ANGR

by epicvictory2025

RWBY AU. What if a certain faunus went down a different path, with a certain cat faunus that is his closest friend, and formed his own team from a certain huntsman academy that he would call his friends and even family? What if he's a young leader of righteousness and justice, than a monster of spite and rage?

4. The Green Roadrunner

RWBY belongs to Monty Oum and Rooster Teeth.

The OCs belong to me.

Team ANGR

Trailer; The Green Roadrunner

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Every action and decision brings many possible outcomes, whenever for the better or for the worse. There are some decisions that are willing to be made for the better, even at the cost of something and the exchange for another.

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Mistral; Kuchinashi

Mistral; Another kingdom of Remnant.

As one of the four kingdoms, found on the second largest continent of the planet, Anima. It too has several academies that are made to train young teenagers into skilled and powerful huntsman of Remnant.

Anima is well known for being an environmentally diverse and beautiful continent; with temperate deciduous and coniferous forests, marshy swamp lands, snowy mountains and tundra, and wind carved cliff sides. It's quite a diverse biosphere to have all kinds of lifestyles and places to live, regardless of the dangers of the Grimm.

In the upper center of the continent is a massive lake called Lake Matsu; Stretching around 900 kilometers in diameter, it's the largest lake in all of Remnant. But the most interesting thing about the massive lake are the floating islands that hover over the massive body of water, due to the massive quantities of Gravity Dust that are part of the islands that have lifted them above the lake at hundreds of meters above. Some rocks are so large they are even able to have grass and trees grow on them, making them habitable breeding grounds for birds to live in… but unfortunately, most of those islands are occupied by flying Grimm, especially Lancers, Griffons, and Nevermores. There are even some legends of massive kaiju sized Grimm that are hiding within the lake. Another problem with Lake Matsu is that the high amount of Gravity Dust within those floating islands also causes turbulence in the flying ships.

The hazards and Grimm within Lake Matsu are so dangerous that even small airships run the risk of being ambushed and destroyed by the Grimm which has made Lake Matsu a rather hazardous location that's not worth the risk of visiting, unless you own a heavily armed to the teeth airship with the defenses needed to fend off the Grimm.

Like the other kingdoms, it's history is written in stone when Mistral was on the side with Atlas that was at war with Vale and Vacuo. For those who should remember how a war ends, one must also remember how it also started; a lesson to learn from the past and prevent it from happening again.

During the earlier days, early inhabitants of Mistral have built their homes on the cliff sides (which still exist today) to avoid the Grimm. Over time, their society soon expanded across the continent, Making Mistral having the most controlled territory, of all the four kingdoms, even to this day.

They adapted and built many different styles of living across the rest of Anima and thrived, including learning and adopting the lifestyles of living in the colder climates further north of Anima that Atlas also endures.

The continent eventually became a kingdom, ruled by their emperor. Here, Mistral has become well known for its sense of fashion, theater, architecture, and art, even in the current days of Remnant.

They didn't stop there, as they also started trading Dust and technological innovation from Mantle, in return, for goods and resources that Mantle is unable to produce in their arctic homeland; making the two kingdoms becomeing strong allies and trading partners.

One problem though; The emperor of Mistral was willing to follow the same example of Mantle by abolishing their arts and traditions of self expression, in the way of keeping their citizens emotions in check to prevent the Grimm from being attracted to their negative emotions, just so they can keep their partnership stable. While the higher ranked citizens and the emperor himself gets to keep their traditions, the lower classes and peasants are forced to abolish their own and keep their emotions in check. Not to mention Mistral also practices slavery on humans and faunus alike.

Though, the neighboring continent of Sanus did not approve of Mistral and Mantle's new law but remained neutral.

Despite this, Mistral started spreading out and trying to make their settlements on the islands and peninsulas on Wester Sanus. The kingdom of Vale did not take kindly to this and pleaded to their king to do something. But the king remained neutral and wanted to avoid conflict.

Sadly, it didn't last long, as the conflict further intensified into the Great War.

When the kingdom of Vale spread out their settlements as well, they encountered the settlements of Mistral. Now it's still not known who shot first or started the conflict but that day on Western Sanus started the Great War that lasted for so long.

As said before, the King of Vale eventually ended the war in Vacuo and peace among the four kingdoms prospered. However, it came at the cost of so much blood being shed.

Now with peace at hand that's been going for the past 80 years, things have gotten better. Mistral was able to reclaim its glory to its culture of self-expression and arts,, along with freedom returned once more and slavery abolished.. but there are still some some hidden activity where slavery and sweat shops are still practiced illegally.

But despite it's prosperity and development for the kingdom and its citizens, and improving its relationship with the rest of the kingdoms, Mistral still suffers some of its problems.

While the kingdom tolerates the faunus much better than the likes of Atlas and what it was in the past, it's not uncommon to see some intolerance and violence between humans and faunus. There are even some restaurants and other businesses that refuse to have faunus as their customers or employees. Regardless, most businesses are more than welcome to have faunus as their customers and employees, and some even become owners of some businesses.

Grimm attacks are still common, especially in smaller villages that have smaller defenses and being out in the wilderness, away from major cities. Worst, some villages that were in development, such as Oniyuri, were abandoned due to the constant Grimm attacks and left to become ghost towns, a reminder how hard it is to make settlements outside the kingdom and a dreadful warning that the Grimm most territories outside the kingdoms… There are even scary rumors there is a rather powerful and terrifying Grimm patrolling the wilderness of Anima and destroys any nearby village that are very vulnerable. Some claim the Grimm looked like a devilish rider, riding it's demonic horse, almost like it's a Grimm Reaper that has come to bring to bring it's victims to their demise.

Worst of all, not more than a decade ago, that Grimm invaded and decimated a well known and flourished village called as Kuroyuri… and nobody survived. However, there have been rumors two young children have barely escaped it and the village's destruction but no one knows where they went or where they are currently... or even if they are still alive.

The well known cities that are still standing to this day are Mistral, Wind Path, Kuchinashi, Higanbana, and even Argus that's located in the far north.

Another challenge Mistral is facing is within its own kingdom; the black market and many criminals thriving in them.

Like the cities in the deserts of Menagerie, such as Bardus, Mistral's own cities are also filled with criminals and bounty hunters that hide in the shadows of the more run down and lower classes that are the slums. Arguably, it's the biggest black market of Remnant and, even outshining the ones in the deserts of Menagerie, when it comes to the black market type of deals. The reason for so many thieves and other kinds of scum being here is because of how far the cities are spread out across the continent and Mistral's government is doing its best to keep their law in order but that's easier said than done in the long run.

With all kinds of trade dealers, thieves, and bounty hunters thriving in the bigger cities of Anima, one has to watch their back and not end up as an unfortunate victim.

Here, the current location, taking place in Anima and Southwest from Mistral itself, is none other than Kuchinashi.

Located on a decently large mountain, that's also connected to some foothills that are further down said mountain, it's basically a slightly smaller and less advanced version of the Mistral's capital city that also has its own academy, Haven Academy.

One would notice it looks vastly similar to Mistral that some people have even nicknamed Kuchinashi as "Mistral's Twin City".

Only difference was that it lacked an academy and it has a little less security and authority to keep the city in check, especially in the far lower parts.

Like Mistral and most cities in Anima, Kuchinashi has multiple levels that layer from top to bottom. It's oriental styled theme to its architecture gives it an appealing and beautiful look to many of its citizens and tourists that both live in and visit the city, respectively.

Planted in nearly every corner of the upper levels are several cherry blossom trees that are fully blooming and their petals gently drifting in the wind. There are also many parks, gardens, spas, art galleries, and even fancy restaurants that serve delicious food at the right price.

At the highest and at the peak of the mountain, that is where the richest and most wealthy thrive; multiple five star restaurants, the best art galleries with priceless pieces of art, the best spa baths that only the richest could afford without even denting their wallets, and the best gardens that span several acres. There are also several fashion shops of the finest clothes made from the smoothest silk with some even layered with Dust.

There are plenty of four star restaurants and hot springs further down the lower sections but none compare to the finest ones at the peak.

In the middle of the mountain, that makes up the majority of it, lies a larger section of the city that's located between the top rich and the bottom poor. It even makes up sixty percent of the entire city. The area is just right; not too fancy and uptight but not too run down and miserable either. It's pretty much a good place for most visitors to either rent or live in with proper pay and luxury. Several oriental styled buildings are lined on both sides of well made dirt roads that lead to several different parts of the city. Further in the alleys are cobblestone pathways that make up every corner further in the city that's off the road, along with all kinds of fancy street lamps and benches that decorate them. There is also a market nearby that is selling all kinds of goods, including a variety of fruits and vegetables, while others sell pottery, art, and even some tools and simple bladed weapons.

The residents are the middle class; neither rich nor poor, these people have it a bit rough to pay their rent and for food but also being able to pay decent luxury to keep them well fed and warm.

Meanwhile, as you go lower, the buildings become less fancy and more run of the mill looking, until you finally reach the bottom. That is where you find the slums and most run down part of the city itself. Most buildings are in bad condition and rotting away that one has to wonder if these houses are even supposed to be owned by a citizen and not for the homeless. The citizens down here are mostly poor or even outright broke and live on whatever they can scavenge just to survive. In fact, most even have jobs that are on the higher levels to help them get payed so they can feed themselves or their families.

Nevertheless, whenever if the citizens are rich or poor, or the sections of the city are well stable or rotting away, the terrain is a challenge for its citizens to adapt and get around, from top to bottom, just like Mistral itself did.

To traverse through the city, the construction workers and engineers have worked tirelessly to make it beneficial for everyone to get around; There are lots of passages in the mountain that form tunnels, roads, sidewalks, and even bridges. There are all kinds of stairs to reach higher places or to get down the mountain quicker. There are even escalators and elevators scattered around the city to reach some places that's otherwise hard to reach, unless you're a skilled climber and/or can jump pretty high. And there's the simple made pathways and roads that are very long but are for those who like to simply walk or use it for exercise.

It's a busy city that has so many different people on different levels, living and working in their own ways.

Due to being so far away from Mistral and it's council, Kuchinashi's way of security and handling the city is mediocre at best, which is not really a good thing.

Like Bardus, Kuchinashi also has its fair share of thieves, thugs, even gangs and criminal organizations that hide in the shadows and out of sight, doing their black market deals and other kinds of schemes that's for all kinds of Dust, weapons, ammunition and currency, alongside other kinds of illegal items that are on sale that aren't sold in public.

That is where the lower levels are very dangerous and most of its citizens are always on high alert to stay focused in hoping to not get mugged, beaten, killed.. or something much worse. Heck, on the worst days, some citizens even refuse to leave their homes at the mere report there was an act of violence not far from their home. But their desperation for money will make most overcome their fears and make the risks worth it.

In the higher sections sections and the top, it's the most secured and most heavily guarded of the city. Most of the underworld in the lower parts rarely venture up there, unless it has something VERY valuable. It's heavily secured with plenty of guards and defense forces keeping the city under control. Though, the mayor of Kuchinashi is aware of the lower parts being in danger so he has been doing his best to send a good number of the police to be down there and keeping everything in control… though, it ain't easy but the mayor really wants to help his people, even having some support from Leo Lionheart.

Either way, Kuchinashi is a city that has it's citizens and they all must carry on.

On it's brighter days, it's filled with lots of people, human and faunus alike, who are all minding their daily business. It's mostly peaceful, as both races are mostly getting along and living other. There is the occasional skirmish and fights amongst each other but, otherwise, usually peaceful and negotiable.

At this time right now, it's the middle of the night, with the shattered moon drifting through the night sky and billions of bright stars that twinkle and lighten it up; some even forming into constellations of all different shapes, like a cosmic art gallery that awes the eyes of anyone looking up. The street lamps are lighting up the empty streets and stone pathways to guide anyone that's wandering out on these times of night. The lower sections are empty but the middle and top sections have plenty of people out and about. Even some markets are still open to sell their goods and accessories for customers that are still walking about.

Tonight, the city is rather calm and peaceful, as reports of crime and gangs are relatively low, in a time like this. Though, that doesn't mean one should let their guard down.

Nevertheless, people try their best to continue their activities, regardless, it isn't as safe as Haven.

In a certain location, it took place on the upper section of the mountain that's just below the peak.

Here, the section was the size of a town and had mostly 8 to 10 story buildings but a few of them were up to five to seven story buildings are scattered around. Unlike Bardus, it's cleaner and has little to no structural damage to all the buildings.

Several streets and city blocks are lit up by the street lamps and many residents are happily walking down the street and sidewalks. Some are even buying goods on the market.

On a random bench, a sweet couple of a young man and a young woman were enjoying each others company. They've have been on several dates which have improved their relationship and they got much closer together.

The boy is a human with black hair and is wearing a simple outfit that suggests he's from another continent, which is Sanus.

The girl is ferret faunus, with a long furry that swings from side to side on the bench.

"Lily." The young man said, in a tone of how much he sounds like he cares, to the young woman.

"Yes, Zach?" Said the young faunus, named Lily, to her boyfriend named Zach and looking at him.

"Isn't it nice out here? Just the two of us; you and me, having a simple good time together out here under the stars and moon?" He asked sincerely and was smiling at her.

Lily nodded her head in agreement, and happily smiles back to her boyfriend.

"You know… after so many dates.. I think we should take our relationship the the next step…." He further said as he waggled his eyebrows as Lily giggled at the suggestion.

"Oh, Zach. I've been thinking the same thing." Lily also said.

The two stared lovingly into each others eyes and decided to lean towards each other for a lovingly kiss…. but their moment got completely interrupted…..

A loud explosion and the sound of shattering glass was heard, coming from the tenth and top floor of a nearby theater which has a large glass window at the top... or, that is, HAD a glass window. The top floor was blown to smithereens by a massive explosion.

The sudden explosion their kiss interrupted, the couple .

Everyone that was nearby also stopped what they were doing and looked up.. and saw the most unexpected and unpredictable turn of events they ever saw in their lives.

Falling from the building, along with large pieces of the building, at least a dozen people are coming from the window and are plummeting towards the ground.

Something seems odd at what is happening, despite what's happening flying out of a window and plummeting five stories.

Amongst the falling crowd, there are lots of different kinds of people that look like they belong in different groups.

One group consists of what looks like swift and deadly ninjas; at least three of them… what's weird is that one of them isn't wearing any pants except a pair of red boxers with white hearts on them. A second ninja that's a woman but she's missing her shirt and is wearing a hefty sports bra to contain her well endowed chest… and a third ninja has both his shirt and pants but is missing his mask and, for some reason, is wearing clown make up.

There are also seems to be another group of people that seem to be wearing a lot of purple and violet. They also appear to have some kind of tattoo, each, on their bodies which are identical to each other. Almost like they belong in some kind of group or gang.

The group consists of two guys and a girl. Though, one guy is wearing a chicken mask, the other is a woman who's wearing a duck mask, and the third is a second guy and is wearing a turkey mask.

Than there's another guy that appears to be wearing some funky disco get up that looks like it belonged in an era 40 years ago. He even appears to have a funky afro.

In the center of it all… are two male teens who are in a tussle, while free falling all the way down.

If one would've seen them closer, they could see the two are dressing… rather oddly.

One appears to be wearing an oriental-styled waitress outfit that's dark red with gold outlines, a snorkeling mask that covers his entire face, a rainbow colored clown wig on the top of his head, and a pair of wooden clogs that he wears on his feet for shoes.

Last of all, what looks like he's supposed to be dual wielding a pair of pistols.. but instead, he's holding two bananas in both of his hands, holding and pointing them like they are guns towards the coyote faunus.

The other is no better, as he is wearing a firefighter's coat, a football helmet that he wears on his head which covers his face and the only visible thing are his yellow eyes. He also wears a pair of black rugby pants, a pink ballerina tutu, and a pair of white ballerina slippers for good measure.

Unlike the first guy, he's actually wielding a weapon which looks like a large plasma gun and he's aiming it right at the road runner faunus' head… ironic as the roadrunner faunus is only using bananas as his only defense

During this whole sudden moment… opera music was playing and everything was happening all in slow motion.

At the same time… a voice was heard.

"I bet you're all wondering right now." Said the voice that sounded like it belonged to a young man that spoke in a midwestern accent which sounded pretty casual.

"I can hear you all saying 'just what in the frickity frack is going on here?' or something like that." He added.

"If you ask me, this is quite a strange way to introduce your fourth and last protagonist, compared to the last three guys, from the last three trailers, that may or may not be my future teammates." He also added.

"You may have been expecting the same pattern from before; we get an intro, the protagonist is introduced, fights a random foe and learns about a lesson, bla bla bla, yadda yadda yadda. You get the memo." He says.

"To say what's happening right now… let's just say I've been going through a rather unusual event… and let me also say I may have pissed off a few people here."

"But we're getting a little off topic here and I could go all night with this….." He added.

The entire scenery now freezes as the pause button was pushed.

"You know what." The voice said that sounded rather bored. "This is getting rather confusing and doesn't make any sense on what's happening here without proper context. So let's take a big step back."

Suddenly, as if the rewind button was hit, the whole scenery started to go in reverse and so fast that everything was a blur

"It's about time we go WAAAAY back so we can understand how it started."

Just as the "rewind" is nearly over… the voice had one thing to say.

"Oh… and to those that wonder who I am… the names Rocky… Rocky Rhode Runner."

---

1 hour ago. Somewhere else further down the lower section of Kuchinashi

The scenery has now changed and the location is now taking place somewhere else.

In a more crowded part of the city, on the very side of the mountain, there are several tall buildings bunched together.

The first thing that came in effect was extremely loud raving music that was coming from the interior of a large, two story building and the windows appears to have flashing lights that were changing color. There's a neon sign on the building that was called "The Raving Dragon" which has a serpentine dragon wearing shades and slithering around the sign.

The building is located in the more densely packed part of Kuchinashi where the more common folk live and also where it's more densely packed. This is where many partygoers like to visit and hang out, especially at night when the days have settled and those that can pay for it can have a good time here.

Though, it's also a place where some thugs and thieves also like to hang out by they keep a low profile and just blend in to their natural surroundings.

The music was blaring at full blast in volume that even from outside, you could easily hear it.

However, not far from the club, down a nearby alley, footsteps are heard, that echoed across the silent alley.

A figure is walking down the alley and reaching the club.

Despite being in the shadows, it appears to be a male, based on the body shape.

Eventually, as the figure got closer and out of the shadows, the young figure revealed himself.

He's a road runner faunus, thanks to his tail feathers, sticking straight, which are black and brown with the tips being dark green in color.

He's quite a handsome looking young man, with short black hair that covers most of his head and a black mohawk with the tips colored in green and emerald green eyes. Despite sitting in the booth, he stands around 5'9, slightly above the average height of a grown man and has a decent athletic build, not as muscular as the three previous guys but still well fit.

He's wearing a green colored, long stylish, two-tailed, coat that also has zippers on the sleeves. Underneath it, which is unzipped that leaves it open, he wears a simple black t-shirt but it looks like it has a symbol; two green double barreled revolvers that are criss crossed with each other and also has what looks like two green stars that are between the revolvers, one above and the other below.

He wears a pair of dark blue jeans, with silver coated chains, a leather belt with a metal buckle with the emblem resembling the skull of a roadrunners, and a pair of black boots with green accents. He also wears a pair of black fingerless gloves on his hands.

Strapped to his hips, are a pair of large, double barreled, revolvers. The revolvers are silver with engraved streaks that resemble feathers and are dark green.

But the most interesting thing he has is what's wrapped around his neck. It's some kind of necklace but with a strange little green orb on it. It looks like some kind of tiny dust crystal….

As he said before, his name is Rocky Rhode Runner.

"Right on. Get a good look at our fourth protagonist." Rocky said conveniently, as he kept walking down the street, hands in his pocket and whistling a tune, without a care in the world. "Now, without further ado, I will show you how our fourth protagonist is done." He also says out loud, for some reason, despite nobody's around him to hear him.

He kept walking…. more like strolling down the alley until he reached the front door.

Once he reached it, he smirked.. and started combing his mohawk to look stylish and than got out a breath spray

"Let's get this party started!" Rocky shouts in delight, as he pushes the doors aside and enters.

Once he got in, the first thing is the loud music that is blaring at full volume.

The interior of the club is quite a sight to behold; the inside of the club is massive and wide, with the ceiling being three stories up and at least dozens of yards in diameter, enough space to house nearly over a hundred people to party on the dance floor.

The dance floor itself is a massive, square shaped, platform that's made of thick glass, wit several metal rods holding it together, and it's floating several feet off the ground, likely due to some gravity dust. It's also floating above a large pool of water that's being lit up by underwater flashes of light that makes the pool look more flashy. There was also many glass pillars that surrounded the entire area and there were lots of holograms of trees for further decoration.

On one side of the room, which is Rocky's left, in the corners, there are several couches and booths for customers who don't want to dance and just want to hang out, while they eat and drink whatever is served in the club.

On the other side and it's own corners, which is Rocky's right, there lies a wide table that reaches from one end of the wall to the other. It's so wide that it has at least 12 bartenders working at the table for every customer that wants to order something to eat or drink.

On the other end of the room from where he's standing, there is a ton of arcade games and systems, classical and new, are for anyone that wants to play any video games for fun.

Above the dancefloor, there's a massive and fancy glass chandelier that shines like diamonds, spinning ceiling lights that light up the dancefloor with flashing colors, and several disco balls that brighten up and dazzles the entire club with their sparkling lights.

However, there is more up above than just chandeliers and disco balls that are the entertainment.

Up above, just below the disco balls and chandelier, there are at least half a dozen floating, gravity dust infused, square shaped platforms, which are much smaller but can still hold one person. Standing on each of them are the dancers which are all young and gorgeous looking women, human and faunus alike.

Rocky can see a lot of the professional dancers are up there, doing their performance to entertain their guests. They are wearing oriental styled dresses but are more revealing that shows off plenty of skin but they also remain pretty modest to make it appropriate enough to go out in public. Still, their outfits were very alluring to their guests, especially most guys and some girls. For extra flair, they also carry hand fans to use in part of their dances, as they gracefully twirl and follow the rep of the beating and addictive music that was heaven to everyone's ears.

While he does admire their beauty and their good looking appearance, he couldn't help but stare at one of them that was…. bottom heavy.

The girl he laid eyes on is a squirrel faunus with a squirrel tail and she gives a cutesy wink at him, despite performing.

"Yeah, I cannot help myself." Rocky thought with a dumb grin on his face and slightly blushing but he quickly snaps out of it and remains focused. He stares at the rest of the club for another minute.

Located near the dancefloor, the DJ is at his DJ table which is on a higher platform, where he controls the lights and the music that he's playing. He's wearing a black business suit and an oversized dragon mask that it's many times bigger than the average head of a human. Despite doing his job, he's having a good time as he's dancing along with the beats.

After standing there for a little while, Rocky finally makes his move and enters. He gives off a big smirk, enjoying the view, seeing all kinds of people.

Rocky has been through a lot in the past week and decides he wants to just relax and enjoy the night… until he's ready to leave this city and continent.

Though, he doesn't know what he wants to do when he leaves, all he knows is that he's gonna leave Anima and move to a new place. Maybe he'll think about it when he gets there.

Why exactly? Well… nobody knows but himself and there might be a hint as to why he wants to leave.

Anyways, Rocky has been through a lot today and is starving for something to eat. So he decides to head over to the long table. In addition of being a bar, the club is also a restaurant.

Once he got over to the table, one of the bartenders looked up and smirked at him.

"Welcome to Raving Dragon." Said the female bartender, who also works as taking the orders for their customers. "May I take your order or are you here for a drink?"

Rocky smirks and quickly makes his order.

"I'll take a double cheese pizza, with green peppers, mushrooms, and pepperoni, please." He says without breaking stride.

The bartender writes down on her notebook and passes it to her co-worker who takes it to the kitchen behind them. She also handed some device to Rocky. "Okay. Just hang onto this. It will beep and glow when your food is ready and it will also help our staff find your location in this crowded place. I suggest you also find a seat. While you're waiting, you can either enjoy the wait on the dance floor, the lounge area, or the arcade systems."

"Thank you very much." Rocky said politely. He now turns his attention to the dance floor and the other points of interests.

"Also." the bartender says. "Since we have a lot of people here, who also made their orders, yours might take a while."

"Much obliged, miss." Rocky answered and sounded like he's completely fine with it, while giving off a toothy smile, which twinkles, while also winking at her.

The bartender couldn't help but chuckle and rolled her eyes, in amusement.

As he starts walking somewhere else, Rocky sees that much of the arcade system is fairly occupied by most late teenagers and young adults but still enough room for him to play. He checks out the lounge area where most people are sitting their, drinking their drinks… and he notices some of them are kissing and leaning on each others shoulders, indicating some of them are likely couples or just pairs of people going out on dates.

He then turns his attention to the DJ who was busy playing his track lists. Rocky grins for a second and has an idea.

He walks over to the DJ who turns his head and looks at Rocky quizzically. Rocky whispers into the DJ's ear for a certain song he wants him to play, than takes out a large wad of lien for the DJ. The DJ nods in agreement and takes the lien.

With that done. It's gonna be quite a while before the song he chose starts because the DJ already has many more music tracks already on his list to play so Rocky has to wait.

For now, Rocky decides to head to the arcade system but he first found his seat and hooked the device the bartender gave him on the table and detached the beeping mechanism to let him know his food is ready.

He heads over to the arcade section and trades his lien in the form of coins to insert into the arcade systems. Nowadays, it seems playing the games can also give you tickets, to win some merchandise and other stuff the club sells, for the amount of tickets you earned.

Anyways, Rocky decided to go to the classic arcade systems, which are really old fashioned arcade cabinets which are out of date but still working fine. Many of then include the classical Mac-Pan, Ping, The Linguine Brothers, Millipede, Invading Space, and even a strange game called Bolypius.

With that in mind, he heads over to Mac-Pan and starts playing after inserting the coins. It's a simple game; you play as a blue square with a mouth that eats these blue, square shaped, pellets in a maze, and he must avoid the colorful Grimm Geists from touching him.

After a few minutes of playing, Rocky managed to get a major high score and has surpassed most players that played it earlier. Though, despite his efforts, he only got in fourth place. Not bad, as there are at least 50 total players that are recorded on it.

With that done, he starts playing several more games… little does he know… he's being watched by someone who is in the corner.

---

20 minutes later.

Rocky has already played many of the classic games and even many of the newer ones. They were pretty fun but he used up a lot of cents and doesn't want to waste anymore. Though, he did play other arcade games, such as skee ball, which he's VERY good at. He won a ton of tickets and mostly spent them on pieces of candy which he'll have for later. He also bought a few trinkets, because he wanted to.

With that done, he knows his song should be coming pretty soon so he heads to the dance floor. He checks his device to see if his pizza is done… it isn't just yet but he knows it should be close.

So with that checked, he heads to the dance floor.

He reached the stairs and climbs up onto the floating dance floor that floats above the shimmering and flashing pool of water. He looks around and sees many people are enjoying the current music tracks and he just stands there, waiting for his own track to start.

As the last song was finished, the DJ prepares to put in the next song and Rocky gets into his pose; he's gonna bring the entire club down tonight, as a final act before he leaves this continent.

As the music begins to play, it starts off rather silent and there was a droning sound that slowly got louder and louder..

I'M GONNA GET TANKED… TONIGHT.

The music now starts blaring with a rather upbeat and intoxicating music starts getting everyone's attention. As the music got louder and more upbeat, Rocky was standing in the middle of the dancefloor. He was tapping his foot and bobbing his head up and down at the beat and started making his moves.

The music started picking up the pace and so was Rocky's movements to the beat.

He was bobbing his head and tapping his feet to the beat than started moving his hips and shoulders when the intensity of the music heightened.

At the same time, some of the dancers on the dance floor were already starting to join in, as they were starting to like this epic transfusion remix of a music track.

The track now started to speed up and Rocky was also keeping pace that the other dancers were impressed with Rocky's talent in breaking down this dance moves.

Soon, as the pacing of the music intensified, everyone was basically following the beat of the music and dancing to their heart's content, with Rocky in the center of it all.

With the music reaching its peak, Rocky is now taking his groove to the next step and is now going all out. His footwork has started stepping up his game and now his arms are following the rhythm of the beat as if he's mimicking or even being the rhythm of the music itself.

Eventually, the whole club was enjoying the new song, even those that weren't on the dance floor or were working were also enjoying the track and were playing along to the rep. Some even decided to join the club and also got on the dance floor.

Even the professional female dancers on the floating platforms above stopped their performances and were all looking down from above and watched Rocky lay waste to the dance floor.

Rocky is definitely enjoying the moment and sharing the music he suggested to play for tonight. He even did an epic moonwalk down the dancefloor and back which impressed everyone.

Soon, the music reached its climax and Rocky was owning the dance floor, as he struck an epic pose, just as the song ended with him.

Nearly everyone was clapping and cheering to Rocky. Heck, some were even taking photos and recording Rocky doing his dance.

Rocky couldn't help but feel a bit admired by the people of the Raving Dragon. Despite their cheering, though, they all didn't surround him like he was a celebrity. They just treated him like a normal person, just some guy who just wanted to share his favorite track, while also wanting to have some fun and enjoyment. Because, again, he ain't gonna be here for long.

Though, he couldn't help think deeply into his mind.. of something that this moment reminded him of his past...

Rocky envisions… the sounds of cheerings in the tens of thousands… and the flashing lights in the crowds of adoring fans and people that are cheering for him after his performance.

He now can see himself in some kind of green skin tight outfit that makes him look like he belongs in some kind of circus or performance act. His tail is tucked away in his suit while he wears a domino mask over his eyes that hides much of his face. Instead of a mohawk, his hair was ruffled and messy. Giving him the look of some gymnastic professional instead of the punkish looking teen that he is now.

He's standing in the middle of a massive ring that surrounds massive spectator seats and bleachers, waving out to the crowd of adoring fans, with a genuine smile on his face and waving to them as a response to them enjoying his epic stunts that he just did for them entertaining them…

During his fantasy of his secret past, Rocky suddenly felt a vibration in his pocket and was brought back to reality. He notices the device is vibrating, indicating his pizza is done.

Rocky steps off the dancefloor and heads over to his table, since the club dies down and now starts off with simple jazz music, to ease everyone down and relax.

However, what Rocky doesn't know, in the crowd, somebody's watching… and not a friendly person.

As Rocky heads to the table, he notices two figures were standing in front of him.

Two good looking, young ladies, around his age, wearing tight dresses and skirts, were grinning at him as if he impressed them with his performance.

One appeared to be a blonde human, wearing a purple dress and black high heel boots. She's wearing earrings, bracelets, and rings as accessories.

The other is a moth faunus, with gray and brown moth wings that are gently folded across her back. She's wearing a black colored dress with purple high heel boots. She too is wearing earrings, bracelets, and rings as accessories.

"Well… seems those two are so close with each other that they apparently seem share their sense of fashion." Rocky thought and still tried to look good.

"And what do we have here?" Rocky said, curious, with a little bit of smugness in it. "Can I help you, you two fine looking young ladies?" Rocky asked, trying to sound polite but also being a little flirty, doing his best to look at them in the eyes and only briefly looked at their voluptuous figures. Though, they don't seem to mind his temporary stare and are still smiling at him like fangirls.

The two girls looked at each other for a second but smirked and looked back at him.

Like, totally, yeah we do!" They answered that sounded like the dialect of a valley girl.

Rocky was a little taken back by the two girls and their valley girl dialect but was absolutely fine with them.

"You were, like, oh ma gawd! So awesome that you just caught our attention!" Said the human blonde that sounded excited and impressed.

"What you just did… you just, like, totally blew us all out of the water with your dance moves of yours that it brought the entire roof down on the Raving Dragon!" She continued.

"Yeah! He was, like, totally awesome and became a superstar.. but WAY more epic!" Said the moth faunus who also sounded so awed and impressed with Rocky's performance. Rocky felt a little flattered and even felt like stroking his ego but decided not to.

"Anyways, where did you even, like, learn those moves?" The blonde human asked him in curiosity.

As Rocky heard that question…. he couldn't help but frown and visualize somebody in his head.

All Rocky got, in his mind, was a glimpse of what looks like a human man who appears to be big boned; not fat, but pretty stout and muscular. He has a thick beard and mustache that could rival professor Port's. He has his back turned and arms crossed, but he had his head turned slightly back to give a toothy smile and Rocky mentally heard a jovial laugh that sounded so full of life and gusto.

A person Rocky looked up to and deeply respected.

Rocky snapped out of his thoughts and smirked at the two girls.

"Ah, you know. Nothing but epic self taught training that I've learned and dedicated for several years. No biggie. No sweat" He casually said while looking a little smug and confident about it.

Though, that was definitely a lie and he knows that. But he's doing that for a reason for his self preservation that he doesn't want to expose and make things more difficult for him.

Despite his lie, the girls were convinced and just rolled with it. It's for the better if he doesn't let his secret out and spread to everyone else.

"So… since you two seem greatly interested in me, why don't we take a seat at my table and have some pizza that I ordered. I know I was originally gonna have it for myself but I think there's enough to go around for you two as well."

The girls smiled at the idea and followed him to his table, being a gentleman to help them in their seats. Though, despite smiling, he feels a bit dreaded internally.

"Can't let them know… can't let anyone know about me…" Rocky thought in slight dread but remains calm and composed.

On the table, was a pizza box where the pizza resides within. Rocky heads over to it and opens the lid, and a delicious cloud of pizza steam fills the noses of Rocky and the girls.

"OHOHOHOHO… YEAH." Rocky drools in delight of the heavenly smell of the piece of art that is food. Rocky… LOVES pizza, especially the smell that envelops his nostrils.

The two girls were also interested in the pizza, as they too were drooling in hunger.

The three dug in and ate the pizza like it was dessert.

Little does Rocky know, the being that was spying on Rocky is still watching him, within the crowd of people.

---

7 minutes later.

"And I say to him, 'Eh. What's up doc?!'" Rocky jokingly narrated in his storytelling that made the other two girls to giggle. "And he says 'You're despicable!' Hahahaha!" He laughed.

Rocky and the valley girls have eaten half of the pizza, with the other half left untouched.

After enjoying the pizza, Rocky was now having a good conversation with them and even sharing some parts of his past that involve some random incidents that were pretty amusing.

The two valley girls were laughing and enjoying Rocky's company. They weren't bonding with him or anything, just someone to talk to and giving each other company.

"We're, like, gonna go play some games. You can join us if you want." The moth faunus casually says, as she and her human friend walked towards the gaming section.

Rocky felt like he wanted to join them and decided to, after thinking for a few more seconds.

They were already at the arcade section and he was just getting up from his table.

Just as Rocky was leaving his table, he turned his head back and looked at his pizza, making sure the box is still there. Considering the pizza is halfway eaten, he was thinking of saving it for later. Right now, he should worry about playing some games with the girls.

Just as he turned his head award to face forward… he's staring down the barrel of a revolver that's aiming point blank at his face.

"Going somewhere, Runner?" Said a voice in a southern accent.

Rocky heard a voice that sounded like it belonged to a man in front of Rocky who looked up and saw the being that is threatening him with the revolver.

Standing in front of Rocky is a human man that looks to be in his early 20's and standing at 6'2", pretty much towering over Rocky that he has to look up at him.

He's wearing a sleeveless, light purple, leather jacket over a white t-shirt, dark purple jeans, spiked shoulder pads, a thick leather belt with metal skull engraved on it, and a purple scarf that's wrapped around his lower face that only his eyes are seen.

He's also wearing a dark purple stetson hat on the top of his head.

Rocky also noticed something; Located on the man's right shoulder, there lies a tattoo that takes the shape of a spider that is perched on a spider web.

Rocky recognizes that symbol anywhere because he's seen it many times before. In fact, he used to somewhat work with them, despite not being a member of them.

This man is none other than Quickdraw. A silent but deadly and skilled assassin that can easily end the lives of his targets in an instant with his marksmanship and his deadly semblance called Bypass: a semblance that makes his attacks bypass any barrier, no matter the substance it's made of or how dense and durable it is, he will easily puncture it. Aura is no exception, no matter how focused or strong it is. Only downside is that once his semblance infused bullet or blade bypasses a barrier, the semblance wears off and is only as strong as any other bullet or blade. Also, it can only pass physical based barriers and aura (since aura is capable of tanking physical based attacks). Energy based barriers can't be bypassed.

Nonetheless, it's still a dangerous semblance to many that Quickdraw even has a nickname; the Bypassin' Assassin.

Rocky is aware of the dangers of that semblance because he knows Quickdraw quite well and saw him in action more than one occasion.

Though, despite this place being a club, it lacks bodyguards and bouncers, because most people that come to this club are also capable fighters and some are even huntsman that bring their own weapons with them into the club. Heck, it's not uncommon for the Raving Dragon to break out into fights on more than one occasion. With Quick Draw having his revolver aimed right at Rocky's face, it doesn't cause a surprise to anyone as they are all minding their own business. Besides, as said before, Kuchinashi has some difficulties keeping the city in check, due to being far away from Haven.

Rocky just rolled with it and responded. "Oh, why yes, Quickdraw." He said smiling, rather politely, as if he's being casual and friendly, despite having a gun pointed straight at his face.

Rocky slowly backed up and sat back down in his seat, while Quickdraw followed him and moved to the opposite side of the table. "As a matter of fact, to my humblest apology, I won't be able to see Miss Malachite because I'm going on a vacation and never coming back." He added bluntly and giving a sheepish grin.

The specific boss he's talking about is none other than Lil' Miss Malachite; the leader and boss of the Spiders gang that she commands and leads.

Rocky can still remember what she looked like and her general appearance; she is a woman, somewhere around her late 30's to early 40's. She's a rather good looking woman, even if she is a little on the plump side but she was still rather curvy and quite a beauty. She has light skin, short blonde hair that's styled into a bob cut, pink lipstick on her upper lip, a beauty mark under her right eye, and lavender eyes.

She's wearing a backless white dress with long sleeves that are covered in purple beads and straps, along with a purple corset and long pleated skirt is yellow on top, purple in the middle, and white on the bottom. She wears a pair of brown shoes each with a green ribbon.

Lastly, she usually carries a hand fan with her and uses it when she's making deals or intimidating new people.

And with that, we have Lil Miss Malachite, the leader and boss of the Spiders gang.

Back to reality with Rocky as he continues to stare at Quickdraw who wasn't amused at hearing what Rocky just said to him.

"I'm afraid it's too late." The Spiders assassin replies, as he too sat down across from Rocky's seat, while still pointing his gun at the roadrunner faunus. "You shouldn't have double crossed us." He said rather infuriated. "Miss Malachite has put a large price on your head that every known member of the Spiders will be looking for ya… and also feeling eager to get a promotion to a new rank of the Spiders." He finished as he chuckled wickedly. "...And I'm lucky to have found you first."

Despite the threat, Rocky wasn't intimidated and stayed as calm as he can be, while still giving off his signature grin.

"Yeah, but, really, I can't come because I got some cute girls to play video games with, I have a pizza I ordered and I want to save it later, and I got a schedule to leave in a couple of days" Rocky says but Quickdraw wasn't amused and convinced since he doesn't trust Rocky… and never has from the start.

"Than if you give me the money now, than maybe I'll forget I found you, leave you be, and tell Miss Malachite I got the job done..." He replied that sounded like he's not taking him seriously and just wants to end him right here and now. "...And I am doubtful that will likely happen because you know how loyal I am to Miss Malachite and how she wants visual evidence when I get the job done….." He added.

Rocky knows he ain't lying because he knows Quickdraw is very loyal to Malachite and will do anything for her and does whatever order she tells him, without question.

Rocky still remains calm and even starts looking bored, as he rubs his hand across the wall behind him of his booth.

"I don't have it with me and I might not be able to hand it over either." Rocky says it's unfortunate and looking all sheepish. In fact, he's partially right as he in fact doesn't have the money with him and he's hiding it in a secret hideout somewhere in Kuchinashi.

He slowly reaches for his double barreled dust-revolver from his hip which Quickdraw cannot see from under the table. "Look, tell Malachite I-"

"Miss Malachite is through with you, especially what you have done recently." Quickdraw interrupted, feeling his patience running thin.

"Recently?" Rocky asked innocently but Quick Draw narrows his eyes and is on the verge of just pulling the trigger and being done with it.

"She has no time for people, human OR faunus, who smuggle and sabotage her black market business deals for their own gain, while replacing the money with counterfeit lien; ESPECIALLY right from under her nose that makes her look like a complete fool... and that just pisses me off."

---

Flashback. 1 week ago. Secret hideout where a black market auction is taking place.

In a secret hideout with its location unknown, there is a secret black market auction that's hosted by Malachite's gang and they are selling all kinds of interesting weapons and dusts that are illegal on the public market.

All the bidders are in their seats, ranging from gangsters, professional criminals, to even huntsman and huntresses, listening to the auctioneers and doing their bidding.

In this auction, on display, are several jars filled with a rare material called Dark Dust. A rather powerful but extremely dangerous and highly illegal brand of Dust.

However, the one who was doing the bid was talking in southwestern accent.

"I'm at 500 n I want 550, 550, bet on 550, still at 500. Now doubled over there at 1000. 1000, I want 1500, anyone for 1500. Still at 1000. Over here bids 1500, now we go for 2000. Thank you now 2000, Dark Dust at 2500, we need 2500 on the Dust. 2500 for Dark Dust and now we have 3000

That was Rocky, dressed up in a western styled outfit, wearing a fake beard, a pair of shades, and a stetson hat,, while performing and working as a temporary auctioneer for this deal.

However, what impressed everyone was how fast he was speaking without missing a beat that some bidders were barely keeping up of understanding what he's saying for the auction.

"Now we're at 4500. I bid 5000, anyone for 5000, bid 5000, one over there at 5000. 5500, I bet 5500. And sold at 5500!"

The other auctioneers were completely flabbergasted at Rocky being so good at this. Even taking away the attention of their potential bidders as they all focus their interest on Rocky.

---

Present.

Rocky chuckled, as he remembered the task and was having fun bidding as the auctioneer. After many more auctions of selling all kinds of dust and weapons. Rocky bidded a total of 100,000 lien.

"Though, I'll admit you're auction skills were nothing to sneeze at, for somebody your age." The Spider member admitted, as he was more than impressed with Rocky being a pro as an auctioneer.

If Rocky wasn't having a gun pointed at his head, he would've thanked that compliment but stayed smirking.

"But that still doesn't excuse you sabotaging Miss Malachite's well deserved money after all that. In fact, you have become one of the worst enemies on Miss Malachite's hit list." He slightly leans forward and stares directly into Rocky's eyes. "She will not rest until she gets the money that she rightfully deserves."

"Than he leans in more closely and looks into Rocky's eyes with a death glare.

"She wants your blood which she will use as an example and reminder to anyone else who ever thinks of double crossing her." He finished rather cold and dark. But that still doesn't faze Rocky.

"Wow. That got pretty dark all of a sudden." Rocky said sarcastically surprised. "And I thought slicing off an arm or watching someone get reduced to ashes was dark…" Rocky said but then looked like he was thinking further. "I mean, that would probably pale in comparison to some evil, tyrannical, overlord who commands the Grimm as their army and also wants to eradicate humanity, covering Remnant in darkness. Good thing we just have the Grimm and nothing more than that." He droned on that annoyed Quickdraw again that he pulls on the hammer of his revolver that makes a clicking sound and the cylinder made a turn. At the same time, Rocky already has his revolver drawn and he slowly positions itself, ready to draw his weapon and shoot Quickdraw before he can fire.

"I'm done seeing you flapping your lips and stupid coming out of your mouth. Now, give me the money or I will give it to Miss Malachite with your remains attached to it."

Rocky smirks again as he too leans forward mirrors Quickdraw, as he stares back at him.

"Well, if you wanted to kill me already, you should've done the moment you aimed your gun at me, instead of lecturing me about your reason for being here for the past two minutes." Rocky says to Quickdraw with a raised eyebrow

Quickdraw chuckled again. "I'm just here to give you the message, under Miss Malachite's order.

Rocky smirked and looked smug at Quickdraw and said something that was finally the last straw to the Spider Assassin.

"Well that's a pity, isn't it? If she wanted to make it more personal with me…. she should of just got off her big fat booty, came all the way over here on her thick meaty thighs... and told me through her fat juicy lips."

BANG!

A loud shot from a revolver was heard and everyone stopped what they were turned their heads to the direction. Even the music stopped and went silent, along with the dancers stopped their performance and looked down from their higher positions.

In the spot where the loud noise went off, there was a large cloud of cold vapor that enveloped the area and nobody could see through it easily.

Everyone stayed silent that even the valley girls rushed from the arcade section and ran over to what just happened.

Eventually, the mist cloud settled and everyone could see something.

Rocky was sitting in his chair, staring down a frozen bullet that's just inches away from his face. The bullet is frozen in midair, attached to a long stream of ice that's also attached to a large block of ice with Quickdraw frozen within it.

Rocky had his double barreled revolver out in the open, in his hand, pointing at Quickdraw and a mist of cold vapor was smoking out of the guns barrels.

As everyone was staring at the spot Rocky was sitting at, he looked back at everyone, until he stood up and raised his arms in the air.

"I shot him first! It was totally me that shot first!" He spouted like he was trying to prove something.

What happened was that Rocky was able to draw his revolver out from under the table and fired an explosive Ice-Dust bullet, which froze Quickdraw.

While the assassin also got his shot, he was a little too slow in the draw and ended up being frozen, along with his bullet being also being frozen in midair and stuck to his frozen prison. The velocity of the bullet was reduced by the ice dust and stopped it dead in it's tracks, making it's semblance useless.

Despite being frozen, he's aware of what happened, as his eyes were darting around in slight panic and fury towards Rocky who seemed amused.

He twirled his revolver and blew the tip of the barrel which had mist seeping out of it, akin to a cowboy blowing the smoke out of his gun.

"Whelp, seems I have outdone you." Rocky casually says, as he stared at the frozen assassin with an amused grin.

"Look, despite what I did, I deeply respect you, Quickdraw, and your loyalty to Malachite. Heck, I even deeply admire you're marksmanship and determination of tracking me down. So I'll consider this no hard feelings to you… basically, I won't be giving you the cold shoulder" As he starts to get up from his seat and started packing up his pizza.

"Check, please!" Rocky called out for the check, which came shortly after and than he paid the bill for his pizza by placing his lien on the table. "Keep the change.".

Just as he was about to go, he looked at Quickdraw one last time who was coldly glaring at him.

"Oh, and another thing. When you see Miss Malachite, telling her it was an honor working with the Spiders."

Despite betraying them, Rocky was honest of working with the Spiders, even befriending some of the more friendly members. Though, he's not above attacking them and harming them, since they no longer work together. He has other plans of traveling.

"But now… I must go. So have a nice night, Quickdraw." He finished, as he walks away, leaving the frozen Spider assassin behind who wanted to break out of his frozen prison and wring Rocky's little neck but can't.

Just as he was about to reach the exit… he encounters those two girls again who were fangirling and looking so awed by what Rocky just did.

"Like, OMG!" They both squeed at Rocky's performance. "You're were, like, totally awesome!"

"Hehehe… I sure did." Rocky said in slight confidence as he looked at the frozen Quickdraw. He looks back at the two girls. "Well, sorry I couldn't play games with you girls. I… was meeting an old time friend of mine so I had to stay behind."

"Totally. It's cool." The blonde human said as if she didn't mind.

"Yeah. Like, what you did was awesome enough for us to see!" Said the moth faunus who was also excited.

"Well, as much as I like to hang around a bit longer, I think I had enough for tonight and I need to get going." He said that sounded a little apologetic but the girls didn't mind. In fact, other people in the club were also cheering and clapping their hands.

Seeing this round of applause, made Rocky get a slight glimpse of him in the past in some kind of circus performance again where tens of thousands of people were cheering for him.

After snapping back to reality, before Rocky could go, he looked at the girls again.

"Before I go, what are your names?" He asked.

"I'm Pixie!" Said the blonde human.

"And I'm Dixie!" Said the moth.

"We're, like, best friends!" The two cheered and had their arms draped over each of their shoulders like being best friends.

"Heh. Well, Pixie and Dixie. It was great meeting you two, despite that we just met.. and I probably won't see you ever again..." He said but then moved his head away and partially covered it with his mouth as he slightly whispered. "Except maybe in a Chibi spin-off."

"Huh?" They asked in confusion of what he said.

"Nothing!" He spouted. He then starts carrying his pizza box with him. "Anyways, it's nice knowing ya so good night!" He waved goodbye to them as they too waved back saying goodbye.

He even glimpsed at the professional dancers with the one he stared at most gave a wink at him, while she was still dancing and doing her job.

Rocky smirked back and momentarily stared at her voluptuous figure before exiting the club.

Once he exited the Raving Dragon, he was now outside and back onto the alleys and streets again. Once the doors have closed, the music was blocked out more and Rocky can hear the feel the chilling wind blowing.

He sighed and started walking. The first thing he has in mind is heading over to his temporary secret hideout to sleep for the night and then leave this place. Which is in the far lower section to where he is now. Normally, he would either take the elevator, the lifts, or even the escalator. Tonight, though, he feels like just taking the longer route by down the trail that's connected to the road for cars and other vehicles.

He had no rush, he just had enough hanging out at the club and wanted to get some peace and quiet, especially out here which is rather quiet. Though, another and bigger reason was because Quickdraw somehow managed to track him down. If that Spider assassin managed to find him, than that means some other members of the Spiders may be close by or coming their way which puts him on high alert.

Rocky knows it isn't safe but he also knows the Spiders only want him and the money he has, at least that's what Quickdraw suggests. But he ain't that much concerned as he is able to protect himself and he has his double barreled revolvers and his semblance. Either way, the roadrunner faunus needs to head down the city and to reach a secret hideout that even they couldn't find him.

As he started exiting the alley and taking the main sidewalk that's connected to the main road, not far away, on top of a random building, where the moon shines

Due to the angle of the figure being in front of the moon, all can be seen was a silhouette but he was definitely staring at Rocky and gives a toothy grin that shows his sharp teeth.

---

30 minutes later

Rocky has managed to reach a lower section by taking the road and a few stairs. Here, the buildings are less fancy and more run down looking but still manageable and able to be rented for anyone that can pay it.

Rocky was looking around the place, despite being in similar areas of the city before. He couldn't help but feel a bit sympathetic "Man… it's quite sad how most people down here have it harder than the rest up there."

As he kept walking down the more run down part of Kuchinashi, he heard a noise of what sounded like a trash can fell over which in fact was.

Further down a narrow street, Rocky noticed something or someone was moving in the shadows and near a bunch of trash cans.

Due to being a roadrunner faunus, his senses are superior to most humans but he's slightly inferior to other faunus with nocturnal animal traits, as they can see in the dark better than he could, but Rocky can still see pretty well in the dark.

When Rocky managed to focus and adjust his vision a little, he could see a shape that resembles a woman and he saw two smaller shapes close to it that resemble children.

The shapes took notice and got frightened. They tried to hide but didn't have anywhere to exactly hide so they tried to hide behind a few trash cans and garbage bags but they were too late as Rocky already saw them.

Rocky wasn't sure how to take this situation at hand but he disturbed it and now he's gonna have to face it.

"Alright. I didn't mean to interrupt your.. whatever you were doing…." He said he's reassured but he mentally slapped himself how he said it. "Look, why don't you come on out. I promise I won't hurt you."

After a few seconds, the beings were hesitant but eventually came out of the alley and out into the street lamp filled streets.

Rocky got a good look who it was.

Coming out of the alley was a human woman, in her mid to late 20's, along with her two young children; one a young girl that has to be in her at least 12 or 13 and the other a younger boy who is at least 8 or 9..

But what surprised Rocky was how tattered and dirty their clothes were.

The woman had a simple ragged and tattered dress with a dirty apron that looked like it was worn for months, if not years, Her messy blonde hair was covered in dirt and grime that it makes her look like she hasn't showered for quite some time either.

Her children were no better as they too were wearing tattered clothing and also looked like they haven't taken a bath for so long.

Just by looking at them, Rocky can deduce the woman and her children are very poor… or are homeless and likely live off of any scrapes they can scavenge.

What Rocky doesn't know is that the woman does in fact have shelter that's barely considered a home and she also has a job that pays her so she can buy food to keep her children and herself well fed..

The problem is that her job is temporarily closed due to an accident that will take time to repair so the woman hasn't been paid for several weeks and they ran out of food recently. Her job should reopen soon so she can work again and get the money she needs for her children and herself.

For now, she's scavenging for whatever food they can find just to hang on.

The two children are hiding behind their mother and look scared of seeing someone like Rocky. Even their mother looks a little afraid as she appears to not fully trust Rocky. Who could blame her? Rocky can understand meeting a stranger in a time and place like this, especially when he's holding some pizza box.

Based on the location, which is heaps of trash and likely tons of food thrown away, it's likely this woman has come here to find any scraps of food she and her children could feast on, just to hang on a little longer.

Rocky felt a little guilty seeing this poor human woman struggling to find food for herself and especially for her children. Judging by her pale and frail look, she's likely been sacrificing her food and giving it to her children to keep them well fed and eating so little for herself.

He looks at the pizza box and back to the woman who was staring at him but more so at the pizza box, while two of her children hid behind her and peered over a bit as they too were staring at the box.

Rocky couldn't help but feel sympathetic to the woman and her children. Just by looking at their slightly tattered clothes and their skinny physiques, they must be very poor and have little to no money.. or not even have any money at all.

He looks at his pizza box, and just shrugs his shoulders and walks towards the woman who looked a bit nervous that she felt like she wanted to grab her children and run away but the smell of pizza was too irresistible to leave and the risk of something bad happening for the pizza was considered worth it, as her stomach growled loudly. Besides, her children are starving too and this may be her only chance to fill their bellies, along with hers, that may last for a while longer.

Once Rocky was two feet away from the woman, he stared into her rather frightened and nervous eyes for a few seconds, until he handed the pizza box forward. The woman looked slightly confused, but she internally knew what Rocky was suggesting.

"Take it." The roadrunner faunus says with a genuine smile. "You and your family can have this."

The woman didn't answer and still looked unsure, whenever if she should or shouldn't trust this stranger that's offering a pizza and a little bit of money to her.

"The three of you definitely need it more than I do. Besides, it's just pizza. Not like I would get fussy over giving food to someone that needs it just to survive." Rocky assured her.

Despite not changing her expression, the woman took his words of advice and slowly reaches her hand out and takes the box.

Her two children move next to her as she opens the box and the three that are starving got a good whiff of that pizza that was still fresh and warm.

Her children were drooling at the sight of the meal while she couldn't help but shed tears of joy of getting a lucky chance of tasting something good in quite a while.

"T-Thank you…" She whispered that sounded so full of relief and hope was on her side. She even gave Rocky a genuine smile.

The children also smiled at rocky and even thanked him for the meal as well.

All Rocky did was nod his head to them, already accepting their appraisal to him. He smiled back and felt pretty happy giving this woman and her children a chance to see another day with pizza.

"I suggest you head home or wherever that's a hideout. This place isn't safe, especially at night and it's not the Grimm you should worry about." He suggested to them that they should leave for their own safety.

The woman took his words of advice and nods to him with a genuine smile while her children also smile back but more like thanking him for the food.

The woman and her children left and headed towards their house which wasn't far away. It was small and run down, heck, it even had broken windows and a door that was barely attached to it's hinges but it was what they had so they did what they could for the best of it.

As Rocky watched them go, he smiled a little. He felt a little glad he was able to help some unfortunate people that have it rough. But now, as much as he likes helping people, he needs to also help himself. And he has been thinking of a career he might do that may help people in many ways.

Than… he couldn't help but experience a memory… a memory that was brief but just as dreadful and depressing as he can remember.

---

8 years ago.

The only glimpse he envisioned within his mind… was himself…. at the age of 10, sitting against a brick wall in the middle of some run down town. He's wearing tattered clothes but also covered in bloody bruises, scratches, and a swollen black eye. Even his hair and tail feathers were messy and ruffled.

He was sitting there… barely aware of his surroundings and showed nothing but a blank and emotionless stare. He was on the verge of starving and he didn't get much sleep but he didn't care...

He slowly looked up and sees two humans… one man and the other a woman. The man is holding a chain that's attached to a metal collar.. and they were both devilishly grinning at him…..

The next moment he can remember, he sees his younger self standing alongside a long row other faunus and even a few humans among them…. All of them bound by chains and collars around their wrists and necks. Many of them have varied expressions of fear, despair, depression, hopelessness, or all of the above….

The young Rocky's expression doesn't change and looks emotionless as if he's a soulless husk…..

---

"Excuse me, young man." Said a voice that sounded like it belonged to an elderly woman.

Rocky snapped out of his thoughts and turned his head towards the other side of the street from where he's standing.

Standing at the other side of the road and on the sidewalk is an elderly woman who looks like she's somewhere in her late 60's to early 70's. She's much shorter than the road runner faunus and is slightly hunched. She has a dark brown complexion and long silver hair on her head that's a pony tail and tied into a braid.

Her outfit consists of a traditional tabasco styled dress with dark blue sleeves and a dark blue skirt that reaches just above her shins which she wears a pair of brown boots. She has a pair of brown gloves and a dark blue cloak, with white hollow triangles decorated on the edges, along with it being secured by two white pauldrons on the shoulders.

In her left hand, she appears to be using a walking stick, that's a natural wooden shaft, to keep her balanced. But Rocky noticed, it has some kind of metal piece with a purple band, at the foot of the cane. The top had some kind of ornate blue skull, covered with cyan lights, and a similar metal band also with a purple band that's near the

In her right hand, she's holding a small bag that she's carrying with her. Based on the smell that Rocky senses, she might be carrying… cashews?

However, what caught Rocky's attention the most from the elder woman is that she's wearing some kind of device that's covering her eyes. The device is dark grey with cyan lenses and Rocky even noticed the goggles have adjustable shutters that open and close, every time the woman "blinks" and also gives her expressions with her "eyes".

"Huh. Those are some interesting goggles right there…" Rocky thought in slight curiosity and wondering who this woman is that seems to be interested in him. "Wonder why grandma is wearing a pair like that… what's her history?"

"I'm aware that you are probably in a hurry… but… do you mind helping an old woman cross the street?"

Rocky looks at her for a second and then looks both ways of the street which wasn't busy and not even a sign of any cars…. but Rocky couldn't say no since this woman is politely asking him.

"Sure. I mean, I'm in a hurry but I got some time to spare."

Rocky walks across the road and reaches the old woman. He gently grabs her hand and slowly helps her across the street.

"You know, I wonder." Rocky said out loud. "Why aren't you using the more practical transportation of this town which can get around this town better?" He asked.

"Good question." The old lady said. "As much as I'm aware of their means of transportation here, I feel more like preferring to walk." She answered.

"Heh… I was thinking the same thing too tonight." Rocky chuckled. He was a bit impressed with this old lady taking the longer route and feeling like she knows what she's doing, regardless of the dangers and risks.

However, once he reached the middle of the road, he couldn't help but detect something was wrong, as he felt his aura managed to help him feel is surroundings a little. It's not as good as most other aura users that detect their surroundings but it's enough for him to know something isn't right and he looks around but can't exactly locate where the looming threat may be.

He heard a brief noise that was also coming from the corner of his eye. He instantly draws his double revolver and aims at in the direction where the sound came from.

Even on guard, Rocky's instincts stopped being alert and he felt like whatever was there is either gone or move further away.

He remained still and aimed his revolver at the direction.

"Something wrong, young man?" The old woman asked, being aware of Rocky suddenly stopping and aiming his gun at something that doesn't seem to be there.

"It's nothing." He assured her. "I suggest you find a place to stay. This isn't a place for old ladies to come and about, especially at night."

"I understand what you're suggesting and I'm grateful for your concern." She responded. "But I know what I'm doing."

"You sure about that?" Rocky asked her. Being unsure if she's really sincere or being a bit overconfident. "Because it sounds like you're biting off far more than you can chew, especially if the possible threat is a 7 foot thug that wields a giant club and eats nails for breakfast... without any milk".

"Oh you haven't seen what I can bite off against what I fought in my life." She remarked.

"Man... this lady has so much sass. Just what has she been through?" Rocky thought.

The woman than looked towards back towards the spot where the sound came from and turned her goggles to night vision to see if there is anyone there. She narrowed her eyes as she saw nothing.

"Trust me." She assured him. "I don't see anyone. Even if there was someone there and wanted to mug us, I don't have anything for them so trying to kill me would achieve them nothing." She said. "Besides, I don't have much longer to live so whatever they plan to do to me would just be doing me a favor." She sarcastically added.

"That's… kinda dark, miss." Rocky said rather shocked how she doesn't sound scared.

"You have no idea what I've been through." She added. She isn't far off from the truth, considering what she has in fact been through… especially that one incident that forever changed her life….

Rocky didn't know what to say to that. He just nodded and rolled with it.

Once they reached the other side of the street, he finally got the old lady to the other side of the street.

"Thank you kindly, young man." The old woman says as she politely thanked him for helping her.

"No prob. Just helping you out because you asked." Rocky says and looked back at the road which "Though… it kinda looked like you would have crossed it pretty easily by yourself. Not saying it's bad or anything. Just saying if I or anyone else wasn't here, you could've crossed it pretty easily too."

"Oh how sweet of you." Maria said, slightly flattered how this young man sees she's capable of handling herself.

"Well, I'm a bit flattered but I think you're sugar coating it a little bit…. grandma.." He replied and added emphasis on the last one.

The old lady wasn't offended and chuckled.

"Well, that's coming from someone who gave up his pizza for a woman and her children." She smirked with a raised eyebrow.

That surprised Rocky of hearing what she just said.

"Were you… spying on me?" He asked suspiciously towards the elderly woman.

"If you want to see it that way." She responded sarcastically but in a playful manner. "But, honestly, no. I just came across you by coincidence and my artificial goggles have zoomed in on you and seeing your act of generosity."

"So basically…. you were spying on me." He answered sarcastically but was smirking at her.

She couldn't help but let out a guffaw. "Guess you got me there." She admitted. "But that doesn't dodge the truth of your selfless act. Right?"

Rocky couldn't dodge that one and nodded his head. "Yeah… I basically did that."

"Quite a rarity in places like this, isn't it?" She softly says.

"Yes..." He admitted. This place is too unfair, for human or faunus." He simply stated.

The two remained silent for several seconds.. Until Rocky decided to move on. Well, nice knowing you and see you later." He waved with his back turned and kept moving on.

The old lady smiled and watched him go.

She's been around many parts of Remnant, for several decades of her life, where she's seen many people struggle to survive and find food, let alone being able to given food and money by people who do have food and money.

As he was out of her sight, the old lady continued to stare at the path in silence but than frowned a little as if she's deep in thought. She walked in a different direction.

Nearby, on a rooftop, the being that was spying on Rocky who continued to follow him. The old lady, seeing her as nothing but old baggage. His only target is Rocky and he's gonna have his moment he's been waiting for so long.

Close by, in the shadows of the alley, three humanoid silhouettes came out of the darkness and into the shining moonlight. They turn out to be three humans wearing ninja garb that are pitch black that helps them easily blend in the shadows. They stayed still and their suits hid their body temperature form being detected by the old lady. Their garbs were black but they also have a grey symbol on their chests which resembles the eye of a snake.

---

10 minutes later.

Rocky continued down the road to his hideout but he's still being on guard and alert. He knows the further he goes down, the more dangerous and risky it gets to encounter either some petty thug that wants his money or some highly organized gang with a more complex and deeper reason that involves him (which is pretty much the Spiders at this point).

But he knows somebody is following him… because he feels a major sense of deja vu that has happened many times before for the past few years.

Almost like… he's gonna meet someone he has met pretty often and is gonna have a reunion.

Rocky stopped in the middle of the street which was completely empty and silent, since it's past bedtime and most people are asleep or avoiding the thieves and thugs.

After standing still for nearly a minute, through the rather tense silence…. Rocky suddenly grabbed one of his Double Revolvers and instantly aimed it over his shoulder towards the direction his back is facing and pulls the trigger.

Instead of firing a dust-enhanced bullet, like he did to Quickdraw, he shot a regular bullet (one that's a 12.9 mm) towards his target, without even looking and aiming.

He wasn't really intending a real shot. This was a test shot against someone he will likely meet tonight… again.

And, once again, for many years, he's right.

Just as the bullet left the barrel and went straight for the target Rocky aimed for, another loud bang was heard and something was heading towards the bullet head on.

It was another bullet fired from another gun and from an upward angle.

In a tenth of a second after the shot was made, the two bullets collided head on. The impact was so strong it created a tiny but visible shockwave. Time slowed down as the two bullets started to slowly cave in on each other until they were flattened to that of quarters.

Due to the collision, they both lost their momentum and velocity that they fell straight to the ground with audible clinking sounds like spilling loose change on a sidewalk.

Rocky stares at the now useless bullets for a second than turned his attention towards where the other bullet came from.

There was somebody on top of a nearby roof with the moon shining right behind him and he's standing there, giving off a pose while holding his own single barreled revolver which could rival Rocky's in size and firepower.

The attacker reveals himself to be a coyote faunus with a light brown, messy, hair and a brown coyote tail that swishes behind him. Around his yellow eyes, are red eyeshadow that somewhat gives him a rather dastardly look, despite looking only around the age of 19.

He's wearing what looks like some kind of black advanced, skin tight, bodysuit, with light purple hexagon patterns. It hugs his body tightly and shows off his athletic figure, along with a pair of brown running shoes that are suited for running long distances.

His emblem, located on his skin tight suit's chest area, is the letter "W" that's surrounded by what looks like tiny orbs that appear to orbit around it like protons and neutrons over an atom. Basically, it's an atomic structure but with a "W".

Rocky narrowed his eyes and couldn't help but smirk at the faunus.

"Well…. It seems we meet yet again…. Wily Coyote."

The new opponent, revealed to be Wily, smiles back, showing bits of his sharp teeth

But than he did unexpectedly with his weapon; Instead of putting his weapon back in the holster, which he visibly lacks, the weapon suddenly glowed brightly and floated out of his hand. The gun started to disassemble, taken apart, and dissolved into a cloud of metallic dust that floats around Wily until it gets absorbed into his body.

"Technopathy." Rocky says out loud, despite nobody else being around. "That is his semblance. It has the ability to manipulate technology by a mere touch and he can morph any piece of tech, small or large, primitive or advanced, into anything he wishes and uses it to great effect."

"Hmph!" Wily grunts as he does an impressive front flip and than flipped in mid air four more times before landing on his two feet on the ground, doing an epic pose upon landing..

"You got that right." The coyote faunus answered in a voice that sounded full of confidence, knowledge, and cockiness all mixed into one. Almost making him sound like some kind of insufferable genius. "Is is I! Wily Coyote! Super talented and gifted genius! Best marksman in all of Ani-"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Rocky interrupted and didn't sound interested. "You already said that to me many times, word for word, even."

Despite hearing Rocky's bored response, Wily wasn't finished and continued his speech.

"-Best marksman in all of Anima. Until YOU have bested and surpassed me as the best marksman in all of Anima!" He continued on.

Rocky wasn't amused and then turned his sight away from Wily and towards a different direction. Wily was confused and also turned his direction but saw nobody there.

"Yeah. To all of you wondering about this guy; let's just say he's pretty much my rival in this story. Cliche as that is, that's how it's written."

Wily raised an eyebrow at Rocky turning his head away from his him and looking at a different direction as if he's staring at someone else but there's no one there.

"Let me show you all how our rivalry began, why don't we?"

---

Mistral. 2 years ago.

The flashback takes place in Mistral, where it's noon and the sun was at its peak. There was a festival and all kinds of games and activities were made and performed.

Including one was the kind that started the rivalry.

Out in the middle of an open field, on top of a hill, not far from the kingdom. There is a high level of human and fanus activity that is having fun and enjoying the festival.

It's a festival where everyone can have a good time and enjoy themselves.

But there is one person who has a different goal.

Standing out in an open field was Wily, wearing casual clothing and looking more well kept and groomed in his looks.

He was gonna do an awesome stunt that caught the attention of many people and fans.

"Ladies and gentleman!" Wily announced to his audience that were waiting and watching in anticipation. "To one and all, come and watch as I, Wily Coyote, perform an epic feat that, you would think that's impossible, will blow you away!" He says that was pretty much milking it and really hamming it out of proportion.

That still pique the curiosity of the crowd that wanted to watch. But there was someone else in the crowd who was watching as well and there was a mohawk sticking out from the crowd.

Wily grinned since he got everyone's attention and turns his focus on the targets.

Out in the field are his targets which have the typical red and white spirals. They are placed in many spots and in different ways. Some are placed on the ground, some are on hung by ropes, and some are even moving targets which are held up by spinning propellers which are made from his semblance nanites to make them move around.

There are a total of 50 targets, with 15 of them flying in midair. And he's gonna shoot each and all of them dead center in the fastest record time he can break.

His nanites swirl around his hand and forms into a revolver for his stunt and takes aim.

Each target that he placed in front of him all vary in distance, height, angle, and the speed of the ones that are moving.

Before he was ready, Wily pulls out his scroll and inserts bits of his nanites into the scroll which shifted and shaped into some kind of floating device with a screen that shows a timer which will automatically time him without needing him or anyone doing it for him.

Wily stood still and focused. Taking a deep breath. In and out. In and out.

In…. and out.

Than he pops his eyes open and aims his revolver in a flash.

As he fired his first shot, he instantly aimed his revolver at another target before the first bullet could even hit the first target. Just as that bullet was halfway to it's target, Wily already shot his third shot which was before the first and second bullets hit their targets.

Once the first bullet hits the target, Wily already shot his fourth bullet.

The crowd watches in awe and excitement as Wily never missed a beat in shooting all over the place, in every direction, and angle, that only the best marksman could pull a feat like that with maximum effort but Wily is doing it rather easily.

He shot a total of 50 shots, thanks to his technopathy where he doesn't need to reload his revolver he can just automatically reload without having to stop shooting. If he wanted to, he could even make a revolver with a cylinder to hold fifty bullets.

After the last shot, he took a gander at his work. He has hit every target that he has intended to be, right in the deadcenter of the painted targets even.

His scroll hovered over to him and confirmed he shot all targets dead center.

He then looked at the timer.

5.25 seconds.

All targets shot in less than five and a half seconds.

The crowd applauded and Wily smugly grins at his work.

But someone was still clapping, even after everyone else stopped.

Wily turned his attention towards whoever was still clapping for him.

Standing in the crowd was a roadrunner faunus with a mohawk and seemed like he stands out among many, due to his outfit and hairstyle.

He walks up to Wily until the two were two feet away from each and stared at each other in silence.

"So… you here to watch or are you here for a different reason, pal?" Wily says as he sized himself up to Rocky.

"Oh I sure am here for a reason, at least right after I saw what you just did." Rocky responded.

"And what would that be?" Wily asks with a raised eyebrow.

"After seeing that stunt of yours, it made me think I want to give it a try as well." Rocky answers.

The audience gasped in surprise and even felt excited of another stunt that's about to happen, from this roadrunner faunus who came out of nowhere and wants to challenge Wily, no less.

Wily didn't looked shocked at all and actually grinned, as if he's liking the guts on this new guy but his own arrogance and pride assures himself this newbie can no way outdo his feat that he just did and set a new record.

"Alrighty then!" Wily agreed as he guides Rocky over to the very spot he shot his gun and hit the targets.

"It's simple, really; Just do what I did and see if you can beat me in record time, getting all the bullseyes included."

"Okay." Rocky says and gets out his revolver but Wily notices the cylinder can only contain about 25 but he has an idea.

"Hand me your gun. Since I'm being a good sport and trying to make it fair." Wily demanded.

Rocky follows the order and hands him his revolver. Wily than used his semblance to force his nanites into it and, to the amazement of Rocky and everyone else, to disassemble and reassemble.

He handed back the revolver and Rocky now notices the cylinder now has the capacity to hold 50 bullets.

"It's only temporary." Wily stated. "Once you finish your fifty shots, your revolver will go back to holding only 25 bullets."

Rocky nodded and took his revolver back. What surprised him that the gun weighs exactly the same as before, despite having a slightly larger cylinder to hold more bullets.

Wily sure has an interesting semblance.

Rocky stands in place and prepares to shoot as the timer hovers nearby, waiting for Rocky to make his first shot.

Like what Wily did, Rocky was taking deep breaths. In and out. In and out.

In…. and out.

Than he shoots.

Just like Wily, he shot a second and third bullet before the first bullet hit it's target.

But as the first bullet was a foot away from hitting the target, Rocky already shot a fourth and fifth towards his other targets.

In a very short amount of time, Rocky finished his round of using all 50 bullets on all the targets.

Wily's scroll scans all the targets and the time it took. It confirms Rocky has hit all the targets dead center but what surprised everyone, especially Wily, was the time it took.

5.05 seconds.

Rocky managed to outdo Wily by a hairline.

The whole crowd that watched the whole thing let out a loud cheer and gathered around Rocky who was only slightly flattered by their approval but didn't take advantage of it.

However…. Wily was in complete disbelief of just watching the very thought of nobody surpassing his marksmanship skills which are impossible… became possible.

"I… eh… wha…. How….?" Wily says in complete disbelief, as he fell to his knees, unable to process the right words to say.

Than after a few seconds of comprehending what just happened, his face comically turned red and steam bursts out of his ears like he's super pissed.

While he was really pissed at first, he eventually calmed down and breathed calmly.

He stood back up and calmly walked towards Rocky who turned his attention towards the coyote faunus.

"I must say… you actually did an excellent job. I fact, you surpassed me and my record."

Rocky was a bit flattered and rubbed the back of his head with his hand.

"No problemo. Just wanted to have fun. I must say, the gap between us isn't that far so we're pretty even… that is, I'm ahead of you." Rocky says with a little bit of smugness added to the last part.

"Wily momentarily had his eye twitch but Rocky didn't notice. "That I see. So why don't we put it there?" Wily asked as he put his hand out, asking for a good handshake.

Rocky looked skeptical for a second but shrugged his shoulders.

"Don't see what's wrong with that. It's just a sport anyways." Rocky said as he grabs Wily's hand and shakes it.

Though, despite the firm shake… Rocky noticed Wily was really gripping on his hand… perhaps a little too tight for his comfort and it even started to slightly ache the longer they shook hands. Rocky raised his eyebrow and looked into Wily's but the coyote faunus seemed pretty calm and looked like he was being a good sport.

Underneath that exterior… there lies an angry soul who felt his pride and ego heavily dented like a tin can and feels like wanting to reclaim that pride and ego that he had for so long.

"You know. If you have time, maybe we could spare again some other day?" Wily asked innocently.

"Sure, why not?" Rocky answered back. Though, despite seeing that Wily looks innocent… he suddenly feels something in the air that feels off and a little heavy.

The two let go of their handshake and stare at each other for a few more seconds.

"Well. I gotta get going. The reason I stopped here was because I had some spare time but now I gotta skedaddle somewhere off." Rocky says but sounds a little disappointed.

"Fine with me." Wily noted. "Either it's you or I that will find each other and spare again."

"I'll keep that in mind." Rocky said with a smile and starts walking off somewhere else. "Well, see ya."

"See ya." Wily said back as he watches his rival move on.

Though, despite looking cool and fine, Wily was fuming on the inside and his pupils slightly shrunk as he stared at Rocky walking away.

"Mark my words, Rocky… I WILL surpass you and show you what it feels like being bested where you least expect it…." Wily muttered silently enough to not let Rocky hear him.

Though, as Rocky walked further away, he turned his head once more.

"And there you have it." Said Rocky. "That's where our rivalry began."

And so, as the years gone by, the two have occasionally spared but it's Rocky that's always bested Wily, even if by a hairline. Wily could not accept that, no matter how close the gap was. He WANTED to surpass Rocky.

But it only got worse from there; The friendly sparring matches at sharpshooting eventually been replaced with actual fighting based sparring. But like before, Rocky always won, even by a hairline where he's at his limit once he beaten Wily.

The only thing about Wily was that he never quit. No matter how hopeless or futile it seemed to come even close to actually winning, Wily knows he's always just one tiny step behind Rocky when they finish their matches. Showing even Rocky has his limits so that makes Wily more determined to beat him.

Besides, the more time they spend together in their matches, the stronger and more skilled they both become. Even their semblances heavily improved. But that also drives Wily closer to wanting to kill Rocky too because he can barely stand his smugness for so long.

However, he suddenly widened his eyes as if he realized something.

"Wait a second..." He calmly says until his eyes widened in realization. "Fourth wall break inside a fourth wall break! That's like… sixteen walls!" He spouted out loud as if he was shocked out of his wits.

---

Present

"Anyways." Rocky insisted. "I think we should get back on track with this story."

However, this didn't go unnoticed by Wily.

"Now wait just a second there…" Wily says towards Rocky with a raised eyebrow and feeling confused at hearing Rocky talking about their past to someone else but he doesn't see anyone there. "Just what are you talking about and why are you projecting in that direction when there's nobody there?" He asked, a bit confused.

"Nothing!" Rocky turns back to Wily and grins. "Anyways, so you've came back to challenge me again… after I've defeated you, like what, two hundred and fifty four times?"

"THIS time will be different!" Wily boasted at Rocky, quickly getting over Rocky's odd behavior, as he always found Rocky odd, despite his impressive skills.

"Oh really?" Rocky grinned. "Isn't that the last time you've told me? And the time before that? And before that, and before that, and before that, and before that, aaaaaaaannnnnnnndddddddd before that?" He droned on like he's starting to pester Wily.

"True." Wily admitted but still smirked. "I may have said that many times which makes it eventually seem redundant. But I'm feeling it within my soul that it really WILL be different."

"Alright than." Rocky now accepted the challenge and just rolled with it since he's gotten used to it. "Don't take it hard on me if you get your ass handed on a silver platter… again."

"Oh trust me." Wily grinned that showed off his sharp teeth and his pupils slightly shrunk as if he's gonna enjoy this. "It will be YOU that will have his ass served."

"Oh really?" Rocky smirked back. "I may not be a psychic but the future is telling me you will be tasting soil rich dirt with a side of raw worms!"

Wily smugly raised an eyebrow and grinned. "Not if you're six feet under and the worms are eating you're decomposing corpse first."

"Ooookay… that's rather dark." Rocky thought, slightly disturbed but decided to roll with it. He might be joking anyways... right?

The two decided to end their sass and stare each other down, waiting for the other to make the wrong move that can make a difference between life and death.

It was now deathly quiet in the middle of town. If there was anybody around to witness this showdown between two faunus, than it would've been an interesting night for them.

Rocky and Wily were both smirking at each other, each daring the other to make a move and see what happens. Despite their smug grins, they were actually fully focused and tensed.

A showdown was about to happen between them….

"NOPE!"

In an instant, Rocky turned a complete 180 and sprinted like a mad man, in the opposite direction and away from Wily.

This confused Wily as he watched Rocky run off from him but he came to his senses and also started sprinting after him.

"Hey! Get back here! I didn't tell you to run away!" Wily shouted and gave chase. "What are you?! Some kind of coward all of a sudden?!"

The two faunus were now running through Kuchinashi in the middle of the night and it's gonna get interesting.

Though, they weren't alone as the three ninjas slipped out of the shadows.

They watched from a distance, as they spot Rocky and Wily taking off int

One of the ninjas lifts up his arm and reveals some kind of wrist attached device that resembles a cross between a scroll and a watch.

The ninja presses a button which shows a hologram of that takes the shape of a humanoid figure but appears to be a silhouette. The only visible thing are a pair of glowing eyes.

"My lord." The ninja, presumed to be the one leading the squad.

"Did you find him?" Said the voice from the hologram that sounded low pitched and sinister.

"We have." The ninja says as he's assured. "We managed to track him and he's being pursued by another faunus."

"Ignore the other faunus. Only engage him if he gets in the way. The Roadrunner faunus is the target. He has something that I greatly need." Said the figure that sounded like he has no concern but Rocky that he seems to be focused on. "You have two options here; kill him or capture him. If anyone interferes, including the other faunus that is chasing him, kill them.

"Understood." The ninja says and is about to deactivate his wrist scroll, his boss… gave him a warning.

"But…. if you fail me, you and your cohorts will suffer serious consequences that I have in store for you. Are we clear?"

"Crystal." The ninja replied rather calmly.

The hologram disappears and the wrist mounted scroll turns off.

He looks at his two cohorts and nods to them. All three shapeshift into their shadow forms. This time, they slither and leap across the walls and rooftops of the buildings. Following the roadrunner faunus. Keeping their distance but managed to follow them close enough.

---

Meanwhile

The chase between roadrunner and coyote continued down the street and alleys of the more ghetto part of Kuchinashi. Wily was sprinting as fast he can but Rocky seems more at ease when he's running like he doesn't look winded or taking deep breaths.

"How long you gonna run from me?!" Wily shouted.

"Oh I don't know" Rocky casually says back. "All night. Maybe till morning. Possibly all day too. Would be lucky if we could get to tomorrow night as well."

Wily had a tick mark growing on his head at hearing how casual Rocky sounds… no, he's always sounded like that everytime they spared and fought.

He always had that grin and happy demeanor on his face

What makes it difficult for Wily here… is that he's not used to chasing his opponents.

Yes, out of all the fights Wily ever had with Rocky, it was always fighting him up close, from a distance, or even during their sparring days before it was reduced to fighting.

But this is different; Rocky never ran. Those two had always fought directly, up close or from afar, it felt the same, two hundred and fifty four times total.

But now… chasing your opponent feels different….. MUCH different.

It almost feels foreign to him. Always fighting an opponent that comes at him or tries to hit him from afar. But… seeing someone run away from him…

It's almost… like a predator chasing its prey.

This may feel different, but Wily also feels eager and interested in this new challenge. He's gonna beat Rocky, whenever if it's just beating him.. Or killing him.

Either way, he's gonna get his title back as the best Marksman in all of Anima.

The two continued to move through the narrow streets and alleys, never slowing down or losing their footing over the debris that litters the streets. Not even a few fences and walls can stop them as they can easily jump over or getting around them.

Tired of chasing the goofball, Wily decides to up the ante a bit.

His nanites activate again and form around his hands that turn into sub-machine guns in both of his hands. He opens fire and peppers the alleyways and streets with bullets.

At first, Rocky tried swerving around them as best as he could, at least for a little bit until he started struggling to dodge many more when Wily suddenly upgraded them now looking like miniature miniguns which unleash even more bullets.

Rocky had no choice but to use his special moves….

Suddenly, Rocky is now suddenly dodging the onslaught of bullets much more easily.. in a more odd way.

Rocky is now swerving, ducking, rolling, flipping, twisting, twirling, and moving in such odd ways to avoid the bullets. Almost like the movement is uncanny.

But what's even more weird is that he's making some goofy noises coming out of his mouth…

"WOO HOO WOO HOO WOO HOO!"

It's almost like he's being… LOONEY.

This turns out to be Rocky's semblance in action... called Toonforce.

A very rare and unusual semblance that, even to this day, is very hard to understand and comprehend to this day. That's because this is the only known semblance in existence and that current known user is Rocky himself.

Basically, according to Rocky, he can somehow defy the laws of physics, and to a far minor extent, a little bit of the laws of reality. Though, the only way for his semblance to work... is when the "moment" is suppose to be funny. It can still work to an extent in situations that are not funny but it becomes less effective and useful.

"In layman's terms; I can only be silly when it's suppose to be silly. Ain't much use if the situation is too dramatic or sad!" Rocky spouted out loud which Wily could hear him again.

Wily just doesn't understand. Why is he talking like it's normal and saying they are being watched by "The audience" when there's nobody there, especially right now when he's being shot at?!

it wasn't really surprising much anymore for Wily, However. He's seen this odd behavior before, many times, when they spared, especially when Rocky starts acting silly. He's starting to consider Rocky is just a little oddball... coming from his who wants to kill Rocky.

Eventually, Wily ceased fire as he wanted to spare some nanites for something greater. Luckily, the alleys and buildings that are filled with holes have been abandoned so nobody got shot.

Wily changed tactics once he noticed Rocky is heading towards a stone wall that's a dead end. He formed a wrist mounted device which fires some kind of projectile which reveals to be a net armed with rockets to propel it forward and spikes to dig against the wall.

Sadly, for Wily, Rocky ran up the wall like he's defying gravity. Heck, he's not even putting effort getting up that wall….

The net slammed against the wall with the spikes impaling it but it has zero catches. It instantly dissolves back into nanites and heads back to Wily as he reabsorbs them.

Wily followed Rocky by creating springs under his feet and leaps upwards onto the rooftops of the buildings. Now the two are on the rooftops, parkouring and leaping across them.

Wily than takes another approach by miniature home seeking rockets that lock onto Rocky but they are easily countered by Rocky's bullets which explode but are far enough in the air to not damage any buildings.

The scuffle eventually ended with Rocky jumping down an alley but reaches out and grabs a right clothesline and does some impressive acrobatic gymnastics.

As he was swinging and flipping down the alley on the clotheslines and metal poles, he was recalling a training event that helped him be this acrobatic.

---

7 years ago.

At the age of 12, a young Rocky is seen in some wide open room that's dark but with one large ceiling light shining down on the area that he's in.

He's wearing a tight body suit to help be as aerodynamic as possible in his training.

He's seen gripping tightly on a gymnastic bar as he did several flips and spins on it until he let go, somersaulted in midair, gripped the bar again and repeats.

Shortly after, he's now doing some gymnastic rings, easily twisting and twirling in midair while gripping those rings into his hands.

He's then seen on the horse pommel doing more gymnastics with his arms and twisting his lower body. Even doing some handstands on occasion for extra balance.

The last training montage shows him doing another stunt as he sprints forward, does several front flips, vaults off the vault horse, and does several epic somersaults and lands on his feet. A perfect score.

"Very good, Rocky!" Shouted a booming voice in a thick russian accent.

Rocky turned to the direction of the voice and saw a burly figure in the shadows due to the spotlight he's in so the figure's face is hidden in the shadows.

Rocky couldn't help but smile at hearing the praise of the man that he sees before.

"Impressive. Most impressive. You exceeded my expectations way beyond than I could ever imagine.

"Yeah.. thanks." Rocky says but still smiles.

"Keep this up and we'll be bringing in more fans, more fame, more fortune, but especially more success!"

Rocky nodded and smiled. Actually liking his trainer's bombastic attitude and approval towards him.

"In doing such a great job for you performance, you can have this as your reward!"

He tosses a large rectangular box towards Rocky who easily catches it. He opens the box and gets a good whiff… of PIZZA!

Rocky drools at the sight of the delicious meal he's about to have as his reward. The bearded man grins and heads off somehwere else while Rocky gets to dig in and devours his pizza reward.

---

Present.

With those memories in tact, Rocky puts his acrobatic skills to good use and continues swinging with grace and finesse without spending too much energy and without losing his momentum.

Not far behind, Wily enters the narrow alleyways and uses his technopathy to help him maneuver through and around any obstacles that get in the way. Heck, even break through them, if he has to, by ramming or cutting them.

As Rocky was swinging and doing more epic acrobatics that helped him twirl and catapult with such grace and skill that it's like he's flying. Wily was using his nanites in many ways to help him maneuver through the narrow building alleys to keep up with Rocky. Sometimes, he makes a slide which he slid down to create enough momentum to launch up and than creates several floating step platforms to leap and hop from one another. He even made four metal tentacles on his back to maneuver through the alleyway more easily.

Wily also decided another offensive approach towards Rocky. His nanites started forming around him that took the shape of spheres. The metallic spheres opened up and became spinning blades that darted towards Rocky like a pair of flying buzzsaws.

"Well this ain't gonna cut it!" Rocky joked as he saw the flying buzzsaws home in on him. He quickly did a midair somersault and draws his revolvers again. In the middle of his somersault, he was upside down and takes aim at the projectiles and shoots.

To his shock, the bullets were sliced and diced by the spinning blades which had no effect on them.

"Well… shoot." Rocky muttered again at the surprise.

He swings and flips several more times ahead and tries another approach.

The cylinders from both of his revolvers spin again. This time, his right revolver mixes a bullet with poison and water dust, while the other revolver mixes earth dust with lightning dust.

He fires off several bullets that were in dark purple and brownish yellow. The buzzsaws that were hit by the dark purple bullets were reduced to melted and corroded scrap metal.

Acid Dust.

The brownish yellow bullets that hit the buzzsaws were sliced to dust but that covered the buzzsaws which caused them to be attracted to each other and slam into each other which caused them to shred each other apart.

Magnetic Dust.

The buzzsaws that weren't corroded were reabsorbed into Wily and continued to chase Rocky, leaving behind the corroded buzzsaws. Wily just went back to shooting with sub machine guns which Rocky managed to avoid the bullets with ease but occasionally got nicked but his aura protected him from serious injury.

Eventually, the two stopped swinging in the alleys and got back on the rooftops but it didn't last long as they were now heading to a large flight of spiral staircases that leads to a higher section of Kuchinashi.

The two jumped off the buildings and ran up the stairs but Rocky was far ahead going up the stairs that Wily was starting to lag behind. The coyote faunus ditched the stairs by jumping from the edge and created a miniature helicopter propeller from his back which sent him upward and caught Rocky in his sight. This time he created a grenade launcher and fired off many shots of airborne grenades that blew off large chunks of the stairs and even pieces of the giant pillar that the stairs spiral around.

Rocky fires back at the grenades with regular bullets which harmlessly explode in midair, despite creating powerful winds from the explosions. The conflict kept going until Rocky reached the top.

"Okay. I think it's time to get you grounded!" Rocky shouted.

He decided to end the scuffle by managing to hit the helicopter propeller which damaged it enough for Wily to spiral out of control and crashed at the edge of the next city.

But what's ironic was that he skidded across the ground… face first.

As the skidding came to a stop, Wily slowly got up but he opened his mouth as a huge pile of dirt and worms spilled out of his mouth.

"Yuck! PHOOEY!" Wily sputtered as he spit out the dirt and worms, while rubbing his hands across his tongue to get off whatever else is on his tongue. He even got a dust crystal out, popped it in his mouth like some kind of breath mint, activated it with his aura. The water dust crystal dissolved and filled his mouth with water which he gargled and swished in his mouth, to get the remaining dirt and pieces of worm in his mouth and spit it all out.

"Ha! I told you, you would be eating dirt with a side of raw worms!" Rocky taunted nearby and then started running again.

Wily glared and looked more angry than before and gives chase again.

Up here in this section, it's more fancy, with moderate buildings and being more lively with far less poverty. The two continued their chase through the city which is now more lively and people on the streets saw the two faunus running through the streets and past them.

Wily kept shooting at Rocky, but he was careful not to accidentally shoot any. He may want to upstage Rocky… maybe even kill him but he ain't gonna harm innocent civilians because they have nothing to do with him.

The two went further in the city, they entered an area that was starting to get a little misty and foggy that it was getting hard to see through. They eventually came across a what looks like a hot spring that was located further in the mountain, further near the face of said mountain.

Due to the cooler altitude and being nighttime, the hot springs warmer temperature clashed with the cooler air that created a thick steamy fog that made it a little difficult to see through but not enough to blind the two faunus as they used their faunus senses to navigate through the fog.

Eventually, they came across what looks like a hot spring that's surrounded by wooden walls and there was a nearby tree that grew out diagonally so that made it easier to run across it.

Without even thinking the two faunus ran up the tree which made them level the 30 foot wooden wall and leaped into the hot spring…..

The fog is too thick to see through, from a bird's eye view, but one could hear the sound of loud splashing from within the hot spring… and a lot of feminine wails and banter.

There is a sign near the entrance that's also the exit that says "Kuchinashi's Divine Hot Spring. Ladies' section."

Uh…..

"Coming through!" Shouted Rocky.

"KYAAAA!" Screamed what sounded like a woman in shock and fright.

"Scuse me!" Said Wily in a polite manner.

"Perverts!" Shouted another sound that sounded like an angry woman with a tomboyish tone.

"Gang way!" Rocky shouted, again.

"Don't look at me!" Shouted another feminine voice that sounded embarrassed.

"Pardon me, ladies~!" Wily apologized but sounded like he was enjoying something.

"Oh my!" Said another feminine voice that sounded surprised.

"Outta my way!" Shouted Rocky once more as he was almost out of the hot spring and to the exit.

"What's happening?!" Shouted another woman that sounded confused.

"Oh… are those real~?" Asked Wily who sounded like he saw something that caught his attention and interest.

SMACK!

A loud sound of something getting slapped echoed across the hot spring.

"Ow! I was referring to your pearl necklace!" Wily shouted and sounded like he was in pain and annoyance.

Aft Rocky is now seen running out of the the hot spring, though the exit… with a rather big dumb grin on his face and his face was as red as a tomatoe and, for some reason, he was bleeding from the nose. While still running at a moderate pace, he turned his head to the side and gave a big cheesy grin.

"Bet you folks are wondering what I saw… and tell you, I never shall!" He taunted and kept running.

Not far behind, also comes out Wily. He too has a dumb grin on his face. His face is a bit red and he too, for some reason, is bleeding from the nose. But he also has what looks like some red hand print on the side of his left cheek that looks like it stings.

Wily ignored the stinging pain of the handprint on his face, as he used some of his aura to heal it up, which slowly disappeared.

He turned his attention back to Rocky who is still pretty far ahead in the chase and is almost out of Wily's sights… and Wily is starting to feel even more aggravated of being humiliated, once more, by Rocky being one step ahead of him again… he will not rest or give up until he evens the score… no… outperforms Rocky and proves he's the better of the two.

Unfortunately, this kind of petty act of the desire to best Rocky is slowly becoming his downfall….

Wily continues his chase with Rocky down the alley and decides to amp it up with his semblance to keep up with the quicker roadrunner faunus.

The nanites appeared around Wily again and started snake and form around his feet.

In no time, they took the form of some kind of metal boots with wheels and rocket boosters at the back.

Rocket Skates!

Without even needing a button to push, he activates them and the rockets roar to life, creating a powerful turbulence of jet fuel that propels Wily forward at such speeds that he was easily catching up to Rocky.

Rocky was already fast on his two feet, thanks to being a roadrunner faunus but he's also using a bit of his semblance to enhance is speed a little bit more that his legs were moving so quickly they were becoming blurry and looking like he had wheels for legs. He's moving so fast that he creates a decently strong gust of wind behind him that can easily send small debris flying and humorously.

Wily was keeping up and even starting to slowly outpace his rival that he'll eventually catch him. This time, he forms a combat rifle and takes aim through the scope and crosshairs, trying to land a shot by hitting the legs to trip him.

That is… Rocky suddenly stopped dead in his tracks, moved slightly out of the way… and comically stuck his leg out while giving a rather trollish grin on his face as if he's gonna pull a big prank.

"I'm about to cause a wipeout." Rocky grinned and sounded like he was gonna enjoy this.

Wily saw what Rocky was doing and his eyes cartoonishly bulged out in fright.

"OH SHI-!" Wily screamed but couldn't finish his curse in time as he comically tripped over Rocky's leg and starts tumbling head over heels down the street until he crashed into the wall and left a deep, Wily shaped, hole in it, mouth wide open and tongue hanging out included. Inside the building, which turns out to be a restaurant, Wily is seen sprawled across a broken table, covered in waffles, maple syrup, whip cream, blueberries, strawberries, and a banana.

All the customers and employess were shocked of what just happened of seeing a coyote faunus bursting through the wall and smashed into a table that was seriving a plate of waffles with everything you can ask for on top of it.. and now it's ruined that the customer that ordered those waffles were peeved.

"I want a refund!" Yelled the angry customer that lost his opportunity to enjoy some waffles.

Rocky ran through the hole and up to Wily, smugly grinning at him. He flicks his tongue out a few times until he hovered in midair and wiggles his feet while saying "Meep Meep!"

He zips out of the building and dashes down the streets and towards the nearby stairs that leads to the higher levels of the city. He's planning to head to the upper part of the city where there are more buildings to move around from but also to avoid the more vulnerable citizens down below getting in the crossfire. Most people up here have better security and shelters so it lowers the risks of civilian casualties, even if by a little.

Rocky eventually reached a giant escalator made of stone and metal that's powered by dust, that is known to carry lots of people up and down the mountain but it's night so there are less people around.

Just as Rocky reached the escalator, he heard something flying towards him and flips out of the way. A shuriken whizzed past him and pierces the ground.

Wily widened his eyes as he saw a fire dust symbol on it. The symbol on the shuriken blinks a bright red and a beeping sound was heard.

BOOM!

Rocky managed to leap out of the way in time before the shuriken exploded which tore up the ground and left a sizable crater.

He heard another shuriken come towards him but he countered with his revolver and shot a bullet at the shuriken in midair which caused the explosive star to explode which only sent dust scattering but no damage to the surroundings.

Another shuriken comes towards him but this one has a snowflake symbol on it (not the Schnee Dust symbol, a simple snowflake). He shot it but the shuriken exploded which formed into a large ball of ice and he had to shoot it dead center to cause it to shatter to tiny fragments.

Rocky looked around but no one was there but he knows there's somebody nearby that's trying.

"Seriously." Rocky thought in annoyance after attacked, yet again, that's likely another group of people that are after his skin. "Just how many people am I gonna meet tonight that wants my head?!"

Before he could think any further, he dodged a kunai that had what looked like some kind of piece of paper attached to it that shows what looks like a purple skull on it.

A paper bomb that's laced with Poison Dust.

Rocky had to leap back but the bomb exploded which released a thick cloud of toxic purple dust that could quickly paralyze and kill you in a manner of minutes.

This is bad. Even if Rocky stays away from the smoke, it could kill innocent lives here so he needs to get rid of it.

With quick thinking, he draws one of his double barrel revolvers and flips a switch, causing the cylinder and a secondary cylinder within the first to rotate several times. The two cylinders link and a bullet is injected with a small vial of Wind Dust.

Rocky is gonna blow the poison cloud away which will scatter and dissipate it, along with sending skywards and away from the buildings to prevent civilian casualties.

But before he could pull the trigger, in the corner of his eye, he saw several shadows darting around him and one of them sped toward him. It morphed into a ninja and tried to strike him down with a drawn katana.

Rocky rolled out of the way but then came across a female ninja with a kusarigama who tried to smash his head with the spiked mace ball at one end of the chain. The roadrunner faunus leaned his head out of the way and grabbed the chain.

He attempted to counter but the female ninja was a step ahead of him and yanked her chain back which caused Rocky to stumble forward which left him open for a third ninja to come out with a pair of gauntlets tipped with claw like blades and also appears to be wearing some kind of devices attached to his feet that also tipped with sharp blades as if they claws for the feet.

This ninja was wildly swinging, with his arms and legs, with such grace and ferocity, that Rocky was on the defense of ducking, weaving, and dodging anyway he can to avoid damage, even if his aura could take it. He's not taking the risk.

Just as the ninja jabbed forward, intending to stab him, Rocky leaned to the side to let the claws soar past him but than had to jump back as the ninja did a roundhouse kick which could've sliced his jugular. The ninja than tried to swipe him but Rocky had enough and just blocked the blades with his revolvers which, surprisingly, didn't get cut or even chipped. They simply stopped the blades which let out a loud "CLANG!" Rocky than lets out a kick that sent the ninja back.

Without a second thought, Rocky turned around and shot the Wind Dust bullet which hit the ground, in the middle of the poison cloud, and formed a large cyclone made of green wind that sucked up all the poison and than sends it from the top that scatters it away from the city which eventually dissipates.

Rocky sighs in relief that the threat that could be lethal to bystanders has been eliminated.

He turns around and focuses his attention on the ninjas.

"Oh great. Ninjas. What's next? Pirates and Vikings?" Rocky sarcastically mutters as the ninjas approached him. However, he stopped joking when he saw the symbols... which made his eyes go wide.

But before they could even take one more step forward, something behind them was coming in fast.

It's Wily Coyote... again.

"Outta my way, punks!" Shouted Wily as he barged through them since he was on his Rocket Skates again and he also formed a metal battering ram, complete with a ram shaped head at the tip. He barreled through the three ninjas and sent them tumbling midair like bowling pins until they crashed to the ground. Their aura reduced the damage but it was enough to stun them for a little bit.

He stopped in place and the battering ram turns back into nanites and Wily reabsorbs them. But Rocky also noticed Wily had a large piece of waffle in his hand and was eating it. Taking large bites and trying to eat it quickly so he can get back into action with Rocky.

"Wily?!" Rocky shouted in surprise.

"Hold on!" He shouted with his mouth full and swallowed the rest whole and got back into action. Sadly for him, his fingers are also covered in maple syrup which makes them all sticky. "Now where was I? Oh yes! You think you can forget about me?! Well newsflash, Rocky! It ain't gonna happen!"

"And now you're now staring to sound like Saturday morning cartoon villain." Rocky bluntly says, still taunting him.

"I know." Wily admitted and chuckled. "Seems like it's becoming my shtick."

Wily turned his grenade launcher into an advanced crossbow and fires several steel arrows, each as thick thick as a metal pole, at Rocky but the roadrunner faunus countered by shooting the arrow heads and causing them to veer in different directions. Most end up impaling the ground with a few impaling the trees and cliff sides. However, one managed to impale the escalator and caused the machine to malfunction and shut down.

"Great... so much for collateral damage..." Rocky sighed but decides to distract Wily by mixing fire dust with ice dust and launches another bullet which Wily countered with a blade slash he made with his semblance. The bullet exploded in a giant cloud of steam that blocked his vision. He instantly created a giant turbine and blew away the steam but Rocky was already halfway up the escalator, even if it was shut down by the arrow.

Wily growls and gives chase once more. The ninjas already recovered and also entered the chase.

Rocky and his pursuers enter the next part of Kuchinashi.

This section is more active; with clearer streets, more active people, bigger buildings, and more street lamps to light up the place. It's basically a place for the people who are above the middle class to live here. It's also a common location for the citizens at the bottom and lower sections that come up here to work and get payed so there are justified explanations of all the stairs, escalators, and cable cars all being common in this area.

Rocky kept running through the city, running past people who in his way but he did his best not to knock them over.

"Sorry! Sorry! Excuse me! Coming through! Pardon me!" Rocky kept repeating his apologies while trying to get away from his enemies.

He turned a corner of another street... only to be facing straight down the barrel of a familiar revolver.

"Please tell me this an illusion." Rocky mutters and slowly turns his gaze up... and there stands Quick Draw along with three other Spider members who were also armed with weapons of their own which are dust pistols and sub-machine guns with blades attached to them.

Before Quickdraw was frozen, he already sent a distress signal to the other Spider members and they tracked his location and came over as quickly as they could but it was too late when found him frozen and Rocky nowhere to be seen. They managed to thaw him out but it did take some time. Quickdraw managed to track down Rocky again when he heard the loud noises not far away and now he's aiming his revolver down Rocky's face.

"Well... hidey ho there, Quickdraw! How's it going?" Rocky nervously chuckled while sweating a little.

"Save it, Runner." Quickdraw says as he pulls the hammer on his revolver. "You have tested my patience for the last time. When this is over, I'm gonna bring your corpse to Malachite in a nice little box with a pretty red bow on it."

"Does the box come in stripes or poka dots?" Rocky joked and nervously grinned.

Quickdraw narrows his eyes and pulls the trigger but Rocky beat him to it by kicking him in the crotch. The Spiders assassin eyes bulged out of his head and he let out a high pitch groan. He covers his crotch with his hands and bends over which Rocky took advantage of by playing leap frog in which he follows up by kicking two of the Spiders that are with Quickdraw and was sailing over the third one. He than sprinted forward with Wily and the ninjas in pursuit.

Quickdraw groaned but quickly got back to his feet. His aura may have minimized the damage but it still hurt like hell and it just pissed him off even more.

"You know what? I rather just bring you in alive and torture you eternally, until you begged for death..." Quickdraw says darkly and starts giving chase with the other Spider members following.

But before he could take a step forward, he was intervened by the Snake Eyes were blocked their path.

"What the-?!" Quickdraw said confused until he recognized the Snake Eye symbol and he narrowed his eyes at the ninjas. "Oh... it's YOU." He said rather annoyed.

The Snake Eyes noticed the spider tattoo and they too glared back at the Spiders.

"I'm rather surprised two gangs like us would come face to face... again" The ninja leader also answered but was more composed.

"No time for small talk. Our target is getting away and we're wasting our time facing each other so get out of our way or we'll make you." Quickdraw threatened but the Snake Eye ninja didn't flinch.

"I'm afraid that would violate our agreements between the Snake Eyes and the Spiders; Any and all members of the Snake Eyes and Spiders shall not inflict violence on each other or that would run the risk of creating a secret war between us. You do know the risks that could bring to all of us?"

Quickdraw couldn't help but admit that Malachite has ordered him and the Spiders to never confront or fight any Snake Eye members... she knows who they are.

The ninja leader knows his master gave him the other members the same orders to never directly confront or fight the Spiders either.

Regardless, that doesn't mean they have met more than once and have more than once insulted and threatened each other but never directly fogught each other. There were close calls though that almost started a civil war between the two gangs...

"...As much as I hate you and your gang, especially that our bosses despise each other, I have to agree on that." Quickdraw admitted.

"Nothing personal, just doing our mission." The ninja replied.

"Speaking of missions." Quickdraw brought up. "It apparently seems both you and I are after the same target that we're chasing."

"Yes. We too are after Rocky Rhode Runner but our reasons are classified." The ninja said.

"Same goes for us." Quickdraw also said. "However, we're wasting time here; the more you and I here, the farther he's getting away."

"Agreed." The Snake Eye ninja said.

Quickdraw thought of something that may help them catch Rocky easier... even if he hates it. He doesn't like making deals with rival gangs but Rocky has pissed him off enough to decide a temporary ally would do. "Tell you what, as much as I despise you, why don't we make a slight deal?"

"There is no mention of making deals in our agreements, unless they bring harm to either of us, so I can consider it a technicality. What is our deal, assassin?" The ninjas asked.

"Lets try to indirectly work together and take down Rocky, either dead or alive, unless you are against the dead or alive part." Quickdraw instructed.

"We prefer him alive but dead is another option. He has something we need so him being alive or dead is irrelevant to the our goal... it's just that our master wants him alive for his reasons." The ninja says.

"Very well. Though, we also want him alive because he has done enough trouble lately." Quickdraw also added as he can still feel the painful throb between his legs. But he ignores the pain and reaches his hand out. "So it's a deal?" Quickdraw asked.

The ninja was silent. Still not sure but a team up like this will make their chances getting Rocky more worth it.

The ninja takes his hand out and shakes Quickdraw's hand.

"Deal."

The other Spider and Snake Eye members just stared at each other in silence and with neutral expressions and just rolled with it.

---

20 minutes later

The chase continued but it seems Rocky is far ahead of everyone, even managing to outrun Wily and seems to have lost him too.

the Snake Eyes members suddenly leaped from the buildings and blocked his path. Wily came from the side and was charging at him with a spiked gauntlet. Rocky was too slow to react and got punched in the face which sent him flying and heavily cratered a nearby concrete wall. Rocky didn't have time to recover as Wily summoned metal tentacles to that ensnare Rocky and slams him into another concrete wall. Wily tossed him away, only for Rocky to roll into the ninjas which threw their shuriken and paper bomb dust. Rocky had to roll out of the way, managing to avoid most of the explosions of all kinds of elements but it was still powerful enough to still damage his aura and sent him hurtling across the street. His aura did it's job again but it soaked up a lot of damage there.

Just as Rocky got up...

BANG!

A lot gun shot was heard and something whizzed past his face... and a cut appeared on his cheek and started to bleed. It instantly healed thanks to his aura.

BANG!

This time, Rocky was ready and dodged another bullet that almost got him in the head. The bullet blew a hole through a random stop sign.

Quickdraw had his revolver and the other three Spider members started to open fire with their own pistols.

Rocky was now surrounded at nearly all angles here; The ninjas from above, Wily now from the front and the Spiders from the back.

He felt pressured and his options were getting limited.

He looked to the side and saw another restaurant which is a 4-star restaurant.

Rocky didn't really want to have civilians in the crossfire but he doesn't have a choice.. and it's not like this is the first time he's seen civilians in the crossfire. He silently hopes his pursuers don't focus on them... thankfully, they have no intention on random people and just want Rocky. They want to avoid trouble from the guards and police so they only focus on Rocky.

As he entered through the building, he slammed the door behind him and pushed against it.

"Is there a doctor in the house? Is there a doctor in the house?!" Rocky yells, as he pants. For taking some decently heavy damage which has almost depleted his aura to half. Rocky is now starting to get a little winded so he managed to

"I'm a doctor!" Said a random customer in a matter-of-fact tone, among the crowd, who stood up and waved at Rocky.

"Eh, what's up doc?" Rocky casually asks before the windows on the walls and ceiling burst into shards

The Snake Eyes members burst through the windows while Quickdraw and other Spiders enter through the back door. All of them point their weapons at Rocky while he was still leaning against the door and gives off a rather disdain expression.

"Oh come on!" Rocky shouted in annoyance.

But it didn't end there as an explosion right from behind the door Rocky was leaning against was blown off it's hinges and flying across the room, with Rocky pressed against the door and smashed into a wall on the other side of the room. It hit the wall so hard it cratered it and left large cracks snaking across the entire wall, even across bits of the ceiling and floor.

The customers and employees were shocked at the sudden explosion and started running out the back door and some even jumped out the windows.

Seconds later, there was a knocking sound at the door that was blown off and opens the way any door would normally, despite being off it's hinges. There stood Rocky who was slightly covered in debris and looked to be dazed. He pupils were rotating and spinning around his eyes, his tongue sticking out, and chibi nevermores were flying around his head and making bird chirps. He slowly stumbled forward, struggling to stay balanced like as if he's drunk.

"No more for me thanks! I'm drivin!" Rocky mumbled, still dizzy from the impact until he shook his head from side to side while making a goofy sound to come back to his senses.

Rocky than sees Wily walking into the building, after setting off a detonated bomb which blew the door of it's hinges.

"Ho boy..."

Wily gave a creepy smirk and summons a nailgun which unleashed a hail of large nails which were flying towards Rocky at bullet speeds.

Rocky's pupils shrunk and he looked terrified. He barely came to his senses and leaned out of the way as the nails impaled the wall and door behind him.

"Are you kidding me?! I like it better when you were shooting bullets at me! Nails are overkill!" Rocky shouts as he dodges and weaves around more nails.

Let's just say Rocky doesn't like nails because... of an incident that involved them and made Rocky fear them.

The ninjas started throwing more shuriken with all kinds of dust injected in them and Quickdraw started to shoot his two revolvers. Now it's even harder for Rocky to deal with since Quickdraw can pierce his aura and the versatility of the dust in the shuriken that the ninjas carry.

Though, what nobody expected was that Wily created a plasma cannon in his other hand and started firing at the Spiders and Snake Eyes. Everyone else that was focused on Rocky

"Oh no you don't!" Wily shouted at the Spiders and Snake Eyes. "Me and Rocky has some unfinished business to do and you're in my way! If you dirt bags think you can butt in with our business, you got another thing coming! The only one that's gonna beat and kill Rocky is me! ME!" Wily howled as he started shooting his nailgun and plasma cannon all over the place that nearly every wall, floor, and ceiling is being reduced to splinters and burnt wood by the nails and plasma blasts.

Rocky luckily ducked for cover behind a broken table and was somehow lucky it didn't get reduced to ash for the time being. Only a few stray nails managed to impale it and a few grazes from the plasma cannon did manage to hit it but it's still mostly left intact.

The Spiders and Snake Eyes focused their attention back on Wily since he's the bigger threat and clearly has the more destructive arsenal.

But Wily went on the defensive and created a metal shield that started off as a piece of metal that unfolded into a larger piece of metal. It easily deflected the bullets and even withstood the dust shurikens. Not even the acid dust could melt that shield as it's made of a material that's resistant to corrosion.

With them all distracted, Rocky took his chance and escapes through the back door.

"He's getting away!" Shouted the female Snake Eyes ninja who noticed Rocky getting away.

The Snake Eyes and Spiders ceased fire and go after him while Wily went out the front door.

Rocky was sprinting even faster, feeling desperate to get away from them.

"If I can just reach the top and than ditch them by taking that one trip that leads all the way to the bottom, in a heartbeat, than I will be able to get away from those losers!" Rocky thought.

Behind Rocky was Quick Draw and the other three Spider members. The Snake Eyes ninjas were leaping across the buildings from above... and Wily is a bit behind.

Wily was getting frustrated he's the last in line to go after Rocky and he might lose his chance. That's when he stopped and saw a parked motorcycle.

That's where Wily smirked and had an idea.

He quickly went over to the motorcycle and planted both of his hands on it... his nanites were injected into the motorcycle which caused the vehicle to transform and shift from it's original shape. Eventually, it was taken apart and than put back together in an instant. Even the nanites upgraded some parts that were too primitive and added new parts that a normal motorcycle shouldn't have.

Once he was done, the motorcycle has now transformed and upgraded into a motorcycle that looks like it belonged at least 50 years in the future. It's more streamlined, looks more polished, and has some state of the art characteristics that makes it the perfect motorcycle. It even has his emblem imprinted on it.

Wily ganders at his work for a second but hops on and starts it up. The tron lines on the motorcycle spark to life and the motorcycle hums to life. The exaust pipes shoot out purple fire and prepares to get going. But Wily takes a step further. The motorcycle started to hover and the wheels folded in.

Now it's a Hovercycle.

Wily grins so big that his sharp teeth are visible and he put the pedal to the metal. The newly advanced bike now rockets forward so fast that it almost broke the sound barrier.

In no time, he caught up and zoomed past the Spiders and Snake Eyes and caught up to Rocky who was caught off guard.

Wily than created a robotic chain.

Before Rocky knew it he had his legs wrapped around by a chain... and sees Wily going by.. he looks down at his feet and back at Wily who is now even further ahead.

"This.. is gonna suck." Rocky says with a blank expression on his face.

in a split second after, Rocky got jerked to the ground and was being dragged across the ground at such high speeds he would've had his clothes, skin, and muscles scrapped off his body, if not for his aura.

Wily was laughing at the top of his lungs, as he continued to drag Rocky through the city. He intends to drag him away from the others who want Rocky's head so he can finish Rocky off for himself and fulfill his mission to become the best marksman of Anima.

Being dragged by his back, Rocky was in great pain and wanted to end it. With his strength, he managed to reach forward and grabbed the chain. With great effort, he pulled forward until he was now on his stomach which made it a little less painful but still pretty painful.

What's worse is that he occasionally gets dragged through many piles of garbage and debris that Wily leads him.

Rocky... suddenly had a used diaper in his mouth and he instantly spat it out.

"I think I'm gonna puke..." Rocky groaned.

Eventually Rocky had enough of this.

"Wily! Why are you doing this?!" Rocky shouted in annoyance. No longer having fun with their rivalry, mostly because he's being chased by the Spiders and Snake Eyes, in addition to Wily. Not to mention getting killed. Just what has he done to make the universe do this to him?!

"Why? Didn't I tell you?!" Wily shouted back. "I'm gonna beat you and kill you so I can regain my reputation as the beast marksman in Anima! It's what I've vowed to myself ever since you humiliated me all those years ago at that festival."

Rocky was a bit stunned and came to realize something... Wily glared right into Rocky's eyes... and Rocky can see how serious those eyes are.

They are not joking.

"Even if I have to kill you, than I shall do that to regain my reputation and my title!"

"He's not kidding..." Rocky thought in realization with dread... he was too foolish and naive to realize what he heard in front of him, for the past few years. He thought it was just an expression Wily says to upstage him and that's it... but now... Wily really does want to kill him just for some title that doesn't mean anything in the end... Heck, there are way better people somewhere out in Remnant with marksman skills that make Rocky's look like an amateur in comparison. If Wily knew that too, he would never rest and kill anyone with superior skills than his just to

Rocky now realizes he needs to reason with the coyote faunus. He sees him as a rival... a friendly rival that he came to appreciate and even respected to an extent... he can't let Wily become some petty murderer that kills people over titles.

With his strength, he started climbing across the chain and got closer to Wily.

"Wily!" Rocky shouted, now angry and trying to reasonable to the coyote faunus. "This is ridiculous! I thought we were just having fun and being rivals! Heck, I was even hoping you could surpass me and we could be buddies!"

Wily was listening as he raised an eyebrow.

"But killing me, just for a title, as if it's the only thing that matters?!"

Wily was listening, fully focused on Rocky.

"Well guess what, Wily! Do you ever think for a moment, even if for a picosecond, does it really matter? in the end!" He shouted.

"What...?" Wily said in slight confusion.

"You heard me! Does it matter?! Does having a title, even if it means killing everyone to achieve it, matter?!"

Wily didn't answer and still looked at Rocky but his expression changed a bit to like he's trying to comprehend what Rocky just said.

Rocky signed and kept crawling forward across the chain, already halfway to Wily.

"You know, ever since that day, I actually saw you as somebody I could spare with and improve our skills and marksmanship!" Rocky continued, now sounding a bit more sad.

Wily couldn't answer as he now looked perplexed and even confused.

"I even thought being rivals could even give us the chance to help others and maybe become great Huntsman to fight off the Grimm! I mean, think of the potential with your semblance! You can manipulate and change the advancement of technology with a mere touch! Just think of what you could achieve and affect the world with that! I mean, sure it only works in your hands and doesn't last long because of your nanites that can only used a limited amount of time but it could still help many people in many ways!"

Now Wily is really stunned hearing just that.

"But look at yourself!" Rocky shouts, now pissed off, as he was much closer to reaching the bike. "You're trying to kill someone like me over being the best marksmanship in all of Anima?! Well screw that! You're wasting your potential and talent on a title that isn't the most important thing in the world! Heck, I'm not even the best marksman in all of Remnant, let alone Anima. You're just wasting your time on a pointless goal!

Wily started to frown... and looks like Rocky's words are getting to him.

"Look, having titles is one thing, especially as a huntsman. But killing people over a mere title is another that I wouldn't dare cross! We're fighting the Grimm who are just as eager of eradicating humanity, as much as you want to kill me for a dumb title!"

Wily frowned even more and even... looked shocked as he realized what he's been doing...

Rocky was just a foot away from Wily's bike and is getting into position to climb on the bike.

"So let me ask you again!... Is all this... really worth it?"

Wily... was silent and couldn't say a word...

In fact, he suddenly started remembering a memory he almost has forgotten.

---

6 years ago. Haven Orphanage.

There stands a young Wily, around the age of 12, wearing what looks like some serious dress code that matches the other boys around him. The girls were also wearing their versions of the dress code since they match the color with the boys.

He appears to be out in some playground that is part of an orphanage.

He's holding a toaster and is trying to make it transform into something more advanced.

A bunch of other kids that co-exist with him in the orphanage are watching him but look unimpressed and even uninterested in what he's doing.

He finally managed to change the toaster into some kind of small and awesome looking robot that was doing some epic poses.

"See this, guys?" He showed off his robot. "isn't this cool? I can turn a toaster into a robot!"

The others still didn't respond and didn't look interested. Wily felt his self esteem started to waver and he tried his best to make them interested.

"Just imagine the possibilities I could do to benefit to the world with this ability!" Wily says and further tried to convince them. "I could create

After a few seconds of silence... the kids just laughed at him...

Wily felt confused and even feeling his self esteem cracking even more.

"W-W-What's so funny?!" Wily stuttered, trying to keep his composure but it's obviously falling apart.

That's when one of the bigger kids, a taller, more muscular one, steps up and looks down on him. He's a stag faunus with a pair of small antlers over his red hair but it comes to show they're a bit larger than the average stag faunus his age. He was grinning down at Wily.

This is Ferghus. He's the known resident bully of the orphanage, always picking on the smaller and weaker kids of the orphanage, human or faunus, but he especially like to bully Wily and treats him like a pathetic nerd. Heck, the worst he ever does to poor Wily is giving him an atomic wedgie every day without warning...

"Oh, you wanna know what's funny, NERD?" Ferghus emphasized on the last word, sounding like a jock. "That's YOU!" He pointed at "You want to benefit thee world with your talents for nothing in return? Well ain't that sweet." He added sarcastically. "You're such an idiot, ya know that?"

Wily started to shiver and tried to remain composed. He tried to say something but couldn't because he felt so vulnerable. That's when Ferghus grabbed him the scruff of his shirt, lifted him up to eye level and glared him in the eyes.

"Your ideal is nothing but a lousy dream that means jack squat in this world when the Grimm want to kill us all! The real ideal that everyone looks up to is being the best there is! That's why I'm gonna be the best huntsman Remnant has to offer and everyone will bow down to me as their hero who will slay all the Grimm and purify this world from the darkness by himself! When I get adopted and get old enough, I'm gonna attend Haven Academy and train myself to be the best huntsman there is! The world will love me!"

He tosses Wily back who falls on his butt and looks more distraught. To make it worse, Ferghus decided to rub more salt in the wound by raising his foot and stomping on Wily's robot which shattered to pieces. The nanites instantly left the destroyed robot and were absorbed by Wily. The pieces of the robot turned back to broken pieces of a toaster.

Wily stared at his destroyed toaster and watches Ferghus and the other kids walking away while laughing.

Wily stared back at his toaster again... and tried to hold back a tear but one managed to slide down his cheek.

What's more sad is that Wily was never adopted while most of the other kids, including Ferghus, were adopted and left him behind. Eventually, he eventually managed to leave the orphanage when he was old enough and fended for himself but Allan's words still lingered in his mind. He tried his best to ignore the bully's twisted words of advice... but it apparently seemed, over time, Wily started to consider maybe becoming the best at something might get people to like him... yes... that's what he must do. Forget the benefit to the world... become the best there is and you'll receive the praise you want...

---

And so, Wily wanted to prove the world he can get a title of being the best marksman in Anima, to prove that having title really does matter and you be appreciated by everyone around you... his obsession may have started off innocent and also started off as a friendly rival towards Rocky ever since they met... but seeing himself getting upstaged so many times, even if by a hairline, has brought a bigger crack to his self esteem and sanity... now he is getting desperate to beat Rocky... even if he has to kill him which started off as an expression which devolved into that he means it...

Rocky was careless and naive to even notice the possible hint of Wily was legit in wanting to kill him.. and now he's gonna fix it. It's never too late... Wily is not a murderer and he has never has killed anyone nor will he ever will once Rocky fixes this.

"It's never too late, Wily!" Rocky says since he's now finally climbing on the hover bike and glaring at Wily. "Deep down, you and I know you just wanted to beat me because you saw me as a rival but what you're doing now will cost you something you could never take back! You could become something you never were meant to be; A murderer that wanted a title and I know you are not that kind of guy!"

Wily still stayed silent and even looked like he was gonna shed some tears.

"I don't know what you've been through but I can imagine it wasn't pleasant and whatever has caused you to suffer has led you to being desperate to getting a title, probably to get the attention you wanted!"

Wily's mouth quivered a little and his eyes looked a little misty.

"So please! Stop this madness and stop trying to kill me for a title! There are many other important things in this world and a mere title just won't cut in the end!"

Wily... gets even more conflicted that he doesn't know what to do or what to think that's right from wrong...

He aimed his plasma cannon at Rocky's face.

"What...?" Rocky said confused.

Wily didn't answer and just charged his plasma cannon at Rocky's face.

What Rocky doesn't know is that Wily is far too conflicted and confused that he wasn't even thinking straight of what he's exactly doing. Rocky can tell because his pupils have shrunk so deeply that they are almost invisible.

Rocky instantly reacted by reflex and smacked the plasma cannon to the side which fired a powerful blast of plasma and ends up blasting through a random stone wall, leaving a massive hole in it.

"Wily! Get hold of yourself, you idiot!" Rocky shouted and wrestled with Wily which caused the hovercycle to lose it's balance and started ramming through several lamp posts and even through several walls but it didn't stop Rocky and Wily's scuffle until they finally lost balance.

The bike started scrapping and tumbling across the streets that several cars and people swerved out of the way, while Rocky and Wily were also rolling across the streets.

Eventually, they all came to a halt. The hovercycle was heavily damaged and reverted back to it's normal state which still looked heavily damaged. The nanites flow back into Wily who was laying flat on his back and was groaning.

Rocky also groaned and got back to his feet. He looked at Wily who was a bit sore and may be laying there for a little bit.

Rocky felt pity towards Wily and hoped his words got to him... that's all he could do for the moment. Though, his thoughts were short lived as he saw the Spiders and Snake Eyes rounded a corner and are now running towards him. Quick Draw fired his revolver and Rocky made a run for it, hoping Wily is okay. The Spiders and Snake Eyes thankfully ignored Wily and kept their chase.

Eventually, he's come across the elevators. The elevators are attached to the cliffside of then mountain that leads to the top which is also where the richest thrive. There were huge lines of people, from the lower and middle classes, all coming to get on the elevators to reach the higher parts of the mountain and even the peak for some.

A bunch of guards were at the elevators and noticed Rocky barging through the crowds of people, even shoving some aside. The guards got incredibly suspicious, especially getting some duty calls from other police in parts of the entire city of what's been happening in the lower sections.

"Halt!" Shouted one of guards. "State your identification and show us your permit!"

"Yeah! About that!" Rocky sounded a bit sheepishly. "I'm gonna have to make that an exception!" He used his semblance to comically zip towards one of the guards and socked him in the face so hard his helmet flew off and the guard made a dopey expression before falling over. He grabbed two guards, each by the head, and slammed them together which knocked them out to. This shocked the other people who saw the commotion.

"My apologies and I regret breaking the law but this is an emergency!" Rocky shouted in apology. He doesn't really like breaking the law but he's willing to do it since... he and the man that raised him has done it on occasion.

He enters the elevator and pushes the button to go up. The elevator itself is mostly made of metal but it does have a large glass window to look out on so Rocky got a good view of the city. He's so high up he can even see other mountains and valleys in the distance, along with the flowing rivers.

Though, his admiration of the view was short lived when he saw something in the corner of his left eye, he sees another elevator rising up and is right next to him... and it's Quick Draw and the Spiders...

On his right, he sees another elevator and it houses the Snake Eyes ninjas. They too took the elevator and are still in pursuit.

Rocky gulped of feeling like he's surrounded, even if they are separated by elevators.

Once they reached a floor of the cliffside, which looks like a cavern with many dust enhanced spotlights lining the cavern walls. There's even a road where buses and cars drive through to carry their passengers. It was also crowded with people were traveling through the tunnels.

An elevator "ding" sound was heard, followed two more. The doors opened and out ran Rocky, followed by the Spiders and the Snake Eyes coming out of their respective elevator doors.

But Rocky skidded to a stop which his two group pursuers mirrored him. Rocky than turned around and ran back into his elevator just as the door closed. the Spiders and the Snake Eyes mirrored him, as they too ran back in their respective elevators.

Rocky was heading up to another floor but he sees his pursuers again, watching him with soul crushing stares.

On the next floor, Rocky and the two gangs ran out of their elevators but they repeat it again by skidding to a stop and running back to their elevators... again.

This has been repeated several times until they reached a floor that is more than halfway up to the top. This time, Rocky stays put after he skidded to a stop, outside of the elevator.

The two gangs also stopped in place and all glared at Rocky, even ignoring the people around them who are staring at them in confusion.

Rocky was sweating a little as he feels pressured to being surrounded by two gangs that want his skin and possibly his possessions that he can't let them have.

He looks to his left and slowly back to his right again.

The elevator doors started to close... Rocky still didn't move and just needed to wait a few more moments.

NOW!

Rocky darted back to the elevator doors and the other two gangs mirrored him.

In a split second, and using his semblance, Rocky managed to barely squeeze through the narrow gap of the elevator doors. But since this moment was so tense, his semblance barely worked and it still kinda hurt his bones a little.

As for the other two gangs, they were a split second too slow and their doors shut before they could even get in.

"Damn it!" Cursed Quickdraw for being too slow and looking like a bunch of fools. They are gonna have to wait a bit for their elevators to open again.

At the very peak of the mountain, this is the richest live. As the tallest and largest buildings are built and richest people thrive. There are also middle class and even a few poor people are spotted in the crowds, mostly here for doing jobs they were able to get and are getting paid so they can eat here which they can take home and feed to their families.

The elevator reaches the top which comes through a hole and makes another "Ding". It opens it's doors and Rocky runs out.

"Alright. Just need to get to that one spot and I can lose them." Rocky informs and starts running... that is something lands in front of him.

It's Wily Coyote again...

Wily made a jetpack and got him to the top just in time and now he's front of Rocky again. This time, Wily was frowning but he isn't showing much emotion.. it's like he's very conflicted with himself.

"At least he's not doing that creepy grin... there's gotta be a chance to convince him..." Rocky thought.

"Wily, please! Just stop this pointless rivalry and let us talk this through?" He shouted, hopping Wily can be reasoned with. "Whatever you have endured in the past must've been bad but I can convince you there are other ways you can use your semblance for Remnant!"

Wily didn't answer... and leaped forward. He created six metallic spider legs from his back and was crawling towards Rocky. He tried to impale and disembowel Rocky who had to roll and swerve out of the way. Each stab easily impaled the ground and each slash carved out chunks of the ground and sent them flying. Some pieces even hitting the buildings and cars. Wily didn't change his expression and remained emotionless.

"Okay. That just makes him look even creepier... he looks like he's being possessed." Rocky thought and being creeped out.

But the fight got more complicated as the Snake Eyes and Spiders showed up.

"Oh not those guys again!" Rocky shouted, much to his annoyance, yet again.

Wily continued his offense by raising to claws and tried to slam them down onto Rocky.

Rocky draws his revolvers again and fires a gravity dust bullet at Wily who blocked it by raising a shield. But the moment the bullet hits it, it explodes and unleashes a large sphere of gravity that surrounds Wily. A second later, the gravity was increased which made Wily even heavier that he was forced to the ground and couldn't move, due to the sheer increase in gravity that the ground started to crack.

"That should put you down for a bit!" Rocky says and starts running into the city.

The other two gangs are not far behind and they give chase. Wily was struggling to escape the gravity field but he managed to counter it by making a device that creates a sphere of energy that reverses the gravity field which cancels it out. Though, if he waited longer, the gravity dust would've worn off but Wily ain't waiting.

Rocky uses his roadrunner traits to sprint as fast as he could. But he had to slow down in this crowded environment which hindered him. If he had more space or was out in a wide fields and deserts, he could easily run even faster and outpace these guys.

The Snake Eyes and Spiders were catching up to him. The ninjas were leaping across the buildings while the purple colored gang members were right behind Rocky. They started spreading out and surrounding him, limiting his options again to find any escape route.

Eventually, they forced Rocky to run into a building... which turns out to be a ten story high theater with a giant glass window... doesn't that sound familiar?

"Oh no... don't tell me what I think is gonna happen here." Rocky muttered as he knows what's gonna happen that he remembered not to long ago...

He enters through the back door, past the guards which couldn't stop him nor his pursuers as they got bodied to the floor. Just as he entered, Wily was coming in fast from behind, riding a cartoonish red rocket... yeah. He leaps off the rocket that flies off into the sky and blows up like a firework and rolls through the door and into Rocky.

Rocky is surrounded by his enemies once more... but things will only getting more insane from there.

"Wait. What? You can't be serious." Rocky said out loud.

Wily summoned a minigun that had THREE rotating barrels and opened fire. The bullets tore up the walls, crates, and barrels that made up the entire room they were in. Thankfully, they didn't hit any nearby bystanders who were in the main theater and watching the play which is already playing.

Rocky had to dodge yet again but also countered. He shot an electric dust bullet that sent electricity to cause the minigun to malfunction. Enough time for Rocky to sprint forward and sent a powerful kick that sent Wily crashing through several crates that were spared by the bullets.

The Spiders came forward and opened fired. Rocky shot the ground with an Earth Dust bullet which created a wall of stone, stopping the bullets in their tracks but Quickdraw's semblance infused bullets easily pierced the stone barrier which forced Rocky to duck down as the bullets whizzed over his head and also pierced the walls, eventually they will lose their momentum so they can't pierce any further ahead.

Rocky needs to disarm Quickdraw, he's far less dangerous without his guns but Rocky is also aware he's pretty strong and a is also pretty good in hand to hand combat. Quickdraw ain't too reliant on his semblance and he's been known to beat his targets to a pulp with his fists.

Rocky rolls out from behind the wall and shoots a several bullets but Quickdraw counters with his own which all pierced Rocky's own bullets. Rocky was counting on that since one of the bullets is a Smoke Dust bullet which blew up and created a big smokescreen int he entire room and blinded everyone.

Quickdraw coughed and tried to see but saw a fist coming at him and he barely had time to block it with his punch. But Rocky was counting on it by doing a roundhouse kick and knocking the revolver out of Quickdraw's hand and both ended up getting into a fist fight... and Quickdraw had the advantage on that.

Despite his nimble and more agile build, Rocky was barely staying ahead as Quickdraw was a more experienced and skilled brawler, despite being slower, in addition to being more buff and stronger.

Eventually, after several traded punches and blocks, the Spiders assassin ends it by reaching out and grabbing Rocky by the scruff of his shirt, punches him in the face several times which made Rocky give out different goofy expressions by each punch and tosses him into another stack of crates. He quickly runs back to his revolver and picks it up. Just as Rocky got back up, he had to avoid the sword slashes of the ninja leader. He ducks and does a sweep kick but the ninja avoids that by flipping in midair and uses that momentum to slash downwards. Rocky rolled out of the way and the sword slash leaves a clean cut of the floor which cuts all the way down.

Rocky quickly got back to his feet and throws a punch but it gets wrapped by a kasurigama and prevents him from punching forward. The second ninja starts slashing the blade of her weapon which forced Rocky to use his revolver to block her slashes. After the sixth slash, Rocky kicked her back and wrapped his leg around the chain. He twirled the chain which suddenly wrapped around the girl's neck and his strength to yank her forward, followed by punching her in the face which caused her to fly in midair and smashed a table in half.

The third ninja comes in and tries to slice and dice him again which he nearly did by nicking a few pieces of clothing from Rocky's coat but that only ticked him off as that's his favorite coat! The third ninja draws his arms and out and starts spinning like a top, now looking like a human sized tornado tipped with blades. He intends to tear up Rocky but he has already draws his revolver and shoots a Wind Dust bullet which created a small tornado. However, the tornado was spinning in the opposite direction which stopped the third ninja from spinning but it also scattered the smoke which cleared the room. Once the tornado dissipated, Rocky sends a drop kick that sends the third ninja crashing through a wooden door.

"As much as I like to chit-chat with you guys, I'm outta here!" Rocky sprinted through the door and down the halls.

Everyone gave chase again, including Wily who instantly recovers. Wily was last in line and he's even more conflicted with himself that he can't even think straight.

The first thing he could possibly think of was creating... a wheel barrel with a rocket booster attached to it. He hops on and rockets forward.. and ends up scooping up everyone until Quickdraw, the Spiders, the Snake Eye Ninjas, and Rocky, are all in the wheel barrel together.

"You know what... even I don't know what is going on." Rocky sighs. But it was short lived as the wheel barrel hits a rubber ducky in the middle of the floor that catapults everyone forward...

"Who leaves a rubber duck in the hallway?! Sheesh! Someone needs to pick up after themselves!" Rocky shouted, as they all flew towards the dressing room.

Meanwhile, in the main theater, there is a play that's happening and the audience is watching in silence and waiting for it to end.

Than... there was a loud crash and something crashed onto the middle of the stage.

There stood Rocky... wearing an oriental barmaid outfit, a pair of snorkels, cleaves for shoes, and a clown afro. Oh and they also passed through the lunch room which Rocky somehow has two bananas in his hands.

Wily was now wearing a football helmet, a firefighter's jacket, rugby pants, ballerina slippers, and a too too.

Quickdraw is in a disco get up, including an afro.

The other Spider members were wearing a chicken mask, a duck mask, and a turkey mask, respectively.

As for the ninjas. The leader ninja was missing his pants which exposed his red boxers with white hearts. The female ninja was missing her shirt which showed off her sports bra. Lastly, the third ninjas was wearing clown make up.

Back in the dressing room... the room was a complete mess but a pair of ninja trousers and a ninja shirt were caught by two random coat hangers...

The whole unexpected thing that was happened wasn't expected by anyone. Not even the most bored person that wanted something to happen didn't see that coming. Not even some guy who has foresight would ever see this coming.

But than things got crazy as Wily, the Spiders, and the Snake Eyes, turned their attention on Rocky... who aimed his bananas at them.

"Uh...Stay back! I have bananas and I ain't afraid to use them!" Rocky warned his enemies by pointing the bananas like they are guns. Despite wearing a snorkel mask, they they could hear him clearly.

That's when the entire audience roared in laughter. They all thought this was part of the act and that was the perfect punchline.

Rocky was confused for a second but Wily bearhugged him and created another jet pack. He carried Rocky with him and rockets upwards... through the ceiling and many more floors above it.

"After them!" Demanded both the Snake Eye ninja leader and Quickdraw, as they all take the stairs.

The whole audience and stage was left in silence...

Eventually, Rocky and Wily were smashing through several floors upwards but Rocky was able to see each room they passed through from floor to ceiling.

An art gallery and the two ended up destroying a priceless masterpiece by flying through it.

A Diner... Rocky devoured a piece of steak.

A bowling alley... and Rocky and Wily ended up ruining some guy's chance of getting a strike by directly knocking his bowling ball away from below.

A room that's celebrating somebody's birthday... and it was Rocky that blew out the candles and ate a piece of the cake.

A circus act which Wily and Rocky flew through several rings that were on fire.

A cactus farm... and Rocky got hit in the face by a cactus. Ouch. Wily was lucky because of his football helmet...

And many more crazy rooms they've encountered.

Eventually, they reached the top floor that was the attic.

Both faunus flew around the room in circles until they crashed to the floor. Rocky groaned and slowly got back up.

"Okay Wily... this has gone far enough. Just stop this chaos we've been going through all night and just let me talk with you?" Rocky mumbled and stared at Wily but he is now having a hard time seeing what Wily is expressing since he's wearing that football helmet.

However, Wily was still conflicted with himself and attacked again. The two were already getting a little exhausted, as Rocky took a lot of damage lately and Wily has been burning through his semblance which is also draining his semblance but the two continue their battle... even with Rocky still holding the bananas.

Eventually, Quickdraw and the Snake Eye ninja manage to reach the top, with their followers right behind.

"I swear... If I get encountered by everyone at once one more time... I'm GONNA SCREAM AT THE TOP OF MY LUNGS!" Rocky shouted at the top of his lungs. Finally getting fed up being chased by everyone for wanting his head for whatever reason.

The ninja leader threw a shuriken again.. but Rocky dodged it... and the star ending up hitting a gas tank which started leaking gas and started spreading across the floor but nobody noticed. The ninja wearing the tank dop draws a fire shuriken...

You all know where this is going... right?

The ninja throws that shuriken... which missed Rocky... and is flying towards the gasoline stream...

Time slows down as Rocky turns around.. and sees the shuriken already activating it's fire dust and is about to hit the gasoline stream.

Once it did... the fire spreaded and raced towards the gas tank... which is surronded by tons of other gas thanks and explosive crates of Dust.

Rocky screamed with his eyes bulging out but it was too late. Everyone else, including Wily, took notice and they too had their eyes bulging out.

"OOOOOHHHHH SSSSSHHHHHIIIII-"

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

"And so it is written." Rocky says, narrating once more. "That is how we ended up here, how me and my coyote friend got in these get ups, and how all of this came together."

Right back where it all started, everyone was falling in midair and Rocky was holding a pair of bananas and aiming them at Wily while the coyote faunus is aiming a large plasma cannon at Rocky and intending to blow his head off. His double revolvers are strapped to his hip but his hands are full and he has the bananas in his hands… the reason he couldn't get his revolvers in time was because his hands were full…. and also because he has no idea what he is doing but following his gut instinct.

It looks like this is the end for the roadrunner faunus as Wily starts charging up his plasma gun and fully intending on blowing his head off. Wily is too confused, upset, and conflicted right now to even think properly... but Rocky ain't giving up and he's gonna make him change... even if he has to beat the tar out of him for that.

Rocky has yet another trick up his sleeve.

With a slight assistance from his semblance, Rocky squeezed the bananas as hard as he could, which caused the fresh fruit to be launched out of their peels and flying towards Wily. The organic projectiles soared upwards towards Wily. Somehow, they went between the gaps of the football helmet's face mask and splattered into his face with a cartoonish "SPLAT" that also got into his eyes which blinded him.

Wily grunted and flinched from having some bananas splattering in his face and getting into his eyes that robbed is vision momentarily.

The hit also caused him to lose his focus and aimed off course. Slightly aiming his plasma cannon to the side and accidentally firing.

The plasma beam zips past Rocky, almost grazing him and hits a nearby water fountain made of pure marble and took the shape of a dazzling mermaid holding a fish that was shooting water out of its mouth.. only for the whole fountain to be obliterated and reduced to tiny pieces of rubble.

Rocky seized his chance and actually reached up and grabbed the plasma cannon which he used as leverage to swing upwards until he was above Wily. Than he wrapped his arm around Wily's neck and puts him in a neck lock. The coyote faunus struggled and thrashed, trying to break free but Rocky had him held rightly and wouldn't let go.

But that isn't the only thing he's struggling with... he is constantly hearing both the words of Rocky and Ferghus that echoe in his mind and he's unsure and stuck in the middle who's words are more convincing to believe. It gets much worse as he's now seeing illusions of the heads of both Rocky and Ferghus .

Wily was at the break of losing his mind and sanity of hearing the words now booming in his head and his conflicted state of morality of what's right from wrong.

But even with all that, Wily notices the ground is getting closer to him at break neck speeds...

The duo and everyone else plummeted 10 stories and crashed into the ground with loud crashes that kicked up clouds of dusts.

The couple, Zach and Lily, who saw the whole thing made Zach react upon instinct shield Lily with his body from any potential danger.

As the dust settled, there were several craters all over the place, but the biggest one is Rocky and Wily's since they fell in it together.

As for everyone else, the Snake Eyes and Spiders, including Quickdraw, were all laying in their craters and groaning in pain. Their auras are almost completely depleted except for Quickdraw and the ninja leader.

Rocky was the first to get up and groans in slight pain as he stretched himself to ease the sore muscles which slowly healed from whatever aura he had left.

"Man.. that was quite a fall." Rocky groaned but was fine. He looked down at Wily who's aura instantly depleted and he was out cold. Good thing that football helmet did it's job in protecting his head, even if he had aura.

Rocky sighs and hopes his words do get to Wily's head and understands what he was trying to tell him and hope he does make a better decision, once he comes to his senses.

Rocky than tuns his head and notices Zach and Lily standing there... as they saw the whole thing.

"Uh... nice evening, isn't it?" Rocky said, rather awkwardly.

The two couldn't help but nod their heads, too shocked out of their minds from the explosion to properly answer verbally.

"Well that's good to hear. Also, it looks you two are out on a date as well... that's nice too." He finished.

But before the conversation could go any further, Rocky heard what sounded like... police sirens...

"Ho boy. Well, as much as I want to stick around and hear your love story, I should get going!" Rocky says. He doesn't want to stick around and get caught by the police... and it's not because of the property damage why he wants to avoid them...

The couple didn't answer and watched him go.

Everyone else started to recover. Though, Quickdraw and the ninja leader was able to recover much quicker as they still got some aura to spare. The others have their auras spent and are barely even conscious.

Though, bad news for them is they can also hear the sound of police sirens coming their way.

Quckdraw growled in annoyance but he has no choice. He turns to his three followers and gives the orders.

"You three! Fall back and take cover! Don't let the police spot you!" He ordered.

The three heard his words and followed his orders but one of them wondered.

"What about you?" Asked the Spider member that was wearing the chicken mask.

"I'll still go after Rocky! I still got some aura to spare! Meet me back at our airship!" He already started sprinting after Rocky. The other Spider members followed their orders and ducked into the alleys.

The ninja leader did the exact same order. He ordered the two other ninjas to hide which they did by also ducking into the shadows.

Though, in the crater where Wily was... he appears to be missing.

Meanwhile, we're back to Rocky... and for some reason, he's back into his default clothing. Could be his semblance that he used to change back when he was offscreen.

Anyways, he's reached the spot that will help him escape from the very top that leads him all the way to the bottom. Surely this will help him get away much more quickly.

It's a massive steel wire that is only used for emergency evacuations if there is a Grimm attack. It's extremely durable and can resist the powerful beaks and talons of a Nevermore or Griffon. Attached to the cable is a large cable car that can house up to almost a hundred people at a time. But Rocky ain't using that, since it's deactivated and only activates when emergency evacuations are necessary. In fact, there are many similar large cables across the rest of the mountain. Only reason Rocky chose this one was because he wanted to wear his chasers down so he can use this as the final act to get far ahead and leave them in the dust where they won't be able to track him.

Since he's near the peak of the entire mountain, he can see even further out in the vast valleys and mountain ranges before his very eyes. the broken moon helped shine it's light down and made it easier to see the vast open spaces of Anima itself. But Rocky doesn't have time to gawk at the complex beauty as he needs to get out of here.

Just as he reached the giant cable, a random stray bullet and a shuriken were whizzing towards him and Rocky was forced to duck. The bullet pierced all the way through the cable, leaving a bullet sized hole in it but it doesn't strain or fall apart. The shuriken ends up embedded in the cable but no negative effects.

Rocky turns around and sees Quickdraw... still in his disco outfit. Standing next to him is the ninja but he is still missing his pants. Both are panting heavily do to the long chase and losing a large amount of their aura.

"Okay. This is starting to get stale now..." Rocky muttered as he too was panting.

"I would agree that our constant encounters through the whole night is starting to bore me as well." Quickdraw

The ninja simply nodded his head, he too is getting his patience tested and wants this over with. Besides, he needs the item Rocky has that his clan needs. Rocky himself is a bonus but he and Quickdraw has made a deal so the item is what he can get now. He deeply hopes his boss can forgive him of not getting Rocky but the item should be enough to not get him killed...

"Well at least we can agree on something for once." Rocky says but was slowly backing up towards the cable.

"Don't even think about it, Runner." Quickdraw raises his pistol again and takes aim. "That was the last straw and this will be your last night that you'll ever see the shining moonlight ever again. I have some big plans for you once I drag you back to Miss Malachite. She is gonna enjoy skinning you alive and I'll have my turn enjoying what I shall do with you." The assassin coldly stated and slowly walks towards Rocky.

Rocky nervously gulped but he still remained focused. That's when he had an idea and smiled a little.

"You know." Rocky calmly says, raising an eyebrow. "As much as you try to scare me with those death threats and also trying to convince me that you hate my guts... I know you think more highly of me."

Quickdraw doesn't respond immediately and stayed silent.

The Snake Eye ninja turned his eyes towards Quickdraw and was a bit curious why Quickdraw is silent and his connection to Rocky.

"Admit it. I was doing a damn good job working for you guys and making so much lien that I even impressed you for once.

Quickdraw still doesn't answer but he narrowed his eyes... and they aren't out of spite; those are the eyes that say Rocky is right.

The ninja stayed put but he knows doing any action won't do because he can tell Rocky is fully focused and he's ready to make his counter if his speech was interrupted

"Yet, I have betrayed you guys later on but I was also doing it just to get the money so I can get an easier chance to get off this continent and to a new one. I do apologize deceiving you guys but life is life and I did what I must." Rocky continues with honesty.

Truthfully, he did, in a way, like the Spiders, regardless of them being criminals and doing a lot of black market deals and other criminal activities.. yet Rocky ain't no stranger to that stuff in his past as the man that taught him many things gave him those lessons and used them to his advantage. For his goals, he only joined them for the easy picking in getting as much money as he could, while also getting some free food as a bonus they gave him in return for working. He eventually double crossed them by taking the money that Maalchite believes to be hers but Rocky begs to differ when he sees their aren't any rules for that and finders keepers comes to mind.

Now, Quickdraw won't verbally admit it but he does in fact respect Rocky for his skills, weapons, and his black market skills, especially in auctioning. Still, his loyalty to Malachite heavily outweighs his respect to Rocky so it just had to be this way for the two.

"Tell Miss Malachite it was an honor." Rocky finished and used his semblance to make an uncanny zip towards the cable and is planning to slide down the giant cable to get a speedy getaway... but the Snake Eye ninja starts charging forward with his sword and makes an astounding leap that he ends up blocking Rocky's path. He starts swinging his sword and was forcing Rocky back. The bad news is that he's almost completely drained of his aura that his reflexes were starting to wear down and his limiting footing on this cable didn't help. Quickdraw is now directly behind him. Despite actually liking Rocky, orders are orders from Malachite and he's gonna fulfill them. He opens fire and now he's making it even harder for Rocky. He uses what semblance he has left and uses his Toonforce to bend and contort to avoid the slashes.

But he can only do it for so long because using his Toonforce is slowly becoming less effective because this moment isn't funny and it's also draining his aura really quickly.

Eventually, Rocky had to stop as he's now teetering at the edge with his aura...

That's when he felt a painful sting in his shoulder.

Rocky's pupils dialate in great agony as he slowly turns his head and looks at the gaping bullet hole in his right shoulder. Quickdraw's semblance did it's work and went through his aura.

Than the Snake Eye ninja leaps forward and slashes Rocky even before his aura could heal his wound. The slash was enough to shatter his aura and Rocky screamed in pain and skids back. His Dark Green aura flickers and shatters like glass. Without his aura, his wound on his shoulder continues to bleed out and Rocky is struggling to stay standing.

"You're finished, Runner." Quickdraw stated.

"In your dreams." Rocky spat back.

"It doesn't have to be any more complicated than it already is." The ninja says, already stating what they've all been through all night. "Now I suggest you hand over that green necklace of yours and Quickdraw can have his end of the deal."

"What are you even talking about?" Rocky asked, trying to sound like he doesn't have a necklace and is questioning what the ninja is trying to say to him.

"Don't play coy with me, child." The ninja sneered. "You know what I'm talking about. You have a necklace with a green colored orb that isn't Dust that was given to you... by the very man who used to train you until you became a famous stunt performer that you no longer are... which you have retired since that very day in Atlas which was also your last performance.

Rocky gasped and instinctively gripped the necklace that's wrapped around his neck and tried to look serious but he clinched from the stinging pain of the wound.

"No... there's no way! THERE'S NO WAY! HOW DO THEY KNOW ABOUT MY PAST?!" Rocky panicked in his mind and was sweating bullets.

"H-H-How do you know about this?!" Rocky demanded frantically

"That remains to be classified... now hand it over." The ninja reached his hand out as if he's demanding Rocky to give it to him but Rocky refuses.

"You better just listen to him, kid. Don't make things any harder than they already are. I hate to bring you as a corpse." Quickdraw warned as he aims at Rocky again. He'll kill him here if he has to but he really wants to bring him alive...

Rocky was stuck between a rock and a hard place, he's out of aura, his ammo is low, and he has a gaping hole in his shoulder. Not to mention he's standing thousands of feet above ground zero. One wrong slip, he gets shot in the head or he plummets to his death either way. If he had his semblance, Toonforce would easily help him survive that fall but his aura is gone and the moment here is too dramatic...

It looks like Rocky can't do anything... no, he rather die than hand over the necklace. He's thinking of jumping off the cable.. hoping he could somehow survive... but if he dies... oh well, it was a fun adventure and he hopes they can't find his body and hopes somebody else takes his necklace and and keeps it out of reach from the wrong hands.

Just when it looks like he was about to jump... a loud sound was heard... and it was coming towards them. Rocky and Quickdraw turned their heads to the left and the Snake Eyes ninja turnd his head to the right.

Everyone turned their attention towards the noise and sees some kind of human sized object flying towards them... it appeasrs to be some human with a football helmet and is wearing what looks like a jetpack with jet like wings.

"Wily?!" Rocky shouted in confusion.

Wily wasn't really knocked out cold when he hit the ground. He was just too conflicted to even get up... but it seems he has come to his senses and now he's flying towards Rocky.. likely wanting to kill him again since he's going full speed and going right for Rocky...

"So much for trying to reason with him..." Rocky muttered and expected Wily to kill him right here since there's nothing he can do...

But what he didn't expect was that Wily flew right over him but grabbed him by the shoulders... and carried him off.

"Wha-!" Quickdraw and the ninja said in surprise as they were caught off guard.

"W-W-Wily?! What are you doing?!" Rocky shouted in shock but Wily stayed silent... that's when Rocky looked down...

"DON'T DROP ME! DON'T DROP ME!" He panicked and felt like this is how Wily will kill him... but Wily doesn't let go and keeps flying onwards.

Rocky noticed Wily isn't dropping him and raised an eyebrow. Just what is going on? First he wanted to kill him many times in their squabble but now it seems he doesn't, despite having the position, time, and place like this that he could now.

But before he could think any further, Rocky heard another bang and Wily's jetpack got hit by a stray bullet from Quickdraw's revovler. The jetpack started to sputter and malfunction.. and the midair duo started to plummet and spin out of control downwards.

"Gotcha." Quickdraw said and watches them plummet. Surely, it would take a while to retrive them since they are so far away but there's no way they'll survive that crash.. and even if they do, he's got a back up plan. He gets out his scroll and dials the number. Shortly after, someone answers.

"Did you get him?" Said a voice on the other side of the scroll. It's one of the Spiders members that were with Quickdraw... they are at their small airship and waiting for Quickdraw to call them... but for some reason.. they are still wearing their bird masks. And the guy that's on the scroll is the one wearing the chicken mask. The woman in the duck mask is just standing by while the third guy in the turkey mask is the one that's piloting the ship.

"Not directly." Quickdraw says. "Some coyote faunus who seems obsessed with Rocky has taken him away but I shot them down and is heading towards the lower section of the city. I suggest you pick me up and we head down there.

"On it." Said Chicken Mask and orders Turkey Mask to take off. Duck Mask uses a pair of advanced binoculars to help them locate Rocky when they get close enough.

Quickdraw than turns around and goes but he stops and notices the ninja is standing there.

"So... you gonna stand there or are you gonna get that necklace you're after?" Quickdraw asked. IT's not his business but he is a tad curious about that necklace but he doesn't think any further about it since it's the Snake Eyes's business and Quickdraw knows better than to cause potential conflict with the Snake Eyes.

The ninja looks at Quickdraw... and the silent moment is very awkward because he's still in his boxers and Quickdraw is still an that disco get up.

"I already called my co-horts to pick me up... I'm just staying to enjoy the view..." He said while the cool wind made the pant legs of his boxers flap in the wind...

"...Sure. Knock yourself out." Quickdraw says, already walking away and not wanting to make the scenery any more awkward.

---

Meanwhile, further down, Wily and Rocky were spiraling out of control and were gonna crash somewhere in the slums of Kuchinashi.

Wily suddenly grabbed Rocky from behind and bear hugged him, than he turned around until his back was facing towards the ground. He couldn't create anything in time as they were already ten feet above the ground and were coming in too fast. But before they hit the ground, Wily took off the football helmet and forced Rocky to wear it, while also using his semblance to create many shock absorbing pieces of armor across his body...

In a split second later, they smashed into the ground like a human sized meteor which NEARLY broke Wily's aura. His jetpack manged to absorb much of the impact but it still hurts like heck. It doesn't stop there as Wily and Rocky bounced off the ground and than started to skid and tumble across the streets of the slums. Eventually, Rocky fell out of Wily's grasp and he too tumbling and rolling across the streets. The two ragdolling faunus also smashed through a random wooden sign and a broken cart that shattered to splinters.

Eventually... the two skidded to a stop which left a very deep carved trail.

The area became silent that lasted for a minute until someone stirred.

Rocky managed to recover and took off the helmet that Wily made him wear... that helmet managed to somewhat protect his head from serious injury.. sure it still gave him a headache but he survived. He started to stand up and tried to remove the helmet... but just as he got up, Rocky flinched in pain and still noticed at the gaping hole in his shoulder still exposing a gaping hole in his shoulder.

Suddenly the pieces of the shock absorbing armor dissolved into nanites that snaked their way around Rocky... and formed into some kind of advanced looking piece of medical tech... that started to patch up the flesh wound and stitched it all back together... both the entrance and exit wounds.

Rocky looked at his shoulder in surprise. He rubbed his hand across it and felt no pain. He was completely healed! That still left a visible scar on his but he was otherwise good.

He took off the football helmet and looked around and noticed Wily who was already standing but had his back turned. His hair was a mess and his advanced nanosuit was slightly torn and dirty. His shoulders were slumped down and his head hung low that makes him look tired and exhausted.

Rocky wasn't sure if he's still wants to kill him or he's in some different state but standing in silence won't do anything so he decided to speak.

"...Wily?" Rocky said and hoping for an answer but didn't get a response.

"Wily... are you okay?" Rocky says again, still hoping to get a response.

Wily slumped his head down even further and stayed quite for several more seconds.

"You were right..." Wily finally spoke, rather softly, in a tone that sounded full of regret and remorse. Rocky was a bit relieved to finally get a response and Wily sounds like he has really come to his senses but now he sounds very upset. "What you have said to me through our entire fight... you were right. It's not worth it if you are willing to kill people for it..."

Rocky couldn't say anything and continued to look at Wily who sounded so vulnerable and regretful.

"For as long as I could remember, for so many years, I had no friends or family...I just wanted to be acknowledged... even if for a moment. But nobody payed attention to me, despite my patience and my efforts." Wily sadly says and Rocky frowned.

Rocky than felt sad at hearing that. He didn't know Wily had such a tough background.

"Even than, I still followed my heart and found my ideal was to benefit the world with my semblance, for nothing in return."

That surprised Rocky at hearing an ideal that sounds like a polar opposite than Wily's recent one.

"When nobody wanted to see me use my semblance to benefit the world and the potential it can bring, it was only a mater of time until I kept telling myself that maybe being the best at something would get their attention and they would love me for it... but no. I foolishly let myself believe all that which came from HIM." Wily added more emotion to his voice and tightened his fists when he thought of Ferghus.

Rocky didn't know who he was talking about but he had to guess someone was involved with what happened in the past with Wily but he didn't want to bring it up.

"And so, I dedicated myself into trying many different things, until I tried to be the best marksman, since I discovered how good I was into that. I kept getting better and better which made me believe there was nobody out there that could best me. I saw that as my chance for everyone to finally acknowledge me."

That also surprised Rocky... Wily just wanted to be acknowledged.

"Than... that is where you and I met." Wily silently whispered.

"The day at the festival 2 years ago?" Rocky asked.

"Yes... that is where you upstaged me and proved to me that there will always be someone that's better than you... but I never learned that lesson and I let myself be blinded by my obsession and desperation to be the best that there is and I could beat you." The coyote faunus says.

Rocky than looked down towards the ground... so that's what Wily was feeling after he bested him.

"And so, for the past 2 years, I kept challenging you at every chance I got. Despite all my efforts and determination, you always bested me... even if the difference was so close that it was almost even... and I was slowly driven to madness and anger that I just could't defeat you, no matter how hard I tried... and that corrupted desire to to be the best demanded another solution..." Wily tightened his fists again and he started to shake like a leaf, loathing his desire to kill Rocky just so he could be one step closer to being the best marksman in Anima...

"Even if I did kill you.. it would never satisfy me and it would further leave me hollow and empty. Desired to kill more people that are better than me until I'm nothing but a mindless and bloodlusted monster..." Wily whispered at last part that sounded like he was scared out of his mind.

Rocky mentally slapped himself at how foolish he was to not notice the signs and he could've found a way to have prevented Wily's obsession that drove him to wanting to murder Rocky... and potentially anyone else that was superior to his marksmanship.

"And look where that brings us now." Wily says, as he slowly turns around and is now facing Rocky. He slowly raised his head and looked at Rocky who got a good look at his face; What was once a face that showed a psychopathic grin that revealed his sharp teeth and his yellow eyes with shrunken pupils... those features are gone.

What Rocky sees now is Wily with a somber frown that's filled with regret and remorse. His pupils are now normally dilated and don't show any signs of killing intent. He still doesn't say anything and just looks like he wants to lay down and die right where he's standing.

"Rocky... I tried to murder you, on more than one occasion, for a stupid title of being the best at something just so I can be noticed... An apology will never enough to atone for what I have done to you... but thankfully, even if I can't forgive myself, I am at least relieved I've haven't murdered any other innocent lives..." He calmly says.

Rocky was just speechless of hearing it all... all he thought about Wily is that he was some kind of maniac that wanted to be the best because for the hell of it... but after hearing Wily's backstory... he realized Wily just wanted to be acknowledged but his tainted desires turned him into an obsessed psychopath that wanted to kill, out of envy, towards anyone that threatens his chance to be noticed.

Rocky turned his attention back to Wily... who looks a little better for sharing his background. Wily can tell Rocky is sympathizing with him so it makes him feel slightly better but it's not enough to completely rid his guilt.

"But since you have reasoned with me enough and made me see the light and back to my true ideals... all I can say is... thank you. Thank you for stopping me from becoming something that I truly am not."

Rocky stared him in the eyes for a few seconds and smiles.

"You're welcome..."

Wily couldn't help but smile back but frowned again.

Rocky got curious for a second. "So... what do you plan on doing now?" He asked.

Wily frowned a bit but looked at Rocky with a reassured face.

"Since I no longer desire being the best marksman... I have already decided to attend an academy... Haven Academy. A training school that may help me improve on the potential of my skills and semblance, in addition to my marksmanship. I shall help Remnant with my semblance and I shall battle the Grimm, hoping to eradicate them. That is one of my chances to be redeemed."

Rocky smiled and liked that idea.

"That actually does sound nice." Rocky smirked.

Wily smiles back, finally burying the hatchet and starting a new. They are going their seperate ways but they will never forget each other.

Though, their moment was short lived as they heard the loud sounds of something coming... two bullheads are coming in... it's the Snake Eyes and Spiders. They have managed to come down here and are searching for Rocky...

"Crap... thought I lost them... *Sigh* Seems I just can't catch a break from them..." Rocky said in annoyance.

However... Wily has an idea.

"I think I found another chance I could do to that brings me another step closer to redemption." Wily said that confused Rocky.

"And what's that?" Rocky asked.

"This." Wily answered as he used his nanites to create scanner that scanned Rocky's body which than used the data of the body and clothing he scanned. After he was done, he tapped a few buttons on his scroll and let the magic begin.

The first thing that Rocky noticed was that Wily's suit was rippling and started to take change shape and color. He also noticed his tail and hair also started to change.

Standing in front of Rocky... is Rocky... every clothing and color was identical! Even the measurements of his tail feathers and mowhawk are identical! Though, only thing that isn't identical is the face which is still Wily's.

"W-Wh-WHAT?! How did you do that?!" Rocky said in complete shock but it got replaced to fanboyism.

"Oh all I just did was scan your body and clothes, followed by using a hologram projector and some Hard-Light Dust that I keep for special occasion to create a holographic replica of your clothes and some of your physical features that are only temporary. This near perfect disguise is what I'll use myself as a decoy to lure them out and away from you. This is just one of my attempts to redeem myself.

That explains it! But still! That's so cool!" Rocky said out loud and almost acting like a kid in a candy store.

"I know. Sad thing is that I haven't practiced using this much... and I also have yet to perfect the facial recognition... may take a while... also, I can't copy the body structure of a female... only males."

"Ah. That makes sense." Rocky says with a nod.

"Well... I better lure them away..." Wily says as he prepares to step out and expose himself so they can chase him.

"Yeah... hey Wily?" Rocky asked.

"What?" Wily asked, turning around.

"If we ever meet again... mind if we do some sparring? For the fun of it?"

Wily stared at him and thought for a second... and smirked. "Yeah... I would love that."

The two shook hands and went their separate ways.

Rocky stayed low and watched Wily step out of the shadows and taunted them. Though, he kept his head low enough to not let them see his face and make them convinced he's Rocky. Since he got their attention, Wily ran in the opposite direction, secretly creating powerful running shoes to help him match Rocky's natural running speed.

Though, in their bullheads, the ninja and Quickdraw were a tad suspicious that Rocky looks so fine after such a fall and injury... and the coyote faunus is nowhere to be seen.. But that's definitely him as they recognize the clothes, the tail, and the mowawk. They gave chase

On that night... they never caught Wily who managed to make a sneaky escape where they couldn't find him... they failed their mission... forcing them to retreat... the Snake Eyes are dreading the consequences of facing their master while Quickdraw is pissed at unable to capture Rocky.

Rocky watches Wily run off into the distance and smiles... feeling happy he helped him change his ways and back into the person he truly is.

Though, his moment of silent peace didn't last long...

"I see you were in quite a pickle, young man" Said a familiar voice that Rocky instantly recognized.

Rocky turned his head but saw no one and wonders if he's getting a screw loose in the head.

"Down here, young man, unless I was as tall as I was back in my younger days, I would be seeing you face to face." The voice said sarcastically but also sounded like she was joking.

The elder woman was looking up towards Rocky, with a genuine smile on her face, while Rocky was staring back at her with a rather quizzical expression but still felt like giving a genuine smile back to her.

"Oh. It's you again." Rocky says.

"Yep. It's me alright." She answered back but raised her eyebrow coyly. "What? Were you expecting somebody else? Like some good looking young lady at your age and standards?"

After a second of silence, Rocky couldn't help but chuckle from what she said.

"Well, if I wasn't having such a crazy adventure on a night like this, I probably would've." Rocky says as he scratches the back of his head with his hand which made the woman also chuckle.

Rocky and the old lady continue to stare at each other. She looks a tad curious, as if she's interested in him but Rocky

This got Rocky suspicious, however, as he remembered seeing her all the way from up there

"Hold on a second." Rocky now says that sounded suspicious and concerned. "First. Just what the heck are you doing all the way down here? Second. Is it a coincidence or are you really spying on me because this doesn't feel like a coincidence. And third. How did you get down here so quickly, unless you've used the transportation of this city?"

The woman couldn't help but chuckle and understanding his suspicion for showing up right what has happened tonight.

"Well, first. I just came down here because I also have a rented hotel down here." She replied.

"That's fair enough." Rocky admitted.

"Second. if I was in fact a spy, I would have shot you in the behind with a tranquilizer dart before we first met." She joked.

"That sounds pretty cliche… but point taken" Rocky muttered. "But that also makes me ask... did you listen to everything me and Wily said."

She nodded. "I won't tell a single soul." She said as she zipped her lips. Rocky can tell she's being honest.

"And third. I have in fact used the transportation systems of this city. Just because I said I prefer walking doesn't mean I don't ever use them. I only walked as far as I wanted until I felt like using the transportation." She also added.

"That makes sense." Rocky says again as he walks up to her until he was two feet from her that she had to look up to him, due to their height difference.

Rocky can tell she's telling the truth and her genuine smile backs that up.

"Alright, grandma." Rocky answers. "I'm convinced."

"Heh. That was quicker than I thought." She deadpanned. "I wouldn't blame you for being suspicious for encountering on the same night, especially right after you had quite a wild evening."

"Yeah…" Rocky agrees.

The two stared at each other in silence that seems almost awkward.

"Well, since we are getting to know each other quite a bit… I think it's best if we introduced each other." She said, wanting to make things a little easier between the two.

"Yeah." Rocky answered. " I think we should since we're kinda getting to know each other."

"Fair point. Guess I will go first." She clears her throat and reaches her hand out. "My name is Maria Calavera."

Rocky reaches his hand out and shakes her hand who responds and shakes back.

"Ah." Rocky answered with respect. "Name's Rocky… Rocky Rhode Runner."

Maria couldn't help but chuckle to the name.

"Yes yes." Rocky says, obvious to her response. "It's like a rhyme with my middle and last names that makes it sound like a roadrunner and especially that I'm a roadrunner faunus."

Maria stops chuckling and the two next to each other while it was deathly silent, minus the occasional barking of a dog and other distant noises that was taking place in the city.

As the two awkwardly sat on the bench, in complete silence, Maria suddenly moves the bag over to Rocky and opens it up a little. Rocky turns his head and the first thing he sensed was a smell that smelled good. He looks down and sees there are cashews inside the bag.

He stares at them for a bit which Maria notices and opens the bag up and holds it close to Rocky.

"Cashews?" Maria politely asks, with her bag slightly open which indeed shows to be filled with cashews.

Seeing the offer, Rocky couldn't help but grin at her. In fact, he's pretty fond of cashews.

"Would I? Don't mind if I do!" Rocky answered that pretty much meant yes, as he reached in for a handful and ate a few of them. Chewing on the nuts that made crunchy sounds that were quite noisy.

"Boy, you could pull a prank just by chewing these cashews." Rocky commented which made the Maria laugh in response.

"You know, I think I'll someday use it on someone who irritates me the most." Maria responds.

"And who would that be?" Rocky asked, curious.

"Oh nobody really... just somebody that I've met more times than I wished I hand't." Maria says as she now grudgingly visualizes an image of a gray haired, elderly woman who is slightly younger than her but still overall elderly. She's giving off a rather smug and cocky smirk that Maria so wishes to wipe off her face….

Rocky just decided not to go any further with that as he can see her rather serious frown and looks pretty angry about it.

The two sat in silence, except for the crunching sounds of the cashews crushed between their teeth, despite eating with their mouths closed.

"So…" Maria asked, ending the silence. Rocky turned his head and looked down at her, considering he's taller than her. "Lovely evening, isn't it?"

Rocky couldn't help but lightly laugh at that. After all what he's been through tonight, especially having to deal with the likes of the Spiders and Snake Eyes clan that want his head and also his formerly psychopathic rival who who is now taking a new path but still remains his rival.

"Yeah." Rocky answered back but with a sarcasm mixed to it. "It sure is."

"I take it that you've been through a lot, lately?" Maria grinned at him.

"You have no-feckin-idea." Rocky answered without looking at her. "If being constantly chased and tormented by dust wielding ninjas, organized gang members, gun wielding assassins, and a formerly looney obsessed rival isn't the most enough to be considered a lot. Than I don't know what is."

Maria laughed but Rocky couldn't help but laugh as well.

"So wanna share it?"

"Uh... how about NO?" Rocky bluntly said, tired of being through everything, which made Maria laugh and Rocky want to change the subject.

"So… what are you actually doing in a place like this?" Rocky asked.

Maria slightly shrugged her shoulders. "Not much." She answered. "Just a traveler who is biding her time… and I'm just a year or two away from going to Atlas… again."

"Why is that?" Rocky asked, surprised and curious. He couldn't help but remember he also went to Atlas…. once.

"Oh I just need my prosthetic eyes to be checked" Gesturing to her robotic eyes that she currently uses to help her see. "You have no idea how old they are and how often they malfunction later on." Her eyes suddenly malfunctioned a little which she had to tap them to the side to get them working again.

Rocky nodded, understanding her reasons.

"Based on your reaction and being surprised, have you been to Atlas as well?" She now asked.

Rocky was silent for a second… until he answered but didn't sound too happy about it.

Worse, he even mentally heard the sounds of booing and spiteful remarks aimed at him... that was during a time that ended up being his last performance...

"Yes…. once... and never have been there since. Also, before you ask… I don't really want to talk anymore about it." He said rather sadly.

However, he didn't completely hate being in Atlas, even once… the best moment was seeing some girl in the crowd that loved his performance.

Hearing his words of grief, Maria understood and said no further, out of respect for Rocky.

The two were silent yet again but than Rocky looked at Maria's mechanical eyes and wondered.

"Miss Calavera?" Rocky asked.

"Please. Just call me Maria." She corrected him but still got her attention towards him. "But I'm still listening."

"Okay, Maria. I know I don't want to sound rude or butting into your life of whatever you've been through…. But what happened to… you know?" He specifically meant her eyes. He hopes he didn't offend her.

"It's fine, really." Maria assured him. "I get that a lot from people who wonder how I got these prosthetics and what happened to my past." Maria says, without even feeling offended. "I'll tell only a brief hint of about what happened."

Rocky nodded and listened.

Despite being partially true, Maria can't spill every detail because she can't reveal who she once was… she's too ashamed and afraid to reveal her past of who she once was… and what happened that gave her these prosthetic eyes that she will wear for the rest of her life.

"Well… let's just say, I traveled the lands, far and wide, many decades ago. I was a young and beautiful woman who took care of herself." She narrates.

Rocky was listening and was curious to hear about this woman's past, even after just meeting her.

"One day… I met someone who would eventually become a close friend of mine."

Rocky was now curious who this person was too.

"And…" She chuckled. "Let's just say how we met and interacted wasn't the best of terms between us, from the start." She admitted as she can remember how thin the ice was when she and her friend met.

"Than… we were ambushed and attacked by the Grimm." She continued but she was only saying half of it that's true. She and her friend were in fact attacked by the Grimm… at first until they were attacked by another enemy but Maria left that one out. "We managed to fight them off.. But, I was unlucky, as I got careless… which cost my eyes…." She finished rather sadly.

In her mind, however, she was visualizing the last moment she saw with her real eyes… before she lost them. The last thing she saw wasn't a Grimm… but a person, a faunus, who had crocodile scutes on her face, who was giving off a big grin that showed her metal teeth, and a fraction of a second away from slashing her eyes out with her sword.

That was the last thing Maria ever saw with her real eyes, before they were gone forever….

Rocky couldn't help but frown and feel incredibly sorry for Maria. He just met her but now he's starting to understand what she must have been through.. And losing something like your vision isn't a fun thing to ever happen in your life. He's glad she managed to get prosthetics to help her see but he can tell she likely isn't enjoying it as much with real eyes she used to have but it's still better than nothing.

But Rocky tried another question to make her feel a little better.

"What about your friend?" Rocky asked, trying to change the subject.

She then smiled. "He's still with us, on this world." She answered. "We both managed to fight on and slaughtered the Grimm."

"Wait. You were a huntress?" Roky asked, despite sounding happy her friend survived the fight. Though, he did kinda expect she was possibly a huntress and now it seems that she was.

She chuckled, actually reliving those moments right now.

"Why of course I was." She sounded more like she was happy, as if she was actually enjoying telling this part of her past. "Being a former huntress was one of the best moments of my life."

"Heh. you know, I actually was thinking I took you for a huntress." Rocky says.

"And why is that?" Maria asked, a little curious how Rocky figured it out and wanted his answer.

"Well, for an old lady like you, who is out here in places like this, it makes me figure you really know how to handle yourself which I deeply respect and admire." Rocky sincerely says to Maria.

Maria is really starting to like this young man. First sacrificing food to a staring woman and her children, risking his life to save a bunch of faunus and even a human, from being enslaved, and now sharing her past with him that made her feel a little better… but she's afraid she can't tell him every detail of her past… or for her friend either.

"Thank you." She praised Rocky but gets back to her story. "Where was I. Oh yes. After we slaughtered the Grimm, my friend helped me get to the nearest hospital and I eventually got my prosthetics… and the rest is history." She finished.

Rocky nodded to her but was still curious about her friend. "But what about your friend?" He asked

"Oh yes, my friend you are wondering about." Maria said but then frowns again. "We had our friendship that lasted for decades… but we eventually went our separate ways and haven't seen each other for a long time. But we still cherish our memories and I can still remember them all like they were yesterday."

"That sounds sad but also very heart warming." Rocky noted and felt a little warm inside

"Of course." The elder woman replied but still frowned for a few seconds until she turned her head towards him. " I know I shouldn't tell you how to live your life, but I should give you some advice."

Rocky was listening and remained silent.

"It's always important to share your pain and joy with someone else, even if you don't want to."

She ain't wrong there. Rocky did listen to Wily's backstory and he managed to help him.

Sadly, the irony is that Maria is greatly aware she's hiding only part of her pain that she won't share because she's hiding one of the true reasons why she lost her eyes… but she's doing it for her friend's sake and for her own, since she can't risk letting her secret out and risk exposing it.

"It's up to you how to live your life, but I do suggest you should at least spend some time with others, especially friends or family. It easily makes you feel better and not feel so alone and empty."

Rocky smiled at that… he wonders if he too can ever find some other friends and to share his life with them. Sure, he did used to hang out with the Spiders, even being friendly with some of them, along with recently befriending Wily, but he couldn't really get close to them and it was more out of business tasks than simple friendshids, not to mention he and Wily are going their separate ways. His goal wasn't that, honestly, but it would be nice to find a group of people like that, especially after betraying the Spiders and making an enemy out of them.

"I too lived alone for much of my life, after being trained by my father and passing the entrance exam to becoming a huntress with flying colors." Maria says. "I was always on the move; never stopping or resting to even have a proper conversation with anyone. I only talked to people when it came to a mission I was assigned to or when it was necessary. But even now that I realize how much I needed company. I slowly craved for finding people to bond with and share my experience with them."

Rocky couldn't help but feel a little sad for her. Seems being a huntsman

"But I never felt so much happier meeting my friend that day, especially after losing my eyes."

Rocky then started to smile at hearing how much the person means to her…. Even reminding him of that bearded man with the jovial laugh he thought about earlier. Brings back the good times he used to enjoy….

"But it didn't last forever." She frowned yet again. "I mean, we still have our memories that we had together but we had to go our separate ways…."

"And why is that?" Rocky asked.

Maria didn't want to tell him the exact reason as, again, it risks revealing her true identity so she had to play it safe. "Things have changed over time; I grew tired of being a huntress, as losing my eyes was bad enough." She says. "My friend did call me out for giving up so easily but he respected my decision and we remained friends."

"Guess that's just his way of showing how much he cared for you." Rocky pointed out.

"It sure was." Maria confirmed. "And that's him when he's on a good day." She joked and Rocky couldn't help but chuckle.

"Eventually, he too retired as a huntsman and found his own life out there and we went our separate ways three decades ago." Maria says.

"But he still keeps in touch with me. The only time we ever meet directly is once every decade where we meet in Argus so we can go to Atlas to get my prosthetic eyes checked." She wasn't entirely wrong on that part. They did went their separate ways but for a different reason but she's telling the truth about her and her friend meeting at Argus.

Despite being only saying half of what's true, Rocky was convinced and smiled. "Guess it must've been hard for you and him."

"It was." Maria admitted. "And now that leads where I'm now; just traveling across Remnant, going to Atlas to meet my friend who waits at Argus, once a decade, to get my eyes checked and we'll keep doing that until either my body or his gives out first and the both of us will eventually rest in peace." She finished.

Rocky was a bit surprised by how straightforward she was on that part but went with it anyway.

"Seems like we all have to face that kind of thing too… if we survive the Grimm and anybody that wants to kill you." He says and slightly chuckled at how ironic the last part he says.

Maria chuckles as well in agreement but doesn't say anything else.

The two decided to just stay quiet again, sitting next to each other and eating cashew.

However, during that silence, Rocky took Maria's words deeply and was impressed by her story and was even more intrigued about her friend and wonder where he could be out in Remnant. Though, if she says it's true that he's around her age, if not older, than either he too is retired or maybe he's still out there… kicking Grimm ass and being an awesome huntsman and doing the right thing.

But now Rocky needs to get going, because he needs to catch an airship to leave this continent.

He stands up and brushes the small crumbs of cashews that got on his shirt and pants.

"Well, it was nice meeting and talking with you, Maria. But I got an airship to catch before it leaves tomorrow so I need to get packing."

Maria nods in understanding what Rocky needs to do.

"That's fine, Rhode Runner. And I hope you catch it before it leaves you… or you might get in some heep of trouble if you do." She warned him but that sounded a little more than a tease.

"I'll keep that in mind." Rocky remarked. "But…. thank you for talking to me. Needed some peace and quiet for once. It's been quite a crazy night for me."

Maria smiled and nodded to him.

"It's a pleasure." She smiles. "Just remember; it won't hurt to at least share your experience with others so your not alone."

"I'll take that advice." Rocky noted. "Well.. see ya later." He waved and started walking to his hideout, while Maria silently waves back.

As he was walking away, Rocky couldn't help but look over his shoulder and looked at Maria one last time.

"Huh...Something here tells me grandma over there is really special and important... and I can't help but feel she may show up again in the next couple of volumes …." Rocky thought as continued to walk back to his apartment, while Maria remains seated on the bench and watches him go.

Eventually, Rocky turned a corner and was out of sight, leaving Maria alone on the bench.

After he's out of site, Maria stops smiling and begins to frown as she stares at the cold, cobblestone, ground and stays silent for several minutes.

The question that Rocky asked her how she lost her eyes still lingered in her mind. Sadly, it always has and it will forever haunt her for the rest of her life. The last thing she ever saw with her normal eyes was the blade of a sword that slashed her eyes and forever destroyed her natural eyes…

But that's not the only thing she's thinking about… in fact, it's, more or less, someone.

In her mind, she visualizes a wide and vast landscape with massive rock spires that towers over the fog in the valley, with the sun high in the sky and the wind blowing. She also mentally hears the musical notes of a pan flute, that releases a lovely melody of such tranquility.

Standing near the edge of a cliff, the being appears to be a man, who is wearing silver, polished, armor, from head to toe, a scarlet red cape with swirly yellow edgings, and a helmet of a knight with a red plume on top.

He appears to be holding a large lance, in his right hand, which vaguely looks like a large drill.

The man stands as still as a statue, as his cape flaps in the wind. She heard a voice that sounded in a deep British accent and sounded like he was full of regret and shame.

"I may have been the biggest fool today; I ignorantly treated you like I was superior and above you. I disrespected you, your skills, and even your "gift" that could slay any Grimm with a glare, without even knowing who you were. I didn't even regard you as an ally, more of a nuisance, despite that we're huntsman, fighting the same enemy, and we were fighting for our lives... but now, I realize what kind of self-centered know-it-all I was to you…. And now your lost your "gift" to that wretched bandit that can never be restored or even truly replaced... To the bottom of my heart, I humbly take back every word I've said about you that was hurtful and cruel…. Can you ever forgive me?

The mental image vanishes and Maria comes back to reality, as she opens her mechanical eyes but not all the way.

The elderly woman smiled at the distant memories that she can see them as if they were yesterday..

She sighs again and stares up at the moon and stars.

"I do wonder…. if you're still well and out there…. old friend." She whispers. The last time she saw him was in Argus which was at least eight to nine years ago.

And so, a lot has happened that night but the ones who caused a lot of property damage, including the top floor of the Kuchinashi theater, were unable to be identified... because Wily used his nanites to hijack the security cameras and erased any good shots that showed his and Rocky's face. It was mostly on the Spiders and Snake Eyes that caused this much destruction so they didn't get erased. Though, that doesn't matter as the police don't have enough power and position to stop them so everything just goes back to normal anyways.. like it has been for so long.

---

2 days. Haven Academy.

In the middle of the day, Haven Academy is almost ready to attend new students for the first half this year, same goes for the other academies across Remnant. Here, the headmaster of this academy is Leo Lionheart. A lion faunus who has worked very hard to reach to where he is now and is doing his best efforts to keep the academy running smoothly, even if it eats away his sanity and stresses him out. There have been rumors he has been more stressed out than ever lately... and he's spending more time in his office. Makes one wonder why he's doing that.

Crowds upon crowds of young men and women, all in their late teens, are coming here and are ready to sign themselves up to become huntsmen in training.

But there is one that's a coyote faunus that approaches the academy... and it's Wily Coyote.

He managed to fool the Snake Eyes and Spiders with his disguise and he led them away from Rocky. Once they were far enough away, he slipped into a large crowd of people and turned off his disguise, blending in with the crowds. Eventually, they gave up searching and left.

With that done, now he is on to the next step in redeeming himself and fulfilling his real ideals. He decided to attend Haven Academy so he can become a full fledged huntsman. With his technopathy, he could do many things for the world and he's gonna do it for the benefit of the world and for others, not just for himself and for a title. He won't mind if he does get one but he's not gonna consider it the only thing that matters.

"Well well WELL... if it isn't the NERD." Said a familiar voice that made Wily stop in his tracks and stood still... he easily recognized that accent and voice, even if it's lower pitched. A big shadow loomed over Wily and he could see the shadow has a pair of antlers...

He slowly looked over his shoulder... and it's none other than Ferghus. What a coincidence.

He's also being followed by what looks like some friends he has.

The stag faunus that bullied way back in the orphanage is as arrogant and boasting looking as Wily could remember. His red hair is now long that it's tied into a braided ponytail and his stag antlers are now big and broad which fit his muscular build. He's now wearing heavy plated armor and is carries a giant war hammer that has Celtic-esque runes on it.

"Well I can't believe my eyes here." Fergus boasted but Wily didn't bat an eye. "Seems you are as nerdy as you ever were!" His buddies started laughing from what he said.

Wily didn't make a response and just blankly stares at the stag faunus and his buddies. Some of them look familiar as some of them are the same ones that were also from the orphanage.

"Oh.. it's you... Ferghus." Willy answers in a casual and bored tone like he isn't surprised or anything. Despite looking so calm on the outside, he was fuming on the inside and hasn't ever forgotten that day where the bully ruined his toaster robot and mocked his ideals... oh he is so gonna have a little payback with this jock.

Fergus grinned even more and gently patted his hand on his shoulder.

"So how are you doing, NERD? Been quite a while since we last saw each other. Time sure flies by, doesn't it?" Ferghus sarcastically says. He definitely doesn't miss Wily and is just mocking him.

"Yeah.. sure does." Wily answers, not sounded interested in the slightest.

Ferghus frowned and is even a little surprised that Wily isn't cowering before him but than has an idea.

"So how's my words of advice I gave you 6 years ago?" The stag faunus mocked but Wily doesn't flinch. "Bet you have finally took them to heart and you came here to earn your title as the best huntsman in all of Remnant which is the only thing that matters in all?" That should rile him up now. "Though, you shouldn't count on it as that would be me.

"Nope." Wily simply answered. "I've actually stayed to my true ideal and defied yours."

This shocked everyone but especially Ferghus.

"Seriously. 'Best huntsman in all of Remnant?' 'Only thing that matters?' Oh brothers Grimm." He mocked Ferghus. "Do you know how ignorant you sound saying that?"

"What was that?!" Ferghus snapped. Now losing his patience with this pathetic nerd. He thought he broke him but it seems he still clings to his ideals.

"You heard me. You sound like an ignorant jerkwad who thinks he's some big shot that believes having a title as best huntsman in the world and destroy all the Grimm on his. Heck, you sound as ignorant as you ever were back at the orphanage."

As of now and that point on, since his last encounter with Rocky, Wily no longer likes insulting other but his vented frustration on Ferghus has been pent up for way too long and he's gonna let it all out on him.

Ferghus grew a tickmark on his forehead and his grip on Wily's shoulder tightened but Wily doesn't even flinch which infuriated the stag faunus even more.

"So what if you're the best huntsman there is?" Wily questioned with a raised eyebrow. "I'm here for a completely different reason and I want to use my semblance and skills to help others and fight the Grimm, for no necessary praise in return. Nothing more, nothing less." He was barely holding back at wanting to sock that jock in the jaw but he held back.

Ferghus got even angrier that he grabs Wily by the scruff of his shirt, yanked him up, and glared at him right in the eyes.

"Listen here, you little pipsqueak. I don't know what you're trying to say to me but you are speaking to your future hero who's gonna save this world from the Grimm. I'm gonna slay them like cannon fodder and everyone is gonna bow down to me in gratitude. I came to this academy for one goal and I'm gonna prove them what I planned from the very start! You hear me?!"

"Yeah... good luck with that." Wily casually responds, not looking intimidated. "I'll send my condolences to your upcoming funeral than."

That was the last straw.

Ferghus shoulder tossed Wily over his shoulder and away from him. Wily went soaring for a bit but he gracefully landed on his feet and skidded back near the parking lot. He doesn't look phazed but he was catching his breath a little.

"That's it! I'm gonna nail you into the ground like a hammer to a nail!" Ferghus shouted as he draws his sword and charges.

Wily was about to face him directly but noticed a black muscle sports car that's parked next to him... he has an idea.

He reaches his hand out and touches the car and his nanites enter it.

Just as Ferghus was 10 feet away from Wily.. the car suddenly started to spark with electricity and was shaking like crazy. He stopped in place and was a bit surprised by what's happening. His friends and everyone else nearby also noticed and they too were shocked at what's happening.

The car starts to transform as it takes itself apart and reconstructed itself into something else that it started towering over everyone and left a shadow over Ferghus.

The car.. transformed into a humanoid robot.

At least half of everyone were dropping their jaws while the other half went full on fan boy mode at seeing something so awesome.

The robot stared down at Ferghus who looked hesitant for a moment... than he roared and charged forward. In response, the robot simply raised it's foot and stomped the stag faunus into the dirt. the exact same way Ferghus crushed Wily's toaster robot.

The stomp itself was strong enough to crater the ground, created a small tremor that vibrated across the courtyard off the academy, and left a deep imprint of it's foot in it.

The robot raised it's foot and stepped back.. laying in the footprint was Ferghus... and he's knocked out in one hit, evident by his aura cracking and shattering, with occasional twitching..

"Well... so much for a great start of becoming the greatest huntsman in all of Remnant, am I right?" Wily sarcastically says. He turns his direction over to the other kids that were with Ferghus and they couldn't help but step back. The other teens were either cheering at how awesome that was or wondered what just happened.

He looks back at the robot.. watching it do awesome poses.. the same kind of poses his toaster robot did.

He smiles and reaches his fist out to it in which the robot mirrors him and both did an epic fist bump. The robot than does a salute and transforms back into it's default car form and Wily's nanites swirl out of the car and back into his body.

With that done, Wily takes a deep breath and continues his treck towards Haven Academy, walking past the knocked out Ferghus and the shaking teens that were on Ferghus' side.

This is gonna be a good life Wily is looking forward to.

---

Later that day. Somewhere else in Haven

It was late afternoon and the sun was setting, in the kingdom of Haven, there is a group of Spider members that are hanging around the bar. They were minding their own business but we're also staying low and secretly staying alert.

Nearby, in a certain table that's heavily surrounded and guarded by two lackeys. One a man and the other a young woman.

The reason is that most of them are just hanging around and to keep their boss, Miss Malachite, secured and safe from any possible threat trying to assassinate their boss.

Nearby, Quickdraw was sitting at a table but didn't feel like drinking or eating. He's still pissed and frustrated of getting upstaged and humiliated by Rocky too many times; twice that involves just before he could pull the trigger. Getting frozen solid was one thing, but getting kicked below the belt was another thing that was another thing he couldn't stand. What's even more... and he still can't understand how he survived that crash... but the coyote faunus was nowhere to be seen so that did draw some suspicion... and he didn't even see Rocky's face...

Despite his failure and humiliation, Malachite wasn't pissed or upset to her loyal marksman assassin; just disappointed in him but she also forgave him for his best efforts.

Still… even if she forgave him, he couldn't forgive himself, unless he evens the score with Rocky… no, settles it with having one more point above Rocky's… permanently.

He swore to himself he will dedicate his efforts to improve himself, enhancing his aiming and timing even more.

"Mark my words, Rocky. When we meet again, you won't be so lucky to pull your trigger on me again." He thought bitterly but stays silent and calm.

Malachite, was sitting at a table, smoking her cigarette through a cigarette holder. On the table was a banana split ice cream that she's having for dessert and a piece of chocolate cake with a cherry on top to go with it. Despite being surrounded by plates of food and dessert that she ordered for herself, she was too deep in thought and too pissed off to even care of having a single bite. She was entirely focused on Rocky Rhode Runner for double crossing her and taking the money her auction made.

She puffed another lungful of smoke and sighs in slight anxiety. She was still trying to comprehend HOW Rocky managed to sneak through her tightest security and steal all the money that he won at the auction which rightfully belonged to her.

In fact, this is the first time in the gang's history have they even been sabotaged; by some kind of goofball no less! Sure, they had a few traitors that betrayed them for their own gain.. but never anything like this!

She shouldn't have trusted him but was too tempted to make him ally with her because of his impressive skills and aiming skills but he never revealed his semblance to her until recently.

Reports from some of her scouts have said that Rocky may have some kind of strange and unusual semblance that may have helped him get past her guards and get the money. They couldn't exactly describe it because it was too incomprehensible and "comedic" to fully understand it.

For now… there's nothing Malachite can do, as she was told Rocky has left Kuchinashi. Not a single trace he left behind to suggest where he's going or where he will go.

This was perhaps the most humiliating and embarrassing kind of event the Spiders have ever suffered in history. Sure, there were other times they were humiliated pretty badly but this one takes the extra layered cake.

But that's not the only thing she's worried about. After hearing everything what Quickdraw told her, she came off as surprised the Snake Eyes were involved and also wanted Rocky but their reasons were classified which further made her head filled with many questions. She hasn't forgotten the encounters with the Snake Eyes many times for many years. Despite being a deadly and well known gang of Anima, they have competition with the Snake Eyes, whom also are stealing resources, territory, and Lien to spread their gangs. Though, despite the tensions between the two gangs, they absolutely refused to fight each other just to avoid a war which may shed too much blood to be worth fighting just for resources, money, and territory.

For now, she plans on telling her scouts to keep an eye out for the Snake Eyes. She may have made an agreement to not go to war with them but that doesn't mean she ain't taking her eyes off of them.

"Just what are you up to...?" Malachite thought as she envisioned a man in heavy samurai-esque armor.

Before Malachite could attempt to puff another lungful of smoke, somebody burst through the door and ran up to her, which surprised nearly everyone due to how loud and sudden he came in.

"Miss Malachite! Miss Malachite!" The Spider scout yelled as he ran over to Miss Malachite's table.

Despite her scout trying to bring her a message, Malachite wasn't in a good mood and felt like skinning her scout alive but kept her composure.

"You have any idea how much I'm in a bad mood right now?" She said that sounded like she was being serious and even threatening.

"I understand your current mood but you won't believe this! It's a gift that we received from Rocky Rhode Runner! And a note to us said it's for you!"

This actually caught her interest but then she frowned as she still despises Rocky.

Still, Rocky betraying them by taking her money, yet, he announces he has a gift for them all of a sudden and out of nowhere? This seems very suspicious to her and she doesn't like it.

Still, she was still a bit curious and decided to bring in the "gift". The scout, along with several more, brings in a medium sized box and places it on the table to

Dear Little Miss Malachite

In case you're wondering about this note and this box, I honestly wanted to meet you in person but I'm afraid I can't do that because you likely want to pluck every last feather off of my body like a chicken because I took your money that you consider that's rightfully yours.

Malachite considered that right and spot on because she does feel like wringing his bird neck if she ever sees him again. But she continued reading on anyways.

I just wanted to say, despite how much that we are now mortal enemies, I actually did enjoy working for your auctions and other things.. despite how illegal they are.

This time, Malachite couldn't help but feel slightly flattered. In fact, she admits Rocky does a good job at doing what he was tasked to do, despite being a goofball and and is a bit too much of a ladies man.

She admits the last part is a bit true. The first thing he did was kiss her hand in his way of greeting her… a bit too much that she threatened to cut his tongue out if he doesn't stop it. Heck, he occasionally chats with some of her female members and asks them for a dance when they should be doing their tasks that she assigned them to.

Look, I know you don't like me. even from the start where I first met you and the gang. You saw me as some kind of complete goofball who can't be taken seriously but I know you were impressed with my auction skills.

For once, Malachite has to agree on that one. For some kid like him, he's got some major talent.

Admit it. My auction skills have been unlike any other that you've ever seen, even for a guy at my age.

Malachite couldn't deny it. His auction skills were unlike anything she's ever seen and he was the reason she got so much money… in fact, she's s

Which is why I believe I deserve the money, for all my effort, myself… most of it at least. Since I've worked for you and I'm being a nice guy, I'll give you roughly 25% back while I keep 75% for myself. I need it to get around places and I got a new goal in life that I want to try out.

This, however, made Malachite tighten her grip on the note, on the verge of scrunching and tearing it into tiny pieces but she kept reading.

I know… by the time you read that part, you're pretty pissed and want to rip this piece of paper to little shreds and you also want to skin me alive which I can understand that. But you have plenty of other auctioneers and skilled business experts in the black markets that can also get your money so you have to make up for it which I find pretty fair to take a good portion that I also worked hard for. So here's your 25% that's with the box.

By the way; I also wanted to be a little generous to you so I got you a special gift that's in this box. It's a favorite treat of yours that I was told by one of your followers about your favorite kind of dessert so I got it for you.

This made Malachite actually curious on that part and stared at the box for a second.

So, I ask you; enjoy the gift and the money that I got for you. I hope you can understand the decision I have made.

It was an honor working for you as an auctioneer. I bid you farewell.

Yours, truly

Rocky Rhode Runner

After reading the note, Malachite started to calm down a little but she was still pissed and will never forget or possibly even forgive Rocky for this, despite him being sincere and apologetic about this, like he knows how she would react to this.

But what made her curious is the "treat" Rocky mentioned. Though, she wasn't letting her guard down as this could also be a trap.

"Did you scan the box and made sure it's not rigged with a trap?" She asked the scout.

The scout nodded. "Affirmative! We scanned the box from top to bottom, even scanning it with an x-ray and using our greatest semblances to find any possible trap in or out of it! We haven't found any suspicion that this could be a trap!"

Malachite raised an eyebrow and was a bit surprised there isn't any trap. She's even feeling a little convinced maybe Rocky is being honest and just wants to give her a gift. She saw the 25% of her total money that Rocky made in the auction that's next to the box and she can actually smell something delicious in the box…it's a pie.

She grinned at the scent and secretly thanked Rocky for giving her pie.

She slowly undid the fancy bow and opened the top as she looked in to see if it really is a pie.

However, within the box, something sprung out, with a cartoony "SPROING", and hit Malachite square in the face that caused a loud "SPLAT!", followed by the Spider boss being sent back so hard that her chair tipped over and she fell to the floor.

"Miss Malachite!" Yelled two of Malachite's closest henchman and henchwoman, as they quickly ran over to her and checked on her if she injured or worse. Quickdraw also ran over, wondering what just happened. He stared

Another note suddenly popped out the box and gently drifted in the air as Quickdraw snatched it

There was only one sentence that says it all.

Ain't I a stinker? -RRR

Quickdraw scrunched his eyes and crushed the tiny note into a ball before throwing it away, out of spite.

Malachite laid still. She's not physically hurt… but her pride sure is.

The two lackeys and Quickdraw looked at the substance that smothered her face. It was mostly creamy green with chunks of doughy pieces on it. Quickdraw wiped his finger on the substance, took off his scarf to reveal his face which showed a scar on his chin, sniffed it, and licked the tip of his tongue from his finger.

"...It's lime. Key lime pie." He confirmed which tasted pretty good. He's aware this kind of pie is one of Malachite's favorites and is a bit surprised Rocky would get a pie like this for her… despite not being given to her in the way he would expect. His only guess was that Rocky must've got the info from one of the spider members who hung out with him more often and shared some good info about Malachite and what she likes, which was confirmed on the note Malachite read but Quickdraw never knew that at first.

He did not expect such a comical and somewhat goofy booby trap to be loaded in the box but he could've seen it coming since this is Rocky, of all people, likely pulling that kind of prank out of the blue.

Inside the box, the pie that was attached to a hidden spring that no one noticed or even realized was there, not even the experts in finding and disabling traps like these. It was a mystery how they weren't able to spot it, even after it was scanned by the Spiders tech and semblances.

Must be that Rocky's semblance that may have partly played into this that snuck.

But that silent moment was short lived as Quickdraw felt an aura that felt heavy and thick… coming from Malachite.

She slowly stood up on her feet, pieces of pie dripping and sliding off her face, and a shadow loomed over her face that blocked her eyes.

"ROCKY." Malachite hissed and growled, feeling absolute fury and hatred running through her head, like a swarm of angry rapier wasps, already thinking of countless ways to end Rocky's miserable existence. She clenched her fists so tight that the one holding her fan snapped it to splinters. Her pupils shrunk which gives her death glare all the more terrifying.

The two lackeys slowly backed away from her in fear. In fact, some of the other Spider members from other tables saw their boss in fury and start backing away as well. But Quickdraw doesn't budge and just watches his boss fume in fury. He can't blame her as he too already has a grudge towards Rocky for humiliating him, the gang, and now his boss.

She hissed through her teeth. "If I ever see you again, you'll regret ever working with and betraying the Spiders."

---

At the same time. Unknown location that's somewhere in the wilderness of Anima

Somewhere out in the wilderness of Anima, there lies a large and deep cave.

Inside it, it was dark, cold, and wet. But the further you go down, you see lit torches the light up the maze like pathways that leads to a large open area where there's lots of space. Surrounded by touch lights to light up the darkened area, there lies a large throne that sits on top of a large rock spire. On the walls were many banners that were black with gray snake eyes which are the symbols of this mysterious clan.

Sitting in the throne was a middle aged man but he was heavily armored from head to toe that you can't even see his flesh that's hidden underneath it. His shoulder pads metallic snake heads that bared their fangs and tongues. Even his horned helmet hides his face from the world to see. Despite sitting down, he stands around 6'6" in height.

Only his eyes could be seen which were giving off a cold hearted stare.

Standing next to his throne was a young woman who appears to be anywhere around 18 to 19. She's tall for a girl her age, around 6'2 and her black hair is tied into a ponytail. She's wearing a tight dark gray bodysuit that hugs her voluptuous figure but she also has some well toned arms and some hard abs to go with that.

She wears bits of armored shoulder pads on her shoulders, a satchel around her waist, and black high heel boots. Strapped to her back are a pair of ninjaken swords which are straight katanas rather than curved ones. She also wears a white mask that covers her entire face which has eye hole slits and the mask is covered in red paint with swirling patterns. Behind that mask is a beautiful face of a young woman with purple lipstick on her lips and purple eyes. Even under that mask… she's giving off a cold hearted stare.

The armored man and young woman are surrounded by four beings that were guarding them.

The guards themselves were heavily armored, from head to toe, and wore gray capes, almost resembling samurai. They also all wore straw hats made of some kind of metallic material that also aids in protecting their heads.

Each of them had a different weapon, respectively; an Odachi, Naginata, Kanabo, and a double headed axe. Their weapons are currently strapped to their backs and not in use at the moment.

These are the Elite Guard that are the highest ranked members of the Snake Eyes clan, only behind the woman and the master

The elite guards were standing close to their leader like they are guarding him… not that he needs guards as he can easily handle himself.

The armored man was sitting in his throne, staring down at the three ninjas that have failed their mission. What's worse is that they've never failed any mission he assigned them to and they did it without question and hesitation. Though, their obedience was a mix of fear and respect to their master; they respect his authority but they also fear his wrath if they ever failed him.. which they had lately.

"So… care to explain why you have failed me, yet again, when I already told you to NOT fail me?" He spoke in a rather cold and venomous tone that would send shivers down anyone's spine, as he stared them down with his cold and soul piercing eyes. Heck, it could even make the Grimm shudder hearing that voice and looking into those eyes.

The three ninjas remained silent in fear down at his subordinates but he can't even sigh at the pathetic display they are in.

The ninjas have traveled for two days to get back to their lair but the most embarrassing thing is how they still look.

The leader that lead the group is still missing his pants which shows off his heart print boxers. The female ninja is still missing her shirt which shows off her sports bra. And the other male is still missing his mask which he still has that clown make up on his face. They didn't

The three looked ashamed but especially filled with regret of having to come back empty handed and facing the wrath of their master…. Whatever punishment they must face.. they will accept it.

"I demand you to explain!" Orochi roared that echoed across the chamber which scared the ninjas even more.

"M-M-Master Orochi. We can explain." The ninja tried to sound calm and reasonable as possible but he stuttered and was shaking. He knew failing his master would mean death but even taking the oath wasn't enough to prevent fear from crawling across his spine.. His two co-horts were feeling the same thing, despite their oath as well.

"I do not want to hear any excuses, especially after how pathetic and embarrassing you all look for my eyes to gaze upon." Orochi says that sounded like his patience is running thin.

The ninja spoke up again.. "We were THIS close to getting him. The only reason we failed was because of that coyote faunus AND the Spiders who intervened." The ninja said.

When the ninja said "Spiders" he instantly regretted saying that.

Orochi let out a sound that sounded somewhere between a hiss and a growl.

"MALACHITE." Orochi growled at the mere thought of that woman he knew for so long…..

He and Malachite go way back… their rivalry was always the same in trying to rule the underworld of Anima.

His hatred to the woman was so intense that his eyes suddenly shifted to that of a snake's, including the pupils being slitted. Though, Malachite also despises Orochi as equally as he hates her.

The elite guards and young woman didn't flinch but everyone else that was nearby or even in the tunnels felt the intense pressure in the air and they felt terrified Orochi is absolutely pissed. The ninjas that failed him were the closest and they were shaking like leaves, feeling the sheer hatred that's radiating from Orochi.

Just as it looked like he was about to snap, Orochi calmed down and took a deep breath which his eyes turned to normal shortly after. As much as he despises the boss of the Spiders, it's not worth getting angry over right her now.

He then turns his attention back to the ninjas who were kneeling before him.

"That still does not excuse your failure in capturing him, even if you were intervened. Must I repeat it again to you before you die?"

He leans forward and glares into their souls. FAILURE. IS. NOT. AN. OPTION." He hissed deeply. No matter if it's against one or many. You're missions will be completed in any way possible, even if it means getting you killed…. and look where you are now; groveling before me empty handed, like a shepherd without his sheep."

The three ninjas look down in shame and couldn't say anything else.

"I've found you three on the streets and brought you in. You swore an oath to me and you will do whatever it takes to get the mission done. If you fail me, you will be executed by my elite guards. That is how it is and that is how it will go. Do you have any last words?"

The three ninjas didn't respond and their slumped postures tells him to just get it over with. They know it's inevitable so there's no point in further talking….

"You three are an absolute disgrace to me." He raises his hand and gives the signal to his guards. "Dispose them."

"The guards obeyed and draw their weapons. They instantly moved so fast that they looked like they teleported form their spot to where they are now. They surround the three ninjas who look even more terrified. Thing is though, it was their choice to join this club, and they signed an oath that they will be executed if they ever failed their master.. and so have to accept their fate, even if they are shaking and gonna be seeing death very soon.

The three ninjas sit up straight and spread their arms out, ready to accept death and just be done with it.

The guard with the Odachi slowly raises his weapons and prepares to end them…. He strikes down as the sword comes down and is just about to cut off the ninja's head...

"Uncle, wait." Said a feminine voice that came from the young masked woman.

Orochi raised his hand and orders his elite guard to halt his execution, which was a mere millimeter away from slicing the ninja's head in two.

"Kamiko." Orochi said, turning his head to the young girl who turns out to be his niece whom he dearly loves and cares for like as if she's his own daughter. "You stopped me from executing these failures." He pointed out.

"I did." She simply replied.

"You stood their, many times before, and watched my guards execute many other failures before you and you watched them all die without flinching." Orochi also pointed out. "Yet, you stopped me from finishing them off. Why do you defend these worms when they have failed us?" He asked. Even the ninjas were shocked about Kamiko suddenly defending them from death, even when they made their oath and will accept their fate if they failed master Orochi.

Behind her mask, she still shows an emotionless expression but what she's feeling is a different story.

The only thing she can remember and what reason… is a brief flashback of an image that shows her in casual clothing and her mask is off, along with her ponytail being undone which has her hair flowing down her back. The person she is hanging out with… is Rocky, who is laughing and telling her some corny jokes.

"The reason I stopped you is because we are running short on members of our gang and it's becoming more scarce to hire more lately. I'm just being logical that we should cut down on executing our members that failed us because the more we have, the better chance we can reach our goals and become rulers of Anima's underworld" She pointed out. Deep down, however, there was more than just being logical… she suddenly felt like seeing these ninjas getting executed just didn't feel right. She doesn't exactly know why when she didn't care before but it seems she doesn't want to see anymore executions lately.

"So I ask you, uncle. Would be wise to momentarily halt the executions and preserve whatever member we have left, until we retrieve more? You don't wanna run short and let the Spiders outcompete you, do you?"

Orochi stared at his niece in silence and then thought about it for a moment.

"Hmmm…." He thought out loud. "I suppose you do have a good point there." He scratched his chin that's under his helmet but than he darkly chuckled. "Originally, I use this as a means to motivate the rest to work and fight harder. Fear is a motivation when you use fear ." He chuckled darkly, remembering how often he executed any ninja that failed him. Most ninjas that swore their oaths were willing to die for him in failure… and there are those that tried to run away

Kamikaze remained silent.

He turns his head back to his niece and looks at her in the eyes. "Very well, Kamiko. I will temporarily cease the executions because you asked me to."

Kamiko didn't say anything else. For such a cold blooded master of the Snake Eyes gang, he sure is quite a doting uncle who took care of her since… she turns her attention back to the ninjas who were shocked and surprised at seeing their mistress show mercy to them.

"Though, that doesn't mean you won't go unpushinshed, as you've still failed me." Orochi warned. "Seize them to the chambers. I'll give them the proper punishment later on… and it's gonna cost them piecely." He emphasized.

The guards dragged the three ninjas away but the ninjas were staring at Kamiko… they couldn't help but feel grateful she was being merciful on them. Sure, they will receive a different kind of punishment they dread but at least they can live another day.

As she watched them go, Kimako stayed silent. She still doesn't know why she did that when she could've let them die like she did with all the other previous failures of the gang that her uncle executed.

All that she can comprehend is linking that to Rocky. The target that the clan is after because he has something they need for their goal but her uncle never put any deep info about it. Nevertheless, she remains loyal to her uncle and will continue their mission to reach whatever goal he's reaching.

But things have started getting more complicated, especially recently, in the past few months.

She remembers when she first met him but never knew he was the target because of his different appearance compared to the image that her uncle showed her on his scroll…. An image when he used to be some kind of circus performer and also because of his hair style and he's a bit more toned compared to his more scrawny younger self…..

During their encounters… before she figured out and discovered he was the target the gang is after, she always dressed in casual clothing and met him at least a few weeks since Rocky was mostly in Anima and never traveled anywhere else. They always hung out and did fun things together, eating snacks, listening to his corny jokes (which Kamiko won't openly admit they are funny), and even watching a movie once. Through all of this, she never let her uncle knew and kept that a secret, even after she realized the boy she befriended was the target. She still had memories of those times.

Ever since she realized who Rocky was, Kamiko never shown her face to him again.. literally. Every other time they did encounter each other, she's always in her ninja gear and her mask that keeps her identity safe from her. Even changing her voice to hide her identity from rocky. She always attacked him but never succeeded in capturing or killing him.

Rocky himself felt bummed as he never saw that girl again and wonders where she went….. Only thing he can remember is her name.

What he doesn't know, is he's facing against a ninja that's the same girl he knew as a friend… ex-friend. Good thing is that she never revealed her uncle that secret.

Kamiko shakes her head and focuses back to reality. Her loyalty remains to her uncle, even if it means no longer being friends with Rocky.

She noticed Orochi was holding two photos in his hands… one that's Rocky and the other is the bearded man seen in Rocky's flashback.

"Rocky Rhode Runner…." Orochi hissed as he stared at both the photo of Rocky and the bearded man in the other photo.

The photos in his hands suddenly decayed and turned to dust which he crushed in his palm.

Kamiko didn't do or say anything but she did eye the photo that had Rocky on it the whole time just before the photos.

"You can't avoid and hide from me forever." Orochi growled. "You may not know who we are but I sure know all about you and the man that raised and trained you. He may no longer be with you but you do have something he left with you and has been kept away from me…."

---

Kuchinashi Airport. 10:00 P.M

The first thing that's seen from that transition is the necklace that's attached to Rocky's neck.

Rocky couldn't help but feel he's being watched so he tucks the necklace into his shirt again.

With that secured, he's seen walking inside the Haven Airport.

Located near the top of the mountain, The Kuchinashi Airport was filled to the brim with people by the thousands, coming in and out of many airships that are transporting tourists around the world, either to visit the kingdom or leaving it.

The area was packed full of people who are either here to take a flight to other kingdoms or are here waiting for family or loved ones to arrive and reunite.

Either way, the place is densely packed with people and faunus. A good place for someone like Rocky to move through and avoid attention from the Spiders. He was wearing a hoodie over his normal attire to blend in a little better. He also tucked his tail feathers under the hoodie to make it easier to be undetected and avoid the Snake Eye clan and Spider members from spotting him.

He heads to the passenger airship that will be taking off very soon. The airship in question was a rather fancy one, both the exterior and interior of it.

After going through the security checkpoints and having his boarding pass scanned, he quickly boards the airship and settles in. It's gonna be a long ride so he's got plenty of time to relax but he's so gonna enjoy it as this airship is also a cruise ship that's heading to Vale.

Once he got on board, everyone else that boarded also got on just in time for the airship to start taking off.

It steadily rose from the waters it floated on and flew out towards its next destination; Vale.

Rocky found his rented room that he will be resting for the night. That is, if he isn't partying and hanging out with the other party goers, especially the beautiful and bottom heavy girls.

Rocky was already on the dance floor of the cruise ship.

This place has everything you want! Dance floors, pools with water slides, miniature golf, the best restaurants, five star hotels with king sized beds, even a theater!

Those auction skills and his way of sneaking in and stealing the money helped Rocky get here. He used a good sum of money to come to this airship just because he wanted to and also wanted to have.

With his impressive dancing skills, he got the attention on most people whom were all impressed, even the girls who wanted to dance with him.

3 hours later.

Rocky was partying hard for quite some time with everyone that was in the club, especially the girls until he felt tired and wanted to take a break.

He decided to get some fresh air by taking it outside on a large balcony where there are also some people out here who are either smoking or wanting to get some air and enjoying the view.

The ship was thousands of feet above sea level and Rocky has a perfect view of the entire sea that reflects the stars and moon off like a colossal mirror.

For now, Rocky decides to just relax and get some rest. But not before deciding to just sit out on the balcony for a little while longer. He's been through a lot lately, especially with so many opponents chasing and trying to get at him.

He remains seated at the edge of the flying vehicle, he looks up at the broken moon and even sees a nearby shooting star that zoomed in the starry night. He quietly breaths out a calm sigh of contempt and continues to stare at the heavenly beauty that is the night sky.

But one thing he doesn't know… Rocky isn't the only one watching the night sky on the same night.

---

Vacuo. 56 miles from Shade academy.

Out in the middle of a rocky canyon, close to a desert, there lies a small cave where a campfire is burning, close to the entrance of the cave, as the cave isn't deep and big.

Near the campfire, there's somebody near it. A sign of orange hair and an orange elephant tattoo on his back.

It's Gale Hathi and he has traveled very far, across the savannas and deserts of Sanus for the past several weeks. Now he's almost to Shade Academy which he will use to board a ship or a flying cruiser to get to Vale.

He has spent most of his food and water he got from the jungle and villages. Now he's using his survival skills to hunt and scavenge whatever he can find, even if it's a small amount. Luckily, he managed to hunt and kill a wild canyon ibex which he has now skinned hanging the cut pieces of it over a fire.

While he silently waits for his dinner to be fully cooked, he was sitting out of the cave and watching the stars.

He couldn't help but stare out in the distance, remembering and missing his younger days that he used to sit on top of the mountain with his grandfather and watch the stars and moon together….

Gale may have overcome his guilt that held him back from ever leaving his homeland but the loss of his grandfather, especially at a young age, will always haunt him and he'll never forget the love and care his grandfather has always given him.

Gale was silent for a few minutes but then focused his mind on the delicious smell of fresh cooked meat that's ready to be eaten.

He turned his attention to the cooked meat and decides he should worry about his meal and get some sleep. He's nearly to Shade and will head straight to Vale.

He grabs a cooked piece of leg, like a drumstick, and starts digging in.

---

The Green Sea. 942 miles from Sanus

Meanwhile, on a boat; the same one that is heading to Sanus, still stopping close to other islands or landmasses to drop off or pick up more passengers.

It's the middle of the night and the ship is silently gliding over the surface of the sea, heading to its next stop.

Everyone is asleep, even the captain, as he put his ship on auto pilot and set up an emergency alarm if the ship detects any Grimm or obstacles in their way..

Despite that everyone is fast asleep, there is one soul that's awake and is occupying the deck, leaning against a wall and eating dark chocolate, as he enjoys the sweet and heavenly taste of it.

Despite enjoying his little snack, Nigel looks up and stares at the night sky, watching the same comet pass by like a flashing bullet.

He couldn't help but slightly smirk at the cosmic display and then returns his focus back to his chocolate bar and takes another bite. He has more than enough time to settle down until he arrives to the Kingdom of Vale.

---

Emerald Forest. 39 miles from Vale.

On top of a rocky hill that's close to Forever Fall, there is a campfire and two figures are near it.

Upon closer look, It turns out to be Adam Taurus and Blake Belladonna.

Blake is fast asleep, laying on top of her sleeping bag, still wearing her current outfit, but her cute little black bow is removed which shows her adorable cat ears that occasionally twitch in her sleep.

Nearby, there lies another sleeping bag that belongs to Adam but isn't using it.

Adam is found 10 feet away from the campfire. He's sitting near the edge of the hill, in silence.

He has his signature blue-bladed katana laying next to him, on his left, and also has his blue and white mask that's taken off and laying next to him, on his right.

Despite having his mask removed and his face exposed, Adam has his back turned and his face is shrouded by the darkness, fully hiding what his mask keeps from the rest of the world.

He's staring up at the sky and looking at the moon. He couldn't help himself but compare the moon with himself; both he and the moon are partially broken at one point in their existence and can never go back to what they used to look like…..

Adam couldn't help but slightly turned his head to his right and looks at Blake behind him, from the corner of his right eye, who was still soundly asleep.

Adam's right eye, which is baby blue, innocently staring at Blake, to make sure she's okay and peacefully asleep.

Adam feels happy that he chose to come with Blake, which was what he wanted helping do what is right for the both of them.

Though... that brings another unfortunate memory... that happened not too long ago.

He couldn't help but remember Vlad Tradat…. as he can still visualize the look of shock and betrayal in his eyes that slowly turned to malice and spite, as he and Blake left him behind. Adam knew Vlad would never join them.. because he despises humans and would never attend an academy…

He even lifted up his right hand, which still has his black glove on, and looks at his palm. He stares at his palm for a few seconds before clenching it tightly.

It makes Adam wonder…. what he and Blake did... was it for the better? Was it the right choice to leave behind White Fang and was it for the better? Or will that decision become his greatest mistake and downfall that will someday come back to bite him in the ass?

That also brought up another thing to mind that he worries and dreads… Vlad Tradat.

He can still remember the look in the bat faunus' eyes, when he and Blake left him behind…. A look of shock and disbelief that eventually turned to malice and spite. Adam couldn't help but feel slight grief and sorrow that he and Blake had to go but he knew Vlad wouldn't come with them, if he told him why he and Blake left White Fang, to find a more peaceful solution to end the hatred between both races. Vlad would never accept it, as he despises humans for his reasons that he would never share… only Adam knows Vlad's reasons.

Though, he's also worried what's Vlad's current situation.

Will he continue his status as part of the White Fang?

He's especially worried and afraid if Blake also gets caught in the crossfire of something that he considers at fault with… and he doesn't want that to happen.

A small part of him dreads that it might be true….. and it might in fact happen….. he silently hopes it doesn't…..

Either way, Adam can't worry about it now, because he and Blake have found a place, not too far away from their current location, that they may be their answer.

It's a place called Beacon Academy; a school to teach young huntsman in training to become full fledged huntsman. An opportunity to help Blake and Adam fight for justice in the right way and to also bring peace between the two races, along with exterminating the Grimm.

That is the goal Adam and Blake have found and tasked themselves to attend it.

Adam looks back up to the sky and notices the same comet passing by. He couldn't help but warmly smile; an emotion he rarely expresses by himself or to anyone, unless it involves Blake.

The focus slowly shifts from Adam to the sky, which shows a vast and endless sea of cosmic stardust and stars, that brighten the dark void like billions upon billions of fireflies.

Everything now fades to black.

---

As everything goes dark again, we see the image once again and for the last time. Adam, Nigel, and Gale are still in full view while the fourth member is still in his silhouette form.

Finally… the image ripples one last time and reveals the fourth and final member of ANGR…. Rocky Rhode Runner.

The young bird faunus is standing in place, with his arms crossed, his handguns strapped to his hips, and simply giving off a smile… a rather big smile that shows off his pearly whites, his eyes half lidded, and also having one eyebrow raised that makes him look so smug.

Now the team has been fully revealed.

Standing in the entire image is Adam Taurus, Nigel Arvo, Gale Hathi, and Rocky Rhode Runner, all in their glory. Blue, Violet, Orange, and Green. All four colors are now together. Even their respective first letters also appear with them that spell out "ANGR" in complete order.

Adam is giving off a determined and serious frown, Nigel is also frowning but his looks more subtle and calm, Gale is giving a genuine smile and looking confident, and Rocky... is giving off a rather dashing grin and looking so smug doing it… than suddenly winking with his right eye, despite being an image reflected off of the unknown liquid surface.

Right there, something else happens.

Appearing right behind the four boys, towering over them, are flickering flames of their respective color; it's their aura.

Their aura starts to take shape and form.

Behind Adam is a large and strong blue bull. It snorts, as it looks so calm and relaxed. it also scrapes its hoof on the ground.

Behind Nigel is a tall but pretty muscular looking violet kangaroo. It too looks calm and relaxed, while also being stoic. It scratched it's ear and sniffed the air.

Behind Gale is a gargantuan orange elephant with four tusks and large ears. It flaps its ears and lets out a massive roar, while curling its trunk.

Behind Rocky is a green roadrunner. Despite being the smallest of the other four, it still towered over the young faunus, as it shifted its head around several times and rustles its feathers. It suddenly gives out a rather cartoony "Meep-Meep" sound, after flicking its own tongue out of its beak.

The aura of ANGR, flicker out and are reabsorbed back into the four young men, as they continue to pose, still as statues.

With the members of ANGR finally revealed, everything went black for the last time.

---

Rocky Rhode Runner

And that's the fourth and final trailer of the team.

Sorry it took so long again. Had a bit of writers block and also went to Florida for a little over a week so I didn't had much time.

Now we move onto the official story where the adventures of Adam and his future teammates will begin… an adventure awaits for them.