It was another regular day in the Flameshard guild. A month has passed since the Lullaby incident and nothing much has happened ever since. Only Ruby, Yang and Velvet were present in the guild. Ironwood has recently left on a long term job and everybody else was busy too. The three were in the middle of a conversation.
"Jaune has been improving a lot. I'm really proud of him." Ruby said.
"He's still got long ways to go though." Yang admitted.
"At least he's improving." Velvet said.
"True… Where even is he?" Yang asked.
"Out on a job with Sun." Ruby said simply. Velvet seemed surprised.
"Jaune and Sun?" Velvet asked.
"They've been bonding. I think they might even form a team." Ruby said.
"That'd be cool." Yang admitted. Velvet nodded in agreement. It was quiet for a bit.
"So how are things at home?" Velvet asked to keep the conversation going.
"Nothing new. I've been keeping in touch with our uncle though. He might come back soon." Ruby said excited. Velvet smiled.
"I'm glad. It's been awhile since I visited Silver Talon. I'll ask Coco if she'd like to go with me." Velvet said.
"You should. I'm waiting for our uncle to come back before I visit the guild." Ruby said.
"I just go whenever Ruby goes." Yang said casually. "Uncle Qrow's cool and all but I'm more of a daddy's girl… in a good way." Yang said. Velvet nodded understandingly.
"Speaking of dad… where is he?" Ruby asked.
"I… don't know." Yang answered. "He isn't on a job. I know that for sure. We're stacked on money." Yang said.
"Should I go home and check?" Ruby asked.
"Sure. I'll stay here with Velvet so she doesn't have to be alone." Yang said. Velvet smiled.
"Thanks Yang." She said. Ruby got up and ran away really fast. As soon as Ruby was gone Yang leaned closer to Velvet.
"So… you and Coco, huh?" Yang said teasingly. Velvet turned as red as a tomato.
"There's nothing going on between us!" Velvet said still red. Yang just smiled.
"AURORA SPIRIT SHIELD!" Jaune shouted. He created a shield to block the sand coming his way. Sun stood behind him also seeking shelter from the sand attack. The two were stuck in place. Moving meant that they would be hit with the sand attack. Jaune got an idea and started walking. After he got some momentum he picked up the pace and started running towards the attacker. Sun followed him.
"WHAT?!" The red headed attacker said. Jaune rammed into him with his shield, sending him to the ground. Sun leaped over Jaune, ready to punch the red head but the read head sent Sun flying using his sand magic. The red head got up and tried punching Jaune who still had his shield up and blocked it. Jaune then dispelled his shield and kicked the red head in his stomach, causing him to stumble backwards. With his shield now gone Jaune was vulnerable and the red head sent a huge amount of sand his way. Jaune also was sent flying and landed next to Sun who had finally gotten up.
"This dude is really strong." Jaune admitted after spitting some sand out of his mouth. The three were at a beach where the redhead had just docked his ship.
"I don't know if we can beat him." Sun admitted.
"We'll have to make a deal." Jaune said. Sun turned to the red head who was preparing his next attack.
"Hey you!" Sun then yelled at the red head. "What is your name?" Sun asked.
"Scarlet. You two?" He asked.
"Sun and Jaune." Sun answered.
"Look man… if you give us the money, we'll leave you alone." Sun said.
"I would love to, but you're in no position to talk and I kind of need it." Scarlet said.
"Have it your way." Sun said. "BLINDING SUN!" Sun yelled as he started shining really brightly, blinding Scarlet. Jaune had covered his eyes. After a while the glow faded. "FINISH HIM!" Sun told Jaune. Jaune nodded and charged at the blinded Scarlet. He was about to punch him but a giant sword came Jaune's way. Jaune quickly summoned his shield and blocked the sword, barely doing so in time. The person wielding the sword was a dark skinned man with green hair.
"Who are you?" Jaune asked confused.
"Sage. Scarlet's friend." The man named Sage said casually.
"Oh hey Sage! I'm glad you're here. You're kind of late and now we have to defeat these two before we drop off the loot." Scarlet said still blind. Sage shrugged.
"It is what is." Sage said. He turned back to Jaune and striked again with his sword. Jaune managed to hold his shield up in time again, but didn't expect it to shatter. Sage then kicked Jaune in the stomach causing him to stumble backwards. Jaune clutched his stomach. Sun did a battle cry as he charged towards Sage. Sage swiped his sword at Sun who dodged the gigantic blade and punched Sage in the face. Sun then kicked the sword away but then got blown away by sand. Scarlet had recovered.
"I really recommend you two giving up. You could barely defeat me, let alone Sage and I together." Scarlet said. "I really am trying not to sound cocky." Scarlet said.
"You do though." Jaune admitted. Sage glared at him.
"Keep them busy!" Sun and Sage then both said at the same time. They both turned to each other and raised an eyebrow.
"Okay!" Jaune and Scarlet then also both said in unison. A magic circle opened up underneath Sun and he started charging his next attack while Sage ran towards his sword. Scarlet sent sand Sun's way. Jaune had to act quick and did so.
"SEMBLING DISC!" Jaune yelled as he created another shield but tossed it at the running Sage like a frisbee. Jaune then leaped in front of Sun and protected him from the sand with another shield, just in time too. Sage grabbed his sword, turned around and sliced Jaune's sembling disc in half. Jaune was dumbfounded.
"How even…" Jaune couldn't comprehend how good the two pirates were.
"Is it time for the finishing move?" Scarlet asked Sage. Sage nodded. Jaune gulped.
"Uhm Sun?" Jaune asked nervously.
"Yeah?" Sun asked with his eyes closed in order to concentrate.
"How long is it going to take for you to finish charging up?" Jaune asked. Scarlet started gathering sand while Sage raised his sword.
"Just a little more, why?" Sun asked. Scarlet manipulated the sand so that it would surround itself around Sage's sword.
"Because they're going to do their finishing move." Jaune said nervously. Sun smiled.
"Don't worry, so are we." Sun said. Jaune trusted Sun. It would work out.
"DEADLY SAND SWORD!" Sage and Scarlet yelled. Sage charged towards the two Flameshard wizards, sword at the ready. More and more sand seemed to be attracted to Sage and his sword by the second. Jaune held his shield up and charged at Sage. Both did a battle cry and as soon as the two were close enough, their "weapons" collided. Jaune's shield shattered once again and Jaune was sent flying. He landed far behind Sun in the sand. Jaune was in pain. Sage walked out of the way for Scarlet to send another sand attack towards Sun who was still charging up.
"MOONLIGHT ATTACK!" Sun suddenly yelled. A giant wave rose up behind him with Scarlet's ship on top. Sun sent the wave with the ship towards the two pirates who both had nowhere to run. Jaune was caught up in the water along with the sand from Scarlet's attack. The wave came crashing down on the two and so did the ship which collided on the ground and shattered into a bunch of pieces. After all the water went back into the ocean the two pirates faced their destroyed ship. Sage coughed up some water.
"MY SHIP!" Scarlet yelled in agony. The gold they had stolen was lying everywhere. The two pirates got up, both drenched and angry. Sun was disappointed to see that one of his strongest attacks didn't seem to have finished them off. He was also left exhausted. A drenched Jaune also got up and joined Sun.
"What kind of attack was that?" Jaune asked.
"I can use the moonlight to manipulate the current and the waves but since it's day time I had to gather moonlight from the other side of the world, which is way more exhausting than when I perform this spell at night." Sun explained.
"Neat trick." Scarlet admitted. Everybody was panting.
"But it didn't finish the job." Sage said. "And now we will finish you." Jaune gulped again. Sage placed his hand on Scarlet's shoulder and started transferring all his magic power to Scarlet. After Sage finished doing so he passed out. Jaune and Sun didn't know what to expect.
"This is the end for you." Scarlet said. He looked less hurt and more powerful now. He stretched out his arm and showed the two Flameshard wizards his palm, sending a sandstorm their way. Jaune created a bubble around the two. They were stuck in their place and nothing could be done.
"We have to do something because I'm low on magical energy. This barrier is not going to hold." Jaune said.
"There's not much I can do in this bubble." Sun said.
"We've come out of stickier situations than this. We can come up with something." Jaune said. Sun smiled.
"You're right. We-" Sun was was caught off by the sound of the sand being sucked away. The sand storm quickly died down and soon had disappeared completely. Scarlet, Sun and Jaune turned to where the sand went to. A figure was standing on one of the bigger pieces of the broken ship. It was Cardin. He had absorbed all of the sand. Cardin aimed his already extended arm at Scarlet. A light brown magic circle opened and a sand tornado sprouted from it and went directly to Scarlet. Scarlet copied Cardin and the two sand tornado's collided. Cardin's proved to be stronger and Scarlet's got pushed back. Cardin's sand tornado hit Scarlet and an explosion occurred on impact. As soon as the dust cleared and Jaune and Sun saw that Scarlet had been defeated, Jaune removed the bubble.
"What are you doing here?" Sun asked Cardin.
"I saw signs of a fight so I came to check it out. I didn't expect to see you struggling so much Sun. Then again, you like to pick fights you can't win." Cardin said. Cardin gestured to Jaune. "Is this the newbie I've heard so much about?"
"Yes I am. Nice to meet you. Thanks for saving us." Jaune said politely.
"Be glad I did. Next time I'll let you guys lose to teach you a lesson. Don't be so pathetic next time or people will start to think we're all losers." Cardin said. Jaune glared at him.
"Just leave." Sun said dismissively. Cardin shrugged, jumped off the ship wreck and walked away.
"I already don't like him." Jaune said.
"Nobody does." Sun said. "Let's bring the loot back to it's respective owners." Sun suggested. Jaune agreed and the two left to start collecting the gold. Jaune then noticed a boat in the water. He shrugged it off but felt like he recognized the person in the boat and looked again. He raised his eyebrow as he realized that it was Taiyang that was in the boat. Where was he going?
"He's at home." Ruby said as she casually entered the guild. Yang and Velvet were still sitting in the same spot. Nothing had changed.
"What is he doing?" Yang asked.
"The house was all over the place. He said he was looking for something." Ruby said simply.
"Do you guys want me to help clean up?" Velvet asked. Yang raised an eyebrow at her.
"Why would you offer to do that?" Yang asked.
"I like helping." Velvet said.
"Help yourself by not offering." Yang said. Ruby frowned at her.
"You're a bad example for her." Ruby said to Yang. Velvet giggled.
"I'm the oldest person in here. I'm giving her a good example on how to behave." Velvet said. All three of them laughed.
A few hours later it was nighttime and Ruby and Yang decided to go home. They waved goodbye and left.
"That was nice." Ruby said as the two were walking home.
"Yeah it was. I enjoy fighting, but sitting back and relaxing is also nice from time to time." Yang admitted.
"It has been awhile since we've gone on a job. We should ask dad if he'd like to go on one with us." Ruby said. Yang stretched as she yawned.
"Sure, I'm game. I need redemption after all. All I did last time was get stabbed and boost dad's power." Yang said.
"At least you didn't go through what I went through. I almost got hit by a train, remember?" Ruby asked. Yang snorted. "It's not funny!" Ruby said in protest.
"It's not. I'm just laughing at the fact that we're competing for who had the worst experience during the whole Lullaby incident." Yang said. Ruby smiled too.
"Yeah it's pretty dumb… you were only awake for half of it though." Ruby said. Yang punched her in the arm. Ruby rubbed it after.
"You need to stop doing that. It h-what's that?" Ruby asked as she pointed at their front door. There was a letter attached. It was signed "for Ruby and Yang". Ruby and Yang glanced at each other. Yang grabbed the letter, opened it and started reading.
"Hey girls. I am very sorry but I had to leave abruptly. This is very important and it could change everything for us. I wish you guys could come along but that'd ruin the surprise. Please don't come looking for me, I'm fine. There's just business I have to take care off and after I do that, I can bring back a present for you two.
-Taiyang"
Ruby and Yang glanced at each other again.
"This is ominous." Ruby said. Yang shrugged.
"Dad will do his thing and then he'll come back home." Yang said as she opened the door. She wasn't worried. The two entered the house. It was still a mess.
"Where is he going? And what did he need that required so much messing up the house?" Ruby asked, still a bit suspicious. Yang shrugged again.
"Does it matter?" Yang asked.
"Yes it does. Now we have to clean this up!" Ruby said a bit annoyed.
"Look, I'll go cook some food and you'll start cleaning up, okay?" Yang proposed. Ruby nodded. Yang walked into the kitchen while Ruby started grabbing some clothes off the floor. As she lifted the seventh shirt off the floor, she noticed a piece of paper underneath another shirt. She grabbed the paper and started reading.
"Galuna Island, you have to hurry. There are only a few moondrips left.
-S"
Ruby raised an eyebrow. Who was S? What were moondrips? And what did it have to do with Ruby's dad?
"YANG!" Ruby yelled.
"Yeah?" Yang yelled from the kitchen.
"PACK YOUR BAGS BECAUSE WE ARE GOING TO GALUNA ISLAND!" Ruby said.