Spice: Hello, ladies and gentlemen, Spiceracksargent001 here, bringing you the next Chapter of Remnant's Skybound Striker. I'd like to start by thanking all 35 of you who've followed my story, and the 28 who've favorited. As a fellow writer of fanfiction, it does my creative mind good to see so many of you are liking my work. Anyways, in this chapter, we see Giro enter Remnant and start his way towards Vale to get himself established, but ends up at a time and place he least expected.
ELFI: The Captain would like to inform you all that he only claims ownership of his Original Character. RWBY and all peoples of Remnant are property of Rooster Teeth, and that, as always, constructive criticism is welcomed and highly appreciated.
Spice: So, will all that disclaimer stuff out of the way, let's get on with the story, shall we?
Chapter 2: Awakening
When it was finally safe to open my eyes, I found myself staring up at the sky through the leaf-bearing branches of a tree… while draped across a lower-hanging tree branch like I was a towel or something.
"Come on, Gamer, couldn't you have put me on the ground like a normal person…?" I mutter, more to myself than anything else as I brought myself into a sitting position with my back against the trunk of the tree. It was then that I noticed where I was, prompting me to look around. I was clearly in a forest, since there were trees as far as the eye could see, and what I saw was a vibrant sea of trees with leaves in the various fall colors, predominantly red and red-orange. The ground was also covered in fallen leaves of the same colors. Needless to say, I didn't even try to stop the small smile that made itself known on my face at the rather picturesque sight. "Well I'll be darned. I could get used to a sight like this…"
I must've spent upwards of 10 minutes just admiring the scenery from my perch before I went back to figuring out what to do next. "Alright, I have two options here," I muse, "I can either stay in the tree and get some more familiarity with my new ability, or just jump out of the tree and yolo my way to civilization. Yeah, that's a no-brainer right there. Only an idiot would not take some time to familiarize themselves with their power before trying to find civilization."
-Your sound reasoning in staying in a safe location has increased your WIS by 1-
"Thank you, I don't care," I say while tossing the pop-up aside. Well, I'm all alone, so no need to worry about seeming like I'm crazy at the moment. "Menu, status."
[Girouette Zephyr
Title: The Gamer
Level: 2
HP: 68
HPR: 1/min
EP: 105
EPR: 1.785/min
SP: 74
SPR: 3.48/min
STR: 6
ACR: 7
CON: 6
INT: 7
WIS: 11
LCK: 6
XP: 50/200
Stat Points: 6
Money: 0?
Condition: Normal]
"Okay, that is ridiculous, can I move my XP and Stat Points closer to my level?" I ask while hovering a finger over to my XP bar before swiping up to just below my level. The Status screen shifted the XP Bar to follow my finger's movement, which made me cheer mentally. No reason to attract attention, even if I am talking to myself atm. 'Yes! I can drag and drop!'
-Your experimenting with the Status screen has increased your INT by 1-
'Go away!' I mentally shout while closing the pop-up before moving Stat Points and Condition to join my XP bar higher up on my status screen. "Alright, now, since I'm here and I leveled up, may as well put in that luck point now before I forget," I muse while applying a stat point each to my ACR and LCK stats. "I'll also throw that free stat point into my acrobatics while I'm at it."
After applying my luck point and free stat point, I tap on my name, and my status screen shifts to a sort of character sheet.
[Name: Girouette Zephyr
Nickname: Giro
Race: Faunus - Arctic Fox, American
Gender: Male
Blood Type: O-
Family: Niel Zephyr (Father), Ciel Zephyr (Mother), Diana Zephyr (Sister)]
It also had a portrait of me, but my mind had blanked when I read what was listed under Race. 'Faunus? As in the sub-species of humans from RWBY that have animal features? I know I'm big on cosplay, but that is just-' My thoughts got cut off since I'd been lifting my hands up to my head to take off that fuzzy headband I'd put on yesterday for my Artic Fox cosplay since I didn't think to take it off before I went to bed prior to becoming The Gamer, but stopped when my hands had wrapped around the fox ears.
Mostly because a shiver had gone up my spine the moment my hands made contact with the ears, which felt a lot softer than they were before. 'Sweet Merciful Arceus on a Unicycle, my cosplay habits just got me turned into a Faunus. Okay, positives? I have a pretty good idea of where I am now, and I'm a fuck mothering Faunus, which means having all the sensory and instinctual benefits thereof. Negatives? I'm now a Faunus, which means I now to get used to being part Arctic Fox, and will most likely have to deal with racist assholes like Cardin on a mostly daily basis.'
Shaking my head, deciding to worry about that later, I turn my attention to my portrait. I have somewhat messy white hair that falls down to my upper back, which my new fox ears blend into remarkably well, now that I think about it (seriously, even I'd have missed them if I didn't already know they were there), and bright, silver eyes (I'd gotten a lot of questions about how my eyes were that color, with a lot of people who aren't family guessing I wear contacts. I don't), and am wearing a light grey t-shirt with blue denim jeans, white socks, and black and white tennis shoes. Oh, I'm also wearing my blue, oval, memory-frame glasses.
"Yeah… I need a new outfit," I muse. New world, new look, after all, and considering I'm about 80% certain I'm on Remnant now, I need an outfit that looks the part.
I shake my head, knowing that my clothes are also something to worry about later, I go back to my status screen and click on "Title", which opens its own sub-menu.
[Titles:
Titles grant special benefits based on the title equipped.
Current Title: The Gamer - The starting title of all who obtain The Gamer. Offers no benefits.
Current Locked Titles:
Nutcracker - Effect Locked - strike 25 different enemies in the crotch
Explorer - Effect Locked - Discover 15 Regions/Locations/Landmarks]
"Okay, I'm so gonna unlock at least one of those two, at least I'll have a special benefit," I say with an amused smirk at having the same first unlockable title as Wes Verdant. I already know what it does, having read The Verdant Gamer, now I just need to unlock it myself. 'Wonder what unlockable titles I'll end up getting… Eh, I'll figure it out as I obtain them. Explorer, though, I don't think I've ever heard of that one, but just based off the name and requirement, I can make a pretty educated guess about what it entails.' "Menu," I say, heading back to the main menu. "What else is there to experiment with…?"
Status
Skills
Inventory
Quests
Options
"Hello there, Options are new," I muse. 'Options.'
-Options-
Volume
BGM
Notifications
Help
"Pfft, I could mute out dull and boring lectures," I snort. "Probably a bad idea, though. BGM."
-BGM-
Playlist empty
Set Music
Remove Music
"Makes sense that the playlist is empty, I haven't set anything yet," I muse before reaching to return to the options menu. "Probably gonna hold off on that until I'm absolutely certain I am where I think I am, though." Once I'm back at the Options menu, I decide to head to the Help menu, since there was something I wanted to check quickly.
-Help-
HP
EP
SP
STR
ACR
CON
INT
WIS
LCK
XP
Stat Points
"EP," I say simply. I'd been wondering what that was since I first opened my status menu during the tutorial.
-EP stands for Energy Points. This gauge, the increase of which is determined in part by The Gamer's STR and INT, is used for Aura (tutorial locked), Arts (tutorial locked) and Spells (tutorial locked). The Gamer's Energy Point Regeneration per Minute (EPR) is influenced by The Gamer's CON and WIS.-
"Okay, so that's what EP does," I muse. "Guess I need to unlock more abilities, then."
-Your decision to confirm something you didn't recognize has increased your WIS by 1. Your quick deduction of needing to unlock abilities that consume EP has increased your INT by 1.-
"Thank you, I don't care," I say, tossing the pop-up aside before closing the menu altogether and standing up on the tree branch. "Well, guess it's time to find civilization."
-Quest Created-
Awakening:
You've awoken from the Tutorial to find yourself in a currently unknown world, armed only with a pair of tantō.
Objectives: Find Civilization - 150XP, 300 local currency
Bonus Objectives:
Defeat an attacking enemy - +50XP, +200 local currency
Make a friend - ?
"Well alright, then," I say, reading through the quest before closing it. "A mystery reward for making a friend out here, guess I'll figure it out if/when I find someone to befriend." I then do a backflip jump out of the tree and land on my feet about half a foot away.
-Your form and landing has increased your ACR by 1.-
'Woot!' I cheer in my head as I look around. 'Oh, eenie, meenie, minie - this way,' I say mentally before just pointing in a random direction as I cut off the whole "eenie, meenie, miney, mo" thing and heading off in said direction at a light jog.
~1 hour, 45 minutes later~
-Your consistent jog has increased your CON by 1-
I blink as I read the pop up after stopping to take a breather, as it were. 'My CON went up from that?' I ask mentally. 'I was honestly expecting a pop-up saying my STR or ACR had gone up.' I then realized why as I put my right hand into a fist and rested it on the opened palm of my left hand. "Right, my CON went up because I wasn't pushing myself. If I want to boost my STR, I need to do a strenuous physical activity for extended periods of time."
-Your understanding of the Stat leveling system has increased your INT my 1-
"Well, that's already getting annoying," I grumble while throwing the pop-up to the side and start walking again before I stop suddenly. Something doesn't feel right.
-You've unlocked the Utility Skill: Detect Bloodlust-
'Well, fudge,' I think to myself while slowly drawing my tantō, looking around cautiously as I start bracing myself for a fight. Sure enough, I hear a low growl behind me, making whirl around to find a sight I was honestly half expecting to see.
The creature standing before me looked like a werewolf with a pelt as black as a starless night sky during a new moon, sharp, white claws tipping its paws and feet, with white, boney protrusions along its arms and back, and a white, bone-like mask covering its face, with two red lines running along the sides and intersecting a set of equally red, glowing eyes. Lining its jaw was a mouthful of razor-sharp, white teeth. It didn't take a genius to know I what I was looking at.
I was currently staring at a Beowulf. A freakin' Beowulf from RWBY. "Well, if that isn't the final nail in the coffin of 'where the heck am I', I don't know what is," I muse as the Beowulf sizes me up. 'Observe.'
Stray Beowulf
Lvl: 5
HP: 100
'A stray. Thank Oum I don't have to deal with a whole pack of 'em: I'd have been shredded,' I think to myself as I tighten my grip on my tantō. 'Granted, it's 3 levels higher than me, but so long as more don't show up, I can handle it.'
Apparently, the Beowulf got tired of waiting and charged at me, prompting me to jump to the side while swinging both of my tantō in a spinning slash that did a grand total of about 48 damage. 'Okay, this could go either fast or slow depending on how dumb this Beowulf is,' I muse as the Creature of Grimm got up and roared in my face. Not it's brightest move, if I'm being honest.
I have a Title to unlock, after all.
I bring my foot up and kick the Beowulf as hard as I can right in the crotch, dealing 20 damage and stunning the beast as it falls to the ground in a whimper as its claws go cover its crotch. Using the opportunity given to me, I quickly get behind the Beowulf. As I go to strike, though, I feel the urge to do something a little… flashy. So, I back up a little and jump towards the Beowulf in a front flip, and I could swear I saw what was either lightning or static electricity coat the blades of my tantō as I bring them down in a vertical slash to the Beowulf's back.
Wait, that attack dealt 150 damage?!
I watch as the Beowulf stands back up shakily, making me swing one of my tantō as hard as I can, removing the Creature of Grimm's head from its shoulders. The now headless Grimm stays standing for about 10 seconds before it collapses to the ground again and starts fading into black smoke.
-You've defeated the Stray Beowulf! You've earned 25 XP! Your performance in combat has unlocked new skills! Unlocked the talent skills: Proficiency: Knives, Proficiency: Dual Swords! You've unlocked an Art! Unlocked the Dual Swords Art: Back Slash! Your stylish execution of unlocking your first Art has increased your ACR by 1! You now have 100% confirmation of being located in Remnant, meaning Exploration Benefits have now been activated! You've discovered a new Region: Forest of Forever Fall! You've discovered a new Landmark: Entry Point! Earned 100 XP and 5 AP!-
'Check those out later. Also, called it on the exploration thing,' I muse, closing the pop-up before noticing some kind of card laying on the ground where there was once a Beowulf as the Grimm finished dissolving. 'Observe,' I think while picking up the card.
-50 Lien Card
Lien is the currency of Remnant. It typically comes in electronic card form, making it great for portability. This card contains 50 Lien.-
'Oh look, monies. Menu, Inventory,' I think, opening my Inventory before slipping the card in, increasing my Money by 50 Lien before I close the menu again and start walking. After about 10 minutes, I'd found myself walking into a rather picturesque clearing with only one other person, who was sitting on a rock. I also got a notification that I'd gotten 75 XP, a level up, and another 2 AP for discovering a Hidden Area - note to self: go over Exploration and AP in the Help Menu at my earliest convenience - identifying this place as Serenity Clearing, but I quickly dismissed it to take in the appearance of the person before me.
It was a young woman, about 17 years of age, with long, raven black hair, a matching pair of black cat ears parting her hair at the top of her head, and a rather light complexion. Her outfit consisted of a white, sleeveless shirt that exposes her midriff and white shorts, with zippers on the front of each leg that may or may not be decorative, that may or may not be connected to the shirt, hard to tell with the black, button-up vest she wore over her shirt. From her shorts to her low-heel black boots I could see she was wearing stockings that started black and faded to purple as they neared her boots, with silver emblems on the outside of the stockings' legs on the black portion that I'm guessing were Belladonna flowers: AKA her personal emblem. She had black ribbons on each arm and a detached, black sleeve with a silver armband overtop it on her left arm. Connected to a magnetic clamp was a weapon that I easily recognized: Gambol Shroud.
Gambol Shroud at first appears to be a thick, grey cleaver about as long as a long sword, but that was just the sheath. The main part of Gambol Shroud, was the weapon stored in the cleaver-sheath: a Katana capable of mecha-shifting into a Ballistic-Chain-Scythe that had a pistol built into the hand-guard. If I remember right, the specific model of pistol was a Glock.
I knew who I was looking at the moment I'd identified the cat ears, really. This was Blake Belladonna. It also helped that Observe apparently lets me passively see a person's name, title, and level, to some unidentified range above my own level, since I saw this floating over her head:
Blake Belladonna
White Fang Operative
Lvl ?
Right as I noticed that floating above her head, I saw her cat ears perk up and her head turn to regard me, which honestly made me freeze a bit as she looked me up and down with her piercing, amber eyes. 'Well, shift. Now what do I do?'
-Blake POV-
Well, this was unexpected. When I heard footsteps approaching, I'd thought it was Adam come to tell me we'd be heading out. What I got instead was a Faunus, at least, I think he's a Faunus, I've never met before with white hair and silver eyes dressed in civilian clothing and no weapons at all aside from what looks like a pair of yoroidōshi tantō sheathed at his sides. How did he get all the way out here in Forever Fall with so little, and incredibly basic, weaponry? Is he lost? He's also looking a little nervous, so yeah, I'd bet 50 Lien on him being lost.
"Hey," I say, deciding to try snapping the boy, he looks no older than me, actually, out of his trance. Given the way he jumped a little while letting out a confused "Huh?", I think it worked.
"O-oh, uh, h-hi," he stutters nervously.
"Are you lost?" I ask.
"Oh, uh… yeah, kinda lost at the moment," he admits while rubbing the back of his head. "If you could give me directions to the nearest settlement, I'll gladly be on my way."
"Very well, then…" I trail off, hoping to get the guy's name. I'd like to know who I'm helping, after all. Fortunately, it seems he caught on pretty quick.
"Oh, right, where are my manners?" He asks, presumably to himself, while smacking his forehead before shaking his head, then gives me a wave and a small smile. "I'm Girouette Zephyr, but please, call me Giro."
"Blake," I reply, introducing myself before giving him some simple directions to Vale. "If you want to get to Vale easy, just head East until you reach a steep hill overlooking a railway system. Once you do, just follow the tracks South, and you'll reach the Kingdom of Vale without running into very many Grimm." I point in the direction to go first while explaining this. Giro nods for a bit, a thoughtful expression on his face, before he smiles and nods.
"You have my appreciation, Blake," he says while he starts heading in the direction I pointed him in. As he leaves, he looks back to me and waves with a smile. "May fate let our paths cross again!" I shoot a small smirk and a brief goodbye wave to him before letting my expression go neutral again as I look back up at the afternoon sky. He was certainly a curious fellow. It was almost like he recognized me when I told him my name. Oh well, thoughts for another time. I simply continued my cloud-watching for about another hour before I heard footsteps approaching again.
"Blake," the familiar voice of Adam Taurus reaches my ears, bringing me out of my activity. "It's time."
I guess this is it. I lower my head before turning to regard Adam. "Okay," I reply simply before standing up and walking over to him, jumping down from the rock I was sitting on. We share a brief nod and take off East towards the tracks, though I do fall behind a little because of realization slowing my pace.
The directions I'd given Giro to reach Vale sent him to those very same tracks.
I hope he'll be okay. I'm pretty sure he's a Faunus, but I saw no tail, nor signs of claws, so if his second set of ears really are as white as his hair, which I suspect to be the case, Adam could easily mistake him for human…
~30 minutes prior, Giro's POV~
-New Area discovered: Forever Fall Railway - Earned 50 XP-
It took me about 15 minutes of jogging, but I managed to reach a rather steep cliff face. "This must be the railroad that Blake described," I muse, looking down the cliff face to a somewhat elevated set of train tracks. "I've been heading East this whole time, so if my memory serves me right, then South is…" I trail off, going over the directions given to me before looking to my right, "this way." Now with a solid grasp of my internal compass, I start following the tracks South. About half an hour (and another point of CON) into my jog, I start letting my mind wander a bit. 'That was rather nice of Blake to give me directions to Vale. Still, though why did I meet her here? Why is she in Forever Fall in the first place, and why did my Observe skill list her Title as "White Fang Operative"? She left the White Fang after she and Adam attacked a train carrying Dust mined by the SDC, so why-' I cut my thoughts short as I realize what was going on and come to a stop after putting the pieces together. "The Black Trailer," I mutter to myself, then turn to look back along the tracks as I hear the distinct sound of an approaching train. "I think I've done enough jogging for now. Why not take the train now that the option to do so is available?
Backing up a bit while drawing my tantō, I wait for the train to start coming into view before I take off running to the edge of the cliff and hang in mid-air for a bit before I hit the cliff face, sliding down it on my feet, causing red leaves to create a bit of a wake as I go. After running a the math a bit and timing my jump as best I can, I soon leap off of the cliff face towards the train.
Did it really have to be so big that it takes up two sets of train tracks running parallel to each other? I honestly feel like Old Man Schnee is trying to compensate for something with the size of his locomotives.
Doing a front flip as the train passes beneath me and bring my tantō up in a reverse grip. Once I land on the train and inertia starts kicking in, I quickly thrust my blades down and into the train to stabilize myself as I get my footing. Nearly lost my grip, but I somehow managed to hold on.
-Your, mostly, seamless boarding of the train has increased your ACR by 1. Your keeping your grip on your tantō against the sudden shifting of momentum and powerful winds has increased your STR by 1.-
'That was close,' I think before dismissing the pop-up as I finish getting my footing and stand up, pulling my tantō out of the top of the train car I was on as I do so and sheathe them. Looking to the front of the train, I note that I'm pretty far up, which means that Blake and Adam are farther back and probably fighting AK-130s by now. Turning towards the back of the train, I start heading that way, planning on sticking to walking along the tops of the freight cars when I can and simply blitzing through the flatbed cars as they crop up.
-Same time, Blake POV-
Adam had just opened a hatch into one of the freight cars and had jumped in, with me following soon after.
"Looks like we'll be doing this the hard way," Adam says as I land in a crouch, his hand on the hilt of his katana, Wilt, as various laser tripwires vanish and the contents of the train, an entire squad of Atlesian Knight-130s, power up and move to surround us.
"Don't be so dramatic," I reply with a smirk while reaching for the handle of Gambol Shroud as Adam and I stand up, back to back. One of the AKs facing Adam aims its arms at him and transforms them in a set of 5-barrel Gatling Guns.
"Intruder," the robotic voice of the AK demands. "Identify yourself." Adam merely smirks as he stands and takes his hand off of Wilt's hilt and aims Wilt and Blush, the combined name for his weapon, at the robot and fires, sending Wilt colliding hilt-first with the AK's head before dashing forward, grabbing Wilt, and cutting the machine in half before sheathing the blade.
The rest of the Atlesian Knights look to each other before the one directly in front of me shifts its hands into a set of blades and rushes me, the rest following suit. I simply drew Gambol Shroud and began carving through the robots with the katana sheathed. As Adam and I regrouped, I unsheathed the katana of Gambol Shroud and started cutting through the Knights with the sheath and katana held in dual-wield, and knocked one up before Adam hit it with a flying kick, sending it flying through the door, which was blown clean out of the doorway from the impact, and onto the flatbed car behind it. More AKs came to try and subdue Adam and I, but we dealt with them without much hassle, especially after we began using our weapons to their fullest. With the Knights dealt with, we went into the next car, not finding any more Knights, and we knelt next to a crate that Adam opens to inspect, revealing it to be full of Dust crystals.
"Perfect. Move up to the next car," Adam orders while sealing the crate again and standing. "I'll set the charges."
"What about the crew members?" I ask, worried about what Adam had in mind. I joined the White Fang to fight for equality, after all. I didn't want any innocents to get hurt needlessly. Plus, I was still worried about that Giro guy. What if he'd jumped onto the train as well and Adam, upon seeing him, mistook him for a human?
"What about them?" Adam asks coolly, as if he doesn't care if innocents get hurt.
Which he doesn't.
My ears perk up at the sound of mechanical footsteps from above and passing us, making me, and Adam in turn the way we came as an Atlesian Spider Droid walked down the wall and landed on the floor in front of us, taking aim with its four guns.
"Adam…!" I urge as we get ready to fight again.
-Giro's POV-
-Your alternating pace heading down the train has increased your STR by 1, and CON by 1-
"That's nice," I muse while closing the pop-up after I finish climbing up the ladder to the freight car I was now standing on and start heading down it. I stop when I hear something rather loud, like a blast from some sort of big gun. Guess I got to where I wanted to be, and just in time for the finale, too. Dropping to a prone position as I near the end of the freight car, my eyebrows still shoot up at the sight of Blake and another Faunus facing an Atlesian Spider Droid. I looked to the guy beside Blake and 'Observed' him.
Adam Taurus
White Fang Lieutenant
Lvl: ?
HP: ?
-Your Observe Skill has leveled up! As you meet the requirements to gain experience with a skill, it will gradually level up. With Observe now at Lvl 2, you can collect more information than before with Active use!-
'Neat,' I think before dismissing the pop-up and looking to the Spider Droid. 'Observe.'
Spider Droid
Atlesian Heavy Security Mech
Lvl: 40
HP: 3,400/4,000
EP: 1,250/1,500
Armor Rating: 10
'Well, dang, I do not want to tangle with that thing considering my current level,' I think before returning my attention to the two Faunus as Adam basically orders Blake to distract the Spider Droid. I couldn't really hear them all that well, even with my now enhanced sense of hearing, what with the distance between me and them, the train sounds, and the rushing wind, but considering this was the Black Trailer I was going through right now, I didn't need to: Blake would keep the Spider Droid focused on her until it fired a powerful shot her way that Adam would use to fuel his Semblance and destroy the mech in one blow.
Sure enough, Blake charged the Spider Droid while dodging its fire, and once she got close, began using Gambol Shroud's two parts and her Semblance to dance around and slash at the Spider Droid. I was watching the damage tallies, and she wasn't doing much to it. Now, I still don't know Blake's level, since the passive Observe only listed her level as a trio of question marks, but considering she's the same age as Yang and Weiss, I wouldn't put her any higher than about level 20. Still a lot higher than me at the moment, but barely even half the mech's level, and considering how high the thing's armor class was, combined with a level difference of approximately 20, her strongest hits on the thing were only doing a paltry 10 damage. Blake soon backflips until she's beside Adam again, who tells her to move when the Spider Droid combines its arm and shoulder guns into one big cannon, charges up briefly, then fires. The Spider Droid's blast is absorbed by Adam's Semblance through Wilt and Blush, causing him to let out a brief laugh as parts of his attire start to glow red. Let it be known that seeing that glow sent a chill down my spine. The Spider Droid jumps to try and stomp on Adam, but he uses his Aura and the energy absorbed from the Spider Droid's big shot to literally atomize the mech.
With a single sword slice.
That caused the world to turn pure black on red for a moment.
Okay, I know that he's a complete Darwinist sociopath and (soon-to-be) sadistically yandere for Blake, but Adam just earned some badass points right there. That was, like, twice as awesome to watch in person than it was through a screen. I quickly back up a good bit and press as close to the roof of the freight car as I can so that I don't get spotted by Adam while Blake disconnects the car Adam's on (and, subsequently, the cars behind that one) from the rest of the train. After I'd heard the telltale 'click' of the train cars disconnecting and felt the train accelerate, I waited for about another minute while the train picked up speed and began to pull away from the disconnected and (slowly) decelerating train cars. Once the minute was up, I slowly get back to my feet, making sure the increased speed of the train wouldn't throw me off. Once I was upright and sure of my footing, I began to walk back to the edge of the freight car I was on top of and looked down, seeing Blake watch as the train car Adam was on (it was a fair enough distance away that I was sure he couldn't see me) continued to fade into the distance.
"Blake?" I ask from my perch, mixing in enough surprise to make myself sound convincing. Sure enough, the Cat Faunus' ears perk up and she turns to look at me, the surprise I'm showing mirrored by her. I make my way over to the ladder at the end of the train and climb my way down before getting onto the flatbed car she was on and walk over to her at a calm and unalarming pace. "It would seem fate had our paths cross again sooner than either of us anticipated," I quip with a small grin. Blake surprised me with a small giggle at my joke before returning to her typical, stoic demeanor. "What are you doing here?"
"I could ask you the same thing," Blake retorts. "What are you doing here?"
"When I heard the train approaching, I figured it'd be safer than jogging the rest of the way to Vale," I explain. It wasn't a complete lie, I really did feel like taking the train. "So I hitched a ride by jumping onto the train as it passed by. What about you? Why are you here?"
Blake looked hesitant to tell me, so I decided to strike a bit of a deal. "I'll tell you a secret of mine if you tell me what you were doing here."
Blake still looked pensive, but sighs and nods. "Did you happen to see what happened moments ago?"
"Yeah, you and some guy with bull horns and a mask were fighting a quad-legged mech," I reply. "Why?"
"The guy is Adam Taurus, a lieutenant in the White Fang," Blake explains. "We were here to steal a shipment of Dust that was being sent to Vale via railway from the SDC, but Adam was going to set charges that would destroy the train, and kill all of the crew members. It's been like that ever since the change in leadership. I no longer want to be a part of that, so I disconnected the cars Adam was on from the rest of the train and now, here we are. Now what's this 'secret' you said you would tell me?"
"Hoo boy, where to start…" I mutter before looking at some of the crates and the looking at Blake. "We might want to sit down, this could take a while."
Blake looks at the crates, back to me and nods before walking over to one of the crates and jumps onto it with ease, sitting at the edge over the car. I join her, though I end up only halfway onto the crate when I jump up, resulting what was probably a pretty comedic scene as I start trying to wiggle my way on top of the crate so I could sit down. Looking to Blake, I see the cat Faunus roll her eyes and grab the collar of my shirt as she helps me up. "Thanks," I say after getting myself situated and fixing my shirt. "Alright, I hope you're listening, because I'm not going to repeat myself," I say as I start telling her about how I wound up in Forever Fall and my ability. I left out the part about Remnant being the fictional world of a popular web series where I'm from, I'm not going to tell anyone that until I'm personally trusted by some of the people here on Remnant.
"And the fox ears?" Blake asks, making me look at her in surprise. Fortunately, she seemed to know what I was going to ask before I even said it. "I'll admit, I didn't notice them at first, they blend in rather well with your hair, but they perked up when I got your attention during our first meeting. If you were a human before coming here, how come you're a Faunus now?"
"I have no real idea how it happened, but when I went to bed, I was still wearing this fuzzy headband with fox ears from an arctic fox cosplay I was wearing the day prior. You do know what Cosplay is, right?" I ask, getting a nod from Blake. "Anyway, I'd forgotten to take it off before hitting the sack prior to becoming The Gamer, and somehow, someway, that resulted in me entering Remnant as an Arctic Fox Faunus."
"Right," Blake says skeptically. "How do I know you're not lying?"
"Well, I can't prove everything just yet," I say, trailing off as I grab my tantō and sent them straight to my inventory, the sheathed daggers vanishing into thin air, which got Blake to raise a curious eyebrow, while I 'Observe' her.
Blake Belladonna
White Fang Deserter
Lvl 19
'Huh, my initial estimate for Blake's level was just shy of the actual, and her Title changed,' I note. "And if that doesn't convince you, this definitely will." 'Okay, let's see if this'll work. Create Party.'
-You have just created a Party! Persons who enter into a Party with you gain all of the benefits of The Gamer for the duration of their time in the party, including the ability to see one another's Title, Level, and Stats. Please name your party.-
'Here's the Last Proof,' I say mentally.
-You have created the Party: Here's the Last Proof. To invite someone, think or say "Invite, [Person's name]"-
'Invite, Blake Belladonna,' I finish off while looking to my side at Blake. Sure enough, I see her jump as a holographic screen appears in front of her asking if she'd like to join the Party.
"What the-?!" I hear Blake shout in surprise.
"You can decline the invite for now," I say simply. "I just wanted to show you what proof I have at the moment."
Blake looks at me, looks back at the holographic screen, then back to me and nods before declining the invite, after which I end the Party. We sat in silence for a bit before I decided to ask a question. "So…" I begin, trailing off a bit as I look at my feline companion. "What do you plan to do now?"
"I'll probably try to apply to Beacon," Blake replies after thinking on her response for about a minute. "They're holding an entrance exam sometime next week for applicants who haven't gone to a prep Academy beforehand. What about you?"
"Same," I reply. "Heck, I'd bet my ability that I'd end up getting into Beacon one way or another." 'And that I won't be able to lie to Ozpin,' I mentally add to myself. 'At all.'
"Right, well, at the speed this train is going, we should get to Vale in about half an hour," Blake says. "Might wanna think about a cover story for yourself."
"Good point, though I have no idea where to even start with something like that," I admit, thinking on it for a bit before shrugging. "Eh, I'll think of something. Wanna just sit and chat for now?"
"Sure," Blake replies. We spent the rest of our time on the train making small talk, basic "getting to know each other" stuff.
Spice: And chapter complete. ELFI, take over from here, I have some things I need to do.
ELFI: Of course, Captain. Spiceracksargent001 thanks you in advance for your support of this story, and all of his other works. He would also like to announce that the Reading for Phoenix Champion's The Gamer of Fate will be given proper commencement sometime soon, and that the Phoenix Champion has also passed on the task of doing a Reading for the story The Verdant Gamer to him, the reason being the previous writer tasked with a Reading of The Verdant Gamer, unfortunately, did not meet Phoenix's expectations. The captain would also like to inform you that he will be doing some housecleaning of his works in the immediate future. Certain stories will be taken down to receive updates and re-works for greater quality of reading, with a notice of which stories will be under the effects of this housecleaning being put up before it happens. Farewell for now.
Edit: fixed a couple little things that I'd noticed while looking over the chapter again. Also, here's Giro's stat spread at the moment and his new skill.
Girouette Zephyr
Title: The Gamer
Level: 3
XP: 100/300
Stat Points: 9
HP: 84
HPR: 1/min
EP: 110
EPR: 2.31/min
SP: 74
SPR: 6.66/min
STR: 8
ACR: 9
CON: 9
INT: 10
WIS: 12
LCK: 6
AP: 7
Money: 0?
Condition: Normal
Detect Bloodlust - Passive - Lvl 1
A passive detection skill that allows the Gamer to recognize and identify killing intent towards him within a certain distance. The range of Detect Bloodlust is the skill's level x 50'. Levels up by identifying and responding to killing intent. Gains an additional effect after reaching a certain level.