Hello everybody! Welcome back to RWBY BA! Not much else to say, so here's the next chapter! And thanks again to my beta reader!


Beta Reader: Ruby's Knight


There's no easy way to describe anything that's happening right now. I watched in amazement as the blood covering Arslan's neck flowed right back into her stab wound. Oh my gods— how is this possible? I raised my still sparking hands. Not a single drop of blood remained on them or my clothes. It doesn't make sense! My Stand ability can't do anything like this! Or could it? I shook my head. If whatever I'm doing is keeping her alive… I'll take it, Stand ability or not!

I shrugged off my cape and started binding it around her neck like a tight scarf. This should keep the blood within her for awhile, at least until we manage to get back to the Bullheads and get Arslan some actual help. Alright, I got this. I tightened the piece of cloth with one final snap. That should be enough pressure to stop the blood flow. I hope it doesn't choke her. With that, I slung the girl over my shoulders. Whew boy! She's pretty hard to carry… But not too bad. I adjusted myself. Now, where are those markings from before… there! A series of small nicks and cuts on several trees formed a dotted line back to the clearing. At least I hope that's the case.

With a grunt, I started back towards the clearing with the girl over my shoulders. My leg muscles burned not even a couple of steps later. Sweat slid down my face. My legs wobbled with the weight of one girl's life literally on my shoulders. Oh man, this isn't good. I might collapse again. First when carrying Penny a few months ago, and now? It might be a good idea after all to put in some more effort during weight training. No! I took a long, sharp breath. We're not going to die now! Keep going, Ruby!

That static feeling sparked through my body yet again quickly, stretching down to my legs before fading away. All of a sudden, the burning sensation in my legs just… stopped. I blinked. What? I feel better. No, even stronger than before! It's like the exhaustion I felt from the fight disappeared completely! Just what is this thing, this power that's helping me right now?

I shook my head. Focus on what's most important, Ruby. I can think about what's going on when Arslan's safe. Just focus on finding a place that can give her medical attention for her wounds. Let's see… My eyes flickered up the hill. Next mark is right here. From the looks of it, Arslan and I have been running downhill for awhile. Thank gods I thought of making marks even while I was running. That makes it a bit easier for me to not get lost, I have to admit.

A wet cough escaped from the person behind me as she spat a bit of the iron-scented liquid over my shoulder. Arslan must be coming to her senses now. Should I lay her down for a moment? I don't think that her limbs are broken. However, she's in no condition to fight or escape. That I know for sure. Well… maybe I can give her a bit more time to recover. It wouldn't hurt.

But at the same time, her being aware means that she can summon her Stand. Maybe her body can't fight or run, but that doesn't matter with a Stand. Is it worth the risk? I wonder what's the right choice. I furrowed my eyebrows. Wait a minute. She's on my shoulder right now. Why don't I just ask her?

"Hey," I whispered as I gave her a gentle shake. Arslan groaned in response. I cleared my throat. "Um, are you okay back there? We can stop for a moment if you want."

She let out another wet cough before nodding. "Give me… a moment… to stop my bleeding… Ow, my head. It's really hard… really hard to focus."

"Will you promise not to attack me while you patch yourself up?"

The girl nodded. "Yes… I swear it… on the Altan family name." With that, I brought her to the nearest tree I could find and seated her against its trunk. Arslan grabbed the red fabric around her neck and started unwrapping it. At the same time, she rubbed her forehead. "Ow… I think I can focus again, but I could use an aspirin and some sleep." She pressed my prized possession into my hands. "Take your cape back. If I get this done right, I… I won't have to worry about reopening my wound."

Arslan cracked her hands before careening her neck to the side. "THROUGH FIRE AND FLAMES,」" she whispered. That familiar red and yellow Stand appeared in front of her. The same Stand I fought and risked my life against. The female Stand didn't spare me a glance, instead focusing on forming a gooey glob of red wax in the palm of her hand. I watched partly in awe, partly in wariness as Arslan's Stand spent a long time rubbing the wax over her master's stab wound. So far she hasn't tried to make a move. Maybe she is keeping her promise after all.

Not even a second after I thought that, the bucklers slammed into place along the fists of THROUGH FIRE AND FLAMES,causing me to flinch. However, the Stand didn't turn around. It instead pressed gently against the waxed section of her user's neck. And like that, the wax flattened out. It didn't flatten her neck entirely. Maybe half a centimeter was lost at most. Maybe even less.

A sigh escaped Arslan's mouth as a hand slid down the wound mark. It's completely filled in. "Alright. This will keep the blood in me until my Aura kicks back in." She leaned back, calling off her Stand as she stared at me in the eyes. Maybe a minute passed where we didn't say anything. We just stared at each other. I shifted nervously. Should I say something to keep us going? That would be the best solution right now. We still have a lot of ground to cover, after all. But it's going to be really awkward trying to start a conversation with the person I nearly killed, so what's the best choice? What if I make her angry or something trying to say something—

"Why did you keep me alive?" That caught me off ground.

I gave her a couple of blinks. "... What? I'm not really following."

Another sigh as the blonde girl's gaze flickered to a random tree. "As I was patching myself up, I was thinking to myself, about— about everything that's happened. The moment I saw that… that hand knife approaching me, I thought I failed for sure. A minor mistake like that claimed a lot of my family members. One small error made so close to victory ended their life, just like that. As I laid there bleeding, I thought about how I failed my family duty of protecting the Arrow, how I failed my parents by going after it against their wishes. I've accomplished nothing fighting you, and I deserved death as a result. But I'm still here right now. Why did you try to save me?"

I rubbed the back of my neck. "Um… I guess I didn't want you to die."

"What? That's it?" Arslan sat up. "You just… decided to help me? Even after what I said about my view? Even after I tried to kill you myself? You just decide to show me mercy?"

"Yup." I plopped down on the floor right next to her. "Well… how do I explain this? You're a good person, doing a great thing. Hunting after the Arrow for the sake of your family… how can I hurt a person doing their best to protect the people they love? You're trying to do the same thing that my group is doing. Maybe it's for slightly different reasons, but our goals are the same. And if someone like that is hurt, especially by my own hand, I have to do everything to protect them as well." I shrugged my shoulders. "It's the right thing to do as somebody who has the power of the Stands, as a Remnan."

I started clipping my cape around me again. "My Mom always believed that. Good people have to do everything they can to right the world. I won't stand for any kind of injustice whatsoever. I won't always be right. I'll make a lot of mistakes. Maybe I will fail, and slip up, and end up sharing my Mom's fate. Maybe evil people will take the Arrow when my group finds it, rendering our search useless. But believe me when I say I'll throw my own life away if it means making this world safe from Stands and the Arrow."

Arslan pulled herself up. "I know I said before that words mean nothing to me. Anybody can say whatever they want, but they rarely ever put any weight or intent into their words. They never back it up. And I said before your eyes don't tell a lie. Your choice to save me proved it. And for that, I will be thankful."

She rolled her neck a couple of times before walking up to me. "You really do believe in what you're saying. I have no doubt that you'll make sure that the Arrow will be taken back once and for all. While I can't say the same for your teammates, I can at least be happy knowing you won't let anyone get away. So, I would like to make a deal. A deal between us and only us." The robed girl offered out a hand. "We work together in taking back the Arrow, as comrades and allies. What do you say?"

I smiled, taking her hand almost immediately and giving it a firm shake. "Deal." For the first time since I met her, Arslan gave me a small smile. "So…" I started after we released our hands. "We should find our way back. It would be suspicious if Nebula and Sun came back to find us gone."

"But what about that Cupid monster? Shouldn't we go after it right now while we still know its location?"

"I think it'll be fine. Jaune did say he managed to get a solid hit in, so it can't possibly go that far. Plus, it'll be less suspicious if we had the rest of our team with us instead of just us two. We'll avoid angering anybody else."

"Good point." Arslan turned her head towards the markings and started going downhill. "Let's go."

"Um, Arslan?" I scratched my head. "The meeting spot is uphill."

"It is?" She turned around immediately. "Then uphill we go."


Most of our walk upwards was uneventful. We mainly walked in silence, following the marks back to where Nebula separated from us. Before we knew it, we were back where we started. Not much of the clearing changed from our fight. Most of the damage caused by Arslan's Stand had disappeared from sight. It was like there was no fight in the first place. A collective sigh escaped from both of our mouths as we collapsed in the middle of the clearing.

"So… When do you think Sun and Nebula will get back here?" I groaned. "I don't think Sun was that far away from us."

"Who knows? We must've chased each other for some time. There's no way they wouldn't have come back by now."

"That's because we just came back." Both of our heads shot up as Sun and Nebula burst through the thicket. The monkey Faunus gave us a cheeky smile as we waved at the both of us. "Sup, everyone? Sorry for making you girls wait. We ran into a pack of Grimm while we were traveling back and had to travel by tree. That wouldn't be much of a problem for me, but as for Nebula—"

"Hey! It's not my fault I don't have your agility!" The girl gave Sun a pout. "I mean all I have to work with is my hands, while you got that tail and— Oop!" She clamped her both shut with both hands. "Was that racist? I mean, I really didn't mean to offend or say anything bad about your… your Faunus trait but I'm sorry if I did and—"

"Whoa! Relax!" Sun waved his hands to stop her. "It's not racist to mention that I have a tail! It's just a fact!" A mischievous grin crawled up his face. "Although it is kinda offensive to try and backtrack on your words by implying that there's something wrong with calling my tail a tail. You know—" Nebula turned deathly pale hearing that. "Geez! I'm joking! Don't be so uptight about my tail!"

Nebula jabbed him in the arm. "Jerk!"

The monkey Faunus winced. "Ooh, that was a nice jab," Sun snarked as he rubbed the aching arm. "Didn't hurt at all. Nope." He gave his arm a couple more rubs. "But let's be serious now. From what I got from Nebula, we have to change our meeting spot?"

I nodded. "One person got wounded, so we're instead converging towards one of the groups." I pulled out the scroll our group found. "Thankfully, we can just navigate our way to them using the CCT, so all we need to do is pull up the map and— Oh gods no."

Sun's eyebrows flew up. "Huh? What's wrong, Ruby?"

My mouth dried up as I saw the flickering map screen. Our location refused to place itself in one set location. "Um… How can I best describe this? The map app is acting… a little wonky."

"What?" Nebula contorted her face in confusion. "The map's looking wonky? But it worked the last time we tried it!" She started towards me. "There's no way there could be a malfunction right now— Oh gods."

"Okay, seriously guys. I know I like to poke fun at things, but this vague guessing game is starting to worry me. Give it to me straight." Sun ran his hand through his hair. "What's wrong with the map app on the scroll?"

"Just our luck," Nebula moaned. "The kidnappers must be jamming our signal. Gwen, that crazy girl, once bought a jammer for a prank. It worked exactly like this." We all let out a collective groan. Really? A jammer? How in the world are we gonna get out of this forest now? I mean, there is the paper map we have— no, that's useless, since we specifically only marked our location and the previous meeting spot. Uh…

Arslan let out a hum. "That doesn't make sense though. These kidnappers kept these scrolls here in an emergency, right? Why would they have a jammer specifically made to mess with their emergency scrolls?"

"Who knows? Everything that's happened tonight has been a total mess. Why wouldn't they have a jammer for some stupid reason?" Nebula rubbed her eyes. "But this situation is absolutely insane. How can anyone find their way back together with all of these random things going on? It's basically impossible at this rate!"

I puckered my lips. "Maybe not… Well, think about it this way. Just like how the kidnappers have more than one scroll hidden in the forest, why would we only have one way to signal to each other?"

Sun nodded, eyes widened as he followed my train of thought. "Yeah, right! No Huntsman would ever have just one method of signaling for help or rescue! Usually, they call for help on the CCT and that would be that. But if they can't, they can use an object that can reflect light as a makeshift signal. If they don't have that—"

I nodded, looking towards the sky. Everyone else looked up with me and gasped. A trail of smoke flowed up through the moonlit night. I finished his words: "Then you light a fire."


I gritted my teeth as another blast of ice Dust escaped from Myrtenaster. Cold air washed over me as the wave of ice traveled through the burning camp, smacking one of the bounding Creep in the chest. The monster didn't even get to make a single sound before it was completely encased in ice. It won't be long until the low temperatures kill off the monster.

But there wasn't a moment to relax. Several other Creep swerved around or straight up leaped over the ice pillars, baring their teeth as they made a beeline towards me. The deafening roar of a shotgun round rang loud in my ears, which was followed by one of the incoming Grimm flying off to the side. Yang pounced in a second later, engaging with her chosen target. Blake came in just a second later, jumping up and slamming both of her blades into a Creep's back. With a twist of the blade, her Creep swerved right into the rest of the charging pack, knocking them all out.

"Bum— bum— bum. And another one bites the dust," Yang hummed as one final punch decapitated a Creep. She turned around and looked at the pileup of Grimm between us two. "Thanks Blake! I'll take care of these guys!"

"Yang, you're better off making sure there aren't any more Grimm still in the forest!" I flicked the Dust cylinder on my weapon. "I'll take care of this pack!" A flick of the wrist sent a wave of heat soaring through the air, quickly followed by the roaring sound of fire. Unnerving screams pierced through the air as the flames latched upon the fur of the Grimm and ate at them. The smell of smoke and burning oil reached my nose, causing my eyes to water. No, not now Weiss. You can worry about that smell when all of the Grimm are gone.

A groan came out from the blonde brawler. "Aw, come on! There's another pack coming our way! Why do they keep coming?" My frown deepened hearing Yang declare that. Another pack of Creep? There's no way! Did this camp have the misfortune of being built near a Creep nest, or, heavens forbid, on an actual Creep's nest? Did the signal jammer happen to send out a signal that attracts Creep? How is this possible?

I checked the amount of Dust left remaining in each cylinder. All but one ice Dust vial remained filled; my supply of lightning Dust is non-existent. I just burned through the rest of my fire Dust. One vial remaining out of six. I wanted to slap myself. There's no way we could have the terrible luck to just run into a colony of these things! Especially considering Creep prefer to stay away from Remnans. A colony so close to Beacon? How did everyone miss that?

We need a new plan. One that can take care of the Creep while freeing the signal for our scrolls. "Yang! Blake! Stop focusing on killing them! I need you guys to draw their attention for as long as possible!" I jabbed my rapier towards the camp. "We need to destroy the jammer first! I'm running out of Dust; I'll go after the machine!"

If they heard me, they didn't show it. However, they broke off and went their separate ways. Buckshot peppered the Creep on one side while pistol rounds dotted the Creep on the other. Sure enough, the group started diverging, each half moving to surround and kill the annoyances. Now that I don't have to worry about being attacked, I turned and started pushing into the camp.

The scenery got more grisly every step I took into the encampment. What was blood streaks close to the outskirts took on the rough shape of humanoid beings in dreadful positions. Whether it was a fetal position the silhouette of a person crawling away, every blood spot got my stomach to churn. It was impossible to tell who died where, however, the agonizing positions each figure took on painted a fairly clear picture of the agony they must've been through before their untimely deaths.

My eyes lingered a lot longer than they should on a bloody figure with a hand stretched towards the machete sitting right out of their reach. Like the other bloody marks, there wasn't anybody to accompany the stain. Thank the gods for that. A sigh escaped my mouth as I stared at the marking. Poor soul. They don't deserve a fate like that.

I shook my head in frustration. Now's not the time, Weiss. These are the remains of kidnappers and most likely slave drivers. You're here to find the jammer, not feel sorry for the kidnappers who took Ruby! Now, where would a group of kidnappers keep a signal jammer? Let's see… I know I would put it inside, away from the elements. I wouldn't want anybody to find it. So that brings it down to about eight or so tents.

Maybe I should try the radio tent? I looked at the only tent with an antenna sticking out from the top. It would make sense to keep all of the important electronics with each other. But maybe a jammer would be kept within the leader's tent. My eyes flickered to the massive tent with a flag on top. I couldn't make out which group it could belong to, mainly because it was a solid color. A jammer would be important enough that a bandit leader would need to activate it at a moment's notice. It's probably one of those two. The question now becomes which one should I choose?

Wait a minute, Weiss. This has a solution that's simpler than it looks. The communication tent is small. That's where I'll check first. If it's not there, I can move towards the leader's tent with no time wasted. It shouldn't be that pressing of a problem that Yang and Blake's lives would be in danger. I checked their Aura levels just to be sure. Both were still in the green. I have the time.

The communication tent was fairly quiet as I flipped open the flap. The only sound I can make out in the room was the quiet whirring sounds of an old radio trying to pick up a signal. From the looks of it, the equipment on the table were from the Faunus War. Not as analog as the stuff from the Great War, but it's clear that this stuff was designed without the CCT in mind. Not so great with instantaneous information; wonderful for those who don't want to be tracked by any of the Kingdoms. It's no wonder this stuff became so popular with outlaws.

There was a single table filled with more of this kind of tech inside the tent. A sigh escaped my mouth. I could make out the general shape of the radio and the transmitter, but everything else looked completely foreign to me. Maybe one of these things are the jammer? I raised my sword. There's only one way to be sure.

One by one I jabbed each of the electronic boxes, causing them to spark and fray until the lights on the panel faded from all of them. Every time I broke a box, I glanced at the map function to see if anything changed. Each time I had no luck. Before long, I stared at a table filled with broken machinery. Ones that would probably be worth a ton of lien on the black market. But gods… not one of these boxes was the jammer. Which means that the jammer has to be in the other tent. I glanced at my teammates' current Aura level. They should still be at a decent level— My eyes widened. I have to hurry!

I burst through the tent doors, immediately making a beeline towards the command center. This isn't good. Not good at all. I don't know how much time the rest of my team has. Blake is deep in the yellow, and Yang's levels just dipped under green. They must've gotten surrounded or something while I was breaking all of the radio equipment. There's no time to waste! I got a lot of ground to cover and I need every second I could get!

The flaps fluttered as I dove through it. My breath hitched not a moment later. There was an enormous Creep with its mouth open pacing around an enclosed cage near the entrance. There was some more Faunus War-era electronic equipment sitting around the entire tent. On the table, there was some kind of flat disk with a rapidly flashing LED on top. Could that be…? I took out my scroll and opened up the map. Sure enough, the flashing LED more or less coincided with the flickers of the map. I found it! All I have to do is stab the jammer and—

Wait a minute, how did that Creep get in here? Were these guys poachers as well as kidnappers? Well, that is just dandy. They poach Grimm as well? What are they, morons? Don't they know that Grimm will rather kill themselves than be taken captive? This must've been a recent catch. Why would these fools think that capturing a creature of Grimm would somehow end well for them? I shrugged. Not my problem. A quick lunge pierced through the jammer, silencing its interference once and for all.

A chirp from my device sounded out immediately. A quick look showed that everything was all stable again. It worked! I couldn't help but smirk as I dusted my hands. Alright, that's all taken care of. Now all I have to do is get back to my teammates and fight back until we can call for pickup—

A call appeared on my screen from… Yang and Blake? I answered the call. "Perfect timing, you two. I just finished taking down the jammer. Did you guys manage to fight off the Creep? Because I can call our pilot for pickup right about now—"

"Weiss!" Yang's face appeared on my screen with a worried look. "Look, you don't have much time left. You have to get out of there right now. All of a sudden all of the Creep veered away from me and Blake. They're heading into the camp!" I paled. What?

"Same for me," Blake confirmed. "I don't know about you, but I think the Creep aren't here just because they're lured to the negativity. We're chasing the pack of Creep right now, trying to pick off as much as we can, but they're running like their lives are at stake. What could cause them to act like this?"

I swallowed as I thought about what the two of them had said. The entire Creep pack decided to ignore the rest of my team in favor of charging the camp. That doesn't make any sense, though. Grimm are usually attracted to the biggest concentrated mass of people. That's how they get the most negativity for the amount of effort they put in. For the pack to ignore my teammates in favor of charging me means that there's something even more important than getting negativity. It's like how bees would charge in and give up their lives for the sake of their queen.

Everything clicked. My mouth dropped as I turned towards the big Creep on the side. There's no way! Grimm aren't known to reproduce! But the Grimm do act as a hive mind at times… If this Grimm happened to be sentient, it would generally have control over the lesser Creep. And the open mouth… Is it making a high-pitched call to its pack? I thought it was just being weird or something in captivity, but it had one goal all along!

The sound of thunderous stampeding reached my ears. What? They're already here? I flipped the flap of the tent and peered outside. The biggest swarm of Creep stampeded my way, eyes showing nothing but sheer hatred and malice. My eyes widened. Oh gods!

My finger already flicked the trigger of Myrtenaster, forming a wall of ice to reinforce the tent walls and cover the flimsy tent door. Several thuds banged against the frozen barrier just a second later. Feral screeches sounded from the other side, sending chills down my spine.

I'm in a room right now with the queen Creep, and her entire colony is throwing their weight in order to save her! The jammer wasn't to mess with any search and rescue attempt, it was to block the distress signal that the queen was giving off! It wasn't completely effective, considering how many Creep were in the area with the jammer on, but I've just destroyed the only thing that kept me safe for this long! And just when I ran out of Dust as well. This is not good. At all.

Already cracks crackled through the crystalline structure. It wouldn't be long until the ice gives way. How long can this wall hold? Two minutes at most? Okay, I've got two minutes to somehow lay a trap for the rest of the horde and escape unscathed. I wish I could say that this was going to be a simple task. I.D.I. TIMEappeared, unsheathing its saber before starting to wail against the queen Creep's cage.

Streaks of red and white crystal Dust formed around and on the metal bars of the cage, bit by bit forming a thin layer over the Grimm in question. I glanced back at my ice wall. The entire thing was full of cracks now. It's going to give any moment now. My Stand formed one last patch of red and white Dust right in the center of the room. Done! I slashed a hole through one end of the tent and dove right through. Behind me, I.D.I. TIMEcreated a thin line of red Dust starting from the cage all the way out to the trees. Oh, thank gods that the Creep didn't think about surrounding the tent. That's a lucky break, at least.

I heard the ice shatter behind me. Now! I jabbed the end of the Dust line, setting it ablaze. Heat washed over my face as the Dust went up in smoke. The fire used the trail to crawl towards the command tent at a surprising amount of speed. I kept running, making a beeline for a nearby tree before I threw myself on the ground and covered my ears.

A couple seconds later, I felt myself fly backward. It felt like the air in my lungs caught on fire. Oh gods, it feels like my lungs were being scorched! I could make out a fireball consuming the tent whole. Some of the Creep managed to run through the flames. Despite surviving the explosion, they paid no attention to me; instead, they writhed around, trying in vain to extinguish the tongues of heat licking their skin. I'm sure that none of these monsters will bother me anytime soon.

But ow… Why can't I hear anything but ringing? I winced in pain as I reached for my ear. Blood came away from it. What in the world? Didn't my Aura protect my eardrums the last time I tried this? From the corner of my eye, I saw I.D.I. TIMEdrift towards me. Why is— Oh wait… A sigh escaped my mouth. I forgot to call back my Stand. Of course.I.D.I. TIMEdisappeared from my sight. Already the ringing started to dissipate. I mean, that's a lot better than before but ow, my gods. Why do I always get into these kinds of explosions? Maybe I should figure out a way to use I.D.I. TIMEthat doesn't involve having to set something ablaze.

From the corner of my eye, I could make out two figures running towards me. The tip of Myrtenaster stabbed the ground, and I managed to pull myself up to my feet. Moments later the rest of my teammates caught up with me. Worry washed over both of their faces, although Blake's was a little more subdued. Yang's mouth moved as if she was trying to say something to me, but I couldn't hear anything. Stupid ringing.

"What?" I asked the blonde girl. She tried saying something again. I still couldn't make anything out. A groan escaped my mouth. "Sorry, give me—" I took a sharp breath before coughing. "Give me a moment. My everything— I need some time to recover." The high-pitched ringing faded away, allowing my ears to hear the crackling sounds of something oily being burnt. "Okay, I'm good now. What?"

"Weiss, what in the world happened?" Yang wiped the side of my head. "Blake and I were chasing the Creep pack when we saw them enter the tent. Why would they do something like that?"

"Queen Creep." Watery eyes stared in the direction of the burning tent. "The idiots who set up camp somehow managed to catch a Queen Creep, and they decided that storing it within the tent was a great idea." I saw frowns forming on both of my teammate's faces. "It sent out a distress call to the rest of the pack. The rest of the camp must've been decimated when the Grimm started streaming in to save their Queen. Someone must've turned on the signal jammer while all of the chaos was happening. And that happened to drown out the distress signal or something, because the Creep decided to leave right after."

"And we sent Weiss to destroy the jammer," the blonde groaned. "I can't believe this. Everything's just going wrong tonight! We could've gotten you killed!"

"Yang, calm down. I'm still alive. It was a surprise for sure, but I managed to get out of there with my body intact." I saw the stern look she gave me. "What? I'm not lying. But whew… at least I got lucky this one time. The kidnappers kept explosives on the cage of the Creep. Maybe it was for insurance, should the Queen ever got out or something. But I probably wouldn't have survived the Creep pack if it wasn't for that."

Everybody stayed quiet for a while. I coughed into my hand before pulling out my scroll. "On the bright side, the signal's now free. We can look for the others without any kind of interference whatsoever." I popped open the map application.

Now, where could the rest of our team leaders be? Several flashing dots appeared on the screen, all spread out within the Emerald Forest. I raised my eyebrows in shock. What the— There were roughly thirty or so dots on the screen! Granted, most of them are clustered into rough groups of four, but now we have another issue. Who has what scroll? And why are all of the caller IDs code names? It's a search and rescue, not a black ops mission!

Blake's bow twitched. "Uh… Weiss? What's going on?"

"What have we done to deserve this?" I moaned, showing the screen to both of my teammates. Blake and Yang groaned with me. "This is ridiculous! We're just getting thrown into setback after setback without getting anywhere!" I shook my head. "You know what? We're not going to get anywhere if we're going to keep moping like this. Blake, can you call our pilot to come pick us up?" The faunus girl nodded, pulling out her scroll and starting to make the call.

I looked back at the screen. Alright, calm down, Weiss. There's gotta be something we can work with. Something that could possibly hint at where we can find everybody. Should I call the rest of the teams and tell them to turn off their scrolls for a moment? No, that's going to take too long. I mean, it will work, but there has to be a way that doesn't take nearly as much time. Somebody's injured, after all. I squinted at the screen. There has to be something, anything on this map that can give us a hint of where the leaders are.

Wait a minute… what about these three dots? These three are the only ones that happened to be alone. They don't look like they've splintered from another group or anything, they just happened to be separate. That's a big difference compared to the groups of four. Could that be them? Professor Goodwitch did mention how the leaders were sharing three or so scrolls amongst each other. And huh… two of the dots were making a beeline for the last dot, which is more or less stationary.

Everything clicked at that moment. "I've found them!"

"What?" Yang made her way towards me. "You did? How?"

I pointed at the solo dots. "These dots are moving towards this particular dot. They happen to be moving towards the only stationary dot on the map. Remember how Professor Goodwitch said how one of the students was injured?" The blonde nodded her head. "I think that's them. The rest of the team leaders must've gotten some kind of signal and are trying to reconvene together. Something that doesn't have to rely on technology in any way."

A blast of air interrupted me. A Bullhead soared right above us, sending a blast of wind that whipped against my hair. Our pilot— Cammy was her name, I think? She gave us a quick wave before opening the side doors and letting down some rope. I turned to the rest of my teammates, giving them a quick nod. Within moments we pulled ourselves up and strapped ourselves back into our seats. Our transport started to rise up into the sky again.

"As I was saying," I continued. "They need a way to signal each other without the need for technology, and continuously. We might've gotten the wrong smoke signal, but considering they were already moving, that means there's an actual trail we can follow now." A couple of Bullheads flew past us. "And from the looks of it, the others figured it out as well." I turned my head in the direction the other Bullheads were flying. A thick white smoke trail burned, contrasting greatly with the dark blue night sky. I tapped the side of the Bullhead. "Cammy, we need to fly over to the smokestack in the distance." The Bullhead lurched forwards. The smoke… that's where we'll find everyone else. I'm sure of it.


I wiped the sweat off of my brow as I backed away from the giant bonfire in front of me. "Whew… I think that should be enough to keep this fire burning. Hopefully making white smoke will help everyone find us." I turned towards the rest of my group. Cinder and Ciel rested a couple meters away from the flames on a fallen tree trunk. The girl in the beret hasn't woken up yet. Cinder, on the other hand, was holding a random leaf. The green leaflet glowed red alongside one of Cinder's tattoos before turning ash gray. "But thanks, Cinder," I continued. "That fire Dust tattoo you have really saved us there! I wouldn't know what to do if you didn't have that!"

"It's fine." The girl let out a long sigh as she rubbed the ashes off of her fingers. "We do have to get Ciel out of here as soon as possible. She's going to be vulnerable for a while, and I don't think Atlas would appreciate it if one of their students died under Vale's care. It could potentially increase tensions between the Kingdoms, after all." A small smile crawled up her face. "It would be terrible if something like that happened."

"Right. That would be pretty bad." I sighed as I plopped myself down next to them. "Somebody has to notice this. We're going to get out of here, get Ciel medical attention for her shock, and hopefully put this all behind us." I let out a sigh. This whole situation was a mess. At this point, I just want to go back home. I want to leave this forest behind. Everything's all wrong.

We all jumped when the foliage nearby rustled. What was that? I ripped up a bunch of grass. "Cinder, get ready. I think the Grimm might be back." I raised my fist towards the sound. Cinder brought her hands up, her index raised and ready to fire a firebolt if needed.

"Whoa!" Flynt gasped the moment he broke through, raising his hands up. "Don't shoot! Don't shoot! It's just us!" Moments later Cardin and Branz broke through as well, both looking disheveled but otherwise okay. The leader of Team FNKI let out a sigh of relief as he wiped his brow. "Thank gods. The Grimm were getting antsy back there. Good thing these two really know how to handle themselves in a fight." Flynt let out a soft chuckle. "But as for Ciel…" The boy's smile dropped. "She okay?"

I nodded. "We did as much as we can to make her comfortable. She has time, I'm sure. Hopefully, we'll catch the attention of the Bullheads sooner or later." I looked at the group. "Well, that makes six of us. I wonder where's Ruby's group. Actually, now that I think about it, I don't remember if I asked anyone to get Sun." I rubbed the back of my head. "... Should one of us go and get him?"

"No worries, my blond friend!" I jumped. Who said that? My answer was answered as the monkey faunus in question popped out from the treeline, causing everyone to jerk their heads towards him in surprise. "Sun is right here!"

"What the— How did you get here, Sun?" I yelled. "Did Ruby's group get to you and tell you to meet here?"

He nodded. "Speaking of which—" The monkey faunus turned his head to look behind him. "Here they come right about… now."

Ruby burst through the foliage, followed closely behind by Nebula and Arslan. "Freedom!" she gasped as she tumbled to the ground in front of us. "We made it! Thank gods!" We all stared as Ruby picked herself up and brushed the dust off of her cape. The girl in the cape gave us a quick wave. "Hey everybody! It looks like everybody's here now! So, does anybody know when the Bullheads will come?"

"Yeah. I mean, I can't pick out the rumble of the engines right now, so I think they're some distance away from us." Sun jumped down and landed next to Arslan. "But do we have an estimate of how far off they might be right— Oh wait." The boy cupped his ears and craned his head towards the sky. "I can hear them!"

"Really?" All I could make out were the sounds of crickets chirping and the crackle of the fire. "I don't really hear anything."

Sun's eyes narrowed in confusion. "What? How could you— Oh right. Sorry. It's the Faunus ears." He craned his head towards the air again. "I've never been the best at this, but it sounds like multiple Bullheads are roughly… a minute away?"

Strangely enough, Cardin nodded his head. "No, closer than that. I can hear the engines now." Several low rumbles caught my attention as well. Are they closer than we thought?

Suddenly, several Bullheads flew past us. "There they are!" A smile grew on my face as I waved my hands at them. "Over here!" They came! They actually came!

"Ruby!" I turned my head. Yang hung from one of the side railings of a Bullhead, waving at the girl. "You're okay!" Weiss and Blake sat deeper inside the airship, but both let out cheers at the sight of their team leader.

"Jaune!" Right next to team RWBY's Bullhead was team JNPR's. All three of my teammates leaned out of their seats, letting out laughs of relief at the sight of me. Pyrrha waved at me. "Hello there! Do you have any spots left on your team? We're missing a great team leader." I let a giant grin loose in return. Oh my gods, it's great to see my partner's face again. We can get out of here now! All of us can! We're saved!

For every Bullhead that opened up, each team let out some kind of cheer at the sight of their team leader. And for each Huntsmen team that revealed themselves, their respective team leader let out a sigh of relief. It didn't matter, from the cheery Sun to the serious Branz we all felt genuinely relieved to be rescued.

One of the Bullhead doors opened, revealing a red-haired girl in a neon green dress. "Salutations!" she waved. "I heard that you guys were in need of assistance?"

"Oh my gods, Penny!" Ruby stepped forwards. "Hi! It's been so long!"

"Friend Ruby! It's a surprise to see you here!" Penny grabbed some kind of handle on the Bullhead. "Do you happen to see my team leader Ciel by any chance? I'm supposed to be picking her up."

I stepped forwards. "She's over by the log! We'll bring her to you right now!" I turned towards the others. "Come on! Somebody help me grab Ciel!" And with that, we started preparing ourselves to leave this forest proper.


It was a surprisingly quiet trip back for me. Besides the regular hugs that I received from the rest of team RWBY when I first got on, none of them really said anything. It's so different from how it was weeks ago, when everybody was worried about me. Yang looked like she wanted to say something more than everyone else, but for some reason she didn't dare say a word. I don't know, I think that's fine. That'll give me time to just think about everything that happened. About the kidnappers.

No matter how much time I put into this, I can't figure out why a bunch of kidnappers would take all of the first-year leaders. I don't see any of the upperclassmen taken away. It all seems so needless. Wouldn't it make sense to kidnap everyone in one room? Why go through all of the effort to sneak into each team's room and take just the team leader? Wouldn't they risk getting caught doing that?

And everything seems so weirdly complex. They have a signal jammer to disrupt scroll signals, yet they still have emergency scrolls lying around. The kidnappers decided to take only first-year team leaders, but they abandon us in a truck and basically disappear from sight. Why leave us in the Emerald Forest, which is within flight distance of Beacon? Nothing's really adding up. There's gotta be something that I'm missing, some kind of detail that could give us a clue to what's going on. But what could it be? I can't figure it out!

"Hey kiddos," our pilot stated over the PA. "We're about to reach Beacon. It's going to be a bit of a rough ride as I try to not create a fiery explosion giving a fellow Bullhead a peck on the cheek. If I were you, I would strap myself in." Cammy let out a snicker. "I'm sure Beacon would prefer to not pay for additional transport ships this year if one of us birdies mess this up, and I would prefer not dying."

"Alright, Cammy." I tugged at my restraints to make sure I'm still locked in. "Bring us down then."

And so my team and I waited for Cammy to ground the Bullhead proper. There were some close calls. I remember Blake hissing when one Bullhead barely missed us by an inch. I never thought landing so many Bullheads at once would feel so claustrophobic.

A couple of tense minutes later, and we were finally on the ground with the rest of the teams. We all milled close to our Bullheads, whispering amongst each other. I learned about the fate of the kidnappers. But still, everything seemed so… coincidental. There's no way that everything could be in place when we needed it.

"Evening students!" Everybody turned their heads to see Professor Port and Professor Goodwitch approaching us. The mustached man brushed a lock of his hair back. "I see that everyone is back here alive, more or less. I'm sure that this was quite the experience."

"What?!" Somebody called from the crowd. "One of our teammates is hurt! How could you call this an experience?"

"Good question," Port said, letting out a soft hum. "While such an injury was unexpected, I can guarantee that none of the students here were in any real danger."

Everything clicked into place almost immediately for me. "Wait… you mean—"

The portly man nodded. "Let me say with great pleasure that despite all of the obstacles placed in your way and the unfortunate circumstance of one of your fellow students, every single one of you did admirably during this year's simulation." Hearing that caused the whole crowd to break into chatter amongst each other. "Let me explain. The focus of this simulation was independence. I'll break down Beacon's thought process in communicating this theme."

"For the teams in general, we wanted to have a scenario that tested what each team would do without their team leader. When you go out on expeditions for Hunts, there will be no guarantee that everybody will survive. That includes your team leader. By having a scenario where the team leader is out of the picture, we can learn how every student would react. And from the recorded audio from each of the Bullheads, I can say for certain that all of you kept your composure, even if emotions did run high at times."

"I'm sorry, but let me see if I understand this correctly." Weiss stepped forward, hands pressed together. "So the kidnappings are part of the simulation. However, my team went into the 'kidnapper's camp,' and we saw the entire place overrun by Creep. Is that part of the simulation as well?"

The portly professor nodded, puffing his chest out. "I take pride in creating that camp. Made it out of nothing but confiscated technology, barrels of pig blood, and the forest itself. But managing to capture a queen Creep and luring the nest in the process — now that is my magnum opus of my exploits. I felt like a young man again in my quest to capture her. Let me tell you, capturing the queen Creep—"

"Peter, focus," Professor Goodwitch hissed.

"Oh, right." Port let out a cough before continuing. "Back on track. As for the team leaders, we gave you no objectives to go for. Everything that you needed to know had to be gleaned from your environment. There will be times when you have to determine for yourselves what your objective will be without a clear-cut answer."

"I wasn't surprised hearing everyone have different ideas on what to do about their situation. After all, before each team leader had to make the call alone, without consulting other leaders. Despite that, you all came to a consensus to escape over going after the 'kidnappers,' even if there was lively discussion on using the scrolls to track down the responsible parties. While I can't say what's the right decision, do know that I myself would make the choice to focus on escaping instead of fighting back, as surprising as it sounds."

"But I've talked long enough. I'll finish off by saying that I believe that everyone here performed admirably." He gestured over to Professor Goodwitch. "Glynda, if you don't mind."

She nodded. "I'll make this brief, since we've kept you up long enough. Every first year will be given the day off to rest up. Spend it however you wish. On Friday you'll review in Professor Port's class what happened during the simulation in greater detail. In my class we'll have a last-minute talk about the Vytal Festival. That'll be all for today. Have a good night's rest students."

With that the crowd started drifting towards the dorms. Yang grinned. "Oh my gods, this is perfect!"

"Huh?" I turned towards my sister. "What do you mean?"

"No classes tomorrow. We have the entire day to ourselves. You know what that means, right?"

"Umm… no," Weiss sighed. "We're not mind readers, Yang. Just spill it out!"

"We can have some quality team bonding in the city before the Achieve Men concert!" Oh wait… oh yeah, that was tomorrow, wasn't it? Blake winced at the announcement, not that her partner noticed. Yang continued: "Guys, it's going to be awesome! We can see all of the decorations for the Vytal Festival, people watch the tourists coming in, do regular stuff in the city. Then we end the day with the Achieve Men concert! Aren't you guys excited for this?"

Blake's bow twitched. "Um… is it fine if I skip out on this concert? I mean I have really… sensitive ears!" Her eyes flickered around, narrowing a bit. "It's just going to hurt my ears going there. Both sets, in fact." Her bow twitched again for emphasis. "So… I don't think I'll enjoy it."

"Oh, don't be such a sourpuss, Blake!" My sister slapped her partner's back. "I can get you some earplugs for the concert. In fact, that's what we'll do in the city today! Buy high-fidelity earplugs for everyone! Seriously, it's a pretty good idea in the first place." She shook her head. "But that won't matter if we don't get some sleep! Come on guys, back home we go!" A moan escaped from Blake as she was dragged back to our room by Yang, with Weiss and I following close behind.


"Seriously, you don't have to go through all that effort," Blake said as the airbus took off. A nervous chuckle escaped her mouth. "Isn't there some kind of bookstore or something near the theater? I can just go there and listen to the music. I don't need to go to this concert."

I guess Blake's still trying to get out of it. I smiled as I tugged at my cape. The morning sunlight streamed through the windows onto all of team RWBY. It's only nine o'clock in the morning and the cat faunus is still having this debate with Yang.

"Come on, Blakey. Do it for me?" Yang asked. "This is an opportunity of a lifetime! You don't know how much I've always wanted to go to one of their concerts. And now I finally can! This is an experience of a lifetime, Blake! Concerts are expensive stuff, and I'm not letting this opportunity slip away!"

Weiss was sitting between me and the other two girls, looking through her scroll as Yang kept trying to convince Blake. She let out a hum. "I guess there's nothing interesting on the news again— what's this?" She clicked some kind of link and started reading before her eyes widened. "What the— How is this possible?"

"What is?" I leaned over her shoulder. She was reading a news article about— a car being hanged from the Headmaster's Tower? Huh?

⇐TO BE CONTINUED= 2/2/2018


Gwen's Bizarre Adventure - Act 5

The first thing that caught my attention was somebody shaking my shoulder. I groaned. Who dares disturb my slumber? "Gwen," someone whispered in my ear. "Wake up." I glanced up to see a plume of blue hair staring back at me.

"Go jump in an Ursa nest, Neb," I growled. "I'm 'sick,' remember? I need my bed rest. I mean, it's like—" I glanced at the clock above our door. "Nine-ten. Give me five more minutes."

"More like five more hours. Come on, Gwen. We all know you're lying. I came up with the 'sick' excuse myself, remember?" I growled again in response. It's Nebula, it's always Nebula. Of course, it's my team leader. How could she be up this early, especially after everything that's happened? She got kidnapped for the simulation, and she doesn't sound exhausted. Honestly, I'm quite jealous. Morning people, how do they do it? She continued: "Seriously, get up. You gotta check the news feed at Beacon."

I groaned as I sat up. My hair's a complete mess. I must look like I've just walked through hell. And to be fair, I did just climb through it. And my muscles are so achy, so tense. I gave my team leader a bloodshot glance before holding my hand out. "Scroll out. Now. I'm not in the mood."

She gave me a smirk, offering her scroll to me. "I think you'll be changing your tone after you see this." I snatched the device. My eyes widened at what's displayed. The exhaustion disappeared from my mind as I let out a chuckle. 'Jeep Swinging From Headmaster's Tower!' the headline read. Right under it is a beautiful picture of the vehicle from inside the Headmaster's office. Wow, did this really make it to the top of the headlines? I puffed my chest a bit. Feels good to get acknowledged.

"And the betting pool? Did we 'leak' who did this?"

Nebula nodded. "Dew sent a mass message to everyone about what happened." She shook her head. "This is absolutely insane. I can't believe it worked."

"Yes!" I pumped my fist. "We've just made a ton of bank!" A groan escaped my mouth as I rubbed my sore muscles. "But oh man, I really could've used the rest of Team NDGO. You can't believe how hard it was scaling a tower like that with nothing but my Semblance."

"I can imagine. Sorry about not being there to help you, but being kidnapped really makes it hard to help out a fellow teammate. You know how it is."

"That's true." I gave my hair a rough brush. "Where's everybody else? Did they already leave?"

"We're right here," Dew responded from right under me. I looked over my bed and saw Dew and Octavia sitting on the bunk opposite of me. "Hey, great job with pulling that off by the way. If it wasn't for the simulation, I would be surprised that you didn't get caught by security watching for curfew breakers."

"Yeah. It's kinda weird how I didn't get caught by any Atlesian guards." I narrowed my eyes. Wait, now that I think about it, there weren't any guards at all. That's weird. If I remember correctly, the bottom half of the tower is made specifically for the CCT. Wasn't there a bit of trouble back during the dance where somebody attacked the CCT? It's strange how on the day of a simulation there aren't any guards watching the building for another attacker. But why?

Octavia spoke up. "Hey guys, just want to let you know that May said they just got the lien. We're going to wait and sit on the money for a couple of days, then we'll split it before the Vytal Festival begins."

"Nice," Nebula grinned. "Text them our thanks. We'll buy them lunch or something when we get back to Shade."

"Whoa, hold up." I raised my hand up. "Can we go to that restaurant with the awesome kebabs and that special grilled cheese once we get back? The one made out of goat and sheep milk? Man, they have the best food."

Dew tapped the side of her cheek. "You mean grilled halloumi? Wait, I think I remember the restaurant name…" She snapped her fingers. "Smokey Pan's?"

"Yeah, that's the one." I let out a giggle. "Oh man, I love that place! What I wouldn't do to have Smokey Pan's."

Nebula gave me a smirk. "Isn't that a family diner? Honestly, I expected something fancier. I mean, it does feel like we've committed the perfect heist. Why not have the perfect meal to celebrate?" She shrugged. "But then again, Gwen basically did all of the hard lifting, so I'm cool with that choice."

"Yes!" I pumped my fist. "How can this day get any better?"

We all jumped a moment later when somebody knocked on the door. What the— who could it be? I leaped out of bed. Strange that somebody would knock on the door this early in the morning. I felt my stomach shrink back in fear. Did we get caught? I thought it was weird that nobody really tried to interfere. Did Professor Goodwitch come to put us in our place?

I pulled open the door to see a bottle of apple cider and a note sitting on the floor. What in the world? I pulled them in and slammed the door.

"Hey Gwen, what's in your—" Nebula narrowed her eyes. "Apple cider? Who in the world would give us that?" I ignored her, handing the bottle to Octavia before lifting up the note.

To Team NDGO,

I would like to say congratulations for managing to perform such a feat. While doing so breaks Beacon rules, I am impressed with the skill it must've taken to pull such a feat off. Figuring out how to acquire equipment, technical prowess with your skills, timing the operation to take advantage of another event going on: all of those skills show a lot of dedication and planning. The apple cider provided is to acknowledge the work NDGO put into this stunt, which is comparable to how Huntsmen work in the field.

However, at the end of the day, NDGO is a student team under the care of Beacon, and Beacon is a prestigious academy. It will not portray either Shade or Beacon in a good light to have something like this go unpunished. While this will not affect NDGO's opportunity to perform during the Vytal Festival, the punishment will address the discipline issues at hand. I do request NDGO to stay out of any trouble from now on.

Sincerely,

Headmaster Ozpin

"Wait," I said after reading through this. "So the Headmaster knows what happened, and he gave us a bottle of apple cider for it? And also—"

Somebody knocked on the door again. "This is Professor Goodwitch." a strict voice stated from the other side. "I'm here to have a talk with all you girls." I paled. This is not going to be fun.

=GWEN BA END=


So, the next update will actually be on my birthday. Like I said exactly one year ago, that's not how birthday gifts work, but also who cares? I don't mind dropping a chapter on such an important day. Thinking about chilling out with my friends, probably go somewhere to eat, write crazy stuff for this story. Perfectly normal birthday stuff. Also, V5 finale tomorrow. Can't wait to see how it'll wrap up.

Don't have anything else to say, so time for the reviews!

Guest: I guess you can say that "something else" will be the vampire - which in this case is the Grimm. It's still Silver Eye powers, after all.

rabidhandsquirrl: Thank you, rabidhandsquirrl! And yes, there will be synergy between Stands and Semblances.

TheSetupMage: Oh, I was talking about the song names at face value and not the songs themselves. Certainly Made in Heaven and Whitesnake's songs don't really have a theme of power. I feel like my previous point still stands, though.

And Scorpions? What a coincidence! I'm actually going through their catalog right now. Starting off with the Crazy World album. Pretty good stuff.

doa570047: Yeah, the wax metaphor was pretty good. I'll talk about it properly once the next retrospective comes around, but it was always a thing that I wanted to write about. Although implementing the idea was another problem of its own... but again, next retrospective.

Oh yeah, Yu Yu Hakusho! Honestly, I didn't realize that the series had that. Maybe it's because I can't remember a lot of it (I was really young when I first saw it with my Dad), but now that I think about it, what Ruby did is a bit similar to the Spirit Shotgun. Although to make it clear, it is a combination of the Stand ability and Semblance that allowed her to shoot bits of herself. It's not quite the petals that she's firing, but fragments of her body (which happened to be wax.) A weird distinction to make, but one I think is important to make.

And for Arslan's thought process, it's justified from her viewpoint. She has every right to be suspicious of a collective. It's like you said. Individuals can share a similar belief for different reasons, it's easy to say something and not act on those words, the Stand Arrow is comparable to the One Ring in that it is power incarnate. There's a risk in allowing created Stand users to get close. It's a mindset that makes sense from her perspective and is an interesting one to write.

That's all for today! I'll see you in the next update!

Next Chapter Update: February 2, 2018