Ch32: IVAN

(Saturday, Y+1, M+4, D+25)

I slowly wake up, trying to sit upright only to find a body constraining my movement.

"Neo. Wake up."

'"*groan.* What."' Neo responds, shifting.

"Could you please get off of me. I need to get dressed. And I've got to introduce you to my team sometime today."

'"*more groaning and indecipherable noises.*"' Neo just cuddles into me.

I hear the sound of a scroll camera clicking.

*sigh* "Ivan I swear to Murphy. Delete that photo or I will be forced to take drastic measures."

"Too late. Already sent it to your team."
"You godless Commie bastard." I bolt upright, Neo falling to the floor. 'SHITSHITSHITSHIT.' "Wait. Where did you get a scroll? And where did you get my team's contact info?" I ask Ivan.

"The headmaster stopped by and dropped some things off; a pair of scrolls and some uniforms. The scrolls had the contacts preloaded. As well as a new room number and team name. We are now team Krakin." He says, as an entry from one of Ruby's books on mythical creatures comes to mind.

'Krakin- A mythical creature(s) of the seas in Valian lore. Said to be the defender of Vale's coast and the reason for abnormally low concentrations of aquatic Grimm in Valean waters. The mythical creature(s) have not been definitively proven to exist, although no reason has yet to be found for the aforementioned low concentrations of aquatic Grimm. Hmm. Interesting.' Then I remember what Ivan just did.

"Neo, you may want to get ready to run. Ivan, I will have my vengeance. I never should've given you that bottle of vodka." I say, running to my crate.

"How'd you know?" He questions.

"I can smell you from here Ivan. I'm a Faunus, remember?" I say, gearing up as fast as I can, making sure to stock up on flashbangs and freeze-grenades. And my Tactical Shovel (™), Commonly used for bludgeoning various Grimm/Cardin.

*BOOM* "WHAT THE HELL KURT!?" 'Well shit.'

"Ivan you are a dead man." I mutter under my breath. "A very, very dead man." I open the crate door, one hand already in my greatcoat, grasping an object. I pull the pin, holding the spoon in place.

"Hey ladies, before you kill me and all. I have one question." I see my teammates, all in varying states of confused and incredibly murderously pissed off. "What color is this?" I ask, holding up the pin.

"Umm, black?" Ruby answers.

"Wrong, the answer." 'Five' "Is." 'Four.' "FLASHBANG!" I shout, chucking the nonlethal device into the midst of my teammates, Ivan standing nearby with a smirk on his face. 'Three.' I grab Neo by the arm. "Sorry Girls!" I shout, pulling Neo inside the crate. The grenade lands on the ground in the middle of the group. 'Two.' "C'mon Neo!" *bamf*

We appear in the middle of a snowy forest on Patch. "And this is the Eversnow Forest. What an imaginative name." I say, trudging onwards through the foot-deep snow. I feel an impact on my back and I stumble forward a step or two. "Is this going to become a regular thing for you Neo?"

'"Maybe. The snow's cold."'

"You have an Aura."

'"But this is more fun."'

*Sigh* "Alright, we're going home. I'm just going to call my dad, let him know we're on our way." i say, pulling my scroll from an armored pouch and clipping my helmet to my belt. "Hey dad."

"Hello Kurt." Dad says flatly, sounding a bit disappointed.

"They sent you the picture, didn't they?" I ask, sighing.

"Yes."

"To be fair, she was horribly drunk and I was too tired to argue."

"Did you…?"
"No! Just… no. Shame on you for thinking that Dad. Shame on you." I say, quite seriously, but lightening up near the end. "But yeah, just letting you know that I'm on my way with a pint-sized mercen-" *Thwack* "-Ow! Hey!"
"Is something wrong?"

"No. Neo just decided that she didn't like being referred to as Pint-si-" *Thwack* "-Ow! yeah, she doesn't like me calling her that."

"And why are you suddenly friends with a deadly mercenary assassin?" Dad asks.

"I delivered a package for Tuckson to Junior, who in turn asked me to deliver a package to a house that turned out to contain Neo we talked for a bit before I had to leave. If memory serves, that was when Blake ran away. I met Neo a few more times around the city and we talked more. Then, out of the blue last night, she asks for help. Turns out, she was being attacked by the white Fang at Junior's club, probably trying to tie up loose ends. I dragged ivan out there and together we drove off the White Fang." I say, continuing to trudge in the general direction of our house. "Turns out the whole Breach fiasco effectively ruined her life. No job, no chance of getting another, as well as the fact that she had no usable weapon and I was the only person she could turn to. So I promised that I'd help her out. Ozpin ended up inducting her into Beacon. I assume that he'll be discussing her situation with Ironwood sometime soon. You know, to clear her of the various crimes she's committed. Or at least strike some sort of deal. There's more but I'll tell you when I get home." I say.

"Why?" Dad asks.

"Because I'm not wearing my helmet and my nose feels like it's going to freeze off." I chuckle.

"Alright, see you soon. Qrow's over, by the way. He's quite… keen… to meet Neo." He says, before hanging up.

"So, Neo. You'll be needing a new weapon. I would recommend something with a gun in it, though." I say to Neo, placing my helmet on my head once more.

'"I was going to remake my parasol. I thought of putting a gun in it but then there'd be no space for the dagger."'

"Maybe use something Dust-based. Or just carry a gun."

'"But that wouldn't fit my style."'

"You know what fits your style even less? Being dead. But then again, I'm much more reliant on firearms."

'"Point taken. So, what is your weapon?"'

"A bullpup AR that shifts into a DMR, a knife that functions as a bayonet/bipod, a scoped pistol, a pair of cutlasses, and many, many knives. And the small armory I've built up thanks to all of my free time."

'"Did you buy them?"'

"No my mercenary friend. I made them!" I say, still trudging along. 'She's starting to get quite heavy. Good thing I can see the house. I'd since made it past the borders of the Patch Settlement Area, the ever-growing area of Patch settled by Humans and Faunus. The area had no true physical borders, instead it relied on recently graduated Hunter teams, Signal students, and retired Hunters as a sort of border-patrol force, augmented by a range of sensors and cameras to pinpoint large concentrations of Grimm. "We're almost home. My father and uncle are both teachers at Signal, just so you don't get any ideas."

'"What, you don't trust me?"'

"I just wanted to apprise you of the situation beforehand." I tousle her hair, earning a stern look. "Aaand we're here." I say, ringing the doorbell. "Now could you please get off of my back?"

'"Nope."'

"Lazy." The door opens to reveal my dad, looking at me with a strange mix of confusion and amusement. "She's lazy." *Thunk*

'"Ow!"'

"And that's why I wear a helmet. Ha. Serves you right."

"And why are you giving her a piggyback ride?" Dad asks, trying to refrain from laughing.

"Would you say no to someone who managed to defeat Yang?" I ask rhetorically. "That and this is the easiest way to keep an eye on her." Neo just grins.

"Point taken." Dad says, pulling out his scroll and snapping a couple of pictures before I can do anything. The downside of wearing a full-face helmet is that you can't give people death glares. But you do get to stare people down from behind a black reflective visor, so it kinda evens out.

"What is with people taking pictures of me today?!" I beg to the heavens, before walking inside. "Hi Qrow." I say, as he stares at me, Neo still using me as a form of transport. "Don't ask." I say, walking over to the couch. Neo jumps off my back and sits down. I sit down next to her and clip my helmet to my belt.

"So, would you mind explaining what she is doing here?" Qrow asks, emphasizing by pointing at Neo.

"She was in a bad place and I offered to help her. And as long as she refrains from breaking the law, I will continue to do so. The fact that she's my teammate now probably has something to do with it too."
"Wait, she's part of RWWBY now?" Dad asks.

"No. I'm now the leader of Team K(rak)IN. It's a new three-person team. Incidentally, it is comprised of Myself, Neo and a guy named Ivan who is in the same … situation as I am." I say.

'"Same situation?"'

"I'll tell you later." I say.

"Huh?" Dad and Qrow question, as I appear to be responding to a question that wasn't asked.

"Oh, yeah. For some reason I can hear her in my head. I honestly have no idea why, but I can." I say, Neo just smiles.

Qrow and Dad just look at me like I'm crazy which, to be fair, I kind of am.

"Hey, if I were in your shoes I would call myself crazy too. But, to be honest, that is probably the least crazy thing that's happened to me in the past year and a half." I say with a smirk.

Qrow looks me in the eyes of a few moments. "I believe you." He says. "We were planning on surprising you and the girls by showing up at Beacon tomorrow to stay and watch the tournament."
"I won't tell." I say. "And it goes without saying that Neo won't either… Because she's mute." Neo just stares at me.

'"..."'

"But I guess we'll be staying here until you leave. That should give Yang enough time to cool down, as it were." I say. "And of course I have to plot revenge on Ivan for taking the pictures that started this entire incident. I'm thinking of assigning him to record the entirety of a few of Port's lectures." I say with an evil grin.

"May Oum have mercy on that kid's soul. Port was in our class at Beacon…" Qrow shivers.

"Well then, with that settled, I'm just going to pick a few things up from my room." I say, walking off to my room, Neo alongside me. "How're you doing? Looking forward to becoming a Huntress?"

'"It'll be different. At least I won't have to worry about trying to find clients."'

"That's the spirit. Now, any questions for me?"

'"Where are you from?"'

"America. Land of the free because of the brave." I say, tapping the flag embroidered onto the shoulder of my greatcoat.

'"I've never heard of America. Is it one of those towns out in the Grimmlands?"'

"Nope. It's actually on an entirely different planet." We enter my room.

'"No, really, where is it?"'

"I just told you."

'"Oh really then? If it's another planet, how did you get here?"' I sit down on the bed and Neo sits down right next to me.

"I just woke up in the forest one day. I didn't remember who I was. I remembered my skills, and basic things like math, science and history. Except, it was a different history; the history of a planet without Grimm, Dust, Auras or Faunus. A world that housed about seven billion people. And a world that had gotten pretty damn good at killing things, usually for stupid reasons. But I'd have to say that a distinct lack of murderous evil beasts more than makes up for that. All I had on me was a phone, my pistol, and five seven-round magazines. Beowolf almost got me before my soon-to-be little sister showed up. A few months later, I had a new family And the rest, as they say, is history."

'"You're really telling the truth? If you're from a world without Faunus, then how come you're one?"'

"I have no clue, but I am. I'd have to say that it's much cooler being a Faunus though. Better senses and elf ears are pretty cool. And the tail, although I'm still kinda getting used to having one."

'"Alright then."' Neo looks at me.

"Wanna go see the town?" I ask, pulling a small metal box from under the bed and removing something.

'"What was that?"'

"A mag for my pistol. I still have a couple from back home so I'm keeping one on my person at all times. They're actually a bit more powerful than the standard propellant around here. I can actually punch through a Beowolf's skull armor with one of these." I say, sliding the mag into a pouch. "So, anywhere you want to go?" I ask, twirling a knife idly between my fingers.

'"I haven't been to the movies in a while."'

"Alright then. Let's go." I say, leading Neo out of the room. "Going to see a movie Dad. We'll be back later." I say, hearing him and Qrow snicker a bit as we leave. "Heathens." I mutter as we leave, Neo actually walking for once. Soon we enter town and reach the movie theater: Royal Cinemas. "Anything look good to you?"

'"That one looks cool."' She points to a poster.

"Son of a bitch." I say quietly. I walk up to the ticket booth. "Two tickets for that one please." I say, pointing at the poster.

"Sure thing dude, here you go." Says the man working the booth, who both looks and sounds surprisingly like V.I.C. from Red vs Blue. A few minutes later we're sitting in the theater staring at the screen.

SARGE 2: SARGE HARDER

I sit in my seat, my expression one of pure joy while Neo just looks at me strangely.

'"Are you ok?"'

"I have never been better."

[A couple of hours later.]

"Best. Movie. Ever. Of all time." I say, walking out of the cinema with Neo.

'"I've seen better."'

"Quiet you. You're ruining the moment."