This is the final chapter of this Volume, and it comes with some major changes in how the dynamic of RWBY's adventure unfolds. Hope you all enjoy. Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY, the Persona series, Five Nights at Freddy's, or Devil May Cry.
Volume 2-10: Threat of the Fang
Weiss had been concerned ever since they freed Shadow Roman. Now she was curious if anyone like this Master Black had visited her father. "Something wrong?," Ruby asked. "I was just remembering the last thing said by the Parasite inside Father," Weiss replied, "It called out a name. Master Pierrot. Now this new Parasite did the same thing." "Black and Pierrot...," Ruby noted, "You're thinking this Pierrot visited your dad?" Weiss nodded. "In the worst way." "Well, we'll have time for that later," Ruby said, "Joker has another request he wants us to take. Seems someone's been concerned about this Mercury Black guy. He's in Mementos, so we should go take care of him." Weiss nodded. "Alright then."
Emerald finished the posting. If these Phantom Thieves could sneak up on Roman or Jacques, they had to be skilled. She hated that she was basically betraying Cinder, but Cinder seemed too focused on her mission. She'd like to think Cinder really cared for her, but a recent post from Neo made her question that idea. She looked again at the message Neo had given. 'Cinder is being controlled. Her mind is not her own.' She remembered that strange parasite Cinder had used to steal some of the Fall Maiden's power, and now Emerald began to fear that parasite was more than what it seemed. But first she had to be sure the Phantom Thieves were the real deal.
The group headed inside Mementos, soon finding the area where Mercury was held within. The Riot Zone held a few new Personas that Ruby was able to acquire. The blacksmith from earlier, called Ippon-Datara, was among them Shadows, as was the red armored warrior Eligor. Brand new was a circular cutout with stubby limbs called Sudama. Behind the door they found Shadow Mercury. "How did you find me? Did Roman send you!? Where is he!?" "Jeez calm down," Ruby said, "Even if we were inclined to tell you we have no idea."
"Talk about anger management issues," Fritz said, "Even Rook's not this bad." "Love you too, Jackdaw," Yang quipped, causing the rest of the group to laugh as Fritz blushed, his fox ears flattening against his head. Shadow Mercury rolled his eyes. "So why was I being targeted again?" "Oh, someone was annoyed by your half-hearted flirting and complete lack of emotion," Ruby said. Shadow Mercury sighed. "Emerald... It's not like I like not having emotions. I was trained to be an assassin by my father. But one day, after I unlocked my Semblance, he stole it using his. Said he'd give it back once I was stronger. Only I killed him before he could, so I never got it back."
Susie looked confused. "There's something wrong with that. Semblance is a facet of Aura, which is just our souls mads manifest. So you're saying your dad was basically able to steal a portion of your soul?" "I know Atlas managed to mechanically quantify the human soul," Weiss noted, "But it shouldn't be possible to steal a soul without something more powerful than a Semblance." "Maybe Mercury misheard," Yang suggested, "Maybe his dad sealed his Semblance, instead of stealing it." Shadow Mercury blinked. "That's... Possible..."
"Why would your dad consider you weak anyway?," Fritz asked, "The legendary assassin Black wasn't known for relying purely on strength, after all. He considered it necessary to have a good combination of speed, strength, stealth, tactics, and psychological health..." He blinked for a moment, as did Shadow Mercury. "Sonofa... He was concerned about me not showing emotions!? Then he shouldn't have been so harsh with his training! Hell, he broke my Dust damn legs! I had to get specially designed prosthetics to even remain in the game!" "Did you ever figure out what your Semblance can do?," Ruby asked.
Shadow Mercury shrugged. "It wasn't very strong. All it could do was project a small burst of energy, not even that damaging." "There's gotta be more to it," Jaune said, "Some hidden facet that you couldn't access in your current state." "Maybe you should consider finding a new teacher," Ruby suggested, "After all, your old man kinda limited what you could do. You should consider joining an academy. You look about the right age." Shadow Mercury rubbed his chin. "Well... It couldn't hurt. I mean, we're supposed to be getting into an academy before long. I guess I should try paying attention in class." And with that, the Shadow vanished. "Okay," Ruby said, "Let's get back."
Later, Teams RWBY, JNPR, and FJGS were walking through Vale. The entire place was getting decorated in preparation for the Vytal Festival. However, Yang wasn't too happy about spending the afternoon at the docks. "Why are we here again?" "This place smells like fish," Ruby said, holding her nose. "What's wrong with fish?," Blake asked. "Nothing," Gabriel said, "When it's cleaned and prepared." The others looked at him. "What? Salmon's my favorite food." "I prefer tuna," Blake quipped. The group laughed. "Anyway," Weiss said, "We're here because the boat from Vacuo should be arriving soon."
"And you want to get a head start spying on the other teams," Ren noted. "How dare you accuse me of that!," Weiss called out indignantly. "That's not a denial~," Nora sang out. "Well when you think about it," Jeremy said, "Vacuo's the only Kingdom we don't have any foreknowledge of. Yang, Ruby, and Jaune are from Vale. My team and Weiss are from Atlas. And Pyrrha, Nora, and Ren from Mistral." "What about Blake?," Susie asked. "I'm from Menagerie," Blake pointed out, "And I haven't really visited Vacuo before."
Fritz tapped Jeremy on the shoulder. "Looks like we have a fresh Dust store robbery." Sure enough, a nearby store was bound up in police tape. "So they're still going on?," Ruby asked, "Even though we stopped Roman?" "He did imply the White Fang were involved," Yang pointed out, "And we got it from his Shadow." "It doesn't make sense though," Blake said, "I mean, the level of violence is definitely indicative of the White Fang, but they've never needed this much Dust before." "Maybe they're trying to make it harder to get Dust," Nora suggested, "All these robberies have to be raising Dust prices."
"I don't think so," Weiss said, "Ever since Father's change of heart, the White Fang have actually stopped considering the SDC an enemy. No, there's something else going on here. Someone's manipulating the White Fang." "You thinking Cinder?," Ruby asked. "Possibly," Weiss said with a nod, "Unless she's also being controlled from someone higher up." Suddenly, someone called out, "Hey! Stop that Faunus!" The group looked at each other and hurried in the direction of the voice. They soon saw a young man with blonde hair and gray eyes running across a ship. He was dressed in a white button shirt that was open, revealing his chest, denim jeans, yellow sneakers, and red vambrace. He had a monkey tail with fur matching his hair.
He soon reached the dock. "Thanks for the ride guys!" The guy raced across the docks and past the team, taking a brief moment to wink at Susie, who literally chirped in shock. The guy then kept running. "Did Susie just chirp?," Pyrrha asked, "I thought she was a hen, not a canary." "She has an odd quirk that causes her to chirp whenever she goes into shock," Jeremy explained. He waved his hand in front of Susie's face, but he wasn't sure her mind was even on Remnant anymore. "Well, let's see," Blake said, "A dashing young scoundrel with roguish good looks just hopped off a boat he was stowing away on and started outrunning the authorities, only pausing long enough to wink at her. I'd be smitten too, if it had happened to me."
"Sounds like something from one of your romance novels," Yang teased. Pyrrha quickly used her Semblance of polarity to grab Susie leggings and trip her up. "Eep!," Susie called out, "What's the big deal, Pyrrha?" "Feeling more awake now?," Pyrrha asked. Susie blushed as she got up. "Anyway, we should track that guy down." "Hoping to steal a kiss?," Nora teased. She then winced as Susie dug her heel talon into Nora's foot. "There's no need to get embarrassed," Ruby assured her, "Everyone gets their first crush." She turned to the others. "It's also not cool to tease them about it." Susie smiled. "Thanks for understanding, Ruby."
Sun (Susie Holmes) Rank 3: After seeing a young Faunus wink at her, Susie becomes smitten, as well as embarrassed when the others bring it up.
The group hurried after the Faunus, who was being pursued by two detectives, only for Weiss to run into someone. She looked up to see them round a nearby corner. "Drat, he got away." "I do not believe this is what they mean when they saw 'running into old friends'," came Penny's voice. Weiss looked down and realized she had accidentally run into Penny. "Sorry about that," she said as she helped Penny up. "I'll be fine," Penny assured her. "What's going on Penny?," Nava said as he walked up. "I seem to have experienced a new definition of running into old friends," Penny said, "In a most literal sense. Everyone, this is my partner Nava Epoch."
"Nice to meet you all," Nava said. "Hey there," Ruby said, "I'm Ruby Rose." "Weiss Schnee." "Blake Belladonna." "Yang Xiao Long." "Jaune Arc." "Nora Valkyrie." "Pyrrha Nikos." "Lie Ren." "Fritz Holmes." "Jeremy Holmes." "Gabriel Holmes." "Did you see a cute monkey Faunus pass by here?" Gabriel smacked Susie in the arm. "Oh! Susie Holmes." "Pleased to meet you," Nava said, "And no, I don't think I did. I did run into an old friend from my settlement in Vacuo, however." The group looked at each other. "You're from Vacuo?," Yang asked.
"Yes," Nava replied, "Specifically a settlement called Ojibwe. But neither me nor Sun thought it a good idea to train in Vacuo, so we set off. He went to Mistral, I settled on Vale." "Sun?," Ruby asked. "Sun Wukong," Nava said, "A nice guy, really. Of course, out in Vacuo they hardly ever misjudge Faunus. Survival is more important. The desert sands hold dangers more lethal than the Grimm at times." "Hold up," Susie said, "What kind of Faunus is Sun?" "Monkey," Nava replied, "Why?" The group looked at each other. "Well, I guess that means he doesn't swing that way," Yang noted.
They explained what they had just seen. "Yeah, Sun does that a lot," Nava admitted, "He always travels from Mistral to Vacuo. My guess is he forgot his passport and had to play stowaway. He's never been caught yet. Chased a lot, though." "So he's a student?," Weiss said, "That means he must be here to fight in the tournament. Which team is his?" "Dunno," Nava said, "What with everything going on lately, I didn't get the chance to speak with him. Could still kick his butt, though." "Indeed," Penny said, "We're combat ready!" "You don't exactly look the part," Weiss said. "Says the girl wearing a dress," Blake quipped. "It's a combat skirt!," Weiss retorted. "Yeah!," Ruby chimed in, and the two shared a high-five.
Fortune (Penny Polendina) Rank 4: Penny has introduced her partner Nava, who in turn talks about his friend from Vacuo.
The next morning, Susie leaning against the fountain in the courtyard. "Nice to see you get some sleep," she said. Sun, the monkey Faunus from earlier, hopped down from a nearby tree. "Well, I figured you wouldn't be a night person." Susie smiled. "Wanna get some coffee? Blake wanted to talk to Jeremy about a few things, and I thought we'd make it a double-date." Sun smirked. "Isn't it the guys' job to ask the girls out?" "Are you really complaining?," Susie retorted. Sun smiled. "Guess not." They soon reached the place, called Leblanc. "The owner here opened in the last few months," Susie explained, "Just before the new term."
The place had two levels, including a balcony, which Blake and Jeremy were sitting at. "So," Jeremy said, "If you being a Faunus wasn't the big secret, what was it?" "Well," Blake said, "I used to be part of the White Fang." Jeremy carefully put down his cup to avoid wasting good coffee as he got over the shock. "Since when?" "Almost since I was born," Blake said, "You could almost say I was born into it." "But I thought your parents led Kuo Kuana," Jeremy pointed out. "Now they do," Blake clarified, "But back then we were always on the move. My father Ghira used to be the leader of the White Fang, back when it changed from a symbol of peace between two races to the voice of our people. I remember being at the front of every protest. Every rally. Every boycott."
"What changed?," Jeremy asked. "The White Fang itself," Blake explained, "When my father stepped down five years ago to become chieftain of Kuo Kuana, Sienna Khan rose up in his place to lead the White Fang. She had... Different ideas of how our voices should be heard. Peaceful protest was replaced with organized attacks. Setting fires to businesses that refused to served us. Hijacking companies that used Faunus labor. The worst part was... It was working. We were being treated as equals, though out of fear rather than respect. But in one man... One whom I used to love, I saw the face of how these ways could go wrong."
"Adam Taurus," Jeremy realized, "He's particularly infamous. Do the others know?" "My team does," Blake admitted, "I haven't told anyone else. Just you." "Well, the rest of my sibs will know soon enough," Jeremy said, "Even if I decide not to tell them, you can be sure Susie will." He pointed above them, and Blake recognized the monkey tail. She then got a call from Ruby. 'Blake, Akira just got a call in from Roman. He's mentioned the next major robbery is of a massive import of Dust from the SDC at the docks, 10pm tonight.'
That night, the Phantom Thieves were in place around the docks. Blake and Jeremy were above one of the warehouses as a bullhead came in. Blake gasped at the sight of the armored soldiers walking in. They had emblems that looked like red wolf heads with three scratch marks behind it. "That's the White Fang symbol," Blake said sadly. Jeremy was more concerned about the woman who came off the ship. "Cinder...," he said, "Roman wasn't lying about her being involved." "But why would the White Fang work for a human?," Blake asked. "Maybe they were forced into it," Jeremy suggested.
Nearby, Akira watched as Blake snuck down. Seeing her path, he narrowed his eyes. "This is not going to end well..." While Blake tried to talk down the White Fang, Akira had his group move in and snagged the tow cables to insure no Dust could be stolen. Just as they were getting the last of the cables out, a sudden burst from Ovation could be heard and Akira saw Adam slam into the shipping container next to him. Jeremy leapt down, Ovation having its saw blade active. "I honestly don't care what sort of rapport you and Blake used to have," he said, "But she's not a possession to own, nor a prize to be won."
The sudden assault had caused a melee as the junior Phantoms joined in, accompanied by Nora, Ren, Penny, and Nava. Nava clashed against one White Fang soldier using his mechanical tomahawk, Minnehaha. As he tossed the grunt away, he shifted the tomahawk into a long bow that fired Dust-tipped arrows, which exploded on impact. Nearby, Cinder watched as Penny used her Floating Array, the Gravity Dust blades, to strike at several more soldiers. She also switched to wires to anchor herself as she shot down two more bullheads coming in for reinforcements.
Meanwhile, Jeremy was doing pretty well against Adam, his natural strength and close-combat style preventing Adam from using his trademark strategy. And while Adam could absorb some of the shockwaves Jeremy's Semblance generated, he still took a great deal of damage due to it being an area-of-effect attack. Finally, Adam found a chance to use his own Semblance. Blake saw this and her eyes went wide, but her concern proved unfounded. Adam's injured state, coupled with Jeremy's superior eyesight, let the rabbit Faunus dodge out of the way, knocking Adam aside with the blunt portion of Ovation.
Several of Adam's men quickly grabbed him and hurried off to the only remaining bullhead, which quickly took off. As the group was talking to the police, Jeremy got a big surprise when Blake hugged him. "Don't worry me like that again...," she whispered. Jeremy was stunned, but ultimately returned the hug. Ruby sighed in relief. "Looks like we stopped them. But right now, I think we need to make Adam our next priority." Pyrrha nodded. "Whatever he's planning for Vale, we can't let it come to pass." Ruby looked at Blake and Jeremy. "So Pyrrha, got any crushes?" Pyrrha looked over to Jaune. "Maybe..."
Lovers (Pyrrha Nikos) Rank 2: After the melee against the White Fang, Pyrrha sees a tender scene that reminds her of her own feelings for someone...
Justice (Blake Belladonna) Rank 4: She is relieved that Jeremy not only survived against her ex-boyfriend, but outright beat him.
Devil (Jeremy Holmes) Rank 4: Having triumphed over one of the White Fang's leaders, Jeremy finds a sweet reward in Blake's arms.
"That was an unmitigated disaster," Cinder said. "Somehow I doubt Roman could have done better," Adam noted as his soldiers started to patch him up. Cinder nodded. "That's the only solace I take from this. Not only did you lose valuable men, we didn't even get a speck of Dust. Now I'll be forced to use other channels to make up the difference. And my associates won't be happy about that..." Adam just grunted. 'That rabbit Faunus easily exploited my weaknesses. Am I truly not as strong as I believed...? No matter, I will come back from this...'
Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the RWBY pairing Midnight Melody! Oh, and Double Sunrise for Sun and Susie. I'll be explaining during the next chapter why Sun started flirting with Susie instead of Blake like in canon, but for now here's Ruby's Persona lineup:
Medusa Lv27/Apsaras Lv16/Kodama Lv17/Ippon-Datara Lv18/Kushi Mitama Lv18/Eligor Lv20
Archangel Lv21/Matador Lv23/Nigi Mitama Lv24/Suzaku Lv24/Nue Lv26/Shiki-Ouji Lv27
I hope I didn't go overboard with how much Jeremy just wrecked Adam. But I knew at the very least Jeremy would have an advantage thanks to his Semblance being meant for a wide area of attack. I also looked up animal senses, and rabbits have great eyesight for spotting predators, so there's no denying Jeremy would be able to spot Adam's Semblance and leap out of the way. Read and review.