Wow I made 25 official chapters… I never think that I would have made this far, but I did and I thank you all for reading this much. When Volume 4 comes to a close this story might be going on hiatus until the full Volume 5 is released. Now that will not stop me from doing omakes and other stories with Strom and everyone on the side, but it is time for a change. With that being said, here's the chapter.
Chapter 25: Kuo Kuana and Strom
"Wow, it's beautiful," Strom said looking at the town before him, seeing all the palm trees and the houses. His attention quickly turned to all the Faunus walking around without fear of discrimination or being called out, but noticed that they were all clustered together. "It's a little like Aria, but with more sunlight and a large community working together."
"But it feels cramped here," Sun said knowing that there was more island to use. "It's a lot of land being unused."
"Well unfortunately unlike Vacuo, the land here is a lot more dangerous so we are stuck using one third of the island," Blake said looking upset about the fact that they could only use a third of the island. "But we did make the most of it and will support each other."
"That's good and I think that some of them are looking at me funny," Strom said noticing that some of the inhabitants are looking at him, some scowling at him. "Blake, should I take off my band?"
"I think it's that you look like an assassin," she said taking a second look at his clothes. "You probably should put the band away, just to be safe."
"Okay I will do that," he said taking off his band and put his hood down as well. "Yeah, they're still looking."
"Just give it a minute I'm sure that they'll come to pass," she said really not liking the attention towards them. A sudden splash of water and some coughing got everyone's attention.
"GAH, MOMMY!" a boy wolf Faunus cried out trying desperately to keep his head above water. People rushed to try and help the child but were just out of reach as Strom jumped over them and into the water. He held the boy in the air and his head was under the water. The boy was grabbed from him and onto the land in his mother's hug. "I was just trying to get my toy that you made for me, but it fell in. I'm sorry."
"I'm just glad that you're safe," his mother said looking at Strom, who was just pulled out of the water. "Thank you so much, how can I ever repay you?"
"By telling me what the toy looked like so I can get it," Strom said with a smile, then pointed to his gills. "It wouldn't be too hard for me to get."
"Umm, well I don't know how clear the sea is, but it is blue and red," she said genuinely surprised that he was willing to find it. "You don't have to go back in. It must be cold and dangerous to go down there and I can always make another one."
"Well then thank you for the description," he said jumping back into the water as Blake and Sun watched.
"Wow, so he can breathe underwater," Sun said in shock as he had both hands on his head. "Why didn't you tell me this Blake?"
"I did, but you just put it off as boring and a useless talent," she said as she scolded Sun. "Ugh, well it looks like that we'll have to wait here for him to return."
"Are you two friends with him?" the mother asked worried about the boy who jumped back into the water. "Do you know if he will be safe?"
"Yes, he will be safe," Blake said calming the mother and the crying child. "He is very strong and helped a lot of people, myself included."
Strom was humming to himself as he descended into the water going deeper to find the object that was described poorly to him. He looked around at the sea creatures with a smile.
'It's a shame that not a lot of people can get to see this beautiful sight,' he thought to himself before finding the toy wrapped around some kelp. On his way back up, he saw some fish quickly swim away from him. He laughed to himself and surfaced.
"There you are Strom," Sun said with a joke in mind as he pulled him up. "This fish was freshly caught from the sea."
Strom nervously laughed as he saw that Blake did drool a little at the thought of fish. He walked over to the boy with a dry toy, thanks to his semblance drying it up. "I believe that this belongs to you."
"Thank you so much," the boy said with stars in his eyes as he saw Strom as a superhero. "You're a hero, do you know that?"
"I am?" he said in a surprised voice as he went along with what the child said not wanting to disappoint him, yet felt a sting in his heart. He knew that he wasn't a hero. Who could leave everyone behind ever be called a hero? "Try to be careful now, okay?"
"Okay mister," the boy said before running to his mom and sneezed. "Bye-bye."
He waved at the two before looking back at Sun and Blake. "Can I put my band back on?"
"Yeah, I think that everyone will be talking about you now," Sun said as they began walking. "Probably sucks now that you have wet underpants."
"Oh, I wear compression shorts for that reason alone," Strom said remembering a time back in the village he jumped into the lake while his semblance was still hard to control. "Yes it does bite, but I will be dry in a few moments."
"Oh yeah that's right, fire semblance," Sun said as Blake rolled her eyes. "So which of these houses is yours Blake?"
"Sun please no," She said as they reached the top of the hill.
"I am curious to what you're house looks like," Strom said looking at each house.
"Is it that little one, or that one over there?" Sun said pointing to houses as he leaned over Blake's shoulder before having his arm pointed at the house that was the biggest and looked better than all the others.
"It's that one," she said shyly, knowing that it was bigger than Strom's house as Sun just held his head in disbelief again.
"Wow," Strom said looking at the home. "I think that is certainly better than my house and bigger than Yang and Ruby's cabin."
"Yeah…" she said getting a little more nervous with each step towards her house. "I almost forgot how big it was."
"Well, you are home now," Sun said excited to see inside of the house.
"Does your family live here as well?" Strom asked curiously.
"Yes they do," she said still nervous about how her parents would react after what she said to them.
"You sound nervous Blake," Strom noted and looked at Blake. "Is there something wrong?"
"It's been a long time that I have seen them," she said hoping that would be a good enough reason for them, but Strom had left his home for a longer amount of time so he felt that it she should rather be happy to be home rather than nervous.
"Well you know that I have been away from family at one point longer than you. So what is the real reason why you're so nervous?" he said crossing his arms.
"I might have said some things to them before leaving with the White Fang," she said making Sun cringe a little.
"Oooohh, that might be a good reason to be nervous," Sun said thinking what she could have said to her own parents.
"Okay, I understand now," Strom said not wanting to pressure Blake any further as they got to the doors. "Is it me or did this house grew in size as we got closer?"
"I was just thinking that," Sun said as Blake knocked on the doors with the hinge.
A short woman with black hair and cat ears answered the door. She was dressed in nice clothes that were very comfortable to move in. She looked at the two boys in front of her home before finding Blake with her ears slightly drooping. "Blake, it's you."
"Who is at the door dear?" a tall, burly man said before looking at his daughter and hugged her as well. "Blake, I'm so glad you're home. And you brought friends too."
"H-Hello sir," Sun said looking up at the huge man before him.
"It's nice to meet you," Strom said with a smile, happy to see a family reunited again.
"This is Sun, he kind of tagged along with me for the trip," Blake said before turning to Strom. "And Strom is in Team RWBY with me, but we kind of met on the ship going here."
"Why do you have a band covering your eyes Strom?" Blake's father asked cautious about the boys.
"Well, a long time ago I had an accident which left me blind before I had my aura unlocked," Strom replied politely as he removed the band, showing his scar and eyes. "I have long since adapted to see using a different way."
"Oh I am sorry about that. Ghira can be a little… distrusting when it comes to boys," Blake's mother said before introducing herself. "I am Kali Belledonna, and this big teddy bear here is Ghira, my husband."
"Hello," Strom said smiling at them. "My name is Strom Teitsia."
"And I am Sun Wukong," Sun said introducing himself.
"You all must be tired, please come inside," Kali said letting everyone in as Ghira narrowed his eyes at the boys coming inside.
They all sat down at the table as they talked about what happened at Vale. They drank tea and Sun made an awkward conversation with Blake's parents as Strom laughed quietly.
"This tea is amazing," Sun said trying to shift topics.
"It really is nice, thank you very much Mrs. Belledonna," Strom said taking a sip of the hot beverage.
"Oh, you are polite," Kali laughed lightly. "I bet a lot of girls like that about you."
Blake and Sun turned to Strom with a worried look in their eyes knowing what happened with Yang. He looked down at the table with a sad look in his eyes and a small frown formed. "Well, I knew one who did."
"Oh," Ghira said as he saw the change of expression in Strom. 'Perhaps I was too quick to judge Strom. Sun I am still worried about, but Strom is sad. Did he lose a loved one or perhaps something happened to the loved one?'
"You don't have to talk about it if it makes you uncomfortable," Ghira said surprising his wife, Blake and Sun. "We know what happened at Vale except for the details from those who experienced it firsthand, so don't worry about me asking."
"Thank you," Strom said looking at his cup and his reflection and looked around to see two individuals come to the door. "You have visitors here."
There was a loud knocking at the door and both of Blake's parents were surprised about how he knew that before the knocking came. Blake was not as surprised but more curious as to who would be at the door. Sun was still trying to get over the awkwardness that he caused himself. The parents left to go to the door and Sun and Blake followed out of curiosity. Strom enjoyed the tea enough to bring it with him as he went over to the door as well. He hurried when Blake and Sun started shouting something.
"What's going on?" he asked holding his cup gently as Sun turned around.
"The White Fang are here too," Sun said and pointed to the two Faunus wearing different clothing than what Strom knew the White Fang normally wore.
"Is Adam Taurus here too?" Strom asked carefully as heat started to generate around him.
"No, and I hope that he does not come here at all, for the Vale district of the White Fang seems to have fallen off course from what we stand for," the man with the wolf tail said with his hands together. "And is your cup boiling hot?"
Everyone looked to the cup that Strom brought and saw it boiling calmly as they felt the heat slowly intensify. Strom looked at the two White Fang members with a cold gaze as he drank the boiling beverage to their surprise. "Doesn't bother me at all."
"Oh no was the temperature too cold for you?" Kali asked concerned that she couldn't make one of her guests happy.
"No the tea was delicious and the temperature was perfect," he said looking at the kind woman with a smile. "However whenever I think about the White Fang I keep coming back to that scene… even though I was far away, I saw Adam and what he did was unforgivable. I forgive him for taking my sight, but not hurting her."
Blake backed up a little trying to get a little closer to her parents as the two White Fang members bowed and left. "We'll return when you have cooled off."
"Actually I was about to leave to explore the nice town, so you can stay," he said walking past them still holding the cup, and then turned around to give it to Blake. "I nearly took this with me, sorry."
Strom left and the heat went away with him alongside the tension. The others talked to each other about what happened in Vale while he was away. It was a quick walk around the small town as he saw the two White Fang members leave the Belledonna home talking to each other. They saw Strom and changed their conversation to avoid any confrontation with him. He continued to walk past them and knocked on the door.
"Welcome back Strom," Blake said opening the door. "Feel better?"
"Yeah, but I hope that I'm not the only one who doesn't trust them," he said getting a nod from both Blake and Sun.
"We don't trust them either," Sun said stepping aside to let Strom inside. "So, what now?"
A new dawn showed up for Yang as she worked out to keep in shape as her usual visitors arrived. Boran and Yang began sparring which was good exercise and keeping up both of their styles. Lily just watched the two with a smile seeing her little brother is happy with his sparring partner. He did not go easy on his partner at all, but she easily kept up with every move he could throw at her.
"Wow, you're pretty good Boran," Yang complimented with a smile as she blocked his kick. "Why do you want to become better than Strom in martial arts?"
"This may sound a little selfish, but I want him to stay home more," Boran said taking the time to relax as he let down his leg. "Maybe if I show someone is better than him, he would want to become stronger than the person who beat him and stay around to train."
"That sounds like you have a lot of work in front of you, I haven't seen him defeated once yet," Yang said remembering all of his fights. "He tied with Pyrrha without the use of his semblance and he rarely uses his semblance in a fight, but Jaune nearly got the better of him once."
"Wasn't he the weakest fighter there?" Lily asked trying to remember correctly.
"Well, yes," Yang answered honestly before adding more to the statement. "However Pyrrha was training him fiercely before their fight. He has gotten better immensely. I wonder how he is doing."
"Well, let's bring it back to my thoughts," Lily said as she saw that Yang was hiding something from them. "You got a prosthetic arm, didn't you?"
"Gah, you're semblance can be annoying sometimes," Yang said looking down at the ground. "Yes, I did, but I just think that it will slow me down."
"Have you tried it on at least?" Boran asked hoping to increase the challenge. "Perhaps it works just as well."
"I'll think about it," Yang said thinking about it before Taiyang stepped out to begin watering the plants. "Well I think that we should end things here Boran. I have to think about something."
"Okay, maybe we can visit tomorrow?" he asked before Lily had to ruin the fun for him.
"Boran we have school tomorrow, but we can visit afterwards," she said as he frowned slightly. "Come on, we have been here long enough. I can smell you from here."
"That means that I worked hard so I must play harder," Boran triumphantly shouted making Yang and Taiyang to laugh. "Goodbye, Yang. Take care of yourself."
She waved them goodbye as they ran home with big smiles on their faces. She turned to see that her dad turned his head back to water the plants. 'Perhaps it is time for change and to begin my real training.'
Taiyang sighed a little as he watered the plants. He saw Yang head inside to probably continue her routine as usual. He recalled their talk last night with the teachers of Beacon and hoped that his words had gotten through her stubbornness. It was beginning to look like he would have to have another talk about regarding her future. The door reopened and his eyes saw something shiny come out alongside Yang who was looking at it.
"Yang, you're wearing it," Taiyang said with a grin on his face.
"Well, can we begin training now that way I can get used to it?" Yang asked with a smile on her face, her lilac eyes filled with more life than they had been for the past few months.
She offered a hand to her dad who took it and stood up. "Absolutely."
'Sheesh, when I talked about training with them I didn't think that they would push me this much,' Strom thought to himself as he dodges black saw blades left and right. 'Wait, where is White?'
"Right behind you," White's voice came to be as he slammed a punch into Strom's back sending him forward. "You know why we're doing this correct?"
"Yes, this is to train my sight and reactions to things that I cannot see like magic," he said as he groaned to get back onto his feet. "It still makes me wonder just who you guys are, and why is magic so hard to see or detect?"
"Because magic has no rules to follow," Black said sending more saw blades. "You are the one who asked for training and for it to not be easy."
"Well I'm happy that you both are willing to help, but I think that I am physically sweating from all of this work," he said taking a deep breath. "How long have we been at this?"
"Four hours," White said as he put some thought into it.
"Four hours, but how?" Strom asked bewildered at how time flew by.
"Magic~" Black said before sending a volley of seeking arrows towards Strom. "We're going back to the arrows."
"Oh come on," Strom complained as he tried to run from the arrows before being caught and exploded. "That's completely fair."
"Well when will you figure out the technique?" Black retorted and sent another volley. "We'll keep at it until you learn how to sense it."
"Easier said than done" Strom shouted before another explosion happened. "Oww, I can't wait to have this come back to haunt you."
"Careful that your emotions do not get the better of you," White warned as he appeared next to Strom delivering a strong kick into his side. "They can cloud your sight if you let them take over."
Strom groaned in pain as he would feel everything and yet not be harmed. He thought about using some of the techniques that he was shown and using them in his own way. He let his mind wander to relax from all the chaos that was going on. His emotions became calm and in check with his actions. He saw something rush towards his and dodged and countered. He heard White groan in pain as he crumpled to the floor and then saw Black's arrows coming straight for him. He saw every one of the arrows and caught them all within moments and looked back at Black with a smirk.
"Good you can see magic now, and I'm not getting out of this am I?" Black said and Strom threw back the arrows with a greater force. "I didn't think so."
Black managed to dodge the arrows and make them explode away from him and collapsed. Strom saw that they were not in the best physical condition. He took the opportunity to rest for the time and thought about calling it a day.
"Well I am beat, how about you guys?" he asked hearing groans from the other two.
"We used magic just to keep up with you," Black said curling into a ball. "How is it that you can keep going?"
"How is it that we let ourselves go this much without exercise?" White asked holding his side. "I think that we need to rely less on magic and move around more."
"Well, let's rest and same thing tomorrow?" Strom asked wondering if they will be ready for more practice and training.
"I think we'll need a day to rest," White said trying to stand up before stumbling back onto a knee. "Perhaps two days."
"Okay, well take care," Strom said leaving the two to themselves.
"Strom are you okay dude?" Sun asked seeing the sweat on Strom's body. "You just sat there doing yoga and stuff for four hours and you look like you just got done running a marathon."
"You do look tired dear," Kali said as her mother instincts kicked in. "Are you getting sick? Do you need anything?"
"Just a breather, but thank you," Strom said relaxing on the ground outside the house. "So, Sun what do you think about Menagerie?"
"Beautiful place, too bad that the deserts here are much harsher than Vacuo," Sun answered looking at the clouds. "It's such a waste of land."
"It is sad that they can't expand without major risks, but I don't think that they should have ever been forced to move here either," Strom said scanning the area of what he is able to see. "There are still a lot of unused parts here. There must be parts of the jungle that are just as dangerous."
"Yeah, so Strom can I ask you something?" Sun asked wanting to hear a new opinion and looked around to find that it was just the two of them. "Do you think that Blake and I could ever get together?"
"That is hard to say Sun," Strom said looking at the differences between the two. "The both of you are opposites. Blake is calm and quiet, while you are rowdy and loud. However, even though that the differences between you two are like the sun and moons, you both still work together wonderfully."
"Awe thanks Strom," Sun said feeling good about what he had just heard.
"She even puts up with all of your faults too," Strom said with a grin on his face. "She's patient with you, she puts up with you ideas, she tolerates you when you're being too loud, and she somehow hasn't either wanted to shut you up or send you away."
"Hey, I thought we were having a bro moment here," Sun retorted hearing the things that Strom clearly had negative thoughts of him.
"However, you helped her greatly as well and I thank you for that," Strom said with a soft smile. "You stood by with her when she thought no one else would when she ran away, your stubbornness to follow her helped us to reunite as a team. Even when her bed was empty I still used the tub. I'm glad that we got things settled that weekend."
"Well, I guess bro moment restored?" Sun asked hoping that it was restored.
"What exactly is a bro moment?" Strom asked curious about what a bro moment means. "We aren't brothers."
"And it's gone," Sun said with his head hanging down a little. "A bro moment is just a moment where guys just talk to each other about sensitive topics."
"Oh, that's a bro moment," Strom said with a small smile. "We should have more of these."
"Yeah," Sun said looking at the time. "It's starting to get late so we should head inside."
"Wow, I almost forgot that I was training for that long," Strom said as he dumped a bucket of water he had ready for himself. 'Maybe I should talk to Blake to see what she thinks about Sun.'
Lily and Boran went into town after getting home with their dad. They stopped by the music store to make sure that their instruments had cleaning supplies. While in the store they laid eyes on a peculiar instrument and they smiled at it.
"Are you thinking what I'm thinking Lily?" Boran asked knowing that she would agree.
"Yes, I think that it's a great idea," she said picking up the instrument and brought it to the register.
"Another one, Lily, don't you think that you have enough instruments to play?" the shopkeeper teased the two as they are here quite often. "This would take you five minutes to master."
"Yes but I am getting this as a gift for our friend Yang," Lily said knowing that she would like the instrument. "I hope that she will like it."
"Well I think that she will enjoy it," the shopkeeper pushed up his glasses. "Well I'll get it bagged up for you to go."
"Thank you very much," Lily said with a bright smile as she was handed the bag. "Let's go visit Yang, Boran."
"Wait, why don't we take an instrument over from home and play with her?" he asked thinking that it would be a great idea.
"You know what? That is a great idea," Lily responded and ruffled his hair. "You need to stop growing Boran. You need to be short forever so I can do this to you."
"No," Boran said loudly as they left the store. "I want to be tall enough to make Strom look up to me."
They laughed together as they stopped home to get instruments and went over to Yang's place. They walked through the woods and felt the sun and the shade of the trees on their heads and the wind on their faces. They saw the cabin shortly and rushed to their destination. They knocked on the door with big smiles on their faces.
The door opened to reveal Yang and a smile on her face. "Hey guys, what brings you two here?"
"We got a present for you Yang," Boran spouted as Lily looked at him.
"Shh Boran, you going to spoil the surprise," she said covering his mouth. "How have you been Yang?"
"I have been doing a lot better lately, thanks to you two and my dad," Yang said with a grin. "So why did you guys bring your instruments?"
"Well, we were at the shop and we saw something that we thought you might like to play," Boran said moving his sister's hand out of the way. "Can we show it to her now?"
"Someone's excited," Yang said laughing lightly. "So what did you guys get?"
"We got an instrument that anyone can play," Lily said with pride filling her chest and pulled the object out. "We got you a tambourine."
Yang looked at the instrument as she reached out to grab it with her left hand holding it with a smile as she shook it and listened to it. "I love it, now I have a surprise for you."
"What, no way," Boran said in shock. "What is it, what is it?"
"It's my new hand," she said revealing the hidden arm. "What do you guys think of it?"
"Wow it looks so cool," Boran said looking at the arm. "Can you fight in it?"
"Absolutely, and it feel natural too," she said looking at Lily. "What do you think?"
"Yang," Lily said smiling and hugged Yang. "You doing it, you're getting a grip and fighting back."
"I am, thanks for helping me through it all," she said returning the hug and felt Lily shiver a little. "What's wrong?"
"One, you're squeezing me too much," she groaned as Yang loosened her embrace. "Secondly, you arm is going to take some time to get used to for hugs. It can be a little cold."
"Sorry, but I do feel the chill when I put it on in the morning," she said laughing nervously and looked back at the tambourine. "Well should we get started to play something?"
"Yes," both of the siblings said with glee.
They brought out the instruments and quickly taught Yang a song. They began slowly to make sure that everyone knew the parts of the song. Slowly they began to pick up the pace and began having more fun as Boran kept missing his notes on purpose. Yang laughed as she saw Lily get upset with Boran and he just grinned. Lily got her revenge when Yang handed her the tambourine and she hit him on the top of the head without breaking the instrument. At the end they just laughed and played until the siblings had to go home.
"Wow that was so much fun," Yang said with a big grin on her face as she looked at the sky. "Wow it's getting late, you two should head home before it gets dark."
"Don't worry I can protect the both of us," Boran said proud of his fighting capabilities.
"Careful there, I have thought that nothing could happen to me when I was out and about and now look at me," Yang said in a serious tone. "And this is the second thing that happened to me."
"What was the first?" Lily asked curious about the issue and tried to pry into Yang's head with her semblance. "Why can't I see anything?"
"I have learned a thing or two from Strom," Yang said remembering how he sees and tried to apply a shield around her mind. "I'll tell you later."
"Hmm, alright then you win this time," Lily said accepting defeat graciously. "Let's go Boran."
"Okay," Boran said as they began to walk home.
Yang took her new instrument into the house with glee as Taiyang was making dinner. He heard what she said and was very curious. As they ate dinner, he waited until the time was right.
"So I overheard your conversation with Boran and Lily," he said being honest and saw that her cheeks were full of food. "So what happened the first time? And don't think that you'll escape me."
She froze with fear knowing that he would get upset about not telling what happened sooner. She hesitated and remembered every detail about the incident with Strom's past. And she remembered what he did for her to keep her alive.
"I can't believe that I almost forgot all the details," she said with a melancholy. "But, I think that I should have told you long ago, but I was scared of what you might do."
"I promise that I won't be angry Yang," Tai said putting his utensils down. "Please continue."
"Well it all started when Strom and I first met."
And done with chapter 25, I'm tired. Comment what you're favorite part of the ENTIRE story has been so far.
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