How does Joshua Graham eat? I don't know, so he won't eat.

Chapter 6:

Six had found his way to the school's running track and was now running full laps in his usual gear in an attempt to improve his speed whilst encumbered and general manoeuvrability. Six had never gotten much of a chance to have a conventional jog. Most of the time it was running to and from places, shooting most things he found along the way, human or not.

The Courier finished up a twelfth lap of the one-thousand meter track and sat down to drink from a bottle of water he had obtained from the school's canteen. He slipped his helmet off, not an ounce of sweat on his face, and shoved the water bottle between his lips, downing over half of the bottle in a matter of seconds. He quickly finished the remainder of the water bottle's contents and ended up heaving his chest in and out, taking in as much air as he could. It tasted so much better than the crap he drank back in the wastes.

He could've sworn that stuff was 50% dirt, 25% radioactive waste, 20% bloatfly crap and 5% water. The few bottles of purified water were a leap forward from your traditional wasteland water, but still nothing compared to this heavenly water that he had just rushed down his throat.

He slipped his Elite Riot Gear helmet back onto his head, clicking his neck as he did so. The helmet's red eyes scanned the open and empty field around him as he sat cross legged in the middle of the tracks.

Well, the field wasn't exactly empty. It was mostly empty, save one blonde haired girl making repeated laps around the track. Six had failed to notice when this girl had made herself present on the field, but it couldn't have been long ago, he would've noticed if they had been running laps since he was.

Who else would be up at 3:00am?

The girl grew closer and, to Six's slight dismay, he recognised the girl. Her most prominent feature was clearly her breast size, but Six hadn't been interested in that. There was no time for that in Six's case.

He couldn't exactly put his finger on where he remembered this girl from.

Six was more interested in figuring out her physique. From what he saw, the girl appeared to be 'above average' physically as he could make out slight muscular features about her arms. He wanted to ask how many laps she had done, how long she had been out here. So he waited for her to near.

The blonde girl stopped a couple meters short of Six, breathing heavily, hands on knees.

"How many laps?" Six questioned, standing over her

"Thirteen," she panted

"Only thirteen?" he asked

"How many you done?" she retorted, standing back to her full height, breath regained

"Twelve." He simply replied

"Pfft. Pussy." The blonde girl teased, grinning

"In case you haven't noticed, I am carrying nearly three hundred pounds worth of equipment." Six's eyes narrowed beneath his helmet

"Whatever… I never got your name?" the girl grinned. Six remembered now, this was one of the girls who had eavesdropped on his party's conversation the previous night.

"My name… I told you my name, it's Six."

"Yeah, but you said it was an alias, I want your real name."

"I… don't exactly know that."

"Whaaaat? Waddya mean?"

"Just… it's a sensitive subject, alright?"

"Is it?"

"… Not really. I just don't know. Must've forgotten it."

"How does someone forget their name?"

"Amnesia."

"Amnesia? What from?"

"Things… What was your name?" Six decided to switch the subject in order to avoid having to talk about his past.

"Oh, right! My name's Yang! I take it you want me to introduce you to the rest of the team?"

"When I meet them. Can we walk? I need to get back to my party."

"Party? You mean team, right?"

"The ceremony is tonight. Then, and only then, you can call us a team."

"Whatever suits you…"

The two started making their way to the dormitories.

"Listen," Six spoke up, "I apologise for last night, I was just a little stressed."

"No problem! Can I ask why you were stressed?"

"You really are curious, aren't you?"

Yang pouted

"Just… reasons. Reasons you don't need to know." Six told her as they neared the entrance to the dormitory building.

"Why are you up so early?" Yang asked

"I could ask the same thing. It's custom to rise early where I'm from."

"Where are you from?"

"That is a question I will not answer until you are my very bestest friend. Only then I will answer your pestering questions." Six smiled behind his metallic helmet

Yang snickered, "That sounded so stupid."

"I know."

"Well, you'd best hope to not meet my sister!"

"I won't ask."

The two parted ways, Yang headed wherever she was headed and Six back into his dorm.

"I managed to befriend one of the children," Six said, slumping down on his claimed bed. Joshua Graham, who was sat at a table in the corner of the room, inspecting weapons, swivelled around on his office chair.

"Which one?" The Burned Man questioned

"The blonde from a couple days back. Yang, her name is."

Ulysses was not currently present in the room. Where he was, Six and Graham had no idea. They decided it be best to leave Ulysses to his own things.

"And how, pray tell, did you manage to do that?" Graham asked, "Did you beat her into submission?"

"Hey!" Six held his hands up in defence, "I haven't hurt anyone for two whole days, new record! I was just a little friendlier than I usually am. Had to dodge a couple questions though."

"Suspicious?"

"Very. No doubt her team will ask questions when we meet them."

"When you meet them." Graham corrected his teammate

"No, when we met them. We all need to socialise with these people more. Find out more about them, what goes on in their heads, their reaction to our stories."

"The stories will come at a later date, though?"

"Of course. All I want to do is get in their heads. Know their lives."

"I'm sure Ulysses would have a way around that. I don't know him very well, but he seems to be the most charismatic of us."

"I'm sure he wants to know more about them too. I was thinking we could catch them at breakfast."

"Seems like a sound plan."

Ulysses sat alone once more, just like he had done for the entirety of his neglected life. He sat reading that very same book showcasing nature's mysteries, in the library as he had done before. So far, the former legionary had only discovered Tunnelers and Mole Rats in the book, along with some strange egg which apparently never hatched under the care of scientists. Ulysses didn't take much time to look at the egg.

Ulysses didn't exactly want to be reading this book, but found himself forced to do so, for the safety of him and his comrades, perhaps the people of this world. He would much prefer to read up on the history of this place, the decisions made by famous politicians or war generals. He wanted to find out more about the different factions of this place, the White Fang and the criminal underworld.

He took some time out to research some more on faunus, part humans with animal traits and features, most subjected to hate and violence from humans. He didn't bother with anything more.

He cast his mind back to the Bear and the Bull, how much larger and more extreme they were than the multiple factions of Remnant. He wondered why the NCR had not yet found this world as it was closest to their territory after all.

Ulysses very much wanted to talk to some White Fang members and get their opinion on the current state of the world, why had they taken their cause to such extreme levels in an otherwise peaceful world?

There would always be something to counteract the good of a world, only if all that good hasn't been taken from it already, like Earth.

With luck, Ulysses would passively discover a member of this 'White Fang' cause. He would ask his questions and be done with them. His knowledge would expand, his wisdom would grow, and he would kill if he needed to, if he wanted to. It was always like this, with the Twisted Hairs, with Caesar's Legion, all the same loop repeated over and over again.

His eyes scanned through the pages as he constantly flicked the paper over, revealing the next page every few seconds. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of a clock that hung on the wall. The hands pointed to 12:46. It was still light out, so Ulysses assumed it was afternoon.

He shut 'Nature's Mysteries' and returned it to one of his duster's many pockets, looking up at the small stack of five books that he had previously gone through earlier in the morning. From around 3am he had been analysing several books, each centred mainly on faunus and the White Fang, though he could only find one good book on the White Fang.

He stood and placed the books he had taken back into their respective positions on their shelves before returning to his dorm room.

Six lay on the floor, still fully armoured, examining a large chunk of small print on one of his many Microfusion Cells.

Joshua Graham was currently seated by one of the two tables in the room, reassembling A Light Shining in Darkness for the third time that day. He checked each component, cleaning them with a small cloth he had stowed in his pocket.

The two checked their ammo reserves. Enough for the next week or so provided they would only have to use as much as they did in the initiation each day. Hopefully they wouldn't need to use any.

A quiet click sounded from the door as it slid open, quickly shutting once more after Ulysses stepped into the room holding a large black case by his side.

"There you are!" Six jumped up from his prone position on the floor, "We were just about to go get something to eat. I managed to befriend one of the four that pestered you the other day."

Ulysses did nothing but hold out a large black case to the courier.

"What's this?" Six asked

"Alpha Strike mod, for Red Glare. Thought it might be useful." Ulysses replied, Six slowly taking the case from his outstretched hand.

"Found it at the end of the Courier's Mile."

"Where have you been keeping… never mind, I'll mod Red Glare after we get some food, already missed breakfast attempting to manufacture extra ammo without a workbench of any kind…" Six sighed, "You coming?"

Ulysses replied with a small nod and the three set off for the school's dining hall, leaving their weaponry behind in their assigned dorm room.