Hello everybody! Nutshop here again to post the second chapter of "Keep on GroundKeepin"! I should really figure out how to ask people for preview my stories for any details so if you would like to help me out on how do I do that, it would be most appreciated. But enough about me, please Enjoy!
Chapter Two
"*Bing-Bong!* The plane for Beacon Academy has now landed. Please gather your belongings, have your passport and documents ready for the front desk and prepare for departure. Thank you for flying with us today. Have a pleasant day. *Bing-Bong!*" The flight attendant called as she slowly set down her microphone.
It was a bright, new day in the city of Vale. Birds chirping sweet melodies to the world as they soared across the vast blue skies above, citizens of all ages exited their home's to bask in the fresh air of their new day and stores all over town flipped their signs and activated their 'on' switches for the world to know that they were ready and OPEN for the world today.
The Vale airport acted as it normally would with hundreds of soon to be passengers awaiting their respective planes. However, today was the mark of a special occasion because this was the day that many were awaiting for. The day where applicants come to Beacon Academy and become hunters and huntresses. Thanks to this momentous event that happens on a yearly basis, the airport became extra busy as excited young graduates from their combat schools with weapons of different shapes, sizes, types and elements flooded towards their respective gates towards their futures. They said their temporary farewells to their friends and fellow family members one last time before they turned towards the gate and stepped into the newest chapter of their lives. Confidence and excitement being clearly evident within their eyes as they waited patiently in line to board their planes.
However, that could not be said for everyone as there were some that feared this sudden life-changing moment, especially for a certain hooded, young, male blond. He shifted uncomfortably in his seat as he held his passport and luggage close to himself as he waited for the line to shrink before he too, would go and board the aircraft. He couldn't believe that he, the idiotic, blond goof-ball of his family, was going to Beacon to achieve his dream in becoming a proud hunter and a hero just like his father and his many forefathers. It gave him a sense of pride that he was able to go but at the same time, gave him a sense of despair all at the same time. Would he be able to live up to their expectations? would he be good enough to become the hero like in the legends? He shook these thoughts away as he saw the line at the front desk have only a few students remaining. So he rounded up his belongings, rose from his seat and began to walk towards the front desk to have his documents viewed.
Before he even took a step forward, he heard a loud, groggy, snarl that sounded a lot like an Ursa emanate a few seats behind him. He completely froze in place due to this Grimm like sound as sweat began to form on his palms and forehead, his ocean blue eyes opening wide with fear and his legs beginning shake and buckle uncontrollably. With a fearful gulp of his throat, he slowly turned his head towards the source of the sound only to realize it wasn't a Grimm at all. In fact, the sleeping stranger looked more so like a young, dusty, bright colored hobo that decided to crash at the airport for the night. He decided to keep that comment to himself before jumping to conclusions.
The blond boy sighed in relief that he didn't have to fight a Grimm in the airport and decided to wake him up to let him know that the plane had arrived. Besides, it would be nice to have a new friend for the ride. His mom always said with her wise words of wisdom that 'strangers were just friends that you haven't yet'.
As he got closer, he saw that his clothes apparently were covered in something black and dusty. Soot maybe? He couldn't tell. His scarf was tied loosely to cover the suns rays while he slept, a greasy red case was placed beside him with bits of paper shoved right under it and his whole body was slacked back with his mouth wide open. The dusty, young male suddenly mumbled something about a white rooster that wore a set of chattering plastic teeth before shifting in his seat to a more comfortable position. Sadly, the new sleeping position was a little too close to the edge of his seat as his whole body leaned to the right, only to fall right onto the carpeted floor with a rather loud *thud!*.
The blonde winced as he saw Evi hit the floor head first but began chuckle from this sight as the other young man sat up straight instantaneously looking around with groggy eyes like a meerkat on morning lookout duty with a hangover.
"Ugh." Evi grunted as he pulled down his scarf and began to rub his head with his left arm. "That's going to leave a mark."
While he was trying to soothe his new wound, he noticed a brown, gloved hand in his sights and looked up to see a blond, hooded male with bits of knight armour covering his sweater and a smile of amusement on his face.
"Hey, need a hand?" The blond boy asked as his arm was still held out for the man on the floor. Evi smiled sheepishly as he must have made a fool out of himself in his sleep as he grabbed the friendly appendage to be pulled up from the ground.
"Thanks for the help man. Sorry if I said anything weird while I was asleep " Evi said as he was now standing on his own two legs. He began to stretch his arms and back to remove any cramps from his awkward sleeping position. After a few twists and stretches, he offered his own hand before saying, "I'm Evi, Evi Magkumpun."
"Jaune, Jaune Arc and your welcome." The boy named Jaune replied with a smile as he began to shake Evi's hand firmly. "And don't worry about it, stuff like that happens to everybody nowadays." Evi smiled from the friendliness that emanated from this blond boy and began to strike a conversation with him.
"*Bing-Bong!* Final boarding call for Beacon Academy. Please gather your belongings and line up at the front desk to be allowed access to the aircraft. I repeat, this the final boarding call for Beacon Academy. *Bing-Bong!*" The flight attendant stated as she set down the microphone and began to stare at the last two passengers who were currently in the waiting room.
The two boys blinked a few times before they began to look around. Turns out that they were indeed the last two people in the waiting room. As they shared a rather sheepish smile, they gathered their belongings and passports and began their short walk to the front desk.
"Good morning gentlemen, I hope you have all of your documents ready for today's flight towards Beacon Academy." The flight attendant said with a smile and practiced tone as she stood behind the front desk. Her black hair was in a ponytail and her eyes shined a pale dark green. On her black flight attendant cap were two small badges of soldier's helmets, one of them ocean blue, and the other a deep brown. She also had tank shaped earrings and had a light amount of make up to emphasize her eyes and face. Her clothing attire included the simple flight attendant uniform of a white long sleeved dress shirt, a black uniform jacket, and a small pelican badge could be seen just above her name tag. She also wore a black skirt that went down to her knees, black tights and simple black high-heels that raised her height by only two inches.
"Good to see you too Sheila." Evi replied with a smile as he handed her his passport and ticket.
The flight attendant now dubbed Sheila recognized this voice as her smile began to brighten. "Oh! Mr. Magkumpun! It is good to see you again this morning. I did not recognize you as the soot on your clothes made it difficult to identify the pink that you wear on a daily basis!" Sheila exclaimed as she grabbed the handed passport.
"It's not pink Sheila! It's lightish red!" Evi grumbled as he stared at the ground with a frown. " Also, It's super comfy so stop nagging me about it!"
Sheila chuckled from Evi's expression before asking. "Are you going to become a hunter and protect Vytal from the Grimm?"
Evi seemed to have recovered from his slump thanks to Sheila's question as his smile returned to his face."Yep! Today this repair man is going to be fixing everything with these bad boys here!" Evi stated as he struck a heroic pose that emphasized the non-existent muscles on his arms. Laughter began to form from both Sheila and Jaune as they saw Evi's silly pose.
"I am sure you will become an excellent hunter Mr. Magkumpun." Sheila replied as she returned Evi his passport. She then turned her head towards the blond boy with a questioning glance. "May I ask who this fellow beside you is called?"
Evi soon abandoned his heroic pose to grab his passport. When he realized that these two haven't been acquainted with each other, he clasped Jaune's shoulder guard to introduce her to his friend.
"Sheila, this my new, good friend Jaune Arc. Jaune, this is Sheila, the lovely wife of my friend Lopez the Heavy." Evi said as he pointed out who was who with an open palm aimed at each person.
Jaune couldn't form words as he simply stared at the woman in front of her. To be honest, he was rather scared and weak at the sight of women every since he was little. After a few incidents that happened in his younger years, his phobia of women had gotten better to the point that he wouldn't run away screaming the moment he saw one and was able to last a few minutes before things would get problematic. He tried his best to stand his ground as well as fight an incoming nose bleed before stuttering a quiet, "H-hello..." While he attempted to introduce himself and not make a scene, he slowly handed her his passport and ticket.
"Hello Mr. Arc, it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance." Sheila replied happily as she obtained his important documents.
"Likewise." Jaune said. While Sheila was inspecting if all the needed papers were in order, Evi noticed that Jaune had subconsciously moved from his grasp and hid behind Evi. Before he would inquire what Jaune was doing, Evi decided to asked the question that was currently plaguing his mind, "Where's Lopez? I haven't seen him around lately."
"Oh! Are you trying to locate my husband Lopez? He is currently not in Vale at the moment as he is on tour with his friends throughout the world of Vytal. He told me that they are performing in Minstral for a live concert that should be happening some time later today." Sheila suddenly began to blush a dark crimson by the sudden mention of his husbands concert as her attempts to cover her blush were futile.
"*sigh* I remember that fateful day back in army training camp. He sang to me from the top of my dust-powered scorpion tank his love to me while I doing maintenance on the nearby vehicles with my vehicle destroying assistant. His heavenly voice singing about eyes, my hair, my tanks powerful treads as they destroyed any obstacle that stood in its path, it was love at first sight."
While Sheila was reminiscing in the past with a dreamy look on her features and her hands still trying to cover her face, Jaune, who was currently behind Evi, was genuinely confused by the sudden change of events. He turned to Evi's direction, only to see him trying his hardest to suppress his laughter.
After a few seconds had passed, Jaune was nearing his limit and Jaune cleared his throat with a loud *A-HEM*! Sheila was snapped out from her daydream and handed back his paperwork.
"Oh! I am incredibly sorry for delaying you from embarking." Sheila apologized as she began bowing to her shoulder down multiple times.
"It's, uh, okay Sheila, nothing to worry about." Jaune replied as he began to scratch the back of his head with a sheepish smile.
Evi had finally settled down his laughter and begun to head towards their plane. When he realized that Jaune was still back there wish Sheila, he signal his new friend that it was time to get going. "Hey Jaune!" Evi cried, "We gotta go! This plane to Beacon can't wait for us forever!"
Jaune heard the cries of his new friend Evi and with a quick bow, jogged toward Evi's location.
"Good luck Mr. Magkumpun, Mr. Arc! I hope you will be flying with us again soon!" Sheila said as she waved towards the two boys.
"Thanks Sheila! Tell Lopez I say hi! Oh! Also tell him that I want a copy of his live concert!" Evi shouted back. He soon saw Sheila blush a bright red and began to laugh from her embarrassed expression.
Soon after Evi had stopped laughing, they began to walk towards the aircraft in comfortable silence.
"So how did you know her Evi? From how you guys were talking, it sounded like you guys knew each other thanks to a guy named Lopez!" Jaune asked as they approached the airplanes doors.
Evi rubbed his chin with his left hand as he tried to recall when he first met the two lovers. "Well, I first met Lopez and Sheila back at my repair shop a few months ago. Sheila was looking for a new tank barrel and Lopez was looking for an english translator for his helmet."
Jaune nodded his head in understanding until he suddenly realized something.
"Wait a minute." Jaune said as he and Evi entered the plane. "You run a repair shop in Vale?"
"Why yes, yes I do!" Evi exclaimed as he reached into his utility belt and grabbed a bright yellow business card and handed it to Jaune. "Evi Magkumpun, proud owner of Evi's Friendly Fixin's, at your service!"
Jaune was amazed by how someone like Evi was already a business. They eventually found a nice spot to settle in at the very back of the plane as the front was filled with several young hunters and huntresses to-be. When they were seated comfortable in their new found seats, Jaune then flipped to the front of the card, inspected the card to view its details, became very quiet and after a few seconds, he suddenly started to laugh hysterically.
"I-HAHAHA! I can't believe tha-HEHEH-that's you-your, di-did you s-seriously... BWAHAHAHAHAH!" Jaune cried as he tried his hardest to create a sentence. He was unsuccessful as his eyes suddenly were full of tears, his face began to turn pink, he held his sides tightly and to top it all off, he fell from seat due to sheer amusement.
Evi suddenly got nervous from this extremely sudden reaction from his new friend. While Jaune was laughing like a madman, the card that Evi gave fell from his grasp and landed faced up in front of him. The moment Evi saw that yellow card, his face went completely white when he realize then and there why Jaune was laughing so much.
He gave him the wrong card.
The card that Evi gave Jaune there was actually his Vale health card. Besides all the basic information being present and up to date, the detail that haunted him was the picture that represented him. On it, you could see Evi's hair being singed and poofy like an experiment that went wrong and exploded. His face wasn't fairing any better as it was covered in soot, save fore his eyes as his goggles protected them, his nose had a piece of toilet paper towel stuffed into one nostril and his forehead having multiple bumps forming. To make this even worse, his picture was caught right before he sneezed.
Evi's face went scarlet in a matter of seconds as he continued to stare at his health card, then at the other students that began to stare at the two of them and finally, his blond, laughing companion. He couldn't believe that he had just showed Jaune one of his most embarrassing pictures of all time, and they weren't at Beacon yet! Evi snatched the vile health card and quickly curled up in a ball on his seat as he covered his steaming red face with both his hands and knees. Dark clouds of despair began to form on top of Evi's head.
Suddenly a voice on the planes intercom began its announcement. "*Bleep-bloop!* Hello people that are in my air plane! This is the voice of your super cool captain speaking and I am here to tell you that we will be flying to Beacon now. So make sure to stay in the plane at all times and enjoy you peanuts! *Bleep-Bloop!*"
True to the pilot's word, the plane to Beacon Academy took off quickly from the airport. Unfortunately, both boys did not have a good grip of their seats or their seatbelts on. Therefore, the sudden motion of the aircraft caused Evi and Jaune to be sent flying from their location and across the plane, on a straight collision course towards a short, black haired girl wearing a red hooded cloak.
She was talking to the taller, blond haired girl about the view outside the plane before havoc started break loose.
"Get out of the way little lady!" Evi yelled as both boys flew towards their destination. The girl in red barely caught the warning in time as she caught a glimpse of the sudden danger approaching her location. She was able to jump over Jaune as he skidded past her, but was unable to dodge Evi as they both collided mid air. They both flew like a tumble weed of limbs before the device on Evi's back caused both of them to be sent into the air... And land directly onto of Jaune's back who just skidded to a stop.
The other girl who was with the red cloaked girl could only stare at what in the world had transpired a few seconds ago. After a few seconds had passed, she soon began to laugh loudly as she saw the three, dizzy, young teenagers create a doggy pile onto the poor blond boy.
The red hooded girl who was currently at the top of the pile began to sway left and right as stars and little Beowolves could be seen as they spun around her head. She shook her head quickly to remove the dizziness, only to see the older girl laugh loudly at what was happening and two boys who flew at her were currently underneath the bottom of the poor victim. A blush of embarrassment began to envelope her face when she realized where she was.
"Well Ruby," the older girl exclaimed as she wiped the tears from her eyes, "You always said that I pulled in the weird ones. I didn't think that you could pull some in too!" She then went into another fit of laughter from her comment and was rolling on the floor.
"Yang!" The hooded girl called Ruby yelled as she waved her arms quickly from her current location. "Please don't make this worse for me as it is!"
The older girl called Yang continued to laugh at the sight of Ruby's misfortune when they heard a sudden grunt emanate from the pile of bodies.
"...ow" Evi grumbled as he was stuck in the middle of the doggy pile. "Sorry about crashing into you little lady." Evi then turned his head towards the girl who was currently on his stomach and gave her the best apologetic smile he could muster in his injured state.
"Uh, don't worry about it, the pilot was pretty crazy when he started the plane." Ruby replied quietly. She hopped off Evi and began to check her clothing and cloak to see if anything happened to be out of place.
Evi gave her a sheepish smile when he realized some thing, "Hey dude, are you ok?" Evi asked as he turned his head sideways to face his friend who was currently at the bottom of the pile. He also noticed that Jaune's face happened to be a bit green as his face looked as if he was quite queasy.
"..ugh. I think I'm going to be sick.." Jaune replied weakly as his head swayed left and right.
"...What?" Evi then gave Jaune a rather questioning glance. Sadly, he didn't get the hint as Jaune began to up-chuck his breakfast as it landed all over Evi's clothing and the plane's cold metal floor.
"OH Dust! It's everywhere!" Evi yelled as he jumped off Jaune quickly. His face cringed when he realized another detail. "UGH! Damn dude that stinks! Wha-What did you eat for it to smell this bad?!" He then ran towards the restrooms in attempts to remove the stench that began to form in his clothing.
Ruby stood a few feet from the accident and Yang had stopped laughing as they both covered their noses as best they could from the putrid smell. She then saw some of the vile liquid land on Yang's leather boots. "Uh, sis?" Ruby said rather slowly," You've got something on your shoes."
Yang quickly turned her head towards her shoes and paled when she saw a splatter of vomit that landed on the tip of her right foot "Ew, ew, ew, EEWWW!" Yang screamed as she ran towards her younger sister for assistance. Ruby saw the incoming threat and began to run away from her sister as she screamed,
"Ah! Noo! Get away from me! Get away from me, GET AWAY FROM MEEE!"
Well there it is. It was pretty funny that I was able to write this while I was on a 12 hour bus ride. So yeah! This is Nutshop's story and I hope you stay handsome all day, everyday! Bye and stay tuned for the Incoming chapters!