Episode Bovia: Chapter 1: My World

Chapter 1 of Bovia's adventure.

Who is Strongest?
Who is Smartest?
What Makes a Leader?

What Qualifies Them?

How is it Quantified
In Your World?

 

 

The Island of Menagerie

Bovia Brown: Age 7

 

 

 

            The monsters were coming.  Screams of the Faunus filled the night.  Everybody ran for the docks.  Bovia looked over her father’s shoulder as the Grimm from the desert made their way into the town.  Tearing up houses and people.  Halting for no one.  They were coming for the living.  But as they grew closer, figures leapt overhead from the shoreline.  Heroes.  Huntsmen and Huntresses.  The battle was joined.  The fires raged; the chaos grew.  The monsters were plentiful, but they were only so powerful……

 

 

 

The Island of Menagerie

Bovia Brown: Age 12

The Home of the Brown Family

 

 

            Bovia’s eyes shot open as she woke up from her dream.  She wasn’t terrified, but she wasn’t happy either.  She had been having the same dream every so often for the past five years even after the defenses had been vastly improved.  She slowly got up and prepared for her day, stopping for a moment as she carefully put on her shirt to make sure she didn’t poke any more holes into the shoulders with the horns on her head.  Her parents were both cow Faunus.  Her mother had a tail, while her father had horns, Bovia inheriting the latter.  Aside from getting ready in the morning, they weren’t too difficult to deal with, but Bovia did wish sometimes that she got her mother’s traits instead.  Like many Faunus, Bovia’s traits were noticeable at a first glance and weren’t as widely recognized as some others.  Usually, it was the Faunus with animal ears or tails that got all the attention of beauty magazines, or were the easiest to hide when visiting the four main Kingdoms.  Some Faunus would use clothing to hide their features, most famously Blake Belladonna using a bow to hide her cat ears during her first few years at Beacon Academy.  And while several strides had been taken in Faunus equality following both the Battle of Beacon and Vytal, there were still parts of the world that did not treat the Faunus with respect.  This is why Bovia’s parents moved to the island of Menagerie and planned on staying there for the rest of their days.  But that didn’t mean that the Faunus children were any less cruel than their human counterparts.  Bullies would still find ways to mock others to try and make themselves feel better regardless of the strife their ancestors had to fight for to give them what they had in the present day.  The kids at school usually picked on Bovia’s horns because very few female Faunus had horns.  Given the smaller size of her own horns, Bovia’s classmates would sometimes call her “little devil” or other hurtful names.  So she grew her hair long and thick enough that she could cover her horns to try and reduce the amount of ridicule.  Despite this, it still was a trick to put a shirt on without tearing holes in the top.  She finished getting dressed and walked down to the kitchen where her parents were getting ready for their work day.  Bovia’s father Pecor was one of the heads of the maintenance team for the CCTS tower on Menagerie.  Unlike the other four in the main Kingdoms, the one on the island was more at risk of tropical storms and natural disasters so ensuring structural integrity is essential in order to keep Menagerie connected with the rest of Remnant.  Bovia’s mother Armena was mostly a stay-at-home mom, but she would sometimes watch some of the neighborhood children while the parents were either busy in town or possibly abroad in the other kingdoms on work charters.  She was getting lunches prepared for both Bovia and her husband when Bovia reached the table.

            “The director left a voicemail for you last night darling”  Armena said as she chopped up a few vegetables for a sandwich.  “Apparently there’s something wrong with the auxiliary storm unit he wants you to look at this morning?”

            “We have texts….” Pecor said as he took a drink of his coffee.  “Why does he still think this is twenty years ago?”

            “To be fair dad,” Bovia said as she slowly began reaching past her mother for a small cookie from the jar, “the guy does work with Ghira a lot, so they probably sit around that giant palace the Belladonna’s call a house and listen to records all day.”  As the three of them laughed, Bovia started to reach into the cookie jar, but just before her hand reached inside, her hand got slapped away by Armena’s tail.  Bovia yelped in pain as she shook her hand from the stinging sensation.

            “You’ve been trying that trick since you were five young lady” Armena said as she pulled her tail back behind herself.  “Has it ever worked once?”

            “I think the fact that the shape of the tip of your tail is all but imbedded in my hand at this point is answer enough.” Ember said with a chuckle while still shaking her hand in pain.  Her parents laughed at this and the three of them went about their breakfast.  Afterwards they put their dishes away, Pecor headed out and jumped on one of the new streetcars heading towards the CCTS tower, and Bovia made sure she had her bag packed and ready for Combat School.  One of the new things that came with the new investment by the four Kingdoms in Menagerie’s technological revolution and guidance towards the modern era was the implementation of new combat schools in the different villages across the island.  There had even been growing talks about building a fifth Academy on the island, but Ghira Belladonna believed that there needed to be more investment into making the island of Menagerie as a whole more inhabitable.  Two thirds of the island was still massive wastelands and as a result, he did not believe the island was ready for the more than likely massive influx of Faunus students.  So the combat schools remained the best opportunity for children on the island.  Bovia weaved her way through the crowds of people and finally reached her class.  She looked around and was initially worried when she saw one of her biggest bullies standing by the lockers, but that worry was alleviated when she saw her best friend Canini waiting by her locker.  Canini was the same age as Bovia but slightly taller with blonde hair and darker skin tone due to her family having roots in both Vacuo and Atlas.  She had a pair of dog ears which also lead to some ridicule from classmates, but she was better at tuning out the noise of the bullies and instead was able to turn an ear to be friends with someone similar like Bovia.  Bovia walked over with a big smile on her face and gave her a fist bump.

            “How goes it?” Canini asked returning the fist bump.

            “It goes” Bovia said with a sigh.  “The homework was pretty brutal last night.  Why do we need to study The Great War anyways?  Don’t they teach this to students again when they go to one of the four Academies?”

            “Not as in depth as Atlas or Mistral if I remember right.  Those two both aren’t as keen about highlight Faunus contributions or the fact they lost that war.”

            “The world almost got destroyed almost fifteen years ago by some evil criminal syndicate, you’d think that they’d finally look past such stupid petty differences.”

            “This is Remnant.  Petty differences kind of is the reason we have the Four Kingdoms in the first place”. The two of them laughed again and started making their way to their homeroom following the ringing of the first bell.  As they sat down, the teacher took roll and the classes began.  As Bovia anticipated, it was mostly information she knew she would learn again once she went to an Academy, so she mostly tuned it out.  The rest of her day went about the same with teachers going over similar subjects Bovia either already knew or was not that interested in.  The day continued to drag, even to the point where even taking part in combat exercises was boring and mundane for Bovia.  She had practiced using her Kusarigama in this context so many times ever since her mentor introduced her to the weapon the routines at school were no longer a challenge.  Bovia was excited initially when she was given this weapon because she had struggled with almost all other weapon types prior to this one, so learning the basics with the one that seemed to click with her was exciting.  Now however it was just mundane.  But that feeling quickly dissipated as the final bell rang and she quickly gathered her things from her locker.  She made a beeline from the school to a nearby small dojo where she burst in with a big grin on her face.

            “Master Ilia!” Bovia yelled as she ran inside.  “I’m ready to start practicing the new technique you taught me last week!”  As Bovia yelled in excitement, a small yet older woman stood up from a table in the back with a smile on her face.  Ilia Amitola was once a member of the White Fang years ago but was granted a pardon following her efforts to help defeat the White Fang during the events of the Vacuo Uprising.  The White Faun, an organization that was founded back around the defeat of The Order of the Four Seasons, were instrumental in both the Vacuo Uprising as well as afterwards in bringing about critical change and growth for Faunus around the world and improving life in Menagerie and were the ones who helped Ilia gain a new lease on life.  Ilia slowly walked over and greeted Bovia as she was putting her school supplies off to the side.

            “You got here fast” Ilia said with a smile.

            “Can you blame me?” Bovia responded as she pulled out her weapon and got ready in the center of the training mat in a battle stance.  “These training sessions are easily the most exciting part of my day!”

            “Well, I’m glad I can provide something that you look forward to every day” Ilia said as she prepared her own weapon and joined Bovia on the training mat.  The two of them then began circling one another, preparing for a combat routine they had practiced several times beforehand.  Ilia made the first move using her weapon, a whip-sword called Lightning Lash.  She used the whip function to reach out and attempt to strike Bovia, which she retaliated by blocking the attack with the sickle part of her weapon and using the weighted end to fire back towards Ilia.  This resulted in Ilia backing off to avoid getting hit by the attack.  Seeing an opening, Bovia charged forward and prepared her next attack.  She pulled the weighted ball back towards her, and then spun it around herself, angling it where whenever the weight was in front of her, it would hit the ground.  Looking akin to a helicopter’s blades spinning into the ground.  She then angled her attack towards where Ilia was aiming to land, forcing her to leap backwards keeping herself off balance.  Bovia then took the sickle in her off hand and attempted to move in for an attack following the final rotation of the weighted end of her weapon.  However, before she could do so, Ilia fired a round of Fire Dust at Bovia’s hand that was swinging the weight, causing her to drop it in a shot of pain.  This allowed Ilia to quickly regain her bearings and launch an attack back at Bovia, forcing her to block it with the sickle.

            “Not bad” Ilia said as she pulled back and reset her weapon, Bovia doing the same.  “The forms are good, but you left your weight-hand defenseless.  You should try keeping the sickle closer to your swinging hand to defend it from potential incoming attacks.  I aimed to simply stop your spinning; an enemy might not be as considerate.”

            “Noted” Bovia said as she shook her hand in pain.  Once she was ready though, she got back up and resumed a ready position. 

“Ready to go again?” Ilia asked as she reloaded her weapon.

“Only way I’ll actually learn” Bovia said with a grin.  Ilia smiled, and the two of them continued to spar.

 

 

 

The two of them stat out on Ilia’s back porch as the sun began to set, Bovia out of breath while Ilia had only managed to work up a light sweat.

“You’re getting better kid” Ilia said with a smile.

“Sure doesn’t feel like it” Bovia said as she took a big drink from her water bottle while Ilia laughed.  As she did so, a beeping noise came from around Ilia’s left ankle.

“Crud, five already” Ilia said as she pulled out her Scroll and pressed a button, causing the beeping to stop.

“I can’t believe they still make you wear that ankle bracelet” Bovia said as she leaned forward with a look of disgust on her face.  “It’s been how many years now since the Vacuo Uprising and they still don’t trust you?”

“I don’t blame them” Ilia said with a weak smile. “I was in so deep with the White Fang it makes sense they want to keep tab on me.  Especially on an island that’s roughly 99% Faunus.”

“All you’ve been doing is training kids like me, I don’t see how your affiliation with one group can really…..”

“You didn’t grow up with the White Fang and its rhetoric.  Or the consequences of its actions.  The consequences of my actions.”

“I only see my teacher who’s doing her best.”

“I’m glad you see that.  But I still remember when my best friend saw me at the Vacuo Uprising all those years ago, and that’s the version of myself I believe deserves this.”  Bovia chuckled a little bit as Ilia said this.

“If what you’ve told me about Blake is true, then maybe now that she’s not as emo as she was back when you were kids, you’ve taken it upon yourself to be the emo one in your friend group?”  They both laughed at this, and then an alarm went off on Bovia’s Scroll.

“Five already?  Man, we didn’t even get a chance to watch the old Vytal Festival tapes.”

“You’ve seen those fights several times already” Illia said with a smile.  “I could tell you stories about the Heroes of Vytal when they had even better moves instead of when they were kids.”

“I know, but watching them actually move and fight when they were closer to my age helps me visualize how I can improve my own abilities.”

“Their skills are their own.  As are yours.  Even your Semblance once you unlock it will be your own unique power.  Studying them won’t do you any good unless you learn about yourself first.”

“You’re full of speeches tonight, aren’t you?” Bovia said with a chuckle.  “All right, but next time for sure we’re watching those tapes!”  She got up, gathered her belongings, and ran out to the street as the five o’clock streetcar started going past.  “Same time tomorrow?”

“Looking forward to it” Ilia said with a smile.  With that, Bovia jumped onto the streetcar, paid her fare, and then stood out on the back railing watching the island roll by.  She smiled and stared at the sun getting ready to set into the sea.

 

 

 

As the winds continued to blow across the water, a figure in a black coat stood atop the waves watching the island.  He waved his hand and green strands began ebbing and flowing around him.  He touched different strands and saw different images appear in an instant before him, and he studied them all carefully.

“I shouldn’t have to interfere,” he said as he looked over one of the strands, “but it does seem I won’t attract the attention of the Arbiters if I do nudge things in the right direction.”

Author's Note

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