Vale
Fuse
Finding a Salamence was probably the greatest investment I've made in my time in the Pokemon world.
I don't have to do any weird twister or bodyshifting. All I have to do is bring out Texas and bam, now I can carry my entire party around wherever I need them to be.
As I sat on Texas, the rest of team RWBY desperately clings onto dear life. While this does make it abundantly clear to anyone watching the skies that I'm here, I don't think it particularly matters.
If more people arrive, those are more opportunities to ask about Azure Dragon. If it just so happens that I get into a fight, I throw team RWBY at them and I make my escape.
Or I pop Revolutionary Battlefield and I solve the issue right then and there.
Well, it doesn't really matter. I'm planning to kill everyone here unless they manage to redeem themselves massively. This is a city of sinners, and they don't even gamble as well as Las Vegas.
As Texas landed across the street from our destination, the mall, I hopped off and the rest of team RWBY immediately kissed the floor.
At that point, Ruby then asked me, "So, Mr. Fuse… What do we do now?"
Looking at the front door of the mall, I see some dude occupied on this world's equivalent of a phone. A quick [Observe] tells me that he's still C ranked in most of his major stats, so he's fairly weak.
Although, team RWBY is at D rank so he's still capable of wiping the floor… With children.
"See, there's an American in this building," I told them, getting a confused look, "So I need to talk with them to figure out what the fuck they've been doing all this time. You guys have to distract them for a little while so I can have that conversation."
Raising an eyebrow, Weiss asked, "Distract them how? I know you said that these freaks have some favor for us, but that's not going to get us very far."
Looking at the guy at the front again…
…Yeah, definitely a degenerate.
"Look, if he detects my invisibility, just hold a conversation with them for a while," I answered, checking my inventory, to see what else could help them.
Then I remembered that after I killed Moon Lord back in Terraria, it dropped the Last Prism. I don't think any of the girls have the mana capacity to use it for any extended amount of time, but I do have a bunch of fallen stars…
…Ah, I should've done this earlier if I wanted them to have it. Instead, I'll just tell them, "If more people begin to show up, just run towards Texas, and he'll send you to me."
The team nodded, and we began to walk towards the entrance of the mall. It was sparsely populated, but there were still a handful of normal people inside.
I immediately went invisible and tried casually walking inside.
As I got to the Gamer guarding the front entrance, some dude named Columbus, probably Spanish, quickly asked me, "Huh? Why… Dude, I can see your invisibility. And don't even try to sneak in, I have a skill for that."
Yeah, of course. Why let me be invisible without putting a hard counter to invisibility at the very first gate?
I became visible again, signaling to the kids that it's time for them to distract the dude.
"IRS Audit," I replied, pointing behind him, "Let me in."
"I don't give a shit who the IRS sends, I'm Spanish," Columbus replied with venom in his voice, "I'm not paying my fucking taxes."
I stepped aside to show off team RWBY, "Perhaps a conversation with them might sway you?"
Columbus, the weak man, immediately folded, "Okay, I've been properly convinced. Do whatever you want inside there."
Yeah, what a dumb bastard. As expected of the Spanish. The Mexicans were way better than these guys.
Activating my Vortex Armor's invisibility, I immediately made my way to where the American was hiding. It's time to find out whether they're true Americans or not.
Outside of the Mall
Ruby
As Fuse disappeared from their sight, Ruby mentally prepared herself for the upcoming conversation.
She's heard countless rumors of the depravity of these Gamers. On one hand, there were a bunch of videos proving them true. On the other hand, there's no way all of them could be bad, right…?
As the Gamer made his way to them, Ruby, being the good team leader that she is, tried to greet him, "Uh, hi! We're team RWBY, and I'm Ruby. What's your name…?"
Deviously licking his lips, he replied with a rhyme, "My name is Columbus. You guys are hot. Want to fuck?"
Well.
Now she knew all of those rumors were true.
Suppressing a groan, Ruby inwardly prepared herself for a long conversation.
In a storage room
Fuse
Found him.
He's one of the few Gamers in the city that didn't decide to be a basic human. Although, he's still human. He's just part robot.
…A cyborg, that's the word I was thinking of.
White guy, cyborg, his name is Yellowstone so probably from whichever state had that national park… It was Wyoming, right?
Anyhow, I checked out his stat screen to see if there's anything of note.
Yellowstone
Status: Healthy
Stamina: Healthy
Mana: Full
Race: Cyborg
Title: Anti-Organic Scholar
Classes: Metalmancer, Monk
Professions: Engineer
Ranking Setting: Universal [Change]
Overall Ranking: B-
Power Rank: B- [Expand]
Magic Rank: C [Expand]
Social Rank: B [Expand]
Fairly unimpressive stats, but he named himself after the national park, so that's a good sign of patriotism.
Yellowstone was currently playing chess against himself for some reason. He seems to be losing, so maybe he was just dicking around because he's bored. Definitely some form of autism.
Undoing my invisibility, I took a seat across from him.
To his credit, Yellowstone didn't look too surprised, "Oh, hey. Haven't seen you around… Fuse?"
Holding my hands together, I asked him, "So, can you figure out why I'm sitting across you today?"
He shrugged, "I dunno. I'd wager there's a plot you want to get me involved in?"
I shook my head, "Unfortunately, no. There's no such plot. Although, if you do know a guy named Azure Dragon, that'd be great for me."
"Azure Dragon? Nah, sorry, can't say I've seen him," Yellowstone apologetically said, "I'll be honest, I didn't even know he existed. I don't really pay attention to much of whatever the hell is going on with the hero villain thing. Hell, I didn't know you were apart of this whole thing until now."
He claims he doesn't pay attention to the politics of his entire goddamn situation? Something isn't adding up.
…Although, are most of them really unaware that I exist? The internet exists here, right?
I suspiciously stared at him, "Really? Then why are you, judging from your friends out there, one of the villains?"
He shrugged, "I think villains are cool."
…What basic reasoning, but looking at him, he's serious. I guess it could be worse.
"You don't think what the other villains are doing are, you know, bad?" I questioned him further, trying to dig into his thoughts.
Yellowstone replied, "Well, they are bad. But as long as it doesn't affect me, I don't really care."
…As long as it doesn't affect him?
Wait a goddamn minute.
"What year was the last year you had before coming here?" I asked with a sudden sense of urgency, "2024? 2025?"
Yellowstone nodded, "Uh, 2025, yeah?"
No fucking way, is he…
"Who did you vote for?"
"I voted for Trump," Yellowstone replied, not fully understanding what he had just said, "I mean, I kind of disagree with his Ukraine policy and maybe Elon Musk's DOGE thing could be better, but I do like him."
Ukraine policy? What the hell was going on in Ukraine?
And what the fuck is a DOGE?
Maybe it's a 2025 thing. The civil war started maybe a month after the election, since it was revealed to be rigged for Trump.
But more importantly.
This motherfucker is a Republican.
Sure, I could obviously tell that he's from an alternative universe.
Sure, I could recall that Shapeshifter once said that most Donald Trumps were actually fairly nice.
Sure, I could just have a conversation with him to see what was different in his universe.
But…
I really fucking hate that party, no matter the spirit, no matter the reincarnation.
If it's Republican, I'll always hate it.
"How the fuck could you vote for a goddamn Nazi?" I spat out with venom, glaring at Yellowstone.
He simply looked confused for a second before undergoing some insanely wrong understanding and scoffing, "Oh, great, are you one of those guys who keep calling moderate conservatives Nazis? You do realize that's what cost you the election."
Scowling, I replied, "That piece of shit rigged the election and started a civil war. I'll always fucking hate him and the Republicans for it."
Yellowstone blinked, "Oh. So… In your universe…"
"So tell me why…" I leaned over to him, pulling out Washington, "Would you ever vote for a piece of shit like him?"
Briefly glancing at my gun, not very intimidated, he shrugged, "I liked him more than Kamala. Trump tells it like it is."
For a brief second, I had to remind myself that Kamala was the vice president. Which then made me wonder what happened to Biden in his timeline.
But still…
Tell it like it is? Trump is a serial liar. I doubt that would just change so drastically. He has to be brainwashed.
With a mindset like this, no wonder why he chose to become a villain. He does things entirely based on vibes and no actual logical thought or reasoning.
"...Are the other Americans in this city Republicans?" Was my final question, my hope for Yellowstone gone.
He thought about it for a moment before answering, "Uh, yeah, yeah I think so. At least, the one time we talked about politics and figured out what happened in our timelines, we all kind of liked Trump even if he wasn't the best in their timelines."
…They're all fucking hopeless.
How the fuck are they all so hopeless?
Millions, if not billions, if not trillions, if not infinite amount of timelines.
AND THEY PUT THE REPUBLICANS IN HERE?
The universe must be fucking laughing at me. No wonder why Azure Dragon managed to convince everyone to be fucking awful in this city. The Americans have no backbone in this city.
You have received a fortune cookie!
I sighed, reluctantly accepting the truth.
For the first time in what feels like a year, I get to meet a fellow American.
And they're all traitors.
Ignoring Yellowstone, I opened up my fortune cookie.
'We have exhausted all avenues of discussion. Now that the diplomats talk past each other, the generals will have their say.'
…Yeah.
As soon as I find out where Azure Dragon is, I'm killing him, plain and simple. Then once he's dead, I'm killing the rest of these Gamers.
They have no right to exist.
Standing up, I told him, "Well, I think I've said all that's needed to be said. I'll be seeing you."
As though he didn't understand a thing, Yellowstone smiled, "Right. I'll see you later, Fuse. Enjoy your stay in Vale, and if you figure out how to free us, be sure to help us as well, right?"
Yeah…
No.
Leaving the room without another word, I remembered my other goal, which was to check out this mall for any other gamers inside to see if any of them were Azure Dragon. But I guess if he didn't know, I doubt the others inside of here would be him.
Exiting the mall, I found team RWBY visibly uncomfortable as Yang was busy trying to hold Columbus's attention, "...And that's basically where I got my clothes. I can give you a recommendation if you want…?"
"We're leaving," I immediately announced, not wanting to hear a word from the Spanish dude, "Columbus, watch your back."
He was hit by the whiplash of the sudden threat, "What the- The hell did I do to you?"
"Exist," Was my reply before Texas came to pick us all up.
As the five of us flew up, I mentally checked where to go next.
I decided on the random castle that the villains made for fun.
At that point, Blake then told me, "Fuse, we are NOT playing distraction for you again. That was awful."
Tilting my head, I asked the group, "Oh? Was it really that bad?"
"Yes."
"Yes."
"Yes."
"Yes."
Even Texas growled in agreement, showing that he was listening to the conversation the entire time.
"Wow, alright," I conceded defeat. "Next time, I'll just let you fight the dude instead."
"...We can't win that, though?" Ruby pointed out, still nervous.
Checking my inventory…
…Yeah, I have enough fallen stars for this.
"I just need you to stall. So, who wants a magic weapon?"
AN:
It's February 28, 6:49 PM.
My outline is non-existent.
I was playing too much For Honor, and the Hoyoverse gacha games.
Apologies.
I'm still confident in finishing Manifest Destiny in March, but it's definitely going to be a bit of a stumble for the first week as I try to both write a chapter and outline what the fuck is going to happen in the future as I try my best to ensure that the fic ends in the radius of chapter 70-80.
Best case scenario, when this fic updates on the 15th, I'll have 14 chapters of backlog and the fic is basically almost finished.
Realistically, there'll be like 4 or 5 chapters finished, but there'll be an outline that has every chapter until the ending by the 15th.
Pray for me.
[40 minutes before uploading I remembered that if Fuse had invisibility, he could've just snuck past the front door. Luckily, it was 40 minutes before uploading so boom, this guy specifically hard counters invisibility.]