Chapter 15: A Day in Argus

I sat in the back seat of a car, idly watching as the scenery passed me by. I was feeling a little excited and at the same time a little nervous. A few days had passed I'd won the Mistral regional Tournament and it was the first time that I was able to leave the apartment.

Beating Pyrrha and winning the tournament, as it turned out drew a lot more attention my way than I'd initially thought it would. After a short ceremony, I had been surrounded by various cameras with reporters shouting their questions over each other. I still wasn't exactly sure how Jasmine had managed to push through the crowd to get me out of that situation.

On the bright side, the prize for winning the tournament had been quite hefty. It was more than enough to pay for our stay in Argus... in fact, if Maria and I chose to, it could pay for our stay in Argus for an entire year, maybe more depending on where we stayed.

I suddenly felt nervous again as the car began to slow down. Grabbing the brim of my cap, I tugged it down in front of my face.

"Oh relax, it's not like people are actively out looking for you," Maria said. "I really don't think you need to disguise yourself... besides, if you try too hard, you'll only make yourself more obvious."

That was true, but I wasn't exactly trying hard. I just wore different clothes and had a cap to disguise my hair and face.

"They were showing replays of the top fights of the tournament yesterday," I replied. There was something really strange and a little off putting watching myself fight. It's not that I thought that I fought badly or anything... it just felt... weird.

"Yesterdays news," Maria dismissed my worries. "People are fickle, trust me on this. Back in my day, I was a pretty well known huntress and after I retired it only took a week before people stopped talking about me."

"That's... kind of sad."

"Eh, not really. Much like you, I didn't really care for all the attention, it suited me better that way," Maria said, before going silent.

"Are you sure it wasn't due to a lack of communication?" I asked. "It was pretty long ago, right? Did they have Scrolls and TV back then? If they didn't then people wouldn't really be able to talk about your retirement."

"How old do you think I am?!" Maria squawked.

"I don't know, how long has this kingdom been around?" I asked innocently.

"You sure have been getting cocky lately. Maybe we should have a spar again," Maria suggested before sighing. "No, wait, you would probably like that... What could I suggest that you wouldn't like?"

"Are you just..."

"Hush now, I'm trying to think up a suitable punishment," Maria interrupted me. "I could make you go to sch... no, that would bug me too... besides, it wouldn't annoy you as much as it would me."

I watched on in bemusement as Maria tried and failed to think up something a task for me that I wouldn't enjoy. Each time she came close to figuring one out, she realized it would also negatively affect her.

"I think we're here... wherever here is," I said as the car came to a stop.

Although I couldn't see it, there was a distinct smell of salt in the air. Wherever we were right now was close to the ocean.

"Well what are we waiting for?" Maria asked as she opened the door to the car, quickly slipping out.

I made sure my hat was secure one last time before following Maria's lead. Closing the door, I headed towards the front of the car to thank whoever it was that had driven us here only to find myself looking into an empty front compartment.

Right, advanced technology. I should have known that they also had self driving cars. At least I caught myself before I loudly thanked the empty front seat.

"It appears that the two of you have arrived right on time," Jasmine called out as she walked in tow with a certain redhead that, although she looked it, didn't have any drugs on her.

"Hello there," Pyrrha greeted us, looking a little awkward. "I heard that you were meeting up with principal Salonga and asked if I could come along. I hope I'm not intruding."

"i don't have a problem with it," I said, turning towards Maria.

"Yeah, sure, you can come along too."

"Thank you," Pyrrha smiled.

...Breathe...

Jasmine led us down the street where we arrived at our destination which happened to be a store on the corner, although, by the size of it, warehouse would be a better description for it as there were no other stores on the side, only several garage doors, each looking large enough to fit a full sized truck without any issue.

"Modo's Mechanical Marvels," I read the name of the store aloud. "That's a... interesting name."

"It's a family name," Jasmine explained as she opened the door. "The current owner considered changing it, but decided against it in the end."

Stepping into the store, I was momentarily confused with how small the inside seemed as there seemed to be a waiting area across from the reception desk. Jasmine continued onward, leading us through a pair of doors, revealing the rest of the store.

I was wrong in my initial observation. Warehouse wasn't a good word to describe this place, factory suited it better.

Several sets of large machines worked tirelessly creating various different pieces of equipment. One machine filled a metallic skeleton with numerous different wires while another, more formed one was outfitted with armour. Looking at the far end of the factory, I could see pieces of a spider droid being assembled.

"What is this place?" Pyrrha asked, struggling to take in everything that was happening around her.

"This is one of the four major suppliers for Androids and Huntsman equipment in Argus," Jasmine replied smoothly.

"But... why are we here?" Pyrrha continued.

Jasmine let out a short chuckle. "Why, we're here to have a weapon forged for Coal of course, I am a woman of my word after all, plus I know the owner and he'll give me a good deal."

"Will he now?" An amused sounding male voice called out.

Glancing over, I caught sight of a bear of a man with short greying hair and a large bushy beard. There was a large burn scar on the right side of his face, his right arm had been replaced by a mechanical one and from the sounds of his steps, one of his legs was as well.

"Ignis, how good to see you," Jasmine hummed as she moved to greet the man. "How long has it been?"

"About a week," Ignis replied.

"Ah, right," Jasmine chuckled. "I came to see you about the..."

"About getting access to some of the more experimental Androids for your students to train against, yes," Ignis finished. "If you're here for that again, then I'll tell you what I told you last time. No, those projects are still highly confidential."

"Actually, I came here about something else entirely," Jasmine replied. "I need a weapon forged, one for Coal here."

"Jasmine..." Ignis sighed tiredly. "You do know that you could have just written down what he wanted and sent it in like everyone else that wants a weapon made does."

"I do," Jasmine nodded. "But I felt this way you give his weapon more priority."

Ignis pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. "You know what, fine. I'll personally ensure that the kids weapon is well made... At least to make sure that he no longer has to swing around that hunk of junk he was using in the regional tournament."

Ah, so he recognised me. Hopefully that wasn't going to be a thing I would have to get used to.

"Thanks, I knew I could rely on you," Jasmine hummed happily.

"So, the plans for this weapon," Ignis said, holding his hand out to Jasmine.

"Oh, I don't have them," Jasmine replied.

"Were... we supposed to draw up plans for it," I began slowly. Jasmine hadn't told us that we needed to do that, she just told us to meet her here today and had a car waiting outside our apartment. "I mean, I've got a general idea about what I want and there are a few things I need to check myself, but I don't exactly have anything written down."

Ignis took a slow breath, closed his eyes and brushed his hand through his hair. "Alright. I can help. Just... follow me to my office. We can get a basic template of what you want and go from there."

...Breathe...

Sitting down in front of Ignis' desk, Maria sat next to me while Pyrrha and Jasmine were both seated on his couch that was situated to the side of the room.

"Alright," Ignis began, rubbing his hands together almost eagerly. Pressing a button, a blank holographic projection shone above his desk. "Just tell me what it is that you want and I can begin designing your weapon."

"I've put a lot of thought into this," I began. "And I've come to the conclusion that I want a Katana."

"That's a start," Ignis nodded. Typing on his desk top, a Katana suddenly appeared on the holographic projection. "So, what do you want it to do?"

"It needs to be able to withstand a lot of heat and a huge amount of pressure without breaking," I explained. "Also, I want it to be made out of a very specific metal."

I didn't know if a Nichirin blade could be made on Remnant, but the simple fact that I was able to use the Sun Breathing pointed towards its possibility.

"We can get to that in a moment," Ignis replied, writing it down. "What I want to discuss now is mechashift. What forms do you want your blade to turn into and what guns, if any, do you want built into it?"

Ah, that. I had the distinct feeling that I was going to disappoint Ignis with my answer.

"I do like mechashift weapons and I do want one, but the problem is that I'm not sure I'd be able to maintain it properly. I need something that's strong and durable, something that won't randomly lock up on me if something gets stuck inside it."

Mechashift was pretty awesome and incredibly useful for surprise attacks as Pyrrha herself proved when she caught me off guard during the tournament, but I couldn't allow myself to rely on it, especially if wouldn't be able to fix it myself.

"So long as your weapon is made of one of my ores, you'll never have to worry about it breaking mid fight unless you specifically neglect it," Ignis replied. "Besides, even if it is damaged somehow, you could always have it repaired here in Argus."

That was true too. "How about we do something to the sheath then? I do want to be able to heat my sword until its red hot. Do you think you could put something in the sheath that's able to do that?"

"I could work with that," Ignis muttered. A few more taps and the sheath was pulled apart with little bits of technology I couldn't recognise built inside it. "Anything else?"

"Just the metal the blade is made out of," I replied. "It needs to be metal that's been exposed to a massive amount of sunlight. Preferably found at the top of a mountain."

"That's oddly specific and at the same time incredibly vague," Ignis commented. "You're an odd person, you know that."

"Odd is better than boring," I shrugged. I couldn't exactly tell him that I was looking for a metal that would work with my breathing style after all. The best I could do was give suggestions on how I wanted my blade made, which reminds me. "I actually want to test the metal first, if that's alright with you."

"You know what, I want to see where this leads. I'll be right back." Getting up, Ignis quickly left his office.

"You never mentioned anything about a special metal," Maria said, speaking up for the first time since we'd sat down. "You sure this is something that you really need?"

"Yeah," I nodded. "It's something I need to fully take advantage of my bre..."

Maria's hand latched onto my face, stopping me from saying any more.

"Coal," Maria began slowly, pointing behind me.

Raising an eyebrow, I turned around to find Pyrrha who gave a small wave and Jasmine who watched us with great interest.

"Oh, you two don't need to worry about us," Jasmine hummed. "Just pretend we're not even here."

Right. I'd almost forgotten that they were still in the room with us. While them hearing me talk about breathing probably wouldn't mean much, it was better that Maria stopped me before I said anything that could have others asking questions... At least until I was ready to give a few answers.

Ignis soon returned to his office, pushing a large cart that had several different ingots sitting on top of it, stopping in the centre of the room. "Alright, I've brought the closest approximation of the metal you requested along with several others that could be useful."

Standing beside him, I picked one of the ingots up. "Which is the one I requested?"

"That... is for you to figure out," Ignis replied. "You said that the metal was important and you wanted to test it first, I'm curious to see if you can figure out which one it is."

Well that was something I hadn't been expecting, but I was up for the challenge. There was really only one test I could give to check which ingot to use. Taking a breath, I gripped the metal as tightly as I could, before easing up. Feeling the metal with my other hand, I noticed it still felt cold.

"It's not this one," I said and placed the ingot back on the cart.

Several more ingots passed through my hand. Some of them warmed up slightly and some of them remained cold. Picking up the next one, I repeated the process and felt the metal heating up a good degree higher than the others.

"It's this one," I said, holding it in front of Ignis.

"I'll be damned," Ignis muttered as he took the ingot with his robotic hand. "You were able to figure out which one it was and you somehow made the metal hot. This metal is a little difficult to work with, so it'll take a few days to a week at the most for your sword to be done, do you have anything else you would like to suggest?"

"I think that should do it," I replied.

"Actually," Maria said. "I've got a few suggestions of my own."

"Wait, I don't think the blade should..." I began.

"Oh relax, I'm not going to do anything to the blade itself," Maria said. "What I've got in mind is a... side weapon of sorts. Something I think you'll find useful, especially if you're ever disarmed."

Alright, I was officially interested in what Maria had in mind.

"So, what..."

"Nope," Maria interrupted me. "When we first got to Argus, I wanted the weapon to be a surprise. Even though you know you're getting one now, I can still keep what it is as a surprise. Why don't you go out and have a look around Argus so long. You could go out and get a few things while you're at it."

That was true, there were a few things I wanted to look at for when Maria and I started hunting Grimm again, namely camping supplies which would come in handy if we couldn't find a place to stay for when it gets dark. We'd been lucky so far with meeting June who let us stay, and then there was the time when we came across Brunswick farms which, while Apathy infested, did serve as a rest stop.

There was however one major flaw in Maria's plan of sending me out so she could keep her weapon design a secret. "I don't know the layout of Argus, I'll probably get lost within the first five minutes."

"I believe Pyrrha could help with that," Jasmine spoke up. "She's lived in Argus her whole life and could serve as an apt guide."

"M...Ma'am?!" Pyrrha asked

"Oh, don't you want to show your friend around," Jasmine hummed. "I suppose that's fine. I just thought that you would want to spend time with your friend seeing as it was you that asked to tag along."

"No, I don't mind," Pyrrha replied suddenly.

"Great," Jasmine smiled. "I'll be keeping Maria company in your absence. It'll give us time to discuss the future."

That sounded more ominous than it probably was. It seemed that I would only be finding out what Jasmine had to suggest later.

"Alright," I sighed as I stood up. "I suppose I should be going so the two of you can get started on weapon designs and... the future."

"Yeah, I'll see you a bit later," Maria waved me off as I began to leave with Pyrrha. "Oh, one last thing, Coal. Be sure to wear a condom, it's better to be safe than sorry."

Pyrrha suddenly froze on the spot next to me, her face turning bright red.

"Was that..." I began.

"Revenge for the car, yes," Maria nodded with a highly amused grin on her face. "I'll see you later brat and don't forget to..."

"Thanks, bye," I spoke over her while steering a highly embarrassed Pyrrha out of the office. Maria's laughter followed us as we quickly made our way out of the building

...Breathe...

I sat across from Pyrrha at a table for a small restaurant just across from the beach. It was nice here, the sun was out, but not too hot, the sound of the waves was soothing, it wasn't too crowded. It was just a pity I was too busy trying to figure out how to use my newly purchased scroll to be able to really enjoy it.

There were several terms I hadn't really understood when I was buying it, but Pyrrha assured me that it was a good model. In fact, the only thing I did understand was that it was powered by a dust crystal and its standby time was a massive six months, something that the salesman assured me was necessary for Huntsmen.

"Damnit," I cursed as I again failed to unlock the Scroll.

"Do you need any help?" Pyrrha asked.

I looked to the Scroll and then to her before nodding. "Yeah, I think I do." Pressing the button on the side, the screen flickered before turning off again. I was beginning to think this thing was broken.

"Okay, let's see here," Pyrrha said. Getting up, she sat down next to me.

I handed her the scroll and my eyes immediately widened as she managed to unlock the screen.

"How did you do that?"

"Oh, I just unlocked it," Pyrrha replied, saying it as if it was the simplest thing in the world. "You draw a circle on the screen."

You draw a... "Then what about the button on the side?"

"That's speed dial," She answered. "You add a specific number and when you hit the button it calls for you. Most Hunters use it as a sort of distress call to bring in reinforcements. Your Scroll doesn't have one filled in yet so it wouldn't do anything."

And suddenly I felt like a massive idiot. In my defense, that button means unlock to me.

"So what do I do next?" I asked. It was probably better that Pyrrha show me how to use the Scroll instead of just randomly trying it out.

"Well, seeing as this is a new scroll, you'll want to link it to your identity, but that's fairly easy to do," Pyrrha replied, quickly going through the various apps and their purposes.

"This all seems a little… complicated," I muttered. It would probably be quite a while until I was comfortable using this thing.

"Well if you have questions, you could always ask me," Pyrrha suggested. "Actually, would you mind if I logged your number?"

"Yeah, sure," I replied. Despite the short amount of time that I'd spent with her, I had genuinely grown to enjoy Pyrrha's company much like how I enjoyed hanging around Oscar. I wouldn't mind staying in touch with her when I inevitably left Argus.

Grabbing her Scroll, she pressed the screens together for several seconds before pulling them apart. "That should do it."

Before we could continue, the waitress arrived carrying a tray with two drinks on it. "One large strawberry milkshake," She said, placing the drink in front of Pyrrha. "And one ice cold lime flavored water." She placed the glass in front of me. "Your food should arrive in a few minutes, please call me if you need anything else."

"Thank you," I hummed, looking at the mixed up drinks.

"You look familiar," The waitress began. "What university do you go to? Maybe we have the same classes."

"I'm not in a university," I replied, before chuckling awkwardly. "I guess I just have one of those faces that look familiar."

"I guess," The waitress chuckled. "Sorry, I'll leave you to your drinks."

Watching the waitress leave, I let out a relieved breath, she hadn't realized that I was in the regional tournament, but she did know that she'd seen me before. Maybe I should work on my disguise, it was just a hat after all.

"So what made you want to see me today?" I asked suddenly.

"Oh, well... Now that the tournament is over, we don't really have to train anymore, but… I was wondering if we… still did," Pyrrha said a little nervously.

"I would love to, but I don't exactly know how much longer I'm going to be spending in Argus," I replied honestly. "I could help you out until that time, but sooner or later Maria and I are going to start traveling again."

Oddly enough, my words didn't seem to sadden Pyrrha as I thought they would, in fact, she seemed a little enthused by them.

"That might not be an issue. Principal Salonga told me what she was going to be suggesting to your grandmother today," Pyrrha said. "She's going to be asking her to help out with an excursion she wants to send the top students on. It's to show us what it's going to be like when we're Hunters."

That… I wasn't exactly sure what Maria would do with that. On one hand, I could see her rejecting the suggestion and on the other, I could see her accepting if she's offered something that would make it worth her while.

"Well that could be pretty fun," I replied. It also had the possibility to be really boring too, but I wasn't going to say that aloud, especially when Pyrrha seemed so excited about it.

"Alright, I've got two orders of burgers and chips," The waitress announced, placing the plates in front of us. "Please enjoy your meal and remember to call for me if you need anything else."

"Thank you," I said and Pyrrha followed soon after.

The waitress had been on her way back inside, before stopping on the spot. "That voice," She began slowly, turning around. "You're Pyrrha Nikos! The Invincible Girl."

Ah crap. The waitress had said that pretty loudly and gained the attention of the other customers.

"I," Pyrrha coughed and deepened her voice. "I'm not."

"Yes you are. I can see your red hair from under your hoodie," The waitress replied.

"Look," I said, standing up. There was still a chance to salvage this situation. "You've got it wrong. She's not who you think she is."

"You…" The waitress's eyes lit up in recognition. "I knew I recognized you. You're Coal Calavera, the one who won the Mistral tournament… And you're out here with Pyrrha Nikos! Are you two on a date?!"

Hearing a click, I turned to find someone had snapped a photo of us and was frantically typing on their Scroll. There would be no salvaging it now. Turning back to Pyrrha, it was plain to see that she was uncomfortable with all the attention.

Reaching into my pocket, I placed several Lien cards on the table. "Thanks for the milkshake, I'm sure the food would have been nice too."

Pyrrha and I quickly made our exit, away from the slowly gathering crowd that had come to see if the waitress had been right.

"I'm sorry… about that."

"There's nothing to be sorry about," I sighed. "People can sometimes be a little crazy, that's it… besides, she was beginning to recognize me first, so it's also my fault."

I now understood why Pyrrha would choose to go to Beacon instead of Haven in the future. The people here… at least, the people in Argus were a little… extremely star-struck.

Just a brief glance into stardom along while Coal waits for his real weapon to be forged.

Anyways, I'm up to chapter 20 on the P word website.

P
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I go by the name of ThatKircguy. Just copy the name and paste it in the Patty Rio On search bar. It'd help me out immensely, but don't worry if that's not your style. I will be uploading weekly, so it's not going to be stuck there permanently.

Also, I post my original stuff there as well. It's nothing much, just two short stories for now, but I'll post more as I write them.

Next chapter will be posted on the 12th of August.
See you all then.