Remnant's Harmony: Volume 1

by Equestrian Defender

Flash Trailer

My wings may be broken but they will mend in time.

And when they do, I'll soar higher than before.

-Forest on the Edge of Vale-

The forest was quiet, tranquil. Not a sound to be heard save for a soft breeze and the gentle rustle of the leaves. It was truly peaceful.

Until it was shattered moments later by a rapid succession of gunshots, and an terrifying roar that echoed throughout the forest.

Inside the forest a young man was running through the forest as fast as he could, hoping to put some distance between himself and the monster that was chasing him.

The young man in question was about seventeen years old, with cobalt blue hair and eyes and weather tanned skin. He was wearing a black jacket with plates of blue armor on his chest and arms, along with blue armored bracers and black gloves. He also wore blue jeans and black boots. Around his waist was a belt that had several clips of ammo for his weapons. His weapons themselves were in their holsters, twin machine pistols painted blue and black that he called the Defenders. Strapped against his back was what appeared to be a metal backpack, though it didn't seem to weigh that much.

His name was Flash Sentry, and he was really starting to regret taking this job.

It was supposed to be a simple extermination mission; kill a Grimm that had been terrorizing the local farmers. In exchange he'd get some Lien and a free ticket on the next train to Vale. Sounds simple, right?

See, while they knew it was a Grimm nobody had actually seen it. They knew it was a flying Grimm so they assumed it was a Nevermore since they were actually pretty common in the surrounding forests. Given the amount of destruction it seemed to point to it being a Giant Nevermore.

Well it turned out that the Grimm wasn't a Nevermore, or even a Giant Nevermore, but was actually a particularly nasty Elder Griffon.

Who Flash had majorly pissed off by shooting two full clips of Electric Dust rounds into its left eye, which sadly did not penetrate its brain and kill it.

"My luck really sucks sometimes," he muttered to himself.

He eventually managed to get out of the trees and found himself running on hard stone, before he quickly came to an abrupt halt as he soon ran out of ground to run on.

He stood at the edge of an immense cliff, with a sheer drop of at least one hundred feet straight down into the ocean. No ordinary human would survive a fall like that.

He then heard the Elder Griffon's roar, and sighed. "And it keeps getting worse."

The Elder Griffon was easily the size of a truck, with wings that looked like they could cover an airship. It advanced on him slowly, flexing its long front claws that looked sharp enough to cut through steel plates. And it glared at him hatefully through its one remaining eye.

Seeing that he had nowhere else to go, he slid his goggles over his eyes and pulled out the Defenders. He then turned around and did something the Grimm was not expecting.

He jumped off of the cliff.

Confused at the actions of its prey, the Elder Griffon walked to the edge and looked down...

...and immediately reared up as several bullets slammed into its underside. Nonlethal but it hurt like hell, like any bullets would.

And then the human it had been chasing appeared, hovering in front of him.

And he now had wings.

What had actually happened was that when Flash jumped off, he allowed himself to fall for a couple yards before he pressed a button on his right bracer. This sent a signal to his "backpack" which activated the jet boosters, and metal plates extended and formed his wings. While he wasn't sure what they were made of they were light enough that the backpack form didn't weigh 1000 pounds, flexible enough they wouldn't snap if he made a sharp turn, and strong enough he could actually use them as shields (which he has on several occasions) without them breaking.

They weren't the wings he was born with, but they did the job. Sometimes better.

So as he turned himself around and flew up the side of the cliff, he held up both of the Defenders and let loose a hail of bullets as the Elder Griffon looked down.

Back in present time Flash yelled "Come and get me you overgrown turkey!" before turning around and flying down towards the water. The Elder Griffon roared before taking flight after him, clearly still holding a grudge about the eye. Sensing this Flash pushed himself faster, not wanting to end up as that monsters lunch.

Keeping close to the cliff face he saw a series of rocky spires, outcroppings and arches Flash flew towards them. He nimbly ducked and weaved around them, not so much as touching one of them with his wings. He had to be, one wrong move at the speed he was going and he'd probably make a sickening SPLAT! sound against the rocks. Fortunately he was small enough and agile enough to avoid that.

The Elder Griffon on the other hand was neither small or agile enough, but because of its size and armoring it was able to plow through any of the rocks that got in its way, losing nothing but its speed.

Jeez this thing is stubborn. I gotta find a way to end this and fast. God, I wished I had a sword with me.

Looking ahead he noticed a large and very thick arch with a small hole just big enough for him to fit through. He flew straight towards it, sensing the Elder Griffon behind him, and quickly retracted his wings and front flipped through the hole. He then spun around, bringing up the Defenders, and unloaded the rest of the bullets in the clips into the beast's remaining eye. Now completely blind the beast could do nothing to stop itself from smashing headfirst into the thick rock formation, the speed at which it was going crumpling up its neck like an accordion. Its neck snapped it fell into the ocean below it, its essence sending wispy dark tendrils through the water.

Hovering there for a few minutes to make sure it didn't rise up like a cliche horror movie monster, Flash then flew back up to the cliff top. Time to break the good news.

---

"Thank you so much for getting rid of that beast," the town mayor said while he shook Flash's hand. "Now we might be able to sleep a little easier around here."

Flash smiled and replied "It's no problem, sir."

Smiling, the mayor handed him a large stack of Lien and two train tickets. "This is double what the reward was," Flash stated.

"Well, you took down an Elder Griffon, so I figured you deserved a little extra. Consider it a bonus."

Thanking him, Flash walked through the town to the local smithy, Hunter's Forge, seeing a tall and very muscular man with ox horns and a tail wearing a blacksmithing apron over his clothes. Seeing him walk up to the shop he smiled and said "Flash Sentry. Nice to see you didn't become Grimm chow."

"Oh it tried, Ferro" Flash replied. "But it just wasn't smart enough to know when it was being led into a trap. Is it finished?"

Smiling, the blacksmith pulled out what appeared to be a black hand and a half sword hilt with no crossguard and a blue pommel shaped like an eagle's head. One the side of the hilt near the top, barely noticeable, was a small button. Handing it to Flash, he said "Not every day I get asked to make a weapon like this. Specially with those specifications."

"Well you're one of the few blacksmiths I know that can create a Dust-infused blade," Flash replied.

He then pushed the button, and the segmented blade extended, locking into place. The sword itself was three and a half feet long and two inches wide. The blade itself was made out of titanium infused with lightning Dust, giving it an electric blue color.

Infusing regular metal with Dust tended to be very risky and easily able to go wrong. It was usually the reason it was so expensive in most places, since it would take most ordinary blacksmiths a few tries and a lot of wasted metal.

Fortunately, Ferro was a master blacksmith. So it wasn't too hard and not to expensive.

Giving it a few practice swings, he was satisfied by the weight and balance of it. Retracting the blade and clipping it to his belt, he handed Ferro some Lien and said "Keep the change. Hope to see you again."

After that he bought some food for the train ride, when he saw something that made him pause.

A young girl, about thirteen years old, was slumped against the wall of the train station, staring up into the sky like she was hoping for a miracle. She was thin and scrawny, looking like she hadn't had a decent meal in months. Her orange T-shirt and purple shorts were ragged looking and very faded, her shoes held together with nothing more than prayers and a whole lotta duct tape. Her short purple hair looked like no comb or brush could ever conquer it, while the ears poking out of the top of her hair and her purple tail marked her as a Pony Faunus.

But what stuck out the most about her was that her legs from just above her knees down were metal, meaning they were prosthetic.

She just looked... sad. There was no other word for it.

She saw him with her purple eyes right away and grumbled "Take a picture, dude. It'll last longer."

Surprised, Flash asked "Are you okay?"

Rolling her eyes she sarcastically replied "Just peachy. I'm on my way to Vale to enroll at Signal Academy so I can become a Huntress. But I got jumped by some #%^&wads who made off with a good chunk of my cash. Now I can't afford a ticket, meaning I'll have to walk there."

"But the enrollment period ends in two weeks. It'll take you at least a month to get to the city limits, if you're lucky."

"I don't care" she replied, looking at him with fire in her eyes. "I'm going to become a huntress, even if I have to walk a hundred, no, a thousand miles to do it. Even if I have to fight off every Grimm on Remnant, I will become a Huntress!"

Hearing the conviction in her voice made Flash smile. Spoken like a true Huntress. So he reached into his wallet and pulled out his spare ticket, holding it out to the girl. "Then this might help."

Looking at it as if it might disappear, she asked "Are you for real?"

"Hey, I only need one ticket. I'm going to Vale anyway to enroll at Beacon Academy. I figured I'd help a fellow Hunter out."

She rose to her feet, slowly taking the ticket in her hand. She then threw her arms around Flash's waist in a tight hug, constantly saying "Thank you" to the point that Flash thought she might forget how to say anything else.

"Jeez, you're welcome kid."

Letting go she said "It's not kid. The name's Scootaloo."

Smirking, Flash held out his hand and replied "Flash Sentry." A thought then occurred to him. "Hey, where are your parents?"

Her face immediately fell, and she muttered "They're... not around anymore."

"Oh. I'm sorry."

"You didn't know."

"Are you staying with anyone in Vale?"

"My Aunt. She's waiting for me at the train station." Picking up her backpack, which also was held together by duct tape, she said "I'll see you around, Flash Sentry." before heading into the station.

She was surprised to hear Flash jog up after her. "Why don't we stick together through the train ride?"

A bit surprised, Scootaloo asked "Why?"

"A few reasons. But the truth is I just don't feel right letting you sit on a five hour train ride by yourself."

She opened her mouth to argue, but then her stomach let out a loud growl, making her blush in embarrassment.

"Have you had anything eat" Flash asked.

"Not since this morning."

"Well I have plenty of food in my backpack, and I'd be happy to share."

That put a smile on her face. "Okay then."

And with that they boarded the train to Vale, to what would hopefully be a bright future.

Author's Note:

Finally! I got this done just before midnight on New Year's Eve!

So, Flash Sentry had his moment to fly. His wingpack and machine pistols are heavily inspired by Sam Wilson/Falcon from the MCU, but different colors.

His sword on the other hand is inspired by the folding blade used by Corvo Attano and his daughter Emily in the video games Dishonored and Dishonored 2.

As for the Elder Griffon situation, I have to admit that wasn't my first choice. I wanted to do a Geist, then an OC Grimm, before I finally settled on it.

And before anyone asks why Scootaloo was here, this was more or less to give us an insight into Flash's character, and set up the eventual meeting of the Crusaders at Signal Academy.

So three down, one to go. Logan's Trailer is left and then it's onto Volume 1.

Let's do this!

Comments

[Ze1a7in]

So which members of the team are Faunus again?

[SuperSonicHeroes]

Flash was awesome here. He took down a tough Grimm all by himself. I can’t wait to see what he can do with the others once they form their team.

[Equestrian Defender]

9378474
They're all Faunus. Flash lost his Eagle Wings in a fight with the White Fang years ago.
9378985
Thank you.

[RK_Striker_JK_5]

Flash, you're a genuine here here. I salute you. :)

Great action, and nice to see a grateful populace rewarding the hero. Flash and Scootaloo, eh? A cool big brother/little sister dynamic here could blossom.

[Equestrian Defender]

9379380
Genuine? You sure you don't mean genius?

And yeah, that's the idea. It'll come into play throughout the story, especially towards the end of Volume 1 throughout Volumes 2 and 3.

[SuperSonicHeroes]

9379903
I think he meant to say "genuine hero here", but if you are saying Flash is also a genius then that is even better. You like portraying Flash with high intelligence don't you?

[Equestrian Defender]

9382998
Considering how little time we get with Flash in canon, yes.
Unlike with my Spiderman story, this Flash's intelligence is mostly focused in engineering and fighting Grimm. He's not freaky smart, since we already have Twilight and Sunset for that.

[narusakufan]

Sweet. This keeps getting better and better.

[brisa_mlp]

9378474
I think all right???
anyway logan? who's logan?