Chapter #1: The Beginning
A few years later he was in middle school, people picked on him less now, he had taken to wearing a beanie with a neon blue anarchy symbol as it's emblem, he wore dark green cargo pants and a ash grey tank top, also having a neon blue anarchy symbol on them with suspenders and a black hoodie wrapped around his hips with black combat boots, and to top it all off, he also had steampunk-styled welding goggles hanging around his neck.
He was a bit more muscular than when he was littler, yet still maintained a slim form, he was also the most violent kid in the district, even leaving 2 or 6 officers with a few crippled limbs on different occasions, one day he was sitting in class and (his gut instincts telling him to bail.) decided he needed to use the restroom for a little while.
While he was in the men's room, he heard an alarm go off, the alarm was a 'security alert' as it seemed someone was going to start a shoot-out in the school, he poked his head into the hallway just enough to see 2 other student's turn traitor waltzing down the hall dressed in gym clothes and masks, one holding a 9mm pistol and the other a machete, with an AK47 strapped on his back.
Dipper was, for the most part, unconcerned, and waited for the approaching hostiles, seconds later the one with the machete started to walk past when he grabbed a knife from his shorts sheathe and drove it up into his arm socket, he let out a shriek of pain that alerted his companion, who yanked the machete from him and drove it towards Dipper. he didn't hesitate to pull away the knife, deflect the machete sideways with the back of his free hands palm, and planted the knife right into the wrist with the pistol, seeing that his attacker was bringing it up to fire.
"Hey asshat." Dipper snarled at his opponent. "Don't bring a gun to a knife fight." and with that, he pulled his upper body, and tripped him into the water fountain, then picked the gun up as he went, and fired into his exposed spine 2 times, the newly made cripple shrieked in pain before he was silenced when shock had caught up to him.
Dipper hadn't forgotten his first target, dropping down and swinging around, effectively dodging a failed surprise attack from the attackers good arm, and pistol whipping him, sending him sprawling to the floor in a fit of pain. Dipper quickly took his advantage and set his body weight through his knee as he sat on the back of the aggressor's neck and pressing the pistol to the back of his dome. "Speak." ordered Dipper, in a calm tone, pressing the still hot muzzle into the back of his neck. "Ahhh!~" yelled his victim. "Good boy! But I need words this time." he patronized as a quick interrogation took effect.
He quickly learned from his assailant that 'Dipper was an asshole and could go die in a hole alone.' however this wasn't anything new to Dipper, he had at this point started to get bored of the interrogation after several failed attempts to ask politely, cocking the gun and was about to blow a cap into his knee when the attacker relented fearfully, also finding out that there were a few others in the school, better armed than them, finally he found out that most of them were actually a few students in the school that had planned this little revolt for a month.
To say he was impressed… couldn't be further from the truth, they weren't even organised, and their combat experience was worse than amateur, hell he pretty much got all the info he asked and more, where was the fucking discipline in combat these days… well he supposed that was what the world was filled with anyway's, but still though, what a disappointment.
He finished his interrogation with a quick and relatively painless knock to the head with the back of the pistol, knocking his victim out, before dragging them both into a maintenance closet, and locking it. He proceeded to hunt down the rest of the attackers, effectively cutting one off from a large group of evacuating students, he even saved his ex-best friend and ex-crush from another that snuck in the bathroom while they were in a make-out session or some shit, and although he looked relieved to save them he truly just didn't want their deaths on his conscience.
They looked horrified at what they had just witnessed, probably assuming Dipper was the attacker, and that he was here for his revenge, Katie was quick to push Jacob out of the stall with a shriek of fear and proceeded to lock him outside with Dipper and the attacker, he turned back in a panic and banged on the door rappidly, when he attempted to crawl under the stall door she kicked him in the face repeatedly. 'at least she didn't have any heels on today.' Shrugged Dipper as he struggled to drag the unconscious body from off the sink counter and across the room.
Jacob crawled back away from the stall and stood up straight, teeth bared at Dipper and several bruises on him from the beating he received, the shiner she left wasn't so bad either. "Stay away, I-I'll fight back Dip-shit! I swear I'll-." he stopped when he noticed Dipper wasn't paying him any mind and continued dragging the body out the door. "Hey! Hey I'm talking to you loser! Yelled the egotistical backstabber.
Dipper went over to a pipe that usually stuck out of the wall, and started using the attacker's own belt to tie his arms above his head, when he turned around he was met with none other than Jacob, anger and confusion evident on his face. " Are you seriously ignoring me? Hey! dont ignore me fuckwad!" Dipper considered this for a moment before shaking his head and muttering his way down the hall, quickly losing his likely future stalker.
A few hallways away later and Dipper started to regret not taking that AK from the first group of students, it would have helped him fight, if not at least intimidate them into surrendering, shrugging off the fact he could have used it, he continued through the halls to search for the last stragglers.
He did interrogate that one idiot in the gym clothes from earlier, but he had grown careless and underestimated them immensely, he didn't come out of most of the encounters unscathed, and his now newfound respect of the shooter's made itself known as many of them had actually left critical injuries: a broken arm, two fractured ribs, and a sprained ankle, with many cut's all over his body. He hadn't he even noticed he got shot 2 times in the torso and arm until he had finished a quick fight, that he was running solely on adrenaline now… his wounds had started to take their toll when he heard a shriek of pain and fear from a voice he knew very well.
He quickly soldiered through the pain and continued at a quick pace, using every ounce of will he had to push forward, he turned a corner and was met with a sight that made his blood boil. There, laying helplessly against her attacker sat Mabel, the attacker was none other than his first victim, David… with a kitchen knife to Mabel's throat, her shorts were down and his expression said it all, and had exposed his true colors, the colors of a complete monster that wasn't too against the thought of mutilating others for his sheer enjoyment. "You're mine now bitch!" roared David as he prepared to remove mabel's last line of defense.
And just like that, David was rammed into the wall at the end of the hall, being propelled by a very pissed off Dipper as soon as he had hit the wall, there was a sickening -Crack- as his skull caved in slightly with the combined efforts of a rock and a hard place. (DipperxWall)
He continued to unload multiple clips into David's 'lower-half', until the trigger simply kept making -click-click-click- sounds, Dipper then turned shakily to find arms wrapped around him… with a force that nearly sent him flying, he was prepared to retaliate until he realized the assailant was hugging him tightly and crying uncontrollably, it was Mabel, the sister he had been avoiding ever since he snapped, he had decided to not go anywhere near her after the same day he first beat the snot out of most of the kids, the same girl whom had tormented him for the younger half of his life.
Now here she was, bawling her eyes out into her only siblings chest… Dipper immediately wrapped his arms around her protectively, holding her in a strong and comfortable embrace, trying to put her at ease he stroked her hair and whispered reassuringly. After minutes have passed Mabel had quieted down, but still refused to leave her brother's embrace, little did she know, his wounds had caught up with him, making him pass out while standing.
Mabel hadn't realized this fact, as she contemplated how Dipper had effectively saved her from the most traumatizing experience she could have ever had, even after all the shit she put him through, even after ruining most of his life for her own sheer amusement, even after literally beating him half-to-death multiple times. When she hadn't seen him for around a year one day she had assumed he had finally ran away, but she didn't care, she was actually relieved he was gone… for some reason or another she had started to despise her brother after it was learned she was the favourite twin.
And even after all that, he still saved her regardless of all she did to him.
She almost started to break down again, until she felt something wet dripping from her brother, she pulled away slightly to be greeted with the familiar sight of his blood. Normally she'd be overjoyed at the sight, but seeing him now, she was absolutely horrified…
Suddenly, a man in black combat fatigues came around a corner bearing an assault rifle, followed by four more of his comrades from behind. "Get down! Get down right fucking now!" he yelled, pointing his weapon at her threateningly, only to be interrupted by one of his comrades, who had smacked the first man's weapon away. "Idiot, that's one of the hostages, we gotta get her outta here."
And that's exactly what they did, other teams similar to their own also searched the school, each attacker they found had either been knocked out, tied down or locked in certain rooms, with miraculously no casualties, except for the trauma of the victims.
Dipper had woken up in the hospital later that week, covered in bandages and surrounded by medical equipment, greeting him was the sight of a man in a black suit holding an envelope and a bored look on his face. "Ah, so you finally decided to wake did you? Well, I'm honored." said the man in a sarcastic tone, then he had practically shoved some envelope into his face. "Here you go kid." the man said in a bored tone. "Congrats, you've been accepted in our ranks… Cadet." he then turned, and walked off to god-know's where.
Dipper hesitantly opened the envelope up, and nearly went into a coma after reading it's contents, it turned out a few weeks ago his parent's had signed him up to a special military boot camp, it was a new camp that needed new cadet's to test out if children could be used as soldiers, you were only accepted into the camp if you, your family, your community, and an officer from the camp had all signed an agreement to do it, it was said to be made to: 'Straighten you out.' by 'simulating' combat situations, or something along those lines, point was: someone forged his signature… little did he know that signature was going to do more harm than good.
The camp was recommended for juveniles that were seen as either troublemaker's, or children without futures… he was apparently under the category of both from his parent's point of view, not only that, but later when he looked at his medical records he found he was even recommended there by the hospital after they diagnosed him as a sociopath.
Before he knew what was happening, he was already on a crowded Huron APC headed to an unspecified location… "How is this happening, I didn't do anything wrong." inside the APC was hot and cramped, he was stuffed in with multiple other cadets from JROTC, with some troublemaker's here and there. (Here goes my shitty accent typing.) "Hey, zat's what I zaid too!" claimed a scratchy french accent sitting across from him, he turned his head from the window of misery to see a short dirty/spiky blond with her hair covering one eye and hair tips dyed black and a gap between her front teeth, giving her a cute vibe in Dipper's opinion, she looked at him mockingly for a few short seconds when he cockily responded with. "Well I doubt we responded the same way, after all… I didn't go without a fight." he said smugly, before showing the scars from the other day, at this the girl looked surprised for a few seconds before showing some fresh scars of her own, grinning ear to ear.
Dipper then asked one of the greatest cliché questions of all time. "So, what're you in for?" she smiled knowingly responding with. "Likely ze zame az you, your parents think you're worthlessly violent azvell?" he sighed in an exhausted tone. "More like my entire family does." he grumbled, before a bump in the road gave him yet another bruise in the cramped car. "Agh! shit!" he hissed annoyed, before noticing that his voice wasn't the only one that spoke that line, he looked up to an equally perplexed face staring back at him.
At this point his heart started beating slightly faster before he quickly composed himself, she had a little giggle before she said. "Hey, I know a way for us to go somevhere zat's slightly more comfortable, and a little less crowded too." she said deviously. "I'm all ears." he replied in sync with her pace. "Good, then play along: Oi! What'd ju zay to me Gangster-vannabe?!~" she suddenly yelled aggressively, she honestly hadn't expected him to play along and was only doing this to humor herself on the way to her home away from home.
Only to be surprised when he didn't even hesitate to pick up his roll: "What? Need your ears cleaned out too cunt!? I thought you were supposed to be trained for this! I bet you ain't even been broken in by your previous owner!" he shot back aggressively, he wasn't sure this was enough to start anything, but little did he know this actually got a real reaction from her, she lunged at him, knocking him into a few other cadet's who had been watching the fight before assuming they were in a fight as well…
To say they were unsuccessful in starting a small riot within the vehicle would have been laughable, shortly the back of the APC's doors opened and a drill instructor demanded to know who had started the fight, all the cadets were quick to blame Dipper and his unknown accomplice… they were dragged out of the vehicle by a few MP's, still struggling and trying to claw each other's eyes out, after a few seconds the instructor decided they could figure their own problems out and put them in the back of an empty cargo that they had on standby in case any of them caused trouble for the cadets.
Shortly after being tossed into the truck, the door's immediately slammed shut, locking out any hope for escape. He and his pal looked at each other menacingly, panting with multiple bruises and small cuts littered across their bodies before they started laughing whole-heartedly. "The names Dipper." he offered a hand. "Charles, charmed, and might I add that I didn't expect you to play the roll as perfectly as you did." complimented his new best friend in a joking tone, accepting Dipper's hand of friendship. After that they quickly started to share stories of things they did, all the fun experienced and even a few trauma inducing ones, but neither seemed affected by what they shared (Besides impression and admiration for the other of course).
Little did they know, a certain Officer from the surveillance truck was throwing up uncontrollably after eavesdropping on them and had later been sent to the hospital, he was given leave for a week after explaining his grossly humiliating experience.
They spent their time just lolling around their confined box, only stopping for when the instructor decided to check and see if they 'settled' their dispute, only finding a line drawn between them and various bruises littered across their bodies and scowls across their faces, making sure he thought they still hated each other, as soon as he left though they started conversing as if they'd known each other forever.
"zo, vere're you from?" asked Charles a few minutes after they were sure the instructor left. "California." he answered simply with a wave of his hand. "And I'm half-hoping this trip ends up finally being my escape from that hole…" he muttered the last part under his breathe, staring at the ceiling boredly. "How 'bout you?" Dipper asked, hoping to change the subject. "I'm from France, zough I doubt you'd even know ze name of ze city." shrugged Charles in a disheartened tone. "I miss the city… hated ze people zough, it was actually famous for it's violence you know." she answered cheekily, doing a small mystery puzzle inside his head, he decided to take a shot in the dark: "Marseille?" there was an uncomfortable pause from Charles just when she was gonna continue her rant. "Hmm… impressive." commended Charles after a moment of showing a suspicious look at Dipper.
For a few seconds he just sat smugly, before he looked to the ceiling in boredom… that's when his thoughts slowly drifted back to what happened at the school, he thought about the role he played in it's ongoing 'chaos', though he would have described it differently, that was pretty average… kid's running and screaming stupidly while others chased them as if their lives depended on it, it was ridiculous they were afraid of those boy's…
They picked on them every day after all, and their combat ability was so horrid that he took them all on himself, Sure they had guns and knives but that's besides the point, a weapon is only an extension of oneself after all, like a knife is a fist only sharper and leaves a noticeable mark… they could at the very least dodge them and beat them down like all bullies usually did, it all only took a dark turn when…
"Mabel..." he muttered breathlessly, he started to think about a time before she was known as the favourite and actually seemed to care about him, when they had nightmares and shared the same bed, the jokes and stories they told each other and games they use to play when no one else had time for them… just him and her before the whole favourite thing started...and he had almost had her life ruined, somehow he KNEW it was all his fault… she was almost ruined by that sick fuck David and cried in the arms of the brother she absolutely loathed… David made her go so low as to confide in Dipper himself, and Dipper knew she had truly lost who she was at that point, he turned her into an unconfident wreck that even Dipper could pick on, so delicate and fragile.
For a short minute he thought about the embrace he held her in, it was so cold and heavy and fragile… so many emotions started to bubble up in him that he hadn't had in years… and then he started to reinforce the wall to his somewhat emotional heart as he put a little puzzle together in his head… she just used him, she used him like a toy to cry to because she didn't care about what he thought, she was likely the one who got his signature on the damn forum for this unknown camp in the first place.
Because that was all he was at the end of it all… yet another tool: (Crrc-shatter) that was the nail on the coffin, he had finally burned out on all of his emotions, truly dead inside… if he wasn't a sociopath before… he probably was now. While he had his psychological shift: Charles quietly looked at the eyes that seemed to have so much fire in them before, to her disbelief, the fire seemed to burn away to be replaced by a cold, uninterested and aged look in his eye.
She could even feel it, she had watched as his aura seemed to first radiate an attitude that made her think he wasn't gonna last more than a day after he helped pull off her plan gorgeously, after all, nerdy anger management wannabe's had no business in a place like this… however her confidence shrunk, (much like Dipper's heart) three sizes around him that day when that fire in his eyes left behind the eyes of a wise and cold hearted man.
'I guess he belongz 'ere… just like me.' she smiled slowly at this, and watched his eye-lids started to knit themselves back together into a slumber fit for a drunkard like her, as he slept she listened to the humming of the engine and the whirring of tires on the dirt road before starting to feel sleepy herself, she quietly crawled over next to him, layed down, and slept next to her best friend… the only one she believes truly understood her… how else could he have the perfectly same paced mentality as her? It couldn't have been a coincidence… or perhaps it was… she didn't care, and just wanted to sleep at that moment, pulling his free arm and using it a a pillow.
They both woke up that morning from a rude awakening when the truck practically slammed on it's brakes and tossed them across the cargo hold they sat in, Charles was quick to react and stood in an aggressive stance, ready to fuck up whoever interrupted her greatest nap since her first hangover, only to listen as her partner in crime stood and quickly took to her side, also riled up from an apparently pleasant dream, evident with the irritation he displayed before her.
Only to realize it was probably the asshole driving the damned truck, they looked at each other before looking at the cargo door patiently… except that they were not patient when it came to interrupting fuck-awesome nap time that even toddler's would start a war over. The door latches that locked them inside unhooked themselves and the door came open, revealing none other than the same instructor that put them here… he was secretly their favorite as he had practically given them their own VIP room for the whole convoy.
"Morning ladies! I see you slept well~." taunted the instructor, they didn't have time to respond before he stated: "you better have solved you little 'disagreement' because if you haven't, I'll put you both in the hole instead." when he said this, there was an uncomfortable pause before both Cadets stood up straight and at attention, simply responding. "Yessir!~" with a snap-salute. The instructor smiled at this in a satisfied manner. "Good, you wouldn't want to miss your assigned posts now would you?" they responded smartly. "No sir!~" the instructor was slightly annoyed that they already understood the program in which they responded and followed orders, no questions asked.
They were instructed to line up with the rest of the cadets and put their feel together on some white footprints in an STS manner, and await commands in the front gate to the camp that sat at the foot of a mountain, they were joined shortly by a line of men in formal uniform, one of which was the instructor that greeted them earlier that morning. "Atteeention!~" at this a few smart cadets shut their mouths and stood at attention, Including Dipper and Charles… the others weren't as smart as they continued to stand lazily and talk amongst themselves, the instructors and overseer looked closely at who had immediately obeyed.
After a few seconds the overseer gave a sharp nod, and the MP's who stood at attention started walking down the aisle of boys and girls in STS positions, as they walked and stopped in front of the ones that did stand at attention, every kid they passed went quiet at their approach, though the MP's only paid any mind to the ones who followed orders.
They stopped in front of the obedient cadets and instructed them to walk over to an empty STS box on the right of the small stage that housed the instructors and the overseer, and faced the rest of the cadets, Dipper and Charles were both selected and sent to the box, and stood awaiting any command they came their way.
After a solid minute of selection, the process had finally finished and the MP's went back to their positions, at first the disobedient cadets were confused as to what happened until someone fired a gun 4 times on the stage, each of the cadets had various reactions, but the one that stood out was shocked silence, the overseer spoke again: "Welcome to Camp Washington, I'm Mr. Von Abraham (Mr. Von for short), and here is where we'll train you to properly behave and obey, along with shaping you into this nation's ideal perfect fighting force!" exclaimed Mr. Von. "You will address me as 'Mr. Von sir' from now on, in fact you will do so now, understood?" this was shortly followed by the group that Dipper and Charles were in line with to smartly respond with: "Yes Mr. Von sir!~" loud and clear, making the other cadets jump slightly in surprise from the sudden reply they heard, this was followed shortly by a mess of responses from the rest of the crowd.
The overseer scowled at them. "Shut it! You all need to understand what it means to respond to orders from a superior, just like these cadets here at box zero." they all directed their attention on 'box zero', and Mr. Von continued. "From this point they are now Pvt's that at the very least understand what it means to follow commands, I just wished there were more... The rest of you will need to go through basic training from the very beginning, while the Pvt's undergo combat training and be assigned to squadrons of their own, do I make myself clear cadets?" they sloppily responded with an assortment of yessirs. The overseer shook his head and turned his attention to the Pvt's. "Understood Pvt's?" and they responded appropriately with a: "Yes Mr. Von sir!~"
"They're good to go instructor's." Mr. Von told a small group of instructors on stand by, they gave quick salutes and marched in front of box zero, instructing them to move into two groups of boys and girls side to side of each other, Dipper expected to see Charles go for the girls group, but didn't say a word when she stood just behind him.
That's when the two groups formed lines and marched away from camp Washington, they stayed on the same path for 4 miles until a fork came up with a sign that pointed out two different camp named: camp Musket and camp Flintlock, for the Male Muskets and Female Flintlocks, both gates could be seen from the fork, the only other trails was the trail to washington, and the trail that continued further up the mountain, the women went off to the right while the men went off to the left.
Along the way Dipper thought about the surroundings, he wasn't sure if the convoy passed an outer gate on the way here, but this place didn't seem very restricting, he was also interested in the discipline the other children in his group showed. Though since he was leading the little march he didn't dare turn his head, lest he wanted punishment, they stopped at the gate where other men in uniform waited with boxes on tables, and clipboards in their hands.
"Halt!" barked the group leader, to which they complied. "Here's how we're going to proceed, we will hand each of you a clipboard with a test clipped to it, you will complete the test start to finish within 3 hours, then you will go back in formation after being handed your uniform and a satchel with a change of clothes and boots, the first group of 20 to finish will be assigned to the same Platoon and move to the first bunkhouse, this process will repeat for the rest of you, is that understood?" finished an instructor, and they responded "Sir Yessir!" he continued. "You will then pick your bunks and change into your assigned uniform, then you will proceed to line up outside of your bunk house and await further instructions, do I make myself clear?" to which they responded: "Sir yessir!~"
"Good, now follow continue in 3 single file lines." the instructor was about to order them to reply with an 'aye sir!' when he was interrupted by none other than Dipper, Charles and surprisingly a black haired Pvt that was just behind Charles. "Aye sir!" the other boys stumbled for a moment before they responded with a late "Aye sir!~" most of them looked sheepish and unsure how to continue, but Charles, Dipper and the unknown stayed stone faced and continued following their instructions as ordered.
The instructor watched as they followed their orders to the letter and without hesitation, then looked back at the rest of the Pvt's that were still unsure how to continue. "Well? Get moving ladies!" at this the rest of the Pvt's went back to their stoney faced expressions and followed Dipper and Charles' example, 2 hours passed since they began and Dipper was looking at his test silently, close to finishing the test, Charles however wasn't looking at the test, but discreetly at Dipper instead, waiting for him to get up and go.
She had finished her test before the ten minute mark and was about to turn it in until she saw that Dipper was taking his sweet time with a bored expression painted across his face, when she saw this she was quick to sit back down again and waited, since then over 60 Pvt's had finished the test and had already filled up the first 3 bunk quarters.
And she was starting to lose her patience, she wanted to prove to the instructor that she wasn't some useless waste of space, that she was better than the rest of these Pvt's and should quickly rise through the ranks, but she also wanted to get to the bunks as quick as possible and change while no one paid attention to her, so as to keep her secret, however Dipper was taking so long that she started to wonder if he was really worth it.
Though the more she observed him, the quicker she caught on that he was looking at every other Pvt, obviously taking every little detail about them into consideration, but he wasn't looking at the Pvt's only, no, he was looking at their instructors closely as well.
Especially the one that gave them the instructions, the same one who gave them their own VIP transport here she noted quickly, she was pulled out of her thoughts when she heard: "5 minutes left." and saw Dipper give a barely noticeable nod while standing and walking over to turn in his 'test', she was quick to follow and turned in her test right next to Dipper, when they were both about to continue on to the line they were stopped by the very same instructor.
"Hold it Pvt's, you're coming with me." both Charles and Dipper turned and gave a salute, responding with a stone-face and loud: "Yes, sir!" and followed him over to a smaller bunkhouse that didn't have a large bunk room, but instead looked like a dorm area. "You two will be assigned here, as PFC's for the express purpose of being model soldier's for the rest of: 'Musket's first Platoon', do I make myself Clear PFC's?" they responded with a simple. "Yessir." when he gave them each a same numbered room key.
"You'll both be sharing the same room, nothing either of you can't handle I'm sure, after all, you did spend an entire convoy ride here, now get to your assigned bunk room and change into your field uniform, the clothes you came in here with will be left in a shared locker within your room." he produced yet another set of key's with a keyring on it for likely future keys."once you have completed these instructions you will continue to the canteen, where we will regroup with Flintlock to our joint sparring/training ground, questions?" he asked, they of course replied with: "No sir!"
He gave a sharp nod and continued back to the canteen to wait for all the recruits, while Dipper and Charles continued to room 0 at the end of the hall, upon entering the room Charles let loose an ear-splitting grin and turned to Dipper. "Veil, I guess ve're stuck with each ozher, aren't ve mind reader?" Dipper looked back at her and genuinely smiled. "If I had to be stuck with anyone else, I'd probably have a hard time not killing them." they both had a short laugh at this and looked around the room for a short minute, when Dipper concluded, you take the bathroom, I'll use this room." she then asked why and he responded with. "Don't want me seeing your cunt like the rest of the camp now do we?" he raised a brow with a suggestive smirk, she took this as a joke with a roll of her eyes, then proceeded to the bathroom.
By the time they were finished, Dipper had standard combat boots with woodland digital cargo pants with slightly puffed out pockets, he kept on his suspenders and put on a black tank top, with a woodland digital button up shirt over the tank top, leaving it unbuttoned and finally put his beanie back on his head, he left the rest of his personal stuff inside the locker he found under the bed as instructed and looked back to charles
She also wore combat boots with a white tank top, shirt and pants, the difference between them was she didn't have suspenders or a beanie and instead had a velvet red and dark black collar with the words: 'It pleases me to please you' on it, but was quick to cover it up with her uniform collar, though the top still made itself visible in the right light, but she did suspiciously have bandages wrapped tightly around her chest barely unseen by the tank top, that's when Dipper finished the puzzle on what she was doing… but he decided that it wouldn't hurt if he just kept his mouth shut.
"Tsk tsk tsk." went Dipper, Charles responded. "vat? vat's wrong?" she asked accusingly, he responded. "Nothing's wrong per say, but… whatever, listen, wanna borrow one of my suspenders and a beanie?" he asked politely, she considered this and shrugged. "Couldn't hurt I s'poze." and with that they continued to the canteen without interruption, along the way they both took note of how the camp looked far larger inside than it did out.
The reason Dipper and Charles were assigned to the same bunk was because the same drill instructor had secretly learned about their little ploy after watching the recordings from the surveillance truck, and liked the fact that despite being a pair of delinquents, they both had discipline unmatched by the rest of the few Battalions he came here with, evident from the welcoming ceremony given by the overseer. He was amazed and impressed with the two's quick planning and teamwork, but also their confidence and possible leadership skills when they pulled off the plan without a hitch.
Seeing all the evidence himself, he selected them as PFC and used them a 'role model's', not long after hearing their achievement's, the cadets and Pvt's started spreading rumors about the two's quick achievements, it somehow got all the way back to camp washington… Dipper and Charles were later given the titles: Salt and Pepper, the Sociopath and the Psychopath when they responded uniquely to the rumors, yeah, later Dipper learned that apparently Charles was too attached with her emotions while Dipper had an apparent lack thereof, that was only a plus when pairing the two as partners for laters officer's course in their drill instructor's eyes, who was later known as 'Sir', he firmly believed that they could balance each other out in terms of psychology.
Sir was an excellent instructor among many, he was prepared to start Disciplining Salt and Pepper's combat ability to match their possible future leadership roles, that is until he was given an example of their strength, agility and smarts as they sparred with the other combat instructors and talented Pvt's skillfully with few flaws in between.
He observed PFC Pepper/Charles: her fighting was a complete mess of emotions, every move she made unpredictable, animalistic and brutal, as her nickname implies she was the Pepper that spiced up the session and added a bit of flavour into the mix, she truly was a Psychopath. Note: There's a slight tint to her cheeks.
He then observed PFC Salt/Dipper: his fighting was completely clean of emotions unlike his counterpart, his movements were cold, calculating and graceful, his nickname was clear as he showed bitter intent much like Salt did when interacted with, he snugly fit the bill of a Sociopath. Note: He looks bored out of his mind again.
What they had in common was their ability to drive fear into each of their opponents throughout the fight's and finishing their opponent for quick wins, what made it even better was when they did team sparring, they worked perfectly in tag-teams and 2v2's, working coordinately with each other. 'So different yet so much better together… like Salt and Pepper, a fitting name I suppose.' Thought Sir to himself as he decided to see what would happen when they fought over the same omelette.
"Next is PFC Salt vs PFC Pepper." This quickly brought everyone's attention back to the ring, quickly regaining their interest after losing such humiliating battles so quickly, both looked at each other cockily and moved to the ring with confidence, they had both been hoping to spare with each other for a long time, and had been interested in each other's combat ability since they first met.
"The rules are simple, do not fall out of the ring or you lose, the fight will go on for five minutes, the fight will stop when the other opponent either surrenders or falls unconscious, even if the other is unable to continue fighting they must either surrender or fall unconscious for the fight to stop. Understood?" he asked the pair, to which they nodded respectively. "Ready." They took up their own stances. "Set." They were now ready to strike without hesitation, or mercy. "Begin!~"
Salt sidestepped Pepper's attack, which was a kick that sent sand flying in his direction. "Hey, that's cheating!" Exclaimed one of the cadets, who was interrupted by a close-by instructor: "Nonsense, there was nothing in the rules that stated otherwise, they're merely using their environment to their advantage, they can do whatever they wish to ensure their win… even go 'below' the belt…" at this, every man/boy found their hands protectively guarding their crotches in fear.
Salt ignored them and proceeded to jump and rolled to the side and found himself at the edge of the circle, Pepper saw an opening and made for a 'this is sparta!' kick, when he stepped forward and grabbed the end of her ankle which had barely reached him, and prepared to flip her out of the ring, until she brought up her other leg and kneed him right in the jaw, nearly dislocating it, he stumbled, losing his grip on her ankle, then came back to reality and found she was on top of him with a violent glint in her eyes, she was in a mounted position and was about to sucker punch him.
He quickly made the decision of headbutting her, almost breaking her nose, she fell back and rolled as not to be mounted herself, she took a knee, clutching her nose, she pulled her hand away and there was some blood dripping from her nose, she looked back angrily at Salt but calmed slightly as he merely got even for his own bloody mouth.
They both stood and stepped forward, closing the gap between them, this time Salt made the first move, bringing his fist up, she made to block but was surprised as it wasn't the fist that came into contact with her, but an elbow instead, which had snuck from below her own block.
She prepared to retaliate when the same elbow came back down and drove itself into into her throat, bringing her down and gave Salt the chance to drive his knee into her gut, driving the air out of her lungs, Salt was about to throw her to the side to lay sprawled out, but found that a little difficult as he himself was being thrown over her shoulder.
As he fell he landed on his feet and brought his other elbow down onto her lower spine, but she just shivered in response when she turned to meet his gaze. 'That should have at least made her stumble.' he thought, looking back at her panting face, which had adopted a heavy lust filled gaze. 'Holy shit, is she a masochist?' he thought for a moment, before his face met with the bottom of her boot.
He was on his back again, totally dazed as she once more mounted him, taking her time this time, rubbing her own groin against his. He looked up slowly while she put both her hands together creating one fist, she raised her arms as high as they would go, but before she could bring the hammer down she hesitated when she saw the look in his eyes, it was like she was looking at a different person instead of her friend for a split second… his gaze was so cold and careless that it sent a shiver of excitement up her spine when it filled others with complete horror and fear.
Salt noticed her hesitation, and lunged his head for her neck and bit down, only enough to bring her out of her daze, instead of actually leaving a real mark… but still enough to bruise her, she reacted unexpectedly and moaned quietly into his ear, arching her back, he took his opening and slipped a leg under her and used all he had in his legs and launched her to the other side of the ring, landing on her back and panting, then rolling onto her knees with her head to the ground, trying to recover whatever air that abandoned her lungs.
He stood quickly and moved slowly for her, and soon found himself standing above her, she had recovered mostly and was starting to look up, only to find an arm wrapped around her neck that began squeezing her main air passage. She grabbed his arm and began to pry but he didn't budge, and the more she attempted to remove him, the colder she realized he actually felt… his skin was so cold it brought a new meaning to 'cold-blooded', just when Salt assumed Pepper would give up, she stood up with a newfound strength and was about to slam him backwards when he kicked off from her, sprawling her out onto the dirt.
There was a cool silence as she stood again, panting heavily, and whipped back around to stare at Salt for a few moments, and was quickly surprised when he tackled her out of the ring, they rolled from the force of the roll which ended with her on top, but instead of a mounted position, her knee sat on top of his chest while her other foot sat on one of his arms, effectively bruising it.
Pepper smiled warmly at Salt, and not even in a creepy sadistic/blood lust filled smile, but one that you'd offer kindly to a close friend or family member, then leaned down to his eyes with her blush growing slightly before being interrupted by the announcer. "And the winner is, Salt with Pepper taking the loss!~" Salt's eyes widened, while Pepper's merely looked down at him doe-eyed for a few seconds before quickly shaking her head and regaining her composure, Pepper stood stiff as a board, as if caught with a hand in the cookie-jar.
The announcer announced the leaderboards, Salt took first, Pepper second and a PCF from camp Flintlock called 'Sugar' took third, while the rest were just random names. "The Sociopath, the Psychopath and the Narcissist." muttered an intrigued Sir while he stared at the scoreboard with an amused grin, then proceeded back to his own bunk, preparing for the end of the day.
Later Salt found himself back at his bunk, rubbing his sore muscles from his recent sparring session with Pepper, and although he felt miserable physically, his mental status was far from miserable. 'This is the best place that has ever happened to me, I can't believe I was so worried!~' he practically sung to himself, smiling like a fool while looking at himself through a mirror, for a few seconds he just stared at his scrapes and bruises. But was then interrupted by Pepper when she commented. "Oooh, am I hallucinating, or are you wearing a happy grin right after a whoopin session from yours truly?" asked a laughing Pepper.
"I think it's just you." he smiled back. "I don't smile after all, you should know that with your strange masochist personality right after I started whipping your ass." at this her face dropped. "You saw?" Salt was about to reply truthfully, but seeing the dread in her eyes made his chest tighten for a few moments. "N-nah… I was just seeing things." he replied lamely, figuring he might have made a mistake, until he saw her go back into the regular peppered personality she always had and smiled sweetly. "Heh, I think we should spar again sometime soon, I want my place at the top where I belong, any I won't have it swiped from under me by some bitter side-kick." she taunted jokingly, to which he laughed.
"Heh You're on, there's no way you could beat me when it comes to an original martial art form." he replied tiredly, but Pepper wasn't going to let that slide: "An original art form? So you have one as vell do you?" asked Pepper, he responded "I do, and I did indeed notice your own original form aswell… it made fighting with you difficult…" he said, grumbling the end. "You Know… we could try putting zem togezer zomehow…" she said suggestively, Salt chose to ignore her flirting attempt and looked at Pepper tiredly, truly considering the idea of somehow putting the arts together… however they were polar opposites, it was unlikely that it could work. "I doubt it, your art's was created the same was as mine was, the very basic part of the fighting was burned into your head, there's no way we could use each other's stances or ability… if there was a way to put them together I'm sure we would have by now." at this Pepper blew a strand of hair from her eyes annoyed that Salt didn't get her joke, and that she couldn't maybe steal his technique and be more like him.
There was a knock at their door, both Salt and Pepper looked at the door and barked: "State your rank, name, nickname and business here!" they said in unison, they got their response immediately. "Pvt. Zoe, but everyone calls me Ebony, I… can you guys give me zome tips or eh... advice?" the voice sounded feminine and the accent was German, at first the voice was strong and businesslike, but quickly devolved into a nervous tone, Salt and Pepper looked at each other before Salt shrugged and Pepper replied: "It'z unlocked, come on in." there was a pause, until the knob turned and revealed the same Pvt from the earlier test, the only one who responded the same way salt and Pepper did… 'So why wasn't she made a model PFC as well?' wondered Salt, but quickly dismissed his thinking at the moment, it would be rude to ignore guests after all.
"Hey, you're ze only ozher von zat rezponded ze same az me and Zalt 'ere from ze entrance." observed Pepper, looking at her confusedly. "I don't think you really 'ave any reason to go look'in for 'our' advize, eh?" looked at Zoe, or rather, Ebony now. "What do you need exactly?" asked Dipper politely, she responded. "I… I've never seen either of your fighting techniques before, Salt look's like his was originated from the dead kick boxing art: Muay Thai, however your fighting technique looks like it originated from Savate, however instead of uniform movement's like the original martial arts, you both have much looser movements, und your unpredictability when switching between moves is unnatural, as if the moves were altered expressly for a newly generated move."
She looked ecstatic and absolutely dazed, but it was obviously in an excited manner, this got Salt to contemplate for the first time whether he should share his originally generated martial art form to a complete stranger, he was very hesitant when it came to explaining his art to someone he barely knew… but the more he thought about it, the more he felt like explaining, after all, no one has ever shown his technique this much interest before, not even the kids that knew martial arts at his school just because they wanted to teach him a lesson.
"Zo you're asking us vat exactly?" Pepper asked while Salt was now looking for reasons not to spill any of his secrets, then she responded: "Would you mind teaching me how to fight like you guys do?" there it was, the reason she wanted to be anywhere near the most feared duo in camp… was to become one of them. "I'm not affiliated with any basic fighting stances, and I don't know if I'll even be any good, but when I saw both of you facing off against each other, I felt my heart beating so quickly… I thought I'd have a heart attack, we may be learning the same martial art that was passed down through the rest of the military, but neither of you were beaten when you faced off against the rest of the camp."
Salt and Pepper looked at each other, looking right into each other's eyes as if they could speak telepathically… though they couldn't, they did have a similar mindset, they turned back to Pvt Ebony: "So you just want us to teach you our art forms?" they asked incredulously, to which Ebony nodded nervously and hesitantly. "If it's not too much to ask." Salt and Pepper looked at each other with smiles painted on their faces. "Vell, it vould be very polite to share ze conversation ve vere 'aving vouldn't it?" questioned Pepper, Salt responded: "I believe so… You see Pvt Ebony, we were just talking about our fighting styles before you got here, and we'd both like to learn how to use them together, the problem is we both have our own training burned so deeply and permanently into our minds, we can't rightly understand the other's technique… that being said we'd still like to see them somehow put together.
"What we're trying to say Ebony is that we're pretty much using you as a guinea pig, once you have a basic understanding of both our styles, we'll try to mold them both together in you, later we'll teach you the rest of our art's in a combined effort so that they become a new art altogether. By the end of our teachings, you'll have to teach us what we taught you, so that we may also use each other's art." Salt roughly explained, then gave the nervous Ebony a reassuring smile. "That being said, you'll have to stick with us… any objections?" he asked cheerfully, Ebony looked at Salt, then to Pepper, who was mirroring his expression almost perfectly.
"I-I don't mind, it would be really nice to have a group to go to…" Ebony said shyly, now that the agreement was out of the way, Salt took in her appearance: she was a bit taller than Pepper, her hair was a short Ebony black and her uniform consisted of a white tank top with woodland digital cargo shorts and her shirt was wrapped around her hips, as well as the standard combat boots, she had a woodland digital bandana wrapped around her neck, arm and leg.
Meanwhile Pepper was asking a question that was nagging at her mind ever since she first saw Pvt Ebony fall into the same line as her and Salt: "So, are you Male or Female." she asked bluntly, and Ebony response: "I am Female, but I am under registration in musket for… 'special' reasons… before I came here I was actually in a juvenile detention center in Germany serving life for murder on an island prison called: Corbitz Row, I didn't do it mind you… but no one believes a word I say." Salt looked at Pepper, then asked: "Who're the victims?" and she replied "It… was ex-best friend's family… it was like I was in a nightmare… the only one I called friend said I did it, but I know it was him, he had this malicious look in his eyes." she said shakily.
There was a pause before Pepper spoke up. "So they're letting you into a boys camp?" she asked hopefully, and Ebony replied: "Y-yeah… I thought there'd at least be one other girl in the camp but… either way every boy has been hitting on me, I'm only here because you two seem similar to me, we're all very uniform if you ask me. The other's lack discipline, you're both inmates aswell right?" she asked in a hopeful tone, Salt and Pepper looked at each other, then back at Ebony: "I'm 'ere because I accidentally killed a local barkeep and his bouncer… though it vas an accident on my part."
They both had a look of understanding when they looked at each other, then looked at Salt expectantly. "How about you PFC Salt?" asked Ebony. "Just call us Salt and Pepper Ebony." said Salt, then said. "If you haven't heard about what I did… it might be in your best interest that you both never know." he replied vaguely, after a few seconds of letting that sink in he looked outside and said: "It's getting late Ebony, you should go and turn into your bunk before the instructor's come up with lewd ideas about you staying overnight." when he said that both girls blushed and nodded quickly, Ebony go up and gave a respectful salute, turned, and went out the door.
Pepper thought about what Ebony said, then thought about her situation… instead of dwelling on it too long, she decided to turn in for the rest of the day, but before she did: "Y'know, if you ever wanna tell me your dirty secrets, I'll tell you mine." she said jokingly. "You mean the fact that you're a chick posing as a dude? I'll take my chances." laughed Salt in a warm manner, she was about to respond when he said: "Don't worry, I won't tell a soul, living OR dead, Musketeer's Promise: all for one and one for all…" she thought about what he said, but decided everything he said just now was a joke, and that he didn't know she was a girl after all, she soon fell asleep to have an interestingly hot dream.
Salt however didn't fall asleep immediately, unlike his counterpart he didn't like sleeping at night, if he had a choice he'd be nocturnal, after having his fill of looking into the starry night sky he thought about the sparring session the camps had, 'Was it a way to start the first ranking list? To decide who's who? Either way, I guess it's better this way, now I'm around other people who've had similar experiences, at least they understand.' after his moment of thinking, he searched through his provided satchel that was assigned to him earlier, finding a few different types of books: Notebooks, Rule books, Engineering books for weapons and vehicles, Books on tactical warfare and Chemical warfare, Book's in crafting, Medical, Etc, the list went on and on.
But they were all here for one purpose: to prepare each of the children in these camps for any future threats. It was obvious that every nation wasn't opposed to this, as there were kids here from all over the globe, boy's and girls of all ages, shapes, colors and sizes, no matter what religion. He decided to put a pen in trying to piece THAT puzzle together for now, as a note in the 'rule book' caught his attention, the note explained that it is required that they read everything in the bag, the empty notebooks were not only there to take notes, but also for them to list their mental status so that each government participating could evaluate their results when in the program, Salt got the jist of it and moved onto another book that explained more about the camp they currently sat in, apparently they were completely cut off from the rest of the world, they weren't even on any maps, no food was sent here unless there was an emergency, and they grew their own.
Because they were probably on an unknown island in the middle of butt-fuck nowhere, he had no idea how they got here, he didn't feel himself get put on a ship or a cargo plane or heli, he had no clue… 'Unless it was while everyone was asleep.' thought Salt, of course this was assuming they were put on an island in the first place as he found it hard to believe any nation would willingly put their own 'child-soldiers' completely in the care behind another nation's borders. So for the moment he was going to assume they were on a classified island.
Another thing he discovered was that they still had 'internet' though instead it was called: 'Blacknet' and it was strictly limited to the camp's surrounding area, apparently just because they were going to be the world's killing machines, didn't mean they couldn't taste what it meant to be human, or maybe it was part of their training, blending in with society to hunt a target or go undercover, maybe even be sleeper agents, or maybe it was so that when whatever they're preparing for it over they can reintegrate into society without a problem and be somewhat normal again, after all it's not like they can just execute a bunch of highly trained soldiers trained to defend themselves.
There were many things that will likely happen, all that mattered is that he's here now, and he wasn't planning to escape any time soon… he didn't have anywhere he'd rather be.
So for the next few hours that first night he wrote his thoughts into the notebook as instructed, then continued to read into as much of the books in the bag as possible, especially the rule book that explained what it could about the place they were in, he read and read until he fell asleep inside a mountain of books, that buried him alive.
The next morning he woke up to the sound of a morning trumpet, by the end of it the speaker it sounded from said: "Get to the canteen in the next hour, failure to comply will result in consequences, that is all." when he heard this there were two groans that sounded in his room, though one of them wasn't from Salt, when he noticed this fact his eyes shot open and he looked around quickly, the only thing catching his sight was Pepper climbing halfway down the ladder and making her bed, he sat up slowly as his eyes fell away from her lower half and back to the pile of books that buried him… he didn't have this many books…
He wasn't sure how to react to this, luckily he didn't have to as the pile shifted when someone popped her head up from the pile and looked down at him. "Morning already?" the apparently girl asked, luckily she was wearing her own uniform instead of pajamas… her uniform was from the girls camp: camp Flintlock, so he had no clue what she was doing in Musket. "I could totally go for some breakfast right now." he was about to respond when Pepper dropped down from the ladder with a hostile look in her eyes. "Who ze hell!- state your rank, name and nickname!" ordered, she was obviously about to kick the shit out of her, but luckily put herself back under control before she did something she might regret.
"Huh? Ah, I have introduced myself yet have I?" she asked in a British accent before she continued: "I am Private First Class. Ava, but everyone calls me 'Sugar', because I'm the sweetest thing you'll ever lay your eyes on." she replied seductively. "Wait, you're telling me zat YOUR Sugar? ze third place occupant on ze scoreboard?" asked a less angry Pepper.
At this she responded with the cockiest smirk she could muster: "You know it, and you two are PFC Salt and Pepper, the only boy's in Musket that have a shot into the Officer's classes. I'm the only current girl at Flintlock that's gotten as far as you two… though if we fought I'm sure I'd be at the top of the scoreboard… either way, since we're all on the same boat I thought id introduce myself."
"So you can both serve me. . ."
(Aaand that's that for the very first chapter, I love for people to comment and tell me what they think about this, I might not continue attempting to write the accents as it's a lot of work. Another thing I'd like to state if I hadn't made it clear before is that I am NOT taking this to gravity falls or including characters from there besides Dipper anytime soon, but it will eventually get there I promise, finally I'd like to address that I'm pumping all I've got into making chapters for both THIS story, as well as: Down A Different Road. I don't plan on abandoning everything I've done so far, I'll welcome any suggestions for the story if you have any: Music, OC's, Scenarios, Weapons and Vehicles, Etc. thank you all for reading. :D)
