Spice: Alright, work on the Headwater Sanctum is complete?
ELFI: Affirmative, Captain. The water management system upgrades have just finished full installation, and the Secondary and Tertiary Reservoirs are standing by to begin collecting overflow.
Spice: Right then, let's just give Zino a call here…
Zino: -screen pops up showing him hunched over a screen, seemingly muttering to himself-
Spice: Hey there, Zino.
Zino: -jumps slightly, before looking at the camera- Oh, hi Spice, startled me there.
Spice: Sorry about that. Just wanted to let you know that I'll be pulling my workers back to the Hephaestus. Upgrades to the water management are complete now.
Zino: Okay then. Thank you. I've also been working on getting my Kobolds some better education so they won't be problematic anymore.
Spice: No problem. In the meantime, ready to start recording the next bit of Twin Geniuses?
Zino: Yep. Just give me one second to save what progress I have on this, ELFI, mind doing the obligatory disclaimer while I do so?
ELFI: Spiceracksargent001 and Zinomaru claim no ownership over RWBY, nor any other officially licensed content that appears in this story. They only claim ownership over their own OCs.
"Well, nice of Professor Ozpin to let us keep the dorm room Revel and I had been staying in as our team dorm," Max comments idly as he and Revel help Jack and Ilya settle in. The newly minted first year teams had just gotten their dorm room assignments, and Team MJTC had been assigned to the room the Ceruleans had been staying at while they waited for their first year at Beacon to start. As perhaps a nice coincidence, their room was right next to Team JNPR's, which also put them nearby Team RWBY.
"Very nice… and it also means that we won't have to go far should we try to keep our little three-team alliance up and running throughout the year," Revel chimed in as he sat down, pulling out his scroll and looking at it. After a brief moment… Max heard his own Scroll chime as it received a text.
Max blinked at that and pulled out his Scroll, opening it to read through the text he'd just received.
[Revel: Should we let our teammates in on the Base?]
Max paused at that, thinking for a moment, before typing back a reply.
[Max: What brought this on?]
[Revel: The fact that we're going to be teammates with them and they'll find out eventually due to one or both of us vanishing for a bit to keep handling upkeep with the Base.]
[Max: You raise a good argument, but at the same time, if we're going to make both running the base and being Beacon students work, then you will be moderating your time down there. No vanishing for several days straight like last time.]
[Revel: I get that. I've already promised that I wouldn't. But my point still stands.]
[Max: Not denying that; just wanted to make it clear that your vanishing acts and all-nighters will have serious consequences now. We don't want your grades to slip because of any big projects going on with the Base, after all. Once Jack and Ilya are settled in, I'll introduce them to the base.]
[Revel: Okay then.] With that, Revel slipped his Scroll back into his pocket and looked over at Steve.
"Now… How did you survive? I was honestly sure you were going to die there when you ran straight into that hail of spikes, Steve," Revel muttered, looking at the Red Pikmin.
Max, meanwhile, thought about Talandar's performance during the Initiation. More than once, the Mettaur had, rather than retreating into his hard-hat, began to glow and seemingly phased through an attack before launching a counter with his hammer or electro-laser. He rather distinctly remembered that there were no phasing abilities of any sort available from either of the Hangars in the Tech Armory, after all, so he had no idea how the little guy pulled that off. Jack looked at the two brothers with a raised eyebrow.
"Mind sharing with the class?" he asked.
"Just trying to make sense of a couple… irregularities," Max replies. "Both Steve and Talandar pulled feats they had no right doing during Initiation, after all. Talandar outright phased through several up-close attacks rather than retreat into his hard-hat, and Steve tanked several spikes from the Quillgore without so much as a scratch."
"Perhaps Steve was able to awaken an aura?" Ilya suggests. "I don't know about Talandar, but given Revel's Pikmin are essentially humanoid plants, I wouldn't put it outside the realm of possibility that one could awaken an Aura in the right circumstances."
"That… is a distinct possibility…" Revel replied, rubbing his chin as he lightly poked at the red plant. "Guess we'll have to find some way to check, which is going to be difficult since Pikmin are made by way of my Semblance…"
"Something to think on later, I suppose, considering classes start tomorrow," Max shrugs. A quick look about the room proved that Team MJTC was now fully moved into their dorm room. "Anyway, Jack, Ilya, if you'll follow me for a moment, there's something I'd like to show you. Revel, mind the dorm while we're gone. I imagine one of the teachers will be along to see how everyone's settled in soon."
"You've got it Bro," Revel said as he watched them exit the room. Once they had left, he pulled up the Base Editor screen, and couldn't help but smile as he saw what was available. "Looks like it's time to start the big project," he whispered, beginning to give out orders for something that had just come off the research line.
"So, where are we going?" Ilya asks as Max guides the two Faunus into the central elevator.
"To something that Revel and I have been working on belowground," Max explains as the three step into the elevator and Max hits the button for the Cover Op. "It's something essential to mine and Revel's ability to grow and improve, and we have Ozpin and Glynda's permission for it."
"And what is this?" Jack asked, as the elevator started moving down.
"Let's just say something that needs to be seen to be believed," Max says. "I'll give you both the full details once we're at our destination, but suffice to say there's a bit more to Revel and I than is immediately noticeable."
"Are you two secretly Faunus who are former members of the White Fang or something?" Jack asked in jest.
Max chuckles at that. "Good one, but no, Revel and I are one hundred percent Human," he replies. "Rather, the big secret is one that I imagine certain elements of the White Fang, and probably also the Atlesian Military, would love to use for their own ends if they had the chance." The two faunus raised an eyebrow at that, as the elevator stopped at their target destination. "Alright, Floor B1. Let's go."
Walking down the short corridor, Max led the two Faunus to the underground Training Room that served as the Cover Op.
"So… you wanted to show us an underground training room?" Jack asked, giving the elder Cerulean an incredulous look.
"In part, yes," Max says with a nod.
"In part," Ilya repeats, crossing his arms. "There's more to the big secret than just this training facility?"
"See that door over there?" Max says, pointing to one of the two doors that lined the opposite wall of the training room. "This training room is a cover for the real secret. Follow me." They shrugged, and followed after Max as he went through the door on the opposite wall, and then a second door that looked a bit more secure- like it was a Staff Only door. "Gentlemen," Max says, as he types in the passcode for the door, slowly so as to allow the two Faunus to see and memorize the code themselves. "Welcome, to the Botanical and Synthetics Lab."
The door then opens, Max once again taking point as he leads Jack and Ilya into the base proper and begins to show them around. "See, in addition to our actual, respective Semblances, Revel and I have another ability. One called The Gamer," Max explains. "It's a pretty rare ability; knowledge of it is rather hard to come by. Revel and I have a unique variant of this ability that links our ability to grow stronger with the construction of a Base of Operations that we have to build up ourselves, with the aid of workers that we create inside the base." As the elder Cerulean gives them the rundown, one of his Probes floats by. "Talandar and Steve were actually born here, in a manner of speaking."
"Meaning the facilities you used to make them are in this lab?" Jack inquired. "I'm assuming there are workshops and all… but if this really is partly Revel's, and Steve is one of Revel's underlings… why am I not seeing more than the Red and Yellow Pikmin?" He asked, motioning to the fact that the only types wandering the halls were those two colors.
"Our more specialized units are divided into certain… roles, you see," Max replies, leading them into the Engineering Bay to give an example. "Revel and I each have access to four overall types of subordinates here. There's the standard Worker, of which the Probe we'd passed by is mine. Revel's Workers are Gray Pikmin. These are what all of our troops start as, and can do a little bit of everything. To improve them, special facilities are needed to do so." He then motions to the four individual pods that occupy the Engineering Bay. "While Revel uses specialized micro-biomes in a particular kind of Greenhouse to Cultivate his Pikmin, I use the assembly pods in this Engineering Bay here to upgrade my Probes. Starting off the specialist types, we have the Combat Types." Here, Max points to the Combat Fabricator. "These kinds of troops are optimized for direct combat in some capacity, and are generally what serve as the bulk of our direct fighting forces. Revel's Combat types are the Red Pikmin, while I have upgraded drones outfitted with assault rifles better armor than a Probe."
"I see… so what about the Yellow Pikmin and what Talandar is based on?"
Here, Max points to the Defense Fabricator. "Those are our Security Types," he explains. "They're troops with enhanced detection abilities, allowing them to better scout out intruders and alert nearby Security and Combat forces to deal with them. In my case, the Security types are also outfitted with weapons better suited to capture, but as Talandar demonstrated, the electro-lasers and hammers my Mettaurs are armed with can still be quite lethal when required. My Mettaurs are also able to duck into their hard-hats when attacked, which also makes them the tanks of my robotic troops."
The two Faunus nodded, noting the large number of security troops posted around a certain hallway. "So, that's two of the types, what about the others?"
"The third specialized type are the Science types," Max explains, sweeping his arm between the Precision and Logistics Fabricators. "Here's where things get a little more complicated. Science types are divided into two sub-roles: Technicians and Researchers." He then motions to the Logistics Fabricator. "Technicians are the dedicated maintenance workers. They're responsible for making sure everything's running at optimal efficiency, and fixing something if it's broken. My own Technician types, the Mouse Droids, are also responsible for keeping my other robotic units in proper working order, while Revel's Technicians are the Winged Pikmin." He then points at the Precision Fabricator. "Researchers, meanwhile, are what we mainly use for R&D, as the name would imply. My Researcher bots are called Diagnostix, while Revel has Blue Pikmin as his own Researchers, since being underwater offers them an additional level of privacy and protection."
"That makes sense- I assume you are going to be showing us where the research labs are during this tour?" Jack inquired, his fox ears twitching slightly.
"Of course, that was next on the list after the Barracks," Max says with a nod.
"Having the facilities to house these troops would be important," Ilya muses.
"Bingo. Revel and I can't cultivate more Pikmin or assemble more Robots without the equipment to support them."
"Huh… how gamey of your system…" Jack said blandly.
"Okay, first off, that pun was horrible, like, worse than one Revel would make," Max says. "Second, our system is called The Gamer, if you'll recall. It literally turns the lives of anyone with it into a video game."
"First: that wasn't a pun. Secondly: That's why I said that. I'm just surprised by how far your system takes it."
"Fair enough, even I'm surprised by how deep the thing goes at times," Max admits as he leads the way to the intersection where the Temperate Greenhouse could be seen. "If you'll look over there, you can see one of the Greenhouses Revel uses as his Barracks. That particular one is a Temperate Greenhouse, where Gray Hives can be set to house, well, Gray Pikmin. They all prefer different kinds of environments."
"So the Greenhouses are used to essentially keep them happy then?" Ilya asked.
"Pretty much," Max says with a shrug. "I mean, they are still plants. They only grow in environments that they like." Max then leads them down to the power room, typing in the passcode quickly and ushering them in. "As for me, being the Mechanist of us, I'm also responsible for keeping the lights on in the base," he explains, motioning to the Dust Turbine Generators set within the power room. "These Dust Turbine Generators here are what powers everything in the base." He then leads the two Faunus down the small corridor linking to the Energy Management Station. "The reason I showed you guys the power room first, is because my own Barracks is built off of it. These Energy Management Stations govern remote energy flow to my robotic troops, allowing them to keep running without having to worry about their energy levels."
"Well, that is certainly helpful," Jack admitted. "I also noticed that you're using Dust Turbines. What type of Dust are you using to power them?"
"I believe they're currently using Burn Dust, but I have the Diagnostix working on making them Lightning Dust compatible, as well as on improving their shielding so that the power can't be easily knocked out by external stimuli."
"Well, why don't you use a mixture of Burn and Combustion Dust? The resulting power output is more energy efficient than regular Burn Dust, and the mixture doesn't require compatibility upgrades as long as the percentages are correct in the mixture- albeit still not as efficient as Lightning Dust." the fox faunus suggested.
"You really know a lot about Dust," Max comments. "I'll look into it. If nothing else, it'd be a good interim improvement until the Generators can be upgraded to run on Lightning Dust." Jack nodded.
"If you need any assistance, I'll be happy to help there. Now, I believe the next spots on the tour were the Barracks for the Pikmin?"
"Right, and I'll be showing you two the Tech Armory as well, since it's on the way," Max says. They then exited the power room, and went down one of the branches towards the Tech Armory. Along the way, they passed by the laser grid that was the door into the Vault. "Oh yeah, Vault right here. I imagine what this is for should be rather self-explanatory."
"Yes- speaking of…" Jack pulled out Reaper and shot a Seer that had floated in while the units had been preoccupied with other Seers. "I assume the Grimm coming in here are the reason why you have so many Combat and Security minions?"
"Them, plus my turning the back entrance into basically a killzone by lining it with Barricades and a Turret Robot to make getting in a gauntlet of pain," Max explains. "Not impenetrable by any means, the System unfortunately won't allow that yet, but it's enough to keep all but the odd Seer from slipping in so far. I doubt it'll do more than stall a major incursion when one does eventually come knocking, though."
"Fair. So, Tech Armory?"
"Right this way," Max says, leading Jack and Ilya into the Tech Armory after inputting the passcode for it. "So, while the Energy Management Stations are the general Barracks-type facility for all of my robots, the frontline machines, namely my Security and Combat types, still need somewhere to get their equipment from," he explains. "That's where the Tech Armory comes into play. Each one can support a mix of both Assault and Security Hangars that allow me to outfit and supply up to one hundred Combat and Security units, respectively, per Hangar. Outside of that, I'm only restricted by how many robots I can support from the Energy Management Stations. As you can see, this Armory has one of each Hangar type, since I wanted to at least be able to start building up my fighting forces before we really start expanding the place."
"Completely understandable," Jack replied, looking over the tech. "… Ilya, your thoughts on the quality here?"
"I'd need a sample of what each of these robots are equipped with first," Ilya points out.
"I should be able to requisition some of the gear for you," Max muses. "Aside from my robots, authorized personnel, namely just Revel and myself at the moment, can also requisition gear from the Hangars as long as one isn't at maximum capacity of robots supported."
"And I'm assuming you have your security and combat workers at maximum?"
"The Security Hangar's at maximum right now, and while the Assault Hangar's not quite at cap yet, it will be before the day's out," Max confirms. "Before initiation, I cued up the last of the Probes I'd need to fill out my Combat roster for conversion into Geth Drones. The final one should be completed by midnight according to my estimates. Part of the expansion on my part will be making more Tech Armories and filling them with Assault and Security Hangars, though, so I can get you some samples of what my machines are equipped with then, Ilya."
"Ok then. I assume that the next rooms are all of Revel's Barracks?" Jack inquired, looking down the hall.
"That would be correct," Max says, leading the pair to the Arid Greenhouse first. "As I explained earlier, Revel's Pikmin are kept in Greenhouses, each of which is tailored to support certain kinds of Pikmin. Red Pikmin favor hotter, dryer climates, so this Arid Greenhouse is perfect for them, as the Red Hives scattered about the place would indicate." The Greenhouse itself looked like a sort of miniature version of the Vacuo desert, with red hives poking up out of the sands on their long stems. Stepping in, it was quite clear that Jack was already feeling uncomfortable and having to restrain his aura from automatically activating his semblance.
"We should probably move on before one of us gets heatstroke," Ilya suggests, looking rather uncomfortable, himself. "Jack and I grew up in Solitas, after all."
"Right, next stop then," Max says, ushering the two Faunus out of the Arid Greenhouse, to Jack's far more evident relief, to the Charged Greenhouse. "The Yellow Pikmin are a curious bunch. They favor environments with climates prone to lightning storms. From how Revel explained it, these Charged Greenhouses have powdered Lightning Dust mixed into the soil to accommodate them. As perhaps a side-effect, the air here also smells like ozone twenty-four/seven." Jack scrunched up his nose at the scent.
"Yep… that's ozone alright…" the Faunus grumbled. "So these Yellow Pikmin also like growing in cities then? Since they like electricity?"
"Basically," Max nods. "Them and White Pikmin, but the latter aren't actually part of the troops kept in the Base. Not yet, anyway, that could change if Revel's experiments into hybridizing Pikmin with Professor Peach ever go beyond theory and into practice, though."
"Well, I guess that just leaves the third one, his science based barracks, if I'd have to hazard a guess?" Ilya inquired.
"Yep. Follow me, oh, and watch your step when we get there," Max says, leading his teammates to the Submerged Greenhouse. The reason for his warning to watch their step immediately became evident by the water filling up most of the floor. "The Blue Pikmin grow near water and are the only kind of Pikmin that can breathe underwater as well, so they rather like these Submerged Greenhouses. The Winged Pikmin, meanwhile, tend to sprout in more windy areas, hence the Winged Hives hanging from the ceiling."
"Makes sense, and what's that passageway that's off to the side?" Jack asked, pointing to the passageway that was connected to the Greenhouse.
"Similar setup to my having the Energy Management Stations off the Power Rooms, actually," Max says, leading the way down the short corridor and into the Submerged Workshop. "Revel decided to link his basic research facility to the Blue Pikmins' barracks. They're able to work in these Submerged Workshops without having to worry too much about anyone disrupting them." Upon stepping in, they found that the Pikmin were working on… manufacturing different liquid compounds? "One sec, I need to check something real quick," Max says, pulling out his scroll and texting Revel.
[Max: Hey bro, the Blue Pikmin seem to be working on liquid compound formulae. Are they working on what I think they are?]
[Revel: If you're talking about Fog Machine upgrades, then yes. I set them to do that once they had finished the Enhanced Digging research.]
[Max: "Enhanced Digging research"? Should I be worried about whatever it is you're planning?]
[Revel: I just noticed that we were getting close to running out of space to build in, so I just made my Pikmin able to dig through harder stone and soil so we would have more room to expand.]
[Max: I feel like there's something else about this you're not telling me, but fair enough. I've noticed that it does take longer for my Probes to drill through the soil and bedrock in certain areas.]
[Revel: Might want to invest in research then. I've only gotten the first level of the Research, but there are four in total for improving digging capability.]
[Max: Noted. I'll get the Diagnostix on that once they finish their current projects.]
Max nods and closes up his Scroll real quick before looking at Jack and Ilya. "Sorry about that, I just needed to double-check what the Blue Pikmin were working on. They're making upgrades for Revel's basic Traps."
"Let me guess… Fog Machines?" Jack asked.
"Got it in one," Max says with a nod. "Right now, they're just good for making it a pain in the butt to see through the area of obscurement when one's triggered, but apparently Revel can upgrade the fog liquid formula and dispersal mechanism to allow for more varied and hazardous kinds of fog. Anyway, up next would be where my R&D gets done, which means I also get to introduce you guys to the Diagnostix." They left, and went to the R&D that Max was proud of, with multiple projectors present, each with a Diagnostix working away at them. They also seemed to be conversing.
"No no no. If you plug in a one as the X in that simulation the whole system will overload, you need to adjust it so that won't happen." One of the Diagnostix said, pointing out the error in another's calculations.
"Everything on schedule, you three?" Max asks the Diagnostix, idly noting that they were working on unlocking EPUs for more of his robot types.
"Everything is going just fine, Master Cerulean. We're right on schedule… I just need to make sure this bolt bucket doesn't accidentally screw up a calculation on occasion, but overall it's just fine." the one Diagnostix replied, head swiveling to face the trio. "Oh! You brought guests!"
Max then looks at Jack and Ilya. "Jack, Ilya, welcome to one of my Research Mainframes. This is where I'm able to carry out research projects of my own," he says, before motioning to the three Robots. "And these are three of my Diagnostix. They can get a little chatty at times, but that's just because they come standard with a special device called an Emotional Processing Unit, or EPU for short."
"Interesting. What sort of Dust powers those?" Jack asked.
"Here's the kicker, EPUs don't run on Dust," Max says. "Unless you count their power cores running on electricity beamed to them by an Energy Management Station, anyway. I have noted a trace amount of a substance I've yet to narrow down properly in the EPUs, but so far it's nothing harmful to the Diagnostix, so I'm not in much of a rush to identify it."
"Just be careful," Jack replied. "I'd rather not risk an Endbringer situation."
"I'll keep that in mind, but I've had little reason for worry so far," Max says with a nod. "Besides, I do have an idea of what the substance could be, and if my theory's right; while the stuff can be rather volatile, it can also be refined into quite the useful energy source."
"… When you do find out what it is… tell me, I could possibly use it as an upgrade to Reaper."
"Team MJTC will inevitably be the first to know, so no problem there," Max says with a smile. "Anyways, I think the only place left to show you two is the Cafe."
"Fair enough, it would be a nice way to just relax," Jack noted.
After quickly checking the base map and noting that Revel had added a secondary corridor linking the cafe to the training room, Max led the pair out of the Research Mainframe, also taking a moment to browse the multi-use laser system upgrades and adding a mining lens upgrade to one of his three research cues.
Meanwhile, Revel was just sitting in the team's room, looking over notes and doing some minor decorating - apparently they lucked out and got one of the larger rooms in that hall, so they didn't have to worry about space or having to make bunk beds. "Let's see…" He muttered, looking over his notes on his Semblance. "I guess the best thing to do would be to try the combos of the first three Pikmin types first… none of them seem to contradict each other after all…"
Before Revel could begin to experiment however, there was a knock on the Team MJTC door. A rather forceful knocking at that, as if whoever was at the door was trying to outright bust the thing off its hinges. He stood up, and readied a low powered Water Dust blast from Carnute. Upon opening the door, he unleashed it- sending a spray of water equivalent to a garden hose at whoever was knocking.
"Nora…" one Lie Ren sighed as the carrot-haired girl in question was sent spluttering to the ground from suddenly getting blasted by water. The black-haired boy then looked to Revel and bowed. "I apologize for the disturbance. Nora was rather… insistent… that we invite Team MJTC and Team RWBY over for some inter-team bonding."
"Well my brother and the other two teammates went out to one of the training areas, leaving me to hold down the fort just in case Professor Ozpin or Professor Goodwitch came by. If you get Team RWBY, I could show you where they went."
"I see," Ren muses before pulling Nora to her feet. "Nora, why don't you head back to the dorm room and get Jaune and Pyrrha? I'll handle inviting Team RWBY."
"Okay~!" Nora chirped happily, seemingly forgetting about being soaked by Revel not a minute earlier, and skipped to the Team JNPR dorm room.
Ren sighs and shakes his head with a small, fond smile, before looking at Revel. "Again, I apologize for the inconvenience," he says with a nod. "I'll go collect Team RWBY, and then perhaps you could show us to the training room?"
"Of course," the younger Cerulean replied with a grin. "I'd be happy to." He went back into his team's dorm, and started collecting the supplies he'd need for his experiments.
A few minutes later, and a much calmer knock at the door beckoned Revel outside, revealing that the one who'd knocked this time was Weiss, Teams RWBY and JNPR fully assembled outside the dorm room. "So, what's this I heard about a new training room on campus?" she asked, curious.
"It's one that my brother and I had to help repair as part of the deal when it came to us rooming on campus before the semester started," Revel explained. "Follow me, I'll show you where it is." He stepped out into the hall, and led them towards the central tower's elevators. "Okay, it's going to be a little packed in here… but we're going to have to make due." Revel opened up the doors, and motioned for everyone to get in. "Oh, and Jaune… if you get motion sickness from elevators, you'd better hold it in otherwise I'll be getting the strongest person I can find to give you a repeat of the Initiation launch."
"Oh, you don't have to worry about that," Jaune reassures. "I only get airsick, which still sucks, but hey, at least I didn't get general motion sickness like my dad."
"That sucks… Now let's pile in everyone." Revel stepped aside to let everyone get in before stepping in himself and pressing the button for B1.
"I didn't realize Beacon had a basement level," Blake comments.
"Must've just been forgotten about in the brochure," Ruby muses. "I mean, it's not like those things cover everything."
"Considering the only thing on the basement level is the training room Max and I helped fix up? I think that's why it was forgotten about," Revel noted.
"Well, perhaps that means it'll be a nice, private spot for all of us to train in," Pyrrha suggests. "If it's been neglected by the brochure, then the only people who would go to this second training room would be those who know about it, after all."
"That's the idea," Revel replied, as the doors opened up to reveal the corridor, letting the group of nine stumble out of the elevator. "And, with some help from the construction crews, we also got a little cafe down here that's partially automated, so if we need a drink or get hungry while training, we can head there."
"Some tea before bed does sound rather appealing right about now," Weiss muses as she gets her feet back under her as Revel leads teams RWBY and JNPR to the training room, letting the two teams take a good look around before leading them to the cafe door.
When the door opened, Max, Jack, and Ilya looked up from where the three were enjoying drinks of their own at one of the tables. "Oh, hey there," Max says in greeting, lifting his cup of iced tea. "Who ordered the party?"
"Apparently Team JNPR wanted to have inter-team bonding," Revel replied with a shrug. "So… I figured why not bring them and Team RWBY to the training room?"
"It was Nora's idea," Ren chimes in.
"She wouldn't take "we're tired, can't we do this later" for an answer," Jaune groans.
"Well good news is that you all know where a nice, secluded training spot is now," Revel replied with a grin. "Why don't we all have dinner down here, maybe get some training in, and then call it a night?"
"That sounds like a good idea to me," Ruby says with a smile, before looking to the rest of her team. "How about it, everyone?"
"I think I'll just have some tea before going to bed," Weiss replies. "Plus, Myrtenaster's back in my locker, and I'm not exactly trained in hand-to-hand."
"In which case, why don't we go over what I promised before while we have our tea?" Revel offered, motioning to Steve- who was on his shoulder.
"I suppose taking a moment to talk shop wouldn't be a bad idea," Weiss allows with a nod.
"What about the rest of you?" Jack inquired as he sipped on his drink of choice.
"A nice drink after everything we went through today would be appreciated," Ren muses, keeping Nora from darting off on her own.
"Sounds like a nice way to unwind to me," Pyrrha says in agreement before looking at her partner. "How about it, Jaune?"
"Sure, I could go for something to drink right about now," the blonde knight-in-training says with a smile and shrug.
"A hot cup of tea wouldn't go unappreciated right now I suppose," Blake muses.
"Well, don't let us stop you," Ilya replies, motioning to the drink dispenser. "Help yourselves and grab a seat." They all nodded, and Revel led the way, grabbing a cup of sweet tea while Steve used this time to grab a cup of spicy nectar. Once they stepped away, Team RWBY got their chance to get drinks, followed by Team JNPR, while they all trickled out to the different seats in the cafe. The impromptu gathering was soon filled with the chatter of various different conversations going on, the members of Teams MJTC, RWBY, and JNPR just mingling and getting to know one another for a good hour or so before they all called it a night and retired to their respective dorm rooms. They all had class in the morning, after all, and nobody wanted to be late.
The following morning saw Max awake at 7:30 in the morning. A quick look to the side confirmed that Revel was, actually, still asleep in bed. Guess his brother was taking the new curfew seriously after all, at least for now. Either way, the elder Cerulean grabbed his uniform and ducked into the bathroom to do his morning routine. When he came back out, Max went over to where a kettle and small electric stove had been set up to begin making tea for everyone. Once the water started heating up, he went about waking up the rest of his team.
Unsurprisingly, the sound of the kettle being heated already had Revel waking up, yawning slightly as he slipped out of bed and went to the shower after grabbing his uniform.
"Well, that's Revel awake already," Max muses. "Unsurprising considering we both need our tea in the morning in order to function. Now for the other two." With that, Max walked over to Jack's bed and put his hand on his partner's shoulder, shaking him a bit to wake the arctic fox Faunus. "Rise and shine, Jack. The semester officially begins today." As the faunus was being shaken though… his hand lashed out and attempted to jab at Max's leg. The elder Cerulean managed to shift to the side and narrowly dodge the attempted attack, though, and raised an eyebrow as his partner started to rouse from sleep. "Let me guess… reflex of growing up in Solitas?"
"Yes," Jack grumbled. "If you want to wake me up, shake my legs - Ilya learned that already - it'll prevent me from punching you before I wake up."
"Noted," Max says with a nod. "Revel's in the shower right now, and I have the kettle started to make some morning tea for everyone, so might as well start making yourself presentable. How do you like your tea, by the way?"
"Oolong Tea, two sugars, no lemon," Jack replied as he yawned, sitting up and rubbing his sinuses.
"Oolong, two sugars, no lemon, got it," Max says, finding a bag of the requested tea and setting it in one of the cups he'd set aside for everyone. His own had a bag of green tea already set up and Revel's had a bag of chocolate black tea that had to be custom made. He then looked to Ilya as Jack finished rousing the white lion Faunus. "Morning Ilya. How do you like your tea?"
"Green, one tablespoon of honey," the Terashima replies as he stretches a bit. Max nodded and got Ilya's cup set up as well as Revel finally came out of the bathroom, now dressed in his uniform and with his hair still damp from the shower. Jack instantly grabbed his uniform and stepped into the shower.
Revel, watching that, looked to Ilya and snorted. "Let me guess, you take a long time getting ready?"
"Even if it's not a trait, per se, Lion Faunus are universally known for the wild manes that we call our hair," Ilya says, scratching the back of his head. "I've taken to showering both at night and in the morning to help keep my own under control, though showering still takes a bit regardless."
"Fair enough," Revel replied with a shrug before heading over and getting his hair combed. "Let's see… I helped get the decorating done yesterday evening… I think the first thing is… Professor Port's class?"
"Grimm Studies at nine, yes," Max confirms with a nod as he turns off the electric stove when the kettle starts to whistle. Picking it up, he then started pouring some of the water into all four of the cups to start everyone's morning tea steeping.
Revel set a timer for eight minutes when his cup was poured, and then looked at his brother. "Should we go warn our neighbors about the class?"
"I sent a group text to both Jaune and Ruby before I started the tea, but making sure they're both up and getting themselves ready might not be a bad idea," Max admits as he starts readying the sugar for himself, Revel, and Jack, as well as the honey for Ilya. "Never hurts to double-check with these things, after all."
"I need to start my shower now, so not it," Ilya says as Jack steps out of the bathroom, allowing him to grab his own uniform and duck inside to begin his morning shower.
"I'll drink my tea then go get JNPR up," Revel replied, waiting for his timer to go off. "Who wants to wake up the Femme Fatale Quartet?"
"Pass," Jack says immediately. "I am not waking up the Schnee."
"Not surprised by that, honestly," Max admits while adding the designated amounts of sugar to his, Revels, and Jack's teas. "I was planning on volunteering for that, anyway. I can't imagine Ilya wanting to wake up RWBY either, considering Weiss probably doesn't have the fondest opinion of Faunus at the moment. The White Fang have made frequent targets of the SDC, as well as her family whenever they think they can take a shot at her dad in some way, of late."
"Fair enough," Jack answered, going over to one of the desks and getting out some dust vials that have very specific measures marked out on them.
"Going to make some ammo?" Max asks, noting the measurements and remembering that one of the things Jack had personally set up was an ammo press.
"Yes, specifically my Omnigun ammo," Jack replied. "I won't be doing it right now - the process is rather lengthy if I wanted to do it safely - but I figured I could set the dust out now so I would be ready to do so later."
"Not a bad idea," Max says with a nod, idly noting the rather extensive amount of Dust types the Faunus was setting up. "That's a lot of different kinds of Dust I'm seeing there. How do you keep the ammo stable? I thought Dust ammo gets much more volatile and tricky to make the more kinds you add into the propellant mixture?"
"Ah. there's the thing: This is all going into the bullet proper," Jack clarified. "And it's kept stable by using Gravity Dust as the base that everything else is mixed with."
"Using it as the bullet proper would be even trickier to make work," Max notes. "I can't imagine figuring out how to keep it all from blowing up in your face was a pleasant process."
"One hundred and ninety nine times," Jack noted.
"Ouch. How many of those involved the Gravity Dust?"
"Around forty nine of them," Jack answered, setting the last vial into the holder next to the ammo press. "The other one hundred and fifty was me trying to get the combo right and failing, after that the rest was all about refining the process."
"So the Gravity Dust was a later addition, then," Max notes. "Where'd you get the idea of using it as the base for the bullet from?"
"Mainly from watching the production of heavy artillery rounds, the high impact ones had a metric ton of Gravity Dust in them, so I figured that if I wanted my Omnigun rounds to have the same impact, I should do the same."
"Huh. Say, think you'd be able to help me with making ammo for Salamander when you're done making Omnigun ammo? I still have a good amount of standard .44 Magnum rounds left from Initiation, but being able to have my own stockpile of ammo would definitely be nice."
"Of course," Jack nodded. "I'll help you with that once we have a break period in our classes."
"Sounds like a plan," Max says, nodding to himself as Revel's timer goes off seconds later. Ilya was still in the bathroom, but Max added the honey to the lion Faunus' tea before handing Jack and Revel theirs. Revel mixed his a bit more before taking a nice, long drink of it, sighing in contentment as he savored the flavor.
Max took a drink of his tea as well before checking the time. Eight o'clock sharp, so they had about an hour left to get RWBY and JNPR out of bed and ready for classes. Ilya finally stepped out of the bathroom as Revel and Max finished their teas, so Max handed Ilya his before both Ceruleans went to go make sure their sibling teams were awake and getting themselves ready.
Revel knocked on the door of Team JNPR. "Pyrrha, Nora, if either of you are awake, it's me. Revel. If it's just Jaune and/or Ren who are awake, say something and I'll come right on in."
"One moment, please," Pyrrha's voice comes back from the door. "Jaune's still asleep and Ren's in the shower."
"Okay then, tell me when it's safe to come in," Revel replied, waiting by the door.
Pyrrha opened the door about two minutes later, she and Nora were dressed in their Beacon uniforms. "Sorry for the wait," she apologizes. "Getting Nora to sit still long enough to get dressed was a chore."
"Fair enough. Just wanted to tell you guys that our first class is Grimm Studies at Nine. Do you need me to wake Jaune up?" Revel offered.
"Please don't send an Ice Pikmin down his back," Pyrrha requested.
"I was just going to have a Yellow or Purple Pikmin do it- Yellows can be quite effective at waking someone up via their ears- apparently they're thin enough that they can tickle easily, like a feather."
"Oh, well in that case, Yellow Pikmin, please," Pyrrha says. "I'd rather Jaune doesn't get hurt accidentally by a Purple Pikmin." Revel nodded, and whistled out a unique tune, before a group of five Yellows came marching in through the windows. Revel pointed them to Jaune, and they got to work: tickling him until he woke up.
Max, meanwhile, knocked on the door of Team RWBY's room. "You girls awake yet?" he asks. "It's Max. Wanted to make sure you four remember that we have Grimm Studies at nine."
The door was soon answered by Ruby. She, Yang, and Blake were already awake and dressed. "Oh, Max, good morning."
"Morning to you too, Ruby. Is Weiss still asleep? If she doesn't wake up soon, she may not have time for breakfast."
"She's actually in the shower," Blake noted. "I told her she should've gotten up and gotten one before Yang, but she didn't listen and kept dozing."
Max looked at Yang, more specifically her yellow mane that could give Ilya a run for his money, then back to Blake. "Justified. Yang's hair is about as much of a wild mane as Ilya's."
"Hey, whose hair are you calling a wild mane?!" Yang growled.
"To be fair, Yang, your hair goes down quite a ways, and you just let it go free," Max replies. "Out of your entire team, I can easily imagine you taking the longest in a shower."
"He has you pinned, Yang," Ruby noted. "Anyways, think we should hold off on redecorating then, until we get back from classes?"
"Wait, you girls didn't handle getting yourselves fully settled in last night?" Max asks, confused. "Why not? That was basically priority number one for Revel, Jack, Ilya and I before I showed Jack and Ilya to the underground training room."
"It just… didn't cross our minds?" Ruby admitted.
"You four spent all night chatting before Revel pulled you to the training room, didn't you?" Max asked dryly. The other three didn't deign that with a response, just looking between each other sheepishly. The elder Cerulean sighed a little at that, before shaking his head. "Well, no point stressing over it now. Once Weiss is showered and decent, you four best book it to the cafeteria for something quick to eat on your way to Grimm Studies." The three nodded, and grabbed their books and study materials. As they did this though, the sound of a certain blonde male laughing as he was being tickled mercilessly reached all four of them.
"Is that Jaune getting tickle-tortured by five Yellow Pikmin?" Blake asks, raising an eyebrow in confusion as Max and the three members of Team RWBY present turned to regard what was happening in the Team JNPR dorm.
"Yep," Max sighs, popping the p. "Guess someone made the mistake of letting Revel wake him up. At least he didn't pull a repeat of how everyone was woken up for Initiation."
"… At least it's not as bad as the whistle."
"Whistle?" Max asks, turning as Ruby then proudly held up a red whistle on a chain with her emblem emblazoned on the sides. "Ah, sports whistle. Yeah, that'd certainly wake someone up."
"And she did it through a megaphone as well," Blake added sorely.
"Wait, where'd she even find a megaphone?" Max couldn't help but ask.
"It's the only way to consistently wake up Yang, what else was I supposed to do?"
Max looked at Ruby for a moment before looking at Yang. "You're really that heavy a sleeper?" The blonde nodded sheepishly. "Okay, note to self, keep a bucket of ice water handy if I ever get teamed up with you for a Shuffle Assignment."
"And tell Revel he's allowed to use Ice Pikmin if he ever ends up in the same situation," Ruby chimed in. "Either way, we just need to wait on Weiss now."
"Right, well, see you all in class, then," Max says with a parting wave before leaving Team RWBY to handle the rest of their morning prep. Meanwhile, Revel was leaving Team JNPR's room with five Yellow Pikmin, a content grin on his face. "You couldn't resist, could you?" Max asks his brother.
"I offered, Pyrrha accepted, and gave me the restriction of no Ice Pikmin."
"Fair enough, at least Team JNPR won't potentially be running late now," Max allows with a shrug. "Neither will Team RWBY, even though they apparently spent the whole night before you pulled them to the training room chatting, so they never even got themselves fully settled in."
"Ah yes, Girl Talk, the bane of free time," Revel replied dryly. "Let's head back and get our supplies ready. I'd bet that Port's gonna talk our ears off… but that's a sucker's bet. Also one of us should cut off anyone who takes Port's bait question."
"Ah yes, the question that got Weiss fighting a Boarbatusk while she was irritated, and thus prone to distraction and mistake," Max muses quietly while shaking his head. "Honestly, girl needs to loosen up a bit. Granted, living with Shitley and that PoS Jacques can't have been easy, especially with the White Fang in the mix, but blowing up at Ruby just because she's not quite as mature and was made team leader anyway is kind of a bitch move." Revel nodded, grabbing Carnute and his class materials in the dorm room, noting the two faunus of the team finishing their drinks and grabbing their materials as well. Max gathered up his class materials as well, and soon Team MJTC was making their way to the cafeteria for something quick to eat on the way before heading off to Grimm Studies.
Of course, being on time didn't mean much when the teacher in question was Professor Peter Port. The Grimm Studies teacher just rambled on and on about his tales, leaving little room for any actual learning. Max was instead going over different possible bullet and propellant combinations for Salamander on his Scroll, Revel and Jack were going over Dust Crystals to use with Carnute, and Ilya was just ignoring the professor altogether in favor of reading the actual Grimm Studies textbook. A quick look to the side showed that Weiss was rather intently paying attention to Port for some unknown reason, Blake seemed to be reading the actual textbook as well, Yang was trying not to fall asleep, and Ruby was low-key goofing off.
As the professor drew to the end of his lecture, Jack picked up on not only what he was saying, but also what Weiss was about to do, and so as he asked that one bait filled question, the Fox Faunus's hand shot up like a rocket - making Revel and Max groan silently.
"Oh ho. So, you believe you embody these traits, Mr. Ryoma?" Port asks jovially. Upon getting a silent, firm nod from the Faunus, Port looked to the side, where a familiar cage was set up. "Well then, let's find out for certain, shall we? Step forward, and face your opponent." A quick trip to grab Reaper later, and Jack was up front on the stage, facing down the steel cage that clearly had a Grimm inside of it.
"When you're ready, Professor," Jack said, nodding to the teacher as he got into a ready stance.
Max idly noted Team RWBY (barring Weiss, who just looked pissed) giving Jack a cheer before turning his attention to Jack as well.
"Alright," Port said, hefting his weapon, the Blunderbuss-Axe known as Blowhard, up into the air. "Let the match…" he then brought the weapon down, axe blade breaking the padlock on the cage. "Begin!"
As soon as Port pulled his weapon back, the cage burst open, releasing the Boarbatusk, which immediately charged straight at Jack. The faunus leapt up into the air - arcing over the charging Grimm and already releasing his aura and semblance at full burst - creating an instant snowstorm within the confines of the classroom as he vanished within the falling snow.
"Ha ha!" Port laughed, seemingly unphased by the snow. "Weren't expecting that, were you?"
"Jack, try to flip it onto its back!" Ruby called out. "There's no armor protecting its belly!"
"Don't worry, I've got this," Jack's voice rang out as a Railgun round broke off the two tusks of the Grimm, embedding itself right into the wall of the classroom.
"Crafty approach," Port commented. "I like it!"
Max idly noted a certain quartet of neanderthals complaining about the snow and the fact that Jack was the one fighting the Grimm, but promptly ignored them, especially as they called his partner something that would've definitely earned those four a possible railgun spike if the person they were insulting wasn't currently preoccupied with taking down a Boarbatusk that just began to try using its spin attack and darting around the floor wildly in an attempt to flush its opponent out of concealment. However, that wild movement was it's downfall - as a sound that was very familiar to Ruby, Max, Revel, and Ilya was heard mere moments before the Grimm collapsed, a clear bullet hole going through its head and through the desk right below the leader of the neanderthal quartet's seat- making the chair break out from under him in the process.
"An Omnigun round…" Max muses, unintentionally earning Weiss' attention. "Guess Jack was done playing around."
"Bravo! Bra-vo!" Port compliments as Jack fades back into view. "It appears we are indeed in the presence of a true Huntsman-in-Training. I'm afraid that's all the time we have for today. Everyone remember to study your textbooks, and… stay vigilant. Class dismissed." The class filed out - trying to shake off the snow that Jack's semblance had ended up filling the room with as well - and making sure they didn't end up tracking it into the halls.
Weiss huffed and stormed out of the room, completely unphased by the snow, and Ruby soon followed after to see what was wrong with her partner. Max watches them go, wondering why Weiss seemed to have a problem with Ruby now, as he'd noted that she seemed to be getting rather irritated with her team leader throughout Port's boasting, when they got along just fine before since Ilya prevented them from meeting like how they did in canon. Shaking his head to pull his thoughts from that tangent, Max got out of his seat and walked over to his partner, putting a hand on Jack's shoulder. "Are you going to be okay, Jack?" he asks.
"Yeah, I wasn't in any real danger the whole time," Jack replied.
"That's not what I meant," Max clarifies. "You were rather quick to intercept Weiss's own attempt at answering that rather obvious trap question."
"I knew it was a trap, but if the Schnee was going to try and make that claim, then I was going to make sure she didn't get the chance. She doesn't need the ego boost that beating that Boarbatusk would've given her."
"Considering how she seemed to be getting rather irritated with Ruby for whatever reason, I don't think an ego boost is what she would've gotten," Max idly notes. "Anyway, whatever your problem with the Schnees, I doubt Weiss had anything to do with it. She's not her father, after all, so why not give her a chance to prove that?"
"I will when she isn't going to jump into things without thinking," Jack replied blandly.
"You mean like you did when you intercepted the question?"
"Unlike her, I happen to have a talent for thinking quickly, just ask Ilya."
"If the rumors about her father are accurate, I doubt Weiss is completely incapable of thinking on the fly," Max muses, before shaking his head. "Regardless of that, though, come on. We've got a bit of free time before lunch, and then we have Plant Sciences with Professor Peach."
"Let me guess… Revel's going to be roped in as TA for that class?" Jack inquired.
Max shakes his head. "No, though that's not for lack of trying on Professor Peach's part," he says. "From what I understand, only fourth years can be roped in as TAs, and even then only if it works with their schedule."
"Fair enough," Jack replied. "Let's get going, I want to grab a cold drink at the cafeteria."
It'd been a couple of days since the incident with Grimm Studies, and Jack and Ilya were currently in the forge, working at the Ammo Press using a special attachment Ilya had made.
"Okay… I have the dust mixture ready… shall we try to make the Displacer Charge?" Jack asked, looking over at his friend.
"Just… about… there," Ilya says, finishing checking the connections. "The recrystallizer attachment is ready to go." Jack nodded, and gently poured the dust mixture into the mold of the attachment, making sure it was all in there before closing the mold and heading over to the control panel.
"Vacuum seal, check… time to recrystallize."
"No anomalies in the air extractor," Ilya reports. "It'll take about twenty seconds for the mold to be fully drained of atmosphere, and then it'll take another ten minutes to compress the powder back into a full crystal." Jack nodded, and continued to monitor the device.
However, as the chamber was fully emptied of atmosphere, a certain Dust Heiress stepped in - having been looking for Jack for a while.
"This isn't really the best time, Miss Schnee," Ilya calls out to Weiss, his focus on making sure the recrystallizer attachment didn't malfunction and cost him another prototype. "Could you perhaps wait for a bit? Jack and I are doing rather delicate work right now."
"And what, pray tell, is so delicate that it requires both of you?" Weiss asked, clearly in full "Ice Bitch" mode.
"Prototyping a secondary type of firing charge for Reaper that Jack's been trying to make for a while now," Ilya replies simply. "It involves crystalizing a custom Dust mixture, and if anything happens to the attachment I'm using to keep the mold air-free, we'll have a rather painful Dust explosion on our hands."
"I'm sorry, but did I just hear you say that you're recrystallizing a Dust mixture?!" Weiss exclaimed. "That's impossible! Any and all attempts have ended in explosions that have leveled entire buildings due to the pressure that the Dust was put under!"
"Which is why we're using a custom-built, airtight mold with attachable vacuum extractor to keep the Dust powder inert while it undergoes crystallization," Ilya explains. After a moment, he glances at Weiss again from the corner of his eye. "You're in my light, Miss Schnee." She doesn't move, glaring at the two.
"Why are you two undergoing such a dangerous process, and why does Jack have this obsession with making such highly volatile charges and ammo for his weapon?!" She demanded.
"You do realize that very same head for creating such potent ammo mixtures nearly got Jack branded and enslaved by your father before General Ironwood stepped in and introduced Jack to where he's currently employed, yes?" Ilya asks.
"Branding?! There's no way the Schnee company would ever do something so horrible!"
"I'd like to believe you, Miss Schnee," Ilya replies calmly. "But I've known Jack since he started working where I've been apprenticing. He told me himself what nearly happened, and I've had no reason to disbelieve his claims."
"I even have the two lines they managed to mark me with before the General stepped in to prove it," Jack growled.
"Easy there, Jack," Ilya says. "Remember, we need to make sure the extractor's running for the entire process, and that requires input from your end as well." The vulpine faunus nodded, and refocused back on the machine. Once that was done, Ilya returned part of his focus to Weiss. "The point I'm trying to make, Miss Schnee, is that people other than yourself have had dealings with your father as well, and the face he puts on for his family and the high society of Atlas at large isn't the same one he puts on whenever he has to deal with those he considers the dirt beneath the SDC's feet. I apologize if this insults you in some way, but I'm only conveying what I know here as objectively as I can."
Weiss frowned. "I see… but that doesn't really explain his obsession with making such volatile mixtures though."
"Jack's obsession, as you call it, is more a response to personal trauma," Ilya replies. "The full story is his to tell, should Jack decide you deserve to know, but the short version is that the reason he got into ammo smithing in the first place is the same reason some people choose to become Huntsmen and Huntresses. He's lost people close to him to the Grimm." Weiss winced a bit at that.
"It is more than that Ilya," Jack sighed, glancing at the white haired huntress-in-training. "I lost my home town, my parents, my older sister, everyone I was related to or was friends with. I was the only survivor."
"I was keeping it so simple on purpose, Jack," Ilya clarifies. "I did say the full story is yours alone to tell, after all."
"Fair, but if she didn't hear it now, she'd be pestering me every chance she got," Jack replied, turning to look at Weiss. "My hometown was one that relied on the security brought by the local Dust mining operation to protect them from the Grimm, so when the Dust ran out, and your old man decided it was time to withdraw… the Grimm came pouring in on us, and we could do nothing about it."
"If you want to verify Jack's claim, maybe see if you can't find anything in the SDC's records about Comet Town," Ilya offers. "Even with your father being who he is, being the heiress must give you some leeway for looking into the company's files."
"Fine, I doubt I'll be able to find anything anyways," Weiss huffed, before heading off… but what they had said… it shook her to the core.
Ilya sighs as he watches Weiss leave before returning his full attention to the attachment on the ammo press. "I honestly pity that girl a bit," he comments.
"Because she's going to have to clean up that hardass's mess when she gets instated as CEO?" Jack guessed as he kept his attention on the device. "Five minutes left."
"Extractor's still showing green across the board," Ilya responds back before nodding. "And yeah, Weiss is going to have it rough once she takes over, assuming she doesn't somehow end up convincing Jacques to revoke her status as heiress, that is. It's a precarious balance she has to keep up, one I'm thankful that I haven't had to deal with, myself, as a child of the Terashima."
"Well of course, being a Huntsman gives you experience you need to create better blades by knowing how they work in the field," Jack replied. "Four minutes."
"Seal's holding strong, so far so good," Ilya reports. "And yeah, the Terashima Enclave has never been one to shy away from allowing its children to become licensed Huntsmen and Huntresses due to the obvious correlation of the training to our work in the forges. Weiss, though? From what I heard, her elder sister used to be the SDC heiress before her, and now Weiss is walking the same road of becoming a Huntress. What does that say about her father's view of Huntsmen and Huntresses, you think?"
"Peasants, pawns, not suitable to lead. He probably wants a puppet heir that he can put in the CEO seat and manipulate as an advisor," Jack noted, checking the inputs. "Two minutes - one minute left."
"No abnormalities with the seal and extractor still," Ilya responds. "I know of your grudge against the Schnee family, Jack, but I find myself agreeing with Max. Weiss is clearly striving to be a better person than her father by coming to Beacon. Perhaps once she's had a chance to properly relieve the anger currently clouding her mind, you might try and meet her halfway?"
"I'll try… but no promises," Jack replied. "… and… done. It should be recrystallized now."
"Deactivating extractor in… three… two… one," Ilya says, turning off the vacuum, and then waiting a tense ten seconds as air is slowly let back into the mold. When nothing happens, Ilya slowly disconnects the hose and carefully opens up the mold before retrieving the now complete Dust Crystal held within. It had a mixture of red, orange, and yellow hues, mixed together almost like a flame in crystalized form.
"Here we go… our first successful Displacer Charge in crystal form," Jack said with a grin. "This should really pack a punch against those Grimm that just don't have a given weak spot."
Ilya nods before handing the crystal to Jack. "First thing's first, though, we need to make sure Reaper will be able to handle the heat and recoil this kind of charge is sure to produce."
"Reinforce the rails and structure then, along with creating toggelable heat vents?" Jack suggested.
"I'll see about creating new Dust Alloy rails that will be able to withstand the heat of firing a Displacer shot," Ilya says with a nod. "I think I might be ready to start making Hybrid Dust Alloys soon, and using Ice and Lightning should allow the rails to fire even a Displacer shot without significant repercussions. I'll also see about making some additional components out of Ice Dust Alloy to help with cooling."
"Thanks, Ilya," Jack replied with a small grin. "Now let's get back to the dorm, I need to get this properly stored away safely."
"Right, better to keep it somewhere secure until Reaper's ready for the first test firing," Ilya agrees.
Zino: Well, there's another thing to add to the SDC crimes. I swear that all of Comet Town would take up an entire page of one of the Ledgers that were in Remnant's Phantom Thieves' version of Jacques's Palace.
Spice: There's also Jack's obvious grudge against the Schnee family that caused some tension here. Good thing Max and Ilya are around to help keep it from boiling over into something both he and Weiss might end up regretting.
Zino: Like say an assassination attempt?
Spice: Or what happened after the Breach in KVKC Chronicles, where GV almost shot Weiss.
Zino: And this time it would've been even worse due to the Omnigun.
Spice: Also, we get to see Jack and Ilya make a Dust Crystal from powder, which I imagine is a first for all of Remnant due to how volatile Dust powder is, to the point where even a sneeze can cause an explosion.
Zino: Yep, and we'll just leave it up to you all to start theory crafting what else can be done with that tech, it's getting a little late as of the time of writing so we need to get some rest.
Spice: Yeah, I need to shower and get to sleep. ELFI's overseeing the recall of the machines, so I've got nothing else going on for the moment, anyway.
Zino: As always, critiques are welcome.
Spice: g'night, folks. This is Zinomaru and Spiceracksargent001: signing off.