants versus a boot.
Carbine took aim at the back four, the first was pawing at its face, from the glow in its eyes he could see the faint glint of the spray on its muzzle, the burning sensation probably felt awful.
*Crack*
The first slumped, a larger whole now in its eye socket. He looked over to the second one, reflexively and-
*Crack*
The second one fell, the lower jaw missing. The third-
*Crack* *Crack*
The first shot missed because the target moved, it landed in the shoulder, the next shot pierced its neck. Then the fourth which was making its way to Akihiro-
*Crack* *Crack* *Crack*
There was no need to fire off three times, but he did so anyways, each shot landing in the chest. Looking back through his scope he could see Akihiro give a salute back to him. Scanning the area again he counted three more, Ilios had already dispatched on himself. Strange he remembered counting more than that when they were approaching. It surely wouldn't have-
The rush of air and the sound of gunfire filled his ears, without thinking he rolled away from where the rush of wind came from. When he got a look he saw the last Beowulf had gotten around the group, it had flanked them. Mono however had pumped two shots into its back but appeared to be fine. It stared at Carbine for a short while before growling, quickly he found a separate trigger before it-
*bzzz*
What Carbine saw utterly confused him. On the ground was the Beowulf, right behind was Mono, but in her hand was a gadget which sparked electricity from a club.
"Did you just use a taser on a grimm?" He asked, mildly confused but impressed at the ingenuity.
In response Mono shrugged, silent as ever, and pulled out her pistol and aimed towards it head. Several shots, some of which seemed excessive, were fired . The recoil of the body and the lurching of its head clear as day, even in the night.
Back in the clearing there were only three of the wolves left, the metaphorical light at the end of the tunnel. They just need to hurry. Taking two wolves on by himself Akihiro blocked he swipe of one by parrying with his metal cross. Sparks rising as the sharp claws ricocheted off of it. Having to duck under the second swing which came from the one on the opposite side of him, how rude these grimm were. From his lower position he swung around in a full circle keeping one hand on his weapon, letting it swipe at their feet. The legs are weak for a Beowulf so they fell to the ground, at least briefly. Aiming at the ground he smashed the dirt, creating a small crater capable of sending the two bodies of the grimm into the air. With one downward swing he slammed the body of one Beowulf into the ground, like a spike on a railroad, with all his might. Then quickly with the other he swung around his whole body and batted away the other, launching it into a tree that he was Amid was not atop of. The way its body tried to wrap around, to accommodate to the unyielding bark.
When the wolf began to dissipate, Akihiro finally took a breath of relief, sort of ignoring the fact that there was still Ilios with his quarry to worry about. But when he heard the yelp of the final Beowulf and saw it fall to the ground he assumed Ilios got it covered.
"Alright," Ilios said removing his blade and resting it on his shoulder, "now all that's left is the-" He flinched, his eye winced and he made for the floor while yelling, "Get down!"
"What do you mea-" Akihiro didn't get to finish as the flying hunk of bark from a tree came racing towards the two. With little time the faunus raised his cross and the log didn't so much as bounce as it ran over the broadside. He managed to apply enough force so that it didn't squish him but man did it put a strain on his wrists.
When he got back up, the Deathstalker was now thirty feet from him, easily a tail's lunge away or a few steps followed by an agonizing crush. Seeing one so up close was new for him, the detail in the markings, the gouges from previous attempts to kill it, it told a story that would never be known. He pulled up his cross and Ilios got beside him, a smidgen of dirt still on him.
"You ready?" The bear asked the insect.
"These things were a nightmare to kill in Vacuo," Ilio responded, "are we really sure this girl can do what she says she can do?"
From above, in one of the trees, something dropped into the bushes, it was hard to see in the darkness, he hoped it was Amid who didn't just keel over and died on the spot. Man that would have sucked. From overhead, but behind him, came four distincts cracks, the sparks as bullets flew off the helmet of the Deathstalker.
"I thought you said that Carbine kid was a good shot?!" Ilios yelled before getting out of the way of a swipe from the claws.
"If he shoots the eyes we'll risk it going berserk again and then who knows what will happen, we need to keep it in place as much as possible."
Akihiro ducked out of a swipe and noticed the luminous yellow glow of the tail was moving, scanning. In an instance it came down trying to take down both at once. Ilios almost got hit, but he narrowly got out of the way, he could still feel the rush of wind on his chitinous plating. Slamming his cross down so it stuck inside the dirt, Akihiro held both his hands out in an odd position and acted like he was going to toss out a rope. When he threw his left hand out though a rope of pure energy, the bright color of white. The rope wrapped itself around the stinger tail and he held it down with his massive strength. He started walking back, the Deathstalker screeching in response.
"Akihiro!" Hearing his name called out, Akihiro turned to the side to see one of the pincers rocketing towards him, it was too close to avoid and he would first have to release the rope.
Bracing with a winced eye he turned his face away, "Now would be a good time Amid!"
In a flash, a single second that seemed faster than all others, nothing happened to Akihiro except feeling a slight tug of his Aura created tethers attached to the tail. A sudden rush of wind to his side as now Amid stood right next to him, she looked a little red in the face and her breathing was more labored. However the sound of the Deathstalker thumping to the ground the feeling of dirt exploding into the air caught the bear faunus completely by surprise. Amid sheathed her blade as the four legs of the Deathstalker on the left side of its body slid off the body. The corresponding claw also fell right off, the cut clean and precise. The body started to turn to smoldering ash soon after.
It was dead, the did it.
Ilios fell onto the floor and gave a massive sigh of relief, "Oh thank the gods!"
"We're still not done yet," Carbine's voice had to rip him back to reality, a sick, saddening, that included more walking.
"Okay," the insect faunus replied, "who wants to carry me?"
"I can tie you to a rope," Akihiro replied, having to stop Carbine from loading a bullet to shoot Ilios.
"Ha, you're funny," he didn't think the bear faunus had it in him, but when he felt the constriction he looked down, "guys?"
"Don't make me invoke Article 6," Carbine said beginning to walk.
"And what is Article 6?"
Carbine turned to the two faunus, "Akihiro, you can tell him."
With that he started walking, naturally the rest of them started moving too, Mono following the closest with Amid behind her.
Perhaps after an hour of walking they reached a stone temple, it may have been there before the war, it was ornate and between a massive chasm. Although the bridges connecting across the massive canyon was a little disheartening. From the back was this massive staircase, going all the way up to a plateau from the looks of it. They were tired, even Carbine's breathing was labored. In the center of the temple they saw him, the man who blew up the mountain side, the maniac of a servant.
Finley.
"Welcome young ones, allow me to be the first to congratulate you," he announced, the echoing and booming voice bouncing off the walls.
A small part of Carbine wanted to shoot him here and now, going back to Mantle didn't sound so bad at the current time. "Why are we here?" He asked through gritted teeth.
"Since you made it here I suppose you deserve an explanation," the response made Carbine tighten his grip on his rifle. "As you know, now that the War is over we have lost many settlements and some of our kingdom's greatest warriors have now retired. Or in his majesty's case has gone missing. As a result there is a hole in our defenses, one that will be exploited by our one true enemy."
"The grimm," Akihiro responded.
"Very astute young lad," Finley commended, "Yes, now that we have ceased fighting each other we must now fight together against the threat of the grimm. They are still a force to be reckoned with. Which is why his majesty has created the Huntsmen academies.
"I'm sorry," Ilios responded, "the what?"
"Normal armies can take out grimm, yes, but right now our armies are recovering and we can't ask all the kingdoms to band together because some people won't be able to get past old war wounds."
"And you think we will?" Amid said with a certain bitterness.
"I hope, as does his majesty, we sent out letters to young soldiers who we thought might be able to put aside their kingdom allegiances," he looked at Carbine and Amid, "or past prejudices. Our hope is that we can create an elite force unbeholden to the politics of the kingdoms to fight for the people of Remnant, no matter who or what they are. Be they from Mantle or Vale, be them human or faunus. The duty of these huntsmen and huntresses is for the betterment of Remnant as a whole. Since you have made it to the beacon, you five have been accepted into Beacon Academy. A group of soldiers will escort you to the academy grounds."
"You sure that's a good idea?" Carbine said, "some of them might have a problem with some of us." He wasn't inherently talking about the two faunus, his gaze also shifted to Amid.
"These men have been picked out by his majesty himself, and they have worked alongside me for nearly two years as they have worked in the construction of Beacon Academy. You can trust me when I say that no harm will come to any of you. Besides, you can all hold your own in a fight."
Grumbling from Carbine, but it was Akihiro who jumped, "Stop being a sour puss Carbine, let's just imagine everything doesn't want to kill us for a short while."
"Fine," he said after grumbling.
The five passed Finley, towards the many stairs that would lead to the soldiers to take them to their new home. He noticed the stare from the swordswoman from Mistral, there was deep hatred in her eyes. Perhaps the king didn't account for anything. He heard footsteps and turned to see a group of three. A female faunus with horns, a man who he couldn't tell what he was because of a cone hat and destitute cloak. However the third was being carried on the man's back, a human with honey colored hair.
"I guess it still counts."
"*Ahem* Welcome, and may I be the first to congratulate you!"
His voice was going to be so sore tomorrow.
-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-
No real note here on the end. Bye
Credits
Jermiah Carbine- chronoman
Oro- chronoman
Akihiro Cedar- Avis B
Amid Valroya- DeathTheManiac
Mono Chrome- ObieSenpai
Lynae Kyanos- Fool Arcana Kaiju
Ilios Sand- ObligatoryCoolName