Foreign Exchange
Chapter 14:The Revelation of Holy Shit This is Gonna Suck.
"Owwww, son of a flying fiznitch, that hurts."
Walking down the hallways of his dorm building was a bruised Shavodan as he cradled his arm and stumbled down the burgundy colored carpets. Walking alongside him was a sheepish Yang, trying her best to help him if need be.
"Yeaaah, Guess I went a little overboard back there." She admitted as she scratched the back of her head.
"A little?" Shavo repeated her with a look of disbelief. "Jesus Christ, I'm not even gonna live through the first week if that's the case."
"Oh, shush you." Yang pshawed at the traveller as they turned a corner to their hallway. "You'll be just fine."
"If you say so." Shavo said with a role of his eyes before focusing on walking again.
"I've gotta say though, it's a good thing you asked me to train you." Yang said in all seriousness. "Shavo, I don't mean any offense by this… But your teacher did a really crappy job of training you to fight people."
"Hey, he's still here, isn't he?"
Looking up from the unexpected voice, the two teens were surprised to see a man with a long, braided beard in a fine black suit adjusting the cuffs of his sleeves as he looked at the blond with raised brows behind his aviators.
"Oh, hey Knk'ahayr." Shavo greeted the god with a pitiful wave. "Forgive me if I seem a little sluggish, but my friend here just spent the past three hours tenderizing the living shit outta me."
The bald headed man came to a stop at that, looking at the teenager before a grin began to grow on his face.
"Gettin' started early, I see!" He grinned as he walked up to the young man and clapped him on the back. "I knew I taught you well!"
Shavo had a curious expression on his face for a few seconds, trying to figure out what Knk'ahayr was talking about.
Then he realised and immediately went to punch the god.
"THAT'S NOT WHAT I MEANT, YOU PEICE OF SHIT!" He yelled indignantly as Yang's eyes went a little wide and her cheeks just a tad bit redder. "THAT WAS POORLY WORDED AND YOU KNOW IT, DON'T YOU EVEN TRY PULLING THAT SHIT ON ME!"
"Woah, calm down, man." Knk'ahayr laughed as he held his hands up in surrender, dodging the punch easily. "I didn't mean to offend you and your lady friend."
Looking over to said lady friend, Knk'ahayr pulled down his aviators and regarded the girl with his eyes, the color of a deep silver.
"Even though I just heard her offending me and my teaching skills." He said, losing his jovial tone instantly.
Quite frankly, the instant change in attitude from the so far joyful god concerned Shavodan greatly.
And yet, Yang didn't seem to care in the slightest as she crossed her arms over her chest.
"You'd need to have some in order for them to be offended." Was all she said with one raised eyebrow as she got right up to him, daring the man to do something.
With that said, the two stood there in silence and stared each other down, Shavo practically in the back ground as he leaned against the wall and watched the scene play out with wide eyes.
Until Knk'ahayr grinned and put the glasses back onto his nose.
"This one's got spunk." He laughed as he took a step back and bowed slightly to her. "I like it."
Shambling over to the two powerhouses, Shavo let out a breath he didn't even realise he was holding as Yang didn't relent with her stare.
"Uh-uh, you aren't getting off that easy." She said sternly. "You care to explain to me, why is it that you decide to train this guy to enter a career where he will be fighting for his life, and yet you don't teach him basic combat against people?"
Needless to say, Shavodan's face began to grow red from embarrassment from the whole encounter. Looking at Knk'ahayr, he honestly had no idea what the god could say to refute her question.
Until the man just smiled at her.
"I don't believe I caught your name, kid." He said to her as he stuffed his hands into his pockets.
"Yang." Was all she said, her tone giving away her irritation.
"Well Yang, I've known Shavo over here for quite awhile now, and during that time, I've learned something about the kid that really changed how I view teaching him."
"And what would that be?" Yang questioned the older man.
Knk'ahayr just grinned as he adjusted his glasses.
"Kid learns things the best on his own."
With that said, he breezed right past the blonde brawler and over to the goateed teen, grabbing him by the arm and dragging him along.
"Now, if you'll excuse me, goldie-locks, I've gotta talk to your friend here real quick." Knk'ahayr called over his back as he drug the goateed teen away.
Figuring he wasn't going to escape this, Shavo just waved at Yang before he was dragged behind the corner.
"See ya later, Yang!"
Lifting one hand up and giving him a small wave, Yang watched him disappear behind the corner.
"Yeah." She sighed out after a second. "See ya."
As she then turned around to walk back to her room, Knk'ahayr stopped dragging the teen and stopped as he folded his arms and smiled down at the younger teen.
"So." He grinned. " I see you've been getting busy."
"It's not like that." Shavo said as he began to rub his arm, trying to message the bruise. "If it were, then I'm pretty sure I could file for abuse right about now."
"Oh, don't lie, you've most certainly thought about it." Knk'ahayr leaned forward and nudged the teen in his ribs with his elbow.
"I'm a seventeen year old guy surrounded by attractive teenage girls." Shavo deadpanned as he rubbed the spot where he was nudged. "I think we'd have to be worried if I wasn't thinking about it."
Knk'ahayr just chuckled as he nodded along with Shavo's reasoning, stroking his beard as he began to walk. Shavo didn't take long to follow, walking next to the man as he continued to talk.
"As much as I would love to tease you over hormones and other funny topics, I just came to see how my little friend's first day of school went."
"Well, I've been shot, punched, kicked, curb stomped, thrown, and headlocked so many times I can't even feel my stomach." Shavo answered him before shrugging. "So all in all, pretty good so far."
Taking a turn past a corner, the pair began walking down a hall that had windows all along the left side, shining in light as well as giving them a good view of the outside.
"Glad to hear." Knk'ahayr said back as he stuffed his hands into his pant's pockets. "So they don't suspect anything?"
"Well jeez, when you word it like that, I feel like I'm some sort of spy." Shavo remarked as he looked outside the window to see students walking along the pathways, chatting happily to each other now that their first day of classes for the year were over.
In a way, he realized that he still couldn't get used to seeing their faces, so bright and animated, each person with a personality that could outshine the sun.
It was so different from his old life that he still had a hard time believing something like this was real, even with the fact that he was now living with three good examples.
"Yo, Shavo."
Being brought back to the world around him by a pair of snapping fingers in front of his face, the goateed teen blinked once before turning to the man with one eyebrow raised.
"Huh?" He asked lamely.
"I said, if you kinda think about it, you are one." Knk'ahayr repeated himself as they continued to walk. "What with infiltrating a high profile training academy, under a name different than your own, and having dangerous bounty hunters searching for you."
With the mental image of Mr. Rogers lingering outside his window at night, claws tracing the glass frame, Shavo shuderred to himself as he shook his head.
"Uhhh, don't remind me." The teen warned as he rubbed his eyes. "But, I guess seeing as you've bothered to bring the subject up, what is our favourite little walking, breathing nightmare up to?"
"Well, I've got good news and I've got bad news." Knk'ahayr said as he rubbed his hands together. "Good news is that Mr. Rogers is off in some far part of the capitol, and apparently tore apart a white fang meeting group last night. That's probably gonna spark some mass hysteria among people if they get word of him, so look forward to that."
Looking at the man with wide eyes, Shavo almost didn't want to ask his question.
"Jesus Christ." He said after a few seconds of silence. "What's the bad news?"
"Bad news is he isn't alone anymore."
Whipping back around to face the man with concern in his eyes, Shavodan's face began to lose color. The two stood in silence until the young teen could say the only thing that he could.
"Shit."
"Yeah." Knk'ahayr nodded along with him. "Not trying to be a jerk or anything, but dude… Your fucked."
"Yeah." Shavodan nodded along with the god as he stared at the wall with a thousand mile stare. "What, uh… You know who or what it is?"
"Unfortunately kid, whatever is sending these things in is blocking my ability to look over it." the godly man shrugged his shoulders. "So until you or someone who can tell me spots it, then I've got no clue as to who or what it is."
By now, the two had reached the end of the hallway and now stood next to the entrance to an awning outside.
And while Knk'ahayr looked just normal, Shavodan stared at the door with wide eyes as his hand shakily reached for his vape pen.
He was trying his best to not start freaking out.
"I….I-I…' He tried to choke out, but it was too hard to talk as he tried the button for his pen.
But, looking down at it with as it was not even a few centimeters from his lips, he stopped.
"I…" He said once more before snarling.
Like that, his complete panic and fear turned to irritation as he got sick of the piece of machinery. "Fuck this, I need some smokes."
Shoving the vape pen back into his pocket with his other hand, Shavo turned to the entrance and began to look over the railing to see if there were any people below.
"I thought you were quitting actual cigarettes." Knk'ahayr said as he stuffed his hands into his pockets. "Hence the whole reason why you got the vape pen?"
"Yeah, well that was before I entered a line of work where my life was gonna be in constant danger from monstrous bounty hunters." Shavo bit back as he started patting down his pockets.
"You really think that anyone's gonna be fine with that?" the god asked with a raised eyebrow. "I mean, Sky'll probably be fine with it. But Blake? Weiss? Pyrrha? Ruby?"
"Yang?" He emphasised the blond girl's name as he leaned over the young man's shoulder.
"You say it as if I care." Shavo growled as he finally found what he was looking for and pulled out a pack of red and yellow cigarettes. "They won't know."
"Christ, you get pissy without nicotine, don't you?" Knk'ahayr said back without any force as he leaned on the railing with his arms.
Shavo was going to make some sarcastic comment, but thought about it before turning to the man who had sent him there.
"First off, yes, I do." He said. "Secondly, how in the hell is it you know that I quit smoking so much and yet you don't know that?"
"I was saying it just to piss you off." Knk'ahayr chuckled as he shrugged his shoulders.
"And third, why in the hell are you saying stuff like 'Christ'?" Shavo asked with a look mixed between confusion and annoyance. "What, do you two play cards together or some shit?"
"No, but he's one helluva dart player." the god grinned at him.
Instead of responding, the Traveler just shook his head as he brought out the lighter he always kept on him. Flicking it over and over, he tried to get it lit, without success.
Before Knk'ahayr snapped his fingers and made a fire appear in his hand and lit it for him.
"Thanks." Shavo said as he took a hit of nicotine, inhaling it and savoring the taste as he closed his eyes and leaned his head back.
Almost instantly, the familiar taste helped to ease his nerves as he slowly let his body relax, not even realizing his left hand had been clenched into a fist. He allowed his eyes to fall closed, gaining a calm expression after being hit with the new information.
"No problem." Knk'ahayr responded as Shavodan let out a breath, the smoke drifting out in a cloud of gray and into the warm summer air. He watched it drift into the sky and dissipate as he took another hit, starting to think clearly again.
"Okay, now that baby's sucking on his ash, what do you want to do?" Knk'ahayr asked as he turned around to face his pupil.
Blowing out the smoke, Shavodan flipped off the god before answering.
"Well, I want to know what that new bounty hunter is." he said as he formulated a plan in his head. "I don't feel comfortable knowing that this thing, or guy, for all we know, could be wandering just outside the walls, and I wouldn't even know it was the bounty hunter. Hell, it could be some Bill Cosby lookin' mother fucker with a machete, and we wouldn't be any more the wiser."
"Okay, so far so good." Knk'ahayr agreed with a nod of his head.
"But two problems with that." the goateed teen held up two fingers as he took another hit. "One: We have no idea how to tell what is and isn't a bounty hunter. And two, saying that I could even find them and identify them, what then? It's not like I could fight them."
Looking down at his free hand, he made a fist as he evaluated the situation in his mind.
"Not in my current state, anyways. I'm far too weak and untrained."
"Isn't that what your girlfriend is for?" Knk'ahayr asked with a grin.
"Burn in corporate hell." Shavo said blankly as he exhaled the cloud of smoke.
"Love you too, bud." the god laughed as he cracked his neck with one hand before turning back to the teen. "But dude, in all seriousness though. I really think she digs you."
Annoyed by the question, Shavodan threw his arms up in the air with a face of confusion as he turned to face him.
"Dude, i've known her for, like, a freakin' day!" He said with disbelief. "Don't you think it's a little early for that shit? Besides, we're trying to talk about something that involves my life and death here."
"Well hell, man, you've practically been flirting with them already." Knk'ahayr kept on trying with the topic of his protege's new female friends.
Looking over to the bearded god, Shavo quirked an eyebrow as he took another hit of his cigarette.
"What the hell do you mean?" he asked in honest curiosity as he leaned over the railing.
Surprised by how honest the teen was in hs uncertainty, Knk'ahayr raised a hand to explain to him how he was practically making all the girls trip over themselves around him.
But then he realized how funny it would be if he didn't and decided not to.
"Ehh, nevermind." the teen's question was waved off as he stood up straight and cracked his back with a grunt. "Alright, unfortunately I have to get going."
"Woah, woah, woah, hey." Shavodan waved his free hand to grab his attention.
Holding both his hands up in a 'stop' gesture, the teen kept the god from leaving before he could finish with what he was trying to get at.
"I didn't just bring up my weakness because I like it. I need to be stronger, and there's something you could do to help me with that problem." He said as he poked Knk'ahayr in the chest lightly.
Staring at Shavodan, Knk'ahayr looked at his protege for a few seconds with a blank face before letting out a low 'ohhhhhh'.
"Okay. You wanna know about your semblance!" Knk'ahayr said with a grin.
If he could have, Shavodan would've kicked the man in his godly balls right then and there.
So, the god leaned forward slightly and waved for the teen to get closer. Squinting his eyes in uncertainty, Shavo slowly stepped over and leaned forward as well.
Once he felt the boy was close enough, the aviator clad god put a hand up to his mouth and whispered to him.
"Find it out yourself, shit head."
"You fucking suck!" Shavo cursed as he wheeled around and stomped lightly, his so called 'master' laughing like an idiot behind him.. "I fuckin' knew you were gonna say that!"
"Ahhh, I saw the hope just build up on your face, and then sloooooowly watched it before I annihilated it." He giggled out.
"Okay, let's not have a repeat of yesterday." Shavodan rolled his eyes before taking another hit of his cigarette. "But answer the freakin' question."
"I just did!" Knk'ahayr chuckled. "I'm not gonna make this easy for you, kid. Everyone else here unlocked theirs fair and square, so will you."
"But everyone else here has had years of experience!" The goateed teen waved his arms in annoyance. "These people have spent their whole lives training, day in and day out. And what have I done?"
"Jack freakin' shit, that's what!" Shavodan answered the rhetorical question with a wave of his hand. " I've sat around at home, played video games, kicked ass on the guitar, and walked around a shit ton with friends at the park. The closest thing I've done that you could even consider training would be throwing frisbees at empty cans and the One Punch Man strength routine."
"One- hundred push ups, one hundred sit ups, one hundred squats and a ten kilometer run every day?" Knk'ahayr asked with a role of his eyes.
"Yeah, and that actually worked, as you can tell." Shavo said as he lifted up his shirt to show off his toned stomach with a prideful grin. "Someday, I will achieve my dream of becoming a hero for fun!"
Getting back to his original point, however, he let it fall back down and went back to being serious.
"But asides from that, I have had jack shit for training. I need my semblance, man!" He pleaded with the god.
"Alright Shavo, here's the thing." Knk'ahayr said as he stood up straight and pointed at the young teen. "In this business, everyone's gotta earn their own. As a Guardian, your gonna be traveling into many different places on your own, and almost all of them will be dangerous. I can't allow you to become dependent on me intervening. Self reliance, and all that mumbo jumbo."
"So, if I just gave you some super power to use, then you wouldn't really be learning anything, would you?" He asked Shavo the rhetorical question.
Opening his mouth, Shavo was ready to fire back as to why he really needed to have his power unlocked.
But nothing came out.
He hated to admit it, but the god had a point.
"And it's not like I haven't given you anything." Knk'ahayr said as he adjusted his glasses. "So far, I already unlocked your aura for you before you even came in. And I don't know if you've noticed it yet, but I've also tweaked your not-dying skills just a bit."
Tilting his head to the side in confusion, Shavodan took another hit of his cigarette.
"Not-dying skills?"
Instead of answering him, the god just snorted in laughter as he held his hand up and snapped his fingers.
For a second, everything was absolutely quiet as the two just stood there silently, Knk'ahayr waiting while Shavo looked at him with a raised brow.
"So…." Shavo said with confusion as he looked around. "Is anything gonna happen, or-"
Before he could finish his sentence, Shavodan felt a weird feeling on the back of his head, like a hole before the same feeling spread to a hole on his forehead to.
Then, moving his head out of the way, he just barely missed an arrow that would have hit him right in the head.
"Shit!" He yelled in both surprise and irritation as he saw Knk'ahayr catch the arrow in mid air and began inspecting it. "The hell, man! That could have killed me!"
"It's not done yet." The god hummed as he continued to look at the arrow.
Feeling the same sensation, this time on his chest as well as his arm, Shavo swerved out of the way of an arrow that would have hit him in the chest before lunging forward and missing two more that went for his arms.
"Okay, now you're done." Knk'ahayr said happily as he threw the arrow over the ledge, all three disintegrating into ash before blowing away in the breeze.
"You're a fucking asshole." Shavo growled as he pointed at the god.
He had just then realized he had managed to keep the cigarette still in his hand, the ash still balanced.
"Am I?" Knk'ahayr grinned as he put his hands behind his head. "And hey, you've got a sweet ass sword now because of me! I think I've done a good enough job as it is, if you ask me."
"Yeah, whatever helps you sleep at night." Shavo grumbled as he flicked off the ash and took a drag of nicotine.
Leaning over the rail once more and watching the clouds as he blew out a cloud of smoke, Shavodan got a thoughtful frown as he started thinking of how he was going to survive the next few weeks.
Watching his disciple turning the gears in his head, Knk'ahayr stood there and thought about the situation for a few seconds before sighing.
Figure he might as well cut the kid some slack.
"Alright, tell you what." The god said as he too looked over the ledge. "I'm gonna go ahead and give you a break. I'll speed the process up for you, so it doesn't take a couple of years."
"Seriously!?" Shavo came close to yelling in surprise as he turned to Knk'ahayr.
"Yeah. I guess expect it sometime soon." He groaned out. "But I'm not gonna freaking tell you when, at least. I like surprising people."
"Well, I was kinda freaking out about how it would've taken years." He said with disbelief. "Wonder how long it would've taken Jaune to get his then."
At first, Shavodan almost dismissed the conversation at that. But then, he realized an important aspect of that and quickly turned to the god, who was now walking away.
An important blonde aspect.
"Hey, speaking of him." Shavo called over to stop him from doing another one of his vanishing tricks. "What exactly happened to Jaune?"
At the mention of the blonde goofball's name, Knk'ahayr came to a sudden stop, facing away from the goateed teen. At first, nothing was said, and Shavodan was beginning to wonder if he was even going to get an answer.
That was when Knk'ahayr turned to the teen with a look that promised an answer that was nothing short of not good.
"You'll find out soon enough." He droned out, before ominously allowing himself to fall through the floor.
Leaving Shavodan alone with nothing but his cigarette, he took one more puff before flicking it over the ledge.
"Well, that wasn't foreboding at all." He said dryly, now starting to feel better.
Now, the inexperinced universe traveller was left with far more questions than answers.
That was when he remembered that he had not one, but two bounty hunters after him.
Greaaaaaat.
Looks like he and cigarettes were going to be seeing each other a lot more often now.
Stuffing his hands in his pockets and mumbling to himself, Shavo still had one more thing on his list of 'to do's before he could go back to his team's room and let his soreness wreak hell on his body.
Earlier, right before the sparring match (Which to him was more of a professional beating), he had heard Glynda Goodwitch mention something that grabbed his interest by it's face, and still hadn't let go ever since.
It was that additional little tidbit on some sort of holographic training simulator.
Even the thought of such futuristic technology at the tips of his fingertips made his mouth want to water. But disregarding that fact, this chamber could very easily be his saving grace. The chance to fight against something he's going to more than likely face every day for the rest of his life without risk of getting harmed.
That would be more helpful to him than words could describe.
Picking up his pace, Shavodan fished out his scroll from his pant's pocket and opened it up to access the school's mini map. Scrolling through the list of destinations as he walked, he rolled down the bar until he finally found what he was looking for.
Hologram chamber 1
Hologram chamber 2
Hologram chamber 3
Hologram chamber 4
Looking at the list, he saw that the holographic chambers had there own building, and the list went on to up to thirty chambers.
He only needed one.
Picking up his pace even more, he began to jog lightly to his destination as he used the map function to set a waypoint on his scroll as he passed by students walking around. He gained a few looks, but they didn't last for long as the students went back to whatever they were doing.
This was a school were it wasn't out of the norm for someone to use superpowers, after all.
Not even noticing the looks, Shavo was far too preoccupied on getting to the chambers as he cut across some of the manicured lawns in order to reach them faster.
That was when he saw the building up ahead, bright and colorful like all the others, but with a sort of gear mark above the entrance way. It had a wide set of double doors that he approached, slowing down enough so he wouldn't go crashing through them.
Opening them open, he walked in to see a long, giant hallway with a ceiling that he had to look up to see. On each side of the hall were doors, each spaced out by about fifty feet or so. And in between them was one smaller door, easy enough to fit in for even tall people, but it just looked more like a side note when compared to the other ones.
Looking closely, Shavo saw that all of the doors had two lights above them, one green and one red. While there were a few that had green on, most of them had red lights over their doors. There was also a small holographic panel to the left of each of the bigger doors. Curiosity getting the better of him, he drew closer to the nearest door, one with a green light lit up over it. Looking to the holographic panel, he saw a student name with an I.D. picture of some random student.
So a green light meant it was occupied.
Under the name was a small box with the words 'Spectate' in it.
Looking over, he realized that must be what the second door was for.
That, and the hologram even stated to go to the door if you wanted to spectate.
So, he walked over to the next room, or chamber, and saw that this one was unoccupied. Looking down at the holographic screen, He saw it just ask for his student I.D. to start it up.
Reaching into his back pocket, he produced the small plastic card and flashed the bar code against it's scanner before his name and face popped up in the top right-hand corner. Then, up popped a list of options.
Level _
Difficulty _
Enemies _
More options
Messing around with the few available buttons, Shavodan saw they all pretty much were what they read; Pressing on Level produced a long list of places where someone could load up to train in, Difficulty had a list from Beginner all the way to master, and enemies were the amount of bots you could put in for the certain session, ranging anywhere from five to 1000+.
It was the 'more options' that was really starting to get his attention.
Clicking it open, he saw a much more diverse selection, such buttons as teams, types of training sessions that reminded him of picking a match type for Call of Duty, so on and so forth. As opportunities popped into his head, he continued to scroll down the list, absently taking them all in.
Until he spotted something that really caught his eye.
Just one word, but he had a feeling that this one word was going to really change his mood around for the better.
Custom.