AN: Alright, here we go. This should run every day until it goes back to normal on Monday. The next few chapters are gonna delve back into Auron's background in detail. It'll tell about from when the Crimson Lance attacked in force to the day he left for Vale. This arc also has one hell of an ending too. I thought back to one time in my life for the inspiration. Stay tuned for that. This also goes into detail about his house that I forgot to add in the prologue. Please enjoy!

XxXxX

You Or Them

Auron awoke to the sound of an explosion near the edge of his family's property. His house was two stories tall and had at least one window for every room. Where Auron's room was situated in the a corner of the second floor, it had a window and a small balcony. The window was where his desk was, with the desk under it, on the far side of the wall from his bed. The door to the balcony was straight across from the door that gave access to his room.

The house itself was built by his father and a family friend in their younger days. Its walls were made of red cedar and the floors were dark oak. The rooms on the second floor mostly had small balconies to sit on, and had small canopies over them to keep the weather and sun off of the occupant. The roof was mostly slanted and the top was flattened out, giving ten feet of walking room. The stairs that led to the roof were located in the attic, which had a set of folding stairs that entered the hallway below. It had taken Smoke five years to build the house, but he didn't have to pay anything to keep it other than the electricity and water bill, so it was worth it to him.

At the sound of the explosion, Auron jumped up and immediately picked up his weapons. He ran into the second floor hallway of the house and caught up to his father. A man only slightly shorter than Auron himself and was less toned than his son in his aging body of forty-five, but he would still be a challenging opponent in any fight. Smoke had the family trait of bright auburn eyes and had his hair cut short, almost bald. His beard was the opposite, it was thick, reaching his chest and peppered with black and grey.

"Dad, what the hell's goin' on!?" Auron asked as he caught up to Smoke.

"I don't know, son. But it's probably the damn Fang again." Smoke answered in annoyance.

"They really ain't gonna stop, are they? What're we gonna do?" Auron asked, seeing Smoke load his rifle with burn rounds.

"I guess we'll have to fight 'em… again."

The White Fang were near the house when Auron and Smoke broke open the front door, shooting at their assailants with a hail of dust rounds. The powerful shots easily found their mark and took out a few lower-tier grunts before they returned fire, causing the two to fall back into the doorway.

From what they figured out early on when the White Fang assaulted them, the regular, run-of-the-mill soldiers didn't have their auras unlocked to their full capabilities. The only advantage they had over the two were their numbers.

Muzzle flashes and multi-colored gunsmoke filled the night sky, leaving the smell of burning dust in the air. From what they could see, they counted twenty to thirty armed White Fang soldiers, including the ones brought down in the beginning of the fight.

"Are they actually tryin' now?" Auron asked before he shot at the grunts through the open window.

"Seems like it. Just be careful." Smoke replied as he stepped into the doorway to unload his rifle into the group of attackers.

A bullet went past Auron and slammed into the far wall. He glance at his father and grinned. "I'm glad we moved all o' mom's little statue things. She'd have a fit if they got broke."

Smoke laughed as he shot his full culinder of rounds. "You're damn right about that. That was good thinkin' on your part."

Auron grinned and thought of something. "Hey dad, I got an idea!" He said before he left and returned a few moments later with a baseball-sized burn crystal.

Seeming to know what his son meant, Smoke transformed his rifle into its warhammer form, with a large head that looked like a high-tech sledgehammer more than anything. He prepared to swing as Auron tossed the crystal in the air, then Smoke swung his hammer underhanded and sent the crystal toward the Fang.

Auron tracked it and when it got close enough, he shot the crystal and they both watched it explode, sending grunts in every direction and taking down a quarter of the small force. Auron took hold of Last Call's stock and transformed it to its melee form, letting the blade extend all the way, and rushed out the door, followed by Smoke with his weapon, Jackhammer.

"Time to put that that thing to the test, huh?" Smoke said to his son with a small grin.

"I would've liked to use it against Pyrrha first, but it can't be helped." Auron replied.

By the time the soldiers re-focused their eyes from the blast, Auron and Smoke reached them. Auron tried to make sure he only knocked them out, he cut at them until their guard was down, then sent his aura through his right hand to throw powerful punches at their heads. The concussive force of his fist rocked their brains and knocked them out. Smoke couldn't care less about them. He struck with all his force, swinging at them with a side attack that sent two people flying far away, landing next to a cloaked figure that was walking toward the fight. Smoke brought his hammer up and around and slammed a soldier straight into the ground, then he brought it back up and slammed it into the side of another's leg.

After another minute of fighting, the soldiers were caught off guard by the cloaked man assaulting them from behind, bringing down most of the ones left with his silent revolvers before they knew what hit them.

"Damn it! Fall back!" The leader told the remainder of his men and they ran, leaving their comrades behind.

The two defenders met with the man and sighed in relief as he slid his hood off. "Damn, you're a sight for sore eyes, Preach. I'm glad ya made it." Smoke said as he gave the veteran Ranger a strong bearhug.

Preacher was a thin, older man in his mid fifties, but he could move around the battlefield with ease and silence like he was twenty. He was five feet and nine inches in height, his eyes were a dark shade of lavender and his hair was mostly gray with streaks of brown still visible. He used a silenced revolver as his weapon, with a blade attached under the barrel for close combat.

"Gah… let… go!" Preacher wheezed out and Smoke stepped back with a grin on his face, "Damn, you hug like an Ursa."

"How would you know what an Ursa hug feels like?" Auron asked with a smirk.

"Boy, I've been a Ranger for almost forty years an' I got even more left in me," Preacher looked up at the tall gunslingers and grinned, "You never know what shit can happen,"

"Anyway, what in the world have you boys got yourselves into? The hell is the White Fang doin' here?"

"They want what we know. An' they won't take 'get the fuck off our property' for an answer." Auron said with tiredness in his voice, then noticed the emblem on the back of one of their attackers' outfits.

It didn't look like the normal White Fang emblem. This one had the beast head facing forward, rather than to the side, with two sets of three crossed claw marks behind it.

They noticed one grunt stirring, trying to raise himself from the ground, and walked over to him. Auron grabbed the man by the collar and lifted him from the ground with one hand and held him in the air.

"Why do you people keep comin' after us!?" He yelled the question at the grunt, who grinned in return.

"You horde your knowledge from those that would make better use of it. The Crimson Lance will-" Auron changed his grip to the man's throat and slammed him into the ground, knocking him out.

"The hell's the Crimson Lance?" He asked, looking back to Smoke and Preacher.

Preacher rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "The Crimson Lance… that could be real bad news." He said, looking closely now at one of the emblems.

"You know about 'em?" Smoke asked and reloaded his rifle with bolt rounds.

"Yep. They're big fuckin' trouble. They're a more ruthless branch of the White Fang, usually operatin' on their own. We're in for a fight, let me tell ya," Preacher said and stood from his kneeling position.

"It's what you get for buildin' your house out here instead of a village or actually in Mistral."

"You know I don't care for the damn paperwork for that shit," Smoke replied, "An' I like the location."

Preacher rolled his eyes. "'Cause a house in the middle of a swampy clearin' looks pretty." He joked.

"If Kathy didn't like it so much, we would've already moved. An' besides, there was battles that went on around here from the Great War. Got a good amount of scrap an' dust over the years left over from that, still a lot more to go, too."

Auron looked at the emblem on the back of one of the grunts and took a deep breath. "Preacher, can any of the other Rangers help out?" He asked while looking around the field once again.

Preacher went from playful bantering with his old friend to serious in an instant as he turned toward Auron. "Hell, I don't know. I know Emowyn an' Erron's still in Mistral right now, but with the Gatherin' about to happen they'll probably be headin' out after the others soon. I can try to contact 'em sooner, maybe they'd lend a hand real quick."

"In any case, what do we do about these wastes o' space?" Smoke asked, gesturing to the Crimson Lance grunts sprawled on the muddy ground.

"Shit, I'll just call the police too. See if they'll come out here and get 'em." Preacher said as he brought out his scroll. While he was preoccupied with the police, Auron and Smoke moved to bind all of the unconscious grunts.

Preacher finished filing a report with the Mistralian police quickly and set up a group call with the other two Rangers, each answering after a few moments.

"Dust, Preacher, do you know what time it is?" Erron asked, trying to shake the sleep from his eyes.

"Yeah, Erron, I do. It's about one-thirty in the God damn mornin'." Preacher replied in annoyance.

"What's wrong?" Emowyn asked.

"Alright, you both know Smoke an' Auron Karmine an' how they got their knowledge of dust forgin' an' shit, right?" Preacher started, then both Erron and Emowyn confirmed. "The thing is, they got the Crimson Lance after 'em because of it. We just got finished fightin' 'em off not too long ago at Smoke's house. They got to have a hideout near here, so we're askin' for a favor. We could use a couple extra pairs of hands."

The two took a few moments to digest the information. "Alright, we're on our way. We'll send word ahead that we might not be at the Gathering." Emowyn said to him.

"Don't risk drivin' here. They might see you," Preacher suggested and looked toward the forest, "But get here as fast as you can." He said and the call was ended.

Preacher put his scroll up and walked toward the others.

"How long d'you think they'll keep tryin' this?" Auron asked his father while tying the last man's hands behind his back and binding his feet together.

"From what I know, they ain't gonna stop for anything. In all honesty, the Fang are like children. They keep throwin' their little tantrums to try an' get what they want. Whoever it was that took over really twisted 'em the wrong way. They were actually peaceful once." Smoke replied as Preacher came up to the two.

"They say that they'll be here as soon as they can. So I suggest we just sit back on the porch," The old Ranger said as he walked past them, "I'm gettin' too old for this shit."

While they waited for the police and the Rangers to show up, they each gave their weapons a bit of maintenance. Auron cleaned every part of his revolvers with oil, taking the cylinders out as he did so, and then disassembled Last Call. He checked the receiver thoroughly to make sure that it was undamaged and oiled it everywhere he could get the rag, along with cleaning the stock. He put his weapon back together and went to hone the already razor sharp blade, then passed the oil over to Smoke.

Smoke had his revolver-rifle disassembled also. His was more complex than Auron's weapon, and larger considering that it could transform into a warhammer with the stock morphing into the head of it. As he was finished with oiling Jackhammer's parts, he reassembled it and gave the oil over to Preacher.

His was the simplest of all their weapons, only being a silenced and bladed revolver he called Bear Tooth. Like Auron's, he only had to remove the cylinder from it to oil, then sharpened the blade.

"I'm gonna go make up some coffee, considerin' we'll be up the rest o' the night. You two want some?" Smoke asked as he stood from the table. Auron and Preacher nodded, then Smoke disappeared to the kitchen.

"While your dad's doin' that, I'm gonna go back outside an' watch for the police an' the others." Preacher said and stepped out the front door.

Auron knew the two Rangers from what Preacher had said about them. Emowyn and Erron were two of the youngest Rangers with two years of experience from both of them, and were very close friends to the old man. If they needed three Rangers, then Auron knew this was a bad situation to be in.

Preacher walked back to the porch where both Auron and Smoke were waiting with coffee. "I saw some lights comin' this way, so I guess that's the police."

Smoke sighed and took a drink from his coffee. "They're gonna ask us the same shit an' were gonna tell 'em the same."

"Yeah. I know how annoyin' that is," Preacher replied as he took a seat, "I don't know how long it'll take for Emowyn an' Erron to get here. I told 'em not to drive here 'cause the Lance might be watchin'."

"That's a smart move." Smoke said and started seeing the vehicles come into view along with their flashing lights.

The next hour was spent with the police arresting the Crimson Lance grunts, putting the deceased ones into trucks and vans, and questioning the three defenders. It was the usual questions when this happened. Questions like 'What reasons would they have?' And 'How many times does this make?' The questions were the same as before. The answers were the same as before. The police would come to retrieve the bodies and the survivors, but would not spare the manpower to help with defending or even looking for the Lance. Anima was just too large of a continent to have the police cover everywhere, so they only patrol the most important villages and the capital.

The Crimson Lance had never tried an assault like this. They usually sent small teams to poke and prod them, testing them. Now, it seemed like the Crimson Lance were ready to bring war to them.

With all of the grunts, dead or otherwise, loaded up into the vehicles, Smoke, Auron, and Preacher went into the house to set up a room to plan for anything.

Nearly thirty minutes after the police left with the prisoners, there was a knock on the door. "Come on in!" Smoke called out. As they walked in, they slid their hoods off, with Emowyn revealing her fox ears, and Auron led them to their makeshift planning room.

Emowyn Daturas was five feet and seven inches tall and had a light tan to her skin, along with dark red hair that extended just past her shoulder blades and she had violet eyes. Her fox ears were black fur. Her weapon of choice was a shortbow with long runes along the shaft that was colored red in tribal looking designs along the edges. It was called Firefly, using a string and actual arrows rather than dust arrows.

Erron Rowan was exactly six feet in height. Multiple breathing complications as a child forced him to wear a rebreather over his mouth most of the time. He modified it to be able to retract into a small pack on the back of his neck whenever he needed to eat or drink. He had short, almost jet-black hair to go along with his deep-red eyes. His weapon of choice was an ice dust enhanced, silenced combat rifle called Frostbite.

The two, just like all Rangers, excelled in silent combat.

They accepted the coffee from Smoke and they stood around the table in the room. "How'd you two get here so fast?" Preacher asked them.

"We caught a ride with the police," Emowyn answered and took a drink from her cup, "We walked after we reached the clearing."

"What's going on?" Erron asked.

"Well, long story short, we need some backup," Preacher started and looked through the both of them, "One old Ranger and two damn good gunslingers are all well an' good, but against the Crimson Lance it honsetly might not mean shit."

"But add two more Rangers to the mix an' we can do some damage," Auron said and looked through the three Rangers, "Ain't it a sayin', 'One riot, one Ranger?' What's that say for three?"

Emowyn and Erron looked at the just-turned seventeen year old boy skeptically. "How good are you under pressure, Auron?" Erron asked with a raised eyebrow.

The nearly seven foot tall boy gave a grin to the Ranger, "I can keep my head straight, if that's what you're askin'. I held my own against Pyrrha in the tournaments a while back. You know how damn good she is."

"Like I said, two damn good gunslingers," Preacher continued, "He was taught by the best fighter to never be a Hunter." He said and nodded toward Smoke.

Preacher was right. Smoke never truly became a Huntsman himself, having left Shade Academy in Vacuo years prior due to a heated disagreement with it's headmaster. It involved being severely cheated out of a tournament that was held by the headmaster, but was rigged to have his favored student look more capable than he was. The final fight ended prematurely to a chorus of boos and profane chants with Smoke's aura barely being under his opponent's and he was livid about it. He confronted the headmaster immediately after and knocked the man senseless with his hammer, then left with little word to anyone but his parents. The two were angry about it as well and paid his way to Mistral. He moved far away from Vacuo alone, took what he learned and expanded upon it himself, and taught his son what he knew. If his daughter had wanted it, he would've taught her as well.

'Only semblance of order in Vacuo my ass.' Smoke always said about Shade.

"Don't let the boy's age fool ya, he can fight like the devil if he's pushed." Smoke said, then they went back to the matter at hand.

"Alright. we'll take your word for it," Emowyn said to them, "First of all, we need to find out where their hideout is before we get ahead of ourselves," She brought out her scroll and projected a map of Smoke's property onto the table they surrounded, "Now, which direction did they come from?"

"How the hell do ya have a map of our land?" Auron asked in confusion.

"Oum, don't I teach you anything, boy?" Preacher asked and shook his head, "We got maps of everywhere. Just in case shit like this happens."

"Sorry, I guess I was too busy listinin' to you snorin' when you're here." Auron smirked at the old man.

"Aw shut up." Preacher grumbled and everyone laughed loudly, with the exception of the old man.

"Can we continue?" Smoke asked and looked around, seeing nods, "Alright. they came from the east side. They set off an explosion on the north side, but struck in force from the east." Smoke said as he pointed to the points he told Emowyn.

Erron pursed his lips in thought. "Hmm, so they're trying to confuse you with where they come from… The best lead we have is that they ultimately came from the east."

"Pretty much." Smoke replied.

"You might not like the suggestion I have." Emowyn said and drew everyones' attention.

"What would that be?" Preacher asked.

"Simple. We let them attack again. And then one of us can trail them back to their base," She suggested, then the room stayed silent. "It's your property, Smoke. Your decision."

He thought for a few moments as he took a long drink of his coffee. He set his cup down and sighed. "Alright, we'll let 'em attack again. Now, here's what I suggest we do. For the next day, four of us can set up defenses an' traps around the house an' the other will scout the area around the edge of the trees just in case they show up sooner than later. I think that Emowyn should scout it out, her semblance is better for that type o' thing,"

Emowyn's semblance allowed her to turn into a shadow, being able to infiltrate almost anywhere where there is darkness surrounding the area.

"I'm sure they got some o' their men to stay behind to scout us out," Smoke continued and looked to Emowyn, "I want you to take them out too, along with scoutin' for anyone else," He gestured around to everyone else, "The rest of us'll set the traps. Dust mines, spike pits, snares, anything like that. Then after they come here, Emowyn can follow 'em an' come back when she finds their base. For now, let's just get ready," Smoke turned back to Emowyn again, "In a few hours after you get rested, go out an' keep an eye on the Lance." He let his gaze fall to the table and shook his head.

"This is gonna be a long week."

XxXxX

AN: And that's the first chapter of the Karmine Arc. And the introduction of three more Rangers. Preacher, Emowyn, and Erron. Also, for the Karmine family and Preacher, I took inspiration from another book series. The First /Last Mountain Man. If you like a good western that has action, then I can fully recommend them.

See you next chapter, and have a nice day!