Setting: Moneta
It was very early in the morning. The sun had yet to fully rise over the sandy horizon of the desert. Silver was trying not to fall asleep on a chair in the main floor of the Moneta, while Zelts was looking at jobs they could do. He let out a huge, disrupting yawn before turning his head around to talk to Zelts.
"When you asked me to assist you on some missions, I was expecting a bounty or maybe eliminating Grimm, but no, your idea of missions is...chores?" Silver said, clearly upset that Zelts ruined his morning for something he thought was trivial.
In Moneta, jobs of all kinds were listed for anyone who wished to take them. The most common jobs taken were bounties and fighting off Grimm, mostly jobs requiring combat. Other menial jobs like fieldwork, manual labor, or even babysitting were often overlooked because the lack of pay or difficulty. To avoid them, they were set up on a separate digital board for anyone to take, but that was rarely the case. The only person who would even glance at this board was Zelts, who was looking for jobs right now.
"I can't believe you woke me up for this, even old man Sterling's barely awake. None of those jobs are even real work," Silver complained. Just as he said, Sterling was barely awake at his desk and was drinking coffee to wake himself up.
"If they aren't real jobs, then they wouldn't be here now, would they?" Zelts retorted, and it only fueled Silver's irritation.
"This probably explains why you bring in the least amount of money."
"I heard that, unlike you, who looks for a fight, I prefer to avoid unnecessary battles, besides, I like doing these kinds of jobs. They're soothing and you help the people, that should be reward enough," Zelts lectured, and Silver appeared to be bored.
"Hmmm, these are some good ones. Let's go Silver." Zelts walked out of Moneta and Silver was too tired to protest, so he complied.
Throughout the early morning, the pair helped repair the roof of an old house, picked the weeds out of a family's yard, found two lost pets, and helped an old woman with her shopping. During all these endeavors, Silver complained and groaned while Zelts ignored it all. He was happy helping other people. It was the middle of the afternoon when Zelts and Silver finished their assignments. Zelts received their pay from Sterling and left for the jeep. As they were walking, Silver dragged his feet still whining.
"UUUUUGGGGHHHH, this suuuuucks! Waking up at the crack of dawn to do boring jobs that pay as much as one bounty mission. Talk about a waste of a day."
"I don't see it that way, if anything, we made a lot of people happy by helping them. Like I said before, I think that would be reward enough," Zelts said, confident in the good work he has done, but Silver retorted with a raspberry like an immature child. He thought Zelts' positivity was blindingly, disgustingly bright.
"You'll understand when you're older." Zelts laughed as they reached the jeep and sat in the passenger seat.
"When I'm older? You two years older than me." Silver took the driver's seat and started the car.
Making their way home, the drive made Silver mellow out as they cruised through the sand. Zelts had his eyes closed as he waited to get home. The ride was peaceful until Silver spotted something unusual in front of them. He couldn't tell what it was because it was moving beneath the sand pretty fast, creating a trail of kicked up sand behind it, and for some reason, it was heading right towards them.
"The hell is that?" Silver wondered aloud, making Zelts open his eyes, but before they could do anything, the unknown object ran beneath the car and slashed at one of the tires, causing the jeep to spin out of control before it tipped over and crashed, upside down, with the duo jumping out of the car before it crashed.
Silver looked at the car and cursed. "Damn, Violet's gonna kill me."
Zelts got up and looked at the unknown object headed towards them again, but he grabbed the Wings of Icarus from behind his back, split it into its wingblades form, and made a gust of wind to kick up the sand in front of him, removing the unknown object's cover. The pair tried to get a good look of what attacked them and when the dust cleared, what they saw surprised them. It was a tail, a metal tail with a stinger at the end was sticking out of the ground, wriggling around seeming fazed. Not wanting to give it time to recover, Zelts performed the same move again to get a full view of the culprit.
"All right all right stop!" a voice said, coming from the sand cloud.
As it cleared, a man could be seen, a man who was bald, except for the short brown Mohawk he was sporting, wore goggles and a pair of tan pants. The mechanical tail was attached to some kind of mechanical armor he wore in place of a shirt. Not only did he have a tail, but he had pair of mechanical pincers where his hands should be.
"What the hell is he?" Silver said, as he drew Ceasefire from its holsters.
"The name's Buff. I'm here for the bounty on your heads," He said, crossing his pincers over his arms as he readies himself for battle.
"Bounty? Sorry pal, you got the wrong people. We don't have bounties, check the board in Moneta," Silver countered.
"Oh no, not that list. You guys are special, you made it on Turquoise's blacklist. She's offering a TON of Lien for your team," Buff said, and the news surprised the two as Buff continued.
" The Deceptive Flower: Violet Tulipe; $40,000/ The Blue Blur: Remus Cobalt; $30,000. The Silver-Tongued Gunslinger: Silver Synch; $55,000. The Pacifist Knight: Zelts Allister; $25,000. All for a grand total of $150,000! I like the sound of that!" Buff finished, licking his lips at the thought of the Lien being in his possession.
"Why is mine the highest!" SIlver complained.
"Says on your bounty you pissed her off the most. Heh, wouldn't want to be you right now," Buff mocked, but was met with bullets hitting his exo-suit, damaging it a little.
"Tch, the feelings mutual. I wouldn't want to be you, you have a face not even a mother could love," Silver insulted, angering the man. Zelts rolled his eyes because he knew a fight was about to start.
"I'll shut that mouth of yours. The desert combined with my exo-suit in Deathstalker mode, I have the clear advantage," Buff said, before he dug beneath the sands again heading straight toward Silver.
Silver didn't move and his face showed little to no interest as he was about to be attacked. Before Buff could land a blow, the Wings of Icarus was placed right in front of Silver and the sound of metal hitting metal meant the block was effective, making Silver smile. "I knew you had my back."
The metal stinger rose higher and towered over the shield before moving in to impale Zelts from above. Silver reacted quickly by changing Ceasefire to escrima sticks then jumped onto Zelts' shoulders to parry the stinger. Seeing this as a stalemate, Buff stopped his attack to scurry away and regroup. Both Silver and Zelts were unimpressed by Buff's dull and obvious tactics.
"This is such a pointless fight. I kind of understand your earlier perspective on unnecessary battles, this guy's a rank amateur," Silver said, clearly bored of this fight and striking a nerve in Buff who heard him.
"You finally get it. Let's flip the car and explain what's happened to Violet." Zelts turned around to leave and Silver followed suit. Both of them were already ignoring Buff's existence which angered the man to his boiling point.
"AAAAAAGGGGGHHHH!" Buff yelled, but he was still ignored as they continued to walk away. Buff used his exo-suit to burrow beneath the sands and tunnel past them right to the jeep, which made them take notice of him. With his stinger, he began to repeatedly pierced the car out of anger, ruining the doors on one side and slashed the car's tires with his pincers, leaving large marks as well.
Zelts grabbed the tail Buff's suit and threw him away from the jeep and Silver ran over to inspect the vehicle. "You idiot! Violet's gonna have my head!" Silver yelled, angrily.
"Not before I take it!" Buff dashed to Silver. Before he can stab him with his pincers, Silver jumped to evade the attack, but dodging made Buff pierce the car again.
"Dammit! I can't catch a break!" Silver shouted as he landed.
Charging forward, Zelts rammed his shield into Buff, smashing him between the shield and the car, damaging it further.
"Oh come on!" Silver was ready to give up on the jeep.
Zelts continued to pin Buff against the car, but the mechanical tail was raised above the shield again, but the stinger suddenly began to glow red. Not sure what the red glow meant, Zelts pulled back before the stinger attacked. It missed Zelts, but when it hit the sand, the small area glowed red then it blew up in a fiery explosion, kicking up a ton of sand. Thinking the flow of battle was in his favor, Buff charged toward Zelts and Silver for a finishing blow.
"So annoying," Silver groaned. He began to take aim, but Zelts put his arm in front of him to make him stop.
"I'll end this now," Zelts said, in a serious tone Silver didn't expect.
Zelts dropped his shield and braced for Buff's attack. Thinking he gave up, Buff charged his stinger with fire dust and stabbed Zelts in the chest, but his stinger was stopped. The burning stinger was held back by Zelts with his bare hands, an inch away from his chest.
"I'd let go if I were you. The dust will melt your hands off," Buff said, with confidence.
"You sure about that?" Zelts retorted.
Buff looked confused then realized nothing was happening. Looking at his stinger, he sees that it was no longer glowing red, instead, Zelts' hands were glowing, glowing a shimmering gold.
"I'll take away all of your dust," Zelts said, as he used Conversion to drain all of Buff's dust supply inside his exo-suit. The bounty hunter tried to escape, but he couldn't escape the strength of Zelts' grip that got stronger every passing second.
With the last of the dust drained, Zelts' eyes glowed gold, and with brute force, he pulled the stinger and ripped the whole tail right off of Buff scaring the man. He didn't stop there as he grabbed the pincers and ripped them off too, leaving Buff on his knees with the remains of his exo-suit on his torso. Silver was very surprised by his comrade's actions. This was a ferocity he never thought someone like Zelts could muster. Even Buff was frightened, but he tried to compose himself. He pressed a set of buttons on the exo-suit before getting up.
"Y-y...you... think that's it?" he said, more scared and desperate than he wanted. The exo-suit began flexing, moving, and changing shape.
"You're dreaming if you think I'm done! This isn't even my final for-"
Zelts punched Buff hard in the face, knocking him out, and because the extra energy from his semblance increased his physical abilities, Buff was sent flying. "That's enough out of you."
He walked past Buff's unconscious body to the car. With his boost in strength, Zelts lifted the car and put it right side up. "Let's go Silver," Zelts said, as he got in the sandy jeep.
Silver was stunned at the feats his teammate performed. "His bounty...should definitely be higher,"
Out of his own head, Silver jogged to the car to move some sand out of the driver's seat and was about to start the car, but remembered Buff killed one of the tires, what's worst they didn't have a spar. "I really can't catch a break," Silver said, slouching in defeat.
Silver and Zelts were left with one option: pushing. Zelts still retained energy from his semblance, so the task wasn't horrible, but when his boost will run out is anyone's guess.
"So, Zelts, you say you don't like fighting and all, but you're incredibly, exceptionally good at it," Silver said, cutting through the silence.
"Look, growing up I had to do a lot of fighting and as time passed, I got better, but not without cost. I fought a lot of battles and won them, saving my own life, but...there were others...others I couldn't save. I prefer to avoid as many fights as I can because I don't want to lose anything or anyone else. This team...I don't want to lose anyone else. You've guys really grown on me."
"That explains why you don't choose fighting missions unless we ask. If it makes you feel any better, we're strong. We can take on pretty much anything, even Turquoise and her little vendetta. But, it wouldn't hurt knowing that there's a shield that had our backs." Silver smirked to reassure Zelts, who smiled. They were almost to the base, it was so close until the pushing got harder. Zelt's eyes returned to normal.
"I've run out of energy," Zelts said, trying to laugh it off.
"Oh come on!" Silver shouted, in vain.
Setting: VRSZ Base
"And that's pretty much what happened. I want to make it clear that it was not MY fault that the car was totaled. Again, it was not my fault," Silver explained, carefully to Violet and Remus, more to Violet to avoid a pummeling for the state of her jeep.
"The real matter that we need to discuss are the bounties Turquoise put on us. In the criminal underworld and to any roaming bounty hunters, we're targets. Others will be coming, others stronger than that guy we fought," Zelts added.
"She isn't one to do work herself," Silver interjected, referring to Turquoise's lazy demeanor.
Violet processed their entire story, but her eyes were focused on her jeep. It was in very bad shape.
"Violet?" Remus called out, breaking her trance as she looked at Silver and Zelts.
"We'll deal with whatever that woman throws at us," Violet said, then turned to leave the garage.
"That was... brief," Silver thought.
Before she went through the door she stopped and turned her head to Silver.
"Oh, and Silver, you'll be accompanying me tomorrow to get my jeep repaired. If people are coming after us, we'll need to be vigilant." Silver nodded in agreement.
"For now, let's forget about it and bond. Remus and I bought ourselves a few videos games, do you guys want to play with us?"
"If these are the consequences of my choice, then I'll face them all. Bring it on," Violet thought, with resolve to weather the storm Turquoise brewed for VRSZ.
Additional Information
Buff is the pale-yellow brown color of the un-dyed leather of several animals. His exo-suit allows him to copy the limbs of several Grimm.
Remus' bounty nickname, "Blue Blur," is a reference to Sonic the Hedgehog, another blue speedster.
Zelts brings in the least amount of money because of the type of jobs he takes, but it increases his popularity with the people of Fortuna, especially with the women. He doesn't like to fight but will if he needs to. Helping the team is one of the reasons he fights.
Remus rarely loses in any video game. Silver is super competitive and plays with Remus nonstop. He never wins but they both enjoy the fun.