Episode Ty: Chapter 2: Unnatural

Chapter 2 of Ty's story.

            Ty and Vergil charged forward at the strange glowing Grimm.  He sliced through one of the charging green beowolves, and it fell to the ground and started evaporating like a normal Grimm, but it left behind this strange green blood-like substance.

            “As gross as Grimm are,” Vergil said as he cut through another mutated Grimm, “these have got to be the grossest variants I’ve come across yet.”

            “All the more reason to wipe them off the face of Remnant!” Ty said morphing his sword into bazooka form and firing it at another approaching pod of Grimm causing them to explode as well.  At this point, several members of the local militia made their way over and helped Ty and Vergil hold back the hordes of Grimm.  Ty then took his sword and morphed it into greatsword form, and charged forward into the thick of the mutated Grimm.  The monsters all lashed out, but their claws simply bounced off Ty’s absolute defense.  He then took his sword and swung it around cleaving the heads cleanly off of each of the monsters attacking him in that moment.  Surprisingly however, the green substance landed on Ty’s arm, and it caused a burning sensation.  His Semblance was still intact, but this seemed to bypass both that and his own Aura.  He started to worry this might give the monsters the upper hand.  But strangely, the Grimm seemed to turn around and run away after Ty’s last attack. As the militia started to clean things up, Vergil watched as the creatures continued their retreat.

            “Well, you don’t see that every day” Vergil said scratching his head.

            “Older Grimm usually become smarter the longer they survive” Ty said sheathing his blade.  “Maybe these creatures have just survived so long they now have green rave glow sticks growing out of their backs?”

            “You see I thought that too, but these things seemed to decide to retreat all at the same time.  Like they were given orders or something.”

            “You think some crazy idiot out there cracked the code to Grimm manipulation?”

            “It’s possible.  I remember reading about how the Schnee Dust Company did something with a Geist Grimm and turned it into some weird training buddy for the Schnee kids.  Heard it gave the second kid a bad scar over her eye.”

            “But a Geist is a pretty low-tier Grimm, and normally travels alone absorbing materials rather than with a pack.  This is a horde.  And the fact that their goo can apparently hurt even me directly is concerning.”

            “I agree, it’s pretty weird.  We should talk with the village leaders, see what they know.”  Ty and Vergil then made their way back towards the center of town and the mayor waved them down.

            “Oh thank you!” the mayor said.  “It’s so good to have a Huntsman of your caliber on our side Vergil!”  Ty rolled his eyes, having gotten used to his father absorbing most of the attention even if they worked together.

            “So what can you tell us about this current wave of Grimm you’ve been dealing with” Vergil asked they approached the town hall.  “This seems a bit more than just the Lizard Grimm you mentioned in our report.”

            “Our initial request to fight mutated Grimm was constantly flagged as spam because Professor Lionheart at Haven Academy believed we were making it up.  But now that the leader of the Demon Slayers has seen it first hand, we might be able to turn the tide!”

            “First things first, we need info” Vergil said stepping into the town hall.  The mayor followed him inside.  Ty tried to follow, but the mayor pushed him out saying,

            “Only important personal are needed for this meeting.”

            “Excuse you?” Vergil said turning back towards the mayor, his eyes almost glowing with rage.  “You want to say that again?”

            “It’s fine dad” Ty said turning around.  “I’ll do some physical investigating of the actual gunk left behind by these things while you deal with the paperwork.”

            “All right” Vergil said as his rage subsided and he turned back inside to talk to the mayor.  Ty then made his way back to the battlefield where the militia were still cleaning things up, and he started looking through everything that was left behind.  He put on a pair of gloves and ran his fingers through a small pool of the green blood that was still on the ground.  It was strange, it felt more like water as it ran through his hands.  Instead of sticking to his hand and falling to the ground like an ooze as he expected, it simply fell like water from a stream.

            “And I thought they were gross before” Ty said shaking the green fluid off his gloves.  He continued to go over the remains of the other creatures, and saw that one of the spines that protruded out of the back of one of the Beowolves hadn’t disintegrated like a normal spine.  And it was still glowing green.  He picked it up and looked it over, trying to see if he could find anything distinct about what made this spine different from the rest.  At first glance everything seemed normal, but then he noticed something strange.  What looked like a tiny camera mounted into the core of the spine.  Ty pulled it out and as soon as he did, the spine stopped glowing and looked like it had its battery ripped out.

            “A fake” he surmised as he tossed the fake spine aside and looked over the camera.  There wasn’t anything remarkable about it compared to technology he had seen from Atlas, but then he noticed something unique.  A logo on the side of the camera emblazoned with an M and what looked like a molecule surrounding it.  Ty took a picture and sent it back to the Demon Slayers HQ for analysis.  He then stomped on the camera breaking it to ensure nobody would be able to continue watching.  With that, he kept searching through the remains to try and find an answer to this strange enigma.

 

 

 

            A few hours passed, and Ty saw his father emerge from the mayor’s office, rubbing his eyes from exhaustion and clear boredom.  He walked over and patted his father on the back saying,

            “That’s the price of fame old man, you might get all the glory of battle, but that also means you get to sit in with the bureaucrats”

            “If this is the price of fame I quit” Vergil said in an annoyed tone.  “All they talked about were just random things they believed were happening because they figured they had ticked off the gods of the region or something.”

            “They posted this thing on the Mistrilian Huntsman boards, they can’t be that backwater backwards, can they?”

            “Their chief Grimm expert gave his presentation using a light projector like when I was in elementary school in Vale.”

            “Oof.  Not good.”

            “Yeah.  Any luck on your end?”

            “Maybe.  I found this weird camera sticking inside what I can only describe as a man-made Grimm spine, and it had this logo on it I sent back to headquarters for an analysis on.”

            “You didn’t recognize it?”

            “Not off the top of my head, no.  I sent it back to HQ for analysis but haven’t gotten anything back yet.  Take a look.”  Ty pulled out his Scroll and showed his father the picture.  Vergil looked it over, and scratched his head.

            “You’re right.  I don’t know what it is, but for the life of me I feel like I’ve seen it somewhere before.”

            “Well, let’s focus on one thing at a time.  Do you think we could get some backup from the Mistral headquarters to get some extra firepower or maybe even a chance to track these mutants back to their base?”

            “I want to, but the acting commander at the Mistral base is telling me that Professor Lionheart is giving them a ton of tasks keeping them busy.”

            “That seems…. rather convenient.”

            “I agree.  So unless we get something pretty solid, we might be stuck on our own.”  

            “Sending back pictures of the craziest Grimm mutations residue and the word of the head of the DSA isn’t enough for Lionheart anymore?”

            “Like you said, it all seems too convenient.  We’re going to have to figure this one out without our own system.”

            “Well here’s hoping something pops up sooner rather than later.”  Just then, Ty’s Scroll rang and he picked it up.

            “Hey Ty!” the voice of the attendant from when Ty first arrived said through the speaker.  “I just got that result back on the symbol you sent our way.”

            “Lay it on us” he replied.

            “Ok, so according to our database, that symbol is the mark of Merlot Industries, led by Dr. Merlot, formerly a dual resident of Vale and Mistral.”

            “Merlot Industries?  Never heard of them.”

            “They were a big deal for a while.  Arguably one of the largest research facilities that could rival Atlas.  They even had their own island not far from your location where reportedly they experimented on Grimm.  But then when Mountain Glenn was first being built, they moved their base of operations there, and then well, history happened to them.  Merlot himself was believed to have died in the incident that destroyed the town.”

            “How far away are we from this island you mentioned?” Vergil asked.

            “From what I can see from the location of this incident report, no more than twenty miles to your east.”

            “So either this Merlot guy is still alive and trying some mad scientist stuff, or somebody moved in and is doing mad scientist stuff of their own.  Can you send a squad to the location of the old factory?”

            “I can try, but like I told Ty, Lionheart is pulling us in several different directions.  It might take a few hours just to load people up on the airship.”

            “Do what you can.  Ty and I will head over to the old island and see what we can find.”

            “Sounds like a plan.  Good luck.”

            “You too” the aide said as he hung up.  Vergil then started making his way over to the speeder bikes.  But Ty was hesitant.

            “What if the village gets attacked again while we’re gone?” Ty said scratching his head.

            “Ooh, good point.” Vergil said.  “Tell you what, you go check out the island and see what you can find.  If there’s anything there, let me know and I’ll make my way over.”

            “Why not you?”

            “Because first, I think the mayor would have a panic attack if I left and you stayed here because he’s an idiot who doesn’t think my son can handle himself, and two, if Lionheart really is up to something, then if I’m officially and physically here while you’re off doing your own thing, he might not panic and try to keep delaying the help from getting here if that makes sense.”

            “I guess it does.  But if this Merlot factory is on an island, how will I get there?”

            “Dr. Pollendina actually thought of that!” Vergil said excitedly.  “Here, let me show you real quick.”

 

 

 

            Ty roared through the forest on the speeder bike, the path seemingly having been patted down by the marching of Grimm back and forth.  He was on the right track.  He finally came to the edge of the lake and saw an interesting sight.  Some of the mutated Grimm he and his father had fought earlier still making their way back, but they were marching across a hard-light Dust bridge heading towards a central island.  Ty could have easily followed them across the bridge, but realized somebody was probably watching them come across, so he waited for them to reach the island and the hard-light bridge to disappear before revving up his engine and engaging the thrusters his father told him about.  After the last of the monsters crossed and the bridge deactivated, he pushed a button activating a pair of thrusters at the front and back and sped across the water like it was nothing as he glided across the water.  After a few moments, Ty reached the island and saw the giant factory just peeking over one of the ridges of small hills that surrounded the island.  As soon as he reached the beach, he turned off his speeder bike and hid it behind some nearby rocks before climbing the ridge himself.  As soon as he reached the top, he could see the factory in its full broken glory.  It looked almost like a traditional Atlas factory in Mantle with its several pipes and broken windows across the way.

            “This thing looks like it can barely produce electricity, how on Remnant is it creating mutant Grimm?” Ty wondered aloud.

            “Looks can be deceiving” a new voice cut in.  Ty turned around to see a stranger wearing a black coat with a white sword in his left hand and a gun in his right standing right behind him.  “Didn’t think I’d find anybody else here.”

            “Well you did, so can you put that thing down?”

            “Who do you work for?”

            “Well you’re pleasant.”

            “I will shoot.”

            “That’d be pretty funny.”  The stranger scowled at Ty’s sarcastic tone, and fired three shots at his head.  Ty simply yawned as his Semblance caused all three bullets to fall harmlessly to the ground like they had just hit a wall.

            “Okay, that’s new” the stranger said looking at his gun in confusion.  He then pulled his pistol back and turned it into a black sword, and charged Ty.  Ty pulled out his own sword, and blocked the incoming attack.  The two of them started fighting back and forth for a few seconds before the stranger said,

            “Did Adam send you?  Or maybe that new girl he’s working for?”

            “Who?  What?  Wait, time out.  Who are you after?”

            “If you’re here on this island, that means you’ve most likely been following Adam Taurus like I have.  Well he’s mine.  We have a score to settle.”

            “Wait, one of the members of the extremist wing of the White Fang?  He’s here?”

            “Huh?  You’re not after him?”

            “Okay, time out.” Ty said putting his sword away.  “I think we should compare notes real quick.”

Author's Note

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