Author's Note:
Hey sorry for the long wait, I don't like to delve into my personal life because I don't want to be seen as egotistical and I'm a paranoid person. But the short answer to the question some of you will ask is: personal problems and dealing with them. That's why I've been gone.
I appreciate those asking if I was alright, the kindness of strangers is amazing. And speaking of the kindness of strangers, you may have noticed the new cover images. Cruz7808 is the one to thank for their amazing art. Whenever I see art I mostly enjoy the details, and the fact that the whole picture is a scroll is my favorite part.
Thanks to Cruz7808 for this, my goal of creating a story that inspires fanart has been realized. Even if I did beg in my author's notes just a little bit (a lot)
That being said, more fanart is always appreciated. Your own cover art can still be put up on one of the two fics and eventually three once I start freelancer.
Thanks for the love and support!
Cover Art: Cruz7808
Review, point out mistakes, and flame.
Story got deleted on FFN, should be up on Quotev, and Archive too. Get's posted on Wattpad first.
For cool fanart and art in general check out my sister's art page on insta: Artist . Joanna (No spaces) or twt: ArtistJoanna
S8E14- Reconfiguration
"Donut's back!" Nora continued to grin.
"It's strange that that was a deleted scene." Ren commented.
Blake nodded, "Maybe it was deleted so Donut could come back later. So far the deleted scenes we've seen have all fit in the episodes perfectly."
"Except we saw the last one way after it would have fit." Jaune pointed out.
Blake shrugged, "It still fit, I hope we see more."
"Only two deleted scenes so far." Ruby raised two fingers.
"I want to see some from the blood gulch chronicles." Yang commented.
"I'm sure there are a few." Weiss commented.
Jaune nodded, "Only one way to find out, watch every episode and hope for a random deleted scene. Or mini-series."
The others laughed at that.
" Reconfiguration" appeared on the screen with the theme.
"I read that as reconstruction at first." Pyrrha chuckled.
"Reconstruction, recollection, revelations." Ren hummed, "Reconfiguration fits into their memory theme."
"Don't forget recovery one." Jaune added.
Ren nodded, "The naming theme of this volume is a lot better than the blood gulch chronicles which seemed to have no theme."
"I liked the video game references in the names of Blood Gulch."
Ruby grinned, "Like the Joy of Toggling."
"Holding to crouch is a stupid mechanic." Yang grumbled.
Jaune laughed, "I liked holding to crouch, I never saw a problem with it."
Ruby threw her hands up, "It's annoying! And over time you mess up your scroll buttons with it."
Jaune shot Ruby a look of confusion, "The scroll screen isn't that weak, you'd have to hold down on the buttons really hard."
Yang cackled, "She gets stressed and competitive."
Ruby growled, "No I don't!"
Yang shot Ruby a look with one eyebrow raised.
Ruby sagged, "You're a cruel person."
Fade in to Doc, Wash and the Meta standing over the modified Epsilon unit, which is now olive green and sparking. (Went from a Portable Grav lift to Deployable cover)
Washington: "Great, he's done."
"It looks different." Nora squinted.
"He did say the Meta was changing it from a storage unit to a capture one." Ren pointed out.
"Oh, I must've been not paying attention." Nora giggled.
Doc: "Why is it sparking like that?"
"Sparking means bad." Ruby commented.
Nora laughed, "Especially if you're working on grenades. Sparking means you have a few seconds to get away as fast as you can."
Washington: "This thing's been through a lot, it's pretty badly damaged. But now that it's a capture unit we just need to get it near Epsilon, and we can pull him in."
"Pull him in? What does that mean?" Nora asked.
"Probably like sucking him out from his armor and into that thing." Yang explained.
Doc: "What if it breaks?"
Washington: "Don't worry, it'll hold until we get him. After that, it doesn't matter. It can short out for all I care."
Blake frowned, "That doesn't make sense."
"Why not?" Jaune asked.
"His goal is to bring back epsilon to stay out of hail. He can't bring back a sparking box and call it Epsilon." Blake explained.
Jaune shrugged, "Let him explain." He hit play.
Doc: "Then what's the point of all this?"
Washington: "I just have to deliver Epsilon to the Chairman. I don't have to guarantee what condition, I deliver him in. He's just evidence anyway. Meta, grab him. Doc, get ready to move."
Blake nodded and hummed, "That's smart using a loophole."
"Loopholes are only good if the power allows it." Weiss shook her head, "The chairman has all the power over Washington, if Washington brings him Epsilon in bad condition the Chairman won't care about a loophole. He's too powerful."
Blake sighed, "That's a good point."
"What about Doctor Oobleck?" Ruby asked, "I used a loophole and it worked on him."
"Wait you what?" Jaune's eyes widened. "How?"
Weiss face-palmed, "She said he hadn't told her to listen yet so she didn't listen to him." Weiss's face suddenly changed, her eyes widened and her cheeks brightened. "Which was how she was able to smuggle the most precious boy ever he's so cute!"
Jaune gasped, "W-what! That worked! I could have gotten out of all those Essays!"
Ruby laughed, "I'm a genius."
"No, Doctor Oobleck is just eccentric." Blake explained.
Ruby gave her a quizzical look, "Whaaaat?"
Blake shook her head, "Never mind... Jaune?"
Doc: "Move, move where? We don't know where they are."
Washington: "We know they're not here. So gather your gear, and get ready to move out."
Doc: "Well can we track them?"
Washington: "Track them?"
Blake chuckled, "Tracking in the desert is nearly impossible unless someone has a special semblance."
"Sun tell you that?" Yang asked.
Blake nodded, "He likes to talk a lot, mostly trying to get me to talk."
Yang shrugged, "At least you listen."
"Conversations are like books." Blake explained, "Some have a lot of information. Except you can't reread a conversation, it's important to listen."
"That's a nice analogy." Ren complimented.
Blake smiled, "Thanks."
Doc: "You know, pick up a trail, like footprints."
Blake face-palmed.
Washington: "Footprints. In the desert."
Blake and Weiss chuckled.
Doc: "Kh, don't special agents have the ability to track their targets through any kind of terrain? Follow broken tree branches-"
Washington: "Tree branches. In the desert."
"There is not a good way to track someone in the desert." Blake repeated. "The only way to know where someone has gone, is to guess that it's likely the closest settlement."
Doc: "Okay these are bad examples. Maybe heat signatures."
"In the desert." Weiss commented.
Washington: "In the desert."
Doc: "Like exhaust trails? I dunno."
Washington: "Tell you what. Why don't you just stick to not understanding medicine? Don't feel the need to expand your sphere of ignorance."
Blake shut her mouth to try and hold in a burst of laughter but failed.
Pyrrha sighed, "I don't want to laugh but that was clever."
Blake nodded, "Washington is by far my favorite character, Tex is a distant second."
"Distant?" Yang asked. "Even after her fight." Blake hummed and pursed her lips, "Close second."
"That's better." Yang nodded.
Doc: "Fine, jeez, I'm just trying to help."
Doc storms off
Jaune let out a short sigh, "I know that feeling."
"But.. when you try to help, it works." Weiss pointed out.
Jaune shrugged, "Not always."
Meta: *growls*
Washington: "Him? Ah, he's always whining about something."
"He's a prisoner, he should be whining more!" Nora laughed.
Washington: "... (under his breath) Hey Meta, is there any way we could track the Reds by trying to pick up a trail, like a uh, heat signature or something?"
"Hypocrite." Pyrrha mumbled.
Ruby laughed, "Heat signature, in the desert."
"Would that work?" Jaune asked turning to Blake.
"How would I know?" Blake asked.
"You're the expert on all things Vacuo." Yang pointed out.
Blake narrowed her eyes, "I only know what Sun has told me, he's not teaching me about Vacuo when he talks to me, he just tells stories."
Meta: *something*
Washington: "Yes. I know we're in the desert."
Pyrrha smiled, "The Meta has a sense of humor?" She asked.
"I doubt it." Blake commented.
Pyrrha shook her head, "I don't know.."
Cut to the facility with Church looking up at tex from the bottom of some stairs.
Church: "So you back up to a hundred percent yet?"
Tex: "Yeah. And whatever I didn't learn from Caboose I've been able to pick up from the rest of the guys. Didn't take long."
"I think a summary of everything she's missed would take a little longer." Weiss commented.
Yang perked up, "Oh! I haven't done this in a while."
"No." Weiss ordered.
Yang gave Weiss a look, "I'm going to prove you wrong."
Ruby pinched the bridge of her nose, "Go ahead, what has Tex missed?"
"I'm going to pretend I'm talking to Tex for this." Yang explained before taking a deep breath. She exhaled, "Okay so since you died all the Reds and Blues got shipped out to other bases. Church got sent out alone, That girl you hated got left behind-"
"Sister?" Nora asked.
Yang nodded, "Anyway, this freelancer named Maine started killing the other freelancers and taking their stuff. This other agent named Washington was trying to hunt him down." Yang took a breath, "While investigating he got betrayed by this other agent named south. She let the Meta get away by shooting Washington and saving herself as he took his stuff. Later Washington went to blood gulch to investigate-"
"Come on you just got to season six." Weiss complained.
Yang nodded, "I already explained recovery one, I think I proved my point....can I keep going?"
"No." Weiss ordered yet again.
Yang shrugged, "Fair enough."
Church: "Yeah we really don't seem to do much."
"They did a lot." Pyrrha commented. "They shut down project freelancer, they stopped the Meta once, they stopped a corrupt person from digging up dangerous artifacts, and in all of that they probably saved a lot of lives."
"They're like superheroes!" Nora grinned.
"Accidental ones." Blake chuckled.
Tex: "Maybe you should get a hobby. Like knitting."
Church: "We'll look into it."
Tex: "Hey, how did you know how to bring me back?"
"How did he do that anyway? He didn't even take her old body." Ruby frowned.
"He asked Caboose to help." Pyrrha explained. "I guess he did the same thing he did with Church with her."
Church: "Honestly I didn't have much choice. I couldn't get you outta my head so I kind of, had to, get you, outta my head."
Blake gasped, "That debunks one of our theories."
"What do you mean?" Jaune asked.
"Tex came out of his head, she's not another A.I. like we thought." Blake explained.
Jaune's eyes widened, "Like a fragment."
Blake smiled, "Exactly."
Tex: "Wow, how emo. Maybe you can blog about it."
"She seems more.. approachable than last time." Pyrrha commented.
Yang nodded, "I think she got everything out of her system for a long time."
Church: "Hey, you asked."
Tex: "When I was beatin' the hell out of the Reds, the alarm said it was 'Level Alpha.' Do you know why?"
"Level Alpha, obviously something to do with Church." Ren commented.
Church: "You know I didn't think about that, no."
Tex: "Then I want you to have Sheila give me access to the files here."
Church: "Why?"
Tex: "Because I'm gonna figure out exactly what they did to me here. I need to know who I am."
Blake frowned, "Maybe she is a separate A.I."
"Or was, Church used to be a separate one but now he's just a memory." Jaune explained.
Blake nodded, "And Tex is now the memory of her original A.I. Too."
"So like.. a memory of a memory?" Nora asked.
Jaune smiled, "Yeah, exactly like that."
"Wait but she came out of Church's head.. wouldn't that just make her his memory of her?" Ruby asked.
Yang's eyes widened as she sagged, "Aww no. If that's true that explains why she's so badass now. And nicer to him."
Pyrrha frowned, "That would..it does show how highly he thought of her."
Yang shook her head.
"She is probably Epsilon's memory of her. Just like Delta, meaning she is still her own memory. Not someone else's." Ren interjected.
Yang smirked, "Yeah, that makes sense."
"That would mean Delta and the other A.I. are also in his head. So technically he could give bodies to the others." Jaune added.
Ren grinned, "Delta could have a more serious role."
Church: "I know who you are. You're my girlfriend."
"Spfft!" Yang laughed.
Tex: "Whell, that's probably the most underwhelming description of all time."
Yang laughed even harder, "That's so good but she's also insulting herself."
"Hey! Church is great." Ruby argued.
"You only like him because he sounds like Dad and has a sniper." Yang argued back.
Ruby frowned, "He sounds like Dad but says mean things and he can't hit anything with his sniper! I like him because he's funny and kind of like the hero of this story."
Blake nodded, "He's the closest thing to a main character this show has."
Church: "Hey. Lots of ladies would be happy to be my girlfriend."
Tex: "What other women do you even know?"
Church: "Um, eyeuh, well there's uh, duhh, that's a-uh! Grif had a sister, she seemed to like me."
"She liked all the guys except Sarge." Blake smirked.
Nora gasped, "That's right!... I don't like Sister."
Tex: "I wouldn't be too proud of that. She was pretty easy."
Tucker appears behind them in a doorway
Tucker: "How do you know she was easy, Tex? You know what, never mind, don't tell me. It's better in my head."
"Perv." Weiss commented.
Church: "Where did you even come from?"
Tucker: "I'm always close by."
Tex: "Hey, can I kill him?"
Church: "You can hurt him. Kill him later."
Tex: "Hm. That actually sounds more fun."
"I love Tex." Yang grinned, "She's definitely still herself."
Tucker: "Man, I thought the old Church was whipped but, you're really taking it to a whole new level."
"I cannot imagine a relationship where Tex isn't on top." Yang commented.
"You know relationships aren't competitions right?" Blake asked.
Yang shook her head in disbelief, "That's not what I meant Blake. And good relationships aren't."
Blake's eyes widened as she understood what Yang meant. "Really Yang? But I agree."
Yang cackled as she leant back.
Tucker wanders off
Tex: "Why do you even put up with him?"
Church: "It's not so bad, I mean I admit sometimes it gets pretty hard and I, really don't know how to handle it."
Tucker: "Aaand, now I'm back."
"Hard and doesn't know how to handle it." Yang laughed.
"Are you a child? Wait why am I even asking." Weiss face-palmed.
"With how often you hit yourself I'm surprised you aren't brain damaged." Yang commented.
"Slowly I can feel my brain cells committing suicide one by one." Weiss groaned.
"You're the one killing them." Yang pointed out.
Weiss huffed and waved Jaune to hit play.
Cut to the Reds watching Church and Tex through a fence
Church: "Come on, let's get in there."
Sarge: " Simmons, this is our chance. Get in the computer and start entering the Blues back in the database."
"Huh, they actually have an opportunity to do that now." Weiss commented.
Simmons: "Yes Sir. Come on Grif, I need your help."
Grif: "My help? With a computer? Simmons, you must have me confused with someone who, can help, you, with the computer."
Sarge: " Kinda lost your train of thought on that one."
Grif: "Yeah, a little bit."
Blake grinned, "Every conversation feels so real, I love the little details of real conversations. Losing train of thought, stuttering, mispronouncing words. It's incredible."
"I don't think the voice actors had to work hard to do that." Ren commented.
"Exactly, it's real." Blake explained.
Simmons: "Fooling the Blues is one thing. If I'm entering all these names and records, I need someone to hold up the papers for me."
Grif: "Uh, sorry dude, paper holder's not in my job description."
Simmons: "No, but I'm gonna be working in the personnel files. So I can add it to your job description. In fact, I can make your job whatever I want. How does 'Chief Executive Butt Taster' sound?"
Nora cackled, "Simmons is an evil genius."
Grif: "You can't do that."
Simmons: "I can't? I thought you didn't understand how computers work. In fact while I'm in there, why don't I just make you a woman. It's just a checkbox, and we could always use a little more diversity in our team. I know Tucker will be happy."
"I think we had enough of female Grif with his sister." Weiss grimaced.
"His sister, Sister." Nora giggled, Yang smirked too.
"I saw what you did there." Yang laughed.
Grif: "Phph, make me a woman. Yeah right. Like changing a form would actually turn me into a woman. I mean that's just... How stupid does he think I... I- I- I better go help him."
"Really stupid." Blake laughed.
Sarge: " Good call, numbnuts."
Nora burst out laughing, "Sarge is right! He actually is a numbnuts after what Tex did."
"Gross." Weiss grimaced.
Jaune cringed, "He's still able to walk, so Sarge is right."
Cut to Doc approaching Wash and the Meta from behind
Meta: *something*
Washington: "That's great. You picked up a trail? Really?"
"So you can track people in the desert." Nora frowned looking to Blake, "You lied!"
Blake simply chuckled, "I said it was hard and only possible if someone had a semblance, but they probably have technology that can do it."
Weiss hummed, "Maybe Atlas could have something."
Doc: "Hi guys, what's up?"
Washington: "Oh, uh, Meta here was able to pick up a faint trail of the Reds based on gas spectrometry and uh uhum... resident heat signatures."
Doc: "What I, thought you said you couldn't do that."
Washington: "I didn't say we couldn't do that, I said you are an idiot. Those are two different discussions."
Doc: "I want credit for the idea."
Pyrrha laughed, "He deserves it."
Washington: "Doc, just let us do our job. You do your job. Anything, medical to report?"
Doc: "No, the dead aliens are still dead. Also still aliens, but that's less significant."
"His medical talents are astounding." Weiss commented dryly.
Washington: "Wonderful."
Doc: "Yeah, one other thing, you know that Stockholm Syndrome where prisoners start to like and identify with their captors after being held hostage for long enough?"
Pyrrha gasped, "I've heard of a syndrome like that, I forgot our name for it. But that makes sense."
Ruby grimaced, "I was captured by Torchwick for a short time. I can't see myself identifying with him and I can't imagine liking him."
Washington: "What about it?"
Doc: "No one has that yet."
Washington: "The feeling is mutual."
The screen cut to black.
"That's disappointing." Pyrrha sighed, "but Doc still has his spirits high. I think things will work the other way around. Washington will start to like and identify with Doc."
Ren chuckled, "That would be ironic."
Again, Cover art by Cruz7808. Big thanks to him.
And I will still accept more Cover art, the only rule is that it has to relate to the fic in some way.
I hope to get back to my consistent one chapter a week schedule at the very least. I wish I could go back to my chapter a day schedule. But the combination of stress and not having time may limit me to weekly.
Either way, thanks for the love and support!