RWBY 3

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SIDE QUEST REWARD 2, Tier 2 Grimm - 100 POINTS AND D-RANK REWARD.

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The bullhead circled the tiny crater of Yukio's rampage. Kinto by this point gained an effective understanding of the bullhead's controls and by doing so, he landed it nearby. The stream of newbies and our team hesitantly made their way out of the ship.

Kinto shut down the engine and ran towards us, Yin following. Shuai, wasn't particularly a useful character just yet but... his effectiveness could be cultivated up.

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Kinto: That was... outstanding. Haven, Yukio, what... are your enhancements?

Haven: We have-

Yukio: Sorry. No can do.

Kinto: Sorry?

Yukio: Haven, if you want to tell the newbies of your abilities, you can go straight ahead. However, until they prove themselves, or figure out my powers on their own, I don't want you to say a thing about my abilities.

Haven: But...

Yukio: I've said this before. You survive one mission, you reach the requirements to become my teammate. I'll be willing enough to save your life even if mine is put into danger. This is my rule. However, I am not cold hearted. I will not deliberately abandon any of you.

Kinto: Forgive me. I didn't mean to come between you and your ally. I was merely trying to inquire as to the limits of your abilities to fight against Cinder Fall in an efficient manner.

Yukio: All you need to know is that I'm strong. Perhaps strong enough to complete this mission on my own.

Kinto: I... see.

Haven: Yukio might not be willing to say anything however I'll speak a little about my abilities. I-

[Entry level Vampire mutation and Ki energy. Say nothing about the werewolf gene and Haki. Haki especially cannot be seen by the naked eye so its safe to assume that Kinto might not realize our true potential.]

Haven: -have the entry level Vampire mutation and Ki energy.

Yin: Wait, don't missions only award 1000 base points? Does that mean that you completed a lot of side missions.

Haven: ...Yes.

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Jax, Izumi as well as Yukio glanced at Haven. He stared back at them, silently, giving off a message not to reveal his abilities.

They seemed to take the hint and nodded imperceptibly in understanding.

Kinto asked us a few more questions about our abilities and skills. He was especially curious about our Ki bullet skill.

Unfortunately, we could only tell him it was an incomplete technique. And in a way, it was true. Haven had trouble emitting the energy outside of his body and had to rely on my Haki to forcefully eject the energy from his body.

This was problematic because it wasted a vast amount of Ki energy in the process. However, it was still effective.

Another issue that Haven needs to overcome.

As we were discussing our plans, a voice shouted out from the recesses of the forest around us. Instantly we all went on guard and turned towards the voice.

Two people, men, were walking over to us. The first one looked vastly older than the second. Perhaps late 40s? Maybe early 50s? The second man, wasn't really a man at all. He looked more like a teenager however from the way he walked, it could clearly be seen that he had experience.

They both had weapons strapped across their back. The older man had a giant double sided axe while the younger one had a... weird sword. Oh. It must be a mecha shift weapon.

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Gray: You... who are you people? What are you doing in this forest, so close to our town?

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Yukio's eyes narrowed as he signaled to Haven. Haven understood instantly what Yukio was trying to accomplish.

Leave it to me. He seemed to say.

Yukio being a veteran in God's dimension was undoubtedly the best person to speak as he had the most experience in these situations.

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Yukio: I am Yukio. These are my companions, Haven, Jax and Izumi. We are... hunters, of a sort. We were tying to look for practical experience when fighting Grimm. This was decidedly our best bet.

Gray: Hunters? Then what about the rest of ye?

Yukio: A Nevermore attacked their bullhead, which was heading to Vale. They told me they were interested in seeing the Vytal Festival. We managed to kill off the Nevermore however, the pilot perished and the ship is badly damaged.

Gray: Passengers huh? Well... the festival is definitely an attraction, alright. I... aint too sure about your bullhead over there. We do have a mechanic in the village however, I doubt he's worked with Bullheads before. Ya gotta ask him, if yer coming with.

Jones: Indeed. Excuse our behavior. There have been reports of bandits setting up camp around the area. My name is Jones Silas and this man is my uncle, Gray Silas. Follow me, we'll lead you to our small prefecture that we call a village.

Haven: Thank you.

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They waved us over and started walking back through the forest. Along the way, they kept asking us various questions here and there. Some of them, encompassed age as well as where we hailed from.

Yukio spun his bullshit very well. Along the way Kinto helped out, giving off information wherever he could.

Within time, the scene of the forest faded away and a town came into view. There were a few towering houses and shops but overall it looked quite peaceful, having nice green pastures and even a small river running through the middle of it.

Gray and Jones took us on a tour around the town, explaining where all the shops and districts were. It wasn't a huge town, by any means but it was fairly large when compared to a village.

The town was named Essence. We learnt that the village was about 2 weeks of travel time on foot from Vale. On Bullhead, around a day or so.

As you could probably tell, this was terrible news.

Our mission was to kill Cinder Fall and our time limit was 7 days. Adding to the fact that the Bullheads in the Town were protected by a militia of sorts and several hunters, it wasn't simply possible for us to hijack one.

Our only chance of actually making it to Vale was the Bullhead that we arrived in prior to the mission. Unfortunately... it was badly damaged in the fight with the Nevermore.

The Bullhead would only probably make 1% of the journey to Vale before it crashed.

There was however, a skilled mechanic workshop in Essence town. Hearing this, we retrieved the bullhead from the forest and sent it over for repairs.

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Mechanic: Hmm... your engines are damaged and your fuel tank is practically a bust right now. I... am not sure we'll be able to fix it up within a week. I don't really have much experience working with Bullhead engines but I'll see what I can do.

Yukio: Not sure? Dammit. We need to be in Vale before the end of the week. Is there any chance of just... um... partially fixing it so we could make it there in time?

Mechanic: Partial fixing?! You're stupid aren't you?

Yukio: Er...

Jax: Sigh. Yukio, what the Mechanic means is that a single flaw could ruin everything. If he makes a mistake in his repairs, the whole thing could explode mid flight to Vale. Problematic, wouldn't you agree?

Yukio: Sigh. Fine, fine. Do your thing. I wont bother you.

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Yukio walked off muttering under his breath.

Haven sighed and walked out from the shop. There wasn't much time before Cinder Fall would attack Beacon academy with the terrorist organization, The White Fang. There were too many factors inhibiting their actions of being able to help.

Thinking about the mission, stressed Haven slightly. He wasn't sure why he was this stressed. In the H.O.T.D. mission he hadn't felt as stressed as he was now. Heck, he had even had a bit of fun acting as an MC during it.

So why...

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Haven: Sigh. I don't suppose you have any ideas as to why, do you?

[I'm... not sure?]

Haven: ...Yeah I figured as much. Our mindsets are vastly different, after all aren't they?

[Haven?]

Haven: I'm too stressed and I'm not sure why.

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He decided that he needed to clear his mind. Haven walked over to the river streaming through the middle of the village. He sat down on the bridge's railing and glanced at the flowing water.

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Kinto: Haven? What's wrong?

Haven: Huh, Kinto?

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He turned behind, slightly startled. It seems Kinto must have seen his expression and followed him to try and find out what the problem was.

Kinto... was a lot more perceptive than I realized.

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Kinto: You looked sort of pathetic back there. Care to tell me what's the matter?

Haven: Don't worry about it. It doesn't really concern you, anyway.

Kinto: Come now, if I can help, I'll be glad to give any advice that might help.

Haven: Like I said. Don't. Worry. About. It.

Kinto:(raising an eyebrow) ...

Haven: ...why are you so curious, anyway?

Kinto: I'm in the military. I may be young but I wasn't lying one bit when I said strategy is my strong point. One thing I've learnt over the countless battles I've had to command is that Morale is one of the keys to victory. Demoralized troops tend to be nihilistic and won't perform as well as certain situations expect them to. Considering how Yukio and you appear to be our strongest fighters, It would serve our best interests if your morale is high.

Haven: ...

Kinto: So, are you going to tell me what's wrong?

Haven: ...Sure. Why not?

Kinto: Well...?

Haven: I'm not really sure what's wrong. I'm feeling stressed, all of a sudden and I'm not sure why. In my previous mission I didn't really get this feeling. Sure I was scared but... I was also happy that I was given a chance to become somewhat of a main character. It felt surreal. Like a dream. Now though, I'm just feeling dread.

Kinto: I see...

Haven: I see? That's it? You're not gonna... I don't know... help me out in someway?

Kinto: Haven, you seem to be misunderstanding something.

Haven: ...I have?

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Kinto turned to Haven and sighed. He looked back to the stream of water running below the bridge, the sparkling light from the sun shone onto it, giving it somewhat of glistening appeal.

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Kinto: You feel... useless, don't you?

Haven: ...

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Those words resonated with him. The feeling of uselessness. That was what was bothering him? I didn't understand but, Kinto apparently did.

In what way did Haven feel useless?

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Kinto: That fight with the Nevermore. The truth is, Yukio could have ended it easily in a single blow. he didn't even require your help at all. I can see it in his stature. He is very strong. The only reason he didn't use his full power was to let you get part of the reward for the side quest.

Haven: I...

Kinto: That Ki bullet skill. Sure, it helped however, Yukio didn't need it now, did he?

[Haven? This...]

Haven: (Ignoring Erin) I'm not sure if I can measure up. Yukio has an attitude of abandoning newbies to survive on their own and truth be told, it was one of the reasons he's become this strong. Sure, I did acquire a windfall of points during my first mission but... I feel as if.... there's something different about how Yukio views a situation and how I view it. It isn't just experience. When we trained together, I could tell he wasn't even using 10% of his true power.

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Haven sighed and glanced the blue sky above him. Puffy clouds hovered around, drifting about.

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Kinto: Hm... well of course, hes stronger than you. It isn't just the fact that he's been on multiple missions. And you'll likely never be able to beat him even if you experience as many missions as he has.

Haven: Huh? What do you mean.

Kinto: HAHA.

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Sensing Haven's gaze on him, Kinto stood up from his perch and glanced towards him.

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Kinto: Tell me Haven, have you ever heard of the term, the Genetic Constraint?