Team V.R.D.T's Dorm
The day after the dance, one day before Nuada's awakening, 6:00…
"Well, sucks what happened to Hurdanis, right Verneri?" Geod asked of his partner, who was staring intently at the wall with a look of silent rage plastered onto his face.
"... yes." Was the short reply of the hybrid Faunus, who was practically burning a hole in the wall with how intense his glare was. Standing up from his seated position on his bed, Verneri moved to get ready for the day. "We need to prepare for the day. We have our first missions later, do we not?"
"That is correct, but we aren't needed in the amphitheater for another few hours, so we can relax. Your starting to sound like Durane, to be honest." Tyrus said, laying on his bed nonchalantly with his arms crossed behind his head.
"I resent that statement. I merely strive for our team to be the best is all." Came from the Armadillo Faunus as he exited the Team's private bathroom, before sitting at his desk and pulling out some work he had yet to finish.
"Well, I don't know about you guys, but I'm going to head down for some breakfast." The Albino team leader announced, heading out of the room after grabbing his Spiral Blade. Walking down the hall, Geod didn't notice, or rather care, as Yang walked past holding a cylindrical container that was almost shaking. Heading into the mess hall, the former spiral warrior grabbed what to him could pass as breakfast, which consisted of an open face sandwich utilizing a fried egg sprinkled with shaved cheese. Finding an open seat at a recently abandoned table, Geod placed the plate he gathered for himself down gently, before beginning to methodically make his way through the small meal he prepared for himself. While he did this, the rest of Team V.R.D.T. had made their way down as well, not long after joining their leader.
"So, what type of mission do you plan on picking out for us?" Tyrus asked after a bit of a pause, looking the comparatively short albino in the eyes while doing so.
"Eh, I was thinking a search and destroy mission would work best for our team, though there are other types I am willing to try. Hunting down criminals may work just as well." Revealed the crimson eyed male, checking his scroll for any recent news on such activity. "Oh? This is interesting."
"What is, Geod?" Inquired Verneri, curious as to what could possibly peak the interest of his team leader. Seeing a dreadfully familiar shape on the clear screen, the hybrid's eyes gained a panicked expression. This was not lost on the other two, who gained a glimpse of the humanoid-shape on the screen, their design all too familiar to the team.
"Geod, are those what I think they are?" Tyrus asked, incredulous at the sight.
"It seems that way, Tyrus. Guess I know what mission we'll be doing this time around." Geod confirmed, a knowing smirk plastered on his face…
Beacon Amphitheater
8:00 A.M.
Walking into the room with bags slung over their shoulders, Team V.R.D.T. joined the crowd of Beacon students off to the right, keeping their bags out of suspicion of others. Watching Ozpin give a speech that they didn't particularly care for, covering the history of the Vytal festival and the end of the Great War, The four just stood there not particularly caring for the supposedly rousing speech being given. Noticing that the rest of the group began to move, Geod moved his team over to one of the terminals displaying missions for them to take.
"This should be it. Seeing as the location is just about right, being in Vacuo and the fact that it is a capture, this should be good." The Albino stated, entering his team name in for the mission to accept. However, after inputting the four-letter team code, an error screen popped up, stating the mission as unavailable to first-year students.
"Well, there goes plan A." Verneri sarcastically drawled out going to walk away and find one in a nearby location but was stopped when Tyrus grabbed the back of his shirt collar.
"Not necessarily. Look over there." Pointed out the giant of a Faunus, gesturing off to the side where Team R.W.B.Y. was speaking with Professor Ozpin. "It seems they are or rather were, having a similar problem to us yet they probably will still get the mission they wanted. Perhaps we will have similar luck."
"Well, I sure hope so, otherwise we need to find a different mission nearby." The Hybrid snarkily replied, getting in his teammate's face. As this was happening, Ozpin had already begun to make his way in their direction, Geod standing almost at attention when he arrived.
"Well, it seems you are looking at a bit of a high-level mission for your team, aren't you Mr. Ronen?" Asked the silverette rhetorically, glancing at the Albino's mission choice.
"Well, yes. I figured that a mission such as this would be a worthy test of our skills not only alone but as a team. The challenge will also hopefully bring the four of us closer as a team seeing as we haven't, as they say, seen eye to eye recently." The swordsman replied, gesturing to the argument between Verneri and Tyrus.
"I can see where you are coming from. I am also curious as to rumors of a large robot different in design than those of Atlas being seen around campus. However, I doubt I will ever find out. Based on your insistence on heading to this region, whatever that reason may be, why don't we, as they say, bend the rules a bit." Came the reply of the headmaster who, with a few presses on his own scroll tablet, put Team V.R.D.T. in as taking the mission.
"Thank you, sir. I hope we don't let you down." Geod said, grabbing his confused teammates as he walked out to the docks to go to their assigned Bullhead. Arriving at the VTOL, the four saw a tall male with dark blonde hair almost glaring at them as they approached.
"So, you pissants are the team assigned to me this time around?" The huntsman spat out, venom lacing every word. His azure eyes glanced down at the team with contempt, as his white trench coat billowed around him in the wind created by the Bullhead as it hovered close to the ground. "Tch. I was expecting a third or even fourth-year team, but I'm stuck with you damn first years. Get on. We're leaving now."
"I'm starting to think this was a bad idea." Tyrus whispered to Durane as they boarded the vehicle, the much shorter Faunus nodding along. The long three hour flight to Vacuo was spent in silence between team V.R.D.T., as each member was unsure of what to say after the toxic greeting to the Huntsman leading them. As the flight passed on slowly, almost painstakingly so, the mostly Faunus team watched the landscape pass underneath them, any small villages outside the main kingdom appearing as tiny specks in an expanse of green. After a short time the forested surface gave way to plains, which then gave way to the expansive desert that was Vacuo. Gliding far above the desert sands, the Bullhead slowly began to lower itself closer to ground, whipping up a miniature sandstorm in the process. Thunking down in the hot desert sands, the cargo doors of the VTOL opened up as Team V.R.D.T. made their way out, followed by the senior huntsman they were shadowing.
"So, what do we do now, Mr..." Verneri began as they set their bags down for the moment though he trailed off as none of the team knew their assigned huntsman's name.
"Alan. My name is Ivor Alan. Now come, we are burning daylight." The blonde huntsman said, walking away from the landing site with his own bag slung over his shoulder with his weapon, which appeared to be an oversized cleaver, clanging against his back. Following the azure-eyed man, Team V.R.D.T. remained quiet despite the tension clearly growing between the unfamiliar parties. This was not unnoticed by the local Grimm population, resulting in a few ancient death stalkers jumping the group, though not long after they were stabbed through with various kitchen knives, courtesy of Ivor who glared at the dissolving corpses for a brief moment before continuing on his way.
"... that was brutal," Durane whispered to his teammates at how effectively the senior Huntsman took out the Grimm that charged them. Continuing their march, with Ivor neutralizing any Grimm that dared to approach the five with brutal efficiency the group ended up camping out in the shade of a dune once it got to be much darker out than when they arrived.
"Alright, I need you four to go and find some firewood…." Ivor trailed off, noticing a fire already started in front of himself, "That was fast. Do any of you know exactly what we are up against here?"
"Paladin-class mechs with unique designs and weapon systems not issued by Atlas," Geod answered his face a visage of complete seriousness at knowing the situation. "I still can't believe we aren't the only one's here though." He thought to himself as he continued to stare into the fire.
"That is correct, Geod. Now then," The Azure eyed male began, pulling out one of his many kitchen knives and pointing it menacingly at the team, "Where is the Lamb Sauce?"
The Next morning…
After a long night taking shifts at being the guard every few hours, the group woke up to see Geod, as he was the last on shift, poking the last embers of their fire with his blade absentmindedly. Noticing the rest of the group waking up, the albino covered the smoldering ashes with some nearby sand.
"Oh, you guys are up," Geod stated rather than asked, sheathing his rapier as he stood up. "So we just going to continue wandering the desert until we find the two or what?"
"No, I have a much better plan than that. Yesterday was to test your resolve more than anything." Ivor responded, stretching for a moment while explaining, "Rather, We'll bait them out of hiding." This confused the team, as it would seem difficult to bait the opponents they were facing out of hiding usually. "Can any of you tell me what kind of travellers have been attacked by these two?"
"Those that are either human or Faunus with less distinguished animalistic features." Was the response of Durane, who began to put two and two together.
"Ding! That's right armadillo man. This leads me to suspect they are working with the White Fang, or at least hold similar ideals to the group." The Azure eyed hunter confirmed, a smirk on his normally scowling face. "That's why I'm sending Geod out alone to try and attract the two."
"That's ridiculous, Master Ronen would never concede to this kind of pla-"
"Of course. Where will I be set up?" Geod interrupted his face a stony visage as usual of when he gets serious. Gripping the handle of The Drill Blade so hard that the steel underneath creaked in protest for a moment, the albino gazed deep into the azure eyes of the elder man.
"Good choice Ronen. Now, follow me." Ivor said, completely ignoring the shouts of protest from the other three. Arriving at a part of the Vacuo Desert as featureless as the rest, the blonde huntsman glanced over his shoulder at Geod. "Alright, this is the spot. I recommend trying to look as inconspicuous as possible, hide your blade as well. They won't be as guaranteed to attack if you can defend yourself after all." Saying this, Ivor walked back to where the rest of the group was hiding while Geod sat down to await the targets. Not long after, the sound of metal impacting the sand nearby sounded out, as the two mech's the group was sent to hunt down and capture landed.
"Looks like they sent more academy students after us, Adiane. And this one isn't even armed." Came from the more avian of the two mechas, which then reached down to grab Geod, however, the limb was pulled back quickly as one of Ivor's countless blades shot out, slashing into its wrist causing sparks, but otherwise not harming the oversized battlesuit. "Tch. Huntsmen. Let's get out of here, Adiane." As the two made to fly off, countless slender, black chains shot out of the ground around Geod preventing their escape.
"Did you think you could escape me that easily, Cytomander?" The albino asked as the Lazengann rose out of the ground beneath him, shocking the mech pilots as to who it was they were truly facing. "Now it's time I show what happens to my subordinates when they fall out of line!" The swordsman shouted out before Lazengann rocketed into the sky and punched Cytomander's mech in its face, knocking the avian battlesuit to the ground. Using the impact as a springboard, the Lazengann then grabbed onto the wings of the other mech, before throwing the more feminine of the three into its avian counterpart.
"Lo-Lordgenome! I didn't know it was you, sir." Yelled out Adiane as her mech pulled itself out of the crater it and Cytomander's created, before bowing in front of the Lazengann as Cytomander's did the same.
"Of course you wouldn't know it's me. I look like far different than in the olden days. By the way I go by Geod Ronen now, so be sure to remember that." Lordgenome, as is his real name, announced, hoping out of the Lazengann to head back to his group. "Now if you two would follow me, it would be appreciated. Leave Sayrune and Shuzack here, I'll have them collected later." As the albino said this, the front hatches of the two mechs opened up and their pilots jumped out, quickly catching up with him. Adiane wore a loose Kimono that did little to hide her, ahem, womanly assets. Over her left eye was an armor plated eyepatch and she wore high heels on her feet. Cytomander, contrastly, wore a cyan v-neck jumpsuit that was unzipped down to his upper abdomen and was adorned with feathers and fur. As the three approached the dune the rest of Team V.R.D.T. was behind, Tyrus came out on his own and brandished his glaive defensively, before dropping it upon noticing the two.
"Adiane, is it really you?" The mountainous man practically whispered, staring wide-eyed at the elegantly dressed female in front of himself. "I doubt you recognize me in this state, but it's me, Thymilph!"
"Yes, Thymilph. We know of your, 'relationship' with Adiane from back in the day, but now is not the time." Durane said, his orange eyes holding a mischievous glint despite the thin line his mouth was held in. "Despite this wonderous reunion, we have a job we came here to do, do we not?" This statement brought the rest of Team V.R.D.T. back to reality and reminded them of the reason they were in the middle of the desert.
"Yes, Durane. I'm glad to see that at least one of your brats remembered what we are here for." Ivor stated as he glared daggers at the two criminals flanking Geod, or rather Lordgenome as is his supposed real name as if he were an official under their protection. "I would inquire as to your relations with our targets, Geod, however, that will have to wait. Now we need to get these two cuffed and prepared for transport." The blonde Huntsman ordered Verneri and Durane moved forward to do so, however, Geod stopped the two.
"Look, while we both know the questionable acts these two have clearly committed, they had a clear reason to do so, correct?" The albino questioned, glancing at Tyrus for support in his argument.
"Uh, yeah! These two are actually really good people, trust me! Isn't that right, Cytomander?" The mountainous Faunus asked the avian, who gave a quick nod.
"Yeah, he is correct in that statement! In fact, we could take you to the real criminals in this act, or at least the ones that were sent to hire us." Cytomander confirmed, mentally panicking at the situation he found himself in.
"However, the fact still stands that you committed countless crimes while in this contractor's 'employment'. However, I believe that your employer, or rather your aid in their capture, could at the least lessen whatever sentence you are given." Ivor reminded, his glare lessening slightly at the end. "So, who is it that hired you two?"
"Well, that's the hard part. They never contacted us in person, only sending minor grunts to us with payment and assignments." Adiane stated, looking almost disappointed in herself at the fact.
"Well, what did these 'grunts' look like, then?" Verneri interrogated, getting in the scorpion Faunus' face while doing so.
"At first they were clearly White Fang grunts, you know with the body armor and Grimm masks. However a week or so ago they were slowly replaced by these guys in cloaks. The only thing we could see underneath was an eerie, red glow at around what seemed to be eye level." The sole female notified, shuddering slightly at the memory of the beings.
"Wait… cloaked beings with red glowing orbs at eye level… why does that sound familiar?" Geod muttered to himself while glancing off into the distance only to notice a small dust cloud headed in their relative direction. "Guys, we got something incoming." This statement got the attention of the other six as they watched the distant cloud grow bigger before an armored car became visible in the cloud, a very familiar symbol painted in bright red on the sides.
"Scatter!" Ivor ordered, as the group quickly jumped to the sides before a hail of bullets peppered the sands they were standing in. Growling in frustration, Tyrus pulled out the Alkaid Glaive before flipping on its laser function, tearing through the engine of the vehicle causing its passengers to jump out before the armored car crashed into a dune, exploding.
"Great, the White Fang," Verneri said, drawing his Swords and causing a few wind blades to be launched at the enemy. Running forward, Durane struck one of the smaller grunts with his Mace, an audible crack being heard as the Faunus' Aura and ribs both broke under the weight of the swing, launching the unfortunate Man into another dune before crashing in a groaning slump. Turning to the other grunts surrounding him, Durane extended out some of his spines impaling those unfortunate enough to be too close to him.
"What even are these guys?!" One of the grunts screamed out before firing at them with a LMG only managing to obscure the group with a cloud of sand. The other grunts surrounding him were pulled into the cloud one by one through an unknown force, leaving only the LMG using one standing. "St-stay back! You do-don't know wh-what I'm capable of!" The Faunus yelled out, his blonde hair bristling on his head in warning as if the hardened follicles would fire off at any second. Suddenly a bony hand burst from the ground in front of the Faunus, causing him to unconsciously fire off his hair behind him, the follicles impacting a sand dune breaking apart the formation from the impact as the rest of the creature clawed its way out, revealing one of the more skeletal members of the Redead Corps. in all its glory. The skeletal creature unsheathes the sword at its side before charging forward, swinging at Verneri although the curved blade was blocked by one of the Hybrid's own.
"Heh, going to take more than that to take me out!" He shouted before using his other sword to slash the Demon's arm, but was blocked by it's shield. Glaring at the bony creature, Verneri pushed more weight onto his blade, trying to muscle through the creature's guard but to no avail. Growling deeply, Verneri continued to add more force to his blade but was caught off guard when a third arm reached out from the creature's back wielding a miniature flail which struck Verneri's shoulder. While the strike didn't break his Aura, the force behind it was enough to cause his grip on his blades to loosen enough for the skeletal demon to disarm him, the twin longsword falling to the sand soundlessly. The creature then raised it's two weapons overhead in an attempt to turn the blonde into a blood smear, however the arms holding the two were grabbed by Adiane's tail before being ripped off, eliciting an inhuman roar from it's non-existent lungs. Glaring at the Scorpion Faunus, the skeletal creature charged her with it's remaining arm, before a fourth popped out holding a war axe and swung wildly in an attempt to injure the blunette but the strikes were blocked by her tail effortlessly as if the demon was moving in slow motion. However in her efforts to block the blows she dropped the two arms she was holding, resulting in them flying towards the skeletal creature-
-until they were knocked out of the air by a steak knife and wrapped in a near invisible string resulting in them being pulled towards Ivor, an annoyed scowl present on his face.
"I swear, this job just keeps getting more and more annoying as time passes on, doesn't it?" The cleaver user snarled before pulling the blade off his back and dashing at the undead menace he was facing, bisecting the creature with a quick slash resulting in its upper body to drop its weapons before crawling forwards with its remaining arms. Glaring at the creature as it attempted to attack his legs, Ivor simply snapped his fingers, before an explosion erupted below the creature resulting in the remains of its body being turned to ashes. Turning to the group, Ivor released a long-held sigh before turning back to the rest of the group. "Well? You going to take us to your employer or not?"
Blueghast 1: Well, that took a few months, didn't it me?
Blueghast 2: Yeah, it did. Also, I thought this situation was contained in Ni- I mean Rage's stories.
Blueghast 1: Nope, [D4C] encompasses all.
Blueghast 3: Great, you did it again.
Blueghast 2: Dammit, me.
Blueghast 1: I know, I know. I would use an Author Secret Art, but that only works for truly fictional entities. You two aren't. And It's not like I can kill you or anything. That breaks Space time.
Blueghast 2: Remember the tradition at the end, Me?
Blueghast 1: Yeah yeah, I was getting to that. Here's the next episode of C.R.S.N. Chibi
Team C.R.S.N.'s room, alternate dimension
"Hey Nuada, you know what is REALLY odd?" Colys asked of his partner as he sat on his bed, glancing out the window in boredom.
"What? The odd feeling in my right hand, as if it isn't there?" Nuada retorted, gesturing to the aforementioned limb.
"No, not that. I'm referring to the fact that this world has obvious parallels to our own in terms of people and franchises." The noirette mused, placing a hand on his chin in thought, "Like Spruce Willis. He's clearly a parallel to the actor Bruce Willis. Or the fact that some of the people we know share similarities in varying ways to fairytales and myths."
"You mean like how Ruby has that whole Red Riding Hood thing going on," Nuada mentioned, glancing out the door at the aforementioned team leader's dorm. "Or how Ozpin is eerily similar to The Wizard of Oz."
"Yeah, like that. Or how about the fact that Jaune's name and the whole deal with Cardin are like that of Joan of Arc with the Cardinal of Winchester." Colys stated, his eyes gaining a sudden look of realization, "What if we are, in actuality, in an alternate reality that, rather than being mere coincidence in terms of its existence, is actually the machinations of some deity or all-powerful being that took a liking to our own? Or if it was created by someone in our reality and somehow, due to unknown means, we were transported to it or an alternate reality version of it resulting in our current situation?"
"Colys, stop. This is getting crazy." Rhydwyn said as he walked into the room with Lament slung over his back. "I mean, this is the third time this WEEK you said this kind of stuff. I know we've been here for over two years but come on man."
"I mean, I guess you're right, I doubt we are in, I dunno, a Fanfiction of some sort, right?" Colys joked, glancing at the wall as if there was a camera or one-way window there.
Blueghast 3: … you just had to put that joke in, didn't you?
Blueghast 1: Yep, it worked well for the way I did this 'episode' of C.R.S.N. Chibi, didn't it?
Blueghast 2: Come on, let's just do the outro.
Blueghast 1: Yeah, alright. I'm just surprised there was no interruption-
Rage 3: AH GOD DAMMIT, BLUEGHAST!
Blueghast 2+3: You jinxed it.
Blueghast 1: I know, but anyways, As always
Blueghast 1,2+3: Read, Rate, Review, and Favorite.
*All Blueghasts have signed off.*