Well people, I have to say, the pressure on me having to deliver these chapters is now mounting up. So much pressure, yet in a good way of course! A really...horrifyingly...good way… Enough of that however, on with the show!
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Chapter 3:- Well Met!
Armonia City Centre
Ruby looked over the bustling cityscape as she wandered the city. When she had first seen the city, she had compared it to Vale in terms of architecture. That was pretty much the only similarity between Vale and Armonia. Where there should have been civilians wandering in without little regard to one another, soldiers patrolled the area, reporting in to superior officers. Where there should have been shops showing off their wares, there were make shift military bunkers in their place. She also could sense some tension between the soldiers in the tan and green armour and those in the white and green armour. Was it some form of segregation perhaps? She had heard the ones in white referred to as 'Feds' while the ones in tan as 'Republicans'. Had the two factions been at war at some point? She would have to ask later, but right now she was an important mission: find Crescent Rose!
She had hoped she could find it in the city centre but the sheer number of people made it impossible to find. She sighed and turned heel, away from the centre. She found herself sat on the curb of a street, where there were only a few soldiers to share her isolation with. As she sat, her mind went to Blake. She was afraid for her friend, out there all alone in the wilderness. She at least was with her friends, Blake was alone for all she knew. At least that's what she was led to believe. She barely knew these people, yet she placed her trust in them telling the truth. For all she knew, they could be experimenting on her, taking her apart and studying her bit by-
BOOM!
Ruby bolted to her feet at the sound of the explosion. The soldiers stopped what they were doing and turned to the direction of the explosion. It sounded close, and judging from the amount of dust that was stirred nearby, it was really close! The soldiers waited, hoping for some form of confirmation on what caused it. Ruby was defenceless, the soldiers were her first and last line of defence. She readied herself, waiting for the first enemy to come round the corner.
"GOD DAMMIT GRIF!"
The soldiers lowered their weapons and continued with their daily business. Wait, what just happened? Ruby rushed round the corner and found what appeared to be a garage of some sort, however, the complex was covered in smoke that was billowing out of the entrance.
"IT WASN'T MY FAULT!" a voice shouted from the facility. It sounded somewhat hoarse as if the user had a sore throat, probably due to the amount of shouting it did.
"HOW IS IT NOT YOUR FAULT?!" the first voice retorted. This one was smoother yet also more panicked. Whether it was just because of the current situation or if it was just second nature to the man, Ruby didn't know. The smoke was beginning to clear and she could make out two shapes. Their armour was almost identical to that 'Washington' guy with some noticeable differences. One was maroon while the other was some sort of goldish orange. The maroon soldier had some defining muscles but nothing special. The orange guy appeared to have a bit of a pot belly and was noticeably chubbier than his friend. The maroon one was wielding a rifle that was some what similar to the one Washington used while the orange one had a rifle that was completely different in design to all the other weapons she had seen so far. It was somewhat futuristic in design with lots of sharp angles and glowing orange lights. Both soldiers were covered in black soot and from what she could gather, one of them must have caused an explosion.
"You should have been more specific on what you meant by help you!" the orange one replied, and judging from his voice, he must have been 'Grif'.
"Usually when someone asks for help to move some boxes labelled 'high explosives', they usually mean help me pick it up not throw a GOD DAMN FUCKING GRENADE AT IT!" the maroon one shouted back, his voice breaking slightly at the end.
"I thought it was a teleportation cube! It's not as if it's happened before!" Grif retorted. What was that about teleportation?
"But it has happened before!" the maroon one said in response. A brief silence was all that followed.
"Oh yeah..." Grif replied, in an almost otherworldly fashion.
The maroon soldier sighed to himself before speaking again.
"This always happens when I ask you for help, if you bothered to check your HUD before you act every once in a while..."
"Hey, you can't force me to change my lazy lifestyle to suit your needs! Besides, you knew the risks!" Grif retorted, neither one noticing Ruby.
"Yeah, well- oh hey someone's here!" the maroon one said, turning to face Ruby.
"Huh?" Grif muttered, until he also noticed Ruby.
"Welcome to the armoury, how can I be of assistance?" the maroon one asked in a pleasant manner.
Ruby merely stared trying to find the right words. Apparently, she was silent for a long time as both soldiers turned to one another before staring at Ruby.
"Uh, you okay there?" Grif enquired, cocking his head slightly.
"Huh? Oh yeah, uh… who are you two?" Ruby finally managed to spit out.
"I am Captain Simmons of red team ma'am, reporting for duty!" Simmons replied, did she think she was his superior or something?
"Nerd..." was all Grif said in response, before being elbowed by Simmons in the gut. "Ow, watch it!"
"Stow that kinda talk Captain Grif, the lady asked you a question!" Simmons said in a somewhat authoritative voice...she thought.
"Actually, I'm only fifteen so I'm not even a proper lady yet so..." Ruby butted in, the words trailing off at the end of the sentence. Both soldiers stared at one another before turning to face Ruby.
"Now that you mention it, you are kinda short..." Simmons said, realising his error.
"Now that you mention it, I have not seen a single person under the age of twenty one on this planet." Grif chimed in. Simmons raised his head as if pondering the statement.
"Hey your right! You'd have thought we would've seen at least one kid on this planet." Simmons finally responded. Ruby coughed into her hand, gaining the twos attention yet again.
"Oh right! So, what do you want?" Grif said, while Simmons just blankly stared at her.
"Uh, what is this place exactly?" Ruby asked. The smoke had all cleared but a lot of the items on display were still covered in soot or were covered by blankets of some form.
"This is the armoury, would you like to rent a weapon?" Simmons replied. Wait, weapons? Perhaps Crescent Rose was here, only one way to find out.
"I would like to retrieve Crescent Rose please." Ruby said, her hands clenching and unclenching in excitement. She was met with only silence.
"My weapon..." Ruby said yet again, and was met with silence yet again. She sighed internally before continuing. "The really deadly looking weapon..."
"Oh, you mean the scythe?" Simmons finally said.
"Sniper Rifle!" Grif interrupted, somewhat angrily.
"For the last time Grif, it's clearly a scythe!" Simmons seethed, turning to face Grif again.
"What type of scythe has a trigger and scope?" Grif replied, raising his voice slightly.
"What type of sniper rifle has a scythe blade on the end?" Simmons asked somewhat ludicrously.
"What if it's a hybrid, hmm? Never thought of that did you?" Grif replied somewhat confidently, crossing his arms as he awaited Simmons response.
"Neither did you?!" Simmons retorted. Both soldiers stared at one another, waiting for the other to respond.
"So, what do you wanna call it? A Scythfle?" Grif finally said.
"I don't know, sounds kinda lame. What did you say it was called?" Simmons said, turning to Ruby.
"Crescent Rose." Ruby said, a hint of pride in her voice.
"Ha, nerd!" Grif shouted. Ruby just stood slack jawed. It had taken her months upon months to build Crescent Rose and even longer to use it properly. She was proud of the weapon and its name, and this man had called her nerd in response!?
"How about… a Scyther Rifle?" Simmons finally said. There was a short delay of silence before Grif spoke.
"Yeah that could work..." Grif said. Ruby was still in shock from Grif's statement.
"How is Crescent Rose nerdy?" Ruby finally said, she was truly hurt by the comment.
"You named your weapon, what isn't nerdy about that?" Grif asked.
"Wait...didn't you name the Meta's weapon 'The Grif-Shot'?" Simmons said, in slight confusion of Grif's contradiction.
"Yeah but that was one bad-ass weapon!" Grif replied, confusing Simmons even more.
"What's not bad-ass about a Scyther Rifle?!" Simmons shouted in confusion.
"Are you guys saying you don't name your weapons?" Ruby asked, now she was confused herself.
"No, why would we?" Simmons asked.
"But a weapon is an extension of yourself! It's as much a part of you as your soul is!" Ruby explained, hopefully that would get what she was getting at now...right?
"So?" was Grif's reply. Ruby sighed to herself, clearly she wasn't getting anywhere with these people.
"Please can you just give me Crescent Rose..." Ruby said, there was no point in continuing this argument. As far as she was concerned, it was an uphill battle.
"One Scyther Rifle coming up!" Grif said, turning to enter a room on the far side of the room. A few minutes later and he came out, struggling to carry the hybrid weapon. "Jesus christ! This thing is heavy!" Grif panted, struggling to even lift the weapon onto the counter. When he finally did, Ruby quickly grabbed the weapon, holding it close to her body as if the deadly weapon was a lost child.
"Thank you so much for giving me back my weapon!" Ruby said, she would've hugged them if it wasn't for the fact they were complete douche bags. "Say, was there any other weapons in there?" Ruby asked, somewhat curiously.
"There was a pair of metal wristbands and a fencing sword...why?" Grif replied, still struggling to breathe.
That must mean Weiss and Yang hadn't retrieved their weapons yet, Ruby thought, she should find them so they can retrieve their weapons and aren't caught defenceless.
"Can you help me look for my friends please? I don't really know the city well and you look like you know your way around." Ruby asked, they weren't the first choice of people she would have asked, but they were the only ones who had spoken to her willingly so far.
"Uh, I guess we could help..." Simmons replied, gaining what she guessed was a death stare from Grif.
"Are you fucking kidding me? Why would you want to help?" Grif asked exasperatedly, his arms wide open in shock.
"Beats looking after this piece of crap!" Simmons retorted, gesturing to the small armoury behind him.
"Fair enough..." Grif said, lowering his arms. "I'll go find Donut and Lopez, see if they can look after the armoury while we're gone."
Ruby wasn't sure if she was happy people were willing to help her find her friends, or concerned that these were the people helping her. Quietly, she hoped her friends didn't find themselves in similar situations to what she was in.
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Armonia, down-town district
Weiss wandered the streets of the ruined city, taking in every detail. It certainly was similar to Vale, but was nothing too special. The area was slightly cleaner than what she had seen in the city centre, but the situation was still as dire. She thought back of her home, Atlas, and wondered if the people of the city would deal with the situation any differently than the people of Chorus. She was confident that as a country that prided itself on military advancement, they would deal with the situation far better...but these soldiers looked as though they had been fighting for a long time, perhaps even years. She sighed internally before looking into her small purse she carried almost everywhere. It contained multiple Dust Magazines but were completely useless without Myrtenaster. She was currently searching for the armoury, and if not that, perhaps a place to stock up on Dust. The thought hadn't occurred to her that Dust may not even exist in this world, but surely it must have. What else could power their weapons? She would've asked for directions, but she didn't entirely trust the people here. The situation was all just too much of a coincidence to her, perhaps it was just her overreacting, or perhaps she had some how subconsciously heard something that-
"HELLO!"
Weiss screamed in slight surprise. She had been so caught up in her thoughts she had nearly walked into someone. She looked at the individual, he was...big...very big! He had very defined muscles and towered over her slightly. His armour was similar in design to that Washington guy, but his helmet looked somewhat more...basic than his. In his hand he held a weapon that was the same as the ones used by the soldiers in white, yet he had a very strong grip on it. Another feature that made him stand out was his armour colour, a deep blue of some sort.
"Watch were your going you dolt, you scared me!" Weiss said in slight anger. She was more or less to blame, but she wasn't going to back down.
"Yeah, I was just thinking about stuff..." the blue soldier said. For a second, she thought he sounded like Professor Oobleck. But that was impossible, that guy was faster than Ruby while this guy seemed a bit...slow.
"Oh...hello!" the blue soldier said yet again. Weiss was taken aback for a second. Had he completely forgotten her? If so, this guy was definitely not like Oobleck.
"Are you all right?" Weiss asked, somewhat concerned.
"Yeah, I was just taking Freckles for a walk! Isn't that right Freckles?" the blue soldier replied. Weiss looked around confused. No one was around as far as she could see.
"Affirmative, Captain Caboose!" a robotic voice replied.
"Wait, did that gun just talk?" Weiss asked in disbelief, she had heard about A.I's in the past but never thought she would see one, especially one in a weapon!
"Yes! Freckles, meet Lady Church!" the soldier, who she theorized was Caboose, said to the rifle.
"Citizen." the rifle replied.
"What did you just call me?" Weiss asked, she wanted to make sure she heard him right.
"He called you citizen." Caboose replied.
"Not the rifle, you! What did you call me?" Weiss said, raising a finger at the blue giant.
"Lady Church." Caboose replied, a slight tinge of friendliness in his voice.
"My name is not 'Lady Church'! I am Weiss Schnee, Heiress of the Schnee Dust Company!" Weiss said angrily as she awaited the Blue giants response.
"Bless you!" Caboose replied. Weiss sighed angrily, apparently he had gotten 'Schnee' and 'Sneeze' mixed up. But the confusion wouldn't stop her from continuing.
"You will refer to me as 'Heiress', not 'Lady Church'!" Weiss finished, she didn't even know who Church was and why the moron compared her to him.
"Okay Lady Church!" was Caboose's reply, the tinge of friendliness still present. Weiss sighed, talking to this man was like talking to a rock, so she decided to change the subject.
"Listen, do you know where I can find some more Dust? I would heavily appreciate it if you could point me in the right direction." Weiss asked, using her 'kind' voice. Caboose looked around before facing Weiss again.
"Uh, we don't do Dust here." Caboose whispered to Weiss.
"What?" Weiss was shocked and confused, how could this society support itself without Dust?
"Yeah, uh, I know this place where you can get some help to clean your act up and uh, get out of doing bad habits if you catch my drift." Caboose whispered again.
Wait, was he referring to drugs? Was this man so stupid he thought that Dust and Drugs were the same thing?
"I didn't say Drugs, I said Dust!" Weiss shouted.
"Don't worry, denial is the first stage of withdrawal!" Caboose calmly replied. Weiss had lost it, not even Ruby had infuriated her this much with her innocent nature when they first met!
"My god, what is wrong with you! You are, without a doubt, the most idiotic and stupid person I have ever met! Why don't you do yourself and all of us a favour and go kill yourself!" Weiss shouted, holding her arms out wide. She waited for the blue dolts response. Part of her felt glad that she had said that to the idiot, but a part of her was ashamed as well. Several seconds passed before Weiss got a reply.
"You and I are gonna be best friends...after you get your drug problem solved of course!"
Weiss whimpered in defeat, in all her years had she never encountered someone like him. She merely clutched her temple and sighed.
"I think I'm getting a migraine..." Weiss stated matter of factly.
"Yeah, I have that effect on people!" Caboose replied. Weiss sighed again, this day couldn't get any worse.
"Weiss!"
Weiss turned her head slightly at the sound of her name. Ruby was fast approaching, Crescent Rose attached to her back. Weiss smiled slightly, until she saw who was tailing her. A pair of soldiers in armour similar to Washington's, except one Maroon the other...gold maybe? She sighed as Ruby approached her.
"Weiss, there you are, we've been looking all over for you!" Ruby said, coming to a halt mere inches from where Weiss was standing.
"When did you get Crescent Rose back?" Weiss asked, if she got her weapon back, perhaps she could get Myrtenaster back as well.
"Seriously! That's the reply we get? No 'thanks' or anything? What a waste!" the gold soldier dead-panned.
"Well, Caboose has probably drained her completely so...you know." The maroon one said, gesturing to Caboose as he spoke.
"Fair enough..." the gold one replied quietly.
"Grif...Simmons...hello!" Caboose said as he noticed the two soldiers.
"Don't you start on us too!" the gold one stated, pointing a finger at the blue moron.
"I got it at the armoury, I'll show you then we can find Yang." Ruby replied, turning to the direction she arrived and running, followed closely by Weiss.
"Great, more walking...so excited..." Grif groaned in disgust, before running after the huntresses, followed closely by Simmons and Caboose.
"Wait, who the fuck is Yang?" Grif asked.
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Armonia, Training Hall
Yang flexed her arms out slightly, glad to have Ember Cilica back. She had found an armoury being tended to by some brown armoured robot speaking gibberish and a rather flamboyant pink armoured man who translated for him...she thinks. She had found the training room shortly after and was watching the soldiers practice shooting, laps and other military style stuff. She had to admit, she was pretty impressed with what she was seeing, some of the soldiers here could maybe give her a run for her money...maybe.
She had spent long enough and turned to leave, hoping to find Ruby and Weiss. Perhaps she could ask around, the people seemed friendly enough and she trusted them slightly. Under normal circumstances, she wouldn't be so willing to trust newcomers, but these people had saved Ruby and that was good enough for her. She turned to leave when something caught her eye. A soldier that looked a lot like Washington was staring at her, but the colouration of the armour was more like that Carolina chick. He was holding a rifle that looked identical to the ones the tan armoured soldiers used while the hilt of some sort of weapon was attached to his thigh. Judging from his body language, it looked as if he were checking her out… no that couldn't be right could it?
"Hey there hot stuff, hows it going?" the soldier said, his voice was slightly high yet also deep at the same time...if that made any sense.
"What did you just say?" was Yangs reply. She didn't know if she should flattered or insulted at the comment.
"I was paying you a compliment lady," the soldier said, causing Yang to slightly smile. "So, is your name as pretty as your face?"
Yang hoped she wasn't blushing, the guy was certainly edging towards flattering at this point.
"Names Yang." she replied, this guy seemed sweet.
"Names Tucker, wooer of women and slayer of evil!" the soldier replied, and judging from the confidence in his voice, it was something he said often. "I haven't seen you around these parts, you a newcomer?"
"Yeah, you might have heard of us. Me and my friends got teleported here by accident." Yang replied. She was sure the news would have travelled around by now and everyone in the city had been talking about it.
"Oh yeah, you're the women with all the crazy swords and shit!" Tucker realised. "I've got a big sword you can play with...Bow chicka bow wow!" he said, trading the rifle for the strange weapon on his thigh, which in turned lit up into a weapon of pure energy.
Yang stared at the soldier, the smile now gone. This guy had turned from charming into complete a-hole in less than a minute.
"What did you just say?" Yang asked, her voice deathly quiet.
"TUCKER!" a booming voice shouted.
"Oh crap!" Tucker blurted out, turning around. Yang followed his stare and found herself looking at a man in blood red armour marching towards Tucker, a shotgun in hand. His posture suggested he had spent a lifetime in the military, and he sounded pissed.
"Captain Tucker! Why are you out here trying to flirt with eye candy that's way out of your league instead of training these men and women?!" the man shouted, before turning to Yang. "Ma'am." he politely said before turning his rage back at Tucker. Yang couldn't believe this guy was a Captain, he seemed way to immature. Yang then focused her attention back on the red guy. His armour was like Tucker's, minus the colour, while his voice had a strong accent while also sounding like he took around fifty shots of whisky a day all at once.
"Oh come one Sarge, loosen up a bit will ya!" Tucker replied. Wait, if Tucker was a Captain and this guy was a Sergeant, how was he getting away with yelling at a superior officer? She didn't know much about the army, but she knew enough to know that Captains outranked Sergeants.
"I'll loosen up all right, after I'm done with my Shotgun Court Martial!" Sarge shouted, raising the shotgun and pumping it up, ready for use.
"Do I look like Grif to you? You won't shoot!" Tucker said, no hint of fear in his voice at all.
"One..." Sarge replied, tightening his grip on the weapon.
"Okay I'm going!" Tucker quickly said, turning to run. So much for being fearless.
"Works every time!" Sarge laughed, lowering the weapon.
"Wait, how could you get away with that? Doesn't he outrank you?" Yang asked, causing Sarge to turn his full attention to her.
"Nope." Sarge quickly replied.
"But he's a Captain and your a Sergeant!" Yang replied.
"Colonel actually!" Sarge corrected, "But you can call me Sarge!"
Yang stared slightly at the Sergea...Colonel in slight confusion. If he was a Colonel, why have a name like Sarge? She pushed the question aside to allow herself to speak.
"Names Yang." Yang said, holding her hand out which Sarge gripped tightly before letting go.
"Pleasure to meet you Yang, so what's a little girl like you doing here then?" Sarge enquired, irking Yang slightly. She was the oldest out of her team so the idea of being the 'little one' irked her. Then again, this guy was a lot taller than her so she was kinda little in comparison.
"I was looking for my friends, I was going to see if they had found their weapons yet?" Yang replied, causing Sarge to laugh slightly.
"Ha, little girls like you running around with weapons?" Sarge laughed. "If there anywhere, they'll be in the armoury, but what weapons would little girls like you even use? Hairbrushes?"
Sarge was nearly laughing himself to death, leaning on his knees to stop himself from falling over.
"Actually, just a pair of wrist mounted shotguns!" Yang replied, a smug smile on her face. Sarge immediately stopped laughing and stared at Yang.
"Say what?" he managed to say, obviously a hint of disbelief in his voice.
Yang flexed her wrist slightly, activating Ember Cilica. Sarge was in complete awe at the weapon, he looked lost for words.
"Where'd you get those beauties?" Sarge finally said, standing at full height again, his eyes never leaving the weapons.
"Made them myself!" Yang proudly said. Sarge just stared in awe and disbelief, before turning to face Yang.
"You and I need to have a long, hard talk about shotgun fists..."
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Unidentified Alien Temple, Chorus
Deep in the Armonia's mountain range, Charon Industries mercenary force watched over one of the alien temples. Both soldiers and scientists wandered around the courtyard, into and out of temporary bunkers and barracks, going about their daily business. Near one of the many entrances of the grounds, was an underground cell built by the predecessors of Chorus, capable of holding a large number of prisoners. The temple itself was tall, towering above the trees, orange energy sparking in and out of the structure. At it's base was the means of entering and exiting the temple. A large expansive corridor that split off into three smaller corridors. All the corridors rejoined just before the control room, but the one on the left had a pathway that led to an underground hangar which was filled with Pelicans and Warthogs while the one on the right had a room that was previously a barracks for the aliens. The control room itself was large and circular, a beam of energy in the centre with a control panel nearby. The room itself was large enough to hold at least over fifty people, but now, only two did.
"Unbelievable! Un-Fucking-Believable!" one of the pirates said, walking back and forth in the room. His armour was unlike the other pirates and had more defined edges and sharp points. His helmet looked like it had been squashed slightly, with two sharp points at the top and bottom and a black visor in between. Rather than just the dull grey that most of the pirates wore, he had multiple orange stripes running along.
"Control yourself!" the other pirate sternly replied, his voice deep and menacing in stark contrast to his partners rather coarse voice. His armour was more round and bulky, yet also loose enough to allow the wearer to move freely without restraint. The most noticeable feature was the helmet, which looked almost like a skull with a single, small black slit being the only means of vision. Like his partner, his armour was also not pure grey, but sage instead.
"Easy for you to say, mister 'I'm so serious'!" the grey and orange merc replied, angering his colleague even further. "I could be anywhere right now, anywhere! I should be in the Bahamas, or at a strip club, or anywhere else exotic and hot! But no! I'm stuck on this backwater of a planet in the middle of nowhere!" the merc stopped and growled slightly. "I hope you know this is your fault Locus!"
"My fault?!" the merc known as Locus asked angrily. "Educate me, Felix! How is this my fault!?"
"Well, if you had just gone and killed your 'special friend' Washington, we wouldn't be in this mess!" Felix replied, a hint of venom in his voice. "But no! You just had to ask him special questions like 'Do you like me?' and shit!"
Locus was now moving towards Felix at a fast pace, his hands clenching into fists.
"If I recall, it was your ego that stopped you from killing the simulation troopers! You just had to brag about our victory, before it even happened, and blew both of our cover! If anything, it's your fault we're still here!" Locus retorted, his head mere inches from Felix's.
Both mercenaries growled at one another, they'd spatted with one another before but never had it reached this point. Both mercs watched each other intensely, waiting for the other to back down.
"Uh, is this a bad time sirs?" a new voice said. Both Felix and Locus turned to the source of the voice and found a lone Pirate watching. The pirate looked like a young child who had just walked in on his parents fighting.
"What? Of course not!" Felix said cheerily, wrapping his arm around Locus' shoulder, slightly phasing the no nonsense merc. "Me and Locus here were just talking, ain't that right buddy?" Felix continued, using his free arm to lightly punch Locus in the shoulder.
Locus stared at Felix with a look of hatred before shrugging off his partners arm and walking forward to address the Pirate.
"Report soldier, what is it?"
It took a while for the pirate to compose himself, standing to attention before speaking.
"Jackson just reported in sir, and he's found something interesting!"
Felix walked forward, slightly intrigued.
"What is it?" Felix asked, the pirate turning to face him as he spoke.
"It'll be easier to show you, sirs."
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Well, another chapter done! This one was a little harder to write but I got there eventually! On to another piece of business, Lopez will be making a physical appearance in the next chapter and I would like to ask you on your opinion on how I write what he says. Should I write it like:
a) Spanish with no indication on what he's actually saying.
b) Spanish and what he's saying in English in brackets, e.g.- "Hola. (Hello.)"
c) English in bold italics to differentiate him when he's speaking from either Freckles or Epsilon.
PM me your opinion or write it in a review but until then, don't forget to review and remember, constructive criticism is welcomed.
Raging Archon out.