//------------------------------//
// From the Dust 
// Story: A New Shade of Yellow 
// by Blaze 
//------------------------------//


From the Dust

A man lied in a forest clearing, sunlight shining upon his face threatened to wake him, yet he neither woke nor stirred. Somewhere in his inner conscience, however, someone else woke up.

Wuh...Where am I? Did I have another late night drink at the bar and pass out? I can hardly move my body...wait. I CAN'T move my body. WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?! said a voice in the man's head. It was then, that the man stirred.

"Shut the hell up," he groggily slurred out, "Some people aren't early birds and I think I feel a hangover coming along." The man said nothing else but was starting to wake up. Meanwhile, the voice in his head was panicking.

Aww crap, oh crap. How the hell am I going to get out of this one? I think this guy is controlling my body somehow, It said to itself, Hey buddy! Could you wake up and get up off your—I mean MY ass? The man groggily got up and finally felt the bright sunlight shine upon his eyes. The man groaned in pain from the light hitting his eyes and the voice coming from somewhere.

"Alright, alright, I'm up," The man yawned and stretched out his limbs, "Now could you tell me why you woke me up when it feels like it's..." He turned around to face the person talking to him, only to be met by dark trees, "Ok, you guys better hope this is a joke; Pyra, Carys, you two better come out and confess." He shouted around him, but he doubted that two little girls could have done this. Even so, silence was his answer. The voice mentally facepalmed.

Jesus Cryst, this is the guy controlling my body? She said, annoyed at both him and herself. The latter for getting her into this, Hey, there's no one around us and judging by the way you are reacting to what's happening around us. I would have to guess you don't know any much more than I do. So I guess this should start out as most companionships do, telling each other's names. She offered to the man, I am Yang Xiao Long, huntress-in-training and you are currently controlling my body against my will. SO! What is the name of my new puppet master?

It took the man a while to search where the voice was coming from, only for the voice to tell him that it stayed in his head.  He also noticed that the voice had a feminine aspect and called herself a huntress instead of a huntsman. He decided that the best choice was to stay calm, sit down, and communicate with her. "H-Hi? Well my name is Leon Belmont, next in line to own Belmont's World Gym, and I am a MMA fighter who won multiple tournaments across the US." He said cautiously, "Do you know how I-WE got here? I don't remember passing out in a forest or putting on these bracelets and clothes; you did say that this was originally your body, correct?" He felt a mental nod from Yang. "You sound female, so why is this body male?"

That question sent Yang into a panic, she quickly scanned her new body and found that she was indeed male. Her breasts were replaced by large pecs, her muscles were more defined, she was taller than she remembered, and she was suddenly curious at how big her new member was. Leon felt that last piece of curiosity and he sent a mental scolding to her. Oh come on! We are going to be sharing this body now, I might as well get use to every  nook and cranny of it.

That sent a chill down Leon's back, his face burned with a blush and his hands went reflexively to cover his privates. Yang, however, was having a blast screwing with her new host's mind. Woah! I thought we would've been big, but holy crap. That thing feels like a monster! Leon's face blushed even more red and Yang couldn't stop from laughing, her laughs resonating off his mind's walls. When she calmed down, she decided to calm him down as well. Ok, ok, I'm done. Sorry, but this new body is tempting and I went a little overboard. We actually have what I would think a bit bigger than average size. But I honestly thought that a fighter like you wouldn't have been so sensitive about these kind of things. She said, trying to make feel comfortable again.

"It's alright, I forgive you and thanks for trying to make me feel better. You honestly remind me of my two little sisters, they were always pulling pranks on me and our younger brother..." He felt a little homesick after he thought about his family. Yang  felt his mood dropping again, but with sadness this time. Her thoughts flew to her younger sister as well.

I understand how you must feel, I have a little sister as well, but she has shown time and again that she could survive without me. I just hope the other 2 are keeping her company in my place. She said, making her feel a bit homesick as well but felt a little better when Leon's mood lifted after feeling that someone else could empathize with him. C'mon, let's find a water source to clean up, I still feel a bit groggy and I bet you do too.

"Yeah, let's do that," Leon agreed. He got up and brushed himself, sending dust drifting off his clothes, "Whoa, where did this dirt come from and why do I see flecks of white?" He felt Yang mentally shrug, "Well now I really want to wash up."  I think I hear a waterfall coming  from our left. Let's clean up and after that we can try to figure out how I ended up in your head. Leon sent a mental agreement and walking in the direction pointed out. Each mind wondered how far away from home they were.


As the two minds walked to the waterfall, they began a mental conversation about Leon's old life. He told her that he was from a family of five: twin little sisters who were 14 respectively, Pyra being the older sister and Carys the younger, Galen the youngest who was now 10, himself who is now 19, and his mother who owned the Belmont's World Gym and they lived in a two story house less than half an hour away from their gym. Yang pointed out that he didn't say something about his father and he got a bit upset over the subject. After he calmed down, he explained that when he was 14, his father was an firefighter who got injured on the job and was put on paid absence; so he stayed home all day and drank himself to sleep so he wasn't really there for him and his siblings. His mother owned the gym and had to work late so that they could stay afloat and it was up to him to care for the others. 

It was 2 years later that when Leon was preparing dinner with Carys while the Pyra took care of Galen , that split his mother and father apart. He told her what they needed to do and what her part was, one of his jobs was to carry out and set up the 5 dishes at the table; his mother would've been late and he would just wrap up her food for when she came home. She said that she could do it while he cooks, he was worried that she could hurt herself, that the plates would have been heavy for a 9 year old but she told him not to worry and gave him a mock salute. He laughed and agreed to let her do it, but only if she was to do it one plate at a time. She thought, however, that she could bring all 5 plates at once. While Leon was preoccupied with cooking though, when he heard was a yelp, then came the sound of plates and silverware crashing down onto the tiled floor. 

He immediately threw down the ladle and rushed to where the sound emitted from, he found his sister surrounded by broken pieces of glass and silverware, she was crying and apologizing to him. He stepped carefully through the wreckage, sweeping aside the glass and telling her that he will fix this, clean it up, and everything will be fine. She calm down, but her eyes were still red, she grabbed another broom to help him. Pyra came to check on us, with Galen following behind, then came their father who woke up due to the noise. He saw the mess Carys made and was furious at her. His father had a hangover and still had the alcohol in his system, even though his father was injured, it didn't stop him from wanting to beat Leon or his siblings. He told Pyra to take the two to her bedroom, she knew what was going to happen and complied. 

But before they could leave, his father yanked Carys' arm with one arm and had a almost empty bottle of beer in the other, and started to yell and berate her. Leon saw tears reforming in her eyes at his slurs of verbal abuse, he was fed up with it and gripped the arm holding Carys. His father was astonished at his son for standing up to him but the alcohol still clouded his system. His father let go and stared intently at Leon for a while, Leon gestured the others to leave without glancing at them. His father swung first and caught him in his chest and from there on was a one-sided fight. He soon left his son lying on the ground almost unconscious and his father went back to his couch. After his mother found out about it, she divorced him and left him on his own. He was the reason why Leon became an MMA fighter, to make sure he can defend himself and anyone else needed it. He knew it was a corny reason, but he also enjoyed his career choice.

Before Yang could spin her own little tale, they reached the waterfall. They expected a waterfall splashing into a river, but what they got was a lake. The lake had a river flowing away to carry out excess water. It also look clear and no insects were swarming around it, so it looked safe to drink. To describe it bluntly, it looked like someone tore it out of a story book, untouched by any human life. Leon started to undress, starting with his upper body. He tried to take off his bracelets but didn't find any locks or fastenings. 

Yang, you said that this was originally your body but gender bended. How do I take off the bracelets? He said mentally to Yang. 

Dude, you have to use our Aura to unlock them, Yang said, as if it was obvious. Didn't they have these type of weapons back in your country, the 'US'? Leon immediately stop fiddling with the bracelets.

Whoa, whoa , whoa! These things are weapons? But they don't even look big enough to be a weapon. He said, forgetting that she mentioned that she didn't know about the US. He was now cautious, yet curious of the device on his wrists, How do I activate them, then?

I don't know about sharing this with anyone, but since you are controlling me, then you should know. I focus on my Aura and I draw energy from it, I then shift that energy to the bracelets and they come off. She instructed Leon. Try looking deep inside you and mentally doing it.

Leon could feel something surging inside him for a while and tried to grasp it with his mind. He slowly pulled the energy towards his arms, but halfway he stopped, gasping and started to sweat. Yang looked at the display of exhaustion and was left a bit disappointed that he couldn't do it. She wondered if she could do it from inside. Hey Leon, let me try something. Stay relaxed for a while and try again. But this time, I am going to try and help maneuver our Aura flow. Leon did as he was told and sat down, trying to draw the energy again. After a few seconds, the bracelets came off with a clank. There, now we need to work on that if you are going to make me your little puppet. I also need to teach  how to activate them. You also need to stop calling them simple bracelets, they have a name. They are called Ember Celica, got it? She now demanded Leon.

	Are you sure you are the puppet here? He said with a sigh, and started to take off his boots. When he got to his pants, he stopped. Yang noticed that he did and decided that it's been a while since she teased him. What's wrong Leon? She said innocently, I thought we wanted to get ourselves clean. Why did you stop? 

Of course I want to get clean, but you have to close your eyes! He said, not even paying attention to what he said meant. He facepalmed and Yang burst into laughter. Embarrassed by her, he decided to get it over with and took off his pants without look down. When he finally took off his boxers, he jumped into the lake, letting the semi-warm water wash away any dirt and grime. After that, he decided to just relax in the water. He leaned against the water's edge. He remembered that she didn't know about the US and sent a request to Yang to talk mentally. See big boy? That wasn't so hard, hmm just like we are right now. She said the last bit, a little more quieter. Leon, nevertheless heard her.

Shut up Yang, that wasn't why I asked to talk to you. He said, much calmer than before, You mentioned that you didn't know what the US was, right? A mental nod answered his question. Then tell me exactly where you came from, since the United States of America is one of the major countries in the world and would be known worldwide. He asked with pure curiosity. Sure? But you might want to get out and get dressed, it might be a long story.

Well I've never heard of the United States of America and since I haven't heard of your country, I will guess that you've never heard of mine. I've read theories about alternate dimensions and multiple universes on my spare time and this feels like it's one of those cases, so I will start off with my world and country.
Our world is called Remnant, we are highly a magnitech world, meaning that we mix magic and technology. Most of the technology run on the magic and an energy called Dust: the technology that use these power source and usually airships, gadgets, and even weapons like Ember Celica, but I can teach you about that another time. Our continents are divided between 4 kingdoms: Atlas, Minstral, Vacou, and Vytal. The kingdom I belong to is Vytal, the Vale region to be specific.
 Now, you should still keep an open mind about the possibility of this being another dimension. That may be our closest answer we can get for now.

By the time Yang was done, Leon was already dressed and was in a deep thought on what Yang said about multiple universes crossing over. He was a pretty open minded guy, but even this made him a little skeptical.

Nonetheless, he mentally agreed with Yang. "So you are saying that we are from separate universes? Going by that thought; say we were to somehow collide with each other if we got blasted out of our universes. Your body then rejected you as the host but accepted me and had to change its physical form as a result." 

Yes, I had the same thought. But what would've blown us out of our—Leon, I sense trouble. Something big, dangerous, and angry is heading our way. Remember that I told you that I will teach you how to activate Ember Celica later? Well later is now, the beast is far away enough for me to prep you. Try to reach into your Aura and connect it to Ember Celica, but don't think about making them come off, instead flick your wrists and push downwards. Yang felt Leon bolt up and his panic levels were rising and that is not good sign when you are going to fight with your life on the line. She had to calm him down, Leon, chill, people will make mistakes if they are panicking. Now just do as I told you and both our skills will get us through this.

Leon calmed down and focused on his Aura, sending it towards Ember Celica. When he felt the two connect, he flicked his wrists and the bracelets expanded into thick gauntlets. He was amazed that a little accessory like this could be turned into a killing weapon. Killing...Leon had to kill the beast before it killed him, this was a matter of life and death and he was really fond of living. Leon, come on, get into a fighting stance. You said you were an experienced fighter, right? I'm sure my body retained its physical prowess and with you knowing the moves, we could win this. Yang mentally face palmed after she forgot a few important pieces of information, but it was too late to tell Leon both of them. She had to choose between them, Crap, Leon, I forgot got to mention this. Ember Celica can shoot shells out. I have standard shells right now and they are only good for close quarter combat, they won't reach far but will deal a good amount of damage. Use your aura to charge the shell and punch to shoot it out.

Leon heard rumbles and claws scraping the trees, a gust of wind hit him and saw the the creature was now airborne, making it much more deadly. It landed a few meters away from him and now he got a good look at the beast. It had the body of a lion, wings of a bat, and the tail of a scorpion. He's played enough video games to know that those are signs of a manticore, proving the idea of alternate universes a lot more. The manticore let out earth-shattering roar, but it did not faze him, it then dashed towards him and felt Yang's mental support rooting him on.

It lunged at him, jaws open with razor sharp teeth ready to maim, but Leon rolled out of the way and the manticore bit onto the tree behind him. Leon recovered and saw that the tree was in the manticore's mouth, but when he chomped onto the tree, it shattered it and spat out the remains. It tried to use its tail to poison him, the movement was quick, but Yang called out a warning and he backstepped. The stinger was then jammed into the ground and Leon grabbed the tail. He felt a surge of strength and swung the tail in a circular motion, the manticore flying behind it going along, but the stinger popped off the tail and sent the manticore flying into a tree. It roared in pain so loud, that people miles away would've heard it. 

The manticore only wanted a meal and smelled a new scent in the area. He thought that it would've been a simple target, but the new creature was resilient and severly damaged the manticore's stinger. It no longer wanted food, it wanted blood. The manticore let out a bloodcurdling roar and charged the bi-pedal creature.

Leon noticed that manticore stingers are apparently easy to break off and that a manticore would be furious if you did so. The manticore let out a bloodcurdling roar that shook every fiber of his body and it charged at him. Yang gave out a quick idea of how to handle this and he had to trust her. He held the now detached stinger in one hand and was ready to fire with the other. The manticore was dripping poison from his tail and his black eyes were filled with rage. Leon lined up the shot as the manticore got closer and tossed up the stinger, he reared back his other hand, cluctched the trigger and punched the stinger on the opposite end, shooting the pointed part to the manticore.

The manticore was too far into rage to notice that its stinger was in the creature's hand. It heard a bang noise, unknown to it, and later felt immense pain and then numbing. The creature has somehow launched the stinger so hard at it, that it was now imbedded into his chest, close to the heart. It swayed from the poison still inside the stinger and then collapsed, due to both poison and bloodloss. It layed at the base of a tree, just a few feet away from the creature.

Leon was victorious but somehow did not feel it. Even with Yang's shouts of joy and praise, he felt somehow woozy. Then the adrenaline left him and searing pain filled in from his side. He touched it and his gloved hand came out crimson red. The manticore must have slashed him when it dove for the bite, Yang told him that he was going to be alright, that their Aura will heal it back. But the pain still stayed, he took the cloth from his side and folded it to cover the whole wound. Next, he took off his orange scarf, placed the cloth over his wounds and wrapped the scarf around him, tightening the cloth.It wasn't a medical bandage, but it covered and applied pressure to the wound until he got real help. He got up and swayed, Yang told him to try and stay put, to let the Aura do its magic.

He ignored it and took another step, but when he tried to take a third, he collapsed next to the now dead manticore. He wondered why he was so woozy from a manticore's slash. He simply jotted it down that it was deeper than he thought it was and lost blood too quickly. He became more tired and felt the need to close his eyes. "Soon I would be like it." Leon said darkly, No you idiot, we can't die yet. Why hasn't our Aura kick in?! It was suppose to act like a barrier! Leon, you need to stay awake. WE need to live, it's both of us who are going to die if you keep this up. Yang's voice was becoming distant to Leon. He never would have thought that it would've ended like this, this all felt like one big dream. Huh, maybe it was, he thought sleepily, Maybe I will wake up back in my bed, with Galen running into my room asking me to make him breakfast.

He drifted onto sleep, Yang could only rest if she thought about doing it. The last thing he heard was a feminine shriek, someone was crying, possibly over the death of the manticore or maybe even him. A group surrounded him and were pondering what to do, multiple things prodded him but he didn't fully awaken, in the end he was lifted up; someone was carrying him to somewhere. Whatever, he thought, Once I wake up, I'll be back home. With that, he passed out.


Elsewhere, deep underground, a group of diamond dogs surround a unconscience body lying on the floors of their tunnels. "What should we do with this one, boss? It ain't got any shinies on it," Said the tallest one. "Except for this heavy stick he has."

"If it ain't have any shinies, then we should eat it. Good meat on this one." Said the shortest one.

"No you fool!" The one with an average height said with a snarl, "This one seems special, we should take it to the boss and let him figure out what we should do." 

This confused the short one. "But boss, I thought that you were the boss?" 

"No, I meant the chief!" The average one said, "Maybe this one could be more useful that that white pony" The other two nodded in agreement and lifted the body, but once the body was lifted he woke up.

His eyes shot open and his hand grasped his cane. The tall one had his upper body up and was stunned at the rapid movement. He quickly dropped the man and the man caught himself and bolted upright, he bashed the tall one's arm and a crack was heard in the tunnel. The other two backed away from the man and he aimed his cane at the base of their feet and shot. The two fell back in fear of the now deadly stick, the ground at their feet was now charred black and smoke emitted from it. The man gestured to the two to go to their fallen friend, who was still holding his arm in pain.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. Now that wasn't a very good idea." He said mocking them, he dusted his suit off, Why do I have all this dust on me? Might be from the cave, but this dust is a different. It seems white He shrugged off the thought, his the cane still aimed at the three. He stared at them with disgust. "What on Remnant are you creatures, I have never read of Grimm that fit your description." More to himself than to the diamond dogs.

The average one half-stepped forward and seemed to be the leader of the group. "W-We are diamond dogs, s-sir."

The man was surprised that he has found some new type of Grimm, although they do not look pitch black with bone jutting out of them. No, they have color variation and were sentient, meaning they should have an Aura as well. Finally, the man spoke to them again and used a more threatening tone, "Diamond dogs? Interesting, you ordered your fellow dogs to take me to your boss, this chief of yours." He demanded. The diamond dogs were fearful of the new creature and his deadlyness. He seemed to have a sense of authority around him and had a powerful weapon, in contrast to their own chief's ability. This may work out in their favor.

"Yes sir, follow us and we will take you back to the den to see the chief." The average one said with a little too much enthusiasm. They led the man back to their den and the tall one was still nursing his possibly fractured wrist. As they led him, they told him their names, from tallest to shortest: Fido, Rover their leader, and Spot, they also filled him in about his new surroundings: the name of the country, its inhabitants and leaders, and even told him information about their chief. They tried to get on his good side and also tried to imply that he should take over the pack by getting rid of their chief. 

These mutts might actually be useful, He said thoughtfully, Having a pack of loyal dogs would help me take over this new land, but the princesses might be a thorn in my side. Nonetheless, I should at least make a base of operations for the White Fang here. The leader of the group, Rover, broke his train of thought.

"Sir, what should we call you, do you have a title or name to go by?" Rover asked.

The man smirked and tipped his hat, "Yes, you shall call me Torchwick, Roman Torchwick. Your new boss." They continued to stride down the tunnel with the three filling Roman in with as much information they can muster.