4
FANG
Chapter 1
Team RWBY was wandering amongst the various vendors that had set up in Vale for the Vytal festival. Ruby was running backwards talking excitedly to Yang about something she just had to see at a particular table up ahead. She ran into something and knocked herself down to the grass the voice shouting "Ow" indicated she had struck a person, recovering and standing up she began to apologize, "Oh I'm so sorry I didn't see you. . ." Ruby stopped speaking as she looked around and actually didn't see anyone, she scanned the area several times but only found empty space before her. Then the shadows shifted and out of the grass a couple feet in front of her materialized a man.
"It's quite alright, I forgot I had this on." He replied pulling off the earth and stuffing it into a bag strapped to his leg. "Honestly I'd be surprised if you could have seen me."
"How did you just do that?" Yang asked as the rest of the team had by this point caught up to Ruby and the other student.
"Oh this is part of the suit I wear for fighting, I have one for almost every environment and keep them here with me so I can disappear when I need to."
"Wow that's really cool," Ruby replied staring at him, "Oh I'm Ruby and this is Yang." She said turning out of the way of Yang as she stepped forward.
"Gil, nice to meet you both, my team and I watched you guys earlier. We were impressed by the way you guys work together, especially for a group of first-year students."
"Your team?" Weiss asked.
"Yeah team FANG, hold on." Gil turned his head away from the girls and called out into the crowd. "Smoke!"
"Fire!" came an immediate response from three directions as the rest of the team revealed their locations around Gil.
"Team RWBY allow me to introduce team FANG." Gil said with a wave of his hand.
"Feuer." Said a tall man with a scruffy brown beard and a helmet with horns on the side.
"Adler, how ya doing?" Came the call from a man with a Mohawk leaning against a tree with his hands in his pockets.
"Noir," A voice said as a girl in a black tank top dropped out of a tree, "and it's a pleasure to finally meet the fabled team RWBY from Beacon." Team RWBY in turn gave their introductions and the two teams spoke about their experiences in the first round of competition. While they talked Gil noticed that Blake was watching him.
"Hey Ruby." Gil called the girl in red, once she was close he leaned in and spoke, "Is everything alright with your Faunus friend there?" Nodding in Blake's direction. Blake looked over and walked towards the two as Ruby struggled to respond.
"How did you know about Blake?" Ruby finally asked after finding the words to respond and Blake had walked over close to them.
"What that she was a Faunus? I'm terribly sorry was I not supposed to?"
"It's just that I don't normally tell anyone." Blake answered still staring uneasily at Gil.
"Ah I understand, well I'm sorry to prod I was just wondering if you were feeling alright, it seemed like something was on your mind." Gil offered pulling off his wide brimmed hat and holding it in his hands.
"There's just something about you that I don't understand." Blake said slowly trying to discern what the cause of her feelings could have been.
"Oh I see, yes I imagine it would be rather strange but for some reason animals and to an extent Faunus feel different around me, I think it is a sense of comfort and for most animals they tend to stay near me when I'm in the woods. Actually that was how I met another student here, she was a rabbit Faunus. . ."
"Velvet?" Ruby offered.
"Yes her, she was in the Emerald Forest and had gotten lost and stumbled upon me. She was cold, hungry, and had been pretty badly beaten up by Grimm so I offered her help as I would any creature in my forest and got her back to the rest of her team. Little did I know one day we would both be going to school for the same profession." He finished smiling slightly.
"Oh cool." Ruby said and turned to Blake who was still looking at the man with dark green eyes.
"It's OK, you can relax Blake I do not wish you any harm." Gil said nodding towards Blake's bow that had been standing high with her ears alert and turned towards him. Upon hearing him her ears dropped and Blake looked away slightly embarrassed, she rolled her shoulders to help let the tenseness in her neck dissipate. Gil smiled when he saw she seemed more at ease and Blake wandered over to speak to Noir.
"Hey Ruby, if you don't mind could I take a look at your weapon?"
"Sure." Ruby replied pulling out Crimson Rose and opening it to its full form, Gil held the weapon with care and inspected the various elements from the spear point to the tip of the scythe.
"What size is the rifle?"
"It's a fifty caliber round." She replied.
"Impressive, now does it use the standard rounds or the high velocity shells the military uses?"
"The standard, the joints at the muzzle handle the recoil better with the slower rounds."
"Don't you have a higher amount of bullet drop at longer range?"
"Yes but the sight that's built in was made to correct for the bullets I use."
"Very impressive, you sure know your weapon well. You'll have to come shoot with me sometime, sound like a deal?"
"Totally." Ruby replied folding up Crimson Rose and replacing it on her back. Her and Gil turned around and saw that the two teams were talking one on one with their counterparts.
"Well it sure seems like everyone is getting along famously." Gil commented as him and Ruby walked past the group. Yang and Feuer were talking excitedly and throwing punches into the air, Weiss was standing close to Adler and Gil heard his comments.
"Hey you're Winter's kid sister right? Hopefully you're a little less cold than she is." Adler finished with a smirk and Weiss lifted her nose and turned away from him. Ruby ran off to talk to Weiss and Gil walked over to Noir and Blake who were talking contently.
"And you're his partner?" Blake asked nodding towards Adler.
"Yeah, why? Don't like him?" Noir asked sticking her hands in her pockets.
"He seems a bit abrasive."
"Yeah that's why I'm here, to help keep him in line." Noir replied with a wink.
"Well what's with the hair?"
"Oh that." Noir replied, "Wasn't always like that. Once he was enrolled in the academy he did it out of spite for their rules, he had it grown out until the festival when he did it to look like a warrior. Paints his face for fights too." Noir answered watching Adler flick his lighter open and shut.
"So he has problems with rules . . . at Atlas?" Blake asked in disbelief that someone who had problems with authority could exist in such a military-minded atmosphere.
"Yeah, couple years ago he was just 'The Man in the Suit' that roamed the kingdoms causing trouble."
"I remember hearing about that." Blake replied, "Some guy who liked to break rules and help people, he was a myth. Someone criminals and police hated and people that he helped loved. What happened?"
"Luck ran out. Police gave him the choice of the academy or jail. He wanted jail but picked the academy for me." Noir answered with a sigh.
"So were you two?"
"Oh no, I don't like people telling me what to do so we agree on a lot of things. Hey can I see your scroll?" Blake handed over her scroll and Noir started playing with it, a few swipes and taps later Noir handed it back. "I see you like music, I just gave you limitless access on the sites you use most. Listen to anything you want download whatever you like and you won't have ads anymore."
"Thanks, um how did you?"
"Noir has a gift for that sort of thing, personally I can't understand it but I trust her skills." Gil finally spoke, bringing both the girl's attention to him at last. "This sure has been nice but I do believe we must get going. Isn't that right Feuer?"
"Yes, he is right we must go back to Atlas for the evening." Feuer spoke with a deep tone that radiated across the fairgrounds.
"Well team RWBY it sure was a pleasure bumping into you." Gil said with a smile and a nod to Ruby who smiled sheepishly.
"Farewell, we wish you good fortunes in the next round of the competition." Feuer said before turning back towards the airships bound for Atlas.
"Here's hoping we can meet up again." Noir said before following the other two. Adler nodded to them before turning to follow the rest of his team.