"You wanna know what I do when I'm sad, or scared? Fuckin nothin, cuz I'm not a fuckin pussy." - Soldier Boy, The Boys
The youngest member of our group was sitting in the passenger seat, telling us a story about how he "fucked this one bitch after playing Fortnite: Battle Royale."
His name was Grayson, Gray for short. He had a light-tan complexion, stood at about five foot eleven inches tall, and had brown eyes and hair. Three accessories were always on him: a black beanie with the words "Humboldt" embroidered on it above a picture of a salmon, a necklace with a shark tooth attached, and a brown and grey emergency rope bracelet on his left wrist. He wore a black designer sweatshirt with a picture of a velociraptor on the front, over-the-knee dark green shorts with yellow outlining, and a pair of grey and white colored sneakers with white Nike socks.
John steered the wheel of the white 2017 Chevy Silverado as he took a sip from a canned iced tea.
He is the group's father, being an old soul and all. He is six foot one inch tall; brown haired and eyed; and is wearing an orange long-sleeved Carhart shirt, tan work pants with white and blue paint on them, and a pair of weathered brown slip-on shoes. During this trip he has always had a handgun in a holster attached to his belt.
I took a quick glance at the shortest member of our gang on my left, then to our drunken member of the group to my right.
The short one was still passed out, leaning against the window of the truck; a string of drool slowly fell and retracted from his mouth. Mike was pale with long, dirty blond hair and turquoise blue eyes. At the moment, he was wearing a plain blue and white trucker hat, a red and black flannel that was a little too big for him, black sweatpants, and a pair of dark gray crocs. He wore a gold chain around his neck and had on a pair of yellow sunglasses.
The drunken teen was twiddling his fingers in absolute boredom. Or maybe he was just drunk. I don't know.
The drunken teen, Will, had fair skin, short blond hair, and striking blue eyes. He wore a black gaiter neck, an orange-yellow and white striped OBEY t-shirt, maroon shorts, and a pair of white and blue sneakers with dark blue socks.
'...Damn, having no music on kinda sucks.'
As of now, the boys and I are on our way back home.
From where? You may ask.
We were on our way back from a week-long survival trip.
It was a childish idea we cooked up in the seventh grade that ended up working (somewhat) perfectly. The idea was, once we all turned eighteen, we would go on an expedition throughout Gray's grandparents' property and attempt to survive without bottled water or food for a week.
We... changed the objective from only surviving on the land, to drinking alcohol, smoking weed, and eating a buttload of snacks and food. I mean, we also went there to shoot illegal guns, but who cares about that?
Anyway, after somehow turning a childlike fantasy into a twisted grownup version of that plan, I'd say it was undeniably the best thing to have happened in the group. Besides, it ultimately worked out in the end, so who's to say it was a failure?
On another note, we also saw some pretty cool animals. We saw hawks, eagles, salmon, and even some deer. Surprisingly, there were no bears.
During the entire trip, I might have been silently wishing for a bear to come by our tent and try to attack us.
"Why are you staring at me like that?" The bear-like man asks from the front seat, driving still, but taking glances at the mirror in order to fully look at my face.
"Oh. My bad, John. Was just thinking about some stuff." I respond, fiddling with my silver cross. Looking at the drunken member of our group, Will, revealed he was slowly falling asleep.
Fishing my phone out of my left pocket, I saw it was about three in the morning.
"Why is your phone set to military time?"
"Hey, John," I said, completely disregarding poor William's question. "How much longer do you think we've got?"
John thought, rubbing his eyes and steering off course for a moment before quickly correcting the steering wheel to follow the lane.
"I don't know, it might be another three hours?"
Having noticed our current situation, Gray took the opportunity to chime in with his own suggestion.
"Why don't we just find a motel and spend the night there? I'll pay for a room if you guys want."
"Yeah, I guess... You sure?" John yawned, scratching behind his ear.
"Ye. It's all good."
Turning my head to the right, I saw that Will had perked up at that, nodding at the back of Gray's head in agreement. Although, whether the others saw it or not, was debatable.
"Dammit!"
"What?" I asked, confused as to why Gray had suddenly yelled. Somehow, Mike hadn't even woken up from it.
"There's no service right now; so we can't even try and check the map for any motels."
"You're right, that sucks. Yell again for me, would you?" John jokingly requested, not actually expecting Gray to go through with it.
He was wrong.
"Fuck!" Gray exclaimed in feigned rage, tightening his grip on his phone and shaking his arms in exaggerated anger.
John then proceeded to lean to the right and slap Gray on the back of the head, eliciting a smug grin from the Drama Queen.
"Fucker."
...
Getting into the room was a struggle in and of itself. Mike was half-asleep, struggling to carry his backpack; Will was drunk enough to stop speaking for the remainder of the night, while forgetting to bring his luggage; John was too tired to care about anyone's antics and sat on the edge of the bed, having dropped his duffle bag on the floor; and Gray was shockingly quiet for once.
"I got the couch!" I exclaimed quickly, plopping down on the black linen, three-seated couch.
John was already under the covers of the bed, lying on his stomach. Honestly, I thought he was dead with the way his neck was angled.
Mike was on top of the blanket of the other bed, taking up at least 2/3 of it and was already asleep.
We were all wearing our clothes from throughout the day, without having bothered to dress down or change into something else.
"Good night!"
"Goodnight."
"Goodn-*Snore*."
...
Waking up to the chirping of birds outside, I maneuvered my body so that I was lying on my back, stretching my legs into the air. Then, I moved my left leg up and down, trying to pop my kneecap. Successful so far, I tried my other knee, but failed to recreate the satisfying pop that had rung out before.
Groaning lightly as I got up, I saw that Will had chosen to sleep next to Mike, while Gray was sleeping beside John.
'I gotta take a shit', I suddenly thought, feeling the sudden urge to release my bowels.
Picking up my gold-colored, eyeglasses from atop the desk beside the couch, I proceeded to place them on my face. Standing upright, then stretching, I speed-walked to the bathroom on the other side of the room, flipped the lights on, and closed the door behind me, locking it.
After going to the bathroom and flushing, I washed my hands and then gazed at the mirror to look at myself.
I have long, curly, black hair that reaches just past my nape; a chin beard that connects with my sideburns; and a slowly growing moustache that's making its way onto my face.
I'm six feet three inches tall, have brown skin and eyes, am slightly overweight, and have a small scar on the middle of my upper lip. If I had to estimate my weight, I'd say I weigh about 250 pounds. I was wearing a maroon colored Champion t-shirt with the wording in orange, black shorts with red and white stripes on the sides and bottom, a silver chain with a silver cross, and a pair of plain gray socks.
After switching off the lights out of courtesy, I open the door to the rest of the room and make my way to the desk beside the couch. Checking what the time might be on my phone, I find it's 9:36 am.
"Jesus, it's early," I mumbled in shock at how refreshed I felt after only a little bit of sleep. I only slept for five hours?
Placing that question at the back of my mind, I get ready for the day, slipping on my black and grey loafers before swiping a card from the middle nightstand that was between the beds, walking towards the front door.
Stopping, I realized I hadn't used my toothbrush yet. Licking my top, front teeth told me there was some overnight plaque.
After going back to the bathroom and brushing my teeth, I walked out the front door to then head downstairs to the serving area, hoping to find some food that might be waiting for me.
There was some food... I guess.
Much like other hotels around the world, it offered a plethora of food choices for its guests.
Only, without the meals having been fresh or satisfactory, the food was terrible and just barely enough to eat.
The milk was chunky and smelled sour; the scrambled eggs still had eggshells on the inside. The juice had mold in it, and the meat was rotten. Hell, the only thing even remotely edible was the cereal. But I found a dead roach there, so I decided against eating.
I groan in disappointment, making my way back to the front door of our room and subsequently swiping the keycard over the handle.
It started blinking red.
'Huh?'
Turning the keycard upside down, I give it a second try, 'Must've done it wrong,' I think.
It blinked red again.
"Fuuuuck."
Going back downstairs, I ring the bell on the reception desk and wait for about ten minutes.
Nobody came.
'What the fuck?'
Sighing, I make my way back upstairs and knock on the door a couple of times, before hearing shuffling and a couple of steps coming from the inside.
The door swung open with unnatural ferocity, and I almost shit myself. There, standing in the doorway, was John.
His skin was glowing blue.
"Gabe?" he questioned, still groggy; rubbing the sleepiness away from his eyes.
"Nope," I answer sarcastically, strutting into the room.
"Why are you blue?" I can't help but ask, quoting the fictional character, Walter White.
"What do you mean?"
"You had, like, an Aura thing going on for a second."
"Gabe, are you high right now?"
"I wish...actually, give me a sec." Looking into the bathroom mirror, I see my eyes are dilated.
"Yeah, I guess I am."
"Figures." He comments in slight amusement, taking off his long-sleeved orange Carhart shirt to reveal his hairy chest and back, then equipping a plain light grey t-shirt from his bag.
He hums after looking at the others, pauses, and then eventually continues, asking, "Do you have the time?"
Checking my phone, I see it's 10:27. Turning the screen to show him, I see John staring off into the distance, rubbing his chin in contemplation.
"We should wake them up now; still got a long ways to go."
Nodding at his astute observation, I then proceeded to lightly shake Mike awake, eliciting a small, "I'll kill you, you son of a bitch...," from him.
Will ended up waking on his own, without making a single sound. What a lad.
"Ow, fucker!" Gray yelled in surprise rather than pain, grabbing his orange and yellow vape from the nightstand the second he woke up, taking a quick hit off of it and blowing smoke into the air before waving his hand to disperse it faster.
"Coulda just shook me awake!" He yells in exasperation, red hand print on his face. He takes another hit off the vape.
"Yeah, but where's the fun in that?" John retorted, chuckling slightly.
"Whatever, shitass." Gray got up and walked to the bathroom, before quickly coming out holding a purple-coloured, wrapped box.
"You like my present?"
"I haven't opened it yet, idiot."
"Then open it, dumbass."
"Fucker."
Shredding the wrapping paper I had worked so hard to make presentable, he opened to find a Stiiizy starter kit with three pods full of cannabis oil.
"Oh."
"What?" I asked, confused as to why he had made it sound like he was disappointed.
"It's kinda funny... I... I got Will a dab pen earlier."
Oh. So that's what he was hitting yesterday." I commented in realization, recalling Will sucking the life out of a pen. I eventually went back to the topic of his gift.
"Do you like it?"
"I guess."
"If you don't want it, I can take it off your hands," John starts, getting cut off by Gray.
"Nope! Thanks, Gabe!"
Chuckling, I made my way back to the couch, pulled out my phone and placed wireless earbuds in my ears, put on Sol ChYld's 'Catalyst,' and began reading a short fanfic I had downloaded last week.
After waiting for a moment, I noticed that the others seemed to be just about ready to go.
Having my hiking backpack already packed and ready to go, I then told them about my findings within the motel establishment.
"There doesn't seem to be anyone else in the motel. Are you guys sure this place isn't abandoned?"
"Now that you mention it, the worker last night seemed pretty sketchy. Thought he was a tweaker with how manic he seemed." Mike comments, rubbing his chin in thought.
"Oh, well," John shrugged, not caring in the slightest. Since we were about to leave anyways, and no one had ended up dying, it seemed like it wouldn't be our problem.
...
Leaving the keycards on the front desk, I make my way to the truck, seeing the others have been moving around the stuff in the back to better fit our things. I thought to wait a moment while they finish up.
After dropping my bag on top of the bed of the truck, I made my way to the inside of the vehicle and took a seat in the middle.
The others finished packing up the bed after a few minutes and started to slowly move back into the truck.
Gray was vaping outside the window; John was checking his phone for a signal; Will was now wearing his gaiter around his neck so he could eat a rice crispy treat; and Mike was checking his phone for any reminders that he needed to do.
"I got aux." I tell them, John nodding his head a bit before going back to hitting his phone against his hand, eventually deciding to aim it outside the window to try and get better reception.
Connecting my phone via Bluetooth, I press shuffle on my downloaded music playlist and start with Mac DeMarco's 'Heart to Heart'.
John, after noticing I had already connected my phone, backed out of the parking space and started driving off in the direction of our hometown.
Twenty minutes later, we found ourselves on a dirt road.
Mike asked John, "Are we lost?" in concern, wondering if they would be able to find their way back home by nightfall.
"We shouldn't be, but, I've never seen this road before." He mentions, confused.
"Did you take a wrong turn?"
"No, I just followed the main road. Didn't even turn yet."
"Hm." I hum in contemplation, before noticing something off in the distance.
Then my phone, with its sick sense of humor, decided to start playing Tame Impala's 'Elephant'.
It was a gigantic beast, the size of a semi-truck. Once it saw us, it came charging at us with unnatural speed. I swear I could hear the Prowler theme playing in the background.
The elephant had a mostly black body with a white facial mask, and red patches scattered throughout said mask. It had white, bone-like armor sticking out from all over its body. With its crimson blood red eyes, it made a terrifying appearance. Where the spine would have been, there were massive protrusions sticking out of its back, resembling a porcupine.
All in all, I'd say, coupled with the appearance of a demonic mammoth, we might've been fucked if John hadn't made a skillful U-turn, then stepped on the gas pedal, making the truck go as fast as possible in the direction we had come from.
"Drive, bitch, drive!" Gray screamed at John, nearly rupturing all of our collective eardrums.
"Shit! It's a Goliath!"
"What?" John shouts from ahead of me, struggling to escape the beast's tusk.
"Mike," I caught his attention, ordering him calmly, "get the gun."
Giving me a lopsided grin, he then reaches down to his feet, opens up a long and black gun case, then rolls down the window to shoot at the black and white beast as we drive away, aiming the an assault rifle at the face of the massive creature.
He maniacally laughed, loud bangs of gunpowder sounding out. He missed a large amount of the bullets by a mile away, but eventually shot it down. The elephant-like monster toppled over onto its right side, dissipating slowly.
Skidding to a halt and almost causing Mike to fly out of the windshield had I not been holding him in place, we took a moment to collect our bearings, talking as we calmed down.
"What the hell was that?!" Gray rhetorically questioned the world, placing both his hands on his head and looking back and forth in the direction of the dissipating monster.
"That was a Goliath." I answered, recalling an Anime I had watched, admittedly more than once. Rewubby, was it?
"What is a Goliath?" Will asks for the first time today, still facing his body back toward the elephant.
"A subspecies of Grimm. Monsters from another world… but, how or why? I wouldn't know." I answered truthfully, scared of the implications of what it meant for why.
"Wait, so, you're telling us we're in a world filled with monsters like that?" Mike asks excitedly, possibly itching for another shot(heh) to exterminate these animals.
"That's not a good thing, Mikey." I say, deadpanning as I flick his forehead.
He winces and rubs the spot I had just hit him.
The speakers continued to play music.
"What does this mean?" John asked, resting his head on the steering wheel for a moment before looking back up towards me and fixing his gaze with a 100-yard stare.
"I..."
How do I tell them they probably won't be coming home anytime soon? We had jobs, plans for college, family, and friends; how do I explain that we may never see anyone from our lives ever again?
I guess the only way to go about this is to rip off the band-aid as quickly and efficiently as possible.
"I have a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore." Not like that!
...
The sound of a sputtering exhaust pipe reached my ears amidst the music of Childish Gambino's 'Baby Boy'.
John cursed, taking a closer look at the fuel tank meter.
It was almost out of gas.
"What now?" Will asked, picking his nose. Ew!
"Gas." John answered, sighing as he shut off the engine. Then, he got out of the car and went into the back of the truck.
Gesturing for Mike to move aside, he did so, leaning against the side of the car while waiting for me to get out.
"Hurry up." He rudey prodded, taking off his hat and untying his long, dirty blond hair from a ponytail.
"Shut up. Now you're gonna be sitting in the middle."
"Dammit." I hear him mutter while hopping into the vehicle, leaving the door wide open.
Taking a moment to look at the scenery, I see we're near a bay of some sort. Whether we're on the continent of Anima, Sanus, or Menagerie was a complete mystery to me. Obviously though, we're not on the Land of Darkness or Atlas. Considering there isn't a large amount of Grimm spawning every five seconds, piles and piles of snow, or Salem's lackeys trying to harass us, I'd say we're gonna be okay for a while.
I'm honestly just surprised we haven't found any settlements yet.
Looking in the direction the truck is facing, I see there's a fisherman's wharf nearby, about a mile away. Beside it is an old-looking shack with its windows broken.
"Hey, John!" I call back without looking, scratching my stomach before asking, "Did you see that wharf over there?"
Not hearing an answer back, I turn around and see John was a little ways away from us, taking a piss in a bush, a handgun in his hand while he looks for any Grimm.
"He probably can't hear me," I think out loud, deciding in that moment to jump into the bed of the truck to open the ice chest full of drinks and other beverages.
Picking up a bottle of beer and popping the cap off, I took a sip and hummed a happy tune.
After a while, soft footsteps sounded out from behind me. I turned my head around, and saw John lifting himself up, now standing on the bed of the truck beside me.
"Pass me one, would ya?" Obligingly, I opened another bottle of beer and set it in his left hand. He picked it up, guzzled it down, then wiped his mouth with his long sleeve afterwards.
"What's the name of the anime you watched?" he asked, after collecting his bearings and grabbing a lemon-lime soda from the ice chest.
"It's spelled R-W-B-Y, but it's pronounced 'ruby.' It's a team name using the four main characters' first names." I pause to reorganize my thoughts before continuing, "Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang."
"What was it about?"
"Super-powered, teenage, multi-coloured anime girls who kill black monsters with farm tools for a living."
"I don't want to believe you, but I know you aren't actually lying." John deadpanned, clutching a newly opened lemon-lime soda in his left hand.
We sat there for a couple of minutes in comfortable silence, sipping our drinks every now and then.
I take out a cigarette, offer John one, which he kindly refuses, then pull out a lighter to try and spark a flame, taking a couple of tries due to the wind.
Finished with my beer, I threw the empty bottle as far as I could into the direction of the water, hearing a crack of glass shattering sound off in the distance.
Having finished the soda, John hopped down and emptied the canister of diesel into the gas tank, finishing what he had started.
"Are we ready to go yet?" Gray asked from the window, taking a hit off his orange and yellow colored vape.
...
Two minutes later, and we made our way beside the old-looking shack next to the wharf. We searched it, finding rotten bait, fishing poles, and lures.
Keeping the fishing equipment inside the building for the moment, my back was facing the ocean and I could see a giant wall hidden by the hundreds of 40-foot tall trees surrounding it.
'I wonder what we'll be eating tonight.'
Taken out of my thoughts by the sight of houses, I almost started yelling and screaming in joy. Almost.
Most of the houses had been toppled over; others were missing their roofs or doors, and some were completely burned to the ground.
...
After driving up to the front entrance of the village, we see the gates are wide open, revealing an abandoned settlement riddled with all sorts of Grimm lurking nearby.
Okay, they might've only been Beowolves, but that's besides the point! They were Grimm!
Turning the engine off, John then orders us around.
"Gray, get the rifles. Will and Gabe, you guys get the shotguns. And Mike? Don't use all the ammo. Please."
"Whatever, dude." Mike grumbles, already holding the assault rifle in his hands, cradling it like a newborn baby.
We all opened the car doors, hopped out, and grabbed our armaments from the bed of the truck.
We ended up forming a U-shape, with Will and I in the front, John and Gray behind us, and Mike behind them.
I held some sort of black 12-gauge hunting shotgun with a flashlight, a strap, and a bayonet attached to it. The name of the gun, I couldn't tell you. All I knew was how to reload and unjam it.
Will had a copy of the same shotgun minus the flashlight. His bayonet was more sword-like, being longer than the average combat knife. John and Grayson had .308 semi-automatic rifles with scopes. And Mike had an AR-15. The only reason I even know what type of gun it is is because Mike wouldn't shut up about it, or how it has this scope, or that grip, or a fucking laser pointer during the first few days of our trip last week.
Since I had a brown pullover sweatshirt that was much larger than me, I had plenty of extra room to spare for the shells of ammunition for the shotgun. I sure hope the others grabbed a good amount of ammo.
Nodding to John, I start to move slowly towards the group of Grimm that have since started to encircle us, Will following me on my side.
Glancing back at the group, I saw that John and Gray had stayed behind, choosing to be the snipers of the group due to their more precise aiming abilities. For me and Will, we didn't have that good of aim, so we chose to go in closer than the rest.
Mike was the only lone member who immediately deviated from the position we originally held and blasted some of the Beowulf Grimms with his assault rifle. The sound of firing from his gun echoed around the once silent battlefield.
"Dammit, Mikey!" John shouted, taking a shot at one of the Grimms that were about to swipe Mike with their claws.
I really should have paid more attention to my surroundings.
I got nailed by one of the Beowulf's claw swipes, hitting my shoulder and causing me to bleed profusely.
"Gabe!" Grayson ran up to me as I fell to my ass, wincing in pain.
Then something impossible happened; my wound closed and my skin glowed a vivid color of purple, shocking me to the core.
'An Aura?' I thought before getting comically picked up by Grayson like a sack of potatoes; Will in front of us using his shotgun to cover our retreat as we ran back to the truck.
"I'm fine! Let me down!" I shouted, still clutching my shotgun. I was abruptly dropped onto my feet.
I looked at the retreating figure of Grayson, who hadn't waited for me, and had started running back towards John, where he had left his rifle. Mikey was still tearing through the Grimm, only two more left alive with Will watching his back.
"I have an Aura," I repeat to myself, grinning ear to ear as the last three gunshots ring out.
...
After clearing the area of all the Grimm that had been in the village grounds, we went searching for a map, splitting up to cover more ground. Grayson was still concerned about my well-being, having seen me nearly get mauled by a werewolf-like creature.
While I would say his concern was rightly placed, I was however, stubborn, and wanted to do my own thing.
I told him about the superpowers we all somehow have access to, our Aura probably being unlocked once we stepped foot in this world. But it wasn't until after flashing my Aura like I was a human glow-stick, and telling him about how it can be used as a force field as well as having healing properties, he reluctantly agreed that it was fine for me to go searching if only I had Mikey and Will to watch my back.
But, being the corrupt individual I am, I bribed the two so they would actually leave me alone for a second.
What did I use? You may ask.
I bribed them with Scooby Snacks, obviously. Or at least the drug equivalent to it.
After escaping their grasp on me, I then proceeded to run across the town laughing like a maniac, feeling as if I just won a twisted Roman version of the lottery.
On the other hand, I hadn't even broken a sweat from running this far.
After a couple of minutes of jogging, I stopped at a fairly large mansion-like house.
The building was mostly untouched, having only had its windows broken into, but the door was completely shut, looking as though it had never been opened in years.
My solution was to try and force it open, fail, then decide destroying the lock and handle was the best way to go about it.
Successful so far, I creaked the door open a little bit and took a quick peek inside the house.
There was a living room with a torn up red L shaped couch, two nightstands, and a doorway that goes into the kitchen. I then went upstairs after only finding a bathroom and a garage entrance on the first floor. Looking through the hallway on the top floor, I see there is a master bedroom, a kids bedroom, and an office with blueprints for some mecha-shifting, spear-gun-sword.
Going back downstairs, I recalled an ammo station in the garage, finding a crate half-filled with electrical dust, the prototype of the spear-gun-sword thing, and a bulky 13mm handgun. Searching around the cluttered workstation, I found some ammo scattered across the desktop.
The spear-gun-sword was an ivory-colored thing with black engravings and a handle. Next to the blade was a brown sheath with a strap for when it was in sword mode.
"Neat."
Flipping a switch on the handle of the sword caused it to switch into its spear mode.
"Even neater."
Now it had a black colored blade with white engravings. Towards the end of the spear by the tip, there was a handle with a button to press to shoot a dust round.
...
After going outside and taking a stroll back in the direction I originally came from, I saw the two others and started jogged my way over to them.
"You guys find anything?" I asked, slowing down then flipping the switch on the spear to make it into a sword. Taking a look at their new armaments, I see Will with a metal black bat and Mike with two white daggers with the inside of the blade being black.
"Ooh, ooh, watch this Gabe!" Mike connected the daggers together and formed a longsword with black engravings.
As I look at Will, I see him using the black metal bat to create balls of fire that shoot out from the tip; the fire hits the ground a safe distance away.
I looked around to see if the other two were nearby but ultimately didn't find them.
"We should probably get back to the others. I think we have enough dust for now." Will nods along as Mike continues to excitedly talk about his newfound weapon of choice.
It didn't even cross my mind that stealing these weapons for ourselves was morally wrong; from my perspective, it seemed like the right thing to do.
After all, the dead won't be needing them for where they're going.
...
Back together as a group, we showed and told each other our successful finds. I ended up being the only member of our team that didn't find a map. Must've slipped my mind to be honest; what with all the new weapons I got and the dust I found living in my head rent free.
Amidst the conversation we had, we discovered this settlements name was 'Yugure.' From the name being in distinctive Japanese, or Mistrali now, I think it's good to assume we're closest to Haven Academy than, say, Beacon Academy or Menagerie.
I really should have looked at the map before jumping to conclusions.
We're in the Kingdom of Vale on the east coast.
"..."
Anywho.
I still don't know what my semblance is. But that's fine by me. The only people who have discovered theirs are Will and John.
Will's semblance is flight. It's a simple one, making it easier for him to travel alone, though not so much as a group. He can only carry twice his body weight; anything over that and he starts flying slower. John's semblance has something to do with controlling/telepathically talking to rats. Yeah. Not the best of powers, but when you end up visiting a city, it'll come in handy for information. For now, while we're in a forest in the middle of nowhere, it's proving to be useless.
Grayson, Mikey, and I were apparently in the same boat, not having discovered our soul based superpowers quite yet.
In other news, John found an electric blue shield that shifts into one meant for, what seemed like, riot control, and a .357 Dust revolver. Gray found an crimson red and dark grey battle axe that is also a mecha-shifting shotgun.
As of right now, we've setting up a campfire with three cots and two chairs surrounding the unlit pile of wood before the sun starts to settle down.
"What's for dinner, Gray?" I asked, watching as he poured a spoonful of protein powder into a plastic water bottle, spilling a fair amount of the powder.
He thinks for a second, screwing the lid back on, shaking the bottle.
"We still have some peanut butter, jelly, and some leftover bread, right?" He asks after a moment, taking a sip of the protein water, making a disgusted face after a chunk of wet powder went into his mouth.
"Bleh."
I hummed as I looked into the large ice chest we'd had for the better part of a week.
"There's always the tuna cans and mayonnaise, right?" I ask, hoping to get some meat into me. 'Pause.'
Will asks as he uses a lighter to light the fire with some paper, "How about the leftovers from yesterday?" referring to the can of beans we had the day before.
"Not enough to fill ourselves for the night." John commented, laying down on one of the camping cots with a red wool blanket draped over his lower torso and legs, just under the knees.
Gray says, "You and Mike can have the beans. Will and Gabe can have the tuna, and I'll have a peanut butter jelly sandwich. How does that sound?" He offers, showing care for the first time in forever.
"What the fuck is that?" Will exclaims in bewilderment, looking straight up at the cracked moon.
That's another thing; why isn't there a world-wide catastrophe from the chunks of the moon that should be floating down onto Remnant?
My theory is that, since this world has magic, things like this could be theoretically possible. Yeah, not some MatPat theory where I go into the specifics of how it works. The world literally has magic floating in the air. Hell, we're using magic from just having our Aura unlocked. It's not that crazy enough to believe that planet-wide catastrophes in our universe simply won't happen here.
"A Moon." I answered after a moment of internally singing Ella Fitzgerald's "No Moon at all."
"Why is it cracked like that?"
"Two brother gods decided escaping this planet by destroying the moon would be better than just leaving."
"What the fuck?"
"Yeah... just, just don't bother trying to wrap your head around it."
