Hello everyone and welcome back to HellFall! We've finally entered Part 2: HellFall. It may be a confusing with the full title being HellFall Part 2: HellFall, but it'll make more sense in the later chapters. You've probably already figured out what it means though.
So there was about a month-long break and I got very little feedback from you guys. I was a little disappointed but whatever. You guys are still great for reading this thing.
For those of you who liked Gazini, we're returning to his perspective for the next seven chapters I believe. Everyone will have much longer color sections this time around as well.
Something you should take into account though is this: IMPORTANT (caps for attention) Now that we're in Part 2 I'll be using the colors sometimes to switch between perspectives more frequently, which means that sometimes a character will only receive one chapter, then the color will change. But fret not, for I will return to that color in a little while. At the end of Part 2 and probably at various points throughout the story (for example) I will return to Crimson II to switch back to Gazini's perspective. If if sounds confusing I apologize, I'm bad at explaining things, but it'll make sense once it actually happens.
Anyways, you good people have been waiting long enough for this, so let's get on with it.
"And you say you found this where?" Thunder asked.
"Aldbay." I replied, "I'm not sure where the complex is exactly, but I could get back there if need be"
"Hmm." Thunder said, "Plan H. That's all that you know, correct?"
"That and that the Falls are behind it" I replied.
"The Falls?" He asked.
"Right" I replied.
"How do you know?"
"I talked to him." I replied, "He introduced himself as 'Mr. Fall'"
"Then how can you be sure that the Falls are involved?" Thunder asked, "What if it's just a single Fall?"
"I find it hard to believe that this is a coincidence, that Mr. Fall is off doing possibly evil things while Cinder Fall sits idly by" I replied.
"True." Thunder said, scratching his chin, "I'll have my top translators on this document immediately"
"If this does turn out to be a problem," I started, "I assume that you will get your best men on the case, correct?"
Thunder cocked his head, "My best men?" He asked.
"Yeah," I replied, "your do have soldiers on standby, right? Hunters?"
Thunder didn't reply.
"Please don't tell me you don't" I said.
"We have Atlesian Knights and Paladins, but that's it. Atlesian Knights, if this is a severe threat, cannot handle such a case"
"Then what about the Paladins?"
"They are weapons, not soldiers"
"Then put soldiers in them!"
"If this is as severe a threat as you believe it to be, then a hunk of metal will not help!" Thunder called, "We need someone experienced. That is, if this is as bad as you say. If the Falls are involved, we need the best of the best"
"How are we going to find those?" I asked.
Thunder paused to think, then looked up, his yellow eyes gleaming, "The Hunter's Tournament" He replied.
I nodded, "Good idea" I replied.
Several weeks later Thunder and I sat atop the highest point of the tournament audience, binoculars in hand. The sun beat against the back of my head, but Thunder wore a hat that blocked it.
"How does one fight in this weather?" Thunder asked, looking around at all the sweaty people gathered to watch the tournament.
"These are seasoned hunters," I said, "We have our ways"
Thunder paused for a moment, "We're enlisting you into the force as well. I assume that you're fine with that"
"Very," I replied, "I'd be happy to knock that Fall on his butt, especially after what he did"
"Good" Thunder said.
"So how long do these tournaments go on for?" I asked.
"You've never entered one?" Thunder asked.
"Nah," I replied, "I'm not particularly interested in fame"
"Hmm." Thunder said, "Well it usually lasts for several days. Depends on how long each fight is. Typically the first round takes a few days to get through on its own. As the tournament progresses, the rounds go slower, as everyone is pretty evenly matched"
"Interesting" I replied, squinting in the sunlight. "When does it start?"
Thunder glanced at his scroll for the time, "Anytime now I'd think"
Staring out over the arena, I saw that it was still completely empty. Then there was a loud, booming voice:
"WELCOME EVERYONE, TO THE ANNUAL HUNTER'S TOURNAMENT!"
Everyone clapped and cheered.
"HERE WE PIT THE BEST OF THE BEST AGAINST EACH OTHER, TO FIND OUT WHO TRULY IS THE STRONGEST IN THE KNOWN WORLD!"
Not everyone, I thought, not everyone enters in the first place.
"NOW, ARE YOU READY TO WITNESS SOME AMAZING FIGHTS TODAY?!"
Everyone cheered.
"I CAN'T HEAR YOU!"
Get on with it! I thought.
Everyone cheered louder. My ears hurt.
"THAT'S WHAT I WANTED TO HEAR!" He announced, "NOW, LET'S GET THIS SHOW ON THE ROAD!"
Everyone cheered again. I wanted to strangle somebody, it was so loud.
"AS YOU ALL KNOW, THESE ARE TEAM MATCHES!" the voice continued, "WHICH MEANS THAT FOUR PEOPLE WILL FIGHT AT ONCE, EACH ONE HAVING HOPEFULLY EXTENSIVE TRAINING WITH EACH OTHER!"
"Do you think we could get your team on board?" Thunder asked me.
I paused, "They probably signed up already." I replied, "Let me check" I pulled out my scroll and called the first of my teammates that showed up on my contacts, Hail.
"Hello?" She asked.
"Hail?" I asked, "This is Gazini, did-"
She cut me off, "Oh hey!" she called into my ear, "So you got our message then?"
"Message?" I asked.
"Yeah!" She replied, "We signed up for the tournament today! You in?"
"When did you send me this message?" I asked. I never checked my scroll for anything but the time, and even that was rare. Sometimes I wondered why I kept it.
"Uh," Hail grunted, as if the answer was obvious, "every year since we graduated. Are you finally going to join us this year?"
"Hold on." I put the scroll down and looked up at Thunder, "Turns out they already entered"
"Then get down there." Thunder said, "I'm dying to see you fight"
I returned the scroll to my ear, "I'll be down in a second" I decided.
"Yay!" Hail cried before I hung up.
Finding the nearest exit out of the watching area, I worked my way around to the sign-up desk at the front. The guy there was packing up.
"Everyone's already inside." He told me, "It's way too late to enter, buddy"
"He's with us" Hail said, appearing at entrance.
The man stared at her, then sighed, "What's your name?" He asked me.
"Gazini Void" I replied, "Team PHGG (fog)"
The clerk looked through his papers, found my name, and checked it off. "You've already signed the waiver so I'll let you in. Have a good day" Then he left.
Turning to my former teammates I frowned, "What waiver?" I asked.
They didn't reply.
"You forged my signature?" I asked.
"It's nothing," Hail said, "it's just stuff about not being responsible for your death and crap like that"
I frowned.
"Oh, don't be such a cry baby!" Hail exclaimed, wrapping her arms around me, "It's good to see you again"
I hugged back, "Good to see you too"
"So Gaz," Petunia Vaughan, the team leader said, "I see that you've changed your attire. Physically, you look almost the same, except that you're taller"
I smiled, "I wish I could say the same about you" I said.
Petunia smiled, "Oh shut up!" She said. Petunia had a reputation in our team as being one of the shortest people that we knew.
"What happened to your eye?" Gyro asked. Gyro was an older man, who'd failed the entrance exam into Beacon several times before finally getting accepted. He was accepted much later than most, and thus was one of the oldest students in the school at the time.
Hail stepped back, as she had still been hugging me. "I'll tell you later" I replied.
"Does it have to do with your future sight?" Hail inquired.
"Yes" I replied. That was my semblance. My eye could see up to twenty-four hours into the future. However, oftentimes I couldn't see more than a few minutes or even seconds into the future, and sometimes it didn't even work. It was convenient at times but very annoying others.
"I see that a lot of you haven't changed much" I commented, looking everyone over.
Hail wore a white turtle-neck sweater and a blue vest over it. She wore blue skinny jeans on her legs, and black and white sneakers on her feet. She had pale blue hair tied back in a ponytail, and brown eyes covered by black-rimmed glasses. In her ear she wore a small ear bud, which extended down to her mouth, where a small microphone sat. To top it all off she wore a silver necklace around her neck, with a small cylinder-shaped container attached to it. It was filled with a small amount of water.
Petunia wore a single light brown hoodie, with a yellow-white inside colored fabric, and dark blue jeans. She had red eyes and dark blonde hair, which was tied into five ponytails; two on the sides of her head, hanging in front of her and resting on her chest, and three on the back. Two on either side were about as long as her front ones and one long one right down the middle of her back. She had a very innocent face, and black strap tied around her neck with a bell at the front.
Gyro was the only Faunus in the team. He had a long black horse mane flowing out from the back of his neck to his lower back. It blended with his grey hair on the top of his head. He wore a black muscle shirt and a black jacket over it with yellow trim. Around his neck was a yellow bandana, and his yellow eyes were covered by black goggles with yellow trim. He wore heavy black cargo pants on his legs, which were tucked into his thick black boots.
"So do you use your semblance in battle now?" Hail asked me. Even back in Beacon, I refused to use my semblance while fighting. The sunglasses I used to wear blocked it completely. I believed heavily in fairness in battle, or at least I used to.
"Everything's fair in love and war" I replied.
"I don't agree with the love part particularly" Hail commented.
"Neither do I," I replied, "It's just a saying. If I were to say 'everything's fair in war' that would just make it sound like it was lacking something"
"True" Hail replied.
"So where are all your weapons?" I asked, noticing that they were all gone.
"You have to hand them to the clerk in there" Petunia replied, pointing inside. "See where it says 'TEAMS' and 'SINGLES'? Go to the teams' line and hand it in. They'll return it to you at the start of the fight"
"Thanks" I replied, stepping inside.
"You still carry around that heavy thing?" Gyro asked me.
"You still carry around your shovel Gyro?" I asked back.
"Steam" Gyro said.
"Sorry?" I asked.
"I go by my first name now. Steam"
"Right." I said, "You still carry around your shovel Steam?"
He smiled, "Yep" He replied.
I smiled as well before getting into the teams' line.
Looking over at the singles' line, I saw four people standing in it; a dark-skinned man with white hair in a tuxedo, a small green-cloaked boy, a young tan-skinned woman with orange hair, and a pale man in a black vest and grey hair. Four people.
"You guys could be in a team for the tournament" I pointed out to them.
They turned to me, then turned to each other. "That could work." The dark-skinned man said, "Thanks"
"No worries" I said, pulling Arkynshihn off my belt and handing it to the clerk at the desk.
"What team are you from?" The clerk asked.
"PHGG," I replied, "I'm Gazini Void"
She quickly wrote it down, "Thanks" she said, taking Arkynshihn from my hands.
Leaving the line-up, I saw the four people I'd encountered starting to gather together. I wondered what would happen if they hadn't decided to form a team as I returned to my own.
"Quick question," I said when I returned, "what if someone came in without a team?"
"They'd find you a team before the tournament," Hail replied, "or send you in alone"
"Fun" I said sarcastically.
"It's been harder without you backing us up here." Petunia said, "The past few years"
"Right," I said, "Sorry about that. I never check my scroll"
"Well you really should." Hail said, punching my arm, "We weren't just teammates in Beacon, we're teammates for life."
So when I edited this I realized that a part at the beginning of the chapter may have been a bit confusing. When Thunder needs translators for the Plan H file its because its written in code, so he's getting people to translate it into English. Its not another language or anything.
What do you guys think of Gazini's team by the way? Did you think that they'd show up?
Interesting Fact: HellFall was initially going to be called 'Blood and Fire'. Blood as in Gazini (his name means 'blood', thus his crimson color) and fire (after Ember, who was initially going to be the main character next to Gazini. Now its mostly Gazini though). However, I decided to change it when I looked at a bulletin board with a sign that read 'HELLO FALL', only the 'O' in 'HELLO' was a pumpkin. I didn't pick up on that and read it as 'HELL FALL'. After I did figure it out though, I realized that 'HELL FALL' sounded like a good book title, so I made it one word and renamed this story.
Also, this wasn't really intentional but I decided to mention it anyway. Can anyone spot the Black Cat reference?
Anyways, back to the usual stuff. Favorite, follow, review, tell your friends, tell your enemies, or don't if you don't want to, and I'll see you all in the next chapter.