As the sun sat lazily in the sky. A light breeze tugged at Evan's coat as stood on the landing deck. The Bullhead stood with its doors open. He could make out a few other individuals inside the vehicle, but none of them were people that he recognized. Standing in front of him was Penny and Pietro. The two of them were in the midst of conversation, but the words never made it to him as the propellers of the Bullhead stirred to life. As the two of them shared a hug, Pietro walked away, leaving himself and Penny as the only ones on the runway. Both individuals looked at each other as each second ticked on by. He felt as if his feet were stuck to the floor, unable and unsure what to do.
"So I guess this is goodbye." Evan muttered out as he scratched the back of his head.
"It seems so." Penny responded with a melancholic look.
"I hope that you have a good time over at Vale. Is it nice over there?" Evan questioned.
"From what I've gathered its climate is much less intense and warmer in comparison to Atlas's. Plus, the Vytal festival is coming up, so the city will be bustling with a ton of fun activities as the city prepares for it. Lots of tourists will be arriving in the city because of it. It…would've been a wonderful time to spend with you." Penny replied with a small frown crossing her face.
"*Sigh*. Look, you shouldn't have to have a worse time in Vale just because I'm not able to come with you. You should be allowed to enjoy it regardless if I'm there or not. Don't worry about me, I promise that I'll be on my way over before you know it! Besides, I got Elm and the other Ace Ops to keep me company. This is a new experience and all. You should try to make some new friends while you're there. There has to be a few people that'll gel with you." Evan said aloud.
"Ar-Are you certain?" Penny asked with an unsure look.
"Absolutely! You were able to become friends with me. How hard could it be? Now you put your best foot forward, and I hope you have a blast over there." Evan proclaimed as he gave Penny a light friendly punch to the arm.
Rushing up to Evan, she held him close as she wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug. Reciprocating, Evan hugged her back. As the two stood there, he felt like that moment could last a lifetime.
As Penny let go, she gave him a big smile as she turned around and walked into the Bullhead. Waving her arm back and forth she said her goodbyes, Evan nodded in response and smiled as he watched the Bullhead rise into the air and fly off into the distance.
As the vehicle got smaller and smaller, Evan gazed into the horizon as he thought to himself.
"I won't keep you waiting too long Penny, and that's a promise!" Evan thought to himself.
"I guess I should go-" Evan began to speak aloud.
Suddenly, as he stared into the open sky, a fist materialized seemingly out of nowhere and whirled its way towards his face.
Taking the punch to the cheek, Evan moved his legs to a new stance to prevent himself from falling over from the attack. In an instant, the scene around him suddenly transitioned into one of the training rooms.
"You daydreaming or something, Evan? Don't think we're going to go easy on you just because this is a sparring match!" Harriet called out as she launched even more punches his way.
Dodging and weaving past her flurry of punches, Evan used his left arm to push her arm to the side. Crouching down for a moment, Evan slipped in a gut punch as Harriet's aura flared in response as she fell to her knees and gasped for air. Suddenly, a barrage of gunfire was sent his way as Evan held up his arms to defend. Looking above him, Evan watched as Marrow's gun boomerang continued raining down bullets upon him as the weapon returned to its owner. As Evan closed the distance between him and Marrow, he saw as two large tendril-like arms blocked his path and attempted to wrap around his body.
Flying into the air to avoid it, Evan glanced to his left as he followed the long trail of the arms to its source as he saw Vine nearby, who was currently using his semblance. Charging up an energy blast, Evan launched it at Vine's feet, creating a large plume of smoke and launching Vine away. Looking back to Marrow, Evan rushes forward from the air, lands on the ground, and throws a punch at him.
Blocking the attack with his large boomerang, Marrow yelled out, "Harriet! You're up!"
Evan looked on as Harriet sped up to approach him from the left with her bracers prepared to strike. Feeling the air shift to his right along the sound of an engine whirring to life, he quickly noticed as Elm came forward and sent her rocket hammer careening to his side. Noticing as Harriet began to tilt her body out of harm's way, in those precious few seconds, Evan's mind shifted into overdrive.
"So, they wanted Harriet to feign an attack from the left, which would make me focus on her in order to allow Elm to launch the real attack from the right. Clever, but don't think I don't have some tricks up my sleeves!" Evan thought to himself.
Spinning on his heel, he held his arms close to block the mighty strike from Elm. As his feet failed to find their footing, he used the momentum he received from the attack to go spinning into the air. Bringing his hands together, he focused the energy as it shifted from yellow to red.
Pushing back against the momentum, Evan came to a stop mid-air as he quickly yelled out, "Crimson Cannon!"
As the blast was fired, he separated his hands as two smaller red beams split off from the original attack. Using each hand, he guided the beams toward Elm and Harriet. Speeding herself up, Harriet dodged the blast as it buried itself into the floor and fizzled out. Elm with worry on her face, however, turned towards Marrow in response. Reading Elm's expression, he nodded as turned himself around to face the blast.
Holding his hand out, Marrow called out the word, "Stay!".
Suspended in mid-air, the attack also faded into nothing rather quickly.
As everyone stood there, bruised and exhausted, a voice called out, "Alright. I think that's enough for now."
Standing off to the side of the room was Clover. With a small grin on his face he stepped forward.
"You guys did great out there! Good job with setting up that surprise attack Marrow." Clover replied as he faced the faunus operative.
"You really think so? T-Thank you, Clover." Marrow stammered out with an embarrassed look on his face.
"Yeah, that attack stung like nobody's business." Evan replied as he rubbed his side.
"Speaking of, did you really have to put your whole back into it? This is just a training exercise after all." Evan continued as turned to face Elm.
"I could say the same to you, Evan. Wasn't that red laser attack of yours a little excessive?" Elm questioned.
"Yeah! I remember how that same attack cut through the geist back at the mine like a knife through butter! You're lucky that Marrow was able to freeze that attack in place! If he didn't, Elm could've taken some serious damage! That would've been on you, Evan!" Harriet responded as she raised her voice and jabbed a finger at Evan's chest.
"You think I would do something that reckless? I was holding back a huge amount on that blast. I would've needed much more time to launch an actual destructive attack on you guys. If I were to do something like that, I would've just been a sitting duck in the air for a couple of minutes while all of you would have whaled on me with your weapons! Not to mention, Elm still had most of her aura up, so she would've easily been able to take it. I had faith in her abilities. So don't act as if I didn't know what I was doing back there." Evan explained as he held up his hands in response. Around him, the tension in the air quickly evaporated as Harriet and the others relaxed.
"Evan, I get what you're saying and I'm sorry for yelling. It's just…I mean you have to understand that when I see a literal laser beam heading towards one of my teammates, the idea of it hitting them doesn't exactly evoke pleasant thoughts. We can't exactly gauge an attack like that, since we're not the ones launching it." Harriet said with concern in her eyes as she looked at Evan.
"I…didn't see it that way. I guess that attack of mine was a little excessive. I didn't think how any of you might have reacted when I did that. I was just moving on instinct for a bit. I'm sorry if I scared you all. I'll keep that in mind moving forward." Evan replied.
"You're all good, kid. Thanks for clearing that up." Elm said as she walked over towards Evan and Harriet.
"We're all pretty wound up after all that fighting. Let's take a break for now. I'd say that you guys earned it." Clover announced towards Evan and the other Ace Ops.
"Hey man, don't sweat too much about what happened, you have my apology as well if it means anything. On a similar note, I really want to know something! How the heck did you split that laser while we were fighting? I was not expecting something like that! You're just full of surprises aren't you?" Marrow asked, full of excitement.
"Thanks Marrow. Honestly, I've been experimenting a little bit with my energy attacks. I figured if I'm able to fire them from my hands, and the energy belongs to me, why shouldn't I be able to manipulate it after I've fired it. It just felt right to do, you know." Evan explained as he walked forward.
"Evan, I noticed your performance against Harriet. You have to stay focused while you're fighting someone. An enemy will use any advantage and opening that they notice in order to win." Vine elaborated as he walked by Evan.
"Ok, ok. I get it." Evan muttered as he approached one of the walls. As Evan sat against it, he saw Elm pick up a nearby thermos.
"Here, catch." Elm said as she tossed it over to Evan.
Grabbing the metal thermos out of the air, Evan opened it up and started to drink.
"Thanks Elm, I'm pretty parched right—" Evan responded before immediately spitting the brown liquid out of his mouth.
"Peh! What the fu- *Cough* *Cough* Are you trying to poison me or something? What IS that?! *Cough*" Evan uttered out as he sealed up the hazardous beverage back inside the thermos.
"It's just coffee, kid. And no, it's not poisoned. Not unless you're allergic to coffee beans, milk, and sugar." Elm said with a chuckle.
"I thought you might have needed some right now. You seemed a little distant earlier on in our spar. Harriet was able to get a clean hit on you, and you didn't even do anything to stop it. Is there anything on your mind?" Elm asked with an inquisitive look.
"It's just that…well…I'm frustrated. Penny's all the way over in Vale now, and Ironwood doesn't want me to leave Atlas yet. Until we can see if Pietro's new glasses can actually prevent me from turning into that huge beast, I'm not going anywhere. Penny's been gone for about a week and a half. Things feel off without Penny being a beacon of joy. I hope she's doing all right." Evan informed the others.
Holding a hand on Evan's shoulder, Elm replied, "I'm sure she's not getting into too much trouble. She's probably taking in the sights and-"
Stopping herself, Elm reached into her pocket and pulled out a scroll. Reading it, she and other Ace Ops started to get up as well as they put away their scrolls too.
"Sorry kid, but Ironwood needs us right now. There's been some White Fang activity sprouting up in Mantle as of late. We gotta head out and stop it." Elm replied with urgency in her voice.
"White Fang? What's that?" Evan questioned.
"No time to explain, we got to go! See you around!" Elm waved as she and the other Ace Ops quickly left the room.
"The White Fang. Maybe Pietro will know something about it when I swing by his workshop. *Sigh* I hope that Penny is having a good time, over in Vale. Maybe I should relax. She's probably doing fine without me." Evan contemplated to himself.
/-/
*SLAM!*
In an instant, a girl with a white and blue dress crashed into Penny as the girl slammed into the floor with her in a heap.
"Someone stop him! He's getting away!" The girl in white cried out as Penny watched on as a yellow haired faunus sped down the street.
Turning her head, Penny saw three other girls round the street corner, approaching Penny and the girl in white.
"Hey Weiss...there's...ummm..." One of the three, a blonde girl, called out in an awkward tone to the girl in white as she pointed toward Penny.
Penny wondered if there was something on her outfit that the blonde girl wanted her to be alerted about. Glancing down at her own outfit, Penny could not find a single issue whatsoever. Turning to the girl in white apparently known as "Weiss", Penny gave a friendly smile to assure Weiss that nothing was wrong. Clearly she must have liked it since she quickly rose to her feet in surprise.
"Salutations!" Penny exclaimed happily to the group of four girls while remaining flat on the ground.
"Hi..." Another one of the girls, wearing a red and black dress, replied with a small wave.
A proper greeting back to herself! Penny knew she was making good progress with this conversation. Maybe she'll finally be able to make another friend!
"Hey, are you...alright?" The blonde girl asked her.
"Oh! I'm doing great! I appreciate your kind sentiment!" Penny said as she laid on the ground.
"That's good and all...but do you need some help getting up?" The blonde girl asked with concern in her voice.
How foolish of her! Penny realized that if she stayed on the floor, they would not be able to continue their conversation in a meaningful way!
"There's no need." Penny replied back.
Standing back on her feet, she explained, "I think an introduction is in order! My name is Penny!"
"Hello there, the name's Ruby." The girl in black and red said.
"Weiss Schnee." Weiss replied.
"I'm Blake." The last of the three, a black-haired girl, elaborated.
"Yang." The blonde girl explained.
How excellent! She knew their names, and they knew hers! Another important step towards lasting friendships! Now, she knew that becoming friends with someone was a long multi-step process that took a considerable amount of time.
"I do apologize for running into you! If you'll excuse us, we need to get going." Weiss said as she performed a polite bow.
"See ya around, friend." Ruby declared as she and the other three girls started walking away.
Oh my! Penny was not prepared for this! Ruby considered Penny as her friend. This is utterly sensational!
"What did you just say?" Penny asked as she walked towards Ruby.
Surprised, Ruby turned around as the two locked eyes.
"Oh! I-I..." Ruby stammered out.
"You said I was a friend. Are you certain that we're friends now?" Penny questioned.
"Uh, sure." Ruby replied casually.
"Heh heh ha…Sensational. I can't believe I made another friend!" Penny exclaimed with happiness ringing in her voice.
"Wait, you have another friend? Really?" Yang skeptically asked Penny.
"Of course! His name is Evan. He lives over in Atlas, although he wasn't able to come with me to Vale. He's a monkey faunus with black spiky hair. *Hiccup* He's really nice and exceptional at fighting." Penny elaborated.
"Hmm…I'm still not sure about all that. Whatever. So, what are you doing in Vale?" Yang continued.
"I came so I can participate in the upcoming tournament." Penny explained happily.
Oh today was a joyous day indeed for Penny.
/-/
"Hey Pietro. How have you been doing? Any updates on the gauntlets?" Evan asked as he entered the workshop.
"Fine enough I suppose. Your gauntlets have certainly kept me busy. It's a good kind of challenge though. It's a tad refreshing considering most weapon designs that I've worked on have always been multi-purpose. Focusing on creating a weapon with one main function is nice. Give me a second to pull out the next prototype." Pietro elaborated as he moved over towards another work bench.
"Oh, hey Pietro. I was training with the Ace Ops today, but they had to leave earlier than expected because some group called the White Fang were attacking. Do you know anything about them?" Evan questioned.
"The White Fang? Why, they're a group of primarily faunus individuals who have been fighting for equality with humans. A while back, they used peaceful tactics to accomplish this goal. However, new leadership has made the cause steer towards more violent measures. Outside of Atlas and Mantle, the group is a lot more vocal and prevalent. General Ironwood has been trying to take down a particularly dangerous individual named Adam Taurus. He, along with the rest of the group, are a serious threat and need to be stopped." Pietro explained as he pulled out the gauntlet and placed it onto the table.
The device looked practically identical to the last one on the outside. The only difference was two nodes sticking out between the knuckles of the fist.
"Noted. So, how are you feeling about this model?" Evan inquired the scientist.
"Well, after what occurred last time, I made some improvements based on your feedback and the research that the original model was able to gather. Hopefully, it won't give out like the last one. Start off with some small blasts and work your way up like before." Pietro replied.
"Sure." Evan said.
Placing his hand into the metallic gauntlet, Evan charged up some energy as the weapon began to silently hum and stir to life. Firing off a small blast, the gauntlet looked stable so far. Launching numerous small blasts, the gauntlet remained in good condition.
Charging up a large energy blast, the nodes on the knuckles sparked with the same energy he was making. The lightning stayed within a straight line in between the two nodes. Aside from that, thegauntlet appeared unfazed.
"Impressive. This thing's really holding itself together! Let me try something different." Evan exclaimed with a smile across his face.
As the yellow energy coalesced and began to shift to red, Evan held it in the palm of the gauntlet for a bit. The lightning had now changed to the same red as his attack. As time marched on, the weapon looked perfectly fine. As he launched the blast, he guided the attack up and around in the air until it faded away.
"Anything bad on the inside, Pietro?" Evan asked as he removed his hand from the mechanism. The red lighting quickly dissipated when he did so.
"Let me see. Give me a moment." Pietro said as he examined the inner wiring and circuitry.
"Nothing appears to be overheating, no wires have been broken, and the circuits haven't fizzled out. It seems like this model is a success!" Pietro continued as he turned to face Evan.
"Cool. Say, what's the deal with those things on the knuckles of the gauntlet? Those weren't there before. What do they do?" Evan questioned Pietro.
"Oh, those are meant to conduct and concentrate some of your energy between the two nodes. It's meant to give your punches an extra zap to them. It helps take some of the stress off the main components of the weapon." Pietro explained.
"Dang! I would hate to be the person that gets hit by that! You've outdone yourself again Pietro. How long would it take to make the official model?" Evan replied.
"Not long. Perhaps two or three days." Pietro pondered out loud.
"Great, it seems like everything else is moving along perfectly, except for me." Evan thought to himself.
"Hey Pietro, do you think that we could head out again to test your googles tonight?" Evan asked aloud.
"We could, although, my research indicates that the moon won't be aligned properly until sometime late next week. Are you sure you want to do it?" Pietro questioned the young teen.
"Yeah. I want to try something. Please, Pietro." Evan pleaded.
"Sure Evan. We'll head out the same time we usually do." Pietro replied.
"Thank you. I mean it. I'm heading back to my room. I'll see you later, Pietro." Evan said as he headed out of the room.
"Until then, Evan." Pietro waved goodbye.
/-/
Sitting on the edge of the bed in his room, Evan held out his hand. In it, a few white sparks shined before dissipating into the air.
"Ugh! This looked a lot easier in that dream the other day. Let me think for a second. How did it go again?" Evan said aloud.
Closing his eyes, recalling the dream, Evan visioned himself in his armor. He found himself in that rocky landscape again. Facing him, he saw that mysterious figure again. His face was a blank slate with no visible features. Evan guessed he still wasn't able to recall him yet. Despite having no mouth, the figure talked to him.
"Now you see, creating a Blutz Wave Ball takes a lot of effort and energy to produce. Focus on that feeling you get when you look at the full moon and transform into the Great Ape, take that feeling and focus it into your hand. Once you create the ball in your hands, launch it into the air and imagine yourself crushing the ball as you throw it. The ball will then start creating blutz waves for you to transform. The ball will fade away after a few hours if you don't add any more energy into it. Since it's your energy, if you die, the ball vanishes too. If you want to destroy the ball after it starts to make blutz waves, you need to return the energy back into you. It's a bit hard to describe, it's almost like when you suck in your gut but different. I don't know, you'll know when you're doing it, that's for certain at least. Since the ball needs a lot of energy to make, you should only do it as a last resort. How about you try?" The figure stated.
In the dream, he held out his palm and spawned as white orb into it.
"Excellent! Now, give it a good throw!" The figure exclaimed.
Launching the ball into the air, his mouth moved on its own and spoke out the words, "Burst open and mix!"
Opening his eyes, he heard a knock on the door. Moving over to open it, he saw Marrow casually standing out in the hall.
"Hey, man! Wait, you're already up? Usually, it takes a couple of minutes before you wake and start getting out of bed. Are you good to go?" Marrow questioned as he raised his eyebrows.
"Yeah. I've been up for a while now. I've just been trying some stuff y'know?" Evan replied.
"If you're sure. Well, come on! The Bullhead is moving out in 10 minutes. Let's head out." Marrow explained.
"Right behind you." Evan said as he grabbed his goggles.
/-/
"Alright Evan, we're waiting on you. Whatever you want to try, you're free to try it." He heard Pietro say out in the earpiece.
Staring into the moon, he didn't feel that spark he did when he transformed before, even when he wasn't wearing his goggles earlier. Holding his palm out, he recalled that primal force once more. The sheer power that it filled his very being with. His hand sparked as a white ball began to grow bigger and bigger in his palm. As the energy grew, he began to feel light-headed. Pushing through, he threw the sphere into the sky.
"Alright! Here goes nothing!" Evan thought to himself.
"Burst open and mix!" Evan yelled out as he crushed the ball.
Instantly, the balls began to pulse white rays as he stood there wearing his goggles and the bulky visor Pietro made to monitor his body.
"What readings are you getting from the ball, Pietro?" Evan asked.
"Amazing! I'm getting concentrated energy signatures composed of the same light radiation that the moon would produce normally when at its peak. And these are even more intense than the ones made by the moon! If there were ever a time to test the googles, this would be it!" Pietro cried out in wonder.
As the minutes ticked on by, Evan didn't feel anything trigger within him as he watched and observed the sphere. Eventually, the moon faded from sight as the sun began to shine from the horizon. Suddenly a new voice arose from the earpiece.
"Hey, man! I don't mean to be rude, but you've been staring at that thing for over 20 minutes. My tail is freezing over here! Do those glasses really work?" Marrow called out.
"Indeed! They are working wonders on Evan! If they work on that sphere, then they absolutely work on the moon!" Pietro announced through the earpiece.
"Awesome! Now to get rid of this thing." Evan contemplated.
Holding his hand out, he tried to destroy the ball with the same motion he did when creating it. Although, nothing occurred when he did so. Raising both hands up, he concentrated.
"This is my energy, and the only one that controls it is me! If it belongs to me, I'll bring it back in!" Evan thought as he tried again.
The ball began to shrink more and more while he felt as if the energy was being sucked through his hands and returned back into his body. As the ball vanished, Evan began to breathe heavily. Regaining his composure, he turned to the Bullhead that Pietro resided in.
"If that's the case I think I'm going to need you to help me schedule a talk between me and Ironwood regarding my stay in Atlas. I'm starting to get sick of the freezing weather around here. Vale seems wonderful this time of year." Evan replied with a smirk.
