Hello again! Just to let you guys and gals know is that I will be following the story cannon….mostly.
You can skip this part if you want but I have a theory. Pyrrha isn't really gone! Well…she is…but not forever! She may be dead but what RoosterTeeth has done is introduced magic to their little creation. That is a door they can't close now that they've opened it. Magic as in something to bring someone back to life. I'll even guess that becomes a story arc. Jaune doing everything in his power to bring her back. But hey that's just a theory…a Fan Theory! Thanks for reading.
Chapter 3: Bandits and Bars and Mansions. Oh My!
"Jaune! Jaune! Jaune!" A little voice cried out. Looking over I saw my little sister, Penelope running over. Her messy blonde hair billowing behind her and wearing some pink pajamas.
"Hey little lady! What are you doing up so late?" I asked.
She looked up at me with those pale blue eyes. "I couldn't sleep and I wanted to see what you were doing!" Her mouth formed a bright happy smile.
"I'm just here watching the stars." It was true. I would often come up the Lucky 38's cocktail lounge, pull up a chair and kick up my feet to look out at the night sky. Especially when I had a nightmare. Most were just reliving gruesome memories.
"Jaune, are we going to live here from now on?" her voice soft and almost inaudible. I knew what she was thinking. I had gotten my family to move into the presidential suite after I helped New Vegas become independent. After that, I helped establish the council of the Mojave factions and actually got them all to work together. Once the NCR and Caesar's Legion were kicked out, it was surprisingly easy. The King was a huge help. In a way he is sort of the ruler of the Mojave. The guy was the perfect combination of strong willed, good hearted, charismatic and idealistic.
Still, I knew my family didn't exactly love Vegas. It still lived up to the title 'sin city'.
Reaching over I ruffled Penelope's hair. "Not forever. Just until I can find someplace better, and I will. I promise.
I promise I promise I promise I promise I promise I promise I promise I promise I promise I promise I promise…
…
Opening my eyes I was once again greeted by this world's sun. The dream was one of the last times I talked to my family before the Think Tank called me. It had been a week since my arrival and I can honestly say, I'm bored.
The scenery was beautiful and all but nothing happened. How the hell could I miss being in mortal danger! Sure, I ran into a few more of those wolf things, but they were smaller than and nowhere near as tough as the first one. Not even my Grognak the Barbarian comics could relive me of the dullness and my music can only go so far.
Maybe I could do something fun when I found civilization. I had found a dirt road three days ago and it was pretty obvious that it was made by something smart enough to make roads. What the species looks like is up for debate.
After packing up my makeshift campsite, I continued my walk down the dirt road. The only thing to occupy my thought was figuring out how to get back. Well I'm no genius, so that kind of only leaves me the option of waiting for the brains to figure out what to do.
Looking around at the trees I could only wonder if this is what earth really used to look like. I mean I know the Mojave was a desert before the bombs but still. The only place with abundance of plants was Zion and vault 22. Then again vault 22 was a killer-plant infested hell that turned its people into plant zombie things. Not much of a comparison.
Then there are other things that I know is different about this world. The shattered moon is the most obvious. However there was one other major thing, the gravity.
I noticed it after my fight with the wolf beast, how I was able to throw the thing with relative ease. I'm not master of physics or anything, but I do know that gravity affects the weight of everything. That explains why my climb up the cliff was easier. Just to confirm it I look at my pipboy's inventory. Usually the thing was a few pounds short of maximum capacity, yet now it dramatically dropped. Gravity may affect the weight of something, but it doesn't decrease the power behind it. I even tested it out by jumping. Usually I would jump a good three feet, now however I could jump a good ten feet in the air. Man that could have been useful in the Mojave.
However I was quickly brought out of my musing by the sound of thunder. Looking up I saw that the weather had drastically shifted. It looked like Mother Nature had suddenly decided to unleash her wrath. The strange part was the storm seemed to be focused a ways down the road. Straining my hearing, I could make out the sounds of what I could only assume to be gun fire.
Well I was bored. To take a look and see what's going on.
Reatomizing my helmet and the pistol A Light Shining in the Darkness, or ALSD for short, I made my way the center of the storm.
…
Cinder
I almost wanted to laugh. It was happening. This Fall Maiden was skilled, but she could never really use her powers to their fullest. I plan on using them for things she could have never imagined.
Mercury and Emerald moved to either side of her and holding her by the arms. I pulled out the glove and put it on. It may have taken great effort to acquire it, but it was worth the hardship. Holding my gloved hand up to her face, I could feel the beetle emerge from the fabric.
Her eye's widened in fear. "Please, No!" What was her name again? Amber I believe, how fitting.
The insect spat out its black tendrils and the girl could only scream in what is no doubt pure agony. That's when I felt it. The heat, the power all flowing into me, it was the most amazing thing I had ever felt! I don't know how, but I knew my eye was shine with its power!
Yes! Nothing will stop me! The queen will conquer all-
*click*
"I would stop that if I were you." A muffeled voice said from behind me.
Turning my head I saw what could be described as an armored phantom. Its glowing red eyes boring into me and a silver hand gun an inch from my head, except it was different from other weapons I've seen. It was rather simple, but it had the unmistakable gleam of a weapon that was designed for nothing more than to kill. Another strange thing was I could not sense any dust in it, yet the way he held it said that it could still fire.
No matter he shall be the first to taste my new power.
That's when the flash of a blade caught my attention.
…
Jaune
Well, their human-ish. Except for the two minions hair colors and the sexy ladies' glowing eyes, they look like regular humans. I wonder if the planet had something to do with that. Wait where was I? Oh right, holding a gun to the main bandits head. Whatever she was doing to the brown haired girl wasn't good based on the screaming.
Suddenly a blur passed between the girl and the bandit's hand. We were all pushed backwards and before I could re-aim, I noticed a metal foot coming at my face.
Acting quickly, I rolled to the side and allowed whatever it was to safely pass over my head. It landed a ways from me and suddenly turned back to me. Oh look, he's got robo legs. Metal prosthetics were on display by what were now charred pants. Before the grey haired guy could do anything, an ear splitting crack filled the air.
He fell back wards with a scream and holding his right shoulder. The only thing I could do was feel disappointed at myself. Ugh, I was aiming for his head! That what you get when you rush a shot. That's when I saw the green haired bandit run over to her fallen friend and also when I noticed a swirling red and black things under my feet. Jumping off to the side, I was able to dodge A PILLAR OF FUCKING FIRE! Where did that even come from!?
Looking back up, I noticed something important. The bandits were all gone. It was as if they simply disappeared. Still not as impressive as the mysterious stranger guy who seemed to follow me around for some reason. With a sigh I holstered ALSD and turned around.
Only to find a large sword pointed at my face. (Phrasing!?)
The man holding the sword had red eyes and looked like the picture of a scruffy drunk. I could smell the alcohol through my masks filter. He had on a white and grey coat/shirt thing with black pants and a tattered red cloak hanging from his shoulder. In his other arm, he cradled the battered and unconscious girl the bandits attacked.
Thinking quickly, I said the only logical thing an alien would say when meeting a planets people for the first time "Uh…I come in peace?" There we go, best ambassador from earth ever! Wait does he even know what I'm saying?
"Alright," he said lowering the sword, "why are you here?" Hey, they do speak English! Wait that's kind of weird, this is another planet. Huh, something for another time I guess.
"Well the storm was acting weird and I heard gunshots so I came to take a look and see what was happening. I saw the bandits and decided to help her." I said motioning my hand towards the girl in his arms. "Then you showed up and here we are."
With that he seemed to look content and put his blade in some holster on his back. "Well thanks for butting in and trying to help, but I need to get Amber to a friend of mine." He then pulled the girl into a bridal position and got ready to run.
"Wait," I called out "could you tell me where the nearest settlement is? I'm kinda lost."
"Bout half a day's walk down the road is a tavern, plenty of people coming and going so you should be good. Take care buddy." With that he took off in the opposite direction run faster than should be possible.
Looking back to where he pointed, I took a step forward, only to hear a soft click of my armored boot hitting something. Looking down I noticed a small black device at my feet. Reaching down I noticed some drops of blood. Guess dropped it when he was shot. His loss, my gain.
After fiddling with it for a while, I pressed a button and it suddenly expanded into a sort of glass tablet. Then the glass lit up with a number pad and a box for a passcode. Great, awesome minicomputer and it's locked! Why can't anything ever be easy? Well, when in doubt, guess!
Typing in my first guess the screen disappeared and brought up some icons. Who the hell makes their password 1234! Idiot. Shaking my head I clicked on an icon labeled dustnet. If my hunch is right, then it's basically this world's version of the internet. The Think Tank had a bunch of information in its archives and talked about how people always used the internet back before the bombs. That is until the governments of the world didn't want their people 'to fill their heads with Communist propaganda' and took down everything. Yeah, that must have been utter bullshit.
Anyways, time to finally get some answers, I thought as I walked down the road and typing away at my new device
…
Cinder
After makeing sure we were far away from the Hunter and the masked man, we stopped running. "Oh son of a bitch!" I heard Mercury screamed before collapsing on the ground and holding his injured shoulder.
"You fool," I said walking over to him, "you let him injure you. Why exactly did you not bring up your aura?" is said in a calm voice. However, you would have to be deaf to not hear the venom hidden in the question tone.
He looked back up at me. "I did. Whatever the bastard hit me with went right through it. Hell! I didn't even see the bullet leave the barrel!" He said removing his hand and showing a hole through the muscle and skin of his shoulder. It would leave a scar but he would recover. He had better; the only thing to be done with a useless pawn is to be disposed of.
"Damn it where's my scroll!" He said patting his pockets and seeming to panic when he couldn't find it. "Oh come on! That was the only way into my dad's account!"
I was truly tempted to burn the oaf into nothing but a pile of ash.
"Cinder," Emerald said from behind me, "what do we do now?"
"It's simple." I said summoning a flame in my hand "We stick to the plan. Now, we go tame the beasts."
...
Jaune
Well, now I know the worlds name is Remnant, not a bad name. It turns out you can learn a lot just by randomly looking stuff up and looking up terms that you don't know.
Like how I learned that those monsters I fought were called Grimm, Beowolfs to be exact. Apparently they've been around as long as the people on Remnant. Apparently the things are attracted to negative emotions and seem to exist only to kill humans. And apparently people fight them using Dust. Thought it was weird at first, except that's what they call a crystal that has elemental affects. They sometimes call it "Natures wrath", which sounds AWESOME. They apparently use it for everything. From weapons, to power sources, to even tooth paste. It's basically a 'jack of all trades but master of none'. It used for everything, but doesn't have the same potency of solar or nuclear energy from Earth. Then again, Earth turned into a wasteland so there's that.
Then there are the people. Apparently the color spectrum for hair and eye color is huge here. Then there are the other inhabitants. The Faunus, which are basically animal people. They are this world's equivalent of ghouls. For what ever reason they are discriminated against and treated as less than human by some people, specifically the Schnee Dust Corporation. That in turn put hate in some of the Faunus and they formed the White Fang. Once peaceful protesters seeking equality turned violent extremists. Since that, Faunus treatment got better but the hate for them only grew, hidden in people's hearts. Funny, the white fang wanted to show the world they're not just some rabid animals, yet that's exactly what they've become.
Finally, there are the Huntsmen and Huntresses. People who dedicate their lives to fighting the Grimm and crime in general. Trained since they were kids, they go to academies to learn how to do it properly. Sounds too much like the legion for me, yet it's stressed that it's all done voluntarily. Hell they get payed to be heroes.
Oh, they basically all have SUPERPOWERS! Apparently, they all have an Aura which is the "manifestation of one's soul." What the hell does that mean!? But basically whatever it does makes them super human and can sometimes give them awesome powers. These guys are kind of literal super heroes. Apparently the schools are in each kingdom and if the GPS is right, I'm in the kingdom of Vale, East of the city of Vale, weird name.
Anyways I had found all that out while I was walking towards the tavern the guy told me about, all the while hoping the girl would be alright. She looked pretty bad and it didn't look like the kind of thing a stimpack could fix. Whatever those bandits did to her wasn't pretty, not the worst thing I've seen but still sounded painful. The sky was getting dark and I could just make out some lights from up ahead.
The place was nice. Sealed roof, strong walls, and a little tower on top that no doubt had a lookout. Whether or not they were awake was debatable. Over all a nice place to rest while knowing people are looking out for you.
I was about to open the door before realizing something. I probably looked like a killer or some violent mercenary with all my gear on. Hoping to not cause an incident, I reatomized my light brown duster with no sleeves over a white shirt with the sleeves rolled up to the elbow. Putting those on with a flash of light and atomizing my riot gear. The duster once had a crude painting of the old world's flag, but I was able to wash it off. That was never my symbol to follow.
Walking in, I noticed how clean everyone was. They may have been dirty but they weren't covered in the grease, dried blood and dirt stained clothes I was used to. That just goes to show how different things are here. The place was lit with some wooden chandeliers with light bulbs casting a warm glow over its patrons with a few candles to light up the dark corners. Walking over to the bar and getting the bartenders attention. I quickly put on a scowl that made me look older than I actually was, something my dad taught me. In a world where there's a drinking age, I knew it would come in handy.
Ordering a shot of whiskey, I just sat there drinking in the pleasant atmosphere. Hearing someone sit next to me, I look over to see who. The man must have been a good foot taller than me with bulging muscles barely contained in his shirt with a thick orange beard and head full of the same hair. Which is why the fluffy orange rabbit ears almost made me laugh. "Hey Jimmy, how you doing?" the brown haired bar tender asked the man. "Not bad, just transporting some dust to a few of the settlements around here. Passed by the old Arc manor a ways back. Too bad the place is rundown."
Hearing hat last part made me gag a little. Turning to Jimmy I asked him about it. "What do you mean Arc Manor?" Turning to me I saw he had dark green eyes and a nose that's been broken a few times. "That's right, young folk never seem to know there history. The Arcs were an old family and were well known for their heroes. The last one was a huge help in the Great War." I had to remind myself that there Great War was different from mine. I think it had something to do with art, I don't know. "The last one died 'bout 50 years ago and left behind a mansion. With no family left and it being out beyond the safety of the cities, no one bothered to move into it. Just been sitting there a mile or so down the road."
The whole having the same name thing is weird, but it could be useful. A little lie about being a distant relative of this worlds Arcs shouldn't hurt anything. Standing up I clapped the burly man on the shoulder. "Thanks for the info, think Il take a look at it sometime."
With that I hurried out of the tavern, hoping to be long gone before the bar tender realized I didn't pay for my drink.
…
I got to say, it's not bad.
It was fully dark and I was standing outside the Arc mansion. It was a fairly good looking mansion that would have felt right at home in the south in the old world. The white walls were still in good condition with the exception of faded and chipped paint and the shingles were still all there. The rails on top of the roof looked pretty rusty though and the lamps on stone pedestals were all damaged in varying degrees. (Basically Calvert Mansion from fallout 3, only not as creepy)
Walking into the to the mansion I could tell the place was once well taken care of. There were even a few paintings of the Arcs, surprisingly enough they all had blonde hair. Faking being related just got a lot easier. Most of the painting showed their ancestors in heroic poses with awesome looking old armor. I always wanted to be a hero, to bad no one told be you spill blood to become one.
Deciding to look around the place a little more before going to bed, I walked over to a large marble fireplace. In the center was what I could only guess as the family crest. Its double arcs proudly on display for all who enter.
Going over to look at the fire place and ran my fingers over the symbol. Nice and smooth with a cool fe…what's that? On top of the crest felt like what I would say is a hidden button. Old rundown building with secrets to hide, feels like home. Pushing the button, I stepped back to see what would happen.
Suddenly a series of clicks vibrated from below me. Ever action sent vibrations up my legs. Then with a loud screech, I realized whatever mechanism was working just broke.
"Well that's disappointIIIIINNNNGGG!" the floor boards below me gave way and I fell into the darkness. After falling for a few seconds, my body impacted the hard stone floor. "Ow."
Opening my eyes the first thing I saw was the large hole about twenty five feet above me. Unfortunately the next thing I saw was a large floor board connected to some loose stone work fall down….and towards my face.
This, is gonna hu_
*THUNK*
With that, I was sent into the dark void of unconsciousness.
…
And that a wrap people!
How do you like it so far? Being there for Cinder's power grab, learning about the world, and finding other people with the last name Arc. No they are not related at all.
I decided to go The Bringer of War route and make our guns more powerful than the ones on Remnant. I mean, you can see the shots coming in the show so they are sub sonic and therefore not as powerful. They make that up with their elemental effects though.
And about the gravity thing, I did that to kind of make sense about things. Sure Aura makes people super human, but that doesn't explain the whole catapult at initiation, why thrown things go farther, or Ruby's scythe. Even with increased fit 15 year old strength, you would still have some trouble. So I'm saying it's the gravity.
One last thing. If you want your favorite New Vegas weapon in here, tell me what and why I should put it in.
And with that I must say Au Revoir for now!