Chapter 2! Before I forget, new chapter uploads every Friday! Enjoy (° U °)b

There will always be constants in this universe.

Tick…

So it stands to reason that War too, also has its constants.

Tock…

Constants give us something to anchor our lives to.

Tick…

It keeps us grounded so in an ever-changing world; we may have some stability to hold on to.

Tock…

But there are those who dislike the comfort that constants bring us.

Tick…

Those who wish to see that perfectly imperfect normality

Tluck!...

Crumble.

The robed figure stood in line at one of the many registrar's booths set up outside of The International Ship Wars Ambassador's Hall. That man was the infamous hacker known as Celtic_Crown. The simple brown robe that he donned was Celtic's own way of protesting the facade his well-groomed and uniformed peers decide to put on every year. Plus, the extra pocket or two did not go unappreciated.

The line was long and full of people who Celtic immediately recognized from past conflicts. Nitesco from the Cargo Shippers clan, Prime Minister of Guns and Roses. Jannis, Champion of White Rose and fighting for The Church of White Rose's glory. Celtic felt a smirk tug at his face.

Fools the whole lot of them. So used to the comfort of their power that any upset to their expectations might break out in a riot. But the only ones who have that power are the most popular and larger Nations. Nations like White Rose and Bumblebee. And thus this hierarchy is made, so that those with the most power just have to wait for their turn to win, while the weak have to fight claw and tooth to survive in this system. A system so fundamentally corrupted that it is damn-near impossible to change the outcome of this War.

Not this year though, this year the Ship Hall will know what it means to see True Change.

Celtic looked up at the colossal building that was The International Ship Wars Ambassador's Hall, often just called the Ship Hall for time conservation, with a wide grin. The sleek, towering marble walls were a sight to behold with over 51 stories. When being built the building was created with many different architectural influences from many different Ships and Nations in mind, and it showed.

It was pretty, in its own chaotic and uneven way. And maybe that's what made it such a nice thing. The whole building was made to show that even if things are different, if people and where they come from were different, together they can make something…pretty. At least, that's what the same pamphlet that was handed to Celtic every year upon entering the contest said.

The Ship Hall was built to bring some control to the chaos that is a Ship War. Legend has it that after witnessing the horror of War ravage her own Nation first hand, Melanie Antiqua proposed to the mods to hold a tournament for the Nations to fight in a controlled area annually to limit the number of conflicts and casualties to the nations and related subs that would normally take place without the competition.

The numbers don't lie and conflicts have gone down drastically after Grand Hostess Melanie began hosting the tournament. So now annually, the entire sub celebrates this event by sending their Champions and Representatives to fight in the War and win the main prize in their Nation's honor.

"Next person, come up please."

Celtic noticed he was up and walked to the stand where a woman was typing away at the holographic computer in front of her. She stopped typing and faced the robed man. "Hello! Welcome to th-"

"The International Ship Wars Ambassador's Hall, yeah, yeah. Look, here's my ID," Celtic interrupted the registrar, reached into his overcoat's pocket jangling some metallic items and pulled out his old, tattered ID. "I'm an Ambassador for Renora." He simply said and picked up the registration form over the counter, much to the woman's surprise and began filling it out without the need of instruction. "Let's see, Name…Nation…Net-Comm number…aaaaaand done!" Celtic filled out the form so quickly as if it were pure muscle memory at this point and offered it to the clerk who snatched it out of his hands to look it over.

To her surprise everything was filled out perfectly. Caught off guard she scrambled for the stack of pamphlets on her counter top. "Uh…right! P-please make your-"

"-way to customs to declare any and all contraband you may or may not hold. Thank you for your participation, have a wonderful Ship War!" Celtic rushed the woman up and made his way over to customs completely ignoring the pamphlet she offered up to him.

Celtic neared the customs station that was set up a few feet away from the entrance of the building and looked around. There was your typical metal detector, the tough looking security guard who could drag you away if you caused any trouble, and not to mention the security camera that was oh so carefully "hidden" in the false bird's nest in the gardens area. To the side was a conveyor belt with small baskets to place your items that may set off the metal detector, needless to say, whatever was in the baskets was going to be looked into.

'Yeah, no way I'm putting it anywhere near here.' Celtic thought as he began placing his electronics and other metallic miscellaneous items, all except for his most precious item. He rifled through his pockets and touched the item in question. 'But then again, I could set off the detector and that'd be a pain to deal with…'

"Hey you! Quit holding up the line!" The security guard snapped Celtic out of his trance with her fierce glare and tone. The hacker made a split-second decision and had decided not to take out his treasure but also kept his Net-Comm watch on his wrist. He tapped it twice and the device turned on.

"Do your stuff Carl…" Celtic breathed out and began walking towards the metal detector.

The normal user interface glitched and made way for an emoticon face. (° u ^)7

Celtic did as the security woman said, not wanting to get beat up this early in the tournament. The robed man walked through the metal detector successfully without setting it off despite his treasure poking him on the hip. He made his way to the end of the conveyor belt to pick up his items and to discreetly look at his Net-Comm.

b(° U °)b . The face had changed, even without Celtic touching his device.

"Good job, Carl. Let's hurry up and see if we can catch a glimpse of who's going to participate this year." (9°ʽ^ʼ°)9 "That's the spirit. Who knows, we might even get some new arrivals that will really shake things up this time." Celtic spoke to his wrist with some hope in the back of his mind and walked towards the entrance. "Yeah, I feel it. This year is different, change will co-OHFF" Celtic was cut off as he bumped into something that knocked him off balance resulting in him on the floor.

"Well! If it isn't my old friend, Celtic!" A voice spoke. Celtic's eyes opened and looked up to the figure towering above him.

"Oh hell n-"

"And right on time too!" The man, who was holding a clipboard in one hand and a pen in the other crossed something off of the paper and turned back to his "old friend" on the ground and extended a hand towards him.

Celtic looked up at the hand and scowled. "Old friend…" He stood up without taking the man's help and dusted himself off. "Listen, Inferno, I've got a lot of things to do and I feel like another argument with you would be counter-intuitive to those things. So I'll just go ahead and not even try today!" Celtic was about to walk away when he heard the scritching sound of pen on paper. He immediately turned around to find Inferno finish scratching something off his list with a smug smile. Celtic contemplated the benefits and downsides of falling into Inferno's very obvious bait. He sighed. "Alright, I'll bite; What's with the clipboard?" the robed man pointed at the device in his "old friend's" hands.

"I'm so very glad you asked, Celtic! For you see!" he turned around and pointed at the sky.

"Oh Gods…" Celtic murmured, already regretting his decision. (- m -) zZZ. Carl entered sleep mode.

"A vision came to me during my sleep!" Inferno turned around to face the man. "Do you know what this vision, granted unto me by the Goddesses themselves, revealed to me?"

"That you should really go to the Doctor again and see if you still have Ship Surviv-itis in your system?" Celtic quipped.

"Hahaha!" Inferno's long trench coat of a uniform's highlights began to flare up red contrasting with the whiteness of its base color. His golden medals clinked against one another as they settled after a while on its black patch of soft cloth that was meant to decrease clinking and contrast the yellow gleam of the medals. "Oh Celtic, you and your jokes!"

"It's not a joke, Peter said that if they persist after the estimated time you need to seriously get yourself checked out…"

"It's nice that you care for me-"

"I do not!"

"But I can guarantee you that I am not ill! In fact, I've never felt better than at this very moment!" Inferno held his hands up in the air for a dramatic flair.

"…Carl," (! o !)7. The little AI rose to attention. "schedule a doctor's appointment for Saturday."

"I'm serious!" Inferno turned and pointed to man. "The vision showed me that this Ship Wars, Pollination will have holy glory as it should and the Inter-RWBY ships will hold more power than ever before!"

Celtic's scowl came back. "On second thought, Carl, cancel that appointment. There's nothing good to save." Celtic turned around.

"The vision showed me everything! It foresaw this very conversation and the result!" Inferno called after the retreating hacker. This peaked Celtic's interest, and as always, got caught up with Inferno's banter.

"Bull. Shit. There's no way you know-"

""How this conversation ends."" They both say at the same time much to Celtic's shock and Inferno's smugness. "Told ya."

Celtic growled.

""Lucky guess, there's no way you can do..that…again…STOP IT!"" The two got closer to each other as they both began saying the same phrase simultaneously.

"Geez you guys are annoyingly loud!" A voice interrupted the grade school-like argument. A slightly older and regal man wrapped his arms around both of the bickering "old friends". "I swear, I could hear you dolts all the way from over the Registrar's booth."

The man was Captain Outcast Munkee, Captain of Eisberg but fighting for Seamonkeys this Ship Wars on account of Eisberg not doing so hot in the preliminaries.

Celtic struggled to be released from the man's hold, and failed. Inferno didn't. "Ah! Munkee! Just the man I wished to see in a few seconds!"

Munkee just looked confused. "Uh…"

"I wouldn't even try today, he's off about some prophetic shit or whatever." Celtic pushed on the man's strong arms again to no avail.

"It's not whatever! It's the sign I've been waiting for! My patience has been awarded by the Gods and now Pollination will reap the benefits!"

Munkee released his hold on the two. "Well it's always so good seeing my friends so chummy with each other so early in the competition." He rolled his eyes.

"Whatever! You'll see! You'll all see! This will be the year of Pollination!"

"Yeah, you totally don't sound like a psycho!" Celtic sniped back and turned around for what felt like the fifth time.

"Hm? Oh hey, Celtic, what happened to your crown?" Munkee pointed to the top of his head.

"Oh yeah! I was going to ask about that very same thing!" Inferno piped up with a smile on his face. "What happened to your false crown." He teased.

Celtic froze up and stopped in his tracks. "…I…lost it…during Ship Survivor when…" Celtic began shaking.

Munkee looked worried. "Oh…Celtic, I didn't realize…"

Celtic turned to face the two men, anger in his eyes and determination in his features. "Take heed of my words!" Celtic yelled. "This year, change will come! It might not be by my hand, but change is happening this year! Clinging to your outdated beliefs will only hinder your ability to see the truth!"

Everyone had turned their eyes to see what all the commotion was about. "Jeez, you're just as bad as him!" Munkee face palmed and tried to calm down his friend.

"No! We are two very different forces! I am an agent of change, he's the personification of that which I oppose! Mark my words, I will lend my power to all who oppose this false and corrupt system! And know that his year, I will WIN and the sub will CHANGE!"

"…" Inferno looks at his list then crosses something off. "Celtic has a breakdown about change, check!"

Celtic balls up his fists and storms off.

"Inferno…" Munkee turns to face his friend, disappointment clear on his features.

"What?! He talks all this big talk of change but he is one of the most consistent things in this contest!" Inferno defends himself. Munkee just gives him a disapproving look. "*sigh* I'll apologize some other time! Look, it's on the list!" Inferno flashed the list briefly before clutching it to his chest just as quickly.

"But as for now, I have other people to meet, and every second is planned out! I'm a puppet of fate at this moment, and I know she will reward my nation kindly!" Inferno began walking off. "Oh, and before I forget, I have a surprise for you before the first round starts! See you around!" Inferno waved goodbye without turning.

"A surprise?!" Munkee was caught off guard as Inferno walked away. "Last time you gave me a surprise, half my fleet was hospitalized for the rest of the competition!" Inferno didn't stop walking away, leaving Munkee in a rough position. "…Fuck…" he looked between his two friends walking away and decided to go after one of them.

While it is true that constants keep us tethered, they are also very easy to fall into and very hard to escape. After all, a comfy life makes for a softened foe. And while a change is good every once in a while…

Inferno walked into The Ship Hall looking around with a sense of Deja-vu at everything that was around him, he had seen it all before both in his past experiences and in his vision. He looked at the walls around him and soon found what he saw in his dream the night before. An odd-looking man, with a simple uniform of brown and Red, stood in front of the posters of all the Gods.

The man looked at the poster of the Goddess Ruby, petals surrounding her as her most trusted weapon was unfurled in all of its shining glory, with much more focus than any of the others.

The man sighed with a smile on his face. He fidgeted with something in his palm.

"AH! Nitesco! Just the man I wanted to see and right where you're supposed to be!" Inferno made his way over to the strange man. The man turned to face the Ambassador of Pollination.

"Oh, hello Inferno!" the man stuffed whatever was in his palm into his breast pocket.

Inferno smiled and scratched out another item off his list.

You must also be careful not to change that which you love too much,

After walking for a bit, Celtic turned the corner swiftly and pulled out his treasure in his coat's pocket. 'An old, battered crown,' He thought, 'for an old, battered king…'

He held the crown in his hands and felt a great sadness come over him.

Rusted, spikes bent or chipped off, slight bullet marks grazing the temple areas, and a rather big Braggtonium Crystal, cracked in the center of his crown. He ran his finger along the cracked crystal taking time to feel the sharp turns and schisms that dulled the crystal's natural shine.

He sighed and stuffed it into his coat's pocket with a renewed sense of determination.

to the point where it isn't that anymore.