That next day Penny went out exploring Atlas and all its wonders. She'd never seen such a vast world before, or any world, in fact.
"That is one big tower!" Penny said in amazement.
"You like it?" General Ironwood said with a smirk, waiting for Penny to respond. When she didn't he continued. "We call it the CCT or Cross Continental Transmit tower. This tower is how we stay in touch with the rest of the world. If any of the four towers should fall then they all fall."
"How poetic," Penny said, remembering what Ironwood said about the human mind. "Either everyone has a voice, or no one does, no voice is louder than the other."
"Number one priority is always protecting the CCT, even if most of humanity is killed," Ironwood said in a more serious tone. "As long as the CCT stands, there is hope for humanity. The CCT is so well protected that the odds of it falling are astronomically low."
They walked around the city, Ironwood talking about different buildings, covering just about the same things he covered in his lecture the day before.
Bored out of her mind, Penny eventually snuck away from General Ironwood. Ducking into the airport, she sighed with relief. "Finally ditched him!" Looking around, she saw a sign for a flight to Vale. Remembering the lecture about the other kingdoms, Penny decided it would be cool to visit somewhere a bit further than her hometown. She headed for the ticket counter, bought a ticket, and smiled to herself.
"Come on, follow me," Penny whispered. "Don't be shy. I only have to pay for me. You guys get to come for free." Penny then winked to the readers with a sly smile on her face.
After a grueling eleven hour flight, Penny finally landed in Vale. She started walking down the street, looking at the sights. There were strange shops with glass windows and people just walking around. She'd seen all this in the seminar and walking around Atlas, but it still fascinated her, this concept of shopping, this concept of friends. Penny was lost in her own mind until she stumbled into a group of four girls she had never seen before, though it was true that there were very few people she'd ever seen before.
There was a red cloaked girl with a giant scythe who wore combat boots and a dress. Next to her was a girl with long sandy blonde haired, a leather aviator's jacket and a set of gold plated gauntlets on her wrists. On the red cloaked girl's other side was an ivory skinned girl with a white dress, a rapier at her side, and a piercing blue eyes. Next to the blond girl was black haired girl with yellow, almost feline eyes, and bow that was obviously hiding something...
The girl in red collided with her, they both fell like rocks. The girl in red started rubbing her head and got up. "I am so sorry. Are you okay?"
Penny continued to lay there. "Why, I am doing fabulously. Thank you for asking."
"Ruby, you dolt, offer to help her up!" the girl in white screamed at the girl in red.
"Sorry Weiss, you're right," Ruby responded. Ruby turned to Penny, extending a hand. "Would you like to get up?"
Penny, ignoring the helping hand, jumped to her feet. "Yes, thank you for asking!"
The four girls stepped back. "Um, hi I am Ruby and this is my team," Ruby said, pointing at each of the other girls. "Weiss, Blake, Yang, and me."
"SALUTATIONS!" Penny greeted.
To Ruby, Weiss whispered, "Are you sure she didn't bump her head when she fell?"
Ruby glared at Weiss. "That is VERY rude Weiss, and you were getting onto me for that!"
Ruby looked down at her watch and realized that her free period was almost over. "Oh, jeez! We are running late! Catch you later, friend!"
Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang started running away.
"She seemed a little strange," Ruby said. The words had barely left her mouth when she rounded a corner and almost knocked Penny over for the second time.
Penny walked up to Ruby, standing way too close for comfort. "What did you call me?" Penny asked, wide eyed.
Ruby panicked "I... Uh... I'm so sorry, I didn't know you were listen-"
"Did you call me friend?" Penny implored. "Am I really your friend?"
Ruby stuttered for a second, and after watching her teammates shake their heads furiously, she smiled. "Sure, why not?"
A look of absolute horror swept across the faces of her teammates. Penny looked ecstatic.
"SENSATIONAL!!! Oh, we can paint our nails and shop for school supplies, and talk about cute boys!"
Ruby then gave Penny a shy smile. "Look, I would love to hang around, but I got to get back to my team–" Ruby looked around, noticing that her team had left. "And they ditched me," she said, her face falling.
Penny, not having any sense of personal boundaries, surprised Ruby with a hug that was so hard that even with Ruby's full Aura, it still nearly cracked Ruby's ribs.
Ruby let out a muttered, "OOMPH!" as the breath was literally crushed out of her. "Penny, you're crushing me," Ruby said in more of a squeak than actual words, and with that Penny let go.
"I'm sorry. I did not mean to hurt you."
Ruby gave a sympathetic look. "Don't worry. It happens more often than you would think." Penny looked like she felt better. "Ooh, we are going to be the best of friends!"
ns 15.158.61.17da2
