I DID IT AGAIN! Sorry for stalling the next chapter for almost 2 months to those who actually still follow this fic, but exams we pain to deal with. Plus I got summer school soon (ironically, it's english -_-), but don't fret, its likely you'll get a chapter next week if my scedule doesn't screw up like it usually does. Anyways, enjoy!
I am now convinced that the sadist known as "Life" had a list of people that involved making their lives as miserable as possible; and I was its number one priority.
"I still can't believe we're partners!" an excited Aero exclaimed in joy, "I mean, who would have thought that you and I were going to end up partners. Heh, it totally must be destiny!"
Yes Aero, it's my destiny to end up forever punished for my non-existent sins...
"...L-let's just go and get the relic." I mumbled as I walked past the wolf faunus.
"Wait for me partner!" Aero called out as he began to follow me.
We walked in silence for a brief moment, brushing past the branches that hung in front of our faces as we navigated through the thick maze. It felt weird, awkward actually, to walk with the guy who talked non-stop during our first day at Beacon. It was like Aero just realized that he just partnered with a socially awkward loner and every single conversation that he could think of just vanished. This silence didn't feel right, it wasn't peaceful; I decided to be the one to break this silence, despite how painful it felt to do so.
"Um A-Aero?"
"Yes partner?" he cheered in an upbeat tone.
"S-so I was wondering, um, why did you stay behind to wake me up?" I asked. To be fair, I was horrible at conversations, after all I had little-to-no experience with this kind of stuff. But I was curious though. Why DID he stay behind and help me arrive at the initiation? Seriously, even if he stayed behind and didn't want to wake me up, he could have just gone on his magical physics adventure by himself; so why help me?
I honestly believed that a simple question, or rather any question in the matter, would get the wolf faunus to talk like a criminal confessing their crimes. But Aero remained silent; in fact he actually stopped walking. Seriously, was he actually struggling to answer my question?
"Aero?"
"Ursa Major, approaching from our left side..." Aero whispered in a serious tone, his wolf ears twitching as he told me this. I'm a complete idiot to forget that the animal features weren't just for appearances – they actually were extremely useful. This is what separates the humans and faunus: the animal-like characteristics. A regular faunus can see in the dark, hear better, smell better – actually, all their senses are higher than the average human. So it was only natural that he could detect something before I could.
I readied Ol'M8 in the direction my new partner had warned about, my trigger finger ready to let loose. "How close is it?"
"It's only a couple feet away." Aero answered as he guided his right hand into sweater's pocket, as if he was grabbing something, possibly his weapon.
What happen next surprised me; I expected the ursa grimm to slowly emerge from the surrounding plant life. What I saw however was that said grimm jumped out of nowhere, ready to land on me and feast on my demise. Wait, that doesn't make any sense; how the bloody Dust does an ursa have the capability to jump?!
I tried to take aim at my target, but my initial shock of the ursa's "encounter" had stalled enough time for the monster to have an advantage against me; it was going to strike me down.
Suddenly an object blurred right past me and struck at the demon; upon impact, the grimm literally exploded, its remaining pieces began falling onto the ground. Needless to say, I was shocked that such a thing was possible.
W-what...just happen?!
The object that annihilated the grimm sped in the opposite direction past me. I turned me head over to see what had just saved me and to my surprise I saw Aero holding from what looked like to be his weapon in his right hand: a yo-yo.
I was saved by an exploding toy...from my sociopath partner...WHO IN THEIR RIGHT MIND WOULD TRUST THIS GUY WITH THAT KIND OF WEAPON?!
The yo-yo was a complete surprise, but what shocked me more was that I just realized that Aero actually acted serious for a brief moment. I just faced him, awe struck at what I just witnessed.
"Ya' know, it's very rude to stare at someone for a long period of time." the wolf faunus explained, his usual tone returning.
"I-is t-that a yo-yo?! You d-demolished an ursa major with a yo-yo?!
"His name is Yang-Yin actually," Aero explained as he held out his hand to give me a closer look at his "weapon". Yang-Yin looked like a regular toy, its rim was light gray, and in the center of the rim was a Yin-Yang symbol. "But yes Red, in a simple definition, it's a 'yo-yo'."
"B-but h-how?! I mean...the ursa...j-just went... and the yo-yo was like- "
"Oh, you mean the exploding part? Yeah, that part gets me every time." he answered, "You see, Yang-Yin uses a small amount of my aura to enhance its blows, creating an outward force within its target."
"So it's a double edged sword? I mean you deal a lot of damage, but it takes a toll on your aura too." I concluded from the information he provided for me.
"I guess you can say that. But all I gotta' do is cha-"
Before Aero could finish his explanation, a crashing sound echoed through my ears and a faint vibration from the ground was felt through my feet. Unless the trees in this dense forest could randomly explode, that sound could only be produced through one thing: a conflict between grimm and one of the huntsmen/huntresses.
"C'mon partner, let's go check it out!" Aero exclaimed as he began to run in the direction of where the echo was heard from. With a brief sigh, I followed my partner into the unknown.
I'm already chained down with a partner. Who knows, maybe I'll die on the way...that would save the hassle of socializing...
It wasn't hard to find the place of whatever created that sound. All we did was follow a path of destruction; restless trees were knocked down, rocks were shattered. It looked as if the huntsman/huntress in-training had a brief clash between the inhabiting grimm and then proceeded to continue its slaughter. I'm not over-exaggerating- as we continued to navigate through this road of aftershock, the path became progressively more "unstable".
The surrounding environment began to look even worse and the foul stench of evaporating grimm became stronger; who ever went through here had recently slaughtered these monsters, which meant that this person was nearby.
I trembled a bit internally as we got closer to our destination; I was going to meet a new person after all. This is one of the many burdens of the socially-poor: we'll always go through some internal conflict when we have to confront an unknown person, regardless of where we are, or what we're doing. I'm not lying to you. I always freak out when I know that I'm going to have to meet a new face.
Our final destination led us to a river bank, though from what I saw, it very much looked like a torn battlefield. The entire area was filled with the corpses of grimm – beowulves, ursas, boarbatusks, Dust there was even dead Nevermore crashed upon the rocky shores. They all had one thing in common: it looked like they were beaten to death. There weren't any signs of cuts from a sword or holes from a gun- all the grimm had dislocated limbs, and there were crater markings everywhere as if meteorites rained from the sky.
But that was just the background of the grand display; in the very center of the battlefield stood a large black King Taijitu looking upwards towards the sky. Looking up, I saw a green meteor descending upon the snake-like monster. The meteor crashed, erupting a fog-like dust cloud with bits and pieces of rock and debris.
"Um Aero?" I mumbled in awe at the scene.
"Yeah...?" my partner replied with the same expression as me.
"I-I think we should just leave . . . for the temple, I mean. I w-would rather not be here with whoever did 'this'." To be honest, I was only telling him half of the truth. I really didn't want to interact with a new face. Knowing Aero, he would probably drag me in to whatever kind of mess he creates from that personality of his. Last time he tried to socialize, I ended up in the infirmary with a pair of busted balls. If Ghras was capable of that, I'm truly terrified with the insanely powerful hunter-in-training.
Unfortunately for me, Aero expression's changed from awestruck to sheer excitement; this would ultimately mean one thing: he intends to make a new friend. "Are you kidding Red?!" my partner yelled as if I was the insane one in our "friendship". "We should totally find out who's responsible for this! C'mon, it was so cool to watch! Hey, we should make that guy part of our team!" And with that, the excited wolf faunus ran into the smoke screen of debris.
You know, after seeing all that, I think it would be better if I stayed alive. Dying just isn't worth it now.
After my brief revelation, I turned around to leave the scene of the battlefield- abandoning my partner in the process. . .
Well, that's what SHOULD have happen. "Life" seemed to be enjoying my discomfort and decided to screw me over, once again.
I only walked a few steps before I felt a thread-like object wrap around my left foot. I quickly looked down I realized that the item that had restricted my movement was none other than Aero's yo-yo-weapon-thing. And before I knew it, I was dragged by force into the unknown.
I'll be honest, being dragged through dirt and stone by a children's toy has probably been one of the lesser moments of my life. Thankfully, my joyride ended as soon as I was sent to Yang-Yin's owner – Aero, whom was staring at from what looked like to be a dead King Taito. The debris fog was beginning to lighten, but it still lingered, making the scenery around us appear like a blur.
"Dragging me across the ground was unnecessary" I complained as the yo-yo began to unwind itself.
"Well, you looked like you couldn't see through all that smoke, so I uh, gave you a guide" my partner answered as he gave a helping hand. "But really, can you imagine it? A grimm like this – getting killed by one hit. A meteor to boot as well, ya'know! My weapon can't even do that!"
"You think it's their semblance?"
"Semblance? I thought it was their weapon! No way in all of Remnant that a semblance like that should exist!" It was strange though, either semblance or weapon - it was something that could instantly kill a King Taito in one blow. And that both intimidated and terrified the hell out of me. But a sudden thought just emerged my mind as I was considering the cause of death of this great serpent.
Is it a semblance that summons meteors to fall from the sky? Or is a weapon; a mortar or missile perhaps? Wait, what if it wasn't a weapon or a semblance? What if that meteor thing that killed the King Taito was actually a hunts-
"HAAAA-!"
My chain of thought was interrupted as a metal object smashed square in my face. The sheer force sent me flying into the river, as well as immediately defogging the lingering smoke screen. I felt my aura level dropping below the halfway point from just that one strike; oh man, "Life" decided to sucker-punched me in the gut for no reason.
I decided to just lie there - floating tirelessly in the calm flowing stream, allowing my aura to slowly ease the pain around my facial region. Now that I think about it, this is actually the first time since I got to Beacon that I got some time to lie down and relax...even if I did get hammered in the face to obtain relaxation. Besides, I'm sure Aero can handle himself over there; after all, he does have an exploding yo-yo. Yeah, I think I'll just stay here for awhile.
This is actually soothing in a way...it's like...taking a break after doing... something stressful? Oh Monty, my brain is all over the place right now. Maybe this is "Life's" way of helping me after everything that ha-
"GREAT MONTY, YOU KILLED RED!" a faint yell that seemed to break my restful silence, forcing me back into my socially awkward reality.
"THAT WAS RED?! B-BUT I T-THOUGHT TH-"a feminine voice responded in pure shock. A girl that knows my name? Yeah, it has to be her...
I'm never going to get a break, aren't I?
I pulled myself out of the stand-still river. My entire body was soaked and at this point, I feel as if using my aura to dry them would end up making my situation even worse. Long and behold, I witnessed a panicking Aero and Ghras bickering over one another as I was trudging towards them; although, they don't seem to notice me approaching.
"How was I supposed to know that was Red?! The guy pretty much looks like a grimm!" Ghras yelled out, her eyes were wide in shock. Wait...I look like a grimm?!
"So just because he's wearing black clothing automatically sets your brain to kill?! And why are you making excuses?! You just killed my part-"
"I'm act-actually alive guys..." I spoke up from behind. My interruption caused both of them to look straight at me, their expression in complete awe. Well, Ghras was the one surprised really; Aero looked more horrified at my apparent recovery.
"HOLY SHIT, RED'S A ZOMBIE! WE HAVE TO KILL IT WITH FIRE! KILL IT WITH FIRE!" my partner screamed in fear. At this point, I'm not even surprised anymore. Ghras however, was not amused by my partner's sense of logic. I could tell from that death glare she was giving him.
"Don't mind my partner. He's always like this..." I told her as if this was the first time we met each other. The small girl looked away from my partner, who seemed to be now running around in circles proclaiming that the zombie apocalypse had begun, and fixed her stare towards me. Her rose-coloured eyes seemed to be filled with concern. It's that, or either she's currently having a mental debate on how I managed to survive being flung like a rag doll.
"Um...are you okay Red? I-I thought you were a grimm and I...no, Aero's right, I shouldn't be making excuses..." She lowered her head, like she did before on our first day at Beacon, "I'm sorry Red."
Is it normal to feel awkward when a girl, who just sent you flying into a river and falcon punched you in the testicular region, apologizes to you?
"Um...I'm fine really,"-I snap my jaw back into place before continuing-"accidents ha-happen you know?" That was a lie, accidents like this should never happen. I'm just saying this to make her feel better so this awkward feeling can just die.
"Good, maybe next time, you wear something that doesn't make you look like a grimm, you idiot!" Ghras exclaimed out of nowhere, her aggressive mood returning. She buried her face within her green scarf, which I could only hope that she was doing that to hide her guilt.
...Didn't you even say that you shouldn't make excuses? And I don't even look like a grimm!
After our brief conversation, Aero ran back towards us, his wolf ears drooped from exhaustion. "I *pant* think that *pant* I've calmed down now *pant*. Just give *pant* me a second to *pant* catch my breath..." - my partner took in a large gulp of air before continuing. "Alright, now that my brain is working properly, I need to ask you something Ghras."
Ghras' lock of blonde hair that defied gravity twitched slightly to the left as if she was expecting something stupid and annoying. Then again, it WAS Aero who was asking the question.
"Can you care to explain all this?" Aero asked with both his arms extended outward to his sides; he wanted to know what created this mess of a battlefield. "Was this a work of your semblance or your weapon? Either way, I'm totally recruiting you for Team Aero."
Oh Monty, looks like Aero dun' goofed at the last part...
Ghras gave out a long sigh into her scarf before she explained in the calmest way possible, "Aero, I see you as friend, I really do. But Dust, sometimes I just want the beat the living aura out of you! Who in Monty's name made you leader?! If anything, I should be the one who leads this team!"
To be fair Ghras, I wouldn't exactly call this a team...
"Hey don't complain to me, we're just going by majority vote here." Aero replied nonchalantly with both hands in the air to represent that he meant no harm.
"Oh?! And just who is this 'majority'?!"
"Well so far: it's me and Red!" he happily replied. Ghras immediately fixed her burning eyes towards me as if I had sided with Aero long before we met each other. And oh man, did she ever look mad! If there was anything that I learned from Ghras, it was that you should stay out of her way when she's pissed off...too bad she's easily pissed off.
"No, no, no, no, I have nothing to do with this! It was all his idea!" I yelled while violently shaking my head left and right.
"Red how could you?! I thought we were partners!" Aero cried as if I had stabbed him in the heart.
"...Yo-you two can di-discuss the leadership role once this is all over o-okay?" I trembled. "But s-seriously Ghras, what exactly happen here?"
"What's not to understand? The headmaster said that we were being monitored and graded, so I decided that the best possible way to get a good performance record was to kill a lot grimm!" she answered as if she just solved the cure for all the diseases in the world.
"...What?"
"Ya' know Ghras that sounds a bit insane after looking at all the damage you caused..."
"Well, it started off with a couple beowulves and ursas, but then they started to run away, so I began chasing after them! One thing led to another, and I ended up here: a nesting ground for grimm. Heh, it WAS a nesting ground for grimm until I showed up..." she continued, confidence searing within her voice.
Well, it was official now. Ghras just ranked number one on my what-to-fear list; I can't believe it but social interaction just got dropped to rank two.
"Yeah, but that still doesn't explain exactly how you performed such a feat!" my partner yelled, "C'mon Ghras, was it your semblance or weapon?!"
"Oh sure and while I'm at it, I might as well tell you my entire life story!" the short girl replied sarcastically. "Fine, if you really want to know how I killed all these grimm, I just used my weapon. You know, the thing that every hunter uses?" She reached behind her back and pulled out a frying pan.
Wait...WHAT THE DUST?! The weapon she used to kill all these grimm...was nothing more than some kitchen tool: a frying pan?! Well I thought Aero's weapon was unique, but Ghras' just screams individuality.
What is this- I d-don't even, I mean- I can't even comprehend...WHAAAAAAT?!
"Y-you mean to t-tell me..." I began, my left eye twitching from the lack of comprehension, "that you did ALL of this with...that?"
In response to that, her "weapon" changed; the handle bar extended its length to greater than Ghras' height. Gracefully, she spun the frying pan between her fingers before impaling the end of the handle into the ground. "Yes Red, I killed all these grimm with my trusty-"
"Frying pan!" Aero interrupted as he broke into a hysterical laughter. "Oh Monty, you killed them with a frying pan! HA HAHAHAHA..." My partner was laughing so hard to the point that he had to hold his arms around his rib cage. Yes, Aero was laughing that hard.
Ghras didn't seem to take Aero's enjoyment too well; her floating lock of golden hair was twitching ever so furiously as if there was an earthquake occurring around us.
"Ferrum Nex is not a frying pan!" the petite girl exploded in annoyance. "It's a hybrid staff capable of extending up to one kilometer! Besides, I bet my Ferrum Nex can totally annihilate whatever excuse of a weapon you have! Pfft, I bet you use some gun/melee hybrid like everyone else here!"
The moment she said that, Aero immediately stopped laughing and looked Ghras dead in the eyes. "Heh, so you think I use a hybrid weapon; like a sniper rifle that can change into scythe? The jokes on you, cuz' my Yang-Yin could win against your staff!" He revealed his yo-yo to Ghras in triumph of having the better weapon...well that's what he believed anyways.
However, the moment Ghras got a good look at his so-call superior weapon, she began to die in laughter.
"Hey what's so funny?!"
"Your weapon is a yo-yo?! Oh man, that's hilarious! At least my weapon can turn into a staff!" Ghras cried out from her joyful laughter. I thought Aero was laughing was hard, but Ghras was just rolling on the floor unable to contain her merriment.
"I'll have you know that this yo-yo is capable of creating explosions! Oh, and what was that last bit you just said there? I think it was you admitting that your Ferret Hex is a frying pan!"
"Just sh-shut up! And for Dust's sake Aero, it's FERRUM NEX! Hey Red, decide for us! Which weapon is superior?!" The look in her eyes seemed to appear more pleading than the usual angry glare she usually has.
Why do I have to get involved for everything?
"L-look, I'm just the guy with the assault rifle here..." I sighed feeling as if this argument has gone for an eternity so far, "if you ask me, both of your um, weapons are unique so they can't be compared..."
Aero gave out a long sigh before he declared, "Ghras, this is getting us nowhere! C'mon let's go find someone else who actually has an opinion, not like 'Mr. Assault Rifle' over there."
Mr. Assault Rifle?!
Ghras nodded for once with Aero's suggestion. She retracted Ferrum Nex' handle until it looked like an ordinary frying pan, and then she sheathed it behind her back. "I still have to find a partner anyways. And who knows Aero, maybe 'Mr. Assault Rifle' can create his own opinion during the search."
"It's Red...my name is Red..." I quietly mumbled.
Ghras began to move north, however my partner decided to stop to her. "Woah there Ghras, where do you think you're going?" he asked with a hand over her shoulder.
"To the temple, where else?! If everyone is going go there, we might was well too!"
"Ah, but Ghras," Aero explained as he began to slowly shake his head in disapproval, "you don't have a partner remember? Can you imagine how awkward it be if the students at the temple asked who your partner was? They'll probably think you're some anti-social shut-in."
In response to Aero's deduction, Ghras immediately buried her face in her torn scarf. I swear, I think I noticed her cheeks flushing red a bit.
"S-so where do we go then?!" the small girl muffled behind her scarf.
"We go in the opposite direction of course! I'm sure that there's some idiot who hasn't partnered up too, ya'know?"
"Are you calling me an idiot!?" She yelled, her face no longer covered by her scarf.
I mentally face palmed myself for Aero's logic and Ghras' impulsive reasoning.
"Now Ghras, instead of beating me to death with your 'frying pan', shouldn't we find you a partner and end our little argument?"
"F-fine, let's go!" She grumbled before we turned away from us and began walking, quite angrily mind you, in the south direction.
Of course, we had to follow too.
We've been walking in silence for a good 10 minutes now, and so far we've encountered nobody. Seriously, not even a single grimm popped up out of nowhere, which sort of made sense since Ghras probably performed mass genocide in this forest.
Ghras didn't seem to enjoy walking any further since she turned to face Aero and yelled out, "Aero we've been walking fo-"
"Something's coming..." the gray haired faunus interrupted in a serious tone as he took out Yang-Yin, "I don't know what exactly it is, but I can tell you that it's a grimm, one very big grimm approaching from the front..."
Ghras and I both readied our weapons, waiting for whatever monstrosity was coming our way. The mere seconds of silence felt like an eternity.
The bushes began to rustle and out came a certain blue haired individual running straight towards us.
"I think that wolf-brain of yours isn't functioning properly Aero. How on Remnant did you sense that Storme was a grimm?!" Ghras was giving my partner a dead-panned stare as she was telling him this. "Hey Storme, over here!"
"No...I can feel it. It's comi-"
"RUN, RUN, RUN, RUN, RUUUUN!" Storme screamed as he was running towards us. It was at that moment that I felt a strong vibration echo beneath us.
Aero was right.
Suddenly, the wild life behind Storme was demolished: the timeless trees collapsing and a literal earthquake began to erupt. In front of the destruction appeared the biggest grimm I have only ever seen in video games.
Its physique was ape-like: an enormous torso that was covered by sturdy bone armor in the front, abnormally long spikes grew out of its back, huge black arms with bone plating acting as makeshift gauntlets, and I kid you not, its legs were so unreasonable small that it was certainly impossible for it to even stand up. It advanced by slamming its arms into the earth, creating quakes on impact, swinging its body forward and landing on its feet; the cycle would then repeat. Indeed, it was a rare species of grimm: Corpseback.
The worst part of this encounter was that said Corpseback was hunting down a panicking Storme, and since he was coming towards us that meant that we were all on that monster's what-to-kill list.
"Run feet!" Aero yelled out in his usual non-serious tone, as he began to retreat in the opposite direction.
I was about to follow my partner's decision until I got a glimpse of Ghras' face: a cold-blooded grin and burning eyes filled with adrenaline, her Ferrum Nex firmly gripped in both her hands. Dear Monty, she actually wants to fight that thing?!
"Gh-Ghras?! A-a-are you insane?!" I yelped.
She turned her head to face me, her grin now transformed into a sadistic smile and her eyes gave off extreme killing intent. "Not insane, but I'm definitely eccentric when it comes to fighting!" she answered me as she broke into a sprint towards the ape grimm, determined to break every single bone within its gigantic body.
Well that's what Ghras intended to do, but fortunately for me, a fleeing Storme charged head-first into the little girl and managed to get her over his shoulder. If there wasn't a grimm coming to crush us, I'd definitely assume that this was a kidnapping.
"Wh-wha?! Storme let g-"
"NO TIME TO FIGHT! RUN DAMMIT, RUUUUUUUUUUN!" was what echoed to me as the blue-haired giant ran past me.
And with that I broke into a mad sprint.
If I make it out of here alive, I'm definitely going to try my hardest to avoid these people...
Btw, if you're a guest reviewer, please give yourself some sort of alias to go by. (Ex, This fic sux -Xx_420qUACKscop3BlaZe1T_xX)