Reading Team PHNK
AN: Slumps…are the worst. But hopefully now that I'm back up, I can stay writing. Hopefully you all enjoy this chapter.
Reading Grey Trailer
"Oh, oh! I'll read next!" Ruby said, waving her hand around. Annabeth nodded and handed her the book, which Ruby grabbed excitedly. She flipped to the point where they had stopped.
"After this chapter," Dragon said, "I'll explain the reason y'all have Aura and any other questions y'all may have." Everyone nodded as Ruby found her place.
"Chapter 0: Grey Trailer," she read.
A young woman was looking over a destroyed landscape, full of skeletons and old houses. The girl was wearing a gray cloak, and under it, was a hunting jacket, a black shirt, and grey pants. On her back is a bow, along with a quiver of arrows, with three slots on the outside of the quiver.
Her name is Katniss Everdeen. Currently, a mercenary for Vale.
Peeta swallowed in trepidation at the sight of the ruined little village. It looked ominously similar to District 12. He saw Katniss was in a similar situation. But at the sight of that world's Katniss, he smiled. He looked to his Katniss and said, "Told you." Katniss glared at him.
"Shut up, Peeta," she mumbled, silently thanking him for easing the tension slightly.
"So she's a mercenary in this world?" Harry asked.
"Most likely," Pyrrha answered. "It's not shocking, really. Mercenaries are a common sight on Remnant. Baring Huntsmen and Huntresses, mercenaries form a good chunk of the Kingdom's defenses against Grimm. Not to mention, they are more than willing to go into Grimm infested territory…for a price, that is."
"So shinobi would fit right at home on Remnant then, eh?" Naruto grinned. "Cool!"
"Hello Haymitch, Gale, Prim." The girl whispered softly, her tone showing sadness. "It's been years since I saw any of you. I wish you guys were alive, to see this world, but Snow had to take all of you away from me."
A sharp intake of breath resonated from Katniss and a curse from Peeta. This caused everyone to turn to them. "Is everything ok?" Annabeth asked in concern.
"I was hoping I was wrong…" Peeta mumbled, but everyone heard.
"What's up?" Nora asked. Peeta shook his head.
"That…place…" he began. "It's…"
"District 12," Katniss said, her tone icy. "Our home."
"Wait! You mean that village is your home town?!" Yang asked, shocked and horrified at the damage shown.
Katniss shook her head. "And Haymitch, Gale, and Prim…Haymitch was our mentor, of sorts; Gale was a good friend of mine; and…Prim…Prim's my little sister."
Yang, Ruby, and Weiss gasped at that, knowing that information must have been killing her. The others flinched away, looking away sympathetically.
Harry decided to try and get on another topic. "Who is this Snow guy? You mentioned him before," he commented.
All of Katniss's melancholy dried up and was replaced with fury. "The sorry bastard that's responsible for all my pain!" she growled. The venom in her voice made the others frown.
"Sounds like some asshole I'd want to beat the crap out of," Naruto mumbled.
She gripped her fist tightly, trying not to cry. After all these years, she hated looking weak, even if she needed to let her emotions out. "I've been working as a mercenary for Vale, hunting down Grimm and making sure no one else loses their family." She said to herself. "It's better than moping around all year."
"Well, that's something good, at least," Peeta told Katniss teasingly. She blushed and hit his shoulder. However, she once more silently thanked him for trying to ease the tension she felt.
"In a few months, I'll be going to Beacon. To become a huntress, in their definition." She said, adding the last part. "I want to see more of the world, to fight the things that took you guys away from me, and stop everyone else from losing their family."
One slight tear escaped her eyelids. "I miss you. All of you. I'm sorry that I wasn't able to save any of you." She whispered, her voice cracking slightly. "But I'm not gonna let your sacrifice go to waste Haymitch. I won't let Snow win, especially since he's dead." With that, Katniss walked away from the destroyed landscape.
Katniss gritted her teeth at that information, while Peeta frowned and turned away from the screen. The others just stayed silent, out of respect for the ones who had died in that place.
As she walked through the forest, she picked up footsteps and growling. She tensed, ready for fight, when several Beowolves appear around her, all of them growling at her.
When all of them charged at her, she jumped up and dodged all of them, looking down at them from her position in the hair. The jumped took off her head, revealing her brown braided hair, olive skin, and gray eyes. And right now, she was glaring directly down at all the Grimm.
Ruby blinked. "Am I being copied now? I remember doing that when I fighting Beowolves."
"Enough with the copying crap, please," Katniss groaned.
She pulled her bow in mid-air before stringing an arrow and taking out one of them. When she landed, she spun around, and took out another Grimm with her arrow. Then she jumped to slide when one tried to bite her head off before shooting at it.
By now, several of the Grimm were charging at her, with Katniss shooting them one by one. When she saw there was more of them than she could take out, she put one of the arrows in one of the slots before stringing it and launching it at them. When it hit, flames erupted around the group, causing them to howl in pain before evaporating.
"Oooooh! Dust arrows!" Ruby squealed.
"Impressive," Blake admitted. "In a day an age where firearms have taken more precedence, a bow is a rare commodity."
"Her aim is impeccable," Weiss agreed with a nod.
Peeta scoffed. "This is nothing. Back home, she would hunt all the time and would constantly aim for the eyes, as not to mess up the hides of her catches," Peeta explained.
Annabeth was impressed. "Interesting. The only ones I've seen do that are the Hunters of Artemis," she said. "Artemis is the goddess of the hunt, and invites young maidens to join her on the Hunt, and have the best aim of any archers I've ever met."
Katniss did seem pleased with her archery skills being on par with huntresses trained by a hunter goddess. But still, she wasn't all that used to being praised, so she let out a hesitant, "Thanks."
She heard ruffles of leaves from behind her before rolling forward to dodge an attack from the Grimm. She spin around and use her bow to hit the wolf, slitting the monster's throat. Her bow was also a blade.
"Obviously," Nora snorted and crossed her arms.
"What self-respecting weapon wouldn't also be a blade?" Ruby snorted as well. Nora appeared next to Ruby and held her hand low to the ground, allowing the red cloaked girl to reach out and low five her.
She looked to see their still a group of them left so she ran at them, stringing an elemental arrow before firing. That arrow caused one of the Beowolves to be trapped in a giant blob of ice. Katniss jumped on the ice, evading the swipes and bites of the other Grimm before jumping up in the air. She strung up three explosives before firing at them, causing the group to be engulfed in an explosion.
"Whoa," Jaune commented in awe. "She's really killing it there."
"You could say those Beowolves are in a Grimm situation, eh? Eh?!" Yang jested with a smile, making the Remnant hunters, Annabeth, Katniss, Gaara, and Hermione groan at the lame pun.
Percy, Naruto, Harry, and Peeta however chuckled. "That was pretty good!" Naruto praised, shocking Yang and horrifying the hunters while the others nodded.
Yang's face quickly morphed into a pleased grin as she cheered. "Whoohoo! Finally! Someone thinks my puns are funny!"
"NNOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" RWB screamed. "RUBY! READ! QUICKLY!" Weiss shouted urgently, while JNPR and Blake tackled Yang, preventing her from saying anything more. Ruby nodded quickly.
The others sweat dropped.
She landed on one knee, looking around before seeing one more group of wolves. 'Give me a break.' Katniss couldn't help but think in her head. She reach to pull out another arrow, only to see that she doesn't have any more arrows. 'Damn it.'
"Biggest downside to bows, sadly," Ruby commented with a shrug. "Of course, arrow manufacturing is far cheaper and more cost effective compared to Dust ammunition, and arrows can be made anywhere and at a much faster rate."
"True," Ren said with a nod. "Casting the casing for bullets is a time consuming process. Not to mention it's more volatile when you start adding Dust."
"You make your own bullets?" Annabeth asked.
"Some Huntsmen do," Pyrrha explained. "It's a relative skill most dabble in incase they happen to be away from a village or supplier. While it's cheaper to buy the ammunition already made, some people are…picky with the ammo they shoot."
"It's not being picky! It's ensuring proper weapon maintenance and care!" Ruby shouted at the redheaded huntress, pointing at her indignantly.
"Custom bullets can be modified to reduce Dust from fowling the barrel when fired," Ren commented to Annabeth, rebuffing Pyrrha's statement.
"Ignore them," Blake groaned.
When she saw the wolves charged at her, she knew that she couldn't kill them all with just her bow. So she decided to use her semblance. She took a deep breath before letting out a cry. But that cry caused a small sonic boom, causing the Beowolves to fly away and crash into the ground or trees. The impact killed them all.
"Canary Cry!" Hermione shouted.
"What now?" Harry commented. Hermione blushed.
"That attack was similar to the superpower of Black Canary, an American superheroine," the bushy haired bookworm said.
"Oh yeah! I remember that cartoon!" Percy said. "Personally, I liked Aquaman better."
"You're only saying that because your powers are very similar," Annabeth commented with a smile.
"Still counts!"
Katniss breathed heavily, the fight tiring her a bit. She took off her quiver and pressed a button on the bottom of it, causing the arrows to come back inside it. A design she found on her quiver when she bought it.
"She spent a small fortune then," Ruby spoke again. Everyone turned to her and she flushed. "T-That particular model quiver is a newer invention. When arrows are added into it, it etches a small symbol on the shafts with Dust.
"Then with a combination of Lightning and Gravity Dust, the trigger on the bottom sends out a small pulse of energy that, once it hits those symbols, it latches onto the Dust in the engraving and pulls it back to its source."
"Wow," Annabeth and Hermione expressed in awe.
"That's awesome!" Naruto shouted with his arms up.
"You know a lot about weapons, Ruby?" Harry asked, making the girl chuckle shyly and blush brighter. Yang saw this and grinned.
"Y-Yeah, I-I'm kind of a dork when it comes to weapons," she mumbled.
"I don't think so," Harry disagreed, making Ruby blush harder and Yang grin wider.
"Agreed," Gaara commented. "Having an instinctual knowledge of weapons gives you an edge over your opponents. If you know of a flaw in their weapon, be it design, condition, or their hold, you can exploit that."
Ruby was doing her best to emulate her cloak. "T-Thanks!" she squeaked, not unlike a mouse.
When she heard footsteps from behind, she turned around and strung an arrow, ready to take out another Grimm. But instead of a Grimm, it was a young man. "Are you going to keep doing every time I approach you?" The man said in amusement. He had blonde hair, white skin, and light blue eyes. He was wearing a black coal trench coat, with a yellow long sleeve shirt under it and blue jeans. Under the coat was two long knives.
"Hey! Pete's joined Kat!" Nora shouted gleefully, pointing at the screen. Peeta chuckled at her enthusiasm while Katniss glared at her.
"His name is Peeta," she told the orange haired teen. "And mine's Katniss."
"That's what I said!" Nora said cheerfully, making Katniss glare harder at her.
Peeta just laughed and placed a hand on Katniss's shoulder. "It's ok, Katniss," he told her, ignoring how she tensed under his hand. "Just let her be." She stared at her friend for a long few minutes before sighing and nodding.
Katniss relax when saw the teen and put her bow and arrow back. "Sorry Peeta. I've just been fighting several Beowolves." She said told him. She walked up to him before giving him a hug. "How did you find me?"
"Saw some of those Beowolves running somewhere, sensing negative. Figure that if I follow them, I'll find you." Peeta joked, getting a scowl out of Katniss.
"Ha, ha." She said dryly, latching onto his arm. Despite the scowl she had moment ago, she snuggled into Peeta's side as they walked. Peeta Mellark was her boyfriend and partner, the only person to survive with her.
Katniss tensed at her other showing such affection for Peeta. Then the admission of their others were dating had the two teens blush brightly. While they weren't dating yet, the feelings did exist.
"Ooh, love in the air as a pair of love birds are Mellarking around!" Yang teased, making the two blush and all but Percy, Naruto, and Harry (who were chuckling again) groan.
"Grimm dammit Yang!" Weiss growled.
"Then what took so long?"
"A few of them spotted me." Peeta answered, rubbing the back of his neck with his free hand. "Had to fight that group before I could get to you, so I decreased the workload for you."
Katniss roll her eyes at that. "I doubt a group of Beowolves took you that long to catch up to me. Was there anything else?" When all she heard was silence, she looked up and gave him a firm stare. "Peeta?"
Peeta sighed, knowing that Katniss wasn't just going let this go. "There was also a King Taijutsu leading the pack. It decided that I needed to go before it could attack you."
"What?" Katniss exclaimed, letting go of his arms and looking at him. "Are you okay? How powerful was it? Did it give any bad injuries?"
"Katniss, if it hurt me too badly, you would've smelled the blood." Peeta said, placating her. "And it wasn't that powerful, only having a few bones."
Katniss reeled back at how…clingy her other was. However, thinking back on what happened to her other, she couldn't fault her. Her other had lost so much, that the thought of losing Peeta must have been unbearable.
Katniss sighed in relief before latching on to Peeta again. In the past, she wasn't that much of a worry wort or clingy even, but the deaths of everyone she cared about affected her. Peeta, her boyfriend, partner, and love, was the only person she had left from her past, so that made her a bit….protective.
"I don't blame you," Harry commented. "Having people you care for die is no joke. Makes you so desperate to keep the others close so they don't meet the same fate."
Katniss looked to Harry in shock, wondering just how he could relate to that. Then she noticed the look in his eyes. She nodded to him in understanding, no words needed to be said.
"Let's go back to the bakery quickly, before Nora comes for her breakfast." Peeta told her. "If she doesn't get her pancakes, she would hunt us down and drag us there."
"Pete and Kat know me!" Nora cried excitedly, before she gasped. "And they own a bakery!" She gave out a loud, girly squeal, damaging the eardrums of all present.
"Ow…" Naruto whined, rubbing his ears. Gaara began snapping his fingers near his ears to see if he could still hear.
Katniss shivered. "Don't remind me." Katniss briefly looked back to the direction where the destroyed landscape was at before looking forward and going with Peeta.
She was not gonna let Snow win. She was gonna survive and make Gale and Haymitch sacrifices worth it.
"And that's the end!" Ruby proclaimed and closed the book.
"So, we've got a demigod, a wizard, a ninja turned Faunus," Pyrrha commented. "And now whatever Katniss is. I can honestly say, this version of our world is going to be…interesting to read about."
"No joke," Jaune agreed. "Which begs the question, what is Katniss and Peeta's story."
Dragon sighed. "They're Tributes," he explained. "Their world was divided into thirteen districts and a capital called Panem. When Panem began to oppress the Districts, they rebelled, but lost. So to prevent another uprising, they destroyed District 13, and forced the other 12 to send two of their children from between 12 and 18, one boy and one girl, to an area they create to fight to the death for their amusement."
"They WHAT?!" the others shouted in indignation.
"Those fucking bastards!" Yang shouted, eyes blazing red as her hair caught fire.
"That's inhuman!" Hermione screamed.
The worst reactions, however, came from Percy, Naruto, and Harry. The ground shook ominously while killing intent flooded the room as the air became thick with a sickening sense of dread. The others looked to them, and Jaune nearly fainted at the vicious glares on the boys' faces. Percy looked like a vengeful god; Naruto's whiskers marks thickened and made him look like a furious demon; Harry's face darkened to the point the others thought he was death itself.
Dragon decided enough was enough, so he snapped his fingers and suddenly, the anger suddenly vanished from all of them. They stared at him incredulously. "I know what you just heard is rage inducing, believe me," he said. "But I don't need you guys destroying this room. We've still got a lot of story to read."
"How'd you do that?" Harry asked incredulously.
"Magic," Dragon said. "Alright, are we ready to continue?"
Hesitantly, they all nodded. "Now," Dragon continued, "I do believe there is some things I need to address before we go on."