Chapter 2: Team DARN's Mission Preparations
Both Arin and Drew were waiting in their dorm room for Richard to come back, who had ran after Nina. Drew was sitting on their couch, which was placed in the center of the room, facing the team's beds, and he was vigorously scribbling on a piece of paper. Drew groaned as he stared at the piece of paper on the desk in front of him. When he failed to get any attention, he groaned again, a bit louder. Arin sighed from behind the couch. "Okay, what's bugging you?" he gave in and asked, leaning over the couch to spy on what Drew was working on.
"H-huh?! U-um, this is-!" Drew jumped and scrambled to hide the paper underneath his shirt. "N-nothing! Nothing at all!" he smiled nervously.
"Okay, whatever." Arin walked over to the mini-fridge in the corner of the room.
"Wait, that's it? You're not gonna press me on the matter?"
"You told me to stop it, so I stopped." Arin explained, removing a bottle of beer and opening it.
"Yeah, but... usually, how these situations go is that you keep asking me about it, I eventually explain it and we have an open, emotional conversati-"
"No! We're not starting this shit again!" Arin yelled, pointing his finger in accusation. "You're not roping me into another one of your overly emotional speeches!"
"Well you see, I was thinking about Ruby-"
"God Fucking Dammit!" Arin yelled before falling to his knees behind the couch.
Drew ignored his partner's dismay and continued. "-and I started to remember something. I heard her say how she was, like, crazy into weapons. So, I thought that if I get a better weapon, she'll talk to me and, um, things will happen."
" 'Things'? You must have really planned this ahead." Arin sighed, pulling his head over the top of the couch.
"Well, I'm inexperienced with girls." Drew admitted. "What do you do with them, anyway? Talk about girly things? Drink cups of tea? Do dramatic kissing scenes on the edge of cliffs at sunset after we've defeated the monster who killed her mother and/or father?"
"That last one was oddly specific..." Arin commented with worry written on his face.
"And then I started to sketch ideas for a new weapon."
"Well, I might as well entertain you." Arin answered as he sat on the couch beside his partner. "You use a sword, right?"
"Yep." Drew answered as he retrieved a sheathed blade from the ground.
"And what weapon do you plan on using?"
Drew held up the unfolded, but still slightly crumpled piece of paper. "Two swords."
"Once again, Drew's creative insight knows no bounds."
"W-well, this isn't the finished product."
"Well, if you want my advice, you're missing one very important element."
"What is it?"
"Guns!" Arin explained, pointing his index finger at Drew for effect. "Just about everyone in this school uses a gun! It's practically a requirement.."
"Well..." Drew pondered the thought. "I suppose a hero who wields both a sword and a handgun is cool, but... I 'unno, I need something a bit more... exotic."
"I see where you're coming from. Maybe... a crossbow?"
"Perhaps... wait!" Drew picked up his pencil and began doodling on the page. "A crossbow with blades on the bow part!"
"Ooohh, nice... but, wouldn't that make using it for melee attacks awkward?"
Drew stopped drawing and slowly turned his head to face Arin, wearing the dirtiest of frowns. "Arin. We don't care about plausibility in this world..."
"O-oh, right. Sorry." Arin took a long chug of his beverage. "Hmm, I have a thought. A... double edged chainsaw."
"That one's pretty good!" Drew immediately drew the idea down. 'And maybe... they should detach to become dual-wielding chainsaws! With guns on the end of course!"
"Well, of course."
Richard continued to search the campus grounds for Nina. He was utterly ashamed with himself for letting her get away from him so easily. He made a mental note to give himself a suitable punishment later on. He was arriving at the edge of the Emerald Forest, confident that he will find her there.
"Hey! Richy!" He heard a voice call from within the trees. Moments later he saw his partner emerging from the darkness of the trees with her sports bag flung over her shoulder.
"NINA! You were not permitted to leave during my announcement!" he scolded.
"Oh, boo~! You're so mean!" Nina pouted in retort. "And besides, I don't need to take orders from you! You're not the leader..." She snickered.
"...oh ...that's right ... I forgot." Richard mumbled, suddenly hanging his head low.
"Uh, you okay there, Richy?"
"HOW THE ACTUALLY HELL DID THAT INSECURE PRE-TEEN GET THE RIGHT TO BE IN CHARGE?!" Richard bellowed. He then crouched down sunk his head into his knees and began sobbing.
"Aw, c'mon Richy!" Nina knelt down and slapped his back in support. "I think you'd be a great leader! It's just that you're not!"
"Why, Nina? Just why?" he sobbed. "I'm not some slacker like Drew! I can plan for every situation! I can successfully arrange anything! I can lead a team through monster infested areas while trying to keep team morale up and making a promise to Little Jimmy that he'll get home, and then he'll die, meaning that I won't be able to keep that promise, causing some very tragic irony!"
"That last one was a oddly specific..." Nina commented with worry written on her face.
"A-Anyway." Richard corrected himself, getting back to his feet and trying to cover up his emotional outburst. "We must return to the others."
"Wait! I have super big news!" Nina reached into her bag and pulled out a black, furry blur. "Isn't he the cutest?!" She chirped as she presented her pet Beowolf. He was only the size of a small pup, and his white mask and bony expenditures were merely small lumps compared to an average adult Beowolf. Also, he seemed to be constantly struggling and tried to snap at Nina's hands.
"Well, he seems... lively." Richard commented, bending down slightly to see him at eye level, to which the young pup violently growled and snapped at him.
"Hey Richard, how come you're okay with me keeping this little guy, but always harp on about other stuff?"
"The Beacon Academy's rule book's policy on pets: 'Students attending Beacon are not permitted to keep dogs, cats, birds, fish, lizards, goats, cows, frogs or bears'." Richard recited.
"There's got to be a good story behind some of those." Nina pondered to herself, the Beowolf pup still struggling to get out of her grasp. "But anyway, I think he's properly house trained now, so we can have him at home with us!" As she said this, the young wolf managed to get a strong bite on his 'master's' fingers, and didn't let go.
"I'm okay with that. Now, would you kindly come back to base?"
"Alrighty then~!" Nina shoved the growling pup into her bag.
Nina and Richard made their way back to their dorm house, stopping outside their room. They opened the door and saw a rather unique sight.
"No, man! The cannon should fire swords!" Arin argued.
"You just don't get it! The cannon needs to fire guns! Otherwise the gimmick of a projectile firing another projectile wouldn't work!" Drew countered. "The entire point of the cannon is that it fires a gun!"
"It still needs to be swords, man! It just seems too... wait." Arin stood up, clarity sweeping over his face. "A cannon... that shoots cannons... that fires swords." He calmly declared.
Drew quickly scribbled it down. "Arin... I think I love you."
"Umm, what the hell are you doing?" Richard asked, unsure of how he should react to this.
"Oh, hey guys." Arin greeted his teammates. "We were just..." Arin then took a step backward. "Oh my God... What the hell was I doing?!" he asked himself in a panic. "Goddammit, Drew! Don't get me wrapped up in your stuff again!" he scolded his partner.
"Aw, come on.." Drew snickered. "You were pretty into it."
"Guys! Big news!" Nina glee fully cheered as she reached into her bag and threw a small, black, furry ball at her two bickering teammates. It landed on the desk in front of them with a loud bang. The ball unfolded turning back into the small Beowolf, which growled at everything it saw.
"T-That's your Beowolf!" Drew declared, tensing up on the couch.
"Well done, Captain Obvious..." Arin commented, but also tensed up.
The wolf pup just ignored them and jumped to the headrest of the couch and leaped towards Nina, it's fangs sharp and ready to tear. Nina simply opened her arms and hugged him as soon as he got within range, causing it to yelp at how tight she was hugging it. "Aww, he's so scared of being in a new place that he's run back to Mommy!" Nina cried in happiness. "He's finally house-trained!"
"Like hell it's house-trained!" Arin yelled.
"Nonetheless, I have decided that Moonmoon is now fit to stay with us!" Nina triumphantly declared.
"Wait, 'MoonMoon'? That's it's name?" Arin asked in disbelief.
"Yeah! It's the perfect name, right?"
"It sounds completely stupid!"
"That name sounds familiar..." Drew pondered.
"I used the 'moon' part because he's a wolf. And I said it twice because the alliteration is cute!" Nina explained, petting Moonmoon who growled angrily.
"Yeah, but it still sounds stupid!"
"... like I heard it from a TV show, or on the internet, or something." Drew continued to ponder.
"I propose a vote." Nina suggested. "How about we make Moonmoon a official member of team DARN?"
"Such a thing is out of the question!" Richard yelled. Drew and Arin proceeded to raise their hands in agreement with Nina. "Hey! You're doing that on purpose!"
"Y'know, if we replace Richard with Moonmoon, we'll become team DAMN." Drew commented.
"NO ONE'S REPLACING ANYONE!"
"Aww, and here I thought we were close to getting a halfway decent member." Arin sighed.
"So, should we get to work on that assignment thingy?" Drew suggested.
"Finally someone starts making sense." Richard groaned.
"Let's go~! Right, Moonmoon?" Nina cheered as she held him close to her face. He bit her nose. "Oh Moonmoon, you're such a kidder!" she giggled.
"Well, apart from Nina's apparent inability to recognize pain, I'd say we're all ready to go." Arin concluded.
"Alright!" Drew picked up his sheathed sword and fastened it two his belt. "Team DARMN, move out!" Drew announced.
"We're still just DARN." Richard sighed.
"Right, right..."
The four teammates were making their way through the crimsons leaves falling from the trees. Drew wore a black, zipped up jacket, denim shorts and runners, with his sword fastened to his side. Arin had a white shirt covered by an open trench coat and pants. Arin... still wore his uniform. And Nina wore a light blue hoodie and a red plait skirt.
"I hate it when we have to dress in our Sunday best just for going out for a walk..." Arin groaned.
"Alright team." Richard announced. "Suitable trees for our operation should be located approximately 715 meters North-North-East of our position. If we continue our current velocity of 5 meters per second, we should arrive in approximately-"
"We're going on a bear hunt~!" Nina gleefully sung, carrying Moonmoon close to her chest. "Don't worry Moonmoon, we won't let you get eaten by any ol' monsters!"
"Nina, I've been meaning to ask: do you realize that Moonmoon's a monster too, right?" Arin questioned.
"What do you mean?"
"He's a Beowolf."
"Well yeah, but he isn't like any ol' wolf!" she argued, holding her pet up to the sky. "My little Moonmoon is the greatest of his beautiful species! A one in a million! The shininess of his fur! The sharpness of his fangs! The pure redness of his eyes! These are qualities that may never get perfected by other Beowolves ever again! Moonmoon is next to Godliness! Moonmoon is an 'Omega Beowolf'!" she declared. Moonmoon tried to scratch her hands. "Also, he's very cute."
"I knew there was some stupid reason..." Arin sighed.
"We need to get rid of it..." Richard also sighed.
"Hey, it's okay. As long as it doesn't cause us any problems, it's okay for her to keep him!" Drew defended.
In the midst of his scratching and growling, Moonmoon held his head up high and let out a bloodcurdling howl, causing the team to silence for a moment. Silence fell on the forest for about a minute, until Arin broke it.
"Um, what was that all about?"
"Oh, my little Moonmoon's just super excited for our mission, that's all!" Nina explained.
"I dunno, I think he might be-" Drew stopped as they all heard the sound of a low beat. As they waited, it became louder. They could only guess it to be footsteps of some monster, but they were too fast to be just one. Soon, they could all see glowing, red eyes peering at them through the darkness of the trees.
"Drew, never talk again. You're a walking jinx." Arin scolded.
From the darkness, the paws of Beowolves began to step forward. The team realized they were all surrounded and huddled together with their backs turned to each other.
"I see. So when Moonmoon howled, he alerted his follow Grimm." Richard explained. "Well done. That was a well-played and clever strategy." he praised the pup.
"I know! He's cute and smart!" Nina giggled, petting her pet.
"Okay team!" Drew drew his sword and held it in a defensive stance. "Let's get ready to rumble!"
"Right!" Nina shoved Moonmoon back into her bag with a yelp and pulled out a battered, metal baseball bat.
"I guess there's no choice..." Arin sighed, pulling out a Desert Eagle handgun that had a knife duct taped to the bottom of it's barrel from a holster in the back of his belt.
"Everyone, I suggest we apply a strategy to this situation." Richard suggested. "Arin, you and I shall support cover fire, while-"
"Chaaaarge~!" Nina cried as she dashed toward some of the Beowolves, smashing it into the ground, causing a dust cloud to rise.
"H-Hey! Get back here!" Richard ran after her.
"Well, it's just you and me now." Arin commented as he held his gun out, aiming at the wolves.
"Hey, Arin? I just realized something."
"Shoot."
"If this was, like, a film or a show or a book, this would be a nice place to leave it on a cliffhanger!"
"Drew! What did I tell you about jinxing shit!"
AN: So, I was going to just leave this story, but then someone, I'm not pointing fingers here (cough cough), left a positive review. So, hey! Let's see where this takes us.
