"Wake up!"
Shove.
"Waaah!?"
Crash.
"Jeez Vi', I was having a good dream!"
Shuffle, thump, groan.
"Please refrain from awaking us in this fashion, Violet."
And so the day began as usual. Violet woke her teammates up abruptly, they barely made it to their first class, teased Xavier about his closet infatuation with Blake, went to lunch, trained in Goodwitch's class, then departed for the day.
"Despite the repetition of our daily routine, it never grows tiresome for me." Tanya said as she and her friends walked to the lift pads.
"Yeah, no matter how many times I get thrown in the ring during training, I always love every moment of it." Ross added, walking alongside her, "I think I made the right choice in coming to this place."
The four teens made their way to the closest airship. It was a smaller ship designed to transport a maximum of eight persons, lightly armored and devoid of weaponry. A simple transport.
They soon took off, moving quickly through the sky and towards the nearby city and capital of Vale. Below them stretched the beautiful and lush Emerald Forest, no doubt swarming with creatures of Grimm, but beautiful from such a distance.
Violet looked to her three teammates, all wasting their time in their own ways. Ross had his face plastered onto the window, his gawking mouth fogging up the lower half. Tanya was doing some sort of calculation on her scroll relative to the speed they flew and the time it would take to arrive at Vale. Xavier was attempting to extricate a piece of meat or something from his teeth, using FLLFFL's reflective blade as a mirror.
Violet couldn't help but chuckle at her team's antics, catching their attention.
"Hey, what's so funny Stormy?" Xavier questioned, still working at that food in his teeth.
She didn't know why, but soon after this small laugh she began to grow sad. The more she thought about it, the more she realized the answer.
"Guys..." Violet spoke softly, her eyes downward, "are we friends?"
The three other members of VRTX turned to their leader, each with their own curious expression.
"Well, we can tolerate each other and hold a conversation for more than five minutes." Ross said with a smile, "I'd say we are." He leaned back and stretched as to get more comfortable.
"Yeah, of course we're friends Vi'," Xavier assured, "With benefits? No. But friends? Definitely."
It took Violet a few seconds to register the suggestive comment from the wolf boy, "Ewww..." She grumbled, scooting away from him.
"Violet," Tanya began, shortly after that little spout of stupidity, "You are my partner. I located you in the Emerald Forest and I decided to cooperate with you, not once have I believed it was a mistake." Tanya pushed her glasses up more securely on the bridge of her nose, "You are my friend, I would be insulted if I wasn't yours."
These heartwarming reassurances, albeit some of them backhanded, soon brought tears to Violet's eyes. They started subtly, but with time they began to flow freely.
Xavier leaned over to his buddy, Ross. "Was it something I said?" Ross returned a confused stare to the faunas.
"Guys," Violet sniffled, "It's been awhile since I've had any friends..." She lifted her head to look at the three of them, "All the friends I've had are gone, they've either left me or died."
The other three's eyes widened, "What?" Ross mumbled.
"When I was six, I lived in Patch. It's a small island on the outskirts of Vale." Violet began...
"Dad!" Little Violet cried, sitting on the floor with a large scrape on her knee. "I s-scratched m-my knee! I-it huuuurts!" tears ran from her cheeks and trickled off her chin, dripping onto the floor.
The pale little girl was picked up by a dark skinned man in a dark purple and white longcoat, "Shhh, child..." hushed Indigo Storm with his accented voice, holding her in his big strong arms. "It will be alright."
Indigo then proceeded to place her back on the floor, holding his open palm above the rough flesh. A soft yellow glow emitted from his hand, quickly the wound began to close.
"Better, girl?" He asked, gaining a tearful nod from Violet.
"Thanks dad!" She chirped, hugging the dark skinned man's leg.
Indigo bent down to his daughter's level, ruffling the girl's silvery-white hair with his hand, "You need to learn to get up, Vyolita." He told her, "I won't always be here to pick you up and heal your booboos."
Violet nodded to her father, Indigo, then pranced away to continue on her way to Ruby's house.
"Wow, sounds like a good dad." Xavier said, leaning forward. Ross nodded beside him.
"But, that seems odd to me," Tanya said, "A tall dark skinned man like Indigo would have a small probability of fathering a small fair skinned girl like you."
Violet nodded, "He wasn't my father by blood, but he was 'my father by soul' as he would say." She smiled as she recalled her adopted father and all of his little sayings and actions.
"What happened to him?" Ross asked curiously. Unbeknownst to him, he'd just pulled off a thin scab...
"Dad" Little Violet cried once more. She had aged four years and now had purple streaks at the fray of her hair.
All around her was fire.
Howls and screams filled the night, filling the young girl with fear. Fear of the Darkness that surrounded her and growled at her, threatening to eat her. Vibrant red eyes stared at her from the smoke and shadows, eying her like the defenseless lamb she was.
Just then, a loud crash sounded, as well as the shifting of metal and the pained whimper of wounded Beowulves.
Violet opened her eyes to see her father, Indigo standing before her. Around each hand was a four foot long drillbit glowing bright red at the seems with fire Dust. He looked over his shoulder at his daughter, cowering on the floor.
"Run, child!" He commanded, his deep accented voice filled with rage and urgency, "Now is the time when you pick yourself up!"
Running, Violet could hear the vrrrrng of her father's drills, piercing through and tearing apart the Grimm that attacked.
She ran.
She never stopped running.
She never saw her father again either.
"That's it..." Violet finished, "I never saw my father; my greatest friend ever again."
The other two simply sat there, still as stone. Ross however, go out of his seat and made his way over to his friend. "I know how you feel, Vi'." He assured, placing his hand on her shoulder in an attempt to comfort her, "But we can't hold onto the past, can we?"
Violet turned her head upward, looking at her friend's smile. She couldn't help but smile back. "You're right, Ross." The rest of the ride was quiet.
Soon enough, the transport reached its destination at a dropzone in the center of town.
"Alright," Xavier said as the departed the ship, "Leave all the emo on the ship, we're here to have fun!"
The other three members turned to member 'X' of VRTX and gave him slightly offended stares.
"Too soon?" Xavier asked, scratching his head bashfully.
"No, you're right Xav'; we can't just droop around the place like a bunch of pessimists." Violet affirmed with a nod, "Let's get cheery!" She cried, pumping her fist in the air.
The others made a similar motion, though it lacked any semblance of energy and was accompanied by a lame: "Myeeh..." as a cheer.
"So why'd we come here again, Vi?" Ross asked, spinning around in awe at the technology surrounding him. He was stopped when Tanya caught his arm and point him forward.
"We're here because of that." Violet replied, pointing at a banner being raised that read 'Vytal Festival!'.
"We're here for a banner?" Xavier asked.
"Negatory, you imbecile!" Tanya piped up. She then began to look around wildly at the people and decorations around her, "The Vytal Festival is beginning today?" She questioned with wide eyes, receiving an affirmative nod from her leader. "I cannot believe that I was unaware of this event's comeuppance! How foolish of me!"
"Don't sweat it, Tan," Violet assured, "I only figured it out after overhearing Ice Queen ramble about it to her team."
"So, what should we do first?" Ross asked, looking around at the people and buildings once more, much to Tanya's annoyance.
After much debating and an argument regarding where they should head for lunch, team VRTX decided to head to the docks to perhaps meet some foreigners.
As they approached the docks, they witnessed the daring departure of a stowaway faunas.
"Wow, he's running fast." Ross commented, seeing the monkey boy sprint right past another familiar team of students.
"Yeah! You can do it buddy!" Xavier cheered, pumping his fist in support for his fellow faunas.
"He made it." Violet concluded.
"Interesting..." Tanya said before jotting some notes down into her scroll.
"Yeah it is pretty interesting."
The four members of Team VRTX were startled by a sudden new member to their conversation. They quickly turned to see four teens their age standing a few small meters away.
"Fortunately for that guy, the cops around Vale are a little slower than in Vacuo." Said the boy standing foremost.
He wore a black leather jacket that had its sleeves cut to t-shirt length, some of the grey fur fraying out. Multiple dull grey plates aligned the boy's left arm, smooth like carapace. Grey and black checkered bracelets adorned his wrists, as well as rings of the same pattern an his fingers. His legs were covered by baggy black pants with chains hanging from his belt loops. He wore black and grey skate shoes on his feet.
The boy was pale. Deathly so. His payne grey hair and crimson eyes accentuated this feature. Around the upper right corner of his forehead was a scar. His expression seemed friendly enough, but there was definitely something about the boy's eyes that threw Violet off.
"Oh, sorry. I didn't introduce myself," The boy said quickly, chuckling bashfully, "I'm Pein, leader of team PUNC." He said, pronouncing the word 'punk'. He then thrust his spindly hand out, waiting for any of them to introduce themselves.
Violet nervously met this boy named Pein, shaking his hand lightly, "I'm Violet, leader of team VRTX." She looked behind Pein at his teammates.
There was a very dark skinned boy with long bleach white hair and blood red eyes, he was taller than the other three and had a quiet and collected demeanor about him. He wore a matte black blazer that was unbuttoned, showing his bare chest beneath. Over his bare chest were two black belts that crossed like an 'x'. His legs were covered by form fitting white skinny jeans, tucked into leather boots that reached his mid-calves.
Next to him was a girl that stood at about Violet's own height. She had cherry red hair and lipstick on, fire orange eyes, as well as skin that was as pale as Pein's. Her hair was tied into a single braided tail that extended down past her waist. She wore a charcoal shaded tanktop that revealed her midriff and bolstered her breasts, several cherry red stripes running horizontally across. Around her elbows were gunmetal pads that were spiked, as well as fishnet gloves that covered her hands and forearms. She wore on her legs baggy black pants with studded belts hanging loosely from her hips, tucked into girls' skater shoes.
Directly behind Pein was a pale boy that stood between his height and the dark skinned boy's height. He had messy jet black hair, a familiarly pale complexion, vermillion eyes and a scar running across the bridge of his nose. He wore a dark leather jacket that was similar to his leader's with the exception of white inner fur and its initial color being midnight blue. Around his forearms were pale metal braces that became fingercut gloves around his hands. His jacket was left unzipped, showcasing bandages all across his torso, up to his chest. He wore pale grey shorts that run just past his knees, with heavy metal boots adorning his feet.
"You scopin' out my team there, Violet?" Pein asked, raising an eyebrow. Violet was brought out of her observation by his words, shaking her head to deny him, "Oh, no! I just noticed them is all-"
"Allow me to introduce my friends," Pein began, quickly darting back to his team. He placed his hand on the tall dark one's shoulder, shaking it roughly, "This guy's name is Umber. He's pretty quiet, but he'll speak when he thinks he needs to. He's smart too!" Umber simply nodded before Pein shifted over to the dark haired boy, "This one's Nox. He's a hyena faunas!" The boy named Nox smiled wide, flashing a set of razor sharp teeth, "He's cool, I'm sure you'll like him." Pein then moved to the red haired girl, placing both his hand on each of her shoulders, "This lovely young lady is Colette, the sole female member of team PUNC. She's also a shrimp faunas!" Colette groaned and shoved the boy's hands off her shoulders.
"I'm not a shrimp faunas, or any faunas you idiot!" She yelled, whacking him in the head.
"Ow! Coal, why'd you do that!?"
"Hey!" Nox growled, revealing a gravely voice, "He was just messin' around Coal, no need to hit'm."
Team VRTX watched the antics of each member. Each of them having their own feelings about them.
"Well," Violet began, looking down at her scroll, "I think we should get going. We'll need to be if we wanna make it to that restaurant in time." Violet turned to the rest of her team, who all nodded. "Sorry Pein, but I think we'd better head out. It was nice meeting you."
Team PUNC briefly stopped, "Oh, well I'll see you around campus then Violet." Pein called, watching VRTX walk away. Pein's goofy and energetic demeanor died away quickly, "Hehehe," He began to chuckle, "Who'd've thought we'd run into those runts when we got here?" He asked to any of his team that would reply.
"Yeah, seems like a pretty good coincidence, Pein." Colette added, "I can call you by your real name now, can't I?"
Pein sighed, "Of course you can," He replied, "though I think I'll call you shrimpy from here on." Pein smiled as he watched Colette flail around at him while Umber held her back.
"Should we report anything, captain?" Nox asked curiously, "To base, I mean."
Pein shook his head at his partner, "No, not yet. There's nothing to report here anyway, so we'll just wait until we're actually in the Academy."
"Understood," Nox nodded, moving to calm Colette down.
"And to all three of you," Pein began, gaining their attention, "Don't call me 'captain' or 'sir' or any terms like that. We're undercover, so we gotta act like friends."
The three of them looked between each other, then back to their leader, "Can a call you a jackass?" Colette quipped, gaining stifled laughter from her other teammates.
"According to our mock profiles the two of us can't stand each other, so go for it." He told her with a nod. Pein then turned to Umber, "According to your file though, you swing both ways." He told him, nudging an eyebrow upward. The young man simply nodded without any complaint. "Nox!" Pein called, slapping his subordinate on the shoulder, "You are a headstrong jerk who doesn't let anyone into your heart. All the girls swarm you, but you push them away." Nox nodded eagerly with each word, "Also, we had to make up that bit about you being a hyena faunas in order to explain those chompers you got." Nox nodded understandingly after that last bit.
"Alright," Pein clapped, overlooking the fake team that called itself 'PUNC', "Let's go be super spies!"
So, that's the chapter!
We finally got to learn more about Violet's past! Yay! She was adopted by a black guy who died trying to defend her.
Also, the nickname Vyolita is a rough translation of 'Violet' from Haitian. The accent Indigo Storm has is caribbean, if you were wondering. No, Indigo is not native to Patch. Indigo's weapons are actually inspired from Gurren Lagann, as they are drills that wrap around his forearms.
So, now I've revealed the named of my villains. Team PUNC! But who are they? WHAT are they? As they've been talking about humans as if they're not part of them. But most importantly: What do they want? The answers will come in time, as I have grandiose plans for this story.
I also decided to give flash of Sun Wukong in there. I thought it would be nice as he's one of my favorite characters. Gunchucks man... just... gunchucks...
I'm thinking of doing a prequel story revolving around team TMIS (Tempest). It takes place during the time of team STRQ's training and follows the birth of the problem that team VRTX faces now. STRQ would be included, but only on the side as it would star TMIS and RHUJ (Rouge).
TMIS is Troy Snowbell, Midori Talwar, Indigo Storm and Ommund Sky. Of someone could come up with a better way to align their letters I'd be grateful.
Thanks for reading!
Next up: Here kitty, kitty, kitty~