Chapter 3: Desperado

Blake's feelings were hard to decipher, even by her. For instance, when The Slayer of Faunus walked up to her hundreds of miles from Vacuo, in the dead of night when she was completely unarmed, she was on the verge of shitting herself.

To her, he was but a myth, a myth that she strongly believed in, but something she never saw, or thought she would see in her lifetime.

Or so she thought. The figure took a step forward, and instinctually, she took a step back, and reached for Gambol shroud on her back, only to grab at empty air. The Figure stopped, and stared for a second, before saying:

"Tell me, Belladonna, do you know why I'm talking to you?" Blake stood her ground, despite every nerve in her body telling her to run, to find a teacher, or the Headmaster, someone, that there was a known and wanted criminal on school grounds. But for some reason, despite the terrifying Aura around him, she asked:

"What do you want?" She hid all emotion from her voice and asked with a flat tone, as if uninterested. Crossing his arms, he looked up to her a little and sighed, putting up his right arm and taking his mask off.

"Several things. Many questions to ask and other things I want to do to you-" Blake shuddered a little at the mention of that but steeled herself.

"-But for now, Belladonna, I ask-"

"How do you know my name?" She interrupted. Though she knew several ways he could possibly know her, she figured she had to ask. Although his body language indicated he was slightly annoyed, he answered.

"Figures. You're the type of person who doesn't recognize the face or voice of those you wronged." The man walks into the light, fully exposing his face to Blake.

She didn't recognize him. Not at all. Looking directly into his eyes, Blake tried to recall who it could possibly be, but she couldn't put a name to an unfamiliar face.

"Hm. Well, Belladonna, I remember you as clear as day even though it was the middle of the night. You and one Adam Taurus." Blake lost it on the inside. This person, no, this monster not only knew about her, but her.. relationship with Adam as well.

"What about Adam?"

"Ah. Taurus will probably be a little harder to find. He won't just fall into my grasp like you did." Ryder Looked up at the moon and sighed.

"Although, I suppose that if you're here, he can't be too far behind." Blake heard enough, she shifted her feet and prepared to activate her semblance.

"That doesn't answer my question. What do you want?" She reiterated. Ryder simply looked at the Faunus and says:

"I want you or Taurus." Blake steeled herself once more and asks:

"And If I run to the Headmaster to stop you?" Ryder lifts his head a little and says:

"You're a daisy if you do."

Blake stopped herself completely, opting not to run away. If she thought about it, she couldn't run if she wanted to. Her semblance could only launch her in the air so far, and she doubted she could outrun the Horse. Without Gambol Shroud, she couldn't scale a building. She was left with only one choice. Talking.

"If you want me dead, why haven't you killed me yet?" It was a bold question. One that might make Ryder lose his patience and kill her immediately. But, she didn't have many options at this point. Ryder stares at her blankly before saying:

"Them ears on your head are just for show huh?" Blake flinches, running her hand through her hair, reaching her ears covered by the bow. Normally, she'd be offended, she'd say something at the remark, yet, something was stopping her.

"Listen Belladonna, If you listened, I said I want you or Taurus dead. Not both of ya." Blake's eyes widened, searching for a possible way out. Of course, she could just jump off the cliff, but without Gambol Shroud, running off into the emerald forest was tantamount to suicide. Ryder reached into his poncho, prompting Blake to take a defensive stance, preparing to run. Instead of a weapon of any sort, he takes out two somewhat large bullets, holding each in one hand.

"APIT rounds. Typically known as Armor Penetrating Incendiary tracer rounds. Yet these, these are a bit different. They're made with a very special metal, Platinum. See, platinum is known to have.. strange effects with Aura, being able to absorb it quite easily into your own. Typically, this is used by very rich huntsmen to reinforce their weapon, so that they never have to worry about it. What I'm using them for, however, makes them expensive, and nearly worthless all at once. Aura Penetrating Bullets." Ryder states spinning them in his fingers slightly, showing off the silver color of the bullet and the brass casing. Blake shivers slightly, clenching her fists.

'So if he wanted to, he could shoot me dead right here. Of course, I could probably dodge.. Why is he telling me this?'

"These bullets cost over 100,000 Lien Each, just trying to find the materials to secure a kill with one shot. The world's most expensive bullet fired out of a handgun. Just for either you or Taurus." Ryder tossed the bullets at Blake, who caught them both in midair. Ryder started to walk away, leaving Blake in the light of the lamp.

"I want one of those back by the end of the week." Ryder Puts his hands to his mouth and lets out a low robotic whistle, which the horse responds to by walking with him. Looking at the mass of machinery, Blake's eyes followed the two until they disappeared behind a building. She felt her strength leave her entirely as she fell to her knees, looking at the two bullets in her hands.

'Why? Why can't I stand up to him? He's only a human, I shouldn't feel this from someone shorter than me!' Blake thought to herself, beginning to breathe manually.

Upon closer inspection, she finds small engravings on the bullets themselves, each saying something in sloppy cursive. The one in her left hand said:

Blake

And the right:

Adam

Blake felt her heart sink even more, just looking at the bullets. She grips onto them tightly, racking her memory for the face of the person who she just saw.

It was someone who apparently hates her so much that he literally had a bullet with her name on it. Not only did this person want her dead, but this was the same person who'd killed countless Faunus for apparently no reason. She was ashamed. Not only of the fact that she left everything she had behind a second time, but the fact that she was already thinking about doing it again.

Nobody would know. She'd only spoken to three people in Vale so if she suddenly disappeared, it wouldn't be a problem. The only problem would be where she would go. She couldn't go to the city and work there, he'd know, and he'd come back for her. She doubted she could take him. She'd heard stories of him killing Faunus much more skilled than her. That left her the only choice to leave the kingdom entirely. Btt she couldn't go to Atlas, Faunus there are treated worse. Nor Mistral. The White Fang presence in Mistral is too great. That left Vacuo. But… She didn't want to go back to Vacuo, no matter how desperate she was.

Her only option was to live in the wildlands, outside the Kingdoms. That could work, but wasn't the safest option since she was alone, Grimm would overwhelm her because they would be able to sense her guilty conscience.

She couldn't run anywhere this time. Steeling herself, she looked at the two bullets, and stood up, starting to walk back to the ballroom.

'He gave me two. I have to give him one bullet back, and it's either me or Adam who gets to live.' She thought to herself, shaking a little.

Ryder led StarSteak to the Dorms and went up the stairs with little difficulty, despite the Horse being around six feet tall and weighing almost two tons. Walking back into the dorm room, he kicked the bed aside, sending it skittering across the room as Starstreak walked over to the corner and laid down. Sighing, he reached for his holsters and froze, remembering he disarmed himself earlier. Reaching under the right breast of his poncho, he took out a beautiful knife which was coated with orange near the blade, turning more purple gradually until the center, which is purple. It wasn't made of metal at all but rather a very solid stone. That doesn't stop it from being sharp as hell. Walking over to the bathroom, he turns on the light and looks himself in the mirror. Noticing the messy stubble on his face. He pursed his lips and held the knife to his throat. Tapping it a couple times, he opened up a cabinet above the mirror and found some shaving cream already in there. Shrugging, he reaches up to get it but can't grab it. He stands flat on his feet and sighs. He jumps up and gets his knees on the sink, reaching up, he grabs the shaving cream. Applying it to his face, he uses the knife and evenly slices at the hairs all over his face. Rinsing his face, he walks back into the main room and lays down with his back on Starstreak. Holding the knife in his hand, he huddles himself up next to the warmth coming off the mechanical horse.

Ryder woke with a start, and immediately checked his surroundings. He shakes his head, noting that he was indeed still in the room from before. Looking at his watch, he's a little shocked to see that it's already six in the morning.

'Is there an hour difference between here and Vacuo?' he asks himself, getting up off the ground next to his horse. It lets out a robotic neigh as Ryder makes his way to the door.

"Stay here. I'm going to get some stuff sorted." The Horse obeys and sits back down, watching as Ryder exits the room.

Walking back to The Commons, he passes by the Ballroom. Looking through a window, he sees a few people waking up, and a few up and at it, while everybody else was still asleep. Shaking his head, he noticed Blake was gone and there wasn't even a sign where she was. Moving along, he walks over to the Commons, and notices there isn't even anyone there. Pursing his lips, he explores around a little more, he comes across the cafeteria, noticing there were already a few people milling around, eating breakfast. Eyeing some coffee next to the pancakes, he makes his way over and grabs a mug.

Drinking his coffee black, he takes a seat on the opposite end of the door, and zones out, starting to think.

'How am I going to go about this? Belladonna probably won't run. If she's here, she doesn't have anywhere to go. That or she's spying for the White Fang. I don't like either of them. Taurus can't be far from here if she's in the building. She's likely to choose Taurus. They all choose someone else. I'll have to work on finding him.' His train of thought was interrupted when a person sits down directly opposite of him. Looking up, he finds a guy who's probably over a foot taller than him while sitting down, as he places a tray down in front of him, which is loaded with things such as eggs, bacon, sausage and such.

Ryder glares at the man, as he returns the glare.

"I've heard of you." He says, not giving up the staring contest. Ryder snorts and says:

"Right. Why're you talkin' to me?" Ignoring the question, he continues.

"My name's Cardin Winchester. See, I think that you're a hero, truly." Ryder nearly spat out his coffee at that, but kept his demeanor as Cardin continues.

"That work you're doing, keeping the animals in check. Wonderful. If you ask me, they're getting a big head with this 'equal rights' bullshit." Ryder rolled his eyes and put his coffee down.

"You're a piece of shit." Cardin Froze for a second, but nodded his head and adopted a shit-eating grin.

"See, people call me that, and they probably do to you as well. I see where you're coming from. But we both know you're doing what needs to be done." Cardin says with Faux pride. Or, Faux for Ryder. He could tell Cardin was completely honest with what he was saying.

It disgusted him to no end. At this point, the cafeteria was being filled in more and more with people getting breakfast.

Ryder sighed and asked again:

"Why are you talkin' to me?" At this, Cardin's grin becomes even more wicked.

"People like you tend to get a bad rep from those who don't know what they're talking about. So, I want to make you an offer-" Cardin stuffs a piece of sausage in his mouth and continues. "-I'd like you to be on my team, and in return, I'll help you out with your bad press."

"Ain't happenin' I'm a second year." Cardin freezes at this, and smirks.

"Even better. How about this, I'll still help you with your bad press, but you'll have to help me out with classes and such." Ryder sighs as his mug was now empty.

"I'll think about that." He says, with no intention of thinking of the man again. Getting up, Ryder leaves his mug and walks towards the entrance of the Cafeteria. Walking out, he bumps into a redheaded girl, who's nearly a foot taller than him.

'Why is everybody ridiculously taller than me?' he thinks to himself, as the redhead starts apologizing profusely. He just gives her a glance as he walks away without a word. The redhead just stared at him, as she looked extremely confused.

Later

"So what exactly am I doing here with you?" Ryder asks the headmaster as he walked up to him, after launching the last student off the cliff.

"Yes, while we are waiting for the first years to finish their initiation, we will be testing you inside the building." Ryder raised an eyebrow and asked:

"Will I be dueling?"

"No, none of that. Instead we will be having you fight a Grimm we captured. We'll be using that fight to gauge exactly how much of a threat you are to people, as well as how you'd fare against Grimm, as we've only records of you fighting human or Faunus targets." Ozpin says as he walks right past Ryder and back towards the building, leaving Glynda staring at a tablet on the cliff. Nodding, Ryder turns back around and follows.

"What exactly do you mean 'Threat I am to people?'" Ozpin regards him for a moment before answering.

"Typically when a Huntsman or Huntress goes rogue, doing as they please as well as starting to kill civilians, we assign them as to how much of a threat they are. And based on their threats, we send people to neutralize them so they don't wreak too much havoc." Again, Ryder nods as they enter the main building.

"So what about blondie back there? What's she at?" Ozpin looks over his shoulder and hides a smirk behind his mug.

"It has yet to be determined, as she hasn't gone rogue... yet." Ryder just nods and stays quiet, but Ozpin says:

"But if I did have to say: It'd be something around Feilong." Ryder gives Ozpin an incredulous look as he repeats.

"Feilong? Do you name these threats around actual Grimm?" The lack of creativity bothers Ryder slightly when Ozpin states:

"Yes. It's quite simple, it's based off of what that Huntsman or Huntress can defeat on their own. The lowest being Ravager, which is typically a civilian level Grimm, as they can easily be dispatched of. The highest of which being Leviathan, and is really only granted for Huntsmen that are unbeatable by conventional means." Ryder sighs and rubs his face.

"Can I bring my horse with me?" Ozpin stops and looks at him.

"Now why would you need your horse for this test?" Ryder bobs his head side to side and avoids looking at Ozpin.

"She's got some weapons, and is... I fight at full capacity with her around." Ozpin nods, and says:

"Very well, but I hope you won't rely on such a thing."

"I don't." Ryder says, putting two fingers to his mouth. No sound comes out, simply vibrations. Ozpin stands there for a solid six seconds before he opens his mouth, only to not say anything as a distant whirring and burning noise occurred. Down the end of the hall, the duo could see the aforementioned horse, not galloping or running, but with jets on the bottom of the Hooves, as well as around the shoulderblades, propelling it forward. It slows down instantly, and touches the ground, deactivating the jets and letting itself gallop up to Ryder.

"Interesting." Ozpin states, looking it up and down. Ryder mounts it, jumping a good height in the air to actually reach the saddle. Ryder drives his spurs into the robot horse, and it starts to move forward, at the same pace as Ozpin.

"Now, simply collect your wea-" Before he even finishes, Ryder draws both pistols and spins them in his hands.

"I see. Please refrain from arming yourself without being told to." Ryder simply nods and holsters them again.

"What am I fighting?" Ryder inquires, to which Ozpin shakes his head.

"You'll find out." Ryder, obviously displeased, puts his mask on and says nothing else.

"Here we are." Ozpin says, gesturing for the boy on the horse to enter the room, he cautiously does as the Headmaster closes the door behind him.

The room was nothing special, it simply had a smooth metal floor and observatory room above him. Somehow, the wizard he is, Ozpin was already up there pushing a button on a panel.

"Ryder, the Grimm you are about to face is very dangerous, and one you likely haven't encountered in Vacuo. Do not take your enemy lightly. Ryder scoffs and calls out:

"I'd have died a while ago if I did." Ozpin nods his head, and pushes another button.

"Your initiation begins now."

Out of a small indent on the ground, a large cage-like device rises, as what is revealed to be what Ryder could only describe as a massive ape in Grimm form. The moment it laid eyes on Ryder, it went berserk. As it started to thrash around in its cage, successfully tearing apart the bars. Massive handfuls of steel and titanium were thrown at Ryder, as the Beringel smashed the ground.

'Ah, I've heard of these. Beringels. Better be careful with this one.' He pushes his spurr into the right side of the Horse, making it take a quick skip left, dodging all the shrapnel. At this, The beringel roars loudly, beating on its chest, before getting on all fours, and leaping towards Ryder.

Calmly, while the beringel is in the air, Ryder unholsters StarBrite and shoots from the hip, shooting the Beringel right in the left eye. Almost immediately, he stands on the saddle, and leaps over the Beringel as its falling. Starstreak moves forward ever so slightly to avoid the beringel as Ryder does a frontflip over the Grimm, and lands back standing up on the Saddle, pointing StarLite at the Grimm.

1

The Grimm freezes for a moment before screaming out, presumably in agony or anger, before it leans back pulling its arms back and performing a clapping motion. As to not get crushed, Starstreak just drops, as Ryder falls off the Horse, taking careful aim at the other eye. He didn't get the opportunity however as before he could take the shot, the Beringel stopped its motion and covered its face with one hand and grabbed at Ryder with the other. Narrowly missing the massive hand of the Grimm, Ryder decided not to take the shot.

'He's not just strong, the bastard's smart too.' Landing and rolling backwards, Ryder unholsters both pistols and aims them at the Beringel, which puts its head down and raises both arms, preparing to smash them down on Ryder. Instead of Dodging backwards, Ryder rolled into the smash, dodging the fists, and getting a shot off at its face and directly into its good eye.

2

The now blinded Beringel screams once again, throwing its arms in the air. Now the only bad thing going for Ryder was the fact that he was prone directly under the pissed off Grimm. Pushing off his hands, he pulled his legs forward and launched himself in the air feet first. The Grimm sensed this, and grabbed onto Ryder's left leg.

Not doing anything about his situation, Ryder accepted this and let the Beringel swing him directly into the wall, putting a decently-sized dent in the wall. It didn't stop there, however, as it grabbed him with the other hand and prepared to smash him into the ground. Unholstering Starbrite, Ryder narrowly missed shooting his own leg, and hit the Grimm's thumb, making the Grimm let go as it flung him across the room.

Correcting himself mid-air, Ryder assumed a three-point stance and slid across the floor. The Beringel threw itself at Ryder, wide open for any attack. Ryder shook his head as he holstered both his pistols and ran directly to his right. The Beringel was forced to land as it reached out and attempted to grab at Ryder.

'Grimm can go blind, but they don't lose their senses to hunt out negativity. But they still want to see, so they use the next best thing.' The Beringel let out a near ear-piercing roar as it attempted to use echolocation to gauge exactly how far Ryder was.

Ryder's expression hardened under his mask as the Beringel attempted to tackle him, narrowly missing him by mere inches. Bringing his foot up directly over his head, he brought it down right about at the shoulder of the Grimm, sinking his spur in the flesh of the Grimm. The Grimm reacts appropriately, attempting to grab at the pain, only for its longer arms to unsuccessfully grab at the tiny pinprick. It yells out in rage, as it jumps up, and tries to smash Ryder with its weight. Ryder merely grits his teeth as he uses his left arm to grab onto some bone plating as the weight of the Beringel comes crashing down upon him.

He breathes out a small pained "Fuck" as the Beringel screeches again. This time, Ryder takes the opportunity as the Grimm lifts itself up some to try again, he reaches behind his back into the poncho, and takes out a small cylindrical object. He tosses the object into its mouth, and punches its head. The grimm's head is pushed down some as it swallows the object, interrupting the screaming. Getting up, The Grimm manages to grab onto Ryder's arm, as it pulls the cowboy off of it, and grabs his leg, starting to Pull.

Before it can do any damage, however, Ryder draws StarLite and in one lightning-quick motion, fires directly into its chest, avoiding the bone plating separating pectorals.

3

The Beringel Screams once again and tosses the Human to the roof, dinging him against it as the Beringel bitch slaps him across the room. Skidding against the Floor, Ryder dusts himself off and adjust his hat some. The Beringel is about to charge him, when it stops, breathing out heavily.

As if possessed, the Grimm starts screaming in obvious agony, as the hole in which Ryder shot it in the chest starts to glow orange, and then spurts out sparks and flames. Trying to tear the bones off its skin, the Beringel's screams could be heard in several parts of the school, leaving Ryder to cover his ears.

Successfully tearing off some bone armor, the Beringel tears some of its flesh off as well, only for it to give up, the orange flames and sparks to begin to sprout from its mouth, and a moment later, the eyes. Becoming a fountain of sparks, the room becomes smoky rather quickly as the Beringel hits the ground again, causing a nicely-sized dent in the floor.

Ryder simply unloaded the spent casings, and loaded in new ones in, holstering the two in. The Beringel lets out one final scream, before it fell apart in two, in a small explosion-like pop!

The head, upper torso and arms fell one way, and the lower torso and the legs in another, effectively ending the fight.

Ryder looks up at the observatory room, and spreads his arms, not saying any words, but sending a clear message:

"That's it?"

Ozpin nodded his head and said over the intercom:

"Very well, Mr. Nightshade. Please meet me outside." At this, the door from before opened again as Ryder whistled, and mounted StarStreak, who was just laying down on the opposite side of the room. Exiting the room, Ryder isn't surprised to see Ozpin already standing there.

"Well done. You've defeated The Beringel single-handedly. Albeit, crudely." Ryder doesn't take his mask off and says:

"You wanted me to kill it. You didn't tell me to do it all fancy and pretty like." Ozpin nods and says:

"I do believe you qualify for a second year." Ryder's hidden expression changes to a slightly confused one as he asks:

"Not even an academic test?" Ozpin allows a soft smirk as he explains:

"If my intuition is correct, if you didn't know the first year basics, you wouldn't have made it this far." Ryder doesn't say anything as Ozpin starts to walk down the hall, signaling for Ryder to follow. Making Starstreak walk forward, He asks:

"Then what am I s'posed to do?" Ozpin Shrugs and says:

"The day is yours. They're broadcasting the first year's as of now in the cafeteria. You may watch them if you please. Or you may use the shooting range on the far side of the campus." Ozpin suggested as Ryder nodded his head, making Starstreak go a bit faster, leaving Ozpin behind.

Ryder had no Idea that the second year's were there already, though he should have figured, since the first day of school was tomorrow. Needless to say, the cafeteria had a fair amount of people in it, trying to see the Fresh meat.

The only reason that Ryder checked the cafeteria after sending Starstreak back instead of making a beeline for the shooting sange was for one reason only. Well... two, actually.

One, was to see if Belladonna was still around, or if she ran like the last time they met. He'd want those bullets back, and he'd get them one way or another.

The second reason was to see if the civvie died yet. To his amazement, he wasn't dead, and was traveling with the redhead he ran into earlier. He was about to leave, when he heard:

"Say, who do you think is going to get in?"

"Well, a lot of people, I'd say. But Phyrra Nikos is at the top of the list for me."

"Duh! She's the Four-time Mistrailian champion! Of course she's going to get in!" The students were particularly loud, as if they wanted everybody to hear them. Ryder took another look at the Redhead and knew he recognized her.

'Oh, it's her. Guess she won again. Kinda apologetic for someone who's probably a stuck-up bitch' He thinks, walking out of the room.

Emptying the Cylinder on the poor target, Ryder pulled the target back with the machine and measures the exact distance between shots. Aimed for the heart, all six shots were emptied in the span of one and a half a second. Taking a ruler, he measured the exact size of the hole, and nodded, somewhat satisfied.

'They're about a millimeter larger than .357. Good enough grouping, but still can be improved.' Ryder thinks to himself, putting the target back out at 50 yards. He reloads StarBrite and zones in. To his right, two more people enter the range, having a conversation.

"Coco, I don't want to do this." One whines, with a distinct accent that Ryder couldn't quite put his finger on.

"Vel, look, It's a minigun-"

"Exactly! It's meant to tear Grimm Apart!" She argues. Ryder sighs, with his mask still on as he uses StarLite, spinning it around some, he holsters it and breathes out.

"Vel, I can saw a Grimm in half with twelve bullets with my semblance, so it would take you more than double that if you just copied exactly what I do. You can't afford to waste all your bullets on five or six grimm. You need to be more accurate with your shots!"

"But it's a fuckin' minigun!" At this, Ryder empties StarLite at the target, shooting it directly in the right eye on the target. The two stop, and look at the target.

"See!?" The one called Coco says, gesturing at the target.

"It's different though! He's using.. revolvers." The one named Vel starts, saying it slower as she drags it on, looking at Ryder thoroughly.

"Coco, I think we should go." Coco just scoffs and says:

"What? No, We're going to get your accuracy up with minigun mode." Velvet actually begins tugging on Coco's sleeve, letting a little fear slip in her voice.

"Come on, please, let's get out of here." She succeeds in dragging Coco out of the door, leaving Ryder to himself.

'Fucking coward.' He thinks, drawing StarBrite and firing six times in the other eye.

Just outside the door, Coco asks:

"What's the deal? You were fine a minute ago." Velvet is obviously a little shaken, as she explains:

"I-That Guy is-"

"Ohh, shortstack in there? You already think he's hot?" Coco asks teasingly, jumping to conclusions.

"What?! No-" Coco Coos and says:

"Aww, a little anxiety can't keep you down. Let's go talk to him!" Velvet is about to yank away from Coco when her death grip latched onto her arm, pulling her back into the shooting range with a grin on her face. Waiting for the man to empty his revolver, Coco holds on tightly as Velvet struggles. Once he empties the spent casings, Coco marches right over and says:

"Hey Cowboy, Velvet here wanted to talk to you." At this, Coco presented her rabbit-like friend, who was nearly shaking like a leaf.

The cowboy looked over, as Velvet and Coco looked into the empty ports that were called eyes.

"The fuck?" Was all that came out. Coco nearly burst out laughing, while Velvet's attitude remained unchanged.

"Ahh, we wanna talk to you, that's what." Coco replies, not letting Velvet move an inch.

"... Why?" Ryder inquired, looking Velvet up and down, taking note of her rabbit ears.

"Haven't seen you round' here before. You a first year? Cause if so you missed initiation." Ryder made an inaudible sigh as he said:

"I'm 18." The statement made the two freeze up, even with Velvet being a little shocked. But this time, Coco DID burst out laughing.

"Ha, You're our age? I'm sorry, but you're a little... Nevermind, so you're a transfer?" Ryder cocked StarLite and says:

"In a way." Velvet pinches Coco, who opts to ignore it and continues.

"Right, so where's your team? We'd like to meet them." The two notice that Ryder physically freezes, as his grip tightens around the grip of his pistol. Yet somehow, he calmly says:

"They ain't here." Coco nods, while Velvet tries to step back.

"Ah, I see. So how about we Introduce you to our Team, Team CFVY." Coco states, giving Velvet a hug.

"Coco, he's bad news!" Velvet states in a rushed whisper that Ryder hears. Coco smacks her upside the head lightly as Ryder asks:

"Why the hell are you offering this?" Coco tilts her head and replies bluntly:

"It's so you know exactly how we work here at Beacon. Besides, It's not everyday you befriend a transfer student."

"We're not friends." It's Ryder's time to be blunt as Coco raises an arm.

"We don't have to be right now, It's just an offer."

Ryder thought about this for less than a minute. His first answer was obviously no, and he'd keep practicing his aim. But the more he thought about it, it was more logical, he'd get to see some of the second year teams, and gauge himself with them, just so he knows where he stands.

But it takes one decision. One choice to do something amazing. Someone can write a piece of paper, and can either end the lives of millions, or save the lives of millions.

Had Ryder made a different choice, he'd have kept shooting. He'd be there the rest of the day, and head off to bed, never even interacting with anybody from Team CFVY again. It'd lead down a path he'd continue to follow, eventually leading to his demise at the hands of one Tyrian Callows

But with one choice, the choice to go with these two ladies to see their team, changed all of that. Not just theirs, but the rest of the world's. One choice can change everyone's destiny. And it took just one word.

"Sure."

Beta: Fanfiction0000

Thanks to Fanfiction0000 For Beta reading this chapter! I don't have much more to say here, so here's your quote:

"There's not a word yet for friends who've Just met."

-Jim Henson