Chapter Eleven: The Docks
Naruto watched helplessly as he saw the girl who confessed her love for him fall down lifelessly. 'A world can only know peace through pain?' he thought bitterly. Right now, he felt the furthest thing from peaceful. He only felt rage and hatred. He felt his eyes well up, and shouted at the man who had turned his home into a crater. The other masked man then appeared, and walked over to him, deliberately slow. Once he stood in front of him, he raised his foot and brought it down on Naruto.
Naruto's eyes snapped awake as he found himself in his dorm. He took a deep breath, but didn't make any other sound. Sitting up in his bed, he looked at his scroll to check the time. It was a bit past three in the morning. Naruto made his way out of bed, knowing he wasn't going to be able to fall back asleep, and grabbed his watering can from under his bed.
"Are you going somewhere?" asked Marie in a whisper. If Naruto was surprised, he didn't show it.
"Just to get some air," he replied tiredly. He walked over to the dorm's bathroom and filled up the can. "What's got you up?"
"I just got here, actually," she replied. "I was out, walking around, thinking about somebody." Naruto took note at her intentional vagueness, and decided not to press for names. "You know, I thought you snored, but you actual mumble in your sleep."
"I had a bad dream," he explained.
"You want to talk about it?" Naruto didn't say anything, but gestured for Marie to follow. They made their ways through the darkened hallways, silent the entire time. Marie would rather have Naruto speak when he's ready than force anything out of him. Naruto just kept remembering what Qrow had told him the day before. '…The least you can do is talk to somebody about her…' The words echoed through his mind. Once they arrived to the garden in the courtyard, Naruto began to water some of the flowers.
"You know," began Naruto, "when Ozpin told me about how the Faunus were treated in this world, I was disgusted, but I wasn't all that surprised."
"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Marie, a bit confused. She knew firsthand how awful people could be, but Naruto was from another world.
"Ignorance breeds fear, and fear breeds hatred. When hate is born, it is followed only by more hate, and it's a vicious cycle that doesn't end," he sighed, remembering the words his godfather shared with him. "I try to see the best in people… because nobody ever saw anything in me." Marie began to listen more intently, as Naruto only gave his team a brief look into his childhood. "Ever since I can remember, I've had mobs of people try to hurt me… kill me even. They would vandalize my apartment after I got kicked out of the orphanage, and none of the stores would let me in to buy anything in hopes that I'd starve or freeze to death, or just charge me tenfold knowing I couldn't afford it. I was just a kid, and I had no idea what I had done to deserve such malice, and even to my last day there… I was still trying to get them to accept me. I didn't know that I always had somebody on my side. I just wish I had seen it sooner."
"Who?" asked Mari, sensing a spark of happiness.
"A girl, an heiress actually… she was the kindest girl I knew, and kind of weird to be honest… but looking back, she was probably just nervous around me…" Marie placed a gentle hand on Naruto's shoulder as he continued to water some flowers. "She is the last person I saw before arriving here, and she told me that despite knowing she was too weak to defeat him, she loved me too much to stay back and do nothing… and the man who turned my home into a crater… killed her as I watched helplessly." Marie's eyes widened. She knew the pain of losing a friend, but she would have never guessed Naruto witnessed one die, given his cheerful attitude.
"I- I'm sorry…" she said, unsure of what else she could say. From the angle she was in, it appeared the water that was pouring form the small can were tears.
"Me too…" he whispered. "If I could go back to that moment, I would have rather surrendered than have her die in vain. She didn't deserve to die." Naruto put down the watering can, and reached into his pouch to take out a rolled up scroll. Hesitantly, he unsealed it and in a puff of smoke, a large picture frame appeared with Naruto and a ton of people Marie didn't recognize standing beside him in the same courtyard they stood in now.
"Who are they?" asked Marie, noticing they all wore a metal plated headband somewhere on their body.
"My old friends," Naruto smiled remorsefully. "I had Oobleck take this for me so I can always remember how my old friends looked like." She decided not to ask how he had achieved the photo, and instead looked at it intently. The two partners took a seat on the fountain in the center of the courtyard as Naruto pointed to the white-eyed girl with a shy posture. "This is… was Hinata."
"She's the one? She's so pretty."
"Yea…" Naruto said with a sad smile. "I remember once I had to fight her cousin, this guy here, and I was having second thoughts about the fight because he was a prodigy, but she told me if anybody could do it, it was me. I wasn't strong then, but I had a strong spirit, as she would say. I wish I had gotten to know her better…"
"What about this guy standing next to you?" asked Marie, trying to steer Naruto away from depression.
"Oh, that's Gaara! He was from another village, and when we first met he was trying to kill me," Naruto said nostalgically, getting weird look from Marie. "But he was like me," he explained, rubbing his stomach, "he had a tailed beast sealed inside him. He never made friends, which is why he ended up the way he did, but after that, we were like brothers. We both knew what it was like to be hated, to grow up alone. He was the youngest person to become Kage, which I was always jealous about." Marie allowed a small smile to form, seeing that Naruto's mood had lifted significantly, as he recounted his experiences with his old friends. She then pointed to another, and watched as Naruto's face lit up with fond memories, and couldn't help but smile with him, and frown with him when he told her he will never know what happened to them. As the night continued, she learned more and more about Naruto's old life, and told him more about Lilac, who she had been up all night about earlier. It turns out that Hinata and Lilac were a lot alike in personality, and Marie and Naruto were both headstrong when they were younger.
"So I tell Lilac that if we were ever going to get out of Mistral, we'd have to learn to fight in tournaments. It was the only way to get enough money at the time. She was never much of fighter, but I more than made up for it. At least I thought I did" Marie was surprised with how easy it was to talk about Lilac now. She couldn't remember the last time she confided in somebody so much.
"How far did you get?"
"Semi-finals," she sighed. "Lilac got eliminated the second round. It was actually the same tournament that Nikos won her first year. I wouldn't stand a chance against her, but I wish I could have faced her."
"Why don't you now? She's in our combat class, so you can try anytime," he pointed out. Marie looked away for a moment.
"I don't think I can," she admitted a bit timidly. "I mean she's so amazing, and has never lost a tournament. I heard she's super nice and humble to boot."
"She is," confirmed Naruto. Marie gave him an expectant look for an explanation. "When I was hiding under her bed, she let me explain why I was in her dorm. My old teammate would hit me for any reason she felt was justifiable, so I panic when girls get mad at me," he replied, as he rubbed his chest where Yang had punched a hole through him. "Oh, and she let me use her scroll after that too."
"I'm so jealous," she grumbled. "I'd do anything to have a chance to talk to Pyrrha… and maybe get an autograph," she added, mostly to herself.
"Why don't you just talk to her?" he asked. "She won't bite your head off."
"It's not that simple!" she insisted, standing up in frustration. She began to pace back and forth.
"Why?"
"Because!" Naruto looked at her waiting for her to continue. "I don't know, I wouldn't know what to say. People always say don't meet your heroes… and well... she's kind of mine..."
"Well figure it out," he said, getting up to give her a gentle nudge. "Jaune and his team invited me to go with them to the arcade later next week, I'll see if they're ok with all of us showing up." Marie was about to protest, but Naruto just gave her a one-arm hug, silencing her before she could begin. "Come on, you know you want to. I heard Kohl and Ren were already friends, Jaune and I already talk on a regular basis, and Mindy will probably hide behind Kohl, since Nora can be kind of overwhelming."
"Alright fine," she said, trying to escape from his surprisingly firm grip. Naruto just laughed as he watched the girl squirm. "Can you let go of me now?"
"Maybe later," he said with a wide grin, before his face lit up with realization. "I didn't realize how much taller I am than you."
"You have like two inches on me," she argued, before she gave up, and accepted her fate.
"I'm proud of my two inches," Naruto smiled. Marie couldn't help it and began to giggle. "What are you laughing at?" Marie didn't have any time to explain as she continued to laugh loudly, falling to the ground holding her sides, the joke flying right over her partner's head.
Vale
"Alright, so let me get this straight," began Sun as the three Faunus walked down the streets of Vale. "You used to be a member of the White Fang, your teammate is racist towards Faunus, and you two aren't dating or anything?"
"Wait, what?" asked Kohl, confused at his last statement. Sun gave him a pointed glare that further confused him.
"Sun, this is serious," Blake said annoyed. "I was a member most my life, but their methods changed, and they started to hurt people."
"Do you think they really are behind the Dust shop robberies?" asked Kohl, remembering Blake's side of the argument. "I mean they would definitely have the man power to do so, and the skills... Do you have any idea for a motive?"
"No, they've never needed this much Dust before," she explained, frustrated at the mystery that befell them.
"What if they did?!" asked Sun, with realization in his voice.
"Wow, what a compelling argument Sun," Kohl said sarcastically. "It's not like the ex-member would know anything, right?"
"Shut up," the monkey Faunus cried indignantly. "I mean, in order to prove that they didn't do it, we just have to go to where they would mostly likely would be to do it, and not find them there, right?"
"That's not how the burden of proof works, but sure," Kohl deadpanned, earning a slight smile from Blake.
"We don't even know where they would strike next," Blake interrupted before Sun could respond. "There's tons of Dust shops in Vale, where would we even start to look?"
"My team and I have been investigating this for a few weeks now," replied Kohl, interrupting Sun once more. "At first, the shops they targeted seemed random, but after careful analysis, we found that they follow an intricate pattern." He opened up his scroll to pull up the maps they had made.
"Or we can just go to the docks," Sun said annoyed. The two looked at him to continue. "Oh, do I have your attention now? Thanks," he said sarcastically. "When I was a stowaway on the boat, I heard the crew talking about a huge Dust shipment coming today."
"How huge?" asked Blake.
"Huge," answered Sun. "A Schnee Dust Company freighter." Kohl looked at the monkey Faunus with a little annoyance, having stolen his thunder.
"Well played, monkey boy…" muttered Kohl. "Looks like we got our work cut out for us."
"Alright, let's go," said Blake, the two boys following closely behind.
MNKM Dorm
Midnight held her aching head as she stirred awake. She had no idea what had happened last night, but her head was pounding. She looked around the room, and realized she was alone. Kohl had never came home, if his untouched bed was anything to go by, and Marie and Naruto were already out. She stumbled out of bed and walked over to the bathroom to splash her face with water.
"Good morning, love,"
"Good morning," Midnight replied. She looked back up and saw her blue-eyed self. She was still uneasy about the whole thing, but her head hurt too much for her to make a fuss about it.
"I imagine you slept well?"
"I guess so…" Midnight rubbed her eyes, and let out a yawn. "What happened last night?"
"We had a great time, that's all you need to know." Midnight was still not used to how her reflection would move when she didn't, and it seemed rather eerie.
"My head hurts…" she mumbled.
"Oh, right, of course!" Midnight felt her Aura begin to flow into her head, and the pain ceased. "There you go, sweetie."
"H-how'd you do that?" she asked in slight panic. "I've never been able to control my Aura, but you just did it!"
"Honey, you've been controlling it. You haven't been taking your suppressants for two days now." Midnight's eyes widened. She looked at her hand and tried to force her Aura to emit, and to her surprise, it did. However, it was a golden color in contrast to her usual green.
"It… it feels different than before…" She willed it away, and it vanished. "What's happening?"
"You're learning," her reflection smiled at her. "You just need to learn your Semblance, and you'll be caught up with the rest of you team."
"My… Semblance?" she repeated. "I thought… Back in Forever Fall…"
"That was me protecting you. You've yet to awake your own Semblance, but when you do, I'm sure it will be magnificent." Midnight nodded to herself, and watched as her aura came and went at her will. It was shocking how easy it seemed now.
"Why is my Aura yellow?" she asked.
"What do you mean? It's always been that color."
"It was green in Forever Fall," she recalled, but her head began to hurt as she tried to remember that day.
"No, sweetie, it wasn't, you're imagining things." Midnight wanted to protest, but heard a knock at the door. She came out of the bathroom, and opened the door to see Team RWBY without Blake. Midnight's eyes widened, as she was not prepared for this early morning interaction.
"Hey, have you seen Blake?" asked Ruby with concern in her voice. Midnight shook her head, earning a sad hum come from Ruby.
"Where's Kohl?" asked Yang, remembering his offer to help. "He around?"
"He, um, never came home," she answered quietly.
"Is he OK?" asked Ruby with concern. First Blake, and now Kohl was missing?
"I'm sure he's fine," replied Yang. "He said he was going to help find Blake last night, maybe he got carried away and lost track of time."
"You asked him for help?" scoffed Weiss. "Of all the people, why him?"
"He offered," replied Yang, a bit disappointed in Weiss' attitude in front of Kohl's teammate. Midnight now found herself stuck in an internal argument within Team RWBY. Ruby sighed as Yang and Weiss continued to argue, and turned back to Midnight.
"Where's the rest of you team?" she asked.
"I don't know," she admitted. "They were gone before I woke up…"
"Maybe they went to find Kohl," suggested Yang, ignoring Weiss' indignant 'hey' at being interrupted. Midnight shrugged, unsure. "Well, if we see him, we'll let you know, and if you see Blake, let us know. We're going to Vale to keep looking for her."
"OK," answered Midnight, relieved that the brief interaction was over.
"You should have some breakfast." Midnight nodded, and walked out her dorm.
As Midnight came into the cafeteria, she desperately tried to steel her nerves. It seemed that the entire student body was here, except her team. She didn't realize how anxious she felt without them. She took a deep breath, before she heard a familiar voice behind her.
"Hey, are you OK?" Midnight nearly jumped up and screamed at the sudden voice. He must have noticed her fright, as he immediately began to apologize. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you."
"Who are you talking to, Yatsu?" asked a feminine voice. Midnight looked over to see a girl with designer shades and a fashionable outfit. She mostly wore varying shades of brown, and toted around a black purse.
"I never got her name," he admitted, turning to his leader.
"I'm Midnight…" she uttered lowly. She nearly squealed in a mixture of fright and anxiety when Coco walked right in her face and began to inspect her.
"Oh, your Mindy!" said another girl with an accent. She was accompanied by a quiet boy with white eyes and dark skin. "She's Marie's teammate. We have Oobleck's class together."
"Your teammate is the one who stuck up for Velvet-Cake over here?" asked Coco, as Midnight nodded nervously. "Alright, then you're fine in my book."
"Um, th-thanks," she said, taking a step back.
"Where is the rest of your team?" asked Velvet, sensing her shyness. She was no stranger to social anxiety, and felt it radiating from the timid girl. Seeing that their least outspoken member was taking charge, Yatsuhashi and Coco backed a comfortable distance away, Fox never saying a word.
"I'm looking for them," she said a bit more calmly. She took a deep breath and mentally told herself she wasn't in any danger. It was all in her head. "I don't know where they are…"
"Do you need help?" offered the rabbit Faunus kindly, but Midnight shook her head. Velvet didn't seem to take any offense, and just smiled at her and wished her luck as she walked back towards her team. Team CFVY walked back towards the line, and got their breakfast. Midnight was about to follow, but felt her scroll go off. It was Marie, and she was out in the courtyard with Naruto. Feeling a huge wave of relief wash over her, she turned and walked briskly to her team.
Undisclosed Warehouse
"So you haven't found anything on this strange boy?" Cinder asked an annoyed Torchwick.
"I'm telling you, he came out of nowhere, I didn't exactly catch his name," he repeated for what felt like the millionth time. "I was holding up a Dust shop with Neo, and this guy takes out all of my hired men in an instant, and took several shots from my Melodic Cudgel without flinching."
"Is that all?" she asked evenly. "Or are you missing something?"
"Like what? I told you what he looks like, and what he was able to do," he replied frustrated. He felt a hand on his shoulder, and looked to his partner with her ever present smile on her face. "Sorry Neo," he quickly apologized. He turned back to Cinder, and sighed. "The kid was no older than an academy student, and he seemed to hover in the air for a while. He didn't say much, but he sounded like a cop."
"I see," mused Cinder. "No matter, we'll proceed with the plan as usual. If he shows up, I want you to take him out. The Dust can come second." Torchwick grinned at that.
"Finally! I can kill somebody!" he cheered, before getting poked by a parasol. "I meant 'we'. You know that Neo." The ice-cream themed girl nodded, and the two left the warehouse. Cinder on the other hand began to wonder where this teen came from.
Beacon: Team MNKM
"So where are we with the Dust shop robberies?" asked Naruto, eating bowl of ramen. The three members of MNKM were having breakfast in the corner of the cafeteria in their usual spot.
"Mindy and I found the club where Junior is, but we didn't get a chance to question him," she explained. "Since we, you know, destroyed the club. I hope his insurance goes through the roof."
"I'm sure his super evil insurance agent covers Huntsman damages," joked Naruto. Marie had left out the part where Mindy got drunk, simply because it frightened her, and Mindy didn't remember anything anyway. She hadn't found the right time to confront her about it, but knew she would have to soon.
"Anyways, we can go back over to question him," suggested Marie. "But I seriously need to talk to Ozpin about getting my weapon privileges back. Fighting with some goon's sword felt dirty."
"Should we ask the other teams for help?" asked Naruto. "I'm sure RWBY and JNPR wouldn't mind chasing down some bad guys."
"Team RWBY is already on their own mission," Midnight announced. "They are looking for Blake, and Kohl is helping them."
"Is that why he's still not here?" asked Naruto. "Well, I can't get mad at him for helping out our friends." Marie raised an eyebrow at that.
"When did you start to consider them friends?" she asked curiously.
"I don't know, not long after we talked for the first time," admitted Naruto. He put a finger to his chin in thought and began to list some reasons. "Let's see… Jaune is a pretty cool guy once you get past his awkwardness, Ruby helped me make my weapons, Yang is a blast to be around, Weiss is fun to rile up, Nora helped me in the pillow fight on the first day here, Pyrrha didn't attack me when I was hiding under her bed, and Ren and Blake have this ninja vibe that reminds me of home."
"What about team CFVY?" asked Midnight, remembering her brief encounter with them earlier that day.
"Who?" asked Naruto.
"They were the ones who told me about the get well card," remembered Marie. "Say, did you ever get that?" Naruto shrugged noncommittally. "Well, what did it say? I heard a ton of people signed it."
"I don't know," replied Naruto uneasily, "I never got around to reading it."
"What do you mean? You were in the hospital for days, how didn't you have any time?"
"Well… I can't," he answered after a short pause, with a tinge of shame.
"What do you mean?" asked Marie, "I thought Kohl was the one who 'doesn't do emotions'. Worried you'll read some sappy stuff and start crying?"
"I can't read," Naruto sighed, seeing that there weren't any other students in earshot. "I never really finished my lessons with Oobleck because I could already communicate with him. I never got around to learning to read."
"If you can learn to speak in a few months, why can't you learn to read?" asked Midnight, a bit confused. Naruto just sighed, and leaned back in his chair.
"It's not that I can't… I don't want to... I don't want to forget where I come from. Oobleck said my language doesn't really exist in this world. Even now, I can't remember certain words or phrases… I'm afraid of forgetting about it altogether."
"You mean you've begun to forget where you come from?" his leader asked.
"No, I can't forget Konoha, I just don't remember it as clearly. If I try to remember conversations I've had with my old friends or teachers, I remember them in English, or in bits and pieces. I only have a few complete memories that are still in my native language, and I don't want to forget them... I don't want to forget her…" He added so lowly neither of the girls heard him. His two teammates nodded in sympathy, and felt terrible for his predicament. On one hand, if he fully adapts to his life on Remnant, he might start to forget his old life, but if he doesn't, he'll never quite fit in.
"We can read it for you," offered Midnight. "Just so you know what it says."
"Yea," agreed Marie, trying to shift the mood. "Where is it? I want to hear what they said about you." Naruto looked at his two teammates gratefully, but shook his head.
"Let's wait until we're all here. Kohl would probably want to know too." Marie pouted slightly, and Midnight nodded with a slight smile.
Vale: Docks; Later that Night
"Still no sign of them?" asked Sun, holding an armful of apples. Blake was lying on top of a container watching the crates, although they have been sitting there for hours. "I stole you some food."
"Do you always break the law without a second thought?" asked Blake.
"Hey, weren't you in a cult or something?" he asked back, earning a glare from Blake. "Too soon?"
"They aren't a cult," said Kohl from behind Sun, causing him to jump up and drop his apples.
"How do you keep sneaking up on me?" he demanded, while Kohl ignored his outburst.
"They're just a bunch of people like us who can't take the treatment humans have been giving us. I had half a mind of joining them too, but that was before the first leader stepped down."
"You never mentioned that," said Blake, as Sun sighed at being ignored again. "What reasons did you have?" Kohl nearly winced at the question, but neither other Faunus caught it.
"I, um, just had nothing else to lose," he replied vaguely. "When you have everything taken from you, you tend to think and do some stupid things."
"How stupid?" asked Sun.
"Let's not discuss that now," replied Kohl, pointing to the large Bullhead that arrived. "We have company." Blake and Sun lowered themselves to not give away their position, as people began to jump out of the ship. Sun then saw Blake's expression.
"You really didn't think they were behind this, did you?" he asked softly.
"No, I think deep down, I've always knew… I just didn't want to be right," she sighed back. The disappointment in her voice was almost palpable.
"You two stay here," said Kohl, "I'll be back in a bit." He jumped down from where the three were standing, and landed without making a sound, before disappearing around a corner.
"Who put him in charge?" asked Sun indignantly, getting really tired of Kohl's stoic attitude.
"It doesn't matter," she began, but heard a voice coming from the ship. He was insulting them as they worked, which irritated Blake to no end. "Why are the White Fang working with a human?"
"I don't know maybe-" he began, but saw Blake jump down and rush Torchwick. "Damn it, you guys can't just leave me like that!"
Blake had made a mad dash through all the Fang members, and got the drop on Torchwick. He was in the middle of talking down to another member when Blake pressed her sword to his throat. He cursed under his breath in annoyance.
"Nobody move!" she ordered. Several White Fang members drew their weapons, and quickly surrounded her.
"Whoa! Take it easy there little lady," chuckled Torchwick. Blake saw that her threats were doing nothing to stop the Fang from advancing forward, so she undid her ribbon and tossed it away.
"Brothers of the White Fang, why are you aiding this scum?" she asked. Before anybody could answer, Torchwick moved his head slightly which allowed a parasol to strike Blake in the face, disorientating her. When she looked up, Torchwick was accompanied by a short girl with mismatched eyes and pink, white and brown hair.
"Thanks Neo, I have no idea what I'd do without you." Neo just smiled at him, and raised her umbrella towards Blake. "You picked the wrong operation to try to stop, Kitty Cat. You see, we've had a few hiccups along the way, and now we've beefed up our forces." He felt a slight tug from his partner, and ducked as Neo opened her parasol to block some shots from Sun, who had seen the entire thing unfold.
"Yea, well she brought back up too!" declared Sun, shifting Ruyi Bang and Jingu Bang into their staff form. He landed gracefully next to Blake, ready to throw down. "Hey, where's birdy?" he whispered.
"I don't know," she admitted, "but we need to stop them." Torchwick motioned towards the pair, and Neo sprang into action. Blake was first to attack, but it was easily parried, while Sun tried to attack the short girl from behind. Neo proved to be much more experienced, as she used the handle of her parasol to hook around Sun's weapons and disarmed his with ease, all while evading Blake's rapid strikes. Neo then grabbed Sun's tail and yanked on it hard to put it in front of Blake's strike, forcing her to stop. In that same moment, Neo swept Blake's feet from under her, and bashed Sun with her weapon. The two students were forced back, as Neo stood there posing for them, smile mocking their joint efforts.
"Good work Neo," complimented Torchwick. He had ordered the Fang members to continue loading the ships, and the first was about to take off. Torchwick raised his Melodic Cudgel to fire at Blake, but found himself tied up with a thick steel wire. "What the-"
"You talk too much," said Kohl, as he loaded another tethered harpoon into Primrose. "It looks like the little one is the muscle, but that would make you the brains? I have a hard time believing that."
"You little punk," began Torchwick, struggling against his bindings. Kohl was forced to evade a parasol strike as Neo quickly came to her partner's aid. Kohl jumped back to put a lot of space between himself and the umbrella wielding woman, seeing that she had easily taken two people by herself.
"Kohl, where were you?" asked Sun, annoyed at his 'dramatic' entrance. "We could've used your help five minutes ago."
"Would either of you have listened if I asked you to wait?" he shouted back. "Besides, the cavalry is on its way."
"You think a bunch of cops are going to be a threat?" asked Torchwick, as Neo undid his bindings. "The police in this town are useless, they let Huntsman and Huntresses do all the work!"
"That's why I didn't call the police," Kohl smirked. As if on cue, Ruby annouced her arrival as some girl Kohl's never seen before accompanied her. "but I didn't call her…"
"Red?" asked Torchwick in disbelief and annoyance. "Ugh, this day just keeps getting better…"
"Ruby?" asked Blake, seeing her leader standing on the rooftop. Ruby turned for some reason, which was all Torchwick needed to send her flying back from a shot from his cane. Blake grew angry and charged at the criminal, only for him to easily parry her strikes. Sun joined in soon after, and Neo rushed forward to aid him, but was forced to evade a strike from Kohl.
"I'm your opponent," said Kohl evenly. Neo just stared at him, before raising her weapon at him. "Um, you don't say much, do you?" Neo just charged forward and forced Kohl on the defensive, sending rapid jabs at him. He was forced back from a particularly powerful strike, making him tumble back. "Damn, you really are the muscle, aren't you?"
"…" Neo just turned her head slightly and smiled.
"At least one of us is enjoying this," he muttered as he got back to his feet. He rushed at her, swinging Primrose in its Zweihander state, only to break Neo into glass.
"DUDE! You just killed that poor girl!" shouted his team leader from behind Kohl. He turned to see Marie and Midnight running towards him. Marie looked at Kohl with disappointment. "I didn't know you were into beating up women."
"I'm not!" defended Kohl, looking around for where Neo might be. "She was kicking me around before you two showed up."
"It doesn't matter," smirked Marie, "I talked to Ozpin after breakfast, and he finally gave me back my weapon. I'm so ready to kick some ass! What about you Mindy?" The girl nodded with an unfamiliar, yet confident smile, as her eyes flashed blue.
"Where did that girl go?" wondered Kohl aloud. He looked back to the fight going on between Sun, Blake and Torchwick, but she wasn't there either. "Where's Naruto?"
"He's here," replied Marie with a shrug. "I think he's doing some ninja stuff."
"Meaning?"
"Hell if I know," she admitted. Their banter came to an abrupt halt when Neo tried to bash Kohl's head in while turned around. Surprisingly, it was Midnight who blocked the strike.
"She was in the middle of a conversation!" she hissed, before her eyes reverted back to green. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean that," she whispered in a panic.
"…?" Neo gave her a quizzically look, and fell back a few paces. Marie charged at her, Impes Diabolica glowing red. With a mighty swing, Marie sent forth a red wave in the shape of a crescent that Neo was forced to block by opening her parasol. The explosion was impressive, but Neo was unharmed, and gave her a small smile. Kohl ran after Marie, splitting Primrose into two and tried to ensnare Neo's weapon in his hook-swords. Unfortunately, Neo proved to be much stronger than she looks, and easily pried her weapon free, and jabbed him a few times. Midnight took this opportunity to snap her sword into its whip form and send it snaking towards the ice-cream girl. Neo looked past her opponents, and her form simply shattered, and the real Neo was nowhere to be found.
"Damn it, she's gone again," cursed Kohl. The three members then ran towards Blake and Sun to assist them with Torchwick.
Naruto had just finished placing his explosive tags on nearly every one of the air ships. In addition, he had swiped some files from one that seemed important, even if he wasn't sure what they said. As he climbed down from one airship, several began to rise in the air. He was about to jump at them, but several swords embedded themselves on to the sides of one.
"Whoa," he said to himself, seeing an orange haired girl single-handedly yank the Bullhead out of the sky. The others he had planted his tags on began to explode, leaving the metal bodies to fall into the docks. "Nice!" he cheered, pumping his fist in the air. Before long, a shockwave caused everybody on the docks to fall over. Looking over for the source, he spotted a grey-haired teen fighting off several White Fang members barehanded. Naruto wouldn't have been impressed by this normally, but he didn't even bother blocking sword strikes, or bullets, as they seemed to bounce off him harmlessly.
"You are all being detained," he shouted to the goons that continued to attack him with no avail. He grew visibly frustrated. "Damn it, just stop! I'm trying to arrest you guys! Don't make this harder than it has to be!"
"He doesn't seem very professional…" uttered Naruto as the boy was easily flustered by the groups of criminals that didn't go down easily. It appeared that he wasn't sure what he was doing, but soon, he seemed to notice somebody.
"You!" he shouted, ignoring the White Fang now. He ran towards Blake and Sun's fight, where they were forced to be on the defensive. "Roman Torchwick, you're under arrest!"
"Damn it, not this kid again," he cursed under his breath. Neo was already by his side, and the two turned their attention to the strange boy. "What do you want kid? Can't you see I'm in the middle of something?!"
"You got away once, but I won't let you out of my sight again!" he declared, reaching for a gun on his hip. It didn't seem special at first, but once he aimed it, it began to transform into a large cannon that encased his arm. He let out a huge blast of red energy that the two criminals narrowly evaded, Neo opened her parasol and dispersed the blast as a large amount made it's way towards Naruto, and he saw red.
Blake and Sun were behind a crate trying to catch their breath, as they saw the scene unfold in front of them.
"Who are these guys that showed up?" asked Sun.
"That's Kohl's team," explained Blake, holding her arm. It was extremely tender at the moment. "I don't know who that guy is with the arm cannon though. Is he a friend of yours?"
"Can't say he is," replied Sun. "Law enforcement and I don't really get along." The two then saw Naruto tackle the boy out of the air, and begin to wail on him. "Whoa, why is blondie beating up the fuzz?" asked Sun.
"I don't know," replied Blake, a bit shocked. "We have to help him!" Just then, the grey haired teen began to fight off Naruto, and gained the upper hand.
"Which one?" asked Sun. Blake rolled her eyes and charged at the two, before they injured themselves. They had a common enemy, how can they just start a brawl in the middle of an encounter?
"Naruto! What are you doing?" shouted Marie, as she finished off a third group of White Fang members. "That guy was fighting Torchwick! He's a good guy!" Naruto ignored his leader as he formed several clones to overwhelm the stranger. A few of them had actually intercepted Blake and Sun, blocking them from getting any closer.
"He's got something he shouldn't have," growled Naruto, his eyes a piercing red, and his canines elongated. "I need ANSWERS!"
"What is going on?" asked Kohl, seeing his teammate freak out. Mindy, however looked in silent horror.
'It's just like the time in Forever Fall,' she thought to herself. 'But…I thought I was controlling my Aura now! How is this happening?'
"Naruto, calm down!" ordered Marie, running over to the two fighting. Kohl was about to follow when he noticed Midnight paralyzed at the sight.
"Mindy, we have to get out of here. There's a fight going on, and I don't even know who is on our side at the moment," he urged, seeing Blake and Sun dispelling two clones.
"It's happening again," whispered Midnight. Kohl didn't have time to snap her out of it, and hoisted her over his shoulder to find cover. He ran back towards Ruby, who was watching in awe at the orange haired girl taking on waves of White Fang members with ease.
"Red!" called out Kohl. Ruby turned back with wide eyes. "I found Blake," he joked, seeing her panic.
"What's going on?" asked Ruby. "Naruto is attacking Blake, that guy Blake was with and the guy who attacked Torchwick, and Penny is controlling those swords and shooting a giant laser beam, and why is Midnight on your shoulder!? Is she OK?"
"She'll be fine, but she's out of it right now," informed Kohl. "I have to go help my team, can you watch her for me? I'll make sure he doesn't hurt Blake."
"Y-yea," agreed Ruby, unsure of what she should do. Blake wasn't in any danger anymore as Sun dispelled the last Naruto clone, and Weiss and Yang weren't anywhere near the docks. She drew Crescent Rose and stood in front of Midnight protectively as the girl muttered to herself.
"Who are you!?" shouted Naruto to the grey-haired boy as he held him up against a crate.
"I work for Atlas Military," answered the boy, his voice not strained at all. He was physically battered, but he didn't seem to mind.
"I asked 'who are you,' not who do you work for!" growled Naruto, his red cloak beginning to cover his body.
"I don't understand," the teen said confused, but Naruto just got angrier. He threw the teen down on the ground, and formed a dark purple Rasengan in his right hand.
"Naruto stop!" shouted Marie, as she tried to pry Naruto off the beaten teen. Naruto's eyes flashed back to blue, and he realized what he was doing. "What are you doing? He was helping us!"
"I don't know," replied Naruto, looking down at the teen below him. "I was just following my instincts." He got off the boy, and the group noticed that Torchwick and Neo had gotten away during their scuffle, although they left behind a massive number of White Fang members all defeated on the ground.
"What's going on?" asked Kohl, finally catching up.
"I don't know," replied Marie. She then looked at the teen, and offered a hand to help. "Who are you?"
"I work for the Atlas Military," replied the teen again, reaching into his pocket. He took out his scroll and began to type away before turning his attention back to the three Huntsman in training.
"Where did you get that gun?" asked Naruto, still hesitant to trust the newcomer. The energy it shot out felt familiar, but foreign at the same time.
"I'm afraid my boss has prohibited me from saying any more," he replied, placing his scroll away. "He should be here in a few minutes to answer your questions." Marie nodded, and tried to calm down Naruto.
All of the students had gathered around a few crates as they awaited the police to handle everything. Naruto rubbed his seal a few times, feeling uneasy around the newcomer, as Blake and Sun talked about what was to come next. Ruby voiced her concerns to Penny, given that she wasn't sure what was going to happen to her team, but the orange-haired girl smiled and tried to assure that things would work out. It wasn't long before Yang and Weiss showed up, prompting Ruby to shoot up and try to explain everything for Blake's behalf, only Kohl seemed to beat her to the punch.
"Schnee," he called out to her, standing in front of Blake and Sun. Weiss seemed a little put off, but acknowledged him.
'Baby steps,' Weiss told herself mentally. "Yes?"
"I want to apologize," he nearly whispered. It almost seemed to be physically painful to utter those words. Weiss was caught completely off-guard.
"You what?" she asked, before Yang elbowed her in the ribs. "Ow, I mean, for what, exactly?"
"You're not going to make this easy, are you?" Kohl growled. He took a deep breath and started over. "I want to apologized for being a dick," he replied bluntly. "You hadn't done anything to me personally and I had preconceived ideas of who you were. I didn't give a rat's shit if you were nice or not, I disliked you for your name alone. Which is kind of a douchey thing to do." Marie seemed to be wiping a faux tear away in the background from his moving apology. There was a long pause of Weiss just looking at the bird Faunus before she sighed.
"Um, apology accepted," Weiss finally said. "I shouldn't have said those things back during the contest… I was… wrong…" she finally managed to utter out. Yang decided to chime in at this moment.
"Does that mean you're holding up your side of the bet?" asked Yang. "You do owe him dinner, Ice Queen."
"Yang!" chided Weiss, before she looked at Kohl who shrugged not caring either way. His poker face was much better than hers, as she couldn't tell what he was thinking. "I guess… I wouldn't be… opposed to it…" she forced out, trying not to scowl at the thought, "if you wanted… to still."
"I get to pick where, right?" asked Kohl, feigning a thought. Weiss didn't catch on to his sarcasm, and nodded, as Yang was smiling in the background, unable to hold in her joy. "I'll pick another day, I'm not hungry now," replied Kohl, as he walked back to his team, leaving Weiss to deal with her own teammate.
"So, you were out with Blake all weekend?" asked Marie, to which Kohl nodded. "The least you could have done is called."
"She asked me not to."
"Of course she did," muttered his leader. "So you got any idea why Naruto went berserk on that other guy?"
"Not a clue," he admitted. A few moments later, a car showed up, and out came none other than General Ironwood. He seemed rather serious, and walked straight to the grey-haired boy.
"Are you harmed?" he asked, to which the boy shook his head.
"Nothing serious, General. These are the children I told you about."
"Children?" asked Marie indignantly. "Look at you! You look like a student still!"
"I apologize for Cobalt's behavior," began Ironwood, as he looked for Naruto. The blond was giving glare that demanded answers. "If I could speak to Mr. Uzumaki alone-"
"No point, General," Naruto replied evenly. "I don't keep secrets from my friends. Anything you have to say to me, you can say to my entire team." Ironwood sighed, but nodded. He was in the wrong no matter how you looked at it.
"Very well," he said, composed. Team RWBY all began to look for Penny, as she had mysteriously disappeared. Team MNKM huddled a bit closer expecting Ironwood to start explaining. "We can discuss with your headmaster, I believe he will want to know as well. If you four would," he said, gesturing to the limo awaiting them. The four got into the car, followed by Ironwood, and they drove off to Beacon.
OMAKE: Battlefield/CoD Spoof Part Two
"Kit, what's your ETA?" asked Marie.
"I'm eleven seconds away, Bloody-M" responded Naruto. "TT-Heart, Where is the enemy?"
"Two of them are entering the building from the southern entrance, and the third is scaling the wall from the eastern side, Gangar, you should be able to flank them, it seems that they are playing as if it were a free for all match."
"Am I supposed to plant the bomb?" asked Midnight. "The objective is clear."
"We'll watch your back," assured Marie. "Alright team, rendezvous on Gangar's position. Form a perimeter around all entrances. Kit, can you handle the warehouse entrance?"
"Can do," Naruto smirked, seeing an enemy player approaching. "I've got a enemy submachine-gunner, goes by the name of BronzeDove, should I take him out now? He's heading into the elevator."
"Negative," replied Kohl. "RusselThyJimmies is almost in line with my shot, but I lost visual of the other two."
"Roger that, SilverSkies is coming in through the window on the second floor, looks like he's toting around a sniper... Is he trying to quick scope?" asked Maire.
"Where is the last guy?" Naruto asked impatiently. "I swear, this team is a bunch of pansies."
"Alright, take each one out on my mark," interrupted Kohl. "In three... Two... One... FIRE!"
There were three burst of fire in separate locations, and three members of the enemy team were wiped out at the same time.
"Alright! Now, let's find the last guy," Marie said with a victorious fist pump. She navigated around the building but there was no sign of the last guy. "I think he's trying to play mind games..."
"No way, Gangar just planted the bomb," argued Kohl. "There's no way he has time to take us all out AND disarm the bomb."
"Still... let's split up and find him," suggested Naruto. "I'll head over to their spawn, to see where he might have gone."
"Alright, TTheart, you watch the objective, Gangar and I will circle the perimeter."
"Aye, aye," Kohl said stoically. "You guys have fun with the manhunt, I'll watch the thing explode." A few moments passed, and Midnight spotted something.
"Guys... I think I found him," she informed. "He's just standing there..."
"Where?" asked Marie.
"In the cave on the eastern side of the map..."
"The objective is going to explode in ten seconds," informed Kohl. "I don't think he'll make it all the way over..." Midnight wasn't sure, and decided to be safe rather than sorry. She aimed her rifle and in a single shot to the head, downed the last man standing.
"That felt anticlimactic..." Naruto sighed. "What fun is it if he's not even going to play?"
CRDL's Dorm.
"What the hell Cardin!?" Russel shouted. "What happened?"
"Shut up!" Cardin yelled back. "Something's wrong with my scroll, it's not connecting to that damn game!"
"Already making excuses?" sighed Dove under his breath.
"I'm serious! Which one of you has been messing with my scroll?" he demanded. He was met with even stares from Dove and Russel, but Sky looked away nervously. "Damn it Sky! What the hell is wrong with you?"
"I thought it was Russel's," he explained weakly. "You thought it was funny when I stuck Dove's sword in tower of Jell-O."
"That was funny," admitted Cardin, although his annoyance was still present. "What did you do to my scroll?"
"I, umm..." he began, before he started to look for an escape route. Once he saw the window opened, he leaned next to it. "Might have dropped it in the urinal before we started playing."
"DUDE!" shouted Cardin, rising to his feet. "I PUT MY FACE ON THIS THING!" Sky didn't stick around for long, and jumped out the window, realizing too late they were on the fourth story.
MNKM's Dorm.
"Whatever the reason, that didn't feel like much of a win," continued Marie. "Hey, Kohl, check if Fairy-Princesses are on, they were actually good."
"Uh, it looks like the got off about ten minutes ago. Want me to send them a message?"
"Nah, we can face them later. Let's find a new lobby. Any particular preferences?"
"Why don't we face that lobby right there?" asked Naruto, pointing to the list of names. "MythoLegends sounds pretty cool, and their rank is way higher than BirdBoys."
"Alright, let's go!" Marie said enthusiastically. "WHAT TEAM?!"
"WILDCATS!" shouted Team MNKM, with the exception of Naruto.
"What am I missing this time?" he muttered under his breath.
"It's just a reference to a movie from a few years ago," explained Kohl.
"Remember team," continued Marie, getting their attention. "We're all in this together."
A/N
Well, there is Volume One, I hope you all liked it. I've been debating whether I should make Volume Two a separate story, but I've decided to just build on this one, as this chapter was not really an 'ending' per say. I'll try to keep up my update schedule to at least once every two weeks, with the possibility of once a week.
Make sure to check out the poll, I'll probably leave it open until New Year's, depending on how far this fic gets, and what direction it starts to take. I'll be branching away from canon and into more original content soon, so look forward to that!
Make sure to review, and if you have any questions, I'll answer what I can via Private Message.
~LVR6