Reading Team PHNK
An: Sorry 'bout the long wait guys. I've been pulling long hours at work and just got over a bad case of writer's block. Not sure how well this chapter will stack up, but hopefully it's passable.
To sondow23 and reviewer Mike: the clips Dragon showed the group are scenes from stories I intend to write. Their inclusion was spur of the moment on my part, and yes, one scene is from a future chapter of RWBY JNPR & HAIL, sondow.
A thanks to Spirit for his help on certain scenes in this chapter. Thank you friend, and I hope this chapter isn't a total disappointment.
Chapter 1-Blue Trailer
"Blue Trailer," Dragon read. "These first four chapters are what I guess you could call 'hype chapters.' They exist to increase the interest of the story," he explained to the group, getting 'Ah's of understanding.
A seventeen year old boy stood on a hill, looking at the sea below it. The boy had jet black hair, with sea green eyes and slightly tan skin. He was wearing a blue jacket, an orange shirt with faded words on it, a bronze watch, and sword on his back.
His name was Percy Jackson. And currently, he was watching for any dust ships or criminal jets.
The group was a bit shocked when Percy's description was read, but they were even more shocked when the TV flickered to life and showed them a picture of the Percy the book just described!
"What the hell?!" Yang shouted.
"Oh! I forgot to mention the TV has been modified to show the scenes of the book playing out," Dragon said.
"Awesome!" Naruto shouted. "I was afraid that this would have been boring just reading this book!"
"I know right?!" Nora agreed, making Naruto smile her way. He liked her already. Not only was her hair Orange (the best freaking color there was!), but she seemed to be on the same wavelength he was!
For this same reason, Gaara and Ren sighed in exasperation.
"Yo Wise Girl, do you see them yet?" Percy asked, using his scroll to call her.
"Yeah, I see them Seaweed Brain." Annabeth replied in the scroll. "50 miles ahead of you is a boat full of dust cargo. Three White Fang Bullheads are coming towards it, but you won't get there in time to stop them from landing. You'll need to fight them on the boat."
"Those are some…odd nicknames," Katniss mumbled.
Percy looked at her and shrugged. "Yeah, but they fit," he said.
"Why's that?" Hermione asked.
Annabeth and Percy looked to each other, not knowing what to say when Dragon spoke up. "It will explain it a bit at the end of the chapter," he said, getting Annabeth's and Percy's attention.
"Sorry you two, but it will come out." They scowled at that, but Dragon went to address the others. "And you six," he continued, getting the ninjas', wizard/witches', and tributes' attention, "just so you know, if not enough information is given at the end of the next three chapters, which concern one of you for each, I'm going to explain a small part of your stories, just enough to help teams RWBY and JNPR know just who y'all are and why you're important, so be prepared."
Katniss glared at Dragon, as did Harry and Hermione, but Naruto and Gaara just shrugged. Peeta was a little apprehensive, but otherwise stayed silent.
Percy groaned. "I was hoping you wouldn't say that." With that, he hung up the scroll and sighed. "Well, at least I won't get bored." With that, he jump off the cliff and dive into the water.
For most people, they can't breathe underwater, but Percy could breathe as easy as a fish in the sea. That was a part of his semblance.
The teams from Remnant were amazed at that. "That's a rather unique and useful semblance to have!" Weiss said.
"I know!" Ruby agreed. "Man, I wish I could breathe underwater! That would be so cool!"
"'Semblance?'" Harry asked. "What's that?"
Ren took it upon himself to explain. "It's the manifestation of one's innate and personal ability that's unique to each individual. It's commonly referred to as a more tangible representation of Aura, which is a manifestation of our souls."
"You guys fight with your souls?" Peeta asked, intrigued.
"In a simplified way, yes," Ren affirmed. "It's our sword and our shield. It aids us in combat and protects us from harm."
"Impressive," Gaara said in his toneless voice.
"Brilliant really!" Hermione said, excited to learn more about something. "What are the capabilities of Aura?! How does-"
"But why would I have Aura?" Percy asked.
"I'll explain after the fourth chapter," Dragon said. "Suffice to say, the lot of you might not like it, but such is the way of the world."
"Figures," Harry mumbled.
He saw a great white a few meters near him and wave at it.
The shark came towards Percy, but instead of eating him, he let the boy take a hold of his fin and started swimming towards the boat. As they got closer, Percy can see from underwater that the White Fang already made it to the boat. It took a couple of minutes, but Percy manage to get under the boat.
"Thanks." Percy told the creature, being able to talk underwater. The shark bow to him (Or what seems like a bow) before swimming away. The teen swim up to the service, making sure he's near the boat so the enemy won't see him.
"What the hell-?!" Jaune exclaimed, stating what everyone was thinking. "Why did it do that?!" he asked of Percy, who just smirked.
"I'm the King of the Ocean," Percy said. Annabeth groaned in mock irritation.
"Seaweed Brain," she bemoaned.
"Sir, what do you want us to do with the crew members?" He heard one of the White Fang grunts asked.
What the leader said made his blood boil. "Throw the Faunus into the ocean. The humans, however, we'll kill on the boat."
Blake stiffened. She knew that voice. Surely it couldn't be…
"That bastard!" Yang shouted, standing abruptly with red eyes flaring. "Where does he get off deciding who lives and dies?!"
"Um…" Naruto called out uncertainly, getting everyone's attention. "What are Faunus? And this 'White Fang?'"
The two teams were shocked again, before realizing why they didn't know. Blake began explaining. "Faunus are humans with animal characteristics," she explained. "That's the simplest way to say it. The White Fang is an organization of Faunus that were once a peaceful organization before a new leader turned them into a terrorist group."
Hermione scrunched up her nose. "Sounds like back home with the-"
"Sorry, Hermione, I'm going to have to stop you right there for the time being," Dragon said, getting a glare from the girl. "Spoilers and whatnot. What you were about to say ties into your identities." She scowled at him but otherwise stayed silent.
"What was she about to say?" Ruby asked, daring to speak up.
"Just about a terrorist group she and Harry had to fight. I'll explain a bit in a moment," Dragon told her.
"Oh." Ruby said, satisfied for the moment.
'Not if I've got anything to say about it.' Percy thought in his head. Before any of the grunts could follow the order, Percy jumped out of the water with two giants ropes of water following. When he got high enough for everyone to see him, he used the water ropes to grab two of the White Fang grunts near the hostages and threw them into the water. He landed on the boat as the two screaming grunts landed in the water.
"Whoa," Jaune mumbled.
When he got on the boat, many of the grunts pull their weapons out. He look around until he spotted the leader, a redheaded Faunus with white mask and a black suit on him. His hand is on the hilt of his sword, ready to be pulled out.
"Who are you?" The leader demanded, looking ready to fight.
Blake's breath caught. It was him! Her team looked at her in concern, but Blake was too preoccupied with the visage of her old mentor and friend on the screen.
"Blake," Weiss asked slowly, "are you ok?" The black themed girl didn't answer, making Weiss a bit more concerned.
"Oh. No one special." Percy answered. "Just…." He raise his arms up and the ocean around them exploded upward, blocking all exits. The White Fang look around in shock while their leader gritted his teeth. "King of the ocean." Percy finished, giving them a smirk and his deluxe 'I'm gonna kill you' glare.
"Seaweed brain," Annabeth mock groaned while Percy nodded sagely at his other agreeing with him. The others were fascinated by his control of water.
"That's a rather powerful semblance!" Pyrrha commented. Nora grinned in excitement.
"I wanna fight him!" she cheered, lightning dancing off her arms.
Katniss and Peeta looked shocked at the sight, but Percy just laughed joyfully. "Maybe later, Nora, was it?" he asked sheepishly. She nodded happily. Ren sighed. Typical Nora.
"It might just be me, Gaara, but that Percy guy's glare on par with yours?" Naruto whispered to Gaara. The Kazekage hummed in thought.
"…I must say it might not be just you," he mumbled to his first and best friend.
"Kill him." The White Fang leader ordered, causing the White Fang members to charge at him. Percy quickly pull out his sword before blocking a sword strike from one of the White Fang before flipping him over his body. He block another strike and move both swords downward before jumping on the grunt, putting a foot on the man's chest to jump up.
As he jumped over a group of Faunus, his watch turned into a mini shotgun strapped onto his arm. He aimed at the group under him before unleashing a shot from his gun, causing several of them to scatter and fall down, unconscious.
Ruby squealed in sheer delight when she saw Percy's watch transform into a shotgun, making the non-Remnant teens jump and look at her in shock. Yang saw this and chuckled.
"Don't worry," she said, putting her sister into a headlock. "Ruby's just a dork when it comes to weapons."
"YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYaaaaaaaaaannnnnnnngggggggggggggg," she grumbled, her voice muffled by her sister's shirt.
"But still, a transforming weapon is amazing!" Hermione exclaimed, eyes shining. "That's years ahead of what our home has ever produced!"
"Really?" Weiss asked. "You don't have mecha-shift weapons?"
"No, unfortunately," Dragon slumped. "As much I'd like it to be. That reminds me, Ruby how much would it cost me for you to make me a replica of your Crescent Rose?"
"WHY WOULD YOU WANT MY BABY?!" she whined, braking away from Yang and trying to hug her precious scythe to her person, only to remember it was in her locker back at Beacon.
"Because your scythe is AWESOME!" Dragon answered, like it was obvious. "Who DOESN'T want a massive sniper-scythe?!" Ruby looked at the cloaked man in awe, but before she could go off on a massive weapon spiel, Yang grabbed her sister and gave her a noogie.
"Read," she growled at him, her eyes blazing red. Dragon chuckled and nodded.
He blocked another strike and aim beside the grunt, taking out two of them that were going to attack. He duck from a swing from the grunt he blocked before grabbing his arm and throwing into another group. He let out three more shotgun blast at incoming White Fang grunts before back flipping from a stab from a female grunt. When he got back on the floor, he slice at her and knock her down. He look around, seeing that all of them are unconscious except for the leader.
Said leader, growled in frustration and face palmed. "I need to make a new training regime." He muttered before taking out his sword. "I admit, you're skills are impressive for a human. Your name?"
Percy smirked, turning his gauntlet into a shield. "Percy Jackson. Yours?"
"Adam Taurus." The leader, now known as Adam, introduce himself. "Now die." Adam charged at Percy and the boy quickly used his shield to block the attack. Percy's battle instincts kicked in, and he used his sword to kick the sheath away from him, which was a rifle. That was proven when a shot was from right as he pushed it away from him.
The recoil caused Adam to step back, giving Percy an opening. He started sending out several slashes and stabs, while the bull Faunus blocked each attack. Percy quickly stepped back as Adam started shooting at him, and Percy blocked each attack. As soon as Adam stopped shooting at him, Percy charge at him once again, the two of them clashing sword. Once Percy did that, he did twisted the sword and throw out of Adam's hand.
Adam was about to use his gun, but Percy quickly bashed his head with his shield, subduing him. He turned his shield back into a shotgun, before aiming and blasting Adam onto the floor.
"Whoa!" Blake was in shock at Percy's skills. He was keeping up with Adam! The bull Faunus was one of the most skilled fighters Blake had ever known! And this guy was giving him a hard time!
"He's doing pretty well," Yang commented, not seeing her partner's shock.
Pyrrha nodded. "He seems rather powerful," she agreed.
"Meh," Naruto grunted. "3 out of 10."
Weiss looked at him like he was crazy. "What's that supposed to mean?!" she hissed at him. "Jackson's doing well against that rapscallion!"
"I've been fighting almost all my life," Naruto said dully. "This fight hardly counts amongst the top 10 fights I've seen or been in." Gaara nodded in agreement.
"Jackson is rather skilled, but compared to us, who were trained to fight at a young age, it's…lackluster," the redhead said.
Percy looked offended, but otherwise didn't say anything, hoping whatever they said would be explained later. However, Annabeth and Hermione had a lot to say.
"YOU TWO ARE CHILD SOLDIERS?!" they screeched. The two looked at them curiously.
"Better than what we've had to go through," Katniss mumbled, thinking of the Hunger Games.
Hermione, however, heard her. "What?!"
"Spoilers," Dragon told them and quickly went back to reading.
Adam slowly brought his head up with a groan, but stopped when Percy aimed his sword at him. "I win." Percy said, giving him a smirk. Before Adam could say anything, the two heard another splash and the two turned around to see what was it. Their eyes' widened when they saw what it was.
It was a giant Grimm, shaped like a giant octopus. It got bones all over its tentacles and its head, and two red glowing eyes are the bottom of its body. Right now, his tentacles are aiming to kill the screaming hostages.
The teens not from Remnant paled at the size and visage while the teens from that world barely batted an eyelash.
"Pretty big squid," Yang said conversationally, as if she was discussing the weather.
"Octopus, Yang," Blake corrected. "Squids have conical heads. This one has a rounded head.
"Oh. So it's an-"
"You finish that sentence, I'll punch you in the mouth, Yang," Weiss growled.
"Spoilsport!"
"What the hell is that thing?!" Katniss screeched, startling everyone.
"A Grimm," Ruby said, after shaking Katniss's demand off. "They're monsters we learn to fight."
"Great. More things that want to kill me," Percy grumbled.
"My thoughts exactly," Harry grumbled as well. Percy looked at him in shock for a moment, before smirking at him, a sense of comradery flowing between them as Harry smirked back.
Peeta looked just as disturbed as Katniss. "I don't know what's worse," he mumbled. "This…or the mutts back home."
Katniss heard him and honestly couldn't answer that either. She just shrugged helplessly.
"Shit!" Percy cursed, running to the Grimm with sword drawn and shotgun out. He saw one tentacles lifting up to smash the hostages, but Percy aimed his shotgun and blasted the tentacles. It recoiled and screeched in pain, giving Percy enough time to get over and save the group.
He jumped on one of the tentacles on the boat and use it to spring forward to the tentacle he shot. When he got to the tip of it, he ran to the Grimm, using the momentum to make himself faster and prepare his sword to stab it in the eyes. But the Grimm didn't gain its bone armor for nothing, and flicked Percy off its tentacles.
"So it's a rather old Grimm," Ren said grimly. Hermione looked at him curiously.
"Pardon?" she asked.
"Young Grimm are typically violent and mindless. They also have little to no bone armor," Ren explained. "However, as time progresses, they grow more armor and begin to learn."
"So the older they are, the smarter they are?" Annabeth asked, intrigued.
Weiss nodded. "While we don't know much about the Grimm, mainly because after they die they disintegrate, but we do know that much about them," she commented.
"How do you not know much about them?" Katniss asked with a sharp tone. "If they're as much of a threat as you say, why aren't you all doing anything about it?"
Her cynical condescension gained her many glares in response, mainly from the huntsmen and huntresses. "We do our best," Blake told her tightly. "But like Weiss said, they disintegrate immediately after death and all other attempts to study them in captivity have failed because they either break out or die before we can gain any amount of good information."
Katniss was about to say something else, but Peeta grabbed her arm and shook his head, telling her not to. She gritted her teeth, but complied nonetheless.
Percy wasn't deterred and summoned the water for him to land, using it to surf to the Grimm. The giant octopus-like Grimm swung down one of its tentacles at him, but Percy slid flip and made another wave for him to land on, continuing his course. He prepared his shotgun, increasing its power to perform more damage on the thing, and quickly made another shotgun blast, aiming for the bottom of the tentacles. That shot caused one of the tentacles to be cut off, and caused the Grimm to screech in pain and anger.
It swung his tentacles vertically to get rid of the wave, but Percy was prepared and dropped the wave just as the tentacle got close, causing him to fall right on the tentacle. Before it could do anything, Percy use the water to trap the Grimm octopus, making ropes of water around the thing.
The thing screeched as it tried to get out of the net of water, but it wouldn't budge. Percy aimed his shotgun downward and used the recoil of the blast to fly up above the octopus. He turned his shotgun back into a watch and held his sword with both hands before charging right at the thing with a yell.
The thing screech Percy made a giant cut on it before slowly evaporating into nothing from the attack. Percy quickly form another wave above him, landing on it with one knee to see the thing evaporate. Percy sighed in relief before jumping up on the boat.
"That was AWESOME!" Ruby squealed loudly. "He beat that thing without any trouble at all!"
"He's a rather skilled Huntsman," Ren commented, and Pyrrha nodded in agreement.
Percy just shrugged and smirked. That was nothing. He had fought bigger and badder before.
Katniss, Peeta, and Hermione were in shock though. "H-He doesn't seemed tired at all!" Hermione muttered.
"How'd he beat that beast?!" Katniss mumbled.
"He's good," Harry said. While it wasn't as big as the Basilisk he killed or the dragon he fought, that beast was still pretty powerful it looked like.
"Good job, Water boy," Naruto teased Percy, who scowled at him. Gaara just nodded to him.
"Your other did well, Seaweed brain," Annabeth said with a smile, making him smile as well.
He saw that the crew members were still tied up, and most of the White Fang were still unconscious, but he noticed that there were some missing. One of them being Adam Taurus. "Shit." Percy cursed before looking up to see one of the bullheads flying away. The last thing he saw on there was the bull Faunus looking down at him before going back into the bullhead.
Blake stiffened up at the fact Adam got away, but the others didn't notice.
Percy sighed in annoyance, but look around. At least most of the Dust was still there, most of the White Fang members still unconscious, and all the crew members were still alive.
"Dust?" Annabeth asked. "What's that?"
"Energy propellant," Weiss explained, slipping into her 'heiress' mode. "It's our energy source and reacts to our Aura."
Both Annabeth and Hermione looked excited to learn something new, but both Percy and Harry quickly slapped their hands across the girls' mouths.
"Read!" they said in unison, getting raised eyebrows at each other before they smirked at each other in sympathy.
In less than half an hour, Percy managed to untie all the crew and tie up the White Fang members. "Thank you young man." The captain told him gratefully. "If you haven't come when you did, we would've all been dead."
"I'm just glad I got here in time." Percy told him, looking at the White Fang members with a small scowl. "I'm disgusted with those that are willing to kill innocents, especially their own kind, to get what they want." He saw a few of them wince at the last part, but the rest didn't show any kind of guilt.
"Sir, we're close to the dock." A female crew member announced. The two looked to see that they were indeed close to the dock.
Percy gave the man one more smile before walking over to the deck. "I gotta go now. Don't worry about the criminals. They won't be getting out of those knots any time soon." Percy formed water around each rope and formed thick ice from an ice crystal Dust.
"Wait-" The man started to say, but Percy already back flipped off the ship and dive into the water. Percy willed the water around himself to make him swim in the ocean like a torpedo.
This has been his life ever since he came to Remnant. Fighting bad guys, spending time with his girlfriend, and swimming in the sea, occasionally fighting the sea based Grimm. His name is Percy Jackson, the son of Poseidon, and formerly the Hero of Olympus.
"He's a demigod?! You're a demigod?!" Hermione asked incredulously. Percy and Annabeth winced.
"Y-Yeah," Percy said.
"Demigod?" Naruto asked. "What's that?"
"Someone who's half human and half god," Harry told the blonde shinobi, in shock himself. Naruto and Gaara shared dubious looks at that, unbelieving of that bit of information, and they were not the only ones.
"Half god? Seriously?" Katniss scoffed. "You expect us to believe that?"
"Yes," Dragon told her. "He truly is the halfblood son of Poseidon, Greek god of the seas and storms."
"Well, I don't believe it," Yang said, crossing her arms. Weiss, Blake, and surprisingly Jaune shared her skepticism.
"Then explain to me how he was able to communicate with the shark and it actually bow to him?" Dragon asked. "Even as far as Semblances go, that's a bit much even by Remnant's standards?"
Weiss and Blake tried to find a counter for it, but couldn't think of one. Dragon sighed.
"Alright then, how 'bout a bet, then?" he asked, gaining the huntresses' attentions. "I bet that in one chapter of this story, Percy proves once and for all he is who he says he is, and if I'm wrong, I'll submit to whatever punishment you girls see fit." This gained their attentions.
"And if we lose?" Weiss asked.
"You submit to a punishment Percy sees fit, as it's him and his dad you're insulting," Dragon said. He looked at the girls and Percy. "So? We have a deal?"
"Deal!" Yang shouted with a grin. Dragon grinned back and held out his hand. Yang shook it vigorously. "Get ready to lose!"
"You too, Yang!" Dragon said back.
"Hey! Don't I get a say in this?!" Percy asked.
"Guess not," Dragon told him. "But hey, at least you get to pick the punishment right?" Percy thought about that and nodded, hesitantly. Dragon laughed.
"So, does anybody want to read next?" he asked the group.