Foreign Exchange
Chapter 6:New Horizons
In all of Shavo's life, he has been woken up in a many variety of ways. The simple 'get up', the friendly 'hey, wake up', even that one time when his friend blew an airhorn into his face.
But never before has he been woken up quite like this.
"AGH, GOD, MY CHILDREN!"
Five minutes earlier...
"Morning, sis!" Yang greeted her younger sister with a cheery grin. By now, only half a dozen people were left in the ballroom as morning light flooded in through the windows.
Said younger sister sat up from her sleeping pack with a tired face before yawning and rubbing her eyes.
"Heeeey." She groaned out before standing up.
"Sleep well?" Yang asked as she got down and began to roll up her sleeping bag.
"I had that dream with the cookie castle again." She smiled fondly from the fleeting memory, "So all in all, pretty much."
Yang just laughed as she shook her head.
"Ruby, I'm pretty sure your obsession with cookies is borderline obsessive."
"What blasphemy is this I hear!?" Ruby mocked shock as she put a hand to her chest. "You dare speak against the almighty cookie lord!?"
"Oh, I dare." Yang grinned as she crouched and brought her hands up in a wrestling pose.
"You shall pay dearly for your crimes, Heathen!" Ruby pointed a shaking finger at Yang before charging at her with a yell.
Yang darted forward and grabbed her sister by her legs before swinging around and dropping her onto the ground behind them.
Problem was, she didn't know what exactly was behind them.
Or, more accurately, who.
"AGH, GOD, MY CHILDREN!" Shavo screamed as he woke up to pain spreading through his whole system. Ruby looked mortified as she got back up and put a hand to her mouth.
In a flash, Sky was out from his sleeping bag and between Shavo and the two girls, hands balled into fists and ready to fight.
"What the hell's going on here!?" He asked hotly.
"I'm so sorry! It was an accident, I swear!" Ruby squeaked out before trying to look past Sky and at the goateed teen, "Shavo, are you okay!?"
He was incapable of answering as he cupped his lower area from the pain.
"Alright, listen, I think you two should just back off for a second." Sky began to back up a bit to check on his friend, seeing if anything else had been done to him besides getting a major bagging.
"No." Shavo wheezed out finally as he slowly stood up, regaining some of his posure. "It's cool. My kids are probably going to be...Be dumber than a box of rocks, but it's cool."
Ruby darted past the blue haired teen and over to Shavo's side in an instant.
"Shavo, I swear, it was an accident!" She tried to apologize, not quite knowing what to do now that she was here.
"It's fine, relax." Shavo tried to assure her, the pain now down to a dull ache.
"Wow Rubes, that how you just gonna greet him from now on?" Yang laughed from next to Sky.
"You're the one who threw me into him!" Ruby screeched indignantly. Shavo looked at Yang with a raised eyebrow.
"That true, Xiao Long?" Shavo asked blankly. Yang just scratched her head and chuckled nervously.
Sky looked over to her, then back to Shavo with a raised eyebrow. The Traveller just shook his head from side to side, to which Sky nodded back.
Not only did all of the fight leave him then, but that small interaction very much symbolized the beginning of a bond between the blue-haired halberd user and The Traveller.
No, not a bond.
A brotherhood.
"Alright then." Sky said as he grabbed a bag and hefted it over his shoulder, "I'm gonna go get myself some breakfast. You three have fun doing… Whatever."
"Later Sky. Good luck at initiation if I don't run into you then." Shavo said as she stood up and stretched out some kinks from his back. Sky waved over his shoulder, already walking away.
"Later, Shavo."
"AND HEY, KEEP AN EYE OUT FOR SOME FUTURE CLIENTS!" Shavo yelled at him with a smile. Sky stopped abruptly and turned around with a big grin before pointing at Yang and Ruby.
"Looks like you already found two!" He shouted back before laughing and walking away. The Traveller turned to the sisters and saw them both with curious expressions.
"Uhhh… clients?" Ruby questioned. Shavo waved it off, chuckling to himself as he picked his jacket and sword up.
"Inside joke." Was all he said. "Come on, let's go get ready for initiation."
Thank Serj above that Shavodan wasn't like Jaune, or else he would be throwing his guts out all about the ship right now.
Looking out one of the bullhead's windows, Shavo watched the canopy of green forests pass below him as he stared out distantly. He should have been enjoying himself, feeling great. This was, after all, initiation into Beacon Academy. He should be ecstatic.
Key word being should be.
But he wasn't naive, lord no. Even armed with an AK-47 and a grenade launcher, he felt unprepared.
No, he was unprepared.
He was a freaking high schooler, not a trained warrior. Just what in the hell had he been thinking when he accepted the hooded man's proposal?
Not at all, apparently.
His expression hardened as he knelt down and opened up his pack. Earlier, before he had eaten, Shavo had made a beeline to the area where his luggage had been stored and went through his belongings.
He had been given most of his belongings, ones that he found most important. Pictures (modified to look like it were taken in this universe), drawings, clothing items, things like that. But, in another bag, he had found two metal containers labeled Munitions.
Shavo pulled out these two boxes now and set them down on the ground before opening one. Reaching inside, he pulled out three different magazines for his rifle and fitted them into his right jacket pocket, then three more into his left.
'One clip holds thirty rounds... So just six magazines gives me…' Shavo did the math in his head. 'A hundred and eighty bullets, plus the thirty in my gun now.'
Shavo stared at the box before grabbing six more and stuffing three into his pant's pockets.
'Should probably get a tactical holster at some point.' He made a mental note as he closed that box and opened the other one. Inside, he found at least forty different grenades for his launcher. 'Faster to get my hands on them instead of having to take the time to get the box out.'
He then grabbed two in his hands and stuffed them into a coat pocket on the inside of his jacket before doing the same on another on the opposite side. He still had two pockets on his forearms and cargo pockets on his pants as well as his breast pockets, but one of those were probably going to be used for Kraftstoff and a spare vapor bottle.
He knew himself well enough that he was going to need that.
Putting two magazine clips into each of his cargo pockets and one grenade into his right arm pocket, he took out Kraftstoff and looked at it.
'Screw it.' Shavo thought to himself as he took a quick hit and exhaled the vapor through his nose, 'I need something to calm my nerves right now.'
He then took the pen and put it into his left arm pocket before zipping it closed. Then, he went back into the grenade bax and rooted around a bit more, looking for two more grenades to stuff into his breast pockets. Instea, he found something much more interesting.
Two C4 and some charges.
'That could probably come in handy.' Shavo nodded to himself as he put the C4 in one pocket and the detonator in the other. He thought about using his back pockets as well, but decided he would need those for a compass and his scroll.
Shavo then returned the two Metal ammo crates into his bag. Rooting around in there, he also found a gun cleaning kit, some bagged sandwiches he nabbed from the cafeteria this morning, and six bottles of water as well as a med kit.
He then closed it and put it back on as he stood up. He felt the weight of every round on him, but found it more re-assuring than bothersome. He didn't have to worry much about being slow, he wasn't exactly the best at dodging.
'Sure as hell wish I had a side-arm, though.' Shavo frowned as he realised that would be most useful. 'Maybe a glock-18 or something.'
He walked back up to the window and picked back up on looking out the window. He still saw a large amount of trees, but spotted something off in the distance that caught his eye.
broken, gray buildings that looked like they belonged to a city of some sort.
"Attention all students." The voice of Glynda Goodwitch came over the intercom, gaining everyone's focus as her image came up on the holographic screens, 'We will be arriving shortly at the start of your initiation. Please be sure that all of the supplies you will be needing are on your person, you will not be permitted back on once we have landed. I repeat, we will be arriving shortly at the start of your initiation. Please be sure that all of the supplies you will be needing are on your person, you will not be permitted back on once we have landed."
And with that, her face disappeared off the screen, being replaced with Beacon's symbol of two axes.
Shavo's gaze lingered on this as a sudden realization dawned on him.
This must have been what the troops storming Normandy's beaches on D-Day must have felt like right before they got off the boats.
Scared as hell.
"Here we are, students." announced as they all lined up at the edge of the cliff, everyone standing on a certain platform. "Welcome to Crestfall mountains."
Behind her was, as the name implied, a range of large mountains dotted with areas of foliage and trees. At one point, there may have been trees scattered everywhere.
But that must have been before someone came along and covered it all in buildings, surrounded by what he guessed were thirty foot high stone walls.
All around, for miles and miles, seemed to be a never ending range of old and deserted buildings, most made out of concrete and quite a few with their metal skeletons showing through, having withered with age and neglect. They were all connected by a series of roads, cracked with their paints fading and a few scattered vehicles upturned and covered in weeds.
The whole place looked like as if Nature was trying to claim back its lands.
"For those of you who aren't familiar with these mountains, Crestfall was once a large and open mountain range, teeming with Grimm as they roamed the land. That was, until, large amounts of Dusts were detected deep within the mountains themselves. About two hundred years ago, the Schnee dust company colonized these mountains before building a mining community on top of it, making a city for workers and their families to live in and keep them close to work."
'Kind of like the pullman working communities.' Shavo thought to himself, the grim expression still present on his face as he scanned the horizon.
"But, as I said, the Grimm were very rampant in this area. For twenty years, the guards posted there were able to keep the Grimm from getting in, until one day they became too much and attacked the city."
"Out of over ten thousand inhabitants, no one survived."
Shavo spared the witch-like woman a glance to see an expression very similar to his own. Looking around, he saw that most of the other students didn't seem very affected by this.
Why would they? The people in this community were guards and regular civilians. They were all super-powered people with years of training and a practical forcefield to save their asses, along with weapons of total destruction.
Shavo, on the other hand, was armed with a weapon he just received the day before and didn't even know how to use his aura.
'I think I have every right to be concerned.'
"Shavo?"
Said teen looked over to his right and saw Ruby, looking at him with concern in her eyes.
Seeing as how he most likely wasn't going to be coming out of this forest alive, he wasn't too surprised.
"Yeah?" He asked a little bit too sharply. He shook his head and tried to calm himself, "What is it?"
"You okay? You look, well…." Ruby looked around as she thought of the right word, "Really tense."
Shavo looked at her for a bit before sighing and rubbing his eyes with one hand.
"Just getting a case of the willies, Ruby." He said. "Nothing you need to worry about."
"Oh." Ruby said as she looked down at the ground and kicked some dirt off of her plate. "Same here, I guess."
"Pretty sure you don't have anything to worry about." Shavo assured her, still looking out at the buildings. "From the way you handled that scythe, and with that semblance you used to disappear yesterday, looks like you can handle yourself fine."
Ruby's eyes widened at the mention of her little run yesterday, just now realizing she had essentially ditched her new friend.
'Oh shoot, I didn't even realize, I'm-"
"Sorry?" Shavo interrupted her as he looked over. He had the tiniest of smiles on his face, trying to show her it was fine. "You've got nothing to be sorry about. I'm not gonna hold it against you."
With the assurance as well as his smile, Ruby couldn't help but grin herself as she rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly.
"Thanks Shavo. You're a good friend."
'Yeah, well pretty soon I'm probably going to be your dead friend, Ruby.' The little voice in the back of his head brought him back to the situation before him. Now, Ozpin had walked up and got everyone's attention as he took a loud sip from his coffee mug.
"Today, everyone, is the day we see if you truly have what it takes to become a Huntsman." He lectured, eyes scanning down the line of students. "The re has been talk and numerous questions of teams. Let me assure you, that matter will be settled today."
"Within the city, you all shall find ancient artifacts off to the North. You and your partner are to retrieve these artifacts and bring them back to this ledge. The trip will most likely take you one or two days to complete."
"Excuse me, Headmaster?" Someone raised their hand. Shavo looked over to see it was Weiss. "How exactly are our partners determined?"
"Ah, yes, forgive me. I almost forgot that." The headmaster's bored expression didn't change. "When you all land, the first person you make eye contact with will be your partner for the next four years."
Shavo could practically hear Ruby's world shatter around her as she screeched "Whaaaaat!?" Her cry went unnoticed, however, as Ozpin went on.
"As explained, there are large concentrations of Grimm within the city's walls. Do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path, or you will die." Ozpin paused for a moment, as if to let this information to sink in. Again, he locked eyes with Shavo for a moment before continuing. "Some of our faculty will be in the forest to moderate you, but they will not interfere. You all only have yourselfs to rely on."
Ruby gulped loudly as she looked around uncertainly. She almost yelped out loud as she felt someone grab her arm and looked up to see Shavo leaning over, resolution practically pouring from him as he locked eyes with her.
"Ruby, listen to me very closely." he began, his voice both frantic and stern. "When you land, don't stop moving until you find someone, understand? You do not stop for anything until you find a partner."
Not trusting herself to speak, she only nodded her understanding. Shavo looked at her for a few seconds before nodding himself and turning back to the city. he couldn't explain why, but a growing ball of dread was growing in his stomach, even worse than it was before. And not just for him, but for someone else too.
He was fearing for Ruby.
Why? he knew damned good and well that the Crimsonette was more than capable of handling herself.
So then why was this unexplainable worry rising up in his body?
That was when the clicking began.
Looking down the line, Shavo watched as multiple students began to get sent flying into the forest. Shavo looked back to the city and kept his gaze trained on the skyline as the lead weight of worry went from being a ball the size of a baseball to roughly the size of a bowling ball.
"Remember what I said, Ruby." Shavo instructed the crimsonette as he kept his eyes locked onto the skyline, a slight snarl forming on his face a she braced for launch. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw her nod before the clicking on her pad grew louder.
"I will, I swear." Ruby agreed.
"See you on the other side, kid." Shavo whispered more to himself than anything. Ruby still heard it, though, and thought Shavo was being extremely brave in the face of this danger before she was launched into the air.
But he wasn't brave.
He was scared out of his freaking mind.
That was when the pad gave one final click and sent him into the air.
The sudden transition from ground to air was startling as the wind whipped through him, making him fear that all of his ammo would come flying out of his pockets and into the distance. But, by some miracle, they managed to stay in their place. So, instead he grabbed onto his beanie and held on for dear life.
He somehow managed to keep his eyes open and realized with his current trajectory and path of descent, he was most likely going to land in what looked like to him some sort of large clock tower.
That large, painful looking clock tower.
This wasn't going to be fun.
Praying to god or whatever cruel deity that watched over him, he brought his arms up to his face and tried to angle himself to where he would crash through one of the large windows. As the tower drew closer and closer, the thought that he wasn't even sure his aura had been unlocked had crossed his mind for the first time.
'Well, hopefully I'll make a good stain on the building.' He thought to himself and felt the strong urge to laugh.
That was when he crashed through the window and onto the floor.
Shavo yelled in pain as he felt his right shoulder flare in agony, like someone had cut open his back and poured shard of glass into his body. As he rolled across the ground, he struck a stray piece of concrete that was once probably the roof and came to an abrupt stop.
He lay there for a few seconds, cradling his shoulder as the pain began to ebb away.
'That still feels wrong, though.' He realized as he shakily tried to stand up. 'I think it's dislocated.'
It took him two tries to get to his feet, the first ending with him faceplanting back into the slab of concrete. Instead of busting his head open like it should have, he only felt like he was slapped in the face with a basketball or something less painful.
At least now he knew that his aura was working.
Standing on his feet, he slowly walked over to a window, both wanting to get a good vantage point and see if anything else was injured. besides his dislocated shoulder, everything else felt fine, if only a little sore. once he arrived at the window, he looked out to see other students flying across the sky gracefully. He thought he saw what looked like Pyrrha twirl around and land in a crouch on the roof of a building.
Much better than his landing, that was for sure.
Turning his attention back to the problem at hand, Shavo looked at his arm and realized that if he didn't fix his shoulder now, he was going to have an even harder time the next day or so. So, he moved his hand up to his shoulder and gripped it before looking the other way.
'This is going to suck.' He thought to himself before jerking upwards, hard, and putting his shoulder back into place with a loud crack and a flash of pain.
"Son of a freaking whore." He cursed as he leaned over and grunted. For the most part, though, it didn't hurt anywhere as much as he thought it should have. As he rolled it experimentally, he felt nothing else wrong with it other than a dull ache. He probably had the Aura to thank for that.
Righting himself, Shavo reached over his shoulder and brought out his blade before pressing down on the button and turning it into its rifle form, holding it out before him and checking it for any damage.
'Good as new.' he thought to himself before reaching into his back pocket and retrieving his compass. The needle wavered a bit before showing him which way was north.
And that was the direction he needed to go.
Pocketing the small compass and looking around, Shavo noticed for the first time that even with remnant's bright and colorful look, this building looked very dark and dreary with it's gray walls and green foliage snaking it's way up it's walls and floorboards. he even saw the ancient remains of an upper torso lying not far from where he landed, now nothing more than a yellow rib cage with half the upper right arm next to it.
The Traveller got one last look out the window to get his bearings, trying to memorize the aerial view for later reference. Then, he turned around and spotted a staircase leading out of the room.
Shavo made his way down at least ten floors of abandoned, decaying rooms, most covered in green and with parts of the floor caving in or missing. There was one point when he had to drop down a few feet do to missing stairs that looked like somebody had destroyed them purposefully with a few skeletal remains at the bottom, but made it with no problems and went all the way down to the ground floor.
The ground floor was designed to have been some sort of lobby, but it was for the most part similar to the other rooms. On the windows, however, were the remains of wooden planks and furniture stacked up against them, a sort of makeshift barricade. Or, they were at one point, before something flung them away and came in. now, Shavo noticed the long-dried bloodstains that were evident
'Somebody tried to make a final stand here.' He realized as he looked around and spotted quite a few skeletal remains. 'Looks like they didn't make it out.'
"Out of over ten-thousand inhabitants, no one survived."
Shavo shook his head from side to side and let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding.
"Just like Tallahassee said." Shavo reminded himself of his favorite badass movie character. "Nut up or shut up."
And with that, he felt the fear in him lessen enough to where he could think clearly. Shavo checked the safety on his rifle, switched it off, and held it up at the ready as he walked forward and nudged the door open with his rifle.
Coming outside, he saw that it was just as dead and dreary as it was inside, the tall buildings cutting out enough sunlight to cast long shadows over the streets and add a sort of eeriness that sent a chill down Shavodan's spine.
So much for a bright and cheery place.
Rifle held up at the ready, he scanned the area for any sort of movement and found nothing out of the ordinary. Once he was sure, he began to jog in the direction of north, rifle held in his arms and ready to fire at the moment he needed it.
For two blocks, he was without any sort of trouble, the only sound being his footfalls and the 'Screeeee-Screeee-Screeee' Of insects in the grass growing in patches along the road and inside the cars. He saw more dried bloodstains and skeletons scattered about the roads, and even saw what looked like a older version of a bullhead that crashed into a small building.
That was around the time he had noticed the insects had stopped.
Shavo slowed down as he tried to hear for the noise of the wildlife, but didn't find anything.
But he did find another noise, however.
A noise that sounded a lot like the clicking of teeth just around the corner.
Ducking behind a nearby car, Shavo crouched silently and sat there for a few moments as the clicking noise grew louder and louder. He listened to it in silence before slowly, slowly creeping around the car and slightly poking his head up and look through the car window, only the top half of his head showing.
What he saw was something that he most certainly was not expecting.
Standing there, hunched forward and head hung, was some sort of humanoid creature that was near his height, shambling forward as a sort of clicking noise came from it's what looked like mouth. It had pitch black skin, and long arms with even longer claws, only two fingers and a thumb. It also had two friends behind it, both in a similar state as it with their heads hung and mouths clicking.
Shavo watched them shamble by silently, eyes wide in a mixture of shock and fear, before regaining his senses and ducked back down, gripping his rifle so hard that his knuckles were turning white.
'What in the holy hell are those things!?' he thought frantically to himself. 'Are those supposed to be some sort of Grimm!?'
Shavo dared a look back over the window and saw the things were now past the car and a bit down the street corner, already about to walk out of view. He ducked back down and began to think his situation through.
He had two options: One, draw up a bead and put a bullet into these freaks and risk drawing any nearby creatures that were similar (or worse), or two, go on ahead and forget he had even seen them.
Option number two sounded a hell of a lot safer.
Once he wa sure they were far enough away, Shavo stood up and went back to jogging, making sure to keep a sharp eye out for any more of those...Things.
He went another two blocks, not spotting any more of the black humanoid monstrosities, with his weapon drawn and ears sharp, looking out for any sort of similar clicking noise.
As he past by the front of what looked like it was once a sort of restaurant with it's door and windows broken in, Shavo picked up on the sound he was watching out for, a series of clicking noises just up ahead.
But this time, it sounded like a lot more than three.
Looking around, Shavo turned back a bit and entered the restaurant, something that looked like it was once a coffee shop with scattered tables and chairs everywhere with the service counter in the back. There was a old blood trail dragging from a seat and into an open back door, but he could only hope it's cause hadn't decided to lay dormant in there. It was too black to see anything past three feet, and for all he knew, ten of those things could be standing there, watching him silently.
But, it wa sa risk he was just going to have to take.
Making his way over to the counter, he leaped over it and hid behind it as the clicking noise grew much more louder. With his body mostly covered by wood, Shavo remained there for a few moments before slowly peeking his head up and looking through the grime-covered glass and outside.
What he saw made him nearly gasp in alarm.
Outside, he saw what looked like not ten of those creatures, not twenty, and not even fifty.
No, he had to guess it was somewhere around a hundred.
They all shambled by, their heads hung and teeth chattering as they walked in a sort of formation, making Shavo think of a marching band from hell. he watched silently, eyes wide in fear, as they drifted by.
And all it would take was for just one of those things to look over and spot him, and he would be dead.
'Screw this,' he thought to himself, 'I'm looking for a back door.'
So, staying crouched and making his way to the end of the counter, Shavo stopped at it's edge as he looked over to the black doorway. There was about seven feet between him and the door, and all of it was open for those things out there to see him by.
Looks like he was just going to have to risk it.
Shavo took a deep breath before crouch-running over to the doorway and quickly threw himself behind the wall, back against it as he strained his ears for any sort of difference in the clicking.
He heard none.
Shavo slowly got up and held out his rifle. The room was too dark to see much by, but he didn't want to risk turning on the flashlight at the end of his gun and be spotted by the small herd outside. So, he stood there and allowed his eyes to adjust to the light. Once he was able to get the basic idea of the room's layout, he spotted a doorway in back and made his way over to it. Slowly, he opened it and stuck the gun barrel out first before following with his head.
An empty alleyway.
Shavo slowly crept out the door and shut it behind him as he scanned both ways, finding a dead end one way and the exit on the other side. But, instead of heading towards it, he spotted something much more useful than that.
A fire escape ladder.
This wasn't quite as fun as Ruby first thought it would be.
Sure, the Grimm weren't any sort of problem for her. She hand ran into a few Clickers a couple of seconds after landing, but she easily cut them down with a few slices from her Crescent Rose. And with her semblance, she was able to navigate the landscape easily, jumping from rooftop to rooftop with ease due to her semblance.
The why was she so worried? She had absolutely nothing to worry about.
But it wasn't herself she was worried about.
It was Shavo.
She didn't know what it was, but something seemed very wrong with him right before they came in. On the bullhead, he just seemed a little tense and nervous. And at the time, when he asked her to keep moving until she found someone to partner up with, she thought he was just wanting to look out for her. But now looking back on it, she thinks it was something else. He wasn't just scared for her.
He seemed pretty scared in general.
But why? From what she's seen so far, he seems like he wouldn't be bad in a fight. He knew how to handle his weapon, and he was able to find the lecturing hall on his own, as opposed to her, who just ran around in circles until she finally tripped across the hall by luck. Plus, beacon Academy didn't just accept anyone, he even said so himself.
So what was the problem, then?
As she leapt from rooftop to rooftop, she decided to stop focusing on that and go to her first objective: Finding a partner.
Who all is there, though? The two main people she would like to partner up with would either be one, her older sister Yang, or two, Shavo himself. She didn't quite see where they landed, though, so she had no idea where they would be.
What about that blue-haired guy Shavo was talking to this morning? What's his name, Sky? he didn't seem so bad. Granted, he wasn't really happy with her crashing into Shavo's less than pleasant spot (For the second time that she's met him, actually), but that just meant he was concerned for his friend.
She didn't know anyone else, though. For a second, the white haired girl who was going to yell at Shavo popped up, but she shivered and shook her head vehemently at that thought. From the way Shavo talked about her, she had a feeling that her and Weiss wouldn't get along.
Like, at all.
She leaped over another alleyway and onto a roof, still deep in thought. Just who would her partner be? She had to be careful, too, or else she might be in some big trouble for the next four years. The Headmaster said something about making eye contact, so she would just have to be careful whenever she ran into someo-
"Oh god, not again!"
Ruby was startled by the voice and looked up just in time to see Shavo as he looked like he was bracing for impact. At first, she didn't know why. But the, she realized it.
She was hurtling right towards him.
WHAM!
With a large amount of force, the two collided and went rolling across the rooftop as they tried to stop. Shavo stopped a few feet from the ledge, but she kept on rolling until she was at the edge.
And rolled right off.
For half a second, she was in freefall and had a good view of the ground, twenty stories down, as she came all the way off of it and into the air. Aura or no Aura, this would most certainly hurt.
Until something snagged her hood and stopped her from falling.
She heard a loud crack followed by what sounded like Shavo yelping in pain. Then, after hanging there for a few seconds, she was slowly pulled back up and onto solid ground again.
Skirting away from the ledge, Ruby hugged the ground appreciatively until the gasping off someone nearby reminded her she wasn't alone. Looking up, she saw her friend grab his right shoulder and wrench it back into place with a hiss of discomfort.
"Shavo!" Ruby zoomed over to his side, about ready to apologize, before Shavo looked up and gave her a grin.
"We really need to stop meeting like this Ruby." He chuckled. "People are gonna talk."
"Man, why is it every time I run into you, I literally run into you?" She groaned to herself as she ran her hands down her face in exasperation.
"No need to worry, Ruby." Shavo assured her as he righted himself and rolled his shoulder around. He winced sharply, but went back to smiling. "My motto is 'There are no mistakes, only happy accidents'. And don't worry about the shoulder, I just injured it when I landed is all. It's all fine now."
"Well, if you say so." She was happy that he was, for the most part, okay. Then a sudden realization came to her as she looked up at him. "Soooo... Does this make us partners?"
Shavo nodded brightly to her.
"I would think so." He then stuck his hand out to her, which she took with a happy grin. "To the next four years, partner."
AN: WHAM, BITCH! BETCHA DIDN'T SEE THAT ONE COMING, DID YA!?
Guest:That's what I was going for. Thanks for your support.
NecrorexSparda Juubi-No-Kishin: Not quite sure what you meant by the FOOL Excalibur thing, but okay. And as for the story, I unfortunatletly don't have any time to read fanfiction anymore. I try to devote as much time as possible on the computer to working on my stories. I will keep it in mind, though.
NakaruSoul: *Puts on aviators and nods*
Damn straight.
Like he said, Shavo is all about two things: Killin' monsters and gettin' bitches.