Atlas, Finally Home

[Amber Veritz]

Snow flied behind the faunus as she tread over it on her snowboard. As tired as she was, she couldn't believe she was able to handle the magical speed this board was capable of reaching. It went as fast a normal car back in Vale, but had no engine and ran solely on Omnilium, pushed forward simply by the kick of a foot.

Wind scrapped by Amber's face as she flew through the Frozen Fields, loving the taste of fresh, cold air. She had spent way too much time in that cave, seeing people die and nearly dying herself. She sighed and looked forward to see her fort at the horizon.  Home.

She slid up to the door way and banged her hand roughly on the steel. It may have been just her, but it seems like the walls were larger. The fort seemed bigger, or was that just her imagination running wild from being stuck in the caved-in situation?

"Yo' 'Saki! Let me in! I need a fucking bath!" She screamed into the microphone loudly and a bit angrily. "You wont believe what the fuck I've been through."

"Alright just calm down, I need to talk to you about-" Amber cut him off abruptly, it was now that he knew he should probably just leave her alone.

"Just let me in. I need to sleep, whatever you need to tell me can wait until after I've had a decent nap and something to eat." With that, the steel doors let off steam as the pressure unlocked and began to swing open slowly.

Houses.

This was the first thing Amber noticed upon entering the Fort. Homes of people she had never seen before stood in her walls. Her mood flipped immediately. She walked through the small town with glee of unfinished homes of stone and steel. People were choosing to stay in her castle. This was not longer a fort - it was a town. Her town.

Murasaki met her just outside the tunnel entrance. He smiled as he sees Amber's change in mood.

"I knew that would change your attitude." He said offering a hug to his partner, which she accepted. "I don't just sit around and do nothing, you know?"

"You're trying to impress me, aren't you?" She said with a mocking grin and her hands at her hips.

"What? No. Someone has to keep things sane and moving here while you're away, so that makes me next in command." He said folding his arms at his chest. Amber pushed her way past him and head down in the tunnel.

"Well, give me the keys big-boy, cause I'm taking over for the time being. It's time we got started on our true plan." She said as she walked without turning to the black haired teenager.

"Yes, you mean the plan that you're just now annoucing to me and have made no previous referance to in the past?" He asked following up behind her.

"That plan exactly numbnuts. It's time that we brought home to us!" She said loudly, drawing the attention of very confused gazes in the tunnels.

"You mean your going to-?" Again, he was cut off by Amber's speech-voice.

"Operation Atlas is now in full effect from this moment on Murasaki! Frist order of business - Get me some fucking sushi pronto." She said loudly again, not necessarily in a mean way but more bravdo-authorative. Murasaki had so many questions, but figured it was best not to and just trudged off to get Amber her fish. Amber on the other hand headed for her room, where it was time to finally take a nap. She doffed her heavy-ass armor and placed on the rack next to her closet, then face-planted into the bed just a few feet from her. She was asleep within the minute.

[Amber Veritz]

A few hours later, the door to Amber's room creaked open slowly. It was Murasaki with a tray of California Rolls and sauce. He stepped in and placed the tray on Amber's side table the shook her by her shoulder.

“Hey, fearless leader, there's your sushi.” He said quietly trying to wake her slowly. It was never a good idea to wake up Amber in the middle of nap but he assumed that sushi was enough to assuage her mood. She woke up rather quickly for only having a few hours to nap. Her enthusiasm for sushi superseded her need to sleep.

“Finally! Something good to eat!” She yelled taking the rolls from Murasaki’s arms and chowing down heartily. As odd as his leader was, Murasaki couldn’t help but smile and laugh at her eagerness to engulf the the fish. Amber’s ears perked up when she noticed this. “What are you laughing at?”

“You. I can’t believe you run a city.” He said standing up and heading for the door. Amber took a little offense to that.

“Why wouldn’t I be able to run a city? I’m the leader of an awesome team of Grimm slayers.” She said still chewing through fish and seaweed wrapped in rice. The faunus crawled out of her bed and stretched her stiff limbs. A shower would be nice.

“You are a good leader Amber, but you’re so childish. It’s hard to believe you’re truly the person you are. That’s what makes you amazing.” He said closing the door behind him. Amber was shocked at that statement. Murasaki had never said anything like that to her before it, it was kind of pleasant to hear that from him. Nevertheless, she headed for her bathroom to take a refreshing shower. It was nice to feel clean after days of not showering the tunnels of moss and goopy weird shit.

Once her shower was finished, she got dressed in some warm clothes. It wouldn’t be a bad idea to bring Razorback with her just in case. She would go see how she can help her city, being the only prime had to be helpful enough.

[Amber Veritz]

The cat girl slid out her door and shut it carefully behind her. The tunnel on this floor was empty and dimly lit for the simple fact it was reserved specifically for her and her seconds. If anyone was on this floor without permission, Amber would have some words, and maybe a fist.

Leaving the stairs to the next floor behind her, the faunus travelled down the hallway towards the bar to talk to her barkeep. Bianca was there as usual, behind the counter washing dishes or taking orders for customers at the bar. Amber took a seat on the end barstool, it was the only one available between the hairy, huge men. Amber smirked thinking about how she could take two of them at an arm wrestling contest at once.

“Yo, Bianca.” The faunus waved down her friend to meet her at the other end of the bar. She gave Amber a gesture, telling her to give the barkeep a minute. So, the faunus waited looking around her establishment with a smirk on her face. The man beside her turned and gave her a quick glance, then chuckled lightly to himself. Amber noticed this. “Hey, buddy, did I miss the joke?” She asked looking up at him. Being 5’3” was annoying when everyone towered over you.

“Hm? No, I was just thinking of something I heard earlier.” He responded glancing back at the cat girl momentarily before turning back and taking a sip of his alcoholic beverage.(Amber doesn’t know alcohol.) “They told me the person who runs this place is a little girl with cat ears. I didn’t believe them, why do you wear those things.”

“Um...These are my real ears.” Amber said pulling on them enough to show him they were actually attached to her head. “I’m something called a faunus, not like humans.”

“That, is fucked up.” He said simply. “You look way too young to be running a whole city, why don’t you let someone else with more experience do it?”

“I more capable than anyone in the entire Frozen Fields.” Amber replied. Now she was getting ticked. “What makes you think I couldn’t lead a city.”

“You’re a kid.”

“I’m a prime.”

“Prime, maybe; kid, definitely.” He argued back. “That sword on your back is probably for show.”

At the last sentence, Amber drew her sword. This is when Bianca finally found time to make her way to Amber, very quickly.

"Amber what the hell are you doing?" She asked but got ignored and skipped over completely. Amber continued her attack on the man.

“That is an informal duel request fool.” She responded. “You have disrespected me in less than a minute of conversation and questioned my honour. I will take on you and anyone else brave enough to face the edge of my blade.”

Six men stood up instantly at that threat. They all turned to Amber and drew the myriad of weapons at the same time. Amber readied herself to fight, but then looked around at the in the bar. This wasn’t the place.

“We take this outside to the training yard. No need to dirty the bar with a fight.” She said, the men were honourable enough to see reason in that request, and so the combatants headed outside into the cold. Bianca and Rose followed, just in case.

The six men drew their weapons again, as did Amber. She swung her sword in front of her to warm up her arm. Bianca stepped in as a referree of sorts.

"This fight is a duel, city leader Amber has challenged these six men to a fight for questioning her authority. If they win, they may stay and have free drink. If Amber wins, they will be banished from the city. First side to fall in battle is vanquished. You may begin when you feel ready. All forms of battle are allowed, magic, swords, bows, guns. If you're pushed from the lines of combat." She said pointing at the red lines in the dirt and snow that formed a rectangle around the competitors. "You lose. Please just don't kill each other." Bianca glares at Amber who flashes her a glance that screams 'What?!'.

Two of the men loaded thier bows, both of them looked like thieves in their leather cloaks and hoods. Arrows on their backs, ready to fire, the launched their first arrows at the catgirl. She put up an aura barrier in front of her to block the little arrows. The other men, clad in steel armor they had to put back on for the fight after exiting the bar, armed with axes, maces and hammers charged the girl. They surrounded her quickly, around each side of her. She stood ready for their first attack, taking a deep, calm breath.

The man to her left swung his axe for her chest. She grabbed his arm as he swung at her and pulled him forward, throwing him to the ground on her other side. Before he even had a chance to react, Razorback's blunt end bludgeoned and battered his breastplate, denting it beyond basic repair. The three others exchanged worried expressions in disbelief. Just barely catching the glimpse of the faunus's giant sword swinging a wide arc at them all, theu stepped back. She was not aiming for them, however. Forcing her energy to her legs, Amber jolted forward towards the archers. The first one, unlucky as he was, got Amber's shoulder in his stomach, launching him out of the play field. The other one backed off and launched an arrow into her side. The feline responded by swinging her sword low with it's blunt side, tripping the man and leaving him breathless when her foot dug into his chest.

The last three had caught up with her as she pulled the arrow out of her skin and threw it to the side. A mace plowed into her head, leaving her ears ringing and a bit delirius for a moment. If the idiots hadn't suspected that had taken her down for good, she would still be laying on the ground. The faunus shook her head, which was in serious pain. Anger flushed through her muscles and burned like fire on a lake of gasoline.

Razorback stayed on the ground, leaving Amber with her fists and claws, mostly because she was too angry to care about her sword. With a huge back swing, Amber reached in to get revenge on the man who had hit her by applying fist-to-face. Her blurry vision left her swinging at the air in front of him, though. Her second punch did hit home, right in the jaw. The man fell to his back, out cold. Amber wosily lumbered around, towards the other two men who were too scared to even fight anymore. The ran for the gates of Atlas, without even putting up a fight.

Once everything had settled down, Amber kicked the rest of the men out of her city. Bianca and Rose were worried about Amber, being hit so hard in the head, so they tookher to her room, and did their best to help with her wounds. The only words spoken during that time were from Bianca.

"You're an idiot, Amber." Which was responded with an overly joyful feline smile.

[Amber Veritz]

The ferocious feline, wounds exceptionally healed and bandaged, returned to Murasaki after her fight with the idoit provokers. She was going to talk to him about the expansion of the city, but upon entering the comms room, she saw something on the giant computer screen that made flashbacks of rotting flesh slap her in the back of the skull.

'Dante's Abyss'

"What the fuck!?!?" She screamed, scaring the black haired teenager out of his seat partially. "D-Dante's Abyss?! Isn't that thing I went into and turned into a fucking zombie?!"

"I think so yeah." He replied, scrolling over to it and clicking on the window. "It's ongoing right now, but there's only one area in the whole Omniverse you can go to watch the live footage."

"I'm going." Amber said turning around to leave, not even giving her actions moment for thought.

"You're seriously going to go watch something that gave you P.T.S.D. from simply participating?" He asked spinning the chair around to look at her but was instead greeted with a closed door. Murasaki groaned loudly, rubbing his face. "That girl is such an enigma, I swear."

Tromping through the underground tunnels of Atlas, the cat grabs her magical snowboard and pulls up the dataverse on her scroll as she walked to find where she could find her way to this spectator area that Murasaki mentioned. Any main gate or city in the more populated verses is where the portals were. Thankfully, Atlas was a mere mile away from the Frozen Field's gate to the Nexus, which means she could be there in less than a few minutes on her snowboard. The huntress charged through the gate of her city, jumping on the board. Once her feet touched it, it began to magically propel itself with what she presumed was her own Omnilium, but no reason to question it if it worked properly.

As she had thought, it only took three minutes to make it to the gate on her snowboard. She found the Syntech employee, dressed head to toe in wool and heavy clothing to evade the harsh climate of the Fields. She stopped at the table, flinging snow next to the employee.

"I wish to watch Dante's Abyss, where do I go?" She asked slamming her hands down on the table with a bit of frustrated anger in her voice.

"J-Just go through the p-portal." She stuttered from the harsh wind that was blowing past them, pointing to a small, one-person-sized teleported that was running on some kind of generator battery. She wasted no time and practically dove through the coalescent colors in front of her.

[Amber Veritz]

Returning from DA Pre-Show

After hitting the snow face first upon leaving the Dante’s Abyss Pre-Show Area, the faunus found herself in unfamiliar territory. It seems the portal leading out wasn’t entirely precise when it came to putting them back in the verses. On the bright side, the tingling sensation that she had felt after drinking all those fruity drinks had finally disappeared, leaving her feeling slightly indifferent about it honestly. She pulled herself out of the snow and reached for her scroll in her pocket. Her intent was to call ‘Saki and have him lead her home. The scroll gave some feedback, letting her know the call was being sent to whom she made it. Finally, it stopped and familiar male voice sounded.

“Hey Amber, are you back finally?” He asked, his voice a bit groggy from what seemed like no sleep.

“Yeah, they chucked me into a random area of the Frozen Fields it seems. Could you possibly locate me and give me some directions please? I can’t really tell where I am, and this blizzard isn’t really helping.” She explained trying to peer through the flying snow like her eyes could part the wind. Obviously, that wasn’t working. She heard some clicking in the background of the scroll’s speaker, then finally Murasaki’s voice again.

“Yeah, you’re just a few miles north of the gate, if you wanna get home start heading south for an hour or so. You’ll be able to find the gate, which should be able to lead you home.” His voice coiled through the static and grogginess. Amber replied happily.

“Okay, thanks Murasaki. Also, you sound tired, you should get some sleep.”

“You don’t know the half of it, I’m going to bed. Please don’t wake me up when you get here.” He said as he hung up the call. The faunus did her best to determine which direction was south and began to walk in that direction. She drudged through heavy snow until it turned to ice and water. A sea of conjoined, submerged icebergs whose crevices had been filled freezing cold water. Her shoes slid across the slippery substance, which she had begun to take some fun in, sliding around like a madwoman. It was slowing her down, but she wasn’t necessarily busy.

Really inside, the faunus was trying to forget the events of Dante’s Abyss by replacing them with new, cooler ones that didn’t give her nightmares. All in all, it had failed. She could never forget turning into the monstrosity and trying to kill innocent victims of the island that shared that plane crash. The cold of death was a feeling that could not be forgot, along with the phantom-feeling of Jess’s ear in her own mouth laying in a pool of his blood. It was certain that she would scarred for eternity after those events without much to actually console her other than her own future. She wasn’t sure what that was just yet, but she would spend her eternity trying to figure out some purpose in this world if she had to. The plan now was to set up a working city beyond Dwarveholm and the city of the trolls where travellers could feel much more welcome to the verse and perhaps build more colonies within it to make the verse much more popular. Having a hand in that would definitely make the faunus feel worthy of being called a Prime.

As she jumped between icebergs and avoided the freezing cold water, she thought about this. She thought so deeply that she couldn’t even hear the approaching threat: A dragon was soaring in her direction. The mixture of her deep thinking and the obscuring blizzard made it impossible to notice without direct attention. It, however, saw her. The tiny little being walking all alone. All it really saw was it’s lunch.

The dragon swooped low and slammed down in front of the feline faunus furiously, letting out a deep wailing sound from it’s mouth right into her face. Shocked back into reality, she quickly pulled Razorback from it’s holster and swung it towards the brilliant beast’s face.

“You wanna fool with me scaley!? My steel has tasted your kind’s blood and I’m not afraid to paint my blade red...or black, whatever color your stupid blood is!” She screamed back with a firm grip on the hilt of her zweihander. She knew that fighting a dragon by herself could turn suicidal with one wrong move, but she was never afraid to take on an enemy, no matter how strong they might seem compared to her. She fought for her own honor.

[Storyteller]

The dragon seemed to hiss something in response, in a way that did not sound entirely unlike it was speaking some sort of language. Luckily for Amber, the dragon didn't give her time to ponder this as it reared its white head back and took in a deep breath.

"You think some fuckin' fire is gonna-"

It wasn't fire though. A river of frosty, freezing power surged out through the beast's maw, almost catching the faunus in its wake as she kicked off of their shared iceberg and buried the blade of Razorback in a towering icy precipice nearby. She had managed to dodge the ice-breath, but before she even had time to unroot the immense blade from the wall of glacial remains, the dragon flapped twice and landed on the wall next to her. It clung to the slick surface like a damn spider, clambering towards her with teeth poised to strike. There was nothing for it; Amber had to weather the blow as the white dragon slammed into her with its full weight, focusing her aura at the point where its jaws clamped down on her thigh. Luckily, it managed to shake her free and tossed her back down to the broken ice flow far below.

Landing in a plume of ice and snow, Amber toggled her crimson weapon into its rifle configuration. Despite the fight having only gone for a few seconds, the faunus berserker was delighted to finally be on the offensive. She unleashed a volley of piercing rounds at the white dragon, shattering the glacial wall of the mountainous iceberg that loomed over them. The beast wailed as it lost its footing and plummeted into the freezing waters below, causing a gargantuan splash. Amber smirked as she wiped flecks of saltwater off of her cheeks and flipped Razorback into sword mode. This thing would be back; of that she had no doubt. 

She paced back and forth at the edge of her iceberg, watching for shadows in the rime-choked sea just a few feet below her. She felt a pang of genuine fear when her entire icy island began to rumble and split apart. With a stumbling dash, the winged beast burst out from the center of the berg and swiped madly at her shocked expression, leaving just a hairline cut across her face. Amber's red eyes flickered and she slashed at the dragon's own idiotic face with razor claws, causing the beast to recoil sharply.

"Oh that's funny...he can dish it, but he can't take it." Amber said, tenuously balancing on the remains of her ice island. She glanced around her...there were other large icebergs nearby, but they would be a long jump. The ice dragon saw this and lunged for her again.

"KILL YOU!!" it shrieked.

[Amber Veritz]

Yes. Yes. YES!

A dragon!

The faunus breathed deeply as her blood rushed through her veins like a river. Her adrenaline pumped into her muscles and made her heart beat like a drum. Her eyes mocked that of frenzied beasts closing for the killing blow to their prey, knowing they would eat well for the night. To summarize Amber’s feelings: It was her moment. This was her chance to show her strength. She would return home with more than a toenail this time.

She would have it's head.

The faunus reared back on the iceberg, sliding close to its edge where the water below her craved to swallow her whole. It’s icy breath chilled her legs, only comparable to the dragon’s minty fresh maw.

The dragon of frost hunted her again, bearing it’s spearhead-sized teeth at her as it came in to chomp down on her head. It was much faster than she had anticipated for being so damn fat. Luckily, the nimbletoed faunus was just as fast, diving to the side to dodge the overgrown lizard’s razor teeth.

“Ha! You're not quick enough!” Yelled the angry feline as she put Razorback back in it’s holster. Speed would be her greatest ally in this fight and she knew that well. Her pink claws burst from her fingertips menacingly as they reached for the dragon's neck. A small bit of blood trickled from the wounds but were hardly flesh-deep. The winged lizard seemed unphased by Amber’s pitiful attempt to make a mark on it’s tough scales. It began to take flight again, carrying the faunus with it.

“Oh shit! Cats can't fly! Fuck!” She clawed desperately to keep from falling into the icy island from too high up. Even if she landed on her feet, it wasn't going to feel good.

The dragon soared at speeds Amber could only imagine. The amount of grace in its flight pattern was extremely pitiful, however. It swung around crazily, attempting to shake the cat girl off of its huge body. In numerously successive failed attempts to do so, it got another idea, spying a loose formation of solid ice penetrating the gentle ocean of ice water. It swung low, towards the icen spire where it was sure it would leave Amber as a Veritz-pancake in the frozen water. The faunus could see the dragon’s intent, but she wasn’t ready to die just yet.

“You’ll have to try harder than that!” She yelled grasping it’s neck firmly and slingshotting herself towards onto its other side just before it collided with the column. It was a struggle to hold on, but somehow, the faunus’s death grip remained true.

It was now that she realized just how powerful this thing was at the wing. That would be her objective: Ground the dragon and make it vulnerable.

The struggle for control continued. Scale-y had become increasingly annoying with the cat’s continued survival. She took her hand and dug it into the dragon’s huge, ugly face. It wailed out in response to the dagger-like claws penetrating its boney skull. This is when Amber lost her grip, almost flying completely back. If not for her quick reflexes, she would surely be dead. Her claw grabbed the wing bone of its left wing, flopping her around crazily as it continued to fly. If she could just reach for Razorback. The dragon would lose it’s wing...and she wouldn't lose her lunch.

[Storyteller]

The silvery white beast seemed to hiss out a hideous cackle, abruptly wheeling over in the sky and plunging towards the frigid blue waters below.

"Feel swim?" it said in its hoarse rattling voice, laughing at its own broken english as the ocean rose up to meet them. Amber suddenly regretted her decision to grab so tightly onto the dragon, and only managed to wrench herself free from the thickened scales a moment before they both hit the water. One thought and one thought only echoed through her suddenly panicking mind: cold. To make matters worse, as she clawed for the surface, she suddenly felt a set of powerful jaws clamp around her leg. With a bubbling, muted scream, she found herself hauled through the shimmering darkness of the arctic seas before being slammed up against something hard. A quick look over her shoulder confirmed that the dragon had slammed her up against a sheet of pack ice, with only gloomy, aquamarine daylight filtering through the frigid barrier.

The dragon, cocky ass that he was, was floating about five meters down below her, his presence only indicated by gleeful, glowing blue eyes. There was no doubt that if she made a break for the surface that he would just try to pin her again, and she was a little out of her element at the moment. Athletic though she was, she would run out of breath soon.

It was time to stop fucking around.

Amber also made the mental note to never underestimate a dragon again.

[Amber Veritz]

For a wild beast, barely able to talk, Amber was sure it wouldn’t be as intelligent to be as tactical as it was now. It had drug her underwater with no way to escape, flaunting its prowess in front of her like a little bitch. While she had been ready and gleeful to be able to fight a real life dragon, the faunus was only finding herself rife with anger. Her wrists trembled in tense, dense strength welled up inside her body. Rage seared through the water like a vibrant torrent of rain, pouring down on the dragon’s ugly face. A pink aura of power surrounds her body and a muffled scream of precious air tears through the water. With a quick motion, Razorback dug into the ice above her, cracking it many different ways down the sheet of frozen water.

The dragon reacted quickly to her sudden burst of power by reaching out to smash her against the ice, but she was ready for this. It might be smart, but it was still predictable. A light of aura appeared behind the faunus and her sword blocked the claw as it tore on her steel zweihander. The ice behind her shattered in a flurry of glass-like shards and finally, she could breathe. She gasped in relief as the precious life-blood that is oxygen was finally permitted in her lungs again.

Once she landed on the sheet of ice, just feet away from the ginormous divot-hole, she coughed up water stored in her lungs. The dragon didn’t seem to have problems with the water and was ready to continue fighting directly after.

“You...You think you’re better than me with all of that power?!” She hacked through regurgitated liquid. “All of that physical prowess you own in those muscles?! Hunh?!”

The dragon chuckled at her words, his hubris shining through his cocky grin.

“Weak human.” It spurted in it’s rough tone through razor-like teeth. The girl only growled back.

“I’m not a human! I’m a fucking faunus! Die!!” With a heavy growl under a loud yell the faunus reeled back Razorback and hurled it through the distance that separated the two combatants. The steel howled through the air with the force of a dozen freight trains behind it. The dragon’s big body played against it, being unable to get out of the way in time. The bite of Razorback was as horrid as its bark. The blade cut straight through the dragon’s scaly hide. Amber wasn’t finished yet, her aura seeped to her feet, the pink aura could be seen dripping down to her ankles which launched her into the air with extreme power and speed. Her claws dug into the beast’s body, where she quickly retrieved her sword and began falling to the ground. She wouldn’t be caught underwater again.

Amber has activated Animal Instincts. Her stats now stand at 8/2/5/2 respectively until the end of my next post(I would assume?)

[Storyteller]

The dragon thrashed and shrieked with hideous animal movements, half stalking, half limping in a wide circle. Amber herself circled the beast in similar fashion, calming the handle of Razorback impatiently.

"...this is bullshit!" she hissed, snapping the variable weapon into its rifle configuration and unloading a fusillade of half-aimed shots at the monster. The white dragon, aware that he had been mortally wounded, charged through the heavy caliber hail with giant, loping strides. Her savage speed was more than enough to leap away from the clumsy pounce, but if Amber was incapable of one thing, it was changing her trajectory in the air.

As she landed back on the frozen ground, the ice around her feet crackled to life, and snapped up around her calves. Her eyes shot up to glance at the approaching dragon, his eyes lit up with a fierce blue glow.

"So, you can do magic too, huh?" Amber growled as the ice continued to entomb her. The mystic monstrosity crept closer, the anticipation visible in its salivating maw. With a sharp flex, Amber's glacial tomb shattered into a thousand shards.

"Gimmicks won't save your life!" she roared, launching herself at the dragon with all of her fury. The white beast watched patiently as she closed the distance, the polished blade of Razorback gleaming in the arctic sun. All of a sudden, the dragon's eyes flashed again, and a surging, howling tunnel of air blasted forth from its body. The overwhelming gale slapped Amber out of the air like a kite in a tornado.

As she slammed into the icebergs surface again, the dragon was on top of her in an instant. The bestial woman tried to drag Razorback into a defensive slash, but an adroit whack from the white dragon's tail sent the immense weapon skidding across the ice. Amber watched in dismay as it dropped over the edge of the ice flow before the dragon slammed her back into the snowy ground. With savage glee, the pale lizard pinned Amber's chest down with an immense, scaled foot. It chuckled a dark laugh as Amber tried to wriggle and break free, even with her surging strength. The dragon brought its face close to hers and whispered.

"Weak...faunus..." 

Amber snapped. Her frenzied struggles became more and more rage filled as she spat and shrieked incoherent obscenities. It did not, however, encourage the dragon to stop gathering a blast of cold death in its gullet. The faunus refused to go out like this. Just as the dragon began to breath a river of frigid power down on her, Amber drove nearly the full length of her arm into the beast's gullet. Genuinely shocked, the dragon shook and gagged as the ice built up in a solid casing around Amber's arm. When the, admittedly, agonizing blast of winter had ceded, the pair of fighters were left temporarily stunned.

Amber got back to her feet, shaking, and looked down at her mangled right hand, covered in a thick coating of ice that weighed quite a bit. The dragon, lurching around and dry-heaving, glanced up at the girl as more of its bright crimson blood spilled on the snow. A silent moment passed, before a berserker scream rang out.

The dragon had no idea how the girl was able to move so fast, half frozen as she was, but Amber knew. A fighter didn't lug around a fifty pound weapon day and night without acclimating to it. With an Amazonian shriek, Amber whipped her frozen arm up into the dragon's she, causing it to rear up onto its hind legs. She followed through with the momentum and spun the hammer-arm straight into the beast's lavender underbelly, causing it to cough out a sharp cry of pain. 

"Fuckin...DIE!" Amber roared, finally slamming the weaponized limb into the dragon's neck with all her might. The force of the blow shattered the icy prison around her arm, as well as several bones in the mystical reptile's spine. Paralyzed, the white dragon slumped down to the ice, breathing weakly. 

"Stay...put..." Amber seethed, spitting a wad of bloodied phlegm off to the side. She furiously stomped over to the edge of the iceberg, searching for her beloved weapon. She had planned on simply slaying the beast, but if he had lost her sword, she was going to make him suffer. Luckily for the dragon, Razorback had simply fallen onto a smaller shelf of ice off the edge of the iceberg's rim. She snatched her beloved into her arms and stalked back towards the disabled monstrosity, her red eyes flaring wildly.

The dragon matched her gaze, unflinching. It's slit pupil stayed locked on her glowering stare as she advanced, raising her huge blade to bereaved the dragon of its head. Between wheezing breaths, the fucker managed some last words.

"...wait..."

Amber held her blade ready, but paused.

"Remember name...Votamiks..." he whispered, a trail of beautiful scarlet trickling off of his porcelain lips. The faunus girl cocked her head to the side before uttering a humorless laugh.

"Heh. I'll carve it into the fuckin' plaque."

She brought her sword down, and a dragon died.

[Amber Veritz]

The rage fueled rampage subsided as Votamiks’ cerebral cortex severed. Razorback’s once-polished blade was now soaked in crimson dragon blood, dripping from it’s favored drink. Amber smirked at her accomplishment, falling down to her knee and breathing heavily.

“Holy shit.” She says plainly looking down at the ice and then back to the two pieces of dragon. “That was intense.”

After several seconds of heavy heaving, the faunus pulled herself up from her crouched position and approached the dragon’s severed head. The thing’s skull was bigger than her entire body. She was determined to get back to Atlas, though. The faunus’s tiny hand rested upon Votamiks’ scaley hide and began to glow shortly after. The head soon disappeared into the veil.

“That’s much easier. Now, time to go home and eat some sushi.” She said before looking at her map and heading off in the direction of Atlas.

[Amber Veritz]

Cold as Atlas in the middle of winter, the blizzard blew past the victorious faunus. Her triumph over the dragon had only proven that she was becoming a stronger prime - I force to be reckoned with and name to be heard. All her life this is what she had wished for; she had wished that she would one day be more than gutter-trash that lived on the edge of the city in a wooden shack. Most of her said that it was all thanks to Murasaki for putting a sword in her hand. If she had not met him, she would probably still be living in that oak hut with her parents.

Nevertheless, she was here now - in the Omniverse. Though her plans may have tilted on its side, she pushed to put it back on level ground. She wouldn't stop until she had become someone to important not to know. A person - or in her case, faunus - to be taken seriously, or maybe even feared by her enemies. Those who would tremble in her presence; shrink in their skin the moment she took up the battlefield. The thought of her enemies turning tail and running at the sight of her was too delicious for her not to get gleeful.

Through the blizzard came the steel and snow walls of her igloo castle. A smile crawled across her face the moment it came into view. Her stomach rumbled at thought of snacking on California rolls in her bed room and taking a short nap before deciding what to do next. As she approached the door, Murasaki's voice scratched through the speaker.

"Welcome home." He says as the doors let off the pressure that keeps them locked down. The slowly crawl open as Amber responds.

"Thanks. Do we have any sushi? I could use a drink."

"You're too young for alcohol." His voice snaps back jokingly masked with a laugh.

"You know what I mean, dummy." She snapped back as the door finally found its way open.

"Yes, we have soda for you. We always do."

"Good, if you wanna talk, I'll be in the bar." She said as she walked through the steel-plated doors. They closed menacingly slow behind her. Many stall vendors in the center of town had turned into small homes made of stone. Slowly her little fort had become a thriving city. She smiled at the improvement they had made since they first made their way here into the Omniverse. The faunus walked through the crowded streets of people to get to the bunker. The underground fortress under another fortress.

The heat of the underground facility instantly soothed Amber's exposed skin. She forgot what it was like to feel comfortably warm sometimes when she was always out in the snow. The bar was filled, as usual, with many different types of patrons. People from all over the Omniverse came to the Frozen Fields for whatever is their own reason, but they have all chosen to settle here, in Atlas. It made sense when you thought about considering the only other civilization out here was belong to a bunch of closed-minded Dwarves who didn't like outsiders. Atlas was open to all people, no matter their natural origin of prime or secondary; Empire or Kingdom; Faunus or Man.

Amber walked into the bar to be greeted by her friends, Bianca was working the bar as usual with the help of Rose. The tall blonde waved down her team leader with a drink in her hand.

"I heard you were in town so I got one ready for you, I was also told to get you this." She said as she began to reach under the counter. She slapped down a plastic container filled with sushi in front of Amber. "I don't see why you like this stuff. Raw fish is disgusting and eating too much of it could really make you sick, you know?"

"I'm prime, we don't even feel tired. You expect that I'm able to get sick?"

"If you don't need to sleep, why do you then?"

"Don't you like sleeping? It's relaxing." She says stuffing one of the sushi rolls into her mouth. She continued to speak with a mouth full. "I like to call it 'Cat Naps'"

"Ugh," Bianca scoffed, "Close your mouth, is there any once of fucking feminism in your body at all?" The paused for a moment to chew her food before speaking again.

"Nope. I'm a special kind of faunus."

"Well, you can go be special else where if you want to eat like pig." Bianca said leaving to do something behind the bar. Rose slid over to see Amber.

"Hey, are you doing alright?" She asked as she wiped up counter that Bianca was supposed to before she got disracted with Amber.

"Yeah, I'm fine. You?" The cat girl replied eating more of her sushi and taking a seat on the opposite side of the counter.

"It's been busy as the weeks go by. Atlas is getting much bigger and were really, surprisingly, prospering. Murasaki got a good deal with some miners. We get a lot of quarried stone and mineral ores from the prospects, though they can be tough to find. When we do find some veins, we hit a lot. The Frozen Fields is ripe for the picking in the main land, hardly any problems from anything but wildlife."

"That's great. I'm working hard to find opportunities outside of the Fields for artifacts or alliances. I met a girl who is kind of like a faunus, but she didn't know what that meant. We ended up getting this really rare artifact, but I let her keep it. It didn't seem like anything important, or anything we necessarily needed. I plan to research a little more on things of that nature." Amber replied, finishing up the rolled up fish.

"Cool, hope it turns out well for us."

"I'm gonna go take a nap, so I will speak to you guys after that." The faunus said rising up from her seat and turning around to walk away.

"Alright, sleep well."

Amber headed down the dirt corridor and deeper into the tunnels lit up on by the dim lights above her head to guide her though. When she got to her room, she took off her armor and jumped into the bed. A well earned rest for a dragonslayer.

[Amber Veritz]

Another day in the life of an agitated teenage Prime. The panther awakes in her cove. Agitated, however, is the last thing she is feeling today. After killing a dragon, she earned some freakin’ bragging rights.

Speaking of the dragon, she had forgotten that it’s head was in her pocket. It would be awesome to hang that up in the bar. Bianca will surely kill her for that, but it’s her city and her accomplishment. She got out of bed with a hearty hop and put some clothes on the headed up stairs to the bar.

“Hey, Bianca! I got you some cool decorations.” Bianca’s face went flat instantly.

“Oh gods,” she muttered to herself before coming around the counter quickly yelling at Amber. “No, no, no! Amber it looks fine in here, please don't ruin it by hanging the ugly head of some random creature up or something else stupid!”

“Hey, that was a pretty good guess, but it isn't just a random creature’s head. It's a fucking dragon skull.” She says excitedly much to her friend's dismay.

“That’s legitimately the worst thing you could have told me. It will be huge Amber! It’s going to wreck the appeal of the bar.”

“Did you forget that most of your customers are burlesque marauders?” Amber said pulling the dragon skull out of nowhere from the empty spaces of time.

“...I’m actually much more scared that you just used the word burlesque.” Bianca replied with her still flat expression hinting some admiration.

“I'm not a totally crazy barbarian, Bianca.”

“Well, you sure act like it.” The blonde sighs. “Fine, hang your ugly dragon skull, but no more decapitated beings will be hung on my walls!”

“Alright, alright, I get it.” The faunus attempts to calm her, increasing the size of huge skull. If she wanted to, she could walk through its gaping maw without even having to duck. Bianca shrank at the sight of it, the horror on her face was unmistakable. Though, she couldn't be sure if it was because of the ungodly size of the bony skull, or the thought that the dragon was once alive and Amber took it on alone.

After some difficult few minutes of angling the thing right and nailing it in, there it hung, with a plaque and fully trophy-fied. The golden plaque underneath the jaw filled with a row of dagger-sized teeth read, Votamiks, Died by the Hands of Amber Veritz.’ The faunus proudly gazed upon her glory for the moment being. It felt good to see that she had gotten so strong to take on a creature said to be the primal incarnate of raw power.

It was slightly short-lived, though, as she was interrupted by Murasaki.

“Hey, Amber.” He said to catch the faunus’ attention. She snapped back into reality. “We should talk.”

“Alright.” She replied following him down the dim lit tunnels of dirt to their intelligence room. It was really their only safe refuge from other people. It was like a secret bunker ten meters below the ground. “So, what’s up?” The cat girl says taking a seat in the extremely comfy computer chair.

“You’re getting a lot stronger, Amber, we’ve all noticed it.”

“I sure have! I've never felt so powerful in my entire life! I feel like a rabid animal that’s been shot with adrenaline and steroids!” Amber apparently seems to take some pride in calling herself a mangy drug-fueled beast.

“Yes, well, I wanted to remind you that you shouldn't let it go to your head. There are stronger Primes out there. Diablo, The Empire and The Kingdom all are powers to be feared.” He says pulling up some things on the dataverse with the mouse. Some scarce information about the three factions he mentioned. “There’s nothing specific here, but these three factions seem to have a lot of ground in the Omniverse. Do not get on their bad side.”

“You got it boss.” She replied, skimming through some of the information on the screen. “Yeah, they’ve certainly been around for some time now. I hope they don't turn our gaze on us.”

“Well, from the research I did, we’re in luck. Neither the Empire or the Kingdom have a presence here in the Frozen Fields, nor do they really have reasons to in the first place. I think we’ll be relatively safe if we don't pose a threat to them.” He explains pointing out some information on the screen as he does so.

“Keep it on the down-low then, got it.” Amber responses in agreement. “Might be kind of difficult to do so, but maybe we’ll get lucky and they’ll just leave us alone.”

“I don't think we should be praying for something like that, Amber. These are people's’ lives on the line - Your people. You might be able to live after death, but the rest of us don't really have that blessing, or curse whatever you want to view it as.” Murasaki continues to enlighten the faunus. “We need some basic defenses at least so we can protect those who can't protect themselves.”

“Yeah, I get it.” Amber grunts. “I will work on that, I just need some more time. I am glad to have you here, ‘Saki. Shit would not be running the way they are without you.”

“Well, I do my best because you do yours. Keep being amazing and I'll keep doing what I do.” Murasaki flashes her a thumbs up with a slight smile.

“You got it.” She smiles back. After showing her a few more things on the dataverse, the faunus rises from the chair. “Okay, I can't sit here and stare at this computer screen the way you do. I think I'll be heading out. Keep me updated on things.”

“Alright, I will see you later, kitty.” The dark-haired boy jokes with a bit of a snicker. The faunus’ face turns red.

“I-I'm not a kitty, I'm a panther!”

“Which is a cat.” He corrects her.

“It is a feline - A majestic, 200lb, badass feline.” She growls with a huff of air and storms out of the room. Murasaki just laughs at the desired reaction.