Entering Beacon two years early, she must be a prodigy… not better than me, obviously.
If I were her I would ask to switch teams, from what she told me, her team seems pretty problematic.
But it seems she wants to insist, so I'm going to give her some advice.
While I was typing my mind kept wandering.
I never liked this Huntsmen system of dividing teams. Having to be stuck with three people I just met that day.
And imagine being stuck in a team with a bad name like… AIDS.
I adjusted myself in the bush I was lying in, looking for a more comfortable position.
RedLikeRoses4: Thank you so much… it helped more than I expected.
Uh…
Of course it helped, I've watched all kinds of school series. There was no better person than me to ask for help.
theonlymaninthesky67: Of course it helped. Just who the hell do you think I am?
RedLikeRoses4: ?
I was typing another response when a low voice appeared right next to me, without any warning.
"Oi."
"AAAAHH"
I got such a big scare that I almost threw the Scroll into the air.
I turned around and saw Doug standing behind me, holding a large backpack with one hand, while the other was pointing at me.
He was giggling at my expense!
"Haha! You scream like a little girl."
"SHUT UP!" I growled with my face burning with shame.
That only made him laugh even more. Doug threw his head back, letting out a deep and amused laugh.
"Sorry…" he said, still laughing. "It's just that you were lying so comfortably in the bush that I couldn't resist."
I got up quickly, brushing the leaves and dirt off my clothes with irritated gestures. My face was still hot with embarrassment.
"It was a disguise!"
Doug wiped a tear from the corner of his eye while trying to stop laughing.
"Yes, yes, sure, whatever you say, kid. Ready to go?"
I looked around, frowning.
"Where's the cart?"
Doug blinked, as if he hadn't understood the question.
"Cart? What cart?"
No way…
"What do you mean 'what cart'? We're going on foot?!"
Doug shrugged, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
Is he messing with me?! It took like three days to get from Roca Town to the capital with the cart, and now he wants us to do the whole way back without it?!
Doug must have noticed my look, because he let out a short sigh and said:
"Relax, okay? I know a shortcut. The cart wouldn't be able to pass through it."
"And where would this supposed shortcut be?"
Doug stopped for a moment and pointed to the side, straight at the dense forest that began right after the road.
"Well, to start we wouldn't go by the road. We would cut through… over there."
I followed the direction of his finger and felt an immediate discomfort.
Even though it was daytime, the forest had a gloomy appearance. The trees were tall and dense, blocking most of the sunlight. The ground was covered with tall grass, exposed roots and strange shadows.
I swallowed hard.
Great, now he wants to venture into the depths of the forest because he supposedly knows a 'shortcut'.
He didn't even wait for me to answer and already started walking.
"Doug, I can't and I'm not going to walk through the forest again!" I complained, speeding up my steps to catch up with him. "There are bugs, things crawling everywhere, there's mud, thorns, strange animals… I hate this and I don't want to try it again!"
I heard a deep sigh coming from ahead, but I completely ignored it and continued:
"Have you seen that advertisement from my father talking about the new Dust mines here in Mistral and how it wouldn't harm nature? It was all a lie! He didn't set foot outside Atlas at the time, it was all green screen! Schnees weren't made for forests! At least I wasn't!"
"The last time I came through a forest, I was captured by a bandit tribe that almost handed me over to the White Fang! And now you want me to go through this again? This is ridiculous!"
Suddenly, Doug stopped in front of me.
Distracted, I bumped face-first into his back.
"Hey! Why did you stop all of a sudden?!" I complained, rubbing my nose.
He turned around quickly, looking at me with a very serious expression.
"Bandit tribe?" he asked, frowning.
"Yes. I barely escaped. It was close."
"Is it the Branwen tribe?"
"That's the one."
"Of Raven Branwen?"
"Yep."
"How did you manage to escape?" Doug asked, visibly tense.
Strange, why is he insisting on the subject?
Maybe he changed his mind and is finally going to go back to get a cart?
"They are important? They didn't seem like much… I managed to escape by disguising myself as one of the bandits and made a mini explosion in the camp to create a distraction."
"You did what?!"
"I disguised myself, it was even funny how I managed it. There was a little girl who came up to—"
Doug raised his hand, interrupting me abruptly.
Rude.
"Wait. Forget the girl. Go back to the explosion part, did you really blow up her entire camp?"
Oh no.
Would his Huntsman instincts consider this a terrorist act?!
"Well, when you put it that way, it sounds like I destroyed everything… But I just shot a Fire Dust cartridge. I won't lie, someone must have gotten a little burned. Some injuries here and there... one cabin caught fire... details, but you know how it is, right?"
I gave his arm a light touch trying to calm him down.
"They were trying to sell me to the White Fang, in the end it was totally justified self-defense."
Doug's expression became more and more incredulous. He opened his mouth, closed it, and ran his hand over his face hard.
"First of all, how did you end up getting involved with them?"
"Well, there was this Raven Branwen…"
"Yes, their leader."
"When the Bullhead crashed and I ended up alone in the Mistral forest, I ended up walking and walking and since I'm a growing boy I got very hungry, you know?"
"Uh-huh."
"Then I saw a crow and ended up shooting it, but it transformed into this woman, Raven, then she punched me and captured me."
Doug stared at me in silence for a few seconds… and suddenly relaxed completely. The tension left his face as if a huge weight had been lifted off his shoulders. He even let out a low chuckle.
"You got me… I almost believed it. Nice try, kid."
I frowned.
"What do you mean 'I almost believed it'? I'm not lying!"
Doug shook his head, now clearly amused.
"Raven doesn't turn into crows. Her Semblance involves some shit with portals. She opens holes in space and moves from one place to another. She doesn't turn into a bird."
"I'm not lying!" I insisted.
"It's in her name, man!"
"I saw it with my own eyes! It was a normal crow, black, clean… and suddenly puff! It turned into a woman, in red armor who looked at me like I was an insect!"
He scratched the back of his neck, looking a little less skeptical, but still confused.
"It does sound a lot like her…"
"But are you sure you didn't hit your head when the bullhead crashed? Maybe you were confused, maybe it was something else."
"I know what I saw, Doug. And she knocked me out with a punch. Then I woke up in a cage in the middle of their camp."
He thought for a few moments before speaking.
"I'm not saying I believe it, but if you really shot Raven and then blew up her camp it's very likely she'll come after you."
"That bitch is crazy, Whitley. Once when I was still working. I arrived at a village that the Branwen had passed through and everything was burned and full of bodies, if I had arrived earlier I probably would have been one of them."
GULP
"I heard rumors that she once killed three men with a pencil…"
GULP
"Then you shot her and even blew up her entire camp."
GULP
"It wasn't the entire camp! It was just a tiny little bit like this."
I made a small gesture with my fingers.
"See? Just like this."
Doug stared at me in silence for a few seconds. Then he slowly shook his head.
"You were funny, Whitley… but I think it's not going to work..."
Why is he talking as if I'm already dead?!
And what does he mean it's not going to work?!
I felt panic rising in my chest. My last remnant of pride went out the window.
"Doug, come on!? And that Huntsmen oath you made in Heaven, are you sure there wasn't something about protecting innocent little boys from evil bird women?!"
"You're not going to abandon me now, are you?!"
Doug looked at me for a moment, then turned his face to the side and started looking at his nails with a bored expression.
"There's a simple solution, actually."
"What is it?! I'll do anything! I swear!"
"You can go back to Atlas," he said calmly, still looking at his nails.
Ah… so that was his plan…
"No."
Doug made an irritated expression and raised his voice:
"Why not?!"
"I understood your little games, okay?" I replied, crossing my arms.
"Now let's go before I pass out from fear."
Doug muttered a curse under his breath before continuing to walk.
…
Some time later I said:
"Hey, it was genius of you to tell me how dangerous she is to try to convince me to go back to Atlas."
"I know, right?"
"Yes! It was close! HAHAHAHAHA!"
"HAHA! By the way, you know that thing about the pencil? It was a lie! I got it from a MOVIE!"
"HAHAHAHA!"
"HAHAHA! So she's not that dangerous, right?"
"Oh no, she's much worse, she would definitely slice you up the moment she found you."
GULP
"Anyway, let's go. It's a long way to Roca Town."
I think I hate forests even more now…