Yo! Welcome back to Reaching Out To Remnants everybody! Everybody doing good? Everybody doing okay?
So, this took awhile to get out, considering I decided to focus on my finals before working on this. So yeah, sorry for the long wait but you know; college.
Well, I don't mind taking the time to answering some questions in the reviews in the meantime.
Raidentensho: I… have absolutely no idea what you mean by "Though when getting to the "Boost-form" will it be his grandfather that will power it?" … I'm serious. I'm not trying to give hints to future scenes or anything, I'm genuinely confused cause to me; your sentence sounds like you're asking if Lucas's grandfather will be the Tenkuji Ryu to Lucas's Tenkuji Takeru.
Cause if so; no. My grandfather is well and alive, thank you very much. –_–
Omarnosian10: I'm debating on it, actually. Considering more than one person share a specific Rider persona. Well, considering the fact that he's sharing an Eyecon with… ah, no more spoilers.
Kamen Rider Chrome: Well, it's kinda like how the Eyecons scattered themselves after Takeru wished Kanon back to life. In this case; the Eyecons partially revived Lucas and transported him into Remnant. Though, they had the decency to wait until Lucas left the them before they scattered themselves. Hey, a new world to explore, with it's own history different from Earth's. Plus, they're powerful in their right. They can explore Remnant and protect themselves just fine.
Plus, I've mentioned how they're planning to test Lucas's worth to see if he's worthy enough to be fully revived, right? Well, if they stayed at Beacon with him, he wouldn't really have much reason to leave Beacon to explore Remnant, instead being too busy trying to connect with all of them so they'll grant his wishes (or so he believes). In fact, he'll probably spend the first few days trying to connect with the Eyecons instead of with Team RWBY, JNPR & CFVY. That… wouldn't be a good way to test his worth now would it?
A wise old woman once told her grandson: "People become stronger through adventures". She also told her grandson: "If you're going to adventure, make it a big adventure". (This also probably convinced some of the more reluctant Eyecons into exploring and leaving Lucas. Thanks a lot Tendou.)
Anyway, I don't mind answering where the Luminary and Rider Eyecons are right now. Currently, most of them are still in Vale since it's only been a day since they left Lucas. (Except for a certain passing through Ghost Eyecon. He's cheating by using the Dimension Walls) But it won't stay like this for long. They do have plans on leaving Vale as soon as possible. They're just trying to execute successful ones that's all.
*Snorts* Maybe I'll make omakes detailing the Ghost Eyecons failures at trying to leave Vale. That would be a series on it's own. ;)
New Universe Returns: Pairings are up in the air for the moment. Unless the story revolves around it, usually I leave pairings alone and let character relationships build first before wondering if I want two characters be "together-together". As for Summer Rose, well, she's up in the air at the moment as well since for all we know; Monty and Rooster Tetth planned that Salem is actually a corrupt Summer Rose. That would suck, wouldn't it?
Anyway, hope you enjoy Chapter 3!
Lucas didn't sleep last night.
It wasn't because he couldn't sleep. Rather, it was because he didn't need to sleep.
Apparently.
He could fall asleep, his battle with the Gamma proved that when he fell unconscious. Later he woke up in Beacon's infirmary to have a short chat with Ozpin before the man let him have his rest, and Lucas went back to blissful unconsciousness.
So yeah, he could sleep. But apparently he didn't need to.
How did he discover this?
Because the sun was rising and he just realised that he had stayed up all night studying as much as he could about Remnant.
And he felt perfectly fine. He didn't feel exhausted at all, not like when he was fighting the Gamma. That actually made him feel exhaustion.
Perhaps it was because he had already slept after his fight with the Gamma. But Lucas planned on checking again by not going to sleep and pulling another all-nighter. (This time intentionally instead of accidentally)
Still, this had its potential. Since he didn't need to sleep, he had an extra 8 to 9 hours that most people use up to rest their bodies and minds by sleeping. He could use those extra hours for, say training for example. Or like he did last night, catch up on the basics for people of Remnant (What the fuck should he call them anyway? The people of Earth were called Earthlings… so what should he call the people of Remnant?), such as the usage of Dust and how it's the power source for pretty much everything on Remnant. (There were alternative technologies, but they were quite primitive compared to their Dust and Earth counterparts)
But Lucas suppose he was getting ahead himself. For all he knew, he was going to feel like utter crap in the afternoon or in the evening.
Still, he discovered other things about his deceased body. For one thing, he didn't need glasses anymore, but then again that should have been expected seeing that his eyes were no longer damaged from continuous staring at a monitor screen.
And when he took a shower, he didn't really felt more awake from having the water blasting on his back. First he made the water hot, since he preferred to shower with hot water. But then he felt something was off and decide to switch it to cold.
And the cold water didn't bother him as much as it used to. If anything, both temperatures felt around the same now.
He didn't know what to feel about that. If anything, it just made him question if he'll even need to take a shower anymore since there's a chance it's impossible for him to sweat, being a ghost and all.
Heck, he even used his intangibility to dry himself off. He wouldn't lie, hearing all the water dropping off him at once and making a decent splash made him giggle a bit.
Ah… he was such a guy. Finding amusement in the most retarded of things. Well, he supposed only a retard could find positivity in such an act.
Or maybe he was a special kind of retard who just found things that aren't funny to anyone else funny to himself.
As Lucas rested his head against the table of the room he was given, he made eye contact with the current Eyecons in his possession.
Musashi, OOO, Fourze, Wizard, Gaim & Drive. Those were all of the Eyecons that he currently had in his possession.
6 Eyecons… that meant there were 25 other Eyecons out there, doing who knows what.
"Goemon, give me the map already-ze yo."
"Quiet Ryoma! We're almost out of the city! … Probably."
"Foolish thief! Hand the revolutionary the map right now!"
"Ha! You may be a queen Himiko, but you are not my queen!"
"Goemon, please give me the map already. All of the others have probably got out of the city by now-ze yo… ."
"I should have went with someone else. Even Newton would've been far more tolerable than you two!"
Well, they were Luminaries and Riders. They couldn't possibly get into too much trouble by themselves.
Besides, it's only been one day. There was absolutely no way they can cause any kind of trouble within a small timeframe, right?
"Must you insist on taking part in this foolish competition Nobunaga?"
"That so called 'cowboy' insulted my honour Tutankhamun. Of course I must prove my superiority in long-range firearms."
"And how would exactly you, the manchild and the archer would prove whose superior in long-range battle? I've been told that the Grimm disappear from the face of the earth once they are killed."
"That's where you come in. You shall be keeping track of our all of our kills!"
"… Of course."
"… ."
"… I should have followed Houdini while I had the chance… ."
Right.
Still, he was quite curious over the Eyecons that he already did have in his possession. After the battle with the Grimm, they refuse to speak with him. Even the sociable Gentaro-san refuse to say anything to him.
Then again, it was more along the lines of the Fourze Eyecon being knocked around by the other Eyecons the moment it looked like he was going to say something.
… Maybe they were forcing themselves not to say anything? Some sort of test?
… Perhaps it had something to do with what Ozpin had told him. Ozpin, who had been informed by Kazuraba Kouta and Tomari Shinnosuke, stated that Lucas had to connect his heart with the Ghost Eyecons as he collected them all.
He had absolutely no clue as to why he needed to do so. The TV series still hadn't explained as to why this was important to the plot.
Either that or his idiocy had kicked in when the TV series did explain why it was so important, and he didn't remember the reason.
… Like he said, he was a retard. It was entirely possible for a scenario like that to happen. He wasn't over-exaggerating when he told himself that he was the least capable person to succeed in the mission of collecting all of the Ghost Eyecons.
*Knock knock knock!*
He was soon distracted by the sound of repeated knocking. Confused as to why someone was knocking against his doorstep so early in the morning (as indicated by the raised eyebrow despite no-one else really being there to see it), Lucas head towards the door and opened it.
Only to be greeted by Team RWBY, composed of their surprisingly eager leader Ruby and slightly irritated teammates who look like they could use a few extra hours of sleep.
Considering classes starts at 9… yeah, they could definitely catch about another hour of Zs… .
"Good morning Lucas!" Ruby gave out puppy-dog-like smile.
A smile that made people like Lucas, who generally had a negative outlook on life, cringe from the sheer force of it.
How could she be so… happy?
… Ah. Right. Ignorance. It truly was bliss.
"Good morning Ruby." Lucas politely greeted her back with a nod.
… And cue the awkward staring that comes in after Lucas didn't say anything more.
Yang immediately gave her little sister a push to indicate that she should keep the conversation going whereas Blake and Weiss sighed.
This is what happens when two socially-awkward teens try to talk to one another.
They should know. Because technically speaking they were socially-awkward teens as well. They had their fair share of awkward moments.
"So! Um… ." Ruby stumbled a bit from Yang's push, but found her ground. "I bet you didn't get much of a tour at Beacon yesterday?" She prodded, hoping that this would be enough to branch out to Lucas and keep their conversation going.
Lucas's eyes shifted upwards to indicate that he was thinking about what Ruby said. "Ah, no not really." He admitted with a shrug, his tone and body language saying that this piece of trivia didn't really bother him.
"Well, why don't we give you a tour?" Ruby suggested, wanting to get to know the young man better.
… .
Not in a romantic way! She just wanted to help him feel better, considering the fact he's dead and he only has 99 days before he gets dragged to the afterlife. And he needed to collect either 15 Luminary Eyecons or 16 Riders Eyecons to wish himself back to life, with those Eyecons being who knows where by now and probably found by some people who wouldn't really give them up like in those adventure stories she read during her childhood years… .
"All of you?" Lucas asked, tilting his head slightly to show his confusion as his question snapped Ruby from her train of thought.
"Ruby wanted to make this a team building exercise." Blake answered, with Lucas staring at her a moment before blushing a bit, turning his head away from her. This in turn made her blush as she remembered their first meeting as well as Kouta's and Shinnosuke's explanation as to why that meeting occurred.
Weiss saw Lucas's blush and misinterpreted it. "Don't get the wrong idea pervert!" Weiss accused, complete with finger pointing.
"… What." Lucas flat tone and flat stare showed that he was unamused by the accusation.
"The only reason we're doing this is to help you out! Not because of some delusion of us liking you!" It would seem that Weiss also hadn't forgotten the fact that Lucas considered her Waifu material as well.
"… O…kay…?" The way Lucas said that made it clear he had absolutely no idea what she was talking about.
Something Yang saw as her cue to speak. "She's referring to the fact you consider Blakey here Waifu material." Yang teased, oh so enjoying the meaning behind the term. Pure. Teasing. Material. "With Ice Queen being a close second, apparently?" Yang's tone slipped up a bit when she said that, hinting that she didn't really get why Lucas would consider the Ice Queen good wife material. Then again, he was from a world where Remnant was just a web show. He probably knew a lot more about the Ice Queen then any other member of Team RWBY at the moment.
… .
… Did Lucas just turned into granite? Cracked granite?
Blake didn't look as mortified, considering she was still flesh and bone, but it was close.
"Y-Yang!" She cried out, her face red from embarrassment.
"YANG!" Weiss wasn't nearly as flustered. In fact, she was more angry than embarrassed.
Ruby didn't say anything to her sister, to busy poking Lucas the Statue to get a reaction from the mortified boy.
"H… How… ?" Lucas managed to squeak out, sounding like his soul was on the verge of leaving his body (not that phrasing made any sense, considering the boy was currently just a soul that's not inhabiting any body). Colour also returned, and he no longer look like some sort of statue.
"Didn't Professor Ozpin told you? Kouta and Shinnosuke told us about it." Yang informed him with a grin, and was please to see the boy's mortification increase at hearing the information.
Slowly, he turned his head into within his room. There, sitting innocently on a desk was his Eyecons.
… Two of which innocently turned themselves away so they could look anywhere but Lucas.
Team RWBY sweatdropped at Lucas developing a pissed off look on his face and making a "Must. Control. Fist. Of. Death." motion with one of his hands.
"W-Well, come on then Luke!" Ruby shortened his already short name, as she wrapped herself around Lucas's arm that wasn't making the MCFD motion and pulled.
He barely budged surprisingly, but that's probably because he had an idea what she was trying to do and grounded himself as he debated on whether or not to chuck the Gaim and Drive Eyecons out of his window.
"Ah, you can try to kill those Eyecons later. For now, adventure!" Yang seemed fully aware of his internal strife and decided to make his choice for him.
Oh she had the feeling that today would be a good day to be Yang Xiao Long.
Yang was right. It was a good day to be her.
Their little tour was filled with pure teasing material. Ruby's interactions with Lucas was just plain adorable. Ruby generally bounced around Lucas, who actually didn't seem to mind her little sister's general hyper-activeness. At first, Ruby came to conclusion that Lucas's apathy to their conversation meant that he found her an annoyance.
He quickly rectified her mistake, explaining that he merely wasn't the type to show his excitement on the outside. He let out a dorky smile that rivalled Ruby's and admitted that Beacon was pretty cool and it was amazing he was here, despite the circumstances.
Ruby immediately gave him a hug at that, which caused the young man to be dumbfounded and embarrassed. She assured him he was going to be okay and that they'll be going out on adventures, saving lives, wiping out Grimm and all other Huntsman stuff 99 days from now.
Their smiles to each other was so. Freaking. Adorable. Hence why she immediately glomped Ruby a few seconds later.
She was so going to mess with Ruby by teasing her apparent crush on Lucas. Maybe she did have a crush, maybe she didn't. It was too soon to tell, but that didn't mean Yang couldn't mess with her sister by saying that she had a crush.
In a way, Lucas reminded her of Blake. He had black hair, and amber was a shade of brown wasn't it? He didn't smile much, like Blake. He apparently spent the whole night reading and had plans on doing the same tonight, like Blake who almost always had her nose in a book.
Wonder if Lucas liked tuna? If so, it was incredibly creepy how similar the two of them were. Maybe that's why Lucas considered Blake his Waifu.
But then again, Lucas came with one added bonus:
HE. LIKES. HER. PUNS.
No joke. The guy admitted that he genuinely enjoyed her puns, even though he didn't really let out a laugh. He either let out a snicker, chuckle or a snort to show his amusement.
It was enough for Yang. Normally the only ones who actually laughed at her puns were her dad (who could out-pun her even on his worst day and her best) and Uncle Qrow. (Rarely. Very, rarely)
Not even Ruby laughed her puns. Ruby, her flesh and blood (well, half-flesh and blood) sibling!
So Yang may see a little win-win situation with Ruby going after Lucas. She'd get a brother-in-law who laughed at her puns and more than likely go on various crazy awesome adventures due to those Eyecons he uses and has to collect.
Plus, being from another world entirely; he must know some awesome stories that he could share with them.
Yup, definitely win-win.
Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end at some point. In this case; the morning classes were starting and the group were forced to endure the first class of the day;
Professor Port's class.
The man had the tendency of droning on and on and on about his glory days. And apparently those stories taught them the characteristics and weaknesses of certain Grimm types, and the quizzes the class were given ask them to describe those characteristics and weaknesses from what they could get from Professor Port's stories.
While the class does try to pay more attention after the massacre that was their first quiz, it was hard. Really hard. Professor Port's stories weren't really all that interesting compared to some of the stuff they heard in passing.
And they were absolutely nothing to what Team RWBY saw when Lucas transformed into Kamen Rider Ghost.
Man, thinking about Lucas's first fight made Yang giddy. Even she had to admit that it was pretty cool how Lucas fought in that Wizard coat of his before finishing them off with the Musashi coat. She wondered if one of those Luminaries and Riders could give her a run for her money, considering her Semblance made it hard for most people to hurt her.
Draining as it may be, her Semblance made it up in power. Power that she could use to beat her opponent with one punch. This, of course, is assuming that she had managed to accumulated enough power to do so, but hey it was totally possible.
Theoretically.
"Now, who would like to give a demonstration?" Professor Port ask, completely unaware that a majority of his class had either began dozing off or distracted themselves through doodles, paper games and the like. Only a few, such as Weiss Schnee and Pyrrha Nikos, could actually bring themselves to listen to his story with their full attention, and actually take notes.
And even then they struggled.
However, the moment he asked that question; everybody's head snapped up and they all began raising their hands to offer themselves for the "demonstration". This includes the more reserved personalities like Ren and Blake along with the ever so humble Pyrrha.
If there's one plus in Port's class, it was the fact that sometimes Professor Port would bring in a captured Grimm and allowed a student to fight said Grimm.
And it was sweet sweet sweet relief to his constant monologue of his glory days.
So understandably, most of the class wanted to relieve themselves of their boredom by taking on a Grimm.
Unfortunately, Port only really brings in one Grimm. Meaning only one student could get this chance.
Hence, there was little chance for a student to be picked by Port when everyone else was offering themselves.
Everyone but Jaune… and Lucas.
Ozpin had suggested that Lucas join in on the curriculum, seeing that the boy wanted to become a Huntsman as well now that he was living on Remnant. With his power as Kamen Rider Ghost along with the 31 Eyecons… .
Yup. It was pretty much a given that Lucas would join Team RWBY with their classes.
Yang didn't mind. It only increased that chances that the team would swept away by one of Lucas's pre-determined crazy adventures.
Adventures that Yang would just love to be apart of.
Still, it wasn't surprising to see the boy from another world not raising his hand. From what they were told, Lucas came from a world where the Grimm and Faunus didn't exist.
A world that was in an era of peace… for the most part.
There were still small wars occurring at different countries in his world. Wars caused by racism, paranoia, religion… .
Wars caused by Humans who couldn't get along with other Humans for the stupidest of reasons.
Lucas made an off-hand comment on how the Humans of Remnant that were racist to the Faunus could learn a thing or two of their stupidity by living in his world. He made that comment after seeing a Faunus student being pushed around by a group of passing by Human students.
Considering what Lucas had told him about how Humans of his world were killing one another just for being born from another country, having a different skin-colour, or following a different religion… .
It was a pretty morbid thing to think about, but Yang could see where Lucas's train of thought was going when he made such a statement.
Another thing he shared with Blake then.
"Hm… my, you all are quite confident in your abilities aren't you?" Professor Peter Port commented at seeing how almost everyone in his class were raising their hands. He rubbed his chin his thought as he surveyed his classroom, noting that there were only two students that weren't raising their hands.
Interesting… is it because that, unlike their classmates, they do not feel that they weren't up to the task? Or perhaps it's because they are being humble about their own strength and were merely allowing their classmates the opportunity to show their worth?
In any case, Peter supposed it would do these two students some good if they flexed their muscles seeing that they were the only ones that weren't raising their hands. Even though one of them was a new special course student that Ozpin said that had transferred to Beacon under very special circumstances.
That reminded Peter. Ozpin wanted to have a meeting with the faculty after classes were over. Concerning this new student actually… .
Interesting… Peter's sixth sense for adventure were tingling! Perhaps this new student would make the next few semesters at Beacon a bit more exciting than usual!
"Mr. Arc! You and our new student Mr. Bloodedge seem quite humble by not raising your hands!" Peter cheerily commented on this fact, causing the class's attention to split between the Arc boy and new student. "Why don't you two give the demonstration instead?"
Most of the class complained at this, whereas the two boys in the spotlight instantly became nervous. Their teammates (well, Mr. Bloodedge didn't seem to have his own team but it would seem that he knew Team RWBY) showed support in their own ways to calm the boys' nerves.
Miss Nikos have Mr. Arc a reassuring pat on the shoulder while Miss Valkyrie was quite verbal at how disappointed she was a not being able to tangle with the Grimm he had captured for today's class and had asked her leader to break the Grimm's legs for her. Lie Ren merely gave his leader solid advice on keeping calm during the fight and try to work in synch with his temporary partner in battle to lesser the chances of injury.
Mr. Bloodedge however… Team RWBY gave each other uncomfortable looks (well, that was easy to see on the half-siblings whereas Miss Schnee and Miss Belladonna were more guarded with the look they gave to their teammates). Mr. Bloodedge himself seem to be thinking to himself as he sat in his chair with his arms crossed.
Just as Miss Rose was about to speak up, Mr. Bloodedge suddenly stood up, gave a small respectful bow to Peter before making his way towards the nearest door to change from Beacon's male uniform to his standard combat clothes.
Blake was curious.
She blamed her Faunus heritage for this. Being a Cat Faunus, it was only natural that her curiosity had the tendency of overpowering her and made her take the stupid decisions.
It wasn't easy being a Faunus.
Not just because of the racism they suffered from Humans. In fact, they had a very justifiable reason as to why they constantly referred the Faunus as animals.
It didn't make it right, but it made sense.
For Blake, it meant dangerous-levels of curiosity, a high preference for seafood, being easily distracted (though this was cultivated during her time with the White Fang), a slight fear of dogs (she could handle dogs, both the animal and the Faunus type. She just needed time to adjust to their presence. Lots of time) among other cat characteristics that only served to annoy her when they bring themselves to light.
So when Professor Port referred to Lucas by the new family name he had given to Ozpin (apparently the slightly disturbing name belonged to another "fictional" character originating from another series in Lucas's world, and it was the first colour-based name that came to Lucas when Ozpin asked for a last name), Blake felt her easily roused curiosity coming to life.
How would Lucas handle a Grimm? She managed to see the ending portions of Lucas's battle with Gamma. While impressive, it was soon revealed that the souls within the Eyecons were channelling their experience to Lucas so that he may have an easier time fighting against the Gamma.
With the serious threat they posed, and the fact that they apparently had no regard to any kind of life other then their own species, Blake could see the logic on why the Eyecons would deny Lucas the valuable experience he needed if he wanted to continue training as a Huntsman.
Team RWBY had been debrief on Lucas's personality by Professor Ozpin (from what he could gather from their conversation with one another while Blake and Weiss were busy trying to find him all over campus. Keyword being "try". She didn't expect the guy to hide out in the headmaster's office of all places), and Blake was surprised from what she had been told.
… She could see why the guy would be attracted to her. They were apparently quite similar in terms of personality.
And in terms of ambition… it was noble of him. He couldn't stand the injustice that happens in his own world, as well as others like Remnant. He grew to admire the heroes of the other worlds, like the Kamen Riders. He wished to be like them, strong yet retaining their compassion for others, regardless of anything. Their pasts, nationality, species… .
However, actions speak louder than words. He might not be who he say he is, regardless of the evidence presented to her. Sue her for reading too many novels of various genres (particularly the kind where the happy ever afters never comes for various reasons), but it didn't hurt to be a bit paranoid if it meant saving her and her team from being betrayed by a bastard who could act.
She'll keep a close eye on him for now. To see if he really was who he says he is, as well to see if he'll stand by the things he apparently says.
And maybe… just maybe, then… .
… .
… Geez, she's been reading way too many romance novels lately. It was way too soon for that kind of stuff. She'll worry about finding a significant other after graduating from Beacon.
The sound of doors opening snapped Blake from her thoughts. And there was Lucas, wearing the same clothes he wore yesterday.
… Blake noted that with what happened yesterday, and with Lucas being dragged to classes for the rest of the week, he more than likely would be wearing that same outfit during the practical classes like combat training and out of classes. In fact, when the team caught him this morning he was wearing one of Beacon Academy's t-shirt merchandise.
Blake also noted that with Lucas standing side by side next to Jaune, he really did looked like a darker (as dark as a guy wearing a bright orange hoodie anyway), more eastern counterpart of Jaune. He just needed to grow his hair a bit and styled it similar to Jaune's, as well as wear some armour, to complete this comparison.
And it would seem that Lucas had summoned out the Ghost Driver as he held his sword in a reverse grip. She wondered if it was because he didn't felt like he was confident enough to handle the Grimm even with Jaune's help. Admittedly it wasn't much, but it was still something.
If worst comes to worst, he might have to transform to Ghost to handle the Grimm.
Something that would have everyone else in the room ask questions that shouldn't be answered yet.
Blake hoped that it didn't come to that.
Breathe in, breathe out.
He was going to be fine. He can handle one Grimm. Just one.
If there's one thing he could do… it was survive.
… Right.
… Freaking cheap-ass gunshot to the head didn't count for obvious reasons… .
It shouldn't be too bad. It was just going to be an Ursa Major.
It was just a giant ass bear. A ferocious giant ass bear that's hellbent on killing everyone in the room, but from Lucas had read about Ursai, they were quite slow compared to Beowolves.
Slow he could definitely handle. It was the quicker Grimm that Lucas felt that he better transformed into Ghost first if he wanted any chance at defeating them.
"So, uh, you know what Grimm Professor Port is going to sick at us?" Jaune asked him, with Lucas noting that the question made sense in that Professor Port asked them to give a demonstration. So obviously those who paid attention to his story should be able to tell what Grimm Port was going to use.
Something Jaune failed to do.
Lucas didn't know why everyone else (except the ever so responsible Weiss and Pyrrha, among others) was dozing off at hearing Port's stories. It wasn't as if he was repeating the same story every few days was it?
Then again, Lucas supposed that growing up in a world where people had a far easier time growing up to become badasses would make them more… apathetic to stories.
People take anything for granted if they're exposed to it for a long time, after all.
"It's an Ursa Major." Lucas politely answered Jaune's question.
He briefly noted that the Arkos pairing finally became a thing in RWBY's Volume 3 Finale… only for Pyrrha to shove Jaune into a rocket locker to send him to safety, and go on a suicidal mission to stop the Maiden-empowered Cinder Fall.
… Lucas wondered if he had to grab Jaune by the collar, shake him repeatedly while saying "She's into you! Why don't you see it?!", before slapping him repeatedly while telling him "Wake up!"
… He probably should. Like, maybe after the dance. Yeah, he'll do that. If Arkos doesn't become a thing after the dance in Volume 2, he'll spell it out for Jaune.
Looking at the Arc in question, Lucas could see the boy's confidence (whatever he had at the moment anyway) had dropped down considerably and the boy was hesitating at the thought of facing a huge ass Grimm.
Oh the poor guy had absolutely no idea what was in store for Remnant's future that'll come around… months maybe? Depends on when the Vytal Festival is starting. That reminded Lucas that he should really ask for a timeframe of when the Vytal Festival is rolling around.
He knew he was somewhere in Volume 1 of the story, seeing that Team RWBY and Team CFVY didn't know each other all that well yet. The lack of a certain Monkey Faunus and his casanova of a friend also helped prove this, as well as the lack of other students from other Academies.
But it would really help to know exactly how many days he had before Cinder and her cronies come a-knocking.
Well, maybe he's getting ahead of himself. He only had 98 more days before he disappears, unless he manages to collect all 15 Luminary Eyecons or 16 Rider Eyecons.
Ah, he was getting a bit distracted. Jaune. Hesitating. Could die if he doesn't pull himself together. Do something about it. Now.
"You're shaking." Lucas decided to start off the conversation by pointing out the obvious. Annoying as it may be, it does help start off a conversation.
"O-Oh!" Jaune stuttered out as he tried to stop. For the most part, he did. "S-Sorry." Still stuttering it would seem.
"Piece of advice I heard in passing;" Lucas said, though noting to himself he actually heard it from a Japanese comic book/manga but hey nobody really needed to know that. "What are you doing? Why do you run? Face forward… . You should be able to hear it now. That which blocks your ears is worthless fear. The enemy is one and you are one." Lucas began, though he noted that he needed to omit a few things from the quote because it didn't really made that much sense without context.
Still, he gotten Jaune's full attention now. "Or in our case; the enemy is one and we are two. So what is there to fear?" He looked Jaune in the eyes at this. "Abandon your fear. Look forward. Move forward and never stop. You'll age if you'll back. You'll die if you hesitate."
… That quote could be taken in multiple ways, in Lucas's eyes. Hesitate at helping someone, and a piece of you may die as you wallow in guilt. You might feel older and a coward for not going through with a decision. Obviously, you might give the enemy an opportunity to kill you if you hesitate even for moment.
… What's done is done. Lucas was dead. Got killed because a robber shot him in the head. Nothing could be done about that. All he could do now is just try to collect the Eyecons, bring himself back to life and try to stop Cinder's and Salem's plans, whatever they were.
Even if it meant sacrificing his wish to bring himself to life, if he had to stop Cinder and Salem through that way… .
Well, he'll cross that bridge when he comes to it.
As Lucas looked at Port, he seem to see approval etched on his face as the man prepared to unlock the cage that was housing the Ursa Major.
No time to think about that for now. Instead, Lucas chose to switch his Gan Gun Saber into Nitoryu mode, for he felt far more comfortable holding something in both hands when he fights. The feeling he had gotten when he used Musashi's Eyecon… . It felt more… right compared to the other Eyecons.
Port slashed down the lock holding the beast inside it's cage with his trusty blunderbuss-axe hybrid weapon, and immediately it broke the gates and let itself out.
… Lucas noted that he had underestimated the size of an Ursa Major compared to an average student of Beacon. Sue him, it's been a while since he watched RWBY Volume 1.
Lucas also idly noted that it was amazing that Port managed to capture one relatively unharmed, as well as the fact the classroom could even fit the giant ass thing.
The beast surveyed the area it found itself in, noting of all of the potential prey it has. However, only three are armed at the moment.
They were the biggest threats. One of them, it had faced before and had managed to subdue it. It was good as dead anyway, now being in enemy territory. So it might as well try to take some of it's prey with it.
Lucas threw the secondary piece of the Gan Gun Saber at the Ursa Major, the beast easily swiping it away towards the audience, who ducked away lest they wished to be hit by the crossfire.
However, it only served as a distraction as Lucas took the time to charge at the Ursa Major when the secondary piece of the Gan Gun Saber flew at it. He knew the throw would never hit the beast. For one thing he had lousy aim anyway and he doubted that even if it did hit the Grimm, Lucas sincerely doubted the piece would've managed to pierce into the Grimm's skin.
He didn't need to overpower the thing. Not yet. He just needed to get a few hits in first.
So with the Ursa Major distracted by the flying Gan Gun Saber piece, it noticed too late that Lucas was far closer to it then he originally was, as was able to strike it's head with the core piece of the Gan Gun Saber before backing away from the Grimm before it managed to swipe at him with one of his claws.
Weiss begrudgingly applaud Lucas (not outwardly, for it would only serve as a distraction) for his use of Misdirection. Misdirection is a form of deception where the attention of the audience (and in this case, the Ursa Major) was directed at one thing (in this case, the smaller sword) to ensure their attention wasn't focused on another thing (Lucas himself).
Weiss knew what he did (even if it was likely the boy didn't knew himself), because growing up as a Schnee, she had seen her fair share of magic shows.
Starting the fight off by throwing one of his swords would clearly have his enemy (as well as his audience) immediately focused on the thrown blade. Even if it was just for a moment, he managed to direct their attention to something else. Since he was in such a small battlefield, the only thing he could use it for was to catch the Grimm by surprise.
But what if he had used when he was in a forest like the Emerald Forest? He could've used the chance to slip away from sight, and could safely transform into his armoured persona Ghost.
Sure the cost was a piece of his weapon, but for all Weiss knew he had the ability to summon it back to his hand.
It certainly wouldn't be farfetched as the other things he could do.
The demonstration soon continued with the lumbering beast charging at Jaune and Lucas. Both immediately dodged to the side to get out of the Ursa Major's way. Lucas had dodged to the seated students while Jaune had dodged to the Professor's desk.
This gave Lucas the chance to regain his lost Gan Gun Saber piece, given to him by fellow Beacon students. With grateful nod and "Thanks", Lucas immediately refocused to the Ursa Major only to see Jaune taking a few swipes at the giant Grimm himself, before taking a hit by giant slow swipe that sent him flying across the room.
Lucas immediately leapt towards Jaune and caught him, though at the cost of the both of thing crashing to the ground.
"Oh-hoh!" Port was cheery at seeing this. "How noble of you to catch your fellow Huntsman-in-Training!" He commented, still cheery.
The first thing that came to Lucas's mind was to switch his Gan Gun Saber to Gun Mode and shoot at the Ursa Major to keep it at bay.
But he didn't.
He hesitated as that moment repeated itself in his head at the mere thought of using a gun, as well as that horrible noise playing in his head over and over again.
"Move!" Jaune returned the favour as he pushed himself and Lucas out of the way as the Grimm charged at them. Due to being so near the professor, Port himself also had to jumped out of the way as the Grimm slammed itself into a wall.
"Be careful boys! You don't have the pleasure of taking a breather in the middle of a battle!" Port didn't lose his cheeriness despite this.
Team RWBY and the remaining members of Team JNPR didn't share his sentiment.
"You okay?!" Jaune asked Lucas as he got into a defensive position, which put him in front of Lucas protectively.
"… Yeah." Lucas let out, criticising himself for hesitating at the mere thought of using a gun. For God's sake, he managed to use it to shoot himself and the WizarSwordGun at the Gamma! Why did he hesitate?! Especially after telling Jaune not to hesitate?!
He said it to himself before, he'll say it again as many times as he had to; he was a fucking hypocrite.
"Okay." Jaune said as he focused on the Ursa Major. Slowly, he and Lucas got up as the Grimm shook it's head to get rid of the dizziness that came with slamming itself into a wall. And they all began circling each other.
"So, uh? You remember what Professor Port said in his story?" Jaune asked, as he tried forming a plan in his head.
"… You were paying attention?" He could hear Lucas asking behind him, with Jaune distinctively feeling a cheeky grin being thrown at him.
"Ah… not really." An embarrassed Jaune admitted. Hey, he had listened to various stories from his parents and sisters. All of them were way more interesting than Professor Port's stories. "B-But I figured that since we're giving a demonstration and all, he would want us to do something he did in his stories."
An amused "Hn." soon followed. "I'll make an opening for you." Lucas declared as he stood side-by-side with Jaune. "A big one. So big that you have to be an idiot not to see it. Jaune frowned a bit at that, but didn't interfere. "You cut him open like a frog being dissected when that opening shows itself, okay?" Rough around the edges when he said it, but Jaune had the feeling that it was because Lucas was naturally gruff and wasn't looking down on him or anything like that when he said it.
It was kind of… refreshing, actually. Weird that it felt like that, but refreshing nonetheless.
Jaune gave a firm nod as the two prepared themselves. The Ursa Major roared at them before charging again.
While Jaune dodged out of the way, Lucas jumped on top of the Ursa Major (a dangerous feat considering all of the boney spikes all over it's back) and began to hold onto two distinct prongs extending from it's "mask".
He pulled on the prongs, and caused the Ursa Major to howl as it ceased it's charge and start standing on it's hind-legs.
Lucas had the Ursa Major turn around to face Jaune, who saw the opening Lucas meant and charged at the beast with the sword half of Crocea Mors, ramming it's blade into the defenceless stomach of the giant Grimm before slicing it in half by using all of his body strength to lift himself and Crocea Mors upwards.
"Luke! Luke! Lucas!"
As Lucas was on his way to the changing room, he was stopped by Ruby, with the remaining members of Team RWBY not too far behind. Lucas wondered if Ruby had used her Semblance to catch up to him, but then again that might not have made sense since he figured the remaining members of Team RWBY would be left far behind instead of not too far.
"Yes Ruby?" He was in no rush. Ozpin had ensured that he would share all classes with Team RWBY to save everyone some trouble.
So if Ruby ends up making everyone late for some reason, then that's her fault, not his.
"I just wanted to congratulate you on killing that Ursa Major! You were awesome!" Ruby grinned as her team finally caught with them.
"Ruby you dolt, you need to slow down and let us keep up with you!" Weiss berated her leader/partner as she tried catching her breath. Making Lucas quirk an eyebrow and reassess his thought on whether or not Ruby was using her Semblance.
"Heh heh, sorry!" Ruby apologised with a sheepish grin that really reminded of Lucas of porcupine-haired, blue-eyed protagonist who was named after the sky. She turned to him. "Luke, you were amazing! You were all… !" And cue Ruby exaggerating the fight like an overdramatic teenager.
Considering she was 15… it was understandable.
"I wasn't that good… ." The way Lucas smiled and the way he raised his hands a bit showed that he rather have Ruby stopped with the compliments.
"But you were!" Ruby said with almost puppy-dog look that made Lucas cringe.
He… wasn't good with people dammit… .
"Yeah. Looks like you weren't as bad as we thought you were going to be!" Yang revealed with a laugh, as the other members of Team RWBY gave her a glare at this.
Lucas however, merely let out a sardonic smile at this. He didn't really mind them looking down on him. In fact, he shared their original sentiments.
He surprised himself in that battle. He didn't think he was able to react or move all that well. Perhaps it had something to do with his lack of body… . He figured that muscle memory was currently beyond him at the moment, due to the lack of actual muscles in the first place. The lack of a body probably meant a lack of physical limits too.
He honestly didn't think he was able to pull on the Ursa Major's… ears? Well, they were shaped like ears at any rate. Anyway, he didn't think he was able to pull on it's ears so strongly that the giant thing would end up following his direction like Ratatouille.
"What Yang means by that is that you exceeded our expectations." Weiss dryly said, giving the blonde of the group the stink-eye. Said blonde merely gave her a raspberry in response, with Weiss rolling her eyes at her teammate's lack of maturity.
"Why didn't you use your weapon's gun mode though? That would've been useful since Jaune doesn't really long-range options." Ruby wondered. Seeing that Lucas knew a lot of things about Remnant thanks to the web-show, it stands to reason that he must've known that Jaune wasn't a long-range fighter.
Lucas smile considerably became more strained as his hand tightened into a fist. He unclenched it after letting out a sigh to calm himself down.
"Lucas? Are you okay?" Ruby saw this and wondered what was wrong with her new friend.
"It's just… I'm not good with guns that's all." Lucas admitted, though not really clarifying it correctly.
Ruby was confused at this, though her more older and experienced teammates were starting to put the pieces together.
Blake managed to connect the dots first. "You… have a fear of guns don't you?" Blake questioned, seeing Lucas flinching a bit.
He let out another sigh to calm himself. "Y-Yeah." He stuttered out.
Ruby soon caught up. "Oh!" She said as soon as she connected the dots. "I'm sorry Luke! I didn't mean… !" Ruby began stuttering out as she tried to apologise.
"It's fine Ruby." Lucas smiled at her, letting her know it was okay. He'll deal with this newly developed fear soon enough.
This fear that almost prevented him from saving Coco Adel and Velvet Scarlatina… . If Haruto didn't gave him the strength to pull the trigger, who knows what might've happened to those two.
No, this fear will be dealt with as soon as possible. It wasn't going to stop him from being the best Huntsman he can be. The best Kamen Rider he could be. It was as Ruby said, it would've been better if he had used the Gan Gun Saber in Gun Mode. He almost used it in Gun Mode had his fear not made him hesitate and started replaying that damn moment in his head.
A hand soon wrapped itself over his shoulders. "Hey, it's only been a day since you got here. Nobody expect's you to be this super awesome badass that can shrug everything off, especially getting killed." Yang gave him words of comfort.
Since their father shut down during their childhood, it forced Yang to step up and be the parent Ruby needed. So Yang had developed her maternal instincts better than most girls her age, and she could see that Lucas was trying to force himself into being strong when right now, what he really needed was to relax for a few days to adjust and accept the fact he was technically dead.
The 99 days time limit didn't really help, but Lucas really shouldn't be pushing himself. No one should push themselves for the sake of their goals.
What's the point of reaching your goals as fast as possible if you were going to end up crashing and burning near the end?
"Hey!" A familiar voice cried out to the group, causing them to turn and see that Team JNPR were making their way towards them.
There was Jaune Arc, the blue-eyed blonde that fought alongside Lucas earlier, who was also the leader of the team. To his right was Nora Valkyrie, an extremely cheery orangenette whose signature colour was pink and wielded a mighty fine hammer that can send almost everything flying. To Jaune's left was Pyrrha Nikos, the red headed undefeated champion from Mistral. And next to Nora was her best friend Lie Ren, a pink-eyed, green-clad youth who served as the Blake of his team.
Together, they made up Team JNPR, a team that was virtually Team RWBY's equal as well as the team they are currently closes two.
Nothing brings 8 distinctively unique personalities together like fighting two supergiant Grimm during Initiation.
"New kid! You and Jaune were absolutely awesome out there!" Nora cheered, quite happy at seeing a Grimm being cut open like a frog being dissected.
Ren sighed at his friend's eccentricities. "Nora, he has a name." He chastised his best friend before turning to his new classmate. "But nonetheless, she's right. You gave us quite the show." Ren admitted. He was a bit impressed at how the new kid had started off the fight by throwing a piece of his weapon to distract the enemy, it was quite unexpected. Perhaps he should try a similar tactic with Stormflower, since it was a twin-gun weapon and he could afford throwing one of them to distract his opponent.
"Thanks for helping out. I'm pretty sure I'd be Ursa meat if you weren't there to help me out." Jaune smiled, Crocea Mors still on him. He briefly noted that Lucas worked fast seeing that he could no longer see the orange belt with the oversized (and creepy) buckle, as well as his sword.
"You don't give yourself enough credit. You saved my skin too, you know." Lucas softly smiled, giving Jaune a light punch in the shoulder, much to the blonde's surprise. He wasn't the only one, as Team RWBY was surprise as well.
"Yeah Jaune! You should've seen yourself when you gut that Ursa opened!" Nora let out a manic grin as she remembered that badass moment. Oh, she wished Professor Port picked her so that she would've gotten the chance to swing that Ursa through the wall and into the next room!
Nora was unaware she said this out loud however. Something Weiss soon let her knew about this fact as she scolded her. Nora's response was to stick out her tongue and bopped her head in a cutesey "Oops!" manner, much to Weiss's ire and the group's amusement.
Pyrrha shook her head as she watched the ever excitable Nora, who was now having a conversation with the equally pumped up Ruby and Yang, in a manner of "What am I going to do with them?". Quite mother-like, actually. "Lucas Bloodedge, right?" If Pyrrha was disturbed by the family name, she didn't show it. Instead, she extended a hand for a handshake. "I'm Pyrrha Nikos, it's nice to meet you."
Seeing this, Lucas let out a small smile, taking her hand and shaking it. "Likewise." Was all he merely said before letting go.
His mind… wasn't racing a million thoughts per hour as he originally believed what would happen if he was introduced to Pyrrha. Instead, all he could think about that this was the poor girl who had been isolated for being the strongest of her peers, ended up being placed a burden on her shoulders that may or may not ended up with her cracking and making the foolish decision of taking on a Maiden-empowered Cinder Fall which ended with her death.
That was not going to happen. Not on his watch.
"Arkos Forevermore to Infinity and Fucking Beyond, Goddammit!" Lucas remembered the words of one of his online friends, who made it known how devastated he was at seeing Pyrrha dying.
Yeah… Arkos Forevermore to Infinity and Beyond… .
That's what Pyrrha Nikos deserved, at least.
As the large group soon walked away together, they were too deep in their conversation to notice the silver-haired man in a dark green suit calmly sipping his coffee, proud at seeing how bright the two teams were.
He'll make sure that their lights will never burn out. And perhaps with Lucas's strength, no light will ever burn out prematurely ever again.
And as the Headmaster of Beacon made his way back to his office, a certain bright red Eyecon glowed dimly in Lucas's room. Within the red Eyecon was a man wearing the bright red Ghost Parka that represented Musashi.
The man soon smiled at sensing the chosen child had made himself new companions. And if the child proves worthy, those companions may choose to fight by his side for the rest of their lives.
Friendship was a beautiful thing.
Days Left: 98
Current Eyecon Count:
[Musashi]
[OOO, Fourze, Wizard, Gaim, Drive]
Missing Eyecons:
{Edison, Robin Hood, Newton, Billy The Kid, Beethoven, Benkei, Goemon, Ryoma, Himiko, Tutankhamun, Nobunaga, Houdini, Grimm, Sanzo}
{Kuuga, Agito, Ryuki, Faiz, Blade, Hibiki, Kabuto, Den-O, Kiva, Decade, Double}
*Slams head. Repeatedly*
GAH! GODDAMMIT! I ain't feeling it man! I ain't feeling it!
For one thing, STILL haven't give out a basic description of Team RWBY's appearance. I mean, seriously?! What the hell… .
So, originally I was going to skip right over to Jaunedice in this Chapter 3, even though I really didn't want to since I think Jaunedice would be better suited to take place around… Chapter 7 or so.
Thus I chatted with Stranger about this, and our talk set me straight and you all get this little piece of filler in the mean time. Hey, at least now a Luminary will be appearing in Chapter 5.
Fun fact; I actually wear glasses and forgot to add that to Lucas's appearance. But then again, he's dead so he's eyesight shouldn't be as bad as he was alive anymore.
Another fun fact; I was highly tempted to just leave this chapter at "… using all of his body strength to lift himself and Crocea Mors upwards." even though I already planned it to end like this. It felt right enough for me to leave it there, but then I figured that would be a dick move and decided to finish it properly.
Also; I'm annoyed that I brought more Eyecon conversations into this chapter. It's because I figured the first two chapters were enough for now. But no, as I wrote I decided to do myself a favour and add small Eyecon conversations to keep the flow going.
So feel free to point a gun at me and shoot me cause I feel like I messed up with this chapter. *Sigh* Am I overreacting? Probably. Does the fact that I realise this help me calm down and stop overreacting? No, it does not.
