*Legend 18*
Open Season
...
Yang Xiao Long was currently laid flat on her stomach, her chin resting on her hands. The gentleman behind her, mounted up by her rear, was currently having his way with her.
And no, it's not what you think.
Yang was in The Tower's first level, which housed a small shopping district that just so happened to have a tattoo parlor. She was currently having a design etched onto the small of her back. The initiated (including Yang herself) would refer to such a mark as a 'Tramp Stamp'. Although Yang had a very high tolerance for pain (as most Titans did) the focused burn of the tattoo gun's laser was just a bit more than she was prepared for. To make said pain a bit more bearable, Yang had donned her wireless ear buds, connected to her scroll via blue tooth. Said devices were currently pumping her song of choice into her ears. And there suddenly, Yang couldn't help but wonder what Blake would think of her new tattoo. An even greater mystery dawned on her then; the mystery of why she thought Blake would care if she got a tattoo...
You have become my ethereal darkness.
My black highway, and my heart split down the middle.
As the tattoo artist guided the laser to the very lowest of her vertebrae, did Yang yelp, grasping the edge of the bed in a death grip. Yang could somewhat hear the man's laughter and ensuing comment, but not quite clearly. She removed one of her ear buds. "What?"
"I said, first tattoo?" He repeated.
"Might be," Yang responded toughly.
"Thought a gal like you would have a little more ink on her."
"What do you mean?"
"You're the gal from the net, yea? Yang Xiao Long? The one who beat the shit outta all them bouncers?"
Why do we keep doing this to ourselves?
Yang recalled the less than pleasant feeling at the memory. "Yeah...I'm that girl," she mumbled.
There's never bliss, only sounds of Hell's Bells.
The man took something of a thoughtful pause before resuming his work. "Been meaning to ask ya somethin'," he said.
"Shoot."
"You're a Guardian, yea?"
"Last time I checked."
"That makes ya practically immortal, yea? All that Light? How many times have ya died on your missions?"
I want to take you away
Make you see the beauty in life again.
"Never thought about it like that..." Yang half whispered. "All I know is, the longer I'm alive, the more Fallen I can kill. That's all there is too it." Despite the simplicity of her statement, Yang's mind was currently anywhere but in a simple state. The man's question had roused a new view on reality for her. She never had given any thought previously to the fact that Guardians die each and every day...only to be resurrected right there on the spot by their Ghosts, or fellow Guardians.
To The Lighthouse!
She sings in the night!
Yang grinned to herself as she pondered the possibilities. She could walk into a fight against any Reaver; against any Archon, and thanks to The Light, she always be the last one standing.
As we sail through the bay into a new day!
She was totally unstoppable.
Yang gave a mighty flinch as the laser resumed it's work.
Totally stoppable. Already stopped.
"Outline's done," the man reported. He laid back as he admired his work. "Death From Above..." he mused. Yang had chosen to have said phrase etched into her skin for the love of her preferred Fist of Havoc variation. "Alright, now to color it in."
And in another painfully laser-guided hour, was Yang free. She now stood at the very base of The Tower, just inside the Enormous glass-panned double doors that served as the civilian entrance. At this very grounded level, could Yang look up and see The Traveler, suspended at it's very stratospheric elevation, hovering above the city. Despite The Traveler's current position at this time of day; pretty much in direct line with The Sun , the thing amazingly cast no shadow. Yang could feel the light of both The Sun and The Traveler warming her skin.
And there it leads the way
For us Phallic and proud .
With it's Light scattered all over...
All over the crowd!
Staring up at the mythical pseudo machine-god, did Yang begin to feel...guilt, of all things. She thought of Ruby and Weiss out there on the frontier fighting against The Fallen; fighting for their lives; for everyone's lives.
It was there that Yang made a promise to herself, to The Traveler. 'Traveler, I swear from now on, I'm gonna do right by you. No more wild nights, no more excuses. I'm a Guardian now, your Guardian. Everyone is out there fighting, and I'm stuck here on the sidelines,wasting your gift. I'm gonna prove I'm worthy of your Light.'
"That's my girl!" Said Celica inside her head.
Yang grinned with a good-natured shake of her head. "What did I tell you about listening to my thoughts?" She said to the Ghost in her head.
"Eh, can't help it. I hear everything in here."
Just then, Yang espied from the corner of her eye a flock of The City's civilian's; tourists, being lead along by their android tour guide. A very young girl, probably seven or eight years of age, saw Yang from across the lobby. "Oooh, Mommy look!" The group couldn't help then staring in the direction of the girl's exclamation and excitedly extended finger, right at Yang. Yang set her fists on her hips and drew herself up strait and proud, the prime posture of a Titan, as Celica materialized from her being to hover next to her for added effect. She was probably the first Guardian these people have seen with their own eyes, she wanted to make sure she made a good impression on them.
"Mommy, that's her, the lady from the net!" The little girl squeaked. "She's the one that beat up all those mean men!" The other members of the group began whispering amongst themselves, a few openly laughed.
"Don't go taking your example from her," the girl's mother said. "There are much better Titans to admire. Like Pyrrha Nikos. Isn't she cool? Don't you want to be like her when you grow up?"
"Yea, she's so cool! And she's really pretty! Pyrrha could kick her butt any day!" She offered this last statement with another point at Yang. The group moved on, exonerating the little girl who had become the darling of the group with that speech.
Yang buried her face in her hand. "Traveler, I'm never gonna live that down..." she grumbled.
"Ah, forget them!" Celica chirped. "They don't know shit!" Celica then gave a rather mischievous twirl of his shell as he turned to Yang. "But she was right about one thing. Nikos could whoop your ass any day of the week."
"Shut up you!" Yang laughed as she swatted playfully at the Ghost. Yang was then distracted by a phenomenon in her back pocket; her scroll vibrating. She withdrew the device to find she had a message waiting; a message from Ruby. Were back! it read. Yang smiled, genuinely relieved at her teammates safe return.
"C'mon," Celica said. "Let's give our team leader a hero's welcome!"
And she dashed off for the elevator.
...
"Traveler...that sounded deep..." Yang had just been regaled with Weiss and Ruby's account of the events of their mission; The discovery of the House of Truth; the mass mobilization of The Fallen; and Team Coco's intervention. Yang then sprung up from her seat, suddenly full of a mournfully aggravated energy. "I should have been there!" she fumed.
"Yang..it's alright," Ruby said in an attempt to console her sister.
"It's not alright!" Yang snapped. Her eyes had flashed red at that point, a sign that her secondary semblance was flaring to life. "If you were at full strength, Coco wouldn't have to have gotten involved!" Yang seemed to deflate just slightly at that point. "I let you down, Ruby..." she sobbed. "I let the team down. I let Pyrrha down..." Yang recalled the rather vibrant vivisection she received from her Vanguard captain on that day. Yang inhaled, and then exhaled the same breath through her nose. She then turned to Ruby, her team leader, and offered a heartfelt Titan salute. "Nothing like this is ever going to happen again, I swear it. I'm gonna be there for every mission, and I'm definitely gonna do my part."
Ruby smiled back, something of a prideful blush coloring her face at her sister's earnest address.
"Glad to hear it," Said Weiss, her smile just as wide.
Just then, did all three girls receive a simultaneous signal to their scrolls. Upon retrieving their respective devices, did they discover a live streaming message from The CCN:
"All Guardians, attention please. This is Lord Shaxx with a very special announcement. it is my great honor and pleasure to inform you that The Crucible shall be opening it's gates in a mere forty-eight hours time! "
"Aw, yea!" Did Yang burst out.
"All Guardians brave enough of heart are welcome to plunge themselves into the fires of combat under the new regime of The CCN."
There was a slight pause here as Shaxx reloaded for breath.
"And in honor of the inaugural year of The CCN, I am calling a very special, one of a kind tournament; a star-studded affair in which only the best of the absolute best are invited to compete. The best Fireteam representatives from each of the Guardian establishments shall be called upon to pit their skills against one another in the ultimate contest of supremacy!" I expect to be seeing you all there."
Shaxx's holographic for then offered a hearty Titan salute and faded from view. "So it's finally starting," Ruby said with a smirk.
"Time to kick some serious ass and not even bother taking the names!" Yang said with fervor.
Weiss was much more studious in her enthusiasm. "A tournament featuring the best Fireteams in the system..." she mused to herself.
"You're coming with, right Weiss," Ruby asked?
"Jawohl!" Replied the German emphatically.
Ruby jumped up from her seat, pumping a fist into the air, "Aw yea! Fireteam Rosenkreuz is back in force!" Her teammates joined in, mimicking their leader's triumphant posture. "Let's show these chumps what we're made of, girls!"
...
And no sooner than 9am the very next morning, was Fireteam Rosenkreuz aboard an interstellar transport ship on route to the the official tournament grounds, which just so happened to be on Venus. Ruby was quite excited at the prospect, this being her first venture off world in quite some time, and to Venus none the less!
Though the ship they were aboard was indeed capable of FTL travel, the rather cumbersome vehicle could not achieve said speed under it's own power, hence it was making it's slow and steady way to the one of Earth's many orbital accelerators.
In the rather ballroom-like lobby they currently occupied, Ruby and Yang had a wonderful standing view of the land and cityscape from the wall- to-ceiling window they were looking out of. Of course, the view outside wasn't the only thing Ruby had her eyes on. Much like her initial trip to the Tower, the ship was loaded with many of her peers in arms. The difference this time however, is that they were all Guardians this time around, and as they were flying off to the opening of Crucible season, Ruby also saw them as future competitors for her in the arena.
And the competition had already begun, in a sense. Ruby noticed many of the teams were eying each other up, the occasional taunt or challenge called across the room. The Guardians also took the opportunity to flaunt their various weaponry, something of an intimidation tactic, depending of course, on the potency of the weapon itself. Ruby noticed more than one powerful model on display, as she noted each of them in her mind; 'Painted Big Chief; Trax Dynia; Ros Lysis II; Stampede Mk.32; Zombie Apocalypse WF47...'
Ruby paused her chain of weapon sightings as an idea formed in her mind, with an accompanying smirk on her lips. Part of her knew better than to do this, and she would more that like face Vanguard discipline for doing it, but Ruby wanted to do a little showing off of her own. She withdrew her scroll from her pocket and accessed the Guardian mobile gear storage app. After navigating various menus with a series of clicks did she highlight a certain weapon selection stored in her vault. Transmatt weapon from storage? The app asked her. Ruby selected yes, and in just a mere moment from there, did her beloved Crescent Rose materialize in her hands.
The effect of it's appearance was almost instant. Just about every head was now turned in her direction, their eyes locked on the deadly and forbidden weapon in her possession. Whispers spread wildly across the room as the realization that one of the most dangerous weapons in the galaxy was in their midst took hold. Not wanting to squander this attention, did Ruby decide put on a little show. In an artful display of skill and coordination, did Ruby give Crescent Rose a dizzying series of spins and whirls. Despite the weapon's relative bulkiness, Ruby twirled the thing through the air as though it was no heavier that an aluminum baton. With a finishing flourish, Ruby turned her back to the crowd, Crescent Rose lofted above her head in her left hand. She then, in a single fluid motion, sheathed the pulse rifle across her back, allowing the magnetic holster to hold it firmly in place. Satisfied with her performance, she then resumed her rather nonchalant stare out the window.
"Very smooth," Did Yang say, slinging an arm across her sister's shoulder's.
Ruby smiled to herself as she watched the city scroll by through the window. "Oh, look!" She said rather excitedly. "You can see The Tower from up here!" Indeed The Tower of Earth's Guardian force was on full display, in all it's vertical glory.
"The view from Vale's got nothin' on this!" Yang chimed in agreement.
Suddenly, causing something of a mild commotion, did a young man stumble his way across the floor of the lobby, knocking into more people than he avoided. Ruby noticed his facial complexion at the moment was a rather sickly green; a hand covering his mouth as to entrap any possibly immanent gastric projections from his being.
He wobbled into the corridor as Ruby laughed to herself. "Guess the view's not for everyone..." She then noticed an incredibly startling detail about her sister, something that Yang happened to be totally oblivious to...
"Oh gross! Yang you got puke on your shoe!"
Yang looked down at her boots with squinted eyes. She then proceeded to hop from foot to foot in disgusted panic. "Gross, gross, gross, gross, gross gross, gross!"
"No, Yang, get away from me! Get away from me!"
And it was amongst this scene, that the ship finally made it's way into orbit. Next stop, Venus.
...
*End of Legend 18*
...
A/N:
Okay, so I kept this chapter dumb short on purpose, simply because I've been gone too long. I don't want y'all thinking that I died or anything. Been busy with work, and the recent release of Blazblue Cross tag Battle! Damn that game is fun! And my girl Yang was just released today so I was in the lab for a bit, testing her synergy with Ruby.
Cross tag Battle aside, I'll try not to let three months go by before the next chapter post. And as always, thanks to everyone who gives my content a read. And double thanks for any faves, follows, or reviews! But for now, Blazblue beckons. I can't escape from crossing Fate!
-B.D Skunkworks
...
P.S. -
As always, please point out any grammatical inconsistencies that any of you readers come across. I.E. missing punctuation, or the mistake I'm most prone to, leaving out words entirely, making the sentence look awkward. I type most of these chapters in one sitting, and in my haste to do so, I oft make mistakes of that sort. Just kindly let me know where my opportunities lie. Thank you.