Seed 1.2
This was going to be easier than I thought! This place is really weird though...
Getting down from the building had been pretty simple, I just had to use my Semblance and I could float down on the breeze. It hadn't taken long to realize that people here dressed differently either; I figured that out while I was still halfway up the building. Most people seemed to wear very drab colors, at least compared to what was common on Remnant. Luckily, brighter outfits didn't seem to be totally unheard of, and I was able to wrap my cape around myself as a cloak to hide my outfit and weapon.
My Semblance kept being useful, making me harder to see as I did some people-watching so I could learn how to not stand out once I figured out enough of what I needed to survive here. The first thing I learned doing that was that, somehow, the people here spoke Vytalian. Not every phrase made sense, but it was similar enough that I shouldn't draw too much attention when was talking to someone. That didn't make it any less confusing though; if this wasn't Remnant, then how did they speak my language?
Luckily, the writing on the signs was pretty much the same too, so I decided to find a library for better information. If if it was anything like the ones back on Remnant, then I might be able to access the CCT network and learn more about this place. It wasn't exactly my best plan ever, but I didn't have any other ideas at the moment. Trying to figure out where the library was took a while, but a lot of that involved working up the courage to ask someone. I'm nowhere near as awkward now as I was back at Beacon, but walking up to a stranger in a place I'd never even heard of and asking for directions was a little bit odd. I got awkward looks the whole way there, but I was probably gonna have to get used to that, at least until I got a change of clothes.
I realized how very different this place was be while I was doing that research. They had terminals there, though they were lower-tech than what I was used to. Everything was mechanical or electronic, compared to the holograms from back home. That seemed strange until, looking stuff up, I realized that this world didn't have Dust. Back on Remnant it was the basis pretty much all modern technology, but the tech here was totally different. Cars ran off of something called "gasoline," bullets were fired by "gunpowder," and houses were powered by all kinds of things that I'd never heard of before. I would have thought that would have changed more, but outside of communication systems most of what they had built here was pretty much identical to what would have been normal on Remnant a decade ago.
There were no references to the Grimm anywhere in my search. I guess that makes sense if Salem never existed here, but it was still a shock. Even after six months, the idea of a world without the constant threat of the Grimm was hard to grasp. In a world where expansion wasn't slowed by an endless tide of monsters, this world had ended up with dozens of different Kingdoms, and a population of almost seven billion; more than fifty times as many as Remnant. The lack of Grimm had hanged other things too; this world had a concrete idea of what their history looked like going back thousands of years. What history I had learned got all patchy and contradictory once you got more than a few hundred years ago, thanks to how quickly most Kingdoms had fallen back then.
Of course, the lack of Grimm didn't mean that this world didn't have its own problems. Many more nations just meant many more wars, and a higher population just meant more meat for the grinder. Even when the first appearances of a man named "Scion" put a stop to the most destructive wars, new threats had arisen in the form of giant, unkillable monsters called Endbringers. For the last several decades, one of these things had apparently shown up every few months, wrecked a city, and then left, killing as many people as they could in the process. Despite how relatively new they were, and even without the constant destruction of outlying towns, they had already caused more civilian deaths than the Grimm had in the last fifty years. The cities here weren't designed to hold off attacks like on Remnant, and so their appearances almost always did horrific damage.
Huntsmen didn't seem to exist here either, at least not in the same form. I guess that there wouldn't have been a need for them here. They had people with Semblances, but those people were called "Parahumans" or "Capes." They usually hid their identities behind masks and silly names, almost like out of a comic book, but I couldn't figure out why from what I found browsing the "Internet." They also used their powers pretty much exclusively, most of them not bothering to use a weapon. Maybe they'd copied the comics; Parahumans hadn't been around for much longer than the Endbringers had, so that was possible. The other possibility came to me when I noticed something scary: there were no references to Aura, either. Aura was supposed to be the manifestation of the soul; the thing that makes us alive and sentient. The fact that they didn't have it here had some scary implications, though I wasn't sure whether those were about the people here or the nature of Aura itself.
As for where I was, I found an answer to that too. This city, Brockton Bay, was apparently in a Kingdom called the United States, on a planet called Earth. More helpfully, I had found out what Raven's portals had done; this world had discovered and contacted an alternate reality, like out of a science-fiction movie. That probably meant that Remnant was yet another reality, and if these people had managed to punch a hole into one, then maybe they could do it to another. If anyone would be able to get me back home, it would be the people who made that hole. Unfortunately, the guy who did that, a supervillain named Professor Haywire, had been killed years before. He'd had a technological Semblance; they were incredibly rare back on Remnant, but apparently more typical here. Nobody seemed to know where his technology had gone, but if I could find it then I might just be able to use it to get back home.
Apparently, that massive floating building I saw in the bay was a sort of home base for a team of Capes that worked for the government, calling themselves the Protectorate. They seemed like the most official group around, and had bases across this entire continent, so my best bet would probably be to go to them. I wasn't sure how to get out to their base, but they had a partner group called the PRT inside the city itself, so I should be able to go there instead. I started heading that way not long after; using my Semblance to keep to the rooftops so I wouldn't attract even more attention. After looking at some of the costumes the capes here wore, I'd realized that I looked a lot like one of them; even though I wasn't wearing a mask, I didn't want people to mistake me for something I wasn't.
I really should have looked at a map. They had them right there at the library entrance, I could have grabbed one, it would have been simple, but no, I didn't need one, I was gonna find my way there all by myself!
About half an hour of wandering later, I was just about to give up and ask someone else for directions when I started hearing gunfire. It picked up after a moment, and I ducked into an alley so I could get to the top of a building without being spotted. I had to focus now; gunfire meant people were in danger, and even if Huntsmen didn't exist here that wasn't going to stop me from helping.
The next street over was… hectic. A group of around forty people wearing civilian clothes and armed with pistols and shotguns were on one end, taking cover behind a group of big trucks. Looking the other way, I saw a group of a dozen men with professional-looking gear and automatic weapons. As I watched, they advanced up to the next alley in such an organized way that I had to double-check to make sure there were no military markings. I didn't see anything obvious, so either this was some kind of special forces operation or they were just exceptionally well-trained. The location didn't really help either theory though; this wasn't exactly the most high-brow area, so why would anybody like that be fighting here?
I wasn't really sure which I should be helping here. The soldiers looked more official, but then the civilians could just be defending themselves. Before I could make a decision though, it was made for me.
The ground began to shake in time to loud footsteps, moving quickly towards us. Charging down the street from behind the civilians was a pair of feminine giants wearing stylized plate armor. One had a sword and shield, and the other used a spear. They were running far faster than even the cars I'd seen driving around, but they slowed to a stop as they reached the civilians. The one with the shield crouched down to give their allies some extra cover while her partner one got down on a knee, apparently to speak with the leaders.
I sort of remembered these two from the library research, but I couldn't remember who they were beyond being villains. I probably should have spent more time memorizing, but it was too late now.
After talking for a second, during which the pair seemed totally unconcerned by a whole lot of bullets coming from the soldiers, they turned and led the civilians in a charge, forcing the soldiers back. They barely reacted any time they got shot, and even getting hit where their armor didn't protect them didn't seem to do as much damage as it should have. These two's Semblance was more complex than just being really big, they were tougher than they should be too.
The soldiers had started falling back as soon as the giants had shown up, but now they were in full retreat. They had gone part way down an alley and pulled out in a pair of vans, but the giantesses easily outran the vehicles and stopped them before they'd gotten more than half a block away. They jabbed at the tires and engines, then started hacking at the van roofs.
I made my decision as the giantesses got through the armored tops of the vans, and started stabbing down into them. I pulled my hood up over my face, extended my scythe to its full length, and dematerialized.
This wasn't the first time I'd interrupted a fight like this. From the perspective of the people on the street, a huge wave of rose petals would have crashed into the fight, then swirled together into a massive vortex that would collapse into me, standing on top of the lead van's cab. The more scared of me they were, the less likely anyone would be to try anything immediately, so I chose a more intimidating pose to reveal myself. The scythe's blade pointed up into the air, while the tip of the barrel hovered above the driver's-side mirror and the staff angled up in the other direction. My cloak flared out in every direction, but the storm of leftover rose petals kept them from seeing anything other than the scythe for the first few seconds.
The moment I appeared, the giantesses dropped into defensive stances. Rose petals floated on the wind around me, created as a side-effect of my Semblance. The pair shared a glance, then began circling me in opposite directions as the spear-wielder spoke. They planned to flank me, while keeping me from realizing it by distracting me with talk. The strategy would also give them a good guess of my experience level; anyone that didn't see through through such an obvious trick, would probably be pretty new at this. I decided against reacting; being flanked wouldn't make it any harder on me, and if it forced them to underestimate me then that was just a bonus.
"Whoever you are, I'd suggest you leave. This isn't your fight, and we'd hate to accidentally kill you. Why don't you go pick a fight with the Merchants instead?" The woman's voice dripped with contempt.
I was never very good at the banter if my only goal was to insult, so I didn't bother responding to the jab. Instead, I brought Crescent Rose around, and slammed her into the roof of the van, barrel pointing at the one with the spear.
The pair charged simultaneously, the spear on my left and the sword on my right. They crossed the distance between us in less than a second; so fast that my first warning was from my Aura instead of any movement on their part. I scattered, dashing around the street, then a roof, then jumping onto Sword's shoulders, jerking around to stay unpredictable. I caught her around the bicep with my scythe before pulling the trigger, making sure the bullet would go safely into her partner's breastplate, and using the recoil to cut deeper into her armor before launching off and landing in the street to gauge the effect.
Her armor had taken a little damage, but the cut wasn't more than a few inches deep. They definitely weren't taking as much damage as they should have been. I'd have to try something different.
My opponents finally figured out where I'd gone, and turned to face me. They were incredibly fast for their size, but they didn't seem to have the reaction time to make full use of that speed. I could use that. I used my Semblance, dematerializing the standard Flame Dust ammunition and swapping them with less dangerous Shock rounds, then sped towards the one I hadn't attacked yet. She tried to defend with her spear between us, but I casually went around it, latched onto her arm, and fired a round into a small patch of exposed skin of her partner's neck. She jumped, apparently startled by the shock, but there wasn't much of an effect otherwise. Apparently, their damage reduction extended to energy too.
That wasn't good. I didn't have a way to hurt them without killing them, and I'd rather not have that be my first act in this new world. Meanwhile, I wasn't going to be able to avoid their attacks forever, and if the strength they showed pulling apart the vans meant anything, then one lucky hit on their part could probably pulverise me.
I blurred away from a shield bash, then shot backwards, launching off the inside of the shield itself. I caught the blade of my scythe on the inside of Sword's leg, ricocheting off Spear's abdomen and shoving my blade down to the hilt into Sword's collarbone. That was a better hit, actually drawing blood, but it didn't really accomplish much of anything. My Aura flared, and I scattered to avoid a spear thrust, reappearing on the spear itself. I jumped down, landing on the ground before charging at Spear's leg. I dodged a counterattack, jumped behind her, then caught Crescent Rose's blade on the back of her knee, pulling the trigger to force her down. I jumped up, ran up her back, then swung the blunt end of my scythe at the back of her head. She fell onto her hands and knees, but I was forced to dodge a slash from her partner before I could take advantage.
Spear was up in a flash, and the pair charged. I charged right back, controlling the pace of the fight and trying to break the giantesses' weapons. I almost ran Dust up into my scythe's blade before thinking better of wasting something I couldn't replace, and instead cut as deeply into the base of the spear as I could. I jumped around, Aura flaring constantly as my opponents moved, and eventually ran back in, landing another cut at the same point. None of the slices ran very deep on their own, but the span of the next minute they built up until a final hit snapped the spear in two.
No-Longer-Spear jumped backwards, and her partner ran up to cover her. The shield would have made this harder, but apparently the pair had been scared by my stunt with the spear. They had started retreating, and I really had no way to stop them. They weren't going anywhere near their full speed yet, but based on how they were moving earlier they might be able to outrun me for long enough to shrink back down and hide if they really needed to.
I ran up a building and jumped from rooftop to rooftop, then shot back down just ahead of them, aiming to make them turn around so I could sweep a leg again, but they just skidded to a stop and made a turn into an alley. I made to follow them, but the tight quarters forced me up onto one of the neighboring buildings until they exited into the next street over.
That pattern continued for a while longer, and I was getting farther away from my original goal. I was debating simply giving up and letting them go when I heard an inhumanly loud yell from behind me. I manifested, having scattered in order to keep up as the pair gained speed, and spun, watching as another duo flew in, held aloft by a vibrant silver field. One of the two jumped down, wearing a white bodysuit with a lion-themed helmet and pauldrons, and shouted again, the knocking Sword off her feet. A sound similar to a Dust-powered engine came from the other end of the street, and a motorcycle pulled up, a man in blue and white power armor wielding a high-tech polearm blocking the giantesses' retreat. The last cape, wearing light, silver-colored armor over yellow fabric, remained on the forcefield, with a swarm of smaller fields floating around him. He hovered next to me, extended a hand, and spoke with a slight accent.
"Hey there! You can call me Challenger, what should I call you?".
Chapter 2 is finally done! That backlog I mentioned last time didn't really pan out, but I have started on Chapter 3. You can expect that one to come in right around the end of the month.
I also feel like I should mention that not every chapter of this is gonna be a fight scene and/or exposition. These last two chapters have been the result of me being terrified of writing dialogue, but that should hopefully change soon.
As always, yell at me if I've screwed something up, and I will see y'all in a few weeks!