King: I can relate to this.
Knox: A man with two voices in his head wherein the second, new voice doesn't listen or react to a calmer original? You relate to that?
King: ...
Knox: What?
King: Nothing... Anyway, I hope you all enjoy the chapter, as per usual.
Inspiration: Borderlands 2
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As everyone filed into their seats again, they found something odd in the air around them. King was flying around like a mad man, but they noticed his usual purple flame was also now adorned with a symbol that resembled an arch integrated into a circle.
Ruby looked over to Knox, who was nearby, "Um… is he okay?"
Knox had no face, but they could tell he was smiling, "Yeah. He's fine. Just having a bit of fun. Let' get started, shall we?"
The two flickered out as the next reality appeared on the canvas.
The world opened to show an arid world, one of madness and blood. A large metal 'rib' stuck out from the ground with a man hanged from the top section. Beneath him was another man in red and white armor over his chest, legs, and face, coupled with a rifle in his hands and a sword as his hip.
Yang raised an eyebrow, "Is that supposed to be Jaune?"
Coco looked between Jaune and the man on screen, "If I'm honest, red would be a good color for him."
They heard Jaune's thoughts from the screen. I don't know the dead man. Probably didn't deserve what he got. Doesn't make him special though…
Yang grinned once she heard him talk. "He kind of sounds like the hero in an old western."
"Looks like one too, if you think about it." Tai pointed to the scene before them.
He walked toward the hanging man, looking up toward him for a moment before continuing to walk.
Plenty of people die out here and plenty of kinds. The innocent…
As he continued walking, they saw a man sitting on top of a rock nearby. He wasn't wearing a shirt, but he had orange pants, metal bracers, and a white and orange mask with the same symbol the King had earlier. One of the eyes of the mask was covered and a breathing apparatus was added over his mouth like a gas mask.
Nora gasped, recognizing the form. "It's Pandora!"
Jaune turned to her, confused, "What's that?"
Nora was too excited at the prospect of 'space magic,' so Ren had to explain it for her, "It's another planet in this reality. We saw a similar version earlier on."
Coco chuckled, "Yeah. And memory serves, we saw a funny little coupling in that one."
Yang thought back, trying to remember the reality. Then, when it hit her, she burst out laughing, "Oh yeah! I forgot about that!"
The man on the rock was hitting a strange weapon, resembling a buzz saw on a stick, against the rock.
Blake thought back and sighed, "One of those psychos that attacked them, if memory serves."
He noticed the man on the rock and walked off.
If I'm lucky, he hasn't noticed me yet.
The man on the rock's head turned to him and he jumped down from the stone surface, walking around behind him.
Pyrrha was growing concerned, "This can't be good."
Ren was thinking the scene over. This wasn't quite adding up for him, for some reason.
I want to warn him. To tell him to run. To hide. To get out of sight so I won't have to kill him.
He turned toward the man, who tossed his weapon up only to drop it.
Yang grinned, "Jaune must be a total badass in this if he wants to warn that guy."
Blake crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow, "He says he wants to warn him. Why doesn't he?"
Jaune started to go back through everything he'd said in this reality and realized something important. What he said could apply to two people on that screen.
The screen focuses on the psycho's face, showing his eye twitch.
That's what I want to say. But what actually comes out of my mouth…
The psycho charged forward, leaping into the air with weapon raised, "I HAVE THE SHINIEST MEAT BICYCLE!"
Everyone went through a slew of emotions once they heard the psycho speak. First was that what he said was so out of nowhere that it was pretty funny. Second was how well it fit into what was going on. Finally, was the fact that he sounded like a more deranged version of the Jaune they heard on screen.
As Jaune buried his weapon into the armored man, the screen went black and they heard his inner voice sigh. Close enough…
The scene changed to show Jaune walking down a rail line in the desert.
This… is me.
The on screen Jaune's body convulsed a bit as he shouted, "I'm ready for a spine tingler!"
Or… what's left of me… The inner voice was silent a moment before continuing, Hey… Do you remember back when we were sane?
"She can taste the bloody hatred!"
Guess not.
Yang just had to voice how she felt about this, "I… this is kind of weird. I mean, it's kind of funny with both sides as like a dual act, but I also feel bad for him. Anyone else?"
Most of the group agreed, with one exception. Yeah, you know the one.
Still can't hear me can you? Little voice in your head trying to remind you when we could hours… days… our entire life without screaming about our desire to ride bicycles made of meat.
Jaune tossed the weapon into the air, actually catching it this time.
I don't even remember… Jaune had long since lost himself. When he first arrived on Pandora, he was jumped and sold to the Hyperion super corporation to test that damned slag, a purple liquid they injected into his body that turned him into what he's become. It drove him mad; mad enough to kill the people keeping him caged and escape.
Yang took in a sharp breath, "Okay… that's seriously messed up."
Ilia groaned, "I'm at least glad the SDC or others can't get away with that…"
Jaune turned at the sound of large machinery behind him. He jumped off just in time to not get hit by the massive train running along the magnetized rails. Jaune shook himself back to reality, ironically, and looked up to find someone standing on the train platform in front of him.
She dressed in a pair of tight jeans and boots, coupled with a set of armor for her upper body that covered her right arm. Her left arm was covered in blue tattoos, and a small amount of her left hip they saw showed it flowed down the rest of her body.
Roman chuckled, "Kind of reminds me of your outfit." He nudged Neo's arm.
The ice cream themed criminal had to admit the similarities between the attire.
She carried a strange, rounded submachine gun with an orange, black, and white color scheme.
Ruby didn't see that much interesting, but also couldn't shake that something else was there. There was a part of that gun she couldn't quite place. Something in the internals…
Her hair was white as freshly fallen snow and cut short to shoulder length. She turned slightly to the side to show her ice blue eyes and a scar over said eye on that side.
Nora erupted in a frustrated and disappointed outburst, "Aw man! I wanted the space magic again!"
Weiss rolled her eyes, but admitted she was looking forward to seeing said magic powers.
Jaune's inner voice didn't remember too much about his old life, but he did remember something this important. She's carrying a Maliwan SMG. She's a Vault Hunter. A siren warrior that could kill me with her brain.
Weiss turned enough to see him in her peripheral vision, causing her to turn fully to face him, "What the hell? Is that a Psycho?"
Weiss nodded, "That's putting it lightly."
Ruby was still trying to figure out the weapon, "But what's a Maliwan?"
No one knew, yet.
Knox appeared to explain it since King is… indisposed. "It's a weapons manufacturer. They're known for elementally infused weaponry: fire, electricity, corrosive, ice, slag… The works."
Jaune jumped up toward the fireball, "Hold on! There's that stuff again. What is slag?"
"Twisted. It's an industrial runoff from the production of Eridium. Getting covered in this stuff causes the target to weaken. Point is, get drenched in it, you get hurt more."
"And they injected that stuff… into my body?"
"As twisted as it is, yes. They did, and it broke you. Turning you into a literal Psycho-Jaune."
Jaune's visible eye widened seeing her.
She's the most beautiful woman I've ever seen.
Weiss groaned and hung her head hearing that. Why am I not surprised?
Pyrrha and Velvet had long gotten used to these reality differences. If anything, it made them realize that they have to step up when they get back.
Jaune stood up again, his inner voice trying to get his body to listen to him again, Tell her she's as beautiful as a thousand sunsets! Tell her you need her help! Tell her to rescue you, and care for you, and whatever you do! Do NOT yell the word poop at the top of your lungs!
Unfortunately, Jaune's body shouted, at the top of his lungs no less, "I'M THE CONDUCTOR OF THE POOP TRAIN!"
Nora burst out into laughter.
Jaune just buried his head in his hands. That was just… there were no words for the embarrassment by proxy. First was his embarrassment at his words. Second was the embarrassment of who he was saying it to.
There was a moment of silence to really let that embarrassment set in.
Jaune groaned. Please… just move on.
Weiss, unaware of the man's inner thoughts, only saw one of the psychos of Pandora. They always shouted weird shit at the top of their lungs when they planned to attack, and he seemed no different. She jumped down from the platform and took cover behind a set of barriers designed to keep vehicles from crashing onto the platform.
Jaune's shoulders slumped. It's over idiot.
Weiss fired a series of blue bolts toward Jaune, who was able to dodge them in a scramble, and the fact that it was an SMG and not something more accurate.
You're going to die here and the last words that came out of your mouth will have been 'poop train.'
Yang took a breath before sighing, "I mean… I do feel for back for the guy…"
As Weiss went to reload, Jaune took cover from behind a small pile of rocks. As he looked up from his sanctuary, he saw a group of masked men crawling over the top of the train station.
Oh great… Now the Rats are arriving.
A disgusting group that could barely be considered human anymore. They ran on all fours, spoke in high pitched grunts, and were the obsessive types that grabbed anything and everything not nailed down. Making things worse were the fact that they were pack hunters that could swarm and tear a vault hunter apart if caught unprepared.
Tai took in a sharp breath, "Well, that's not good."
Jaune's inner voice tried to reach out to her, to warn her, Turn around siren. Damn it! Turn around or your dead! All to no avail. His voice was not his own, unable to speak to anyone but himself.
It was times like this that Ozpin and Oscar were more than happy for the set up they had. They could simply swap roles for a while, but both were still aware of each other and can still interact with the world at large. To be without any control over a body that won't even listen to you, however, was a scary thought.
Say something! Tell her to look back! Now!
But Jaune's body was too far gone. When he turned to warn her, all that came out was, "Strip the flesh!"
You can imagine how well this went. Weiss continued to fire toward Jaune, causing the psycho to duck down again.
No! Tell her to TURN AROUND!
And of course, "Salt the wound!"
Yes! Fine! We'll salt all the wounds later. But right now! If you don't listen to me, she's going to die! And its going to be YOUR fault!
For the first time since they broke apart, Jaune's body had to concede to his mind. Had to hear him. Jaune had to jump up, arm reared back, and finally screaming at the top his lungs, "TURN AROUND PRETTY LADY!" He tossed his weapon into the air, passing by the camera in slow motion to show that the buzz ax was not a fixed weapon, but the bladed head could actually spin.
Now that Ruby could see the weapon up close, she wretched at the scene, "Oh gods, why?! That should not work! At all!"
The ax flew along, over Weiss's shoulder, and embedded in the skull of the Rat behind her. As the weapon crawled to an upright position, Jaune jumped onto the Rat's shoulders and pulled it clean as blood spurted from the opened skull. Jaune went on a tear through the other Rats, ripping them apart one by one in a flow of blood and anger.
The moment was brutal, but he also saved Weiss, so the viewers were able to hold back any gagging from the blood and death.
Jaune leaned over another of the Rats his eye showing his hate and anger, "I'm going to put my pain into your soul!"
The Rat responded by collapsing.
This, if nothing else here, got Yang to laugh. "I guess it worked."
Weiss watched the events, more confused than anything. Pandora's psychos weren't exactly known for saving people. They didn't even save those in their own bandit groups. The fact that one had just saved her from an attack was ludicrous as it was. But then she really thought back. He took cover. Psychos didn't do that. They just charged you in a fervent rush.
She looked back to him in time to see another Rat ready to pounce on him, blade in hand. No good deed goes unrewarded, so she held out her left hand, her tattoos glowing. The Rat hung in the air, held by a well of gravity pulling him around its center.
Jaune looked up to the well before turning back to Weiss. The two shared a glance before Jaune turned back to the Rat, jumping up to bury his weapon into the well-held Rat.
As he pulled his blade from the body, Jaune inner voice spoke to himself again, Tell her thank you. Tell her that, thanks to her, we may have a chance to finally act like a normal person.
Nora chuckled to herself, "I get the feeling he won't actually say that."
Jaune's body… you get the idea. "I polished my cockatiel for the ribcage slaughter!"
A few of them snickered, for both the innocent laughing at his failing and the dirty minded that had no shame.
Weiss was starting to piece together that there was more to this man than meets the eye. She smiled, understanding he wasn't a threat to her.
Jaune's inner voice was a little surprised, but more than happy about the outcome. Huh… Close enough.
Qrow finished a sip from his flask and grinned, "Nice call back to the beginning."
As Weiss boarded her train, joining three others (familiar faces all of them) to hunt the vault Hyperion corporation was after. Jaune watched the train as it started to gain speed.
You thinking what I'm thinking?
Evidently, his body was on the same page for once. The psychotic masked man leapt up from the platform and onto the moving train. It was clear these vault hunters may just be the missing piece to become normal again. What did he have left to lose?