Courier Six – Six Apparel: Elite Riot Gear Weaponry: Chance's Knife, Mysterious Magnum, Survivalist's Rifle, Frag Grenades
Joshua Graham – Joshua/Josh Apparel: Joshua Graham's Armour + Headwrap Weaponry: A Light In Shining Darkness, Frag Grenades
Ulysses – Ulysses Apparel: Ulysses' Duster, Ulysses' Mask Weaponry: Old Glory, Anti-Material Rifle, 12.7mm SMG, Frag Grenades + Flash Bangs
Update: Made the conversation between the Wastelanders and Ozpin slightly longer since it felt quite abrupt and rushed. Also made some grammatical changes here and there.
Chapter 2: Broken Promises
The change in scenery was almost immediate. The Wastelanders had been treading through the crumbled ruins of their apocalyptic world when they saw a flash of light. Temporarily blinded and unable to see what was happening around them, the trio drew their weapons in preparation of the upcoming fight.
As their vision slowly returned, they were bewildered to find a lush forest of Avocado leaves. They holstered their weapons and took in their surroundings. Leaves fell from the trees. Ulysses snatched one of the falling green leaves. He smoothed his finger over the surface of the leaf.
"Soft to the touch," he proclaimed. Joshua ran his blackened fingers along the bark of the nearest tree and smiled an unseen smile, concealed under bandages.
The Courier knelt down and laid his palm on the floor, touching and grasping the soft dirt in his fingers. He was lost for words.
"God has led us to this world," started Joshua, "the land he promised us, come early." He smirked again.
"Indeed," said Six, "your God is spoiling us."
"Do not make assumptions so quickly," said Ulysses, "history may not have taken its toll yet."
"Lighten up, Ulysses!" said Six, "this is a new chance! A new start! For us!"
"Expect the unexpected," said Ulysses, "The Divide has taught us that history always has its place."
"Ulysses speaks the truth," said Joshua, "we do not know what this land harbours, be it good or bad, human or animal, we must remain alert."
"Right," agreed Six.
The Wastelanders grew tired from their long journey, yet they continued walking through the majestic forest, weapons drawn. They only walked undisturbed through the darkened forest. The group came to a small clearing in the large forest. In the clearing, a singular beam of light penetrated the thick canopy of leaves above them. They decided to sit down and rest for some minutes before heading back out into the forest. A rustle in the bushes caught the trio's attention. They drew their weapons in spite of the disturbance. Red eyes glowed like fire behind the darkness of the treeline. A large creature that looked like that of a Yao Guai, just bigger, emerged from the darkness. The Yao Guai-like creature swiped at Six who narrowly evaded the large claws of the creature. The trio filled the creature with a hail bullets and it fell quickly and heavily. The creature let out one last dying breath as it collapsed, lifeless.
Joshua crouched down next to the one living creature, now a simple corpse.
"Much like a Yao Guai, yet its eyes burn like fire, now an extinguished flame." He stated
The Courier examined the large spinal-like bones protruding from the back of the creature. "Bones covering it's back, like an exoskeleton of sorts."
"I have never seen a creature like this before, like a Deathclaw, yet slower and weaker" replied Joshua
"We must continue," said Ulysses, "could be civilisation, maybe like the old world, who knows?"
The group continued through the forest.
Meanwhile: Beacon Academy Initiation Students: Yang & Blake
"Blake, did you hear that?!" Yang jumped at the reverberating
"Someone could be in trouble," responded Blake
"Let's go then!" exclaimed Yang as she ran off toward the scene, dragging Blake behind her.
The duo wandered toward the source of the now silent gunfire. Trudging through the bushes and manoeuvring past the branches and trees, they came upon a small clearing in the forest, where the leaves in the canopy parted, revealing a crack of daylight. They had walked for over ten minutes
"Sheesh, looks like we missed the party," Yang said, slightly disheartened seeing as she had missed the opportunity to punch something. Blake knelt down by the dead Ursa and examined the wounds in its torso.
"I've never seen these kinds of bullet wounds before…" said Blake. Blake caught sight of a glinting scrap of metal sitting next to her, gleaming in the sunlight provided by the small crack in the leaves. She picked up the empty bullet casing on the floor.
"It's… strange." She said, examining the empty bullet casing
"What do you mean?" asked Yang, hands on hips.
"I've never seen this kind of bullet before," replied Blake, "It doesn't seem to use dust."
Yang gasped, "We should go find Ruby! I bet she'd love to find out what fired this! She's always so into weapons!" The blonde brawler hopped around giddily.
Blake rolled her eyes, shook her head and pocketed the empty bullet casing before the couple continued on into the forest with their main objective.
Wastelanders:
The Wastelanders had left the scene of their encounter and had continued venturing through the forest until they came across a large clearing with what appeared to be a Temple of sorts in the center.
"A temple?" asked Joshua
"Was," replied Ulysses, "Now a thing of the past."
The Wastelanders walked down into the center of the clearing and observed the Temple.
"Pre-war," said Ulysses, "Before the Old World too."
Six observed the stone podiums. Each of the podiums, save 2, harboured chess pieces.
"Chess pieces?" asked Six. He let out a small chuckle and said, "Old World entertainment."
"We are now aware that this world has been blessed with human life," Said Joshua, "Hopefully it still is."
"If there are chess pieces on these podiums, civilisation must be fairly well developed." Stated Six as he picked up one of the chess pieces and began examining it. "They're new too. They must've been placed here pretty recently."
Six placed the chess piece back on its podium and the group reformed and headed toward the nearby valley. Upon entering the clearing that harboured the valley, they spotted a large building, one that reached higher than any building in the Wastes.
"Civilisation?" asked Joshua
"Let's hope," replied Six, "I'm getting hungry."
20 minutes prior: Prof. Ozpin and Glynda Goodwitch
"Professor Ozpin," started Goodwitch, "Our cameras have found some 'extras'. I ran a face recognition scan on them and it appears that they are not students of Beacon, sir, nor can I find them on any accessible databases. What should we do?"
Ozpin remained silent as he observed the newcomers through the camera feed.
"Professor Ozpin?" said Goodwitch, attempting to make herself noticed.
Wastelanders:
The Wastelanders advanced towards the colossal building. The building was built atop a large cliff face. The Wastelanders scoured the area around the cliff for a way to easily scale the cliff, like a trail or a path that led straight up to the top of the cliff. Having no such luck, the trio's only option was to climb the cliff. The climb was quick and surprisingly quick for the Wastelanders. As the Wastelanders neared the top, Ulysses glanced back at the valley they were previously trekking through. The valley remained quiet.
The climb took no more than ten minutes and the Wastelanders were greeted by a middle-aged man wearing a green coat, carrying a coffee mug and a cane in separate hands.
"I trust the climb was hard, no?" asked Ozpin as he saw Six's head pop up from the edge of the cliff.
Six almost lost his grip as he heard the sudden voice. He didn't expect anyone to be waiting for them, nor did he expect to be greeted in such a friendly manor. Six hoisted himself over the edge of the cliff and stood to face the man.
"You mock me?" asked six, regaining his breath. Ozpin stood silent and Six turned to help his comrades over the edge of the cliff.
"Who are you?" demanded Six
"My name is Professor Ozpin; I am the headmaster at Beacon Academy
"An academy?" asked Six, "Haven't seen a running school yet."
"None of us have, Six." Said Joshua
"Well, gentlemen, it looks to me like you have had a rough day. Maybe I can be of assistance and offer temporary shelter for the night." Said Ozpin
Six laughed at his proposal.
"Fuck off, free accommodation is a joke." asked Joshua
"For one night," replied Ozpin, "I'm just looking to help a friend in need."
"Yeah, sorry man but I ain't getting robbed again." Six drew the Mysterious Magnum and held it level with the green man's face. Before he could contemplate pulling the trigger, a bandaged hand wrapped around the barrel and lowered the gun. Six's head slowly turned to his left.
"He's gonna rob us!" Six whispered, but… didn't really whisper. Joshua Graham turned to address Ozpin.
"Ozpin… we do not strongly believe that you are willing to offer free accommodation." Joshua said, hand still wrapped around Six's sidearm.
The corners of Ozpin's lips curled lightly upwards, "Nor do I expect you to… but you seem to be quite worse for wear… and I am strongly inclined to believe that you don't have a place to go."
Joshua turned to address Six, "What do you say, Courier? We have all been in similar situations before, I believe." It was a common thing in the Wasteland, friendly-looking people offering a place to stay for the night and then trying to stab you in your sleep.
The Courier turned and nodded to the green man, albeit hesitantly.
The Wastelanders were guided to their temporary housing by Ozpin. They were astounded by the sheer size and extreme grandiose of the building.
"…This is a school?" Six questioned
"Correct," replied Ozpin casually
"Why is it so… big?" Six continued
"This is an academy, here we train students to become hunters and huntresses," Ozpin explained
Six cut him off, "All of this to train some kids to hunt animals?"
Ozpin glared at him, "You did not allow me to finish. Hunters and huntresses are trained to combat the creatures of Grimm."
"Grimm?" Joshua dug.
"Creatures of the darkness," explained Ozpin. They turned a corner into the cafeteria. "You look thirsty," Ozpin said as he gestured toward the cafeteria. The Wastelanders entered, got their drinks, and returned to Ozpin. Upon returning to the headmaster, Six began rummaging around in his pockets.
"How much?" he asked
"All food and drink is provided to students and staff for free. Since this is your first time here and you clearly have no idea where you are, I will offer you a meal and drink for free." Ozpin explained. The Wastelanders looked at each other, smiling; although neither of them could see each other smile under their clothing and armour. Ulysses wasn't actually smiling, but Six would often like to think that he did every now and then.
"Lunch is served in an hour," said Ozpin, "but for now, let me show you to your residence for the night." Ozpin guided them to their dorm room. He gave Six a scroll and explained to him that it was used for opening the door. He also explained the other functions of the scrolls, such as communication.
"One more thing, gentlemen," Ozpin started, "If you wish to find more… permanent forms of accommodation then I must ask you to prove yourselves to me; report to the cliffs where we spoke earlier for initiation tomorrow morning at 10:00 am."
Ozpin left the three Wastelanders to themselves.
"Holy crap! This is amazing!" exclaimed Six as he bounced on one of the three beds in the room
"Initiation?" asked Ulysses, sitting on one of the beds
"I can only assume there will be combat involved. He talked about these 'Creatures of Grimm'. It must involve them." Said Joshua
"But what the hell is a 'Grimm'?" demanded Six
"Might be the bear," Ulysses said, "back in the forest."
"It could be," agreed Joshua
"Listen, guys," started Six, "I'm not really bothered that much about this 'initiation' thing right now, so how about we get some food and then we can do some research on these 'Grimm' guys. I'm sure there's a library somewhere."
Nobody disagreed with Six's plan of action at the moment. The Wastelanders went to the cafeteria and scoffed down some food. They had never eaten anything that tasted so good in their lives. Salisbury Steak had nothing on this food.
After filling their bellies with delicious nourishment, they decided to head back to their dorm rooms for a couple hours to shower and refresh themselves.
After cleaning up, the trio searched for the school's library. They found it easily enough and began their research.
Six researched the Grimm to find their weaknesses and see what types of Grimm there were. He looked for anything that could potentially help them survive.
Joshua researched culture and geology. He found that the world of Remnant housed 4 kingdoms: Mistral, Atlas, Vaccuo and Vale. He also was able to find information on Combat Schools.
Ulysses read up on the History of Remnant. He discovered that Remnant was completely different from the nuclear wastes. The world of Remnant first harboured the Creatures of Grimm, man was then born, but man was born into an unforgiving world. The Grimm almost wiped out human existence on Remnant before the discovery of Dust. With the discovery of Dust, man grew strong in the world of Remnant. Ulysses further researched Dust as the hours grew late.
Ulysses' research went mostly undisturbed, aside from one young girl who decided to disturb him. Ulysses wasn't too happy about this, but he hid his annoyance expertly.
Earlier
"Umm… excuse me?" came a feminine voice from behind him. Ulysses closed his book and placed it on the table he was sitting at. He turned to see a young girl, no older than 15, staring down at him. She had red hair and wore a black dress-like outfit with a red cape. She jumped back a little when he turned to face her
"Umm… sorry," she said slightly shyly, "I-I-haven't seen you here before, are you new?"
"New… Yes. Got here today. From a land of horrors, with two others." He replied
"What do you mean by 'a land of horrors'?" she asked
"I will tell you more another time. Might not be around much longer." He said.
Without wanting any more strange non-understandable answers, the girl rushed off to join a small group of 3 more girls.
Ulysses picked up the book he was previously reading from and continued reading.