Jackson Slate's Story

-wrong place-

Vale - Outer region of commercial district - 6:30 AM

With a final exhale, Ricochet dropped the box into place and wiped the lone bead of sweat off his forehead, giving the cardboard a last pat into place alongside its brethren. ”I think that’s all of them, ma’am.” He stretched his arms out and concluded his work for the day, the shopkeeper’s admiration was enough of a reward. The boy gave the product of half an hour work, a stack of boxes chock-full of cooking supplies, a grin as he shot his employer a thumbs-up. Another set of hands around the shop can really make wonders. Too bad I only gave birth to children who hang around the academy like it’s a safe haven.” The woman pouted and slumped behind the serving counter. Rico sighed and shut the door to the storage room behind him, then paced his way over to the mother who could easily be mistaken for a woman in mourning. The student only shook his head at the depressing sight. He turned to face the coffee machine, following through the speedy procedure of refueling his thermos with bitter goodness.

”Well, they’ve both grown to be quite eminent characters, if I do say so myself. Definitely a pair of juniors I can be proud of training with.” He lightly pressed the rim of the cup to his lips and gave leeway for a chug of the invigorating beverage to make its way down into a descent. ”But they don’t even stop by during the weekend. Not even when there’s a break! They just act like the woman who birthed them is equivalent to discarded trash on the sidewalk!” Rico could already notice the symptoms preceding a waterfall of emotional tears, he would have to move quickly to defuse this time bomb. ”...I guess that proves how important they are! I’m sure if they managed to get some free time, they would make their way over here in a heartbeat! They would fly- no, leap there way from Beacon to here.” The student offered a reassuring smile as solace, in hopes of her not breaking into a turmoil of denial. The shopkeeper seemed to have taken Rico’s consolation as the truth and pieced herself back together. ”Anyways… If there’s anything else you need help with, I’ll happily obl-”

”Ricochet, it’s time to return to the campus.” A voice resounded over the chime activated by the shop’s door creaking open. A man stood in the frame, dressed in fine garnishing presenting himself as a member of the upper echelons of society. ”Oh. Sup Mr. Vhan! You heard him, ma’am. Seems that the academy needs its trump card!” The boy made a haughty grin to further bolster his already prevalent ego. At least he knew when to show restraint. He walked over to the entrance where his weapon, Alacrity, rested against the wall. In one fluent motion the student grabbed it by the sling, twisted it midair and hefted it over his shoulder. The two gave the cook a farewell and made their way for where the aircraft was parked.

Rico wasn’t moving at the same expedited pace as Vhan, a teacher known for being one of the friendlier members of the faculty. The student took his time, taking in the sights of the residential area. Even though it was barely light out, the city was still lively at this hour. Shopkeeps prepared their stores for another day, kids played in the streets before school, it was a tranquil scene overall. ”You know, Mr. Vhan, this place grows on you. I could wake up here every morning and feel ready to tackle another grueling day.” Rico had maintained a policy of visiting the area on a daily basis, after all, he got his rear in gear at the peak of dawn. Even if he wasn’t visiting the down, he was most likely training in the academy halls. If his teammates were to ever wake up, and he was still sound asleep, they would know that something’s awry. The teacher only gave his pupil a lackadaisical smile, until his attention was diverted to his device’s beeping. Vhan shifted through his coat’s pocket and placed the contraption to his head as they reached the craft.

”Mhmmm. Alright. Got it. We’re en route now. Come on, Ricochet, we can’t miss the morning assembly.”

”What? It’s just a morning assembly. Can’t we linger a little bit mo-”

”No. Get in the transport. Now.” The usual lenient smile abruptly evaporated, replaced by a commanding gaze staring daggers at the student. Rico followed suit and quietly nodded, raising his foot to step onto the aircraft

Beacon - Now

Rico slammed his foot onto the ground as he broke into a sprint, dead-set on a course to the auditorium. The announcement was nearing its conclusion by the time he had reached the entrance. Before him was a sea of students draped in the same uniform, somewhere in there was his team. A few questions were bouncing around in his mind as he scoped around for his comrades. Why only senior squads? What was so detrimental about this assembly? If it wasn’t for the fact that Terry’s cerulean hair wasn’t such an irregularly bright hue, he probably wouldn’t have been able to locate the trio. Ricochet made his way through the coagulated body of students, most of them were familiar faces which gave him right of passage. It might have also been the fact that the guy was known for carrying his rifle at all times, and there was even a rumor that a safety didn’t even exist on the thing. Of course one was implemented into the mechanism but Rico never made the effort to extinguish such claims. He allowed them to continue their circulation through the student body’s veins, just for his own personal amusement. It wasn’t long before he wound up next to his squad. Despair-induc- Glynda was finishing up with her speech.

”So this is why Vhan was hellbent on getting me here… Eh. Guess they’re organizing the forces. So, squad leader, what’s on our agenda?” Rico smirked at the trio and nodded. It was same old same old. Go in, wreck some Grimm, fly out in slow-motion, the whole enchilada. But if a situation like this has even Ozpin rattled, something must’ve been amiss. He patiently awaited Terry’s orders and the opinions of his fellow squadmates.

So, that’s why they were all gathered? Was this assemblage of senior students the pinnacle of the academy’s operations? One thing they did accomplish for sure was making the air too sparse or heavy to breathe. The amount of carbon dioxide circulating through the hall was nearly unbearable, Ricochet was half-tempted to shout out at somebody to open a few windows. Of course, this order would be accompanied by a slew of unnecessary slurs and bashings, but that’s just how the guy rolled. Born and raised with a sailor’s mouth daunting enough to challenge Atlas’ finest navy generals. ”...I wonder how they managed to cook up all these missions? I don’t even see a single senior squad absent. Guess they were holding out on us~!” He didn’t take the academy heads to wait for all of these operations to accumulate. But surely they were expecting a few spineless units to drop out, so there probably weren’t that many to go around. A line was already coming into fruition, meaning that missions were already being plucked from the scroll, like grapes from a vine. It was like watching a bunch of conscripts fall into a column, a disjointed mess of forced soldiers greener than grass. Fortunately, most of the squads knew what they were doing since they had managed to survive for a few years.

Rico wasn’t always the most decisive person, but he had a good taste in picking their battles. Considering that he had just ran all the way from the port, he was planning on taking a few moments of respite to catch his breath. That was his plan, until he felt a surprisingly firm grip grasp his arm and pull him towards the line. Ricochet looked back at Natalie and Jackson with a pleading gaze screaming ”Please. Save me.” Yet rather than coming to the student’s rescue, they merely exchanged glances and left the brunette to his fate. It seemed that a teal-haired girl screaming at the top of her lungs dragging an armed student behind her was enough to clear a path. Soon enough the whole squad had assembled before the array of missions and delved into the countless passages of text. There wasn’t one which really piqued his fancy, most of them were just babysitting or blatant Search and Destroy tasks.

Team TNJR was one of the more lightly equipped squads, armour wise. Only Terry sported any type of clad, while the the other three advocated that any protective wear would slow them down. That would’ve been the case for their leader, if it wasn’t for her speed-enhancing semblance, which negated the hindrance of her armor and kept her on par with the rest. Missions which required speed and agility was the squad’s forte. Rico stared up at the board, an enthusiastic grin stretched across his face at the possibilities fulfilling his criteria. Both Natalie and Terry offered up their options, but it was ultimately the latter’s proposition which was decided upon. He was surprised to see his comrades so hyped for a mission entailing fighting mercs. Alacrity didn’t exactly have any non-lethal rounds possible for its chambering, so it was evident that blood was bound to be spread. Rico already had a mindset mentally prepared to kill others of his species, but he wasn’t so sure about his comrades. The boy just shrugged to himself as he read the remainder of the form and shoved it into his pocket. ”I’m not quite sure how grimm and bandits come into the same equation, but eh, can’t say I’m not fascinated by how such a feat will transpire. Sure, I think Alacrity’s fine with such a scenario.” He gave a boasting nod to the rifle slung around him and continued to sign the enlistment scroll.

”Not sure how long we have until we deploy… Preferably, I’d like to get a refill, but anything’s fine.” To prove his point, he chugged down the last of the refreshment and slipped the thermos into his coat. ”Hope you’ve overcome your motion sickness, Jackson. Not sure if they’ll have a surplus of barf bags whilst we’re fighting off waves of foes.” Rico playfully smirked at his fellow teammate, then turned to Natalie and Terry, ”Guess we should wrap up whatever we want to do on Beacon before our departure. No need for the long faces, we’ll be fine! We’ll just operate as usual, with Jackson and Terry on Vanguard, and Natalie and myself in the rear. Just same old same old.” He flashed the group his iconic grin of uncontained eagerness, but the set of teeth suddenly devolved into a more serious expression.

”...Is what I want to say. But something tells me things’ll be different this time. We need to keep our heads high and on the prize. No slip-ups, or the whole thing's botched.” It was very rare to see Rico actually taking things seriously, but such an abrupt change in demeanor was needed. The student quickly changed back to his nonchalant self and smiled yet again, ”Well. Let’s wreck a few adversaries, shall we?”