10And almost immediately, we come to the results of the last chapter. I've said it before - I thought I would lessen the load by making 3k chapters rather than 6k, but ended up just making two 3k chapters. Anywho, it's time to explore just a little more, so anyway, let's go!
Super hero time!
Umber: you know, your school seems a little boring.
Harry: it's a cooking school, why would it need to be as... exciting as yours!?
Umber: Well it's big, I'll give you that!
Harry: it's almost like a castle with how big it is!
U + H: Here we go! With a magic touch!
Umber watched the various teams as they were formed and christened with their new names with intrigue; they were certainly deserving of what they managed to achieve in unison. He could clearly remember what it had been like at the start of a prior year, shaking in his boots with excitement as his team was formed, the friends he had made all by his side… well, that was another time.
"Hey, Umber? Which relic did you pick up?" Ruby whispered to him as the last few teams were formed. The pattern had quickly become clear – those who had picked up similar chess pieces in their pairs would be put together, resulting in the teams of four so standardised in huntsman operations. Ruby and Yang were playing around with the knight pieces in their hands and Jaune and Nora held onto rooks; such a piece was not in Umber's and for a clear reason. "Wait… you appeared at the abandoned temple at the same time as us and you were too busy misdirecting that Deathstalker when we fled… you never picked one up, did you? Did you even get a partner?"
"…Hey Ruby, keep an eye out. It's Jaune's team."
"Jaune's team?" Umber's dull comment caused her to look out upon the stage, Pyrrha, Ren, Nora and Jaune all gathered in a line before the headmaster as their visages appeared upon the screen above. Almost immediately, the whispers that had plagued the crowd immediately began to grow, the sight of a rather well known fighter from the tournament scene resulting in quite a few people immediately narrowing onto Pyrrha.
"Jaune Arc. Nora Valkyrie. Pyrrha Nikos. Lie Ren. Having collected the white rooks, you will henceforth be known as Team JNPR." Ozpin declared, holding out a hand to retrieve the pieces from their possession. "Your team shall be led… by Jaune Arc."
"Whoa, how did you know that!?" Ruby whispered excitedly, Umber giving a good measured shake of his head. It was pretty obvious that half of the decision was simply how the initials could best be arranged, but Beacon was one of the best academies Remnant had to offer; it wouldn't ever be such a simple decision.
"Though he may not have demonstrated the best fighting capability of the students, Jaune showed a quick mind and a natural ability to lead, even if he hasn't noticed it." The green haired boy pointed out, pushing Ruby forth when their names were called out. It was why he was absolutely sure that Ruby would end up the leader of her team over the fairly more experienced other members in the quartet. Not counting that the initials could form a version of 'Ruby' in and of themselves, the girl held a special aspect that couldn't be described in words – perhaps it could be called immense potential.
"Umber Forest. Please step forward." And immediately, the whispers that had once been focused on the oddities of a girl two years younger than the typical acceptance age suddenly changed to recognition as the boy stepped out into the light, lifting his hat up in greeting jovially as he approached the head teacher. "Unlike the other students, you failed to properly retrieve a relic and you also have no partner. Considering that this is a rare second chance for you to enter our academy, you have performed rather poorly. Do you have any words to explain why you did so poorly?"
"Wow, embarrassing me in front of the whole school, huh?" Umber's first remark came, a lazy tilt of his head towards the gathered crowd that had fallen silent as soon as the headmaster had begun to talk. "Well, this wasn't my exam to take, not really. The reason I was kicked out of this academy was because it was assumed I was overly violent, not due to any lack of skill with a weapon or without. If I had met a partner, then there would be someone else who would go home due to mere chance and that's a pretty bad reason to fail. If I had taken a relic, then the teams would be imbalanced with a three-man unit. If I hadn't helped the others, then I wouldn't have been able to demonstrate my ability to work cooperatively. I suppose you could say… I ignored the exam you set for me so I could pass the test you placed on me."
His words seemed to stir up the conversation around him mas Umber threw out his finger, pointing directly towards the now smiling headmaster. With a gesture of the white haired man's head, Umber's image appeared upon the screen with his full name, only alone – there was no one else left to make a team with even if the headmaster wanted to.
"…I had thought I was a bit more opaque with my intentions." Ozpin stated with a chuckle, a box being brought onto the stage as a key card made its way into Ozpin's fingers. "Please, will you place your foot upon the block?"
And so Umber hesitantly rose his foot, the tracker around his ankle beeping as the keycard was placed to the side. After a few moments waiting, a small click was heard and the headmaster pulled the entire thing apart, holding it up the light so the whole audience could take a glimpse at it.
"This tracker was placed upon Mr Forest in order to keep a track on his movements and ensure he wasn't recorded doing anything inappropriate. However, from the time it has been placed upon him, he has demonstrated the incredible level of combat efficiency and teamwork worthy of a Beacon student. That is why, due to the fact that a replacement has been substituted into his original team, Umber will return to duty as a student in his first year… as one of Beacon's few individual huntsmen. That is all."
"An explanation? Do I owe such a thing to you?" Umber muttered as he continued to stroll towards the dorms as many of the first years were doing; now that the teams had been officially announced, there had been adequate time for the staff of Beacon to move the students' luggage to the appropriate rooms they had been gifted. With hands in his coat pockets and a lackadaisical tune upon his lips as he whistled, he was far from the quiet disapproval and slight anger that was bubbling within Weiss' lithe frame.
"I'm not the only one who wants to know this sort of thing! What you did can't be explained through a semblance, you showed way too many abilities to just be one semblance!" Weiss pointed out, gesturing wildly with the scroll in her hand. She didn't even bother to pause the video that was playing upon its screen, recordings of the initiation already having been uploaded for the student base to see; already it had reached a fairly sizable amount of views. "Besides, that belt making suits out of nothing? That shouldn't work, it's like nothing dust and technology can even hope to recreate. If you spread knowledge of how this all works, you might revolutionise a field of technology!"
"Hey Ruby, do you give one about how my stuff works?" Umber questioned in response, Weiss giving a small huff at the complete dismissal. Ruby startled slightly when her name was so randomly called, rubbing the back of her head with an awkward chuckle.
"Well, I mean, I'm kinda interested. Um, really interested actually, but… if you don't wanna talk about it, I'm not going to pry." The scythe wielder explained, Weiss rolling her eyes while Umber settled for a small hum of acknowledgement.
"Yang? Care at all?"
"Eh, go ahead, keep your secrets. We all have them, even if yours seem way cooler than my own." Yang stated with a shrug. More importantly, she was looking forward to trying out her new bed; Beacon was one of the best huntsman academies that could be found and it certainly boasted a level of funding to match. Surely part of that money went towards well deserved luxuries for the students as well?
"And finally, Miss Belladonna. Do you particularly care for the secrets of my belt? After all, you're the one who has the most authority to ask here." Weiss was quick to take notice of just how oddly formal Umber's tone came when he spoke to Blake; he had been nothing if not casual with absolutely everyone he met from what the white dressed girl had seen and heard about him. Apparently, it even disturbed Blake a bit, for as unflappable as she had been as she walked and continued to read, she suddenly pulled her head up, the slightest flush of embarrassment upon her face.
"…No, I'm fine. It works, right? That's all there is too it." And then she planted her face back into her book, perfectly happy to block out the rest of the world along with Weiss' groan of annoyance. Umber merely gave a small shrug.
"Well I suppose we can class that as a diplomatic vote, hmm? Let me tell you one thing Weiss – secrets are abound for a reason." Umber remarked, turning around to walk backwards with his hat pulled over his eyes. "Technologies such as this could ruin the world. Bring forth anger, hatred, apathy that you could hardly imagine. All those, simply because you gave the wrong person an outlet in which to express the emotions. Not everyone can handle being a Kamen rider."
"And what makes you so special?" Weiss retorted scathingly, barely receiving more than a moment's silence as the green haired boy pondered upon how to answer. "What makes you so special that you think you deserve this tech more than others?"
"…I don't think there's anything that makes me special. I'm selfish, violent, not exactly the most intelligent. It's not because I'm the best fighter, not when Pyrrha's here. It's not because I'm the purest, Ruby's standing right beside you. I couldn't even claim it's because I inherited it, for the man who gifted this to me certainly wasn't physically related to me in any way. But if there's one thing that I know for certain, it's that there's a reason why it was given to me. Even if I'm not the most suitable, he decided I was the best fit.
I'm Kamen rider Decade. Whether you like it, or not."
And then there was silence, Weiss muttering indignantly, trying to come up with some sort of reply and failing miserably. Over than that, the journey to the dorms was a fairly pleasant business. It was fortunate enough that they had room to spare, admittedly a little smaller than the others; usually, it was reserved for temporary accommodation and thus lacked some of the additions the other rooms boasted, but it was still suitable enough for Umber's needs. All too soon, he had packed his stuff away and was strolling outside the building once more flipping through his cards. That was when he came across a card that he couldn't recognise, a series of them in fact – which was meant to be impossible, he had tried his best to memorise each Kamen rider as well as possible, even if he didn't remember each and every card he had at his disposal.
"Henshin."
KAMEN RIDE: DECADE!
"Now, let's try this card."
KAMEN RIDE: SHINOBI!
DARE JA!? ORE JA! NINJA! SHINOBI KENZAN!
A huge mechanical frog squatting down behind him had Umber whirling around in surprise, only to watch as it spat out all of the armour required to transform once more until a purple ninja stood in his place, a giant silver shuriken upon his face. It was remarkably light for an armour; Umber might've even said it felt like it was making him lighter than he was before in fact. Just a single leap had the rider barely more than a blur, jumping from rooftop to treetop in mere seconds, the stealthiness of the movements only broken by the loud cheers of excitement as he darted around Beacon.
"A man could get used to this." Umber declared approvingly, flicking through the rest of his cards. While there were many attack ride cards that granted ninja-esque abilities and a couple forms that made reference to ninjas like Build's Ninjya-Comic and Gaim's Ichigo arms, Shnobi was the only one in his repertoire that was obviously based upon a ninja completely. "Let's see what you're capable of then… How about this one?"
FORM RIDE: SHINOBI! KAEN!
KAKUGO! HERE WE GO! MOERO! SHINOBI KAEN!
And once more did the giant black frog robot appear, though this time spitting a large amount of oil over Umber's body. Before he could even question it however, as disgusted as he was, the rider was immediately shocked when the robot then proceeded to spit out a burst of flame that engulfed Umber's entire body, revealing a crimson body. the shuriken upon Shinobi's face had been re-forged with a fiery appearance, as had the scarf wrapped around his neck. Pair that with the golden lenses beneath and he certainly cut an intimidating appearance. What Umber didn't realise while he was admiring his new form and the potential it held was that he had landed right before a rather surprised viewer, that surprise turning to recognition as they ran towards the ninja rider.
"Umber, that's you, isn't it!?"
"Wh- Velvet!" Umber called out in response, throwing his arms out as he saw the brunette approach, her rabbit ears twitching upon her head. Rather than her running into his arms like he planned however, the first thing that the green haired boy was greeted to was a first-hand meeting with her fist. Perhaps it would've been a bit more intimidating if Velvet had been able to move Umber even the tiniest bit, but the faunus merely retracted her now red fist with a small whimper, having not even caused the slightest flinch. "…You know, you may not have caused the physical damage you would've liked, but that really hurt."
"You deserve it! After what you did to us!" Velvet replied, uncaring for whoever could hear them as she folded her arms with a huff. "We were meant to be a team together, that's what you promised us! Team CUFY… and then you managed to get yourself kicked out on excessive violence."
"Velvet…" even if she wasn't going to accept his initial attempts at a hug, the brunette didn't respond negatively when Umber slowly walked forward, wrapping his arms around her gently. "I remember you being far more timid. When did the strong rabbit come out?"
"Don't be a meanie, I'm trying to be serious."
"You heard the things he was saying, the things he was saying to you. No one else was willing to stand up to him." Umber tried to explain. "If it weren't for me, then he probably would still be picking on the populace and getting away with it without ever getting punished. If it weren't for Ozpin forcing his father's hand on the matter because of what I did, he might still be here!"
"But it got you kicked out… not everyone gets a second chance at these kinds of things, I honestly thought you had gone back to Menagerie and I wouldn't be able to see you." Velvet spoke around developing tears, Umber stepping back briefly to pull the card from his driver, the armour dissolving until there was only the green haired boy beneath. "I didn't know what I was going to do when I learnt you got kicked out. I-I thought about quitting until Yatsuhashi and Velvet convinced me not to."
A tut left Umber. He wrapped his arms back around Velvet. This time, she actually hugged back just as hard, if not harder.
"…I won't lie. I have a long way ahead of me before I get less temperamental. I used way too much force when it came to the initiation compared to what I used when I was partnered with you. I need to learn how to restrain myself, but that's what I'm doing back here. I'll learn how to properly hold myself back and then we can work together. There'll just another person with our team." Umber stated, the smallest of smiles appearing on his face. "Besides, if it didn't all work out this way, then I'd just use my right as a vassal of the Belladonna family to state that I would need a constant presence at Beacon to facilitate my stay here. Nothing like a little bit of a contingency plan just in case things don't function as expected."
"…You're an idiot. A stupid, smart idiot." Velvet cried. Why had she ever been worried? Of course he would have some sort of mad plan down his sleeve, Umber always had and it had been half the reason why Team CUFY had been such a respected team. As well as half the reason why their team had gotten into as many mishaps as they had. "I almost forgot you were a vassal of the chief family in Menagerie. So the person you're meant to serve comes to Beacon?"
"Ah yes, you two would make a perfect match for one another! She too can be quite the quiet girl; prefers a good book you see. Blake Belladonna, an absolute monster with her weapon and it shows clearly." Umber replied gently. "And you got yourself a new friend as well. Tell me, who is the person lucky enough to make Team CUFY Team CFVY?"
"Ah, you mean Fox? He's fine… not exactly the strategist of the team you were, but he's trying his best…"
They kept talking like that for a while. Even after having been separated, they were still friends after all, no matter what circumstances were thrown their way. Sure, Umber was a flawed man, but if all flawed people were thrown to the side, then the world would be a rather boring place. Anger fades with time and sometimes, that time period is remarkably small. Though they were no longer a team, though they both made mistakes and argued, they were still Umber and Velvet.
Nothing could change that.
Yep, how sweet. Anyway, review and tell me what you think. I don't really have much to say for this, so I'll cut it a little short.
Super hero time! See you next time!
