Prelude to the End of Innocence
For the past couple of weeks, Lisker had been ordered to lay low by Roman while he tended to the supply of Dust they had accumulated during their past thefts. That was fine with Lisker as it gave him time to check on the progress of his own little operation with a former member of the White Fang. Once he reached Tukson's Book Trade, the blonde man noticed two familiar figures enter the store.
"What the hell are those two doing here?" Lisker asked himself as he walked towards the store. "If they screw this up, they are good as dead," he growled as he made it to the front of the store.
Once, Lisker opened the door, he noticed Mercury standing by one of the stands with a book in hand while Emerald stood at the counter. Mercury noticed the adult Guyver standing behind him. He slammed the book shut just as Tukson exited the back of his store.
"Welcome to Tukson's Book Trade, home to every book under the sun," Tukson greeted the people in the store, however his tone changed slightly at the sight of Mercury and Emerald. He was slightly relieved when he saw Lisker was in the store as well. "How may I help you?" he asked, keeping a professional appearance.
"Just browsing," Mercury said while looking at Lisker.
Lisker scowled at the young assassin, causing Mercury to flinch. He had heard to news how Lisker fought another person like him and how during the last Dust heist, he killed the White Fang members that were left behind, so that no one would be able to figure out their plans.
"Actually, I was wondering if you had any copies of 'The Thief and the Butcher'?" Emerald asked trying to ignore Lisker behind her.
"Yes, we do," Tukson answered, keeping an eye on the young woman before him.
"That's great!" Emerald said in excitement.
"Would you like a copy?" Tukson asked, hiding his nervousness.
"No…" Emerald started.
"Actually, I seem to recall hearing the young lady telling her boyfriend that was what she was looking for," Lisker interrupted causing both Emerald and Mercury to turn to him. "Maybe you should take a look in the back to see if you have any extras there?" he suggested to Tukson.
Understanding what Lisker meant, Tukson nodded his head before returning to the back, feeling very relieved that he would live through this.
Once Tukson headed into the back, Emerald focused her attention at the blonde man.
"What are you doing here?" Emerald whispered in an angered tone.
"I should be asking you two clowns the same thing," Lisker retorted.
"We're here to do what you should have done," Mercury told the older man. "I would think with your 'special' armor, this would be a cake walk for you," he added sarcastically, making air quotes when he said special.
"He gets to live," Lisker told the two of them. "I have a job for him," he added.
"A job that involves him leaving for Vacuo?" Emerald asked in a sarcastic tone.
"Yes," Lisker answered smoothly. "And I won't have you two screw it up," he told them.
"Is that so?" Mercury asked while turning off the lights.
Lisker watched Mercury for a second, then Emerald before chuckling at just how stupid they were.
"What's so funny?" Emerald asked, annoyed that Lisker was underestimating them.
"I just find it funny that you two think you can defeat me," Lisker said, closing his eyes. "Adapt," he said, activating his Guyver armor.
In the back of Tukson's shop, the adult faunus sighed in relief when he heard Lisker say that word. He waited a couple of seconds before returning to see Lisker in his Guyver armor, holding the two would be assassins by their throats.
"Let me make this perfectly clear so that your tiny brains can understand," Lisker said to Cinder's associates while squeezing their throats. "Interfere with my plans and I will kill the both of you without a second thought," he told them. "This is your only warning," he finished before turning his attention to Tukson. "You do reserve the right to refuse unruly costumers, right?" he asked the store owner.
"…Yes," Tukson answered in his professional tone as he walked to the front to get the door.
Once the door was opened, Lisker hurled the two would be assassins out of the store and onto the street. With that taken care of, Tukson closed the door and turned to face the bio-boosted human.
"I appreciate this," Tukson told Lisker.
"It's fine," Lisker responded as he retracted his armor. "Those kids had gotten on my nerves the moment I saw them," he said indifferently. "They're more annoying than Fukamachi," he added.
"Fukamachi?" Tukson wondered, not familiar with such a name.
"Another like me," Lisker explained. "Though not as skilled as I am," he added.
"But just as powerful," Tukson guessed.
"Of course," Lisker replied. "The Guyver increases a human's abilities a hundred-fold," he explained. "If you manage to find one yourself, you would be just as powerful, maybe even more so," he told Tukson.
Hearing that it may be possible for him to find a Guyver armor for himself, got Tukson thinking about what it meant for him. He had seen the fight between Lisker and another Guyver the day before the last Dust heist. All that power at one's disposal and the regenerative capabilities were so other worldly, that the puma faunus found himself starting to believe that these Creators Lisker mentioned were indeed the ones who created life on Remnant.
"Exactly what does Guyver mean?" Tukson asked.
"In the language of the Creators, Guyver means out of control," Lisker answered, smiling somewhat fondly as that question reminded him of Genzo Makashima and how his constant failures resulted in his fate as Anti-Guyver type Zoanoid known as Enzyme.
"Out of control," Tukson repeated as he thought about that meaning.
The rooftops of Vale
As the short break at Beacon Academy was reaching its end, several students that remained at the campus instead of visiting family, decides to enjoy the sights of Vale before the second semester started. Some students would choose to go see a movie, go to the mall, get some training, or go to Patch Island to enjoy the beaches there.
Not these two.
No, instead of doing any of the normal teenager stuff, Sho found himself at the top of the roofs of Vale with Russel. Sho was in his Guyver armor, holding a stopwatch while Russel was stretching for a minute.
"Are you sure about this Russel?" Sho asked the green mohawked boy, thinking his friend was either insane or stupid.
"Of course, I'm sure," Russel waved Sho's worries off. "I've been doing this since I was a kid," he told the bio-boosted human. "Besides, it's better than hangin' at the school all day," he pointed out.
Sho shrugged his shoulders, no longer seeing any point to question his delinquent friend.
'My choices in friends are getting weirder and weirder,' Sho thought to himself. "Okay then, get ready…" he started as Russel took his position. "Set…go!" he shouted, starting the timer.
With that, Russel took off in a sprint before jumping off the roof and rolling onto the next roof.
Sho activated his gravity controller to levitate off the roof and follow Russel from the air.
The Guyver 1 watched as Russel somersaulted off the roof of one building and landed on the next before sprinting towards the next one. The distance between the two buildings was much greater than Russel thought, and missed the ledge. However, he managed to grab a hold of a windowsill and started climbing up the wall to continue.
Up in the air, Sho continued watching as Russel performed several flips, wall runs, and vaults as he continued his rooftop run.
"Man, I can see why Russel is the agile one on his team," Sho commented as he looked at the stopwatch to see how much time has passed.
As for Russel, he was having the time of his life. He loved the feeling of the wind at his face as he raced a crossed the rooftops. He knew he wasn't the fastest student in Beacon, that title belonged to Ruby, but he prided himself as the most agile member of team CRDL. He leapt over the gap between the building he was on and the next one and started climbing over the chimney that was in front of him.
'Who the hell installs a chimney on the business building?' Russel thought to himself before leaping to the next building, curling himself up like a cannonball before landing.
Russel continued his run and was picking up some more speed, getting ready for his next jump. Once he reached the ledge, he jumped and was ready to grab the ledge of the next building. There was only one problem with this jump.
He just jumped off the last building.
"Oh Shit!" Russel yelled in panic at his miscalculation.
"Oh Shit!" Sho cursed when he saw his friend jump off the last building. "Russel!" he yelled as he flew towards his free-falling friend.
Sho just barely made it before Russel splattered all over the ground below. He grabbed the green haired idiot by his outstretched hand and the two of them slowly descended to the ground below. Russel landed on his feet before dropping to his knees while Sho stood after landing them.
"Oh…damn…" Russel panted out. "I almost bought myself a ticket to the nearest hospital," he said light-heartedly. "Thanks for the save," he added.
"Yeah, no problem," Sho replied while looking at his surroundings, noticing the people looking at them, or him specifically. "We really need to be more careful," he added.
"Ya got my time?" Russel asked the Guyver standing over him.
Sho looked at the stopwatch, only to see that he crushed it when he rushed to catch Russel.
"Uh….no," Sho answered before showing his friend the watch while putting his other hand on the back of his head.
Russel was silent for a second before bursting out laughing at what happened. Sho was surprised by Russel's reaction for a bit, but he found himself laughing as well.
Their laughter stopped when they noticed a ship docking several yards in front of them. Sho suddenly realized that he was in front of the Vale dock.
"How do I always find myself here of all places?" Sho asked.
"Maybe you're a coastal kind of guy," Russel said as he got up to his feet. "Want to see who's visiting?" he asked.
"Why not," Sho replied as he and Russel walked to the dock.
Once they got onto the pier, the two boys noticed that the people that were coming off the ship were looking at Sho strangely. It took Russel a couple of seconds to realize that Sho didn't disengage his armor.
"Uh...Sho," Russel pointed at his friend's armor cladded body.
Sho looked at his reflection at the water and saw why people were staring at him.
"Oh right," Sho said before he disengaged the armor.
Everyone on the pier watched as the bio-boosted armor came off Sho and floated above the water before sinking into it. The people exiting the ship had no idea that what they just saw was simply an illusion. Many of them were in awe at what they had just seen.
"Damn, that thing really knows how to draw in a crowd," Russel said to Sho.
"Yeah, it sure does," Sho agreed, remembering how his armor did that after disengaging it for the first time. "Where are these people from?" he asked his green haired friend.
Russel looked at the ship and recognized it as a Vacuo ship.
"They're from Vacuo," Russel answered. "I'm guessing some of them wanted to travel by boat," he added.
"Wait, isn't Vacuo a part of this continent?" Sho asked in confusion as to why the people of Vacuo would travel by boat.
"It is, but the travel by car or on foot takes too long," Russel told Sho. "And then there's the Grimm that roam outside the settlements," he added. "Besides, it's a bit quicker to travel by boat, especially for those who either don't have the money to travel by airship or just want to experience the ocean," he pointed out.
"I guess that makes sense," Sho said as he decided to dig deeper into the matter. "I wonder if any of them are here for the tournament," he added as he watched more and more people step off the ship.
"Maybe," Russel said before turning around. "Let's head back," he suggested.
Sho was about to reply but he was caught off guard by someone yelling.
"RUSSEL THRUSH!" a female voice shouted, drawing the attention of the two boys.
Sho and Russel turned around to see a teenage girl running toward them. She was lightly tanned, short purple hair brushed mostly to the left, a high-necked form fitting gray shirt covered by a long light blue coat, gray pants, and dark gray boots. She had a shoulder pad on her right shoulder that was strapped on by a bandolier. In her right hand was a crossbow, that she held on tightly as she quickly approached the boys.
Sho had no idea who this girl was, but she clearly knew Russel.
Russel on the other hand, his eyes widened when he saw the girl running towards him.
"Nebula?" Russel said, surprised as the girl reached him. If he had paid more attention, he would have thought that this girl's olive colored eyes were filled with rage fueled fire.
"YOU SON OF A BITCH!" the girl known as Nebula yelled as she swung her left fist at Russel's face and knocked him off the pier and headfirst into the water, screaming as he went down.
Sho was stunned by what he just witnessed. One minute he and Russel were about to leave, the next minute some girl ran towards them and punched Russel off the pier. He looked at the girl before turning to look at Russel, who was now floating in the water looking at the new girl.
"What did I do!?" Russel yelled out in confusion as to why he was hit.
"You never answered any of my calls asshole!" Nebula shouted at Russel, glaring at the wet boy.
"What calls!?" Russel shouted in response to Nebula's shouting.
"The ones I made last semester!" Nebula yelled in anger.
Sho had no idea what to say or do as this back and forth continued, drawing a lot of people's attention. The next thing the bio-boosted human knew, three more girls showed up next to the first girl. One was a dark blonde dressed mostly in green, a dark-haired brunette in black corset dress, and a redhead in a blue waistcoat. The redhead tried to restrain the purple haired one while the blonde tried to calm her down. That left the brunette grabbing a hold of an oar before walking up to him.
"Can you help me pull your friend up?" the girl asked Sho.
"Sure," Sho agreed as he and the brunette started pulling Russel up with the oar. "Someone mind telling me what just happened?" he asked after he and the other girl managed to get Russel back on the pier.
"Sho, meet Nebula," a very wet Russel said while pointing at the angry girl. "My girlfriend," he added while trying to dry himself off.
Sho looked at the wet Russel, then towards the girl trying to break out of her friend's hold, then back to Russel.
"I think you better start apologizing to her," Sho suggested, nervous at what may happen next.
"Please do!" the redhead said loudly as she struggled to restrain her friend.
"I'll beat your head in with your own skull!" Nebula yelled in anger, nearly breaking free but the redhead tightened her hold.
"That doesn't seem physically possible," Sho said after hearing that threat.
"That's what we said when she told us that," the blonde said while trying to pry the crossbow out of Nebula's hand.
"I bet the guys back in Beacon don't have to deal with this kind of crap," Sho muttered to himself as he continued watching Nebula try to break free from her friend's hold while Russel tried to apologize to his very pissed off girlfriend, and hope that she doesn't hit him off the pier again.
Back in Beacon
Dove and Sky were standing around in silence for what seemed like an eternity. Finally, Sky turned to Dove to start a conversation.
"Hey," Sky said.
"Yeah?" Dove replied.
"You ever wonder why we're here?" Sky asked.
"It's one of life great mysteries," Dove started. "Why are we here? Are we the products of some cosmic coincidence? Or is there a God who created us…with a plan. I dunno, but it keeps me up at night," Dove continued speaking.
"What…?" Sky replied, confused by Dove's speech. "No, I mean why are we here cleaning up the mess team RWBY and team JNPR made while they get off scot-free?" he clarified.
Indeed, the remaining three members of team CRDL were cleaning the food stains off the walls that were made by the food fight between teams RWBY and JNPR.
"We weren't even here, so how come we got fucked over with this shit?" Sky complained.
"I don't know man," Dove replied as he went back to scrubbing the wall.
"Quit your yammering you two and get back to work!" Cardin yelled at his two teammates. "I can't believe Russel managed to get out of this," he complained. "I bet he's having the time of his life," he muttered.
Back at the dock
Sho and the other three girls, who he learned were Dew, Gwen, and Octavia, and the team was called NDGO, like the color, watched as Nebula had Russel in a headlock trying to squeeze the life out of him.
"Is this normal?" Sho asked the redhead, Octavia.
"No," Octavia answered, shaking her head. "This is just all the pent-up frustration Neb's been holding back the past semester," she explained. "She's usually more affectionate when it comes to her talking about her boyfriend," she added.
Sho nodded his head, looking like he understood. In truth, he questioned Octavia's claim.
"So, should we do something?" Sho asked, worried about Russel's health as his face was turning purple.
"H-h-help me!" Russel coughed out as he tried to free himself from Nebula's grip.
Sadly, for Russel, Nebula's grip only tightened.
"Let's give her five more minutes," Gwen, the brunette, suggested. "She's bound to let up by then," she added.
'I don't know if this qualifies as a healthy relationship,' Sho thought to himself as he watched his friend beg for forgiveness.
As if the Gods were answering Russel's prayers, Nebula finally let go of Russel, allowing the delinquent to get up on his feet, gasping for air. He turned to face his girlfriend only to see her holding a duffle bag in front of him.
"You want me to forgive you," Nebula said in a stern tone.
"Y-yeah," Russel nodded frantically, not wanting to piss her off any more than she already was.
"Carry my bag and crossbow as we walk to Beacon Academy," Nebula told Russel. "You and I have a lot of catching up to do," she added while handing her duffle bag to him.
"Got it," Russel quickly agreed, accepting the bag and walking towards Dew, who was holding Nebula's crossbow.
Once that was all settled, the two Beacon students led the four Vacuo girls towards Beacon Academy. Sho, spotted Aptom walking towards them, looking like he was just minding his own business. Aptom had an amused smirk on his face, having saw Russel get beaten mercilessly by his own girlfriend.
Three out of the four girls were a little unnerved by Aptom as he walked past them, only feeling a little better when he was no longer in front of them.
"Man, he was creepy," Dew whispered to her teammates.
"Dew," Gwen whispered back to the blonde. "Don't say stuff like that," she chastised her. "What if he heard you?" she asked.
"I wouldn't worry about it," Sho interrupted the two girls. "He's an okay guy once you get to know him," he said, trying to alleviate the girls' worry.
"How do you know him Sho?" Gwen asked, curious as to why Sho would be associate with that man that past them.
"It's a long and complicated story," Sho replied as he continued leading team NDGO to Beacon Academy.
"So, where's the rest of your team?" Gwen asked, wanting to get to know the boy walking with her and her team.
"I don't have a team," Sho answered, earning confused looks from Dew, Gwen, and Octavia.
Since Nebula and Russel were a head of the other four, with Nebula berating Russel for not contacting her last semester, the two of them continued on, not knowing that the others stopped walking behind them.
"How can you not have a team?" Dew asked, not believing what she had just heard. "Every student gets put on a team," she pointed out.
"I was the odd man out," Sho replied, trying to keep his origins as vague as possible.
"Then why didn't they put you on a full team or something?" Dew asked, finding his answer not good enough.
"I think it's because I would give any team an unfair advantage or something," Sho said, knowing that he was digging himself deeper.
If Sho was expecting any more questions being asked, he got lucky as they had reached the front gate of Beacon Academy.
'Finally,' Sho thought to himself as he was glad to be back at the school, where these girls would be lead to the dorm that the exchange students would be staying in.
Later that night in Roman's secret base of operations
Roman was looking over the map of Vale while a White Fang member brought a crate of Dust. The self-proclaimed master criminal instructed the White Fang grunt to open the crate, revealing the Dust that was within it. After inspecting the Dust, he nodded to the faunus to take the Dust over to where the rest of their supply was. He heard footsteps heading his way and spotted Mercury and Emerald heading towards him, and they didn't look happy.
"Oh look, she brought the kids," Roman mocked as he wrapped his arms around the two would be assassins' shoulders. "This is turning out just like the divorce," he continued, causing Emerald to shudder in disgust.
"Spare us the thought of you procreating," Emerald said as she removed Roman's arm from her shoulder.
"It was a joke," Roman said as he walked past her and Mercury. "And this…should tell me where you two have been," he added while producing a piece of paper.
"Wha…?" Emerald said as she wondered how he took that paper from her.
"I'm a professional sweetheart," Roman told her. "Pay attention and maybe you'll learn something," he added before looking at the paper. "Why do you have this address?" he asked the two, no longer joking around.
"Wouldn't you like to know?" Emerald taunted.
"Yes, I would," Roman shot back. "Now, where were you two all day?" he asked the girl.
"Prying into something that doesn't concern them," Lisker's voice came from behind the two associates of Cinder.
"We were trying to clean up your mess," Mercury snapped at Lisker.
"But he decided to not only spare the little rat, but turned on us," Emerald added, glaring at Roman, for hiring Lisker.
"I think he was some sort of cat," Mercury said to Emerald.
"What like a puma?" Emerald suggested.
"Tukson is still of some use," Lisker said as he walked past the two annoyances.
"How so?" Roman asked his hired muscle.
"I found out something of interest that appears to be in Vacuo," Lisker answered. "And since Tukson is leaving for Vacuo, it would be stupid to just kill him when he could do a little field work for us," he explained.
"And you can guarantee that he won't run?" Roman asked.
"Oh, he knows better than to cross me," Lisker assured his boss.
"How so?" Cinder asked as she made her presence known.
"Cinder!" Emerald said excitably at the sight of the woman.
Lisker turned to see the woman looking down at him, which annoyed the second Guyver.
"Because he knows that there is nothing on this planet that could stop me from ripping him apart if he tried to cross me," Lisker answered.
"Are you sure about that?" Cinder asked as she walked down the stairs towards them. "I seem to recall a certain fight that ended with your opponent escaping alive," she reminded Lisker.
"My job was to help secure the Dust shipment," Lisker retorted. "I didn't have to kill Aptom," he added.
"Well then be sure that you do next time," Cinder told Lisker. "We can't have any more distractions, not when we're about to begin phase two," she added before walking away.
Mercury and Emerald followed Cinder while Roman grabbed a cigar and tried to find his lighter. Seeing Roman at a loss, Emerald pulled out his lighter before sticking her tongue out at the two men.
"I can't stand them," Roman said lowly before turning towards Lisker. "So, what has you so interested in Vacuo that you would spare the mangy animal?" he asked.
"Oh, just the possibility of there being more Guyver units hidden away in the deserts of Vacuo," Lisker answered.
Roman's jaw dropped, causing his cigar to drop to the floor.
Lisker had an amused look on his face when he saw Roman's reaction.
Author's note: A very conversation filled chapter, but then again nothing important came up aside from Lisker's own agenda coming into conflict with Cinder's operation. So basically, this is a filler chapter
The RusselxNebula pairing was thrown in because I took a liking to them as a couple thanks to the story 'The Darkling Thrush' by Depthcharge2030. Don't worry, the pairing isn't extremely important, it's just something to experiment with before throwing other possible pairings later on, that may end with a few of them destroyed later down the road.
This is a Guyver crossover story, so you know named characters are going to die soon.