Here we are at Chapter 16. We're almost done with Volume 1. Get ready for some truths to be told in the near future. I do not own RWBY. They belong to Roosterteeth. I only own my OCs. Here's chapter 16. Enjoy.
Chapter 16: Patience wearing thin
…A few weeks pass by, in Vale…
In Vale, the members of Team KEPL walk through the city, seeing shops get decorations up in preparation for the upcoming Vytal Festival.
"We've always watched the Vytal Festival on TV, so this'll be nice to actually compete it it," Lloyd notes.
"Indeed, which is why we're going to the docks. Students from one of the academies will be arriving by boat, so I want to see if we can get some information on them. Learn more about them in preparation for the tournament," Khazhak says as they approach the docks.
"She wants to spy on them so she'll have the upper hand in the tournament," they hear nearby and look to see Team RWBY coming to the docks as well, Blake being the one talking.
"You can't prove that!" Weiss scoffs.
"You can't prove otherwise," Khazhak notes as his team approaches them.
"Hey Khazhak, what are you doing here?" Ruby asks.
"Recon. Trying to gather some Intel on the competition for the tournament," Khazhak says.
"See, even Khazhak is doing it! Not that I had the same idea, mind you," Weiss defends herself.
"You're not fooling anyone, Weiss," Porphyrius notes.
"It's only logical to know more about your opponents than they know about you. We're just planning ahead," Reaper explains.
"Yeah, hopefully some of them will give us a good fight. I'm starting to get tired of waiting for the tournament to begin," Lloyd says while placing his arms behind his head.
"My patience is running out. I haven't had the chance to face off against Pyrrha yet, and no one else can come close to my level," Khazhak says, a little annoyed.
Eventually, Ruby turns further to her right and gasps, "Woah," she says.
They all look so see a Dust stop with the windows broken, and crime scene tape spread out blocking off the scene and on the windows. They walk up to the scene to see two detectives checking over the scene.
"What happened here?" Ruby asks one of the detectives.
"Robbery. Second dust shop to be hit this week," The detective answers before walking back to the broken window. "This place is turning into a jungle," he mutters.
"Looks like Roman Torchwick's work to me," Khazhak thinks to himself.
Yang clicks her tongue and sighs, "That's terrible," she says.
"They left all the money again," the second detective points out.
"Excuse me?" Reaper asks.
"Yeah, it just doesn't make a lick of sense. Who needs that must Dust?" the first detective says.
"I don't know, you know what I mean?" the second detective says.
"You thinking the, uh, White Fang?" the first detective suggests.
"Yeah, I'm thinking we don't get payed enough," the second detective says, taking off his glasses.
"Hmph, the White Fang. What an awful bunch of degenerates," Weiss coldly says while crossing her arms and closing her eyes.
"What's YOUR problem?" Blake questions, irritated by her comment.
"My problem? I simply don't care for the criminally insane," Weiss says, waving her right arm.
"The White Fang is hardly a bunch of psychopaths. They're a collection of misguided Faunus," Blake retorts, crossing her arms.
"Misguided? They want to wipe humanity off the face of the planet," Weiss says.
"Gee, I wonder who put them in that position!" Porphyrius yells, getting angry at Weiss.
"What are you yelling at me for? I didn't do anything," Weiss defends herself.
"Why you little spoiled brat!" Porphyrius yells, getting ready to lunge at Weiss before Khazhak stops him.
"Porphyrius, enough!" he commands, making Porphyrius stand down, while also scaring Weiss a little. "Porphyrius, return to our dorm. That's an order. Reaper, go with him. He needs to cool off," Khazhak orders them and the two members of Team KEPL take their leave, Porphyrius giving Weiss a massive death glare before leaving. Khazhak turns back to Weiss, "While I am no fan of the White Fang, as it is now, it is not entirely their fault that they have become a violent extremist group. There is blame on the human's side as well," Khazhak says.
"Yes, they're just VERY misguided, either way, it doesn't explain why they would rob a dust shop in the middle of downtown Vale," Blake points out.
"Hm, Blake's got a point. Besides, the police never caught that Torchwick guy Khazhak and I ran into a few months ago. Maybe it was him," Ruby defends Blake.
"He was robbing a DUST shop that night when I met Ruby," Khazhak further adds.
"That still doesn't change the fact that the White Fang are a bunch of scum. Those Faunus only know how to lie, cheat, and steal," Weiss badmouths the White Fang.
"That's not necessarily true," Yang retorts.
"Hey, stop that Faunus!" they hear a voice back at the docks and look back.
They all run to the docks to see a Faunus boy on a docked ship, running from two crew members. The Faunus boy is a monkey Faunus, shown by the money tail. He has tan skin with short, spiky light-blonde hair, and dark grey eyes. He is wearing two red wrist bracers and an open loose collared white jacket with no shirt underneath, showing a muscular physique. He is also wearing blue cargo pants tied up with a white belt. He has on white bandages on his legs, and has a chain hanging from the belt loop on the right side of his pants. The Faunus boy gets up on the side of the boat.
"Thanks for the ride, guys. Haha," He laughs before jumping off the side of the ship and landing on the dock walkway below. He starts running before jumping up into the air.
"You no good stowaway!" one crew member shouts out.
The Faunus boy is seen hanging on a lamp post upside down by his tail, unfolding a banana.
"Hey, a no good stowaway would've been caught. I'm a great stowaway," he says before moving his head to avoid a rock being thrown at him and looking down to see the two detectives from earlier walking up to him.
"Hey! Get down from there this instant," one detective says, only to end up with a banana peel on his face and growling at the Faunus boy.
The Faunus boy swings onto the top of the lamppost, laughing before he jumps over them and lands, rolling on the dock, before he starts running away from them. He races up the stairs to the street and runs over to where Team RWBY, Khazhak, and Lloyd are. As he passes by, everything goes in slow motion as he turns to Blake and winks at her, before the slow motion stops and he runs past them with the detectives in tow.
"Well, Weiss, you wanted to see the competition, and there it goes," Yang points out.
Weiss raises a finger in the air, "Quick! We have to observe him!" She says and they all start running after him, except for Blake who remains spaced-out for a second before joining them.
They chase after the three runners and begin to catch up as the Faunus boy and the detectives run around one corner on the street. The group begin to make the turn as Weiss accidently runs into a person walking on the street and they both fall onto the ground. Everyone else stops and looks at the crash scene while Weiss raises her head to see the Faunus boy jump out of her sight as he evades the detectives.
"No, he got away!" Weiss shrieks.
"And onto more important business," Lloyd says, not caring about the Faunus boy.
"Uh, Weiss…" Yang points to the person underneath Weiss.
Weiss looks down to the person, a girl around their age, smiling at her. She flips out, quickly getting back on her feet.
The girl on the ground has short, rather curly orange hair coming down to her chin, and has a pink bow on the back of her head. She has bright green eyes, light skin and freckles. She is wearing an old-fashioned blouse with short feminine overalls, as well as a black and green collar with a matching pair of stockings. She also has on a small and thin backpack.
"Sal-u-tations," the girl says, waving her left hand at them while still on the ground.
"Um…hello," Ruby hesitantly replies.
"Are you…okay?" Yang hesitantly asks.
"I'm WONDERFUL. Thank you for asking," the girl replies, still not getting up as she continues to smile at them.
"That settles it, she's not a normal girl," Khazhak thinks to himself as everyone look at each other for a moment before looking back at her, starting to get a little creeped out by her.
"Do you…wanna get up?" Yang nervously asks again.
The girl thinks for a moment, "Yes," she says before pushing off her hands, jumping, and landing on her feet. The action makes everyone take a step back from her. "My name is Penny. It's a pleasure to meet you," the girl introduces herself as Penny.
"Hi Penny. I'm Ruby," Ruby introduces herself.
"I'm Weiss," Weiss says.
"Blake," Blake adds.
"Khazhak," Khazhak says.
"Are you sure you didn't hit your head?" Yang asks, only to have Blake hit her in the gut. "Oh, I'm Yang," she quickly corrects herself.
"Creepy," Lloyd whispers to Khazhak, who elbows him in his gut. "Oh, the name's Lloyd," he says.
"It's a pleasure to meet you," Penny says again.
"You already said that," Weiss points out.
"…So I did," Penny replies.
"Well, sorry for running into you," Weiss apologizes as they all turn away from Penny and walk away.
"Take care, friend," Ruby says, waving at Penny as she walks away.
As they are walking, Lloyd looks at Khazhak, "Yo brother, what's wrong?" he asks.
"There was something off about that girl. Something, not like normal girls," Khazhak whispers to him.
"She was…weird," Yang comments about Penny.
"Now, where did that Faunus riff-raff run off to?" Weiss questions as they continue their search for the Faunus boy from earlier…until they all look to see Penny standing right in front of them.
"What did you call me?" Penny asks.
"Oh, I'm really sorry! I definitely didn't think you heard me," Yang quickly apologizes while Khazhak and Lloyd look back, wondering how she got in front of them.
"No, not you," Penny says before walking past everyone and right up to Ruby, "You," she says.
"Me?! I-I don't know, I-," Ruby stutters.
"You called me 'friend'. Am I really your friend?" Penny hopefully asks.
"Um…" Ruby starts and looks behind Penny for help. Yang is crossing her arms in an "X" for no, Blake is waving her hands and shaking her head "no", Weiss is making a throat slicing motion with her hand for "no", Lloyd is shaking his head "no", and Khazhak just shrugs his shoulders. "Y-yeah, sure. Why not?" Ruby says, making everyone behind Penny, except for Khazhak, to fall on the ground in disbelief.
Penny pumps her fists into the air, "Sen-sational! We can paint our nails, and try on clothes, and talk about cute boys!" she cheers.
Ruby groans as Weiss shakes the dust off her clothes, "Oh, is this what it was like when you met me?" Ruby barely asks in a whisper.
"No, she seems FAR more coordinated," Weiss replies.
"So, what are you doing in Vale?" Yang asks.
"I'm here to fight in the tournament," Penny answers.
"Wait, you're fighting in the tournament?" Weiss questions, unconvinced.
"I'm combat ready," Penny says with a salute of her right arm.
"The way she talks, the way she acts. Is it possible that she could be…?" Khazhak thinks to himself.
"Forgive me, but, you hardly look the part," Weiss comments.
"This from the girl in the dress," Khazhak points out.
"It's a combat skirt!" Weiss defends her attire.
Ruby immediately shoots over to Weiss' left, "Yeah!" she supports Weiss, and gives her a low high-five, making Khahzhak facepalm.
"Wait a minute," Weiss says and walks up to Penny, grabbing her shoulders. "If you're here for the tournament, does that mean you know that monkey-tailed…rapscallion?" Weiss questions her, making Blake and Khazhak angry at her words.
"The who?" Penny asks.
Weiss pulls out a poorly drawn picture of the Faunus boy, "The filthy Faunus from the boat!" she says.
"Why do you keep saying that?" Blake angrily asks, her patience growing thin.
"Huh?" Weiss asks.
"Stop calling him a rapscallion! Stop calling him a degenerate! He's a person!" Blake defends the Faunus boy as she walks up to Weiss.
"Oh, I'm sorry. Would you like me to stop referring to the trashcan as a trashcan? Or this lamppost as a lamppost?!" Weiss taunts her as she gestures to the two inanimate objects.
"Stop it!" Blake yells at her, getting even angrier.
"Stop what?! He clearly broke the law. Give him time, he'll probably join up with those other Faunus in the White Fang," Weiss says.
Blake clenches her left fist, "Ugh, YOU IGNORANT LITTLE BRAT!" Blake screams and walks away, shocking Weiss.
"How DARE you talk to me like that! I am your teammate!" Weiss yells back as she walks up to Blake.
"You are a judgmental, little girl," Blake criticizes her.
"What in the world makes you say that?!" Weiss asks.
"This isn't looking good, brother," Lloyd mutters to Khazhak.
"This is why I had Reaper take Porphyrius back. This is starting to get out of hand," Khazhak says, crossing his arms.
Yang moves over to Ruby, "Uh, I think we should probably go," she says as Weiss and Blake continue to argue.
"Where are we going," Penny asks, smiling as Ruby can only close her eyes at the argument before them.
"-solely based on his species make you just as much of a scoundrel as you believe him to be!" Blake argues at Weiss.
"So you admit it! The White Fang is just a radical group of terrorists!" Weiss points out.
"That's not what I meant and you know it!" Blake argues back.
…Back at Beacon, in Team RWBY's dorm, at night…
The group headed back to Beacon and are now in Team RWBY's dorm room. Porphyrius and Reaper joined them after Porphyrius calmed down, but Reaper and Lloyd were holding him back just in case he loses it again. Weiss and Blake continue to argue while Ruby, Yang, and all of Team KEPL look on in worry. Weiss and Blake are sitting on their respective beds.
"I don't understand why this is causing such a problem!" Weiss argues.
"That IS the problem!" Blake points out.
Weiss stand up, "You realize you're defending an organization that hates humanity, don't you? The Faunus of the White Fang are pure evil!" Weiss says while crossing her arms.
Blake now stands up, "There's no such thing as pure evil! Why do you think they hate humanity so much? It's because of people like Cardin, people like YOU, that force the White Fang to take such drastic measures!" Blake yells back.
"People like me?!" Weiss questions her.
"You're DISCRIMINATORY!" Blake shouts back.
"I'm a VICTIM!" Weiss quickly retorts.
Everyone is quiet for a moment from Weiss' declaration.
"A victim? Of what?" Khazhak mentally questions, not buying it.
"You want to know WHY I despise the White Fang. Why I don't particularly trust the Faunus," Weiss says as she walks to the desk in front of their dorm window, placing her hands on it. "It's because they've been at war with my family for years. WAR, as in actual bloodshed. My grandfather's company has had a target painted across its back for as long as I can remember. And ever since I was a child, I've watched family friends disappear, board members executed, an entire train car full of dust, stolen," Weiss sadly mentions. "And every day, my father would come home, furious, and that made for a very difficult childhood," she angrily says, clenching her right fist and hitting the desk with it.
"So your father released his anger on you, huh? Just gives me one more reason to bring judgment upon him when the time comes. But, that doesn't make your beliefs about Faunus right, foolish girl," Khazhak thinks to himself as he watches the scene.
Ruby walks up to Weiss and places a hand on her shoulder, "Weiss, I-," she starts, but Weiss quickly turns around, furious.
"NO!" she yells and walks back to Blake. "You want to know why I despise the White Fang. It's because they're a bunch of liars, thieves, and MURDERERS!" she angrily yells at Blake.
Blake had had it, "Well, maybe WE were just tired of being pushed around!" Blake yells back, but a moment later realizes that she just revealed her secret as Weiss steps back out of shock, as Ruby and Yang look back in shock.
"And so the cat gets let out of the bag," Khazhak mentally says, already knowing about Blake being a Faunus long ago.
"I-I…" Blake stutters, stepping back for a moment before racing out of the room in fear.
"BLAKE! Wait! Come back!" Ruby yells, going to run after her before Khazhak's arm stops her.
"Porphyrius, go! Stay with Blake," Khazhak orders Porphyrius, who quickly nods and runs after her. He looks back at Weiss, who has an angry expression on her face, but starts to reel back at seeing Khazhak giving her a death glare. "Porphyrius will stay with her for now. I suggest the rest of you get some sleep. You ALL have some things to think about. Team KEPL, let's return to our dorm," Khazhak says as he and his teammates leave the room.
As they leave, Reaper walks up to him, "You sure Porphyrius will be alright?" he asks.
"Porphyrius will be fine. It's Blake I'm more concerned with. We'll begin searching for them in the morning," Khazhak says.
"And what about Weiss?" Reaper inquires.
Khazhak sighs, "Let's just hope that she can get past this racism of hers soon. For HER sake," Khazhak mutters as he grasps his right blade. "I'd rather not hurt Ruby's friend, but I won't hesitate to bring judgment upon her if she continues to act like this," Khazhak darkly says as they continue walking.
…In the Beacon courtyard…
Blake keeps running until she ends up in front of the school statue in the courtyard. She sadly looks up at one of the warriors of the statue before looking down at the Beowolf below it. She then slowly reaches up and unties the bow on her head. When she pulls it off, she wipes a tear from her eye as her Faunus cat ears are revealed.
"So that's what was underneath the bow," a voice mentions.
Blake looks back to see Porphyrius, "What, Porphyrius? What do you want? Come to insult me, or fight me because I'm a Faunus, or bring me back?" she tearfully asks.
Porphyrius walks up to her, "No, Khazhak only gave me orders to follow you until I'm told otherwise. I knew you were a Faunus long ago. Besides, believe it or not, I understand how you feel," Porphyrius says, shocking Blake.
"What do you-," Blake begins before she's interrupted.
"I knew you would look better without the bow," a voice from behind says and they both turn to see who it is.
…The next day, in Vale…
Team RWBY, minus Blake, and Team KEPL, minus Porphyrius, walk down the streets of Vale in search of their teammates.
"She's been gone all weekend," Ruby sadly says, worried about Blake.
"Porphyrius is with her, so at least she has some backup in case of an emergency," Khazhak notes as they continue walking.
"Blake's a big girl. I'm sure she can handle herself," Weiss comments, not seeming to care about Blake at all.
"Weiss, come on. She's one of our teammates," Yang defends Blake.
"Is she? We all heard what she said," Weiss questions her.
"Weiss…" Ruby says, starting to get a little annoyed at Weiss' attitude.
"Maybe she is, maybe she isn't. Either way, she's missing and we need to find her," Yang further defends Blake.
"A member of the White Fang, right underneath our noses," Weiss says.
"We don't know that for sure," Reaper points out, before noticing Khazhak about to go ballistic.
"I just hope she's okay," Ruby mutters.
"Weiss…" Khazhak turns to her.
Weiss looks at him, only to get hit in the face and sent flying by his fist. Ruby and Yang look on in shock at what just happened.
Weiss groans in pain while Ruby and Yang check on her as Khazhak and his teammates look on.
…At a local café in Vale…
Meanwhile, at a local café in another part of the city, Blake is sitting at one table, taking a sip of her tea cup, before looking at Porphyrius sitting next to her and then looking at a third individual. The third person turns out to be the Monkey Faunus from the dock, who introduced himself as Sun Wukong. Currently, Sun is looking at her for a moment before taking a sip out of his own cup that he was holding with his tail.
"So…You want to know more about me," Blake says.
…Back with RWBY and KEPL…
"Khazhak, what are you doing?!" Ruby asks as she looks at Khazhak while Yang helps Weiss back onto her feet.
"What I should've done long ago…" Khazhak begins as he takes out his left sword with his right hand, extending it to its combat form. "…Bring judgment upon the people who harm the weak and the innocent. And bring judgment upon the family that ruined Porphyrius' life," he says, narrowing his eyes at Weiss.
"Khazhak…" Ruby mutters in shock and disbelief.
And that's the chapter. It seems Khazhak's patience with Weiss has finally run out. As for Porphyrius, we'll learn more about him next chapter. Will Weiss survive Khazhak's wrath? Will the two teams find their missing teammates? Until then, please Read and Review.